Glitch Stuff

The night was supposed to be fun. The stars had finally aligned for a perfect date night. With the poor timing of a confession on my part, aka in the middle of a fight with a trash beast that I didn’t think I was gonna win, and the horrible schedules that Semiu seemed to hand out on purpose, Enjin and I hadn’t been on a proper first date despite going out for almost a month now.

It didn’t bother me so much. After all, we basically lived together since before we started going out. He would sleep in my room at least twice a week, claiming it was comfier than his - which it was. He didn’t know how to decorate for the life of him. Actually, it was probably more like he just didn’t care enough to properly decorate since he only ever slept in that room. Besides that, we did missions together and ate our meals together. Since neither of us have actually dated anyone before, it didn’t really cross my mind that we needed to go on a proper date. 

Though, that didn’t stop him from making a big deal of it this morning. He complained the entire meal about how we needed to do real couple things, claiming that today was the best chance since we both got the day off. Zanka requested a solo mission and Riyo and Rudo took a duo one. There were no more solo jobs for me since I worked alone and Enjin flat out refused when Semiu tried to put him with team Eager. 

“Common babe! It’ll be so much fun. We can get dressed up and get some drinks. Maybe come back a little drunk and have some fun.” He purred while nudging my side. I couldn’t help the slight smile that came to my lips while I rolled my eyes. “I see that smile! See, I knew I could convince ya.”

“Mmm, whatever you say.”

“So it’s a date then?” He didn’t even wait for my answer before continuing, “I’ll pick you up out front at 5.” With that, he left to go do something that I didn’t care enough to ask about. At least that gave me a good portion of the day to actually relax.

Which brings us to the bar. The lights were dark and it was far too packed for a Thursday night. Enjin had brought us over to a free barstool at the bar, letting me sit down while he caged me in with his arms, mumbling something about protecting me from people bumping into me. I giggled a little at his words before spinning to face the bartender, waiting for him to come over and take my order.

The drinks went down smoothly…well some more than others, but still. We both began to feel buzzed pretty quickly. Enjins hands became touchier as he continued to stand guard. I had turned around to face him, trapping his legs between my thighs. One of his hands pressed into the bar while the other reached for my thigh. His face was right next to my ear so I could hear him over the blaring music.

“You know, this isn’t a normal first date.” The smile on my face betrayed me as I said that.

“Sure it is!”

“People usually like to talk with their date.” I couldn’t help the laugh that spilled from me.

“We’re talking right now, aren’t we?”

“I suppose so.” His fingers traced absence minded circles against my skin. 

“I gotta take a piss. Stay here so I can find ya, okay?”

“Okay.” With that, he pried himself from me and made his way to the bathrooms to do his business. He began to question if it was really okay to consider this as our first date. I was right after all, it wasn’t normal. People usually went to a coffee shop or some shit like that. My words may have been playful, but he couldn’t help but add an air of seriousness to them. What if I wasn’t happy with this?… What if he wasn’t content going to bars like this anymore? 

After all, I didn’t seem to fit into this vibe. Though, he didn’t mean that as an insult. In fact, quite the opposite. To him, I was cozy and warm. I was someone he wanted to reach out and hold onto and that vibe wasn’t something that meshed well with here - with him. He was the vibe of this bar, he fit in perfectly. The thought passed his mind that maybe I didn’t think of him the same way he thought of me and it kind of hurt. He wanted to be someone warm and cozy for me, but he didn’t know how. Again, he’s never dated before so he didn’t know how to properly care for a relationship like this - one that he wanted to keep for a long time, maybe even forever.

He shook those thoughts from his mind and walked back out only to be stopped dead in his tracks at the sight in front of him. There, in the exact same place he left me, I was. There was a man next to me too. We were talking. He was leaned close in a similar way to how he had previously been, mouth just a bit away from my ear to make sure I heard him. I was smiling at the man. 

Enjin felt something in him snap as the man moves a little closer. For some reason, it doesn’t ease the feeling when he sees me lean back a bit. The feeling that floods his entire body is awful. It’s dark and possessive but also anxious and embarrassed. He feels small in that moment, as if he didn’t exist in my world anymore - a place he so desperately wanted to live in. For as much as he wanted to march right up to that guy and yell and scream, he found it hard to do so. The anxiety began to bubble up. Maybe I liked that guy better than I liked him. What if he could give me the things he couldn’t? He doesn’t think he could handle seeing me around HQ with some other man. The thought alone made his throat close up a bit.

For once, he finally understood what I had meant all those times I’ve told him that it makes me feel bad to see him talking to women who are clearly interested in him. He honestly didn’t get it at the time since he had never felt jealous in this regard before, constantly telling me that he only wanted me. Shouldn’t that be enough?

But he gets it now. It didn’t matter how long we had been friends, how long we were dating, how many times I have told him that I only wanted him. For the first time in his life, he was jealous over someone. He hated it.

He hated how it consumed him whole and dragged him into a sad and desperate place. All he wanted right now was my attention and yet I was giving it so freely to another man. Something twisted inside him. This was exactly what he didn’t like when women used to complain about him and yet here he was, doing it to me.

My eyes shifted away from the guy in front of me and instead caught a glimpse of Enjin who stood half way across the room. He watched as my eyes lit up after seeing him. That just made his chest ache. He felt horrible about feeling this way after seeing that. How could he ever doubt my like that? Though, it wasn’t me that he was worried about.

“Baby!” I called out, knocking the breath from his chest. That was the first time I had used a pet name for him. I just left the man behind and went over to my boyfriend. “I was starting to get worried! I was gonna go look for you, but I worried we wouldn’t be able to find each other if I moved.”

“Is that why you stayed and talked with that guy?”

“That guy?” I asked, confused at the hostility in his voice. My eyes followed his gaze over to the man I was just talking to. He was now cozied up with the man that sat next to where I just was. “Who would ever want him?” Enjin didn’t respond, which raised a few flags in my mind. He always had a response for everything. I looked at him, squinting my eyes while examining his face. He just averted his gaze.

“Were you jealous?” He looked away even further, if that was possible. “Oh my god, you were! The Enjin was jealous over me!” 

“Don’t sound too excited.”

“How could I not? Did you really think I would leave you for someone else?”

“Ugh, can we not talk about this? It’s killing the vibe, girl.” His arms wrapped around my waits and mine fell around his neck.

“This is the new vibe.” I leaned in. “Baby, you have nothing to be jealous over. I only want you.” That same twist in his stomach from before came back again. Those words, the same ones he has said to me not even that long ago, made him cringe because he now realizes how much they don’t help.

“Let’s just call it a night here, alright boo?”

“Sure. We can chat more about it when we got home. I’m assuming you’re staying in my room tonight?”

“Obviously, but we ain’t talking about anything.” The walk back went fast and we were soon washed up and in my bed. He insisted I wore one of his shirts and no pants while he wore the opposite, just pants and no shirt. We were a mess of limbs, but it was perfect.

“I’ve never been jealous before.” He mumbled, thinking I was asleep.

“Well, I hate to break it to you, but it won’t be the last time either.” He glared down at me. “It’s a part of relationships. There will be times where I need to interact with someone and you won’t like it. I mean, think of the times I’ve been jealous. They were all during jobs when you were doing support work, talking to whatever woman went up to you. Neither of us can help that hot people talk to us.” I laughed a bit at the end.

“Yeah, but you know that I don’t care about random hot people.”

“You have for a long time.” He couldn’t argue against that. “It’s a learning curve. Nothing to feel bad about. I actually kind of liked it.”

“You did?”

“Yeah, it means that I’m someone you don’t want to loose.”

“Obviously I don’t wanna loose you, I…” It was way too early to say what he wanted to. “I really like you.”

“I really like you too. Just remember, you’re the only one for me. You can’t get rid of me that easily.” He laughed a bit.