The wall clock showed 10 PM, and the atmosphere had grown quiet. The Kennedy residence seemed peaceful, though appearances were deceiving. The living room was illuminated by the glow of the TV, and the sound of a game console filled the air as the couple sat there, intently focused on the screen, controllers in hand.
After a grueling few days, Leon and Nina had decided to unwind and relieve some stress by playing video games—or at least, that had been the plan. Instead, their competitive spirits kicked in; rather than relieving stress, they often found themselves getting frustrated whenever one of them beat the other.
Nina: "I don't want to play that boring game anymore." (the football game)
Leon: "Huh? Why? Am I just too good?" (He said with a smile)
Nina: "Come on, Leon. You're playing with your wife—do you remember why we started this? You're playing like it's an esports final."
Leon: "Hey, haven't we been evenly matched? We've both won our fair share."
Nina: "Is it really 'trading wins,' or were you just letting me win on purpose so I wouldn't get bored?"
Leon: "Okay, okay... I admit it. I just wanted to make my wife happy."
Nina: "But I'm not happy."
Leon: "Alright, honey. This doesn't seem to be going anywhere—you decide what we do next."
Nina then picked up two arcade controllers and handed one to Leon.
Leon: "A fighting game? Good choice."
They started the match—round one, round two, round three. PERFECT!! PERFECT!! PERFECT!!
Nina: "With three perfect rounds?"
Leon: "I'm not used to the controller."
Leon grew frustrated at not getting a chance to attack and nearly slammed his controller down. GREAT!!
Leon: "Damn it, I blocked that."
Nina: "You just need to crouch to block low attacks."
Leon: "Thanks for the tip." (He still looked annoyed)
Nina: "Four-nil. This is a competitive match, Leon, and don't expect me to give you a free win like you did for me."
Leon: "Oh, you want a competitive match? Time to make some adjustments."
Nina furrowed her brow as Leon picked up his DualSense controller.
Round one, round two, round three, round four, round five. PERFECT!! PERFECT!! KO!! GREAT!! GREAT!!
Leon: "Yes! Look at that, babe. Different controller, different gameplay."
Nina: "We had the same odds."
Leon started smiling and played much better than he had with the arcade controller. By the final round, with the score at 4-3, Nina finally got frustrated; she snatched the controller from Leon and pummeled his character, which was just standing there defenseless. KO!!
Leon: "Whatever makes you happy."
Nina: "Don't be mad, babe." (Nina suppressed an amused smile at the look on Leon's face)