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After all the dropping-off is said and done, and Troy reassures Jeff that his car will be fine, they roll up to their last stop: Greendale. Abed's his last passenger. That brief drive with just the two of them was so quiet; Troy kept checking the mirror, checking that Abed hadn't fallen asleep yet. He never had, and every time they made eye contact in the mirror they both looked away wordlessly.
Abed's unbuckling his seatbelt, but Troy hasn't even unlocked the doors. After this, it's back home for Troy.
Back to that big, quiet mansion where Pierce will have undoubtedly taken enough painkillers to put him to sleep for the night.
"Abed."
Troy hesitates before he asks, for some reason. He never had a problem asking before.
"Can I stay with you tonight?"
--
Troy loves Abed's dorm room-- he always has. It's part of the reason he wanted to move in so badly last year. Other than the whole.. Abed part of it. He supposes that's why he likes the dorm so much in the first place.
As soon as they take off their shoes, Abed puts the kettle on. Neither of them even drink tea, but Abed likes to do it because that's what people do in movies. He usually says 'I'll go put the kettle on,' just to add to the bit. Troy thinks it's funny. Abed didn't say it this time, though.
"Wanna watch something?"
It's the first thing Abed's said since he tattled on Jeff and Britta. He doesn't ask Troy if he's okay, or why he didn't want to go home. Troy's grateful. All he wants to do right now is watch something mindless.
"Yeah, sure."
Abed puts on Kickpuncher-- the first one. It's perfect: they've watched it and made fun of it so many times it's basically ingrained in Troy's mind. The absolute ridiculousness of the movie is sure to take his mind off of everything that just happened.
The movie starts and everything's exactly like Troy remembers it.
It's 2006, and nuclear war has ravaged the planet. Kickpuncher comes in and--
Troy wonders if Shirley's mad at him. The whole picture thing was funny at the moment, but he was stupid to think it wouldn't hurt her feelings. He wonders if Jeff and Britta are okay. They always fight, but Troy feels like he just made it worse. The night seemed to end on a lighter note than earlier, but still. He worries. Annie seemed better when he dropped her off. And Abed--
The movie clicks off.
"You're not watching."
Troy knows what Abed means. The simple observation is inadvertently a question: Are you okay?
"Are you okay?" Troy asks instead of answering.
Abed blinks. "Why wouldn't I be?"
"I saw you at the bar earlier. You just looked kind of down."
Troy thinks for a moment as he recalls seeing Abed drink his beer.
"Hey, wait, aren't Muslims not supposed to drink?"
That gets the smallest smile out of Abed, though unintentional on Troy's part.
"Not really, but I'm not the best Muslim anyway." He points his finger at Troy. "And I thought Jehovah's Witnesses weren't allowed to drink either?"
They both laugh about how bad they are at following their respective faiths. See, this is why Troy loves spending time with Abed so much. They just get each other.
It gets quiet for a second. Then, "Who was that guy you were with?"
Troy remembered, out of the corner of his eye, seeing Abed talking with someone at the bar. He was long gone by the time they all left, but Troy was curious what his deal was.
"Oh, right. He was hitting on me."
The kettle's boiling.
"I'll get it," Troy says probably a little too quickly as he stands up to turn the kettle off.
Abed frowns. Well, not so much a frown as it is a slight furrowing of the brows accompanied by his usual resting face.
"Did I say something wrong?" He calls out to Troy.
Abed can be good at reading people sometimes, Troy thinks.
Troy wasn't upset. Abed didn't do anything wrong. How could he? All he did that night was talk to one guy and play a retro game.
Still, he's not not upset. He chalks it up to everything else that happened. It's been a long night.
He reads the clock. 1:27 A.M. It's his birthday.
He knew that already, but still. It feels weird-- it's kind of wrinkling his brain trying to articulate his emotions right now.
"So?" Troy asks when he sits back down next to Abed.
"So?"
"What.. happened? With the guy?"
"I wasn't into him. Nothing happened," Abed replies quickly, and then rethinks his answer. "I guess he did throw his drink in my face."
Troy doesn't say anything about the drink, even though he hates that that happened to Abed. For some reason, all he can think about is Abed's original reply: I wasn't into him. Into him. Not not into guys. Just him.
Troy doesn't know why it matters so much. It's not like he's into guys.
He thinks.
But it's not like that with Abed. Sure, they're best friends and do everything together and Troy's pretty sure he likes Abed more than anyone else he knows--
"But.. would you ever date a guy?"
He doesn't know why he said that. It just slipped out. Stupid Troy, always saying what he's thinking out loud.
Abed shrugs. "Yeah, I guess. It depends. Romance doesn't come too naturally to me, y'know?" He looks down now, opting to play with the hem of his jacket.
Tears blur Troy's vision. He never cries, but...
The night just keeps getting longer and longer. He doesn't know what to feel, or how he's feeling, or what any of this means for him.
He doesn't need to know, Troy realizes. It's okay to not know. It's okay if tonight turned out a little darker than he'd hoped-- they'll all see each other on Monday anyways, and they'll figure it out and be okay again. He doesn't need to know all the answers right now.
He knows one thing, at least.
On the carpeted floor, Troy inches his hand closer to Abed's, until their hands are just barely touching.
And Abed doesn't pull away.