Chapter Text
Harvey Specter has a problem.
Throughout his life, he has derived a set of five rules that he follows, no matter what. They consist of things that make both his professional and personal lives easily manageable. Whenever he’s had cause to break one of them, the consequences have always been nasty, or dangerous, or simply annoying.
That’s why, after a few unfortunate run-ins when he bent his own rules, Harvey makes it a point now in what he considers to be his mature adult age not to repeat those mistakes.
It has now been almost five years since he broke even one of his rules, and as if to prove that he chose his rules wisely, his career has soared and his personal life … Well, he has no complaints.
Harvey likes his life the way it is. He dominates at his job, having built a reputation for himself as a formidable lawyer and the best closer in New York. He has his pick of stunningly beautiful women to go home with at the end of a long work day. He commandeers the respect of his colleagues. He has impeccable taste and razor sharp instincts. He lives in a swanky condo furnished to the nines in the exact style he wants, and it only sometimes gets lonely to return to. Besides, he spends most of his time at the office anyway. The office he earned as a sign of respect from Jessica, whom he owes so much of his success to.
Every single aspect makes up the kind of life that his younger self would have absolutely been in awe of.
So yes, Harvey is no stickler for rules, but he abides by his personal code like it were the constitution.
“Hey Harvey, I have the documents you asked for, but I won’t be available today because Louis has me working for him. That okay with you?”
Harvey looks up at the familiar voice and meets Mike Ross’s gaze, who is standing at the door of his office with a folder in one hand. He’s leaning casually against the glass, shoulder propped against the door, and when Harvey doesn’t answer right away, he raises his eyebrows.
“Hand them over, then.” Harvey nods at the folder, and Mike strides across the office to drop it on his desk. In closer proximity, Harvey notices that Mike’s tie is crooked and he’s wearing his shirt bunched up at the elbows like Harvey has lectured him numerous times not to do.
“Mike, what did I say about skinny ties?” is the comment Harvey settles for, leaning back in his chair and fixing him with a pointed look. Mike glances down self-consciously and straightens his tie.
“If you’re not going to buy me new ones, you don’t get to lecture me about my ties.” He shoots back, “Anyway, can you get Louis off my back or not?”
“No, I don’t need you today. Go do Louis’s grunt work and be a good boy for him, now.”
Harvey almost winces to himself at the slip of tongue. He wonders if it came across inappropriate, but Mike is completely unfazed as he groans and turns back around.
“One of these days, I’ll end up doing more work for Louis than I do for you, and then you’ll miss me.” Mike grumbles, turning around to leave.
“No, you won’t.” Harvey calls after him. Mike just raises a hand in goodbye without looking back.
When the door swings back shut after him, Harvey inhales a sharp breath. He reaches across the desk to pick up the file Mike dropped off, and flips through it slowly. Everything is done precisely the way Harvey likes, and there’s a post-it note on the top page with Mike’s scratchy, cramped handwriting that Harvey has to squint to decipher.
Satisfied, Harvey sets the file aside and goes back to the contracts he’d been looking at before Mike came in. The words don’t register as Harvey absentmindedly replays the interaction in his mind. It was casual and brief, but Harvey goes over every second to make sure nothing could have betrayed his recent troubles.
He twirls his pen on his finger, staring at the papers and trying to redirect his attention to the work at hand, but his mind is elsewhere. It’s only when his pen clatters to the floor almost precisely as his phone starts ringing shrilly, causing him to jump in his chair and curse loudly, that he’s snapped back to the present. Sensing someone looking at him, Harvey glances out his office to find Donna giving him a bemused look, phone pressed to her ear.
“You good?” She mouths. Harvey nods and bends to pick up his pen while attempting to salvage his dignity.
But no, he’s not good. For the first time in his life, he’s broken more than half his rules and he’s well on his way to breaking all of them.
And it’s all Mike Ross’s goddamn fault.