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”I’m going now”, Eggsy poked his head in the door and smiled lopsidedly at Harry. Harry looked up and nodded. Eggsy was bound for Stockholm to investigate possible assassination attempt of the Swedish royal family. Harry wondered if his liaisons with the Princess Tilde had anything to do with him saying yes to the mission. He looked back down at his papers and sighed a little. Then he realisedEggsy hadn’t left yet.
“Have a good trip, Galahad”, Harry took his glasses off and watched on as Eggsy lingered. He shuffled into the room.
“Try and not work yourself to death while I’m gone, Merlin’d make a terrible Arthur”, Eggsy said, the lilt in his voice was playful. Then he walked back out the door with a, “cheers then.”
Merlin was still at the office when Harry was leaving to go home
“I’ll be taking a few personal days, you can send me anything that needs my attention, I’ll keep my iPad close”, Harry told Merlin and he raised an eyebrow. Scanning Harry from head to foot with a half-worried expression he then conceded.
“Okay and I’ll give you a call if we get anything urgent”, Merlin said, in a monotone and went back to his work. Harry nodded to this and left to leave.
When Harry got home he poured himself a glass of whiskey and went upstairs to slip into his robe. Coming back downstairs with his pajama pants on in his red robe and with a drink in his hand; he was ready to start monitoring Eggsy’s first ever solo mission. He sat down at his desk and set up the iPad to feed him Eggsy’s camera from the glasses. He had apparently set them down on his nightstand at the hotel and what Harry was looking at was an empty room. Harry spread out some paper work on the desk and got to work. Then a door opened and in came a freshly showered Eggsy in nothing but a towel. Harry swallowed and turned his gaze intently to his papers. Eggsy walked out of view and the next time he appeared, he was wearing the suit Harry had commissioned him.
“I’m ready to go Merlin”, Eggsy said, picking up his glasses and putting them on.
“Good, you’ll be a part of the security detail, we’ve talked it over with the Princess, you will blend in just fine, and remember to keep a keen eye on anything abnormal”, Merlin reminded, his voice a bit muffled.
“Roger that”, Eggsy answered and slipped his hotel key into his pocket as he exited the room.
Harry stayed up all night watching the gala event drill on through Eggsy’s nervous eyes, constantly looking over the room. Seems it was all in vain, everything had gone very smoothly, even in the sense that Harry had listened to the Princess and Eggsy flirt all through the night. Eggsy kissed Tilde’s hand goodbye as he left for his hotel room, having escorted the royal family home. The sun had started to rise as Eggsy’s head hit the pillow and Harry decided to take example of his young protégé and have a few hours of shut eye himself.
Harry found himself wide awake by the time it was nine, and he decided to just keep working. With a cup of tea and some toast, he resumed his position at his table and opened the tablet to show him whether Eggsy was still asleep or not.
He was asleep. It almost felt perverted to watch him sleep through the mission cam, but Harry couldn’t turn away. He found himself watching Eggsy, out of the corner of his eye for several hours until he woke up and stretched himself out on the bed. Harry felt something stirring in him and he had to turn off the camera for a while as not the feel like a complete arsehole.
It was midafternoon when he turned it back on. Soon it was time to resume his mission, the gala being a two day event. Eggsy was putting gel in his hair, wanting to look good. For Tilde, Harry thought to himself. Never once in his life had Harry considered himself a jealous man, but there was something primal about the feelings, Harry felt for Eggsy.
The glasses found their way onto Eggsy’s nose again and he was off. Merlin and Eggsy conversed quietly sometimes and Harry watched and worked, on and off.
Nothing extraordinary happened until Eggsy had his Kevlar suit take a bullet from behind. Harry looked on as Eggsy grunted and whipped around, with a gun in his hand. A security team was heading the royal family into safety. Eggsy checked to make sure they were on a safe path before he took a shot at a man with a gun and then gun raised, backed to follow them. Harry noticed then, he was holding his breath. He let out a shaky sigh and continued watching as Eggsy made it to the front of the escorting team. They were getting into cars as a fresh wave of bullets fired on them. Eggsy fumbled forwards and his glasses tumbled off. Harry grabbed the tablet into his hand was he was watching feet shuffle until he heard a crack and a smash and the feed ended. He looked around for his phone and it began to ring.
“Merlin, Eggsy”, Harry said shakily and Merlin hushed him.
“Don’t panic, he’s a trained Kingsman, he’ll be fine”, Merlin said, “and he’ll call us when he has a free hand, yeah? There’s nothing to worry about.” This did sound comforting, although, Merlin was speaking optimistically. Harry was panicking on the inside.
“Deep breaths mate, that’s it”, Merlin said as Harry began to calm down. Then Merlin’s phone gave a beep to indicate someone was knocking, “This could be Eggsy, I’ll get back to you Harry”, and left him to the beeping of a disconnected call.
It had been Eggsy. Merlin called him back after five minutes, and told him the situation. Eggsy had evacuated the royal family and would be staying with them for the night, if more assassination attempts should arise, but he’d be catching an early flight back and the debriefing would be at ten. Harry found himself able to relax a little, but he was still wondering, had Eggsy been hurt, what had happened and was it ever a good idea to send someone on a solo mission ever again. Especially, if that someone is Eggsy.
Tossing and turning in his bed Harry barely caught sleep that night. He finally woke up at six and looked in the mirror. His eyes were bloodshot, he had bruises under his eyes and he couldn’t remember when he had looked so disheveled before, even after combat. Changing into a suit didn’t help much. His hair, freshly washed, looked fine but his face told the whole story. Merlin and Eggsy would see he had not slept.
Arriving at Kingsman Harry went straight for his office and unloaded the paperwork he’d managed to do onto his desk.
“Galahad is coming in, he’s just been picked up at Heathrow”, Merlin came in with a knock, after he was in the room. Merlin came to set up his place, as it was half past nine. Merlin glanced worrying looks at Harry, as if asking had he slept at all and if he was alright. Harry pretended not to notice, filing away a few papers, and taking some out. He was anxiously waiting to see how Eggsy was.
A quarter of an hour passed in a comfortable silence as the two worked on their own pieces, and then Eggsy strode in. He didn’t look at all shaken up.
“Morning guvnor”, he said, clearly in a good mood and sat down by Harry’s right. Harry could see Eggsy’s worried glances at him and he wanted to disappear. As that wasn’t an option, they got on to the debriefing and Eggsy told them all about what had happened after the glasses had shattered. He had spent half the night playing card with Tilde and her sibling and then sleeping until it was time for him to leave to the airport.
“Simple enough, minimal paperwork, the Swedish authorities caught the miscreants and our man is alive and well”, Merlin said, “Maybe now our dear Arthur might get some sleep.” Merlin got up and left the room, leaving Eggsy and Harry alone.
“What’s wrong?” Eggsy asked as soon as the door shut, “Merlin said you’d taken some personal days and now you look like your dog's died, what’s wrong, Harry?” Harry couldn’t get a word past his lips. He hadn’t expected Eggsy to worry about him like this, not at all.
“I suppose, I’ve been worrying over you Mr. Unwin”, Harry said, gathering papers together and making a neat pile.
“What the fuck’s that supposed to mean?” Eggsy asked, “You look like shit and took personal days off because you were worried about me? You been watching the mission cam all of two days then?” Eggsy had clearly meant this as a joke, but the blush that was creeping up from under Harry’s collar said it all.
“You have, haven’t you?” Eggsy whispered, his voice suddenly raw. Harry didn’t know if to read betrayal or fondness from his voice and coughed out a yes. Eggsy swallowed and then Harry finally met his eyes. His mouth was stretched in smile and Eggsy could finally see the love in Harry’s eyes.
“You daft man”, Eggsy laughed fondly and leaned forward to steal a kiss.
“What about Princess Tilde?” Was Harry’s first instinct and Eggsy just laughed on.
“Nah, I ain’t one for them birds to be quite honest. They’re nice for a spot of flirt, but I’ve had my eye on someone for a while now, he just seems to be the most dense person I’ve ever met”, Eggsy smiled and leaned back in for a new kiss. Harry caught the kiss this time and moved a hand to grip him closer.
“You aren’t ever going on another solo mission”, Harry said in between kisses and Eggsy laughed.
“I’ll persuade you.”