Work Text:
Abigail cried, fussing again in Will's arms.
The man has to fight his tears as he gives her up to her father for the umpteenth time since her birth.
"She gets like this every time you hold her," Hannibal says while he takes her from Will. "I do not understand."
Will looks devastated, longingly looking at his daughter as she fought to be separated from him. Jealous at how she looked more at peace when Hannibal holds her in his arms.
"Abigail." Hannibal rocks her gently while shushing her, and she ceased to hiccups immediately as she looked at him. "What's wrong, sweetheart?"
The little girl sniffs, watery blue eyes trained on her father. Then she looks at Will, brows ticked upward, then back at Hannibal. She does this two more times before holding onto Hannibal's neck with quivering lips and hiding her face on his jaw.
"Aw, darling." Hannibal cooed. Will deflated.
Abigail sniffs again, no longer crying, just smearing her snot and tears on Hannibal's jaw and he chuckles. Will looks on like a glass pane separated him from the two.
Hannibal hums and kisses Abigail's hair, then he wraps an arm around Will's waist to tug them both closer.
"Look, Abigail," He gently bumps his head against Will's temple. "Papa's here."
Will bites his lip as Abigail stares at him, feels his heart give when she looks questioningly back to Hannibal, then back at him, then Hannibal again. Hannibal never stops rocking her, and he holds her tiny fist in his hands, peppering kisses on them and eliciting a giggle out of her. The sound alone melts Will's heart.
"Will you say hello to papa?" Hannibal encourages, and he turns sideways a bit to bring the two face to face. Will gives a wobbly smile at her, and Abigail only stares. She looks to Hannibal, cooing, and Hannibal points to Will and instructs her to reach for him.
"Here, like this." Hannibal gently splays her fingers and holds it to Will's raised hand. "See? Papa?"
Abigail sniffs again, makes a blurbing noise and grips Will's finger. She closes and opens her tiny little fists around it, barely enveloping two together and makes a babbling sound.
Will sighs shakily. "Hello, Abigail."
Abigail looks up at her name and her eyes grow big and round, still a little watery from her crying earlier.
She withdraws slowly, holding onto Hannibal again and placing both palms on the sides of his face. She pats at him, brows furrowed, little lips formed into the cutest pout Will has ever seen. Hannibal smiles at her, one of the most genuine, if not the most fond Will has seen on him. The doctor leans close and plants soft, small kisses on his daughter's face, and she giggles when he rubs his face against her and jokingly chomps on her cheeks.
Will felt just a bit hurt not being able to join in on the fun.
Abigail coos and does her best to mimic her father's kisses, chomps on his cheek but only ends up mouthing on his chin and spreading her drool on him everywhere. Hannibal laughs.
"Feeling paternal, Doctor Lecter?" Will muses.
Hannibal chuckles and winks at him, so soft and vulnerable as Abigail clings onto his head and drool-chomps on his cheeks.
"Very much so, Will. Thanks to you."
Will musters a smile then, but as he tries to hide his envy, Hannibal doesn't fail in seeing through him.
The man detaches himself from Abigail and smiles at her, uncaring for the shiny mess that was now his face.
Abigail protests, drool all over her mouth and jaw but keeps unfussing in her father's arms.
"Can you step closer, Will?"
Will hesitates, gripping at his arm. "Hannibal, she'll cry."
"I suspect I know the reason behind her fussing."
Will looks at him with undisguised worry. Slowly, he steps closer to the two but keeps his hands to himself.
"Abigail," Hannibal calls his daughter, and when he has her attention, he steps closer to Will and brings them face to face. Abigail just blinks at Will.
"Hm."
Gently taking her wrist, he kisses her fist and splays it out to bring forward to Will's face. When she touches his beard, Abigail wails and recoils.
Ah.
"Apologies, my darling." Hannibal rocks her gently and peppers her hair with kisses as she tucks herself against Hannibal's neck and cries, as if the Will's beard burned her hand off. "There now, Abigail. Dad is sorry."
Abigail whimpers against him and sniffs, looking back to peek at Will who was still frozen to the spot.
Hannibal turns to him, smiling sheepishly. "I believe Abigail has spoken. You should shave, Will."
*
Hannibal stares at Will, apparently 10 years younger without his beard.
"Oh."
Will looks up from the mirror, and Hannibal nearly swoons when his bare face is revealed to him.
"Will," he breathes, and Will burns so much that he slams the cabinets shut with a clenched jaw.
"Don't. Say. A word."
"Darling, how could i not?"
Hannibal wraps around him, squeezing, rubbing hands down his back to ease the tension between his shoulder blades.
"How lucky am I to have such a breathtaking husband?" He murmurs. Will thumps his chest weakly with a laugh.
"Shut up, doctor."
When Will re-emerges to greet Abigail, she cries again. But the ten minutes of tears were a small payment for his daughter finally letting him hold her, hands all over his face when her sobs have stopped.
Now she doesn't part from Will, shrieks and protests when Hannibal tries to take her. Will grins. Hannibal does his best to look disapproving with arms akimbo but fails with the endearing smile on his face.
Abigail babbles while patting Will's cheeks, squeezing his nose and nearly gouging his eyes before moving to grasp tiny fistfuls of his hair and tugging. Will laughs.
Abigail coos, makes a nest of Will's hair as she digs her hands in, then leans back and places both hands on her head. She makes a sharp cry, smiling at him, and he feels his heart swell with so much love for his daughter that he tears up.
"Don't cry, mylimasis." Hannibal whispers next to his ear, and Will realizes that his husband had come to wrap around them both in the short time he was playing with Abigail.
"I'm not crying, you're crying." Will jabs, but Hannibal merely presses a kiss on his temple and smiles.
"Perhaps on the inside. Tears of joy cannot fully convey the delight you have both caused me."
"Shut up," Will laughs wetly.
Abigail happily squeals again, fisting her hair, and Hannibal chuckles. "I believe she knows where she acquired her locks." And to prove his point, twirls a messy curl around a finger and tugs lightly on Will's head.
Will hums, smiling when Abigail leans forward now, hands coming up to his eyes, and he blinks them shut before she could poke it out with saliva-dripping fingers. Will snorts when the wet hands smear across his eyelids, chuckling when Abigail tries to pry them open.
"No, no, darling. You must not hurt papa. Gently, gently." Will feels Hannibal take Abigail's hands off his face and he blinks his eyes open to see Hannibal instructing her softly, and Abigail looks at her father with wide, knowing eyes, as if what he was saying were some secrets of the universe. Will laughs.
"Yes, my dear, your eyes are beautiful like papa's, see?" He reaches to caress a thumb over Will's brow bone and Will's eyes flutter along with his heart. "You get your eyes from papa."
Hannibal grins when Will shoots him a look.
"Yes, I believe I was taken with them the first moment I saw them, too."
Will rolls his eyes. "Sap."
Then Abigail squeals in delight and smacks both palms over Will's eyes.
"Abigail!"