suits fic, put on a show 1/1 (prompt fill)
Title: Put on a show
Author: matchsticks_p
Summary: written for the suitsmeme prompt "Louis is confronted by an ex at work he is really cruel to him. Mike and Harvey see this. Mike feels bad for Louis so he sticks up for him by pretending to be Louis' boyfriend to make the ex shocked and get them to shut up (b/c Louis may be a jerk at times but he's their jerk and how dare that person be putting Louis down on their own turf)."
Pairings: Gen? Past Louis/OMC, pretend Mike/Louis, and banter tinged with hints of Mike/Harvey because this is set in Suits canon where "hints of Mike/Harvey" is a constant like the sun.
Rating: PG-13 for language.
Disclaimer: Not true, not affiliated, not paid, no harm meant.
Louis is in the middle of hijacking Mike from Harvey when a man who looks like a taller, buffer, and immeasurably dumber version of Fabio walks in.
"No, Louis, I need to go help Harvey with this thing," Mike is explaining, a little flustered, caught between Louis's death-grip on his sleeve and Harvey snapping his fingers by the elevators.
"Vince," Louis says.
"Um, no, it's Mike," Mike says, wondering if Louis is pretending to forget his name to remind him that as a mere associate his name isn't worth remembering, or if Louis has just gone ahead and decided to rename him entirely. Neither is out of character.
"Um, no, that's Vince," Louis says, squinting at Mike and shaking his head like he can't comprehend how Mike can be so thick and still make it to work alive every morning.
Mike turns around and realises that Vince must be the guy approaching them-a rugged, chiselled, deliberately scruffy kind of guy wearing a leather jacket and loudly smacking his gum. The kind of guy who doesn't take his aviators off even when he's indoors.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Louis asks.
"I came to get those cuff links."
Louis looks down at his own wrists, then looks back up at Vince. "You've got to be kidding me."
"They cost me three hundred dollars. I'm taking them back."
"Consider them a down payment for the two thousand dollars it cost me to hire movers to get all your shit out of my place," Louis spits.
"I didn't ask you to do that-"
"I didn't ask you to cheat on me, you cuntfaced troglodyte! I told you you had twenty-four hours to get the hell out. You weren't out, so I threw your things out. I hope you had fun getting them off that rooftop. Sorry if anything was broken-I paid them extra to be less careful."
Which is when Mike realises who Vince is and what the hell is going on, right there, in public, in front of everyone at Pearson Hardman. His eyebrows shoot to his forehead and he darts a quick "oh shit" look at Harvey, but Harvey is just leaning against the wall with one hand in his pocket, rolling his eyes so hard that Mike can see it all the way from here. Knowing him, he probably finds it deeply hilarious that Louis ever said yes to such a loser in the first place.
"I would never have cheated on you if you weren't such a lousy lay," Vince says. "Seriously, if you think you dumped me, just go take a look in the mirror. You have a bald spot. I have a six pack."
And yeah, it is pretty hilarious, because that guy really is that much of a loser, but it's also 11:00 a.m. on a weekday and it feels like every person in the building has gathered around to watch the showdown. Mike knows that Louis can hold his own. Hell, he knows that Louis has said meaner things to nicer people with more glee. But it's the principle of the thing, and Mike has never been able to stand cheaters. So he makes a snap decision that he'll probably regret later, but hey, his entire law career up to now has been built on decisions like that and it's worked out alright so far.
"Babe," Mike says, sidling up next to Louis and winding an arm around his neck, "is this the loser ex you were telling me about?" He looks Vince up and down slowly, then curls his lip in mild disgust.
Louis stares at Mike blankly. Babe? he mouths.
Mike jerks his head at Vince and tries to signal with his eyeballs. He knows Louis isn't great at following social cues, but he's always assumed it's because Louis doesn't want to, not because he doesn't know how to.
"It's him alright, honey," Louis says, playing along and managing to sound only slightly sarcastic.
"Who the fuck are you?" Vince demands.
"I'm Mike," he says, stroking his fingers along the hair at the base of Louis's neck. "Louis's boyfriend." He sticks his other hand out for Vince to shake, but pulls it back before Vince can touch him. God, it feels good to be on the giving instead of receiving end of that, for once.
"What is he, twelve?" Vince says to Louis. "Are you so desperate that you have to be a cradle-robbing sugar daddy now?"
Mike grits his teeth. That low blow was insulting to both of them, and frankly he's starting to get riled up for real. But before he can say anything, Louis says, "Well actually, Mikey here is a lawyer. Unlike your unemployed model ass, he can pay for his half of the tab."
"That's right, Louie," Mike says. He reaches down to catch hold of Louis's hands, brings them up and undoes his cufflinks for him. "And since I can afford accessories that don't look like they came from a box of Cracker Jack, you can go ahead and return these." He tosses them at Vince at an awkward angle; they bounce off his broad chest, and Mike watches with immense satisfaction as Vince scrambles around picking them up off the gleaming office floor.
Vince leaves, red-faced. He has to pass Harvey on his way to the elevators, and Harvey takes the opportunity to incline his head and lean in, murmuring something sotto voce that makes Vince's face go even redder before he stomps into an elevator and out of their lives.
Like someone hitting the unpause button on a remote control, the hustle and bustle of Pearson Hardman resumes as everybody goes back to what they were doing and a few associates try to high-five Louis, who dismisses them with a flick of his wrist and tells them to get the hell back to work.
"Never call me 'Louie' again," Louis says to Mike. "And let go of my hand."
Mike drops Louis's hand quickly. "If you promise to never call me 'Mikey' again-"
"I'll call you whatever I want, drone. You'll answer to Aloysius if I tell you to."
Right. This is Louis. In some alternate universe, Mike's pretty sure Louis would be grateful and owe him one, but in this universe Louis is looking at him like he's a particularly interesting bug and Harvey is back to snapping his fingers again and actually whistling like he's calling a dog to heel. It's just as well; having Louis owe him a favour would probably be creepier than it's worth.
He trots over to Harvey obediently, apologising for the holdup. Before the elevator doors close all the way, though, a hand prises between the crack and the doors re-open.
"Just wanted to say, you know, thanks. Or whatever," Louis says, sticking his head in. "And I want you in my office with that report the second you're done with Harvey, Aloysius."
The doors close again, and Harvey turns his smirk onto Mike.
"Don't judge me," Mike says. "A guy shouldn't be humiliated like that. Even if it is Louis."
"Oh, I'm not judging," Harvey says casually. He aims his eyes upward and says to the ceiling, "Someone told me that Pearson Hardman's good name is my good name, since I made senior partner. You saved face for a Pearson Hardman employee. Nothing wrong with that. As much as it pains me to admit it, Louis could've done a lot better than that idiot."
"What, done better, like a guy like me?"
"Don't fish for compliments, it's unbecoming." The corner of Harvey's lips curls up no matter how hard he tries to hide it.
"Oh, come on, just admit it. I'd be a catch," Mike says. "I'm a babe."
Harvey rolls his eyes just as they arrive onto the first floor. The elevator doors open with a ding, and as he walks out he says over his shoulder, "Yeah, alright, you're a babe. Now go put those charms of yours to work convincing our witness to testify, Aloysius."
Mike laughs, and follows.
-end
A/N: I'm sorry if the tone was slightly off-I couldn't decide if I wanted it to be more slapstick or serious, so it came out a mix and I don't know if it captures what I meant to do in my head. I hope the prompter likes it anyway. This is my third Louis-centric fill for the meme, and I've decided to make it my mission to write every Louis prompt I like. I love Harvey/Mike, but since it's practically canon already I find it way more interesting to write about Louis and Trevor. Idk, idk. Indulge me.
Author: matchsticks_p
Summary: written for the suitsmeme prompt "Louis is confronted by an ex at work he is really cruel to him. Mike and Harvey see this. Mike feels bad for Louis so he sticks up for him by pretending to be Louis' boyfriend to make the ex shocked and get them to shut up (b/c Louis may be a jerk at times but he's their jerk and how dare that person be putting Louis down on their own turf)."
Pairings: Gen? Past Louis/OMC, pretend Mike/Louis, and banter tinged with hints of Mike/Harvey because this is set in Suits canon where "hints of Mike/Harvey" is a constant like the sun.
Rating: PG-13 for language.
Disclaimer: Not true, not affiliated, not paid, no harm meant.
Louis is in the middle of hijacking Mike from Harvey when a man who looks like a taller, buffer, and immeasurably dumber version of Fabio walks in.
"No, Louis, I need to go help Harvey with this thing," Mike is explaining, a little flustered, caught between Louis's death-grip on his sleeve and Harvey snapping his fingers by the elevators.
"Vince," Louis says.
"Um, no, it's Mike," Mike says, wondering if Louis is pretending to forget his name to remind him that as a mere associate his name isn't worth remembering, or if Louis has just gone ahead and decided to rename him entirely. Neither is out of character.
"Um, no, that's Vince," Louis says, squinting at Mike and shaking his head like he can't comprehend how Mike can be so thick and still make it to work alive every morning.
Mike turns around and realises that Vince must be the guy approaching them-a rugged, chiselled, deliberately scruffy kind of guy wearing a leather jacket and loudly smacking his gum. The kind of guy who doesn't take his aviators off even when he's indoors.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Louis asks.
"I came to get those cuff links."
Louis looks down at his own wrists, then looks back up at Vince. "You've got to be kidding me."
"They cost me three hundred dollars. I'm taking them back."
"Consider them a down payment for the two thousand dollars it cost me to hire movers to get all your shit out of my place," Louis spits.
"I didn't ask you to do that-"
"I didn't ask you to cheat on me, you cuntfaced troglodyte! I told you you had twenty-four hours to get the hell out. You weren't out, so I threw your things out. I hope you had fun getting them off that rooftop. Sorry if anything was broken-I paid them extra to be less careful."
Which is when Mike realises who Vince is and what the hell is going on, right there, in public, in front of everyone at Pearson Hardman. His eyebrows shoot to his forehead and he darts a quick "oh shit" look at Harvey, but Harvey is just leaning against the wall with one hand in his pocket, rolling his eyes so hard that Mike can see it all the way from here. Knowing him, he probably finds it deeply hilarious that Louis ever said yes to such a loser in the first place.
"I would never have cheated on you if you weren't such a lousy lay," Vince says. "Seriously, if you think you dumped me, just go take a look in the mirror. You have a bald spot. I have a six pack."
And yeah, it is pretty hilarious, because that guy really is that much of a loser, but it's also 11:00 a.m. on a weekday and it feels like every person in the building has gathered around to watch the showdown. Mike knows that Louis can hold his own. Hell, he knows that Louis has said meaner things to nicer people with more glee. But it's the principle of the thing, and Mike has never been able to stand cheaters. So he makes a snap decision that he'll probably regret later, but hey, his entire law career up to now has been built on decisions like that and it's worked out alright so far.
"Babe," Mike says, sidling up next to Louis and winding an arm around his neck, "is this the loser ex you were telling me about?" He looks Vince up and down slowly, then curls his lip in mild disgust.
Louis stares at Mike blankly. Babe? he mouths.
Mike jerks his head at Vince and tries to signal with his eyeballs. He knows Louis isn't great at following social cues, but he's always assumed it's because Louis doesn't want to, not because he doesn't know how to.
"It's him alright, honey," Louis says, playing along and managing to sound only slightly sarcastic.
"Who the fuck are you?" Vince demands.
"I'm Mike," he says, stroking his fingers along the hair at the base of Louis's neck. "Louis's boyfriend." He sticks his other hand out for Vince to shake, but pulls it back before Vince can touch him. God, it feels good to be on the giving instead of receiving end of that, for once.
"What is he, twelve?" Vince says to Louis. "Are you so desperate that you have to be a cradle-robbing sugar daddy now?"
Mike grits his teeth. That low blow was insulting to both of them, and frankly he's starting to get riled up for real. But before he can say anything, Louis says, "Well actually, Mikey here is a lawyer. Unlike your unemployed model ass, he can pay for his half of the tab."
"That's right, Louie," Mike says. He reaches down to catch hold of Louis's hands, brings them up and undoes his cufflinks for him. "And since I can afford accessories that don't look like they came from a box of Cracker Jack, you can go ahead and return these." He tosses them at Vince at an awkward angle; they bounce off his broad chest, and Mike watches with immense satisfaction as Vince scrambles around picking them up off the gleaming office floor.
Vince leaves, red-faced. He has to pass Harvey on his way to the elevators, and Harvey takes the opportunity to incline his head and lean in, murmuring something sotto voce that makes Vince's face go even redder before he stomps into an elevator and out of their lives.
Like someone hitting the unpause button on a remote control, the hustle and bustle of Pearson Hardman resumes as everybody goes back to what they were doing and a few associates try to high-five Louis, who dismisses them with a flick of his wrist and tells them to get the hell back to work.
"Never call me 'Louie' again," Louis says to Mike. "And let go of my hand."
Mike drops Louis's hand quickly. "If you promise to never call me 'Mikey' again-"
"I'll call you whatever I want, drone. You'll answer to Aloysius if I tell you to."
Right. This is Louis. In some alternate universe, Mike's pretty sure Louis would be grateful and owe him one, but in this universe Louis is looking at him like he's a particularly interesting bug and Harvey is back to snapping his fingers again and actually whistling like he's calling a dog to heel. It's just as well; having Louis owe him a favour would probably be creepier than it's worth.
He trots over to Harvey obediently, apologising for the holdup. Before the elevator doors close all the way, though, a hand prises between the crack and the doors re-open.
"Just wanted to say, you know, thanks. Or whatever," Louis says, sticking his head in. "And I want you in my office with that report the second you're done with Harvey, Aloysius."
The doors close again, and Harvey turns his smirk onto Mike.
"Don't judge me," Mike says. "A guy shouldn't be humiliated like that. Even if it is Louis."
"Oh, I'm not judging," Harvey says casually. He aims his eyes upward and says to the ceiling, "Someone told me that Pearson Hardman's good name is my good name, since I made senior partner. You saved face for a Pearson Hardman employee. Nothing wrong with that. As much as it pains me to admit it, Louis could've done a lot better than that idiot."
"What, done better, like a guy like me?"
"Don't fish for compliments, it's unbecoming." The corner of Harvey's lips curls up no matter how hard he tries to hide it.
"Oh, come on, just admit it. I'd be a catch," Mike says. "I'm a babe."
Harvey rolls his eyes just as they arrive onto the first floor. The elevator doors open with a ding, and as he walks out he says over his shoulder, "Yeah, alright, you're a babe. Now go put those charms of yours to work convincing our witness to testify, Aloysius."
Mike laughs, and follows.
-end
A/N: I'm sorry if the tone was slightly off-I couldn't decide if I wanted it to be more slapstick or serious, so it came out a mix and I don't know if it captures what I meant to do in my head. I hope the prompter likes it anyway. This is my third Louis-centric fill for the meme, and I've decided to make it my mission to write every Louis prompt I like. I love Harvey/Mike, but since it's practically canon already I find it way more interesting to write about Louis and Trevor. Idk, idk. Indulge me.