The third rule of having roommates: Encourage Each Other.

Jade groans as she pulls open the refrigerator door to get the soy milk out. It's eight in the morning—a Monday morning—and her first class of the day is in an hour. Beck's is, too, which is why Jade brings two bowls of cereal back to their bedroom in hopes of using breakfast as a means to wake him up.

On any normal day, Beck would most likely be the one waking her up. It's a big test week for the majority of students at NYU, though—and Beck's first is today. He'd stayed up until four in the morning cramming, and Jade knows how crazy he gets when he has to rely on coffee for energy instead of sleep. On top of the chaos, today happens to be his birthday (the only reason Jade is actually awake with him instead of sleeping in.)

When she re-enters the room, she sets the bowls on her nightstand and crawls back onto the bed. Beck is laying on his stomach, after having rolled over from spooning Jade when she'd left, and the side of his face is buried in the pillow.

"Beck," she whispers softly, beginning to run her fingers through his hair. Jade says his name a few more times before his eyes crack open lazily, and he tilts his head up to look at her. "Good morning," she says, sliding down to lay next to him. "Your test is in an hour." He groans, and she moves some hair out of his eyes. "Don't make that face; you'll do great. And your Captain Crunch is waiting for you on my nightstand."

Beck is still for a few seconds, and then he rolls forward on his shoulder just slightly to kiss her. "Can I just stay here and kiss you?" He asks, folding his fingers between the cracks in her hands as they lay side-by-side.

"No," Jade answers, smiling sweetly at him. "But on Thursday, when this week from hell is over, we'll do your birthday dinner—and then we can celebrate all night." She kisses him again and then sits up to grab the cereal bowls, one of which she hands to him.

They're both sitting Indian style, close to each other as possible, as they eat their breakfast together. Beck knows that Jade doesn't technically have to be awake for another few hours (as her first class of the day isn't until noon), but he also knows that not even her hatred of early mornings wouldn't stop her from waking up with him on his birthday. So he swallows his bite of Captain Crunch and leans over to kiss her. She isn't expecting it, and Beck's not sure that there's anything he likes more than the way her lips automatically meld to his. Jade knows his mouth better than he knows it, and she's mastered the art of kissing him so well that he has to blink a few times just to regain stability after each time she pulls away.

"Happy Birthday," she says against his smiling mouth. "I love you."

Later that day, Beck wakes up from an afternoon nap to one of his favorite smells. After running a hand through his bedhead, he slides out of the bed (that had felt so big and empty without his girlfriend) and heads into the kitchen. "Hi," he sighs, smiling at the beautiful girl standing in front of the counter.

"Hi," Jade replies, leaning back against his body behind her. "How was the nap?"

"Lonely," he admits, kissing her hair, "without you. But my eyes aren't closing on me anymore, which is good because I've got quite a bit more cramming to do. How's your studying been going?"

"Well I stopped for a little break," she explains, eyeing the iced cake in front of her. She turns her head to look up at him and he meets her gaze. "Happy Birthday."

Beck leans down to close the space between their lips, pulling her body closer to his as they kiss. As soon as they pull apart, he grabs some silverware and takes a seat at the table. Jade brings the cake over, along with some plates, and sits next to him before cutting two slices.

Beck takes the first bite of his piece and a grin immediately appears on his face. "Babe, I don't know how much longer I'll be able to keep your dirty little secret if you keep making me desserts like this."

"The fact that I like to bake is not a dirty secret," Jade argues. "Just something not a lot of people know about me."

"Really?" Beck asks, playfully egging her on. "Is that why you deny it any time anyone comes close to figuring out that you make the best cookies on the planet?"

"It's therapeutic. It keeps me from killing everyone, or setting things on fire, or whatever. If people knew, they'd call it 'cute'," she claims, cringing at the word, "and expect me to make things for them—in which case, I would set them on fire."

Beck laughs and swallows his second-to-last bite. "Well, hey, if that means more of your desserts for me, I think I'm very okay with it." Jade smiles. "You studying for the rest of the night?"

"Ugh," she groans. "Don't remind me. Bio test tomorrow at nine. Tori wants to pull an all-nighter so that we can just go straight to the exam with all of it fresh on our minds."

"You can do it," Beck reassures her, picking up both of their plates to rinse them in the sink. "And when you need a power nap around two in the morning, I'll lay with you and get you up when you need me to."

Jade scoffs. "Babe, I love you, but no way in hell am I taking a nap with you." Beck looks slightly offended by her comment—as she never really even takes naps without him. She rises from her seat to meet him in the kitchen, and walks into his open arms. "If I get into a bed with you, either we're going to end up having sex or I'll fall asleep for the night."

"I could totally wake you up!" He defends, his tone disappointed.

"Beck," she reasons sympathetically, "if I was laying on you, asleep, in our comfortable bed—and you were to wake me up to tell me I had more studying to do, I would probably slit your throat. I will not take a midnight nap with you." Jade kisses him then, since his lips are pouty anyways, and pulls back to smile at him.

And he might still be upset about the whole nap thing if she didn't look so damn adorable.

It's around eleven thirty when Beck appears in the living room, where Jade and Tori have been studying together for over four hours. "I'm headed to Starbucks to grab some coffee," he says, pulling on his brown cargo jacket. "I know you guys need to study, but Tori—can I get you anything?"

"A pumpkin spice latte would be awesome," the brunette replies. "Thanks, Beck."

"No problem," he answers with a smile. After bending over to give a quick kiss to Jade, he grabs his beanie to keep his head warm and heads out the door.

When he returns almost thirty minutes later, he's carrying a cardboard cup holder with four coffees, as well as a small bouquet of flowers. Tori is confused at first; the flowers obviously aren't for her, but everyone knows that Jade despises them. He sets the bouquet down on the table first, and then hands the girls their drinks before delivering Andre's to him in his room. As soon as he comes back, Beck sits on the arm of his girlfriend's chair.

"For when you need a break," he says, handing her the flowers that she would later use as a de-stressing mechanism when her scissors destroyed them.

"Thank you," Jade replies, accepting the bouquet and the kiss he plants on her lips. "How's your studying going?"

"Eh. The History of Theatre is even more boring than it sounds," Beck mutters. "How about you guys?"

Tori sighs. "We've been trying to explain the Krebs Cycle to each other for about an hour now. At the rate we're going, we'll be up until at least four."

"Ouch. Andre's been at Differential Equations in Calculus since lunch… I think he's about to drown in the coffee I brought him."

Jade laughs, and Tori shakes her head and smiles. "Poor guy. God, I hate test week."

"Same," Beck nods. "And speaking of that—I'm gonna get back to the books. I'll come check on you guys later." After giving Jade one last kiss, he returns to their bedroom to finish his studying for the night.

It's two in the morning when he comes back into the living room to find Tori and Jade still working. He lets them know he's going to bed and wishes them luck, and both girls are undeniably envious of the fact that he gets to sleep.

Three hours later, after Tori has nodded off for the third time, she closes her book and pushes it away from her. "I never want to see, hear, or think about science ever again for the rest of my life," she mumbles, slumping her head down onto the table.

"We need to sleep," Jade agrees. "I probably won't be able to wake myself up in a few hours, so just make sure I'm up by 8:30."

Tori lifts her head to give her roommate a grimacing look. "After what happened last time, I don't think I ever want to try waking you up again."

Jade rolls her eyes. "I can barely keep my eyes open and I'm going to need all the sleep I can get—and Beck's just as tired. Trust me, morning sex is not a thing during test week."

Tori sighs. "Swear that if I walk into your room at 8:30, I'll be actually waking you up."

"Swear."

"Fine," the brunette says, rising from her seat. "I'll see you at 8:30."

"Thanks," Jade replies. "Night."

"Night."

.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Tori presses her ear to the door of Beck and Jade's bedroom, but hears nothing yet again. Remembering Jade's promise from last night, she quietly pushes open the door, not wanting to wake Beck in the process of getting his girlfriend up. Thankfully for Tori, they're actually asleep—and yet she still finds herself caught off guard by the sight in front of her.

Beck is laying on his back, clearly sleeping heavily. Jade's body is draped over his so that they're lopsidedly chest-to-chest, and her head is buried in his neck. His arm is around her—his hand rested on her lower back—and her left arm is stretched up to lay on his chest.

Tori admires it for a few seconds (while also silently burning with jealousy), and then slowly moves around to Jade's side of the bed. She reaches out her arm and pushes gently on Jade's back in an admittedly weak attempt to wake her. When nothing happens, Tori lets out a hushed groan and walks over to Beck's side. She figures that not only is he far less intimidating, but also probably easier to wake up.

She proves herself right when she shakes his arm a bit, and it's enough for his eyes to crack open. "Beck," she whispers. He breathes in tiredly and widens his eyes, so Tori continues. "Sorry to wake you. Jade and I have to leave for our test in ten minutes. Can you wake her up? I'll get her stuff together."

"Yeah, sure," he answers, nodding his head. "Thanks."

Tori moves around the room, then, getting Jade's bag and making sure that she has everything in it that she'll need. She's stuffing a few pencils in a pocket when she starts paying sly attention to the couple in the bed beside her.

"Jade," Beck begins softly, as he rubs soothing circles on her back. He uses his other hand to start moving her tangled hair out of her face, and he brushes it slowly behind her ear. "Jade, babe, it's time to get up." Beck kisses her forehead and her eyelids start to move, so he continues rubbing her back. "You've gotta leave for your test soon."

At the sound of those words, she lifts her head from his neck and begins blinking to wake herself up. "Good morning," he says, turning her attention back to him. He kisses her lips, because really, he can't help himself.

"What's Tori doing here?" She asks, her voice thick with sleep, as she spots the brunette in the corner of the bedroom.

"She's getting your stuff together. She came in to wake you up," Beck explains.

"I'm gonna make us some coffee. I'll meet you in the kitchen in a few minutes," Tori says, carrying both bags out of the room.

Jade sighs heavily. "I don't want to go to this test."

"I know you don't. But you're going to do great; I know it." He kisses her again, and she realizes that she doesn't really care what grade she gets on the test so long as she gets to come home to Beck.

But she gets a 94 anyways.