Stu’s kitchen was loud with laughter and the low hum of the fridge, the faint clink of bottles as he and Billy leaned against the counter talking in hushed tones- too hushed, really. That kind of whispering meant trouble, but you weren’t paying much attention. Your laptop was balanced against your hip, your screen full of blood red text, another draft of your horror novel spilling across the page.

Eventually you walked in from the living room and blurted out the kind of question that would’ve made most people choke. “Hey, so, like… do you think it’s possible to hang someone with their own intestines? Or would they just bleed out before it could work?”

Billy froze. His entire body went taut, eyes snapping from you to Stu with lethal suspicion. That wasn’t just a random question. That was Casey Becker. That was their handiwork. His jaw clenched, and for a heartbeat he looked ready to lunge at you right there, shut you up before you spilled what you “knew.”

But you weren’t accusing. You weren’t even looking at him. You were already typing again, muttering half to yourself, half to Stu. Stu grinned that big, careless, too wide grin and leaned closer, slinging an arm around your shoulders like he always did, pressing a kiss to your temple.

“Baaaabe, that’s gnarly. Like, creative writing award gnarly. Yeah, you could totally do it, but you’d wanna make sure you get the timing right so the guy doesn’t croak too early. Think of it like- uh stagecraft, ya know? For showmanship!”

You laughed at his phrasing, tapped it down into your document, utterly oblivious to the way Billy’s eyes bored into Stu like knives. Because Stu knew you weren’t accusing. You never were. You just… asked. Out of pocket horror hypotheticals that sounded insane to anyone else but to Stu? It was like you were accidentally feeding him and Billy ideas, handing them the keys to their next big “scene.” And the beauty was? You’d never catch on. Not when every smile, every kiss, every ridiculous answer made you believe this was just your eccentric, horror obsessed boyfriend talking out his ass.