Still sore after Raw, Mike finds himself at Smackdown, listening to The New Day discussing what happened to them that night thanks to Rock. Gritting his teeth, the Most Must See Superstar makes his way down to the ring, empathizing with the three men. He's barely just mentioned some of his accolades, about to rant on further, when the Usos interrupt and insult his clothes. Xavier, amazingly, comes to Miz's defense- Must be missing Rollins, he thinks- and Kofi notes that the Usos are outnumbered, just for Titus O'Neil and Dolph Ziggler to come out, an eight man tag quickly becoming official. They unfortunately lose after Titus and Ziggler doubleteam Mike, Miz gritting his teeth over it all, then pausing to rub his jaw uncomfortably.
The locker room is quiet, Alberto nor Paige are at Smackdown, so Mike collects his things and nods blankly about whatever Xavier is saying. Halfheartedly waving at them, he turns and leaves the room to begin the drive back to Alberto's house for some sleep. He hums absently to the music playing on the radio as he drives through the night, tapping his thumb against the steering wheel, until he arrives at the house. It's late, the house is dark, and he expects to slip in, poke around the kitchen for some food, and then go to his room for some badly needed sleep before his flight back to California the next morning, but when he walks into the kitchen, it's to find Paige sitting there, swirling a glass of water in her hands, lost in thought.
He stops short and stares at her, tilting his head before walking over to the fridge to grab the expected plate left by Sofia. He doesn't bother warming it up, unsurprised to find that it's meatloaf and vegetables, which taste just as well cold as hot when he's this hungry. Leaning against the counter next to Paige, he nudges her with his arm once he comes up for air from the food. "You alright?"
She shakes her head. "Not so much." She taps her fingers against her arm and glances at him. "I, um. I..." Closing her eyes, she stares up at the ceiling. "Alberto's injured."
Mike stops short. spoon halfway to his mouth as crispy corn threatens to fall off onto the floor. "Yea- huh?" He stares at her. "He didn't mention anything on Monday, or, well, any other time. How bad is it?"
"Back, or neck, maybe. He won't know for sure until Monday." She leans forward and eats the corn off of his spoon, humming about Sofia's cooking before leaning back against the counter. Mike barely seems to notice and she sighs. "First me, now him. Ricardo's going to be frantic if this keeps on..."
He nods. "Yeah, I know. And it's all happening in the last couple of months he has there. Geez." He puts his plate down and rests an arm around her shoulders. "But you're good now, and Del Rio will be too. He's too stubborn to get his title back to let some little injury get him down, you'll see."
"I hope you're right," she mumbles, leaning into Miz's warmth. "Thanks. You're a good friend, Mike."
He chuckles. "Yeah, such a good friend that I'll even let you eat the corn off of my spoon."
She flushes, digging her nails into his shoulder. "I thought you didn't notice that."
He smirks. "I have a very heavily pregnant wife at home, when it comes to food, I always notice. I never know when something's going to go missing from my plate. But she's adorable when she's caught so I let it go."
Paige chuckles and kneads his shoulder. "You both are much too adorable, it's making my teeth hurt."
He smirks at her and taps her nose. "Just wait until our daughter comes, the combination of two such adorable people... whatever will you all do then?"
"For all we know," Paige laughs, "it may be too much for the world to handle and cause the apocalypse..."
"Of course, my girl would have lofty ambitions," Mike sighs.
Paige laughs loudly before clapping her hand over her mouth, glancing around nervously. "Everyone's asleep," she hisses. "Keep it down."
"You keep it down, hyena," he teases her. She slaps at him before turning to leave, a spring in her step that he imagines wouldn't have been there before their little chat. "Good night, Paiiiige," he singsongs.
She flips him off before disappearing down the hall into Ricardo's bedroom and he laughs softly, returning to eat the rest of his corn.
-x
Mike stares at the huge bouquet of violets that keep growing week by week, unsurprised to find that they need some tending to. Grabbing a jug of distilled water that he'd bought, thinking that the plants might like it better than the chemical filled tap water, he fills the vase up and plucks out the few dead flowers before tossing them in the dumpster outside. Brushing his hands off, he re-enters the house and pads quietly to the bedroom, leaning against the doorframe and watching as his wife sleeps on, unaware of his presence.
As they head towards the last weeks of her pregnancy, she tires much easier, the size of her stomach making walking harder for her, not to mention that she hasn't been able to see her feet for a couple of months by now. He sighs, lips twitching with sympathy and affection for her as he approaches the bed and brushes the hair out of her eyes, leaning in to kiss her softly. "Soon, you'll be more comfortable," he promises her. "And holding our little girl, which will make all of this worth it."
She mumbles in her sleep and, when he settles in next to her, rolls over and snuggles into his warmth, pressing her face into his chest. He hugs her and rubs her back, kissing the top of her head.
John and Star drop in later that night with Wendy's and AJ immediately tackles the Frosties, dipping French fries in them while the others watch her with gentle amusement. "So, Lucha Underground is back," John says needlessly. Melina hadn't returned to the company, to his relief. Star had calmed down at this news, though her injury caused by Marty the Moth is keeping her from competing just yet. "I'm wrestling for the first time in season two next week." He brushes his fingers along Star's knuckles. "If you're up for it, AJ, you both are invited to come along."
She stares at him over her burger, struggling to swallow to answer. Mike chuckles softly and whispers to her, "Don't choke, sweetheart." Turning to John, he nods. "Sure, we'll try to be there. When will you be well enough to compete, Star?"
"Soon, I hope," she sighs. "I want to kick Marty the Moth's ass for what he did."
"As do I, again," John says. "If he dares show his face again, anyway." His voice is deep and dark with promised danger and Mike's a bit glad to see the fire return to Star's eyes at this.
"Well, as long as mama here is good to go, we'll be there," Mike promises, smiling at John. "Look forward to seeing you kick ass again, man."
"And I'm looking forward to kicking it," John nods, before digging into his chicken club almost feverishly as Star leans over and begins a conversation with AJ in Spanish once she comes up for air from the food.
Mike leans back and watches the three closest people in his life, smiling. I really am one of the luckiest men in the world...
-x
Some of that feeling escapes him, however, by Raw. He has another MizTV segment to do, interviewing AJ Styles, and he does his research on the man before Raw begins. Watches some of his ROH and NJPW stuff, even delves into the eyebrow raising stuff that he'd done in TNA. Unsure whether to curse Youtube or not for the selection he finds, he changes into his MizTV gear and mulls over what he's going to say, the obvious comparison to Daniel Bryan- similar to Neville, just in a more well-rounded way- on the tip of his tongue before he even hits the ring.
He doesn't get interrupted this time, actually invites AJ out the way he'd love to be able to invite more people to the ring for MizTV segments, and quickly gets lost in his own words. He goes on and on and on, about AJ's career, and before he realizes it, five minutes have gone on without AJ getting the mic. Turning to look at him, Mike offers to take him under his wing, help him while he gets his feet under him in this tumultous place, before turning away to talk some more...
He's not sure what happens, one minute he has his back to AJ and the next, he's down on the mat, trying to curl up against an onslaught of AJ's fists. Eventually he does get away and scramble up the ramp, just to lay there gaping in horror at the man. What the hell brought that on?! he thinks angrily, gripping his jaw and not even bothering to sit up or move. Every time I try to help someone, this is how I'm repaid!
When that week's Smackdown is previewed, including his being booked in a match against AJ, he sneers. "Good. Good. I will make that rookie pay. He's in the big leagues now, we don't have time for guys with his ego around here..."