Chapter Text
He'd had enough.
Dean had threatened him and his sister one too many times. With a rushed assurance from his mother that she could handle him, he took his baby sister and a small bag of supplies and ran.
Now Eggsy was here, the wind whipping his hair and throwing the rain into his face like daggers. He tightened his hold on Daisy, drawing the blanket further over her head to try and shelter her.
Through the rain, he saw the faint outline of a building. He stumbled towards it; the initial adrenaline had worn off and exhaustion was starting to take over. When he finally had the door within arm's reach, he could barely lift to knock - but he didn't need to, as the door fell open with a loud creak and closed behind him with a crash.
Too tired to question much, he walked in and all but collapsed on the stone floor. Daisy has fallen asleep herself and Eggsy leant back so he could sit cross-legged and settle her in his lap. He wrung his hands, trying to regain feeling in his fingers - he would have to try to find a fire. Looking around he could see no sign of an inhabitant. The castle looked lived in, sure, but the candle on the polished wooden table looked as if it had been put out many hours ago. He wondered for a moment if the owner was still asleep somehow, but he was proven wrong by the sudden sound of footsteps. He quickly straightened up, preparing to be unceremoniously shoved back out into the rain.
The man that appeared was completely bald, with spectacles and sharp features set into a kind expression. Nevertheless, Eggsy picked up Daisy again and got to his feet, wishing he'd just stop dripping all over the stranger's floor.
"Are you alright there, lad?" the stranger asked, his accent thick. Eggsy shook his head.
"I'm sorry, sir, but I really need some shelter. I have nowhere else to go. If you want I'll be gone in the morning, but could you please spare shelter for the night?" The stranger gave him a pitying look. A flare of indignance rose up, but Eggsy forced it down, reminding himself he probably looked very pitiable right then; some miserable wet thing with an infant in one arm and a measly bag of possessions in the other.
"There's only a couple of hours left of the night, lad. And I couldn't send you away with a child. Come on, I'll get a fire going and some dry clothes for you," the stranger said, starting to leave the hallway and beckoning Eggsy to over his shoulder. He couldn't help but grin in relief as he followed the stranger to a large living room. The room was decorated finely with beautiful patterns on the walls and engraving on the chairs and tables. By the time he'd taken his fill of the room, the stranger had got a blazing fire going.
"Wait here and I'll get you some clothes." Eggsy nodded as the stranger left. He walked over to the fire and sat cross-legged again, settling Daisy in his lap as she was before. He closed his eyes and let the warmth of the fire wash over him, almost relaxing before more footsteps interrupted him, someone different judging by the heavier sound of the steps. Could it be the head of the house? There was also a short clattering noise with step - was this person, if that, wearing armour?
His questions were answered when the door of the room opened to reveal no human but a scaled reptilian creature with a pointed snout. Eggsy froze in fear as it entered the room and the rest of its body came into view; it was around the size of a horse and carriage, though shorter due to its lizard-like sprawling stance. Its scales were a deep navy, with golden flecks where they reflected the firelight. What caught Eggsy's attention, however, were the wings folded against the creature's - dragon's? - side. his resulting sharp breath drew the attention of the dragon and it snapped its head to glare at him. A low rumble started from the dragon as it bared its teeth, showing off an array of fangs. It started to advance slowly and Eggsy discovered the clattering noise was that of the dragon's huge claws against the stone floor. He prepared to scrabble backwards when there came a shout from the doorway.
"Harry, leave them alone!" Both of them turned to see the man from before with a bundle of clothes in his hand.
"You know I allow no visitors, Merlin. They are trespassing," 'Harry' said, still growling. Eggsy marvelled for a moment at how the dragon could talk, but put it aside in favour of pleading his case.
"We seek only shelter, we will be gone as soon-"
"No!" the dragon roared, making Eggsy cover his ears and Merlin wince. 'Harry' started to say something else, but Daisy chose that time to wake up and wail at the top of her lungs.
"You...have an infant with you?" Harry asked, almost all malice gone from his voice and replaced with confusion. Eggsy didn't reply, too busy rocking Daisy and gently shushing her. Merlin spoke for him.
"Yes, he does. They can at least stay the night, can't they, Harry?" The dragon gave them both a long look and finally nodded. He turned to Eggsy.
"Do you have a family, a place to stay permanently, ah..."
"Eggsy, and not anymore, no." Harry paused in thought for another moment.
"Then you may stay until you find one. Just...don't cause trouble. Stay out of my way. Find a way to stop that crying," he said, and stalked out of the room, keeping his tail close as to not knock anything and dispel the haughtiness of his exit. Eggsy watched him go with held breath that he only let go when he heard the close of a door upstairs. Merlin had already sighed and started talking by then, commenting on how 'utterly rude' Harry was. He ushered Eggsy to stand up, and guided him through the rooms, muttering along the way.
"Terribly sorry, Eggsy, he's such a beast, you only have to be careful around because he owns the place but he'll sort himself out -" he paused for only a second as he opened the door to a bedroom bigger than Eggsy's sitting room - "and here you can change yourself and the child, then get some rest. This is your room for however long you're staying." He pointed a finger at the fireplace and a fire burst up, crackling lazily. Smiling at the mixture of shock and awe on Eggsy's face, he nodded once and left, pulling the doors shut behind him.
Once Eggsy had changed Daisy, rocked her until she fell asleep again and changed himself into the bedclothes Merlin had found - or perhaps conjured - he sat on the edge of the bed and looked around the room. It was certainly fancier than anything he'd expected to see in his life, and he wondered how on earth he could go from shivering and lost in the forest to warm and dry in a grand castle in the space of ten minutes. A castle with a dragon as its owner.
He looked at Daisy's sleeping form, curled up with a pillow the other side of her to make sure she didn't fall out in the night.
"What a situation we have here, Daisy. I guess we should do what we always do - make the most of it." He sighed, climbed into the soft, warm bed and stared at the intricate patterns on the ceiling for all of a minute before his eyes finally slid shut.