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Title: Sixth Sense
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Hannibal Lecter/Will Graham
Fandom: Hannibal
Rating: PG-13
Author's Note: Sequel to "Beneath the Surface."
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 looked over at Max, sighing and shaking his head.

"Hannibal is coming over here for dinner tonight, and he's spending the night," he said, a frown marring his forehead. "And you are going to treat him with more respect."

What was he doing, talking to one fo the dogs as though Max could actually understand him? Will ran a hand through his hair, smiling ruefully.

He was sure that Max did understand the stern tone in his voice; most animals would respond to things like that. But for some reason, he felt that Max was smarter than most dogs, and that he instinctively knew what Will was talking about. It was just a sense he had.

There was something about this dog, some intelligence that went beyond the usual canine version of smart that shone in his eyes. The lights were on, and someone was home.

He knew that the dog couldn't communicate with him in any way other than the usual ways that dogs "spoke" to humans, but he felt that Max somehow understood him.

And he already knew that the dog was very protective of him.

Max and Winston were alike in that respect, he mused. Both of the dogs seemed to have a protectiveness concerning him that the others just didn't have.

Oh, he knew that the dogs all loved him, and the feeling was mutual. He had a fondness for every stray animal that he'd adopted, and they were loyal to him. Will was sure that if he was in danger, any and all of his dogs would try to come to his rescue. None of them would ever let him down.

But Max and Winston took that devotion several steps further. He would be lucky to have one dog like them, much less two. He was grateful for them both.

At least his pets cared about him, unlike most people.

He wasn't going to dwell on that, he told himself firmly. He was used to people giving him a wide berth. It had been happening to him ever since his childhood.

People had a difficult time dealing with his empathy. And even though he didn't talk about it, he was well-known enough after the cases he'd worked that it was more or less common knowledge.

Maybe it should make him more uncomfortable, but strangely enough, it didn't. He wasn't too fond of having his empathy be something that people talked about in whispers behind their hands, but he had known from the first case he had been given credit for solving that he would become the subject of gossip.

And it that empathic ability saved lives, then what did it matter that it made him somewhat uncomfortable to be talked about by people he didn't even know?

He helped people. He saved lives. That was the important thing.

In the end, nothing else really mattered. He could deal with being someone who was viewed as a freak of nature. What the hell, maybe he was. He'd always thought so.

It didn't even bother him any more that he'd had to wait so long to find someone who cared for him. That didn't matter. He had Hannibal now. He was in a good relationship.

What did it matter if one of his dogs didn't approve of that relationship?

He was being silly to feel that something had to change so that Max would be happy. He certainly wasn't going to give up his boyfriend to please a dog.

No, Max would have to learn to get along with Hannibal. And that would have to start tonight. If Max couldn't at least be tolerant of his boyfriend, as much as he wanted to keep the dog, he'd be forced to give him away to someone who didn't have someone in their lives that he couldn't be around.

He'd hate to do that, Will thought with a sigh. He and Max had already developed a rapport, and he felt that the dog truly cared about him. But he might not have much of a choice.

What puzzled him was just why Max seemed to have taken such an instant dislike to Hannibal. His boyfriend hadn't done anything to annoy the dog.

Why would such an easy going animal have such animosity towards Hannibal?

Maybe he would have to try to acclimatize Max to his boyfriend by degrees, he told himself. Now, there was an idea. They could just be around each other for short periods of time.

And if that didn't work, then he would have to find some other way to get Max used to Hannibal. One way or the other, he wanted things to work out to where he could keep the dog. Giving Max away would hurt. He would feel as though he had somehow failed, as though he'd done something wrong.

That was silly, of course. He wouldn't have done anything wrong, nor Hannibal, either. It would just be a case of two personalities clashing too much.

But that still didn't explain why they clashed.

It made no sense to him why the dog had seemed to take such an instant dislike to Hannibal. If Hannibal had made any kind of a threatening move, then he'd be able to understand it.

But Hannibal had done no such thing. He hadn't threatened either himself, or Max. So the dog's attitude was simply mystifying. He couldn't figure it out.

It was possible that Max had just taken a dislike to Hannibal for no reason whatsoever, but that didn't make sense, either. Will had never known an animal to do something like that; unlike people, they always had a reason for their likes and dislikes, almost a kind of sixth sense.

A faint sense of awareness prickled along his spine, a sudden realization. Did Max know something about Hannibal that he himself hadn't discovered yet?

Did the dog have some kind of sixth sense about his boyfriend, something that told him Hannibal held secrets close to him that no one else knew anything about?

Will shook his head, pushing that thought away.

It was ridiculous, he told himself firmly. Hannibal didn't keep secrets from him. He might not know everything about his boyfriend, but he knew all of the important things.

Whatever he didn't know about Hannibal, he would learn in time. That was what relationship were all about, wasn't it? Learning about the person you loved, finding out their secrets and telling them your own. It was a give and take, and it was an ongoing process.

Whatever Max might know about Hannibal, or whatever he might think, was something that Will would have to discover for himself. Though he thought that Max was being unreasonable.

The dog yawned at him, and Will couldn't help but laugh.

"You're going to have to learn to be nice to Hannibal," he told Max, his tone mock-scolding. "Because he's a part of my life. He isn't going to just go away. You two need to get along."

With those words, he rose and went into the kitchen to set the table. Hannibal would here in a little over an hour, and as far as Will knew, he was bringing dinner.

***