"I'm not looking forward to this," Mike admits grimly. AJ strokes his side and looks up at him, compassion in her deep brown eyes. "The moneymaker, AJ, won't they think of the moneymaker?" She can't help but giggle at this and he rolls hie eyes, tickling her until she squirms and dissolves into a gasping kind of laugh, desperately trying to break loose from his grip but he pins her to the couch, holding her in place as his fingers roam across her tanned body, finding all of her most ticklish areas as she arches up against him, his hands slowing when she hiccups and squirms around under him, trying to catch her breath. She freezes, however, when his eyes, dark and focused, rest on her, the two of them suddenly realizing the position they're in, a faint little smirk crossing her face before he leans in and kisses her, still pressing her into the soft cushions. She sighs into his mouth and whimpers as his hands explore a little less randomly this time, nuzzling into his neck as he kisses along her throat, teasing her until she digs her knees into his hips, Mike's eyes rolling up to meet hers. "I love you," he whispers huskily.
"I love you too," she breathes back, cupping his face and stalling everything for a moment as she strokes his skin. "I understand why you're worried... but I have no doubt you and the moneymaker will walk out unscathed. After all, I gave you that show and if Roman Reigns is too much of a hassle, you can always ban him from it..." Mike stares down at her as she smiles, a mischevious gleam in her eye.
"I like the way you think," he tells her, leaning in to kiss her again as her hands trail down his arms, clinging to his biceps when he sits up and brings her with him, AJ sighing when he whispers his appreciation for the idea against her flushed skin.
Alas his worries are founded, Mike flailing out of the ring after Roman punched him when he wouldn't stop talking over him. Sort of asked for that one, I guess, he thinks grimly, gripping his face the entire way up the ramp. Nonetheless, he's angry and he wants something done about the former Shield member's actions. AJ greets him with tsking kisses and an ice pack for his cheek, which fills him with a whole new level of affection for his bride, before he takes leave of her to go search for a member of the Authority, at least try what AJ had suggested. Just his luck, the only person he can find easily is Kane, so he has little choice but to go up to AJ's ex and try to convince him to keep Roman off of MizTV from now on.
But it backfires, Kane instead places Mike in a match against Roman and all Miz can do is watch as the former demon walks off, his eyes widening as his words register with the man. "No, no," he mumbles. "Dammit!" Slinging the ice pack down the hall, he listens as it impacts with something, people nearby exclaiming in fright and uncertainty, before turning sharply on his heel and making his way back down to AJ's locker room, his teeth gritting as he walks by the empty Intercontinental champion locker room, kicking at the door viciously.
She meets him at the door to her room, cupping his face and examining the faint bruise on his cheek, murmuring soothingly and asking where his ice pack went, until he lifts her up and carries her the rest of the way inside, their titles dropping haphazardly to the floor as he presses her into the wall and buries his face in her neck, blocking out the rest of the world in her warmth. She holds him, stroking his neck, until she has to leave for her rematch against Eva, kissing his mouth lightly when he mutedly settles her back down on the ground. "I'll be back as soon as I can, ok?"
He nods and watches as she goes, grimly collecting his title belt and settling down on the couch to watch as she faces off with Eva Marie once more. The match has only just begun when Paige interrupts again, skipping around the ring until AJ greets her on the other side, diving into her and attacking her. This backfires, however, as AJ once more loses via count-out due to it, Eva looking as shocked as the rest of them. Paige gets the last laugh, however, as she leaves AJ laying afterwards, laughing and yelling at AJ about how she still considers her her best friend and other nonsense like that. Mike makes his way to the titantron as she's helped backstage and he takes her from the referee in charge of the match, relieved that Paige has left the immediate area. He strokes AJ's hair and kisses her nose, walking her back to her locker room before settling her down on the couch that he'd just left a couple of minutes earlier. He kneels down in front of her, hands resting on her legs as he looks up at her. "Are you gonna be ok while I wrestle this match?"
"Yes," she whispers, looking more worried than injured. "You be careful, alright?" She leans down and lightly kisses along his forehead, the bridge of his nose, his cheeks, finishing with his jaw before sealing her lips over his. "Take care of yourself, and the moneymaker."
"That's the plan, sweetheart." He kisses her once more for good measure before getting to his feet and leaving, his shoulders held rigidly as he walks down the hall towards the gorilla. He hadn't wanted this match, but alas, here we are. He does the best that he can against Roman's strength but, with the awareness of his Intercontinental title match this Sunday, the last thing he wants is to risk serious injury, so he tries to bail at one point but Dolph Ziggler himself interrupts- which really isn't fair because Miz hadn't even said a word during his match earlier in the card- and blocks his escape, leaving him vulnerable to Roman's attack, his superman punch, and the pinfall loss.
He doesn't remember making his way backstage, only just coming to in the trainer's office, AJ softly stroking his temples and humming to him softly. Their eyes lock and she stops abruptly, settling down against his chest. "I don't have a good feeling about Sunday," he mutters to her.
She swallows and shakes her head, lacing her fingers with his. "I don't either," she admits faintly. He squeezes her fingers and sighs.
-x
It's pretty much what they fear. In back to back matches, starting off the PPV no less, Mike loses his Intercontinental title to Dolph, and AJ loses her Divas title to Paige. However, whereas Mike is stinging from his loss as soon as he's aware enough to know what happened, AJ doesn't seem to mind her loss. Not as bad as she did the first time it'd happened, anyway. She's once more settled against Mike in the trainer's office, reading results of AAA's Triplemania and what's going on with Del Rio, when he shifts against her, staring moodily at the ceiling. "Why am I more bothered by you losing than you are?"
She frowns and sits up, staring into his eyes. "I wouldn't say that I'm not... upset," she hedges lowly. "It's just... I've lost it before, and it nearly broke me inside. That one moment I had it, and the next I didn't. But this time I...suspected it was a possibility. Just because I'm not... as angry or hurt about it doesn't mean that I don't intend to fight my hardest to get it back. It's my belt and a few times where Paige has a better night than I do doesn't mean that I don't intend on reclaiming it. Just like I doubt you're not going to do your damnedest to reclaim your title belt. Besides..." She cups his face and kisses him, smiling softly. "You distracted me from everything when it first happened, and I intend on helping you through your loss the same way. We're a team and we're not about to let Paige or Ziggler or anyone else take away our happiness for too long."
He smiles up at her, some life returning to his eyes. "Now that you mention it..." His fingers trail over her hand, teasing her palm before he presses a kiss against the cool metal of her wedding band. "You're right, no one will take my happiness away, because you are it, sweetheart."
"So sappy," she teases him, but kisses him nonetheless, sighing into his mouth as he presses her closer, neither of them caring that they're in a cot in the open. "We really need our locker rooms back," she grumbles when the trainer does interrupt, however. He laughs into her mouth, nodding.
-x
Mike hadn't really spent much time in his Intercontinental champion locker room. He'd given it to Del Rio for awhile, spent most of his time in AJ's locker room, but now... it's Dolph's and he stews at the door, staring down at the light shining out of it. On top of that, random WHOOs keep issuing from the room, adding to his displeasure, so eventually he storms inside, unsurprised to find both Dolph and Ric Flair inside. Ziggler's ridiculous insults are easily ignored and Mike lets him know simply that the Intercontinental title belt would be coming home tonight, since he'd been granted his rematch.
He's all keyed up afterwards, pacing back and forth in the locker room, ignoring everyone around him as he watches AJ interrupt Paige's match against Natalya. She distracts her enough that she costs her the match, then dedicates her life to the dark haired diva as Paige fails to regroup. Mike does have to laugh at this, slipping out into the hallway to greet his wife before she can disappear into the divas locker room, a sharp longing for their private locker room once more eating away at him. He catches her just in time and she hops up into his arms, generously kissing him as he splays his hand across her back, holding her in place. "Now, han- hang on a sec-" he continues trying to talk as she attacks his mouth with rapid fire kisses, overwhelming him until he can barely breathe, much less speak. Finally she slows down and rests against him in a slow, deep kiss that is more to his preference, his hand kneading her flesh. "AJ,' he breathes into her, pulling away after a long, mind-breaking moment and pressing his forehead against hers, both of their eyes closed as they find their way back to earth. "What's this about you dedicating your life to someone else? Ricardo's girlfriend, no less? Something you need to tell me?"
She giggles softly, shaking her head. When he opens his eyes, brown meets blue, AJ's eyes soft and centered only on him. "No... I'm dedicated to destroying Paige's world... I'm dedicated to loving you and enrinching yours, there's a difference."
"Now who's being sappy?" he teases, once more tickling her as she gasps and alternatively clings to him and squirms, not wanting to fall but also trying to avoid his fingers.
"You bring it out in me," she admits, distracting his prodding fingers with another all-encompassing kiss. When it's time for Mike to have his rematch, she leads him to gorilla and hesitantly lets him go, smiling confidently when he glances back at her before breaking through the curtains to make his way to ringside.
He tries, good God does he try, targetting Ziggler's leg, doing everything he can to further the damage he'd caused the night before, but it's not enough. This match also ends in an count out, the win going to him but the title remaining with Dolph, and he seethes, trying to heap on more damage to Dolph, but it doesn't work. Even with the bum leg, Ziggler gets the upperhand and hits the Zigzag on Mike, leaving him laying once more on the mat. He fights off referees, ignoring their attempts at helping him, relieved to find AJ waiting for him. He leans into her, still a little dizzy from Ziggler's damn move, and she strokes his sweaty hair, the worry in her gaze once more all for him.
"Let's get out of here," she urges him. His nod is all the encouragement she needs as she slips her hand down his arm, curling her fingers around his and leading him towards the locker room to get his things, get him dressed so they can leave. Others may fuss and complain about a diva being in their locker room but he looks so exhausted and beaten right now that she doesn't really give a damn either way. Her husband needs her and that's where she's going to be.