Spoilers: 3x02

Summary: There's flirty, there's longing stares, and then there's the stuff these two put themselves through.

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GEOGRAPHY OF GLOBAL CONFLICT:

High Minded Rhetoric and Empty Gestures

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We're gonna smile the entire time.

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The bustle of the food, people, and academic chitchat provided an appropriate soundtrack to Annie's mentally enhanced walk across the cafeteria. She zeroed in on her target, kept to the path, and gripped the straps of her backpack. When she got close to the target and cleared her throat, he looked up from a pile of spinach leaves.

Annie stuck out her chest, lifted her chin, and handed the representative of Uruguay his Greendale Interstellar VISA.

"What's this supposed to be?" queried Jeff, examining the folded square of paper with a giant stamp on it and a Clip Art picture of the Earth.

"Passports to Earth Two," she said. Then she added in her own defense, "Abed made them yesterday."

"Didn't we win already?" Jeff commented. "We broke their banner and crushed their united spirit. You going to sit down or what?"

"No," declared Annie. "This time I'm not sitting down. In fact, you're going to stand up."

A cricket chirp would've been at home in that moment, if there were any crickets left after the campus mold problem. Awkwardness aside, getting Jeffrey Winger to do something was only a matter of pushing the right buttons. Annie seemed to pick the wrong buttons most of the time, but this one she figured she could handle.

"And why's that?" he asked without rising.

Annie leaned forward, shoved her bountiful natural gifts right into his line of site, and said, "Please?"

"NNNNnnnnnnnnnn," breathed Jeff. "NNnnnnnnnn—Fine." He stood up.

"Lead the way," he gestured, and she did.

Out in the sunshine, Annie guided him to a less public corner of the grounds. Garret was sleeping on a bench about forty feet away, but the picnic grass was empty and nobody cared about Garret anyway.

"Congratulations," said Jeff with a smirk. "You used your feminine wiles to get me someplace private. Very adult, very mature."

"Don't pretend you didn't like it," she retorted. "And that brings me to the main point. I'm not happy with the way we left things yesterday."

Sticking his hands in his pockets where they were safe from doing anything touch-y, Jeff puffed out a sigh. He shrugged his shoulders, and examined the absolutely fascinating atmospheric cloud structure above Greendale. He added a rocking of his heels for good measure, and it was this last part that made Annie smack him in the chest with her notebook.

"Ow!"

"Stop trying to blow me off!"

He raised his hands defensively. "Okay, okay! I'm listening, I promise."

"Good," Annie huffed. She put her notebook and bag on the ground then faced him with her hands on her hips. "That whole moment we said was gross... I can't get it out of my head. I don't want to think of you that way. It wasn't gross any of the times before! Of course, you were pretending none of those times existed, which still makes you an asshole, but the point is, we're not gross. That's my decision. We aren't allowed to be gross. What do you think?"

Jeff raised his eyebrows. "I'm afraid I only have one solution to offer you, and it's the asshole solution."

Playing her bottom lip against her teeth, Annie regarded him. The honest warning was refreshing, but she was open to any idea, even if it was a bad. It's not like she didn't know Jeff already, so he couldn't possibly make her opinion worse. And as mean as Jeff tended to be, Annie couldn't fault his efficacy.

"Will it work?"

"Definitely."

"Okay," she said, "I'll hear you out."

Smoother and faster than the fall of gravity Jeff had her up against him, one warm palm splayed across her back and the other curling through her hair. Annie wanted to gasp but found she couldn't while his mouth pressed against hers with an ardency that nearly lifted her off her feet. She let his passion sweep her up in its cascading wave, fisting her hands against his chest. Two fingers slipped between his shirt buttons at the same as he released her lips to trail breathy kisses toward her ear.

"So," Jeff whispered in the most intimate tone she'd ever heard from a man, "Here's the thing..."

And then he turned and strode away.