#trobedzone

For Trobed week, organised by @trobedzone!

Day 2 prompt: "I'm cold."

I would put this under a read more so it wasn't clogging up people's dash but idk how to do that on mobile so I've tagged it #long post. Feel free to block the tag if you don't want to see this.

It had been three years, six months and thirteen days since Troy left on his trip around the world.

Abed didn't want to move out of their apartment at first, the one that had originally been casa Trobed, then casa Trobedison. It was Annie who convinced him he couldn't stay there waiting and hoping for Troy to suddenly turn up at their door again.

It had been three years, two months and eight days since he and Annie handed in their keys and climbed into Jeff's car to be taken to the airport.

LA was great. There was so much to do, so much to see, and so many opportunities that he never would have gotten in Colorado.

It had been one year, one month and two weeks since his screenplay got approved. Since then there had been a few scenes that were reworked, a few details changed slightly, but it was still close enough to the original product that Abed was happy with it.

But the best thing that had happened to him recently happened two months ago. He had been in a casting meeting, being asked to choose between three white actors for a character he had written as Indigenous American. The producers had argues that two were tan enough to 'pass as Indigenous'. They were missing the point. At that point it hadn't been a good day, but things drastically changed when he checked his phone under the table during a particularly bad video audition he was being forced to watch just to 'hear them out'.

The text was a photo from an unknown number. He would have deleted it right away without downloading the image, but Britta had mentioned recently that she was having trouble with her phone and may be getting a new one, and she wasn't great at telling people when she'd changed numbers. She would just text as normal and only explain that it was a new number if someone asked who it was that was texting them.

He downloaded the image, expecting to see one of Britta's cats in some ridiculous outfit that Abed would only admit to himself was pretty cute, but instead he saw a picture of the Port of LA. And the Childish Tycoon docked in it. He finally understood what people meant when they say their heart stopped.

A message came through a second later. "Hey Abed, it's Troy! Annie gave me your number. Hope that's okay. She said you're in LA now and so am I! Do you want to meet up?"

Before he could respond, another one came through. "I totally get it if you don't want to. I know me leaving hurt you. But I really miss you."

Abed was pretty sure everyone in the room now knew he was on his phone but he didn't care.

"Hey Troy! Of course I want to see you! I'm free tonight, and at the weekend if that's too short notice. How was your trip??"

They met up that night at a bar close to Abed's apartment. Troy looked older, more mature. He had grown his hair out more than Abed had ever seen before, parted on one side, and he had more stubble than Abed ever remembered him having. He seemed more.... comfortable too. Troy hadn't really lacked confidence when they first met, but as their friendship developed and Troy moved away from the person he had been in high school and started seeing the world for what it really was, his insecurities had grown. He remembered how concerned Troy had been about trying to figure out who he was and what he wanted to do with his life.

All of those worries seemed to have eased from his shoulders now though. He ordered for them after asking what Abed wanted. They talked about his trip, and Abed smiled as Troy gushed about all the incredible things he had seen and done. There was a part of him that had been worried they would be too different now, that had grown into new people and they weren't as perfectly compatible as they had been in college.

He had been proven wrong within five minutes of them being back in the same room again. Troy was different, as was Abed, but they still fit so well together, even finishing each other's sentences and saying the same thing at the same time. Just like old times. Troy walked him home in the early hours of the morning after the bars had closed and Troy had paid their tab. He completed the trip, submitted the evidence along with LeVar Burton's, and despite what they had all been a little worried about, it hadn't been a trick. There was no final fuck you from Pierce in the form of a hidden clause disqualifying him from his promised prize at the end. Jeff didn't get the call for legal help they had all kind of expected, even if no one wanted to voice it.

So he could afford to pay their tab. And to stay in a great hotel a few blocks from Abed's apartment for the time being. He was already looking at houses on the west coast.

"Are you planning on keeping the boat?" Abed asked as they walked the dingy hallway to his apartment. It wasn't the best, but it was LA. In LA you live where you can.

"Yeah..." Troy answered almost immediately, shoving his hands into the deep pockets of his jacket. "You'd think I'd be sick of it by now, after spending the majority of the past three years on it. But, I don't know... kinda feels homey."

They stopped outside Abed's door. He invited him in for another drink, but Troy declined. He had things to do in the morning, and it was already late.

They said goodnight, and Abed put his key in his door as Troy turned to leave. He wasn't quite ready to let him walk away yet though, a small voice in his head telling him that this could be the last time they see each other, for real this time. Like maybe this was a closure thing; Troy wanted to meet up one more time to make sure they were both good and to wrap things up. He felt like he was back at Greendale watching Troy board that boat, trying to memorise everything about him in case he never got to look at him again.

"So you must be a good sailor by now, right?" He called out after him, probably a little too loud for how late it was and how close Troy still was, but Abed couldn't bring himself to care.

Troy stopped and turned back to him, eyebrows raised a little before he nodded and looked down with a bashful smile. "Yeah, I'm pretty good. I manned the boat through a few storms and we made it out alive, so." He shrugged.

"Can we go out on the boat one day?" Abed asked, mostly just grasping for a reason to make plans to see each other again.

Troy looked up at him and smiled again, his expression excited now. "Yeah! That sounds great."

"Great." Abed nodded with a smile.

"Cool." Troy nodded back.

"Cool, cool, cool."

They met up a few more times, usually so that Abed could show Troy around LA. He went with Troy to a few house viewings too. All of the houses were big and Abed mostly just marvelled at the incredible architecture while Troy spoke to the realtor.

Then one day Troy texted him asking if he had plans after work. He finished at 6pm, so they organised for Troy to pick him up from work in the car he had bought last week. Abed didn't know what the plan was, Troy was dodging the question, but he didn't really care as long as they were together.

There was a time a few months ago when Abed would have said he wasn't in love with Troy anymore, a realisation he had initially come to as he watched him leave. So, too late. But he'd be lying if he said the feeling hadn't come back as soon as he had laid eyes on him again.

He was pointedly not acknowledging it, though.

The day crawled by, and finally 6pm came along. Abed was usually last out of the door, so he didn't miss the surprised looks some colleagues shot him as he hurried out a lot faster than usual.

As promised, Troy's car was parked outside Abed's building, and Troy was leaning back against it with his legs crossed at his ankles. He was wearing a loose flowy shirt over a tank top with shorts that stopped just above his knees. And he was wearing sunglasses. It was a hot day, Abed would give him that, but still the ensemble felt unfair.

He was also holding two iced coffees and smiling wide. Abed almost felt like he had to look away as he uttered a thanks when Troy handed him the order Abed always got.

"You got anything more comfy on you?" Troy asked, gesturing to Abed's dress pants and shirt.

"No. Is that a problem?"

"Nah, it'll be fine. I'm sure there'll be somethin'." Troy answered cryptically before opening the passenger side door for Abed to get into the car.

They drove for a long time, but Abed was too wrapped up in their conversation about the director that he was having trouble with to notice until Troy stopped the car and he looked out to see the Port of LA.

They got to the Childish Tycoon and Abed felt a strange pang in his chest as he looked around. Troy had spread out a blanket on the deck and set a picnic out for them.

"I thought we could go out on the water and eat out here? The sun'll be going down soon, the view's great from out there." Troy explained, gesturing vaguely to where the water met the horizon.

Abed smiled as he nodded, and Troy grinned as he went to unanchor the boat and start sailing it out. It was mesmerising to watch him as he worked on getting them out, every action looking as though it was second nature to him now, muscle memory he could perform in his sleep. He was a natural, and Abed was almost floored by the pride he felt watching the person Troy had become.

He went bellow deck to the chest Troy directed him to, full of clothes that he said he could choose from to change into. He picked a soft t-shirt with some writing on it that Abed thought may have been Italian but he couldn't be sure about, and a pair of blue shorts that just passed his knees.

They anchored far enough out that the port was just lights dancing on the water in the distance. There were a few other boats out in the distance, but they looked more like small toys than vessels carrying other people.

They ate and talked. Abed had explained his screenplay in detail to Troy already, given him a copy to read and gotten a rave review in response the next morning. Troy stayed up all night reading it, and had done a few more times since. So it was easy to talk to him about what was going on with it, because Troy knew it almost as well as he did by now.

The sun started going down after they packed away the empty food containers, and Troy disappeared bellow deck again briefly to retrieve some pillows to set out on the little bench on deck, facing the sea. They sat together in silence for a while, just watching the sea as they sipped their drinks.

"So..." Troy spoke up quietly beside him, his hands fidgeting in his lap. "Do you like it?"

Abed tore his eyes from the horizon, the last bits of pink and yellow fading into darkness. It wasn't a hardship. The most beautiful sunsets in the world couldn't compare to Troy.

"I do. Its almost perfect." He answered with a smile. He hadn't even noticed he said almost, just so used to being completely honest with Troy.

And it was almost perfect. There was only one thing that would make it more perfect, but he knew it was something he would probably never have.

"Almost?" Troy prompted, sitting up a little like he was prepared to jump up and do whatever it was Abed said would make it perfect.

But Abed couldn't ask for that. He had only just got Troy back, he couldn't stand scaring him away and losing him again.

Instead, he just shrugged. "I'm cold."

He wasn't exactly lying, now that the sun was gone it was getting a little chilly.

Troy let out a surprised huff of a laugh, then leant closer conspiringly. Abed was pretty sure he stopped breathing.

"Well, good thing I already thought of that." He smiled bright as he reached behind the bench and pulled forward a thick fluffy blanket, wrapping it around both their shoulders and shifting closer to Abed.

It was big enough to wrap around them both and Troy leant a little closer as he wrapped his end around Abed's front. They made eye contact, and Abed knew his own eyes were wide. Looking at Troy's beautiful dark eyes so close up felt like torture, so Abed looked away. Unfortunately his eyes were immediately drawn to Troy's full lips so close to his own and that felt worse. And Troy noticed too. He could tell by the way Troy's lips parted, and his eyes widened a little when Abed looked back up at them to distract himself from his mouth and the overwhelming urge to kiss him.

Abed braced himself, waiting for Troy to pull back and shift away uncomfortably. For him to make an excuse about it being late, and take them back to the port, then drive Abed home and block his number before he got back to his car. Or just make him take a cab home.

Instead, Abed's eyes were drawn down again when he saw movement in his peripheral vision, just in time to catch the sight of Troy's tongue peeking out slightly to dampen his lips. The gap between them was almost non existent now, and Abed wasn't sure which one of them was leaning forward. It might have been both of them, and the thought made him feel dizzy.

Finally, it was definitely Troy who leant forward the last inch needed to press their lips together, and it was better than anything he had ever imagined. Abed breathed shakily through his nose when he realised he had been holding his breath for too long, and his hand moved up to cup Troy's cheek almost of its own accord, this thumb swiping over his cheekbone as Troy seemed to melt into the kiss, the tension disappearing from both of them.

It felt right, like the whole time they had known each other was building up to this moment, this thing they should have been doing the whole time.

Their lips moved together as Abed shifted to face Troy more, so Troy wasn't twisted around as much, deepening the kiss. Eventually they separated, and Abed only noticed that there were fairylights set up around the railing of the boat because of the way the lights reflected in Troy's eyes. Their foreheads automatically fell against each other as they both took a moment to catch their breath, one of Abed's hands still entwined with one of Troy's while the other stroked Troy's cheek tenderly. Troy tilted his head a little to lean into the touch, his eyes closed like he was savouring the feeling.

"Im not cold anymore..." Abed practically whispered into the space between them, feeling a warm flush in his own cheeks.

Troy chuckled almost breathlessly and pulled back just a little so they could look each other in the eyes without going cross-eyed, his free hand resting against Abed's chest where he was sure he would be able to feel his heart pounding.

"So... does that mean it's perfect now?" Troy asked with a playful grin, and Abed felt himself fall in love with him all over again at the sight.

i have an idea for a pre-relationship trobed fic that i really want to write.

after the somewhere out there duet, abed tells troy how he didn't have any friends before meeting the study group. troy doesn't know if there's any way he can fully make up for that, but he can help abed have at least one of the trademarks of a good friendship: a secret handshake. unable to think of a good one on the spot, he spends the evening looking for inspiration (there's a small part of him wondering why he's putting so much thought into this, but he pushes it aside), and eventually finds the video the handshake comes from.

the next day, he shows it to abed, who loves it. troy's about to tell him that he found it online, but then abed just looks at him in a way that renders him speechless, and then he has to wonder why he had that effect on him, so he ends up saying nothing.

hi thank you!! here’s a little trobed for ya:

Abed doesn’t film the conversation he and Troy share in their own blanket fort once the battle is over. It feels too private, too personal, even when they make amends and get back on even footing again.

But he quickly finds himself wishing he had, especially when Annie sets Troy and Britta up on a date.

Annie calls him out immediately, because she’s clever and he’s painfully predictable: You’re mad at me for playing matchmaker with Troy and Britta. You think you’re gonna lose Troy.

And she’s right, but she only knows the half of it. She has no idea that it’s not about losing Troy as a friend, that Abed is desperately in love with Troy, has been for so long now it simply feels like a part of his personality: loving movies, loving Troy. It’s a part of him like a heartbeat, and somehow, for almost three years, Abed has been able to cling to the idea of his feelings maybe, somehow being reciprocated.

Number 10

netflix and chill with brad (we would actually ✨chill✨ and not 😏chill😏 because he is a homosexual) go ice skating with poppy (we’d be equally bad at it which would put me at ease and i’d feel less embarrassed when i inevitably fall and break my coccyx) play dodgeball against jo (lbr she’s the only worthy opponent and we could both use an outlet for our rage)

thank u very much 💖

For Trobed week, organised by @trobedzone. I started writing this on my break at work (on a wake-night) and finished it in a exhaustion-fueled delirium on the way home from said wake-night so please excuse how bad it is or any typos but I really wanted to participate. Thanks so much for tagging me!

I would put this under a read more so it wasn't clogging up people's dash but idk how to do that on mobile so I've tagged it #long post. Feel free to block the tag if you don't want to see this.

-------

"... So it's a prequel, but it's actually set ten years after the first Kickpuncher."

"So how is it a prequel if its after the first one? Won't it just be a sequel?"

"Well, my theory is that Kickpuncher's love interest is actually from the future and travelled back in time in the original movie in order to make sure the events of the first Kickpuncher happen, and the prequel is why."

"Sounds stupid. I'm in."

Abed's lips quirked up in a small smile, and he turned to his right where Troy had been walking beside him, holding one hand out and one to his chest in preparation for their special high five. But Troy wasn't there anymore. Abed's smile turned to a frown as he looked around, but he couldn't see any sign of the yellow sweater Troy was wearing today, despite how easy it should have been for him to pick the colour out amongst the other students around him.

He saw a flash of yellow, but before he could take a step towards it he realised it was just a girl in a yellow t-shirt.

He tried to listen for Troy's voice, but there were a lot of students around. It was between lesson times after all and the crowd was moving in all different directions as students weaved between each other to get to their next classes. And they were all having their own conversation about all sorts of different thing.

"She said she was going to Ralph's tomorrow but Ralph said--"

"I have no idea, I swear I haven't learned a thing all semest--"

"My dad is going to kill me if he sees how much I spent on--"

"Why are you being so snappy toda--"

"Did you see the new episode? It was awesome!"

"Are we going to Starbucks after cla--" 

Abed winced as all the sounds of conversations and squeaky shoes on hard floors seemed to get louder and louder, the students around him seemed to be closing in more, leaving him with no space around him and leading to a few bumping into him now that he was no longer moving with them. He tried to take a few deep breaths, but he already knew that logically he was too overwhelmed for that to work.

Abed focused his attention on the notice board on the wall opposite him, then quickly made his way over to it, hoping to just pretend to look at the board until either Troy found him or the hallway empties enough for him to catch his breath.

It had a flyer for a new dance the Dean was putting on, but he couldn't quite make out what excuse the Dean had come up with this time. There were also flyers for extracurricular activities like lessons for several different musical instruments. There were also posters for dance lessons, acting classes, a sign-up sheet for the school play and another one for Glee Club. Abed couldn't make out the other papers taped and stapled to the board. They were all too brightly coloured and loud.

This isn't helping.

Instead, Abed turned so his back was against the wall and sunk down until he was sat on the floor with his head on his knees and his arms wrapped around them. It was easy like this to block his ears with his biceps, keep his eyes closed, and make himself as small as possible in the hopes that people stopped banging into him.

He wondered where Troy was again. It was always easier walking through the crowds with Troy because they had the best conversation, about topics that actually interested Abed. It was easy to just focus on that - focus on Troy - and not the hundreds of other people at this school who all seemed to have classes in 50 different directions with every route starting from this one hallway.

Just another three minutes, then everyone will be in class. Abed thought to himself as he rocked slightly in an attempt to soothe himself. He thought about trying to stand and power through the overstimulation, to at least get outside, but he would have to see everyone and his dad said it was too weird to walk around with his hands over his ears so he'd have to hear them all too, and it was all just too much.

Abed rarely cried, but when he was overwhelmed his eyes would sometimes well up, even if Abed didn't understand what good it would do. It happened now, and Abed buried his head deeper against his knees in the hopes that no one would notice. He could still hear the mean kids from his high school teasing him about it.

"Look! The alien's leaking!" Brent would laugh, pointing at the tear tracks down Abed's face.

"Its trying to mimick a sad human to make us feel sorry for it so we'll let our guard down!" One of Brent's lackeys would pipe up. Abed didn't care enough to remember his name. It didn't matter anyway, none or the others had personalities of their own, they were all just extentions of Brent.

He wondered if Troy was like Brent in high school. He knew Troy was a jock, and he wasn't as thoughtful and sweet as he is now, but was he bad enough that he would have called Abed an alien because he didn't understand social cues? Would he make fun of him for crying just because daily life was sometimes too much?

"Abed?" He heard a voice above him say; Troy's voice.

Looks like he was going to find out. This was the first time Troy had seen him this overwhelmed, and Abed found his breath halting as he realised the significance. If he looked up and Troy saw him crying, and the other laughed, Abed wasn't sure they could still be friends. At least not as close as they were. There would always be a small part of Abed that would be worried Troy will judge him or laugh at him for his neurodivergency.

So he kept his head down and tried to discreetly wipe his eyes on the sleeve of his hoodie. Troy was his first real friend, and he wasn't ready to have that shattered yet.

Before he could deem his face dry enough to face looking up at his first and only best friend, he heard Troy's sneaker squeak slightly against the lino as he pivoted. For a moment he thought Troy had gotten sick of waiting for him to answer and was going to walk off, but instead Abed heard his backpack hit the floor - it wasn't a harsh sound, Abed knew Troy only kept a cushion in there for when he wanted to take a nap somewhere - then felt Troy drop too, to sit on the ground beside Abed. Not close enough to touch him, but close enough that he could feel Troy's body heat gently warm his right side.

"Abed? Are you okay?" Troy asked quietly, and though Abed will always be the first to admit he's not great at picking up tone, he was pretty sure he heard concern in Troy's words.

"Where'd you go?" He asked quietly.

"Just to the vending machine... What's wrong?"

"Too much..." Abed mumbled, hoping Troy would understand but not really expecting him to. In fact, he was already trying to come up with a way to explain what he meant in a way Troy would understand, but his mind felt fuzzy, like TV static, and he wasn't sure how to phrase it right.

He didn't have to though. Troy didn't ask about it.

"You think you can get to class?" He asked instead. "You know what Senior Chang is like when someone's late."

Abed picked his head up. The hallways were a little less crowded, but it was still loud and too much. He dropped his head again and shook it against his knees to indicate that, no, he didn't think he could get to class.

"Is it because there's too much going on?" Troy asked quietly, like he didn't want anyone to overhear, and Abed was grateful for that. He nodded against his knees.

Troy was quiet for a moment, and the only thing that stopped him from having to look up and make sure he was still there was the warmth he could still feel radiating from Troy's arm where it was barely an inch from Abed's. Troy fidgeted a little beside him, and Abed was about to tell him to just get himself to class so Chang wouldn't be mad at him, that Abed could handle the consequences alone, but Troy spoke again before he could.

"You were okay a minute ago... What happened? Did someone say something to you?" He asked quietly, but there was a bite in his voice.

"Are you mad?" He mumbled.

"At you? No." Troy assured him. "But if someone said something to make you sad I'm mad at them. Who was it?"

Abed shook his head a little and curled into himself tighter. "No one said anything."

"Then what happened?"

"You were gone." Abed answered before the voice in his head that sounded a little too much like his father could tell him to stop, that he was being too clingy and Troy was going to get creeped out and stop spending time with him.

He had already started now, so he figured he may as well explain himself.

"Its easier... with you. Because we talk and I can just focus on our conversation and follow what you do. I don't have to look around because people always move out of your way anyway and if I'm next to you they move for me too. But then you were gone and I noticed how many people there were and I could hear all of them talking at once and..." He was over explaining, he knew that, so he made himself stop before he could embarrass himself in front of Troy any worse.

"So... Walking with me helps?" Troy asked, and Abed nodded again.

He felt Troy shift again and winced when he heard Troy stand up and pick up his backpack again, assuming he was going to just leave him there.

"Come on, buddy." Troy prompted gently from in front of him, and Abed picked his head up. The first thing he saw was Troy's hand, palm up, held out for him to take. His eyes trailed from his hand up his arm covered by that baggy thin sweater, then finally up to his face. He was smiling a little, but his brow was also pinched, like it was a sad smile.

Abed took his hand and allowed Troy to gently pull him up from the floor. As soon as he was upright Abed looked around again and let out a sound he could only accurately describe as a small whimper. The hallway wasn't clear enough yet.

"Its going to be okay, I'm right here." Troy promised, not yet letting go of Abed's hand. "Don't look around, I'll lead you."

Abed dragged his attention away from the people around them and instead focused on Troy's face. His smile looked more happy now, the crease between his eyebrows gone and his bright white teeth showing.

"So why do you think she needs to go to the past to make sure Kickpuncher 1 happens?"

It took a moment for Abed to remember what Troy was referring to, but when he did, he went into a complicated explanation about the antagonist's great grandson and how he would be able to change the past using the technology his grandfather had started working on before Kickpuncher killed him in the first movie.

By the time he'd finished explaining it and gotten on "Ohhh.... That actually sounds kinda cool." from Troy, he was being nudged into his seat in Spanish class.

Troy kept hold of his hand for another moment while Abed looked around and processed where they were, waiting for Abed to let go first. Once he did, Troy gave him another smile and walked to his own seat, managing to sit down just a second before Chang entered the room.

It became a habit after that. Troy would hold Abed's hand in busy hallways and talk to him about whatever Abed wanted.

It helped.

But repeating Troy's words in his head helped more.

🥺🥺🥺 here u go!!:

sure!! i’m pretty sure i haven’t posted this one yet:

It’s a matter of days before Troy realizes just how weak he is for Abed and his skinny jeans and his pop culture fixation and his big brown eyes. The night of Annie and Shirley’s protest, he’s basically following him around like a lost puppy under the guise that they should technically be preparing for a Spanish presentation together. 

Jeff’s shirt is too big for Abed’s thin frame and hangs off him awkwardly, but something about that is cute. It seems appropriate that something works on Abed that wouldn’t really work on anyone else. Or maybe he just likes it a lot because he seems to like most things Abed does.

hard to be pro tritta when trobed and jeffbritta are Right There tbh

also troy gay