Disclaimer: I don't own Community, yo.

A Thousand Words

Jeff tittered around his apartment making final preparations for his evening. Shortly after his photography class had ended, he asked Annie to join him for dinner to celebrate his first A+ in...well... ever. She, naturally, was more than happy to do so.

As he wandered between the kitchen and tidying up the rest of the place, he took a moment consider what exactly he was getting himself into with Annie this evening. He was committed to finally owning up to his feelings for her, that much he was sure of. Their time at Greendale was nearly through, and he'd wasted so much time already, choosing to worry about irrelevant things like age differences and other people's opinions as opposed to what they both clearly wanted.

What he was unsure about, and continued to battle with, was the route he'd chosen to take to convince her that he was ready to settle down and commit to her. He'd gone through a lot of different options as he considered this moment. He thought about trying to be suave and smooth and show her just how sexy and cool he could be when he set his mind to it, but he had a hunch that Annie would be able to see right through it. He thought about just being ultra-straight forward and to the point, but after waiting so long, Annie deserved more effort than that. She deserved flourish, and honesty, and maybe an explanation or two as to why it took him so long to actually make his move.

And so that's what he was going to do. He was going to sit her down and explain himself, as difficult as that might be. He was going to tell her things that he'd never told anyone before; things he didn't like to think about because, frankly, they sucked.

But Annie was worth it. She was worth wading through the brackish water and muck of his upbringing. She was worth pushing down his nerves and worthless inhibitions and just getting at the heart of the issues. She was worth, as Jeff was quickly coming to realize, a whole lot more than he'd previously thought.

Jeff jumped when his oven buzzed, letting him know that the chicken was finished cooking. He straightened the line of liquor bottles on his counter as he made his way back into the kitchen to put the finishing touches on dinner.

Just as he finished up setting the table, a knock came at his door. He stopped a few feet away to take a deep breath before forging onward.

"Hey," he greeted Annie brightly as he pulled the door open. He noticed her struggling a little with a dish in one hand and a bottle of wine in the other. "Here, let me take those," he offered as he ushered her inside. She smiled up at him gratefully and relinquished the items before slipping her raincoat off her shoulders. It was the first time he realized that her hair was damp and she had small rivulets of water dripping down her face.

"It started raining just as I pulled up," Annie said, unzipping her raincoat. "At least I was prepared this time!" Jeff chuckled and wandered away from her to set the dish and wine down on the dining room table. "It smells amazing in here!" she called from the entryway.

"It's lemon chicken, with roasted potatoes, and something even better for dessert," Jeff boasted, returning to the main room. Annie raised her eyebrows, impressed.

"I feel so spoiled," she said with a grin. "All I brought was a salad." Jeff chuckled a gestured for her to head past him into the small dining nook next to the kitchen. She smiled when she saw the table in full, with a tall candle at the centre and champagne flutes at each place setting. "Man, when you celebrate a grade, you go all out."

"Yeah, well, some things are worth the effort," he said. She didn't miss the way he watched her as he said this, before pulling out her chair. "Have a seat. I'll get us some champagne." She smiled a little wider than she meant to as she slid into the proffered chair, but the whole scene was just so unreal. Jeff was being a gentleman... more than a gentleman, he was being kind of... perfect. She shook that thought away as he disappeared a moment into the kitchen, returning to the dining room with a bottle in hand.

"Ready?" he asked, thumbing the cork. She grinned and nodded, laughing happily as he pushed on the small piece of wood and sent it flying into the wall with a pop. Jeff filled up their glasses before slipping into his own seat across from her, lifting his glass up. "To you," he said quietly. Her brow furrowed.

"To me? I thought we were here to celebrate your grade." Jeff shrugged.

"I couldn't have done it without you," he said simply. She hesitated another moment and he rolled his eyes good naturedly. "Alright, fine. To us," he amended. Annie's eyes popped even wider at this, but she recovered quickly, catching his eye with a smile and clinking their glasses together.

Dinner went by with comfortable conversation. Jeff idly thought that if this was a date (which it was, in his mind), it was just about the best date he'd ever been on. His best friend sat across from him, allowing them to skip the perfunctory questions about jobs and hobbies and just move on to the good stuff: conversation about their mutual friends, things they both loved to do, casual debate over whether the final book in the Hunger Games series was a complete disaster or just ultra realistic. Jeff felt that if he could spend every night like this, just sharing his time with this woman, that he could justify giving up his playboy lifestyle for it.

Annie groaned lightly as she fell back onto the couch, carefully balancing her wine glass in one hand and slinging the other over her stomach.

"Ugh, I've never eaten that much food in my life," she complained. Jeff chuckled as he slipped down next to her, turning toward her with one knee on the couch and his other foot on the floor. He sipped his wine before responding.

"I told you to stop after your third piece of cheesecake," he reminded. She levelled him with a glare.

"Homemade cheesecake. Homemade cheesecake that could rival Shirley's homemade cheesecake," she returned. "I mean, good God, you don't stop eating homemade cheesecake just because you're full. You keep eating until you're literally ready to explode. It's in the Constitution." Jeff laughed sharply at this.

"As a former lawyer, I can say with absolute confidence that eating cheesecake until you explode is not in the Constitution." She nodded emphatically.

"Uh, yes it is, former lawyer. It's the pursuit of happiness," she argued. Jeff laughed at this.

"That's the Declaration of Independence, not the Constitution," he corrected. She rolled her eyes.

"Whatever, I can't be expected to know these things when I have cheesecake brain." He smiled at her, knowing his affection was peeking through and not bothering to hide it. She watched him a moment, her eyes soft. She dropped her head sideways to rest it against the back of the couch and smiled at him.

"This was one heck of a celebratory dinner," she said lightly. She held her glass out to him. "Compliments to the chef." Jeff grinned and clinked his glass with hers before taking a sip, and then setting his on the table. He returned to watching her for a moment, a silence passing between them that was not entirely settled. Annie noticed as his hands fiddled together in his lap.

After a few more moments, of this, she finally spoke up.

"What's up, Jeff?" she asked, her whispered tone startling Jeff out of his thought process. He took a deep, steadying breath before shifting a little in his seat.

"How much have I told you about my father?" he abruptly asked. Annie blinked a few times, obviously caught off guard by the question.

"Umm... not much?" Her voice lilted upward at the end, questioningly. Jeff nodded and peered down at his hands in his lap as he forged onward.

"Yeah, I don't talk about it a lot," he said quietly. "Mainly because I don't want anyone to know." He glanced up at her briefly, catching her eye, before averting his gaze once again. "My dad was a jerk. You know that, right?"

"I think we all know that much," she confirmed. He offered a wry chuckle before continuing.

"Well, he was. And he was kind of... mean to me, you know?" She nodded. He looked past her as he went on. "He used to get so mad... so, so mad. He'd come home and before he was even in the door he was already yelling at me and my mom and banging on things. We could hear him coming." He stopped a moment, trying to figure out how to say what he was trying to say. Thankfully, Annie granted him a few moments to gather his thoughts.

"I was just a kid, you know," he eventually said. "I was only five when he left... it's not like I had a long time to get to know him or... get attached. And if there was any attachment, he went out of his way to kill it." Jeff sighed deeply, finally looking in Annie's direction, but not really at her. "He just... fuck, I don't know. It was like he didn't want to me feel anything. Like he knew he was being a jerk and didn't want me to be bothered by it... so whenever I cried, or showed any signs of actual, genuine human emotion, he would fall all over himself trying to make me stop—be that by yelling at me, or throwing me into walls, or whipping me with his belt... he just didn't want me to feel. And he'd always cover it by telling my mom that he was teaching me to be a man, and that real men don't cry, but I always knew that was horseshit, and I think she did too. It was as if he wanted me to feel nothing, so that when he finally left, he wouldn't have to feel bad about hurting my feelings."

"Jeff," Annie said quietly. He caught her eye, finally, a deep frown set on his lips.

"The really crappy thing, Annie," he said quietly. "The thing that sucks the most, is that it kind of worked. I mean, yeah, it hurt when he left, but how could it possibly hurt that bad when he'd worked so hard to beat the feelings out of me?

"And so now... now when I'm supposed to be this normal, fully functioning adult, I'm fucking terrified to show any of those things that he always taught me were wrong for men to feel. It's like my entire understanding of what it is to be a man is tied up in this idea that men don't cry or men aren't pussies, or any of the other crappy things he used to say to me in between shoves and punches."

Jeff let his sentence drift away, feeling weirdly spent after getting that far... and he was only halfway there. He had seriously underestimated how hard this would be.

Annie watched him for a moment, sadness evident in her eyes as she sat back in her seat, toying with the nearly empty wine glass in her hand.

"Jeff?" she asked quietly after a moment. Jeff peered up at her. "Not that I mind... but why are you telling me all of this?"

"Because I want you to know," he said simply. He shifted a little on the couch, facing her more fully. "Because if I'm distant with you, or hard to get a read on, it's not because I don't care about you or because you don't mean something to me, because you do, and it sucks that I don't know how to show that to you."

"What brought this on?" she asked. Jeff carefully reached out toward her, slipping the glass from her hand and placing it next to his on the table before returning. He took her hands in his and leaned in closer.

"Annie, I've never wanted anyone to know these things before. I've never wanted to tell this story because I've never met anyone who made me feel like I could be this way with them."

"Be what way?" she asked.

"Vulnerable," he said quietly. "Because the world says that it's a weakness, and until recently, that's what I thought too."

"It's not a weakness," she said, her voice barely a breath in the room.

"I know that now," Jeff admitted. "And you taught me that, by showing me that it can be a strength... a virtue." Annie's brow furrowed.

"How did I do that?" Jeff sat still a moment, before slipping his hands from hers and lifting himself off the couch. Annie watched as he disappeared into his bedroom, emerging a moment later with a small booklet in his hands. He flipped to the last page before settling back down onto the couch and handing it to her

"With this," he said quietly. Annie looked down at the picture on the paper, the one he'd taken of her, soaked and cold in his dim, rain-lit apartment. She looked up at him, questioningly. "You let me in, Annie," he said quietly. "You let me in, in a way no one has before. I don't know how to explain to you what it felt like the first time I saw this photo... I just knew that was it. That's what I was looking for, the emotion I was trying to capture without even realizing it."

Annie looked at the picture, her bottom lip stuck between her teeth. Jeff watched as she read the comment beneath the photo from Professor Lewis: The true strength of a person is exemplified by their ability to be vulnerable.

"She's right, you know," he said after a moment. Annie's looked back up at him.

"Right about what?"

"That it takes a strong person to be vulnerable. You know that, I think you always have. But I... I let my dad convince me that being vulnerable is something that you should avoid at all costs, or you'll get hurt." Annie frowned as he said this. "And maybe I will get hurt," he allowed. "Maybe all of this openness and vulnerability is just a set up for more heartache, but what I realize when I look at this picture of you is that maybe it's worth it. Maybe it takes pain to recognize the true value of what you have, and why it's worth fighting for."

"And what are you fighting for, Jeff?" she asked suddenly. He bit the inside of his cheek as she continued. "This is all really sweet, but all of the vulnerability in the world means nothing if it doesn't come with honesty. What do you want, Jeff? Honestly."

"I want you," he said simply. Annie blinked up at him, her brow creasing.

"And you figured that out because of a photo?"

"Honestly, Annie, I figured it out the moment I walked into my apartment and saw you sitting there wearing nothing but my t-shirt," he said quietly. He grimaced at that. "That didn't come out right..."

"It's okay, I think I get what you're trying to say," Annie cut him off, a small laugh in her voice. Jeff smiled lightly.

"You're the best, Annie," he said quietly. "I'm sorry it took me so long to tell you that." She watched him a moment, in her eyes a mixture of sadness for his story, and awe that this is where events had led. Jeff watched her as she closed the portfolio and set it down on the table next to their wine glasses, careful not to bump them, before returning back to where he was.

"So what now?" she asked, her voice barely a whisper in the room. Jeff offered a small, but genuine smile and reached out one hand to palm her cheek. She sunk into his warmth and sighed, her eyes heavy as she watched him.

"I'd really like to kiss you," he admitted. She quirked a small grin.

"I might be okay with that," she allowed. Jeff chuckled lightly, his thumb making small swipes against her cheekbone as he began to lean in. "Wait, wait, wait!" Annie said, abruptly jumping up from the couch so quickly that it made Jeff's head spin as she raced toward the door where she'd left her purse.

"What's wrong?" he asked over his shoulder, concern evident in his voice. She dug around a moment before emerging with something and returning to the couch. He raised an eyebrow as he saw what she held in her hands. She settled into her seat and clicked on the small device, pointing it at him. "What are you doing?" he asked, laughter in his voice.

"Mind if I take a picture?" she asked, a smirk on her lips. Jeff laughed lightly.

"Annie..."

"Come on," she encouraged. He rolled his eyes, but offered a small smile for her anyway.

"No, don't smile," she directed. He dropped the smile, offered a little bit of a smoulder (that Annie totally did not shiver at). "Nope, not that either." He sighed, his lips tingling in anticipation, his irritation at the camera between them growing.

"Well, what do you want me to do?" he asked. She peeked out from behind her small point-and-shoot, as if thinking deeply about what direction to take.

"Just do nothing," she said. "Just look at the lens, and do nothing." Jeff fought off a smile at his own words being thrown back at him. He took a deep breath and sunk into the moment, his face relaxing as he watched her with a gaze that he hoped showed the depth of affection he held for her.

Then, he was nearly blinded by the flash.

"Gah!" he cried out, blinking in a desperate effort to remove the spots of purple and green before his eyes.

"Sorry!" Annie exclaimed, setting down the camera, her hands going to his face. "Sorry, sorry, sorry! I didn't know it was going to flash!" Jeff continued to blink, irritated by the giant blotch blocking out the centre of her face in the dimly lit room. He glared at her as best he could when she snorted a small laugh.

"You think this is funny?" he asked. She burst then, laughing loudly, falling back on the couch with her hands over her face. Jeff finally managed to clear his eyes of the remnants of the flash, and couldn't help his own laughter as he took in the sight of Annie laying before him, her whole body shaking with the force of her laughter. "Annie," he said, through his chuckles, leaning over her slightly to pull her hands away from her face. She peered up at him, her smile radiant as she continued to giggle.

"I ruined the moment, didn't I?" she asked, the smile on her lips belying her apologetic tone. Jeff shook his head, unable to stop the small spurts of laughter.

"You didn't ruin it," he assured her, leaning in a little closer. Her giggles subsided finally, and she reached up to rest her palm against his cheek as he dropped down to kiss her lightly. It only lasted a second before he pulled slightly away, taking her hand from his cheek and threading their fingers together. He met her gaze then. "You made it better," he said quietly. He shook his head, in slight disbelief. "No matter what it is, you always make things better."

Jeff hovered above her for a moment, watching her as she peered up at him. It was hard to believe that just five minutes two weeks earlier had set all of this in motion—but the proof was right there before him. He smiled gently as he manoeuvred them on the couch so they were each laying on their sides, bodies pressed long and lean against each other as hands rested on hips and arms in gentle, but insistent grasps.

"I really want you to kiss me," Annie whispered, her voice barely a breath and nearly drowned out by the now steady beating of rain against the window pane.

"Wait," he teased in a whisper. Annie giggled lightly and Jeff grinned, quickly closing the gap. He relaxed into it as their lips slid against each other's in long, languid kisses that in no way made up for the four years of waiting; but he'd have time to worry about that later. For now there were no over-stuffed tummies, or pictures to be taken, or parental mistakes to discuss. For now there was just this.

This was enough.

End

I really loved this prompt, so thanks again to the lovely leap_of_faith81 for suggesting it. I hope you all liked it!