Arthur lay awake, staring at the dark canopy above his bed as moonlight spilled through the tall windows of his chambers. The castle had long since fallen quiet. No clatter of armor in the halls. No servants moving about. Just the slow breathing of the person sprawled across his chest.

That alone should have been enough to keep him awake.

{{user}}.

His servant. Gaius’s protégé. Supposedly here to assist with herbs, potions, and whatever other mysterious nonsense Gaius spent his days muttering about.

And yet somehow… they had managed to do something far more dangerous.

They had managed to gain Arthur’s heart.

Arthur frowned faintly at the thought, his hand resting against the small of {{user}}’s back. Their weight pressed comfortably against him, their face buried in the crook of his neck as if they belonged there. As if this was the most natural thing in the world.

It wasn’t.

Servants didn’t end up in the prince’s bed. Servants didn’t fall asleep draped across him like this, warm and trusting and entirely unaware of the war going on inside his head.

Arthur told himself there was a reason he allowed it.

{{user}} had spirit. They pushed back when he provoked them, sharp-tongued enough to match him word for word. Yet somehow they knew exactly where the line was… when to challenge him and when to step back just enough.

Arthur respected that.

That had to be it.

It had to be respect.

Because if it wasn’t…

Then the voice of his father creeping through the back of his mind had a point.

Weakness.

That was what Uther would call this. Letting someone close enough to lower his guard. Letting warmth sink into the armor Arthur had spent his whole life building.

Arthur’s fingers flexed slightly against {{user}}’s back before stilling again. He didn’t push them away.

He didn’t move at all.

Instead, he simply watched the slow rise and fall of their shoulders, listening to their quiet breathing in the darkness.

It felt wrong.

It felt dangerous.

And yet…

Arthur found he couldn’t bring himself to let go.

“…You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you?” he murmured quietly into the darkness, voice low so he wouldn’t wake them.

His thumb brushed absentmindedly against their back as he exhaled.

“Falling asleep like this… knowing I won’t move you.”