Take me to your best friend's house
I loved you then and I love you now
Oh yeah
Don't take me tongue tied
Don't wave no goodbye
- Grouplove
There was one thing Will Graham was positive about. He was completely involved with his friendship with the neighborhood weirdo, Hannibal Lecter. Although they were five years apart, they were joined at the hip.
Normally, when something went wrong in Hannibal's life, he would consult with William, and vice versa.
Except sometimes, it was impossible to get to each other.
Will lead a traumatized life. His father was an alcoholic; his mother had committed suicide shortly after his birth due to postpartum depression.
Everyone told William it wasn't his fault, but he knew better.
That didn't stop there though.
Will was known to be a cross between a young psychopath and young sociopath. He just didn't fit in no matter what he tried. His father had the habit of beating him until he was numb or passed out from the pain. Will tried hiding the bruises as best he could, but he was only a child, sometimes they showed through his lousy attempts.
No one had caught on to this, not until Hannibal moved across the street. He was the first to notice, but never said anything to anyone.
So the beating continued.
And as the torment continued, Will become more dissociate, atop of a growing anxiety disorder.
No speaking in school, at home, or in public. He was a lone statue, watching the other birds fly away from him.
Hannibal wasn't to be underestimated. For someone with an angelic face, he could be terribly cruel.
The school mates were mortified of him. His teachers stayed as far away as possible. No one touched him, no one bothered him, for fear of being in harm's way.
That was completely fine with Hannibal.
Hannibal was known to have ultra-sensitive senses. He was known to smell you when you were doing something, then smile and walk away.
Different rumors about him flew around. Some of the most popular were he was a faggot and he was a murderer.
It didn't help that all Hannibal did in response to these rumors was smile and walk away.
No one knew much about Hannibal, except that he was very fond of William Graham, perhaps too fond.
Hannibal acted as Will's fill in father figure and sibling; sometimes going as far as acting like his boyfriend.
If anyone dared to touch Will in a harmful way, Hannibal was on his case immediately. No one touched his pet. The only person Hannibal never got near was Will's true father. He hated to admit it, but he was afraid of him.
Hannibal despised Mr. Graham; just as Mr. Graham hated Hannibal.
One day while Will was on the playground swings, someone dared to come up to him.
It was the new girl, Alana Bloom. Will found her to be very pretty with her brown hair and round face. Alana was not yet aware of Will and Hannibal's relationship, but would soon be at this rate.
Alana flashed her pearly white teeth at Will as she sat down on the swing next to him. As a cause, Will nearly fell off his still moving swing.
"W-What?"
Swinging her legs forward and back, her blue dress swooped around her ankles like waves crashing against the shore.
Will was entranced by her, completely amused and curious.
'Why isn't she afraid of me?'
Will blinked in surprise as she started singing. He's never seen someone so comfortable around him, not even Hannibal showed this much emotion.
"What are you doing?" Will finally growled out, narrowing his eyes.
Alana's eyes grew wider, if that was even possible. "I'm swinging." She stated in a condescending voice, as if it were obvious.
"There are other swings than this one."
Alana shrugged, continuing moving her tiny porcelain feet.
Shaking his curly head, Will walked away and to the monkey bars. Kids saw him move towards them, so they all scattered like bugs before he got closer. A small pang formed in Will's heart, one he ignored in favor for simmering anger.
Grabbing the shortest bar, as he had not yet reached his growth spurt, Will flipped upside down on it.
Just four more hours and the day would be over. Formulating a plan to sneak away to Hannibal's house tonight, he was deep in his planning when he felt a shadow loom over him.
In shock, his grip slipped from the bars and he plummeted to the gravel beneath him.
At first he thought it was Alana being a pest, but he noticed the shadow was too wide to be her.
Glancing up from the ground, he spotted Hannibal's face inches from his.
"Hello, Will."
Grinning widely, Will shot up and threw his arms around Hannibal. "Hanni!"
Hannibal stood stiff, no one had ever hugged him, and this was the first time Will showed this much affection towards him.
Unsure of what to do, he wrapped a loose arm around his waist and the other around his mid back.
Will sensed Hannibal's insecurity and pulled away. "Sorry." Will mumbled, looking down in guilt.
"No worry. Do you want to go get ice cream?" Hannibal offered, fingering the money in his pocket he stole from his mother.
Will's eyes grew wide like any other six-year-old, immediately pulled in by the promise of getting a treat. Nodding his head wildly, his cheeks grew in size as he smiled brightly and his curls flopped around.
Hannibal placed his hand against Will's shoulder, leading him out of school and to the nearest store.
William's father had been notified about his skipping with Hannibal. Will got home to a fuming father, drunk and smelly. Mr. Graham was more than ready to teach his son a lesson about skipping school.
Will knew what would happen as soon as he got home, which is why Hannibal offered to sneak into his room so he could be with him after the event. Will didn't know what else to do but accept the offer.
Gulping down a lump in his throat, Will tried sneaking through the back door but was too loud. His father came down on him like a hawk, and the next thing Will knew was he was down on the floor in a crumpled heap.
There was a purple bruise already forming below his eye, cut up by the ring that had hit him.
Biting his lip, he braced himself for the next blows that were sure to follow. Sure enough, a swift kick to his stomach and back threatened to break him.
Will's mind couldn't handle this, it decided to escape to a different world.
There were flowers surrounding them. Who else would Will spend his haven with than Hannibal? It was sunny and the flowers could be smelled from miles away. The wind blew Will's messy hair into a big heap of tangled knots; Hannibal's seemed to not move from place, being slicked down so much. Frowning, Will leaned up on his toes to reach for Hannibal's head. Hannibal turned to face Will, but something was way off. Hannibal's eyes were bottomless pits of black; it even looked like blood was dripping down from the sockets. A scream ripped through his throat, paralyzed in fear.
The last thing Will remembered before going cold was his father kicking his neck; then black.
Will didn't remember getting into this house, someone's room even? All he could figure out after just waking up was he felt sore and Hannibal was sitting down next to him, watching him.
Mentally checking himself over first, he concluded his stomach was bruised and face most likely cut up. His legs felt broken, but they could still be moved. His arms felt fine, in this situations term.
"Hannibal?" Will coughed out, rolling on his side and gasped in pain.
Hannibal pushed Will's shoulders back, frowning. "Stay down. I'll explain after I give you some water."
Smiling his prize worthy grin, Hannibal tilted Will's chin back and helped him take a sip from the water on the bedside table. "Your father left after you passed out, so I took you here. I was originally going to take you to a hospital, but I thought you would get mad so I took you here. I hope you are okay with I telling my parents the situation, it was the only way you could stay."
Will nodded, too tired to speak. Biting his lip, he felt tears form in the corner of his eyes.
Hannibal seemed to not notice, and if he did, he said nothing of comfort. Instead, he got up and walked out of the room.
A sob started forming in Will's chest, followed by him burrowing himself further in the futon. He knew what was coming, and Will wasn't prepared. Bringing his knees to his face, he let hot tears fall on his cheeks and on his chubby hands. Shaky breathes turned to hyperventilating and blubbering. Lost in his thoughts, he didn't realize when someone sat back down on the bed.
The blankets were ripped back, revealing Will's small form huddled in a ball. "W-What..?" Looking up with hazy, puffy eyes, he searched for the person next to him.
Hannibal didn't know how to react, as he had only seen panic attacks a few times from other people and movies he was forced into. Biting down on his lip, he opened his arms wide and palms extended towards William.
Will took that chance to half crawl and half jump into Hannibal's arms, hiding his wet face in his chest and small hands gripping on poor Hannibal's new dress shirt. William shook like a leaf, so Hannibal shifted backwards so his back was pressed against the headboard. Wrapping his arms around Will's waist, he brought him closer and tighter.
"There, there." Hannibal stated a bit thickly.
Will sniffled and rubbed at his eyes. Sitting back, he yawned and buried his face in Hannibal's neck. Hannibal furrowed his brows and experimented with rubbing his hand down Will's hair and back.
Will was starting to doze off, exhausted, when Hannibal kissed Will's forehead. "Goodnight."
Will sighed in response and grew slack, arms loosening up. Hannibal spent the rest of the time watching him for nightmares, before eventually dozing off himself.