Knockout • OT4

8 - Blisters

"Training with Johnstan later, got the ring booked for 3, reckon I could use a challenge." rambled Calum as he entered the premise of the gym.

His bruised hands tightly clutched onto the strap of his gym bag, hearing quiet 'mhm's and 'I'm sure you do's from his two fighters.

"M'spposed to be training with the red head, hopefully he'll be as challenging as he seemed yesterday" Luke murmured, leading the three into the locker room. Ashton glanced down at his hand in response to Luke's statement, clenching his fist through the dull ache that ran through his fingers.

"May wanna be careful with that pretty face then, the kid can pack a punch."

"Think we finally broke him?"

A subtle smirk graced the lips belonging to the black haired man, arms flexing at the very thought of what he wanted to do to break the young boy in.

"Nah.. kids got more to break I reckon."

And with that, the three changed in peaceful silence, having it still be far too early to start full conversations with themselves let alone anyone else.

They wrapped their hands, Calum helping Ashton re-wrap his pained digits whilst the blonde was standing in front of the mirror, trailing his fingers over some scars that littered the top of his arm.

They all had some pretty brutal fights, some of which allowed them to say they deserved the title of being some of the tops in the gym.

"Who else would be here at this time?" Calum questioned wearily from where he was sitting with Ashton, leaning down to bite off the remaining tape.

Luke hummed, shrugging his broad shoulders as he rolled them, a poor attempt to loosen his joints.

"Hm.. us, Sinclair, Mac-T, Leven.. and- nope, that's usually the starting crew, why?" he questioned back, watching the way Calum face scrunched in uncertainty.

"Showers runnin', who the hell showers in the morning?" he muttered, standing from his spot on the bench.

Ashton was playing around with his knuckles, pressing them carefully into the palm of his hand before stretching his fingers the other way around. Such a petty injury should never bench a fighter.

"Is it strange? Yes, but does it concern me? Not so much, Hood." Ashton responded wearily, voice sounding distant as he focused on recalibrating his hand.

Luke went back to looking at himself in the mirror, making point that he was in need of a haircut and a fresh shave sooner than later.

Calum however, has a gut feeling that he should go check the showers, because on his way he did indeed do a head count.

All usual heads were accounted for, so who the fuck was in the gyms shower?

He wandered off, leaving the other two to prep themselves for their training sessions that morning. His steps felt heavy as he tried to keep quiet, hoping he could hear anything other than the sound of water assaulting the floor tiles.

He wasn't greeted with any other noise, but he was created with heaps of steam.

Either the individual liked their water boiled or they've been showering for quite some time now.

The man continued walking down the row of showers, attempting to peak over the raggedy curtains to see if he could notice someone's hair or figures shadow from behind.

Most members at the ring were tall enough to notice from the top.

He stopped at the shower in the middle however. No hair, no shadow of a figure standing and showering either. Just water, hot water, falling down in steady streams.