A/N Hey! So, I know that I said that I would update once a month...and then I didn't for two months, and I'm super duper sorry about that. I kinda just want to be like, "fourteen year olds aren't reliable!" and let it go, but, I do have legit reasoning. I wrote four chapters in May, and I was going to have my friend update the story four times in June when I was away at camp (without any technology at all), but she had tech issues, so that didn't happen. I had a plan...it just fell through. But you get a chapter now and I'm SO EXCITED about these upcoming chapters. Huge THANK YA to AJ Grisham for helping me outline and her brilliant freaking mind. Alrighty. Enjoy!

Toee Biassssss

Tobias's POV

Tris's fingers squeeze mine to a little rhythm. Squeeze, squeeeeeeze, squeeze, tap, her middle finger taps against my knuckle lightly to finish. I respond by repeating the gentle rhythm back before creating my own, which she in turn bounces back. It's a little unspoken game we play. Never mentioned out loud, never acknowledged in any way other than tiny smiles, yet played almost every time her hand finds it's way into my own.

I glance down at her as we walk down the hallway towards Christina's apartment. Her honey blonde hair is wrapped in a braid that curves around her ear and rests lightly on her shoulder, partially covering up one of her ravens. She wears dark jeans tucked into her leather combat boots and a light grey t shirt with sleeves pushed up to her elbows. The corners of her lips are turned up tinily, not really a smile, but not her resting face either. Her smile is the kind that you would wear in the morning after a good dream that you can't quite remember; you're left with the ghost of happiness, but even that little touch is enough to smile.

"It's not too late to turn back," I say as we walk, partially because I hate parties and partially because I love Tris. I always want to be alone with her, and it annoys me when I can't be. It's a mix of both disliking others and loving Tris.

She smirks at me. "Yes, it is. Try to be civil when we get there," she says. "And if you really want to make me happy, be nice too."

"Don't expect too much of me. This is getting out of hand, all these demands," I tease. "First you make me come, and now you want me to be civil too."

"I'm sure you'll find a way to do it all."

We round the corner, entering Christina's hallway. Her apartment is in the same building as ours, two levels up, and facing the opposite side of the city. Tris knocks on the door when we reach it, pulling her hand out of mine after giving me one last reassuring squeeze. The grey metal door flies open, and I am greeted with the stagnant scent of cheap beer, which floods my nose and creates a strange lingering taste on the roof of my mouth.

"Tris!" Christina chirps, pulling her into a light hug before doing the same for me. "I was afraid that you wouldn't come!"

Tris glances at me, flicking her eyebrows up. I smirk, and Christina glances between us. She looks as if she's about to say something but then decides against it, instead pulling us into her apartment.

"Most everyone is already here. Sorry about the smell. It's from a slightly...different...party from a few days ago," she explains as we walk down the hallway towards her main room.

I expect to be greeted with the usual Dauntless party atmosphere; thumping music, tawdry dresses, spilled beer, and drunken cackles. Instead, her living room glows softly with white lights strung along the walls. Gentle music hums in the background, and the candles on the coffee table make the room smell slightly like vanilla, unlike the stale-beer scent of the hallway.

There aren't huge amounts of people, either. All the guests sit on either the two couches or chairs around the coffee table in the center of the room. Cara perches on the armrest of one chair, her arm slung around the shoulders of the handsome man sitting in the chair. Shauna sits on the corner of one couch, a blanket tucked around her legs and her wheelchair to her left as if she were only just moved over. Zeke sits beside her, and beside him Amar leans forward, dipping his finger into some kind of sauce on the coffee table. I don't know the other two people, a man and a woman, sitting on the opposite couch.

"Hey, Tris. Tobias," Shauna nods at us as we come in, and Zeke's head snaps up at my name. I tense, a puppet with strings pulled tight, but relax when Zeke simply nods at me.

"What's up?" he says.

"Nothing much. You?"

He shrugs placidly.

Tris grins up at me as if I've taken my first steps before grabbing my hand and guiding me to the last seat that will fit the two of us; a loveseat facing away from the window. We sit down in the overstuffed blue seat, and Christina sits in the last chair, closing off the little rectangle of couches and chairs.

"Tris, have you met Sam before?" Christina asks, clapping her hands together, drawing the divided attentions of the room back to her.

"I don't think so."

"Hello," the man sitting in the chair next to Christina, the chair Cara sits on the armrest of, says, raising his hand slightly. His voice is huskier than I was expecting for his lean frame.

Tris nods at him, smiling with her mouth but not her eyes. Smiling politely.

"We haven't met either. I'm Jenn," the brunette sitting beside Christina on the couch says. She's tall and curvy with sweeping hair like a mane around her strong face. "And this is my brother, Timmy." She jerks her thumb to the left, where a man about her age with dark hair and haunting grey eyes sits.

"Tim," he corrects, laughing with an underlying tone of annoyance.

"Nice to meet you." Tris raises her hand in a light wave. "This is Tobias," she says, elbowing me sharply in the side, despite keeping her eyes forward.

"Oh. Hey. I'm Tobias," I sputter, rubbing my ribs.

"Tobias. Toeeee-biassss. Huh. Not what I was expecting," Jenn rolls my name around on her tongue.

"Do you know each other?" Tris asks from beside me, perking up.

"No, no," Jenn quickly raises her hands up, laughing. "We don't know each other, but everyone knows who you are," Jenn says, speaking back to me. "You're the Dauntless prodigy. Four."

"I wasn't expecting that name either," Christina agrees, sipping from her beer bottle.

I shift in my seat uncomfortably.

"What were you expecting his name to actually be?" Tris asks brightly, a smile pulling at the edges of her lips in amusement.

"Something mean. Like, something that makes you want to cry just from hearing it," Christina quips, smirking.

"Like what? Does that kind of name even exist?"

"Blade. Knife. Dagger," Christina nods her head as if she's serious, despite a smile slowly sneaking onto her face. She's far too pleased with herself.

"You thought my name was going to be Dagger?" I laugh, leaning back into the chair and shaking my head.

"Or Knife," Tris reminds me. "She also said Knife. I'm going to start calling you Knife."

"You better not."

"Okay, Knife." Tris grins, scooting closer to me and planting a quick kiss on my cheek.

"I thought it would be something awful," Zeke finally speaks. It doesn't feel as awkward as I thought it would. "Like Dick, or Wolfgang, or Norbert, or something just stupid, like Apple."

I shake my head, smiling.

"I was imagining much worse than all of you. In my head I used to call you Ulga. I figured that in order for you to hide your name, it had to be Ulga. That was the only option," Shauna says, not like she's joking, but not too seriously either.

"Ulga?" I repeat back. "That's not even a guy's name."

"Not as bad as Knife. Let's not forget Knife," Tris reminds everyone.

"How much time did all of you spend contemplating my real name?" I ask. "It seems like far too much time."

Zeke shrugs. "I only did it at first. You didn't seem like 'Four' in the beginning. Then you started kicking all of our asses in initiation, and you kind of became the name. Or the name became you. Depends on how you look at it."

"Why Four? I mean, I know that you had four fears or whatever, but why not 'Tobias The Fucking Bad Ass?'" Jenn asks.

I stiffen instantly, and the room grows quiet. I can suddenly feel the scars on my back, the ridged crisscrossing lines rising out of my skin.

I don't know her. I don't want to explain escape to her, and I don't want to talk about what I left behind. They may already know my past, they may already know how I got the scars on my back, thanks to the truth serum, but it isn't something I'm going to talk about.

It isn't something I want to remember.

"Really, Jenn?" Zeke says after a moment of silence, his voice condescending. I press my nails into my hand, unsure of what he's going to say. Tris grips my thigh nervously beside me. "Do you really think he would tell us his name and open the door to being called Toby? Come on. Think. No one in their right mind would give people the opportunity to call them Toby."

The pent up tightness in my body falls away, and a breath slips from my lips. Not the best cover up, but better than the alternative.

Jenn returns his insult with something about being a pansycake, but Zeke isn't paying attention. He's looking at me, smiling. I mouth a thanks. He shrugs, not like he doesn't care, but like he was doing what anyone would.

Tris's POV

Hours pass quickly in the comfort of the room, and I begin to feel something familiar inside of me, just behind my heart. It starts as just a wisp, but once I've caught onto it, it latches onto me and grows rapidly, spreading a forgotten warmth throughout my body. It feels like a hug after an endless day or a lazy morning with my father's hand gently massaging my head. Glancing around the room at the glowing faces surrounding me, I realize that this feeling is love. Not the type of love Tobias and I have, not something you can hold onto beyond the moment. It isn't a fire that leaves glowing embers behind; this type of love is fleeting, a bubble of the moment, but that's what makes it so wonderful. It reminds me of every other moment like this, where nothing else seems to matter, where problems melt away to be replaced by laughs and food and an almost tangible feeling of contentment.

I want to laugh and cry and hug someone because this feeling is both so foreign and so familiar at the same time.

Maybe it's just the glass of wine I had making me feel so warm and cozy, but if it is, I don't care. If a glass of bitter wine is what it takes to remind me of days before the war, then I'm okay with that.

Time slips between my fingers all too quickly, and soon people are standing and shrugging on their jackets. Zeke tucks Shauna into her wheelchair, rearranging her blanket around her legs with a tenderness I've never seen him show before.

I watch from a distance as Zeke thanks Christina for the party, hugging her goodbye before walking over to Tobias. They exchange a few words, and to my surprise, Tobias seems relaxed. He even laughs a couple times, and at the end of the brief conversation, Zeke gives Tobias a half hug, thumping him on the back.

I expect him to leave then, as Shauna sits impatiently at the door waiting for him, but he doesn't. He walks over to me instead, smiling in a way that appears almost cautious.

"Tris," he says slowly.

With that one word, I understand why he's talking to me. "Zeke," I reply with an equal amount of caution in my voice.

"Have you thought about my job offer?"

"A great deal." It's been nearly two weeks since he offered the job to me.

"And have you made a decision?" Zeke leans down ever so slightly as if my answer is a secret

"We'll talk later." I shake my head at him, and he leans backward on his heals, grinning. "Don't smile so surely. You haven't won yet," I advise.

"Sure I haven't," he says confidently.

I glare up at him halfheartedly, but I can't stop the smile pulling at my lips. "I'll see you later, Zeke."

"Bye, Tris. I can't wait to start working with you." With that, Zeke turns and walks down the hallway, pushing Shauna out the door happily.

"You're insufferable," I yell after him, but he can't hear me over the sound of his own confidence.

With Zeke and Shauna gone, it's just Tobias, me, and Christina left in the room. Without so many people I notice all the dishes and beer bottles strewn around. Christina will be up for at least another hour picking up.

I walk over to Christina and Tobias, weaving between the couches to reach them. They're in the middle of exchanging thank yous and goodbyes.

"Do you need help picking all this up?" I ask before they make it too far.

"You don't have to do that. I can handle it," Christina says. She runs a hand through her dark hair tiredly.

"We want to help," Tobias assures her, jumping in on my suggestion. "Allow us to entertain our Abnegation ways."

Christina nods reluctantly after a second, and we quickly pick up the room. I gather beer bottles, which go into the trash gingerly, as to not break the glass, and carry glasses and plates to the sink, where Tobias washes them and Christina dries them. We work efficiently until the room is back to how it was at the beginning of the night.

As I hug Christina goodbye, the feeling of warmth and happiness in me only grows.

I didn't fit into Abnegation. Things that took more than one step to link to selfishness never made the connection in my mind, but things like this, helping a friend, are easy. Things you do because you love someone, and you want to make their lives easier, that's the kind of selflessness I strive for.

A/N If you feel so inclined to, drop a review please (that was the longest chapter yet!)

Love y'all :)

dftba- Ella