He was sore, he was tired. But it was no longer the bone weary ache that had plagued him since his early days as an Assassin.
He burrowed closer and held tighter as Haytham gently carded his fingers through Shay's hair. "Shay?"
"Hmm?"
"I don't mind you attacking me like that in the slightest, but what brought it all on? And why the deference? You are your own man, yet you are so easily able to hand everything over to me."
Shay hid against Haytham's bare chest and let off a rather harsh Irish curse that Haytham felt more than heard and chuckled softly at. He smirked.
"I'm sorry, Shay, I didn't catch that."
Shay lifted his head slightly to glare at Haytham. "You don't need to sound so happy." Haytham's smirk softened into a genuine smile.
"I was just being playful. I want to know. I want to understand, to help if you need it. Let me help you."
Shay sighed and hid his face again. "Oo I ah oo moo?"
Haytham properly laughed at this, and asked "Dare I ask you to repeat that so I may understand it?"
Shay huffed, and then said "Do I have to move?" quietly with that Irish lilt of his.
"No, Shay. Stay right here" Haytham replied as he tightened his hold on Shay and stroked his side with the hand not already skimming through the Irishman's hair. Shay settled slightly and tightened his grip on Haytham in response.
"All my life it's been one thing after another. Liam and myself on the streets when we were young, Achilles and de la Vérendrye's shite when I was an Assassin, Lisbon..." Here he took in a shaky breath. "... The fall-"
Haytham moved the hand carding through Shay's hair to gently play with the hair at the nape of his neck, it allowed him to rest the arm along Shay's back, which he noticed was full of all that tension again.
"Even now. I don't regret any of my actions or allegiances as a Templar, but I am still nought but a means to an end. I still have no control. But here. Here, I choose to give you control, I choose to defer to you, Haytham. In this I have some sort of control."
He chanced looking Haytham in the eye and wasn't disappointed. Haytham's eyes were gentle, his expression concerned. "And if I have my way you always will."
Shay rested his cheek against Haytham's chest. "Haytham?" A reply of "Hmm?" rumbled against his ear, as Haytham returned to properly carding through Shay's hair. "You will stay tonight, won't you? I don't dream so much when you're here. I don't want to dream anymore."
Haytham's grip on Shay became almost too firm at this meek declaration from such a strong man. He took a moment to make sure the emotion in his voice didn't give him away, and said "Yes, Shay. I must be gone in the morning, but I will be here tonight. Sleep, Shay. Sleep."
He buried his face against Haytham's chest again, so that it was an effort to make out his reply of "I don't want you to go."
Haytham closed his eyes and replied in a murmur "I must, but one day, when all of this is over, I will be here in the morning. Now sleep."
As Shay fell into a peaceful slumber, he realised that Haytham had been running a hand through his hair the whole time, and smiled.