Character Choice
Author's Note: This is my first time writing anything for the Community fandom, as well as my first time writing a fan fiction in years, so my sincerest apologies if this dreadful. It popped in my head and wouldn't leave me alone until it was written.
As the paint falls all over them, Abed's heart is beating like a drum. The kiss feels urgent, and passionate, and incredibly real, but, at the same time, it also feels quite bittersweet. As soon as they break apart, he won't Han Solo anymore - even he can only keep a pretense going for so long - he'll only be Abed, and Abed isn't who Annie wants.
There was a reason he claimed the role of Han Solo as soon as it became clear that they'd moved away from the spaghetti western inspired paintball game to a more Star Wars-esque plot. If he hadn't, their resident too-cool-for-school, handsome leading man, Jeff, would have just slipped into the role in the blink of an eye and, no doubt, he too would have made Annie his Leia. Not that Jeff needs to take on a character in order to kiss Annie. Luckily, he was able to anchor himself into the role before that happened, leaving Troy and Jeff to fight it out for the leadership of their rebel alliance.
Truth be told, he's never seen himself as Han Solo. The rogue with the laisser-faire attitude who secretly cares more than he'd want anyone to know, that's not really his speed. However, it's the sort of men Annie is attracted to. Men like Jeff. He's known of her type for quite a while, even before doing Don Draper for her, he had guessed she would respond to the confident leading man persona. And for that reason, he's turned himself into the best Han he can be; acting smug, winking, quoting lines, he has the mannerisms down.
Annie wasn't sold at first, but she quickly came around. He knew she would. He had run the simulations, and he knew that, just like him, Annie liked to immerse herself in a character. That much had been clear since the group had played Dungeons & Dragons. She even committed to being a random girl from Texas for a night just because her fake ID said so, inventing quite the rich backstory as she went too. He still couldn't deny how happy he was that she took to Leia so easily. In his mind, she was born for the role.
As they pull apart, he quickly decides not to look at her. If he does, he may be tempted to try and be Han Solo some more and that's not a sustainable option. It would only lead to pain down the road. (He knows, he's run the simulations.) Better nip that in the bud. So, with a quick "cool" and a nod, he leaves her and the library behind. He's not a leading man, and that's what Annie wants. That's what Annie deserves.
Maybe they'll never truly be Han and Leia, but at least, they'll always have paintball.
"...huh, Film Noir would be a cool idea for next year's game."