"Merlin? Merlin. We've got a problem." Roxy's voice was strained, and she was breathing heavily after the fight, but she was calm as she'd been taught. She pursed her lips in concern, as she turned to glance at her colleague, who was on the floor, cluthing his knee and letting out a loud string of curses. She held her breath and listened to Merlin's muttering on the other end, as he was trying to find the best solution to their current situation.
"Just hang on for a little while Lancelot, help's on the way." Merlin's words had her breathe out in relief and she closed her eyes for a moment. "Stay clear of the door. There should be no one else in the building right now, but with Galahad in a compromised situation, I wouldn't risk anything."
"Yes, Merlin." She answered shortly. She looked around the room, counting dead and passed out guards. There was a totalt of twelve men on the floor, but she wasn't sure how many were dead.
She turned around again and hurried to the side of her friend on the floor, who was breathing fast, obviously trying to manage the pain.
"Eggsy, how bad is it?" She asked concerned, as she bent over his leg to examine the wound. As soo n as her hand touched his leg, he started on the curses again. She looked up to meet his eyes. "It doesn't look too good."
"You don't fucking say." Eggsy breathed out sarcastically, holding Roxy's gaze. "What're we gonna do now?" Roxy had ripped a piece of her shirt to press against the wound. It wasn't bleeding badly, but she wanted to be on the safe side, and ignored the impressive amount of "fucks" and "shits" that Eggsy uttered.
"Merlin said help's one it's way." Just as she finished her sentence, there was a loud sound from the door slamming open, followed by an angry muttering. Both agents looked in the direction of the sound, but they were hidden behind a desk so they weren't able to see anything. As the sound came closer, the voice was clearly recognizable to them. Roxy stood up quickly.
"Arthur, we're over here. Galahad is down but-" She was cut off as their newly appointed leader came stomping over. He looked angry.
"What happened?" He asked through gritted teeth, as his gaze fell to rest on the injured agent on the floor.
"They shot me." Eggsy gestured tiredly to his knee, but the other agent just let out a low growl.
"That's pretty obvious, now isn't it? What I don't get is, how the fucking hell you managed to get shot. You, of all people." His voice was hard, but Eggsy couldn't focus on anything that the slightly tingling feeling in his stomach. Their leader hardly ever cursed, but he'd be damned if he didn't admit that he loved the few instances when it did happen.
"'m sorry Harry, wasn't like I planned for it to happen." Eggsy said, starring into those deep, brown eyes. He was awarded with a scowl from the older man.
"Lancelot, you go ahead first, make sure the way is clear. I'll take care of Galahad."
"Yes sir." Roxy replied, immediately turning on her heel, while pulling a gun out of her belt, and pointing it to aim in front of her. She wasn't expecting anymore guards, as Merlin had said the rest of the building was scheduled to be empty now, but a kingsman would never take a chance with something like that.
When Roxy was out of sight, Harry kneeled down next to Eggsy, removing the piece of clothing that was resting on top of the wound. Eggsy exhaled sharply as he did, but Harry paid no attention, his eyes focused on the wound. He let a finger run across it, causing Eggsy to call him a few names that normally wouldn't be considered appropriate to call your boss. But this was far from a normal situation.
Finally, Harry sighed.
"You fucking idiot." He said as he turned his face to look at the younger agent. He reached out a hand, and Eggsy worried for a moment that he was going to slap him, but he didn't. Instead, he very gently laid a hand on Eggsy's forehead, as he pushed a few strands of sticky, sweaty hair out of the way. "Seems like you've got a fever already. We need to get you back to the headquarters."
"And how are we gonna do that?" Eggsy asked, trying to ignore the fact that his heart was beating just a tiny bit faster, due to Harry's hand resting on his forehead.
Harry didn't honour his question with an answer. Instead, he stood up swiftly, straightening out his jacket once. Eggsy didn't have any time to react before the older spy had scooped him up in his arms, bridal style.
"No way, you're not gonna carry me." Eggsy complained, trying to distance himself from Harry, a task that proved difficult since the man's arms were practically wrapped around him.
"Do you have better plan?" Harry asked, a slightly annoyed tone in his voice. Of course he didn't. Eggsy winced in pain, as Harry shifted him in his arms. With no further notice, the kingsman started hastily towards the doors. It didn't take more than a few steps before Eggsy swallowed his pride, and wrapped his arms around the neck of his leader. He felt much safer, but also a lot more vulnerable, worrying that Harry might feel the fast beating of his heart.
Harry was talking to Roxy through the kingsman glasses, making sure that there was no trouble witing for them, while ignoring Eggsy who was struggling to stay awake in his arms.
"Harry." He said weakly, causing the older spy to stop midsentence, and glance down. "I think... " Eggsy blinked slowly. "I think I might..." He noticed how Harry was raising his eyebrows, a concerned look painted all over his face. Eggsy would've smiled at the sight of it, but he didn't have the ´power. "pass out." He finally finished the sentence.
Not ten seconds later, Eggsy went limb in Harry's arms, his hands losing their grip around his neck.
Harry muttered a string of curses to himself, as he picked up the pace.
"Merlin?" He called over the transmitter, through gritted teeth.
"Yes, Arthur?" Harry was somewhat relieved to hear the level of concern in Merlin's voice.
"I need you to have the doctor waiting as soon as we arrive. It's not looking too good right now."
"Yes, of course." Harry breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that if there was anyone in this world he could trust with his life (and Eggsy's too) it was Merlin. He finally reached the ground floor of the building, and made a swift exit to where Roxy was waiting in front of the Kingsman cab.
"Is he gonna be alright?" She asked, her eyes widening at the sight of her passed out friend in Harry's arms. The older man went straight for the cab as he said:
"Of course he will." He managed to put Eggsy in on the backseat, and fit himself underneath him. "Lancelot, take the front seat." Roxy obeyed immediately, although she couldn't resist turning in her seat to look at Eggsy who was still gone out. Harry's mind was wandering, as he let his hands run through the boy's hair. Why did that stupid boy have to go and get himself shot? It had been such a simple mission.
The driver who'd been waiting for them, already knew that the situation was serious, and he made it to the Kingsman shop quickly.
As Harry exited the cab, he realized that his arms were already pretty numb from the weight of Eggsy, but he didn't hesitate to pull out the younger agent, and bring him inside.
Merlin was, as promised, waiting with a bed and a doctor ready. The doctor wasn't someone Harry had seen before, but with the size of the Kingsman organization, it wasn't really surprising. He hadn't needed many doctors in his time as a kingsman, and he wasn't exactly thrilled that he was meeting this one because Eggsy had been hurt.
"Give me twenty minutes alone, and I'll call you in for an update, okay?" The doctor looked from Merlin, who was nodding, to Harry who was clearly not okay with that at all. But didn't say anything against it, since he knew he wasn't being rational. Harry followed Merlin out of the room, almost too far of in his thoughts to notice that his friend's fingers were intertwined with Roxy's.
Twenty minutes turned into an hour and an hour turned into two. When the doctor finally allowed them back into the room, Eggsy was looking much better. He was still passed out, but he had regained some color in his face and he looked more like he was just sleeping rather than passed out.
"Did you take it out?" Harry asked, looking up with a questioning expression. The doctor nodded, and went to pull back the blanket, exposing Eggsy's now bared leg. The bullet hole hadn't been big at all, but the doctor had sewed it shut with just one sting in any case. The surrounding area was already turning a sickly shade of yellow and it was quite clear that Eggsy probably wouldn't be walking normally for a while.
"He is very lucky." The doctor said in a serious tone, as he glanced around the gathered agents. "The bullet hit close to a big part of the nerve system. Had it been a few centimeters to the left, he might have lost all feeling in his leg." Harry nodded quietly, as he let the information sink in. If that had happened, Eggsy would've been done as a kingsman.
What if Eggsy did leave the organisation though? Would Harry even have an excuse to see him then? He tuned back in just in time to hear Merlin say something about dinner.
"Go ahead without me, I will keep an eye on the boy." He waved his hand in a shoo-ing gesture towards them, and they left without another word. Still hand in hand. He wondered briefly if Merlin thought he wouldn't have seen, but he quickly came to the conclusion that the other agent simply didn't care that he knew. Why would he anyways? Harry wasn't one to judge.
How could he, when he himself was falling fast for the other young member of their group?
Eggsy didn't wake up until the next morning. Harry had been napping in one of the visitor chairs, after turning down an offer to have an extra bed rolled into the room.
"Harry?" Eggsy called out groggily as his eyes fell on the tired looking man in the chair next to him. "What are you doing here?"
The sound of Eggsy's voice made Harry straigthen up in his chair, fixing the glasses that were coming dangerously close to slipping of.
"I was just waiting to see how you were." He managed to get out, although it came out far less organized than what was Harry Hart-standard. Eggsy couldn't hold back a smile.
"M' good, thanks." He smiled, and Harry returned the smile, tiredly.
They sat in silence for a while, just looking at each other. Both of them were aware that something had changed between them, but none of them wanted to be the first to adress it.
In the end, Eggsy couldn't stand the silence anymore.
"Seriously though, we have to sort this out. Because right now, this whole thing..." He made a gesture from Harry to himself. "It ain't normal." Harry smiled slightly, as he held Eggsy's gaze.
"You're right. It isn't normal. And I'm sorry." Harry closed his eyes, and managed to miss the moment that Eggsy's expression went from intense to confused. But when he opened them again, he sounded confident as ever.
"I don't think there's any possibility of "normal" between us. Yet, I feel myself drawn to you, in a way I probably shouldn't be. And I wish I could-" He didn't get to finish his sentence before Eggsy had reached out and grabbed onto his arm.
"Is this some sort of love confession?" Eggsy hardly noticed the slight blush that crept upon Harry's face. The older man opened his mouth to say something, but Eggsy was quicker. "It's not bad, not at all. It's just..." He smiled smugly. "I'm not sure how long we have 'till the other's come running in. I'm a popular guy, you know? So why don't we save that for later and..."
He tried to hide the pained expression that flashed briefly upon his face, as he leaned forward to rest his hand on Harry's cheek.
Harry stared at him dumbfounded for approximately half a second. When he regained his compsure, he returned the smile, possibly even more smug than Eggsy himself.
"That does sound like a plan." He replied, before he leaned in closer, pressing his lips against Eggsy's in a kiss that they'd both waited way too long for. When Harry broke away, a wide smile was plastered upon Eggsy's face.
"A good one." He smirked, closing the distance between them once more. If this was what he got for getting shot, then he wasn't sure he minded too much after all.