Mike wasn't focused.
His mind was elsewhere, in a world of facts, statistics and memories. He was calculating his bills for the month in his head while attempting to box. His payment for his grandmother's care was coming up and he was thinking that he was going to practically starve for the next two weeks just to be able to pay it. How could anyone keep their mind on anything else?
He wasn't throwing punches, he was simply pushing his arms away from him and moving them side to side to block other arms coming his way. Technically, he couldn't even see Harvey, the man he was currently in a boxing match with. He was simply just lost in his thoughts.
"Mike." Harvey called, but the younger man didn't hear him.
"Mike!" Harvey yelled again.
The lawyer blinked. "What did you say?" He asked, seeing him for the first time since they entered the ring.
Harvey shook his head. "I know you have a knack for spacing out, but this is not the time to do it."
"I don't space out." Mike defended, though taking one look at his boss' face he knew it was no use.
"I've just got a lot on my mind." Mike said, throwing a punch that Harvey easily blocked. Harvey tilted his head to the side with a sarcastic look on his face that said, really?
"What?" Mike asked, like he didn't know. "I can't help it. You try remembering everything and not think about it."
Harvey shook his head with a laugh.
"You know some people use this as a way to clear their head. Maybe you should try it." Harvey said while punching Mike in the ribs, but it was more like tapping because he was being easy.
Mike made an oof sound and rubbed his side. He glared at Harvey.
"You're supposed to block it, kid and I didn't even put any muscle behind it."
"So you're taking it easy on me?" Mike asked, disbelieving.
"Would you rather I didn't?" Harvey shot back, throwing his arms out to the side.
"I'm not a kid. Quit treating me like one." Mike shot back defensively. Harvey looked at him for a second, surprised by the angry mood his associate was in.
"Fine." Harvey replied simply. He held up his hands, took a deep breath and put a little bit more force behind his punches, but not much. The kid would be sore in the morning, but he wouldn't have bruises.
It was a few minutes later that Harvey realized Mike was no longer with him, lost in his thoughts again. The older man decided that instead of calling Mike's name to get his attention he would act like he was going to throw a hard punch at his face, but he would stop short, just scaring the younger man a bit. However, Harvey didn't take into consideration that Mike might take that specific time to shake his head in order to quit spacing out.
Like the perfect timing Harvey didn't believe Mike had, the younger lawyer shook his head as he took a step towards Harvey, while the older man threw what was supposed to be fake, hard punch. It happened in slow motion. Harvey felt his fist collide with Mike's head and watched in horror as his associate stumbled backwards a few steps. Mike's eyes were almost rolled back in his head as he swayed on his feet, but eventually they went all the way back when he fell to the ground.
Mike realized he had spaced out again. Deciding he would rather save Harvey the trouble of giving him another speech and himself the trouble of listening, he shook his head to rid his thoughts, but instead of the clear form of Harvey standing in front of him that he expected, he saw a blur out of the corner of his eye, before an explosion of pain erupted in his temple, making his vision blurry. He felt dizzy and sick as the world danced around him, but eventually a dark place consumed him and he couldn't have been more thankful.
Harvey stood frozen as his associate stumbled, but the moment his body smacked the floor, it was as if the impact melted the ice holding Harvey in place. He threw his boxing gloves off and fell to his knees beside Mike.
"Mike!" He called, shaking the younger man by the shoulder, but he got no response. He gently tapped the side of Mike's face and called his name again. This time he got rewarded for his efforts.
The younger man started to stir, his eyelids flickering and a groan coming from his mouth.
"Mike? You with me?" Harvey asked, still tapping the side of the kid's face. "Come on, kid."
Mike blinked a few times trying to clear his vision, but never actually getting it back to one hundred percent. He struggled to focus on Harvey's face that was hovering over him. If his vision wasn't blurry, he would have caught the look of concern on his face.
"Mike! Answer me, damn it." Harvey practically shouted.
"Harv'y...not soooo loud!" Mike slurred a bit, as he held a hand up to his head.
Mike was still disoriented, but he could have swore that he heard a whispered 'Thank God' coming from Harvey. He tried to sit up, but the moment he did his head spun causing his stomach to twist. Readily, he laid back down and closed his eyes while he tried to focus on keeping the contents of his stomach where they belonged.
"Take it easy, Mike." Harvey said, keeping a firm hand on Mike's shoulder.
"What happened?" Mike asked, reopening his eyes to look a Harvey's blurry form. The older lawyer stared down at him for a second, and Mike wondered if it was just his mind playing tricks on him or if he could really see a guilty expression on Harvey's face. He decided he was hallucinating, because it seemed a lot less scarier.
"I punched you." Harvey informed him, his voice reluctant. Mike raised an eyebrow but winced when made his head hurt worse.
"Oh. Yeah, we were boxing." Mike replied, looking past Harvey's face at the ceiling while he thought back on it. "I know that this is the point of boxing, Harvey, but I have got to admit, I don't really like it."
Harvey watched Mike move glassy, unfocused eyes back on him.
"And I've got to admit that I don't like you boxing, either." Harvey's voice was light, but he was being serious. "How are you feeling?"
Mike closed his eyes a moment and reopened them slowly. "Like that guy that the Joker slammed his head down on the pencil when he asked, 'Do you want to see a magic trick?' in the Dark Knight."
Harvey laughed. "Let me go shine the bat signal."
"Why? Batman is already here." Mike said referring to Harvey, which both men reasoned was because of the concussion they both knew Mike had.
"Well, that's true, but if you're going to be Robin, you're going to have build some muscle."
Mike scoffed. "I have a big muscle, thank you." Mike pointed to his head.
Harvey rolled his eyes. "Yeah, well the blow to the head you just took might have knocked your IQ down a bit."
"Yeah, and whose fault is that?"
"Yours." Harvey replied. "If you wouldn't space out so much, that wouldn't have happened."
"Whatever." Mike dismissed, his head hurting a lot more than before. "Can we leave now?"
"Yeah, we need to get you to the hospital." Harvey answered, helping Mike sit up.
"What? No, no, no, no, no. I'm not going to the hospital. I'm fine. I'll just take some Tylenol and I'll be good as new."
"Yeah!" Harvey replied enthusiastically, before dropping his voice to a stern one. "Not going to happen."
"Harvey, I'm fine."
"You lost consciousness. You're going. That's final."
Harvey pulled Mike from the floor and pulled the younger man's arm around his shoulders as he swayed. He watched the color drain from Mike's face.
"Are you going to be sick?" The older lawyer asked.
Mike shook his head. "N-no. I'm good."
"If you puke on me, I'll punch you in the throat."
Mike's eyes widened. "Okay, maybe I could use a trash can."
Harvey had started to pull away to grab the nearest one, but it was too late. To Mike's credit, he did try to miss Harvey, but with the world spinning it was a hard task to accomplish.
Mike was hunched over, hands on his knees, breathing hard. He risked glancing at Harvey who stood just as still as Mike was because vomit was running down his pant leg.
"Harv'y...I - I didn't mean to...I tried...I just..." Mike tried to reason, afraid Harvey was going to kill him. He started noticing black spots in his vision, but he was to worried about what Harvey was going to do to him, to give it much thought.
"Mike."
Mike swallowed hard and waited for his premature death, but it never came. Instead, Harvey grabbed him around his biceps and guided him over to a bench.
"Easy, Mike." Harvey's voice was low, and surprisingly gentle. "Try to stay with me okay?"
Mike was having trouble keeping up.
"Harv'y? What's...happening?"
"Nothing, buddy. Just keep talking to me, okay? I need you to stay with me. I'm going help you stand up and we're going to go get in the car, alright?"
"Mmkay."
"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you right now?" Donna's furious voice came from behind him. Harvey turned around from the receptionist desk in the ER.
"Because I haven't signed these release forms yet and if you kill me before I do then the kid can't leave." Harvey reasoned.
"Well if he's going to leave with you, maybe he's better off staying." Donna shot back. "What is wrong with you? Why would you punch Mike that hard? Let alone in the head?"
"Donna." Harvey was tired and in no mood to deal with anything. "It was accident."
He signed the papers and handed them back to the woman behind the desk, before walking off in the direction of Mike's room, with Donna walking right beside him.
"So it's just a concussion right?" She asked as they walked.
"Yeah, he's going to have one hell of a headache for a few days and not feel to great, but he will be fine."
They were almost to Mike's room when Donna stopped walking and grabbed Harvey's arm preventing him from going any farther.
"I know you didn't mean to hurt him." She said. Harvey rolled his eyes at her, but he shook his head in agreement anyway. "He's not going to be mad at you, so you can stop feeling guilty."
Harvey rolled his eyes again, this time walked away, dismissing himself from a conversation about feelings.
"He looks up to you. It's going to take a lot more than a boxing incident to change that."
Harvey stopped by Mike's door and turned around to look at Donna. He didn't say anything, but he didn't have to. Donna had read his mind the moment she walked into the hospital, so she could read the 'thank you' he couldn't say.
She smiled at him and let him go in Mike's room alone.
Harvey walked into Mike's room and wasn't surprised to see his assoicate sitting on the side of the bed, his legs dangling over the side.
"You're suppose to be laying down." Harvey said, walking to stand in front of him. Mike looked up at Harvey with cloudy eyes, the dizziness and drugs making it even more impossible to keep his eyes open, but he smiled at him.
"And you're supposed to act like you don't care about me, yet here you are at the hospital with me."
"Well, I would never hear the end of it from Donna if I left you here." Harvey said, putting his hands in his pockets.
"I'm sure that's it." Mike shot back. "Can I go now?"
Before Harvey could reply, Donna rolled a wheelchair through the door.
"Your chariot awaits!"
"I don't need that." Mike protested, trying to stand up to prove his point. He started to tilt, but Harvey steadied him.
"Obviously." Harvey countered sarcastically. He helped Mike into the wheelchair, and Donna started to push him out of the room.
"Wait!"
Thinking something was the matter, Donna asked, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing, but I want Harvey to push me out of here." Mike said, with a mischevious grin on his face. Donna smirked and backed away from the wheelchair.
"Yeah, sure." Harvey replied. "But Donna you'll have to get me a hat and gloves, for when Hell freezes over."
Mike flared at Harvey, while the older man beamed at his joked.
"You know, I wouldn't be in this situation if it wasn't for you. The least you could is push me."
He watched a flash of guilt cross Harvey's face and saw Donna look to the ground awkwardly.
"But I did punch you in the face the other day, so we're even." Mike grinned at him.
Harvey rolled his eyes. "You do realize I ended up with a tiny bruise and you ended up with a concussion?"
"Same difference." Mike shrugged, smiling at Harvey.
Harvey sighed and looked at Donna, who just mouthed 'Told ya so.'
"Come on, Robin." Harvey said, taking the handles of the wheelchair and pushing Mike down the hall. "But if you tell anyone about this, you'll need this wheelchair for the rest of your life.
"To the bat cave!" Mike shouted, as if he didn't hear the older man or he just reconginzed it for the empty threat that it was.
"What have you gotten yourself into?" Donna leaned over and whispered in his ear.
Harvey laughed and shook his head. "I've been asking myself that a lot lately."