A/N:
Eva- Thank you for the review
Sonar- I definitely understand that, people can be brutal. Thanks for reading and reviewing!
"I have a suggestion," Alex says once Raw is over with for the night. When dark blue eyes peer up at him, he halfheartedly smiles, knowing all too well that Miz isn't in the mood for much. "Seeing that we're in Tampa currently, I was thinking we could stay at my place instead of going to a hotel." No immediate answer and he takes a breath, continuing to try to sell this. "That way we won't have to deal with fans begging for autographs and pictures once we leave the arena, and you haven't really seen my place outside of the few days you spent there after my surgery... I know it won't be the same without Morrison there, but-"
"It sounds great," Mike finally intercedes. "Let's do it." When Alex's face brightens, Miz can't help but grin too. "Thanks, man."
"Of course. What's the point of living in state if I'm not going to invite you to hang out when we have events nearby?"
Chuckling, his former NXT pro nods. "This is true." When they leave, he keeps his eyes straight ahead. He has no idea if AJ Lee is nearby or not, but he doesn't care to risk spotting her. Not after earlier. It still eats at him too much, all of it- that she's with Dolph, that she honestly thinks he'd had any knowledge of what Cena was planning, any of it. The fact that he'd finally faced his feelings for her only makes it worse, his inner anguish seeming to multiply every time he allows himself to think about it.
Florida has a lot of the same things California has- beaches, warm weather, the sounds of waves to lull him to sleep the nights he spends curled up in Alex's guest bedroom. The only downsides are that AJ lives here too, and Morrison isn't a few blocks away. After a few days of exploring the house, shaking his head at Alex's still growing collection of sneakers, and sitting on the beach, only turning his attention back to his career enough to work out for an hour or two each morning, Alex spotting him and vice versa, he feels a little clearer. Everyone needs time to decompress and this had been his, Alex acting like the perfect host and barely letting Mike even have a minute to think about all in his life currently stressing him out.
After another couple of hours at the beach, he has to leave for Main Event on Wednesday and, since one of the matches includes Dolph Ziggler, which means AJ Lee will be nearby, Alex accompanies him. "Think this'll go ok?" he asks after a moment, glancing over at Mike before turning his attention back to the road as they approach the arena.
He shrugs blandly. "I'm not planning on approaching her. It depends on what she does, I guess." To his great relief, he makes it to the locker room long enough to deposit his stuff before venturing out to the commentary table without seeing her or Dolph, and runs on autopilot as he does his job prior to and during the match. He barely remembers what he says about her and the situation afterwards, just glad that it's over. As soon as the broadcast fades to black on a downed Zack Ryder in the ring, he makes his way to the back and releases a deep breath, his eyes closed.
Alex claps his hands across his shoulders and smiles mirthlessly. "Glad that's over?"
"More than you will probably ever realize," he mumbles. "Ready to go?" At Alex's nod, they collect their things and head back out into the hallway. Thankfully they're just a few feet from the exit but, even for that short distance, Mike feels a familiar gaze on his back. He doesn't even need to look over his shoulder to know- AJ is nearby, and by the weight of her stare, he can tell this is far from over. He just can't bring himself to care right this moment.
Thursday is spent with Mike sprawled out on a towel in the sand, the warm Floridian sun beating down on his shoulders as he blinks sleepily at a laptop screen, his jaw pillowed by his crossed arms. "I feel like we've swapped places for once," he admits to John as his best friend smirks at him, sitting in a gym and taking a brief break from last minute things needed for his fitness DVD set. "Me on the beach, and you in the gym."
"Oh please," he rolls his eyes with a laugh. "I'm usually the one in the gym or at the beach. You... I'm still not sure what exactly it is that you do. Burger joints, right?"
Fake laughing as obnoxiously as he can, Mike huffs. "Shut up."
"But seriously, it looks like Florida's been good for you. A-Ri as good a host as I am?"
"Well, outside of his sneaker fetish, yeah. At least his place isn't overrun by coconut water." At John's disgruntled expression, Mike does laugh for real. "You have to admit, you're about as bad with that as Ryder is with his Budlight Limes." They stare at each other for a bit, Mike's smirk only rivaled by the annoyance on John's face. "So... did you hear about Z!TLIS?"
"That it's ending tomorrow?" Morrison asks, his expression turning thoughtful. "Yeah... Well, it had a good run, huh?"
"Yep." They fall silent again, considering. Both had had a major hand in the first huge weekly webisode show that had been successful for , the Dirt Sheet, and it had been cool to see- and, in varying ways, be apart of- another superstar get himself out there more thoroughly than allowed on WWE TV in this medium. "He asked me to film something for it."
"Me too," John admits quietly.
"That probably explains why he wanted me to talk up Heaven in my little part." Mike chuckles a little bit, thinking about what Zack had told him regarding the end of Z!TLIS, the part he'd play in it. "Logic would be that I heard about it from you, somehow, I guess."
Morrison chuckles. "Yeah, 'cause I'm gonna haunt you in the afterlife."
"Well, why not?" Miz huffs, looking almost offended at this. "If you can haunt Zack, you damn sure better haunt me."
John smirks, adjusting his sunglasses as he peers down at the screen of his laptop. "Of course Ziggler would almost kill Zack in the very last episode of the show."
"The ultimate hack, huh?" Mike muses. "I kinda wish you could be here to watch the final episode with us, I guess Zack's having a viewing at Smackdown tomorrow night." He blinks, realizing what exactly he'd just said, and takes a deep breath, registering yet another change in Morrison's expression. "Sorry, man, I wasn't thinking."
"It's ok," he says, face still stoic. "Hey, um, I have to go, ok? We still have some last minute stuff to film and I don't want to keep these guys waiting any longer than I already have." Visibly forcing a smile, he leans over to shut the webcam off. "We'll talk later. Bye, Mike."
Blinking at the suddenly blank screen, Miz winces. "Way to go, Awesome One." He flops back down on the sand, feeling not for the first time this week the very opposite of his nickname.
He has nothing scheduled for Smackdown but he and Alex go there anyway, just to support Zack. The Long Island Iced Z isn't on the card either, but he doesn't seem to mind for once, checking and rechecking the equipment he requires for his mass showing of Z! True Long Island Story episode 100: The Finale once the show ends.
Those who have nothing to do hang around, whisper and talk while Zack waits with a nervous look on his face. Z!TLIS had been part of his life, his career for so long, Mike has no doubt he has a huge case of nerves right now. He remembers how it'd felt to say goodbye to The Dirt Sheet, part relief, part sadness, and can only imagine how Zack had felt. At least by then, The Dirt Sheet had been overwhelmed with all of the tension between he and John, but Z!TLIS had been all Zack until circumstances beyond his control had sent the show into something of a tailspin.
A nearby monitor is running Smackdown, some of them watching idly as match after match goes by. The Rock is on the show and Miz half-sneers, unsurprised that that seems to overwhelm everything else going on this evening. AJ even has a match that night, a short intergender tag match with Ziggler against Natalya and Khali, of all things, and as soon as she comes out, he makes it to his feet and wanders over to Zack's side, thankful for the distraction. "Hey."
"Hey bro," Zack greets him. They'd had a bit of a rocky history, but somewhere between the Wrestlemania match when they'd been on separate teams to now, things had eased off, enough anyway for Zack to invite him onto the finale of his show. Morrison had always been amused by the guy, and as more time passes, Miz can see why. He's a hard worker underneath all of the ridiculous antics and loud clothes, just desperate for a chance- any chance to prove himself. Mike had gone through it, most of them are still going through it, and he feels for him. "What's up?"
Relieved to be standing with his back to the monitor, he watches as Zack glances warily at the screen where his former rival continues getting batted around by Khali. "Not too much," he shrugs. "All set up for this thing?"
Zack's grin is strained and a little false but he nods none-the-less. "Yeah, bro. Just waiting for the show to end and everyone to stop in, y'know." He's just turned his attention back to the waiting equipment when the atmosphere in the room changes- Mike nor Zack have to even look to know that 3MB's just entered, their loud voices echoing around the room. Both men tense immediately, exchanging exasperated looks.
"So this is where the party's at!" Heath exclaims, his attention turning right to Zack and his laptop. "Ah, boys, I think we can play our single here!" As he, Jinder and Drew approach, Alex joins them and the three of them block 3MB's path, everyone's focus diverting from Smackdown to the trio yet again trying to cause trouble.
"Back off, bro," Zack snaps at him. "This is for the finale of Z!TLIS, not your bad attempts at music."
"Oh, look who's talkin'," Heath shoots back. "I wouldn't be surprised if this finale of yours is set to Bieber or somethin' equally as ridiculous."
"And what if it is? You weren't invited anyway, bro," Zack snarls, growing more and more annoyed with each diss to his show and favorite singer.
"It's a free country, we can go wherever we please." Heath smirks and pushes Zack, trying to get him to move out of the way. But Alex and Mike support him and stare down the other two members of 3MB. "Get outta our way."
Finally speaking up, Mike smirks down at Jinder as Alex glowers at Drew. "Make us." The ensuing brawl lasts only a minute or two, really, but he's sure that it still amuses the rest of the superstars as they get out of the way, 3MB soon thrown out of the room by the three men, of whom have barely broken a sweat. Slamming the door shut behind them, Mike turns and checks on Zack and his equipment. Both thankfully seem alright.
"Thanks, bros," Zack sighs, his eyes gleaming with both relief and satisfaction. "This stuff's expensive."
"No problem," Alex and Mike murmur together, glancing at each other with matching grins. Smackdown rolls on, a small smattering of applause echoing through the room as Alberto Del Rio outsmarts Big Show and wins the World Heavyweight Title for the first time, effectively avenging Ricardo Rodriguez and kicking the new year off well for himself. Show as champion had been annoyingly horrible for them all, unsure when exactly he'd do to any one of them what he'd been doing to Ricardo for the last two weeks, so it's a relief to see that he's not champion any longer, losing one more thing to boast about.
Once the show concludes, Zack reaches over with a bittersweet smile on his face and turns the lights down, pressing play on the laptop so all of them can watch the ten minute farewell to Z!TLIS. Once it's over, the Ultimate Broski looks like he's trying not to cry and Mike smiles wanly, patting him on the shoulder. "Kudos, man."
"Thanks, bro," he murmurs, turning his back on the others long enough to shut the laptop down. Only Mike and Alex notice that it's a diversion so he has time to wipe his face before the various Superstars who'd been involved in, or enjoyed watching, his show begin coming up to congratulate him.
By Monday, Mike is glad to feel more like himself. He'd spent enough time in Florida, for once allowing himself to relax and hang out with Alex, that his innate need to be active, do stuff, has returned with a vengeance and he's glad to be back on the road, heading to Texas for this week's events. It's the big Raw 20th anniversary episode and, although it's a bit more low-key than the Raw 1000th episode's celebrations, he sees Foley hanging around, waiting for his alloted time to discuss his entrance into the Hall of Fame, and...
His mouth goes dry as he reads the board with planned segments and matches scribbled along it. MizTV featuring Ric Flair fills up the middle of the show and he shakes his head, not quite believing it. "Really?" he mutters. "Really?" Though this wouldn't be his first time coming across the 16-time world champion, he still feels nervous. To have the man, on his own show, for an interview... He can't really grasp it.
He's still staring at it when there's the soft, almost sheepish sound of a throat clearing behind him and he turns to find Ricardo Rodriguez hesitantly trying to peer around him. "Eh, ah, excuse me," he finally says, eyes flickering towards Miz and then back to the board.
"Oh." Miz steps aside to make room for the ring announcer and they stare at the board together, Ricardo humming slightly as he finds no mention of his employer. "Guess you guys get the night off, huh?"
"So it would appear," he says after a moment, glancing anxiously over at the Most Must See Superstar. "Unless Big Show does something..." Mike nods vaguely, still trying to digest the words on the board. Ricardo looks back over at it and takes a breath, a look of awe on his face. "You... get to interview Ric Flair, si?"
"Yep. It'll be an honor." He grins slightly as he catches sight of the awestruck look on Ricardo's face. "A fan of him, huh?"
"Oh." He flushes, pressing his fingers together. "Si, of course. Who wouldn't be?"
Alberto joins them then, resting a hand on Ricardo's shoulder. "Is there anything scheduled?"
"Oh. No, El Patron."
"Very well, come then." He glances briefly over at Mike before shifting his hand to rest between Ricardo's shoulderblades and guide him away, listening with a half-smile as Ricardo talks excitedly about Ric Flair being there this evening.
Miz chuckles, getting an idea as he watches them go.
A couple hours later, he nudges Alex before leaving him to prepare for his segment. Despite his aggravation with having so many of them scheduled in the last month, this edition of MizTV is fun, he gets into a whoo! off with Flair, feeling lighter than he has in a very long time... until Antonio Cesaro interrupts and begins disrespecting Flair thoroughly. However, between the two of them, they shut him up and Miz hits the Skullcrushing Finale before Flair sets up for the Figure Four Leglock... just to pass it onto Miz, who locks it in as best as he can considering he's never really tried it before, and his attempt pays off because Antonio taps out quickly, to both Flair and Mike's joy.
Afterwards, they're wandering the hall, Mike talking over everything with Flair until finally he spots who he'd been looking for- Del Rio and Ricardo near one of the turns in the hallway, murmuring back and forth in Spanish. Quickly giving an excuse, Mike grins at Flair and claps him on the shoulder, turning to walk in the opposite way of the new World Champion and his ring announcer, hoping that that'll be all Ric will need to go in that direction instead. "You got it, I'll see you later at the hotel," he says quickly in response to the veteran as he once more mentions his bar tab.
Not sure what exactly he's gotten himself into with that one, he walks back to where he sees Alex waiting for him and grins sheepishly at the younger man before turning to face the direction he'd just left in and the two watch in amusement as Flair agrees to let Ricardo introduce him just once. When his attempt at a "Whoo" seems to fall flat, Flair quickly gives him a lesson in how to do it properly, both men biting down their humor as Alberto does all but facepalm at their antics. Eventually Ricardo gets it and Alberto puts a stop to this, allowing Flair to leave. Mike and Alex chuckle as, once he's gone, Ricardo and Alberto grin at each other, the younger man still chattering excitedly about getting to whoo! with Ric Flair. Mike watches as the Mexican aristocrat pats Ricardo on the face, affectionately amused by his happiness, and reflects on how the old Del Rio would rarely if ever have allowed such things to happen in his presence even for a moment... and how the old Miz wouldn't have cared in the slightest if Ricardo had the chance to meet his idol. Funny how things can change so quickly like that.
"You set that up, huh?" Alex asks after a moment as they walk back to the locker rooms.
"Something like that," he admits with a faint smile as he catches sight of the nearest monitor, which is running a promo for the steel cage match later on between Ziggler and Cena. Ordinarily he'd at least keep an eye on it, see what's going on, but he'd had a few days where he was so busy that AJ and that whole mess hadn't really crossed his mind very much. He doesn't want to waste it, especially after tonight and the fun he'd managed to have.
He'll consider facing reality once more in the morning. Right now, he has a bar tab to cover.