Enjin swore he wasnât the relationship type. Every single time the topic came up, he said the same thing. âGirlfriend? Boyfriend? Sounds like a cage.â
âThereâs a whole world out there,â he continued one evening while sitting upside down on your couch. âPeople get weird when they start putting labels on stuff. Suddenly somebodyâs asking where you are, who youâre with, what youâre doing.â
âYou literally ask me where Iâm every day.â
âThatâs different.â
âIt absolutely isnât.â
âItâs because Iâm curious.â
You stared at him. He stared back.
The argument ended there because Enjin had the attention span of a goldfish. Also the problem was that despite all his speeches about freedom and not wanting to tie either of you down, he behaved exactly like somebodyâs boyfriend.
His coat was hanging beside your door. One of his shirts was mixed into your laundry. His toothbrush sat next to yours in the bathroom. Half the tools in your room somehow belonged to him. You found a wrench under your bed once. You still had no idea how it got there.
Meanwhile your own belongings had slowly invaded his rooms. Whenever you noticed something and tried to take it home he always stopped you.
You blinked. âWhat if I need it?â
âYou can come get it.â
The answer came so naturally that it made your chest tighten every time. âyou can come get it.â as if the idea of you showing up at his place was the most obvious thing in the world.
One rainy afternoon you finally reached your limit. You had been cleaning your room when you found yet another one of Enjinâs possessions. This time it was the umbrella chilling in the corner of your room. His umbreaker, did you hear that?
You marched across the headquarters and like he had a feeling he opened the door.
He looked down. âItâs my umbrella?â
âAt the fact that heâs in my room.â
âOh.â he shrugged. âI forgot him.â
âEnjin, thatâs your jinki.â
âYou practically live at my place.â
âYou have more things there than I do.â
âThat seems unlikely.â
âYou left your umbreaker.â
âI found him now, didnât I?â
You stared at him in disbelief until the realization hit you hard. âYou donât actually want your stuff back.â
âYou keep leaving things because it gives you an excuse.â
His expression froze for a second, but you saw the realization hit him before he could hide it.
âEvery time I find something Iâve to see you again,â no answer⌠âYou leave your stuff at my place,â you continued softly. âYou tell me to leave my things at yours. You ask where Iâm every day. You show up unannounced. You steal my food. You fall asleep on my couch.â
âThat couch is comfortable.â
His shoulders dropped as the fight drained out of him all at once. âYâknow it sounded easier in my head.â
âNot wanting labels.â his laugh came out weakly. âBecause then I wouldnât have to admit I like having somewhere to come back to. But I still think all that boyfriend stuff sounds stupid.â
âOf course you do,â you smiled.
âButâŚâ he glanced down at the umbrella still in his hands, then back at you. âBut if you keep finding my junk in your room for the next fifty years I guess that wouldnât be the worst thing.â
It was the closest thing to a confession you were ever going to get. Also made it perfect somehow.
To prove that itâs enough you shrug off your jacket and toss it on his bed which made him smile all big. Yeah, you might never call him your boyfriend officially, but heâs yours.