Eggsy knew by noon that something was not quite right with Harry.
He'd gotten up and started his morning routine alone, something that, since Eggsy moved in, was uncommon, but not unspeakable. Eggsy interrupted him during his shave to take a shower, and noticed that his eyes seemed to lack any luster they'd had the previous night. Usually Eggsy would give him a quick kiss or hug him around his waist, but something about Harry's demeanor gave him a warning of 'do not touch'. Even as he got undressed, Harry remained intensely focused on his shave. "Mornin', Harry," he greeted as he entered the shower.
"Good morning," Harry replied flatly. He laid down his straight razor on the edge of the sink and inspected his work, tilting his chin up, left, and right. He applied his aftershave with a few pats of his cheeks, and just before Eggsy turned on the water, he sighed deeply and left the room.
When Eggsy got dressed into his casual jeans and a polo, he went out for breakfast and tea to find that Harry had already made his own cup and was reading the morning paper, one leg crossed over the other in his armchair. If he didn't look so absent, Eggsy thought the whole thing was rather picturesque. Even when he was off, Harry Hart was always, first and foremost, a gentleman.
He didn't look up with Eggsy sat across from him on the loveseat with his coffee and breakfast. JB came over and sat down next to him at his feet, and looked up at him expectantly for scraps and crumbs. The clock on the mantle tick-tocked rhythmically through the silence between the two men. It was peaceful for Eggsy, the kind of morning he never really knew prior to knowing Harry. His mornings were filled with television as background noise, clanging of pots and pans, shouting between Dean and his mum, Daisy crying, and yelling from outside. Normally, Eggsy would be thankful for the quiet, but that morning it felt heavy and uncomfortable.
"You got any plans for today?" he asked between a sip of coffee and a bite of biscuit.
"I will be spending the day with Merlin," he said, not lowering his paper. Eggsy felt like there was more to the statement, but nothing ever followed. He had a feeling that the man did not really want to press on, from the minimal communication initiated. Harry had become much less private since he and Eggsy became involved, but that did not mean that he still had secrets to remain hidden from the younger man.
At twelve noon by the second, a knock came to the door and Harry was already halfway to answering it by the time it came. Eggsy leaned back in his seat and saw Merlin at the doorway. The two older men exchanged words quietly between themselves before they left without a word to Eggsy, which really sealed the deal on suspiciousness since Merlin always greeted with an accented "Hello Eggseh," when they were in the same general space. He pulled out his phone and texted Roxy.
E: Merlin and Harry are sneaking about and I don't know what they're up to. I don't like it.
R: He has been acting a bit strange lately. Want to grab lunch?
Thirty minutes later Eggsy's cab rolled up to a nicer pub in downtown London. Roxy had already claimed a table for the two of them and hugged him when he arrived. "I already ordered you a Guinness," she said as they sat back down.
"Rox you're aces." He immediately took a sip when he situated himself in the chair. They ordered and exchanged a bit of small talk about life itself, Roxy's most recent love affair other than her work, her new flat and how her poodle Margaret was adjusting to it. They beat around the bush until their sandwiches came and Eggsy turned the conversation around.
"So you said Merlin has been acting strange?" he asked as he took a bite.
"Yeah, the last few days before work he's gotten quiet and very—he's gotten some tunnel vision. All about the mission, more than usual."
"You think they're up to somethin' they shouldn't be?" He didn't want to admit that Harry could go rogue, especially if Merlin was also involved. They were still rebuilding after V-Day and Arthur's betrayal, and neither of them wanted to find replacements for the two next best agents in the UK branch.
"I don't think so. If they wanted to be sneaky about something, they'd be sure that we were completely unaware. They've been in this business longer than we've been alive, Eggsy. They'd know how not to leave a trail." She took a sip of her raspberry beer and looked back at him. "My theory, is that something happened that they aren't telling us about. Someone died or something went wrong. But it doesn't seem urgent." Eggsy dipped some chips into the leftover sauce from his sandwich and started stirring ideas around in his own head. "But then again, Harry and Merlin are practically psychically linked, so one of them could be having an off day and the other is practically obligated to join them. I'm going to try not to speculate too much about our bosses."
"I'll ask Harry tonight if he seems a little more keen on talkin'. I swear you'd think I was just a one night shag with how he was actin' this morning." Roxy smiled and finished her beer.
"He's not invincible, you know that. He can pull out of things physically but no man can see as much as he and Merlin without turning out a bit wonky every once and a while. It's just the nature of what we do." Eggsy followed her example and finished his Guinness with a few burning gulps.
"Rox, you wanna pop over fer a bit?" He slipped some bills onto the receipt and told the server to keep the change. "I'm still not used to being in that flat alone." Roxy nodded in the affirmative, picked up her purse, and hailed a cab.
Roxy was helping Eggsy make dinner when Merlin and Harry finally returned, chatting away as if they hadn't left in secrecy hours before. "Ah, Eggsy, Lancelot," Merlin greeted as he walked into the main room. Eggsy immediately looked away from the two of them, feeling almost betrayed. He focused as intently on his chicken as Harry had on his morning shave.
"You two hungry? We made enough in case you came back."
"Famished, thank you Roxy." Harry went over to Eggsy and put a hand lightly on his hip before he kissed his cheek. Eggsy put his spatula to the side and jumped away as if spooked.
"Alright, I'm sorry, I wanted to be tactful and all that but I can't. It's been bothering me all damn day." Harry's expression said that he already knew what Eggsy was talking about. "You've been acting off and you expect to just come in here and act like nothing has been going on. It's great that you're obviously feeling better but what the hell, bruv?" He didn't appreciate the tone he was using against Harry. He could see that he was, not ashamed, but aware. Roxy stood still in the corner and looked between the three men all crowded into the kitchen. "I just—I don't appreciate not knowing."
Harry looked toward Merlin, who wore a similar expression of defeat and conflict. "Harry, they should know. It's part of their job." Roxy and Eggsy exchanged a look, and the boy relaxed his tensed stance.
"After dinner," Harry said, with finality. Eggsy nodded in understanding, and he and Roxy went back to their cooking with a breath of relief.
The meal was eaten in mostly silence, and Eggsy really just wanted it to be over. He was never one to be especially patient with things like this. It reminded him of when he had hardly turned twenty and his mum had beat around the issue that she was pregnant with Dean's baby. When the dishes were cleaned and tea was served, the four of them gathered in the reading room. Harry went to a shelf and withdrew an album. Roxy and Eggsy sat on either side of him like children. Harry opened the cover and Eggsy let out a laugh after the realization set in.
"Hey lookit that. It's Merlin with hair!" he pointed. Roxy let a giggle escape and saw Merlin roll his eyes. They looked down at the black and white photographs, featuring a group of people that included a young Merlin and a young Harry, free of wrinkles and stress lines. "What's this from, Harry?"
"This, is from when I had just joined Kingsman. Hard to believe they allowed us to keep the photos."
"That's because they don't know about the photos," Merlin interjected. Eggsy turned the page and drank in the youth of Harry. He had to be even younger than him, but not by much. Enough to finish school and a few years in the service. The inscription in the corner dated the album from 1983. He turned the page again and saw Harry in the open field behind the Kingsman headquarters aiming what looked like a rifle but on further inspection revealed an umbrella.
"Testing the new technology," Harry explained with a hint of a smile. "Back then it was not nearly as complex. You couldn't see what you were shooting from behind the umbrella and the only defense was a stun pellet. The bulletproof technology was still being refined." He turned the page and revealed Harry beneath a small explosion. "The lighter hand grenade. You see Eggsy, some things are better the old way." The next page was back to more personal shots, and Eggsy could feel the atmosphere change in the room.
"Who's that?" Roxy asked. She was referring to the first girl she'd seen in the album. She looked older compared to Merlin and Harry in the photos, with short blond hair and a smile that made Eggsy's heart melt because she looked so happy. On the next page was a photo of her jumping onto Merlin's back, followed by a frontward shot of her throwing a smile with him holding her up.
"That, Roxy, is Elaine. Otherwise known as Guinevere." Harry explained.
"A female Kingsman?" she asked in surprise.
"The first. She was ahead of her time. She was also Merlin's older sister." Eggsy turned toward Merlin to gauge his reaction and then clung to one short word. Was. "She had her share of field work, but spent most of her time doing work comparable to what Merlin does now. A sort of quartermaster if you will."
"She was the one that developed the bare bones of most of the weapons that Kingsman still uses today," Merlin explained as Roxy turned page after page of photos of gadgets and weapons. "She'd gotten honors in school for engineering at Oxford, something unheard of for women at the time. Her marks were higher than mine, even." He pushed up his glasses but he didn't show signs of embarrassment of being outshined academically by his sister. "Kingsman was her life. She worked like she had something to prove but never saw herself as inferior."
Eggsy turned the page once more and the photos showed Merlin and Elaine relaxing in the lounge of the manor. She was certainly an elegant individual, very Princess Diana. Another photo showed her resting her head on top of Harry's playfully. It was strange to see Harry with people that Eggsy had never met. A bygone era. The next page started to put things together. The pictures started to become more candid and almost intimate. A photo of Elaine reclining into Harry's lap. Sharing an ice cream cone in the park. Elaine teaching a very nervous Harry how to use a straight razor. Harry resting his head on her shoulder with his eyes closed in a picture that might as well have been staged, but Eggsy could tell that it was genuine feeling. When he turned the page again, it all came together.
"Harry, you married Elaine?" There was no denying it. She was in a white dress with far too big of sleeves and a veil so vintage it looked almost like a costume in Eggsy's eyes. By her side, Harry in a woefully well-tailored tuxedo with tailed and a top hat under the arm that wasn't linked with hers.
"I was twenty-four years old. It was a whirlwind of a relationship. From meeting to marriage within 13 months."
"Aw Jesus, you didn't knock her up, did you?" Eggsy asked with wide, worried eyes.
"Oh heavens no. It just felt right." The wedding invitation pressed into the album showed the date of April 1984. It wasn't his wedding anniversary that had him down." Eggsy took a deep breath and let the question fall out.
"Harry, what happened to Elaine?" Harry closed the album and returned it to the shelf. Merlin sat up straighter in his armchair.
"She was killed, Eggsy." He was almost surprised by Harry's bluntness. "The wrong people discovered that she was the mastermind behind Kingsman technology and tried to exploit her to gain information. At first it was nothing she could not handle on her own, but in the end she was kidnapped and tortured." Harry removed his glasses, placed them on the table, and massaged his forehead. "I was part of the reconnaissance. Needless to say that we were too late. They'd tried everything short putting her into any acute danger and her resilience drove them to do just that." He took a deep breath, and Merlin continued.
"Kingsman retrieved her body from an Underground tunnel. She had been tied to the tracks. They arrived less than 100 second after the train passed." Roxy and Eggsy looked at each other as if beginning to understand. "She had implanted a prototype recording device under her skin, found on autopsy. It caught the audio of her interrogation." Merlin pulled his miniature tablet from his coat pocket and flicked through a couple files until he reached the right one. He forwarded the audio to the exact right place, as if he'd played it a million times before.
"This knife can save your life." In the background, the sound of a train horn. In the immediate area, the sounds of struggling and screaming. "My employer has two questions for you, Elaine. What the fuck is Kingsman? And where are you designs?" Eggsy's heart caught in his throat.
"I don't know! I don't know! Let me go!"
"Oh Elaine…you and I both know that's a bullshit answer!"
"It's not, I swear to god, just cut the ropes, please!" Her breathing became frantic and the train grew louder.
"Tell me, Elaine, is Kingsman worth dying for?" The train sounded as if it was right on top of her. There was a slight pause and a deep breath in.
"GOD YE—," The audio cut out. The silence in the room was tangible. Eggsy swallowed harshly, and Roxy took a shaky breath. Harry returned his glasses to his face, got up, and left the room. Merlin turned off his tablet and looked at the two new recruits. Eggsy rose from his place.
"I…better go check on him." He walked up the stairs to their shared bedroom, where he saw Harry sitting on the edge of the bed. "I'm sorry I made you talk about that."
"In all honesty, Eggsy, I should have told you sooner. It's a big part of my life to just cover it up." Eggsy sat down next to him and Harry reached out for his hand. "It meant that for a long time, I didn't get involved. I believed that in Kingsman, if you had something to lose, then it would be taken. It's just the nature of what we do." He breathed out deeply. "And then you came along. Smart, sharp as a tack, witty, fiercely loyal. You started out as an attempt to repay your father for what he did for me, but what you turned into was another chance to make something of the life I was given. For once, when something was lost, another was gained."
Eggsy sat in silence for a moment, stroking the top of Harry's hand with his thumb. Kingsman had been taking things from him since before he knew of its existence: his father, his mother's sanity, his chance at a good childhood. He even thought he'd lost Harry for a bit. But he was given that second chance. He wanted to make it good.
"Harry, I'm never going to be Elaine. You can't replace that. But damn if I don't try to give you the best that you deserve. We can't say that we'll always be there. That's a promise I can't keep, but you know, I gotcha when I am here." Harry nodded and a smile came across his face. "She sounds like a nice lady. I think she'd be proud of what you're doing, cheesy as that is."
"I think she'd be glad that Merlin hasn't driven her position to shame." Eggsy felt Harry's posture relax and he rested his head on the boy's shoulder. Eggsy nuzzled his nose into his hair.
"You gonna be a'ight, Harry?" He nodded against his shoulder. He rose from the bed and took Eggsy's hand to take him back downstairs. He went to his mini bar cart, grabbed four glasses, and poured a bit of brandy into each. Roxy and Merlin were still sitting downstairs, and Harry passed them each a glass.
"A toast, to a true Kingsman. To Guinevere," Harry announced, raising his glass.
"To Guinevere."
The morning after, Eggsy awoke and went down to see Harry already preparing tea and breakfast. "Be done in a minute. Go ahead and have a seat." Eggsy sat down in the sitting room and noticed immediately a change in décor. A photo had been removed from the album, put in a frame and set on the table. It was a close up of Harry, smiling over his shoulder at Elaine, who had her arms wrapped around his torso from behind. She smiled up at him with the same sincerity.
"I got him, Elaine," he muttered quietly to himself. Harry joined him in the opposite armchair, handed him his tea and they sipped together in a warm and welcoming piece.