Lee sat up with Thomas still above him, forcing his classmate to scoot back to sit on his lap.

“This might be… I don’t know if you’ll believe me,” Lee began. 

Thomas’ eyes hardened warily, likely picking up on Lee’s unconsciously contrite tone.

“So… on Monday I downloaded this free Dating Simulator game to play. Uh, do you know what that is?”

“I think I can figure it out contextually,” Thomas stated, his voice eerily flat. 

“Right, well, I think the game was cursed because when I woke up the next day I was being given dialogue options and there were cutscenes and stuff…” Lee went on, doing his best to explain the game mechanics he’d been forced to live under for the past few days as thoroughly as possible. 

He stuttered frequently, anxious in the face of Thomas’ frighteningly inscrutable demeanor looming above him. 

The Class President didn’t interrupt once, listening with his full unnerving attention. 

Only when Lee eventually trailed off and they sat in stifling silence for a full minute did Thomas finally act. He slid off Lee’s lap and took hold of the edge of the desk that had been turned toward the bed last night. 

He pushed it back into its previous spot against the wall and switched on the monitor where the paused credits of the movie they’d been watching were still present. 

Thomas pointed to the screen and ordered, “Show me the game.”

As Lee scrambled to do so, Thomas turned away and carefully plucked his glasses off the desk chair he’d left them on last night. When he looked back, the ‘PARAMETERS’ window had already been pulled up. 

“...This is the screen you couldn’t show me yesterday?” The redhead surmised, leaning over to read the title scrolling sideways across the monitor.

“Yeah, to access the rest of it I just have to do this-” Lee illustrated by taking hold of his mouse and clicking a random area on the window, which presented them with the ‘ROUTES’ and ‘GALLERY’ options.

Thomas placed his hand over Lee’s and directed the mouse to open up the gallery. Lee tensed but refrained from reacting further; he didn't want to pull away and make Thomas think his touch was unwelcome. He forced himself to focus on the screen. 

The first image in the gallery was actually a looping GIF of the cutscene moment he’d had with Thomas in their classroom doorway a few days ago. The President's slow turnaround whilst surrounded by sparkles as his hair fluttered in the breeze was captured in all its whimsically beautiful glory.

Thomas was stone-faced as he studied the scene. Assuming his lack of reaction was caused by confusion, Lee hurried to explain the circumstances of how it came to be.

“It’s showing you from my point of view on the day this all started. It’s not unusual for a new, um-” Lee hesitated nervously, “...Love interest to be introduced in a really pretty way like this in romance games.”

His words hung in the air, no response forthcoming.

“S-So the gallery is probably here to look back at significant moments between us,” Lee trailed off, disheartened.

“Like this other one?” Thomas questioned, gesturing to the still image beside the GIF.

It depicted their kiss from earlier, but not from Lee’s perspective. It was as if a ghost with a camera had laid down next to them and snapped a shot from the side. Their eyes were closed, heads angled into each other while their faces were flushed in pleasure. Lee’s shoulders were pushing against the mattress as his back arched, trying to press closer to Thomas. 

They looked totally absorbed in the moment.

Additionally, tiny hearts and glitter were stamped around them, seemingly added on in post.

Lee covered his face with his free palm, flustered at seeing himself in such an intimate position. “Y-Yeah, like that,” he stuttered.

Thomas navigated back to the main menu without further comment, apparently done with the gallery. His hand was still covering Lee's on the mouse as he clicked on the ‘ROUTES’ option, ignoring the many pictures of hidden silhouettes to hover over his own profile.

Lee peeked through his fingers to see if anything had changed since the last time he’d seen it.

NAME: Thomas Kingsley

AGE: 16              

DOB: March 27                               

LIKES: Cuddling, Being called cute 

DISLIKES: Laziness, Studying, Poor Grades

AFFECTION: 75%

HEART GAUGE: (Stage 1) - COMPLETE!

MOOD: 😡😡😡

ROUTES CLEARED: NORMAL ROUTE

The President coughed awkwardly and looked away from the screen, bringing a hand up to cover the bottom half of his face. Lee suspected he was hiding his embarrassment because of the likes that were added.

However, as Lee continued to read, he was brought up short by the newly unlocked ‘Mood Indicator’ with three very angry faces beside it.

Hesitantly, Lee asked, “Thomas… is this correct? Are you upset-?”

“I’m not. I have no idea why it says that,” Thomas stated, swiftly turning away to gather up his uniform. “I think I’ve seen enough for now. I’m going back to my room to get ready for class.”

“Wait!” Lee called out worriedly. “You believe me after all this, right? About the curse?”

Thomas started to dig around in his uniform pocket as he replied, “I already believed you based solely on your initial explanation. I only looked through the profiles because I was curious.”

“Ah, okay…” Lee conceded apprehensively. 

The President claimed to not be bothered, but his face had become entirely closed off, making it impossible to tell what he was truly thinking. Thomas had been far more accepting of the circumstances than Lee could’ve ever hoped for, yet there was a level of tension that hung in the air he didn’t want to leave unresolved. 

Where did they stand as of now? 

Lee desperately wanted to know, so on impulse he hurriedly approached Thomas who had already started heading toward the door. 

The President was in the process of pulling out his phone, likely to check the time, when Lee caught him by the wrist.

As Thomas turned to look back at him questioningly, Lee tugged him closer and planted an urgent kiss to his lips, needing to lean upward because of their slight height difference.

The phone dropped from Thomas’ grip as he went rigid in surprise. 

The two remained still for several seconds; just long enough for Lee to realize he might’ve made a grave mistake and start to pull back. 

However, the President grasped onto his shoulders with surprising force and abruptly pulled Lee closer, forcing him to stumble up onto his tiptoes as Thomas fervently deepened their kiss.

As quickly as it began, they broke apart a short moment later. Thomas quickly reached down to snatch his phone off the floor as he uttered hurriedly, “I’ll see you in class. I have to get there early to take attendance.”

Rather dazed, Lee could only nod in agreement. 

Thomas spun around and opened the door, only to pause once again while staring in disbelief at the phone in his hand.

“...What’s wrong?” Lee wondered. Had the short fall caused damage to the device?

Thomas held out his phone for Lee to see, showing off the home screen. There was a new app that had a pink heart on a plain white background for an icon. 

With trepidation, Lee raised a finger to tap it, and it immediately opened to the ‘PARAMETERS’ title screen.

How was that even possible?