Love Crime || Hannibal & Will
theiirstoriies:
A few years ago, if someone had told Will this was where he would be, he would have been devastated. All his hard work at keeping himself together, at being normal all for naught. But as Hannibal says that, he can’t help but smile. Transformed. Like a butterfly. No, more than that. Like a phoenix. “What was that you said about me?” he said, eyes the color of the sea staring out at the waves as he spoke. “Something about me being… special?” He was finally starting to realize what Hannibal had meant by that. He was leaving a lot of people behind in this boat, but there wasn’t anything left for him with them. They had met the Will Graham who still thought he was one of them. This man was someone else. Something – Something stronger.
His eyes finally drifted back to Hannibal and he nodded. “I’ve been catching fish for days,” he said. He stood again. “I’ll bring you one. I want that gone when I come back,” he added, pointing to the water bottle. He wasn’t losing Hannibal to something as little as dehydration. They had already survived fires and floods and earthquakes. The very sea hadn’t been able to separate them for long. The sky itself would have to open up and strike one of them down to drag them apart now.
Will left their small cabin and went to stand on the deck. He was still visible from the doorway as he began gutting and cleaning a fish for Hannibal to eat. The wind in his hair. The sun on his neck. Feeling free.
It was hard to talk from this distance, so for a few moments Will occupied himself with soft whistling. Something he’d had in his head for what felt like years. He thought, perhaps, he had heard it a long time ago in Hannibal’s office. He knew, at the very least, he associated it with brown eyes and pale hair.
He smiled softly. “Yes, I called you special. You can see it now.” It wasn’t a question. It was clear as day on Will’s face, in the way he held himself. Hannibal hadn’t been this happy in many many years. He hadn’t been sure he could feel this happy. He’d always known there was something about the way his mind worked that wasn’t like anyone else’s. Other people had many emotions about everything it seemed. Hannibal saved the few emotions he had for the important people in his life, or important moments.
But with Will, he’d rarely had to tap into his stockpile of emotions. Will tended to draw them out of him naturally. Something only one other person had ever managed to do. He smiled, drinking his water, thinking about how easy it was. He didn’t have to think about smiling for effect with Will, it just happened. His face reacted to the chemical combination occurring in his brain. He loved it.
He watched his love, standing in the sun, free from everything. He felt a small stab of pride that he’d helped this to happen. But even Hannibal’s hubris wasn’t so great as to think that he’d done this himself. Oh no, this was almost entirely Will. All Hannibal had done was nudge him along the way. Sometimes he’d pushed, and Will had shoved back, savagely. He smiled again, thinking of hanging twice. Both times put in the noose by Will’s hand, the first time saved by the grace of God, the second time, saved by Will.
His eyes felt heavy, but he couldn’t look away from him. His soft smile grew reinforced as he listened to Will’s whistling. He recognized the piece as one that Hannibal had composed himself. He’d started it the evening he’d met Will. He might not have known it, but it was his song.
