A/N: Happy Thanksgiving Americans, and happy Thursday everyone else!
Eva: Thank you for reading, reviewing and hope you have a great Thanksgiving too :D
Mike shakes his head as he sits next to Cole on Wednesday night Main Event, watching as Kane and Daniel Bryan's arguing continues. His words from Raw hadn't gone too far, apparently. Which, really, he hadn't expected much more from them... but it's still annoying, especially when you consider that he'll have to team with them on Sunday.
After their match, all Miz can do is watch as Daniel and Kane's arguing intensifies, the two trying to drag him into it with Kane repeatedly reminding Daniel that they're all going to be tag partners this Sunday and will have to get along. Despite Daniel's continued unreceptive attitude, Mike tries to be the better man and stands, holding a hand out to his former NXT rookie. He quickly backtracks, however, when Kane's whispered command to Daniel ends up being encouragement for him to hug it out, not just give up at a handshake. He returns to the announcer's desk and shakes his head as the two bickering tag team champions leave.
His night is far from over then, however, as Dolph Ziggler has some planned interview time and he runs his mouth for awhile about this Sunday until Miz just can't stop himself, interrupting him and belittling him gleefully until it leads to a challenge issued for the following episode of Main Event, which is quickly accepted. Returning to his position behind the desk, Miz sneers on, imagining all of the things he'd like to do to Dolph but will probably have to wait until Sunday to see come to fruition.
His inner turmoil only grows when he, Alicia and AJ end up going to a hospital to meet children and pass out toys to cheer them up. AJ puts on a good front in front of Alicia, mocking Miz in person and on Twitter, but there's a look in her eyes that unsettles him. She has a tendency to lash out when feeling slighted by someone and he worries about what his actions on Monday may inspire in her...
But he can't really focus on that as Sunday comes a little early and he ends up being granted some time for Miz TV on Smackdown, where he has Mick on as a guest. It starts going badly quickly as Foley takes over and invites all of the other members of Team Foley into the ring, things rapidly devolving and only growing worse when Team Ziggler makes an appearance, Mike briefly amused when dissention grows in their group, ADR and Dolph themselves arguing over who should be leader. How exactly it ends in a tag match with him and Orton vs ADR and Dolph, he's not sure, but it is what it is.
His actions, of course, ensure his team's victory, just as he expects it will this Sunday, but Orton isn't thrilled with the pin getting taken from him and Miz eats an RKO for his trouble. Thus he feels justified when, as another show off between Team Ziggler and Team Foley happens later, he just stands on the ramp and watches on blankly.
That Sunday goes almost as he'd expected. Despite the varying amounts of turmoil between the two teams, they work together fairly well... until it's down to him and Orton vs ADR and Ziggler, and he gets eliminated by Del Rio. Even watching Ricardo get socko'd isn't as amusing as it should be, despite Del Rio getting distracted and losing almost immediately afterwards, because then somehow Orton gets overconfident and sloppy and Ziggler wins as the only surviving member of his team.
Miz stews over the loss the rest of the night, ponders over what he'll do upon seeing AJ for the first time since telling her that he thinks they need some time apart... He doesn't get a lot of sleep but there's nothing new there, almost relieved to find he has a simple match against Otunga. He has no need to continue interacting with the other members of Team Foley, thankfully, and so he doesn't.
He does, however, watch as AJ confronts Vickie yet again... just for Cena to get involved again... and he swears that his heart stops as Cena, visibly exasperated by Vickie's nonstop claims, grabs AJ and kisses her, long and deep and slow. It's really kind of nauseating but it only gets worse when AJ responds a few moments later by grabbing Cena after he's provided some separation between them and lays her own kiss on him, Vickie's evident disgust with it only mirrored by Miz's own expression.
The visual is imprinted into his mind, leaving him distracted and a little off as his match with Otunga begins. In fact, he's kind of overpowered by the Harvard grad for awhile... until everything just clicks with him. He's sprawled out on the mat, held in a chinlock, and all he can think is I'm seriously in danger of losing to Otunga... Digging deep, he somehow overcomes the move and takes out the ridiculously muscled man, hitting Skullcrushing Finale and defeating him finally.
Breathing a sigh of relief, he heads to the back and runs his fingers through his hair, all of his elation fading away as quickly as if a bucket of cold water had been poured on top of him as he hears familiar, high pitched yells coming from the nearby locker room. He peers inside, watching as AJ takes out her frustrations on Dolph Ziggler, just for Cena to brush past him and pull AJ off of the briefcase holder. The brawl that follows is kind of impressive, Cena getting rammed backfirst through a bathroom stall as Ziggler targets his visibly wrapped knee.
He looks up after a moment and finds AJ staring at him, her eyes wide and a little wet, mouth moving like she's begging him to do something. But he can't hear her over the yelling and crashing coming from the bathroom, so he shakes his head and turns, leaving the room as referees pour in to break up the fight. He can guess that she'd been begging him to help Cena, stop all of this, but the very thoughts of it is laughable to him. He feels slightly bad for leaving so abruptly, yes, but he's far past getting in between Cena and Dolph on account of her. She'd made her intentions well known earlier in the evening when she'd been kissed by and so enthusiastically kissed back his biggest, most annoying rival.
There is a small bright spot to the evening when he returns to his hotel room and runs through various tweets he'd been sent during the show, pausing on one from Alex showing disbelief that he was now a so-called 'good guy'. He chuckles over it for a few minutes before texting him back. I've always been a good guy, A-Ri. It just took awhile for the rest of the world to catch up.
As he waits for a response, he squirms under his sheets and closes his eyes, feeling some of the stress of the day ease out of his bones. He has to turn his focus to the upcoming match against Dolph Ziggler on Wednesday. He wants to keep the match all business and as little about the AJ mess as much as possible, but... well... Yeah, that's easily doable, he thinks in annoyance, knowing that he's already failing at it.