I hope you enjoy this chapter! Quick word though, I think I'm a bit off character, but this can be considered before Will grows up and deals with most things adults have to. Or at least his crazy. He technically has a couple of symptoms that he has an adult, but that's to deal with the rest of the story. I hope you like it! And I will post another as soon as I can.
Will washed Winston while grumbling about how he could have gone to get dirty if he had just bathed the dog yesterday after his "study date" with Hannibal. Winston only panted, and wagged his tail. He had no idea what he did was wrong and was already making plans to do it again tomorrow. Will finished cleaning him up and went back to writing his research paper for his Criminal Justice class. He knew he was going to pass the class before he even entered it, so he would leave all his research papers for the weekend before it was due. Unless it was Hannibal's class then he would have to start on his research papers the same day that Hannibal assigned it. He finished the paper with the minimum asked, three pages. He grabbed the medicine box from his backpack and took his share of pills for the night.
He hated taking them. It was such a bother. Every three hours take a pill for anxiety, take a pill for headaches, take the anti-depressive, take the anti-inflammatory, and now some pill for your liver. Not that he had liver problems, but with so much medication it could bring problems later. So said his physician. His cell-phone vibrated in his pocket as he took the pills; the screen flashed the name of the caller Alana Bloom.
"Will, it's Alana, how are you doing?" Will smiled when he heard her voice. Alana Bloom was his sponsor. She was a close friend to her mother and took care of him when his father couldn't.
"Fine. And you?" Will responded, listening to her response.
"I'm doing good; I received a call from the insurance, having car trouble?"
"Uh, yeah, but I can pay for it." Will said, "You are only supposed to cover my tuition, anyway."
"I am willing to pay any extra costs, Will."
"It's fine."
"Have you found a reliable therapist?" Alana asked.
"No… but I…" Will chuckled at the thought, "I found a friend… his name is Dr. Hannibal Lecter. He's my psychology professor."
"… Will wouldn't it be better if you make friends your age…? I'm glad that you're socializing well with your professor, and it's good to have contacts like Dr. Lecter… but you should find friends your age as well." Alana suggested. Will almost felt the harpoon sink into his heart.
"Well… he's a psychology professor… so he can help me with my… problems…" Will explained. However, Alana was still a bit worried, "Besides, he's not that old."
"Well… how are you doing in his class?"
"I'm the highest grade a B-." Will said.
"B-!? Is his class that difficult?! You have straight A's in the rest." Alana said.
"I know… he's hard to please." Will smiled. He heard his dogs bark towards the door, "I'm sorry Alana, I have to go. I can call you later or-."
"It's fine. I just wanted to know how you were doing; I'll call you next week." Alana hung up the phone. There was knocking on the door and his dogs had not stopped barking. Will went towards the door and opened it with one quick motion. To Will's surprise, Hannibal was standing at his doorstep, a box with him.
"D-Dr. Lecter!?"
"I hope I am not interrupting anything." Hannibal smiled.
"No! Not at all!" Will's dogs began to crowd the door, trying to get a whiff on who was at the door, "Wh-what brings you here?" He began to push the dogs away.
"I recalled how you enjoyed the omelet from yesterday and I decided to bring you some dinner." Hannibal explained.
"You don't do this with all your students…" Will chuckled, trying to hide his blush.
"Uh, no." Hannibal laughed, "But you're not an ordinary student."
"Touché." Will smiled, "Just… give me a minute."
Will quickly began to take his dogs to the backyard. He quickly brushed off the table and chairs, since he was certain there was dog hair all over it. Hannibal was wearing a suit and it had expensive written all over it and he wasn't about to have Hannibal fail him in class because he found dog hair all over his suit. Will dashed to the door and opened it once more. Hannibal smiled and walked into the house.
"How many dogs do you have?" Hannibal asked as Will lead him to the kitchen.
"I own six." Will replies, "I don't want them to be trouble though, so I took them outside." Hannibal smiled and placed his bag on the kitchen counter.
"I brought some homemade treats for them as well." Hannibal said, "I wasn't so sure how many dogs you had, so I made enough for about a dozen dogs."
Will almost laughed with what Hannibal had said. It was a sweet gesture and as much as Will would like to have twelve dogs, he couldn't; it was Alana's home. Will began to get the aroma of the food that Hannibal had brought. It smelled amazing, compared to the TV dinner he was about to cook. Will tried to help Hannibal with the food, however Hannibal ordered Will to sit. Hannibal began to bring out the dishes he had packed along with the Tupperware he used to package up the food. He placed everything delicately on the dish, like it was some sort of fragile structure that would fall apart with the lightest touch.
"I cooked this all myself, I hope you enjoy it." Hannibal brought the dish to Will and one for himself, "Porc a la Dijonnaise, sautéed pork tenderloin with an orange sauce." Will looked at the plate with amazement.
"Yo-you made this yourself!?
"I am very particular on what I put into my body." Hannibal smiled as he poured the orange sauce over the tenderloin, "So, I prepare most meals myself."
Will sat patiently until Hannibal sat down to eat as well. Hannibal was surprised over the manners his student displayed. Hannibal hated rude people, so having his cute student display such manners only made Hannibal like him even more. Hannibal sat down, but Will would still not eat. He looked at the plate with amazement not touching it yet.
"Are you going to eat it with your eyes?" Hannibal chuckled.
"N-no! It's just-!" Will blushed, "I just wanted to wait for you to eat first…"
"Please…" Hannibal allowed Will to take the first bite. His face lightened up completely when he took that first bite into the juicy meat; the taste was unbelievable, the orange sauce made it sweet, but the tenderloin itself had a taste that Will had never tasted before. Each flavor in the meal was distinctive. The tenderloin was soft and cooked to perfection, with the lightest taste of salt. The orange sauce gave it the sweetest taste that sat easy with the tenderloin. Will loved it.
"It's delicious! I have never tasted anything like this!?" Will said in amazement, "Thank you!"
"You're welcome, Will." Hannibal cut a piece of the tenderloin.
"Where did you learn to cook like this?" Will asked; actually trying to be social, although he felt uncomfortable about it.
"I studied in France for a while, so I learned many dishes from my peers." Hannibal explained.
"Well, you're really talented." Will smiled as he took a sip from the wine. Hannibal felt his cheeks warm up a bit. He knew he was a good cook, but hearing it from Will's mouth was refreshing.
"Thank you, I'm sure your cooking skills are adequate." Hannibal complemented. Will laughed and shook his head.
"No, I can barely make eggs." Will smiled. Hannibal noticed that Will was "socializing" more than usual and felt pleased with himself. However, Will knew having a silent dinner with the strictest teacher of the University was out of the question and he also wanted Hannibal to like him.
"I can teach you." Hannibal offered, "Just basic dishes that could impress guests."
"Well, I don't have a lot of guests here." Will responded.
"It might serve for the future." Hannibal said. Will almost chocked on the tenderloin. He heard 'it might serve for the future, Mrs. Graham; encrypted somewhere into that sentence. Hannibal meant that it might serve for future business formals. Many colleagues enjoyed the idea of having someone who cooked in the office and he really wanted to show Will how to cook.
"I-I guess." Will blushed.
It was silent for a moment. Will looked down at his plate trying to avoid contact. Hannibal glanced at Will from occasion, until their eyes finally met. Will noticed that animalistic shade in Hannibal's eyes. It reminded him of the fable of Hansel and Gretel; the witch that fattened up the kids with candy just to eat them, reminded him of the look Hannibal was giving him. It sent chills down Will's spine.
"S-so, over the years have you had many favorite students?" Will's first attempt to be social.
"I had one a while ago, but she followed her boyfriend to London; they're working as private investigators." Hannibal explained.
"You must be proud, since she took your class."
"Exceptionally." Hannibal smiled, "But, you're much more impressive."
Will looked away at the sentence. He just couldn't keep up with the compliments. Sooner or later Hannibal would have to tell Will off for something. However, Hannibal enjoyed guessing what Will would try or say. Most people reacted the same dull way, Will was different. They finished their dinner with few words exchanged. The occasional sentences exchanged were about the class or the books in the class. Hannibal brought out the dessert from the box he had brought the food originally. Will gawked at the nicely done chocolate cake which had the freshly poured chocolate syrup. Will was sure that the desert had a fancy French name, but he didn't care at the moment. He was busy being fattened.
"Thank you." Will said calmly before taking the first bite. The chocolate danced with his tastes buds. Will was never had a sweet tooth, but he never really liked having guest over either, "You should make your own restaurant, I'm sure it'll have five stars in no time."
"I had that thought in my head, many years ago, but I found myself a lot more focused on the human mind." Hannibal said.
"How did you come about teaching?"
"I was a psychiatrist before becoming a professor; while I was a psychiatrist a patient assaulted me. I killed him out of self defense. I haven't returned to the field because of it." Hannibal explained.
"You killed him?"
"Yes, it was self-defense, so I only served a few months of prison." Hannibal explained. That vivid image of the witch eating the children came back to Will.
"Wow… you don't expect that out of your psychology teacher." Will muttered still eating the cake.
Hannibal was pleased with the reaction he got. Will was not appalled Hannibal had killed someone. Most people would have lost their appetite and stopped eating the cake or begin to judge him. In reality, it looked like he was rather accepting of the idea of murder. Hannibal was enjoying this little experiment he proposed himself. Will took a quick glance at Hannibal who was now taking a quick sip out of the desert wine he recently poured. The red wine gave the illusion of blood being drunk. Will smiled at his notions. He was probably wrong about Hannibal's image.