I was pulling pieces out of my unused folder for some "fun" in the up coming chapters and I stumbled on this little two-part concept piece. Remember way back before Tris did her sims and after Harrison put the kibosh on PDA? Well, I contemplated how much of an asshole Four would be if he still harbored a bit of resentment for their breakup and was determined not to get pinched for showing any sentiment. It's right when Christina comes back from the Bureau. It was a little harsh and I cringe to read it... enjoy.
"Hey, Tris!" Christina called from inside the little shelter outside the platform.
"Hey." She tried to be genuine, but the combination of her exhaustion and his mood pasted a thick fake grin on her face.
"What's up with you?" Christina prodded, passing Tris two of her bags to carry.
"Nothing. Just tired." Tris lied.
"Oh, no." She shook her head, "You're going to tell me all about it."
They had her bags drug up to the apartment after packing the tiny elevator to capacity. The hilarity of Christina balancing on her suitcase cracked a genuine laugh from Tris. She was already feeling more herself when they had them piled in Tris' room and the kettle on the stove.
Christina pulled out a chair, forcing Tris down on the seat and began kneading into her shoulders. The strangeness of the touch took a few minutes to overcome, but the relaxing motion and the silence soon had her letting out a deep breath.
"Now, what's going on?"
"Oh, Four." She groaned.
"What about him?"
"I don't think he wants me in Dauntless." She admitted, rolling her muscles after Christina's hands stopped.
"What do you mean? I thought your letter said things were back on track."
"I thought they were. I mean, we agreed that if I came back, we could get back together. But outside of that first week, he's been… I don't know…. Four, I guess."
"You were expecting someone else?"
"I was expecting Tobias."
Christina raised an eyebrow, pulling mugs down from the cupboard.
"You don't know him like I do… or did." Tris commented, standing to prepare something for dinner.
"What did you expect? He's not going to turn into a teddy bear over night."
"I expected him to talk to me. Tell me things. But he didn't even tell me he got his membership back."
"Wow." Christina was careful to examine her. "What changed, do you think?"
"I don't think he wants me anymore. Like I'm trash now."
"What?"
"He knows about Matthew. I shouldn't have told him." She dabbed her sleeve quickly across her cheek and pulled out left over pasta.
"Sleeping with one guy doesn't make you a slut."
"Does in Abnegation." She divided the noodles between two bowls.
"When did you tell him?"
"When he made me dinner."
"He made you dinner? And you're still alive?" Christina tried to joke, but soon offered an apologetic smirk.
Tris filled her in - dinner, Amity, and, briefly, the ride back on the truck.
"And how exactly does turning your neck into a buffet make you think he doesn't want you?"
"That was then, now all he does is yell at me, tell me I have to do better… order me around. And he escorts me, like impersonal, quiet. He wouldn't even shake my hand today."
"Ouch."
"I'm done. If he's doing this just to punish me, then I'm done. I'm punished."
"No!" Christina moaned, "I just got back, we're going to have an apartment together!"
"I might have to start watching my back by the chasm, the way he's treating me."
"It's got to just be that instructor side of him. Or he doesn't want to get hurt again. When you're through the loyalty check, he'll soften. You said he didn't really until stage 2 right?"
"Right."
"So, when you've got one thing behind you, he'll come around. Just do it, show him you're staying."
"You'll see on Wednesday. He hates me." She set the bowls in the microwave and pressed the numbers to send dinner spinning.
Wednesday, when he dismissed them, Tris was nearing tears. She hastily pushed past other members to the showers. Christina gawked at Four.
"You're dismissed." He said again.
"Got a second?" Christina grabbed his elbow and jerked him to the side away from the other groups.
"Careful how you grab me." He warned, pulling out of her grip.
"You're about to lose her."
"What?"
"She's about to quit."
He squinted and groaned, "I knew it."
"She's about to quit, because that's what she thinks you want." Christina punched him.
"What? No." He retorted, shocked.
"Yes, you're being an asshole."
"I'm being an instructor."
"You weren't ever this much of an asshole. She thinks this is all just a way to punish her, to break her, to humiliate her. And I convinced her that she was being too sensitive. But you are systematically pushing her out of this faction." She warned.
"Look, someone's watching us — every little move — and they're looking for any reason to throw us both out."
"Well, you're doing their job for them."
He stamped his feet and crossed his arms, "I can't be with her if she's not a member."
"You can talk to her. Encourage her. Tell her you want her here. But at this point, I don't know if she'll believe you. So you better think of something down right cuddly to say or you're out a girlfriend and I'm out a roommate." She stepped away to tend to Tris.
Tris was showered and dressed, quickly shoving her things into her bag and pulling on her shoes.
"You okay? I'm going to try and make this next train." Tris checked with Christina, wiping an errant tear with her palm.
"Slow down."
"I gotta get out of here." Tris tried to get past her, but Christina's arms were longer and she didn't feel like fighting.
"He wants you here." She stated.
"Mmhmm." Tris placated.
"He does. He said someone's watching you two."
"Yep, everyone is watching us. We're so interesting." She rolled her eyes, pushing past her.
Four was leaning against the wall just outside, she barely glanced at him before hurrying away like he might yell at her, again, for dawdling.
"Tris, wait." He trotted after her, but she kept her steady pace, "Will you wait?"
"I have a train to catch."
"Get the next one." He barked at her, she moved faster. He had to reach out and grip her elbow. She whirled on him, crushing her hand square into the soft tissue of his throat.
"Don't touch me." She hissed, watching him stagger into the wall, gripping his neck and gasping.
"I deserve that." He choked, struggling to catch back up to her.
He didn't catch her until she was at the door, this time he was ready to block her shot, pushing her against the wall and pinning her. She was crying, refusing to look at him, squirming and stomping at his toes.
"Tris, stop and talk to me." He demanded, loosening his hold when she stopped struggling, then he pulled her rougher than he wanted, to a side hallway where he knew there was a small blind spot.
"I'm done, you win." She quaked. "You can slip the requests under the door, if you want. And when I see you in the hallway, I'll turn the other direction. What ever you want, just let me go."
"I want you here." He insisted, she tried to step around him, he blocked her way knowing at least one of them was on camera, he didn't dare try to hug her.
"Hasn't this been enough? Do I have to do more?" She asked.
"Just… Don't leave." He forced out, struggling with what he wanted to tell her: that he forgave her, that he'd never hurt her, that he'd never leave her; but all that felt too close to lies to squeeze past his lips. He couldn't say he wanted her if he didn't know for certain that she wanted him just as much. He declared instead, "What ever this is, I want it. I want to give it a chance."
"You want me broken at the bottom of the chasm."
"Never ever say that." He let his hand slink out and touch her's. She flinched away. He glanced up at the camera, and lowered his voice to just a soft whisper, "I'd kiss you and hold you and make you believe me if I could, but someone's watching us. Someone saw us on the truck and they've been watching ever since." He tried to press the most earnest expression onto his face and she seemed to soften.
"Doesn't mean you have to be a dick all the time."
"I'm not good at this." He admitted, crossing his arms again.
"Get better." She warned, stepping away from him and out to the train.
"Will you be back on Friday?" He asked, she didn't respond.
"Well done." Zeke called from the main hallway, where he and Amar had scampered for a selfish earful.
"Shut up. Can I do anything without someone watching?" Four groaned.
"I thought you had this under control?" Amar asked.
"She's just being overly sensitive." He claimed.
"Is she?" Zeke asked.
"What do you know?" Four pushed past him.
"I know when I talked to her earlier, she didn't know you were a member, again."
"So what?"
"Then she said you stopped talking to her weeks ago."
"I talk to her every day she's here."
"You yell at her." Amar corrected.
"Who's side are you on?"
"I'm on yours, always yours." Amar confirmed.
"I mean, if you want her gone, isn't it easier to just tell her not to come back?" Zeke asked.
"I want her here." Four increased his pace, thinking he'd like to leave them in his dust but knowing they'd pursue him.
"You sure? Doesn't seem like it." Zeke slipped an arm around Four's stomach and pulled him off his path and into a side room.
"What is this?" Four asked, looking at the full room. Lauren and Rafael were back, tan, Rafael's arm casually hung over her shoulder. George next to them, Christina eyed them annoyed and jilted. Janice pursed her lips and rocked back and forth, avoiding his glance. Shauna looked back at him with a patient smirk.
"This, is your intervention." Amar informed him.
"I'm not an alcoholic." He rolled his eyes.
"You're about to fuck it all up, and if you can't see it, we're here to make sure you do." Amar forced him into a chair. "You just have to hear each person out and then you can go."
"Now?"
"Ten minutes." Amar firmly held his shoulders.
"Four, we've been friends since you got here." Lauren started, "But since you came back, it's like you forgot all that time and you're back in square one. I'm tired of hearing about fights, arguments, blowing up at people. And there aren't many folks left in this faction that don't consider you a time bomb. You have to get it under control or you'll lose more than a girl."
He opened his mouth to respond, but Amar squeezed and he shut it.
"I haven't known you as long as the others, but you've been reckless the whole time. There are consequences for everything you do and all the secrets, holding them in, it's like a poison. You gotta find a way to get it out of you." Rafael quickly stated.
Shauna picked at her nails, until Zeke kicked her chair and she finally looked up at him. "I avoid you because there's too many stories about you blowing up at people, not because you're Divergent. I don't want to see you hurt anyone."
"George?" Amar prompted. And Four heard them out. George, Amar, Zeke and Christina focused on him losing Tris.
He couldn't lift his eyes to meet anyone's. He couldn't bare the pressure of their glances. He was squeezed from the room to struggle on his own. To find some way to be better, to be wrong gracefully, to apologize to her, to them, to admit that the damned therapist had given him this weeks before and to contemplate if she was entirely right or if he could still be stubborn.
