Chapter Text
When the letter came, Mike hadn’t been expecting it. Stupid, really. He knew this would catch up to him eventually, and yet, he had successfully ignored the ticking time bomb living in the back of his mind in favor of living a lie. And now, his whole life exploded in front of him with this piece of paper.
His Visa was expiring, the grace period for finding employment nearing the end. It shouldn’t be an issue. He did have a job, after all, one that could sponsor a new, permanent visa and he could stay in the US for as long as he liked. Easy.
Small issue though. He didn’t technically have the qualification to execute his job. He might have managed to successfully con the US Citizenship and Immigration Services into believing he actually attended Harvard Law School by filing for that visa when his life was still on track and he didn’t get expelled from college, but now…
They’d want to see a diploma, proof of completion. Which he had, except that it was fraudulent. And if they chose to follow that up, well…. He would have another, much, much bigger issue at hand. Moving back to Toronto felt like a small price to pay instead of going to prison, maybe even dragging Harvey with him…
That wasn’t an option. There was nothing for him in Canada, no one to go to, no prospect of finding another person as crazy as Harvey to take him on despite his lack of degree. Back to another stupid, mind-numbing job it was, leaving everything he had worked for here behind... but it was still better than ruining Harvey’s life.
Shit, going back had never been the plan. Well, neither was anything else that had happened in his life the past five years, but this was much bigger.
He really didn’t want to go. Not when things finally started to work out in his favor. To leave the life he had been building behind, leave the chance of a lifetime to live his dream here, leave the people he had grown to love... The thought threatened to tear him to pieces. And yet, that choice was taken from him. He had taken it from himself, the day he decided to be stupid with Trevor.
He was well and truly fucked.
Then news hung above his head like a dagger, threatening to drop and slice him up. Not exactly a preferable fate, but seemingly inevitable; it remained out of his reach, cut him open with intrusive thoughts clouding his brain without any chance of being caught. Not with any power Mike possessed.
“What the hell is going on with you?” Harvey’s harsh voice pulled Mike straight out of his thoughts; away from the hole he had been staring into the office’s glass walls for the past hour.
“Hm?”
“You’re not listening to me. You know to always listen to me when I tell you what to do.”
Had Harvey been talking? Shit. Well, on the bright side, if he got fired now, at least he didn’t have a job left to mourn… He would have to quit anyway. As always, Harvey would just make it easier for him. Maybe Mike should make it easy in return, by being the absolute worst and making Harvey lose trust in him… Then there was truly no one left here for him either, no one to leave behind. No one to notice he’d even be gone…
Except that just the thought that him leaving would be a relief to Harvey was enough to threaten to rip him in half. He might as well just ram the dagger straight into his heart. He was the one person Mike never wanted to disappoint, not after everything they had been through. After everything he had risked for the complete stranger that stumbled into his interview with a suitcase full of weed.
“Mike.” Shit. Mike snapped up, his eyes immediately finding Harvey’s annoyed and confused face. “Why are you being weird? What’s going on?”
He’d have to tell him, sooner or later. Harvey deserved to know, deserved the heads-up to find a replacement for him… or a miracle solution. God, if anyone could find the loophole, it was him. Them, together. So maybe…
“I think I have to quit.”
Harvey’s eyes opened wide under the massive frown, and normally, Mike would enjoy seeing him lose control over his perfect composure, but right now, he just wanted to slap himself in the face. Well done on that fantastic conversation starter. He was such an idiot.
“I mean, I don’t want!” Mike clarified quickly, but Harvey’s confusion just intensified. Fuck. “I want to stay. I just think there might not be another choice. I don’t see another way out, it’s only going to cause so many more issues. If the USCIS comes snooping around… the risk, it would just be… We can’t do that. So I think if I get ahead of it and leave voluntarily, that would fix things, and-”
“Mike, stop. What the hell are you talking about?”
Shit. He really only made things worse. Deep breath – first things first.
“You know how I am Canadian?”
Harvey’s frown deepened. “You’re Canadian?”
Apparently not. “Yes.”
“You don’t sound Canadian.”
“Okay?” He never knew if that was a compliment or not. There was nothing wrong with the Canadian accent, of course, but Americans could be weird about it with their superiority complex. Besides, he had lived in the US for longer than he ever had in Canada, so naturally he had picked up the East Coast accent easily without much conscious thought. Obviously successfully.
“You don’t act like it, either. Canadians are supposed to be nice.”
“Fuck you, that’s a stereotype.”
“Case in point.”
Okay, why had he thought this was a good idea? Why did he think Harvey would even care that he would have to leave? For all he knew, this whole thing was a joke to him, a way to wind up Jessica and get a kick out of life. Maybe it was a challenge he felt like he had passed since Mike had fooled almost everyone in the past two years, and now he was happy to go their separate ways. It was the easy way out.
Mike couldn’t even blame him for it.
“Forget it…” he mumbled.
“No, come on. What does you being Canadian have to do with anything?”
And just like that, Mike was roped back in. He dropped himself into the chair in front of Harvey’s desk; a few minutes before a scheduled meeting with a client was hardly the right place or time to have this conversation, but that was on him for not keeping his shit together.
And, well, Harvey had asked. Least Mike could do was to willingly answer, giving him the shortest version of his life as he could.
How he had come to the US as a child after his parents’ death to live with his Grammy, how he had conned himself into a student visa that was now expiring. How he would have to leave. He didn’t know what reaction to expect from Harvey – from telling him they had a good run and firing him on the spot to coming up with a wonderous solution, everything was an option – but when he huffed dismissively, it did catch Mike off guard after all.
“Why didn’t you tell me earlier? We can fix this.”
“We can?”
“Of course. We just walk down to immigration and get them to sponsor you a permanent employment visa. They don’t know you’re not legit. Easy.”
If only. Harvey clearly never had to deal with Immigration before if he seriously thought any department of the federal government would take his word at face value.
“Yeah. Easy. Except that employment visas are only valid for a chosen professional field, and I would need to prove my qualification for that to them, and the USCIS is known to do some digging. For an immigrant nation, you guys are very keen to kick foreigners out. No way they don’t find out about my… situation.”
The cocky confidence slowly faded from Harvey’s face. After a moment that dragged on forever, he simply said: “Oh.” Yeah, that’s where Mike was too. At the Oh.
“Uh huh. If I apply for a visa, and they find out I’m a fraud… Different legal issue. Arguably worse.”
“There must be something we can do without risking that. There’s always something.”
Denial. Classic. At least Harvey didn’t seem to be keen to see him go, so that was something. It made it harder, too. But Mike had done his research, and he was always thorough. The odds were against them on this one, at least if they went the classic way. He didn’t quite qualify for citizenship just yet, and that left him with very few options. Staying illegally and hoping they wouldn’t find out was one, and, at the moment, surprisingly tempting.
The other… it was about as likely as the chances of USCIS not coming to knock at Harvard’s doors. It wasn’t like he had a US citizen to marry. He definitely didn’t have the money to pay someone to put up with him either, let alone the acting skills. He had never been good at pretending to like someone when he didn’t.
“Not really. The only option where they wouldn’t go digging as much, well…”
“What?” Harvey asked immediately.
“It’s still risky, but… marrying a US citizen makes people eligible for a ten-year Green Card after two years of marriage. Employment is secondary.”
Harvey nodded slowly. “Right. There you go then. Do that.”
“What do you mean ‘do that’? I don’t exactly have people lining up for the position, and it will still raise a few eyebrows at immigrations. If it’s not convincing, I’ll still go down for fraud.”
Harvey fell silent again; Mike could see his brain working behind those brown eyes, his face tightened with tension. With a clenched jaw and through gritted teeth he eventually said: “What about Rachel? You have history, it would be believable. If you explain the situation to her…”
Everything about his tone suggested that he knew this was a terrible idea. A terrible idea that had also occurred to Mike before and he had dismissed it immediately.
“She is dating someone else. I can’t ask that of her or make her keep the secret when we didn’t even trust her to know about the other secret.”
Harvey nodded; if he tried to conceal the flicker of relief that washed over his face, he did a poor job of it. Which meant he most likely wasn’t even aware of it; Mike had no idea he had been so against his relationship with Rachel. Granted, it hadn’t worked out, but still. That was intense.
“We’ll find a solution. We always do,” Harvey said, but it didn’t sound reassuring. If even Harvey, invincibility personified, lost hope… Mike might as well just start packing. “Come back here tonight and we’ll go through the options, okay?”
It was pointless, he knew that, and he figured Harvey did too. But… if the time they had left was limited, he might as well enjoy it. Just like this job; knowing it might get ripped away from him any day made it all the more special. And so he said: “Okay. Thank you.”
“Don’t worry about it. Now, go do the job I’m still paying you for, and don’t you dare telling me you’re quitting again. I invested too much time into turning you into a somewhat acceptable associate.”
Despite it all, Mike smiled. Yeah, that was more like it. “You’re a dick. Thank you.”
Harvey just winked at him, eliciting a little chuckle from Mike. He’d miss this, so much. Still, he dutifully got up and went to shake hands with their client, an old lady and (more importantly) kickass CEO who had enlisted their help to pass the company to the next generation.
“Hi, Mrs Robins? Sorry for the wait.”
“No problem, I could see it was important. You two make a cute pair. How long have you been together for?”
Mike blinked at her before his brain finally caught up. “Oh no, we aren’t…” He looked over his shoulder at Harvey, minding his own business. In his periphery, Donna, who either had overheard the comment too or just coincidentally had thought of something very funny to have her fighting back a laugh like that. God, he’d miss her too when he had to leave.
If he had to leave. If he didn’t get married. Which he couldn’t because he didn’t have anyone to marry. In theory. But maybe… If they fooled Mrs. Robins without even meaning to…
No, that was insane. He and Harvey got along, kind of had grown to be good friends, and sure, Harvey had done all kinds of crazy things to protect Mike and by extension himself… But entering a fraudulent marriage with him was a completely different story altogether. Especially when they already had one fraudulent partnership to worry about. Was Harvey even gay? He sure as hell had never mentioned that before. What he had mentioned was his attitude to relationships though, and how clearly he didn’t want one.
As if he would throw his perfect Bachelor lifestyle away to marry a man, commit to this charade for two years (at the very least) that would change how everyone in their lives perceived them. Mike could never ask that of him, or anyone. If he couldn’t fight this the legal way, didn’t find a solution that didn’t ruin someone else’s life… He’d just have to get used to the idea of going back to the cold north, at least for a little while.
Shit. Like his life hadn’t been turbulent enough.
***
Harvey hadn’t caught a break since the moment he met Mike. Since day one, there had always been something up, some crazy scheme they got dragged into. But they had stuck together through it all, more or less anyway, and just when Harvey thought things had settled down, Mike had come around with a whole new grenade threatening to blow them up in the form of his questionable visa situation. Because of course he did.
Harvey had no idea what exactly he had signed up for the day he agreed to hire him. Admittedly, it wouldn’t have changed much if he did; Life had never been more interesting. There was nothing quite like the constant threat of going to jail to keep things spicy; having to find Mike a wife, however, had never once occurred to him as remotely needed, even in his wildest dreams.
“That’s quite the news,” Donna said, suddenly appearing in his office as she always did.
“Mike has never made things easy…” And Harvey relished the challenge. That went without saying. But he did much prefer them to be manageable, achievable. Not an impossible quest that inevitably would lead to the loss of the only other person aside from Donna and Jessica who could keep up with him. Or worse, see Mike trapped in a marriage of convenience and living a lie that just to stay here. He deserved so much better than that. More importantly, Harvey deserved better than to deal with his constant whining about that too.
“You know, if it comes to that, there might be someone who could believably marry him,” Donna said. Harvey huffed. Of course she had an idea already.
Maybe she had a friend who for whatever reason desperately needed to get married too and wouldn’t ask too many questions... Preferably someone in another state who Mike would only have to see for holidays and ignore all other days of the year, for his sake. And Harvey’s, always Harvey’s.
“Are you volunteering?” Harvey joked. Obviously, he could never approve of them teaming up against him even more than they already did, although that would be an interesting constellation. They would last two weeks maybe before Donna ate him alive.
“No, but maybe you should.”
Harvey blinked. She had not just said that. Surely, he must have misheard her. He, marry Mike? Ridiculous. Wasn’t it? They couldn’t just get married like that. That’d be insane. Anyone would call their bluff immediately and they would only be in even more trouble.
“Why on earth would I do that?”
“It’s the obvious choice. You already know about his situation, and you have another life altering secret bonding you together. Conning people is at the core of your relationship.”
Harvey just scoffed. That was far from obvious. Lying about Mike’s degree was a completely different con than pretending to be hopelessly in love with him to justify rushing into a sudden marriage. It wasn’t what made them, them either. They’d be a fantastic team even if Mike had a degree. Now that was obvious.
“Donna, that is… We can’t do that. What would people think? Who would even believe that?”
“It’s not like people aren’t already thinking it with how protective of him you are.”
Wait, they did? Who was thinking that? And how the hell was this the first time he heard about it? He sure as hell wasn’t protective either, beyond his basic duty of care for the lost puppy he adopted. They didn’t have that kind of relationship. Why people might think otherwise was beyond him.
Sure, they had gotten kind of close. Mike was the person in his life Harvey spent the most time with, but that was always at least somewhat professionally motivated; even going out was normally to meet a client or have a celebratory drink, come up with a strategy over pizza and movies in Harvey’s living room. It couldn’t be further from a personal relationship that could be confused as a romantic one.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Harvey declared. There was no way he was the right person for the job.
“I’m not. It’s only two years,” Donna carried on with a shrug. “Would you rather spend that married to Mike or training a new associate?”
Just the memory of the Harvard drones at the interview back then induced a shiver that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. They had been useless, all of them. Mike had been indispensable from day one, even in the short period of time when he was nothing but a clueless puppy… how long would it take to find a replacement? How long would it take him to teach them how to keep up with him? Would they ever?
Still, that wasn’t a reason to marry the guy. It wasn’t like Mike would be his associate forever either, even if he did. Their partnership had a shelf life. Mike would get promoted eventually, or found out, and Harvey would lose him.
But – that could easily take another few years if Jessica agreed to promote him at all given his situation. Some people did stay associates for sometimes as long as ten years, even more… It wouldn’t be fair to Mike’s skillset, but it would make Harvey’s life a lot easier. Selfish as that was, it was the truth.
So really, there were just two possible outcomes: If Mike got to stay by whatever means necessary, they’d have another few years working together. That, or he would get deported in a few weeks and Harvey had to deal with whatever second-best douche would try to replace him. Who knew what would happen then, how quickly they would lose touch, if Mike could ever come back for more than a quick visit…
The realization hit him straight in the gut: He wasn’t ready to let go of their con yet.
The day dragged on immensely. No matter how often Harvey checked his watch, time refused to pass any quicker, and the work didn’t miraculously get done by itself either. Unfortunately, it really wasn’t interesting enough to keep Harvey’s mind from straying, and so he did the next best thing bordering on productivity: he checked the USCIS’s website for different visa requirements, brushed up his knowledge about immigration laws, read experience reports of people trying to immigrate to the US.
To the surprise of absolutely no one, Mike had really done his due diligence. Everything he had told Harvey about the legal situation checked out, and his hope for potential loopholes vanished with every second. As if Mike wouldn’t have found that himself, if one had existed. And even though he trusted that Mike had explored all options, he made notes anyway, tried to come up with solutions, did everything bar contacting a colleague who specialized in immigration before that would come back to bite him in the ass.
All the while Donna’s words never left him. He could catch her looking too, every time Mike came by to drop off some work or give him an update with that beaten puppy look, heard her silent demand to fix it. And God, Harvey was trying.
By the time Mike joined him to stay, and Harvey dropped down next to him on the sofa for ease, he already had a headache from the overwhelming information he had consumed. Still, he went over it all with Mike again, discussed every detail twice just to make sure they wouldn’t miss a thing.
“What if we…”
“Already thought about that,” Mike interrupted him. “Doesn’t work.”
“Okay, but if we bribe someone from immigration…” It was supposed to be a joke, but at this point, Harvey kind of meant it. If the legal options didn’t work, he wasn’t above exploring the not-so-legal options.
Mike laughed bitterly. “Seriously?”
“Better yet, we find someone with enough dirt of their own. We blackmail them into taking your degree at face value.”
“And commit another felony?”
Details. They could be each other’s lawyers to get themselves off the hook.
“Might as well keep collecting them. If we go to jail, at least you’ll still be in the country.”
“Maybe we can share a cell. If they don’t deport me first.” Mike’s laugh slowly faded into a groan of desperation; he slumped forward over his lap, burying his face in his hands. “Ugh. I’m screwed.”
As much as Harvey wanted to contest his point, reassure him, he couldn’t. This time, there really was no easy way out. Still, he gently patted Mike’s shoulder. “Yeah.”
Mike snorted, turning his head every so slightly to give Harvey his are-you-serious stare. “Consoling people really isn’t your specialty, is it?”
“No. But distracting them is. Come on, I’ll buy you a drink.” They both needed it, as strong as they came. Maybe they would find Mike a spouse there too. Someone he wouldn’t be entirely miserable with the next few years.
“Sure. While we still can…”
Not the spirit Harvey was going for, but he could hardly blame Mike for feeling melancholic. If he couldn’t fix his problem, he at least could help him forget about it for a moment though, and maybe help himself too. No point dwelling on what didn’t work – all wasn’t lost yet, even if the only hope they had was the last thing he ever wanted for Mike.
The bar they went to was only a few blocks away, a place they knew well at this point. It was the best of both of their worlds, down to earth yet with the top-shelf options Harvey demanded. They weren’t regulars by any means, though visits had become a little more frequent recently because work was busy and they deserved to unwind. Not that they ever planned to go out, really, these things just happened. Just like today.
The atmosphere was heavy between them, and it took two shots and a whiskey for Mike to slowly loosen up enough to be perceptive to Harvey’s impeccable humor. Another shot for him to start joking back, for that tipsy smile to ease away the frown lines he had worn all day.
“What about her? She’s cute,” Harvey said, signaling to one of the girls at the bars. Not even a specific one – just the general direction of a group of a few of them to see what Mike’s type was. Between Rachel and Jenny, he didn’t have much to go on.
Mike snorted half-heartedly. “I can’t just go up to strangers and ask them to marry me. Immigration would be onto me in no time. You were the one teaching me about the importance of being subtle, remember?”
So the one time in his life Mike had chosen to listen to him, it created another obstacle to getting him to stay. What a relief that at least one of his lessons stuck, even if this was hardly the moment to be picky.
“Assuming marriage is your only shot-”
“Sure looks like it.”
“Would you consider making an… arrangement with a stranger?”
Mike exhaled loudly. “I don’t know. At this point, the choice is between that or going back to a place I haven’t been to since I was eleven. Which I might have to anyway, if and when they take a closer look and realize it’s a bad faith marriage. But if it works… What’s two years stuck in a fake marriage versus being stuck in a country that might as well be foreign to me? Maybe that is a risk worth taking…”
That was more like it. Even if he looked deeply uncomfortable saying all of it, at least they warmed up to the possibility. It would only have to last two years, anyway, that went by quickly. He could hardly believe he had known Mike for just as long already.
Still, Mike was right that a stranger was risky – trusting someone they didn’t know with a secret like that, hoping it would somehow work out enough to not grow to hate each other, for people to believe it… The risk of being discovered as fraud was so much higher than with a genuine connection, but time was running out to truly get to know someone enough to know if it could work, at least as friends.
As for non-strangers… Well. The options weren’t exactly plentiful. An arrangement with a friend would be advantageous. But who was there to trust? Definitely not Trevor, that son of a bitch better stayed in Montana before he ruined things for them.
And no ex-partners, that was guaranteed to be messy. That left… God, he knew nothing about Mike’s social life or who he was close to outside of work. Though the assumption that he had a social life when working eighty-hour weeks for Harvey might have been far-fetched in the first place. Right, so people at work then. So really, with all the people they could trust, who Mike spent the most time with, that left…
Himself and Donna. And Donna had already said no. So really...
Harvey swallowed.
Donna hadn’t been wrong, exactly. He did know about Mike’s situation. All of them. They knew about each other’s lives enough to build on that. They worked well as a team, were familiar with the way the other thought, were well-practiced at discretion…
It’s not like people aren’t already thinking it with how protective of him you are. Still a ridiculous notion, but Donna had rarely misled him. If she thought the con could work out, if she supported them... Was it silly to think she had the wrong idea now of all times?
Plus, if Mike was found out as having a fraudulent marriage, would they leave it at that or keep digging, find out about the other thing as well? It wasn’t unthinkable. In that way, it was also very much in his own interest to keep Mike undiscovered. He had never been good at trusting other people with important jobs.
So maybe…
Shit, he was really considering this. He didn’t even know if marrying a man, least of all him, was even a real option for Mike. If he’d rather move to Canada than marry him… Harvey’s ego has had some tough blows in the past, but that would trump them all.
Then again, self-preservation simply wasn’t enough of a reason to not at least try, to extend the offer; if it was a no, chances were he’d never see Mike again anyway, uncomfortable as that thought felt. And if he said yes, no harm done. Well, they’d be married. They’d commit another felony. But… Even Harvey couldn’t live with himself knowing he could have done something and didn’t offer, as crazy as it was.
Harvey swallowed again, twirling his drink in his hand. “So, who would you consider marrying?”
“At this point? Whoever is offering.”
Right. Not a lot of discrepancy there. If all it took was an offer, Harvey would fulfill a hundred percent of the criteria. Getting married didn’t have to change much between them, just their legal status. All they needed to do was make it believable… A few shows of affection in public and no one would dare to take a closer look at them. Probably. And they still would get to be them at work…
Jesus, he really was going to do this. He had no choice but to. He intently kept his eyes on the table in front of him; with a dry mouth, he asked: “What about… me?”
A beat of silence, permeated by the drumming of his raging pulls echoing in his ears. Fuck, what had he been thinking? What was Mike thinking? Harvey dared to sneak a glance at his face; Mike stared right back at him with wide eyes – shocked, but not entirely horrified. That was… good. Maybe. Fuck.
“You?” Mike finally said. Alright, not exactly an open-armed, no-hesitancy agreement to his quasi-proposal. So much for whoever offered.
Harvey shrugged, using all his suave to make it look as casual as possible. “We have grown to be friends. It shouldn’t be too hard to pretend like it’s a little more than that.” Since people already seemed to believe that anyway, for whatever reason. He really needed to probe Donna about that more.
“Harvey, I… I can’t ask that of you. You already risked so much for me, I can’t ask you to marry me too.”
Harvey couldn’t quite believe he was offering either. It was insane, and yet, somehow, it didn’t even come close to half the things he had already done for their partnership. Like walking into an armed holdup and signing the thugs as clients just to save that dickhead Trevor’s ass. For Mike’s sake. Or the time he threatened to throw his whole career away and quit if Jessica fired Mike. What was agreeing to marry him compared to that?
“I’ve done crazier things to get you out of trouble.”
“So maybe it’s my turn. If I leave the country, that would save your ass from the other thing we are hiding.”
Jesus, Harvey really hadn’t anticipated he’d be met with this much resistance to his suggestion, to the point that it felt like he had to talk Mike into marrying him. Well, not resistance, per se. For what it was worth, Mike didn’t look appalled by the idea at all. Barely even confused. More… guilty. How silly of him.
“Yes, but it would also condemn me to having to find a replacement for you, just when I made a decent lawyer out of you. Keeping you around would put less strain on my life, and keeping your secret without involving a third party would be in my best interest too, before we go down together. Besides… Spousal privilege might help us with the other thing too.”
Mike nodded slowly. “That’s right. Because you couldn’t be forced to testify against me or disclose you knew about my degree situation.” He bit his lip the way he always did when he was deep in thought. “We would have to move in together to make it realistic.”
That was the least of their issues. If anything, Harvey had a guest room that begged to be occupied, if just so he had an excuse not to have any actual guests over. Mike was the only one he would even consider letting stay the night for non-sexual, non-emergency reasons. “I have space.”
“That you hate sharing.”
“It’s between having a roommate for the next two years or doubling my workload because of whatever Harvard douche would fail to replace you. I think we’ll find ways to cope. You can have the spare room, it’s not a big deal.”
“It’s a massive deal. We’re talking about getting married and lying to everyone about our relationship for the next few years.”
“We already are lying to everyone. Nothing much else would have to change, just our legal relationship and our living situation.”
Which, actually, was far from nothing. Except that it was, compared to losing Mike to Canada.
“I mean, if you don’t mind, I suppose we could just… carry on as we have been. We can tell people at work we have been keeping our romance lowkey so they don’t ask questions, I don’t have any family and you aren’t close to yours, so hopefully no one will ask questions about not being invited to the wedding…”
“Donna already knows, she can testify to whatever grand love story we come up with, should we need it,” Harvey added.
“And Donna can convince anyone of anything.”
Yeah, no shit. She had planted the thought into Harvey’s head in the first place. He would fire her tomorrow for it. Or give her a raise… he hadn’t decided yet.
“Exactly. We just keep living our lives and put on a coupley front if anyone comes poking around asking questions. Shouldn’t be too hard.” Especially considering they had already been mistaken as a couple anyway, apparently. He really couldn’t get over that one, it was too outlandish.
“You seriously want to do this? You really don’t have to. You’ve done so much for me already, I would never hold this against you.”
“It’s the best option you have, isn’t it?”
“I… Yes.”
And just like that, the decision has never seemed simpler. “There you go then.”
Mike let out a manic laugh. “This is insane.”
“Every aspect of our partnership has been insane. Why change a winning team?”
Mike shook his head disbelievingly, so many emotions crossed his face, Harvey barely had any time to even find names for half of them. Then he took a deep breath, and his face settled on a smile: “Okay.”
“Okay,” Harvey repeated. So was that… agreed on? A done deal, an engagement, just like that?
Engagement. He was… engaged. To be married to Mike. Just yesterday, that thought would have been at the core of a bad joke they’d laugh about and dismiss. Now, with everything that was on the line, it felt almost natural to go there.
“I suppose there is only one thing left to do then…” Mike said.
“There are several things to do, actually.” Like getting married, filing the paperwork with HR, moving Mike into his apartment and canceling his, and… what the hell was Mike doing kneeling on the floor? The bar got suspiciously quieter all of a sudden, too many people were looking at them as Mike got down on one knee as the cliché he was, and as if that wasn’t enough already, he even took Harvey’s hand in his.
“Harvey Reginald Specter, will you marry me?” Mike asked, a wide, cheeky, shit-eating grin on his face. Well. At least no one could claim that Mike didn’t have a sense of humor or didn’t adapt quickly to impossible situations.
Harvey rolled his eyes. “You are ridiculous.”
“Is that a yes…?” Mike’s eyes grew wide for his beaten puppy look, he was still kneeling in front of Harvey. The center of attention of the entire bar. Jesus fucking Christ.
“Yes. I’ll marry you.”
To the applause of perfect strangers who had no idea what deal they had witnessed, Mike jumped up and pulled Harvey into a tight hug that felt extremely real. Probably because it was real, Mike actually was hugging him, and he had every reason to mean it, too. Right. That was new. Better get used to some baseline of affection now that they had to sell it… Hesitantly, Harvey gently placed his hands on Mike’s back, gently patting him.
“Thank you,” Mike whispered quietly, just for Harvey to hear; the relief around him was palpable, he still didn’t let go, and Harvey had no choice but to hold him a little tighter, too. He had a feeling Mike needed it.
“Of course,” he managed to bring out. When Mike pulled back a little, still lingering in Harvey’s personal space, he gave him the most brilliant smile, and Harvey knew he had made the right choice keeping this in his life. Closer than he had ever anticipated, but he was still here.
The moment felt entirely too heavy. Harvey cleared his throat from the massive lump weighing him down: “And where the hell is my ring?”
Mike barked out a laugh, short and genuine, and just went back to hugging Harvey. So that was his future now, dealing with hugs… Mike truly never made it boring.