mission thirty nine ~ eggsy unwin

late night snack

I'm tired. But most importantly I'm hungry. 

I skipped dinner earlier tonight to go visit my father again. A decision that I now regret, at two in the morning. My stomach grumbling woke me from my restless slumber, so I wrap myself in my Kingsman robe, whistle for Apollo to follow me (he sleepily obliges), and tread silently down one of the many corridors of this establishment. 

I could be in my actual bedroom right now, but sleeping alone at me and my father's house just seems so wrong right now. I need to be here in the event that he wakes up, or if something goes wrong. 

My feet patter lightly down the stairs as I head in the direction of the kitchens. Pale moonlight fills the hallway, and the cold tile flooring is like ice to my bare feet. I pull my robe around me tighter, speeding up. 

The kitchen doors are just ahead, I speed up even more, ravished. The doors squeak loudly as I push them open, heading straight for the fridge. By its light, I search for the bag of apples I hid the other day. I turn around to lean against the fridge as I bite into it, my eyes closed from fatigue. 

"Why you look simply, ravenous."

I yelp in fear, throwing my apple onto the ground as I search for the owner of the voice. Eggsy Unwin sits cross-legged on the steel countertop, munching on one of my apples with a smug smile. 

"Get it? Because normally you would say ravishing, but since you look like you haven't eaten in a week I thought I'd-"

"Yeah, I get it Eggsy, thanks." I say bitterly, picking up my apple and throwing it into the bin. 

"What are you doing Y/N? That's a perfectly good apple!" He says, jumping down and standing across from me. 

"First of all, you can't call me Y/N. Unless you become the next Lancelot, it's Atkins. Second of all," I continue, as I reach into the fridge for another apple without breaking eye contact. "that apple touched the ground, there are probably thousands of microbes all over it by now."

"Yeah, 'cos you threw it into the bin."

"No!" I exclaim, exasperated, as I shake my head. 

He grins and takes another bite of his apple. "So what's your dog's name?" 

"Apollo." I say. "You were there when I named him though, I don't know why you're asking."

He laughs nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. "Yeah, I was just making conversation. Hoping that when I asked about your dog you would then ask about mine. An open-ended question I believe it's called."

I raise my eyebrows and nod. "What's your dog's name then Eggsy? As you seem desperate to tell me."

"J.B." He says, picking the pug up and scratching behind its ears. 

"And what does J.B stand for?" I follow up.

"Jack Bauer."

I laugh at the reference, Eggsy seems pleased with himself. 

"Wow, I managed to make agent Atkins laugh. I must be the luckiest man alive." He takes a confident bite out of his apple, chewing with his mouth open. 

I scowl at him. "Close your mouth, that's disgusting."

"Aha!" He says, his mouth still open. "I found your secret weakness. I shall use this to hold over your head for the rest of your life."

The fridge beeps angrily at me, telling me to close it to conserve energy. I push it shut, plunging us into near darkness. I can see Eggsy's silhouette a foot away from me. 

"Why don't you just open the fridge again?" He asks dumbly. 

"It's programmed to beep if I open it again within the next five minutes. Our fridges actually care about energy saving you see, without these precautions people would just open it again and again until global warming kills us all."

Eggsy laughs at my pessimism. "You sure are a bundle of fun aren't 'ya?"

"Oh yeah?" I say, getting annoyed by his unnecessary amusement. "Step up here and I'll show you exactly how much fun I am."

The second the words leave my mouth I regret them. That sounded a lot like I was hitting on him. Fuck. 

"My my my Miss Atkins. I didn't think you felt that way towards me." He says, and I can hear the amusement in his voice. 

"I didn't mean it like-"

"Sure. I'll believe that" he whispers. "on one condition."

I sigh under my breath. "What's your condition Eggsy?"

"That you quit the tough girl act and start acting friendly."

"I am perfectly friendly thank you very much." I say with outrage. 

"Are you sure about that?" He questions. "Because when I first met you you immediately stalked away. You shout at all the recruits and you snap at the slightest inconvenience. If I so much as dare to chew with my mouth open under the cover of darkness, you lose your mind."

The silence that follows his words is toxic. 

Yes, I may be harsh at times. But what does he expect? He is here to prove himself worthy as the new Lancelot, not become my BFF. Showing him kindness isn't going to get him anywhere.

"You may think I'm just a regular bitch. And I'm okay with that." I say, prodding him in the chest. He backs away into the counter slightly. "Because I'm not here to make friends with you. I'm here to teach you and to select you, possibly, as the new Lancelot. Now if you can't handle my bad attitude, that's perfectly fine. You can go straight home because I'm not going to change for anyone. If you do get picked as the new Lancelot, which I highly doubt, I'll be your co-worker. So you better get used to me, or else your life as a Kingsman is going to be utter hell."

And with that, I whistle for Apollo and walk out of the kitchen, tossing the rest of my apple into the trash on my way out with a smug smile. 

That boy may be an idiot, but it sure as hell is fun to berate him. 

[1006 words]