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Will sighs as he lays down on his bed because he’s too cowardly to ask Hannibal to sleep in the same bed as him like when they were recovering from the fight and the cliff. Even now he’s too scared that Hannibal will push him away from all he had done and they were born of two different worlds. Hannibal had hurt him quite a bit, but Will keeps coming back and wanting more. He wonders if Hannibal realizes that he shouldn't give him any more pieces or space in his mind palace. Will rolls over and squeezes his eyes shut, then takes a deep breath.
After 30 minutes, he finally falls asleep from exhaustion. A dream is starting to form of Will and Hannibal arguing about something small that doesn’t matter at all. Hannibal finally has enough of Will and says,”You know, I finally had it with you, Will. You don’t understand how Opera is important and beautiful. In the back of my mind, I thought that these kinds of things don't matter, but it does now. I can’t always keep giving myself away and change myself for you. What more do you want? You threw up over the cliff, and we almost died because of you. I should keep myself with Bedelia, then I wouldn’t have this problem.”
Will eyes widen and says,” No, you wouldn’t stay with Bedelia. You know all the women you were with after we met were in spite of me. You have changed and taken apart pieces of me too. Don’t walk away. ” Will’s voice started to break at the end and tears welling up in his eyes.
As Hannibal walks away, Will wakes up in fits of gasping for air. He wipes the tears from his face and sniffs. He doesn’t realize that he wet the bed from the nightmare. It feels so real to him and needs to see that Hannibal is still here and with him. He doesn’t care if he will wake up and be questioned by him.
He waggles into Hannibal’s room and shakes Hannibal awake. He says in a whisper, Daddy, I need to sleep in here. Can’t sleep alone.” His eyes are big and cheeks are stained from tears running down.
Hannibal doesn’t question it all and says,” Okay, Will, you can sleep in here any night you want. ” He pulls him up and notices that his bottom is wet. He takes a moment and asks, “ Will, did you wet the bed and didn’t notice? It’s okay if you did. I can clean it up if you do, but first, I need to clean you up.”
Will nods and has his hands around Hannibal’s neck. ”Yea, but I don’t wanna let you go. ” He hides his face in Hannibal’s chest.
He picks Will up and grabs his underwater and a large shirt. While he awkwardly changes Will, he keeps a hand on Will, so he won’t freak out. He picks him up when he finishes changing him. He grabs a new bed sheet and goes into Will’s room, then changes to the new sheet. Will holds onto him even tighter and wraps his legs around his waist, in fear that Hannibal will put him down.
“Don’t worry, my cunning boy, I’m not letting you go at all.” He kisses the top of his head and wraps his arms around him. He feels a hole filling in his heart when Will acts so little and clingy towards him. He hopes Will won’t ever stop being clingy, but he wants to know what brought this on.
He carries him back to his bedroom and lays him on his chest. He slowly pats Will’s bottom and hums a song. He wishes that he and Will share a bed. He longs for the warmth and the closeness with him. Will can be unpredictable, so this night took an interesting turn. Will falls asleep first by the rhythm of Hannibal patting and the humming, then soon after Hannibal falls asleep.
In the morning, Hannibal wakes up first. He kisses Will’s forehead and watches him sleep. He wants to cook him breakfast before he wakes up, but he fears Will’s reaction when he isn’t in bed when he wakes up. He settles on waiting until Will wakes up. He just watches Will for about an hour, then Will wakes up with snuggling into his chest. Hannibal chuckles and says,” Wakey wakey, my boy. The day won’t become any longer for you to sleep.”
Will's speech is muffled from hiding in Hannibal’s chest, “But I don’t wanna talk about last night.”
“We need to talk about last night, and what caused you to act like this. It’s okay, and truth to be told, I like sleeping in the same bed as you and taking care of you like I did last night. Nothing you did last night was wrong or out of line.” While he’s talking, he’s rubbing Will’s back to soothe himself and Will. This conversation can make or break them and change their relationship forever.
He lifts his head up and says, “What about me being a freak? I'm an adult and wetted the bed and climb into your bed like you’re my parent. That’s weird, Hannibal.”
“And you think I’m not accepting of you being abnormal. Being abnormal is much better than normal and mainstream. Do I need to remind you of who I am? I want you to say abnormal instead of freaks and weird. We aren’t freaks at all. Now can you tell what happened in your nightmare?”
Will shakes his head. “No, you don’t need to remind me. I like to sleep with you, and you take care of me. We aren’t normal and white picket fence type of normal. In the dream, we were arguing, then you were really mean. You were saying how you should have stayed with Bedeila and we came from different worlds. You just give and give yourself without taking anything.”
Hannibal's eyes soften at his words. “Oh honey, all those words are wrong. Every time I was with Bedeila, I was wishing you were there the whole time. It’s true that we had different upbringings, but we came to each other all the same. We keep coming back to each other. Our upbringing helps us shape who we are, but it doesn’t make us whole. I give myself to you and you give yourself to me. We both changed each other like you said so years ago. I love you and only you.”
Will nodded and whispers,”Okay, I understand. Thank you, Daddy.” He hears his stomach growling and looks down at it. They both laugh at the growling, breaking the tension of the conversation.
”Looks like you need some food. Let’s get some food for you. ” He picks Will up and carries him into the kitchen. He sits him down in one of the chairs. While Will is playing with the huge shirt he got on, Hannibal starts some pancakes and bacon. Once he cuts up some strawberries, he gets the whip cream out. He thinks his boy deserves some sweet breakfast from the event of last night's nightmare and event.