-Present-
The blood running from Eggsy's nose is really getting annoying. It's hot, streaming down his face, following the curve of his mouth and being blown out in a spray of drops with every harsh pant he manages. Eggsy can taste it in his mouth and on his lips as he breathes. He can see the drops fall from his chin, landing on the carpeted floor in an array of spray patterns.
Part of him hopes it is a bitch to clean up. The other part focuses on reloading his gun, the movement as smooth as ever even though his movements begin to feel ragged and slow.
"Galahad, why have you stopped?" Merlin's voice cuts through the daze. Eggsy lifts his gaze from his gun and looks around.
"Just catchin' me breath, bruv," he says, his accent too thick to disguise right now.
"Lancelot is at the extraction point, taking fire. You're late," Merlin says.
Yeah, the blood coming from his nose is annoying as fuck, Eggsy think as he wipes it away.
"Eggsy, we can't stay here much longer! What's your ETA?" Roxy demands through the comms.
He stumbles out of his hiding spot. The floor he's on is mostly offices, so it's pretty much a straight shot back to the stairs. Eggsy can't remember what floor he go to before the guards had forced him out of the stairwell. He had sent most on a wild chase down rows of cubicles but now he needed to get back on point.
"Galahad!" Merlin's voice rings in his ears as Eggsy wipes away more blood from his nose and mouth. He feels like he's choking on it now. Had he mentioned how annoying it was?
Almost as bothersome as the gunshot in his side.
"Moving, Merlin, geez," he says, and keeps his gaze safely up and focused. The hallway seems to move and roll under his feet.
"Eggsy! We're taking on too much fire power! We need to go now! Where are you?" Roxy shouts through the comms.
He sways and makes the mistake of looking down at his hand trying to keep his body and blood together.
"Bloody Christ," Merlin swears and Eggsy looks up to avoid him seeing too much more.
"Eggsy," Merlin starts but the younger man stops him.
"Get Roxy out of here. Order her to go Merlin," Eggsy says. His body slumps against the wall and feels relief to have the support. He doesn't know if he'll
Lancelot must hear something because she comes back on next.
"No! I'm not leaving you here, Galahad. Give me your position. I'll come to you," she demands.
"I'm hit Roxy," Eggsy confesses. "I-I'm not makin' it."
There's gunfire and swearing over the comms, Eggsy almost chides her for her ungentlewomanly behavior. Instead he loses the grip on his gun and it clatters to the floor. He finds he can't feel his feet anymore before he drops to the ground next to it. Everything seems to swim just out of distance for him to hold onto anything.
"Eggsy!" a voice comes in loud and clear through the fog. Eggsy smiles for the first time in months, because it is the voice that he's been waiting to hear again for all that time.
"Galahad, just stay with us," Merlin says, and then he barking orders to the others.
"Rox, I can 'ear 'arry," he says, his vision starting to grey out. He feel almost floaty now.
"I think he's coming to get me," Eggsy says. He realizes with a start that he's going to bleed out in a strange office building before he lets the realization drift away too. It's nice here, he thinks.
"Eggsy, please," Harry says. Eggsy smiles and lets his hand drop away from his abdomen.
"I've missed ya, 'arry," Eggsy says and let's darkness claim him.
-7 months prior-
"There's plenty of missions Eggsy, what's the rush?" Merlin asks. He leans back in his chair, enjoying a cup of coffee even though it is long past midnight.
"Me mum is drivin' me bonkers, Merlin. I moved her into the house and now she's askin' all these questions and getting into my life and my future- it's too much bruv. I'm gonna go crazy if I stay there for much more."
Laughing, Merlin nods. "I can imagine."
"That had better not be a quip toward me putting a few things in a drawer at yours," Roxy says, entering the office with a tilt of her hips. Eggsy knew he should have shut the door.
"Of course not, dearest," Merlin says, but the twitch of his lips tells both younger Kingsman that he's lying.
"Dearest? If I call you that, do I get the mission?" Eggsy asks, smiling broadly at Merlin.
"Cheeky," he mutters, before handing over the file.
"Missions? Do I get one?" Roxy asks, a predatory smile of her own.
"You should still be in Medical. Don't think Doctor Saunders didn't send me the report about your dislocated shoulder," Merlin fixes her with a look that tells not only that she won't be getting a mission anytime soon but that she had made her partner worry.
"Should I return to them then?" she asks, predatory smile to faux innocence in a second flat. Eggsy was still working on that move.
"No, you're welcome to keep me company. Eggsy, you're dismissed," he says, and pulls up a chair next to his.
"Thank god," Eggsy says, too much romantic drivel in one room for him.
"Oh hush, you," Roxy says and hip checks him when he walks by. He nearly turns and decks her in the shoulder but remembers 'dislocation' at the last second. She grins at him, and he lets it go.
As he's pulling the door closed, he sees her settle in on Merlin's lap instead of the second chair. Merlin doesn't seemed miffed at all, just touches her gingerly like she should be treasured and kisses her when she leans forward for one.
The door's shut before he can think too hard about being jealous over a kiss he doesn't want from either of them.
