FOURTEEN.
CHANCE ENCOUNTERS

Bex crossed her arms across her chest.

"This is stupid and sexist and I hate it. You said we were going out for doughnuts, you massive ass," she yelled loud enough for Harry to hear through the dressing room door.

"All I heard was massive ass. Making jokes about my weight is childish and hurtful, Bex," Harry said his voice muffled.

Bex listened carefully to the faint sounds of chewing.

"Are you eating a doughnut?"

"Mhm."

"Harry, I swear-"

"Miss, please," the young seamstress begged, prying Bex's arms off her chest for the hundredth time. "I just need your bust measurements for the dress."

Bex swatted her hands away.

"Anyone who wants to get anywhere near my bust has to at least take me out to a nice dinner first."

The young woman threw up her hands in exasperation. The dressing room was littered with pins and scraps of fabric and a discarded measuring tape the seamstress had given up on using long ago. They were supposed to be getting Bex fitted for a gown for some stupid fancy event, but Bex was having none of it. All she wanted was to be back in her familiar jeans and t-shirt instead of half naked in front of a stranger.

"Miss, please. Don't you want to look nice? Maybe you could make an effort for that nice boy outside. The blonde one?"

Bex jerked involuntarily at the mention of Eggsy. She had been actively avoiding him for the past three days, ever since that night at the club. It was getting ridiculous how far she was going out of her way to avoid speaking to him.

"The only time I'll dress for a boy is when they're dressing me in my coffin to see Jesus," Bex bit back.

The brunette let her head fall into her hands. Her shoulder began to shake.

"Oh my god, I quit."

"Took you long enough," Bex grumbled, pulling her jeans back on. "Piece of career advice? Get a new job. Maybe acupuncture, considering how many times you stuck those pins in me."

"You had it coming," the woman responded bitterly.

"You know, I had something for this. Damn, what was it?"

Bex held up a finger.

"You're too seamstressed out! Hah! Still got it!" she cackled.

The seamstress threw a pincushion at her. Bex dodged it neatly and hastily ducked out of the fitting room. She thought she heard a groan behind her, but she quickly slammed the door shut. She was met with two sets of eyes, one gray and filled with confusion and one brown and rolling towards the ceiling in frustration.

Bex avoided Eggsy's questioning gaze, glancing at Harry instead with a sheepish grin.

"So, it wasn't a perfect fit," she tried.

"Please stop terrorizing all of my seamstresses, Bex. You need a gown and I'm running out of people willing to come near you."

"That's preposterous. I am charming and delicate and sweet. A proper saint, if you will."

"I won't. You made Cheryl cry."

"Only because I told her that I caught her scumbag husband cheating on her last Friday when we were doing recon at the Bronze Lion Pub. I did her a favor, honestly. He was bald, Harry. She deserves someone with a full head of hair."

Harry dragged a hand over his face.

"That's a wonderful sentiment, Bex, but need I remind you that disobedience of your mentor is qualifications for elimination of candidacy? If you keep defying me, I will send you home."

"A thousand apologies, Master Yoda. Want me to carry you across a swamp or make a rock fly or something?"

"Bex. Shut up."

"Right. Shutting up, sir."

Harry rolled his eyes and turned to Eggsy.

"Would you keep an eye on her? I've got to go deal with business in the back," he asked, placing a hand on Eggsy's shoulder.

Bex's eyes grew wide. The thought of being alone with Eggsy was infinitely worse than any amount of dress fittings. Ever since that night in the club, her heart had taken to pounding painfully in her chest whenever she looked at him. He was looking at her now, the same panic mirrored in his own eyes.

"Harry!" she burst out. "Wait! What about the...thing?"

"The thing?"

"Yes. The very important thing that you need to be here for at all times."

Eggsy caught her eye and nodded vigorously. "Yes, Harry, the thing. The thing of vast importance."

Harry paused, examining both of their faces. Bex shifted and tried not to look suspicious. Eggsy avoided Harry's eyes.

"What's going on with the two of you?" he asked slowly. "Usually I can't keep you apart, and now suddenly you can't be alone in a room together?"

Bex scoffed panickedly.

"T-That's an exaggeration. Eggsy and I aren't even that close. We're distant friends. At best."

"Hurtful, but okay," Eggsy mumbled.

"You two know I'm an international spy, right? And you're both terrible liars. You're inseparable, so why are you suddenly not speaking? What's going on?"

"Nothing," they chorused at the same time.

Harry rolled his eyes.

"I don't have time for your foolish teenage drama. Just kiss or whatever and move on, would you? The sexual tension is insufferable."

Ignoring the choked spluttering from both of them, Harry put up a hand.

"I have actual things to do to keep people alive. So, if you don't mind-"

Thankfully, he was interrupted by the delicate tinkling of the door bell. Bex immediately stepped away from Eggsy, her face still burning. He was equally flushed and had suddenly become fascinated with a piece of thread on the floor.

There was a slow clicking sound and the three of them turned to see a man standing in the doorway, flanking by a slender woman. The delicate tapping noise came from the sound of metal on wood. The woman's legs ended at the knee, where they were replaced by prosthetic legs. But they were unlike any prosthetics Bex had ever seen, made of gleaming metal and wickedly sharp.

Bex felt Harry tense next to her. That's when her eyes traveled up from the woman's unusual prosthetics and noticed the man standing next to her. He was grinning so wide she could see a gold tooth at the back of his mouth, and her stomach gave a jolt.

Richmond Valentine.

"Mr. DeVere!" he called out jovially, a white baseball cap perched sideways on his head.

Bex looked to Harry in confusion at the incorrect use of his name, but Harry kept looking forward. It must have been an alias. Harry forced a pleasant smile and stretched his hand out to shake Valentine's.

"Mr. Valentine," he said politely.

"What a coincidence! You are totally the reason I'm here. After you left my house I was thirsting for that dope-ass smoking jacket you had on," he grinned.

Bex tried to rearrange her features not to show surprise at the fact that Harry had been Valentine's estate.

"I'm flattered."

Valentine peered at Bex over the top of his clear framed glasses.

"So what brings you here. And who are these fine, young people?"

Bex felt Harry shift almost imperceptibly until he was blocking her slightly from Valentine.

"This is my valet," he said with an easy tone his protective nature didn't share as he gestured towards Eggsy.

Eggsy gave a nod of greeting, his gray eyes never leaving Valentine.

"And this young woman is my new secretary," Harry added, jerking his chin in her direction.

Bex give Valentine a sweet smile and bowed her head demurely. His eyes were still on her when she raised her head again, and she felt the hairs on the back of her neck prickle. Harry and Valentine were smiling politely, but Bex could feel the tension in the air.

"Perhaps you two should head on to the back while Mr. Valentine and I discuss a proposal," Harry suggested evenly.

Bex's eyes widened. Being alone with Eggsy was the last thing she needed right now. She tried to convey her panic to Harry with her eyes, but he didn't move or acknowledge her and she was forced to leave with Eggsy.

She forced a smile and ducked her head again, heading towards the back of the tailor shop with Eggsy. Bex looked over her shoulder one last time at Harry and Valentine, the two caught in the politest standoff she had ever seen.

As soon as the door had closed behind them, Eggsy turned to her. He looked at her, his gray eyes searching her face.

"What's wrong with you? You've been acting off all day," he said.

"Nothing," Bex insisted.

"I know you, Bex. Something's going on. Did I do something?"

"You didn't do anything. I'm just...nervous. For tomorrow."

It was a plausible excuse. Bex was nervous for what tomorrow promised to bring. It was their second to last challenge, and the one Bex had been dreading the most. Just thinking about it made her feel sick. Tomorrow, they would confront their worst fear in order to prove their bravery. She had no idea what she would face tomorrow, only that it was sure to terrify her.

At the very least, it was a better excuse than telling him that she knew how he felt and that it was more terrifying than anything she could face in a test.

"You'll do fine, Bex," Eggsy assured her.

"God, I hope so," Bex said.

She wasn't ready to leave this all behind.

───────

a quick note:

this is the worst chapter i have ever written it's so short and pointless and i hate it. one day i'll go back and actually turn it into something worth reading but for now i just needed a filler to transition from the last chapter to the next one. (btw next one's going to be a rollercoaster brace yourselves. i'm actually going to post it right now as a double update to make up for this shitty one)