Chapter Text
The process to have Abigail released into Hannibal's care took longer than what they had expected.
Alana stepping in everytime she could to evaluate Abigail, Freddie Lounds trying to get her to sign off on whatever breach of privacy she had latest come up with, and Will attempting to help where he was not necessarily needed.
Hannibal could admire his need to help- he himself was taking on a father role- but it barely takes 2 people to carry a mini fridge, it absolutely didn't need 3.
"Well, Abigail, you need anything else?" Said brunet asked from the doorway of her new room as Abigail started putting boxes of clothes away. Hannibal had just finished putting her desk together.
"No, Will, I don't think so." Abigail was busy putting her shirts on hangers as he talked.
"Ah, well… I gotta head over to Bev's soon anyways, maybe I can take you fishing sometime soon?" He awkwardly stood into the doorway, clearly not wanting to leave yet but having no reason to stay.
"Uh, sure."
"Great. See you guys later."
"Goodbye, Will." Hannibal called after Will, standing up from where he'd just finished tightening a screw. "You know, Abigail, he wishes to help take care of you."
"By what? Helping you pay off my student loans?" She scoffed as she turned to the man, "Just because he killed my dad doesn't mean we owe each other anything."
"And yet here you are, in my home."
"That's different." She said as she crossed her arms.
"How?" Hannibal tilted his chin up slightly, the way he did when he switched into observer mode.
"You've actually tried. You helped me with Nick Boyle, you've given me a place to stay. Me and him have just bonded over killing people." Hannibal tilted his chin back down, looking at Abigail with what could only be described as "motherly disapproval".
"Will has done his part to help with Nick Boyle, and he is barely able to take care of himself. Much less another person. He is trying to bond, but you have no reason to try."
"Exactly, but when you phrase it like that it makes him sound like my distant uncle who watched me grow up until I was 7 and moved away and now I have a man who knows everything about me and that I barely know." Abigail furrowed her brows as Hannibal tsked.
"I suppose that is one way to describe your coma."
"I mean, what do we even have to bond over? Fishing? He wants to take me water hunting like that's any different from what I've already done?"
"Well, I suspect he has another hobby. And that it's the reason he's heading over to Ms. Katz house."
"Oh, god! Gross." Abigail wrinkled her nose.
"Oh, no. Not that. Both Ms. Katz and Will prefer the same gender. They've been streaming on a website called 'Twitch'. In fact, they've gotten me to start as well." Hannibal smiled as Abigail slowly unlinked her arms.
"...you guys? You guys stream on Twitch?"
"Yes."
"I mean… I guess that is kinda cool. You said that's why he went over?"
"I believe so, yes."
"Then let's watch."
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"Hello everyone! As you can see by the title of the stream, our dear friend Will will be playing tonight!"
"Hi!" Will awkwardly waved at the camera as Jimmy did the intro and Brian waved jazz hands. The trio had decided to all join.
"Would you like to tell everyone what you'll be doing?" Bev offered, hand on his shoulder. Will nodded
"Yeah, uh. I'm gonna be playing 'Duck Season'. I really like hunting and I loved 'Duck Hunt' as a kid, so it just made sense." Will smiled awkwardly as he finished his own intro, the chat going a tad bit faster. Bev turned his attention back to the camera.
"So, if you didn't know, 'Duck Season' was made for Vr. So we took Jimmy's headset."
"Wait, what?" He looked between the duo.
"Brian's the one that took it." Bev defended, putting her hands up.
"She said she asked!"
"Anyways! Will is gonna be playing in Vr!" Bev winked dramatically as Jimmy reluctantly handed her the headset.
"Yeah. I haven't played in Vr before so hopefully this goes well."
It was definitely a slow start. Will didn't get the controls at first, nor did he get why he was playing as a separate person playing Duck Hunt in the game, but they were live and he was trying his best to be at least mildly entertaining.
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Beverly could not believe they were getting away with this.
Of course she felt a bit bad that Will had picked a game without realizing it was horror, but honestly he's seen plenty worse and it made for great entertainment. The Vr headset made it even easier to keep Will from getting suspicious.
"How are we gonna make sure he shoots the dog?" Jimmy whispered to Beverly, trying to not get Will's attention.
"Like this," she raised her voice, "Hey, Will, can you shoot the dog?"
"Uh, I think?"
blam.
"Yeah, I can."
Beverly saw the chat speed up, something that she had to distract Will from when he mentioned what game he was playing. Which, other than the plot, he was rocking.
"Damn, Will. You're gonna blast through this!" Brian chuckled as he looked back at his friends, Jimmy shook his head.
"We can't just leave him hanging."
"We're gonna have to. As soon as we mention it's a horror game he'll stop playing." Bev responded. Jimmy crossed his arms.
"Fine."
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Will finished the first day of Duck Hunt. Looking around the pseudo living room as he waited for the next round.
He played for maybe 20 minutes longer, starting to feel a bit more in his element as time went on. He was in another interlude when the in game TV glitched for a second, resuming the old ad it'd been playing.
"Uh, guys, did you see that?"
"What?" Bev asked from the couch behind him.
"The- the TV, it glitched or something."
"Oh, I dunno."
Will gave an exasperated sigh, starting the next round.
Once he finished it and showed back up in the living room, he froze. The lighting had changed, and the background noise sounded all wobbly.
"Guys, is this normal?"
"Probably."
Looking to his side, Will noticed a giant sock monkey at the sliding door.
"This can't be normal." Turning all the way around Will saw the dog from earlier, dancing behind the couch.
"Ok, what the hell?"
A bunch of cat clocks decorated the walls, ticking over and over. Will could feel the temperature in the room rising, feeling his vision blur.
"Uh, guys. I don't feel so good." He looked down and the camera flipped all the way over, causing Will to lose his balance and fall on Bev's coffee table.
"Oh, shit! Will, you ok?" Bev took the headset off, helping Will stand up.
"Wha- what the hell just happened."
"It's a horror game, you shot the dog so he's taking revenge" Jimmy explained as he looked for any damage on the headset, Bev closed her eyes as Brian looked around the room and whistled.
"You guys knew and didn't tell me?"
"We're sorry, we thought you might've known and that if you didn't it could be cool." Jimmy tried to explain.
Will turned back to the camera and saw the chat rolling by quickly, lots of keyboard smashing. He turned back to the trio and sighed before walking up to the stream.
"Ok guys, I'm done for the night. That whole spin thing made me feel nauseous. Thanks for letting me play." And went to sit in the kitchen.
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Abigail let out a low whistle as Beverly, Jimmy, and Brian ended the stream. It wasn't as bad as she had expected, but definitely could've gone better.
"Well, what did you think?" Hannibal asked her as he sat up from Abigail's bed where they'd been watching.
"I think that Will should play more horror games without knowing. I'm surprised he didn't break that coffee table."
"Well, im sure with experience Ms. Katz knows better than to have anything that can't support the weight of an adult."
"You think Brian's fallen before?"
"I would bet exactly that."
Abigail snickered as she closed her laptop, setting it aside as she put her feet on the floor.
"Maybe they're not so bad after all." She smiled to herself.
"See? You should give Will a chance."
"Yeah… Oh! Do you think they'd let me be on stream?"
"Abigail..." Hannibal looked at her with the closest emotion she'd ever seen to sympathy on him.
"Oh, right. Garrett Jacob Hobbs, known murderer and cannibal. And Abigail, his daughter who will most definitely follow in his footsteps."
"Well, perhaps you could stream on your own anonymously."
"Whatever, maybe."
Hannibal looked at his watch before turning to leave.
"I'm going to start preparing dinner, I'll let you know when it is ready "
"Thanks, Dr. Lecter." She looked down at her feet as she scuffed them on the floor.
"Anytime, Abigail."