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Sleep.
Eric would give anything to go back to sleep. The insistent beeping of his alarm clock is refusing to allow that to happen.
He groans into the pillow under his face as Will nudges him with a whispered, “Hey. Wake up,” and rolls out of bed. Easy for him to say. He’s used to waking up at six in the morning to get ready for class. Eric is a firm supporter of the belief that waking up before noon should never happen.
He manages to doze for another ten minutes or so while Will is in the shower. When the water turns off, Eric is subjected to a less pleasing wakeup call – a wet towel to the face. Will is honestly lucky Grell is buried under the blankets or she might have murdered them both.
Eric splutters and sits up with a groan and a grimace. “Ugh, shit.”
“Get up,” Will insists. “I won’t be late because of you.” He walks away naked and, alright, maybe Eric’s a little more awake now.
He levers himself out of bed with a groan and stretches both arms over his head as he pads to the bathroom to piss and brush his teeth. It’s too early for a shower; he doesn’t know how Will does it.
As he walks back out to the bedroom, he grabs a nearly finished cigarette off of the ashtray by the bed and stuffs it in his mouth to light. He takes his first nicotine-laced inhale of the morning while rummaging around for a clean pair of jeans. Getting dressed takes him all of three minutes on a good day; jeans on, shirt on, clean socks and he’s shoving his feet into his boots and heading for the bedroom door.
He turns on his heel when he gets there and comes back to the bed to shove his phone, lighter, and cigarettes into his pockets. A glance at the bed reveals Grell’s leg and half an ass cheek uncovered and Eric can’t resist giving her lace covered ass a quick pat. She flips him off and rolls over and he chuckles to himself as he leaves the room.
“Finally,” Will sighs when he comes into the kitchen. Evidently he’s already eaten breakfast and packed his things for class even though they have forty minutes until it starts.
“I’m not even late,” Eric grunts, barely understandable around the butt of the cigarette in his mouth and the sleep clogging his voice. “Untwist your panties.” Will rolls his eyes and pushes a plate of toaster waffles toward him. Eric’s eyes light up and he grabs the fork Will hands him so he can dig in.
Less than ten minutes later he’s full of warm syrup and half a cup of coffee and punching Will in the eye for making him be awake at this hour is looking less and less likely.
“Don’t forget your coat,” Will calls from the doorway. “It’s minus seven with the wind chill.”
Scratch that. Punching might still be on the table.
“What the fuck,” Eric mutters. He drops his plate in the sink and moves toward the hall closet, boots scuffing his reluctance. “Let’s just stay home.” Despite his words, he takes his jacket from Will – the navy wool one Grell made him get for his birthday – and slides his arms into it.
“We have a test on Tuesday.” Will says this like Eric is supposed to care. He winds his scarf around his neck on autopilot and tucks his chin into the fabric with a defeated sigh.
It isn’t until they reach the ground floor that Eric realizes he forgot to bring coffee along. He groans and thuds his head back against the elevator wall.
“What?” Will asks, disinterested. Eric opens one eye to see him reading over notes, probably only half paying attention to him at all.
“I forgot coffee.”
“You own a coffee shop, Eric.” Eric turns to stare at Will, eyes wide like he just hung the moon. “Did you forget?” He looks slightly amused, like Eric’s early morning befuddlement is adorable. “We have time to stop if we hurry.”
“I could kiss you right now,” Eric says seriously. Will’s cheeks heat and he turns his head away.
“We don’t have time for that.” Will leads the way outside, seemingly unfazed by the wind whipping through them like hundreds of icicles. Eric smirks at his back and hurries forward until their arms can brush together as they walk.
The shop is less than two blocks from the loft and on their way to campus. It’s already open with several other sleepy college students inside ordering espressos to keep them awake at this unholy hour. Eric makes his way to the front of the line and grabs drinks for him and Will. He winks at Reggie behind the counter and hands Will his coffee before they step back into the cold together.
With the warmth of hot coffee between his fingers and Will’s elbow brushing his with every step they take, Eric can honestly say this is a far better morning than he’d anticipated. Will catches him smiling into his coffee and raises an eyebrow.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you smile this early in the morning,” he comments, breath puffing out in front of him. “Is the coffee that good?”
Eric shrugs and drops one hand down to fit his bare fingers through Will’s gloved ones. “Among other things.”