Alicia flies out for the weekend WWE events and Ricardo rocks back and forth on his heels, taking in the apartment. It's quiet without her, but he's going to be busy anyway. Training, and then... well... he had decided to go to Alberto's for UFC after all. They won't be alone, Alberto always invites a few people, and Sofia will be there keeping an eye on things. So he feels more comfortable than he thinks he would have even two months ago as he drives over to Alberto's and parks outside of the house, looking up at it. Not as huge as the Florida grounds, it's still sizeable, with places for his multiple vehicles and whatever else he ends up wanting.

Ricardo sighs, then chuckles as he drags himself out of his car and heads to the door. He barely rings the doorbell when Sofia has the door open, hugging him tightly, Spanish pouring out of her lips as she greets him, emotions choking her voice. He hugs her back and fights back the stinging in his own eyes, both of them seretipitiously wiping their eyes as they pull away a few moments later. "I've missed you, Sofia," he murmurs.

She smiles, strokes his arm. "I've missed you as well, mi hijo." Clearing her throat, she steps back. "You're the first here, Alberto is waiting in the entertainment room. Here, I'll show you."

Ricardo allows her to take his hand and guide him through the halls, peeking in at rooms as quickly as he can, getting a feel of the kitchen, dining room, an office, and the stairs leading to the second floor, before she pushes a door open and Ricardo finds himself staring in at Alberto, who is absently fiddling with a remote. He exhales roughly and steps forward, suddenly feeling small and nervous. "Hola, El Patron," he offers, secondguessing all of this. "I hope you don't mind my coming, I just thought- Alicia is off with WWE this weekend, and I thought perhaps we could watch UFC together, but if not, I understand-"

As he babbles, Alberto stands and walks towards him, an unreadable look on his face. Ricardo swallows hard, taking an instinctive step backwards, when Alberto reaches out for him and hugs him just as tight as Sofia did, if not more. "I've told you before, mi hermano. You have an open invitation to mi casa any time." He pulls back and smiles at him. "Want the grand tour? We have time before the others arrive."

Ricardo nods, his doubts slowly fading away as Alberto tosses the remote back onto the couch and rests his hand between his shoulderblades, guiding him through the kitchen, the dining room. Even goes outside so they can look at Alberto's most recent vehicle purchase. Upstairs is just a line of bedrooms and a bathroom, Ricardo making note of the impressive hot tub up here. They go into Alberto's office and Ricardo swallows hard when he sees a picture of them hanging on the wall, back when things were good and Alberto was World Heavyweight Champion. "It's a beautiful house, El Patron."

"Gracias," he says with a wide smile. "I like it better now that I have more visitors." He squeezes Ricardo's shoulder before walking back out of the room. "Want to see my gym?"

"Si," Ricardo agrees with a small smile. Once they make it downstairs, Ricardo exhales at the familiarity of it all- it's not vastly different from the Florida set up. A ring in the middle, punching bags and other equipment along the walls. He hums and brushes the ropes with his fingers, smiling a little as Alberto climbs up onto the apron. Even though he has his own issues with the wrestling business sometimes, there's nothing quite like the smell of a new, barely touched ring.

"Wanna experiment a little, mi hermano?" Alberto asks, breaking Ricardo out of his thoughts.

Experimenting used to mean Ricardo being the practice dummy on which Alberto tried out new moves on. He's not sure what it means right now, but he agrees and climbs into the ring, staring at Alberto as he adjusts his clothing and then looks up with a faint grin on his face. "It's been awhile," Ricardo murmurs.

"Si, it has been. We will start slow," Alberto promises, and the two lock up, feeling each other out. Ricardo is more active now than he was before, actually spending more time in the ring than Alberto with all of the training he does at Hybrid and it shows as he holds his own against his former employer, so when he's sent back against the ropes, Alberto bracing his feet to grip Ricardo's arm and send him down tot he mat, he shifts his weight and sweeps Alberto's legs out from under him instead, sending him crashing to the mat in one fluid movement.

Alberto blinks heavily and then barks out a laugh as Ricardo helps him up with an almost sheepish smirk. "I have been practicing new moves and combinations," he says with some pride in his voice.

"I see that," Alberto says, before gripping him and suplexing him over while he's distracted. "Pride goeth before the fall, mi hermano," he says with a chuckle.

Ricardo huffs and grips Alberto's hand to pull himself back up, the two of them continuing on, pretty evenly matched, all in all, until the doorbell rings to announce Alberto's friends' arrival. They smile at each other before toweling off and going to join everyone in the entertainment room, Sofia smiling at Ricardo as she passes out drinks and snacks.

It's a great night, full of laughter and easy going bickering over the UFC matches. When one of Alberto's friends becomes a little too vocal- and maybe drunk- and gets in Ricardo's face about something he'd said regarding one of the fights, Alberto pushes him back and levels him with a glare that would make anyone sober up quickly. Sure enough, the guy stumbles away and Sofia pushes a glass of water into his hands as Ricardo nods and mouths gracias to Alberto, who nods back, some of the tense protectiveness fading from his dark eyes as his friends settle down and manage to enjoy the rest of the show without any other drama.

Later, once everything is determined, and Alberto's friends have left, Ricardo remains behind, helping Sofia to clean up like the old days. He hums and sweeps up some scattered crumbs from the floor around the table she'd set up with all kinds of finger foods and drinks, only just hearing the soft rasp of Alberto's shoes on the tile. "Gracias again for allowing me to crash your party tonight," Ricardo tells him. "I had a really good time."

Alberto doesn't say anything for a moment, then grips Ricardo's arm and slowly turns him until they're face to face. "You crashed nothing, mi hermano. I don't care if it's in Mexico, England, or Antartica, wherever I live is your home and you are always welcome there. Ok?"

Ricardo ignores the prickling of emotions in his eyes, nodding slowly. "Si, El Patron. Muchas gracias all the same." They stand there uncertainly, Ricardo's hands twisting in the black garbage bag he was in the process of filling when Alberto found him. "Eh. El Patron?" he asks lowly.

"Si?"

He swallows, looking away. "What do you think of Alicia?" he asks quietly, almost dreading the response that's to come. With Paige, there had been no sign of what was to come between her and Alberto until the news hit with the force of ten bricks. He's not sure this will get him anywhere, but it's a start. He thinks. He hopes.

Alberto stares at him for a long, pensive moment. "She's loud," he finally says. "Overly emotional and a bit extreme in some of her reactions to things." There's a lengthy pause, Alberto clearly still thinking. "But," he muses, "she clearly loves you and makes you happy, and there's not much else I can ask for from somebody."

Ricardo nods. "So you're not, like, harboring any feelings for her or anything?"

"Absolutely not!" Alberto all but chokes, Ricardo chuckling at him. "I know... I betrayed you deeply with Paige," he says quietly once he's regained control of himself. "I am unsure how you've forgiven me for that, because I'm unsure if I ever will. I will never put a woman between us again, I swear to you, Ricardo. You are my brother and hurting you is like hurting myself." He reaches out and squeezes Ricardo's arm. "I can never apologize enough for being so lost in myself that I ever even considered such a thing."

Ricardo nods, tears now truly dripping down his face as Alberto stares sadly at him. "Then I have something to ask you." He wipes at his face and hands over an invitation. "Will you..."

Alberto slits it open and reads it, before pausing and rereading it again. Not just any invitation, no. Alberto coughs, getting choked up again as well now. "Will you throw me some obnoxious bachelor party? Will you stand behind me and support me should I lose my nerve?" he reads off, voice trembling. "Will you give the toast in a strange mix of both Spanish and English that only a select few will understand?" He laughs again, glancing up at Ricardo before continuing to read. "Will you be my best man, same as you've been my best friend for all of these years?" He buries his face in his hands and groans. "Mi hermano, I don't know what I ever did to deserve you..." Their eyes lock when he looks up and he smiles. "Si, of course I will be your best man. With honor and humility."

Ricardo laughs in some relief as Alberto hugs him tightly. "Just so you're forewarned," he mumbles into Alberto's shoulder, "Mike's going to be a groomsmen."

Alberto groans as Ricardo laughs, quite a lot of weight on his shoulders disappearing now that he's made his decision regarding Alberto's role in his and Alicia's wedding.