So I read a fic a while back where Roxy and Eggsy are in training still, and they’re given truth serum and put in a room (to learn how to evade questions without lying, to build an immunity, whatever). I wanna take that and run with it because imagine this:
Merlin is monitoring them from the other side of a one way mirror and Roxy and Eggsy are just chillin on the floor or whatever when Roxy starts asking about Eggsy’s past and it maybe slips out that he was a rentboy? Or maybe he’s asexual. Or my personal favorite, that he’s genderfluid, and that he won’t dare admit it to Harry or Merlin because he’s sure he’d get kicked out immediately. He admits to Roxy that he’s too afraid to wear more ‘feminine’ clothing or to ask anybody to use different pronouns and he hates it. Roxy doesn’t care, she had an idea that maybe Eggsy wasn’t as ‘Alpha Male’ as he projected.
Once it’s just down to him and Roxy, he gets more comfortable with it. Especially after V-Day now that he’s been made a knight. Meanwhile, Merlin’s kept all this quiet. Eggsy isn’t sure if Merlin knows or not, but he wasn’t kicked out, so he assumes not.
What if Eggsy starts wearing ‘softer’ things. An ornate watch. A pink dress shirt. A gentle heel to his shoes. And every time he does this, Merlin makes sure to complement Eggsy on it. “That color looks good on you, lad.” and “That’s a very nice watch you’ve got.” Merlin is always making sure to quietly encourage Eggsy whenever he dresses like that. Maybe Merlin starts making an effort to use they/them pronouns with Eggsy. It’s subtle enough that the others don’t pick up on it, but Eggsy does, and he knows that Merlin knows.
What if one day Eggsy comes in with nail polish on. A very translucent, almost unnoticeable color. Some others comment on it, and maybe Eggsy tries to brush it off “Oh, Daisy did that! I was looking after her last night” which isn’t technically a lie, although he was the one painting both his own and Daisy’s nails.
Merlin sees it though. “Your nails look very nice, Eggsy” he says with no malice, no hint of a joke. Merlin just genuinely thinks Eggsy looks nice like that. And of course, Eggsy gets all blushy under Merlin’s complements, as always. And Eggsy knows he can trust Merlin, because he can tell Merlin is being genuine and that Merlin really cares for him.
