Another headstone disappeared out of the cemetery today.
Will looked out over the water that gently lapped against the edge of his favorite beach side coffeehouse. He knew that he couldn't keep ignoring it, after all, eventually the powers that be would take notice. But he still couldn't face him, not yet.
It'd been two weeks since Will's self imposed exile began. It'd been 15 days since he'd seen Hannibal. He thought the time for those games was done.
Headstones. The last time Will had thought about headstones...
Well, maybe not as long as he made out. But still..
When he was younger, of heart and not due to the rotations of the cold, unforgiving Earth, Will spent a lot of time in the cemetery. It was just something he did, lounging peacefully against the headstones near the pond and..nothing.
Occasionally he would read. Draw. Once or twice he tried a grave rubbing. Not as fulfilling as one might was there, and not in the impersonal office setting that Jack Crawford had intended, that Will first met Hannibal Lecter.
"Hello," a confident voice said.
Will looked up to see a tall man in his 40s or 50s looking down at him. He crossed his legs and leaned back against the marbled surface. It was cold, but it was a comfort. The man was fit and wearing a red sweater that showcased this fact well.
"Hi," Will replied.
The man seemed to have no place in a cemetery, at least, none of the usual reasons. He wasn't crying or wearing black. He seemed cheerful, almost. The man settled himself next to Will and smiled slowly. Will closed his eyes and ignored him. Hannibal seemed nonplussed by Will's anti charismatic dismissal. In fact, Hannibal laughed slightly to himself and began to speak-a monologue requiring no input, hardly even an audience, that somehow served to purpose Will's aching desire to know this man.
There was something intriguing about the darkness that seemed to flee before Hannibal. And he noticed Will reclining that day but didn't bother to judge or explain himself to Will. Will liked that about Hannibal. He was unapologetic about the way he was. Is.
Lost to Will, but not to the world.
Sometimes Will forgot there was a difference between the two.
Will hadn't been inside a cemetery for awhile. After Hannibal started inviting him places that guaranteed the best kind of silence, Will didn't need the gloom to keep people away.
But there was the time when cases were busy and time to spare seldom existed. There was the time when Hannibal was on the run and couldn't join Will in reputable business. Hannibal told Will that should he find himself in the cemetery and a headstone was missing near the lake, there would be a note tied to the nearest tree with a meeting always wondered why Hannibal bothered with the fanfare. A simple "Check the tree on Tuesdays, etc" would have worked just fine. And so it went.
Until the day Hannibal asked Will to help him kill a man.
Will knew this about Hannibal. He'd known it since he was framed for murders, plural. And he knew it when it was he that cautioned Hannibal to run. But still the words admitted freely from Hannibal's own lips gave Will a shock.
"Kill.. I think we're both well aware that I'm not stable enough for something like that," Will said.
"Stability is a mirage invented by the pure to keep others from doing what they'd like. Are you pure, Will?" Hannibal asked.
Will bit his lip. Of course he wasn't stable. That would be why he instructed Hannibal to run when he knew he was guilty and why, four months after meeting in secret he openly left and not so openly went to join him. Stable people didn't fall in love with people like Hannibal Lecter. But Will had.
"I need some time to think about this, Hannibal. Time away from you," Will had said.
Hannibal only nodded and whispered, "I'll love you regardless, Will."
And Will smiled thinly, "I know."
15 days later he hadn't gone back. But sooner or later someone was going to notice the headstones, even though usually whenever it was Hannibal came to check if the note had been taken, they were put back in their rightful place. But after the first week there had been 13 missing headstones. And this time, they had not been replaced.
Will glanced over the water again and sighed.
Perhaps marriage wasn't so repulsive an idea. And perhaps Will could convince Hannibal the wedding feast only required convicts or similarly deserving people, as no one they knew could be invited. Perhaps a two week sulk was a bit childish, especially since he did want to marry Hannibal and he did enjoy the taste of human at any other point.
Will picked up his coffee and went off to the cemetery. He was lucky no one noticed his rush. He strolled quickly around the place, he wasn't as familiar with this cemetery, because his boyfriend was kind of a wanted criminal and he was too worried about capture to leave him alone for long. But there, tied to a tree, was a tiny slip of brown paper fashioned to look like a leaf. And, of course it didn't have a time on it any longer. It simply said,
"I love you, Will. Come home."
Will's eyes teared a bit. He wrapped his fist around the note and then ran, really ran all the way to their hideout. He hated to slow when he got close, but he did. And there he found Hannibal sullenly eating a liver. Will smiled. How he loved this man who could make every second of their life into theater.
"Hannibal," Will breathed.
He was greeted with a smile brighter than any he'd seen before.
"Will," Hannibal said happily.
"Put them back," Will said.
Hannibal rose from his chair and embraced Will tightly.
"I didn't know if you looked anymore. I couldn't look for you," Hannibal said.
Will nodded. He knew that Hannibal would be anxious, given Will's remarkable ability to find himself in trouble and Hannibal's fugitive status preventing all the knight in shining armour moments he so longed for. Being apart from Hannibal made Will anxious too.
"I'll do it. I want to marry you. I-" Will declared.
Hannibal rolled his eyes.
"You sap," he said fondly.
Will nodded. He wondered why he bothered leaving. Their love was a force gravity could never hope to rival.
"I missed you," he said into Hannibal's chest.
"I missed you," Hannibal repeated.
Fin.