That Flirty Smile of Hers

by NoTimeTeen

'I never would have imagined her lips were so soft. In my mind she always fits together with Uriah at one side and Lynn at the other, and the three of them have a way of behaving that sort of leaves any softness discarded. But her lips are soft, and she's so gentle as her hand cups my jaw, as her thumb caresses the skin of my cheek.' Marlene/Tris (Often unexplored for some reason).

Based completely on the books, just 'cause I never particularly liked the cast from the movies.

'You're not supposed to be here,' Marlene calls as she enters the training room.

'Neither are you, I'd bet.'

Her characteristic flirty smile firmly set, she approaches me slowly.

'Maybe if you had a muffin on top of your head I could shoot it away so that you stop bugging me about being here,' I say.

She chuckles. Amazingly, she's capable of keeping her expression flirtatious even as a frown tenses her forehead. She says, 'I trust you'd shoot it right off my scalp without needing much more training already, Tris.'

I blush. 'Come on.' I'm convinced she's being sarcastic. 'I'm not good at all. I'd kill you.' Although I talk to her I look away and throw the knife in my hand as well as I can. It sticks in the target, inches from the center.

'Don't be like that.' I feel her close, feel her breath on the back of my neck. She places a hand on my shoulder. 'You're too good at too many things.'

Tired of her disguised sarcasm, I huff. I throw the next knife, which bounces off the wall and to the floor, not even close to hitting the target.

'Nervous, are we?' Marlene's taunting tone is now clear.

I take a step away from her. I'm starting to get annoyed. 'Distracted, more like.' I watch as her smile falters in response to my aggressive poise.

Something goes through her eyes. It comes and goes faster than I can register. I can't name what it is.

The next time she speaks her voice is soft, lower and graver. 'I distract you?'

'When you're being annoying yes, you do,' I answer.

Her face turns playful again. 'I'll try to do it more often, then.' Her flirty smile has come back, overenthusiastic this time.

That flirty smile of hers.

I chuckle awkwardly. It's hard sometimes talking to her, because that flirtatious demeanor is always there, no matter who she's talking to. I've heard her using it on Uriah and the other Dauntless-born initiates, but I've also heard her using it on Lynn and me — which leads me to believe that's just the way she talks.

'Why would you?' I say it just to break the awkward silence.

Marlene's smirk grows as she takes a step closer to me. 'I thought it was obvious.'

I feel the urge to ask what she means, because it doesn't seem like it's obvious — not to me, at least. I know how playful she is, though. I decide to ignore it. 'How come you're here?' I ask. 'I'm pretty sure you need no more training.'

Marlene shrugs, humming in acknowledgement. 'Guess I shouldn't ask how you got in, huh?' she redirects.

'Huh?'

She eyes me sideways as she reaches delicately for one of the remaining knives. 'You know what I'm talking about.' She sounds serious now. 'Even if someone caught you in here, they wouldn't even scold you.' I watch her lift the knife over her shoulder before throwing it. It hits right in the middle of the target. 'Especially now that you're such close friends with Four.'

I frown. The word 'friends' drips with the sarcasm I assumed she'd been disguising.

Watching her attentively for a second, I think about what she said. I had no idea she disliked Four. Being a Dauntless-born initiate, though, I imagine she grew up listening to the tales that surround him. Like all her fellows, she probably wishes she could be as famous as he is within the faction.

My eyes trace her form as she readies to throw another knife. She instinctively opens her legs, her shoulders tense, her back straightens. Marlene is taller than me, the top of my head would be level with her eyes if we stood in front of each other. She looks even taller right now. I can see several of her muscles tensing as the knife rises, the blade shining brightly. Her shoulders rise and then fall as she exhales. Her movements are so precise I feel like I'm hypnotized. She throws the knife.

I hear it stick with a loud thud, my eyes never leaving Marlene. She looks at me over her shoulder. I snap my mouth shut.

Shaking my head, I turn and see the knife hit right next to the last one she'd thrown. 'Point proven,' I tell her. 'You don't need any more training.'

She turns to face me, and I realize now how close we are. 'Maybe I just came here to see you.'

Her expression is focused, as serious as I've never seen it. From this close it's easy to tell her flirty smile is provoked, not natural as I had first assumed.

A blush creeps up my cheeks for reasons I can't understand. Suddenly, her hand is touching me there, her fingertips running gently over my red skin. 'It flatters me to know you noticed I needed no training, you know?' Her voice is low and raspy.

I feel in my throat a thirst that wasn't there a minute ago. My eyes lock with hers as her face starts leaning into me. Air released from her nose washes over my lips.

The things I'm feeling overwhelm me. Warmness invades my body, my muscles tense; she's too close to me. I don't know what to do or how to react — and the most alarming thing is that my first impulse is not to push her away, but to pull her closer. My hand grasps her elbow as her fingers trace my jaw slowly.

Marlene looks into my eyes. She whispers, 'Has Four kissed you yet?'

I blink, astonished. Four? Kiss… me? Why would he? What would make her think he has? 'No,' I whisper back, not trusting myself enough to complete a more complex phrase.

'Good.' I feel her lips forming the word against mine.

Marlene kisses me.

I have never kissed someone before. Not like this, at least, but that's obvious. Who in Abnegation would have kissed me? Once or twice I had wondered if they even kissed at all. As for the Dauntless initiates, transfers or not, only Al showed any interest and, well, Al's Al.

It's quite something, kissing someone — kissing Marlene. I never would have imagined her lips were so soft. In my mind she always fits together with Uriah at one side and Lynn at the other, and the three of them have a way of behaving that sort of leaves any softness discarded. But her lips are soft, and she's so gentle as her hand cups my jaw, as her thumb caresses the skin of my cheek.

Her lips open and close in a calculated pattern that makes it obvious she has kissed other people. They make me move my own lips. I try to match the pattern. I feel like I'm floating, as if I was hanging from the zip line again, on my way down from the Hancock building. Behind my closed eyelids I see the marsh full of water. I'm weightless again.

I lower a hand to rest on Marlene's waist and the other climbs up to the back of her neck. I'm standing on my tiptoes; Marlene is leaning down to maintain our position.

Then, after what must be minutes but that tick away as hours — days, weeks — inside my head, I feel Marlene push gently with her tongue, poking my teeth through our parted lips. When our tongues collide I feel her sigh, and I sigh too.

She's doing it slow. That much I can tell. Her tongue is not anxious, her lips are not insistent. She's dancing a slow dance with me, for my sake.

My heart is racing because I still can't believe I'm doing this. I stopped being conscious of most of what's been going on with my body the moment our lips touched, but I'm pretty sure my blush must be even worse by now. I feel the palms of my hands sweating profusely and the muscles in my legs shouldn't be hurting this bad. Our posture's starting to affect me. My neck's craned in an uncomfortable angle and the balls of my feet start complaining for being given the responsibility of supporting my full weight by themselves.

I don't want to stop kissing her. Partly, because I don't want to have to face her as she tries to explain herself or as I try to look like I'm angry at her for kissing me. Mainly, though, I'm reluctant to part because I don't want to stop feeling this, this weightlessness. Don't want to stop feeling her warm body so close or her hands on my naked skin or her soft lips moving on mine.

Marlene finally pushes herself away. My heels fall back on the ground, and it's as if I'd just been dropped from the net that caught me when I jumped from the roof of an abandoned building to prove I wanted to be Dauntless.

'Good.' A hand is still at my waist, holding me steady; the other's on my shoulder. She's breathing heavily. 'I wanted to do that before he…' It takes me a moment to realize she's talking about Four. Right now, I couldn't care less who even Four is. 'Wanted to do it at least once,' Marlene finishes.

My chest rises and falls quickly. 'Foh-' I try. I swallow and wait until my heartbeat steadies. 'Four?' I manage.

Marlene sighs resignedly. Circling an arm around my waist, she drags me to the table with the knives. We sit.

'You really haven't seen it?' I shake my head. She chuckles. Her beloved flirty smile is back in place. 'Well — you'll see.'

I nod, not really thinking about what she said. I'm still living a moment ago, our bodies are still intertwined and our tongues still touching.

'How you feeling?' she asks me after a silence. We're still close together. I'm conscious of her protective arm around my waist and of how I'm leaning my head on her shoulder.

I look up into her eyes in what I know must be a very dreamy expression. 'Great,' I sigh. Then I blush.

Marlene giggles. 'It would actually be worth it if I tried to win you over,' she says offhandedly, 'just to see you react like this.' She shuts up, then adds. 'Was it not for him.'

It's new for me being liked. First Al, then Marlene. And what she's implying about Four… I feel anxiousness burning in my stomach. Not anxiousness, though — excitement. I'm excited about people liking me. How far from home I've come, I think. If this isn't self-indulgent, I don't know what is.

'What do you mean?' I'm not interested in Four right now. I'm not. For some reason what fueled my question was the way she said it, as if she wasn't even contemplating the idea of trying to 'win me over'. I want her to try, I discover.

Marlene seems to understand perfectly what I want to know. She says, 'You don't notice how you look when you look at him, do you? There's no chance for me… or for anyone.'

I stare at my hanging feet. I don't know how to answer to that.

'Hey.' She lifts my chin with her finger. She smirks in my direction. 'Don't be sad or anything.' She leans into me and pecks my lips. 'This is already great. Just this.'

This time, I lean into her, as best I can, to kiss her.