Will was going to stop seeing doctor Du Maurier. He had decided. He just couldn't handle her superiority anymore. He didn't like talking to her. He didn't like talking to most people, with the apparent exception of one.

He texted Hannibal later that night to let him know of his plan. To inform him that he would no longer run into him on their little park bench. Hannibal texted back asking if he could call the former profiler. Will cringed at the though of talking on the phone, but he could grit his teeth and deal with it.

"I am disappointed. For multiple reasons," Hannibal sighed. Will could hear the soft chopping on a cutting board in the background. He imagined Hannibal cooking himself a dinner far too fancy for one.

Will shrugged, "Sorry, I just can't deal with her anymore and I can't find the motivation to go now that I'm marginally less crazy."

"I just feel that you should not isolate yourself so completely. At least therapy was exposing yourself to other people."

"Are you implying tha I should continued contact with you, doctor?" Will snorted.

"Perhaps." Will could hear the smile on his lips, "I would love to have you over for dinner sometime."

Will hesitated. "I don't know, I just– I'm not good in new places."

"I could come over to your home instead, if that makes you more comfortable."

Will fidgeted. He didn't want to completely drop Hannibal, but he also felt weird about having a proper dinner with him. "I uh, okay. I mean, if you really want to."

"Excellent. I must insist on bringing the food though."

"Yeah, well you'd probably do a better job with the food than me anyway."

"What times works for you?"

"Uh, I don't work Sundays."

"Would Sunday at five be fine?"

"Yeah."

"Good, I will see you then, William."

"Yeah."

XxxX

Hannibal was right one time. He unloaded his car of food. The dogs followed him back and forth, allured by the smell of food. It was just as fancy as will had expected. Hannibal had explained it to him but Will didn't really care what it was. As long as it tasted good, he would eat it.

"Typically, I would serve this dish with wine but I thought I'd better not if I'm going to be driving home late tonight," Hannibal said as he offered the dish to Will.

"You could have stayed here," Will said awkwardly, "I have a spare room."

Hannibal raised an eyebrow. "And would you be able to sleep if I were to stay?"

"Probably not," Will fidgeted.

"Then I shall return home."

They are in relative quiet. There was soft conversation but for once Will didn't feel pressured to talk. It was nice and they finished eating rather quickly.

Will glanced to the side, toward one of the blocked off windows. He had a thought. He got up and wandered toward the front door, motioning for Hannibal to follow him.

It was pitch black out, the moon was little more than a sliver behind clouds. Cloud cover was actually relatively light, allowing the stars to shine out through the void of space. Lightning bugs lit the field.

Hannibal was smiling as he turned to Will, "Beautiful."

Will gave an awkward nod. He was trying to judge how he felt. Usually, if he was outside at night he was gripped by irrational fear. Now he just felt nervous. The night before he had tried to go outside and he couldn't do it. Apparently, it helped to have Hannibal there.

Will reached out his hands and captured a spare lightning bug. He uncoupled his hands to watch it crawl over his palm.

"You should get a jar so that we can capture a few." Hannibal suggested.

Will laughed at that. "Somehow I can't imagine you running around in a field with me, catching fireflies."

"Get a jar and you won't have to imagine."

Will nodded, looking down at the firefly still crawling over his hand. Hannibal held out his own hand and Will brought their fingers together to transfer the bug. Hannibal's hands felt soft and warm.

Will wandered into his home and found a glass jar, returning outside with it. "It doesn't have air holes so we'll have to let them go but here it is." Will held out the jar, uncapped.

Hannibal put his hand inside and shook the Lightning bug into it. Will closed the cap.

"Let's got find it some friends," Hannibal suggested, leaving the safety of the porch. Will's dogs followed him, eager to run around in the field. Will hesitated a moment, looking nervously skyward.

Hannibal turned to see if Will was following. Upon seeing that he wasn't, he returned to the porch and held out a hand with a smile. Will slowly took the hand and allowed himself to be drawn away from his home.

Being out there definitely made him nervous but when combined with the image of Hannibal Lecter running about after fireflies, trailed by a pack of dogs, it was worth staying outside.

They managed to catch forty or fifty of the things. There had been a few close calls where one of them had nearly been attacked by the bats that would swoops by every so often. Hannibal didn't hold it against them, he said he liked to hear them chattering away above them.

Instead of going right back inside, Will invited him to go see the creek behind his house by the light of their firefly lamp. He felt a bit giddy.

The woods were much more creepy at night bit Will was determined not to lose face in front of Hannibal.

"Here is my little creek," Will announced.

Hannibal raised an eyebrow, "I can't imagine you go fishing in here often."

Will laughed, "No, not unless I want to go fishing with a butterfly net."

They walked along the creek a bit before turning back to the house. There were still dishes to be done inside. Hannibal took up washing and Will dried.

"Have you always enjoyed cooking?" Will asked, just to make conversation.

"I believe so. I have not always been very good at it, but I think I have always enjoyed it."

"Did you learn on your own, or did someone teach you?"

"I was taught by the chef employed by my aunt and uncle."

"Your aunt and uncle could afford to employ a chef?"

"Yes, my family was quite well off."

"I can imagine you growing up a little prince in a big castle. I'm glad you didn't grow up to be a spoiled brat."

Hannibal laughed, "Well, I have had to work hard to get where I am now and times have not always so easy for me. I'm glad to hear that I do not come off as a spoiled brat."

"You come off more as a high functioning member of society. I don't know what you're doing in the home of a man who survived off of purely macaroni for most of childhood. Until I could actually drive down to the store and buy groceries for myself."

"You really don't do yourself enough credit, Will," Hannibal sighed, "You are a wonderful person, despite your macaroni filled past."

Will snorted as Hannibal handed him the last dish.

Hannibal grabbed a towel to dry his hands and glanced at his watch, "Oh dear, it's already quarter past ten. I should probably be going."

"I'll say it again: you could stay in my guest room."

"No, I think you've done enough out of your comfort zone for one day."

Will laughed, "Maybe so but I did have a surprisingly good time."

Hannibal laughed, "I'm glad to hear that. We shall have to do it again. Would next week at the same time work for you?"

"Sounds perfect."

"Wonderful. Than I shall said, goodnight, William."

"Goodnight, Hannibal."

Will felt drained the next day from so much social exposure but still content with how events played out.

XxxX

Once again, Hannibal arrived right on time with his bountiful feast. This one was even more showy than the last. Will might have guessed that Hannibal was trying to impress him.

Dinner was just as wonderful as the last and they decided not to wait to do the dishes. As they were finishing up Will started to fidget.

"Something wrong, Will?"

"Um. I just- uh, would like a tour of my house?"

Hannibal raised an eyebrow and nodded, "Lead the way."

"Well, you've sort of seen most of it but I just some might need a bit of explaining."

Hannibal nodded and turned fully toward his friend.

"Okay, you've seen basically all of the ground floor and it's sort of a mess but doesn't require much explanation, so let's go upstairs."

The made their way up the stairs past piles of papers and books. Will stopped on the top step to look back at it all and sighed. Then turned and headed farther down the hall where there was still writing on the walls he had yet to wash off. "Okay so, the wall writing. Sort of an insane thing to do, right? Right."

"It is a bit odd. How long have you been doing it?"

"Since I moved here. It's really weird. It doesn't happen a lot, just every so often I'll go into some weird sort of hyperactive state and I just have to start writing."

"Do you know what it says?" Hannibal asked, looking at the writing half of which was letters and half was some sort of symbols.

"Sometimes. It's like when you wake up from a dream and writing it all down then go back to sleep. Sometimes when you wake up again you don't even remember the dream even happened but it sounds sort of familiar. It's really weird. It used to freak me out a lot."

They walked a bit farther down the hall. "That's the guest room, which I really never go in and the room next to it is an office," Will opened the door to reveal a cluttered little desk. Fish hooks hung on a display above the desk and there was a bookshelf on the far wall.

"Do you make your own lures?" Hannibal asked.

Will nodded, bringing them farther inside to look at his display. "Yep, it's the one creative thing I do with my time."

"They are quite beautiful," Hannibal smiled.

Will shrugged and turned from the room.

There was a bathroom across the hall, where Hannibal had been in before and next to that was Will's room. It was messy and unmade, full of books and dog beds.

"Your room seems very comfortable," Hannibal observed.

Will laughed, "It's messy is what it is." He backed out of the room, "And then there's my panic room, which you've been in," Will gestured to the door.

"Ah, yes. Have you been using it since returning from the hospital?"

"Much less now and I feel more nuts when I use it than I did before."

"What was your state of mind when you made it? If you don't mind my asking."

"I don't really remember very well. I used to just shut myself the the closet but I didn't feel any safer than I did anywhere else. I don't know how tin foil is supposed to protect against aliens but–" Will faltered, stumbling and shocked that he'd said the word. "I mean– I just–" he was working himself up, Hannibal could see it in his face.

He placed a hand on Will's arm. "It's alright, you don't have to explain."

Will nodded gratefully. "So, yeah. You've seen pretty much everything now. Except the cellar, which I've never been in."

"You've never been in the cellar?"

"Okay, I used to think about serial killers for a living. When I see creepy cellars in old houses, it makes me a little nervous," Will laughed.

"You'd rather not find out the previous owners were murders?"

"You seem way too excited about my cellar. Do you want to go investigate?"

"I wouldn't object."

Will smiled, "I'll grab some flashlights then." He had some heavy duty flashlights stashed away in his panic room. There weren't any lights in the cellar but at least it wasn't dark outside yet, so they probably wouldn't need them too badly.

Will led them outside and around the back of the house. He shut the dogs away in the kennel, he didn't want them getting into whatever was down there.

In order to get the door open, the two of them had to clear it off and Will yanked one door open. It made a horrible screeching as it swung out of place. He moved to the other side to open the other door.

Standing in front of the open doors, cool air drifted up, sending chills down Will's spine. He snuck a glance over at Hannibal who was smiling at him. Will gave him a tiny shove, "It's creepy, don't laugh at me," he said but this only made the grin creep farther along Hannibal's face. Will huffed, turning on his flashlight and starting down the stairs. Hannibal was right behind him.

The air felt cold and moist and it smelled like dirt. It made Will want to take a shower. It also made him worry for the state of Hannibal's nice suit, but Hannibal didn't seem bothered.

The cellar itself was rather small. There were a set of shelves against the right wall. Against the back wall was some sort of countertop and a tub sink. And there were tool hung against the left wall. Will eyed the tools nervously. They seemed like normal handy work tools. Just some things one would use around the house to fix things up. None of them were covered in blood, just a good layer of grime. Hannibal was looking at the shelves.

"There seems to be canned food still down here," Hannibal mused, shining his flashlight in on some cans of cherries.

"I swear you try to convince me to eat out of one of those, I will disown you as a friend."

"They are preserved Will, as long as that remains true–"

"No, the people who lived here before me could have poisoned it or something."

Hannibal nudged open a drawer with the end of his flashlight. Will peaked over his shoulder. "Ugh, what the fuck is that?"

There appeared to be a rather large preserved snake in the drawer. Hannibal picked it up and set it on the counter. "There is a label on the top," Hannibal observed, smearing away some of the grime on top of the lid. "It says 'the cat snatcher'. I believe this is someone's idea of revenge."

"I'm glad this is the weirdest thing that was down here. I don't think I would have been able to handle it if we disrupted someone's ghost and it haunted my house for the rest of my life."

"Well, if you end up with a ghost, you are always welcome at my house," Hannibal smiled, "Shall we take the cat snatcher up with us?"

"Sure," Will shrugged.

The dead snake was put onto one of Will's shelves. He wasn't sure if he liked it there or not.

"Do you believe in ghosts, Hannibal?" Will wondered.

Hannibal hummed. "I'm not completely sure what I believe. My instinct is to say no, but I have heard a few compelling cases that do make me wonder."

Will shivered, "I don't believe in ghosts. I feel like I would have run into a ghost or two in my line of work and that hasn't happened."

"And I hope that it does not."

"Me too."

"Do you think perhaps next week you would be interested in coming over to my house for dinner?"

Will hesitated for a moment, "Yes, I think I would."

"Wonderful."

XxxX

Will arrived at Hannibal's house two minutes late and very nervous. From the outside the home was beautiful and well kept. Hesitantly, he rang the doorbell, waiting only a moment before Hannibal came to the door. He was dressed more casually than Will had ever seen him. That meaning he was not wearing a tie and his dress shirt was rolled up at the sleeves with one of the buttons undone at the top. Also, he'd apparently decided not to slick back his hair, it looked better that way.

"Will, welcome. It is good to see you."

"Good to see you too."

"The food will be a few moments, if you'll follow me."

Will watched quietly as Hannibal moved the food into the dining room, being helpful where he could. Dinner passed in a flurry of nervous conversation and outstanding food.

"Would you like the tour, Will?" Asked Hannibal when the meal was finished.

"Sure. I'm assuming you don't creepy cellars to explore."

"Not unless you count my well used basement."

"Any chances it was ever used by a murderer?"

"I built this house, so unless I've been secretly using it for darker purposes, I think you're safe."

"Um, I'm pretty sure I'm less safe seeing as you just casually brought up the idea that you could be a murderer."

"Well, if I were a murderer, I don't think I'd kill you."

"How kind of you. There was a journalist when I worked with the FBI, who was dead set on making everyone think I was a murderer. Actually, I don't think she would have been happy until she convinced the world that I was a psychopathic serial killer."

"That was not kind of her."

"No, no one could stand her. In a way though, I sort of respected her for how horrible she was."

There were quite a few rooms in Hannibal's house. He had his bedroom, a music room, an office, a few guest rooms, a hall for parties, a greenhouse, and a few others. The last stop was to return to the lavish kitchen where a bottle of wine lay waiting on the counter.

"Might I interest you in some wine, Will."

The blue eyed man paused before answering. "Yes, I think you might."

XxxX

Will was a little tipsy. He'd decided he needed to tell Hannibal something snd he needed to be at least semi drunk to to it.

"Hey, Hannibal?"

"Yes, Will."

"Can I tell you something?"

"Go right ahead."

"It's about what happened on my last case. I've never told anyone."

"I would be glad to listen."

"Okay, so the case was pretty weird. The guy went to all the trouble of manufacturing crop circles to leave the bodies in the middle, turned basically inside out. So there were a few people joking around that it was aliens or whatever. I was ignoring them and trying to profile this guy.

"We weren't getting very far with the case. We had a few suspects and a roughy profile but we weren't anywhere close. I was exhausted that week, I just couldn't sleep.

"I used to go out on walks when I was like that. I would take some of my dogs with me. So, I took Winston and went on a walk down my road. It was early fall, so it was still fairly warm and it wasn't really dark out yet, at least not when I left but the sun was setting. I remember walking a little ways before I turned around and came back. The last thing I remember was hearing the sound of an engine when I was at the end of my road.

"Then things got weird because I woke up strapped to a metal chair in a dark room. And– and yeah. You can probably just insert any random alien abductee story from there. It wouldn't be much different."

"I'd like to hear it from you,"

Will grimaced, "Well, they were small and gray, with big back eyes and tiny mouths. They didn't say anything to me but I felt like they were speaking to each other somehow. They cut me up in a few places without any anesthetic. Some places I have scars and some places I don't. Anyway, that was pretty traumatic for me and after however long I was gone, I woke up in the hospital. So yeah, it was kind of insane so I quit. Well, that's not the only reason I quit. Finding killers also wasn't good for my mental health and I was worried the uh aliens might come back for me if I didn't move. Then I could always feel their presence in the back of my mind. Now I only sometimes feel it."

"I think the fact that you acknowledge how strange these circumstances are is probably a good thing."

"Probably."

"Will, I must insist you stay seeing as you have been drinking."

"Yeah, I guess I'd better."

Hannibal took Will by the hand and lead him to a guest room. "My room is right down the hall if you need me."

"Alright, I'll try not to sleepwalk into your door."

"Is it likely that would happen?"

"It's possible."

"Shall I leave my door open?"

"Not unless you want me creepily coming into your room in the middle of the night."

"I'm leaving it open."

"Whatever, weirdo. Hopefully it won't happen anyway."

"Goodnight, Will."

"Goodnight, Hannibal."

Will did not sleep well that night, he didn't like sleeping in new places but he was relieved to wake up in the same place he fell asleep. He was beginning to hope that all his sleepwalking days were in the past.

Hearing a clatter downstairs, Will started down that way. When he arrived at the kitchen, he found Hannibal already up and making breakfast.

"Ah, Will. Hopefully you slept well."

Will shrugged. "What are you making?"

"Waffles."

The waffles were delicious.

"Will I was wondering," Hannibal hesitated, immediately worrying Will.

"What?" He asked suspiciously.

"I just wanted to know if you had any interest in going to the opera with me. Feel free to decline, of course. I was merely wondering."

Will hesitated. He tended to avoid going anywhere with crowds but then he also avoided being around anybody at all and with Hannibal things never seemed quite so terrible as they usually did. "Uh, I don't know much about opera... But I'd be willing to give it a shot," Will shuffled awkwardly, shoving a bit of waffle into his mouth.

He wasn't looking at Hannibal but he could tell the doctor was smiling. "I'm glad to hear it. The next show is Saturday night at five thirty. We could meet here before hand for dinner and drive there together. Do you have a suit to wear."

"Um, not a particularly nice one."

"I can take care of that for you."

"Hannibal, you really don't–"

"No, I insist."

Will squirmed. He didn't like the idea but he also didn't like the idea of going to find a proper suit on his own. "Fine, but I'm going to pay you back for it."

"You don't–"

"I do, so just– stop being so unreal."

"Unreal?"

"Yeah, sometimes I think I must be imagining you because there's no way you could be an actual human person."

"I assure you that I am."

"Whatever, sometimes I think you are an alien. Probably because of your cold hard sociopathic tendencies."

"My–"

"Don't even deny it."

Hannibal blinked at him. "You're still willing to go to an opera show with a sociopath? I'd imagine that in your previous line of work you'd have an aversion to such people."

"I like you, Hannibal. I don't like most people, so I don't care what you are."

"Then I shall see you at say, around four?"

"Sounds good."

XxxX

Will arrived at Hannibal's exactly on time. He was anxious as one might expect. Hannibal greeted him cheerfully, holding out the suit for him. He was wearing a black and red checkered suit, himself.

"I had to guess your measurements so I hope it fits well enough."

"Thanks, I'll just..."

"You can change in the guest room if you like."

"Thanks," Will shuffled off to change. The suit was of amazing quality. It was navy blue and black.

He shuffled back into main room where Hannibal was beaming at him.

"Will, you look wonderful."

"Thanks," he shuffled awkwardly. "You too."

"Dinner is ready if you are."

"Yep."

Dinner was wonderful.

"Shall we?" He gestured toward the door.

Will took a deep breath. "Let's go."

Hannibal drove them. Will was feeling slightly antsy but also sort of happy and excited because Hannibal didn't loath the idea of being seen with him in public.

Will guessed that Hannibal would usually be the sort to arrive very early for this kind of thing but they arrived only slightly early, giving them enough time to settle into their seats before the show started.

Hannibal had explained to him the premiss of the show but for whatever reason Will couldn't focus on what he was saying. He pretended to pay attention all the same.

Will felt increasingly nervous throughout the first act. It wasn't the usual sort of anxiousness he got from crowds, he just felt generally anxious. His attention to what was happening was fleeting. He almost didn't notice when the first act ended.

"Are you alright, Will?" Hannibal asked as they moved to the reception area.

"I'll be fine. I just feel a little off."

People were very interested in Will at reception. Or rather, they were interested in Will because they were interested in Hannibal. Apparently he'd never brought a person to a show before.

Hannibal did his best to shield Will from the attention.

During the second half, Will had to force himself to keep still. He wanted to jump up and run or do something. He was a nervous ball of energy when suddenly blood started gushing from his nose.

Will let out a soft breath of distress, lifting his hands to his face and causing Hannibal to look over. Hannibal seemed alarmed by this. He removed his own pocket square and pressed it into Will's hand before grabbing him gently by the arm and guiding them out of the theatre.

Will realized he was shaking. He didn't feel like he was shaking, more vibrating with energy.

"I'm sorry," he said, tilting his head forward.

"Don't worry, Will. Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, I feel a bit wired. Like, I just want to jump of of my skin."

"Do you want to go home then?"

"Want to? No. Should I? Probably. God, I'm going to be super upset about this later."

"Why is that?"

"I'm ruining a night out with you."

"And that's not something you would like to ruin?"

"Not at all."

"Would you like to go back to my home or yours?"

"Mine. I might start writing on the walls or destroying your house in some other way."

"What if I placed you in a controlled environment?"

You want to experiment on me?"

"If you would not object."

"Fuck it, why not? Let's do this. They'll probably come for me tonight, so either I'll be somehow abducted from a building in a well populated city or I'll completely lose my mind and you can watch it happen."

"Only if you're willing to let me."

"Yep"

Will spent all of the night pacing and writing. They were in the guest room. Hannibal had locked the door as a safety measure (more as a matter of comfort for Will).

Hannibal woke slowly. He had spent a majority of the night watching Will and did not remember falling asleep. He was sitting on the bed in the guest room. He was alone. Will was nowhere to be found. He got up and checked the door. Still locked. He unlocked it with the key he had placed into his wallet and peaked out into the hall. Nothing. He stepped back and checked the window. Locked with the screen intact.

Hannibal looked over at the papers Will had been working on. They were a mess of incomprehensible scribbles. The very last page lay abandoned on the floor. Hannibal examined it but could find no hint of where Will could have possibly gone.

XxxX

A/N: I think the idea of Hannibal tending to little plants in his greenhouse is sweet. It's even sweeter to imagine he was all carnivorous plants.

Thanks.