Wear My Name: Chapter 2
Pairing: MikexHarvey
Rating: PG13 (currently)
Warnings: Slight AU(Mike has a degree), crossing over with "The Proposal" (2009)
Disclaimer: I do not own Suits or the Proposal or... anything. I'm not making money off this.
Summary: Harvey and Mike plot their fake engagement, and take on the Office of Immigration Services.
Prologue
Chapter 1
The day went by quickly after that. Harvey and Mike acted normal, not missing the wary stares of their coworkers as they moved through the office. They headed out early even though they had a shitload of work to do, and no one batted an eye. Rahim was waiting for them at street level and the smile on Ray's face as he looked at the associate made Harvey wince. Suddenly, Ray seemed to think that the last puzzle piece was in place, probably provided by Donna. People would believe anything these days. They rode in mutual silence. Ray kept his eyes on the road and didn't once glance back like he usually did. Why Harvey could only guess it was giving them a low degree of privacy or something. It was Harvey's job to read people and today it was just a hindrance. It made him uneasy.
"Make yourself at home." Harvey gestured to the bar and living room, making his way to his bedroom to neatly dispose of his tie and jacket. When he came back Mike was standing around like he'd never been in the condo. "Seriously, you're going to be living here, don't be afraid to touch stuff." Harvey sat Mike down on a stool at the island on, and then went to grab the really expensive booze from the cabinet.
Mike gapped at him as he poured the Ladybank Single Malt into his own glass, then pulled out another.
"Want a drink?"
"Yes."
Harvey poured him some whiskey in the other glass and handed it to him. "So, we need a story. A good one."
"Then we're going to need the whole bottle of that stuff."
Harvey glared at him over the rim of his own glass before leaning on the other side of the bar. "This is the most expensive whiskey I own. You will have one glass and be grateful. Now we have how we met. When do we say we started dating?"
Mike takes a minute. "The last time I went on a date was two years ago, with Rachel. We broke it off but I'd been flirting on and off with her pretty seriously up until six months ago. Since then it hasn't been much more than friendly banter."
"Alright, I haven't had anything serious for a year and a half. So we started this a year and a half ago but we had a rocky start. Hence the Rachel thing and it will explain all the one night stands I've had. Six months ago we clicked and I proposed three months ago."
"Why do you get to be the one who proposed?" Mike protested with a frown.
"Because I am the mature one with his life in order. It's believable that I would be thinking about marriage. That and you're a child."
Mike made a face. "Fine. How did you propose?"
Harvey set his glass down. "What?"
"How? Someone is bound to ask how it happened."
Harvey thought on that and shrugged. He'd never thought of how he would propose to someone. "How would you like to have been proposed to?"
"Nothing fancy. You cooked, bought wine, and we ate while watching Rocky. After the movie, you pulled out the ring and asked me to marry you."
"Not exactly my style."
Mike wrinkled his nose. "If I'm the one getting proposed to I get to pick how."
"Fine, fine. I did it because I knew you wouldn't appreciate flashy." He drank some more, before refilling his glass, and taking a sip.
"So, how much sex are we fake-having?"
Harvey nearly did a spit take, coughing like he was dying.
"You didn't think it would come up? We're getting married. It's expected that we've already had sex. You being you and all."
Harvey finally regained his ability to talk. "I didn't expect you to be so blunt about it."
"Well whatever. The fake-sex-"
"We have enough. Work gets in the way but we do it most nights."
Mike rolled his eyes. "And I suppose you are on top."
"Not all the time." To Mike's skeptical look, Harvey shrugged. "It's fake-sex. I can pretend I don't mind. We're already lying, might as well give you some dignity in this."
Mike shook his head. "Alright. Luckily we are around each other enough we don't have to make up fake dates."
Harvey stopped mid sip. That was… Disturbingly true. They worked a lot after hours, which meant they ate together, and Mike had been over to his place dozens of times, and he even went to Mike's sometimes. They ate at restaurants where their clients frequented so that they could be seen eating expensive things- most of which Harvey paid for. "The best lies have bits of the truth."
"We'll need a reason for why we haven't told our families."
"You haven't come out to your grandmother and are afraid of how she'll react-"
"My grandmother-"
"Look, you have lied for stupider reasons. I didn't tell my brother because I knew how it would hurt you that my family knew and yours didn't. Now that work knows, you'll move in here and we'll tell your grandmother, then my brother."
"Alright..." Mike had finished his drink and was fidgeting with the empty glass, slowly spinning it on the counter. "Fake-you is very understanding."
"Well, fake-me is also in love with you so he would be."
A strange look moved across Mike's features before Harvey could read it. It took a second for Harvey to registered that he had used the L word. He was going to have to act in love now. It was expected. "We'll be expected to do PDA's won't we?"
Harvey laughed. "Yeah, but not at work so much. We can just pretend it makes you uncomfortable so we can keep them low key."
"Why am I the one who has to have a problem with all of this?"
Harvey went from himself to caring lawyer in under a second. "Because I don't have a problem with it. I'll do what I have to for this job, but I won't make you go any farther then you want to with the show we're putting on." He turned to Mike, serious. "I… I appreciate this. If we're going to be living like this we've got to be honest and understanding. It's that or jail."
There was that look again. "Alright… Low key I can do."
"Good. When do we tell your grandmother?"
"We'll need to talk to immigration."
Harvey snorted. "Luckily, I know a guy and I may or may not have hit on him when we were drunk once so he'll believe the whole bisexual thing. We've got an initial appointment tomorrow."
Mike's eyebrows shot up.
"Don't judge me. Your grandmother? When are we telling her?"
"After the appointment? If lying to the government is successful I will feel much better about lying to the woman who raised me."
The fidgeting with the glass was becoming too much. Harvey put a hand on Mike's glass to stop him from moving it. Mike pulled his hand away like a scolded child. Harvey sighed and grabbed the bottle to refill it. "I guess what's mine is yours now, so might as well not be stingy." Mike looked grateful and took another gulp. Harvey moved around the counter and sat next to Mike. "We can do this, Mike. But I need you to trust me." Mike looked at him, and Harvey saw it. Mike was focusing every fiber of his being on not freaking out. Harvey sighed. "I am sorry about this. I promise to make being married as easy as possible."
Mike smiled for the first time since they had left work. "I admit you have been infinitely nicer since we got engaged."
"See, already finding silver linings."
Watching Harvey do his thing was like watching an artist in their medium. Andre was all smiles and sunshine when they're walking through the hall and the banter he and Harvey fall into is that of old friends catching up. One had to wonder what a guy as good looking as Andre was doing busting his ass in Immigration Services. He had this dark slicked back hair and ridiculous blue eyes.
It hurt to look at him, really- kind of made Mike want to hate him.
They got to his office and Mike sat in the chair farthest from the door. Harvey sat next to him like he owned the place. The whole visit Harvey had been bumping shoulders with him, just a light touch that Mike barely noticed at first. Now that Harvey was three feet away, he realized just how close Harvey had been that whole time. It was a good strategy. Harvey was leaning a bit Mike's way even as Andre settled in his office. He was sitting the same way Mike was.
These were things he had read about attraction.
"Harvey, are you committing fraud to stay in the country?" Harvey had warned Mike that Andre was blunt.
"No."
Andre's eyes flicked to Mike. "Anything you care to add?"
Mike frowned. "No."
Andre looked unimpressed as he directed his attention back o Harvey. "How long has this been going on again?"
"Off and on for a year and a half. New Years is when it stuck."
Andre laughed. "You were always one for sticking to your resolutions." He looked to Mike then. "And you didn't tell anyone because?"
Mike did his best not to fidget under Andre's critical gaze. "My grandmother hasn't been well- she doesn't even know I'm-" Mike was fumbling over his reasons. Talking about Grammy was hard sometimes.
That and Andre looked like he was about to walk around the desk and bear hug him. Harvey's hand rested on his knee. Mike looked at it, then at Harvey with a pleading look that he hoped conveyed that if he kept talking he was going to ruin this.
"We decided that it would be best to wait to tell our families when we were ready. We thought we had more time and then-" Harvey's face paled. "Well then David was in that car crash and I was stupid, so here we are." Mike put a hand over the one on his knee. It felt like what someone should do if they were in love with someone.
Andre sighed. "It seems like such a waste, but I suppose the babies you adopt will be equally as beautiful as any you could have made."
Harvey laughed. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves."
"Harvey doesn't want kids." And if Mike sounded agitated no one would blame him, because Mike did and Harvey didn't, so no wonder Harvey doesn't mind pretending to marry a guy. Oh suddenly the hand on his knee was gone, would you look at that?
Andre looked surprised. "The way you are with your niece. There are too many parentless children out in the world for you not to take in at least one and spoil it."
Mike felt a twist in his gut he didn't know how to decipher. They had talked about David, but not about his family- a little girl? "You've seen him with his niece?"
Now Andre glanced between the two of them and went back to sorting through files. "Maybe once, it wasn't for very long, it was just his birthday, and before you guys even thought of each other. Who wants to schedule that questionnaire?"
Harvey scratched the back of his neck, straightening up and away from Mike. "Yeah. Let's do that. How's next week? Monday good?"
"Monday is perfect." He wrote on a sticky and handed it to Harvey. "I expect one of those fruit flower baskets on my desk before then for penciling you in."
Mike figured he should glare at that. Something in the way he said it maybe?
Didn't matter, Mike kept it down to a suspicious look and Andre forced a smile at the both of them.
"See you Monday, my friend."
Once they were a safe distance from the building Harvey chuckled. "I did account for how good at this you would be."
"All I did was keep our plan in mind and roll with it."
Harvey grinned. "Not only does he think I'm crazy about you, but he's scared you're jealous of me and Andre's not-a-thing."
"What?"
"The thing about the kids? Him seeing me with my niece? I swear do you hear yourself half the time?"
"My real reaction was I didn't know you had a niece- had to hide the surprise somehow."
Harvey hailed a cab. "Let's go- we've gotta go break the news to your grandmother she isn't getting great-grand babies any time soon."
"At least tell me her name."
The cab pulled to the curb and Harvey opened the door for Mike to climb in. Mike set his jaw, folding his arms across his chest in defiance. Predictably, Harvey caved.
"Gabrielle." The way Harvey said the name nearly made his heart stop. He said it in a soft voice. His tone was sweet and gentle. The way you said the name of something precious. Harvey never talked that way- not about anyone.
Mike grinned like an idiot.
"I cannot wait to meet the little miracle worker."
"What?"
"Nothing. Just never seen you care about another human being before- real-you, not fake-you. It's refreshing."
Harvey frowned like the idea that he could be so easy to read seemed to turn his stomach. Mike ducked into the cab before Harvey could say anything else.
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