*** 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.

Eric shifted her from his shoulder to set her on her feet in front of him and he did it, to her surprise, very gently and carefully.

For a moment she stared up at him and he down at her before he headed towards the kitchen area of his apartment.

She then looked around where she stood briefly before over at him, he was bringing things out of his fridge and placing them on one of his counter tops.

"Why did you bring me here?" she eventually asked after a long silent moment had passed.

His response was to point at the dining table which was next to the kitchen before he told her, "Sit."

"I'm not a dog." she muttered with a frown and either he didn't hear or chose to ignore her, she let out a sigh then walked towards the table.

Once she was seated she looked over at him, he was now preparing sandwiches from the things he'd retrieved from the fridge.
After he'd put some vegetables on the bread he turned and moved towards a cupboard on the wall, he opened it and brought out two glasses.

She looked down at her hands in her lap once he'd filled the glasses with water and walked towards the table with them, he placed them beside her before heading back to the kitchen.

She didn't wait very long before she took a sip from one of them and she was grateful for it the second she swallowed, she hadn't realised how dry her throat had gone, she took another couple of gulps before she set the glass down and as she did he walked towards where she sat with two plates in hand.

He set one of the plates in front of her then placed the other down to the left of her, he then moved to the chair across the table from her.

It groaned loudly after he grabbed it and dragged it along behind him until he reached her, he then plopped down in it beside her.

"Eat." he told her once he'd scooted the chair into the table some, he then began to eat one of the two sandwiches on his plate.

For a moment she watched him eat before she picked up one of her own and held it, there was no denying that they looked really good but, she still hesitated to eat them.
He suddenly let out a groan as he chewed and she looked at him to find he was now glaring at her and before he swallowed he said, "You said you were hungry."

"Why are you feeding me?" she found herself replying and in a demanding tone, "I thought the whole point of my fight with Sam was to punish me for yesterday."

At the mention of 'yesterday' she looked down, a lot had happened yesterday and thinking about it made her blush, she swallowed and inhaled deeply before looking at him again, she found him watching her.

She waited another beat before deciding to finally take a bite out of her sandwich and she was a lot hungrier than she'd realised because the second the bite she'd taken was in her mouth she moaned and started to eat the rest of it quickly.

She realised when she was almost finished the first sandwich half that he had been watching her the entire time and not touched anymore of his own.

She swallowed the bit she was chewing then gave the corner of her mouth a wipe with her thumb before she spoke, "This is, good...thank you."

He stared at her for a beat before inhaling deeply then 'mhming' with a nod, she thought he would go back to eating but he didn't, he continued to stare.

"What's on it?" she asked him after clearing her throat.

"Tomato, lettuce, ham." he replied in a low voice before taking a bite of his sandwich, she almost sighed in relief that he was no longer watching her but instead nodded and went back to finishing off her own sandwich.
She made sure to look at her plate as she ate but she could feel his eyes on her again and a beat passed before she risked a glance at him and found that as he was chewing the bite he had in his mouth, he was indeed watching her again, she ended up swallowing because of it and in doing so swallowed the half chewed food that she had in her mouth, she grabbed her glass of water and drunk to wash it down.

After she'd taken a long drink she just sat for a beat then sighed and asked him the question he still hadn't answered, "Why did you bring me here?"

He looked away from her to his kitchen as he swallowed what was in his mouth, he then too took a drink from his glass before looking at her again, "I brought you here because you said you were hungry."

A beat passed before she opened her mouth to speak but he cut her off before she could say anything.

"AND, you need to rest. You can do that here." he said.

"Here?" she exclaimed immediately with wide eyes, wondering if she'd heard him correctly, she then hesitated before she spoke in a lower voice, "Rest, here?"

"You got a problem with that?" he asked.

"You don't?" she replied and he shook his head, "Really?"

"No." he said firmly and she could tell by the way he started to eat his next sandwich that she'd annoyed him.

She almost sighed in exasperation at that before she said, "You're telling me to rest...here?"

"Is there something wrong with your ears stiff?" he demanded in an irritated tone before adding, "Yes."

"Just this morning you made me fight Sam." she told him then with a slight scoff added quietly, "And now you're telling me to rest in your place."

"I'm aware stiff." he muttered without looking at her, she didn't think he intended for her to hear but she did.

"You made me fight him because you knew he would beat me. You WANTED him, to beat me." she said with a bitterness in her tone and he shot her a glare at the last part.

"I didn't want THAT to happen." he suddenly snapped and indicted to her torso.

"Yes you did." she replied after a beat and when he was about to speak again she cut him off, "You wanted him to hurt me because you thought I deserved it, for walking out on you yesterday. And I don't just mean from training."

His glare deepened and he turned in his chair before leaning towards her a little, "You think I put you up against Sam for that?"

"Yes." she replied then her brows furrowed as she looked at how close he'd move to her, "Why else?"

He let out a humourless laugh and shook his head before he looked her in the eye again, he then let his eyes trail down her torso slowly then back up and her mouth opened a little when he moved his arm to rest it along the back of her chair.

For a beat they stared at each other and then he moved his arm to around her neck and pulled her roughly towards him, she gasped in surprise then all the air left her lungs when his mouth was at her ear.

"Does this not ring a bell?" he asked with venom in his voice which caused her to move her head back a little and her brows were once again furrowed as she looked at him.

She noticed that his jaw was now clenched, hard enough that she was worried his teeth might crack and without rational thinking, she reached up and placed her fingertips on it, she ran them back and forth along it slowly and she could feel and see his face relax at her touch.

"No." she eventually answered his question.

He stared at her for a beat before he shook his head in response, let her go and leaned back, she pulled her hand back then looked down briefly, when she looked back up at him he was looking at her in a way that said he was extremely irritated.

"I don't understand." she said.

"You don't understand." he said in a mocking way, she stared at him and he stared back, after a brief moment he shook his head again and pointed to her plate, "Eat the damn food."

He went back to eating his own sandwiches, which he practically inhaled, he then stood up and headed towards the kitchen with his plate and glass, she watched him the whole time but he never looked back at her.

He walked out of the kitchen and headed past her towards an archway that led further into his apartment, she presumed it led to his bedroom.

Once he was out of sight she decided to do as instructed and finish off her sandwiches and once she had she stood up and headed towards the kitchen with her plate.

As if on autopilot she filled the kitchen sink with water and some washing up liquid then cleaned both their plates and his glass, she noticed that he also had some other dishes in the sink so she washed those too and once they were done she dried all of them and began to put them away, she had to open some cupboards and counter drawers to see where things went but it didn't take her long to figure it out.

She was putting away some mugs when Eric walked back into the room from where he'd disappeared to, he looked at her then to the table they'd been sat at before he walked towards it and picked her water glass up.

"Are you finished?" he asked as he walked towards her and she shook her head, he handed her the glass and she drunk the remainder of it then rinsed and dried it before putting it back in it's rightful cupboard.
She then turned around to face him but he turned and walked out of the kitchen towards the living room, she watched him as he went and then her mouth opened ever so slightly as he began to remove his jacket, when he turned to look at her she quickly closed her mouth and looked away.

"Are you going to stand there all day?" he asked as he plopped down on his sofa

"No, I'll...of course not. I'll head to the dorm." she replied and he looked over his shoulder at her.

"No." he told her firmly then beckoned her toward him with his hand, she frowned at him in response and he rolled his eyes before speaking in a not as harsh voice, "Come over here."

She hesitated at first then began to slowly walk over to where he was, "Thank you for the food but like I said...I should head-"

She didn't manage to finish speaking as he cut her off, "To the dorm to rest...yeah, I already told you that you can do that here."

He gestured to the sofa he was sitting on, to the space beside him and she stared at it briefly before looking at him.

"You're really serious?" she asked a beat later and he rolled his eyes again.

"Do I look like I'm kidding?" he asked.

"I don't know." she replied.

"Sit down stiff." he said after an impatient sigh.

She frowned again then found herself sitting down next to him, an awkward silence very quickly filled the air as they sat there, her looking anywhere but him and him staring at her.

He had his leg crossed over his knee at the ankle with one of his hands resting on his thigh and the other arm was along the back of the sofa.

A long moment passed by with neither of them saying anything and him still staring at her before she finally decided to speak, she turned her head to look at him and he raised his brows questioningly at her.

"Why am I here Eric?" she asked and he never replied, instead he inhaled then exhaled a deep sigh, "Why all this if what you wanted was for me to get my ass kicked?"

When she'd said 'ass' the corner of his mouth lifted a little and she had to refrain from rolling her eyes at him for it.

"First you took me to the infirmary, then you brought me here where you've fed me and now...you're going to let me rest too? Why?" she said and turned so her body was now facing him, he'd watched her move before looking at her face.

"You want to know why?" he asked a beat later.

"I thought last night that we were...well, at first, it seamed like we were maybe on good terms...but then you, stormed out." she replied and after she'd said 'stormed out' he scoffed, she ignored that and hesitated before continuing, "I didn't expect you to, react, the way you did."

His eye twitched at what she'd said and she swallowed, the way he continued to stare at her though implored her to elaborate, so she did.

"You made me fight Sam." she said and the name had came out in a defeated sigh.

"I thought you were no longer abnegation stiff?" he asked a beat later and she stared at him before she inhaled deeply, "You're a dauntless initiate now...challenging yourself is part of the training."

"You call THAT challenging myself? I was always going to lose against him." she said.

"With an attitude like that I'm not surprised you did." he said immediately and she just stared at him in a bewildered way, something which seamed to make him uncomfortable as he sat up a little straighter whilst clearing his throat.

"He fractured my ribs." she eventually replied in a firm voice whilst staring at him, he stared back at her briefly then folded his arms over his chest and looked away from her, "Did you expect anything less though? I mean, he is your top initiate and me, I'm below the line."

"You were taught how to defend yourself from day one stiff, from BEFORE day one, I taught you...remember that?" he said after a beat then looked at her, she did remember that, "If you'd taken my advice on board maybe what happened today wouldn't have."

"It happened because you put me against Sam." she replied bitterly then looked away herself, "Even Four told you it was a bad call."

At the mention of Four's name Eric made a noise that told her he wasn't at all pleased she'd commented on it, she didn't care though, she ignored it.

"I knew you would have to punish me for what I did, I along with everyone else was expecting it but...couldn't you have chosen something else? Something that wouldn't jeopardise my training? I'm going to drop even lower on the score board because of this injury." she said to him and looked away when she felt angry tears forming in her eyes, she inhaled and exhaled for a moment before looking back at him and she found him watching her.

"Every initiate risks getting injured during training." he stated.

"That's true." she agreed then looked at her hands in her lap, "But it's not just a lower ranking I need to worry about...it's being made factionless before I even finish training."

Eric was silent for a long moment and then he finally spoke in a quieter voice, "If you work hard that won't happen."

She looked at him then couldn't help the sarcastic reply escaping, "Because of you the odds are now against me, indefinitely, so thank you...thank you very much."

Eric scowled at her and said, "You've had weeks to learn to fight and not trying hard enough, that's your own doing...not mine."

"My own doing? I brought this on myself?" she demanded with narrowed eyes.

"Yes." he replied immediately and she scoffed at him.

"Then why didn't you just punish me yourself yesterday when I got back? Or before you left." she said with a shake of her head then added quietly, "Last night."

A beat passed before he asked in an incredulous tone, "You genuinely believe I put you against Sam because of yesterday...don't you?"

"Yes?" she asked feeling confused, was there some other reason why? "Why else? As far as I know, I've done nothing else."

Eric scoffed and when she raised her brows at him he rolled his eyes and said, "You think being called a stiff is bad? Just imagine what people would start calling you if they knew that you were hopping from me to that little turd Kat."

Hopping from him...to Kat?

What?

Now she was confused and Kat? Who was Kat?

She didn't know anyone called...wait, Kat, did he mean, Kit?

He said she was hopping from him to Kit, Kit which, he KNEW was the boy's name.

He was deliberately calling him Kat in a tone that told her he disliked him, a lot...why though, she didn't know.

A beat then passed and as it did her mouth gradually began to open along with her eyes widening as the sudden realisation of what the insinuation of his words meant played on her mind, an anger started to build within her too.
She couldn't help but feel surprised also and deep down, a little...was flattered the right word?
He seamed to be, if she was reading it correctly, jealous.

Jealous, about Kit.

The reason for that could only be...because of what the boy had done.

"You saw Kit kiss me this morning." she eventually said in a quiet voice and he didn't answer her, he looked away, "That's what this whole thing has been about."

"It's no business of mine who you get with stiff." he snapped, still not looking at her and she glared at the side of his head until he eventually turned it to look at her, "What?!"

"I didn't get with him! HE kissed me! And it was only on the cheek!" she replied irritated and he made a noise that said 'yeah, whatever' and looked away.

She sighed in annoyance then reflexively reached over and punched him as hard as she could on the upper arm, out of frustration that she was even having to explain herself for something she had no control over.

His head turned slowly to face her and the glare he was wearing should have made her cower but instead she crossed her arms over her chest and glared back, he glanced at where she'd hit him then back at her and she rolled her eyes.

"You know that didn't hurt, get over it." she snapped and a smile formed on his lips, not a nice one, "And another thing...it was you that kissed me yesterday so don't you dare imply that I've hopped from you to him!"

"You kissed me back." he retorted instantly, "And I'll say whatever I damn well please."

"I only kissed you back because it was in the heat of the moment." she found herself replying and when he let out a humourless laugh she wished she'd just kept her mouth shut.

"Don't lie stiff." he said.

"I'm not lying! It's the truth, I was still fired up about what Tom said and did to me." she shot back.

"Yeah? What's your excuse for the first time then?" he asked and she opened her mouth to reply but couldn't get any words out, he smirked at that and it annoyed her

"We're not talking about that one!" she snapped after a beat and he made an amused sound.

There was then a brief silence and he began to smile at her, not a smirk or a grin, a real smile and she was temporarily distracted by it before she cleared her throat.

"What I'm trying to say is, I was just grateful that you'd helped me." She said then shook her head and continued, "And when you helped me you made me think that...that you did it because you cared."

She inhaled deeply and closed her eyes briefly before opening them to find him no longer smiling but watching her silently, waiting for her to continue.

"Obviously I was mistaken about that...otherwise, why would you have let Sam beat the hell out of me this morning?" she said and he let out a frustrated sigh.

"I set you up with Sam because I was pissed." he began to reply but she cut him off.

"About Kit, yeah, but like I already said, he's the one who kissed me...HIM, but it was ME that got the punishment." she said angrily before inhaling deeply in exasperation.

He suddenly moved across the sofa so he was now right beside her and he turned where he sat to face her, she swallowed when she saw his arm move from where it rested along the back of the sofa behind her head to behind her back.

"He had his hands all over you after it." he said in a low and angry voice with a deep glare on his face, "And you let him."

"He didn't have his hands all over me." she said immediately then looked away but his other hand grabbed her face and pulled it back so she was made to look at him once more.

"I SAW him." he shot back in a firm voice and she swallowed because he'd moved his head closer to hers.

"He only had his arm around me." she told him after a beat had passed, "I wouldn't have let him-"

"You did let him, I saw his hand move down your back." he cut her off to say and she gasped when his hand left her face and reached around to place on her back where he then slowly ran it down.

"Like this." he added in a low voice.

"It wasn't like that." she replied quietly and instinctively grabbed the hem of his t-shirt when her stomach fluttered and in doing so, pulled herself an inch closer to him where she was basically caged in by both his arms, he slowly looked down at where her hand now was then back up at her face, "What do you care anyway?"

The question was so quiet she barely heard it herself and thought it had just been a thought inside her head but he heard it, his nostrils flared and his eyes widened some which made him look a little crazy.

"I didn't like it, Phoenix." he said, emphasising each word.

She gasped after he'd spoken and a shiver had run over her body at the way he'd said her name, she then stared at him and he at her, for a long moment neither of them said a word to one another, what they did both do at the same time was move their heads closer together.

When their lips were about to touch a loud ringing interrupted them, Nix jumped a little then scoffed and a low irritated groan came from him.

He removed his hand from her back to reach behind him and brought out a thin small device, he looked at it then at her and brought a finger to his lips, she nodded and he pressed his thumb against it.

"You're interrupting me Mueller, this better be good." he said in a tone that told whoever he was speaking to he wasn't happy, judging by the expression he wore though, they would probably already know.

"Sorry Sir." the person replied to him and there was loud commotion in the background, it sounded like a lot of people arguing, "We've got factionless riots going on."

"Again?" Eric snapped angrily.

"Yes Sir, we've had it under control for the last hour but more of them have turned up since then, we've already had to call in a back up patrol but even that's no good." the man replied.

"I'll grab some guys and head down." Eric told the man.

"Appreciate it Sir." the man replied.

Eric pressed the device again and sighed in annoyance as he put it back where he'd gotten it from, he then looked at Nix and said, "Got to go."

She nodded and made a move to stand up from the couch, he did too and they stood awkwardly infront of each other, "Thanks, for my lunch."

He nodded at her then looked her up and down briefly, "Are you alright?"

He indicated to her injuries when she raised a brow and she quickly nodded, "Yes."

"I hope to not be too long at this thing, an hour or two if it goes smoothly." he said and she stared at him for a beat feeling a little surprised that he'd share that with her before she nodded, he then gestured to the sofa, "Bed's comfier than this thing."

She nodded as he began walking away, grabbing his jacket from the back of the sofa as he did and then her eyes widened as she replied, "Hold on, what?"

He'd almost reached the door before he turned to look at her, "The bed...it's comfier, than the sofa."
She had to try hard not to roll her eyes at the way he emphasised his explanation, as if she was a moron, she then inhaled deeply before she asked, "You mean for me...to stay, HERE?"

He rolled his eyes at the question then began to pull his jacket on as he said, "Haven't we established this already? You need rest."

"And I will...back in the dormitory, where I have my OWN bed." she replied and he rolled his eyes again.

"Trust me, mine is a lot comfier. And my apartment's not full of other initiates." he said before he opened the door, "I'll be back soon."

She opened her mouth to speak but the door slammed behind him and she was left alone, she stared at the door for a moment then looked around the apartment briefly.

She started to scoff at the idea of staying here, she couldn't do that, she couldn't stay here whilst he was gone.
She shouldn't even be here when HE was...she shouldn't be here at all!

She shook her head then headed for the door and when she opened it she began to gasp loudly in fright but his hand covering her mouth prevented it.

"My bedroom." he said as he walked her backwards with his hand still over her mouth and the other gripping her shoulder gently, "Is that way."

He gestured to where his bedroom was with his head and she turned her own to look at the area he'd gone earlier, his hand then fell away from her mouth.

"I can't-" she began to say but cut herself off as she looked back at him, he raised a brow questioningly and a beat passed before she said, "You scared me."

He shrugged in response then turned and started to walk towards the door again.

"Get some rest." he told her firmly as he opened the door, "You better be here when I get back."

And once again, she was left in his apartment on her own, she waited at least five minutes this time before she headed cautiously towards the door.

She wasn't sure if the whole, telling her to rest in his place and giving her food was him trying to make up for having her fight Sam or not but she just couldn't stay, she wasn't supposed to be here, she was supposed to be in her dormitory and if Andie came looking for her, which, she probably would then it would look suspicious if she wasn't there.

The poor girl's mind would probably be working overtime right now thinking that Eric had murdered her.

She opened the door after waiting a moment longer and luckily, he wasn't there, she poked her head out the doorway and looked both ways, there was no one in sight so she stepped out and closed the door behind her.

The apartment was left unlocked but she couldn't do anything about that in that moment, she headed back the way he'd come with her and was at her dormitory in less than five minutes.

She couldn't believe how close it was to where the dauntless apartments were, when she'd ran off the day before she must have taken a long way that led to it.

She entered the dormitory and was relieved to find that no one was there, she headed to her bed and removed her boots.

As she lay down she thought about what he'd said, 'you better be here when I get back' and she swallowed.
He'd basically ordered her to stay and here she was, back in her dormitory, he'd be annoyed that she ignored his order but it was done now and for a while, she'd rest.
Then she'd head back to training.