Jason and Erika were each casually dating in the DC area when a dating app, Hinge, suggested they’d be “most compatible” with each other. Jason messaged Erika quickly, saying there must be a problem with the algorithm - he had answered a “hot take” prompt on his profile with “McDonald’s is overrated”, while she answered a “what is your love language?” prompt on her profile with “McDonald’s French fries”. Jason’s message apparently wasn’t enough to win Erika’s attention, and she ignored attempt #1. Jason persisted a couple weeks later, asking if his disapproval of McDonald’s was a dealbreaker, to which Erika responded that it was merely a “red flag”. The conversation took off from there. They soon moved off the app to start texting and made plans to meet up for a date. The first onset of Covid in March 2020 nearly changed those plans, but they were able to squeeze in a takeout date in a mostly abandoned food court just as lockdowns and “six feet apart” mandates were starting to take effect (they admittedly failed at following the latter). Although their first date was unconventional, they instantly knew they had something special. While Jason tried to set up a second date later that week, Erika instead fled to her parents house in Ohio for the next couple of months, hoping to avoid the city as the pandemic began. Despite the miles between them, they set up Zoom dates and texted constantly, not allowing the circumstances to get in the way of a potential relationship. Luckily, they were able to set up plans for an outdoor date as soon as Erika returned to DC, biking down the Potomac River into Alexandria and sharing another round of takeout in the park. They were hooked from there, and quickly started spending nearly every weekend together. The rest is history!