Fanfic: The Bet
Title- The Bet
Fandom- Suits
Ship- Harvey/Mike
Rating- PG-13
Genre- angst, comedy, slash
Warnings- unbetaed
Wordcount- 1900
Disclaimer- I do not own Suits
Summary- Donna runs a gambling ring at Pearson Hardman. The current game? Bet on what day Harvey and Mike will get together.
A/N- written for a prompt here at suitsmeme: Donna runs the underground gambling ring at Pearson Hardman. I don't care what they're betting on. Go nuts!
People stopped talking and turned to Donna when she entered the break room with her black notebook binder. They all knew by now what the binder meant. She sat down at one of the tables and opened the book, laying a printout of the upcoming month’s calendar on the tabled before her. “Alright, it’s a new month!” Donna announced. “We didn’t have a winner last time. Same stakes, five dollars to pick your day, winner gets the whole pot from this month and the last two.”
Immediately a crooked line formed in front of the table, and Donna smiled. Most of them were repeat customers, who had played the previous two months. She tucked the money into a pouch clipped inside the binder and jotted down their days and the amount they’d bet next to their names in her book, then put their names in the squares for their chosen days on the calendar. Those who had already placed their bets either continued with their breaks or slipped from the room to warn other people that she was taking bets at the moment. It was the only chance they would have all month, because she couldn’t take bets from her desk outside Harvey’s office.
Donna smirked when Rachel even Louis placed bets with her. The current pool was probably one of the most interesting they’d had in a while, and everyone wanted to get in on it. Everyone had an opinion about what would happen, including Donna, though she kept it well to herself.
As the line began to shrink, Donna glanced at her watch; it was just about time for her to get back to work. “Last chance, everyone,” she announced as she scribbled another name and date into her notebook.
A pretty young paralegal standing by the door suddenly whispered something to the associate next to her, and he looked outside. Worried murmurs flew through the room, and heads turned towards the door. Donna looked up just as Jessica Pearson entered, eyeing them all suspiciously. “What’s going on here? Shouldn’t most of you be working now?”
People looked at the ground guiltily, but Donna only smiled. “We’ve got another office pool in the works,” she explained nonchalantly, amused by the horrified looks on some people’s faces when she announced it to their boss.
“Oh? What are you betting on?” Jessica asked. Donna smirked.
“What day Harvey and Mike will finally get their acts together and realize they’re in love.”
Everyone in the office had a day picked, and each person was actively working to ensure that the tension between Harvey and Mike reached a breaking point on the day they had picked. Donna stood on the side, observing with amusement. Rachel was using her position as Mike’s friend to try to influence him. Louis was trying to steal Mike for another case, hoping to make Harvey jealous enough to do something. Donna loved the chaos and tension it all created. The situation was perfect for her to take advantage.
Donna started out small, with little things. She mentioned to Harvey how well Mike was doing with his pro bono case, hoping to both keep Harvey’s mind on the younger man and get him to praise Mike. That praise, in turn, she related to Mike, letting him know that Harvey was proud of him. She teased Harvey about his one-night stands, and mentioned them offhandedly to Mike, to make him jealous. She casually let it drop to Harvey that Mike was going to a restaurant with Rachel on his lunch break, or that Louis was trying to steal him again, and mentioned to Mike that Harvey was annoyed with him for taking too long with lunch or ignoring what Harvey had assigned him to do what Louis asked. It was a slow, subtle buildup, playing on what others in the office had already done. The result was a perfect symphony of rising sexual tension and jealousy, invisibly but expertly orchestrated by Donna. She knew that after Louis had been keeping them apart and Rachel had been talking to Mike, they were primed for an intervention. It was time to give them the final push. All she had to do was make Harvey think he needed to ask Mike to meet him outside the office.
Mike stepped into the expensive-looking restaurant and glanced around nervously, resisting the subconscious urge to straighten his tie. Donna had told him that Harvey wanted to see him, and after he’d left Harvey to read over most of the briefs for their case himself while Mike did something for Louis, he was dreading this conversation. Mike spotted Harvey at a booth by the bar, and started to go over. He paused when he saw the waitress stop by the table and speak to Harvey. Mike couldn’t hear what they were saying, but he could see the waitress leaning down to show off her cleavage, see the way she smiled flirtatiously and tossed her hair over her shoulder. And he could see the way Harvey laid his hand next to hers on the table.
Something about the scene made Mike uncomfortable. He’d heard of Harvey’s reputation for seducing women from the other associates, but he’d never seen it himself. Harvey was always very professional when they were working. Now, though, they weren’t, and while Mike knew Harvey had every right to flirt, it somehow made him feel a little… jealous?
The waitress left, and Mike went over cautiously. He waited for Harvey to take notice of him and nod to the seat across the table before sitting down. Harvey didn’t speak, and Mike shifted on the bench. The silence was making him uncomfortable. “I heard you got Zimmerman to settle for almost ten times what he was offering,” Mike commented, referring to the case he hadn’t been able to work on.
“Yes,” Harvey said. “Even without my associate.” Mike looked down at his hands and tried not to fidget. Harvey sighed. “Mike, you work for me, not Louis, not anybody else. I need your full attention to be on whatever I assign to you. I don’t want you going off on some errand for Louis, or chatting with that paralegal friend of yours when you’re supposed to be working.”
Mike swallowed down the rush of indignation that came at Harvey’s words. He wanted to remind Harvey that he hadn’t talked to Rachel outside his lunch break, and time he was entitled to take off of work. Harvey had as much right to criticize Mike about spending his breaks with Rachel as Mike had to criticize Harvey for spending his nights with the women he picked up.
“I’m sorry,” Mike said coolly. “I wasn’t aware I owed you my break time, too.”
Harvey looked surprised for a moment, then his eyes hardened. “I didn’t hire you so you could spend all your time running errands for Louis and flirting with your little girlfriend.”
“My girlfriend?” Mike scoffed.
Harvey nodded gravely. “Relationships between employees are highly unprofessional.” He said it like it was something he had drilled into his mind a long time ago, and considering his track record with women Mike supposed that might be the only thing that had kept him from going through the secretaries and paralegals at the office.
“What about your little girlfriend that just left? What about all the little girlfriends I’ve heard about? And I’m the unprofessional one for having lunch with a colleague? You have no right to criticize me!”
“None of those relationships took place in the office,” Harvey ground out, his eyes flashing with anger. “None of them lasted more than a night. It was nothing that could threaten my career. You, on the other hand, are putting yours in danger by making yourself more trouble to me than you’re worth.”
Mike barks a sharp, cynical laugh and shook his head. “Rachel was wrong about you,” he said more calmly than he felt. “You don’t care about anyone but yourself.”
“Well, I suppose if that’s what you really think, then there’s nothing I could do to change your mind,” Harvey said icily.
“You think anything you could do could change my mind?” Mike asked. He spread his hands and smiled mockingly. “Go ahead and try.”
Mike felt a tiny shiver of fear at the intense look in Harvey’s eyes, but he was too proud, and too hurt, to back down. Then before Mike could blink Harvey was on his feet and leaning across the table, on hand braced on the tabletop and the other winding around the back of Mike’s neck to pull him forward for a rough, passionate kiss. They struggled for dominance, but Harvey won easily, and Mike was more than willing to accept that. He moaned into Harvey’s mouth as the other man’s tongue slid past his lips.
When they finally broke apart, Harvey gazed penetratingly back into Mike’s dazed eyes. “Is that proof enough that I care?” Harvey asked, his voice rough and accusatory.
“Unprofessional?” Mike asked breathlessly.
“I can’t take it anymore,” Harvey admitted. “I don’t care about being unprofessional. Rachel?”
“Just a friend,” Mike replied, leaning closer to Harvey and brushing a light kiss across his lips. The anger and resentment was quickly fading, replaced by excitement and passion. “The waitress?”
“Thought I’d never have you,” Harvey muttered against Mike’s lips. “Had to do something. Going crazy.”
“Mm,” Mike hummed in agreement, kissing Harvey again. “Let’s get out of here,” he said. Harvey nodded eagerly. He released Mike and dropped a few bills on the table to cover his tab plus, Mike suspected, a generous tip, and then they hurried out to Harvey’s car.
No one was surprised to see Harvey and Mike arrive at the office together the next day, Mike wearing the same suit from the day before. They had been expecting it for a long time, and now the only important question was who had put their money on this day. Donna could hear them talking, and she smirked. Each person was asking the others if they had bet on that day, and each of them was denying it.
“I guess nobody won, then,” Rachel murmured. “Does it go to whoever was closest?”
“Oh, somebody won,” a smug voice said from the end of the hallway. Everyone in the room turned to see Jessica coming towards them. A flurry of soft whispers ran through the room as Jessica walked up to Donna’s desk. Donnas smiled and pulled out her black binder. From the pouch clipped in the front, she pulled out a check. She had collected at least five dollars from almost everyone in the firm, most of them two or three times. The partners in particular had bed large amounts of money, some of them tens of thousands. The result was more than any of the paralegals or associates made in a year, and she had been forced to open a bank account to store it all. Donna herself wasn’t allowed to bet, but the ten percent she took off the top was a tidy sum.
“Here you are, Ms. Pearson,” Donna said graciously, handing over the check.
“Why thank you, Donna,” Jessica replied. “You know, most employers wouldn’t approve of having a gambling ring in their office, but I think it works out quite well.” Jessica turned back to the assembled people, all of them watching her apprehensively. “Well?” Jessica asked. “Don’t you all have work to do?” At her words, they scrambled back to their offices and cubicles, and Donna smirked.
Jessica flipped out her check book and wrote out another, for exactly half of her winnings. “Pleasure doing business with you,” she said to Donna as she handed over the check.
“And you as well,” Donna said with a smirk, tucking the check back into her binder.
Fandom- Suits
Ship- Harvey/Mike
Rating- PG-13
Genre- angst, comedy, slash
Warnings- unbetaed
Wordcount- 1900
Disclaimer- I do not own Suits
Summary- Donna runs a gambling ring at Pearson Hardman. The current game? Bet on what day Harvey and Mike will get together.
A/N- written for a prompt here at suitsmeme: Donna runs the underground gambling ring at Pearson Hardman. I don't care what they're betting on. Go nuts!
People stopped talking and turned to Donna when she entered the break room with her black notebook binder. They all knew by now what the binder meant. She sat down at one of the tables and opened the book, laying a printout of the upcoming month’s calendar on the tabled before her. “Alright, it’s a new month!” Donna announced. “We didn’t have a winner last time. Same stakes, five dollars to pick your day, winner gets the whole pot from this month and the last two.”
Immediately a crooked line formed in front of the table, and Donna smiled. Most of them were repeat customers, who had played the previous two months. She tucked the money into a pouch clipped inside the binder and jotted down their days and the amount they’d bet next to their names in her book, then put their names in the squares for their chosen days on the calendar. Those who had already placed their bets either continued with their breaks or slipped from the room to warn other people that she was taking bets at the moment. It was the only chance they would have all month, because she couldn’t take bets from her desk outside Harvey’s office.
Donna smirked when Rachel even Louis placed bets with her. The current pool was probably one of the most interesting they’d had in a while, and everyone wanted to get in on it. Everyone had an opinion about what would happen, including Donna, though she kept it well to herself.
As the line began to shrink, Donna glanced at her watch; it was just about time for her to get back to work. “Last chance, everyone,” she announced as she scribbled another name and date into her notebook.
A pretty young paralegal standing by the door suddenly whispered something to the associate next to her, and he looked outside. Worried murmurs flew through the room, and heads turned towards the door. Donna looked up just as Jessica Pearson entered, eyeing them all suspiciously. “What’s going on here? Shouldn’t most of you be working now?”
People looked at the ground guiltily, but Donna only smiled. “We’ve got another office pool in the works,” she explained nonchalantly, amused by the horrified looks on some people’s faces when she announced it to their boss.
“Oh? What are you betting on?” Jessica asked. Donna smirked.
“What day Harvey and Mike will finally get their acts together and realize they’re in love.”
Everyone in the office had a day picked, and each person was actively working to ensure that the tension between Harvey and Mike reached a breaking point on the day they had picked. Donna stood on the side, observing with amusement. Rachel was using her position as Mike’s friend to try to influence him. Louis was trying to steal Mike for another case, hoping to make Harvey jealous enough to do something. Donna loved the chaos and tension it all created. The situation was perfect for her to take advantage.
Donna started out small, with little things. She mentioned to Harvey how well Mike was doing with his pro bono case, hoping to both keep Harvey’s mind on the younger man and get him to praise Mike. That praise, in turn, she related to Mike, letting him know that Harvey was proud of him. She teased Harvey about his one-night stands, and mentioned them offhandedly to Mike, to make him jealous. She casually let it drop to Harvey that Mike was going to a restaurant with Rachel on his lunch break, or that Louis was trying to steal him again, and mentioned to Mike that Harvey was annoyed with him for taking too long with lunch or ignoring what Harvey had assigned him to do what Louis asked. It was a slow, subtle buildup, playing on what others in the office had already done. The result was a perfect symphony of rising sexual tension and jealousy, invisibly but expertly orchestrated by Donna. She knew that after Louis had been keeping them apart and Rachel had been talking to Mike, they were primed for an intervention. It was time to give them the final push. All she had to do was make Harvey think he needed to ask Mike to meet him outside the office.
Mike stepped into the expensive-looking restaurant and glanced around nervously, resisting the subconscious urge to straighten his tie. Donna had told him that Harvey wanted to see him, and after he’d left Harvey to read over most of the briefs for their case himself while Mike did something for Louis, he was dreading this conversation. Mike spotted Harvey at a booth by the bar, and started to go over. He paused when he saw the waitress stop by the table and speak to Harvey. Mike couldn’t hear what they were saying, but he could see the waitress leaning down to show off her cleavage, see the way she smiled flirtatiously and tossed her hair over her shoulder. And he could see the way Harvey laid his hand next to hers on the table.
Something about the scene made Mike uncomfortable. He’d heard of Harvey’s reputation for seducing women from the other associates, but he’d never seen it himself. Harvey was always very professional when they were working. Now, though, they weren’t, and while Mike knew Harvey had every right to flirt, it somehow made him feel a little… jealous?
The waitress left, and Mike went over cautiously. He waited for Harvey to take notice of him and nod to the seat across the table before sitting down. Harvey didn’t speak, and Mike shifted on the bench. The silence was making him uncomfortable. “I heard you got Zimmerman to settle for almost ten times what he was offering,” Mike commented, referring to the case he hadn’t been able to work on.
“Yes,” Harvey said. “Even without my associate.” Mike looked down at his hands and tried not to fidget. Harvey sighed. “Mike, you work for me, not Louis, not anybody else. I need your full attention to be on whatever I assign to you. I don’t want you going off on some errand for Louis, or chatting with that paralegal friend of yours when you’re supposed to be working.”
Mike swallowed down the rush of indignation that came at Harvey’s words. He wanted to remind Harvey that he hadn’t talked to Rachel outside his lunch break, and time he was entitled to take off of work. Harvey had as much right to criticize Mike about spending his breaks with Rachel as Mike had to criticize Harvey for spending his nights with the women he picked up.
“I’m sorry,” Mike said coolly. “I wasn’t aware I owed you my break time, too.”
Harvey looked surprised for a moment, then his eyes hardened. “I didn’t hire you so you could spend all your time running errands for Louis and flirting with your little girlfriend.”
“My girlfriend?” Mike scoffed.
Harvey nodded gravely. “Relationships between employees are highly unprofessional.” He said it like it was something he had drilled into his mind a long time ago, and considering his track record with women Mike supposed that might be the only thing that had kept him from going through the secretaries and paralegals at the office.
“What about your little girlfriend that just left? What about all the little girlfriends I’ve heard about? And I’m the unprofessional one for having lunch with a colleague? You have no right to criticize me!”
“None of those relationships took place in the office,” Harvey ground out, his eyes flashing with anger. “None of them lasted more than a night. It was nothing that could threaten my career. You, on the other hand, are putting yours in danger by making yourself more trouble to me than you’re worth.”
Mike barks a sharp, cynical laugh and shook his head. “Rachel was wrong about you,” he said more calmly than he felt. “You don’t care about anyone but yourself.”
“Well, I suppose if that’s what you really think, then there’s nothing I could do to change your mind,” Harvey said icily.
“You think anything you could do could change my mind?” Mike asked. He spread his hands and smiled mockingly. “Go ahead and try.”
Mike felt a tiny shiver of fear at the intense look in Harvey’s eyes, but he was too proud, and too hurt, to back down. Then before Mike could blink Harvey was on his feet and leaning across the table, on hand braced on the tabletop and the other winding around the back of Mike’s neck to pull him forward for a rough, passionate kiss. They struggled for dominance, but Harvey won easily, and Mike was more than willing to accept that. He moaned into Harvey’s mouth as the other man’s tongue slid past his lips.
When they finally broke apart, Harvey gazed penetratingly back into Mike’s dazed eyes. “Is that proof enough that I care?” Harvey asked, his voice rough and accusatory.
“Unprofessional?” Mike asked breathlessly.
“I can’t take it anymore,” Harvey admitted. “I don’t care about being unprofessional. Rachel?”
“Just a friend,” Mike replied, leaning closer to Harvey and brushing a light kiss across his lips. The anger and resentment was quickly fading, replaced by excitement and passion. “The waitress?”
“Thought I’d never have you,” Harvey muttered against Mike’s lips. “Had to do something. Going crazy.”
“Mm,” Mike hummed in agreement, kissing Harvey again. “Let’s get out of here,” he said. Harvey nodded eagerly. He released Mike and dropped a few bills on the table to cover his tab plus, Mike suspected, a generous tip, and then they hurried out to Harvey’s car.
No one was surprised to see Harvey and Mike arrive at the office together the next day, Mike wearing the same suit from the day before. They had been expecting it for a long time, and now the only important question was who had put their money on this day. Donna could hear them talking, and she smirked. Each person was asking the others if they had bet on that day, and each of them was denying it.
“I guess nobody won, then,” Rachel murmured. “Does it go to whoever was closest?”
“Oh, somebody won,” a smug voice said from the end of the hallway. Everyone in the room turned to see Jessica coming towards them. A flurry of soft whispers ran through the room as Jessica walked up to Donna’s desk. Donnas smiled and pulled out her black binder. From the pouch clipped in the front, she pulled out a check. She had collected at least five dollars from almost everyone in the firm, most of them two or three times. The partners in particular had bed large amounts of money, some of them tens of thousands. The result was more than any of the paralegals or associates made in a year, and she had been forced to open a bank account to store it all. Donna herself wasn’t allowed to bet, but the ten percent she took off the top was a tidy sum.
“Here you are, Ms. Pearson,” Donna said graciously, handing over the check.
“Why thank you, Donna,” Jessica replied. “You know, most employers wouldn’t approve of having a gambling ring in their office, but I think it works out quite well.” Jessica turned back to the assembled people, all of them watching her apprehensively. “Well?” Jessica asked. “Don’t you all have work to do?” At her words, they scrambled back to their offices and cubicles, and Donna smirked.
Jessica flipped out her check book and wrote out another, for exactly half of her winnings. “Pleasure doing business with you,” she said to Donna as she handed over the check.
“And you as well,” Donna said with a smirk, tucking the check back into her binder.