EAD ~ Some Other

Title: In Some Other World
Author: Saydria Wolfe
Fandom: Hannibal
Genre: AU of Mizumono
Relationship(s): Hannibal Lecter/Will Graham
Content Rating: PG-13
Warnings: No Beta, Dark Themes, IT’S HANNIBAL YOU SHOULD KNOW WHAT TO EXPECT
Word Count: 1,866
Summary: “We could leave now. Tonight.”

 

 

“We could leave now. Tonight.”

Unexpected deluge of want floods Will’s soul. It’s so strong and hits him on so many levels that he can barely breathe around it but he forces himself to blink at Hannibal. He forces himself to mentally step back and think because something, something is wrong with that statement.

“Feed your dogs, leave a note for Alana, and never see her or Jack again.”

There it is.

“Almost polite.”

Unless necessary for manipulation, Hannibal speaks with almost graphic exactness. If Hannibal meant the two of them, he would say ‘you and I’.  Just like when he meant Jack or Alana he said Jack or Alana.

We is imprecise.

We is a lie or at the very least a manipulation.

“We?”

Hannibal closes his mouth around a mouthful and chews. The predator in those maroon eyes, the one Hannibal has only let him see in the last two weeks watches him calculatingly but Will can see the flicker of amusement at the edge of his bottom lip and in the arch of one brow.

Hannibal doesn’t say anything for a long time, far longer than he needs to chew. Long enough that Will starts to get afraid. Then Hannibal smiles almost wryly at him and shakes his head.

“Do you honestly believe that I would do more for Miriam Lass than I did for our daughter?”

Will’s brain stops. He can feel his mouth drop open but its distant. Abigail and Miriam Lass? Have something in common?

“Abigail?” He asks hopefully.

“Lives.” Hannibal confirms with a faintest trace of warmth in his face.

Realization shoots like lightning down his spine and Will lunges for Hannibal. He’s not even sure what he’s going to do until their mouths crash together with more pain than passion. Until his hands catch on Hannibal’s neck and shoulder and hang on for dear life.

Hannibal’s hands gravitate to his body, gentling their connection and pulling him fully into Hannibal’s lap.

When he pulls back to breathe, Will laughs out loud too incredibly pleased not to and allows Hannibal to scent and nuzzle his neck.

As he’s prone to -especially when they are alone- Will steps into Hannibal’s frame of reference. He can almost hear Hannibal apologizing to Abigail there in the kitchen where she supposedly died. He can feel Hannibal apologizing to her for not being able to protect her as if the words were formed with Will’s own mouth and he has to kiss the other man again.

Hannibal couldn’t protect her in this life so he got her a new one. One where the three of them can be together. One where the three of them can be free.

Will is flushed and grinning when he pulls back from their second kiss. “Can I see her?”

“I take it we’re going? The three of us, away.”

Will has never in his life wanted something like he wants this, but. But. He rests his forehead on Hannibal’s.

“If I go with you,” He says mostly to hear himself articulate it. “I have to embrace the darkness or I will die.”

Hannibal nods just enough not to dislodge him. “If you stay, Jack Crawford will use you until you die.”

“I’m dead either way.” The only question is how does he get there.

A dramatic pause, because this is Hannibal, and then. “You said to me the scales had fallen from your eyes and you could see me. What of the scales that keep you from seeing you?”

Will snorts and pulls back. “You think I don’t see me? That I haven’t struggled every day of my life to hold it? To hide it? Do you know how hard it is to keep the beast in me away from the beast in you? To keep me from letting you wrestle me into submission?

“Because that’s what I would be,” Will leans forward and whispers in Hannibal’s ear. “Your submissive.”

Hannibal’s hands tighten convulsively, then he argues. “At first, perhaps. But there is a beauty in you, art that is all your own.”

“A team?”

Hannibal nods.

“Do you think we could manage it?”

“We will have all the time we need to find out.” Hannibal says, almost sadly. “We will have to lie low for a few years.”

“It wouldn’t do Abigail good to live on the run.” Will doesn’t have to fake the heartfelt sigh. “We could shorten the period, though.”

Hannibal raises a single eyebrow in question.

“We have to damage Jack. His reputation, his career, and his legacy.”

“You have something in mind.”

Will pushes himself out of Hannibal’s lap and back into his own chair. He needs to think.

If he does this, there is no going back. He looks up at Hannibal. The man is watching him with curiosity and desire. Possibly love, or the closest to it Hannibal can manage. In the back of his eyes Will can see the faint beginnings of that kind of hope that turns into rage rather than tears when denied. Devotion waiting in the wings.

It’s beautiful and horrible and Will wants it for himself if he can have it.

He is Icarus. He wants to get as close to the sun as he can before it melts his wings and he falls to his death.

But first he feels the need to clarify. “We are fishing, Jack and I. For you. Jack planned for me to ‘catch’ you in the act of murdering someone -Mason Verger and arrest you, leaving Mason and I as witnesses against you.”

Hannibal’s fury nearly sears his eyes to permanent blindness. The kill he intended to be his and Will’s first shared hunt, poisoned and turned into a trap?

Seeming to understand, Will nods. “I didn’t want that. That’s why I pushed the dinner party. For the three of us.”

Hannibal wants to be mollified. In fact he probably should be, but-

His empath cuts him off by softly confessing. “I was using you to destroy each other.”

Somehow Will manages to sound fragile, vulnerable and untouchable all at the same time. The steel in his soul shines in his eyes for just a moment before he drops his gaze and picks up his fork. “You knew.”

Hannibal nods once. “I could smell Freddie Lounds on you. This afternoon, in my office.” It’s not a question, it’s a statement because Hannibal knows exactly how he smelled the living scent of a woman supposedly dead, burned and buried. He was lied to. By Will. By Jack. Possibly even by Alana.

“Do you know why?” The empath asks softly, softly. This is important to him.

“For killing Abigail.”

Will nods and it’s Hannibal’s gesture but not in with the air of a gesture used due to his abilities or hin assuming Hannibal’s point of view. This is a gesture assimilated through familiarity. “Jack for betraying me.”

“I betrayed you.” Hannibal says because he can assume Will’s point of view too.

“No, you studied me, even to my detriment. I expect that from psychiatrists.” And that burns, being lumped in with nameless, faceless others and generalized by his profession but it’s probably the kindest way for Will to look at it so Hannibal holds his peace. “Unless you mean framing me for murder?”

Hannibal nods once.

“Since you did it to protect Abigail, we can call it even with the Freddie Lounds thing and leave it behind.” Amusement flashes on and off Will’s face before he adds, “I’m going to hold my time under Chilton against you forever though.”

Considering Will’s recent seating arrangement and the exchange of kisses, the mental image of Will physically under Chilton should not be a surprise. Neither should be the possessive fury.

It’s a pity Frederick Chilton is already dead.

Will stands, pulls the last functioning flip phone in the state of Maryland out of a pocket and places it in Hannibal’s open hand.

“Where is she? Is she here?”

Hannibal hesitates. Will is floored. Hannibal is hesitating.

“Perhaps we should take this opportunity to negotiate our new relationship.”

It’s not a question but it’s close.

“Our relationship?”

“We are raising a daughter together.”

“And you want to know what else we could be doing together?”

Hannibal simply nods.

“You realize anything I agree to is contingent on Abigail’s… good health.”

“Granted.”

“Alright. Where do you want to start?”

Hunting seems the most pressing place to start but Hannibal knows instinctively that he has pushed that as far as he can right now. “Are you opposed to an intimate homosexual relationship?”

Will very carefully doesn’t smirk at Hannibal as he forces himself to start eating again. “Would you believe I am closer to a 6 on the scale than I am to a 3?” Hannibal blinks… and blinks again. Now Will smirks. “In fact, I’ve only ever had sex with one woman.”

Hannibal looks like he’s swallowed a goldfish in his own quietly dignified sort of way and Will can’t resist twisting the knife just a bit.

“Thanks for that, by the way.”

Hannibal breathes in a way that would be a huff on anyone else but Will cuts him off before he can start to speak.

“I’ll bottom for you like a champ.”

He takes far too much joy in the ghost of a flush that kisses Hannibal’s cheeks. Poor Hannibal. He should stop before he gives the other man heart failure.

“I take,” Hannibal croaks and has to clear his throat before continuing. “I take that to mean you prefer to be the receptive partner in anal intercourse.”

“Predominantly, are you opposed?”

“Not at all.”

“And how do you feel about switching?”

“At your leisure,” Hannibal picks up his wine glass and for once follows Will’s unspoken lead.

“Is this where we negotiate kinks? Or rearing techniques for our currently-theoretical daughter? Or should we just move ahead to cannibalism and serial murder?”

“We will have plenty of time to negotiate kink as you say on our trip.”

Will nods. “Will I have the right to pick targets?”

“Of course. And?”

“I will eat your cooking. Will the fish I catch be welcome at our table?”

Hannibal flicks his lips in a smile. “A balanced diet is important to our good health. Even I do not eat ‘people food‘ at every meal.” Will laughs, bright and surprised. “The cover I have prepared for us is for a married couple.”

Will considers it. “I feel I deserve dates and an actual proposal whenever we land. You don’t just get full access to my body.”

“Of course.” Hannibal doesn’t even have to fake the pleased purr that makes Will blush so delightfully.

“Do you have anything for me to change into?” Hannibal just raises an eyebrow at him. Will sees him and raises both in return. “For my cover? You are not the kind to be unprepared and I assume you want to be sure I won’t give us away or call in backup or anything.”

He’s being so imminently sensible, Hannibal decides to skip dessert. He pulls the battery and sim card from Will’s phone and pockets the three pieces before leading Will up the stairs.

Back to EAD 2018.