Chapter 2

As Harry sat in the back of the cab on his way home, he thought back on Eggsy's reaction. He'd give the younger man a week before attempting to speak to him. A ping from his glasses echoed through the car as Merlin's voice came through the comms. He shouldn't have been surprised when he heard the brogue say, "If you do that, it's your funeral… again." After 25 years of friendship, the tech still knew exactly what the agent was thinking even when not together.

The new Arthur spent the next week monitoring Eggsy's movements. He was proud of his protégé's improvement in training and quite impressed with the speed in which he could complete the missions assigned to him. After Harry finished reviewing the video feed of his third mission in a week, he could understand why Merlin had begun pairing Lancelot and Galahad together. They were quick, efficient, and seemed to be able to read the other better than he could have in his early days. He didn't usually approve of partnerships, but of course these two always broke through expectations.

At the end of every week, Harry would watch Eggsy leave the shop with Roxy from the safety of his office and laptop screen. When the door closed behind the friends, he would say to himself, "Next week. I'll speak to him next week." Then another week would pass and he'd repeat the same thought over and over again.

Two months passed without avail, then the two youngest agents were sent on what was listed as a short surveillance mission. Unfortunately, the intelligence had been incomplete. The man that Roxy had been flirting with turned out to be the very tip of the iceberg. The two agents had uncovered a drug and human smuggling ring. The three day mission in Johannesburg had turned into three weeks and four more agents were sent in for clean-up and extraction. They fought hard and the feed from their glasses was almost too much for the veteran agent himself to watch. The explosion was the last thing all the videos showed before going black.

Upon returning, three agents were in the infirmary, including Eggsy who would remain in a medically induced coma for another week. After all the agents had left the manor for the day, Harry would sit at the young man's bedside for a few hours and just think. By the end of the week as he started showing signs of improvement and ready to be awoken, Arthur stopped making his late night visits.

When Eggsy returned to missions a couple weeks later, he predictably continued to give Harry the cold shoulder. Roxy, his best friend, did as well. As busy agents, the two youngest were rarely able to make the weekly Round Table meetings and Merlin would just assign their new missions upon return. This week however was different. Galahad would be attending his first meeting in several months. Harry knew this and he was ready. Now he just had to get the incorrigible young man to speak to him.

As luck would have it, Eggsy was the first to arrive for the week meeting. The older man's head shot up as he saw the subject of his thoughts enter the still quiet room. The dawning look of realization was clear on his face as he noticed that Harry was the only one in the room and there was no other buffer between the two. The older man jumped at this chance and called out to him before he could retreat back into the shop.

"Eggsy," Harry stood and re-buttoned his suit jacket before continuing, "may we please speak?" He was proud of himself for masking the nervousness in his voice.

When the young agent turned back into the room, Harry could see the stone-faced mask that had never looked right on Eggsy was in place. With a hint of his chav upbringing in voice, he responded stiffly, "You're the boss, mate."

Understanding that this wasn't going to be the friendly conversation from before Kentucky, he stayed by his seat at the end of the long table. He didn't want to risky running Eggsy off before he had a proper chance to speak. All thoughts of what he truly wanted to say went out the window as he instead said, "This is the first chance we have had to speak since my return and I do not want others to think they can act as unprofessional as you did the last time we met. Your manner of action was not fit for a Kingsman agent and I hope we will not be required to have this sort of conversation again. Am I making myself clear?"

As taller man spoke, the blond turned fully back into the room and stood up straight as if to prove himself worthy of his position. A brief silence fell before he nodded and responded in a very gentlemanly accent, "I apologize, Arthur. It won't happen again."

Harry wasn't sure if he'd just made things between the two worse or not, the former being more likely. "Eggs – Galahad. Forgiven. I will take this as a one-off, considering the circumstances. See to it that it does not happen again." Unbuttoning his suit jacket, the brunet resumed his seat at the head of the table and motioned with a hand for Eggsy to take his designated seat. Galahad nodded in understanding and seated himself as the other knights began to filter into the room for the meeting.

Being one of the last to enter, Roxy noticed Eggsy's lost-in-thought expression. She took her seat next to Eggsy, squeezed his hand in silent support, and looked sternly at her boss before turning to the agent on the other side of her to accept the week's dossier.