"I don't know what came over me," Mike mumbles as he lays in bed with AJ, staring at the ceiling. "I just... wanted Shane to give us a chance, a real chance and the next thing I knew, I was just going on about George and I couldn't stop."
She tickles down his side, staring gently up at him. "Mike, you've had a lot of issues with your dad over the years. I understand why you felt like you could talk to Shane about it, if anyone's had as tumultuous a relationship with their father, it'd definitely be him. Could you imagine having Vince McMahon as your father? Anyone would've packed up and gone to China for a few years if they had to deal with that all of their life."
"Yeah, no kidding," Mike sighs. "Vince is hard just to work for sometimes, having to be his son and constantly feel the pressure, and desperation to not be a failure in his eyes... Yikes." He shakes his head and looks over at her. "I hope I never make Sara Louisa feel like that. You know? She's perfect, and beautiful, and smart, and I could never be disappointed by her..."
AJ smiles a little. "And even if she did, I know you would do your best to keep it from wounding her self-confidence. Because you know how it feels, the constant rejection of a parent not accepting you for who you are, what your dreams are, things of that nature."
"Yeah." He sighs, playing with her hair. "I'd never want her to feel slighted or unloved by me. I mean, hell, my aspirations were reality TV personality to segue into pro wrestler. There really isn't much she could want to do that could beat that combination, especially considering my father wanted me to take over the family business."
"Maybe she'll want to be a Dancing with the Stars contestant to segue into ballet," she teases. "Then what?"
He makes a face at her. "Ha-ha. I suppose I'd have to learn how to pirouette, huh?"
"That I would pay to see," AJ laughs, kissing his shoulder. "Now do you think you can sleep?" she asks him. "Sara's gonna be tired and cranky thanks to fireworks so we should really get as much as we can while we can."
"Yeah, I'll try," he tells her. "Thanks for listening to me."
She hovers over him and quirks an eyebrow at him with a soft smile. "Hey, that's just what we do, right?" She reaches over to shut the lamp off, casting the room into shadowy darkness, before kissing him softly. "You know I'm willing to listen to you at any time. Unless I'm watching General Hospital, at any rate." She winks at him as he huffs out a laugh. "Good night."
"Good night," he sighs, holding her close as he continues to stare at the ceiling, too many thoughts running through his head until finally he drifts off a good hour later.
Mike spends every free moment he has not focused on Sara, AJ, or John mulling over what he'd said to Shane, and the moment when Shane had finally agreed to partner with him. Shane's style suits him- to an extent- but if he's partnering with The Miz, he should really look the part, the baggy shirts and pants not really gelling well with Mike's trunks and robes. So he sketches ideas out, plays with color schemes and trunk types, wanting ideas to show Shane when he sees him again at Smackdown.
He understands that Shane is busy with his father, and what AJ Styles had done the week prior, but he thinks Shane can give him at least a few minutes despite how much of a full time job running Smackdown seems to be between Daniel, and AJ, and the womens division and everything else going on, even with Vince and HHH assisting here and there. There's still a moment of fear when Shane hesitates over their partnership and Mike thinks he's about to change his mind over their potential, find a cheap excuse to break his promise. He breathes a little easier when Shane tells him that he's still in, and Mike beams, taking his gear ideas away to work on them a little more to get more options and color schemes together to show Shane. "It's gonna be great," he mumbles to himself as he walks purposely through the hallways, certain that nothing could possibly go wrong between them now. "Hmmm... team names..."