Chapter Text
Fifteen year old Hannibal Lecter Jr. grinned at the young woman who handed over his funnel cake and thanked her. The grin was more for the fried dough than for the brunette in the low cut shirt. He licked his lips, breaking off a piece, and popping it into his mouth, while he looked around for his parents.
They were at a fair where the youngest Lecter was going to meet a few friends, play some games and hit up some rides until Hanni burned through his allowance or it was time to leave, whichever came first. His fathers had driven him, and intended to enjoy the fair by themselves, something that still felt like a new concept to the parents of the teen. Friends and fun, but first funnel cake. Sharing the fried goodness with his daddy while Papa shook his head, faking disgust in order to hide his amusement, was a family tradition.
He saw them standing at one of the high tables set up near the food stands and trucks. His dad was grinning, biting his lip, his hand reaching up to brush a strand of hair out of Papa’s face. It was only an excuse, Hanni knew, for his dad to distract the older man and steal a kiss in public.
Hanni scrunched up his face and groaned, as he watched them kiss. He hoped that none of his friends were around to see it. It wasn’t that he minded them kissing, in public or otherwise, but they were still his dads and he thought no kid should have to see that.
But he had come to the conclusion a long time ago that they weren’t going to stop. No matter how much his papa might find public displays of affection distasteful, or simply rude, as long as his daddy pulled him close, the doctor would follow. They had been doing it for as long as he could remember and in all honesty, if they ever did stop, Hanni would miss it terribly.
“You really should be more tolerant,” a female voice interrupted his thoughts and he glanced sideways as he slowly made his way, weaving through the tables.
“Excuse me?” Hanni asked as he stopped to look at her over his thick rimmed glasses, in a move that he learned from his father.
“I said you should be a little more tolerant,” the girl at his side said with a head nod towards his father. “I mean, I get that not everyone is understanding of their kind of lifestyle, but looking so disgusted is just… well, it’s rude and just hurtful.”
“Is that so?” Hanni grinned, head tilted to the side as he appeared to be considering her words carefully. “I never thought of it like that.”
“Maybe it’s time you start,” she said. She looked quite pleased with herself, a smug, somewhat superior smile on her face, twisting her features in a way that the young teen found distasteful.
She was about the same height as him but at least a few years older. Freedom fighter ‘til her last breath, Hanni could tell. A fighter for rights of those overlooked, and often overlooking everyone around her. So politically correct that it was ridiculous and took the joy out of being different. He didn’t have his dad’s empathy but between the profiler and the psychiatrist, the teen had a talent for reading people.
“Hey!” Hanni yelled over in the directions of his fathers, making their head snap up as well as the girl’s. “Can you two cut it out? Because even though you’re my dads, and I love you, seeing you make out will always be kind of gross, and people are giving me hate for it, for all the wrong reasons.”
“Wait, what?” the girl asked, as she glanced between them and him.
Most of his life Hanni had been told that he had his daddy’s lips and curls, though the boy preferred to keep his trimmed on the sides, but it was the glasses that usually stood out to people who didn’t bother looking further. He had his papa’s eyes and jaw but doubted the girl could make that out in this lighting. Whatever it was that she finally saw forced a blush.
“Hannibal, come here!” His dad’s voice cut through the distance because he never had a problem with raising his voice in public, especially when it came to the young Lecter. His papa’s frown was a touch more intimidating than those sharp notes in his dad’s tone.
“Ouch,” Hanni shot the girl grimace. “Full name. If I get in trouble there are going to be a lot more dirty looks, so don’t take it personally.”
By the time he reached the table, she was gone and he adopted a much more apologetic look.
“I’m sorry,” he told them before they had a chance to start. “I didn’t mean to yell.”
“He doesn’t look very sorry,” Dad said, as he glanced over at the older man over the rim of glasses.
“Do explain how one does not mean to yell and yet does just that?” Papa asked, fixing him with a look that meant an answer was expected and it had better be the right one if he didn’t want his night to end before it had a chance to begin.
“Alright, I guess I meant to yell … but it wasn’t at you,” Hanni frowned. He was a teenager but sometimes felt like a little kid under their combined gaze. “I let that girl get to me. I just wanted to shut her up.”
“You shouldn’t let others dictate your behavior.”
“I know,” Hanni groaned and rolled his eyes.
“Excuse me?” Papa straightened, and for a man nearing sixty, he was as an intimidating a sight as when the teen was no more than waist high.so
“Sorry, Papa,” Hanni bit his lip and moved closer to his dad. “It won’t happen again. I promise.”
“Make sure that it doesn’t. I do not appreciate being made the center of attention for your amusement.”
“Does it bother you that much? When we kiss?” his dad asked, and reached for the funnel cake.
“No.” Hanni shook his head and tore a piece off for himself. “It bothered me that she assumed I was grossed out because I was watching two guys kiss. I guess it’s my fault for making faces in public.” Hanni sighed, knowing when to own up to his mistakes. “Sorry.”
His papa nodded, accepting the acknowledgment with confidence that this was not a conversation they would be repeating. “She must have thought herself very opened minded,” Papa said, his eyes on his husband’s fingers, as Will licked the powdered sugar off them.
“Yeah,” Hanni grinned widely . “She called me rude.”
Papa’s eyes moved over the crowd slowly and silently.
“Is Papa going to find her and give her a lecture on proper social etiquette?” Hanni stage whispered to his dad.
“It would lack a certain substantiality since I seemed to have failed to teach my own son,” Papa said to him, eyes narrowed, but there was a bit of amusement mixed in with the sternness in his tone.
“Told you we should have beat him more,” Dad told him, laughing.
“I got beat plenty, thanks,” Hanni muttered, and tried to look annoyed, but all he managed to do was blush. He hadn’t been spanked often growing up, but the incident with his dad’s gun safe a little bit more than a year ago was still something he didn’t care to dwell on.
“Your friends are here,” Papa told him with a head nod towards where they were supposed to meet. “You had better go before they see us abuse you further and decide to notify the proper authorities.”
“We’ll meet you by the car at eleven,” his dad said, making it sound like a friendly reminder instead of a threat.
“Do behave, Hanni,” Papa couldn’t help adding.
“I know and I will,” Hanni grinned at them and grabbed a large chunk of the funnel cake before running off, both fathers giving him disapproving looks but for different reasons.
He neared his friends but couldn’t help one last glance over his shoulder. He saw Papa gently brush powdered sugar off his dad’s face, and Hanni wasn’t even aware at first how that small action had made him smile. Touch. That was another thing he had always noticed about his fathers.
*Four years back*
Hanni was eleven and his harpsichord lessons had progressed over the years. His papa said he was excellent but the boy had a hard time playing difficult pieces without looking down at his hands. And he didn’t want to look down, not while his papa and daddy were dancing around the room.
They both looked really handsome, Hanni thought as they moved around the open room in their perfectly tailored tuxedos. Daddy had even shaved for their date night, which was rare. And though he did look very good, as Papa had insisted, Hanni would always prefer the bearded version. Papa’s hair was perfectly combed back, and his posture straight, yet fluid, as he took control and guided the younger man around the room to their son’s music. Papa’s hand was firmly in place at the small of Daddy’s back and he used it to hold him close, and closer still as they started to spin.
Hanni’s eyes were on their hands. He focused in on how close they held on to each other as they moved effortlessly around the room. It was their points of contacts, the hand on Daddy’s back, his hand on Papa’s shoulder, that held his interest. He could see the love they had for each other in the way the material creased under their hands and that Papa didn’t seem to notice or care. It was in the way that Daddy let Papa dress him, clean him up, and lead during the dance even though there were lots of things he rather be doing with their night together. In the end, Hanni would have to say that Daddy liked watching Papa get all dressed up just as much as the other way around.
Hanni had been so caught up in watching them that he missed a few notes and a few more when he realized his mistake. He looked slightly embarrassed when he caught his papa’s gaze but the older man only smiled as he gave him a knowing look, and winked. He walked over and Hanni covered a giggle with his hand as the older man pushed back the tails of his coat with a flourish before he sat and started to play.
He loved to watch his papa play, his hands were so quick, so sure yet still gentle, flying over the keys with ease, and no pause, as they did with everything else. Daddy pulled him away from his lesson and he found himself replacing his papa as they began to dance around the room at a much faster pace than the doctor had set. He stood on his daddy’s shoes, which was something Papa would never allow, at least not while in his fancy dress shoes.
“I want to go with you,” Hanni pouted up at his dad and the man gave him a gentle smile.
“Trust me, it’s not as exciting as it sounds,” Daddy told him. “You’ll have a much better time with Stephanie.”
“I don’t want a babysitter,” Hanni scrunched up his nose.
“You’re too young to stay on your own,” Daddy remind him with a shake of his head, because it was a conversation they’d already had. ”Maybe next year.”
“But Daddy-”
“No buts, Hanni,” Daddy said firmly but he smiled and spun the boy around in time with the music. “This isn’t the time to discuss this.”
Hanni huffed. He never got his way. He was eleven and felt like he was more than mature enough to stay on his own. His babysitters never did anything that he, himself, wasn’t allowed to do. He could heat up whatever papa left, brush his teeth and go to bed all on his own. Maybe not at bedtime, but he felt like he was too old for that as well.
“Can I get a smile?” Daddy asked, not wanting to leave the boy in a sour mood. Hanni shook his head.
He glanced over at his papa and just for a moment thought about running to him and tattling on Daddy for being so mean. He quickly changed his mind. His fathers were so different in some ways, but they always backed each other up. Except in times of snowball warfare. Then it was every man, boy and dog for himself.
Daddy grabbed him just under his arms and hoisted him up, and it was on reflex that the boy’s legs wrapped themselves around his father’s waist.
“Be a good boy while we’re gone,” Daddy told him, as he started to spin around. “If you’re bad I’ll make you actually attended one of these gatherings with Papa while I get to stay home and watch cartoons.”
“So you were bad?” Hanni giggled. “Is that why you have to go?”
“Your daddy is going because it is the only time I get the privilege of seeing him dressed up,” Papa said as he stood, and came over as the pair stopped spinning.
“I’ll get dressed up for you, Papa,” Hanni told him as he grinned over his shoulder.
“I know, that’s why you’re my sweet boy.” Papa kissed the side of his head before wrapping his arms around both of them. “But your daddy is right, you wouldn’t enjoy the show just yet. Once it’s time, we will make a special night of it.”
Hanni wasn’t thrilled with the answer he got but knew it couldn’t be too much longer. When Papa started to move them around the room, there was no music, except the doctor’s soft humming, but that was still more than enough. Back pressed against his Papa and with his head on daddy’s shoulder, the night might not have had the ending he wanted, but he didn’t let it stop him from enjoying the dance.
*Present*
Hanni and his friends had been trying to pop balloons with a water gun when an angry voice, and words he would never be allowed to repeat no matter age he was, made him look over his shoulder. He was very shocked when he saw that the man who had spoken had been directing the comment at his Dad. He wasn’t sure what had happened, but his first instinct was to move.
Papa was between the man and Dad before Hanni could rise, and he paused. The expression on his father’s face was not one he was used to seeing. Barely controlled calm, Hanni could see it a dozen yards away, in the way Papa’s lip was pulled back in the corners.
Whatever he was saying must have been bad, because the man paled and backed away.
“I think your pop is about to bring the ninja moves out,” Hanni’s friend Duncan said, having followed the teen’s line of visions. “It’s always the quiet ones that you have to watch out for.”
“It’s when he’s quiet that he’s the scariest,” Hanni told him as he turned back to the game. “Another round? I’m getting that turtle!”
“Oh yeah, you won’t be able to keep the girls away with that,” Duncan laughed but took out the money to pay.
Hanni gave one last glance at his parents, and watched as Daddy led the older man away looking slightly irritated. The teen couldn’t imagine what about. Papa had done what he always did, what he imagined his dad would do in return. They had always been protective of him, but also each other, even if the attack came from their own son.
**Five years back**
Hanni sat at the counter, kicking his feet while he watched his dad fix him a snack. The ten-year-old made sure that his father was aware of just how upset he was by pouting and glaring at him every time the bearded man looked over in his direction.
“Can’t you talk to him again?” Hanni begged. “Please, Daddy?”
“No, honey, I’m sorry,” Will shook his head. “Your papa made it perfectly clear what time you had to be home.”
“I know,” Hanni whined. “But you said I could go to Charlie’s birthday weeks ago! I got him a gift!”
“We didn’t change our minds about the party, son,” Will reminded him. “You’re grounded. It was just bad timing on your part.”
“Can’t I be grounded tomorrow instead?” Hanni kicked at the counter and bounced in his seat.
“Hanni, stop,” Will shook his head again, looking slightly exhausted. “Your papa told you to be home by dinner time, and what would happen if we had to go out looking for you.”
“I didn’t mean to be late! I just forgot! Papa is just overreacting!” Hanni felt himself grow more and more frustrated that his father didn’t seem to understand that he hadn’t meant to disobey them and wasn’t willing to help him in his case against Papa.
“It is a bit strict,” Daddy shrugged, “but it’s not your papa’s fault that you didn’t come home when you were supposed to. This isn’t the first time you were late. This just might be what you needed to make you remember.”
Hanni kicked at the counter again and his dad only sighed.
“I will never forget! Ever! For as long as I live, I promise. Please daddy?” Hanni tried again. “Just talk to him! Just this once and I’ll never ask you for anything again.”
“His mind is made up,” the older man shrugged, slightly amused by the new bargaining technique but not with the boy’s attitude.
Hanni groaned. It seemed even Daddy had admitted that the older man was too strict. It might have been a simple slip of the tongue on the younger man’s part, but to the boy it was damning proof. He heard what he wanted to hear at that moment. It was all his papa’s fault. It seemed like Daddy really was on his side.
“He’s such a dick,” Hanni muttered loudly. When his friend called his stepfather names, usually his mom just agreed, but when the Hanni looked up, his daddy was not amused at all. Hanni’s stomach sank.
“Come here,” his dad snapped out at him and Hanni felt frozen to his seat until his father slammed the counter with his palm, making him jump as he added, “Now!”
Hanni slid off the chair and dragged himself to stand before his very irritated father.
“I cannot believe what I just heard! Do you know how much your papa loves you? I’m very disappointed in you and you, young man, should be ashamed of yourself,” his dad’s voice was sharper than he had ever heard it before and Hanni found it very hard to keep looking at him. “How would you feel if he heard you talk like that?”
“You’re not going to tell him, are you?” Hanni asked, suddenly in tears. At that moment he was far more concerned with the thought of getting into even more trouble than what effect his words might have on the older man.
“No. Not this time. Do you know how upset he would be if he knew you said that? Do you even understand how much that would hurt him?” Hanni shrunk a little under the blue piercing gaze of his father, “and if I ever hear you talk like that again, I’ll wash your mouth out with soap. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Daddy,” Hanni said, no longer able to hold back tears when he saw how upset his father was.
“Good, now go to your room.”
“How long?” Hanni asked, miserably.
“Until your papa comes home,” his daddy said and sent him out of the room with a hard swat that he felt all the way up the stairs.
Knowing his dad was upset didn’t stop him from falling on his bed, mostly absorbed in his self-pity and anger at the fact that it seemed like there was never anyone to take his side. His friends’ parents called each other names pretty often according to what he saw or heard from them, and it didn’t seem like a big deal.
Duncan, his best friend, had told him that when his mom wouldn’t let him do something, all he had to do was ask his dad. But that never worked with his parents. They always sided against him.
His papa had been mean. It was summer and he had been having such a good time with his friends that he had lost track of the time. He knew he was in trouble when his papa had come to collect him from Duncan’s house. He had told his father how sorry he was but Papa told him he was still grounded the next day. It was just his luck that it was that same day as his friend’s birthday party.
Even though he was still angry when he got to his room, he started to feel pretty awful about his behavior before too long. There was no denying that his papa was the stricter one out of the two but he was also more patient. He had never seen the older man snap and only ever raised his voice to be heard over whatever tantrums he had been throwing. He still hated the fact that the older man was unyielding, but for the world couldn’t imagine anyone in his place. After all was said and done, he didn’t want the man to be any different either, not him nor his dad.
When Hanni heard the front door open, he ran down the stairs and threw himself at the older man before the door had time to close all the way. He buried his face in his father’s waist, actually managing to surprise the doctor.
“I was under the impression that you were upset with me,” Papa said, burying his free hand in his son’s hair. Hanni just shook his head and looked up when he felt a hand against his cheek. “Did something happen?”
“I’m sorry,” Hanni said, face pressed against his papa’s palm.
“Why don’t you take papa’s briefcase to his office,” Daddy said, cutting off whatever question his Papa was about to ask.
Hanni immediately took the briefcase from the offered hand and ran to place it on the older man’s desk. He was worried that dad had changed his mind, and was going to tell on him, but when he came back Papa was holding one of Daddy’s hands against his lips as he leaned against the door.
“It’s always a long day when I’m away from my boys,” Papa said, and kissed the other man’s knuckles. “But today seemed unusually long and cruel.”
Hanni inched closer, quietly, not wanting to interrupt, but not wanting to leave. He still felt guilty about what he said, and felt a need to apologize, if maybe not with words.
“Papa, can I help with dinner?”
“Of course,” Papa said, and moved a step closer to his son. He slipped his jacket off and draped it over the boy’s shoulder with a smile. “I will always be in need of my best sous chef.”
Hanni followed his papa to the kitchen and felt a bit better when Dad tousled his hair and wrapped an arm around his shoulder. With one father’s forgiveness achieved, redemption felt within reach.
*Present*
Hanni stood in line for a ride when the muted colors of his father’s jacket caught his eye. He and Daddy paid him no mind as they made their way around the booths, leaning closer to each other so they could speak softly, shoulders bumping gently as they walked.
To the boy’s surprise, the older man took his dad’s wrist and pulled him to a food stand. Before he got on his ride, he saw Papa hand a hot dog over to his husband. The bearded man laughed and pulled on the doctor’s tie to steal a kiss. He had to because there was no way Papa would kiss him after he ate the snack.
Hanni couldn’t help smiling as the ride started, as he realized now the night had come back to the two men kissing. No matter how much he may roll his eyes and groan when the two of them started to kiss, there was no denying the sense of security it gave him. It had done for as long as he could remember.
The teen wasn’t sure how old he was when his parents went on their one and only break. He must have been just shy of five because he was pretty sure it was before they got married. He had lots lot of clear childhood memories from around that time, like learning to swim and ride his bike, getting Darcy and getting in trouble with her. But the time during the break was not something he liked to think about.
What must have been less than a few weeks felt like an eternity to the little boy. The thing he remembered most was how much he had missed his papa. It seemed like a constant absence, almost painful, that left him feeling sad the whole day. He remembered trying to stay strong like Papa had told him so Daddy wouldn’t be sad, but a decade later he doubted he was able to fool his dad.
*Eleven years ago*
The four year old had gone to sleep much like every night for the past week, and woke up in the same sour mood. Winston wasn’t in bed with him which was strange enough to make him notice but common enough that he wasn’t worried. He put on his slippers since he knew better than to go downstairs without them, and went in search of Daddy and breakfast. And that was where he found Papa, standing in middle of the kitchen, kissing Daddy as if nothing had ever been wrong. He must have screamed, or called out because Papa turned and caught him just as the boy made a run for him.
“Papa, are you going to stay?” Hanni asked, excited that the older man had come.
“I was hoping you would be coming home with me.” Papa said, a small smile in the corners of his mouth.
“Is Daddy coming too?” Hanni asked, hesitantly.
“Either him, or Winston. I don’t know if my car-”
“-Hannibal!” Daddy interrupted, shooting the older man a pointed glare.
“Yes, sweet boy,” Papa smiled, though it was aimed at his Daddy. “We’re going home. And guess what? Papa and Daddy are getting married!”
“Okay,” Hanni smiled. “Can I have pancakes?”
They laughed, and Hanni had been thrilled to see them both happy after what felt like a very long time. When Papa started to cook, the little boy refused to let go. Neither of the men had the to heart to force him out of his Papa’s arm, so he remained there while pancakes were made and kisses were stolen between his fathers.
It may not have been when he started equating his parents kissing with a sense of security, but that was when he noticed how close they were. As long as they kept kissing, he imagined neither of them would leave ever again.
*Present*
Fifteen minutes after eleven, Hanni found his dad sitting on the trunk of the car, ice cream cone in hand and Papa standing directly in front of him, head bowed and hands on the younger man’s knees.
“Do you want me to come back later?” Hanni asked, a few feet away.
“No... You’ve always had such marvelous timing, kiddo,” Daddy said dryly, as he shook his head.
“What?” Hanni frowned, unsure of what he was referring to. “Papa what does he mean by that?”
“He means you were supposed to be here at eleven, young man,” Papa told him, though the slight pull of his lips made his son doubt that was what his dad meant.
“The line took longer than I thought,” Hanni said.
“You could have called.”
Hanni winced as he bit his lip. Sometimes it seemed like the phone was connected to his hand but when he was doing something, he forgot it existed. “Sorry, yeah, I should have. Why didn’t you call me?”
“We’re the parents here,” Will told him much too sternly to be serious as both moved away and refused to meet his eyes. “Come on, it’s late.”
“Shotgun!” Hanni yelled only to laugh at the dirty look his dad shot him as he opened the back door and gave him a pointed look. “Fine, just wait ‘til I start to drive. Darcy gets shotgun all the time.”
“Did you have fun with your friends?” Papa asked as he turned his head to look at his son once they were in the car.
“Yeah, it was great!” Hanni’s smile wavered. “What happened with that guy? I heard him yell at Daddy.”
“Nothing,” Papa said, his voice suddenly gone cold. “He apologized for making a scene and went on his way.”
Hanni grinned and moved to the middle of the back seat so he could rest his head on Papa’s shoulder. “Did he get the same speech I did for making a scene today?”
“I was saving the speech for tomorrow, when I could be assured I have your full attention,” Papa said and kissed the teen’s head as he moved away with a groan.
From the back he could see his dad’s shoulders shake as he laughed quietly and reached out to place his hand on Papa’s forearm while the older man started the car. Hanni relaxed against the comfortable leather and closed his eyes. He felt safe and loved, and it had less to do with what they said than with how they expressed it-- to each other, and to him.