Friday night Smackdown. Alex would ordinarily be at home, relaxing on a sunny Florida beach or something similar to that, but after reading a tweet from Mike saying that he'd be at Smackdown that week, he had decided to make the trip to the Mohegan Sun after all to show support to his former mentor. With all that Mike's been going through, he figures it's the least he could do.
"I didn't expect you to be here," Mike comments, grimly tying up his boots as Alex watches from the opposing bench.
"Last minute decision," he shrugs with a smile. "What's your match tonight, anyway?"
He rolls his eyes, frowning as he continues getting ready. "Teaming with Cody Rhodes and Daniel Bryan against Sheamus, Big Show and Randy Orton." He picks viciously at his tangled laces, grumbling under his breath as he only makes it worse. "You know I really shouldn't have to go through all of this just to get a match at Wrestlemania, I defeated John Cena last year and this year nothing? It makes no sense."
Alex nods, leaning forward. "No one ever said Laurinaitis was smart. If he can't see that you deserve a Mania match, well..."
"You know, it's strange," Mike mumbles, only half listening to him. "My career was better when the Anon GM was behind the scenes, screwing everything up." He checks the clock, quickly wrapping his wrists up in tape. "I should go. I'll meet you back here later, alright?"
"Sure man, good luck." He has a few minutes before Mike's match starts, so he wanders around the Smackdown hallways, saving hi to a few people he knows before ending up at the monitor near the gorilla position. Settling in on a trunk, he watches on as Mike and Daniel work most of the match, Cody doing his best to avoid Big Show. By the end of the match, Cody has run off to avoid Big Show, and Sheamus and Daniel's fight has spilled into the audience, leaving Mike alone to contend with Orton. An RKO later and it's all over, A-Ri cringing as the replay shows it all over again.
Mike glowers over towards him as he walks through the curtain, pushing off the referee as he tries to help him. "I'm fine," he snaps at the older man. He shrugs him away and joins Alex, hopping up next to him on the trunk, sighs. "Well. I guess I know how Morrison felt when he was left to deal with Mark Henry alone last year now."
The younger man, after an awkward moment, nudges him. "Sorry, man."
They sit quietly for a few minutes as the show rolls on around them until finally Mike stands up. "I'm gonna get my stuff and then we can go back to the hotel. I'm tired."
"Alright." Alex watches him leave before fishing his phone out of his jeans pocket. He taps his fingers against the surface of the trunk as it rings through to voicemail. "Hey, John, call me back when you get a minute," he urges, rolling his eyes before hanging up. Moments later, Mike returns with his bag, unaware of the attempted phone conversation he'd just missed. "Ready to go?"
"Yeah."
Later on, Mike is about to doze off when Alex's phone goes off, thankfully on vibrate so Miz doesn't respond to it ringing. Alex attempts to act normal as he holds the phone to his chest and ducks into the bathroom, feeling ridiculously like a teenage girl trying to hide a conversation with the resident bad boy from her parents. "Hello?"
"Hey, Alex. You called?"
"Yeah," he nods, quietly pushing the bathroom door shut behind him. "I was wondering, do you have plans this Wednesday...?"
After another failure of a Monday Night Raw, his attempts at even asking Laurinaitis for a Wrestlemania match failing as he loses via submission to CM Punk, Mike is setting up for his USA Network live chat when there's a knock on his door. He groans, kneading his forehead. "Who... now... why?" he grumbles, still aggravated after some minor technical difficulties with logging in on USA Network's character chatter website. Brushing his hands off on his shorts, he heads for the door and stares as John waits on his doorstep, smirking with a paper bag in hand. "What are you doing here?"
"Well, a certain someone thought you'd like some company for your Psych debut," he grins, waving the bag at him. "I brought snacks."
"Oh, fantastic. Let me guess, Alex?" he mumbles drily. John pushes past him and he gapes after him as he quickly scatters the sack of food and drinks across the coffee table, coming uncomfortably close to knocking his laptop off the edge. "Oh yeah, great, make yourself at home. Sure, why not."
"Hurry up, Mike, it's about to come on," he urges, ignoring him and dropping onto the couch as he opens a bag of popcorn. The show is already on and right from the start, he starts cracking up.
"Oh my God, shut up," Mike groans, sitting down as a clip of him winking at a girl shows, his very first close shot no less.
"That's no fun," he responds, grinning. "I know this is supposed to be a comedic kind of show anyway but something tells me you're gonna be the funniest part of this episode for me."
Miz glowers at him and sighs, "Are you going to talk through all of this episode?"
"Yeah, I think so."
"Oh, God, why did Alex encourage this?" he groans, ducking down against his couch cushions as John snickers next to him.
"I'm not surprised you're in an episode about a reality show," he sighs, burying his hand in the bag of popcorn, undeterred when Mike slaps him away, trying to get the popcorn away. "Are you the murderer?"
"John, I swear, if you don't shut up already..."
They watch for a few minutes in silence when John speaks up again. "I can see why you and James Roday get along."
"Ugh, I hate you," he sighs, leaning forward to check the laptop on the first commercial. "You're about as annoying as some of these questions."
"That wounds me," John comments, leaning back against the couch to wait through the commercials as he watches Mike deal with the chat on .
"Hank's sarcasm is about as well received as yours, John," Mike comments a few minutes later as he finishes typing, returning to lounging on the couch to watch a bit of the show.
"That pale guy looks like he's related to Sheamus."
"Oh my God, you're seriously not going to shut up this whole hour." He rolls his eyes at Morrison.
"Did you expect anyth-" He comes to a sudden stop midsentence and peers at Mike. "Did you seriously just call your arms Federico and Pepe? It sounds like chihuahua names!" He starts to snicker.
Mike groans, burying his face in his hands. "My God, I forgot how annoying it can be to watch TV with you."
They fall silent as the "hearts" are handed out on the bachelorette type show, John freezing as more than one thing is revealed about Mike's character- his name and the fact that he has a girlfriend. "Wait, your character's name is Mario?" He begins laughing anew, rolling his eyes as the scene carries on with Miz attacking both main stars on Psych, leaving them laying before picking up a flower vase to hit James Roday with. "Where's Luigi when you need him, huh? Is the girlfriend named Peach?"
"Don't start," Mike warns him but it's too late- his character is eliminated from the reality show and immediately hits himself in the head with the vase, knocking himself out. "I mean it, don't start."
"That didn't look much different from your usual matches," John chokes out, laughing so hard that eventually no noise comes out of his mouth as he leans against the side of the couch in an attempt to catch his breath. "Oh my God."
"I'm gonna shut this TV off, I swear to God," he hisses, glowering over at him.
"That Juliet girl looks more vicious than you do," he gasps, struggling to calm down. Mike's expression following this just sends him over the edge again. "Ok, ok, I'm sorry. Dammit, I needed that laugh though." He sits up straighter, wiping his face. "You should guest star on more shows."
He rolls his eyes, refocusing on his live chat as Morrison munches through the bag of popcorn through the rest of the episode. Once it concludes, Mike sits back, crossing his arms over his chest and raising an eyebrow at John. "Well, are you done laughing at me now?"
"Oh, c'mon, man. If people laugh at this episode, doesn't it mean you did what you're meant to do?" Seeing that Mike's still unimpressed with his answer, he slaps him on the arm. "Come on, chill out. This Wrestlemania thing is really getting to you that badly, huh?"
His face darkens even more as he nods. "Of course it is, John. God... I just... can't believe they're ignoring me, when last year I main evented Wrestlemania. I just don't know what to do."
John watches him for a moment before leaning forward. "There's always the Laurinaitis vs Long match but... if you did get a place on it, would you really want to fight for Laurinaitis' team? He is the one who's pretty much ignoring you, right?"
Mike nods. "Yeah. And I don't want to fight for Teddy's team either but... The card's filling up and there's only so many things I can do from here on in."
"Well, do what you do best. If people are ignoring you, then be louder than everyone else and gain notice. They won't give you a spot on the card? Make your own. It's far from ideal and not at all what you really want, but it's better than nothing, right? If someone gives you trouble over it? Sic Federico and Pepe on them."
"Oh God, shut up," Mike hisses, trying to glare even as his lips twitch tellingly.
"Hey, you're about to smile. Come on, man. It's funny. Just admit it."
"Ugh you're so annoying," he sighs, finally laughing. "God, if anyone says that my live chat tonight sucked, I'm so blaming you." He pushes John over and grins as his former Dirt Sheet co-host sinks against his couch cushions, smirking.
"Another thing you're good at doing, blaming me for everything," he cracks.
Mike's eyes narrow as he glares once more at him, finally releasing another laugh. "You're so stupid. So when exactly did Alex call you anyway?" he asks, stealing the popcorn from Morrison as the conversation slowly eases into less weighty subjects.
Wrestlemania is still looming, pressing on Mike due to his lack of time on the card, but for tonight, he lets it go and focuses on spending some much needed time catching up with Morrison and what he's been up to the past few weeks.