They were three weeks into their new sleeping arrangements and things had gone surprisingly smoother than she would have thought. Until that point they hadn't experienced any hiccups, but they had two days coming up where they had media obligations in two different cities. She was apprehensive about trying to go to sleep without him there, and more than a little anxious over how he would fare without her. Just as she'd thought, she tossed and turned the first night, eventually giving up and turning on her phone to distract herself. She wasn't surprised when she received an 'Are you awake?' text from Finn, and she ended up calling him.

They still didn't get any sleep, but he kept her occupied in mostly meaningless conversation, which was better than staring at the clock for hours. She stumbled through her day, tired but still functional and begged off of going out with some of the other girls that night. The second night was worse, the lack of sleep from the first night compounded the misery of not being able to sleep, and Finn didn't answer her texts or calls all night, which was unlike him and had her really worried. She didn't hear from him until she was on her way to the airport the next day. One of the other wrestlers had given him a sleeping pill and he'd been desperate enough to try it. He was pretty shaken when she talked to him. The pill had made him numb, unable to move or talk or do anything, but he still hadn't slept. He'd spent an entire night basically paralyzed in his bed, and it had understandably freaked him out.

When they saw him at the arena that night the first thing she'd done was wrap her arms around him, and he practically collapsed against her. He'd looked like death warmed over, and as bad as she knew she felt after two nights without sleep, she knew it had been ten times worse for Finn. He didn't let her go and they stayed like that for a long time, his forehead resting on her shoulder. She remembered how much he'd enjoyed it, so she began to run her fingers through his hair and felt him relax a little.

Neither was aware of the image they presented, completely oblivious to the type of looks they were receiving from everyone passing in the hall.

They both did their best to push through the exhaustion and do their jobs that night. Finn had obviously reserved what little bit of energy he did have for his match because afterwards he was a zombie. She'd had to take care of him and steer him through the necessary steps to get him to the hotel and settled in. She hadn't made it to town in time to check into her room before the show, and she didn't want to leave Finn alone for even the short amount of time it would take her to do so, so she just brought her bag with her to his room. She'd had to prompt him to go change and then had to turn around abruptly when he'd started undressing, too out of it to notice she was right there. She could feel her whole face warm even though she hadn't seen anything she couldn't see on a regular basis when he was in his ring gear. When she came back from the bathroom after changing he was sitting on the edge of the bed staring off into nothing. She gently pushed him to climb under the covers, and as soon as they were curled up together she felt him sigh in relief. Both were asleep in moments.

...

They thankfully didn't have to go through anything like that again, both being careful to make whatever arrangements they had to so that they were always in the same city at night. They stopped bothering with booking two separate rooms after that too. Finn had pointed out that they were wasting a lot of money just for a place to change clothes when the bathroom could easily accomplish the same thing. They continued their arrangement for the next several weeks and continued to grow closer in the process. Despite the fact that she'd lived with her ex-boyfriend for longer than she'd even known Finn, she felt like she and Finn had a deeper connection than anything she'd ever had with her ex, and every day spent together, every night spent in the same bed seemed to make it even deeper.

Sharing personal space with him all of the time was for the most part pretty amazing, but at times it also felt like torture. She never tired of his company so having him there so much was awesome, and she never got bored or lonely, but he was a beautiful man, and seeing so much of him was bound to make any woman feel a little hot and bothered and she was not immune. Of course if the worst part about it was dealing with a little sexual frustration then she would take it any day. He'd never shown any kind of interest in her that way, so she was careful not to let it show (as much as she could, she couldn't help the fact that she woke up wrapped around him like a pretzel every morning), and they easily fell into a routine until Finn announced one afternoon,

"I need to make a trip back to Orlando this week." The announcement surprised her even though it really shouldn't have. He'd been spending his days off with her in whatever city they ended up in, and it had been quite a while since he'd gone back to his home here in the US. It made sense that he would need to eventually, but the thought of going through something like they had few weeks ago immediately filled her with dread. Then he asked,

"Will you come with me?"

The simple solution hadn't even occurred to her, but they'd been doing everything else together, so there was no reason why they couldn't do that too. She'd never stayed at his apartment before, so it might be a little weird, but Orlando was a second home to her as well. She could think of several people she hadn't seen in a while that she'd love to see, and she always loved dropping by the PC, so even if Finn had stuff to keep him busy she knew she could keep herself occupied, but as it turned out she didn't need to worry about it. They'd gotten so used to planning everything around each other that even with the things he needed to take care of he managed to arrange it so that she was never bored or left waiting on him. He'd had a meeting to attend to at the PC, but she'd been able to use the time to catch up with the coaches, something she'd wanted to do anyway, and she had a nice afternoon renewing connections. She didn't notice the looks they received when they arrived and left together, but as she found out later, Finn did.

...

In fact Finn might not have noticed either, but Matt had flat out asked him about it. As with many tight-knit communities like the wrestling world was, gossip had a tendency to run rampant, traveling both within and across companies and promotions like wildfire. Neither had paid attention to or tried to hide the fact that they were sharing a hotel room most nights, and didn't realize they'd become the subject of speculation among those in their business.

Finn wasn't sure why he felt reluctant to correct the assumptions either when it was brought up, especially with a friend as close as Matt was. The idea that people thought of Bayley as being his was somehow satisfying. After spending so much time with her he felt possessive of her, a fact he didn't want to analyze too much. At first he tried to brush it off and he told Matt that Bayley had made the trip with him to Orlando just to visit friends. His friend probably would have let him off of the hook, but he'd pointed out a few things that Finn hadn't thought of. Bayley was well liked and there were a few people in particular, like Hunter, who were protective of her. It would not go well for him if he couldn't answer their questions satisfactorily when they eventually confronted him, and Matt had also reminded him that if they let the world make their own assumptions people would assume the worst and that it could end up reflecting badly on Bayley.

He didn't want to be the one to bring it up, but he also didn't want her to get blindsided like he had been, and he knew if someone was asking him about it, it wouldn't be too long before someone would say something to her too. He decided he had to say something, so that night while they were putting dinner together in his apartment he told her,

"There's something I need to talk to you about."

"What's up?" she asked, not noticing yet the serious tone of his voice or even looking up from her salad preparation.

"Um, Matt kind of made me aware of something today that neither one of us has thought of, and well I didn't want you to be surprised by it." She looked up now finally catching on that he was addressing something important, and she probably also picked up on the fact that he was hesitant to get it out.

"Apparently people have been talking about us a lot lately, and, um assuming we're together." He could tell it took a minute for her to process and comprehend his meaning, when she did he could see the surprise on her face. He could even see the'why?' start to form on her lips before she realized what they both should have thought of weeks ago, that people were going to make assumptions when they realized that the two friends were sharing a hotel room. When she did speak, she just said,

"Oh."

"You know I'm not one to care what people think or say about me, but Matt reminded me that I would have to answer to Hunter, which I should have thought of. I remember when Becky met Luke and the shit he put him through. He's really protective of you guys. We've been so consumed with how well it worked that we didn't think through how it would look to the rest of the world or the consequences of that. Hunter's going to absolutely murder me."

"Can't we just tell them the truth?" she asked.

"Do you really think they would believe us?" she paused when he said that and her face fell.

"No, but Finn, I can't go through what we did a couple of weeks ago again. We can't just stop."

"I know, and Matt had some concern for you too."

"Concern for me? Why?"

"Because right now people think we have some kind of friends with benefits thing going on, and well I know it's a double standard, but he thought it might affect you worse than it would me. He thought I should think about having more care for your reputation, and he's right, as stupid as it is that that even matters in this day and age, I don't want something that started out as you trying to help me turn into something that makes you look bad or even worse, effects your career."

"You really think it would go that far?"

"I don't know, honestly. I wasn't expecting that conversation today, and I'm not sure what to think right now." They were both silent for a little while, lost in thought. Bayley went back to prepping the salad while he leaned back against the counter across from her until Bayley said,

"So this is going to sound crazy, but why don't we just tell them we are together then? Hunter might give you some shit like he did with Luke, but he likes you, as long as he doesn't think you're taking advantage of me or anything he won't be upset. If people think we are dating they won't bat an eye at us sharing a hotel room, and I don't think the whole reputation thing will be a big issue if they think we are dating instead of having an affair. Then if we ever figure out how to get around needing each other to fall asleep at night we can 'fake' break up and be the coolest, friendliest exes in the history of the world."

The idea would have never occurred to him, but it was appealing none the less. Like Bayley had pointed out, it would solve all of the problems that Matt had brought up while still allowing them to keep their arrangement going, and that voice in the back of his head that had enjoyed the idea of people thinking of Bayley as his was urging him to agree with her.

"Yeah, that could work I guess. Would we tell anyone the truth? I kind of avoided answering Matt, I wasn't sure how to explain, and he's the first one who's said anything to me."

"Sasha hasn't said anything either, but that's probably as much because we've both had so much going on that we've hardly had any time to talk lately. If the gossip is as bad as Matt thinks it is, then it won't be much longer before she confronts me."

"Do you want to tell her the truth?"

"Yeah, kind of. I don't think I could lie to her with a straight face. She knows me too well. If you're okay with it though I'd rather not have to explain the truth to my parents. I'm not sure they would believe it, and I know they wouldn't approve."

"That's fine."

"Are you sure? You might have to do the whole meet the parents thing at some point."

"Yeah, I don't mind. I don't think I will tell my parents either. They would believe me, but I don't think they would approve any more than your parents would."

"Are you going to tell Matt?"

"No. I already avoided it once. It will be easier to let him think that he was right and he spurred us into making it official rather than backtracking."

"What about any of the rest of your friends?"

"You're going to think it's a stupid guy thing, but no. None of them would believe for a second that I sleep in the same bed at night with someone as beautiful as you and that I haven't done anything." Finn was surprised to see Bayley's whole face turn red. He'd probably never come out and said it quite like that before, but she had to know that he wasn't blind. She had the kind of body that most guys fantasized about and he knew it. He wasn't going to lie, being able to curl up with her every night was definitely not a hardship, but it wasn't exactly easy either. She seemed too flustered to respond so he changed gears a little to distract her,

"Are you sure you're okay with all of this? I still feel bad that I put you in this mess in the first place."

"Yeah, I'm okay, and none of this is your fault Finn, and you're the one who has to deal with Hunter, so if you feel the need to punish yourself I think that's punishment enough."

"Don't remind me. I was right there with him when it came to Becky, she's like my little sister, but I kind of feel bad for the guy now that I'm in the same position."

"You could be preemptive about it instead of waiting for him to come to us."

"That's probably a good idea, but I will have to figure out a way to bring it up without it being awkward."

"I'm sure you'll figure it out," Bayley said. After that they finished putting their meal together and moved on to lighter subjects for the rest of the evening.

...

Even though he and Bayley had agreed to let the world think they were dating, he wasn't sure how they were going to go about doing so, after all now that he thought about it a lot of their behavior already fell into relationship territory when taken out of context. It was the fact that neither had come out and said they were exclusive or together that had people assuming they were just messing around, and that was what they wanted to change. Ever since that night when she'd helped him finally break through his insomnia they'd spent the majority of their time together, sharing travelling arrangements, meals and eventually a hotel room, so they couldn't use those types of things to signal a change in their relationship (and he really was amazed that neither of them had thought about what that would look like on the outside.)

Eventually he decided that social media was probably their best route. They'd occasionally posted pictures of each other on their Instagram, but they'd always been careful of posting too many pictures of themselves with co-workers of the opposite sex because of the assumptions people would make. Which also made it the best way to ensure that they accomplished just that. He was struck with inspiration when they were watching a movie on his couch that night. She was curled up under a blanket next to him, but he asked her to move up against him. After sharing a bed for over a month they were a little more comfortable with being that close, but didn't normally do so except at night. Once she moved over he tried to steal the blanket which turned into a brief tickle war before they settled back down, agreeing to share it. Her face was still flushed prettily from the effort and it was the perfect timing so he pulled out his phone and took a picture of the two of them. The picture turned out really well, and he liked it so much he made it the background on his phone as well as posting it to Twitter and Instagram. He didn't use any caption except a heart emoji.

It worked. Almost too well, they were both bombarded with texts and calls from family and friends the next day, and it was even worse when they returned to work that night. He kept getting stopped by both his friends and people he barely knew, all wanting to talk to him about it. When he texted Bayley to figure out how she was faring, she told him she'd been dealing with the same sort of thing. Thankfully after the first day or two people settled down and they became old news, and it had certainly solved their problems with gossip. Established couple's who seemed happy together were not very good fodder for the rumor mill.

They didn't change a whole lot about how they did things, but one thing he did do was hold her hand occasionally. Admittedly it had been strange for both of them at first, but since they obviously weren't going around kissing or anything, he felt like they needed to do something that showed affection between them like people who were actually dating would. It didn't take long for them to grow comfortable with it either, and he enjoyed the fact that he had the freedom to touch her, to pull her close, or hold her hand when he felt like it. They'd been close before, but he could honestly say now that she was one of his best friends.

As great as it was though he was beginning to think their 'fake relationship' was messing with his head. He found himself having to fight the urge to kiss her more and more. The first time it happened they were hanging out backstage with a group of their friends. She'd turned to tell him something and afterwards when she'd gone to walk away he grabbed her hand to stop her. She turned back to him and he leaned forward and kissed her forehead before telling her "See you later." She'd looked a little stunned, and they were teased mercilessly for it, but what he'd really wanted to do was kiss her lips, and he'd just barely caught himself in time. The fact that he had gotten that close before he could stop himself bothered him a little, and waking up with her wrapped around him wasn't helping things either. She had a tendency to wrap one leg around his hip, and he'd come too close for comfort to embarrassing both of them with his natural reaction to it. He'd gotten used to having to take a cold shower every morning.

When it got close to her birthday her mom had insisted she come home for a visit, which had had his heart in his throat until she'd also insisted that he come along. Bayley told him she wasn't sure how uptight her mom would be about the sleeping arrangements, but he figured they would find a way to work things out. Her mom turned out to be a lot cooler about it than either could have hoped, immediately assuming he would be sleeping with her, which had relieved both of them. He kind of felt bad about deceiving her about the true nature of their relationship because she seemed so happy that they were together, and she was very kind to him. Despite his guilt he managed to really enjoy himself and it was good to see Bayley among her family.

While they were there he also finally got the chance to bring up the idea of Bayley using his apartment as her homebase, asking her to essentially move in with him. It wouldn't change things much as she was already staying with him every time they visited Orlando anyway, but he knew it would be easier on her if she had more of her personal things and her wardrobe there. She seemed surprised, but pleased he'd asked, and they managed to get her stuff packed and shipped before they left.