The first cheat was . He bypassed the usual pre-party ritual—the anxious loitering on the porch, the awkward scan for a familiar face, the slow retreat to the kitchen. He just walked in. A girl with a septum piercing handed him a red cup. He took it. He didn't spill it. A small miracle.

He found the in the living room. A girl named Maya was trying to roll a joint on a copy of Ulysses . Her hands were shaking. In the normal game of Leo's life, he would have catalogued this as a reason to leave— she's too high-maintenance, too messy, too something . But the code had silenced the internal QA tester. He just sat down.

So he leaned in. She met him halfway. For three seconds, the world was a perfect, frictionless simulation. Her lips were soft. His heart was a drum machine set to "triumph."

The thoughts came flooding back, faster than any code could block them. She doesn't mean it. You forced it. You cheated. You didn't earn this. You're not him. You're the guy in the pajamas at 11:47 PM. This is all stolen valor.