Corruption Pt. 1
@ryane-monju requested both hannigram and merthur, where Merlin is Will’s cousin and with dark!Arthur and Hannibal. I know I completely dropped the ball at getting any prompts out in a timely manner, but hopefully I can be a little bit forgiven with this first piece. I think I’m planning on splitting this request up into little mini-chapters, so hopefully you find this first one entertaining and want more!
~~~~~~
Arthur slid his fingers under the running water, along the flat end of the blade, wiping the fresh blood from the metal and down the drain. Arthur watched it with strange fascination until all traces of red were gone. There was soft clatter behind him - the rustle of plastic and the back and forth of voices - as he finished with the knife, wiping the blade and handle with an antiseptic wipe and placing it back into its stand with the others.
Before Arthur could step away from the sink, a hand came over his shoulder and reached for the knife, lifting it gingerly from the block with two fingers. It swung in front of Arthur’s face for a moment before the wrist flicked and Hannibal was holding the knife properly, blade pointing up as he inspected it with a focused gaze.
“I thought you said no fingerprints.” Arthur commented, eyeing Hannibal’s hands as he further inspected by grazing the knife with his fingers.
“It is my knife,” he answered, finally placing the knife back where he had found it. “My fingerprints are supposed to be on it. It would be more suspicious if there were no fingerprints.”
Arthur flushed and clenched his hands around the edge of the counter. He’d hoped to do well with this kill - impress with what he had learned so Hannibal would keep him around.
Hannibal was quiet, staring off toward the back of the house where his partner, also his husband, was finishing with the clean-up. Arthur was familiar with the man, vaguely from before he went under Hannibal’s wing, and better now after some time.
Arthur waited for Hannibal to continue the conversation, unsure he could do so without further embarrassing himself. His nerves crept up his spinne, starting to fill up his chest with doubt. Hannibal had always commanded with fear and respect, and fear was starting to win out.
Hannibal spoke, finally, accent lilting up with amusement, “You are very good with a blade, Arthur.”
Arthur resisted the urge to preen with the compliment, swallowing down his excitement, and turned his head slightly to meet Hannibal’s gaze and say, “Thank you.”
It was a lot like staring into a dark abyss of a creature who’d spared your life because you were interesting for a moment.
“Yes, it was very clean work,” Hannibal was watching Arthur carefully, though his tone was casual. “No unnecessary damage, even when he was trying to make you angry. He should make several fine meals.”
“Bastard deserved it,” Arthur bristled, rage surfacing again even though the man was already dead.
“How is your partner faring? His stitches should have come out by now.” Hannibal leaned his hip against the counter, and crossed his arms over his chest.
Arthur nodded. “Yeah, stitches are out, everything’s healing. Just a few bruises left.” He gnawed at a nail, picturing the particularly nasty gash that had been on the back of Merlin’s head. “Thank you, again, for helping him before the ambulance came.”
Dragging Merlin, beaten and bleeding, to his car and making sure he stayed awake while he’d driven frantically to Hanibal’s residence had nearly given him a panic attack. In hindsight, calling emergency services to the house of a killer on the run was probably a mistake, but Hannibal had never mentioned or chastised Arthur about that point. Or that Merlin had bled all over his floor.
Other than a dismissive shrug, Hannibal said nothing, looking out toward the back of the house again as Will crossed the hallway into their room.
“Does your partner know you kill for him?” Hannibal asked.
“No. No idea.”
Will’s dog barked from the backyard but Hannibal stayed silent, watching the door that Will had passed through, absentmindedly rubbing his thumb along his bottom lip.
Arthur swallowed around the lump in his throat, treading a thin, deadly line as he asked, “Do you kill for him?”
A wide, frightening grin spread across Hannibal’s face and he sighed wistfully.
“Oh, yes. Often.”
Arthur followed Hannibal’s gaze, which had not moved from the open doorway where they could hear Will opening and closing drawers. He and Hannibal had been on opposite sides once...but now they were inseparable, because of both murder and love.
Arthur had Hannibal’s darkness, but did Merlin have Will’s?
“I’d like to invite you for dinner, Arthur.” Hannibal stated. Arthur eyed him, tensing up in case he needed to run. Perhaps Arthur had just crossed a line, and Hannibal’s casual persona was merely a trap.
“As a guest,” he clarified, chuckling at Arthur as he turned to face him with an amused look. Arthur felt that he could breathe easier, but his heart continued to pound in his chest. Arthur had not betrayed the trust of the Chesapeake Ripper, but he knew it was smarter to be wary of the top predator in the room.
“Both you and your partner. You must bring him with you.” Hannibal continued the conversation, stepping away to open the fridge. He thoughtfully spent a moment looking inside before beginning to pull out ingredients, one a liver Arthur was recently acquainted with. “From what you and Will have told me of him, I think he could be amenable to what you do for him.”
Arthur’s heart picked up, not in fear, but at the thought of finally showing Merlin the extent of his care for him. Of being with Merlin as Hannibal was with Will. Of revealing his last, and most dangerous secret.
Arthur could try to hide his excitement, and play the rest of this game - because everything with Hannibal seemed like a life-sized chess match - close to his chest, but Hannibal would have already seen the hope in Arthur’s posture and the silence he had let go on just a little too long.
“I’m not sure how to bring up that you and I are...friendly now.” Arthur had never put a label on his partnership with Hannibal, always switching roles. He could be a student one moment, only to be an observer or the teacher the next. He could easily become ‘victim’ as well.
Hannibal pulled the knife Arthur had finished cleaning from its stand and cleanly sliced the liver Arthur had cut from a man’s body in half. He seemed unfazed with Arthur’s statement, masterfully beginning to prepare his meal.
“I’m sure,” he said finally, pausing mid-cut to look up across the room at Will, who had emerged from their bedroom, phone held up to his ear, as he met Hannibal’s gaze with an endearing smile. “it won’t be a problem.”
Arthur watched Will with a quizzical look, but the man never took his eyes off of Hannibal, even as he said, “Merlin? Hi. It’s your cousin, Will.”
Will bit his bottom lip as Merlin spoke on the other end. Hannibal still hadn’t resumed his cooking.
“Yes,” Will said softly. “We were wondering if you and Arthur would like to come to dinner next week..”
~~~~
I know things seem a bit tame for having dark!characters, but the next part definitely has darker actions from pretty much everyone, so there’s that to look forward to. I hope you enjoyed the first part of Corruption, and the rest of the requested prompts that will be coming soon! Please keep requesting prompts, and if you enjoyed this, comment and share!