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Title: Ready To Believe
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Will Graham/Aiden Gillan
Fandom: Hannibal/Blood and Chocolate
Rating: R
Author's Note: References to past rape.
Disclaimer: This is entirely a product of my own imagination, and I make no profit from it. I do not own the lovely Will Graham or Lee Fallon, unfortunately, just borrowing them for a while. Please do not sue.

***


Will stared at Aiden in disbelief, blinking, his blue eyes wide.

"I know it sounds crazy," Aiden murmured, shaking his head. "Most people don't believe that werewolves exist. But they're real, Will. I'm not kidding."

"I've heard legends of the loup garou," Will said, his tone musing. "I grew up in New Orleans, and that's one of the places where stories of them run rampant."

Aiden nodded, releasing a pent-up breath. If Will had heard tales of the loup garou, then he was one step ahead of most people. "They aren't tales. They're the truth. Well, there's no telling how the stories have mutated, but the basis of them is rooted in fact."

"Are you saying that you've actually dealt with them?" Will asked, sounding doubtful. "That you've seen them close up? Aiden, how do you know they're werewolves?"

"Because I've seen them change," Aiden said simply, keeping his gaze focused on Will's face. "I know what they are, and what they can do. And I know how ruthless they can be."

Will nodded, looking more and more each moment as though he believed what Aiden was saying.

"Ordinarily, I'd probably think that you were crazy, and just making things up because you're confused about who was after you," he said thoughtfully. "But I don't think that's the case."

"It's not," Aiden said, shaking his head wearily. "It's all true, Will. Maybe not every story that you've heard about the loup garou, but most of them. They do exist."

Slowly at first, he began to tell Will his story: How he had met Vivian, his infatuation with her, the displeasure of her pack. How they had kidnapped him and threatened to kill him, and how he and Vivian had escaped. Then, the story became darker, more unpleasant.

"She .... turned on me," he said, closing his eyes, keeping his voice quiet and even. "She knew, or she could sense, that what I felt was just a momentary infatuation."

"She could tell that you weren't in love with her because of her animal senses," Will whispered, wondering if what he was beginning to think was the truth.

Aiden nodded, a pink flush spreading across his face. "And she could tell that I'm .... not really into women," he said, his voice so low that Will almost had to strain to hear him. "She knew, even before I told her. I think that's what sent her over the edge and made her do what she did."

"What did she do?" Will asked, keeping his voice soft, dreading what he was sure that he was about to hear. "Did she send them after you in revenge?"

Aiden nodded miserably, looking away from Will. "Sh-she told me that .... if I liked men so much .... then I shoudl have a taste of what her sort of men were like."

Will laid a hand over Aiden's, squeezing his fingers gently.

He didn't want to think about what Aiden must have been through at the hands of those ..... he didn't want to say "men," as in his mind, they were worse than animals.

"I know what they did to you," he murmured, not taking his hand from Aiden's. "There's blood on your jeans. It's pretty obvious what you've had to go through."

This time, when Aiden nodded, the movement was jerky, as though he didn't want to acknowledge WIll's words. He didn't speak for what seemed like a very long time; when he did, he words were low, almost angry. "They hunted me down. Brought me out here to the woods .... like a beast."

"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to," Will whispered, his heart aching for Aiden, wishing that he could do something to change what had happened to him.

Aiden nodded again, taking a deep breath. "You can guess the rest," he mumbled, looking down at their hands. Will was still holding his hand, clasping it in his own as though to give him strength.

Will could, and it wasn't something he liked to think about.

"Aiden, I need to get you to a doctor," he said, sighing softly. "I know you'd probably rather not do that, but I don't think you have a choice. You need to get checked out."

"And what will we do when the rape kit shows up as being .... not human?" he whispered, looking down at the floor, his voice shaking. "People will think the worst of me."

Will hadn't thought of that; he bit his lip at Aiden's words, knowing that the young man was right. People would think badly of Aiden; they would think that he was some kind of sexual deviant. No one would believe his story about being attacked by werewolves; it was hard enough for Will to believe it.

But strangely enough, he did. He could tell that Aiden was sincere; his words had the ring of truth to them. More than that, Will didn't think that Aiden was the kind of person to lie.

No, his story was true. Will believed every word of it. The problem now was to get him some medical care and make sure that he was all right -- and to figure out what to do next.

He didn't doubt that the pack would come back for Aiden.

Then both of them would be targets. He'd unwittingly gotten himself caught up in this when he had brought Aiden into his home and helped him.

He wouldn't turn away from Aiden. He felt an obligation to help this young man, to make sure that nothing else happened to him at the hands of the monsters who were after him.

He didn't really want to be in the middle of this, but fate had put him here. He had no choice but to help; there was nothing else that his conscience would let him do. Will sighed softly, squeezing Aiden's hands gently again before letting them go. "We'll figure something out, Aiden. I'll help you."

"They'll come after you, too." Aiden looked up at Will, his face white with worry. "I'm sorry, WIll. I've put you right into the middle of this. I shouldn't have done that."

Will shook his head, trying to sound positive. "It's not like you had a choice," he pointed out. "You needed help, and fate led you to me. And I'm not turning my back on you."

"Thanks for that. It means a lot." Aiden's words were obviously sincere.

"I'm here for you, Aiden," Will said softly, feeling a strange kinship with the young man even as he spoke the words. For some reason, Aiden had become precious to him.

He couldn't say exactly why, but there was something about Aiden that made him feel protective -- and attracted in a way that he wasn't entirely sure was proper.

He wasn't going to act on that attraction, he told himself sternly. Aiden didn't need that right now. He needed a friend, someone to help him deal with the ordeal that he'd been through. That was what Will intended to be -- a friend, and nothing more. He would keep their relationship on a friendly level.

If Aiden ever decided that he wanted more .... well, then, that was a thought for the future. But for now, he had to try to assimilate all that Aiden had told him.

It was a lot to take in, a lot for him to wrap his head around. But he believed it. He believed every word. Aiden was too insistent that it was true for him not to believe.

For now, he had to think about their immediate danger.

Those things could come back to the house. They could know that Aiden was here -- which meant that Aiden and Will had to get to a place of relative safety in the morning.

"Come on," he said with a soft sigh, getting to his feet. "Let's try to get some sleep, and in the morning, we'll figure out what our next move should be." He sighed as he stretched, smiling at Aiden. "I think we could both use some rest. We'll be more able to deal with this in the morning."

Now that Aiden's story had been told, he needed to process it all. It was fantastical, yes, but he didn't doubt the veracity of every word. He was ready to believe, though he couldn't say just why that was.

If he slept on it, maybe he'd know what to do when he woke up.

***