Brother from another mother

Puppy Care

"You have to do something about your damn associate."

Harvey looked up from the brief he was perusing to see a red-faced Louis standing in front of his desk.

"You seem to suffer from the same affliction that keeps Mike from remembering how to knock," Harvey replied mildly.

"Mike is the reason I'm here!" Louis said through clenched teeth.

"No, Jessica's misguided charity is most likely the reason you're here," Harvey was looking at the brief again.

"Either you do something about that damn kid, or I'll go to Jessica," Louis ground out, looking to be on the verge of screaming. Harvey sighed and set the brief on his desk, finally giving Louis his full attention.

"What happened?" He asked; not that he cared.

"What happened is that Ross has been a rude little shit all day and since he's your puppy, it's your job to control him!" Louis huffed, folding his arms and looking every inch the disgruntled schoolmarm tattling about a badly-behaved student to Daddy.

Outside of dumping some files and a merger outline on Mike early that morning, Harvey hadn't seen his associate since. While Harvey knew for a fact that Louis worked in melodrama the way others worked in paint, or clay, if Mike was terrorizing the office, he had to put a stop to it before Jessica found out and there was real trouble. Normally Louis was in charge of disciplining the associates, but Harvey had made it clear from the beginning that no one disciplined Mike but him, especially not Louis.

"Alright, Louis, get out of my office and tell Mike to get his ass in here - I'll see what the problem is," Harvey promised.

He watched Louis glower for another few seconds before he stormed out, muttering; "You better."

Within a few minutes, Mike was standing in front of Harvey's desk, looking annoyed and impatient.

"Louis said you wanted to see me," he finally spoke when Harvey didn't look up from the brief he was once again reading. Harvey didn't reply, calmly turning a page and continuing to read as if Mike wasn't there. Mike, temper uncharacteristically short, gave an indignant sigh and turned to walk away.

"I don't have time for this shit today - come find me when you actually have something to say!" He threw over his shoulder. Harvey let him get as far as his hand on the door handle before his voice rang out sharply.

"Did I say you could leave?" Harvey was now staring straight at Mike, who had turned to face the desk again, fingers still gripping the door handle.

"You didn't say anythi-"

"I don't need to; you're the puppy, you stay until I acknowledge you," now it was Harvey who looked annoyed. He pointed at the spot in front of his desk in a silent command.

Rolling his eyes, Mike went back to his previous spot in front of the desk and stood, looking disgruntled.

Harvey sat back in his chair and regarded his associate. Mike was generally cheerful to the point of being annoying; quick to smile and laugh; ever the bleeding heart optimist that buttered Donna up in all the right ways and wrangled the occasional laugh out of the mighty Harvey Specter. He'd seen Mike have moments of anger or irritation, but they were rare, fleeting and never lasted this long. From what he could gather from a quick conversation with Donna via the intercom, Mike had been in a major snit since he'd come in that morning - snapping and snarling at the other associates with more venom than he was known for. After getting their heads ripped off once or twice, the other associates decided to lay off their usual pastime of Mike-baiting and they collectively steered clear of him. Louis - socially stunted as always - had, predictably, failed to pick up the clues that Mike was having a Really Bad Day, and should generally be left Very Much Alone.