#(next to twink!will who is casting nervous glances out of the corner of his eye; trying to concentrate)

[amarriageoftrueminds]

AU Idea I had last night:

Late-Teen Will either discovering that there's been a trust fund for him all along, left by his mother on the condition that it's used for fees at a fancy boarding school, or getting into fancy boarding school for graduation year because of merit / earning a scholarship and previously-unknown legacy-association with his estranged mother's family. Getting shipped off to said prestigious boarding school but being miserable there / struggling. He's the new boy, out-performing his peers, the poorest student there by a mile and constantly bullied for that and his innate weirdness and because girls like him.

Enter: temp-professor Hannibal (27; maybe he is on sabbatical from surgeon-ing for a year, before retraining as a psychiatrist.).

He notices Will's brilliance, takes a shine to him, and becomes a sort of mentor to him. He transforms Will's nightmarish experience of school almost overnight: eating lunch with him (giving him safe place to go, or ensuring he's safe wherever he is), tutoring him, seeing off his bullies, 'discovering' grants Will can use to pay for expenses since he's a scholarship student, etc etc.

(What does Hannibal teach? Art? Anatomy? Biology, dissecting things? Temps for the Phys.Ed. teacher and kicks ass / humiliates Will's bullies in an impromptu kendo lesson??)

Essentially, he makes Will feel he has room to breathe, and might actually have a chance to make the most of this golden opportunity. Also makes him feel cool by association because Hannibal has Chosen him and all the teenage boys basically want to be Hannibal. (Also, maybe it's a co-ed school and all the cheerleaders are mooning over dreamy Hannibal.)

Canon-style totally platonic but wildly homoerotic relationship because oblivious!Will still thinks he's straight and oblivious!Hannibal thinks he's only gawping at Will's beauty because he's an aesthete. 🤦‍♀️

Meanwhile, nasty 'accidents' keep befalling the worst of Will's bullies, the cruelest/most predatory teachers, etc. and Hannibal encourages Will to listen to his 'instincts.'

Ends with Will graduating and getting into prestigious ivy league school and Hannibal promptly quitting his teaching position to go and live with Will and be his sugar-daddy through college while Hannibal re-trains in psychiatry. (Or maybe Hannibal offers to fund a gap-year so he and Will can do a Grand Tour of Europe together.)

visual inspo under the cut:

90s Mads

Oxbridge Hugh