"So they're using you this week, huh?" John asks, basking in the sun as he leans back into the sand, peering over his sunglasses at Mike.
"I guess so," he says. "Got my flight info, at any rate. It'd be silly to fly me out just to not use me, but we know how that goes."
"Ah yes," John says lazily. "That we do. Well, any idea what they've got scheduled for you?"
"MizTV I think," he says. "Theory, it seems. We'll see how it goes." He twirls his fingers lazily in the sand, enjoying the warmth of it against his skin.
"I'm sure it'll be a delight," John says dryly. "What could you two possibly have to talk about?"
Mike smirks. "Oh, I'm sure I'll think of something. it is one of my specialties, after all. Putting something out of thin air to fill time."
"True," John murmurs into the fold of his arms. "Saved our asses quite a few times with that over the years."
"Hell yeah, it did." Mike smirks, turning over to distribute his tan a little more evenly. They sit in silence for awhile, Mike enjoying the quiet rush of the waves against the beach when John shifts.
"Any updates on Ricardo and Alicia moving away?"
"Nah," Mike says. "I guess they're waiting to make any real decisions until he's out of rehab, but I know as soon as he decides, Alicia's all in. She just wants to do whatever she can to help him with his recovery, and if he thinks it's Pennsylvania, then Pennsylvania it'll be."
"Yeah, makes sense," John says. "Be weird without him around though. I'm so used to him living in Florida, or Texas, or California, the thoughts of him living in the Northeastern part of the country, huh?"
"Yeah, really weird," Mike agrees, thinking about it. "Imagine if we try to go visit him for holidays? It'll be soooo cold."
"His poor kids will have to get used to snow and coats really quick," John huffs. "I'd never be able to tolerate that."
"Me neither," Mike chuckles. "I can't imagine Sara's reaction if I told her she'd have to deal with snow and ice for half of the year."
"She'd probably try to convince you all to let her live with Maryse and Heath," John laughs.
"Or with her uncle John," Mike says, rolling his eyes.
"What can I say? Your kids love me, man."
"Yeah, because you spoil them," Mike says, reaching out to flick wet sand at him. "It's not something to brag about."
"Meh, you don't complain about it when you and AJ want some time to yourselves," John smirks.
"Hey, that's only been a couple of times," Mike protests.
"In the last month," John coughs.
"Well, if you hate it so much, you don't have to-"
"Ah, shut up, you know I'm only teasing," John interrupts. "Taya and I are always glad to spend time with the kids, especially since it's not in the cards for us."
"I'm sorry," Mike says, glancing over at him.
"No, it's ok," John hastens to say. "I honestly think I'm better as an uncle than a father. You know? Does that make sense? Like... I have so many creative goals up here," he waves at his head. "I'd probably be too caught in my own stuff to focus on kids and give them the life they deserve."
"I disagree," Mike says. "I think you'd be a great dad, if you'd have the chance. But as long as you and Taya are happy, I'm happy."
"Besides, between you and AJ, Heath and Maryse, Ricardo and Alicia, we won't have any issues with having kids to help with, sometimes," he says, smiling.
"Well, I'm glad we can help you guys out like that," Mike says, mostly seriously.
John grins over at him. "Yeah. Well, hopefully Ricardo's kids won't be too mad about how he just chose to up and deracinate them when they're old enough to understand they once lived this close to the ocean."
Mike huffs, squinting at the ridiculous words John insists on using. "They'll see how many earthquakes and traffic jams they miss out on and be just fine with it."
John chuckles. "True," he sighs. "Well, I'm sure we'll still be around for those kids to visit every now and again so they won't completely think California is a scary place that they were lucky to escape."
"It's important to you, huh?" Mike asks. "I guess I understand. I always kinda thought Ricardo would be around, too. Even when he went off to India and Egypt, I knew he'd be back at some point. But this whole... rehab stuff, and the move to Pennsylvania. It's a lot of change, very quickly."
"Yeah," John muses. "But if it brings him what he needs, then I'm happy for him."
Mike sits and mulls that over for a minute, before nodding. "Yeah," he says softly, squinting out over the sea. "Me too."