#the name just sort of came to me honestly

[stranded-labyrinth]

Hannibal adopts a stray cat

hi yes i was excited about this one :] i would've made it longer to accomodate more detail but if i extended this any amount, it would be a much bigger one shot

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Given it was a rather urban area, he supposed he shouldn't have been surprised when a stray came around.

It began when winter set in, requiring Hannibal to start his car in advance to get the heat running, lest he be stuck driving in the cold. He had happened to mention it offhand when vehicles in the cold were brought up (poor Will having a mishap with a frozen car door), leading to a piece of advice he'd yet to receive, but was grateful to hear.

"Make sure to check your tires and stuff for strays," Will told him. "Cats and other smaller animals like crawling up between the tire and the car to try to stay warm."

Hannibal had, of course, noted the advice. Coming from the resident stray expert, he was sure the advice was sound, and he would never hope to extend the cruelty he was typically capable of to an innocent animal that was merely escaping the cold.

He had gotten in the habit of checking around his car in the coming weeks. Upon reporting his lack of stray activity, he was met with one of Will's rare genuine smiles, visibly pleased that someone had actually heeded his advice. Hannibal, of course, beamed beneath the attention.

He continued his new habit afterward, even though he found nothing. He would hate to risk it and one day find a red splotch on his Bentley and driveway where once lay a fluffy bundle of innocence.

He stepped out of his home, making his usual rounds, and then–

Hissing.

He stepped back slightly, just enough to process what he'd just heard. He bent down just enough to see beneath the outer car body.

Lo and behold, atop one of his rear tires lay a rather fluffy ivory colored cat.

The little beast glared at him with only one blue eye, the other either obscured or missing altogether. The feline remained where it was, rather annoyed at having its rest disturbed.

Hannibal had never known himself to quite click with an animal before, but with this one, their similarities were quite clear.

This was a creature of survival, one that valued its comfort, and one that did not take kindly to its general boundaries being impeded upon. That, and despite its position, it laid with a certain elegance about its being.

He only had one place to be that morning, and he was rather certain that a particular profiler would take well to his excuse for not being on the case on time.

He reentered his home, sending the required text to his now fellow lover of strays, before turning to his refrigerator.

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It was almost shameful for him to admit just how little time it had taken him to understand Will's immediate closeness with his latest stray, except Hannibal found himself feeling precisely no shame at all. Even as he stood in his kitchen, slicing away at fresh tuna while his impatient dinner guest sat on the floor beside him, staring up with her one wide eye and licking her lips.

Rosemary had clearly been domesticated before, given the near immediate liking she'd taken to being spoiled. She had been lured in with various bits of meat, including a piece from Hannibal's much more personal set of cooking materials, and had eventually settled on her favorites once inside. She didn't exactly turn her nose up at trout, but had a clear preference for tuna given the speed at which she would finish eating.

The tale of how he'd procured the trout to begin with was something he found himself revisiting in his mind palace rather often within the past couple of days. He could still remember the second day of Rosemary dwelling with him, in which he did finally attend a case on time, and was met with Will holding a small cooler.

"I wasn't sure how much fish you had at home," he'd said, looking slightly bashful at presenting the gift. "I figured you'd be the sort to feed her as fresh of food as you could get."

Hannibal had smiled then, gratefully accepting the gift. Even so, he couldn't help noticing the way Will lingered nearby, the air of an unasked question hanging around them.

Hannibal smiled at him again. "I'm afraid I have yet to take any photos of her, but I will be sure to do so once I get home."

Will laughed, looking away. "Was I that obvious?"

"No shame in curiosity," Hannibal assured. "Besides, you are better versed in the art of strays than I am. Perhaps you can meet her soon."

In the hall of his mind palace, stored in a large frame, was the image of Will's eyes lighting up at the invitation.

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Rosemary observed her father carefully, tail swishing from the top of her tree-style scratch post, as he moved about the kitchen in the next room. He had already set the table carefully with two sets of dishes across from one another, and was currently finishing dinner preparations.

Perhaps, in some ways, she knew a stranger was coming. Whether or not she could see the two individual pieces of dog hair that had managed to stubbornly cling to her father after his interactions with the stranger, he couldn't tell. He was sure she would come to love his guest regardless.

The hour finally came, and she watched curiously from the hall between the kitchen and the foyer as her father waited in the foyer. Rosemary wasn't sure how to interpret his actions that evening, and thus it was in her nature to feel as though her dear new father was anxious.

At last, the doorbell sounded, and he opened the door, any sense of unease immediately swept away.

A stranger stood in the door, looking in her direction. She remained where she was, eyeing him curiously yet cautiously. He stepped inside, but allowed the distance. He crouched, inviting without being overbearing.

He blinked slowly, and her cautiousness dropped. She trotted off to the kitchen to fetch her own dinner at last.

Hannibal hummed as Will rose. "I suppose she will have to get used to you."

"Well she's not antsy about me, so that's a good sign," Will replied. "She seemed to understand I wasn't gonna crowd her."

Hannibal tilted his head, amusement tugging at his features. "You're familiar with feline behavior as well?"

"Well yeah," Will said with a shrug. "You just have to learn the way they express themselves is all. They're different to read."

"And yet you have none of your own."

"Dogs don't tend to have a say in their abandonment," Will said, grimacing. "Cats tend to sort of…stay outdoors if they like it out there. Still terrible, but they tend to choose you as opposed to the other way around."

"I see," Hannibal said with a grin, turning towards where Rosemary had gone off to.

Truly, he could understand the sentiment. Rosemary was a creature of instinct and comfort, and she denied herself none of it. Just as easily as she could lay in front of the fireplace for a nap, she could slaughter some poor bird outside and bring it to her father as a gift.

Hannibal couldn't help but let the thought linger in his mind that this may say something about the two pet fathers. Hannibal's feline was clearly more in line with his own behavior, even down to the attempts at feeding another using their kills. A dog, on the other hand, would not drag their kill over as a gift. A dog would kill to protect or to defend.

Hannibal allowed himself to smile. Yes, it reflected them indeed (even if Will did not quite yet know it).

Dinner had gone by without much update, Rosemary lingering along the outskirts of the room until she at last allowed Will to put his hand near her, which she rubbed her head against with a purr.

Hannibal had insisted on clearing the table himself, setting Will up with a glass of wine in the drawing room. He didn't comment on the signs of Will's tiredness, though he had a guess at where it would lead.

When he returned, Will was sound asleep in the chair he'd been left in, Rosemary curled up on his lap, emitting contented purrs.

Looking at his two loves, he imagined he could get used to pet hair in the house after all.