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Some Unexpected Knots

To the best of his admittedly meager ability Harry assisted Eggsy in his quest to undo the bands holding Daisy's hair into 'braids' that night. Afterwards they'd both agreed that calling them braids was being overly generous, and knotted, fraying ropes would have been more accurate. A fact they wouldn't bring up to Mari in the future...but the handler was now going to be banned from playing with Daisy hair in the future. Or at least never allowed to do so while also distracted by a mission. For now at least they were willing to give the woman the small benefit of a doubt as to her hair styling skills, especially since Mari's hair had never reminded Harry of a rat's nest in all the time he'd known her.

Regardless the two undid all the hair ties that they could, taking turns gently lifting and turning Daisy's head to give the other better access to the ratty mess. And they were pretty sure they'd gotten most of them, but it was hard to tell with the minimal light they were working with. Naturally they didn't want to wake her up, as that would no doubt lead to another tantrum that would have ended the night on quite a sour note. And they were already tired enough, thank you very much.

But they were able to leave her room unscathed and Eggsy opted to turn in early just so that he would have additional time to try and fix things in the morning. He was hoping-including crossing his fingers for emphasis-that he could at least divide the hair in half and put them in two reasonable looking pigtails.

Which in the short term should work...but eventually they would have to tame her hair back to its usual state and Harry was dreading that about as much as a long-term stay in the Kingsman Medical Bay. It was not going to be pretty. Especially since he'd gallantly-but also stupidly-made Eggsy promise to wait until he got home for that part so that he could be there to help. Or at least deflect some of Daisy's ire onto himself. It was, after all, one of Harry's employees that had got them in this mess in the first place.

So Eggsy went straight to bed-Harry's bed, thankfully-while Harry was unfortunately left with the task of doing some work in his office before being able to retire for the evening.

Dealing with a couple hours of mind-numbing paperwork-how did he hate it, let him count the ways-was still better than wrangling a toddler, which Harry reminded himself constantly for the hated stretch of time. And once those two hours were up he packed up for the night and headed to his bedroom to change into sleepwear before getting under the covers to cuddle with his adorable Eggsy.

All things considered...it was still a good day.

)

Harry could count on one hand with fingers to spare how he liked to wake up in the morning. The first was sleeping in until he could sleep no more, waking up at his own pace after falling back in and out of sleep several times over. Secondly there was being woken by the presence of another in his bed who was interested in doing amorous things to his person. That was very rarely not worth losing sleep over. The final wakeup call Harry enjoyed was the smell of Eggsy's cooking permeating the house, promising him delish treats to enjoy if he was willing to get up and follow his nose downstairs. Which for Eggsy he was always willing to do.

When it came to ways Harry did NOT like to be woken up...Eggsy yelling really loudly while close to Harry's ears was high on the list.

Eyes snapping open Harry jerked awake, his training and protective instincts such that he immediately assumed Eggsy was in harm's way and so he moved quickly to cover Eggsy's body with his own, both of them having opted to sleep on their sides with Eggsy's back against Harry's chest. And it was as his hand landed to brace on the other side of Eggsy's body that Harry caught sight of what had made his lover cry out in the first place.

"HOLY FUCK!"

As Harry had always made it a policy never to swear in front of Daisy-though he had admittedly slipped up a few times-Harry didn't know if his shouted curse was the cause of Daisy's shocked expression...or she'd just put herself into a state of shock earlier after catching sight of herself in some reflective surface on her way to his bedroom.

"Dais...wot the fuck did ya do ta your hair?" In sharp contrast to his earlier reaction Eggsy all but whispered the words that were also currently circling around Harry's mind.

"I fix it!"

No. She most definitely had not fixed it.

"Oh, Flower." Eggsy stared at her for a long moment and then craned his neck/shifted his body to a weird angle so that he could look up to meet Harry's gaze, his eyes silently asking 'What the fuck do we do now?'

Harry wished he knew.

Sharing a look that expressed that clearly, the two grimaced and then turned their heads to look back in Daisy's direction. Fuck.

Sometime in the night or early morning Daisy must have woken up and decided to take care of her knotted hair herself instead of going through the painful experiencing of having her brother attempt to set it to rights for her. And in true child logic she'd decided to do it in the quickest and least painful way she could devise.

She'd decided to cut the knotted hair off.

"How'd ya-you ain't got scissors that could-wot did ya cut your hair with, Daisy?"

"Scissors."

"Which scissors? Where'd ya get them?"

Daisy lifted up her hands, wiggling her fingers at them. "Nail scissors."

Ah. That explained that. Harry knew that Eggsy was careful to keep regular scissors far out of Daisy's reach, including the ones Eggsy used to trim his and Daisy's hair. Apparently the boy hadn't been able to afford a professional haircut before he'd come to live with Harry and had been growing his hair out anyway as long as Harry had known him. Manicure scissors on the other hand...Harry knew Eggsy kept a pair in the backpack he often wore when going out with Daisy on errands or such. A pack Eggsy often left on the floor beside his dresser in his room.

Which also explained why what was left of the toddler's hair was so uneven. She would have only been able to cut a very little at a time, and had likely gotten tired of the exercise after a while given how long it would have taken her. Though she had scalped herself pretty efficiently. What longish 'curls' remained were situated where Daisy would have had to be a contortionist to reach them.

"Bloody hell. Harry, I'm-"

"Hush." Harry stated in his best 'I'm the boss' voice, interrupting the apology Eggsy had been about to give. "It's not your fault. These things happen." Unfortunately.

"Breakfast?"

Of course. Of course she was only concerned about being fed.

Harry had to laugh.

"Ah, Dais." Sighing, Eggsy shook his head. "Fuck, wot time is it?"

A good question. There was definitely enough light coming through the curtains that they could see each other and the wreck that was Daisy's hair-though Eggsy had turned on his bedside lamp before Harry had woken, lightly to get a better look at the damage. His own mental evaluation of his sleep levels told Harry that he had most certainly had more sleep coming though.

Reaching out to retrieve his phone from the bedside table Eggsy tapped on his screen to bring it online, the screen revealing that it was fourteen minutes away from being six in the morning. Bugger.

But he wasn't about to leave this mess all to Eggsy, and so with a sad sigh Harry maneuvered so that he was back on his side of the bed, tossing aside the covers.

"Right, then. I don't imagine there's a hair salon open at this hour, but you could look online while I put together some cereal or some fruit for her to eat?" Technology was far more Eggsy's friend than his, and Harry could manage to cereal or slicing up some fruit.

Having shifted closer to the edge of the mattress Eggsy motioned Daisy over and was now running his hands over her head. "Yeah ta the last part...but I don't know if a stylist could fix this. I'm gonna take her ta the bathroom, see about evening things up a bit. She can shovel in some cereal while I do that."

It didn't strike Harry as very hygienic to let Daisy have her breakfast in the bathroom-not to mention set a bad precedent-but he was willing to go along with the plan. It wasn't like he had a better one.

"Sounds like a plan. I'll go get the cereal."

"With lots of extra raisins?" Daisy asked hopefully.

"Yes, I'll put the raisins in for you like Eggsy does."

"Yay!"

Shaking his head, something Eggsy was doing as well, the two shared one last look and then headed off to do their assigned tasks. Harry heading out into the hallway to go downstairs to prepare Daisy's breakfast, while Eggsy carried Daisy down the hallway towards their shared bathroom where he would attempt, somehow, to fix his sister's likely unfixable hair.

)

Fixing the cereal in no time at all Harry also opted to peel a couple oranges up as well, just in case. That and a sippy cup full of orange juice seemed a decent enough breakfast to him. Putting it all together on a tray Harry took a deep breath for courage and then headed back upstairs, saying silent prays the entire time in the hope that Eggsy would somehow be able to salvage the mess Daisy had made of her hair. Upon entering the bathroom-Eggsy had thoughtfully left it open so that he could easily get in-Harry discovered that no...those silent prayers had very much been in vain. Not to mention the bathroom was looking far from its best since Daisy had used the room to cut her hair earlier, which had resulted in a lot of hair clumps littering the floor like strange hairy, creatures.

"Hey." Eggsy shot him a rueful look over his shoulder before he went back to cutting more of Daisy's hair off. Daisy, for her part, shot Harry a sunny smile in the mirror she was facing, apparently completely unconcerned with what her brother was doing to her so long as it didn't hurt.

"I'll clean this up, no worries. Just didn't see a point in puttin down a sheet when she'd made a right mess of the place already."

"That's fine." Moving in closer Harry winced at what he saw. "There's no saving it, I see."

"Not a chance in Hell. She cut it right against the scalp in some places. I'm gonna cut it all down some and then just buzz it off." Absently Eggsy gestured to the other side of the sink, the cheap leather case situated there holding the clippers needed to do that.

Fuck.

"And there's no other option?"

"Look at it."

"I want my cereal!"

"You watch your tone, Flower. " Eggsy shot back, the look he aimed in the mirror making it clear that he meant business. "Ya know ya ain't supposed ta use scissors without my permission. Bein a brat ain't doin your future punishment no favors."

Daisy's shoulders slumped a little...but she also wasn't being subtle about eyeing her breakfast in the mirror.

Charmed in spite of himself Harry moved a few things around and then set the tray on the counter, picking up the bowl of cereal and holding it out to her. He'd put the spoon in it already, so she immediately began shoveling it in, all else forgotten. The sippy cup he sat down on the counter beside her.

Eggsy meanwhile looked at the ceiling-possibly asking for strength or guidance-and then went back to loping off hair.

Feeling a little queasy just watching him do it, Harry absently helped himself to an orange slice.

"It won't be that bad." Eggsy told him, possibly in reaction to the face Harry imagined he was making. "Or at least it will be loads better than it was. Plus this is primo blackmail material, so we got that at least."

Harry's eyebrows rose. "Blackmail material?"

"Yeah. Ya think she's gonna want anyone seein pictures of what she did? When she's old enough, I mean. I took a few 'Before' piccies with my phone." Eggsy's grin became just a little evil.

Blackmailing someone was not something he should encourage Eggsy to do...but thinking about reasons why they might need to blackmail teenage Daisy into behaving...

"Send them to me. That way even if she deletes the ones on your phone, mine can stand as backup."

"Good idea. Gotta get somethin out of all this. We're gonna have ta be bloody hat Nazis for the rest of the summer and into Fall."

What? He must have misheard because...hat Nazis?

Eggsy laughed. "I just meant we're gonna have ta be on her at all times ta wear a hat outside, Harry. She can't go out with her hair buzzed like this and no hat. Not without a headful of sunscreen slathered all over, anyway. Ya think she was in a right mood yesterday? Ten times worse when it comes to sunburns. Plus ones on the head are the worst. Learned that the hard way."

Harry winced at the thought. He'd never had a sunburned head, one of the benefits of having hair as thick as his, but he could imagine. He'd certainly burned elsewhere thanks to his weak, British skin. It did not do well in tropical or desert landscapes.

"Saw a picture of a bloke just the other day, got third degree burns cause he had a buzzed cut and was outside all day without a hat. Afterwards it looked like greenish grey mold was growin on his head."

"Third degree?" Harry paled just thinking about it.

"Swear down."

"Right. Well...I don't suppose writing on her forehead in permeant marker that she must wear a hat outside would work, would it?"

"Temptin. I'll have to have a word with Mrs. Markle, make sure she knows. Though she probably does, her being around little ones all the time. I'll put an extra hat in her bag, just in case."

Agreeing that that was a good idea Harry picked up another orange slice and was about to eat it when it occurred to him that it was rather rude of him to eat in front of Eggsy without at least offering him a slice. Daisy was well on her way to demolishing her cereal and would be after the orange slices next.

That being the case Harry picked one up and stepping over held out a slice to Eggsy, who instead of taking it from him bent down and neatly bit off half of it, chewing it with a decided gleam in his eyes that had Harry thinking some decidedly adult thoughts. Especially when Eggsy came back for the second half and licked at Harry's fingers before straightening up again.

"Thanks, Harry."

Harry had to clear his throat a little before telling him that he was welcome.

)

In the end Daisy ended up looking like a fresh young army recruit. If the army enlisted female toddlers. The worry that Daisy would freak out once her new 'look' sank in proved unfounded though. Daisy loved her new haircut. She thought it was the greatest thing ever. Or to be more precise, she loved the way her hair now felt when she ran her hands over it. So much so that she kept stroking her own head while getting dressed and collecting everything she would need for daycare. She was not thrilled to have to wear a hat, but since it was a cute hat she relented for the time being. Harry imagined keeping the hat on her head would prove a challenge until the 'thrill' of her head wore off.

Eggsy had been all set to take her to daycare but Harry had pointed out that there was no need since he was going that way anyway and had time to spare. Since they'd gotten such an early start he could easily do it and still be early getting to work, and this way Eggsy could enjoy a leisurely breakfast before having to tackle the task of cleaning up the hair currently decorating his and Daisy's bathroom.

So off the two of them went, Daisy joining Harry in his enjoyment of ABBA for the length of the car ride to Bag End Daycare. Parking the car after scoring a lucky spot thanks to the still slightly early hour, Harry quickly freed Daisy from her car seat, collected all her things, and then off they went.

As per usual Carrie was manning her desk, the woman's eyes visibly widening once she caught sight of Daisy.

"She decided to cut her own hair. With manicure scissors." Harry didn't want her thinking he or Eggsy made a happen of leaving sharp, pointy objects where Daisy could reach them. God forbid he had to deal with that social worker, Ms. Brice, again.

"Ah. I see. Yes, these things do tend to happen. Poor mite."

"I wuv my new hair. It's scratchy like Eggsy's face when he's got whiskers." Daisy announced, whipping off her hat for emphasis. And so that she could again enjoy rubbing her own head.

As for her other statement Harry had never seen Eggsy with 'whiskers'. A tiny hint of stubble, yes, but Eggsy had mentioned a while back that he had to go a few days without shaving to approach the most basic of stubble.

Harry did not find his mental images of Eggsy with stubble unappealing in the slightest. He rather wanted to see it now.

And do some rubbing of his own.

And fuck...so not the thing to be thinking about in a daycare.

Sigh.