The fire alarms in her apartment building start blaring at one in the morning, not even an hour after Tris had fallen asleep. She is sure the universe must hate her.
Groaning and cursing, Tris gets herself out of bed, stumbles out of her apartment and into the hallway. All of her neighbors are already heading down the stairs; the exception being the man to her left who is just standing in his doorway, wearing nothing but his underwear. "Is this for real?" He asks, voice thick from sleep.
Tris hasn't seen him since he moved in a week ago and even then she had only been fortunate enough to see the back of him as he stumbled into his apartment that night. Now, she can see not just his face but also the happy trail on his stomach which leads down into his very tight boxers.
After a small somewhat awkward moment of silence, she finally managed to speak, "Probably. I haven't heard them go off in the three years I've been here. I'd suggest you put some pants on in case we're locked out."
The man stopped rubbing the sleep off his face as she spoke and has now looked her up and down twice before he replies, "Thanks for the concern. Maybe you should consider getting on some clothes yourself."
She had been too absorbed by her surprise at seeing him to realize that all she had worn to bed is a form fitting tank top and underwear- thank god it's the black ones and not the cheap teddy bear ones. Flustered, she stumbles back to her door. "Yeah. Uh, thanks..."
His expression is serious but his eyes are laughing at her. "Tobias." He offers.
"It's been nice meeting you Tobias." She says through her teeth.
"Do you have a name?" Now he wears the hint of a smile, which disappears almost as soon as it came.
"Right. Uh..." She can't process the feelings in her chest along with the fire alarms blaring in her head and those intense eyes of his staring her down.
"Choose wisely. Don't want the weird guy next door to know your real name." He's reverted back to that serious look on his face, with the amused glint in his eyes. She should hate that look- it's so mocking- but the amusement is infectious when it's in his eyes, like he's inviting her to laugh at her own foolishness.
So, despite the horrifying situation, she smiles. "No that's not why I...its Tris. Actually, it's Beatrice but mostly everyone calls me Tris."
"Ah. Well if we're being informal, you could call me Four. My...coworkers call me Four." He stiffens and she guesses it's because he's expecting her to ask about the name.
"What do you prefer?" She asks instead.
His eyes search her face curiously for some reason she can't guess. Then he says simply, "Tobias."
"Well it was nice to meet you Tobias." Just as she puts her hand on the doorknob the alarms stop and her ears start ringing.
"Guess it was a false alarm." Tobias says, staring at her like she's about to vanish and he wants to get one last look in the event that she does disappear. "Want to go get some coffee?"
"It's one in the morning!" She exclaims, but doesn't decline.
"It's 1:20 actually. And we're up anyway. Might as well make the most of it." His eyes are pleading, but his expression remains stoic.
She sighs and taps her finger on the door, considering. "Alright. Let me get changed first, though."
He smiles and it's shocking but not just because it's a break from the serious expression. His smile transforms him so completely it's like he's a different person and so she decides then and there that she'd like to cause that smile again and again until it's all she can see. And that thought scares her but not as much as it should.