Roger got finished taking notes.

"Phew," he thought to himself. "Why couldn't this prof hand out preprinted notes like the chemistry professor did? Anyhow, at least the day is over, and it's time to go home."

Roger waved to a few friends on the way back to the dorm, but no one really got his attention. He was focused instead on what would transpire when he got back to his room. Starcraft. Roger couldn't wait to get hold of the mouse, because when he did, he was in control. Even if he got tired while taking notes, even if he marked the wrong answers on an exam, when he was playing Starcraft, he was in charge. Every movement he made was instantly relayed to the screen, and every movement he made was the right one. He had practiced the motions so many times that he never made a mistake, and he was confident he never would. When Roger played Starcraft, the world was his.

Seeing he was in his room, after this brief reflection, Roger hit the button to turn on the computer monitor, and as the screen buzzed and warmed up, he took hold of the mouse. The motions were truly reflexive... Start menu... Starcraft folder... Starcraft .exe file... Multiplayer... Broodwar... Battle.net. As soon as the password was entered, Roger clicked the mouse button over "Ok", and he was on his way to Bnet. A minute later, he was cloning drones, and all his problems seemed to disappear....

Leon was pissed off.

"What the hell is up with all this typing?!" he asked himself.

It was bad enough having to sit around all day in class, without having to come home and be forced to sit around typing all night. After typing for a few minutes, all the letters seemed to blur together anyhow... there wasn't anything interesting about it.

Thankfully, Leon had one release. It wasn't something he go do in public, or even something that he was particularly proud of, but it was what got him through the day. Every night before he went to be, Leon would unbutton his pants, reach into his boxer shorts, and jerk off. He didn't worry about the fact that someone might object to it -- no one could ever tell that he did it, and if he ever got anything on himself, he could make sure to wipe it off.

Realizing that the typing was over with, Leon barely noticed that the computer monitor now contained an image of two barely clad women kissing one another. It was time. As he moved up and down, everything else melted away...

Matt was tired.

He had barely managed to stay awake during his lectures earlier in the day, and he had compounded his problems by staying up half the night goofing off. Oh well, he was in bed now, and would soon be asleep. He thought about the day with a little twinge of regret that he hadn't done much worthwhile.

"Oh well," Matt thought to himself. "Most of what I do is just routine anyhow."

As he drifted towards unconsciousness, Matt uttered a short prayer to God, that he might find something meaningful in the morning...

Roger hit the snooze button a second time.

"Dammit! I don't want to be awake now."

Whatever time it was, it certainly felt too early. Nevertheless, when the alarm went off for the third time, Roger hit it, and pushed himself up out of the bed. It wasn't going to be a very good day.

Leon gripped the toothbrush tightly.

At least he thought it was tightly. It was certainly too early to be certain, so he redoubled his grip to make sure the thing didn't end up in the sink.

"Why am I awake? I would have been perfectly happy staying in bed. Stupid alarm clock."

Leon had a feeling that this was going to be a bad day.

Matt was on his way to class.

It was as he rounded a corner in the engineering building that he bumped into her. She was carrying several books, and he had knocked one out of her hand. Thinking to be polite, Matt knelt down to pick up the book. Hilgard's Introduction to Psychology. Funny that people actually have time to study this kinda stuff.

At that moment he looked up at her face, as he stood to give the book back. He didn't make it... he was frozen halfway between kneeling and upright.

The face he was looking at was that of a goddess.

Like all most engineers, Matt was usually kind of awkward around girls, but at this moment he experienced total confidence. He found himself saying...

"Quite sorry, can I walk you to class."

And perhaps the even more surprising response...

"Sure..."

Roger was depressed

"I can't stand this," he thought to himself, reflecting on how horrible the past few days had been.

He hadn't played a game of Starcraft in two weeks. Whenever he wanted to play, it always seemed like he was somewhere else. He was hardly ever in his room. The only time he touched the mouse on the computer was to open Eudora -- and even that only happened once or twice a day. Instead, it always seemed like he was grabbing a pen or pencil and scribbling down homework problems.

"It can't go on like this forever, right," Roger assured himself, not quite fully believing what he said.

Leon was on edge.

He hadn't been able to jerk off in over a fortnight. It seemed like he was out all day, in class, even out in the evenings. When he got back to the room, he just hit the light switch and fell into bed.

"Maybe tomorrow night."

Matt was ecstatic.

Truly he had never been so happy before in his life. She was amazing! Megan was her name, and she was a sophomore just like he was. She was actually a theatre major... A theatre major!! She was bright, made witty remarks, and didn't even act bored when he tried to explain Faraday's Law of induction. They had gone out every single night for the past two weeks. Even homework seemed like a joy to him, since when it was finished he was able to see her.

"Thank you God," Matt whispered as he went to sleep.

Roger was about to lose it.

An entire month without Starcraft?! What power had cursed him to this miserable existence? Roger had nearly lost hope when he had an idea. He knew of someone he could go talk to about this. Roger found him slovenly, and didn't much relish the prospect of seeing him, but it seemed like the only way.

He would wait until night.

Leon didn't really like Roger.

To be honest, he found him to be an arrogant jackass. But right now it seemed like they were speaking the same language. And despite any animosity he'd experienced for him in the past, Leon now felt like working with Roger.

"Ok, here's the plan..." Leon began.

Matt thought of her.

Laying on his bed, with his hands behind his head, he thought of all the time he'd spent with her. And he thought of tomorrow night. Tomorrow night would be the night. After a month of going out, a month of kisses stolen in the library stacks, and nights spent dancing in the clubs downtown, they would finally consummate their relationship tomorrow night. Matt had done it before... well, sort of that one time with that chick back in high school. But this was going to be different. She was the one! He'd never really subscribed to all that romantic talk before, but with Megan it was different. They truly were meant to be together.

Matt peacefully drifted off to sleep.

Roger was nervous.

Honestly, he wasn't certain that the plan was going to work. As he mulled it over, he realized that the time was drawing near. He didn't even notice his surroundings, but instead looked over at Leon.

Leon glanced at Roger and nodded.

The time had come. Leon reflected on how ironic it was that Roger should be the one to do this with him. In hindsight, he'd always been right there, and for a moment, Leon waxed melancholy for not having noticed before. Oh well, that would all change now. From now on they would always work together.

Leon pointed his index finger, which was the signal...

Matt was sweating.

Her roommate was out for the weekend, and they had taken full advantage of the situation. He was on top of her, and they were kissing furiously. His tongue battled hers, and he gazed into her eyes. He felt his hands moving slowly up her lower back and towards her shoulder blades.

"Now is certainly the time to take off her bra," Matt thought to himself, as his hands continued towards the nape of her neck.

"Now!" Leon shouted.

Roger and he leapt forward, each using their fingers to encircle her neck and press down on her trachea. Roger squeezed with all of his pent up aggression, Leon with all his pent up frustration.

"What the hell?!" Matt thought, as he felt the pain of his tongue being bit. Opening his eyes, he found her eyes, seemingly coming out of their sockets, looking back at him. They seemed to be questioning him. "Why?" Matt noticed that his hands were clutched around her neck, squeezing tightly. He tried to release his grip, but it seemed as if his fingers were welded together. With growing panic, he struggled against his leaden fingers, attempting with all his strength to loosen their grip, but he could not. He watched her eyes darken, as her tongue rolled to the side of her mouth. Then, finally, his fingers relaxed, and he scrambled to take her pulse.

Nothing.

Roger was getting tired holding on to cold steel bars all day...

--funnymarx