After everything, it's not easy to let the briefcase out of Mike's sight. Logically, he knows it's not going anywhere, but still. Stiiiilll... He had come very, very close, and if not for John being overly helpful to the point of ignoring protocol, he'd be one very briefcase-less person right now.

So because of this, he ignores AJ's sigh as he drops the briefcase down on the table next to his side of the bed, making sure it's propped up proudly so he can see it overnight if he should wake up from nightmares or just needing a drink or to go to the bathroom. "Really, Mike?" she asks once he settles in next to her.

He looks up at her innocently. "What, sweetheart?"

She winces at him and shakes her head. "You know that thing isn't going to just disappear overnight, right?"

"Sure," he concedes after a few quiet moments. "But it makes me feel better to have it nearby. Especially after the last few weeks." She doesn't say anything immediately and he rolls over to rest his forehead against her shoulder. "You want me to feel better about things, don't you?"

She groans, resting her cheek against his temple. "If it falls over and scares both of us to death in our sleep, it gets moved. Understand?"

He brightens. "Yes ma'am!" He kisses her until she relaxes under him with a huff, but before he can go much further, he shifts and quickly looks the briefcase over, making sure it's as secure as he can get it before he turns back to find AJ glaring incredulously at him. "Sorry, sorry," he whispers, cradling her face and resuming kissing her.

"You are impossible," she grouses.

"And you love it."

She huffs, but doesn't disagree. He takes it as a win.

Monday comes around, and they start off with New Day on MizTV. Insults lead to a tag match and he and John lose after some back and forth that should've gone better for them than it had. He sighs, toweling off his hair after a quick shower.

"We staying?" John mumbles, just fresh out of his own shower. His hair curls up impossibly afterwards, and Mike smirks, staring at the frizzy mess.

"Yeah," he says. "We're staying." McIntyre has a match later and, although Mike doesn't feel like cashing in tonight, there's always a chance for opportunity and he wants to watch anyway, see if he can find any weakness in the man's offense.

John sits down and starts finger brushing his hair, staring at the TV screen. "Mike?"

"Yeah?" he asks, glancing over at him. He stops and looks a little longer at him, blinking. Something about the way he's sitting, hunched over with his eyes lowered, bleed vulnerability and uncertainty and Mike doesn't like it. "John?"

"Uh, just... thinking, I guess," he says slowly. "Things felt a lot like this in 2009, and I just... I don't know." He looks up and his dark eyes look suspiciously wet. "We, uh. We keep losing and, I don't know, I'm still having fun but I remember having fun then just to find myself sprawled out on the mat, alone and hurting, and I don't want that to just come out of nowhere. So can you just... I don't know, tell me where we stand? Because I... I honestly am not sure."

Mike exhales. Sits down heavily next to John and rests his hand on his back, soothingly rubbing circles against his spine. "Man, we're where we were at three, six, nine, months ago," he tells him with a faint smile. "You're always going to be my best friend. I'm not going to just repeat past mistakes because we're going through some shit right now. I like to think we've both matured past those ridiculous sorts of actions and reactions, don't you?"

John mulls it over for a few moments. "I like to think we have, yeah."

Mike smiles at him. "So you have nothing to worry about! I learned my lesson all of those years ago, it's going to be fine. I wouldn't have gotten my briefcase back if not for you, so I kind of have to keep you around, right?"

Something flashes across John's face- Mike doesn't get a good look at it, it's gone almost as soon as it arrives- but he grins anyway. "Yes, yes you do, Mike." They sit in comfortable silence for awhile, and then John nudges him, looking up at the TV screen. "McIntyre's out."

Mike watches closely as he and Keith Lee take each other to the limit. It's hard hitting, he feels overwhelmed watching it, because in the end, he's just ordinary sized Miz with the SkullCrushing Finale and a figure four leg lock, and these guys can overpower almost anyone, sling people around like they're nothing, and... He shakes his head when the match ends, Drew retaining.

"Thinking about going out?" John asks hesitantly, a hand resting on the strap of the briefcase.

Mike thinks about it for a second, but something nags at him, stays his hand. "No, I don't think so."

His decision is proven to be the correct one when Goldberg comes out and issues a challenge to McIntyre for the belt at Royal Rumble. John and Mike exchange equally horrified glances.

"Oh no."