“We were together in every way except the one where you say it out loud.”

Everything was there. The weekends, the toothbrush, plans two months ahead. What was missing was a sentence, and because everything else looked settled, asking for the sentence began to feel like the unreasonable part.

That is the trap: the more it resembles a relationship, the more you sound demanding for wanting it named. It is not demanding. A label is not a formality, it is the difference between something you are both building and something one of you is enjoying. Sometimes the answer is a relieved yes and neither of you wanted to go first.