Losing Sleep

Part 1

Author's Note: This was inspired by a story I've been following on AO3 called The Broken Club by TheKiwiBird. The Finn and Bayley of that story (as of this writing) are just friends, and Finn is losing sleep for entirely different reasons, but the idea of Bayley trying to help an insomniac Finn wouldn't leave me alone until this story was born.

He hadn't slept well in weeks, most nights he didn't sleep at all and when he did sleep it was more fitful tossing and turning than anything restful. He felt like he was on the verge of losing his mind. The doctors had offered various sleep aids, but he'd been wary of chemically induced sleep and the potential side effects. He was an advocate for taking as few pills as possible knowing how easy it could be in this lifestyle to develop a habit.

He'd hadn't confided his struggles to very many, but a few of his friends knew what he was dealing with. Karl was sympathetic, but he couldn't really help in any way except to be supportive, besides he had a family to take care and a lot on his plate. Finn hadn't even meant to tell Bayley, but she'd been sensitive to his mood changes ever since their time in NXT when they'd done so many media tours together. She'd noticed something was off and confronted him about it. She'd been very concerned and had wanted to help as much as possible. She'd been the one he'd come to rely on to help make sure he wasn't going off the deep end. Sleep deprivation wasn't fun to deal with and she'd made sure he didn't do anything stupid like miss a wake-up call.

She was sweet, maybe too sweet as she'd put up with far more from him than she should have over the last several weeks. Besides making sure he didn't lose his job over missed flights, she'd also put up with him being a grumpy bear half of the time and completely out of it the other half, and she'd endured it all without complaint.

He felt pretty bad because he'd snapped at her earlier when she'd offered to keep him company this evening. He hadn't meant to take his frustration out on her, but he'd lost his match tonight because he couldn't think straight and he'd been feeling sorry for himself. When she'd made the suggestion he couldn't help but feel like she thought he needed a babysitter. The truth was with his current mental state he probably did need someone to watch over him, and he knew in reality that wasn't really how Bayley felt anyway. She was just worried about him, and he was lucky he had a friend like her who cared.

Now he was sitting alone in his room, his brain going in circles only feeling more and more sorry for himself, kicking himself for turning down her offer. He could have had the cheerful ray of sunshine that was Bayley to distract him instead of sitting here stewing in his own self pity. He kept grabbing his phone deciding he would text her an apology only to change his mind and decide she deserved to have a decent night's sleep herself, something she hadn't probably had much of recently since she'd been spending so much time in his room keeping him company.

He had just picked up his phone again when he heard a soft knock at the door. He opened the door to find Bayley smiling hesitantly at him in brightly colored leggings, an over-sized t-shirt, and her signature pony tail. He felt himself let out a breath in relief, and grabbed her and pulled her into a hug, muttering an apology into her shoulder. When he pulled back she smiled at him and said,

"It's okay, I know you're dealing with a lot."

"Still I shouldn't have taken it out on you. I don't know why you put up with me lately."

"Cause that's what friends do. I'm guessing no more luck tonight than any other night huh?" she asked as he gestured for her to come in and he shut the door.

"No, I haven't slept at all in three days."

"Damn Finn. I know you don't want to rely on pills, but maybe you ought to think about taking something at least once just so you can get your head back in the game."