Follow TV Tropes

Following

Ho Yay / Community

Go To

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/troyandabed_7222.jpg
"Abed... I love you." "I know." This trope is brought to you by Community... complete with geeky references, naturally.

    Troy and Abed  
  • The end tag of "Advanced Criminal Law" features them playing the rather suggestive game of "How many pencils can I fit in the other's mouth?" complete with mischievous expressions and a bit of gagging. Troy won.
  • The 'Somewhere Out There' duet.
  • From "Politics of Human Sexuality"... Troy, on playing basketball with Abed: "It's impossible to guard you — your eyes are too gentle and mysterious."
  • From "Romantic Expressionism":
    Annie: "Troy... the other day, after Spanish, I thought he was trying to hold my hand, but... he'd just mistaken me for Abed."
    • Troy describing Abed as his other half.
    • "They're just jealous."
  • The end tag that shows Abed reading aloud to a sleeping Troy. Before he leaves the room, he tenderly drapes Troy's jacket over him.
    • It's heavily implied in their Kickpuncher tag that they've recreated at least one sex scene together.
  • In "Physical Education," after Abed says, "Truth is, lots of girls like me, because, let's face it, I'm pretty adorable," Troy can be seen nodding in affirmation.
  • Their "awesome elevator" routine, in which they sink down to the ground and very quickly switch shirts before rising back up again. Troy follows it up with a somewhat suggestive "That was awesome."
  • The end tag of "Modern Warfare" has Troy obsessively re-recording a voice message for Abed... about meeting up with him in ten minutes. His level of fretting is not unlike that of a dedicated significant other, and this is acknowledged by Jeff as he cuts in to get the recording process over with.
    Jeff: Hey Abed. Your girlfriend will meet you at the flagpole in ten minutes. Goodbye.
  • In "Epidemiology," Troy and Abed end up trapped in the corner of an Abandoned Warehouse with a window allowing only one person to escape. Abed sacrifices himself in order to get Troy through the window, and in the last moments before Abed is overcome by the zombified partygoers, Troy looks back and says "I love you"... to which Abed responds with the classic "I know" from Star Wars. The whole moment is incredibly romantic and drips Anguished Declaration of Love, especially considering the fact that Troy has no apparent reference in mind when he chooses to tell Abed that he loves him. In fact, Abed turning the moment into a reference is the only thing keeping the scene from being viewed as a legitimate confession on Troy's part. Of course, neither of them remember it afterward, but the point still stands.
    • Also, once Troy runs back into the building to adjust the thermostat, he comes across his zombiefied friends. He has absolutely no problem making wisecracks, punching Annie, and shoving Pierce, and only pauses before Shirley because he can't reference something if he doesn't know what she's dressed at, but then zombie!Abed shows up. Cue Troy desperately trying to snap Abed out of it, complete with ABBA. The whole moment seems even more romantic given that the last thing Troy said to Abed was a love confession.
    • It's also not a desperate attempt to save his life, as he could very easily punch Abed and continue onwards: Shirley didn't actually have a hold of Troy, and it wasn't until after he was bit that the others did grab hold. Troy couldn't hit Abed, even at the risk of his life, and given Troy's knowledge of film, he must have known that trying to reason with a zombie never has good results.
  • Everything to do with Abed in "Advanced Dungeons and Dragons." Aside from his flirting with Jeff and implications that his character wants to have sex with Jeff's... he ultimately has sex with Annie's character, while she plays an attractive man called "Hector the Well-Endowed", which Abed wrote for Troy.
  • After Troy and Abed spend almost the entirety of "Early 21st Century Romanticism" competing over a pretty librarian (in a way that they specifically designed to be as civil as possible so that neither would compromise the other's feelings), she eventually chooses Troy. Troy's almost immediate reaction is to ask her what she didn't like about Abed, becoming defensive when she implies that he was not a romantic option because he's "weird," and storming out to rejoin Abed and have a heartfelt conversation with him.
    Troy: There's someone out there for us.
    Abed: Happy Valentine's Day.
    Troy: It is now. [They hug, and the librarian walks past, giving them a strange look] Ignore her.
  • The end tag of "Mixology Certification" features Abed attempting to fit as many t-shirts as possible onto Troy, with a lot of gasping and panting from Troy. Naturally, as soon as Abed forces the last t-shirt over his head, Troy's phone rings from his back pocket. Abed wastes no time in digging in Troy's back pocket for his phone. Both the angle and dialogue are fairly suggestive.
    Abed: Let me know when I'm close.
  • The end tag in "Critical Film Studies" opens on Troy and Abed finishing up a candle-lit dinner at a fancy restaurant, and when the check arrives, Troy insists on treating Abed to the meal. The joke is that the bill is too expensive and they end up dining and dashing, but the initial situation could imply that they were on a date.
    • It begs the question if Jeff and Abed's dinner was also a date. Troy was jealous throughout the episode, and it can easily be assumed Abed went out with Troy to make up for it.
      • Also, when Abed was explaining his 'life' as Chad and going through Chad's life, he said how his first love had been with his best friend, which suggests that Troy, being his best friend, is and was Abed's first love.
  • In "Biology 101" Troy and Abed officially state that they "have an announcement to make..." that they're moving in together. Later, we discover that they name their apartment Chez Trobed. Seriously.
    Troy: Speaking of figuring things out, me and Abed have an announcement [they smile at each other while the rest watch uncertainly].
    Abed: Troy and I are living together.
  • In this same scene, as if to drive home the point that this is in fact a couple moving in together, the two point out that they are registered at "Linens n Things."
  • When Troy and Abed welcome the rest of the study group to their housewarming party in "Remedial Chaos Theory," they greet their guests together at the door, each dressed in a suit... a bit like two grooms at a wedding reception. In the same shot, we can see that the walls of their apartment are lined with photos of the two of them.
    • After Shirley's pies burn in her timeline, she accuses the rest of the group of being "horny toads who sit around all night just making googly eyes at each other." This prompts the rest of the group to give each other significant looks, the combinations of characters consisting of Annie and Jeff, Jeff and Britta, Britta and Troy, and then Troy and Abed (complete with suggestive eyebrows on Abed's part). Also worth mentioning is the fact that apart from the latter, all of these pairings have definitively been canon at some point.
  • In "Horror Fiction in Seven Spooky Steps," the study group is telling scary stories. Britta's, Abed's, and Annie's stories all feature two main characters who are involved in some sort of romance. The next story is Troy's, which opens with... him and Abed as Top Gun fighter pilots. Troy carries an injured Abed bridal-style through the door of the cabin. Then Pierce (a "crazy, old, racist doctor") drugs them, and they wake up under a blanket together on an operating table. Pierce pulls the blanket off and reveals that he's sewn them together. They proceed to look at each other and yell "FORCED TO BE TOGETHER FOREVER!" ...a situation they appear more than content with.
    • In Annie's purple prose romance story right before Troy's, Jeff bridal-carries Annie in the same way that Troy carries Abed in his story.
  • In the end tag of "Documentary Filmmaking: Redux," after the group hug breaks apart, Troy and Britta are seen still embracing one another. Abed, who is filming, abruptly cuts in a with a 'Scene over!' After they walk away, he looks extremely insecure, and more than a little jealous and alarmed.
  • The entire "Contemporary Impressionists"/"Digital Exploration of Interior Design"/"Pillows and Blankets" story arc. After Troy's sincere and loving defense of Abed's Cloudcuckoolander status to the rest of the group, Troy and Abed get in what is implied to be their first real argument (after Abed's childishness and irresponsibility crosses a line Troy isn't willing to support), and the storyline is played like a rift in a romantic relationship. This spills over into the rest of their interactions, until everyone from creepy air-conditioning-repair magnates to evil goatee'd alternate versions of themselves are telling Troy and Abed to split up. This leads to a small disagreement over pillows and blankets (or rather, forts made out them) blowing up into a major fight that causes them to sever ties with one another, only coming in contact in order to take out their hurt feelings on each other in the most dramatic and damaging way possible. Eventually, they are forced to acknowledge that they like each other so much that they are drawing out their "breakup" in order to delay the actual moment of separation, and begin to repair their friendship from the ground up. This is one of the most heavy, angsty, and character-driven arcs of the season, and is played to display the full depth and impact of Abed and Troy's relationship.
  • "Virtual System Analysis" really drives this home. For the sake of context: the last time one of Abed's emotional nosedives pulled the show into genre-bending surrealism, the event was triggered by his mother's abandonment. This time, it's Troy spending time with someone else, which puts a pretty intense spin on exactly how dependent Abed is on Troy for even a relatively stable emotional life. Doubles as both Fridge Logic and Tear Jerker.
    • The same episode gives us Abed (rather pettily, for him), "simulating" Britta and Troy's date and deliberately portraying Britta as an insufferable jerk, while Troy wistfully daydreams about "going home to Abed". Meanwhile, the real Troy takes time out of lunch to call Annie and make sure that Abed is doing okay. Seriously, the two of them might as well be telepathic and sewn together.
  • The Ambiguously Bi for Troy is also really ramped up in this episode. When Annie and Abed are in the hospital administration simulation, Annie doses simulation Troy with truth serum, forcing him to rapidly spill his secrets, some of which include "being into butt stuff," and "being attracted to Clive Owen," respectively.
  • So, so much in "Curriculum Unavailable." According to Troy, Abed's usual demeanor is "adorable weird." Troy attempts to convince the therapist that his and Abed's adventures are "very manly"... while attempting to cuddle with Abed on the couch. He then remembers himself and offers Abed a hasty handshake. A flashback shows both Troy and Annie attempting to comfort a distraught Abed during a Daylight Savings Day time-switch with hugs and caresses. Also, when faced with the prospect of Abed being committed to an institution, Troy tearfully breaks down and begs the psychiatrist not to take Abed away.
  • In "Digital Estate Planning," Abed's avatar decides to abandon the study group partway through a computer game in order to stay with a female character and help her rebuild her life after Shirley and Annie murder her parents and burn down her house. Later, the group meets up with Abed again, and he informs them that his "wife" can make babies for him. Troy jealously retorts "Oh, and I can't?"... only to seem upset when he realizes he can't.
  • "The First Chang Dynasty": Troy has been claimed by the air-conditioning repair school, and is told to give a final goodbye to his friends. He says a quick farewell to everybody in the group (including Britta, with whom the writers had been ship teasing Troy for several episodes)... and then, upon coming to Abed, leans in and whispers something inaudible in his ear. Abed later claims that he said "I know you hate when people do this in movies," but the moment is still rather ambiguous.
    • Considering how Abed couches everything in pop culture, that expression was probably genuinely intimate. The whole scene was constructed on heartfelt final goodbyes where the actual words were pointedly undramatic ("Never wear a rubber." "Never listen to Pierce.") but still anchored on characterization.
      • For someone who rarely shows emotion, Abed's face after Troy says his goodbye is fairly devastating. He can't even stand to be around the rest of the group, and has to retreat to "his and Troy's" pillow fort.
  • "Introduction to Finality": Abed practically experiences a months-long mental breakdown (culminating in his temporary transformation into Evil!Abed) after Troy's departure for the air-conditioning repair school; Troy also spends his months away pining for Abed. When Troy finally leaves the AC annex and is reunited with his friends for the first time, he comes upon Abed and Britta hugging, and asks "Can I cut in?"... only to completely ignore Britta's offered hug and embrace Abed.
  • In "Paranormal Parentage," Jeff refers to Abed as "[Britta]'s boyfriend's boyfriend" when he and Troy show up wearing matching costumes.
  • "Conventions of Space and Time" draws heavily on the Ho Yay between Troy and Abed. Troy feels replaced and goes "all psycho girlfriend" on Abed (Britta's words).
  • The show has tended to gradually deconstruct the Ho Yay between Troy and Abed in later episodes, however, pointing out that their relationship frequently tends to cross the line from 'vaguely homoerotic best buddies' to 'worryingly co-dependent on each other.' Shown the most clearly in "Repilot," when Jeff points out that Troy has basically allowed his entire identity to be consumed and defined by his relationship with another man.
  • As befitting Troy's final episode, "Geothermal Escapism" demonstrates just how much Abed really cares for Troy. He constructed an entire game of 'The Floor is Lava' just so everyone can see the world as he currently does. In the game, Abed equates Troy leaving with death.
    Abed: By the way, when I cloned you, I had to patch the missing parts of your DNA with genes from a homing pigeon. You may notice side effects, like a compulsion to come back.
  • Abed loves TV. His love for TV has been his defining characteristic over all six seasons of the show, culminating in a speech in the finale about what TV means to him that subtly pays homage to his friendship with Troy.
    Abed: [TV is] comfort. It's a friend you've known so well, and for so long you just let it be with you. And it needs to be okay for it to have a bad day or phone in a day, and it needs to be okay for it to get on a boat with LeVar Burton and never come back. Because eventually, it all will."

    Everybody Else 
  • The Dean and everybody. Especially Jeff.
  • Abed is a bit of a Ho Yay magnet. In "Contemporary American Poultry," Abed seems to have seduced 'Shirley's dreadlock guy' away from her, and is even fed chicken by him.
    • At Abed's request, he and Jeff imitate the posing of the famous birthday cake scene from Sixteen Candles, which takes place between the protagonist and her love interest.
  • In "Mixology Certification" Abed spends almost the entire evening being hit on by a gay man at a bar. He noticed after a bit.
  • In "Critical Film Studies," Jeff and Abed have a fancy, candlelit dinner complete with "real" conversation because Abed noticed that Jeff was avoiding him. Jeff proceeds to have a more intimate conversation with Abed than anyone else in the group.
  • The episode "Physical Education" has a scene where Jeff has a pool match with his new billiards instructor. It features both of them getting naked and the instructor walking up to Jeff while both are still naked and then kissing him on the lips.
    • In the same episode, the Dean checks out Jeff's ass as he strips to his underwear, then carefully filming Jeff's naked pool match and going to give Jeff a congratulatory hug but stopping when he notices that he's sweaty.
    • When discussing which fictional character Abed should imitate to attract a girl, Britta suggests Jo, from Facts Of Life. When everyone looks at her, she sheepishly adds "But you know, the dude version."
  • Britta and Annie have a few moments of Les Yay. In a season 1 episode, Buddy has a dream sequence where Britta and Annie are in very short cheerleader uniforms and push each other into a pool of bubbly water.
    • In "The Psychology of Letting Go," they get in an oily wrestling match on the quad with guys throwing money at them.
    • The study group discusses the possibility of inter-group romances in "Romantic Expressionism," which leads to everybody exchanging curious glances. Britta and Annie stare at each other for a few seconds as if they are contemplating a relationship. Annie gives a cute smile, and they quickly turn away from each other. This is Played for Laughs, of course.
    • * In the scene mentioned above where Jeff notes that there's nothing stopping any of the study group members of thinking of each other as a sexual prospect, there's also a glance between Jeff and Abed, ending in Abed giving a suggestive eyebrow wiggle.
    • Annie tries to kiss Britta in "Early 21st Century Romanticism" simply because a random member of the crowd yelled out for them to kiss. This is after Britta and another girl both assumed that the other was a lesbian and pretended to be a couple to pretentiously stand up for LGBT rights. When Britta confirmed she was definitely straight, Annie looked disappointed.
    • In "Intro to Felt Surrogacy," while the puppet!group is high on strange berries, Puppet!Britta is caressing Puppet!Annie's arm with her face, commenting on how soft her skin is. After Puppet!Jeff comments "I love women," Puppet!Britta is shown still rubbing her face on Puppet!Annie's arm.
    • At Paleyfest 2012, Annie's actress Alison Brie said that she would picked Britta or Abed as Annie's love interest.
  • An in-universe example: In "Comparative Religion", Britta interprets the antagonism between Jeff and tough guy-bully Mike as sublimated sexual tension. She also says that men fight to release their pent-up "gayness".
  • Abed traded Britta's Spanish lesson card to Jeff in exchange for his shirt. "You don't understand. I want to wear it out of here."
    • Jeff also called Abed "Rakishly good looking" in one episode. They also had a scene eating chicken fingers on the table like in "Sixteen Candles", as well as the My Dinner with Andre episode, Abed's hero worship of Jeff as Hawkeye, and the episode in which Jeff moved in with Abed. Jeff and Abed were just as bad as Troy and Abed in early episodes.
    • In Season 4, when Jeff mentions "Settling arguments over who misses me most" Abed raises his hand.
  • Chang gets touchy-feely with Jeff in the first season. "Let me rest gently on your pecs!" It's Played for Laughs and Chang is always creepy, but here he seems to be genuinely rebounding on Jeff, to the extent that Jeff goes to the trouble of getting him back together with Alessandra.
  • Jeff and Duncan spend a weird amount of time telling people, and each other, that they will not and did not have sex with each other at the end of "Bondage and Beta Male Sexuality".
  • Annie and Frankie become close friends by the third episode of Season 6, so much so that when they compliment each other over who saved Greendale Jeff tells them to "get a boardroom".
  • Dean Pelton asks Jeff and Frankie's advice on whether he should take the school board's offer to be their Token Minority gay member. Frankie asks him if he's sure he wants to make his sexuality a determining aspect in his role in society because she doesn't do it. Jeff and Dean immediately wonder silently to each other if this means that Frankie is a Lipstick Lesbian.
    • Frankie's Ambiguously Gay nature becomes a running gag, more or less replacing the similar gag about the Dean's sexuality from the previous 5 seasons. The group takes bets on her orientation, and when she finds out about this, she gets extremely offended and refuses to clarify. In Modern Espionage, Jeff mentions that Frankie's upset and Britta immediately asks if she broke up with someone, and, if so, what gender they are.
  • In the Freaky Friday themed episode, the Dean is pretty insistent that he "had Jeffrey inside me." Jeffrey insists otherwise.
  • In "Communication Studies", Chang forces Troy and Pierce to cross-dress and dance with him at the Valentine's Day dance as punishment for supposedly trying to trick him. The Tag also has him and Pierce drive off together for frozen yogurt.
  • In one of the webisodes, Pamphlet Serious, the mascot has been revealed to be spying on a cheerleader and sniffing her underwear.
  • In "Asian Population Studies", Jeff rushes to seemingly confess his love to a person whom the audience is led to believe is Annie, but is actually Rich, his rival.

Top