Despite living in the same building for years, Tobias had never said a word to the cute blonde whose mailbox was right next to his. They lived on the same floor, a few doors down from each other, and occasionally met up in the hallway or while gathering their mail in the lobby. But shy smiles and polite head bobs were all they had ever exchanged. There were quite a few times Tobias tried to talk himself into at least saying hello, but he always chickened out at the last moment. He was never any good at starting up a conversation.

So it was no surprise that as he checked his mail, he only gave her a tip of his head and moved out of her way. He tossed a few ads in the garbage, and placed a bill that didn't belong to him on the community cork board before picking up his small bag of groceries and pressing the button for the elevator.

As he waited, he chanced a look back at her. She was humming a tune and doing the same thing he just did. It made him smile to know that, even though they had never spoken a word, their mail-checking habits gave them at least one thing in common.

The elevator doors opened, and he stepped inside. He watched her, wondering if he should say something or hold the elevator, but accepted his missed chance when the doors started to close.

"Wait!" he heard, and instantly threw his body forward, sticking an arm and a leg out to stop them from closing completely.
"Thanks," she said, bounding past him into the elevator. He looked at her for a moment, until she raised an eyebrow.
Oh, right, he thought. He stepped back and pressed the number fifteen again, standing off to the side as the doors closed. Say something, he thought to himself. She had broken the proverbial ice, so what was there left to lose?

Oh, hey. You don't know me, and I only live a couple doors down from you, but I've been secretly staring at you for years. Want to have dinner some time?

She would move in an instant, and he wouldn't blame her.

He wasn't any good at this; it amazed him that he had ever managed to have girlfriends in the past. Of course, it was because they did all the work in the beginning. But he told himself he could at least say something. They had been doing the same song and dance for years and it wouldn't hurt to say hello. He took a deep breath, trying to gather up the courage, when she sneezed.

"Bless you," he said. Well, it wasn't an introduction, but it was, in fact, something.
"Thanks," she said, wiggling her nose. "Weird. I only sneeze when I'm—" she sneezed again. "Around tulips." He wished he could disappear as he looked down at the small bouquet of tulips in his bag: his mom was coming over for dinner, and he thought he'd do something nice and buy her some flowers.

That particular moment, the one that was slowly turning into one of the most awkward in his life, was made substantially worse when the lights flickered and the elevator stopped. She sneezed again.

"Whath goin' on?" she said, sounding completely stuffy. He had to put in a sizable amount of effort to hold back his smile.
"No idea. But it looks like we're on…twelve?" he said, looking up at the number on the wall. He pressed the number fifteen again, but nothing happened.
"Great," she said. She tossed her things down and sat in the corner. "Thith happen oneth before. Took a lon time."

Tobias glanced in his bag again, and rummaged through it before setting it far away from her.
"Here," he said, handing her the pack of napkins.
"Thankth ," she said, ripping into it and blowing her nose. "Oh God, so much better." She sneezed again.

"Dammit! Why am I…" she trailed off, as if just noticing the bag Tobias was trying so desperately to hide. "Do you? Are there tulips in there?" He felt himself get hot as the blush overtook him.
"Yeah," he whispered. "Sorry." He would have been lying if he said he wasn't completely confused when she started laughing uncontrollably.

"What's so funny?" he eventually asked. She wiped her eyes, and held up a finger as another sneeze came out. She blew her nose again.
"Murphy's my best friend." She gave him a quick smile, and he felt himself return it. "Last time this happened? I had to pee. Try being in here for an hour and a half with a full bladder."
"Oh no," he said, chuckling now. "What did you do?"
"What any self-respecting person would do. I peed in one corner and sat in the other."

Tobias's mouth fell open a little. She stared up at him with such a straight face, he had no reason to not believe her. He glanced at a corner quickly and she laughed again, followed by a sneeze.

"I'm just kidding," she said, blowing her nose. "Somehow, I held it. You honestly have no idea what relief is until you are able to pee after holding it for that long." She smiled up at him, and Tobias had never been more happy to be stuck in an elevator.

"Should we call someone or…" he trailed off, looking at the control panel.
"No. See that yellow blinking light?" Tobias nodded. "It's already let them know it's stuck. Now, we wait."

They were quiet for a while —except for her sneezing and nose blowing— when Tobias began to feel uncomfortable. He had always had a thing about being in small spaces, but this elevator was larger than most so it never got to him before. But as time passed, the air was getting warmer and staler and his mind was starting to fuck with him.

"Are you okay?" she asked. He had started pulling on the neck of his shirt, and he was pretty sure he had pit stains already as he could feel the sweat trickling down the back of his neck every now and then.
"Yeah. Fine. I'm fine," he said, waving his hand. She tilted her head to the side, eyes narrowed.

"You are not. Sit." He looked down at her, but she just raised her eyebrows in a challenge. When he didn't move, she leaned up on one knee and grabbed his hand, dragging him down next to her. He could smell her perfume or her clean hair —he didn't know or care which— and it smelled sweet, like vanilla. He was sure it had just become his favorite smell in the world.

"Claustrophobic?" she asked, and he nodded.
"Just a little."
"It's okay. They'll have us out in no time. Just close your eyes and I'll keep you safe."

He was definitely spiraling in that moment, but it had nothing to do with the small space.

"I'm Tris, by the way," she whispered from next to him. He could feel her breath on his arm.
"Tobias," he said, opening his eyes. She was staring at him, and he found himself staring back. Her face was beautiful and soft, but her eyes were filled with a look he only knew how to describe as determination. Or maybe it was passion. Either way, he loved it. "It's nice to finally meet you," he added. She sneezed and he laughed.

"I'm really sorry about that," he said, gesturing to his bag, "But now I know what flowers to not bring you." She smiled, and he felt himself blush. Where the hell did that come from?
"Lilies," she said, a small blush forming on her own cheeks.
"Thanks for the tip."

They made small talk about nothing important, like work and movies and fast food while they waited. Sometimes he had his eyes closed, but when they were open they were trained on her, and the small space grew larger. He watched her lips as she spoke and the way she ran a hand through her hair often, moving it from one side to the other. Her hands were small, and he had the desire to touch them to see if they felt as soft as they looked. He realized she had stopped talking and he looked up, embarrassed to be caught staring. Surely she would tell him off.

"You okay?" she asked instead. Who was this girl?
"Yeah. I am," he said. He was more than okay. He had never been so okay in his entire life.

He didn't quite know what to do when she shifted a little closer to him and looped her arm with his. He remembered to breathe after a minute, and finally moved a little closer to her, too. They were silent except for her occasional sneezes.

"At this rate," she said, tossing another used napkin into her pile, "I'm going to run out of these."
"How long has it been, anyway?" He knew they would get out eventually, but he was content to stay here for however long it took.
"Mmm, forty-five minutes," she said, looking at her phone. She held it out in his direction. "Want to listen to music?"
"Sure."

She could have easily played it through the phone's speaker, but she handed him one of her earbuds and sidled back up against him. Even though they hardly knew each other, he didn't feel like he was there with a complete stranger. He was thankful for her desire to be close to him; it was helping him get through a moment that would have been much worse had he been all alone.

She hit shuffle and never skipped a song. Everything from Devo to Nicki Minaj to Metallica came on, and Tobias loved that she was so unpredictable. Never in a million years could he have pinned her down, and he knew he would gladly spend that long getting to learn everything about her.

He cleared his throat, as if she had somehow heard his thoughts. Idiot. She looked over at him, and he noticed a tear in her eye. He panicked for a quick moment; she must have seen it all over his face.

"Sorry. It's just this song. It gets me every time." He hadn't even been paying attention; he was too caught up in his own thoughts about her. He didn't know why, but he wanted to take whatever it was that made her feel like this, and banish it someplace where it could never hurt her again. He might not have known her that long, but he still felt her sadness, right there in his chest. Without a second thought, he leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to her forehead.

He was all butterflies and panic when he pulled away and saw her wide eyes. He had no idea if he did a good thing or a bad one.

"I'm sorry," he blurted out. "I shouldn't have." He tried to scoot away, the earbud yanking out of his ear. But she gripped his arm tight and pulled him back to her, offering him the earbud again. He took it as she laid her head on his shoulder, the song that brought on her tears playing softly. He let out a loud breath, and rested his head on top of hers.

He felt like he should have said something; it seemed like a decent enough time to ask her for her number or out to dinner. But he found that he didn't really want to talk, he just wanted to be in her presence. While he was no stranger to relationships, this was unfamiliar territory for him.

Their moment was short-lived when the elevator buzzed and jumped, making its way up to their floor.
"Oh, yay," she said, one last sneeze escaping. He stood and helped her up. They gathered their things and exited the elevator quickly.

"Oh sweet, fresh air," Tobias said, taking in a deep breath. Tris giggled as they walked down the hallway together. He passed his place and continued the few doors down to hers. It seemed only appropriate to walk her home after all of that. She gave him a shy smile, and he hoped this wouldn't be all there was to them. He opened his mouth to speak, but she beat him to it.

"What are you doing tonight?" she asked, and Tobias's face broke into a wide grin.
"I'm having dinner with my mom, actually. The flowers are for her." It was Tris's turn to smile now. "I can always change it to another day, though."
"Don't you dare cancel on your mother," she scolded. "Tomorrow?"
"Not a thing."
"Perfect. Six?" He nodded. "Don't forget the lilies," she said, a coy smile on her face as she went into her apartment. Tobias stood there, amazed at how a single hour had completely changed his life.

A/N:

To the guest reviewer who gave this scenario as a suggestion, I already had this one in my arsenal. ;)