Chapter Text
Some things were not a surprise to Will. He moved into each new school knowing he would be at the top of his class, that he would get harassed by most of his peers for a biology he couldn’t help, and that no one would care about either.
He was graduating salutatorian, second in his class. That was not a surprise. The principal had personally given him a special sash to wear for the ceremony since as an Omega he wasn't allowed to be seated in the Section of Note with the valedictorian and the speakers. The student who had come third in their class, a Beta, would be giving the opening address since Will wasn't allowed to. He would have been grateful about not giving a speech if the reason why didn't chafe him so much.
Will told the principal he wasn’t even going to the ceremony.
That night the principal called his father.
He was summarily informed he would be attending his graduation, whether he liked it or not.
What Will actually would have liked— not that anyone but Doctor Lecter seemed to care and not that anyone would ever bother to ask— was to go fishing down by Cat Lodge Creek to celebrate in his own quiet way. A weekend to reflect on the end of his years at school and to prepare himself for what lay ahead; specifically the week ahead, and more specifically the Saturday only seven days away where he was scheduled to be married off to a man he still hadn’t met.
His knew his dad couldn't take the weekend off to go fishing when he had taken the Friday and Saturday off for Will's wedding just a few days later. It was not a surprise to Will he was not getting the fishing trip he wanted, or that he was strong-armed into attending his graduation. With forced marriage on the horizon, the petty inconvenience of a two-hour ceremony in a gymnasium seemed paltry by comparison.
Will dressed the day of graduation in his nice blue Omegan underwear for confidence. He put on the suit his father got him to meet potential suitors and actually attempted to do something with his hair. He looked nice.
That's what made his arrival at school so strange.
Will walked through the school entrance and passed by half the varsity basketball team like he'd done dozens of times before, only to have three of them immediately scent the air and recoil like he was a rancid piece of meat. They bent their heads to whisper something to the other four. They looked shocked. They looked scandalized.
Will was used to being an outcast. He had the singular misfortune of being both very late-blooming and the only male Omega in his class. He dressed like a Beta. He generally smelled like engine oil. He brushed the weird reception off. He just needed to get through a two-hour ceremony and he'd never have to see any of them again.
He didn't expect for it to happen again while he wandered his way through the alphabetical sections to find his spot in line. A set of Alpha twins, the Edwards, literally went silent as he walked by— which was strange because they were usually polite enough to say hi when they saw one another in the halls. There was even a rumor that Mark Edwards had offered for him when he presented. He was wondering what he could have done to make them look at him like that when he nearly walked headlong into the Campus Conservatives group. They looked more repulsed than usual, which was frankly impressive since they considered male Omegas to be an Abomination. They closed ranks amongst themselves and started to whisper back and forth as Will pointedly walked around them. He didn't spare them second looks on principle, but he made an exception just in time to see one of the Omega girls quietly crying and a Beta run off like God Himself had granted him a mission.
Will was fairly certain he'd never made anyone cry just by existing before. People were staring. It seemed like every Alpha in the school was nosing at the air. Everyone was whispering and he didn't know why.
What was going on?
Will finally found his place between Alexa Gesper and Peter Hapsman just in time to watch them both look like they wanted to change their last names to avoid him. He was strongly considering asking one of them what was going on and if he smelled because people kept sniffing in his direction? He was wondering how he had somehow personally offended his entire graduating class in the last twenty-four hours when the principal who had given him his salutatorian sash only a few days earlier grabbed him by the arm and forcefully pulled him away from the other students. The Alpha actually growled when he said he would deal with Will later. The Omegan part of him that wanted to outwardly tremble was kept in control by his frustration and confusion by what he could have possibly done to upset not only his entire graduating class but apparently the administration, as well.
He listened as the processional music started. He watched as the students filed out of the gym and began their march towards the ceremony outside. He still had no idea what was going on, but he was good at following directions. So he waited. And waited. After ten minutes the school's Omega assistant nurse arrived and immediately went to work patting Will comfortingly on the shoulder, saying something about how everything was going to be okay. A few minutes after that the head nurse, an unfriendly Beta named Mrs Grupp that Will couldn't believe someone willingly married, walked up with a cup and told him to fill it. Will had asked what she would like—water? He was missing the ceremony; he really needed to go. She told him she didn't need his sass. She told him to pee in the cup.
Will, no less confused than he had been fifteen minutes ago, went to pee in the cup. He still didn't know what was going on, but whatever got him to the ceremony—when he heard his dad storming over. He perked up for a moment; Bill Graham had not worked and sacrificed for eighteen long years for his son to be held back from walking at graduation. His dad would figure it out.
He listened closely as he navigated peeing into the cup. His father's yelling died a quick death and then the whispering started. Will wanted to yell. He was graduating highschool and he was old enough to get married off; he was old enough to know what exactly he was being accused of! He came out of the bathroom holding his little cup to the sight of his father even more pale than the day he'd met with Mason Verger. Will couldn't tell if the man was terrified or furious. The nurse took the cup and dipped a stick in it. Finally something started to make sense. Will recognized the stick. Every Omega knew what a pregnancy test looked like.
For fifteen glorious seconds he felt nothing but absolute relief. He'd done nothing that could result in a pregnancy. He hadn't even met his fiance yet! Someone must have started a rumor about him. That was it. That's all it was. Everything would be fine in a minute or two when the test showed a negative sign.
It took under twenty seconds for the result to show up.
The digital window on the stick flashed once.
Pregnant
Will leaned forward and vomited on his shoes. He could barely breathe as his body rejected the contents of his stomach until it was empty. He was wracked with dry heaves long after that.
When he could finally look up, his father was crying.
He'd never seen Bill cry before.
Will started to cry, too.
They must have driven home after that.
They were home when he came back to himself.
He was sitting on his bed staring at the wall, so he had to be home.
His room had been ripped apart, drawers emptied, bedding thrown like he was an inmate in a jail cell.
His secret box of underwear must have been found. The lovely things had been shredded by someone's angry hands, the delicate fabric torn beyond recognition.
His stomach roiled.
There was nothing left in him to vomit.
He put a hand on his face and felt wet tracks where he must have been crying.
He put his hand over his stomach.
He couldn't hear anything but the imagined heartbeat of the baby inside him. Or maybe that was his heartbeat drumming in his ears.
Thump-thump.
Thump-thump.
Thump-thump.
"Where's Will?"
Finally something cut through the fog. Doctor Lecter was at his house. He would fix it. Doctor Lecter could fix anything. He would say that the test had been wrong–though now that Will thought about it, he wasn't sure that the test was wrong. He'd attributed the nausea and the exhaustion and the breast tenderness to pre-heat syndrome, but admittedly it didn't feel like any PHS he'd ever dealt with. He felt pregnant, or at least what he thought pregnancy would feel like from listening in on older Omegas talking about it.
"He's pregnant. What do I do?"
Will walked to his open door and looked at the scene in the kitchen. Doctor Lecter looked handsome in a light blue suit with a cream-colored shirt and some kind of light gold tie and pocket square that seemed too outlandish to work but looked great. Will wondered if the Alpha ever got hot wearing three piece suits in summer. He wondered if sweat ever ran from those broad shoulders down the hollow of the man's sculpted back. He thought about how he'd like to follow that trail with his tongue, which was inappropriate but he really needed something nice to think about in the wake of finding out he was experiencing some kind of virgin pregnancy and he would spend the rest of his life as a social pariah. Apparently life could get worse than highschool.
Doctor Lecter frowned. "If you had family he could simply be sent away, but in your situation there's only two realistic options—you can either keep a disgraced Omega or send them to a home. At a home the offspring will be adopted at birth and the adoption fees used to pay out the break in contract if one occurred. The Omega will be placed with a suitable partner, usually Beta, who is willing to have a sullied Omega for the opportunity to have one at all."
"I can't afford to pay out the contract. Even if I could, I can't afford a pup. Couldn't afford it the first time." His dad looked old, the kind of old that came from a hard life.
"Nor should you." Hannibal agreed. "Does he know who the father is? Even illegitimate, a decent family might still pay for the child. Proof of fertility."
Bill shook his head. "If he does he sure ain't talkin'. Just keeps cryin' like that might fix it. He always wanted to be a Beta. Shoulda let him."
"There's no fixing this, unfortunately." Doctor Lecter commented soberly.
His father grimaced and took a swig of whisky from a glass Will hadn't even noticed the man was holding. "All that workin' and sacrificin', and this is what I get."
"A Bitch with pup." The Alpha commiserated.
Will startled.
Bitch with pup?
Hannibal would never.
Will managed to choke down a sob long enough to catch the Alpha's eyes. There was no malice there, no hate, no disgust.
There was also no surprise.
Hannibal had known he was pregnant but didn't say anything. Why, though?
"Here's Will, now." The Thoroughbred announced. Will wished the doctor would have ignored him.
His father cast a glare in his direction. "Well, come on out. You've ruined Doctor Lecter's Saturday already; best thing to do now is get this sorted so he can get back to it."
Will didn't mean to start crying again. He couldn't help it, it was like he was possessed. Tears resumed coursing down his cheeks while every Omega instinct he didn't know he had until that moment screamed at him to go hide. Protect the baby. Wait for the anger to stop rolling off them in sickening waves. Not them— just his father. Doctor Lecter looked… Blank. Like a smooth stone.
He wondered if the Alpha was disappointed in him. He wondered if the Alpha was thankful he'd never put in an offer for Will's hand in mating. He wondered if the Alpha was thinking about the times he'd pressed his nose to Will's scent gland and breathed him in.
Will marched towards them dutifully. What Doctor Lecter thought didn't matter, now. His life was over.
"Do you know who the father is, Will?" The Alpha probed.
The tears wouldn't stop falling. How could this be happening? How could any of this be happening? He'd been so good, he—
"I don't, Doctor Lecter, tell him. Tell him I haven't even touched myself, I haven't let anyone ruin me! I wouldn't—"
He hadn't been expecting the blow when it came. His father's open hand smacked across his mouth hard enough to snap his head to one side. For a moment no one in the room breathed—and then it all went to pieces. Will started crying even harder than before. There was a flash of something on Hannibal's face, something base and violent that quickly disappeared back into a schooled mask of indifference. Bill didn't see it as he stared at his own hand like he couldn't believe it was him who had done it. He dumped the rest of the whiskey into his mouth like it was a shot and drank it down.
"Go get whatever you need from your room. I'm gonna try to pretend that your mother took you with her when she left. Woulda been better for everyone involved."
Will didn't know what was happening or where exactly he was going, but he knew he didn't want a reminder of any of this. The only things he may have wanted to take— his beautiful Omegan underwear— were torn to shreds on the floor of his room with the exception of the blue pair he was wearing. A part of him that felt a little like nothing was real thought about how there was an entire trousseau waiting for him at Frederick Chilton's: a wardrobe he would never see, a fiancé he would never meet, an entire life that he was not meant to lead.
"I think I've taken enough." He said softly.
His father would take it as Will had taken enough from him; food, shelter, time spent raising him. Hannibal would know what he meant. Enough casual degradation. Enough tolerating the bigots who masqueraded as allies. Enough pretending to be someone who he was not.
"Are you certain, Will?" Hannibal asked softly.
"Yes." He answered. He couldn't tell if he felt numb or if his soul was ripping in half. He put his hand over his lower belly, where his child was resting. "Goodbye, Daddy."
"Good riddance." Bill growled, turning away.
Hannibal draped a comforting arm over Will's thin, trembling shoulders and led him from the trailer. Out of his childhood and away from his old life. Into whatever came next. Charon the ferryman escorting him to the underworld.
Will realized he didn't know anything about Hannibal's personal life when they stepped out of the trailer and he saw the gleaming Bentley parked on their shabby dirt driveway. The Alpha opened the passenger door for him, which was completely unnecessary but Will tried to enjoy it anyway. A man had never held a door open for him before. Now that he was a Bitch with pup he didn't think it would ever happen again. He was worthless. Ruined. A consolation prize for a Beta who couldn’t do better.
As Hannibal took his own seat and began to drive, Will wondered if he could just ask the doctor to let him out by the side of the road somewhere. He would figure something out. He had to. The home for unwed Omegas would to sell the child inside him. The harder he tried to come up with a plan the harder it got to breathe. He had to protect his baby. His baby. His, his, his. His chest felt tight. They drove a couple of miles in near-silence broken only by Will's shuddering, panicked breaths before Hannibal pulled the car over.
The moment the car stopped the Alpha was touching him, petting his neck and purring.
"You were magnificent." Doctor Lecter praised. "My Darling, my brave, sweet little thing. You were perfect."
"W—What?" Will asked between gulps of air.
"My beloved, wonderful Omega. From the moment I saw your father's pleading note on my desk and your file with it I knew you had potential beyond anything I'd seen before. Brilliantly smart, stunningly empathetic, too stubborn to accept less than you knew the world owed you. Even before I first saw you in my waiting room you were preceded by the sweet scent of your own fertility. I knew then I would do anything to claim you as my own."
Will's ears had resumed ringing. His stomach churned unpleasantly. "I don't understand."
"I want you, Will. As my Mate. As my everything."
The Thoroughbred's hands felt so good gently kneading at his neck. He couldn't think straight with them touching him but he also couldn't imagine asking Hannibal to stop. He didn't want Hannibal to stop. "I don’t understand. Why didn't you say anything?"
"You had two strong contenders for your hand. Perhaps if I had more time to work with— But that wasn't the case. I simply could not risk losing you." He sounded sincere. He seemed sincere. But something still felt wrong to Will, something felt off. There was still something missing. Something big. "The moment I smelled pregnancy on you was the greatest moment of my life. It was proof that your body accepted mine wholly and without reservation, proof we are perfectly suited for one another. For a male Omega to fall pregnant outside of a heat is extraordinary and yet, I suspect it only took us two tries."
Will felt like he'd left his mind back in his dad's truck as he was dropped off at his graduation. His thinking felt slow and syrupy. How had Hannibal gotten him pregnant without him knowing? How had he missed—
Oh.
Oh.
"There was never a mating device. You lied to me." He breathed.
"Not lied, Darling. Mislead, perhaps, but never lied." Doctor Lecter sounded slightly hurt by the accusation. He removed his lithe fingers from Will's neck and put them back on the steering wheel. Something in the back of Will's mind chafed— The real lie is how he's pretending to be hurt it whispered, but that couldn’t be right; not when Doctor Lecter was the only person who had ever treated him well. "Tell me Will, how did you feel as you laid there and begged so sweetly to be stretched? What did you think about each day as you walked into my office smelling so alluringly of slick and desire?"
"I didn't know. I didn't know what I was asking for." He insisted.
He was a good Omega.
Wasn't he?
Fantasizing about it being real was one thing, but he would never have allowed—
Right?
He wasn’t so sure, anymore.
The world was spinning so fast and the only thing he could do to hold on was to touch where his baby— Their baby, he corrected— lay safely within him. Doctor Lecter was right. It was miraculous that he’d gotten pregnant between heats. Did that mean—
Did it mean he’d wanted it?
He’d imagined being mounted and filled by Doctor Lecter so many times. He’d stolen panties to lure the Alpha. He’d done everything in his power to entice the man so why was he so upset that it had worked?
Hannibal's hands flexed against the leather of the steering wheel. "What will you do now, my little heart? You have agency here; if you would like I can drop you back with your father and tell him what I've done. Your good name will be restored while mine will be destroyed. I will very likely go to jail."
He should, he reasoned with himself. Doctor Lecter had done something wrong. Doctor Lecter had tricked him into getting pregnant. Doctor Lecter played with the truth like it was putty, something to be manipulated for his own gain. He should tell someone.
But if he did— If he told and Hannibal went to jail, then what? He would still be ruined. He'd have to bring up the baby alone just like his dad. His dad probably wouldn't forgive him. How could he not have known? Where would he go then? What would he do? He rubbed a small circle over his lower belly. How could he go back to a life without Hannibal when he was pregnant with the beautiful life they'd made together?
Earlier that day he'd dreamed of Doctor Lecter being his Alpha.
He should be happy. He should be thrilled.
"No I—I don't want that. I want to be with you. I've wanted it all along." He felt tears pricking at the corners of his eyes. "What will happen now?"
"Don't cry, my little one. We'll mate tonight and marry tomorrow. No one will ever know our child is a product of indiscretion. They'll have everything: a lavish nursery, the best private schools, spending extended summers as a family in Europe. If we have an Omega they'll never feel obligated to marry."
"Will they be allowed to go to college?" Will asked timidly.
"Of course." Doctor Lecter promised.
What about me? Will couldn't help but wonder. He still felt like he was floating over his own body, like everything was a dream. Will you still care what I want now that I’m yours?
But he didn't want to be greedy. He didn't want to be bad.
“Is everything settled then?” Hannibal asked politely.
Will nodded but said nothing as his future Mate resumed driving. He looked out of his window and watched how the trees gave way to suburbs, then city sprawl as they made their way into Baltimore. To their home. Where they would bond. Where they would raise their child. Will watched hundreds of people milling about and wondered at it. For him the world had stopped, but for these people it was four in the afternoon on a Saturday.
It seemed absurd.
"Sondern." Hannibal said softly, careful not to startle him. "It's a German word that describes the feeling of realization that each person is living their own life with vastly different experiences than ourselves. It's part of why I have chosen to keep my home here; I am fascinated by the vast diversity Baltimore offers."
Will tried to smile. He just felt tired. "You always seem to know what I'm thinking. Does that mean I'm already predictable?"
Hannibal smiled just a little back at him. "No, Darling, only that I was young once. I came here for my first residency— I was a surgeon before I was a psychiatrist— and I recognized the expression."
"What was it like, coming here for the first time? And alone?" Will asked.
"I've always been alone, minus those six wonderful years with my sister." The Alpha answered as he pulled into the driveway of a stately mansion that seemed to coordinate with his office building. "Here we are."
Hannibal clicked his seatbelt off and reached for the door handle.
"Wait." Will stopped him before he could exit the vehicle. If he was making this decision, if he was bonding himself to this Alpha, he was committing. His Mate needed him.
He fumbled his seatbelt off. Once he was freed he scrambled over the center console and curled himself in Hannibal's lap, wrapping one arm around the Thoroughbred's neck while the other brought the doctor's large hand to rest over the spot where their child grew within him. "You'll never be alone again. I promise. You have us."
"My darling. My littlest love. My bride."
Will looked up and was startled to find a tear slipping from Doctor Lecter's eye. There was something just slightly wrong about Hannibal, something jagged and broken and bleeding deep below the surface. Something he hid at all costs. A truth he couldn’t face about himself. Will could see it— far beyond the mask for public consumption, past the darkness that shrouded him, all the way to the broken child who had never really moved on from his personal tragedy. Who had spent a lifetime agonizingly alone.
He wanted to soothe his Alpha.
He leaned up and licked the tear away. It was salty on his tongue and then Hannibal’s free hand was tangled in his hair and they were kissing, the taste of the tear replaced by the taste of the father of his child. His Mate.
Will rocked himself against the Thoroughbred, and his head was still spinning but this felt familiar, this felt good this felt right—
“We should go in.” Doctor Lecter breathed, breaking off their kiss.
Will made a small noise of displeasure and stubbornly curled deeper into his Alpha’s arms. He didn’t want to move. He wasn’t ready. He already felt overly exposed and overstimulated and the car felt almost warm enough and confined enough to be a nest. He felt the rumble of what might have been a laugh against his cheek.
He shook his head into the warm embrace. He sniffed at his Alpha.
“If we have to.”
He didn’t mean to sound grumpy or petulant or childish— even if his tone conveyed all three. He felt Hannibal smile against his hair.
“My precious darling—How difficult it’s been to keep my distance all these weeks. How much I intend to spoil you, my little bride.” Will felt the Thoroughbred’s long arms wrap around him like a straight jacket. “Let me help you across the threshold.”
Before he could say anything the car door was open and he was being carried the short trip from the driveway to the entry. Will wasn’t sure if he could have walked it himself with how nervous he was. The stone exterior seemed to stretch straight to the clouds and the double doors looked like they belonged in a castle. How could something so grand ever be Will’s home, Will who had lived in more trailers than apartments and never once a real house?
What if Doctor Lecter got to know him better and changed his mind? What if he realized Will wasn’t good enough?
Hannibal opened the intimidatingly large door— which apparently wasn’t even locked— and Will tried not to look too hard at the opulent interior as his feet were gently placed back on the ground.
"Are you hungry, Will?" The Alpha asked politely. Will shook his head. Speaking felt too hard. Everything felt too hard. "Darling, why don't you go upstairs and rest for a little? I'll be up shortly. Our bedroom is the one with the large double doors just past the stairs."
Will nodded weakly.
He crossed back towards the sweeping staircase and tried not to be intimidated. It didn’t work. The entire house felt like a sepulcher. It was heavy and dark and rich and the only thing he had to compare it to was when his dad’s old boss had died and the service was held at the fanciest funeral home in the county. Will pat his hand against his belly.
He didn’t like the thought of his baby— their baby, now, growing up in a house that felt more like a funeral home than a family home.
Maybe Hannibal would let him decorate the nursery. Maybe that could be bright and warm. Or maybe the Alpha’s house was sad because he was, maybe it was a manifestation of its owner and now that Hannibal had the chance to be happy, maybe he would change his mind about— Will looked at the antlers mounted on the wall. Not a trophy, just the antlers. His throat felt too tight to swallow. He closed his eyes for a second.
He could imagine it, a little. The hallway painted a bright yellow and festooned with family pictures lining the walls. Handprints and scribbles hung like priceless artwork. Little feet running around without worrying they might break something because everything was replaceable but them. Always enough food in the kitchen. They could have a nice little family. They could make a nice little— or if Hannibal’s promises of summers in Europe was to be believed, maybe not so little— life together.
It could be good.
Will entered the bedroom with only a small amount of trepidation. He wanted to be happy. He'd gotten what he wanted, just differently from how he'd planned. Everything had just changed so fast and Hannibal's house was so intimidating and then he entered the cobalt room and his breath froze in his chest.
He was everywhere.
Beautifully rendered etchings of him were lovingly hung around the room, and there were dozens of them. The first one was of him looking fiercely petulant in the waiting room before their first session. Near it was one of him spread wide on the chaise, looking dazed and flushed with pleasure while slick ran down one thigh. Not slick, he corrected himself. Come. Doctor Lecter's come. A flush of heat warmed his skin. He wasn't sure if he felt violated or aroused.
There were pictures that interspaced their sessions, pictures of Will pierced by an arrow and one of him being blown on by some grey figure he couldn't identify. Hannibal drew him in works of art between their sessions. There was a drawing of him spread naked and loose-limbed on the seafoam couch from their second session, then a close-up piece of his face with tear tracks streaking down his cheeks. That must have also been from after he came. They came, Will amended. Hannibal had been coming, too, after all.
There were more drawings between them, more esoteric art references that he didn't recognize yet but he was sure Hannibal would teach him all about. He put a hand against his lower stomach where their child had taken hold. They had the rest of their lives, now. There were several drawing from their third session: one of him slipping his jeans off with the edge of his red panties visible, one of Will on his knees with his head pillowed on a disembodied thigh, one of him spread and open while leaning against the desk, one very explicit one of him grinding down against a fat knot with his face in profile, one of him with his neck exposed in invitation as he offered Hannibal comfort while the doctor shared the story of his beginnings.
Will almost wondered if that was the session that cemented the Alpha's obsession, except that Doctor Lecter had already come in him twice before then. It had to have been something else, something deeper, something nameless that drifted around Will's periphery where a picture of what the Thoroughbred felt for him was taking form.
There were more pictures of Will in what looked like renaissance art. Then something shifted. He'd expected to see a few etchings of himself tied to the ladder, but instead there was picture after picture of him as he'd lounged on the warm cushions before the fire. There was the original Hannibal had done in the office, but then there were more: ones with him eating grapes off the vine, ones with him holding his stomach, ones with him round with pregnancy.
Hannibal had known for weeks that he was pregnant.
Will did recognize some of the next drawings. There were at least ten of him as the Madonna, head bowed in pleasure as he stroked his swollen belly. The cresting realization finally reached its pinnacle as he looked at how the drawings had changed over the weeks and how they continued to change as their sessions continued. He couldn't help but to suddenly wonder–
"Is Hannibal… In love with me?" He asked the dozens of versions of himself decorating the walls.
It didn't make sense. What did he have to offer to the genius Thoroughbred who was rich beyond measure and a genius to boot? An esteemed doctor whose art was impressive enough to be hung in galleries and who cooked like a professional chef, if not better?
Strong arms wrapped around his middle. He would have jumped out of his skin if he hadn't been secured in place; he hadn't even heard the Alpha— his Alpha— approaching.
"Could I daily feel a stab of hunger for you? Find nourishment in the very sight of you? I think so. But will you see through the bars of my plight, and ache for me?” Hannibal murmured into his ear. Will shivered.
"I do." He promised. "I have since the beginning. I—I want you. I have wanted you, ever since the beginning."
Hannibal's hands, never idle, began to unfasten the buttons on his shirt. Will snuck a peek at the bed— their marital bed. He swallowed to temper his nerves. They'd done this before, he reminded himself. He hadn't known at the time, but he'd loved every second of it, hadn't he? He'd come on that thick Thoroughbred cock even when he'd been given little more than the head and begged prettily for more. He'd schemed to get it inside him again between sessions. He'd gotten exactly what he wanted… hadn't he?
Doctor Lecter pulled Will's shirt open and toyed with one nipple while the other moved to cup the Omega's little cock through his pants. Will instinctively arched into his touch, pressing their bodies flush. He may have been a little nervous but his body still responded beautifully to its Alpha. A little gasp escaped his lips as his nipple was tugged to hardness. He could feel the rigid length of Hannibal's erection pressing against him, and he realized it was the first time he'd felt it like this. Knowing what it was. Seeing.
Suddenly, for the first time in his life, Will felt powerful.
Doctor Lecter might have been older and well-bred and a prodigy in at least four subjects Will knew of, but none of that changed that the Thoroughbred had chosen him. Doctor Lecter had wanted him enough to get him pregnant so their mating would be assured. The Alpha was willing to risk complete personal and professional ruin for him. Hannibal was his.
"Undress me, please.” Will murmured as his soon-to-be Mate worshiped at the altar of his body. “I'm wearing blue ones. Just like the first time we met."
The Alpha's hot mouth laved at his nipples while his hands made quick work of Will’s trousers. There was no careful folding, no tidy piles. Just Will wet and hard and bared down to his panties.
“May I touch you, Alpha? May I help take off your clothes?” He asked.
Doctor Lecter nodded. He’d already removed his coat and vest downstairs, but Will was more than content to run his palms across the soft cotton-silk blend covering the long panes of his Mate’s body; the broad shoulders he’d imagined clinging to, the muscular arms he’d been so distracted by, the chest he knew was thickly furred and felt so good against his skin. It was all his, now. His, his, his.
He was greedy. His mouth watered as his fingers fumbled at the delicate little buttons on Hanibal’s shirt cuffs. Will let out a tiny whine of frustration and nuzzled under Doctor Lecter’s chin to catch his scent, that delicious smell that felt more like home than any place Will had ever known. He licked at the skin there while he unfastened the miniature mother-of-pearl buttons one at a time, then moved to the buttons on Hannibal’s shirtfront.
It was like unwrapping the best present imaginable. He let out little moans of pleasure with each button successfully undone and rubbed his fingertips greedily against every inch of newly exposed skin. The soft insides of his wrists, the warm hollow of his throat, the dips of his clavicles. Will touched them all with eager hands while his tongue kept lapping at the Thoroughbred’s scent glands.
He felt Doctor Lecter’s nipples pebbled through the delightfully soft fabric and had a positively wicked idea. He pushed the button down off the man entirely, onto the floor beside his own discarded and forgotten garments, and dropped his head to lick at the soft peaks.
“Will,” Hannibal groaned low in his throat. “With all my knowledge and… intrusion, I could never entirely predict you.”
Will preened at the praise and unfastened the Alpha’s trousers as he suckled. He slid his palm along the massive cock straining beneath the fabric, exploring the length and breadth of it. It would be inside him soon and he was so, so ready. He could feel the slick slipping down his thighs in delicious anticipation and let Doctor Lecter’s trousers drop to the floor.
He took a step back towards the bed, pulling Hannibal with him. The Alpha followed without protest. Will might even consider the movement eager if he was being optimistic. He hid his smile behind a moan as Doctor Lecter caught his hips in a vice grip and pulled them together so tightly he could barely take a breath. One broad hand moved from his hip to his ass, grabbing it almost painfully and pressing him closer.
For the first time in his life, wrapped tightly in the arms of his perfect Thoroughbred, Will felt wanted. Desired. He wanted to preen under the attention like a spoiled house cat.
It gave Will another idea. He wondered how far his power stretched.
Could he shape his Mate’s behavior?
“Alpha,” He breathed between them.
“Darling?” Hannibal answered, not doing anything but slowly rocking against him.
“You don’t wear belts,” Will pointed out. “How will you punish me if I’m bad?”
The Alpha rolled his hips and ran his tongue over his teeth. Hunger burned in his gaze so openly Will was astonished at how easily Doctor Lecter’s iron control slipped for him. “Are you planning on being bad?”
Will shook his head so his curls bounced and blinked his big, blue eyes naively. “What if I can’t help it? What if I’m so needy and wet for you all the time that you need to correct me?”
Doctor Lecter shuddered against him. His thick, Thoroughbred cock jumped against the crease of Will’s hip. “There’s a traditional nineteen-point breeding bench in the basement that is so punishing you can’t legally purchase one like it in most countries. I could buckle you onto it and only visit when it pleases me. Take you as often or as little as I would like and remind you who is in charge. Fill you up in every hole and never let you come no matter how you beg.”
Will let out a little purr at the very idea. “I’m so lucky you’re my Alpha.”
That seemed to spur Hannibal into action.
“Get on the bed.” He instructed in a low voice.
Will scrambled to do as he was told, pulling from the Alpha’s embrace and crawling to the middle of it. Doctor Lecter was right behind him, following him like a shadow as Will laid at the center of the bed. The moment he was settled his Alpha knelt above him and Will arched so the Thoroughbred could pull the panties from his lithe form. He immediately spread his legs around his Mate like the good little whore he was. Hannibal hummed, seemingly pleased at the offering, and slipped two fingers into the wet heat of his little hole.
“What a marvel my Omega is,” Doctor Lecter praised. “No resistance at all.”
Will shook his head. He wanted to say something, but those fingers were rubbing inside of him and making him feel like he was going to catch fire. It felt so, so good. He moaned and rolled his hips.
“I need you to do something for me, Will. Can you?”
The Alpha’s fingers were still toying with him, plunging in and out and stroking every sensitive spot along the way. Will could feel slick drenching the doctor’s hand and making a mess of his thighs. He nodded desperately.
“Good. I want you to see all of me, as I have seen all of you.”
Will’s eyes widened as he watched Doctor Lecter move his other hand to the waistband of his boxer-briefs. The enormous line of the Thoroughbred’s erection stood out in stark relief against the tight fabric. Will would have been scared if he hadn’t had it in him before. Once again he found himself grateful for their sessions. He licked his lips.
“Show me.” He murmured between gasps. “Please?”
Hannibal pulled his fingers from Will’s dripping hole to push his underwear down to his knees. His cock stood tall and straight against his belly the moment it was freed. Will openly admired it, the veins and the wet head and how it seemed to pulse as it waited for him.
“Can I— May I touch it?” He asked. It almost felt silly to seek permission like that when he was pregnant with Doctor Lecter’s child, but it felt important somehow. Like asking was something he should do.
“Yes.”
Will reached out and ran his finger from the still-loose skin of Hannibal’s knot up to the glistening tip. He put the finger in his mouth and tasted the flavor of his Mate. How had he not realized it was a real cock in his mouth that day on the breeding bench? He reached out again, this time circling his fingers around as much of the thick length as he could. He didn’t really know what to do, so he moved his hand down the shaft experimentally then back up towards the head. When he pulled his hand back Doctor Lecter’s eyes were narrowed into slits and his palm was sticky.
He licked it clean while Hannibal stared at him like a wolf waiting to devour a spring lamb after a long winter.
Will reached out again, this time using his grip on Doctor Lecter’s erection to pull the Alpha closer, to make him kick off his boxer-briefs and knee-walk forward until he was straddling Will’s chest. Will leaned forward, rubbing the head of Hannibal’s cock against one cheek, then the other. Scent marking himself.
“Will.” The word sounded like it had been ripped from the Thoroughbred’s very soul, like the word cost him to speak it.
Will purred as he licked at the thick vein running the length of it and was rewarded with precome beading at the tip. He knew what he wanted next, but he let himself take his time, mouthing around Hannibal’s retracted foreskin just to see what it did and burying his face against the Alpha’s softly curling pubic hair to scent his inguinal glands now that there was nothing between them.
Doctor Lecter smelled so good.
After a moment Will pulled his face away to lay fully back, tugging on that massive Thoroughbred cock until Hannibal obliged him by shifting so the hard length of his erection rested on the skin between Will’s pregnancy-swollen breasts. The Alpha watched his little Mate, waiting to see what came next.
Will took Doctor Lecter’s hands in his, putting his smaller hands over Hannibal’s larger ones, and used them to cover his breasts.
“Oh,” The Alpha murmured as Will pushed their hands and his sensitive breasts together to surround his cock. “What a naughty thing you are.”
“I want your scent on me.” Will begged prettily.
Hannibal rocked his hips slightly, testing the motion. The drag of the head against Will’s skin left precome behind to lubricate the next slide of flesh against flesh. Hannibal didn’t tremble above him, but he did something near it as he started to move in earnest, and Will felt more of that power from earlier rush through him. He moaned like a Bitch in heat, arching his back and letting a wet gush of slick spill onto the sheets below them.
When he looked up at Doctor Lecter, the Alpha’s eyes were rimmed blood-red and his jaw was tense as if he were holding back a snarl. He looked the way Will felt on that breeding bench right before he snapped.
“Oh, Alpha.” Will crooned over the sound of Hannibal’s balls smacking against his chest. The hands on his breasts gripped tighter until they hurt, until Will was sure there would be five little bruises encircling each of them in the morning. “I want to know you, to see you, to honor every part—Even the ones you hide away. The darkness. I want to be the only one who understands you.”
Hannibal let out a feral-sounding hiss and almost violently drew back. Will was about to make a keening noise in protest when the Alpha’s hands framed his face and stopped him from moving. He simpered pathetically while the doctor leaned forward and rubbed his hard, wet cock against his cheeks, smearing precome as he went.
“Mine.” He growled.
“Y—” Will started to agree—
The Alpha took the opportunity to slide the bulbous, flaring head of his erection into Will’s partially open mouth. Will spasmed in surprise at the sudden intrusion but it didn’t stop Hannibal’s relentless surge forward, pushing in until the Alpha hit the back of his throat and couldn’t go deeper. Will couldn’t breathe and his breasts were aching as they were crushed under the sudden weight of Doctor Lecter on his chest, but he couldn’t do anything but moan around the cock in his throat. Slick, more slick, ran from his needy, gaping hole. The bed was nearly as filthy and disgusting as he was and just like in the office during their sessions—Will didn’t even care.
He was made for this.
Hannibal hushed his desperate little Omegan noises and pet at his cheeks, wiping tears from the corners of his eyes with the pad of a thumb while the Alpha’s hips stuttered against his face more for friction than for depth. Will was aware of the knot half-hard against his teeth and tried to open wider to take it. He would take anything to be good for his Alpha. His jaw was pried open as wide as it could go and he whined, disappointed in his own body that he couldn't take more. The distressed sound seemed to bring Doctor Lecter back to himself just enough for him to look oddly surprised by what he was doing. He pulled back in a dazed, lingering kind of way and pressed his lips to Will’s bruised ones. It wasn't an apology, he wasn't sorry and Will wasn't upset, but it was something for Will to consider when he wasn't so desperate to be filled.
Hannibal settled between his spread thighs and Will tilted his head so the Alpha could scent his neck. Hannibal licked a long stripe over his jugular and for the first time it occurred to Will to wonder if his pheromones affected Hannibal the same way Hannibal's affected him. He decided they must when after a few gentle licks the Alpha's cock was harder than ever and pressing insistently at his hole. He tangled his fingers in the doctor's hair as the man started to rut against him, erection coating itself in slick and teasing Will’s sensitive nerve endings in the process.
“There's no turning back.” Doctor Lecter growled as the head of his cock caught against Will’s rim.
“There was never any possibility of that.” Will gasped as the tip finally angled to stretch him open, breaching just deep enough to tease him while he finished speaking. His Alpha, even half-ravaged by lust and bonding hormones, was still curious to hear what he would say. Patient enough to listen. Perfect. “From the moment you touched me on the first day we met I realized I want air but I need you.”
Hannibal sheathed himself entirely in Will with a desperate sound that Will could barely hear over his own cry of relief at finally being filled. The initial pain of being stretched open too fast was eclipsed by the brutal pace Hannibal set as he rut into Will like an animal. Will hung onto his Alpha like he knew a good Omega should, writhing and mewling and taking everything he was being given. It reminded him of their first appointment together, too much and too good at the same time. Six weeks ago he thought the tip was too big to handle and now he was moments away from being knotted. Mated. Delicious heat churned in his belly at the thought even as he ached with how roughly he was being used.
“I can’t get enough of these pretty little teats of yours.” Hannibal remarked like he wasn’t thrusting into Will so hard the Omega was seeing stars. “Look how lovely they are, bouncing while I mount you.”
Will looked down at his own chest just in time to watch Hannibal latch onto a nipple. His Alpha’s mouth was so hot, his tongue lapping at the sensitive bud with relentless vigor.
"Please, Alpha. I want your knot. I need it." Will panted as that deliciously familiar length thrust into him again and again. "I need you.”
“You'll have it.” His Mate promised. “Every day. Twice a day, three times, until having it inside you is the only thing my Omega cares about.”
He almost came off the bed when Hannibal pushed a finger in beside the thick bulk of his cock and began to work him open. It burned but so good, the aching stretch a promise of what was to come. It had hurt the first time on the breeding bench but that was before. This time Will knew how good it felt to finally be full and he was sure he was ready.
“You’re already the only thing I care about.” He panted.
The second finger was harder to take than the first, especially with how furiously Doctor Lecter was still pistoning inside of him, but Will was determined. He wanted a knot for real. He wanted a bite and a Mate and to be taken like this forever.
“Are you ready, Omega?” Hannibal growled.
He didn’t bother to wait for an answer.
Will let out a keening cry as a third finger was forced in alongside the other two, only to have all three pulled out before he had time to adjust. Strong hands grabbed his thighs and pushed them farther apart. Will looked down at where their bodies were joined just in time to see the Thoroughbred’s massive knot surge forward and slap against his little hole.
It felt bigger than the first time, harder, like it might rip him in half. Doctor Lecter was snarling above him, primal and half-lost to instincts. The Alpha’s eyes were more red than brown and his hips canted forward to push in deeper. Will tore his eyes away from the enormous thing trying to shove its way inside him to bare his neck in the only way he knew to protect himself. Immediately Hannibal’s sharp teeth were on him, scoring his delicate skin and mapping it for a bite.
He tried to take it like a good Omega. He tried to relax even though it hurt, he was wet like he was supposed to be, but he’d seen the size of it and it was too big. For one second Will thought it wouldn’t fit. That he would fail. He wondered if Doctor Lecter would take him to a home for ruined Omegas and abandon him there or if the Thoroughbred would just tear out his throat and be done with it.
No.
No, he’d worked too hard and he wanted this, wanted Hannibal, too much to let their life together collapse before it had even really started. Will wrapped his legs around his Alpha and pulled him closer, leveraging his crossed ankles to force that deliciously fat knot into him. Doctor Lecter groaned into his neck as it finally budged just enough to breach his rim, and then slowly pressed into the clenching, wet heat of his body.
“Hannibal.” He sobbed as the widest part forced the sensitive skin of his hole to stretch around it. “Hanni—“
It finally slipped all the way in, and Will saw stars.
His climax was instant and nothing like anything he’d ever experienced before. White and gold light sparkled behind his eyelids as he spasmed again and again. He felt something sharp on his neck but it was nothing compared to the ecstasy that was having a knot plugging him up. Cresting waves of pleasure felt like they would last forever as Hannibal—His Mate— pinned down his hips and drove into his willing hole again and again, unable to really move with how they were locked together but still trying with all of the ancient instinct he possessed to get as deep as he possibly could.
Finally Hannibal stilled above him and Will took the moment to bite back. Blood burst over his teeth as he tore through his Mate’s scent gland and marked him in return. Bound together forever.
It was better than anything he ever could have imagined.
His life— their lives— were going to be so much better than either of them could ever have dreamed of separately.
Will would make sure of that.
They spent a long moment tightly wound around one another, catching their breath.
Will recovered first, loosening his grip and relaxing languidly against the silk sheets. Blood covered his teeth in a coppery tang and oozed from the wound on his neck while come dried on his belly and slipped out around the slowly softening knot still mostly plugging his well-used, aching hole.
For a moment all was silent.
Then Will spoke—
"I want to do that again."
Epilogue:
-11 Years Later, Present Day-
Hannibal could remember when Will was a beautifully terrified child playing at being an adult. He occasionally thought back to when his little Omega hung on his every word and lived for his smallest praise. He recalled fondly the first years of their marriage when Will would dust the shelves and clean the floors with baby Count Hannibal Lecter the Ninth— whom they'd nicknamed Davintas, the Lituanian word for ninth, though he terrible child chose to go by the name Dave once he began school, a decision which made Will laugh and Hannibal despair— strapped to his chest.
He'd been such a lovely Omega.
Then he grew up.
And somehow, Hannibal had grown to love him even more.
-Seven Years Earlier-
They had two children at the start of the year Will turned twenty-two and Hannibal was ready for a third.
"Your heat is coming soon." He hinted.
"No." Will answered, not even looking up from his cannolicchi piccoli al tartufo.
Hannibal paused. "No?"
"No." His Omega confirmed. "I know what you're implying. Davintas is in preschool. Guillaume is ready to start playgroup. This is the perfect time for me to go to college. I don't want another child right now."
"Darling." He purred. "You're such a wonderful mother to our children. Surely education can wait? Just think— A little girl, perhaps."
"No." Will reiterated. "I applied at George Washington University six months ago. They have an accelerated program for a five years Masters' in Science and… I got in. I can't have a new baby and do the program."
Hannibal took a thoughtful sip of his wine. This new, assertive side of Will interested him. He elected not to crush it like a helpless baby bird by the sidewalk. "Are you unilaterally deciding our family planning, then?"
Will mirrored his calm sip. "No. We can have more kids when I'm done. Or you can stay home with them and I'll have as many as you want. But I'm doing this program."
"Then it's settled." He agreed after a moment.
Will looked at him suspiciously. "And what, exactly, has been settled?"
"I'll stay home with the children, Darling, if you'll give me as many as I'd like."
-Present Day-
Hannibal had been forced to accept that perhaps there was a limit to the amount of chaos he could handle after the birth of their sixth child.
Will had dutifully given him another child every eighteen months, taken a month to bond with the newborn, then handed the infant to Hannibal as he returned to his program. When his master’s program was complete the college offered him a spot in the bridge program to a PhD, which Will had gladly accepted. He was due to start as a professor in the coming fall.
Hannibal could not be more proud of his brilliant, darling Mate.
Through the years he had learned that Will was even more radiant as a confident man than he had been as a shy, late adolescent. His fury was incandescent. His wit was honed by exposure to people who seemed to delight in underestimating him. His sense of humor was a delightful blend of irony and sarcasm. Watching his Omega Become was as satisfying as watching his own children grow.
-Five Years Earlier-
"We talked about you in Advanced Sociological Perspectives of Dynamic today." Will said as he came through the door.
"Did you?" Hannibal asked, kissing his husband on the cheek and handing over little Elisabetta so he could cook dinner.
Will levied a derisive look in his direction. "We did; we learned all about how you pioneered the study of putting Alphas and Omegas in small spaces together in order to endear the Omega to Alphan hormones."
"Do you have questions about my methodology?" The doctor asked innocently.
"I managed not to ask if the small space the doctor was meant to insert himself into was the Omega." Will grumbled. "Instead of being angry that my husband used his position of power over me to get me pregnant and bind us together permanently when I was a teenager, I spent the entire time reminiscing about our old sessions."
The Alpha barely held back a smirk as he began to season the meat for their dinner. "I'm glad you don't hold my abominable behavior against me more than twice a week. How was memory lane?"
"I could be amenable to a rehash of session two." He admitted.
Hannibal lifted an eyebrow. "I believe session two is when I got you pregnant."
Will smirked. "I know."
-Present Day-
Hoisting their reusable grocery bags from the back of his now rarely-used Bentley—it only sat five, and they were a family of eight— the Alpha recalled fondly the night they'd conceived Simon. Their fourth and most even tempered child, Simon was named after his own mother, Simonetta, who was also the inspiration for Elisabetta's name. After unilaterally deciding the names for their first and second born children, Hannibal had been surprised when he announced their first daughter would be Simonetta and Will pushed back.
His Mate simply didn't like the name. He wanted something more feminine.
Hannibal had been so interested by the reaction that he had allowed it, with the agreement that the child could be named Elisabetta if a subsequent child was named Simon. It was a lovely name that translated well into all the languages Hannibal spoke and the children were learning.
Will had agreed.
Elisabetta arrived, then Simon after.
Three years later, when their fifth child was born, Will informed him that the boy's name would be Adam. He had no reason for selecting it aside from that he liked it and Hannibal found himself fascinated by the change in his formerly timid little Mate. The name passed his informal test— it needed to be pronounceable in French, Italian, Lithuanian, and of course English— and so Adam was named.
Beatrice had been the hardest to choose; Hannibal championing for the name of Dante's love interest and Will suggesting Michelina in memory of Mischa. Ultimately Hannibal had gotten his way through a rare show of earnestness. He couldn’t imagine their wonderful child, born into such fortune, having a namesake mired in tragedy.
When Beatrice reached nine months of age Will found Hannibal sitting quietly in their closet just staring at the expanse of his wardrobe. He wore his lovely suits for grocery shopping on Sunday mornings while Will played outside with their not-so-little pack, but it had been years since he’d worn one daily. He’d been largely reduced to trouser separates. He’d refused to let go of wearing his pristine white dress shirts, but with the number of messes the children made it made more sense to purchase them off the rack. Will took in the scene before him, kissed his Mate on the forehead, and closed the closet door.
They hadn’t talked about family planning in the six months since.
Hannibal opened the front door of their home to complete silence.
He would have been concerned if he wasn’t simultaneously struck by the most wonderful, heavenly, untainted scent wafting through the air.
Heat.
Hannibal slammed the door shut behind him and dropped the bags. He didn’t care about the vegetables. Mate Mate Mate repeated in his head until he realized the smell was coming from upstairs.
"We're overdue for another baby." Will teased from the top of the staircase. He was wearing Hannibal’s robe and nothing else. "I don't want to infringe on our agreement, but I'd like to be done with pregnancy by thirty."
Hannibal took a step closer. All thoughts of his beautiful designer suits aging unworn in their closet seemed to become dust on the wind as Will’s pheromones clouded his judgement. “Six children and somehow we’ve never had one as a result of your heat.”
Will licked his lips. “The timing was never right and you’re so virile, Alpha. You’ve never had an issue getting me pregnant between heats. It would be such a shame, wouldn’t it?”
“Wouldn’t it?” Hannibal echoed.
“An Alpha as big and strong and worthy as you never getting to experience getting your Omega pregnant while he’s in heat. You should know what it’s like to bury your knot in me while I beg for you to fill me up and my body rejects everything that isn’t you. I know how you’ve hated the unpleasant tang of birth control. You’re a Thoroughbred; you deserve that experience, don’t you? Getting full use out of your Omega?”
Hannibal lunged.
-Two Months Later-
Hannibal held Will’s hand as the transducer moved around on his Mate’s belly. Seven children was a lot, but certainly no more than he could handle. There was something achingly beautiful about knowing this would be the last pregnancy-confirming ultrasound they would ever experience. He was committing the sight to memory when his eyes fell upon the screen and—
He blanched.
There had to be something wrong with the equipment.
“Oh, wow! Congratulations!” The obstetrician announced excitedly, pointing at the shapes on the screen. “It’s triplets; you’ve got three healthy-looking pups in there!”
Will started to laugh.