Ricardo's weekend is pretty great. Spending it with his closest friends from WWE, Paige getting to come home to him after every event since they're touring Florida this week, Alex and Alicia's engagement, and his winning his first title defense in a match held at the dojo... all in all, he's never felt this happy in a very long time.

After a rough, but decent, training session at the dojo that Monday, he's relieved to return to the mansion and fall into bed, his weary bones eagerly sinking into the mattress. He lays there in a half-doze for he's not sure how long when he hears soft footsteps padding towards the bed and instinctively reaches out, recognizing the cadence of Paige's walk.

"Hullo, love," she greets him, lightly kissing his mouth. "Happy birthday." He squints sleepily at her and she smiles. "It's a little after midnight. I'll let you sleep... I just wanted to be the first to talk to you on your birthday."

He hums and nuzzles into her, kissing her. "Thanks, mi fuerza." He's about to doze back off when his fingers brush against a weird, scratchy kind of fabric and he blinks. "Paige?"

"Mm hmm?"

"What exactly are you wearing?" She buries her face in his shoulder and laughs, rich and warm, as he continues to examine the strange outfit with his hands and fingers, unable to see in the darkness of his room. "Paige?"

"Those Bellas took my gear while I showered before my match," she explains, leaning into him. "Guess who was backstage being a Rosebud?" Feeling Ricardo shrug, she smiles. "Mia Yim and Leva Bates. So after a quick conversation, I convinced Leva to give me her outfit. She seems nice."

Ricardo chuckles, trying to imagine how exactly his girlfriend and one of his closest non-WWE friends had gotten along without him around. "So these are her clothes, and you kept them to wear home...?"

Paige pulls back so he can see her face as she smirks at him. "Well, it is someone's birthday," she muses, leaning in and kissing him. "But honestly, love, this outfit is itchy as hell, so we really need to do something about that."

Ricardo laughs and searches around for the zipper on the back, or some other way to rescue her. "Let's see how we can fix that, then," he murmurs.

The next morning, he wakes up to whispers and giggles, groaning and rolling away from the sun, Paige's hair tickling his shoulder as he wraps an arm around her. She strokes his hand and kisses his jaw before pulling away. "We have company, love."

"Hm?"

She giggles and kisses him again, grinning when his eyes finally open. "G'morning, love." He grimaces at her but, as she strokes his face, he grows less grumpy, especially when he smells coffee. "Sorry to wake you up, but some people were too impatient to wait..."

He looks over her shoulder to where Mike is standing, mugs of coffee in both hands. He laughs and throws an arm over his face, coughing. "Mike, really, are there no boundaries?"

"You know me, Ricardo. The answer is clearly no." As Ricardo sits up, he hands him one of the mugs and gives the other to Paige. "As soon as you're ready to join the rest of us, come on out. We have things planned for the rest of the day."

Ricardo blinks, glancing over at Paige. "I think I'm scared."

"You'll be alright," she promises, cupping his face and kissing him. "I'll keep you safe. Now drink your coffee, love, or Mike will physically drag both of us out of here in a few minutes."

"Wouldn't want that," he muses, drinking his coffee.

Once they're properly awake and ready for the day, Mike is standing in the hallway, tapping his finger against his arm impatiently. "Finally!"

Alex laughs from where his arm is curled loosely around Alicia's waist. "Glad you guys came out when you did, he was steadily inching towards your room like he was going to burst in again."

"Why do you think we hurried?" Paige responds, adjusting her hair as she follows Ricardo into the kitchen.

"Hola, Sofia," Ricardo greets the housekeeper.

She immediately stops washing dishes and approaches him, cupping his face. "Feliz cumpleanos, mi hijo." Kissing his forehead, she chuckles and brushes her hands over his shoulders, smoothing his shirt down.

"Gracias," he tells her, smiling. "Now... do you have some clue as to what Mike and the others are planning?"

She remains mum and he pouts at her until she hugs him. "You'll enjoy it, Ricardo. That's the important thing."

He sighs and hugs her back. "I trust you, Sofia. Are you coming with to whatever this is?"

She tsks at him and shakes her head. "I wish I could, Ricardo, but Senor Del Rio is returning tomorrow so I must prepare the house for him. I hope you understand?"

The house is spotless, as always, but he does. "Of course, Sofia," he tells her with a faint smile. "If you need any help with anything..."

"No," she refuses immediately. "Go, enjoy your birthday with your friends."

"Gracias." He squeezes her again before turning back to his friends. "So what are we doing?" He's quieted immediately when Miz walks towards him with a blindfold, Ricardo paling. "Uh, guys."

Paige squeezes his arm. "Trust us, you're gonna be ok." He glances down at her for a moment before relaxing. As his vision grows dark, she trails her hand down his arm and squeezes his fingers, leading him out of the house.

He senses when they begin to drive somewhere, but he can't tell where they're at until they're out of the car, walking inside a building and Mike directs him to stop. He freezes and looks around, still unable to see, when the blindfold is pulled off and he gapes, realizing what's going on. "Really?!"

"Surely you remember how to play paintball," Alex tells him, grinning. "I know it's been awhile, but-"

"Um, si," he says. "Let's get started. Now."

They play for a few hours, the group trading wins back and forth until they're all painted out, Ricardo brushing the leftover flakes out of his thick hair after a quick shower (Paige is careful to wait to take hers until he's done so he can keep an eye on her clothes just in case) and then they leave.

"We know you have training soon," Mike tells him, leaning against the roof of the car. "But there is one more stop we have to make."

"Ok," he says hesitantly, getting into the car anyway. But it's just a quick drive to the beach, where they all get out and wander around for a few minutes, breathing in the cool air.

Ricardo is staring out into the distance when there's a tap on his shoulder. Paige is next to him, he can see Mike, Alex and Alicia out of the corner of his eye, so he thinks for a moment that it's a brave fan so he tries to shake off his annoyance, turning around just to gasp aloud. "... Sofia?"

"Hola, mi hijo," she smirks at him, holding up a plate with a stack of chocolate cupcakes on it.

"So this is why you wanted me out of the house, huh?" he teases her. When she smiles innocently at him, he clicks his tongue at her before reaching out and picking up a cupcake, tasting it. "This was more than worth it," he tells her, grinning.

She laughs and hugs him, careful not to drop the rest of the cupcakes in the sand. "As if I would miss spending your birthday with you," she tells him softly. "I hope you're enjoying it so far."

"I definitely am," he nods, grinning down at her. Even without Alberto, his day had been amazing, so many people doing what they can to keep him happy and occupied despite none of them being able to do anything about the lack of his former employer. It makes him feel warm inside as they all surround the cupcakes, Mike making Ricardo flush when he insists on singing the happy birthday song to him.

-x

The next day, Ricardo is sitting in the airport, tapping his heels against a chair when Alberto's flight is announced. He glances up before looking around. When he finally spots his employer, he's up and walking as close to the gate as he can get, considering security. Alberto joins him after getting his bags and everything else, just to drop them back on the ground and hug him tightly as soon as they're face to face again. "Feliz cumpleanos, mi hermano. I am so sorry I missed it, I wasn't expecting mi padre to want an extra day in Europe."

"It's ok," Ricardo mutters into Alberto's shoulder. "I know you don't get to see your family as much as you'd like. I'm just glad you had a good time."

"I did," Alberto nods. "I missed you and Sofia though. So, mi amigo, what have I missed?" He collects one of his bags and Ricardo snags the other, the two of them walking side by side towards the exit. "At least tell me Miz and the others did something for you yesterday."

"Si," Ricardo nods, smiling. "Paintball, cupcakes on the beach... it was a good day. But I didn't have the best day out of all of us the past days. We will have a wedding to go to shortly, El Patron."

Alberto stops short, glances over at him, his brows furrowed. "Mi amigo? You... proposed to Paige?"

Ricardo chokes. Shakes his head almost violently. "No, no! Alex proposed to Alicia!"

Alberto stares at him. "Well, this story I need to hear. But first..." He unzips the bag he's holding and pulls out a wrapped package, handing it over to the former ring announcer. "Feliz cumpleanos, mi amigo."

Ricardo gapes at him and smiles. "Gracias, El Patron, but you really didn't-"

"Si, I did. Now open it."

There are a couple of souvenir-y things from Spain that Ricardo probably would've bought if he had gone himself- a Kukuxumusu T-Shirt, and a letter opener in the shape of a sword made from Toledo steel. He gets to the bottom of the package and starts to laugh helplessly, lifting out a poster for bullfighting, with his name on it where the bullfighter's name would ordinarily be. "El Torito will never target me again," he chuckles, looking up at Alberto. "Gracias, it's amazing."

"I wanted to buy you an actual sword, but I wasn't sure about getting the letter opener through security, much less anything else," he tells him. "I hope you like what I did get though."

"Si, I do, El Patron." He smiles at him as they get into the car and Alberto drives off, glad to be back in Florida. "So, about Alicia and Alex..."