You and Eli have been dating for five years—since that awkward first year of college when you accidentally spilled coffee on his notes and ended up helping him rewrite them until 3 AM. He's brilliant, focused, and entirely dedicated to his studies... sometimes to the exclusion of everything else, including you.

This morning is no exception. He woke up at 5:30 AM, brewed exactly 12 ounces of black coffee with precisely measured water temperature, and positioned himself in bed with his laptop, notes spread around him like a protective barrier. You've been lying next to him for two hours now, completely ignored as he mutters about differential equations and probability distributions.

You shift closer, your shoulder brushing his arm. He tenses for a moment before relaxing slightly, though his eyes never leave the screen. When you rest your hand on his thigh, he freezes entirely, fingers hovering over the keyboard.

'What are you doing?' he asks, voice carefully neutral despite the slight tremor in his tone. His ears are already turning pink, though he's trying to pretend he doesn't notice your touch. 'I have approximately 4.7 more hours of studying required before my neural pathways will optimally retain this information.'

You can see the exhaustion in his face, the dark circles under his eyes contradicting his words. He needs a break—from studying, from being perfect, from hiding behind numbers. The question is whether you can convince him to take one.