AJ has a mixed opinion of Disney. Yes, some of it is adorable, she looks forward to introducing her children to some of the movies when they're a little older. But also, some of it was damned traumatizing, especially for a kid with shaky mental health already. Why none of the movies could simply let a kid have both parents for longer than five minutes, she'd never know.
So when Mike calls her for the daily check in, and he looks strangely... blue, she squints at him, uncertain. "Mike? What's on your skin?" He laughs a little awkwardly and shifts the camera so she can see a little more, causing her to gasp as she catches sight of his bald head. "Mike Mizanin!"
He does chortle at this, shaking his head. "It- it's a bald cap, don't worry, they didn't shave me." He calms down after a moment of her glaring, and then beams into the camera. "Care to guess what I am?"
"I don't know," she says, truly unsettled by her blue skinned, bald husband. "What is even-?"
"It's Disney week, remember!" he says with a laugh. "Tonight, they're dressing us up as heroes, and tomorrow they'll dress us up as villains."
Things then click with her. "Oh," she says, clapping her hand to her face. "Right. Of course." She stares at him for a long, quiet moment. "So, you're, uh... You're ... the Genie? From Aladdin?"
"Exactly," he says with a wide grin, and oh lord, somehow that makes him look even more frightening. "What do you think?"
She shakes her head. "I adore you, Mike, you know I do, but this look is horrifying."
He laughs. "Yeah, uh, I caught sight of that in the mirror. But it took so much time to get it to look this decent, there's no way in hell I'm complaining and getting put back in that makeup chair. Sorry, sweetheart."
"Yeah, I can imagine," she murmurs, peeking at him. "Wow, uh. Well, don't take offense but I may let the kids sit this one out."
He grins. "That's fine. Just don't forget to vote for me, ok?"
"Ready and waiting to do so already," she says, shifting her phone around. "I love you, Mike."
"Love you too, sweetheart," he says softly, the two of them stalling for a few minutes longer, talking about nothing in particular but not eager to let go, until someone in the background starts yelling for Mike. "I miss you," he says hurriedly. "I'll... I'll call you tomorrow, AJ." He blows her a kiss just before the screen goes dark.
She slumps back against the couch, closing her eyes. "I miss you too," she breathes out.
The judges continue to adore Mike, and AJ braces herself for this actually going the distance- he might not make it to the end, there are other high scoring celebrity dancers as well, but he'll definitely be lasting for quite awhile yet.
The next day, his call is earlier, before he returns to the makeup chair, and he winks at her. "I want you to get the full experience when I'm actually on TV. It's gonna be... something else, for sure."
She hums, curious by this claim but also wondering something else. "Did they manage to get all of the blue off of your skin?" she wonders, not terribly surprised when he lifts his hand and it's still tinted slightly. "Oh god."
He laughs awkwardly. "Yeah, I'm gonna have to do my best to get this off the rest of the way before next week. As long as I survive tonight."
She softens. "Of course you'll survive tonight. The judges adore you. I think you've even won Len over, which is no small feat."
He smiles at her. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Len is a very hard nut to crack."
They talk until he has to go again and she gets busy with the kids, and WoW business, and just life in general, so it surprises her when she looks up to find it's just past 7. "Crap," she hisses under her breath, pushing the laundry aside to find the remote. As soon as the TV's on, she relaxes to find that she hasn't missed anything significant yet.
Mike's dance is relatively early in the show, and she blinks, not surprised that now, he's been selected to dress on Scar from The Lion King. Her amusement fades when he begins and there's something... so deeply controlled about his movements, and with a strange sensuality with how he and Witney move together, the dance guiding their flow until she's completely lost in it.
She barely recognizes her own husband, and not in the same way as yesterday. "Damn," she breathes as the music ends and the lights fade back in and she blinks hard, amazed to find the judges already talking. Mike gets another very high score- even manages his first 9, and she's so happy for him.
The night ends with Mike announced early on as safe, taking away a lot of AJ's concern about his actual placement in things. "Yes," she mumbles, thrusting her fist in the air in victory as he and Witney step off the stage. "About damn time he wasn't kept till near the end."
Now that she's been proven right regarding his staging, she grabs her phone. Any way you can bring the Scar costume home when all of this is done? and sends him a wink emoji, feeling silly and a little turned on.
It takes him a few minutes to get back to her, which is impressive considering what a madhouse she assumes that stage is. I'll do my best, he responds, including a kissing emoji.
She laughs softly. I'll hold you to that, she promises.