Jake walked to his room a ways down the hall and unlocked his door to see his roommate looking at his laptop laying on his bed. "Sup dude," Mike said, not looking away from the screen.
"Sup Mike," Zach said kicking off his shoes as he grabbed a towel from the back of the door and a new set of sweatpants and shirt from his dresser and went to the bathroom to shower and change.
As he stood under the scalding water the exhaustion from his workout hit him all at once. He quickly finished cleaning himself up got out of the shower dripping wet and naked and immediately grabbed the watch and paused time. He went back into his room and he almost couldn't tell the difference between Mike frozen vs just staring at his computer, but Zach figured if he weren't frozen there'd probably be some reaction as Zach came out naked and turned the lights off as he collapsed on the bed and fell into a deep sleep.
When he woke up his muscles were proper sore, the way they were after a hard bit of exercise. It was weird waking up and not really having any idea how long he'd been out, but it was a good weird. He could sleep however much his body and mind thought it needed, the sun or society be damned. Zach turned the lights back on and took another long look at his incredible watch, just soaking in the infinity of details.
*I need to test this thing* Zach thought, *try to figure out what exactly my options are.* Zach went back to the bathroom and restarted time again. He walked out and told Mike he was going to the library to study as he grabbed his backpack. The moment he was in the stairwell and after a thorough check that he was alone Zach paused time again before continuing down the stairs and out into campus.
It was quarter to 8 and the time had stopped in twilight. Zach walked through campus taking in the beauty of the hour and the frozen world, stopping to admire a robin mid flight, a couple of girls whispering conspiratorially, even a few late season lightning bugs suspended over the grass like candles. Slowly Zach made his way to the library.
The first, and maybe most important test Zach had for his magical watch was what exactly was happening to him and his body while time was stopped, and Zach figured the best way to figure that out was by staying frozen a long time. And if he was staying frozen a long time Zach figured he might as well get a head start on his homework, so first stop library. He found the comfiest looking couch in the lobby, gently moved the person currently occupying it onto the floor and out of his way. Zach pulled out his phone and curious decided to see what'd happen if he used the timer--it just started blinking wildly before the app crashed. *Guess we're eyeballing it* Zach thought as he took out his philosophy textbook, and read. And then he kept reading and reading and reading. He didn't get hungry, or have to use the bathroom, he just could keep on reading and taking notes and before he knew it he'd completed the first month of philosophy readings with notes to go along with it. Zach tried to calculate how much time he would've spent doing the work normally--maybe about an hours worth per class of reading, 3 classes a week, so probably 12 hours worth of reading in less than a blink of an eye physically speaking. Not mentally though, cause even if he wasn't hungry or things like that he was mentally exhausted and felt like he'd been reading for 12 hours. So he laid down on the couch, oblivious to the probably dozen people caught mid action around him, and dozed off again. Eventually he woke up and progressed on to psych, then another nap before calc, and finally lit.
When he finished up he figured he must've been reading and sleeping for at least a day or two straight. He also was pleasantly surprised to feel that his aches from working out had entirely passed. He stood up and stretched as he went to check himself out in the bathroom mirror--his facial hair hadn't grown at all. *Sweet,* Zach thought, *So I'm 99% sure I'm not aging in here and about to die of old age before finishing college cause I spent too much time frozen.*
Zach packed up his months worth of notes and books and headed back out into the twilight. *Next stop, gym.*
The gym was a good bit more crowded even late into the evening than it had been when he was there earlier with Jake. Rather than bothering with gym clothes Zach decided just to strip naked as he got on a treadmill and started it right up. *Thank fuck electricity still seems to work at least*, Zach thought.
Zach started running in the silent gym. It was effortless. He cranked the speed up to near max and he kept up literally without a sweat. After a couple minutes feeling like flash Zach turned the treadmill off and stepped off not even a little out of breath.
*So it looks like I'm not gonna be able to have a six pack by tomorrow* Zach thought, *I guess my body will heal with time frozen but it's not getting any fitter.*
Zach got dressed again and walked back outside. He sat on the curb and dipped his head deep in thought.
*The real question,* Zach mused, *is what to do in time, not out of it. I can read or watch stuff any time I want, jerk off any time I want, sleep any time I want. But I can only work out in time, and of course I can only interact with people in time.*
"Sorry," Zach said aloud to a random girl frozen on the sidewalk behind him, "this just doesn't count."
And he had enjoyed meeting people today. Sean was incredible. Sara was sweet. Tim and Adriana were a bit ridiculous but fun. And Zach was half sure he already loved Jake like a brother. He still couldn't quite believe he'd come out to him. It almost made him feel giddy.
*And why shouldn't I be out,* Zach thought, *I mean why waste the time. And if anybody has a problem with it well,* Zach pulled the watch from his pocket and held it up to the light of the street lamp above him as his mind filled with possibilities.
So, not wasting any time, Zach headed back to his dorm, and once back in the empty stairwell he started time again. He went back to his room to find Mike just where he left him.
"Forget something?" Mike said. Zach was a little confused but then realized that what's just been a days long stop for him was really about a minute or two since he first left his dorm room.
"No, it's just, can I tell you something real quick?"
"Shoot dude," Mike said still looking at his computer.
"Well, uh, I just thought you should know, and like I totally understand if you want to find a different roommate I should've mentioned this before, but I just wanted to say that I'm gay." He stumbled a bit but Zach still couldn't believe how much easier it was to say then even earlier that day.
Mike finally looked up from his computer with a completely bewildered expression, "wait, were you not out?"
Zach barked out a laugh, "is it that obvious?"
Mike grimaced, "shit man I didn't mean it like that. I mean, yeah a bit, but it's whatever dude, you do you."
