Suits Fic [Assholery]
Prompt: Louis tears Mike down at work in front of everyone (maybe outs him?) Harvey's there to pick up the pieces.
Mike was still high when he walked into Harvey’s office. The world was spinning in front of him as the marijuana and the guilt fought for dominance over Mike’s actions.
The look on Harvey’s face when he realized what was wrong with Mike was the most painful thing the younger lawyer had ever seen. Even the pot couldn’t dull his senses to Harvey’s disapproval.
If Harvey knew the whole story…
---
After Harvey found out that Mike’s stupid, stupid decision had actually brought in a client, he was a little less angry. After finding out that the whole thing had been orchestrated by Louis, his anger doubled. But not at Mike.
The next morning when Mike arrived at work, late as usual, Harvey summoned him to his office, and didn’t even yell at him. But his niceness ended there, as he dumped a large pile of files into Mike’s arms and gave him an expectant look. Mike took the folders, wordlessly, and trudged back to his desk.
Harvey’s mouth formed into a bemused grin as he watched Mike walk defeatedly away from him. Good boy, he thought.
---
Louis saw Mike sit down at his desk. He waited about fifteen seconds, and then slithered up beside him.
“Lots of work for Harvey?” he asked.
Mike nodded, not looking up from his highlighting.
Louis leaned over the wall of the cubicle. “Well, stop it. I need you to proof these bylaws.” He dropped a stack of papers onto Mike’s desk, right on top of those he was working on.
Now Mike looked up.
“You know what, Louis?” he said, fed up.
Louis raised an eyebrow.
“Harvey asked first. So, I will do Harvey’s work first. And then, I will work on this,” he waved annoyedly at the papers in front of him.
Louis sneered, “You are making a very big mistake, Mike Ross.”
---
Mike didn’t put much stock in Louis’s threat. Louis liked to hear himself talk. Mike didn’t. He basically tuned out from that point on, sorting through the mess on his desk to get back to the page he’d been reading.
He didn’t hear a work Louis said until he said loudly, “I know how you really brought in Tom Keller.”
All the blood drained from Mike’s face. No, there was no way Louis knew about that. He chanced a look up at Louis, whose face was distorted into something pure evil. Mike tensed. His pride told him to tell Louis to screw himself, but his overwhelming desire for self-preservation urged him otherwise.
“Alright,” he said quietly, “You win; I’ll work on your case.”
Louis chuckled. “It’s not that simple, Mr. Ross.” He leaned over the cubicle to hiss in Mike’s face, “I want you to work for me. And not Harvey.”
Mike shook his head immediately. “Not going to happen.” He knew he was walking a thin line. But Harvey had just lectured him about what to do when a gun was held in his face, so he was calling Louis’s bluff.
---
Bad choice, Mikey, Louis thought, sneering in his head.
“Oh, you really don’t think that I’ll tell everyone…” he paused for dramatic effect, then raised his voice, “How you sucked Tom Keller’s dick like the little faggot you are?!”
Mike ‘s entire world stopped. Somewhere he was aware that Gregory was staring at him like he was some disgusting little bug that needed to be squashed, and Louis was grinning like a fiend. He sat there, slack jawed, as terror hijacked his brain. He looked around frantically, and met with the sight he was dreading most. Harvey.
---
Harvey had just opened the door of his office in time to hear Louis’s little pronouncement. He nearly dropped the papers he was holding, but managed to maintain most of his composure.
Then his eyes met Mike’s and he saw a look of hurt and fear and pleading on his face.
He stormed over to Louis, towering over him, and snarled, “Jessica wants to have a word with you.”
Louis perked up. “About what?”
“Oh, just about how to defend yourself against my pending lawsuit for slander, harassment, and general assholery.” Harvey glanced over at Mike, who still looked like he’d seen a ghost. “Now, get. Out.”
To his pleasure, Louis scurried away like the dirty rat he was.
Harvey turned his attention to Mike.
“My office,” he commanded. Mike managed to stand up and follow him past all the other people in the office who had completely stopped working to gape at him.
---
Once he was inside Harvey’s office, reality started to set in. He had to explain.
“Harvey, I’m sorry-” he began.
Harvey raised an eyebrow, “Why are you sorry? Louis is a prick who will stop at nothing to get ahead. Including spreading terrible lies about you.”
Mike cringed.
“It’s, um, it wasn’t a lie,” he mumbled.
Harvey stared. “What?”
“Harvey…” Mike stammered. “Louis was telling the truth. I… I gave Tom head.”
Harvey searched for something to say that wouldn’t make matters any worse. While he was still thinking, Mike sank back against the glass window, head in his hands.
“No one was ever supposed to know,” he moaned. “Shit, Harvey, don’t fire me.”
Harvey snapped out of it. “I would never do that,” he said with a softness that Mike had never heard from him before. Mike peered through his fingers.
“Really?” he hiccupped.
Harvey smiled, “Of course.” Then he crossed the room to stand in front of Mike. He put his hands on Mike’s shoulders and buried his face in Mike’s hair. “You could have told me,” he whispered.