A guy and girl with a dying relationship

John was your twentysomething guy who was living with his girlfriend Carla and... it had been awhile since there was any real passion. No real vacation, both making enough for ends meet... really at this point they were more roommates than boyfriend and girlfriend. Neither were exactly that attractive and most of their time was working two jobs or resting with little time or energy for any passion.

John was laying on the couch as he was setting up the app when Carla came in and asked "Find something interesting?"

"Your brother Carl suggested this app for our relationship..." John said as he sat up allowing for Carla to look at the app and look for it herself.

"A dating game... That lets you date anything?" Carla looked unamused wondering what her brother was thinking.

John booted it up and when selecting anything was able to select Carla "Well, I'm able to date you in this." John said with a smirk that got a playful slap from Carla. "Let's see..." John went silent as the character representation wasn't randomized and look a lot like Carla... To the point where the inconsistencies came from screen resolution if anything. They both wondered about a number of things and when John looked at Carla's relationship stat menu... They were above average for the most part. Not THAT much above average, but better than most who just didn't care for John. John then selected one of the initial dating locations at the coffee shop "This seems nice, maybe we can do a coffee date like this?"

Carla looked and said "Maybe a brunch or something..." she read the prompt "bet you can't guess what I like for my coffee?"

John took the challenge and selected: Tall, Iced, Macchiato, almond milk, 2 added shots of espresso, whipped cream, sprinkles, and cinnamon. "I don't think I missed anything... I think?" John said not completely sure of his answer just because of the sheer amount of potential options. John hit send and the virtual Carla happily started drinking her coffee

Actual Carla said "I don't think I'd actually order something like that, but it did sound good." Her eyes widened a little as she started feeling more awake.

"Maybe this is what Carl meant? It gets us to come up with thoughts and ideas for dates, and communication." John hypothesized

Carla looked to her own phone where the app finished downloading "Seems neat, We could both play around with these and have that coffee date tomorrow in the morning."

"Sounds like a date" John agreed when Carla finished setting her app up and selected John as her date partner. Then a prompt appeared on both screens.

"Mission complete: Mutual App Relationship.
Reward: 50 Reward Points

Mission Unlocked: Bonded for life. If both accept partners will be locked out of dating anyone else, but progression and rewards will be enhanced.

Warning: Bonding for Life cannot be undone."

Carla hit accept for the Bonding for life and a second later asked "Not going to do it?"

John said "I like our relationship, and this is a relationship building app... I dunno I kinda want to mess around with it for maybe a day or two first? There's no time limit, may as well play around for a bit and then we can min max?"

Carla sighed "Fine, but I better not catch you trying to do anything with that girl across the apartment."

"I just want to test a few things!" John said feeling a bit persecuted

"...ok then..." Carla started to simmer down allowing the couple to mess with the app a bit before going on their coffee date.