Word Count: 1612
Summary: Leonard spends the entire day working without checking his phone. [Some prompts found on Tumblr were used]
Disclaimer: I don't own The Big Bang Theory or the characters.

He had spent the entire day without checking his phone, too busy with the experiment he was working on. He was almost sure he would end up working through the night when he first arrived at his lab in the morning, but he didn't really check the time all day long.

He didn't even hear when his friends all knocked at his door at lunchtime, and then again when they all left for the day. They all knew what it was like to focus so much on work you forget everything else and thought that maybe he had taken breaks at different times than them.

Except that wasn't true.

So, when at three am he finally picks up the phone, it's full of messages. Some are from the guys, asking if he wants to go have lunch. He has two from Amy, the first asking if he'll take Sheldon to the train store since she's working late. The other was a few hours later, saying not to worry, she would take him.

Then he has a lot from Penny.

The first ones are just saying good morning because he left before she did. And then the next ones make him laugh as he's locking up and going to his car.

7:56 am: Do you know where the remote is?

7:58 am: found it. Was in the middle of the cushions. Somehow.

8:45 am: ahhhhh late for work as usual. know about any accidents?

9:01 am: thanks for nothing. Caught an accident.

9:03 am: I hate you a little bit you know

9:04 am: boreddddd

9:04 am: traffic isn't moving

9:11 am: finally got to work somehow

9:11 am: still hate you though :)

10:34 am: getting coffee to survive the day

12:49 pm: the guys are saying you're not with them

12:51 pm: stop working and go eat

12:51 pm: please?

He finally gets to his car, still reading his texts, and when he reads those last ones, he realizes he didn't eat all day.

He sighs, and leans his head against the headrest, but immediately regrets doing so because he'll just fall asleep. Knowing that driving home like this might end up badly, he gets up and goes to the cafeteria, taking the time to read the rest of the messages.

1:01 pm: okay going to work again

1:01 pm: go eat

4:03 pm: are you ignoring me?

4:04 pm: LEONARDD

4:04 pm: getting mad…

4:05 pm: well

4:05 pm: hope work is fun and interesting

6:01 pm: okay, I'm home

6:02 pm: when are you coming back?

6:56 pm: amy's mad at you

6:56 pm: she has to take Sheldon to the train store for you

6:57 pm: she's saying you owe her

He finally reaches the cafeteria and pours some coffee into the cup, knowing he'll have to make Amy breakfast tomorrow (or is it today?) to make it up to her. Especially because he's pretty sure Sheldon wanted to go to that train store that is a few hours away.

7:03 pm: ordering dinner. Get something for you?

7:15 pm: ordered some food for you

7:24 pm: sunset was pretty today

7:25 pm: wish you were here to see it

7:25 pm: took a pic for you. Did you get it?

8:03 pm: okay food getting cold Leonard

8:47 pm: not home went to bernie's

11:56 pm: are you home?

12:14 am: where are you?

12:15 am: want me to wait for you?

12:23 am: Hofstadter?

12:23 am: helloo?

12:34 am: did you eat something today?

His stomach decides to growl when he reads that text, which makes him smile a bit. Deciding to eat that Chinese food whenever he actually gets home, he goes to the vending machine to get some cookies just to be less hungry, and then he'll go home.

12:56 am: I'll wait up

1:34 am: I fell asleep

1:35 am: all-nighter?

1:36 am: could you at least warn me

3:03 am: seriously, worrying

3:04 am: are you okay?

3:06 am: officially going to bed somehow

3:06 am: love you

He sits in his car seat, tired and all he wants is to get home to his comfortable bed next to his wife and sleep. He wonders if he should answer her messages, but looking at the clock and seeing it's 3:47 am, he just throws his phone on the passenger seat and starts the drive home, not wanting to wake her up with a text – or even if it didn't wake her up, it would be pointless to answer at that time.

At that moment, his phone vibrates. Picking up, he opens the text.

3:48 am: did you just leave me on read?

Laughing as he thinks about how she probably looks right now, super pissed but probably also glad he finally read her texts, he calls her. It doesn't take her longer than two rings to answer.

"Idiot." She immediately answers, making him laugh.

"Why are you still awake?" Leonard asks her, sipping at his coffee. He can hear move, probably sitting up in the bed.

"Because my idiot husband spent the entire day ignoring me. And I was worried." She tells him that last part softly, and he can barely hear her, but he still smiles.

"If it makes you feel any better- "

"Probably won't."

"-I was ignoring everyone." He finishes, ignoring her interruption.

There's a pause. "Okay Hofstadter, definitely angry at you now." He would be scared if he didn't hear her soft laugh at the end.

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay." He can practically hear her roll her eyes, and he curses himself, knowing he'll have to put a dollar in the sorry jar. "I know it's late, but there's some food in the fridge for you. Want me to heat it for you?"

"It's fine, I already ate."

"Let me guess. Cookies?"

"And coffee too." He mumbles.

She rolls her eyes. "I feel like maybe we need to have a conversation about your life choices."

"Aren't you one of my life choices?"

There's a small pause as Penny takes a deep breath and wonders about her own life choices.

"Okay. We need to have a conversation about some of your life choices. Because for a genius, you're surprisingly dumb when it comes to your own health."

"Try to manage all the medication I take."

"I meant more like caffeine intake and lack of food for long periods of time. Not your allergies and breathing problems, and all that."

"Well, you work out, I focus so much on my work that I don't eat. We all have different ways to stay fit."

He can practically hear her roll her eyes again and has to hold himself back to make sure he doesn't tell say that her eyes will get stuck one day.

"What's wrong with you?"

He knows, okay? He knows that was rhetorical. Even after working all day, and having this conversation at almost 4 am, sort of using talking to her to make sure he doesn't fall asleep and he drives home, he knows he doesn't need to answer. He does anyway.

"Oh, where do I start?"

And she has to find the strength not to roll her eyes yet again because she can almost hear him telling her they'll get stuck.

"You're lucky I love you." She decides to say, instead of reminding him that she could hurt him badly, very easily. "Because seriously honey, you're a mess."

"Thank you for that lovely comment, dear." Hearing her laugh at his comment is enough to make him smile. He parks his car close enough to the building but knows he won't be able to find a place closer. "Okay, finally parked the car."

Silence. Realizing she probably just fell asleep, he gets out of the car and makes his way to their apartment. When he finally climbs up all the stairs – he wonders how he just didn't fall asleep around the second floor – he slowly opens the door to the apartment and enters it.

The light that comes from the window is enough for him to walk around the apartment he's lived in for so many years. Removing his shoes to make less noise, he opens the fridge door to find his dinner inside. Knowing that cold Chinese food at four am isn't exactly healthy, he almost puts it back. But that meant having to listen to Penny telling him that going to bed after only eating cookies (and coffee) for the entire day isn't healthy, he just starts to dig into his food, quickly finishing it.

He throws the container in the trash and heads to the bathroom, before going to the bedroom.

The door is ajar, and he softly enters the room and closes it. Removing his shirt and pants, he gets in bed, where Penny is sleeping with her phone in hand. Seeing that reminds him he never really hung up – she once got mad at him for hanging up just because she fell asleep "because I could've woken up and you still weren't here" – so he hangs up and then places her phone on her nightstand.

Glancing at the clock and seeing it's 4:13 am, he sighs, knowing they will both have messed up sleeping schedules for the next few days. Ignoring that little voice in his head that tells him he could just not sleep and go play a game, he puts his head in his pillow, effectively shutting off that voice.

He falls asleep almost the moment his head hit the pillow, and all thoughts of work and food – or lack thereof – go away as he finally drifts off to sleep.

The End

Watching reruns of the show while eating dinner made me realize I missed writing this stories, so I wrote this instead of studying. I know some parts might seem a little OOC, but this is what I think their relationship is like when no one else is around. Also, the whole not eating and checking phone thing is based on me doing that when I'm interested in whatever I'm doing.