The dampness of the stone wall she was leaning against seeped into Tris's shirt. She had come to this quiet hallway as a refuge from Four's apartment; the apartment where she had once felt her safest, yet she had only felt anger and sadness at now. Tris dropped her head into her hands, the last half hour playing in her head on a loop. Her fight with Four. No, not just a stupid fight. Their breakup.

"Tris." She had known something was wrong on the silent walk to his apartment, as well as when she sat on his bed and he choose to stand in front of her, pacing. "I don't think this is working out."

"What do you mean?"

"Even though you just finished your initiation, I just don't think this relationship is going to work. I think it is best if we stayed friends." He had really hoped that saying it kindly and saying it bluntly would make her realise that he was in love with someone else.

"I, I don't understand." Tris's voice was coming out breathy, like she couldn't understand or believe what Four was saying. When he invited her to his apartment to 'talk', she didn't know that he meant that he was going to break up with her. "Did I do something wrong? Am I not pretty enough? Do you want more? What it something I said? Did you… meet someone?"

"No, no," he tried to sit beside her and take her hands. She faced the other way. "Tris, I can't be with someone who is afraid of me. I saw your fear landscape. I need someone who isn't afraid of intimacy; I did come to dauntless for a reason. I don't want to be stuck in Abnegation."

"I don't get it. We can get through it, I am in Dauntless now, and I shouldn't be stuck in Abnegation, your right. Your right. We can work through this." Her eyes started to burn because she knew she couldn't change his mind. No, she couldn't cry. No. Not right now. Not in front of him.

He let out a frustrated groan. "It isn't just that Tris, I did meet someone. Well, I've known them for a while, but I realised only now that I'm… that I am in love with her. I'm sorry Tris. It isn't fair to have led you on when I had feelings for someone else. I would like us to remain friends."

Tris stood up and walked slowly to the door. Her head muddled with a thousand different thoughts. She turned back, and tried to sound like she didn't care, even though she did. "Who is she?"

"Shauna."

At that moment, she didn't just feel sadness about the breakup; she felt pity for Shauna, because she didn't know about how much Four lacked in dating skills.

"Wait! Tris don't—"She closed the door and took a step. Tris used to worship the ground that he walked on, but not anymore.

That's how she ended up here, leaning against the cold stone wall of a dead-end hallway.

Even though Four had admitted that he cheated on her, silent tears were still running down her face. Tris knew that she should be angry at him, but she wasn't. All Tris thought about was how her first boyfriend - her first almost everything, had ended so quickly. She thought that they would last forever, or at least until the end of the initiation, but it hadn't. She really thought she loved him. He was so kind, handsome, nice, and gentle with her in private, but he had cheated on her. How could she have been so wrong about Four? And what did Shauna have that Tris didn't? Tris thought about all the things that she didn't have, such as experience and beauty. She laid her head against the wall and blocked out everything around her.

…

Eric knew that to be respected, he had to be mean. It worked fine with him; people were usually scared by just looking at him. He used his intimidating looks, mean behavior and genius brain to earn respect. So when Jeannine Matthews asked him to be a part of her plan, describing it to him as 'being a part of something bigger than ourselves', he agreed because leadership meant respect. And being a part in her plan would put him in a higher rank in Erudite, even though the whole operation was a secret. I mean, that is why he chose to become a leader in Dauntless: for Jeannine's plan. But being a leader meant much more than scaring people and remaining distant, he had to make decisions, and attend all of the events.

One of the events he had to attend was the banquet that told the initiates their final rank. Eric didn't like it. It was an excuse to party to celebrate the initiates who became members. Why not tell them in their dormitory? Why make it a celebration with everyone? Eric didn't get social events; he always thought of himself as a loner. He wasn't in Dauntless to make friends after all.

He was walking to the dining hall to get set up early even though he still had an hour before the banquet started. Eric took a path to the dining room that was not known to many, it was quiet and he took that time to think before the loud shouts of drunken Dauntless started. He had been walking by a dead end dip in the hallway when he heard what he thought was a whimper. It was small, but he was sure he had heard it.

He looked down to see Tris sitting against a wall in the short dead-ended hallway. Eric thought about why the hell she was here and what he was going to do to Four about his initiates, even though he didn't care about Tris. It wasn't just that she was probably going to get kicked out; it was about how she was a transfer and the last transfer from Abnegation had punched his tooth out.

Tris hadn't noticed him yet, so Eric was going to walk right past her when he noticed that she was crying. He noticed how she just sat there, with silent tears, staring at the wall - no emotion in her face or eyes. He deliberated walking right past her; yet it just didn't feel right. He didn't get to make a choice because she noticed him with a start. Tris stood up, wiped her tears and looked at him with wide eyes.

"So-sorry, I was just leaving." She stuttered, turning to leave.

"Tris, wait." Eric still wanted to know if she was ok, but by still keeping up the mean façade he put on all day. He said in a stern voice, "What are you doing here?"

"I-I was just wandering. I came here for some quiet." Tris looked down at her hands and fidgeted.

…

The last thing she needed was Eric teasing her about her love life with Four, let alone knowing about it. It dawned on her then that she and Four hadn't even told anyone yet, and she swallowed a bitter laugh.

"Why are you crying?" He practically yelled, frowning.

"Why do you care?" Tris countered. It didn't seem very Eric-like to care about anyone else's feelings besides his own. Besides, she thought, she didn't have to tell him anything about why she was crying or why she was in the hallway.

"I care when it concerns initiates that I have to take care of; it is on me if you do anything stupid. So?" Eric crossed his arms and widened his stance, looking more formal and intimidating.

"I don't have to tell you anything and I wasn't doing anything wrong, ok?" Tris was getting frustrated, her mind having completely forgotten about Four for a moment.

"No. By not telling me, you are betraying your faction, betraying a dauntless leader. Do you want to end up factionless?" He spat the words. "What about your friends? Do you want them to get kicked out, because I can change the rankings right now! It's my job that you don't end up at the bottom of the chasm like Al—"

"Fine!" She screamed. "You really want to know what happened?! Four broke up with me! We were dating!" She flung her arms around in wild gestures. "He broke up with me, claiming that he doesn't want to date anyone who is scared of him, because of my fear landscape. He claimed that, but he just used it as a cover of what he was really doing! He cheated on me Eric! It didn't even feel like we were dating and he cheated. I just—"

Tris stopped gesturing wildly and dropped to the ground, sitting as she had before, against the wall with her head in her hands.

"I want to be angry." She said in a small voice. "I want to, I'm just—not."

…

Eric knew that he was going to have a very serious talk with Four about his teaching methods, but he had more pressing matters to deal with right now, like the girl who was crying five feet away from him. He felt a dozen emotions at once, which almost never happens these days. He felt confusion at Four, because being a stiff, he was usually polite to everyone – except Eric. And anger, because her story didn't help his opinion of Four and even he wouldn't cheat on his girlfriend. Not that he has ever had one. But most of all, he felt sadness for Tris because she felt so used, so abandoned, and that's why he sat next to her.

It surprised him as much as it surprised Tris, but he decided to drop the jerk act for a minute and give her some advice.

"Listen, I never liked Four, but I guess that was obvious." She looked sideways at him, her silent tears stilled for a second. "I am not one to tell advice, but most guys are like that, so be careful." Careful about everything, not just guys, he wanted to say.

"Wow, real inspirational, Eric." She sarcastically chuckled. If she had to be honest, she would say that she was surprised at how non-jackassey and nice he was being, but mostly embarrassed. She didn't like people seeing her weaknesses and Four was one of them. Here she was telling her enemy, Eric, about Four and crying in front of him.

"I'm telling you the truth, Tris."

She stopped laughing and looked thoughtful. "I know."

Eric checked his watch and stood up, "I've got to go get ready for the banquet in the dining hall."

"I completely forgot." Tris said absentmindedly.

Standing above her, it reminded him of how young and fragile she looked, yet she is only two years younger. He felt like Tris was more mature than she looked. "The banquet is in half an hour." He started walking away, then turned around and asked, "You coming?"

A look of complete surprise crosses over her face, "Yeah." She heard herself say it, but is again surprised at everything that has happened today. Four breaking up with her was totally unseen and Eric being nice to her? Please, no one saw that coming.

"Just because I was partially nice today, I am still a dauntless leader, so nothing has changed." He said on the walk to the dining hall. "Don't act like we are friends, because we are not, okay Stiff?"