The morning after Robin moves in.

Oliver wakes up slowly, with the best feeling of relaxed muscles are strenuous exercise. He’s rather pleased with himself, having last night successfully convinced Robin to christen every room. But now is time for lazy sleeping.

He senses movement next to him, and lazily drops an arm on top of Robin. “Sleep more,” he mumbles.

“I’m hungry,” Robin whispers back. He shifts in the bed. Oliver tilts his head up, eyes still closed, as Robin kisses his forehead. “I’ll cook something.”

Oliver hums. The bed dips and springs back as Robin leaves. Oliver rolls around in the bed into the space Robin’s vacated, breathing in Robin’s scent. There’s light clattering in the kitchen, and eventually, the hiss of a frying pan and the scent of sweet cooked food fills the air.

Oliver yawns and forces himself up. He throws on a shirt and shorts and pads into the kitchen. Robin has three nonstick pans on the hob, cooking a stack of pancakes.

Robin turns. “Morning.”

“Hm, morning.” Oliver wraps his arms around Robin and rests his head.

Robin snorts. “Still asleep?”

“I’m tired after last night,” Oliver complains.

There is absolutely no pity in Robin’s voice as he says, “And whose fault is that, huh?”

“Bah. I’ll make tea then.”

By the time Oliver’s finished brewing the loose leaf tea, Robin’s two stacks of pancakes are done. They bring the items to the table, along with a bottle of maple syrup and a block of butter, an assortment of cut fruit, and a tub of clotted cream ice cream.

Oliver copies Robin in eating each pancake separately: that way, each one can be topped with something different. The pancake itself is not very sweet, but it’s fluffy and has a satisfying texture, and in short is the perfect vehicle to deliver a lot of maple syrup and ice cream into Oliver’s mouth. The light green tea accompanying refreshes Oliver’s mouth for the next parcel of sugar.

“Next time, I’ll make pancakes,” Oliver says. “We can have it with bacon and eggs. Maybe cheese, because you love cheese.”

Robin huffs. “Yes, dear.”

“You’re welcome, darling.”

And so, the first morning of them officially living together passes. They will have many similar mornings in the future ahead.