Chapter Text
Mike notices nothing of how the twin’s faces are glued to the TV commercial when he arrives home. It’s a leisurely Tuesday night in the Ross Household. The twins have their homework scattered all over the coffee table while the TV hums in the background.
“Daddy’s home,” he says in greeting.
It’s one of the rare times that Mike gets home early enough to join his kids for dinner. Things at the firm have been difficult lately with Mike’s new clients and Harvey’s probonos. It’s only thanks to Harvey that he gets one or two nights a week at home.
Their heads bolt up immediately.
“Dad!” They pipe up in unison. The same grin is mirrored in their features as they turn to him. Raphy and Jamie make a daring dash towards their father, crayons and pencils, and books falling on the floor in their haste. The give him their best Rottweiler impersonations, tackling him on the floor.
“Yes, bossman’s home!” Britney cheered from somewhere inside the apartment. There’s shuffling of pillows and stuffing of bags in the distance. “Catcha later, boss. I’m heading home to study!” She says, giving Mike a shoulder squeeze before rushing past, “I need my wages next week. I gotta buy me some books for school.”
Mike has no time to react when two buzzing balls of energy nearly jump up and down his stomach.
“Dad-dad-dad-dad,” Jaime says, slurring his words.
“Are we going out on Sunday?” Raphy asks in the same hurried pace.
Mike’s brow furrow. “This Su nday? What’s happening this Sunday?” he muses more to himself, trying to remember if anything special will happen on that day but his mind draws a blank. He gives his children a skeptical look. “I don’t remember anything special about Sunday. Why don’t we do what we always do?”
“But daaaaad,” Raphy protests, giving Mike a stop being stupid look. Mike returns it two-fold.
“It’s February 14.” Jamie fills him in like he was stating the most obvious thing in the world.
“Huh,” Mike blinks dumbly. He rises to his elbows, legs still trapped beneath his sons, and eyes them questioningly. “Ehrm, okay…? So guys know the date…? And…?”
“It’s Valentine’s Day, dad,” Raphy tells him with a groan, “Vah-lehn-tynes!”
“Aren’t you going to do anything?” Jamie adds, poking Mike in the chest.
“For Harvey!” Raphy clarifies immediately. He looks and sounds moments away from bursting into song again. It’s a fact that his brother catches quickly. The twins’ eyes meet and their grins breaks their faces.
“Daddy and Harvey sitting in a—” they begin to sing but a glare from their dad shushes them.
“We saw you kissing!” Jamie points out matter-of-factly.
“Twice!” Raphy announces, making a weird face between disgusted and gleeful.
Mike tries and fails to stop his blush. They had, the twins truly had seen them kissing more than once and he recalls both times vividly in his head.
The first time had been Christmas day, just after dawn, while they placed presents underneath the Christmas tree in Harvey’s condo and pretended, like good parents, that the boxes came from the North Pole. It was an accident! Flushed with eggnog, warmed by the fire, Harvey and Mike were indulging in a little light petting on the couch when the twins wandered into the living room, disoriented. Lucky for the adults, thick woolen blankets on their laps hid their discomfort.
The second time it happened had been completely intentional. Harvey had taken to spending the New Year’s Even either in a club, a bar, or some client party. This year had been different; he opted, instead, to join Mike and the twins for a Times Square celebration, crowding into the streets and waiting for the ball to drop. Each man had a child on his shoulders: Jaime on Mike and Raphy on Harvey.
When the ball dropped, everybody cheered in celebration. Mike, feeling for the first time in a long time that everything was beginning to slot into place, wrapped a hand around Harvey’s neck and hauled the older man into a lip-lock that made his kids gag for the rest of the week. And, thus, their rendition of ‘K-I-S-S-I-N-G’ was immortalized.
“Earth to daddy,” Jamie croons waving a hand over Mike’s face, “Still there, dad?”
Mike blinks out of his reverie. “Uh, right, Sunday, yeah,” he mumbles, “Harvey, yeah…”
“Are you gonna give him anything?” Raphy asks, grinning like a maniac, “The lady on the TV says that you’re supposed to give’em chocolates and stuffs.”
“… and stuffs?”
“Yeah.” Jaime nods, “Like choc’late an’ roses and stuffs.”
Mike goes from shocked to confused to interested.
“What? Why?” He asks, raising his eyebrow. “Why are you worried Harvey all of a sudden?”
“Because…” Raphy trails off, avoiding his eyes. He also inherited Mike’s lip-biting habit and is currently putting a dent on his lower lip. Jaime has the same look on his face. Like his brother, he keeps his mouth sealed shut.
“Because…?” Mike prods, heart threatening to burst inside his chest. He knows that his children are a little bit smarter than average. Hell, even he didn’t know how they grew up like that but they are more observant that regular nine-year-olds.
Over the course of two months, Harvey’s been gradually becoming a steady presence in their lives; whether it’s having him over for dinner, having them at his condo for dinner, take-away in Mike’s apartment, or that one weekend when they caught Super Bowl live on his flat screen TV. He’s made it no secret that he adores them as much as he adores Mike. Even the kids have caught on to it.
The twins engage in a bit of elbowing and not-so-subtle glances until one of them finally breaks.
“Because he’s nice!” Raphy bursts out, being the first to fold.
“Really nice, dad.” Jaime seconds.
“We like him.” They say together.
Mike’s heart skips a beat at his sons’ confession.
Albeit it’s clear as day that the twins enjoy Harvey’s company, it’s the first time that one of them has admitted liking Harvey, he suspects, more than Brittany, Rosa, Katrina, or Rachel.
“You like him, huh?” He cannot help but smile like an idiot when he says it. “The same way you like Rosa, Britney, Katrina, or Rachel?”
“No,” Raphy shakes his head, “I like him. He’s my favorite.”
“Our favorite.” Jamie corrects, elbowing his brother, “Don’t be so selfish, Raphy!”
“Ah-huh,” Mike grins, chest thundering a million miles a minute. He feels like he’s about to burst with happiness at any moment but he steels himself. “Harvey’s your favorite, huh? You know what? He’s my favorite too.”
Jamie and Raphy’s expression could melt the polar ice caps.
“Okay,” Mike says using a hand to cover his embarrassingly heart-struck smile, “Do you guys want to do something with me for Harvey this weekend? We can do that. What do you guys want to do?”
“Okay, dad,” Jamie stares him in the eyes with a serious expression, “listen carefully.”
“We have an idea,” Raphy squeals and starts whispering into Mike’s ear.