The day that set in motion a series of events that Harvey would later describe as the most tumultuous but also as the best time of his life was as ordinary as a day could be in the halls of Pearson Hardman. The sun was burning down from a clear blue sky, making the New Yorkers everywhere sweat as if they had just taken a walk through the Sahara. Prayers of thanks could be heard from those that had working air condition in their offices while the desperate moans of those who hadn't echoed through the streets. Pearson Hardman, of course, only had the very best and so the air in the offices was at a comfortable temperature.
Not that Harvey particularly cared. No matter the weather, he always wore suit and tie. Style couldn't be stopped even by subtropical temperatures in mid-July.
"Are you just thinking how sweating is beneath you?" Harvey could practically hear the judgment dripping off Donna´s voice as she walked through the door towards his desk, carrying a stack of papers. She had put her red hair in a tight bun on the back of her head and unlike every other day the dress she was wearing was loose, cut in a way that allowed even the faintest breeze of air to cool her. It still looked gorgeous – Donna always did – but it was definitely something different.
"I can´t help the truth," Harvey shrugged as he took the papers from Donna´s outstretched hand. She just glared at him, completely unimpressed.
"Do you really think that I wouldn't notice that you brought at least five shirts from your condo?" she remarked. "Coincidentally, every time you went to the men´s room, which has been four times already, you come back with your shirt looking crisp and fresh." She grinned at him. "Your supply won´t be enough for today. You´ve only got one shirt left."
"I don't know what you´re talking about," Harvey tried to defend himself, but he knew that it was a fruitless endeavour. Donna was like a bloodhound when it came to sniffing out his weaknesses.
"I´m sure you do," Donna patronized him. She tried to pat him on the head, but Harvey evaded her. He couldn't have anyone ruin his hair with their sweaty hands, not even Donna.
"Ugh, I´m dying." This time it was Mike who stumbled through his open door, dramatically clutching his chest as he flopped down on Harvey´s couch. "My brain is boiling inside my head!" Harvey rolled his eyes at the dramatics of his associate. Meanwhile, Donna just winked at him and exited the room.
"Don´t taint my couch with your associate sweat," Harvey remarked, which just earned him a roll of Mike´s eyes. "It´s worth more than what you´ll earn in a whole year."
"Whatever," Mike mumbled. "I can´t concentrate on the Wesley case." Mike sat up and stared at Harvey. "It´s Louis. He´s sweating so much, it drops down on my papers. Every time he bends over my desk I can see it flowing down his bald head. Every. Single. Drop."
Harvey wanted to reply something – nothing comforting, of course – but the crackling of the intercom kept him from saying anything.
"I couldn't stop her," came Donna´s apologetic voice and dread pooled in Harvey´s stomach. There was only one person Donna could refer to and Harvey definitely didn't want to see her here.
"I can´t believe you´d do that to me!" the young woman who stormed into his office exclaimed. "Stabbing me into my back when I´m not looking. Betrayed by my own flesh!" If Harvey didn't know that both Donna and Mike were watching, he would have banged his head against his desk. Everyone was conspiring to keep him from doing his actual work.
"Aren´t you a little bit overdramatic?" Harvey pointed out carefully, being very much aware of how one wrong word could make the other explode.
"Overdramatic!?" the girl exclaimed incredulously. "You made the Columbia Housing Administration forcing me to switch back rooms. Now I´m back with the roommate that lets his opened yoghurt stand around for weeks until there´s a literal bacteria society evolved in it!"
"Ew," Mike spoke up for the first time. "That´s disgusting. Harvey, how could you?!"
"See?" the girl said. "Even the guy laying on your couch who I don't know agrees with me."
"Cassandra Lillian Specter," Harvey boomed. The articulation of her full name had the desired effect on his daughter, namely making her shut up, so that Harvey could get a word in.
"Wow, wait!" Mike interrupted. "You´re the famous Cassandra Specter?"
"Indeed, I am," Cassandra replied, preening under the attention. "And if I venture a guess, then you have to be Mike Ross, don´t you? You´re way too young to slave away under my dad."
" Hey!" Harvey protested. Cassandra, meanwhile, sat down beside Mike and slung on arm around his shoulders.
"Even your associate agrees with me," she pointed out to Harvey, who felt as if he had aged two decades in the few minutes his daughter had been here. "You´re breaching the Geneva Convention."
"I think the Geneva Convention is more aimed at people who live through real suffering," Harvey replied drily. "And I had them give you your old room because when you started at Columbia we agreed that you would share dorms with someone." Cassandra mumbled something unintelligible.
"What was that?" Harvey spoke out.
"Nothing," Cassandra mumbled. "Nothing but injustice and indifference to expect in this cruel world. I think I shall devout myself to Jesus, maybe join a convent."
"Please do," Harvey agreed. "Then I don't have to worry about boys anymore."
"And, I think I´m gonna go now," Mike inserted. Before he could reach the door, though, Cassandra linked her arm with his.
"I´m accompanying you," she stated. "You can show me around. Dad never shows me around." And then they had already vanished behind Donna´s cubicle which occupant missed not a single second to hush towards Harvey´s desk.
"I thought you were against Cassandra ever coming here," Donna remarked, looking at her fingernails instead of Harvey.
"I am," Harvey replied as he signed the papers Donna had given him. "But she´s an adult now and as much as that pains me, I can´t control her life anymore."
"You´re paying her tuition," Donna pointed out.
"That´s a one-way ticket to destroy your family," Harvey pressed out. "I should know."
"Harvey, I´m sorry," Donna apologised. "I shouldn't have said that." Awkward silence between them, the only sound the faint voices coming from the hallway.
"Besides, Mike´s with her, so nothing will happen to her," Harvey added and with another flourish the last paper was signed. Donna just snorted, but didn't say anything.
If Mike was to put into one word how he felt right now, awkward would be pretty high on the list. Cassandra´s grip on his arm was so firm that he had no chance to wrest himself out of it, which left him no chance but to follow her lead.
Mike knew of Cassandra, of course he did. He heard of the famous daughter of Harvey Specter, famous in the sense that everyone knew that she existed but no one had ever seen her. Apparently, Harvey kept his working and private life strictly separated, which Mike couldn't exactly fault him for. Stealing a gaze at the girl – or rather woman – Mike could definitely see the relation between them. Harvey´s daughter had the same sparkling brown eyes, the same arrogant smile, yet her hair was blonde (Mike faintly remembered that Harvey´s hair had once been blonde as well, so he couldn't say if it came from her mother or Harvey). She wore jeans and sneakers, with a bright red blouse covering her torso.
She looked like Mike imagined Harvey at 20 years old – and female.
"Where are we going?" Mike finally asked when they walked past the associate pen´s door. Cassandra just continued to drag him on until they were in a hallway where barely a soul passed by as it only led to the utilities rooms.
"Now I´m afraid that you´re gonna murder me," Mike joked weakly. Cassandra just snorted.
"I´m not gonna murder you," she replied. "I just wanted to talk to you in a place where no one, especially Dad, can listen in."
"What is so important that Harvey isn't allowed to know it?" Mike wanted to know, a queasy feeling suddenly pooling in his stomach. If Harvey wasn´t supposed to listen in on it, then it probably was something Mike should immediately tell the other man. Mike shuddered to imagine what the other lawyer would do to him if something happened to his daughter because of Mike.
"You see," Cassandra began, absentmindedly twirling a strand of her hair, "there´s this tradition – well, it´s not really a tradition, but it sounds better – that I 'vet' all the persons Dad has extensive contact with." Mike stared at Harvey´s daughter incredulously.
"Are you for real?" Cassandra just sent him an evil glare.
"Do you know why Donna´s working for Dad?" she asked, not really expecting a reply. "Harvey was dead-set on another secretary, but I vetted both of them and made him take Donna instead and since then he relies on my expertise."
"And how does this 'vetting' work?" Mike demanded to know exasperated. He had actual work to do instead of indulging Cassandra´s neurotic ticks.
"Well," Cassandra started to explain. "I take the person that is to be vetted to Dad and my favourite Diner and then we have an intensive talk where we sound out any further cooperation."
"Nice meeting you, but if you excuse me, I think there´s actual work that needs my attention," Mike shrugged her off and tried to push past Cassandra, but the girl just took one step to block his way.
"Dad puts much stock in my opinion," she said, "you don't want to make an enemy out of me."
"Is that a threat?" Mike narrowed his eyes at the girl.
"A good-natured suggestion," Cassandra replied.
"Fine," Mike shouted. "I go to your stupid vetting."
"Great!" Cassandra exclaimed, her smile suddenly as bright as the sun outside. "I´m gonna text you time and place." And faster than Mike could react, she had turned around and was walking away. He watched her rounding the corner and shook his head.
"Mike!" he heard Louis roar. Mike sighed and went on to face whatever had roused Louis' wrath this time.
"I just cleared a date with your associate," his daughter told him nonchalantly. Harvey´s eyebrows rose so high that he feared that they would vanish beneath his hairline.
"You what?!" he spluttered outraged.
"Chill, old man," Cassandra told him. "I told him some shit about me 'vetting' all the people you´re in contact with in order to make him agree on it." She sighed. "He wouldn't have done it otherwise. Everyone´s always so afraid of you."
"As they should be." Harvey puffed with pride. Cassandra just snorted.
"But why Mike?" Harvey – no, he didn't whine. He was a man, and the dating choices of his daughter certainly weren't able to make him whine. "He´s so…" Harvey didn't know what to say, so he just flailed with his arms to properly express Mike´s Mikeness to his daughter.
"He´s sweet," Cassandra replied. "He´s got that earnest down-to-earth vibe down to a tee. And those eyes…I´ve never seen such a vibrant blue and…"
"Okay, that´s enough," Harvey interrupted. "I don't need to hear you waxing poetry about my associate." Cassandra just laughed at him.
"As you wish," she said, standing up from where she was sitting.
"But I´m gonna bag that ass," she singsonged as she backtracked towards the office door. Harvey made some gagging sounds, which only made Cassandra laugh even harder. Her laughter could be heard until she rounded the corner when it faded into the background noises.
"I compliment you on your restraint," Harvey smirked as he stared at the back of Donna´s head, who – miraculously – was still sitting behind her cubicle, instead of storming into Harvey´s office.
"I´d compliment you on your complete lack of emotional awareness, if it wasn't so sad," Donna replied through the intercom.
"Nothing will come out of it," Harvey dismissed.
The Diner Mike found himself in front of was not a place he would have ever thought Harvey would visit. It wasn't bad per se; it just wasn't high-end with polished marble floors, waiters in tuxedos and a menu that left you poor even when you only ordered a glass of water. No, it was homey and comfy, there was Rock'n'Roll music playing softly in the background while the waitress buzzed around in her red dress with white apron, looking like she had come straight out of a 50ies movie. The smell of bacon, coffee and toast hung in the air, the faint sound of people speaking a constant background noise.
Mike tried to imagine Harvey, in his thousands of Dollars suits, sitting in one of the booths with a twelve-year-old girl, eating pancakes with maple syrup, but the picture wouldn't just stick in his mind. The notion was just too alien.
Cassandra was already waiting for him in one of the booths, a glass of Coke in front of her, which was already half empty. Mike looked on his wrist watch; he was just on time, which meant that Cassandra had come earlier.
"You´re here," she said in a way of greeting. Mike just nodded at her and sat down. Instantly, the waitress was at their table, all smiles and dimples, and asked Mike for his order.
"The same as hers." He pointed at Cassandra´s glass. The waitress nodded at him and went to get him his order.
"So," Mike started, dragging the 'o' to bridge the awkward silence between them. "Why are we here?"
"Well, I´d like to get to know you better," Cassandra replied. "I did it with all of my dad´s acquaintances, after all."
"Somehow I don't think that Harvey approves of you policing his private life," Mike pointed out.
"I just don't want my dad to get hurt," Cassandra said. "So, for my continued healthy state of mind, he humours me." Before Mike could retort something, the waitress came over and served him his drink.
"So, Mike," Cassandra continued. "Tell me something about you." Mike took a deep breath and told her the whole cover story Harvey, Donna and he had concocted on a rainy day in Harvey´s office. It felt to Mike as if it had occurred years ago, because it had been such a pivotal point in his life; one that separated it in 'before' and 'after': Before Harvey, after Harvey.
"You managed to impress my dad on your first meeting?" Cassandra repeated, meanwhile on her third glass. "That´s not something many people manage. In fact, I think I can count them on one hand and still have two fingers left."
"Who are these people?" Mike wanted to know, genuinely curious. Harvey was a guarded man who kept his secrets close and his emotions even closer to his chest, so Mike took every opportunity to get to know the man better.
"Well, there´s Jessica and Donna, of course," Cassandra replied, counting them with her fingers. "And my mother." Silence descended upon them. Mike was hesitant to ask for more information; he – better than most – knew how painful the topic of parents could be and due to the fact that Cassandra´s mother obviously wasn't in the picture anymore, it could only mean that something bad had happened.
"You can ask, you know," Cassandra murmured. "I´m not some frail girl who bursts into tears the first moment someone asks after her absent mother. Sooner or later, people always ask me, anyway."
"If you say so," Mike replied. "Who was she? She must have been pretty awesome if she could bag someone like Harvey." Cassandra´s smile soured.
"Maybe she was when Dad and her met," she said sourly. "But she left when me with Dad because she didn't want a child weighting her down. Apparently, I was a disadvantage when it comes to climbing the ladder in a law firm."
"I´m sorry," Mike apologised.
"Don't be," Cassandra reassured him. "I had Dad and that was everything I needed." A moment of silence.
"So," Mike began tentatively, "did I pass your evaluation?"
"Yeah," Cassandra replied. "Hundred percent, A plus with golden star and stuff. You´re allowed to hang with Dad."
"I´m so glad to hear that," Mike said in mock-relief.
"Then you´re probably also gonna be relieved to hear that this whole 'evaluation' thing was nonsense?" Cassandra continued.
"WHAT?" Mike exclaimed incredulously. "W…Why?"
"Well, you seemed to be a nice guy, and I wanted to ask you out, but most of the guys that know my dad or know of him are too afraid of him to actually say yes, so I thought I´d save you that particular dilemma," Cassandra explained, unapologetic. Mike didn't know if he should feel offended or flattered, so he just took a sip from his glass while his thoughts were racing in his head.
"You could have just asked," he finally said. Cassandra just levelled him with a stare.
"Would you have said yes with my dad standing right next to you?" Well, she had a point there. Mike would have never ever made a pass on Harvey´s daughter under his boss' eyes. It was more likely to survive a fall from the Pearson Hardman building than to survive Harvey´s ensuing wrath.
"I knew it," Cassandra said smugly, taking his silence as confirmation. "So, what doth thou say?"
"Shakespeare would turn in his grave," Mike teased.
"Well, he can´t because he wasn't a he, but a collective of writers," Cassandra shot back, a smile on her lips.
Mike didn't really know why he said yes, then, but maybe it was because Cassandra was quite funny and easy to get along with. Maybe it was because he had finally come to terms with the fact that Harvey would never look at him like Mike was looking at him and he needed to get back into the game (But what does it say that he chose Harvey´s daughter, a traitorous voice whispered in his head.). Or maybe it was because Mike felt so lonely after his grandmother´s death and craved human interaction outside of work, just to make him feel alive and like a functioning human being again.
There were many reasons, but the way Cassandra´s face lit up was definitely one of them.
From the outside, the current day was like the one before. The sun was still trying to scorch Manhattan from the Earth´s face, Harvey nevertheless came to work in his best three-piece-suit, Donna looked as unflappable as ever and already three of their secretaries had complained to Jessica bout Louis' creepy behaviour towards them. But to Harvey there was something to this day that made it different from usual. A current underneath the surface that wasn't there before, a certain tension hanging in the air. Just…something.
"You look like you´re about to burst out of your skin," Donna commented idly as she handed him some files. Harvey took them and leaned on the side of her cubicle.
"Well, it is quite hot today," Harvey replied patronisingly.
"It´s not that and you know it," Donna shot back. "Mike should be here in about two minutes, if he operates after his usual schedule, which is half-an-hour behind the normal world." She winked at Harvey. "Then we can ask how it went yesterday."
"There´s nothing to ask," Harvey said tensely. "They met, Cassandra asked him out and he said no, like any reasonable person would."
"Mike isn't exactly logic-driven," Donna pointed out.
"Are you talking about me?" Mike had finally arrived, his hair still dishevelled from biking through the city and Harvey just wanted to run his fingers through it, but he didn't.
"We were," Donna admitted. "How was your date yesterday?" Mike´s face made some weird contortions before it set into a satisfied smile.
"Quite fine," he told them. "Apparently it wasn't an evaluation, which you –" he stabbed his finger at Harvey "- could have warned me about." He turned back to Donna. "But yeah, after that it was great. Cass – she said I could call her that – is really funny and we have so much in common, beside the fact that Harvey´s the biggest part of the pie chart that is our life." Donna snorted. "So, we´re gonna meet again this Friday."
"What?!" Harvey exclaimed. Mike looked at him like Harvey had grown a second head.
"You know, dating?" he asked Harvey as if the older lawyer was of exceptional slow mind. "When two adults consent to see each other in order to have fun?" Harvey narrowed his eyes at Mike.
"So you plan to 'have fun' with my daughter?" Mike rolled his eyes.
"Relax." He patted Harvey´s shoulder. "You´re still gonna be my favourite." And with that Mike turned around and walked away, leaving Harvey behind gaping like a fish.
"Wow," Donna whistled. "Where did that come from and where can I buy it?" Harvey just bristled indignantly and got back into his office.
Later that day, Donna came into his office and from the look on her face Harvey could already tell that they were gonna have a serious talk. Slowly, Harvey´s secretary closed the door behind her and then walked up to her boss, who was watching her with suspicion.
"What is it?" Harvey wanted to know, even though he already knew.
"How are you holding up?" Donna asked.
"I´m not made of glass," Harvey shot back, grinding his teeth.
"It´s just that you were so sure that there wouldn't be anything happening between Cassandra – or should I say 'Cass' – and Mike," Donna pointed out. "And now they´ll meet again next Friday."
"I still stand by what I said," Harvey told his secretary offhandedly. "I know my daughter and I know Mike and I say that nothing will happen between them."
"I know them, too, Harvey," Donna retorted. "And something already happened between them."
Harvey should have listened then, because how often had Donna´s prediction come true? But he chose to ignore the warning bells and decided to just continue business as usual. And that was how he found himself three weeks later, watching his daughter give a peck to Mike´s cheek, seeing his cheeks reddening and a smile appear on his face, that was so unguarded and genuine that it made Harvey´s heart twinge. There was a skip to Mike´s step, as if he was floating over the ground and it made bitterness swell up in Harvey´s heart when thought about it that this could have been him, but it wasn't.
Bitterness and Harvey Specter didn't go along well, though.
Something had changed between him and Harvey, but Mike didn't know what. There was a new distance between them, a certain frostiness to their interactions that had never been there before. Both of them tried to overplay it, to act as if neither of them noticed anything off, but it was a fool´s act, one they both desperately clung to because otherwise they would have to admit that their relationship wasn't what it had been once.
Sometimes Mike wanted to open his mouth and just talk, but the words would never come, his mind suddenly devoid, and so he always closed it again before Harvey noticed and they kept on playing their charade.
Cassandra was a welcome fresh breeze of air in his life. When Mike was with her he could forget the awkward interactions between him and Harvey. He could forget his secret that he hadn't told her yet (the time was not right, maybe it would never be) and just laugh at the silly jokes they told each other. They went to the various theatres around Manhattan – the established ones as well as the independent, nothing more than some crates and curtains in some backend alley – or to the movies; tried various restaurants or sometimes just walked through Central Park, watching the lights of the city reflect on the water like thousands of glittering diamonds.
Maybe, Mike thought when they were sitting next to each other on a bench, his arm slung around her shoulder, they could evolve into something more. Something real, not smothered by Harvey´s presence. He could feel the torch he was carrying ever since he had met the other man slowly diminishing bit by bit the more he spent time with Cassandra. Maybe she would be the one to finally help him getting over Harvey and finding something new.
"I don't need you to say it, because I know that you aren't ready yet," Cassandra whispered into his ear. "But do you think that we´ll become something more one day?"
"I like to think that we will," Mike replied. Cassandra grinned and then just kissed him. And behind them, as the wind blew around them, the city shone on.
Harvey was staring at the glass full of whiskey in front of him, as the fire in his fireplace threw flickering shadows over his living room, like demons dancing around him, throwing back their heads in ecstasy. It was his third glass already, yet every time he took a sip it tasted like liquid ash on his tongue. The comfortable buzz that usually occurred after his first to second glass still hadn't come and so – as he stared on the skyline of Manhattan through his window front, stars hidden behind clouds – there was nothing to distract him from his dark thoughts.
The door clicked open and Harvey could hear someone tip-toing over the wooden floor, trying to escape his notice. A wistful smile formed on his face as he remembered a time when he had sat right at the same spot, wearing the same expression of disapproval and waiting for his errant daughter to finally face him. But his little girl was an adult now and had long escaped the need for his approval.
"Dad?" Cassandra´s voice echoed through the open space. "Why´re you still up?"
"How was your date?" Harvey asked, ignoring her question.
"It was great," Cassandra replied. "Mike´s such an interesting guy. He just knows so much! I could listen to him speaking, like, for days straight." Harvey tried to conceal his emotions, but something must have shown on his face, for Cassandra´s eyes narrowed in suspicion.
"Alright," she snapped. "Ever since I´m going out with Mike, you´re a complete arsehole. He told me that you´re riding his ass at work like a madman. And you´ve been completely closed off from me for a few weeks already." She threw her hands in the air. "What´s going on?"
How to say that you were jealous of your daughter? How to say that she was dating the man you had had your eyes on ever since he stumbled into your interview, with terrible, ill-fitting suit, even more terrible skinny tie and a smile on his face that would make angels cry? How to tell your daughter that with every word, every gesture, every date, your world was becoming darker and darker, losing the light that one man had brought into it? How to tell that you were afraid? Harvey didn't know. Never had. And when Harvey didn't know something – when he was afraid – he attacked, because knowledge was power and fear was weakness.
"He´s just not the right one for you," he said.
"Oh my fucking God," Cassandra exclaimed. "The 50ies called, they want their attitude back."
"Don´t use that tone with me," Harvey snapped.
"Or what?" Cassandra dared him, her eyes flashing with fury. "You´re gonna ground me?" She took a few steps towards Harvey. "How stupid do you think I am?" She didn't wait for an answer, just continued to press on. "Do you really think I wouldn't notice how you look at Mike when you think no one´s watching you? How you go out of your way to accommodate him, even though he´ll never know? How you try to protect him?" Harvey´s throat went try hearing his daughter´s words. "You missed your chance. You had him for years and yet you never took a chance. All you needed to do was step up and just ask, but do you know why you didn't? It´s because you were afraid! And now, that someone else has stepped in for you, you´re taking it out on me, because you´re still too much of a coward to face your own fucking emotions…"
"SHUT UP!" Harvey roared. The whiskey glass sailed through the air, smashing against the wall and shattering into thousand pieces that clattered to the ground. There was silence for a moment, just their laboured breathing to be heard, as they both stared at the spot that now stained the white walls.
"I think I´ll stay with Mike for the foreseeable future," Cassandra said. She picked up her purse and her jacket and stalked out of the condo, the door smashing behind her announcing her departure to the whole house.
Harvey was left standing there, unmoving as a marble statue as the whiskey ran down the wall and wondered if Mike was the only thing he had just lost.
The following days at work were so awkward that Harvey was genuinely thinking about just working from home, if only to escape the smouldering tension that flared up whenever he and Mike were in the same room. Apparently, Cassandra had told him the rough gist of what had transpired between and now Mike was walking around him like on eggshells. There was no banter, no jokes and no movie quotes between them anymore, just professional exchanges of words, covered in a thin layer of civility.
"Harvey, that can´t go on forever," Donna finally told him one day when she brought him another stack of files that Mike had put on her desk instead of giving them straight to Harvey. "Whatever happened between you is seriously damaging my groove." She was attempting to create a light mood, but Harvey knew Donna long enough to know that she was worried.
"Nothing happened between us," Harvey replied evenly.
"Well, that´s the problem then, isn't it?" Donna remarked. "You not owing up to your emotions."
"Well, what should I have done?" Harvey snapped. "Going straight up to him, fall on my knees and profess my eternal love to him?"
"Ehm, yes, you should have!" Donna exclaimed incredulously at Harvey´s lack of understanding. "If he had known that you felt something for him before Cassandra snatched him up, he may have decided differently. Instead of going home to her, he may have gone home to you, but you blew that chance. Now he´s with her and from the looks of it, they´re quite happy with each other." Donna huffed indignantly, turned around on her heels and stalked out of the office, leaving Harvey in deep contemplation.
Maybe his secretary was right? (Like she usually is, a voice, sounding eerily like Donna, said in his head). Maybe if Mike knew that Harvey was another option, he would change his mind about Cassandra and chose Harvey instead. Maybe Harvey had been passive for far too long and needed to take the initiative.
"Of course you should take the initiative," Jessica snapped at him. "While watching you two has been entertaining for the first few days, now it´s just annoying." Harvey´s jaw dropped.
"I was just outlining the Bergen case," he finally regained his composure. "How did you even get there?" Jessica just rolled her eyes at him.
"Please, Harvey," she snorted, "you were as obvious as Louis when he is plotting." Harvey made a grimace at that comparison. His name should never be mentioned in the same sentence as Louis, except if the words 'is better than' came before it. "Actually, even Louis noticed. He was furious with current developments because he couldn't threaten you with breaking the by-laws anymore."
"Why is everyone so invested in my love life?" Harvey exclaimed indignantly.
"You mean your lack thereof?" Jessica sniped. "Our betting pool is in serious danger if you don't get your shit together soon." Harvey´s jaw dropped yet again, but Jessica wouldn't let him get in a word edgewise, for her expression turned serious again.
"Listen, Harvey," she started, "I´ve seen Mike and Cassandra together. There´s no love between them, just infuriation. They make a pretty decent pairing, I give them that, but at the end of the day, they´re just your usual student couple with an expiration date set somewhere in the next few months. If you really want Mike, then you have to act now, before there blossoms real love between them."
"I can´t destroy my daughter´s relationship," Harvey replied aghast.
"Harvey, we´ve all been there where she´s now," Jessica continued. "In that age you think that everyone you met is your Mister Right. How many future Ms Specters did you have during Harvard?"
"Three," Harvey mumbled. Jessica didn't need to press her point any further.
"You´ve been after Mike since day one," Jessica said. "I know you, Harvey, and I know that yours is not a simple infuriation. Do you truly want to look back one day and feel only regret about what you should have done and didn't do?"
"Mike, we need to talk." Mike turned around from where he was standing in front of the copier to face Harvey who was standing behind him.
"What´s there to talk about?" Mike asked, his arms crossed as defensive gesture against Harvey.
"It´s about you and Cass…" Harvey began, but Mike didn't let him finish.
"I think you´ve made it pretty clear how you stand on the issue," Mike snapped. "You´re thinking that I´m not good enough for your daughter. That I´m not the right one. You think that I shouldn't be with her."
"You´re right," Harvey replied and hearing that was like someone had shot Mike straight in the heart. "You´re not the right one for her. And yet, I´m glad that you are, because I know you would never hurt my daughter. Still, you shouldn't be with her." A short pause, but for Mike it felt like eternity. He could hear his heart pounding, could hear his blood rushing through his veins.
"Because you should be with me instead," Harvey said and in the ensuing silence you could have heard a feather touch the ground.
"What?" Mike managed to croak out. "W…What do you mean?"
"Exactly what I said," Harvey replied. "I want you, Mike. I´ve wanted you pretty much since your first month here. You´re honest, you´re compassionate and caring; everything I´m not. And I regret now, that I´ve never acted on these feelings before now. Jessica and Donna advised me to make a move on you, but I won´t do that to my daughter. It´s just one thing I want to know, just one single question for my peace of mind." Harvey looked at Mike and there were so many conflicting emotions behind those brown orbs that Mike couldn't decipher. "Would I have had a chance?"
"Y…yes," Mike answered him, because he figured that he owed Harvey at least that small bit of honesty. "But, Harvey, I can´t, I´m with Cassandra." Suddenly, Mike felt deeply uncomfortable. It was too hot under his clothes; he needed to leave, needed to get his head clear. "I…I need to go, I need…I need…time." And with that he fled Harvey´s office.
Cassandra knew that something was wrong the moment Mike entered his apartment. His shoulders were slumped; he wasn't looking at her but on the ground and his whole posture screamed defeatism and confusion. She swallowed and laid aside the book she had been reading.
"What happened?" she asked. Mike looked up and in his cerulean eyes she could see so many emotions waring with each other: confusion, hurt, anger and grief.
"Harvey," Mike replied and just that single word managed to load the very atmosphere with tension and words unspoken.
"What did he do?" Cassandra prodded. She didn't know how she was supposed to feel. It hurt that she and her father hadn't spoken with each other since the fight on that fateful night. It was a wound that festered within her heart and managed to poison every waking moment she had. She felt uncertain and afraid that she would be losing Mike, but she was also ashamed that she didn't feel as afraid and fearful as she thought she should.
"He told me that he loved me," Mike confessed. "He said that he regretted not acting on it when he had the chance. That he was glad that it was me you´re with now, instead of some other guy. And then he asked me if he ever had a chance." Cassandra gave a jerk when Mike suddenly slammed his fist on the table. "That asshole! Why couldn't he just keep it to himself?"
"What did you reply?" Cassandra asked. She knew that it wasn't fair – that she should commiserate with Mike instead, reassure him, console him – but she couldn't ignore that feeling of dread that was creeping up on her. "Did he ever have a chance with you?"
"Does it matter?" Mike replied. "I´m with you."
"But you could be with him instead," Cassandra pointed out.
"But I like you," Mike countered.
"And that´s the crux of it, isn't it?" Cassandra argued. "You like me, but you love him." The lack of any denial on Mike´s side was answer enough. "Go to him, then."
"Cassandra…" Mike began, but she didn't let him finish.
"It´s fine," she lied. "I only like you, as well. There´ll be a man I love, somewhere in the future, but 'like' isn't enough to let me keep you and Dad apart from each other." She smiled at him weakly. "It´s alright."
"One day you´re gonna make a man very happy," Mike said, taking her hand into his.
"Just go," Cassandra replied. "So that at least one of us gets their happy end tonight." When Mike was at the door he turned around, opening his mouth, probably wanting to say something comforting, something reassuring, but Cassandra just shooed him away and so he closed his mouth and just left.
When she heard the door lock, Cassandra finally allowed herself to cry.
As Mike knocked at Harvey´s door he knew that he couldn't just fall into the other man´s arms and act as if what Harvey had done wasn't wrong. He felt so many conflicting emotions and he didn't know how to deal with them. He liked Cassandra, he really did, but their relationship had only worked because Mike had buried any hope of ever lifting his and Harvey´s relationship to more than just professional. Mike wasn't proud of it, but he had used Cassandra to get over her father, at least partly, and Harvey flat out admitting that there could be something more between them was like pouring salt over an open wound. Cassandra had been right about that: Sooner or later their relationship would have broken apart because of it.
And that was why Mike was so angry with Harvey, too. He had done nothing and right now, when Mike was happy, he forced his hand and even worse, Cassandra would be the one to suffer for it. And Mike liked Cassandra way too much to disrespect her by just tossing her aside for Harvey.
Even if Harvey was what he had always dreamed of.
Mike´s musings were brought short when Harvey opened the door to his condo.
"It wasn´t fair what you did," Mike said to Harvey. "Saying these things when you knew that they would destroy the relationship I had with Cassandra."
"'All is fair in love and war'," Harvey recited. "And if it hadn´t affect you, you wouldn't be here, would you? If you didn't reciprocate my feelings, then you would be in your apartment with her."
"And that makes it alright?" Mike asked incredulously. "Of course, I came here! How could I not, after what you told me?" Mike looked at Harvey and for the first time he didn't see the self-confident, cocky and arrogant badass that Harvey liked to project into the world, but a lonely man who was afraid of other´s rejecting him.
"Why did you never say anything? Why now?" Mike finally uttered the question that had been weighting on his mind ever since Harvey´s confession. He could see the two sides of Harvey war behind his hazel eyes: The self-confident Harvey who thought caring was a weakness against the Harvey who just wanted someone by his side, someone he could trust.
"Because I thought I had time," Harvey finally replied and Mike could see how difficult it was for the other man to utter these words of weakness – at list in his mind it was: weakness to rely on others, to trust others, to love others. "I thought I had time, that one day I´d get a sign that you wouldn't reject me. That you´d come to me."
"And then Cassandra forced your hand," Mike finished for him and Harvey just nodded.
"Seeing you with her..." He began, "it felt just so wrong."
"You aren´t the one to decide what is wrong and what isn´t," Mike pointed out.
"I know," Harvey replied. "And I´m sorry." He wasn't. It was a lie and they both knew it. But it was something that needed to be said for the protocol, for the decorum.
"What now?" Harvey asked, his voice even and not betraying any kind of emotion.
"I don't know," Mike answered honestly. "I won´t lie, Harvey, what you did was backhanded and wrong. But maybe, if you right things with Cassandra – if she can forgive you – then I´d be willing to give us a chance."
"I could ask for nothing more," Harvey replied.
It was difficult to find a place where you could be alone without anyone bothering you in New York, especially if you had to share your dorm room with a person you didn't really like. So, Cassandra was walking the streets of Manhattan, watching as the people walked by her apathetic, their heads bowed looking at their smartphones. Others were hushing past her in a great hurry as if they had no time for breathing even, which was probably true for half of New York.
Cassandra was quite alright with people ignoring and not looking at her. It made it easier to hide her smeared make-up and the not yet dried traces of tears on her cheeks. She couldn't have stayed in Mike´s apartment, not after what happened between the two of them. It felt wrong – invasive even – being there when she was no longer a part of the other man´s live. But neither could she return to Columbia for students partying around and generally sticking their noses into things where they didn't belong was the last thing she needed.
So now she was here, on the streets. Her dad would have a fit if he knew where she was, but he was probably screwing Mike at the moment so it wasn't as if he cared.
"Cassandra?" Cassandra wondered if she should just continue walking and act as if she hadn't heard the familiar voice echoing along the street, but that moment of indecisiveness cost her that exit strategy, so she just stopped and waited for the other person to catch up to her.
"What are you doing here?" Donna asked as she finally reached Cassandra. Harvey´s secretary looked as impeccable as ever, even if – by the looks of the large bags that hung from her side – had just come from her weekly grocery run. "Does Harvey know you´re here?"
"My dad doesn't run my fucking life!" Cassandra shouted and, okay, maybe Donna didn't deserve that, but right now Cassandra didn't care. Her whole life her father´s presence had been a constant dominator. When she was younger she hadn't cared – had even embraced it – for it protected her and opened doors that would have otherwise been closed to her. But now, as a young woman who was ready to go out into the world and make a name for herself, her father and his reputation was more of an obstacle than an actual help.
Cassandra knew that she should be thankful for her dad: He cared (maybe too much sometimes), he never tried to form her after his own image and he supported her always, even if he thought her endeavours foolish or a waste of time.
But sometimes – sometimes Cassandra wished that her dad would just hold back.
"Has something happened with Harvey?" Donna asked. Cassandra just nodded, her voice momentary leaving her.
"Come with me, my apartment is only a few streets over," Donna said, her hand resting on Cassandra´s shoulder and even though she was supposed to be strong, independent and brave, for a moment she just relished that someone else was taking over for her.
Donna´s apartment was exactly like its owner: Clean lines, white and crème colours, a certain cosiness but only after the second look and only few objects that gave any hints about the woman inhabiting it: A picture of Donna and a woman with the same bright red hair – probably her mother – or the used and worn teddy bear that watched over the people in the living room from his place on one of the shelves.
"Do you want something? Tea, cacao?" Donna offered as she put her bags on the kitchen counter. "Vodka?"
"Cacao would be nice, I suppose," Cassandra agreed. She didn't remember the last time she had someone else making her hot cacao. It only tasted when it was made with care and love, so Cassandra never drank it alone. She remembered well when she was younger and had fallen ill how her father would make her some and bring it to her bed. She had never felt more loved when Harvey sat beside her and stroke her hair while she sat beside him, drinking the cacao and instantly feeling better.
Both women were silent as Donna prepared the beverage. When she had finished, the red-head beckoned for Cassandra to sit down beside her on her couch.
"So, tell me," she began, "What happened?" Cassandra stared into her mug, trying to recognise shapes and forms in the foam of the cacao, but there was nothing.
"Mike and I broke up," she finally whispered.
"Oh, honey," Donna gasped, "What happened?"
"Dad told Mike that he loved him," Cassandra told her and somehow telling her made her feel even worse. Telling Donna made it real, made it something that Cassandra couldn't just ignore. Up until now what had happened had been confined to just the three of them but with telling Donna it was now hammered into reality and that made it even worse.
For a moment, Donna didn't say anything and if the occasion had been more joyous Cassandra would have rejoiced in the fact that she managed to make the other woman speechless. But right now she would have given everything not to have managed that particular feat.
"He did what?" she asked incredulously. "That insensitive dick! That´s emotional manipulation at its most evil!"
"I´m so conflicted, Donna," Cassandra confessed. "Because, I like – liked – Mike, I really, really liked him. But deep down I´ve always known that he isn't the one with whom I want to spend the rest of my life with. But that doesn't make it hurt any less." A single tear ran down her cheek and soon many followed as Cassandra couldn't keep back her emotions anymore.
"Why couldn't he have waited?" she demanded to know as she sobbed into Donna´s shoulder.
"You´ll get over it," Donna told her. "I don't say that to be cruel, but if you already knew – if you already realized – that Mike wasn't Mr Perfect then you´ll heal and be ready for him one day. Are you allowed to feel hurt? Of course! Should you? Hell, yeah! Cry, curse or rage, I won´t judge you. No one will. Just because it wasn't meant to last forever doesn't mean that it isn't allowed to hurt."
"Thanks, Donna," Cassandra mumbled.
"There´s nothing you need to thank me for," Donna replied. "And don't think that I won´t have words with your father." The mental image of her father cowering in front of a wrathful Donna made Cassandra cheer up a little bit, making her smile behind her veil of tears.
"And you can stay with me," Donna continued, "I can´t imagine that you´re very keen on getting back to your dorm in this state."
Harvey hadn't tried to call his daughter. He may be dense sometimes when it came to the moods of his offspring, but even he knew that trying to talk to her after what had transpired yesterday would only deepen the chasm that had opened between them. So, he just trusted Cassandra that she wouldn't do something insensible and stayed in his condo for the rest of the night.
"Harvey Reginald Specter!" Harvey winced as he heard Donna´s voice bellowing through the, thankfully, still empty hallways of Pearson Hardman. He wondered if she already knew what had happened. "You better hide, because when I get my hands on you, I´m gonna kill you in the most painful way imaginable." Yes, Donna definitely knew. At least she had the decency to close the door behind her so that no stray soul would be able to witness Harvey´s evisceration.
"I´ll only talk to you if you´ll listen," Harvey said, his voice even and composed.
"Are you serious right now?" Donna bit back venomously. "I can´t believe what you did! To your own daughter."
"I know damn well what I did!" Harvey snapped at Donna. "After all, it kept me awake the whole night and will probably continue to do so for the foreseeable future." Donna glared at him.
"You deserve nothing less," she told him.
"I know," Harvey agreed. "But I´d do it again." Some of the rage cleared from Donna´s features and she regarded him with something akin to understanding.
"You broke Cassandra´s heart," Donna pointed out. "You may have broken what´s between you. Was it really worth it?"
"I don't know," Harvey admitted and sighed, shoulders slumping. "I really don't know, Donna." He knew that he needed to say more – expose himself – if he even wanted to have a chance at Donna understanding his motives. But it would mean that he would have to lay himself bare in front of his secretary and while Donna was his best friend, that was too much. But Harvey also knew that this – right now, here – was a pivotal point in their relationship. If he kept quite now he didn't think he and Donna could ever get back to what they had been before; back to the friendship that had made the legal world of Manhattan tremble in equal measures of fear and awe.
"I just knew…" Harvey began but it was as if the words didn't want to leave his mind, desperately clinging to him.
"What did you know, Harvey?" Donna prodded.
"I just knew that I needed to tell Mike how I felt," Harvey confessed. "I needed to let him know that he had someone else. I needed him to know that I listened every time he told me of his dates and that it was the most terrible thing I ever endured. I needed him to know that I´d be on his side no matter what." He paused for a moment. "I was too much of a coward, I know that, but seeing Mike with Cass…it hurt like only a few things ever did in my life and I couldn't just ignore that."
Donna looked at him for quite a time, not saying anything, instead just weighting his words.
"I understand you," she finally said after a while. "But that doesn't make it right. You still hurt your daughter, Harvey."
"And that´s my biggest regret," Harvey said. "And I´ll do everything to earn her forgiveness."
"Mike´s command?" Donna smirked. Harvey just nodded, faint traces of a smile on his face.
"Then you have some grovelling to do," Donna commented offhandedly.
"What do you want, dad?" Cassandra demanded to know when she opened the door of Donna´s apartment and saw him standing on the other side. His daughter was wearing his Harvard jersey and grey sweatpants, her hair in a loose bun on the back of her head.
"I´ve come to talk," Harvey replied. "I thought the last few days were enough to make you at least listen to me." For a moment Cassandra looked like she wanted to shut the door right in front of him, but then she just sighed and stood aside, allowing Harvey to enter. They both walked into the living room, Cassandra sitting down on the couch and Harvey sitting down on the chair opposite of her.
"I know that you´re probably hating me right now…" Harvey began, but he was interrupted by his daughter.
"I don't hate you, dad," she insisted. "I could never." She sighed. "It´s just…I held you to a higher standard than that and it was a pretty cruel wake-up call. I was so disappointed." Harvey had never felt so relieved as he did right now in this moment. His daughter didn't hate him; he hadn't completely destroyed their relationship and maybe he could even salvage it.
"Nevertheless, I want you to know why I did it," he said. He paused for a moment: This was going to be painful. "I realized that I was in love with Mike over a year ago. I remember it still as if it just happened yesterday." Harvey´s lips curled into a faint smile. "It was a merger between two tech companies and one owner had some off-shore accounts on the Caymans which threatened to jeopardise the whole deal and Jessica was riding my ass like never before. And one day – it was a Thursday – I found these quotes of Captain Kirk in every corner of my working space. Note, it was from the original show, not from these ghastly remakes. When I opened a file there´d be some quote, when I browsed through my records there´d be a loose paper between them, hell, even my office phone got the intro as ringtone. I didn't even know that you could change it." Harvey laughed. "And Mike – the whole day he answered all of my questions with nothing but Spock quotes. And with everyone else, I´d have hated it, but with Mike it was oddly endearing. And I realised: I wanted this for the rest of my life. This oddball, who went out of his way to brighten up my day, even though it costed him no small efforts, who could remember everything but where he left his mobile and who always managed to make me roll his eyes at his antics. It felt like my life was finally complete with him. I wanted to hold him and never let go."
"Why didn't you?" Cassandra asked.
"You know me, Cass," Harvey replied. "I´m the worst when it comes to emotions, I´m well aware of it. I was afraid that if I did anything I´d destroy the relationship I already had with Mike. I was afraid that he´d turn away from me – leave me – and never turn back. I reckoned that having Mike near, with the possibility of there being more one day, was less painful than showing my cards and losing.
And it worked as long as Mike was involved with no one else," Harvey continued. "But of all people he could have started a relationship with, it was you. And even if it hadn't been you, seeing him with someone was the most excruciating pain I ever felt. It was like I was torn apart; I wished for your relationship to break apart, but then I´d hate myself for wishing something like that on my own daughter. It was the worst."
"So you decided to come clean to him," Cassandra finished for him. "Even if it´d ruin our relationship. Because you needed him to know that there was something – someone – else out there for him." Harvey just nodded, temporarily at loss for words.
"I´m gonna be honest with you," Cassandra started, "a few minutes ago I was ready to tear into you until you´d have seen stars, but the you told me all of this and it got me thinking. Mike and I never even told each other 'I love you' while you´ve got that whole romantic declaration here that, I won´t lie, nearly made me cry. Mike and I were good, but you and Mike could be even better. Mike was one of many for me, but if he makes you emotional like this, he´s obviously the one for you. It´s gonna cost you something, like five pizza from that great Italian we´ve been to, but I guess I´m no longer mad at you." She stood up and walked over to Harvey and hugged him, a gesture Harvey was more than happy to reciprocate.
"I love you, Cass," he whispered in her hair.
"Love you, too, dad," Cass murmured, her head buried in his chest.
"I´ve got a message from Cass," Mike told Harvey the next day with a smirk on his face. "In fact, she sent it to me in the middle of the night."
"What does it say?" Harvey asked.
"Just three words," Mike replied. "'Go get him.'" And in that moment, the world felt right again.
It was their fourth date – or the fifth; Harvey didn't really know, for when he was with Mike time just flew by and he didn't care – when Mike didn't say goodbye on the steps of his apartment building, instead choosing to accompany Harvey until the front door of his condo.
"You´re gonna come in?" Harvey asked and he knew that this was the moment that would either make or unmake them. All this dancing around each other, the date in public places, the indirect chaperoning; it either ended here tonight or they would come undone.
Mike looked at Harvey. His gaze was undiscernible and not for the first time Harvey wondered what went on behind these blue orbs that were the window to the soul he had fallen in love with so long ago.
"I think I will," Mike finally responded.
They kissed, Harvey trying to devour Mike, to taste everything of him. The air around them crackled with electricity. Mike tasted like devotion, home and something like cinnamon, Harvey couldn't really say. It was everything that Harvey had imagined kissing Mike would be like and even more. He couldn't say where he ended and Mike began, they were one entity sharing two bodied and Harvey had never felt so close to somebody, not even Cassandra´s mother all these years ago when he was still young and idealistic.
"Maybe we should relocate into your flat before the neighbours set the cops on us," Mike said as they broke apart to catch breath. His cheeks were red and he looked flustered and Harvey couldn't help but feel a surge of pride because he had been the one to do that to Mike.
"We should," he agreed and before Mike could reply Harvey had grabbed Mike and hoisted him up, so that the blonde had no chance but to wrap his legs around Harvey and cling tightly to him.
Harvey carried Mike through the long floor into the kitchen area, where he sat the younger man down on the counter. Mike found his mouth again and they continued kissing while they fumbled at each other´s shirt, trying to rid the other off the bothersome piece of clothing. Harvey´s was the first to go and Mike let out a strangled gasp which made Harvey puff with pride. He may be a few years older than Mike but he still went to the gym and he looked like it.
"You´re so sexy," Mike whispered. He slid off the counter and began to shower Harvey´s neck and collar bone with kisses, exploring every section of exposed skin he could find. Harvey threw back his head when Mike began to suck at his nipples. Electricity was surging through his body from wherever Mike touched him and Harvey had never felt so powerful – so invincible – as he was feeling now.
He helped Mike out of his shirt and then pushed the man against the counter, again. Harvey´s mouth was on Mike´s within seconds, their naked upper bodies touching. Harvey was hard as a rock and from what he felt, Mike was as, too. They rubbed against each other, trying to find friction, chasing elusive ecstasy.
This time it was Harvey who broke their kiss, making Mike let out a disappointed keen which soon turned into a lustful moan as Harvey sank down on his knees, his head finally right in front of Mike´s crotch.
After a few well practiced movements Mike´s cock sprang free from the confinement of his boxers and Harvey salivated at the sight of it. Long, curved and with only the feintest traces of blonde hair at its base.
"Harvey," Mike keened, his eyes filled with desire. It was an empowering moment for Harvey, seeing Mike like this – having him at his mercy – and knowing that he had been the one to get the other man there and they hadn't even started really.
Harvey lapped at Mike´s sac, playing with his tight balls. Mike threw his head back and groaned. Then Harvey licked a broad stripe along the length of Mike´s cock, circling its head with his tongue before he swallowed it down with one go.
"Fuuuuck!" Mike shouted, desperately trying to thrust into Harvey´s mouth, but Harvey´s hands on his hip kept him fixated. Harvey allowed himself a dry laugh, which reverberated around Mike´s dick in his mouth, managing to elicit another broken groan from Mike. Law wasn't the only thing you learned at Harvard.
Finally, Harvey´s throat had adjusted to Mike´s cock and so he let go of Mike, allowing the other man to fuck him as fast as he wanted. Mike´s thrusts were tender and shallow at first, but when he noticed how good Harvey was taking it, he began to pistol his hips back and forth faster and faster, until he was truly fucking Harvey´s face as rough as Harvey loved it.
That was exactly why Harvey sometimes preferred men over women; this inherent wildness, the roughness, the callous disregard for anything but your own horniness. Sometimes Harvey just needed to be used and he could always count on a man being more than happy to give that to him.
When Mike´s thrust became more sluggish and slow Harvey knew that it was his turn now. He grabbed the blonde by the hips and turned Mike around, his chest pressed against the window front, his ass pointing towards Harvey. The latter didn't waste any time and spread the blonde´s cheeks apart until Mike´s puffy hole was exposed. For a short moment Harvey did nothing but marvel at the sight in front of him, but Mike´s incessant wiggling underneath his hand made him put his tongue to good use. He circled Mike´s hole, careful to leave out anything where the thousands of nerve bundles sat, just waiting to set Mike´s world alight.
He was teasing and Harvey knew it, but the way Mike began to shake underneath his hands was well worth it.
"Quit teasing," Mike managed to press out between gasps. Harvey gladly obliged, licking a first strip over Mike´s hole.
"Ohmyfuckinggod," Mike gasped.
"No, just me," Harvey couldn't help but say, but then there was no opportunity left for words, for Harvey finally began to tongue-fuck Mike in earnest. In and out, his tongue breaching Mike, wiggling its way past the ring of muscles. Mike was eagerly fucking himself back on Harvey´s tongue, running filthy commentary on the whole thing.
"Gonna eat me out real good," he murmured. "Gonna make me wet and sore with your tongue alone, aren´t you? Make me come on your tongue alone. Yeah, show me whatcha got." Harvey´s cock was hanging between his legs, aching and throbbing, but he knew if he laid just one finger on it – one simple – touch, he would explode. So, to no longer delay the inevitable, Harvey gave one last lick to Mike´s hole before he stood up (his aching knees were thanking him for it).
"The bedroom´s right over there," he whispered into Mike´s ear, his breath ghosting over the other man´s neck, making the hairs on it stand up.
Harvey didn't remember exactly how long it took them to finally get into his bedroom – there was much kissing involved; touching and groping – but finally he had Mike where he had wanted him since the first day: In his bed, naked.
"Mike," Harvey whispered. He wanted to do nothing but stand there, looking down on Mike, writhing wantonly in his bed, sweat glistening on his skin.
"Are you gonna stand there the whole night or are you gonna fuck me until I can´t walk straight anymore?" Mike challenged him with mirth and lust gleaming behind his blue eyes. A primal growl made it past Harvey´s lips as he threw himself atop of Mike, pressing his lips onto the blondes'. His hand was around Mike´s cock, slowly beating the other man off. Harvey let his tongue wander down; Mike´s chin, his throat, his collar bone victim of his administrations. He let his tongue roam further, circling Mike´s nipples, but not touching them.
"Harvey," Mike moaned as he arched into the older man´s touch. His nibbles were hard as stone; the nubs erect in arousal until Harvey lapped at them which elicited a delicious shudder from the man underneath him. Mike´s dick was throbbing in his hand and Harvey was sure that the younger man was about to come. So, he grabbed Mike at his waist and turned Mike around, chest on his bed and ass pointing straight in the air.
"So wanton for me," Harvey whispered into Mike´s ear, leaning over the other man´s body, his chest pressed against Mike´s back. "So eager." He circled Mike´s hole with one finger. It was still wet from their earlier foreplay. "So slutty." He pushed in the first finger, meeting little resistance. Mike melted around him like ice. "I´ll make you come undone." Mike pushed himself back against Harvey´s finger, desperately trying to fuck himself on it. "You´re gonna come untouched." Slowly he added another finger. "And I´m gonna make you eat it."
"Harvey!" Mike just screamed.
"What do you want, Mike?" Harvey picked up the pace, steadily fucking Mike with three fingers now.
"I…I…want…" The words were slow, Mike having completely lost the ability to form coherent sentences.
"Do you want my cock?" Harvey asked, painfully aware of how neglected his dick was. "Want me to fuck you senseless?" Mike´s answer was an unintelligible whine, so Harvey decided to no longer prolong the other man´s torture, lining his cock up at Mike´s entrance and slowly pushing in.
Feeling Mike around him – so deliciously hot, so tight – was like Heaven and if Harvey had been a man with less willpower, he would have come right there and then. But he held onto himself and slowly started to fuck into Mike who eagerly met him thrust for thrust.
"You´re so tight," Harvey wheezed as he pounded into Mike. It was difficult to speak, to think – to exist at all – when he could feel Mike moving underneath him, chasing the same ecstasy as Harvey. There was fire burning in his veins, lightning striking in his brain, molten lava coiling in his stomach and Harvey didn't know what to feel anymore. It was a sensual overload of the best kind and for the moment when it was only them, time itself became suspended, just another victim of the attraction that filled the very air so that it was difficult to breath. Harvey could feel the sweat running down his spine – every single drop – could feel the hairs on his arm and legs stand up, could even feel the muscles in Mike´s back shifting underneath his palm.
There was no sense of time anymore. Minutes could have passed, or only seconds; it didn't matter because for Harvey it was an eternity anyway. But their eternity wasn't one to last forever, so as Mike clenched around Harvey´s dick, there was nothing that Harvey could do to starve off the orgasm that ripped through him. Stars were exploding in front of his eyes, a volcano erupting in his stomach as he emptied himself into Mike.
Harvey slumped down on Mike, for a moment bereft of any strength. He wasn't that inconsiderate of his lover, though, so he reached for Mike´s dick and, with a few strokes, brought the other man to completion as well, Mike coming all over Harvey´s hand.
Mike grabbed Harvey´s soiled hand and licked up every bit of cum on it, taking each of Harvey´s finger in his mouth and letting his tongue roam around them. If Harvey hadn't been so exhausted from his orgasm earlier, he would have come again. Instead, he let his softened cock slip out of Mike´s hole, a trail of spunk seeping out of the other man´s entrance.
Still naked, sweaty and dirty, Harvey took Mike into his arms and pressed the other man against his chest. No words needed to be spoken as they both basked in their afterglow and the presence of each other.
"Dad, have you seen my report for my constitutional law lecture, I think I left it here…OH MY GOD!"
"Cassandra, out!"
"My eyes! My beautiful, innocent eyes!"
"OUT!"