Set: Between S3 and TOR. Exam time.

Theme: Romance

Disclaimer: I do not own House of Anubis or any of the characters related to it.

Patricia woke up on a Friday night at 11pm. She must have fallen asleep really fast; she'd had a busy day. Her roommate, Joy, was fast asleep in the bed opposite and Patricia suddenly felt really thirsty. Looking at the clock, she realised it was an hour after lights out and Victor, the caretaker, must have been asleep by now, surely?

She quietly opened her door, snuck down the hallway and down the stairs. The dimmed lights in the hallway were on, and as she reached the kitchen door, she noticed that a bedroom door on her left was open just a crack. Frowning, she focused her sleepy eyes a little more and realised it was Fabian and Eddie's bedroom door. When she saw that Eddie's shoes were missing from by the front door, instantly she knew why it was open and she knew where Eddie had gone.

Lately he'd been spending a lot more time on his schoolwork, especially after hours and in the privacy of the school building. I know what you're thinking – Eddie Miller caring about schoolwork? Really?
Well, those were Patricia's initial thoughts, too, every time she came downstairs at night to see the door open, and one morning when she asked him what was going on. He told her in private what he was doing – working on extra schoolwork at night.
She'd asked him why he was suddenly so concerned about his work and he'd told her that he was feeling the pressure of the upcoming exams. He'd never been at school with his dad as the head teacher before, and he felt like he had to impress his dad and make him proud with the exam results. Of course, Patricia tried to convince him that his dad would not be any less proud of him even if the results were terrible, but Eddie wouldn't listen.

So now, for the fourth time in a week, he'd snuck out to the school with the key that only Patricia knew he had. She felt sad for him, and knew just as much as him that he needed his sleep. He'd been looking so tired lately—dark circles under his eyes and pale, sunken skin. She was worried.

Unlike usual when she saw he was gone and she'd just go to her room to fall back asleep, she decided to go and find him; maybe she could talk some sense in to him.

She pulled on her black boots without doing up the laces, her leather jacket from the coat closet, and snuck out of the house.

The school grounds were dark and silent, and it seemed like it was going to rain. She hadn't brought a coat for when she came back to the house again, but she hoped that Eddie would be with her and he could use his coat to keep her dry.

School was dark and creepy at night.

Eddie had left the front door open, so she pulled out her phone to use as a torch, and when she walked past the English room she saw the glow of a dim blue light inside. Cautiously, she opened the door. She'd had enough history of finding bad situations behind different doors in this place to know when to be careful.

But when she walked in, she saw her boyfriend sitting there, his face pale and frowning, staring at his laptop. The only light was blue from the screen and yellow from the streetlamp outside; the main lights in the classroom were off, and Patricia assumed it was so no one could tell that he was here. Outside it had just started raining, and Eddie seemed to be typing to the rhythm of the rain hitting the window.

Eddie didn't notice his girlfriend walking in until she was right next to the desk. He stopped his fast-paced typing and glanced up at her wearily.

"Hey." She said softly, looking down at him.

"How did you know I was here?" He asked, not thinking to say 'hello' before practically interrogating her.

His girlfriend shrugged and sat in the chair next to him. "Took a wild guess."

Eddie didn't reply; he kept typing away on his laptop. The room was silent for a few minutes before Patricia looked up at him, concern all over her face.

"Eddie…," she said worriedly, "are you OK?"

"Yeah, of course I am."

"You should be in bed," she told him, leaning on the table with her elbow and her head in her hand, looking up at her boyfriend. He was sleepy in a completely exhausted way, and she just wanted to take his hand and drag him back to his bed. A mixture of stress and late nights awake in a classroom doing stressful schoolwork had kept him up for days.

"I'm fine. I need to get this work done."

"You can do it tomorrow," she insisted. "Right now you need rest."

He didn't talk to her again for a number of minutes. He was really concentrating on the essay he was writing, and when she looked up at him, she saw how truly tired he looked. The physical tiredness was obvious, but the emotional tiredness was harder to find. Patricia had to really look at him, and when she saw it there – written all over his sunken eyes, his wrinkled forehead and his messy hair – she couldn't stop seeing it.

Sighing, she leaned her head on his shoulder and watched as he tapped away on the keys of his laptop. She put her arm around his waist, closing her eyes, and she felt him lean down to kiss her forehead quickly before turning his full attention back to the laptop.

The room was silent apart from the rain violently hitting the window and the light tapping of Eddie's fingers on the keyboard. He was really fast at typing, and watching him made Patricia feel sleepy.

11.45pm, and Eddie was still working on his laptop. Patricia had nearly drifted off to sleep at one point, but she knew she had to stay awake for him. She needed to make sure he was okay.
One night, a few days ago, Patricia had been getting a drink in the kitchen at 2am when Eddie came creeping through the corridor. Two in the morning.
Frowning, she'd rushed out to find him looking down at the floor; and when he looked up at her, his eyes were wild. His hair had been a mess – completely and ridiculously tousled on top of his head – and his face looked so pale, and his eyes were wild but almost hollowed-out. She'd made him go back to bed straight away, and when he woke up the next morning he still looked just as exhausted.

"Eddie," Patricia whispered now at 11.50pm.
"Mm…" Eddie mumbled back, only half aware of what she was saying.

"Why are you at school anyway? Why not the living room at the house?"
"Victor would send me back to my room. And why are you here? You should be back at the house, asleep…"
"I could say the same for you," she said. "I'm worried about you, Eddie. You're getting yourself over-tired."
"I'm fine."

"No, you're not."

Eddie looked down at Patricia and she moved her head away from his shoulder so she could look at him too. He leaned forward and planted a soft kiss on her lips before leaning away and resting his forehead on hers.

"Go back to bed," he whispered; moving one of his hands from the laptop for a moment so he could put his hand on her cheek. He smoothed his thumb over her cheekbone.

"Not unless you come with me."
He smirked and raised his eyebrow. "I do like the sound of that one…"

Rolling her eyes and blushing furiously, Patricia leaned away and hit him playfully. "You know what I mean, doofus," she smiled softly. Eddie smiled too. "Please. Come back and get some sleep."

Instead of answering her, he leaned forward and kissed her again. It was a longer kiss this time, and as Patricia kissed him back he just seemed to sense how worried she was for him.

He pulled away and saw that her forehead was wrinkled as she stared at him. She looked tired now, too, and knowing that she was staying up with him just to make sure he was okay, he knew he had to go back now. Patricia needed sleep.

He sighed and closed the lid of his laptop. "Fine. We'll go back."

Patricia perked up and smiled lightly. "Really?"
"Yeah," he sighed again. "You need your sleep and I can tell you're not going to leave until I leave, so…"
"No, Eddie," she said. "It's not me who needs the sleep. It's you. You haven't slept properly in days."
"I have so!"
"No you haven't."

Eddie stood up, swinging his laptop bag over his shoulder, and looked at his girlfriend who was still sitting down with her arms crossed and her eyebrows raised indignantly.

"What?" He questioned.

"Promise me you'll stop this."
"Stop what?"

"Coming in here every night until all hours just to study. It's not healthy."

Eddie held out his arms and Patricia gladly stood up, walking over and wrapping her arms around his waist. She pressed the side of her face in to his chest.

"It's kinda cute that you care about me." Eddie said, and Patricia could tell he was smirking.

"Of course I care, doofus. You're my boyfriend."

Eddie leaned down and kissed the top of her head, letting his mouth linger there for a while.

"Thank you," he said, so quietly it was almost a whisper. "I would've stayed here all night, but… you're right. I need sleep. And if I wasn't so tired right now I'd suggest we go for a romantic, moon-lit stroll…"

Patricia chuckled and kissed his chest through his T-shirt. "Maybe another night when you're not practically a zombie."

"It's a date," he said, "Yacker."