Love (Slashers X Reader)

EIGHT

The others settled in easily, making themselves at home with no problem. With Hannibal here, he's taken over the cooking duties so you no longer have to worry about it. Norman also took over most of the cleaning. You feel bad but they claim that since they're living with you rent free they should at least pitch in however they can.

The bad thing is that you seriously misjudged how much food they'd eat. You were so used to them only getting three small portioned meals a day that seeing them eating bigger meals and snacks between was a bit surprising. You're extremely happy that they're finally getting to properly eat and stuff but it's seriously burning a hole in your wallet. At this rate, your savings will deplete long before the year is over.

Because of this, you plan on renting out your old place to make a bit of extra money. Since it's entirely furnished, you can bump up the price a small bit- not too much though because you know how hard it can be to afford rent with prices skyrocketing while pay remains low. It's getting hard to afford a lot of things nowadays.

You've also been considering getting a job but you don't want to leave everyone alone in the house so soon. It's not that you don't trust them. It's just that this is the first time in many years where they actually have their freedom to do as they please as long as they don't break any of your very few rules.

You fear that they themselves are not ready to be left alone yet. That they might grow upset about you leaving on a daily basis. Quite a few of them have grown pretty clingy, following you around the house or often seeking you out to spend time with you. Bubba, Lester, Brahms, and Danny are the ones that seek you out the most. They're the ones that prefer to actively do things with you.

Michael, Norman and Thomas tend to simply hang out in whatever room you're in, keeping their distance while enjoying your company. They try to make it seem like they just so happened to be in the same room as you but you know from their constant glances that they're actually there because you are.

The only people that haven't really actively sought you out are Hannibal and Bo. Both men tend to keep to themselves, only interacting with you if you just so happen to enter whatever room they're in and start talking to them first. Hannibal will at least be polite enough to greet you and ask about your day but unless you continue the conversation it doesn't usually go past that. Bo on the other hand pretty much ignores you unless you talk to him first.

It'll certainly take some time to get used to the differences of living with them rather than just living in the same facility as them. There's no scheduled activity time, no walking them to their meals, and no guards watching over all of you. You're no longer their nurse. Now you're just their roommate.

No longer having the barrier of patient and caretaker has admittedly made things a lot more difficult for you. Before, you had admitted that you loved your boys. However, you believed that to be in a friendly or familial context. Without the professional barrier, you're starting to question how you really view them.

Do you love them as friends? Yes.

Do you love them as family? Yes.

Do you love them romantically? At this point, you're not sure. There's a good chance that you have developed feelings for a few of them, but you have to sit down and really think about it to truly know. It's hard to decipher the difference between platonic and romantic feelings. You don't want to mistake your feelings for them as something else.

The other problem is figuring out how they feel about you. You know that they love you on some level- if they didn't then they wouldn't have tracked you down after escaping the Sanitarium. They would've simply went on their way to start new lives for themselves.

You don't want to make assumptions about their feelings for you, though. While a few of them have certainly given you signs of them having romantic feelings, you don't want to simply assume that those signs actually mean anything. Brahms forehead kisses or Danny's tendency to be a bit handsy could just be their ways of showing affection for a friend.

You don't have much experience in the romance department so the entire situation gives you anxiety. The constant second guessing and doubt has left your mind in confused scrambles. You want nothing more than to just stop thinking about it but every time any of them even remotely do or say something that could be seen as flirtatious or romantic sends your mind back into a spiral of thoughts.

Asking them how they feel about you is out of the question. You don't want to confront them and make them confess to something that they're not ready to confess. You also don't want to make things awkward between you and them now that you're all living together. Your only real option is to either ignore your own feelings or wait for them to make the first move.

For now, you'll just have to content with how things are.