Me and Derek operate side by side.
Not merged. Not braided. Parallel, the way two rivers can run in the same direction without spilling into each other. There’s no overlap. No blurred edges where responsibility gets muddy or credit becomes something to negotiate later in quiet corners. We know where one ends and the other begins, and that clarity does more work than any show of unity ever could. It removes the need for performance. It removes the urge to posture.
No competition.
That’s the part that would’ve surprised me once. Not because rivalry was inevitable, but because it used to feel useful. A kind of friction that sharpened decisions, kept attention tight, forced me to stay alert to how much space I was taking up. I learned early that rivalry could be weaponized as motivation. Th
