- arthur waking up at midnight panicking (like morgana’s nightmares)
- instinctively shouting out cause all he knows is that he’s in danger and he needs help
- merlin sprinting in, almost falling and hitting the bed
- arthur tangled in the blankets, trying to calm himself down and stop freaking out
- arthur’s eyes locking on merlin’s and god he looks so scared
- merlin realizing now isn’t the time to be polite
- moving to the side of the bed closest to arthur and mumbling a spell to untangle him from the blankets cause jesus christ he doesn’t even care if he gets caught he just needs to help
- arthur scrambling out of bed and almost falling on the floor before merlin just swooping in to support him
- arthur just grabbing his shoulders and looking right into his eyes with this primal fear
- merlin doesn’t even flinch, just looks back “i’m right here sire. you’re safe”
- he can see arthur’s breathing start to even out
- he takes his hands off merlin’s shoulders and sits down on the edge of his bed, head in his hands
- merlin sits next to him quietly, knowing that’s all he needs right now
- after a bit, arthur glances to the side, eyes red
- merlin meets his eyes, only to be shoved slightly to the side
- merlin shoves lightly back, smiling gently
- “will that be all sire?”
- “goodnight. and merlin—thank you”
