Mike holds his breath until AJ is about ready to leave, leaning in to kiss him. "Are you booked tonight?"
"Don't think so, sweetheart," he murmurs against her lips. "I called, most of the night is spent on that gauntlet match."
"Oh." She wrinkles her nose cutely, offering him another kiss. "So what are you going to do around here all night?"
He shrugs and grips her, pulling her into his lap. "Not much, and if you keep loitering around here, I'll make you do it with me," he threatens her cheerfully, pressing an open mouthed kiss against her neck.
She makes a soft noise, reaching back to run her fingers through his hair, but soon pulls away from him. "Sorry, husband, I have to go," she tells him. "Paige might need me later on. We'll do all of that... not much ... later," she winks before grabbing her bag and skipping out of the room.
He watches her go, releasing a breath as the door slams behind her. Getting to his feet, he peeks out of the peephole and nods, relieved to see she's not in sight anymore. Rushing over to the door connecting their room to the neighboring hotel room, he forces it open and knocks loudly on the other door. "Mizdow! NOW!" Returning to his room, he stands in the middle of it all and waits, arms folded over his chest, until his personal assistant enters the room. They hadn't spoke much to each other since the Skull Crushing Finale from Raw, and Miz is displeased at the toxic energy that suffuses the room the instant the ungrateful man enters. Grabbing the supplies from him, he lays them on the bed and turns to look Mizdow up and down. "You're dismissed," he says coldly. "Do something with yourself, you look pathetic. Just because we technically have the night off from WWE doesn't mean you should look like such a slob."
Mizdow peers down at the Stunt Double shirt and blue jeans he's wearing before looking back up at Miz, that old hatred welling up in his eyes that Mike's been trying so hard to squash. He is a personal assistant, and he has to accept it or else... but the message just isn't making it through the stubborn pride that Mizdow still has for whatever reason. Finally he turns on his heel and leaves, the room immediately seeming much more cheerful once he's gone.
Breathing in, then out, he moves to the bed and checks the clock. Considering where Paige's match might be on the card, he should have an hour at least, but he turns the TV on so he has a bit of a warning. As it drones on behind him, he moves as quickly as he can, decorating the room and preparing what needs prepared. He's just finished when he hears Paige's entrance theme, brushing some of the hair out of his eyes and looking up. "Damn," he breathes. Calling room service, he orders food and checks the clock, knowing that they're going to be cutting is close. Shrugging helplessly, he rushes into the bathroom and changes into a pure black suit with a rich green tie. Fixing his hair, he makes it back out in time to watch AJ and Paige laugh at the Bellas on their way backstage.
He watches the clock, feeling a little strangled as time ticks by, uncomfortably aware of how long it ordinarily takes AJ to get ready to leave, and the drive from the arena to the hotel... He's gnawing on his bottom lip when there's a knock on the door. His eyes light up as he lifts a fist in the air in success before running to the door. Peeking through the peep hole, he releases a breath when he realizes that, yes, it's room service. Allowing the man to bring the cart in, he guides them to put the food on the nearby desk, clearing things aside so there's room. Once he's done, Miz tips him graciously and closes the door behind him, turning back to look at the platters of food. "Here we go," he murmurs, peering back into the room before... hearing AJ's giggle behind the door, her keycard in the lock. Moving quickly, he returns to the door and, as soon as AJ enters, he wraps his fingers around her eyes. "Sweetheart," he mumbles into her ear so she doesn't freak out.
Paige is frozen in the hallway but, as soon as she sees what Miz is wearing, and the room beyond them, she nods and backs away slowly, her lips twitching into a grin before she leaves to return to her own room. Mike is thankful for the privacy as he leads his wife over to the main part of the room, pressing a hand to her bare midriff before removing his other from her eyes. She blinks her eyes open and looks around, gaping at the green and black balloons and streamers trailing around the room. "Oh Mike," she mumbles. "And here I thought we weren't going to do anything for my birthday until we were home." She traces a hand up his face and he leans in, softly kissing her. "You used my two favorite colors too."
She giggles as he spins her around and catches her hand, lifting her fingers to his lips, kissing them lazily. "That's not all," he tells her quietly, pulling a box out of his pocket and opening it slowly, allowing her only a glance of what's inside before he pulls the ring out and gently puts it on her right ring finger, holding her hand up so she can eye the striking heart shaped ring with the green stone in the middle and smaller black stones surrounding it, diamonds filling the silver base of the ring. "Happy birthday, sweetheart."
"It's beautiful," she murmurs, unable to take her eyes off of it even as he leads her to the table so they can eat before the room service goes entirely cold. Once he uncovers the food- beef roast and mashed potatoes, with mixed vegetables and rolls- AJ grips his tie and draws him back towards her, smiling at him. "Thank you, husband."
"Happy birthday, sweetheart," he murmurs, sighing as she kisses him deeply. It's hard to stop her but soon he presses his hand lightly to her collar and pushes her back, breathing heavily. "The food's gonna-"
"Oh well," she mutters, twisting his tie around her fingers and pulling him closer. "We have a microwave for a reason."
Seeing the logic in her claim, he shrugs. "Alright," he agrees, grinning impishly. "You are the birthday girl, after all."
"Damn straight," she breathes, crawling into his lap and kissing him hard.
-x
Miz tapes an interview with Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart, trying to make a point about Mizdow's disrespect... but it devolves into becoming all about Mizdow so he tries to rein things back in by sending Mizdow off to get him water, but instead Will offers to go get him some water, which sends him into an even worse mood that a well-known star like Will would be willing to do what even his so-called personal assistant couldn't be bothered to. Which means he walks into the ten man match that's supposed to give him momentum into the Andre the Giant battle royal on the wrong foot, too angry to think straight.
He takes it out on everyone in his path, Zack Ryder, Darren Young, Titus O'Neil, it doesn't matter... but then, thanks to Mizdow's stupidity, Ryback gets tagged in and it all goes downhill rapidly from there. He feels himself being lifted, then dropped roughly against the mat, pinned quickly. His head is spinning, his ears are ringing, nothing feels right but there's a warm hand on his shoulder and when he squints upwards, it's to find Mizdow kneeling by his side, casting glances around at the celebrating team who had just beat them. He wants to be angry, he wants to be a lot of things right now, but he's just too tired so he lays there until the trainer comes to get him up and out, the next match needing to start. Mizdow lifts his arm and wraps it around his shoulders, leading Mike back up the ramp patiently.
He misses Morrison, he misses Alex, he misses a lot of people that he could depend on and trust much easily than Mizdow. He rests his head on Mizdow's shoulder so that he's close enough to his ear to be heard over the buzzing crowd. "I hate you," he tells him simply. Three simple words, underlined by so many complicated emotions.
"I know," Mizdow mutters, his own tone sounding similar to Miz's. Even so, he supports him backstage and helps him settle on a cot in the trainer's office, AJ following them quietly through the halls. He steps aside as she and the trainer lingers over Mike, AJ soothing him while the trainer performs basic tests, makes sure he's not concussed, checks his back and neck, general things like that.
"Is he going to be ok?" she asks, her voice low and weak. Mizdow understands- there are a lot of people hesitant to compete against Ryback for some very valid reasons, and he had seen that slam first hand, it had looked brutal and he can only imagine how it felt for her to watch it on the monitor in the back.
But thankfully the trainer looks up at her and nods. "I believe so. I want to check him out again tomorrow, but for now I'm not seeing anything serious. You both keep an eye on him overnight, and let me know if he starts to show any symptoms."
She nods, biting her lip. Peering over at Mizdow, she releases a breath and squeezes Mike's hand. "Hear that, you're going to be ok, husband," she breathes, leaning over to kiss him. "I need to go talk with Paige, but I promise I'll be back soon. You rest." She pulls away from her husband and stares at Mizdow. "Stay with him?"
He nods somberly as she turns and walks away, not skipping this time. He sits down next to Miz and rests a hand on his shoulder, watching as his blue eyes open slowly. "You may hate me, but I don't hate you," he says quietly. "When we first began this, all I wanted to do was help you while you were injured. And when it lasted more than a few weeks, I sincerely began to think of us as friends. I perhaps understand more of Hollywood than you realize, the self-doubt and insecurity of always needing to watch your spot, try not to lose the notice of those in charge. It's the same for wrestling, and I understand that too. But I was never your enemy until you began to make me so. And I'm not the first you've done this to... Morrison, Alex... But they have remained friends with you, and perhaps with time, I can as well. I know that friendships are few and far between in this business." His eyes drift into memories and Mike thinks he's remembering how things soured between he and Cody Rhodes so long ago. "I personally would rather not lose another one," he finishes, his large dark eyes fixed on Miz's face. "If you fire me after Sunday, I will do what I have to do to keep my place in this business... and perhaps after we come out of the other end of that, we can reach enough of an understanding to be true friends."
He stands up and walks away, Mike's troubled eyes locked on him. He wants to scoff but he thinks Mizdow does have a point... After his friendship with Morrison was salvaged, and with Alex... not to mention how close Alberto and Ricardo are now after everything they'd been through, well... He supposes anything is possible, though he's not sure why Mizdow would want to salvage anything between them... but he hadn't understood why John had gone through so much back in the day for him either... But getting along isn't easy for anyone, much less enough for AJ and Paige to get the upperhand against the Bellas tonight as he sits up to watch the divas title match, his vision swimming even as he struggles to focus. Paige has Nikki right where she wants her before the two of them tumble out of the ring and AJ tries to help by attacking Brie to get her away from Paige, when... her Wrestlemania tag partner gets up and stumbles towards her, touching her shoulder just for AJ to rear back and elbow her hard in the face, not realizing who's behind her. This leaves Paige vulnerable for a Rack Attack and pin from Nikki, AJ watching on helpless and horrified at her accidental actions.
Paige isn't buying it, however, and takes AJ down, the two of them brawling until referees pull them apart. When AJ returns to the trainer's room, she is steaming, throwing things around the room thoughtlessly as Mizdow ducks away from her rampage. "I knew this wouldn't end well!" she cries. "I tried to tell Paige, but no of course, don't listen to me, what the hell do I know! I'm the one with years of experience on how the Bellas are but she's been here just barely a year so of course she knows more than I do! Now she thinks I was jealous because she almost won the title, and... and... ugh!" she slumps down in Mizdow's vacated chair and pouts, her hair covering her face. "I hate this."
Mike gingerly gets up from the cot and joins her, fitting snugly next to her in the chair. She huffs out her displeasure before twisting around and burying her face in his neck, hugging him hard. "It's gonna be ok," he murmurs, stroking her hair.
"I don't know," she whispers. "I just don't know."
"I do," he answers. "One way or another, it will be. You'll see." He pulls her back and smiles down at her, lightly kissing her. "I promise. Come this Sunday, we'll both be ok." She cups his face and, after searching his eyes for a few moments, nods, arching up to kiss him intently.