Chapter 2- First Days And Escapades


And true to form, Monday was the most stressful day Harvey had experienced in a while.

Kurt had arrived a few minutes before eight, chatting to Donna as though he had been there for years. Donna was eagerly nodding to his words and Harvey figured that somebody Donna liked couldn't be too much of a bad hire, even though he knew that Kurt was not going to disappoint him.

Mike was a few minutes the other side of the deadline, slipping into Harvey's office whilst he was turned around. Kurt eyed him suspiciously and inched up the sofa as Mike sat down silently.

"Good morning, Mike."

Mike flinched. "Uh…good morning, Mr. Specter. Sorry I'm a little late."

"I can see you through the window, Mike. Also don't you think I'd notice if you weren't here when there's literally one other person in the room when I started speaking?"

"I guess so, yeah," Mike nodded.

"You guess so. That's a great start. Anyway, now that you're here, we should start. Mike Ross, this is Kurt Hummel, your fellow associate. You two are both competing and working as a team and, trust me, that dynamic is gonna save your asses every single day. Though I will not tolerate squabbling, running to me with "Mike said this…" or "Kurt did this…". You're associates now, this is the big leagues, so deal with it yourselves. No asking Donna to settle disputes for you. Got it?"

Both nodded wordlessly.

"Now, Kurt if you don't mind, I'd like a word with Mike."

"Of course," Kurt bowed his head politely as he left the room, chatting with Donna in the meantime.

"Harvey, look, I know I was late but my bike, I…"

"Save it. Wait, you ride a bike to a law office? God, you need a car quickly. Anyway, that wasn't what I wanted to talk to you about. I wanted to make sure you knew how to handle things today. Your fake backstory, for one."

Mike nodded. "I'm a Harvard Law graduate, studied at Georgetown before that. Don't tell anybody personal information that they could use to poke potential holes in my story. I got it, Harvey."

"You seem to be dealing fine with the prospect of having to bullshit your way through a career in law."

"I know things. From books that I've read. I've taken the LSAT and scored exceptionally well. I won't be bullshitting completely."

"And what about those things that you can't learn from books? Things like filing motions and things that everybody else was taught in law school? You'd better not embarrass me, Mike. If I hear that my associate doesn't know what he's doing, rethinking this position is going to be very easy for me."

"I don't respond well to threats."

"It's not a threat unless you fuck up. So don't. You can go."

When Mike left the room, Kurt was talking to a woman who Mike would very much like to get to know. He heard Kurt at the tail end of a sentence.

"...so you and Donna should totally come over for brunch one weekend, I'd love to have you." Kurt turned and saw Mike. "Oh, Mike, you can come too, I guess."

Mike raised his eyebrows quickly. "Uh, thanks?"

Kurt smirked. "Hmm, sure." He turned back to Rachel. "So let me know when you guys are free and I'll set it up."

Rachel smiled neutrally at Mike. "Harvey asked me to show you guys around. I walk a fast pace, go through everything once so you'd better be listening first time. I will not repeat anything. You're lawyers, you shouldn't need coddling. Ready? Let's go."

Rachel walked ahead of them, at the fast pace she had mentioned, talking them through the proceedings at Pearson Hardman. Everything was well laid out and generally didn't need going through, but Mike appreciated it all the same.

It was Kurt who noticed his staring.

"Hey, stop staring at her ass. She's your colleague and it's also degrading."

Mike rolled his eyes. "I might like her." He wasn't going to admit to Kurt that he was having a moment of anxiety about being caught up in this world which he had known nothing about just twenty-four hours ago.

Kurt smirked. "She's gay, dude. Like, really gay." Kurt pointed to Donna, who waggled her fingers in a sassy wave as she stood outside Harvey's office. Mike raised his eyebrows, smirking momentarily.

"Damn," Mike whispered under his breath. It wasn't as though as he was too disappointed, but better for Kurt to think that he liked Rachel rather than him just being a pervert. Which he absolutely wasn't? But why did he care so much about what Kurt thought about him? Probably because Kurt was his colleague and competition and he had to stay in good standing with him because that way he would look better to Harvey.

Yeah, that was it.

It wasn't like he was also checking out Kurt whenever he could.

Nope. Not even a little bit.

"Mike?"

Mike blinked. Kurt and Rachel were standing looking at him as though he was dead. Which he might be if Harvey caught him dawdling. "Sorry. Coming."

Rachel shook her head.

By the end of the tour, Kurt had become well acquainted with the layout of the offices and was pleased with what he had seen. So far, everything was well organised and arranged by matters of importance, besides the corner offices of course. Louis Litt was stationed near the first years for everybody's convenience.

Apart from Kurt's, apparently.

"Kurt Hummel...you come well-regarded from Harvard, I must say."

Kurt looked up, having parted ways with Rachel. Mike was stood behind him, unsure. Louis wasn't even looking in his direction. "Mr. Litt. Pleasure to meet you."

Louis gave him a short nod. "Anyway, I was wondering why you were just standing around."

Kurt frowned. "We were just given the tour," he replied, gesturing to Mike behind him. Again, Louis ignored him. "Rachel is literally still walking away. I'm not 'standing around'."

"Is that backtalk? You should know I don't appreciate backtalk from a first year."

Kurt jutted his hip out. "You should know, Mr. Litt, with all due respect, I'm not into being tricked into thinking I did something that I didn't do. I'm not an idiot, I know that you're testing my backbone. Word on the street is that you do this to everyone who starts working here in order to scope out whether or not they have the potential to handle it. And even though this is a test, I will not accept you talking to me like that. First day or not, I'm not afraid to challenge you if I think something you're doing is out of line."

Mike was aghast. Kurt had the audacity to talk to Louis like that even though it was his first day and he hadn't even been there for a whole hour yet."

But Louis looked pleased. "You'll do fine here, Mr. Hummel. And ah, Mr. Ross. You just keep doing what you're doing."

Mike chuckled bemusedly as Louis walked past them. "That was the weirdest thing I've ever seen."

Kurt smirked. "I see right through that man. This is going to be a lot of fun."

A voice interrupted Mike's reply. "Mr. Ross? A moment?"

Jessica Pearson stood behind them, tall and imposing in her stature. Kurt was in awe of her from her legal standing alone, but her body language and presence left nothing to be desired. She was a powerful woman and wasn't going to let anybody stop her from rising to her fullest potential, which Kurt suspected she had not even reached yet.

Mike gaped, flustered. "Oh, of course." Really, Ross? Busted already? Pull it together, dude.

Kurt just smiled. "I'll see you later, Mike."

Mike followed Jessica in her office, gulping as she closed the door.

Meanwhile, down the hall, Donna shut Harvey's office door, walking over to the window. "I hope you know what you're doing here."

Harvey shrugged. "Don't I always?"

"I don't know, Harvey, this time it seems different. You never express interest in any interviewees and suddenly you've got two guys working for you. One of them you're paying out of your own pocket."

Harvey frowned. "How do you even...never mind. You're Donna."

"I'm Donna," she echoed with a confident nod.

"What do you think of them?" Harvey wondered, finishing up an email before giving Donna his undivided attention.

Donna smiled. "Kurt's great. He's sharp, polished and the kid looks like he could model high end fashion on the catwalk. Best one you've ever picked so far."

Harvey smirked. "And Mike?"

Donna's smile faded slightly. "Less impressive. He clearly doesn't know as much as he thinks he does and looks like a lost lamb walking around these offices. I was going to ask you why you picked him, actually. Surely he didn't impress you that much at interview?"

Harvey chuckled. "Actually, he sort of did. He was very...quick. Hadn't prepared anything, clearly, but answered everything I asked and kept on his toes. I have an instinct about him."

"Well, I'm not going to be the one to question your hiring patterns, you best tell the kid he's got to brush up on his stuff quickly or it'll be like his college education was completely worthless. He's going to drown, Harvey."

Harvey stayed quiet. "He'll be fine. Kurt's going to look out for him."

"Aren't they competing? Kurt's a shark. That's how I know he's a perfect fit for you."

"I did good," Harvey smirked.

Donna rolled her eyes. "That's my cue to leave and do the job you're paying me to do. I'll look out for them, Harvey, don't worry about that. Rachel will too."

"I appreciate it," Harvey smiled as she left.

He sat with all of his files in front of him, exhaling as he wondered if the mess he had gotten himself into was going to be worth the mountains of trouble that were going to come his way soon enough. All Mike had to do was slip up just once and the game was up. Kurt would be fine, but Mike wouldn't bounce back from something like that. Not yet, anyway. Harvey had some building to do.

"I must say, Mr. Ross," Jessica Pearson hummed as she stared into the eyes of Mike Ross, "I was surprised when Harvey put forth a second recommendation for the position."

Mike shrugged. "I didn't think it was anything too unusual."

"When he sent me the files, I compared you and Mr. Hummel. On paper, he's the better hire, by far. You scraped by at Harvard despite an impressive LSAT score. Which led me to believe that your interview was stellar and I wanted to see that in person for myself."

Mike knew nothing about his supposed file which was where his quick-firing responses were going to come in handy. Harvey hadn't filled him in, which annoyed him slightly. "Admittedly, I don't test immensely well. I'm much more practical and I'm better in person."

"So it seems," Jessica smiled and Mike couldn't decipher what she was thinking like he usually could with people. "Tell me about yourself, Mr. Ross."

"Mike," he corrected, "and there's not a great deal to tell. My parents died when I was young, I was raised by my grandmother. I've always wanted to be in law ever since I saw 12 Angry Men."

Jessica smirked. "Now if that's what you said to Harvey no wonder he expanded his selection number."

"Big movie fan?"

"Huge."

Mike figured that was the word to apply to Harvey. He seemed to do everything larger than life. His lexicon, his style choices, the persona he applied to himself. Mike was sure there was a different, softer person underneath all of that. It was something of himself that he recognised in Harvey. And he was excited to figure out if his first hunch was correct. He knew that working at Pearson Hardman was going to be a challenge, but it was one that he was ready to take on. He could do this. So what if he hadn't studied at some fancy college? He knew the stuff and he would learn the rest as he went along.

"So is there anything else you wanted?" Mike tried his best not to sound rude or impatient and he wasn't sure how he sounded.

Jessica didn't seem annoyed, so that was a good sign. "I just wanted a chat. I'll be meeting with Mr. Hummel after lunch. Have a good first day, Mike. And my door is always open for you."

That sounded somewhat ominous to Mike but he waved it away. She's being nice to you, idiot. Don't mistake that for something that it's not.

And at the end of the day, Mike would've taken a meeting with Jessica over an abrupt confrontation with Louis Litt.

When work was finished, Kurt and Mike reconvened in Harvey's office for a breakdown of their days. They had been pretty similar, although Louis had piled extra work on Mike's desk, things that he didn't know how to do. Kurt had covered for him and taken care of some of the finickier things that he had learned at Harvard, with an additional piece of advice to Mike to actually learn some of these things. Kurt had shown him how to do things and Mike was well on his way to being able to do them.

"How did it go today?" Harvey's question was more aimed at Mike.

Mike shrugged. "Good. Nobody seems to suspect anything."

"Good, that means you did the bare minimum. Exactly what I expected. How about you, Kurt?"

Kurt smiled. "It was excellent, actually. I made some friends, had a nice meeting with Jessica, let Louis Litt know that he can't intimidate me and I realised I actually like busywork."

Harvey chuckled. "Nobody likes busywork."

"That's why they give it all to me." Kurt didn't give Mike a side-eye, but Mike felt it nonetheless.

"So a good day overall then," Harvey clapped his hands. "Now that's just day one. It gets harder from here. I have a meeting with a big client tomorrow that I want you both to sit in on. I'll excuse you from anything Louis might ask you to do. You'll take notes and I'll want your strategies for how to handle him afterwards, go it?" Off their nods, Harvey nodded back. "Okay. You can both go home. Oh, and Mike? Get here earlier tomorrow, okay?"

Mike nodded as they turned and left the office.

Kurt stopped him as they said goodbye to Donna. "Mike? You wanna go for a few drinks? Just to get to know each other? We're going to be going through this whole thing together, I figured it might be nice to properly introduce ourselves."

Mike didn't hesitate in agreeing.


The two sat at a table in a crowded bar called The Lime as Kurt ordered two vodka tonics.

"I don't know what you drink."

"Vodka's good," Mike said, shuffling in his seat."

"Then you're good with me." Kurt's eyes twinkled slightly and Mike couldn't help but notice how adorable it was.

Their drinks arrived and Kurt drained his glass in one fluid motion as Mike took a quick sip. Mike raised his eyebrows, surprised.

"I went through Harvard Law, Mike, I'm no stranger to needing a glass to take the edge off. Of course, you'd know all about that, too."

Mike chuckled. "Yeah. I can definitely empathise."

Kurt narrowed his eyes but let it go. "So, tell me something about you that nobody else knows."

"Really? That's how we're doing this? Like a ninth grade sleepover?"

"Say what you want, but ninth grader really know how to get information out of people."

Mike thought about it. "Okay. I used to write spoilers in the front of library books and then leave them for people I hated to find."

Kurt laughed at that, a musical sound that chimed through the busy air. "I meant something deeper, Mike, although I do appreciate how petty that is."

"Fine. Let's see...okay, how about this. I wonder if my dead parents are proud of me for becoming a lawyer, or if they wanted me to do something less corrupt."

Kurt gaped and Mike quickly backtracked.

"Oh, that was a joke. My parents are dead, but I didn't mean to say it so flippantly and I—."

"Mike," Kurt interjected. "Calm down. I was just...that was going to be my one, too."

Mike tilted his head. "How long?"

"Mom died when I was nine, cancer. Dad when I was seventeen, heart attack."

"Yikes."

"What about you?"

"Both when I was eleven. Car crash."

Kurt unconsciously reached out a hand and stroked it across Mike's. "I'm sorry."

Mike looked down at it but Kurt didn't flinch. "Me too. It is what it is, I guess. Who raised you?"

"When my dad got sick and it wasn't looking so good, I got emancipated. He raised me the best he could until then, though."

"My grandmother," Mike answered to Kurt's unspoken question. "She's the best person I know."

"I assume she's very proud of you."

"I think she is. She's proud of me for remembering to take my shoes off as I enter the apartment, so I'm not sure what her levels of pride actually are."

Kurt grinned. "That is important." He realised that he was still touching Mike's hand. After one last stroke of his thumb, he gently pulled it away, leaving Mike wishing he hadn't done so. "Does she know about what exactly you're doing?"

"I don't understand what you mean."

Kurt clasped his own hands together. He had been waiting for this moment all day and it was partly the reason he had asked Mike to drinks, so that he could reveal that he knew the very thing Mike was most worried about everybody else finding out. But Kurt thought it was rather obvious.

"That you're pretending to be a lawyer."