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To Harvey’s credit, he hadn’t thought about Mike and sex until Mike himself had all but slapped him in the face with the possibility of it.
In all honesty he hadn’t paid any mind to Mike’s omega status beyond trying to figure out how he could use it to to his advantage. Omega lawyers were rare. No, there weren't any laws preventing them from obtaining high level jobs , at least, not on paper. But the discrimination still existed. The advantage lay in the rarity itself.
The alpha instinct for one-upmanship meant that even straightforward agreements could sometimes go very, very wrong. Harvey estimated that at least one quarter of his mergers would now go smoother with the calming omega presence to break up alpha tension.
Then there was, also, of course, using Mike to woo clients, which had as much to do with his magnetic way of just getting people to like him as it was the ‘omega voice’ at his disposal, an ages-old adaptation designed to prod the alpha instinct to protect, and focus it into something more productive and ultimately more helpful.
Granted, it could go the entire opposite way as well, but even that was something that Harvey could control. And so could Mike. He could see that the younger man had the potential to be aware of his status and manipulate it to his advantage.
It took Louis beating him to the pass where ‘client wooing’ was concerned - when Mike was sent after Tom Keller that day at Louis’ tennis club - for Harvey to instantly forgo any plans to use Mike in a similar way. Harvey privately maintained that he’d have had better class about it than sending Mike in to get high with Keller to build a rapport with him, but really, the very idea of doing anything along those lines was skeevy at best, and far be it from Harvey’s nature to do anything that would remind anyone of Louis Litt.
So truly, Harvey’s only interest in Mike’s sex had been purely professional, and thoughts of Mike and intercourse had been limited to the abstract way that that every grown sex-having adult knew that other grown, sex-having adults had sex.
So, he hadn’t thought about it until one random Thursday in April, as he was dutifully chipping through the work which took the form of a stack of files on his desk. He hadn’t always been this disciplined, but he’d learned the hard way the cost of of delaying. The pile was small now, but if left for a week it’d turn into a mountain big enough to overtake his desk. Any longer and it’d be his entire office.
He had made it three-quarters of the way down when one document had him staring with the sort of confused disbelief that Harvey hadn’t experienced since his days as an associate.
REQUEST FOR THE COMPANY OF HARVEY SPECTER BY MIKE ROSS FOR THE DURATION OF ONE ESTRUS PHASE
1. Introduction & Background:
This document formally outlines the terms and conditions for the request of aid from Michael James Ross (to be henceforth referred to as 'Mike' or, 'the omega') from Harvey Reginald Specter (to be henceforth referred to as 'Harvey' or 'the alpha') for the duration of one (1) heat, defined as the time between the start of the estrus period to the end of the diestrus phase. If there is no interest on the part of the alpha to engage in this activity with the omega, this document can be summarily forgotten as though the document were never seen.
2. General Terms & Conditions:
- Period of Contract: This contract is valid through to the end of one (1) heat, to be renewed at the end of the estrus period if the arrangement is found to be desirable for both the alpha and the omega.
- Nondisclosure of Activities: The omega agrees not to discuss the arrangement with any third party. Knowledge of the agreement will remain exclusively between the alpha and the omega. In the event that amendments need to be made to the contract, they will be not be discussed at the office, but in another location agreed-upon by both the alpha and the omega.
- Location of Activities: The alpha agrees to allow the omega to take temporary residence in his apartment, or in another secure location of his choosing for the duration of the heat.
- Expected Behaviours: The alpha agrees to ensure the safety and security of the omega at all times. The alpha agrees to provide the omega with food, water, shelter and all other amenities needed to ensure basic comfort is met. The omega, in turn, agrees to assist the alpha in the preparation of foodstuffs, and to abide by the alpha’s rules of the house
- Safety and Security: At all times the alpha and the omega will be cognizant and respectful of the other’s boundaries. The alpha and omega both agree to avoid any activity which may put into jeopardy either the physical health or career of either party
[...]
And so it went on...for ten pages, outlining everything from the foods they would eat, to the shows they would watch, to getting tested in advance and - he read, with a flicker of arousal that no amount of legal jargon could cover up - the sex positions and activities that Mike was willing to engage in.
It was all reasonable and agreeable and either the single weirdest way that he’d ever been propositioned, or the sweetest, and Harvey couldn't decide which. The document had clearly been written to ensure that every possible complaint that Harvey could have about the arrangement - chief among them that a personal relationship not affect their professional one - was addressed. Mike had even provided stipulations in the case of accidental pregnancy: that he would keep any pups and while he didn't expect Harvey to raise them with him, he did expect child support payments.
He almost wanted to sign...Once he got over the mental hurdle of the implication behind Mike offering him the contract in the first place, that is. He hadn't entertained the possibility of sex with Mike because between how good their working relationship was, Mike's position as his subordinate and his own personal preference to avoid such entanglements…
It wasn't that Harvey didn't want a family one day. He did. Only he'd landed a career that demanded his absolute attention and he wasn't ready to choose between that and the time and energy that would be needed to raise children. He didn't want to chose wrong and end up an absentee father, too absorbed with himself to pay heed to the pups he'd one day sire.
Of course the talk of family was a leap when Mike hadn't asked for any of that. This wasn't a proposal, it was a trial. Something that could benefit them both.
He paced as he thought, tossing a baseball up and down in his hand, walking the breadth of his office. If Donna's poorly-disguised smirk was anything to go by, she knew exactly what had been in that folder and exactly what Harvey was chewing on.
Which was irritating, because if she knew so much she could just damn well walk in and tell him what to do. But he knew she wouldn't. It had to be his own decision.
Besides, it wasn't Donna’s style to smother her own enjoyment.
Eventually Harvey tapped the intercom. “Get Mike up here.”
***
Up Mike came, armed with additional files. Shields, Harvey surmised. Just in case things didn't go his way.
“So I have those proofs you were looking for and I had some extra time so I--”
“Sit down, Mike.”
He sat, maintaining Harvey's gaze for all of a minute before his eyes dropped.
“Why?” Harvey promoted.
“Why what?”
Harvey tapped the open file on his desk. Mike fidgeted under his look before sighing. “Listen. I just. I thought? Since we get along so well here that maybe--It was stupid. I said you could forget about it if you weren't attracted or inter--”
“Attraction isn't the problem,” Harvey supplied, with the barest of smirks. “I just wanted to know why.”
“Because I'm tired of having to go through them alone when I know there's someone...when there's someone who could help. And who I'd rather spend them with.” The soft tone and the faintest quiver of nerves lacing his voice proved that Mike was genuine. He was trying.
And that made it easier for Harvey to sign.
***
“Anything to drink?” Three weeks had since passed, blurring by in a mix that was somehow both awkward and unnervingly normal all the same. Harvey knew how to comport himself around those he had already slept with, but the lead-up to the main event didn’t usually span over the course of days. It was instead mere hours, at most, until the man/woman of the night was in his bed and they were getting down to business.
Somehow, knowing it was coming made the wait unbearable and sweeter all the same. It wasn’t so much that he saw Mike in a new light - he had always known Mike was attractive, though he’d been quickly categorized into the ‘off-limits’ category, along with people like Jessica and Rachel - but now, faced with the possibility of indulging himself at a later time, he couldn’t help but let his eyes linger on Mike’s mouth as he spoke, or the tilt of his head that’d expose an expanse of neck, or even just on his hands, and the way that he would play with pens and highlighters, always twirling them once between his fingers before using them.
But now the moment had arrived. Or rather, it was to arrive in a few hours. Mike stood in his foyer, weekend bag in one hand, eyes roving over his living room, shifting his grip on the bag’s handle. Evidently the confidence that had borne him thus far had evaporated now that they were in the home stretch.
“Mike?”
“What?” he asked, startled out of his thoughts. Harvey’s expression softened.
“Leave your bag in the guest room. The top drawer of the dresser is free for you so you can leave your things there for now. And I asked if you wanted anything to drink.”
“Oh, uh, water is fine. Anything with alcohol around this time makes me queasy.”
Harvey waved Mike off to put his things away while he got two glasses, filling both with water, bringing them back to the couch to set them on coasters upon the table.
He patted the space next to him when Mike re-emerged from the guest room. “So, I’m guessing you don’t take supps?”
Mike dropped into the space beside him, accepting the water and, for a moment, all was normal. “Yeah, no. They don’t really work on me. I took them for a while but they didn’t really do anything. Just made them a little less intense, but also made everything else less intense too. It felt like there was just cotton stuffed into my brain at all times. It’s part of why I used to smoke. It’d be more or less the same effect, with a bonus happy buzz, and my brain went back to normal after everything wore off.”
Harvey’s no-smoking rule had more to do with Mike learning how to control himself around the drug and taking away another means for him to self destruct than it was a matter of enforcing sobriety. Given that even he still smoked from time to time, he wouldn't have had a leg to stand on if he insisted on Mike quitting entirely while he kept going. But then, the impromptu rehab program was more or less what Jessica had put him through had the same effect. Learning to control it before it opened the door to far worse.
“Yeah, yeah, not going back. That’s why you’re here,” Mike said, catching Harvey’s expression and tossing him a quick smile.
The corner of Harvey’s mouth quirked up in turn. “That wasn’t what I was thinking. But okay, aside from smoking yourself into oblivion what else did you do? Do you do? Before...?”
Mike tapped the side of his glass with his finger. “Start nesting. Curl up somewhere safe. Keep some books nearby if I’m between waves and want something to do. Some sandwiches and water too...I don’t end up doing much when I’m on my own,” he admitted.
Harvey nodded and took a sip from his own glass, more for the sake of having something to do than out of thirst. “Okay.”
Mike looked up, eyes sharp with what Harvey had since identified as determination. “Um. Could I…? I mean. We’re gonna. So it doesn’t make sense to wait so…”
“Mike.”
“Could we just, sit a little closer?”
Harvey moved and Mike met him halfway. His definition of sitting together happened to be to throw a leg over Harvey's and crawl into his lap. Harvey wasn't about to complain, though for a moment he felt Mike tense in his arms, meeting his gaze, hesitant.
Harvey leaned forward and met his lips, and all at once the tension drained from him. Mike leaned against him, arms easily sliding around his neck as he tilted his face to deepen the kiss.
And yes, Mike's mouth was exactly as soft as Harvey had expected it to be, and his hair felt like silk under his hands.
The kiss broke; he tilted his head back to make room as Mike nosed down to his throat and tucked himself in. Harvey's arms settled around Mike's waist as he made himself comfortable.
“Can we stay like this for a little while?” Mike asked softly.
Harvey's arms tightened around him. “Sure, Mike. Whatever you want.”
***
That set the tone for the rest of the evening which was spent, effectively, with Mike glued to his side. Harvey prodded him away long enough to order food, and then again when it arrived so that Mike could get some proper nutrition. But otherwise Harvey just learned how to complete household tasks with Mike curled into his lap or wrapped around him from behind.
The fact that none of this proved to be as much of an annoyance as it should have been was either a good sign or a bad one, and Harvey wasn't entirely certain which.
After dinner they retired back to the sofa. Harvey let Mike scroll through his Netflix queue, one hand on Mike’s knee and the other curled around his hip as Mike selected their movie for the night. Mike rested his head on Harvey's shoulder, nose tilted up towards his neck, drifting in and out of a light doze but somehow always tuning in just in time to echo along with his favourite parts, mouthing to the lines or just speaking over the actors entirely.
Night had Harvey guiding Mike to the bathroom with instructions to wash up before bed. He intended to offer the guest bedroom for Mike to use as his own space if he needed it, but after the evening spent wound together, punctuated with the occasional slow exploratory kisses...he had a feeling that the offer of a separate bed would be taken the wrong way.
Besides, when Mike emerged from the ensuite and crawled into the space beside him, smelling like his body wash, Harvey decided that he wouldn't have wanted Mike anywhere else anyway. He rolled over, casting an arm over Mike's waist as Mike burrowed in against his chest.
***
He was woken a little past midnight by a heaviness in the air and squirming in his arms. Mike was pressing closer, a whine in his throat, pushing at his chest as he tried to rid Harvey of his shirt. His legs were tangled with Harvey's in a way that couldn't have been comfortable, but from the lust-blown pupils and the way that he seemed determined to squirm closer, Harvey didn't think he minded.
"Hey," he murmured, running a hand through Mike's hair, pushing him back so he could roll atop of him, bracketing him in with a knee on either side of his hips.
Mike's arms came up to curl around him, either trying to pull Harvey down, or himself up, it wasn't entirely clear. "Harvey," he murmured, instinctively tipping his head back as Harvey dipped his nose down to scent him. His scent was somewhere in the range of pine needles, forest and good paper, all deep browns and greens but punctuated with brighter notes of blue.
His heat was on, as if the restless shifting and the way that Mike was winding his legs around him wasn't indication enough. A soft sigh and Harvey rested his weight against Mike, just pressing him down against the softness of the sheets below.
"Shh. S'ok," he murmured at the sharper, more urgent tug in his hair. Mike was bucking his hips to build some friction between them. He pressed a smile against Mike's skin, sticking to his path of trailing kisses from Mike's neck to the soft spot just below his ear, ignoring the way that Mike was turning his face, trying to lure Harvey's mouth against his.
"Harvey!" Mike sounded torn from between being annoyed and genuinely enjoying himself, and just wanting Harvey to just get on with it already.
Harvey shifted to settle between Mike’s legs, catching Mike’s hips and pinning him down against the bed before Mike could wind around him again. Mike raised his head from his pillow, sending an affronted look down at Harvey, one which quickly evaporated as one of Harvey’s hands snuck under the hem of his shirt, palm pressing flat against his abdomen.
Harvey scooted down so that he was level with Mike’s newly-bared stomach, painting patterns against his skin with his mouth and the tip of his tongue. This wasn’t for forever. This wouldn’t last, but he was determined to enjoy himself as long as he had all this at his disposal.
Mike, on the other hand, seemed determined to rush things along, and whether that was the fault of the heat or Mike’s own personal impatience, Harvey didn’t know. Knowing Mike, it was likely a bit of both, and Harvey raised his head to pull Mike’s wandering hands from his hair and pin them to the bed. “No.”
Mike clenched his jaw to keep from talking back and took to abusing the sheets instead of his hair. Harvey smiled against his stomach. “Good boy.”
Something between a gasp and a moan burst from Mike’s throat and his muscles tensed under Harvey’s hand, trying not to buck up against him, trying to keep still. Harvey’s smile tipped over into ‘smirk’ territory and he pushed up Mike’s shirt, following the path of the material up, the fine hairs on Mike’s chest tickling his nose as he teased along.
Harvey tugged on the material and Mike leaned up to shuck it off. The room was lit by the distant lights of the city streaming in through the windows and the thin cut of moon shining through the clouds. Mike’s eyes looked a bit like twin stars, tracking his every movement.
Settling himself up on his knees he discarded his own shirt settling down again to drape his body over Mike’s, pulling him in against him and, finally, for a proper kiss. Both sighed at the feeling of skin against skin, and Mike opened under his mouth, hands caressing up and down Harvey’s back. They pulled away for air, Mike breathing in to whisper, “Harvey. Alpha . Please.”
And that.was apparently it. The whisper of the title was enough to shred what pretense of self control he was clinging to. Harvey kissed him once more before sliding down Mike’s body to pull at the waistband of his sweats. Mike obediently raised his hips, letting Harvey drag the material off his body. He ditched the pants onto the growing pile of clothing at the foot of the bed and looked back.
Mike was tangled in with his bedding in a way that should have looked silly, but somehow looked artful instead. Pillowed by the comforter, shiny with sweat and - in the case of his ass and thighs - slick, mouth pink from their kisses and his hair tousled...He was a vision .
Harvey went to town, settling comfortably between his legs so he could draw Mike into his mouth, swallowing him down to the root. He heard a sharp cry above him and Mike’s legs went tense, as he resisted the urge to thrust into his mouth. His reward came in the form of Harvey picking up the pace, bobbing his head and varying the suction.
He pulled off after a minute, and ignored Mike’s noise of protest and the way that his hand twitched, as though trying to decide whether he was going to go for Harvey’s hair again, or keep tormenting the bed sheet instead.
He dug his fingers into the thousand thread count sheet and Harvey nosed past Mike’s balls, licking a trail down to his opening.
Male omegas were almost, in every way, identical to their beta counterparts. The only difference was the vaginal opening, situated in the space below the balls but above the anus. It was penetrable only during a heat, dilating open, leading the way to the birth canal and allowing for insemination. It was also the source of all slick production, and Harvey gently touched his tongue to it, tasting slick and growling softly.
His wanted to bite. He wanted to claim , and he turned his face, sinking his teeth into the soft of Mike’s thigh instead. Mike howled above him, hips snapping helplessly up as more pre-cum beaded to the tip of his cock. He reached down to wrap a hand around either knee, pulling them back to hold himself open for Harvey as he laved his tongue over him, tasting, teasing, checking.
He pressed a finger into him, twisting it, pressing against the rim of his opening, making sure that Mike was fully dilated, fully ready. Mike panted softly, head tossing from side to side. “Harvey. Harvey please. Knot. Need your knot.”
Harvey pulled away, licking his mouth, turning to press a kiss to Mike’s thigh, right where the bite was blooming, deep red against his pale skin. “Okay. Okay.”
He’d left out the box of condoms on the bedside table, and while Harvey got himself ready - ditching his own sweats, tearing open the packet with his teeth and rolling one on as though he were in a race for his life - Mike shoved a pillow under his hips, reaching out for Harvey once he was settled.
“Like this,” he whispered, breathless, lacing one of their hands together, leaving the other free for Harvey to line himself up and slowly, slowly, slowly press in.
Mike was slick and hot and tight, pressing in against Harvey on all sides. Mike cried out from under him, a single note carrying on, hanging in the air until Harvey was pressed into the hilt, just before his knot. The moan gave way to a strangled gasp at the first thrust, Mike’s hand coming up to find purchase against Harvey’s shoulder, along his back, nails biting into the skin. His other hand was wrapped tight around Harvey’s.
He brought his legs up to wrap around Harvey’s waist, fingers dancing across Harvey’s spine to the back of his neck, his own body shifting to match Harvey’s movements, meeting him thrust for thrust.
His pace grew faster as the moments sped by, sharper, more ragged. He wanted to drive into him, to pin Mike down and just take , and from the way that Mike was writhing under him, gasping and urging him on harder, faster, more, more, he figured that Mike would appreciate that too. But that would be for the future. For now, he just wanted to enjoy, to watch the way that Mike’s eyes would open, unfocused, and slide shut again moments later. How he tried to form the syllables of his name but would be choked off in a moan or gasp. The way that he gave up trying to feel him up in turn and just resorted to clinging , to hold onto him, head tipped back against the strewn pillows, throat bare.
Harvey buried his face against the offered skin, licking along, tongue probing the spot where a mark would go, a bite. And maybe, just maybe, one day…
“Harvey, Harvey, Harvey, oh my god just--yes, haah, just--nngh!” Mike went still under him for a moment and then arched his back, crying out as he came, streaks of come painting both their stomachs. He went limp against the bed, trying to force his eyes open, keeping his legs wound around Harvey, tiredly moving with him, trying to make it good. It was good, so good. Mike was so good for him.
“Mike--!” Harvey’s voice cut as he slammed in one last time, knot expanding as he spilled.. He fell forward against Mike, laying his weight against him. When he again became aware of the world it was because Mike was pressing kisses along his forehead, his free hand caressing his cheek. Their other was still held tight together.
Harvey raised his head and blinked down at him once before pressing in for a proper kiss. “I think this might work out,” he mumbled.
Mike smiled and stretched under him, looking for all the world like a satisfied cat. He settled in against him, eyes closing as he pulled Harvey against him. “Me too.”
***
They fell into something of a rhythm after Mike’s heat passed.
Mike made himself at home at Harvey’s, having shown up the following weekend under the pretense of hanging out. And while Harvey had given him the token protest against having company show up, unannounced, he couldn’t - and didn’t - begrudge him entry.
Which opened the door both literally and proverbially to Mike showing up more or less whenever he pleased, staying the day and sometimes the night, crawling into his bed and curling up beside him like he belonged there.
In a short while Harvey’s life was essentially consumed, working with Mike by day, going home with him most nights after work and growing so accustomed to sleeping with his nose buried in Mike’s hair that he’d claim Mike’s pillow as his own on those rare nights that Mike was sleeping at his own place.
But it didn’t occur to him exactly what he and Mike were until he was nearly out the door for his usual Saturday morning run. Mike was curled up on the couch with a bowl of cereal balanced on his knees, eyes on the TV as he absorbed cartoons for which he was at least a decade too old.
“Do you ever just go through a phase where cereal is just the best thing ever and you go through an entire box? Oh by the way, we’re out of milk. And cereal.” Mike looked away from the screen long enough to give him those Imploring Big Blues before looking back.
“I’ll grab some on my way ba--” And finally, finally the sheer domesticity of it all caught up with Harvey and he stood frozen at the door, one hand on the knob, staring at it’s wooden surface as though the grain of it had somehow triggered an epiphany.
“Mike.”
“Mmhmm?”
“Did you use that contract to trick me into being your boyfriend?”
Mike looked at him again, thoughtful. “I wouldn’t say trick ,” he said. “But I’d be lying if I said I’m unhappy with the outcome--Wait so. Boyfriend?” Mike looked nervous and hopeful all at once. Harvey could practically see the perked ears and wagging tail. Mike might not understand where Harvey was coming from with the puppy metaphor, but that was almost as endearing as the mannerisms themselves.
“Yeah, Mike. Boyfriend.” And as Mike ditched the cereal on his coffee table (no doubt going to leave a ring behind on the glass) to bound over to give him a hug, Harvey realized that he didn’t want it any other way,