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Twenty-seven months.
They've been officially, and very actively, dating for twenty-seven months.
(Not that Harvey was counting like an insecure, lovesick, school boy.)
Twenty a seven months and Harvey has yet to convince Mike and his children to move in with him. Since the Yuletide Ball, they've been alternating between sleepovers at Mike's apartment during the work-filled week days and lazing about at Harvey's condo in during the weekends.
“Daaaad,” Jamie calls out while munching on a piece of French toast, “I need to go back to the condo before we go to school…”
Mike walks out, still fumbling with his tie, to look sternly at his son. “Didn’t remind you to check your things from the condo?”
“But daaaaad,” Jamie complains, adding more whine in his tone. He pouts and all thoughts of breakfast are forgotten. I need my supplies for art class!”
“Why don't you just borrow from your brother?” Mike asks, glancing at the wall clock visible in the kitchen. It reads fifteen to eight and school starts at nine.
“I can't! Miss Renolds already signed the back!” Jamie argues back petulantly. “Please dad.”
Mike opens his mouth but is cut off. The chide dies on his tongue when his boyfriend comes into view.
“I’ll take him. I'll have Ray circle to the condo before heading to the office.” Harvey pipes in as he walks in from the entryway. As per usual, he's already impeccably dressed and ready to pick-up his boyfriend. He gives Mike a chaste kiss. “You'll have to take Raphy. I assume he's late again?”
“One of them had to get my akin tardiness. Looks like he won the genetic lottery.” Mike chuckles into the kiss, nodding. “You don't have to, you know. He has to learn not to keep forgetting his stuff.”
“Like you keep forgetting your phone?” Harvey teases, shooting Jamie a wink and a thumbs up behind Mike's back. The boy grins. “It's no problem, really. If we leave now, he'll make it before first bell.”
“Please daaad,” Jamie adds, squeezing between the pair. “Pops says he'll take me.” He strategically uses the title. They used to call Harvey ‘papa’ but they eventually started shortening it.
The smile on Harvey's face is blinding. “Come on, sport,” he nudges Jamie on the shoulder. He looks at the messy kitchen and notices the lack of brown bags. “Let’s go. If we're quick, we might have time to buy you guys lunch.”
Jamie's eyes widen at the mention of food. “Ohh can we get—”
“No,” Harvey cuts him off with a chiding look, “I can't buy you pizza for lunch. Your dad will kill me.” He says apologetically, glancing at Mike. He gets a nod of approval from the younger man and the familiar burst if warmth fills his chest.
Then turns to Jamie and deflates at the boy’s sad expression. It looks so much like Mike's. He folds, “Tell you what,” he says to Jaime, “If we're quick, I'll let you pick out lunch... within reasonable dietary parameters, of course. Deal?” Because it’s so like Harvey Specter to talk about dietary parameters to a ten year old boy and expect him to understand.
Jamie eyes him. No one can say that he’s an ordinary ten year old and neither is his brother. He and his twin brother, Raphy, inherited his father’s brains and quick wit. They also inherited his love for all things unhealthy which, after half-living with Harvey for two years, is slowly changing.
“Can it have dessert?” he adds quickly with a hopeful tone.
“As long as there's also vegetables.” Harvey offers as a compromise.
The boys takes a good minutes to decide. A smile creeps slowly on his face. “Deal.”
“We've got another haggler in the family.” Harvey tells Mike with a grin. “There’s hope in him yet.”
Mike chortles into his cereal. “I’m sure you'll teach him half of what he needs to know.” He answers with cheek.
“Half?” Harvey raises an eyebrow, frowning at the sugary things floating in milk.
“Half,” Mike repeats confidently, “I supply the other half.” He replies, making Harvey laugh.
“Come on, pops,” Jaime prods, tugging on Harvey's arm. “Let’s go, let's go, let's go! I want the noodle thing we had a few weeks ago. The really spicy one for lunch! We can get Jaime the rolls that he really likes!”
“That all the way across Manhattan!” Mike protests. “Jamie! You'll be late for school!”
“Not… if… we… leave… now!” Jamie retorts in-between full-body efforts to bring Harvey closer to the door. “That’s why we gotta leave now, pops!”
Harvey fights it just long enough to give Mike a peck on the lips. “Pass by my office when you arrive at the firm?”
“Or you to mine if you're late.” Mike agrees with a nod.
“Bring coffee and the Henderson files.” Harvey barely gets out before he's swept out of the condo my Jaime's persistent tugging.
Mike smiles to himself and ducks his head. His heart is filled with a million fluttering butterflies. He never expected any of this, all of this, a little over two years ago. That year had changed things for him. Bit by bit, he's opened up more of his heart and his children to Harvey—just like a real family.
“Daaaaad,” a voice much like Jaime's comes from the hallway, “Have you seen my running shoes?”
“When did you last wear it?” Mike raises his voice and yells. He rubs his forehead and tries to recall the last time he saw Raphy's shoes. He groans because the last memory was last weekend.
“Daaad!” Raphy comes scrambling into the living room, mussed. Much like Mike, his t-shirts folds over his stomach, belt undone, and only wearing one sock on his right foot. He also has a habit of snoozing his alarm one too many times and has caused them to be tardy on several occasions. They, along with Harvey, have learned to adapt.
“It's in the—” he stops abruptly to take in the empty kitchen. “Hey, where’s Jaime?”
“—condo.” Mike finishes with a sigh, “I know. Your brother and Harvey have already gone back. Why don't you give him a call?” he suggests, surrendering his phone.
“Pops was already here?!” Raphy exclaims, wide-eyed. “Where is he?” He surveyed the nearly empty apartment and then realization dawned on him. He pouts, “I missed him didn't I? Daaaad! Why didn't you call me?” He huffs out with crossed arms. “No fair! Jaime gets to ride with Pops again!”
“Well, if someone woke up earlier, than you would have been able to greet him,” Mike makes a light-hearted jab and gets a glare in return. He chuckles. “Are you done? Since both if you conveniently forgot something in the condo. Harvey’s taken Jaime with Ray. So that means it’s the subway for us.”
Raphy groans and reluctantly puts himself together. He’s grown fond of the older man over the past two years. Of the twins, he was the first one to open-up to Harvey when they were younger. He might not be able to remember exactly what transpired on the night that Mike was sick. But, he remembers the morning after when Harvey first taught him how to make pancakes.
Mike goes about to fixing the tidying-up while his son finishes dressing. Fifteen minutes later, father and son walk out of the apartment with the same sleepy-but-happy dazed expression on their face. It’s not until they reach the subway that Raphy suddenly shouts, “I FORGOT TO CALL POPS!” and making Mike laugh like a maniac on the train.
“Here,” he says, handing the phone to his son, “If you’re lucky, they’ll still be in the condo.”
***
Twenty seven months and the condo feels empty without the Ross boys messing it up. Harvey looks around to see bits and pieces evidencing the Ross’ presence in his life—more than one pair of boy’s shoes in the entry way, Mike’s jacket on the coat stand, multicolored dinnerware in kitchen, and sugary things in the cupboards.
It was absurd to keep living separately. It was more than absurd—nearly all their stuff was split between the two places! Sometimes they lost track of which was where and chaos ensued. Harvey’s home office had become the twin’s room on the second summer of the relationship. Yet still, Mike was reluctant to move-in with him.
Jamie bolts for the bedroom the moment they enter the door.
Harvey’s phone rings. The screen displays a family picture—Jaime in Mike’s arms and Raphy on Harvey’s shoulders, taken a few months ago when they went to Liberty Island. He cannot help but grin at it. He knows he loves Mike. He knows he loves the twins like his own children. He can no longer picture life without the three of them.
“Missed me already?” Harvey answers instead of his customary bark of ‘Specter’ when answering an office call. He’s startled when another voice answers.
“Pops!” Raphy is frantic over the unstable line. “I forgot my running shoes in the condo!” he cries desperately into the receiver. “I have gym class today and it’s the track try-outs for the district athletics games! I can’t run in sneakers! I’ll fall and trip and I won’t be able to get in…” he rambles on for a good five minutes without stopping to breathe.
“Okay, hold on there, buddy.” Harvey soothes, amused at Raphy’s motor-mouth is reminiscent of Mike. “Running shoes, right?” he recalls which pair was Raphy’s and spots the black shoes near the entry way. “I think I’ve got it. I’ll send it with Jaime when we get to school.”
On the other side, Raphy begins thanking him profusely. “Thanks, pops! I love you!” He says in delight before cutting off the line.
Harvey stands awkwardly in his own condo, feeling like he’s on top of the world. ‘I love you too’ is left hanging unsaid at the tip of his tongue. Jaime comes out of the bedroom moments later with a triumphant grin on his face.
“I’ve got it!” he announces proudly, “Now, come on, pops, we still need to buy food!”
Harvey is hauled out of the condo by an insistent Jaime.
“What did you forget?” he asks as they make their way down to the lobby. “Books? Math drills? ‘Cause your brother left his running shoes. He asked if you could bring it to him.”
“I’ll never leave my drills ever,” Jaime points out defiantly with a huff, making Harvey chuckle. The boy blushes. “I left the things for art class. Urgh, art.” He groans into his hands. “I have art and I have to pass it too or I won’t get on the board at the end of the year! I don’t even know when I’ll use it!”
Harvey finds Jaime’s complaining endearing. “Well, ever look at something and think ‘wow, that’s really pretty’?” he asks, keeping his tone as mild as possible. He’s learned how to deal with the twins when they were younger but he’s still adapting as they grow older. He’s never had kids, never expected to want kids, but he looks forward to seeing Jaime and Raphy grow-up.
Jaime nods, albeit uneasily.
Harvey pats him on the shoulder. “If it wasn’t for art classes when they were younger, the people who made all those things wouldn’t have been able to make them. I know school is tough but it helps you figure out what things interest you and what things don’t. We all go through it.”
Jaime stays silent.
Harvey hides his frown, sensing something deeper in the silence. He’s known Jaime to be the shier one of the twins but not this quiet. It’s been a while since he’s seen such a closed-off expression from the young boy. “Jaime… what’s wrong?”
“I don’t have a mom.” Jaime says after a while. “My art teacher said to draw my family. Everyone else has a mom. I don’t.”
Guilt twists in Harvey’s gut. It feels like only yesterday when he presumed incorrectly that Katrina was the twin’s mother. It was a huge misunderstanding on his part and nearly cost him Mike. He’s stopped to think about the implications of Lizzie Bennet being absent in the kid’s life but, until today, it never seemed like a problem.
“Do you…” he starts of unsure, “…want a mom?” He feels his throat constrict and his heart hammer in his chest like his first day in the firm. A part of him, a cowardly part of him, is afraid of Jaime’s answer but he knows, deep down, that he needs to know.
Will he really let go of Mike if the twins needed it?
The thought is too painful to even think about.
“No,” Jaime answers him. Harvey lets out the breath that he was holding. “I don’t want a mom. Moms are hard. I mean… our mom left us. She didn’t want anything to do with us. I don’t want a mom.” The bitterness is his voice was as clear as the sky. It sliced through Harvey like a sharp knife. A kid, such a small kid, already holding such intense feelings.
Harvey did what he thought is best: he wrapped an arm around Jaime’s shoulder and pulled the boy close. “Oh hush,” he said gently, “I know you might be too young to understand but someday… someday your dad and I will explain it to you… but don’t ever thing it’s because you aren’t worth anything. She… your mom… she doesn’t know what she’s missing.”
“Really?” Jaime mumbles into his side. “But she left us.”
“It’s her loss.” Harvey presses, a little harsher than he intended. “You and Raphy are amazing kids, Jaime. Don’t let anyone else say otherwise. No one, you hear me? It’s not wrong to be a little different than the other kids. Never let them get to you.”
Jaime hiccups again. “Does that… does that mean I can have two dads?”
“If you will have me,” Harvey answers in a heartbeat. He’s being completely sincere. “I would love to be your other father.”
Jaime beams. “I love you, Pops. You can’t ever leave us, okay?”
“Okay,” Harvey answers. His chest wells up because he finally has a chance to say it, “I love you too, Jaime, my son.”
***
In the end, Harvey and Jaime order too much food in the Thai place. Jaime is not late for school. He’s back to his giddy self with a bag of takeaway and Raphy’s shoes in a canvass bag before the first bell rings. Harvey ends up taking the extra-food with him to the office.
“Mike,” Harvey enter Mike’s office without bothering to knock. The smell of warm Thai food follows him inside and immediately fills the small space. “Our son and I seem to have ordered half the things on the menu. Feel like having a second breakfast?”
Mike balks, not noticing the change in address. “I knew you’d be late!” he teases with a grin. He stands up and makes his way to Harvey, helping the older man unload the cartons onto his desk. “You did order half the menu! Jesus, it’s like you’re feeding an army!” he exclaims while pulling carton after carton out of the paper bag.
“You know I’m weak against their pouts,” Harvey muses, pulling up behind Mike to wrap his arms around his lover.
Mike hums at the touch. It’s still early and only half the floor was in the office. Most of them are far too embarrassed to spy of the boss, even if said boss is in a good mood—Harvey’s reputation still precedes him. “Just their pouts?”
Harvey laughs. “Yours too.”
This, Harvey thinks, is what he wants—even if he still has to wait.