[ It's far from the first time he's buried a body, and as often happens when Hannibal displays some kind of odd, questionable knowledge, he's almost disappointed that no one questions it. It's a strange feeling, because it's not exactly that he wants to be caught, but there is something to be said for liking a challenge. When people catch onto the fact that Hannibal knows too much even for a psychiatrist-once-surgeon, it gets more entertaining for him. But when people accept his grave-digging and his endurance at face value... Ah, well. He has no illusions here that they'll learn the truth in time. He can only be grateful that he didn't have to bury Tiara too, otherwise digging her up again later would be rather annoying.

He stops in the hall once he enters it, and his hand hovers against the wall lightly like he's hesitating. For anyone watching, it would be a reaction like an odd sound had caught his attention, since he's attentive, but curious. It's not a sound, though. It's a smell. He's hardly forgotten about Will's blurted out offer, but he's still rather surprised that Will actually seems to have... followed through. And so there's a moment where Hannibal stops, closes his eyes, and breathes in slowly, half-savoring this moment, and half-committing it to memory.

But it is only a moment's pause, lest Will actually hear that he paused at all and was weird about it. There's at least a familiarity between them enough that he doesn't feel the need to knock, because Will will know that Hannibal already knows he's there. But when he opens the door with a soft smile, it rather quickly turns to surprise. ]

...Well.

[ This was also unexpected. Hannibal steps inside and closes the door after himself, though as he looks to the Hannibal, he pauses, shakes his head, then looks to Will again. ]

I'm glad that he agreed. I'm also surprised that you asked.

[ Hannibal notices that Will's gaze is intently on him, but as always, it doesn't bother Hannibal. If anything, he quietly accepts it, because he can objectively understand that Will would have concerns or doubts, even having accepted their situation. Though the 'situation' isn't this town. Like himself, Hannibal can imagine that this is secondary compared to moments like this. Personally, Hannibal doesn't imagine this town would ever be able to exceed the way his interest has been captured by Will Graham, no matter the sort of stakes tangled into it.

He's all the more certain of that with the pause.

As always with Will's lapses into silence, Hannibal is patient—curious, but not pushing. Will says that he "saw him" and Hannibal tilts his head very lightly to the side. The gesture itself clearly asks "who," but he verbalizes it too. ]

Saw who, Will?

[ Hannibal has a guess, but, hey. Will has a track record with seeing people that aren't actually there, so better ask...

His eyes follow the line of Will's gesture, briefly to the door, but he's not surprised by it. His lips do quirk up in a smile when Will admits it, since he is touched, in a way, but he turns his attention back. He would genuinely like the bath, since a problem with his "hobbies" is that they do tend to be messy, but he'd also like to put his attention here. At least so long as Will would allow it before withdrawing again. ]

I must say, I'm glad for it. Your impulsiveness is quite kind to me. [ He has to joke about it first, but seeing how Will's gaze flickers down to his hands, Hannibal holds one of them up to look at it himself. ] Are you picturing blood instead?

[ There's a moment where Hannibal does pause to look at the bathroom in full. He's taking in it, naturally, which is absolutely no surprise considering the sort of perfect detail that Hannibal tends to remember everything with, but that's not why he lingers. More than that, he's struck by the care of this in a more general sense. He's never asked for it, so it's never something that particularly mattered to him, but this is a gesture he's never been given. The novelty strikes him.

Will speaks as he resumes undressing himself, clearly not hesitant at all about doing so. The dress shirt is set aside, not even with care, considering it's filthy, and his undershirt pulled off after. The Verger brand is of course still there, but it's more faded now by a few years. It's just as much a part of him as any of his other scars, and he's not particularly self-conscious about any of them either. He's been silent as Will speaks, patiently waiting for him to finish, but his answer comes easily. More easily than Will's could, most likely, but this is also something that Hannibal has been considering far longer than Will. ]

I haven't given the clarification because I have none to provide. What I need and what I want are one and the same, and I have it. For a while, though the moment of change I would have a difficult time pinpointing.

[ He looks back to Will pointedly, but it's with a soft, fond smile. ]

This is all I want and need. You, as you are.

[ It's very sappy, to say the least, but it's also genuine. So long as they've known each other, Hannibal has never really wanted much more from Will. Sometimes he was curious about what Will would do in situations, once, he had offered Will an outstretched hand to live a life like this earlier, but those have all settled now. His intellectual curiosity has quieted, and though it wasn't quite the same as that first time he had offered, Hannibal thought Will had taken the hand as they'd embraced on the cliff's edge. His desires had been satisfied in that moment. So much so that he had no problem falling.

Though, to the second question, he turns his back to Will again slightly as he continues undressing. They're definitely going to have this conversation where Hannibal is just completely nude, but, hey. Not te first time he's had serious conversations with his dick out. Actually, it happens a lot, relatively speaking. ]

So, I would give you the same courtesy. You can take from me whatever it is you need and want. I would not have put it quite this way, but for the purpose of this conversation, I was quite willing to give you my life. [ Because if he'd wanted to, he imagined he could have probably stopped them from tumbling off the cliff. But he hadn't. ] What would you take, Will?

[ That "everything" almost gets Hannibal to pause, as if he were uncertain that he'd heard it. It shouldn't be a surprise at all, considering he had been willing for so long to give it. In fact, when he heard of Will coming to Italy to find him, he'd thought in his heart that perhaps that was Will returning it. It was doubtlessly Will returning his feelings, responding to the poetry that Hannibal had ben writing for him from the first time he left the girl on the stag, and yet, that was always the thing with the two of them. They spoke in vague words, in ones not entirely their own. Art, philosophy, theology, all of them mixed together to create the language of how they expressed their feelings, and each time, there were meanings to pick out and meanings to consider.

But for an absolute, and for how Will continues— It takes his breath away.

Quite literally, as it turns out, because there's a pause in the rise and fall of Hannibal's chest as he stands at the tub's edge. His eyes grow glassy, as they often do when he and Will share these more delicate conversations, but as always, he manages to hold back the tears that threaten to come forth. He feels-- happy. Happy, and overwhelmed, all at once, and as he releases that breath, he turns back to Will. His smile is genuine, if wry, because he's repeating words he's said before. ]

It's all I've ever wanted for both of us.

[ It's a simple response, but for once, he doesn't need to add much more or steep it in their poetry. He continues to undress, and it's only once he starts to step into the tub and sink into the water that he speaks again. ]

So it's no question. I'll consider the cliff our engagement, so to speak. [ Though he adds wryly after a moment while he settles ] Or perhaps eloping would be a better word.

[ As Will starts to undress too, Hannibal doesn't watch. He's not indifferent to it (quite the opposite, actually), but there are different sensations that he's taking in with his eyes closed. The scent of everything here will certainly burn itself into his memory, from the gentle, romantic herbs, to that light scent of Will's aftershave, to the dirt on his own person. There's the warm water against his skin, the texture of the thoughtful pillow against his neck, and perhaps most of all, he thinks, the sound of Will's voice.

He thinks of something wry for a moment, a "I'm glad you haven't changed your mind," because it would be impossible at this point. It would be sincere from anyone else, but between the two of them, it was a joke. They both knew that they were inexorably intertwined. The cliche was that until death do they part, but clearly, by being here, they went beyond even that. Even in his most romantic imaginings, he couldn't have dreamed of this. Hannibal may know that this isn't technically death, but considering how they arrived here, he could hardly think of it as anything but.

He opens his eyes again as Will draws up, though his eyes stay directed to the ceiling as if he were looking up at the stars instead. He almost says something romantic and poetic, but Will speaks first. The comment draws a laugh out of him that's followed by a half-wry quirk of his lips, though it's short-lived. It could hardly stay on his face for that kind of question, but as was often the case with Hannibal, there's little hesitation in his answer. There never is when he's faced with difficult questions. ]

Because you couldn't stay. You always knew.

[ Hannibal speaks with such certainty about Will and how he feels or thinks, but really, when hasn't he? He's always known Will's thoughts. Even if he was the one to put them there in the first place. ]

Jack Crawford would have always returned to ask for your help. Circumstance aligned that when he did, it would free both of us.

[ He turns his head lightly to look down at Will, and though he's tempted to reach out and offer a comforting hand to touch him, he refrains from it. It's his own desire more than Will's, and with this question in the air, he's more delicate. ]

And, to be honest, I wanted to see you. [ He won't lie about that, at least... Though he does ask a question in return. ] Did it feel like a long three years, Will?