"I can't believe I'm thirty-five and still playing truth or dare," Jeff said. He gazed down into his near-empty glass of scotch, and swirled it around.
"You're not even playing! You just keep drinking to skip your turn," said Troy indignantly. He glared at Jeff, who rolled his eyes. Apparently it would take much more than two glasses of scotch and a touchy-feely boys' night in Apartment 303 to get Jeff to bare his soul.
"Jeff's self conscious about being seen as emotionally or physically compromised. He can't be a cool antihero without a tough exterior," said Abed. He hiccupped. "Otherwise he'd just be a hero. He doesn't want that kind of responsibility."
"That's completely untrue. I just think you guys have an unfair advantage. You're too close to each other for there to be any risk involved in playing." He began raising his glass to his lips, but Troy leaned over from where he was sitting and capped it with his hand. Abed's hand landed on top of his when he did so.
"No more drinking outside of the game," said Troy and Abed simultaneously.
Jeff lowered his glass and rolled his eyes. He crossed his legs and placed the scotch between them on the floor.
"Nice catch, buddy," said Troy. He grinned at Abed; Abed made finger guns and mimed shooting them in response.
"Every time I give either one of you a challenge, you just give each other conspiratorial 'we've done this before' looks. I'm not revealing anything until you've tried something new," said Jeff.
Troy clenched his fingers slightly against the floor; his heart sped up. There was something that he knew came up a lot in truth or dare games, something that Troy had always wanted to try, but Abed would never-
"Ok. Troy: truth or dare?" said Abed.
"Dare!" Troy blurted out far too quickly. He scolded himself inwardly; he'd been trying to play it cool the whole game. However, there really wasn't any need to worry about his excitement because-
"Troy, I dare you to kiss me," said Abed matter of factly.
"I. . ." Troy said. He could feel his mouth gaping. Beside him, he saw that Jeff had sat up a little straighter now that the game was becoming. . .interesting, apparently.
"Do you accept the dare? I say that you should. Watching Jeff open up is fascinating, and you haven't seen it yet," said Abed. He cocked his head at Troy, waiting for the answer.
"I. . .yeah. I'll kiss you, Abed. I accept the dare," he said, trying to sound sure instead of surprised and nervous and all of the other feelings that he didn't even want to think about. He began adjusting to get up off of the floor, but there was no need. Abed was faster than him and had quickly closed the space between them.
Up close, Abed's big, dark eyes were gorgeous; Troy had known this almost as long as he had known the man, but they seemed especially striking now. The way Abed's inner concentration was discernible through the haze of alcohol and was entirely focused on him-Troy's breath caught in his throat. He mentally scolded himself again; he wasn't supposed to find this hot, because it was just a dare.
Abed cupped Troy's face gently in his hand, and kissed him. His lips were pleasantly soft, no doubt due to a frequent application of chapstick. Troy could smell Abed's familiar smell and see his long eyelashes brushing against his own face. Tentatively he weaved his fingers into Abed's hair and kissed back. Shortly after, too soon, Abed pulled away. Instinctively, Troy touched his mouth. Abed scooted back to his original seat without comment.
Troy looked over at Jeff; his eyes were wide.
"Well, that was. . .unexpected," Jeff said.
"Yeah. . .it was," said Troy, dazed. He blinked hard, and tried to regain focus.
"Wow. . .I guess I can't really avoid playing now without seeming like a dick," said Jeff.
Abed and Troy shook their heads in unison.
"It's. . .it's my turn now, right?" asked Troy, glancing at Abed. Abed smiled slightly.
"Time to deconstruct the antihero," he said.
Troy smiled back, and said, "Ok, then. Jeff: Truth or Dare?"