A/N: There's supposed to be a bonus chapter with this one, but it's not finished yet. I promise to have it up tonight or tomorrow, though.
And guest, thanks for the suggestion but while AJ's still on WWE's roster, and scheduled to come back whenever, I can't do it. I'd have to think fast if she was pregnant in the fic and then returned to WWE a week later. It's just not feasible, but some day in the distant future, maybe. Even so, I'm happy you like BtB and thank you.
Alex Riley stands against the railing of the arena stairs leading up to the entrance, looking over the grounds. They're shadowy and a little spooky and they match his mood perfectly. Ricardo hadn't come to the event this week, prefering to stay close to the training facilities and Del Rio and... whatever else. Their friendship hadn't been the same, not since his tweet to Colter. And he understands, on some level. The man had been partially responsible for Swagger breaking Ricardo's ankle and tormenting him and Del Rio for months afterwards, but still. Ricardo had been as desperate as Alex for a chance in this business, it had been part of the reason they bonded so easily as roommates... Though, he has to think grimly, the worst thing Ricardo has ever done to try to get a foothold in the business was work with 3MB, despite what they had done to mock him and the Spanish announce table almost two years ago.
He sighs loudly, closing his eyes, when a voice breaks into his glum recollections. "You sound about as happy as I feel." He jerks and turns, surprised to find Alicia Fox standing a couple feet away, staring out at the grass as well. "Bad night?"
"Month, year..." He chuckles derisively as she nods, pressing her hands together and then separating them, fiddling with JBL's cowboy hat. "What's going on with you? I haven't really seen you since Mike and AJ's wedding."
Alicia makes a hand-flapping gesture that he can't decipher before sighing herself. "Raw isn't the same without her," she admits. "Have you heard anything... about how she's doing? Tamina's been more tight-lipped than usual."
Alex turns to face her, resting an elbow on the warm steel railing. "She's ok. Enjoying her time off, you know. I guess Mike's about done filming Marine 4, and then they'll probably be back on the road with us." Alicia nods faintly, staring back at him. "That's good news, right?" She nods again, the wind whipping through her hair and throwing it into her eyes about as bad as it had been during her match against Paige earlier. He smiles and inches forward, brushing it back and tucking some of it behind her ear, his fingers resting against her warm, soft skin. They both pause and look at each other, remembering how it had felt, dancing at the wedding, pressed close during the slow dances and laughing during the faster ones. For a brief while, nothing else had mattered. The eyes of their friends on them had seemed inconsequential.
This more than anything draws them to each other now, wanting to feel that. That calm, subtle relief that here, at least, they are safe, understood. Alex rests his fingers against her cheek, cupping her jaw as she stares at him, a fire in her dark eyes that he'd seen the night of the wedding and hadn't acted on because, in the end, it was his best friend's event and, no matter how much the molten hot blood pounding in his veins demanded he do so, he hadn't acted on the impulses he'd felt that night, not wanting to take any of the focus away from Mike and AJ's happiness. But he's alone here tonight, there's nothing to stop him, and she seems to want it just as bad. What he had thought was just a missed opportunity one night long ago flares anew between them as she lightly rubs circles into his back, slipping her fingers under his shirt. They both shiver at the skin on skin contact and he can't take it anymore, leaning in and seizing her lips. Alicia quickly melts into him like this is something she's been waiting her entire life for as well, and he groans, unable to control the long ignored desire filling his veins, his flesh, his bones.
His hands digging into her shoulders, he leads her backwards and presses her into the wall, their bodies held flush against each other, somehow more intimate than the night they'd danced together for hours. She moans into his mouth and he smirks, unrestrained and more feral than he'd felt in a long time, since perhaps his last match before all of his injuries, when he could give it his all, not hold back and try to be careful to avoid more rehab. His fingernails scrape against the hard concrete wall as she pants, gripping his back as he trails kisses down her throat to her chest, her ring gear just skimpy enough that he can take his time without having to move clothing or whatever else that he's blanking on having to do at the moment to continue this moment unhindered.
"Wait, wait," she mutters, pushing him back. As he looks up at her, confused and disappointed, she giggles and kneels down, cupping his face to kiss his lips, this too heating up quickly and leaving them nearly back at stage one as he presses into her once more, his body rigid against hers. She pants and struggles to keep her head on straight while his hands roam, lips unable to move from her own, almost giving into him anew when footsteps nearby remind her. She pushes him back once more before trying to adjust her gear, her hair, whatever else she can as whoever it is enters the building. She turns back to Alex and stares at him, desperate to feel him, hear him, taste him once more... but first. "The hotel, ok? We'll meet back there, and... and figure this out. Alright? That way, we'll have privacy and... and no one will interrupt." She's blushing, she can feel it, pretty sure he can too, but there's no stopping this now. She's in too deep, she wants it too much, and she can tell by the way he's looking at her that he's feeling the exact same way.
"Alright," he says lowly. "See you there in fifteen minutes."
She watches as he walks away slowly, even those few steps away from her into the building looking like torture. She turns to collect her thoughts, catch her breath, take a minute to calm down before returning to the arena as well. A wide smile overwhelms her as she giggles, briefly forgetting the frustration that had been welling up within her due to her career for the last few months. "Hmm," she murmurs, twirling the cowboy hat between her hands.
Mike sighs and looks to his left as AJ rolls over, a book in hand. His latest day off had been spent with her on the balcony of their hotel room, reading or dozing, lazy under the warm afternoon sun. She seems to have finally tired of her book, laying it down and resting her head against his chest as he runs his fingers through her sun-kissed hair. "Hey."
"Hey," she murmurs against his skin with a soft smile. "Is it about time?"
Mike blinks and checks the clock on his phone, nodding slowly. "Yep." Scooping his laptop up from the doorway, he sits up and drags her with him, the two of them watching as Skype loads. Morrison is already online, waiting for them, and AJ stares at the screen intently as it shows a slightly grainy version of Mike's living room, her eyes widening when she sees stacks of boxes behind the former WWE superstar, Miz's hand warm between her shoulderblades. "Hey, John."
"Hey, I was starting to think you'd forgotten about me," John says, staring down at the screen with an overexaggerated glower. He smirks a second later, however, unable to keep the facade going in the face of his best friend's incredulous glance. "AJ, it looks like everything on the list you emailed me is here. And all of the boxes look to be intact, so it seems you found the rarely decent cross-country moving company." As he talks, he walks the laptop in a circle, showing the entire room and its contents to them. "They're all here, waiting for you to come back and unpack them."
"Great," she breathes, eyes shining as she absorbs all of her things in Mike's home, it all seeming so natural even now, with everything still stuck in cardboard boxes. "I can't wait..."
John laughs. "Your home will never be just yours ever again, Mike."
"That's more than fine," he mutters, kissing the side of AJ's head as she grins, wrapping an arm around his midsection, both of them ignoring Morrison's gagging noises.
"Anyway," the Shaman of Sexy says. "How's the movie coming? You should be about finished filming, right? I read you're going to be on the European tour this coming week?"
The smile slips from AJ's face as she clings to Mike a little tighter, his nod short. They had yet to discuss her return to WWE, but he has a feeling that she's not quite ready for that yet. "Yeah, I'm returning for Raw in London." The two best friends talk for awhile longer before John catches that AJ's far away, her face buried in Mike's neck, and Miz himself is distracted, so he kindly lets them go to lock the house back up and return to his own apartment to relax for awhile, before being called away for his next project.
"I don't want you to go," AJ tells him as soon as he shuts the laptop and puts it back down, cupping her face and making her look at him.
"I don't want to either, alone, but if you're not ready to face WWE yet, I understand," he tells her softly. "But I promised I'd return as soon as filming Marine 4 was done, and people are depending on me..."
"For what, nothing more than media and promotional work and-" AJ gasps and claps a hand over her mouth, the angry words spilling from her lips surprising even her. "I'm sorry, I- I didn't mean..." He squeezes her back, his eyes grim as she continues trying to stammer out apologies, tears filling her eyes.
"Stop it," he mutters, hating seeing her cry, no matter the cause. Wiping the wet trails off of her face, he leans in and kisses her. "I'll miss you too. And I'll spend a couple of days with you in California before I have to fly out to London, I promise. After all, I want to properly welcome you to our home." He smiles down at her as she sniffs and kisses him back, still feeling guilty for throwing that in his face, after everything Stephanie McMahon had said the year prior about his being a utility player and nothing more.
"It was that obvious I'm not returning to WWE with you, huh?" she whispers, pressing her hands to his face as he lays her down on the balcony floor and hovers over her, gently brushing the hair out of her eyes.
"I like to think I know you pretty well by now," he responds, taking her in as he rests a hand lightly on her stomach, feeling each breath shuddering through her thin frame. "It was pretty clear you're not ready yet, and I understand. You deserve the rest, and if Vancouver this last month wasn't enough for you, then at least I can come home to you every few days in LA and we can spend the day doing whatever we may feel like..." She giggles faintly as he nuzzles into her neck, kissing her softly. "But first, we have a few days here to finish up, and then... there's the wrap party on Thursday..." He pulls up to look at her with so much love and devotion in his gaze that it almost hurts, AJ so unused to such sincere emotions being only for her- still getting used to it, even with him, after so long. "Then we'll go home, alright?"
She feels a slight rush of annoyance at having to go to the party with him, once more having to subject herself to Summer Rae's lunacy, but as his hands trail gently against her, her eyes flutter and she nods, needing him to keep looking at her in exactly that way, like she's the only person in the entire world who matters right now... "Yes, home," she breathes into his mouth, her fingers wrapping around the balustrade behind them in an attempt to keep herself grounded while he stares deep into her eyes, slowly overwhelming her with a flood of emotions and sensations. "I love you so much."
"I love you too," he whispers against her skin, smiling.
Alex meets up with Alicia in the main lobby of the hotel, taking her in for a quiet moment, how she's still wearing JBL's hat. A flowy cream shirt and jeans with simple sandals that match her shirt round off her outfit and he finds that he likes it, remembering just how good she'd looked in that cream dress while AJ's bridesmaid. He smiles sheepishly and reaches out for her hand, fingers instinctively curling around hers as she meets him halfway. They walk side by side to the elevator and he presses the button to his floor, an almost awkward silence filling the enclosed space until it beeps to announce their arrival, Alex leading her down the hall to his room.
As soon as they enter, she stands by the desk and watches him wandering around, dropping his bag by the bed. "Here," he whispers, taking hers as well and resting it next to his. She flips her hair over her shoulder as he walks back to her, resting a hand on her arm and leaning in to lightly kiss her. She responds as subtly, the two of them somehow much more shy, careful, now that they're alone and he sighs, smiling as he pulls away. "We don't need to-" Before he can finish trying to make her comfortable, ease some of the awkwardness from the moment, his phone beeps and he looks down at it, startled.
"You can check, I don't mind," she tells him quietly before walking over to the bed and sitting down on it, crossing her legs at the knee as she leans back on her elbows to watch him. He mutters something and pulls his phone out, staring at the screen quietly. She can't see his face but it's clear when his shoulders tense up that whatever it is isn't pleasant for whatever reason. "What is it?"
He turns back to her and swallows, taking in how she looks so at ease sprawled out on his bed. "Um, you know Ricardo Rodriguez?" She nods and he stares back at his screen. "He just tweeted something and it just made me think..." She appears confused, dark eyes locked on him, and he tries to explain. "I, I messed up not that long ago and our friendship's been... strained since. Now he's actually getting a real opportunity in this business and... I guess I'm not handling it that well. He deserves this, he does. I just wish it were me. I should be in that ring, competing and everything, not sitting on some pre-show week after week, analyzing things..." He sighs and sits down next to her, scrubbing his fingers through his hair. "I miss how things used to be..."
Her nails lightly scratch at his scalp, surprising him, and he turns to face her as she sits up and leans closer to him. "It's the unfortunate downfall of this business... We've all gone through it at least once... I do hope things turn around for you soon, but for now... maybe I can distract you for a little while," she suggests, once more capturing his lips as she rubs her hand up his back and draws him closer to her. He groans against her and she chuckles softly, pressing into him as he buries his fingers in her hair, knocking the hat askew before laying her back on top of it, far from caring about its fate or what JBL would say.