A/N Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy fans will know what I'm talking about. If you haven't seen that film, go check it out!
Never Doubt
When they tell him he has a house, he doesn't think it will be his house. Of course, the property hadn't really been his, and it isn't really Eggsy's, it belongs to the Kingsmen. Still.
It's Harry's house.
Most of the furniture stays, but they give him a catalog for picking new stuff. He figures he'll save it for his mum, let her do the decorating. Interior design was never really something Eggsy paid a lot of attention to, though he could tell Harry had. What with art on nearly every wall, and coordinated rugs and draperies.
He walks through the halls while they seal things up, not sure how much of it was his mentor's and how much of it was Kingsmen's, and it probably doesn't really matter, because it's all going into a vault somewhere. Still.
It's Harry's house, shouldn't it be full of his things?
Eggsy heads into the office, determined to at least make sure the papers that had been collected and tacked to the walls are rescued. It's a silly timeline that would make any sane man appear a serial killer, but Eggsy needs to have them. The walls are bare when he enters, and for a moment he despairs, before he notices the stack on the desk. Harry's drawers had been emptied, and various folders and knickknacks were strewn on the surface alongside the front pages.
He reaches for them as he approaches, as if afraid they would vanish without his touch. His fingers don't make it to bold headlines and outrageous images though, distracted by an old Polaroid.
The casual clothes and unkempt hair are so startling that he almost believes the image to be a fake. Yet when he allows himself a moment to really look, to bring it closer to his eyes, he knows it's Harry. Harry, with such a grin on his face that Eggsy wishes he had a chance to see it in person, because it surely lit up those around him. He has his arm around Merlin, who in turn has an arm around him. Except Merlin isn't looking towards the cameraman, he's looking at Harry.
And really, the hair on his head was the most shocking thing about the picture, because Eggsy knows that look. He can't really bring himself to be surprised by seeing it on Merlin's face, especially knowing the man who caused it.
Eggsy turns the photo in his hands, finding words scrawled on its back. The ink was faded with time, but the message was still easy to read.
Should you ever doubt - J
He sets down the photo, suddenly feeling sacrilegious and invasive. Someone had captured that tiny moment of happiness, that unabashed look of earnest love, and it belongs to those who were in it. Or at least, the one who was left.
Eggsy turns to the door, finding Merlin standing in it with a file box under his arm. He feels almost embarrassed for presuming he was the only one who would be interested rescuing Harry's things.
"I wanted to make sure they didn't get thrown out." He gestures to the stack of tabloids behind him.
Merlin nods, joining him at the desk. They both ignore the photo and garish headlines, gathering up the more mundane things. The folders go into the box first, then a clock, and a set of fountain pens, before a very fancy letter opener was laid on top. Eggsy wishes he had more than the scant twenty-four hours to learn about these things, and why they were so important to the man who had collected them.
When they are only left with the newspapers and the photo, Merlin gathers the pages and hands them to Eggsy. His fingers don't shake, but he feels breathless when he finally holds them. A man's entire life's work was resting between his palms, and the ink that chronicled it didn't even realize.
He looks up and Merlin has the photo in his hand, and Eggsy wants to tear his eyes away, feeling too much like a voyeur. Merlin notices his stare, and tucks the photo into his jacket before picking up his file box.
He's halfway out of the room before Eggsy has enough courage to ask.
"Did he?"
Merlin looks back at him, confused.
"Ever doubt."
He smiles, and Eggsy would have called it the most content smile in the world, if he did not know the man who caused it was dead.
"No."