Chapter Text
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Obsessions.
First Chapter
The winter encounter.
“When you have seen as much of life as I have,
you will not underestimate
the power of obsessive love.”
― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Christmas had been his favorite season since he was a little boy, but Will wasn't enjoying it this year. It was the end of 1839 in England and after trying his luck in the English navy by leaving the orphanage for a few years, 23-year-old Will had decided that coming and going was not his thing anymore after the death of the old doctor and commander that had protected him from the harsh discipline of whipping those who subjected low-level sailors like him who had served as a personal assistant, employed in cleaning and in the kitchen. What he really wanted after that wandering life, was to finally have a stable home and with his few savings and a sack with his things he had gone down in the port of London and after sighing when contemplating the Thames, he buttoned his thick and humble coat and donned the dark blue double-lined navy cape he had inherited from his commander, with the hood covering his head, and walked the streets in the icy cold of that morning.
He went around asking to get a cheap room to stay because he didn't want to exhaust the few savings he had, after doing some calculations, he ruled out some places where he was too expensive and kept walking. He bought The Times newspaper, the first to appear in circulation, and although the grocer who sold it thought he was stingy at counting the coins, Will didn't care. The hard life he had led had taught him that economizing was the best way to survive when there were few resources and no one to turn to. Will looked for a job that included clean and decent accommodation, congratulating himself on having the recommendations in writing from several high-ranking officers who had done him the favor of signing them.
He ate some of the Cornish pasties that he bought from a woman on the street and went to an elegant neighborhood to apply for the position of assistant that included lodging and 3 meals a day, but all his effort was in vain, he waited for a long time and when it would be his turn to be interviewed, someone else got the job and the butler fired them all. Frustrated and weary from the wait Will walked out the service door and was almost run over by a departing carriage. The driver yelled at him, although it had been his fault when he hurried out and if it had not been for Will's quick reflexes that he jumped to the other side of the pavement with great agility, shaking his head with an annoyed gesture, watching the elegant man with hair. Ash blonde whose eyebrows seemed nonexistent giving him a strange appearance. The man, who was going inside opened the window slightly to see him too. Will continued walking for a long time, not being able to stop a carriage that would transport him and without resources for it, even if he could find one, it was already late and the fear that it would get dark without having anywhere to shelter from the cold and the night that threatened rain, made him speed up the pace.
He decided to stay at the nearest inn, even if he was above his calculations and for this he had to go through a neighborhood of not very good reputation. It was winter and it was starting to get dark when suddenly he saw a man older than him, very well dressed but walking erratically, stumbling and clutching his side.
- "Help me!" - Said the man pleading and they would have collapsed on the ground if Will had not supported him.
Will realized that the man was the same man he had seen before inside the carriage that almost ran him over a few hours before, the man was bleeding, but although Will screamed for help the few people who passed around ignored him and he rushed to check the man, it was a knife wound that was bleeding him. Will pulled a shirt out of his bundle and used it to staunch the man's blood and scarf to apply a tight-fitting tourniquet while he asked his name and where to take him, thinking he might have been mugged.
- "Doctor ... Lecter ... Take me to the hospital ..." - Said the man making an effort to point at his coat, where he had a bag with money.
Will didn't hesitate for a moment and ran to get a rental carriage. When he finally got one the man was already passed out and Will offered another coin to the driver to help him load it up and take it to the nearest hospital. As soon as Will told them the name of the injured man, the hospital manager rushed to call the doctor to attend to him and Will stayed outside for a moment, waiting to know what had happened to the man and thinking that for that hour he was better off staying overnight in the corridor outside the hospital and after eating another pair of Cornish pasties that he had saved, he fell asleep for several hours.
A middle-aged man in a service uniform whom he had seen in the house where he had gone the day before to ask for work woke him up by shaking his shoulder. Mr. Price informed him that Dr. Lecter had survived the attack and on behalf of his uncle, the Count sent him to thank him, offering him a bag of coins. Will told him it wasn't necessary and returned the bag of coins saying that he had only taken the carriage and the rest was intact. The servant then recognized him from the previous day and told him to leave him his data in case more employees could be needed at the Count's house, regretting that he did not have an address to look for him. Will asked him what pension he recommended to stay where he could find work and the old servant sent him to the Black Deer pension, with a message that he wrote on a card.
A couple of days passed when Will couldn't find work, although he got up at dawn and returned late to sleep at the inn. It was December 2 when he arrived in the evening, the innkeeper advised him that he had a message from Count Lecter's house, instructing him to report to the home of his nephew, Dr. Lecter the next day at nine in the morning to talk about a job position. Excited, Will got up early, washed up and put on his best clothes to go to the address they had left him.
The house was located in one of the towns to the southeast of London, one of the least populated but belonging to the upper middle class. Will secured passage to Twickenham and still had to walk for a long time from where the public carriage left him to reach Dr. Lecter's charming residence, a typical white-painted chalet with a front garden and greenhouse to the side. in the middle of a wide field, with a stone path from the entrance of the path. Will knocked on the door and heard a male voice signal for him to enter.
Hannibal was sitting, reclining on a wide armchair, his torso bandaged and a long robe over him, having a cup of tea, with a book on his lap.
- “Come in, Mr. Graham. Have a seat, if you like, pour yourself a tea to warm yourself. " - Hannibal said, indicating the sofa in front and the tray with tea on the side table.
- “Thank you, Dr. Lecter. It's freezing outside ”- Will replied, comforted by the warmth of the large fireplace and pouring himself a cup of tea before sitting down, admiring the elegant and simple harmony of Hannibal's home.
- “Thanks to you, Mr. Graham for saving my life and not leaving me lying in the street. If I am alive it is thanks to you. I understand that I went to my uncle the Count's house to ask for a job as an assistant. " - Hannibal said with a slight smile that he tried to hide with his grave and serious gestures,
- “I am glad that you are better. That's right, I'm looking for a job that provides me with accommodation and food. I can work in whatever, these are my recommendations. " - Will explained handing him his papers, which Lecter reviewed putting his glasses on first.
- “I see… You have good recommendations, Mr. Graham, the right ones since you worked with a naval doctor. In the unfortunate incident in which I was injured, my assistant was also stabbed, although less fortunate than me, he died immediately so I will need a new assistant. Mr. Figgs did everything in this house, since I don't like having too many people here. Cleaning, cooking, washing, driving the carriage, running errands, cleaning my office, shopping, and taking my articles to the Times newspaper offices every week. Those are the tasks that you would have to do. There is a little room at the back of the house, with its fireplace and its own bathroom with toilet, your accommodations. I offer you the 3 meals of the day and all the tea you need, one day off a week, working hours from 6:30 in the morning to 8:30 at night with 3 hours off for each of your meals at 8, 2 and 6. One week of paid vacation per year and the medical attention that I can provide, of course, once I get better. This would be your monthly salary ”- Hannibal said taking a card from the next table and writing a figure on it and in a sheet where the contract was written.
- "Sounds very good to me, when do I start?" Will agreed, signing immediately and keeping the card, surprised to see that the salary was thirty percent above the regular figure for these tasks and that the working conditions were quite good compared to other places that usually exploited the servants to the maximum.
-"Today. It is urgent for me to help me that I can be trusted, last night I arrived from the hospital. Go and arrange your things in your room. I'll wait for you in a couple of hours to give you directions. There is bread and a stew that my uncle has sent on the stove, have lunch and I'll take a nap. " - Lecter indicated visibly tired and Will nodded.
Will went into the kitchen to help himself with a plate of food and a mug of tea and went out the back door that led to the laundry room on the right and the service room on the left. The white painted room was cozy, the bed was wide and comfortable, with an indigo blue bedspread and a long table next to it, a chair, a rocking chair, a stove above the fireplace that had a pot of water to hang from, a wooden closet and bathroom in the background. Relieved that he had found a place to live and a good job, Will took off his coat and cape and hung it behind the door. There was now nothing that belonged to the former assistant but the things intended for the clerk: the pots of different sizes stacked next to the fireplace, and a tray with a jug with two cups for tea and several blankets and a pair of uniforms of service in the closet.
Will sighed, wishing that this was a place where he could settle and, though it wasn’t his own, find the home that he had so desired, while he saved enough to be able to become independent from the work of a servant. Will thought maybe it was luck that his employer was a doctor while he ate his lunch. He threw himself on the bed when he finished to take a nap, checking the pocket watch that his protector had left him. He woke up in time to change his clothes for his service uniform, which in themselves were more formal and elegant clothes, one for going out and one for service, and he prepared to go to serve his master.
The days passed and little by little Dr. Lecter was recovering, just as Will was adapting to his work. What he enjoyed most was tending to the beautiful looking greenhouse with all the flowers and medicinal plants, as well as some vegetables and fruits that Hannibal cultivated with care. Some patients came regularly to be treated, but Will soon discovered that Dr. Hannibal, having a good family pension, was only partially dedicated to medicine, his passion was journalistic investigation, which he contributed in his reports, some forensics to Scotland yard, which had been formed in 1829, as well as its weekly newspaper articles.
Will liked his routine. Life in Dr. Lecter's service was quiet for the first few days while he recovered. Will liked to listen to the violin and piano when his master played them in the evenings before dinner, while he prepared the food.
The talks between them were limited to directions for their work, usually at the beginning and end of the day. Will read every week the articles his lord published in the newspaper and finally realized that it was because of his investigative work that he had been wounded in that slum and his former assistant had been murdered. The realization of the risk involved in his work had not deterred him from continuing to serve Hannibal Lecter, who was beginning to grow fond of him, since he was always serious but polite in his way of asking for his work. The only time she had reprimanded him for making a mistake in buying by going to another place, he had done so politely and explained why he never bought in that other place and given him options when that happened, which made Will feel relieved to see that his reprimand had not been as terrible as he would have expected from a lord of rank like Dr. Lecter.
But his quiet routine changed when Hannibal announced that the next day they would have to go to a meeting at his uncle's house so that he could prepare his clothes and put on the official uniform that he had sent him to make and pick it up a few days ago, after breakfast. It was a Friday and it was just a day before Christmas Eve, but Hannibal could move better now despite the discomfort in his side. Will drove the carriage to Count Lecter's residence and spent the entire day tending to him and having his meals cooked in the mansion's kitchen with other servants.
While Hannibal had tended to Friederich Chilton, the Deputy Commissioner during the day, he had always seen him as a rival, even though he did not formally work for Scotland Yard. Chilton made insidious hints about his friendships in the London underworld, taking advantage of the fact that the earl was not there, all to show off the Duchess Bedelia du Maurier, who was looking at Hannibal with desire. Will was standing near a corner, keeping an eye on what the lord needed from him, as did the other guest servants.
- "Not because you belong to an old foreign aristocracy in decadence you could feel immune to suspicions, Lecter" - Chilton said, with a stern gesture, but admiring Bedelia's cleavage.
- “Suspicions, Commissioner Chilton, do not affect me in the least. My work speaks for my prestige. Don't let your… obsessions come out of your mouth… ”- Hannibal answered annoyed.
- "Bah !, Don't pay any attention, dear Hannibal ... Chilton is always seeing the negative side or non-existent ghosts in all things, but tell me dear, what are your obsessions then?" - Bedelia replied, stroking Hannibal's hair.
Will couldn't help a strange sensation in his stomach, a stinging sensation of emptiness that hit him suddenly.
- "The same as anyone ... Finding the true object of my deepest desires and obsessions and keeping it just for myself ..." - Hannibal replied with an enigmatic smile.
- "Maybe you have it in front of you and you didn't want to realize it." - Bedelia coquettishly replied with an insinuating smile that made Hannibal smile, who, although looking straight at her, could not help but notice the expression of annoyance and contempt on Will's face from the corner of his eye.
The rest of the afternoon continued the party until late at night and Hannibal, who had drunk a little too much, decided to retire home after dancing with Bedelia and other ladies for a while and tiredly sitting down to finish a bottle of an exquisite wine. Count Lecter's special reserve that he generously shared with him, as he was his favorite nephew because unfortunately, he had never been able to have children with either of his two wives. Hannibal said goodbye to his uncle the Count and his wife, even though they offered him a room in his house to stay.
Will sighed in relief knowing that he would not have to stay in that house and that they would return to his cozy home, and he had to get Hannibal out by making him lean on his shoulder when they got to his house, and lay him on the bed. After going to guard the horses, he returned to see his master who was clumsily undressing sitting on the bed, remaining only in underwear.
- "Come ... help me undress" - Hannibal said quite drunk, extending his hand asking for his help to get up, the bandage wrapped around his torso and he lowered his shorts slowly, closely observing Will's gaze that was astonished when he saw his huge erection exposed.
Will had never felt in his entire life what seeing Hannibal naked did to him. A strange excitement to the degree that he had to fight to hide that his phallus was hardening too. Hannibal leaned against him to remove his pants and remove the covers to sit on the bed, slowly and with a grim gesture as he noticed that Will turned around after arranging him on the bed and sheltering him, closing the door behind him, scared realizing what he was feeling.
Hannibal Lecter smiled sadly, thinking that perhaps his dark obsessions had found a repository, but as always life had never been the way he would have wanted it, not even at Christmas, when those obsessions were forbidden.
Will walked slowly into his room with the naked image of his lord in his mind, haunting him too.
