William managed not to be at all distracted or flustered by Gabe's casual leaning, which he accomplished mainly by zeroing in on the most important topic at hand: books.
"Can I be of assistance?" he asked, which was not merely a bid to spend some quiet time alone in the library with the potionsmaster, no matter what Pete thought. He did have this job for a reason, after all. "I know most of the catalog, I can probably find whatever you're looking for faster than you would alone."
Besides, he reasoned, this was his responsibility, and while he trusted Gabe alone in his library far more than he trusted, say, Brendon, there were still rules to uphold.