holiday prompt post
HOLIDAY ROUND!
THE HOLIDAY ROUND IS OPEN FOR PROMPTS!
IMPORTANT: This round is different and will thus have a few more rules applied to it.
RULES FOR HOLIDAY ROUND:
1. Prompt must have to do with a holiday. Any prompt that is not holiday related will be deleted. (Birthdays do not count as Holidays in this case. If you want a Birthday prompt that wasn' ( Read more... )
However, he thought there would at least be somebody, anybody, that would be willing to come, maybe put their differences aside for just one night, and enjoy a good meal. It was the Holidays after all, and he thought they often had a way of bringing people together. Apparently not this year, because he was turned down by everybody, some people turned him down nicely, stating that they had other plans, and giving him their best fake smiles, assuring him that if they hadn't had other plans they would have definitely been there, and Mike would give them his own best fake smile back, saying that it wasn't a big deal. It kind of was though, and it kind of hurt a bit to be shot down like that.
Of course, that wasn't as bad as Kyle, who Mike wasn't even going to ask, because well, it's Kyle, and they never exactly saw eye to eye, but Mike didn't want to not ask him, because for all Mike knew he didn't have a place to go, so he at least wanted to throw out the invite, just in case. And Kyle had said yes, and gave what sounded like a sincere thank you for the invitation, but when the corners of Kyle's mouth turned upwards and he started laughing, Mike realized that he was yet again because screwed with. As if that alone wasn't enough to make him feel bad, Kyle had to throw in that the reason he couldn't go was because he "Wasn't an orphan and would be busy spending it with his actual family." Mike didn't bother dignifying his comment with a response, just shook his head and walked away. Just because he wasn't going to dignify it, didn't make it hurt any less though.
Mike had one more person he hadn't asked, and that was Harvey. He hadn't asked Harvey, because of all the people he had planned to ask, he definitely expected a 'no' from Harvey. Like it was already set in stone that he'd say no, before he had even been asked.
Regardless, Mike still couldn't help but feel nervous while walking to his office to ask him, and maybe that's because while his head told him the answer would be no, his heart was still holding out hope.
"Mike. Just the person I needed to see," Harvey said, when he noticed Mike walked into his office, "I need you to try to find me something with this damn Andrews' case. I don't have time to go over it, and I figured you'd be able to do it a lot faster than I would. So would you mind?"
"Sure. I'll get these back to you by the end of the day," Mike replied, as he walked over and grabbed the folder Harvey had just tossed to the corner of his desk. Mike just stood there after grabbing the folder, not really sure how to bring up what he wanted to ask.
"Is there something you need?" Harvey finally asked, after noticing the way Mike was still hovering by his desk.
"Um, well, actually, I know you're probably busy, but if not, would you want to maybe come and have dinner with me..well, me and my Grammy tomorrow, I know it's late notice and all but I was given permission to bring her to my apartment and I would really kind of lov-"
"Mike," Harvey interrupted, and Mike was kind of glad for that, because he could feel himself starting to ramble.
"Yeah?"
"I can't come."
"Oh. Right. No, I figured that you wouldn't be able to, but I just wanted to ask."
Mike wasn't exactly good at hiding his emotions, and Harvey thought he looked like a kid that had just been told Santa wasn't real.
"You know it's nothing personal, right? I just have a prior engagement."
"No..yeah, that's fine, I completely understand."
"Maybe you could try asking around the firm, I'm sure there's somebody willing to go."
"Yeah... maybe. But uh, I think I'm going to go get back to work," he said as he started walking towards the door, as fast as he could, because he really just wanted this conversation to be over now.
"Hey Mike."
"Yeah?"
"I hope you have a nice dinner with your Grammy."
"Thanks," Mike smiled. If nothing else, at least Harvey had sounded sincere when he said that.
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It was late when Mike finally finished work, and managed to bike home. The weather was getting colder, and the brisk wind made the trip home that much more exhausting after an already exhausting day.
He was now stretched out on his sofa, rubbing at his temples, trying to stave off an impending headache that he wasn't quite sure if it had come from staring at tiny print all day long, or the fact that he had been stressing over this dinner. He was trying his best to remain optimistic about this whole thing, but today's rejection, had just made it so damn hard. Harder than he had expected it to be.
After his parents had died, his grandmother had done her best to make all holidays seem as normal as possible, she would get him to help her bake Christmas cookies, do holiday crafts, decorate, and just about anything and everything to keep his already overactive mind from dwelling on what he didn't have anymore, and focusing on what he did have instead. He knew it was probably because he was just feeling a bit down after today, because he knew he loved holidays, but he was now thinking that maybe he didn't really love them so much as he once did any more, maybe he just loved the idea of them now.
Mike was tempted to call Trevor, because even though it was Trevor, the person everybody seemed to think was just an anchor dragging him down, Mike wouldn't have minded having his old anchor around right now. Trevor had always just been there for holidays, he was one of the few constants in Mike's life and maybe Trevor didn't always go about doing things in the right way, or the best way, but he had always went about doing things with the best of intentions, and sometimes the best of intentions meant everything.
After some serious mental debating with himself, Mike ultimately decided against calling Trevor, because as much as he wanted things to be the same, to feel the same, he knew they just wouldn't, and couldn't be. He was finally getting his life back on track, and it had been with Harvey's help, not Trevor's, and he wasn't about to risk messing that up. He was pretty sure his Grammy wouldn't appreciate Trevor being there either, as her stance on Trevor was quite similar to what Harvey's was.
Still, he was determined to make this work. Okay, so nobody else was going to come, regardless of that, he really was just happy to be able to enjoy a nice dinner with the person that meant the most to him in the world, and it would be nice to get her out of the nursing facility for at least one evening.
Except, even that was no longer going to happen, because he had gotten a phone call from the nursing facility saying that they didn't think it'd be in his grandmother's best interest to travel anywhere at this current time, which, that alone made Mike feel a pang of panic in his chest, and made him start rambling off a million questions asking if something was wrong with her health-wise that she couldn't come, but they assured him that she was doing just fine, which, in turn, allowed him to breathe a sigh of relief and just be thankful a moment for that.
Of course, now it was starting to seem like some sort of sign that he maybe he should just give up on this whole thing. Like the world was somehow conspiring against him for this not to happen. They apologized over the phone for any inconvenience the late notice may have caused, and Mike used his best lawyer tone, the one that made everything sound like it was perfectly okay, assuring the lady on the other end of the line that it was no problem at all, even though it was feeling like the exact opposite to him. He was pretty sure that particular tone he had used was something that he had picked up from Harvey.
In somewhat of a last ditch effort, Mike asked if it would be okay to just visit her, and bring the dinner there, to which they gave him the go ahead for. He thanked them, and hung up the phone. He considered banging his head against the coffee table in front of him, out of complete and utter frustration, but instead settled for just crawling into bed, and trying to sleep off the disappointment the day had brought him.
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He wrote down a list of the things he would need at the grocery store, he figured he probably could have made the list mentally and remembered everything, but it wasn't often that he got to buy actual food, so a list just seemed like something he should have, if for appearance sake only. He finished his coffee and headed out the door. He would have to splurge on a cab, since riding a bike while lugging groceries wasn't exactly ideal.
--
After a brief moment assessing all the ingredients and items he had bought at the store and laid out in front of him back in the apartment, he decided it was time to get to work.
He loved cooking, didn't get to do it often nowadays, because he couldn't really afford the ingredients, but when he was little he would be his mom's little helper in the kitchen, and that carried on, even after his mother passed away, with him helping his Grammy in the very same way, always making sure to ask her how much of each ingredient she was using, and mentally storing that information away. His eidetic memory wasn't just good for law, turns out, it comes in very handy for cooking as well. His mind was essentially a library of recipes, mostly old secret family recipes, stored neatly in his mind, no cookbooks or index cards with illegible handwriting required.
He dug out an apron from the closet, washed his hands, and got started in the kitchen.
--
Spending the entire afternoon in the kitchen had been somewhat therapeutic. It kept his mind busy, and he didn't have to think about work, or anything really, besides making sure all the food came out perfect, because that was something he had control over, and that felt nice.
After everything was cooked, he wrapped it up in aluminum and placed it in containers so it would stay hot until he had got it from his place to the nursing facility. He changed into the best suit he had, and matched it with a tie Jenny had bought for him, when she learned about the new job he had. Harvey would have probably appreciated this particular tie, as it looked nothing like the skinny ties he normally wore, the ones that Harvey had such a strong distaste for, which is probably why he'd never worn it until now. He liked his skinny ties to begin with, and liked them a little bit more knowing that him wearing them drove Harvey just a little bit crazy.
He finished straightening his tie in the mirror, and ran his fingers through his hair one last time, before calling a cab and heading off to the nursing facility.
--
Mike rapped his fist against the door three times, before he heard a faint voice telling him to 'Come in'.
"Hi, Grammy," Mike greeted her.
"There's my boy! Look at how handsome you look in that suit!"
Mike sat his bags down on the table, walked over to her, gave her a kiss on the cheek, and then wrapped his arms around her.
"I got you a present," he said, as he walked back over, grabbed a gift bag from the table, and handed it to her.
She reached into the bag, and pulled out a photo album, Mike had filled it with pictures of the both of them together.
"This is perfect,' she said, smiling as she flipped through the pictures and memories.
"You like it?"
"I love it. Thank you."
"You're welcome."
"I'm so happy you're here. I didn't know if I was going to get to see you, since they told me I couldn't go anywhere."
"Of course you'd get to see me. We can't not have a family dinner, right? It's a tradition..so, I hope you're hungry, I did a lot of cooking today."
"I'm starving, and since you cooked it, I know it'll taste better than that flavored Styrofoam they feed me in here."
"It's that bad, huh?"
Mike knew that she was mostly joking, but that comment made him feel a little bit guilty, he wishes he could afford to put her some place much nicer than this, but as it was now, he was working his ass off, and still barely able to keep his head above water.
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"Do you think that maybe we should wait for your friends to get here first, Mike? We don't want things getting cold. I can call the people here and get them to bring some more chairs in. It might be a tight fit, but we can make it work."
"No, you don't have to worry about any of that. It's just going to be us, you know, like always."
"But I thought you said you wanted to invite some people this year?"
"I know, I did say that, and I did ask some people, but you know..people are just busy this time of year, I guess."
"Oh, my poor sweet boy," she said.
"Grammy, it's not like that. It's not really a big deal."
"But you seemed so excited about guests when we talked on the phone the other night ago."
"Well, things didn't go as planned. It's okay though, I still get to have dinner with the most amazing woman in the world, and that's all that really matters."
"I love you."
"Love you, too," he replied, walking over and giving her a kiss on the cheek.
--
Mike had just about finished setting up everything at the table, when there was a knock at the door.
"I'll get it," Mike said, figuring it was probably just a nurse to check in on his grandmother.
What he didn't expect when he opened the door, was to see Harvey Specter, flowers in hand, standing on the other side of it.
"H-Harvey? What are you doing here?"
"That's one hell of a way to greet someone, Mike. You really should work on that. And if I recall correctly, you actually invited me here."
"I did and you said you couldn't come because of a prior engagement."
"Yeah, well, I got done early with my prior engagement, and I was in the neighborhood, so I just figured I'd swing by."
"You were in the neighborhood of my Grammy's nursing facility? Really, Harvey? Wait..how did you even know we were here to begin with?"
"Look, are you going to invite me in or not?"
"Uh, yeah, of course, come in," Mike said, still unable to actually grasp the fact that Harvey, of all people, had just shown up to have dinner with him and his Grammy.
"So this must be the infamous Grammy I've heard so many lovely things about. Harvey Specter," he said, extending a hand, and a smile to her.
"Harvey Specter. It's so nice to finally meet you. Mike's told me so much about you," she said, as she placed her hand into his.
"He has, has he?" Harvey said, as he shot Mike a quick glance. Mike's eyes darted directly to the floor. "These are for you," Harvey said, as he handed her the bouquet of flowers.
"These are beautiful. Thank you, Mr. Specter, that's very sweet of you."
"Please, call me Harvey."
"All right, Harvey. You can call me Grammy."
"I think I can manage that."
"I should get these in some water," she said, as she slowly pulled herself out of her chair, and walked over to the sink.
"Do you need any help?" Harvey asked.
"I think I can still handle putting flowers in water, but I'll give a yell if I do need help."
Mike had pulled over a third chair and sat it at the table.
"Harvey, thank you for coming."
"Yeah, sure Mike, not a big deal. Thanks for the invite. The food smells great, and the fact that you're not even wearing one of your shitty skinny ties is reason enough to be here."
"That is not appropriate dinner table language, young man," Grammy said, as she started to walk the flowers over.
"You're absolutely right, I sincerely apologize for that. It won't happen again," Harvey said, as he took the flowers from her hands, and set them down on the table.
Mike couldn't help but smile, his Grammy had just gotten the great Harvey Specter to apologize.
---
Perfect wasn't a word that Mike got to use often, but tonight's dinner had been just that. The food had turned out delicious, and he had been given many compliments from both his Grammy and Harvey on it. Of course, his Grammy knew what he was capable of in the kitchen, but as for Harvey, he was quite impressed by Mike's culinary skills, and he was pretty sure he was going to have to ask Mike for a few of the recipes from tonight.
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When she did, she found a silver necklace with a dove at the end of it. Her eyes started to water a little bit as she pulled the necklace from the box.
"I know it's not the exact same thing, but I didn't have much to go off of," Harvey said, his tone oddly apologetic.
"It's absolutely perfect" she said, before walking over and wrapping her arms around Harvey.
Mike had to bite down on his lower lip to stop his own eyes from watering at that point. He had once told Harvey about how his Grammy had to pawn off one of her favorite necklaces, one with a dove on it, just to be able to pay their bills when he was growing up.
Of course, when he had told Harvey this, he was completely sleep deprived, and just rambling it off for no particular reason at all, and Harvey had told him something along the lines of 'I didn't hire you to hear your god damn life stories, kid. Now go home, get some sleep, and find me what I need in the morning or you're fired'. So, to know that Harvey had not only been actually listening to what he had said that day, as well as remembering what he had said, and then giving his Grammy a gift like that, well, it meant so much. This whole night had meant so much.
--
After both Mike and Harvey had said their goodbye's to Grammy, Harvey asked Mike if he wanted Ray to give him a lift back to his place after he had dropped him off, to which Mike had accepted the offer. They met Ray out front and headed off to Harvey's. The ride back was quiet, and maybe it was because they were too full, or too tired, or maybe neither of them knew quite what to say, but it still seemed like a lot was being said in that silence.
"Well, this is my stop. Thanks for dinner, Mike. It was nice meeting your Grammy, too. I'll see you Monday morning for work, on time, I should hope."
"I'll be on time. Promise. Thank you for tonight."
"No problem," Harvey said, before pushing the door of the car open and stepping outside, slamming the door behind him.
"Hey Ray, can you hold up a second?"
"Sure thing, Mike."
"Thanks."
Mike opened his door and stepped outside, walking around the car and meeting Harvey on the sidewalk.
"Harvey, wait."
"You realize in order for Ray to take you home, you have to actually stay in the car, right?"
"I just needed to thank you."
"You already did th-."
Before Harvey could get the words out, Mike had completely engulfed him in a ridiculously tight hug.
"Thank you so much, Harvey. It really means the world to me that you showed up tonight. I know that you probably don't get it, and maybe you won't ever get it, but just....well, just..thank you..for just..being there."
Maybe Mike was right, maybe Harvey wouldn't ever understand it, because all Harvey understood was how completely defeated Mike had looked when he had told him he wouldn't be able to come, and he understood the slight ache in his chest he felt when he had talked to Donna at the end of the day, and found out that as far as she knew, nobody had said they were going to dinner with Mike, so maybe he didn't understand what exactly it had all had meant, but the fact that it had obviously meant something to Mike, was enough that it made him want to be there for him. Harvey knew how hard he had been working, so Mike certainly deserved something good, after all.
When he realized that Mike had actually started crying, he moved his arms up so he could return the hug to Mike, which only seemed to make him cry harder. He just let him though. For a good while, anyway.
"Mike?" he finally said.
"Yeah, Harvey?"
"Little known fact, I'm a fan of breathing, and would like to be able to do it again sometime soon."
"Oh, right..uh, I'm so sorry," Mike said, pulling away from him, and wiping at his eyes.
Harvey just placed his hands on either side of his face, "Look, don't apologize, and stop thanking me already. Just go home and get some sleep, okay?" he said, before softly pressing a kiss to Mike's forehead.
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Amazing <3
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Sorry, that line just pissed me off. Unless they are neglectful, or being hurtful in someway, how dare she complain. She should be grateful and realize how lucky she is to have a Grandson willing to do what ever it took to keep her out of the state home.
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And, like, everyone has a right to complain about shitty food if it's shitty. I complained about the food all the time in college but that didn't mean I was ungrateful for the fact that I was able to go to college and was able to eat food in the first place.
Apologies to _nevergone for hijacking this thread. The story was wonderful and a joy to read.
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