PSL: For Charles

[fucking_gentleman]

It was a week before they were willing to let Harry be moved.

He had another emergency surgery where they had to concede to losing his left eye to keep the nerve intact. Once they managed to get him stable again, they made him get through five days of no crashing, no unpredicted dips or spikes, just quiet healing and level drug intake.

Then and only then was it agreed that Harry could be transported back to England. It would be with transport staff, a doctor and two nurses and he was kept in light sedation to keep his pain manageable while they moved him.

They were met in the Kingsman hangar by Merlin. He didn't offer any words, just stood by Harry's sleeping form for a while and then left with an instruction to settle him in medical called back over one shoulder.

When Harry did regain consciousness, it was in the blessedly familiar surrounds of Kingsman medical. He actually sighed with the relief, staring at the ceiling and willing his emotions back under control.

Comments

[grailknight]

"You're ready or that sort of detail work?"

[fucking_gentleman]

"No." Harry could be realistic about it. "But it gives me something clear to aim for with my hand."

[grailknight]

He smiled. "When would you like to be able to do that?"

[fucking_gentleman]

"Today." Realistically... he sighed softly. "Fine... I would like to be able to strip and clean and reassemble a gun within two months."

[grailknight]

"I'll wager that you can do that within one month."

[fucking_gentleman]

"Done." Harry hefted his right hand close Charles. "If you want to shake on it, you're going to have to do the rest."

[grailknight]

"And look, there is already progress." He took Harry's hand and gave it a proper shake. Then Charles clasped his hands around Harry's. "You have already many strides."

[fucking_gentleman]

Harry grumbled slightly, but managed to twitch his fingers in a slight squeeze on Charles' hand. "You mean: Alive, awake, fairly lucid?"

[grailknight]

"Yes among others. You're eating on your own, you can hold a conversation for an hour, and your wittiness has returned."

[fucking_gentleman]

"For now. I'm awake and on minimal medication but once the pain returns, I will resume being a bad tempered, barely cognizant vegetable."

[grailknight]

"Never. You are just going to make more strides in your recovery." And Charles could not be persuaded to see any different.

[fucking_gentleman]

Harry focused trying to move his right hand–and Charles'–up to here he could duck his head to press a chivalric kiss to Charles' knuckles.

[grailknight]

The corner of his mouth twitched into a full and bright smile. The look he gave Harry was filled with love and gratitude.

[fucking_gentleman]

Harry patted Charles' hand with his left one, much more comfortable moving and using that hand. "Now, be a good man and pass that creme caramel over, thank you."

[grailknight]

"Yes, of course." With his left hand he passed it to Harry. Charles's dominant hand was his left, but he was skilled with both

[fucking_gentleman]

Harry's was right, ostensibly, but he'd always been naturally ambidextrous. After this accident, that might have changed but he wasn't willing to give up yet.

He accepted the plate and took his hand back, determined to hold the plate with his right hand while eating with his left.

[grailknight]

Charles picked up his cup of tea. "Am I mistaken, or was your longest time spent in here came at the result of getting blown up in the face by Professor Arnold?"

[fucking_gentleman]

Harry managed to look entirely smug. "Entirely correct. My second longest stay was before you joined us, when we had much more primitive medical care... and support in the field."

[grailknight]

"You haven't made a terrible record for yourself." Charles sipped his tea. "Ah, the 1980s." He nodded. "Thirty-five years makes an incredible difference."

[fucking_gentleman]

"I was caught in an IRA bomb." The explosion itself had never been recovered in his memory. He remembered hitting the pavement, rolling, and then being in hospital. Shrapnel had taken several operations to remove and they had installed pins in his lower leg. "So to speak."

[grailknight]

"What a nasty affair." James and he had to deal with a fair few of those before the IRA accepted a ceasefire. James had been one of their best demolitions experts.

"I am certain that you'll recover this time too."

[fucking_gentleman]

Harry had not intended on being there. He'd simply been young and close enough to respond to the intel. "I'm not sure I even remember being that young, anymore. Seems like a dream."

[grailknight]

"Yes. You were still a young man when we first met, but you were also this seasoned Agent. At some point you stopped being elder and mentor and became my fellow. I cannot distinguish when that change took place." The hundreds of lives he had taken had cost him dearly. The suggestion made by Harry earlier still weighed in his mind. What would he do now that he had become sick from death?

[fucking_gentleman]

Harry gave a helpless shrug. Relationships changed. it was just what they did with time. From one thing to another, or even changed inside of what they were. "Well, I do plan on becoming the longest lived agent to date. And then, as discussed, I demand to be taxidermied and put in the recruits barracks in a glass case."

[grailknight]

"Excellent. You have my uncle and a few others to best." His uncle was the most recent retiree. "Yes. That idea is disturbing to me. I can imagine what new recruits are going to think."