Title: Once

Author: AppleL0V3R

Beta-reader: N/A

Fandom: Suits

Pairing: Harvey Spector and Donna Paulson

Other Characters: N/A

Theme: Anniversary (15 Minute Fics)

Summary: Harvey is the best closer in the city for a good reason. And it's not just because he can talk even Donna into agreeing with him. Okay, maybe it is.

Word Count: 395

Rating: T

Type: One-shot Collection – Complete

Genre: Friends-to-Lovers, Slice of Life, No dialogue, Fluff, Introspection/Exposition

Warnings: No dialogue

Disclaimer: If you've heard of it before, then it's obviously not mine.

Started: July 3, 2017

Completed: July 3, 2017

Last edited: July 3, 2017

Note: Originally this was supposed to be funny and witty but every time I tried it just…was flat. But I've always enjoyed the depth of Harvey and Donna's relationship as it progressed and I figured I'd take a crack at that if I couldn't do the witty repartee. It came out okay, I think, for being no dialogue, fairly introspective, and my first attempt at any of the Suits characters.

*.*.*

Harvey was a lot of things, and after years at his side, in his employ, Donna knew exactly what all of those things were. Chivalrous and kind. Ruthless and cunning. But all of his sides were delivered in one charming, confident package—a front itself that she knew Harvey had long convinced himself of before anyone else.

She knew him capable of a heart of gold, just as he could ignore it in favor of a goal. Because ultimately, Harvey was a logical person, not at all sentimental.

When dealing with other people, it often came off as wit and apathy, a heart incased in a steel vault and the rest of his life guarded by the most expensive security system his money could buy. But for them, just the two of them—it meant more than key codes and caution. It meant trust and candid confessions as much as meant charming facades carefully crafted to distract her, and more importantly him, from what they both wanted.

Because at the end of the day, what Harvey wanted and what Harvey got were not the same thing. What Donna knew and what Donna applied were just as different.

Until they weren't.

Until one glass of wine and inhibitions excused by too little alcohol to be a half-way decent story in the wake of a yearly office celebration turned 'I'll drive you home.'

And then Donna crossed the one line she knew, knew she could not come back from. And Harvey with all his guile and earnest intentions forgot for a moment why he believed it a bad idea in the first place. When morning came, bright and sunny and far too soon, there could be no more 'we'll worry about tomorrow' as the she found herself alone for the second time and Harvey's king-sized, black-sheeted bed.

Even as a heart attack, a panic attack, whatever might cause metal fingers to steeple around her heart and lungs and squeeze could truly have a chance to dig in, she heard the ding of the oven and the smell of expensive coffee and let her body go boneless as she dropped back in the bed, modest forgotten.

Harvey, it seemed, was determined to be utterly Harvey about last night. And really, it was how she had fallen in love with him in the first place.