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[rickitikitarr]

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[formerself]

"Mmph."

He takes a gulp of tea.

"It was...weird. He was on the plane to Kentucky when he picked up."

So, a matter of hours away from his own grotesquely violent swansong.

"Last thing he knew was yelling at me because I failed the last test. Telling me he'd fix it. Seemed like he'd calmed down a bit on the flight over."

[rickitikitarr]

"God, so you couldn't-"

Oh no.

"I'm sorry, darling. That's just another kind of torture, isn't it?"

[formerself]

Eggsy shakes his head. It's like he said - he has no idea how he feels. Not a clue.

"Told him I'd fix it. He didn't know what I was on about, not exactly - 'course he didn't - but...I dunno. I got to ask him about my dad, at least. Mum never likes to talk about him."

[rickitikitarr]

"Yeah? Tell me."

He wonders, settling back, adjusting to get more comfortable.

"What was he like?"

[formerself]

Eggsy frowns.

"Kind, honest, hard-working. Wanted what was best for me. All that sort of - I don't think he really knew him. Shouldn't have expected anything else. I've always wanted to know stuff like - I dunno, who he was as a person. The team he supported, the kind of music he listened to, all that. Kind of stuff Mum would know, but whenever I ask she gets this look on her face..."

He shakes his head.

"I don't wanna hurt her. Maybe it'll be easier once my stepdad's out the picture."

[rickitikitarr]

"Maybe you can find him in papers. Old footage. Yearbooks. You can spot a friend of his in those and use your agency to hunt them down; as an old mate what he was like."

Is Ricki's predictable, intelligence-gathering perspective.

[formerself]

Eggsy smiles faintly.

"Yeah, I thought about that. His squaddies won't be hard to track down, at least, now I've got more than -- " He's about to say Google and then realises that that will mean fuck-all to Ricki. "Now I've got some real help."

He'd wanted Harry's perspective, more than anything, but in the cold light of day it's not like he and Harry know that much about each other. Not beyond what Harry gathered on him while he was keeping tabs, anyway. No reason the previous generation would have been different.

[rickitikitarr]

"I'm still sorry, darling."

He says, because he can see the disappointment- and clearly this doesn't quite make up for it.

"I hope you do get your deal."

[formerself]

"Either I'm gonna get it or I'm gonna just disappear," Eggsy says, in the quiet level tone of someone announcing a foregone conclusion. "Otherwise I'm here for as long as it takes."

[rickitikitarr]

He rubs his thumb over his bottom lip, and wonders;

"Ever think about bringing Max home with you?"

[formerself]

"No. Well - yeah, a bit, of course I have. But I know he'd never go for it, and - if he gets what he's here for, he'll have his world healing. He'll wanna go back there with Furiosa."

And he falters, because it's not like he's asked.

"I mean. He must do."

[rickitikitarr]

"He probably will?"

He says, but;

"Sometimes it's nice to be asked. To feel wanted. To know you have multiple places to go."

[formerself]

"Yeah."

And then he gives Ricki a quick, nervous look and says the inevitable.

"--you know, if you ever wanted another option. You an' your family," whoever he feels that includes. "You know I'd do whatever it took."

There are honestly some things he's never said to Ricki because he feels like they're face-meltingly obvious, but this, in this moment, feels like it needs to have a light shone on it.

[rickitikitarr]

"My ex-wife loves her extended family."

He says, with a slight smile of his own.

"So I know just where and when I have to be, I'm afraid."

[formerself]

"Yeah. Figured it'd be like that, all the stuff you said - " Staying local, hiding out, teaching kids English in some missionary school. Not the planning of a man who thought there was any chance of upping sticks and moving elsewhere.

But like he also said, it's nice to be asked.

[rickitikitarr]

"Anything changes."

He'll let him know.

"Even if I'd have to learn the internet."

[formerself]

Eggsy smiles bright and innocent at him. "Don't worry, they run like - special classes. For the elderly an' easily confused."

[rickitikitarr]

Ricki snorts and tries to give him a kick in the leg with one heel. He can't even really argue, though.

"Brat. Imp. Scoundrel."

[formerself]

He laughs outright at that.

"Jesus, Ricki, you can't have a go at me for callin' you old when you sound like Charles Dickens wrote all your fuckin' insults."

[rickitikitarr]

"I know. But I make a point of not using profanity in front of children."

He says, with a broad grin of his own.

"They copy whatever they hear, you know."

[formerself]

"And I'm sure the first impression I made on you was all about my delicate fuckin' language."

He sips his tea and sobers a little.

"Did you, uh, did you hear from George Smiley?"

[rickitikitarr]

"Yeah."

He admits, expression clouding over as well.

"Yeah- did you?"

[formerself]

"Yeah. Not for long, but...I did, yeah. He asked if I was a probationer, I sort of went with it."

He eyes Ricki warily.

"He must have thought you were...."

Dead, or at the very least irretrievably gone.

[rickitikitarr]

"Dead, yes."

He says, with an arch of his eyebrows.

"I gave him quite a fright."

[formerself]

"No shit." He clears his throat. "What'd you talk about?"