Chapter Text
Frank hated wearing suits. He hated how unnatural he felt in them, how careful he felt like he had to be in them. Frank hated them from the moment his parents died, and he was stuffed and dressed in one for three days straight, pitied by relatives he didn't know and fussed over, in shoes that pinched his feet, and hair slicked back. It took four days of sleeping on the floor of his cousin's, with just a blanket and pillow, before Harvey showed up, taking one look at the snotty and bored eleven-year-old kid and taking him in with a look of exasperation and a legal document that had declared him Frank's legal guardian. His dad was a former law school 'friend' of Harvey's and made Harvey Frank's legal guardian as revenge for a bet gone wrong, enjoying the horror on Harvey's face at the thought of a kid, and got too busy to change it.
Frank absolutely hated suits, especially the ones Harvey ingrained into him over and over to buy. He knew he looked good; Donna told him he looked handsome every time she saw him in one, fussing over him, but God, he hated them. Especially when he was standing in the middle of the Pitt, wearing one, tie lost somewhere in the chaos, blood staining his white shirt, and his styled hair mussed, praying to every single god imaginable, he could make it out with limited damage or at least get the injured Mike out of the Pitt with limited damage. Mike, who was dressed in a clean hospital gown with a broken nose and needing stitches and a CT scan.
"Harvey is so going to kill you."
Frank's hand dropped from where it had been pinching the bridge of his nose to look at the smirking Mike with a look of clear disbelief. "He's going to kill me? You're the one who's hurt."
"Yeeeeeaaaaah, but in case you haven't noticed, I'm not you. God, this is going to be good."
Frank could only blink. "Yeah, I'm going to see if there's any way you can get bumped up the CT wait list. You're clearly suffering from a brain injury, Mike."
Mike snorted, "And let people know you're here? Dressed like that, by the way?"
"They already know; we're in the hospital."
Mike levelled him with a look that reminded Frank entirely too much of Harvey, which was disturbing to him in so many ways. "Dude, you used your id badge and just slipped in. The only person who's seen you is that one nurse you bribed with a Starbucks gift card not to say anything. Seriously, man, do you just keep that shit in your pocket?"
Frank pauses for a second too long, and Mike starts to laugh again. "I keep the gift cards in my locker..."
"Wow, Specter, wow."
"That's not my last name, and I'm nothing like Harvey."
"No." Harvey's voice from behind Frank, jaw set and a the same face he wore to court when he was out for blood on his face. Frank could feel himself go pale, and then pale even further when he realised both Jack and Robby were behind him, "because he's too much like you." Frank shifts and opens his mouth, and Harvey pins him in place with a hard look. "Not you. Not yet." He orders and Frank shuts his jaw quickly and nods.
"Good boy," Harvey grunts before turning his full attention to Mike. "What the fuck happened, Mike?" He demanded. "And why the hell is my Frank covered in blood?"
"I'm fine," Ross sassed in response, rolling his eyes. "Nose will heal, and Frank says the brain bleeding is minimal."
"Cut the shit; if something was any worse than this, Frank would have called me directly instead of calling Donna and having her tell me. Now what happened?"
Frank was prepared for the look of betrayal that settled on Mike's face as he looked at him with a pout. "You called Donna?"
".... technically I called Louis...what? I thought he would come, not Harvey. He did the last time I got hurt."
The temperature of the room dropped to a dangerously cool degree, and Harvey very slowly turned around, his expression smooth and unreadable.
"You called Louis?"
"The last time you got hurt?" Frank gives a full-body shiver at the ice in Harvey's tone, the man taking a step towards him, still dressed impeccably in his bespoke tux. "Tell me Franklin, was this before or after your time in rehab? Because I very distinctly remember we had a deal when you came home from rehab. A deal that not only was turned into a legal contract but one that had not one but three witnesses when you signed."
"Oh fuck, I forgot about that." Mike breathed out with wonder.
"You really do have a brain injury, if you're forgetting stuff."
"Har har. Fuck off, Harvey." Mike sniped at Harvey, who had not looked away from Frank.
"I'm waiting, Franklin."
Taking a breath, Frank closed his eyes and bit the words out. "...I used a loophole."
Neither Harvey nor Mike responded for a moment. "You used a loophole?"
"Harvey, you've had me prepping for law school since I was twelve." Frank defended himself, forcing himself to keep his attention on Mike and Harvey, and not where Robby and Jack had slipped in the door, silently watching, Jack's posture stiff and tense and Robby holding himself painfully still, head cocked, listening to every word.
"You were eleven and a half, and you're the one who came up to me and told me you wanted to be the best lawyer you could be and kick my ass, Frank." Harvey pointed out, taking another step towards him. "Something that you might, not actually do, but might have done, except you threw it all away and decided to waste your life saving people instead."
"It's the lack of suits you object to, isn't it?"
Frank hears Mike wheeze at the crack, and is too focused on anticipating Harvey's response that he doesn't notice his chief attending's shift. Harvey, however, did. "I assume you two are Frank's chief attendings?" What one of you is Doctor Robinabvitch? Frank, go sit with Mike. You're not on shift; in fact, you have the next two days off, so you're going to sit next to Mike like the good boy I know you are, while the adults have a conversation.
"Harvey-"
"I'm Doctor Robinavitch." Robby's voice is quiet and equally dangerous, and Frank doesn't move until Harvey gives him a look, and then he does exactly what he's told. Sitting on the edge of Mike's bed, the man only ten years older than him looks murderous. "If you have a problem with me, then we can discuss it elsewhere; however, I will not have you talk to any of my staff like that, no matter what your relationship might be."
"He won't be one of your staff much longer, I assure you. As soon as his residency is done, he's coming back to New York, with me, where he belongs." Harvey's smile is sharp and predatory, and Robby pulls himself up straight.
"What exactly is your relationship to Mr Harvey, Mr Ross?" Jack's voice was calmer, asking the question to Mike, like this was just another patient, but Frank knows better. "If he's bothering you, we will be happy to escort him out."
Mike, however, just smiles. "We're the law version of Dr Robinavitch and Frank."
"Except I would never treat Frank the way you did." Harvey digs before Robby can defend himself.
"How I treated him?" Robby's voice dipped, and Frank wanted to throw up from the tension in the room.
"Please, Doctor Robinavitch," Harvey cocks a brow. "Unlike you, I actually pay attention to the people I claim to care about. My boy goes from mentioning your name every five seconds to not mentioning your name in two months, and it looks like he's going to cry when one of us brings you up. You think I won't make the connection?"
This time it's Jack's voice to drop, cold and protective. "Your boy?"
"That's right." Harvey looks over his shoulder. "And I don't take kindly to when someone messes with what's mine. Is there a reason Mike is still down here and not getting checked out and his nose reset?"
"We will be sending Mr Ross up as soon as we can." Robby bites out, "and his nose has been taken care of, hence the bandages."
"Great. Nothing else then." Harvey orders, "If something changes, you'll know."
The room once again freezes when Jack asks a very pointed and quiet question. "Frank, are you okay?"
Frank knows at once what Jack is really asking; they all do. They're not asking if he's hurt despite the large amount of blood he's wearing, but if Frank was okay with Harvey and Mike, if he was safe, if they needed to step in.
He can tell they weren't prepared for Frank's honest answer. "Harvey is the safest person I know. I'm good."
Harvey stares the two doctors down as they leave, waiting until they are fully out the door before whipping around to look at Frank with a glare, hands already reaching out to check his ward out, ignoring that he was thirty-two and no longer fourteen. "Really? Fucking Louis? Get over here. What the fuck happened to your suit? Mike, every time you take him out, he gets into trouble."
Mike just sighed. "You do know I'm the one injured, right?"