Archive of Our Own

Damn Harvey and his cocky betting. Is what Mike thought as he sat on the edge of his couch, leaning over a pile of files on his coffee table. Damn Harvey and losing a bet because he’s too cocky. Is what Mike thought as he cycled as fast as he could to try to make it to work on time.

Jessica had put Harvey and Louis on the same case, forcing them to work together, except that never works because Louis and Harvey are two sides of the same coin and would rather walk on hot coals than work together. So of course, the two men had wildly different ideas of how the case should go and Mike got caught right in the middle of it.

Louis bet that if his idea won the case then Harvey had to loan Mike to him for at least two cases. Harvey, confident in his abilities to win the case, agreed to it. Of course, he didn’t even ask for anything in return in case he won.

After the deal was made, Mike was shucked off the case so he couldn’t interfere, which he had to admit was pretty satisfying because he was able to spend the rest of the week doing work at his own pace without Harvey ordering him left right and centre.

But, like all good things, that had to come to an end.

Harvey lost the bet, lacking Mike’s brain, he didn’t have the time to find the exact information he needed and Jessica went forward with Louis’s idea.

That wasn’t the worst of it, Mike’s worked with Louis before, it wasn’t the same as working with Harvey but the man wasn’t an evil mastermind like everyone made him out to be. He was a backstabbing asshole who had Mike doing practically all of his work, but he did give credit where credit was due.

The problem was that Jessica had specially assigned Harvey a huge case; a lawsuit that could cost their client, and by extension Pearson & Hardman, thousands. He could have loaned the skills of a different associate, considering the fact that Mike was very obviously busy.

But Harvey is Harvey and what Harvey wants, Harvey gets. So that left Mike working for both of his bosses and feeling like he was tied to a mental version of “The Rack”, a medieval torture device he had learnt about in highschool where the victim was stretched in two different directions.

He was seriously late for a meeting with Louis and their client and really wishing that if Louis and Harvey were going to fight over him like teenage girls or territorial tomcats, that they would at least coordinate their demands so he didn’t have clashing deadlines.

The file he dropped off on Harvey’s desk had barely left his hand before he was speed-walking out of the room.

“I asked for this for eight in the morning.”

Mike paused in the doorway and checked his watch, “You’re seriously going to complain about my work being early?” He asked rhetorically and strode out of the room, having to physically restrain himself from running down the halls.

Ten minutes late to the meeting, Mike walked briskly into the conference room and sat next to Louis, fixing him with a ‘Don’t even ask’ expression, before laying out the files in front of him.

“Mr Dawson, my associate, Mike Ross.” Louis drawled.

The pleasant-looking man reached across the table to shake Mike’s hand, he met him halfway. “Apologies for my lateness, you know how early-morning traffic can be.” He smiled fakely.

“No worries.” The man smiled just as mockingly.

Louis cleared his throat, “As I was saying, Mr Dawson.” He held out his hand and Mike was quick to present the correct piece of paper. “You have two options.”

-

The meeting was over within minutes, the ink of Matthew Dawson’s signature still wet as it was placed in a folder and given to Mike to fax and compile with other similar documents so they could be taken to court.

Before he could do that, he needed to get to his desk and then Harvey’s office so he could swap boxes of files. The ones he’s already highlighted and annotated for the ones he still needed to.

“Mike.”

He stopped in his tracks, spinning around to face Louis with a forcefully blank expression.

“What the hell was that?” The man asked, waving his hands. “Sprinting into a meeting eleven minutes late and then joking with our client, who's time I had to waste while we were waiting for you?”

Mike sighed and hung his head. Okay, maybe he was playing the kicked puppy to get Louis off his back, but the sooner he got this over with, the sooner he could skip to being yelled at by Harvey instead. “I’m sorry, Louis.”

His boss grew incredulous, “I’m sorry? That’s it?”

“Louis, I was up all night going over those documents, I didn’t have an alarm set because I didn’t even mean to fall asleep.” Mike argued, trying not to sound like a petulant child.

“Mike, I like you, okay? You’ve got spunk.” To emphasise his point, Louis mimed finger guns. “But, to survive in this job role, you need to be ready for whatever comes at you. Next time, set an alarm regardless of if you intend to sleep or not.”

Not entirely sure what on earth just happened, Mike watched Louis’s retreating form for a few moments before he absent-mindedly checked his watch and swore. Harvey was going to have his ass.

He didn’t even spare Kyle a response when the associate commented on the panicked way he sped into the bullpen, grabbed the box of files on his desk and made his way back out just as fast.

“Congrats, I hope you didn’t plan on taking up track anytime soon because you would hopelessly embarrass yourself.” Harvey snided when Mike skidded into his office, completely negligent of the rule against running.

Mike fake laughed and dumped the box on the coffee table, quickly collecting the other, identical one. “Maybe give me both boxes in the future to save us both the horror of witnessing me run.”

Harvey stood up and lifted the first file out of the box, “Aw, but then I’d miss this wonderful show.”

-

The rest of the week proceeded in a very similar manner.

Harvey’s case was difficult, so much evidence had clearly been buried but other than the fact that they knew it existed and couldn’t access it, they had zero proof of the matter. Harvey was getting increasingly stressed, he’d even snapped at Donna a few times. (Although he immediately apologised at the look she gave him. Mike couldn’t quite master that look and thus had become the next in line for Harvey’s emotional punching bag).

“I wanted this on my desk an hour ago.”

“What the hell do you mean, you can’t find it? Keep looking!”

“I don’t want to see you leave that file room until you find exactly what I have been asking you to find for the last three hours, I don’t care if you sleep there. Make it happen.”

Quite honestly, Mike was being driven insane.

To add fuel to the fire, his grandma had fallen down in the care home, suffering a broken leg. The cost of the ambulance, plus the hospital visit, then her treatment and painkillers were weighing heavily on Mike’s already precariously balanced tower of responsibilities. Then the care home, because they were a bunch of money-hungry dicks who could think of nothing better than harvesting off of the elderly who were already at their wits end, upped his bills because it took an extra person to get his grandma out of bed in the morning and she often had to use the facility’s wheelchairs.

Of course, he didn’t tell her any of this.

She worried so much as it was, she even apologised to him for breaking her leg. That made him feel like an asshole, how had he not seen that he was making his grandma feel guilty because he had to care for her? She had dropped everything to take care of him when no one else would, even though she was far past the age where she should be dealing with traumatised kids full-time. He owed her.

He took out a loan; marvelling at the fact that he now had enough of a reputation, working at Pearson & Hardman for the Harvey Spectre, to be able to take out a loan; to pay off the initial costs of healthcare and now he had a bank harassing him for payments instead of the hospital and care home.

It was fine. He was fine.

“Mike, what did I say about not leaving the file room until you found that agreement?”

He was not fine.

“Harvey, I was just getting some coffee. I haven’t slept sinc-”

“I don’t want to hear it!”

Was Harvey Spectre really yelling at him in the middle of the bullpen? What has his life become?

Mike sighed, “I’ll get back to work.” He turned on his heel and retraced his steps to where he left off.

Bless her golden heart, Donna had clearly heard the argument somehow, he’d learnt a long time ago not to question the omniscient powers of Donna Paulson, and brought him a large coffee from that expensive coffee shop down the road.

“I’m pretty sure we’re not even allowed to drink water in the file room, let alone coffee.” He stated, gratefully taking the beverage and cupping his hands around the warm cup.

She smirked and then shrugged with a suddenly innocent expression. “What coffee?” Donna asked, backing out of the room.

The first sip, though scalding hot, was heavenly. Taking a small break, he read the label and saw that she’d gotten him a triple shot and had even added that hazelnut syrup he liked.

-

“Where the hell have you been?” Louis asked imperatively, joining Mike in his quick strides towards the elevators. “I’ve been to your desk several times in the past five hours, not once have you reared your head.”

Had it really been five hours? And why was he always getting caught by the last person he wanted to see? “File room, Harvey’s been demanding this Gretton agreement since yesterday.” When the elevator opened, he went to step into it, but

Louis held out a hand, both stopping the elevator from closing and preventing Mike from entering it. “Need I remind you that you are currently my associate, for my case. Not to mention, I oversee all associate work and you answer to me regardless?”

“Louis, I promise you, I will come straight to your office and do whatever you need of me, but right now I won’t even be alive to do that work if I don’t get this document to Harvey right this second.” Mike rushed out, fueled purely by panic and a triple strength coffee.

The man seemed temporarily placated because he relinquished the barrier and allowed Mike to step into the elevator, “Immediately, Ross.” He reminded as the doors slid shut.

Donna wasn’t at her desk when Mike approached so he walked straight into the office, “I found it.” He proclaimed, practically throwing it in front of Harvey. “Sarah never agreed to the terms, but Eloise did, making their claims null.” He crossed his arms, more than a little proud.

“Don’t look so smug, it doesn’t suit you.” Harvey picked up the document and scanned over it. “Grab your stuff, we need to get across town to have a little talk with Sarah.” The face he pulled was not that of a man who was about to be very kind.

The pride drained out of Mike. “Actually, can I sit out of this one? I have a lot of work I need to do for Louis.” He didn’t even look at Harvey, bracing for the fury.

The man frowned, “What, you don’t want to see a bitch be served?” He asked.

“I do, but I’ve just spent five hours looking for that for you, giving Louis plenty of time to stew in anger and no doubt think of a thousand cruel ways to keep me in this office overnight.” Mike spared his boss a glance.

“When was the last time you slept in a bed?”

Mike groaned, “Too long, I think the knots in my back are developing their own knots.” He complained, following Harvey to the door.

The expression Harvey was pulling was unreadable, his eyebrows twitching like they wanted to knit together in concern- which was impossible because as much as he accused Harvey of caring, he definitely didn’t warrant concern. “Just make sure you don’t let him overwork you, you’re no use if you wind up in the emergency room.”

That earnt a scoff from Mike, “Coming from the man who just had me locked in a file room for five hours straight?” He asked, smirking a little. Though the thought of visiting the hospital because his two bosses were treating him like a sought-after ragdoll did shake him a little, there was no way he’d be able to take out another loan when he was still paying off this one, a new hospital bill would knock out all funds.

He spent the rest of the afternoon confined to his desk with stacks of files, all faxed over from the opposition. Emails, dating back several years. There were many other similar stacks still in the mailroom, he was just trying to get a headstart on those he’s already received.

He’d already pulled an all nighter at home a few days ago, catching a few hours the next night before he ended up staying at the office for another all nighter. Then he’d spent another night on the floor of the file room, at least catching a little bit of sleep. If the opposition was trying to drown him in emails like he was so sure that they were, then he’d likely need to stay overnight again.

However, he’d already worn one suit for two days in a row and there was no way he was wearing another for the same length, so he needed to pop home at least for an hour so he could shower and pick up some essentials.

Finishing one stack just as the last associate left the office, he collected a few of his things, leaving most of it as he knew he would be back within a couple hours, and began to sneak out of the building.

He didn’t need to worry about Harvey at this very second but Louis would be a whole other story.

Making it out without incident, he unlocked his bike and cycled as fast as he could. It was 9:31 on the dot, if he got home around 10 then he had time to shower and gather his bits, maybe even catnap, before heading back to the office to continue with the stupid filtering through pointless crap.

He definitely should be concerned that he didn’t remember the ride home, moving completely on autopilot, but he was just so determined to get a smidge of rest that he didn’t care.

Mike walked into his apartment, leaning his bike against the wall and scooping up the small pile of mail that had accumulated in the time that he hadn’t been home. Most was junkmail but there was one from his gas company and another from his landlord.

Pushing his door shut, he toed off his shoes and slipped into the kitchen to put the kettle on while flicking through the letters. He was late on his bill payments and he hadn’t even noticed because he’d been spending so much time at work. He had less than a week, because the letters had come through a few days ago, to pay each or his gas and electric would be shut off.

That wasn’t too much of a problem… Except he really didn’t have much money in the bank right now. He got paid monthly and his previous paycheck had only been a couple weeks ago, he’d blown most of it on medical bills and paying back the loan. Damn interest rates.

It was fine. He spent so much time at the office, he probably wouldn’t even notice. He would just wait it out until his next paycheck came through, as long as his rent was kept up with, he could live without gas and electric. Cold showers are supposedly healthier for you anyway.

He’d just have to charge his phone at work, which he already did most of the time.

It would be fine, he told himself, even as he ground his teeth together, preparing for his last warm shower for a while.

Setting an alarm for an hour’s time, he dropped into bed, still soaked from his shower and wrapped in his towel, and fell asleep within seconds.

-

In reality, maybe he should have cared a little more about his losing utilities for a couple weeks, especially since it was late November and New York cold was no joke. But what else was he to do? If he paid off his bills, plus the late fees, then he’d have to miss this month’s loan payment and the interest rates were insane. He could pay the bills back piece by piece but his utilities would still be shut off unless he could muster the whole due upfront.

These thoughts plagued him as he stared absently at his stirring coffee, the pattern the milk made absolutely fascinating to his distracted eyes.

“Tell me you’re not about to drink that.”

Mike jumped and looked up bleary-eyed at Rachel who was staring at him with an odd look. He furrowed his eyebrows and tilted his head a little to the side in confusion.

“The milk? It’s curdled, I don’t care how strong your immune system is, that's going to make you puke.” She responded, taking the cup from him and dumping it in the sink. She rinsed it out and poured him a new cup. “Someone will pop to the shop for new milk later, for now you’re stuck with black.”

He cleared his throat and took the fresh cup with a smile, “Thanks, Rachel.”

She was still giving him a weird look as she walked out with her own cup.

The coffee was chugged, burning his throat on the way down, and he was back to his desk to continue the mind-numbing paperwork.

“Don’t bother.”

Mike had barely begun to sit down when Harvey was pulling him up and walking out of the bullpen, “We’re going out.”

He didn’t make the effort to ask where they were going, far too used to Harvey’s fast-paced antics. He just let himself get dragged by the sleeve like a naughty child.

“Harvey, I need Mike to keep going through those emails, we need multiple witnesses of the harassment in Matthew Dawson’s workplace.” Louis rounded the corner as they were leaving.

Mike was so sick of being caught in the middle of the two lawyers.

“Get another associate to do it, I need his memory for this meeting.” Harvey countered, tugging Mike towards the elevators.

Louis didn’t let go that easily, in fact, he quite literally latched onto Mike’s other arm. “No other associate can read as fast as him, it would take them a whole day to complete what would take him barely a few hours.”

Harvey pressed the button to summon an elevator, still not looking in Louis’s direction. “So get multiple associates on it, he’s my associate.”

If Mike wasn’t currently staring at a piece of dirt on the floor, wishing he could shrink to be that small and pretend like he wasn’t there, he would be touched by the almost possessive tone in Harvey’s voice.

“Ah, that’s where you’re wrong, Spectre.” Louis grasped Mike’s arm tighter, “You lost a bet, remember?”

Harvey closed his eyes and breathed a long sigh through his frustration, finally letting go of his associate’s jacket sleeve. “Fine, Litt. You win.” The elevator chose that moment to open and spill out a small crowd of people. “Just make sure he’s in my office by six, legally he is still my associate and I still require his work.”

-

In the last five days, Mike has been home once. That was to grab some clothes changes that he could keep in his desk and to sleep for as long as he could manage. It was also for the first bitingly cold shower of many, even that hadn’t woken him up enough to avoid the much-needed nap.

Louis had closed his case, settling the dispute between Matthew Dawson and one of his previous employees, and immediately set Mike to work on the next. The rules of the bet had been that he could call upon Mike for two cases in general, not necessarily in a row, but Harvey had pissed the man off recently so, naturally, he had to punish Mike.

Because that was the conclusion at the end of the day, although Harvey was inconvenienced by the fact that Mike was at Louis’s beck and call, he was still working for the man most of the time. Mike was the one running himself straight into the ground to keep up with the two of them.

It wasn’t like he wasn’t used to a lot of work. Harvey had been elated when he realised that with Mike’s memory and speed-reading, he could do three times the amount of work other associates could do. Not to mention, he had an eye for detail that most other people would miss. He was very-well adjusted to having a higher workload than other people of his status.

But he was doing that triple times work for two men at the same time, he was going to burn out eventually. It was inevitable.

-

It happened in the middle of a courtroom, of all places.

Harvey- never go to trial -Spectre was finally closing one of the worst cases of his life in court, confident in his ability to win. Though he would never catch himself saying it out loud, he was more than a little proud of Mike. He’d seen the way he’s been running around the firm trying to keep up with the demands of two competing bosses, and yet he still put together the winning trial for Harvey.

So maybe he should have seen it coming.

He had just presented the final piece of the puzzle and gestured at Mike to give the document to the jury, sitting back with a smug look. He wasn’t even looking at his associate as he walked over to the jury stand. He did see, out of the corner of his eye, the way Mike lifted his arm to hand the file over and then seemed to waver on the spot. He swayed left, right, then went down in a heap.

There was a pause of complete silence before the courtroom erupted into chaos. The judge banged his gravel and declared a recess, the entire jury stood up in shock, Harvey sprinted towards his fallen associate.

Mike was lying on his front, legs and arms bent awkwardly beneath him. He didn’t move even as Harvey roughly grabbed ahold of his shoulder and pulled him towards himself.

It was now that he thanked the heavens that Jessica had forced all higher authorities to take part in first aid courses, especially if they were going to be in charge of an associate or a secretary. He tucked two fingers under Mike’s chin and found a thready, irregular pulse.

His breathing wasn’t great, stuttering out like his lungs weren’t receiving enough oxygen.

The security guard knelt down on the other side of Mike and handed Harvey a water bottle, “Need me to call an ambulance?” He asked.

Harvey shook his head, “Just give him a minute, if he doesn’t come round soon then absolutely.”

Luckily, within a few minutes of regularly shaking the man and patting his face, Mike’s eyes fluttered open. When they finally focussed on him, he fixed his boss with a confused look. “I fall asleep?” He asked groggily.

“You passed out.” Harvey stated plainly, helping Mike sit up, leaning him against his chest so he could prop him up enough to drink some water.

The kid held the bottle with a shaky hand and sipped slowly, “Sorry.” He muttered, eyes shifting downwards. “Can you continue the trial without me?” Because of course Mike was more worried about the case than he was about the fact he had literally just passed out.

Harvey scoffed lightly, “Yeah, kid, but not until you can stand by yourself.” He stood up himself and then extended a hand, glad when he saw the security guard do the same.

Mike took both hands and levered himself upright, tumbling straight into his boss when his legs didn’t want to take his weight. Slowly, with the help of the security guard, the three of them shuffled out of the courtroom and to the benches just outside.

Once Mike was sitting down and continuing to sip at the water, Harvey stepped away and pulled out his phone, calling Ray. He wished he could stay with the kid, make sure he got home safe, but the trial was so close to being over and he just knew that Mike would beat himself up if they had to wait for a rescheduled court date.

He waited as long as he could, but when the court clerk stuck his head out of the door and gestured questioningly, he knew he couldn’t stay any longer. “Right, you’re going to stay right here, don’t even think about being cocky and getting up to wait for Ray downstairs.” He crouched in front of Mike to make sure he was listening, “You wait for Ray to collect you so he can help you to the car.”

Maybe Mike was still a bit out of it, maybe Harvey didn’t want to address the way it made his heart flutter, but he pretended not to hear the bratty “Yes dad” come out of his associate’s mouth.

-

He won the court case, his client actually hugged him, he could only focus on checking up on Mike.

Ray was waiting outside for him and offered to take them straight to the kid’s apartment, which he reluctantly declined. Although he was desperate to get there as soon as possible, there was a lot of paperwork to fill out and it needed to be done tonight, usually he’d have Mike do it but… Obviously.

He rushed through it as quickly as possible, his thoughts on Mike the entire time.

“Someone’s distracted.”

Harvey glared at the intercom and then up at Donna who was smiling sweetly at him. He shook his head and went back to scribbling as fast as his pen would go.

“Oh come on, you’re not going to spill? I noticed you didn’t come back with Mike.”

“Donna, if you’re going to interrogate me, at least speak to me face to face.” He said, dropping his pen and rubbing at his temples. The sound of clicking heels and the hand placed on his desk was the only response.

“Spill.”

Harvey sighed and leant back in his chair, “Mike fainted in court.”

Donna’s teasing expression was gone in a second, she stood up straight and crossed her arms. “What happened?”

“I don’t know, he looked ill, but I don’t know exactly.” He fiddled with his pen, unscrewing the metal components. “I sent him home, I haven’t had a chance to check on him yet.”

The pen was snatched out of his hand and the documents were taken from his desk in a similar manner, “Harvey Spectre, you get down to that boy’s apartment right now.” Donna admonished, thwacking him lightly over the head with the pile of paperwork.

“Ow, Donna!” He fended her off and stood up out of his chair, “I can’t, the paperwork needs to be filed tonight.”

She smacked him over the head once more and began pushing him out of the door. “Other associates exist, hell, I exist.” She grumbled, picking up his jacket and throwing it at him, “If you don’t tell me how he’s doing by midnight, I’m never getting Louis off your back again.”

Being literally kicked out off his own office by a five foot nine woman was less than dignant, though anyone walking past would probably understand seeing as it was Donna.

Before he knew it, he was outside Mike’s door and knocking fervently. “Mike? It’s me, I just want to know if you’re okay.” He declared. It had been a few minutes and still there was no answer.

This is exactly why he had demanded a few months ago that Mike give him a spare key… Okay, he made Donna demand a spare key, but the sentiment was the same. He hated how dingy the neighbourhood the kid lived in was and he was forever worried that the kid would be mugged on his way home.

He shoved the key in the lock and walked in.

He certainly wasn’t expecting it to feel colder in the apartment than it was in the hall, he knew that Mike liked to save his money where possible but surely having no heating when it was practically snowing outside was too far.

The apartment was pitch black and he fumbled a while for a light switch, gut twisting when no light came on. Something told him that having no working lights wasn’t a money saving hack.

His phone torch was shitty but it did a good enough job that he could see the figure curled up on the couch.

Mike was still wearing his suit, jacket crumpled. He hadn’t even removed his shoes before no doubt collapsing on the couch, the only effort he seemed to have made was pulling a crochet throw blanket over himself.

With the torch on, Harvey could see his own fucking breath, there was no way Mike wasn’t totally freezing.

He crept further in and cleared a space on the coffee table for him to sit down. Up close, he could see subtle tremors wracking the kid’s frame. “Mike.” He whispered, not entirely sure why because clearly his associate hadn’t woken up when he was pounding at the door.

“Mike.” He said a little louder, reaching out and shaking his shoulder.

Mike jumped a little, eyes flying open, he looked at Harvey blankly for a while as his brain seemed to catch up with the situation. “What are you doing in my apartment?” He asked in a sleep-addled voice.

“How long have you had no electricity?” Harvey countered, not wanting to admit that he was checking up on him.

For as much as he expected Mike to deny everything, the man just avoided eye contact. “A week or so.” He admitted shamefully.

“Why?” Interrogation mode it was.

“No money.”

“Again, why? You get a pretty fair salary.”

“Grammy broke her leg, hospital bills are expensive.” Mike still wouldn’t look at him, he didn’t even grace his boss with an attempt to smarten up, pulling the blanket further up to his chin.

Harvey hung his head, “Jesus, kid. Is this why you passed out?”

At least now Mike looked confused. “What? No.” He shuffled a little until he was semi-lying down, semi-sitting up. “I was just tired.”

“Tired is falling asleep at your desk, not fainting in the middle of a court case.” Harvey leaned forward, bracing himself on his knees. The light from his phone torch cast strange shadows around the room and only accentuated the dark bags under Mike’s eyes.

Suddenly, it dawned on him. “When was the last time you went home? Not including today.” Then, he looked closer at the kid’s gaunt face. “Have you been eating enough?”

Mike closed his eyes and let himself lay down completely so he could cover his face with his hands. “I’ve been staying at the office for a few days, I don’t remember the last time I slept in my bed.” He paused for a second. “I don’t actually remember the last time I slept,” A biting, incredulous laugh. “I’ve been running around after you and Louis too much.”

If Harvey’s gut twisted when he’d tried to turn on the lights, it was downright wrung out now. His chest ached and he found himself rubbing at it. “I’m so sorry, Mike.”

A small hum responded, when he shone the light in Mike’s direction, he saw that the kid was falling asleep again. “Nope, come on, you’re coming to my place.” When Mike grumbled and tried to roll over, Harvey grasped his shoulder. “At least I have heating, you can stay until you’ve got your bills sorted out.

-

And that was how he ended up with Mike Ross sleeping on his couch, tangled up in a soft blanket. That’s also how he ended up sitting on the other end of the couch, Mike’s feet in his lap, staring at the kid with nothing but affection for the way the kid’s nose scrunched up in his sleep.