Fic Post: At the Copa
Title: At the Copa
Author: achika_chan
Pairing: Harvey Finevoice/OMC
Rating: PG-13
Warning: Character Death
Author's Notes: De-anoning from the kinkmeme and adding an epilogue because really. Who else could have possibly written this? I wasn't fooling anyone. :D
Summary: Harvey deals with some demons from his past and meets a new friend.
The Palace just wasn’t the same. It was nice and all, but…it wasn’t the Copa. There wasn’t any music, or singing, and the atmosphere was just so much more somber and gloomy. Or maybe that was just Harvey.
The Copa had been colorful and full of life, before it all went south.
Harvey sighed and took another drink. He didn’t know why he bothered coming to the Palace, it just made him think about everything he’d lost over the years. Falconetti wasn’t in the office, secretly thinking of ways to woo Angie and get her to date him, and Tony wasn’t behind the bar making him laugh between sets.
Harvey had no idea who owned the Palace, and seeing Dominic behind the bar always gave him a moment of disorientation before he remembered.
Well, at least the booze was decent. And Dominic had stopped trying to ask questions ages ago, so the bar was almost bearable.
He still wore the same clothes he’d worn back then. Luckily men’s fashion doesn’t change that quickly. They were obviously aged, but had been high quality back in the day. Now they were just a reminder of better days.
Days when he’d been up on stage, singing his heart out to an enthusiastic audience, and everyone had known that he was going to make it big one day. Maybe go out to Vegas or New York and have a real honest to god show in one of the big name places.
But the Copa was gone, and that was never gonna happen. Not anymore.
Harvey hadn’t felt like singing in a long time.
“I heard this place used to be an oldschool nightclub, did you know?” the guy next to Harvey at the bar said to his companion.
“No, really? That would have been something to see. I wonder why they closed it?”
Harvey had to physically stop himself from turning and telling them exactly why the Copa had closed in excruciating, bloody detail. Lord knew it was etched into his memory permanently. But he gripped his glass tight and gritted his teeth and didn’t say anything.
Dominic must have seen the expression on his face, though, because he came over and steered their conversation towards something less prone to making Harvey want to punch someone.
The night the Copa closed its doors for the last time wasn’t even the night it was officially shut down. That had come later, after O’Riley got upset about what had happened.
Harvey remembered Falconetti and a few of the others hanging around after everyone else had skedaddled, on the Copa’s last night.
“Where am I gonna go, Johnnie?” Harvey had asked numbly. He hadn’t been able to picture a life without the Copa, even if a life with the Copa was a little too painful to think about right then because there was going to be a gaping hole where Tony used to be.
“I don’t know, Harv. I don’t know where any of us are going. If there was anything I could do…” Falconetti said with a sigh, rubbing his face tiredly.
But there was nothing Falconetti could have done, O’Riley had made sure of that when he’d thrown his weight around to shut them down. Petty revenge for one of his guys getting his ego bruised a little, and it hadn’t even been necessary.
The floor had still been faintly bloodstained, then. Now, when Harvey looked over at that spot there was nothing there except maybe some spilled booze. No evidence at all that a man had bled out there after being shot.
Harvey threw back the rest of his drink and ordered another. Dominic gave him a concerned look, but Harvey ignored him, like always.
He couldn’t ignore it, though, when the barstool on his other side was suddenly occupied by some young guy in a hat that would have been more in place at the Copa than the Palace. The kid looked ready to crack open, and Harvey sighed.
“You even old enough to drink?” Harvey asked, telling himself it was the hat that made him ask and not his own soft heart. You didn’t see hats like that on kids these days, usually.
The kid snorted. “Barely. But I’ve had a doozy of a day, and alcohol sounds pretty good right now,”
Harvey raised his glass in salute. “I hear ya. Course, my doozy of a day happened a long time ago, but I hear ya,”
“Unless yours had to do with a mad scientist suddenly deciding that he hates you and needs you to die for his world domination plans to work? I think I win,” the kid said.
Harvey let out a surprised laugh, and Dominic - who had been handing the kid his drink - looked startled. That was when Harvey realized that he hadn’t laughed since the Copa had closed, and Dominic had probably never seen him so much as smile.
“Nope. Just love, murder and the mob. You know, the usual,” Harvey said.
The kid laughed. “I’m Linkara,”
“Harvey Finevoice,” Harvey said.
“Oh that has got to be a stage name,” Linkara said.
“Haven’t been on stage in years. The name just kind of stuck,” Harvey admitted.
Tony had given him that nickname, back when they’d first met and Harvey had first started singing at the Copa. He could have gone back to his real last name at some point in the years after…after. But Harvey hadn’t been able to make himself do it and make it stick. Just like he always wound back up at the Palace, on the same barstool, very carefully not looking at the area in front of where the stage used to be.
“Well, Harvey Finevoice. Here’s to getting so drunk that we can’t remember our problems,” Linkara said, raising his glass before taking a drink.
“You, Harvey, are too sober,” Tony said with a grin, handing Harvey a drink.
Harvey just looked at it and raised an eyebrow up at Tony. Harvey was kind of slouching against the bar, tired from being on stage.
“Oh come on, if I can’t get you drunk how else is a schmuck like me supposed to get a guy like you into bed?” Tony asked, still grinning. He rested his chin on his hands, elbows firm on the bar, so that they were eye to eye.
“Asking seems to be the normal way to do it,” Harvey said, amused despite himself.
“Yeah?” Tony said, a little surprised and a little eager. He collected himself quickly. “Well then this is me asking. Harvey Finevoice, will you do me the honor of joining me in bed tonight? Or…This morning really. Our schedule’s kind of strange,”
Harvey pretended to think it over just to watch Tony squirm.
“You’re killin’ me here, Harv,” Tony said.
Harvey leaned over and kissed Tony lightly. “Find me after you’re done with work and we’ll talk,”
Tony grinned widely. “You hear that, Angie?” he yelled over to the stage, where Angie was practicing dancing while sweeping the floor, feathers still in her hair. “He said yes!”
Angie made an outraged noise. “Harvey you ass, you couldn’t have waited til next week? I had money down on you!”
“And I will be using my winnings to treat Harvey to somewhere nice,” Tony said smugly.
Harvey laughed and picked up his drink and raised it in salute to Angie.
Harvey did the same as the kid, and took a long drink to drown out the memory. He heard the familiar strains of the old music start in his head for the first time in a long time, and tapped his toes to the beat.
“Hey Dominic,” Harvey said, and Dominic was over in an instant.
“Yessir, Mr. Finevoice?” Dominic asked.
Harvey swallowed dryly. “You ever think about rebuilding the old stage? Might class the place up,”
Dominic looked surprised. “Can’t say that I have. That’s a real nice idea, though. I’d love to get some live music going. I’ll bring it up next time I see the owner,”
Harvey nodded and took another drink.
The owner loved the idea and set about immediately to try and make it happen, and the kid started coming by regularly, which made the Palace seem a little nicer than it had. Harvey was actually having a good time for once, talking about plans for the stage and music with Dominic and just plain talking to Linkara.
Of course, that meant that Rico, the rat bastard, had a sixth sense about when Harvey was happy, because he and a couple of O’Riley’s other guys showed up at the Palace not long after the plans for the stage were finalized.
Harvey tensed the moment Rico entered and stood. Linkara looked confused, and Dominic seemed to realize that something wasn’t right, because he looked like he was preparing for trouble.
Harvey marched right over to Rico, unconcerned about the guys on either side of him.
“Get out. You got no right being here, after what you did,” Harvey said.
Rico gave Harvey a look that was too concerned to be genuine. “Harvey, Harvey, just look at you. My how the mighty have fallen,”
“Yeah, well who’s the one who pushed me? Get out of here, I never want to see your face again,” Harvey said.
“This is a public place. And besides, we heard that you were thinking about rebuilding the stage and wanted to see how far along you were,” Rico said lightly.
Harvey felt his heart freeze. “You bastard. You won’t rest until you take everything from me, will you? Any happiness at all and here comes Rico to ruin it. Just because I wouldn’t sleep with you years ago,”
The light was glinting off that damned diamond ring on Rico’s pinky.
Harvey rolled his eyes as he saw Rico motion him over, that stupid diamond of his catching the light. Harvey looked over at the bar to see Tony glaring at Rico in between filling drinks. Harvey caught his eyes and shrugged helplessly before walking over to Rico’s table. He couldn’t just be rude to Rico, the man was one of the best paying customers at the Copa, but Harvey didn’t like him. He was pushy and thought way too much of himself.
Unfortunately, Rico certainly seemed to like Harvey an awful lot.
“What do you want, Rico?” Harvey asked, and Rico smirked.
Harvey could feel the sleaze radiating off of him, and Rico didn’t have the charm behind it to back it up.
“Just a bit of your time, Harvey. That’s not too much to ask, is it?” Rico asked.
“I’m busy, Rico. And I don’t want what you’re selling,” Harvey said.
“And here I’d thought Falconetti had told you to do your best to make me happy,” Rico said, pulling Harvey closer to him.
Harvey was about to haul off and punch the bastard, damn whatever Falconetti would say about it, when he was distracted by the sound of glass hitting the floor and breaking. Harvey looked over immediately, trying to place the sound to see if he needed to be the one to clean it, in the automatic response for anyone who had ever worked near anything breakable.
Tony had apparently jumped the bar, knocking a glass or two the ground in the process, and was storming his way over to Harvey and Rico.
“Hey asshole, Harvey ain’t on the winelist so get your filthy paws off him,” Tony snapped.
“I can take care of myself, thank you. Go back to the bar, Tony,” Harvey said, yanking free of Rico’s grip.
“No way,” Tony said, his ever present smile gone. “I am tired of this mook thinking he can just come in here and act like he owns this place. Like he owns you, just because he wants in your pants,”
Rico stood, and so did the other guys he had with him. “You got a problem, Tony?”
Harvey closed his eyes and took a breath to calm himself. Was Tony really going to get in the ring for him like Harvey was some dame that was too scared to stand up to a thug?
Tony grinned sharply. “Yeah, I do. You’re an arrogant son of a bitch and you should go back to sucking O’Riley’s cock and leave Harvey to a real man,”
Rico threw the first punch, but Tony was all too happy to throw the second and third. There were screams from the other patrons as the fight broke out, and Tony and Rico were cursing each other out.
“Think you own the place just because O’Riley’s a Boss. You’re nothing compared to him,” Tony said in between punches, and he’d never had a nice word about Michael O’Riley before that in his life.
Tables got broke, glasses shattered, and no matter how hard Harvey or Rico’s guys or Falconetti himself tried to break it up they got ignored. Just when Harvey was contemplating tackling Tony and having the others grab Rico, there was the all too familiar sound of a gunshot.
“Harvey, what’s going on?” Linkara asked, coming over and snapping Harvey out of the memory.
Rico’s eyes lit up. “Is this your new boy, Harvey? Bit of a downgrade from Tony, don’t you think? And so young,”
Harvey hadn’t pulled his gun in years, wasn’t even sure it was still loaded, but he pulled it then.
“You’ve got no right. Now get out before I shoot you and have O’Riley clean it up like he did with Tony. The bastard owes me for that, and I don’t think he’d miss you as much as you think he would,” Harvey said coldly.
Rico stared at the gun for a long moment before he nodded, turning to his goons.
“Let’s go. This place can’t take another dead body anyway,” Rico said, and then he and his guys were out the door.
Harvey sighed and put his gun away.
“What was that about?” Linkara asked, looking between Harvey and the door.
“Long story, kid,” Harvey said.
“Love, murder and the mob?” Linkara asked, like something had clicked into place.
“Yeah,” Harvey said, and the two of them went back to their seats at the bar.
Harvey nearly backed out at the last second. He hadn’t been on stage in too long, hadn’t sung in too long. There was no way this was going to end well.
But he’d found himself looking over at the bar like he’d always done, and Dominic and the kid both gave him encouraging smiles. Harvey took a deep breath.
“Hello, everyone,” He said into the mic. “My name’s Harvey Finevoice. Most have you have probably seen me taking up space by the bar. Well, I used to sing here, back when this place was called the Copacabana, and Dominic thought it was only right that I’d break in the new stage. This first song was a favorite of…a real good friend of mine, who tended bar at the Copa. And it only seems right to start with it,”
So Harvey sang. That last time he’d sang this song, it’d been the night before Tony had been shot. It started a little rough, it had been too long for it to go smooth, but it came back quick because this was what Harvey had been born to do. He closed his eyes and for a moment it was like he was back at the Copa.
He could remember everything. The decorations, the crowd, Falconetti watching as Angie danced and waiting for the right moment to pop the question. Tony behind the bar with that stupid grin on his face, watching Harvey and dancing along with the music to try and get Harvey to laugh in the middle of a song.
But when Harvey opened his eyes again it was Dominic behind the bar, and Dominic didn’t look like the dancing type.
At the end of his set people clapped, and Harvey left the stage so that the next performer could get on.
“That was real nice, Mr. Finevoice,” Dominic said.
“Yeah. I’m sure he would have liked it,” Linkara said.
Harvey snorted. “Tony would have given me hell for being so out of practice,”
Linkara laughed.
“Hey, there’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you. Insano’s been attacking more often, and I’d really feel more comfortable if there was someone else living with me, seeing as how my current roommate is a little blue robot, but I don’t want to risk getting a random roommate off Craigslist who can’t defend themselves,”
Harvey raised an eyebrow. “You’re asking a washed up singer that you met in a bar, that you barely know, to be your roommate?”
Linkara shrugged. “Guess so,”
Harvey shook his head. “I’ll do it, kid, if only to protect you from yourself,”
He’d already done one thing today that he’d never thought he’d do again when he got on stage, might as well do another and actually start caring about people again.
Harvey stood nervously on the doorstep. He had been feeling sorry for himself for too long, and it was time to pull himself out of it. He’d already started the process by singing again and moving in with Linkara. There was only one thing more to do before he could really move on.
He rang the doorbell, and there was a commotion inside as a dog started barking.
A woman’s voice yelled for the dog to be quiet, and the door opened partially. She had her body angled so that the large German Sheppard couldn’t get out.
“Harvey?!” Angie said, surprised.
“Hey Angie,” Harvey said quietly.
The punch didn’t come as a surprise, Angie had always had a temper.
“What the hell is your problem, falling off the face of the Earth like you did? Johnnie and I have been worried to death about you!”
“I’m sorry. I just...” Harvey said.
“Well it doesn’t matter, you’re back now,” Angie said, ushering Harvey inside.
“Mommy! Who’s at the door?” a young, high pitched voice yelled, running into the room.
“You and Johnnie had a kid?” Harvey asked, feeling like he’d been stabbed. He really had missed a lot.
“You would have known, if you’d been around,” Angie said, scooping up her son. “Harvey, this is Anthony, Johnnie and I’s baby boy,”
Angie looked nervous, like she thought that would upset Harvey. Harvey smiled.
“Tony would have loved that you named him that,” Harvey said.
Angie grinned, relieved. “Yeah, well, he’s much better behaved than Tony ever was,”
Harvey had to laugh, and that’s when Falconetti came in. He gave Harvey a look.
“You finally crawled your way out of the bottle, huh?” Falconetti asked.
“I had some help,” Harvey admitted.
Falconetti pulled Harvey into a hug.
“Welcome home,”
Author: achika_chan
Pairing: Harvey Finevoice/OMC
Rating: PG-13
Warning: Character Death
Author's Notes: De-anoning from the kinkmeme and adding an epilogue because really. Who else could have possibly written this? I wasn't fooling anyone. :D
Summary: Harvey deals with some demons from his past and meets a new friend.
The Palace just wasn’t the same. It was nice and all, but…it wasn’t the Copa. There wasn’t any music, or singing, and the atmosphere was just so much more somber and gloomy. Or maybe that was just Harvey.
The Copa had been colorful and full of life, before it all went south.
Harvey sighed and took another drink. He didn’t know why he bothered coming to the Palace, it just made him think about everything he’d lost over the years. Falconetti wasn’t in the office, secretly thinking of ways to woo Angie and get her to date him, and Tony wasn’t behind the bar making him laugh between sets.
Harvey had no idea who owned the Palace, and seeing Dominic behind the bar always gave him a moment of disorientation before he remembered.
Well, at least the booze was decent. And Dominic had stopped trying to ask questions ages ago, so the bar was almost bearable.
He still wore the same clothes he’d worn back then. Luckily men’s fashion doesn’t change that quickly. They were obviously aged, but had been high quality back in the day. Now they were just a reminder of better days.
Days when he’d been up on stage, singing his heart out to an enthusiastic audience, and everyone had known that he was going to make it big one day. Maybe go out to Vegas or New York and have a real honest to god show in one of the big name places.
But the Copa was gone, and that was never gonna happen. Not anymore.
Harvey hadn’t felt like singing in a long time.
“I heard this place used to be an oldschool nightclub, did you know?” the guy next to Harvey at the bar said to his companion.
“No, really? That would have been something to see. I wonder why they closed it?”
Harvey had to physically stop himself from turning and telling them exactly why the Copa had closed in excruciating, bloody detail. Lord knew it was etched into his memory permanently. But he gripped his glass tight and gritted his teeth and didn’t say anything.
Dominic must have seen the expression on his face, though, because he came over and steered their conversation towards something less prone to making Harvey want to punch someone.
The night the Copa closed its doors for the last time wasn’t even the night it was officially shut down. That had come later, after O’Riley got upset about what had happened.
Harvey remembered Falconetti and a few of the others hanging around after everyone else had skedaddled, on the Copa’s last night.
“Where am I gonna go, Johnnie?” Harvey had asked numbly. He hadn’t been able to picture a life without the Copa, even if a life with the Copa was a little too painful to think about right then because there was going to be a gaping hole where Tony used to be.
“I don’t know, Harv. I don’t know where any of us are going. If there was anything I could do…” Falconetti said with a sigh, rubbing his face tiredly.
But there was nothing Falconetti could have done, O’Riley had made sure of that when he’d thrown his weight around to shut them down. Petty revenge for one of his guys getting his ego bruised a little, and it hadn’t even been necessary.
The floor had still been faintly bloodstained, then. Now, when Harvey looked over at that spot there was nothing there except maybe some spilled booze. No evidence at all that a man had bled out there after being shot.
Harvey threw back the rest of his drink and ordered another. Dominic gave him a concerned look, but Harvey ignored him, like always.
He couldn’t ignore it, though, when the barstool on his other side was suddenly occupied by some young guy in a hat that would have been more in place at the Copa than the Palace. The kid looked ready to crack open, and Harvey sighed.
“You even old enough to drink?” Harvey asked, telling himself it was the hat that made him ask and not his own soft heart. You didn’t see hats like that on kids these days, usually.
The kid snorted. “Barely. But I’ve had a doozy of a day, and alcohol sounds pretty good right now,”
Harvey raised his glass in salute. “I hear ya. Course, my doozy of a day happened a long time ago, but I hear ya,”
“Unless yours had to do with a mad scientist suddenly deciding that he hates you and needs you to die for his world domination plans to work? I think I win,” the kid said.
Harvey let out a surprised laugh, and Dominic - who had been handing the kid his drink - looked startled. That was when Harvey realized that he hadn’t laughed since the Copa had closed, and Dominic had probably never seen him so much as smile.
“Nope. Just love, murder and the mob. You know, the usual,” Harvey said.
The kid laughed. “I’m Linkara,”
“Harvey Finevoice,” Harvey said.
“Oh that has got to be a stage name,” Linkara said.
“Haven’t been on stage in years. The name just kind of stuck,” Harvey admitted.
Tony had given him that nickname, back when they’d first met and Harvey had first started singing at the Copa. He could have gone back to his real last name at some point in the years after…after. But Harvey hadn’t been able to make himself do it and make it stick. Just like he always wound back up at the Palace, on the same barstool, very carefully not looking at the area in front of where the stage used to be.
“Well, Harvey Finevoice. Here’s to getting so drunk that we can’t remember our problems,” Linkara said, raising his glass before taking a drink.
“You, Harvey, are too sober,” Tony said with a grin, handing Harvey a drink.
Harvey just looked at it and raised an eyebrow up at Tony. Harvey was kind of slouching against the bar, tired from being on stage.
“Oh come on, if I can’t get you drunk how else is a schmuck like me supposed to get a guy like you into bed?” Tony asked, still grinning. He rested his chin on his hands, elbows firm on the bar, so that they were eye to eye.
“Asking seems to be the normal way to do it,” Harvey said, amused despite himself.
“Yeah?” Tony said, a little surprised and a little eager. He collected himself quickly. “Well then this is me asking. Harvey Finevoice, will you do me the honor of joining me in bed tonight? Or…This morning really. Our schedule’s kind of strange,”
Harvey pretended to think it over just to watch Tony squirm.
“You’re killin’ me here, Harv,” Tony said.
Harvey leaned over and kissed Tony lightly. “Find me after you’re done with work and we’ll talk,”
Tony grinned widely. “You hear that, Angie?” he yelled over to the stage, where Angie was practicing dancing while sweeping the floor, feathers still in her hair. “He said yes!”
Angie made an outraged noise. “Harvey you ass, you couldn’t have waited til next week? I had money down on you!”
“And I will be using my winnings to treat Harvey to somewhere nice,” Tony said smugly.
Harvey laughed and picked up his drink and raised it in salute to Angie.
Harvey did the same as the kid, and took a long drink to drown out the memory. He heard the familiar strains of the old music start in his head for the first time in a long time, and tapped his toes to the beat.
“Hey Dominic,” Harvey said, and Dominic was over in an instant.
“Yessir, Mr. Finevoice?” Dominic asked.
Harvey swallowed dryly. “You ever think about rebuilding the old stage? Might class the place up,”
Dominic looked surprised. “Can’t say that I have. That’s a real nice idea, though. I’d love to get some live music going. I’ll bring it up next time I see the owner,”
Harvey nodded and took another drink.
The owner loved the idea and set about immediately to try and make it happen, and the kid started coming by regularly, which made the Palace seem a little nicer than it had. Harvey was actually having a good time for once, talking about plans for the stage and music with Dominic and just plain talking to Linkara.
Of course, that meant that Rico, the rat bastard, had a sixth sense about when Harvey was happy, because he and a couple of O’Riley’s other guys showed up at the Palace not long after the plans for the stage were finalized.
Harvey tensed the moment Rico entered and stood. Linkara looked confused, and Dominic seemed to realize that something wasn’t right, because he looked like he was preparing for trouble.
Harvey marched right over to Rico, unconcerned about the guys on either side of him.
“Get out. You got no right being here, after what you did,” Harvey said.
Rico gave Harvey a look that was too concerned to be genuine. “Harvey, Harvey, just look at you. My how the mighty have fallen,”
“Yeah, well who’s the one who pushed me? Get out of here, I never want to see your face again,” Harvey said.
“This is a public place. And besides, we heard that you were thinking about rebuilding the stage and wanted to see how far along you were,” Rico said lightly.
Harvey felt his heart freeze. “You bastard. You won’t rest until you take everything from me, will you? Any happiness at all and here comes Rico to ruin it. Just because I wouldn’t sleep with you years ago,”
The light was glinting off that damned diamond ring on Rico’s pinky.
Harvey rolled his eyes as he saw Rico motion him over, that stupid diamond of his catching the light. Harvey looked over at the bar to see Tony glaring at Rico in between filling drinks. Harvey caught his eyes and shrugged helplessly before walking over to Rico’s table. He couldn’t just be rude to Rico, the man was one of the best paying customers at the Copa, but Harvey didn’t like him. He was pushy and thought way too much of himself.
Unfortunately, Rico certainly seemed to like Harvey an awful lot.
“What do you want, Rico?” Harvey asked, and Rico smirked.
Harvey could feel the sleaze radiating off of him, and Rico didn’t have the charm behind it to back it up.
“Just a bit of your time, Harvey. That’s not too much to ask, is it?” Rico asked.
“I’m busy, Rico. And I don’t want what you’re selling,” Harvey said.
“And here I’d thought Falconetti had told you to do your best to make me happy,” Rico said, pulling Harvey closer to him.
Harvey was about to haul off and punch the bastard, damn whatever Falconetti would say about it, when he was distracted by the sound of glass hitting the floor and breaking. Harvey looked over immediately, trying to place the sound to see if he needed to be the one to clean it, in the automatic response for anyone who had ever worked near anything breakable.
Tony had apparently jumped the bar, knocking a glass or two the ground in the process, and was storming his way over to Harvey and Rico.
“Hey asshole, Harvey ain’t on the winelist so get your filthy paws off him,” Tony snapped.
“I can take care of myself, thank you. Go back to the bar, Tony,” Harvey said, yanking free of Rico’s grip.
“No way,” Tony said, his ever present smile gone. “I am tired of this mook thinking he can just come in here and act like he owns this place. Like he owns you, just because he wants in your pants,”
Rico stood, and so did the other guys he had with him. “You got a problem, Tony?”
Harvey closed his eyes and took a breath to calm himself. Was Tony really going to get in the ring for him like Harvey was some dame that was too scared to stand up to a thug?
Tony grinned sharply. “Yeah, I do. You’re an arrogant son of a bitch and you should go back to sucking O’Riley’s cock and leave Harvey to a real man,”
Rico threw the first punch, but Tony was all too happy to throw the second and third. There were screams from the other patrons as the fight broke out, and Tony and Rico were cursing each other out.
“Think you own the place just because O’Riley’s a Boss. You’re nothing compared to him,” Tony said in between punches, and he’d never had a nice word about Michael O’Riley before that in his life.
Tables got broke, glasses shattered, and no matter how hard Harvey or Rico’s guys or Falconetti himself tried to break it up they got ignored. Just when Harvey was contemplating tackling Tony and having the others grab Rico, there was the all too familiar sound of a gunshot.
“Harvey, what’s going on?” Linkara asked, coming over and snapping Harvey out of the memory.
Rico’s eyes lit up. “Is this your new boy, Harvey? Bit of a downgrade from Tony, don’t you think? And so young,”
Harvey hadn’t pulled his gun in years, wasn’t even sure it was still loaded, but he pulled it then.
“You’ve got no right. Now get out before I shoot you and have O’Riley clean it up like he did with Tony. The bastard owes me for that, and I don’t think he’d miss you as much as you think he would,” Harvey said coldly.
Rico stared at the gun for a long moment before he nodded, turning to his goons.
“Let’s go. This place can’t take another dead body anyway,” Rico said, and then he and his guys were out the door.
Harvey sighed and put his gun away.
“What was that about?” Linkara asked, looking between Harvey and the door.
“Long story, kid,” Harvey said.
“Love, murder and the mob?” Linkara asked, like something had clicked into place.
“Yeah,” Harvey said, and the two of them went back to their seats at the bar.
Harvey nearly backed out at the last second. He hadn’t been on stage in too long, hadn’t sung in too long. There was no way this was going to end well.
But he’d found himself looking over at the bar like he’d always done, and Dominic and the kid both gave him encouraging smiles. Harvey took a deep breath.
“Hello, everyone,” He said into the mic. “My name’s Harvey Finevoice. Most have you have probably seen me taking up space by the bar. Well, I used to sing here, back when this place was called the Copacabana, and Dominic thought it was only right that I’d break in the new stage. This first song was a favorite of…a real good friend of mine, who tended bar at the Copa. And it only seems right to start with it,”
So Harvey sang. That last time he’d sang this song, it’d been the night before Tony had been shot. It started a little rough, it had been too long for it to go smooth, but it came back quick because this was what Harvey had been born to do. He closed his eyes and for a moment it was like he was back at the Copa.
He could remember everything. The decorations, the crowd, Falconetti watching as Angie danced and waiting for the right moment to pop the question. Tony behind the bar with that stupid grin on his face, watching Harvey and dancing along with the music to try and get Harvey to laugh in the middle of a song.
But when Harvey opened his eyes again it was Dominic behind the bar, and Dominic didn’t look like the dancing type.
At the end of his set people clapped, and Harvey left the stage so that the next performer could get on.
“That was real nice, Mr. Finevoice,” Dominic said.
“Yeah. I’m sure he would have liked it,” Linkara said.
Harvey snorted. “Tony would have given me hell for being so out of practice,”
Linkara laughed.
“Hey, there’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you. Insano’s been attacking more often, and I’d really feel more comfortable if there was someone else living with me, seeing as how my current roommate is a little blue robot, but I don’t want to risk getting a random roommate off Craigslist who can’t defend themselves,”
Harvey raised an eyebrow. “You’re asking a washed up singer that you met in a bar, that you barely know, to be your roommate?”
Linkara shrugged. “Guess so,”
Harvey shook his head. “I’ll do it, kid, if only to protect you from yourself,”
He’d already done one thing today that he’d never thought he’d do again when he got on stage, might as well do another and actually start caring about people again.
Harvey stood nervously on the doorstep. He had been feeling sorry for himself for too long, and it was time to pull himself out of it. He’d already started the process by singing again and moving in with Linkara. There was only one thing more to do before he could really move on.
He rang the doorbell, and there was a commotion inside as a dog started barking.
A woman’s voice yelled for the dog to be quiet, and the door opened partially. She had her body angled so that the large German Sheppard couldn’t get out.
“Harvey?!” Angie said, surprised.
“Hey Angie,” Harvey said quietly.
The punch didn’t come as a surprise, Angie had always had a temper.
“What the hell is your problem, falling off the face of the Earth like you did? Johnnie and I have been worried to death about you!”
“I’m sorry. I just...” Harvey said.
“Well it doesn’t matter, you’re back now,” Angie said, ushering Harvey inside.
“Mommy! Who’s at the door?” a young, high pitched voice yelled, running into the room.
“You and Johnnie had a kid?” Harvey asked, feeling like he’d been stabbed. He really had missed a lot.
“You would have known, if you’d been around,” Angie said, scooping up her son. “Harvey, this is Anthony, Johnnie and I’s baby boy,”
Angie looked nervous, like she thought that would upset Harvey. Harvey smiled.
“Tony would have loved that you named him that,” Harvey said.
Angie grinned, relieved. “Yeah, well, he’s much better behaved than Tony ever was,”
Harvey had to laugh, and that’s when Falconetti came in. He gave Harvey a look.
“You finally crawled your way out of the bottle, huh?” Falconetti asked.
“I had some help,” Harvey admitted.
Falconetti pulled Harvey into a hug.
“Welcome home,”