Archive of Our Own

“Welcome to The Drop,” the clear-spoken woman smiled at him. Mike could tell she was a submissive, but still he had no doubt that she was able to down him in a second should he, or anyone else, try to get into the exclusive club without prior invitation. “May I see your ID?”

Anyone at the wrong location would likely show their driver’s license, but Mike had been to The Drop before and he knew to take out his membership card. It was plain, the card, with just a photo of him and a curved S. In small print on the bottom read the name of the club, barely visible unless you were looking for it.

“Right this way please,” the hostess said, handing him back his card. Mike slid it back into his wallet and followed her into the club as another host took her place.

They walked through the small hallway into one of the open side rooms. She turned to him and smiled. “Is there anything you’ll be needing, Mr. Ross? Our records say it has been nearly a year since you’ve joined us.”

Mike nodded. “My,” he paused. “My master kept me in the house.”

“Will he be here soon?” the hostess asked.

“No,” Mike shook his head. “No, he’s not in the picture anymore.” He gave her a weak grin, as if he was saying something light-hearted.

It was anything but, still the hostess was professional and she simply smile for him. “Is there equipment we can lone to you then, Mr. Ross?”

The Drop was one of the most exclusive BDSM clubs in New York. One could only get their membership through invitation and once membership was had, it could be taken away if any conduct unbecoming was seen by any of the club employees. Unlike most leather clubs, The Drop didn’t cater only to those into sadism and masochism, but instead worked to serve the needs of fet-life at large.

Once upon a time, Mike had taken the LSATs for one of the members of the club. That man had since had his membership revoked, but not before he’d gotten Mike secured with his own invitation.

Mike hadn’t come to The Drop often, even before Trevor had forbid it for him. The membership fees were on a visitation basis and he wasn’t rolling in cash, but in light of what had happened to him in the past weeks, he figured he needed a good long scene to clear his head.

“Just some cuffs, please,” Mike said as he pulled off his shirt and set it in the open locker. He swiped his membership card along the scanner and it beeped, indicating that it would only open for him until the time he took all of his belongings out and reset it.

“Very good, Mr. Ross,” the hostess said. “I hope you enjoy your evening.”

~o~()~o~

Harvey walked into the interior of the club—his fitted white shirt a stark difference to the dark colors that were usually worn in a place like this. He felt no need to dress up in leather though, unlike many of the other Doms who were currently browsing through the various amenities The Drop had to offer.

His promotion to senior partner had been just a bit of a surprise and Harvey was still quite gleeful over it. Part of that had to do with the look on Louis’ face, but then they couldn’t all be good enough to make the cut, could they?

He thought he deserved some more celebration so he’d had Ray take him to the club that was the only BDSM establishment he’d found tasteful enough for his presence.

Several rows of couches lined the walls to Harvey’s right and he spent a moment studying them and the occupants of them. Those were the Dom and sub pairs, the ones into exhibition and the ones who just wanted to watch and perhaps partake in some light petting or cuddling. One female licked her master’s boots as he watched a male getting whipped, but even that couldn’t hold Harvey’s interest long. After all, he wasn’t here to observe, but to partake in a little power play for himself.

Harvey turned his eyes to the left, to where the unclaimed submissives knelt. There were a number of them, wearing what ranged from full leather suits to nothing at all. Harvey dismissed those extremes quickly and then his eyes fell on a young male with dirty blond hair, his head bowed. He wore jeans, an unusual choice for a BDSM club, and no shirt.

Curious, Harvey approached the subs, reveling a bit as they all shifted at his presence, some of the braver ones looking up with beautifully pleading faces to be chosen. Harvey barely glanced at them as he began to circle this jean-wearing sub. The sub’s hands were placed loosely on his knees, each wrist starkly outlined by soft leather cuffs.

Harvey circled back to stand just in front of the sub and snapped his fingers to get the boy to look up at him. The sub did, his hazel eyes catching Harvey’s for a breathless second before they dropped down to Harvey’s chin, properly submissive.

Beautiful, Harvey thought, but he didn’t say it aloud. Not yet. “Stand and follow me,” he ordered, turning on his heels without even checking. He knew the boy would follow him, he was in the unclaimed section after all and Harvey was arrogant enough to know that he was one of the more attractive people in this club.

After just a moment, Harvey felt a presence on his back, just to the right and a step behind him. He glanced over his shoulder and noted that the sub kept his eyes down as he walked.

He was already pressing all of Harvey’s buttons, but there was still a possibility things would fall apart. Harvey could only hope that this was the universe’s way of rewarding him for his promotion.

~o~()~o~

Mike followed the man who’d picked him, wondering why his heart was beating so fast. The Dom led them both into one of the back rooms, swiping his own membership card to open the door, locking it to anyone but himself once the door had been closed behind them.

Mike knelt the minute the door had closed. The room they were in was soundproof, but then they all were. There was a security camera in the corner, though, so Mike wasn’t too worried. He knew the security monitors The Drop hired never slacked off at their job. They were usually vanilla in preference, so as not to get too distracted by what they were seeing and instead stay focused on what they had been trained to know wasn’t safe, sane, or consensual.

The fact that the Dom had brought him to one of the back rooms did at least say one thing about him—he wasn’t into exhibition. That was good with Mike, since he’d never liked being on display. Not that he had anything to worry about, he knew he was attractive and he rarely broke rules once they were told to him, but he liked the privacy of a one-on-one scene.

His gaze was on the floor again. Mike never used to show quite this much submissive posturing, but Trevor had been… insistent. He knew better now. He heard footsteps moving around the room and the opening of some of the drawers that contained supplies. One of the nice things about this club was the equipment they allowed free use of. It had wigged Mike out a bit at first, but he’d since learned that the club staff cleaned the equipment regularly, after every scene they were used, even if they were being used by the same couple again.

“You have a name?” the Dom asked suddenly, breaking the silence.

“Nah, my parents just decided to skip that part,” Mike snarked before he could think better of it. His eyes flashed up as soon as he’d said it, judging the Dom’s reaction. “Sorry, sir.”

The Dom’s eyes were unreadable, but his lips quirked into a sort of half smile and Mike relaxed. “Fair enough. My name’s Harvey, you can call me that or sir. I don’t enjoy Master and I won’t call you whore or slave, but I may call you a slut or boy.”

“Not slut,” Mike murmured. He would accept it if the Dom, Harvey, did call him that, but that’s what Trevor always called him before he’d forced him down on his knees and that wasn’t… he came here to forget Trevor. “My name is Mike.” He didn’t give a last name, because Harvey didn’t.

Even without the last name, it wouldn’t be too hard for Mike to find out who Harvey was by just his first name and looks. He would doubt that Harvey was the Dom’s real name, except he had no idea why someone would choose Harvey as a pseudonym so he figured the man had nothing to hide.

“Okay, Mike,” Harvey agreed easily. “You have a safeword?”

“Jenny,” Mike said quickly. He glanced up again and saw Harvey’s eyebrow was raised, but he kept his mouth closed instead of answering the unasked question.

“Very well,” Harvey said after a moment. “Go kneel on the pad.”

Harvey didn’t tell him to stand this time, so Mike took a chance and crawled instead. When the Dom didn’t correct him, he figured he’d done the right thing. Settling himself into a comfortable kneel, his knees spread and his weight settling equally on his ankles, he waited with his eyes back to the ground.

~o~()~o~

The boy, Mike, was already perfect. Harvey gathered up the soft rope he’d found in the cabinet and curled it around his hand as he studied the beautiful form of the sub kneeling on the cushioned pad—the club’s amenity in lieu of a bed.

“Is bondage one of your hard limits?” Harvey asked softly.

“No, sir,” Mike answered, equally as softly.

Harvey nodded, though the sub couldn’t see, and approached him. “Hands up.”

Mike lifted his hands and Harvey slid the rope through the D ring on the right and then through the left. He crisscrossed them and looped them around Mike’s chest and arms with practiced movements. He’d learned the art of Shibari long ago, but this wasn’t quite as meticulous as that.

The sub shivered as the rope pulled against his nipple. Harvey paused and then continued his movements. “Do you need pain?” he asked. A lot of male subs liked pain. Harvey thought that it made them feel less emasculated when in the act of submitting, which actually aggravated him. He disliked people that couldn’t understand what they really needed.

“I don’t need it, sir,” Mike said. “I can if you-”

“No,” Harvey said. “No, I don’t.” Far too perfect, he amended internally. He had always preferred instant obedience and service than pain play. Not that he was above giving a good spanking, but this now, with Mike tied up at his will… this was absolutely perfect.

And the fire in the boy’s eyes, Harvey nearly shivered over it. There was passion in Mike, and yet the boy so desperately needed to serve, needed to be taken down and taken care of. He was pushing all of Harvey’s buttons, from his protective desires to his selfish wants.

What Harvey wouldn’t do to be at his penthouse with Mike kneeling at his feet like this, lazily watching a movie together as he stroked the sub’s hair… but they were doing a scene at a club, soft though it may be, and this wasn’t the time to be considering keeping the boy. Not when Harvey knew nothing about him.

“Keep your head down, boy,” Harvey said. “I will not gag you and I will not hurt you, if you say your safeword at any time we will stop immediately and talk about what went wrong. Is there anything you want to tell me before we begin?”

~o~()~o~

Mike considered briefly. He wondered if he should mention Trevor. But no, no Dom wanted to hear about past masters, not even one as understanding as Harvey seemed to be.

He wondered if he should be waiting for the other shoe to drop, but this man, this gorgeous man, pulled at him like no one—not even Trevor—had ever done. It would be scary, if it wasn’t for the fact that Mike knew he wouldn’t come to harm at The Drop.

“I’m fine, sir,” Mike said finally, because he didn’t want Harvey to leave him for a sub without quite as much baggage.

“Close your eyes then,” Harvey said immediately.

Mike did and then reassured himself by the sound of the Dom’s footsteps on the tiled floor. Harvey walked away and then back to him and then a soft pressure was being applied to Mike’s head. Mike opened his eyes immediately, only to find that the light was blocked.

“Sir,” Mike began, his heartbeat speeding up.

“I’m here, Mike,” Harvey soothed, a hand resting on Mike’s neck. “Keep your eyes closed.”

Mike did, shivering slightly underneath the restraints binding his arms to his torso. He felt controlled all of the sudden, like Harvey could do anything to him regardless of their location and the security camera that—he knew intellectually—was still recording. He’d been fine with keeping his eyes averted from the Dom when he could see, but now that he couldn’t he wanted nothing more than to be able to see Harvey’s face, to assure himself that Harvey was in fact Harvey and not some unknown master.

Not Trevor.

Mike’s breath quickened. Distantly, he heard Harvey telling him to tilt his head back and he did. Hands were running along his neck and then Mike’s mind flashing in picture-perfect memory to the last time he’d been with Trevor.

Hands tightened on his throat, cutting off his air supply. Mike choked, gasping a heavy breath as the memory threatened his reality.

He came back suddenly to realize their was no longer any pressure on his neck. His swallowed and realized he could do so easily. So he wasn’t being choked. Hadn’t been choked.

Trevor wasn’t here, he reminded himself. It was Harvey and Harvey wasn’t into pain.

“Stand,” Harvey said clearly.

Mike frowned, trying to figured out how to get up from a kneel with his arms completely bound to his sides. After a moment, he rocked himself onto his heels and used his thigh muscles to propel himself up. It wasn’t the most graceful of moves and he unbalanced in the middle, only to be steadied by confident hands and righted.

“Good boy,” Harvey praised, which had Mike confused cause he hadn’t actually succeeded in getting up on his own.

Harvey chuckled, as if having sensed his thoughts, and then placed an open kiss to Mike’s bare shoulder. Mike leaned into the chest right in front of him and tilted his neck to the side to give Harvey access to it.

The Dom’s mouth moved along the side of Mike’s neck and then up his face, passing to the blindfold. Mike felt disappointed as the pressure indicated that another kiss had been pressed there, and yet it was no longer on his open skin, but he held still. “Good boy,” Harvey whispered again.

Mike couldn’t remember the last time Trevor had praised him for anything. Never like this, with a low tremor of seduction and lust.

It made him feel wanted, for once, and Mike curled in closer to Harvey.

Hands travelled down his rope-covered side until one clasped his ass beneath his jeans. He shifted back, pressing against it. Harvey’s breath puffed in his ear and then he withdrew slightly so Mike could no longer feel him except for the hand on his rear. And then that left too.

Suddenly, Mike was alone in a dark sea, drifting like he was coming down from a bad high. Trevor always did the worst in those moments, as the weed faded out of both their bodies.

There was a soft tap to his ass, a reminder of the words that were floating into Mike’s ears, but Mike couldn’t figure out what they meant. He was caught in past memories, in times that he remembered vividly. That he would never be able to forget.

The words grew harsher and compounded, mixing with Trevor’s. Mike shivered harder and jerked backwards, only to unbalanced with the way he was bound. Hands caught him, restrained him, and then Mike opened his mouth.

“Jenny. Jenny,” he said. “Jenny, please.”

~o~()~o~

Harvey froze as he heard the name that Mike had labeled his safeword. He moved as soon as it registered, taking off first the blindfold, and then tugging at the choice places that would unravel the ropes.

Mike was already pulling them off himself as soon as they became loose enough, throwing them away. He was shaking hard, far too hard for what they had been doing.

Harvey hesitated, something he rarely did, but he wasn’t sure what had gone wrong. All he had asked was for Mike to spread his legs. The sub wasn’t even naked yet for Christ’s sake!

“Mike,” he asked softly.

Mike looked at him, his eyes wide and his pupil’s blown in panic. After a moment, he blinked harshly and then looked down at his shaking hands. “Sorry, god I’m sorry,” he murmured. “I didn’t… that wasn’t your fault, oh god.”

“Hey,” Harvey interrupted before the boy could work himself back up to a full panic attack. “It’s okay, Mike. I promise.” He paused, studying the sub. Though he didn’t quite know what had happened, he still was the best damn closer in New York City and he knew how to read people. “Come here.”

Mike just stared at him, long enough that Harvey began to wonder if he’d made the wrong assessment, and then the boy stepped forward into Harvey’s opens arms, collapsing in them.

Harvey closed his arms softly around Mike, rubbing a hand soothingly down his back. The boy’s skin shivered underneath his fingertips, but Harvey felt it as Mike relaxed against him and he felt a bit of relief. “Talk to me,” he ordered in a whisper to Mike’s ear.

“I’m sorry,” Mike blurted immediately, his words slightly muffled in Harvey’s shoulder. “I should have told you… I should have warned-”

“Take a deep breath,” Harvey said. He waited until Mike had before asking again. “What should you have warned me?”

“Trevor,” Mike said, and then Harvey felt him wince. “My former master. I thought, I thought that by coming here I could- I couldn’t.”

Harvey pushed down the urge to say well, apparently not. There was something in him that wanted to bundle Mike up, to wrap him in a security blanket and soothe him until the hurt went away. That wasn’t a feeling Harvey was very used to, but the man who’d taught him all he knew about the fetish-scene had once told him that when he found the right sub, he would just know.

Know? Harvey had scoffed at the time. How could you just know?

You’ll know, the man had said. When you want the world to leave them alone. When you’ll do anything to keep them safe, keep them happy.

“Tell me,” Harvey said. “From the beginning.”

~o~()~o~

“I don’t—” Mike took in a deep breath. He didn’t know what to say, only the same pull that had so attracted to this man was also starting to pull from his lips a story.

“Okay,” he took a deep breath and pulled his head back so that he could see Harvey’s face. It helped, somehow, to see who he was talking to. “Trevor and I were college roommates. I was a good kid, had to be to get a scholarship. I told myself I would do whatever I needed to so that I could keep it.”

“What college?” Harvey asked.

Mike paused, wondering why that mattered. “NYU. I grew up here, in the city, and Trevor was from old money.”

“Was?” Harvey pressed.

“His parents cut him off,” Mike winced. “That’s a long story and not really related, actually.”

Harvey nodded and Mike took that as a cue to keep going.

“Right, so,” he said. “It started small, I guess. We became friends, Trevor and I, good friends. He got me into stupid shit, drugs and cheating and-”

“Drugs?” Harvey raised an eyebrow.

“Nothing hardcore,” Mike amended quickly. “Weed, mostly. He’s a drug dealer, now. That’s what he’s been doing ever since his parents, well, yeah.”

Harvey’s frown had deepened, but his hand still stroked Mike’s bare back and it was soothing enough that Mike continued. He hoped, briefly, that Harvey wasn’t a cop, but it was too late now if the man was.

“I didn’t know then that I was,” Mike blushed and dropped his head slightly. “That I need to serve. I mean, I should have, but I guess I just pushed it down a lot. But I never could say no to Trevor. When he asked me to cheat on this big math test…”

“You did?” Harvey guessed dryly.

“I memorized it,” Mike shrugged. “I’m good with that and then we tried to sell it. Turns out we’d picked the Dean’s daughter and… well I got expelled.”

Harvey’s hand stilled on his back and then continued stroking him. “When did Trevor become your master?”

“After I came here for the first time,” Mike said. “I was invited by someone… by an acquaintance and I was curious so I came.”

Harvey smiled. “And you liked it.”

Mike’s blushed deepened, he could feel the heat from his cheeks, and he nodded. “I came a couple times. Not often, but when I needed it.” He looked away as he remembered the next part. “One night, Trevor caught me.”

“Here?” Harvey asked and his voice was lower, harsher.

“No,” Mike let out a bitter laugh. “Trevor would never be accepted here. No, he came over to apartment and saw me as I was coming out of the shower. It was visible… I had whip marks.”

Harvey’s eyes narrowed. “You said you weren’t into pain.”

“I’m not,” Mike’s head dropped as though Harvey’s phantom of disappointment was enough to crush him. “But I had to try, to make sure. It was bad luck. And I couldn’t say no.”

“To the man who whipped you?” Harvey’s hand had drifted to the back of Mike’s neck and it tightened there now.

“Woman, actually,” Mike said. “But not her.”

Harvey sucked in a deep breath and then he seemed to realize what he was doing and his grip loosened. “I see.”

Mike was afraid Harvey did. “I thought it was great, for a while. I stopped coming here and I started serving Trevor. Only, he started asking me for more and more, things I wasn’t comfortable giving him.”

“And you couldn’t say no,” Harvey said.

Mike turned his body slightly away, shame thrumming in him. “I didn’t want to think that anything was wrong. Trevor was my friend and he said he was training me. He said… he said he loved me hurting for him.” Mike raised his head and met Harvey’s eyes. “I thought he meant that he loved me.”

Harvey opened his mouth, but now that Mike had started he couldn’t stop. “He even started dating this girl, Jenny, and he told me we couldn’t tell her. Just like we couldn’t tell her about the drug dealing, but I thought that, hey, a guy had needs and Trevor had always like chasing girls.”

He shivered, wrapping his arms around himself. Harvey’s arms came around him again and he leaned sideways into the Dom’s chest. “I like Jenny. I think it would have been different if I didn’t, if I hadn’t, but I didn’t want to hurt her by telling her what was going on.”

“Do you think that’s fair to her?” Harvey asked.

“I don’t know,” Mike confessed. “I really don’t. I haven’t seen her since—well, Trevor ordered me to drop off a briefcase of weed. He said he didn’t want to do it, he had something else going on, but even though I smoked, I never participated in his dealings before and I said no.”

Harvey’s arms tightened around him and that in itself was a reward.

“He told me that if I didn’t do it, we were over,” Mike murmured. “I told him that if he made me do I would tell Jenny and then he threw me out.”

“How long ago was this?” Harvey asked.

“Two weeks,” Mike said. “I started looking for another job. My grandmother needs to go into a nursing home and I don’t have the money. I got several jobs, to be able to pay for it.” It still wasn’t enough, but he couldn’t say that. Not to a stranger. “It started wearing on me and I knew the signs, but,” he took a deep breath, “it was hard to convince myself that I could come back to the scene.”

“Yet you did,” Harvey stated.

“I did,” Mike agreed. “But it was too much… and I’m sorry. It wasn’t your fault and I probably ruined your night. I can ask the club to give you a refund, you didn’t come here looking for some weak piece of shit to cry on your shoulder.”

Harvey spun Mike around so that they were facing each other again. “First off, don’t call yourself a piece of shit. You’ve been taken advantage of for, from what you’ve told me, several years and that’s not your fault. Men stronger than you have broken from that kind of thing and you haven’t.”

“You don’t know that,” Mike said defiantly.

Harvey smiled and reached one hand to stroke a thumb across Mike’s cheek. “I do,” he murmured. “You’re not crying.”

Mike’s cheeks heated again under that intense stare. “Thanks,” he said. “For being understanding and listening to my sob story.” It certainly had lifted a weight from his chest, one he hadn’t even known he’d been carrying.

He felt lighter than he had in years.

~o~()~o~

Harvey nodded, unsure for just a moment what to say to that. No problem seemed too light, you’re welcome too crass. He didn’t quite know what exactly was going to come out of his mouth until he heard in his own voice, “Let me take you to my home.”

Mike stared and Harvey stared right back.

“I… did I hear you right?” Mike asked. “Did you just offer to take me home.”

Harvey was surprised himself, but now that he’d made that decision he would stick with it. It wasn’t like he’d never taken dates to his penthouse before. In fact, he’d probably taken too many, but then he knew Mike had told him the truth, if not the whole truth, and he wanted nothing more than to erase Trevor, at least for a night.

“Let me take you home,” Harvey repeated. “I promise nothing bad will happen to you. You can call someone to check up on you whenever you want. My last name is Specter and I’m an attorney with Pearson and Hardman.”

Mike frowned for just a moment, his eyes growing distant as if he was remembering something. “Pearson and Hardman,” he muttered. “Currently under Jessica Pearson. Harvey Specter, recently promoted to senior partner in the firm.”

Harvey paused. “How did you know that?”

Mike blinked, focusing back on Harvey, and shrugged. “I read it in the paper this morning. They didn’t have a picture of you, it was just a blurb.”

“And you remembered it?” Harvey’s lips twitched.

“I remember everything,” Mike told him, and there was no trace of arrogance or boasting in his voice.

Harvey was tempted to believe him, but whether or not that statement was true could be tested later. “So you’ll let me take you to my home?” He stepped closer and put two fingers under Mike’s chin. “Let me take care of you tonight, Mike.”

Mike opened his mouth, closed it, and then opened it again. “Yes,” he breathed. “Okay, yes.”

Harvey smiled and impulsively kissed Mike on the lips. Mike practically melted into him and Harvey had to wrap his hands around his waist to keep them both from unbalancing. He pulled back, his heart clenching as Mike made a small, needy noise.

“Shh,” he kissed the base of Mike’s ear and then his lips again chastely. “More of that later. Now, I need to take you home.”

Mike shivered and nodded. Harvey realized he’d just said home not my home and closed his eyes to clear his head. He wanted this, he wanted Mike like he wanted very few things before in his life and what Harvey Specter wanted, he got.

Twenty minutes later, Ray dropped them both off in front of Harvey’s building and they stepped into the glass elevator.

“This is where you live?” Mike asked, awe in his voice. He was now wearing a shirt and the cuffs were gone, but he looked just as beautiful in New York City’s night lights as he had in the soft glow of the club.

“It is,” Harvey said, smiling at Mike’s open-faced excitement as the elevator pinged and they stepped into the penthouse.

“This is awesome!” Mike said, moving through the living room to the large window in the kitchen, one of the many that overlooked the city. Harvey spared a moment to be glad that the boy wasn’t afraid of heights.

As Mike gawked at Harvey’s place, which Harvey really couldn’t blame him for, he wondered what his next step should be. Erase Trevor, he reminded himself. What was something Trevor had probably never done?

“Have you eaten recently?” Harvey asked. He glanced at the clock on the wall and noted that it was just hitting nine. He was glad it was a Friday night—he wasn’t obligated to go into work on Saturday mornings despite the fact that he often did.

Mike turned to him. “I had a burger at six.”

Harvey nodded and put his phone and wallet on the couch’s side table. He moved into the kitchen and opened the pantry. Not finding anything promising, he tried the fridge and then smiled as he grabbed a bowl of grapes. He showed them to Mike, who’d been watching him. “You like?”

“Yeah,” Mike said, his stance curious.

Harvey gestured with his head and was pleased when Mike followed him back to the living room without a verbal cue.

“Kneel,” Harvey ordered.

Mike dropped immediately to his knees and then crawled to the spot Harvey had pointed to, right at the foot of the couch. Harvey sat down just over from him and lightly stroked his head. “Good boy.” He grabbed a grape off the stem. “Open up.”

Mike opened his mouth and Harvey plopped the grape in, running his fingers along Mike’s lip as he let go. Mike’s eyes were wide, the pupil’s dilating in lust as he slowly chewed and swallowed.

“Very good,” Harvey praised. He couldn’t help but notice how Mike’s hands quivered every time he did so and it made him want to find this Trevor and dump him in a ditch to never be found again.

Harvey continued to feed Mike grapes, one by one. It was only once half the grapes were gone that Mike began to get more creative, teasing Harvey’s fingers with his tongue as he took the fruit, occasionally sucking all the way up the fingertips.

It had Harvey hard, but while he thought that Mike would be amendable to sex now, he was patient enough to wait for the best time.

The waiting came to an end as Mike’s body became lax, so lax that he was leaning heavily into Harvey’s knee. Harvey placed the nearly empty bowl on the table by his keys and used one finger on Mike’s chin to draw him upwards.

Mike was led easily into the bedroom and then just as easily stripped of his clothes. Harvey reveled in the submission of this boy before him, his own headspace expanding to include the need to protect and shelter him from events past.

“On the bed,” Harvey commanded as he stripped himself of his own clothes. He joined Mike a second later, opening the bedside drawer to pull out some lube.

Mike’s eyes had darkened and he spread his legs, head leaning back in utter submission. He was ready to be used, but Harvey couldn’t do that to him this night, couldn’t take him utterly without them even talking about it.

That’s what Trevor would have done, he thought, and he was no Trevor.

Harvey squirted lube into his hand and then reached forward and stroke Mike’s hard cock. He brought himself closer so that he was lying on top of the sub and rubbed his own cock along Mike’s thigh.

It was an awkward angle, but after a moment, Harvey was able to get both of their cocks together between his hand. He stroked them, watching Mike’s face avidly as the boy’s hands twisted in the silk sheet of his bed.

“Harvey,” Mike gasped after several minutes and Harvey groaned. It was the first time Mike had said his name and it pushed him up to a plateau.

Close, he thought. He just needed a bit more.

Mike gasped loudly and then he reached forward with a hand. It fell, almost limp, from Harvey’s neck to his chest. The lightest touch of fingertips caressed his nipple and Mike’s eyes were so brilliantly green in the light of New York City streaming through the open windows that Harvey threw his head back and came.

His seed spurted, hot pulses. He continued to thrust into his own hand, brushing Mike’s cock. It took him a moment to realize that Mike was still hard and when he did he groaned all over again. “Come, boy, Mike. Come for me.”

Mike arched up and his cock thrummed under Harvey’s hand like it was his only anchor. Harvey held on, slowly moving up and down even as his own cock softened, spent. Mike collapsed a moment later.

“Good boy,” Harvey said. He reached over, glad he kept tissues besides his bed because he didn’t want to get up off this beautiful boy. He wiped them down, not enough to prevent total stickiness in the morning, but enough to keep them comfortable through the night.

“Harvey,” Mike murmured. He shifted and Harvey shifted with him, drawing him tightly into his arms.

“Sleep, Mike,” he said into the boy’s hair.

He wanted to stay up and watch Mike’s peaceful face, but all too soon he was drifting into the land of dreams himself.

~o~()~o~

The sunlight hit him from behind his closed eyelids. Mike clenched them closer together, but now that he was at least partially awake he registered that he was warm—much warmer than his dingy apartment usually was.

Mike opened his eyes, blinking against the direct light. He looked down and saw an arm across his waist, and then he looked left.

Harvey, Mike reminded himself. He studied Harvey’s sleeping face for a moment, taking in the golden lines of the man’s body as he remembered all that had happened the night before. He never wanted to forget those memories.

Mike twisted, trying to get up to leave, only that Harvey’s arm clamped down on him. Mike blinked and looked back at the man’s face to find that his eyes were open.

“Hey,” Mike said, blushing though he wasn’t sure why.

“Good morning,” Harvey said back. “Is something wrong?”

Mike almost said no, but he’d already told this man so much. What was one more secret? “Trevor never slept in the same bed with me,” he admitted. “It’s… weird.”

“Weird how?” Harvey sat up slightly, but his kept his arm over Mike.

“Nice,” Mike murmured. “I didn’t expect it to be so nice.”

“I’m not Trevor,” Harvey told him. “I don’t want to be Trevor.”

“I don’t think anyone wants to be Trevor,” Mike smiled. Harvey smiled back and it had Mike’s breath catching in his throat. “How are you so perfect?” he blurted before he could stop himself.

Harvey’s expression darkened, and then it softened into something almost sad. “Oh, Mike.” He leaned down and then claimed Mike’s lips in a surprisingly soft kiss.

Mike closed his eyes, craving that pressure. It said to him something he didn’t know he’d ever be able to articulate into words, only that he never wanted to leave this moment.

“Mike,” Harvey said as he pulled back. “I need— I want—” he stopped and looked away.

Mike reached up and traced Harvey’s lips with his finger. “What do you want, sir?” he said softly.

Harvey sighed. “That’s just it. I want you, Mike.”

“You have me,” Mike said, opening his arms wide. He was still naked, they both were, and yet with all else he’d laid vulnerable before this man that he probably could no longer consider a stranger… it didn’t seem to matter so much.

“I have you now,” Harvey said. “But tomorrow? Next week. You don’t understand. I want you. I want to keep you and I’ve never—” he breathed out harshly. “I’ve never wanted to keep anyone before.”

Mike almost laughed, because to him the answer was just too easy.

Far too easy.

He sat up, bringing his face right up to Harvey’s. “Then keep me, sir,” he said. There was a sort of childish joy beating in his heart as he tucked his face into Harvey’s neck. “Please keep me.”

Harvey’s arms circled around him and then he was being pulled into the Dom’s lap. “Okay,” Harvey agreed.

And everything else they could figure out later. For now, in this moment, under the light of the sun streaming through windowed walls, Mike curled up into Harvey and felt, for probably the first time in a very long time, utterly content.