fic: Cold Open (1/1)
title: Cold Open
fandom: Community
pairing: Annie/Jeff
rating: pg13
word count: 1,344
spoilers: Through Debate 109
for: greta_garbo's fic slam with the prompt: private argument in a public place.
How the fight starts is hard to say, since Annie talks really fast and Jeff has a tendency to unleash semantic ninja skills when put under pressure. The result is that Jeff and Annie are squared off in the middle of an outdoor walkway sniping at each other in something less than restrained tones.
“Shirley was right, you need to decide whether you want to be treated like a child or an adult," he reminds her snidely.
"Not everybody's like you, Jeff. Some people care what other people think of them no matter how old they get!"
"Everybody cares about that shit, Annie, we just all learned how to deal with it. And you're not the one with the short end of the stick here. If this . . . thing," he waves one hand back and forth between the two of them, "becomes some sort of . . . thing, I'm the one who gets called a perv, or Hugh Hefner, or Roman Polanski, who all have really bad hair by the way.”
"This is all Abed's fault anyway," she rebuts lamely.
"Oh that's convenient! Credit where credit's due, huh? MLA format and all that crap? Abed's not the one who made me drop Simmons on his face by sucking mine, Annie.”
She gasps. "MLA format is not crap, Jeff."
He holds up his hands in mocking apology. "Oh, sorry, I forgot I was talking to the StudyBot 2000."
Annie stops then, looking up at him with sudden hurt and resignation flooding into her eyes behind the anger. "I never would have done it if Shirley hadn't told us about Abed's video," Annie says evenly. "He put the idea out there; I just used it to win the debate."
"Like that was all there was to it? I don't think the judges could hear the moan or see the tongue swipe, you wanna explain those to me?!”
Jeff doesn’t realize he’s actually yelling until the word "moan" comes out of his mouth and Annie whispers, "Jeff!" urgently.
She glances around the busy walkway while trying to avoid catching the eyes of the few people who stopped and looked.
He winces and glares around as well, giving a menacing look to anyone who’s paying attention. It doesn’t matter. It’s too late. He can’t take it back. This isn’t court and nothing can be stricken from the record. He spots the door to the library not far off and looks back to Annie. He wishes he hadn’t. That face. He feels like utter shit.
“Come on,” he reaches for her arm but she pulls away. “Annie,” he says, quieter. She relents.
While Jeff takes long strides through the library, Annie hangs onto his hand and hurries along behind. Now they're getting curious looks for much different reasons.
They get to a remote section of tall shelves and Jeff stops and turns so suddenly that Annie almost runs into him. She tugs back on her hand in his but Jeff doesn't let go. He looks her in the eye for a moment, and she finds herself staring back even as tears sting the backs of her eyes in anticipation. She tugs herself up straighter from within, willing the defiance back into her eyes. He sighs.
"I'm sorry. Yelling like that was really shitty."
She starts to reply, but he cuts her off.
"But you gotta cut me some slack here and trust me that this," he picks up their clasped hands between them, "is not something that needs to be on Greendale TMZ right now, okay? Do you really want to deal with Britta and Shirley's mother hen delusions? Do you think I want to deal with Pierce or Abed's completely nonsensical yet freakishly unforgettable input?"
"So that's what it's about huh? I knew it. This is all about Britta!" Annie bursts out, finally snatching her hand away and crossing her arms tightly.
"What the WHAT?! That's what you got out of that?"
"SHHH!!" a voice around the corner shouts. "Library? Hello!"
"Um, get over it, hellloooooo!" Annie snaps back animatedly. Jeff has to stifle a grin at that one. Broken and sad Annie is horrible, but riled up and snappy Annie is still inconveniently adorable.
When she glares back at him he sobers and looks away. The mood keeps shifting too fast for him to catch up, but he tries again to continue. "Ann-"
"No. No, I'm talking now," she says with conviction, if a bit shakily. "Whatever you think my reasons were for kissing you, you can just forget about it. I'm grateful that you filled in even though you obviously had no interest in the competition beyond getting that parking space, so just . . ." she stares at him and bites her lip. "Just forget all about it, okay?"
They stand in silence for a moment, Annie watching Jeff as he stares glumly at the floor. When she turns to leave his voice stops her.
"It wasn't just for the parking space."
She turns back to him. Her heart speeds up even more and her mouth goes dry waiting for him to continue. When he doesn't she finally asks, "Jeff?"
"You deserved to win. You deserved to beat that asshole Simmons. I just wanted to help you do that stuff. The parking space didn't matter," he explains.
"R-really?"
He looks back at her, finally, and breathes out the syllable. "Yeah."
"Everything else I said . . ." he starts again, but Annie shakes her head and reaches up.
Her hand hesitantly touches the side of his face and his mouth welds itself shut while his eyes bug out. Annie goes up on her tip toes and presses a kiss to Jeff's other cheek.
"Thank you," she says softly next to his ear. He's a dude, so he doesn't acknowledge the shiver that zips through him at the sensation of her breath on his skin. He catches her elbow in his hand as she moves away, leans down swiftly, and kisses her.
She makes one tiny noise of surprise and then it's over and they're standing there, her hand flat on his chest and his having somehow migrated to her waist. Again.
"I'm sorry I called you StudyBot 2000," Jeff murmurs.
"I'm sorry I said your soul was three sizes too small for your Frankenstein-like height."
Jeff's eyebrows do a reverse limbo. "Be kind rewind?"
Annie shrugs a little. "In my head. But I'm still sorry."
Jeff grins at her, and she carefully adjusts the collar of his shirt so it lays flatter before her hand slips away. "We're going to be late for study group," she reminds softly and Jeff nods.
"So . . ."
"And I think it would be better if we just don't let on that any of this transpired," she adds primly, but her smile belies her meaning.
Jeff schools his expression into a semi-relaxed seriousness as she turns to lead the way toward the study area. "Whatever you want, Annie."
She doesn't turn around, but Annie feels like her heart just lifted off like a hot air balloon. She's utterly unsure what exactly just happened beyond Jeff apologizing, and okay, she gets that he kissed her, but when he ducks in front of her to open the door she decides it doesn't matter for the moment.
"Milady," he addresses her with a flourish. She gives him a little curtsy as she enters and answers, "Milord."
"What's with the lovefest?" Britta asks bluntly of the pair.
"Annie and Jeff bonded during the debate and now they're exploring new aspects of their relationship in light of the rampant sexual tension brought up by studying together and then kissing," Abed pipes up.
Jeff gives him a deadpan look. "Thanks, Abed. Anything else we missed from last week's episode?"
Abed glances around the table, his mild brown-eyed stare landing on Annie and then Jeff. "Nah. You guys are pretty much caught up." He makes a vague hand motion to no one in particular and adds under his breath, "Roll credits."
_
fandom: Community
pairing: Annie/Jeff
rating: pg13
word count: 1,344
spoilers: Through Debate 109
for: greta_garbo's fic slam with the prompt: private argument in a public place.
How the fight starts is hard to say, since Annie talks really fast and Jeff has a tendency to unleash semantic ninja skills when put under pressure. The result is that Jeff and Annie are squared off in the middle of an outdoor walkway sniping at each other in something less than restrained tones.
“Shirley was right, you need to decide whether you want to be treated like a child or an adult," he reminds her snidely.
"Not everybody's like you, Jeff. Some people care what other people think of them no matter how old they get!"
"Everybody cares about that shit, Annie, we just all learned how to deal with it. And you're not the one with the short end of the stick here. If this . . . thing," he waves one hand back and forth between the two of them, "becomes some sort of . . . thing, I'm the one who gets called a perv, or Hugh Hefner, or Roman Polanski, who all have really bad hair by the way.”
"This is all Abed's fault anyway," she rebuts lamely.
"Oh that's convenient! Credit where credit's due, huh? MLA format and all that crap? Abed's not the one who made me drop Simmons on his face by sucking mine, Annie.”
She gasps. "MLA format is not crap, Jeff."
He holds up his hands in mocking apology. "Oh, sorry, I forgot I was talking to the StudyBot 2000."
Annie stops then, looking up at him with sudden hurt and resignation flooding into her eyes behind the anger. "I never would have done it if Shirley hadn't told us about Abed's video," Annie says evenly. "He put the idea out there; I just used it to win the debate."
"Like that was all there was to it? I don't think the judges could hear the moan or see the tongue swipe, you wanna explain those to me?!”
Jeff doesn’t realize he’s actually yelling until the word "moan" comes out of his mouth and Annie whispers, "Jeff!" urgently.
She glances around the busy walkway while trying to avoid catching the eyes of the few people who stopped and looked.
He winces and glares around as well, giving a menacing look to anyone who’s paying attention. It doesn’t matter. It’s too late. He can’t take it back. This isn’t court and nothing can be stricken from the record. He spots the door to the library not far off and looks back to Annie. He wishes he hadn’t. That face. He feels like utter shit.
“Come on,” he reaches for her arm but she pulls away. “Annie,” he says, quieter. She relents.
While Jeff takes long strides through the library, Annie hangs onto his hand and hurries along behind. Now they're getting curious looks for much different reasons.
They get to a remote section of tall shelves and Jeff stops and turns so suddenly that Annie almost runs into him. She tugs back on her hand in his but Jeff doesn't let go. He looks her in the eye for a moment, and she finds herself staring back even as tears sting the backs of her eyes in anticipation. She tugs herself up straighter from within, willing the defiance back into her eyes. He sighs.
"I'm sorry. Yelling like that was really shitty."
She starts to reply, but he cuts her off.
"But you gotta cut me some slack here and trust me that this," he picks up their clasped hands between them, "is not something that needs to be on Greendale TMZ right now, okay? Do you really want to deal with Britta and Shirley's mother hen delusions? Do you think I want to deal with Pierce or Abed's completely nonsensical yet freakishly unforgettable input?"
"So that's what it's about huh? I knew it. This is all about Britta!" Annie bursts out, finally snatching her hand away and crossing her arms tightly.
"What the WHAT?! That's what you got out of that?"
"SHHH!!" a voice around the corner shouts. "Library? Hello!"
"Um, get over it, hellloooooo!" Annie snaps back animatedly. Jeff has to stifle a grin at that one. Broken and sad Annie is horrible, but riled up and snappy Annie is still inconveniently adorable.
When she glares back at him he sobers and looks away. The mood keeps shifting too fast for him to catch up, but he tries again to continue. "Ann-"
"No. No, I'm talking now," she says with conviction, if a bit shakily. "Whatever you think my reasons were for kissing you, you can just forget about it. I'm grateful that you filled in even though you obviously had no interest in the competition beyond getting that parking space, so just . . ." she stares at him and bites her lip. "Just forget all about it, okay?"
They stand in silence for a moment, Annie watching Jeff as he stares glumly at the floor. When she turns to leave his voice stops her.
"It wasn't just for the parking space."
She turns back to him. Her heart speeds up even more and her mouth goes dry waiting for him to continue. When he doesn't she finally asks, "Jeff?"
"You deserved to win. You deserved to beat that asshole Simmons. I just wanted to help you do that stuff. The parking space didn't matter," he explains.
"R-really?"
He looks back at her, finally, and breathes out the syllable. "Yeah."
"Everything else I said . . ." he starts again, but Annie shakes her head and reaches up.
Her hand hesitantly touches the side of his face and his mouth welds itself shut while his eyes bug out. Annie goes up on her tip toes and presses a kiss to Jeff's other cheek.
"Thank you," she says softly next to his ear. He's a dude, so he doesn't acknowledge the shiver that zips through him at the sensation of her breath on his skin. He catches her elbow in his hand as she moves away, leans down swiftly, and kisses her.
She makes one tiny noise of surprise and then it's over and they're standing there, her hand flat on his chest and his having somehow migrated to her waist. Again.
"I'm sorry I called you StudyBot 2000," Jeff murmurs.
"I'm sorry I said your soul was three sizes too small for your Frankenstein-like height."
Jeff's eyebrows do a reverse limbo. "Be kind rewind?"
Annie shrugs a little. "In my head. But I'm still sorry."
Jeff grins at her, and she carefully adjusts the collar of his shirt so it lays flatter before her hand slips away. "We're going to be late for study group," she reminds softly and Jeff nods.
"So . . ."
"And I think it would be better if we just don't let on that any of this transpired," she adds primly, but her smile belies her meaning.
Jeff schools his expression into a semi-relaxed seriousness as she turns to lead the way toward the study area. "Whatever you want, Annie."
She doesn't turn around, but Annie feels like her heart just lifted off like a hot air balloon. She's utterly unsure what exactly just happened beyond Jeff apologizing, and okay, she gets that he kissed her, but when he ducks in front of her to open the door she decides it doesn't matter for the moment.
"Milady," he addresses her with a flourish. She gives him a little curtsy as she enters and answers, "Milord."
"What's with the lovefest?" Britta asks bluntly of the pair.
"Annie and Jeff bonded during the debate and now they're exploring new aspects of their relationship in light of the rampant sexual tension brought up by studying together and then kissing," Abed pipes up.
Jeff gives him a deadpan look. "Thanks, Abed. Anything else we missed from last week's episode?"
Abed glances around the table, his mild brown-eyed stare landing on Annie and then Jeff. "Nah. You guys are pretty much caught up." He makes a vague hand motion to no one in particular and adds under his breath, "Roll credits."
_