John watches Sexy Star's intergender tag match with Fenix against Pentagon Jr and Chavo Guerrero, relieved when she walks out with her head held high, though she's clearly frustrated at not getting revenge against the third generation competitor. "You alright?" he asks her, empathizing. After weeks of getting manhandled by Ryck and Cueto's other henchmen, he feels like he's been doing nothing but banging his head against a brick wall as well. But he now has Cueto's key, and he hopes it'll be enough to get the fair opportunity that he deserves at the money he'd been all but promised in his very first week competing here.
"Yes," she says grimly, her eyes ablaze behind her mask. She takes a breath and releases it heavily, peering up at him. "Be careful next week, Mundo."
He grins at her, shaking his head. "Don't worry about me, Star. I'm good." He dangles Cueto's key in front of her, watching her eyes trace left to right, following its motion, before he puts it back around his neck. He's just turned towards the locker room when something warm and strong wraps around his hand, keeping him in place. He turns to look at Star, who looks a little surprised at her own impulse. He smiles at her and squeezes her fingers, toying with the key with his free hand before smirking, following her back towards the locker rooms so they can get changed and leave.
He's almost out of the temple when he spots someone a few feet away, lost in conversation with a bored looking Vampiro. "Hey, Striker," he calls out, turning back around and walking back towards him, staring down at him as he adjusts his jacket and the shirt underneath it.
"What are you doing, John?" he asks, voice slightly tense as he watches John's brisk movements.
"Just a suggestion," he says quietly, tugging a bit on Matt's collar. "The next time you want to make a list, how about you leave Miz off of it, yeah?" He smirks. "I may be busy with Cueto's goons and getting what I rightly deserve, but I haven't forgotten who my real friends in this business are either." He looks up, locking eyes with Striker. "We understand each other, amigo?"
Matt swallows and seems relieved when Morrison steps back, releasing him abruptly. "Yes. Perfectly," he says through numb lips. "Amigo..."
"Thought so," he comments with a smirk, turning and continuing along his way to the exit, his hands lost deep in the pockets of his pants, still as confident as ever. He has no doubt that the ladder match will go his way, and he'll be celebrating Christmas with his bank account a little more full.
-x
"So if you were going to apologize to a diva, how would you go about it?" Mike murmurs into AJ's hair as she nuzzles closer to him, tracing lazy circles against his chest. It's Friday and he's clearly been reflecting heavily on the drama with the Usos and Naomi, AJ gritting her teeth and obliging him even when it'd made her want to scream.
"Resist the urge to pull their hair by the roots for a little longer?" she offers after a moment, leaning over to kiss just above where his heart's beating. He swallows hard before squeezing her side, smirking at her as she sits up to stare into his eyes. "I don't know. I'm not into ridiculous shows of penance... but I guess-"
"Roses," Mizdow offers from across the room, unaware of how AJ's face darkens and Mike's hand tenses against her back as both of them look over at him.
She rolls her eyes and leans down, pressing her lips to Mike's. "Aren't stunt doubles supposed to be seen and not heard?"
"I heard that," Mizdow grouses, sitting up to glare over at them.
"Good," she breathes, resuming ignoring him as she runs her fingers through her husband's hair. "C'mon, let's go get ready for Smackdown." He nods, understanding her eagerness to get away from Mizdow's comments and watchful gaze.
Unfortunately, Mizdow's suggestion had been the only one Mike had received and it had made some sort of sense- what better way to annoy some guy than by sending flowers to his wife? The mere thought of someone doing that to AJ, no matter what the reason, makes his blood boil. So he signs the card quickly with "I'm sorry -Miz" before handing it off to a tech, sitting back to watch the madness unfold.
It takes awhile but finally the camera shows the backstage area, Naomi all but cooing over the dozen roses, thanking Jimmy when he finds her, but he refuses sending them to her. Miz smirks as he snags the card and reads it, his eyes immediately blazing with anger as he grabs the roses and sends them crashing down onto the floor. For a moment, Mike grimaces at the waste of money but it had had the desired affect, Jimmy looking near to exploding again. Naomi sounds honestly disappointed at the loss of the flowers and he chuckles, stopping short of rubbing his hands together gleefully as AJ settles in next to him, sipping from a bottle of water. "What'd I miss?"
He merely smirks and leans over, kissing her warmly before grabbing her water and downing about half of it as she pouts at him, watching him get up to go prepare for the match against Jey that's coming up soon. She watches a few minutes of Smackdown before Miz comes out in his gear, shrugging into the jacket with Mizdow next to him, doing the same. She gets up and slinks over to him, kissing him quietly. "Take care of yourself out there."
"I'll be fine, sweetheart. I'm more durable than a dozen roses." She raises her eyebrows at him and he remembers she hadn't seen that, so he leans in and kisses her once more before jerking his head at Mizdow, who obligingly follows him out of the room. Jimmy barely lets the match begin, trying to get at Miz almost from the moment he enters the ring, Jey having to hold him back and try to get him to relax. Jimmy ignores his brother, however, and gets himself ejected from ringside which leads to Mizdow distracting Jey and Miz getting the win.
Miz laughs and holds his arm up in victory, smirking at the thought of repeating this at TLC to retain their tag titles. He's just made it backstage when he spots Swagger lurking around, watching a recap from Raw of Colter laid out in the hallway, his jaw tense. Mike's own pleasure drifts away as he watches him, remembering a similar situation a couple of years ago, when it had been Ricardo down outside of the ring, writhing around and crying out in pain when the trainer and referees tried to assist him. He walks over to him and sighs gravely at the TV before meeting Swagger's eyes. They're bloodshot and full of guilt- probably that he hadn't been there for Colter when Rusev had attacked... again a reflection of the look on Alberto's face back when Ricardo's ankle had been snapped... Mike's smirk this time is dark and ugly, reflecting his own emotions on the situation. "If anything would make a person believe in justice, Swagger, it's this," he tells him simply, glancing once more at the screen before turning and walking away.
Mizdow is watching him, eyes dark with worry as he follows him hurriedly down the hallway, but Miz says nothing until they're inside, wrapping his fingers around AJ's hand and squeezing softly. "I'm fine," he tells them both, AJ resting her head on his shoulder. "But really, does Swagger expect us to feel sorry for him or Colter? I definitely don't."
"Ignore them, they're fools," she tells him quietly. "Either way, Ricardo doesn't have to deal with working with them anymore, it'll be alright." He nods grimly and they sit side by side for awhile longer until it's time for Brie vs Naomi, AJ's eyes twinkling as Miz reluctantly lets her go do commentary.
It's clear she barely keeps from laughing when the very first thing she's asked about is Miz giving Naomi roses, and all she really says is she eats the heads off of roses, which Mike clearly remembers from when Daniel Bryan had given her one years ago. "At least she didn't do that to her wedding bouquet," he mumbles, watching as AJ shows disgust at Nikki mocking her with the Divas title before getting up and waylaying her, which distracts Brie enough for Naomi to lay her out and pin her, winning the match. AJ is smiling as she skips into the locker room a few minutes later and Mike wraps an arm around her, kissing her warmly as she curls up next to him, playing with the collar of his jacket. "You ready to go?"
"Mm hmm."
"Good, then let's go," he murmurs, eager to get away from the arena and all of Swagger and the Usos' nonsense. They'd just arrived at the hotel when Mike's phone rings. He groans and sinks onto the mattress, digging it out of his pocket. It's Alex and he raises an eyebrow at it, answering it. "Hey, kid, what's going on?"
Alex doesn't respond immediately, Mike starting to worry. "I've been booked," he finally breathes into the phone. "For this weekend, in Fairfax. I get a match in my homestate on the houseshows." He sounds like he's been crying and Mike feels a little choked up too as the words register fully with him.
"How long has it been?" he wonders, smiling up at AJ to let her know that things are ok when she hesitates by the foot of the bed, uncertain.
"Year and a half or so."
"Wow, Alex," he breathes. "Well, I'm proud of you, man. You hung in there, and I hope this is the start of many good things to come for you."
"Thanks, Mike. I just wish you could be there to see it all unfold... but I know you'll be supporting me even from Georgia..."
"Hell yes, I will be. Do you know who your opponent is going to be?"
"Tyson Kidd, I think. I didn't tell Ricardo, he doesn't need to know I'm competing against his former tag partner... but considering, I won't mind getting my hands on him." Although Ricardo's time in WWE ending so unsatisfactorially had clearly been mostly the 'E's doing, it was clear that the list of people who had abandoned him in late 2013 and early 2014- starting with Alberto, then Tyson, and ending with Kalisto- hadn't helped with any of it, and Mike can't blame Alex for wanting to get his hands on the obnoxious man, especially considering how he'd been acting lately.
"Give 'im hell for both of us, kid," he says, leaning back against the bed and staring up at the ceiling as Alex promises to. "You'd better go get some sleep if you're gonna be well-rested. We'll talk soon, yeah?"
"Sure, Mike. Night."
"Night." He hangs up the phone and smiles at AJ as she settles in against him, content to remain laying sideways until he reaches over and lifts her up, scooting up the bed until he lays her down on the pillows and allows her to scramble under the sheets, the two of them curling into comfortable positions to fall asleep in, his arm loosely around her midsection as she sighs into his neck.
The weekend goes well, all in all. He and Mizdow walk into Raw with their titles in tact, Alex beat Tyson Kidd both nights, and Alberto is the AAA champion... which is nice, except that for some reason Ricardo hadn't been there, being oddly tightlipped about it all on Twitter although he had said he would be there a week prior. Mike vows to call him and make sure things are ok as soon as Raw is over and they're back from visiting the troops the next day, a precursor to the Tribute to the Troops special event on the 17th.
To distract himself, when Seth Green starts Raw, Mike comes out to greet him, telling him he knows how Seth must be looking forward to put Miz in his next project- but Seth interrupts and tells him that, of the two of them, Mizdow is the real A-lister. Miz gapes at him in disgust when, for the first time ever, he's relieved to hear Dolph Ziggler's music because it allows him to leave, storm back into his locker room where AJ tries to help him relax, stroking his hair and listening to his grousing as Mizdow stands silently nearby, mouthing his insults towards Seth Green and his claims.
Eventually he falls silent and they watch the rest of the show, AJ having to leave to go get in line to wait for the Diva of the Year slammy to get awarded. "Her, Paige, the Bellas in one place," he mumbles, eyes locked on the screen as he waits for the verdict. "Sounds perfectly safe..."
AJ stands backstage with three of her biggest nemeses from this year, trying not to look too closely at Nikki with her title... when she hears her name announced. Brie and Nikki huff and priss off as AJ laughs and skips out to the podium, awkwardly hugging King while taking care not to really touch him too much, when she takes over the microphone. Her speech is simple, straightforward, and she states her wish that a diva a little out of the norm could win the following year, like Bailey, Emma, Sasha... or Paige... and she releases a breath, wondering how that will go over... Her rival hadn't been seen on TV in a few weeks, outside of this evening right here, and she knows how rough it can be. She may not have much use for Paige as a friend in the past, but she's feeling charitable now that she's won and talent is talent, and it would be unfortunate if the girl lost hope, especially at her young age. She says she's not done being queen yet before leaving, holding her slammy close to her.
She's barely made it past the curtain when someone blocks her path and she looks up, expecting a fight... just to find herself face to face with Paige. They stare at each other for a long moment before Paige clears her throat and stares at the Slammy. "You think I could really win that next year?"
AJ blinks in surprise before nodding slowly. "Sure, why not? You're the ... second best diva... clearly." She smirks as Paige rolls her eyes and stares down at the glinting statue. "Besides, between us? It's the holidays. We're going to be seeing quite a bit of each other the next couple of weeks. And I know Ricardo's been going through a lot lately, and I don't want to make Mike mad by adding onto it... so..."
Paige stares at her for a long, quiet moment before holding her hand out. "Truce?"
AJ tilts her head and smiles a little, as if listening to something only she could hear. "I can do you one better," she offers. "Let's let bygones be bygones, hmm? Our significant others are really close friends, and we once were frenemies... but things have changed, especially since the Bellas took my baby from me. I don't have enough energy to hate everyone. Besides, I meant what I said about there. You were the better woman, if only for a short while, and you deserve to win it next year. Friends?" she wonders, holding her hand out.
Paige stares into her eyes, trying to determine her sincerity, but what she senses when she looks at her isn't falsehoods, or even some temporary thing. The slammy holder honestly means what she'd just said. "Sure, of course," she nods, reaching out and taking AJ's hand to shake it. She's shocked further when AJ, with strength one wouldn't imagine from her considering the differences in their heights, pulls Paige right into a hug, squeezing her tight.
"Thank you," she murmurs into Paige's dark hair before pulling away and, with a grin, skips back to Mike's locker room, resting the Slammy on the table next to the couch.
He stares at it while she settles on his lap, curling her fingers around his. "You alright?" he whispers to her, stroking his fingers through her hair as she nods against him. "Good, sweetheart. Congratulations."
"Thanks." She hums softly, kissing his throat as he smiles. They sit like that, his hands loosely resting on her hip, until the LOL Slammy category is announced and Miz obligingly goes out to the gorilla position to wait and see who'll win alongside Mizdow. Hornswoggle is there with the other nominees and Miz glares at him warningly, so distracted that he doesn't even realize who's won until Mizdow is clapping him hard on the back, their theme cuing up on the titantron.
He blinks and follows Damien out, hesitating by the ramp as Mizdow slowly approaches his slammy, clearly not sure what to do with Miz's guidance. He huffs, quickly losing patience with him, and brushes past him, claiming the slammy and thanking the thing most important to him- his moneymaker, smirking to himself as he remembers Thanksgiving. The fans here don't deserve to hear his honest list of gratitude, so he lifts the Slammy up in success once more before making his way backstage.
He's eager to share his happiness with AJ, the both of them having Slammy awards, when he catches Damien staring forlornly at the plaque in his hands. "Hey, Mizdow, go get something for us all to celebrate with from catering," he urges him. "I'm sure they have champagne or at least sparkling something-or-other... AJ'll want sparkling, but get champagne for me, and whatever you want." As Mizdow walks off to do that, he enters the tag team locker room and grins at his wife as he settles the LOL Slammy down next to hers, leaning down to kiss her. "Hi, sweetheart."
"Hi." There's a strange look on her face as she peers over at the two slammy awards, but before he can ask, she pokes a piece of paper into his hands and waits while he lifts the page and reads the meticulously written words sprawled across it.
He looks up after a moment and stares at her. "What is this...?"
She tilts her head and shrugs. "Isn't it obvious? I found it by the chair over there," she comments, pointing towards the chair that Miz vaguely remembers Mizdow sitting in earlier.
He curses vehemently, suddenly understanding. Mizdow's hesitation to claim the Slammy, his reaction after Mike had taken it from him. He had a speech written out but had forgotten it back here, his words probably slipping through his fingers in the heat of the moment, his surprised joy at winning leaving him fearful of forgetting something vital, not saying everything he'd wanted to. Like the final line in the speech in Mike's hands, thanking his best friend and fellow tag team champion. Cool blue eyes drifting over to the Slammy, Mike grimaces and wanders over to the chair, allowing the paper to drift to the side of the chair, making it seem like it hadn't been touched.
When the door opens, Mike is back by AJ's side and Mizdow quietly rests their drinks on the table next to the Slammy awards, retreating back to the chair, stopping only long enough to lift up the paper and stuffing it into the folds of his jacket. Miz and AJ are careful not to say anything or react to his movement. After a moment, Mike stirs and grips the drinks, handing one to his wife. "Thanks, Mizdow," he offers lowly, sipping from the glass. "I've been thinking. Since the Slammy technically has your name on it, how about you carry it around backstage and at the hotels and I'll hold it the rest of the time. That way you can handle your stunt double responsibilities without being hindered?"
Mizdow's eyes widen as he looks up at Miz, his brows furrowing once Miz's suggestion registers with him. "Very well, Miz, if you're certain."
"I am." He smirks slightly as AJ squeezes his side, sipping from her sparkling juice. "Ok, this is the last time, I promise," he tells her, getting up once more for a six man tag match with Kane and Mizdow against Ryback and the Usos. Between all the tension lingering between him and Jimmy, Ryback's bone-rattling offense, and Mizdow mimicking everything that happens to Miz, it's hard to keep track of everything going on in the ring so Mike isn't that surprised when they lose, his eyes closed after the pin. He can sense Mizdow nearby, and Kane's clear disgust with having another loss by his name leading into his match against Ryback, but everything on Miz hurts and he doesn't really care, relieved when Mizdow stops screwing around and helps him up, leading him backstage to where AJ is waiting, her own match against Summer Rae coming up soon.
She cups his face and searches his eyes, a worried, compassionate expression on hers as she leans up to kiss him. "Take care of him," she commands Mizdow, who nods as she turns and walks towards the curtain, determined to see her match through and then get back to make sure he rests at the hotel, gets a good night sleep before they have to go meet the Troops in a lead up to the annual Tribute to the Troops event the following week. For that reason, she's even more annoyed when she has to wait through another Slammy announcement, and Ziggler's droning on acceptance speech, crossing her legs lazily as she sits on the second rope and waits. The important Slammy awards had already been issued- she had won, and Miz(dow) had won, so she's not sure why her match had to be delayed for this.
Finally the match begins and it's relatively short, AJ's eagerness making it easy to get the upperhand on Summer and locking her up in the Black Widow until she taps. When she arrives at the locker room again, Mike and Mizdow had obviously been reading her mind because all of their things are packed back up and they're ready to leave, AJ smiling at her husband as she takes his hand and leads him towards the arena exit, Mizdow following behind them with their bags and the LOL Slammy. "Hey, about tomorrow?" she asks him before they can slip into the car and drive to the hotel.
"Yeah, sweetheart?"
She grins at him. "Make sure not to fall on your face if you bungee off of something, and... don't get shot, alright?" He makes a face at her as she giggles and leans in to kiss him.
"Haha, sweetheart," he mumbles against her lips, relieved to sit down in the back seat and drift until he can properly lay down and try to escape how sore his body is.
After a good night's sleep, he feels better, clearheaded. Eager to meet the troops, try to give back a little to the people who risk so much to keep all of them safe. AJ yawns and nuzzles into him, sitting up when she realizes he's awake. Pressing a kiss to his lips, she stares into his eyes. "Remember what you promised me last night?"
"I don't remember promising anything," he teases her. She huffs and starts to pull away but he grabs her and holds her close. "I'll be fine. No shooting, and no falling on my face... no matter what insanity they allow me to do, I promise. It'll be safe. They always take good care of us at these things."
"I know," she admits, stroking his face. "I'm busy with autograph signings though, so..."
"Yeah. It'll be ok, we'll meet up and do something later on," he tells her, kissing her. "But we'd better move now or we won't get there in time." She mumbles a bit but obliges and before any of them are fully ready for the humbling experience, they're at Fort Benning and Mizdow and Miz go one way for pictures and to meet some of the troops congregated around, while she goes off to set up for the autograph signings being held elsewhere.
He takes some pictures with a group of the troops and other wrestlers lurking around before getting strapped in to try the rigger shed, which is exhilirating and kind of terrifying to watch and more so to do. Before he gets into position to take the jump, however, he points a finger at Mizdow, who is watching nearby. "Take another break from the stunt double stuff. You're not suited up, don't even attempt this. I'm not going to pay your hospital bills if you do something stupid." Mizdow looks a little offended but ultimately steps away, fine with just watching Miz do it.
Once he tries his hand at it, and survives, thank you kindly, he's helped out of the gear and they resume wandering the base, greeting troops, taking pictures, listening to the men and women and their stories. He finds himself in a library at one point and wanders closer to giggling and a somewhat familiar voice coming from a nearby room, peeking in to find Santino reading stories to the kids, using outrageous voices for each character and grinning widely as the children react positively to him. Miz sneaks inside and looks for somewhere free to sit. "May I sit here?" he whispers to a kid who's not far from the door, relieved when he shifts over and allows Mike to sit down next to him, lost in the story.
Mike is watching Santino closely, listening to him beginning another story when he hears footsteps behind him. He tries to ignore it, still focused on the adventure happening in the story when there's a flash of dark brown hair in the edge of his vision and AJ suddenly sits next to him, wrapping an arm around him and resting her head on his shoulder as she listens to the story too. He smiles down at her, resting a hand on her lower back before gazing back up at Santino.
They're in the middle of the last scheduled story when another, slighter weight presses against his other side and he turns to find that the kid next to him had fallen asleep, his lips parting slightly as he leans against Mike's arm. Miz hesitates before shifting him, allowing him to sprawl out more comfortably on the floor. He catches an eye of the women in charge of the children and she nods that she'd noticed, none of them moving as he seems comfortable and they don't want to disturb the story for the others. When he turns back, he realizes that AJ is watching him closely and he smiles, stroking her hair.
Once Santino finishes and the children are collected, excitedly talking about the stories they'd heard and the wrestlers they'd seen, AJ slips her hand inside of Mike's and follows him out of the library, both of them blinking at the sudden bright sunshine pouring down from the blue sky. "I forget sometimes how good you are with kids," she says idly. "Until I watch you on something like Family Game Night, or... at these kinds of things."
He glances down at her and smiles. "Yeah, well. I'm kind of a kid at heart myself, so I guess it makes sense." She smiles but there's a distance in her eyes that can't be denied so he stops walking and rests a hand on her cheek, drawing her face up to look at him. "Are you thinking about Sara again?"
The little girl she'd pictured months earlier, with his eyes and her smile, a mix of their personalities, the thoughts running wild because there were so many rumors online about her being pregnant while she'd been gone, recovering from losing her divas title and finally getting a bit of a honeymoon with her husband... She nods a bit, glancing away from him. "Guess it's hard not to, when you do these kinds of things," she jokes, resting her hand over his. "But I wasn't joking when I said on Raw I'm not quite ready to give up being queen yet. Having a princess isn't really... in the cards yet. You understand, right?"
"Of course I do," he tells her softly. "When the time's right, we'll both know. I'm in no hurry, we have all of the time in the world, sweetheart. I told you that the first time you mentioned Sara."
She nods. "You did." She rests her head on his shoulder. "You've always been so patient with me. I can never possibly thank you enough for everything..."
"And yet you do," he whispers. "With every smile, and laugh... I wouldn't change anything for the world, sweetheart." She stares up at him for a moment before gripping the back of his head and drawing him in, kissing him softly as she agrees wholeheartedly.