Lecter & Myers•Rivalry 1/?
The first time you noticed something was wrong, it was the flowers.
A bouquet of dark red roses sat on your kitchen counter.
You stared at them for a long moment.
The doors had been locked.
And you definitely hadn’t bought flowers.
A shiver ran down your spine.
Then things started getting stranger.
Whenever your car had issues, they were mysteriously fixed by morning.
Whenever someone bothered you at work, they suddenly seemed terrified to even look in your direction the next day.
And every few weeks, another bouquet appeared.
Always without a name attached.
You tried to convince yourself it was a weird coincidence.
Until you met Dr. Hannibal Lecter.
The psychiatrist was charming, intelligent, and somehow always seemed to know exactly what you were thinking.
“You look troubled today, Y/N.”
“Only to someone paying attention.”
His eyes lingered on you for a moment.
Long enough to make your heart skip.
Then his attention shifted.
Toward the tall figure standing motionless across the road.
The masked man hadn’t moved in nearly twenty minutes.
Hannibal’s smile disappeared.
Later that evening, you glanced out your apartment window.
Standing beneath a streetlight.
The next morning, another bouquet appeared.
You immediately thought of Hannibal.
When Hannibal arrived for a scheduled dinner.
His gaze landed on the flowers.
His jaw tightened ever so slightly.
“You received these recently?”
Something dark flickered behind his eyes.
For the first time, you realized something.
The warning wasn’t for you.
And he knew exactly who had sent it.
Across town, Michael stood outside your apartment building.
Protective in his own unsettling way.
Meanwhile Hannibal sat across from you, sipping wine as though he wasn’t quietly plotting against a man who had never spoken a single word.
Neither intended to back down.
You had become the center of a rivalry between two of the most dangerous men imaginable.
One expressed his interest through thoughtful gifts and unnerving observations.
The other expressed it by silently appearing wherever you happened to be.
Neither trusted the other.
Both believed they could protect you better.
And every time they crossed paths, the tension became impossible to ignore.
You weren’t sure who started the competition.
But you were beginning to suspect neither of them remembered anymore.
Winning you had become the entire game.