Chapter Text
Being an agent, or a spy, or just a guy who loved suits – those things never mattered to Eggsy that much. Being a Kingsman had its perks, had its downfalls and it definitely meant being bored when you never expected it and getting pumped up when you thought you would normally fall asleep. The missions varied, the feedbacks as well. With Roxy it was a little like a hunt for better results, who looked more chic, who got better points, to whom Merlin said good job in his own, snarky way, and mostly, who got Harry to smile. Yes, well, Eggsy might had been cheating a little with that, sending Harry messages and keeping in touch as much as he could, while Roxy saw him only occasionally when Harry stopped by in the headquarters, still in re-convalescence after the head trauma.
The whole thing with Harry getting shot and actually surviving was something Eggsy never talked about. He couldn’t bring it up. He didn’t want to. When he saw Harry after in the hospital, unconscious and so, so still and quiet, his rage was so big he would be able to go back to Valentine’s body, bring him to life and kill him again and again and again. He was raging, he was hysterical, he had to leave the room on a verge of breaking down, and then spent the whole day in a gym, beating up the invisible Valentine in need to spill his guts for doing this to Harry.
When Harry woke up, and when it felt like deja vue after the thing in the university, all Eggsy could do was to smile and smile and smile. He smiled, he touched him, he had to make sure he was there, but act like it wasn’t desperate or needy, and Harry seemed like he was glad to see him, in his old, mannered self. It made Eggsy wonder how much can a person change after going through this, almost twice now. Tasting the death so closely, so terrifyingly – it must have been scary. But he never really knew what Harry thought, what was the act and what he really meant.
But after all that, Harry was back, even though not really available for hardcore missions, acting more like… an authority, a guide. Roxy really respected him, Eggsy knew. She was all proper around him, much more so than around Merlin, and Eggsy sometimes felt lame for being so dorky when he was with Harry as well.
Was he a disappointment? He wasn’t this tight up, super etiquette-holding guy, was he. He always talked, he made fun, he listened to funky music, he wore colourful outfits – it definitely wasn’t that Harry thought he would be, right? Did he mind? Or was he already above all this?
How Harry’s mind worked… that was a mystery.
Just like today. Tight lipped and sitting straight and all serious, Eggsy found himself staring, mapping his face, searching for clues, noting the small quirks of eyebrows when something didn’t seem nice to him, the silver in his hair, the unhappy curve of his mouth, until suddenly he was in motion again, his shoulders up, his hand holding the pen tightly on a verge of breaking and his voice was suddenly saying Eggsy’s name and…
What?
“-unsupervised?!”
“Harry, they are not amateurs,” Merlin opposed, while Roxy seemed all pale and quiet. There was something that escaped his attention and the mood seemed tense that Eggsy found it hard to breathe.
“It’s a delicate mission, and you know it,” Harry shot back, his voice a dangerous rumble, and Eggsy knew it was really pissing him off, because he was never this quiet, this passively aggressive when he didn’t feel like he have to. “Sending a new member is risky enough, but sending two of them is madness!”
“You just don’t want to leave Eggsy out of your sight,” Merlin uttered and it felt like it was meant to be only to him, maybe in his mind and not out loud, and it made Harry still for a second, eyes piercing and narrowed, and Eggsy felt like shrining somewhere under the table and staying there.
“I’m still his mentor,” Harry bit out after a moment. “I want him supervised.”
“Be my guest,” Merlin replied calmly, but his voice had the edge in it Eggsy already knew very well. The I’ll bloody kick you if you try to antagonize more tone, and Harry definitely heard it too, how could he not. “Just note this – two young people would have less trouble to fall in than an old grump with a twink.”
“A twink…?” Eggsy let out, staring at Merlin in disbelief, because what? He saw Roxy smirking at him like she won an award and he wondered if she really did, since she wasn’t called a twink like in a cheap porn movie.
“Or if you think a young lady would look better, to be called a gold digger maybe?” Merlin continued, not reacting to Eggsy’s confusion, and Harry seemed exasperated already.
“We have younger agents, surely-,”
“Oh, but you got all offended of being his mentor,” Merlin interrupted him sternly. “Surely you wouldn’t like somebody else spoiling him there, would you.”
“What are you even talking about?” Eggsy couldn’t stop himself, the whole exchange reminded him of a battlefield and he had been used like a hostage. Roxy rolled her eyes, definitely thinking he was hopeless for sitting here and not knowing, and no, he wasn’t, he was just busy thinking about important things, thank you very much.
“The mission,” Merlin sent him a glance. “Of course.”
“Of course,” he repeated, frowning to himself, and caught how Harry looked at him as well, even though only briefly. He seemed agitated, like a cat that just spotted a dog in front of it, and Eggsy felt like asking what exactly the mission entailed would make him the dog, so he remained quiet and sulking, until his phone lit up with a text from Roxy.
The girl was still sitting there with focused expression like she just didn’t send anything, and he had to admit she was pretty good at pretending. He smiled at her direction anyway, grateful, and the smile disappeared right the moment he opened the message and read: “Loser.”
He wanted to reply with something biting, but then noticed the text continued, so he postponed his terrible revenge and read on, giving her an evil glare instead, earning a smirk in return.
There is a kidnapping going on, it’s especially aimed at pairs. They kidnap them and a month later they usually find them dead. We probably found the source, but exposing it is tricky. They want to send two of us to play a couple, find the culprit, break it down.
Eggsy blinked, reading through it again, and then repeated the conversation Harry and Merlin just had. So… pretending to be a couple. With Harry being unhappy with sending two newbies – well, yeah, understandable, taking the current events – but then Merlin suggesting Harry to go personally? He was still healing, he couldn’t…
“Harry is still healing up,” he decided to spoke up over another argument Merlin was just having with the older man, and it shut them up. “You can’t expect him to go in this state.”
“He’s bored to death,” Merlin snorted, giving his colleague a weird look. “This mission is nothing action-preferred. It’s all about acting. He’s good at it. Hell, he was lying through his teeth more times than you pulled on your pants, he needs it.”
“That doesn’t mean he should go,” Eggsy opposed, putting his phone to the side. “You never know what can happen there, he could get hurt again and-,”
“Eggsy,” Harry’s voice stopped his ramble like a guillotine, leaving him gaping and trying to find the best way to express the fear of another bloodshed, another pain it would cause this man, because it was enough, he got hurt enough, he suffered enough for this bloody organization.
“You are not scared?” he just voiced out weakly and there was a sudden understanding in Harry’s brown eyes, because his face softened, the agitated lines smoothing out, his mouth curling up a little.
“Maybe it’s exactly what I need not to be?” he offered and there was something soothing in his voice, something gentle that made Eggsy breathe a little easier and believe.
“If something happens, I will make sure he’ll make it out okay,” Roxy piped and it was comforting, really, very nice of her, but no.
“I will go,” he said resolutely, not looking away from Harry who seemed rather surprised, staring at him with a silent question in his eyes. “I will make sure it would be alright.”
“But Eggsy-,”
“He’s my mentor, after all,” he refused her complains resolutely and it made Harry chuckle, his face finally relaxing enough that Eggsy would believe him. “Or do you have a problem with that?”
“The profile is for uh…” she trailed off, looking at Merlin for support, but the Quartermaster seemed really amused by the situation, so he only grinned at her and remained quiet, earning a frown from her pretty face.
“Is?”
“For heterosexual couples,” Harry finished it for her easily, nodding to her. “There wasn’t a record for this particular culprit focusing at homosexual couples at all.”
“Well, maybe he just didn’t see a couple interesting enough,” Eggsy shrugged, sounding stupid even to his own ears, but really, Harry with Roxy? No, just no. Of course she was great and helpful and would lend a hand in anything if he needed, but Eggsy felt it was his responsibility, his duty. Not to mention he wanted to be helpful, at least at some way, to Harry. He was just taking, now it was time to give as well.
“I’m sure your apparent age difference will do the trick,” Merlin commented dryly and Eggsy had to laugh, because – yeah, of course, they were pretty much apart, but hey, it wasn’t unheard of, right? It wasn’t like they had to marry or anything. Just play along, pretend, act like he knew the man perfectly.
And he knew Harry just enough to pull this off like a pro.
Hopefully.
“Eggsy, I really think it would be better if I-,”
“Nope,” he stopped her again, standing up from the long table and smoothing down his jacket. “What’s his favourite colour?”
“I, uh-,”
“What about food?” he continued, her confused expression speaking volumes. “The breed of his dog?”
“Fine,” she sighed, rolling her eyes. “You won. But I could learn those things too, you know.”
“I’m sure,” he winked at her and returned his focus back at Harry. “So? What do you say, darling?”
“I’m sure it’s going to be a disaster,” Harry deadpanned, standing up as well, swiftly buttoning up his jacket and then reaching for his umbrella. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have other matters to attend to. Let’s speak of details this evening, if you are willing.”
“Oh I’m willing, alright,” Eggsy pulled his most charming smile and wasn’t even surprised when Harry huffed a little and rather stayed quiet on his way out.
“I can’t wait to see that,” Merlin literally giggled and at that moment Eggsy wondered if he really did the right thing.
He was going to play a lover to Harry fucking Hart.