“Wake up sleepy head, or I’ll leave without you again.”

As he said this, Shawn opened the curtains and the windows of their bedroom to let in some sunlight and fresh air. Neil groaned in his sleep, turning his back to Shawn and facing the wall, blinded by the bright light suddenly entering the room. The latter smiled fondly and sat next to his sleepy roommate on the bed.

“Five more minutes…” he said as he appeared to be slowly falling back asleep.

Shawn sighed and gently kissed the top of his head, in an attempt to make him get up quicker. However, Neil just smiled a bit, but didn’t move from his sleeping position. Shawn let a hand run through the other guy’s blonde hair as he asked him in a low voice: “What were you up ‘till late last night for?”

“Had a report to finish.” Neil simply answered, his voice half muttered into the pillow.

Shawn chuckled. “And, are you done with it now?”

“No.” Neil turned again, this time to face his childhood friend, opening his blue eyes with difficulty. “I’ll go to the library this morning to finish it. I don’t have lectures until this afternoon.”

The other simply let his hand run from his hair to his cheek, and slightly brushed it with his thumb. “Okay,” he said, “I’ll go make some coffee. Meet me in the kitchen when you’re ready.”

Shawn stood up from the edge of the bed after kissing Neil’s forehead and left the room, going to the kitchen to prepare some coffee for the both of them. As he poured some of the freshly made dark brown beverage from the coffee pot into two mugs, he heard a loud crash coming from the bedroom. Neil was apparently up and was trying to get dressed. Sighing, Shawn brought one of the mugs to his lips, slowly sipping the drink as he waited for the other boy to finally join him for a shared breakfast.

A few minutes later, Neil came out of the bedroom fully dressed… or almost: his awfully cringy bright orange t-shirt was half-tucked into his grey trousers, he held his black and white socks and his phone in one hand, and he still had bed hair. He came towards Shawn, dropping a quick kiss on his cheek as he grabbed his mug and almost burned himself while trying to hold it by the handle. Shawn smirked as he kept sipping his coffee and watched Neil trying to deal with his socks after he put his mug back down onto the counter.

Drinking the last few drops of coffee, Shawn then washed his mug before going to brush his teeth, going through their bedroom in order to reach it, while Neil was now trying to eat a cookie, plunging it into the hot drink, without breaking it and making it fall into the filled mug. The black-haired boy then came out of the bedroom, all ready with his canvas shoulder bag sporting the symbol of a crow the colour of his dark hair. He went towards the entry to put on his shoes. Neil came to him and briefly kissed his lips.

“See you at lunch?” he said to him more than he asked.

Shawn simply nodded his head, smiling, and kissed his lips as a way of saying goodbye before leaving the small apartment. Neil smiled too and went back inside the apartment to pack his laptop and a pencil case inside his bag. He then grabbed his keys, put on his shoes, and left, heading towards the library to finish his report. The building was only a few minutes away from the room he shared with Shawn, and he could simply walk there.

The university was quite big: it had many different buildings, each of them specialized in different subjects. For example, Shawn’s classes happened in the North-West wing of the campus, where he was learning about physics and chemistry. The library was near the cafeteria, towards the centre of the campus, while their dormitory was situated in the south. Neil really liked it there, it was big, but cosy at the same time, plus he had some really good friends as well.

On his way, he saw the band ‘Titans, Snakes and Lions’, composed of four students, crossing the field to go to their rehearsing building with their instruments and accompanied by a photography student who was going to take some shots of them performing, probably for the university’s magazine front cover. Neil remembered when they were only two students passionate with music. They were childhood friends who just arrived in the campus and they claimed to be the ‘Sly Griffins’. But they only played the guitar and the bass, so they couldn’t exactly be called a band.

They almost gave up, but Neil pitied them a bit and told them he knew someone who could play the drums. Their eyes instantly shone with impatience and gratitude, and he introduced them to a good friend of his, who used to be Shawn’s neighbour when they were in middle school, the drums player having moved over the years. So the three of them started playing together occasionally. And with an additional member, they couldn’t be called ‘Sly Griffins’ anymore, plus the third guy thought it was a bit cheesy, so they changed their names to something much cooler: ‘Infected Titan’. But there was still something missing, and they didn’t know what… until they met him.

Now that the end of the year was close, the atmosphere was more laid back as they had all finished their exams. Neil had just one last report to hand in before the end of the month, and then he could relax the entire summer before the beginning of his second year. Three months of pure relaxation, away from the pressure of last minute assignments. Three months where he could do whatever he wanted, playing video games, going to the beach… But at the moment, he needed to focus on his report.

He arrived in front of the building and pulled the door open before going in. The lady at the reception smiled at him as he walked past her, and he smiled back politely. He walked a bit further inside before reaching a staircase and he climbed to the first floor. There, he searched among the room for a free table and ended up sitting at a table alone, near a row of books he would need in order to complete his work. Getting on his laptop, he opened his recently closed document and started typing on the keyboard. He had already written ten pages before picking up on his report the previous night and had written five additional pages before falling asleep. He knew pretty much where he’d left it off and could easily go back on it.

As he was focused on his work, earphones plugged into his ears to concentrate better, he did not notice a boy sitting at his table with a sketchbook opened in front of him. It was only when the other boy leaned on the table to tug on his earphone and called out his name that he raised his head and looked at him. The other had wild short dark brown hair and eyes a colour between ocean blue and green forest. He smiled at him while readjusting the headphones he was wearing against his ears and waved. He wore a light coloured t-shirt and his eternal black and white scarf. He would wear it whether it was cold or warm. Neil smiled at him.

“Hey Jude! The rehearsal is already finished? How was it?”

“It was rather quick this time, we were done in an hour. I think we’re almost ready for the final representation. We’ve just got a few adjustments to make with the sound though, but other than that, it went just fine!”

“I’m glad to hear that! You can already count me and Shawn among the spectators.”

“Glad you can make it! Final show will start at nine on the spot. Don’t be late!” Jude winked at Neil, and he smiled, shaking his head.

“It’ll all depend on him, because it’s nearly the end of classes, and he might wrestle me to make up with the revising time when we didn’t do anything, except a few kisses at night and in the morning!”

Jude laughed, quickly followed by Neil, but far less quiet. Other students trying to work turned to their table, frowning and shushing them. The two friends calmed down a bit, but still in the same laughing mood.

“What about you?” Neil asked after he fully stopped laughing a few minutes later. “How is it going with your mysterious partner?” Jude had told all of them a while back about someone he met and was currently dating, but no one really believed him.

Jude’s smile dropped and he looked down. “Not so great.” he said in a quiet voice.

“What’s the matter?” Neil asked, worried for his friend. “Are you not together anymore?”

Jude raised his head and looked at the blonde guy in front of him, making wide gestures with his hands.

“Oh no, it’s nothing like that!” he said, raising his voice a bit, bringing the other students’ looks on their table once more. “We’re still a couple. But... lately, Leo's been a bit… distant.”

“Oh, I hope things will get better with you two then.” Neil tried to comfort him.

“Yes, me too. But he works until really late, and most of the time, he says he already ate with his colleagues. And he’s also really tired when he comes back, so we can’t do anything since he goes straight to bed! We haven’t had sex for weeks!”

His last sentence was almost shouted, and the two friends could tell the working students did not want to hear such private details. A lady from the reception came to them and told them to leave, which they did, not wanting to be in trouble. They stood up, Neil closed his laptop and put it back into his bag, and they left the building, heading towards the cafeteria. They still had a good two hours before lunchtime and they went to sit at a table for four, anticipating the moment when Shawn would join them. The mood here was more relaxed, and other students were talking to each other, covering their own words as they continued their conversation from earlier.

“So, you were saying you haven’t had sex with Leo for how long?!” Neil said, as he couldn’t believe what he had heard earlier.

“I said for weeks, but if I sum up, I’d say it’s been about three months.”

“Three months!” Neil stood up and banged his hands against the table. A few students turned to them, but, seeing who was creating the fuss, went back to their own conversations. He sat back and leaned forward to talk into Jude’s face. “That’s torture! How does he even survive a week without?!”

The brown boy shook his head as he replied: “I don’t know. He would usually start kissing me and we would end up doing it, but now… he just kisses me in once in the morning when we wake up, when he leaves for work, when he comes back, and before going to bed. That’s…” he counted on his fingers, “four times a day. For three entire months. I even have to take care of my needs by myself!”

“Oh man, that’s awful! The very purpose of being in a relationship is that you’ll never have to masturbate on your own! Ever again!”

“Yeah, now it feels like I’m single all over again…” Jude sighed and put both elbows on the table, resting his head on his palms, pouting and thoughtful.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that.” Neil tried to apologize.

The other shook it off with a wave of the hand. “It’s fine, I know you weren’t trying to be hurtful. But still, why would Leo suddenly avoid me like that?”

“You don’t think he could be… you know,” he started mysteriously before lowering his voice so only Jude could hear his next word. “Cheating?”

“What?!”

“I don’t know! It was just a suggestion. And this would explain why he can hold it this long.”

Jude’s face was pale as he came to a sudden realization. “Crap, you’re right! What if he is cheating!” As he said this, his phone went off. He looked at his screen and then gave an apologetic look to Neil. “I’m sorry, I’ve got to go right now.”

“It’s fine, go on, I’ll try to get some more work done.”

“Okay.” Jude stood up, grabbed his bag and, before leaving the cafeteria, turned one last time towards Neil. “It was nice talking to you! See ya later!”

Neil waved at him and saw him disappear through the door and into the yard, apparently leaving this part of the campus. Sighing, he went to buy himself a chocolate bar, though he knew he had to stop eating between meals, and then sat back at the table, thinking about the conversation he just had with Jude. He didn’t tell him, but Neil was a bit in the same situation. But Shawn couldn’t be cheating on him, right? If they didn’t do anything the past weeks, it was only because of their exams, not because of a lack of love between them, right?

His heart was racing and he started breathing heavily, thinking he might have done something wrong that made Shawn not want to do things with him anymore. They were originally childhood friends as their parents knew each other very well and they were practically together since birth, and they appeared to have fallen in love with each other. But the one to confess at sixteen had been himself, Neil, and even thought he was going to be rejected since Shawn might have wanted to keep their good friendship. Now that he thought about it, he never heard his boyfriend say ‘I love you’ even once in two years.

He felt his eyes water slightly as he felt something tapping his shoulder. He turned to see Shawn coming to sit in front of him. Neil did his best to keep a straight voice and face when he spoke.

“You’re here early.”

He cleared his throat.

Shawn looked at him with a frown. “My teacher is absent. Are you okay?” he asked, visibly worried. He reached to touch his face, but Neil leaned back as a reflex. “Is something the matter?” Shawn asked.

Neil took a deep breath before letting out a simple sentence that would change their relationship for a good while: “Do you love me?”