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Title: Forward Momentum
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Will Graham/Everett Hobbs (Original Character)
Fandom: Hannibal
Rating: PG-13
Table: Table 2, 20 in 20 Challenge, tv_universe
Prompt: 13, Together
Author's Note: Everett's face is Benedict Cumberbatch.
Disclaimer: This is entirely a product of my own imagination, and I make no profit from it. I do not own the lovely Will Graham or Lee Fallon, unfortunately, just borrowing them for a while. Please do not sue.

***

He really shouldn't think of being with Everett.

Will sighed and opened his eyes, gazing up at the ceiling. There were times when thinking about Everett felt as though it was the only thing that was getting him through the day in this place; if he didn't have that, he would go absolutely stir crazy.

Did Everett think about the two of them being together, too? Will was sure that he did; he had noticed all of the lingering looks that came his way.

They'd turned a corner today, one that he knew they couldn't back away from. They had moved forward from simply being a convict and his lawyer, into something much more personal. Now Everett wasn't just fighting to free a wrongfully imprisoned client.

They had crossed a line into something much deeper than they should probably be getting themselves into, but Will knew that he couldn't stop that forward momentum.

What was more, he didn't want to stop it. He wanted to move forward into a future with Everett, a future that didn't include Hannibal Lecter, or the FBI, or anything that he was currently dealing with. He wanted to turn his back on all of this.

He wanted to forget the past, and concentrate on the future.

Will sighed again, closing his eyes in an attempt to block out where he was. He couldn't very well put all of the unpleasantness behind him while he was still in jail.

Okay, so he was in a mental facility. It might as well be jail, he thought with a soft snort. He had lost his freedom, his privacy, and everything else that really mattered to him. He had no job, and he might very well not have a home to go back to if he was in here long enough.

Hannibal Lecter had taken everything from him, Will told himself. Everything. But what that monster hadn't taken away was his pride, and his sense of self.

Amazingly, being in here had given that back to him.

When he had first been taken to the Baltimore State Hospital For the Criminally Insane, he had thought that it was possible he belonged here, that he might have killed Abigail in one of his blackouts, and that he deserved to pay for that crime.

He had been so lost, so unsure of who and what he was at that point. Thanks to Hannibal's mind games and machinations, he had come to doubt himself.

Btu that was no longer true. He had gained crystal clarity here in the isolated state he was kept in; he'd come to know just what Hannibal had done to him, how calculatedly his downfall had been planned out. He had discovered just how much of a monster Hannibal was.

He would have his revenge. Somehow. When he got out of here.

Everett would help him with that -- and then, the two of them would have their future together. No matter what Hannibal might do, he couldn't stop that from happening.

The only way he could stop that was by killing one of them. The very thought made Will's blood run cold. It would be so easy for Hannibal to go after Everett, and even though he knew that the other man would be wary of Hannibal, Will wanted to warn him.

Everett didn't need to be warned about how manipulative -- and how dangerous -- Hannibal could be, Will assured himself. He would be cautious, and stay safe.

But he still couldn't help worrying. Everett might know a lot about Hannibal, but he'd never had to deal with that snake up close and personal before.

Or had he? Will's blue eyes snapped open again, then narrowed as he searched his memory. Everett was very close-mouthed about his past, and about just why he seemed to have hold such a grudge towards Hannibal. There had to be some past history there.

He wasn't going to ask about it, at least, not openly. But Everett knew pretty much everything about his own dealings with Hannibal; turnabout was fair play.

After all, Everett was his lawyer. He had a right to know.

Not only was Everett his lawyer, but he was also the man who Will was interested in, who he wanted to have a future life with. So he did have a right to insist on knowing about Everett's past, no matter how painful it might be for the other man to discuss it.

There was some kind of heartbreak there. Will could see it in those pale eyes. Those eyes held a plethora of secrets, and he hoped that one day he would discover them all.

His own secrets seemed so small compared to what Everett probably had in his past, Will reflected. His secrets amounted to nothing, really. He didn't have any that he would keep from Everett. He would let the other man know everything there was to know.

He just hoped that Everett would grant him that same privilege.

If not, then it proved that Everett didn't trust him. Though there wouldn't be any reason for him not to do so, Will thought with a frown.

Being together depended on trust, as well as .... love. The word came unbidden into Will's mind; he didn't want to use it yet, wasn't ready for it. Love was a word that he would be cautious before he uttered it, even though he was sure that he could feel it, in time.

He was already attracted to Everett, already falling for him. Could love be far behind that attraction? He wasn't sure, but he wanted to find out.

What they'd have in the future remained to be seen.

Just thinking of a future where he and Everett were together made Will's heart beat faster; he could feel a rush of pure adrenaline course through his body at the idea of being with Everett physically, of being free to indulge all the fantasies he'd had about his lawyer.

Maybe it was wrong to feel that way, but he didn't care. Everett was the person who was going to take him away from this hell he was living in at the present, and give him a future.

Will intended to reach out for that future with both hands, and to hold onto his firmly once it was within his grasp. Nothing was going to keep him from being with Everett; the only thing that stood in their way now was the fact that he was still behind bars.

But he'd get out, he told himself firmly. He had to believe that Everett would find a way. He had to keep faith with the man he wanted to spend his life with.

For some reason, Everett inspired a confidence in him that no one else had ever done. No one who had called themselves his friend in the past had done as much for him as Everett had; no one had ever lifted his spirits when he was down, or given him hope for a happy future.

He wasn't going to let anything extinguish that hope.

He had to hold on to that hope, to the knowledge that there was a future for him and Everett together waiting for him when he walked out from beyond these four walls a free man.

Will turned his head to look at the bars on his cell, wishing more than anything that they would suddenly melt away and he could walk out of here -- and directly into Everett's arms. Right now, that was all he wanted, and all he could think about.

He had to hold on to that dreams, and believe that it would eventually come true. That hope for the future was the only thing that seemed to be keeping him going at this point.

He'd cling to that hope with all of his strength, and believe in their forward momentum.

***