*** 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.
"Hello?" Nix called out when she stepped into the infirmary.
"Hi." someone called back before they came into view, it was Susie, "Nix!"
"Morning Susie." she replied with a smile as the woman walked towards her.
"You're still here!" Susie said with a grin, "I'm glad, I was rooting for you. Congratulations."
"Thank you." Nix replied.
"What can I do for you?" Susie asked.
"I'm a bit worried about my friend." Nix replied and Susie said 'oh?', "She's not stopped vomiting, she was up three times during the night and again this morning."
"Does she have a fever?" Susie asked.
"No." Nix replied.
"What about diarrhea?" Susie asked.
"Not that either." Nix said.
"Any stomach pains, headache, chills?" Susie asked.
Nix began to shake her head then stopped, "Actually, she did mention a headache."
"Okay, what about dizziness?" Susie asked.
"Yes. Last night, she passed out." Nix replied.
"She fainted?" Susie asked.
"Yes." Nix said with a nod.
"It could be a stomach flu...maybe even just a bug of some sort, a twenty four hour thing." Susie said after a beat, "Can you get her to come and see me?"
"I'll make her." Nix replied and Susie nodded.
"Morning." a voice said and both Nix and Susie turned their heads to see Eric step into the infirmary.
"Eric." Susie said in greeting.
Nix suddenly felt awkward, when she'd interacted with him the night before she'd had alcohol in her system, she'd felt confident.
She remembered everything they said to one another, but would he?
She wasn't sure if he'd been drinking alcohol whilst he was at the club, she'd never asked.
One time when she was on her way to school, an intoxicated factionless man had wanted her to give him whiskey which she never had, she'd offered him the apple from her bag instead and he'd shouted at her to get away and never come that way again, she'd seen the same man the following morning, he'd approached her saying he recognised her and she'd apologised for not listening to him and coming through that way but it was the way she went to get to school, he'd told her that she could come that way if she wanted to then asked her for whiskey, she'd hesitantly told him she didn't have any and had been about to offer him her apple but decided against it, the man had told her not to worry about it and he hoped she'd have a good day at school, she'd walked away from him feeling confused and disappointed in herself, she should have given him her apple without even thinking about it, she could have still turned back to give him it but she didn't.
The man hadn't been intoxicated the second time she saw him, she didn't know it then but sometimes people forgot things they'd done or said after drinking a lot of alcohol...what if that's what happened to Eric? He hadn't seamed liked he'd drunk a lot though.
Nix put her thoughts aside and acknowledged him with a shy dip of her head before she looked at Susie and cleared her throat, "I'll go and get her."
"I'll be here." Susie said with a smile.
"What's going on?" Eric asked as he blocked the doorway Nix was heading for.
"Nix's friend isn't well." Susie replied.
"Who? Amity?" he asked then looked at Nix, "You're here because Amity is ill?"
"Yes." Nix replied and for a moment he stared at her before he looked at Susie.
"Did she ask you to give her anything for her side?" he asked.
"No." Susie replied after a beat.
"Why?" he demanded from Nix.
"I don't need anything." she said, it was a lie, her side was hurting a lot this morning, the events from the day before must be finally mounting her and taking their toll, however, Andie was the priority in that moment.
"Yeah you do." Eric said as he rolled his eyes, he then told Susie, "Give her something."
"I can wait till Susie has seen to Andie." Nix replied as she heard Susie moving around behind her.
"She won't be seeing to Andie." he told her then indicated to Susie, "Go."
"Andie is sick." Nix said as she glared at him.
"She's not sick." he replied with a scoff.
"Yes she is." Nix countered.
"I'm ready for you Nix." Susie said from behind her, "Let me get you sorted and then you can go and get your friend, okay?"
Eric turned her around and roughly guided her towards Susie, he forced her to sit down on one of the beds and stepped back before she had time to protest, "Her friend won't be coming here because she's fine."
"She's not." Nix said with a scowl then looked at Susie where she repeated, "She's not."
"She's hungover." Eric shot back in exasperation as Susie lifted the sleeve of Nix's tshirt and they both looked at him.
"She's what?" Nix asked after a beat and Susie let out an amused snort which she disguised with a cough, Nix looked from her to Eric who was stood with his arms crossed, "Hungover?"
"Hungover." he said with a nod and she stared at him blankly as Susie quickly wiped her arm with something slightly wet before she told her she was about to give her the shot.
Nix looked at her to find her grinning before she nodded.
"What's hungover?" she asked when she looked back at Eric and winced slightly as Susie injected her.
"It's what happens when someone, like your friend, drinks too much." he explained before he asked, "You don't know what a hangover is?"
"No." she replied and Susie laughed.
"I'm sorry." she said as she removed the needle from Nix's arm and pulled her sleeve back down, "That's you done Nix, tell your friend to drink water and sleep it off."
"That's it?" she asked.
"That's it." Susie said with a smile.
"But." she began to say and Eric cut her off.
"That's it stiff." he said and she turned to glare at him, "Now go, get breakfast. Take some to the dorm and eat it infront of Amity."
Susie giggled at what he said and he smirked at her, Nix looked between them both before she got up and walked off, she tossed a 'thanks' to Susie without looking at her as she did.
She walked fast when she was outside the infirmary, annoyed, she didn't like the feeling that they were laughing at her, together.
Her elbow was suddenly grabbed from behind and she was pulled to a stop, she turned to find Eric stood there with a grin on his face.
A beat passed before she yanked her arm from his hold and crossed both over her chest, he chuckled at that and said, "Something wrong stiff?"
She scoffed and turned to leave but he stopped her by taking hold of both of her upper arms, when she said 'ow!' due to the tenderness from her shot he let her go and held his palms up briefly in an apologetic way before he dropped his arms to his sides with a sigh, she then glared at him as she folded hers across her chest once more then turned her head.
"I told you last night." he said and she looked at him, "You're a stiff until you pass both stages."
"That's not-" she started to say but cut herself off.
"Not what? Why you're pissed?" he asked and she didn't reply, "It's because Susie laughed at you, isn't it?"
"You were both amused." she replied with emphasis on 'both'.
"I didn't laugh." he stated and that was, technically true, but he still found it funny.
"I know okay." she said a beat later, "I know that when people drink too much alcohol they sometimes vomit, my mother told me."
"Okay." he said slowly.
"I thought it only happened the once." she said and he started to smile, "I didn't know it would happen all the time and that you need to stay in bed because of it."
"Stiff." he began to say and she narrowed her eyes at him, he then said 'Nix' before pausing briefly, "We're not used to naivety here."
"I'm not naive." Nix said after scoffing, "Well, at least, I'm not anymore."
"You are still a bit." he said with a smile, "But it's not a bad thing."
"Really." she said sarcastically
A long moment passed before he moved to walk past her, telling her to follow him as he did, she watched as he turned into a concealed part of the tunnel and then she headed there herself.
He stepped toward her when she appeared infront of him and she found herself against the wall unable to go anywhere.
"I didn't mean to." he began to say then paused, he looked up briefly, as if he was searching for the right words, "Piss you off...hurt your feelings, whatever."
She stared for a beat then shook her head, "You didn't, not really."
They stared at one another for a long moment until he began to grin at her, "Morning stiff."
She let out a sigh at the 'stiff' but found herself smiling anyway as she replied, "Morning Eric."
He then began to lean his head slowly towards her, stopping when their noses were almost touching to look her in the eye, a silent question, she nodded her head slowly and then his lips were on hers.
He gave her a long kiss before he removed his mouth from hers, he then pressed his forehead gently against hers as he exhaled a noise of content, "I didn't tell you last night did I?"
"Tell me what?" she asked.
"How good you looked." he said and her cheeks immediately began to heat up, he noticed and began to smirk as she pulled her head back, "Sexy."
"Okay." Nix cleared her throat and looked down.
When she heard him chuckle she looked up and he gave her a wide smile before he said, "I've always thought you were but last night...you took my breath away."
"Stop." she breathed out, unable to control her blushing.
He chuckled again then pulled her against him, wrapping her arms around his body tightly as he did was an instinctive action and it shocked her, she was about to apologise for it but didn't, she let out a sigh instead and rested her head against his chest, a beat then passed before she felt him rest his chin ontop of her head.
"Thank you." she eventually said in a quiet voice and she felt him move his head to place a kiss where his chin had just been before he pulled back slightly.
She looked up at him and he smiled at her as he reached a hand up to her face and stroked her cheek gently, "Is the shot working yet?"
She nodded with a smile, "Yes. The pain is going away as we speak."
"Good." he said then slowly pulled back from her so they weren't attached, "You should go and get food, you'll feel even better."
She nodded and said, "I am hungry."
"I better go too, I've got work I need to do. I just wanted to check in...see how you're feeling after last night." he said.
Nix stared at him for a beat then asked, "How I'm feeling?"
"After what I said." he explained and paused, "I also said we'd talk properly...I meant that. I know you'd prefer it if we did."
"Yes, I would." Nix replied then swallowed, "And I...I'm not going to run away, again, t-that's, you know...h-how I'm feeling. About it. About YOU, I mean."
Eric had smirked at her stuttering then nodded after she quickly added 'but I still want to talk about it', "Good, I'm glad. And we will. I promise."
Nix nodded before she smiled shyly, "Well then...I won't keep you from your work."
He smiled before he leaned forward and gave her a kiss, holding his lips to hers for a moment then pulling back, "I'll see you later."
She exhaled when he'd walked away, she waited a beat then looked in the direction he'd gone, he was marching away and almost out of sight already, she inhaled deeply then headed in the direction of the mess hall.
O
"You really should try and eat something." Nix told Andie who replied with a groan as she held her head with both hands at dinner that evening.
Nix glanced her way then gathered some vegetables on to her fork with her knife, she was about to put the food in her mouth when her eyes met Eric's, he was stood with three other dauntless members near a table across the room with his arms folded across his chest.
Although standing in an apparent discussion with the men he wasn't focused on them, he was watching her and gave her a barely noticeable nod followed by a smirk.
She put the vegetables in her mouth in order to suppress returning a grin, this was the first she'd seen him since that morning, he'd told her he'd 'see her later' but she wasn't sure if he meant literally or not, maybe he meant this way...across the mess hall.
"Have a nibble at something dry." she said to Andie with her eyes still on Eric before she turned to look at the girl.
"Have some milk." Sarah said.
"I can't." Andie said with another groan.
"Wow hippie." a voice suddenly said from behind the girls, "You look terrible."
It was Mark and he bumped Nix along a little as he wedged himself between them, Andie rolled her eyes without looking at him and said, "Thank you Captain obvious."
"Hey Nix." another voice said and all of a sudden Kit was sitting down on her other side, she looked at him and was met by a bright smile.
"Hi." she said and smiled back.
"You looked amazing last night." he told her in a low voice then reached for a tray, when he looked back at her he flashed her a grin.
"Uh." she began to reply as a blush warmed her cheeks, she then swallowed as she glanced in Eric's direction to find he was watching her and Kit with a deep glare on his face, "Thank you...I didn't know that you were at the club."
"I wasn't really, I was only there to get some beer and then I left...a bunch of us were meeting at one of the apartments for a party." he replied.
"Did you have fun?" she asked.
Kit began to reply to the question and on her other side she could hear Mark blabbering away to Andie about something but she wasn't paying attention to either of them now, she was watching Eric, he'd abandoned the dauntless members he was talking with and was heading towards their table.
Nix looked at Kit and he was smiling as he began to eat some of the food he'd piled on his plate, he immediately noted her distress and his smile vanished, "Is something wrong?"
Before she could answer Eric's voice interrupted the chatter at the table, "Evening all, looks like some of you had a heavy night."
Andie, who he'd directed his statement at, let out a groan to confirm what he'd said.
Mark laughed and picked up a chicken leg, he moved it around his face then leaned towards her with it, she gagged and covered her nose.
"Get that away from me." she growled which made him laugh more but he did as she said and leaned back before he began to tear pieces of it off the bone with his teeth.
"I would recommend and EXPECT that you all be at training as usual in the morning." Eric said loudly, "Just because you've passed the first stage doesn't mean you should slack off."
He didn't wait for a response, he walked off, not before giving Nix a pointed look before he did, she swallowed as she watched him go.
"Training? Yeah right." Mark said with a mouthful of food, "I am having my week off."