Magic Eights

Until he'd come to NXT and met Bayley, Finn never had a close female friend in the wrestling world with the exception of Becky, who he'd helped train back home. Wrestling had come a long way in the last few years, but it was still a very male dominated world, and only a few years ago he couldn't have imagined the female wrestlers being as much a part of the business as they were now. Finn had seen a handful of amazingly talented women take the wrestling world by storm and change the whole game, and since he had trained with and gotten to know the key players in the 'women's revolution' he was invested in their success and proud of all they'd accomplished. Among those key players was both Becky, the kid he'd helped train over a decade ago, and Bayley, the current NXT women's champion. Along with legacy Charlotte Flair, and natural talent Sasha Banks, they'd been dubbed the four horsewomen, a name they owed in part due to the Charlotte's famous father, but also because the four had set themselves apart proving that women's wrestling was just as important as the men's.

He knew that they'd barely scratched the surface of what the four women were capable of, especially together, and was surprised when he found out that they were splitting the four up leaving only Bayley behind as the other three were called to the main roster. He had to admit though, he definitely didn't mind that Bayley was the one that would be around longer, and if any of the four women was suited to lead the NXT women's division going forward, it was Bayley. She was ready for the leadership role that came with being the champion and head of the division.

Despite his history with Becky, it was Bayley who he had the most affinity with among the four women. When he didn't have to be the cool under pressure champ he was actually somewhat introverted, and he'd been known to be a bit of a goofball. She was warm, fun, and slightly geeky. Outside of the ring neither took themselves too seriously, inside the ring they were both dedicated and focused, pushing themselves and everyone around them too succeed. From the moment they'd met they'd clicked.

He'd been blown away with her talent In Brooklyn when her and Sasha had stolen the show and she'd finally claimed the championship. With her title reign beginning only six weeks after his and her obvious skill, he'd anticipated that they would be sharing a lot of media time for the foreseeable future, and so far he'd been correct. He'd thoroughly enjoyed getting to know her even better, finding that they had a lot in common besides being able to be silly together and having a lifelong passion for wrestling. They'd spent plenty of long car rides in effortless conversation, and he'd spent more non-work time with her than he had with any other female coworker in his entire career.

The only downside to seeing Bayley so much was that he'd developed a bit of a crush on her and he was having a lot of difficulty suppressing it. She was girl next door pretty, the kind that snuck up on you and then wouldn't let you go, and he couldn't get her infectious smile out of his head. It didn't help that she was a hugger both by name and by nature. Her frequent hugs gave him plenty of opportunity to feel how perfect she was, soft in all of the right places. She made his blood run hot without even trying.

But even if he'd been willing to break his normal policy of not dating co-workers, Bayley wasn't available. She'd had a boyfriend since long before they'd met, and the guy was smart enough to hang onto her. Finn knew he needed to find a way to ignore the attraction, but that was a lot easier said than done and he'd not had much success so far.

For awhile he was able to hide how he felt, but now it had gotten to the point where even a couple of his friends had noticed, especially after Bayley and Sasha followed up their amazing title match with an iron-woman match in the main event of the following takeover. He'd watched their match with rapt attention and felt immense pride when Bayley had won. His friend Enzo had seen something in his behavior that night that had clued him in, and his friend Sami had somehow figured it out just from the conversation they'd had on the phone. Sami was stuck back in Orlando, still recovering from shoulder surgery, and he'd brought it up when they'd talked after the match. He'd interrupted Finn when he'd been describing the match, and said,