Mike stares at his email inbox, sighing vaguely. There's no notice about needing him to commentate, so he clicks the app off and lays back against the sand, somewhat glad for the reprieve. He supposes this means Alex will take the duties over for the week, which is just as well. He glances over when John rejoins him, dropping a bottle of coconut water onto his chest and sitting back down. Miz rolls his eyes and scoops the bottle up, shaking off some moisture clinging to the plastic from the cooler. "Thanks," he mutters, taking a sip.
"You're welcome," John says quietly, adjusting his sunglasses. Mike had just managed to pull him away from reading more scripts for upcoming roles in movies, but neither of them are all that talkative, minds far away- Mike with AJ, and John on all of his many projects. But the sun is nice and oftentimes, they're fine being in each other's presence without saying a whole lot. Not that it lasts long when Mike's at the top of his game, but sometimes.
As if to prove this, he rolls over onto his side a few minutes later and smirks over at his best friend. "Hey, Main Event should be coming on soon. Wanna go listen to A-Ri do commentary for an hour?"
John stares at him for a moment through the crystals on his glasses and shrugs. "Sure, why not. Can't be any worse than you, right?"
Mike glowers back as he sits up. "Oh, haha," he deadpans, throwing sand at his former tag partner. When John responds in kind, he sputters and coughs, shaking his head wildly. "Damn it, John!"
Morrison's laugh, when it comes, sounds oddly far away. "Last one to my apartment is buying supper!"
Mike groans, looking up to find he's already halfway to the building. No matter how fast he runs, he makes it there a full minute after John, glaring balefully at him. "Jerk," he breathes.
"How is it you're the one who's the active wrestler but I can still outrun you so thoroughly?" Morrison smirks, clapping him on the back as he tries not to fall over from oxygen deprivation. Mike doesn't even bother answering as he leads him to the couch and turns on ION Television, turning the volume up so they can hear. The first match is Del Rio vs R-Truth and they watch as the two men go back and forth, but their attention is distracted by Alex's not-so-subtly teasing digs against Mike, John's laughter at each one only adding to Miz's annoyance, the Most Must See Superstar kicking him half-heartedly.
As soon as Del Rio walks out the winner, the divas are shown in the backstage, bickering as they always do- worse since Total Divas became a thing... but Mike's only focus is on the fact that Tamina is in the midst of all this sans AJ. He bites his lip and wonders where she could possibly be. He watches closely until the backstage segment ends, expecting her to come out of nowhere and do, say something but nothing comes of it... until the match begins and AJ is with Tamina then, skipping down to commentary. Mike smiles slightly as Alex welcomes her to the table, leaning forward to collect his phone. He can feel John's curious eyes on him as he accesses his text screen, but he says nothing as he types.
A few moments later, John coughs as Alex tells the girl that she looks like she's glowing with the diva's title, glancing over at Mike. "You going to let him get away with that?" But the smirk on Mike's face tells him everything he needs to know, John shaking his head in some amusement. "That was you, huh?"
Mike grins. "Well, he has to make up for those disses somehow." They fall quiet as Natalya wins, not stopping AJ or Tamina as the two continue to beat her down until Naomi and Cameron run down and pull the save, running the Diva's champion and her enforcer out of the ring and up the ramp. Mike winces, observing the grim look on AJ's face as she stumbles away with Tamina. "Damn," he mumbles.
John clicks the TV off after they watch the 3MB match, turning to look at him. "I haven't been pushing you too much about what's been going on with AJ. But really, man. It's clear you still care about her, and I'm guessing vice versa, so what's the end game here? When is this going to be done?"
Mike sighs and rests his head on the back of the couch, turning lazily to look at him. "I'm not sure when it's going to be done, but I hope soon enough. I want to figure out who's been spreading these rumors. Someone's trying to get under AJ's skin, and I want to know who, so I can warn her who to keep an eye out for. It's the least I can do, since I only made the situation that much worse with my stupid comments..." He closes his eyes. "I just hope she'll be able to forgive me completely once I do, and things will be able to return to normal."
John claps him on the shoulder. "I'm sure she will, man. You'll just have to be patient."
He makes a face without opening his eyes, nose crinkling in distaste. "I hate being patient. But I know you're right. I waited a year for her, I can last a few more weeks."
"That's more like it," John murmurs, watching quietly as he falls asleep.
After a quiet weekend, Mike finds himself in Omaha for the week's Raw, glancing around the halls. There's a pensive, glum sense about the arena and he swallows, it only underlining his own displeasure with everything personal and professional that he's enduring. He's only just entered the main locker room when Ricardo appears in front of him, eyes wide and anxious. He frowns at him and drops his bag, reaching out to keep him from tripping over his own feet. "Hey, man, are you ok?" he asks, blinking in surprise when the younger man nods almost violently. "Then what's going on?"
"Alberto heard something," he mutters, casting a furtive glance around before snagging Mike by the sleeve and leading him to a quieter corner of the locker room where they can keep an eye on everyone and ensure that no one sneaks up on them. "There's going to be a new diva joining Total Divas in season two, Summer Rae." Miz isn't too surprised by this- the rumors had been circulating for awhile that the youngest, JoJo, would be replaced so she could train in NXT more regularly. "But apparently there's a good reason why Summer Rae was the one selected to be on the show," Ricardo continues to explain. "Naomi and the Bellas were talking about how she had told them something that they were using to their advantage... they didn't specify what, but Alberto could only think of one thing that would be that important to trade for a spot on the show."
Mike stares at him. "So Summer Rae may be the one who's spreading along this rumor about me and Maryse..." His eyes narrow as he digs his fingers into his palm, trying to breathe. "I see." It makes sense, she hadn't liked him since his temporary feud with Fandango last fall, the feeling had been more than mutual so why not use that as leverage to think up some deeply false rumor just to break him and AJ up and possibly leave her susceptible to a loss against one of the other Total Divas. He claps Ricardo on the shoulder. "Thanks for telling me, man. I'll figure out what to do with it and let you know if I need any help. Alright?"
"Of course, Mike. Whatever you need." They both glance at the others scattered around the locker room, relieved that everyone seems unaware of what they just discussed, before going their own ways, Ricardo heading off to find Alberto and Mike walking to gorilla to watch the show. It's frustrating, has been for a long time now, but just something about tonight- the stress of still being separated from AJ, the realization that Summer Rae perhaps was behind the rumor this whole time because of something he did months ago, his being stuck back here while guys like Titus O'Neil leaves their tag team partner bleeding and begging in the middle of the ring just to get rewarded with more TV time when every second of it is so precious, especially leading up to Wrestlemania, and he acts without thinking- marches out to commentary, takes a headset and lets his grievances be felt before storming backstage, where he collects his things and leaves, seeing no need to hang around when nothing's going to change whether he waits around or not.
He arrives back at the hotel in time to see the diva's match, but he pays little attention to the action in the ring, his prime focus being on the voice of his girlfriend on commentary, unable to stop the smile on his lips as something is said about Ziggler and AJ mutters that she's had more than enough of him. Upon Naomi winning, AJ gets off of the headset and stands, taunting Naomi with her title. Mike steps closer to the TV and ghosts his fingers against the screen, staring at her. Wishes he could actually feel her soft skin right now, instead of the cool, lifeless glass. "I promise, as soon as I figure out this Summer Rae thing, all of these lies will be over. I'll... I'll make it all up to you. If you'll let me." He shakes his head, wishing that he still had her bracelet, but understanding all too well why Ricardo has it. He had really lost it following the breakup, his hands still showing the slightly raw scars from it all. "I love you."
Turning the TV off as soon as she's gone, he turns to the desk and rests his hands on the surface, bracing himself for what's to come. It's time to end this all. It's time for action...