Mike is sitting in his hotel room, gnawing at his bottom lip, lost in thought. "So they're not going to allow you at ringside," he says slowly, glancing over at John.
"Nope." He sighs. "But it's an even playing field, I guess. Jimmy and Kofi won't be there either." He forces a smile onto his face, reaches over and punches Mike lightly on the shoulder. "You've got this. I know it."
"Of course I do." But he still can't help feeling uncertain. His shoulder is ok now, but still. Any weakness could be exploited. And he wouldn't have the benefit of John's steadying presence nearby. "It's my turn to pick up the slack."
John grins at him. "Damn straight." His win at Wrestlemania had been impressive, for sure, and Mike still isn't sure how he'd accomplished it.
Guess I'll have to figure it out when I go to do the same thing, he thinks. Picks at the gear he'd selected for this, lost in thought.
John blinks a few times, then reaches over to get Mike's attention. "Hey, you ok?"
"Yeah," he whispers. "I am. Just... missing everyone, I guess." Being isolated on the other side of the country isn't easy. And even when they get to go back home, neither can easily see their wives or the kids due to needing to quarantine. Some don't even bother going home, with how stenuous the taping schedule demands are.
John nods, squeezing his arm. "I know. Me too. We'll get through this."
"God, I hope so," Mike sighs, shaking his head. "What a mess." There are no other words to describe it, nothing that even comes close to making sense of the tidal wave of thoughts and feelings cluttering his mind for the last few weeks.
He talks to AJ every day on the phone, and sometimes they video chat so he can see the kids for a few minutes, but it's barely a balm to his stress. Tamina's around more now since Wrestlemania, and he laughs the first time he catches sight of her and snags her, pressing the phone into her hand. Seeing AJ's eyes light up as she catches sight of her old friend makes up for how it cuts into their time to talk to each other, but it's fine, he knows the two miss each other as well, life being too busy for them to spend much time together except at holidays and other random times when Tamina's in California.
"Thank you," AJ says, her grin wide and eyes shining once Tamina returns the phone to him and excuses herself to go deal with Bayley and Sasha in the ring. "I love you." Her smile dims a little. "We all miss you. Stay safe and we'll talk soon, ok?"
Mike nods. "You do the same, sweetheart. I love you too, so much. Bye."
Ending the video call aches somewhere deep inside, but he has a match soon and he needs to prepare mentally, physically. Maybe even do some of those techniques John's been showing him, a curious meld of meditation and stretches. He rotates his shoulder and shrugs. "Maybe not."
It all goes to hell early in the ring. He can't keep his head on straight, Big E and Jey are tough opponents even when he's fully on his game. He keeps fighting, trying his best to keep the upperhand, but there's just nothing for it. He misses having John nearby, chanting and cheering for him. The quiet of the building is odd, he doesn't like it. He misses the crowd, having people there to support or even just fuel him with their hate. Scrambling, clawing, fighting for every inch- it does no good. Big E gets the upperhand, keeps it, and walks away with his and John's titles and all Mike can do is gape as he straddles Corey Graves and screams about being eight time champions.
Later, once he's cleaned up and back at his and John's hotel, he can barely meet the other man's eyes. "I'm sorry," he mumbles, staring at the floor. "I ruined everything you fought so hard for at Wrestlemania-"
John stands, walks over to him calmly, and cups his jaw, forcing him to look up. There's such a depth of understanding and compassion in his dark eyes that Mike swallows, hard. "It's ok, man. You did the best you could, trust me. I mean, you were just injured. It's... I don't blame you."
Mike sniffs, hard, suddenly feeling close to tears. "Why are you always this way?" he chokes out, letting out a weak chuckle when John frowns at him, confused. "Nice to me when I don't deserve it. I ruined what should've been an amazing Mania for both of us, and now I've lost our tag titles. Man, you deserve better-"
John's fingers dig into Mike's jaw, startling him into silence. "We've been friends for well over a decade, Mike. Don't you think if I agreed with that, I would've found better by now?" He tilts his head and smirks, a little. "I don't want nor do I need this mythical better. I just want my best friend, and I think I'm doing ok with that right now."
Mike closes his eyes. "And if that changes?"
John shrugs. "If it does, we'll deal with it when it comes."
Mike still doesn't like this, any of this, the loss too fresh, too overwhelming with everything else going on. But John is John, and it's nearly impossible not to take him at his word. So Mike exhales shakily, forces some of the tension to leave his shoulders. "Ok," he breathes out, allowing John to drag him over to the table to eat and try to relax. He thinks they should discuss future game plans- how to try to get back their belts, future Dirt Sheets about New Day, something, anything, but John refuses, flips around TV channels until they find a dumb, pointlessly funny movie to try to distract him.
Mike almost hates how well it works.