Eggsy woke in the middle of the night, the sky still pitch outside his window. He shivered and wrapped his blankets tighter around him, closing his eyes. He noted in the back of his mind that his throat felt a bit sore, but that was probably because he'd slept with his mouth open again and drooled on his pillow. He fell back into a dreamless sleep.
He woke up to his alarm at 7am the next morning, cracking his eyes open and squinting at the light. Groggily he made his way to the shower, hoping the hot water would wake him up. He spent so long in the shower that by the time he got dressed, he was running late to get to the manor on time, even with the high speed train from the shop to the main headquarters. He rushed out the door, hoping he'd be able to grab some biscuits and importantly coffee once he got in. As he stepped off the train he came across Merlin.
"Ah, there ye are," he addressed Eggsy, "Ye remember ye got a meeting with Arthur in half an hour. An' I'm still waiting fo' that paperwork from yer last mission."
"I got time to grab a cuppa first, yea?" Eggsy croaked.
Merlin looked at him strangely.
"Ye feelin' okay?"
"Yea," Eggsy brushed it off. "Just a bit of a dry throat, haven't had anything to drink yet this morning."
Merlin nodded, "off ye go then. I still want that paperwork."
Eggsy laughed as he headed to the dining hall.
"All in due time, Merlin," he called.
"It's been two weeks Gawain," the Scot shouted to the other man's retreating back.
Eggsy made himself a steaming cup of coffee and the proceeded to Arthur's office. The new Arthur was far less stuck up than the old one, not caring one bit about gender or class or even race, so long as you were the best at your job. He also had a good sense of humour, offering to bring back the title of Mordred for Eggsy.
Through the meeting with Arthur, the young knight cradled his cup. The drink hadn't really helped his dry throat much, and his neck was getting stiff from sitting still. After he left the meeting with Arthur, Eggsy made his way to the warmth of his office. He opened up his report and started typing, hoping to finish it and hand it into Merlin today. As the morning wore on, less and less words were being typed and Eggsy started to feel a headache coming on. He stretched and downed a glass of water before turning back to the report.
About half an hour later, Roxy knocked on his office door.
"Come in," he mumbled from where his head was resting on his forearms.
She strode onto the room and stood next to the wooden desk.
"Gawain," she said.
Eggsy made a mumbled noise but didn't look up.
"Eggsy," she tried again more sharply.
The other knight looked up, whether it was from his name or her tone, Roxy wasn't sure.
"Whaddaya want?" he asked, his voice rasping out.
"You look like hell," tumbled out of Roxy's mouth before she could stop it.
"Yea, fanks," her friend replied sarcastically, his accent thick. "I didn't sleep well last night. 'm just tired and Merlin wants this report."
"You're still working on the report from out Sussex mission?" She asked incredulously, "It was a simple recon task. I handed mine in a week ago."
"If he's got yours I don't see why he wants mine as well," Eggsy grumbled. "'sides I was looking after Daisy for mum last week, she had a few days off school."
Roxy smiled, he was a good brother.
"I came to see if you wanted to go get some lunch," she told him.
"Depends," he replied, "What have they got?"
"Chicken chow Mein and Thai green curry," Roxy replied.
"Igraine's got the goods," Eggsy replied getting up. He felt his head throb and hid a grimace.

Both young knights made their way to the dining hall and served themselves food. They both went for the curry, Eggsy mixing his with into fried rice while Roxy stuck to the jasmine rice. As they were heading to a table, Roxy waved to Merlin and Harry, who beckoned the pair over to their table.
"Lancelot, Gawain," Harry addressed them as they sat down.
"Hey Harry," Eggsy replied, collapsing into a chair. Harry raised an eyebrow at him but Eggsy ignored it.
"Afternoon Galahad, Merlin," Roxy said before digging into her lunch.
"How's that report comin' Gawain?" Merlin asked.
Eggsy swallowed a mouthful, barely hiding a grimace as he it seemed to scratch down his throat.
"Yea, I'm getting there," he told the Scotsman, "you'll have it by the end of the day."
As he continued eating, Eggsy noticed his throat was getting painful. He stopped eating and took a mouthful of water. He made a face before he could stop himself and Harry looked at him in concern.
"Are you alright?" He asked the younger man.
"Throat's a bit sore," Eggsy admitted, "might have to finish up the report and go home."
The Scottish tech wizard looked at the younger knight. "Ye report's late enough, go home if ye need ta," he said, tone gentle.
Eggsy shook his head and stood up. "I'll be right to finish it, but I reckon I'll take a sleep in tomorrow."

True to his word, Eggsy finished the report and made his way home. When he made it inside he toed off his oxfords and shucked his jacket before curling up in a ball on his couch and promptly falling asleep.
A few hours later, Eggsy woke up. Lifting his wrist he saw that his watch read 8.20pm. He groaned and shifted into a sitting position. His throat and neck still hurt, and now he felt light headed too.
'Maybe it's just 'cause I haven't eaten,' he thought to himself. He slowly pulled himself to his feet and trudged to his kitchen. Opening his pantry he stared at the shelves looking for something that wouldn't require much effort to make. JB stood next to him, staring balefully at his owner. Eggsy looked at his dog and then back at the shelves.
"Alright JB, how does spaghetti on toast sound?"
The dog waffled at him.
"No, not for you," he chuckled then coughed, "You get some biscuits. I get spaghetti on toast."
He grabbed a can of spaghetti and bent down to grab the bag of dog food. Eggsy stuck a piece of bread into the toasted and dumped the can of spaghetti into a pot. While they were heating he poured food out for his pug, who immediately started gobbling it down. When his food was ready, Eggsy sat back down on the couch and ate what was on his plate. It was slow going between his sore throat and how tired he was feeling. When he was done, Eggsy paced his plate in the sink and made his way to his bedroom, careful not to trip on the pug weaving between his feet. He stripped off his shirt and pants and collapsed into his bed. It had taken the last of his energy to hang his trousers up how he was supposed to. He vaguely felt JB as the dog jumped onto his bed and settled by his feet, and then he fell into a dreamless sleep.

He woke late the next morning, the sunlight streaming though the curtains. The first thing he noticed was that his head felt fuzzy, like someone had stuffed it full of cotton wool. The next was that it was INCREDIBLY painful to swallow. His groan came out like a broken cough, and he reached for his phone.
"Hi Merlin," Eggsy croaked, "I don't think I'll be coming into work today."
"I should think not, ye sound terrible," the Scotsman replied, "I'll inform medical and Gaius will fill the forms to give you a few days leave."
"thanks Merlin," he said before coughing.
"Just call in again tomorrow morning," Merlin told him before hanging up.
Eggsy tried to get back to sleep but his sore throat was making that difficult. After a half hour of tossing and turning he gave up and hauled himself out of bed. He was freezing and reached for the robe Harry had given him. It was a navy blue version of Harry's red one. While Eggsy wouldn't normally wear the robe, opting to pull on track pants and a hooded top instead, this was far less effort for his heavy arms and legs. Slowly he made his way to the kitchen and checked JB's food bowl. He took the dog's food from the pantry and his head spun as he stood back up. He gripped the door tightly until the world righted itself before dropping the bag and knocking it over with his foot. The dry biscuits spilt across the floor and the pug started eating. Eggsy pulled open the kitchen drawer and found the painkillers along with some sore throat lozenges. Filling a glass with water, he made his way back to his bed. Taking two painkillers he lay back down and hoped the pain in his head and throat would go away enough for him to get a bit more sleep. With the steady click of his wall clock, Eggsy slipped into a light sleep.

What seemed like no time at all later, but his wall clock showed to be a few hours, Eggsy woke to the sounds of someone moving about in his kitchen.
'Great,' he thought, 'I'm sick and now someone breaks in to try and kill me.'
He stood up and grabbed the gun in his bedside drawer. As the room titled and his head throbbed, he thought that maybe it would be better to let whoever it was kill him.
He stepped cautiously in to the kitchen, where the sound was coming from, his gun raised. He opened his mouth to say something and promptly dissolved into a coughing fit. The well-dressed figure turned at the noise and the young man realised the intruder was his mentor and fellow knight, Harry Hart. Seeing that it was Harry, Eggsy lowered the gun in favour of doubling over and trying to catch his breath. Once he had enough breath to talk, he choked out a sentence.
"Whaddaya doin' here 'Arry?" he asked, leaning against the kitchen counter.
The elder knight quirked an eyebrow at him.
"I did try to ring you, but you weren't answering. So I went to see Merlin and he informed me you were unwell."
"That still don't explain why you're here in my kitchen," Eggsy told him.
Harry nodded. "Yes, right. Well, I came to check in you, but you weren't answering your door. So I picked the lock and let myself in and began making you some tea."
He gestured to the kettle and two cups beside it. Eggsy nodded in acceptance and turned to JB, who was staring hopefully up at Harry waiting for some scraps.
"You're a hopeless guard dog," he told the pug.
"It's just because you knew that it was me," Harry said to the dog, reaching down to pat him on the head.
"Harry, I can take care of myself," the young man said, then sneezed.
"I highly doubt that." He stared Eggsy down. "I saw the contents of your fridge and pantry." He looked unamused.
Eggsy made a non-committal noise, knowing Harry was right.
"Ya don't have to look after me," Eggsy told him.
"Nonsense, you're barely able to stand upright. How do you expect to get better if you can't make yourself food?" The older knight had turned back to the boiling kettle as he spoke.
As Eggsy watched, Harry poured out two cups and picked them up.
"Go put your robe on and grab a blanket. I'll take these to the couch," Harry told him already walking to the sitting room.
Eggsy made his way upstairs as fast as he could manage, grabbing his doona, throwing on his robe and returning his gun to its place in his drawer. Even without being able to see the shoulder holster he knew Harry was armed, and a far better shot than him at the moment. He returned downstairs and flopped onto the couch. For once, Harry didn't reprimand him for this action. Instead, he passed the younger man a cup of tea that smelt like peppermint.
"Huh, didn't even know that I had peppermint in there," Eggsy mused, before hurriedly putting the cup down and sneezing.
"I feel like shit," he muttered.
Harry quirked his lips. "Far be it for me to say anything, but you rather look like shit as well," Harry told him drily.
Eggsy snorted, "Fanks mate. You're lucky we're friends."
They drank the rest of their tea in silence.
"Will you be alright here for a bit?" Harry asks, standing up.
"Yea, sure," Eggsy replied, already moving to lie down on the couch.
"I'm just going down to the shops to get some groceries for you. Do you have any cold medication?" Harry asked.
"No," Eggsy mumbled, "Gave it all to Dais when she was sick." Then Eggsy groaned. "Dammit, I musta caught this off her. She and half her class were off sick last week."
He heard Harry's footsteps and opened his eyes to see the other knight place a box of tissues by the couch.
"I'll be back soon, call me if you think of anything you need," Harry said before he locked the door behind him.
Before Eggsy even realised, he was dozing on the couch.

When Eggsy woke next, it was to someone gently shaking his shoulder. He cracked his eyes open and saw Harry bending over him, sans suit jacket and a bowl sitting on the coffee table.
"Sorry to wake you. I've brought you some soup," Harry said gently as Eggsy moved to sit upright.
Harry handed the bowl and a spoon over and left to get his own from the kitchen. The young knight rested the bowl on his lap, cradled in one hand, and took a spoonful of the chicken soup. He let out a soft sigh as the warmth spread through him.
"Dis is goob," Eggsy said to Harry though a mouthful of soup and his now very blocked nose.
Harry hummed, "It's a chicken and ginger soup I found when I was in Thailand. I have found it's very helpful when one feels unwell."
Eggsy looked over at the other man. "You made this?"
"I thought I proved during our 24 hours that I was perfectly capable of cooking."
"Yea, but this is amazing," Eggsy said, "what of it I can taste anyway. You make this when you're sick?"
"Yes, and when I'm not," Harry told him.
"Yea, it's nice," Eggsy agreed.
"You tell that to Merlin. He acts like I'm poisoning him with this. The bugger will eat haggis, but not the soup," Harry sounded insulted.
Eggsy snorted, which caused him to start sneezing again. He put the now empty bowl down and reached for the tissues.
After the sneezing stopped, he stood up.
"Fanks for the soup 'Arry," Eggsy told him. "I'm going back to bed. I'll see you later."
Harry looked up at him, "if it's all the same to you, I'll stay here. I can do my paperwork from my tablet," He said calmly.
"If ya sure, I ain't gonna be good company," Eggsy was dubious.
"I'm sure. This way I can make sure you keep your fluids up and JB doesn't have to wait for you if he needs to go out." Harry was already reaching for his tablet and JB, the little traitor, was making himself comfortable on Harry's feet.
Eggsy nodded and then made his way back to bed.
During the afternoon, Eggsy was gently woken a couple of times to Harry who was giving him a cup of tea and some cold medication. Around 5pm Harry went home, telling Eggsy there was soup and bread he could have for dinner and that he'd likely be back tomorrow.

The next morning Eggsy wasn't feeling any better when he rang into the Kingsman. Merlin sent his call through to the head of medical, Gaius, who listened to Eggsy, asked a few questions and then told him to take a week off.
"You have enough sick leave that it won't matter and we prefer sending agents out who are 100% well," he told Eggsy.
The young man managed to get out of bed long enough to feed his pug and take a quick shower, before he fell back into bed exhausted. True to his word Harry was back just before lunch, ringing Eggsy who answered, before entering the house this time.
That afternoon, was spent the same way as the previous one, with Eggsy resting and Harry occupying himself with paperwork or a book. The next few days were much the same, with Eggsy slowly spending more time on the couch than in bed, but still not feeling well enough to do much except watch the TV.
On the fourth day Harry brought a hard drive filled with a variety of movies, and they spent the next two days working their way through them, occasionally bickering over Harry's movie tastes. On the last two days of Eggsy's leave, Harry only came by in the evening to check on the mostly well young man.
"Haven't you had other, Kingsman related things to do this past week?" Eggsy asked the older man on the last night. "I mean, not that I don't love having you here, but it's basically babysitting."
Harry handed him a cup that smelt of lavender, mint and lemon balm. It must have been one of Harry's teas because Eggsy had nothing fitting that description on his own cupboard.
"There have been mostly local missions these past few weeks," Harry told him, "And Merlin had got fed up with my late paperwork, threatened to take away my rainmaker. This has given me a chance to relax and complete it."
They finished their tea with JB chewing on his new toy (courtesy of Harry) under the table.
"I'll see you at work tomorrow Eggsy," Harry said as he got ready to leave later that evening.
"Yea, see you there Harry. It'll be good to be back," Eggsy replied. "Thanks for coming over and cooking and stuff while I was sick."
Harry turned and looked at him.
"You're welcome Eggsy," Harry said gently. "After all, that's what you do for the people you care about."
Eggsy smiled at him and nodded.
"We look after our own," he said, "Good night Harry. Have a safe trip home."