Fic: Gaining Time: Chapter 1/?
Dec. 7th, 2018 21:40![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Title: Gaining Time
Author: saxonvoter
Chapter: 1/?
Words: 698
Fandom: Hannibal
Pairings: Will Graham/Hannibal Lecter
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Canon violence & themes, cursing
A/N: My attempt at a basic time travel fic, because this fandom doesn't have nearly enough of them. Wanted to have this first chapter out before my trip, so don't expect me to update until late January at the earliest. Sorry.
Summary: Will falls, and then wakes up.
Will Graham falls with his eyes closed.
Hannibal’s arms are around him, caging him, protecting him. Unlike so many times in the past, he welcomes the embrace. They break the surface of the dark water together, Hannibal’s hand in his.
But the impact throws them apart. Will reaches and reaches, but he can no longer find Hannibal’s hand.
The darkness closes up around Will, and his last breath catches up in his throat in a desperate effort to shout for Hannibal’s name.
Will opens his eyes.
“Where did you go, Will?” Hannibal asks, sat across from him in his usual seat in the office.
Will blinks at him, beyond confused. “I...” he trails off, his eyes hungrily taking in the familiar scene from so long ago. He often returned to this time and place in his mind, but it was never quite this vivid. He’s almost convinced that if he wanted to, he could reach across the space and touch Hannibal.
And Will does want to touch Hannibal, so he gets up and walks across the short distance, barely registering the fact that he’s no longer aching from all of his wounds. He raises his hand to Hannibal’s face, and Hannibal’s breath catches in audible surprise.
His own breath catches in return as his hand connects with actual flesh and bone. This is either real, or an incredibly vivid hallucination. Will honestly cannot say which one he would prefer right now. He’s half convinced he’s dead or dying, and this is his brain’s last ditch effort at a high lights reel before it shuts down.
Hannibal looks up at him, something hungry and indescribably tender in his gaze.
No matter what is actually happening, Will doesn’t want to let go. “This might not be real,” he says quietly, unable to stop his hand from caressing Hannibal’s face, his thumb brushing over his cheekbone.
Hannibal leans into the touch and his hand is suddenly on top of Will’s, gentle and warm.
“Does it matter?” Hannibal asks.
Will pauses. “What?”
“Does it matter whether this is real or not?” Hannibal repeats, and his mouth curves into a tiny smile. “Reality is only what we make of it.”
“It does matter.”
“Why?”
Will drops his hand, and Hannibal lets him. Will tilts his head and regards the man in front of him. His hair was longer, like it used to be before... before. The three piece suit he’s wearing is impeccable and stylish. Will has to tear his eyes from Hannibal’s form to look at the room around him.
Nothing is out of place in the office.
In fact, everything is exactly like it used to be. Before.
Will looks back at Hannibal, who isn’t suddenly sprouting antlers or other alterations that are common occurrence in his dreams and hallucinations. Hannibal remains the same, and impossibly, possibly real.
Running a hand through his hair, Will barks out a humourless laugh. “If this isn’t real, then I’m probably dying right now.”
There's a shift in the room's atmosphere, as Hannibal stiffens up and his eyes narrow just slightly. Will suddenly feels slightly smug of his ability to read Hannibal's micro expressions and body language, even if it's all just in his imagination. It used to be much harder to read him back in the day, but now he’s like an open book.
But only to Will.
“Would you care to explain your reasoning?” Hannibal asks slowly.
Will smiles. He sits back in his chair and regards Hannibal for a while before speaking. He crosses his right leg over his left leg, mirroring Hannibal even as he lets the man sit there without an answer.
In the end, Will answers the question with a question.
“Do I still have encephalitis?”
Hannibal tilts his head, as if he’s weighing his answer carefully. There’s something distinctly predatory about the movement.
“No,” Hannibal says, and pauses. “Why? Are you losing time again?”
Another, unspoken question is buried within Hannibal's answer. If Will's encephalitis has been completely cured, then what in the world was happening to him now.
Feeling the smile on his face widen, Will looks at Hannibal, and silently hopes this is real.
“I didn’t lose time,” he says. “I gained it.”
no subject
Date: Dec. 7th, 2018 20:27 (UTC)no subject
Date: Dec. 7th, 2018 20:36 (UTC)At first I was thinking of making the first chapter slightly longer, but then that line came to me and I was unable to not end it there.
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Date: Dec. 7th, 2018 20:46 (UTC)no subject
Date: Dec. 7th, 2018 20:49 (UTC)no subject
Date: Dec. 7th, 2018 20:32 (UTC)no subject
Date: Dec. 7th, 2018 20:38 (UTC)I'm so happy you enjoyed it, I'll do my best to get back to writing as soon as I get back to my computer.
no subject
Date: Dec. 7th, 2018 20:39 (UTC)no subject
Date: Dec. 7th, 2018 20:46 (UTC)I'm so happy you liked it! Thanks for reading and commenting.
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Date: Dec. 7th, 2018 20:58 (UTC)no subject
Date: Dec. 7th, 2018 21:38 (UTC)no subject
Date: Dec. 7th, 2018 22:29 (UTC)As other people have already said this is a VERY good last line. I love the visual of Will touching Hannibal’s face and Hannibal’s breath catching and Will realzing he can read Hannibal so well now, my goodness. That’s so tender and lovely. The premise that Will would wonder if he’s hallucinating, dying as he drowns, or both is sooo goood and I love that he’s pictured this time and place so well and so often it seems like a more than reasonable conclusion.
This could almost work as a complete piece, just given those details and the stipulation that he has in fact actually time-travelled, but of course then we wouldn’t get to see all the lovely feelings unravelling as Hannibal is the one unbalanced for once <3
no subject
Date: Dec. 8th, 2018 08:56 (UTC)And yeah, I could've kept it as a short piece but I'm like, physically unable to write one-shots. I always device out these long-ass stories. It's something I've been trying to train myself out of... But I think this might turn out to be one of my shortest fics yet, if everything goes according to plan.
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Date: Dec. 10th, 2018 03:47 (UTC)Good luck with writing something short since that's not what you're used to :P
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Date: Dec. 8th, 2018 01:40 (UTC)no subject
Date: Dec. 8th, 2018 08:58 (UTC)no subject
Date: Dec. 8th, 2018 16:05 (UTC)no subject
Date: Dec. 8th, 2018 16:43 (UTC)no subject
Date: Dec. 8th, 2018 23:34 (UTC)no subject
Date: Dec. 9th, 2018 07:03 (UTC)