Mike's birthday plans are derailed further when he remembers they have to leave for the Maylasia tour after Main Event. AJ looks far from pleased as well as she kisses him while they wait in line, hands clasped tight to keep people in the terminal from jostling them away from each other. "So you're doing MizTV on Smackdown, hmm?" she asks him softly, leaning in close so he can hear her over the general noise surrounding them.
"Yeah, lucky me, Cena and Ambrose are my guests. You know, because we all tend to get along so well." He remembers the various beatdowns he'd suffered from The Shield, not to mention the off-and-on feud he'd had with Cena. She leans up on her tiptoes, kissing him softly, until he curls an arm around her and holds her closer, refusing to break the kiss even when their flight is announced for boarding on the intercoms. She finally giggles and squirms free, shaking her head at him as she tugs him towards their gate. He sighs and follows her obligingly, relieved that, if at least he has to spend his birthday flying overseas, she'll be with him.
The flight seems unending and although they try to sleep, it's difficult to relax and they mostly end up dozing, leaning against each other and talking faintly as the hours pass about nothing of real consequence. When they depart, they have media to do, sightseeing, the various things that overseas tours like this entail, and they do it with little grumbling or complaints, despite how boneweary they all are.
By the time Smackdown actually comes around, Mike is wired and AJ is cranky. Thankfully she has a match against Alicia, which seems to ease some of her tension, especially when she succeeds at evading a doubleteam attack by Alicia and Paige following her victory against Alex's girlfriend. She skips back into her locker room and rests in Mike's arms as they watch the rest of the show, waiting for MizTV, which is going to be the final segment of the show. Determined to be on point and make MizTV as compelling as possible, Mike leaves about twenty minutes before it, trying to think up the most hardhitting questions possible, anything to make Cena and Ambrose want to murder each other and prove that MizTV is indeed must see television.
He's on his way to the ring when Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley calls out to him, stopping him in his tracks. Although it'd been well over a year by now, every time he hears her voice, he can't help but remember being called nothing more than a utility player right in front of his parents. But he keeps his thoughts and misgivings to himself, turning to face her, and she actually seems cheerful. Perhaps seeing Kane destroy Adam Rose made her too happy to really care about what I'm up to, he thinks doubtfully. In fact, she has an interesting little tidbit for him and he nods eagerly as she gives him permission to announce it on his show. "Thanks," he says as she turns and walks away, still doing Adam Rose's ridiculous little dance. He takes a breath to steady himself, get away from those grim thoughts to do with his past involving The Authority, and heads for the ring.
Sandow had just competed and lost in the fifteen man tag team match, so Mike had granted him the rest of the night off so he could get examined by the trainer before the show ended and the arena cleared out of crew and competitor alike. I'm just a nice guy like that, he smirks, twirling the mic around as he waits for his guests to finally make their way to the ring. He picks at them both, he announces Stephanie's news that their match at Hell in a Cell would actually be a No Holds Barred, contract on a pole match, he tries to convince them to fight each other... does everything and anything he could think of to get them to turn on each other, but they instead turn their rage on him, beating him down. The last thing he remembers is Ambrose hooking his arms around him and slamming him into the ring, dazing him as darkness overwhelms his vision.
He moans and opens his eyes once things begin to quiet down around him, the trainer and referee trying to get him to roll out of the ring. He's just listened, heading for the apron, when he hears a familiar voice and pries his eyes open, staring ahead blankly as Mizdow reaches in for him and helps support him when he tries to get his feet under him and almost collapses. "What're you doing out here?" he slurs. "Gave you the rest of the night off..."
"I decided to ignore your suggestion," Mizdow says simply, glancing over when one of the referees takes up the slack by supporting Mike on the other side, to both of their relief. Between the three of them, they get backstage in one piece and help Mike to the trainer's, where he settles gingerly on the nearest cot and watches through half-lidded eyes as Jason examines him, checking for a concussion or anything else seriously wrong.
AJ finds them and curls up close to Mike in time to hear the typical recommendations, ice and pain killers and rest, that they all can recite a million times over. She leans over and kisses him softly before turning to look at Mizdow. "Thank you," is all she says to him, before cupping Mike's face and examining him. "Well, you look alright... ready to get out of here?"
He nods and she slides down so he can get to his feet, relieved that this time he maintains his own balance, although Mizdow remains close just in case. The three of them walk together to her locker room so they can get their things and go, AJ's arms wrapped snug around Mike's waist as he strokes his fingers through her hair.
-x
The flight back to America seems longer, even though this time their general exhaustion overwhelms everything else, AJ and Mike sleeping side by side until a flight attendent approaches them to put their seat belts on when they're about to land. Even being back in the states leaves them no time to rest, however, because it's Monday and Monday means Raw, which means another arena to drive to, another locker room to drop their things off at, another match board to examine and try to make sense of, and various backstage things to muddle through. Weak coffee from catering does none of them any favors and Alex smiles sympathetically at them all as they glare at him, too thrown by his well-rested happiness to even want to talk to him for very long.
"Sorry you lost, but hey, must've felt good to get back in the ring," Mike offers to him, raising an eyebrow as Alex obligingly pours more sugar in his cup, turning the dark coffee to a soft brown. "Didn't Morrison warn you about that?" he wonders, slurping it down anyway.
"I think you're too wiped out to get a good caffeine buzz going," Alex shrugs. "Besides, wouldn't want you falling asleep during your match with Sheamus later."
Mike groans and squints once more at the match board before laying the cup down and burying his face in his hands. "My poor, poor moneymaker... why do they do this to it every time...?"
Alex laughs faintly and pats Mike on the back, massaging between his shoulderblades. "Geez, man, no need to be so tense." Mike's groan this time, muffled, sounds a little less distressed so Alex continues applying pressure to his neck and shoulders, working out the kinks from the long flights and recent matches.
"Um, I guess I should be more careful of leaving you two alone together," AJ says suddenly, startling both of them. But when they look up at her, she's merely grinning around another mug of coffee, eyebrows raised at them. She settles in next to Mike and leans against his shoulder as his hand creeps along her side, resting snugly on her hip. "Yay, I get a tag match... with Layla... against the dream team of Alicia and Paige... lucky me..." She grumbles. "I don't play well with others."
"Hey, that's not true," Mike pouts. "You play quite well with me..."
She presses a finger to his lips and stares at him. "You're not others, though... you're my husband..." She replaces her finger with her lips and kisses him intently as Alex rolls his eyes skyward.
"It's been over six months and you guys still aren't out of your honeymoon phase?!" He laughs and ducks as Mike throws his styrofoam cup at his head.
-x
Alex escapes to the preshow panel set before AJ can do anything else to mortify him, Mike looking slightly flushed and almost considering bringing his makeup artist back as he examines his wild hair and lipgloss smeared face in the mirror, listening as AJ addresses her temporary partnership with Layla. She had been AJ's other bridesmaid, but Mike can't blame her for being hesitant, especially after how Alicia had handled that situation, despite how important the bond had been to AJ. Well, he corrects himself, how special it had been before Paige... before she'd lost her divas title...
Layla, however, doesn't play along. Adds to AJ's paranoia towards other divas, even those she'd thought were once close to her, and jumps off of the apron when AJ needs a tag. Nonetheless, AJ defeats Alicia, but she's not done yet, dashing out of the ring and chasing Layla down, sending her flying into the barricade walls and leaving her motionless on the floor. "You were my closest friend once!" she screams at her. "I selected you to be my bridesmaid!"
Mike meets her backstage and she's shaking, near tears, so he scoops her up and carries her carefully to her room, listening to her hitching breaths. "It's ok, sweetheart," he murmurs gently to her. "It's ok."
"I said- I know I said that I hated Layla less than the rest, but she knows me, she knows I didn't mean... it... it was just talk," she whispers to him as he settles down on the couch, her lithe form still curled up in his arms. "I didn't mean it... why do they all have to betray me? Memories of our wedding... they're all ruined now... because of them..."
He holds her, rocks her back and forth, kissing her forehead, her nose, her lips when he has an opportunity. "It's going to be ok," he says again and again, trying to sooth her. Keep her from shaking. She falls quiet eventually and he looks down to find she's asleep in his arms, tears staining her face. When Mizdow comes in to alert him that his match is next, he's relieved when she doesn't wake up, standing gingerly and settling her down on the couch. "I love you, sweetheart. And our wedding will never be ruined, because no matter what happens to our relationships with the others surrounding us then, that moment was always just yours and mine... ours..." He kneels for a moment, softly kissing her parted lips, before standing and looking at Mizdow. "C'mon."
He's distracted, he's not with it fully. Sheamus is an annoying opponent, with his rough offense that washes over everything like a flood of toxic water and is hard to find an escape from. But thanks to Mizdow, he eventually dives under the ring and out the other side, re-entering in time to win by countout. It's not great, it's not flawless, but he'll take it. He even throws an arm around Mizdow as they regroup on the ramp, sneering at Sheamus as he glares down at them.
He returns to AJ, smiling fondly when he finds she's still asleep, and leans down to lift her up once more, relieved when his knee only twitches a little, her light weight not enough to cause him more pain. Mizdow wanders around, collecting their things, and follows Mike out to the car, stuffing them all in the trunk before dropping into the driver's seat, Mike settling AJ in the backseat so she can sleep more comfortably. The drive is silent, as is the walk up to the hotel room, and Mike eases AJ's shoes off as he lays her on their bed, glancing over at Mizdow when he settles the bags down at the bottom of the beds. Since Alex and Alicia are now together all of the time, it'd been easy enough to decide to share their room with Mizdow, AJ agreeable to the idea after seeing how relieved Mike was at his presence.
Mike gets first turn in the bathroom, relieved to splash water over his face before he brushes his teeth and stares at himself in the mirror, sighing quietly. He looks exhausted, but tomorrow will be another busy day because he's requested time on Main Event... so there's no time to delay. He changes into more comfortable clothes and sinks into bed next to AJ, hugging her close to him. "'Night, Damien," he mumbles.
"... Goodnight, Mike," his stunt doubt responds, pausing in rustling through his bag to get clothes out.
Miz releases a soft sigh and snuggles closer to AJ, already fast asleep.
-x
Mike stares at the clock and frowns. "I don't know what to do," he mumbles, tapping his fingers against his arm. "Mizdow, what do you think we should do on MizTV tonight to get Sheamus' attention?" Mizdow looks lost too so Mike sighs. "I think I know... Though it's just asking for him to tease us about those not learning from history being doomed to repeat it..." He grabs his phone anyway and dials a familiar number.
"Hola?" Ricardo asks after a couple of rings.
"Hey," Mike greets him. "So, um, I'm trying to get a US title shot against Sheamus and I was wondering would you mind if we, uh, borrowed a little something from your bag of tricks?"
"... I'm not sure what to think about that," Ricardo says doubtfully. "What do you mean?"
"Do you think those items you used to imitate Sheamus is still somewhere in the WWE trucks?" he asks, raising his eyebrows as Mizdow pales. He puts his hand over the phone and examines him. "You don't need to be that convincing, Damien," he hisses at him before returning to his conversation with Ricardo. "Huh?"
"I... think so," he responds uncertainly. "What are you planning?"
"Well," Mike hesitates with a grudgingly kind of smile before explaining his thoughts.
"Oh boy," Ricardo can't help but say. "Yeah, um, you saw how well that ended for Del Rio and I, but ok. Good luck with that, Mike."
He smirks. "Thanks, man." He once more places his hand over the phone and looks at Mizdow. "He says go ahead... So go look for the stuff in the truck." He checks the clock as Mizdow leaves, relieved that they have a few hours before the show starts to get all of this stuff together.
It seems to take hours for Mizdow to finally return with the shirt, the arms, and the wig, but he accomplishes it and Mike grins, holding them up to Damien, nodding. As Mizdow goes to put the gear on, Miz heads out for MizTV and discusses Hell in a Cell and his goals to become champion. He eventually invites "Sheadow" out, smirking as Mizdow makes his way to the ring, pretending to be Sheamus down to his accent. It all goes by quickly, one minute Mike is smirking at Mizdow and the next, he's diving out of the ring as Sheamus himself comes out and brogue kicks Mizdow, Mike glaring into the ring at Sheamus as he hesitates, waiting for his Hell in a Cell opponent to leave so he has an opportunity to get Mizdow clear. "Dammit," he breathes. "Well, Ricardo tried to tell me... I should listen to him more..."
Mizdow is dazed for a long time after the brogue kick and Mike, guiding him up the ramp before the first match of the night begins, has a random memory of Ricardo after being brogue kicked years ago, the neck issues that he'd endured, so he walks a little faster, getting him to the trainer... but thankfully, Jason's thorough examination proves that there's no obvious neck issues. Mike breathes a little easier, staring down at his stunt double as he grips his throbbing head. "C'mon, let's get you back to the hotel. You can rest there." Their partnership hadn't been expected, far from it, but as time passes, he finds himself looking forward to seeing what ridiculous stuff Mizdow will do next, and slowly Mike realizes he's coming to think of Mizdow as a friend. I guess it makes sense, he decides. Not that I'm much better with friends than AJ is, but... I guess I can try...