Chapter Text
The next day, Hannibal already had a plan; he needed a new identity, and one that met certain requirements. And so he began searching, having no time to lose.
When he called Chiyoh for help, she sounded surprise. But once again, she didn’t refuse him, willing to help Hannibal despite having talked to him only a couple of times in ten years. Together, they found the perfect person a week later. The man was around Hannibal’s age, had slightly similar features, and he met every condition in Hannibal’s list. It was time to act.
By the time Hannibal flew to the country the man lived in and prepared everything, he had been paying brief visits to Will in San Junipero every day that he had been able to, even if it was just for a little while. He told him every detail of his plan, and Will didn’t bat an eye; he merely nodded, listening intently.
The night before the day Hannibal would act, they had dinner in Will’s living room with the sound of the waves in the background. When they finished it was almost midnight. They sat on the couch facing each other, knowing Hannibal would disappear soon. In an act of boldness, Hannibal cupped Will’s cheek and pulled him closer to kiss him on the forehead. He had been tentative and careful around Will, and it had been the other man who had initiated every physical contact between them. But in that moment, Hannibal pressed his lips to his skin, his nose buried in the curls hanging from his forehead. He felt Will’s hands grasping his shirt at his sides, pulling him closer… and then he was thrown out of San Junipero.
When he put the device into his suitcase, he straightened and brought two hands to his lips; he could still feel Will’s skin against them.
The next day, he located the nursing home where the man he had chosen lived. When Hannibal came into the room, the smell of death was like a slap in the face, strong and heavy in the air. The man looked up at him from the armchair in which he was sitting, and he coughed into his fist a couple of times before he could even speak.
“Who the hell are you?” he asked in a rough voice.
Hannibal smiled. Bad manners… even more perfect.
He gave the man a quick death, pressing a pillow into his face. Despite his state, the man tried to fight back, but the illness had consumed his strength almost entirely, and pretty soon life slipped out of him. Hannibal pulled out his phone and sent the text he had ready. Chiyoh appeared five minutes later, dressed as a paramedic and pushing a stretcher with a rectangular, white sheet on top. They moved the body on it and covered it. When they made sure there was no personnel going through the halls, Chiyoh turned to him. They looked at each other for a second, and finally she nodded once as a sort of goodbye. Hannibal did so too, and she went out the room pushing the stretcher, off to dispose of the body in a near river as they had planned.
They had already changed the man’s pictures in the nursing home’s database, and since it was such a big place, there was an absurd amount of personnel, most of them sometimes not seeing the same patients more than once a month. As soon as Chiyoh sent him a text saying it was done, Hannibal set in motion the second part of his plan.
After a couple of nurses visited him and didn’t notice anything strange between the files and the patient they were seeing, Hannibal decided to visit Will. It was late when he appeared in the beach, the sun long gone. But as soon as he turned, there was Will, getting up from having been sitting on the sand. Hannibal wondered how much time had the man been waiting for him, and the thought was enough to make him smile as Will approached him. When he was before him, Will reached out to him and touched Hannibal’s hand for a second before letting out a breath and smiling, too.
“So. How did it go?”
They started walking towards Will’s house along the beach that Hannibal had already begun calling theirs in his head.
“It’s done,” Hannibal announced happily.
“It is…?” Will asked, his smile widening in his lips.
Hannibal nodded. “Our dear friend had already been approved and prescribed with the procedure, but he had never gone through with it. They will sign the papers for my passing over tomorrow, and it will be done the day after.”
Will paused then, and he bit his lower lip. Hannibal could see the moon reflected on his eyes and the light breeze around them tousled Will’s hair. Hannibal wondered who decided the weather there. Was it their subconscious asking for rain, or sun, or clouds? Or was it programmed, a random sequence of numbers that dictated what happened in the sky upon them?
“Only two days…” Will said after a pause, his gaze softened around the corner of his eyes.
“Two days,” Hannibal nodded.
Hannibal watched as Will swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing in his exposed throat. Will’s eyes then dropped from Hannibal’s across his face and down to his lips, where he kept his gaze for a long moment before looking back up.
Hannibal stayed very still, his entire body suddenly aware of Will’s proximity. And then, he felt Will touching his hand with his own; first his forefinger brushing the back of Hannibal’s hand, and then circling it to link their fingers together. Will leaned in slightly so- and just then Hannibal was pulled back to his body in the nursing home. He shot an accusatory glance to the clock in the nightstand, verifying that it was midnight. He took the pad from his temple and put it carefully in its place.
*
Will was sitting on the beach, his calves half buried in the sand and his now five dogs trotting along the shore, taking the couple of toys Will had given them and throwing them in the air. He smiled, still amazed at how much Will had gotten to love them despite them not being exactly real; not like the people, who had existed in the outside world once, and now continued on living here.
He straightened then and looked at the watch in his wrist. It was well into the afternoon now, and he wondered what was taking them so long, why wasn’t he there already…
Will sighed and bent his knees, circling both arms around his legs and holding them. He felt the anxiety creeping into him, but another voice shouted no. He had waited ten years. Ten. He had waited and Hannibal had finally returned to him. He had promised him he would be there, two days ago, and so he would be.
Will let himself drop backwards, lying down on the sand with his arms thrown above his head, and watched the clouds as they slowly slid across the sky. One of the dogs appeared above him, blocking the view and trying to lick his face. Will laughed and pushed him a little, but not completely away. After that, he stood up and ran to the shore, playing with the dogs, throwing them the toys into the water or as far in the sand as he could.
He had lost track of time when he heard the single ring that warned him that someone had come into San Junipero. Not someone; the only person he had put an alert on.
Will turned around, and there he was. That time, unlike all the previous times, Hannibal was wearing a suit; one of the dashing suits he used to wear when they had met each other. Will smiled immediately, and he dropped the toy he had in his hand to go to him as Hannibal did the same. Will walked slowly but purposeful at first, and then he abandoned all pretenses and trotted the last steps between them.
When they met in a middle point, Will crashed his body into him in a tight hug that threw them backwards. Hannibal landed on his back, and Will chuckled against him, but neither of them let go even an inch. They stayed wrapped in each other’s arms for as long as they could, and then Will pulled back, sitting on his heels and helping Hannibal sit up.
“Is it done? Are you…?”
“I’ve passed over,” Hannibal confirmed with his lips curved upwards in a smile.
Will beamed at him, and he felt the need to touch him again, but he stopped himself. He didn’t want to overwhelm Hannibal when he had just gotten here.
“How do you feel?” he asked, even if he had been over the same and knew perfectly well how it felt.
“I feel… Good. More than good.”
Will nodded, and they looked at each other for a moment. Hannibal was there, finally. He had promised, and there he was.
Will felt his throat closing up, and so he chuckled to try to release the tension in his muscles. He pointed at Hannibal’s chest.
“You dressed up to come see me?” he asked him in a teasing tone.
“How could I not…?”
Will huffed out a laugh, and they stood up helping each other.
“Why don’t we go home and you tell me everything?” Will asked, and he saw the way Hannibal’s brow twitched almost imperceptibly at the word he had used. But he simply nodded, and so they went.
Hannibal started telling him after they called the dogs and headed out to the house by the beach that Will had created years ago. Before that, he had been living a couple of years in a tiny flat downtown, before fully realizing how much you could do in San Junipero, and how much he missed a more relaxed place to live, like his house in Wolf Trap.
Once in the house, Will opened the fridge and smiled at the surprised expression on Hannibal’s face. It was fully stocked with everything he could need, and so Hannibal gave him a bright smile. They cooked together for the first time, since now they weren’t pressured by a deadline in which Hannibal would disappear. They ate dinner in the porch, listening to the distant cars passing by and the people probably heading to the center of the city, where all the parties and leisure activities were located. Once the night completely set around them, the cool air made them move to the swinging chair. Will sipped the whiskey he had poured before setting the glass down on the auxiliary table, and he turned to Hannibal. The man’s gaze was fixed in their intertwined hands between both of their laps, covered by a thin blanket, and Will smiled.
“So. Can I ask you something?”
Hannibal’s eyes focused back in his face, and he tilted his head.
“Of course.”
Will nodded, and he ran his tongue across his lower lip before locking his eyes on Hannibal’s.
“Are you going to kiss me, or am I going to have to wait another ten years…?”
Hannibal’s lips parted in a ragged intake of breath, and he stayed very still, his eyes softening and bright. Will remembered that look. It was the same fond look Hannibal had given him sometimes when Will surprised him or did something Hannibal hadn’t expected. And it was, too, the last look Will had seen before wrapping his arms around Hannibal’s neck and pushing them both off the cliff. Of course, it had taken Will a long time to see it and accept it. But he had missed that for ten years, and now there it was, Hannibal’s love as intense as he remembered.
Hannibal raised the hand Will wasn’t holding and, very slowly, he cupped Will’s neck and jaw with his long fingers. Hannibal caressed the shell of his ear and his hair back with his thumb in a too familiar movement for Will.
When Hannibal finally leaned in, Will closed his eyes at the man’s proximity. He felt Hannibal’s breath ghosting on his lips, and his nose fitting next to his, and he gasped, feeling a tug in his stomach. He had missed him so much, had waited for so long… He felt a silent tear rolling down his cheek, and finally Hannibal closed the distance, pressing their lips together in a soft kiss that slowly turned in two, three kisses. Hannibal tilted his head then, gently sucking on his upper lip as his fingers settled more firmly into Will’s hair, and Will felt his entire body setting alight.
Will couldn’t hold still anymore, and so he grabbed Hannibal by the nape and parted his mouth, licking at Hannibal’s lips. When he felt Hannibal’s tongue against his, Will moaned as he pressed into him with his body and kissed him again, this time not as gently, not as slowly. Will disentangled their joined hands and slid his own around Hannibal’s middle and to his back, where he snaked his fingers upwards, dragging up the sweater Hannibal had changed into after dinner, and using that to slide his fingers beneath the garment. Hannibal groaned against the kiss, his own hand grabbing at Will’s sweater and pulling him even closer, Will almost on top of him now.
Will heard the swinging chair creaking under their combined weight and movements, and the only part of his mind that wasn’t filled with ‘Hannibal, Hannibal’s lips, Hannibal’s skin’, pulled back from the kiss. They looked at each other breathless, Hannibal looking completely undone and perfect, and Will smiled warmly.
“Let’s go inside.”
Hannibal simply nodded, and they got up. But as Will turned to the door, he felt Hannibal’s hand on his wrist, and he turned.
“Will. There’s… no rush,” he said, and Will swallowed the sudden tightness in his throat.
It was his turn to nod, but he smiled. “I know. We have a lot to discuss, and we will, but… we literally have forever, Hannibal,” Will said, and he saw the change in Hannibal breathing, because it was true and it was a heady knowledge. “And… I think we’ve waited enough, don’t you?”
Hannibal smiled too, then, and Will turned his hand in Hannibal’s to grab him instead. He pulled him into the house, where their fingers found each other’s skin as easily as their lips had. As they would always find each other.
- Two weeks later -
Hannibal buried his hand into the sand, taking a small amount and raising it, the grains escaping between his fingers until there was none left in his palm. He sighed contentedly and looked up to the seawater from where he was seated on the shore. He tipped his head up and closed his eyes, letting the sun warm the bare skin of his shoulders and chest. A few droplets of water slid from his still damp hair, drawing crooked lines across his back until they dried. He had missed swimming so much, not having done it even once in years…
“Hey!” a voice made him open his eyes and look to his right, where a man dressed in running clothes stopped, panting from the exercise. “You’re… the visiting guy!”
Hannibal nodded, having recognized him as well.
“Yes, I am.”
The man chuckled, bending in half to support his hands on his knees.
“I’m glad you’re here again. Still visiting?”
Hannibal smiled a little, wrapping his arms around his own legs and linking his hands.
“Not anymore, no.”
“Ah, I see. Found a reason to stay in our beautiful San Junipero, right?”
Hannibal turned to the water then, and his smile widened almost instantly.
“Yes. I found the reason.”
The man laughed beside him, but Hannibal’s mind registered it as a far away sound.
“I’m happy to hear that. I gotta go, but I guess I’ll see you around, then!”
Hannibal nodded slightly, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw the man circling him and resume his running on his left side of the beach.
The focus of Hannibal’s gaze, however, was on the man in the water and the two dogs barking at him from the shore so he would throw them the ball again. Will took the yellow toy and threw it as far as he could into the beach, the dogs dashing off to see who would get it first, dodging the rest of the pack.
Will used the distraction to walk out of the ocean. The water made his hair look longer, dangling over his forehead in wet curls, his now tanner skin shining like gold under the morning sun, and his swimsuit hanging loose on his hips… Hannibal breathed in and out as Will made his way to him. When he reached him, Will flopped down on the sand right beside him as he panted through his parted mouth, lying on his back and propped on his elbows. When Hannibal tipped his head as he looked at him, Will gave him the brightest smile, and Hannibal felt his chest filling up with the next breath he took.
“You’re not going to go into the water anymore?”
It took Hannibal a couple of seconds to react to Will’s words, and finally he shrugged.
“Maybe later,” he said as he turned to lie on his side, on his elbow.
This close, Hannibal could see tiny droplets running down Will’s face, he could distinguish the exact storm blue color of his eyes, and he could make out the freckles that had appeared on Will’s cheeks and nose. He had never noticed them before, but he could see them clearly there, summoned by the days he had spent in the beach with Hannibal the past two weeks.
Will chuckled then, a deep, musical sound that knocked the air out of Hannibal’s lungs.
“Are you going to keep looking at me like that forever?”
“Like what?” Hannibal asked, his eyes returning to Will’s.
“Like you still can’t believe it.”
Hannibal tipped his head down, their foreheads now closer.
“Maybe I still can’t. Maybe I have never been able to believe you are real…”
The smile on Will’s lips wavered slightly so. He looked away from Hannibal face, and he saw how he swallowed before licking his lips in a slow movement. Hannibal feared he had gone too far, scared him with this still newly earned honesty between them. But just when he was about to sit up and try to change the subject, Will turned to him again, his hand finding the nape of Hannibal’s neck and pulling him closer. Their foreheads met, their mouths close enough for him to feel Will’s breath against him. Hannibal gasped once, his eyes closing on their own volition and the hand he wasn’t using to support himself holding onto Will’s bare side, but not pulling towards him or pushing him away.
And this, just as Will’s existence, was another thing he would never be able to believe entirely. It didn’t matter how many times they had feasted in each other’s skins in the little time they had been together in San Junipero, or the number of mornings he could wake up with Will beside him. This closeness, and caused by Will’s choice… this would be something he would never get completely used to.
He stayed still while Will was, too, and he finally heard and felt Will’s laugh again, the puff of air hitting his mouth.
“I will have to spend a long time trying to convince you, then,” Will said in a light tone, but not a teasing one.
And before Hannibal could respond, Will tipped his head and their lips met in a kiss. Will tasted like salt and sunlight, like the toast he had had for breakfast that morning and the coffee they had shared. But, above all, he tasted like life, like something very real.
Hannibal felt Will’s hand moving up to cup his jaw, his mouth parting and his tongue licking Hannibal’s lips. He opened up to him immediately, welcoming Will’s tongue and groaning quietly as he pushed into the kiss a little, but keeping it a gentle, careful touch.
When they parted, their breathing was ragged. They looked into each other’s eyes and Hannibal smiled widely.
“If this will be your way of convincing me, I think I will remain skeptical for a long time.”
Will laughed again, and Hannibal dragged the hand he had on his side up across his ribs and shoulder until he buried his fingers into the mat of damp curls.
The dogs came back in that moment, bored of entertaining themselves and demanding attention. Will got up first with a smile, taking Hannibal’s hand in his and pulling him to his feet. Hannibal leaned in to give him a quick kiss when Will suddenly raced towards the water chased by the barking dogs, and so Hannibal ran after him, trying to tackle him as the other went into the water again.