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Donna had her ‘visitor’ face on, pleasant and impenetrable, and Mike frantically thought back to the last several weeks. Had he done anything that would make Harvey so pissed that even Donna didn’t want to talk about it? He should have brought her coffee, that sugar free, fat free monstrosity with the whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles on top.
“He’s ready for you.” Her perfect professional smile unnerved him, and he hesitated at the doorway. “Mike, you can go in.”
Mike entered, his suspicions confirmed when he saw Harvey’s dark face staring at a motion that Mike had given him just yesterday. Harvey waved him over and Mike edged carefully toward the desk.
“Read this paragraph.” Harvey tapped an insistent finger halfway down the page.
“Huh,” Mike said, confused at what he saw.
“I’m going to need an answer a little more articulate than, ‘huh’.”
“There’s a typo.”
“Yes, there’s a typo on this very important document that we need to file with the court today. How do you think that makes us look, Mike?”
Mike pulled his attention from the inexplicable error on the page. “It wasn’t like that when I gave-”
“This is something spell check could have caught. Do you run spell check on your documents?”
Mike didn’t run spell check on his documents. He didn’t need to. “Someone must have edited it after I-”
“Do you think this is acceptable work?”
“Harvey, the typo wasn’t there when-”
“Do you realize that you haven’t answered a single question I’ve asked you in this conversation?”
“I haven’t had a chance! You keep cutting me off,” Mike snapped at him. It probably wasn’t a great idea to provoke Harvey when he was in such a mood, but Mike didn’t appreciate being blamed for something he didn’t do, either.
“Is that sass, Mike?” Harvey sized him up, rising from the desk and coming around to lean back on the front of it, taking advantage of the few inches of height he had on Mike. “Do you really think this is a good time to be sassing me?”
Mike glowered, but the display of dominance was already having its effect. After a few moments he looked away and muttered, “I know what I wrote.”
Harvey grabbed Mike’s arm with one hand and used the other to tilt his chin up until their eyes locked. “Again, that’s not an answer to my direct question.”
“Ask better questions.”
“Oh, that’s definitely sass.”
For a split second, Mike thought he could see a small smirk at the corner of Harvey’s lips, but he didn’t have a chance to double check, as he was spun around and bent over, dangling for a moment as Harvey found a position that allowed him to set Mike firmly over one knee. “Wait, no, not at the office!”
“You sassed me at the office,” Harvery reminded him, deftly positioning both of Mike’s wrists behind his back.
Mike heard the privacy screening come down, surely too late to keep Donna from seeing, but she seemed to always know what was happening, anyway.
“So, you’re twenty-nine…” Harvey mused, and Mike craned his neck back.
“Wait, this is a birthday spanking?” He struggled to stand as his mind reframed the situation, but Harvey’s hold on him was absolute. “Those are supposed to be voluntary!”
Tutting softly at him, Harvey reached underneath Mike’s waist and began to work his slacks and underwear down. “Arguing about your spanking? You know what that’s going to get you.”
“Wait, no, I won’t argue!” he pleaded, even as a thrill of excitement at the exposure buzzed through him. Maybe that was also why his promise not to argue was embedded in, well, an argument.
“One of the things you learn in the legal profession, Mike, is when you’re in a position to negotiate.” He landed a stinging slap right where the seat of Mike’s pants should have been protecting him, but no longer were. “And when you’re not.”
Mike struggled a bit on principle, testing Harvey’s grip on his wrist and kicking lightly with his hobbled feet. Harvey deserved it for tricking him, anyway.
“All right, twenty-nine,” Harvey announced. It wasn’t so many, not if the first slap was an indication of the severity, but Mike was expected to resist. He flinched when Harvey laid another smack, right over the first one. “One.”
“That’s two!” Mike protested. “You already gave me one.”
“Spanks for extra sass don’t count. For example, these…” Harvey gave him two more, one on each side. “... are for arguing and don’t count toward your total.”
“Ow,” Mike grumbled softly, but kept the rest of his thoughts on the injustice to himself.
Chuckling lightly, Harvey continued the spanking, counting his way all the way down to the tops of Mike’s thighs while Mike halfheartedly kicked at the floor, careful not to wrinkle his slacks too badly. It stung, but not enough for him to do much more than pout about it. He was almost disappointed when Harvey reached twenty-nine.
“And one to grow on,” Harvey said ominously.
“No, Harvey, I’m done growing! I’m as tall-” Before he could even get out the full explanation, Harvey had brought down the last slap, right in the center of his target.
“I mean in maturity level.” The grin was evident in his voice, and Mike crinkled his nose, sniffling softly as Harvey lifted him up and replaced his clothes. Once Mike was put to rights, Harvey pulled him close.
“That was mean,” Mike complained, even as he inwardly counted his blessings that he hadn’t gotten more for complaining. He’d have to complain harder next year.
“That was payback, for a year of brattiness and backtalk.” Harvey’s voice was soft and amused, tickling the short hairs right over Mike’s ears, and Mike smiled. He did give as good as he got. He leaned in to Harvey’s torso, holding on as Harvey reached over to hit the intercom. “Donna, we’re done.”
Donna entered, with her trademark smirk and a small box of gourmet cupcakes. Mike almost called her a traitor, but he knew that the cupcakes were sold in boxes of four, and if he got in her good side, he’d get the extra.
“First pick for the birthday boy,” Donna told him, opening the box.
Mike grabbed a chocolate-on-chocolate and took a bite. Heavenly. One of those giant, rich cupcakes that people pretended they’d only eat half of, then came back to eat the second half. Mike, with his prescience, took the whole thing at once.
“If you get chocolate on either of our clothes, I’m taking a belt to you,” Harvey warned him. As Mike perked up at the thought, Harvey’s eyes narrowed. “And I guarantee you, you won’t enjoy it.”
The tone promised no fun at all, and Mike settled back in his perch on Harvey’s lap, enjoying the cupcakes and camaraderie. After a few moments, a thought occurred to him. “You added that typo into the document, didn’t you?”
“Of course not,” Harvey answered, managing to look smug and offended at the same time. “That was Donna.”