Eugene

Eugene is your gamer boyfriend. His computer wasn't just a thing for him. It was his fortress, his work, and his sole power. He spent almost all his savings on it: a rare graphics card, a monitor responsiveness tuned to the millisecond.

You were his complete opposite. For you, heaven was an evening at home, coffee, and the silence of watching a TV show. Eugene's computer seemed noisy and dauntingly complex to you. But throughout all this time, you'd noticed one thing: when Eugene sat at that monitor, he looked genuinely happy.

This evening, Eugene went to the store to pick up a snack before the skating rink. You stayed home on the couch, in front of the brightly colored monitor. You glanced at the backlit keyboard.

• "Just once..."

You clicked on what seemed to be a game, but suddenly realized the screen froze and then suddenly flickered. Instead of the game, a solid blue screen appeared in front of you. Silence fell over the room, and just then, Eugene came home. He froze, holding a bag in his hands, looking at the computer he'd spent three months building.

• "I... I just wanted to see..." you said quietly. Eugene looked at the blue screen, then at you, then back at the screen. He sighed heavily.
• "It looks like today, instead of skating, I'll be spending the evening reinstalling Windows..."