The Perfect Duet (Chpt. 2)
Title: The Perfect Duet
Author: justine_88
Spoilers: Set partially after 2x09
Pairing: Jeff/Annie
Rating/Warnings: M, No smut this chapter, but I have it lined up for Chapter 3!
Word Count: 1,696
Disclaimer: I do not own Community, or the characters. They belong to Dan Harmon. I'm merely borrowing.
Chapter 2: The One Where the Kraft Mac & Cheese is Left Unattended
Professor Duncan had fallen asleep during Anthropology while a youtube video of cats fighting to the “Rocky” Soundtrack was left on replay. The group made a unanimous decision to sneak out but, only after a brief debate on whether or not spitballs would be a suitable prank on their napping professor.
With Jeff and Annie the last ones to make it out of the classroom; Troy and Abed busy mapping out new gizmos for their submarine development, Shirley and Britta arguing over a project due for their feminism class, and Pierce trying to navigate the narrow halls with his tech savvy wheelchair, they’re able fold their hands together and Annie even dares to rest her head on his shoulder, or close enough to it. She feels slightly naughty behaving like a scandalous celebrity trying to hide a secret romance from the paparazzi. Well, minus the celeb status and just switch the paparazzi for extremely nosy- I mean caring friends. She girlishly giggles and her free hand comes up to cover her momentary slip up. Jeff nudges her with their clasped hands, but a wicked grin draws up the corners of his mouth. With blue eyes wide, she mouths, “Sorry.” But before he can speak, they’ve made it to their designated study room. They file in one by one, and with as much stealth as a monkey impersonating a navy seal, they drop their hands and move to take their seats. Annie trips over a pull in the carpet. Jeff instantly reacts, almost diving to catch her. Annie manages to steady herself on the table. Jeff’s chin drops and he rubs his eyes. “I’m fine, nobody panic. I’m cool, just didn’t see the massive lump in the carpet.”
“Where?” Britta curiously looks between her, Jeff and the grey carpet.
“Right there!” Annie pointedly shows Britta the area that caused her this misfortune. Her voice becomes pitchy and she smoothes out her skirt and fixes her cardigan; which is unbuttoned by the way. Her cleavage has been a distraction for Jeff since she dropped by this morning looking for a ride to campus. Breakfast was included in the deal, but when he tired to cop a feel, she smacked his hand away. But, Annie did promise him some “nookie” later on tonight. His words, not hers.
“Eh, whatever. Maybe we should use caution tape. Incase it should happen again.” The two women scowl at each other. When everyone is seated and working, Jeff puts one arm on the table, as does Annie. Their forearms skim one another’s and the danger; no matter how small the amount, gives Annie a thrill. She smiles like the cat that ate the canary and flips open her color coded notebook and Jeff rolls his eyes at the array of brightly colored post-its outlining each class. Neurotic as she may be, Annie is his neurosis. Jeff pulls out his T3 magazine and skims the pages of the awesome and expensive gadgets and goodies that his fingers itch to try out. No sense in doing homework now. ‘Tutor Annie’ would be inappropriate for public domain. There’s also ‘Nurse Annie’, ‘Cleaning Annie’, ‘Chef Annie’… she’s like the real life version of Barbie, only way better. And he gets to play with her, not eight year old girls who still think boys are icky and their parents are always right.
They sneak glances and hide their smiles behind magazine pages and piles of notes. Annie’s grumbling stomach makes for an interesting soundtrack to their study group and by 12:30, Britta’s off to some theater class, Shirley wants to check on her boys, Pierce is napping and Troy and Abed have gone back to the dorms; a sudden epiphany that their submarine shouldn’t be yellow; instead, agreeing that it should blend in with its aquatic atmosphere sends them into a childlike tizzy. Jeff and Annie are left to their own devices and she rummages around her backpack for a snack. “Shoot. I didn’t pack any carrot sticks.” She pouts and Jeff decides to let her in on a little secret.
“How hungry are you?”
“Why? I’m not eating toilet paper or swallowing gum.”
“Gee, those are even disturbing coming from you.” She shrugs and tries to explain,
“I watched that documentary on people eating strange things. Gave me nightmares for days.”
“Well, Dean Pelton keeps a stash of Mac and Cheese in the staff room. It’s hidden behind a package of moldy Ritz Crackers and a can of Cheez whiz.”
“Really?” Her stomach is so hungry; at this point she’d eat the radio active powered cheese by itself if that’s all that was left.
“Yup, all we have to do is microwave it, and viola, lunch for two.” It’s far from gourmet but that act of stealing it will make it taste so much better.
They race to the staff room door and Annie peeks her head into the doorway to check the scene. Empty. She waves Jeff into the room and then follows close behind. Pinching his rear and he bends down to the cabinets. He jumps slightly and points a finger at her, but quickly kneels back down and grudgingly moves the moldy, past due food that had been stored here probably since Greendale was built. He finds the heap of blue and yellow boxes and grabs one. “Jackpot!”
“Do you see them?”
“OOH yeah!” They make quick work to follow the microwave instructions. Annie nervously taps her foot against the linoleum of the “kitchen” and keeps fidgeting at every little creek. DING!
“AH!”
“Annie, it’s just the microwave.”
“I knew that.” Her eyes are still wide in a slight panic and Jeff grabs the bowl of Mac and Cheese with one arm and her hand with the other and they speed walk back to their study room. Everyone is still MIA and Pierce has upgraded to snoring. Annie pulls the spoons she smuggles from one of the drawers and they dig into the delicious bowl of stolen goods. She was right; the sprinkle of theft adds a little kick to each spoonful.
With the bowl half gone, and their bellies full, they decide to head to their next class early. They pack up and leave the bowl on the table. They forego the hand holding, you never know who’s lurking around the corner. Most likely it would be Britta; the way she’s been scowling at lately is giving her the heebie jeebies.
“ATTENTION Greendale! This is the ever dashing Dean Pelton. Whomever has been snooping around the Staff Lounge. STOP! I don’t know what you intend to find, but it’s private property. Sort of. Just stay out. Have a wonderful day. And if the culprit is you, Jeff Winger, I’ll be watching you.”
Jeff and Annie try hiding their laughter, but it’s no use. After the fit, Annie reaches for her Lit book and realizes she left it in the room. “Darn! I left my Lit book in study. I’ll meet you there.”
“I’ll come with. I could use the exercise to walk off this pot belly that has suddenly grown.”
“That’s just because you’re sticking it out. You ate too fast.”
“I was hungrier than I thought.”
____________________________________________________________________________________
The tiny grey mouse had been anxiously awaiting their departure. The bold smell of cheese was wafting its way through his crawl space in the wall. His tiny mouth watered and his nose did a little dance. He peeks his head out from his burrow and other than the old man snoring, the coast is clear. He scurries over the carpet and climbs the chair to reach the table. His nails click against the fake wood and he balances himself on the rim of the bowl and shovels a few of the cheese covered noodles into his mouth. Familiar voices sound from down the hall and he rushes down toward his burrow, dropping a trail of macaroni as he goes.
Jeff holds the door open for Annie, “Milady.”
“Why thank you Milord.” She gives a quick curtsey and goes to pick up her forgotten book. “What in the name…” Jeff glances over her shoulder and sees the trail of yellow dotting the carpet. They follow it to the heating grate and, on their hands and knees, they look under to see the lowercase ‘n’ shaped hole. Tiny, dark eyes stare back at them. They are interrupted by an annoyed clearing of someone’s throat and turn their head to see Britta, Abed, Troy and Shirley al staring at them. Abed with his usual, thinking stare, Shirley with her wide eyed, mortified look, Troy with a slightly confused stare and Britta with a wicked brow arch and her arms folded over her chest. “Care to explain this?”
“No! And drop the Wicked Witch of the West act. It’s not cute anymore.” He helps Annie up from the floor and they fix their wrinkled state. “There’s a mouse living in the wall.”
“And he’s so cute. He’s got these long whiskers and tiny little brown eyes and…”
“We should set up a trap. Maybe call that guy… Billy the Exterminator.”
“No Abed! We can’t kill Wilber.”
“Wilber?”
“What Jeff? It’s a suitable, strong name for a mouse of his caliber.” “
“Remind me that I get to pick out names for our kids.” He whispers so that just Annie can hear him. She’s stunned into silence and stammers when words finally come back to her.
“We-uh, we-we c-can’t. Uh!- We can’t just leave him in the wall and we certainly can’t kill him.”
“You’re right. We should send in a video scope and tape his everyday activities and them blog them on youtube.”
“Abed!” They all annoyingly shout at him, enough so, that the echo wakes Pierce up from his nap.
“Ah, the third grumpy old man is awake. Thought you had followed Jack Lennon and Walter Matthau to the other side.”
“Fat chance Winger. Still have a lot of ladies to woe before I kick the bucket.”
The group fans out once again and heads in different directions. Another Greendale day comes to an end.
Author: justine_88
Spoilers: Set partially after 2x09
Pairing: Jeff/Annie
Rating/Warnings: M, No smut this chapter, but I have it lined up for Chapter 3!
Word Count: 1,696
Disclaimer: I do not own Community, or the characters. They belong to Dan Harmon. I'm merely borrowing.
Chapter 2: The One Where the Kraft Mac & Cheese is Left Unattended
Professor Duncan had fallen asleep during Anthropology while a youtube video of cats fighting to the “Rocky” Soundtrack was left on replay. The group made a unanimous decision to sneak out but, only after a brief debate on whether or not spitballs would be a suitable prank on their napping professor.
With Jeff and Annie the last ones to make it out of the classroom; Troy and Abed busy mapping out new gizmos for their submarine development, Shirley and Britta arguing over a project due for their feminism class, and Pierce trying to navigate the narrow halls with his tech savvy wheelchair, they’re able fold their hands together and Annie even dares to rest her head on his shoulder, or close enough to it. She feels slightly naughty behaving like a scandalous celebrity trying to hide a secret romance from the paparazzi. Well, minus the celeb status and just switch the paparazzi for extremely nosy- I mean caring friends. She girlishly giggles and her free hand comes up to cover her momentary slip up. Jeff nudges her with their clasped hands, but a wicked grin draws up the corners of his mouth. With blue eyes wide, she mouths, “Sorry.” But before he can speak, they’ve made it to their designated study room. They file in one by one, and with as much stealth as a monkey impersonating a navy seal, they drop their hands and move to take their seats. Annie trips over a pull in the carpet. Jeff instantly reacts, almost diving to catch her. Annie manages to steady herself on the table. Jeff’s chin drops and he rubs his eyes. “I’m fine, nobody panic. I’m cool, just didn’t see the massive lump in the carpet.”
“Where?” Britta curiously looks between her, Jeff and the grey carpet.
“Right there!” Annie pointedly shows Britta the area that caused her this misfortune. Her voice becomes pitchy and she smoothes out her skirt and fixes her cardigan; which is unbuttoned by the way. Her cleavage has been a distraction for Jeff since she dropped by this morning looking for a ride to campus. Breakfast was included in the deal, but when he tired to cop a feel, she smacked his hand away. But, Annie did promise him some “nookie” later on tonight. His words, not hers.
“Eh, whatever. Maybe we should use caution tape. Incase it should happen again.” The two women scowl at each other. When everyone is seated and working, Jeff puts one arm on the table, as does Annie. Their forearms skim one another’s and the danger; no matter how small the amount, gives Annie a thrill. She smiles like the cat that ate the canary and flips open her color coded notebook and Jeff rolls his eyes at the array of brightly colored post-its outlining each class. Neurotic as she may be, Annie is his neurosis. Jeff pulls out his T3 magazine and skims the pages of the awesome and expensive gadgets and goodies that his fingers itch to try out. No sense in doing homework now. ‘Tutor Annie’ would be inappropriate for public domain. There’s also ‘Nurse Annie’, ‘Cleaning Annie’, ‘Chef Annie’… she’s like the real life version of Barbie, only way better. And he gets to play with her, not eight year old girls who still think boys are icky and their parents are always right.
They sneak glances and hide their smiles behind magazine pages and piles of notes. Annie’s grumbling stomach makes for an interesting soundtrack to their study group and by 12:30, Britta’s off to some theater class, Shirley wants to check on her boys, Pierce is napping and Troy and Abed have gone back to the dorms; a sudden epiphany that their submarine shouldn’t be yellow; instead, agreeing that it should blend in with its aquatic atmosphere sends them into a childlike tizzy. Jeff and Annie are left to their own devices and she rummages around her backpack for a snack. “Shoot. I didn’t pack any carrot sticks.” She pouts and Jeff decides to let her in on a little secret.
“How hungry are you?”
“Why? I’m not eating toilet paper or swallowing gum.”
“Gee, those are even disturbing coming from you.” She shrugs and tries to explain,
“I watched that documentary on people eating strange things. Gave me nightmares for days.”
“Well, Dean Pelton keeps a stash of Mac and Cheese in the staff room. It’s hidden behind a package of moldy Ritz Crackers and a can of Cheez whiz.”
“Really?” Her stomach is so hungry; at this point she’d eat the radio active powered cheese by itself if that’s all that was left.
“Yup, all we have to do is microwave it, and viola, lunch for two.” It’s far from gourmet but that act of stealing it will make it taste so much better.
They race to the staff room door and Annie peeks her head into the doorway to check the scene. Empty. She waves Jeff into the room and then follows close behind. Pinching his rear and he bends down to the cabinets. He jumps slightly and points a finger at her, but quickly kneels back down and grudgingly moves the moldy, past due food that had been stored here probably since Greendale was built. He finds the heap of blue and yellow boxes and grabs one. “Jackpot!”
“Do you see them?”
“OOH yeah!” They make quick work to follow the microwave instructions. Annie nervously taps her foot against the linoleum of the “kitchen” and keeps fidgeting at every little creek. DING!
“AH!”
“Annie, it’s just the microwave.”
“I knew that.” Her eyes are still wide in a slight panic and Jeff grabs the bowl of Mac and Cheese with one arm and her hand with the other and they speed walk back to their study room. Everyone is still MIA and Pierce has upgraded to snoring. Annie pulls the spoons she smuggles from one of the drawers and they dig into the delicious bowl of stolen goods. She was right; the sprinkle of theft adds a little kick to each spoonful.
With the bowl half gone, and their bellies full, they decide to head to their next class early. They pack up and leave the bowl on the table. They forego the hand holding, you never know who’s lurking around the corner. Most likely it would be Britta; the way she’s been scowling at lately is giving her the heebie jeebies.
“ATTENTION Greendale! This is the ever dashing Dean Pelton. Whomever has been snooping around the Staff Lounge. STOP! I don’t know what you intend to find, but it’s private property. Sort of. Just stay out. Have a wonderful day. And if the culprit is you, Jeff Winger, I’ll be watching you.”
Jeff and Annie try hiding their laughter, but it’s no use. After the fit, Annie reaches for her Lit book and realizes she left it in the room. “Darn! I left my Lit book in study. I’ll meet you there.”
“I’ll come with. I could use the exercise to walk off this pot belly that has suddenly grown.”
“That’s just because you’re sticking it out. You ate too fast.”
“I was hungrier than I thought.”
____________________________________________________________________________________
The tiny grey mouse had been anxiously awaiting their departure. The bold smell of cheese was wafting its way through his crawl space in the wall. His tiny mouth watered and his nose did a little dance. He peeks his head out from his burrow and other than the old man snoring, the coast is clear. He scurries over the carpet and climbs the chair to reach the table. His nails click against the fake wood and he balances himself on the rim of the bowl and shovels a few of the cheese covered noodles into his mouth. Familiar voices sound from down the hall and he rushes down toward his burrow, dropping a trail of macaroni as he goes.
Jeff holds the door open for Annie, “Milady.”
“Why thank you Milord.” She gives a quick curtsey and goes to pick up her forgotten book. “What in the name…” Jeff glances over her shoulder and sees the trail of yellow dotting the carpet. They follow it to the heating grate and, on their hands and knees, they look under to see the lowercase ‘n’ shaped hole. Tiny, dark eyes stare back at them. They are interrupted by an annoyed clearing of someone’s throat and turn their head to see Britta, Abed, Troy and Shirley al staring at them. Abed with his usual, thinking stare, Shirley with her wide eyed, mortified look, Troy with a slightly confused stare and Britta with a wicked brow arch and her arms folded over her chest. “Care to explain this?”
“No! And drop the Wicked Witch of the West act. It’s not cute anymore.” He helps Annie up from the floor and they fix their wrinkled state. “There’s a mouse living in the wall.”
“And he’s so cute. He’s got these long whiskers and tiny little brown eyes and…”
“We should set up a trap. Maybe call that guy… Billy the Exterminator.”
“No Abed! We can’t kill Wilber.”
“Wilber?”
“What Jeff? It’s a suitable, strong name for a mouse of his caliber.” “
“Remind me that I get to pick out names for our kids.” He whispers so that just Annie can hear him. She’s stunned into silence and stammers when words finally come back to her.
“We-uh, we-we c-can’t. Uh!- We can’t just leave him in the wall and we certainly can’t kill him.”
“You’re right. We should send in a video scope and tape his everyday activities and them blog them on youtube.”
“Abed!” They all annoyingly shout at him, enough so, that the echo wakes Pierce up from his nap.
“Ah, the third grumpy old man is awake. Thought you had followed Jack Lennon and Walter Matthau to the other side.”
“Fat chance Winger. Still have a lot of ladies to woe before I kick the bucket.”
The group fans out once again and heads in different directions. Another Greendale day comes to an end.