Mike is still startled by the news hours later, after everyone left. He plays with Sara, he picks at the sandwiches AJ had made for supper, aware that neither of them felt like huge meals. "Did I really hear that?" he finally asks as they get ready for bed after putting Sara down.
AJ looks up from where she's brushing her teeth and nods. "I did if you did, husband," she says after spitting out some paste. "Who knows, it might be good for them. I doubt John or Taya would be dumb enough to enter into an agreement with anyone without some security. Especially after what just happened." She rinses her mouth out before crossing the room and kissing him. "Don't worry so much, John's a shrewd business man. He'll be ok."
Mike nods. Hugs her. "Ok. Let's get some sleep." He kisses the top of her head and smiles. "At least before our little fusspot wakes up." She's still teething, and any bit of sleep she gets is a relief to them.
AJ chuckles. "Yeah, let's." He curls up close to her, wrapping an arm around her waist, and she kisses his arm. "Good night, husband."
"Good night, sweetheart," he breathes against her shoulder before closing his eyes and drifting fitfully, too many thoughts running around in his head to make sleep that easy.
Monday comes relatively quickly. Mike isn't worried about Dean and Seth. After all, there's three guys on his team versus their two. Axel and Bo look a little more worried than he does- they were two of the members of the biggest faction in their time, after all- but Mike brushes their fears off. "They barely get along anymore," he says dismissively. "All it takes is one moment of dissent between the two of them, and we've got it."
Except that it doesn't really come. Yeah, Dean leaves Seth to take the majority of the beat down by the three of them, but when push comes to shove, he tags in, he flattens all of them. And where Dean didn't have Seth's back, Seth definitely has Dean's, stopping any sort of unfair advantage against Dean, and keeping Mike from hitting as much offense against Dean as he'd like.
None of them can quite believe it when the two mortal enemies work together well enough to defeat the three of them. Mike rolls out of the ring and stares up at the ceiling, frowning as Maryse hovers over him. "What was that?!" she demands incredulously and all he can do is shake his head, all of his beliefs fading away, replaced by a quiet kind of shock.
They're all subdued and quiet as they walk up the ramp, leaving the odd series of hugs between the two maybe-still rivals behind them. Heath looks like he wants to say something when they enter the locker room but wisely keeps his mouth shut after one look at Mike's face. "Let's get outta here," he says, lightly slapping Rhyno on the arm. "Get somethin' to eat, yeah?"
As soon as he's gone, the room feeling a little less claustrophobic, Mike slumps down on the couch and buries his face in his hands. "Dammit," he breathes. He had underestimated them. Believed in his own spin. And had failed because of it. "Dammit, dammit, dammit."
One of them is bad enough. Two... two could easily destroy everything he's worked towards. Especially if they're on the same page.