Summum Bonum (Mike/Harvey)
Title: Summum Bonum (2/?)
Author: fluffygremlin
Pairings: Mike/Harvey, Mike/Trevor
Rating: R
Warnings: none
Word Count: 2,170 (this chapter)
Summary: When Professor Harvey Specter stumbled upon a skinny student getting harassed by a campus cop, he intervened against his better judgment. He had no idea this brilliant kid would turn his world upside down. Meanwhile, Mike has now been given the opportunity to turn his life around but it might just cost him everything and everyone.
Authors Note: This is obviously AU. Huge thanks to veritas_st for the beta and cheerleading.
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned people who are NOT me. No copyright or trademark infringement is intended and no money is being made.
Chapter Two
Harvey looked up at the little knock on his office door that drew his attention away from the piles of lesson plans he was trudging through. Mike greeted him with a hesitant smile as Harvey waved for him to come in. He hovered next to a chair as Harvey highlighted one last line and then capped his marker, tossing it down with a satisfied sigh.
He was about to tell Mike to sit when he looked him over a bit more thoroughly. “Why are you wet?”
“It’s raining,” Mike said with a shrug, running his hand through dripping hair. Harvey watched as the damp strands stuck up at every angle.
“There’s this little thing I like to call an umbrella. Ever heard of it?” Harvey leaned back in his chair slightly, crossing his arms over his chest as Mike made a face at him that made him think the younger man was resisting the urge to stick out his tongue.
“Umbrella, from the Latin umber, meaning shade or shadow, sometimes referred to as a bumbershoot. The most popular modern version was patented by a company in Loveland, Ohio in the sixties.” Mike mimicked Harvey’s posture, crossing his arms and cocking his head in a self-satisfied manner.
Harvey had to smile at the kid’s tenacity. He had a feeling it would come in handy when he realized what he was signing on for as a teaching assistant. “Bumbershoot? No, don’t.” Harvey gestured towards a wooden chair sitting in the corner of his crowded office. “Drag that over here and try not to drip on everything.”
Mike quickly obliged, dropping his soaked messenger bag beside the chair and folding one long leg underneath him as he settled down onto it. Harvey straightened up the pile of papers in front of him and set them aside for Donna to take care of tomorrow. Turning slightly in his chair, he stretched to reach a folder resting on a small pile of books on the wide window ledge behind him. He turned back towards his desk quick enough to catch Mike staring at him before the blonde could blink away.
Harvey took a deep breath before setting the folder down and opening it so Mike could read the paperwork. “Technically, TAs are supposed to be grad students who have graduated in good standing with the university. I don’t like any of the grad students. They all think they’re the Head Douche-in-waiting.”
“Technically…” Mike’s eyes ran over the contract as Harvey spoke. “And when they find out I’m not?”
“If they find out then you’ll get a reprimand and I’ll have an ax swinging over my head when it’s time to make budget cuts.” Harvey leaned forward, resting his arms on his desk as Mike looked up at him, blue eyes wide. “But I’m not worried about that. You’re a smart kid and I don’t just mean the creepy memory thing. Keep your head down, don’t make a fool out of me and everything will be just fine.”
Mike chewed on his lip for a moment before grabbing a pen from the desk and signing the form without any flourish. “You’re the boss.” Harvey smiled and took the paperwork, adding his signature before tossing the folder on top of Donna’s to-do pile.
“Now that you’ve officially sold your soul I can tell you what you’re going to be doing.” Harvey stood up and grabbed the stack of books off of the window ledge, walking around his desk to drop them on Mike’s lap. “That’s the semester’s worth of reading for the three classes I need you for. There are five Intro to Law courses, massive freshman lectures where I might remember one or two faces, two 300-level ethics courses, and one senior course in criminal law.”
“Eclectic,” Mike said, running a finger along the row of spines in a way Harvey didn’t want to like.
Harvey shook himself and went back to his seat, putting a desk between him and the undergrad. “Luck is more like it. Jessica took pity on me after last year’s course load. Louis was chomping at the bit to get at more of the upperclassman classes and I was glad to give them up.”
Mike was flipping through the topmost book on his pile. “So, going off of the limited experience I have with my own TAs, I’m guessing, what… study sessions and helping with papers?”
“And helping facilitate the mock-trial at the end of the semester. My seniors versus Louis’. I almost always win.” Harvey could help but smirk a bit. Mike matched it.
“Except last year.” Mike’s grin made Harvey pause. “Last year…” Mike prodded. “In the spring your team lost. I didn’t really agree with the decision but you take your chances in front of a jury, right?”
“How did you know that? Louis wouldn’t shut up about it for weeks.”
“I was on his team,” Mike said cautiously. Harvey shook his head.
“You can’t take that course as a junior.”
“You can if you get an exception and I was trying to graduate early so…” Mike drifted off, suddenly becoming very interested with a row of post-it notes stuck on Harvey’s wall.
“Was?” Mike starred resolutely past Harvey’s shoulder. “Tell me about it?” Harvey used a gentle tone, the kind he once reserved to put clients at ease. Mike finally met his eyes and nodded slightly.
“Ask me again sometime.” Harvey nodded and quickly changed the subject.
------------------------------------------------
The first thing Mike noticed when he got home was the perfumed smell of sweet sour spicy smoke covered by too much air freshener. He dropped his heavy bag with a sigh and thudded his head against the wall, taking several deep breaths before straightening up and making his way further into the apartment. He found Trevor stretched out on the couch wearing nothing but thin boxers with a bowl of chips balancing on his stomach.
“What did you fight about this time?” Mike asked as he reached down to push Trevor’s feet off of the couch. The other man’s reflexes were slow and he nearly dropped the bowl as he straightened up slightly, allowing space for Mike to sit before stretching his legs back out on his lap.
Trevor grunted, shoving more chips in his mouth and watching the television with a glazed look in his eye. He finally looked at Mike after several silent minutes and gaze in with a much put-upon look. “My mom called and invited us home this weekend for dinner.”
“That’s…” Mike stopped when Trevor shook his head and motioned his hand between them.
“Us, Mikey, us. Not Jenny.” Mike dropped his head back against the back of the couch as Trevor turned his attention back to the waifs dancing around on screen. “You know Mom’s never liked Jenny.”
“You probably shouldn’t have blamed Jenny for the bag of weed she found in your room when we were fourteen.” Mike closed his eyes and let the warmth of the apartment chase away the dampness that had set in his bones from the long bike ride.
Trevor shifted his legs slightly, pressing them into Mike’s thighs. “I couldn’t blame you,” he said softly, as if it should have been the obvious conclusion. “The woman may have snapped and I wasn’t risking you.”
“Yet you happily gave up your girlfriend.”
“Bros before hos, Mike my love.” Mike didn’t have to open his eyes to know there was a huge smile on Trevor’s face.
“Ignoring the fact that you just called your girlfriend a ho,” Mike said coldly, “I’d like to point out that it may be bros before hos with your mom but it seems to be you before me when cops are involved.” He opened his eyes and tilted his head to the side, not nearly as satisfied as he thought he would be at the hurt look on Trevor’s face.
“C’mon, Mike.” Trevor moved quickly, swinging his feet to the floor and setting the chips aside as he moved in closer to the shorter blonde. “C’mon, man, don’t do that.” Trevor set one hand on Mike’s chest, a warmth that cut through the cold. “I never would have left you hanging if I thought you’d get in trouble. I could apologize a million times and never make it okay but… I can’t deal with you mad at me. Please, Mike, please don’t be mad.”
Mike felt like he should be mad. He felt like he should be furious at his friend and refuse him any form of forgiveness. He would have said so too, had the look on Trevor’s face not stopped the words in his throat. Instead he just nodded and forced a small smile. Anything else was preempted by the trill sound of his phone ringing. He pushed Trevor away with more force than was necessary and started looking for it, moving aside stacks of paper on the coffee table before getting up and riffling through his jacket pockets.
“You lost it again,” Trevor said with an amused grin. Mike just grimaced as he moved to his bag, tossing books onto the floor until he found it buried at the bottom. He answered it quickly.
“Hello? Gram? Yea, no… no, I just left it in my bag.” Mike rolled his eyes as he moved towards his bedroom, closing the door quietly behind him. “How are you feeling? The home called and said you weren’t taking all of your pills again. Gammy, that’s crazy. Dr. Schraeger gave me her word she wouldn’t poison you until January; she does it before then and she can’t count it towards next year’s quota.
It was a good day, actually. I…” Mike took a deep breath. “I got a job. A TA for Professor Specter. It’s… yes, Grandma, that Professor Specter. I was going to call and tell you. It’s just a little thing but it’ll look good on my grad school application and, if he likes me enough, I’ll probably be able to stay on next year. I promised I would do better with myself this year and… and it’s not much but it’s a start. I know you are. Thanks, Grams. Love you too.”
Mike went back out to the living feeling much lighter until he found Trevor hunched over the pile of books and papers he’d left on the floor by his bag. He hurried over and took a folder out of the other man’s hands.
“What is all this?” Trevor straightened up and crossed his arms over his bare chest.
“I’ve volunteered as a study aide in the law department,” Mike lied. “This is all the freshman course…work. Whatever you’re thinking, stop. Don’t.” Mike bent over to pick up the mess and walked towards his room to deposit everything on his bed, ignoring the look Trevor was giving him. He turned around to find the brunette standing in his doorway.
“Those looked like test sheets, Mikey,” Trevor said lightly, leaning against the door in a way that elongated his frame, forcing Mike to look away.
“They were study sheets,” Mike insisted, shoving one folder under his bed with his toe. “They’re old tests they use for study sessions.” Trevor looked at him warily for a moment before brightening up.
“Okay then! C’mon, I’ve been waiting for you all night.” Trevor grabbed Mike’s hand and pulled him back into the living room, pushing him towards the couch before going over and rummaging through the side table. “I saved some for when you got back and then I figured we could…”
“No, Trev.” Mike shook his head, Harvey’s voice ringing in his ears. “I’m not doing that anymore.”
“Stop it, Mike. You don’t have practice anymore.”
“All the more reason not to do it,” Mike said loudly, standing up quickly. “It got me into enough trouble already. No, Trevor,” he said more firmly when the other man tried to interrupt. “I told you I was finished with that. I told you I wasn’t taking that chance anymore once school started. One more semester and I’m done. I can’t risk getting tossed on my ass after four years.”
“Yea, yea, okay, Mike. No big thing.” Trevor put the small baggie in his hand back into the drawer. He held up his empty hands for Mike to see before stepping forward and resting them lightly on the blonde’s thin shoulders. “I just wanted to help you relax. Let me help you. Just… let me.”
Mike could feel Trevor’s fingers digging into his shoulders more firmly now, his thumbs moving in small circles that worked their way down and along his collarbones.
“Let me,” Trevor repeated more quietly. Mike shivered slightly as the other man’s words ghosted across his skin. He hadn’t even realized he’d moved closer. He opened his mouth to say something when his phone began to ring again. “Don’t.” Trevor tightened his grip but Mike only pushed him away and hurried to his room, collapsing against the closed door even as the ringing stop.
Next Chapter
Read on AO3
Author: fluffygremlin
Pairings: Mike/Harvey, Mike/Trevor
Rating: R
Warnings: none
Word Count: 2,170 (this chapter)
Summary: When Professor Harvey Specter stumbled upon a skinny student getting harassed by a campus cop, he intervened against his better judgment. He had no idea this brilliant kid would turn his world upside down. Meanwhile, Mike has now been given the opportunity to turn his life around but it might just cost him everything and everyone.
Authors Note: This is obviously AU. Huge thanks to veritas_st for the beta and cheerleading.
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned people who are NOT me. No copyright or trademark infringement is intended and no money is being made.
Chapter Two
Harvey looked up at the little knock on his office door that drew his attention away from the piles of lesson plans he was trudging through. Mike greeted him with a hesitant smile as Harvey waved for him to come in. He hovered next to a chair as Harvey highlighted one last line and then capped his marker, tossing it down with a satisfied sigh.
He was about to tell Mike to sit when he looked him over a bit more thoroughly. “Why are you wet?”
“It’s raining,” Mike said with a shrug, running his hand through dripping hair. Harvey watched as the damp strands stuck up at every angle.
“There’s this little thing I like to call an umbrella. Ever heard of it?” Harvey leaned back in his chair slightly, crossing his arms over his chest as Mike made a face at him that made him think the younger man was resisting the urge to stick out his tongue.
“Umbrella, from the Latin umber, meaning shade or shadow, sometimes referred to as a bumbershoot. The most popular modern version was patented by a company in Loveland, Ohio in the sixties.” Mike mimicked Harvey’s posture, crossing his arms and cocking his head in a self-satisfied manner.
Harvey had to smile at the kid’s tenacity. He had a feeling it would come in handy when he realized what he was signing on for as a teaching assistant. “Bumbershoot? No, don’t.” Harvey gestured towards a wooden chair sitting in the corner of his crowded office. “Drag that over here and try not to drip on everything.”
Mike quickly obliged, dropping his soaked messenger bag beside the chair and folding one long leg underneath him as he settled down onto it. Harvey straightened up the pile of papers in front of him and set them aside for Donna to take care of tomorrow. Turning slightly in his chair, he stretched to reach a folder resting on a small pile of books on the wide window ledge behind him. He turned back towards his desk quick enough to catch Mike staring at him before the blonde could blink away.
Harvey took a deep breath before setting the folder down and opening it so Mike could read the paperwork. “Technically, TAs are supposed to be grad students who have graduated in good standing with the university. I don’t like any of the grad students. They all think they’re the Head Douche-in-waiting.”
“Technically…” Mike’s eyes ran over the contract as Harvey spoke. “And when they find out I’m not?”
“If they find out then you’ll get a reprimand and I’ll have an ax swinging over my head when it’s time to make budget cuts.” Harvey leaned forward, resting his arms on his desk as Mike looked up at him, blue eyes wide. “But I’m not worried about that. You’re a smart kid and I don’t just mean the creepy memory thing. Keep your head down, don’t make a fool out of me and everything will be just fine.”
Mike chewed on his lip for a moment before grabbing a pen from the desk and signing the form without any flourish. “You’re the boss.” Harvey smiled and took the paperwork, adding his signature before tossing the folder on top of Donna’s to-do pile.
“Now that you’ve officially sold your soul I can tell you what you’re going to be doing.” Harvey stood up and grabbed the stack of books off of the window ledge, walking around his desk to drop them on Mike’s lap. “That’s the semester’s worth of reading for the three classes I need you for. There are five Intro to Law courses, massive freshman lectures where I might remember one or two faces, two 300-level ethics courses, and one senior course in criminal law.”
“Eclectic,” Mike said, running a finger along the row of spines in a way Harvey didn’t want to like.
Harvey shook himself and went back to his seat, putting a desk between him and the undergrad. “Luck is more like it. Jessica took pity on me after last year’s course load. Louis was chomping at the bit to get at more of the upperclassman classes and I was glad to give them up.”
Mike was flipping through the topmost book on his pile. “So, going off of the limited experience I have with my own TAs, I’m guessing, what… study sessions and helping with papers?”
“And helping facilitate the mock-trial at the end of the semester. My seniors versus Louis’. I almost always win.” Harvey could help but smirk a bit. Mike matched it.
“Except last year.” Mike’s grin made Harvey pause. “Last year…” Mike prodded. “In the spring your team lost. I didn’t really agree with the decision but you take your chances in front of a jury, right?”
“How did you know that? Louis wouldn’t shut up about it for weeks.”
“I was on his team,” Mike said cautiously. Harvey shook his head.
“You can’t take that course as a junior.”
“You can if you get an exception and I was trying to graduate early so…” Mike drifted off, suddenly becoming very interested with a row of post-it notes stuck on Harvey’s wall.
“Was?” Mike starred resolutely past Harvey’s shoulder. “Tell me about it?” Harvey used a gentle tone, the kind he once reserved to put clients at ease. Mike finally met his eyes and nodded slightly.
“Ask me again sometime.” Harvey nodded and quickly changed the subject.
------------------------------------------------
The first thing Mike noticed when he got home was the perfumed smell of sweet sour spicy smoke covered by too much air freshener. He dropped his heavy bag with a sigh and thudded his head against the wall, taking several deep breaths before straightening up and making his way further into the apartment. He found Trevor stretched out on the couch wearing nothing but thin boxers with a bowl of chips balancing on his stomach.
“What did you fight about this time?” Mike asked as he reached down to push Trevor’s feet off of the couch. The other man’s reflexes were slow and he nearly dropped the bowl as he straightened up slightly, allowing space for Mike to sit before stretching his legs back out on his lap.
Trevor grunted, shoving more chips in his mouth and watching the television with a glazed look in his eye. He finally looked at Mike after several silent minutes and gaze in with a much put-upon look. “My mom called and invited us home this weekend for dinner.”
“That’s…” Mike stopped when Trevor shook his head and motioned his hand between them.
“Us, Mikey, us. Not Jenny.” Mike dropped his head back against the back of the couch as Trevor turned his attention back to the waifs dancing around on screen. “You know Mom’s never liked Jenny.”
“You probably shouldn’t have blamed Jenny for the bag of weed she found in your room when we were fourteen.” Mike closed his eyes and let the warmth of the apartment chase away the dampness that had set in his bones from the long bike ride.
Trevor shifted his legs slightly, pressing them into Mike’s thighs. “I couldn’t blame you,” he said softly, as if it should have been the obvious conclusion. “The woman may have snapped and I wasn’t risking you.”
“Yet you happily gave up your girlfriend.”
“Bros before hos, Mike my love.” Mike didn’t have to open his eyes to know there was a huge smile on Trevor’s face.
“Ignoring the fact that you just called your girlfriend a ho,” Mike said coldly, “I’d like to point out that it may be bros before hos with your mom but it seems to be you before me when cops are involved.” He opened his eyes and tilted his head to the side, not nearly as satisfied as he thought he would be at the hurt look on Trevor’s face.
“C’mon, Mike.” Trevor moved quickly, swinging his feet to the floor and setting the chips aside as he moved in closer to the shorter blonde. “C’mon, man, don’t do that.” Trevor set one hand on Mike’s chest, a warmth that cut through the cold. “I never would have left you hanging if I thought you’d get in trouble. I could apologize a million times and never make it okay but… I can’t deal with you mad at me. Please, Mike, please don’t be mad.”
Mike felt like he should be mad. He felt like he should be furious at his friend and refuse him any form of forgiveness. He would have said so too, had the look on Trevor’s face not stopped the words in his throat. Instead he just nodded and forced a small smile. Anything else was preempted by the trill sound of his phone ringing. He pushed Trevor away with more force than was necessary and started looking for it, moving aside stacks of paper on the coffee table before getting up and riffling through his jacket pockets.
“You lost it again,” Trevor said with an amused grin. Mike just grimaced as he moved to his bag, tossing books onto the floor until he found it buried at the bottom. He answered it quickly.
“Hello? Gram? Yea, no… no, I just left it in my bag.” Mike rolled his eyes as he moved towards his bedroom, closing the door quietly behind him. “How are you feeling? The home called and said you weren’t taking all of your pills again. Gammy, that’s crazy. Dr. Schraeger gave me her word she wouldn’t poison you until January; she does it before then and she can’t count it towards next year’s quota.
It was a good day, actually. I…” Mike took a deep breath. “I got a job. A TA for Professor Specter. It’s… yes, Grandma, that Professor Specter. I was going to call and tell you. It’s just a little thing but it’ll look good on my grad school application and, if he likes me enough, I’ll probably be able to stay on next year. I promised I would do better with myself this year and… and it’s not much but it’s a start. I know you are. Thanks, Grams. Love you too.”
Mike went back out to the living feeling much lighter until he found Trevor hunched over the pile of books and papers he’d left on the floor by his bag. He hurried over and took a folder out of the other man’s hands.
“What is all this?” Trevor straightened up and crossed his arms over his bare chest.
“I’ve volunteered as a study aide in the law department,” Mike lied. “This is all the freshman course…work. Whatever you’re thinking, stop. Don’t.” Mike bent over to pick up the mess and walked towards his room to deposit everything on his bed, ignoring the look Trevor was giving him. He turned around to find the brunette standing in his doorway.
“Those looked like test sheets, Mikey,” Trevor said lightly, leaning against the door in a way that elongated his frame, forcing Mike to look away.
“They were study sheets,” Mike insisted, shoving one folder under his bed with his toe. “They’re old tests they use for study sessions.” Trevor looked at him warily for a moment before brightening up.
“Okay then! C’mon, I’ve been waiting for you all night.” Trevor grabbed Mike’s hand and pulled him back into the living room, pushing him towards the couch before going over and rummaging through the side table. “I saved some for when you got back and then I figured we could…”
“No, Trev.” Mike shook his head, Harvey’s voice ringing in his ears. “I’m not doing that anymore.”
“Stop it, Mike. You don’t have practice anymore.”
“All the more reason not to do it,” Mike said loudly, standing up quickly. “It got me into enough trouble already. No, Trevor,” he said more firmly when the other man tried to interrupt. “I told you I was finished with that. I told you I wasn’t taking that chance anymore once school started. One more semester and I’m done. I can’t risk getting tossed on my ass after four years.”
“Yea, yea, okay, Mike. No big thing.” Trevor put the small baggie in his hand back into the drawer. He held up his empty hands for Mike to see before stepping forward and resting them lightly on the blonde’s thin shoulders. “I just wanted to help you relax. Let me help you. Just… let me.”
Mike could feel Trevor’s fingers digging into his shoulders more firmly now, his thumbs moving in small circles that worked their way down and along his collarbones.
“Let me,” Trevor repeated more quietly. Mike shivered slightly as the other man’s words ghosted across his skin. He hadn’t even realized he’d moved closer. He opened his mouth to say something when his phone began to ring again. “Don’t.” Trevor tightened his grip but Mike only pushed him away and hurried to his room, collapsing against the closed door even as the ringing stop.
Next Chapter
Read on AO3