A.N.¹: The first part is settled after Digestivo (3x07) and before The Great Red Dragon (3x08). The second part is settled after The Wrath of the Lamb (3x13).

X_X_X

When Will woke up that morning, it was to an empty bed.

He frowned, and stretched his arm across the empty side, feeling that it was cold, which meant that Molly had been gone for a while. Unusual, since he usually woke up whenever she left the bed.

Will wondered if that meant that he was finally acquiring some normal, non paranoid habits.

It was only after he brushed his teeth and washed his face on the bathroom sink that he remembered that Molly had told him that she would be off earlier that day, because Wally had to take vaccination early in that morning. Will had even offered to drive them, but Molly declined it, used as she was to being a sole parent, and told Will that he should take the opportunity to sleep in for once in his day off.

After that Will relaxed a little, understanding her absence, and took a shower for longer than normal. He dried off and got dressed, and went to the kitchen to start the day on his own.

Spending time alone was never an issue for Will. They were a routine since his childhood; his father was always working, sometimes even working two jobs, and Will learned to live well in his own company, and this didn't change in his adult life.

But since he married Molly, all his time had turned into shared hours, with her and with Walter. Will really wasn't used to the sensation of sharing all his awake moments with another person, but Molly never imposed herself, never pressed him to share what he was thinking when he didn't want to. She had her own secrets, and while Will was aware that her secrets were probably nowhere as bad as his own dark corners, he was more than grateful to her for being so understanding.

Looking at the kitchen that was almost exclusively Molly's territory now, Will started to open the drawers to get a few ingredients. It wouldn't be long until Molly was home along with Walter now, and he thought they would like to get a surprise breakfast when they arrived. Wally would probably be hungry, and Molly would appreciate the gesture.

Will didn't think too much in what he was doing, just mixing up some ingredients, thinking that Walter would love to have Will cooking for him. He and Molly married not long ago, but the boy already looked at him in awe, as one kid would look at his hero of a father. It honestly scared Will shitless most of time, to have a child look at him this way, but it also made him wish to never let him down, to never let him know the darkness that lived in the world that Will used to habit before marrying Molly.

He smiled a little at the thought. Will could hardly believe the life he was living now, with a regular job, an impressionable stepson and a loving wife; he could hardly believe that a woman like Molly would want to share her life with someone as damaged as he was. Every time he looked at her Will felt immense gratitude for her kindness in letting Will experience the blissful normalcy of their marriage, in letting him experience what was like to live with someone so full of light as she was.

Will was so absorbed in his thoughts that he only truly realized what he was doing when he started to cut the oranges, and once he did he startled and let the knife drop into the table, backing away a few steps.

Looking at the dough he was doing from a distance, Will could confirm that yes, he was preparing for his wife and stepson the now very familiar recipe of orange Italian cookies that Hannibal taught him in what seemed to be forever ago.

With a deep breath, Will closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he stared angrily at the dough as if it was personally responsible for everything he was feeling.

Anger, at having a memory of his former life being thrown into his face without warning. Sadness that something so small and innocent was capable of holding such an undesired meaning. Guilty, because he felt as if he was betraying someone and he wasn't even sure if he was betraying Molly or Hannibal.

Will felt a full body tremor when he thought about his name. He always avoided thinking about Hannibal these days, avoided even thinking about his name. He knew he could never expel him completely of his life, Hannibal was to deep inside him for it to be possible and the marks in his body would never let him forget, but he could avoid and he could pretend. That was what he always did now, that was what he did when Molly hesitantly asked about Hannibal once, but it was hard to pretend when the force of a memory, even the force of his name inside his head was still capable of affecting Will like this.

Swallowing, he picked the entire dough as if it was poisonous, and threw it into the garbage can; he then took the trash outside, because Molly would sure reprimand him if she saw how much food he wasted. Hell, he was even chastising himself for it, but he couldn't stand to look at that dough, not for a second longer.

When Molly and Walter arrived forty minutes later, Will had hot coffee waiting for them and fresh, recently bought bread. Both Molly and Walter were happy, both looked at him with warmth in their eyes, but even that wasn't enough to make Will feel less like a failure.

X_X_X

When Will arrived in their cabin that afternoon, it was to a very silent house.

As soon as he entered and didn't listen to any noise, he immediately went on alert, his heart hammering into his chest. He was away for at maximum fifty minutes in a quick run for groceries, not very long at all.

Making as little noise as he could, Will walked into the rooms, seeing that nothing was really amiss, but he could only truly breathe again when he approached the bathroom and heard the noise of the shower. Relieved in knowing that Hannibal was still here and that they were fine, Will went to the kitchen to store the forgotten groceries he had bought, still feeling his heart beating a little faster than normal.

Will tried to chastise himself for reacting so dramatically, but he knew that it was better to be safe than sorry. They weren't living on the USA anymore, but their almost death was still recent enough for them to be recognizable, and they had to be careful at all times.

Even this ordinary grocery run that Will did was full of precautions, with Will wearing a hat, sunglasses and paying cash in a small store, that he already knew that didn't have security footage. His beard was fuller now, to cover his still raw cheek scar and his curls were also longer, giving him a scruffy but younger appearance. It wasn't the best of the disguises, but it was enough to make it difficult a quick recognition of him.

Putting the cans in the cabinets, Will sighed deeply. Even spending such a short time away was stressful; he thought he would appreciate the opportunity to be away from Hannibal for once, but all he felt was anxiety for the possibility of being recognized and the overwhelming need to be close to Hannibal again.

It frustrated him to no end, knowing that he was once again living in a suffocating co-dependency with Hannibal - even more intense, more dangerous than the first time they did this dance - but it was also comforting. There was freedom in letting go of something that always suffocated him, and accepting the part of himself that he always denied that existed. It seemed unavoidable, and it seemed finally peaceful.

Of course, there was good days and bad days - it didn't matter how glorious it was to kill alongside Hannibal on the cliff, he spend a whole life building morals and barriers against everything he was now, and these barriers still existed on his mind. In the good days, he could ignore or negotiate with his conscience. In the bad days… he was still learning what to do during the bad days.

Today was being a good day so far, despite his anxiety in walking around the town alone. Nothing dangerous happened and Hannibal was fine, and that was all that Will could ask for in these days.

Will was almost done storing all the groceries when he noticed a bowl full of something fresh, that smelled vaguely familiar and that definitely wasn't there when he left the cabin this morning.

Intrigued, he reached for the bowl, feeling his eyes widen a little when he noticed what he was looking at.

It was a bowl full of orange cookies, with the icing done in a much more orderly and nice looking way than Will ever managed in all the times he did this recipe, and still a little warm to the touch.

Will kept holding he bowl for long minutes, looking at the cookies as if it was an alien life form, completely at loss. It was the last thing he thought he would find here.

"You were not supposed to see it until after lunch."

Will looked up, a little startled to see that he wasn't alone anymore, but used enough to Hannibal moving as silent as a cat.

"You made me orange cookies," Will said, still a little dazzled.

Hannibal smiled, and Will noticed him truly for the first time. His hair was still a little wet from the shower, and he was wearing a simple white dress shirt with an informal pair of dark slacks, and he looked very domestic to Will.

"Yes, I did. I remember that once you did this recipe and brought me your cookies as a gift. I thought I ought to repay your efforts."

Will shook his head.

"It's been years."

"I'm aware. In my defence, I did not have the opportunity to repay this favour before."

Hannibal didn't offer any more explanation, and Will supposed that he didn't need to. Smiling a little, he approached Hannibal, the bowl still in his hand.

"I did this recipe a lot of times on my own. I never forgot how to do it and it often came to my mind, even when I didn't want it to."

"I suppose it is comparable to a memory, and memories have a way of imposing itself on us, independently if they are desired or not."

"Sometimes they were desired. Sometimes… not."

Hannibal gave him a sympathetic look.

"We have many tainted memories between us."

"It didn't felt exactly tainted; it only... made me sad. I remember that in the first time I did it on my own, it was a very nice memory, I thought about how you liked me enough to teach me something of your youth, that you liked me enough to spend that time with me. But after…" Will smiled, bitterly "It become a sad, bitter memory, because all I could think about was that it was a meaningless moment to you, just one more tactic to make me more dependent on you."

Hannibal sighed, and took the bowl from Will's hand, putting it on the table.

"While I would agree that my intentions towards you were often not very sincere during these times, this was not one of those moments."

Will scoffed.

"Wasn't it?"

"It was a very genuine moment of my part. I was actually quite surprised when I analyzed my actions, later on. But it's hardly unexpected, considering that you always had this effect on me."

Will didn't comment anything - he wasn't going to blindly believe in Hannibal, even if he looked sincere enough and even if they were trying to not lie to each other these days.

Hannibal seemed to realize that Will was going to resist, because he shook his head a little, with a small sigh.

"Will, I cannot truly undo the bad memories of our past. I don't feel regret for many things, but I often caught myself wishing that I had acted in a different way toward you during some moments of our lives. It's a teacup that will not come back together, no matter what I do."

Will smiled, sadly, not saying anything but feeling the weight of all the unsaid things between them.

"However, I can try to give you some new, pleasant memories."

With that, he picked a cookie out of the bowl and raised it to Will's lips.

Will frowned a little, remembering the first time, when they did it the other way around, but he opened his mouth and let Hannibal place the entire cookie on his tongue.

Chewing slowly, Will let the taste be absorbed by his tongue, giving an involuntary moan when he tasted how good the orange taste and the icing felt in his mouth, better than the times he did it alone. He chewed until there was nothing left, and looked at Hannibal again, who was looking a little hungry himself.

With his heart beating a little faster, Will felt the need to act on an impulse.

"Can I have another one?"

Hannibal didn't say anything, but he raised his eyebrows a little as he reached for another cookie.

This time Will bit down slowly, his lips brushing Hannibal's fingers just a little, enough to make Hannibal's eyes a little more dark.

"I am glad to see that you find it tasteful, Will," Hannibal said when Will was finished.

"They're really good," Will said, licking his lips a little, noticing the way that Hannibal looked at his mouth.

They had been in this place before. Heavy silences, Hannibal looking at him as if he wanted to devour him whole, and his own heart beating fast with the yearning of a feeling never acted upon. They had been in this place before, and every time, Will fled with a cheap excuse.

This time, he tried to not think too much in what he was doing, and he blurted out:

"Don't you want to get a taste?"

Hannibal looked at his eyes them, still with the same hungry look, even more now that they both knew that they definitely weren't talking about the cookie.

Will never knew who moved first, but the next thing he knew, they were at each other's faces, pushing their lips together into a messy kiss.

Unused to be kissing someone taller and larger than him, Will didn't know what to do with his hands at first, but ended up looping them awkwardly around Hannibal's neck. Hannibal, on the other hand, seemed to know exactly what he was doing, cupping Will's face with his hands and licking into his mouth as if he was truly trying to get the cookie's flavour from Will's mouth.

When they separated, Will was breathing heavily, and he let his forehead rest against Hannibal's.

"I am by no means complaining, but I am curious to know what brought this up," Hannibal said against his lips.

Will couldn't blame him - this wasn't planned, even if he had thought about it before. He was never attracted to men, but Hannibal was the exception to all his rules, and it seemed natural that he would break this one, too. Will had avoided it the few times they almost got too close, but now that they finally kissed, it didn't seem like a big step for them - it was like the first time they held hands, or when they started sharing a bed; it was just one more way to explore their ever growing intimacy.

"I didn't plan it. It just… seemed the natural thing to do."

Hannibal didn't answer, but Will knew that he would be pressing the matter in some other occasion; he never liked to not have the full grasp of the facts.

"If you need an explanation, you can always thank the orange cookies," Will said, only half joking.

Hannibal hummed a little against him.

"Dear Will, if that's true, I am going to bake you Anginettis next time."

Will frowned a little and even opened his mouth in a question, but Hannibal seized this moment to kiss Will once again, and after a few minutes, Will had already forgotten what he was going to ask.

The End

A.N.²: Anginetti, or Italian Love Knot Cookies, or Knot Cookies, or even Lemon Knots are a recipe of traditional Italian cookies that are usually made for special occasions... especially weddings. :)

I can't post links here, but if you guys want to see the recipe that I used for the orange cookies, just message me and I'll pass it to you.

I hope you guys enjoyed this last chapter! Thanks for reading :D