Applied Human Mechanics
Title: Applied Human Mechanics - Group Support Systems (1/?)
Author:rorge
Character/Pairing: Jeff, Annie, Britta, Jeff/Annie
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Drama, Angst, Romance
Word Count: 2576
Summary: Jeff has been a little down lately....
Disclaimer: I definitely don't own Community. If I did, I'd be staging a sit in at NBC until they agreed to keep it on the air.
A/N: My first Community fanfic. This really just stemmed from a single, 'what if?' idea I had some time ago, and that idea seems to fit quite well with where the show is going with Jeff's character. Set in some ill-defined period shortly after Annie moves in with Troy and Abed.
The rest of the group was already perched around the table, chattering away like normal, when Jeff slouched into the room and dropped gracelessly into his chair.
“Good morning, Jeffrey,” Shirley said, seemingly glad of the opportunity to turn away from Pierce, who was making some sort of hand gesture to accompany whatever he was saying. It was… suggestive.
Everyone else chimed in, with varying degrees of enthusiasm, and Jeff tried not to look at Annie as she beamed at him. Way too cheerful for this early in the morning, he thought, then offered a half hearted smile. “Morning,” he said, flatly, and flipped his textbook open, hoping they’d get the message and just begin studying.
He glanced up, eyes darting around, and saw Britta frowning at him in confusion. “Eager to study, Jeff?” she asked, the corner of her mouth turning up into a half smile. “That’s not like you.”
Jeff shrugged as casually as he could manage. “Whatever. I’d rather study that listen to another of Pierce’s stories.”
“Jealousy is an ugly emotion, Jeffrey,” Pierce called from the other side of the table. “You may wish that you had my power to captivate an audience, but you never will.”
Jeff just shook his head and fixed his gaze on the textbook in front of him. “Ok, osmosis in permeable membranes,” he said, pointedly, and waited for the grumbling to die down as the rest of them opened their books. Almost against his will, he felt his eyes drawn to his left, towards Annie. She was watching him with a thoughtful expression. She was doing that a lot, these days. He’d caught her looking at him far too often for it to be a coincidence, and it was unnerving. Ok, so he knew that he was nice to look at, and he was more than comfortable with the adoring gazes that women often fixed on him, but this was something different. She didn’t look adoring, or coy, or even flirty. She looked thoughtful. So damn thoughtful, all the time. Considering, evaluating, like she was trying to decide what purpose to put him to.
After a moment, she seemed to realize that he was staring right back at her, and he saw pink suffuse her cheeks before she looked away. That’s more like it, he thought, and relaxed when Annie began to read the opening paragraph of the chapter in a slightly strangled voice.
He settled back into his chair, allowing the warm tones of Annie’s voice to wash over him, and tried to think of anything but the self pitying musings that had plagued him since he woke up at the crack of dawn.
****
It was some twenty minutes later, when Jeff realized he had just heard someone say his name. Blinking hazily, he looked up from the textbook, the jumble of words and diagrams that he had not been paying the slightest bit of attention to, and saw that everyone was looking at him.
For a moment, he tried to piece together what they had been talking about, but came up blank. “Sorry, what was that?” he asked, trying to sound as dismissive as possible.
Britta huffed in frustration, glaring at him. “I said, as you were clearly too busy daydreaming about the latest innovations in skin care for men, that Professor Kane still has it in for us, and we need to nail this assignment if we don't want to end up repeating Biology 101.”
Jeff blinked, then nodded. “Right.... Yeah. Well that's why I wanted to get to studying, isn't it?”
“You weren't even paying attention!” Britta looked about ready to punch him in the arm, so Jeff wisely leaned back, away from her. He opened his mouth to respond, but another voice cut in before he could.
“Britta's right, Jeff.” The disapproval in Annie's voice was clear. “You were just staring into space.” She fixed those big, blue eyes on him, and her brow wrinkled prettily. “Are you OK? You're being even more... Jeff... than normal.”
Jeff held his hands up defensively. “Guys, I'm fine. I just didn't sleep too well last night.”
Britta smirked at this. “Oh yeah? What was her name?”
Annie's mouth tightened sourly, and she looked away. Well done, Britta, Jeff thought, sardonically. “For your information, there was no 'her'. I just didn't sleep well.” Britta just narrowed her eyes in mock suspicion, and Annie refused to make eye contact when Jeff looked over at her. “So. Are we done with interrogating me? Yes? Good. So let's just....”
“'Hellooo!” That grating, effeminate voice cut through the air like a knife through butter, and Jeff slumped in his seat, already preparing himself for whatever inanity the dean had come to tell them about.
The man sashayed into the room, blessedly wearing nothing more extravagant than a shirt and tie, and stopped next to Jeff, carefully setting something down on the table in front of him. A cupcake. With a candle in it. Jeff's heart sank.
“Sorry to interrupt all you devoted and diverse representations of Greendale's student populace, but I just had to come in and wish Jeffrey here a happy birthday.”
Crap. Jeff shut his eyes in defeat, and listened to the chorus of gasps that sounded around the table.
The dean continued, oblivious to the reaction he'd caused. “So, happy birthday, Jeff. And many happy returns.” He dropped his hand onto Jeff's shoulder and gave it a little squeeze. Jeff's blood ran cold. “I know it's short notice, but if you'd like, I could arrange a little shindig in the cafeteria this afternoon.... You know, to make up for that little misunderstanding at the mall?”
“No. Thank you, that really won't be necessary.”
The dean deflated a little. “Oh. Well, if you change your mind, just let me know.” Jeff nodded tightly, and waited for the man to leave before looking up at his friends. He was met with an assortment of outraged, confused and inscrutable stares.
Annie was the first to speak. “Today is your birthday?” She sounded devastated, and Jeff could tell that a Disney Face was about ten seconds away. Before she could say any more, the rest of the group started talking at once.
“Jeffrey, how could you not tell us? We've known you for over two years, now!”
“What the hell, Winger?”
“Dude, did we know it was Jeff's birthday?”
“I don't think so. Because then us forgetting would be like Sixteen Candles, or that episode of Saved By The Bell. And I don't think we'd be as clichéd as that.”
“So are you having a secret birthday party, and only inviting people you think are cool? Because that's pretty gay, if you ask me.”
Jeff goggled at them all for a second, before raising his hand for silence. “Guys!” he had to shout over them, and they subsided, “Don't worry about it. You didn't know it was my birthday. I didn't tell anyone, and it's not a big deal. Now can we just get on with....”
“Not a big deal?” Annie's eyes were huge. “Jeff, didn't you want to celebrate it with us?”
He sighed dramatically. “Annie, I don't really... celebrate my birthday.”
“Are you a Jehovah's Witness, too?” Troy had that look on his face that usually meant his brain was wrinkled. “Because, birthdays seem pretty cool, so I would think you'd want to enjoy them. If you're allowed to, that is.”
At that, Jeff stood up abruptly. “No, I'm not a Jehovah's Witness, I'm not having a secret party for cool people, and I'm certainly not Molly Ringwald. I just don't want to celebrate my birthday. I didn't want to celebrate it last year, or the year before. Or the year before that.” When the questioning, accusing expressions didn't leave their faces, he grabbed his books from the table, and headed for the door. “Look, I've got to study for this assignment, and clearly you guys want to talk about personal stuff. As usual. So I'll go and do it on my own.” With that, he hurried out of the study room, trying to ignore the hurt silence he left in his wake.
****
Britta glowered at Jeff's departing form. Right now she really wanted to shout some insult or challenge that would bring him back, self righteous and indignant, but something in his mood stopped her. When he was out of sight, she found her eyes drawn across the table to Annie, who looked just about as forlorn as Britta had ever seen her.
Good job, Winger, she thought caustically. Britta had never been able to figure out just why Annie was so hung up on Jeff, but it was obvious, to everyone except Jeff (and maybe Annie herself) that the girl had it bad. And wouldn't it be just like her precious, adorable self to get torn up over Jeff being a birthday grouch.
It was Shirley who broke the silence, though. “Well. I guess Jeff isn't big on birthdays. That's sad.”
“No, Shirley,” Abed offered. “It's more than simply a dislike of birthdays. Jeff has been quiet and withdrawn for some time now.” He paused, as though realising how calling Jeff withdrawn was stating the obvious. “I mean, more than usual. I noticed it several weeks ago, but he has spent most of this semester in an apparent state of melancholia, interspersed with episodes of emotional instability. Like his violent reaction to Pierce's father, or his distress over the death of Horsebot 3000.”
Britta frowned, following Abed's train of thought. She wasn't the only one.
“Do you think Jeff's unhappy? Or...depressed?” Annie sounded aghast at the thought. “Britta, you should talk to him. Find out what's wrong.”
She turned to look at Annie in surprise. “Wait, what? Why me?”
“You know...” Annie said, squirming uncomfortably in her chair, a pink hue staining her cheeks. “You're... closer... to Jeff than the rest of us.” Clearly, Annie wanted to say more, but settled for lifting her eyebrows and rolling her eyes in an exaggerated, suggestive fashion.
Before Britta could dispute that, Shirley offered her agreement. “Mmm hmm, you two are close, what with all the sneaking around having sex and whatnot.”
“I'm not....” Her protest was cut off as Troy and Pierce nodded and muttered their own assent. She sighed. “Alright, fine. I'll go and talk to Jeff.” With a put upon air, she heaved herself to her feet and strode out of the room, casting dirty looks at the lot of them.
****
After ten minutes of increasingly frustrated wandering the halls, Britta was just about ready to give up. Jeff obviously wasn't in the mood to talk, so who was she to force the issue? Certainly not the one “closest” to him, she thought, sullenly. It's not like our arrangement last year meant a damn thing. Just a bit of... sport. Tension relief. Yeah, so we talked about stuff sometimes, but what else is there to do after?
But, trust Annie to somehow convince herself it was more than that. Britta sighed, realizing that she was going to have to have a talk with the girl about this whole Jeff business. Great, these talks just keep mounting up on my to do list, don't they? Where the hell is that jackass?
Insulting Jeff in her head was definitely preferable to considering Abed's words. The truth was, Britta had been a little worried about Jeff in recent weeks. She'd thought that she had been the only one to notice his behavior, given her psychological expertise, but Abed apparently paid as much attention to the group as he did to Inspector Spacetime. Britta could feel an uneasy prickling at the back of her mind, as she recalled the moment of shock when she'd turned away from that silly puppet show to see that Jeff was sobbing. I knew something was wrong. I mean, who the hell cries over a cardboard horse cutout?
She finally spotted him tucked away at the far end of the cafeteria, nursing a cup of coffee as though it was the last of a bottle of scotch. Her patience exhausted, she strode up to him, ignoring the way his jaw tightened when he saw her coming, and thumped herself down into the seat next to him, cutting off any escape he might think of making.
“So how many is it?” She asked, and he blinked at the non sequitur. “Candles,” she clarified. “For your birthday cake? We didn't have one ready because, well, because none of us knew. And I haven't figured out quite how yet, but I'm pretty sure you're being a douchebag about this.”
Jeff sighed, and Britta felt a tiny pinprick of satisfaction as she saw some of the tension ooze out of his body. “Britta, don't worry about it. I don't.”
“Uh huh, well then, if you don't care, why did you get pissy and storm off?”
Jeff glared at her. “I didn't get anything, other than annoyed at you guys trying to force your birthday celebrating values onto me.” He summoned up that condescending smile that was always guaranteed to piss Britta off. “So don't worry about drawing some dark, wounded secret out of me. I'm fine.”
Britta rolled her eyes. “Whatever. Like I care about your malfunctions, Winger.”
Jeff frowned at that, and then the smile was back, looking just a little forced. “Right. Just like you weren't trying to get me to admit to a... what was it? 'Edible Complex', just a couple of weeks ago.”
“That was then,” she reasoned. “And since you clearly didn't want help, then you can suit yourself.” After glaring at him for a moment, in the silly hope that the heat of her gaze could melt his stony facade, she suddenly hit on what she considered to be a great idea. Adopting a breezy tone, she said, “I just wanted to tell you that we're taking you out for a birthday drink tonight.”
Jeff eyed her dubiously, and she continued, “Don't make a big deal of it. It's your birthday, and we're your friends. We're gonna get you drunk, and there won't be a cake, or streamers, or singing. Okay?”
“Fine. If it'll make you guys happy.” He still had that smile on his face. Britta wanted to kick him.
Instead, she stood and, as pleasantly as she could, said, “Good. Well I'll see you later, then. 8:30, The Red Door.” As she walked away, she couldn't keep the smug little grin off her face. Yep. Nice and drunk. And then we'll see if I can get you talking. We'll see what's going on in that head of yours, Jeff Winger.