The morning broke slowly over New York City, as it always did towards the end of January. A layer of ice coated the windowpanes, and the trees outside still looked naked and forlorn. People hurried around, jackets pulled tightly around them for warmth while they rushed to work, as it neared nine o’clock on a Monday morning.

The lazy, comfortable feeling of Christmas, the thrill and excitement of New Year’s - all long forgotten. Most businesses had been open two weeks or more and the high schools already wanted another week off.

The clock on the bedside table told him it was time to get up. He grimaced, and pulled the covers around himself, turning to slide his arms around the slim body of his lover, who still slept deeply. The t-shirt – his t-shirt - worn last night had been pushed up, and he ran his hands over the flat stomach, narrow waist and impossibly slim hips of his partner. The lack of underwear was a pleasant reminder of last night’s sex.

“Wake up, darling,” he whispered into tousled blonde hair, and then he sat up and stretched. Turning he reached over and pulled a bathrobe on, shivering as the cool air bit him.

“What time is it?” A voice murmured from under the pile of covers. “Am I going to be late?”

“Yes, if you don’t get up now. I’m using the bathroom.”

“No!” The figure sat up abruptly, gazing hazily around for the clock. “Don’t you dare!”

There was a mad, panic-fuelled rush for the bathroom; covers were dragged off the bed as they both fought to keep the other in the room so they could make the dash down the hallway.

The door closed and fists could be heard hammering outside in alarm.

“Matt! I have a lecture in twenty minutes - let me go first! Matt!” Laughter could be heard within, drowned out by the sound of the shower turning on. “That’s so unfair, you know I can’t be late for this!”

“Morning Alex,” An amused voice drifted from down the hall. “Late?”

“Yes, and Matt won’t let me use the bathroom. He doesn’t even have a lecture until midday!” The door rattled once more, before he gave up and trudged back to his boyfriend’s room.

Flopping backwards onto the bed, he stared at the ceiling, playing with a thread on Matt’s t-shirt, remembering that he had no boxers on. It didn’t really matter, Matt’s roommate Paul was quite open-minded, or so it appeared.

He thought about the first time he had spent the night here. He had run into Melissa Dawes the next morning, just as he was leaving, and within an hour the gossip was all over campus.

Matt Williams, an admired senior majoring in economics and star quarterback on the university football team, was gay and dating sophomore Alexis Delaney, a photography and journalism student.

He remembered walking into his first class that day, and feeling every pair of eyes turn to stare at him as he walked to his seat in the lecture hall. Sliding in next to Jai, he muttered: “what the fuck?”

“Everyone knows about you and Matt,” came the Brit’s whispered response. Alex felt his cheeks burn even as he shook his head in denial. “Cut the crap, Mel Dawes saw you leave his room at six in the morning. What, were you studying all night?”

Concentration shot, Alex could do nothing but worry all through the hour-long lecture about various things, but mainly how Matt would react. Alex hadn’t had a boyfriend before. He liked Matt terribly and felt he would do anything to get the relationship to work.

Later, in the cafeteria, the chattering around him felt enough to drive him insane. His heart was pounding, waiting for the moment when Matt walked in after his eleven o’clock lecture. Alex was bracing himself for rejection, anger, or being completely ignored.

But, as it happened, he had no reason to worry. At seven minutes past, the doors swung open, and Alex watched the brunette scan the cafeteria. When Matt’s eyes came to rest on him, Alex stood and watched him approach. Before he could say a word, he felt Matt’s arms around him and soft lips against his own, and he knew then that everything would work out all right in the end.

And so here they were. Four months down the line, they were an exclusive couple who woke up together almost every morning, shared pizza amid the tangle of sheets at two in the morning just because they could, and had a key to the other’s room. And a couple that also made each other late for morning lectures a little too frequently.

Alex smiled as he thought of Matt. Tall, with dark brown hair and piercing green eyes, he never failed to turn heads. Alex had noticed him in the cafeteria on his first day as a freshman, and it had taken him the best part of a year to pluck up the courage to say hello.

“Are you mad?” Matt poked his head round the door, looking sheepish. “I only took … eight minutes.”

Alex looked away, pretending to sulk.

“Aw, come on, you’re not really mad.” Matt sat down on the bed, a towel wrapped loosely around his waist and hair dripping wet. “You know you still love me.”

“Hmm.” Alex pushed his lower lip out ever so slightly in a pout, one that he knew Matt couldn’t resist. “I don’t know why sometimes.”

“I do,” The older man leaned in for a kiss, at the last second pulling back an inch or so and shaking his wet hair all over his boyfriend like an unruly dog.

Alex gave a shriek, pushing Matt to the floor and making a run for the bathroom. He closed the door in Matt’s face, leaving the brunette in the hallway, laughing.

“You two are something else, you know that?” Paul smirked as he moved to leave the flat. “He’s gonna be really late.”

“I’ll drive him.” Matt leaned against the bathroom door, still smiling. “I swear I have never heard a guy scream the way he does.”

“I bet. Do you plan to drive in your underwear? Then go get dressed.”

The door banged shut, and Matt listened to the sounds of his lover moving around completing his morning routine, then turned back into his bedroom not bothering to close the door.

“And what is the matter with you this morning?” Jai asked, taking the seat next to Alex, picking up an apple and munching it. “You look like the cat who ate the cream.”

Alex giggled at his choice of words and Jai shoved him.

“Ew. Be serious. You took hardly any notes this morning, and tomorrow you’ll be all ‘oh Jai can I copy your notes, please, please, please’.”

“I won’t. I know what he was saying.” He set down his fork and fished a silver phone out of his pocket. “Nick was meant to meet me. Like, a half hour ago.” A frown descended onto the young man’s near-perfect features, then cleared. “Oh well.”

“‘Oh well’?” Jai mimicked. “What’s ‘oh well’ supposed to mean? You usually don’t take kindly to Nick cancelling on you for no good reason.”

“I know. But today’s different.” Alex smiled, watching the cafeteria door avidly.

“Why? Alex! Tell me, what’s happened?”

“Matt’s asked me to move in with him. Paul is leaving next week for six months, to study abroad. Matt asked if I would move in when he’s gone.” Alex knew he was grinning like an idiot, but he really didn’t care.

“And?” Jai seemed as excited as he had been when Matt has asked him. “What did you say? Please tell me you said yes. You two are made for each other.”

It was Alex’s turn to give his best friend a push. “Of course I said yes!”

“That’s so great! So you’re moving out of your room when?”

“Monday. Matt’s apartment is only ten minutes further away.”

“I’m going to miss you. I don’t know if I can cope with Dominick on my own.” Jai smirked, referring to their other roommate who barely spoke a word of English, and when he did it was hardly ever pleasant.

“I’m sure you’ll be fine!” Alex laughed, arm sneaking out to steal a French fry from Jai’s plate.