After an awkward night of poor sleep where he spent most of it getting up every hour to check on the concussed man while trying not to disturb AJ or Tamina's rest, Mike escorts Del Rio to the trainer for his IMPACT test, ignoring his complaints and pathetic looking glare when he refuses to let him drive himself. "Well," he mutters to himself, watching as the trainer talks lowly with the Mexican, "This isn't how I saw my Tuesday going at all..." He brushes his hands together and ponders what's to come, always needing some emotional bracing before going to visit the troops. It's humbling and reaffirming, the Tribute to the Troops special that happens close to Christmas being most of the competitors' favorite things to do, just to have the ability to put smiles on the men and women's faces...
Once done talking, Alberto joins him and they leave the hotel, Mike anxious to meet up with AJ at the airport so they can go on to the troops. Until, that is, the Mexican aristocrat sneers at him. "Change of plans, I'm coming with you to see the troops," he announces as if it's a foregone conclusion. "The trainer said I passed my IMPACT test and cleared me for normal activities and competition."
Miz stares at him, not sure why he would want to when he'd made it clear quite awhile ago how he feels about the so-called gringos, but shrugs it off. He has more important things to figure out than Del Rio's bizarre logic, somewhat relieved that he's been cleared. The last thing he wants is for Ricardo to worry needlessly for the man who, in his mind, still hates him. "Whatever," he shrugs, ducking into the car and waiting for the other man to take the passenger seat. The awkwardness continues as they drive to the airport, Mike pleased to leave him behind once they arrive and meets up with AJ, who greets him with a kiss and a small smile. It'll be a short trip, because he has to travel to Portland for Main Event commentary Wednesday, but he vows not to rush himself, to enjoy each and every moment with his girlfriend and the brave men and women who protect the United States.
Which he does, feeling energetic and ready to return to the grind when he sits at the Main Even commentary desk in Portland, listening to Josh Mathews discuss a few key points leading into TLC before introducing Mike. The hour passes by smoothly, Mike unable to keep from verbalizing his disbelief at AJ not winning the diva of the year slammy. He smirks to himself when, during the discussion of the championship ascension ceremony, he credits himself for Daniel Bryan and Alex's individual successes, wanting to laugh at the look on Josh's face.
When Smackdown rolls around, Mike wanders around the arena, deep in thought. He has no scheduled match again this evening, and AJ's is relatively early on so he wants to be close to the gorilla position to have a good vantage point as she competes with Tamina against the Bellas. He hopes she'll win, and that it'll help her to feel better after losing out on both Slammy nominations on Monday. But Natalya is out there as well, doing commentary, and Miz listens to her idly as he watches his girlfriend tag into the match, Natalya also keeping a close eye on her opponent this coming Sunday, Mike bristling slightly when she downplays everything AJ has done this past year, claiming that she's more interested in skipping than anything else. He rolls his eyes at the thought of most of the Total Divas really being considered possible role models.
Thankfully AJ wins with the Black Widow submission a minute later, and taunts Natalya with the diva's title, a dark smirk on her face as she leans over the top rope and glares down at her. He's glad to see that the smile on her face doesn't fade as she makes her way back to him, cupping his face and kissing him deeply, her confidence bolstered by the win. It's good to see. "Come on," she breathes, taking his hand and dragging him back to her locker room while Tamina goes in a different direction to find something to eat at catering. He grins, struggling to keep up with her, but they both have to skid to a stop to keep from running into Ricardo, who is looking somewhat anxious and fiddling with a microphone.
"Ricardo? Where you going, man?" Mike asks him, squeezing AJ's hand when she grumbles slightly at being stopped.
"I've been requested to interview a couple of Superstars for the Mexican broadcast of Smackdown," Ricardo says, looking up at him. "I suppose... it's not a match, but it's something, si?"
"Right, man," Mike grins at him. "Go knock 'em dead." Ricardo nods and rushes off to do just that as Miz watches him with a small smirk before turning back to his girlfriend. "So..."
"So," she whispers, staring up at him.
"Does this mean what I think it does?"
She taps her fingers against her lips, nodding slowly. "I think so. We have the locker room all to ourselves for awhile."
"Well, then, what are we doing out here still?" he asks, laughing as she drags him the rest of the way inside, door clicking shut decisively behind them.
An hour later, Mike is back at it, wandering around and keeping an eye out, tapping his cell phone against his knuckles as he goes. He always feels a little tense when Del Rio and Ricardo are in the same building, but there's not much to do about it- as long as they work for the same company, this kind of thing will always happen. Until Alberto comes out with the truth and tells the ring announcer what he'd told Mike, all Miz feels comfortable doing is continue to protect him and hope that Del Rio sees the errors of his way sooner rather than later. Although with the holidays coming closer, not to mention TLC itself reminding all of them of the year prior when Alberto had begun to show how deep his friendship with Ricardo truly was, it gets harder and harder to keep this going. He wants it just to end already.
As if reading his mind, he hears Cole announce that Alberto will be in action next and he sneers, standing with his arms crossed over his chest as he watches and waits. It's a rematch against Kofi, which is almost funny in its stupidity, but yet... All Mike can think about is how, on Monday, when Del Rio had been so off-balanced, all too aware of what Kofi and his kicks can do to a man, especially one not quite 100%, Mike still carrying scars in proof of that. So, before he's even aware of what he's doing, he's off, running through the halls until he races past the gorilla, startling quite a few techs on his way to the ring, where he attacks Kofi, hitting a Skull Crushing Finale against the floor, smirking and laughing as he backtracks up the ramp, ignoring Del Rio's stare as he leaves, pleased with himself- partly for getting the upperhand against Kofi yet again, and partly for keeping Del Rio from doing something careless and risk injuring himself further.
Except that Alberto is fast too when he wants to be so Mike's only taken a few steps towards AJ's locker room, his phone back in his hand since he'd dropped it on the production table before running out there, when a bronze hand wraps around his forearm and spins him around, the Mexican aristocrat's face tense with displeasure. "What was that, perro? What made you think I needed your help?!"
"After Monday?!" he spits back, planting his hand on the older man's chest and pushing with all of his might, sneering when he staggers and glowers. "I'd say you needed it for a long damn time, but it's not like you listen to anyone, you stubborn ass-"
"Shut up, idiot, you know nothing-" Mike's in his face, about to retort heatedly, when his phone beeps and distracts both of them as Ricardo's twitter handle flashes on the screen, their eyes locked on the small device between them, angled just so so both can see it when Miz had stuck his hand in Alberto's face, pointing angrily at him. Mike reads the tweet quietly before holding it up so Del Rio can see the rest of it too, wondering if the former World champion is aware that the ring announcer isn't that far away, in AJ's locker room, waiting for the show to end so they can leave.
He reads it aloud, murmuring with a wistful smile on his face over Ricardo's opinion on Lilian Garcia's announcing skills. "Mi amigo," he breathes, shaking his head before looking Mike in the eye once more.
"Stop being an ass," he says slowly. "Tell him the truth. Don't you think he deserves that much?"
Alberto swallows and glances at the now-dark phone before turning sharply on his heel and walking away. Mike rolls his eyes again, unsurprised but disgusted nonetheless.
The Texas arena feels strange, an odd kind of tense energy in the air. It's more than the unification match, Miz thinks. He can't quite place his finger on it, which means he's not sure if it's good or bad. He watches as Ricardo grabs his bag out of the trunk, hoisting it over his shoulder before he joins him, AJ and Tamina by the building, all but bouncing on his heels as he looks forward to commentating at the Spanish table for the second pay per view in a row. Mike grins at his visible excitement, looking up at the building, trying to shake off the impression he still has. "Ready to go in?" he asks idly, leading the way to the entrance as AJ grips her title with one hand, squeezing his fingers with the other.
He had heard that Del Rio was going to be here as well, get re-evaluated by the trainer, despite not having a match on the card, not that that means much. After all, neither of them had had a match the year prior and still... As they walk towards the divas champion's locker room, his blue eyes wander over to rest on AJ and he ponders what exactly they would do if she should lose the belt- this locker room had been a relief in a number of ways to him. It had given Ricardo refuge, a place to go to avoid Alberto, or hide his identity easier whenever he was in his El Local garb. So many things could crash down around all of them should she lose...
He sighs, hugging her close as she glances up at him with a wary smile, Miz kissing her nose. "It'll be ok," he tells her softly. "I know you'll do great tonight. You always do, sweetheart."
She beams up at him and nods, looking bolstered by his confident words. "Thanks," she breathes, kissing him until the sound of ruffling papers attracts both of their attention and they look over to find Ricardo leaning over notes for commentary, fiddling with a pen while he mutters distractedly, poking his jaw anxiously with it. Mike chuckles warmly and pulls away from her with a soft smile, knowing that he should start to get ready as well for the long hours he'll spend on the panel, volleying thoughts and opinions back and forth with Mick Foley and Booker T.
Before the show starts, Mike changes into a bright red suit that he'd picked out specifically for the holiday season, laughing when Ricardo's eyes widen comically, the man stopping short while he adjusts the dark suit jacket that he has on over a dress shirt, looking Mike up and down. "Huh," he mutters without thinking.
"Huh to you too," Miz smirks, gripping his sleeves and adjusting them for the younger man. "There ya go," he says, smoothing his hands across his shoulders, helping the layered clothes lay better. "Ready to go show those Spanish commentary guys how it's done again?"
Ricardo laughs awkwardly and shrugs. "They're the ones who're teaching me."
Mike stares at him, pursing his lips. "Hey, man... I know I've apologized for this before, but... I really am sorry that everything went so badly when we were on Main Event's commentary team. It wasn't my intention for it all to end up that way."
The former ring announcer shakes his head, smiling wanly. "Don't worry about it, Mike. I think... we all end up where we need to be in the end, si? Main Event commentary wasn't a good fit for me, so it didn't work out. Don't dwell on it, we've moved far beyond that now."
Miz smiles down at him, relief warring with the guilt he still feels from all of that. "Good, man. I'm glad. Go have some fun tonight."
"Si, I will! You as well," he urges before collecting his papers and leaving the room, not wanting to risk being late.
Mike shakes his head with a sigh before, adjusting his own clothing quickly, he makes his way up to where the panelists for the night's show will be meeting. If he looks down towards the ring, he can see Ricardo at the commentary table and imagines that, should he look up just enough, Ricardo would see Mike too, which hopefully will be some comfort to him if he should start to flounder, which happens to the best of them, much less someone like Ricardo, who had only spoke now and again during his whole time in the WWE while working for Del Rio. It makes sense that he would just now start to find his own voice, now that he's working for no one.
Unfortunately Mike's abbreviated time on the panel goes by in a blink of an eye, Kofi Kingston storming into the glass partitioned room, getting into Miz's face before things turn physical, Booker and Mick needing to work to keep the two men apart. Finally Kofi leaves and Mike follows, stewing over it all. His time on the PPV panel is ruined now, grating at him.
To his relief, AJ's match is on early in the card so she leaves him in her locker room with a soft kiss before skipping to the ring with Tamina to face off against Natalya, the worries that he's sure she's feeling hidden behind dark, focused brown eyes. To his extreme relief, she manages to fight free against whatever the tough woman pulls, eventually dragging her into a roll up and retaining her title. She's laughing and skipping circles around Tamina when he sees her next and it makes him laugh too, especially when she snags his arm and drags him into the circle as well, Mike barely able to keep up with her.
All hilarity fades, however, when he's alerted that his match is next a little later. He pulls away from her with an apologetic smile before heading for the ring, shrugging out of the jacket he'd had designed just for PPV matches, nodding to Ricardo as he glances towards the announcers tables, handing off the article of clothing to a nearby tech who scurries off with it before the match could begin. They fight evenly outside for the bulk of the match, using whatever they can think of on the other until returning inside of the ring, Mike getting the wise idea to uncover the turnbuckle while keeping an eye out for an opportunity to send Kofi into it to finish things off. Except that it backfires, and he's sent into it instead, floundering and unable to move past the pain throbbing from his jaw to his forehead, too lost in the agony from the steel holding the ropes to the ringpost to notice that he's getting pinned, until the bell rings and he realizes. All of the wins, his advantage against Kofi, is lost in one fell swoop with this defeat.
He stumbles to the trainer's office, holding his face gingerly, and barely looks up when AJ joins him, settling against his side. She says nothing, leaning against him as the trainer concludes his examination of Mike's face, making sure nothing had been fractured by that hit. Thankfully nothing is wrong so they trudge back to her locker room, Miz wanting nothing more than to leave, but Ricardo still has to commentate a little longer, Mike not willing to leave him stranded at the arena and having to search for a ride. Although people seem to be generally more accepting of the younger man now that he's distanced from Del Rio, it still seems to be just asking for something to go wrong. So he waits and he watches with AJ and Tamina as the final match begins, Cena and Orton facing off to determine who will be the official WWE World Heavyweight Champion.
The match spills out to the desks and Mike's jaw tenses up, adding to his pain, as Cena Attitude Adjusts Orton through the Spanish announce table, Miz relieved only when he catches a glimpse of Ricardo, standing a few feet away from the shattered pieces of the commentary table, looking flustered and wide eyed but alright as he and the other two announcers venture closer to the wreckage of where they'd been sitting to finish their job. Once the PPV ends, they wait for Ricardo to rejoin them so they can leave, but he doesn't come. Instead, five minutes later, he texts Mike an odd, confusing text that simply says he's going to be a little longer with post-show stuff and will find a ride later, to go on ahead back to the hotel without him, and although its bizarreness niggles at Mike, he has a splitting headache that only seems to be getting worse with each inhale, and he can barely focus so he decides to let it go for now, urging AJ and Tamina to get their things so they can return to the hotel room and get some rest before they have to travel on to Raw in the morning.
Which, as it happens, is even more aggravating than TLC the night before. At least then Mike had had a match, but tonight the only thing he leaves the backstage area for is Orton's Championship Ceremony, as ordered by the Authority. Ricardo, who he hadn't seen or really heard from all day except for a text early this morning confirming he was fine, and he wait by the gorilla position, watching the other superstars filter by, when Miz glances over at the quiet young man, realizing that he's said precious little since they'd run into each other. "Hey, are you ok? You didn't come back to the hotel room last night, I was kinda starting to worry about you."
"Huh?" Ricardo looks up, an odd look in his eye. "Oh, si, I'm fine, Mike. It was just really late when I did make it back to the hotel and I didn't want to disturb you or AJ, or... Tamina..." He shudders before forcing a smile. "I've just been thinking..."
"Anything you need help with?" he wonders, a bit of unease trickling down his spine as he watches his friend struggle with whatever it is.
"Ah, no, gracias, Mike, it's nothing for you to worry about." His smile still looks fake, however, that gleam of uncertainty in his eye, and Mike watches him as, upon their joining the others, he gets swept up in a wave of Superstars and sent to the other side of the ramp, where he stands next to Zack Ryder while Mike ends up with Alicia Fox next to him, 3MB- 2MB?- behind him and Cena himself in front. He grimaces, already not liking this. He's not even sure where AJ's at, unable to see her over the others.
After Cena interrupts and convinces the Authority to give Daniel Bryan a chance against Orton, the whole thing comes to an end and Mike heads back, meeting up with AJ and Tamina finally, smiling down at the Diva's champion as she skips up to him, Alicia still lingering nearby. He's not sure why, and he doesn't really care, until she speaks up. "I'll see you later before that six Divas match, AJ."
"Mm hmm," the girl says, disinterested, as she stares at Mike, eyes gleaming in the overhead lights. She's just curled her fingers around Mike's, following him back to her locker room, when he glances over his shoulder and catches another strange, distracted look on Ricardo's face as he trails far behind them.
What is going on with you, man? he wonders, his worry only growing with each second. Which isn't good because he's running out of time to even try to find out, returning to California for a day before traveling out once more for Main Event. He had taken Morrison's words at Thanksgiving to heart about perhaps spending Christmas in California, and he doesn't want to do so without Ricardo or Alex, so he needs to make sure his house is decorated at least somewhat before he even attempts to invite them over. His travel schedule so ridiculous up to this point, he hadn't even had the time to seriously think about it.
Mike sighs, overwhelmed by it all, as he and Ricardo sit side by side and watch the six divas tag match awhile later, Ricardo fussing nonstop with his phone, as if expecting something. Finally, too anxious due to the match, and growing annoying with Ricardo's unceasing movement, Mike reaches over and cups his hands, starting at him. "Tell me what's going on with you, Ricardo. Now. Because, let me tell you, man, I've gotten to know you pretty well the last few months, and this isn't like you. We've always traveled and roomed together, and now you're mysteriously staying at the arena late, and not even letting me know that you're alright until I text you first. I'm not trying to smother you or anything, but yeah, I admit it, I'm kinda protective of you since everything that went down over the summer, and if you're in any kind of trouble-"
"I'm not," he breathes out, eyes lowered as Mike stares at him. "At least, I don't think so." When he finally looks back up, tears fill his eyes and Mike frowns at him, growing more and more worried. But before he could speak, Ricardo beats him to the punch. "Alberto told me everything last night."
He stares at him, gobsmacked. "Everything?"
"Everything." A couple of tears pour down Ricardo's face, neither man noticing as the diva's match ends in AJ's favor.
A/N: This will be explained further in BtB 180 next week, but it'll be gone into in depth in this weekend's EuM chapter 20, so if you're interested, be on the look out for that Sunday!