"Mi hermano?"
Ricardo blinks sleepily, phone held slack in limp fingers as Alicia stirs next to him. "Alberto?" he mumbles, scrubbing at his eyes as he struggles to fight through the exhaustion weighing him down.
Alberto sounds horrified as realization dawns on him. "Lo siento, I forget you're in California right now with the time difference. I didn't think, I was too excited."
Ricardo drops back against his pillow. "It's fine, El Patron," he sighs, rubbing Alicia's shoulder as she rolls over and presses her face into his neck. "What's going on?"
"Do you have any plans for Saturday Wrestlemania weekend?" he wonders, speeding on when Ricardo doesn't say anything right away. "I'm working Wrestle Con and wanted to know if you'd want to set up with me, we can get through all of those obnoxious fans easier together than apart, si?"
Ricardo blinks, then yawns silently. "Si, El Patron, that sounds good. Can I call you back later and we can discuss it more then?"
"Si, of course. I apologize again for waking you up, mi hermano."
Once he hangs up after a murmured 'no problem', Ricardo presses a kiss to Alicia's temple and smiles when she curls into him even tighter, sighing. "What was that about?"
"Alberto wants us to work Wrestle Con together Wrestlemania weekend," he hums. "He apologizes for waking us up. He forgot about the time difference."
"Of course he did," she sighs, leaning up and kissing him on the lips. "We'll talk more in a couple hours."
He chuckles and brushes his fingers through her hair. "Alright, sounds good to me." Once she settles against his chest again, he closes his eyes and drifts back to sleep with a smile on his face.
-x
California is relaxing. They spend time with Miz, AJ, baby Sara, Morrison and Taya sometimes, and when everyone else is busy, Ricardo sees his mom, sister, and niece and nephew more than he has in the last ten years. Ricardo receives a pile of his buttons and hands them out to his friends before leaning down and showing one to Sara. "Here's your uncle Ricardo as a pin," he tells her with a laugh. She reaches out for it and he watches her play with it until she tries to chew it, Ricardo gently extracting it from her fingers before handing it to AJ. "Maybe when you go to school, your mama will pin it to your book bag or something," he tells the pouting baby.
"Oh don't mention that!" AJ scolds him, lips twitching. "She's growing up enough at it is, I am dreading the first day of school so much." She hoists the girl up and hugs her tightly, kissing her nose.
"Sorry," he chuckles. "They definitely grow up way too soon."
"Yes they do," she sighs, laughing when Ricardo pokes Sara's nose and makes her go cross-eyed as she flaps her little hands around.
Mike is examining Ricardo's pin with a smirk on his face before looking up when they walk in. "So will we see you for Wrestlemania weekend?" he wonders, watching as Ricardo shifts uncomfortably. "What is it?" he asks, his smirk fading when the silence lingers on.
"Alberto's invited me to work Wrestle Con with him on Saturday." The room goes very quiet, very fast. Ricardo sighs, having kept a lot of his slowly renewed friendship with Alberto to himself, only bothering to tell Alicia, because he knew what the others would feel or say about it.
"He's being alright?" Mike asks tensely, rubbing his fingers over the pin repeatedly.
"Si," Ricardo says calmly. "He's been quite kind and understanding about my reservations. Please don't worry, Mike."
"What kind of friend would I be if I didn't?" he mumbles, clearly reliving spme of the least savory moments he's witnessed during Alberto and Ricardo's friendship. "Look, if you need anything that weekend, I'm just a phone call away. Alright?"
Ricardo nods. "I know, Mike. Gracias."
AJ and Alicia try to get things back on track but Mike is tense, lost in thought, and it leaves Ricardo quiet and uncertain what to do or say to ease his discomfort with Ricardo working with Alberto again. He doubts there's anything really that he can say so it's a relief when Alicia stands up, handing a sleepy Sara to AJ. "Well, it's been fun but I need to get home and handle some Instagram business so we'll have to do this again some time. Thanks for having us."
"Si," Ricardo says quietly, eyes locking on Mike for a moment before smiling weakly at AJ. "Gracias for having us." The ride home is quiet, and Ricardo struggles to focus to the pictures he's taking of Alicia, some on her trampoline, some just fashions she likes.
About half-way through, Alicia stops him and throws her arms around him, frowning at how tense he still feels. "Mike will come around. It's going to be ok. He just doesn't want to see you hurt again."
"I know," Ricardo breathes, pulling back to look her in the eye. "Do you think I've made a mistake by renewing contact with him like this?"
"Honestly?" Alicia asks, exhaling. "I'm not sure. He doesn't have a good track record. But what I do know is whether he's perfectly sweet to you for the rest of your lives or this falls apart in a few weeks, you have people in your corner willing to fight for you either way."
Ricardo smiles, his cheeks flushing a deep red as he absorbs her words. "I love you, Alicia."
She interlaces their fingers, lifts them up to kiss his fingers, her engagement still sparkling on her hand and enough to attract everyone's attention when they look at her hand.. "I love you too, Ricardo." She smiles as he finally relaxes against her, carding her fingers through his hair..
