Huzzah! We're about halfway done! This fic is seriously a lot of fun to write! Oh, and thanks to all of you who are reading but especially to those of you who have been taking the time to review! and perhaps an apology to a few of you for writing strange "thank you"s to your comments...I am very sorry for my oddness. Anyway, enjoy this bit! We'll get to see Harvey next and a return to ill-placed humor.
Chapter 3: Kyle's Briefs
Mike drained the last of his cup of cold coffee, forcing it down despite its bitterness. He'd been meaning to finish it off earlier, but he hadn't had the time to even think of ingesting anything. Louis's work was weighing on him and he hadn't even finished those things for Harvey yet.
Currently, he was leaning tiredly against the copy machine, its loud printing noises threatening to bring back his migraine from earlier. He had only one more thing to do for Harvey before he could hand in his work and begin on Louis's. He anticipated he'd be here at least until late evening, unless Louis decided to pile something else on him.
This is exactly why Mike had decided to move to the copy room and hide amongst its many shelves, ignoring the weird stares from random paralegals and secretaries. It was mostly quiet in the room, and he doubted Louis would find him when he was hiding behind the large machine, folders spread out on his lap.
The current stack finished printing, and Mike wearily hefted the papers in his arms. He'd just need to go over them one final time before he could hand them in to Harvey. He was fairly certain there weren't any typos or errors in the print, but he didn't trust technology enough to leave it to chance—especially if they were for Harvey's multi-million dollar client.
Mike heaved the stack into his arms and turned to step around the machine, when he was shoved rudely forward by a hand in his back.
The freshly printed pages went flying about the room, scattered in entirety. It would probably take Mike just another hour to sort through them and get them back in the proper page order before he could begin to proofread.
He picked himself up from where he'd fallen—wincing as his head pounded from where it had smacked into the corner of the copy machine—and looked to see who had caused him to stumble, but there was no one there.
Grumbling, Mike bent down to collect the loose papers and get to work. He was certain he wasn't getting out of here until well past closing, now. And Harvey was going to be mad that the contracts weren't already on his desk.
…
If Mike had been hoping for karma to intervene, he was disappointed.
Nothing good had sprung itself upon him, and instead, he'd found a total of three errors in the contract, causing him to spend more time to fix them, reprint the contract, and proofread it once more.
Now he was about two hours behind schedule, and he still hadn't delivered them to Harvey or gotten started on Louis's work.
He hefted the fresh, correct contract and dragged himself down the hall to his cubicle. When he got there, he picked up the other stacks and steadied them as he headed for Harvey's office.
But as he passed Kyle's cubicle, he overheard the man (and several others) snickering. Mike realized belatedly that Kyle must have been the one in the copy room. Only he was petty enough to do something like that.
"What's so funny?" he asked angrily, leaning over Kyle's cubicle wall.
The man gave him an innocent smile. "Just picturing what your face will look like when you finally get fired," he said smugly. Mike glared at him. "Weren't you supposed to give those contracts to Harvey three hours ago?"
"Didn't you read the policy on harassment that said you could get fired for pushing people in the back?"
Kyle's smug look didn't falter. "Why would I need to push you, Ross? You seem to be failing well enough without my help."
A few of the nearby associates let out a little laugh and Mike glared heatedly at the man. He noticed that Kyle's desk wasn't nearly as full as his own, not nearly enough paperwork on it. Though he did recognize the Jacobsen briefs which Louis was making a big fuss about earlier.
Mike stared in anger and jealousy at the files, wishing that Kyle would just leave him alone or that he'd get his just desserts. He started to feel a wave of heat hit him, making him boil with rage.
A whoosh sounded and Kyle's files went up in flames. They were bright blue for a second before settling to a steady red, and Kyle shrieked in surprise and fear, scooting back from his desk in a rush.
"Fire! Fire!" Kyle shouted, and the other associates all stood frantically searching for the flames.
Mike's hot rage evaporated and he began to feel lightheaded. Looking at the flickering, smoking papers being destroyed on Kyle's desk, he began to feel afraid. He took a hasty step back and then fled the scene.
Had he done that? No, that was impossible.
He gave himself a shake and realized that he still had to drop off Harvey's contracts or he'd probably be fired…
Stop thinking about fire! he yelled frantically in his head. He needed to tell Harvey about this, needed to be reassured that he was thinking crazy thoughts if he was seriously considering that he had suddenly developed a super power.
Taking a deep breath, he headed for Harvey's office, files clutched tightly in his hands as he tried not to think about the bright blue flames and Kyle's frightened face.