Title: Improved
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Will Graham/Sherlock Holmes
Fandom: Hannibal
Rating: PG-13
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.
***
"Sherlock, can I ask you something?"Will's voice sounded tentative, hesitant; Sherlock looked up from the paper with a frown. He wasn't used to hearing that kind of nervousness in his boyfriend's tone.
"Of course you can, love. You can ask me anything," he said, keeping his voice soft and he put the paper down and focused on Will. The other man even looked nervous and hesitant; Sherlock wondered what could be on his mind to cause that expression.
Will looked down at his hands; they were clasped in his lap, the knuckles white. Ah, yet another sign that he was terribly nervous about something.
"I ..." Will's voice trailed off; he swallowed hard, then looked up at Sherlock with wide eyes. "Does it ever bother you that we're both so innocent when it comes to sex?" he blurted out, his cheeks flushing. "That neither of us is really going to know what we're doing?"
Sherlock almost wanted to laugh, but he wouldn't embarrass Will even further by doing so. After all, it did seem like a legitimate worry.
Though he knew that Will really had no reason to be concerned.
"Will, just because neither of us has ever had sex before doesn't mean that we don't know what to do," he said, keeping his voice soft and gentle.
Will nodded, taking a deep breath before he spoke again. "Yeah, I know the mechanics of it, and I"m sure you do, too," he said, still sounding nervous and embarrassed. "But actually doing it is going to be a lot different from reading about it, or knowing the basics."
Well, that was certainly true enough, Sherlock thought. But still, he didn't want Will to worry about this. He himself wasn't worried at all.
In his mind, there was no reason to worry.
It didn't matter that neither he nor Will had ever been with a man before -- or that neither of them had ever been with anyone. They would know what to do when the time came.
Neither of them were completely ignorant as to what went on when two men made love, Sherlock thought to himself. They both knew what happened, what went where. It wasn't the physicality of what would happen that he was concerned with.
No, what he was focusing on were the emotions of finally allowing himself to be sexually involved with someone, the difficulties of opening his heart.
Though he'd already done that, hadn't he? He had already let Will into his life, and let himself fall in love with this beautiful man, this man who he absolutely adored.
He had already accepted that he would have to let his emotions be front and center in his dealings with Will. It hadn't been the easiest thing for him to do, and he was still learning, day by day, just how to deal with the unprecedented strength of those emotions.
Btu he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he loved Will, and that he had been wrong, very wrong, in his past surety that emotions had no place in his life.
He had simply been waiting for the right person to release them.
Will was the right person .That was another thing that Sherlock didn't doubt, not even for a moment. Will was the one person he was destined to be with.
Those emotions wouldn't have struck him with such a gale force if Will wasn't the one for him. He believed that; he truly did. And even though he had to admit that he was a little nervous about the emotions that now seemed to pour out of him, the physical side of things didn't worry him.
He knew what to do, and he was sure that Will did, too. When the time was right for both of them, he had not the slightest doubt that they would come together in love.
Yes, it would be love. Not merely lust.
Though at the moment, it did seem that Will was terribly nervous about what was going to inevitably happen between them, and Sherlock wanted to put him at ease.
"Will." He spoke softly, leaning over on the couch to place a finger under hi boyfriend's chin and lift Will's face to his, so that they were gazing into each other's eyes. "You know what to do. I know what to do. We love each other. It will happen naturally. I'm sure of that."
"Do you really think so?" Will bit his lip, looking unconvinced. "I can't help being nervous about it. I mean, I don't .... I don't want to do anything wrong."
"Between two people who love each other, there is no 'wrong,'" Sherlock said softly, surprised by his own words. How could he know such a thing? He himself had never been in love before Will; he had always been so proud of that fact.
But now, he was in love -- and somehow, that emotion seemed to give him a new wisdom that he'd never had before, a wisdom that he found he treasured.
Love really did change a person, he thought with an inward smile.
"Don't worry about it, Will," he said softly, gathering his boyfriend into his arms and pressing a gentle kiss to Will's forehead. "When the time comes, it will all work out."
Will nodded, closing his eyes and resting his head against Sherlock's shoulder. Sherlock tightened his arms around the younger man, feeling a little amazed at himself. He had never thought that he was particularly good at offering comfort to anyone -- or advice.
At least, not about this sort of thing. But somehow, falling in love seemed to have given him a new insight that he'd never believed he could have.
Falling in love had changed him. And he didn't regret the changes one bit.
He almost felt like a new person -- and maybe he was, in some ways. But he didn't regret leaving the old one behind; no, he liked the Sherlock was was becoming.
New and improved, he thought with a smile. A new attitude, a new outlook, for the new life he was leading with the man he loved. A life that was looking better with each passing day.
***
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