(Tris)
"Please, Amar?" I ask for the fourth time, my voice edging into that dangerous place of whining.
"Tris, you know the city is-"
I cut him off. "Yeah, I do know, but as long as you're bringing the factions back, it makes sense to try and establish this too, right? Can you at least try?"
He looks at me.
"Please?" I repeat for good measure.
He sighs. "Okay, Tris."
"Thank you so much! Thank you! This is so... I'm... thank you," I grin.
He smiles and shoos me away. I join Christina, Cara, and Shauna.
We all ended up in Zeke and Shauna's apartment today - it's as though we need to be together constantly this week. Zeke is on the phone with a pizza place ("do you guys want pepperoni or extra cheese?"), Tobias and Caleb are talking on the other side of the room (from the looks of it, Tobias is not enjoying himself), Amar, George, Tori, and Johanna are having a meeting of sorts in the kitchen (now that I've stopped hounding Amar), and Hana is walking around the living room, cleaning anything in sight.
"So this is the baby?" Christina asks, holding up Cara's sonogram prints. "Why does it look like a blob?"
"It's only the size of a bean right now," Cara explains. "It'll look more like a baby in about 4 weeks."
"What are you hoping for?" I inquire, sitting next to her. I steal a glance at Tobias, who meets my eye, his brows furrowed and an annoyed look on his face. He turns back to Caleb and says something.
"I've always imagined myself with a girl first," Cara replies with a smile. "But I'll be just as happy with a boy."
Caleb is making elaborate gestures with his hands, and Tobias looks like he wants to break his neck.
"Just a minute," I murmur and stand as Shauna launches into another question.
"That's really fucking ironic coming from you," Tobias seethes as I approach.
"Look, I'm worried about her. It's not like you've known each other for all that long. I just don't know how well Tris can make her own choices, and-" Caleb begins.
"Pretty damn well," I interrupt, stepping between the two.
Caleb looks shocked. "Tris, I..." he trails off. He silently begs me to say something.
We stand there. We breathe. I can hear the hum and clatter of the apartment all around us.
I imagine letting him dangle there infinitely, a hanged man, but in the end, I'm the one who breaks first.
"That's just great," I say quietly, and leave the apartment.
...
I don't realize that I forgot my key until Tobias is walking down the hall after me, and I'm jangling the knob uselessly.
I step back and let him use his key.
"I'm sorry he said those things to you," I say.
The door swings open and we walk in.
"He's just looking out for you. He makes me mad as hell, but I'm glad he cares about you," he replies with a sigh.
"I feel like one second I love him, and the next, I can't stand him," I groan.
After a while, Tobias looks at me.
I stare back.
"Tris, Evelyn wants to come here the day after Christmas to tell us something. It's important for me to know to keep you and our friends safe, and I want you there when she says it. The day after Christmas," he repeats, looking down.
I slowly walk closer to him, until we're inches apart. He looks up and meets my eyes.
"Are you asking me or telling me?" I say softly.
"Asking you," he breathes.
Slowly, I nod. "Okay," I whisper.
...
(Tobias)
Christina and Zeke took it upon themselves to take us all with them to find gifts for each other - the girls with Christina, the guys with Zeke. And truthfully, I'm thankful, because I haven't had time to buy the gifts I have in mind for Tris. I have her birthday gift ready and safe for next week, but Christmas is a different story.
"My birthday is coming up. I don't need anything for Christmas," she'd said before we left the house; but there's something I really want her to have.
After I find Tris's gift, I search for gifts for our friends. I come up with soap for Zeke and a candle for Christina, but I deem my purchases good enough.
...
(Tris)
I walk into chaos when I open my front door that night, shopping bags slung over the crooks of my elbows.
The smoke detector is beeping loudly, and the smell of smoke immediately invades my lungs and throws me into a coughing fit.
"Tris!" Tobias throws his jacket over what I assume to be my Christmas gift, and waves the broom wildly at the smoke detector. The floor is littered with crumpled wrapping paper.
"What happened?" I yell, covering my ears. Tobias thrusts the broom at the smoke detector once more, and it turns off.
"I was trying to wrap your present and I burned dinner," he heaves, trying to catch his breath.
I open all the windows, and the smell of smoke eventually vanishes.
"Do you want toast again?" Tobias calls from the kitchen.
"That works," I call back, settling on the floor with the gifts for my friends. I keep Tobias's hidden in its bag.
He emerges from the kitchen with two plates of toast. He hands me a plate before sitting next to me with his own purchases.
"For God's sake," I mutter, trying to tape the wrapping paper around Shauna's gift.
"This is impossible," Tobias decides.
"I agree. I bought a lot of gift bags too," I pull them out and hand him some.
When all the gifts are bagged, we sit in silence for awhile until I gather up my courage.
"Tobias?"
"Hm?" he looks at me.
I take a shaky breath. "I'm so sorry."
"Tris-"
"I'm so sorry. I was so careless and stupid and dramatic, and I completely disregarded your feelings because I was mad, and it was cruel and brutal and selfish. You are so good to me, and you're so patient and caring and wonderful, and you make me toast and you worry about wrapping paper and I love you so much, and there will never be any version of reality where I deserve you, and-"
He kisses me, stopping my words, my breath. I'm shocked for a moment, but then the relief comes, surges through me like a tidal wave, and I kiss him back.
He pulls away gently, his thumbs stroking my cheeks, and I hug him, whispering one last, "I'm sorry."
"It's okay," he murmurs.
We stand and put all of our bags under the tree, with the intent of delivering them to their recipients the following day.
We finish eating our toast.