#tiny!hannibal

Food shopping. For most, if not every person on the planet, it was one of the easiest tasks to accomplish. Most people just drove to Jewel of Wal-Mart, hell even Walgreens if they were desperate.

But those names seemed to fall under the categories of "despicable evil" in Hannibal's book. And even as a four-inch, pseudo-voiceless version of himself, the idea of even setting foot in any of those locations was enough to lock himself in his new "house".

Will ran his fingers through his hair. "Is it really that bad?"

No response. From within the house, he could hear Hannibal turning on the tiny radio connected to Will's MP3 player, Bach starting to float through the rooms. Will groaned. Hannibal's version of a temper-tantrum was almost more annoying than a child's. At least a child said what he wanted. The music had attracted Winston's attention, pulling him up from his nap and bringing him over to the doll-house.

((Of course if Will ever referred to it as a doll house, he'd wake up with holes in one of his plaid shirts. Unable to murder the "rude", "tiny" Hannibal had found new ways to exact his "design"... Most of which involved making Will's life a hell.))

Winston stared up at his master, giving a tiny whine. Hannibal would keep that music playing all night, refusing to give them peace. He'd argue it was all in good culture, of course. Will sighed.

"All right. Fine. Where do you shop?"

The music shut off almost instantly and Hannibal appeared from his house, dressed in a fine suit and trench coat, perfectly content.

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After an hourlong drive and a good fourty-five minutes of a less than melodic opera Will couldn't hope to understand, Will arrived at the location. He had to double check the address to make sure he had it right, but from the expression on Hannibal's face, he knew they were there.

Will didn't even know they made Gourmet Grocery stores.

With Hannibal comfortably settled in his pocket, Will entered the store and even from the first second, he knew he was out of place. Looking around at the various shoppers, many of whom seemed to be accompanied by personal nutritionists, Will knew this was The right place. He looked down At Hannibal, who already appeared much happier than before.

"Where first?" He asked.

A slight tug at his pocket led him in the requested direction. Hannibal seemed more than pleased, not even bothering to conceal himself. Most people who looked at Will wouldn't have thought of him as any more than a very life-like doll anyway, so he took no precautions to cover himself. Besides, even at this size, Hannibal had more clout than most of these people combined. At least, he seemed to think so- Will would have debated him on that.

The first stop was produce where Hannibal took his sweet time examining each and every fruit and vegetable he required for any mark or indication of poor quality. If it wasn't perfect, he wouldn't touch it and Will had to stand there while he looked over at least five packages of fresh strawberries for the perfect choice. Getting spices and canned goods was easier as Hannibal knew the exact brand he wanted, despite the prices being obscene. Fifteen dollars for a tiny container of Saffron threads? Will could have eaten twice at McDonalds (a word which would earn Will a  smack on the hand from Hannibal's tiny spatula if he dared speak it in his therapists presence) for that and still had money left over.

Frozen foods were almost passed over completely as Hannibal seemed to avoid all unnecessary frozen and processed foods at all costs, but Will had to stop to look at the specialty ice cream. Again, price factored into him eventually looking away, but the temptation of chocolate cherry gelato was almost enough to have Will spend eight dollars on a pint. But several squeaks from Hannibal eventually pulled him away.

Meat was the worst. As Will had pointed out, in his current size, Hannibal's traditional method of getting meat was... Out of the question. Even in his regular size, Will would have insisted Hannibal's traditional method of getting meat was out of the question, but Will couldn't exactly fight him on the matter in the good doctor's normal size. This was, at least, a way to keep the "tiny" Chesapeake Ripper satisfied for now. But if Hannibal's inspection of produce had been painstaking, this was borderline torture. Even in his tiny state, Hannibal's nose rivaled that of a bloodhound's and he seemed to know the difference between "day-old" fresh meat and "right off the chopping block" meat with a single sniff. It took a great deal of negotiating on Will's part, but they were finally able to leave with both beef and pork that Hannibal knew had been slaughtered that day. Sadly, the price reflected that too and after everything had been paid for Will nearly shoved the long receipt at the tiny figure, who regarded it with no shock whatsoever. Will began to wonder if Hannibal overcharged his patients or if he was some secret Billionaire. Probably the later, overcharging would be "rude".

The second they reached home, after Will had shooed the puppies away from the bags of groceries- which must have smelled better than anything Will had ever brought home in the past as Will could not get Buster to keep his nose out of the bags for more than 5 seconds- Hannibal had set to work. Carefully cutting and taking only so much as his tiny arms could carry from Will's kitchen to his own, it wasn't long before delicious smells began floating from the tiny house, attracting both Will and the dogs for a sniff. Buster whined for the scraps, but Hannibal simply "tisk-tisked" him.

"Sorry boy," Will smiled. "You gotta wait with everyone else."

A glance from Hannibal and a pointed jab from his frying pan made Will groan. Will would have to wait as well. Hannibal didn't play favorites when cooking.

"Not even to the man who drove you?" Will raised an eyebrow.

As expected, that thought made Hannibal think. Given he could not drive himself… He walked from his kitchen and stuck his tiny hand out the window, holding a thread of Saffron out for Will to try. Will wanted to find some witty retort, but, he guessed, given the little man living in his house, it was better than nothing. He took the tiny thread and placed it on his tongue, allowing the flavor to spread across it.

After a moment, he nodded.