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-1. Introduction.
It’s a rare slow day in the office. Mike and Donna are taking their sweet time eating lunch at her cubicle, watching Harvey stalking about looking busy and purposeful. There has been a slow, lazy conversation on just how he’s managing to do it, because both Donna and Mike know just how much Harvey really has to do.
“It’s impressive,” Donna says for the umpteenth time.
“Maybe he’s taken a case and hidden it from us?” Mike hypothesizes. Donna snorts. They fall into silence as Harvey whirlwinds by, watching him with doleful eyes. He ignores them.
“Y’know,” Donna says carefully. Mike perks up. He can tell by the way she sets her coffee down (gently, like a baby) that this would be important. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen Harvey so…” She pauses, at a loss for words.
“So diabolical? So cunning? So willing to listen to the little voices in his head again? So close to snapping and murdering Louis once and for al- Ow!”
He stops because Donna has just kicked him in the shin, and are the delicate toes of her scrumptious and expensive pumps reinforced with frickin’ steel because good God, the pain. “So...Intrigued.” She continues as though her companion isn’t moaning and holding his shin. Mike almost wants to hate her for a second before her words finally soak in.
“Wai-what? Intrigued with what?”
“Not what, Mike; who. He’s intrigued by you.”
Mike isn’t really sure what to say to that, so he says nothing. Donna covers the silence for him, turning to look at him with a fresh interest. “I wonder just what that means…Mike, I want you to do something for me.”
Mike quirks an eyebrow, playing coy. He already knows he’ll probably end up doing whatever Donna wants anyways. The woman scares him, a lot. What she says next still confuses him, though.
“Tease him.”
“Huh?”
“You heard me. Tease him. Rile him up a little.”
“Why?”
Donna does this thing with her eyes and her mouth and her eyebrows that says ‘trust me, o little pawn.’
“Rookie!” Mike starts violently at the voice, he would recognize it anywhere. He looks up to meet Harvey’s gaze, which is oddly warm with some sort of mocking amusement. He tugs at his very expensive silk tie gently. “Tie. Soup.”
He swooshes off to leave Donna laughing and Mike babbling in an undignified manner, trying to extract his own (far less expensive) tie from the soup that had been his lunch. It’s stained, most likely ruined- and his cheeks are burning. He hears Donna murmur “ ‘Sides, wouldn’t it be good to get back at him?” in his ear. He glances up to see her smiling a wicked, wry twist of the lips. He wonders if she picked that up from Harvey, or whether it was the other way around. He doesn’t have time to ponder it.
“Mike, heads up..” Donna mutters moments before Louis swoops in with a case file perche atop a box so heavy it makes Donna’s desk sag. He says something about there being fifteen more in the basement. Mike is sadly aware of the fact that Louis has effectively murdered his Friday night, and mourns it quietly as he stumbles off to work.
In his haste, he misses the secret smile quirking Donna’s lips.
1. The Curious Incident of the Case in the Night-Time.
It takes ages to find Louis’ stuff. By the time he’s dug out all the information needed, the sun has long since sunk below the Manhattan skyline, leaving the world outside to be filled with a curtain of silky darkness. He slinks up to his cubicle to pick up his things, but stops short when he sees warm yellow light streaming through the windows of Harvey’s office. Donna’s words play through his mind, as tempting and seductive as a snake. He doesn’t pause to think that this makes him Eve in this scenario- before he knows it, he’s biting into the apple and heading for the open door.
There he pauses for a second. Harvey is backlit from the brightness of the New York skyline, a collage of blue and red and harsh white lights. It’s a vision of cutting-edge technology. To Mike, it’s cold and big and exciting. In stark contrast, the desk lamp emits light that trickles over Harvey’s face is warm and golden. It makes him look open and human and no less exciting- but it also makes him look oddly young. Mike watches him for a little while until Harvey breaks the silence without even looking up.
“I know you might be awestruck by my awesomeness, but I have work to do. What do you want?”
“Mm,” Mike says, uncommitedly.
Harvey’s lips quirk sardonically. “Use your words, Rookie.”
It might be sad, but Mike feels a slight thrill at the rebellion of being silent instead. He steals across the room, his well-worn shoes making gentle sounds on the carpet, and brushes across Harvey’s back as he leans over to see what the man is working on. Did the man’s shoulders just tense up, or did he suppress a shiver? Mike smiles darkly.
“Whatcha doin’?” Harvey winces at the grammar. Mike notices he still hasn’t moved at all- neither away from or closer to the associate now slightly invading his personal space. The younger man can’t be certain, but it appears that Harvey has stopped breathing entirely.
“I’m internally mourning your vocabulary.” Classic snark, but the voice that delivers it is slightly rumbly, slightly horse. Mike’s the one that feels a shiver creep along his back now. He drops his voice, turns his head, and lets his breath ghost over the sliver of skin that isn’t sheathed by Harvey’s protective collar when he replies.
“Perhaps you should be training me better. I’ve heard positive reinforcement can be very…motivating.” Harvey snorts now, and Mike grins cheekily.
“Mike, get out of here now before I make you help me.” Or, in Harvey speak: ‘Play-time over, go away now or pay.’ Thing is, Mike wants to stay- he really does..but he has an odd feeling that it would somehow undo his whatever the hell he’s just accomplished. He flees Pearson-Hardman, flees the warmth of Harvey’s office, and flees the thought that possibly turning Harvey on made him feel strangely flushed and excited.
2.
They get slammed with a huge case the next day, and Mike doesn’t get a chance to sleep- let alone ponder Donna’s dare- for a week. He nurtures the pointless hope that one day, his enormous brain will overcome his need for sleep, but as the week draws to a close he finds himself growing more and more dysfunctional. It doesn’t affect him too much until Friday. He’s honestly a little surprised he held out that long, seeing as he’s gotten about ten hours of sleep in these last three days, but somehow he’s still awake and functioning.
Harvey would question the ‘functioning’ part, but that isn’t important.
The important thing, Mike thinks as he brushes into Harvey’s office without waiting for Donna’s say-so, is that he found it. The loophole. The impossible, non-existent loophole that will win this case.
Harvey starts when he sees Mike, and the associate knows why- the only difference between his appearance and that of a zombie is that he is miraculously neither covered in blood nor moaning for brains. Last time he checked, the circles under his eyes were so dark they were almost purple, the whiskers he has neglected to shave are starting to exhibit an almost attractive shaggy quality, and his hair is sticking up in multiple directions in an impressive attempt to defy gravity.
But none of that matters, not now. He pushes the files somewhere in the direction of Harvey’s desk and collapses into one of those nice, squishy chairs Harvey has. Harvey’s talking now but Mike has to focus all his energy on merely keeping his eyes open and can’t spare any attention to the undoubtedly meaningful and life-altering words flowing from his boss’ mouth. He’ll have to listen another time, he thinks. He’ll listen then because he likes listening to Harvey, likes hearing the sound of his voice, likes seeing the sardonic twist of his lip and the warmth in his eyes when Mike says something stupid or something brilliant….
Unfortunately, the functioning parts of Mike’s mind choose that moment to shut him down for repairs. Donna looks up as she hears a soft snore emanating from Harvey’s office, because she certainly hasn’t heard that noise coming from in there before- and her heart melts a little at the sight of Harvey staring down at his associate, who is summarily out for the count. It takes a few minutes, but after Harvey realizes that no amount of awkward poking or shaking will wake Mike up. Donna has to hide an ‘aww’ when the larger man scoops him up and settles him on the couch. Her ‘I-Don’t-Care-About-Anyone’ boss tucks a blanket Donna didn’t even know he had around Mike’s shoulders, and goes back to work quietly.
Donna does the same, but not before smiling. She had underestimated Mike’s prowess. It took a special person to bring about that sort of affection in a man like Harvey Spector, but it took a very special one to do it by drooling on the office furniture.
She smiles again. All is going according to plan.
3. Le Faux Beau.
Mike never, ever thought he’d see Harvey in a gay bar.
He still feels like this isn’t happening, like he’s fallen asleep at work again and that he’s dreaming it all. Only there’s no way his brain- as massive and spectacular as it is- could ever imagine a place like this. It’s ‘The Birdcage’ meets Las Vegas, all squished into one building. It’s every stereotype about the homosexual lifestyle, blown so far out of proportion that it becomes garish. Too bright. Too big.
Mike, who may or may not be quite as straight as he seems {the more time he spends teasing Harvey, the less he can pretend}, finds himself bristling at the atmosphere..but the men milling about seem to be happy here. Content. Even Harvey seems strangely calm, as he carefully dodges the feather boa a waiter was trying to wind about his neck. Mike doesn’t know what he was expecting, but it wasn’t this.
Oddly enough, Mike seems more uncomfortable here, but he thinks it has something to do with the fact that men keep hitting on Harvey. He can’t blame them, Harvey is…well, he’s Harvey. Anyone would want to climb him like a tree. And Harvey turns each one of them down, gently and kindly. Still, Mike gets tired of it fast.
It isn’t until later, when they’re tucked into a corner of the bar, that Mike comes up with an idea that will not only put an end to the multitude of men trying to make it with his boss but will also further his own, more private mission to do just that. As another man twines through the crowd with an appraising eye on Harvey, Mike pulls the object of their attraction forcefully to him, wrapping an arm around his waist. He smiles and mutters meaningless words in Harvey’s ear. It works- the man changes his course with a slightly disappointed look in his eye, but he quickly perks up when he spots his next victim. All is well.
At least that’s what Mike thinks, until Harvey turns to him with a wickedly raised eyebrow and says “What the hell was that?”
Mike sputters for a second. “Uh. We were getting no work done, what with all those guys hitting on you.”
The eyebrow raises further. “No, rookie. We were getting no work done because our client is late. He wanted us to be here, and so here we are and here we stay until he arrives. Understood?”
Mike nods. He has the feeling that Harvey has completely misunderstood Mike’s actions there, but seeing as the lawyer has either forgotten about the arm Mike has thrown about his waist or has decided to pointedly ignore it, Mike isn’t entirely upset with the scenario. Perhaps turning down the single population of the bar had gotten tiring, because every time someone’s headed for Harvey after that, he actually leans closer to Mike and somehow exudes an aura of coupley-ness that effectively puts an end to all that. And if Mike notices the way Harvey’s skin grows increasingly warm and flushed, or the way his eyes darken when their eyes meet, he doesn’t mention it. {He totally notices it, by the way. He has mad observational skills like that.}
Mike spends the evening teasing and taking liberties he would never have in the real world- in the professional Pearson Hardman offices, in the busy New York streets. He runs the pad of his thumb up the firm column of Harvey’s neck, keeping a hand in the small of his back. He tries to memorize his scent- something clean and sharp, but with an underlying spicy musk that makes Mike’s knees go weak. He doesn’t try to engrain the way Harvey’s smile looks from this close. It’s something he could never forget.
He teases, because he can. That one night in the shelter of the gay bar Mike sees how being close to Harvey in that way would feel.
After that, returning to his empty apartment after that was a hard shock.
4. It’s the little things.
When Harvey walks into his office the following Monday, there’s a package on his desk. Mike made sure he was nearby to watch everything unfold, because it was going to be perfect. It wasn’t often you decide to woo the your boss so that you could have amazing sex with him {Mike was surmising, but really, sex with Harvey just had to be great} and be with him every second of every day and all that mushy stuff. Mike considered this a mission that must be carried out with every ounce of tact and charm that Harvey had been beating into his head.
The package was wrapped in deep, navy blue paper. It bore no other decoration, as that would negate part of the suspense. Mike had briefly toyed with the idea of putting a card {featuring a puppy, of course}, and saying ‘From: Your Secret Admirer.’ He had a feeling this would make Harvey hunt him down- not because he cared or anything, but because he wanted to bludgeon him over the head with something blunt and heavy. The gift remained unadorned.
Harvey glances around- Mike dodges behind a wall just in time and feels like a ninja- and begins to rip into the package like a kid on Christmas morning. Mike grins. He’d figured Harvey would be the sort to spend an annoying amount of time peeling the paper off carefully, so that none rips…but he was very wrong.
The gasp he hears makes everything worth while. The murmured “Oh, no way!” he hears was just icing on the cake. Of course, he already knew Harvey would love that present. Any Star Trek fan would recognize the white band of fabric Spock had used to hide his ears in Star Trek: The Voyage Home {Or, as Mike thought of it, Star Trek: Save the Whales.} The fact that it had been signed by Leonard Nimoy certainly didn’t hurt, though.
It continues for a while. Small things, usually. A six pack of beer from a local microbrewery, a tie with Pacman on it. Sometimes they were stupid gag gifts {a Sea Monkey kit} and sometimes Mike actually tried a little harder {a legit old-style ruler with a note that said ‘For chastising wayward associates.}
What makes it even better is that Harvey has no clue who the culprit behind these random gifts is. For a long while he eyes Donna thoughtfully, before apparently deciding it wasn’t her. After that, he outright asks Jessica if she knows anything about the situation. Mike has to bite his knuckle to keep from laughing.
There’s a horrible, terrifying day where Harvey thinks Louis might be to blame. Mike is split between being insulted that Harvey would think of Louis before he thought of Mike, and watching with supreme amusement as Harvey tried to be nice to Louis for an entire day. It was an awkward affair.
And then, Harvey suddenly drops the entire issue. Mike stops buying things and wonders if Harvey just doesn’t care, or if he actually worked out that Mike was the one and just doesn’t feel the same way.
5. Halloween Party {Or Why Mike Shouldn’t Drink Tequila.}
Pearson Hardman throws amazing office parties. Mike figures this out roughly a month after he began working there, and over time has ranked them in order of wildness. Halloween falls second merely to Christmas, but that’s always open for change, he thinks with a smile.
He goes as Boba Fett from Star Wars only because all of the Star Trek costumes have sold out.
The suit’s basically an oven, and it makes a strange creaking noise as he moves. It’s hard to turn his head, but he still sees Harvey quickly after he enters the party. His boss is wearing slacks, a button-up shirt, a trench coat, and a snazzy wide-brimmed fedora – all in the deepest of blacks. There’s a mask covering his cheekbones and around his eyes. It’s so form fitting Mike thinks it might be painted on, and as he gets closer he can see the fine texture of Harvey’s skin showing through, and knew it must be the case. Harvey’s tie is of the boldest scarlets Mike has ever seen.
“Boba Fett? Really?” Harvey greets.
“Hello to you too. And..are you the Spirit?”
Harvey bristles at the disturbed tone of Mike’s voice. “I’ll have you know that The Spirit is the best Super Hero. Ever. Besides,” he said as he fidgeted slightly with the thick coat that somehow managed to make his shoulders look even more broad than usual. “The guy who played him in the movie was awesome.”
Mike really couldn’t argue with that line of reasoning. He shrugged, and accepted a drink from the tray of a nearby waiter. He coughs as the mystery fluid burns its way down his throat. “What is this stuff?”
Harvey smirks. “It’s expensive, Mike. Enjoy it while you can.”
Mike rolls his eyes, and it all sort of goes downhill from there. The waiters are creepily good at knowing when he’s about to finish his drink and making sure another one is in his hands, pronto. By the time Donna slinks over to the corner Harvey and he have staked out as their own, he’s feeling pleasantly tipsy. He watches as an Iron Man strolls by, Thor at his shoulder, avidly arguing something about juries and voir dire. Louis is eyeing a table in the middle of the room, and Mike is hopeful that they’ll get a repeat of last year’s Christmas party- only this time with the short lawyer dressed in a Lux Luthor costume. Mike has the inching feeling that he has missed something, something important.
By the time Donna slinks back to the corner Mike and Harvey have staked out as their own, Mike’s feeling pleasantly bubbly and more than a little tipsy. “Heyyy, Donna!” He slurs happily. She raises and eyebrow as the corner of her mouth quirks.
“Did you miss something, Mike?”
Mike nods sadly. Their conversation is momentarily paused as The Green Lantern tries to flirt with Donna, and she sends him away without a shred of dignity. “Nobody told me it was a super hero theme. By the way, you make a killer Hawk Girl.”
“Not just super heroes,” a new voice breaks in, and Mike feels his eyes widen, because..wow. It should be illegal for his boss’ boss to look like that.
Harvey suddenly tunes into the conversation with a muttered “Damn, Jessica, you look good.”
Perhaps it would help if she didn’t have a whip. Her smile is so feline, it would do the actual Cat Woman proud.
About an hour {and several drinks} later, Mike knows he’s just too drunk to function. He knows it in the small, distant part of his brain that is watching in surprise and dismay as he tries {once again} to clamber into Harvey’s lap. Luckily for him, the older man is less than sober too, and he’s laughing as he pushes Mike off. Somewhere behind them Louis is dancing on a table top, to loud cheers and laughter. Mike estimates that he has about an hour before he’ll try to swing from the chandelier again. Hopefully it won’t break this time.
“Oh- oh oh, hold on a sec, I just got a really good idea,” Drunk Mike says. He tumbles off into the crowd, leaving Harvey to laugh at him as he tries {unsuccessfully} not to run into anyone and Donna tries {far more successfully} to make him regret accidently bowling her over. It’s a hassle, but Mike gets back to Harvey a few minutes later, just as the music changes to a soft piano melody and Mike starts singing. In the recesses of his alcohol-induced prison, Normal Mike was writhing in horror.
“It’s a little bit funny, this feelin’ inside….I’m not one of those who can easily hiiiiiide…”
Mike’s never going to forgive himself for this, but there’s something warm and deep in Harvey’s eyes that keeps him going, even though he’s fully aware of the fact that his boss is calling him an idiot.
“….I know it’s not much, but it’s the best I can do. My gift is my song, babe- and this one’s for you.”
He thinks he hears another voice crooning from behind him, one that deffinetly isn’t Elton John. Peering back tells him that Louis is singing along as loud as he can, serenading Jessica, who is threatening to fire him if he doesn’t stop this instant. Mike can’t blame her. Louis kind of sounds like a drunk cat yowling when he sings.
“..I hope you don’t mind, I hope you don’t mine that I put down into woooords how wonderful life is, while you’re in the world..”
The song keeps going, but Mike stops paying attention. Harvey’s smiling this smile at him, something he’s never seen before, and he’s moving closer and maybe it’s finally worked and--
-and Mike is never, ever having Tequila ever again, he thinks when he wakes up the next morning. He vaguely remembers throwing up onto Harvey’s shoes and then falling asleep on the ground.
Never. Again.
+1. An Addendum, from Harvey.
Harvey knows, unequivocally and without a doubt, that Mike Ross will eventually drive him insane.
It’s one of those things you just know, like you know that rain is wet and that babies smell good and that Summer comes between Spring and Fall. He knows it in his bones.
Still, he didn’t think it would be happening so quickly. But that was before Mike started acting oddly, started touching him randomly and looking at him differently and making Harvey feel all weird inside. The fact that he’s making Harvey feel at all is..disconcerting. This is just bad.
The Halloween Party was too much for him. Mike was so dumb, so cute. Harvey doesn’t do cute as a general rule..but this was different somehow. Maybe it was because Mike was being a complete idiot for him.
However, Mike was also incredibly drunk.
That doesn’t change the fact that Harvey downloaded Elton John’s ‘Your Song’ onto his laptop the second he got home from making sure Mike didn’t end up passed out in an alleyway somewhere. He has listened to it precisely thirty-seven times in the last week. He feels with some sort of vague certainty that there is something wrong with him.
In fact, he’s listening to it right now, because he’s had a very long day and the office is empty and because it’s a good song, damn it. It pours over the tinny speakers and fills the emptiness of his office somewhat, but it didn’t hold a candle to the live serenade Mike had given him. Elton John’s voice was good but it wasn’t Mike’s.
Not that Mike will ever know Harvey prefers his singing to Elton John’s. It was just surprisingly good, even through the drunken slurs and the fact that Mike puked all over his shoes seconds after he finished. It makes him feel…good, that Mike associates
this song with him. It’s a good song. It’s making him feel all warm and shit right now.
“Harvey?”
Harvey starts to awareness and slams his computer closed. He glanced up, hoping that somehow Mike hasn’t heard the song that was just playing very loudly over his speakers, but he knows it’s pointless. The kid is anything but deaf.
“What, kid?”
Deflect, Harvey thinks. Pretend it didn’t happen, and all of this will go away soon enough.
He wonders if it’s bad, but he doesn’t want for it to go away.
“I was just…papers, and stuff…” Mike mutters. Harvey fights an internal groan but beckons the kid inside, reaching out his hand for the files clasped in Mike’s fists. He’s expecting the thumb that brushes across his knuckles, but it still makes his breath hitch in an unmanly fashion.
Mike drops himself into one of his chairs gracelessly as Harvey looks over his work. It’s good. Perfect, really- but Harvey has almost come to expect this level of work from his associate. He knows he shouldn’t take Mike for granted like this, but he does.
“So. Elton John, eh?” Harvey can feel the smile on Mike’s face, can hear the smugness in his words. He wishes Mike wouldn’t tease him right now. He was so tired of it, so tired of wanting it, that he might just snap and do something he regrets.
“I’ve liked Elton John since before you were born, rookie.”
“Pretty intense confession from a manly lawyer.”
Harvey takes a deep breath, counts to ten, does whatever he can remember from that time Jessica made him see a psychiatrist.
“You better be careful that little bit of information doesn’t get out. It could make the firm look bad, or something.”
“Mike. Shut up.”
Harvey is distantly aware that he’s now on his feet, but not in an angry way. He calmly starts walking around his desk. Mike doesn’t know anything’s wrong, but Harvey is internally freaking out over the fact that he’s not in control of his feet. He leans against the desk, casually, looking down at Mike and silently daring him to say anything else.
Mike does. Of course he does. Harvey almost loves him for that.
“I’m just saying- ooph. Mmm..”
Harvey doesn’t take his time getting closer, doesn’t take his time letting his breath drift over his associate’s skin. It’s fast, it’s furious. It’s Harvey not being able to take it anymore. It’s Harvey snapping.
Besides, Mike has shut up now. The only noises he’s making are these delicious little moans as Harvey licks his way into his mouth. Much better.
He pulls back just for a moment, and instantly misses the warm plushness of Mike’s lips underneath his own. “Was this your plan all along?”
Mike nods as he surges forwards again. This time, they kiss carefully, exploring each other. This time they have all the time in the world.
They go back to Harvey’s that night. Neither is unhappy with the way the night unfolded.
+2. Epilogue.
They’re both early the next morning. For Harvey, this is common practice, but it’s unheard of in Mike’s case. Donna knows something is up the second they step from the elevator. Together.
There’s an odd hitch in Mike’s gait. Harvey actually looks happy, and not like he has an enormous stick up his ass. He has a hand at the small of Mike’s back as they go into Harvey’s office. Mike’s wearing one of Harvey’s ties.
It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what happened last night. Donna isn’t a genius, but she certainly wasn’t dumb.
She puts her hands in the air, throws her head back, and lets out a long “Whooooooo!”
“What’s wrong?”
It’s Jessica. She peers from her office, clearly startled by Donna’s outburst. She smiles widely when Donna stage-whispers: “It worked!”
“About time,” she mutters.
In the office, Harvey doesn’t even move when they hear a loud noise emanating from his secretary. Mike isn’t as used to her wild ways- he startles, nearly dousing the files he’s working on with his coffee.
“Mike,” Harvey says, and his voice is too careful and blank. “When did you decide to try and seduce me, exactly?”
The blush that smears itself across Mike’s face tells him all he needs to know, but he waits for an explanation, mostly because Mike is cute when he’s all nervous and stammering. “D-donna, she sorta…dared me?”
“Mm,” Harvey says. He pushes the intercom button. “You’re fired.”
Donna answers without hesitation. “Okay, boss. So, how big of a raise are you giving me?”
Harvey peers at Mike. The kid seems distracted enough. There’s a leak in his cup, which is slowly unloading very hot coffee onto his leg as Mike reads on obliviously. He whispers: “You decide,” into the intercom and crosses over to where Mike’s perched on the couch. “Hey, kid. I’m glad you’re into your work and all…but if you manage to scald yourself, then you’re not going to be up for what I have planned tonight.”
Mike smiles politely for a second before apparently the pain receptors in his brain decide to finally start working properly. “Oh, oh fuck!” Mike says in a pained voice. He makes a mad dash for the bathroom.
Harvey smiles to himself a little. He can’t fight the feeling that this is the start of something good. Whistling, he turns on his heel and gets back to work.