Work Text
Emery woke up the same way she always did: face up in her bed, hand reached underneath her pillow to feel the curved handle of her knife there, staring straight at the door to her room inside the Kingsman headquarters, expecting the worst. Of course, the worst hand't been waiting at her doorstep with baited breath in many a month. Not since Lancelot...not since Galahad. She pressed the heels of her hands against her eyes, shaking her head as she did so, not letting the thought get to her too terribly. She was an Agent of The Kingsman Secret Service after all, she didn't have time to let the past haunt her. Evil could always be waiting at every doorstep. Sorrow over the lost of old teammates didn't change that. Sorrow over anything didn't change that.Sighing, she fell back onto her pillow with a heavy flop, the sound sending a small thing from under her bed skittering out, it's tiny claws on the hardwood floor. Her small corgi, Basil, was sitting at the edge of her bed, tongue lolling out, asking to be pet, to be loved. He wanted head scratches. Her wake up call, following her dreams, nearly every day. She reached over and rubbed Basil behind the ears, who in return licked the side of her wrist. She had Basil since the time she had been initiated into Kingsman. Sweet boy, her only love in this world, aside from her aunt, sort of. After she finished giving him a good pet, she slid out of bed and into her slippers, checking the phone that was on her nightstand. She had three messages. All from Roxy. Her friend. The only other girl in Kingsman with her. The new Lancelot. (Well, the only other female agent. There were others, secretaries, informants, but on the front lines? Just her and Roxy).She swiped open the messages, reading them quickly.
Really, Em, I am about to lose my shit at this boy. Where are you?
Which I know doesn't really bother you because he's my friend, not yours, but Lord help me, Em, I'm literally going to lose it. Wake upppp.
Please just come meet me at my room? I'll have breakfast waiting. And coffee. Your fave, love.
Emery didn't even have to ask to know who Roxy was talking about. Eggsy Unwin. The current acting Galahad. She rolled her eyes at the thought. He was such a child, always had been. Never really took this whole thing seriously. She thought about typing a reply but set her phone back down. She would just go over to Roxy's room now, meet her there, get this whole thing sorted out. And have her coffee. Black, no sugar, no cream. Just how she liked it before a busy work day.She quickly changed into t-shirt and a navy blue hoody, brushing her long, tangled brown hair out into something that resembled presentable. Presentable would do for now. She could get properly dressed later. Just a quick visit for coffee and then she could get back to whatever her job would be today. She had been on the trail of some underground organization for a moment now, and she wanted to get back to that. But first, she supposed, she should deal with her friend's feelings.Emery Watson had never been one for feelings, had never been one for friends. She had spent most of her life as a child under the care of a nanny, because her parents were away on business. (Her mother, secretly, a Kingsman, her father, secretly, working for the enemy. Very poetic, don't you think?). And then when they were dead, she was placed under guardianship of her aunt, who while very loving, and very American, she was not very present in Emery's life. She had a busy job, which Em always respected. Her Aunt, Penny, was a strong woman. A great role model to have in her life. So she spent her childhood training to become a spy just like her mother, doing good for the world without needing the embarrassment of people acknowledging her or trying to give her credit. That had always been what felt right. And Aunt Penny wasn't going to try and hold her back from living in her mother's legacy. But back before then, back before everything went terribly wrong, there was this game Em and her mother used to play when Em was just a young thing, probably no more than ten at most. Secret for a Secret her mother would say, bending down to eye level with her only daughter, the small thing, still so innocent. Secret for a secret was an east game, an easy way to get her daughter to open up. Emery had always been a quiet one. She was always listening to understand, not to respond, big brown eyes watching from around every corner. So Mrs. Watson had started the game. A Secret for another Secret. She would trade her own information to her daughter, to get the young thing to open up. That was how Emery learned that her mother was a spy. That was how she learned that there were several different ways to kill a man using a pen alone. That was how she learned her Great Aunt Myrtle was actually one of the spies as well, back before she left the whole thing and moved. She learned a lot about her mother playing that game, and she also learned a lot about herself.Because it was the way she learned to connect, she used it for other ~relationships~ in her life too, it was just easier that way. So when she knocked on Roxy's bedroom door and the gilded golden handled twisted down, the door yanking open to reveal the blonde, wearing a set of thick glasses, a frown on her face, Emery grinned, whispering, "Want to play Secret for a Secret?" Roxy furrowed her brow, the skin around her nose pinching ever so slightly. "I don't know what that is. What I want is to complain about what a bloody idiot Eggsy is," she stepped backwards, opening the door up for Em to enter. The blonde agent was wearing an oversized creame jumper and her classic, thick rimmed glasses. She looked stressed. Em didn't like it when she looked stressed. She immediately sent bitter thoughts towards Eggsy, even though she didn't know what he had actually done. Didn't matter, he had messed up her friend, and that was enough for her. The brunette had always been incredibly canny at picking up on other physical tells. The smallest twitch of the eye, bite of the lip, tiniest finger movement. It was even more so when those people were her friends. So she knew Roxy’s mind was probably traveling a mile a minute right now, for who knows why (other than the obvious). The two girls sat down on Roxy’s large bed, facing one another. “So what is Secret For a Secret?” Roxy’s asked, pushing at the frames of her glasses, eyes darting to the left as she did so, which Em also picked up on instantly. Nerves, buzzing a mile a minute, trying to not think back towards what was really bothering her. “It’s a game, of sorts. My Mum and I used to play, together, way back when,” Em crosses her legs in front of her and rested her head in her palm. “One person shares a secret, and then the other person has to do the same. Until everything is off your chest. Makes it easier when you’re not the only one spillin everything, you know?” She shrugged. "We don't have to play, if you don't want. Figured it might help you get all this off your chest, though. Without being the only one. You can learn all about my deep dark thoughts." Then she grinned mischievously, enticingly.Roxy sighed, fidgeting with her glasses before clearing her throat. "Fine. But no bullshittin me. I want real stuff, Em. If I'm about to tell you everything, you can't hold back on me either." Then, almost sheepishly, she held a slim pinky up in the air, looking across at her friend and locking eyes. "Promise?"Emery sighed and rolled her eyes, but held up her own pinky and wrapped it around Roxy's, giving it a quick squeeze. "Yea yea, let's get on with it already then. You're first, mate," she released her hand and sat up straight, habitually analyzing her posture, her behavior, which direction she glanced as she spoke. They were all giveaways, ones that Em knew far too well."Me first?" Roxy immediately objected, but then she sighed, rolling her eyes. "Fine, fine, I'm done objecting. First secret..." she took a deep breath, unsure if she could even really speak it. If she said it, then it was really real, it was out there, and there was no taking it back. But then again, who was a better secret keeper than Emery? None of her other friends, that was for sure. Em was always there for her, and her alone. She didn't talk to other people, unless it was for work. So Roxy new her secrets were safe, behind the tightlipped brunette in front of her. "Eggsy was here last night...." she squeaked out finally, wincing at the way her words sounded in her own mouth. It was embarrassing. He was supposed to be seeing some princess or something, yet he had been there, in her room, slightly tipsy, perfectly fine with the closed space between them.Em almost spit out her coffee. Almost. But that was all part of being a spy, taking surprises in stride. So she calmly slipped her coffee before setting it gently on the bedside table beside her. She wanted to ask questions, probe for more info, but that wasn't how this game worked. She would have to wait and let Roxy share what it was that she wanted to share, and the rest wouldn't matter.She straightened her gaze and squared her shoulders before saying, "My parents were both agents. My mother, you obviously know about. But my father was too, and not for us." She let the words trickle out of her mouth, a flat look on her face as if it didn't bother her. Roxy opened up her mouth almost instantly to speak, but Em held up one, thin index finger. "That's not how this game works. You don't get to ask any rebuttals, love, you only know what I share and visa versa." She narrowed her eyes at Roxy, then grinned, "Now, I do believe it's your turn again." Roxy sighed, looking all about the room for a moment, picking at a hangnail subconsciously as she did so. Nervous. She was nervous, to share whatever this was with her best friend. Em narrowed her eyes ever so slightly. What was it? What was such a big deal that she didn't want to tell her? Roxy told her all sorts of things, all the time. So what was different about this time? But she also knew better than to push her friend too much. She would share when she was ready."Okay so, this is basically the last secret I have. I'm just. Just going to bloody say it and then it'll be out there," Roxy said, shaking her hand and raising her palms up, almost as if in prayer. "We were...getting close. Physical, yea? Won't go into detail about that but, we were getting into it. Everything was all good and whatnot but then...." Roxy trailed off, pressing the heel of her palms against her eyes and rubbing. "Oh Gods. He...Eggsy...He said your name, Emery." She looked up at her friend, sitting across from her, trying to gauge what exactly was going through her mind.And for the first time in Roxy's life, Em didn't look composed. She didn't look practically tranquil, like she always did. The girl's mouth was hanging open just ever so slightly, almost as if in shock. And then in a flash, the moment was gone. Em was setting her empty coffee cup down on Roxy's nightstand and she was climbing off the bed, heading for the door. Roxy was taken aback. Was it that bad? Was what had happened so bad that Em was running? From her? That seemed almost impossible. In the years Roxy had known Emery Watson, the woman never ran from anything. "Wait, Em," Roxy called out in a desperate attempt to get her friend to stop. "What's your secret? You didn't share one?" That got her to pause, at least. She had left the game open.Emery stood in the doorway, one hand on the frame, and she glanced over her shoulder at her friend, Roxy still on the bed, moved closer to the edge of her mattress, looking at her, pleadingly. Like she regretted the secret already. That was the dangerous thing about this game, sometimes you heard things that were best kept quiet. Sometimes you heard things you never wanted to even be real. Em sighed, turning back to face the hallways. "Fine," she called back over her shoulder. "Last secret. There are plenty of reasons I would never, ever date Eggsy Unwin." And then she was gone, almost like she had never even knocked on Roxy's door only minutes earlier. Almost like she never had existed at all.