The Chromebook’s screen glowed green. Not a dot. A landscape. Two tiny figures stood at the edge of a grid that stretched forever. Leo’s figure looked left. Sten’s figure looked right. And above them both, faintly, the word LOL pulsed like a heartbeat.

And then, in match eight, Leo’s dot dodged.

Red wins. Time: 4.2 seconds.

And for the first time all day, the clock moved.

But the game was still running.

Leo pressed W. The green dot moved up one pixel. Sten, without touching his keyboard, moved his red dot up in perfect sync. Then Sten’s dot darted left, faked a jump (dots can’t jump, but somehow it looked like it did), and landed three pixels behind Leo’s.