Fanfic: Worth A Thousand Words
Title- Worth A Thousand Words
Fandom- Suits
Ship- Harvey/Mike
Rating- PG-13
Genre- established relationship, angst, fluff, slash
Warnings- unbetaed
Wordcount- 1500
Disclaimer- I do not own Suits
Summary- Mike wonders if Harvey is serious about their relationship.
A/N- written for a prompt here at suitsmeme: Harvey & Mike have been dating for a month or so. Harvey isn't as obvious about it as Mike wants him to be so eventually Mike starts wondering if it doesn't mean as much to Harvey as it does to him. That's when Mike slowly starts to notice that there are pictures of Mike around Harvey's condo. Then a picture of Mike shows up on Harvey's desk.
Mike and Harvey were dating. But no one would know it from the way Harvey acts. He was always cool and professional at work, and he was always almost flirting with the beautiful women they met on their cases, and he rarely ever gave Mike any affection in public. Oh, once they got behind closed doors, at their apartments, in the car, even in Harvey’s office with the blinds pulled, Harvey was passionate and loving and tender and everything Mike could possibly want in a partner. It was only where other people can see that Harvey acted different. And it was really starting to get to Mike.
He wondered if Harvey really loved him like he said he did when they were alone. He wondered if Harvey had a different definition of love, different from the slow but impossibly hot burning of “I’d die for you, I’ll grow old with you” love that Mike felt for him. Mike wondered if Harvey was ashamed of him, ashamed to claim Mike as his boyfriend in public. He wondered if Harvey just liked to take things slow. After all, they had only been dating a month.
But it was getting to Mike, truly. It was making him question himself, question Harvey’s intentions, and he hated that. He wished he had the courage to ask Harvey, but he was too afraid that Harvey would either tell him yes, he really wasn’t as invested in this as Mike was, or no, he loved Mike but he just didn’t jump into a new relationship full speed, and Mike had been worrying for nothing.
Mike had gotten so wrapped up in this questioning and doubting that he’d started looking for tangible proof of Harvey’s feelings for him. He hated doubting Harvey, he hated his cowardice in not asking outright, and he hated the fact that he’d reduced something as beautiful as love down to a few physical manifestations, as though there was some rulebook that they were playing from and Harvey absolutely had to do A, B, and C if he loved Mike. He hated it. But he did it anyway.
And that was when he noticed the pictures.
It started out with one on a decorative table in Harvey’s living room, a picture of them standing together at some work-related event, stiffly side by side as they tried to act professional instead of like a couple. Mike stopped and looked at it and wondered if this was what Harvey though represented their relationship, this awkward shot that clearly places their working relationship above their intimate one. He realized as he looked at it that there hadn’t been many pictures taken of them together, so maybe it was the only one Harvey could find. Either way, it had gotten him no closer to figuring out how Harvey really felt about him.
The second photo Mike found in the kitchen, stuck to the refrigerator with a magnet alongside a note with Mike’s cell number, home phone, and address jotted down on it. It was a picture of Mike alone, from a charity dinner a rich client had held. Mike was wearing his best suit, with his hair slicked back in an effort emulate Harvey, smirking confidently at the camera. Mike wondered if this was the version of him that Harvey wanted to remember. He also wondered if Harvey really needed a note to remember Mike’s address; Mike had had Harvey’s memorized since the first time he heard it.
Then he took a closer look at the note, and realized there was something written on the back. Mike carefully pulled it from the magnet and turned it over. On the other side he found the number for his grandmother’s care facility, its address, and her room number. He put it back, surprised and oddly touched that Harvey would keep such information on hand, despite having never met Mike’s grandmother.
The third photo he found was in Harvey’s bedroom. It was in a picture frame on the nightstand by Harvey’s bed, and from the fingerprints over the glass it seemed well-loved. It was of Mike at his apartment, lounging on his couch in casual clothes the morning after they had sex there- the first and last time, because Harvey couldn’t stand sleeping on his lumpy mattress. He was grinning at the camera, cheerful, relaxed. Mike remembered that Harvey took the photo on his phone, and couldn’t help but be impressed with the printing quality.
It made Mike happy to see this photo here, to think that this picture of him was the last thing Harvey saw when he went to bed at night and the first the he saw when he woke up. Mike was particularly happy that it was this picture, instead of one like the picture on the fridge. This was a picture of the real Mike, the person he was when he wasn’t trying to impress clients and coworkers, when he could just be himself. Mike could be himself around Harvey. As much as he wanted to impress Harvey, Mike could also drop all pretenses around the man he loved. It was incredibly reassuring to know that Harvey wanted to remember this Mike, the real Mike, instead of the fake one dressed up as someone he wasn’t for a social event.
So Mike was placated by that picture. He believed that Harvey loved him, for the person that he truly was, even if Harvey didn’t show it much. Reassured, Mike tried to put his doubts from his mind. He mostly succeeded, though there were still some times, like the one when Harvey snapped at him in the middle of the office for not getting something done on time, that Mike wondered.
Mike was still trying to put his worries to rest when he walked into Harvey’s office one morning and stopped cold at what he saw. There was a photograph on Harvey’s desk, positioned so Harvey could see it but also so that any visitors to the room, be they colleagues or clients, could also see it. It was a picture of Mike and Harvey, Harvey with his arm thrown around Mike’s shoulders and kissing the side of his head while Mike grinned and turned away. Mike remembered when that happened. It was at the company picnic a few weeks ago, and he had been bothered at the time that Harvey hadn’t felt comfortable kissing him unless they were on the edge of the party, where nobody would notice them. Mike couldn’t imagine who might have taken the photo.
Seeing the picture of Harvey being affectionate with him positioned on the desk for all to see was enough, more than enough, to prove to Mike that Harvey was serious about him, serious about their relationship. It filled his heart with joy and almost made him start crying right then and there.
“You do love me,” Mike said to Harvey, who looked up at him with surprise and confusion written across his face.
“Of course I do,” Harvey said. “Did you think I was lying all those times I said it?”
“You never act like it in public,” Mike replied shyly. “I always wondered -worried- that you weren’t as serious about it as I am. But you have that picture up. You want people to know we’re together. You really do love me.”
Harvey glanced down at the picture, the picture of him kissing Mike, then looked up and met his eyes. His expression hardened into one of resolve, and before Mike could ask what he was doing Harvey had grabbed his wrist and was pulling Mike out of his office.
“Harvey, what…?” Mike gasped as Harvey dragged him into the middle of the room outside the office. He had some idea where this was going, but he couldn’t believe Harvey would really do it.
When they got to the center of the room Harvey stopped. People were watching them curiously, whispering to one another wondering what Harvey was doing. Harvey put his hands on Mike’s shoulders and turned Mike to face him. He stared into Mike’s eyes for a moment and leaned into him slowly, so that there was no question in anyone’s mind what he was about to do. Then in the middle of the room, in front of everyone, he kissed Mike full on the mouth.
At first Mike was too shocked to respond. Harvey kissing him in the middle of the office was too much for his brain to process. Then he felt Harvey’s tongue slide against his lips and his hand move up to bury in Mike’s hair, and Mike’s knees went weak and he moaned as he opened his mouth for Harvey. He could hear gasps and shocked whispers and a wolf whistle -probably Donna’s- but Mike ignored all of it as he reached up to wrap his arms around Harvey’s neck. Finally the need for air forced them to break apart, and Harvey stared intently into Mike’s eyes.
“Now do you believe that I’m serious about you?” he asked, a hint of smugness in his voice. Mike was too dazed from the kiss and pleased by the affirmation to be bothered by Harvey’s arrogance.
“I believe you,” Mike said breathily against Harvey’s lips. “I love you.”
“And I love you. Don’t ever doubt that,” Harvey said. Mike nodded, and then Harvey leaned in and kissed him again.