I've missed writing the boys. Inspired by an idea by clumpofglitter on tumblr and ao3

When Troy and Abed woke up that morning, now only separated by a handful of neighborhoods instead of an entire ocean, they were thinking similar thoughts.

Troy was thinking, "I'm going to find him."

And Abed was thinking, "I'm never going to see him again."

Abed's thoughts were much more depressing. Last he'd heard of Troy was that Troy and LeVar Burton had been hijacked by pirates and lost at sea. Despite his love for Troy he no longer had any optimism that Troy would return.

Troy knew better. Troy knew that somewhere in LA there was a man that he deeply, deeply loved, and that one of these days they were going to be reunited. He just had to keep looking, just had to keep hoping, and things would work out. Things would work out.

Troy didn't have a lot to go on, just that Abed was working as a director, or assistant director or something, in Los Angeles. So Troy had moved to LA and he spent his days going to places he thought Abed would go to. Unbeknownst to him, he'd gone to several places just before or after Abed had been there. As if the universe was pulling them together just to keep them apart.

Troy's other plan for finding Abed involved auditioning for as many movies and TV shows as his highly respected and well-paid agent could book him. Usually, he turned up, did the audition, saw that Abed was nowhere to be found, and headed back to his apartment or continued his search elsewhere. He'd landed a couple of commercials, though, and one background role on a court drama.

Abed thought he was hallucinating when he saw someone who looked just like Troy trying to sell him toothpaste. It was a miracle he'd even seen the ad, they were in the age of streaming and so he mostly watched things ad-free, when he had time for watching movies and television at all. But there was no doubt about it, those gorgeous teeth definitely belonged to his best friend. Unless, of course, he was losing his mind.

His delusion was furthered by the fact that one day he walked onto set and he saw Troy, standing there with the other wannabe actors who were auditioning for a tiny role.

It wasn't even his job to audition potential new cast members, but he made sure to be in the room where it happened, just to see this delusion to its logical conclusion. It was no lava, but it had become common for Abed to occasionally see things that weren't there ever since Troy had left. And recently, apparently, his cruel mind had thought it best to show him his lost friend.

Troy hadn't noticed Abed when he came in, but he felt good about this audition. The show was exactly the kind of show that Abed would want to work for. So he read through the script one more time, ready for whatever happened.

But when it happened, it was so much better than he could have anticipated. He walked into the little room and saw Abed sitting there, his arms crossed and an uneasy expression on his face. And then Abed stood up and Troy knew that this was really happening.

It took Abed a little longer to convince himself that it was real. It took exactly long enough for him to walk over to Troy and for Troy to throw his arms around him for Abed to know that this wasn't lava.

The casting director asked what was going on, interrupting their perfect moment, but Abed didn't care. He excused both of them from the room and sent in the next actor, a million thoughts running through his head.

"Abed," Troy finally spoke, when they were in a more secluded area.

"You're not dead," Abed assessed.

"Of course not. I had to make it back to you."

"I'd given up hope," Abed said, his voice wavering a little.

Troy pulled him into another hug.

"Good thing I had enough hope for both of us, then."

"How'd you even find me?"

"I knew you were working in LA, I've been going to auditions all over the place. I knew if I kept looking, I'd find you."

Abed didn't have the words to say how much that meant to him. But Troy did.

"I know some people might think that that's crazy, putting in all that time and energy based on one random bit of information, but I knew I would find you. I knew that I had to find you."

"Why?" Abed asked, knowing that Troy would have an answer.

"Because I love you, Abed." And with that, Troy took Abed's face in his hands and kissed him, unsure at first and then getting braver when Abed reciprocated. They forgot about the show and the audition after that. Because this was much better than anything on TV.