Eva: Thanks for reading and reviewing. :D
A/N: Short chapter. I've been exhausted due to Halloween and NaNoWriMo preparations but there will be a bonus fic posted alongside it, and I'll make up for this length next week.
Wednesday night, Miz is back at commentating. He'd had his staples removed, leaving the cut red and a little sore but healing. He's relieved to look this much better so soon after the injury, the image in the mirror of himself leaving him cringing every time he'd caught sight of it. The night goes as well as can be expected, even when Cole digs in a little too much that he'd lost his Intercontinental title, and all of the aftermath, including his loss to Ryback the prior Monday. Remember the days when he was pro-Miz? he thinks with a careless sneer, trying to keep his temper in check.
AJ resigning from her position of GM is also talked about and Mike takes a deep breath, the pain and anger from the past week having sufficiently faded away, till he just feels bad for her and a bit guilty for his overreaction at Raw. Thankfully she hadn't seemed to mind that much; considering how she'd been treated in the past by people like Punk and Bryan, his temper had probably barely dented her already shattered self-esteem. He watches the recap, examining the oversized view of her shame spread across the titantron. Yeah, if she's at Raw Monday, I definitely need to apologize again. Or something... At least I have a few days to think.
His mood continues its upswing when, while he's driving from the arena to the hotel, his phone begins lighting up repeatedly. Curious, he waits until he's at a stop light and checks it, unsurprised and a little humored to find Alex tweeting repeatedly is the cause of his phone flashing like a beacon in the night. He skims through the few tweets, stopping on the second one with a small smile on his lips, Alex announcing that he's about done with rehab and will be back where he belongs soon. "Well, finally," he whispers, before noticing the light has turned green. Laying the phone down, he turns his focus back to the road, still unable to stop smiling. He might not have both of his friends back, but at least Alex will be by his side, to help keep his temper in check and, hopefully, celebrate his future Intercontinental title reclamation.
After spending Thursday as low key as possible, trying to refocus himself on regaining his title Sunday, he walks into Smackdown Friday just to be greeted by Teddy Long. "Playa," he says before Miz can walk past him, the most must see superstar's face scrunching up in annoyance as he turns slowly to face the senior consultant to the GM. "Booker T wanted me to let you know that you're going to wrestle Yoshi Tatsu later tonight."
He almost wants to laugh, unable to keep the sneer from his face. "And?" he asks. When nothing else comes, Teddy staring back at him with a confused look in his dark eyes, he shrugs and continues along his way. Yoshi Tatsu? Really... really? Of course, the match is laughably easy- even the minor headache he's still suffering from now and again thanks to the healing cut above his brow- the match against Ryback not having helped it in the slightest- can't distract him enough for Tatsu to get the upper hand. Once he's pinned the younger man, he leans against the ropes and looks out over the audience, ego on display. This will be Kofi on Sunday, the Intercontinental title will return home.
Dropping back to the mat, his self-confidence only grows as he returns to the back, eyes trained straight ahead as he passes various other competitors hanging around, whispering and gawking as he goes. He ignores them all, grabbing his things as soon as he's back in the locker room and leaving the arena. After all, there is no reason for him to stay.
He's just re-entered his hotel room, still depressingly empty, when his phone rings. He sighs and fishes it out of his jeans pocket, answering it without looking. After all, it can only be one of two people. "Hello?"
"Hey, Mike."
"Hey, Alex," he responds softly, dropping his bags before walking out onto the balcony overlooking the hotel parking lot. "How's it goin'?"
"Pretty well." His smile is obvious even by just the tone of his voice and Mike finds himself smiling too. "So, heard you're gonna be in another movie, huh?"
Mike chuckles, pressing a thumb below his injury on the bridge of his nose. "Oh, they finally announced that, huh?"
"Yeah." He laughs along with his friend before falling sober. "So, you're really ok, right? I know that this whole AJ thing and the Morrison stuff hit you hard..."
Mike sighs, realizing that his friend is still unaware of what had happened after that. "John and I talked. I told him," he admits lowly.
After a brief silence, Alex clears his throat. "How did he react?"
"Better than I expected. I think he was mostly shocked, but like you said... he was surprised in a good way that I'd go so far to try to get his job back." He smirks. "This is where you tell me 'told you so'."
"Maybe later. So see any interesting tweets lately?" Alex hints after a few moments.
Miz laughs. "So subtle, A-Ri. I think I read that someone's rehab is ending soon. But I could be wrong, you know how busy I've been lately." He can hear Alex's eyes rolling from here. "But seriously, I'm glad for you. It'll be good to have you back."
"I can't wait to be back," he says honestly. "You never know how much you're going to miss something until it's gone, huh?"
Mike smiles mirthlessly, nodding faintly. That cliche could be used towards him and so very many things he hadn't realized were important to him until it'd been too late, the pure amount of time he spent taking things for granted smacking him upside the skull. "Yeah, that's for damn sure, Alex. For damn sure."
Sunday, he tries. He really, really does, but the slight momentum he'd held on Friday doesn't last. Of course Yoshi Tatsu isn't on the same level as Kofi, even Miz has to admit that. So he loses, his best chance at getting his Intercontinental title back slipping through his fingers. He tries to hold it together, breathe in and out and...
But oh God, it's hard. He'd spent so long on top of the world, thinking that he'd get John his job back, Alex would come back from rehab, and his Intercontinental title run would last, and last, and last, and...
But none of that happens: now he's alone and titleless, and on top of that, AJ has been replaced by Vickie Guerrero. He's glad for her when she's rehired as a diva on Monday, though it's obvious that Vickie has her own agenda with that one. He's even happier when he doesn't have a match that night, relieved for a small breather, a chance to get his head back on straight... instead he opts to commentate during Kingston vs Cesaro, unsurprised when the current Intercontinental champion can't keep his focus on the match, coming over to aggravate Miz... It's not until the match spills out to the outside and Kofi sends Cesaro into Mike's lap that things just stop, he can't breathe or think, barely stand. Next thing he knows, he blinks and he's in the ring, attacking Kofi and making the match go by DQ.
He and Antonio try working together and succeed for awhile, but then his former tag partner runs down and saves Kofi. Seeing Truth for the first time in weeks brings back uncomfortable memories for him. He glowers over at him and shakes his head, standing on the outside with the US champion. He just knows if Teddy Long was around this would become a tag match, but he figures that there'll be plenty of time for that on some other show.
He keeps a distracted eye on the rest of the show, watching as AJ wins, then loses, against Beth Phoenix, and he feels bad for her but something tells him his own night isn't over, the Survivor Series team matches being announced soon. If they have any sense, he thinks, they'll use the Miz. Hell, if not me, then who?
Sure enough, his name is the first Paul Heyman announces and Miz gleefully joins Team Punk, trying not to roll his eyes too hard as first Del Rio, and then Rhodes Scholars, are announced as the other three members of Team Punk.
After hearing who else would be on Team Foley, Miz feels even more confident but it goes by the wayside, with the rest of his tag partners' expectations, when Ryback runs down and assists Team Foley in just laying them all out, trashing them.
"No," Mike grunts as he lays outside of the ring, struggling to breathe. "I can't lose another one. I won't..." He stumbles back to the hallways leading to the locker rooms and slumps down against a trunk, scrubbing his hands through his hair. He's about to pull himself together and move when a hand rests on his lower back, the touch familiar and comforting.
He looks up to find AJ smiling slightly at him. "Are you alright?" she asks lowly.
"Yeah, I'm fine." He turns to face her, leaning against the trunk. "How are you? Saw you got your job as diva back."
She rubs at her neck and he thinks she's probably still sore after that attack from the now-fired Beth Phoenix. "I'm ok," she hedges. "Just glad to be able to compete again. As much as... I enjoyed being the boss..." Her dark eyes drift as she thinks about the past few months. "I missed wrestling a lot. It feels good to return to what I really know."
He smiles, understanding exactly what she means. In the time that he'd spent filming Marine: Homefront in Canada, his hunger to return to competition had been like a raw ache. "I'm happy for you."
Her eyes brighten. "Thank you."
As she ducks her head, brushing some loose strands of hair from her eyes, he watches her. Even though she had failed at getting him what he wanted, he finds that her company isn't that bad. He's not sure what exactly they are, acquaintences or friends or what... but for now he's just glad to not be completely alone in this business. Figures she has to feel the same, especially since Cena'd made it clear there was nothing between them. "Hey," he suggests on a lark. "Why don't we go get a drink?"
She looks surprised, blinking slowly, before nodding. "Sure, Mike, I'd like that."
He nods back, pushing away from the trunk to walk alongside her to the exit... and as her small hand reaches out and curls around his as they go, he looks down briefly but doesn't shake himself loose, even squeezing her fingers slightly.