Something to Fill the Silence
By carnifax (originally posted to tumblr)
Suits
Harvey/Mike
Rated T
Friendship | General
Harvey stared at him. "You're making noise at a desert."
"Pull over."
Harvey did, without questioning, without even thinking. He and Mike were somewhere in the Mojave Desert, maybe in Nevada, and they'd been driving in this rental car for the past five hours after an unfortunate mixup about plane tickets and where exactly tomorrow's conference was. The fact that Donna's cell had been on airplane mode at the time had not helped things (although Harvey had the sneaking suspicion that his assistant had concocted this misadventure herself; Donna wouldn't have messed up a trip so simple that even Mike had enough organizational skills to have successfully planned it).
Harvey pulled the car to the side of the road, far enough over that gravel crunched beneath the passenger side tires — not that it mattered if he blocked the road, since they hadn't passed another vehicle since nearly three hours ago.
Mike got out of the car.
Harvey sighed, unbuckling his seatbelt for the time being, taking off his shades and massaging the bridge of his nose. They had at least two hours until the next city big enough to have a motel, then who-knows-how-long to drive the next day. He didn't mind Mike getting out to piss in a bush every few hours, but Harvey wasn't exactly known for being a patient man. At some point he figured he might just tell Mike to hold it.
He was finally beginning to relax when a shout made him jolt upright in his seat. The yell was distinctively Mike's voice, and that fact made intrinsic alarms go off inside of his head. Harvey was out of his seat within half a second, rounding the front of the car and stumbling down the gritty bank toward Mike.
"What's going on?" he called from a few yards away. "Mike?"
When the kid turned around to face his boss, his expression was not at all what Harvey expected. There was no fear or anxiety in it, just elation.
"What the hell was that?" Harvey demanded, spreading his arms wide, abruptly angry that Mike's yell had panicked him for no reason.
"Try it!"
Harvey stared at him.
Mike laughed, so much joy in his demeanor that when he took a step forward, he hopped a little. "No, seriously, Harvey, try it! There's no one around—"
"You're just shouting for no reason," Harvey said, and then rolled his eyes. "Come back to the car when you're done with playtime."
But Mike caught his arm before Harvey could start walking back toward the road. "No, please, Harvey, try it!"
Harvey wrenched free. "You—"
His other words drowned in Mike's roar, when the associate spun to face the open desert and bellowed into it, his voice carrying and disappearing into the silence of the plains. Mike's voice broke off once he ran out of breath; but then he laughed, sharp and triumphant, as he leaned over to put his hands on his knees.
He glanced up at Harvey, with a broad grin stretching across his features. "Try it," he repeated, more of a gasp than anything.
"You're making noise at a desert." Harvey shook his head at him. "C'mon, we need to keep driving. No one can hear you out here anyway."
"That's the point!" Mike straightened, still catching his breath, but stepping closer to Harvey. He seemed adamant. "How many times in your life have you been alone? I mean, at least alone enough to scream your head off and not have anyone question it?" He smiled and reached for Harvey's arm. "Haven't you ever wanted to just — well — roar?"
Harvey shrugged one of his shoulders.
"Cmon—" Mike faced the plains, reaching back to drag Harvey up beside him. "Try it—" and then he shouted a third time, no syllables or sounds, just pure, unadulterated noise.
"Is this what you always do in your free time?" But Mike gave him an amused look, so Harvey rolled his eyes again and went, "Ahhhh."
Mike shook his head, laughing. "Oh come on, that was barely a yawn! Here, maybe this—" He reached for Harvey's tie, undoing the knot; then his fingers moved to undo the top few buttons of the man's shirt, which Harvey tried to protest. "Get into a yelling stance," Mike directed, nudging one of Harvey's shins back with his toe. "And then…" Mike's right hand went to Harvey's chin, holding it still while he mussed his boss' hair with his left. Harvey was too taken aback by the familiarity of the touch to react or argue, especially when Mike's right thumb swiped just below Harvey's lips as he flashed a brilliant grin.
"Now smile," Mike said, letting go of Harvey altogether. He turned to the desert. "And yell."