Chapter Text
“Stop using goddamn metaphors and just tell it to me straight, babe, or I’m ready to dump my iced coffee all over your curls, I don’t care how cute they are,” Beverly Katz warned in a hushed tone as she glared at Will Graham, who was arguably her best friend.
Will rolled his eyes. “You wouldn’t dare.”
“Don’t test me, puppy, don’t test me,” she warned, before taking a sip of her coffee.
“Look, I guess I just don’t know how to describe it? I guess I just trust him, which is pretty fucked up but I don’t know? It’s like I-”
“Don’t you dare fucking make a simile, I know you must have enjoyed high school English class, but you need to stop.”
“Do you want to hear what I have to say or not?” Will asked hostilely, his voice raised slightly, crossing his arms and leaning back in his chair.
“Shh, be quiet, if the librarian comes over here she’ll kick us out because I have coffee.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t have coffee then.”
“Do you really want to see me without caffeine?” Beverly asked, arching an eyebrow.
“Point taken.”
They sat in their university library, stacks of books on the table in front of them. Finals were coming up and they decided to study together, but Will regretted that decision more and more with each passing minute as it had become less of a study session and more of an interrogate-Will-about-his-psychology-professor session.
“Let’s make a game of this so we can study. You quiz me, and if I get a question right, you tell me one more detail? Okay? Good!”
Beverly didn’t give him a chance to answer, and instead dumped three heavy books onto his lap.
He rolled his eyes for what felt like the fifteenth time in an hour, but opened up a book without protest.
He flipped through the pages of the forensic science textbook until he found something suitable.
“Okay, we’ll start off with something easy. Where does the word ‘forensic’ come from?” Will asked.
Beverly laughed. “This is insultingly easy, donut.”
“Well, if it’s so easy then what’s the answer?” Will asked, raising an eyebrow.
“The word ‘forensic’ comes from the Latin word ‘forensis,’ meaning of ‘of or before the forum.’” Beverly recited with a grin. “Now, tell me a detail about you and Professor Lecter,” she said suggestively, her eyebrows waggling.
“Ah, ah, ah, that’s not enough for me to tell you anything. Why do they use that if it means ‘of or before the forum’?” Will asked.
“No fucking way, Graham, the rules were if I get something right, you tell me a detail. Don’t you dare test me,” Beverly said, pointing a finger threateningly at him.
“Fine, fine, fine. The first time I visited office hours with Professor Lecter resulted in him telling me to call him Hannibal when we’re not in class.”
“First name basis?”
“Only outside of class!” Will defended.
“Do you see him other than office hours?” Beverly asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Hey, that’s another detail and I’m not gonna tell you unless you get another answer right.” Will told her, crossing his arms.
“Alright, next question. Hurry it up, because I need to know.”
“How do you know you’ll get the question right?”
“Uh, because I’m practically a genius, now shoot,” Bev answered before taking a sip of her iced coffee.
By the end of the afternoon, Will found out that Beverly was far more prepared for her finals than he was for his.
Beverly found out: Will had indeed met with Hannibal outside of class (“we went to dinner once,”“no it wasn’t romantic, Beverly, stop making that face at me or I will walk out of this library”), that Will and Hannibal had not kissed (“Jesus, Beverly, of course not, that’s against the rules!”), that Will did indeed want to kiss Hannibal (“maybe, I don’t know, shut up, stop looking at me like that!”), that Will was definitely sexually attracted to Hannibal (“fucking Christ, Beverly, I am not answering that!””me blushing does not mean yes, stop acting like it does!”), and that Will would get up as if he was leaving, but he would never actually leave.
At the end of their study session, they gathered their books and shelved them. Will realized as he put away his share that he had hardly opened his own books and perhaps he should study alone tomorrow.
They walked out of the library quietly, mainly because Beverly wanted to draw as little attention as possible as she tried to hide the empty cup from her iced coffee. They managed to walk through the door without raising any suspicion from the librarian.
“So, same time, same game tomorrow?” Bev asked with a grin once they were outside.
“No way, I need to actually study tomorrow, not have you interrogate me about my relationship with Professor Lecter,” Will responded, leaning against the railing of the staircase.
“You mean your inappropriate relationship with him?”
“Shut up,” Will countered, blushing.
“Look, baby bird, as much as I want you to get laid, I don’t think your professor is a good place to get that from,” Beverly told him, concern clear in her voice.
“Jesus Christ, Bev, I’m not looking to get laid! And even if I was, I really don’t want to discuss that with you.”
“You sure that’s not what you want?” Beverly asked disbelievingly. “Besides, I’m your best friend! If you didn’t talk to me about your current non-existent or your potential sex life, then who would you talk to?” She exclaimed in a voice that was far too loud for Will’s comfort.
“Keep your voice down, Jesus,” Will ordered, looking around to make sure no one was listening. “Anyways, I don’t want to talk to anyone about my sex life, including you.”
“Will, I am very offended,” Beverly said, feigning hurt. “In fact, I’m so very offended that,” she paused and looked around, “that maybe I’ll do this.”
“Do wh-”
“Will Graham wants to sleep with Hannibal Lecter!” Beverly yelled to the world.
“Beverly, what the fuck!” Will exclaimed, horrified.
“Calm down, no one heard that,” Beverly said between laughs.
“Are you sure? I’m pretty sure the whole goddamn library heard that one.”
“Don’t worry about it, strawberry shortcake,” Beverly reassured him.
“Jesus Christ, Beverly, what if a professor or school official heard that,” Will worried.
“They didn’t, calm down! Loosen up!”
A horrified expression crossed Will’s face. “What if Hannibal heard that?”
“What if I heard what?” an accented voice asked behind them.
Will and Beverly spun around to see Hannibal Lecter himself behind them. They exchanged a look of surprise, Will’s eyes wide.
“What if I heard what?” Hannibal repeated.
“Beverly Katz, I am going to fucking end you. You have a head start of five seconds, so you better run now,” Will threatened.
“You’re joking, aren’t you?”
“Five, four,” Will began, his tone deadly serious.
“C’mon, Will!”
“Three, two,”
Beverly turned and ran as fast as she could.
Will and Hannibal watched her run.
“So, what is it that you didn’t want me to hear?” Hannibal asked with a small, amused smile.
“It’s nothing, it’s just some dumb thing Beverly said,” Will told him quickly, pushing his glasses up on his nose.
“If it was nothing you wouldn’t have answered so quickly,” Hannibal responded, quirking an eyebrow.
“It’s really, really nothing,” Will answered, blushing.
Hannibal raised his eyebrow further, and Will briefly wondered how that was physically possible. He also wondered how that managed to be attractive, but whatever.
“Look, she just said something stupid,”
Hannibal stepped closer. “I gathered that.”
Hannibal looked almost predatory, and it was making his knees weak.
“I, uh,” Will searched for an excuse, “I have to go to class!”
“It’s Saturday,” Hannibal pointed out with a half smile, stepping still closer.
“Fuck, I just...I have to...go somewhere that’s not here,” Will managed to stutter out.
Will turned and ran and Hannibal smiled as he watched him run off and almost crash into a tree.
-
“Beverly Katz, let me in right now!”
Will was at Beverly’s dorm, knocking violently on the door.
“Are you gonna hurt me?” She called, her voice muffled slightly by the closed door.
“No, just let me in!”
The door opened and he almost fell in her room.
“You’re lucky my roommate’s out, she wouldn’t appreciate the ruckus, princess.”
“Whatever, I just have to talk to you.”
“Take a seat, poppy.”
Will flopped onto her bed, his face falling onto her pillow, while Beverly neatly sat in her desk chair.
“You should have seen how he looked at me,” Will groaned into her pillow.
“What do you mean?”
Will flopped his arms wordlessly in response.
Bev raised her eyebrows. “I see,” she answered with pursed lips.
“Would it be too desperate if I gave him my phone number?” Will asked, rolling over and staring at the ceiling.
“That would definitely be breaking several rules and crossing some sort of line, but it wouldn’t be desperate seeing that he wants you hardcore,” Beverly responded honestly.
“Don’t say it like that,” Will scolded.
“He wants you. Hardcore. In a sexual way. He wants to have sex with you,” Beverly teased.
“Stop it!” Will whined, blushing.
“He wants to touch your dick. With his dick,” she continued gleefully.
“Bev!”
She leaned close to his face. “He wants to frickle frackle you,” she whispered seriously.
“Be serious, Bev!”
“Okay, fine, fine, fine. You can give him your number, but it’s probably in violation of some school rules and I recommend you don’t push this weird relationship even farther.”
“Thank you,” Will said, sighing in relief.
“What are you gonna do when you give him your number? Sext him?”
Instead of glorifying her response with words, Will hit her in the head with her pillow.