When Guy got down to business and asked him how he was feeling, Claude wondered if his friend had picked up on his symptoms on his own, or if the question was just a precaution in light of what was happening in the institute.

His pace slowed once he drew close to Guy. "I'm, um..." Trailing off a moment, he wondered how he ought to approach the issue. Claude hated having to say anything at all, but he couldn't keep lying to himself that everything was okay.

"To be honest, I haven't felt well lately," he finally admitted as he averted his gaze. "At first I thought it was just a fluke, or at least unrelated to what everyone's been talking about. That's why I didn't say anything before now."

Looking the other man in the eye again, his mouth curved into a worried frown. It was better to just rip the band-aid off when it came down to it, wasn't it?

"Guy, I think I'm sick with what's been going around."