This is just a quick thing that came to mind when I was trying to sleep, and of course wouldn't leave me alone until I typed it out.
Just a oneshot right now, though I may add more another time, if I get a decent idea for a follow up.
Either way I hope you enjoy. If you recognize it, it's not mine. Please drop me a review at the end, they make me happy!
Tris made her way to the training room the night of her visit to Erudite. She had gotten back into Dauntless without getting caught, but the conversation with Jeanine incensed her. She had a sick feeling in her stomach from saying what she did, but she had known that it was the only way she would make it out of there.
As she got closer, Tris heard the sound of fists making heavy impact with a punching back, punctuated by loud, angry grunts. She frowned and slowed her pace, wondering who was in the training room in such a mood. When she got to the corner she was able to hear sobs in between the grunts and hits, and her heart twisted in sympathy as she listened. Cursing her divergence and her Erudite curiosity, Tris poked her head around the door frame, and her hand went to her mouth in shock.
Of all the unlikely people to find sobbing while they beat a punching bag to death, it was Eric she saw.
A cruel part of her felt surprise at the fact he actually had emotions, but she chastised herself for the thought immediately. As cold and analytical as Eric was, anything that put him in a state like this had to be truly awful. Again, she felt her heart constrict in her chest as she watched him, and her feet carried her silently closer to him.
Eric's shoulders were heaving, both with sobs and effort as he continued to pummel the bag mercilessly, pausing frequently in between bouts of relentless hits. A glance at the bag showed blood staining the cloth, though there had been none when she had left the room earlier that day after running some laps. Clearly, he'd been at it for hours.
Eric paused again, placing a hand on either side of the bag and resting his head against it wearily, sobs shaking his shoulders with violent force. With a strangled yell Eric pulled back and pummeled the bag again, fists flying with blinding speed. The last couple of blows were slow and staggered, and he choked on a sob as he sunk to his knees, hunching over in defeat.
Tris felt tears in her own eyes as she watched the ruthless, unshakably cruel leader break down completely, utterly alone in whatever grief tormented him.
And damn her Abnegation background, she couldn't just walk away. Maybe it would have been smarter, but she couldn't leave anyone alone to deal with pain that profound. Not even someone she loathed and feared as much as she did Eric.
It was without a thought that Tris closed the space between them and sunk to her knees as well, reaching up and wrapping her arms tightly around him. Eric started violently, so caught up in his own mind he hadn't noticed her approach. She could feel him starting to say something, but she only held him tighter, wrapping one arm around his ribs and using the other to draw his head down to her shoulder.
"Come here," she whispered tenderly into his ear, the same way her mom had years ago when she had fallen and hurt herself badly. Emotional pain was worlds different than physical, but she had learned that sometimes you just needed another person to hold you, regardless of the type of pain. She had also learned that sometimes your heart and mind took advantage of other people offering you comfort, whether or not your pride wanted you to let them.
She knew it was this that brought Eric's arms around her, crushing her waist with his grip as he let go completely. Her muscles screamed as he put his weight on her, depending on her almost entirely to hold him upright, but she didn't make a sound of protest. Tris let her fingers trail through his hair soothingly as he sobbed uncontrollably into her shoulder, hands gripping her ribs so hard she knew it would bruise later.
She felt his tears soaking through the thin fabric of her shirt and hot against the skin of her neck. His breaths came in sharp gasps, so infrequently it almost worried her.
After another ten minutes or so his gasping slowed to slow, shaky breaths and she felt him move to support his own weight again, making her bite back a sigh of relief. God, but he was heavy. She felt him begin to pull away, but she flexed her arms, holding him to her. There was something unsettling about seeing him break down that way, and her Abnegation instincts were screaming at her to not let him go just yet, that he still needed her. After a couple of seconds he relaxed slightly and quit fighting her embrace, and she rubbed absent patterns on his back as her fingers kept their steady pace through his hair. She had a feeling he hadn't registered who was holding him yet, having never gotten the chance to look at her when she had reached for him.
Tris moved her arm so she could see her watch, and realized that if he was going to make it back to his apartment without being seen with red eyes, now was the time.
"Come on," she said softly, letting her hand slide down his arm and grasp his, "If we leave now we should be able to get back to your apartment without being seen."
Eric pulled back sharply, recognizing her voice. His eyes, just as red as she had expected them to be, met her own in shock. She could also see the humiliation in his eyes, but she knew they didn't have time for whatever he was getting ready to say.
"In a minute, I know you don't want to be seen like this," she told him. He blinked a couple of times, seeming to come back to himself slightly.
"You're right," he said hoarsely, getting to his feet with a groan.
She got to her own and followed him to the door, waiting for him to protest. She wasn't disappointed.
"Tris," he started, turning to look at her, "you don't have to come with me, I'm fine."
The lie might have worked on her, if she hadn't been able to see the lingering tears shining in his eyes or hear the slight waver in his voice.
"Even if I couldn't tell you were lying I'd still follow you. Stiff, remember?" Tris stepped ahead of him and through the door, checking the hallway to make sure no one was coming. "Come on, before someone shows up."
Wisely he chose not to argue, his fear of being seen with red, I-just-cried eyes driving him to follow her advice and get to his apartment. He made his way quickly through the hallways, pausing for her to check around corners before he walked on. She inwardly rolled her eyes at him, she had never understood the vitality of the tough-guy persona so important to most men, particularly Dauntless men. They were supposed to be soldiers, not robots.
Eric led them to a part of the compound she hadn't seen before, though she recognized the layout as being similar to what it was over by Four's apartment. They rounded the last corner and Eric strode quickly to his door, fitting his key in the lock and disappearing through the door in seconds. Tris jogged to keep up with him, barely slipping through his door before he closed it.
Tris didn't bother surveying the apartment, her only focus was on Eric, who had flopped down on a two seated couch across the room, regarding her with a cold gaze. She wasn't stupid, she knew that his method of defense was going to be cruelty, to lash out at her in an attempt to intimidate her into leaving him alone and keeping silent about what she had seen of him. Unfortunately for him, however, she wasn't in the mood for his bullshit.
"Don't even start," she warned him sternly, walking over to his kitchen and retrieving a bowl and rag as she spoke. "Don't you dare get nasty with me to try to make me leave because you're insecure."
Her words and tone had taken him so off guard that he was silent as she filled the bowl with cool water, making her way back to where he was and kneeling in front of him. When she spoke again, her tone was softer.
"Anyone with eyes can see you're about the farthest thing from fine, Eric. If it makes me a stiff oh well, but I'm not going to just leave you on your own to deal with it. No, not even you. Everyone deserves someone," she said softly.
When he spoke, his words were the last ones she expected to hear from him. "Thank you."
She smiled slightly and took one of his hands into her own, squeezing out the rag and wiping the blood from his hands. He sat silently as she worked, trying to be as gentle as possible with his swollen knuckles. They would be stiff and sore tomorrow, she could tell.
"And no," she said after several long minutes of silence, "I'm not going to say anything to anyone. I don't get the big deal, but I won't violate your privacy that way."
A tear dropped down onto the back of her hand, which had stilled around his own after finishing its task. She looked up in surprise, finding him staring at her with wide, incredulous gray eyes.
"What is it?" She asked softly, setting the bowl aside and seating herself next to him and taking his hands again.
"I've been treating you and your friends like shit since day one. Why are you being so nice to me?"
Tris crooked a smile. "It's a stiff thing I guess," she remarked lightly.
Eric smiled too as more tears slid silently down his cheeks. "Well then maybe you stiffs aren't so bad." His smile was weak and quickly fell away entirely as more tears fell, and her heart squeezed.
"What is it? What happened?"
"My family is dead, back in Erudite," he whispered.
Horror thrilled through Tris at his words. "Oh god," she hushed, "What happened?"
He shot her a bitter, pained look before responding, and she got the impression he was wondering how much to tell her.
"I've been doing some work for Jeanine Matthews," he told her. She knew this already, but now wasn't the time to say so. "Lets just say I haven't been performing up to her standards, so she decided I needed a little push."
Bile rose in Tris's throat as she caught on to what he was saying, but it seemed he wasn't done.
"Unfortunately for her, she just pushed me away from any desire to keep helping her. I'll see that bitch dead if it's the last thing I do," he vowed. She shivered at the promise in his words, and she knew he meant them.
The words that came from her own mouth surprised her just as much as they did him. "I'll be right there with you."
"Good deal." He was going for bravado, but she could see that he was breaking again.
"What can I do?" She asked softly, hating seeing the pain in his eyes and feeling helpless.
He repeated her earlier words back to her, evidently giving up on any sort of bravery. "Come here?" he asked of her, holding his arms halfway out in her direction.
Tris complied immediately, moving to his lap and curling herself against his chest. HIs arms constricted around her, and she felt him duck his head to her shoulder again as more tears began to fall. Tris stroked his hair again while he cried, wishing there was a way to take his pain away from him.
Her brain lit upon an idea then, a preposterous one that could backfire on them both, but an idea nonetheless.
"Would it help if you were...distracted, for a while?" She asked him tentatively.
"Probably," he admitted, voice shaking. "But how the hell would you distract me?"
Tris pulled back and looked into his eyes, still leaking the occasional tear and so full of agony it was almost drowning her.
Slowly, completely unsure of what she was doing and yet ready to try anything Tris kissed him, lips sliding unsurely along his. She could feel his moment of shock in the way his body froze, but in the next moment he was kissing her back, latching on desperately to what she was offering him.
His hand wound through her hair and his mouth attacked hers feverishly, tongue pushing its way past her lips to tangle with her own. His kiss sent heat through her veins, making her clutch him tighter as they kissed, tilting her head back as he nipped and kissed his way down her throat, hands sliding against her figure of their own accord.
She was dimly aware of him carrying her, only fully realizing he had moved them when she felt the mattress beneath her.
"Are you sure?" he asked tentatively. "If you want to stop, now is the time."
"I'm sure," she told him, fighting to keep her voice steady. He nodded and leaned down to kiss her, hands sliding along the hem of her shirt before tugging it up and over her head in one smooth stroke. His hands moved behind her back, unclipping her bra and cupping her breasts gently in his large, warm hands. Tris arched into his touch and sighed into his mouth as his thumbs found her nipples.
Their clothes disappeared in a flurry of fabric and heated kisses and caresses, his touch igniting a flame in her she had never felt before. She jolted slightly in shock when she felt his erection against her thigh, hard and smooth and throbbing. Curiosity claimed her and she reached down between them, curling a hand around him experimentally. He shivered at her touch, moaning softly in her ear as she tugged gently.
Tris dimly heard the sound of a bottle opening and closing, and his hand replaced hers around his hard length, coating it in some sort of oily substance. She felt his tip press against her, and his eyes caught hers in silent question, giving her one more chance to back out. But no, as her mother would say, this was her gift to him. A distraction, a few moments of bliss and peace as his mind focused elsewhere before it returned to the overwhelming pain. She nodded at him, and he leaned down to kiss her passionately as he began to press inside her.
Tris felt a burning sensation take hold as he pushed slowly in, and her fingers curled around his biceps as she braced herself against the pain.
"Try to relax," he told her softly. "The more tense you are, the worse it is."
Though it seemed impossible at first, Tris forced her muscles to relax, and Eric continued to push inside her. Though it still hurt, she discovered he was right. When she forced her muscles to stay slack there was less resistance, and with one final push he was inside her completely.
Eric held still as she adjusted to his size and the feel of him inside her, waiting until he felt her breathing return to normal before beginning to move.
He started out slow, with small movements that more closely resembled a rocking motion than thrusts. The repeated press of his pubic bone against her clit made her legs spread instinctively, shifting him inside her and making her moan softly.
Eric leaned down to kiss her again, continuing the steady rocking and small thrusts until the pressure against her clit pushed her over the edge, making her cry out as she pulsed around him. Once she had climaxed Eric began to thrust more fully, coaxing her body into responding now that her internal muscles had relaxed some.
Soon she was moaning and pleading in his ear, head tilted back as she said his name over and over. Eric lost himself to sensation, thrusting blindly and focusing entirely on the feel of the woman in his arms. He shut out everything else, determined to do nothing but feel.
Tris shattered around him a second time, her clenching walls drawing his own orgasm from him as he moaned her name in a deep, rich tone that burned itself in Tris's mind. Eric's head fell to Tris's shoulder as they panted, and he rolled them over before he collapsed, pulling her to rest against his chest.
Eric barely noticed when he softened and slipped out of her body, focusing solely on the feel of her in his arms, resting against his chest as she recovered. Soon he heard her breathing shift into the slow, steady rhythm of sleep, and Eric tugged the covers over them both. Wrapping her securely in his embrace, Eric closed his eyes and gave in to exhaustion as well.