*** DISCLAIMER ***
I own NOTHING regarding the divergent series e.g. the books/the movies
The only things I own are my own characters that I've created.
"Turn around." Nix said to Eric.
"Really?" he asked with a scoff and his arms folded across his chest.
"Yes." she replied.
"Just take it off stiff." he said after smirking and she narrowed her eyes at the last word, "I don't have all day."
"You don't need to be here." she countered.
"Take it off." he enunciated each word after a beat had passed and she glared at him before she finally sighed in annoyance and began to take her tank top off.
"How are you doing?" the girl working in the infirmary asked as she appeared by the bed, Nix was in the process of slowly removing the top as she asked and each movement hurt, "Didn't you offer to help her Eric?"
Eric's eyes moved from Nix to the girl at her question and when he looked back at Nix he was grinning at her reaction, her eyes had widened.
"Be real Susie. She's a stiff...she'd probably have a heart attack." he replied.
Susie laughed at that and Nix shot him a glare before she said in clipped voice, "I don't need his help."
"Careful stiff." he warned but she ignored him and looked at Susie before pulling the top fully over her head.
"Oh wow." Susie said as she came forward to look at Nix's side, Eric had moved in closer too and when Nix glanced his he looked furious, "That must have been some fight."
"Yeah." Nix replied as she fully looked at Eric, "It was."
"What are we looking at here Susie." he demanded and Susie cleared her throat at his tone.
"I'll need to do an X-ray but my guess is a possible break or fracture, that's why it hurts to breathe." she replied to them both but she was looking at Nix as she said the last part, "I'm guessing it doesn't hurt as much as it did now though right? That's one of the good things about erudite, their pain medication is fantastic."
"A break or a fracture." Eric repeated, ignoring the rest of what she'd said and then he blew out a breath.
A beeping noise came from the watch Susie wore on her wrist, she looked at it and gave the face a tap.
"I'll be back in a second, I just need to do something real quick." Susie said before she disappeared.
Nix was now left alone with Eric and a beat passed before she clasped her hands nervously in her lap, enough time had passed now that she had gotten used to dressing and undressing in-front of the other initiates but with Eric it was different, being in just her sports bra before him had her feeling slightly uncomfortable.
"Don't let me keep you." she eventually managed to say and his gaze was suddenly on her.
"You should have been defending yourself better." he said in a displeased way and she stared at him in disbelief.
"I WAS defending myself." she replied and he narrowed his eyes at her.
"Watch your tone stiff." he all but hissed.
"You watch yours." she snapped and his eyes widened in anger, "Stood there lecturing me about defending myself."
An uncomfortable silence suddenly filled the room and Nix swallowed, he was glaring at her as if he was getting ready to explode but when he spoke his voice was unnervingly calm, "Did you really expect praise? For that show? It was embarrassing."
"What's your problem?" she demanded after a beat, she then looked down at her hands in her lap briefly then back up at him, "After yesterday-"
"What?" he cut her off, "You thought that you'd just get away with what you did?"
"No." she shot back, "I knew there would be consequences but I thought...or it SEAMED that you'd maybe care enough about me to not set up a fight where the outcome was indefinitely going to be me getting pummelled."
She inhaled deeply after speaking then looked down so she could let it out, her chest had constricted with each word she'd said and despite the pain meds being helpful it still made her short of breath.
When she looked up at Eric once more his fists were clenched by his side and his glare seamed even harder, "You had to be taught a lesson."
"Did it please you to see me getting beat up?" She asked a beat later and he didn't answer, "If it did then why didn't you just do it yourself? You had the chance yesterday...no one would have known or cared."
"Yesterday." he began then stared at her for a moment before continuing in a low voice, "I had other things on my mind."
Immediately she felt her cheeks beginning to redden at his words and she looked at her hands again whilst she shook her head, "And today you didn't?"
He didn't respond to her and for the longest time she avoided his gaze before she eventually looked at him again, he looked angry again, extremely angry.
She sighed and said, "What exactly is it that I've done to annoy you? I hadn't even seen you today until you came into the training room with the dauntless born."
"The dauntless born." he said whilst nodding his head with a sardonic smile and she stared at him with a confused expression, "Did you like that? When I brought your little boyfriend in to see you?"
Her mouth opened and her brows furrowed at his words, boyfriend?
"What?" she asked after a beat.
"Sorry Nix, I meant to only be a couple of minutes but a doctor from erudite arrived." Susie said as she suddenly appeared.
"That's okay." Nix replied and smiled weakly at her.
"Is...everything okay?" Susie asked as she looked between Nix and Eric.
"Fine." Eric replied immediately without looking at her and she looked at Nix who nodded at her then looked at her hands again, "If anyone comes to visit her, get rid of them."
"Um...why?" Susie asked with furrowed brows and Eric turned to look at her, a glare on his face, she held her hands up, "Whoa! I'm just asking, you know, in-case I need to worry that someone might come in here and try to hurt her."
"That won't happen." he replied firmly and Susie was a little taken aback, he then looked from her to Nix briefly before looking back at her and continuing, "No visitors...understand?"
"Sure." Susie said after a beat and Eric swiftly disappeared from the room, she looked over at Nix with a raised brow, "He's not allowing your friends to visit you? You must have done something to piss him off."
"I only have one friend." Nix replied as Susie headed over to a large wheeled device, she moved it towards Nix's bed.
"Let's get you that X-ray." she said and held her hands out to to her.
o
"Ouch." Nix said as Andie squeezed her in a tight hug, the girl immediately pulled back and apologised, "It's okay, I'm just a little tender."
"Are you okay though? Can you breathe again?" Andie said as she held her by the shoulders.
"Yes, I'm fine." Nix replied.
Andie nodded, "Let's get you back to the dorm."
"The dorm? Why?" Nix asked.
"So you can rest." Andie replied.
"Uh, no...I can't do that, I need to get back to training." she said.
Andie stared at her wide eyed, "You can't be serious? You have broken ribs!"
"Slightly fractured." Nix corrected and looked at Kit, "You can tell Sam he's not as hard as he thinks he is."
Kit shook his head with a smile and looked at Andie who shot him a dirty look and his smile vanished, she then looked between them both and said, "This isn't funny...he could have killed you."
Nix made a face, "Come on Andie...that's a bit dramatic."
"Oh is it? If you did have broken ribs, they could have punctured something inside." she replied and indicated to Nix's torso, "Then you could have died."
"But that didn't happen and...I'm not dead." Nix said and grinned at them both, Kit grinned back but Andie's expression was sour.
"You're not going back to training Nix, you're going to go back to the dorm and rest." the former amity girl said.
"I'm hungry." Nix replied, ignoring what she'd said.
"Me too! Lunch?" Kit said.
"Yes." Nix nodded.
"Uh no, you head to the dorm and I'll bring you something to eat." Andie said and tried to lead Nix away but she moved out of her way.
"Andie, I asked Susie if I can go back to training and she said yes." Nix said and Andie looked at her sceptically, "She did."
"Firstly...who is Susie? And secondly, you're a terrible liar." she replied.
Kit chuckled then told Andie, "Susie works at the infirmary."
"I'm not lying Andie." Nix said and the girl looked at her with a raised brow, "I just...altered the truth a little."
Kit chuckled again and shook his head, Andie nodded and said, "Yeah...that's lying."
"Well I say I altered the truth but there's not really a truth...it's more of a statement, she advised me to rest." Nix began to explain and Andie gave her an 'I told you so' expression, "But...she did say I can go back to training if I take it easy and if I wear something to protect myself."
"And what would that be?" Andie asked.
Nix shrugged, "I don't know, she just said protective gear...I'm guessing Four will know what that is."
"Four will probably throw you out and tell you to get to the dorm and rest." Andie replied and folded her arms across her chest.
Nix let out a moan, "Come on Andie, you know I'm one of the worst initiates here."
"No you're not." Andie said with a shake of her head.
"I am, you know I am and everyone else now knows it too as they saw me lose...epically. I can't afford to fall any further behind now...that would please Eric too much." Nix replied.
Saying that last bit out loud and so bitterly wasn't intended but she couldn't help it due to what he said to her when he was in the infirmary with her.
Kit nodded his head and Andie elbowed him as she said, "Screw Eric. This is his doing."
"Not really...it's my own." Nix replied and made an 'oops' face at Kit.
"You walked out of training." Andie said loudly in exasperation and crossed her arms over her chest, "And THIS is how he got you back for it."
She gestured to Nix then let out an annoyed sigh before she spoke again.
"I think we can all agree that this, it was a pretty fucking evil thing for him to do." she snapped.
"Amity." a voice called out loudly and Andie gasped with fright as Nix jumped a little, Kit just turned around then looked at Andie.
"Oops." he said with a grin to Nix then tried not to laugh, Andie's face had gone red and she looked at Nix.
"Do you think he heard that?" she asked and Nix shrugged then exhaled, he definitely had heard it, no doubt about it.
He was striding towards them and when he reached them he looked Nix up and down briefly before saying to Andie, "What are you and Kim doing here?"
"Uh, actually Eric...it's Kit." Kit corrected with a smile.
"I don't care." he said firmly and Kit's smile vanished, he then looked at Andie and said, "Well?"
"Uh...well we were just about to take Nix back to the dormitory." she replied after a beat.
"I told Susie not to allow her visitors." Eric said and indicated to Nix with his head but didn't look at her.
"Yeah why did you do that?" she asked and tilted her head to the side so he could see her, Andie used her hands to straighten Nix up and then put her arm around her shoulder.
"We waited on her getting out." Andie replied then let out a brief nervous laugh, "And as you can see it's a good thing we did because...whatever medicine she was given seams to have thrown her off balance."
"What?" Nix found herself asking.
"You're lurking in the tunnels." Eric said.
"Yeah so we'd better get going, get this one to bed." Andie replied.
"I already told you I don't want to rest." Nix said with slight anger in her tone and almost stumbled, she then tried to shrug Andie off as the girl took a hold of her arm, "I'm hungry."
"Kit, little help." Andie said to the dauntless born initiate, ignoring Nix, Kit then took a hold of her other arm with one hand and placed his other one on the small of her back.
"You're wasting your lunch break." Eric said with a snarl and he then swiftly removed both Kit and Andie's hands from Nix and grabbed her upper arms from behind, she protested at the slight pain he caused her but he ignored her, "Get going, I'll escort the stiff back to the dormitory."
"Oh but Eric-" Andie began to say but he started to walk Nix forward.
"Move." he called over his shoulder, "Or I'll take points from you both."
Kit was the first to move and Andie tried to grab and stop him but he countered it by grabbing her instead and pulling her with him.
"Kit stop!" Andie snapped at him, "Eric hold on, I don't mind missing my lunch break, I can take her back."
"I won't tell you again." Eric said firmly to her, "Go."
He then continued pushing Nix forward and she had no choice to let him because her head was spinning quite a bit, she heard Andie protesting to Kit somewhere behind her but her voice gradually faded away the further they walked.
"I can get to the dormitory myself." she eventually said after they'd been walking for around a minute or two in silence, "I'm sure you have more important things to be doing."
"Shut up stiff." he replied but it wasn't in a nasty tone, it was said in an almost bored way.
"I don't want to go back to the dorm to rest, I want to eat food." she said feeling suddenly angry and stopped dead, he walked into the back of her then gave her a hard shove and she stumbled forward away from him, she scoffed then turned to face him and he was stood with both fists clenched at his sides, "What is your problem?"
A deep frown appeared on his face at her demand, "Initiates thinking they can get away with talking to their superiors in that tone for a start."
"And what else?" she said immediately and took a step towards him, "Hm? If that's for starters...what else?"
He stared at her for a long moment then started walking towards her, she braced herself for whatever he might do but he walked by her, "I don't have all day stiff, hurry up."
"I already told you I can get to the dorm myself." she called after him and he stopped walking, she watched him inhale then exhale slowly before he turned to look at her, they stared at each other for a beat before she crossed her arms over her chest and said, "You can go."
His eyebrows raised at her words and then she saw him begin to smile before he looked away then shook his head, when he faced her again the smile was gone and in it's place a glare, "Move."
She frowned at him then told him firmly, "No."
She could see his jaw clench from where she stood and when he spoke his voice was low and threatening, "You don't want to piss me off stiff."
"Oh I haven't already? Could have fooled me." she replied with a scoff and rolled her eyes at him.
"Did you just roll your eyes at me?" he asked in a chillingly calm voice a beat later.
"I'm going to the dining hall." she told him with a sigh then turned but before she could move he appeared in front of her, she swallowed as she stared at his chest and then she hesitantly looked up and took a step back from him.
He had a deep glare on his face as he stared down at her, "You'll do as your told and follow me."
"No I won't." she replied annoyed and then looked at her feet when her words seamed to make him even angrier, "I'm entitled to a lunch break...and I'm hungry so, if you'll excuse me."
She attempted to walk around him with her head down but he grabbed both her upper arms and halted her, she gasped and looked up just as he brought his face down close to hers, so close their noses were almost touching, "You're going to follow me."
They stared at each other for a long moment before she glared at him, "No I'm not, I don't want to."
She could see he was getting irritated by the way he straightened back up and she was grateful he was no longer in her face but he hadn't let her go yet, "You can either follow me or I'll carry you."
Her eyes widened at his words and she stared up at him open mouthed, he raised an eyebrow at her as if to say 'what's it gonna be?', she eventually managed to find her voice and said, "No you won't."
A smirk gradually appeared on his face after she spoke and she swallowed, she shouldn't have said those words...she knew that but, she couldn't help it, he'd annoyed her.
She let out a shriek as he suddenly let her arms go, bent down and swept her off her feet onto his shoulder which caused her to then gasp in pain.
Once he straightened up he tightened his hold on the back of her left thigh and when he began to walk she grabbed onto the bottom of his jacket and underneath his left arm.
"This is outrageous." she managed to say to him and she had to try really hard to not shout and scream, instead she let out an angry groan which amused him because he began to chuckle, it was low but she heard and felt it, it reverberated through his body, "Put me down."
"No." he replied instantly, "And by the way...we call it the 'mess hall' here, not the dining hall."
"I'll scream." she warned, ignoring what he'd said and he scoffed.
"I don't think you will stiff." he said and she narrowed her eyes at the ground, "I gave you a choice...and you challenged me."
He gave her body a shake after he finished speaking and she leaned up a little and tried to look at him but she couldn't, she groaned again in annoyance before she said, "Being upside down makes me dizzy and nauseous."
"When have you ever been over someone's shoulder?" he asked and she was sure she could hear what she thought was light teasing in his tone but still the question annoyed her.
"I meant in general Eric." she replied with emphasis on his name.
"You're not really upside down though." he said to her then before he spoke again he loosened his hold on her and she started to slide down his back, she cried out in fright and held her hands out to break the fall but it never came, she stopped abruptly as he gripped onto her tightly, he then continued speaking, "But now you are."
"Pull me up." she snapped angrily but he continued to walk with her dangling down his back as if she was some cloak he was wearing, "Before you drop me on my head! Eric!"
He began to laugh a little and then gave her a hard tug so she was yanked back up and onto his shoulder once more, it caused her injured ribs some minor pain but she never made a noise to show it, she didn't want to give him the satisfaction.
"Why did you do that?" she demanded as she tried to hit him with the hand she had been holding under his arm with but he grabbed her wrist before she could do anything.
"It was a joke, lighten up." he replied and she felt his hold of her wrist loosen a little but he never let go.
"You joke?" she asked sarcastically and he scoffed.
"I'll ignore that comment stiff." he told her and her eyes popped open when the hand that was on her thigh began to trail up and over her behind, then on further to the bare skin of her lower back, "Your top has ridden up."
She shoved herself up and quickly used her free hand to pull her top back down into place, she covered his hand as well in the process which amused him but she grabbed his wrist and shoved it away then grabbed onto the bottom of his jacket again for support.
He began to move his hand back once more but instead of continuing to place it back on her thigh, he ran it slowly over her behind a couple of times.
She was so shocked she was momentarily lost for words before she clenched her fists and said, "I will hurt you Eric."
He started to laugh and it echoed through the tunnel they were walking through, her eyebrows raised in surprise at how nice it sounded.
"Benson obviously didn't see you from this angle stiff, if he had he would have made a different comment." he replied then gave her behind a slap.
She let out an outraged gasp at his actions thinking, who did he think he was?!
It hadn't been that hard but it had stung...enough that she felt the urge to give it a rub.
She hit his back with her fist and he chuckled as he grabbed the back of her thigh again then picked up his walking pace.
She thought back to what Mark had said that first morning at breakfast before training, 'you'd be lucky if you could even call what you have an ass'.
What Eric just said was...a compliment? She wasn't used to being complimented but she was pretty sure that had been one.
She found herself blushing as what he'd said replayed in her mind, she then bit her lip before giving her head a light shake, regardless of it being a compliment it was also demeaning, especially due to the fact that he'd slapped her!
The more she thought about it, the more annoyed she became by it, throwing her over his shoulder had really vexed her.
"You know this is what the cavemen did right?" She asked him in a bitter tone.
"Cavemen?" he asked with a hint of amusement.
"Yes, cavemen, they were brute's and men were supposed to have evolved from that." she replied and gave him a hard jab in the back, "Obviously not."
"You know about cavemen?" he asked and she could hear in his voice that he was surprised.
"Yes." she replied immediately, his surprised tone had irritated her, erudite weren't the only faction that went to school, "I paid attention in history."
"Interesting." he said a beat later and she rolled her eyes and leaned up a little.
"Stop." she said quickly and when he ignored her she gave his back a hard pat, "Eric, stop."
She gripped onto his jacket tightly then grabbed his hand when he turned a corner and began to climb some stairs, it was very nerve-wracking bobbing back and forth the higher he climbed.
She let out a sigh of relief when they were on flat ground again and then she spoke, "Eric, we passed the dormitory."
"I'm aware of that stiff." he replied dryly.
"You said you were taking me to the dorm." she said.
"I told your friend I was taking you to the dorm." he told her as he walked and she turned her head to the side then gasped, she recognised this corridor.
He stopped walking a moment later outside a door then let go of her hand to reach into his pocket, he pulled out keys and she groaned and let herself flop back down so she was staring at his back once more.
He unlocked the door, opened it then walked inside, closing it behind them.
They were inside his apartment.
Again.