#HARRVEYY TTTWTWTWOOOOOOOOOARGRHRHGHRRGHGRHGGGKARKVGAKRVLH

[merelymedia]

Back in Town Chapter 5

Catch up with the previous chapter here.

Or start from the beginning on AO3.

Over the next several days the two men fell into somewhat of a routine. Harvey worked hard during the day and rescheduled meetings in order to be able to bring dinner home. They would eat together, clean up the dishes, and watch a movie or two before bed. Everyday Harvey tried to convince Mike to stop by the office for lunch but he always turned him down. From what Harvey could tell Mike was spending his days working steadily through both his bookshelf and his liquor cabinet. Harvey hadn’t mentioned the alcohol because he knew Mike was hurting; but as soon as he got home each day he made sure to replace the scotch glass with water. He took the fact that Mike never fought him on this to mean that he didn’t need to be too worried about it. Day by day Mike was eating a bit more and his smiles were lasting a bit longer. Despite the improvements, it was still difficult for Harvey to witness Mike folding in on himself like he was and not feel like he could help, which made leaving for work each morning close to unbearable.

Harvey knew if he just told Mike to go get some air all he would earn would be a middle finger. But he also knew that even though Mike knew what Harvey was doing his unfailing need to help would never allow him to say no to a favor, so every few days he would come up with some errand he could claim he forget and text Mike in the middle of the day asking him to run out and pick up the coffee creamer or whatever the excuse of the day was

There was no avoiding the fact that the next few days would be filled with late nights, and since Mike still refused to see anyone but Harvey, Harvey hated that he would be leaving him alone. That night after dinner Mike started to get up to clear the table but Harvey laid a hand on his forearm to stop him,

“Hey wait a second. I wanted to talk to you.” Mike sat back down, but Harvey didn’t move his hand as he continued, “The next couple days you won’t be seeing much of me. The Ferguson Corporation is buying out a smaller competitor who keeps trying to change the terms of the agreement. Now it’s turned into a huge headache with Baker and Baten bringing bullshit lawsuits trying to tank the deal so their client who missed the party can still get in a higher bid.” Mike just nodded along. “I hate to leave you here all by yourself. I wish you would reconsider seeing Donna. Or hell, hang out with Harold Gunderson or Louis’s cat for all I care.”

“I don’t need a babysitter Harvey.”

“It’s not babysitting, it’s spending time with family.”

“I will see Donna soon. But right now I’m just… I just want to get through this on my own first.”

Harvey sighed and put his hands in his lap. He turned in his chair to look out at the lit up cityscape for a few moments before looking back at Mike from the side, “Look, I know I’m the last person you’d expect to hear this from, but you can’t actually go through everything on your own. It would have been a hell of a lot easier if I had figured that out earlier in life.” Mike pointedly looked away and remained silent. “Well I figured you’d be as stubborn as always, so I bought you something.” Mike turned to Harvey with his brows furrowed in confusion as Harvey leaned down and pulled a new e-reader from his briefcase. “I noticed you were running out of books from my shelf. I figured if I was going to leave you alone I could at least make sure you had something to focus that brain of yours on. My secretary should have set it up and loaded some money on it so you can download whatever.”

“You didn’t have to do that.”

“I know I didn’t, but I’m awesome,”

“You have your moments.”

“Plus, if I came home to find you had actually died of boredom I would have to deal with the body. And Donna would never let me live it down.”

“No dying in the apartment. Got it. I promise.”

“Good.”

Three days later Harvey hadn’t seen Mike again, at least not while he was awake, only slipping into bed next to him for a few hours of sleep each night before heading back to the office before dawn. As Mel Ferguson walked out of his office with the Ferguson Corporation’s acquisition deal finally complete he closed his eyes and took one deep breath knowing that he kept an important client for the firm, and would finally be home for dinner tonight. All he had to do was make it through a few more meetings. Checking his watch he muttered a curse under his breath. He had hoped to have a second to check in on Mike, but he was late for a partner meeting. Louis had scheduled the meeting weeks ago to discuss making Katrina a senior partner; he knew Louis, Donna, and Alex would already be there waiting on him and that he owed it to Louis, and Katrina, to hear him out.

Twenty minutes into the meeting Harvey’s phone starts vibrating on the conference room table where he had placed it. A quick glance let him know the call was coming from Katherine, the woman who had been cleaning the apartment for the past several years. Harvey couldn’t remember a time she ever called this number since setting up their schedule years earlier and acting on instinct, he answered the phone.

“This is Harvey Specter.”

Louis opened his mouth incredulously, “Harvey you could at least have the common decency to not…” He was cut short by Harvey raising a hand to silence him. He was about to start laying into Harvey about meeting etiquette and respect when he saw Harvey’s face change.

“Slow down,” Harvey said into the phone, “Is he breathing?” His voice grew more panicked as the call continued, “No I’ll take care of it I’ll be right there,” he said hanging up the phone. “Katrina has my vote,” he told Louis in a rush. He was already on his way out the door, all his belongings still on the table, when he glanced at Donna “I’m going to need a few days off.”

Louis looked at Donna in confusion “What the hell is going on?”

Donna was still staring at the now empty doorframe Harvey had just rushed out of. She swallowed and turned to answer Louis, “Things ended between Mike and Rachel, he’s been staying with Harvey, and apparently doing worse than we thought.” Louis recoiled in the way he always did when taken by surprise.

“Mike is back? Since when?”

“Just since last week.”

“Why didn’t anyone tell me? If anyone understands heartbreak it’s me. I could have..”

Donna cut him off, “Look Louis, I know you would want to help, but he’s not up for mudding or whatever you would try to do right now. The only person he’ll even talk to is Harvey.”

Louis considered a moment, he was irked that he was once again left out of the loop. But he also remembered shutting himself off when things ended with Sheila. “Have his secretary coordinate with Gretchen, I’ll take whatever of his meetings I can, the rest we’ll reschedule.”

Harvey Specter, who never moved faster than a controlled brisk walk, barrelled through the hallway to his apartment, almost yanking the door off its hinges as he entered.

“In here Mr. Specter,” Katherine called from the bathroom. Harvey rushed towards her and stopped dead in his tracks. The image that was waiting for him would be burned into his head and pop up in moments of fear or panic for the rest of Harvey’s life. Because there, sprawled face down on the tile floor was an unconscious Mike. He had scrapes bleeding on his face and arms presumably from the scotch glass that lay in shards spread out across the bathroom. Both the clothes and the floor were covered in his vomit and he had a set of papers gripped in one hand.

“Mike..” Harvey choked, barely audible. All color drained from Harvey’s face as he fell to his knees and placed a hand on Mike’s back, needing to feel the shallow breaths for himself. Harvey took a moment to collect himself before flipping the switch into handler mode.

“I’m so sorry about this Katherine, thank you so much for calling me,” he said as he rolled Mike over before scooping him up underneath his knees and his shoulders. He placed him sitting against the wall in the shower, being sure to lean his head back carefully. Taking the papers out of his hand it only took one glance to discern what they were; divorce papers. “Well shit,” he muttered. As soon as he moved Mike Katherine started on the mess in the bathroom. “You don’t have to do that,” Harvey told her.

“You have your hands full. This is how I can help,” she replied matter of factly. Harvey nodded gratefully as Katherine made short work of the mess and left him to the more personal matter of cleaning up Mike. Removing his shoes, jacket, and tie, Harvey stepped into the shower. Taking a washcloth Harvey started by rinsing Mike’s face. As he ran the cloth over the other man’s chin, holding his cheek in the other his eyes opened in muddled confusion.

“Harrveyy?” He slurred, leaning his face into Harvey’s hand.

God, had his eyes always been such a bright blue? Harvey thought maybe it was just that he had never been as close to him before, their faces were just a few inches apart. “Hey there, you’re alright. You’re an idiot. But an idiot that will be fine in a day.”

“Mhmmm,” was all Mike could muster before shutting his eyes again. Using the detachable shower head Harvey began to rinse Mike off, who was still fully clothed. “Ughh” Mike groaned, flinching a bit when the water hit him, but otherwise succumbed to his fate. Once Harvey had the clothes rinsed he shook Mike’s shoulder,

“Arms up,” he said, starting to peel the shirt up over his head, “that’s it. There you go,” he encouraged as if he was speaking to a toddler. Awkwardly he shimmied Mike’s pants off, leaving him in just his boxers, and placed the wet clothes in a corner. He gently began cleaning Mike’s skin, careful not to get any body wash in the scrapes.

Harvey started to feel hot and agitated, he turned the water temperature down thinking the steam was getting to him. Even with the cool stream of water he felt flushed in his face and where his skin met Mike’s. With one arm around Mike’s shoulder and the other holding the shower head giving a final rinse Harvey froze. He recognized this feeling. But that wasn’t right. It couldn’t be. Carefully but quickly he took his hand off Mike and exited the shower. “Wake up. Get changed,” he said shortly, throwing a towel and a pair of sweats in Mike’s lap before hastily leaving the bathroom. Grabbing his phone he stormed across the apartment and out the patio door, leaving wet footprints from his sopping pant legs and already dialing a number.

“Hello Harvey, if this is about last week’s session you asked to reschedule I was just about to call you,” Julie said from the other line.

“What? No, that’s not important,” Harvey’s voice was strained. Julie immediately knew he was distressed but said nothing, knowing he would continue. “Something is wrong with my head. I need you to fix this.”

“Harvey, you know that’s not how this works. Why don’t you tell me what happened just before you called?”

“Mike is here and he… I felt.. He’s…I’m not...” Harvey stuttered. Which is something Harvey Specter never did.

“Ah,” The therapist said lightly as she understood what was happening, “so you’ve come to that conclusion have you?”

“What? What is that supposed to  mean?” he spurted confused and angry, although he wasn’t sure who he was angry at.

“Harvey, tell me why you called,” she said her voice still calm.

Harvey was pacing across the balcony, feeling more agitated than he ever remembered being before half shouting, “Because I need you to tell me why the fuck I’m attracted to Mike goddamn Ross!”

Read the next chapter.