After reuniting with Paige at Raw, Ricardo wanders off to check to see who his interviews will be with this evening. He's just scanned the board when he stops abruptly, frowning at the matches listed. "Ay," he breathes, staring at Alberto's match against RVD midway down the board. "Dios mio, really..." Shuffling back down the hallway, he peeks into AJ's locker room, unsurprised to find Alex and Alicia there already, Del Rio lacing up his boots on the other side of the room, as far away from them as he can get while Alicia giggles and pokes grapes from catering into Alex's mouth, Ricardo nodding quietly at his roommate before moving to join Alberto. "So. You're competing against Rob tonight."
"Si," Alberto says tensely, tugging a little harsher on his laces than necessary. Ricardo sighs and leans over, tapping his fingers until he moves away, allowing Ricardo to finish tying his boots up nonviolently. "Gracias, amigo."
"De nada." Ricardo sits back up and stares down at his hands, lips twisting as Alberto glances at him. "Lo siento, El Patron."
Alberto's eyebrows shoot up into his hairline. "Whatever for?"
"I don't know who to root for." He taps his heels anxiously against the bench. "I know that it should be an easy decision, of course, but Rob was good to me, even if our working relationship ended poorly... "
Alberto frowns at this, not sure how to feel. It bothers him on some level that Ricardo's choice isn't easy, but he thinks he understands. No matter how far their friendship has come since, he knows that it'll probably always be with Ricardo, how he had ended their working relationship, the pain and humiliation. No matter what RVD had done, he'd given the younger man something to focus on that wasn't what Alberto had done to him, and sometimes even Del Rio can appreciate what Van Dam did for Ricardo when he didn't feel like he could, that damnable plan and its upkeep the only thing on his mind for much, much too long.
Ricardo hesitates. "Are you... mad at me?" he asks faintly, looking down.
Alberto's eyes soften. "No, mi amigo. Don't worry about it." He smirks and nudges Ricardo. "After all, there is little doubt who will actually win." The former ring announcer glances up and chuckles as Del Rio winks at him.
He's right, of course. Walks out with the win, even more confidence in his step as he rejoins Ricardo in AJ's locker room a little later. "Congratulations," the younger man tells him with a smile as Alberto claps his back.
"Gracias, mi amigo. It will be good to have a title around my waist once more after this Sunday. It is, after all, destiny." He smirks and sits down on the bench, unlacing his boots.
Ricardo nods absently, watching him for a minute. He's distracted for the rest of the night, only pulled from his thoughts when Paige and AJ face off at the commentary desk, only to compliment each other before the divas champion heads backstage, Paige following behind her with a dark look in her eyes that leaves Ricardo and Mike even more uncomfortable than before. None of them are sure where Sunday will leave the situation, or where they want it to go, exactly.
After a day spent in Florida doing errands and whatever else had been sitting idle while they were on the road, Ricardo hears about WWE returning to Mexico in October. Emotions from Raw returning to him, he swallows and turns to Twitter later that night, insomnia and the weight of his thoughts keeping him from finding any sort of real rest. Asks in Spanish if fans would want to see him back with Alberto, and to let their voices to be heard if so.
This off of his mind finally, he does doze off and get a few hours of sleep before he needs to go to the performance center for some training, but he's barely arrived there when he recognizes a familiar car in the parking lot and pauses, staring at it uncomfortably. "El Patron?" he mumbles, uncertainly walking into the building, anxious to see what's going on, why he'd come here without telling him ahead of time.
It's hard to miss Alberto as soon as he walks into the main training room, and likewise Del Rio notices him immediately, a strange look on his face as he walks over to him. "Mi amigo."
"Is... something wrong?" he asks, searching his face. "Is it Sofia, or- or...?"
"No, everyone's fine," Alberto promises him, squeezing his shoulder. "Come with me, we need to talk, mi amigo." Ricardo nods, swallowing roughly, and follows him back outside where they settle against the hood of his car and stare out at the bright blue sky. He must notice that, with each passing minute of silence, Ricardo's anxiety is growing so finally he turns to him. "I saw your tweets last night, Ricardo."
Ricardo blinks. "I see. That's... what this is about?" He had wanted to know what the fans thought, he hadn't talked to Alberto about any of it, assuming that, after everything that had happened since their professional and- temporary- personal split, he would be alright with such a suggestion, but there's a tilt to his voice, a grim look on his face that he thinks means he actually isn't.Ricardo's heart speeds up. "Most seemed to like the idea..."
Alberto still has that pensive look on his face, looking back at the perfect, blue horizon. "Perhaps, Ricardo. But I can't say that I do." He flinches as soon as the words leave his own mouth, looking over at Ricardo in time to see him grow pale and thin-lipped. "Ricardo-"
Pulling away from the car, Ricardo fights to ignore the tunnel vision that seems to be locked on the echo of Alberto's last words, the look on his face as he'd said it, nodding vacantly. "I see." He puts one foot in front of the other, finding his slow way back to the building, feeling strangely cold even under the warmth of the Floridian sun. How he's supposed to train without hurting himself or the others now, he's not sure, but he can't stay out here any longer, hearing Alberto's weak attempts at explaining what he just said. He doesn't make it too far, however, before Alberto's fast steps approach. "Don't feel the need to explain yourself, it is what it is," he sighs, not wanting to look over his shoulder at his best friend in case his tenuous self-control should evaporate just like that. "I am good for little more than commentary and interviews now. I understand."
He's just reached out for the door when Alberto grips his hand, turning him around so he can look him in the eye. Or, at least, in the face, since Ricardo keeps his eyes down. "No, mi amigo, no! It's not... it's not that, I spoke too carelessly. Por favor, forgive me and listen to what I really meant to say." When Ricardo doesn't try to leave or once more verbally escape him, he sighs and rests his hands on Ricardo's collar, smoothing out the rumpled fabric of his shirt. "It is merely... since what you said about RVD the other day, it has been on my mind as well. Everything that I put you through, everything others put you through because of me. At least when you're away from me, you're generally safe. Yes, there have been a couple of interviews that ended less than well for you, and you sit behind the most targetted commentary table, but at least you haven't been seriously injured in these roles." He looks grimly down at Ricardo's ankles, his fingers now trailing circles against his neck, remembering all of the times he spent at the hospital, getting his neck looked at, his ankle fixed. Shudders slightly. "Mi amigo, I just want you to be healthy. Whenever you're by my side, there's a terrible chance that you won't be, and I can't allow us to go back down that path. You're mi mejor amigo, and besides... if something happened to you under my watch, Paige would never forgive me. I get the feeling Alicia and AJ combined would seem like child's play in the face of that." Ricardo's lips twitch at the mention of Paige but he says nothing, even when he leans into the warmth of Alberto's hand. "Lo siento, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. You know I am still not perfect with tact, or the English language."
Ricardo does laugh at this, nodding faintly. "I know, El Patron." He sighs. "I know you only have my best interests in mind, it is just... I miss working alongside you. Helping you to achieve your destiny, instead of just standing around and doing interviews or commentary. If the only thing I'm good for is my voice, then why not use it for something I am truly passionate about, instead of... this?" He sighs and pulls free, turning his back on the older man. "But don't mind me, I understand your viewpoint as well. I have to-"
Before he can step forward to leave again, Alberto wraps his arms around him in a tight hug, holding him in place. Ricardo swallows and rests his hands on Alberto's wrists, stopping just short of trying to push him off. "Amigo, no," he mumbles into his ear. "You are good for much more than just your voice. Por favor, don't let yourself get lost in others' lack of foresight or ability to see what you would be capable of if given the chance. I have seen it, many have. And you will get that chance some day, I have no doubt."
Ricardo's breath hitches in his chest and he swallows harshly, trembling slightly. Alberto says nothing, simply holding him until the moment passes. Finally the ring announcer nods jerkily, his fingers relaxing against Alberto's hands. "Gracias, El Patron," he breathes.
Alberto sighs into his hair and shakes his head, not sure if he's truly believing his words. "Come, mi amigo. Let's go inside, you can do your training and I'll watch, hm? Is that alright?"
"Si, of course, El Patron," he murmurs, squeezing Alberto's arm before he's released from the hug. As Alberto follows him inside, Ricardo tries not to dwell on the disappointment of everyone but Alberto seeming to want them to work together.
It's a groggy Miz that Ricardo finds himself sitting next to, angry and tense after losing to Sheamus and Ziggler, Fandango absolutely no help in their tag match. "Maybe if he wasn't so distracted by women-" His words quickly die away when AJ joins them, a warning look on her face as his mouth slams shut. Her expression immediately changes and she settles in his lap, lightly rubbing his neck and up into his scalp as he sighs and leans into her, kissing every inch of her warm skin that his face touches.
Ricardo bites back his laughter, watching a little later as Alberto wrestles Kofi. It's a long match, considering, but Alberto eventually eakes out a victory off of stomping him down from where he hangs, prone, from the second rope, Ricardo cringing at the brutal move. When Alberto joins them, Ricardo is sandwiched by his happiness and Mike's displeasure, and he shakes his head, relieved that the PPV is only a couple of days away by now.
When AJ leans in, kissing Mike on the mouth before rolling off of him and landing back on the floor, she skips to the door and exits with very little said, her fingers tight against her divas title as she goes. Mike and Ricardo exchange glances. "Oh boy," they say together. She's tag teaming with Paige against Summer and Layla, coincidentally enough, despite the growing tension between the two divas, especially when AJ tags in unexpectedly and achieves the victory, Paige's anger deep and intense. Both men find themselves on their feet, staring at the monitor anxiously. AJ's grin is cute and calculating and Ricardo watches as Mike's hands tense and relax at his side, but it ends up that neither of them have anything to worry about- AJ holds her hand out to shake and Paige approaches her before gripping her hand and tugging her in, abruptly hugging her. Ricardo breathes out sharply. "Well, I guess she just likes hugs," he mumbles awkwardly, remembering how it had felt to hold her after she'd returned from Japan, warm and solid and reassuring. For that one, perfect minute, nothing else had mattered. He doubts AJ feels the same, despite the ecstatic look on her face.
Mike leaves to meet up with her and Ricardo follows shortly afterwards. Things are still uncomfortable around Alberto, though he tries not to let it show, especially since they're still traveling and rooming together, but he's pretty sure his former employer already knows, the look on his face so grim when Ricardo had left AJ's locker room. But he can't help it; for a wild, painful moment, he'd let himself hope, just for Alberto to wipe it all away a few hours later... He looks up in time to see Paige pause outside of the divas locker room, turning sharply to join him. He wraps his arms around her without a word spoken by either of them and she hugs him back, sighing against his throat. When he pulls away, he examines her face desperately, her eyes just as fixed on him. "Paige-"
"Ricardo, can I stay with you tonight?" she asks abruptly, stealing his ability to speak. "If it's not a problem with Alberto, anyway. I don't want to hear Emma's rambling tonight, and I just... I feel off, with the pay per view so soon... So much is depending on how I do this Sunday... I think having you nearby would help." He stares at her for so long that she squirms, suddenly anxious. "Um, if it is a problem-"
"No, don't worry about it, he'll be fine with it." And if he's not, oh well, Ricardo thinks, for once not in a rush to go check with his former employer. He needs something that's just his decision, and if this is it, then so be it. It sounds like a good idea, especially when he thinks about not being alone with his thoughts for once, having someone's breathing to listen to, her warm strength so close to him. "Just... I have problems with insomnia sometimes, so... I don't want to keep you awake."
She smiles and shakes her head. "Don't worry about that, I'll be fine as long as you're holding me." He flushes so hot that it causes her to giggle, her soft fingers trailing up his face to sooth his heated skin. "Alright?"
"Si," he agrees softly, pulling her closer. "I can do that." She sighs happily and rests her head on his shoulder, smiling. "Come on, let's go."
His insomnia isn't even close to an issue that night, sleep coming easily to both of them for once. Neither even stir when Alberto tosses and turns restlessly for awhile on the squeaky hotel bed across the room, eventually sitting up to watch his best friend sleep comfortably for the first time in he's not sure how long, guilt in his eyes. At least he has Paige, he thinks, frowning as his nails dig into the crumpled up bedding. She will hopefully continue to be good for him, he deserves that from someone...
