Chapter Text
“You’ve got to be joking.”
James looked down at the paperwork put in front of him. “You can’t be serious.”
Q did his best to not seem amused but he could tell by James’ expression that he was failing “You can deny it all you want James but the logic is irrefutable. Gary Unwin is your cousin and you are his last relative.”
James looked down at the packet again and a picture of a sullen little boy was looking back at him. There was a sharpness to his gaze that said he had seen more than an average eleven year old had, far more than he should. His father had died just before Christmas when he was very young, his mother had married an abusive man who had brutalized her until Gary and Daisy had been removed from her care.
Daisy was Gary’s half sister and was still little more than a baby. Mr. Baker’s sister who was unable to have children of her own was all too happy to take on little Daisy, but she had no way of also taking on a rapidly growing boy. That left Gary to the mercy of the courts. Except there was also James.
He flipped the file shut and held it back out to Q. “No. Absolutely not.”
“Consider it a mission James.” Q’s infuriating smirk was still in place.
“We haven’t discussed having children.” James trumped, he felt cornered and didn’t like it.
At this Q did seem to pause. It was true that they had never discussed what the future would hold for them. They had been living together for little more than a year, dated for several months before that. With their careers anything more than a cat seemed like an unnecessary risk. “His chances at getting a good home are very slim. I believe between the two of us and MI6’s resources it could be manageable.”
James turned on his heel to find M. Q was obviously being unreasonable about all of this.
M’s bright eyes looked at him over her tea cup and her lips were pursed in amusement “James I can’t say this is an ideal scenario, but it’s not as if he’s an infant. You and the Quartermaster seem to make your current living arrangement work. Plus you will have the resources MI6 offers all its employees with families.”
James stared at her for a moment in surprise before his eyes narrowed “Q got to you already didn’t he?”
M gave no reaction but to push the file back towards him “You know he reminds me a bit of you.”
He was outnumbered and out maneuvered.
He went to pick up Gary. The boy was swinging his feet on a bench with a large pack by his side. His face was blank but there was a slight scowl to his lips. Against his will James felt a small pang of sympathy. He remembered waiting for his elderly aunt at the train station. The feeling of being alone and a bit unwanted. He cleared his throat “Gary Unwin?”
The boy perked up but that guarded expression never went away “Eggsy.”
Where there had been a pang of sympathy there was not a small twinge of irritation “Fine Eggsy. I’m James Bond…your cousin.”
The boy looked him over, especially his suit “You don’ look like yer related to me.”
Cousin was admittedly a loose term; Lee Unwin had been an Uncle of sorts but a bit removed. Still they were family. “Well I’m sorry to tell you that I am. I’m going to be your guardian; you’ll be living with me and my partner Quinn.”
That got a bit of a reaction from ‘Eggsy’ but he didn’t say anything. Just picked up his bag and stood “Well then are we goin?”
James made a small snort. At least the kid wasn’t easily shaken. He had another pang of sympathy. He had read the reports. He probably learned not to show any weakness. “Let’s go then.”
Q was waiting for them when they returned to the flat. The guest bedroom would now be Eggsy’s and Q had spent the day securing any weapons and carefully building hidden vaults and installing them. They had also discussed self defense courses for the boy and getting his biometrics installed in their security systems.
Eggsy let out a low whistle but didn’t set down his pack “Nice place.” He muttered and looked cautiously at Q “So yer his partner then?”
Q glanced at James who gave a small shrug “Yes I’m Quinn though James has a terribly annoying habit of calling me Q.”
Eggsy nodded and seemed a little lost as he looked around at their flat. Picking up on the shift in mood James spoke up “He prefers to be called Eggsy.”
They showed Eggsy to his room and encouraged him to feel at home. He closed the door and they heard the lock click into place. Q spoke through the door that they would let him know when dinner was ready and they received a noise of acknowledgement.
Going into the kitchen they had a silent conversation. From his file James knew they weren’t getting a regular kid, but Eggsy’s cagey behavior made him wonder how bad things had been with his stepfather. At least the sister had gotten out before she was too old. Eggsy would have to relearn normal and that was a challenging concept with their work. Still thinking back about the boy swinging his legs on a bench, waiting for someone to come for him that blank expression on his face….James knew they had done the right thing.