After a lengthy European tour, Mike is relieved to see a familiar place upon returning to the States- thankfully the week's events are in Ohio and he marvels in his home state while preparing for the show, enjoying being back even though it's much too cold for his tastes as always. He's somewhere between sleep and media responsibility when he receives a tweet alert that sticks out to him more than many that he gets through the day, smiling at his phone as it reads off that Alex is currently at FCW, probably beginning his slow training to get rid of ring rust and return to regular competition.
Opting to call him later when he has more than a few minutes free time, Mike just barely makes it through the rest of the day on coffee and jetlag jitters, the bulk of his colleagues looking forward to going home after such a long period of time on the road. With quitting Team Punk AKA Team Dolph last week, he has nothing set for Survivor Series, but he definitely will not struggle to get on the card like he'd had for many pay per views earlier in the year. He has ideas.
Step one in getting what he wants is going to Foley and being very honest with him, admitting that they don't like each other, but trying to convince him that he'd be a good fit on his team anyway. In the end, partially thanks to Dolph's big mouth, he gets what he wants because Foley puts him on the ballot for WWE Universe's choice on who'll be the final member. With the added caveat that, should he win the poll, he'll team up with Kane against Team Rhodes Scholar. Which is exactly what happens, of course, Miz's smirk only growing as his planning comes to fruition.
If it wasn't so annoying, he'd laugh at Daniel's visible jealousy as he storms down to the commentary table during the match, the man alternating between pouting and cheering them on, until all possible humor stops. Daniel attempts an attack against Mike in the last moments of the match, but Miz catches on quickly and out-maneuvers him, just avoiding the post in time to watch as Kane chokeslams Cody and takes the pin, The Awesome One rolling into the ring just for Daniel to follow and raising Kane's hand in victory, like he had any role in the victory, hadn't tried to sabotage them at all.
Stewing, Mike grabs Kane's hand and lifts it in victory, Daniel yelling "NO!" over at him before yet again raising Kane's hand. They go back and forth in this fashion until the monster grows fed up with them both and pulls free, glaring from left to right until Daniel persists, trying to grab his tag partner's hand just for Kane to pull free each time. Kane leaves then, and Daniel freaks out further, screaming "NO! NO! NO!" as Miz watches on blankly.
Ears throbbing, he slips out of the ring and follows Kane from a fair distance, waiting until they're almost at the locker rooms, the tag champion's room a ways down the hall from the main locker set aside for all of the non-champions. He bets it's just a regular party in their room, lips twitching upwards as he remembers some of the arguments he and John would get into when they'd have a locker room set aside for them. "Hey. Kane."
He stops, shoulders held rigidly, and releases a deep breath. "What do you want now, Miz?"
"I'm just curious about something." When Kane turns around, his shrewd eyes locked on the shorter man, Mike's own eyes are narrowed thoughtfully. "Do you like teaming with Bryan?" He almost doubts that he'll receive an answer, but Kane hasn't punched him or walked off yet, so...
His lips twisting in a strange expression, he seems to be thinking it over. "Sometimes," the big red monster admits lowly. "There are times when we work well together. But then he starts acting like he did tonight, and... I don't know. I don't like him, and he doesn't like me, so it makes no sense."
Rubbing his hands together, Mike sighs. "Little piece of advice from someone who's gone through a fair amount of tag partners, and regrets how one or two of them ended up. He wouldn't have acted like that tonight if he didn't care on some level. If you enjoy partnering with him even in the slightest, don't take it for granted. I did, too often, and I paid for it big time in the end." As Kane tilts his head, examining Mike, the former WWE champion shrugs. "Not saying you and Daniel will end up like any of me and my partners did, but it's just a suggestion. This business can pass us by in a blink of an eye, so why waste the time we do have in it?" Smiling slightly, he turns to leave, finished saying what he wanted to say to the larger man. "See you on Sunday."
He's just turned the corner when he catches sight of Daniel listening in. The deranged man barely even looks ashamed at being caught listening in, just raises an eyebrow at Mike before walking away from him, obviously determined to catch up to his tag partner. Mike stops and listens for a moment, figuring it's only fair considering. "Kane."
"Daniel."
"We should strategize for Wednesday."
"Yes, we should." As they walk off together, low murmurs echoing through the hallway, Mike shakes his head and thumbs his phone, pondering.
He wants to talk to Alex, but he also has something else to handle first. As he walks back towards the diva's locker room, he closes his eyes. Being so close to the tag team champions had made him think once more of his and John's various tag team title runs, how it'd felt to have someone who had started out as a rival become one of his closest friends in the business, and how low he had fallen when John had been fired, was just suddenly gone from his day to day life. Team Hell No were no Mizorrison, of course, but something about them tugs at his nostalgia for his own mixture of friendship and rivalry that had led him into the best time of his career.
Shaking his head, he stares at the garish pink butterfly decorating the divas' locker room and knocks warily, stepping back as the sounds of giggling and talking stops abruptly. Kaitlyn comes to the door, a cloud of makeup, hairspray and perfume almost knocking him over, and he blinks at her. "Miz? Something I can do for you?" she inquires, looking surprised to see him here.
"Oh, yeah," he says, coughing slightly. "Is AJ around?"
She stares at him suspiciously, possibly wanting to grill him on what he wants with her off-balanced rival/best friend (And there that odd mash of relationships is again, he realizes), but ultimately drops it, turning to look inside. "AJ, Miz is here to see you?" She sounds uncertain about it, like it's some sort of joke, but when the girl skips over to the door a moment later, brushing the multi-haired girl off, she looks happy to see him.
He finds himself smiling too, despite the serious question he has to ask her regarding what Vickie had unearthed earlier, the things that had been shown on TV following it. "Hey."
She tilts her head, seeming to sense his odd mood. "Hey." Ducking under his arm, she shuts the door behind her and turns to face him in the hallway. "Did you need something, Mike?" Her smile seems strained now and he closes his eyes, breathing through his nose.
"Actually, I do." He shifts, not sure where this is going to go. But it's AJ after all, he's known very rarely where things would go with her exactly, the girl as unreadable as they come. "I need you to tell me. Right here, right now. Do you have a thing for Cena?" He's not sure why exactly, even, it matters to him, but they'd spent enough time together the past few weeks, and she'd only insisted from the start that she'd felt nothing for the Chaingang soldier, that they were merely friends. But there had been that segment earlier, her visible disappointment and then a shy, slow kind of joy when Cena had first said that there would never be anything between them, just to recant and suggest that maybe it was possible.
But he had watched AJ pingpong between three different guys for weeks before ending up entirely alone so he wonders if situations are repeating themselves, the girl about to go back and forth between him and Cena. But Miz is no chump, and he's also no Kane, Punk or Daniel. He's not about to play that game, having enough drama in his career without some diva only adding to his issues.
Her eyes dim as she licks her lips, peering up at him. "I... I don't know what you mean."
"I saw you with him earlier, when you looked devastated at his claim that there'd be nothing between you two. I just want the truth, AJ, so there's no confusion between the two of us." He thinks he sounds a little cold, her face morphing into an expression of hurt as he continues on, but he can't stop now. "I have no idea if there was anything between you and Cena, or if it really even matters, but I just want to understand."
She shakes her head, eyes welling with tears. "We're just friends," she chokes out. "There's nothing between John and I."
"Do you want there to be?"
She looks like he'd slapped her, fumbling anxiously with the sleeve of her cut up shirt. "I... I..." His blue eyes boring into hers, she suddenly crumbles physically and emotionally, sobbing. "I don't know, I think... maybe, yes, but I just... I'm so confused."
That had been her problem during the whole mess with Kane, Daniel and Punk. She had been confused, and scared, and young and... He sighs, closing his eyes. "I figured." He kneels down by her and rests a hand on top of her head, the old familiar pang of her tears eating through him once more. As she looks up, he tries to comfort her, not further her torment anymore. "Listen, I'm going to give you some time to think, yeah? I'll be around, if you need anything... but I'm pretty sure right now, space is the only thing that'll really help you." She looks like she wants to protest but stops herself, sniffing as he smiles at her. "It'll be ok."
He lets her cry a little longer before helping her to her feet and guiding her back to the divas locker room, Kaitlyn taking over with an uncertain glower towards him. He walks off as she wipes at AJ's face, knowing that she's in good hands right now. Despite how AJ had treated Kaitlyn over the past year, she'd only always seemed to be trying to help the other girl. "What did he do, AJ? Huh? What's wrong?" he faintly overhears.
He closes his eyes and grimaces. They hadn't dated or even came close, the few times they'd had any kind of moment had been underlined by his trying to get Morrison's job back through her, so he wasn't really sure where that ended and any kind of honest friendship- or more- between them began. "Time will probably be good for me too," he decides, once more turning to his phone and dialing Alex's number for real this time. As soon as he answers, Mike's face lights up. "Hey, man. Heard someone paid a visit to FCW today..."