round two prompt post - CLOSED TO NEW PROMPTS
ROUND TWO IS NOW CLOSED TO PROMPTS. ANY PROMPT POSTED POSTED HERE FROM NOW ON WILL BE DELETED
New rounds will open at suits_meme Round Two now has an overflow post, all new fills should be posted there. Incomplete fills can still be posted here.
Round Two is officially closed. Round Three will open on Sunday. Feel free to continue posting fills.
IMPORTANT: ( Read more... )
New rounds will open at suits_meme Round Two now has an overflow post, all new fills should be posted there. Incomplete fills can still be posted here.
Round Two is officially closed. Round Three will open on Sunday. Feel free to continue posting fills.
IMPORTANT: ( Read more... )
He's overcome with a sense of 'whyyyyyyy?'. All was going well when he left for lunch. He turns a puppy dog look on Donna, but it's useless. She just shakes her head, says "Should've gone in there." and walks away.
Kyle turns up by the door (which can't be on his way anywhere, unless he's going to jump out the window, in which case don't let Mike delay him) and doesn't even pretend not to enjoy his misery. Mike regrets not making him retroactively fail all his exams.
Well, there's just one thing to do. He rolls up his sleeves and gets to work.
***
When he finally gets out of the office at half past eleven, feeling brain dead and looking probably not much better, there's a man standing near his bike.
"Um," Mike says cleverly. "Can I help you?"
The man seems surprised that he's being talked to. (On second thought, talking to suspicious strangers at night might not be the usual practice.) He smiles amicably. "No, no. Don't worry about me."
Mike's worried rather about the possibility that the guy's waiting until he unlocks his bike to club him over the head and steal it. He looks like he could take Mike in a fight with unsettling ease. On the other hand, he probably could've broken the lock with his bare hands, so that would be a weird plan, and Mike can't even muster enough energy to contemplate his other options. He shrugs a little to himself, gets his bike and rides off into the night. Nobody brains him from behind, so he counts that as a win and forgets about the man.
At least until the next day.
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Love this story and can't wait for more.
P.s: I think you totally outted yourself as a Brit. 'Marks'?
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Damn. But actually, English isn't my first language at all! So it may be sending mixed signals. (Things like these are why I could really use a beta. I'll gladly de-anon eventually for one ;D)
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And Elliot would have this weird pseudo-smile that actually freaks people out. He's only happy when he's kicking ass and taking names... or tapping ass... preferably Alec's... LOL!
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"Go pack your little bag," says his boss, patting him on the shoulder. "We're having a field trip."
Mike absolutely does not skip happily on his way to his cubicle, just because he'll spend his working Saturday with Harvey and not sitting there all day. He has some dignity left.
Even Louis, who tries to intercept him in the hall, doesn't spoil his mood. "Sorry, Harvey needs me today!" he says. In a dignified way. Then he looks around his cubicle, forgets what he's supposed to get from there, shrugs and leaves.
It turns out that Harvey's field trip consist of driving around the city in Ray's car and meeting important people. Mike's heart skips a beat every time he's introduced as 'my talented associate, Michael Ross'. He shakes more hands before lunch than he did in the last few months.
...speaking of lunch.
He excuses himself from where Harvey's chatting with a judge in front of the court house and takes out his phone. His call goes to voicemail after a few rings. Spock's voice instructs him to leave a message after a prearranged audio signal (and also to live long and prosper).
"Hi, it's Mike. I can't make it to lunch today, sorry. I'm on the other side of the city with Harvey and..."
He trails off, because something catches his attention. Someone's buying a hot dog at a place across the street. It shouldn't be suspicious, but...
It takes him a few seconds to recognize the man from the night before. The guy pays for his hot dog, wanders a few steps away and scowls at it. Then he looks up.
Mike quickly turns away and remembers his phone call. "Uh, so. I'll call you later, okay? Sorry again."
He chances a look back, but there's no sight of the man. Mike shakes his head and starts walking back to Harvey. He stops again when he gets a text message saying: 'no prob. back to sleep /o/ call me when you're free xoxo'. Harvey catches him smiling at his phone and looks unimpressed.
A few hours later, after he meets seemingly everyone who's anyone in the law world and also their moms (no, really, they have tea with a federal prosecutor's mother), Harvey takes him to a talk with his client. It goes well. Mike walks out a little dazed about the amount of money they've just made for the firm.
"Celebratory drinks on me," says Harvey, putting a hand around his shoulder.
Mike hesitates, but only for a minute. Drinking with Harvey is likely to end in embarrassment, but he still can't bring himself to say 'no'.
***
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"You know sooooo many people," he says. His drink doesn't respond, but Harvey does.
"It's important to have connections. And it's never too soon to start wooing the people who matter."
It's possible that Mike giggles a little, but it's only because 'wooing' is a funny word. "You're good at this. But not me. I can't woooooo."
Harvey rolls his eyes, but also smiles, so it's all good. It's nice when Harvey smiles. "You'll learn. Besides, you care about people, right? That should help."
Mike just hums and slides a little lower in his chair. It's a comfy chair, but it might be even better if he sits sideways or something. He tries that without much success.
"Alright, I think you've had enough for today." Harvey flags down a waitress, pays and stands up. "Let's get you home."
"Your home?" Mike asks, smiling widely. "It's very nice. I bet it's even nicer when you go deeper."
Harvey looks at him for a long minute and sighs. "It is, but no. You need to get some sleep. At your place. Come on."
***
An elevator ride never seemed like such an adventure. Harvey doesn't let him press all the buttons, though.
"I need to call Alec," he remembers suddenly and fumbles for his phone.
Harvey stills his hands. "Wait until you're sitting down. Or better yet, until you're sober."
"He won't mind. He's a good friend," Mike says with conviction and steps out on his floor, only slightly unsteadily.
"I'm sure. What's his name again?"
"Alec Hardison. It's a fun name, isn't it?" He grins. "Harrrdison."
"Mm. Where are your keys?"
Mike produces a keyring from his bag with a flourish. Harvey leads him into his apartment and sits him on the couch. "I hope you can take care of the rest."
"Sure!" Mike smiles up at him. "Specter is a nice name, too. I like it."
Harvey just looks at him for a while, again. Then he reaches out and ruffles Mike's hair a little. "Ross isn't that bad, either. Get some sleep, kid."
And Mike totally will, but first - the phone call! The taps 'call' as soon as the door clicks shut behind Harvey.
"Alec! I'm free now. And also a little drunk, I think."
He can almost hear Alec's pout. "Aww man, you went drinking without me?"
"Harvey took me out. Because we were awesome."
"You chose drinks with your boss over me? That's just cold, dude."
Mike frowns a little, confused. "But it's Harvey!"
"Okay, okay, I see how it is." Hardison chuckles. "I'll see you tomorrow. Try to get into bed before you fall asleep."
"I always do!" Mike protests. Then he falls asleep on the couch.
Well, at least it's a nice couch.
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His couch seems a lot less nice when he wakes up with a killer crick in his neck. "Ghhhrm," he says, with feeling. It takes him a few moments to realize that the pounding's coming from the door and not from inside his skull.
He gets up to open it and gets a glass phial shoved into his face. He takes it gingerly and steps aside to let Alec in.
"It's my secret anti-hangover potion," he says, plopping down on the evil couch. "You're the second person who's ever seen it, so feel privileged."
"What's in it?" Mike asks, peering suspiciously at the small bottle. Its contents look like mud, and that's only if you want to be generous with the description.
Alec grins unrepentantly. "You don't want to know."
"Uh, I'm not really hungover..."
"Drink. We need you on top of your game."
Mike gathers his courage and drinks. Then he darts for the bathroom.
"Take a shower while you're there! You'll thank me later!"
Despite looking terrible, tasting even worse and possibly being a recipe from the Harry Potter books, the potion stays down and works its magic. Mike exits the bathroom half an hour later feeling like a new man.
"I think I love you," he announces.
Alec, who somehow managed to find enough space on the table for two laptops, pats the place beside him. "'Course you do. Now sit your ass. I figured today's the only chance to work on your fake history for more than a half-hour."
Mike sighs. "Yeah, probably."
"That's a tough job you've got there, man. But it's fun, at least?"
"It's what I've always wanted to do, you know? I mean, for now I'm at the bottom of the food chain, but it's still pretty cool."
Hardison hums a little and types something on his computer. A familiar table pops up. "Nice people?"
It's a funny question, because people don't usually accuse lawyers of being nice. Mike snorts. "Most of them are assholes, or scary. But there are a few nice people."
"Like your boss?"
"Harvey? He's not nice. Not unless he's charming a client. But he's pretty awesome, yeah."
"Mhmm, I figured," Alec says and hands him the laptop. "Okay, here. The entries I pulled up, the course list and so on. Let's finish making up your history, then I'll figure out a bulletproof way to plant it in their database, and we'll get to spend your lunch breaks playing this cool new game. And by 'new' I mean 'not out yet'. How's that sound?"
Mike beams at him. "Awesome."
***
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