Chapter Text
“Might need some help”, Britta said with a smirk to Jeff, holding her hands up, covered by her costume. Jeff opened the bathroom door quickly, looking around to see if someone saw them getting into it together, he looked at Annie who was talking with Rich, her finger curling on one of her pigtails and he felt jealous, trying not to think it was because Annie’s filtry tecniches, but because that was Rich. Too close to her.
“Hey, what are you wait-”, Britta said but Jeff had already walked away from the bathroom and walked towards Rich and Annie. “Jeff! So nice to see you again”, Rich said and Jeff groaned, “Annie I need your help with the Dean’s playlist”, he asked and Annie seemed confused, “What’s wrong with it?”.
“It’s too bad, you need to change it”, he said while holding her hand and taking her with him, Annie turned back while walking away to Rich, “I’ll be back in a minute” she said. “No worries, I’ll take care of your drink while you’re away”, Rich said with a smile and Jeff groaned after Annie’s ‘aww’.
He guided Annie to the Dean’s office, who was locked. “He doesn’t even knock, why would he lock the door now?”, he asked and Annie rolled her eyes, “Because he loves ABBA, c’mon it’s not that bad”.
The music stopped and the Dean’s voice sounded through the speakers, “Remind Jeffrey to keep working out at the park close to the yogurt place. Such a good idea. Really good view”, Jeff saw Annie trying not to smirk and he rolled his eyes, “Seriously?”.
“What? It’s funny. I think he has a crush on you”, she said and he leaned over the wall. “Everyone I met had at least felt eighty percent attracted to me” he said with a smug face and Annie let out an “Ugh”, crossing her arms around on her chest.
“So can I go now? I was having a pleasing conversation with Rich”.
“We could try to open it, do you have a bobby pin?”, he asked and Annie took two out of her hair. “Only these two, use them wisely”.
Jeff kneeled and tried to pick on the lock, not really knowing what he was doing, Annie watched him for a couple of seconds until she groaned and kneeled too, taking the bobby pins from him. “You’re just messing my accessories”, she said before opening the door as if it was simple.
“How did you even-”, he tried to ask before she put the bobby pins back on her hair. “I picked on a lot of locks, it was hard to get prescriptions”, she said in a little embarrassed tone but he stood up and offered his hand to her, she stood up without taking it.
Annie walked into the Dean’s office, Jeff grabbed the ipod and clicked the button, it was locked. “Why does he need this much security?”, Jeff asked and Annie took the phone from him, blowing some hot hair to steam the phone a little bit, she looked at it and smiled, she pushed some numbers and it unlocked. Jeff looked at her speechless.
“You might be dangerous”, he said, still looking at her abilities.
“Yeah, once you see the little finger prints you have to come up with some possible combinations, it was your birthday” she said in a teasing tone and he frowned.
“You should use your weird stalking powers for good, kiddo” he said while looking through the songs. Annie sat on the desk, just looking at her shoes, not even paying that much attention to him.
“So, Rich, huh? Why is someone like you so obsessed with him?”.
“Someone like me?”, she asked, now looking at him.
“Yeah, you’re smart, you could totally do better than that”, he said, going through the music list.
“He’s a sweet, kind and smart guy who respects me and he’s funny. What’s wrong with him?”.
“There’s no way he’s not a psychopath, people are not that nice just because Annie. He might just be trying to get into your pants”, he said a little worry in his voice.
“And what about it? I might be trying to get into his pants too”, she said and he cringed.
“He’s not good looking”.
“He’s a more put together version of yourself, is that why you’re all jealous?”, her comment took him a little bit by surprise, he blinked while processing.
“I’m not jealous”.
“Okay, can I go back to him?”, she asked, getting off the desk.
“So you like him because he’s a better version of me?”, he asked, confused.
“Of course not, you’re perfectly you and he’s perfectly himself. But I think that’s what you think he is, so just give yourself a chance to know him better”, she said with a little smile.
“Good luck choosing songs”, Annie said walking to the exit, Jeff wanted to say something, anything to keep her there, with him. But what could he say without telling her too much? Either he was a weird jealous friend or he was a weird dude obsessed with a woman he happened to feel too many things for.
….
After Pierce’s sickness Annie kept herself talking way more with Rich. People were starting to get anxious and weird, Jeff was trying to avoid Britta’s angry gaze. When the whole group realized it was most likely a zombie invasion they tried to room at the front door, the one the Dean had just locked.
A bunch of groans made the group look back to the rest of their classmates now zombies. Jeff put his arm in front of Annie as if trying to cover her. He realized Rich was already doing the same, there was no time to make a big deal out of it, so he decided to do the next reasonable thing. Scream to the group: “Run” and without thinking twice leaning down a little bit to hook his arm just a little bit down her butt to lift her up and run away while holding her in his arm.
When they were safe in the study room with the other he put her down, she tried to smooth her hair, trying to ignore the fact that she was in his arms and he had lifted as if she weighted nothing. Britta looked at Jeff with a little frown but he looked away, knowing she was probably jealous, but it was Annie, he felt this huge urge to protect her. If there was something he could to help her, he would do it.
“Are you okay?”, Rich asked Annie who simply nodded.
“This is amazing”, Abed said to Troy who shrug, “Might be cool, man. I’m not a nerd”.
“We should give him someone as a peace offer”, Chang said.
“We’re not doing that! Some of them are okay, you see? I was bit ten minutes ago and I’m… Fiiiiiineeeee”, Britta said, slowing the words. The whole group backed off her.
“I actually agreeeeeeee wiiiiiiiithhhhhh youuuuuu”, Rich said in the same tone, next to Annie, Jeff instantly held her by the waist and pulled her close, away from Rich.
“I think we’re gonna die!”, Shirley said.
“We need to run out of here!”, Chand said while throwing a chair to a window. When the rest of the classmates started to walk into it he again leaned down, put Annie over his shoulder and started running. “I can run by myself, you know?!”, Annie yelled at him but Jeff was too busy running away and holding her steady.
He opened the door to the school’s basement and he closed it a little harder with his free shoulder. He saw the key on the lock and turned it over to lock it. He let Annie down who looked at her with big blue scared eyes. “What about the rest?”, she asked.
“Annie I think this might be some kind of ‘everybody on their own’ situation”, he said, putting things against the door just in case.
“We have to get to the thermostat”, she said and he looked back at her, not wanting to burst her bubble. “Annie, the whole school is sick, it might be safer for us to stay here”.
“I don’t wanna die wearing a costume”, she said getting down the basement stairs, he followed her, “If it’s any help, you look really cute. But that’s why I just wear a nice suit and call it a day”, he said trying to make her laugh.
“I just, we have so many things to do with our lives”, Annie blurter out. “And we’re gonna be okay, I promise”, he held her shoulders softly and he really wanted to believe his words.
Annie grabbed her phone and looked at it, as if wanting to make a choice, she clicked a number and put it on her ear, “Abed?”, she asked, he heard a big zombie groan from the other end of the call, Annie threw her phone as far as she could then started crying, her face now red and he held her close to calm her a little bit, he then groaned a little and moved his shoulder.
“Did I hurt you?”, she asked, wiping her tears away, he let out a small laugh. “This is the shoulder I closed the door with, not really a wise decision”. She made a little ouch face and held his shoulder softly. “Are you sure you did not somehow get bitten or something?”.
“I mean I hope not, do you see any holes on my shirt?”, he asked now worried about his shirt, he unbuttoned it to uncover his arm with a little groan and turned a little for her to inspect it. “Everything okay?”, he asked and he felt her fingers tracing little circles on his shoulder. “Yeah, just a really big bruise”, she said in a calm voice.
“Ouch” he said but smiled when he looked at her gaze now in his face. “This sucks”, she said and he nodded, “It does”.
“How are we supposed to know what happens next if we turn out dead?” she asked him.
“What happens next about what? I mean, at least we’re going down with a friend”.
“Please don’t friendzone me during my last minutes alive”, she said annoyed and he looked at her, “Friendzone you?”. “Duh”, she simply said, not looking at him.
“Annie you don’t get it, it is way more complicated than this”.
“You friendzoning me is way more complicated than a zombie apocalypse?”.
“You’re too young, you still have such a long life ahead of you”.
“I mean, we both might die today and we didn’t try anything just because of this exact thought”, she said a little offended. He looked as if thinking about her words, “You might be right”.
“I am?... I am”, she said, not really understanding.
“I spend this time pushing you away because you’re too young for me, too good, too pretty, too everything. And then we just, it ended here, and we did not get time to be with each other and see if there really was something there, which, if you let me comment on it, I really think there it’s something here”, he said pointing between them.
“Of course there is, it’s us!” she said, a little annoyed. Jeff held her face softly and pulled her in for a kiss. She let him but broke the kiss a couple of seconds later, “what are you doing?”. “If these are really our ‘last moments’ I would very much like to spend it like this, with you. If these are our last moments, how would you want to spend them?” he said looking at her with worried eyes, she looked up at him with big doe eyes, “With you” she said almost in a whisper and kissed him back.
Suddenly Jeff felt Annie’s hands everywhere and he stopped kissing her, her lips a little swollen from their make out. He cupped her face softly with his hands and looked straight at her eyes. “Tell me if I take this too far, okay?” he asked and she bit her lip, “I think you might have a clue about what I want right now”. “Are you sure?” he asked and she nodded, placing a little kiss on his jaw, “Totally sure”.
….
Later, they were laying over the rest of the clothes and costumes. Jeff hated to cuddle, but if felt right, he liked to feel her close, finally together. Only covering with Annie’s hood. He had her arm extended over the floor so she could rest her head, tracing little patterns over her body with his free hand. Annie was quiet, he could feel her heartbeat against his chest, still beating fast, he smiled and placed a kiss on her temple.
“Just took a literal zombie attack for us to be like this”, she said and he kissed her again, “I’m sorry for taking this long”. Jeff looked at Annie’s concerned eyes, then a little smile, “Is it getting colder?”. “It is” he answered with a smile, happy to realize someone had actually reached the thermostat.
“Should we get dressed?” she asked, not really moving away from him. “Just give me a couple of more minutes like this”, he said, holding her close, she placed a kiss on his neck and smiled against his skin.
Apparently the day of a zombie attack had been the happiest day of his life.
….
Jeff woke up, very disoriented, his back hurted a little bit, but he felt his arm laying over a tiny frame. Before opening his eyes he remembered when he was about to get into the bathroom with Britta, but there where two things wrong there, first of all he had never stayed over with her or just sleep over, second of all, why would they be asleep on the floor?
He opened his eyes and saw brown soft hair, a little worried he looked at the red hood covering them and leaned in to see the woman’s face. He saw Annie apparetnly sleeping and instantly took his arms off her, scared. “Jesus!”, was all that he managed to say, Annie woke up instantly, putting her hands on the floor not to let herself fall now not having his arm under her head. He could tell she was a little disoriented too when she looked at him and her eyes widened with horror, “Oh my God!”.
“What the fuck?!” he asked with the same expression, she sat on the floor and he covered his eyes, Annie covered herself with the hood, embarrassed. “What did just happen?!” she almost yelled at him.
“I don’t know!!! Did you drug me or something?!” he asked and she looked offended, “Right because it would be really hard to convince you to get naked with me” she said in a sarcastic tone and he started dressing himself, “That’s not what I meant, it’s just, did we really? Maybe we just, you know, messed around? There’s no way we- you know, fully…” he tried to say when Annie looked under the hood and then back outside, not making eye contact with him but as if trying to seem calm, “Well there’s… stuff over here that might establish that we, well, in fact, you know” she said and he groaned.
“How, I mean, we… Annie I’ve been so careful around you, how is this even possible?”, he asked and Annie let out an offended gasp, “Care to explain? I mean I’m not happy about it either, but probably not because of the same reason as you”. She tried to get dressed again, still under the hood.
“You’re too young for me, we’ve discussed this. How did we end up doing this?”.
“How did we end up here? Is this some kind of basement?”, she said now fully clothed. He offered his hand for her to stand up and she ignored it, getting up, she was about to trip, a little weak on the knees when he held her to get her steady. She smack his hands off, “Don’t touch me”.
“I mean too late, right?”, he said crossing his arms over his chest.
“I can’t believe this”, Annie said, exhaling and putting her hands over her face.
“I knew I would probably end up feeling bad after sleeping with you, but this is a worse feeling than expected” he left out and Annie looked at him.
“Oh I can assure you you probably really enjoyed it!”, she blurted out, mad and he nodded, “Yeah, probably, yes. That’s out of the table. I meant that I thought if we ever did it I would probably feel bad about you being you, I care about you too much to do this”.
“I can’t believe I am one of Jeff Winger’s hook ups”, Annie left out in a crying voice.
“Okay no, that’s, no”, he said putting his arm around her softly, “No, Annie. Okay if you even bring this out again I will probably ignore it, but I care about you, I like you, I am, as you can see, attracted to you but I mean it’s us, we are friends. I’ve thought about this, about us countless times but it just seemed so away because I wouldn’t dare to hurt you or make you feel used” he said and she was still covering her face.
“I cannot believe I let this happen”, she said.
“Do you dislike me that much?”, he said in a worried tone and she shook her head, “It’s just, you might’ve been the second guy I sleep with, or maybe even the first one ‘right’. My first time was not a good experience at all”. Jeff felt guilt on his chest and Annie hold his hand as if reading his thoughts, “Not that I didn’t want it or that I don’t like the idea of it being with you, but I overthink everything I do, and doing it here, just being like that with you, that’s a big deal in my mind, I’d like to even remember it”, she left out, concern in her eyes and he nodded, kissing her hand. “I’d really like to remember it, believe me”, he said stroking the back of her hand.
“What do you want to do?” he asked, looking at her softly.
“I’d like to get out of here”, she said and he felt a little disappointed but nodded.
“I mean, maybe somewhere more private, I think we might need to talk”, she said and he let out a relieved sigh, “I agree. Milady?”, he asked, offering her arm to her, she walked a little bit to hold his arms and almost tripped again, he held her again carefully. “Yeah we might definitely did it”, he said and she let out a little laugh, “Take that smug grin off your face, Winger”. “I mean if it makes you feel any better, I feel very very tired right now”, he said with a little smile, “So I bore you?”she asked, a little offended.
“God, Annie, no”, he said while wrapping his arm around her waist to help her walk to the exit.
“Here you are, guys!”, Troy said while opening the door.
“Why are you down here? Is this some kind of prank?”, Abed asked.
“We have no idea”, Annie said, a little blushed.
“Yeah, it feels like something is missing, right?”, Troy said disoriented, Jeff nodded, smiling when he felt Annie’s hand over his.