Suits Fic: Dirty Little Secrets
Let me just preface this by saying I read fic, I read lots and lots of fic, but I never really thought about writing it until Suits came along and kind of inspired me to give it a try.
The prompt by phreakycat (who has the BEST prompts btw) at suitsmeme
Someone at the firm (Greg? Kyle? Probably not Louis because I think he's a bigger softie than he lets on) finds out Mike's secret. Rather than exposing him, though, they blackmail him into sexual encounters. They tell him that if he tells Harvey or Jessica or anyone else, they'll bring the whole charade down and both he and Harvey will be destroyed. Mike tries to find a way out of it, but eventually is forced into doing what the blackmailer wants. Harvey starts to notice a change in Mike's behavior (he's withdrawn, jumpy, irritable) and is determined to find out what's going on. When he does, he lays down some SERIOUS FUCKING HURT on the person responsible and manages to resolve the situation. Cue caring!Harvey being all possessive and protective of Mike. :)
Warnings for possible triggers for non-con
Mike's first instinct had been to run to Harvey. Run to Harvey and tell him to fix this. Make it go away. Harvey had always been good at fixing Mike's problems; fixing everybody's problems. Except when Mike went to Harvey, he couldn't bring himself to actually say anything. It's like every single word he needed to explain the situation had been completely erased from his vocab. Instead he just stood there, staring blankly, finally drawing a "What the hell is wrong with you, kid?" from Harvey.
Mike rambled off whatever excuse he could think of off the top of his head, and he was sure it must have sounded twice as dumb to Harvey as it did to himself, so he quickly left his office before Harvey even had time to question what had been said.
"So, what the hell do you want from me, Kyle?" Mike asked coldly, peering over the top of the cubicle.
"What took you so long, Mikey? I almost thought you weren't coming back for a second, but then again, you are smart, just not Harvard smart, isn't that right?"
"Just tell me what you want so we can get this over with."
"I want you to meet me in the copy room after hours tonight," Kyle responded.
"For what?" Mike questioned.
"I don't think you're really in a position to ask questions. Just be there or else your dirty little secret won't be a secret any more. Got it?" Kyle asked.
The stupid smirk Kyle had sprawled across his face almost made Mike nauseous, he didn't understand how somebody could get so much pleasure out of wanting to ruin someone else's life.
"Okay, fine," Mike reluctantly agreed.
Mike knew that giving into blackmail was certainly not the smart thing to do, or was it ever the smart thing to do, but it felt like the only thing to do. He couldn't let his secret get out, because after all it wasn't just his secret, it was his and Harvey's secret. Harvey put his ass on the line when he agreed to hire Mike, and there was no way Mike was going to let anything bad happen to one of the few people that had ever shown any sort of belief in him.
~~
Though Kyle had eluded the question of what exactly it was he wanted, Mike was wholly expecting Kyle to dump a load of work and then some on his lap come night fall so he spent the remainder of the day working as hard as possible to get ahead on the things Harvey needed done for him. By keeping his head buried in work he also had managed to avoid Harvey for the better part of the day, which was probably for the best, he didn't want to risk drawing any red flags, and Harvey was naturally suspicious with an innate ability to read people, especially Mike who was never very good at hiding things in the first place.
~~
Mike rubbed his eyes and stood up from his chair, grabbed his jacket from the back of his chair and swung it over his shoulder, he figured a walk to stretch his legs and grab a cup of coffee would give him the opportunity to survey the office to see how many people were still hanging around, and by the looks of things it looked like the vast majority of people had gone home aside from a few stragglers here and there.
Mike poured the little that was left in the coffee pot into his cup, and then began to absentmindedly add sugar to the cup.
"Do you want some sugar with that coffee?"
The voice startled Mike and almost caused him to knock over his cup of coffee as he jerked his head around to catch Harvey's glance.
"What are you still doing here? I thought you left hours ago," Mike asked him.
"I did, but I forgot some paperwork I needed so I had to swing back. What are you still doing here?"
"I'm uh.. kind of wired, so I figured I'd just get a jump start on tomorrow's work," Mike lied.
"Just make sure you get your ass home and get some sleep, you look like you're long overdue already."
"You got it, boss," he responded.
Harvey pivoted to walk out the door and paused mid-way, "Hey..you okay?" he asked.
"Uhh, yeah..I'm fine, why?" Mike said, sounding slightly unsure of himself.
Harvey just stared at Mike for a brief moment, as if he was mentally debating whether or not Mike was actually telling the truth.
"Go home. Get some rest," Harvey reiterated before heading back out the door.
~~
Mike paused once he was outside the copy room door, and for a brief moment he considered taking out his phone and calling Harvey. He immediately rejected the thought. Instead he took a deep breath and slowly turned the doorknob.
About half the light switches in the room had been switched off, which Mike thought made the room somehow appropriately lit for a blackmail situation, he might have laughed at that thought if it wasn't him that was in the situation.
"You're late"
"How can I be late if you never gave a specific time," Mike snapped defensively.
"Whoa, whoa, calm down, Mikey. I was messing with you."
"Guess I'm not really in the joking mood, ya know, being blackmailed and all," Mike paused for a moment, giving the room a quick once over, "so where is it?"
"I'm sorry, where is what?" Kyle questioned, sounding legitimately confused by Mike's question.
"Whatever work it is you're planning on pushing off on me."
Mike's response drew a laugh from Kyle.
"Wow, you really are that naive, huh?" he asked Mike.
"What are you talking about?"
"I'm not going to blackmail you into doing my work for me, that's little league stuff, and if you haven't noticed, these are the big leagues."
"What exactly do you want then?"
"What I want, is for you to get down on your knees and suck my dick."
"Yeah, okay, hilarious. I'm being serious, Kyle."
"And so am I, Mike. You either get down on your knees or else this fantasy lawyer land you're living in comes crashing down," Kyle threatened.
"Screw you," Mike spat, heading towards the door.
"That's fine, Mikey. Leave. But man, it's a shame you're dragging Harvey down with you."
The grip Mike had on the doorknob instantly loosened the moment he heard Harvey. He hated the fact that Kyle knew and was clearly taking advantaged of his willingness and the lengths he would go to protect Harvey.
"So what's it going to be, Mikey?"
With the stupid smirk planted on Kyle's face Mike was positive that Kyle was only asking that because he already knew what the answer would be.
~~
The downfall of an eidetic memory is that you don't get to pick and choose the things you want to remember and the things you don't. You remember everything, almost everything anyway. Mike didn't remember how long he had sat in that empty copy room after Kyle left. He didn't even remember how he had gotten back to his apartment afterwards or how he had wound up in bed, still completely clothed, shoes included, comforter pulled up to his neck as if it wasn't the middle of summer and ungodly hot.
That's what Mike didn't remember.
What Mike did remember was how completely deafening Kyle's zipper had sounded to him when he unzipped his pants. He remembered the way Kyle had gripped the back of his hair tightly and forced him onto his cock repeatedly, causing him to gag and choke when Kyle didn't think he was 'doing a good enough job'. He remembers trying his hardest to block out the animalistic grunts and sounds Kyle was making. He remembers closing his eyes tight and just praying for it to be over, he remembers the taunting way Kyle had said good boy to him after demanding and watching Mike swallow and then he remembers the way Kyle had zipped back up his pants and said to him "You were so good, Mikey. At least now I know you're not entirely useless."
That's what he remembered, and would give anything to forget.
He stared at the ceiling for what seemed like an endless amount of time, the scenario continually playing over and over. You were so good, Mikey. The more he laid there and thought about it, the more nauseous he got. He decided that maybe he needed something to help him forget, so he rolled out of bed and stumbled to kitchen cabinet. He dug to the back and pulled out a bottle of whiskey, he couldn't recall ever even buying whiskey, but he was thankful for it. His hands were shaking as he unscrewed the lid and took a swig straight from the bottle, he found the warmth of the whiskey on his tongue to be somewhat soothing, which lead to him downing half the bottle in a matter of no time at all.
~~~
He awoke to the sound of the alarm clock, even though it was faint and distant, it was still entirely too loud. His head was pounding and he was sticky with sweat. He had fallen asleep on the floor and his body ached because of it. He staggered to the bedroom and slammed the off button on the alarm clock, but not before noticing that it was already almost 9 o'clock. Mike dug deep into the pocket of his suit and pulled out his cell phone, sure enough there were missed calls from Harvey. 'Fuck' he mumbled under his breath.
Mike wasn't positive that he had the strength to make it through a day of work. Trying to pretend things are or were ever going to be normal again for him seemed like the hardest thing in the world. He knew he had to at least try.
He considered a shower briefly, but rejected the idea, and opted for just throwing a fresh suit on instead. Once dressed he went into the bathroom, turned the faucet all the way to cold and splashed the ice cold water on his face. He caught a brief glimpse of himself in the mirror and had to look away. He looked like hell, and he felt like he could actually see the shame and guilt he felt from what he had done last night sprawled across his face.
"You're late," Harvey said to him.
Mike knew he was late, but he didn't expect to be so thrown off by such simple words. You're late. That's the first thing Kyle had said to him last night. Mike really fucking hated remembering.
"And you look like you were on a three day bender. I thought I told you to take your ass home and get sleep last night," Harvey added.
"I'm uh, I'm sorry about, I just," Mike rambled.
"Save it, Mike. Just take these and see if you can find me anything that might have been missed for the McKinney case," Harvey said as he shoved a stack of papers at Mike.
"Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a meeting with a client, but I expect you to have it back to me by the time I'm done with the meeting. Got it?" Harvey didn't wait for an answer before heading off in the opposite direction he came.
~~~
Mike sat at his cubicle and began going through the briefs; attempting to anyway, it took everything he had to focus on them and not let his mind wander. He couldn't help but glance up and look around every so often to make sure Kyle wasn't around. He didn't think he could handle seeing him.
It took much longer than it normally would, but Mike eventually found what Harvey had needed, so he gathered the papers up and headed back to Harvey's office.
Harvey was sitting behind his desk, so intently focused on reading the papers in front of him that he didn't even notice Mike come in.
"I found it," Mike said holding out the papers to Harvey.
Harvey took the papers from Mike's hand and glanced over them, reading where Mike had highlighted with an obnoxiously bright orange highlighter.
"Nice work, Mike. Good to know that despite the fact that you look like you threw a kegger last night, that you're not entirely useless."
It was just a mere innocent coincidental choice of words by Harvey, but all Mike could think was, At least now I know you're not entirely useless.
"What the hell is wrong with you? Why do you keep saying shit like that to me?" Mike snapped at him.
"Excuse me?"
"You know what, just fucking forget it, it doesn't matter" Mike said as he quickly turned and walked out of Harvey's office.
Harvey sat in stunned silence, completely confused about what the hell had just even happened.
Mike had gone outside for some air, and to try to collect what was left of his composure, just being in this damn building made him feel like he was coming apart at the seams, little by little. He finally convinced himself to head back inside, hoping that if he kept his head down, buried himself in work and made as little human contact as possible he'd be able to get through the day.
That's just what he did too. He worked hard, and diligently and he got a lot accomplished. He had even gotten work done for Harvey that he didn't need to have done for another week. He wanted to apologize to Harvey for earlier, and figured
Harvey might enjoy the work being done a little more than just hearing an 'I'm sorry' from him.
Mike had gathered what he needed to take to Harvey and when he went to stand up from his desk he knocked smack dab into Kyle, causing him to drop all the papers to the floor.
"Hey buddy," Kyle greeted him as if they were old friends.
"Just leave me alone, I did what you asked," Mike replied, avoiding eye contact.
"You did, but you were just so good that I think I need seconds. Meet me here. Midnight," Kyle said as he shoved a piece of paper in Mike's jacket pocket. Mike shivered underneath Kyle's touch.
"Kyle..please," Mike pleaded, to no avail though, Kyle just didn't care.
"Midnight," he sternly reminded Mike.
Mike gathered the papers off the floor and proceeded to head to Harvey's office, everything seemed like a blur between the walk from his desk to the office, and his thoughts sounded like radio static. He was positive that Donna had said something to him when he had walked by her desk, but he just gave her a brief glance, barely enough to even acknowledge her existence.
Mike walked into Harvey's office and just stood though.
"Is there something I can help you with?" Harvey asked sarcastically.
"These," Mike said, tossing the stack of papers down, "these are for you."
Harvey picked them up and leafed through the papers, "Impressive work. Now sit."
"What?"
"You heard me, I said sit," Harvey said again, this time motioning to the leather chair.
Mike did as he was told and sat down in the chair.
"Harvey, if this is about earlier.."
"It's not. It's about you. I want to know what's going on with you."
"What do you mean?"
"Don't screw with me, Mike. You've been acting weird, and I want to know why? Is it Trevor, is he back?," Harvey asked.
"What..no, no, of course not. Nothing's wrong Harvey, I just haven't been getting a lot of sleep. That's all."
It was so hard for Mike to not just tell Harvey everything. But he didn't know how to, for starters, and if Kyle somehow found out that he told Harvey, Kyle would expose them in a heartbeat. So Mike was going to keep his mouth shut and just do what Kyle wanted him to do. No matter how much it hurt him he would never let it hurt Harvey. Mike could fix this.
"Take the day off tomorrow, and use it to sleep. That's not a request either."
Mike thought about arguing back, but figured it was pointless and he could use a day away from the office anyway.
"Fine," Mike said as he walked to the door.
"You know, you once said that maybe it's time for you to start trusting someone else. Don't forget that."
Mike left without responding.
~~
Mike left the office a little after 10 pm. He had hailed a cab and had it take him to the location that Kyle had scribbled onto the piece of paper. He wasn't sure why going back to his apartment had never seemed like an option. Instead the cabbie had dropped him off in front of an apartment complex that certainly looked a lot nicer than the one he lived in, at least from the outside anyway, though he was sure the inside was no different. It didn't take much, after all. Mike looked at his watch and realized he still had almost an hour and a half, so he aimlessly wandered down the street, eventually stumbling upon a bar. Perfect, he thought.
He couldn't stop looking at his watch. Time was moving so fast, but so slow at the same time. The closer the hand moved to 12 the quicker Mike found himself downing the shots. It was a quarter of 12 when Mike paid his bar tab. He almost lost his balance when he hopped down from the bar stool where he had been perched. The bartender took notice to this.
"Hey man, are you going to be okay?" he asked.
Mike looked back at him with a half smile, "No. Definitely not."
Mike was positive that was one of the most honest things he's ever said.
~~~
It was 11:55 PM when Mike rang the doorbell.
Kyle swung open the door almost immediately, "What do you know, you do have the ability to be punctual."
He didn't even bother to invite Mike in, but rather grabbed him by his suit jacket and pulled him into the apartment, slamming the door shut behind him.
Once inside, Kyle shoved Mike back up against the door and started kissing him forcefully. Caught entirely off guard, Mike desperately scrambled to pull away from Kyle, and Kyle caught Mike's lip with his teeth, drawing blood.
"What the fuck are you doing?" Mike shouted at him.
"No, Mike. What the fuck are you doing? You do what I want, not the other way around. Or do you need reminded of the situation again?"
Mike's eyes dropped to the floor, he didn't really have a response to that, and even if he did, he knew it wouldn't have mattered. Nothing he said mattered. He didn't matter.
So Mike didn't argue when Kyle kissed him again. He didn't argue when Kyle lead him down the hallway and shoved him down onto the bed, carelessly pulled off his clothes, little rips and tears of fabric being heard here and there. He didn't fight back at all, just laid there and let Kyle have his way with him. And Kyle was rough and merciless, and god, Mike wanted to scream out, wanted to cry, and most of all wanted to get the fuck away.
It seemed like it went on forever. Mike tried so hard to block it all out, not only what was happening physically, but the filthy degrading shit that Kyle was saying to him. Things he knew he'd remember hearing forever. Finally he felt Kyle stop moving on top of him.
"Fuck. Fuck, Mikey. I certainly hope that was as good for you as it was for me," Kyle laughed as he pulled out of Mike and rolled off the bed.
"Here. Get dressed and get the fuck out," Kyle said, picking Mike's clothes up from the floor and tossing them at him on the bed.
Mike didn't move, and for a moment he didn't think he could move even if he wanted to. It literally took all of his strength to pull himself up from the mattress. He slowly grabbed the clothes and got dressed. He realized he was putting his shirt on inside out halfway through doing it, but didn't care enough to fix the mistake, he just wanted to get out of there.
"Take a fucking shower too when you get home. You're disgusting," Kyle spat at him.
Mike didn't even bother putting on his socks and shoes, but instead gathered them up in his arms and started heading towards the door of the apartment.
He had turned the knob of the door when Kyle grabbed his wrist hard, "Just remember, you say one fucking word about this," he threatened a final time.
"I know," Mike responded, in a voice that was barely audible.
It was however enough that Kyle let go of his wrist and let Mike walk out the door.
~~
Mike had just made it outside of the apartment building when he allowed himself to collapse against the wall. The concrete felt cool against his back but the air felt heavy and thick and he felt like he couldn't fucking breathe.
He was startled by the sudden vibrating of his cell phone in his jacket pocket, he always made sure to keep his phone on vibrate since Harvey has lectured him about it a dozen times or so. One missed call it read. Mike clicked into it and sure enough it had been from Harvey. Mike dialed the number back this time, he hadn't even planned to say anything, he didn't even think Harvey would be awake, and at best he figured he'd get sent directly to voice mail, but he just wanted, needed, to hear Harvey's voice.
"Hello?" a groggy voice said.
Mike didn't say anything.
"Hello?" the voice said again.
"Harvey," Mike's voice cracked.
"Mike? What the hell are you calling me at 1:30 in the morning for?"
"I'm just.. Harvey I'm sorry..I messed up..and I thought I was strong enough, I know funny, right? and I'm just not. And I can't..just fucking keep doing it..just," Mike trailed off.
"What are you talking about, Mike? You're not making any sense. How much have you had to drink?"
"I shouldn't have called...I'm fucking it up..I just needed..you..."
And then there was silence from Mike's end of the line.
Harvey had spoken to Mike when he was drunk before, and this, well, this was nothing like that. Mike wasn't making any sense, he was speaking in sentence fragments and he sounded so frantic, scared and just..broken. Harvey thought he sounded nothing like the way Mike ever has, or ever should sound.
Mike regretted calling him immediately, and he wanted to smash his cell phone on the ground, as if that would somehow erase what he'd just done. He hoped Harvey would just think he was drunk and leave it at that. He gathered up his things off the sidewalk and took a cab ride back to his apartment. He spent the entire ride staring out the car window, watching the lights of the city flicker and blur as they drove past them, spacing out and thinking about absolutely nothing, which he liked, but then every so often they'd hit a bump and it would snap him back into reality, make him think about tonight and Kyle, and that he loathed.
He was glad when the car finally pulled up to his apartment. He wearily gathered his things and tossed money at the cab driver,not even bothering to count the amount, and slammed the car door behind him.
Mike had expected to just be able to get into his apartment and curl up into a ball and just stay that way until he couldn't physically stay that way any longer. What he hadn't expected was to see Harvey fucking Specter sitting on the floor in front of the door of his apartment.
"Jesus Christ, Mike. What the hell happened to you?" Harvey said, jumping to his feet as soon as he noticed Mike.
"You shouldn't be here." Mike replied, as if Harvey hadn't even said a single word to him. He wondered how long Harvey had been waiting there.
"You're right. I shouldn't. But I got a phone call from some guy who sounded freaked the fuck out of his mind, and I couldn't just leave that alone."
"It was just the alcohol talking, I drank too much," Mike said.
"Really? Did the alcohol also give you that cut on your lip? Did the alcohol rip your clothes like that too, Mike?"
"Look, I'm tired, I'm not going to stand in a hallway and do this with you."
"Fine. Then we'll go inside," Harvey insisted.
"You can do whatever you want" Mike replied, shoving past Harvey to unlock the apartment door.
Harvey followed him through the apartment door.
"You're limping," he pointed out. "I suppose that's from the alcohol as well."
"Okay. I get it. You've made your point, Harvey. Just stop it now. Please," Mike said as he slowly sat down on the sofa, pulling his knees up his chest. Mike thought that if he closed his eyes now, he could probably sleep forever, and that didn't sound like too bad of an idea.
Harvey walked into the kitchen, Mike could hear the cabinet doors opening and slamming shut and the sound of the faucet running.
"Here, drink this," Harvey said, handing him a glass of cold water.
Mike took the glass from him, and drank.
Harvey noticed the way Mike's hand was trembling underneath the glass.
"When was the last time you ate something?"
"Does it even matter?"
"No, of course not, Mike. How ridiculous of me to think people need food to survive."
"I am surviving."
"Yeah, and it looks like you're doing a real bang up job at that."
"Why are you still here?" Mike asked accusingly.
"Because I'm worried about you, Mike. I mean Jesus, just look at yourself. You think that's okay?"
Mike just sat in silence, and Harvey wasn't sure he had even been listening to a single word he just said.
"On the phone you said something to me, you said you can't keep doing it, what is it you can't keep doing? And don't feed me some bullshit line about it being the alcohol talking."
Harvey paused for a moment.
"Come on, Mike, would you please tell me what's going on? Just let me help you, please?"
Please was not a word that often appeared in Harvey Specter's vocab, and Mike thought it was so fucking weird and random that of all things, that is the thing what made him want to tell Harvey.
"Kyle knows. He knows our secret."
And these words alone made Harvey's heart sink like an anchor. Suddenly Mike's behavior and appearance had been put into a light that made some sort of sense, Harvey was certainly no stranger to blackmail, and that's where his mind had went the second Mike said those words. He almost didn't want to hear anything else Mike had to say, didn't know if he could stand to hear anything else Mike had to say because he knew it was going to be bad. Of course, he had no idea of just how bad it actually was.
Mike wasn't sure he'd be able to tell Harvey half of what happened, he wasn't sure if he could even stand saying half of it, as if saying it out loud, telling somebody else made it real, but once he started talking, he couldn't stop. He told Harvey everything, as if the more Harvey knew the better chance he would have of being able to fix him, and Mike thought, well, Mike knew it was stupid to think that, he was a broken mirror and even if Harvey could somehow manage to put the pieces back together without getting cut, the reflection in the mirror would never be the same again anyway.
Mike hadn't cried since everything had started, despite it being all he wanted to do most of the time, but when he told Harvey all the horrible shit Kyle had done and Harvey sat next to him on the couch and started rubbing his back comfortingly, telling him how sorry he was and that it'd be okay, Mike lost it. He started crying and he couldn't fucking stop, hard sobs that shook his entire body, and Harvey just let him, didn't even bat an eye when Mike turned into him and quite literally cried on his shoulder.
They stayed like that for a long while, until Mike, exhausted from crying, exhausted from everything, fell asleep. Harvey knew that amongst a million other things that Mike needed, sleep was high on the priority list, so he was extra gentle when he slowly pulled his arm away from Mike and gently laid him down on the sofa. He found a blanket nearby and softly draped it over Mike.
Harvey went into the kitchen and found a piece of paper so he could scribble a note, just on the off chance that he wouldn't be able to get back before Mike woke up.
Mike -
Needed some air, will be back.
It's going to be okay.
-Harvey
Harvey took one more look at Mike, and just looking at Mike the way he was made his heart ache in a way he's never felt before. He reached over, turned out the lamp and quietly exited the apartment. Once outside the building Harvey had pulled out his phone and called Donna.
"It's 4 in the morning, Harvey. Unless you're calling about a raise, I'm hanging up," the sleep-laden voice said.
"Don't hang up. Trust me, I wouldn't be calling you this late if it wasn't important."
Harvey wouldn't have even had to say it was important, Donna could tell just by Harvey's voice that something was wrong.
"What do you need?" she asked.
"Can you get me Kyle's address?"
"Kyle? Kyle Durant? The douchey kid from the mock trial?"
"Yeah, him."
Harvey couldn't even stand hearing his name.
"Why would you need his address?" Donna asked.
"Look, Donna. Can you get me it or not?"
And just like that she provided him an address. He wasn't sure how she even did it, since she obviously wasn't at the office, but he knew better than to question her tactics.
"Thank you. I think you may have just qualified for that raise."
"Hey Harvey, whatever it is you're doing..be safe," she replied, sounding genuinely concerned.
"I will," Harvey responded.
Harvey wasn't the one who needed to be concerned about being safe, however Kyle, he was an entirely different story.
~~
Harvey couldn't stop thinking about Mike on the drive over, he kept replaying the things Mike had said, the way Mike had looked and the way he had watched Mike completely fall apart. Normally Harvey probably would have been much more meticulous and careful about going after Kyle, but he didn't give a damn about any of that right now, he only cared about making the low life scumbag pay for what he'd done.
He rang the door bell, and when nobody answered he rung it again, and again and again. Finally he could hear the sound of chain dragging open on the other side of the door.
The second Kyle opened the door Harvey connected a fist to his face and Kyle went stumbling backwards and onto the floor.
"What..What in the fuck are you doing? You're fucking psychotic!" Kyle shouted as he gripped his jaw where the fist had connected.
"Actually, I'm Harvey Specter, and I think you and I need to have a little talk," Harvey said as he closed the door behind him.
"Get the fuck out of my place, I'm calling the cops," Kyle threatened as he attempted to scramble to his feet.
Harvey quickly walked over to him, gripped him tight with both hands by the collar of his shirt and slammed him back into the wall, pressing him hard against it.
"Look, you spineless little dick; how about we skip calling the cops and I'll just call for an ambulance when I'm done with you instead. Sound good?"
"What the hell do you want from me? Why are you here?"
Harvey pulled him away from the wall and slammed him back into it, Kyle moaned out in pain.
"Don't play dumb with me."
The grimace that had previously been on Kyle's face slowly turned to a smile.
"So I take it your little boyfriend told you about us then, huh? How is he by the way, he seemed a little out of it last time I saw him."
"Shut your god damn mouth" Harvey said, tightening his grip around Kyle's collar.
"Aww, what's the matter, Harv? Upset that I got to hit that before you did?"
"You son of a bitch," Harvey reached back and punched him several times in the face, the third of the punches hitting him directly in the nose.
"You asshole, you broke my god damned nose," Kyle said as he winced in pain.
From the burning Harvey felt in his knuckles, Harvey didn't doubt that was true.
"You can hit me all you want, but you'll be done when your little secret gets out, and when I file assault charges against you."
"That's funny, I told you not to be play dumb earlier, but now I can see that you weren't playing at all, you really are painfully stupid."
"Think again, Harv. You're the one that's throwing your career away for that useless, damaged whore."
Harvey immediately yanked him away from the wall and launched him across the room, where he slammed into an end table, causing it to break and the lamp that had been sitting on top of it to shatter upon impact.
Harvey moved over to where Kyle was laying and started kicking him rapidly, the majority of the kicks catching Kyle directly in the ribs, causing him to scream out in pain.
"Please Harvey..Please..just stop", Kyle finally begged.
"Please stop? You want me to fucking stop? You never bothered stopping for Mike, did you? You never gave a fuck about him, didn't care how you were destroying him, in fact you got off on it, and you want me to just fucking stop for you? You make me fucking sick" Harvey shouted, his voice raw and raspy.
Harvey continued kicking him several more times as hard as he possibly could.
When he finally did stop kicking him, Kyle had managed to drag himself backwards and prop himself up against the sofa, his arms grasping tightly at his ribs.
"Look at me, I said look at me, god damn it!," Harvey yelled at him.
When Kyle didn't look at him Harvey crouched down in front of him and grabbed a fistful of Kyle's hair and pressed his forearm against Kyle's throat, ensuring that Kyle could do nothing but look into Harvey's eyes, be forced to see just how serious he was.
"You listen to me and you listen to me good, you piece of shit, if you ever, and I mean ever come anywhere near Mike again, and that includes to the Pearson Hardman office, what I did to you here, it's all going to seem like a walk in the park. As for whatever secret it is that you think you have, you go ahead and try to take that bullshit to Jessica, there's no way she'd believe anything a bottom dweller like you says over someone like me. I'm very well connected Kyle, and you'd be surprised at the people that owe me favors. I can, and I will completely destroy you, and I will destroy everything you have and you will be begging me to put you out of your god damn misery by the time I'm done with you. If you think for one second I'm not entirely serious about any of this, just fucking try me."
Harvey finally took the pressure off of his throat and the first gasp of air Kyle took in threw him into a coughing fit.
"Now before I go, you said something about assault charges? Are you still looking to file those? Because if so, I happen to be good friends with the chief of police and he owes me a favor, so I'm sure he wouldn't mind taking a phone call at this time of night if it's coming from my phone. Here, go ahead, give him a call," Harvey said as he held out his phone in front of Kyle.
Kyle didn't even move, or make any attempt to. His face was swollen and signs of bruising were starting to appear on his skin.
"I didn't think so," Harvey said as he shoved the phone back down into his pocket.
"So, I guess we're done here, then?" Harvey questioned him, his voice now eerily nonchalant, as if they had just got done having a civil conversation.
"Yes..yes..we're done..just..just please leave, just leave me alone" Kyle said, groaning as he shifted his weight.
"Good. Glad we settled that." Harvey replied as he opened the door and walked out.
As soon as Harvey had walked out the door, Kyle gingerly pulled himself off the floor, pain was shooting through his entire body, and he was positive Harvey had broken some ribs. His face was throbbing and felt like it was on fire. Doubled over in pain and unable to stand up straight he slowly walked to the front door and turned the lock on the doorknob, and then pulled the chain shut. He wanted to make sure there was no chance of Harvey coming back and finishing what he started.
Harvey had driven around Mike's block twice, he needed some extra time to cool down, his heart had felt like it was pounding out of his chest. He was accustomed to always doing things the smart way, and busting into someone's house and beating the shit out of them certainly wasn't the smart way, but there's no way anybody would ever convince Harvey it wasn't the right thing to do, in fact, Kyle had gotten off easy compared to what Harvey would have liked to do to him.
Harvey opened the door of Mike's apartment extra slow, peaking his head in first to check to see if Mike was still asleep, he was, and Harvey was glad for it. Harvey sat down in the chair across from Mike and just watched him sleep. Mike would sometimes almost look peaceful lying there, but then there were times when Mike would jerk and twitch in his sleep and cry out in a low moan that made Harvey's heart simply ache for him.
Eventually morning came and Mike slowly blinked open his eyes, squinting from the sunlight that was shining through the curtains.
"You're still here," Mike said when he noticed Harvey.
"You sound surprised."
"I just..I didn't expect you to be.."
There was a long pause before either of them spoke again.
"What are we going to do, Harvey? About Kyle" Mike finally asked.
"Don't worry about that right now, Mike. Leave that to me."
Mike paused for a moment, as if he considered having Harvey elaborate on what he meant by that, but changed his mind.
"I need to take a shower," Mike said as if it was suddenly the most important thing in the world, throwing off the blanket and getting up from the couch and walking towards the bathroom, as if Harvey wasn't still sitting right there in the room with him.
Harvey didn't bother interfering, instead he went to the kitchen, because Mike definitely could use some food, and while Harvey's cooking skills weren't exactly anything to write home about, he did consider himself quite the pro at making french toast.
Mike turned the shower on and let the steam fill up the room. He slowly removed his clothes, tossing them into a heap in the corner of the bathroom. He never wanted to see those damn clothes ever again. He stepped into the shower, the water was hot, too hot really, but he didn't bother adjusting it. He just stood there and let the scalding hot water run down his body. He hated the feeling, but at the same time he welcomed it.
Take a fucking shower too when you get home. You're disgusting.
Mike could hear that phrase playing over and over in his head, and it was so damn clear, it was like being right back there again with Kyle, and just like that Mike was crying again with no end in sight and he hated himself for it, hated what he was and what he had become in just two days. Two fucking days and he had been broken into a million pieces and it was so pathetic, he thought. He was so pathetic.
When Harvey hadn't see Mike for 30 minutes he went to the bathroom to check on him, he was mid-knock when he heard something that made him stop and put his ear to the door. It was the sound of Mike crying. Harvey just stood there, listened, and felt desperately helpless.
Harvey moved away from the door and back into the kitchen when he heard the water shut off, he didn't want Mike to know he had heard him.
~~
It was probably another 20 minutes before Mike made an appearance in the kitchen. His hair was messy and spiked every which way, and he was dressed in casual clothes. If nothing else, it was nice not seeing him in that suit anymore. Mike's eyes were puffy and bloodshot and even if Harvey hadn't heard it, he would have known now that Mike had been crying.
"What is this?" Mike asked noticing Harvey standing over the stove, spatula in hand, a sight he never thought he'd see.
Mike would have probably laughed at the visual alone, if he remembered how.
Harvey grabbed a plate of french toast and sat it down on the counter, "I know it's been awhile, Mike, but this is something called food. Sit. Eat. Get reacquainted with it."
Mike did as he was told, but not because Harvey said it in his typical this-isn't-a-request voice, but because he was just really fucking hungry.
Harvey watched as Mike picked up the bottle of syrup and squeezed at least a quarter of the bottle onto his french toast.
"Are you sure you're going to have any room for the french toast once you eat all that syrup?" Harvey asked.
"That's weird."
"What's weird?" Harvey replied.
"You somehow managed to sound just like my Grammy for a second there," Mike said with a slight smile.
And it was a smile that seemed entirely out of place, but it was still a smile, and Harvey would take that.
The next few minutes were relatively quiet while Mike ate his food, every once in awhile he'd stare at Harvey like he wanted to say something and then go back to focusing on eating.
Harvey had excused himself to use the bathroom and while he was in there, Mike had noticed a piece of paper lying on the counter, it was the note Harvey had written to him last night.
Mike -
Needed some air, will be back.
It's going to be okay.
-Harvey
It's going to be okay.
Even though that notion seemed far-fetched Mike still liked how it sounded to him. He folded up the paper and stuffed it deep into his pants pocket.
Harvey came back into the kitchen just as Mike finished his last bite of french toast and set down his fork.
"Hey Harvey..I'm sorry about last night."
"You don't have anything to be sorry about, Mike. So just, don't apologize. For anything. You hear me?"
Harvey grabbed the empty plate in front of Mike and tossed it into the sink.
"What happened to your hand?" Mike asked when he noticed the bruising and swelling around Harvey's knuckles.
"It's nothing. I just hit it against something hard."
Mike was a smart kid, and Harvey could see him put the pieces together instantly.
"What did you do to him, Harvey?"
"Don't worry about it. Just know that you're never going to have to see that dick again."
"How is that even possible? What about at work?" Mike was starting to sound frantic.
"I just made him a deal, that's all."
"What kind of deal?"
"The kind of deal where he stays the fuck away and he gets to live another day. That kind of deal, Mike."
"Well..what..did..how'd you hurt yourself, did you.. like fight him or something? I mean what the hell?"
"No, I didn't fight him, I kicked his ass. Huge difference."
"Jesus Harvey, what if he calls the cops on you? What if he wants revenge?" Mike asked, his voice shaky and uneven.
Harvey's phone started vibrating from inside his pocket, instinctively he pulled it out, it was Donna.
"I've got to take this, just relax for a second," Harvey said as he pressed answer.
"I don't know what's going on with you, but I'm pretty sure you would want to know that Kyle decided to leave the firm today, didn't even do it in person or give a two weeks notice," Donna said.
"Good."
"Good? That's it? Really Harvey?"
"That's it. Really. Thanks for letting me know though."
"You really don't think I'm going to find out eventually?" Donna questioned him.
"I absolutely don't think that."
"Hey..one more question, about my raise, I was thinking--"
"I've really gotta go now, but we'll talk later, Donna" Harvey said as he cut her off mid-sentence and hung up the phone.
"Well Mike, I've got some good news and some bad news. The good news is Pearson Hardman is now a Kyle-free zone."
"But what's the bad news?"
"The bad news is that I still haven't found a way to make a it a Louis-free zone. But we'll work on it."
"You scared me, I thought you had actual bad news."
"Have you ever met Louis? It's definitely bad news."
Of course Harvey knew what he meant and was only trying to lighten the mood, to make Mike forget, if only for a brief moment.
"Thank you, Harvey," Mike said as he stood up and wrapped his arms around Harvey.
Harvey stood there for a moment, just letting Mike hug him, before bringing his arms up and fully embracing Mike in the hug.
~~
And it took time, but eventually Mike got to a point where he felt like himself again, didn't blame himself for what had happened. And god, that felt like the best thing in the world, because he had been certain he'd never feel that way again. He even was able to find his groove again and get back to kicking ass at Pearson Hardman, back to being an unstoppable force with Harvey.
Harvey and Mike bad been out to dinner, celebrating a particularly lucrative case their teamwork had won them.
"To good friends," Harvey said, raising his glass of wine.
"Good friends," Mike repeated, clinging his glass against Harvey's.
"Hey Harvey, there's something I want to give back to you," Mike said as he dug into his jacket pocket, "here" he said handing Harvey a folded up piece of paper.
"What's this?" Harvey asked as he unfolded it.
Mike -
Needed some air, will be back.
It's going to be okay.
-Harvey
"I don't get it, Mike. What is it?"
"It's the note you wrote me..that night, I never even saw it until after I had woken up, but, and I know it sounds stupid but I would get that note out at random times and read that 'it's going to be okay' line and I don't know, it's like the more I read it, the more I started to believe it, combined with ya know, all the other stuff, but it's just, I don't know it probably didn't mean anything to you when you wrote it, but I guess I just wanted to thank you for it anyway, because some days it meant everything to me."
"You're adorable when you ramble, you know that?" Harvey replied.
"Shut-up Harvey, I'm being serious here!" Mike said through a smile.
"No, no, I know you are, and I'm glad it helped you. You've come a long way, Mike, and it's entirely impressive. I couldn't be more proud of you," Harvey said as he held up his glass again.
"I will most definitely drink to that," Mike replied.
When they had finished dinner and drinks, they went back to Harvey's place as they normally did, it was getting late, but not late enough to go to sleep, so they decided to watch a movie.
Mike was typically pretty passive about Harvey's movie choices, he was just happy to hang out with him, Harvey always made him feel so safe, and well, wanted. Not many people in Mike's life had ever made him feel like that, and it was something he appreciated more after the Kyle situation. Half the
time Mike didn't even pay attention to the movie, but rather Harvey's reaction to the movies. That was much more interesting to Mike. Tonight was no exception.
Harvey had been watching the movie intently, what movie, Mike couldn't tell you if he tried, but Harvey had made some sarcastic comment about how he could kick some guy's ass, and Mike did something he had been thinking about doing for a long time, he kissed Harvey. Harvey pulled his back away from Mike immediately.
"You kissed me, Mike," Harvey said as if Mike somehow wasn't aware of it.
"I know, Harvey. Is that not okay with you?"
"No, I mean no, that's not what I mean, but are you okay with it?"
"I wouldn't have kissed you if I weren't."
"I just want to make sure you're 100% okay with this."
Mike didn't respond but instead he leaned forward and kissed Harvey again, this time pressing his lips tight against Harvey's, and Harvey kissed back this time, hand wandering to the back of Mike's head, gripping softly at the back of Mike's hair, the sensation sending chills down Mike's spine.
About a month or so after the Kyle situation, Mike had kissed Harvey, and it hadn't gone so well. When he tried to kiss Harvey then it wasn't because he was ready and wanted to kiss Harvey, he had done it because he couldn't stand the thought of Kyle being the last person he kissed. It was awkward and Mike was embarrassed but Harvey just assured him that it was no big deal and told him they'd try that again when he was ready.
Still kissing Harvey, Mike fumbled around with the buttons on Harvey's shirt, slowly undoing them one by one. Mike pulled away from the kiss to say something, and Harvey gently caught him by the lip pulling him back into it.
Mike pulled away again, "Harvey..Harvey listen" Mike tried to speak, but Harvey had started kissing up and down Mike's neck, his breath hot and steady on Mike's skin. "Harvey..mm..ugh, Harvey" Mike tried yet again to get out the words. And the way Mike spoke Harvey's name, in that
desperate, breathy, needy voice? God, it just about undid Harvey.
Mike finally put out both his arms and pressed Harvey back, putting some separation between them.
"Let's go to the bedroom," Mike finally was able to say.
"Why didn't you say so sooner?" Harvey asked, that smug trademark smirk planted across his face.