Curious because a friend and I were talking about how difficult intimacy would be for Arthur, and I know you’ve touched on that topic before.
But, we were thinking about what would happen if Arthur did grant a new partner the privilege to have sex, but then something made him take that privilege away again, and I’m curious as to what you think something like that could be?
Behaviors from a partner in the bedroom that could make him pull back, make him build those walls up again?
Sorry if this is worded weird gang no pressure to answer this 😭🙏
Hello my friend, thank you for the question!
I'll start off by giving a disclaimer (since I will sometimes get follow-up asks) that this is totally just one way of reading his character and that Arthur "Sex in Boots" Morgan is completely valid! Haha this is just my humble interpretation :)
The word "privilege" sticks out to me here, (not in a critical way! I completely get your meaning.) Because I don't think Arthur would conceive of granting someone that kind of access as a privilege -- but as the equivalent of lighting a stick of dynamite and waiting for it to explode.
When it comes to love, Arthur has programmed himself to anticipate the worst outcome, and he is not rewarded for hoping otherwise. (It's honestly no wonder why so many fanworks are about giving him that love!) And so in my mind, if Arthur struggles with intimacy, by the time he's made it to that point with a lover I think there's no small part of him that's fully waiting for things to go terribly wrong, and may even subconsciously work to sabotage things himself before he gets hurt.
I think one way to scare off a newly-intimate Arthur is actually too much of a healthy thing: presence. At first, I think Arthur would struggle with things that we take for granted as base-level forms of connection during sex, like eye contact and kissing. I loved this exchange with @ireallyhonestlydontcare and the way they articulated how Arthur being a "giver" during sex can be indicative of his reluctance to receive, to be seen, to fully let a lover "in" on the most vulnerable parts of himself. What a lover considers regular ol' reciprocity, Arthur might perceive as a threat. So even though he wants these things, desperately, he doesn't know how to safely accept them.
Another thing that comes to mind is something I feel like @fleurdelucienne and I have talked about SO much which is this idea of HH!Arthur having a praise kink vs. LH!Arthur having a degradation kink. I could fathom a HH!Arthur becoming angry and completely closing off in a sexual encounter where the lover was overly critical, mocking, or cruel -- and LH!Arthur doing the same thing in response to treatment that was far too sweet and sentimental. They're both operating from a place of self-loathing, but one craves for it to be soothed and the other wants you to press your thumb on the bruise, hard.
And so I don't think a lover would necessarily have to do anything "wrong" during sex for Arthur to revoke access. His instincts to avoid and self-sabotage might rear their ugly heads regardless of what the lover does, and I think that's why I especially like fics that take the time to explore that part of him and show us how trust and presence during intimacy are conscious choices he has to make (or not!)