Chapter Text
Disclaimer: As always I own nothing but the original characters and the situations all characters end up in. Everything else belongs to someone else and that's the way of it.
Note: Each chapter will contain two meetings, good luck recognizing the Disney movie! Suggestions are welcome!
Snowstorms and Shipwrecks
Having lost his horse, and oh but he was going to have words with the beast when he got his hands on him, Sir Harry Hart trudged towards the structure in front of him with single-minded focus, his clothes frozen against his skin and providing him with zero warmth or protection from the unseasonably cold weather. He could only pray that the building in front of him could not only provide him with new clothes that were far more suited for the weather than his current ones, but that there would be someone in the simple structure who might have seen the queen earlier and could point him in her direction.
That he wanted to put said queen over his knee and give her the spanking she had coming to her was something Harry told himself he needed to get over. The woman was stuck in a loveless marriage with their king, who Harry had little liking for, so her habit of running away in a pout when King Arthur ignored her or took a new mistress was somewhat understandable. If terribly childish and annoying for whichever Kingsman got sent after her.
And in this instance he'd volunteered to go after her, Harry reminded himself with dark humor, since it had seemed like the only way to get away from Prince Hans. The visiting royal had apparently gotten it into his head that Harry would make an excellent bed partner during his stay and he hadn't been able to shake the two faced little prick without being rude enough to get him in trouble earlier. And Arthur just loved to find things to call him out about so when the order to find her had been raised he'd jumped at the chance even though he was in charge and could have stuck someone else with the task.
Seeing that there was a sign attached to the building Harry gave it two hard whacks, dislodging the snow enough to see that he'd arrived at 'Wandering Oaken Trading Post'. And it had a sauna.
Eyes lighting up a little Harry hurried to get the door open, moving as fast as he could as he tried not to show how cold and dishevelled he currently was as his attention moved to the side to take in the man sitting behind the counter.
When the large individual, who looked friendly enough but was obviously built like an ox, went into a spiel about his summer stock Harry did his best to keep his pleasant expression in place as he politely declined the homemade sunscreen and asked instead about where he might find clothes and winter boots.
"That would be in our winter department."
Staring in the direction the man motioned to Harry winced a little, seeing the very limited selection he was going to have to choose from. But desperate times called for desperate measures, and walking over Harry selected what he hoped would fit him decently enough before walking back towards the counter, inquiring as to whether a woman, one who looked like the queen, perhaps, had passed through recently.
"Only one crazy enough to be out in this storm is you, Sir."
But even as the man said it the bell on the door sounded, drawing both their attention to the figure who'd just staggered into the room, causing the trading post's owner to tack on that he'd meant Harry and this fellow.
The young man was at least dressed for the weather, wearing heavy winter gear and a red bandana over the lower half of his face which was a good thing since he was covered in ice and snow, to the point where not even his hair color was obvious right away.
Beautiful green eyes though, Harry noted as the shop owner tried to sell his summer stock again without any luck. Stunning eyes really, especially when they were fired up with anger and purpose as the younger man march over to him, glaring at him for several heartbeats before saying the words 'carrots' and 'behind you' while trying to look around Harry.
Taking that to be the boy's rude way of asking him to move, Harry took a step to the side and watched the boy retrieve the root vegetables, tossing them on the counter beside Harry's own purchases before stomping over in the direction of the winter stock without so much as a thank you.
"A real howler in July. Wherever could it be coming from?"
"The North Mountain."
Repeating the boy's words, it was good to know in case that was the direction he would be needing to head in, Harry stepped aside when the boy came back with more things, willing to let him go first since it gave him an extra couple of minutes to warm up.
"That will be forty."
"Forty? No, ten."
Listening to them argue Harry had to wince on the boy's behalf when, in response to the trader's comment about the problem of supply and demand, the boy shot back that he sold ice for a living at the moment.
Ouch.
And then to just make matters worse the boy turned his obvious frustration with his circumstances towards the shop keeper, who had obviously inflated his prices to take advantage of the odd weather they were having. The boy apparently hadn't noticed the size of the man he was dealing with, and Harry had barely enough time to open his mouth before the trader was around the counter and got a grip on the boy that made it clear he meant business.
In short order said shop owner had thrown the boy out the front door and then offered him fish heads in a jar for disturbance.
"Ah no, thank you."
"Alright then, let's ring in your purchase." Looking Harry's items over the trader gave him a price, which was also over double its actual value. Harry wasn't about to argue with him though, even though he could have taken the minor giant down regardless of their difference in size. But everyone had to make a living, and he was in a hurry besides.
Thinking again of the boy Harry asked the man to include the boy's items as well, paying the amount when he got his new total without a wince. His request for a place to change was granted happily, and once he'd done so Harry headed out in his new clothes and with the items he'd purchased under one arm.
It wasn't hard to follow the boy's tracks to the barn, and reaching the door Harry found himself pausing at the sound of an instrument being strummed. The song that followed was one that made his lips twitch in amusement, especially when the boy pretended to be the reindeer Harry assumed the boy used to pull his sleigh which was still parked outside.
But since he was pressed for time Harry opened the door to the barn after the song's second verse, blinking in surprise as he got a look at the boy currently stretched out on the straw in front of him beside the reindeer he'd been singing about. He'd thought the eyes were lovely, but the boy himself was gorgeous from his light brown hair to his trim, muscled body, which was now on display. Pity he was on a mission, Harry thought as he allowed himself one long, appreciative look before he threw the carrots at the boy, followed by the rest of his supplies.
"Did you see a well dressed woman on your journey here?"
"What ya givin me these for?"
Wincing at both the accent and the mangling of the words, Harry didn't bother to answer that question, instead repeating his own again.
For several moments the boy just looked at him, taking his measure before jerking his chin in a yes motion, setting his lute aside to give him his full attention. "You's a Kingsman, ain'tcha? If ya lookin for our daft queen she's at the inn bout half an hour up the mountain if ya go straight from here. Drunk off her arse she was, but with enough money ta get away with it. They didn't have a room for the likes of me, even in their stable, so I came this way."
"Ah. Thank you for the information."
A pause. "Thanks for the supplies."
"You're welcome. I hope the rest of your week goes better."
The smirk that crossed the boy's face as he thanked him shouldn't have struck Harry as so appealing, and exasperated with himself and the fact that he found himself loathed to go and do his duty Harry came to the conclusion that he better beat a hasty retreat before he did something foolish like ask where he might find the boy at a later date so that they might get better acquainted.
So with one last smile Harry headed out, aware that the boy's eyes followed him until the door was shut behind him.
Oh well, back to work as per usual.
)
Drifting with the movements of the sea Eggsy stared blindly up into the sky, not even really seeing it as he continued to be lost in his thoughts. It had been a bad couple of weeks and about the only good part of it was that the weather was back to normal, even if he hadn't gotten his ice job back. The superstitious bastard he'd worked for had decided he was bad luck and that had been that, no surprise. And getting that job had been a bitch in the first place, his reputation the sort that reputable businessmen wanted nothing more than to stay clear of him. Even the ones who genuinely believed he'd turned himself around for the most part wanted nothing to do with him just cause of his stepfather. Everyone knew the bastard in these parts, it seemed.
Features pinching, thoughts of Dean tended to do that to his face, Eggsy got a mouthful of sea water for it which had him sputtering and shifting to tread water, which led him to realize three things he'd failed to notice in the past half an hour or so.
The first that he was dangerously far away from shore, shit, and the second was that he was also close to a nearby boat, which was moored at the moment which made no sense to Eggsy once he checked out the ship's flags. It was one of theirs, why wasn't it in the harbor?' Then the fireworks started going off into the just dark enough sky, which was the third thing Eggsy had somehow managed to miss.
Curiosity getting the best of him, which it usually did, Eggsy swam over cautiously, keeping an eye out for anyone that might spot him and decide to throw a harpoon or something in his direction. Now that would be a fun way to die just cause he had more curiosity than most cats. But no, thankfully, he got to his destination easily enough, and putting his somewhat legendary climbing skills to good use Eggsy scaled the side of the boat and managed to maneuver himself to a spot where he could see onto the main deck.
Thanks to the lanterns and the bright light provided by the moon Eggsy could see that a party of some sort was going on, with music playing and a lot of fancy dressed seamen dancing around to it while two well-dressed blokes-oh. The old man wasn't someone Eggsy recognized, but the second was the bloke from that trading post. The posh Kingsman who'd bought his supplies for him and handed them over even before asking him bout the queen.
Eyes focusing solely on the Kingsman now Eggsy admired the way the man's breeches hugged those muscled thighs of his, and the predatory elegance of the way the man moved about as he talked to the other bloke. Probably about his father's age, had he lived, Eggsy guessed, but this one was fitter than most blokes his own age and a great deal sexier on top of that. Plus he'd always had a problem keepin his hands to himself when it came to men who were so perfect in their appearance. Made him want to mush them up good and proper every time.
But since he couldn't just haul himself up and join the party, he was only wearing cut offs as it was, Eggsy reluctantly told himself that he needed to get his ass in gear and start heading for land before he got himself eaten by sharks or run over by the ship he was clinging to.
So with one last admiring look at the Kingsman Eggsy forced himself to get back into the water, beginning his swim back towards land when the boom of explosions and the shouting of scared men stopped him in mid stroke, so that he swung around in time to see that the fucking ship was on fire.
Moving on pure instinct Eggsy started swimming back, unable to just turn his back on what was happening even though he really regretted the decision when the loudest explosion yet went off, near to deafening him in the process. And then, while his ears rang like church bells, Eggsy saw him, his posh bloke clinging to a piece of the ship seconds before the man slid off and into the water, disappearing into it with a sense of finality that said he wasn't coming back up under his own steam.
"FUCK!"
Swimming over as quick as he could Eggsy dived under and started swimming after his target, grateful for the ablaze ship above them cause it provided just enough light that he could spot the body drifting down, down, down into the darkness. And grabbing the man under his arms soon as he'd reached him Eggsy started swimming hard towards the surface, his legs moving overtime and screaming for it as he fought their way up with all the strength he had in him.
Gasping like a starving man soon as he broke the surface, Eggsy gulped the fresh air down fast as he could and then getting as good a grip on the man he had ahold of as he could Eggsy started swimming for shore, ignoring everything else because if anyone else needed help he wasn't in no condition to give it. Plus knowing his luck his uninvited presence would be blamed somehow for the ship blowing up-that was the story of his life after all-so searching for a lifeboat wasn't in his best interest neither. Saving the bloke he had was his good deed for the week, and determined to get them both to shore Eggsy concentrated solely on that.
By the time they reached shore Eggsy had to drag both their arses across the sand until they were far enough away from the water that it wasn't lapping at them. And while he wasn't a seafaring man by any means Eggsy knew enough to go to work getting the water out of the other man's lungs, breathing into the cool, unresponsive mouth in between until his 'damsel' in distress coughed up the water finally, though the man's eyes barely fluttered near as Eggsy could tell before they shut again, the man slipping back into unconsciousness.
Good enough, Eggsy figured, as he flopped down beside his passed out swimming partner, just lying there for several minutes on his back before he had enough energy to roll onto his side, thinking to check that the man was still with him and didn't have an injuries he might have missed from the explosion and such.
Still a good pulse, thank God, and when Eggsy ran his hands through the still thick brown hair he found the large goose egg easily enough, which made him laugh in exhausted hilarity because of his own name, or at least the one he chose to go by since who in their right mind wanted to go by Gary, honestly?
"You'll be alright, I'm thinking. Though you're a right lucky bastard that I was there. Didn't see none of them others comin to save your fine arse any time soon. Which is practically sacrilegious ya know, seein as it's so fine."
Eggsy liked the feel of the man's hair as he carded his fingers through it, it was so soft and seemed to cling to his fingers. And wondering if on some level the man was aware of him Eggsy found himself singing an old love song about wishing to be with one's love, keeping his voice just loud enough for both their ears in the hopes of continuing to lull the man into unconsciousness, so that he could leave the bloke once he was sure he'd be up and about soon enough without his help.
The song interrupted by the sound of a dog barking, Eggsy sat up and looked in that direction, seeing a tall figure coming towards them with a large dog running full speed in his direction.
"Ah hell."
As if in agreement the man lying beside him groaned, eyelashes fluttering again only this time they opened wide, trying to focus on Eggsy.
Quickly getting to his feet, he wasn't going to stick around now, Eggsy turned and started running in the opposite direction, praying that whoever was coming with the dog would stop to make sure the other man was okay before possibly coming after Eggsy, who most definitely did not want to be caught.
Running on sand was always a workout, especially when one was exhausted to begin with, but Eggsy found the energy and the strength to keep going, stopping only when he was safely hidden behind some rocks where he could see the other men without being seen easily himself.
His posh Kingsman was standing on his own two feet with the support of the other now, and that made Eggsy smile even as he mentally rolled his eyes at himself for being so happy about that when the man was nothing to him but someone who'd done him a bit of kindness out of the blue.
Wasn't like they were likely to ever cross paths again, Eggsy reminded himself. But oh well, he was glad the man wasn't dead.