Summary: Arthur now must always be aware of his surroundings, even in the face of his best friend's collapse.

Warning: Season 4 spoilers.

A/N: Ok I need to give Arthur an out. This makes sense to me since he saved Merlin later in the episode without a thought.

*clang*

The jug dropped and silence descended over the hall, as all eyes turned to Merlin. Merlin's eyes glazed over as he swayed on the spot, and then crashed to the floor.

Lancelot had already moved over to Merlin, as everyone looked on. Arthur had a look of unease on his face. Part of him wanted to go over to Merlin and see what made him suddenly collapse. It brought back bad memories of when Merlin drank the poison for him when they had first met. Now, five years later, Merlin was a friend and Arthur felt protective of him.

However, though they have grown closer, Arthur has also changed position in the court. With Uther having less of a presence in the kingdom, everyone now looked to Arthur as their leader. He no longer had the luxury of showing emotion over his servant. Instead he settled for trying to cover up the concern he knew bleed through for a second, into a look of embarrassment for his hapless servant.

The next day Arthur woke with a groan. Arthur hadn't gotten much sleep for some reason and was exhausted. He heard someone banging around in a way that could only be Merlin. He cracked open his eyes to see said manservant opening the curtains to let the light stream in from the window. He hid his smile under his pillow as he said Merlin's name.

*knock* *knock* *knock*

"Merlin!" Arthur said again. He might be secretly happy to see his manservant, but he was exhausted.

"That's not me." Merlin tiredly answered.

Suddenly Leon entered his chambers, and Arthur once again donned the mask of Prince Regent as Leon reported of a disturbance.