Driving a Harvey
Title: Driving a Harvey
Pairing: Mike Ross/Harvey Specter
Other characters: Ray, Donna
Rating: PG-13
Word count: 3,442
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters.
Warning: Mike swears three times.(The same words from the show!)
Summary: Mike’s bike gets stolen again, and Harvey decides to take matters into his own hands.
Author’s note: Originally written for suits_meme. The prompt was ‘Mike getting driving lessons from Harvey’. This is my first Suits story, and I’m so happy to have found another fandom to write in :D For those who want to see the car, I’m attaching several pictures of it. front side top interior
“That’s it. You’re getting a car.”
That was Harvey’s reaction to the recently most well-known incident in Pearson-Hardman; Mike’s bike was stolen again.
Mike frowned as he adjusted his messenger bag in front of Harvey’s desk. Harvey had warned him to tell him as soon as possible if his bike ever got stolen again, and here they were.
“But I like bikes! They’re eco-friendly and economic!”
“Mike, that was your third bike in the past five weeks. Do the math and tell me if you still think it’s economic.” Harvey didn’t even look up from his laptop and kept moving his mouse around.
“Do you know how much it costs to keep a car?” Mike huffed and puffed.
“I don’t. But I’m sure Ray can help you with that.”
“Grr…”
Harvey chuckled a little, enjoying the frustrated growl coming from his puppy.
“Go sit on the couch. I need you to do something for me.”
“Oh, okay.”
Mike quickly walked towards the couch, grateful that some urgent paperwork came up and saved him from the Car versus Bike battle with Harvey.
But when Harvey came to the couch and dropped his laptop on his lap, he stopped being grateful. There were several windows open for him, and they all had cars.
“Holy shit, this is Audi.” Mike blurted out.
“Glad you can read. Now see this price here?” Harvey pointed at the price of a model that had way too many zeros for Mike’s liking.
Mike nodded, speechless, recounting the zeros just to be sure.
“Whichever brand you choose, don’t pick anything that’s cheaper than this. Understood?”
Harvey casually walked back to his desk when Mike cried out in all urgency. “Harvey! You know I can’t afford it! I can’t afford any of these! They’re all Audi, Mercedes, Porsche, Aston Martin…”
“Who said anything about you paying for it?” Harvey sat on his chair with an amused expression on his face.
“Oh…! Then it’s a company car!” Mike was relieved.
Harvey chuckled again but didn’t bother to correct his associate’s assumption. He enjoyed listening to his puppy barking so harmlessly, but he didn’t need to hear too much of it this early in the morning.
After Mike had carefully chosen Audi A3 2.0 TFSI and told Harvey about it during their lunch date, Harvey had asked Donna to do her magic and get her hands on the car as soon as she could. Donna took it as a challenge and voila, Mike was staring at the beautiful car (which cost more than his hypothetical ransom!, Mike thought) at 8pm in front of the Pearson-Hardman building.
“Um… Did she steal this?”
Even with his giant brain, Mike couldn’t think of any other scenarios. He thought that it took months to get a car like this. His plan was to earn enough time to talk Harvey out of it, and if it didn’t work, he was hoping that he could get some driving lessons so that he wouldn’t damage the company car and get fired.
“She works for the best closer in the city, doesn’t she?” Harvey’s voice dripped with pride and Mike became a little jealous. He would kill to hear Harvey be proud of him like that.
“In case you forgot, I work for the best closer in the city too! Oh, and guess what? Last time I checked, I even sleep with him!”
‘Ah, sweet barking again.’ Harvey thought and patted Mike on the shoulder.
“Get in. Let’s go for a test drive. I already sent Ray home so you can drop me off later.”
Mike froze. His voice suddenly became small and weak. “Uh, you want me to drive?”
Harvey was already opening the door to the passenger seat. Mike closed his eyes; he was doomed.
“Don’t tell me you’re getting cold feet. Yes, it’s not a cheap used-car but it’s like any other car. You’ll be fine.” Harvey was about to close the door when he noticed that something was wrong.
“Mike?”
“Hmm?” Mike opened his eyes but didn’t look up.
“What’s the matter? Too sleepy to drive?”
Mike thought about lying but he was dealing with someone who made a living out of reading people. Even though his brain could retain an unbelievably large amount of information in a very short time, he doubted that he could convincingly pose as an experienced driver anytime soon.
“I don’t know how to drive.” Mike climbed in the backseat so that he wouldn’t have to see Harvey’s disappointed face.
“You don’t know how to drive,” Harvey repeated, wondering how he hadn’t even thought of that possibility.
Mike was his responsibility; not just as a boss but also as a boyfriend. He was supposed to look out for him and take care of him (in the least obvious way!). The fact that he couldn’t stop Mike’s bike from getting stolen three times was already bad enough.
Mike’s head fell as he heard Harvey go silent. He must have disappointed him.
“Come sit here. Let me drive,” Harvey’s voice was soft enough to make Mike look up.
“You’re not going to call Ray?”
“You don’t trust me to drive you around the city?” Harvey climbed out of the car and walked over to the driver’s seat while Mike took his place.
“Of course I trust you!” Mike yelled at the top of his lungs, almost offended.
“That’s my puppy.” Harvey leaned over for a quick kiss as soon as he locked the doors.
“So you’re not mad at me?” Mike asked cautiously.
“For what? Not knowing how to drive?”
Mike nodded. “I probably should have told you… I just didn’t want to inform you about yet another flaw of mine.”
Harvey couldn’t help but smile and pinch the younger man’s cheek. “Mike, I’m not going to repeat myself so listen carefully. Unless you throw yourself into Trevor’s malicious arms again, you’re not going to disappoint me in any way. Are we clear?”
“But you don’t know that! Nobody knows what’s going to happen in the future! Besides, we’ve only been going out for a couple of months! You only know a certain number of things about me.” Mike leaned into Harvey’s hand that was caressing his left cheek. He needed the comfort.
“I know that you are going to take driving lessons from Ray, starting this weekend.”
“But I need my beauty rest on weekends! I should at least be pretty to keep you as my boyfriend, don’t you think?”
Harvey gently pulled back his hand, now that Mike seemed to have gotten his sense of humor back. Mike made a small whiny noise at the loss of warmth on his cheek and damn it, those kinds of whimpers made Harvey grow a heart.
“This is how we fasten a seatbelt.”
Harvey leaned over to show his associate how to fasten a seatbelt properly, but Mike paid no attention and used the opportunity to kiss him. He allowed the kiss to go on for a minute before sitting up straight and fastening his own seatbelt.
“Okay. Now observe and learn. I’ll quiz you in bed later.”
Mike giggled, wondering what he would get as a reward for getting the answers right. Then his mind wandered off to what kind of punishment would be waiting for him if he got the answers wrong.
***********************************************************************************************************************
The next week went by quickly with Mike getting ready for the written exam to get his driver’s license and Harvey quizzing him at night with oh so tempting prizes and oh so dirty punishments. Mike had no idea how it happened (well, he actually had an idea that involved the Almighty Donna), but Harvey had arranged him to take his exam on Thursday and get the results on Friday. Mike had passed the exam with considerable ease and got a congratulatory prize on the large kitchen table and in the Jacuzzi.
On Saturday morning, Mike was in the driving seat, with Ray giving him instructions about how to drive with class.
‘No wonder he’s Harvey’s driver.’ Mike thought as he looked at the empty road ahead. It was eight in the morning and Ray had found some practicable roads for everybody’s sake.
“Okay, keep your hands on 10 and 2. Good. Now change the gear and let’s slowly…”
Broong!
“The key word there was ‘slowly’, Mike!” Ray yelled as Mike started to put their lives in danger.
“Relax, Ray. Even if we get into an accident, I bet Harvey can make it look like the other car ran into us.”
“Will you not look at me and look ahead, please??” The grey-haired man crossed himself as Mike made an abrupt left turn.
“This car is really smooth!” Mike had never thought that driving could be this fun.
“You can tell?? Harveeey!!!”
Ray quickly pressed speed dial 1 on his phone and let out a desperate cry of help as Mike made an even more abrupt right turn. “Ahhhhhh!! Dear Mother Lord, help meeee!”
On Sunday morning, Mike noticed that his instructor had changed. It was Donna.
“What happened to Ray?” He asked innocently.
“I’m not sure. Harvey told me to look up the company’s policy regarding industrial disaster.” Donna shrugged and picked up her booklet that read ‘How to teach an idiot to drive’.
Unfortunately for her, Mike was determined to be a bad student. It’s not that he had a problem with Ray or Donna, but he wanted to get lessons from Harvey. He knew that many boys got their lessons from their fathers, but Mike’s father had left the world too early and Mike had no other male role model to look up to except for Harvey. Besides, Harvey was already his mentor at the firm; he didn’t see what could be so wrong about him mentoring him in a car as well.
“What’s on your mind, Mike? You’re clearly distracted, and I’m too young and valuable to die at this age.”
Whatever her mouth said, Donna’s eyes were full of concern. Mike knew by now how much of a caring person she really was. He admired her for that.
“You’ll probably think it’s stupid… or childish even.” Mike pulled over on the shoulder and let out a sigh.
“Nothing’s too stupid to talk about with a friend.” Donna offered.
Mike looked at her, touched by the words and the tone.
“Is it about Harvey? He doesn’t let you get enough sleep? I’ve heard that men get pervy as they age but…”
“It’s not that!” Mike screamed before Donna would get other embarrassing ideas.
“Then what is it? He lets you sleep too much? I’ve also heard that men can have performance issues as they age but…”
“Donna!”
Donna made a gesture with her hand as if she was zipping her mouth shut. Then she waited patiently until Mike prepared himself to confide in her.
“Nobody ever taught me how to drive.” Mike started.
“I can see that. That’s what I’m here for. Do you want professional help? Harvey thought that you would find Ray and me more relaxing. Whatever he says, he’s totally in love with you, kid.”
“Then why wouldn’t he teach me himself? It’s not that I’m questioning his feelings for me but I was really hoping that he would mentor me outside the firm too. I thought he would have liked to spend more time with me.”
“Well, he bought you this fancy car, didn’t he? And I bet he’s not willing to give you lessons himself because couples tend to bicker in these types of situations.”
“Wait…” Mike wondered if he had heard it wrong. “This is a company car.”
Donna looked at Mike and tried to remember if he had hit his head somewhere during the lesson.
“It’s your car.” The red-haired woman clarified for the lost puppy.
“But I filed the paperwork myself! The owner of this car is Pearson-Hardman.”
Donna opened the glove compartment and pulled out the papers in question. “Look for yourself, kid. Isn’t your name Michael Ross? Or have you changed it to Michael Specter already?”
Mike practically snatched the papers out of Donna’s hands and read the name of the car owner. “Holy shit, it is my car.”
“Yes, it is. Just let me know if you get bored of it. I’ll take good care of it.” Donna winked, trying to lighten the mood.
“But Harvey never told me! I told him I couldn’t afford it and then he said ‘Who said anything about you paying for it?’ so I assumed…”
“Aha! There’s the problem. You ‘assumed’ it was a company car. Haven’t you learned anything from Harvey? Lawyers should never assume anything. You have to hear the actual words.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Donna’s stern tone did that to Mike.
“Aww, Harvey finally grew a full heart! He didn’t want you to know!” Donna enjoyed her happy moment as Mike felt guilty about accusing Harvey for not caring enough.
“How am I going to pay him back?”
“He wouldn’t want you to pay him back. Just make sure that nobody steals the car and drive safely. That’s probably all he wants.”
“How could he hide this from me? Now I feel like a petulant child who’s been pouty about useless stuff.”
Donna smiled and made a phone-calling gesture with her hand. “Call him and thank him, then tell him what you really want.”
Mike nodded and did as he was told. He didn’t think love was about money, but he felt warm waves of love rolling into his heart as he thought about why Harvey must have kept this as a secret.
The next weekend, Mike finally got the instructor that he had wanted.
“Harvey, this is so nice.” Mike couldn’t stop grinning as Harvey patiently guided him through A to Z about driving.
“Of course it is. Harvey Specter doesn’t teach just anyone how to drive in the crowded city with the utmost elegance.”
Mike laughed and Harvey liked that the sound was bottled inside the car; he didn’t like it when Mike’s adorable sounds left the area.
“I still can’t believe you bought this for me. Thank you so much.” As the lights turned red, Mike quickly turned to his right and pressed a kiss on his mentor’s cheek.
“I can think of another 146 ways that you can thank me, but right now, hands on the wheels and eyes on the road.”
“Hey, if this isn’t a company car, we could do all kinds of things in the back!”
“Yes, it’s one of those 146 ways, but you can thank me once you’ve actually learned how to drive.”
“But I’m already driving!”
Mike put too much enthusiasm into stepping on the accelerator and the car suddenly raced forward as soon as the lights turned green.
“Brake, Mike, brake!”
The car came to a sudden halt and Harvey was thankful that nobody was behind them in the lane. It was a good thing that he had Donna put the sign ‘Puppy training’ on the back of the car.
“Huh, I thought I actually got it. Last week, I did this on purpose to scare off Ray but this week…” Mike was confused as to why he couldn’t get the car to move more smoothly. Sometimes, he would do just fine. Then at other times, he would make the tires screech.
After Mike pulled over, Harvey came up with an idea.
“Mike, listen to me. You know how most guys show a tremendous amount of affection towards their cars, right?”
“Yes. Some even name their cars.”
“Exactly. So think of this car as me. You claim that you care about me, right?” Harvey managed to ask with a straight face.
Mike was dumbfounded. “What kind of question was that? I don’t claim to care about you. I love you! I…”
Then Mike realized that Harvey was grinning like a devil. “Oh my god, who are you… Why do I always fall for your tricks?”
“’Cause you’re my puppy.”
Harvey patted him on the head to prove his point and Mike let out a soft groan. Then Harvey saw Mike’s eyes gleaming with curiosity and mischievousness.
“What is it?” He asked.
“Did you name your car too? Do you name all those cars from the car club that you take out for a test drive?”
“I don’t name cars.” Harvey put on his lawyer face.
“Hmm, I bet it’s Mikey or Michaela since you were so interested in picturing me in drag.”
“Didn’t you just hear me say I don’t name cars? Besides, why would I name them after you?”
“Do you really want me to answer that?” Mike giggled and Harvey could sense a headache coming his way.
“But really, thanks for all this. I would’ve managed fine on my own, but it’s surely nice to have someone looking after you.”
Mike unfastened his seatbelt and gave Harvey a proper hug. Harvey responded by putting one hand on Mike’s back and holding him tight. He thought for a brief moment what would’ve happened if Mike hadn’t run into his life with a briefcase full of weeds. A light shudder shot through this body; it wasn’t a pleasant feeling.
“You’re okay?” Mike pulled back, looking worried.
“I was just worried if we could get out of this car in one piece.”
Mike snorted and refastened his seatbelt. “Fine. I’ll think of this car as you. I’ll call it Dickhead.”
“Mike!”
Mike stuck out his tongue and changed the gear. “Now teach me, Sensei.”
Harvey smirked and played his part. “Okay, you don’t want to kick me in the stomach, right? So put your foot on the accelerator and gently add some pressure.”
The car glided a few meters and Mike was proud of himself.
“Good boy. Now turn on the blinkers and check the road. You’re looking out for me so that nobody would bump into me in the back.”
“You mean in the ass.” Mike giggled again and Harvey definitely got a headache.
“When the coast is clear, put your hands on my shoulders and slowly guide me onto the road.”
“Like this?”
“Ouch, Mike. You have a death grip on my shoulders. Go easy on me.”
“Oh, sorry!”
Harvey smiled as he realized that his plan was working.
“Okay, you don’t want anyone hitting on me, so you stay alert and keep your eyes on the road so that you will notice any signs of disturbance.”
Mike nodded and glared at the road ahead.
“It’s not necessary to shoot laser from your eyes, Mike.”
“But I don’t want people to hit on you!”
Harvey contemplated the idea of ravishing his associate’s pretty mouth and brain in the backseat but he was supposed to be the mature, elegant mentor.
“Okay, let’s stop for lunch and go home, rookie. I think that’s enough for one day.”
“Your place?” Mike looked like a puppy waiting for a snack.
Harvey pressed a kiss on Mike’s ear and spoke with his lowest voice. “You know what? On second thoughts, I think we should order in from my place. What do you think?”
Harvey had to physically stop Mike from racing through the streets, but he had to admit that Mike got it when it really mattered. The ride back home was a lot smoother and they had made it out of the car unharmed.
Later that night, two figures were shaking hands in an empty parking lot.
“Now that he’s learning how to drive without killing himself, I think it’s time to get rid of these.” The red-haired woman pointed at the three bicycles attached on top of her car.
The grey-haired man nodded. “I’ll take care of it.”
“Good. Now I can stop worrying about the puppy becoming roadkill. Make sure he never finds these. Dismantle them completely. They cannot be traced back to us.”
“You look so beautiful when you’re forceful.” The man smiled.
“I know you meant that as a compliment, but I don’t appreciate limitations being placed on my beauty.”
They exchanged smiles and disappeared into the dark.