Something inspired by a conversation about the ticket pocket on one of Harvey's suits.
"Those papers you asked for. Bright and early, also just like you asked" Mike said as he walked into Harvey's office and tossed the papers down on to his desk.
"How do you always manage to get past Donna and waltz into my office without knocking?"
"That's easy. Donna likes me."
"You bribe her, don't you?"
"I wouldn't use the word bribe."
"What word would you use?"
Mike thought on it for a moment. "Entice?"
"That's what I thought."
"Hey, what's with the suit?"
"Excuse me?" It's the first time Harvey moved his eyes up and away from his computer since Mike had entered his office.
"I don't know. It just looks weird."
"I'm going to pretend that you of all people didn't just tell me that my suit looks weird."
"I didn't mean it like that..just, what's with the extra pocket on it?"
"It's called a ticket pocket. I wouldn't expect you to know that though."
"So do you have tickets in it right now?"
"As a matter of fact I do. Hey, you know, if you don't have anything better to do than interrogate me about my suits, then maybe I'm not giving you enough work."
"What kind of tickets?"
Harvey sighs. Mike clearly wasn't giving this up anytime soon. "It's tickets for an art exhibit downtown."
"Oh." Mike pauses for a moment. "Who are you going with?"
"Why? Do you want to be my chaperone?"
"So touchy this morning. I was just curious. That's all."
"I was supposed to be going with a client, but they canceled."
"So you're going alone now? Isn't that a little weird?"
"Actually, I wasn't planning on going at all."
"You should go. And take me with you."
"Why would I want to subject myself to that?"
"C'mon Harvey, it'll be fun. We never get to hang out."
"Yeah. And that's the way it should stay."
"Please?"
"No."
"Harvey."
"Mike. No."
"If I finish the Allen briefs before noon?"
"Tempting. But still, no."
"Allen briefs and bring you coffee in the morning for the next week?"
Harvey thinks for a moment. "The next month."
"Seriously?"
"Hey, I could just as easily give these tickets to Louis if you don't want them…"
"Fine. Allen briefs and coffee for a month."
"You're a terrible negotiator. You know that, right?"
"I don't know, I think I did all right for myself. What time should I meet you?"
"I'll pick you up at 8 tonight. If you're not ready by then, I leave without you. Deal?"
"Deal."
"Good. Now correct me if I'm right, but I believe you have some briefs to work on? Also two sugars in the coffee."
"On it," Mike says before disappearing from Harvey's office.
Harvey had told Mike that he was bad at negotiating, but by the end of the night, Mike feels like he had won this round, because he had one of the best nights he's had in a long time. He'd been wanting to spend more time with Harvey outside of the office for as long as he can remember, it just never seemed appropriate and he wasn't exactly going to ask Harvey out on a date.
This was nice though. Everything about it had felt right. Natural. Mike didn't want to exactly get used to the feeling though, because it's not like this was going to become a regular thing.
"I had a really nice time with you tonight," Mike turns and says to Harvey when they pull outside of his apartment.
"It wasn't as horrible as I thought it would be," Harvey says with a smile.
"Always so charming," Mike replies and returns the smile. "I guess I'll see you at work tomorrow?"
"Yeah," Harvey says.
Silence quickly engulfs the car after those words, and Mike can't help but let his eyes linger on Harvey's mouth a little too long, and Harvey's eyes definitely linger on Mike's a little too long. In that moment, all Harvey wants to do is lean in and kiss Mike. The logical part of him screams that he can't do it, and rattles off a list of potential consequences that make Harvey quickly shake the thought. "Don't forget my coffee in the morning."
"Right. Yeah. Coffee. Of course," Mike replies, Harvey's voice snapping him back to reality. "Night, Harvey."
"Night, Mike."
Mike wasn't surprised when things were back to normal at the office the next day. It's exactly what he had expected, yet he still couldn't help but feel disappointed by it. He hoped maybe Harvey would bring it up in conversation, if only it was to reiterate that he had a good time last night. It never happened.
It was nearly a week later when Mike noticed that Harvey was wearing another suit with a ticket pocket. He normally wouldn't have thought anything of it, except now seeing Harvey wear suits like that was a constant reminder of how good they could be together. Mike tried to force that thought to the back of his mind, because it was stupid really, Harvey had given in to his pestering and hung out with him, once, it wasn't even a big deal, Harvey probably never even thought about it after the fact. Mike on the other hand couldn't quite seem to remember to forget.
He went the entire day on the verge of saying something about the suit, something casual that Harvey wouldn't think anything of, but he bit his tongue each and every time.
The day was coming to an end and Mike was finishing going over paperwork for a case with Harvey in his office.
"It's killing you isn't it?"
"What?" Mike arched an eyebrow in confusion at Harvey, genuinely not knowing what he was talking about.
"You keep staring at me."
"What? No. I wasn't staring at you."
"Come on, I can practically feel your eyes burning a hole straight through my suit and into my soul."
"I think you'd actually need a soul in the first place for that to be true."
Harvey rolled his eyes. "So you're telling me that you don't want to know what tickets I have for us in this pocket?"
"I, uh, of course I do." Mike was caught off guard by the fact that Harvey had said 'for us.'
Harvey reached into his pocket and pulled out a pair of tickets, laying them down on the coffee table in front of them. "Ever been to a Yankees game before?"
"Nope."
"You'll love it. These are right behind home plate, which is personally my favorite view. Wait..you are a Yankees fan, right?"
"I…don't really have a favorite team per se, kind of neutral on the whole team thing, ya know?"
"Well, Switzerland, you're a Yankees fan for tonight if you're coming with me."
"I think I can manage that."
It's small things like that at first. The exhibit, a baseball game here and there. Anytime Harvey wears a suit with a ticket pocket, Mike spends the whole day looking forward to finding out where they're going to go. He knows that Harvey knows how crazy it drives him, so he does his best most days to focus on work and pretend that he didn't even notice what Harvey's wearing, but the telling smirk Harvey shoots him throughout the day reminds him of what a miserable job he's doing at it.
It's not always tickets that he keeps in the pocket, the first time they kiss and it turns into something more it's a key that leads them to it. The key is to a boat, well, boat would really be an insult to what this thing is, because it's huge, and Mike is pretty sure he spends the first hour that he's on it with his mouth practically hanging open gawking over it as Harvey gives him the tour.
It's the first Saturday that Mike can remember having off since starting at Pearson Hardman, even when he's not officially working, he's still working at home, going over things, planning ahead, studying, trying to be prepared as best he can for things.
"I was thinking, about that Jameson merger, do you think if we-"
"Mike," Harvey cuts him off immediately.
"Yeah?"
"It's Saturday."
"I know that…" Mike trails off, not really sure why Harvey was suddenly stating the obvious.
"Work will be waiting for you on Monday morning."
"I know, I was just thinking that if-"
"Mike. Relax. Enjoy your dinner."
"Sorry. It's just hard to not think about work all the time."
"Afraid your boss might fire you?" Harvey was only, and he was pretty sure clearly joking, but Mike's eyes darted away from him instantaneously. "I was kidding," Harvey adds quickly.
"I know..it's just, what would we even do if Jessica found out? Don't you ever think it's just a matter of time before this is all over?"
"No, I don't think that, because Jessica isn't going to find out."
"But what if she does, Harvey?"
"Then we'll cross that bridge when we get there. Just do your job the best you can, quit over thinking things, and nobody is going to question anything. I've told you Mike, people aren't going to look into anything unless you give them a reason to. Now could we quit dwelling on this, or else I'll be forced to throw you overboard."
"Sorry."
"You don't need to apologize, you just need to stop thinking about. Now, in an obvious attempt to change the subject, you've really never been on a boat before?"
The rest of the dinner went perfectly after that. Work wasn't brought up again, and Harvey actually managed to make him totally forget that it had even been brought up.
Mike had disappeared for awhile after dinner, but it didn't take long for Harvey to track him down. Mike was leaning up against the railing of the boat with his elbows just taking in the view. Harvey walked up and stood next to Mike, elbows up against the railing, mimicking Mike's stance.
Harvey didn't say anything for awhile, just took in the same view Mike was. The sun was starting to vanish fast, but not before casting a glow off the water.
"What are you thinking about?"
"Nothing really."
"You're always thinking about something. What is it? Not work, right? Because you know I was serious about throwing you overboard."
"Nah, not work," Mike paused for a moment. "I was actually just thinking about you."
"Me?"
"Yeah, you. More specifically about the way you've managed to take me out on all these dates, without ever really asking me out on one single date.."
"These aren't really.."
"Harvey," Mike interrupted. "Really? You just spent your Saturday on a boat with me and forbid me from talking about anything work related."
"Well if you want to be technical, I mean, I guess they could be considered dates."
"I do want to be technical. But that does leave me with a question."
"And what's that?"
"When did you first realize you had a massive crush on me?"
"Give me a break. If anybody had the crush it was you. You were so flustered when you first met me you spilled drugs all over the floor."
"That was a mechanical failure, how many times do I have to tell you that?"
"I like you better when you're not talking."
"So why don't you shut me up?"
"Maybe I will," Harvey said, grabbing Mike's arm and using it to pull his body up against his own. Harvey didn't kiss him right away, he took a moment to just look into his eyes, he'd seen them a million times, but it's the first time he'd really looked at them, up close. He thinks he could probably get lost in them pretty fast and it wouldn't be a bad thing.
"I'm still talking," Mike says, his mouth practically up against Harvey's now.
Harvey moves quickly and captures Mike's mouth with his own. He kisses Mike hard, as if he's trying to kiss any words he might still have left in him right out of his mouth just to prove a point.
It seems to work too, because when they do break apart, Mike doesn't say anything. He just breathes heavy and looks up at Harvey who has a smirk planted firmly on his face.
"This boat has a bedroom. I think we missed that on our little tour earlier. If you want to, I could show it to you."
Mike smiles, nods and then follows Harvey's lead to the bedroom.
Harvey never stops surprising Mike. Sometimes he just writes down coordinates to a location and sticks them in his pocket so that Mike has to work a little bit to figure out where they're going.
And then there's days when Mike so buried in work that he doesn't even get to see Harvey until the days end, and they're getting ready to go home.
"You look like hell," Harvey says when he sees Mike practically dragging his feet into his office. Everybody cleared out a while ago, but he stuck around and waited for Mike. He had promised him dinner earlier that morning, before the chaos of the day happened.
"You really need to work on your compliments."
"I just meant that it looks like you had a long day."
"Having Louis hound you all day long takes a toll," Mike said with a sigh.
"It was Louis that kept you busy? You should have came and told me, I could have called animal control on him."
"I'm just glad it's over now. Thanks for waiting for me by the way. I wasn't sure if you were still here."
"I had some things to keep me busy while I waited." Harvey pauses a moment. "You want to go back to my place? We can order something terribly unhealthy and watch something equally as terrible on tv?"
"You know me so well."
"Would you mind getting your key from my pocket.. my hands are kind of full here," Harvey says outside of the door to his condo.
"Which pocket?"
"Right side."
Mike reaches into Harvey's pocket and pulls out the key, as he sticks it into the keyhole it finally catches up to him what Harvey had just said.
"Wait..you just called this my key."
"Look at you, finally learning how to pay attention to what I say."
"I can have this key?"
"Yes, Mike. The fact that it's your key, implies that you can have it. Besides, I figure if you live here it's only right that you should have a key."
"You want me to move in with you?"
"I want you to open the door before I drop our dinner on the ground."
"Right. Sorry," Mike apologizes and opens the door, helping Harvey set the food down on the counter.
"About moving in. It's really up to you, Mike. I don't want you to feel pressu-"
Before Harvey could get the words out, Mike wraps his arms around his waist and kisses him.
"I'd love to."
"You sure?"
Mike kisses Harvey again, and Harvey gets the message loud and clear.
They spent the rest of the night on the couch together, wrapped up in a blanket and each other, completely at ease knowing there would be many more of these nights just like this in the future.
For all the surprises that Harvey has given Mike, Mike has returned the favor tenfold, because everything about Mike has surprised Harvey.
His brilliance, his quick wit, and the fact that he had even made Harvey fall so damn in love with him to begin with.
No matter how much Harvey knows he loves Mike, he's learning that he can always love him even more than he had the day before, and that's turning out to be the best surprise of all.
