A/N: Quick note: This is BtB's 3rd birthday! On July 25th, 2010, I uploaded the very first chapter of Back to Basics to Livejournal. It's been a whacky, fun little ride, and I've loved every moment. It wouldn't be possible without those of you who come back week after week to read what I come up with... so thank you all and here's to (at least) three more years!
Miz is still mulling over the past few weeks, far from pleased with anything, but ComiCon is looming so, after commentating for Main Event, he puts his game face on as he heads for San Diego. He's been selected to host the Mattel panel, getting to see the action figures coming up in the next few months. Unfortunately upon arrival, he's notified by a WWE tech on hand to oversee everything to do with WWE over the next four days that he won't be doing it solo- his guests will be Mick Foley and... Dolph Ziggler. He stares at the man for so long that eventually the tech swallows nervously and walks off, not liking the look on Mike's face.
Tapping his microphone against his wrist, the Most Must See Superstar stares blankly ahead as he watches a crowd form for the panel, the two Mattel guys whispering next to him. Mitchell and Bill are obviously unused to being before such a large group, and Mike feels somewhat sympathetic for them, especially since Bill is fresh off of back surgery. This along with everything else forces him to keep his misgivings to himself, especially when he's cued to introduce Ziggler. Thankfully annoying Mitchell, trying to get him to be more confident in front of all of these people, distracts him from constantly having to deal with Ziggler, though the two of them spend a lot of the panel taking little potshots at each other, Mike lost in a haze of everything that's been running through his mind the past few months.
He only realizes what he's doing when he finds himself saying, "-your girlfriend, er I mean, ex-girlfriend?" He's not even sure what they're bitching back and forth about, and he wonders if the bitterness that he's feeling had bled out into his words. No one blinks or even seems weirded out by any of it, however, Dolph barely responding to the barb, so he turns his attention back to the screen, or tries to, noticing as they announce an action figure for Ricardo. He smiles slightly, hoping that it bolsters the ring announcer's spirits a little as his suspension inches to a conclusion, finally getting a figure all to himself instead of the build-a-figure that had come in pieces with one of Miz's own figures, and three others, the year before.
After he announces he'll be hosting Summerslam this year, the panel is coming to an end, fans lining up for a Q&A session and Mike allows himself to drift away once more as he wonders if he'll have time for a quick trip back to LA to drop in on Morrison before he has to leave for the next day's Superstars and Smackdown. He has both a match and MizTV scheduled, thanks to Brad Maddox's ridiculousness, so he doubts it but... He begins to pay attention as soon as someone asks a question to all present- if they could choose any tag partner, a new partner or one they've had prior, to face Macho Man Randy Savage and Hulk Hogan, who would it be?- and he doesn't even have to think. "Do you mean, like John Morrison?" he asks, yet again speaking automatically. He hadn't heard anything about Morrison and the WWE since that bizarre article weeks back, but he thinks, should the man get a good response here, well... perhaps someone would take notice and undo all that John Laurinaitis did years back... He runs with it, teasing a return of the tag team of Miz and Morrison. "Be jealous," he tells the cheering crowd, grinning smugly as he marvels in how right it feels to say the old words.
He hadn't realized how much he had missed the Dirt Sheet days until this exact moment, when he and John had dominated the tag division for years. It's with a fond gleam to his eye that he shakes hands with the people from Mattel and even Foley and Ziggler, his nostalgic mood not fading away as he heads for the autograph signing that follows, bracing himself for whatever the long line of fans may have to say. All in all, it goes well and he leaves after wandering around the building, taking in all that the convention has to provide. By the time he gets away, it's nearly dark outside and he winces, realizing that trying to drive to LA now would be impractical, if he wanted to get any kind of sleep before his flight out to where Superstars and Smackdown are being held. "Damn." Vowing to spend as much time with John as he can Summerslam weekend, he begrudgingly returns to his hotel room.
The next day, he's surprised to find his Superstars opponent is Heath Slater. He's just wrapped his head around that when there's a grating sound of throat clearing behind him. Thinking it's someone also trying to see the board, he steps aside to provide enough room for both of them to see it, but the noise is repeated and he turns sharply. "Whaaaa- ..." His voice dies away as he takes in Alex Riley, smirking mischievously at him. "What the-?! What are you doing here, kid?"
"Well, remember that whole 'never say never' thing?" He grins. "I received a text the other day, telling me to show up for commentary again this week."
Mike blinks. "The other day? Why the hell didn't you say anything?!" he demands, remembering just how low Alex had been when he'd been seemingly replaced with R-Truth the week prior.
"Well, I knew you had a match this week... and you were so busy with preparing for ComiCon, I didn't want to disrupt your plans. So I decided to surprise you." He laughs as Mike shakes his head and swats him upside the back of the head. "They must've liked how I last commentated about you."
Miz glares at him. "I swear, if I hear anything hinting towards me being undersized again..."
Alex holds his hands up in surrender. "Ok, ok. I won't go that far... Heath and you are close to the same height anyway." Miz still looks unimpressed and Alex thinks quickly. "How about this, I'll talk about how better your hair is than Heath's."
Mike rolls his eyes. "You are the weirdest commentator, I swear to God..." But he does look slightly appeased, clapping Alex harshly between his shoulderblades as they walk side by side down the hall. "I'm glad they asked you back, kid."
"So am I," he smiles, nudging his friend before they go their separate ways to prepare, Alex meeting up with Tony Dawson as Miz goes to change into ring gear. When he finally comes face to face with Heath Slater in the ring, he takes in the younger man's darting gaze, unsurprised to find some trepidation lingering there after that attack by the Wyatt family on Main Event only a couple days earlier. But when it comes down to it, Slater begins to focus on his opponent fully when the bell actually rings, the match going back and forth as Mike tries to weaken his leg, prepare him for the Figure 4.
Drew and Jinder try to distract him, leave him vulnerable to Heath, but it's a poor attempt and he quickly has Heath wrapped up in the submission hold, the ginger going wild as he taps to the hold, his leg visibly hurting after the earlier damage. As the three men stagger together up the ramp, Heath looking truly angry as he stares back at the ring, Mike leans against the top rope, catching his breath and laughing at them.
He's once more backstage, listening and watching the editing process, when he almost chokes on saliva- A-Ri had done as promised. Not a word about Mike's height or anything else, but dammit all, the kid had said that Heath was trying to get into a L'Oreal commercial, just to wrap up the point by saying that Mike was growing his hair out, so his hair was better than Heath's in his opinion. He gains many odd glances from those scattered around as he almost falls off of a trunk laughing at Alex actually saying it. Still wheezing a little when the show ends, he all but tackles Alex as he comes back stage, shaking his head in disbelief. "You actually said it! Damn near killed me when I heard it," he gasps, smirking at the other man. "I didn't think you'd really do it."
Alex laughs at him, eyes shining. "I always keep my promises, Mike, you haven't learned that yet?"
But the hilarity fades all too quickly. After some alterations are made to the ring and the rest of the superstars begin arriving, Smackdown begins and Miz is preparing for MizTV with Heyman when Ziggler comes out and wrestles against Swagger. He half-watches, not too impressed with either man for very different reasons, when Dolph finally eaks out a victory. It's not until he takes to the mic, saying simply that he was sorry he broke up with AJ, sorry that he didn't do it a lot sooner, that Mike begins to pay attention. He can only imagine how AJ is reacting to this, especially after Monday, when his questions are answered.
Camera crews had found her in the back, standing with Big E, and as soon as Dolph's hurtful words click with her, she loses it so similarly to how he'd seen her on Monday, the girl screaming and pounding her fists against steel chairs, the floor, Big E, anything in her way, until finally she collapses into the enforcer, sobbing and shaking. Everything takes an odd turn, however, when he leans closer to her and looks like he's about to kiss her, her tears evaporating as she gapes up at him, seemingly incapable of moving. Finally leaning the rest of the way down to meet her, he presses a chaste kiss to her forehead before walking off and leaving her behind, visibly confused. Mike blinks when the screen goes black, realizing he's on his feet, fists clenched at his sides.
"Mike?" Alex whispers, resting a hand on his shoulder. "Are- are you ok?"
He swallows and shakes his head, trying to get his focus back. "I need to finish getting ready for MizTV," is all he can think to say as he heads into the showers, mostly just needing a minute away from eyes... away from questions... away from whatever replays they may show in the next hour and a half. Big E, he thinks, staring at the glistening tiles. After everything, now him? She wouldn't... would she? He closes his eyes, pressing a fist against the wall. He has no doubt there's no future for them, after everything. He'd done too much, she'd proven even trying to talk to her was a mistake, but still...
He swallows and buries his face in the crook of his arm. For a little while before deciding to confess to her his own sins in this whole situation, he'd considered- once Cena had gone and Ziggler had ceased to matter, that maybe... perhaps... after she'd moved on and seemed better emotionally- trying to make all of the guys before a distant memory for her, show her what a real relationship could be like. It had hurt to give that dream up after his confession, and it hurts even more to realize that he'd never even had a chance, the girl unable to wait even long enough to take a breath before moving onto the next thing. Not that she had yet, but he has no doubt, if Big E's interest in her is real, that it's only a matter of time, the girl so starved for affection and attention. Mike's attempt at doing this the right way after beginning it so wrongly was always going to backfire on him, no matter how he'd have tried to accomplish it.
He feels disgusted- with himself for feeling this way still, with AJ for being so easily swayed, with Big E for taking advantage of her when she's so vulnerable, and it comes out as disgust towards Paul Heyman on MizTV that evening. He lays into the other man for his actions, vowing on his children that he hadn't been lying this time, before dropping his mic and leaving it all behind, unable to stomach anything further this evening. Alex greets him as soon as he's backstage, staring at him worriedly. "Let's get out of here," he mumbles, not giving the other man a minute to ask him about his well-being again. He thinks if he stays at the arena much longer, he may end up mimicking AJ's breakdown in the parking lot, on a much larger scale, and he'd rather not have his pay docked for destroying WWE owned equipment.
The weekend does little to ease his turmoil-filled thoughts, media events and houseshows only minor distractions. He can tell early that Raw isn't going to be much better, the only thing he's assigned for being a MizTV segment to promote Total Divas. He grits his teeth and walks off, not watching where he's going, until he almost runs right into someone. Grabbing the person and steadying them, he hisses and backs away as if burnt when he realizes it's AJ Lee, staring at him with dull, red-rimmed eyes. He swallows and walks past her, not sure what he'd say if he gave himself the opportunity and not wanting to hurt her any further than she's already been this month.
He's barely taken two steps, however, when she speaks up. "I bet you're looking forward to having all of those divas paying attention to you tonight. It's been awhile for you, hasn't it?" Even though he continues to walk off, steps widening to get away faster, she follows him, hair flipping side to side as she skips to keep up with him. "You know, someone helped me inside a week ago after- after Dolph did... what he did," she says slowly, her voice trembling slightly. "For awhile I thought maybe it was Big E, but... he tells me he wasn't anywhere near the parking lot at that time. So I was thinking about who it could possibly be, and it came to me." She skips ahead of him and cuts him off suddenly, remain nearby in front of him until he has no choice but to stop or risk running into her again, a dark little sneer on her pink lips as she stares up at him. "It was you, wasn't it?" she whispers, pressing a finger against his chest. "You try and you try to distract yourself with all of the MizTV guests you want, put all of the WWE divas on there that you wish, but we both know... at the end of it, you only want one diva on your little show." Her finger trails up towards his neck as he stares down at her, trying not to reveal how much her proximity can still affect him after all of this time. "Me."
He grasps her hand suddenly, not hard enough to hurt, but just to subdue her movements. He leans down until they're eye to eye, blue boring into brown, equally warring emotions visible in both of their gazes, and whispers, "Are you jealous, AJ?"
She laughs, a dark, painful little sound before she presses closer, their bodies only separated by their clasped hands. "Are you?" she responds, sounding almost wistful, before wrenching free from him, skipping back down the hall like nothing had just happened.
He swallows and stares at her, more and more of the fugue leaving him the further away she gets. He groans, scrubbing his fingers through his hair as he wonders how, after that, he's supposed to focus on the upcoming MizTV. Trying to get through the all but meaningless segment without completely blowing it, he calls up Jerry Lawler and sits on the top turnbuckle, watching as one of the new divas, Eva Marie, slaps The King. All the more relieved that A: he had managed to avoid that, and B: the segment had thankfully been relatively short, he heads backstage to find Alex, not wanting to risk running into AJ again.
He wanders for awhile, catching glimpses of Daniel Bryan's gauntlet match, until the monitor shows Alex in Brad Maddox's office, watching the match with him. He frowns and heads in that direction, raising an eyebrow when the younger man comes out, grinning widely. "What were you doing in there, kid? Thought you couldn't stand him either."
Alex shrugs. "I can't, but he actually had some interesting news for me." Mike blinks up at him as his grin only seems to grow. "You know how Maddox does commentary for NXT sometimes?"
"Yeah...?"
"Well, now that he's GM, he won't have time for it, so he was looking for a replacement. He's just asked me to take over, see how well I do there alongside this guy named Tom Phillips... I'm not sure if they're going to let me do Superstars and NXT, but hey... I'm going to be coached by JR and Cole!" He laughs, shaking his head. "Far cry from what I was thinking a couple of weeks ago, huh?"
Mike has to smile, pleased that Alex seems glad. "I'm happy for you, kid. I have no doubt it'll work out for you." He squeezes the other man's shoulder, heading for the locker room with him to watch the rest of Daniel's gauntlet matches with the other superstars. He wants to talk about AJ so bad, but now's not the time. Ruining Alex's happiness is the last thing he wants to do. Besides, there's not a lot he can do about it either way. It's out of his hands, and has been for a very long time.