Hannibal's house (where he and Jono are once more younger), Monday morning

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal woke, rolled over, and stretched. There was...something odd about the weekend, but if he were going to think about that, he would need coffee.

So he thought about it as he went downstairs, made the coffee, and brought it back up. He stored all the memories he could recall in his memory palace as he worked his way through his cup, sitting on the bed next to Jono.



[Expecting the one mentioned, but open post once they leave the bedroom!]

Comments

[furnaceface]

The smell of coffee wasn't as pervasive today as it had been a couple of days ago, twenty years in a hypothetical future. Something to do with an inability to breathe, most likely. But the shifting of the bed as Hannibal sat back down on it did cause Jono to stir, to roll over and crack one eye open at him.

...

//It's Monday, isn't it?//

He hadn't actually dreamed that whole weekend?

[sharp_as_knives]

"It is Monday," Hannibal agreed. "And 2016, according to my phone." He carded one hand through Jono's hair and ignored the sleepy mew Joni gave from next to him.

[furnaceface]

Jono's face twisted in that ghost of a smile that he sometimes wore, head leaning into Hannibal's hand, and his own hand reaching up to scratch behind Joni's ear.

//Well, I suppose there are worse years for it to be.// A pause. //Before the entire weekend muddles itself back around into a blur again, please confirm for me that I ate exactly as much bacon as I think I did?//

Priorities.

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal smirked. "That depends. If you think that you ate nearly an entire pig, then yes."

[furnaceface]

//That's about as much bacon as I had been hoping you would say I ate,// Jono decided, leaning back, satisfied. //And it helps somehow when I ask... did you manage to count how many bloody children we apparently had? Because when I lost count I was at a good two dozen.//

Apparently they were running the Lecter-Starsmore Home for Wayward Mutants or something.

[sharp_as_knives]

"I have no idea," Hannibal confessed. "There seemed to be quite a number of them, although perhaps not all at the same time. It's small wonder we were happy to have a weekend to ourselves."

[furnaceface]

//No kidding,// Jono agreed, a little wryly. And then he paused, and sort of squinted. //I think I had been wearing an X again.//

His squint then turned toward Hannibal.

//I think it's possible that you were doing X-type things along with me.//

Though probably not wearing that damning letter himself. Hannibal had much better fashion sense than that.

[sharp_as_knives]

"Mostly from behind the scenes, I believe." Hannibal was basing that partly on memory and largely on the fact that he really didn't see himself diving into battles.

"We were definitely in continued contact with the school there, and teaching both places."

[furnaceface]

//Which is... a relief? I think?// Jono squinted, trying to remember. //Something something my own X-team. Bloody hell, never let me start my own X-team, Hannibal. Those only end in tears and names based on terrible puns. And I say this as somebody who got his start as Chamber in a team called Generation X.//

It had been a clever team name back in the nineties, anyway.

[sharp_as_knives]

"I see nothing wrong with puns," Hannibal said. Because Hannibal.

"Do you remember if you had a different code name?" He couldn't think of it ever coming up. He smiled. "Because you were certainly no longer only a 'chamber'."

[furnaceface]

Oh, Hannibal. You wouldn't.

//I suppose I wasn't, was I?// Jono tilted his head. //I don't remember any particular codename coming up, though. Perhaps I went back to being Decibel? Just... less blue.//

But he hadn't really pulled out any heroing equipment or anything of the sort, so that was a hard call. His brow furrowed into a frown.

//Suppose I can't really know for sure.//

[sharp_as_knives]

"You were yourself," Hannibal said. "Wholly yourself."

He considered his optimism vindicated.

[furnaceface]

//I was that,// Jono agreed, sounding a touch bewildered. //No idea how I managed to pull that stunt off, honestly. Half my trouble this far is that I've always needed to, ah, vent.//

Hence the big messy holes.

//But being whole would mean I could use my collar again. I always was happier with what I could do with that than...// He waved a hand at his chest. //...all of this.//

[sharp_as_knives]

"One concern at a time," Hannibal said, smiling. "Rebuild yourself for the most part, and we'll worry about needing to vent when we get there."

[furnaceface]

//Right...// Jono nodded a little, shifting around and sitting up so that he could lean against Hannibal. //That makes sense enough. It isn't as though we don't have time to sort all of that out.//

He paused, and then side-eyed Hannibal. Something about 'having time' reminded him of that other thing about the weekend.

//... You bit me.//

And he'd enjoyed it thoroughly, but that wasn't the point.

[sharp_as_knives]

"Several times, as I recall," Hannibal agreed. And leaned down to do it again, nipping his shoulder. He might not have fangs anymore, but he was willing to wager Jono would still enjoy it.

[furnaceface]

//Mnnn, yes, several times,// Jono managed, closing his eyes. //But not like that, I mean. It was... you were... something else. Was...//

Dammit, Hannibal's mouth. Why were you his secret weapon?

His eyes flew open again all at once.

//Vampire.//

... Which somehow worried Jono more than Hannibal's current eating habits. Go figure.

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal nodded. "Yes. Quite fascinating, don't you think?"

[furnaceface]

Jono was just leaning back to openly gawk at Hannibal, now.

//Fascinating? Hannibal, you were a bloody vampire! Why the hell were you a vampire?!//

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal shrugged. "Because I was turned into one, I imagine." He tried to recall. "I'm fairly certain it was voluntary."

[furnaceface]

//Who volunteers to become a vampire!?//

At least Jono came by the vampire-related flailing pretty honestly.

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal closed his eyes and called forth as much of the memory as he could. "Someone who is prone to mortality, and married to someone who is not, apparently."

[furnaceface]

It would be lying to say that something like that hadn't already occurred to Jonothon, that the worry hadn't been there, of being happy, and then being alone. The flailing stopped, then, and he eased back a little more, making a reach for Joni as she attempted to get back to sleep. It was one thing to wonder about it idly on occasion. It was another thing completely to have that out in the open, hanging between them.

And sometimes, he just needed a kitten.

//We don't know that for certain.//

Said the man who had blown his entire body to ash and put it together from its component atoms.

Twice.

[sharp_as_knives]

"Nothing is certain for us now," Hannibal answered, "but some things are more probable than others. And that particular version of us seemed fairly convinced of the point."

He stroked Joni's head, and not incidentally Jono's hand.

[furnaceface]

//And what do you think?//

Jono's gaze was fairly firmly locked on Joni, and on Hannibal's hand. He couldn't look him in the eye just yet, picking through too many little things to feel okay with any one part of it.

[sharp_as_knives]

"I think you're unlikely to die," Hannibal answered after a moment's thought. "Unless you decide that you want to."

He kissed the side of Jono's head. "I also think I'm in no hurry to give up garlic any time soon."

[furnaceface]

//I'm holding you to that,// Jono mumbled, leaning in close again. //Don't make me instigate a weekly 'garlic dish' night or anything.//

Drastic measures, clearly.

[sharp_as_knives]

"As soon as you're able to eat on your own, I'll institute a weekly 'greasy fish' night if you like."

It would probably last about a week.

[furnaceface]

//You realize I'm going to hold you to that?//

And maybe a 'things wrapped in bacon' night. That would be good, too.

[sharp_as_knives]

"First you have to keep up your end of the bargain," Hannibal pointed out. "Should we make a more concerted effort?"

[furnaceface]

Jono was silent for a few seconds, pressing his face into Hannibal's shoulder before he simply nodded.

//I really rather enjoyed that part of the weekend. Let's.//

He'd work on processing the rest of the weekend a little more thoroughly... later. Sometime.

[sharp_as_knives]

"We can begin after breakfast, if you like." Hannibal reached for his coffee again and took a good-sized sip. "I'll even make proper bacon."

[furnaceface]

//Let's begin after class, instead,// Jono mumbled, clinging for a moment more before sitting up again. //I think I want to try to make some decent headway, but I'll still need to be functional for... ah...//

He squinted.

//We didn't prepare a class.//

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal rubbed his eyes. "It is Monday," he reminded himself. "I doubt the students will be any more prepared for a detailed discussion than we are."

[furnaceface]

Jono nodded faintly.

//And I can't imagine all of them enjoyed their weekend as much as we did,// he noted. //Easy lesson?//

[sharp_as_knives]

"Easy lesson," Hannibal agreed. "We can play a musical film."

[furnaceface]

//... That... actually works,// Jono agreed, looking thoughtful. //I have a few musical DVDs in stock at the Groovy Tunes. They were sent to me by mistake a few months back and since they were music, I didn't have the heart to send them back. We could basically have our pick of... whatever's there.//

Most of them might have actually sold already, oops.

[sharp_as_knives]

"We'll leave a little early and pick something up on the way," Hannibal suggested.

[furnaceface]

//Works for me. Can't take longer than a few minutes to grab a musical and go.//

They were clearly putting so much thought and effort into today's lesson. Lookit 'em go.

[sharp_as_knives]

Also possibly overestimating their ability to agree on a film.

"Which leaves us time now for me to make proper breakfast and both of us to get ready." Hannibal smirked a little. "And to give thanks for the fact that we still have no children."

[furnaceface]

//Twist ending,// Jono replied, a little smile in his eyes as he pulled himself up and started rummaging around for clothes. //We never had any children after all.//

[sharp_as_knives]

"If that's the twist ending, we should beware the sequel," Hannibal quipped. There was, after all, still plenty of time for them to get children, particularly if Jono kept being a soft touch.

[furnaceface]

//Maybe in the sequel, we'll find out my codename. The audience was left on a cliffhanger, there.//

[sharp_as_knives]

"Or mine," Hannibal said. "I must have had one as well."

[furnaceface]

//... I'm picturing you answering to any sort of codename and my brain is withering up a little bit.//

That wasn't going to stop Jono from trying to come up with something, though. Give him time, Hannibal.

[sharp_as_knives]

Anything had to be better than "The Chesapeake Ripper". Or, god forbid, "Hannibal the Cannibal".

"Perhaps we're best off not knowing."