Chapter Text
This ‘dating everything’ thing was real cool, but you wouldn't be lying if it was tiring talking to so many people in a single day. Before this you were a normal chronic online freak, and now you're actually speaking to so many… people…?
Whatever, the semantics don't matter to you at the moment. What really matters to you is getting some alone time in your office.
After you spoke to a handful of your companions around the house, you retreated to your computer. You reach for the door handle only to be surprised by Dorian.
“Hello there.” He said.
His tall and muscular frame almost completely filled the entire door. He was intimidating and scary looking,if you didn't know all he wanted to do was to protect, you'd be properly scared.
“Dorian.” You unintentionally responded dryly.
“You sound awfully tired, something the matter?” He asked, cocking his head slightly to the side.
“No…” you say, almost yawning, “just tired is all.”
“Oh,” He says, looking back into the office, “I assume you're looking to spend some time on your computer then.”
“...Yes.”
He moves out of the way, “Have fun.”
You thank him with a wave of your hand and walk right up to your chair. You turn on your computer, the fans of the cpu cooler inside the unit humming with excitement. Almost like it was alive… well, it was…
Before you knew it, Mac was right beside you, almost lighting up the room with their smile… and with all the RGB lights on them.
“User! It's so good to be interfacing with you again!” They said, pulling up several websites, “shall we continue your reading or maybe some OooTube while-”
“Mac.” You interrupted them with a sudden change in tone, they noticed how awfully tired you were.
“Oh sorry,” they said, closing tabs, “What do you want to do today?”
You chuckled, “I think maybe just some normal internet surfing and some low intensive hangout?”
They nodded, “that sounds nice.” They smiled.
“If I may…” They asked.
“You may.”
“There is this web page that takes you to all sorts of different other sites…” They pulled up the tab.
“Oh hey, I've seen this before, it was really popular on OooTube for a little bit.” You mentioned. “I've tried it once or twice when I was bored in class.”
“Yes, you have, your cookies say you've visited this site before.” They continued, “but hey! Maybe there's new websites it directs you to, at least since the last time you've been on it.”
“Why not, can't be too overwhelming…. Hopefully…” You chuckled to yourself.
Mac scoots closer to you, their arm grazing yours as you use your mouse. You always admired their tattoos, the fine lines of the ones and zeros and the green hue of the other sleeve resembled a motherboard, you wondered if it was a replica of the one in your own computer.
They looked at you, “You aren't exactly looking at the screen.” They chuckled.
“S-sorry.” You felt your body melt at the sudden embarrassment.
You clicked once on the ‘PLEASE’ button of the ‘TAKE ME TO ANOTHER USELESS WEBSITE’ and voila, a useless website. You scrolled down, and observed the optical illusions of the site. It was a sort wiki to demonstrate the numerous optical illusions of the world.
Mac pointed to one, “I like this one.” The illusion they were pointing at was a checkered still picture made to look like a ball in the centre of the pillar was moving around it.
“Yeah, that one is pretty trippy.” You agreed.
You went back to the original site and clicked the button again. It brought you to to a web page telling how you should judge a book by its cover. You and Mac scrolled past different absurd books, such as ‘How To Teach Your Cat About Gun Control’ and ’Avoiding Cashiers: An Art’. You and the physical embodiment of your computer laughed at the silly names for these books before you stopped at one.
Mac pointed at it, “now THIS one is a good concept.”
‘Computer Viruses Can Manifest In Your Real Life?!: Yes They Can.’
“So what, I can catch something from you if you get a virus?” You asked jokingly.
“Well, no but it definitely isn't good for me.” They replied in a laugh.
“Well, duh.”
You and Mac went through multiple different useless web pages. You clicked the button like the many times before, but once the website loaded Mac violently lurched over in their chair, letting out a gasp in pain. They grasped their chest in pain and their other hand dug into their armrests. You quickly closed the tab and wrapped your arm around Mac.
“Are you okay?!” You asked, trying to moderate your tone to not overwhelm them.
Their breathing steadied, they let out an airy, “y-yeah…”
They slowly sat up, using their arm to hold themselves up by their armrests. You tried to look them in the eye but they were shut tight.
“Mac…?”
“I-I'm okay…”
They leaned back in their chair, letting their head hang back. They tried to catch their breath. Still holding their chest.
You looked over to them with concern.
“Could you… could you do me a favour…” They asked breathlessly.
“Yes, anything.” You said.
“Can you reset the computer, and power off tonight, I need to… rearticulate myself.” They asked, almost with a desperation in their eyes.
“Of course.”
“And, hold on, I need you to run some diagnostics tomorrow…. to make sure that wasn't a virus, and if it was well… I'm sure you know what to do.”
“I do, don't worry, you'll be feeling better by tomorrow.” You consoled them.
“Thank you…”
You smiled as you powered off the system. They gave you a brief smile back, before they disappeared you noticed an unusual glimmer in their eye. Thinking nothing of it, you retreated back to bed, after a very very long day.