Neph's promise rings through him. Neph doesn't usually go for direct statements of loyalty, she isn't firmly planted in anything that way. But then there's 'I'm not gonna leave you' while she digs fingers into his flank like a feral thing, someone possessed. It's a language Hannibal responds to immediately, one that snaps through him, breaks right through any other thoughts and leaves them contentedly cut off.
It makes the conversation after, the part where Neph lays out that Will isn't like her, a little easier to bear. And she isn't wrong. Will's not like either of them - Will's extremes are his own, but they don't include killing people in self-defense. They don't include threatening people to stay with him. They don't include this hip-bruising grip on the things he wants.
At least not yet, which is what this blossomed friendship between himself and Neph has taught Hannibal. That he can want things and not lose them, sometimes.
"We're monsters that would protect him, though." Hannibal says, and Hannibal doesn't flinch at the name. "And he knows that now. That will matter to him." But it might not matter enough, it might not be the whole picture. Will's stubborn and Will is...surprisingly moral. Hannibal has already hit up against that wall once or twice, the way Will can see and feel and empathize with terrible things but how hard he fights to swim above their currents.
"...I was very certain he would stay." Which is as sneaky as Hannibal can mention that Neph has got doubts swirling back up from where Hannibal had happily pushed them aside. Will's been sharing a living space with him, but of course, he's had to. He's still healing, he's got nowhere else to go. As Hannibal examines the past five days, he sees more and more how Will has had no choice but to stay in place. What if he could leave?
"I think we should call him." Hannibal says all at once. The certainty that Will won't think it was funny not to tell him that Neph awoke settles on Hannibal's ribs just as surely as Neph's arm does. "Tell him that you are alright." He'll have to move to go get his phone, of course, considering he's naked under that towel. And moving doesn't sound like the most appealing prospect right now, concern or no concern.
Monsters that...protect? Neph's head tips so far to the left her neck pops and her hair brushes her shoulder. She turns the concept over, examining it as intently as she's ever applied her Bronzesight to an enchanted bauble. To say it's a new idea would be assuming she'd ever considered her abilities anything but dangerous or self-serving. She'd always thought she was being self aware. Had she been shutting herself off from other, better applications? All this time?
"Oh," is all she says at first, as her thoughts trip back to that miliinstant when she'd decided to drop down and stop the bullet instead of deflecting it. The gun was so close, a nudge might've only sent the shot into his jaw or neck instead--
That will matter to him. Hannibal says, and the only reason his conviction matters at all is because he admits he's no longer so sure it will be enough. If he can doubt that, then he must be right about their protection having some weight. Neph only realizes her mouth has parted at the thought when she has to swallow and lick suddenly dry lips.
"I hope he does," which is...more than she's admitted to Hannibal out loud, up til now. She's insisted that Will move in with them if he wanted, she's sided with him in arguments and she's spent dozens of frustrating hours chewing through textbooks beside him, but she's never come out and told Hannibal I want your boyfriend around. I like him here. It's a day for declarations.
She's not awake enough yet to handle Hannibal's abrupt 180 on Messing With Will, even with the unsure turn this conversation's taken. Neph blinks and nods slowly, conceding to his read on the situation. She's been unconscious for like a week, what does she know about Will's current mental state? "Okay," she clears her throat, lightens her voice, "Tell him 'bout the Chinese food then."
If sharing the news means he comes back instead of hobbling as far as his leg will take him, who's she to complain?
Hannibal's mouth does that thing it does when he's torn between a couple priorities, such an everyday thing that Neph smiles tiredly and shifts off his shoulder. "Go 'head," she pats at him. "M'gonna take a shower. I prob'ly smell like a housefire." The fact that Hannibal willingly got all up on her anyway says a lot about how freaked out he must've been by her Burnout. Just for that, she won't make fun of him for grabbing his own shampoo from the apartment.
"I will." Hannibal says, and he finds he's getting up despite himself, practiced routine getting him up as soon as he's settled on a task - no matter how much more appealing it sounds to lay down with Neph and not move, not let go of his grip on her.
He's off the bed by the time Neph mentions a shower. He turns back to her, mouth open but silent for a moment while his brain processes what she's just said. "Your cast isn't waterproof." Is what he settles on, as the least-rude possibility. "I could find you a trash bag for it, but I would recommend just using the bath." And bathing one-handed. Which doesn't sound terribly feasible. Hannibal turns that thought over as he approaches the nightstand, picks up his phone.
When he dials, he hears a ringing tone...doubled? Not just in his ear? Hannibal pulls the phone away from his head just in time to confirm that, yes, he's hearing a phone near the door--
"Yeah?" That's Will's voice, also doubled. There's the sound of a key turning in the lock.
Oh. "...You're back early."
"Not really." Will says, and now it's his voice in the room that's loudest, Will swinging the door open, Will dragging against the door handle a bit more than he usually would. He's always more sore after a walk. Hannibal thinks that's part of the reason he insists on going out three or four times a day to stretch out his newly-knit muscle. "I told you I'd probably be back by the time you were done with your shower."
Hannibal just brings the phone down away from his ear, hanging it up as he goes. There's not quite any point in trying to salvage this, now, because any second Will's going to look up and see that Neph's--
Will drops his phone. He also swears, a surprisingly soft thing, swallowed against an intake of breath as he freezes in place. Will's eyes don't look over for Hannibal's accusingly, he doesn't ask why Hannibal didn't call him immediately, the way they'd discussed on the third evening, both of them wondering how long this would go on for.
"Y-- You're awake." Will says, staring at Neph. He's got his glasses on from his walk still, and his curls are flatter to his forehead than usual from the sweat that gathered on it. "You woke up." He repeats, and in that is the unspoken 'we weren't sure you really would'. His breathing is suddenly loud and harsh and he stays rooted to the spot.
Across the room, Hannibal just watches, clearly ignored by at least one of them.
As soon as Hannibal stands and the mattress rights itself, Neph reaches for the headboard to pull herself all the way upright. On her inhale, she notes the soreness in her core, the sleepy complaints in her legs. Her body's gotten rusty in the five days she's been out, and now it'll need a couple more days of easy work before it responds the way she's used to.
"The bath?" she repeats, nose crinkling in dismay. She's never met a motel bath she was totally comfortable standing in barefoot, let alone lying down in naked. She's done it but always felt kinda gross later.
Then again, this is a shower Hannibal's been using. If it hasn't been bleached right down to its atomic structure she'll be shocked right back into her coma. "You're prob'ly right," Neph sighs as she shoves the blankets down and swings her legs off the edge of the bed. "I shouldn't be standing on slippery stuff anyway. Or, like, at all." Not at first. Not until her knees come back online.
Her toes brush the carpet, damp where Hannibal stood dripping in his towel, and she carefully eases her weight to the floor. She's just about to go full vertical when the lock clicks and Will shoulders through, one hand on the doorknob and the other holding his phone to his ear. Neph freezes and takes him in, enjoying the rare opportunity to study him while he's totally unaware of her.
Will looks...better than she'd've thought. Better than she remembers, for sure. He's sweaty and clearly tired, but there's color in his face and the dragging exhaustion in his voice is more satisfied than frustrated. He's recovering, she thinks, which is more than she could've hoped for when they were both bleeding all over that stolen car.
What happened to that car, anyway?
Will's phone slips from his hand and clatters to the garish carpet. Neph flinches on instinct, but if it cracked then at least it didn't shatter all over the place. She can't check to see, not with the way Will stares at her in desblief, eyes huge and wondering behind his bent frames.
His glasses survived the warehouse. For a second, she's so hung up on that tiny miracle she hardly hears him. It's not until the second you woke up that she refocuses on his face, on the fear and relief and confusion there. And she smiles in disbelief of her own, because someone was worried about her.
"Just now, yeah," she has to reach for the water Hannibal set aside and take another sip, briefly turning away from Will to do so. When she looks back, he's still staring, like if he blinks she might vanish. "I'm...I've never seen Burnout from the outside, I'm sorry, It must'a been...freaky."
If she says I'm sorry I scared you, she'll spend all day having to sort through all the recent apology-worthy scares, of which there are, uh, at least a dozen. There's a conversation looming on the horizon that Neph's not sure she's really ready to have, but right now Will's standing on his own to feet, no longer bloodlessly white, here in this room with her and Hannibal. With the monsters. Unafraid.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2017-09-03 11:13 pm (UTC)It makes the conversation after, the part where Neph lays out that Will isn't like her, a little easier to bear. And she isn't wrong. Will's not like either of them - Will's extremes are his own, but they don't include killing people in self-defense. They don't include threatening people to stay with him. They don't include this hip-bruising grip on the things he wants.
At least not yet, which is what this blossomed friendship between himself and Neph has taught Hannibal. That he can want things and not lose them, sometimes.
"We're monsters that would protect him, though." Hannibal says, and Hannibal doesn't flinch at the name. "And he knows that now. That will matter to him." But it might not matter enough, it might not be the whole picture. Will's stubborn and Will is...surprisingly moral. Hannibal has already hit up against that wall once or twice, the way Will can see and feel and empathize with terrible things but how hard he fights to swim above their currents.
"...I was very certain he would stay." Which is as sneaky as Hannibal can mention that Neph has got doubts swirling back up from where Hannibal had happily pushed them aside. Will's been sharing a living space with him, but of course, he's had to. He's still healing, he's got nowhere else to go. As Hannibal examines the past five days, he sees more and more how Will has had no choice but to stay in place. What if he could leave?
"I think we should call him." Hannibal says all at once. The certainty that Will won't think it was funny not to tell him that Neph awoke settles on Hannibal's ribs just as surely as Neph's arm does. "Tell him that you are alright." He'll have to move to go get his phone, of course, considering he's naked under that towel. And moving doesn't sound like the most appealing prospect right now, concern or no concern.
no subject
Date: 2017-09-04 12:07 am (UTC)"Oh," is all she says at first, as her thoughts trip back to that miliinstant when she'd decided to drop down and stop the bullet instead of deflecting it. The gun was so close, a nudge might've only sent the shot into his jaw or neck instead--
That will matter to him. Hannibal says, and the only reason his conviction matters at all is because he admits he's no longer so sure it will be enough. If he can doubt that, then he must be right about their protection having some weight. Neph only realizes her mouth has parted at the thought when she has to swallow and lick suddenly dry lips.
"I hope he does," which is...more than she's admitted to Hannibal out loud, up til now. She's insisted that Will move in with them if he wanted, she's sided with him in arguments and she's spent dozens of frustrating hours chewing through textbooks beside him, but she's never come out and told Hannibal I want your boyfriend around. I like him here. It's a day for declarations.
She's not awake enough yet to handle Hannibal's abrupt 180 on Messing With Will, even with the unsure turn this conversation's taken. Neph blinks and nods slowly, conceding to his read on the situation. She's been unconscious for like a week, what does she know about Will's current mental state? "Okay," she clears her throat, lightens her voice, "Tell him 'bout the Chinese food then."
If sharing the news means he comes back instead of hobbling as far as his leg will take him, who's she to complain?
Hannibal's mouth does that thing it does when he's torn between a couple priorities, such an everyday thing that Neph smiles tiredly and shifts off his shoulder. "Go 'head," she pats at him. "M'gonna take a shower. I prob'ly smell like a housefire." The fact that Hannibal willingly got all up on her anyway says a lot about how freaked out he must've been by her Burnout. Just for that, she won't make fun of him for grabbing his own shampoo from the apartment.
no subject
Date: 2017-09-29 07:49 pm (UTC)He's off the bed by the time Neph mentions a shower. He turns back to her, mouth open but silent for a moment while his brain processes what she's just said. "Your cast isn't waterproof." Is what he settles on, as the least-rude possibility. "I could find you a trash bag for it, but I would recommend just using the bath." And bathing one-handed. Which doesn't sound terribly feasible. Hannibal turns that thought over as he approaches the nightstand, picks up his phone.
When he dials, he hears a ringing tone...doubled? Not just in his ear? Hannibal pulls the phone away from his head just in time to confirm that, yes, he's hearing a phone near the door--
"Yeah?" That's Will's voice, also doubled. There's the sound of a key turning in the lock.
Oh. "...You're back early."
"Not really." Will says, and now it's his voice in the room that's loudest, Will swinging the door open, Will dragging against the door handle a bit more than he usually would. He's always more sore after a walk. Hannibal thinks that's part of the reason he insists on going out three or four times a day to stretch out his newly-knit muscle. "I told you I'd probably be back by the time you were done with your shower."
Hannibal just brings the phone down away from his ear, hanging it up as he goes. There's not quite any point in trying to salvage this, now, because any second Will's going to look up and see that Neph's--
Will drops his phone. He also swears, a surprisingly soft thing, swallowed against an intake of breath as he freezes in place. Will's eyes don't look over for Hannibal's accusingly, he doesn't ask why Hannibal didn't call him immediately, the way they'd discussed on the third evening, both of them wondering how long this would go on for.
"Y-- You're awake." Will says, staring at Neph. He's got his glasses on from his walk still, and his curls are flatter to his forehead than usual from the sweat that gathered on it. "You woke up." He repeats, and in that is the unspoken 'we weren't sure you really would'. His breathing is suddenly loud and harsh and he stays rooted to the spot.
Across the room, Hannibal just watches, clearly ignored by at least one of them.
no subject
Date: 2017-10-01 11:01 pm (UTC)"The bath?" she repeats, nose crinkling in dismay. She's never met a motel bath she was totally comfortable standing in barefoot, let alone lying down in naked. She's done it but always felt kinda gross later.
Then again, this is a shower Hannibal's been using. If it hasn't been bleached right down to its atomic structure she'll be shocked right back into her coma. "You're prob'ly right," Neph sighs as she shoves the blankets down and swings her legs off the edge of the bed. "I shouldn't be standing on slippery stuff anyway. Or, like, at all." Not at first. Not until her knees come back online.
Her toes brush the carpet, damp where Hannibal stood dripping in his towel, and she carefully eases her weight to the floor. She's just about to go full vertical when the lock clicks and Will shoulders through, one hand on the doorknob and the other holding his phone to his ear. Neph freezes and takes him in, enjoying the rare opportunity to study him while he's totally unaware of her.
Will looks...better than she'd've thought. Better than she remembers, for sure. He's sweaty and clearly tired, but there's color in his face and the dragging exhaustion in his voice is more satisfied than frustrated. He's recovering, she thinks, which is more than she could've hoped for when they were both bleeding all over that stolen car.
What happened to that car, anyway?
Will's phone slips from his hand and clatters to the garish carpet. Neph flinches on instinct, but if it cracked then at least it didn't shatter all over the place. She can't check to see, not with the way Will stares at her in desblief, eyes huge and wondering behind his bent frames.
His glasses survived the warehouse. For a second, she's so hung up on that tiny miracle she hardly hears him. It's not until the second you woke up that she refocuses on his face, on the fear and relief and confusion there. And she smiles in disbelief of her own, because someone was worried about her.
"Just now, yeah," she has to reach for the water Hannibal set aside and take another sip, briefly turning away from Will to do so. When she looks back, he's still staring, like if he blinks she might vanish. "I'm...I've never seen Burnout from the outside, I'm sorry, It must'a been...freaky."
If she says I'm sorry I scared you, she'll spend all day having to sort through all the recent apology-worthy scares, of which there are, uh, at least a dozen. There's a conversation looming on the horizon that Neph's not sure she's really ready to have, but right now Will's standing on his own to feet, no longer bloodlessly white, here in this room with her and Hannibal. With the monsters. Unafraid.