Title: Like the Movies
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Will Graham/Sherlock Holmes
Fandoms: Hannibal/Sherlock
Rating: PG-13
Table: Holiday Non-Bingo, tv_universe
Prompt: 25, Movie
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 Sherlock Holmes, unfortunately, just borrowing them for a while. Please do not sue.

***

Everything that had happened seemed like a movie to Will.

There were times when he thought he could simply sit back and watch it all play out, as though he was seeing someone else's life unfold on a big screen in a darkened theater.

His relationship with Sherlock had moved forward in little increments, like a story playing out on a film projector. It almost didn't seem real, the way they had come together.

But it was real, and it was the most important thing in his life. More and more lately, he was feeling as though his previous life in Wolf Trap had been the unreal part of his existence, and now that he was with Sherlock, his real life was starting to finally come into focus.

All that had taken place in the past was starting to fade away, to seem as though it had been a life lived by another person, not himself. A life that hadn't been quite rooted in reality.

How could it have been real? Was there really enough evil in Hannibal to have framed him for murders he didn't commit, to have sent him to prison and made him have to fight for his life?

Of course there was. Evil lurked everywhere in the world.

Even behind a face and an attitude as benign as Hannibal's, evil could fester. He'd certainly found that out, to his great detriment. But he'd been lucky enough to escape the clutches of that evil.

Thanks to Sherlock, he was safely away from the reach of Hannibal's revenge. Though he didn't doubt that the shots aimed at him when they'd been in the country had come directly from Hannibal or from someone Hannibal had hired, he was safer than he would have been if he'd stayed in Wolf Trap.

Now what they had to do was bring the movie into focus, to find out just what Hannibal intended to do -- and to stop him before he could carry out whatever plans he might have.

Together, they would be able to stop Hannibal in his tracks. Whatever evil he had planned, Will was confident that he and Sherlock could put an end to it.

If he was still in Wolf Trap, still alone, he would feel like the heroine who was tied to the railroad tracks in an old silent film, screaming and waiting for the train to arrive. He wouldn't have had a chance if he'd stayed there, and he knew it. He would have been at Hannibal's mercy.

But now, he had Sherlock in his life, and he was no longer fighting Hannibal's evil on his own. He had someone on his side, someone who was brilliant and who would fight for him.

He had no more reason to be afraid. He wasn't stumbling alone in the darkness. any longer.

Hannibal couldn't harm him now. Oh, he could try -- and he probably would, Will thought wryly. Hannibal wasn't the kind of person to let anything go that he considered "his."

Though why Hannibal should think of him in that way, Will hadn't a clue. They had never been involved; he'd never even been interested in Hannibal as anything more than a friend.

"Friend" wasn't exactly the way he would refer to the other man, he thought, wincing. A friend wouldn't do all that had been done to him. A friend wouldn't frame him for murder. A friend wouldn't encourage the spread of a deadly disease within him just to see what would happen.

Hannibal had never been his friend. Rather, he had been the villain of a movie, stealthily working his way into Will's life, into the framework of his existence, to perpetuate his evil.

And he'd been completely unknowing -- until he'd had nothing but time on his hands when he'd been imprisoned, and he had finally put two and two together and made five.

Well, he was done with being Hannibal's patsy. That wouldn't happen again.

There would be no more of his life playing out like a movie that he had no control over. From now on, Hannibal would be the one who was chased, the one who had to look over his shoulder.

He and Sherlock would make sure of that. There would be no more fear for him, no more hiding. There would be no more of letting Hannibal use him for his own machinations.

He was stronger than that, Will told himself firmly. He'd spent far too long believing that he should let the currents of life sweep him wherever they wanted, that he had to just follow along. He wasn't doing that now. He was taking charge of his own destiny, not letting someone else do it for him.

Hannibal no longer had any hold over him. The move that he'd been making of Will's existence was at a premature end -- and it would never be resumed.

From now on, the movie of his life was made with Sherlock by his side -- and with the two of them behind the camera, Will knew that movie would have a very happy ending.

He couldn't help smiling at that idea. A happy ending. Yes, that was what he needed.

With Sherlock, he had no doubt of his happiness. It was already there, growing within him, making every day a pleasure and an adventure, something to look forward to.

His life was now a place where he wanted to be, instead of a movie that someone else was directing. And Will had every intention of making sure that it stayed that way.

***