Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Will pauses and looks at Hannibal. Hannibal is as handsome as ever, while Will continues to ignore his own ill fitted and frumpy clothing. There's no point in both of them being gorgeous, and he privately likes to think that he looks like a wild animal that Hannibal set about taming with treats. (It's not that far off of the truth.) Will knows without a doubt that Hannibal likes it too.

He's attending dinner for the second time this week. And for the second time it's just the two of them, Hannibal hadn't even come up with an excuse for it. Will blinks slowly thinking about it, this could really be a date. Though he'd like to think that Hannibal would be a fucking gentleman and it outright ask first, Hannibal could be quite manipulative and didn't always voice things. They would have to work on communication in the following years if he wanted them to work out. It's a good thing Hannibal is pretty, because Will doesn't usually like people who are a lot of work. (He ignores the fact that Will himself is also a lot of work and so antisocial that he indeed takes a lot of work to get to know.)

Dinner is always homemade by Hannibal. Not that Will is surprised, because Hannibal enjoys cooking and is a very controlling person. He talks about his special diet and wanting to feed Will the correct foods. Like Will is some pet that doesn't feed himself on a daily basis. Hannibal also fixates on Will mouth anytime they are eating together, so much so that sometimes Hannibal forgets to take his own bite for way too long and it makes Will nervous.

Will is also beginning to think that Hannibal just doesn't want Will wearing a nice tight shirt out to some restaurant when Hannibal could have that sight all to himself at home. He's never voiced such a thing out loud but the lingering looks Will gets whenever he semi puts effort into his appearance is very telling. It was cute if that's the case. Will has to admit that he likes feeling wanted, but he still would prefer some kind of clarification with this entire thing.

"Is there something the matter, darling?" Hannibal asks when he notices Will is distracted at the dinner table. There was that excessive use of nicknames again. Will smiles slightly, trying to give away that he's stuck in his own head tonight. He knows that Hannibal likes all the attention of him.

Hannibal is always calling him something of the sort, darling, love, sometimes even boy. Of course, there were words in other languages that Will was pretty sure meant something of the same line, though he'd never tried to look them up. Hannibal wasn't like this with other people. It was just Will. That had to mean something.

The last time he had been over for dinner this week had been two days ago and he stayed the night. It had not been an innocent thing. Nothing about their relationship had ever been innocent, considering how they met. And who he knew Hannibal to be. Will knows that Hannibal knows he knows and yet here they are together still. Having dinner, having sex or even catching an evening show together once in a while. What a strange existence that they are living.

Will has gotten used to Hannibal in a way that he had never thought he'd ever get used to anyone. Will knows that his emotions are different then a lot of people's and he has stumbled alone through life until the point. Now instead of stumbling, he gets walk side by side with Hannibal. Holding hands on days where Will isn't overstimulated or over irritated.

Will had never actually been diagnosed autistic, but that didn't mean that he didn't show a lot of characteristics. He had a rather neglectful father growing up with no mother at all and in Will's own opinion, he probably would've been diagnosed if somebody had played a lick of attention to him. He could go in and get diagnosed as an adult of course, but why bother. It was just another label to him, and Will didn't really have much interest in labels. Or he hadn't until he had met Hannibal.

At this point, he just wanted Hannibal to tell him how it was. What they were doing and what was Will supposed to think about him. Emotions could be hard when you feel too many on a daily basis. And he doesn't always feel the correct thing compared to what's happening around him. Perhaps that was why he was with Hannibal now in the first place, not many people felt arousal from watching a predator kills. The Chesapeake Ripper had turned him on from the very first time that he saw the publication. It had only taken two therapy sessions for him to be absolutely sure about it being Hannibal. That perhaps was due to the aid of his hyper fixation on the case and this new man in his life.

"Darling?" Hannibal politely asked again. He sounds much more concerned the second time, as unsociable as Will usually is, he doesn't usually ignore Hannibal. It's just today. He seems to be trapped in his own head about what is happening. About where this is going and what kind of label they should have. Will for the first time in his life doesn't want to be alone, or he's does but instead wants to be alone with Hannibal. (There's a difference.)

"This may be a dumb question..." Will starts and then stops because he doesn't actually know if he should be asking this. Sure, they are both adults and they are both enjoying each other's company, but that doesn't mean he wants to push it. He hasn't had much luck with relationships in the past just because he finds it hard to know when to say certain things or ask certain questions. Hannibal has never thankfully faulted him for that, and that makes him brave enough to push it.

"Anything you wish to ask Will. Have no fear, I will strive to do my best to answer anything you wish." Hannibal encourages him as he always does. He's always like this, encouraging Will to talk to him and only him. To leave everybody else behind in life and only have him. That has to mean something. Hannibal wants him just as obsessed as Hannibal is with him. Everything has to mean something at this point. Will is just struggling with it.

He can't seem to bring himself to ask the direct question that he wants, but maybe if he edges around it, he can get to the point. Hannibal won't mind if he goes off on a tangent first right? Hannibal always seems to prefer when he talks versus when he's silent anyways. Will is just trying his best with this.

"I overheard a conversation with several of my students the other day, and it has me thinking about things. They were talking about relationships and other things of the sort..." Will pauses again to rethink what he just said. He wants to bite his own tongue to the point of bleeding, but ignores the feeling as he usually does. Being self-destructive in this moment won't exactly help and it tends to upset Hannibal. "They weren't talking to me but I still listened because I thought it could have some useful information."

"Oh, yes, young and finding romance can be such an adventure." Hannibal easily says, not seeming to get the point. Hannibal smiles at Will and clearly doesn't understand what Will hasn't been able to ask yet. Or maybe he does and he's watching Will sweat over it anyways. Will is very aware that this man likes torturing him in little ways.

"They were saying things along the lines of a Situationship. I can't say I knew what that was until I looked it up online, but it was an interestingly read." Will lets himself continue. And it's all true, because he hadn't even known what a situation-ship was up to a few days ago go and it hurts because it fits them. Will hates so much that he thinks that it fits them.

Hannibal pauses because he clearly did know what the term meant. Being a psychiatrist probably kept him well up on different sort of slang terms, and relationship statuses that there were. Will finds the courage to look him in the eyes for a moment, and then his eyes dart back down to the floor. Should it feel this embarrassing? Will is definitely much more embarrassed than anything else at this point. Maybe he should just go home. Maybe he should run out into the street and let a car strike him.

Will clears his throat and then dares to look back up into Hannibal's eyes once more. "Are we in a Situationship?" He finally let himself ask. His lips twitch like he can't decide whether he wants to smile for asking this. He feels mostly confusion above all else. That and a slight sense of humiliation with having to ask at all.

Hannibal blinks at him this time. His mouth opens, and then his mouth closes. Will watches at all. Hannibal is never shocked about anything. He plans his life and the things they do together down to every little detail and has back up plans for if things go wrong. Will has understood that sometimes he does shock Hannibal with what he does and says, but this time it seems to be even farther beyond that.

"No. We are in love?" He's ever heard Hannibal's voice squeak like that at the end of his sentence. Clearly Will has thrown him off his game. And Hannibal is blushing which Will isn't sure he's seen before besides when Will gets brave and suggests they do something special in bed.

Will lets out a relieved sigh, suddenly feeling happy that he hadn't misunderstood everything about them. He can finally eat his dinner and then seeing that Hannibal has already been blushing, they could go and have some fun in bed together.

"We have slept together approximately a dozen times Darling..." Hannibal seems to say with barely noticing that he's talked at all. And then he withdraws like the facts all clicked together. Will can at least tell he's not mad.

Will blushes because of course Hannibal's right. He just appreciates the clarification that he's finally getting. And if Hannibal had said they were nothing more than some kind of Situationship, then he honestly would've understood that too. He finds it hard to believe that this man wants to be in this relationship with him. He doesn't voice that of course, because Hannibal would scold him for that.

"Yeah well, I just wasn't sure." Will quietly offers, biting at his lip.

Hannibal gives him a soft look, combined with a small smile. he reaches over to grasp lightly at Will's hand and then runs his thumb over Will's knuckles. He's always doing stuff like this, and Will finds the small gestures to be perfect.

"Don't be afraid if you need more clarifications in the future Will. I don't mind. Anything you need at all."

Chapter Text

Everything goes well until it doesn't. Insist that just the way that life always goes? Will should really write an academic paper on the chances of things fucking up just when someone thinks they are in the clear, because there's not enough provided information or research into the subject. Such a thing could guide the next generation who struggle with suddenly having a partner just like he does! (He doesn't write a damn thing, because he'd die of embarrassment if Hannibal found out and Hannibal always seems to find out everything about Will.)

Life can just never not be embarrassing for Will apparently. He'd gotten through the embarrassing conversation with Hannibal just last week and congratulated himself on it. He figured that he wouldn't have anything embarrassing to do with Hannibal in the near future because he'd worked through the harder stuff. Hannibal was in love with him. He was in love with Hannibal. Life was good.

And then as previously stated, Will went and did something terribly embarrassing again. Well, he didn't exactly go out of his way to do it, but it still happened. He was on the second floor of his house and Will honestly didn't go up there enough as he preferred the ground floor for various reasons. One of which was the stairs were rather steep as this was an insanely old house and his dogs liked to follow him up and down it. As you can imagine, having many dogs preferring to swarm around you on an already steep and slippery staircase, can often lead to mishaps. Mishaps such as the one that happened today.

Will had been on the top step and suddenly then through a lot of pain, he'd been at the bottom. He was completely dazed as the dogs yelped and wiggled around him. They probably thought it was some kind of game as Will struggled to figure out what had happened. He might have even hit his head in the process, because things felt a bit fuzzy. A couple of his pups curled up beside him like they thought Will was taking an inconveniently placed afternoon nap and wanted to join him. Three of Will fingers were bent at a weird angle and wouldn't move even though he was telling them to.

There were several minutes of shock involved before Will realized he couldn't even get up. He'd sucked in a panicked breath and shook a tiny bit. One of the dogs gave his face a lick and Will just sort of shut down the oncoming panic attack. He wasn't dead, and therefore it was fine. He just needed some help and then he could cuddle the dogs some more. Looking back at it, he probably been lucky that his cell phone had been on his body. He called an ambulance.

Something could be said about overstimulation for spending 11 hours in an emergency room after breaking a leg and three fingers. The leg was apparently from the fall and the fingers were apparently from trying to correct himself at the bottom. He didn't have a concussion, but had a nice long cut to the side of his forehead that Will doesn't even have a guess as to how it happened. Overall, it had been a pretty pathetic time at the hospital. He cried more than he wanted to admit, and while the nurses all seem to be very understanding and kind to him; he just wanted to go home.

And then the strangest thing happened.

Will was just getting ready to leave after everything that had happened and his extremely long day in the hospital. Or, at least he was trying to figure out how he was going to leave. He needed to rent or buy a wheelchair for himself as crutches were going to be impossible for the first 3 to 4 weeks the doctor had said. And he also needed to go to the pharmacy and pick up the prescriptions of pain medication and an antibiotic. And to leave, he actually needed to call a taxi because he hadn't drove here nor would he be able to drive for a while considering the leg. The list seemed to go on. They were nice enough to just leave him in his cramped little room in the emergency ward for a little while longer while he figured things out.

Will was grateful for whatever small mercies he could get. Everything seemed to be too much for him at the moment and he was definitely overstimulated. He needs to call his work and probably take several days off while he figures out the logistics of everything. He can probably record lectures at home for his students for several weeks without them questioning or caring. They'll probably be thrilled that that would mean no testing. He'll need to call Jack directly and say that if he's needed for a case then someone will have to just bring pictures because he's not going to be able to maneuver around properly until he's at least the crutches stage.

The door to Will little hospital room slammed open in a hurry. Will jumped from his seated position on the bed in shock and looked up to find Hannibal breathing heavily and frantic. Oh, Will had completely forgotten that on his list of things to do was call Hannibal and tell him what had happened.

"Hannibal?" Will dumbly questioned. It had been a long day, but not the kind of a long day that he would just hallucinate his romantic partner storming into the hospital. Still, it was just rather hard to believe that Hannibal was here when Will had never contacted him. He pinched himself and yep, Hannibal was still in front of him.

"Darling!" Hannibal shouted as he continued to rush forward into the room and drop down to his knees beside where Will was sitting on the bed. Dramatic and yet completely Hannibal like. "You must forgive me. I was so busy today that I only checked on your location once or twice in passing. Had I realized you were at the hospital sooner I would've been here immediately." His words sounded like he was begging, but Will didn't understand why.

"My location?" Will squeaks in shock. In passing, Will had actually noticed that Hannibal had always seemed to know where he was. And it didn't actually make sense that it was some sort of six-sense. It was probably some sort of tracker on his person. Was that creepy or caring?

"Please darling, tell me what is wrong. I can't stand not knowing for another moment." Hannibal over expresses, and his eyes seem to well up with unfolding tears. This might be the most distressed that Will had ever seen him, including the time when he actually asked if they were dating.

Will isn't proud that his mouth is just hanging open in shock, but he guesses if Hannibal is the only one there to see, then it's not so bad. When he manages to close his mouth, it is dry.

"I broke my leg." Will says gestures to his leg that is definitely and most obviously in a cast. Hannibal would've clearly known that because he was a doctor at some point. They've been working on communication, and saying things like this couldn't be bad for that. So next Will lifts up his hand with the splinted fingers. And then he points to the bandaged gash on his head.

Hannibal goes still and just stares at the cast. He's he also takes a moment and looks at Will's fingers. There were metal pieces holding them in place which Will would have to wear for 4 to 6 weeks because he'd needed them reset. He apparently mangled them while falling on them. Hannibal just glances at the head wound. It's covered so it not like it tells him any more information.

"You didn't call me, my love?"

Will doesn't exactly understand why Hannibal's eyes close for a minute and stay closed. Hannibal is clearly doing some kind of breathing exercise and counting in his head to calm down. Had Will done something wrong? He couldn't exactly remember after the entire rush of the day, but he didn't think that he had anything planned for Hannibal and him today.

"I just called an ambulance." Will answers, trying to keep it simple.

Hannibal flinches at the simple sentence and his lip wobbles. It is almost as if Will has flipped his world upside down. Will watches for a few moments and considers. Their entire relationship has been like this, including when Will had to ask whether this was a Situationship or relationship. Hannibal seems to just get way ahead of him or expect things that Will just doesn't understand. It makes Will feel like he doesn't know what is happening between them at the best of times.

"Did I do something wrong?" Will asks, feeling curious about things. Until Hannibal had come running into the room, Will hadn't felt like he had done anything wrong. Now he wasn't exactly sure.

Hannibal is still on his knees next to the bed, and he doesn't even bother to get up, instead just inching forward closer to Will. He takes both of Will's hands in his. Looking mournfully at the hurt fingers and then presses gentle kisses to each one of them.

"Oh my darling. Please, for the sake of my heart remember that you can rely on me as well." He sounds so sad when he says that, almost unHannibal like. It makes Will want to twitch out of his own skin, even more so than dealing with being at the fucking hospital for the entire day.

Will take a deep breath and then just seemingly melts as a person. He doesn't know how he ended up with someone as caring and understanding and patient as Hannibal. The murder and cannibalism must be a way to even things all out in the grand scheme. He loves him so much.

"Sorry." He mumbles, suddenly realizing that he should've contacted his boyfriend/partner during his moment of need. He's been in so much pain and so worked up for so long at the hospital that he hadn't realized that that had would've been a regular thing to do. "I love you."

Hannibal leans in, so Will let's himself as well. The touch of their lips together gives him renewed strength to power through everything that still needs to be done. The, "I love you too." from Hannibal could heal his very soul.

"Could you give me a ride home?" It really should be easy at this point to ask his partner for simple things like this, but Will still worries that he's too much. He doesn't wanna be a burden, even to Hannibal.

"Of course, darling. But first, we must pick up your prescriptions and I would rather like to talk to the doctor myself first. It is rather lucky that I have a change of clothes in my car already, so I don't have to make a round about trip to my house first." He seems to have perked up a little bit already. And more importantly, he doesn't look like he's about to break into tears anymore. Will must've asked the right question then.

Will make a confused sound in the back of his throat and then tilts his head back. Oh, he should've known that Hannibal would plan for not leaving him again tonight. The man worries too much. Will can already picture Hannibal spending the next few weeks begging Will to move in with him. They'd talked about it one time about a week ago but Will had thought it too soon. He just knew that Hannibal was going to be relentless while helping with anything Will could possibly need. Though, it'll be nice that Hannibal will let the dogs out, and clean up whatever mess they got into while Will was emergencied away and also probably make them something to eat for dinner.

Will let himself go along with it. He also pretends that he doesn't notice how thrilled Hannibal is to help Will into a wheelchair and push him. The man is possessive and obsessive to an abnormal degree. If Will lost a leg at this point, then he's pretty sure that Hannibal would just double down and worshiping him for the rest of his fucking life. If Will was completely depended on him, he'd probably love it.

Will ignores that shiver that goes down his spine. Just like he ignores it every time Hannibal leans in and for some reason just smells him. He's already decided that he'll take anything that Hannibal will give him. Pain, heartache, or even some miraculous obsession-born masterpiece of love. Will has never been exactly sure what it'll be in the end for them, but every day he grows a little more hopeful that whenever things go sour for Hannibal, he'll take Will with him.