A/N: Usual disclaimers and such - I don't own them.
Life is extremely busy and I rarely have time to write anymore; especially since I'm trying my hand at writing an original novel. But I realized I was really missing this story and one of my others, so for all of you who held hope that I would update, thank you! I've appreciated the reviews that have come in asking for it.
This story probably has a good couple of chapters left - probably four, maybe five. I'm going to do my best, but I also want to give this story the ending it deserves and I'm not actually quite sure what that is yet.
Thanks, and enjoy the next chapter of In Another Life
Warning: Things get a little steamy in the beginning; not enough to warrant an upping of the rating, me-thinks, but enough to warrant a warning.
Mike woke up the next morning briefly disoriented by the sun hitting him from the wrong side. The solid weight around his waist and pressing into his back reminded him where he was and he wiggled to cuddle closer, threading his fingers through Harvey's over his stomach. Harvey shifted a little, but didn't seem to wake up.
He closed his eyes again, remembering the discussion the prior night.
"I'm not so sure I trust you," Harvey had said warily, eyeing Mike with a smirk and a raised eyebrow. Mike had already stripped down to his boxers and slid under the covers.
"Trust me or don't, but I am wonderfully comfortable already and not planning on leaving this bed." They had watched a few episodes of Star Trek, had a few beers, and kissed lazily in between both before heading for bed. The only thing that had stopped Mike from pushing for more was that he noticed Harvey was trying very hard to stick to his earlier request to wait.
"You're a menace," Harvey had muttered, pulling his drawer open to grab a pair of sleep pants and a soft cotton tee. Mike would have preferred he leave them off, but he understood why Harvey was grabbing them.
"And you're moving too slow, old man," Mike threw back, propping himself up on his elbows. He didn't miss the way Harvey's eyes trailed down his body to where it was hidden beneath the blanket, and he gave a slow wink when the man's eyes traveled back up to meet his.
"Menace." And he was planning on being one again this morning.
In the past few hours, he had come to appreciate how their height differences seemed to compliment one another. Now, as he felt Harvey shift and a certain part of the man's anatomy pressed more insistently into him just - there - he couldn't help the tiny groan that slid out as he gave a small press back.
"Mm...Harvey," he whispered, slowly rubbing his backside against the still-sleeping man, stifling the groans that tried to escape. He grinned when he felt a twitch from Harvey, but the grin turned into another groan when that twitch turned into a firm press. "Oh, god...Harvey…"
Harvey's arm curled tighter around his stomach, and he reached his own hand back to clutch desperately at Harvey's hip, starting to rock forward and back. The whimpers and groans were coming of their own volition, much as he tried to stifle them.
"Mike." He wasn't sure if the raspiness of the voice behind him was from sleep or arousal until he felt teeth scraping lightly over his neck. "Mike…" Harvey's hand slipped beneath the waistband on Mike's boxers to take a firm hold of him and Mike bent his head forward as he nearly choked on his next breath. His body was torn between thrusting forward into Harvey's tight grip or backwards to feel Harvey pressing exactly where he wanted.
"Please, Harvey…"
"Come for me, Mike - just like this. Come for me." The low whisper in his ear followed by the shock of Harvey biting his neck - not hard enough to draw blood, but enough to sting - pushed him over the edge; he felt the stuttering of Harvey's hips behind him that said the other man had followed shortly after.
Despite the wet patch in his own boxers and along the front of Harvey's sleep pants - which he could feel behind him - Mike burrowed deeper into Harvey's embrace and turned his head to face his bed partner.
"Good morning," he whispered, kissing Harvey on the tip of his nose.
"Menace," Harvey laughed, returning the affectionate peck with a tiny wiggle of his fingers that had Mike squirming in his hold.
SUITS*SUITS*SUITS*SUITS*SUITS
"Seriously, dude?" After he'd turned off the water, Harvey was able to hear Mike's voice from the living room. Only two words and he knew exactly who was on the other end of the line - Trevor.
"I told you less than 24 hours ago where I was going to be last night; could you not have picked a better time to get picked up?" Harvey raised an eyebrow as he listened, toweling off his hair before wrapping the towel around his waist and padding towards the living room.
"No, you do not get to ask me how the night went; I'm justifiably pissed off, T!" A bit more silence and a sigh; Harvey came around the corner and saw Mike sitting with his head in his hand, hunched forward on the couch. He was torn between wanting to ease Mike's pain by being there for him or knocking the daylights out of Trevor. Deciding the latter would most likely not help any sort of situation, much less this one, he settled for dropping into the couch next to Mike and waiting.
"Yeah, I'll be there. You already knew I would; I'd love for there to be a minute where you're actually terrified I won't though, asshole." Harvey heard a laugh over the line and clenched his fist tightly, but made no other movements. Mike was looking over at him apologetically and Harvey knew already that half of their day had been cut short by an impending trip to the jail.
"You know I'll probably be bringing Harvey with, right?" Even Harvey heard the what the fuck, why from his end. "Because while I'm busy being pissed as a hornet, he'll be calmly taking care of your shit despite the fact that neither of you likes each other. He couldn't be certain, but Harvey was fairly certain he heard that's because he has a stick up his - "Trevor! For the love of god, if you want me to show up in an hour, you better keep that thought to yourself." And then Mike hung up the phone and threw it across the room.
"That's not a particularly good way to keep a phone intact, you know," Harvey laughed. Mike leaned over and curled himself into the other man in a way that looked completely uncomfortable, but Mike seemed to have no problem with it. He began carding his fingers through Mike's hair when he heard the response.
"I miss the days when you hung up with people by slamming the phone back on the receiver instead of pushing a button - it's not dramatic enough for situations that warrant it."
It was worth the slap Mike gave him when he asked, "are you even old enough to have used one of those phones, or have you just read about them?"
SUITS*SUITS*SUITS*SUITS*SUITS
After a quick shower for Mike that resulted in him jumping into one of his spare suits (he'd probably need to start keeping casual clothes over as well), they slid into the back of the town car, Harvey handing Ray a jazz cd before getting in. It was his high-tension jazz cd; Harvey was trying to stay calm.
Despite his joking manner after Mike had hung up the phone, Harvey had been fairly silent since Mike got out of the shower. He had spoken only to ask which precinct Trevor was at - the one closest to Mike's apartment - and to remind him to grab his phone from the floor. Obviously, he was displeased with, once again, needing to bail someone out that never should have been this big of an issue to begin with.
He'd said nothing as Mike explained quickly that Trevor had been smoking in his apartment and another resident, clearly displeased with the smell, had called the cops and asked them to take care of it. Apparently it was a slow night because calls like that usually took awhile to respond to.
They'd kept Trevor in detox until the high wore off before allowing him his phone call.
The only thing keeping Mike calm about the situation was that, despite his silence, Harvey had reached over to lace his fingers with Mike's and was stroking the back of Mike's hand with his thumb.
They arrived and Mike walked straight to the front; apparently they'd waited long enough for all the usual Saturday morning bail-posters to have already done their waiting in line. The woman behind the glass looked in no way interested in being there; she was chewing her gum obnoxiously and barely paying attention to anything as she surfed various beauty sites, her acrylic red nails clacking on the keyboard.
"Hey there; I'm Mike Ross here to post Mr. Evans' bail?" The woman behind the counter nodded and typed a few things into her computer before pulling out a form and sliding it under the glass window.
"Just fill that out, hon. Bail is $1000; says here it was a misdemeanor. One of the officers will go back and get 'im." He filled out the form - second nature to him by now - and slid it and his credit card under the window. "Thanks, hon. It'll be a few minutes."
Mike stepped away from the window and went to stand against the wall beside Harvey.
"Misdemeanor; at least it's not a felony possession. He's learning," Mike said with a smile that didn't reach his eyes. Harvey, apparently, was still not willing to joke about this.
"Maybe so, but you're not. I know you said he's a part of your life and I get that - even though we both know I don't like it - but if he's getting you dragged into this then I need to say something. He was smoking in your apartment, Mike. If you'd been there, I might be here listening to you ask me to bail both of you out. Not to mention what it looks like at work." Mike sighed, looking away from Harvey.
"I know, and I'm sorry. I won't lie to you and say it's the last time, because neither of us would believe it. I just don't have it in me to cut him off." He physically felt the anger drain out of Harvey beside him before an arm came around his shoulders and pulled him in to give him what probably looked like just a friendly side-hug, but Mike knew was so much more.
Harvey opened his mouth to respond, but they heard the door open and Trevor strutted through. His face, bright when he saw Mike, soured at the sight of Mike's companion.
"Really? You had to grab Daddy just to spring me? I thought you were joking about bringing him! It was just bail; one of your neighbors is a snitch, dude." Mike rolled his eyes, trying to convey an apology to the officer standing behind Trevor. Clearly, Trevor had been a hassle, because the officer did not look amused.
"Are you Mike Ross?" Mike nodded. "The owner of the apartment where my officers picked Mr. Evans up?"
"Yes, that's right. But I wasn't home last night; I'm letting him stay at my apartment. And before you ask, there's nothing in the lease agreement prohibiting me from doing so, even if I'm not staying there." The cop looked Mike and his well-tailored suit up and down and, seeing the clean-pressed Harvey standing beside him using his best closer-stare, seems to back down. Apparently, whatever attempt he'd been about to make to get Mike to incriminate himself didn't seem so smart anymore.
Mike resisted the urge to smirk.
"You have a good day; try not to end up here again." Trevor, who was facing away from the cop but towards Mike, rolled his eyes and tried to share a smirk with his best friend that Mike did not return.
"Thank you, Officer."
As soon as they were outside, Trevor was his typical not-my-fault self.
"Thank you, Officer. Yes, sir; no, sir. Jeez, Mike, kiss-ass much?" He seemed to have forgotten about Harvey who, as per usual, was walking far enough in front of them to look separate but close enough to hear the conversation.
"T, this has gotta stop. This is the fourth time I've had to bail you out," and then Mike winced because he saw Harvey's shoulders tighten - he only knew about the time he'd had to save Trevor by becoming an attorney for Mike's almost-killer, not about the three times that had occurred between this time and that - and continued, "not including the time that ended with you on a bus to Montana." Where you should have stayed, he added silently. "I can't keep doing this."
"I know; you gotta pay your Gram's bills." Trevor at least had the decency to look mildly ashamed.
"And mine! I AM still paying off law school, you ass!" His friend snorted.
"Is that why you still live in that piece of shit apartment?"
"That, and so I don't get kicked out just because you like to smoke up when I specifically tell you not to." He didn't mention that he'd already paid for an apartment for Grams, but with her recent scare, she would probably never get the chance to use it. And with the way things were already progressing with Harvey after just a few days, it was unlikely he'd ever need to move in either.
Trevor seemed to notice Mike's extended silence and finally said, "Sorry to make you ditch loverboy - I assume things went well if that's who you were with before you picked up bossman to come get me?" Well, he was close.
"It's fine; we're going on a date later." Mike couldn't contain his smile at the thought of an entire day being with Harvey without worrying about work or trying to hide his feelings.
"I wanna meet the guy; especially if he makes you smile like that and Grams likes him. We should get dinner tomorrow before I skip town." Mike shook his head.
"How about you and I grab lunch tomorrow before we go visit Grams instead? I'm not sure if it's a good time for the two of you to meet yet."
"Ooh, shy? Fine, maybe next time. You going back there?"
"Yeah, Harvey's giving me a ride. Want to ride with? We can drop you back at mine." Trevor looked over to Harvey, who was leaning against the car, eyeing the two of them.
"Probably not." Mike smiled.
"Probably not."
SUITS*SUITS*SUITS*SUITS*SUITS
"You've bailed him out four times?" Harvey knew he was more irritated by the fact that he only knew about none of them than the fact that there were four times. He also knew he'd never say that out loud.
"It's Trevor," Mike said, as if that explained everything. Loath as he was to admit, it technically did.
"That's my point, Mike. Look, I get it - no matter how much it irritates the shit out of me. I know if it weren't for him you never would have stumbled into that damn interview room that day. But dammit, Mike, the guy is still-"
"My friend, Harvey. And for now, you don't have to like it, but if this is going to work, you need to accept that he's still a part of my life. Just like he's going to have to accept that you're a part of mine when I tell him. I wasn't interested in having him lay into me right before we go on our first date," he added at Harvey's suspicious look.
"So you're planning on telling him at lunch tomorrow - right before you go visit your grandmother?" Mike shrugged, flipping Harvey's hand between them and tracing patterns on his palm. Harvey tried - and failed - to suppress the shiver that coursed through him at the tiny movements.
"I figure if he's a douche about it, he'll either keep it to himself in front of Grammy or just won't choose to come. And he'll either come around one day or you'll get your wish."
"Mike," he said with a resigned sigh. "No matter how I feel about him, he is your friend; I would never make you an ultimatum like that."
"No, but he would, and that's his problem because I made my choice about that a long time ago, Harvey. And you might not, but Trevor sure as shit would." Harvey wanted to say something in response to that but he actually didn't have anything to say. Usually, he would have encouraged someone to pick their friends over their lovers; lovers weren't necessarily always there for you. But in this case…
"So!" The change in tone clearly meant Mike was changing the subject. "Where are you taking me on this first date?"
"Besides somewhere that you can get a change of clothes that isn't a suit?" He was not going back to Mike's apartment and dealing with Trevor right now. "You, me, Coney Island, and some stuffed animals won through a demonstration of ring toss." Mike was looking at him like he'd grown two more heads...and one of those heads looked like Louis.
"Harvey Specter wants to go to Coney Island?"
"Hey! I had a childhood!" Mike gave him a sidelong look that called bullshit. "Ok, so Donna insisted on dragging me one day because she had a childhood and wanted to relive it."
"And?" Mike knew he was holding something back for dramatic effect; when had the kid gotten so good at reading him? Or had he always been able to?
"I tried to play that stupid milk bottle game and it's obviously rigged so I lost and I got pissed and practiced until I didn't lose. And then proceeded to do the same with three other games, including ring toss."
"Those games cost like $5 to play, don't they?"
"And?"
"Right, I forgot. You'll pay whatever it takes to keep that ego intact," Mike laughed, flipping their hands between them and idly drawing patterns on Harvey's palm. He suppressed a shiver and kept his best 'no-nonsense' face on while he answered.
"That ego's going to win you a giant stuffed animal today."
"Fine - impress me."
A/N: A bit of a shorter chapter, but I didn't want this and the date in the same chapter so - meh.
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