Chapter Text
1pm, January 3, 2009,
Hannibal leaned his head against the window and watched the dense city streets transform into flat and desolate fields of grass and wheat. Out of the sea of gold and green a few farmhouses sprung up, tall and looming. His aunt Lina pulls into the driveway of one and turns to grin brightly at him. “Excited for your new home, Mažytis?” She asks him and ruffles his hair gently when he doesn’t respond at first. He nods and answers, “Sure,” before pushing his car door open.
While unpacking the car, he notices a scruffy looking kid dressed in a flannel and black jeans on a porch swing across the street. He’s on the phone with someone, laughing and occasionally sipping on a bottle of root beer. Hannibal catches himself staring for too long and accidentally drops the small cardboard box he was carrying. He quickly scrambles to pick it up, unintentionally catching the attention of the boy across the street. Hannibal gives him an awkward wave and when he brings the box inside, he trips on the steps.
Hannibal’s aunt asks, “Did you see the neighbor boy outside?” He gives a nod and cringes at the thought of tripping in front of him. “Yeah, I did,” he replies with a shrug as he finishes bringing his belongings to his room. “He’s a very nice boy, he could use a friend like you…” she says, starting to prepare dinner for them. Hannibal nods, not really listening to what his aunt is saying. She sets the table for them and pours them both glasses of water. She holds up her glass in a toast and says, “to new beginnings!”
3pm, January 4, 2009,
By the next day Hannibal had settled into his room, and by the morning he’d found that the peacefulness of the dawn was something he very much enjoyed. He had gotten the nice large bedroom upstairs and was able to look out his window at the gray-green open fields that surrounded the property. “Mažytis! Come down here, we have visitors,” His aunt calls to him. He throws on a grey hoodie and decides to leave his pajama pants, not caring enough to change into something else.
He climbs down the steps to see the neighbor boy looking flushed with his arms crossed standing next to a woman holding a casserole. Hannibal watches his aunt give the woman a hug and extends his hand to give her a handshake. “Hello! I’m Margaret Graham. You must be Hannibal, I’ve heard so much about you. This is my son William.” Now that Hannibal was closer to the boy, he was able to notice his bright blue eyes that he hid under his greasy brown hair. Hannibal offers him a handshake and Will returns it with not so much as a smile. “I saw you trip yesterday,” Will says to Hannibal flatly. Hannibal flushes slightly and glances at Lina, noting that the two women were too engaged in conversation to notice the awkward interaction between the boys.
What was supposed to be a quick visit led to Margaret and Lina sitting down with coffee and chatting. Will and Hannibal sit together on the plush floral couch and Hannibal asks him, “Is there anything to do around here?” Will sighs and takes a sip of a bottle of root beer he’d taken in his raid of Lina’s kitchen before answering, “There’s a general store and a bar up and road. That’s pretty much it…” Will rolls his eyes and continues, “If your guardians let you borrow their car…” he emphasizes for his mother to hear, “you could drive up to a 7-11 or a record store.”
In a few hours Margaret and Lina had finally run out of things to talk about, and Margaret decides it’s time for her and Will to be on their way. Margaret gives Hannibal and Lina a wave and a beam, while Will gives a small tentative wave to Hannibal.
8am, January 5, 2009,
Hannibal hesitantly steps into his homeroom, surveying the people around him for a friendly face. He notices the boy he met yesterday, what was his name? Will? and takes the seat next to him. Hannibal notices Will is sketching something in his notebook that looks like a few characters. Due to the headphones in his ears, it takes him a few moments to notice the boy sitting next to him. He can’t help but let a cheeky smile spread onto his face. “Well… look who it is…” Will says softly and takes out one of his earbuds.
Hannibal pokes Will’s iPod laying on the table and asks, “what are you listening to?” Will shrugs and puts it away quickly with an apprehensive chuckle. “Uh… nothing,” Will lies unconvincingly. “Well now you must tell me,” Hannibal insists with a sly smirk. Will sighs and whips out his iPod to show ‘Teenage Dirtbag’ by Wheatus. “It’s pretty corny but it’s good,” Will defends himself and giggles softly when Hannibal begins to laugh. “Ok then, what do you jam out to?’ Will questions with a bit of a flushed face and knitted eyebrows.
“Classical...some Mozart, maybe Bach,” Hannibal says and when Will chuckles, he raises an eyebrow. “Occasionally Beethoven,” Hannibal adds softly. This time Will cannot contain his laughter and Hannibal chuckles along with him.
12pm, January 5, 2009,
Will drops his bag into the seat next to Beverly’s at the lunch table. He rubs his shoulder, the muscles already cramping from the heavy textbooks his teachers made him carry around. “You meet that transplant kid yet, Will?” Bev asks him. Apparently, Will’s lunch table and the rest of the school had already begun gossiping about the new kid. “Yeah, he lives across the street from me, he’s pretty nice,” Will says, groaning slightly as he pulls out a soggy sandwich from the bottom of his bag.
“Just nice, hmm?” Jimmy says with a raised eyebrow. Brian nods and continues, “He’s pretty cute too don’tcha think?” Jimmy looks slightly offended but Brian points out he’s cute for Will not him. “I don’t like when you guys do that like hive mind thing,” Will says with a scowl and right when he’s about to begrudgingly agree with them he sees someone pulling out the chair next to him.
“Do you mind if I sit here?” the tall blond boy asks, silencing the whole table. Will nods and watches as Hannibal takes the seat next to him. Bev, Jimmy, and Brian, immediately begin whispering to each other. “Didn’t you say there’s a 7-11 not too far from here? We should go tonight, all the homemade slop has been killing me,” Hannibal says with a lazy smirk, “Could really use a slurpy.”
Will chuckles and nods, “Yeah you get those bright colored chemical cravings when you start living here.” Bev leans over to try to whisper something in Will’s ear, but Brian stops her. “So…uh… name’s Hannibal, right? Where are you from?” She asks with a bit of a laugh behind her grin. “Lithuania,” Hannibal answers, digging into a piece of sausage from his lunch.
“Lithuania…” Beverly says, stressing random syllables, “cool…cool.” Will punches her shoulder gently and raises his eyebrow. “Yeah, it’s pretty cool…” Hannibal says, too focused on his lunch to notice the silent battle between Will and Beverly.
5pm, January 5, 2009,
After Hannibal was able to worm himself out of the end of supper, he trekked across the street to Will’s house. The sky had already begun to get dusky, but Hannibal paid it no mind. Instead of the brunette boy he expected to answer the door when he knocked, he was greeted with the figure of Maragret Graham. “Oh…Good evening, Ms. Graham. Is Will home?” Hannibal asks somewhat sheepishly. She smiles her cheeky smile, the one it seems Will had inherited from her, and calls to him, “William! You have a boy here to see you!” A few seconds later footsteps were heard pounding on the floorboards as Will descended the stairs. Will slings a scarf around his neck before giving his mother a hug goodbye.
The two boys walked side by side as they continued up the endless single street of their town. After they pass the last-chance gas station and general store, they take a right only to be met with more open road. “Is there actually a store up there or is it just a legend?” Hannibal asks with a slight smirk, “Because every time I think we might be getting close to it I’m proven wrong.” Will chuckles and kicks a particularly large rock on the road, leading more dust to fly up from it.
“Maybe it’s just because you’re slow…” Will murmurs just loud enough for Hannibal to hear. Hannibal raises his eyebrows, shocked for a moment before retorting, “What was that? I couldn’t hear you over the sound of you eating my dust.” He chuckles and walks a tad faster. “Oh really?” Will teases and pushes Hannibal back a bit before taking off sprinting up the road. Hannibal bounds after him and quickly closes the distance between them. Will tries to push him backward but Hannibal only grabs his arm in retaliation. The two boys grapple for a second and they both fall onto their backs.
Hannibal pushes Will down into the dusty road and cockily says, “I believe I’ve won.” Will giggles and shakes his head before panting out, “You cheated…” They both take ragged breaths and Will flushes when he notices how close their faces are to each other. “Did not…” Hannibal whispers, leaning down closer to Will. Hannibal releases the tension between them and Will’s arms as he stands back up. They brush the dirt off their knees and continue the journey.
Eventually, the empty fields give way for a small city. Just big enough to have a 7-11 and a McDonalds, but not enough to have things like a library or even a school. The two boys sat next to each other on the curb outside the 7-11, each of them with a slushy in hand.
“I never understood the whole blue raspberry thing,” Hannibal says as he shakes his head and points to Will’s slushy. “There is no such thing as a blue raspberry, and if there was, why would the 7-11 know what it tastes like?” Will chuckles a bit and replies, “Well, part of the magic is that it isn’t really real. Kinda like unicorns and camels.” Hannibal raises an eyebrow and argues, “Will, camels are real.” The brunette boy giggles and retorts, “Have you ever seen one though?” At this comment, Hannibal can’t help but giggle along with him.
The two boys sit together for a few hours as the conversation dies down from non-stop laughter to comfortable silence. “So, what is your life in Lithuania like?” Will asks and tilts his head slightly. Hannibal shrugs and lifts up his slushy for another sip. “Boring… I actually don’t have many friends in Lithuania. Everybody thinks that I’m weird for liking art and reading.” Will is taken aback for a moment at the thought that anybody would think that Hannibal is weird. Will frowns slightly and says without thinking much, “Who would think that? You’re…” Will stops himself from saying ‘perfect’ and instead finishes his sentence with, “a good friend.” Hannibal’s eyes soften and he smiles, “Thank you… you as well…”
Will can’t help but grin softly as he kicks a rock on the muddy gray pavement. He shivers softly and pulls his flannel scarf around him tightly. Hannibal takes note of the boy’s shivering and offers, “Are you cold? You can borrow my hoodie if you want.” Will wanted to refuse, he didn’t want Hannibal to make him feel the way he did. Usually he wouldn’t care, if he was cold, he would accept some extra layers in a heartbeat. But with Hannibal it felt… different somehow. It wasn’t a mystery why it felt different, and that was what bothered Will the most.
“Sure… it’s pretty cold outside.”