"I can't believe you broke Maryse's clock!" AJ exclaims, staring down at the shattered thing. "It was so gorgeous. Geez, Mike."
He grimaces. "I know, I know, it was awful. But I didn't know..." He gnaws at his nail, staring down at it. He'd spent most of his day carting the thing around, trying to find a decent clock shop in LA to get an estimate for a repair, but no one had the time or skill to repair it. "She's going to be so pissed at me. Again." He groans, dropping his chin against his chest while AJ trails her fingers over the splintered wood. "What do I do?"
AJ shrugs, turning to loop her arms around his neck. "I guess you'll have to tell her the truth. Get it on a waiting list and see what you can get done once they have time to work on it. It's the best you can do, huh?"
He grimaces. "This... is not going to go well," he sighs.
"Probably not," AJ agrees. "But you'll be alright." She kisses him gently and he closes his eyes, leaning into her for the stability and warmth.
-x
As soon as he tells her on Monday, he can tell by the look in her eyes that Maryse's forgiveness has officially cooled over again, her jaw tense as she glowers at him. He watches helplessly as she raises a hand to him, walking past to sit next to Heath, pouting in the way that only Maryse ever could. Mike grimaces and runs a hand through his hair, watching as Heath leans in to whisper to her, her eyes clearing slightly as she rests a hand on the side of his face, shaking her head.
He shrugs at Mike before resuming his whispering, soothing touches. "Dammit," Mike mumbles, pacing around his locker room as he tries to think of a way to fix this. They're all sitting there, tense, when Dean's music hits for his match against Elias Sampson. "Maryse? Would you mind?" he asks, tentatively holding his hand out to her. She rolls her eyes, resting the tips of her fingers in his palm and standing, allowing him to lead her down the hall and out to the ring.
They split up, Mike costing Dean the match, and then bailing before Dean can fully regroup. He laughs as he makes his way backstage, Maryse following him quietly. "I promise you, Maryse, I'll get that clock fixed. ASAP. It's just going to take a little longer than I thought."
She huffs, looks away, and he sighs, walking back towards his locker room. He pauses for a moment, glancing over as Neville walks in the other direction. Maryse being angry at him feels wrong, and he gets a weird idea. Maybe something that will make her melt towards him. He pats her lightly on the arm. "I have an idea, come with me." Heath and Rhyno have since left his locker room but it doesn't dissaude him as he wanders the arena to look for them. Maryse has just started to huff impatiently when he spots them down one of the last hallways he thought to check. "Here, come on."
Heath's spraying canned cheese on Rhyno's crackers when Mike sidles up to them, almost able to feel the bright smile Maryse is gracing Heath with from behind him. He runs through a spiel, trying to convince Heath to join his entourage, brushing Rhyno off whenever he insists Heath already has a partner. Despite Rhyno's protests, Heath seems to be listening, having a calculating look on his face when Mike offers him anything, "Just ask."
Mike looks on smugly, certain that Heath's going to bite, when his lips thin, his eyes cooling, as Heath makes it clear the only thing he wants- the Intercontinental title. It's totally stealing from what Neville's been doing with TJ Perkins the last few weeks (Not that that matters, Mike has no doubt Neville somehow got the idea from him when they were briefly working together) but he offers Heath a title opportunity someday if he agrees. Tries to underline it further by telling Heath he could have caviar with them instead of cheese and crackers with Rhyno, just for Heath to ask what caviar is, stopping Mike short. Rhyno then takes the opportunity to tell Mike to find a tag partner, that he's going to find Angle and make a tag match with them against Mike and whoever he finds, before stuffing his face full of those nasty looking crackers, Mike and Maryse both backing away in disgust.
They're barely down the hallway when she slaps him on the shoulder, looking somehow even more pissed off. "You ruined my clock, now you're trying to destroy my relationship with Heath as well?!" she demands, lips held in a tight scowl.
"No, no, that's not-" He groans, watching as his plan backfires twice. He's not even sure why he was so pissy to Rhyno, actually likes the guy usually, but... "Mike, you're an idiot," he mumbles to himself, trudging off to find a partner.
After almost an hour has passed, it's time for the match but he hasn't found a partner and he admits as much to Angle, bitterly. "I'll handle it, go to the gorilla position," Angle says dismissively, waving him off while pouring over his phone.
Mike does not like the sound of that, and he's right to be wary when Angle teams him up with... that damn bear from the week prior. He stares on in disgust as the... thing makes it way down to the ring. He tries not to fall into old, paranoid habits, but he still thinks Dean could be anywhere, ready to attack at any moment, so he beats his partner down. Tears the bear head off just to find... it's the same guy as last week. At a loss, he returns to the match, fights Heath off and turns to look at Maryse as she waves desperately, confusing him after so long of the silent treatment. "What is it?!"
When he finally turns around, he finds himself face to face with a lifeless Heath on the mat and Dean Ambrose in the bear costume. "What the-?" he yells, rushing towards him just to get pushed back into Maryse who had jumped up onto the apron for some reason, sending her down onto the floor. She sits there, dazed, before getting up and rushing backstage. Confused by everything going on, Mike turns just in time to be planted into the mat. He blinks up at the lights as the bell rings, stirring him out of the fugue he'd fallen into. Heath just pinned him. Just pinned the Intercontinental champion. He can't think of anything to say, to do, lays there while Dean glares at him and Rhyno helps Heath up, celebrating the win.
He rolls out of the ring and grabs his belt, heading for the back to find Maryse, make sure she's ok. She's still not talking to him, but seems fine, although she refuses to even look at him now. Heath comes in a minute later, wrapping her up in his arms, and she melts into his hug, Rhyno glowering at Mike. "What was all of that back there? Insulting my cheese and crackers? Trying to steal Heath outta our partnership? That's low, even for you, Miz."
"It was a dumb idea!" he says, trying to think of a way to defend himself. "I just... thought maybe if we worked together... but ugh." He shrugs helplessly. "Then I started thinking maybe I could convince you like Neville convinced TJ, and-"
Heath casts an incredulous look over at him. "Do I really seem like the type who'd throw away a good friend like Rhyno for a possible title opportunity like that? After everythin' we'd been through?"
Mike wants to say that Heath did bring it up first, had awoken the idea in Mike's head, but he wisely keeps quiet. "Of course not! I just... thought it'd be awesome if we all worked together, since we get along so well outside of work. Usually," he mumbles, seeing how they're all looking at him distrustfully now.
He raises his hands in supplication. "I'm sorry! Ok, I'm sorry, please stop looking at me like that!"
Rhyno rolls his eyes and sits back down with his plate of crackers, eating slowly while Raw wraps up. Heath draws Maryse over to the couch and sits down, holding his arms out to her as she curls up against him, Mike left standing by his lonesome in the middle of the room. "Fine," he mumbles, turning to watch the monitor with a grimace at being ignored by all of them now.
-x
Tuesday night. John Morrison stares at the clock, petting Prince Presley whenever he trots by. He breathes in and out, trying to ignore the nervousness making his stomach doing flips more severe than John's ever had in the ring or in parkour before. Finally Taya appears, part of her hair up, the rest streaming over her shoulders, and a white jacket and red blouse, cream pants and simple sandals finishing off her casual but attractive look. "Come on," he says quietly, taking her hand and leading her out onto the beach outside of the apartment.
She squeezes his hand, smiling happily, as they take in the moon overhead, stars twinkling promisingly. It's a gorgeous night and she sighs, resting her head on his shoulder. "I'm glad you suggested this," she says softly, John leaning in to softly kiss her.
"I'm glad I did too," he agrees. They wander for awhile, John eventually buying her ice cream from a vendor just before he closes up for the night. She licks it with a happy smile, and he gets a taste when he sneaks a kiss, Taya giggling against his mouth as she swats at him.
"If you wanted your own, you should've bought two."
"Mm, it tastes better like this," he says before taking her hand and walking closer to the water. Their toes have just gotten submerged by the waves lazily licking up the coast when he turns to look at her, brushing her hair out of her eyes. "Taya?"
"Mm hmm?" she asks, turning to look at him. She makes a noise deep in her throat when he drops onto one knee right there, squeezing her fingers.
"I know we've only been dating a little over a year," he tells her softly, eyes gleaming as he looks up at her, hope and affection for her etched all over his face. "But it feels like I've known you all of my life. I can't imagine my world without you in it, and I never would want to. Everything has changed since you came into it, and I can see now that everything I went through before was just to prepare me for this, so I could be the man you deserve... and I will never stop being grateful to Lucha Underground for helping us to get closer like this." He kisses her knuckles, then pulls a box out of his pants pocket. "If you'll say yes, you'll make me the absolute happiest man in the world. So, Taya," he says through a wavering smile, popping the box open so she can see the glittering ring inside. "What do you say? Will you marry me?"
She chokes out a sob of a laugh, nodding as she sinks down into the surf in front of him, throwing her arms around him. "Yes, yes! I will," she promises, kissing him deeply. They only pull away long enough for him to put the ring on her finger before resuming kissing, the water washing over their legs. "I love you so much."
"I love you too," he breathes, resting his forehead against hers. After a few moments, he starts to laugh. "Mike's going to freak out. I haven't even told him I was going to do this."
"Oh boy," she teases gently. "Someone's in trouble." Kisses him again. "It's ok, I'll protect you from his offended best friend wrath."
"Thank you," he laughs, getting to his feet and holding a hand out to her. "There's champagne back at the apartment. Come on, let's go celebrate."
She leans into him, kissing his arm. "Someone was sure of themself, huh?"
"Kind of," he laughs, kissing the top of her head as they slowly make their way back up the beach to the apartment to toast their engagement and start daydreaming about their future wedding.