Ch.9
Tobias swirled his tongue around the hollow of Will's throat, cleaning every tear and replacing it with his saliva. Will could feel the cool air of the bathroom drying the saliva on his skin, making his skin feel cold and tight. Finished with cleaning tears, Tobias returned to pressing kisses all over Will's face. The arm that had been wrapped around his back now held the back of Will's head, and the hand that had cradled Will's face began to trace over Will's torso. Will sat rigid, trying not to flinch too much and anger Tobias. He couldn't help the goose bumps that rose in the wake of Tobias's fingers. Though Tobias was certainly warm and living, Will felt like the icy fingers of death were clawing at him.
"You are so lovely Will, so lovely. You have no idea how beautiful you are. A perfect masterpiece! You will be the best instrument I have ever made once I put the finishing touches on you. I'm sorry you have to die Will, I really am. It's regrettable, but I will preserve your beauty. I will display you so no one can forget your beauty, and just by seeing you, everyone will be able to hear my best composition!" Will cringed more at Tobias's words than the deceitfully tender kisses bestowed across his face.
Tobias placed one last, more forceful kiss on Will's lips as he picked up the knife. Will had hoped keeping his eyes shut would help him not know when the time had come for him to die, but the sound of the blade sliding across the bathroom tiles denied him that small comfort.
A newfound panic motivated Will to fight harder since Tobias was going to kill him no matter how well he behaved. Will knew he couldn't wiggle away from Tobias, and his limbs were useless; even if he was unbound his limbs were all asleep and frighteningly numb. Will's eyes flew open and he focused on the blurry image of Tobias's face, Will found himself incredibly grateful that he didn't have worse eyesight or he'd never have be able to defend himself.
Tobias smiled at Will when he saw him open his eyes. He hadn't suspected retaliation from Will at this point, and held off hurting Will a few seconds more so he could admire Will's eyes. Will waited as Tobias leaned a little closer to better admire his icy blue eyes, and when he thought Tobias was near enough, Will leaned back as much as he could and then slammed his head forward into Tobias's face. Will heard a crunch and felt Tobias's blood splash onto his forehead.
Crying out in pain, Tobias's hands flew to his face to tentatively prod at his broken nose. He wiped the blood from his face and scrambled to grab Will as the boy rolled off Tobias's lap and squirmed for the bathroom door. Will had no idea how he'd move the trashcan and then open the door, but he wiggled desperately towards the door nonetheless, leaving blood in his wake as his cuts opened from the exertion. Will could hear Tobias standing, and then the telltale heavy trod of Tobias as he stormed after him.
Will thought he could feel the knife sinking into his back, even as he inched closer and closer to the door.
Both Will and Tobias froze in shock when the bathroom door flew open with a loud bang. Will subconsciously noticed the trashcan had spilled, and felt bad for the janitors who'd have to tidy it up later. Only when Will was lifted carefully and placed against the wall near the door, and then had his glasses slipped onto his face, did Will realize he was being rescued. Will felt like there was a curtain over his eyes, and it took a voice to let Will see that Hannibal had come to save him. Will sobbed with joy.
"Tobias, you have done precisely as I warned you not to do. You know the consequences." Hannibal lifted the trashcan and replaced it under the door handle before stalking over to stand in front of Will. Tobias was shaking, suddenly unsure of the situation he had gotten himself into. He lunged for his bag and pulled out a coil of wires, much like the ones Will had found around Frank's neck, and swung them in a wide figure eight. Hannibal eased forward, dodging the swinging wires.
Will forgot his pain as he watched Hannibal approach Tobias, anxious for his friend's safety. Hannibal studied Tobias's movements and then sprang forward, blocking Tobias's arm and slamming his elbow into Tobias's temple. Tobias tried to back away as he clutched his head in his hands, but Hannibal pulled his arms from his head and gripped his shoulders as he thrust his knee into Tobias's gut. Hannibal quickly followed up with another knee, this time to Tobias's face.
Tobias sank to the ground with a groan as blood gushed from his face. Hannibal contemplated how to kill Tobias so that Will wouldn't be as likely to learn anything about Hannibal that he didn't want Will knowing.
Unfortunately, those brief seconds gave Tobias time to find the knife, forgotten on the floor, and stab it into Hannibal's thigh. Tobias held the knife in Hannibal's thigh and laughed up at him.
Will cried out when he saw the knife thrust into his friend's leg. He wanted to close his eyes and block out the horrible scene, but he couldn't take his eyes off Hannibal.
Tobias's moment of elation was short lived. His grin quickly disappeared, to be replaced by an expression of fear.
Hannibal's only recognition of the attack was a small grunt of pain. He calmly placed his hand over Tobias's and jerked the knife from his flesh, crushing Tobias's hand against the knife's handle.
Cringing, Tobias tried to slip his hand out from under Hannibal's. He finally succeeded, but had to release the knife. Tobias stumbled back a few steps, the momentum from tugging his hand free setting him off balance. Hannibal retained control of the knife, and, wasting no more time, leapt forward slitting Tobias's throat.
Tobias's body fell to the floor with a heavy thud. Blood flowed freely from his throat and pooled around him. The sound of Tobias's body, large and thick, but soft, hitting the tile echoed in Will's ears, filling his head. He watched, numb, as Hannibal stood over Tobias, assessing his handiwork.
Will was in shock and couldn't analyze the scene; he had never seen a dead person, let alone one killed in front of him before. Will wasn't sorry that Tobias was dead, he thought it was justice for what he did to Frank, but Will wished he could wash the past hour or so from his mind, particularly the sound of Tobias's body falling.
Hannibal leaned over Tobias's corpse and wished he could have drawn out his suffering, but it would have been too risky. He suddenly remembered that he had left Will still bound. He limped away from the corpse and kneeled next to Will.
The boy was pale and shaking. He was coated in sweat, tears, and blood. Hannibal retrieved the blade he'd killed Tobias with and used it to free Will from the duct tape bindings. He then helped Will pull his pants back up but waited to rebutton his shirt, vest, and coat. Will's arms had lost most of their circulation, and Will cringed when they were moved to lie in his lap. Hannibal ignored Will's whimpers and rubbed Will's arms between his hands until Will cried out and began to get feeling back in painful bursts.
Only when Hannibal was certain Will wouldn't lose any of his arms or fingers, did he return to Tobias's body. He mentally planned how he would butcher the body to best disguise the meat and feed it to Will. Pleased with his plans, he returned to help Will stand. Will shook in Hannibal's arms, but he managed to get to the sink.
Will flinched, and had to bite his lip to keep from crying out when Hannibal wiped damp paper towels over his cuts and cleaned his stomach. Hannibal paused and decided to clean Will from top to bottom so no grime could drip down to an already cleaned area. Hannibal temporarily removed Will's glasses so he could better clean Will's face. Will was pliable as Hannibal rinsed his face under the sink and dried him with paper towels. Hannibal stroked Will's cheek softy, barely touching the bruises Tobias had placed there, and replaced his glasses. Then, Hannibal took towel upon towel to Will's skin until he had wiped away all the blood and tears reaching to Will's waistband.
Hannibal hesitated before undoing Will's pants and letting the trousers pool around the boy's thin ankles. He had seen the cuts on Will's thighs, but he couldn't be certain that was the extent of the harm Tobias had caused Will below the belt. Hannibal hated to ask, but he didn't want Will to suffer in silence if the case was otherwise. Will shifted, feeling uncomfortable in his underwear as Hannibal frowned distractedly.
"What is it, Hannibal?" Will fidgeted and studied Hannibal's face.
"Will…did Tobias do anything else to you than what I have already seen?" Hannibal amended his question when he saw Will's innocent confusion. "I mean, did he touch you…inappropriately?" Hannibal almost choked around the words and waited for Will's reply with what felt like a fist squeezing his heart.
"What, uh, no. No, I mean, oh god. No, he kissed me a lot but he didn't touch me. Not like that." Will felt extremely embarrassed and hung his head to hide his flaming cheeks. He felt very vulnerable, even with Hannibal beside him.
Hannibal took a deep breath and felt all his anxiety leave. He leaned his head on Will's shoulder for a second to calm himself and was shocked to feel tears slip down his cheeks. Hannibal was crying he was so relieved.
Will almost jumped when he felt the little tears drip onto his shoulder. Will didn't know what to do, so he stroked Hannibal's hair and kissed away his tears.
Will was enveloped by strong arms as Hannibal clung to him. His precious mongoose, his Will was safe; all his wounds were things that Hannibal could easily help heal.
Hannibal sighed and ran his hand through Will's curls, placing little kisses all across his face. Finally, he pulled away and got another damp paper towel. He wiped gently at the cuts on Will's thighs and the boy gripped the counter, trying to alleviate some of the pain. Once Will was cleaned, Hannibal ran one dry paper towel over him to clean up any remaining water. All fresh and more or less presentable, Will fixed his clothing and dampened his hair to smooth it out. If it weren't for the bruises on his cheek, no one would know anything had happened to Will.
Hannibal studied his thigh while Will redressed. He was annoyed to find it had bled quite a bit, but fortunately, Tobias had missed anything important so the wound would heal without him having to go to a hospital. Hannibal grumbled at the slice in his trousers, but his blood had not stained them so the hole was relatively unnoticeable. Either way, the blood caked on his leg was uncomfortable, so Hannibal took off his pants.
Will was fixing his hair in the mirror when he heard Hannibal's pants hit the floor. He turned to look at Hannibal, but blushed and quickly looked away. Will felt bad that he wasn't helping Hannibal clean up like he had done for him, but he was also embarrassed to see his friend, always so perfectly dressed, standing in his boxers and suit top. It was a strange picture to take in. Finally, after watching Hannibal cringe as he bent his leg to wipe at the blood easier, Will walked over and took the paper towel from Hannibal.
Kneeling at Hannibal's feet, Will gently dabbed the towel around the stab wound until it was clean and stopped bleeding. Will retrieved another paper towel and wiped the trail of blood off, carefully soaking the dry blood first to be sure it wouldn't pull at Hannibal's skin when he wiped at it.
Hannibal didn't know what to do with all the affection he felt bubbling up for the boy kneeling at his feet. He was caught between slaughtering the boy and making him into the best meal ever made, and locking him in his home so that he would always be Hannibal's. Fortunately for Will, he ended up doing neither, and just stared adoringly at Will instead.
When he finished cleaning Hannibal's leg, Will glanced up in time to see the look of pure adoration on Hannibal's face. Will felt his heart skip a beat and he blushed. He rushed to throw away the dirty paper towels and pretended to be busy cleaning his hands of any blood that may have transferred to them as Hannibal pulled his trousers back up.
Will forgot that Hannibal could see his face in the mirror as he washed his hands.
Hannibal watched Will blush and bite his lip as he washed his hands. Will's eyes glittered with glee as he remembered the way Hannibal had looked at him; it made Will feel so special and happy. Will feared his heart might burst from his chest just thinking about the expression on Hannibal's face.
Before Hannibal could rethink his actions, he pulled Will around to face him. Will's eyes grew big and his whole face turned bright red. Hannibal gently held Will's bruised face in his hands and sealed Will's mouth with his. When Hannibal moved his lips against Will's, both felt as though they had been struck by lighting.
Will gasped and returned Hannibal's kiss tentatively. Hannibal kissed just a bit harder, and instinctively tightened his grip on Will's face. Will whimpered when Hannibal pressed on his bruises, but didn't dare pull away from the kiss, too afraid that when it ended he would stop breathing.
A knocking on the bathroom door followed by someone jiggling the door handle caused Hannibal and Will to jump. Hannibal pulled away from a dazed Will to limp towards the door. He checked his hair quickly in a mirror and splashed cold water on his face, before opening the door a crack and pocking his head out.
A student was on the other side of the door, hopping from foot to foot, impatient to use the restroom. Hannibal told him to use the ladies room, and that this bathroom was being inspected due to an anonymous report that a student was stashing drugs. The boy nodded and rushed to the ladies room.
Hannibal returned to stand in front of Will, and then looked at the body, now cold, lying not four feet away. He realized they had yet to discuss how to handle the issue of the crime scene. Hannibal would of course dispose of the body, but he needed to convince Will not to go to the authorities first.
Will stood, looking scared and unsure, as Hannibal began to grab paper towels, and then toilet paper when the paper towels ran out, to clean up the blood that had leaked from Tobias.
"Shouldn't we tell someone what happened? Then they can deal with cleaning up." Will frowned and avoided looking at Tobias' face.
"Will, we can tell no one what has happened. The authorities would demand to know what you did to incite Tobias to attack you as he did. And they wouldn't believe you when you say that he didn't touch you inappropriately. They would force you through tests and they'd poke and pry at your wounds. You'd never have any peace, and they'd feel obligated to tell your father. You don't want him to know what's happened to you, do you?" Will looked thoughtful and shook his head. Hannibal wrung out the paper towels in the sink and then mopped up as much blood as he could before throwing them away. "Not only that, but they would want to know why we are so close. Now that we've cleaned ourselves up they might not even believe us. They might say that I hurt you, and that Tobias tried to protect you and that is why I killed him. They would try to force you to admit to lies, Will. They would find psychiatrists who would mess with your head so much that they would make you believe I had attacked you and Tobias."
Will looked horrified and stared at the floor as he processed the information.
"They'd try to separate us, wouldn't they? What if they convicted us both of murder? They might think we planned to kill Tobias, and you made the cuts on me just to make it seem like Tobias was the attacker. I'd never be able to see you again if they put us in separate cells!" Will began to shake as his mind created possible scenarios.
Hannibal almost grinned, Will's imagination was just so powerful, and his mind so impressionable.
"Yes, they might even do that. That is why, Will, you must allow me to clean up the bathroom and dispose of Tobias's body. If you leave no prints, then, if they do find out, only I will be sent to prison. I would need you to care for Abigail in my absence, and I'd appreciate it if you watched my home for me as well. Perhaps I would be allowed visitors or phone calls for good behavior."
Will looked ill and he almost collapsed at the thought of Hannibal being incarcerated. He understood Hannibal's reasoning though, and nodded his agreement.
"Very good. Then, Will, you should go back to the dance. If I noticed you were taking a long time coming back, then I'm sure your friends have too. Ask Beverly if she has any makeup to cover your bruises. Just tell her that some guy throwing his arms around while dancing accidentally hit you, and then you fell, hitting your face again. Then I want you to enjoy the rest of your evening with your friends, and if you see me again this evening, don't acknowledge me. Can you do that for me Will?"
"Yes, yes I can." Will walked over to Hannibal and leaned down to give him a quick kiss before checking his appearance in the mirror and walking back to the table Beverly had chosen for them.
Once Will left, Hannibal cleaned the blood off the floor in earnest. It took a while, but finally he had removed all traces. He put all the bloody paper towels and toilet paper at the bottom of the trash can, and then moved the other trash, that had spilled on the floor when he broke in earlier, to the top to cover the blood. Hannibal took the knife and violin strings and wiped them clean, just in case, before placing them back in Tobias's bag. Hannibal used Tobias's jacket to wrap his head and neck, to keep any blood that was left over from dripping on to the floor. He searched Tobias's bag, and was pleased to find a tarp and saw.
Hannibal hefted Tobias's body on to the tarp and proceeded to cut him apart. He'd take care of the meat selection when he got home, for now he sawed at the softest parts to break Tobias up enough to fit in his own gym bag.
Will took some ice from a drink table and wrapped a napkin around the ice and held it to his cheek as he sat waiting for his friends to take a dance break and sit down with him. A song later, Beverly and Jimmy headed to the table and sat down. Jimmy collapsed in his seat and rested his head on the table, saying "hi" to Will without looking at him. Beverly smiled at him and clapped him on the shoulder, but recoiled and gasped when she saw the bruise under the little makeshift bag of ice.
"Will Graham! Did you get in a fight?" She stared at him and pulled his hand away to get a better look at his face. Will hung his head and feigned embarrassment as he decided weather to stick with Hannibal's story or say he got in a random fight. Eventually, he realized Beverly was too clever to believe it was an accident.
"It was dark as I tried to get off the dance floor and I ran into someone, I couldn't see but they hit me a couple times. I don't know who it was but I got out of there really quick. I went to the bathroom to cry for a bit, don't tell anyone." Will drank some water and tried to avoid feeling guilty for lying to Beverly. She believed his story and patted him on the arm.
"Shit, Will! Well if you find out who it was let me know, I'll kick his ass for you." Will laughed and almost choked on his water. Will casually asked if Beverly had any concealer he could use to fix his face up a bit, not wanting to give Freddie anything to photograph. She pulled a tube out of her purse and dabbed the makeup over his bruise as gently as she could. Satisfied he'd pass for normal in the dim lighting, she put away the concealer. He smiled his appreciation and they joined Brian and Freddie on the floor. Jimmy napped for the rest of the evening until Brian made him stand for the promenade at the end.
Freddie joined Will's group in the limo on the way to after prom, being much more amiable now that she knew they were good trustworthy people. Will could tell that Beverly was happy to have another girl in their group, and she had a grudging respect for Freddie's take-no-shit-from-anyone attitude. They were similar in that respect, Will realized as he admired his friends sitting around him in the limo.
Will glanced out the window in time to see Hannibal carrying Tobias's gym bag and put it in his trunk before driving away. Will felt queasy thinking about what had to be hidden in the bag, and turned quickly to join the conversation around him. He spent the rest of the night and through the morning worrying about Hannibal and hoping he wouldn't be caught.
