Disclaimer: As always I own nothing but the original characters and the situations all characters end up in. Everything else belongs to someone else and that's the way of it.

At The End of The Day

There really were no words to describe how grateful he was to be home. After the day he'd had Harry wanted nothing more than to walk in, mix himself a very strong drink, and then sit down to a meal with his family for a couple hours. That and not think about the rest of his family since his mother had apparently told everyone they were even remotely related to that he was now a father. Even though technically he wasn't. But that hadn't stopped them all from ringing him up or sending him emails wanting pictures and the inside scoop for them to gossip about amongst themselves. Because of course none of them had anything better to do than to stick their noses in his business for their own amusement. Ugh. He was going to have to stay up so late tonight to make up for the work he'd failed to finish earlier. Really he should have just stayed at the office and ordered take away.

And don't even get him started on the headache Chloe had given him when she'd finally managed to get ahold of him, Harry silently raged as he retrieved his keys from his pocket. Like it was his fault his bloody relatives wouldn't stop calling him so that she could. And that was on top of the fact that she'd accused him of seducing her healer to get an excellent health evaluation. As if he would. The very idea was insulting. Not that he'd gotten a chance to tell her that in between her lectures. He'd have to wait until sometime later in the week as she was apparently going to come and evaluate him in person. Mostly so that she could yell at him in person from the sounds of it. Joy.

Opening the front door Harry let himself in on that depressing thought, wearily closing the door behind him before setting down his bag and briefcase with a sigh of relief. He'd have to pick them up in a moment and acknowledge their existence, but for a second or two he could pretend he'd left all the paperwork back in the office.

"That bad, huh?"

Concentrating on shrugging out of his jacket Harry stated that Eggsy had no idea before turning to see that the boy was standing there with a knowing look and…and a glass that looked to contain whiskey in hand.

"Thought ya might need this. Your, ah, Mum rang back ta talk to me."

"Thank the Powers that Be." Walking over Harry took the glass in one hand while with the other he cupped the back of Eggsy's head as he gave the boy's forehead a quick but heartfelt kiss. "Thank you. You have no idea, Darling."

"Ah. Sure."

Glancing down at the sound of giggling Harry was able to give Daisy a genuine smile as he sipped his drink with another sigh of relief. "Hello, Daisy. How was your day?"

"Good. I 'elped make the twifle."

"Trifle." Harry breathed out. "You're both too good to me."

Looking a tad flushed as he rubbed the back of his neck, Eggsy told him that dinner would be on the table in five minutes.

"Thank you. I'll put my chains away and be with you both momentarily." Harry gave Eggsy a look that no doubt clearly indicated he was a man to be pitied. "I'm going to be up most of the night working."

"Shit."

"In a word." Giving Daisy's head an absent pat Harry chugged back the rest of the glass for strength, winced a little at the burn, and then handed the glass back to Eggsy.

Walking back over to the door Harry retrieved his workload and then headed for the stairs while Eggsy and Daisy walked off in the direction of the kitchen.

And thank the powers that be for both of them, Harry thought to himself even though logically he knew that they were the reason that his relatives had harassed him earlier. But his workload would have been bad regardless of their presence in his life and coming home to them made it much more bearable. Not to mention the food.

Sighing with pleasure at the thought of trifle Harry headed straight for his study where he quickly stashed his bag and briefcase before heading to his bedroom to change into regular clothes. He felt like he'd been born in this suit and the unusually warm weather they were due to experience over the next few days had started a day earlier than expected. Or at least it had felt that way when he'd left the shop and stepped into the heat still lingering outside.

Opting to leave the trousers he was wearing on, he was hungry and they were comfortable enough, Harry simply removed the top half of his suit and then shrugged on a simple, lightweight grey shirt before heading back downstairs.

Daisy was already in her seat with her two stuffed animals, the little girl announcing to him excitedly that they were having fish pie for dinner.

"Fish pie? I haven't had that in quite a long time. My father was very fond of it."

"You gots a father?" Daisy looked shocked at the idea.

Laughing in understanding Harry pulled out his chair as he explained. "I had a father, yes. Everyone does. But mine died a long time ago like Eggsy's did." Like Daisy's as well, but Harry refused to lump his and Eggsy's father with the loathsome creature that had been Dean.

"My Da's dead. Eggsy said."

"Yes, he did."

"He was mean."

"Yes, he was. But you don't ever have to see him again. You live here with Eggsy and I and we won't let anyone be mean to you."

Daisy nodded in agreement and then pointed to the bread basket and asked if she could please have a roll.

Technically he should tell her to wait until Eggsy came but she had said please and she deserved a treat for even having to think about Dean. So Harry got a roll for her and offered to butter it, which she declined. So he handed it over and she was in the process of demolishing it when Eggsy walked in with a large casserole dish in his mittened hands.

"That's smells wonderful, Eggsy."

Shrugging his shoulders self-consciously Eggsy assured him that it was a really easy thing ta make. And he'd figured that they might as well eat good and hot now since the weather people were saying that the mini heat wave they'd been predicting was going to be even worse than was expected.

"Of course it is. Though they're hardly right half the time so I suppose there's reason to hope that they're wrong."

"Too right." Shucking off the oven mitts once the dish was safely on its potholder Eggsy carried them with him as he headed back to the kitchen, returning momentarily with Daisy's bowl with her share of the fish pie moments later.

He liked that Eggsy did that, Harry mused as the boy took his head at the table. Always setting Daisy's portion aside ahead of time so that he could either precut it up for her or give it a chance to cool off since Daisy did tend to pounce on her food like a starving wolf the moment it was put in front of her.

Handing over his own plate when Eggsy asked for it Harry asked Eggsy if he needed to apologize for his mother while the other man loaded up his plate for him.

"Nah. She was nice enough. But, ah, ya should probably know that she thinks we-that we're together."

"Ah. My apologies. I told her that wasn't the case." Dammit, Mother.

Eggsy smirkedat him. "She mentioned that. After I sent her a pic of Daisy and me when she asked for one she said I was your type. And she said that if you and I wasn't dating, and she was twenty years younger, she'd steal me from ya."

"Oh for the love of-and twenty years? Dear God. Is she trying to give me ulcers?"

"What? Don't want ta call me Daddy, Harry?"

Harry could see that as soon as the words left Eggsy's lips the boy's mind had gone exactly where his own had. Straight into the gutter. With unholy and immoral glee.

Thank the powers that be that he hadn't been chewing when Eggsy had said that.

Clearing his throat Harry did his best to sound nonchalant when he stated that he'd never called a man 'Daddy' in his life and had no intention of ever doing so.

"Fair enough."

By mutual understanding the two turned their attention to their dinner, both silent for the next few minutes aside for Harry complimenting Eggsy on the perfection of the potato and cheddar topping of the pie, and the expertly cooked fish underneath.

Food was a safe topic until Eggsy changed it by asking if Harry's mum make a habit of dating younger men.

"Yes, unfortunately. Or at least often enough to make me wonder what she's thinking."

"Bad taste or you just an ageist, Harry?"

Raising an eyebrow over both the question and the teasing tone of voice, Harry would have pointed out that Eggsy probably wouldn't appreciate the idea of his own mother dating a young man his age if not for the woman's recent passing. Not to mention Michelle Unwin's unquestionably bad taste in men, seeing as she'd ended up married to Dean.

"Her taste in men has often left a great deal to be desired. And no, I don't have a problem with the idea of couples with large age gaps in theory. I just think they're often doomed or accurately stereotyped. A relationship between two peers is hard enough to maintain, much less one between two people who have little in common and face a future of unquestionable hardship as the older one ages."

"The younger one could die first. Or somethin could go wrong health wise."

"True. But even if you flip that around it brings up the question of whether the older one would be able to take care of themselves, much less the younger one if their care was needed."

Swirling his spoon around in the fish pie Eggsy agreed that Harry had a point.

"But there are some that make it work." Harry found himself blurting out, wishing he could take the words back as soon as he spoke them.

Looking up from his plate Eggsy smiled. "Yeah. Specially in the magical community, right? Cause the powerful ones naturally live longer than regular ones. The magic in your blood lengthens your life and makes ya heal up faster."

"Generally." Being a Kingsman tended to shorten one's life compared to a regular human being.

"And the healer ya saw today said you was in good shape, right? That's what the text said."

"Surprisingly so. But Chloe is convinced I seduced the healer she sent so I'll be getting a second opinion about that shortly."

Eggsy choked on the piece of roll he'd just bitten into, waving Harry back down into his seat when he would have gone to help him.

But it appeared the boy was all right after a drink of water, Harry and Daisy both watching him to make sure. Definitely a little red in the face, but he was breathing well enough which was the main thing.

"All right?"

"I'm good." Eggsy managed to get out.

Lips twitching, Harry couldn't help but recall what Merlin had said earlier in the day. About how it would upset Eggsy if he were to become involved with the healer. Which was utterly ridiculous of course, Eggsy was no doubt staring at his plate now because he was embarrassed about choking, not because he was upset about Chloe's assumption. It would be arrogant and conceited of him to think Eggsy would give a rat's arse aside from the fact that anyone he dated would come into contact with Daisy at some point. And Eggsy at some point, which wouldn't bode well for him at all. How could anyone he dated not feel inferior by comparison? No. That didn't sound right. What he meant was that someone he dated would of course be close to his own age and therefore would naturally be a bit perturbed at the idea that Harry was coming home every night to a handsome young man in his twenties who cooked like a dream and had a smile that could light up the whole room like a living sun.

Shit.

Fighting the urge to bash his head against the table, sense needed to be beaten into his head somehow, Harry stuffed some food into his mouth to keep from saying something he'd regret. Or require more liquor to forget at a later date.

)

Rubbing his hands over his eyes hours later Harry deliberately didn't look at the clock on his wall or in the corner of laptop. It would only depress him and make time go that much slower. Or faster. He wasn't sure which was worse at this point. All he knew was that he still had a God awful amount of work to do and was bloody tempted to say that he was the boss and call it quits for the night. Only he knew that he had to do it sometime and at this point he had enough caffeine in his system that sleep wasn't coming any time soon anyway.

If King had actually bothered to read over his paperwork, and hadn't just signed where his assistant told him to, Harry would almost understand why the bastard had betrayed them all. This much paperwork was enough to drive anyone insane.

Which was why he now had so much to do, because he was now having to go over everything King had signed off on as well as reviewing and signing off on changes he'd instituted since he'd taken over. And he NEVER signed his name to something without knowing exactly what he was agreeing to. Seeing the messes that had occurred after his mother's marriages had failed and prenups had come into play had stressed that importance early on.

A knock on the door had him looking up in surprise, the nature of the knock making it clear which of the house's two other residents was knocking.

"Come in, Eggsy."

And of course Eggsy came in wearing trackies that barely clung to his hips and a worn undershirt that was more enticing than had the boy just come in topless. The tease.

Not that Eggsy meant it as a tease, Harry reminded himself as he worked up a smile.

"Brought ya some tea that will help with all the caffeine you've been guzzlin." Padding over on bare feet Eggsy handed Harry a mug of fruit smelling tea. "Almost done?"

"Probably another hour. That's all I've got in me at this point."

"Probably ain't nothin I can help with."

Appreciating the thought Harry motioned for Eggsy to help himself to one of the seats in front of his desk before setting the mug down on the desk for the moment. "Thank you for the thought but I'm afraid it's mostly just reading through things to make sure they say what they should. In a month or two I should be at the point where I won't have half the amount of paperwork I have now, or so Merlin's promised, but still…" Harry sighed. "It was so much easier when I was just an agent."

"Ya ain't the paper pusher type." Eggsy agreed.

"Truer words. But it is what it is. I did have decades as an agent, and I don't regret choosing to make this my life's work."

"What would ya have done if ya hadn't joined Kingsman?"

"Well I'm sure you'll find this hard to believe, but I did seriously consider becoming a lepidopterist."

"A what now?"

Chuckling, Harry explained that a lepidopterist was someone who studied butterflies.

"Butterflies." Eggsy repeated in obvious amusement. "Shoulda guessed given the décor round here."

"Yes. It was a great passion of mine once upon a time."

While Eggsy mulled that over Harry took a sip of his tea, which was quite good.

"I don't know much about em sides that they're pretty and not ta touch their wings. Daisy likes lookin at them."

"Well when I have more free time I'll give you both a lesson about them."

"Cheers. Though if ya get more free time ya should spend it just relaxin, not worrin bout playin teacher. When was the last time ya had a real holiday, anyway?"

"A distressingly long time. Though now that I'm thinking about traveling I forgot to mention to you earlier than I'll be going to the States next week. Merlin informed me today. I shouldn't be gone more than two nights so long as Champ cooperates. That's my counterpart to the Kingsman type branch over there. Apparently face to face is necessary. Oh, and Merlin will most likely be dropping by both nights for dinner to 'check in' on you both for me."

"I'll stock up the pantry then."

Harry shared a look of complete understanding with Eggsy.

"I'll be leaving after we take Daisy to daycare on the Tuesday, and then I should be back sometime Thursday afternoon. And if you think the two of you would enjoy it my mother's sister is having a charity event that weekend that will include a polo match. My mother and I rather thought Daisy might enjoy seeing the ponies if nothing else."

"She'd probably love ta…but won't it be real fancy?"

"To a degree, yes, but purchasing appropriate attire for you both shouldn't be that difficult." Harry paused then as it occurred to him that that wasn't entirely accurate. "Well getting you outfitted won't be difficult, obviously. Kingsman has everything you'll need. Daisy's dress and hat though…I'll speak to Miss. Morton on the subject."

"Not so much the clothes I was worryin bout, Bruv."

Understanding dawning, and really it was a testament to how tired he was that he hadn't caught on immediately, Harry made sure to meet and then hold Eggsy's gaze so that his feelings on the matter couldn't be clearer.

"I would be delighted to escort the both of you to the event, Eggsy. And anyone who has the bad manners to think less of any of us because you were not born into their class will get a lesson in manners from me. Which they will most certainly not enjoy."