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Will and Hannibal have become good friends in the course of the past six months. They were both seniors in the same high school and shared most of their classes. Now, Hannibal invited Will over for the night, since there was a long weekend.
So, the brunette pulled up at the address in his battered pick-up truck, and he saw the house - a very big and elegant one. He sighed. Of course, how could he have expected less from Hannibal?
He parked on the street and went up the driveway to ring the doorbell. His friend opened with a wide grin, one of the most honest ones Will has ever seen on his face.
“Hi”, Will smiled awkwardly.
“Hello, Will”, Hannibal let him inside. “Shoes off inside, please…”
Will took his shoes off obediently.
“Alright, uh, where do I put my bag?”, Will pushed said bag up his shoulder and grimaced at the clank of glass bottles in it. “That’s the beer I brought.”
Hannibal chuckled.
“I was thinking of wine, rather, but… Beer seems fine as well. Come, follow me”, he walked through the foyer, making sure Will followed, and walked upstairs. “We will sleep in my bedroom, so that is the best spot for you to put your bag now. First, I was thinking we might spend some time in the study or living room.”
Will hummed some agreement, feeling a bit out of place in those big, dark spaces filled with art.
“And, uh… We’re alone?”, he asked, nervously rubbing his hand over his stubbled cheek.
“Yes”, Hannibal confirmed as they got to the first floor and he led Will down the corridor to open the door to his bedroom. “So, this is where I sleep.” He smiled softly and took his friend’s bag, as Will stared around. The bed, he’d call it ‘fucking huge’. Same went for the desk, the comfortable armchair by the glass balcony door. The room was very much in Hannibal’s style - kept in a dark colour palette, stylish, with art and books just about everywhere. It was surprisingly messy, sketches of architecture scattered everywhere.
“There is the en suite…”, Hannibal pointed to the bathroom door. “And that is my wardrobe”, he pointed to another set of doors.
“A wardrobe? As in a fucking walk-in wardrobe?”, Will raised his eyebrows.
“That is correct.”
Will approached the door and flung it open, entering the wardrobe.
“No fucking way…”, he muttered, touching some jacket. “I mean, I knew you’re a dandy, but to this extent? Really?”, he chuckled.
“Really. Now, dinner?”
“Yeah, sure.”
After dinner, they went back upstairs and Hannibal wanted to go to the study, but they ended up back in his bedroom. Will seemed very interested in the room.
“Will, what is so interesting here? Answer honestly”, Hannibal sighed, looking up from his laptop on which he was looking for a film for them to watch.
“This is all just… So you, you know?”, Will sat down in the armchair and looked out the window, then his eyes resumed roaming the room. They ended their journey on a closed sketchbook on the desk, for which Will reached.
“How about-“, Hannibal stopped and his eyes opened wider as he saw Will open the sketchbook. Only one thought went through his mind - Fuck . He immediately snatched the sketchbook from Will’s hands and shoved it anywhere - in this case, under the bed. Will looked at his suddenly empty hands and then at Hannibal, who was sitting straight and rigid like a freshly tuned string.
“Jesus, okay… You could’ve just said something…”, the brunette muttered.
They looked at each other for a bit, the silence they shared was the first awkward one.
“So, uh…”, Will spoke up. “What are we watching?”
“Lately, I’ve been more into bingeing TV shows, rather than films”, Hannibal grunted softly and looked through some site on his laptop again.
“So…?”
“Have you watched ‘Our Flag Means Death’?”
“No, what’s it about?”
“It’s a twist on a real story. A wealthy landowner, Stede Bonnet, sets out to sea to become a pirate, abandoning his comfortable life with a wife and children.”
Will hummed and sat next to Hannibal.
“Sounds good.”
“People on social media seem to call it ‘the gay pirate show’.”
“Still, sounds good.”
They’ve made themselves comfortable on the bed, which was easy, since the bed was huge. Nevertheless, they were quite close, since Hannibal kept the laptop where it was meant to be - in his lap. So, Will scooted closer until their thighs touched and he had to lean against Hannibal to see the screen better.
Will thought it’s silly - having a crush on Hannibal. After all, the Lithuanian was so handsome, and one of the rich kids, and he was popular. Will was just… some nerd who happened to be ripped because he often had to help his dad at work - help with finishing the tougher of jobs so that they had something to put on the dinner table.
“It’s amusing”, Hannibal suddenly said.
“What is?”
“You smell of aftershave and you have a stubble on your face.”
Will touched his face. He didn’t shave for the past couple days. Neither did he use his aftershave.
“Yeah, I haven’t used it for the past couple days…”
Hannibal leaned in and smelled Will’s neck and Will could’ve sworn his heart stopped for that one moment.
The laptop was soon on the nightstand and Hannibal devoted all his attention to Will.
“Your natural scent is much better than whatever it is you use to cover it up, dear Will”, he said, his nose pressed to the side of Will’s neck right below his jaw. “Your shampoo is fairly nice, though, lavender?”
“Y-yeah…”, Will knew he was blushing like crazy, but he couldn’t stop that. Instead, he asked something that’s been bothering him for the past few months: “Hannibal, why do you like me?”
Hannibal withdrew his face from Will’s neck to look at him. The Lithuanian bit his lower lip, seeming nervous for the first time since they met. Will was bewildered by the sight.
“I much more than like you”, he whispered and Will’s lips parted in surprise.
They just sat there, on that bed, staring at each other. Hannibal took Will’s silence for rejection, and he reached for the laptop, sitting back down next to Will, looking down, thinking he’s made a complete fool of himself.
Will was simply stunned. He turned to look at Hannibal, at those amber eyes, the sharp jawline, the hooked nose and those lips, those soft, soft lips he so many times imagined on his own, and on his neck, and on cheeks, and-
His thoughts were interrupted by the series playing again, but he slammed the laptop shut and leaned against Hannibal again.
“You could’ve waited for my response, you know?”, Will said.
Hannibal looked in Will’s eyes, eyes like the sky to which he wanted to fly, despite knowing his fate would be Icarian. Eyes in which he’d find his life and doom.
And Will licked his lips nervously.
“Because I much more than like you, too”, he whispered.
Hannibal looked from Will’s eyes to his lips and inched closer.
“I’ve never kissed anyone before”, Will’s voice was barely audible.
“It’s about time we change that.”
And Hannibal brought their lips together in the gentlest of kisses, carefully crafting the delicate wings of their unfurling love, like Daedalus, applying utmost care to his beautiful creation, and already wondering which of the sketches - now hidden under his bed - will become reality first.