The first impression Sonya got of what was going to be her home for the time being was somewhat encouraging. The apartment block it was in didn't seem to be notably rough or rundown. There was no graffiti that she could see, and there had been no shady characters hanging around outside.

"Do you know much about the area?" she asked Mandy as they climbed the stairs to the first floor, where their apartment was.

"It's not supposed to be too bad," Mandy replied. "It was the one thing I insisted on when I was looking for somewhere. I had enough in my budget to avoid the bad areas, but not enough to get much of a place in the nice ones, if you know what I mean?"

"Yeah," Sonya said with a smile, glad they had the same priorities when it came to living conditions. A substandard apartment she could deal with. The same could not be said for living somewhere surrounded by drug addicts, violent criminals and noisy neighbours.

"I managed to talk them into giving me a three month lease, too," Mandy said. "I'm hoping that by then I'll have enough money saved to move somewhere better."

"Definitely shouldn't be a problem with two of us," Sonya thought aloud. "If we still want to live together then, of course."

Mandy laughed. "I'm sure you'll have had enough of me by then."

"Or you'll have had enough of me," Sonya countered with a smile.

Now on the first floor, Mandy reached a door with black metal numbers screwed into in, denoting it as apartment 104. "This is us," she announced. "A good distance from the stairs, which is a good thing. Not as much noise back here."

Mandy unlocked the door and led the way inside. The first thing Sonya noticed was the smell of plug-in air fresheners. There could definitely have been worse welcomes. She found that the front door opened into a combined kitchen and living room, with the two areas separated by a breakfast bar. The kitchen was small, but usable. The living area also wasn't very big, but it was furnished, albeit cheaply. There was a well-worn brown couch and chair set, with a wooden coffee table in front of the couch, at a right angle to the chair. There was also a smallish flat screen TV on the wall opposite the couch.

"Hey, this looks okay," Sonya said pleasantly.

"Yeah," Mandy said, standing for a moment while Sonya had a look around. "It's hardly a life of luxury, but it's somewhere to crash."

A door opposite the kitchen led through to the rest of the apartment. "Bedrooms and bathroom through here, obviously," Sonya said.

Mandy nodded, taking the lead once more. "There are two bedrooms, but one is completely unfurnished. I guess they thought someone might like to use it as an office or something. Anyway, I dumped my stuff in there last night, and I guess we'll bring yours up when we unload your car. We'll have to buy a bed and a mattress from somewhere for you. For a start, you'll have to have the couch I'm afraid."

"Hey, it's better than sleeping in my car," Sonya said appreciatively. "Once we've got things sorted, I'll look for somewhere to buy a bed."

Both bedrooms were small, like every other room in the apartment, Sonya soon saw as Mandy showed her around.

"And lastly, this is the bathroom," Mandy said, stopping in front of the one door that remained unopened. "Brace yourself."

Sonya gave Mandy an uneasy look before opening the door. That kind of warning was not what she had wanted to hear. Inside, she found that the bath, sink and toilet were all filthy, especially the toilet. The tiles around the bath were also in need of a clean. The toilet, though, was what made Sonya gag. The white enamel in the bowl was stained a horrid brown colour, so long had it been since anyone had cleaned it. "Mandy, that's fucking vile," she moaned.

"I got half of the first month's rent discounted as compensation for the state of the cleanliness. At least now I have someone to help me get it taken care of."

Sonya laughed, despite the horrendous task she was faced with. "No wonder you were keen on having a housemate." As she said it, she realised it was a risky thing to say to someone she didn't really know. If Mandy took it the wrong way, she would look seriously unappreciative for having a roof over her head.

Luckily, Mandy found the comment funny and laughed. "Hey, a deal is a deal."

"Indeed it is," Sonya said with a grimace that contained some humour.

"The kitchen is dirty too. All of the cupboards need cleaning, as do the fridge and the cooker. The oven is a real state. I don't know how people can live in conditions like that to be honest. Showering in that bath was nasty this morning, but I had no choice."

Sonya felt repulsed by the thought of it. "Yeah, I think I'll shower at the Performance Centre in the morning. I was looking forward to a relaxing bath tonight, but it looks like that's not going to happen."

"Not unless we go and find a store somewhere. I don't even have any cleaning supplies here yet. I'm not sure I'm up for cleaning tonight anyway, after what they put us through today. I'm stiffening up fast after all of those bumps."

While she could understand the way Mandy felt, there was more rigorous training to come the next day. There was little prospect of them having any more time or energy to clean the next night than there was now, and it would mean another day living in squalid conditions. As tired as she was, Sonya wanted to get the job over and done with.

"I think we should suck it up and at least make a start tonight," she suggested. "We're going to get trained hard every day, so unless we wait until the weekend we're not going to feel any better than we do now. Why don't we unload my things, then look up where the nearest hardware store is?"

"Yeah, alright," Mandy relented as they walked back through to the living area. "When we're done, we can order in pizza or something as a bit of a housewarming meal. I assume you like pizza?"

"My family is half Italian," Sonya revealed. "So, yeah, saying I like pizza would be an understatement. If I didn't have to stay in shape, I would live on a diet of pizza and donuts."

"Oh my god. You are my actual spirit animal!" Mandy cried. "My family is half Italian as well, and donuts are literally my favourite food! I love them so much! Especially glazed ones, I obsess over them!"

The beaming smile on Mandy's face made Sonya think, not for the first time that day, how beautiful she was. Stunning didn't even do her justice. Gorgeous face, beautiful smile and a body to die for. Sonya could have fallen for her on the spot, if it wouldn't have been totally inappropriate to do so.

"Is your mom's side of the family Italian?" she asked, hiding what she was thinking. "Mine is. Obviously Deville isn't an Italian name, and neither is Rose."

"Actually, my dad's side is Italian," Mandy revealed. "Saccomanno is my real surname, but WWE wanted me to use my mom's maiden name, Rose. I guess Saccomanno didn't work for them," she laughed.

Sonya chuckled. "I can't stop thinking about donuts now. I don't have much money, but if you buy the cleaning supplies, I'll buy us some donuts."

"There's a deal I can't possibly turn down," Mandy said. "Just don't tell Coach Purrazzo about it tomorrow. I can see her as the strict one, rather than Paige."

"I saw it the same way," Sonya replied with a nod. "Often, strict people are good teachers, though."

"I suppose we'd better get to work," Mandy said.

Fifteen minutes later, after several trips up and down the stairs each, the contents of Sonya's car had been unloaded into what would eventually become her bedroom. Then, after a quick search online to find a hardware store that was open, it was time for them to head out together in Mandy's car.

"So, you said your background is MMA?" Mandy asked as she pulled away from the apartment block.

"That's right. I went through all the training and had three fights: two wins and a loss. Luckily, WWE offered me the developmental contract when they did because I wasn't making enough to live, even with a bartending job on top of what I got for my fights. I was going to have to give it up and try something new, then wrestling came along. What about you? You said you were into bodybuilding, right?"

"Yeah. I actually won a couple of national championships. Like you said, though, it wasn't paying the bills. I was working in my dad's deli until last week."

"Humble beginnings for both of us," Sonya said with a smile, appreciating the fact. "Success means a lot more when you have to bust your ass for it."

Mandy grunted. "Yeah, we can't all get ahead like Charlotte Flair. You know she got her contract through her dad."

"Quite possibly. But we should give her a chance. She seems like a serious athlete. You saw how she went in that bleep test. Besides, it's not nice to be judged. I guess I should tell you, since we're going to live together. I'm gay, and I've been thinking about the best way to come out to the group. As far as I know, there has never been an openly lesbian wrestler in WWE before. Anyway, it's being judged like that is exactly what I don't want to happen."

Mandy said nothing for a moment, a reaction that Sonya read as negative. It hurt to feel like her new supposed friend was judging her, but it certainly wasn't the first time it had happened in her life. "You're not comfortable with the idea of living with a gay woman?" she asked, sighing inwardly.

"Oh, no, that's not it at all," Mandy said quickly, glancing over from the driver's seat. "Quite the opposite, in fact. I'm gay too. I was reprimanding myself for judging Charlotte when, like you said, it's something gay people face so often."

"Oh," Sonya said slowly, taken by surprise. "That's, uh, this is awesome. Two lesbian women signed by WWE. What a huge step forward for LGBTQ in wrestling."

"I hadn't decided if I was going to come out or not," Mandy explained. "Not knowing much about WWE, I'm not how open they are about gay rights and stuff. I wouldn't want my sexuality to hinder my chances during training. Naturally, I would have told you sooner than later as my housemate."

Sonya could understand the concern Mandy had voiced about WWE. The same thought had occurred to her, and bothered her to the point that she had done research into the subject before signing her contract. Her conclusion had been that WWE would almost certainly be supportive and enthusiastic when they learned that they had a lesbian trainee signed to them. It seemed more likely that they would want to make an unnecessarily big deal about it than ostracise her for her sexuality.

"I don't think it would hinder you at all," she said reassuringly, looking at Mandy. "I looked into it, and WWE are big supporters of gay rights. They had a shirt campaign about it a while back with Finn Balor, and they do a lot with the community. I'm not all that worried about coming out as far as the company is concerned. For me, it's a case of choosing the right moment to open up to the coaches and the rest of the recruits."

"I'm less confident than you," Mandy admitted. "Maybe, when the time is right, we could come out together? Strength in numbers, that kind of thing."

"If that helps you, then absolutely, I'm up for it," Sonya said without hesitation. "After all, you took me in and put a roof over my head even as a total stranger. I think that saying I owe you one would be an understatement."

Mandy glanced at her and smiled. Their eyes lingered on each other for a second, and Sonya had to tell herself not to imagine that Mandy found her attractive. It wasn't right to project what she was feeling onto her new friend.

"You owe me nothing," Mandy said, returning her attention to the road. "You needed a house, I needed a housemate. You've just happened to be someone I have a lot in common with."

And feel attracted to, Mandy didn't add. The truth was that Sonya had taken her breath away the moment they had set eyes on each other in the Performance Centre that morning. If she could have picked her ideal woman, she would look a lot like Sonya, and share a lot of her characteristics. Strong, but humble. Badass, but kind-hearted. And of course, sexy beyond words.

And then, to Mandy's immense surprise, Sonya had revealed herself to be gay. Naturally, though, being gay didn't mean Sonya was attracted to her. But, Mandy decided, she could work on that. Showing off her body and flirting were things that she knew she was good at. If Sonya felt anything for her, she would soon find out.

A/N: Thank you to everyone who left a review on the previous chapter!

Sonya and Mandy are feeling attracted to each other, but neither of them know that the other feels that way. How long with it take before Mandy's little plan changes all that?