Hey everyone! Thanks for the reviews! This chapter was unexpected, and I wasn't even intending for it to be so long, but it just kind of wrote itself :) The ending wasn't supposed to happen, but then it did, and I didn't want to change it, so I hope you'll enjoy it! Be sure to let me know what you think! - Loopy
Poe was even closer to Tobias. Tris had raised him since he'd been four weeks old, and they'd spent almost every moment together. She took care of him, and he supported her. They kept each other level. And now, there was someone else carrying her burdens. Someone else willing to help even things out. Poe was grateful for the help.
Tris could see the fondness in his shiny eyes as he placed his head in Tobias lap. It made her grin, although she could feel it was bittersweet. This was his last official appointment. She'd color in the remaining space, completely cover up the scars, and then she wouldn't have anything to look forward to. No freedom of expression, of imagination.
But she was excited to show him the design. She'd been skeptical when he told her he hadn't looked at it yet, but he was so adamant about it that she finally relented. He seemed to be telling the truth, and something about having so much of his trust made her feel warm inside, worthwhile. After what he'd told her about his childhood, it was clear trust wasn't an easy thing for him. And she was honored to have earned it.
"You ready? Or are you more interested in my dog than in me?" Tris realized how that sounded as Tobias turned toward her and grinned, raising an eyebrow. Her face flared as she scowled. "You know what I mean. Get your ass in here."
Tobias rose slowly from his seat, gently nudging Poe away. He admitted he enjoyed the dog's affection, especially since Tris had mentioned he didn't take kindly to strangers. But ever since Tobias had gone over to her house to cheer her up yesterday, Poe was around him when he could be. That next morning, Tobias had quietly gotten up at five so he could leave and get ready for work, and Poe had seen him to the door, despite his obvious exhaustion. It was like he was saying "thank you."
"Thanks for saving me," he said nonchalantly, pulling his shirt over his head. "Work was a bitch today."
Tris smiled as she got out her equipment. "Thanks for coming in. I felt bad about missing your appointment yesterday." She really did. She hated when clients were no-shows, and that's exactly what she'd done to Tobias. It wasn't fair.
"I didn't," Tobias deadpanned. He grinned at Tris's surprised face, and he decided he wouldn't lie down until the very last second, so he could watch her. "If you'd been here, I wouldn't have gotten White Castle."
Tris scowled. "You're a dick." A bark of laughter left Tobias's mouth, and Tris gestured she was ready for him to lie down.
"That all depends," he teased, his eyes shining with mirth, "on what you put on my back."
Tris's laugh made his smile widen, and he made a promise to himself in that moment that he would do what he'd been wanting to since he'd stepped foot in this shop.
They sat for two hours, Tobias cracking jokes and Tris shooting them down, both of them laughing as the scent of ink wafted around them. By the end of those hours, Tris started to slow down her work. She didn't even realize she was doing it until Tobias commented on it.
Her face flared. "Just doing finishing touches. It requires a steadier hand."
Tobias didn't believe that entirely, since the words had been so rushed, and a bit defensive. But he didn't question her again.
If she was honest with herself, she knew she was trying to draw this out as much as she could, since this would be the last time she'd see him, the last time he'd smile at her like this…
A lot could happen in two months. He could forget about her. Get a girlfriend…
She slowly lifted her foot from the pedal to halt the needle's motions and looked over Tobias's back. There weren't any more scars visible, and she was glad to have been able to help him move on from the past.
"Okay, Tobias." Her voice was soft. "You're finished." Tobias turned his head to look at her. Her eyes were more grey than blue, and he wondered if she was a disappointed as he was that their time together was coming to an end.
Tris took off her gloves and wrapped her hands around Tobias's arms, helping him up. It was meant to lessen the pain of moving, but now that she felt the electricity flowing between them, she wasn't so sure she only did it for him.
When she was about to move her hand from his arm, his hand came up to cover it. He winced a bit, as if he needed her to continue balancing him, but he was smirking, and she felt her face flush as she led him to the mirror.
Tobias couldn't hold back his awe when she handed him a handheld mirror so he could see his back. There were five circles as the center points, arranged in a pentagon around his spine, two hands reaching toward each other at the base of his neck. Each circle was surrounded by grey shading, light enough to contrast the darkness of the symbols but dark enough to cover any traces of Marcus. The rest of his back was covered in a combination of thick and thin black lines, and areas of bold solid color.
Tris moved from foot to foot as she awaited his reaction. She couldn't see his face from where she was standing, couldn't see his expression. But she was fully prepared to offer him a full refund if he didn't like it, even if that wasn't something she really did here, especially if she'd only done what was asked for her.
Tris had replaced Tobias's past with something wonderful, something her. These symbols were the same ones in her shop's logo, and though he didn't know exactly what they meant, he was beyond grateful for their place in his life. Even though it was a bit crazy, and it didn't make much sense, he didn't have a single ounce of regret inside of him, no desire to get rid of this tattoo. Marcus was gone, Tris had gotten rid of him, and he had never felt more loved in all of his life.
He moved so quickly Tris didn't respond at first. Her arms were pinned against his chest, his arms clutching her tightly to him. Her face reddened further as she contemplated what to do. Tobias didn't let her go. "I guess you like it?" she laughed awkwardly, not uncomfortable, but not knowing what to do. She wanted to wrap her arms around him, too, but his back was sensitive. It would be bad to touch it like that.
Tobias laughed, too, taking a deep inhale of her scent as he pulled his face out of her neck. She smelled so good. He kept his hands clutching her upper arms as he leaned away a bit. He grinned at her, and the smile reached his eyes.
His expression took her breath away. Jesus.
"I love it," he muttered, laughing again and turning back to the mirror, "Thank you so much, Tris. I love it."
She trailed her fingers lightly down his spine, in the area she hadn't just worked in. She couldn't help herself. "Do you want to know what it means?" she asked softly. His ocean eyes met hers, and he nodded.
Tobias let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding as her hand moved delicately toward the first of the symbols. Her touch was intoxicating. "Selflessness," her hand trailed down and to the left, over an eye, "Intelligence," down to a scale, "Honesty," a tree, and he shivered again, "Kindness," her voice was getting softer. She reached the last one and flattened her hand against him tentatively. He swallowed. "Bravery.
"They're virtues that I wanted to have, that I needed once I left home. I got out as soon as I could."
Tobias wondered briefly if she'd had to go through what he had, but he casted that away. She wouldn't have let someone do that to her. She wasn't as cowardly as him. "Why? I mean, why did you need to leave?"
Tris's brow furrowed. Did she really want to explain this to him? To risk him finding her even weaker than he surely already knew she was?
Of course. He opened up to me.
She led him back to the bed and sat down. He placed himself beside her, watching her curiously. She sighed as she contemplated where to begin. "I've always been...different, you know?"
Tobias's brow furrowed. He did know. She was more amazing, more extraordinary than anyone he'd ever met. But he let her continue.
"Through middle school I was bullied. Mostly verbal through sixth and seventh grade, but once I was in eighth, it turned more physical." Her whole body ached at the memory. She'd been so determined after that to become a better person, a stronger one, and she explained that to Tobias. "I started taking self-defense classes in ninth grade. People left me alone after that, but they'd left me in severe depression. It was rough.
"My parents didn't really know what to do. I stopped eating, stopped sleeping. I started cutting my arms with scissors…" her eyes fell to the tattoo she had along her right wrist. She'd thought of getting a tattoo to symbolize her transition into her current self after she'd already gotten the pokeball. So she wasn't able to mark the arm she'd once destroyed, but the meaning was still as strong.
Tobias noticed her eyes drift to her right wrist. He'd noticed before that she had a design there, too, but he'd never asked her about it. She seemed more the type to open up once she was ready, much like him.
"Anyway, my mom tried to help. She tried talking to me, asking me what was wrong, but I didn't speak. I didn't know what was wrong.
"My father had a different approach. He forced me to eat, scolded me for being selfish and hurting my mother like I apparently was. But it just dug the knife in deeper." She refused to cry. This was the past; it had no control over her now. She wouldn't let it.
"After my mother passed away my junior year, my dad became helpless. He took me to the hospital once he'd noticed the cuts along my arm, and I was diagnosed with severe depression and anxiety."
Tobias scooted closer to her and wrapped an arm over her shoulders. She was grateful for the support, for the fact he was still here, and she leaned into him. "And then I spent the rest of my high school career in and out of a psych hospital, where my dad would throw me whenever he didn't know what to do. Which happened a lot."
A new surge of hatred fired through him, not at his father, but at hers.
"So the second I turned eighteen, even though I had no money and was very unstable, I left home. My older brother, Caleb, drove me to Illinois that night." A small smile lifted on her face at the memory. It had been an exhausting drive, and the next couple of months had been hell as she struggled to find a job and keep her self-hatred under control.
"Why Illinois?" Tobias was smiling, too. She didn't think he realized how much he was helping her through this. Her smile widened.
Tris shrugged. "I'd always wanted to ride the Ferris wheel at Navy Pier." Tobias looked at her incredulously.
"Seriously?" he scoffed. He couldn't imagine why anyone would choose to put herself that far above the ground, but he grinned at the way her eyes were turning blue again.
She laughed at his expression, nodding slightly and nudging his shoulder companionably. "Yeah. I was a weird kid. I never actually made it there, though." Tobias made a promise to himself that he would take her there, even if it was the last thing he did.
"Anyway, I worked at a few coffee shops and video game stores until I had enough money to take some art classes. That's where I met Tori. We kept taking classes together until I decided to open up a tattoo shop."
Tobias smiled at the way her eyes lit up at the memory. She looked at him with a soft expression. "That's the day I found Poe. In the streets. He'd been hit by a car and just left there on the street." Tobias's arm tightened around her. This was obviously painful for her, but he was so overwhelmed with awe at her strength, at the way she worked through all of that and came out better because of it.
His voice spoke before his mind thought. "Come to dinner with me." His eyes widened, and her body froze in his embrace, but the words were out there and it was relieving and terrifying and he waited for her response.
He mind swam. Did he mean… as a date? Surely not, after everything she'd just told him. Surely this was out of pity, out of wanting to comfort her. Her brow furrowed.
Tobias could see her mouth slowly curving into a frown, and he realized what she was thinking. She'd just told him her backstory, her painful past, and now he was holding her and telling her to get food with him. He shook his head. "I've been wanting to ask you since I met you. But, I mean, we don't have to-"
His words were cut off by her lips on his cheek. She was so grateful for him here with her. "I'd love to, Tobias." She stood and grabbed the medicinal lotion from her work table, suddenly remembering his tattoo and the fact that it was probably stinging like hell right now. She gave him a shiteating look. "But not today. I work, you know. And I can't just leave whenever I want, unlike some people."
And just like that, they were back to their normal routine. Tobias scoffed. "Don't you own the place, Ms. Prior?"
Her nose scrunched at the sound of such a formal moniker, and it made him grin. "Shut up, Tobias. I'm just making an excuse to go home and take a nap. Jesus. Don't you know me at all?"
He laughed again as he rose and turned his back to her. The lotion sent a relief through his body, but her hands rubbing it in had more of an effect. "I guess not. That's why I want to take you out. On a date. I want to know everything about you, Tris Prior." His voice was sincere, and it spread warmth through her body.
"Well, the first thing you should know is that I prefer 'Beatrice' on special occasions." It was obviously a sarcastic comment, her voice deadpan, but Tobias stood up a bit straighter and nodded a bit.
"Duly noted, Beatrice. So you'll go on a date with me? Where do you want to go? What do you like to eat?" Tris chuckled at his eagerness. That was cute.
"Well," she thought. There really weren't places she went to get food. White Castle was about it. Besides that, she mainly stuck to Ramen noodles and Hot Pockets. "I like burgers." She shrugged.
Tobias laughed heartily at that. He remembered her comfort food, and then yesterday, and then his arms wrapped around her, and he turned around despite her not being finished with the bandages. "Tobias, I'm not-" Tris protested, but he cut her off, pressing his mouth firmly to hers. It was unexpected for both of them, and he pulled away quickly, and they both just stared.
Shit, he thought. What the fuck is wrong with me? It had felt amazing, despite its length. But it was an impulsive move. He'd thought about this a lot these past couple of days, about how he'd ask her out, how he'd maybe try to kiss her at the end of their first date if she seemed to be enjoying herself.
He lost all thought when he was around her.
They stayed perfectly still for a moment, just staring into each other's eyes. Tris noticed a lighter speck of blue in his left eye. Had he really just done that?
She didn't know so much energy could pass between people. It was incredible. Intoxicating.
Addictive. Her hand placed itself on his cheek, marvelling at its smoothness, and then she was leaning in, and so was he, and their lips were pressing together in a moment so intense, they couldn't help but grin. This was what freedom was like.