independence
"It's important that members of a relationship have their own identity independent of their partner. This can mean having your own interests and hobbies, or having friendships that are separate from your relationship."
One thing you had noticed about Scaramouche was that he wanted to devote every second of his time to you. You had to admit it was flattering at first. Him being attached at your hip endeared him to you, especially since it was so seemingly out of character for the usually introverted and reserved man.
Consequentially, you were spending almost all of your time with your boyfriend, and so far you had few complaints. You enjoyed his company greatly, and you always found topics to talk about. Even when winding down, the two of you would choose to put on a show to watch together, read together, or spend your evening cuddled up together on the sofa.
However, you began to doubt the sustainability of this dependence on each other. You had done extensive research on what is required from a healthy relationship - you were so desperate for this relationship to work that you were making sure to actively seek out advice on keeping it going - and time and time again, independence was headlined as an incredibly important aspect of a relationship.
You tried to think about the last time you had been apart from Scaramouche for longer than a few hours. With the exception of when the pair of you went to work, it seemed like you rarely spent any time independently from each other. Your hobbies had begun to merge, you cooked and cleaned together, slept together, exercised together, shopped together - every waking moment was spent in his presence.
It was nice. But was it healthy?
You hadn't hung out with your friends for weeks now, and you could tell the usually understanding Lumine was becoming increasingly disgruntled by your lacklustre excuses. In Scaramouche's case, he rarely sought out time with his "friends" before you were together, but Childe had told you that it had gone from a rare occasion to never.
It wasn't healthy.
It was hard to admit, and you knew it would be harder to fix - you had grown so accustomed to relying on him being there at all times. You both feared being alone, and you had fixed it for each other. Still, stepping out of your comfort zone would be a better solution than letting yourself spiral into an unhealthy attachment.
That was why you turned to him as you had your arms wrapped around him.
"I think we need to start incorporating time apart," you stated. An important thing you had decided with each other was that you would never say statements that would cause the other to panic and then pause, so you immediately continued. "I love spending time with you more than anything, but it isn't good for us to always be together."
He was silent for a moment.
"Ok," he replied.
His body shifting very slightly away from you gave away his emotions, even if he would rather die than admit them.
"Are you upset?" you whispered, gently caressing his arm. He melted into your touch, before pulling away slightly after he remembered what you said.
He swallowed his pride, something he had been practising in order to be able to communicate with you. It was mortifying for him, being so openly vulnerable, but you showed him time and time again that he had nothing to fear.
"A little bit... it's ok, I'll get over it," he grimaced slightly as he responded.
"Hey, hey, you know that isn't how I want you to feel," you rubbed slow circles on his back to reassure him. "Let me explain, ok?"
He wished he didn't trust you so much. He wished he could go back to being reserved and skeptical. "Okay."
"I love what we have going on now, don't get me wrong, and I wouldn't say this if it wasn't in our best interest. It is super important in healthy relationships to have time apart doing separate activities. That way our happiness isn't solely dependant on each other, and we can develop interests on our own. Plus it keeps everything fresh! If we start doing separate things sometimes then when we are together again, we can talk about what happened when we were away from each other. That way we are never going to run out of things to talk about. Time apart will also stop us becoming irritated with each other and having unnecessary arguments."
He took a moment to process your words. Sometimes he wondered how he ended up with someone so thoughtful and wise.
"I know... you're right," he admitted, sighing as he rubbed his sleepy eyes. "Do you ever get tired of being so virtuous all the time?"
"No!" you grinned.
After he grumbled and pushed you away, you became serious again for a moment. "By the way, you don't have to pretend you're not upset about me saying this. Me being right doesn't mean that you have to invalidate your own feelings. You can be sad if you need to."
His eyes widened slightly. "But-"
"No buts. You can be mopey today, I won't mind. But starting tomorrow, I say we have a rule that we have to spend one afternoon or evening doing something independent per week," you proposed.
"Are you going to hang out with Lumine and Paimon?" he asked.
"They have been texting me non stop asking to go out, and I do miss them. It would be great to see them soon. How could you guess though?"
"Lumine sent me some... distasteful messages... she doesn't seem to like that I'm hogging your attention..."
You stifled a laugh. "Well, what about you? Childe misses you..."
"I don't miss him," he scowled.
"When are you going to admit you do actually care about him, and that you are a big softie?"
"Quiet."
"I suppose seeing him once a week won't hurt..." he mused.
You smiled triumphantly. "Perfect! And I have been thinking about taking up some kind of class to learn a new skill! Maybe painting, or dancing, or pottery..."
He frowned slightly at this. "I thought it was only going to be once a week? You aren't doing all this as an excuse to avoid me, are you? Are you not... happy anymore?"
"No, no, of course that's not it!" you shook your hands frantically. "It's just that you have your puppetry, you are such a good cook, and you can play the guitar... I can't let you be more cool than me! I want to have some nice hobbies like you do so you can be proud of having me as your partner!"
"Ah," was all he could manage to say in his flustered state - he couldn't tell if he was more embarrassed about your casual compliments, or his overthinking and jumping to conclusions. "I'm sorry...for assuming..."
"It doesn't matter! I'm always happy to reassure you if you need it."
Archons. How did he get so lucky.
"You are awful," he groaned.
"Did I make you flustered?" you teased, your eyes shining.
"No."
"Then why are your eyes watering?"
"...allergies..."
BONUS:
"It's so good to see you again!" Paimon exclaimed as the three of you lounged on Lumine's sofa.
"Yeah! I've missed you guys!" you replied, throwing the popcorn you had laid out for your gossip session into your mouth.
"Well, you wouldn't have missed us if you just ditched your boyfriend for one second," Lumine rolled her eyes.
"Oh, that reminds me, what did you say to him? He told me you sent some angry messages!"
"What you don't know can't hurt you..." Lumine sipped her drink with a sly smile.
"What...?"