PSL: For Charles

[fucking_gentleman]

It took two days for things to be sorted enough for Harry Devere to ping on the Kingsman's systems.

Everyone had been handling somewhat more important things for those two days. A lot of people were dead. A lot more were injured. Even more than that were deeply traumatised by the maiming, murdering and mayhem which had ensued while the signal was broadcast.

And even when they weren't, no one had been expecting the ping. Harry's final footage had been graphic, staring at the barrel of the gun, the sound of firing and then the cut transmission. There were plans, of course, to eventually recover his body for burial but they were far from a priority.

Until Harry Devere pinged the system.

Harry Devere, admitted to the ICU of the Livingston Hospital in Kentucky seven hours before V-Day went live. He survived that by the luck of being in a sealed ward, away from people who viewed him as an actual person worth attacking.

Merlin was busy holding down the fort and being Merlin. Therefore, he told Charles to take whatever damn plane he wanted and get to Kentucky and get Harry into the safety of the Kingsman medical facility as fast as he could. He was given a passport which said he was Charles Devere, Harry's younger brother and paperwork which claimed the legal right to make decisions for his unmarried brother in the absence of parents.

All of these things were delivered with the instruction that no one was to know Harry Hart was alive. Not until they knew he would stay that way and not until he was back with them, awake and some reasonable semblance of the man they knew.

Comments

[grailknight]

"Yes." They could get back home in just over three hours. If Harry was stable, he could work with that time table.

"You aren't going to die here, Harry."

[fucking_gentleman]

"No, of course not. But if I do, I demand I be stuffed and used to terrorise new recruits in some fashion. Maybe my head mounted over Merlin's desk. 'Galahad, annoyed Merlin one too many times.' Something like that."

He sighed heavily, head tipping back into the pillows. "I refuse to die in a hospital bed having survived being shot. I refuse."

[grailknight]

Charles snorted. "You are the most stubborn man I know. You are strong and healthy before what happened. You came back to us after the skirmish earlier this year. I daresay this won't be any different."

[fucking_gentleman]

"Skirmi- oh. Professor Arnold exploding." He remembered that. It was messy. "I'm coming back with one less eye, from the sound of it."

Or one less functional eye, at least.

[grailknight]

"And you were in a coma after that event. One less eye is not a large sacrifice for being shot in the face."

[fucking_gentleman]

"You're not the one who's going to be lopsided." Harry sniffed slightly.

[grailknight]

Charles gave him a sober look. "Ah, that famous Harry Hart vanity rearing its head. I would give up an eye to have James return. I would do nearly anything for his return." With the exception of selling out some people. Killing wasn't outside reason. "I am 'lopsided' in a different manner of speaking." Single after nineteen years was difficult to get used to.

[fucking_gentleman]

"Charles, if I could hand myself over to give you James back, I would." And he meant it. He was vain, yes, but he was also aware that he was older, alone and his work mates aside, no one would really miss him. His family would grieve, but they had hardly been close for decades.

But he couldn't. James was very, very dead and Harry was, for now, alive.

[grailknight]

"I know. You and your martyr mentality. You and him were the same about that." Lee Unwin's sacrifice had changed both men. "But now I think it is more important for us to rely on one another."

[fucking_gentleman]

"I wouldn't do it for anyone else," Harry protested. "I have never taken undue risk and should I have had you at home, I would keep it that way."

Liar. He took risks all the time, but never enough that he could be called on it.

"I'm hardly in a state to be relied upon."

[grailknight]

He scoffed."Bloody liar." Charles sighed. "And why is that? You're conscious and lucid. Your memory might be spotty as far as recent event are concerned, but it is otherwise intact. I still have my dear friend available to me."

[fucking_gentleman]

"At the moment."

He could crash. And even if it didn't kill him, it could do significant damage. He could lose years. He could lose words.

"... does Eggsy know I'm alive? We, I said some things when we last spoke. Awful things. We rowed."

[grailknight]

"And I will gladly take 'at the moment.' It is more than what I had before we found you."

Charles began stroking the top of Harry's hand with his opposite hand from the one he was still gripping Harry's hand with. "He hasn't been informed as of yet. Only Merlin and I know that you are here."

[fucking_gentleman]

"I need to borrow your glasses and a mirror. I, you know how I can be. When I get upset."

He was trained to find weak points and exploit them and he did it ruthlessly to Eggsy. "He needs to know I'm sorry for our fight. For what I said to him. You understand." He knew Charles would understand. They had parted angry and Harry very nearly didn't get a chance to set it right for Eggsy.

[grailknight]

"All right." Who was he to stop Harry from communicating with the young man Harry felt he owed something to? "I have a small mirror on my person, but if you require something larger, I can ask a nurse."

[fucking_gentleman]

How he'd wear glasses was another matter with all the bandaging on his face and head was another matter. "It should be fine. I just, need to record something small."

[grailknight]

He reached into his suit jacket and removed a glasses case and a small black sleeve. From the sleeve he revealed a hand mirror. Sometimes old technology proved the most useful. "Would you like me to put the glasses on you?"

[fucking_gentleman]

"Mm. Please." He didn't have enough coordination to manage it himself. "... how am I going to wear them? My head is bandaged." He tried to reach up and pat his face again.

[grailknight]

"Well, we can try this: you hold the mirror and I can hold the glasses. That may work."

[fucking_gentleman]

"... or I could just address you, wearing the glasses." That suddenly seemed far more reasonable.

[grailknight]

He nodded. "Yes, of course. Tell me when you are ready." He waited until Harry told him before putting on the glasses.

[fucking_gentleman]

Harry thought for a moment, then nodded. "I'm ready."

He took a breath, looking down and up again. "Hello, Eggsy. As you'll realise from this, rumours of death have been highly exaggerated. I don't know what the future will hold for my recovery, but I don't want your future marred by our fight.

"I am proud of you. I've heard what you did, how you conducted yourself, and I am so incredibly proud of you. Whatever happens to me, I need you to be aware of that. And I am sorry for the things I said to you. I was wrong. I don't often admit that. Look after yourself and your mother and sister. And remember, you've proved them all wrong. Even me. And I couldn't be happier for that."

He sank back into the pillows, worn out.

[grailknight]

Charles set the record and private to Eggsy. He softly smiled. When Harry was finished, he turned off the glasses, removed them and returned them and the hand mirror to his inner pocket. "Do you need anything, Harry?"

[fucking_gentleman]

Harry managed a soft snort, somewhere between amusement and exhaustion. "Many things, but none possible nor allowed. Thank you for putting up with my mood. I would apologise, but it's likely to happen again and again."

[grailknight]

He slowly raised an eyebrow. "And if there are any that are physically strenuous, then definitely not." Charles chuckled. "Twenty-three years of friendship has taught me much about you, old friend."