Pairing: Jeff/Annie
Spoilers: Through the finale of Season 4, Jeff's graduation, and dinner with the group
Word Count: 5225
Rating: PG-13 (language)
Disclaimer: If I owned Community, you'd all probably absolutely hate it.
Author's Notes: I take liberties with character's motivations and thoughts...but that's kind of the name of the game if you're going to write fan fiction. I try as hard as I can to stay within the limits of the developed character though.

"This isn't the study room."

"And YOU'RE the one who got their college degree early…astounding." Annie shot Jeff a withering look, but softened it up with a slight curl of her lips after a few seconds. Jeff found Annie's smile addictive, but her banter and teasing was his bread and butter, and he could always give as good as he got.

"Look, I told you that if you needed to go, you needed to before we left, and I followed my own advice. We aren't pulling over now…you'll just have to wait until we get there." Jeff locked eyes with Annie, giving her a look that bespoke both amusement and concern with their current situation.

"Jeff, be serious."

"I AM being serious. Now, behave…or I'll turn this evening around, and we'll go home, and then there'll be no Disneyland for anyone, missy!" It was clear to Annie that Jeff was in fact, not taking this seriously.

"Je-e-e-ff! Annie whined, drawing out his name in a familiar manner Jeff found both obnoxious and endearing.

"Annie" Jeff rejoined "I have my suspicions why you dragged us in here, but I'm going to pretend I don't until you spell them out for me. For now, I'm just going to give you my 'I'm getting impatient look,' and point out that again, this isn't the study room, my car keys probably aren't in a stall here, and even though we didn't see it, that…thing is probably still out there."

Annie slowly approached Jeff where he was leaning against the counter. "Jeff, you promised we were going to talk about this." She mirrored Jeff's gesture from the storage room, pointing back and forth between them.

Jeff kept silent while Annie continued closing the distance between him. Once she was in his personal space, she took advantage of his lowered position, slouching against the counter, and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Jeff…you'd better not use the same cop out you did last time." Annie gently warned. She didn't feel any trepidation about being so upfront with him after how things had proceeded so recently. In the storage room, he'd claimed their kiss was a mistake, but then proceeded to tell her he didn't care anymore, and repeatedly kissed her prior to her dragging her off here.

"Sorry, Annie. I stand by what I said before. Relationships are complicated, and we're in the Men's room…" Jeff gave Annie an odd look, turning his head to the side to regard her out of the corner of his eye. As he felt her drawing her face in closer, he stood, gently pulling himself out of her embrace, and began pacing the small room.

Annie didn't fail to notice the less-than-subtle move Jeff made to avoid the kiss, which she had intended on planting on him, as she figured her body language had been clearly communicating. He'd promised an end to mixed signals, and kissed her while telling her it was a mistake. She'd told him she loved him, and he'd given her the Han Solo treatment…which she had to admit, was pretty endearing, and not a little bit sexy. She loved Jeff's blatant confidence, to the point that she'd slightly embarrassed herself when the Dean had "body-swapped" with Jeff. She couldn't help it…his 'in your face, I know I'm awesome' attitude was hot.

Jeff continued pacing, keeping a wary eye on the door, which Annie decided to try to comfort him on…if she ever wanted to get the focus of his attention in her, she'd have to force the issue, and make herself a bigger problem than their fear of a creature that was feeling like a less substantial threat from moment to moment. She had two ways to go about this. She could make herself a larger nuisance, thus demanding Jeff's immediate attention to deal with her, or she could try to diminish the other problem actively occupying him. The former had proven effective in the past, but it was a route Annie was actively trying to avoid. She needed to get past the phase in her life where she'd get the reactions she wanted by yelling, screaming, or tossing drinks in faces. So, the latter choice…at least at first. If it didn't work, she'd reevaluate.

"Jeff…you need to relax. You didn't see that thing when you stepped out to see if it was safe to leave the storage room, did you?"

"No, no sign of it…but the room was well lit, and my eyes hadn't completely adjusted yet. Plus, you saw it back in the hallway, when we'd been out long enough for our night-vision to come on. It was difficult to see even then!"

Annie stood directly in Jeff's path. The small area available for movement made it tough for him to get around her, and he stopped, folding his arms to match hers.

"Jeff, even if we were still night blind, it was pretty obvious when it was following us TO the storage room…we'd have seen it while we were running here." Annie smiled up at him and ran her hands up his arms, from his elbows to his shoulders. "I want to talk about this now. Besides, you already decided we could outrun this thing if it came up on us."

Jeff was clearly mulling things over, Annie just kept pouring on the doe eyes, biting her lower lip while she waited for Jeff's assent. Of course…if he didn't give it, she'd have to figure a new way to push.

Jeff nodded. "Fine…but if it comes, we run. And you let me put myself between you and it, do you understand me?"

Annie bounced a little, and smiled up at the tall man. "So, is this another sign of 'new Jeff?' I still think you're planning on doing something stupidly noble if anything bad happens."

Jeff glared at her. "Annie, I am never noble at the risk of me or my inherent handsomeness. It just so happens that, while you're tough…which I've found out first hand, but you pretty much always caught me off guard too. Fact of the matter is…look at these guns. I flatter myself that I can handle a potentially dangerous situation better than you."

Annie faked an overly dramatic swoon as she felt his admittedly impressive arms, earning a crooked grin from Jeff. "So…how about that talk now, Jeff?"

Shaking his head, Jeff lightly chuckled. "You're slightly pathological. You know that, right?"

Annie's lips pressed to a thin line "I don't really think there's a way I can take that and not be insulted…"

"Well, Annie…I guess it all depends on how you take it. We've been hanging out at a deserted campus all night-"

"This has been your idea, Jeff."

"Been in several fights and made up-"

"I think most of those were your fault too."

"Followed by God only knows what-"

"Ok, I can't blame that one on you. Not yet, anyway…"

"And we're in a room I typically consider off-limits for conversation, and you want to have a 'define the relationship' chat! You're obsessed!"

Annie's brows furrowed, then she brightly came back with "Not obsessed…passionate."

Jeff's eyes grew wide as he turned back to face Annie head on. "No. You are not going to Nic Cage me here… Bad Annie!"

Annie smiled as she reached her face up and kissed Jeff lightly on the cheek. Now that they were in a lit bathroom, she liked seeing the flush spreading after she did. He turned, and stepped away before she could make more progress towards getting another shot at his lips. He hadn't seemed to want to stop kissing her in the storage room, but hadn't made even the slightest move to kiss her once they got in here. Was he upset that she took charge? Was his delicate male ego bruised or something?

Oh, God…did she have bad breath?!

No matter what the reason was, she was determined to figure out what caused this massive change in attitude. She couldn't handle the hot and cold anymore. First he'd promised he wouldn't send mixed signals, and then he couldn't resist her advances, now he didn't want to touch her. She thought back to her talk with Abed in the Dreamatorium. It was true that she wanted to be loved, and it was true that she felt if she could get Jeff, an avowed lifelong bachelor on board with that, then she was fairly certain that she'd be able to repeat the process again if she ever needed to (as in, if they ever, heaven forbid, broke up.)

Of course, it was really more than that. She actually loved Jeff…it wasn't just that he was a challenge that would test her skills. He was amazing looking, and intelligent, and his self-confidence was—

"Hello…earth to Annie Edison. Can you hear me, Major Tom?"

Annie shook herself out of her sudden contemplation. "Who's Major Tom?"

Jeff just chuckled at Annie's youth compared to his own age. She may be mature for her years, but there was definitely a cultural divide there.

"So…you love me, huh?"

Annie composed herself, pulling her cardigan downward to straighten it and pull out any wrinkles out of habit, more than anything. She drew herself up to her full height and looked Jeff right in the eye. "Yes, I do. Is that a problem, Councilor Winger?"

Jeff shook his head at her, "No, not a problem…depending on if you mean it, or if this is just something you've seized on, and won't let go of. How do you know you love me? If I recall correctly, you had a little bit of an obsession with Troy when we all first started out here…then you were about to run away with Vaughn. In both cases, you let go of your feelings for them pretty quickly. How do you know that isn't going to happen with me just as easily?"

Annie was startled by the steel in Jeff's voice. She got the distinct impression he wasn't asking for his health…he actually wanted answers, and he was leaning back against the counter again, arms folded, expectant look directed her way.

"Fine, I guess I wanted to talk, that gives you the right to ask questions too. So, here goes. Might as well get comfy."

Jeff's only response was to make a show of getting more comfortable in his lean against the counter, and cocking an eyebrow.

"You sure you're ready for this, Jeff?"

"Lay it on me, baby."

"Fine. Back when I was in high school, yes, Troy matched a certain number of factors that made him…quite desirable to me. He was popular, good-looking, confident…is hearing this description feeling at all like déjà vu, Jeff?" Annie waited for Jeff to respond to her, but when he remained still in his position, and just continued giving her a look that felt like he was interrogating her with his eyes, Annie decided to just move on.

"The problems with Troy were, he was completely self absorbed-"

"Was?!"

"I'm getting to that, Jeff, don't interrupt if you aren't going to even respond when I clearly want you to. Anyway, Troy was the quintessential high school sports star, and I was the least popular person in school, even before my Adderall breakdown. Of course he was everything I wanted. He was a big fish in a small pond. Then, we came here to Greendale…and my affection for him came with me. I don't really think you can blame me for still having a thing for Troy when I hadn't had a chance to see what else…or who else was there that might be better?"

At this, Jeff's eyes opened wide. Annie had a sinking feeling she'd said the wrong thing, but she decided to run with it, to try to dig herself out of the hole she felt she'd managed to get into.

"So, when our first semester made it very, very clear that not only would Troy and I never get together, I'd also figured out that I didn't really want that anymore anyway."

"Why not? What changed?"

Annie felt some small amount of relief. Jeff's voice was still hard, but he didn't sound as irritated as he had just moments previously.

"I did, Jeff. I may have been young, and compared to someone as ancient as yourself, I'm still young—" Annie briefly paused to give an overly sweet smile to respond to Jeff's growing glare at Annie's casual age comment. "but I'm not as young as I was. I know this may come as a shock, but I've actually learned a few things during my time here at Greendale. I've learned what it means to have friends, and to be accepted. I've learned that sometimes I have to put my own goals and desires aside for the people I care about, and I've learned what sort of person I really want when it comes to finding who I want to be with. It isn't the star athlete who's completely full of himself, and reminds me of the bad times."

Jeff's look had turned to one of concern, so Annie tried to answer what she assumed were his unanswered questions.

"Yes, I know my relationship with Troy has changed a lot over the past few years…and the high school me would have thrilled at the idea of living with him, but simply put, he isn't the same anymore, and neither am I. He may not be totally self-absorbed anymore, and he may be one of my best friends in the world, but by the time we reached that point, we'd developed way too much of a fraternal relationship. You just don't fall for a sibling like that, Jeff. Troy and I just weren't ever meant to be, and that doesn't bother me."

Jeff allowed Annie a single, shallow nod, conceding the Troy point to her. "Ok, now what about the shirtless wonder?"

"Vaughn was…special. At that point, I'd given up on Troy, and even though I had kissed you at the debate, there was some serious awkwardness between us, plus you had your fill of drama going on between Britta and Slater. So, when Vaughn started paying attention to me…it felt good. I may have been keeping things going slow in some respects, but we moved pretty quickly in others. Our physical relationship never really developed beyond kissing, but I may have gotten overly emotionally attached to him fairly quickly, otherwise I never would have agreed to move to Maryland with him. I think you and I both knew when we saw each other outside the Tranny Dance that I'd made the right move by coming back."

Annie was surprised to find that she felt the sensation of tears tracking down her cheeks after this last confession. She hadn't expected this level of emotion just from going over her old romantic interests, but there was something visceral about baring herself to Jeff so bluntly that struck a nerve. She took a tentative step away from the stalls, and towards him, and he brought his posture slightly more upright, simultaneously widening his stance.

That was all the signal Annie needed. She didn't rush, but simply continued walking forward. When she was a step away from him, he unfolded his arms, and wrapped them around her as she pressed into him. She didn't sob, but a tear occasionally escaped her eyes, soaking into Jeff's shirt. Her emotions were so chaotic she really didn't know what she was feeling. Jeff had made her feel like nothing else could go wrong in her life back in the storage room when he'd told her that he had to force himself to avoid getting physical with her, but that he was tired of it…and then they got into the men's room, and he'd gone right back into avoiding her. He had her bare her feelings to him, seemingly dispassionate as he listened, but when she started cracking, he was right there to comfort her.

Annie pulled back, emotions back in check. Was this really all she needed? Could her internal demons always be quelled by something as simple as Jeff holding her? He didn't need to say anything, he didn't need to do anything except be there…and Annie could only hope that it could always be this easy. Even more than that, she hoped she'd have the chance for such an easy solution to even be available to her. Jeff's endgame was completely unclear to her at this point.

"Doing ok?" Jeff's voice was gentle. Annie looked up at him and nodded. "Good. So…you've told me why things didn't end up working out for you with Troy or Vaughn, but I still want to hear why you think you love me."

Annie felt slightly attacked by the doubtful tone in his voice. "What, you don't think I love you?"

"I think that I've learned to be a bit cautious about believing women who declare their love for me. Also…I'm cautious about believing people in general who declare their love for me." Jeff stated matter of factly, the look on his face making it clear to Annie that he felt the allusions he was making should be obvious.

Annie made a hurt huffing sound and began a quick pace in front of the counter, back and forth, back and forth. After a few rounds, she decided to attack back, and came to a halt.

"Jeff! That was a low, unfair blow. I'm not Britta or Professor Slater, and I'm definitely not your father!"

Annie caught Jeff mumbling out "Thank God for that…" after she had finished with her first salvo. She wasn't done yet, not by a long shot. "Furthermore, you do not get to doubt my feelings for you just because other people have let you down. I shouldn't have to pay for their mistakes, and yes, I understand that your personality is shaped by your past…mine is too, but there is a BIG difference between your having lack of faith in people in general, and your specific doubt of me. I'd like to think after we've been friends for so long, and whatever the hell we've been for however the hell long we've been it, you'd be willing to give me the benefit of the doubt once in a while!"

Jeff didn't raise his lowered head, but he raised his eyes to meet her face. "Whatever the hell we've been?"

Annie shrugged. "You're the one inviting me to dances and on vacations. We've already covered the fact that we're pseudo-dating…haven't we? I don't know what to call us anymore, Jeff."

"Ok, so you love me…you still haven't told me why." Jeff kept his arms folded, and head down. Annie couldn't help it anymore, she approached him, and tried threading an arm through the crook of one of Jeff's folded arms, and leaning her cheek against his shoulder.

"Annie, back off."

"Excuse me?"

"Back the hell off right now, Annie!"

Annie was stunned…and released Jeff, and backed away, leaning against the stall divider directly across the room from him. She couldn't keep the hurt from her voice. "Jeff, what the hell is wrong with you?"

Jeff raised his head and gave her an absolutely humiliating look, one that bespoke Jeff's scorn that she hadn't already figured everything out. "Well, Annie…as I've mentioned before, relationships are complicated, and we're in the Men's Room, and –"

"That's enough! I'm pretty damn tired of that line…" Annie interrupted Jeff before he could finish echoing himself from their fight years previously. "So, now what?"

Jeff rolled his eyes, and pressed his lips together in a thin line, and after appearing to gather himself for a few seconds, spoke, sounding exhausted as he repeated his earlier words. "You still haven't told me why…"

Annie felt something like rage shooting through her body. And he called her pathological earlier…he wouldn't let up on a simple question. She balled her fists, and stamped her heel out of sheer frustration. "Fine! You want me to lay it on you? Buckle up, buttercup! I love you because you're one of the best looking guys I know. Shallow, yeah, but you're hot…and I like it, deal with it! I love you because you're a grownup, but so incredibly immature at times that you make people like Troy and Abed feel comfortable playing their dumb pretend games with you, and YES, Jeff Winger, I know sometimes you snark at them, but sometimes you play right along if you don't think anyone else is watching. That's right! I know you decorated the 'Christmas Troy,' and showed them your idea of what krumping was! Secret's out, baby!"

Annie paused for a breath…this felt pretty good.

"I love you because as hard as you try to be a selfish asshole, I know that you're a good man, who would do anything for his friends. I love you for your stupid, stupid obsessive clothes habits, even when it means you're making me stand in the cold because your damn jacket might get a wrinkle in a sleeve or something. I love you for all the dumb random adventures we've had together, whether they turned out well or not. I love you because you always call me on my crap, even if it means I'm mad at you for a while. I love you because you always push me to be a better person…"

"Jeff, God…I just love YOU. Is that ok with you, or do I have to keep justifying it?" Annie allowed herself to come to a stop, feeling like she might be overloading Jeff with her sudden outburst. She took a tentative step closer, and saw a tear at the corner of his eye.

"Annie? What if I got fat? Or lost my hair? Or got disfigured, somehow?" Annie could hear a note of actual fear in Jeff's voice. Was it possible that he felt he was only cared for because he was good-looking?

"Jeff…c'mon, don't be silly. If you got fat, you and I would start running together. Go bald? Hair plugs…this is easy stuff here."

Jeff looked up, and there was a dangerous look in his eyes. "Annie, I'm serious. If I lost my looks, how quickly would I lose you after that?"

Annie was taken slightly aback at the realization that her previous supposition wasn't only possible, but looked to be true.

"Jeff…even if you were a quadriplegic bald guy who ended up looking like Jim Belushi, I'd still love you as long as you stayed you. I'm not going to pretend that I'm not attracted to your looks…but there's lots of good looking guys out there. You just happen to be a really good looking guy on top of the person I love, ok?"

Jeff's eyes had grown wide, and he shook his head to clear it. "Man…we've got to stop picking on that guy."

Annie smiled. "So…I convince you that I love you?"

Jeff smiled back, nodding. "Yeah…you love me. I never should have doubted you…I mean, look at me."

Annie felt relieved…Jeff was back. She took another step towards him, only for Jeff to hold up a warning hand. "Annie, I told you to stay back."

Ok…enough was enough here. She'd earned at least a hug after that!

"Jeff…what is going on? You get done telling me how you've had to hold back from kissing me before, and now you won't even let me hug you, even after I tell you what an amazing guy you are? I'd think I'd have earned it there!"

Jeff squeezed his eyes together tightly, as if in pain. "Ok, Annie…let me finish here. Like I've tried to say several times already. Relationships are complicated, and we're in the Men's Room, and I am NOT going to make out with you in here."

Annie was paralyzed by this new information…it wasn't about her at all, but…the room? She blinked a couple of times, and formed a perfect 'o' with her mouth.

"Ohhhhhh. That makes perfect sense."

Jeff nodded, "Yeah, truth be told, I actually try NOT to spend as much time in public restrooms as we've already spent in here tonight…so if we can get moving, maybe we can get somewhere where I don't feel like I have to keep you at arm's length to avoid doing something that shouldn't be done in a room with self-flushing urinals."

Annie nodded. "Yeah, but why didn't you say something earlier?"

Jeff just shrugged at her. "First of all, I tried, and second…you're the one who insisted we come in here in the first place. At least I got some good information out of it." He finished this statement off with a giant grin that Annie couldn't decide whether she found irritable, or cute in this situation.

"So, does this mean you're going to take charge again?" Annie offered him her hand to pull him away from the counter he had claimed as his territory for most of their time in this room.

Jeff's grin widened, "I am indeed. And you'd best just watch out, missy…for all the torture you gave me being all clingy while we were in here, there's no telling how long I'll be able to hold back once we're in a room that wouldn't be completely disgusting to let you cling to me in."

Annie felt the return of her infamous chest butterflies…as well as quickly reddening cheeks. "So, you have somewhere in mind, I'm guessing?"

"Yes, I do…and it's only a few minutes away."

"Lead the way then…I'm with you."

With that, Jeff and Annie stepped out of the bathroom…but as it turned out, Annie needed to wait more than a few minutes to find out their destination, since the moment they were out of the door, neither one could keep from attacking the other, leading to several minutes wasted as they took turns pressing the other against the wall, each one struggling for, and allowing the other dominance by turns. By the time they had finished their heated impromptu moment in the halls, Jeff realized they'd actually travelled a fair distance (in terms of movement during a makeout…really only a few steps while walking) in the wrong direction, and had to backtrack, passing the bathroom all over again, and giving each other ridiculous grins as they passed it.

A/N: Not going to lie...I'm not fond of this chapter. It's the story I intended to tell, with the big payoff being what I think is a half-decent laugh for one of my stories...plus, I got to address one of Jeff's deeper fears, that we see allusions to frequently (his obsession with his looks and his clothes stem from it,) but rarely directly...as far as I know, the biggest example was Jeff's Dinner with Abed. Pretty much everything was what I wanted...but something about it still feels off. Thus, I reserve the right to tweak this chapter. The story would remain the same, I might just unawkward (verbing is fun...) some dialogue and movement descriptions. Of course, I might just feel it's awkward because I consider the men's room a fairly strict "No talking" zone...Or, it might be because the bulk of this was written on vacation, and I wrote this in chunks when I wasn't busy enjoying Aspen...whatever it is, this may or may not be changed in the future.