Fic - take your cues (Donna/Harvey) nc-17, 1/1

[abvj]

Title: take your cues
Summary: These sorts of changes are slow to take. Or, alternatively: the next time. 
Rating: hard r/nc-17 
Author's Notes: 5,685 words. General series spoilers. Set in the indiscriminite future (and by this I mean: hopefully soon.) First time writing Harvey in this type of capacity, so con-crit is both welcome and encouraged. All

Comments

[lapiccolina]

I hesitate to say "no" in regards to Harvey being in love with Donna. I don't think he's aware or it, like, I wouldn't say he's in love with her, but at the same time, I wouldn't say he's not in love with her. They're clearly BFFs with constant sexual tension. LOL.

That would have been the perfect opportunity, but I think Mike was way into his turmoil with where he's at with his relationship with Rachel.

I agree that Rachel deserves better than Mike, ESPECIALLY after the winter finale. Yet, at the same time, part of me thinks that because he's trying to do the noble thing, not wanting to lie to her if he's going to start a real thing with her, that I do think Mike deserves someone like Rachel. Of course, that is BEFORE you decide to sleep with your MARRIED EX.

Which brings me to another annoying thing. What kind of person is that girl, to willingly cheat on your husband?!? I mean...I remember reading spoilers stating that this girl was going to come to him at the right time to be the thing that he NEEDS. I MEAN, ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Bastards.

Wait, Rachel would use what as ammunition at a later date? I think until she is clued in on the entire situation, yeah, you're probably right. Rachel is a loose canon, and it would just put her in an awful place if she knew. I wonder how they're going to work in the whole, Rachel is going to law school thing.

[abvj]

I'm happy to live with BFFs with sexual tension for right now. I just hope the writers have the balls to go there eventually because I don't like wasting my time on OTPs that aren't endgame. I also think that it will definitely have to be him initiating it in the future, because Donna knows not to push, knows that he can't be pushed simply because he doesn't allow himself to be out there in that much of a vulnerable position. Ugh. Their relationship is so deep and complicated, I could seriously write like a dissertation on it. It's ridiculous.

MIKKKE. Can we pause for a moment and talk about something that I am just now realizing. We're suppose to chalk up him SLEEPING WITH A MARRIED WOMAN to his undue stress over his grammy, right? I mean, it just seems like such a morally ambiguous thing to do. Even though he kissed Jenny while she was with Trevor, he still stopped it. And even though he kissed Rachel while he was with Jenny... he sort of stopped that too. I guess my "being the thing that he needs" means no strings attached? I kind of hope it comes back to bite him in the ass... in a way other than the repercussions with Rachel.

Wait, Rachel would use what as ammunition at a later date?

Sorry, clarification: the fraud thing. I can't wait until Rachel starts applying and getting into law school! Like, I really want scenes with her and Donna filling out her applications, now that her and Mike are on the outs. Basically, I just want all the scenes with her and Donna period... pretending to be Michelle Ross and Harriet Specter.

[lapiccolina]

PhD's would be so much more fun if you could do dissertations on OTPs. So much more fun!

I think it's a piss poor excuse to sleep with a married ex to be his grief over his grandma. I mean, I get that he wants easy sex and his partner was SUPER willing. So...I just don't know. It BETTER bit him in the ass. I'd be perfectly fine if the married ex's husband were to show up, clock him in the face, and then break up with the woman. Ugh. (I have no patience for infidelity, lol.)

That would be awesome to have scenes with Donna and Rachel filling out applications. I bet Donna would know which law schools have the best looking guys, HA. YES. That would be fabulous.

[abvj]

I will admit that I love the super!secret affair trope, but only when I am very invested in the characters and, yeah, that is not the case here!

MAAAN. Donna would know all of the best colleges to apply. She'd be, like, do you reaaaallly want to go to Harvard where all the guys are egotistical dbags who care about nothing but winning, and then have little stories about each one, because she's Donna and she knows everything/everyone. And then when she gets in they go out on the town with Harvey's corporate card and drink like pros and it's just all BFF times all the time.

[lapiccolina]

And Harvey would ask, and she would totally put him in his place that she and Rachel deserve the fun. I can so see this in my head!

You have to write Donna and Rachel BFF fic. You must. (Once, you know, you get your Harvey/Donna fic urges quieted down for a bit. Their story must be toooooooooooold!)

[abvj]

Harvey would be all, like, why are there credit card reciepts signed by Harriet Specter? And Donna would just grin and say, "did you know? She's the best goddamn closer in the city."

I totally have a fic with Rachel and Donna where she comes with wine and pizza after the mock-trial written, I just keep writing other things and forgetting to post it!

[lapiccolina]

HA. YES. EXACTLY.

Post!!!

[bristow1941]

I think they have been showing a very interesting duality with Mike and Harvey this season. While Harvey is the one who appears on the surface as immoral and transgressive where Mike cares about morality and the little guy, we have seen over and over that Mike has broken Harvey's trust and when in a tight spot, gone for the easy, self servicing choice instead of what is right. Harvey sent the married woman home in cab when he found out while Mike knowingly calls her back for a booty call. He smokes with Tom Keller instead of trusting Harvey and honoring his trust. He manipulates Donna into showing up at the mock trial and leaves her open to be gutted publicly by Louis because it gets him out of the polygraph. I'm curious if in January Harvey calls Mike on his shit.

[lapiccolina]

Oooh. Good point. Part of me feels you could chalk that up to inexperience, at the same time, it does say a lot.

[abvj]

This is so true! And another thing I've been thinking about lately. I think people (myself included) got carried away in the beginning because the writers did such an excellent job at contrasting Harvey and Mike as the heart versus head, with Mike tending to act with his heart and emotions and Harvey tending to be one for conscious thought and careful consideration. Which is very true of both their characters, but I think people tend to empathize more with the character that leads with their heart because they are more relatable? In Mike's case it isn't always a good thing. I actually think Harvey has a very, very strict code of morals/ethics. There are lines he absolutely will not cross, whereas Mike is still figuring those things out? I think Harvey is often misunderstood and thought to morally ambiguous because his ethics are already so set in stone, and we are slowly figuring out what they are. I have no doubt in my mind that Harvey would never, ever bury evidence. Mike, though... you know, given the right situation, the right motivation, and enough emotional investment? Yeah. I think he might. Which speaks volumes, because Harvey isn't necessarily painted to be a villain, but he is painted to be an antihero to Mike's hero.

[bristow1941]

I love the fact that we're actually getting to see such moral ambiguity in the hero character and such steadfast morality in our anti-hero. I'm not sure I would say that Mike is still figuring it out - after five years, I would argue that his moral pattern of taking the easy out to protect those he cares about is pretty well set (cheating on tests to support his grandmother for a thousand bucks a pop isn't a career, but instead an emergency fund, considering the number of times a year he can take the LSAT and SATs (LSAT is 4 times a year, SATs 7 times a year)). Instead I think if you go back to the pilot, Harvey is offering him a way back morally and professionally to the path he should have been on in the first place. The hardest thing for me to watch this season with Mike is when he repeatedly challenged Harvey and told him that he had lost and to settle. It was totally in character for Mike, but jesus, Harvey was RIGHT!!! And Harvey, I think, took Donna's inability to come to him a sign that she believed she had made that mistake and as he said, he could defend her for making a mistake but not choosing to shred the document to protect herself.

Suits with Season 2 was able to interest me as a morality tale as much as Mad Men, but with a stronger underlying faith in morality. Don Draper (although just as dapper as Harvey and having faked his name and credentials just like Mike) is inherently a self destructive person unable to enjoy what he has earned. Harvey Specter is such a different take on the "you walk through life like men want to be you and women want to sleep with you" professional star than Don Draper due to his morality and ability to enjoy and be fulfilled by his work and success. I'm really hoping in that in the second half of Season 2 that we get to see Harvey calling Mike on his downward spiral (because I bet Donna will know within a day what he pulled with Tess and Rachel). I loved those moments in the last episode where Harvey (although high) was so pleased for Mike that he was able to buy a place in Manhattan for his grandmother and understood that Mike wanted to work through the pain of losing her. But god, that Mike that screamed at Harvey in the bullpen, he is getting VERY close to pulling a Don Draper. And frankly the way he used Tess was that Mike...