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Lunch With Eggsy's Friend
After calling Eggsy to make sure that there was nothing he needed to pick up for Daisy's project on his way home-though heavens knows how he would have fared if there had been and he'd had to go hunting in the shops-Harry bid a temporary goodbye to his office and then headed out for lunch at home. He would be back in a couple of hours, he promised, barring some unfortunate happenings at work or home. It was a toss-up as to which was more likely, really, which did not bode well for his digestion. Or the rest of the afternoon. He almost wished that his mother would appear to act as a distraction.
Almost. He wasn't quite that desperate. Yet.
Pulling up to the house Harry took a deep breath, got out of the car, sent one last silent request to the powers that be that this would all go well, and then approached the front door.
Letting himself in Harry took an appreciative note of the smells coming from the dining room. Ah. He loved coming home at mealtimes. The sound of Eggsy's voice drew his attention, though the topic under discussion was unexpected.
"-right bitch. So what ya do is soak some paper towel in vinegar and then wrap it round the parts where the hard water residue built up on ya. Leave it for ten minutes and then pour warm water all over ta get off the remaining vinegar. DON'T forget that part. Vinegar's an acid, remember. So lots of warm water and then that's that."
"Worth a shot. Sounds easy, at least." Came a new voice, the accent identifying who that voice most likely belonged to.
And thinking that sneaking up on Eggsy's friend would most likely not be the best way to begin their relationship Harry opted to call out his arrival.
"Eggsy. Daisy. I'm home."
"UNCA HARRY!"
Oh yes. Someone was definitely excited about her art project, Harry thought as Daisy came running out of the dining room and straight for him like a heat seeking missile.
His hands thankfully free Harry bent down to scoop her up and settle her on his hip. As was typical of Daisy, food was her primary source of excitement after the art project. A fact she made very clear as Daisy stated that she'd been waiting for forever for him to get home.
"I would have liked to have been here sooner as well. Did you find the right paper for your project?"
Nodding hard Daisy inform him that she had found the prettiest paper ever. It had daisies on it.
"Well that's very appropriate, isn't it?"
"What's app-oepiate?"
"It means perfect for your project."
"Oh. Yeah. It's the most app-oepiate paper ever!"
Laughing over that Harry smiled at her before turning his attention to the two other men who'd come over to join them.
At first glance Harry could see that Ryan, like Eggsy, had very much embraced the chav look so popular with certain youth. Unfortunately. The second thought was that like Eggsy when Harry first met him, Harry got a sense of deep hunger from Ryan. And not just that the boy wasn't being fed enough judging by his face and frame. There was the feeling that he had spent his life with his face pressed against windows, looking in at things he'd always wanted but never had. And expected to be punished for wanting them.
It was one of Harry's new missions in life to ensure that Eggsy did not look like that anymore.
"Hello. You must be Eggsy's friend Ryan. It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Harry Hart, as you no doubt already know. Please, call me Harry."
Looking for a moment like Harry's hand was a mouse trap just waiting to spring on him, the young man needed an encouraging look from Eggsy before he took the necessary couple of steps and slid his hand into Harry's.
A weak handshake, Harry noted. But then, Ryan probably didn't do a lot of handshaking. Which was probably a very snobbish thought for him to have-but he had read the boy's bio as one of Eggsy's known associates so he wasn't wrong, either.
"Hi."
Letting go of Ryan's hand after that less than thrilled greeting, Harry went with the next, most logical thing to talk about. "I've been very impressed with the mural in Daisy's room. You're quite talented."
That earned him a rough shrug. "It's nothin."
"On the contrary. The world would be a much darker, less worth living place if not for the arts. If not for those, like yourself, who attempt to make something ordinary something so much more."
That got him a small smile, at least. He'd take the win.
Giving him a not terribly discrete thumbs up-though Ryan didn't seem to notice-Eggsy beamed at Harry as he stated that he hoped he had an appetite cause he might have gone a bit overboard with lunch.
"We gets giant meatballs and gar-wick bread and peaser salad!"
"All that?"
"Uh huh. No dessert." Daisy added, shaking her head sadly. And then pointed at her head like Harry might have somehow forgot what she'd done. Which was not happening any time soon.
"Well I don't suppose we'd have room for one of Eggsy's desserts even if we did. Well perhaps you would, but you really must think of my waistline, Daisy."
"There ain't nothin wrong with your waistline, H'arry." Eggsy told him, his accent a touch thicker than normal. Slipping in to old habits, or trying to make Ryan more comfortable, perhaps.
"You do recall Percival teasing me extensively about all the gym time I've had to fit into my schedule because of you, don't you? It was only last night after all."
"Unca Harry's pretty."
Laughing, Harry thanked her for the compliment.
"Right. Agree to disagree. Bout the being fit thing. Now come on, you lot. In ta the dining room so we can eat before it all gets cold."
"FOOD!"
Ears ringing a little Harry gestured for the other two to proceed them and 'lead' the way in.
Entering the room Harry noted that rather than put Ryan on Harry's other side, which would have made sense balance wise, Eggsy had set the table so Ryan would be sitting on Daisy's other side instead. Mr. Fox would have to share her seat, Harry supposed. But if Eggsy thought that would make Ryan more comfortable then so be it, he wouldn't say anything.
Handing Daisy off to Eggsy when the latter held out his arms expectantly, Harry gave him a reassuring look and then walked around to take his customary seat while Eggsy got his sister settled to her liking. Poor Mr. Fox was indeed quite squished at her side, but of course could not be left out. Heaven forbid.
The 'giant' meatballs turned out to be quite large, not exactly balls, and rather weird looking when you cut into them and discovered the spaghetti and cheese inside, but that didn't change the brilliance of its smell and taste. Particularly when paired with Eggsy's amazing garlic bread and excellent Caesar salad. Harry only wished he could pile up his plate like the two younger men could.
Oh to have the metabolism of a twenty-year-old man, Harry thought to himself with an inward sigh of envy. He would likely continue to think that to himself until Eggsy hit thirty. Then he'd have to change the number, but not the sentiment.
Eggsy friend obviously preferred to concentrate on his food rather than conversation, and thinking it best not to push Harry did his best to divide his time between eating, complimenting Eggsy on the food, and talking about in sequential things Ryan could talk about too, if he chose.
He didn't. Though at least he was loudly appreciative of the food, making lots of yummy noises and complimenting Eggsy on the weird as fuck meatball/spaghetti.
Eggsy told his friend not to swear in front of Daisy, possibly worried that Harry would say something along those lines if he didn't. As he did with Eggsy, though Eggsy was getting better about it.
The look Ryan gave Eggsy in turn said he thought that was ridiculous. And the look he shot in Harry's direction made it clear who he thought was being unreasonable to ask him to mind his language in front of a child. Which...fair.
"Oi. Ya want me ta get called into the daycare cause Daisy used them words round her classmates?"
Also very true, Harry mentally added.
"Yeah, yeah. I got it. Though seriously, Bruv. This whole spaghetti in the meatball thing is weird but brill. Like somethin on a cooking show like what Gordon Ramsay does. Do ya need ta take your shirt off every time ya cook too?"
The boy was both teasing and obviously testing Eggsy and Harry too.
Harry, for his part, was doing his best not to think about how much more he would appreciate meals if Eggsy was always topless for them. But no, that was just asking for him to get a bad burn. The shirts had to stay on. Especially since Merlin kept making a pest of himself, dropping in all the time.
"I keep the shirt on less I get somethin on it. Now keep eatin afor it gets cold." A moment's pause. "And since when do ya watch cookin shows?"
"Mum."
"Right. Actually, I should get her recipe for her special chicken casserole."
Ryan shot a sidelong glance in Harry's direction. "Not somethin posh people eat much, casserole."
"You'd be surprised. And I'll look forward to trying your mother's casserole. I'm sure Eggsy will do it justice."
What Ryan would have said to that was interrupted by Daisy asking Eggsy for more garlic bread.
That was probably for the best. So far...well things could be going worse.
Even as he thought that Harry wanted to kick himself in his backside for thinking that. That was just asking for it, dammit.
)
Later Harry would muse ironically over the fact that the thing that seemed to tip the odds in Harry's favor when it came to Ryan's opinion of him-at least for now-was entirely thanks to Daisy's love of food. As in her enthusiasm for the meal had caused Daisy to be slightly messier than normal, the sauce ending up on her hands and ringing her mouth like clown makeup. And Harry had never been terribly fond of clowns, truth be told. There's been an incident involving a very ugly, child sized clown in a closet during his childhood that-nevermind. Not important. What was important, at least to Ryan, was that Harry had taken notice of the mess Daisy was making of herself and had used her napkin to clean her off a little while she nibbled on some garlic bread.
"All clean?" Daisy asked when he was done.
"You'll need some soap and water for that, I'm afraid, but you'll do for now."
"Kay."
"Thought ya didn't know nothin bout takin care of sprogs?"
Blinking in surprise, Harry had to admit he was quite chuffed that Ryan seemed to be implying that Harry did know how to take care of children.
"I'm still very much a work in progress. And been very much at a loss without Eggsy. Though I am better than I thought I would be at it. My family...well in the past other people have always been hired to tend to the children and so I wasn't entirely sure we had anything resembling a hands-on parenting gene. As it turns out I do have them, undeveloped as they are."
"You're great with Daisy."
"I still panic a little when you leave me alone with her." Harry shot back, giving Eggsy's a 'you know I'm right' smile. "But I am getting better. And it is very helpful that she has the verbal skills to tell me what she wants and needs, unlike an infant."
Even if she did mangle their country's language beyond recognition at times. But yes, thank all the powers ever created she wasn't a baby when she'd come to live with him. That would have been...problematic.
"Does that mean I got ta supervise you elpin her with the project?" Eggsy teased.
"That I think we can manage. Can't we, Daisy."
Daisy blinked back at him owlishly, having no idea what was going on. She WAS still eating after all.
"We're going to work on your project after lunch, yes?"
"YEAH!" Was her enthusiastic response, food slightly visible in her mouth given how wide she had to open it to be that loud.
Oh well.
"We printed out all the piccies, by the way. Ya just have to put em on the board and write somethin like 'Daisy's Family' on it. I figure ya could do bubble letters, then she colors em in."
Harry tried to remember the last time he'd had to use bubble letters and failed. Again. Hopefully he remembered how. And if they were bad, surely Daisy's coloring would hide the worst of it. Not that it really mattered given it was a three-year old's project. All the other projects would look the same-save for those projects taken over by helicopter parents who did the poster for their child instead.
Note to self-let Daisy do the majority of it no matter how bad the finished results would be. This was her project and he was NOT going to be one of those parents who cared more about appearances than their child's learning and happiness. Daisy was very excited about this and it was HER project.
Maybe Eggsy should supervise. A little. Bollocks.
"I don'ts got a piccie of me and Mr. Addy-son." Daisy stated sadly, sighing as hugely as a toddler could as she brought Harry's attention back to her.
"When he gets back we'll definitely arrange for you to get one with him." Harry promised her. He'd pull the Boss card if necessary...though oddly he didn't think it would come to that. He had the feeling Addison would be secretly pleased to do it...while saying the opposite to his dying day.
In his mind Harry pictured that being Bors' final words right before he blew himself up. Because that was absolutely going to be how the other man went when his luck finally ran out. Addison blew himself up on a semi regular basis and one of these times he wasn't going to walk away from it.
But yes, as he flew through the air Harry could picture perfectly the man yelling 'I am not soft on Daisy'. Just in case those were his last words.
It really was a pity that the man refused to see any of the mental healers, Harry thought with a small sigh. And that they refused to see Bors at this point despite their oaths.
"I gets a picture with Mr. Addy-son? Pinky swear?"
"Pinky swear." Harry returned, linking his pinky with hers to seal the deal.
Satisfied with that Daisy went back to smiling as she stated that she'd picked the bestest piccies for her poster.
"I look forward to seeing them."
Daisy nodded in absolute agreement with that.
)
And as planned, once lunch was finished and Eggsy had, as per usual, refused all help cleaning up because it had to be done 'his way', Ryan headed upstairs to get back to work finishing up Daisy's wall and Harry and Daisy headed into the family room where everything had already been set out for them to begin their work. Which really shouldn't take long-but Harry certainly wasn't holding his breath there. He might not have had Daisy that long, but he had had her long enough to know that even simple tasks could take a hundred times longer than you thought they would just because of toddler logic or their 'help'.
"Dee's are my piccies." Daisy announced, having run into the room ahead of him and scooped them up off the coffee table. Eager to show them off she ran back over to his side and held them up for his approval.
"Thank you." Taking them with great formality Harry had to smile as he saw the top picture, which was one of the three of them that he hadn't seen yet. Crouching down to show her, Harry asked if she knew where Eggsy had gotten this picture of the three of them at his aunt's charity picnic.
Daisy shrugged.
"I see." Well either way it was a lovely shot of him holding Daisy while she was half asleep, Eggsy close against his side and the two of them looking at the camera-only he didn't remember having the picture taken in the first place. Of course his aunt did have professional photographers at her events, so odds were that was the most likely source. He'd have to ask Eggsy later.
Either way he definitely wanted a framed copy of it for his desk.
The next picture was of Daisy and her mother, the shot nice enough. Though sad as well. In the picture Eggsy and Daisy's mother was smiling as she held her daughter against her chest-Daisy was a great deal smaller, perhaps one in the picture-but there were lines on her face and a quiet sadness in her eyes that spoke of a hard life. A painful one she tried to smile and bear with.
"This one of your mother is very nice."
"Mummy's in Heaven."
"She is, yes. She would be very proud of you and what a good girl you've become."
Beaming, Daisy rocked back and forth on her heels, her smile seeming to light up the room. She would, the Fates willing, never know the tragedies her mother had.
He would do his very best to ensure that that happened.
