Main Hannibal Fan Fiction page | new stories page | Will/Hannibal slash page | other pairings page | gen stories page

Title: A Perfect Proposal
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Hannibal Lecter/Will Graham
Fandom: Hannibal
Rating: PG-13
Author's Note: One-shot.
Disclaimer: This is entirely a product of my own imagination, and I make no profit from it. I do not own the lovely Hannibal Lecter or Will Graham, unfortunately, just borrowing them for a while. Please do not sue.

***

He wanted to get married.

More specifically, he wanted to marry Hannibal.

Will sighed, opening his eyes and looking up at the ceiling, then at the clock. Hannibal was already half an hour late, and he wondered what could be keeping his boyfriend.

They were supposed to go out to dinner tonight, and he had been ready for over an hour. Hannibal had said that they were going to a new, exclusive restaurant.

Places like that always made Will nervous, but he supposed the he could deal with going there tonight. He had felt as though Hannibal meant to pop the question, or at least to bring up some issue that would affect the rest of their lives together.

Generally, he tried to avoid relationship issues. They had a good thing; he was head over heels in love, and he was sure that Hannibal felt the same way about him.

When Hannibal had asked him out for dinner, and told him to wear a nice suit, Will's heart had leapt into his throat. Would tonight be the night he would get a proposal?

He shook his head, pushing that thought from his mind.

He should think of being proposed to in that sense, he told himself firmly. If it happened -- no, when it happened -- it should a surprise, something out of the blue.

He didn't want the kind of proposal that he expected, something very proper and correct. He wanted something incredibly romantic; he wanted his boyfriend on bended knee, declaring his love, and asking Will to marry him with love in his eyes.

Will wanted his own eyes to be full of starlight and romantic dreams -- and he wanted those dreams to be shared with the man he loved and would spend his life with.

They would be, he assured himself. They would get married someday.

If he didn't get a proposal tonight, he wasn't going to worry about it. Hannibal would propose; he was sure of that. But he would do it when he thought the time was right.

One thing he had learned about his boyfriend was that Hannibal couldn't be rushed into anything. He would pop the question when he felt that it was time, and not before. Will knew better than to throw out any hints, or try to hurry things along.

Besides, he didn't need to do that, he told himself. He knew that Hannibal loved him. Wasn't that enough? He didn't need to have a ring on his finger.

Though it would be nice, he thought wistfully. He didn't know why he was thinking like this, but somehow, marriage just seemed like the next logical step for them.

But it wasn't as though they had to do it.

Still, he wanted to be married to Hannibal. Right now, they didn't even live together -- and yet, he knew that their relationship was the strongest one either of them had ever been in. He himself hadn't really been in a serious relationship before, so it was all new to him.

He didn't know if Hannibal had ever been seriously involved before, but Will was sure that he had. Any of their past relationships weren't things that they talked about.

Hannibal had always been very secretive about his past, but from the little that Will knew of it, he didn't blame his boyfriend for wanting to leave it behind.

He knew about Hannibal's sister, about the horrible fate she had met. He had actually cried when Hannibal had told him about it; knowing that his boyfriend had suffered the loss of someone he'd loved deeply in such a way had only made him love Hannibal even more.

And he intended to love this man for the rest of his life.

Will heard a car door slam outside; he couldn't hold back a a smile at the sound. Hannibal was obviously here; it was time for their evening out to begin.

He stood up, self-consciously brushing off his suit jacket, even though he had vacuumed the couch only a few hours before and he knew that there was no dog hair on him.

"You guys have to behave yourselves tonight," he told the four dogs who were lounging around in the living room. Winston raised his head and looked at Will, then barked, as though he understood just what his owner was saying. "I'm going to be gone all night, I think."

He was fairly sure that he would be spending the night in Hannibal's home in Baltimore, but he did that often these days. The dogs had plenty of food and water; they'd be fine until he returned.

And he would have a night of passion and pleasure.

The thought sent a thrill down his spine, and made him shiver slightly. He loved the nights that he shared with Hannibal. They were always wonderful.

His eyes widened when the door swung open and Hannibal appeared in the doorway; his boyfriend didn't usually come in without knocking first and waiting for him to open the door. Something must have happened for the other man to ignore those rules of good behavior.

Hannibal wasn't dressed in the way that Will had thought he would -- in a suit and tie. Rather, he was wearing jeans and a sweatshirt -- very unusual for him.

In fact, he couldn't ever remember seeing Hannibal dressed like this.

"What's going on?" he asked, his blue eyes wide. If there had been some radical change in their plans, wouldn't Hannibal have called him to let him know?

"There's been somewhat of a change in plans," Hannibal told him, his lips twitching at the corners as though he was trying his best to hold back a smile.

"So we're not going out?" Will asked, raising an eyebrow. He was a little disappointed; if they weren't going out, then this surely meant that he wasn't going to get a proposal tonight. But that didn't really matter, he insisted to himself. It would happen, eventually.

Hannibal shook his head, his lips finally curving into a smile. "No, I'm afraid not. I don't think we can leave the little gift that I've gotten for you alone this evening."

Will's brow furrowed in question as he watched Hannibal turn around; if he had brought something with him as a gift, then why wasn't it in his hand?

He sat down on the couch, wondering just what his boyfriend had done.

Will looked towards the door when he heard it open again -- and before he knew what was happening, five puppies raced into the room, yapping and wagging their tails.

"What in the world ....?" he asked, laughing as one puppy jumped up onto the couch and licked his face. It was only then that he noticed the small card attached to the puppy's collar; the word "Me" written on it in Hannibal's elegant script handwriting.

He turned towards the door again, wondering just what was going on here as another puppy jumped up onto the couch and repeated the face-licking, squirming and barking.

This one had a card on his collar with "You" written on it.

Will was completely confused as to what might be going on; whatever Hannibal had planned, the puppies were definitely a surprise he hadn't expected at all.

Hannibal entered the house, closing the door behind him and sighing when he saw that two of the puppies had climbed onto the couch with Will.

"I was hoping that they would sit quietly, but I suppose that was too much to ask," he said with a sigh, kneeling down and moving one puppy to his left, then taking the one with "You" written on his card and placing the little animal right beside the other. "This will only take a moment."

Will sat quietly, his eyes wide, starting to get an idea of what Hannibal was doing. He had a hard time keeping the growing smile from spreading over his face.

"Close your eyes, Will," Hannibal told him. "These dogs don't seem to want to obey me. They keep moving, and they must stand in a specific order."

"Puppies don't generally do what they're told," Will informed in a slightly choked voice. He was having a hard time keeping back his laughter -- and what he knew were tears of joy.

Finally, after much shuffling, Hannibal seemed to be satisfied.

"Open your eyes," he said, and when Will did, he saw the row of puppies sitting in front of him .... and he could read what was written on each card.

The tears did rain down his face then, but they were tears of pure, unadulterated happiness, tears that made him feel as though his heart was expanding to include the whole world.

Each puppy had a card, though they still weren't in the right order.

Will

You

Me

Marry

?

All he could for a few moments was sit there in shock, sure that his eyes were the size of dinner plates. This was the most .... unique proposal he could ever had hoped to get.

The first puppy broke away from the others, jumping up onto the couch again and licking Will's face, then turning in a circle three times and settling down on his lap, obviously deciding that it would be a good time to take a nap. At that, Will laughed softly, raising a hand to wipe away his tears.

"Well?" Hannibal asked, his voice very soft. "What is your answer, Will? I need one, you know. I went to a great deal of trouble to arrange this."

Will looked up at his lover, his answer shining in his blue eyes.

"Yes," he said, the single word seeming to hang interminably in the air. "Yes, I will you marry." He couldn't hold back his smile of bliss then, holding out his arms to the other man.

Hannibal took his hands and hauled him to his feet; the puppy barely had time to jump out of his lap with a yelp before Will was in his boyfriend's arms.

No, not his boyfriend any more. His fiancé. The man who he would spend his entire life with, the man who he loved more than life itself. The man who had given him the perfect proposal -- and who Will was sure would also give him a beautiful life.

Hannibal reached into the pocket of his jeans, taking out a small velvet box and opening it. Will's eyes widened once more at the lovely diamond ring nestled there.

"Nothing too showy, but I did want to get you a lovely ring," Hannibal told him, his voice soft. "You deserve the best, my love. And from here on out, that's exactly what you shall have."

Will looked up at him, tears shining in his eyes again.

"I have the best," he said, his voice slightly choked. "I have you." Those were the only words the could mange to get out before his throat closed with emotion.

Hannibal slid the ring onto his finger, smiling at Will. "You have just made me the happiest man on earth, Will," he said, his voice soft and husky. "And I will will spend the rest of my life trying to make you as happy as you can possibly be. I want to make your life beautiful."

Will nodded, smiling through the tears that were still falling down his cheeks; tears of happiness. "You will," he murmured, unable to say anything else.

One of the puppies barked, then jumped up, wanting to play.

"This was the most unique proposal I've ever heard of," Will said with a soft laugh. "It's wonderful, Hannibal. It couldn't have been any more perfect."

"Ah, that is no surprise to me," Hannibal told him, raising one eyebrow. "I'm marrying the perfect man, so of course I had to come up with the perfect proposal to win him."

With that, he bent his head to kiss Will, their lips meeting and clinging.

Will held on to Hannibal, knowing that this was only the first kiss they would share; there would be many kisses ahead of them, days and night of utter bliss.

On the couch, the puppies sat and watched the two of them.

Then, as though they were one entity, all five pups barked in tandem.

Will wasn't sure, but the thought they were agreeing with Hannibal's words. It was the perfect proposal -- and a very unique one.

This night couldn't be any more perfect, he told himself. But knowing that there was still more to come when the two of them went upstairs, maybe he was wrong about that.

He took Hannibal's hand, leading his boyfriend towards the stairs and up to his bedroom.

A perfect proposal, and a perfect evening of making love.

Life just didn't get any better than this.

***