This was written as part of the Thankful for Hartwin exchange for the lovely and wonderful AcedaVinci, because I adore her madly. I never thought I'd write an Arthur!Eggsy fic, but here it is!
Jumping right in as head of an international spy agency was fuckin' hard, Eggsy decided, one month, twenty-seven days and three hours into the job with no end in sight to the massive towers of paperwork he needed to go through. Merlin, Rox, and the rest of the agents were all busy dealing with the V-Day fallout, trying to institute interim governments and set to rights at least a fraction of the lives that had been negatively affected.
He'd been shoved rather unceremoniously into the position once Merlin realised that he didn't have the time to put the agents to a proper vote, but to Eggsy, all he knew was that he'd jumped right past being a provocateur and into being a paper pusher, and it was awful.
He read through another report of Gawain's, sighing as he made notes and corrected some errors—and he hadn't even started this month's budget.
There were times when Eggsy wished he'd drank the poison the previous Arthur had tried to give him.
There were other times, though, that Eggsy wished he could kill the bastard all over again, slower, for sending Harry to his death.
There hadn't even been time or agents enough to send anyone to retrieve Harry's body yet, though Merlin had promised he was searching John Doe databases for him, and the second he had a lead he'd sworn to tell Eggsy. Each day that passed, though, Eggsy lost a bit of hope. He'd begged his mother not to touch Mr. Pickle, and aside from putting a sheet over him so Daisy didn't cry, Eggsy had done his level best to keep the man's house the same as it always was, toys scattered across the floor notwithstanding.
"Fuck me," Eggsy groaned, tossing Gawain's report into the laughably short "out" pile, grabbing the next report from the pile, so intent on imagining the day the pile doesn't exist that he misses the sound of his door opening, the soft snick of a cane on the floor.
"If that's an offer, I'll take it into consideration."
Eggsy's head snapped up, and his eyes went wide when he realised what he was seeing. "H-Harry?" he gasped, when he was able to remember how to speak. "You're—" Here. Alive.
Harry smiled tiredly, making his way to the chair opposite Eggsy's at the massive desk. "I am," he replied, confirming all of Eggsy's unspoken questions.
"Yeah, but—how?"
"Valentine was a worse shot than you can possibly imagine. The recoil on the gun meant the bullet just grazed me." Harry reached up with a shaky hand to touch the bandage covering most of his head. "I don't know everything that happened, and once I came out of surgery you'd already saved the day."
"How d'you know 'bout that?"
Harry smiled a bit wider, a little playfully. "Merlin debriefed me on the flight. Surely you saw the forms for chartering a plane to the US?" Maybe he had. Eggsy mostly just signed things, trusting Merlin not to lead him astray. "I watched your feed," Harry continued. "You did well, Eggsy. Better than I'd ever expected."
Eggsy feels a surge of pride at that, but he ducks his head. "An' look what it got me—a desk job," he grumbled.
Harry was silent for a few minutes, long enough that Eggsy shifted uncomfortable under the weight of the man's stare. "I suppose you didn't need me to come sort out your mess," he said softly, maybe even a little defeated.
"Might not need you for that, but I need you anyway," Eggsy admitted, so low he wondered if Harry had heard him.
"Do you?"
Eggsy shrugged. "How come Merlin didn't tell me he found you?" he said instead of answering.
"I asked him not to," Harry said. "I wanted to … surprise you." He didn't look like that's what he'd wanted to say, but Eggsy wasn't sure what else Harry might've meant.
"You did," Eggsy said, then stood abruptly, rounding his desk, dropping to his knees beside the chair to wrap his arms tightly around Harry's middle, face buried against a solid and undoubtedly real chest. Harry was so much more important than Percival's report on the loss of the Cambodian PM's entire cabinet. "Don't fuckin' die on me again," he whispered. There was so much more to say than that, though, but Eggsy didn't know if he could handle the rejection, if Harry didn't want him the way Eggsy'd wanted him since practically the day they'd met.
"Oh, my boy," Harry sighed, hugging Eggsy closer to himself, fingers carding through his hair gently. "I never meant to leave you in the first place."
"Nobody means it. An' everyone still leaves. I can't—not fuckin' you, too," Eggsy muttered, words muffled by the man's chest. He finally looked up, though, feeling too exposed for admitting even that much and worried about what he'd see in Harry's eyes.
He hadn't expected to see such fondness watching him, or to feel a gentle hand pulling him up closer, for a soft kiss to brush his forehead. "I give you my word, Eggsy—I will always do everything in my power to return."
And Eggsy tilted his face up, barely brushing his lips against Harry's, smiling too stupidly wide for much more. "Give your word to help me with all this paperwork an' I'll promise anything you want," he replied, voice thick with emotion.
Harry barked out a laugh and nodded. "Of course, Eggsy," he said. "I can't very well go back into the field like this, after all." He tapped his cane against the floor—as if Eggsy hadn't been very aware of it from the moment he spotted Harry in his office.
"This make you me Guinivere?" Eggsy teased, hands snaking under Harry's suit coat and tugging up the back of his shirt. "Since I've got me own codename now—er, you ain't jus' teasin', are you?"
"I wouldn't," Harry murmured. "I wouldn't tease you like that." Eggsy knew that, he did—but he had so many conflicting emotions, what with Harry being there with him, holding him close. "I've had feelings for you for a long time."
"Those feelin's're mutual," Eggsy said. "Wanted to jump you about as soon as you busted me out of gaol time. Still wanna jump you, but now I want more, too."
"More?"
"Well … more after you take me over this big heavy desk," Eggsy amended. "Then I'll want sappy things like cuddlin' an' sleepin' together an' shit."
"I'm afraid we may have to amend the order of your demands," Harry conceded. "I'm still not back to 100%, and if you'd perhaps consider a liaison in a bed—"
"—we can go back to yours," Eggsy interrupted. "Only it's sort of mine, now. Moved in with Mum and Daisy, after … you know. We can move out, though. I've got enough saved for a new flat for us—them—if you want."
Harry laughed at Eggsy's eagerness, tilting his face for a gentle, teasing kiss, full of promise. "I'm sure we'll have plenty of time to speak about this at length," he promised. "For now, I think perhaps we should just go home and lie in bed together."
Eggsy grinned, nodding. "Think Merlin'll have my bollocks for not finishin' everythin' today?"
"Of course not. You're Arthur. You could pass this off to anyone if you wanted," Harry said, slowly getting to his feet and squeezing Eggsy's hand tightly. "I'll help you tomorrow," he promised, and together they left the office, heading for the train back to the shop.
"Y'know, always wondered how far we'd get, what with us havin' two hours alone on this thing …" Eggsy mused. The door shut to Harry's laughter.
Everything was going to work out. After all, this Guinivere wouldn't take up with Lancelot.
