Paul pulled away, leaving him gasping and gaping, sat back in his seat to watch Gabriel wither in his grasp.  His pulse thrummed in his ears, hard and loud, neurons firing and misfiring as they lost oxygen and frantically searched for more... but there was no more, only what was still in him, which slipped out in a quiet sigh like a ghost.  Gabriel's eyes were wide, attentive, but the world was melting, fading away as he started giving in...  He smiled, so pleased, delighting in the potential fatality, and started to lose himself in the dark...<br/><br/>And then Paul let go, and air rushed back into his lungs as Gabriel gulped it down, body greedily taking in as much as it could just in case it was deprived once again.  His face felt cold, then hot, then normal as his cheeks regained their natural color, his lips returning to their soft pink tone.  The lightness in his head subsided slowly, giving him the chance to try and gather his thoughts, scattered by the deprivation.<br/><br/>Paul had learned early on that Gabriel had no self-preservation: he allowed anything, everything, it did not matter to him if he was badly hurt, if he was so severely injured he would need medical attention, if he died.  That part of Gabe was broken, didn't work properly.  Hadn't for a long, long time, if ever.  It made him good at his job...  Too good.<br/><br/>Paul had once choked him to see when Gabriel would resist, when he would try to stop things from escalating...  And the boy had done nothing, finally collapsing unconscious in Paul's vicious embrace.  It had been exhilerating, the slow fade into nothingness, the disappearance of the world and himself...  After that incident, there developed a tacit understanding of the depths that Gabriel would allow, that Paul would delve, and how far they should go before stopping.<br/><br/>It was funny, in a way-- Paul might be dangerous, deadly, but he constantly spared Gabriel's life despite the fact the boy would happily die for him.  Sinner, savior, all wrapped together into one glorious man...<br/><br/>Gabriel's breathing started as gasps, panting and rapid, then slowed into deep, regulated patterns; his ribs ached plaintively against their confinements, the corset too rigid to allow fuller breaths than that, and his heart beat fast and hard in his chest.  Paul's fingers were barely noticeable against the leather binding, a faint trailing pressure.<br/><br/>He laughed, just a soft little ripple of sound, feathery as a plume of smoke, and gazed at Paul with his sweet, empty, serene eyes.  Even if they denied it to others, Paul could easily see the adoration and affection Gabriel held for him, the only light within that made him seem alive.<br/><br/>"Thank you..."  Not a thank you for stopping, but Paul would know that.  Gabriel was thanking him for the experience, for gifting him something so divinely hazardous...  Just a bit farther, and a step beyond that, and then pure heaven.  Not that Gabriel believed in such things.<br/><br/>Gabriel leaned into Paul's touch, finally getting his breathing under control and feeling back in the present, the now.  He wasn't seeing sparks, no longer tingling and feeling waves of euphoria; a disappointing result of not continuing, but they had plenty of time for creating more enjoyable sensations.