Summary: Mike's actually, sort of really good at drawing.
Mike whistles happily as he walks into work, his bicycle secured firmly to the railings outside.
"Mike, I need to see you in my office right now," Harvey says, breezing past Mike as he walks across the hallway to put his bag down at his desk, and the younger turns around and raises his hands in frustration, then grabs his bag and changes direction, following Harvey straight to his office.
He brushes past Donna who's watching them with her normal attentive but amused smile, and he grins at her in greeting, waving one of his hands a little as he turns around in a quick circle and then comes face to face with the glass wall.
"Woah!" Mike yelps, throwing his hands into the air and lithely sliding away from it, missing the edge by inches, but still missing it.
Donna nods at him, impressed by those reflexes, and Mike grins back with a wink, as though he was totally confident in his ability to escape near collisions with various inanimate objects.
"What was that Mike?" Harvey watches him with a smirk from behind his desk and Mike smoothes down his tie (still skinny and still far better than any Harvey owns).
"Uh- nothing?"he tries, but this is Harvey, the best closer in the city.
"That's funny…it seems to me that that little move you just pulled there looks a bit like a ballet position," Harvey continues, studying Mike's expression and leaning back in his chair as he finds what he's looking for; Mike sighs. He's never been good at a poker face.
"It was? Show us a twirl," Harvey grins, an evil light in his eyes and Mike casts him a desperate look.
"If you don't, then I'll tell Kyle and Gregory that you used to do ballet," Harvey threatens and Mike pales.
"You wouldn't," he responds, horrified but hoping that Harvey might be kind for once.
"Wouldn't I?"the elder asks and Mike sighs, knowing that he would.
He stands up with a pout that just makes his boss chuckle, and daintily goes up on one toe and twirls once, his arms in the perfect position and his bent leg neatly touching the first one.
"Happy now?" Mike grumbles, going out of his graceful position and then seeing Harvey's face. "Oh no," he protests but the other just lifts an eyebrow.
"Kyle," he reminds and the shorter one jumps back into position hurriedly.
"I'm dancing, I'm dancing…" he whines under his breath, and then leaps into a few dizzying turns, whipping his head around neatly out of habit, using a chasse to cross the length of Harvey's office and ending with one leg behind him, one arm raised in the air and the other pressed to his chest.
Harvey claps, genuinely impressed by the little display, but Mike happens to glance up at that moment and spots Louis staring back at him, his beady eyes roving curiously over Mike's posture and he freezes in position, not moving until Louis gives him a look that spoke volumes.
He walks on, and Mike collapses onto the sofa.
"He saw me. Harvey, he saw me dancing," Mike emphasises, burying his face in his hands and then dragging them through his hair anxiously.
"Oh well. It was a nice dance," Harvey compliments and leans back in his seat.
"Yeah, I looked like a total ass,"
"You definitely have a nice one," Harvey grins and Mike shuffles away a few steps, just in case.
He's still not forgiving Harvey for making him dance though. That was low.
The next time he's called in, a few days later, Harvey beats him there (no surprise) and is waiting for him when he walks in.
"Mike, I don't know what you think this is, but it's not the research for the case I asked you to do," Harvey tells Mike, spinning around slowly in his posh office chair and throwing a thick file of paper onto the table between them.
"Hello Mike, it's nice to see you, hello Mike, how was your morning?" Mike mocks underneath his breath, pulling funny facial expressions to match the variety of voices he was using, then realises Harvey's orders involve movement.
Mike pouts at the fact that he has to stand up to reach the folder, and gets up slowly, nabbing the file and sinking back onto the couch gratefully.
"You have a really nice couch," he comments idly, opening the folder to see what his boss is on about and missing the strangely puzzled expression on Harvey's face as he stares at the couch and tries to remember if it is particularly comfortable or not, and wondering why Mike feels the need to tell him that.
Mike flicks through the pages, totally oblivious to Harvey's confusion and pauses after a few sheets of paper and makes a small noise of realisation.
"Ah…that is…that is…" he struggles to find the words, but there's a smile lurking there that wants to escape as he looks sheepishly up at Harvey.
"I didn't mean to put it there?" he tries, catching a glimpse of the smile toying with Harvey's own expression, partially hidden by his hand but not well enough. Either way, it's enough to convince Mike that there isn't really a massive problem here.
"You didn't mean to give me a sketch of Louis as King Rat?" Harvey checked, and Mike outright starts laughing, unable to choke it back any longer.
"No, it was- an accident-" he chuckles, wiping at his eyes and continuing to laugh until Harvey cracks a grin of his own and they sit there laughing for a minute, long enough for Donna to look at them in amusement and shake her head. She lets Jessica past without a word, and the founding partner can't help but smile at the pair as well.
"Is this a bad time?" she opens the door silently, and they abruptly stop laughing.
"We were just-" Harvey starts, but Jessica spots the sketch and raises an eyebrow at the man.
"I don't care what you get up to in your spare time, but please don't let Louis see this," she frowns at Harvey, but they just break into another fit of laughter, despite Mike's fear of the woman.
"Is this funny?" she turns on Mike but Harvey defends him easily.
"Oh, it's just some fun. Mike, see you later," he dismisses his associate, who grins and leaves the room wiping his eyes some more, and Harvey calls after him.
"Tell anyone about this and I'm bringing up the ballet," he threatens and Mike childishly sticks out a tongue. Harvey looks affronted, but Jessica is just proud that he has someone like Mike in his life.
"You wanted to see me?" he asks, and they get on with the working day.
At some point after that, a sketch appears on his desk; Harvey dressed in a ridiculously flamboyant suit with what seems to be peacock feathers attached to it, captured within a stylish throne (the throne makes a good statement but the clothes not so much) with Louis sitting in a chair opposite him, sneer present on his face and rat tail sticking up behind him.
The caption reads 'Do you lose as gracefully as you win?' and Harvey has to laugh out loud at that.
"I don't know, I've never lost," he finishes the quote quietly, marvelling at the detail of the drawing and the eloquent shading of the pencil lines.
He grins at it, more than pleased with his gift than he'd admit, and puts it up on his desk in a frame. The reactions he gets are also hysterical- Louis turns purple in rage and storms off, despite not even knowing the quote with the picture, but Mike sees it and starts blushing a bright red. He checks once that Harvey hasn't spilt the ballet story either, but Mike's secret is safe for the day.
Nobody ever brings it up though, aside from Donna who has laws of her own.
And she loves the picture.
The next surprise is during a tough case that involves art, which is not normally their expertise, but the client comes to them, so they are trying their best.
They're in an art gallery, trying to work out how much everything is worth (Harvey thinks that they could have just been given a list in the office, but Mike is quite enjoying the walk around), Mike talks to the client and admires the paintings as they go by.
"Hey, that's not right," Mike frowns suddenly, squinting at something small in the painting and Harvey follows him for a minute, trying to figure out what on earth the man is up to and then finally giving up and waiting sort of patiently for Mike to figure out whatever was annoying him.
"This painting is a forgery," he declares suddenly, and the old man that is paying them gives a moment's pause before replying in the negative.
"It is. I recognise this type of paint, but if this was meant to be made in the 18th century, then it's a forgery. The paint here was only created more recently, and this is a modern day windmill in England, rather than one from the Netherlands like this picture suggests," Mike lists and Harvey silently jots them down.
"How would you know that?" the guy asks with a bit of fear lurking behind his voice.
"Oh, I do a bit of painting myself, and I'm pretty good with my history," Mike explains and then they are escorted out by the client.
"Thank you very much," Harvey thanks politely, and they leave the premises with a piece of pretty solid evidence.
They manage to get a settlement; a decent amount and no loss to the client's reputation despite the paintings confirmed to be fake. Mike and Harvey are both rather exuberant after it and only running off adrenaline (he gets Harvey to do the fist bump that the man always refuses to do where someone might see).
"You are looking at the only man to beat the no win scenario," Harvey gloats and Mike sighs, knowing that the Star Trek references were not going to end any time soon.
He decides he might as well join in though and adds "we've saved civilisation as we know it…"
"What's the good news?" Harvey smirks, well aware of what Mikes doing by now (can't beat them, join them).
"They're not gonna prosecute!" Mike laughs and they both feel the satisfaction of a job well done.
Louis walks past and wonders how they both know these things, but he's not at all jealous. Of course not.
Harvey raises a hand to knock on Mike's apartment door and halts.
Normally, by this point he hears the tinny yelling of junk TV and knows that Mike is inside, relaxed on the couch with a drink, kicking back his feet and ready to be dragged off to wherever Harvey's taking him (Mike doesn't complain; he's learnt that it's no use) but today there's no TV.
There's TV whenever Mike's home, unless of course, there's another person in there, most likely a girl.
He listens closer, but there's no sound of voices either.
He's about to knock again when he hears the start of a jazz track, a familiar tune with the rich tones of a saxophone overlaying it and Harvey stops to listen for a moment.
The music continues on, mellow and sultry and he rather likes it, but they are a little pressed for time and so he finally knocks on the door and the music instantly stops.
There's a couple of crashing noises, a muttered 'ouch!' from Mike and then he flings open the door, leaning out slightly as to block Harvey's view of the room and grins.
"Hi," he greets and Harvey raises an eyebrow.
"You listen to jazz music?" he asks, as though that is the most pressing question on his mind and Mike flushes. The tint to his cheeks combined with the ruffled shirt and hair makes it look a lot like Mike has been up to no good in there and Harvey blinks, noticing that Mike is actually rather attractive.
"No…well, I play it," the younger admits and Harvey really is surprised by this point.
"You…play an instrument?" he questions and Mike nods.
"Yeah," he responds simply.
"How do you have time?" is the next question that comes to mind.
Mike shrugs. "I don't play it that often…"
"Play me something," Harvey requests suddenly and Mike immediately recoils.
"No!"
"Then I don't believe you. You listen to jazz music in your spare time? How old are you again?" he sighs dramatically and Mike glares, letting him through the door and walking over to the chair that can't be seen from the door.
He picks up a large golden instrument and puts it gently to his lips, staring intently at Harvey all the while, and then puts his mouth around the mouthpiece properly, blowing a sweet note out of the saxophone and then suddenly flying off into another rendition of baker street.
His fingers swoop up and down the keys, notes tweeting out of the end and Harvey doesn't have to be a bird to see that his associate is actually very talented at this.
The music rolls on for a little while longer, but then it comes to an end, the last quiver fading off into the air and Harvey looks up into Mike's eyes and struggles to find the words.
"…you shouldn't waste your time with things like that," he eventually says, turning around and swanning out of the door, confident in the knowledge that Mike is following him.
Mike is; he shakily puts down the instrument into its case and follows his boss out, angrily wiping the moisture from his eyes.
As if Harvey would appreciate his music.
"Mike, you need to get yourself a new suit," Harvey says, once again the first thing he does when Mike walks through the door and puts down his bag, having not even had time to go to his own cubicle and put away his things.
"Nice to see you've learnt this little thing called manners," Mike glances up at him, pulling off the only slightly tattered jacket and suddenly feeling very self conscious of himself and his possessions; so what they weren't as nice as Harvey's? He bought them to be practical, and if they got the job done, then he was satisfied.
"Regardless, I can't have you meeting clients wearing that," his nose wrinkles in disgust and Mike is still disbelieving that anyone would be so rude, then remembers who he's talking to and realises just how easily he could picture Harvey saying that.
"What's wrong with my suit? It's a bit cheaper than yours, but it works just as well and there's no holes or anything!" Mike protests, rather attached to the thing, and not yet forgiving Harvey for the other day.
"It's falling apart! Bring it here," Harvey commands and Mike scowls.
"No! I've had enough of your comments," Mike scowls, Harvey finally realises what this is about.
"Fine, you play the saxophone beautifully. Now, bring it here," he apologises, sort of, but Mike isn't satisfied.
"You're just saying that! You don't really believe it- you think I'd be better off if I were to be doing 'proper work', is that what you mean?" he yells and Harvey really knows that he's made a mistake when he glimpses the tears in Mike's eyes.
"Look Mike…I mean it okay? It was a brilliant piece…it's just that I don't do compliments, you know that," he struggles out and Mike sniffs, brushing away the tears.
"You didn't have to be so harsh…"the younger one mutters, and Harvey grimaces.
"I know…I'm- Im s- bring me the suit!" he eventually goes with and hopes that Mike knows what he means.
"What, so you can be rude to more of my things? You need to think about their feelings too you know!" Mike argues fiercely, and Harvey blinks at that, not expecting that as a response, but knowing that he's forgiven.
"They are inanimate objects…they don't have feelings…and bring it here!" Harvey muses, bewildered for a moment then dismisses it as more Mike-babble, but pleased all the same.
The associate reluctantly brings the garment forwards for inspection, closing his eyes and biting his lip as he knows that Harvey will spot all of the neatly sewn patches that have been added on to enforce protection on the roads, and also to fix it from where he'd fallen off before and torn the fabric.
There just wasn't money for a new one.
"See this? This is a hand sewn seam. See how strong it is? Then look at yours," Harvey pushes his own jacket into the line of fire and Mike inspects it carefully and can see all of the little holes that line the sleeves that Harvey seemed to have somehow missed.
"O…kay," Mike decides to just smile and agree, but his boss yanks at the shirt and holds it up to the light and points triumphantly to a glistening thread.
"This is the sign of a substandard garment!" Harvey declares and Mike turns around and picks up his bag, marching out of the office before Harvey can say anything else.
It's the next day when Mike shows up in the exact same outfit, stitches and seams and all, that Harvey notices the flaws in his own logic.
His own sleeves have mysteriously gained some of the most beautiful needlework he'd ever seen, and whilst he assumes that all the stitching in Mike's suits was his grandmother, how does he explain this?
The only option is that Mike is brilliant with a needle, and fixed up his suits whilst he wasn't watching. Harvey isn't even sure which part of the sentence is stranger.
"…thanks," he mumbles as Mike is exiting, and the younger pauses suddenly and turns back to the table.
"What was that?" he asks and Harvey rolls his eyes, knowing the man heard him.
"Nothing! Just go!"
Mike was doing housework for him like they were a proper couple.
"Says a lot for my life," Harvey mutters and Donna winks at him from outside, no sympathetic shrug waiting for him this time. He glares at her and she smiles her innocent smile, then they both turn back to their desks.
"Hey Harvey, I wanted to ask you some- what are you doing," Mike asks, walking into the room confidently and suddenly realising that he might be better off just staying outside.
"Knitting, what else do you think I'm doing with these?" Harvey rolls his eyes, arching an eyebrow as he holds up his wool and needles.
"I wasn't sure, that's what worried me," Mike reassures Harvey, who grimaces at him and responds.
"Pup, you are not making this situation better," he tells his associate and reclines further back in the comfy chair.
"Sorry," Mike apologises, then adding on suspiciously. "Do you always wear those…things…when you knit?" he asks, pointing at the rounded glasses that adorn the bridge of Harvey's nose and Harvey sighs, pulling them off of his face in a practiced movement and staring at Mike.
"You are not to tell anyone of these," Harvey threatens, flailing them around a little, but Mike is too tired to be bothered by the threats at the moment.
"Sure Harvey, sure…"he mumbles, suppressing a yawn as he sits down on the sofa next to the desk, watching Harvey knit with the single minded focus that he brings to everything he does.
The needles click gently as he knits, the woollen square slowly growing longer and Mike thinks that it looks like quite a rewarding hobby, the same way his hobbies allow him to have something decent to show at the end of the day.
"With all of your hobbies, how come you never went for knitting?" Harvey asks gently, everything toned down a little in the dim light of the office and most of the staff gone home or downstairs to sleep.
"I always thought it was a old woman thing…"Mike admits and Harvey scowls down at him, not looking particularly threatening in the reading glasses but Mike would have continued anyway "-so I thought my gran would teach me, but we just never really got around to it…" he sighs, closing his eyes quietly and raising a careless arm over them in order to block out all of the light.
"Huh," Harvey responded, not really paying too much attention to Mike and when he glances down at the boy a few minutes later, wondering why there isn't a loud noise babbling on in his ear and realises that Mike has fallen asleep.
"I'm going to teach you how to knit in the morning, you know that right Mike?" Harvey whispered, straightening out some of the awkwardly placed limbs and throwing a casual blanket over his associate, then sitting down on the sofa next to him and proceeding to knit.
Mike falls over in his sleep and ends up sleeping peacefully in his lap, and Harvey knows just how badly his reputation will be ruined if anyone ever finds him in this position, and no one will ever believe him when he says that he doesn't care.
He sighs, and decides that he'll move in a few more minutes, but he just wants to finish this row, so Harvey tucks the corner of the blanket around Mike again and rests his eyes for a moment.
The blanket is a knitted one and pretty warm. He's quite comfortable.
Maybe having an associate isn't that bad after all.