John has a fantastic match with Puma and Hernandez vs King Cuerno, Texano and Cage. He may not get along with Hernandez, and he and Puma have had their issues, but this night they all just click. When they win, he can't stop grinning, feeling that old competitive fire thrumming through his veins. He'd missed that feeling, so glad that Lucha Underground had wanted him, had brought back his intensity and his livelihood.
That is, until Pentagon Jr. comes out to the ring and proceeds to try to break the ring announcer's arm, Sexy Star quickly running out to make the save. Pentagon Jr. threatens her, pointing warningly at her, and John's fire quickly turns to ice, his eyes dulling as he considers what may happen to her if Pentagon has his way. The thoughts of Star getting seriously hurt because she keeps trying to do the right thing rids him of his oxygen, leaving him feeling strangled... but he knows if he says anything she'll get mad at him, determined to prove that she can hold her own against the men in the business so instead he just holds her close when she comes backstage, kissing her softly. Reminding himself that she's strong and smart, will be alright. That he'll have her back for as much as she'll allow from him.
-x
Smackdown that week is also held in London so, after days of exploring and doing what Mike can to distract himself, Skype calls and other communication with his friends and family in the States, he's somber at the news that Paige has been told to not compete for the time being. She's been cleared to do the movie, as long as she keeps up with her check ups at a local doctor's office and takes it easy- something he expects will fall on him to make sure she does. Which leaves him, Alicia and Tamina on the road. Although he's fine with being by himself, reminding him of when he'd been in Vancouver to film Marine 3, the women are not. He's sitting in a coffee shop- yet another bit of deja vu- when they take over the other side of his bench, Tamina clearly nonplussed at being dragged there by a hyper, grinning Alicia who always seems to be on a steady drip of caffeine as it is.
He indulges them, smiling and listening to Alicia's chatter about her wedding. He hadn't talked with Alex since their blow up- helped by Alex not being flown in for the European tour- which is more than fine for him. With this Sandow thing looming over his head, he has enough to dwell on without having to look his former NXT rookie in the eye and remembering how spiteful he'd been upon AJ's retirement when everyone else had been nice, or at least polite, about it. He's staring into his coffee cup, lost in thought, when Tamina clears her throat roughly and Alicia abruptly shuts up, leaning towards him. He looks up at her and she smiles wanly, reaching out and cupping his hand, keeping it from fussing with his napkin. "Are you ok?"
"Oh, yeah," he says quietly, squeezing her fingers back. This too reminds him of holding Paige's hand a few days ago, how cold her fingers had felt in his. Alicia's are warm, soft, and comforting, and he smiles at her. "I just miss her, you know?"
Alicia's face softens as she nods, moving to the other side of the bench and hugging him. "I do too," she murmurs, kissing him on the cheek. "Hey, the tour's almost over, then you can return home and spend some time with her before you go to film Santa's Little Helper, right?"
He nods absently, this reminding him. He hopes he can hold off on leaving until after Extreme Rules but, with Paige injured, the studio is pushing to begin filming as soon as possible. He can feel the pressure of the clock ticking time away, but he still has unfinished business here, with Sandow and everything else. How exactly it all will resolve remains out of his grasp...
Until, that is, Smackdown. He's talking about Marine 4 again, eager to see how it will outsell Marine 3, when Wade Barrett interrupts and insults him and his acting. Miz is about to say something about Barrett's fantastic acting career when the Brit enters the ring for their match, Mike's eyes narrowing at him. Choosing to ignore him, he turns his back to him and watches the crowd, taking his time to take his glasses off. The audience boos him at first just to begin to react positively at something and he thinks maybe they're finally coming around, deciding to respect him before he leaves to film yet another movie for their entertainment... when he turns around and is met with a sharp strike to his jaw, downing him immediately. He's dazed, barely registering the three count happening above his head, staring up at the lights until reality floods back to him.
The match, if you could really dare to call it that, had ended in less than a minute. He releases a pained breath, stumbling up the ramp with a hand on his jaw and makes his way back towards the locker rooms when he finds Sandow and Summer Rae doing an interview and, fueled by anger from both his loss and from the disrespect of Monday, approaches him and lets him know that his win on Monday was just that, a fluke. Same as the match against Barrett, he thinks angrily, each word he utters throbbing through where Wade's elbow had impacted. Sandow making a mockery of the mirror technique angers him, but not as much as the challenge that they wrestle on Monday, the winner gaining full control of the Miz name, theme, and everything else. He tries to laugh them off when Summer mocks and belittles him, his pride urging him on. "Fine!" he snaps. "Fine!" He's immediately filled with dread and, even after he insults her, it nor the slap that follows registers with him.
He spends the rest of the night in a daze, trying to accept what he'd agreed to. It takes a long time for him to realize that his phone is ringing, even longer to find the strength to lift his hand and find the device, answering it. "Hello?"
"Husband? Are you ok?" AJ sounds nearly beside herself with worry and he realizes upon double checking his phone that there's three missed calls from her.
"I'm fine," he says quietly. "I'm sorry, sweetheart, I've just been... lost in thought, I guess." He sits there quietly, trying to focus on her words. "What the hell did I do?" he finally blurts out. "I think... I screwed up big time. I can't lose everything, AJ. I just can't... The Miz brand... it's been my livelihood for thirteen years... I put everything I had into that... If I lose it now..." He chokes up, suddenly feeling like he's losing a vital part of himself when her words register with him.
"No, no, mi carino, come on," she says soothingly. "You won't lose. You said yourself Monday was a fluke. I have every faith in you, Mike. You will always be The Miz, and no one will ever be able to take that away from you."
He wants so badly to believe her but he's lost so much in this business, just to have to fight to regain it all back- Calgary Kid, anyone?- and he's not sure he has the energy for it anymore. For the fight, the struggle to have what he deserves, to maintain what he already has. But she still sounds so worried that he eventually gives in, not wanting to scare her when they're still so far apart, when he hadn't seen her since before the European tour. "Of course, sweetheart. You're right. I'll be fine." He strokes his phone and closes his eyes, wishing it was her skin he was touching. "I'll be home Tuesday night, after some Marine 4 media stuff, and we'll have a viewing party, alright?"
"Great, I look forward to it," she tells him. "And both Summer and that other chick better keep their hands off of you."
He freezes, finding something new to worry about. "Uh, well..."
She releases an aggravated breath. "Mike Mizanin!"
His laughter is weak. "Love you, sweetheart."
She grunts. "Love you too, husband."
He does go to sleep with a slightly clearer mindset, although his nightmares are distant and dark, frightening.
A couple more house shows and he ends up back in New York mid-Sunday, relieved to check into his room and be able to sink into the hotel bed, hours ahead of him with nothing to do but attempt to kick this horrible jetlag. He sleeps for so long that he's confused and thinks it's Monday afternoon, scrambling and struggling to get his things together and get going to the arena, not sure why it's so dark outside, when he realizes. It's 1 AM, not 1 PM. Groaning, he sinks back onto the mattress and scrubs at his face, staring at himself in the mirror. "Today's the day," he tells himself. "Give me Miz or give me death..." Grunting, he falls back against the bed and laughs weakly.
He sleeps off and on for the next few hours until finally the sun rises and it's time to get up. He orders some breakfast, an omelet piled high with peppers and onions, toast and hash browns, orange juice and coffee from room service, scraping his hand over his weary face. While he waits, he showers and prepares himself for the day, in the middle of shaving when the food arrives. Wiping off the shaving cream, he thanks the man who delivers the cart to him, tipping him well enough before closing the door behind him. He spends the next hour alternating between eating and getting dressed, staring out at the world beyond his hotel room. He wishes AJ is with him, his chest strangely tight as he considers what state he may be in when he returns to this room later on.
Finding his phone, he dials a number and listens to it ring in. Kicking his feet against the bedframe, he closes his eyes as it clicks. "You know what you're supposed to do? Yeah. Fine. Fine. I said fine. Uh huh. Yeah, yeah, you've been fine up to this point. Just don't drop the ball. Remember my success is your success." Hanging up, he stares at the ceiling a few minutes longer before getting up and, grabbing his jacket and one last forkful of the omelet mixed in with hashbrown strips, he leaves.
-x
No one bothers to speak to him, though Mike can hear giggles and whispers as he walks confidently through the halls. He ignores all of it, keeping his chin up as he walks to the locker room. Everyone ignores him in there, lost in their own business as Extreme Rules looms, and he is content to change into his gear and prepare. He has an interview before the match but it's late in the show, towards the very end, so the only thing he intends on doing is avoiding Orton and keep his focus on maintaining his brand. To prepare himself, he ends up watching old videos of the Real World, when he first began to actually brand himself as such, an amazed smirk on his face as he relives the memories.
Finally it's time for his interview but he's barely gotten a sentence out when he's cut off so John Cena can be interviewed instead. He glares down at Renee Young before turning on his heel and storming off, fuming at the disrespect he was just shown. "I'm their Marine 4 star, and this is how they treat me!" he rages, kicking at the nearest wall. Struggling to untense his shoulders, he breathes in deeply and glares at nothing, his eyes a blue flame. "No, they won't take anything else away from me. My time, my life, my dignity, whatever, they're not taking my name too. No one else can be Miz... Definitely not him."
He makes his way determinedly to the ring and stares down Sandow, ignoring Summer Rae as she flouncing around outside. Sandow has the upperhand too many times, Miz struggling to focus on the match itself as he finally gains control, sending Sandow to the apron and... it's clear when his plan comes together and she acts, her manicured nails raking at Sandow's eyes and leaving him flailing and vulnerable to be pinned. Mike scrambles and does just that, closing his eyes as he tracks the referee's movements.
"Hey. HEY! I'm talking to you." He stares at Summer, neither of them overly pleased to see each other since things had been so rocky on Marine 4's set between them. If not for promoting Marine 4 and this Wrestlemania weekend screening, he wouldn't have bothered, but it's clear things are falling apart with Sandow and he thinks he needs an ace up his sleeve, just in case. "I think I need your help with something." She sneers at him, about to storm off and he grabs her, not enough to hurt but definitely enough to stop her short. She looks up at him, a dangerous gleam in her eyes, and he backs off, holding his hands up. "Your success in Marine 4 is dependent on me too. Just... I'll owe you one if you'll help me out, alright?" This seems to appease her and he explains what's happening, her calculating gaze locked on him as she takes it all in.
"One..." the referee counts, each strike of his fist against the mat seeming to take a lifetime as more memories flash through Mike's mind.
"I knew it," he rages to her, feeling so brutally lost after Mizdow quit and AJ retired. "I knew it. He's trying still to be me. He has my moves, my music, my everything!"
"Well, what are you going to do about it?" she asks him, boredly blowing at her nails.
He stops and turns to look at her. "This is where you come in... I'm hosting MizTV tonight... I need you to..."
"Two..."
"That wasn't supposed to happen!" he yells, kicking at a crate. She's once more standing aside, watching him with a raised eyebrow and he rounds on her. "Where were you?!"
She rolls her eyes. "Calm down, for God's sake. I'm your sneak attack, right? Why would you waste it on a nothing match? You want this to end before Marine 4 comes out, then handle it on Monday. Set it up on Smackdown. I'll goad him into doing what you want." He looks at her doubtfully and she smirks, tracing a fingernail down his chest. "Just trust me."
Her touch burns, and not in a good way, and he has never trusted her, but she's all he's got, so he decides to see what she's going to do.
"THREE!"
He watches, perplexed, as she whispers into Sandow's ear, and Sandow turns to him, a sneer on his face as he challenges him for the rights to the Miz brand. As quickly as things had gone badly, they start to click back into place and he thinks he can breathe again, though he's still afraid that, in the end, Summer will turn on him. But she's meaningless without him, Marine 4 will be nothing without The Miz brand, so he holds onto the hope that everything will turn out ok.
He sits up and stares ahead blankly as Summer squeals from the outside, jumping into the ring and lifting his arm in celebration as the realization washes over him- he'd done it, she'd done it, and he thinks he could hug her but then he turns around and feels his neck being twisted as Orton grips him and RKOs him roughly into the mat. He grunts, struggling to open his eyes, deja vu from the beatdown in front of his parents and home crowd, when long hair tickles his face and he breathes out, "AJ..."
"No, sorry, just me," Summer says, surprising him by staying with him as the trainer and referee helps him backstage. To her credit, she sits with him and even helps him call AJ after the trainer stops examining him, determining that he's not seriously injured but that he should take some painkillers and have ice on hand just in case.
Despite the pain of the RKO still thrumming through his body, he feels more successful, lighter than he has, in quite awhile. Sandow will no longer be a problem, Marine 4 will be out on video within hours, and he'll be home in the arms of AJ within 24 hours. He sleeps better that night than he has since AJ had announced her retirement.
-x
"HUSBAND!" her cry echoes through the airport and he has to react quickly, dropping his bags and moving just in time to catch her as she runs into his arms, grinning when he hugs her to him tightly and spins her around. "I told you everything would work out," she tells him softly, cupping his face. Kissing him warmly, she seems to forget that they're surrounded by hundreds of people until John taps her on the back. She gasps and pulls away, glancing around at everyone gawking at them before burying her face in Mike's shoulder, his grin growing as he strokes her lower back.
He settles her back on the floor before turning to John. "Hey, man. Hey, Star. What're you two doing here?"
"Well, we were invited to a movie premiere," John says, an arm wrapped loosely around his girlfriend as she tilts her head at them. "This one here wants to see some gun fights and explosions." He squeezes Star's side and she swats at him, eyes gleaming with mirth.
"Well, I think I can accomodate that," he says, digging around in his bag and pulling out a copy of Marine 4. He smirks as they all ooh and ahh over it, rolling his eyes at them. "Come on, guys."
After dealing with exhausting LA traffic, they arrive back at Mike and AJ's house and he collapses onto his couch, eyes closed tightly. "Dammit, I missed this place," he breathes out as AJ curls up next to him, leaving the DVD player to John, Star watching him eagerly. He wraps his arm around her and brings her in for a kiss, grinning at her as she tangles her fingers in his shirt and sighs. "I missed you."
"I missed you too." She nuzzles into him and turns, watching John fast forwarding through movie ads and everything else that he can. "We need snacks."
"Star's getting them," he calls over his shoulder, sitting crosslegged in front of the DVD player. "You two just sit over there and get reacquainted... we'll throw popcorn at you if you lose track of your surroundings again."
AJ groans. "I'm never going to live that down, huh?"
Mike beams at her. "You're not going to hear any complaints from me." She swats him and he grunts, soon soothed by her lips once more pressed against his.
Star's back before long with popcorn and coconut water for them all, Mike leaning his head against AJ's as John starts the movie. It starts off with some badass establishing shots and explanations of military missions, before beginning to dig into the story itself. AJ whistles at the shower scene that starts the movie off and Mike rolls his eyes, pinching her side and grinning when she pushes him over, hitting him with a couch cushion. They carry on quietly for awhile until a gunfight leads to a sniper under the cover of grass and leaves and AJ glances at Mike. "Don't tell me, that's Summer Rae." He doesn't say anything and, when she unearths herself a minute later, AJ barks out sharp laughter. "Oh come ON! I was kidding!"
It becomes a game once AJ realizes that Summer only first speaks forty minutes into the movie, counting the nine lines that the divas ultimately has in the entire movie, and the deaths that Miz expects to be the goriest has them all grimacing or muttering curses, AJ jumping the time or two that Jake Carter gets injured, her eyes wide by the culmination of the movie. She tangles her fingers in the button holes of Mike's shirt once the final gun fight ends, peering at him. "Well, I guess Liz wasn't that bad in the end... she saved Jake, after all."
He smiles awkwardly at her, knowing that soon she'll change her mind. "Yeah, she wasn't too bad," he agrees, lightly kissing her forehead.
They watch quietly as the final scene starts, Jake saying his goodbyes to Liz. AJ's loose grip on Mike's hand soon tenses, her nails digging into his palm. "She kissed you!?" she demands, staring at him darkly as if it's his fault that that had been scripted.
"Just the cheek!" he exclaims. "Oh, c'mon, sweetheart-" But her lips are on his cheek, as if to wash off Liz's actress' presence, although it had been over a year ago by now, and he immediately quiets, leaning into her warmth.
John and Star, realizing that they need a minute- or a few days- alone after their lengthy separation, brings the bowls and empty water bottles into the kitchen, quickly taking their leave entirely after that.
After walking them out, Mike turns to AJ and smirks, lifting her up and carrying her over his shoulder into their bedroom. "Hey!" she protests as he drops her onto the mattress and hovers over her.
"You're not that jealous, are you?" he asks, tracing a hand down her throat. "It was innocent... just for the movie..." He smirks down at her. "Besides, sweetheart, all I could think about during filming that scene was throwing that stupid sling away and returning to you to continue our honeymoon..."
Her eyes flutter as she stares up at him, a challenge in her dark eyes. "Alright, fine. I believe you. I suppose. But how are you going to make it up to me, anyway?"
He shrugs and leans in, kissing her intensely. "I'll figure out something," he promises.