CW: blood and injuries described, mentions of near-death experience

"You're injured." The king said, the first words from his mouth upon catching sight of his top ranking knight.

George looked up at his king after bowing before him, blinking slowly. "Your majesty, it is only a small cut. I apologize if the messiness is impolite of me. I was told to see you directly after the fight."

"No, no," king Clay muttered and shook his head. His voice was soft, and he examined the cut that graced his knights arm carefully. "Don't be silly, it isn't that at all."

The king rose from his ornate throne and approached him. George stood very still. The king did not approach people. His people were meant to approach him. Still, the king drew nearer to him, and George waited carefully in place to see what he would do. He couldn't help it when he jumped as the man grabbed hold of his arm, surprised at the touch.

"My apologies," the king said, hand already removed from the knights arm. "I should have asked first. Would you allow me to examine your arm, George?"

George swallowed thickly, shiver running down his spine at the sound of his name coming from the king's lips. George did not dare to look down at them despite the aching urge he felt to do so.

"You are my king," George said after collecting himself. "I will never refuse anything for you, sire."

"You are allowed to tell me no here, my Knight." The king assured. "When it comes to something like this. You are my Knight, and you follow my orders, but you are human as well. I will treat you as such."

George almost hated his king for being so kind. Except, he didn't really. Quite the opposite in fact.

"I don't mind, sire." George answered honestly. "You only caught me off guard. I am a knight, after all. When you are under attack as often as I, it is easy to mistake something small for another attack."

The king frowned, and George felt his blood run cold. Had he said something wrong? Was the king upset with him? In the middle of this rush of questions the kings expression had already changed back to a more neutral one, and he began to speak again.

"So, it is alright for me to examine your wound?" The king questioned, holding a hand out towards George's. George stared at it for a moment, dumbstruck and caught terribly off guard. He didn't mind though, and he felt it would be rude to leave the king waiting a single moment longer, so he nodded quickly and placed his hand into the kings.

George felt his cheeks redden as his hands met the soft skin of his king's hand, embarrassed by the rough and calloused hand of his own. He had been in many battles, handled many weapons, and gained many new injuries that left ridges and scars across his pale skin. He was almost sure the king would recoil his hand the moment their skin touched, disgusted by him, but he did not. Instead his thumb smoothed across the rough skin of George's hand, and the king's other hand rose to rest on his arm, near the cut that had torn open the sleeve of George's shirt. The king's soft, clean hands met with the mostly dried blood around the knight's wound, some of it staining the tips of his fingers a dark red.

"You need to attend to this." The king spoke after a few moments of awkward silence, eyes raising to meet George's. The knight averted his gaze downward to his arm, swallowing hard.

"Yes, sire. I intended to after our meeting."

"That won't do." The king said, letting go of George and stepping past him towards the throne room's doors. George turned to see what he was doing, frown on his lips and eyebrows furrowed. The king looked back to him briefly, raising his hand in a beckoning motion. "Come, my knight."

George scrambled to follow behind him, struggling to keep up with the pace of the king. The king was significantly taller than him, taking longer, confident strides towards their destination, wherever that may be. He managed to stay caught up, and watched as the king stopped before the infirmary door. He knocked once, twice, then entered without a response. The physician turned to greet him, putting aside whatever he had been working on to stand and bow for his king.

"You are dismissed for now, Tobias." The king said. "Tell Thomas I said hi while you're on your break."

The young man's eyes grew wide as he pushed his hair away from his eyes. "O-oh-yes, sire!"

Tobias bowed his head again at the king, sent a soft smile to both him and George, and ducked out of the room quickly. The king began to look around the room as George watched silently from beside the doorway.

"Your majesty?" He spoke, carefully averting his gaze as the king bent to check a lower shelf.

"Yes, my knight?" The king questioned, not bothering to look back at George behind him.

"May I ask why you've brought me to the infirmary only to dismiss the physician?" George asked, carefully looking back at the king who was standing now and facing him, cloth and bandages in his arms.

"To clean up that nasty cut of yours, of course." The king said as if it were so obvious, gesturing to the chair Tobias has previously resided in. George carefully sat, placing his hand in the king's when he held it out.

George wanted to press further, to question why the king had decided to clean the wound himself, apparently. He didn't though. He didn't want it to seem as though he were questioning his king's authority. He was lucky that his first question hadn't been taken as such.

The king had begun to clean the dried blood that stuck onto George's skin, carefully washing away dark red and black. As he scrubbed carefully the pale cloth became darker and darker while George's skin grew paler.

George hissed suddenly when the king scrubbed a little too roughly close to the wound, eyes squeezing shut. The king immediately stopped his cleaning, drawing the cloth away.

"I'm sorry," the king said, voice terribly soft. George slowly opened his eyes, half sure he had passed out and this was a dream. The king was sorry, after all of this? After helping George so much, for absolutely no reason? What on earth was happening today? He had to have lost it.

"You have nothing to apologize for, sire." George assured. "Thank you for your help."

"Are you alright for me to continue cleaning? I don't want you to get an infection, my knight." The king's eyes seemed to hold concern, but George had to have seen that wrong.

"Of course. I can handle it, sire. Even if I flinch, you do not need to stop."

"Tell me if I do." The king said, returning to washing away the blood. He was much softer now, treating the knight so delicately. George was not used to this.

They sat in silence for a while, save for the few soft hisses from George when something stung a tad too harshly. It felt content, really. The king had gotten distracted with his task of cleaning up George's wound, which gave George the opportunity to gaze carefully upon his king's face. The king was very private about his appearance. Most of the commoners knew nothing of what the king looked like. George was one of few among the castle to really know what he looked like, and he was the only one among the other knights to know. Yet he still had never seen the king this closely, had never dared to gaze for this long.

The king looked... nice.

His yellow eyes(at least, yellow for George) focused in so carefully on his task, narrowing ever so slightly. His eyebrows were drawn in close together, nose scrunched the slightest bit. George could count the number of freckles on his face, they were nothing compared to the freckles on his arms, but they still suited him so nicely. The one time George dared to look down at the king's lips was when he had tried to blow his king blonde locks out of his eyes, failing terribly and drawing a hand back from George with a sigh to push it away. George had chewed on the inside of his mouth to keep from letting a soft smile bloom on his lips.

"Y'know," the king broke the silence, dragging George from his mind and back into his body. He flushed a deep red as the king glanced up at him, their eyes meeting. "You're supposed to be my best knight. Yet somehow, you're almost always the one with the most injuries. I'm almost beginning to think you're not that good at your job."

"I-wh-sire, I can assure you, I-" George spluttered, beginning to defend himself. His face had begun to go pale, mortified at the idea that he hadn't been meeting his king's standards. He loved his job, and he never wanted to lose it.

The king burst out into giggles-giggles-and cut George off, leaving the knight absolutely baffled.

"It was a joke, George." The king continued to laugh, eyes crinkling in the corners. George swore it wasn't just his face that was aflame now, but his entire body. The combination of the king using his name so light-heartedly, the giggles that sounded like music, and the way the king's eyes softened as he looked at him had George melting. He must have an infection. A fever was the only thing that could explain this delirium he was experiencing now.

"It wasn't even that funny of a joke," the king wheezed, eyes closing as he tried to compose himself. "I was only teasing, but-" he collapsed into small giggles again. "Oh, your face! You take me far too seriously, my knight."

George swallowed thickly before opening his mouth, wanting to say something, anything, but he was still so confused. What was happening again?

"Come on, my knight." The king said, giving George's palm he still held in his hand a light squeeze. "Let your guard down a little, it's okay. You are a highly respectable knight, and I couldn't possibly replace you with anybody. You have nothing to fear amongst your king."

"Of course, sire." George nodded quickly. "I know I have nothing to be afraid of."

"You don't have to be so formal, you know." The king mentioned suddenly, after the room had gone quiet for a time. He had finished cleaning the wound and had begun to wrap a bandage around it. "We are not having a formal meeting. You can talk to me, my knight."

George nodded slowly, although he didn't know what he was meant to discuss with him. He tried to think, but it became obvious to the king after a few moments that he would need to be the one to initiate the conversation.

"So, if you're alright with discussing," the king gestured a hand to the half-bandaged arm, raising a brow. "How did this happen?"

George glanced down at the cut for a moment, thinking back to earlier in the day. "We were patrolling as usual. Everything seemed normal, quiet. Then, as we were walking through the town square, there was a yell."

George paused, unsure if he should really give much detail. Maybe the king only wanted him to explain shortly. When he looked up to gauge the reaction of the king he was surprised to find him gazing intently, seemingly hanging on to his words, waiting to hear. He seemed almost excited at getting George to speak for more than a sentence. George's words got stuck in his throat for a moment, blocked by the lump that settled itself there. He averted his gaze from the king and cleared his throat to dislodge it.

"Uh, the yell, it... it came from a woman, a shopkeeper. A man was running from her stand, and I could tell she was yelling at him. I saw him holding something from the stand, and I knew she had been robbed." George was getting overwhelmed by the amount of attention he was getting from the king, but he wouldn't deny him the story when he clearly seemed so intent on listening to it.

"Me and Sapnap, we ran after him immediately. Sapnap got there first, he went to tackle the man. I noticed a glinting as the man pulled his hands from his pocket, and I shouted for Sapnap to step back. He didn't, the dumbass-" George used his good arm to throw a hand over his mouth, eyes wide.

"My apologies, your majesty." George started to rise in an attempt to bow in apology, but he was stopped by the kings hands pressing his shoulders back down.

"You've done nothing wrong, knight." The king assured, huffing a quiet laugh. "You're so nervous. Relax, I've already told you. We don't have to be formal."

"You are still my king, and I must show you my respect." George said, but he didn't fight the king's hands on his shoulders. He frowned to himself as the king sighed, shoulders slumping slightly.

"Right. Keep going, if you don't mind."

"Right, yes-so, Sapnap, he didn't stop. I knew the man had a knife though, and he was going to hurt him. So I jumped forward, raised my arm up to block him. He would have caught him in the throat had I not stepped in. After that the rest of our guards surrounded him, and he dropped his weapon and surrendered. There was no way for him to get out of it, after that. I'm glad he only got my arm, instead of my friend's life."

"You're very brave," the king said, squeezing George's hand. He had long since finished bandaging his arm, now simply sitting with the other and listening to him speak. "Not many would have jumped in to save their friend that way."

"I was happy to do it," George muttered, ears red along with his entire face. "I have always loved my job, serving you and your kingdom as a knight."

"I'm lucky to have such a courageous, kind-hearted knight working for my kingdom." The king's voice was lower than usual, hands playing with George's fingers. George watched him, letting him move his hand in any way he desired. He was embarrassed when the man peered at one of his scars, fingers grazing over it so softly. He really didn't understand why he had gained the attention of the young king today, and he didn't know how to feel about it. It was... nice, incredibly flattering, but it just didn't make sense.

He was sure things would get back to normal soon.

A glance out of the infirmary window told George that quite some time had passed since he first came in to see the king. He had taken up far too much of his time, and they hadn't even spoken about whatever it was the king had called him in for.

"Sire," George gained the attention of the king, feeling his eyes leave his hands and float back up to his face. "It is getting quite late. I don't want to keep you, I am sure you have much more important stuff to be attending to... Should we discuss what it was you called me in for?"

"Oh yes, of course." The king dropped George's hand, letting him finally pull his arm back to rest atop his lap. The king sat up straighter, reaching up to adjust his crown. "I am giving you a pay raise."

"A raise?" George sat up straighter himself, surprise overtaking his features. "Are you sure, sire? I don't think I have done much worth a raise."

"Nonsense," the king waved his hand, dismissing the idea. "It is well deserved. You take so much time making sure my kingdom is safe for my people. You've more than earned this."

"I-Thank you, sire. This is greatly appreciated!" George did stand this time to bow. The king let him, smiling softly his way.

"I'm afraid I've kept you for far longer than intended, my knight." The king stood from his own chair, adjusting his cape that fell over his shoulders heavily. "I'm sure you have your own things to attend to, I do apologize. You may take your leave."

"You haven't kept me from anything at all, sire." George assured quickly, bowing his head one final time. "I have enjoyed your company. Thank you, for the pay and for helping with my injury."

"Thank you for the talk." The king said, smiling. "Have a good night, George."

The shiver returned, and George nodded his head quickly, speaking only once more before turning to leave. "You as well, your majesty."

Forgive me for this being ooc, it's my first shot at writing these guys. I'll get the hang of it soon!! Also yeah, I'm unique, I write knight George and king Dream instead of the other way around/j

Anyways, I do plan to have around two more parts to this so!! This isn't the end, it's just easier to write out this way because of its length lol. I hope you liked it, and I hope you'll stick around for the next parts!

Take care of yourselves! <3-Oliver