"Good night, Leonard." Sheldon said to his roommate as they parted ways inside their shared apartment. Leonard gave a tired nod before retreating into his own room and Sheldon sleepily yawned while doing the same. The moment his head hit the soft pillow, however, he found most of his exhaustion had disappeared.
His room was completely black, nothing to see. It was quiet, a perfect environment for sleeping. One thing he couldn't do, however, was shut his brain off. He rolled over onto his side and stared into the darkness distractedly.
It could have been only a minute, or possibly an hour later, when Sheldon jumped slightly as soon as his phone vibrated. He hadn't known he left it by his bedside and reached over quickly to grab it, shielding his eyes as they skimmed over the text on the bright screen.
Amy had texted him, finally. Even though they had been talking this way all day, she hadn't replied in a solid hour because she had said she was taking a shower, and her message was a pleasant surprise.
Sheldon happily tapped out a reply and held his phone close to his chest as he waited for a response, which came moments later.
He read Amy's message of how perfect her shower had been with a smile on his face, and how that evening she missed him. It wasn't like them to exchange such lovey dovey text messages, but in that moment Sheldon felt himself feeling what she must have been.
He texted back something along the lines of "I feel the same way, and I think that's why I'm having trouble sleeping tonight."
He sighed and rolled over in his bed so he was on his back and starred at the ceiling. His phone lay on his slowly rising and falling chest, and he began to remember everything about his conversation that day with his girlfriend. It seemed like forever until the second reply came through.
She had sympathized with his lack of sleep that night. Sheldon wondered if being near her would help this issue for the both of them, and suggested it to her in his next text, sent fairly quickly.
On the other side of his bedroom wall, there was a rustling of bedsheets. Sheldon held his breath and dared not move, even when he felt the vibration indicating Amy had replied.
He waited until he could hear Leonard's quiet snoring again before opening the new text message.
"Are you saying you want to start having sleep overs?" Sheldon could practically hear the hope in Amy's voice as he read her words.
Rolling his eyes but with a small grin, he typed back "For science, yes. Don't get any ideas, vixen." At the last moment he decided to add a winkey face, not only because he liked teasing her, but also because he was trying to express things he couldn't using words.
This time he starred at his screen while he waited for her to text back. He wasn't getting sleepy yet, and hoped Amy would stay up a bit longer and talk to him, because he liked it. He enjoyed talking to Amy any time of day, even if it was insanely after his bed time. He began to stretch his arms up and hold his phone high above his face out of boredom and impatience, and when his girlfriend texted back he excitedly opened the message, almost dropping his phone on his face.
What he wasn't expecting, however, was for it to be a picture. It was Amy, with her messy hair and sleepy grin, and the caption stated "Do you see how tired I look? I loose sleep for you, Mr. Be grateful. Sleepover next weekend?"
He texted back "I would send you a picture as well, but it's dark in here, and yes, that would be acceptable."
When Amy sent him a smiley face after that, his stomach flipped. He clicked the box to reply, and wrote out "this is why I love you," because he knew she'd love for him to say it again. Right then, however, his door was pried open and Leonard peeked in. Sheldon looked at his roommate sheepishly.
"Sheldon?" he asked. "What are you doing up this late on a work night?"
'Apparently telling Amy how much I love her' he thought, and couldn't stop the blush on his cheeks, not that his roommate could see anyway. Slowly Sheldon sent the message, turned off his phone and brought it down under his blanket. "Texting Amy," he admitted reluctantly, and watched silently as Leonard shook his head.
"You know, I hate to do this," he began, and Sheldon's grip on his phone subconsciously tightened. "But Sheldon, you need to give me your phone."
Quietly, Sheldon whimpered and pleaded. "Leonard, you can't! I promise I'll go to sleep."
His whining seemingly had no effect, for Leonard simply held out his hand and patiently waited for his child like roommate to hand over his electronic.
In a last attempt to continue talking to his girlfriend, Sheldon pulled the covers over his head and laid still, despite feeling Amy reply.
"Sheldon." he heard Leonard say his name tiredly. "I know you're not sleeping."
Sheldon sighed irritatedly and heaved himself out of his bed, mumbling "Drat, typical Amy for getting me in trouble." and Leonard smiled lightly to himself.
"Good night, Sheldon." he said softly once his friend's phone had been confiscated.
"Wait!" the man back in his bed hastily called. Leonard raised an eyebrow.
"I know Amy replied…" he continued, running his fingers through his now messy bed hair. "Before you go, just tell me what she said?"
"Hm, I don't know, Sheldon." Leonard teased dramatically.
He began to plead, saying "please.." and Leonard bit his lip and nodded while opening the message.
"Well… she says she doesn't love you back."
Sheldon's face immediately fell at the possibility.
"Relax, Sheldon." Leonard cooed. "Everyone knows she loves you. If it makes you feel any better, her exact message was 'I love you too, Sheldon.'"
Leonard left after Sheldon had breathed a sigh of relief, thanked him, and bid him good night again. In the solitude of his own room, surrounded by the darkness, Sheldon laid on his back once more and listened to Leonard's footsteps as he treaded back to his own room. He sighed, starred at the ceiling, and brought a pillow to his chest, burying his face in it.
"Amy…" he said while his cheeks began to ache by such an intense up-curve of his lips.
The blush of embarrassment from getting caught on his phone was still on his cheeks as he began to drift in and out of consciousness.