SUMMARY:
Mike thought learning to submit would be the hardest part of being someone's Sub. But it turns out the real challenge comes when you realize your Dom is a fallible mortal, just like everyone else, and submitting to a mortal sometimes comes with complications.
A story of the ups and downs of Harvey and Mike's relationship a year after "Subspace" ends.
WARNINGS / TAGS:
Dom/sub, BDSM, Alternate Universe - BDSM, Slash, Bondage, Discipline, Spanking, Subspace, Hurt/Comfort, Angst, Mildly Dubious Consent, Rough Sex, Fisting, Rimming, Public Sex, Sex Club, Voyeurism, Exhibitionism, Safewords, Established Relationship
NOTES:
This is the second part of what will be a three part series in the Subspace verse. If you have not read Subspace, I would strongly suggest doing so as this will make little to no sense as a stand alone. I did not make any attempt to "fill in the blanks" for virgin readers. However, having said that, if you would like to try anyway - more power to you!
In other news, I now have two phenomenal betas - herasmom and Peculiaritea (KarinBerry). They have both been hugely supportive and given me great advice. I should think that Malpractice will read a lot smoother because of them. I have also painstakingly edited the entirety of Subspace with the heroic help of herasmom, so should you be the kind of reader (like me) who keeps PDF copies of fics on their hard drive. PLEASE, re-download Subspace.
PLEASE TAKE NOTE OF TAGS AND WARNINGS! This story has significantly more pornographic material and significantly more triggers than my previous. While these warnings are subject to change, if a chapter contains unexpected content, I will alert you in the chapter notes.
Finally, please refer to the end notes of this chapter for a (slightly spoilery, but no less important) disclaimer, and some information on safe-play practices. Now, with no further ado, I hope you enjoy and look forward to your feedback! You can safely expect a new chapter update every seven to ten days.
Mike gently unlocks his collar and sets it down on the bathroom vanity. Taking it off, even for necessary purposes, still makes him uneasy. It had taken a few days of playful encouragement from Harvey to convince him that he's no less collared whether the leather is touching his skin or not. Mike knows this, but he really really needed to hear Harvey confirm it. Since then his Dom has been delicately cautious in allowing Mike the choice of when or when not to unlatch.
Mike looks in the mirror at a pale strip around his neck. He rubs at it with his hand and finds the area balmy and slightly uneven in texture. Around the back he fingers a patch of chafed skin that has been stinging all week. He fumbles around in the foreign drawers to the right of the sink until he finds a stack of washcloths. He wets one with soap and water and begins wiping at the area, careful to avoid more bleeding.
"Hurry up, the sun is practically up," a voice calls from the other side of the bathroom door. "We'll be late for work if we don't get started now."
Mike hums in response as he finishes and wrings out the little spot of blood from the white square of flannel.
"Mike!"
Mike opens the door to glare at Ethan who is standing in his dim little hall, hair in a low ponytail. His eyes narrow and his lips part in surprise.
"Shit, you're bleeding."
"Am I?" Mike says nonchalantly as he turns and tosses the cloth into the hamper by the shower.
Ethan walks behind him and gently touches the back of his neck. Mike sidesteps his friend, irritated by the touch of anyone but Harvey.
"How often do you take that thing off?"
He shrugs. "Basically never."
"This is only going to get worse."
Ethan too is sporting a collar, his however, doesn't have to be removed in public. Mike, thank fuck, can get away with wearing one under his shirt and tie at the office without anyone but Harvey noticing. His low-slung running shirt, however, isn't so forgiving.
"This happens to you?" Mike asks.
Ethan's eyes twinkle in a way that used to make Mike want to punch him in the face, and still does, to a degree. He has a cocky know-it-all way about him as if Mike is the precious innocent rookie all over again. But this time in the art of subbing, not law, with Ethan as his teacher, not Harvey. Mike shouldn't want to be his friend. In fact he spends an unreasonable amount of time bitching to Harvey about all the things he can't stand about his ex – okay Ethan is emphatically NOTHarvey's ex, which he's repetitively reminded, but he'd seemed like competition at one time and that's enough to irk Mike.
The reality is that despite his complaining, when Mike is actually with Ethan the friendship is addictive. He's the only other Sub who knows what Mike is and the camaraderie, Mike has found, is desperately needed.
Ethan reaches into the vanity behind the magnetic mirror and pulls out a bottle of antiseptic cream. "No, it doesn't happen often to me, and when it does it's because a certain someone tied me up too tight." He beams like it's worth every chafe. "This miracle bottle is our best friend." He pushes it at Mike's chest. "Keep it."
Mike mumbles a thank you and sets it down next to his collar.
Ethan watches him in the mirror with one hand on his hip while Mike pulls on his slightly oversized shirt – to "hide the Sub" - as Ethan would say.
"You should show him your neck."
Mike shrugs.
"I'd get in trouble, and I'd bet money Harvey would be mad too if-"
"Don't tell me what my Dom will or won't think, okay?" Mike barks.
After a moment of tense silence he exhales and looks over at Ethan sheepishly. His friend is remarkably forgiving of his short fuse when it comes to Harvey, especially now that Mike has the decency to seem sorry about it.
"Okay, I get it. No unasked for advice. Now, that's enough playing doctor," Ethan jokes, "I already did that this week. Let's run."
Mike shuts the front door lightly and hangs his keys on a little hook above the entry table. The sun is just beginning to brighten and on any other Friday Mike would be jumpy with the joyful anticipation of the weekend. He's the morning person, Harvey – not so much. However today Mike wants to get back in bed, snuggle into the warm arms of his still sleeping Dom and get another hour before he's forced to face the new day. Besides, work sucks so much right now that when Harvey's had his coffee, that's all he'll be talking about. Best to savor the quiet before the storm.
Harvey mumbles sleepily when Mike presses into him under the covers and nudges his shoulder with the top of his head. He wraps an arm around Mike and pulls in.
"You smell," he mumbles.
Mike didn't think about showering. "Okay." He moves to roll out again. "I'll go –"
"No. Stay."
Mike smiles and kisses Harvey's sleep slack lips. "Okay."
That night, after too long a day at the office preparing the final bit of evidence for the Leavitt case, Mike stares encouragingly at the tall cabinet of toys in the bedroom, hoping Harvey gets the message. To this day, Mike hasn't seen inside. The key, although left in the lock, is firmly off limits. Mike suspects that leaving it out in plain and tempting sight is meant to be some sort of test. So far, Mike hasn't felt the need to snoop. Harvey would know, he always does. Having not seen inside the cabinet is meant to do something to Mike's sense of anticipation and, of course, his trust. Over the months Mike has pretty much memorized, just from sound, where everything is kept. On occasion he hears something shifted, moved, bumped, or jingled, that he's never seen. And that, is what keeps his attention.
Mike is laying ass up and naked on the bed while Harvey flicks through a file. His hearing is scheduled for Monday and Harvey is, to be frank, in a blind panic.
Harvey looks over the edge of the file at Mike, catches his eye, and follows its path with a growing grin to the tall double door wardrobe.
"You need to play, baby?"
Mike rolls to his side, displaying his front complete with erect cock, and says, "If it pleases you, sir."
Harvey chuckles, shakes his head in amusement, and goes back to his work. "So polite. I'm almost tempted."
"Tomorrow's Saturday. No work," Mike complains.
"Theoretically. You know weekends are fictional before hearings."
"Who's going to notice if we straggle in at ten? Or even noon." He drapes himself over the bed as Ethan had taught him and runs a hand down his chest and toward his cock. Harvey looks up at him darkly, shakes his head no, and goes back to reading.
Mike lays back letting his fingertips dance dangerously close to his erection. He's sure Harvey sees him in his peripheral vision, so when he barks a reprimanding "Hands off, Mike!", he's not surprised. It's not exactly a rule so much as common sense Harvey knows Mike understands. If Harvey tells him not tonight, that doesn't mean Mike can take things into his own hands. Mike flops to his side in indignant frustration. Seriously. If Harvey would just take a break, get his mind off this case and indulge a little, it would do them both a world of good.
If Mike were really out of sorts, he could take advantage of his contract term allowing him to start a scene, with or without Harvey's strict approval. Harvey wouldn't deny him then. But, it's not worth it. When Mike gets pushy Harvey gets irritable and distracted, almost methodical. And what Mike was hoping for was a display of the intense and attentive Dom he's fallen so head-over-heels for.
He rolls onto the floor and crawls hands and knees to Harvey's side where he's greeted with a perfunctory stroke through the hair, still matted with the day's flaking product.
"Only if you can keep quiet," Harvey instructs.
"Yes, sir," Mike whispers. And he means it. But after sitting there for at least twenty minutes staring at the big bed that currently does not contain him getting fucked, Mike decides that Harvey didn't say anything about staying still. So, with what is really very well meaning intention, he starts nuzzling his Dom's thigh and running his hand teasingly up his exposed calf.
Before he realizes Harvey even noticed the attention, the papers in his lap flutter to the floor and a hand is gripped too tightly around the back of Mike's neck.
"If I had time to punish you Mike, god help me I'd put you over my knee."
"What - what'd I do?"
"When I say no, it means no." He's practically snarling when he releases Mike with a push that sends him toppling over onto his hip. "I shouldn't have to waste so much time taming a pushy Sub."
Mike's breath catches in his throat just as Harvey realizes himself and throws his face into his hand, exhaling. "Shit. Mike, I'm sorry. I'm sorry."
Mike pushes himself off the ground and backs up, but Harvey catches his hand and pulls him in, despite his resistance. He places a long warm kiss into his palm and then presses it against his cheek.
"Forgive me, that was uncalled for."
Mike swallows. "Yeah, okay."
"And it was untrue. You know that right? My stress level is an eleven, I'm saying things I don't mean."
Mike nods tensely.
"Come sit with me," he says, scooting aside in the wide armchair. "I'll give you my attention, if you need it. I will."
Mike looks at the spot and shakes his head. "No, thanks. I'm cool."
"Really? Then what was all this about?"
He shrugs. "I just thought you might need something tonight. Get your mind off things. Something... rough maybe." He glances at the wardrobe.
Harvey's eyes narrow. "What makes you say that?"
"A high adrenalin scene relaxes you. That's right, isn't it?"
Although Mike is still wounded from Harvey's comment, he allows himself to be pulled down for a kiss and ushered kindly toward bed without an answer to anything at all.
After staring at Harvey for another fifteen minutes from the bed, just in case, Mike rolls onto his back with one of their feather pillows under his head and drifts off.
Mike wakes with a start. His face is burning and a hand is tight around his wrist. He looks up, startled, to find Harvey looking down at him in the darkness. His chest is bare, but Mike can't tell from this angle what else is exposed. His eyes glisten from the glow of the digital clock on the bedside table.
Mike reaches up to touch his hot and sensitive cheek. He'd been slapped.
"You wanna play rough?" Harvey's words are slurred with arousal, making his normally clear and precise tone lazy and crude.
Mike nods, his pulse thrumming in his neck and groin, and now, even in the skin of his reddening cheek.
Harvey holds his fist up with something balled between his fingers. If Mike squints he can just barely make out the white ribbed edge of one of his gym socks. Before he has time to protest the wad is crammed between his teeth. He groans in frustration and spits it out.
"Give me the ball instead," he says.
Harvey's eyes narrow dangerously. He grabs one of Mike's thin legs and flips him over. Mike pushes up with his hands to crawl away but Harvey is already pushing him down to the bed and pulling his hair back. Mike gasps and then shrieks as a series of rough slaps come down across his ass. Harvey knows Mike likes to bury his face in something to help muffle his cries. This is meant to force him to feel all the pain without any of the simple comforts he's learned to find during a spanking. After what feels like at least a dozen hard hits Mike begs for him to stop, which, to his surprise, Harvey does. Harvey pulls his hair back further and leans over until their cheeks touch - his hot red skin to Harvey's unshaven stubble. Harvey rubs them together while Mike whimpers softly.
"You gonna take the sock now, like a good boy?"
Mike nods enthusiastically and opens his mouth wide for the offered gag. It's not unclean. Harvey's never been into any of the more, shall we say, messy kinks. It's just that the sock doesn't really give Mike anything satisfying to bite into, and the fabric dries out his mouth in minutes, leaving him unpleasantly hoarse. Harvey arranges both his arms above his head and lets Mike watch as he shackles his hands together with a pair of leather cuffs. They've used it before. With his wrists attached to the rings in the headboard it forces Mike to lie face down and helpless, his hands turned away from the bars, unable to hold onto anything, or even adjust his weight. Usually it's infuriatingly frustrating, even maddening. But sometimes, when he's feeling particularly pliable, the helplessness is the greatest high short of chemicals. His cock twitches appreciatively when Harvey locks the last chain down and sits back.
From behind, Mike can hear Harvey squirt lube into his palm. His cock hardens fully at the implication. Harvey's been obsessed with fucking lately. Hard fucking. A stark shift from their first time together when his Dom had treated Mike with calculated delicacy. All in all Harvey is still a Dom more likely to pet his Sub than whip him. But lately Harvey has been in a dark mood that sparks harsh and intense scenes. Fortunately Mike has nothing to complain about. Especially when the experience mellows Harvey out enough to put him back in one of his temperate and understanding moods. At least for a while.
Harvey shoves a pillow under Mike's hips and uses his dry hand to press down on the small of his back while the other presses three fingers into him. Mike arches back wantonly.
"Do you want to see if I can get all five inside you?" Harvey asks, pushing down on Mike when he twitches away in surprise. "Shake your head no and I'll stop." Mike tenses his ass cheeks nervously before relaxing into his decision and spreading himself out further. Harvey has wanted this for a long time now, although he's never mentioned it. Not exactly. And now, with his muscles still pleasantly relaxed from sleep and the submissive languor that comes after a spanking, it seems like as good a time as any.
Harvey pets the long line of his spine again where sweat is starting to pool despite the A-class air-conditioning whirring almost silently above their heads. Gently and firmly he presses down on Mike's back as his other hand pushes in and fucks him with three curved fingers. Mike sighs in blissful pleasure, letting his forehead drop to the sheets while it still can. When they're both panting with need Harvey replaces the three with four curved digits - the most they've tried together. Mike grunts, his eyes clenched in nervous anticipation of pain. But after a while, as he relaxes into the rhythm of Harvey's care, he realizes that there's hardly any pain at all, just a fullness that signals to his brain, arousal, anticipation, and want.
At some point subspace kicks in and what's left of his reservation fades out. Harvey has been pumping just the tips of all five fingers into him and twisting.
"Can you take it?" Harvey asks.
Through the fog Mike can just barely distinguish his question as genuine hesitation, not playful teasing. He nods, grinds his knees firmly into the mattress and tightens his hands into fists. Harvey runs a hand up his back and into his hair, caressing him gently, before fisting his head back at the same moment he pushes everything into Mike with a shuddery sob that Mike can barely hear over his own muffled scream and explosive orgasm.
After untying him Harvey flips him over and enters his loosened hole gently, mindful of Mike's sensitive wilting erection. He pulls the gag from Mike's mouth and kisses him tenderly as he thrusts slowly and with infinite care. Mike stares up at his Dom with unmasked adoration and submissive trust as Harvey takes pleasure in his body, then slumps down beside him.
Mike stares up at the ceiling, feeling sleepy and high from subspace.
"Thank you," Harvey says.
Mike looks over at his Dom who is staring at him from his pillow with intensely lidded eyes and frown lines.
Harvey has never thanked him for anything sexual before. He always takes or gives whatever's needed and moves on, cocky even in the assurance of his skill.
"What for?"
He sighs. "I needed that, and, I wasn't sure…"
"Wasn't sure of what?"
"If you'd safeword out." He throws an arm over his eyes. "Shit, I shouldn't have gagged you." He looks over at Mike with a look of panic. "Did you need –"?
"No, it's okay. I'm fine. I… liked it. It was good." He grins.
"Really?"
"Yeah. Really. You know I trust you."
He runs his fingers over Mike's temple, his expression searching. "You do, don't you." With a sigh he rolls onto his back and opens his arm for Mike to slide into his embrace. "You're the first Sub who I've done that with."
"No way. Seriously?"
"Ummhmm. If a Sub doesn't trust you enough to relax it can hurt like hell. Or so I'm told."
"But what about…" He doesn't finish his thought. He just clears his throat and lowers his head back to Harvey's bicep. He knows the subject of Scottie is off limits, but sometimes he forgets.
"Not all Subs are as moderate with their safeword as you."
"Is that a good thing?"
Harvey's shoulder shrugs below him. "Perhaps it shows we're a good match. That you trust me, and that I know what you can and cannot take. It's a good thing, so long as you never forget to use it if you really need to. Letting something go too far is more damaging to a relationship than the awkwardness of safewording. Believe me."
Mike nuzzles into Harvey's embrace and enjoys the peaceful silence they've fallen into. Harvey, at times like this – quiet, soft of touch, contemplative – has become a warning sign for Mike, who can now read even the most subtle of his Dom's mood changes. True contentment after a scene results in Harvey either falling quickly to sleep, or else, fussing over Mike's comfort until he himself blacks out. Just like their first time together when Harvey ended fearful of Mike's reaction to their first fucking and needing reassurance. Harvey is now keeping him awake, quietly demanding an alert ear to whatever is warring around in his mind. A good scene is just as therapeutic for Harvey as it is for Mike, especially when it comes to digging out the thing even his solid confidence tries to bury.
"You can tell me," Mike whispers, confident that his Dom will know what he means.
Harvey shifts uncomfortably and wipes a hand over his eyes. "I'm going to lose this case."
Mike props himself up on one elbow, eye furrowed.
"It's done. I can song and dance my way through the hearing, make it look like we'll win, but we won't."
"Don't say that. You're the best closer -"
Harvey laughs ironically. "That's not a name I gave myself, and not one I've been all that deserving of lately."
Mike thinks over the past months. It's true. Harvey has fallen off his game a little. Not much, but just enough to draw the attention of their superiors.
Two of the companies Harvey had been sure he'd secured at the holiday gala were a bust, and three months ago Peter Leavitt and his up-and-coming automotive company backed out halfway through negotiations with Pearson Hardman to sign with a rival firm not more than a block away. Harvey tried, and failed, to get back in Leavitt's graces. So upon Jessica's urging, Mike was sent to try once again and just barely convinced him to return. Something about his subtle submissiveness charmed the over-dominant CEO and convinced him to put his multi-million dollar lawsuit against HGP financial in Harvey's hands.
"I missed something, something big," Harvey says. "I was so sure the defendant could be held liable for Leavitt's losses. So did they, for that matter. But they can't." He turns to look at Mike, his expression frighteningly distraught. "I really fucked up. I can't even imagine what Jessica will say after this loss. Waiving our fees will be laughable compensation. Without this settlement Leavitt will be bankrupt before he even gets off the ground floor. We'll have to take a hit. A big hit if we want to avoid a malpractice suit. Fuck. And it would be all my fault."
"Malpractice? Harvey, it can't be that bad."
"Don't be naïve, Mike. When you work with multi-million dollar lawsuits you better damn well win. And if you don't it better not be because you were worried about overworking your associate with late night research."
Mike sits up. "You mean I could have prevented this?"
Harvey shakes his head. "No. I don't know, maybe. I don't think any of us would have thought to dig that deep before advising Leavitt to bring his case. Besides, I don't like you doing busy work if you don't have to."
For the past few months Harvey has been giving him more slack at work. No matter how much he denies it, Harvey takes their personal life into consideration when assigning Mike projects. Neither of them acknowledges it because neither of them wants to have thatdiscussion. The discussion that leads to the inevitable, and completely unacceptable conclusion that mixing business with pleasure is a bad idea. They're so fucking great together, at home and in the office. But when things get rocky on both ends, when the complications of being a new couple coincide with the complication of work, something has to give. They just quietly hope the sacrifices they make don't come back to bite. And now, it looks like their lucky streak has run out.
"You said you didn't need help. You said it was cut and dry. Harvey, I've read the case backwards and forwards. HGP financial has to be held liable. We did the research. We combed through their files as well as we would anyone's." His pulse is hammering in his ears.
"Not well enough. They're indemnified by a settlement agreement from 1994. I didn't notice it. Even theydidn't notice it, but they have now. They've been too quiet and that's never a good sign. They have us by the balls, and they know it." When he turns to look at Mike, it's the most vulnerable he's ever seen his normally put together Dom. "Peter Leavitt will find out I advised him to pursue a hopeless cause. He'll discover he was right in thinking the invincible Harvey Specter isn't as invincible as everyone thinks. I'll be a failure, Mike."
Mike shakes his head. "You can't think of yourself in such black and white terms. You're human, Harvey. Humans make mistakes. No one is invincible."
Harvey doesn't say anything. He doesn't acknowledge that Mike is right and that it's okay to fall off your horse once in awhile. He just exhales slowly and goes back to staring at the ceiling. Mike cuddles up closer to Harvey and runs a hand gently back and forth over his chest.
"We'll figure it out together. We'll work all weekend until we find a way to prove they're liable. It's what we do. We find the loophole that no one else saw and exploit it. Don't give up Harvey. You never give up."
Harvey nods stiffly.
"It's gonna be fine. Great even. An awesome win," Mike says with feigned conviction.
"Sure."
DISCLAIMER: This fic includes BSDM scenarios that could be considered abusive and/or upsetting to some readers. It should, however, be noted that this fic illustrates an established relationship in which trust issues are being examined and tested. In some cases 'scenes' are meant to reflect a small degree of misjudgment that will be addressed at a later point in the story. Anyone interested in experimenting with BSDM should research safe-play and not take anything written here as an advisable scenario to replicate in real life. Remember, this is a piece of fiction that takes place in an alternate universe, and therefore does not accurately reflect the emotions, responses and/or outcomes of a scene. Your experiences will be dependent on your own situation and partner. Remember to ALWAYS experiment with a trust worthy partner, ALWAYS have a safe-word, and NEVER experiment with gags unless you have a non-verbal means of signaling should you need to end your scene.