homesick at space camp

<div align=center>The boy nodded a little, and let out a short, awkward laugh. "Yeah." He rubbed the back of his neck and looked away, it made him feel a little tired, but he didn't particularly mind. It was near enough his bedtime anyway, Bill wasn't used to late nights and lack of sleep tended to make him cranky. Using his empathy expended far less energy than linking his mind with someone else's, and it was nicer for the other person, most people were uncomfortable being able to feel Bill in their mind. He shuffled over a little, and leaned sideways on Gabe, he was still cold from running around outside for so long, he'd been lost for a while.

Bill smiled sheepishly, "yeah, I uh," he bit his lip, "I can do that." He wasn't generally sure if the touch was needed, or if he was merely able to do it mentally but it was something he liked being able to do, it was a helpful sort of power, to himself as well as others, William could make others feel happier, therefore he'd feel the same way, seeing as others emotions affected his own, which of course didn't mean that he didn't experience his own emotions.</div>

<div align=center>The boy paused, and nodded. Though, it was very dangerous for him to use it in the opposite way, in reality the boy could drive people insane with that, he could drive them to want to kill themselves, but of course in their presence he would feel exactly the same way. Though William had never dreamed of actually killing someone, perhaps the thought had been somewhere at the back of his mind at some point, he'd never carry it out, since he knew it'd probably mean certain death for himself, perhaps not straight away, but there was no way he could deal with guilt of that level. "I can make people crazy." He stated, an almost worryingly dark tone in his voice, suggesting that perhaps something had happened before.

He purred softly at the sudden contact, curling into Gabe's side and closing his eyes. He was still trying to ignore the storm, he still jumped visibly each time the thunder rumbled outside, though it sounded further away now, the boy was still frightened by it. His mother had always told him to count the elephants, that way you'd know how far the thunder was, but William had never really understood what elephants had to do with storms, she'd always just laughed when he'd asked her. He nuzzled Gabriel softly, the poor boy was already half asleep. But he flinched again when the lights buzzed, and flickered off, letting out a frightened squeak and complaining about the sudden darkness that overtook the room, he opened an eye and frowned, supposing the powerlines had been blown down. "Oh no."</div>

<div align=center>William frowned softly, and sat up again, "it's dark," he whined, blinking, and rubbing his eyes. He hated the dark, then again the boy seemed to dislike a lot of things that otherwise wouldn't seem scary to someone else. "Don't you have any candles?" He asked, scrabbling around for his teddy bear and clinging to it, staring up at Gabriel with wide, frightened eyes. If William resembled anything at the moment, it was perhaps a baby deer. He drew his blanket to his chin and whimpered, "I... I don't like the dark..." He stammered, he was a little unsure of how it could have been Gabe, since usually it didn't wear off as fast as that.

He shook his head, "wasn't you." He murmured, before telling him to sit back down, Bill was pretty sure it was the storm's work rather than Gabe's this time, there was a strange, electrical feel in the room when William had entered it, the sensation was absent now, he didn't think his power had worn off that quickly, it usually lasted for a few hours, though no more than that, not yet at least, Bill hadn't refined it to that point. He never answered Gabe's first question, it wasn't something he was willing to tell him about.</div>

<div align=center>William almost snatched the torch, and switched it on, giggling softly, the room looked strange plunged into darkness, he supposed it was a little creepy, but it was okay, because Gabe was there. He was still holding onto his teddy bear, and glanced down to apparently tell it something after he'd lit the torch. "Candles would have been more romantic," he laughed a little, beaming at the other boy and somewhat awkwardly running a hand through his hair. He was evidently tired though, and his words and actions were incredibly slow. He supposed it was cosy like this, though he would rather have the light than not.

"Oh!" He frowned a little, leaning over to Gabe, "are you alright?" He asked, looking up at him, "are you bleeding?" He sounded a little concerned, Bill should have been used to blood counting on the amount of times he'd fallen and cut himself, but he still rather disliked it, and it made him feel very sick. The boy laughed a little and shook his head, "no," he scratched his head, "wasn't you this time, was the storm." He mumbled, "surely you know whether you did or not?" He asked, his voice picking up a bemused sort of tone.</div>

<div align=center>William frowned, "I can make that better, y'know." He mumbled, stifling a loud yawn. William seldom used his healing powers, he never felt any reason to, and he hadn't learnt to use them on himself yet, so they were often forgotten about. He ignored Gabe's comment about romance, he was still thinking about that, and didn't want to discuss it at the moment. Then again, he supposed he'd run to Gabe for comfort... He shook his head, trying to forget about it, it'd be easier to leave it for a little while anyway, he didn't want to make things awkward again, so he merely shuffled over and cuddled up to the other boy again.

"I changed the way you were feeling," he mumbled, shrugging. "There's not that much to it..." He always wished he could do it to himself, it would make his life a lot easier. Bill had never really thought about it, but it was a useful power, he could make people feel anything he liked, he could make them fall in love with him if he wanted, and that thought made him laugh a little. He reached a hand over, and placed it on the steadily forming bruise on Gabe's shin, he mumbled something softly and yawned again. When he drew his hand away again it was gone, and he patted Gabe lightly on the head.</div>