i had wrists like steel

<div align=center>William quivered a little, and relaxed again. He mumbled another apology, he needed to remind himself not to do that, he was so used to being yelled at or scolded that he was surprised when people offered him comfort first without him seeking it out. He let out a short, upset little noise, he kept thinking about Gabe's reaction the first time he'd upset him, and that had shaken him up more than he would have liked, he shook his head and told himself to grow up and forget about it, it had been an accident, after all, Gabe struggled to control what he could do in situations like that, just as William struggled to control what he could do most of the time.

He didn't want to tell Gabe why he was just that little bit frightened of him, so he merely shook his head and scowled, he'd ruined everything, and it was annoyed with himself. He tucked his head underneath Gabe's chin and let out a small, angry sigh. "Because you were angry." He mumbled, he was frightened when anyone got angry, it wasn't just him, though no one else had gotten angry with him in the time he'd been at the school...</div>

<div align=center>William shook his head a little, he didn't want to talk about this anymore, but it was a little difficult for him to pick himself up again, he'd ruined the mood and he didn't feel like talking anymore, he was irritated with himself, I always ruin everything. He knew how upset Gabe would be if he upped and left now though, Gabe liked him and he knew that, and he couldn't say he didn't feel the right way, but William disliked himself to such a point that when he did something that made someone else feel bad, the thing he'd done remained on his mind for the rest of the conversation.

He clung to Gabe a little tighter and grumbled something into his shoulder, "you didn't mean to." His grip tightened again, and he sighed, shifting position so his legs were either side of Gabe. He peeked up at him, and blinked with wide, dark eyes. Bill blushed, and giggled softly. He shook his head a little and buried his face back underneath Gabe's neck, he liked to be close to someone else, though this felt different somehow, he didn't quite know how, but it did. Bill found that one of his hands had drifted to the top of Gabe's head, petting him gently. "Silly."</div>

<div align=center>"Are," William mumbled, nuzzling Gabe softly, and dropping his hand away from the top of his head. He could feel that Gabe still felt a little bad, but he decided not to press on about it, he didn't want to, and Gabe didn't want to either, that was the better way to leave it. William felt a little guilty for reacting badly to Gabe's slight annoyance, perhaps William just needed to learn that Gabe never meant any harm by anything, and he didn't, not really anyway, anything that upset Bill was merely by chance, he thought, and he was just being stupid by behaving in a negative way, he mentally told himself to shut up, and to stop thinking about it.

I really like you. The boy lifted an eyebrow, slowly shuffling a few inches backward, though he was still close enough to Gabe to feel comforted by him. He stared at him for a moment, a small, warm smile appearing on his face, he scratched the back of his head and laughed a little, he didn't think that Gabe had meant to say that out loud, though he would have heard it anyway so it didn't really make a difference. He paused for a second or two, mulling something or other over in his head. His hand moved back up to Gabe's head, pausing at the back of it, and grabbing a handful of his hair. Bill pulled his head close, pausing again for a brief second, before leaning in and pressing a sweet, gentle kiss to Gabe's lips, it felt strange to him, it was a good kind of strange though, Gabe's mouth was soft, and warm, and it felt good to William. He held it for a little while, before pulling away, tensing up and clapping both hands over his mouth, realizing what he'd just done. "Oh my God I'm so sorry!" He stammered, as if expecting a bad reaction. "I'm sorry I don't know what came over me."</div>

<div align=center>William let out a notable whimper, a look of surprise crossing his features. His legs tightened around Gabe and his arms dropped to hook themselves around his waist. A strange feeling flushed through him, a warm feeling, he'd never felt it before and it was different, it was exciting. The boy smiled into the kiss and reinforced it a little, it felt like a lifetime before he finally pulled away, eyes wide, face flushed. He stared at Gabe, still clinging to him, still pressed against him. A warm, nervous sort of smile ghosted across his face, the boy pressed another, shorter kiss to Gabe's forehead, "that was different." His voice barely breached a whisper, all of a sudden, he really didn't want to let go.

He tilted his head forward a short way so their foreheads met, the boy took a breath, and let his eyes flutter shut. He'd suddenly unearthed a lot more feelings for Gabe that perhaps he hadn't realized he had, he knew there had been something there, but now he could feel it rather than just having an inkling about it, at least, he thought so, this had never really happened to him before, so it was a new experience for him. Bill hadn't really kissed anyone before, he'd never really thought about it before now.</div>

<div align=center>Bill tucked his chin against Gabe's shoulder, and frowned a little, not saying anything, merely clinging onto the older boy, enjoying his company. He wasn't really sure what happened now, but he wasn't going to confuse himself with those thoughts, confusion made him frustrated. He thought of posing the question to Gabriel, but changed his mind and decided perhaps he wouldn't know what happened next either, perhaps he just wanted to kiss and that was it, perhaps that was how it worked, Bill didn't entirely know, though he sort of hoped that wasn't it, he wanted there to be more but he didn't know what more was.

Bill would have liked to know what that meant, but he was content just to cuddle Gabe for now, he didn't want to feel confused and frustrated right now, he felt warm and fluffy and that was nice as it was, he didn't want to ruin it by asking stupid questions and formalizing things that didn't need to be formalized. He had begun to absently pet Gabe again, his hand pausing every now and then as if he was thinking about something. "I guess so." He returned, quietly, just a little unsure of what else to say.</div>