Definition

Cozy MM romance is queer male/male fiction where the emotional contract matters as much as the plot: readers expect warmth, decency, and a clear happy ending without cruelty-for-drama. Conflict exists, but betrayal-as-spectacle and taboo shock are out of scope.

Cozy does not mean boring. It means safe stakes—misunderstandings instead of humiliation, external stress instead of partner abuse, slow-burn pining instead of instant explicit payoff. The pleasure is in watching two people choose each other carefully, not in watching them destroy each other first.

Short answer

Low angst = relationship conflict stays gentle; no cruel betrayal arcs.
Cozy = low angst plus warmth, domesticity, and often closed-door norms.

All cozy MM is usually low angst. Not all low angst is cozy. A low-angst thriller romance may still feel cold, stylish, or emotionally distant even if nobody cheats or ghost each other for two hundred pages.

If you only remember one line: low angst is about pain level; cozy is about emotional climate.