sheilapgr asked you: Amm, would be great one fluf, where hannibal realized that will matter much more than he thought, which is more than a game or a whim, and does not want to lose him. PD. I still love your fics! 3

"This isn't…this isn't working," Will said as he massaged the back of his neck nervously. "I'm seeing things that I can't explain. Maybe I'm looking too long at murder victims and killers. I'm losing myself in other people's thoughts and my mind…It doesn't sound right though, does it? Breaking up."

Hannibal sat on the couch with a book of John Milton's poetry in his hand and the sound of Beethoven's Aria playing softly in the background. He closed the book with a dull thud and set it aside. "We're together in every conventional sense aside from marriage. Call it a termination if it makes you feel better."

"Termination sounds too final."

"And break up too childish. What brought this on, Will? Was it Jack?" His head lowered and his eyes took on a hardened edge.

"Jack," Will repeated with a brief humorless laugh. "No. No, Jack thinks this is a terrible idea, tried to talk me out of it. I'm, uh, I'm going to leave, go down to Louisiana. It's quieter down there."

Hannibal stood and crossed the room to stop the music and pitch them into a heavy silence for a moment.

"Back to the place of your childhood," Hannibal said quietly. "Down there in the familiar boatyards of your childhood, you'll find no one to push you into the darker nature of your imagination."

"You don't push me."

Hannibal inclined his head. "Don't I?"

"I still don't think I could have lasted this long without you."

The doctor stepped closer to Will and put his hands to either side of his partner's face. "Again, you underestimate yourself. When do you plan on leaving?"

Will put his hands over Hannibal's. "End of the semester. So, in a couple months."

Hannibal hummed quietly before he placed a soft kiss on the top of the other's head.

"I'm sorry," Will gave Hannibal's hands a brief squeeze. "I can't stay here. It's getting too hard for me to look."

Hannibal opened his mouth to reply but went quiet as Will suddenly wrapped his arms around his waist and held him close. And they stood that way for awhile, Will holding on for dear life and Hannibal a quiet comfort.

As the minutes ticked by the doctor found himself quietly say, "I don't want you to leave."