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After a long week of filming, where AJ sees less and less of Mike, the shootings starting earlier or ending later than usual almost every day, they're both relieved when he gets a day off that weekend, asleep as soon as he collapses next to her on the bed. She turns and stares at him, smiling sympathetically as he breathes heavily into the pillow, completely worn out. "Poor baby." She strokes his hair, smiling when even this isn't enough to revive him, leaning over to kiss his shoulder. "We'll take it easy tomorrow, I promise." Resting against his back, she listens to his heart beating before drifting off to sleep as well, his exhales and inhales soothing to her.
The next day is beautiful, sunny and warm, but she has no inclination of going outside. She'd had plenty of Vancouver tourist attractions for now. With slightly over two more weeks of this ahead, she's more than content to spend this day in the hotel room with her husband, watching movies, eating room service, and not walking all over town for a few hours. Besides that, she'd recently realized that the following day is Alex's birthday and she's all too aware of how Mike hates to miss people's birthdays. Not to mention how much he misses his friends, so after a few quiet hours spent in each other's arms, reading or watching whatever half-way decent shows they can find on a Sunday afternoon, she tugs herself free from his resisting grip and digs around in one of the bags before pulling out his laptop case with a small smile.
He watches her closely as she lays it on the edge of the bed and boots it up, typing for a few moments before returning to his side, resting it in their laps. "Whatcha doing?"
She beams up at him, kissing him on the lips. "Take a look and see, Mike." He sighs and looks at the laptop, his lips immediately twitching into a smile. "Some people wanted to say hi for some reason." She leans against his arm and stares at the Skype screen cut in half, with Alex and Ricardo on one side and Morrison on the other. Polar opposites of their backdrop- which is the slightly faded beige wall behind them-, both screens show a beach, with the soft sounds of water lapping against the sand, one from California, and one from Florida. The newlyweds are both thrown by just how badly they miss sitting in the warm sun, enjoying that sound firsthand.
He grins into the screen and shakes his head. "Well, well, look who it is," he tells them with a smirk. "Missed me, boys?"
"Eh," John shrugs in a noncommital fashion as Alex laughs, Ricardo smiling next to him.
All hilarity ends, however, when Mike actually, really looks at Alex. "Um, what happened to you?" Webcam images of people aren't always very clear, but still. It'd be nearly impossible to miss the scattered bruises along his face, not to mention the scabbed over split on his lip. AJ peers closer too, her eyes widening slightly when she notices it as well.
Alex coughs awkwardly and Ricardo stares down at his hands, Mike's former NXT rookie shaking his head. "It, uh. I guess it was deserved, Mike. Del Rio got his hands on me on account of the tweets I'm sure you saw a couple weeks ago..."
"Oh." An awkward pause lingers until Mike finds his voice again. "I see. Right." He wants to say something but he's not sure what- his longterm issues with Alberto war with his own annoyance at Alex's tweets, unable to help thinking that the younger man had gotten what he had deserved. But it had happened, and the situation seems to be over for now, so. Not wanting to rub salt in the still very blatant wounds, he moves on from it. "Anyway, I'm guessing this was set up partially because it's someone's birthday tomorrow." He grins as some of the tension eases away from the others, squeezing AJ's shoulder. "Happy early birthday, man. Sorry I couldn't be there, but hey it's the digital age, huh? What's the point of it if we don't have a bit of a digital party now and again."
Alex laughs. "Sure, Mike. You just schedule these movies so you miss these things."
Mike shrugs. "What can I say, it's not easy being the Most Must See Superstar, but when you're so desperatedly needed everywhere like I am..." He smirks. "I'll bring you back something nice from Vancouver to ease the sting of not getting to share your cake with me."
"You mean actually being able to have more than a slice of my own cake?" Alex teases back, adjusting the computer so that the other three can see the chocolate cake itself, in a plastic container resting nearby just waiting to be consumed.
Mike groans at the sight of it, glaring playfully at his friend. "Dammit, Alex, you tease." AJ smiles against his arm as his friends laugh and mock him, the group of them slipping back to their usual ease with each other as Ricardo tells them all about his upcoming tag team with an NXT superstar known as Kalisto, Miz listening to him but watching Alex closely as his smile fades, grows more than a little strained. He thinks Morrison observes this sudden change too, despite Ricardo's obliviousness in the midst of his excitement at getting to compete for the first time in a few months, but neither of them say anything except to congratulate the younger man. John talks then about his movie endeavors, and Miz tells them some about Marine 4, but it's clear that Alex isn't fully focused on them, his bruised lips twisted into almost a scowl.
It's not long afterwards that Alex suggests they go now so they can eat the cake and enjoy the rest of the evening, Ricardo looking surprised but agreeing, clearly trying to do whatever Alex wants on his birthday. Mike frowns but lets it go for now as Alex stares into the monitor, the displeasure on his face even more blatant the closer he gets. "Bye guys. Thanks for the webchat, it was fun. See you soon, Mike."
"Bye, Alex, Ricardo," John and Mike echo.
"Bye," Ricardo calls out just before their screen goes black, the two former tag champions exchanging wary glances. Alex had always been supportive of Mike, of Ricardo, of everyone around him, really. But Mike is all too aware what delayed success in the WWE can bring out in anyone, especially after such a promising beginning.
Sadly, there's nothing he can do from here to make things easier for his former protege. It leaves him guilty and more than a little worried for what might go down in the weeks that are still to come, but for now... "I'll talk to you soon, John."
"Yep, see you, man."
They click off their Skype chats at the same time and Mike lays the laptop on the table before rolling over to hover above AJ as she peers up at him, eyes shining in the soft lamplight. "So," he mutters. "Did you help set that up?" She nods and he hums, framing her face with his hands before he kisses her on the mouth lightly, pulling away before she can respond. As she pouts up at him, he rubs his nose against hers and laughs when she grows even more annoyed, finally giving her a proper kiss. "Thank you."
A little later, they walk hand in hand to a restaurant he had frequented every time he'd been filming in Vancouver that's not far from the hotel, AJ smiling as he pulls a chair out for her, taking the seat across from her. Their hands naturally gravitate back towards each other, his fingers brushing against her knuckles as the waitress comes and goes with their drink order, Mike barely able to take his eyes off of her... even when plates of large slices of cake appears before them, Mike blinking in surprise even as his wife thanks the waitress, who bustles off once more. "AJ..."
"I know you were mostly teasing Alex," she says simply, poking at the cake with her fork and licking some of the frosting off of its prongs, "and I know this isn't actually the same as being with him on his birthday, but I figured it'd be better than nothing, so I ordered ahead." She smiles at him, suddenly looking a little vulnerable. "A backwards meal, with dessert first. My parents used to do this for me, when things were..." She coughs, not wanting to remember those days of hardship from her childhood, not right now. "When I was sad. It made me forget for a few minutes, at least, so I thought we could try the same thing."
He squeezes her hand and leans over, cupping her face and drawing her closer. "I love this. I love you," he whispers vehemently. "It's amazing, thank you, sweetheart." She murmurs against his lips as he kisses her deeply, tasting the chocolate on her lips and smirking as he lightly rests his hand on her side.
"I love you too," she breathes out when he finally allows some space between them, her eyes sparkling in the faint light of the restaurant.