Tobias x Reader

Chapter 8: The Warning

 I woke the early the next morning and decided to head down to the training room to get in some extra practice. I threw on a tank top and a pair of black jeans. As I laced up my shoes, I looked over to the curled up figure on the bed next to me that was Michael. I watched the steady rise and fall of his chest and wondered if I should wake him and take him to the training room with me.

My gaze wandered over to the peaceful look on his face and I decided against it. He needed as much sleep as possible so he could have better energy. He always seemed to lack energy.

I turned on my heel and may way out of the dormitory and to the training room, only stopping to take a small detour to the cafeteria where I found a few people yawning and rubbing their eyes while eating a small breakfast. I walked over to the food line and grabbed a muffin and walked out.

I ate my muffin while I walked, deciding that it would be kinda hard to throw a punch and eat at  the same time. I reached the training room at the same time that I finished my muffin. Brushing my hands on my pants, I walked over to one of the punching bags.

I thought back to yesterday, when Four adjusted my stance, how he angled my body. I ignored the odd flutter that my heart did when I thought about his hand on my waist and focused on getting comfortable in this stance. I threw punch after punch, the sound of my fist smacking against the heavy bag filled the room. 

Every time my fist connected with the leather bag, my knuckles began to hurt more but I never stopped. I continued, even when I began to see small bits of blood on the bag and the sting was not only in my hands but in my arms. My muscles burning as I determinedly punched the bag. 

I stopped after about an hour of punching. My hands were now steadily bleeding and my muscles were so sore at this point that I was a little scared to move my arm in any way. I bent over, putting my hands on my knees and tried to catch my breath.

"I'd be a little tired after that kind of workout too," I heard a familiar voice say.

I looked up to see the dark blue eyes of Four. Even through my pain, my heart managed to do that weird fluttery thing that it likes to do whenever the thought of my trainer passes through my mind.

"I'm impressed," he said watching me with a look of amusement, "I thought you were going to give up half an hour ago."

"How long have you been there?" I managed to say. I still hadn't really caught my breath.

He didn't answer, instead, he tossed my a water bottle which I gladly accepted. Unscrewing the cap, I emptied the bottle in second.

"Put your arms above your head like this," he said, demonstrating, "It'll help you catch your breath faster."

Pretending not to appreciate the way his muscles looked when he did that, I put my arms above my head just like he did and felt that I could get in deeper breaths when I did so. I did this for a moment and watched as he around the training room, adjusting bags and cleaning blood from a few of the bags, including the one I had just finished using.

I realized that he was watching me and I fixed my gaze to one of the bags.

"What brought you here so early?" his question was completely random and startled me a bit.

"I just wanted to get in some extra practice," I said nonchalantly, discovering that I'd fully caught my breath.

"Why is that?" he asked. I gazed over at him and found that he was studying me with his dark blue eyes.

"You guys have a competitive system," I said, "And Eric said that the our rankings determine what kind of jobs we get. I'm assuming that the better the ranking, the better the job."

He nodded slowly, "Yes, but I have to warn you," he said, his stare had become intense, "When your fellow initiates see those rankings, they'll see the person on top as a threat. I wouldn't put it past some of them to act on their fear."

I felt a chill run up my spine at his words, "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that you should be careful," he said, crossing his arms over his chest.

I nod but then remembered something, "I heard somewhere that you were ranked first in your class."

He nodded, "I was."

"So why are you warning me about ranking high?" I asked, "Do you think I'm too weak?"

"I'm warning you because you're strong and I know you can rank first," he said, not meeting my gaze, "But even though you're strong, you let your guard down sometimes and I would hate to see someone take advantage of that."

I stared at him, taken aback by his statement. 

He cleared his throat, "You should head down to the cafeteria and get something to eat," he said, "Come on."

He gestured for me to follow and he began walking out of the room. It took me a second but I eventually pulled myself together and followed him out of the room. As I walked behind him, I thought about his warning. Was there someone in particular that he was warning me about? Was this something that was already happening behind my back? I thought about every transfer, every one of my fellow initiates. 

I almost ran into a wall. I stopped abruptly, just inches from adding my nose to the list of things on my body that hurt. I looked around and found Four standing a little bit away from me, the corner of his lips turned up slightly as he tried to hide a grin. Unsuccessfully, I might add.

I ducked my head and followed him as he moved again.

"Were you trying to kiss the wall or did you not see it?" Four said, a hint of amusement in his voice.

I stared at his back, "I felt like that wall needed some love, so I tried to kiss it but then I realized you were staring and I got too uncomfortable," I said, trying my hardest to sound like I was serious.

He chuckled and I grinned at him. "I'm sure the wall would have greatly appreciated a kiss," he said, looking back at me. I noticed he looked younger when he grinned and I was reminded of the fact that he was only eighteen. 

As he turned around to see where he was going, though I'm pretty sure he knew this place like the back of his hand, I noticed that he has a tattoo. I couldn't see all of it, just bits of it creeping up his neck towards his hair. I always thought that Four was pretty tame for a Dauntless.

I'm beginning to wonder why.