Disclaimer: I do not own any Hannibal media
Story inspired by the band HIM.

-This is my version of a Hannibal/Will love story. I attempted something lighthearted but my writing tends to lean toward dark themes and angst.
-For now I think this will be two parts, but I'll have to see. The second part is already on a darker track as it is. So I'll see where that goes.
-Also, I mapped out a timeline as much as I could since the series doesn't really give many cues. See end notes for the timeline.

"Life has but one true charm: the charm of the game. But what if we're indifferent to whether we win or lose?"
― Charles Baudelaire

Tuesday – 13 Sep 2022 – 2.57 PM

It was the middle of the afternoon when Will pulled up into the paved driveway of the house he shared with Hannibal, slowing the car down as he waited for the garage door to roll up and the electric gate to slide closed behind him. He parked his white Jag XJL inside of the double garage on the left side, next to where Hannibal always parked his black Bentley Continental, which presently was not there because Hannibal was still at work.

Will killed the engine and popped the clip on his seatbelt before he grabbed the grocery packet off the passenger seat, wearing a smirk on his face all the while. When he stepped out of the air conditioned car into the direct sun of the cloudless blue sky of Alicante, Spain, the hot summer wind washed over him and he felt his skin prickle with sweat.

He was mostly used to it though since he'd been living in Spain with Hannibal for almost three years so far. He shut the car door and absently armed the alarm, a habit he'd never quite kicked despite the likelihood of anyone trying to steal his car being almost nonexistent where he currently lived. And Hannibal did it too after having lived in the city for so many years, so it wasn't just Will's compulsion.

He walked out of the garage and flipped his car keys over in his hand so he could close the garage with the small black remote and as the door rolled shut quietly, he walked across the driveway to the staircase that led up to the house.

Will pushed his sunglasses up into his wind–wild curls, balancing them on the top of his head as he glanced up ahead of himself with squinting eyes, wondering where his two dogs were because surely they'd heard the car pull up, they always usually did and would come running. He found them though, when he crested the stairs and walked through the front yard area which was lined with a glass banister all the way around.

The house faced the sea with a view of ocean for miles, and the large balcony level front also overlooked the long winding road that led up to the hillside houses.

The dogs woke up from where they'd been asleep on the outside furniture when they spotted him and they came running to him with wagging tails, their paws scraping and tapping on the tiles.

"Hey, guys." He smiled at them, leaning down to pet them as he walked and they followed him around the pool side to the front door. The larger dog of the two –Heller, a black lab retriever- was sniffing at the packet Will carried while the smaller dog –Remy, a mixed breed ash blonde terrier with long hair and pointy ears- was trotting double time and panting loudly, keeping up excitedly.

Will shifted the keys in his hand again, fingering through them until he had the right one when he reached the front door and he unlocked it, pushing the door open and leaving it that way as he walked inside.

Heller and Remy followed him in, they were well trained and avoided all of the expensive furniture that their hair would cling to or their clumsiness might endanger. Hannibal had bestowed upon them luxury dog beds and toys and other special pet things so that they wouldn't want for anything, and they were always spoiled, just as long as they never touched his imported Italian furniture and never entered his and Will's bedroom.

Will walked through the sun filled foyer and passed the main living room, and with the house being so completely silent his boots shoes sounded squeaky and then heavier as the flooring changed from tiles to hardwood. He made his way through to the modern, white and silver and fully fitted kitchen, placing his grocery packet down on the island counter before retrieving a box of dog biscuits from the cupboard designated for the dog foods and such. Will tossed the pair of dogs a few biscuits each, smiling as they jumped and caught them in mid-air, their jaws snapping and tails wagging so happily it was affecting their balance.

"Good boys…" he praised with a grin, crouching down and giving them his full attention for several minutes, petting them and talking to them. They'd obviously missed him…and they probably missed Hannibal too, because even though the man only spared them minimal attention, they'd react the same when he arrived home. As it were, they weren't allowed inside the house when Will and Hannibal were out at the same time, so they had outside kennels too, but they were spoiled and much preferred to sleep inside, which they did every night.

When they seemed satisfied by his fussing and were getting bored with him, Will stood up and glanced over his black T-shirt and blue denim jeans, doing a cursory brush down with his hands before turning back to the counter and opening his grocery packet. He brought out a can of Coca Cola and a Snickers bar first, and he held the soda can for moment, realizing it had gotten warm really quick.

Will considered his options.

He was really jonesing for the sugar saturated drink since he had it so rarely, soda and candy of any kind was all but verbally forbidden from the house and he only occasionally went against Hannibal's admirable, but horribly strict dietary rules. This was one of those times, but Will really didn't want to drink warm Coke and he wasn't a fan of putting ice into soda. The problem lied in the fact that if he put it in the fridge and gave it thirty minutes to get cold, then he'd have to wait to eat his chocolate bar with it and inevitably he'd have less time to savor the tastes before he'd have to wash it away with Listerine, because Hannibal's last patient on a Tuesday was three PM and it was presently –he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and checked – almost fifteen minutes after.

So with approximately 45 minutes left of his current session and the ten to fifteen minute drive home...

Will leaned against the island counter, taking his sunglasses off his head and putting them on the crisp white marble surface as he mentally worked out the times. It would mean less time for savoring but in the end he decided he'd rather have actually enjoyed having it in the first place, so he scooped the can up off the counter top and walked over to the built in reflective white double fridge, where he placed the can unobtrusively in a spot next to Hannibal's row of chilled Pilsner glasses in the door.

He absently slid his tongue over his lips as he closed the fridge, turning around to consider the Snickers bar and what he should do about eating it or not eating it. He had more in the packet, along with a small collection of other cheap candy, MnM's, Reece's, Mars bars, Razzles and pocket size packs of Oreos. His stash had recently depleted and he'd taken the first chance he'd gotten to secretly replenish it.

Because Hannibal despised candy, and while Will knew that if he really wanted to he could just outright eat the stuff he wanted, he knew it would bother Hannibal, who took so much care of Will's health, so Will was considerate enough to hide it. The restrictions also kept him in line though, so he didn't binge, he'd have something every few days or once a week instead of just living on the quick sugars.

He felt like he was pretty sneaky about it, but there was also a part of Will that suspected Hannibal knew that he snacked on candy in secret, and that either the older man was letting Will get away with it, or he just hadn't figured out where Will hid his stash yet.

And that was really the best thing about it, that Hannibal had no idea where Will hid the candy.

Deciding to indulge just one time, with a grin Will snatched up the Snickers bar he was supposed to eat with his Coke and he tore open the wrapper, taking a bite out of it heartily as he reached into the packet to retrieve a second chocolate bar, which he slipped into his back pocket for later with the Coke.

As he left the kitchen carrying his packet of goodies, heading in the direction of staircase that led down to the wine cellar, Will was vaguely aware that Heller and Remy had run back outside to play or sleep or whatever.

He was chewing on his second bite of the chocolate as he descended the stairs and opened the door to the cellar, switching on the light and illuminating the room which was walled with modern wine racks in a black wood finish, designed so that the wine could be stacked in piles, packed vertically and diagonally or so that each bottle of wine had an individual keep. Will walked through the L-shaped cellar, right to the end where he placed his packet on the white marble shelving, just below the individual bottle keeps, because that was where the collection of –overpriced- wine that Hannibal considered special occasion bottles were kept. And those bottles were very, very rarely likely to be opened.

Seriously, the last time they'd opened a bottle of super-super extra expensive wine had been after they'd eaten –with and of- Bedelia about three years ago and Will figured the next bottle would only be opened once they'd found and had the most prime cuts of Alana marinating.

And because they were such a special collection of wines almost never used, it meant Hannibal almost never even came around the corner to the back of the cellar because those bottles of wine held no interest for him on any normal day, which all round, made the racks they were packed in very ideal hiding places.

Of the back wall rack, only twelve bottles of the wine were part of Hannibal's elite collection, which suited Will's purposes just perfectly. He opened the packet and took out two packs of MnM's before he reached for the first bottle of wine. He'd long ago worked out a system, so that specific candy went behind a specific bottle of wine, into the convenient extra gap of space in back of each wine keep.

"Domaine Leroy Chambertin Grand Cru," Will mumbled to himself in his best French accent as he stuck his candy holding hand into the wine space and placed the MnM's right in the back, "MnM's." he designated before carefully sliding the bottle back exactly as far as Hannibal preferred it.

"Domaine Leflaive Montrachet Grand Cru," he continued quietly to himself, taking out the bottle and sliding in the two packs of Razzles. He went on to do the same for the other candies, the Reece's bars went in behind two different bottles of $3000 wine, followed by three Mars bars behind another two bottles, both German wines, $8000 and $2500 respectively, and Will rolled his eyes at least once every time he hid his candy behind the extravagant wines. Will packed his Oreos in behind four different bottles of French wine, one of which was a bottle of Le Pin, Pomerol, a wine choice that Hannibal had taken from Bedelia's collection. He'd told Will it was an excellent wine that evening while Will had been neatly packing her choice, plastic sealed organs into the cooler box they'd brought with them for that specific reason.

Will took out the last of his stash from the packet, the other three Snickers bars, and after taking another bite of the one he'd left on the counter in between candy packing, it occurred to him that he'd never asked what Hannibal had done with her body.

It had been approximately three years and one month since the day they'd killed Bedelia. It had been done after their dinner with her, at which time Hannibal had subsequently removed the organs of hers that he'd always prized, and it had been done only after the drugs and anesthetic had worn off…because Will had insisted. Following that and Will being awarded the pleasure of ending her life –because somehow she'd still been alive-, Hannibal had told Will to go ahead and leave, said he'd meet up with him at their motel room just outside of Baltimore when he was done disposing of her. Even in their early days as fellow serial killers, Will had no longer ever really bothered to question Hannibal and that night hadn't been any exception, he'd taken the cooler box, the wine and their cheaply purchased second hand car, and he'd left.

Hannibal had shown up a few hours later as he'd said he would, his plastic suit had been neatly packed into a bag he'd been carrying, his clothing barely creased and his head without a single hair out of place.

A further hour later, they'd already been on their way out of Baltimore and Will hadn't thought to ask.

'Maybe I'll ask him about it at dinner.' He thought, curious about it since while TattleCrime had reported Bedelia missing, the official police statement was that she was dead, despite there being no body found.

Will was currently in the process of putting his Snickers bars away, and it was after placing two of them in one slot, behind the eleventh bottle, that he realized there was a new bottle of wine in the rack, which meant Hannibal must have purchased it in the last month since that was the last time Will had been down there hiding candy. He raised his eyebrows and then slowly frowned as he considered whether his candy stash would still be safe. He figured it would though, since not only did the smell of wood and wine mask the scent of processed sugar from Hannibal's sensitive nose, but also the fact that the thirteenth bottle was the first new edition in a long time.

Will felt reassured enough that Hannibal wouldn't be taking stock of his –too- pricey wines again any time soon by that reasoning, so he continued with what he was doing, placing the final chocolate bar in behind the twelfth bottle of wine. When he was done he finished the chocolate he was eating and then squashed the wrapper into his palm, and as he was sucking nuts and caramel from his teeth he decided to find out what the new bottle of wine was.

Will stuffed the chocolate wrapper into his back pocket beside the uneaten Snickers and then he reached for the new bottle of wine, sliding it out of its keep carefully and turning it over with both hands so it was facing him on the label side.

"Romanée-Conti." He read the white label, raising an eyebrow, clueless of its price.

He'd have to research it like he'd researched all the others, usually when he was bored on the days he didn't work. He only taught English classes three days a week, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, for an hour at the local college, so he had a fair amount of free time on his hands.

Will turned the bottle over again, finding it generally unremarkable since he wasn't a wine enthusiast, always having been more of a whiskey kind of guy. He had to concede though, that when Hannibal paired specific wines with specific dishes, it was always amazing.

He went to place the bottle back, absently glancing into the rack when he did so…and that's how he noticed that there was something in the back of it, in the space behind where the bottle Will was holding had been, not unlike his candy, something was hidden there.

Will's first reaction was anxiety.

Hannibal hadn't hidden anything from Will since before they went barreling into the Atlantic, so finding something he was obviously not meant to have found instantly made him feel nauseous, worried and angry. Ignoring the glaring double standard he was holding Hannibal to, Will placed the bottle of wine on the marble shelf and reached into the rack, his fingers grasping at the smooth, small, square….box.

Will blinked and blinked again as he brought the small box out to where he could see it…and then he just stared at it, there, in his hand. It was a reflective dark cherry wood box….a reflective…dark cherry wood…ring…box.

Will swallowed tensely, his throat clicking loudly in the quiet cellar and hurting slightly from the strain of it as he held the box in his hand and tried to understand what he was seeing and whether he was taking what he was seeing the right way.

But then, how many ways could one interpret a ring box found hidden behind a new bottle of expensive wine in the house of a long term couple?

Will took a deep breath as he brought his other hand up to open the lid of the box.

It opened soundlessly, revealing an interior made of crisp white leather –because even the box had to be expensive where Hannibal was concerned- and of course, there in the slot was a ring.

An engagement ring…?

Will stared at it and his heart was beating a mile a minute, his face suddenly very hot.

The band was silver-white and relatively thick with a long even row of diamonds in a narrow crevasse going all the way around the circumference of the ring on one side and another larger single diamond was on the flat side of the band, in the center. It was simple and plain enough while still being a stunning ring, and although Will wasn't particularly fond of jewelry in general, he could tell when something looked good…and was really expensive.

Expensive…everything with Hannibal was exorbitantly priced. Honestly.

But regardless of his mental price griping, Will carefully removed the ring from the slot –even though he shouldn't have-, and set the fancy box down before taking a moment to look closer at the fine piece of jewelry. He observed the small brilliant cut diamonds closely and stopped breathing for a few seconds when he counted forty two of them, and then he noted that it was much heavier than his former gold band he'd had when he'd been married to Molly, while being only slightly thicker. The diamonds didn't account for that much weight, so that meant the ring wasn't silver –duh- or even white gold, and was probably platinum…

…and of course it was.

Will noticed there was an engraving on the smooth inside and he turned the ring at a better angle between his fingers to read the inscription,

"Amžinai." he mumbled, sounding out the unfamiliar word with no clue as to what it meant or even what language it was in. He exhaled loudly then and held the ring between the fingers of his right hand as he ran his other hand over his mouth and then rubbed at the side of his neck, thinking and overthinking.

It was an engagement ring, that was for sure, but that didn't mean it was for Will, right?

But he knew it probably –definately- maybe –obviously- was.

He swallowed again, tenser, thinking of what it would mean for Hannibal to ask to marry him and he found himself frowning, because even though he was surprisingly –though not really surprisingly- feeling giddy about the idea, he also didn't like the fact that it meant he'd become Mister Ethan Kask, taking Hannibal's fake Estonian last name.

He would no longer be Ethan Gerard, romantic male partner of Hannes Kask, they'd be Doctor and Mister Kask, husbands.

Not Doctor and Mister Lecter.

And that bothered Will. He hadn't known it would or could have until he was looking at an engagement ring that presented to him the scenario of marrying Hannibal...or Hannes, rather.

He had mixed feelings on the technicalities of what their lawfully wedded names would be, but that didn't stop him from sliding the ring onto the appropriate finger, nor did it stop his breath from catching and his sentimental emotions from peaking, when he realised that it fit him perfectly.

And it looked so right..and felt so right.

Will moved his fingers, he made a loose fist and then stretched his fingers apart, looking at the prinstinly polished ring from all angles on his hand and loving it.

"Oh God…" he breathed out, heart still hammering in his chest, breath still short, butterflies running rampant in his stomach, "…oh…God…" it was sinking in, that Hannibal was, at some point, going to ask Will to marry him.

And even though it'd been an idea said in jest years ago, because of Freddy Lounds' whole Murder Husbands catch phrase for them, being faced now with the actuality that Hannibal wanted to marry him made Will both impossibly happy and impossibly nervous. It didn't matter that he'd been living with, sleeping with and in love with Hannibal for years, he was still nervous as fuck just thinking about engagement and marriage and how and when and where.

He took in a deeper breath and ran his right hand through his hair, bring his left close to lips in a loose fist and brushing his lips over the surface of the ring…and Jesus Christ, he was already comfortable with it, he knew he would get used to it really quickly. He knew he would gladly take the name of Kask so long as he knew he'd personally made marriage vows to Hannib-

His phone buzzed in his pocket and he nearly leapt out if his skin when his ringtone went off loudly inside the quiet cellar. Will started panicking slightly, not only because he'd discovered his secret engagement ring but because he'd been down in the cellar a good while longer than he should have and –he panicked a little more because- Hannibal was calling him, he knew because he'd set a specific ringtone for the older man.

Will ignored the call and quickly slipped the ring off his finger, placing it neatly back in its shiny box and wiping off any fingerprints he'd left on it with his T shirt before he placed it back in the rack and the wine bottle after it.

By that point his phone had stopped ringing and Will quickly grabbed his empty grocery packet, glanced around to make sure all was in order and then hurried to go back upstairs.

But he back tracked at the door and quickly scanned the racks nearest to him, looking for a bottle of something he liked and could use to convince Hannibal to cook around so the older man wouldn't venture down to the cellar, for that night at least. Will settled on a bottle of Château Margaux, a red wine that Will favored.

He called it smooth and easy to drink, Hannibal called it complex and elegant with a beautiful length on the finish. So it was whatever, it tasted good.

He took the bottle, switched the light off and shut the door before he skipped the stairs a few at a time. Will made it back to the kitchen in thirty seconds and placed the bottle on the counter as he pulled his phone out of his pocket.

He swiped his finger across the screen to unlock it and then tapped into his missed calls, seeing Hannibal's name seconds before a text message came through. He brought his notifications down with his thumb and tapped into the text from Hannibal. It read:

-I'll be a bit late, probably around six. Social call.

Will sighed in relief and then frowned slightly, wondering who the social call was with. He was aware that Hannibal's colleagues were fond of him, because everyone tended to find Hannibal –or Hannes these days- charming and likeable, but Hannibal didn't often socialize with any of them. Will understood though, that since Hannibal's new place of work was not private, not wanting to draw attention to himself because Will liked it in Alicante, he'd chosen to work in a building with other high end medical practitioners. There was everything from a GP and Gynecologist to a couple's therapist and a cosmetic surgeon who had offices in the building where Hannibal had set up shop on the top floor.

Also, he was no longer a clinical or forensic psychiatrist, again trying to stay off anyone's radar, he'd become an adolescent psychiatrist, which Will had been intensely bothered by for a while.

But Hannibal had reassured –promised- him he wouldn't be creating any child murderers, and Will had chosen to believe him. True enough, no teenagers had gone on a killing spree in the time they'd lived there.

But back to the point, Hannibal working in a building with other people who he saw on a fairly regular basis –'because insinuating ourselves into people's everyday lives will create a subconscious feeling of trust, after all, no one ever really believes the person working in the office next to them might be an internationally hunted serial killer' – meant these people came to consider themselves friendly acquaintances and would inevitably lead to wanting to share drinks and dinners, not alike but not unlike the ones Hannibal had used to host in Baltimore.

As it was, Will had only formally met two of Hannibal's new colleagues and acquaintances since they'd been living and working in Alicante, a husband and wife who had come over for dinner a few times and had actually become friends –if Will could call it that- with himself and Hannibal. Other times he and Hannibal had run into people in passing while out buying groceries or taking the dogs down to the beach. Will had felt awkward inwardly whenever he'd met someone Hannibal knew from work for the first time, but all of the people had already known that he was Hannibal's romantic partner prior to meeting him and most of them had been sincerely unbothered by it. Will remembered only one person, a guy who was a marriage counselor, who had seemed uncomfortable about talking to them in public when they'd run into him while being out.

Hannibal had later stated that the man was probably homophobic and Will had agreed, both of them had been quite amused.

Will took his can of Coke out of the fridge as he thought about the first time Hannibal had invited the husband and wife over for dinner a few months after they'd first moved to and settled in Alicante. Doctor Juan Cantillo, an occupational therapist who worked in the same offices as Hannibal and someone who Hannibal genuinely seemed to like, along with his wife Isa Cantillo.

Will had been completely out of his comfort zone when he'd learned of them being invited over, because up until that point, he and Hannibal's romantic relationship had mostly taken place privately, aside from being known as a couple, everything else had all just been between the two of them.

But Hannibal had been looking forward to it, and Will had been able to tell that it was because it was to be their first social dinner with people as an open couple. Hannibal had been taking it seriously too, wanting to show other people that Will was with him, that they were together.

Will had understood that it was something Hannibal had needed from him, a reassurance of sorts, and so he had put him game face on, along with some designer clothes for the evening, a white, slim fit button down shirt worn with cobalt blue formal pants - because blue 'suited his coloring' and black oxfords. Also, he'd combed his hair back and worn the cologne Hannibal specifically bought for him because it 'complimented his natural scent perfectly'.

Hannibal's reaction hadn't been much, the man was too composed to have done more than compliment Will with a pleased smile, telling him he looked exceptionally handsome, but that in itself Will knew meant a lot.

Hannibal didn't throw sincere compliments around freely.

Meeting the Cantillo's had been fine, they were nice people, genuine too, unlike the pompous sort of people Hannibal had associated himself with in Baltimore years ago. But meeting them had never been what Will was worried about, his biggest concern had been that he hadn't known how he was supposed to physically behave around Hannibal in front of them.

On a general basis in their daily lives, Hannibal was very tactile, he was always touching Will in some way, his hands on Will's face, shoulders, neck, back, arms and hands. And when things were a little less general and more personal, his hands would be in Will's hair, on his waist, on his ass, down his pants, skin on skin…and all of those touches –general and not so general- would take place while they talked or cooked or spent time together reading, drawing, killing, cleaning, watching television. And Will was entirely receptive of the touches, he reciprocated eagerly too.

It was pretty normal as far as Will was concerned…well aside from the killing obviously.

But they'd never had to properly interact with one another as a couple around other people, so Will had been unsure of what to expect. He hadn't panicked though, he'd simply decided to take his cues from Hannibal.

It had been a bit weird to call him Hannes and in turn, it had been weird to be called Ethan, but it had been necessary and Will had been diligent not to make a stupid mistake and say the wrong name.

Will remembered that it had been easy to get along with the Cantillo's and he'd focused on that at the time, forgetting to worry about what to do around Hannibal because the older man hadn't made any moves to put his hands anywhere on Will during the apéritif, which they'd enjoyed outside on the furniture set near the pool.

It had been once they were all sitting in the open plan dining room-cum-main lounge at the table, couple across from couple, that the first casual touches of the evening had been made. Hannibal had served dinner with his usual flourish, and when he'd set Will's plate in front of him, he'd put his hand on the back of Will's neck and when he'd poured Will's wine, he'd stood and leaned closer than he had to, but that had more or less been the extent of it.

Will had admittedly been a little disappointed.

Dinner conversation had been enjoyable, the topics had all been light and pleasant and humorous, nothing metaphorical, philosophical, political or academic, just friendly and with shared commonalties they had all known of or had experienced in their lives, being shared and discussed. And once they'd finished dessert sometime later and were just sitting at the table, drinking wine and talking, Hannibal had placed his hand on Will's bare forearm –his sleeves had been rolled up- at one point and stroked the skin there for a brief moment, the action having been almost absent.

Will had been careful not to react to it, but then, when Hannibal had removed his hand, Will had felt like he should have done something in return, even if it would have been something small.

That small detail had bothered him for the remainder of the drinks they shared with the Cantillo's, even when they'd moved outside again to stand alongside the frameless glass fencing surrounding the pool area, looking out at the view and also so that Juan was able to smoke, Will had been irritated with himself but had been hiding it.

He'd watched the Cantillo's with mild annoyance as they'd behaved comfortably with one another as any couple should, not uncertain or self-conscious about where to place hands or when to place kisses on cheeks or lips, or to smile at one another with affection. And Will remembered feeling jealous of their comfort, something he'd never experienced when he'd been with women –obviously- and it had been increasingly frustrating for him.

Hannibal had seemed unbothered by it, but then, the man could be incredibly unreadable when he wanted to be.

It had been a strange feeling, Will had felt so compelled to do something to show the Cantillo's that he and Hannibal were close and comfortable, touchy feely and happy, but he'd also known he couldn't have behaved indecorously. There was a line he had to stay behind, a line of dignity and propriety and etiquette, the line that all couples who were newly becoming friends with other people or couples had to be careful of not overstepping so as not to make anyone uncomfortable around them with unnecessary displays of affection.

And the Cantillo's had been walking that line perfectly, they'd obviously been used to interacting with other couples and people and Will just hadn't known how to do that himself…not as a man in a same sex relationship. So he'd stood beside Hannibal on their pool deck balcony, talking with Juan and Isa about dog breeding, since they had dogs of their own - Will had only had Remy at the time- while constantly feeling a weight of agitation in his chest that had dampened his mood.

He'd been close to resenting the Cantillo's when they'd all heard the phone ringing inside the house, his and Hannibal's landline, which was really only used for Hannibal's work purposes. Hannibal had excused himself to answer it, placing his hand on Will's elbow lightly and sliding it to his wrist before he'd walked away toward the house.

The Cantillo's had surprised him then…

...Will watched him walk away, staring at the tall, lean figure he cut, illuminated by the outdoor and pool lights, clad in dark pants and a dark shirt, his hair neat but not perfectly, just casually. Will couldn't help thinking; so attractive, he's handsome and elegant…he's mine, I'm his, we're-

Isa interrupted his train of thought, and on her face was a redolent and knowing smile as she said to him,

"Estás tan enamorado…" speaking in Spanish, which, while Will had been getting better at it, he was by no means fluent yet.

"Uh, I'm sorry, I don't…I don't understand." He responded, flexing his fingers around the bowl of his wine glass as he glanced between the wife and husband with a light frown.

Juan was smiling too and he exhaled smoke before he translated for Will,

"My wife says that she sees how in love you are." He spoke in his accented English as he had been doing all night.

Will raised his eyebrows and felt his face get hot as Isa kept smiling, looking as though she thought he was adorable for blushing,

"Yes, you look at Hannes and I see it." she pointed out in an encouraging tone and Will felt like an idiot for having stared so blatantly at Hannibal just then, "But why are you so shy, you don't want us to see?" She asked, apparently she was far more observant than Will would have given her credit for.

He took a breath and glanced at the pool, the house and then back to them with an awkward half smile,

"I…I uh…"

"We are all friends here, Ethan, and this is your home," Juan said with a hint of friendly seriousness, "you should be comfortable here if nowhere else, you and Hannes." hesaid before he took another drag on his cigarette.

Will blinked and his half smile drew a bit tight,

"I wouldn't want to be impolite by being overly comfortable."

Isa clucked her tongue, unperturbed as she shook her head and waved a hand through the air,

"Nonsense, do you think we would be offended to see you show affection to your man," she rolled her eyes lightly, "we are not that kind of people."

Will's entire face, his neck and ears –probably his chest too-, all heated up twice as bad when she called Hannibal his 'man'.

Juan laughed then, a light inoffensive sound and his eyes wrinkled at the corners while smoke filtering from his mouth and nose,

"You've embarrassed him, Isa." he was still chuckling as he shook his head at his wife, his tall, thin frame was shaking lightly from it.

Will felt like he was much younger than he actually was in that moment.

Juan and Isa were closer to Hannibal's age than his own 41 years, he was the youngest present as it was, but with how amused they seemed at his intentional reserve around Hannibal –he hadn't known his restraint had even been that obvious- Will felt like a teenager, fumbling through his first meeting with a girlfriend's parents.

Hannibal was on his way back to join them by then and he'd seen the couple laughing and watching Will, he also saw Will's evident blush and he frowned with a smile once he came to a stop,

"Something funny that I missed?" he was standing just beside Will, just short of their shoulders touching and he was holding a fresh bottle of wine in one hand and his own refilled glass in the other.

Isa was still smiling but she looked apologetic as she raised her wine glass to Hannibal's offer of a refill,

"I'm sorry, it's my fault, I think I embarrassed him…" she said to Hannibal and then turned to Will, "…I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable, Ethan."

Juan had stopped drinking for the evening since he had to drive home, so he only held an ashtray –that Hannibal had supplied him with earlier- and his cigarette in either of his hands, and he smiled at Hannibal as he explained,

"Isa just pointed out that Ethan seems shy around us, he's making a great deal of effort to be polite with regards to your relationship and she was hoping to ease his worries."

Will glanced at Hannibal when he touched the bottle neck to the rim of Will's glass to refill it and Will felt ten times worse when he saw that Hannibal wasn't smiling, in fact, he actually seemed a little put out by their observation.

Their guests noticed too, because Hannibal was either being intentionally transparent or he'd forgotten to school his usually unaffected veneer into place.

Isa sighed and frowned, looking far more apologetic after seeing Hannibal's reaction,

"We just don't want him to feel like he has to hide, that's all, Hannes, I hope we haven't overstepped."

"Are you offended, my friends?" Juan looked like he felt bad too as he stood up straighter and looked between Hannibal and Will.

Will started to shake his head, unsure of what exactly he was supposed to say to diffuse the weird atmosphere, but Hannibal spoke up first,

"No, not offended, I only hope that Ethan is not upset." Hannibal looked at him then, apologetic as well, "I tend to drag him into social situations," he looked back to their guests next, "something he is not altogether fond of and mostly only forces himself into partaking of for my sake." He sounded so damn sincere about it too.

Will blinked at him and then glanced at Isa and Juan who seemed to look sorrier by the second, as if they honestly hadn't meant to ruin a perfectly good evening of good food and company by making their harmless comment.

Because really, it had been harmless.

"I'm not upset." Will said evenly and instantly he had everyone's attention.

And for the first time it occurred to him –with an abrupt fluttering in his stomach- that Hannibal must have really given these people the impression that Will mattered a whole hell of a lot to him for them to be so contrite about possibly upsetting him, and they were probably worrying that they had caused a problem. Will took a silent breath and sipped his wine as he tried to ease the butterflies assaulting his insides, and then he looked at Hannibal, "I just…hadn't realized I was being so obvious," before looking at Isa and Juan, "no offense taken, just good old fashioned…embarrassment on my part." He smiled awkwardly and sipped his wine again, looking out over the balcony to avoid everyone's eyes, regretting having worn contact lenses and not his glasses.

Isa huffed a bit dramatically,

"Well, Ethan, you don't have to be embarrassed, please, Juan and I just see two people in love and we don't want to hinder that."

"Yes, don't mind us, please." Juan added, stubbing his cigarette out in the ashtray with a friendly grin.

Will just nodded, not meeting their eyes as he glanced at them and then at Hannibal, but his own eyes betrayed him by lingering on Hannibal's lips for a noticeable second, since the older man was licking wine from them right then. Will didn't know it, but he guessed that he must have had some very specific look on his face that Hannibal was able to read, because before Will had a chance to look away, Hannibal leaned in and kissed him, once, sweetly, on the lips.

A dignified and polite, but still firm and lingering –and lightly moist- kiss.

Juan was grinning twice as much when Isa wooted gleefully and when Hannibal and Will drew apart she raised her glass. Hannibal looked at her and Will forced himself to as well, shyness be damned, and she beamed at them,

"Bonito!" she said jubilantly, looked thrilled about the little kiss they'd shared. "You two make such a lovely couple!"

"Isa, Isa…" Juan chuckled, "…stop gushing, mi querido." He said kindly to her, leaning in and kissing her forehead, smiling.

He and Isa were in love too, it was clear, and Juan was a really nice guy, Will could see why Hannibal liked him. Isa too, she was nice. Will really liked them.

And their easy demeanors helped his blush, which had been refreshed tenfold by Hannibal's kiss, to recede and he smiled as well, touching his glass to Isa's just before Hannibal did likewise, Juan mimicking the action since he wasn't holding a glass.

"To good friends and being in love." Isa toasted.

And Will was happy to toast to it.

The Cantillo's had come to dinner several times after that, by themselves and a few times with other guests and they'd been a huge help in Will finding his comfort zone with how to behave around other people with regards to Hannibal.

Will found himself wondering what Isa would say when she found out they were engaged. She'd probably be ecstatic.

He was smiling about it too, until he came back to reality, realizing that he and Hannibal were not even there yet, Hannibal had to ask him first and he had to say yes before they would be engaged.

'Of course I'll say yes.' he admitted to himself and then grinned into his hand like an idiot as he ran it over his face.

Heller came running in and passed the kitchen then and Will quickly whistled at him and gave him a command not to run in the house. Heller unfortunately did run again, but at least that time it was on his way out. Will took a deep breath and followed it with a sigh, knowing he had to calm himself down before Hannibal got home, or otherwise he'd give away that he knew something, and he didn't want that. Will wanted to see how it played out, he wanted to see what would be Hannibal's idea of a marriage proposal.

He was so old fashioned and proper…but was also a cannibalistic serial killer who had once licked the blood of a victim from Will's mouth after he'd taken a bite out of the guys forearm during an unexpected struggle.

So basically, Will had no idea which version of Hannibal would propose to him.

The man or the murderer? Would it be cozy and ordinary or bloody and grotesque, premeditated or spontaneous?

It was pretty exciting not knowing.

Will pursed his lips and realized he'd finished his Coke and also his second Snickers bar in the twenty minutes he'd been standing in the kitchen thinking about that first dinner years ago. He checked his cell phone for the time, it was almost 4.30 and Hannibal had said he'd be home at around six, which gave Will plenty of time to savor his Coke and chocolate, but also more than enough time to make dinner and take a shower after.

Hannibal had said the night before that he wanted to use the last meat he had of the woman he'd killed a month earlier, so Will knew what use for dinner.

Will wasn't always along for the kill, only sometimes, but it was never spontaneous or decided on short notice when he or Hannibal, or Hannibal alone, killed anyone. Because Hannibal knew Will wanted to stay in Alicante and they had to be careful, they would plan when they would kill, and while it randomized their choice of victims quite a bit, their system worked well.

With cooking though, Will wasn't anywhere near as good at Hannibal was, obviously, but he'd picked up many things from being around Hannibal over the years, so he occasionally made dinner for them when Hannibal had to work later or when anything came up, like right then for instance.

So Will set to it, first washing his hands and drying them off before he retrieved Hannibal's impressive recipe card box from where he kept it in a drawer next to his ever-increasing rolodex of business cards. Will remembered the first time he'd seen the rolodex and asked about the business cards Hannibal kept adding to it every couple of days. Hannibal had started collecting and adding to it after they first moved to Spain and had settled in, and he'd simply told Will that it was a collection of his most unfortunate and unpleasant acquaintances.

Will had known exactly what that meant and so he hadn't asked any further questions. It was such a proficient system for choosing victims though. The rolodex had been just one of the many new things that Will had learned about the Chesapeake Ripper from living with him, most things were very impressive and very disturbing.

Will was flipping through the recipes, trying to find an easier one than the many far from easy ones, and absently his mind drifted back to the engagement ring, hidden downstairs in the wine cellar, just sitting there, waiting to be offered to him. He sighed and shook his head, stamping down the rise of excited emotions he felt at just thinking about it, focusing more intently on carding through the recipes until finally he settled on making a 'beef' recipe he found. It wasn't too complicated in preparation or presentation and would take a little over an hour to make.

Will moved around the kitchen with relative efficiency, he knew where everything was but still couldn't pull it all together quite as seamlessly as Hannibal did. He tied his apron on –yes, Hannibal had bought him his own apron for when they cooked together- and he began preparing the sauce first, because it would need to be refrigerated.

Once he'd whisked the necessary ingredients together and the sauce was complete, Will placed it in the fridge and then retrieved the cast-iron skillet to set it onto the grill, switching it on to heat up. He then went around the corner from the kitchen, walking along the row of floor to ceiling windows as he made his way to the pantry door, below which, just as it had been in Baltimore, was Hannibal's kill/meat prep room.

Will didn't need to go down there presently though, he just needed to access the fridge in the large pantry. He punched in the combination for the door lock and then went inside the room to the silver double door fridge in which Hannibal kept cuts of human frozen meat. Will opened the fridge and glanced over the parts all neatly cleaned, prepared, packed and vacuum sealed.

Hannibal kept the plain cut parts, organs, limbs, and etcetera, in the freezer downstairs for when he was ready to clean them up.

Will took the meat he needed and then left the pantry, closing the door and locking it behind himself before he reentered the kitchen. The sun was getting lower in the sky and the kitchen was warmly lit by it, making Will smile. He really enjoyed living there. As he opened the sealed meat and begun preparing it, brushing it down with olive oil first, he thought of how Hannibal had let him pick their house when they'd arrived in Spain, and had also given him the option of primary décor choices for it.

Will was no decorator, but he knew that he hadn't wanted to live in a gloomy place ever again, he hadn't wanted to live anywhere with dark or old wood, large brick fireplaces or shingled roofs, no walls of trees surrounding him or expansive fields out in the middle nowhere. He also hadn't wanted intimidating brick and masonry structures on drab, gray suburban streets, no imposing, macabre art on the walls and too many doors closing everything in or out.

He'd wanted sunshine and a beautiful, serene view, a nice modern house that was never in darkness, clean and contemporary and large and openly spaced…and Hannibal hadn't denied him any one of those things.

They lived on high, overlooking winding roads, hills and the ocean as far as the horizon went and the house was all white walls and large windows, excellently ventilated with fresh air and never in the shadows. Even the roof was a deck and Will could spend time sunbathing up there if he wanted to. Their furniture and interior was modern, everything in subdued colors and understated materials, soft leathers, marble, steel, glass and lyptus wood. Their appliances were all silver to match the white open plan kitchen. Their bedroom faced the sea, with views that stretched on beyond a wall of windows and a wide white balcony that over looked the pool area. Their bedroom furniture and bedding were all in whites and soft browns with a few other touches of color, and it was naturally well lit in the day and by more than sufficient ceiling lighting at night.

It was exactly what Will had wanted and he was happy there…with Hannibal.

Once he'd finished seasoning the meat, Will placed it into the freezer to set for thirty minutes, and also needing to allow the grill to heat up for a further fifteen minutes, he walked around the counter to sit at the smaller dining table set there…

…he was thinking about the ring again. He couldn't help it.

He was trying to imagine the scenario in which Hannibal would propose, wondering which room in the house it would happen in, or if maybe it would happen outside by the pool. Hannibal wouldn't propose in a public place, too much of a spectacle for them, so it was likely to happen at home. Will smirked, thinking it would more than likely happen in the kitchen, or at least after some extravagant meal Hannibal would have spent hours preparing, so that he'd get to serve the wine he'd bought with the food.

Reminded of the wine, he brought his phone out of his pocket and that was the first thing he Googled, because the spelling of it came to mind easier than the foreign language word that had been inscribed inside the ring. Will brought up the web browser on his phone and tapped into the search bar, where he typed; Romanée-Conti Grand Cru wine price, and entered it.

It took a few clicks and skimming through wine lists to find the exact one he'd read off the label, since there were quite a few closely named, and once he found the right one, Will's eyes bulged for a second and he exhaled into his free hand,

"$13000…Jesus." he mumbled, knowing that price was probably excluding whatever the retailer who sold it had tacked onto the French wine. He shook it off, something he'd long since learned to do when it came to Hannibal spending money, money that as far as Will understood, came from some endless fucking well. Okay, well, not exactly, Hannibal had once vaguely implied that he had several investments, but that was all he'd ever said about it though.

Will continued with what he was doing, thinking of the word inscribed in the ring and sounding it out aloud until he had it right before he brought up Google Translate and typed it in,

"Am-zin-ai." He said it as he spelled it, aware that there was a diacritical mark above the 'z' that he could not type out on his phone, but he figured it wouldn't make much of a difference for the translator.

True enough, the translator recognized the word and detected it as being Lithuanian. Will smiled softly, thinking it was really great that Hannibal had engraved the ring in his native language, it sort of lessened Will's frustration about the fact that he'd be legally married as Ethan to Hannes Kask, and not Will to Hannibal Lecter.

That engraving would always stand as a point about who Hannibal truly was underneath the fake identity.

Will would never have imagined he could feel so prideful about Hannibal, and yet even very early on, before he'd learned about Hannibal being the Chesapeake Ripper, before the blood and lies and murder and enemies, when Hannibal had first been Will's friend, he remembered feeling pride that someone like Hannibal had the time of day for him. He'd been so rude to Hannibal when he first met him, and then again the second time, trying to be stand-offish by default, but it hadn't lasted very long.

Neither had their friendship, mind you.

That was in the past though, they'd since been together as a couple for a little over three years already, and they'd known one another for almost nine in total. And while Will would never have believed he'd end up where he presently was in those earlier years, he couldn't imagine himself being anyway else anymore.

He'd zoned out again, sitting with his phone in his hand –the screen gone black- as he sat letting his mind drift, absently touching the underside of his ring finger with his thumb, but Heller trotting back into the kitchen and lying down at Will's feet brought him back to the present and he reached down and petted the black lab before he unlocked his phone again. Will glanced over the screen and clicked on the 'more translations' button beneath the redundant English translation.

And his heart raced instantly, his breathing increasing, his chest tightening with a flood of emotion as he read the results on the screen; forever, eternally, always, perpetually, forevermore…and so on.

They were all Lithuanian translations, which meant the engraving meant any one of those things.

Will groaned out loud, making Heller's head and ears lift, because Will realized he couldn't even ask Hannibal which one it was until the man proposed, because bringing it up any time before would be a dead giveaway that he knew something, the timing would be too convenient for Will to suddenly take an interest in Lithuanian.

As if he had the time to learn it anyway, he'd only recently been able to consider himself fluent in Spanish which had taken a lot of time and effort, Will didn't really have a knack for languages.

Again, he reminded himself to stop thinking about the ring, because he had to be totally neutral and normal by the time Hannibal came home. With that in mind, Will spent the remainder of his time meant for waiting making sure his Snickers bar wrappers and the empty Coke can were so buried in the garbage bins down by the main gate that Hannibal would never find it.

Then he returned to the house and continued with the cooking.

Hannibal & Will met in 2013
Will was imprisoned for 3 months in 2014
Hannibal fled the States beginning of 2015
Will recovered and went to Florence late 2015
Hannibal hands himself in end 2015
Hannibal is in prison for 3 years -2016-2018
Will breaks Hannibal out beginning 2019
They run away:
Spend 3 months in America (hiding, tying up loose ends)
2 months in Portugal
Living For 2 years & 10 months in Spain