Chapter Text
A Few Months Later
Harvey entered his condo and was greeted with a wonderful smell coming from the kitchen. He smiled fondly, taking off his shoes and hanging his coat next to Mike's. Ever since Harvey gave Mike the keys, the sub slowly but surely moved into his apartment. Neither of them ever addressed this gradual conquest of Harvey's private space since it seemed to be to everyone's satisfaction. Harvey never thought how much pleasure he would get coming home to find his sub already there waiting for him.
Or perhaps not exactly waiting, Mike was engaged in some video game, the sounds of kicks and punches coming from the living room.
"Aaand an uppercut, booyaah! Flawless victory!" Mike effused, flipping the bird towards the TV. Harvey leaned against the wall watching his dork of a sub with amusement.
"You think you can take me? Just you wait. Nono, there is no running away from me! Get ooover heeeere!" Mike mimicked the phrase of Scorpion's signature move pulling the opponent closer with his kunai.
"Having fun?" Harvey remarked, finally making his presence known.
Mike flicked his gaze towards him and his face broke into a mischievous grin, "Hi! Guess who is the absolute Master of the Mortal Kombat 3 Ultimate? Hint, you are looking at him!"
Harvey chuckled shaking his head, "You are such a child."
"And you are such an old man. Come see this!" Mike pointed at the screen that darkened with a menacing dun-dun-duuun sound as Scorpion took off his mask and burned the defeated opponent alive. "Fatality!" Mike parodied the mechanical voice of the console game.
"Somebody is getting a spanktality, if he doesn't greet me properly," Harvey threatened with mock sternness.
"Yeah, yeah, wait your turn Specter, I have Shao Kahn to defeat first," Mike replied cheekily, without taking his eyes off the screen.
Harvey felt his palm twitching, Mike was clearly in the mood. No problem, Harvey will be all too happy to oblige him. He walked in front of the TV, shielding it as much as he could, and leveled the sub with a stern glare.
"Is that how you speak to your Dom?"
"Harveeeey, let me finish the gaaame first," Mike complained, stretching his neck to see the screen behind him.
Harvey smirked but didn't move, "Aren't you a bit old for this whining?"
Mike's eyes finally snapped in Harvey's direction, "Yes, Daddy," he replied sarcastically, adding a good deal of lisp to sound babyish.
"Well, now you are in for it, little boy!"
...
Five alarmingly soft smacks later, he righted Mike off his lap and almost laughed at the sub's incredulous expression.
"What? You didn't think I'd actually spank a child, did you?" Harvey asked, raising a sly brow at Mike's involuntary but very cute pout. "Now, I believe there is a corner with your name on it, young man." He patted Mike on the butt, nudging him towards the corner.
The sub grimaced ready to argue, but Harvey shook his finger at him, "Uh-uh-uh, do as Daddy says."
Mike knew that Harvey was absolutely not into the whole ageplay - that's why it was such an effective way to tease him. But he had to give it to the Dom, he didn't even cringe as he called himself Daddy this time.
Mike hated the corner, nothing changed in that department. Harvey mostly spared him the boring punishment, unless he wanted to make a point or was in a dickish mood. Today it was probably the latter, but since Mike was the one to goad Harvey into punishing him, he swallowed the cheeky remark and dragged his feet towards the corner. With a bit of luck, the Dom won't make him stay there very long.
"Are we learning a lesson over there?" Harvey called, keeping his tone stern, though Mike knew perfectly well it was all a ruse.
"That you are a dick with no sense of humor?"
Mouthing off in the corner was a high-risk, high-reward kind of thing. If it worked, he was in for some proper impact play, if it didn't then his corner time could stretch to a very unpleasant amount of time.
Harvey snorted, "That naughty subs don't get what they want," he remarked, sounding amused rather than provoked.
Mike didn't agree. From his experience, naughty subs got exactly what they wanted. Unless they pushed too far, then they got what they "deserved"... but in Mike's case, it was often the same thing.
However, seeing Harvey's apparent refusal to be provoked tonight, Mike decided to play it safe and opted for a submissive retreat.
"Yes, Sir."
The more Mike used those words, the more natural it felt to him. He started to even get a kick out of it. Not because he suddenly became a "proper" submissive, but because he knew what those words did to Harvey. Mike didn't have to turn around to know that the Dom was wearing this stupidly pleased expression, probably adjusting his cufflinks or fixing his hair to mask it.
"Good boy, 5 more minutes."
The words of praise went straight to Mike's crotch, even though the extra 5 minutes were kind of a mood killer. Harvey rarely stopped the punishment just because Mike gave in. He always made a point that it was up to him to decide whether Mike has had enough or not.
"Alright, you can come out," Harvey called him a couple of minutes later and Mike wasted no time in scuttling over to the Dom. He went to sit on the sofa next to Harvey, but the Dom pulled his wrist making him sit on his lap - something that Mike secretly loved but never admitted to.
Harvey grabbed his chin forcing the sub to look at him, "I hope you also aged some in that corner if you want to have sex tonight."
"And if I want to have sex right now?"
"Then I suggest no more cheek unless you want to be gagged for the rest of the evening."
"That's not possible, Sir. I wouldn't be able to eat dinner then, and my Dom is very anal about me having at least 3 proper meals a day…"
Harvey shook his head with a chuckle. "I warned you, pup." He reached out to the drawer under the conference table and took out the ball gag.
"Hands behind your back," he ordered and then took off his tie, using it to tie Mike's hands. He could, of course, use the actual cuffs, but he liked to have his tie on the sub and the bound was symbolic anyway.
"Open," he held a ball gag in front of Mike's face. The sub grimaced but did as he was told, allowing Harvey to tie it around his head. Harvey took a cushion from the sofa, placed it at his feet and then snapped his fingers pointing at it.
Mike sighed and got off Harvey's lap, albeit somewhat reluctantly. He kneeled on the cushion and cast his eyes down in a sign of submission. No, kneeling was still very much not Mike's style. He wasn't big on gags either. But he did it anyway. Not because he somehow acquired the need to please the Doms, but because pleasing the person you love had a whole different flavor and didn't need to be justified with personal preferences.
Harvey sighed with content pouring himself a glass of scotch. He loved when Mike submitted, since it didn't come naturally to him, it always felt like a treat. "Hmm, silence at last. Seen but not heard, just the way a sub should be," Harvey mused, sipping on the whiskey.
Mike snapped his eyes back up, frowning at the Dom. He knew Harvey didn't mean that at all, he would never be with Mike if he actually believed that. He was just using the opportunity to tease him.
"I'm glad you agree, pup," Harvey smiled, ruffling Mike's hair as if he was an actual puppy.
"I 'ont," Mike protested through the gag.
"Sorry, can't understand you."
"A-hole," Mike grumbled and was immediately cuffed up his head.
"Tsk, that was rude," Harvey scolded him, though his eyes were smirking something fierce.
Mike glared at him, thinking how conveniently Harvey suddenly started understanding him.
"Yes, NOW I understand you, huh?" Harvey read Mike's thoughts with a chuckle. "You are too easy, pup," he leaned down planting a chaste kiss on Mike's forehead and then gently pushed Mike's head to rest against his knee. "Be good, I'll finish my drink, then we gonna have whatever is smelling so deliciously from the kitchen and then I'll fuck you silly, just the way you like it."
xxx
xxx
"So what's the occasion?" Harvey asked as Mike was pouring them both some wine to go with the turkey he just got out of the oven.
"Huh?"
"Well, you prepared quite a feast, we are clearly celebrating something."
"Uhm, yeah actually," Mike admitted with a shy smile as he handed Harvey the paper.
It was an acceptance letter from Columbia University addressed to Michael James Ross. Harvey's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "How?"
"Pearson - Specter decided to make an investment in a promising employee," Mike replied smugly.
Harvey's happy smile faltered, "You went to Jessica? Behind my back?"
Mike sighed. He kinda dreaded this reaction. Harvey kept bringing up the topic of education fairly often pressuring Mike to apply somewhere. Mike kept saying how he hasn't saved enough money yet and Harvey kept dismissing it as an excuse because he will 'obviously' pay for everything.
"No Harvey," Mike replied in a calm manner, the way a doctor would address a difficult patient, "I went to see managing partner who decides these things, and renegotiated my terms of employment." Mike looked at Harvey imploringly, willing him to understand. He really didn't want to argue over this, he wanted to celebrate.
Harvey dropped his gaze to the plate, falling into a passive-aggressive silence, as he cut a piece of turkey with a frown.
"Come on, Harvey, don't be mad. You said you won't fight my battles for me. I wanted to get the sponsorship of the company because I am valuable, not because I'm sleeping with a name partner," Mike tried to reason with him. He could understand Harvey's frustration, but he still wished he got a different reaction. I mean, would it kill him to just pat Mike on the back and tell him he did a good job?
"You could have told me," Harvey replied sulkily, the hurt clear in his voice, despite the obvious attempt to mask it.
"And I would have if I believed that you are not going to interfere."
Harvey sighed in defeat and Mike knew he hit the nail on the head. They both knew that Harvey had control issues - well not really issues, every Dom had those, it was in their nature. But Mike was not ready to defer all the decision-making to the Dom, and Harvey just had to accept that if he wanted to be with Mike. And most of the time he did… it just wasn't easy.
Ever since Mike told Harvey about the subdrop… well told is a strong word, Harvey had sort of 'tortured' it out of him when Mike finally ended up on the spanking bench for the whole drug-mafia-grandma-kidnapping fiasco. After Mike confessed how poorly he dealt with his subdrop, Harvey got mad… like really mad, like 'beating somebody's ass, who was conveniently strapped to the spanking bench' mad. And although his anger was originally directed at Mike for being so immature as to not ask for help like every other 'normal' sub would, he quickly got over it, when he realized that dealing with subdrop was actually HIS responsibility, which he failed spectacularly.
Harvey always held himself to a certain standard and the fact that he failed at the most basic duty of every Dom, was not an easy pill to swallow. But as crushing as it was for the proud Dom, it also helped him realize that he had no business taking over responsibility for Mike's life choices since his own decision-making was flawed at best. The need to control his sub's decisions was still absolutely there, but for the sake of his good conscience, he managed to limit those needs to the areas in which Mike submitted his control over to him. (And yes he fought tooth and nail for the brat to start eating properly.)
"So, how did it go?" Harvey asked, attempting to get over himself and keep a neutral expression.
Mike cast him a grateful smile, "Well, I showed Jessica Tanner's offer and told her to beat it."
"And she did?"
"No. She looked at it for like 1 second and told me 'Good luck'."
Harvey threw his head back and let out a hearty laugh. "Puppy got owned," he snickered, looking a bit too pleased for Mike's taste.
"Hey, we negotiated and reached an agreement that worked for both," he replied defensively.
"Let's hear it," Harvey gibed with a smug expression.
"Well, we went down to 150 k a year, kept the flexible schedule, but with 10 fixed hours of paralegal work a week."
"That's more than you are doing now," the Dom noted, still highly amused.
"I know, but I can twist a lot of stuff into being paralegal work, so that's fine," Mike waved his hand dismissively and then took a deep breath, "I'm also taking over the company's pro-bono cases," he added, his voice wavering slightly.
Harvey froze mid cutting. He carefully chewed on a piece of turkey and then put his silverware down, wiping his mouth with a napkin, his smile long gone. Mike watched this change of demeanor with a painfully familiar sinking feeling. The temperature in the room dropped a couple degrees when Harvey finally looked at Mike, his eyes flashing threateningly.
"Now, you are in real trouble!" he growled, standing up.
Mike darted from his chair, backing away from the oh-so-pissed Dom, "Harvey, I couldn't do anything, it was one of the conditions Jessica made."
"And now I'm adding lying to the list. That one was totally your initiative!" Harvey snarled, trying to grab Mike over the table.
Mike avoided his hand, smartly positioning himself to keep the table between them. However, Harvey was not in the mood for cat and mouse play.
"You come here this instant!" he thundered, fortifying his command with dominance.
Uh-oh.
Mike's shoulders slouched as he slowly dragged his feet towards Harvey, trying to mollify the Dom with a guilty sad puppy look on his way.
Harvey ignored the pleading stare and as soon as Mike was within his reach, he grabbed the sub and bent him under his arm wasting no time as he started peppering his butt with sharp swats.
Mike yelped but didn't fight Harvey knowing that this was the likely outcome all along. He still tried to make his case though.
"Harvey, I'm sorry, I will still help you too."
"No you won't, with school and paralegal work and your fucking desire to save whales and spotted owls, you will have no fucking time!" the Dom growled, not letting up.
"Harveeey!"
"You are MY associate, Mike! Mine!"
(Did I mention how possessive Harvey was?)
"But it's something I want to do! Harvey, you can't be mad about it," Mike argued, wincing at the sting that Harvey's hard palm kept reapplying to his butt. It was a weak attempt to placate the enraged Dom but to his surprise, Harvey righted him back up.
"I know!" the Dom admitted in frustration, "Is that why you didn't tell me? Because you don't want to work with me anymore?" He turned away from Mike as if not wanting to hear the actual answer to that.
"No Harvey, I love working with you!" Mike reassured him hastily. Hurting Harvey was the last thing he wanted. The Dom had his own list of insecurities, which tended to turn up at the most unexpected situations. Mike hugged him from behind, resting his chin on Harvey's shoulder, "Harvey, I want to help people, that's why I wanted to become a lawyer in the first place. You know that. But I'm still gonna help you kick some of those corporate asses too."
Harvey turned around and snatched Mike from the ground in a bridal carry, bringing out a squeal, a blush and a soft protest from the sub. "You better," he told him with mock sternness as he started towards the bedroom.
"Harvey, what about dinner?"
"It can wait. First I need to take care of my sub, he is in severe need of my undivided attention."
Mike giggled like a schoolgirl, fluttering his lashes at him. "Is that so, Mr. Specter?"
"Uh-huh, we'll see if a proper punishing fuck can cure you out of your humanitarian tendencies."
"Can't promise it will, but please do try, Sir!"
xxx
xxx
Mike woke up at night to the sound of a quiet cursing coming from the living room. He checked the bed and indeed Harvey was missing. Mike had a pretty good idea what the Dom was doing at 2 am in the morning, (after all, that's why he bought the game) but he still went to see for himself.
Yep, it was exactly what he expected. The best closer in New York and one of the best paid US attorneys sneaked out of bed at night to play an old console game. And by the looks of it, he was having his ass handed to him.
"Busted," Mike whispered, creeping in behind the Dom.
Harvey gave a slight flinch and then cleared his throat awkwardly, clearly embarrassed from being caught red-handed. "It's not as easy as I remember. I used to own this game."
"Yeah, Donna said, you won some MK arcade tournament. This one was not easy to find."
Harvey narrowed his eyes, the understanding finally dawning on him, "You got it for me." It was a statement, rather than a question.
Mike nodded, "Of course I got it for you, it's pretty much an antique by today's standards." He plugged a second controller into the console and gave Harvey a cocky smile, "And now I'm going to wipe the floor with your Sub-zero."
They played a couple of games and the closest Mike got to wiping the floor with Harvey's character was barely getting it to half of the health bar... Harvey absolutely kicked his ass, several times defeating him in a complete shutout fashion and then finishing him off with some gruesome fatality for added humiliation. Needless to say, Mike was swiftly dethroned from his self-appointed 'Master of Mortal Kombat' title.
"Puppy has still much to learn," Harvey remarked teasingly, ruffling the hair of the sulking sub with affection. It was such a nice considerate gift. And it was not even the nostalgia factor that brought the ultimate pleasure, but the fact that Mike took the time and effort to find it.
"Thank you," he said, hoping those two words could convey the strength of his feelings.
Mike returned the smile and then dropped his eyes to his lap grinning as if he remembered some private joke, "Well you deserved a treat."
"I did?"
"Yeah. You said something... something very nice. Yesterday, when you thought I was asleep…" Even in the darkness of the room, he could see Harvey's cheeks turn crimson and he couldn't resist calling him out on it, "You are blushing."
"I'm not blushing. And you have no business pretending to be asleep!"
"But then I would never hear you say it!" Mike argued, relishing in Harvey's embarrassment, "Aww, you look so cute right now," he teased him mercilessly.
"Shut up!"
"Come on, Harvey, say it," he nuzzled into Harvey's neck kissing it softly. It's not that the Dom would not show affection... but there's just so many times one can stand hearing "I care about you" over and over again. There was a way better word for it and Harvey kept shying away from it for months!
Harvey pounced on top of Mike pinning him down on the sofa and holding his wrists above his head in a firm dominant grip.
"You impossible, pushy, wretched, disobedient, brat!"
"You forgot 'mouthy'."
"I love you!"
The smile that took over Mike's face could have probably accelerated global warming, if Harvey didn't save the planet by promptly wiping it off his face with a hungry demanding kiss, successfully reducing the brat to the needy writhing mess under him and reestablishing Harvey's self esteem.
"I lo-" Mike didn't manage to finish those words as Harvey kissed him again.
"I lov-" another attempt was silenced the same way.
"Har- mmm!" Mike hummed in protest pushing against the Dom. "You won't even let me say it back!"
"That's because my love is not conditional either," Harvey breathed against Mike's ear, biting it seductively.
Mike felt like all his braincells turned to mush as the stupid "aww" expression took over his face. Who would have thought that Harvey was capable of such sappiness?
"Wait till I tell Donna what a hopeless romantic you actually are."
"Do that and you will never sit comfortably again."
Mike couldn't help the mischevious grin, "Promise?"
Thank you for reading=)