"Dude, another cartoon?"

Abed had been on an animation kick ever since he and Troy had gone to see "Tangled". It had been bad enough being two college guys in a crowd of ten year old girls, but since then, he'd had a week of all the previous Disney Princesses. Sure, they had nostalgia value, but Troy didn't think he could take another tiara.

"This is one of the great pieces of animation. 'The Iron Giant'."

"Never heard of it."

"It's about a giant metal eating robot that falls from space and befriends a young boy from Maine and a hip, stylin' beatnik voiced by Harry Connick Junior. The robot is Vin Diesel, and the boy's mom is Jennifer Anniston."

"Whoa. Vin Diesel as a robot? Awesome."

They set up on Abed's couch, a bowl of popcorn between them, and popped in the DVD. Troy's legs bounced up and down, preparing for some robotic ass-kicking action.

A little over an hour later, those same legs were pulled tight to his chest as he tried to stifle his sobs.

"Why can't everybody get along? He's an innocent robot! He just wants to be loved!"

Abed looked back and forth between his friend and the screen.

"Do you want me to turn it off?"

"No!" Troy wailed, "I have to see how it ends!"

Abed didn't like seeing Troy cry. He didn't like seeing anyone cry, really. He couldn't remember the last time he had cried, and it seemed like such a strange reaction, one he couldn't come close to understanding. But he especially didn't like seeing Troy cry.

He moved the popcorn bowl to the floor and shifted closer to the sobbing football player. Physical proximity and comfort seemed to help crying people. Troy leaned into him, never pulling his eyes away from the screen. His tears let up a bit, and Abed concluded that the closeness impulse was correct.

But few minutes later, the situation was even worse. Troy was actively dripping onto Abed's shirt, his gasping breathes shaking both their frames.

"I've never seen something so awesome be so sad!"

Clearly an available shoulder was not enough in this situation. Abed carefully extracted his right arm from in between them and put it around Troy, as the little boy on the screen looked up at his giant robot friend.

"I love you" said the cartoon boy. Abed pulled Troy closer to him.

The music swelled, and Troy lost it all together, collapsing part way onto Abed's lap. Clearly the arm hadn't been enough.

Thankfully, that wasn't where the movie ended. Troy stayed on Abed's lap during the epilogue, the happily-ever-after for everyone. The credits rolled and Troy didn't move. He even brought his legs up on the couch, so he was stretched out all the way, his torso completely in Abed's lap.

Troy's body on him felt warm, his cheek resting on Abed's left leg. Residual tears dried into the material of his jeans. Abed was tempted to reached over him, grab the abandoned popcorn off of the floor, but he was worried he might ruin the moment. He just leaned back on the couch and took in the feeling. He could get used to this.

Maybe, Abed thought, they should watch sad movies more often.