Brother from another mother

Mine. [Part-2]

Louis Litt was a man who relished order. He liked to know exactly what was going to happen, when it was going to happen, and he did not like variations in his routine. So that Monday morning as he stepped into his office at precisely 8am, the last thing he expected was an anomaly - especially if it was seeing Harvey Specter sitting behind his desk, wearing an expression vaguely reminiscent of the Angel of Death.

"Good morning, Louis," Harvey said, his tone dangerously amiable.

"Why are you in my office, Harvey?" Louis demanded.

"I thought we should have a talk - man to..." he looked Louis up and down speculatively, "...mammal."

Louis bristled. It was way too early to put up with shit from Harvey; not that there was a better time of day for it - but really, he had only had one of his mandatory three morning cups of coffee so far; he was not primed for this.

"As much as I would not enjoy indulging your childish bantering, I have actual work to do, so kindly get your ass off my chair and get out of my office," Louis declared, setting down his briefcase on the edge of his desk. Harvey smirked and stood smoothly, buttoning his jacket and eyeing Louis.

"Louis, I was under the apparently mistaken impression that your comprehension skills were at least, if not as superior as mine, fairly adequate. That little show you put on for the first year peons last week while I was gone? Very inspired," Harvey was rounding the desk slowly, sauntering over to where Louis found himself somewhat frozen. Harvey stepped right into the other man's personal space; Louis unconsciously took a step back even as he sneered.

"Aw, is this about little Mikey? I made him do some work for a change, so he came crying to Daddy? How touching."

Louis watched Harvey's eyes darken, his bland expression sliding into one that could only accurately be described as predatory. In the back of Louis' mind, he felt a mounting sense of grave unease; some indefinable line had been crossed, he'd thrown the golden boy to the wolves and he would freely admit to himself that it had felt good - damn good. Ross was Harvey's little pet, the genius kid with the Midas touch on cases, and Harvey never seemed to miss a chance to rub it in Louis' face that he'd gotten the prize puppy of the litter for his own.

So he might have let the other associates ride the kid a little bit, they'd all had to endure some form of hazing (except for Harvey, damn him) and Mike didn't get to run all dewy-eyed to Harvey every time one of the other kids picked on him. He said as much out loud and was rewarded with a small chuckle from Harvey that made the hair on the back of his neck stand up.

"As amusing as it would be to play these little games with you, Louis, I actually have real work to do, so I'll get to the point," Harvey dropped all pretense of friendliness and took another step forward until there were only mere inches between their faces. His tone was low, level and filled with well-directed malice.

"I'm only going to say this once, so pay close attention. You and your little associate minions have had your last little free-for-all at Mike's expense. I know he's a grown man and can take care of himself, but ganging up on him was a bitch move, one I see you were only brave enough to make after I left - your yellow streak is showing, Louis."

"No one did anythi – " Louis started to protest, but Harvey harshly cut him off.

"Shut up, I'm still talking," amazingly, Louis did.

"I know you're jealous, Louis," Harvey continued quietly. "You want to be like me and you can't, so like any bully you try and find a weakness to exploit. Only I'm not some opposing counsel you can screw with to get your way - you pull that shit again and I'll have your little lapdogs fired. I'll make sure even McDonald's will be too lofty a career aspiration for any of them. As for you," his smile was sinister, "well, I'm still trying to decide whether destroying what passes for your career would be as satisfying as simply kicking your ass. Why not both? I'll get back to you on that."

Harvey took in Louis wide-eyed, somewhat horrified expression and smirked. "I'm glad we had this little talk, Louis; for your sake, you better make sure we don't need to have it again. Mike's a naïve, bleeding-heart, over-emotional puppy - and not one of those first year fools kissing your ass everyday will ever amount to even half the lawyer he already is," Harvey stared Louis down until the other man was almost to the point of squirming, then he gave him a condescending pat on the shoulder and left without another word. Louis dropped into his desk chair seconds later with a ragged breath, running a hand over his face roughly. He sat silently fuming for several minutes before jabbing a button on the intercom sitting on the edge of his desk.

"Norma, tell Gregory and Kyle to get in my office now."

________________

Two Weeks Later

"Look, I don't want to hear anymore complaining, you're going and that's final. If I have to suffer, then you sure as hell don't get to squirm out of it," Harvey manfully ignored the "dying cow" look on Mike's face.

"You're such a sadist, there has to be some kind of labor law against this," Mike muttered petulantly.

"There are several laws against what I'm about to do to you if you don't shut up and get out of my office," Harvey said darkly.

Deciding that he wouldn't dignify that with an answer, Mike heaved himself off Harvey's couch with a dramatic sigh and headed for the door. Harvey spoke again and Mike paused.

"I'm picking you up at 7a.m. sharp, you better be ready," Harvey spoke as his eyes scanned a motion on his desk.

"If you're dragging me unwillingly into the forest to die, there better at least be some pancakes first," Mike demanded. Harvey didn't answer and Mike rolled his eyes, moving again to leave the office. He was almost out the door when Harvey's voice reached his ears.

"Fine, only because I don't want to listen to you whine about being hungry the whole way."

Mike lifted a fist in silent triumph as he headed to his cubicle, a grin plastered to his face. Shaking his head, eyes crinkled with amusement, Harvey watched Mike leave, and tried to recall where to find the best pancakes in the city.