Work Text:
Hannibal woke up first this time. A sweaty Will half pressed against him. It was a terribly unpleasant feeling. Unbearable if it had been anyone else. Hannibal stroked Will's wet hair back and shifted a little to wake him up.
Will stirred and immediately started breathing faster. He opened his eyes and threw back the covers. His T-shirt was sticking to him, the bedclothes were damp.
“I… I'm sorry.” he mumbled and sat up. He was still breathing too fast, his body was warm.
“Sleep doesn’t seem to help you recover these days.”
“… I don’t know. Sorry. I’ll change the sheets… I-”
“Come.” Hannibal held out his hands and helped Will to sit up on the edge of the mattress. Cold sweat was drying on his thighs and face. Hannibal put his hand on Will’s forehead. He looked pale with dark shadows under his eyes. His hand lingered a moment longer than necessary, fingertips brushing the damp hairline. Will’s warmth seemed to seep into his skin. Hannibal pulled the shirt over his head. It landed on the floor with a wet thud. His own pyjamas were damp where Will had been resting on top of him.
Will shook his head and rubbed his eyes again.
Hannibal turned on one of the night stand lamps and guided Will to sit on one of the chairs by the windows. Hannibal’s face was indifferent.
“I’m okay.”
He was shivering. Hannibal put a blanket around his shoulders.
Will tilted his head down and stared at the floor, then he closed his eyes with exhaustion. He was thirsty.
When Hannibal started to change the sheets he looked up.
“I can do that.”
“Of course you can. You told me that the nightsweats occurred before. So I imagine you had to deal with it on your own.”
“I usually just put down a towel and went back to sleep.”, Will whispered. When he had got a hold of himself, he got up and threw the shirt into the laundry basket and had a sip of water from the faucet in the bathroom. He helped Hannibal change the rest of the sheets. The bed was nice and crisp clean again.
“I’ll take a shower.”
Hannibal stood by the closet, buttoning up a new pyjama shirt.
Will didn’t take long. It had been the fourth night in a row. He was exhausted. The nightstand lamp painted long shadows on the bedroom walls. Will didn’t look at them. He put on fresh underwear and another tshirt but hesitated to crawl back under the covers.
“I can sleep downstairs.”
“Why would you?”
Will rubbed his face with both hands. “I can take the guest room until I feel better. You’ve got work.”
“So do you.”
“I’ll let you rest just for tonight.”
Hannibal looked at him calmly. “Do you want to sleep here with me?”
Will looked up at him. The light reflected in his eyes. He nodded.
Hannibal welcomed him with an open arm. Will laid down next to him and put down his head on his chest with a loud sigh. Hannibal's hand landed on top of his head.
“It has been frequent lately.”
“Sorry.”
“You know that's not what I was getting at.” Hannibal switched the light off. His hand stroked through Will’s hair.
“I don’t know what triggers it. I already got checked through. It comes and goes.”
“You know my diagnosis.”
“…yeah.” Will closed his eyes. Hannibal's caress lured him in.
“It’s stress.”
“Still groundbreaking.”
Hannibal blew air out of his nose and pressed a kiss to Will’s forehead.
“When will you let me take you to the caribbean?” Hannibal pulled a curl straight and it jumped back into shape.
Will made an amused sound.
“The sun and air would do you wonders.”
“Hm sounds nice.”, he mumbled. “Would we stay by the beach?”
“I think a private house would be the best, yes. Close to the water.”
“The dogs would like it. We need to book a lot of plane seats.”
“For all nine of them?”
“Of course.”
“You can get a dog sitter for a while.”
Will moved his face against Hannibal’s chest, shaking his head.
“Fine. All nine of them. Taking a private plane would work best then, I think.”
“Hmhm.”
Will was already breathing more evenly. His voice was thin when it disrupted the silence of the night. “Tell me more, please. Keep talking.”
Hannibal stroked his hair a few more times and continued. “We’ll have fruit for breakfast each morning. I will read and go for a swim. You can fish in unknown waters.”
“Barramundi…” Will whispered.
Hannibal chuckled without moving. “I’ll cook what you catch for us.”
“What else?”
Hannibal pressed his lips to Will’s cheek. “It will be a nice taste of the life I could provide for you when you drop out of the office.”
“I like to be independent.”
“You can be independent with some different type of work.”
“What kind?”
“I assume you can do everything you put your head to.”
Will stretched and pressed a kiss to Hannibal's neck. “Good night, Hannibal.”
“Tell me when you can take some days off. I’ll book us a house.”
Will answered with some deep even breaths.
Hannibal closed his eyes and held him tightly.