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Current Music: Fine Young Cannibals - She Drives Me Crazy

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Jim has dragged a sofa over to the Observation Window this afternoon, right up close to the glass so the main room is blocked out of view as much as possible. He could pass as any random hipster today, in low-slung jeans and soft cardigan, and he's got earbuds in.

You might not see him, as he's lounged out along the length of the couch, screwing a drone together and staring out at the stars. You might hear him though, as he occasionally bursts into random lines of songs he's listening to. Currently on the playlist, 'he drives me crazy!'

At least he's got a good voice?

'Like no one else...'

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Somebody taps him on the shoulder.

Jim grins up at Hannibal, unperturbed by the sudden touch and certainly not about to get up.

He tugs one bud out.

'Hello, Hannibal.'

"Hello, Jim," Hannibal says, cheerfully. "How's death treating you?"

'No complaints so far.'

The bruise on his jaw is faded to almost nothing, and once it's gone, there'll be nothing at all to give away anything untoward happened at all. He looks closer to happy than he's ever been seen, in this place.

'Sherlock's forgiven me, I'm not forced to mingle, and not bored yet.'

What more could he ask for?

"How many drones can you build until you are?"

Hannibal's grinning.

"I'm sure he's planning some comeback, though."

'Oh, this is just replacing one someone destroyed.'

He doesn't sound concerned. He'll follow that up soon enough. And he laughs at the suggestion, though of course he's had thoughts along the same lines.

And is also aware that Hannibal knows the original story.

'Do you think so?'

"Yes," Hannibal says. "I think I remember that a Sebastian Moran is not prominently in the picture in your world?"

Jim just smiles.

'People do keep mentioning him to me, often with insinuations.'

He waves a hand.

'Do keep your mouth shut, darling. I'm waiting to see if Sherlock can surprise me, and I'll not have you spoiling anything.'

"You don't want to take any advantage that you can get?"

Jim looks vaguely confused, but only for a second; his brief frown smooths out to pure innocence, and he spreads his hands.

'Advantage to what purpose? There's nothing I can do about anything.'

"In here," Hannibal says. "You are still interacting. Your game isn't over."

'Oh.'

He laughs shortly, just on the polite side of lascivious.

'At the moment, we're on a different kind of game.'

"You can't tell me you'd be content with happily ever after," Hannibal chuckles. "And you say so yourself -- at the moment!"

He half-shrugs a shoulder, and draws his knees up so that Hannibal can sit on the other end of the couch if he likes.

'Interesting that you'd assume happily ever after is even on the cards. I was just talking about fucking.'

Jim genuinely has no idea what happily ever after would even look like for someone like him. He has no idea what he and Sherlock are capable of, in that regard.

"If it was just about fucking, there wouldn't be any point in it having to be Sherlock," Hannibal points out.

'Granted. I didn't mean that was all there was to it, just that our current occupation is nothing more involved than enjoying ourselves.'

Not quite true, of course; they are who they are, and nothing's ever simple, but he doesn't think either of them would change that.

'Are you trying to psychoanalyse me, Hannibal? You should know that I'm a compulsive liar.'

"No, I am merely amused," Hannibal says. "You're so in denial about being in love with him."

Jim's eyebrows shoot up, and he laughs again.

'If that's not analysis, I don't know what is.'

His hands don't stop fixing screws into his drone.

'You don't have any evidence for that, and I think you're trying to get a rise out of me. Again. You should be bored of that by now. And you know, I'm no expert in the field, but I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to kill people you're in love with.'

Edited 2016-10-06 21:16 (UTC)

Hannibal smirks widely. "It may be part of the long game," he says.

Edited 2016-10-06 21:20 (UTC)

Now his hands stop.

'You think I killed him because I'm in love with him? What, I planned for us to end up here and walk off into the fake sunset together?'

What a strange place Hannibal's head must be.

"No, probably not," Hannibal says. "That would be far too simple. Instead, I would expect some creative mayhem the next few months."

He sighs, and shakes his head resignedly.

'Aren't I allowed a holiday? I was enjoying not having anything to do.'

This will probably last another day or so, at most.

'Sherlock and I are together because he instigated it. I don't know why it's assumed I engineered that. I've always concentrated more on the other stuff.'

"Am I just as transparent when I am adamant that sex is utterly irrelevant in my feelings for Will Graham?" Hannibal says, smirking with rare self-deprecation, or perhaps just the semblance of it.

'I'll let you know when you start having sex with him.'

If that sounds like a bit of a dig, it's because it is.

'If it weren't for this place, Sherlock and I would never have got together at all. The game would still have played out. I'm not saying sex is utterly irrelevant, but it's not the point of all this. You're after Will because shagging him is part of your endgame. You want the happily ever after.'

Which is, in Jim's opinion, just a little bit pathetic.

"No, I want a shared base for facing challenges together," Hannibal says. "When we had that, however fleetingly, it was utterly glorious."