"I told Ciampa about us," Mike murmurs into AJ's skin as she cuddles up close to him late Sunday, once both kids are down and the house is quiet and peaceful.

She freezes against him, then looks up. "You mean us-us? No Maryse, your kids are my kids, and... all of that?" she wonders.

"Yeah," he says, sitting up with her and carding his fingers through her hair. "He seemed ok with it, but I'll be watching him for awhile. Though he's probably too distracted with his US title match to actually pull anything with us."

"I hope so," AJ says quietly. "I mean, we know how cruel he can be. They didn't call him blackheart for anything."

"Maybe but I'm hoping that his being a father himself will still his hand from doing anything that would risk hurting the kids," Mike says slowly. "I think he's the kind who's ok with doing what needs to be done with other adults, but kids would be off-limits."

"One can hope," AJ says. "Well, in the meanwhile, I suppose we should make the most of the time we have... the house isn't quiet like this every night, after all."

Mike hums and holds her close, kissing her jaw down to her collarbone. "I like the way you think," he murmurs.

-x

Mike tilts his forehead and stares at the blue and red jacket resting on the bench before him. "I like it," he says. "It's a nice touch. Shows you're taking this very seriously."

"That's my goal," Ciampa says, smoothing his hands over it. He breathes in deeply and glances up at him. "You know, this is my former tag partner's hometown and I think a lot of people are assuming..." His voice trails off and he exhales.

Mike hums, noncommitted. "How would you feel about that? If Gargano did return tonight?"

"I guess it'd depend on what he returned to do," Ciampa says. "I mean, I wouldn't... it'd be good to see him. We were best friends for a long time. Even though it went bad eventually." He shrugs. "If he didn't ruin my title match tonight, I'd be fine with it."

After years of an off and on friendship with Morrison, Mike thinks he understands this all too well. "Do you want me to keep an eye out for him?" Mike asks, leaning against the wall. "I'll do my best to distract him if you want."

"Yeah, that'd be good, I think," Ciampa says. "Unless you get a sense he's not going to do anything to ruin things for me."

Mike laughs, feeling suddenly like he's trapped back in a love triangle like he was in before his marriage. "Yeah, I'll try to figure that out if I see him. Leave it all to me and focus on the match. It'll all work out," he promises, clapping Ciampa on the back. "I've got it all under control."

Tommaso smiles. "Thanks, man."

Mike tries to hold himself to his promise, but it all falls apart when, instead of Gargano, he sees AJ Styles and the two of them brawl on the outside, into the ring, all the way to the back. He thinks they just barely avoid costing Ciampa the match by DQ, and Mike breathes a little easier when they're backstage and WWE staff succeeds at separating them.

Ciampa's loss is a frustrating thing for Mike. The match against AJ later falls apart because of it, epsecially after there's some drama in the crowd that pulls both of their focus away from what they're doing. But it's only temporary and Mike's bad night continues when he loses as well. He drops his head back against the mat and groans, gritting his teeth.

He sluggishly makes his way backstage and finds Ciampa waiting for him, a thunderous look on his face. Unwilling to stay in the arena any longer, Mike throws on his garish yellow and black coat and jerks his head to the exit. "Let's get the hell out of here."

Ciampa nods briskly and follows him out, thunder in his dark blue eyes.