"You've been very quiet," Gale's voice grabbed your attention and you turned to look over at her from where you were sitting; seeing her usual stoic face watching you from over the cup of hot coffee in her hands.
You didn't think you understood the question correctly, your mind in too much of a frenzy at the fact she was sitting just few feet away from the murderous psychopaths who were hiding in the goddamn bathroom.
"Uhm.. Sorry. Just got lost in my head for a bit," you apologized, rubbing your hands against your face before smoothing them through your hair.
What an understatement that was.
"Anything you wanna talk about?" Gale offered, sending you a smile and it still struck you how friendly she could be when she wanted to.
Knowing that Stu and Billy were listening in to every word being spoken made the situation so nerve wracking it almost had your head spinning.
It's not like you could just say 'Hey Gale, maybe you should leave because I have two serial killers hiding in my bathroom'.
You thought for a moment and decided to return the question, picking at your nails with your hands resting in your lap. "I should be asking you that. No offense, but you don't uh... I don't think you'd come here without reason."
"I can't say I blame you," she sighed and put the cup down.
Aaand there it was. A look crossed her face that yelled 'I'm here for something and not just to check up on you'.
How very typical Gale Weathers.
"Well you're right. I came to tell you something–"
A sound coming from inside the bathroom cut her off and it felt like you had your legs kicked from underneath you.
Fucking Stuart. It just had to be him.
Gale was many things, but stupid wasn't one of them. Miraculously, she paid more attention to your nervous trembling. "Maybe I should let you rest. We can talk this over another time?"
Who are you and what have you done to Gale Weathers?
You nibbled on your lip, nodding and trying to keep yourself from rushing out your next words. "Yeah. Sounds like a plan."
After finishing her drink, you let Gale outside and as soon as the door clicked into place, the other one opened.
You whipped around on your heels, pointing an accusing finger at Stu as you raised your voice at him. "You! Do you know how close that was?!"
He threw his hands up defensively and pouted. "Woah there, why are you assuming I did that and not Billy?"
"Because everyone knows you're the idiot between the two of us," Billy remarked dryly with that hormone inducing voice of his.
Your lips tugged up in a stupid smile as you took a coaxing breath, both of them watching you like hawks as you sauntered over to the bed and laid down on your back.
You just had so many things on your mind to work through, you didn't know where to start. Honestly, your brain was just tired and all you wanted to do was rest.
It was a large bed and you lacked the strength to protest as Stu came laying down on your left, tugging you close with your back pressed against his soft chest and his elbow propped up behind your head, while Billy came down to your right with his hands on his nape and his legs on display.
Billy slightly turned his head to stare at you, analyzing your every move with unsubtle desire, but didn't act on it for some reason.
You felt somewhat uncomfortable with those mesmerizing eyes judging you, but Stu was doing a terrific job at making you feel at ease.
It was an unbelievable sensation to feel so peaceful with them when other times, they were the ones bolting behind you with a fucking knife in their hands.
You should feel way more angry or at least threatened, but Stu's fingers massaging your scalp lulled you into a state of semi-unconsciousness, and you just felt so relaxed.
A content sigh escaped from your lips.
You wanted to blame Stockholm syndrome for feeling the way you did but knew very well that that wasn't the truth.
You felt exhausted, but it was too early to sleep, and maybe now was the right time to catch up despite how silly the situation was.
Both boys had learned picking up on your body language really early on— around the time they started developing feelings for you, so they both knew you wouldn't go anywhere and that your anger had subsided for now.
For the first time in months, you felt hope filling your chest that maybe you could sleep peacefully.
"Will you stay with me tonight?"
You were feeling significantly less lonely with them around and you could sense Stu's heart thumping faster against your back when you asked.
Billy raised his eyebrow at you in surprise, glancing across at Stu briefly before looking back at you. "Yeah, alright."
You squeaked when Stu suddenly pulled away from behind you to search for your pj's. Once he found them, he let the pink pieces dangle in front of his face and swooned. "Awwee, look at these... You're so adorable, (Y/N)!"
You groaned, pushing a pillow on your face to hide the blush appearing on your cheeks. "Stu!"
Sitting up, you stretched out your arms and made grabby hands, too tired to get out of bed to get them. "Gimme, gimme."
"I think I wanna keep 'em," he decided, teasingly keeping the clothing pieces away from you as he nearly bounced on the spot with how giddy he looks.
You shot a pleading look into Billy's direction, but even he was cracking a smile at the sight, shaking his head.
You were on your own.
Damnit.
Getting an idea, your hand sneakily reached out for a pillow behind your back and without warning, you chucked it right on target, a.k.a Stu's unsuspecting face.
You grinned victoriously and soon the both of you were laughing, that was, until Stu hopped on the bed, caged you between his legs and started assaulting your sides with his fingers.
You ended up in a fit of high pitched cackles as you squirmed underneath him.
"N-No Stu! Please-!" You giggled and gasped between your breaths, swatting his hands away but it did nothing to keep him off of you. "Have mercy!"
"You two are such children," Billy commented, watching you two with a a large model white grin that warmed your heart.
Stu's eyes twinkled with mischief as he kept tickling you until your eyes were brimming with tears but this time, they were pleasant ones.
It felt so nice for a change.
You shoved him off and snatched your pajamas. "Ugh, I hate you."
Immediately he frowned, worry washing over his expression like heavy rain water. "You don't mean that."
Not sooner were you two locked into a staring contest. You kept your expression serious as long as possible, but your lip twitched before you couldn't hold in your laugh anymore and you burst. "Okay, maybe I don't."
Next thing, you had to lock yourself in the bathroom to change, rolling your eyes when you heard Stu's begging coming from the other side of the door when he kept swearing he was going to kill the door.
F in the chat for the door.
It wasn't difficult to imagine the grin breaking over his face when he threatened to undo the lock, which you didn't doubt that he could.
It was hard to keep reminding yourself that these two were as unhinged as they came when all they did now was act like two stubborn teenagers, arguing about nonsense in front of your very eyes.
As the moon outside crawled higher into the sky, the chattering and teasing between the three of you continued as each one of you was now under the covers.
You ended up cuddling into Billy's warm, bare torso with his arm wrapped around your neck protectively, while Stu had his own arm lazily slung over your waist and was pressed against your back.
Just listening to Billy's pulse had you nearly close your eyes at how peaceful it made you. His hot breath tickled the apple of your cheek and lit your entire body on fire.
There was silence for a very long time, nothing but a quiet air of comfort between you three, mixed with something else.
A guilty pleasure and a compulsive desire; that was Billy Loomis without a shirt and with a dangerous look in his eyes, but we'll leave that for another time.
Slowly, he reached his hand that had been previously stroking your arm and scraped his thumb along the two twin scars that trailed on your shoulder, the one physical reminder you had of that one night.
Stu's soft snoring coming from behind you made you nearly burst into another fit of giggles, weren't it for the calming effect Billy was having on you.
Fighting sleep was hard when you were all but spent. Your glittering eyes travelled to the part of his chest that you could see which was just exposed enough to show his own scar.
Quite ironic, if you think about it. They gave you one, and you gave him one in return. Still, you struggled to contain the bitter guilt gnawing away at your heart.
It was conflicting because you were fighting for your life back then, but hurting Billy felt like you got a hot knife to the chest. It was something you never wanted to do again.
Your mouth opened and closed several times.
"I'm sorry," you whispered, keeping your eyes trained on the nearly healed wound as your expession fell, but you sounded far more confident than you felt with your words. "I'm sorry for almost killing you, Billy."
Billy stared down at you from under his hooded eyes, his hand trailing upwards to hold a lock of (H/C) in his palm.
You were really something else to him. Him and Stu were the serial killers yet you were here apologizing.
Your undeserving kindness was something both of them treasured immensely.
His eyes danced across your face in silence for a few seconds before a low chuckle tore out of his mouth and you felt his low voice vibrating against his firm chest. "You're forgiven, babe."
(A/N: Just wanted to get some wholesome chapters in before we get down to the big, scary stuff ^^.)