fourtris oneshots

Role Reversal #6

"Who cares about everyone? What about me?"

Tobias wanted to walk back to the dormitories after dinner, but something led him to Tris's apartment instead. The door was nudged open a bit, and Tobias  pushed the door closed behind him, and almost instantly felt calmer.

Tris wasn't there, he didn't know where she went after dinner, but Tobias didn't leave. He headed for the bed, sitting down and taking the top blanket in his hand. The scent of the one person who's ever lived in the apartment radiated off from the material, though it was faded. The amount of time they both spent away from the faction made Tobias's stomach twist.

The door opened again, and Tris walked in slowly. Her eyes searched around the apartment, not landing on Tobias at first. Tobias dropped the quilt from his hands, his arms limb. He wondered how he would explain his presence. He was supposed to be angry at her. But, Tobias knew that Tris was in fact, angry with him.

"Don't be an idiot," Tris started.

"An idiot?" Tobias questioned.

"You were lying. You said you wouldn't go to Erudite, and you were lying, and going to Erudite would make you an idiot. So don't."

Tobias moved the quilt from his lap and stood up. "Don't try to make this simple," he said. "It's not. You know as well as I do that this is the right thing to do."

"You choose this moment to act like the Abnegation?" Her voice raised, filling in the quiet of the room. "All that time you spent insisting that you were too selfish for them, and now, when your life is on the line, you've got to he a hero?" Tris walked stepped once to him, "What's wrong with you?"

Tobias scowled. "What's wrong with you? People died. They walked right off the edge of a building! And I can stop it from happening again."

"You're too important to just . . . die." Tris shook her head. She avoided Tobias's gaze, looking to the floor or to the wall.

"I'm not important." Tobias said, "Everyone will do just fine without me."

Then, finally looking to him once, Tris spoke. "Who cares about everyone? What about me?"

And Tobias froze as Tris lowered her face into her hands. She covered her eyes. Tobias noticed her hands trembling. A moment later, she looked up, walked the many steps separating the two. Tris stood up on her toes, moving a hand around the back of Tobias's neck. She pulled his head down, and captured his lips with hers.

But, Tobias soon pulled back, holding her shoulders tightly to keep her away. He was the boy who shot Eric, his best friend. He was the boy who chose a teenager instead of a child. Though he could flashback to when he first kissed Tris and when he grabbed her hand in the hallway, he couldn't erase the bad things.

"You would be fine," he said. "Not at first. But you would move on, and do what you have to."

Tris put a hand around Tobias, clutching his shirt in her hands. There was so much desperation in her face. "That's a lie," Tris said, kissing him again.

Tobias shouldn't have deepened the kiss. It was wrong, that he did when he knew what he was about to do to her. But, he did not pull away, and it felt wrong.

Tris walked forward, pushing Tobias back and making him sit on the bed. She stood in front of him, bending down to kiss him. Pulling back, she ran her fingertips over his lips, his cheeks, before moving her hands to wrap around his neck again.

Tobias couldn't help himself. He pulled her face closer, moving his hands to her waist as he kissed her. Stop, he told himself. If he didn't stop now, Tobias didn't know if he ever would. He moved his fingertips under her shirt, letting them graze her side. A smile formed on his mouth when he felt Tris shiver.

Tris pulled away slowly, only enough so she could look Tobias in his eyes. "Promise me," she whispered, "that you won't go. For me. Do this one thing for me."

For a second, Tobias believed that he could stay at Dauntless. He believed that he could fix things in his relationship with Tris. But, could he let another person die in his place? The second was over as Tobias saw Eric laying in the road, dead.

Tris's eyes pleaded with him, Do this one thing for me.

If Tobias didn't go to Erudite, he knew Tris would. It was the kind of thing she would do: go in his place.

Something clenched in Tobias's chest as he lied to Tris. "Okay."

Tris squeezed Tobias's neck firmly but softly. "Promise," Tris said, a frown on her lips.

And the pain that filled his chest spread everywhere--filling every nerve of his body. "I promise," Tobias said.

As they got into bed later that night, Tris kept her arms around his middle, her forehead pressed against his chest. Her arms were kept tightly around him, locking him in a cage. The light of the apartment was off, the lamp next to the bed giving off a low glow. Tobias waited awake, his eyes slightly wide at what he was going to do. He waited until Tris's arms loosened, her breaths becoming slow and steady.

He wouldn't let Tris go to Erudite in his place.

Tobias slipped Tris's arms from around him, pausing as she stirred. Waiting, Tobias replaced where he had been laying with a pillow and backed away from the bed. He wished he could take something of Tris's with him; something to ease the pain of him lying to her, something to give him comfort.

Tobias watched her snuggle closer to the pillow, her eyebrows furrowing before returning to normal. He almost reached out to run a hand over her forehead, but stopped. He knew she was a light sleeper.

"I love you," he mumbled. Tobias has never said the words before, and he glanced at Tris quickly before turning away. He didn't look back.

It was time to set things right.