The Tide 3/?
Title: The Tide
Pairing: Mike/Harvey (in later chapters)
Rating: uncertain
Genre: Angst
Summary: Social Services became aware of the neglect on October 6th. Michael Ross, age seven, was taken away from his mother, Mary Ann Ross, on November 16th. Slight Writer!Mike.
Author's Note: Inspiration from Spill Canvas's 'The Tide', Just something I'm writing. WIP.No clue what I'm doing on LJ.
**
Senior year, Trevor's parents split up. Mike is lost. He spent his first seven years in a dysfunctional household, but then Gram and Choc came and showed him that love existed, and that people could have happy endings. Trevor's always accused him of being naïve, but neither of them understands why the separation happened. Mike had spent most of his years with Choc and Gram, and then just Gram, but their love was always tangible, all-encompassing. Everyone could feel it. The dedication they had to each other, the dedication Gram still has, is astounding; Mike and Trevor-who spent most of his days with Mike at Gram's, who didn't even know Choc-were under the impression that that's what it's like for everyone who's in love.
They just don't understand, and it hurts. Trevor stays with his mother, a thin, angry woman named Grace who constantly whines about Trevor's father, Henry. Trevor gets to visit Henry for a weekend every other week, and he almost always brings Mike; they were never separated, even now, as they were getting ready to graduate high school. Henry is almost pitiful in his sadness; it's like he's mourning the death of his wife, not the end of their marriage, although Mike could compare the two quite easily. They go to the zoo, they shoot hoops, they visit batting cages; all man things, and Mike thoroughly enjoys the time spent with Henry. Seeing the smile on Trevor's face is worth getting up early and not seeing Gram as much for the weekend.
Things change when Henry cracks, deciding he can't do it anymore, and starts drinking like his life depends on it. He skips meetings, and soon, Trevor's grown to not expect anything from the man anymore. Mike tries to make it up to him; he takes Trevor to the ocean like they did when they were younger, they make s'mores without chocolate on bonfires Mike makes on the outskirts of town (Trevor's adopted Mike's no-chocolate policy; putting chocolate on s'mores is associated with nasty, nasty things-Chocolate is Mike's father, not something you eat) but it just isn't the same. Trevor stops caring the last two months of his high school career, never handing in his work, or even trying to take his tests. All his teachers are concerned-while Mike is the smarter of the two, everyone genuinely likes Trevor, he's ambitious and cocky and charming-but seeing the slight shake of Mike's head every time they go near Trevor to ask him about it makes them decide not to.
Grace catches wind of her ex-husband's alcoholism in late June, and stops the bi-monthly meetings altogether.
All Trevor really has are Mike and Gram, but they're not enough. Mike's smiles and innocent laughter and geeky jokes, Gram's warm hugs and gentle, Mike-like smiles, her way of just knowing and doting on the slightly lost boy? They're not enough.
Trevor and Mike go off to law school in the fall.
Trevor starts doing pot in the winter.
Mike fakes getting high with Trevor, wanting to be near the uninhibited shadow of his best friend, but not willing to break the law himself. Trevor never notices, he just cuddles and eats and clings to Mike like he's a preserver, a hero, and suddenly, the roles are reversed. Trevor used to stand guard over Mike like he was the boy's only hope of survival, his last defense against the world, his protector, on the anniversary of Choc's death. Mike now stands guard over his misguided best friend while he mourns the loss of a life he wishes he could have again.
All Trevor wants is a family. All Mike has is Gram, but they're a family, can't Trevor see that, can't Trevor see how Gram sighs more and Mike smiles less, can't he see that they're all falling apart, this little make-shift family unit they are?
Trevor starts dealing in the spring.
The next fall, sophomore year of college, Mike gets expelled for selling the answers to a calculus test. He doesn't tell Gram why he sold the answers, she already knows. She already knows that he was saving money to send Trevor to rehab, to get him help and get him out of the life he's been knocked into.
Gram just sits and watches while her boy's lives are slowly ruined by a man named Henry and a woman named Grace. She's glad that Mike's middle name is Andrew-like her husbands-and not Henry.
Henry is an ugly name, anyway, and her boys, Mike and Trevor, are beautiful.
**
In a way, Jenny saves both Mike and Trevor. He'd write her as the heroine in a thousand books, if he thought he'd do her justice.
Mike was numb, unfeeling, after getting kicked out of college. He had dreamed of being a lawyer ever since he realized that Choc and Gram had, in all honesty, rescued him. If he could make that kind of difference in the world, daily, well then, why not? He could battle against the injustices happening in the world; he could help children like him get away from abusive or neglectful parents. It had been his life goal: grow up, make a difference. And now he couldn't.
He had spent the months after being expelled holed up in his apartment, barely eating, and only leaving to visit Gram or check on Trevor. Writing had been his coping mechanism; sitting at his desk, scrawling on familiar lined paper had made him feel like he was free. It made him forget all his problems. For the moment, anyway.
He stopped going to church. Missy came knocking on his door a few times, obviously concerned, but he never opened the door. She stopped coming, eventually. Some days, Mike sat around writing his sins, tears streaming down his face.
Jenny waltzed into his mid-December, the year Mike was kicked out. She was a new tenant at the apartment Mike lived in. He had been coming back from visiting Gram, carrying a bag of groceries, when Jenny literally bounced up, all blonde and shiny and new and she was the most beautiful person Mike had ever seen, after Gram. And unlike pretty much everyone else, she didn't ignore him or shun him even though he was kicked out of a law school for breaking rules. She didn't even know him, and yet, she reached out. She saw him drowning in his insecurities and confusion and Trevor's mess, and pulled him out.
It started out small. She would bring over delicious casseroles, claiming that Mike was much too skinny. (He probably was.) She'd stay longer and longer each time, and after a few weeks, Jenny was bringing over dinner and they'd eat together. He found out she was in culinary school on a scholarship, she was from a small town in Indiana, and she had a brother in the Army. Mike never opened up as much as she did, but it seemed like she understood. Mike came to see her as a confidant of some sorts, someone he could depend on; a quiet, amazing, chef-rock.
The first time she sees his writing, she starts crying on the second page. He hugs her tight, confused as to why her face was covered in tears, but she just shook her head, clung to him, and told him he was beautiful, he was worth it, and he would amount to something, more than something. His writing was beautiful.
He found it therapeutic to write his sins down and hand them to her. She never judged him, and she'd talk him through everything. She was his own personal church. He was slowly healing.
And as if she couldn't do enough, she healed Trevor, too. After two months of having Jenny to himself, Trevor had stumbled in while they were having dinner. He was a mess, half high, and Mike was scared that Jenny would finally realize she didn't want a friend like Mike, and then she'd leave.
She stayed. She stayed for months and weeks and years, and Trevor slowly weaned himself off the pot for her. She was a miracle-worker, and Mike probably owed her his life, as well as Trevor's.
Gram met Jenny at Trevor's six month anniversary of being sober party. Jenny was uncharacteristically nervous, clinging to an all-white cake. When Gram just stared at her, Jenny squeaked out, "They don't eat chocolate. I doubt you do either. Vanilla is way better, anyway-I've gone 6 months without any chocolate, ever since Trevor and Mike told me about it. Well, see, it was more like I read-"
Gram simply just smiled, placed the cake on her dining room table, and turned to Trevor declaring, "You will marry this girl."
Life went on, and Trevor proposed, eventually. (No one ever disobeyed Gram.)
Mike published his writings from those autumn and early winter months, before Jenny, anonymously. A third of the proceeds got to supporting reformed drug addicts, a third to Gram's retirement fund, and a third helps fund scholarships to the French Culinary Institute in NYC.
Pairing: Mike/Harvey (in later chapters)
Rating: uncertain
Genre: Angst
Summary: Social Services became aware of the neglect on October 6th. Michael Ross, age seven, was taken away from his mother, Mary Ann Ross, on November 16th. Slight Writer!Mike.
Author's Note: Inspiration from Spill Canvas's 'The Tide', Just something I'm writing. WIP.No clue what I'm doing on LJ.
**
Senior year, Trevor's parents split up. Mike is lost. He spent his first seven years in a dysfunctional household, but then Gram and Choc came and showed him that love existed, and that people could have happy endings. Trevor's always accused him of being naïve, but neither of them understands why the separation happened. Mike had spent most of his years with Choc and Gram, and then just Gram, but their love was always tangible, all-encompassing. Everyone could feel it. The dedication they had to each other, the dedication Gram still has, is astounding; Mike and Trevor-who spent most of his days with Mike at Gram's, who didn't even know Choc-were under the impression that that's what it's like for everyone who's in love.
They just don't understand, and it hurts. Trevor stays with his mother, a thin, angry woman named Grace who constantly whines about Trevor's father, Henry. Trevor gets to visit Henry for a weekend every other week, and he almost always brings Mike; they were never separated, even now, as they were getting ready to graduate high school. Henry is almost pitiful in his sadness; it's like he's mourning the death of his wife, not the end of their marriage, although Mike could compare the two quite easily. They go to the zoo, they shoot hoops, they visit batting cages; all man things, and Mike thoroughly enjoys the time spent with Henry. Seeing the smile on Trevor's face is worth getting up early and not seeing Gram as much for the weekend.
Things change when Henry cracks, deciding he can't do it anymore, and starts drinking like his life depends on it. He skips meetings, and soon, Trevor's grown to not expect anything from the man anymore. Mike tries to make it up to him; he takes Trevor to the ocean like they did when they were younger, they make s'mores without chocolate on bonfires Mike makes on the outskirts of town (Trevor's adopted Mike's no-chocolate policy; putting chocolate on s'mores is associated with nasty, nasty things-Chocolate is Mike's father, not something you eat) but it just isn't the same. Trevor stops caring the last two months of his high school career, never handing in his work, or even trying to take his tests. All his teachers are concerned-while Mike is the smarter of the two, everyone genuinely likes Trevor, he's ambitious and cocky and charming-but seeing the slight shake of Mike's head every time they go near Trevor to ask him about it makes them decide not to.
Grace catches wind of her ex-husband's alcoholism in late June, and stops the bi-monthly meetings altogether.
All Trevor really has are Mike and Gram, but they're not enough. Mike's smiles and innocent laughter and geeky jokes, Gram's warm hugs and gentle, Mike-like smiles, her way of just knowing and doting on the slightly lost boy? They're not enough.
Trevor and Mike go off to law school in the fall.
Trevor starts doing pot in the winter.
Mike fakes getting high with Trevor, wanting to be near the uninhibited shadow of his best friend, but not willing to break the law himself. Trevor never notices, he just cuddles and eats and clings to Mike like he's a preserver, a hero, and suddenly, the roles are reversed. Trevor used to stand guard over Mike like he was the boy's only hope of survival, his last defense against the world, his protector, on the anniversary of Choc's death. Mike now stands guard over his misguided best friend while he mourns the loss of a life he wishes he could have again.
All Trevor wants is a family. All Mike has is Gram, but they're a family, can't Trevor see that, can't Trevor see how Gram sighs more and Mike smiles less, can't he see that they're all falling apart, this little make-shift family unit they are?
Trevor starts dealing in the spring.
The next fall, sophomore year of college, Mike gets expelled for selling the answers to a calculus test. He doesn't tell Gram why he sold the answers, she already knows. She already knows that he was saving money to send Trevor to rehab, to get him help and get him out of the life he's been knocked into.
Gram just sits and watches while her boy's lives are slowly ruined by a man named Henry and a woman named Grace. She's glad that Mike's middle name is Andrew-like her husbands-and not Henry.
Henry is an ugly name, anyway, and her boys, Mike and Trevor, are beautiful.
**
In a way, Jenny saves both Mike and Trevor. He'd write her as the heroine in a thousand books, if he thought he'd do her justice.
Mike was numb, unfeeling, after getting kicked out of college. He had dreamed of being a lawyer ever since he realized that Choc and Gram had, in all honesty, rescued him. If he could make that kind of difference in the world, daily, well then, why not? He could battle against the injustices happening in the world; he could help children like him get away from abusive or neglectful parents. It had been his life goal: grow up, make a difference. And now he couldn't.
He had spent the months after being expelled holed up in his apartment, barely eating, and only leaving to visit Gram or check on Trevor. Writing had been his coping mechanism; sitting at his desk, scrawling on familiar lined paper had made him feel like he was free. It made him forget all his problems. For the moment, anyway.
He stopped going to church. Missy came knocking on his door a few times, obviously concerned, but he never opened the door. She stopped coming, eventually. Some days, Mike sat around writing his sins, tears streaming down his face.
Jenny waltzed into his mid-December, the year Mike was kicked out. She was a new tenant at the apartment Mike lived in. He had been coming back from visiting Gram, carrying a bag of groceries, when Jenny literally bounced up, all blonde and shiny and new and she was the most beautiful person Mike had ever seen, after Gram. And unlike pretty much everyone else, she didn't ignore him or shun him even though he was kicked out of a law school for breaking rules. She didn't even know him, and yet, she reached out. She saw him drowning in his insecurities and confusion and Trevor's mess, and pulled him out.
It started out small. She would bring over delicious casseroles, claiming that Mike was much too skinny. (He probably was.) She'd stay longer and longer each time, and after a few weeks, Jenny was bringing over dinner and they'd eat together. He found out she was in culinary school on a scholarship, she was from a small town in Indiana, and she had a brother in the Army. Mike never opened up as much as she did, but it seemed like she understood. Mike came to see her as a confidant of some sorts, someone he could depend on; a quiet, amazing, chef-rock.
The first time she sees his writing, she starts crying on the second page. He hugs her tight, confused as to why her face was covered in tears, but she just shook her head, clung to him, and told him he was beautiful, he was worth it, and he would amount to something, more than something. His writing was beautiful.
He found it therapeutic to write his sins down and hand them to her. She never judged him, and she'd talk him through everything. She was his own personal church. He was slowly healing.
And as if she couldn't do enough, she healed Trevor, too. After two months of having Jenny to himself, Trevor had stumbled in while they were having dinner. He was a mess, half high, and Mike was scared that Jenny would finally realize she didn't want a friend like Mike, and then she'd leave.
She stayed. She stayed for months and weeks and years, and Trevor slowly weaned himself off the pot for her. She was a miracle-worker, and Mike probably owed her his life, as well as Trevor's.
Gram met Jenny at Trevor's six month anniversary of being sober party. Jenny was uncharacteristically nervous, clinging to an all-white cake. When Gram just stared at her, Jenny squeaked out, "They don't eat chocolate. I doubt you do either. Vanilla is way better, anyway-I've gone 6 months without any chocolate, ever since Trevor and Mike told me about it. Well, see, it was more like I read-"
Gram simply just smiled, placed the cake on her dining room table, and turned to Trevor declaring, "You will marry this girl."
Life went on, and Trevor proposed, eventually. (No one ever disobeyed Gram.)
Mike published his writings from those autumn and early winter months, before Jenny, anonymously. A third of the proceeds got to supporting reformed drug addicts, a third to Gram's retirement fund, and a third helps fund scholarships to the French Culinary Institute in NYC.