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Title: His Biggest Weakness
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Hannibal Lecter/Will Graham
Fandom: Hannibal
Rating: PG-13
Table: Personal Challenge, 1drabble
Prompt: 10, Weakness
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.

***

Will raised the cup of tea he'd made to his lips, pretending to sip at it. He didn't really want to drink it, but he was trying to keep up the facade of making himself feel better when, in truth, he felt numb. It was as though he had simply shut down.

He felt like some inner battery had run down, the spark within him completely dying. He didn't want to think about what was wrong with him, or how it could be treated.

All he could think was that it would be a long and painful course of treatment. It wasn't something he wanted to deal with, and he didn't want to contemplate what his life might be like after it was over. He didn't want to think about how it could change him.

But hadn't he always wanted to change?

Hadn't he wanted to lose that ability he had to look inside others' minds, to push that empathic ability away from him and deny that it even existed? He didn't want it. He hadn't asked for it. He should feel joyous and hopeful that he could finally get rid of it.

But if he did, that would change who he was. It would change his life forever; he would no longer have a job with the FBI, and he could no longer feel that he did something to help people. He would no longer be able to feel that he somehow made a difference.

He needed that feeling. He needed to know that he did something positive in the world, something that he would be remembered for. If he didn't have that, then he was just a garden-variety man, with more than his share of problems and instability.

Wanting to help people wasn't a weakness, but it had always felt like one. He had always tried to put others ahead of himself, thinking that he was doing the right thing. But in the course of doing what was right, he had locked himself away from the world.

He had put up barriers that no one could break through.

The only person who was capable of breaching those barriers was Hannibal -- and Will didn't know if he would even want to try. Now that the illness that had made him such a fascinating subject for Hannibal to study was going to be cured, Hannibal might disappear from his life.

Hannibal said they were friends -- but they were more. Far more. He needed that closeness, needed to have Hannibal in his life. Hannibal was his biggest weakness.

Would Hannibal come to him now, or would he hold back? Did Hannibal still want him -- or was he going to be left alone, to cope with his weakness as best he could? Will closed his eyes, the questions circling in his mind, wishing that he had any of the answers.

***