A/N: Short chapter. My apologies, I just didn't have a lot to write about nor the time to do so because well over half of my writing time set aside for this was drained away by outside forces *sigh*.
Thank you for the reviews, and yes I do still enjoy writing BtB. As I probably mentioned a time or two in the past, it was initially supposed to end on chapter 19 when Miz cashed in Money in the Bank but I enjoyed it so much, I opted to continue it. And here we are, well over a hundred chapters later and I still can't quite give it up. Haha.
After a long few weeks of bouncing from one project to the next, John is relieved to have a couple hours to just relax Monday night. He collapses down onto his couch, his laptop on the table in front of him as he nurses a lite beer. "God," he mumbles, feeling about as beat up as he would when he'd wrestle regularly.
"Long week, huh?" Alex's voice comes from the laptop. John nods and he smiles. "Here too, I've been wrapping up rehabbing."
"Yeah? How's that going for you?" he asks, eyes fluttering tiredly as he fumbles around for his remote to turn the TV on.
"It's going well. I should be back touring with WWE soon. Which is really a good thing," Alex comments. "I... think Miz will be relieved to hear this too, next time I talk with him. The last few months have really sent him through the ringer too, I'll be glad to be around to be there for him more. I tried as best as I could, but it's kind of difficult when we're separated by hundreds of miles and computer monitors and stuff."
Finally finding the remote in between his couch cushions, John sits up and turns the TV on. "Yeah, that AJ chick really did a number on him, huh? I mean, I appreciate what he was trying to do by getting me my job back, but maybe it would've been better if he hadn't even tried... then he probably wouldn't have gotten this close to her." He frowns slightly, feeling more than a little bad for his inadvertent role in Miz's current turmoil over the AJ and Cena situation.
The younger man sighs. "I know what you mean but I don't think even if you had known what he was intending on doing, you could've stopped him. He really had his heart set on getting you your job back."
John nods thoughtfully as his eyes flicker up to the TV. "I know." He smiles wanly. "He acts like some egotistical jerk who only cares about himself, but boy is that far from the truth, huh?"
Alex nods. "Yeah..." They watch Raw quietly for awhile, only commenting now and again and making fun of various things- like Cody's mustache, which garners a loud chant from the WWE universe. By about half-way through the show, A-Ri notices when John starts to get antsy. "Kind of dragging tonight, huh?"
"A bit," he admits, a distant look in his dark eyes. "It's kind of weird, I recognize a fair amount of these guys but some of them... I've never even met before, and barely have heard of since I've distanced myself from the business the past year." He rests his chin in the palm of his hands and sighs. "Funny how things change so quickly."
"Yeah, I know. I've only been gone a couple of months and already I know I'm going to have hit the ground running when I arrive there, because like you said, things do change quickly. I'm almost not sure what to expect... Imagine how it'd have been if Mike had gotten your job back and you'd have to do this with little to no warning, reacclimate yourself to everything at a moment's notice."
John nods, staring unwaveringly at the TV as Kofi vs Cesaro's champion vs champion match continues on. "I wonder what Mike would say if..."
Alex watches him as best as he can at the slightly off angle due to how he's sitting compared to where his webcam is aimed, his lips turned downwards into a puzzled frown. "If what, John? What are you thinking?"
His face suddenly clears and John smiles, appearing more himself. "Oh, you know. Deep, Palace of Wisdom type thoughts." His eyes brighten as the former NXT Rookie peers at him curiously from the small screen. "I'll explain some other time..." Luckily for John, they then announce that Miz TV will be up next with Rhodes Scholars on, distracting both of them. "Oh, fabulous," John breathes out.
It's obvious to both of Mike's closest friends that he's not himself; they can guess without saying it out loud that the whole AJ situation- with the girl acting manic all night and hanging obsessively off of Cena like she used to do with CM Punk- on top of his not being put on TV for nearly the whole show, just barely penciled in for the very last half hour in what ends up being a ridiculously short, somewhat pointless segment with Cody Rhodes and Damien Sandow, had left Miz off of his game. And yeah, his insults towards the tag team are kind of weak, his attempts at causing discord in their tag team blatantly obvious, and leaves Alex and John cringing, but they've all had those moments, and they both have no doubt he'll be able to bounce back.
"Hopefully he won't be too hard on himself," Alex mumbles.
"It's Mike," John responds with a plaintive sigh. "He's always hard on himself. You know that."
"Unfortunately." They both aren't that interested in the main event and shut their TVs off, turning to stare at each other.
"I remember when people used to pull that crap with him and I," John says, his eyes dark and far off once more. "I used to think their little tactics would never work, that we'd be a team forever. Or at least, even if we went our separate ways, it'd be kind of like Kofi and Truth right now, y'know? Amicable." He smiles wistfully. "But as always, Mike had different ideas. I guess it worked out the way it was meant to in the end though."
Alex nods, the two of them falling into an awkward silence. Finally the thought that had been bouncing around A-Ri's mind for the last hour or so slips out, nothing he tries enough to stop the words from falling from his tongue. "Are you happy, John?"
Morrison freezes, blinking a time or two before looking away from the computer. No answer is forthcoming.