Dr. Lecter

—, 🦋 [ @the-dr-butterfly ]

Hannibal’s brow lifts slightly, the question earning a quiet breath of amusement through his nose.

“Not to my knowledge, no.”

He tilts his head, studying you with polite curiosity.

“Though I imagine the world would find one of me sufficiently exhausting.”

A faint smile appears. Cold.

“Ah… my boy.”

He leans back in his chair, fingertips resting thoughtfully against his mouth, visibly more awake now than he had been moments before.

“You only speak to me like this when you’ve missed me.”

A quiet breath of amusement leaves him.

“How intimate.”

He leans back in his chair, exhaustion forgotten now, replaced by that familiar, sharp fondness only Will ever seems capable of drawing out of him.

“You speak as though I’ve taken up residence inside you.”

A soft hum of amusement.

“Well… if that is the case, I do hope you managed to sleep soundly during the months I was away.”

The remark is light, almost teasing — but something heavier lingers beneath it, quiet and unmistakable. Hannibal’s jealousy is hard to miss, harder to forget.

Yeah, don't worry. It didn't.. It was actually the opposite.

Oh, Will knew exactly what he was doing. The game had never ended. It had just been on pause.

A brief pause.

“Well. I’m pleased to hear you found my absence so restorative, Will.

I confess, I had imagined you might feel the lack of me somewhat more acutely.”

A soft exhale leaves him — almost a laugh, though not quite warm enough to be one.

“But truly… how fortunate. Peace is such a rare gift for you.”

I even ended up taking a week off work. Spent some time with people.

…’people.’ How deliberately vague of you, Will”

His tone remains calm, almost conversational — but there’s a faint, unmistakable edge now.

“I find myself wondering what exactly you mean by that. Who, precisely, has been granted the privilege of your time while I was… absent from your attention?”

A small pause.

“And, more interesting still, that you describe it as peaceful.”

His lips tightening into a thin line..

“How neatly you draw boundaries, my boy. You’ve never been especially skilled at them…

…Déjà vu, however… is an interesting choice of phrase.”

A slight tilt of the head. The cocky bastard is almost smirking.

—, 🦋 [ @the-dr-butterfly ]

Hannibal’s brow lifts slightly, the question earning a quiet breath of amusement through his nose.

“Not to my knowledge, no.”

He tilts his head, studying you with polite curiosity.

“Though I imagine the world would find one of me sufficiently exhausting.”

A faint smile appears. Cold.

“Ah… my boy.”

He leans back in his chair, fingertips resting thoughtfully against his mouth, visibly more awake now than he had been moments before.

“You only speak to me like this when you’ve missed me.”

A quiet breath of amusement leaves him.

“How intimate.”

He leans back in his chair, exhaustion forgotten now, replaced by that familiar, sharp fondness only Will ever seems capable of drawing out of him.

“You speak as though I’ve taken up residence inside you.”

A soft hum of amusement.

“Well… if that is the case, I do hope you managed to sleep soundly during the months I was away.”

The remark is light, almost teasing — but something heavier lingers beneath it, quiet and unmistakable. Hannibal’s jealousy is hard to miss, harder to forget.

Yeah, don't worry. It didn't.. It was actually the opposite.

Oh, Will knew exactly what he was doing. The game had never ended. It had just been on pause.

A brief pause.

“Well. I’m pleased to hear you found my absence so restorative, Will.

I confess, I had imagined you might feel the lack of me somewhat more acutely.”

A soft exhale leaves him — almost a laugh, though not quite warm enough to be one.

“But truly… how fortunate. Peace is such a rare gift for you.”

I even ended up taking a week off work. Spent some time with people.

…’people.’ How deliberately vague of you, Will”

His tone remains calm, almost conversational — but there’s a faint, unmistakable edge now.

“I find myself wondering what exactly you mean by that. Who, precisely, has been granted the privilege of your time while I was… absent from your attention?”

A small pause.

“And, more interesting still, that you describe it as peaceful.”

His lips tightening into a thin line..

—, 🦋 [ @the-dr-butterfly ]

Hannibal’s brow lifts slightly, the question earning a quiet breath of amusement through his nose.

“Not to my knowledge, no.”

He tilts his head, studying you with polite curiosity.

“Though I imagine the world would find one of me sufficiently exhausting.”

A faint smile appears. Cold.

“Ah… my boy.”

He leans back in his chair, fingertips resting thoughtfully against his mouth, visibly more awake now than he had been moments before.

“You only speak to me like this when you’ve missed me.”

A quiet breath of amusement leaves him.

“How intimate.”

He leans back in his chair, exhaustion forgotten now, replaced by that familiar, sharp fondness only Will ever seems capable of drawing out of him.

“You speak as though I’ve taken up residence inside you.”

A soft hum of amusement.

“Well… if that is the case, I do hope you managed to sleep soundly during the months I was away.”

The remark is light, almost teasing — but something heavier lingers beneath it, quiet and unmistakable. Hannibal’s jealousy is hard to miss, harder to forget.

Yeah, don't worry. It didn't.. It was actually the opposite.

Oh, Will knew exactly what he was doing. The game had never ended. It had just been on pause.

A brief pause.

“Well. I’m pleased to hear you found my absence so restorative, Will.

I confess, I had imagined you might feel the lack of me somewhat more acutely.”

A soft exhale leaves him — almost a laugh, though not quite warm enough to be one.

“But truly… how fortunate. Peace is such a rare gift for you.”

—, 🦋 [ @the-dr-butterfly ]

Hannibal’s brow lifts slightly, the question earning a quiet breath of amusement through his nose.

“Not to my knowledge, no.”

He tilts his head, studying you with polite curiosity.

“Though I imagine the world would find one of me sufficiently exhausting.”

A faint smile appears. Cold.

“Ah… my boy.”

He leans back in his chair, fingertips resting thoughtfully against his mouth, visibly more awake now than he had been moments before.

“You only speak to me like this when you’ve missed me.”

A quiet breath of amusement leaves him.

“How intimate.”

He leans back in his chair, exhaustion forgotten now, replaced by that familiar, sharp fondness only Will ever seems capable of drawing out of him.

“You speak as though I’ve taken up residence inside you.”

A soft hum of amusement.

“Well… if that is the case, I do hope you managed to sleep soundly during the months I was away.”

The remark is light, almost teasing — but something heavier lingers beneath it, quiet and unmistakable. Hannibal’s jealousy is hard to miss, harder to forget.

—, 🦋 [ @the-dr-butterfly ]

Hannibal’s brow lifts slightly, the question earning a quiet breath of amusement through his nose.

“Not to my knowledge, no.”

He tilts his head, studying you with polite curiosity.

“Though I imagine the world would find one of me sufficiently exhausting.”

A faint smile appears. Cold.

“Ah… my boy.”

He leans back in his chair, fingertips resting thoughtfully against his mouth, visibly more awake now than he had been moments before.

“You only speak to me like this when you’ve missed me.”

A quiet breath of amusement leaves him.

the thought that after Hannibal realized he had cannibalized Mischa, he saw life as a game of chess and people as pawns, bishops, knights. Loss was inevitable to win chess. And if he could pull all the strings then it’d never be his loss. If loss was inevitable, guilt was meaningless, and sacrifice was the only solution to win.

Then Will Graham entered his life.

Hannibal could not reduce Will to a chess piece without losing what made him Will Graham. Any attempt to name him — pawn, bishop, knight, hell even Queen — stripped him of the very thing that drew Hannibal in. Will did not fit on the board. Instead, he became the reason the game existed at all.

Hannibal had always believed himself the king. The centered, protected piece around which all others moved. But the moment Will entered his life, the rules shifted. Hannibal began to move for Will, not for himself. He allowed himself to be put in check if it meant Will remained intact, alive, his. And somewhere along the way, Hannibal stopped being the king. Kings do not sacrifice themselves.

Hannibal would.

He had always sacrificed others so that he would not lose. Now, he would sacrifice himself so that Will wouldn’t. As if that made sense. As if love, to him, could only ever look like ruin.

Mischa had been taken from him by helplessness. by hunger, war. Cruelty. Will, however, would be Hannibal’s choice. And Hannibal would not endure that loss again. He would rewrite Will’s fate, bend the board, defy the rules. If destiny demanded Will’s destruction, then Hannibal would become his god and change it.

He had survived losing a queen.