There's a certain kind of energy in the air. The closer they get to Elimination Chamber, the more Mike can sense it. He mentions it to AJ and she laughs softly and pats his arm. "Well, you are on the road to Wrestlemania," she points out. "Maybe you're just a little anxious to cash in. The deadline is soon, isn't it?"
She's right, it is. The briefcase and its contract within is valid until the next MitB PPV, in May. Still a fair ways off, but enough to make him nervous as time passes too rapidly for his comfort. But, first things first.
He drives down to the beach and walks up to the apartments, careful to don a mask before he heads up, just in case. The complex is quiet, empty, and he makes it to John's door quickly. He knocks aggressively, and tilts his head when he can hear John and Taya's dogs freaking out on the other side.
"Yeah, I'm coming," John calls out, and Mike relaxes, hearing his voice and taking in the normalcy of it. He swings the door open a moment later and gapes at Mike. "Oh. Shit, Mike, come on in," he says, turning to motion him in.
They sit across from each other at the table and Mike examines him quietly for a few moments. "Well, you don't look ill," he says. "I can't think of any reason why you'd bail on Raw like that. What's up?"
John starts to smile. A little. "Well," he says, his teeth flashing a bit. "Taya needed my help with something."
He has such an overly gleeful look on his face, Mike squirms. "Oh really? Anything in particular?"
John huffs out a soft laugh and rolls his eyes skyward. "She's officially been signed to NXT," he says after a moment, pride in his eyes and laced in his words.
A sharp relief overwhelming him, Mike smirks and reaches out to clap John on the shoulder. "Congrats, man. I guess you just wanted to make sure to see it with your own eyes before you said anything, right?"
"Yeah, basically,," John says with a faint grin. "We were in Florida last weekend, but only because she wanted me to go with her to the Performance Center, make sure everything was on the up and up. She was nervous enough that I didn't want to just leave her when it was almost Raw time, and Adam Pearce had agreed to give me the night off. I would've told you more but she was really being superstitious about it and didn't want anyone to say anything until she'd actually checked in with the center. You know how it goes."
Mike thinks about his own worries regarding his potential cash in and nods. "Oh, yeah, I definitely get it. Is she calmer now?"
John smiles. "She is. Once she got in there, her nerves evaporated pretty quickly. She just needed that reassurance, you know. I'm sorry I didn't call you about everything sooner, it's just been a busy week around here."
"Well, I'm happy for you guys. I wasn't sure if it was COVID, or what," Mike hums. "You'll be around for the Elimination Chamber, right?"
"Hell, yeah, man, wouldn't miss it." John grins at him.
With that, Mike feels his own nervousness ease as he grins back. "Great."
-x
Sunday passes in a blur. John comes and goes while Mike stares at his briefcase and thinks, and at one point he drops a bottle of water in front of Mike and starts talking about being in the preshow for an opportunity at the US title. Mike hums and wishes him well in a distracted tone, John chuckling faintly before taking his leave. When Mike next bothers to look at the monitor across the room, John's fighting Ricochet and he forces himself to pay attention until John wins. "Hey, what do you know," he mumbles, running a thumb over the clasp of his briefcase.
In a few hours, John may be US champion, and Mike might find an opportunity and cash in, and then they'll both be champions. It reminds him a lot of the first time he held this briefcase, when he couldn't cash in unless they had all of the belts. He chuckles to himself, shaking his head. "Damn anon GM," he mumbles.
John breezes in then and laughs. "Oh, are we bashing that weirdo right now? I'm down."
But Mike shakes his head, watching as John dries his hair with a nearby towel. "Nah. Hey, man, I'm happy for you. Go kick Riddle and Lashley's ass, and then maybe..." His words falter, some of his bravado fading away. "Maybe..."
"Maybe we'll both get lucky tonight, huh?" John smiles at him, letting him off the hook, and Mike nods.
It doesn't really happen, unfortunately. John's match is early in the card, and he tries, he really, really does, but Riddle claims it, pins John and takes the US title. That poor belt is going to need a serious deep clean once he loses it, Mike thinks with a grimace.
With John's loss, Mike's good mood plummets even further and he finds that he can't stay in this locker room any longer. "I need some air," he says, taking his leave with John staring after him in concern.
His mood improves, somewhat, when he finds MVP and they have a very... illuminating discussion. Things suddenly seem much more promising, so he returns to watch the rest of the PPV with John, picking at the gear he's been in since the start of the evening. Just in case. Drew wins and Mike stands. "I'll be..." He makes a strange motion, grabs his briefcase, and bolts as quickly as he can.
It's a short walk from his locker room to gorilla, thankfully, but he's still worried he's going to miss his chance until he gets there and sees Lashley just starting to toss Drew around. He waits and watches and as soon as Drew is down, knocked loopy from the Hurt Lock, he takes the opportunity. Rushes down to the ring, makes his intentions clear, and then they begin. It's not instant, Drew fights him with everything he has left, which thankfully isn't much, but it's enough, and Mike fears for a brief second until he hits the SkullCrushing Finale, sweeping Drew's legs out from under him and finishing his title reign in one fell swoop.
He laughs and holds onto the belt, joyful and shining as he makes his way backstage, where Morrison is waiting to hug him tightly, spinning him around a little like they're not both in their 40s. "MAN!" he exclaims. "I wondered if that was what you were planning with MVP earlier." He thumps him on the back, then stares down at the title belt. "God, that belt's beautiful."
"It is, isn't it?" Mike hands it over to him while he digs around for clothes deserving of a new champion. His hands are trembling as adrenaline eases off, his eyes slipping closed. "I wasn't sure if I'd get to this point. God, it feels great."
John smiles at him, still grazing the belt with his fingers, and Mike remembers promising him the first title opportunity as soon as he gets it. It reminds him of before, in 2010, when things were so bad between them, but... things are different now, they could probably survive a little healthy competition now better than then. He hopes so, anyway. "So now that you're world champion again, what do you want to do, Mike?"
Mike thinks seriously about it, then says, just as seriously, "Go get something trashy to eat from whatever's still open, call my wife and get some sleep."
John laughs. "Good answer, man. Let's do it."
So they do.
-x
Raw shakes Mike's confidence again. John holds a little celebration for him, but it quickly gets tarnished by first Lashley and MVP, and then Braun Strowman. Suddenly, Mike finds himself with two challengers for his title, set to face each other later in a match where, should Braun win, he will get added to their title match the following week. It frustrates Mike that he can't even have a day to breathe, enjoy his championship, but here we are. It's what he gets, he assumes, for conspiring with MVP.
All he can do is sit at commentary and watch, wide eyed and a little fearful, as Lashley takes Braun down, defeats him and officially claims his place in a singles match against Mike next week for the WWE title.
Taking in his power, and how motionless and almost small Braun seems afterwards, really sends it home for Mike in what a struggle to survive next week will be.
He trudges backstage, a dazed look on his face, and searches John's eyes once he finds him waiting in the halls outside of their locker room. "I don't think I can win this," he admits in a low, troubled voice.
John has no idea what to say, how to comfort and encourage him after what the entire world has seen here this evening, simply drops his hand on Mike's shoulder and digs his fingers in in an attempt to sooth him.