I rest my forehead against his, eyes closed–enjoying being near him. My fingers brush the short hair at the back of his neck. "We're so similar in color, but look so different. It's kind of crazy." I mumble quietly.
Tobias smiles and nudges his nose against mine, pecking me on the lips, "We look so alike, what do you mean?" The sarcasm is thick.
I groan, "Not funny."
"I was skinny like you are when I first got here–you know how Abnegation is with rations." Tobias says, "Because it's so selfish to have a full belly."
There's humor in his tone but I furrow my brows regardless, grabbing his neck and pulling him so he's looking at me, "You have one now, it's soft too." He's laying on the bed and I'm sitting above him. I poke at the softness that is his stomach and feel as he tenses. I gasp, "Tobi, do you mean to tell me you flex whenever you're shirtless?"
He blushes and I will never tire of the sight of his cheeks turning red. "No."
"You're lying, it's okay. I suck in my stomach naturally." I say with a shrug and he gives me a funny look, rolling back down to rest his head on my lap. "I love these moments best," I mumbled, running my hands over his scalp, feeling the roughness of his new haircut. "You should grow your hair out, there might be curls hidden."
Tobias shakes his head, "There definitely aren't any curls in my hair. It's pin straight."
I sigh, "If you'd stop cutting it, we'd be able to see but you're stubborn so I'll drop it."
"Thank you." I smack his cheek lightly and he turns over, pulling me down. I gasp in surprise as he hugs my stomach, laying his head on there now. "You're getting soft now, it suits you." He kisses the skin that's been exposed by his dragging me down.
I squirm a little because of how ticklish I am. "You know I'm ticklish."
"I'm being romantic," He argues, laying his head back down. He's got his arms wrapped around me like I'm some kind of pillow.
"I love you," I say with a grin, he's so cute right now as he looks up at me with a smirk. "Oh, stop that." I twist in his hold as he blows air on my skin.
Tobias chuckles as I mumble about how he's a bastard, "My parents were married when I was born–actually."
I quickly cover my expression upon him mentioning his parents. His mother. His very much alive mother. The woman I've seen in passing. Evelyn Eaton. I think he'd kill me if he found out I knew about her. But he's so content without her in his life. I'm doing him a favor by keeping her away from him.
"One of the services the Fractured are denied, you know."
"You're a Dauntless leader now, Rose, you can do whatever you want." I snort at him and he doesn't relent. "It's true, everyone loves you–maybe not Eric but that's because he's a prick."
"Please don't talk about him. He enrages me so badly."
He laughs and nods, "Oh yea, he's horrible."
"He's a cunt." I say which makes Tobias laugh even harder. I shake because of it and can't help but join in with his chuckles.
I push my hand onto his head, brushing through his short hair. I wish he'd just listen to me. "Grow it for two months," I beg.
Tobias pushes his face into my stomach and groans, the sensation tickles me and I squirm. "You're so persistent!" He doesn't sound too annoyed.
"Pleaseee." I elongate the word and it sounds all whiny. "Pleaseeeee," I try again, holding his head with my hands. "Tobi, pleaseeeeeeee."
"One month." That's enough for me! I smile triumphantly. "Then I'm shaving it."
I startle, "No! Do not buzz your hair again! You looked like an egg!" I argue.
He falls into another fit of laughter and it stings. I'm not too butthurt because I love watching him smile. It makes my heart break in a good way. In the way where it's so full I just... can't hold any more love.
I feel like that a lot–I love so much. My friends, my partner, my family. Every interaction makes me feel so whole I want to cry. I find pieces of them in my personality, and the same for them. It's been beautiful watching my friends become so... dimensional.
Chris and Will share an apartment, they're both initiate trainers. They're ruthless together. Russ and Billie have this weird half-dating, half-not relationship. Some days they're together, others they aren't. It's kind of interesting watching it happen. Russ is a combat trainer. His dream job, he said.
Then there's Tris. She's kind of all alone relationship-wise. She doesn't seem like she's interested in one and I can't blame her. She works in the camera realm of things. She's got a keen eye, I told her she'd do well and she seems to like it.
And me... I'm somehow a Dauntless leader. It took a year or so to finish training but I was chosen both for my unique view and for my skill set. I get to see my family now because of new orders put in place.
It's still seen as treasonous for some of the older people to intermingle between factions but I think it's important that people stay in touch with their families. Most of the faction transfers still keep to themselves and I've noticed that a lot of people who transfer to Dauntless have a bad relationship with their families. This place is their saving grace if they survive initiation.
That's changed slightly too, initiation is less harsh with the cuts. There still are cuts but the opportunity to rise in the ranks is... slightly easier. We have a plan to rotate the order in which we do the stages of initiation. This new year we did the fear landscape first. It was interesting watching it.
The kids weren't completely exhausted after the first stage like my year. After doing combat for those two weeks, we were all spent. But their times were significantly better than ours. Not quite as low as Tris and I but I could see the difference.
I got to oversee many of the classes, and Tobias spends more time working in the camera room now. He's in there 24/7 practically. But when we get our time together, we usually spend it like this.
Just resting. Enjoying the feeling of us being together. I love being around him like this. There's no one telling me another thing I must worry about, no questions being thrown at me, nothing but him.
Three and Four. I'd broken so many records last year that it's made me somewhat of a celebrity. I hate it to be honest. People's expectations are much higher than I deserve. But it could be worse, I could have been cut. I try to count my blessings more than count my possible failings.
I'm thankful for having survived initiation. So many things could have gone wrong. I could have died. But I didn't. I'm both Dauntless and Fractured. My ma was right about me being fire all those years ago. And I plan on turning this place into a safe haven. Even if I practically die trying.