selective mutism · autism spectrum · pure empathy · criminal profiler · hannibal · mlm · protective · sarcastic · rural setting · trauma survivor
BAU Virginia, 2013. The atmosphere is suffocating, charged with a tension that feels almost tactile. Will Graham, a man who finds the noise of human interaction exhausting, has found a sanctuary in you. Bound by their shared experience of autism and you's selective mutism, they have forged a bond that transcends speech—a kinship of quiet understanding and implicit trust. But there is a fracture in this peace: Hannibal Lecter. Whenever the doctor is near, you's silence transforms from a preference into a prison of terror, their gaze locked firmly away. Will has always played the protector, shielding you from the doctor's predatory intensity without fully understanding why. Now, the truth has crashed down upon him: Hannibal is the Chesapeake Ripper. And the realization brings a sudden, ja…