#you’re not a fucking ghost even just taking out a bread slice gets crumbs in the floor!!

[boysnberriespie]

“Do you wanna have a discussion?” About what?? I asked you to sweep after you cook so I don’t have to feel shit on my feet every hour of the day and you said no. End of discussion.

[avegetariancannibal]

“Cheese and Opera”

Hannictober Day 6: Possession

Hannibal awoke when he heard muffled conversation coming from down the hall. More specifically it sounded like it was coming from Will's bedroom.

He listened for a few moments, only because it sounded like an argument. He'd given up intruding on Will's privacy. For the most part. But he needed to know if danger was imminent, did he not?

"You'd better not," he heard Will say. "I swear to fucking God!"

Was Will in contact with Jack Crawford? Local authorities? A bounty hunter who was threatening to renege on a deal? He was fairly certain the Verger-Blooms were not, as of yet, looking for either of them.

"Are you all right?" he called out.

"Perfectly fine!" Will called back.

Will's bounding footsteps down the hall were followed by him appearing in the bedroom doorway, disheveled and pink-faced and smiling.

"Gosh, I'm so glad to see you again," Will gushed. He bit his lip and lowered his eyes. "I need to confess something, Doctor."

Hannibal's interest and other things were piqued. "What's that?"

"I-I watched you sleep last night," Will said, shuffling his feet. "Just for a little while, though! ell, maybe longer than that. I just wanted to be in your presence."

Hannibal risked patting the pillow beside him. "You know you're more than welcome to join me. No need to limit yourself to merely watching."

"Oh! Oh, no, no thanks," Will said, much too quickly for Hannibal's liking. "I mean, the thought's crossed my mind a few times, but what I'd really like to do is go to the opera with you."

Hannibal blinked. He was too confused to be hurt. "The opera?"

"La Traviata," Will said. "I thought it's something we could enjoy together."

Now Hannibal was suspicious. Is that where Crawford was going to apprehend him? The opera! How terribly obvious.

"I'm afraid I'm not in the mood," Hannibal sniffed.

When Hannibal later found Will sitting on the kitchen floor, stuffing assorted cheeses into his mouth and listening to Michael Jackson's greatest hits, he finally realized what was going on.

"Are you Franklyn?" he asked.

Will nearly choked on his thumbful of Camembert. "W-why would you even ask me that? How ridiculous!"

"The lion is in the room," Hannibal said, crouching down beside him, "and he wants you to answer the question."

"Are you going to be mad?" asked the man who only looked like Will. A bit of cheese rind clung to his lower lip.

"The question is why aren't you mad?" Hannibal asked. "I killed you. You could be using Will's body to eke out some manner of revenge."

Franklyn's borrowed eyes went wide. "Oh! No, no, Doctor, I would never. It's honestly not so bad, where I am now. In a lot of ways it's better than my life as it was, minus the lack of cheese."

Hannibal sat down across from him. "The afterlife? Heaven? Some version of it? Certainly not hell. You were a good man."

Franklyn blushed and failed to suppress a flattered smile. "That means a lot to me, coming from you."

"It really shouldn't," Hannibal said.

He got up long enough to fetch the olive fougasse he'd made the day before, and a handful of tartish grapes. He handed them to Franklyn, saying, "At least eat the cheese with some proper accompaniment."

Franklyn wasted no time slicing some Cantal Fermier onto the bread and cramming both into his mouth. “God, I’ve missed this!”

"Do you plan to stay in Will's body for long?" Hannibal asked. "You should know I would find a way to exorcise you."

Franklyn shook his head. "I only get 24 hours back among the living and I used up a lot of that time watching you sleep."

"And then you go back to...where, exactly?"

Franklyn looked sheepish in Will's face. "Sorry. I can't tell you. It's some kind of cosmic, metaphysical rule. I probably already told you too much anyway."

Hannibal tried another tack. "Can you converse with me outside of Will's body? I heard him talking to you. I'd prefer if you didn't hijack him."

"You didn't sense my spirit watching you sleep, so I'd guess you don't have the ability," Franklyn said. "This Will guy's got a level of perception that's out of this world---no pun intended."

"Could you possess me instead?" Hannibal asked.

Franklyn laughed. "You don't remember from our sessions? I don't want to be you; I want to be near you."

"I thought I'd offer," Hannibal said. "Well, go get dressed and brush the crumbs out of your---Will's---beard."

Franklyn blinked up at him even as he hurriedly got to his feet. "Why? Where am I going?"

"You're going to the opera," Hannibal said, "with me."

******

After La Traviata, Hannibal bought crêpes au fromage for them both at a little stand near the Opéra Bastille.

"Why are you being so nice to me?" Franklyn asked as they ambled through the street. "Feeding me cheese and taking me to the opera...."

Hannibal shrugged. "Why wouldn't I?"

Franklyn rolled Will's eyes at him. "Come on, Doctor. You were repulsed by my very presence when I was alive. Is it just because I'm wearing this guy?"

"You and I... had a lot in common," Hannibal said, carefully choosing his words. He could be honest with Franklyn and leave out the parts that might hurt him unnecessarily. "I saw certain aspects of myself in you I wasn't ready to see."

Franklyn scoffed around a mouthful of crêpe. "What did you and I have in common?"

"Loneliness," Hannibal said. "As you said yourself: It comes with a dull ache."

Franklyn seemed to consider that for a moment, then suddenly stumbled. His face---Will's face---looked flushed.

"I think my time is about up," Franklyn said. He gathered himself up, put on a brave face and stuck out his hand.

Hannibal shook it. "Have you made friends? Where you went?"

Franklyn looked chagrined. "I...I haven't really tried."

"But there are others, other spirits, with whom you could be friends?" Hannibal asked.

"I suppose," said Franklyn.

"Then consider it your former doctor's orders," Hannibal said, "to make at least one new friend when you go back."

Franklyn laughed and took one last bite of his crêpe. "I'll give it my best shot. Bye, Doctor Lecter."

"Goodbye, Franklyn," Hannibal said. He had a sudden thought. "Oh, one last thing: I doubt you'll see him where you're going, but if you do run across Mason Verger, please gloat a bit that you got to wear Will Graham's face."

An instant later, the spirit was gone and Will was entirely himself again. There was no outward difference, but Hannibal could see it plain as anything he'd ever seen anything in his life. He was looking at his Will, and nobody else.

Will glanced all around, frowning at the night sky and bustling crowds. "Where in the hell are we? What in the hell am I doing here? Hannibal, I could swear I was just talking to a ghost and then---" He clutched at his belly. "Oh, God. Why do I feel like I've eaten a kilo of cheese?"

"I'll explain on the way home," Hannibal said, offering his arm. He was elated when Will accepted it. He hoped someday, if he had all eternity in whatever place he now occupied, that Franklyn would know the same feeling.

-end-