Hi! I'm back and hurting poor Mike some more. I have officially moved and finished school, but I'm now starting a summer course because I hate myself (jokes, but really why do I do this to myself lmao) so I'm still going to be slow with updates until that's done in mid-June. I'll do my best to get some more chapters out though, especially those that have been requested. I truly am sorry for the wait. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy some good old-fashioned hurt Mike!
Mike sighed and sank back into his chair, covering his tired eyes with his palms. It had been a long day that had followed an even longer night of sorting through case files for Harvey's latest battle with one of the huge corporations, once again, doing illegal things and getting people hurt. Usually Mike was more specific, but after the hundreds of documents he had been going through nonstop for the past two days, his brain was beyond fried.
"Do I pay you to sleep on the job?" A voice asked behind him.
Mike lowered his hands and slowly turned his chair around to face Harvey, sharply dressed, as usual, and looking no worse for wear. Meanwhile Mike was sure he looked like he had gone 5 rounds with an endless stack of papers, which he had, and lost. Fortunately for both his job and his boss in front of him, Mike had won when it came to finding what they were looking for.
Mike scoffed and rolled his eyes. "You don't pay me at all. Jessica is the one who pays me since her name is on the door, unlike a certain someone's name."
Harvey, unfazed, just smirked. "At least I have an office."
Mike just shot him a look before grabbing the file folder resting on top of his messy desk. "I'm assuming this is what you're here for, oh mighty one?"
Harvey quirked an eyebrow and grabbed the folder, skimming through its contents. "Nice work kid. This is the smoking gun we were looking for. Turns out you are useful after all."
"You're welcome," Mike said as he began packing his bag to leave. He was too tired to deal with the mess that was his desk now. He'd leave it for Monday since tomorrow was Sunday, and he mercifully had the day off.
When Mike turned, he almost jumped at the fact that Harvey was still standing there. "Why are you standing there like some creepy dude that's plotting my murder?"
It was Harvey's turn to roll his eyes. "The usual guy at my gym can't make it tomorrow, so I don't have a boxing partner. You in?"
Mike stared at Harvey for a moment. "You want me to come box with you at your gym?"
"Do you always make things so dramatic? That's what I said, isn't it? So, are you in or not?"
Mike grinned. "You're giving me a chance to punch you for free. Of course, I'm in."
Harvey chuckled. "If you think there's even remotely a chance that you can get a punch in, you're more delusional than I thought."
"Hey! I've thrown some punches in my lifetime," Mike protested as they made their way to the elevators.
"Oh yeah?" Harvey said as he pushed the down button. "Wii boxing doesn't count, kid."
Mike was speechless as they stepped into the empty elevator car. "What- no that's not-" he cut himself off as he tried to figure out how to reply. "You know what a Wii is?"
They stepped out of the elevator and into the expansive hallway towards the front glass doors of the building.
"I may be older than you, but I'm not ancient. Plus, I have nephews."
As they stepped outside into the fresh night air, Harvey turned toward Mike. "Meet me at 723 Benton Street at 10. And don't be late."
And with that, Harvey left Mike standing there, still marveling at the fact that his boss had played Wii Sports before.
The next morning, Mike was standing outside of the address Harvey had given, right on time. He was surprised to see that it was a small gym, not the big luxury gym Mike had been picturing.
As he stepped inside, the associate was hit with a wall of sweat and leather and noticed how the inside was filled with guys that looked like they belonged in a fight club. This was definitely not a place where Mike fit in and he was contemplating leaving and telling Harvey he was sick when his boss spotted him.
Not able to turn back now, Mike joined Harvey over by a bench next to a beat-up looking boxing ring where his boss was taping up his hands.
"I'm surprised you came. I thought you would have chickened out given the fact that you're so skinny a breeze could knock you over. You really need to put on some muscle, kid."
"Well, like I said before, I could never turn down a chance to punch you."
Harvey just laughed and clapped him on the shoulder. "This is going to be fun."
His boss then proceeded to help tape his hands and get proper gloves, claiming that if Mike showed up with a broken hand to work on Monday, he would never hear the end of it from Donna, and then they were ready to train.
Mike apprehensively stepped into the ring, regretting his choice to take Harvey up on his offer more than ever. He may talk confidently, but in reality, he had only ever been in a few fights with Trevor growing up and their fighting wasn't exactly something you'd call tactful. It was more half-hazardly thrown punches that missed more times than they hit. But, not wanting to look weak in front of his boss, Mike continued and got into position.
"Let's start off easy," Harvey said as he held his arms up, "all you need to do is hold up your gloves and then I'll do a series of punches against them. Once you get the rhythm, I'll do the same for you. Sound good?"
Mike nodded. "Let's do this."
Surprisingly, things went well for the first half hour. With Harvey's guidance, Mike was beginning to get the hang of how to throw a proper punch and was slowly learning the different moves and techniques. By the time they had finished their first round, both he and Harvey had worked up a sweat.
"You're not half bad," Harvey commented as he took a swig of his water, his other hand wiping his face with a towel. "I think you're ready to take it up a notch."
Mike drank his own water greedily and smiled when he was done, feeling way more confident than when they first began. "I'd like that."
"Atta boy," Harvey grinned and walked back to the center of the ring. Mike followed and got back into position.
"What we're going to do now involves moving the body. A big part of boxing is knowing where to step and how to dodge, as well as getting the right angle to get that knockout punch. I'm going to show you the basics of how to move and protect yourself and then we'll try it out."
"Sounds good," Mike replied, a grin on his face.
For the next ten minutes, Harvey went through a couple of different steps slowly. He showed Mike the most effective way to punch and how to lean into it to bring power not only from his arm, but from his body as well. If you did it right, your punch was way more powerful and used a lot less energy, making it more efficient in the fight.
When they were ready to start practice, Harvey started slow, but as they got into a rhythm, he sped up. Mike was able to keep up and they transitioned so that they were throwing their punches harder, more like an actual boxing match. As Mike dodged a punch from Harvey, he stepped to the side and leaned into his own punch and ended up shocked when he felt his fist connect with Harvey's face. As soon as Mike lowered his arm, both he and his boss stopped and Harevy gaped at him in surprise.
"Harvey, I'm sorry. I didn't mean-"
"Don't apologize," Harvey said, cutting him off as he touched his cheek, a slow grin spreading on his face, "that was pretty good, kid. I didn't think you had it in you. But for that, I think we're ready to step it up a bit and do a real boxing match. No coaching, just me and you having a clean fight."
Mike contemplated this for a moment, but he felt ready. "Okay, let's do it. Loser buys lunch?"
"You're on."
To Mike's surprise, he was holding his own and they each threw punches, their entire focus on their opponent in front of them. They were holding a good rhythm and Mike was really starting to get into it. He landed a few punches and Harvey did the same, their movements fluid and graceful as they boxed. It was then that Mike made his first major mistake. He had thrown a punch but slipped mid step and ended up missing Harvey completely. Instead of regrouping and getting back into position, he acted on instinct and looked down to see what had tripped him up. Harvey, not expecting his lack of focus, went in for a punch before he could stop himself. It was a punch that Mike had blocked plenty of times during their session, but because of his mistake, he didn't see it coming and it slammed square into his downcast face.
The punch, hard due to the fact that Harvey had been leaning fully in, not expecting Mike to not be blocking, rattled his brain and sent sharp tendrils of pain radiating from his right eye all through his head and neck. He felt himself fall like a rock and a new wave of pain erupted as he hit the ground, his head smacking the floor below.
The next thing Mike knew, Harvey was leaning over him, concern lining every inch of his boss's face. Harvey was saying something too, but Mike's right eye was just a burst of colours while his left eye was fuzzy. Along with that, all he could hear was a high pitch whine in both of his ears.
Suddenly, Harvey disappeared from view and came back with a cloth that he brought to Mike's face. It was at that moment that Mike felt the blood trickling down his face and into the back of his throat. He coughed and gagged at the metallic taste and felt Harvey move him so that he was on his side. It took a moment more, but his hearing finally evened out and his vision began to come back. As the stars faded from his eyes, he heard the sounds of the gym roar to life and his boss's worried voice above him.
"Mike? Can you hear me, kid?"
Mike meant to respond that he could hear him, but all that came out was a groan. His face felt like it had been slammed into the concrete and he could feel a lump forming on the back of his head, throbbing in time with his heartbeat.
"Mike? You with me?" Harvey asked and his face appeared in front of Mike's.
Mike nodded and winced when the movement sent waves of pain through his aching head and face.
"Don't move," Harvey said firmly. "You hit your head on the stage when you fell. I'm going to touch your neck and I need you to tell me if it hurts, okay? Just squeeze my hand if you feel pain."
Following Harvey's directions, Mike stayed still as Harvey placed one hand on the back of his neck and the other on Mike's so that he could squeeze it if anywhere hurt. Harvey started between his shoulder blades, pressing on each part of his spine as he went up. With each spot he would pause and wait to see if it hurt. When Mike didn't squeeze, he would move on. He did this until he reached the very top of Mike's neck. When Mike never squeezed his hand, Harvey sighed in relief and sank back so he was kneeling next to him.
"Okay it looks like you didn't hurt your neck and it also looks like your nose has stopped bleeding, so I'm going to roll you onto your back again."
In a gentle, but efficient manner, Harvey rolled Mike so that he was now staring at the ceiling. His left eye was almost perfectly clear again, but his right eye was still blurry, throbbing in time with the knot on the back of his head. He could also feel it beginning to swell shut.
Harvey's face appeared above his again. "Mike, I am so sorry. I didn't mean to punch you like that. I didn't realize you had looked away, but I should have. That's on me."
Mike licked his lips and gave his boss a weak smile. "S'okay. My face was in the way."
Harvey chuckled and Mike could hear the worry and relief in it. "Thank God you're talking. The way you fell…" He trailed off and Mike could see that Harvey was shaken.
"I hear chicks dig guys with black eyes," he said, trying to lighten the mood. He knew that this had been a freak accident and didn't blame his boss at all.
Harvey rose to the bait. "Honestly I think this is an improvement from how you looked before."
Harvey smiled for a moment, but then it faded, and he was serious again. "Really, though. I'm sorry Mike."
"It's okay, Harvey. I know it was an accident. As much as you might fantasize about it, I don't think you would deck me on purpose, unless I really deserved it of course."
Harvey snorted. "I called an ambulance by the way. You were out for a bit there after you fell and I need to make sure you don't have permanent damage. Donna would kill me if I broke you on your day off."
Mike rolled his eyes- well eye since his right eye was almost completely swollen shut now but didn't disagree. His head was killing him. If they could give him something for the pain, he'd be happy.
"Don't think this means I'm going to go easy on you at work. You should have known better than to stick your head in the way of my punch," Harvey said, but Mike could see that his boss was joking.
"I'll remember that the next time your fist comes flying at my face."
The hospital had checked Mike out and found that apart from a gnarly black eye and a mild concussion, Mike had fared pretty well. They gave him some meds to reduce the swelling in his eye and help with the pain. They told him to take the next couple of days off work to rest, but after that he could return as long as he didn't ride his bike to work for the next couple of weeks. Along with that he may have some mild symptoms such as headaches or nausea for a bit, but that would clear up in about a month as long as he took it easy.
While Mike had kept insisting to Harvey that he didn't blame him, he knew his boss was taking what happened hard. He had sent Ray to pick him up on Mike's first day back and the driver had told him he was to pick Mike up every day until his concussion had fully healed. Then, when Mike arrived at his desk, he was greeted with a clean space, unlike the mess he had left, along with an apology basket of his favourite snacks. Mike smiled at how much Harvey was mothering him, but the warm feeling quickly vanished as he opened his desk drawer and found a brand-new helmet with a full face cage, a sticky note attached to the top.
Make sure you wear this if you're thinking about getting into any fights.
-Harvey
Mike smiled as he crumpled the note and threw it back into the drawer, locking it and the helmet away. Now all he needed to do was find a way to get Harvey back.
An idea sparked in his mind as he caught a glimpse of his reflection in his desk monitor. While the swelling had gone down a lot, his eye was still black and blue. Maybe Donna would help him if she saw him in this state.
He set his bag down and grinned, turning to find the redhead. This was going to be good.
Until next time! Hope you liked! :)