Hi everyone! The idea for this one came to me while reading ricca's "Watershed moments", her depiction of the Dauntless tradition of a Halloween-ish Winter Solstice as well as the other factions' holidays are absolutely magnificent. Make sure to give her wonderful story a read because who can resist a slowly blossoming Eris while they're still kids?!
Ricca, thanks so much for beta-reading and helping me improve this story! I am absolutely looking forward to your updates!
As usual I hope you all will enjoy and tell me what you think. Happy Halloween!
I do not own Divergent or any of its characters.
Tris' eyes flew open, with flailing arms and legs she was pulled from her bunk bed and before she could even make out her attacker in the darkness she was flung over a hard shoulder. She heard a squeak from Christina's bed and still trying to shake off sleep she felt strong hands hold onto her legs firmly. Still not able to process what was happening Tris tried to wiggle free but the grip on her thighs tightened even more.
From the corner of her eye she could see in the dim light that Christina as well as the other girls shared the same fate as herself, all of them were being carried out of the dormitory. Christina's protests were the loudest and she could feel a deep laugh rumble through her attacker's shoulders. Bracing herself up on the broad back Tris tried to look over her shoulder to see who was carrying her but was pushed back down with a roll of his shoulder.
Seemingly everyone knew what was going on except for the four girls as all other boys of her initiation class skipped after them excitedly. Peter's cackle was the loudest as he caught Tris' bewildered look. They were now going through the dark tunnels in the direction of the training room and the Dauntless born boys joined them, cheering and hollering like a wild bunch of animals. Tris let out a hiss as Uriah slapped her behind moving past her.
Some of them wore scary masks and Tris realized it was that time of the year where most factions' children went around to get sweets for tricks. She herself had never experienced it, Abnegation was too immersed in serving the Factionless food and handing out warm clothes for the upcoming winter.
Looking down at her kidnapper's clothes to identify him didn't help at all, pretty much everyone wore black boots and dark clothes here in Dauntless. She gripped the black shirt in her fists and struggled against his grip once more to no avail.
As soon as they had gathered in the training room Tris was roughly let down and swiftly turned to face the others. Muscular arms around her upper body held her in place and when she looked down at the inked forearms she discovered with shock that it was Eric holding her tightly against his chest. She wasn't able to move at all and struggling only caused him to hold her tighter.
All other girls were held in a similar fashion and Tris noticed in horror that all of the transfers as well as the Dauntless born boys had joined to watch whatever would happen now. Tris looked at Four who could barely hide the grin on his face while Christina tried to free herself from his grip.
"Congratulations to all of you for passing initiation yesterday! Tonight we will welcome you." He addressed the others, "What better way to truly welcome them than to celebrate this with an old Dauntless tradition of kidnapping the new female dependents, right guys?" Everyone around them hollered, cheered and laughed. Tris heard Lynn mumble, "Oh no, how could I have forgotten this stupid shit?"
Tris remembered vaguely reading about this Dauntless tradition of kidnapping their fellow members but the only thing she ever saw of their nightly activities were the graffitis throughout the city the next day. "For this tradition you are expected to free yourselves from your kidnappers by doing them a nice favour as ransom. Simple as that," Four announced and shrugged smugly. Tris had always wondered what the ransoming could be, still she was confused as to what was expected from them.
Her eyes flickered between Four and the others before her eyes settled on Christina who piped up in front of Four, "What if we don't comply?" Tris' eyes widened when she noticed the buckets next to the feet of each of them but Four ignored Christina's question, "Why don't you start, Uriah?"
The other man laughed, "Okay, we'll go nice and slow for the first one," he loosened his grip on Marlene and turned her to face him, "I'd like to have a kiss," he said loud enough for everyone to hear, earning howls for his brash demand. "Give good old Uriah a smooch right here," he pointed to his mouth.
"What if I refuse?" She leaned back and he grinned, "If you refuse, my dear, you'll get wet!" He bent down to pick up the bucket which was apparently filled to the brim with indescribable contents Tris couldn't quite make out but Marlene's face contorted in disgust and she quickly interjected, "No, wait!" The grin Uriah's face broadened even more.
"I'll do it!" she huffed angrily, putting her hands on her hips she sighed in exasperation. He raised his eyebrows in amusement and everyone looked on as the little girl stepped up to him to give him a quick peck to the corner of his mouth. Uriah licked his lips and grabbed her hand as she stepped back to pull her towards him again to kiss her fully on the lips.
Tris knew they had just been together for a few days and she didn't want everyone to already know about it. Chuckling heartily at her sour expression Uriah announced, "Welcome to Dauntless!" When he pulled her into a hug she smiled up at him shyly while Uriah turned to his brother.
Zeke grinned and turned Lynn around who rolled her eyes dismissively, "This is a stupid tradition.." He raised his eyebrows, "Is this your final response?" Zeke shrugged when Lynn didn't say anything else and took the bucket without another word and everyone laughed at Lynn's sputtering curses as she was completely soaked with ice cold water. Ice cubes and dead cockroaches went flying everywhere and the girl shuddered cursing some more. "Welcome to Dauntless anyway!" Zeke exclaimed and then jumped away as Lynn tried to hit him but failed.
Four glanced at Eric who made a gesture for the other man to go ahead. Christina turned to Four and even though she couldn't see her face Tris knew that the other girl was glaring at him. With an amused laugh Four crossed his arms over his chest, pointing down at the bucket he smirked, "So? You want this to get dumped over your head?" Four tipped the bucket slightly and Tris looked on in disgust as a sticky green liquid splattered onto the floor and she saw something move in it which appeared to be worms. Christina shook her head and he grinned, "Well then, impress me, little miss loud mouth!"
Christina looked over her shoulder at Tris whose eyes were wide in expectation. A smirk played across the other girl's lips and she turned back to Four. She placed a hand on his arm and slowly started rolling her hips. As if music was playing through all of the room she started dancing, placing her hand on her hip she swayed her hips from side to side.
Heat crawled up into her cheeks as Tris watched Christina turn around and roll her backside against Four's crotch. She knew exactly how to move in order to look sexy and Tris gasped as her friend grabbed Four's hands to move them up and down her sides. Looking at him over her shoulder he definitely wasn't the only one to start panting at the sight of her sensually parted lips.
As if on cue Tris felt Eric's chest rising with a deep breath, pressing her closer to him in the process, his arms were a welcome warmth around her own in the rather cold training room. She reached up to hold onto his forearms and he chuckled softly. Tris tried to bent enough to be able to see what was in the bucket next to her but before she could really make out what the red liquid in the bucket consisted of Eric pushed her back in place.
Suddenly she felt warmth spread throughout her whole body, she didn't know whether it was from watching her friend move her body so deliberately against Four or whether it was the shift in Eric's position as he brushed her hair away from her shoulder. His fingers grazed her neck ever so softly and she sighed, a thought was starting to build, an idea of how she would ransom herself to freedom.
"Welcome to Dauntless!" Blinking Tris started as Four's voice boomed through her foggy mind and she noticed that Christina was done with her dance with a huge smug grin on her face.
She felt Eric's breath on her bare neck and shivered when he husked right next to her ear, "Your turn, Stiff!" Tris turned slowly towards her kidnapper and looked at his face. She dimly heard Peter shout, "What's the Stiff going to do? Please don't make her strip!" But she ignored him and all others, determined on what she was going to do to get herself free, she wasn't going to get the contents of the bucket dumped over her head.
His arms were still around her and she felt tiny compared to him. Placing her hands on his chest she noticed for the first time how handsome Eric actually was. His grey eyes were soft for a change despite the huge grin on his face. His grin was so wide that she could see his perfectly white teeth biting down on the tip of his tongue in anticipation. His hair wasn't slicked back but a bit tousled, he looked relaxed, not as tensed up as usual when he was their cold and ruthless instructor.
Eric smirked down at her as Tris started leaning towards him. She reached up with one hand to cup his cheek and marvelled at the softness of his skin, only a slight stubble grazing her fingertips. His pierced eyebrow shot up at the innocent gesture and she thought she saw a tiny flicker of doubt on his face as to whether or not she was really going through with what she intended to do.
Her eyes fluttered shut on their own and she wondered briefly what in her right mind she was doing there. She had never kissed a boy in her life and if she screwed this up she would make a complete fool out of herself.
The room went completely silent as her lips brushed timidly against his. With her other hand still on his chest she could feel his heartbeat increasing rapidly. Tris felt a rush of warmth spread from her neck around and up to her cheeks at the contact of their lips. His lips were as soft as she had imagined and when he lifted his hand to cup her cheek Tris opened her eyes briefly to see him completely immersed in the moment with his eyes closed and his eyebrows furrowed. Closing her eyes she moved her lips against his instinctively and hearing him sigh softly she was confident that she was doing it right.
Tris started forgetting everything and everyone around them. Focussing on Eric's lips she ignored the nagging feeling that her first kiss should have been different, with someone she loved and foremost not in front of a group of almost total strangers.
She gasped when he withdrew for a short moment to grab the back of her neck only to lean back in to deepen the kiss. Taking advantage of her open mouth he plunged his lips over hers once more. He wound his other arm around her waist and drew her closer.
With a guttural growl he brushed his tongue across her lips demanding entrance and surprisingly Tris was more than willing to grant him access. She felt more than heard his approving hum against her mouth as their tongues started a sensual dance.
It was like nothing she had ever experienced in her life, their tongues meeting again and again between their lips made her feel dizzy and hot. She gripped the front of his shirt and leaned onto him to steady herself. Her other hand moved across his neck to brush into his short hair at the back of his head and she grinned when he shuddered against the soft touch.
Tris felt his hand move to rest on her hip and when he bit her bottom lip she couldn't help the moan that escaped her. Encouraged by the soft noise his fingertips pulled at the hem of her shirt brushing his hand underneath the thin fabric and she moaned again at the warmth of his hand on her bare skin.
"All riiigght, you two! Get a room, geez!" Uriah cried humorously and laughed. When Tris opened her eyes she saw a handsome smile on Eric's face before it broke out into his typical smirk and he grinned at the howling crowd. Tris turned around to see the girls staring at her in disbelief. Except for Christina who grinned proudly at her and Tris blushed at her own boldness.
She felt Eric's hand squeeze her hip and returned her attention back to him, only to notice that they were still holding onto each other like lovers. Smiling at him she wondered why everything felt so natural with him and thought with amusement that the chaste glances she had caught during initiation hadn't all been of professional nature after all.
"Welcome to Dauntless," he mumbled and Tris bit her bottom lip as she felt the urge to kiss him again overwhelming her. He seemed to read her mind as he leaned forward to capture her lips once more.
They were completely immersed in their own little world as they resumed their passionate kiss that Tris barely heard Lynn shout, "Well, at least we get to prank you back!"