Gotta Admit I Actually Like The Idea Of If Hugh AND Bryan's Takes On How Will Perceives His Feelings

gotta admit i actually like the idea of if hugh AND bryan's takes on how will perceives his feelings for hannibal are BOTH true

like bryan saying will and hannibal are in love with each other PLUS hugh saying will is still coming to terms with some things within himself

put that together and you basically get will being in love with hannibal but in fierce denial of it because being in love with hannibal means being in love with and captivated by the cruel violence that hannibal stands for. being in love with hannibal means abandoning all sense of rational and human morality for a taste of sadistic religion. and definitely, coming to terms with being in love with such things says more about the self than it does about the other person. so of course will has to come to terms with that first—with what it means for him to be captivated and drawn and in love with such things.

i think post-fall is really the time when we could've seen will truly falling in love with hannibal. like, not just the subconscious type. the type where you choose to be in love, every moment, every day. will would have accepted by then the horrific truth that he has strayed too far from the light to ever come back—and that he doesn't want to come back. and that's the perfect time for him to be the courter than the courted. and i can see how a change of roles from s1 would happen in that respect.

so maybe will is in love with hannibal, but had not consciously chosen that truth. maybe it was a truth in the shadows he was still about to accept. and maybe he had never tried to make sense of his relationship with hannibal before because it was easier to bury everything beneath two fingers of whiskey and a letter burning in the fireplace. besides, it seems like will went from a life of seclusion and isolation into one where suddenly, there was a person who not only saw him and understood him, but also wanted him whole. no needing to ""fix"" himself. and that can be a lot. on top everything else he had to deal with.