Work Text:
2011
Troy pulled on his pajama pants faster than was probably safe, especially considering he had tripped three times this week from doing the exact same thing. So sue him for wanting to get in bed as fast as possible so he could talk to Abed. For as long as Troy could remember, he and Abed had been having their famous “bunk bed conversations”, one of the major perks of sleeping directly above your best friend. These conversations were strictly confidential, no holds barred, say-whatever-you’re-thinking type of late-night discussions. Sometimes what that meant was “if this was Jurassic Park, what kind of dinosaur would you want to be eaten by?”, but sometimes it meant “if you could only tell one person you currently know that you love them for the rest of your life, who would it be?”. Troy had something that he’d been worrying about that he wanted to run by Abed tonight, which was why he needed to get in bed as soon as possible. Right after he stopped tripping over his pant legs and actually got his feet into them.
After what seemed like forever, Troy and Abed were dressed and in bed, ready to start tonight’s bunk bed conversation. Abed, keen as usual, rolled over and looked up at Troy, eyebrow raised. “You seemed kind of antsy to get in bed tonight. Anything specific you wanna talk about?”
Troy breathed out a small laugh and looked over the edge of the bunk. “Yeah, there’s been something on my mind, and it seems small, but I’ve been thinking about it a lot.” Abed stayed quiet, obviously waiting for Troy to continue. Troy took a deep breath and just let it all out at once. “Idon’tknowmyownringsizesowhatifsomeoneinthefuturewantstomarrymebutdoesn’tknowwhatsizedringtogetandthentheyaskedmeandIdon’tevenknowandsotheygetpissedatmefornotknowingandthentheybreakupwithme and then I’m sad forever?”
Troy glanced over the bunk at Abed to gauge his reaction, which was currently just really wide eyes and a slightly open mouth. He shook his head to come to his senses and gently looked at Troy. “Would you be able to repeat that slower please? I want to properly address the situation but all I got was ‘and then I’m sad forever’.”
Troy sighed and rolled over to face the wall and tried again. “I’m worried because I don’t know my own ring size- I’ve never needed to, you know?- and so what if someone in the future wanted to ask me to marry them, and they don’t know my ring size. And it can’t even be like the movies or TV where they ask friends or family about the ring size, because no one I know knows my ring size. So then my wannabe fiancé gets a placeholder ring and asks me my ring size later, right? Because that’s the logical solution. But then I don’t even know my own ring size, and what are they gonna think then? ‘Who’s this loser who doesn’t know his ring size and why do I wanna marry him?’ So then-”
“Let me stop you right there,” Abed interrupted, just as Troy was gasping for another breath, his eyes starting to water. “First of all, if someone wants to marry you, not knowing your ring size would not be a dealbreaker, okay?” He waited for Troy to hum in acknowledgement before continuing. “Okay. Second, and more importantly, if you want to, we can go to the mall tomorrow and get you sized at the jewelry store so this situation never has to happen. What do you think?”
Troy’s face broke out into a grin and he hung his head over the side of his bed to smile down at Abed. “Really? You’d go with me?”
“That’s what best friends are for.”
**********************
The jewelry store was shiny and white and glass and breakable, and just being near all that frailty made Troy anxious. So he slowed his pace and folded his hands neatly in front of him, following closely behind Abed as they made their way to the counter. A prim-looking woman with dark hair pulled into a bun met them with skeptical eyes.
“Shopping for girlfriends, boys?” she asked when they approached. She sounded like she meant well, but for some reason the question made Troy annoyed, and he had to hold back an eye roll. He’d have to remember to analyze that feeling later, in the comfort of his own bed, away from this lady’s calculating eyes.
“Actually, we’re here to get my finger size,” Troy corrected, giving a small smile that he hoped meant the woman would give them a discount on the sizing. Abed had told him it wouldn’t cost anything, but there was no way a place that sold such expensive jewelry would do anything for free.
The lady’s eyebrows rose just a bit and she gave a small smile in return as she looked between Troy and Abed, her whole face lightening. “Ah, of course! Let me just grab the measuring tape and I’ll be right back. While I’m gone, why don’t you look at our new collection of engagement rings? The ones in the front were just shipped last week.” She smiled again and disappeared behind a curtain into a back room.
Troy felt his eyebrows furrow as he turned to Abed. “What was that about?” he wondered, peering into the glass case at the rings the woman was referring to. He’d never really known much about jewelry, specifically rings, and couldn’t name even one type of cut if you asked. But he had to admit, the ones in the case were beautiful, and it was starting to make him think about what type of ring he would want in the future. He knew he definitely didn’t want the teardrop ones or the circle ones- he was sure other people loved them, but he couldn’t see it for himself. Maybe one of the little square ones, then? With little circles next to the middle gem? He could picture it now: his girlfriend, whose face was just a big blur in his head but who he was sure would be hot, getting on one knee and holding up the ring he was looking at, saying a few words about how she wanted to be with him forever while Troy stood there crying. Then suddenly, randomly, he looked up at Abed, also inspecting the rings in front of them, and wondered what kind of cut he liked. Does he know all the names of the ring types? Does he have one picked out already? Does he even plan on getting an engagement ring for himself? Troy decided that should be the “bunk bed conversation” for that night, purely out of curiosity.
Abed looked up at him, then, as if reading his mind. Troy tried to send a message, just in case, but nothing came back. Oh well, worth a shot. Abed pulled him out of his ring-related stupor, however, by saying, “Do you think we need to buy something in order to get the ring size for free, and that’s why she was showing us the engagement rings?”
Troy’s eyes widened as he gasped, looking from Abed to the rings and back again. “I don’t have a thousand dollars to spend on a ring right now, dude! What are we gonna do?”
Abed didn’t get a chance to answer, though, because the ring lady came back out from behind the curtain with the cutest mini tape measure Troy had ever seen. Before she had the chance to put it on him, however, he held up a hand and she paused, a mix between confusion and amusement.
“Sorry, ma’am,” Troy tried to say confidently, putting his hands on his hips to show he meant business. “We actually aren’t looking to buy any rings today, so you can take your tiny tape measure elsewhere because we won’t be tricked into paying for it!” Abed nodded in agreement, giving him a low thumbs up so the woman wouldn’t see it.
Something strange happened then- the ring lady giggled. She looked between the two of them again- seriously, why was she doing that?- and put the finger-sizer on the counter, smiling at them with kind eyes. Troy felt like his brain was melting. Why was she happy that she wasn’t getting any money?
“You boys do know that we do ring sizing for free, right?” she asked them, picking up the tape measure again and holding out her hand for Troy’s finger. When he hesitated, she continued. “You don’t have to buy anything, either. We get a lot of people who just come in here to browse, you know. No one’s forcing you to make any decisions or pay for any rings right now, we’re just doing this to help with the process of eventually buying one.”
Troy breathed out a sigh of relief and looked over at Abed, who seemed surprised but smiled at him encouragingly. Troy excitedly held out his hand to the lady, and it felt right that it was Abed who was here with him. Abed was his best friend in the whole world, and he wouldn’t have it any other way.
The ring lady slipped the measuring tape around his finger and lined it up so she could see it. “18.4 millimeters” she read. “That means a size 8.5 ring would fit like a glove.”
“Hell yeah! 8.5! Is that the best one?” he asked the lady, who gave an amused shake of her head as she started wrapping the tape measure back up. Troy turned to Abed with triumph in his eyes. “Mission accomplished!” Then he realized something, frowning at his best friend in concern.
“What about your ring size, Abed?”
Abed brushed him off, looking as carefree as ever. “Mine’s a 5.” He held up his hands and waggled his fingers around. “I have tiny hands. It makes it easy to eat Pringles.”
“Awesome,” Troy remarked, holding up his hand to compare. He got a strange itch to intertwine their fingers, just to see what it felt like, but suppressed it. That would be another feeling to examine later.
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Present Day
Greendale Community College has shrunk. That has to be the only explanation, because Troy feels taller when he steps through the front doors for the first time in years. Maybe there’s some psychological reason for it, like he has more confidence now or has accomplished so much since graduating, but Troy would rather assume that Greendale decided to make all their classrooms smaller so their students would feel like giants. Yeah. That has to be it.
The reunion celebrations don’t start for another half an hour, but the Study Group had wanted to meet early to catch up. Abed had been very excited about it, practically rushing Troy out of the hotel this morning when all he’d wanted to do was enjoy his complimentary bacon. Even now, Abed’s hand is sweating where it’s laced with Troy’s, and the nervousness is visible on his face. He must be excited to see everyone, especially Annie. Troy knows the two of them had gotten close when he set off on his voyage back in 2015.
Troy and Abed walk the familiar hallways to the library, the path still muscle memory after all this time. Study Room F still looks exactly the same, like the Dean and Jeff had tried their best to preserve it (and they probably had). Troy gives Abed’s hand a little squeeze right before they enter, a way of getting some of his nerves out, and feels a squeeze back. They only get to see everyone together maybe once a year if they’re lucky, so this is a special occasion.
Troy opens the door to the study room and sees 7 familiar faces turn to look at them. It takes only a second for everyone to take in the sight of them, and then it’s chaos. A big happy mixture of hugs, a handshake with Andre, and small talk ensues as the group descends on Troy and Abed. It’s all “How’s LA?” and “I love your beard!” and “Can you fix my AC?”. His answers are “It’s so awesome!”, “Thanks, Annie”, and “No, Chang, not if you’re going to pay me in mannequin limbs.”
Everything calms down eventually, with everyone reconvening to the table. Andre sits in Pierce’s seat, the Dean, who seems a little on edge, sits next to Jeff, and Chang just finds a far corner of the room and stands in it, facing away from everyone. But Troy and Abed are in their usual seats for the first time in what feels like forever, and it makes Troy really nostalgic. He’s starting to feel like he listened to “Come Sail Away” by Styx again.
Abed can probably sense this, because he reaches for Troy’s hand under the table. It makes him feel immediately better, being grounded by Abed’s touch and the way he rubs his thumb across the back of Troy’s hand. It’s times like this when Troy’s so glad they got their shit together enough to admit their feelings when he got off that boat. He couldn’t imagine a life without Abed, and he’s so glad this stupid school brought them together.
The chit-chat comes to a lull, and the Dean gets up from his chair. “Well, I gotta go make sure everything’s set up for this alumni lunch, but good lu- I mean have fun everyone, see you soon!” He gives a not-so-subtle wink to Abed before he leaves, to which Abed widens his eyes and gives his panic look.
Troy furrows his brow and turns to Abed. “What was that about?” he asks, looking around the room to a group of faces that mirror Abed’s. Everyone seems to be thinking of something to say, and Annie beats them to it.
“I-I think the Dean is in love with Abed!” she bursts out, with a sense of sureness in her voice that Troy thinks seems genuine. “I mean, that must be it, right? No other explanation.”
Everyone at the table starts nodding along, even Andre who’s probably met the Dean once. Then all of a sudden they hear Chang’s voice from the other end of the room.
“Can I come out? Did Abed propose yet?”
Everyone gasps. Shirley and Britta try to play off what he said as a joke and Jeff gets up to go chastise Chang, everyone trying to downplay the situation.
But for Troy, everything stops.
He looks over at Abed in what seems like slow motion. And suddenly, it’s just the two of them as Abed gives a small smile and starts to get out of his chair and onto one knee. He pulls out a ring from his pocket- little circle gemstones next to a bigger square one. Troy gasps and covers his mouth as the earlier feeling of wanting to cry comes back in full force.
“I’m kind of glad Chang said that, because I didn’t really have a good segue into the actual proposal,” Abed starts, and the room gets quiet as everyone listens in. “Troy, I don’t wanna give some long-winded speech about how I’ve loved you since the day I met you and every day since, ’cause that’s cliché and just not true. Honestly, you were kinda mean to me when we met.”
Troy chuckles through the tears that are definitely falling now, struggling to wipe his face as Abed continues talking.
“But you’ve grown since then, and so have I, and then we grew together, and it’s been amazing. ‘You complete me’, ‘To me you are perfect’, ‘We’ll always have Paris’, et cetera. I tried to write this speech so many times without sounding basic or stealing lines from movies, but it was so difficult because all I wanna say is how much I love you. I love your childlike sense of wonder that never ceases, your optimism that’s carried me through my darkest times, and the way you still make me buttered noodles and special drink when I’m upset, never telling me I’m too old for them. You get me like no one else ever has, and I selfishly want you to keep getting me for the rest of our lives.” He winks at Troy before saying the last line. “So now I’m just a boy, kneeling in front of another boy, asking him to marry me.”
Troy laughs at all the lazy clichés that were 100% for his benefit, before holding out his left hand. “Yes, oh my god Abed, yes yes yes please put the ring on before I start sobbing.” He distantly hears Jeff say “Before you start?”, but it doesn’t matter because Abed is kissing him, everyone else is celebrating, Troy feels lighter than air, and then Abed slips the ring on his finger.
And you know what? It fits like a glove.
THE END