MIKE: Why don't we subpoena the bank records? How many banks can there be?
HARVEY: Place is like Switzerland on steroids. We'll never see those records.
MIKE: So what the hell do you want from me, then?
HARVEY: What did you just say to me?
MIKE: I once suggested that we hack Harvard's records to cover my ass, and you laughed at me. And now it turns out that you were wrong, and it's about to cost me my career.
HARVEY: Where are you going?
MIKE: You told me to fix my case. Why don't you fix yours?

Mike was breathing heavily as he left Harvey's office, every instinct within him screaming to turn back and apologise. The words what did you just say to me were ringing in his ears, along with the steely look in the man's dark eyes. He was screwed and he knew it. But he was stressed. Just like that, everything he had worked for and began to want could be taken away. He was finally on his way up out of the gutter, finally making something of himself, and now he was about to lose it all because someone has discovered his secret. And all Harvey cared about was his damn case.

MIKE: She bought me two tickets to Greece
RACHEL: Not interested.
MIKE: We leave Tuesday.

As Mike and Rachel passed through the doors, Mike noticed Harvey standing on the other side and froze. He didn't know where they stood – obviously he'd come running back to Harvey with a solution and managed to solve both of their cases at once and remove the problem of Lola potentially telling people he was a fraud. In his mind, everything was good. But he knew that Harvey probably hadn't forgotten the disagreement, even if he had been pleased with him for the victory.

"Mike."

"I'll…see you," Rachel said softly, putting a hand on Mike's arm before heading in the direction of her office.

"Everything good?" Mike asked, his stomach flipping slightly. "The money…"

"Has been returned to Lucille," Harvey nodded, smiling. "Couldn't have done it without you, Mike."

"Or Lewis…" Mike muttered. "Who'd have thought I'd ever say that?"

"There are, in fact, many things I wouldn't have expected you to say," Harvey said, raising his eyebrows at Mike.

"Uh…I…yeah…I mean I…" Mike flailed. He could feel himself going red under the stern gaze.

"Have you had dinner?" Harvey interrupted, leaning against the wall.

"No," Mike said. "No time for eating today."

"Well, you're having dinner at mine then," Harvey said with a cool shrug. "Get your bag."

"Um…" Mike floundered, realizing the implications of that. Harvey's place. When he'd screwed up. Never a good idea. "Well…actually…I kind of have plans…I'm going to…"

"Don't lie to me as well, Mike," Harvey warned, his tone suddenly far sharper than it had been before. "Get your bag."

"It was just a joke," Mike muttered with a nervous laugh before hurrying back to his cubicle to get his bag.

Mike sat next to Harvey, nervously chewing on his lip.

"What about my bike?" he said. "Maybe I should…"

"Shut up Mike," Harvey told him. "We'll take you in tomorrow. Stop trying to make excuses."

"But…I mean…Harvey. I didn't really do anything wrong."

He didn't believe it himself and it sounded seriously lame. Harvey fixed him with a death stare in return.

"Mike," he said slowly. "You blew up on me. I was asking for your help-"

"I gave you my help!" Mike interrupted.

"Yes, you gave me your help when you'd had time to cool off and change your mind," Harvey snapped. "I can't have it like that. I need you to do the work when I need it, not when you're in the mood to do it. Work is not about personal problems. You knew that Jessica had given me limited time to solve the case and you left it to the last minute to help."

"I was worried about-"

"I know you were worried," Harvey interrupted, holding his hand up. "But I told you that Lola wasn't going to tell on you. I knew that. I knew Lola when she was a kid, remember? You should have trusted me, but you didn't. You let your worry and your anger get in the way and then you refused to help me, even though, Mike, that's your job. However you feel about me, whatever I may have done to hurt or upset you, it is your job to do what I tell you when I tell you."

Mike didn't say anything. He didn't really have an argument to that. Instead he swallowed past the lump in his throat and stared out of the window. He felt guilty, damn it. Harvey had done so much for him when he never needed to. He'd taken such a risk for him and he repaid him by yelling at him and telling him to sort out his own case before storming out of his office.

"Mike."

Mike didn't say anything. He didn't know what to say. Harvey sighed and gently put his hand under the kid's chin, turning his head so they had eye contact.

"Mike, I get it," Harvey said. "You're just kid. You were worried and upset and didn't know how to deal with it. But that's why I'm your mentor. You never had this kind of guidance when you were growing up, you know, and so you need it now. And I'm damn sure you're going to get it. You could be brilliant, Mike, but you let your emotions get in the way. You're holding yourself back and let me tell you something, it's going to stop."

"I'm sorry, Harvey," Mike said. "I knew the minute I'd left your office that I'd screwed up. I was just…worried."

"I know but I told you not to be," Harvey said. "And if I'm not worried, you shouldn't be. Because if your secret comes out, I'm going down too. So if I'm not worried why the hell should you be?"

"I didn't think of that," Mike admitted.

"Well that's the whole point," Harvey said wryly. "You never think."

The conversation was cut short as they arrived outside Harvey's apartment block. Mike felt like a doomed man on his way to have his head chopped off. They didn't speak in the life on the way up and Mike chewed nervously on his lip. He wondered why he hadn't just ran home earlier. Still, he had a feeling if he made Harvey wait to punish him, he wouldn't like the consequences.

He thought back to how it had all started. He'd been sure that his good relationship with his boss was over the second he'd told him to get out of his office. He couldn't believe that after everything Harvey had done for him, he'd screwed up by getting high. Really, Mike reasoned, nothing else would have removed his guilt in such an effective way.

Mike knew he was in some kind of danger that day from the steel in Harvey's eyes when he told him to get out. When the man came to get him at the end of the day, he knew something was up. Especially when Harvey had dragged him into a disabled toilet and locked the door.

"Harvey, what the hell?"

Harvey didn't answer his question really, other than to shove him over the counter and smack his ass. Mike protested, but found himself unable to move from his position. To this day he didn't know why.

"Tell me you don't need this," Harvey had snapped. "Tell me you don't need boundaries."

"I-"

"You're a child locked in an adult's body," Harvey continued, smacking him again. "You have no self control. You have no sense of self awareness. You do things without thinking about the consequences. Tell me you don't need this."

But Mike had been unable to tell him he didn't need it. That was the start of The Arrangement. Mike knew it wasn't conventional and other people would find it weird, but it helped him. He screwed up, Harvey kicked his ass. It hurt like hell but it stopped him from making stupid choices sometimes. He was making less stupid mistakes week by week.

Back in the present, Harvey had to grab Mike's elbow and guide him into his apartment as the kid seemed rooted to the floor.

"Do you want to eat before or after?" he asked.

"I…well...before," Mike said with a shrug. He knew that he wouldn't be able to eat because of the anticipation and anyway dinner with Harvey before punishment would be tense. It would be better after. Harvey was always overly nice to him after.

"Right then," Harvey nodded, shrugging off his jacket and sitting down on the sofa. He unbuttoned his right sleeve and started rolling it up. "Take your belt off and come here."

"I….No!" Mike panicked. "No! Harvey! This isn't bad enough for the belt!"

Harvey fixed him with a firm stare.

"I know that, Mike," he said. "This is what I mean about you not trusting me and not listening to me. I want you to take your belt off because if you don't I won't be able to get to your ass. Not because I was going to use it."

"Oh."

"Oh indeed," the older man said with an eye roll. "Now come here, I'm hungry."

"Well if you don't spank me you can eat sooner…"

"Mike."

"Har-"

Mike stopped himself halfway through his sarcastic reply. The look Harvey gave him was nothing short of frightening. Sighing, he shuffled over to the man, taking his belt off as he went.

"Thankyou," Harvey said, his tone faintly sarcastic. "Down."

Mike swallowed his pride and pushed his trousers down before lying across his mentor's lap. Harvey wasted no time in pulling his boxers down too and landing a slap to his butt. Mike reached for the cushion, burying his face in it to try and muffle any noises of discomfort.

Harvey ignored this, allowing it, and started a steady rhythm of hard slaps. He was a harsh spanker, smacking hard and often, constantly moving so that Mike never got a second of reprieve. For Mike, it was a struggle between his pride and the pain. He hated knowing he'd screwed up and he hated the embarrassment of having his bare ass smacked by his boss. Equally, he hated the pain. Because Harvey liked to make sure he got his point across.

After five minutes of intensely sharp smacks, Mike's whole ass was burning. Unable to stop himself, he bucked at a particularly hard slap, and attempted to wriggle his way off Harvey's lap.

Harvey reacted by raising his hand high and slapping the top of Mike's thigh, hard.

"Fuck!" Mike yelped, unable to contain himself. The skin on his thighs was thinner and the slaps hurt more.

"Stay still then," Harvey said curtly.

"But Harvey it hurts," Mike informed him, his voice argumentative.

"No way Sherlock," Harvey muttered, pulling Mike back onto his lap properly. He smacked him again. "Tell me what this is for. If you get it right, we're nearly done."

"Well…OW!"

"Well?"

"I can't think if you're hitting me," Mike muttered, earning him another slap.

"I know that's not true," Harvey said. "You're the most intelligent kid I've ever met."

"Okay, ow…um…" Mike floundered, screwing his eyes up. Each slap was now stinging in an indescribable way and his ass was warm. He could feel the heat. "Okay…ow…because I told you to sort out your own case…when it's my job to do what you…ow…tell me. And…um…I shouldn't let my personal feelings get in the way of work. Although you should remember that I did actually help you and it resulted in the case being solv-OWWW!"

"Less of the lip, kid," Harvey lectured. "If you'd done what I asked when I asked, it would have all been resolved much sooner, no?"

"Yes," Mike muttered.

"Good," Harvey said. He reached down and pulled Mike's underwear up and gently pushed his off his lap. Mike stood up, pulling his trousers back up. He tried his best not to wince.

"Pizza or Chinese?" Harvey asked, standing up.

"Pizza," Mike answered.

"BBQ?"

"What kind of question is that?" Mike chuckled. He was always amazed how easy it was with Harvey to go from being spanked to talking about things like dinner.

"I have chocolate cake in the fridge," Harvey said as he reached for the pizza menu. Rubbing his ass slightly, Mike knew he was forgiven.