First Breath After Coma | G | Harvey Specter/Mike Ross
First Breath After Coma | G | Harvey Specter/Mike Ross (Suits) | short | Nothing was ever fine between them, Mike always had one foot out the door. | A/N: I wanted break up fic. So I wrote it. Title from Explosions In The Sky's song by the same name.
The fights start small. Simple. After Jessica finds out about Mike never having been to Harvard, things are different. Mike's position at the firm feels less secure, not more. Trevor went to Jessica because he felt betrayed by Mike, how easy would it be for him to go to any one of their clients and let it slip that, oh, your lawyer? Mike Ross? He never went to law school. So Mike gets antsy. And because Mike is antsy, Harvey stops caring. The months Mike put in to breaking through Harvey's walls gradually mean nothing.
The day everything peaks is just like any other day. They're doing a joint consultation with a client, going over clauses in contracts to try and work their way out of some kind of mess and Mike just up and leaves the room. Harvey glares after him, but continues the meeting. They don't see each other for the rest of the day.
The fight the next day is loud. Harvey calls Mike into his office to talk about what happened. Mike breaks down about still being insecure about everyone finding out. Harvey brushes it off and Mike explodes. At least three of Harvey's precious vinyl's are broken when Mike throws a signed baseball at the shelving unit.
Things are quiet, after that.
Mike stops going around to Harvey's to "celebrate" when they win a case or sign a client or make fun of Louis or any of the other excuses they used to make when they needed an excuse to sleep together. Harvey stops going easy on him. Gives him ridiculous case loads that would make Louis proud. None of it matters.
Mike leaves work one Friday and realises he hasn't seen Harvey all week, though he knows his boss was there. That thought alone doesn't make him feel anything; when he thinks about it further and realises that it's the first week in a long time that he hasn't felt angry and stressed, itching to get out of his skin, that he's actually been happy this week? That's the thought that makes him sad.
Harvey's the one who breaks their silence. They go for coffee on Sunday afternoon. It's comfortable, but painful. Mike goes back to Harvey's place afterward, leaves with a box full of his things.
Mike hands in his letter of resignation the following Monday. Jessica is surprised, but please when he tells her he's going to enrol in Harvard the following term. He has enough money now to put himself through college without having to resort to cheating for cash. He's already called Lola and gotten her to remove his records from the Harvard Alumni system.
Harvey is sitting in his office when Mike says goodbye to Donna. He wouldn't have known Mike was leaving except for the way Donna actually got up to hug him (Donna never hugs anyone). Harvey nods at Mike when his old associate looks through the glass wall.
When Mike steps out of the huge metal and glass building that is Pearson Hardman, he looks up at the sky. Past all the skyscrapers, all the noise of the city around him, there's blue sky. A whole new world awaits him.
Upstairs in his glass office, surrounded by sports memorabilia and old records, Harvey takes a deep breath and lets it go. Then he gets back to work.
The fights start small. Simple. After Jessica finds out about Mike never having been to Harvard, things are different. Mike's position at the firm feels less secure, not more. Trevor went to Jessica because he felt betrayed by Mike, how easy would it be for him to go to any one of their clients and let it slip that, oh, your lawyer? Mike Ross? He never went to law school. So Mike gets antsy. And because Mike is antsy, Harvey stops caring. The months Mike put in to breaking through Harvey's walls gradually mean nothing.
The day everything peaks is just like any other day. They're doing a joint consultation with a client, going over clauses in contracts to try and work their way out of some kind of mess and Mike just up and leaves the room. Harvey glares after him, but continues the meeting. They don't see each other for the rest of the day.
The fight the next day is loud. Harvey calls Mike into his office to talk about what happened. Mike breaks down about still being insecure about everyone finding out. Harvey brushes it off and Mike explodes. At least three of Harvey's precious vinyl's are broken when Mike throws a signed baseball at the shelving unit.
Things are quiet, after that.
Mike stops going around to Harvey's to "celebrate" when they win a case or sign a client or make fun of Louis or any of the other excuses they used to make when they needed an excuse to sleep together. Harvey stops going easy on him. Gives him ridiculous case loads that would make Louis proud. None of it matters.
Mike leaves work one Friday and realises he hasn't seen Harvey all week, though he knows his boss was there. That thought alone doesn't make him feel anything; when he thinks about it further and realises that it's the first week in a long time that he hasn't felt angry and stressed, itching to get out of his skin, that he's actually been happy this week? That's the thought that makes him sad.
Harvey's the one who breaks their silence. They go for coffee on Sunday afternoon. It's comfortable, but painful. Mike goes back to Harvey's place afterward, leaves with a box full of his things.
Mike hands in his letter of resignation the following Monday. Jessica is surprised, but please when he tells her he's going to enrol in Harvard the following term. He has enough money now to put himself through college without having to resort to cheating for cash. He's already called Lola and gotten her to remove his records from the Harvard Alumni system.
Harvey is sitting in his office when Mike says goodbye to Donna. He wouldn't have known Mike was leaving except for the way Donna actually got up to hug him (Donna never hugs anyone). Harvey nods at Mike when his old associate looks through the glass wall.
When Mike steps out of the huge metal and glass building that is Pearson Hardman, he looks up at the sky. Past all the skyscrapers, all the noise of the city around him, there's blue sky. A whole new world awaits him.
Upstairs in his glass office, surrounded by sports memorabilia and old records, Harvey takes a deep breath and lets it go. Then he gets back to work.