Until we get a real season 4...

[rhymeswithcannibal]

[Continuing from thread here.]

The weather forecast for Bethany Beach, Maryland said there was a 30% chance of thunderstorms for the next two days, but currently all the weather seemed to be bringing was cloud cover just dense enough to turn the entire sky steel gray.

Hannibal had a spring in his step as he slid out of the passenger side of the rundown pickup truck they'd bought for cash and never transferred out of the original owner's name. They could leave this behind without worrying that it would ever ever track back to them. No breadcrumbs for Uncle Jack at this marina to have him looking at boats that had been docked for a minimum of three years and then recently left.

"It's the farthest slip from the parking lot," he said as he opened the tailgate and reached in to drag a heavy, wheeled cooler out and settle it on the gravel at his feet.

Five months after they'd died at the cliff house, Hannibal had put some effort into changing his appearance. His skin was tanned, his hair was longer and shaggier, his beard was full, but could never be full enough to hide his distinctive cheekbones, and he was wearing jeans, work boots, a heavy fisherman's sweater, and a bandage on his left hand that he ignored as he worked.

"The keys are in a combination lockbox hidden on deck. I engaged a service to come in quarterly to ensure that the boat was aired out and maintained to a functional standard. We shouldn't have to spend too much time getting our house in order before we can leave."

Comments

[ashbloodbone]

Frustration as an exercise in keeping tedium at bay? At least Hannibal had a counterpoint to the threat of tedium in the unpredictability of Will's reactions and his recognition of Hannibal's manipulations. Will might give in to the ones that suited him, or he might rebel even at those for the sake of doing so. Or both, depending his mood at the time.

Or perhaps Will was giving himself too much credit. He saw Florence as a spiral of self destruction and unrestrained indulgence on Hannibal's part. Something that Will considered himself prepared and able to prevent in the future with either his presence reigning in those impulses directly or cutting them down at the root if necessary.

"The conclusion you came to," Will said with a hint of that flat amusement. Hannibal had already admitted he'd been led by the nose to the conclusion. "One of the few times in his life Mason Verger proved helpful to others." Without that intervention, Will would have been dead and Hannibal would have been left with another shattered teacup that would not come back together.

Recalling Verger and the events in Florence was slightly helpful in Will's attempts to flag his erection. He didn't want to beg off like a wound up teenager to take care of himself so soon after releasing Hannibal.

[rhymeswithcannibal]

Hannibal turned away to retrieve his sweater, speaking as he pulled it over his head. "Many of us owe Mason a debt, though I consider my debt to him paid in full."

He'd used a cattle prod to milk Mason's prostate. That helped even things out a bit. Too bad Mason had been unconscious for the experience, even if he wouldn't have been able to feel it, Hannibal didn't doubt that Mason's simply knowing what was happening would have made the experience more satisfying.

Those memories did nothing to help mitigate Hannibal's arousal, but unlike Will, he'd already established a reason to leave. He just wasn't going to. Instead, once he had his sweater on again, he turned around to take Will in with a head-to-toe glance that led him to a satisfying conclusion that Will had enjoyed himself. "Was this experience what you had expected?"

[ashbloodbone]

As Hannibal turned away, Will took in the brand on his shoulder. There was the distinct urge to reach out and touch, there and gone as Hannibal put that sweater back on. "The world is certainly not a poorer place without him in it." Will did not consider that he owed Mason a debt, either. An international trip as a side of beef was enough to dispel any notion of that, no matter if it had kept him from having his skull cracked open and his mind literally consumed.

Will would not be entirely surprised to know this, to know that Alana had bartered with Hannibal, Will didn't poke at those dark places. Alana and Margot had their piece of happiness and he did not begrudge them that, it was hard earned for both.

There was the strangest urge to shift away under that scrutinizing gaze, but he did not. Will inclined his head, eyes closing for a moment as he exhaled, a faint smile on his mouth. He opened his eyes and looked back up at Hannibal. "No. This was different than what I intended. More and better than I had planned." He felt compelled to honesty. Will had intended to throttle Hannibal a little, to close his fingers around Hannibal's throat, cut off the flow of blood enough to see Hannibal dizzy and unbalanced.He had intended a bit more cruelty for every bit of pleasure he'd indulged in.

That had not ended up being the case. Once he had his hands on Hannibal, once he felt the warmth of Hannibal's body against his own, his thoughts had quickly taken a different turn as was evidenced in the strain of his jeans, assuming the flannel did not cover enough of the evidence of Will's own arousal.

[rhymeswithcannibal]

In speaking of Mason, of course Hannibal was aware that turning away would show Will the brand. If his goal was to have a complete relationship with Will, intellectually and physically, he couldn't hide the scars he wore on his skin.

The scars under the skin would take more to reveal, apparently a bullet wound, infection, and morphine.

A glance was enough. He kept his eyes up; Will's expression was more interesting than gawking at the hint of an erection. Erections were overall very similar and only interesting up close, whereas Will's face was often the only way to get a hint of what was going on in his head.

"Different?" He took a step closer. "Had you intended to exert your control over me with more force, perhaps?" He didn't let Will off the hook there. "What changed?"

[ashbloodbone]

Hannibal did very little that was not purposeful, of that Will was very aware.

A bullet, a wound, an infection, and just the right amount of morphine to take the edge off but not completely relieve Hannibal to the point of total self control of his thoughts and feelings and how he stated them aloud to Will.

Gawking would have had less of an effect, a glance, the subtle knowing had him slightly off balance. But he refused to cede ground based on his physical reaction to Hannibal. Will was quite sure that Hannibal had been just as affected, even if he held himself as more composed.

Will inclined his head, gaze settling somewhere over Hannibal's now clothed sternum. "Not force." He wasn't going to outline his plans for Hannibal. "I enjoyed the closeness more than I would have enjoyed exerting my control." He lifted his gaze to Hannibal's face, though kept his eye contact to Hannibal's chin.

[rhymeswithcannibal]

Hannibal had read about quantum entanglement long before he'd met Will, but in the months since their fall, the thought of entanglement had attached itself to what he had with Will. Two particles - or people - once entangled, could be separated, theoretically, even across the universe, and they would still be entangled, still reflect each others' state.

The thought that their entanglement might include the two of them going to their separate rooms and masturbating just demanded wry amusement.

"Pain, then? But enjoying the closeness came as something of a surprise." He watched Will's eyes, even if Will couldn't watch his. He wasn't offended that Will treated eye contact like something that carried risk of petrification, as though Hannibal were some kind of gorgon. He'd rather Will weren't distracted by thinking of the petechiae he could have left Hannibal with if he'd choked him, for instance.

"I won't issue an open invitation to restrain me when the mood strikes you, but I would be happy to accommodate future explorations."

[ashbloodbone]

Will was not entirely sure he would sequester himself to his room and take himself in hand. He might wait it out above deck, attempt to will away his state rather than see it through to conclusion.

"Not pain," He wasn't entirely sure what to call the intent he previously had. "I knew I would enjoy the nearness. I wanted to touch you." Will was not distracted by thoughts of what might have been had he done anything more than what he had. Rather, he felt he had been put on the defensive and tried not to frown.

He, instead, took a step in towards Hannibal, lifted his gaze to meet Hannibal's gaze, "Future exploration might even be done without physical bindings. I might allow your own self control to keep you contained." Will paused, then added, voice pitching lower, "It would be easier to undo the restraints of self control with a verbal command than having to leave the moment to undo something hpysical."

[rhymeswithcannibal]

It was a waste of a perfectly good erection, but Hannibal understood the value of restraint.

"This penchant for dominance is a new development, isn't it?" And why not? When had Will been in a relationship with someone he felt morally obligated to keep the upper hand with?

He reached out to comb his fingers into Will's hair. "Next time the price of my compliance will be a kiss. Add that into your calculations."

He dropped his hand. "My razor and scissors await. Thank you for a very interesting afternoon."

[ashbloodbone]

Will would make it up to himself at night, in the quiet privacy of his own room. It was simply too bizarre a notion at the moment, to retire downstairs, each knowing what the other would be doing. His mind would stray from his own room, his thoughts would wander down to Hannibal.

"You know it is," Will said with a measured tone. Molly had been his longest and most serious relationship. There had been no need for such things with her. Every ended attempt prior to that had involved equal ground or coming from a position of lesser power. This was... very new.

Will's eyes half closed to the brush of Hannibal's fingers, but he did not lean into the touch. "Go take care of yourself," He said with wry amusement. He stepped back, then turned, heading to check on the auto navigation and check the satellite navigation for a potential unpopulated island near their route for their break the next day.

[rhymeswithcannibal]

Hannibal knew many things, yet still he asked questions to which he already knew the answers. From time to time he could be surprised to find that an inference or assumption was, wholly or in part, incorrect.

"I always do." He'd been taking care of himself for a very long time.

He left Will to ponder the navigation and went downstairs. He had a date with, well, himself. By the time he emerged, dressed in clothes he'd bought four years ago, he would one again look like the man who'd bought those clothes, less a few pounds, plus a few scars, and a little heavier in heart and soul than he'd once been. He counted those changes as the price of admission for this new life, and there would be no regrets.