If there was any question as to whether Harvey liked kids or not, there certainly wasn't one now. Mike entered the kitchen after worrying over the empty bed far more than he should have. Luckily, the noises in the apartment gave his worries a rest. A green-eyed boy joyously giggled in Harvey's arms as the man 'flew' him around like an airplane.
"Something smells good."
Harvey turned around with a beautiful beam as he swiftly crossed the floor to him. He leaned down without hesitation and quickly pulled back at the fit of laughter in his arms as Zay took notice of what he was about to do and in true kid spirit, he delightedly started singing "Daddy and Harvey sitting in a tree, K. I. S. S." until Harvey's large hand covered his mouth as he turned pink from embarrassment- not that he'd ever admit it.
He was so pleased with Harvey's reaction that he threw caution to the wind and pressed forward with a chaste kiss to his mouth. In that moment he swears he will do whatever it takes to get him to make Mike look at him like that everyday. He only smiled happily back.
"Sorry if he woke you up," Mike said as he shuffled over to examine the breakfast Harvey had looking and pour himself a cup of coffee.
"It was no big deal. The kid came in complaining about being hungry and we couldn't let him starve, could we?" He answered as he tickled said boy.
"Nightwing needs a proper meal if he wants to grow up to protect Gotham" he said around Zay's shrieks.
"I'm gonna be big and strong and awesomer than Batman AND Superman!"
"More awesome," Harvey supplied. "And yes you will. But only if you eat all of your food" he continued as he set the boy down in a chair and filled a plate with eggs and hash browns and set it down in front of him. At the ferocity in which he dug into the food, Mike just stopped short and felt his jaw literally drop. At Harvey's smirk he couldn't help but defend himself. "It's only because you're new, wait until next year and he won't eat for you either," and punctuated the statement by sticking out his tongue.
The adoration in Harvey's eyes made him back peddle and retrace what he said and he couldn't change it because he was confident about everything he said. He quietly just added, "well, it's true." He eagerly accepted the hug that came with a rich laugh from the older man.
They kept close on the other side of the kitchen to talk discreetly and keep an eye on Isaiah. "Good call on the boxers." Mike couldn't stop the laughter that bubbled out. He leaned in real close and whispered into Harvey's ear, "trust me, they are NOT welcomed." He pulled back knowing he couldn't take them away to do what he wanted at the moment so he continued, "but completely necessary when you have a five year old jump on you and drag you out of bed for breakfast. Sorry about that by the way. You could have just woken me up."
"No, you deserve some sleep" he earnestly replied and pressed a kiss to his forehead. He took Mike's hand and pulled him to the food. "Now eat up because Batman and Nightwing need Robin," he said with an easy smile.
Mike couldn't remember the last time he enjoyed a morning this much. And who knew 5AM wasn't so bad when you had soft touches and laughter to fill the air.
Unfortunately, the wonderland ended when 'Nightwing' finished his food and tugged Harvey away to 'help him pick out his clothes for school.' Mike tried to reason with his son but Harvey promptly stopped him with a raised hand and a wink as he followed the young boy to his room.
Everything actually went rather smooth from then on as Becca picked him up and after a 'superhero hug' for Harvey and a kiss for his dad; he calmly followed her out of the door without a fight.
"Ray will be here in 15 minutes." The smirk Mike wore told him just how they were going to spend that time.
If they arrived at the car a little later than expected, well, Ray didn't dare raise an eyebrow. He just gladly turned on 'Take the A train' and kept his grin to himself.
If Mike thought he could get away with it. Boy was he wrong. He may have temporarily forgot about Donna (Not that he would ever, EVER admit that for fear of his anatomy and life.)
"Nice of you boys to show up." The smirk was enough to put fear into Mike but it wouldn't faze Harvey. Unperturbed, he shot back "there was traffic" as he passed by his secretary. Like clockwork, she turned and stalked the weaker prey. One look at the puppy's eyes and Donna was completely carefree, throwing her hands in the air and dancing around like a madman.
"Stop that, you're causing a scene," Harvey drawled trying desperately to get a hold of the situation.
"Not until you tell me all of the details."
"No, we're at work."
"Fine." She said with no intention of terminating her victory dance.
"You're making a scene."
"Donna, stop that now."
"People are staring."
"Fine.."
The dancing instantly ceased.
"When?"
"Lets at least take this into my office and last night." He replied with a soft smile.
Donna's satisfied look kept the smile on his face as he led her to his office door.
"About time," he heard he whisper under her breath followed by a much louder protest of "NO. Not me too! Donna, I have work to do!"
"I already reassigned Louis' work to Kyle. You're welcome. Now, tell me everything."
Donna kept her advantage by standing over the two men on the couch. She couldn't help but mentally be so proud of Harvey. Over the course of their 10-minute conversation her boss had slid his hand into Mike's to show his support as he explained the events after Harvey left Donna's apartment, then he pulled Mike into his side as he relaxed into the cushions and he even kissed his forehead once without hesitation.
"Well I'm very happy for you guys. Also, tell Ray I want my money tomorrow morning" she said as she walked back to her desk.
Harvey let out a chuckle and helped Mike stand up after him. "Here are some files since you don't have any from Louis anymore. Also, lunch today?"
Mike looked up and was staggered at the picture laid out before him. He was so taken aback any time he saw any hesitancy in his usually over-confident boss. Self-conscious Harvey pulled at his heartstrings so he gently intertwined their fingers and said "definitely" as he lightly squeezed the older man's hand and left with an easy smile. Before he was out the door, Harvey's normal conviction was back in place.
The rest of the day went rather well for a Friday at Pearson Hardman. With only Harvey's files to complete for the day he found himself excited to see Zay and be able to get an extra night with his son. As 7PM rolled around he made his way past Donna's desk. Freedom within his grasp, he barged into Harvey's office without so much as a glance inside so he was immediately sheepish when he looked up to see none other than Jessica Pearson herself hand delivering another case. His embarrassment shifted to disappointment in an instant. "Sorry Mrs. Pearson, I didn't mean to interrupt."
"It's no problem Mike" she said as she headed for the door.
The apologetic look from Harvey was all the prompting he needed to get to work as he reached for the file and sat on the couch to begin reading. Around 3 hours later Harvey could literally hear Mike's stomach grumbling and he wasn't too far behind.
"Why don't we take this back to your place so you can see Isaiah for a little bit? I'll order food and we can eat and work some more after you've had some time with your kid. Sound good?"
The thoughtful smile he received was an obvious answer and he stepped out to dial Ray. Once they gathered their things and made it outside, Harvey gently guided Mike into the car with a hand to the small of his back. "I'll see you in a bit" he explained as he placed an easy kiss to Mike's lips before closing the door and sending him off. He figured he would want to spend as much time with his boy as he could and he knew they needed food, and he more importantly needed a change of clothes. He only had one spare suit and that had already gotten its use. He grabbed a cab to his place before grabbing a pizza along the way back to Mike's. He knocked on the door and he swears he felt arms tightly wrap around his legs before he even saw the door open.
"Hey bud. How was school?"
"It was great!"
He felt the vibrations on his thigh more than he actually heard the words. He reactively smiled and ran his hands through Zay's curly hair. "That's good. Did you use your superpowers to fly yet?!"
"Harveeyyyyyy. I don't actually have superpowers!"
"Well then maybe you're not eating enough. Want some pizza?"
The kid's face lit up like he hadn't had food in years.
"Is there cheese in.."
"the crust? Of course! What kind of plebian gets pizza without cheese in the crust! Come on." In the moment he went to take the pizza to the kitchen table he saw the dumbfounded look on his puppy's face. It was a perfect mixture of amazement and smugness and he felt a blush cover his face. He knew that entire interaction was damning evidence against him in his debate against Mike about whether or not there should be cheese in the crust. To Harvey's surprise, instead of mocking him, Mike only walked up to him with a smirk and gave him a simple kiss to his mouth and whispered and quiet "thank you." As they sat through 'dinner', they mostly just listened to Isaiah ramble on about anything and everything as per usual. Both men were more than content listening to the bubbly kid rather than focusing on the real world and their case. He felt bad as he sat there watching the kid try to climb his way onto Mike's lap. He realized that he most likely didn't get to see his dad very much at night and that this was a really big treat. He knew he was correct when Zay's eyes filled with tears at the mere mention of bedtime.
"I already let you stay up much later than normal because I know you wanted to see Harvey and I but you need some sleep. Remember, Mrs. Kelly will be here tomorrow until I get home so you have to be well rested so you can do a bunch of fun stuff. Now say goodnight, use the bathroom and brush your teeth. Let me know when you're done and I'll tuck you in" he said with a little nudge to get the boy going.
Mike turned to Harvey. "If you want to pull the files out we can get to work right after I get back. I just have to get his room ready."
Isaiah came out of the bathroom and headed straight to the table and was obviously confused when he saw his dad missing.
"He just went to get your bed ready, bud."
"Oh, okay. Cool. Thank you for the p'za Ha'vy." He said, his tiredness clearly consuming him. He wrapped his arms around Harvey's neck and gave him a hug. "I really like when you're hear," he heard the kid whisper into his ear. He pulled back and smile and said "me too, Nightwing." With a wink and a "goodnight," he sent him in giggles to his room. He got to work and smiled when Mike joined him at the table 10 minutes later.
"Thank you for letting me see him" he sincerely said as he wrapped his fingers around Harvey's and squeezed.
"There's nothing to thank me for. You should get to see him every night and I'm sorry I've been keeping you away from him."
"Hey, it's not your fault," Mike assured but he felt anything but better about it. He couldn't change the past but he could definitely alter the future.
The night was long and tedious until they called it around 3:30 in the morning, opting to get some sleep.
The morning proved a challenge as they shuffled around like zombies. Zay was thankfully still blissfully asleep when Mrs. Kelly arrived and they left for the office. Luckily, the day improved quickly. Mike found what they were looking for within the first few hours of looking at other files related to the case. The client meeting followed and went smoothly.
At lunch Harvey surprised him by pushing him out the doors and into the car after handing him his bag.
"Are you kidnapping me?" He questioned with a smirk. "Actually, I think the second party has to be unwilling to go with the first party for it to be a true kidnapping. Where are we going? This isn't heading towards any of our usual restaurants."
"We're taking the rest of the day off."
"We can do that!?"
"No, but I can do that" he said with his signature smirk, which only grew wider as the younger man straddled his lap. He saw Ray smile and raise the partition with a knowing grin.
If they happened to spend the rest of the ride necking like teenagers, well sue him.