"So," AJ says dryly, leaning down to wipe some food off of George's mouth, glancing up at the phone as she does so. "You've decided to sue him."
"Yep." Mike leans back against his pillows and watches his wife with a small smile on his face. John's wandering around the hotel room not too far away, engrossed in a script for some film he's pondering, and it's shadowy and calm around him, the perfect time for a video call.
"I dunno, Mike, you separate he and Mandy- which was quite mean, by the way, they were cute- and now this? What's the endgame going to be?"
Mike scoffs. "They were not cute! Come on. It was creepy, all of those videos we had to watch of their dates and the pool scene... ugh." He shudders. "John, did you think it was cute?"
John frowns, blinking at him over the pile of papers in his hands. "Huh?"
"Mandy and Otis, cute or not cute?"
"Not cute," he says automatically, turning his focus back onto memorizing the lines.
"See? Not cute! And John would know better than anyone what's cute, he's been around us more than enough times to know the real thing when he sees it."
AJ laughs softly, leaning down to aim the phone at George now that he's nice and cleaned up following lunch. "Hey, George, say hello to your silly daddy. Hm?"
The baby babbles and waves his fists at the screen and Mike's face softens. "Hey, George. Daddy misses you."
"We all miss you too," AJ tells him. "Sara would say hello too but I believe she's run off to play with Aunt Taya." Her voice drops a little and she whispers, "We should do something for Alicia soon. I know we can't all get together, but something. She's going to have that baby soon."
"Oh yeah," Mike says quietly. "Another baby in the mix." His eyes flicker over to John briefly and he exhales softly, smiling at AJ. "We're gonna keep the wrestling world on its toes with all of these second generation stars in the making."
"God, could you imagine? Sara as womens champion? I mean, if that's the path she chooses to take," AJ mulls it over quietly, a wistful look in her eye. "She would be amazing."
Mike smiles at her. "I think so too," he agrees. "My speaking skills and your looks and wrestling ability, where could our child possibly go wrong?"
AJ wrinkles her nose at him. "I'll have you know she looks a lot like you too, Mr. Mizanin."
"Her eyes," he agrees quietly. "The rest of her beauty is all from you."
AJ sighs and smiles at him. "Come home soon, ok?"
"I will," he promises, blowing her a kiss before disconnecting the call. He turns to watch John and tilts his head as his friend continues to look frustrated over the dialogue placed before him, lost in his own little world as he mouths the words out. "Want some help reading lines?"
John's head snaps up and his eyes widen as he realizes Mike's done with his call. "Yes please!"
-x
Smackdown goes downhill so quickly that Mike isn't even sure how it happens. One minute he's confronting Heavy Machinery, the next he's running through the halls in nothing but his underwear, John chasing after him, pushing his clothes into his hands. How they get separated, he's not sure, but then he finds himself outside of the arena, locked out and running around by the road, still mostly naked, and he struggles to breathe. It gets cold fast at night, sometimes, and he starts to shiver as he runs back and forth, looking for a discrete place to get his clothes back on.
"Oh come on!" he whines, finally giving up and returning to the stairwell outside of the arena, leaning against the cool concrete and biting his lip as he fumbles with his clothes, trying just to pull them on. It's not long before he realizes the pants were torn, probably by Otis' uncoordinated fingers, and he snarls. "These clothes were expensive, dammit!" His shirt looks a little better, and he manages to get that on, but it still means he's locked outside, in the dark, shivering against the cool wind that keeps tickling against his bare legs, he doesn't have his phone, and he can still hear traffic racing by next to him.
He closes his eyes and tips his head back, wondering if this is karma for everything he's done in the past year, when finally, finally the door opens and... "Mike," John hisses out, peeking around. "Are you out here?! Mike!"
"I- I'm here," he finally forces out of chattering lips and immediately John is there, pulling him up off of the steps. "John..."
"Hey, sorry, I don't know what happened, you went one way and I went the other, and by the time I realized, you were out of sight. Come on, buddy." He drags Mike's arm over his shoulder and leads him inside, frowning over how listless he seems and chilled his skin is to the touch. "Let's get you warmed up." He leads him into their locker room and finds him a new pair of pants, helping him into them. Stepping back, he frowns down at him and exhales. "Do you feel any better?"
"A little," Mike mumbles, still clearly cold and not quite meeting John's eyes.
"Hey, it's gonna be ok," John murmurs, kneeling down and briskly rubbing his arms, trying to bring some warmth back into his body, some color back into his cheeks. "You're gonna be alright."
Mike nods shakily and, by the time Otis is shown again, getting served with the papers Mike's lawyer had drawn up for them, he's feeling more himself, John sitting next to him, his warmth biting through Mike's clothes and guiding him back to normalcy bit by bit. "So, what do you think the chances are he'll go through with it?" Mike asks and John smirks, shrugging his shoulders.
"Don't know, but either way I think we'll have this in the bag pretty easily."
Mike nods. Watches John out of the corner of his eye. He thinks so too, but then that will open a whole new set of problems because, while he's held the Money in the Bank briefcase in the past and successfully cashed it in and been world champion, John never has, and although he can't help but think his partner deserves such an accolade, ...
Mike really, really wants it all for himself.