Hey everyone! So up until now I've only done Criminal Minds fics (none of which I've finished which I'm SO sorry about, but it's on my to-do list please bear with me!) Anyway, given the fact that the end of Suits Season 5 is eating me up inside and keeping me awake at night, I figured I'd write a little continuance to the end of the last episode. I'm intending to turn this into a series of one-shots of Mike in prison and basically my hopes predictions for Season 6. But anyway, please let me know if that's something you'd want/enjoy and if you have any ideas or suggestions about things I should write (warning: there will probably definitely be a lot of angst), and I hope you enjoy this! :)

"There's no such thing as a white collar prison Mr Ross"

Michael hadn't believed Mrs Danner's words of warning at the time. His mind had been less focussed on what he was leaving behind and what he was giving up, rather than what he was heading to. He'd maintained one idea – he was going to a white-collar prison. Despite his joking references to Harvey, this wasn't The Shawshank Redemption. But as he walked into the prison for the first time, these thoughts had deserted him, leaving him with the empty echoes of Harvey's final words to him. "Watch your back in there, Mike". Suddenly, walking towards the reception of the prison, ready as he'd ever be to turn himself in, Mike felt more exposed than he had ever felt, and he found himself pining for the concerned and watchful gaze he was trying to hold on to, but that he knew had been cut off as soon as the doors closed. Suddenly, his heart began to beat erratically, and Mike felt his breath leave him. Before he even took the time to take in the surroundings of the room he'd stepped into, Mike had wheeled around and raced back out the doors. As soon as they opened, he could see Harvey, still leaning against the car, with his eyes fixated on the spot where Mike had disappeared. All façade of confidence had been stripped from both men in the time they'd been apart. Mike ran towards the wire gate, focussed on nothing but his best friend and the thoughts in his head spinning around, telling him he couldn't do this, he couldn't do this, he couldn't do this. By the time he reached the gate separating he and Harvey, the lawyer had walked right up to it.

A hollow feeling came over Mike. He was barely aware of his movements as he walked towards his best friend. All he could think about was… Everything. It started to dawn on him, as he stared at the man who had given him the life he had come to love. He'd never practice law again. This prison was going to be the only place he knew for two years. Two whole years. For two years, he would only see Rachel or Harvey or Donna at allocated times. Across a table. He suddenly longed to be touched. Not even in any serious sense of the world. He longed to hold Rachel's hand, or feel Harvey's hand on his shoulder, or patting him on the back. He began to wonder if these friendly, distracted touches would still feel familiar to him by the time he got out. And finally, after 72 hours of only looking behind him, Mike finally saw what he was going into. And he couldn't handle it. The look on Harvey's face was near enough to heartbreak. His eyes were glittering with the barely suppressed tears that almost made it out during Mike's short absence. Mike's fingers snaked through the fence holes. He wasn't expecting Harvey to return the gesture, but it felt right. He wanted so badly to walk back through that gate, get into Harvey's car and drive all the way home… Much to Mike's surprise, Harvey's fingers brushed his as he gripped the fence next to Mike's hand. He wasn't overtly touching his hand, but it was enough. Both matter of time before the guards questioned what was happening by the gate, and separated the two of them, but for now, Mike had to spend time with his best friend. Real time. Not time defined by a display of false confidence – Mike couldn't have left it like that, nor time that was dependent on when visitors were and were not allowed to be there, and which other prisoners were within earshot. Mike shivered at of them knew what it was: a show of support, and probably a large comfort for both men. In Mike's mind, he knew he should turn around. He knew it was only a the thought. Finally, he opened his mouth, and spoke three words that were not foreign to him, but carried the world beneath their tone.

"I'm scared Harvey."

Normally, the older lawyer would aim to reassure, or rather quell, the younger man's fear. Mike was one for irrational worrying and over the top reactions, but Harvey had always been there to assure the kid that he'd take care of things, and that everything had a guarantee to work out. This had been the case, every time Mike's secret was in jeopardy, or when the whole Liberty Rail fiasco was taking place. It had been the spoken promise between the two men, up until the moment that Mike signed away his life to Anita Gibbs. And even following that, when everyone else (including Mike) implored Harvey to stop insisting it was a done deal, he fought. And that was why the lawyer stayed silent. He had failed. But it was more than that. Unlike his regular post-failure guilt, which was entirely self-fuelled and self-centred, he had failed Mike. And now his best friend was here, staring at him through a prison gate, stripped of all bravado and any hint of confidence. This was just Mike, staring him in the face and telling him he was afraid. And there was nothing Harvey could do about it.

"Mike…" Harvey started, with no intention of ever finishing his sentence.

Mike let his name drop from Harvey's lips, into the heavy silence hanging in the air between them. He knew as well as Harvey did that the older lawyer had nothing to say. Finally, after the silence between them had grown so thick that both men were beginning to feel choked by their own lack of words, Mike spoke.

"Clifford Danner," he said, his voice shuddering and barely audible.

"What about him?"

Harvey's voice matched Mike's in tone and volume. Neither man was okay with this situation, in which they had been stripped of all control, all courage and all dignity. They were the shells of the confident, witty lawyers they had been minutes before their arrival at the prison. Now, they were just men.

"When… Gloria Danner came to me, after I took the plea deal she… She told me that prison changes people. And at first, I didn't think anything of it, y'know? I thought, it's two years, what's the worst that could happen? But now… All I can think about is Clifford Danner, and how he went from having everything to gain to… Getting shot in a diner because that's the only place that would take him."

"That's not gonna happen to you" Harvey replied. And this time, his tone was serious, assuring. It felt right to Mike, and he almost relaxed a bit. Harvey sounded like Harvey, and when Harvey Spectre makes promises, he means them. Most of the time.

"How do you know that?" Mike asked, almost laughing. The idea of the downward spiral that awaited him made him weak at the knees, and thinking about it now wasn't helping. But when he was in his right mind, Harvey Spectre had an answer for everything. So Mike decided to keep pushing.

"Because you're not Clifford Danner," Harvey said simply.

Mike actually did laugh this time - a wry, empty laugh that almost choked him and forced tears from his eyes. What the hell was he supposed to do with that pearl of wisdom?

"And Clifford Danner didn't have me on his side."

THANKS FOR READING! I'm not sure how out of character I ended up writing them, but I tried to justify my angsty writing as best I could! This is obviously a completely foreign and upsetting experience for both of them, so I assumed they'd probably drop their facades a little bit and be a bit more compassionate towards each other... Let me know what you thought about that, but I love writing them that way! Anyway, like I said above, please let me know if you have any requests or suggestions for this one-shot series and if you have any general feedback! I love hearing from you guys 3 Hope you're looking forward to this as much as I am! See you next time x