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Title: Infinitely Precious
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Will Graham/Everett Hobbs (Original Character)
Fandom: Hannibal
Rating: PG-13
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.

***

"I'm sorry, Will. I just don't know where to go from here."

"It's not your fault, Everett." Will's voice was cool, distant. "You did everything you could. He's just too good at knowing how to set people up to take the fall for him."

Everett nodded slowly, letting out his breath on a long sigh. He wasn't giving up yet; he was still Will's lawyer, and he was going to find some kind of loophole in all of this. He was going to fight tooth and nail to get Will out of prison and prove his innocence.

But at the moment, he had no idea how that was going to be accomplished. He was frustrated to the point of ripping his own hair out.

The last thing he wanted was to admit defeat, especially since it would be Hannibal Lecter who had been the one to engineer that defeat. He didn't want Will here, stuck behind bars, accused of crimes he didn't commit. It wasn't how things were supposed to be.

If only he had been able to meet Will under better circumstances, everything between them might be very different. They would know each other much, much better.

That couldn't happen while Will was in this place.

"I'm not giving up, Will." Everett's voice was strong and firm, more so than he felt at the moment. "Not until I have you out of here, and exonerated."

"How are you going to do that, Everett?" Will asked, leaning forward slightly. "There aren't any cracks in the facade. There aren't any loose ends in his plan. He wants me to take the fall for what he did, and there's no way we can prove he didn't do this. Everyone's on his side."

Everett ran a hand over his face, nodding to acknowledge the truth of Will's words as he ran a hand over his face. He felt more helpless than ever.

How was it possible for them to combat Hannibal's evil? He seemed to have everything sewn up. Even when Everett found evidence that Will couldn't have committed the crimes, it was thrown out and ignored. It was as though Hannibal had paid people to look the other way.

Everett wouldn't have been surprised if the bastard had done just that -- or, if he hadn't paid people for their silence, then blackmailed them into it.

He certainly wouldn't put that past Lecter, Everett thought sourly.

Somehow, he had to find a way to reverse this situation, to make sure that Lecter was the one behind bars. But he'd run out of ideas as to how to accomplish that.

He'd been so sure that finding evidence to exonerate Will would be the key to getting him out of here. But his evidence hadn't even been given more than a cursory glance; it was as though everyone was convinced of Will's guilt, and refused to see any other possibility.

As though they were all in some sort of thrall to Lecter. As though he held something over their heads that made them turn a blind eye to what he really was.

Of course, he hid what he was very well. He always had.

Anger flowed through Everett at the thought. How was it that such evil could flourish in the world, and good people like Will paid the price for it?

It wasn't right. It wasn't fair. And, dammit, he was going to turn that around. He was going to get Will out of here, to find a way for this young man to be free again. And once he did that, then he could let his feelings for Will move forward.

Right now, all he wanted to do was to erase that look of defeat on Will's handsome features, to take him in his arms and tell him that it would all work out ....

Everett wrenched his thoughts away from that path. Thinking about that wouldn't do either of them any good, not as things stood at the moment.

He reached across the table to take Will's hand, even though he knew that he wasn't supposed to. At the moment, he didn't care about what he was or wasn't supposed to do. He needed to touch Will, needed the physical contact with him.

Everett could feel his fingertips tingle when he touched Will's hand, as if there was some kind of electrical current that connected the two of them.

A spark, one that was almost palpable, flared between the two men.

The lights around them flickered, once, then twice. After a third flicker, all was darkness; no lights, no air conditioning fans, nothing.

Everett stood up, intending to go looking for one of the guards, to see if they knew what had happened. But when he felt Will standing up on the other side of the table, he checked his movement, instead tightening his fingers on Will's, twining them together.

He found himself leaning across the table, desperately trying to bridge the short distance between them, not knowing how much time they would have in darkness.

Their noses bumped, their breaths mingled -- and their lips found each other.

The kiss was merely a breath of touch at first, then, when the lights didn't come back on immediately, it grew deeper, more passionate, more .... exploratory.

Everett's tongue entered Will's mouth, delicately tasting. He wanted to pull Will into his arms, run his hands down the other man's back, feel that slender body pressed next to his own -- but the table was in their way, and Will's hands were chained to it.

Fortunately, the chain gave them a bit of leeway. It was fairly long, and it didn't stop Will's hands from finding Everett's, from twining their fingers together and clinging to him.

Everett raised a hand to curve it around the nape of Will's neck; his fingers brushed the short, curly hair there, aching to pull Will closer, though he knew that he couldn't. Desire exploded within him like a bomb that had gone off without any prior warning.

He'd known that he wanted Will, but he hadn't expected the release of that desire to feel like this. Now more than ever, he knew that he had to get Will out of here.

Will wasn't going to stay in this prison. It wasn't an option.

Will didn't belong here. Hannibal Lecter did. The thought of that reptilian monster made Everett want to snarl and growl, made him want to leave this place right now, track Lecter down, and either tear his throat out, or shoot him dead in his tracks.

Of course, he couldn't do that. He wasn't a killer. He didn't have the right to exact his own brand of justice, no matter how well-deserved it might be.

He would simply have to find another way to get Will out of here. He didn't know how at the moment, be he would do it. This kiss had shown him that he couldn't keep living without Will in his arms, in his life. There had to be a way for them to be together.

If there was a way, he would find it. That was a promise.

He reluctantly broke away from the kiss, wishing that he could see the expression on Will's face. But the darkness around them was absolute; he could merely feel the touch of Will's fingers in his, the warmth of the other man's skin against his own.

And somehow, just for this moment, that was enough.

"I'll find a way to get you out of here, Will," he whispered. "I promise you that .And I'll find a way to put him behind bars for what he's done to you. He'll pay. I know he will."

As he spoke, the lights flickered once, twice, and then came back on. Everett and Will sprang apart; Will's hands were no longer in his own, the touch no longer connecting them. He suddenly felt bereft, as though he had lost something infinitely precious.

No. He wasn't going to lose Will. They'd just had a moment together, and he wasn't going to let it go, or let it fade away so easily.

He was going to hang onto that moment, and turn it into more.

Everett knew in his heart that Will wanted the same thing; there was no way that this man would have been kissing him back if his feelings weren't just as strong.

Looking into Will's blue eyes, he saw everything that he himself felt in his heart; he could see his own need and desire reflected back at him in those oceanic depths. Will wanted him just as much as he wanted Will; he didn't doubt that for a single second.

He would redouble his efforts to find a way out of this maze they were trapped in. He had to. For both of them, and for the future he desperately wanted them to have.

tt could be done. He simply had to find the key.

The guards appeared at the door, and he knew that it was time for the two of them to say goodbye for the day. Will turned towards the door as one guard unfastened the chains from the table, casting a glance at Everett as he was escorted out of the room -- and smiling at him.

That smile made his heart melt -- and strengthened his resolve even further.

***