SIXSEASONSANDAMOVIE! (Now all we need is a movie)
Not mine, obviously, just playing puppetmaster
Late Night Noodles
Abed woke up, bewildered. There was a soft noise coming from the room beside the pillow fort. Annie was a sound sleeper, and didn't usually make noise. He got up, ready to investigate. He had to step carefully so as not to step on Troy's outstretched limbs; the bunk bed they'd gotten was too small, but bunk beds meant for six foot plus grown men weren't exactly a surplus in the current market.
The hallway was dark, being gently lit in one corner by a nightlight Annie had purchased when Troy was having nightmares several months ago. He had pointed out to her privately that it did almost nothing in reality, but it was placed in just the right spot for Troy to see it when he woke up at night, so they left it in place. He found Annie's door closed, which was no surprise, but he could hear a soft sniffling noise, despite the thick oak door. His hearing extended beyond that, and he heard a tiny hiccup that would have been the epitome of adorable if it hadn't been caused, almost certainly, by crying. He took a breath and rapped his knuckles against the door.
"Annie?" He asked quietly, hoping not to wake Troy. "Are you crying?" He almost winced at the stupid question, because she was obviously crying, but didn't query further yet.
"Go away, Abed." She called back. Her voice was hoarse, meaning she'd been crying for a while. Abed could imagine her curled up on her side, arms wrapped around a stuffed animal with a tissue box next to her, facing away from the door with her eyes clenched shut, hoping he'd leave her to her misery.
She hated how she looked when she was crying. He could remember one week, several months ago, when stress and hormones had hit hard and a rerun of Friends had had her in tears for an hour.
"Annie, I'm coming in." He said. She might not like that he was entering her room without his permission, but the fact stood that it'd be easier to deal with Annie's anger than his own conscience. Damn that stupid empathy. In reality, this intrusion was Annie's own fault. If she'd left well enough alone and not messed with the Dreamatorium, he wouldn't have the empathy necessary to warrant his invasion of her privacy.
He turned the doorknob, treading carefully in case she had left her nail polishes on the floor again, when she was reorganizing based on color and brand. He didn't feel like reliving that experience. Annie's adept abilities at pulling glass shards out of feet had come in handy.
"What the hell, Abed?" Annie shrieked, sitting straight up. Her arm snapped up and a box sailed by his right ear and hit the wall behind him. Abed could only see her silhouette on the bed, but the light streaking into the room illuminated the tissues strewn across the floor, where they'd been dropped after being thoroughly soaked with tears and snot.
"You were crying. What's the matter?" he asked, monotone despite the churning in the pit of his stomach. His eyes were growing adjusted to the dim light and he saw her turn away and pull her knees to her chest.
"Nothing that can be fixed," she whispered, knowing he'd hear. She turned back to him, eyes wide and shining with tears just waiting to be shed. "Please, Abed, leave me alone. There's nothing you can do to help."
Abed turned silently and left her room, being sure to close her door as he left. While there may not have been anything he could do to fix what was causing her to cry, that didn't mean there was nothing he could do to make her feel slightly better. He trekked quietly to the kitchen, narrating in his head what was happening.
Annie was in tears, although what was causing them was a mystery to me. I knew that as her friend, I was responsible to do all I could to make her feel better.
I went immediately to the kitchen to whip up my specialty: special drink and butter noodles. It wasn't exactly elegant, but Annie enjoyed them when I made them for her in the past, so the combination seemed as safe a bet as any other. I got out all of the necessary equipment without waking up Troy, which was good because otherwise I would have had to make enough for him, too, and explain why I was cooking at 3 in the morning without telling him Annie was crying.
I started the water and poured the milk for our drinks, being sure to use Annie's favorite Minnie Mouse cup. I cooked the noodles without incident and prepared our drinks, astonished that neither of my roommates had come out to see what the ruckus was. I situated the plates and cups on a cookie sheet like it was a tray, then went back to Annie's door.
Abed knocked on Annie's door, too worried that his gift wouldn't be welcome to continue narrating.
"What do you want, Abed?" She snapped. He winced, then spoke.
"I can't get the door. Will you let me in?" He didn't get an answer right away, and found himself holding his breath in anticipation, hoping to hear footsteps. When they started, he let go of the air he was holding on to.
The footsteps were accompanied by muttering, "Don't see why I should, I told you to-" Annie's words died as she saw what he had in his hands. "Oh, Abed," she sighed softly, cracking a small smile. "Come in."
When Troy had nightmares, it was as loud as one could expect. He screamed, sometimes incoherently, but usually in complete sentences. The one time Annie tried to wake him from a nightmare, she got a black eye for her troubles. His wild flailing hadn't really fazed her until one fist actually got her. Upon seeing the resulting bruise, the group had had a variety of responses...
"OW!" She yelled, hands going from Troy's shoulders to her own face. Abed immediately came to her side and pulled her away from their sleeping friend.
"I told you not to try to wake him." He chastised, tugging her elbow toward the kitchen. She bit back a rude retort, knowing Abed well enough to know it would get her nowhere- his I-told-you-so's were surprisingly few and far between, and always well deserved; unlike her own, if she was being entirely honest with herself. Frozen peas were shoved at her with little tenderness by her exhausted roommate. Troy's nightmares had ensured that none of them were getting much sleep. It'd been over a week since any of them had gotten a full night's rest. Abed left her side, going into the living room to sit in his chair.
"Thanks Abed," Annie said, grimacing. "How did you know I'd get clobbered?"
"I didn't know that you would," He said. He had picked up the remote and was now surfing the channels. He settled on an old cartoon, one they both loved. He looked up at her. She realized she must seem petulant, but when he lifted his shirt, she was taken by surprise, both by the motion and by the fading yellow bruise on his ribcage. "I just assumed it was a legitimate possibility given what happened when I tried to wake him the first time."
They sat through the next three sleepless hours watching Rocket Power and exchanging worried glances whenever Troy whimpered in his sleep.
When Pierce saw the bruise, his immediate reaction surprised everyone in the room.
"Annie," he asked softly, "what happened to your eye?" There was genuine concern in his eyes.
"I had a run in with a fist," Annie replied meekly, trying to avoid Troy's boundless remorse. He'd already apologized numerous times, and if Pierce found out it was his fault, Troy would have the old man adding to his guilt.
"Ooooh, did you and Britta get into a lesbian fight?" Pierce asked, brightening up at the idea of a cat fight.
"Ew, Pierce, no! It was just an accident, okay? Let it go!" Annie shrieked while Britta spluttered her protests at Pierce's sexist assumptions.
When that study session was over though, Pierce came up to her, his eyebrows deeply creased. "Annie, if there is any reason you're not safe with Gay and Gayer, you just say the word, and you know it will be taken care of," Annie started to smile, until Pierce continued, "I can hire a Russian hit man to take them out! And you can move in with me, and stay in Troy's old room." He grinned, clearly proud of himself, patted her shoulder, and left the room.
Annie stood, bewildered for a moment, wondering if she should feel safer or more in danger, before pushing the conversation from her mind in favor of planning her weekend study schedule.
The morning after, when Troy got out of bed, he looked as exhausted as Annie and Abed felt. He had deep bags under his eyes and nearly walked into the wall as he left the alcove he and Abed had for a bedroom. He stumbled toward the bathroom, then to the cupboard, where he grabbed the box of Cheez-its, a bowl, and a fork. He sat down at the table across from where Annie was slumped, then started pouring the Cheez-its into his bowl. A small, conscious part of Annie wanted to stop Troy before he poured the milk on the crackers, but she didn't think he'd notice or care at this point.
Troy was halfway through his bowl of soggy crackers when Abed emerged from the bathroom, looking clean and considerably brighter. He looked down at Troy's breakfast and froze, just staring at the bowl for a second, then looked up at Annie with a small amount of confused panic in his eyes.
"Why is Troy eating Cheez-its with milk?" Abed asked aloud, not really directing the question at anyone, "and with a fork?"
"Oh, I am?" Troy asked, still sounding sleepy. He looked into his bowl, blinked groggily, and took another bite, "I thought it tasted kind of weird."
The next few minutes passed in silence as Abed started the coffee maker and Annie went to take her shower. The hot water was refreshing and soothing, but since Annie hadn't gotten enough sleep, she soon wanted to lay down in the tub and just take a nap there. A small, nagging voice reminded her that the water bill would bad enough already, and she quickly flipped the handle to cold water and jolted awake.
When she reemerged, Troy immediately swooped in behind her. She hummed, delighted at being freshly cleaned, then smiled when she saw a steaming mug of coffee with whipped cream and cinnamon on top was waiting for her at the coffee table. Abed was in his chair, snoring as his own coffee grew cold. She sipped at her coffee, too tired to care about reviewing to be ready for class.
Troy was soon out of the shower, whistling and sounding considerably more alert as he waltzed around, his towel wrapped around his waist. Annie giggled to herself, wondering if her 16 year old self would have been able to deal with the knowledge that one day she'd being living with Troy Barnes, seeing him in a towel on the daily and asking him,
"Please, Troy, put on clothes before you start cooking your second breakfast."
He turned to her, chuckling, ready to protest, and paused. "Annie, what happened to your eye?" He asked quietly, horror growing on his face as he realized he already knew the answer. "No, Annie, tell me this isn't my fault!" He demanded, teary eyed.
"It's not your fault!" She replied immediately, "Really, it isn't, Abed warned me not to try to wake you up and I didn't listen, because you know me!" She forced a laugh to try to reassure him, but the heartbroken look on his face cracked her resolve. "I'll be ok. I heal quickly, and makeup will cover it just fine," she said, hoping that was true. Even so, she could see as he set his face that it was going to be a good amount of time and altogether too many favors before Troy would accept her forgiveness.
"Britta, I need your help," Annie whispered, pulling aside the blonde woman before they made it to the doorway. She had been able to wear a large pair of sunglasses through the morning commute, but anyone wearing sunglasses indoors in a community college was immediately branded hungover, and she did NOT want those sorts of rumors spreading about her.
"Sure, Annie, what can I do for you? Do you need counseling to deal with your abandonment issues?!" Britta asked, delighted by the prospect of putting her newfound major to use. Her smiled practically cracked her face in half, and Annie had to take a deep breath in order to avoid responding to the abandonment issues comment.
"No, actually, I was wondering if you know a good technique..." Annie removed her sunglasses, " for hiding this." Britta's smile melted away, and she lifted her hand and gently touched the skin high on Annie's cheekbone where the bruise was turning a nasty purple color. Annie pressed her eyes shut, trying to avoid tears.
"Annie, please tell me this was a result of you challenging the patriarchy," Britta whispered, "And not some sort of sick-"
"Ew, Britta, no! You have nothing to worry about like that!" Annie replied, fighting to keep from shrieking indignantly at that thought.
"So what DID happen?" Britta asked, suspicion evident in her defiant pose. Annie explained what had happened quickly, and Britta's features softened. Eventually, she dragged Annie into the bathroom, and with the help of both of their makeup bags was able to hide most of the dark color of Annie's bruise, just in time for the quiz they had.
Until Garrett spilled an entire fish tank's worth of water on her head not 15 minutes later in the hall, and she had to go au natural for the rest of the day.
Shirley and Jeff approached her together after class, a whimpering Troy in tow.
"Annie, what actually happened?" Jeff demanded, letting go of Troy's arm and folding his own across his chest. Annie directed her attention to Troy, who seemed afraid to look at her.
"He was having a nightmare and I tried to wake him up," she answered truthfully, unable to fathom why on earth Troy looked ready to vomit, "but what's that got to do with you guys?"
"Troy wanted to know if I thought Jesus would forgive him for hitting you," Shirley answered, using the voice she reserved for trying to seem like a sweet Christian lady. "And I said Jesus would!" She switched to her deep, irritated voice, "but I sure as hell wouldn't."
"I'm here to mediate, since Abed said something absurd that made Troy start that" Jeff explained, doing his best to sound bored and irritated, as though he felt unfairly obligated to be a part of the drama. Annie could see hear the undertone of worry in Jeff's voice, and responded to assuage it.
"It was my fault, Abed warned me not to try to wake him since he got a fist to the stomach a few nights ago and-"
"I hit Abed, too!?" Troy shrieked. Annie felt badly that she had let that slip, but at least the whimpering had stopped. Troy turned and bolted, Shirley right on his tail.
Jeff let his boredom mask drop and grabbed Annie's shoulders, "but really, you're okay?" He asked, concern etched into his features.
She laughed, "It's not even a bad bruise. It's a little ugly, but it only hurts if I touch it. The worst part about this is how Troy's still going to have nightmares, and this whole mess will probably make them worse."
"You know, Annie," Jeff said, leaning in, "it might seem childish-"
"Have you met the men I live with?" Annie scoffed, then pressed her lips together to indicate Jeff should go on.
"- But nightlights work great for nightmares."
"I don't understand, Annie, why are we here? You said no to every single lego appliance proposal we've come up with," Abed asked, looking around the toy aisle with confused suspicion.
"We need to pick out a nightlight for Troy. I have it on good authority that it might help the nightmares if we have a comforting source of light where he can wake up and see it," Annie explained, frowning at the selection of nightlights that sported cartoon characters and superhero logos.
"How about this one?" Abed asked. Annie spun around and saw what Abed was holding, and reflexively grinned.
"It's perfect."
They bought the nightlight, and Abed insisted on preparing a special dinner and setting up a movie night in the living room. When Troy came home, the popcorn was in the microwave(for dramatic effect, although Abed had been watching at the window for Troy's entrance to the building so the timing was right), the special drink was waiting in the fridge in everyone's favorite mugs, and Annie and Abed had already put on their pajamas. When Troy came in, he smiled hugely and immediately ran to change.
Annie bit her tongue to keep from laughing while Abed and Troy did an initiation chant for the light as they plugged it in the wall.
After movies and junk food, all three went to bed, and slept soundly for the first time in a long time.
I SUCK. I suck, and I'm so so so so so so so so so so sorry this took so long. It was sitting half written in my computer for ages, and I've just now finally finished it. That being said, if I rushed too much and made a stupid typo, let me know so I can fix it.
Hopefully, season 6 will inspire some more stories, although I'm going to work at making sure I've got lots of Troy filled moments as well.
-Shadows