Chapter Text
“You have to pick a Teaching Assistant, Harvey.” Harvey rolled his eyes as the voice of his boss exploded from his phone. “Don’t roll your eyes at me.”
“I can’t stand any of the grad students,” Harvey said with a groan, rolling his neck from one side to the other as he listened to another lecture from Jessica. “They’re all bitter they aren’t in Harvard and they’re self-righteous assholes who…”
“Just pick one.” Harvey made a face at his phone when Jessica hung up before slipping it into his pocket.
He was hurrying towards his next class when he heard raised voices as he neared the corner of the building and slowed his usual stride. A gruff, older voice carried better than the softer voice countering it.
“I know what I saw,” Gruff said. “So you can either hand it over, along with your ID, or I’ll take you down to the station in cuffs.”
“The station?” the younger voice scoffed. “You mean the little building at the back of campus across the street from the bakery.” Harvey smirked as he neared the two men, pausing at the edge of the building, just out of sight.
“Ow, okay, okay,” the younger voice sounded a bit more frantic now and Harvey guessed that the older man didn’t have a sense of humor. “I told you I don’t have anything. It wasn’t me.” The man let out a whoosh of air and Harvey winced when he heard a body meet the brick wall. He peeked around the corner and saw one of the campus policemen pushing the face of a thin, blonde man into the rough surface. The student, at least Harvey assumed he was a student by his casual clothes and messenger bag, was mumbling into the masonry as the officer leaned his weight into him.
Harvey stepped away from the building a bit and ruffled through his bag for a minute before pulling out the first piece of paper that came free. He tugged at the bottom of his vest so that it hung properly and would have adjusted his tie except he wasn’t wearing one. The days of three piece suits and a carefully built persona were behind him.
Taking a deep breath and throwing on his best emotion free face, he moved quickly, rounding the corner with his eyes locked on the paper in his hand. He intentionally accidentally bumped into the officer with his elbow as the other man pulled away quickly from his prey. Harvey didn’t let his eyes up until the officer had taken another step back and then he focused solely on the man who had quickly turned around, the scrapes on his face from the brickwork a harsh red.
“Harold!” he said with a loud sigh. “I was just coming after you; you left my office so fast you forgot your copy of the tutoring schedule.” He fluttered the paper towards the blonde man and turned his attention towards the cop as if he’d just noticed him. “I’m sorry, sir. Is there an issue here?”
The campus police officer was one Harvey recognized and from the look on the other man’s face, he recognized Harvey.
“Nothing at all, Professor Specter. Just asking this gentleman a few questions.” The officer slid his thumbs through his belt loops and raised his chin as he spoke. Harvey mentally sighed at the posturing but pasted on his best ass-kissing smile, the one he normally reserved for his department head.
“This gentleman is one of my TAs,” Harvey explained. The student leaning against the wall managed to nod when the officer glanced his way. “We’ve been in a planning meeting all afternoon and he forgot this when he left for class a minute ago.” Harvey held the folded paper out to the stocky cop but the man only flicked his eyes between Harvey and his supposed TA.
“He’s been with you all day?” the officer asked.
“I’m an ethics professor,” Harvey said with a grin. “Would I lie to an officer of the law?”
The officer seemed to hesitate for a moment before answering, taking in Harvey’s guileless smile and educated demeanor. Harvey resisted the urge to blink under the scrutiny even as the student still staring at the two swallows audibly.
“Of course not, Professor Specter,” the officer said after awhile. He glared at the blonde by the wall one last time before nodding towards Harvey and walking away quickly. Harvey watched as he crossed the concrete stretch between buildings and disappeared into a throng of students before he turned and looked at the man still standing behind him.
The blonde stared right back, a challenging glint in his pale blue eyes. Harvey is about to say something that’s sure to be witty when the wiry young man reached forward and snatched the piece of paper out of Harvey’s grasp.
“This isn’t a tutoring schedule,” the young man said. Harvey retrieved the paper with a smirk.
“And you aren’t a tutor.” Harvey shoved the paper back into his bag and ran a hand through his dark hair.
“You lied to a cop. You psyched him out with a fire safety memo.” Not Harold seemed almost giddy in assessment of a situation and Harvey is about to walk away when the other man says something that makes him reconsider his original stoner assumption. “There’s a typo in the second paragraph.”
“There isn’t…” Harvey bit off his own words before digging the paper back out of his bag. He scanned over it twice before he spotted the issue.
“It should be ‘there’, not ‘their’.” The young man leaned back against the brick wall, crossing his legs at the ankles.
“And that’s why I hate spellchecker,” Harvey sighed. He looked back at the student. “How did you know that?”
“I read it.”
“For all of ten seconds.”
The other man only shrugged. “I absorb knowledge like a sponge and remember everything I read.”
Harvey let his eyes slide down Not Harold’s body for a moment, taking in the faded tee and ratty jeans before holding his hand out. “Harvey Specter, professor of…”
“Law and Ethics,” the other man interrupted him, taking his hand in a firm, quick shake. “Mike Ross, senior, pre-Law. You subbed for Professor Litt in my Ethical Practices of Law and Business class last year.”
“You remember everything you read?” Mike nodded, a self-assured grin on his face. Harvey matches it with a slight quirk of his head and reached back into his bag, pulling out the Barbry’s Legal Handbook that always rests in the bottom. He holds it up for Mike to see and the flips it open to a random page. “Civil liability associated with agency is based on several factors including…”
“…including the deviation of the agent from his path of reasonable inference of agency on behalf of the claimant and the nature of the damages themselves.”
Harvey looked at him incredulously.
“What? I like to read.” Mike adjusted the strap of his bag where it crossed his chest, drawing Harvey’s eyes down his body again. Harvey opened his mouth and then snapped it closed again, a dangerous idea popping into his head.
“How fast do you think you can get through a semesters worth of reading and study guides?” Harvey asked after a moment.
“That depends on the readiness of pizza and Red Bull.” Mike stood up straighter. Harvey nodded.
“I need a new TA, preferably one who isn’t a dick. You’re hired. Stop by my office this evening and I’ll get you a copy of everything you’ll need and we’ll work out the pay agreement.” Mike looked at him with surprise on his face, which left Harvey feeling very satisfied in himself. He started to walk away before remembering one important detail.
“And Mike…” He spun on his heel to stare down the younger man. “Whatever happened here before I showed up does not happen again. Understood?”
Mike could only nod but Harvey could see a small smile creeping in the corners of his mouth before he turned back around and kept walking.
Jessica was going to kill him.
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Mike groaned as he finally lifted his heavy school bag over his head and let it drop with a thud just inside the door of the apartment he shared with his best friend, Trevor, and his girlfriend, Jenny. He rubbed both hands over his face, wincing at the abrasions along his cheek, and when he brought them down Trevor was standing just in front of him.
“I’m so s…” Mike cut the other man off with a glare.
“You left me,” he accused. “You saw a cop and high tailed your paranoid ass out of there without a word of warning. I mean… What the fuck, man?”
Trevor had the decency to look contrite as Mike pushed past him and stalked towards the tiny kitchen.
“I wasn’t thinking,” Trevor tried to explain. Mike ignored him in favor of pulling a bottle of water out of the fridge. “I didn’t have classes this afternoon so I started early and just…” The dark haired man trailed off. He stepped into Mike’s personal space and reached out to wrap a hand lightly around Mike’s upper arm, forcing him to turn and face him, only inches away. “I really am sorry. I never want anything bad to happen to you, Mikey. You know that, right? You’re my closest friend.”
Mike tried to stare Trevor down before finally giving in. He handed over the bottle he was holding as a token of acceptance and turned to get another from the fridge, trying and failing to ignore that look of triumph on his friend’s face. Twisting off the cap as he straightened up, he turned back to find Trevor still standing too close. He licked his lips, a nervous gesture, and saw Trevor’s eyes dip down to watch his tongue slip along. Neither of them moved until they heard the front door open again, signaling Jenny’s return from her afternoon classes. At that Trevor rushed out to greet her and Mike took the opportunity to quickly down half his water, shivering as the coldness seeped through his core.
“Fuck,” he said softly, letting his head drop back against the fridge. He closed his eyes tight and tried to move past the feelings of betrayal he was currently aiming at his best friend. Focusing instead on the oddity that was Harvey Specter’s apparent job offer he didn’t hear anyone come back into the kitchen before he felt a light touch on his hand.
“Mike,” Trevor spoke softly and Mike opened his eyes slightly to look at him through his lashes. “I’m going to make this up to you, I swear, just… ya know… don’t tell Jenny, okay? She hates it when I smoke during the week.”
Mike closed his eyes again. “Yeah, Trevor, I know.” Trevor squeezed his hand tightly for a minute before disappearing again.
“I know,” Mike said again quietly. He drank the rest of his water slowly before finally walking back out into the main room of the apartment. Jenny already had her head bent over the books piled on her desk, long blonde hair pulled back in a rough bun. Trevor was stretched out on the couch and he favored Mike with a wink before turning his attention back towards the television. Mike chose to ignore him as he went to his room, crossing the small space to the even smaller adjoining bathroom.
Fingers tips moved lightly over the scrapes that littered his right cheek and eyebrow. Most of them were so shallow they’d disappear in a day or so. The relief he felt in the fact that none of the damage was serious did nothing to dissipate the aggravation he felt towards his friend. Trevor had cornered Mike outside of his last class, weed in hand, and completely ignored Mike’s warnings before pulling him towards the back of the Law building and lighting up. He had been trying to coax Mike into joining him, leaning in so close that Mike could feel his breath on his ear, when he’d suddenly pulled back and rushed off without a word. Mike didn’t take two steps before the cop had showed up.
Mike turned on the faucet, and waited until the water was as cold as it would flow before he splashed some on his face. He did it again and again until his hair was dripping down his back when he straightened up. He blinked at himself in the mirror, the redness on his face making his blue eyes seem brighter than usual. The sound of Trevor laughing floated through the thin walls and made Mike grit his teeth.
“One more year,” he whispered to his reflection.