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Like he was genuinely taken aback... that he can't believe it was even being offered at the table. That it was a choice that Hannibal was willing to take.

It was likely then that he realized that Hannibal's desire for his company ran far deeper than he had imagined. That it's no longer just about 'his becoming'. That Hannibal wants to be with him—to run away with him. That the promise and assurance of his company is far more important to Hannibal now over the gratification that would come from seeing Will embracing his becoming.

tenderly lifting will's bandaged hand to his mouth, lips carefully ghosting over the gauze as not to cause any pain, but applying just enough pressure so that will can feel it

feel that he is being cared for, that he is safe and looked after when he is with hannibal

do you think will leaned into the touch, aching for more, but holding back just the same because he cannot give in, not yet anyway

If Will didn’t actually feel all the things that Hannibal called him out for feeling or want the things that Hannibal pointed out he wanted, then Hannibal wouldn’t have been the only person to truly understand him, since he’d have been wrong in his assessments of Will. But he wasn’t wrong, which is why it meant so much to Will that Hannibal could see all of that in him but didn’t turn away or judge him.

One of the big things that upset Will when he learned the truth about Hannibal was the fact that he was faced with one of the main reasons they understood each other so well: they were both violent, dangerous people. Hannibal understood him because he’s felt those same things & had those same urges, and he’s a vicious killer. Ergo, SO IS WILL! That’s a big part of what led to Will lashing out hard at Hannibal, but never actually hating him or wanting him dead.

Will tied his own inner monster up so tightly with Hannibal’s so that he could give his conscious mind distance from that part of himself. By lashing out at Hannibal, he could lash out at himself. It’s where the whole “needing to kill Hannibal so he doesn’t become him” foolishness originated. Since those two things were so inextricably linked in Will’s mind, he’d convinced himself he could kill it if he killed Hannibal. (Chiyoh was so real for calling him out about that, btw.)

It’s also really ironic that Hannibal’s foolish, fucked up experiments with Will in S1 to speedrun his transformation actually ended up delaying it. Will suddenly had another shield to hide behind to tell himself “It’s not me, it’s Hannibal. If I kill Hannibal, I can kill that part of myself.” Poetic irony at its finest! I could do another whole post just about this.

But back to the point at hand, if Hannibal hadn’t been correct when he called out all the violent & dangerous things he saw inside of Will, he certainly wouldn’t have considered Hannibal the only person who truly understood him. He’d have been creeped out & wouldn’t have had any trouble at all either killing him “in the name of justice” or getting him arrested.

I adore listening to him talk about the show sm.

When he threatened Hannibal at gunpoint after being released from jail, using his empathy to visualize tying Hannibal to a tree as he confessed his feelings before killing him

Looking at the gory self-mutilation Hannibal had drugged Mason into doing before telling him to clean it up, taunting Bedelia by revealing that he's planned Hannibal's escape and will tell Hannibal to kill her

When he said "please" to ask Hannibal to go along with the FBI using him as bait while hinting at the fact that this was good for his plan, too, and looking down at Hannibal after Dolarhyde shot him in the stomach and he collapsed in front of Will...