Chapter Text
First Meeting
He felt shaken. Will rose from the covers and looked out his bedroom window. The weather hadn’t let up these past few weeks. It was still snowing outside.
The bad was warm, but Will decided to leave it for the bathroom. The flush echoed in the emptiness of his dark room. He peeked out to look at his clock.
Half-past midnight.
He stood before the sink and opened the tap. The water was cold against his skin. A sigh left him.
Bang!
Will almost hit his head against the mirror by the sink. He turned off the tap and hurriedly ran towards the sound.
“Hello?”
The wind only greeted him back. Some of his students’ papers rustled from the desk nearby. A grimace found its way to his lips.
He shrugged. It might be only in his head.
Bang!
Will almost jumped. “Who’s there?”
The sound came from outside his house.
He crouched down and made sure not to let the floorboards creak under his weight as he closed in on his back door. The screen was intact as well as the lock. With a bout of braveness, he peeked out into the night.
There was a large pause between him and the odd creature pinned to a nearby tree before Will’s jaw dropped. “Are you fucking kidding me?”
The creature was wild, legs--there were hooves!--bucking and arms pushing against the rough bark of the tree where its antlers were stuck in. It might have ran into it while traveling through the dark.
Will sat down and leaned his back against the door. He blinked. His fingers counted to five.
He looked out again.
“Fuck, it’s real.”
The creature was noticeably exhausted. Its muscles rippled and with every buck came a large puff of smoke from the cold. Soon, the stag-man lost grip and dangled helplessly against the tree. It whimpered and whined.
“Of all the houses, it had to be mine,” Will muttered profanities under his breath as he held onto the baseball bat he took from the nearby closet. He unlatched the lock and stepped out into the cold.
The creature seemed lifeless when Will reached it. The amount of blood around its antlers was alarming. There were blood marks all over his fur coat, and a large gash was running down the side of his left torso. Still, Will leaned down and tried for a pulse.
The creature puffed out, and the smoke warmed Will’s cheeks. It was still alive.
“You’re not real.”
“J-je s-su-sui.” Its teeth were chattering. It seemed hungry.
Will’s teeth ached from clenching his jaw too tightly. “How on earth can you speak French?”
“Voithe-Voitheia.” The creature attempted to budge off his antlers from the tree. Will held onto them and pulled with all his strength. It gave and the creature dropped onto the cold snow.
It looked up at Will with its mouth open, blood still dripping from its side. Its hand reached up and grabbed onto Will’s finger. “Ta-tasukete. Onegai.”
Will was at a loss. “How can you--oh right, right.”
He crouched down and pulled its arm around his neck and waited until the stag creature supported its weight against him. The trek back home was incredibly odd for his Saturday.
Will found himself on the couch later that early morning. He still held the bat as he watched over the creature by the fireplace. How odd. It struggled when he started laying it on the bed so he opted for a bunch of blankets by the fire. While he was busy cleaning and patching up its wounds, the stag had passed out.
Now, it was a waiting game until morning.
Will felt a lick on his cheek. He blinked and saw that his curtains were oddly bright. Wasn’t it midnight?
Another lick made him look at what it was.
“Holy fuck, just a fucking bit, no! Stay there!” Will screeched. He held the bat between him and the stag.
It was large with light brown fur blended with gray. It had a face and torso of a human but the similarity between their species ended waist down. Those hooves were impossibly real.
“Where did you come from? What are you?”
The stag sniffed the air before its head fell back down on the couch. It coughed miserably.
Will noticed how pinched its expression was. There was a wild moment when its eyes darted like it was looking for something. It settled on Will’s eyes.
Will looked away. “Answer me! You were talking last night.”
The creature had started with another language again.
He shook his head. “No, no. English. Do you know how to speak English?”
The stag started to rise from the couch. Its expression was still pinched. “Je suis perdu.”
Will threw a hand against its face. He held up a finger. “Let’s try this one more time.”
He nudged the end of his bat against the stag’s knee. It pushed back, curious as it seemed. “English. Try to speak English.”
The stag opened its mouth before closing it. It looked around, lost, before looking at Will again.
“Me...lost.”
“Okay. Where did you come from?” Will asked, his hold on the bat not wavering. It might only be a man in a costume; a very convincing costume. It didn’t budge though when Will treated its wounds.
The stag crawled towards Will. “Forest. Lost. Men..trap. Run away.”
Will was suddenly cornered against the living room wall. Panicked, he hit the floor with the bat. It startled the stag for a bit, however, to Will’s dismay, it continued its saunter towards him.
“Okay,” Will’s voice cracked with fear. “You got trapped. You were abducted? Now you’re free! Run back away to your forest-”
He got interrupted when the stag’s cheek nuzzled against his knee. It was mindful of its antlers getting stuck with his other body parts.
“Merci. Merci. I am Hannibal.”
Will felt compelled to sink his fingers on the stag’s soft, luscious and silver hair. He ought not to--for the time being.
“You’re welcome? Hannibal?”
It looked up and loomed over him as it stood up on his knees. Will felt his breath leave him when it leaned close. A high-pitched whine was loud between them.
He shut his eyes. The stag was about six feet and seven inches with big built and large antlers. How was he supposed to get away?
Soft hair bristled against his cheek. He opened his eyes and looked at the stag. It was nuzzling onto his shoulder while whispering something under its breath.
“What?” Will started scooting away from it. Hell, it was huge.
“Thank you. What..” Hannibal looked away again as if looking for a prey. Will started recognizing the gaze as thinking.
“What is your name? Me Hannibal, you?”
Will gulped. “I’m Will.”
The stag whined and scrambled onto its hooves until half its body was nuzzled against Will’s thigh. It was very small compared to Hannibal’s. Very small. Breakable. Fragile bone.
Will winced with the phantom pain. It never seemed to come.
He sat still until Hannibal’s breathing went deeper.
--
Food
Will had a hard time grading his papers. He felt watched.
“Hannibal, could you...?” The words went dry in his mouth as he turned his head. Hannibal was perched next to him and was raptly amazed by what he was doing.
“Do you have a question?” It was Will’s eleventh time asking it that day. The stag was incredibly curious and pushy.
Hannibal nodded. He pressed his palm against the stack of papers on Will’s desk. His nose grazed lightly against the smooth surface.
Will’s face paled immediately after.
“Hannibal!”
A short tug of war ensued as Will grabbed the end of his stack. Hannibal had assumed it was something pleasant to eat.
The aftermath was crazy. Slobber and blotted ink met Will’s gaze. There was a breath between them before Will leaned his elbows on his knees and started counting to calm his breath.
“I though you were nice?” Will asked, shifting his eyes towards the stag. It had its head bowed.
“I am. Mon cheri, please forgive me. I do not know what it is.”
“It’s alright. I’ll just sift through and see what’s left here,” he grumbled. The glasses on his nose slid back up as he pushed it. Soon, there was nothing louder in the study than the scratching of pen on paper.
Will hadn’t noticed Hannibal’s absence. After a while, Will was surprised that the creature had gone without him. Their routine was starting to get solid. When Hannibal went anywhere away from where Will was, his companion needed to come as if they were in the woods and needed to keep together. Will found it endearing.
“Hannibal? Where are you?”
It was obvious where the stag was. Will was getting used to the loud stomping of hooves on his floorboards.
He rounded the corner and peeked inside the living room. The stag was in the middle of the room, but that wasn’t what made Will keep to the corner. It was what the stag was doing on the coffee table.
An assortment of shrubs and flowers were laced between Hannibal hands. He was entwining the ends delicately and soon a flower crown lay on the surface of the table.
Will hurried back to his study as quietly as he could. The bastard had keen senses if he stayed longer. He continued with his paperwork until he felt his thumb losing its grip. Soon, the lights above him flickered. A stutter of breath left his lips.
Will had his head cradled on his arms when Hannibal entered the study. He had with him a small knitted pouch he found in somewhere in Will’s closet. It was filled with nuts and berries. His hooves were loud making Will jolt awake.
“Sorry, I brought you something,” Hannibal whispered, thighs folding as he knelt on the carpet. His large calloused fingers pushed his gift towards Will.
Will held onto a berry and popped it into his mouth. “Where’d you find these?”
He was at a loss after he swallowed. Hannibal had a flush to his cheeks.
“Oh no, fever? You should have told me you were warm.”
Hannibal shook his head. There was a small struggle when he turned his body to reach something from behind him. He then pulled up a large flower crown and presented it to Will. “Can I?”
“Can you what?”
Hannibal whined and bowed his head. A part of his antlers reached Will’s cheek.
“Will you wear it?”
“Put it on me. Go ahead.”
The stag thumped its short tail in the air and stood to its full height. He then took a few wobbly steps forward.
Will closed his eyes as he felt the weight on his head, “Does it mean anything?”
He opened his eyes.
Hannibal greeted him with a nuzzle to his cheek. “It means everything, mon cheri.”
---
Bath time
“Hannibal?” Will exclaimed, a sting of cold hit him. The stag might be injured with all the things inside his house that Will has yet to introduce.
The rooms were empty. Will scratched his head. If the stag wasn’t anywhere in the house, where had it gone?
A splash of water from the backyard made Will bolt down the stairs. The loud splashing sounds made him wince. It was supposed to be Hannibal’s bath time, and they had already created a schedule for it.
“Hannibal?” Will called out, pushing out into the open. The sunset was already ending with hues of violet coloring the large forest.
The stag’s loud grunt bounced around the open space. He dipped back down into the rushing water and emerged, fingers pushing his hair back from his face.
Will sat down on a large flat rock with a sigh. With the back of his hand to his chin, he watched Hannibal groom himself.
The stag had long fingers which thoroughly removed the dust and sweat from its fur. Hannibal sat down onto the rocky bottom and looked at Will. “Come here?”
Will shook his head, “I’d rather not. We talked about the bathtub already. And I remember us talking about avoiding the river too.”
Hannibal’s large, almost pointed, ears flopped, “Feels good.”
“You belong here. It’s what makes you come back.” Will suddenly regretted saying it. They may only have lived together for a few weeks but separation seemed too foreign for the both of them.
He noticed how stiff Hannibal was. The stag’s movement had ceased, his hands were at his side.
“I want,” Hannibal huffed and paused, looking for the right words, “Stay...your house.”
“I’m not forcing you to stay with me.”
Will got startled when Hannibal suddenly charged towards him. Water splashed into his direction. “No! Wait, don’t! Hanni--”
The stag encased the man in a bone-crushing embrace. He hid his face in Will’s shoulder.
“No. You saved me. I am grateful,” Hannibal’s accent was too heavy.
Will felt uncomfortable at first, but when he heard what Hannbal had to say, it was something new for Will to hear from the stag.
“You are incredibly affectionate these past few days,” Will said, pushing the stag away. He made Hannibal face him. “Is there something you’re not telling me?”
Hannibal sat down with a loud thud. His eyes looked beyond the forest. “You are the only kind human I met.”
Clenching his fists, Will felt a hot surge of anger. The hunters were unforgiving that season. What more if they had suddenly caught a mythical being?
“I would not want to anger you. I’m human, you can hurt me.”
Hannibal shook his head. His hand sought for Will’s. Their palms connected, warm and steady. “I am strong. I will protect, not hurt you.”
A sudden swarm of large dragonflies drifted overhead. The sun had disappeared on the horizon.
Will should not have made Hannibal come closer. It was inappropriate. He breathed in. “We are not the same.”
The stag stood up to its full height and huffed. He scratched his hooves on the ground before pulling Will by his hand.
Will stood up.
“Mon cheri.”
“I’m human.”
Hannibal stubbornly shook his head. “We are the same.” He placed Will’s hand flat on his chest. His heartbeat was fast, speeding with every breath.
Will gulped when he felt the stag’s own palm press against his chest. “But Hannibal, I cannot-”
“-but you can-”
“-this is not right-”
“-c’est juste-”
Will wasn’t able to speak out his protest anymore.
Hannibal’s soft lips were pressing against his when he opened his mouth to retort. The stag held both Will’s hands tenderly towards his furry chest. Soon, Will felt his knees go weak.
Pulling away, Hannibal smiled, “We are the same.”
Will, still not convinced, shook his head. “We are unique.”
The stag huffed in Will’s face. His cheek nuzzled his, “I wish to court you.”
The darkness enveloped them. Two souls were burning bright that night.