Just another one of them

@OPEN

Quiet... Quiet...

The library in the school wasn't often completely dead like it was today; there were always some wandering students, maybe a few faculty members and alumni. Rarely was William left completely and utterly alone, and he found that he actually liked it.

He'd spent the morning quietly shelving books and making sure all the codes were in order. The sunlight streamed through the wide windows and warmed his back as he did so, motes of dust dancing silently in the beams. His shoulders drooped just a fraction, the gloves on his hands getting a little too warm... But it was nice.

Peaceful.

He could almost forget why he was here.

By the afternoon the books on the main floor had all been shelved and arranged and William retreated to his own office. Lunch sounded nice, but he was awfully sleepy. The warmth made him drowsy and he should be getting on break soon, even though there was still plenty of work left.

William had a book open at his desk but he found that, as soon as he sat down at his chair, his eyes just fluttered closed. He wasn't expecting anybody soon...

Little did he realize, as he dozed off slumped over his desk, that his nose started bleeding.

@"King"

William rarely dreamed after his initial illness. He used to, according to his parents; he had once been very imaginative. Not anymore, after the sickness took all the energy out of him. No matter, he didn't quite need dreams to get a good night's rest. Besides, most of his dreams were nightmares when he got them, so he preferred to go without.

The gentle knock on the door didn't rouse him, but he did shift a little against the desk. It was only when he felt a soft tap against his shoulder did he stir...

And then he felt the wet of his sleeve against his cold skin.

William was up like a shot, quickly pushing the boy away from him as he stood so quickly he almost knocked his chair over. "Please, don't touch any of the blood!"

His skin felt clammy and cold and his arms and legs felt stiffer than usual, but what really panicked him was the blood. No, he'd been so calm today! What happened? Flare ups were often correlated with his state of mind, but that didn't mean he couldn't have one even if he was downright serene.

William was quick to grab an always-ready roll of tissues out of the desk, shoving a wad against his nose as he attempted to mop up the rest on his desk. The book would need to be burned and the wood bleached to death. It was just his bad luck to have a student discover him.

@"King"

One hand reached for the book and quickly dumped it into the metal trash can, easily contained for burning later. He leaned a little over the tin, one hand braced against the edge of the desk as he let the blood drip down into the trash. It soaked past the wadded tissue and he had to reach for several more.

"Ah, as long as you didn't get any on you." From the quick glances he was able to get, there was no blood aside from the mess on his desk. His eyes were watering heavily, too, and his nosebleed looked pretty heavy for something lasting so long. It looked almost cartoonish, but William knew how dangerous they could be.

"Don't worry about it, really. Just don't touch any of the blood." He didn't exactly want to go around explaining his affliction to everyone who asked, and usually people would accept the simple explanation of a heavy nosebleed.

@"King"

He didn't taste anything in his mouth and a quick glance in the finely polished desk told him that no, his eyes weren't growing increasingly glazed and bloodshot. That meant it wasn't getting any worse for now, but it would he a good idea to evacuate the office, lock the door and wait for it to clear.

"Y-yes... Yes, that might be a wise decision." He didn't look up immediately, instead attempting to stem the blood flow even though he knew it'd be useless. It'd either get worse or better on its own thanks to his condition and he was constantly flexing his fingers, looking for the earliest sign of the infection starting to increase in severity.

He glanced up for only a second and more or less flipped the hell out.

"Take this!" He quickly threw the roll of tissues at the boy in a frantic attempt to do some damage control. "Your forehead! Don't get it in your eyes!"

A single little drop of blood had landed on the boy's brow.

Of course, William knew that logically speaking he wouldn't get infected just from that. It needed to get into the boy's bloodstream for the virus to take hold. No cuts, no broken skin, no infection. He panicked anyways.

@"King"

The boy looked like he was gradually becoming quite panicked, which wasn't a very good thing no matter what the situation was. It was even worse when one could get so sick from something that was evidently splattering liberally out of his nose.

Well, better just to be blunt. It wasn't as if his affliction was a huge secret; it was one of those things that he spoke briefly about only when asked.

"My bodily fluids contain a virus that is quite infectious. Better to not get it anywhere near you. The consequences may be quite horrific."