i had wrists like steel

<div align=center>Bill blushed hard, and gave the hem of his shirt a sharp tug, pulling it down over his stomach again. He made a move to sit up, before deciding it wasn't worth his effort, he was comfortable like this. He smirked a little at how quickly Gabriel had tried to change his thoughts, though. He thought it was funny, Bill was feeling a little flirtatious and predatory as it was, but you wouldn't have guessed it by his demeanor, he looked relaxed if anything, and he was, he supposed, he was contented, anyway. His eyes flickered open to look up at Gabriel, "those aren't stars," he stated, softly, his voice quiet, gentle.

"They're planets." He continued, lifting an arm up to point at one, "that's Venus," he pointed to a star just east of the sun, "you can tell because it's the brightest, some people call it the evening star." He spoke slowly, carefully, a yawn escaping his mouth at the end of his sentence, "named after the Roman goddess of love, and beauty." He told him, a small smile tugging at the corners of his lips, William liked the sky, "it's the hottest planet in the solar system." He added, eyes shifting over to look at Gabriel, again.</div>

<div align=center>William sat up a short way, and lifted an eyebrow at Gabriel, "I have no idea what you're talking about, Gabriel." He mumbled, sitting up all the way, and taking a moment or two to fix his hair. His gaze shifted back up to the sky again, the last time he'd done this, he'd ended up (he thought) almost dying, which was certainly something he didn't want to do again. He stretched again, and smiled, he could feel Gabriel's pang of disappointment, though he chose not to react to it, perhaps next time it rode up he wouldn't pull it back down again.

Bill blinked, "most people think it's Mercury," he nodded, "since that's the closest planet to the sun." The boy stared for a little longer, before pointing out another few of what Gabriel had called stars, again, "that's Jupiter," his hand moved, "Mars," and once more, "and that one is Saturn." He realized he was rambling, arched his back and blushed. He apologized softly, and frowned, he wasn't used to people listening to him, it was difficult for him to shut up again when he got to talking about something he liked, or knew a lot about, people got irritated with him for it.</div>

<div align=center>William didn't answer him, Gabriel knew that he was able to hear thoughts, and he never said he hadn't heard them, he just hadn't bothered to acknowledge them. His fists clenched a little, "I wasn't reading you." He growled, "I can't control it." He scowled softly, don't. He told himself, he doesn't understand, don't lash out at him. He took a breath, and sighed softly, relaxing again and shaking his head. He had no need to prowl into Gabriel's mind to read his thoughts at the moment, his foil hat seemed to be missing from his head, and planting his own thoughts in someone else's mind was different, it was easier than reading someone, more like talking, it didn't require that much concentration.

He nodded, "I read a lot." He murmured, his voice soft on the evening breeze, it was a little windier up here than on the ground, so he was a little harder to hear than usual. The boy fell sideways, and leaned up against Gabriel, "stars and planets are interesting," he told him, "I think they are pretty." He bent his legs into himself, still leaning on the other boy. Gabriel was warm, and that drove Bill to push himself just that little bit closer.</div>

<div align=center>William had grabbed a handful of Gabriel's hoodie, the man was comfortable, and a pleasant, musky sort of scent hung around him that Bill liked, it was good. He nodded a little, not saying anything else about the subject, he whimpered softly, frowned, and pushed himself a little closer, he'd evidently upset himself a little, he hadn't meant to snap, it just happened sometimes. He stared at Gabriel for a little while, the sunlight was reflected in his eyes, and it made them look pretty. William had never thought himself well spoken, he was just polite, he'd always been polite, he'd always been worried that if he said the wrong things he'd cause upset, he was so used to causing upset back at home that he just expected it a lot of the time. "Don't you read, Gabriel?"

Bill squeaked, blushed hard and hid his face against Gabriel's shoulder, "well, uhm.." His voice was a little muffled, he might not have been reading Gabriel's mind but that didn't mean he couldn't hear his thoughts. His grip on the sleeve of Gabriel's hoodie had tightened a little, he peeked up at the man, a tiny, shy smile turning the corners of his lips up. "You're not so bad yourself."</div>

<div align=center>William flinched suddenly, and shuffled away again, apologizing several times, he was still just a little concerned that he was going to end up getting electrocuted, Gabe's short wave of annoyance had scared him again, making him distance himself a few inches away from the man again, pushing Gabe's hand away and tensing up again, he mumbled something unintelligible and apologized again, shooting him a frightened glance and blinking once. He didn't mean to get scared as fast as he did, but poor Bill was under the perpetual fear of something awful happening to him, he was terrified of Gabe's powers, and that detached him from the man just a little. "I'm sorry please don't hurt me."

He stared at him for a moment, he'd gone a little paler than usual and there was obvious fright in his eyes, he wondered if this was how his mother felt that one time, though he shook his head a little and repressed the memory, he didn't like to think about it, it still made him feel a little guilty. "I won't do it again I swear." He shook his head, bringing his knees to his chest and whimpering softly, "I just... I just..." He squeaked, and broke off.</div>