Also on my AO3 at: /users/TheGreatCatsby/works
My Tumblr username is catsbythegreat if you want to find me there.
Enjoy!
"Let me paint for you a picture. You have something that is human, but more. First, there is the archer, the hawkling, small but strong, full of hard muscle. Then you have the widow, and her body is succulent but her heart, oh, her heart is divine, so full of red it's dripping, gushing with the sins of her past and you can taste it. The man of iron has a damaged heart, but the device that glows within his skin would make a beautiful display. There is the soldier out of time, and his skin is positively vintage. The monster, whose penchant for destruction is spicy on the tongue. And then, there is the flesh of the gods. Electric, full of vitality the likes of which you have never tasted. A rarity beyond all measure, and a prize well worth having."
This is the offer Loki Laufeyson makes him over mimosas.
Hannibal licks his lips.
Loki leans forward, bright eyes positively sparkling. "Let me tell you where they are."
Hannibal doesn't find Loki. He doesn't even know Mr. Laufeyson exists.
Loki finds him.
He walks into Hannibal's office and sits down opposite the desk, giving him a name as if he should know it. He is tall, thin, and pale with hair black as the ink that spills from Hannibal's pen. He wears a suit. Hannibal can smell refinement all over him.
And something else. Something chaotic, enough to overwhelm the senses if he lets it.
Loki smiles at him and says, "I have heard of you, Dr. Lecter."
Whatever Loki is, he isn't human.
He is something new.
"What have you heard?" Hannibal asks.
Loki leans forward. "I hear you are a man of refined tastes."
Hannibal keeps his face passive, but inside he registers the faint twinge of need to take action that follows someone finding out about his refined tastes.
"I hear that your taste is for the flesh of humans," Loki continues, blithely unaware of the growing tension in the room, unaware that Hannibal is standing, reading to snap his neck.
"I hear," Loki continues relentlessly, "that you love rarity. I have something to offer you."
Hannibal stops, his hands inches from Loki's throat. Loki looks up and they lock eyes, and Hannibal finds not fear, but cunning.
"Tell me," Hannibal says.
Loki makes his offer.
The humans (and one god) expect attacks from many people, including himself. But they do not expect the psychologist who works with the FBI to attack, and by the time they realize what he really is, when they look into his eyes and see complete coldness, it is too late.
Loki helps him prepare the bodies for storage. Loki even helps him prepare the meals, gather other ingredients, and sits down opposite him at the table to eat.
Soon there is only one left.
The other god.
Hannibal knows that Loki is a god, too. Loki is not human. But Loki helps him, and Loki has kept his promises, and Loki has the same coldness that Hannibal knows so well.
For the most part.
There are times when Hannibal wonders. When he sees a flash of some emotion in Loki's eyes that is quickly shuttered away.
This happens mostly when Loki talks about the other god. And then he ruthlessly kills the emotion.
But Hannibal wonders. Often, when he watches Loki, he wants to peel back the skin of his cool exterior and pick apart the chaos of his brain underneath. Because there is chaos. Loki is different from Hannibal. Loki would like to be like Hannibal. But he has too much emotion.
Hannibal can fix that, given time.
Loki doesn't trust easily. Hannibal knows that he is being used. But Loki is also beginning to trust him. A mistake, for most people, that benefits the both of them.
Then, one day, Loki brings a body in for the first time. The body that Loki brings is that of the thunder god.
Hannibal starts with the lungs, carefully cutting into the bone of the sternum to separate the ribs so that he can reach them. Loki watches from the side, strangely not taking part, strangely quiet.
The lungs come out and onto the table.
From Loki, a sharp intake of breath.
Hannibal stops cutting and looks up.
In Loki's eyes, there is a storm.
"Problem?" he asks.
Loki swallows, looking at the remains of Thor's body.
Swallows again.
His eyes are burning.
Hannibal waits.
When Loki looks up, his eyes are clear and cold. "None," he says.
Hannibal continues preparing the body for his next meal. And Loki watches, face blank and eyes empty.