AN: Finding lots of one shots that I wrote and never published, along with a ton of outlined and in progress stuff. Thought this one was worth putting out as the one shot it was intended to be. Hope you enjoy a little Eris fluff :)
Tris made her way through the winding hallways, doing her best to follow the makeshift map she'd had Christina help her to draw. She had a destination in mind and a purpose for her visit, but finding the elusive prize was proving to be more difficult than she'd imagined.
When she finally found the wing of the building she was looking for, the butterflies took flight in her belly, but she forged ahead. Christina was right, the leaders did have their own living quarters tucked high in the main building of Dauntless, and they did have their names etched on fancy nameplates for ease of location.
She went to the door, black like every other apartment door in their faction, with the name she's seeking etched on the front in gold.
Eric Coulter
She pressed the doorbell with a shaky finger, hearing the chimes echoing in the empty hallway. Heavy footsteps approached, he must still have his boots on, she thinks.
The door opens, and his large frame appears. The usual stone faced sneer, the perfectly gelled hair and the icy grey eyes.
"What the fuck are you doing here, Stiff?" He growls.
"To see you." She replies in a nervous voice.
"You see me. Now what?" He asks. His eyes crawl over her and he appreciates what he sees.
She's dressed for a night out, and she's showing more skin than he can remember ever seeing from her. The young assistant never looks quite this good, even though he's appreciated the modest way she's dressed since beginning to work as Max's assistant over a year ago. While she's an active and even respected member of Dauntless, she's never quite shed the Abnegation modesty she was raised with for the first eighteen years of her life. She's usually dressed professionally, but not tonight.
She's wearing this dark red number, completely strapless, tight to her body like a second skin and showing curves he had no idea she had. Her creamy skin is exposed everywhere - her shoulders, those long legs that look even longer in the strappy stiletto heels she's wearing, and the tattoos on her collarbone call out to him.
"Can I come in?" She finally asks.
He steps aside so she can pass through, and he watches her round ass move as she walks with confidence into his apartment. She stops walking when she gets to his living area and he almost runs into her, huffing in frustration as she stands in his way.
"So are you going to just stand there or are you going to actually sit down?" He asks.
"That depends on your answer to my next question." She hedges.
"Spit it out, I don't have all night." He sighs. It's not entirely true, he's not exactly busy but he wants to know what the hell she's doing in his apartment at close to two in the morning. He saw her down drinking and dancing at the bar, he was there having beer with his own friends. He came home to sleep, not to entertain his coworker.
"I need your help with something." She says carefully.
"For fucks sake Stiff, if this is something for work Max can help you his damn self. If you came here for work shit I will toss you into the chasm myself."
"Trust me, this is not something Max can help me with." She says, and for the first time since she crossed the threshold of his apartment he can see her nerves.
"What is it then?" He asks.
"You've seen my fear landscape, right?" She asks and he nods at her, "I want help beating the fear."
He could have bet the rest of the points he would get for the rest of his life that the one and only female Stiff who made it through Dauntless initiation, and who had spent over a year working for the toughest of the leaders in the city wouldn't be standing in his apartment asking for help with a fear of intimacy.
It can't be that one.
There's no way.
"Yes, that one." She says and it's then he realizes he voiced the last part of his inner thoughts out loud.
"What about Number Boy? The two of you are practically attached at the hip." He finally says.
"No. We broke up." She shakes her head.
"You two dated for months and never fucked?" He asks.
"We weren't meant to date, there was absolutely no chemistry there." She replies evenly.
"Interesting." He murmurs and he just circles her, taking in the blush on her cheeks, the curve of her hips, and the way her legs are slightly shaking in the heels she's wearing, "You're not ready."
"What, no, yes I am." She protests.
He closes the distance between them and runs his nose down the column of her neck, breathing her in. She always smells the same, something slightly floral, a touch of spice, and then something that's uniquely her.
The goosebumps he leaves in his wake make her shiver involuntarily, and he chuckles darkly.
He presses his lips to her skin, swiping at it briefly with his tongue before dragging his teeth across her. She lets out a breathy moan and can feel him smile against her.
"You're shaking." He whispers.
"I'm nervous."
"I know." He pulls away and walks over to the couch, beckoning her to sit with him.
She walks over to the couch and sits near him, turned slightly so she can face him. Her long legs are crossed towards him, and he unconsciously runs his fingers up and down her smooth skin.
"I'm not going to fuck you, Tris. Not tonight. You're not ready, and I'm not here to help you check a box on your checklist." He says in his gravelly voice.
"Is it... am I... is it because I'm not like the others?" She stammers.
"What others?" He asks.
"The women I've seen you with. They're Dauntless and I'm just the Stiff who's trying too hard, right?"
He moves closer to her on the couch and grabs her chin almost roughly, forcing her to look at him.
"You're absolutely nothing like them, and that's exactly why I'm not going to fuck you, Tris." He rumbles.
Her face falls, but she steels herself and moves to stand up, "I see. Sorry for bothering you. Can we please forget this happened and not mention it at work, I'd rather Max not know about this."
"No." He replies firmly and he pulls her back down to the couch, "I won't forget this happened. I'm not going to just fuck you and leave you, because that's what I do with the vapid women who seem to follow me home and beg for it. You're nothing like them. You're smart, you're brave, you're kind, you're caring and you're fucking beautiful. You're not going to come to my apartment and be some cheap fuck. You will spend time with me, we will get to know each other and if this progresses into something physical, so be it. If it doesn't, we move on."
"Wait, what? That sounds like dating... you can't actually want that."
"I'm not going to just fuck you, Tris. You just told me you broke up with your one, and I assume only boyfriend because there was zero chemistry there. That's obviously something important to you in order to feel comfortable being intimate with someone."
"Why do you want to do this? You don't date, you fuck them and leave them and that's why I came here." She argues.
"I'm not fucking you, so if that's your only request you can leave." He replies.
"You're kicking out a woman who is willing to have no strings attached sex with you because I don't want to date you first? What kind of fuckery did I walk into tonight?" Tris asks, shaking her head.
"Decide what you want, my bedroom is this way if you'd like to actually go to sleep. I'm fucking tired. Your other door is right over there," He nods towards the apartment door, "lock up on the way out if that's the one you choose."
"If I choose to walk out, what happens?" She asks.
"Life goes on. This never happened." He replies.
"And if I don't leave?" She counters.
"Life gets better, for both of us," He replies cockily before getting up from the couch and walking down the hall towards his bedroom, shutting the door behind him.
"What the hell...?" She murmurs.
She can't believe what just happened. She came here because of his reputation, because he had flings only, and from what she's heard he's damn good. She came here for one reason, to finally lose her virginity because she was going on twenty years old and she was the only person she knew in this entire faction, other than Four, who was a virgin.
She huffs, looking back at his room, but moving towards the apartment door. Her hand is on the knob, and she turns to look down the hallway once more. She locks the apartment door and heads towards his bedroom, quietly opening the door and stepping into the dim room.
"There's something you can change into in the bathroom." He says quietly.
She walks into the attached bathroom and finds a soft tshirt and a pair of his boxers folded on the counter. She changes wordlessly, looking at herself in the mirror.
"What am I doing?" She whispers.
There's no fanfare when she crawls into bed with him. His sheets are cool and silky and smell like him. Clean, with a touch of his own unique scent that fills her senses.
He gently pulls her towards him, giving her a chance to pull away and when she snuggles closer to him he presses his warm lips to her forehead.
She wakes up hot. Eric is an actual furnace, and she likes it. She snuggles closer to him and he sighs but doesn't wake up. Panics sets in. She was absolutely sober last night, but she approached another member of leadership in an attempt to lose her virginity. He's not her boss, but he also works for her boss and if this got out at work it would be a nightmare.
Would he tell Max?
"Stop thinking so hard." He grumbles from behind her and she sighs.
"What happens now?" She asks.
"Didn't I say to stop thinking. We're off today, and it's barely seven fucking AM. Go back to sleep."
"Don't you work out on your day off? I usually go for a run..."
"I sleep in on any day I truly have off, until at least ten, and then I work out." He replies.
"We're awake now though." Tris replies and he finally pulls her around so they're facing each other.
"Are you going to bully me awake every day, Stiff?" He grumbles.
"I can go home." She sighs and he pulls her closer to him.
"No. You can stay here and go back to sleep and we will go for a run later." His breath is warm on her neck and soon his soft snores lull her back to sleep.
As promised, they go for a long run around the compound, and Eric is pleasantly surprised to see she can easily keep up with him.
They have lunch down in the cafeteria, garnering stares from many including Tris's friends when they drop down at the table with them. The conversation is stilted and somewhat awkward, but Eric is a trooper and does his best to fit in. When he moves to take their trash, Christina slides next to her.
"What the hell is going on?" She asks her friend.
Tris shrugs her shoulders, "He wouldn't sleep with me." She whispers.
Christina's eyes almost pop out of her skull, "You're kidding me."
"Nope. He told me he basically wants to date me. We are getting to know each other. I slept there last night, just slept." She glances over to where Eric is standing, talking to one of the other leaders by the tray deposit, "He cuddles. He sleeps in. It's not what I expected."
"You're dating Eric?" She shakes her head, "I literally sent you there to fuck him. Who knew he had morals?"
Tris and Eric spend an entire weekend together. She cooks him dinner, he takes her out of the faction for lunch in Amity, a spot he discovered during a meeting with Johanna that served the best burger Tris had ever had.
She sleeps in his bed, and he remains a perfect gentleman.
During the work week he stops by her desk every day to accompany her to lunch in the cafeteria, and he sits with her friends each day without complaint. They reluctantly start to talk to him a bit more, giving him a chance since it seems that Tris and he have something going on. Even Christina can't give them a great answer when they ask about Tris and Eric, but they all have to admit that whatever it is seems to make them both happy.
One evening after work, Eric finally brings her to meet his friends, where she learns he plays card games and nurses a couple of beers while decompressing from long work days. She finds his small group of friends surprisingly nerdy, but lots of fun to be around, and they welcome her into their little fold.
Despite her and Eric's awkward initial encounter, Tris finds herself enjoying their time together, much more than she ever expected.
He comes to her apartment and fixes her leaky faucet, and talks her into packing enough clothes to leave in a drawer at his house. Three weeks in and they're practically living together, and neither makes plans without consulting with the other.
Their undefined relationship comes up the next time she's spending time with the girls, "So I take it you two are in an actual relationship, are y'all fucking at least?" Christina asks in her usual blunt manner.
"Oh yeah, how is it?" Shauna asks with a sparkle in her eye.
"Is he big?" Lynn asks and Marlene practically chokes on her drink.
"You don't even like dick," Marlene says once she catches her breath.
"Doesn't mean I don't want to know if Eric's packing. He's a hot piece of ass, even if I wouldn't fuck him." Lynn shrugs.
"We haven't defined the relationship in the classic sense, but yes we are together. We also haven't had sex yet. He's a gentleman." Tris replies.
"Shut up. He's not a relationship guy." Marlene shakes her head.
"That's what I thought too, but when I literally asked him to help me conquer my fear of intimacy he told me no. He said we'd get to know each other and if things progress to that so be it, but he wasn't just going to fuck me." Tris explains.
"I'll be damned." Shauna shakes her head.
"Right? I couldn't believe it either!" Christina shouts.
They drink, they dance, they talk about the guys and check out the eye candy out and about in the bar. When Will, Zeke and Uriah eventually make their way down to the bar and Lynn is chatting Lauren up Tris finds herself missing Eric. One short text message later, he's there next to her, and the two later share their first kiss on the dance floor.
They share the rest of their kisses in her bed, after she talked him into sharing her space for a change, and it's that very evening that Tris finally admits out loud that she's not ready for sex.
"That's why we're waiting." He says quietly as he holds her trembling body against his.
They hadn't even taken their clothes off, but as soon as she could feel Eric's excitement against her leg while they were making out she shut down. He had no intention of having sex with her that night, it was simply a natural reaction to sharing intimate touches with a beautiful woman, but when he realized she was scared he immediately stopped kissing her.
"I'm so embarrassed." She says through tears and he wipes them from her cheeks.
"You have no reason to be embarrassed." He replies softly.
"You don't have to do this. We don't have to keep this up, you can go back to your life and I can go back to mine." She says.
"I don't want to break up with you." Eric replies.
"Why?"
"I like you. I want to continue getting to know you, and spending time with you."
"Even without sex?" She scoffs.
"Yeah. You're worth waiting for." He replies and her eyes widen.
"You're serious?" She asks.
"I'm serious."
"Eric, you're you. You can get any woman you want, in any way you want, why wait for me to get my shit together and give you what you want?" She rants.
"What I want is you. If at any point we get comfortable enough to take those steps in our relationship we'll talk about it then. For now, can we just continue being together?" He asks.
"You want a committed relationship, with me?" She asks incredulously.
"Yes, I do. I've been committed to you this entire time, I'm hoping you have been as well and feel the way I do about defining what we are." He replies.
"What if you get tired of waiting?" She asks, her chin quivering and her eyes averted from his.
He tilts her chin up so she's looking into his eyes, "I won't. Being with you is worth every second."
Tris isn't sure when she finally falls asleep, but when she wakes up she can smell coffee brewing. She pads out of her bedroom and down the hall, finding Eric wearing his glasses and poring over his tablet.
"Hey babe," He says as he looks up at her, "Want some breakfast?"
They spend the next several weeks in the same pattern, having lunch together almost daily unless Eric is out of the faction for work, spending their evenings together and continuing to go out for excursions outside of the faction. He takes her to meet his parents in Erudite when Max had her accompany him to a meeting, and she surprises him by doing the same by taking him to meet hers in Abnegation a few weeks later.
There are days, like today, that she wonders what's in it for him. He has a reputation, that's what led her to his apartment months ago, and yet he's abstaining from sex to be with her.
Maybe he's not abstaining.
She does something she swore she'd never do, she goes to the control room when Four is working and asks him if he's seen anything unusual with Eric.
"You see everything." She argues when he balks at her request.
"I do, but I'm also not supposed to talk about anything I see here unless authorized." He replies.
"But I'm in leadership, I'm Max's assistant and I have the clearance."
His brown eyes train on her, "Tris, you can't use your clearance to spy on your boyfriend. I don't even understand why you're with him, but if you're having doubts about his faithfulness with you I think you should be having a conversation with him."
"He's done nothing to warrant these feelings or a conversation. He's been amazing, too good to be true." She admits and he narrows his eyes at her.
"So what is your issue?" He asks.
She tells him everything, how she brazenly asked him to help her with her fear and he refused. How he had countered her offer with an almost demand that they date and work towards intimacy if that's where things were meant to be. How he's taken her on dates, taken her to meet his family, was incredibly respectful when he met hers and how he's never pressured her for anything more than she's ready to give.
"I don't understand why." She shrugs.
"Maybe because he actually does care about you, Tris. I agree that based on what his reputation seems to be, his behavior with you doesn't seem natural, but you at this point know him better than anyone else. Is he doing anything to make you suspect he's actually cheating on you?"
She shakes her head, "No. Things are almost too perfect. We don't fight, if we find something we disagree with we just talk it out. He's kind to me, respectful and has really had the patience of the saint when it comes to my hang ups regarding intimacy. Not to overshare but we've been so close, and I just shut down. I just thought because of his reputation he'd be getting sex somewhere, especially since I literally leave him hanging every time." She blushes.
"Tris, he's been with women before you, but there's been nothing at all I've seen from him at all that would make me suspect he's been unfaithful since he's been with you. You know what I do see from him?" He asks and she nods her head, "He's picking up groceries, or grabbing you a piece of cake from the cafeteria because I know he doesn't eat that shit. He grabs flowers while he's out of the faction and I watch him carefully shield them when he jumps on the train just so he can put them on your desk when you're not there. I see him going out to Abnegation and bringing your mom some of the things she grew up eating here, or going to have lunch with his sister at school when the leadership meetings break in Erudite. I see the way he looks at you when you're not looking, and it's nothing I ever expected to see from someone like him. I want to hate him, because he's an arrogant asshole, but besides his shit attitude towards most people I have no reason to." He shrugs, "He cares about you, a lot, and it's obvious you're crazy about him. Don't ruin it because of insecurities, Tris. You're amazing."
"Thank you."
"Don't mention it, really, especially to him. Tris, the best thing I can tell you when it comes to him or anyone else you date - trust them. Once you allow yourself to actually trust someone, the rest will happen naturally." He replies.
"It never happened for us." She counters.
"Trust wasn't the issue. We just weren't into each other the way we thought we were. I've seen you and Eric, chemistry doesn't seem to be an issue. Now get out of here before I get in trouble." He grins and they share a quick hug before she heads back to work.
Tris is only back at her desk for less than an hour before Max is back in the faction. She has his itinerary set for review, his meeting notes typed up and an order for the armory ready for sign off in his inbox when he returns, yet she is surprised when he ignores it completely and calls her into his office.
"Tris, I just realized that today is your anniversary," Max begins once she has taken the offered seat across his desk, "two years ago today we received just our second ever Abnegation transfer during my tenure. You've continued to impress us since that day, so much so that I have a proposal for you. I believe your talents are wasted as my assistant, and while the selfish part of me would like to keep you on, the pragmatic part of me would like to see you move on. We have an ambassador position opening up, in it you would work more with the factions as a peacekeeper of sorts. I believe your background would serve you well in this role, however it could be more demanding during different times. I understand that you will be moving this weekend, but perhaps next weekend we can get you started with some of the protocol training with Veronica." He prattles on.
Her head is swimming with information. Promotion. Training with Veronica, who is not only Max's wife she is well known as one of the most successful ambassadors in faction history.
Moving?
She says the last thought out loud, and Max quirks an eyebrow at her.
"Yes, moving. Eric and you are moving into the new leadership apartment on my floor, at least that's what he told me. Do I have my weekends wrong?" He scratches his head as he flips through his tablet, "No, I have it right here, Eric's moving out of the junior leadership floor and into the apartment I've been trying to get him into for months now. I suppose his one bedroom was well suited for a bachelor, but with the two of you finally moving in together it makes more sense to be forward thinking..."
Max continues talking but Tris's mind wanders, she has no idea why Max thinks she's moving in with Eric and she didn't even know he was moving.
She shakes her head, and focuses, listening to Max's full offer for the ambassador position, and asking her to have an answer for him on Monday so he can arrange her training and also find a suitable replacement for her.
Later, when Eric is back in the faction and at her desk waiting to walk her home she seethes. He has no idea what's gotten her so angry, but he still waits while she slams drawers and sighs angrily at him.
"You can go." She says when she finally acknowledges his presence.
"I know I can, I'm just waiting for you. What's wrong with you?" He asks.
She grabs her jacket and bag and locks the office behind them, waiting until they're just in the hallway before she turns towards him, "Why the fuck does Max think I need this weekend off to move, Eric? Better yet, why did I check the housing schedule after that preposterous comment and find that my lease is scheduled not to renew, per MY REQUEST when I never made such a request?" She yells.
"We've slept at each other's house every day for months now, what's the big deal? Max promoted me, you already knew that, and he wants me out of the junior leadership apartment so he could move an actual junior leader there. When I put in my lease paperwork I added you to it."
"You didn't think to ask me?" She asks angrily.
"We've been together for what, over six months now? We've not spent a night apart in that time, why would we continue to spend credits on your apartment when we could save that and move you into mine?" He asks.
"Why wouldn't you ask me? We started a relationship without you asking, and now we're moving in without you asking? Next you'll tell me we're married! Did you ever think to actually have a conversation with me before you make decisions like this?"
"You showed up at my house looking to fuck. You made a broad assumption about me without ever having an actual conversation, didn't you?" He counters.
"That was different." She argues weakly.
"Oh really? How so?"
"Because you had this reputation. Fuck them and leave them. I figured you and I could do that and we could just move on." She says.
"I gave you a choice that night, Tris. I told you that you could leave and life would go on, or you could stay and life would get better. You made your choice. You chose me. Is life with me bad, Tris?" He asks.
"No," She answers quietly while shaking her head.
"Then tell me why we shouldn't move in together?"
She regards him for a few beats then decides a different approach, "Can you just ask me if I want to do something before you decide we're doing it? At least for life changing decisions?" She asks quietly and to her surprise he smiles widely at her.
"That's my girl." He murmurs before pressing his lips to hers briefly, "I've wanted you to ask for what you want, or just flat out tell me and you did. That's huge for us babe."
She scowls at him and he laughs before kissing her one more time, "Once you get the comfort level and confidence to assert yourself and ask for what you want, things will change. You let me take the lead on most things in our relationship, and I admit I like to be in control, however I push you sometimes to make you stand up for yourself. You did it today and I'm so proud of you."
She kisses him and then smiles against his lips, he leans back and quirks an eyebrow at her.
"What if I don't want to move in with you?"
"Then we don't. I will never push you for more than you want." He replies softly and she throws her arms around him tightly.
"Ask me." She says and he nods his head.
"Tris, would you like to move in with me?"
"I would." She nods her head.
They spend their weekend unpacking boxes, after the moving team packed and moved their two separate apartments into one. Tris was in awe at the large apartment they were given, and she and Eric worked together to combine their tastes to decorate their first home together.
A few months later Tris is on her way home from a rather rough day sitting in meetings between Candor and Dauntless when she comes home to find Eric putting her favorite meal of steak, asparagus and potatoes into the warmer.
"I'm so sorry, I was going to make dinner." She apologizes as she walks in the door, slipping her heels off and leaving them in the closet.
"I knew you'd likely have a rough day with how Kang has been lately." He presses his lips to hers briefly, "I've got everything in the warmer, you have time to change and unwind before dinner."
She pulls him towards her for another kiss, one that starts innocently enough but begins to get a bit heated when she trails her hand down the front of the basketball shorts he's wearing.
When she lifts his shirt over his head he doesn't protest. He leans her against the counter while they continue to kiss, and when she reaches her hand down his loose shorts he moves back to allow her access. She's explored him with her hands before and he has no issues letting her roam his body.
He never expected for her to slide his shorts down his legs and drop to her knees in the middle of their kitchen.
When she pulls her warm tongue up his pulsing cock he moans and when he looks down and sees her staring up at him through her dark eyelashes as she sucks him into her mouth it takes all he has not to immediately explode.
"Tris..." He draws out, hands splayed in her long hair, pushing, pulling, and sometimes holding her in place so he doesn't lose control, "Fuck.." He breathes out when she adds a hand, watching her intently. He has no idea where this boldness is coming from, although he's sure she's gotten pointers from her group of friends to teach her what she's doing right now.
She watches how he reacts, how he throws his head back at times, the sounds he's making, and how he stills her head when she knows he's closer than he wants to be.
His breathing intensifies and she suddenly pulls her mouth away, hearing the pop when he leaves her mouth.
"I'm ready." She says confidently.
Two words he's wanted to hear from her for the entire time they've been together.
As much as he imagined taking her gently in their bed, he can't even get enough blood to his brain to focus. He picks her up and lays her back on their kitchen island, yanking her pencil skirt down her legs, then ripping her lacy panties from her body.
"I'm going to try to be gentle baby but my fucking God I don't know if I can..." He slides a finger inside of her dripping core and he can feel her flexing around him. They've done this many times, getting her prepared for something more one day, talking through what she liked and what she didn't.
"I want you," She purrs, and yanks him by his shirt to be closer to her.
He takes her in, her black button down blouse still covering her, but her lower half lying spread eagled across their kitchen island, begging him for more.
He unbuttons her blouse slowly, spreading it open so he can see the black lace bra she wore today. He pulls her into a sitting position long enough to push the blouse off of her shoulders and to pull the bra off of her arms.
When she lays back, he stares at her while slowly stroking himself.
"Touch yourself." He whispers.
When she spreads her legs apart again, he watches as she pulls one finger through her folds, circling her sensitive bud.
"Are you sure you're ready tonight, baby?" He asks. They've been so close before, he's even used toys on her to stretch her and get her off, but she's been too afraid to take the step with him.
She pushes two of her own fingers inside of herself and nods her head.
He moves her hand, then rubs his length against her, spreading the wetness dripping from her onto him. He lines up and keeps eye contact with her, "You do it." He commands.
She sits up slightly, reaching a hand between them as she guides his pulsing member towards her entrance and begins pushing him inside.
"You help." She replies as she wraps her legs around him, pulling him closer, and without thinking he pushes all the way in.
She feels better than anything he's felt before, and for a moment they just look at each other, experiencing this moment of them joining for as long as they can before he begins moving slowly in and out of her.
He can't be slow for long.
Her legs grip him like a vice, pulling him impossibly closer until he yanks her hips down to the edge of the island. He's pounding against her and she's meeting him with her own movements, her warmth and tightness are too much for him as he feels his orgasm quickly approaching. She's clamping down on him and he tries to think of anything else but the way she feels.
"Baby I need you to let go. Cum for me." He almost yells as he pounds harder into her.
Her moans turn into gibberish, then his name, then declarations of love as she comes apart around him, her hard spasms milking his own release from him before he collapses against her on the cold marble.
"That was unexpected." Eric says once his breathing has returned to normal, "I'm sorry it was so rough, and not in our bed, wow babe, I just couldn't."
"It was perfect." She says as he helps her to sit up. She kisses him deeply then rests her forehead against his. "I didn't mean for it to happen here either, but I wanted it, I wanted you."
She looks into his grey eyes, wondering if he heard her tell him she loved him while in the throes of passion.
As if he can read her mind, he pushes her sweaty hair away from her face and kisses her softly, "I love you too."
She blushes, but kisses him again before pulling his naked body against hers, "That's not how I meant for that to come out either," she laughs and he joins her.
"I think tonight is full of surprises." He replies and she smiles up at him.
They clean up in the shower together, then throughly scrub their kitchen before finally eating dinner, and that night when she's wrapped in his strong arms she thanks him for being so patient with her.
"You could have just done what I asked when I showed up at your door that night." She adds.
"Maybe I was facing a fear too." He replies.
"How so?"
"I'd never been in a committed relationship, and you'd never had sex. I'd say we both had hang ups when it came to a healthy relationship." He replies.
"What made you decide that I should be the one you committed to? I mean, we could have just had sex and saw what happened, right?" She presses.
"If we started as just sex I don't think we would have ended the way I'd imagined it could be with someone like you." He replies.
"What do you mean?" She turns in his arms to face him.
"You're the kind of woman I knew I could fall in love with. You're not the kind of woman I'd just fuck and walk away from. I'd had that before, and if I was looking to just get laid that night I could have. When you showed up I knew if I had of just fucked you like I have others in the past you may have never come back to me again. You would have assumed we used each other and our purpose was over."
"So what is our purpose?" She asks.
"This, right now. Just being us. Not worrying about who either of us are going home with that night. Not fucking around with meaningless relationships. Building something, together. I needed to earn your trust, and to do that I needed to show you I was more than just a guy who fucked around and left." He replies, "I wanted to prove to you that I wanted long term, because I had already proven it to myself when you agreed to be with me."
"Do you think about marriage at all?" She asks.
"Well yeah, but I realized I did for the wrong reasons. A lot of our marriages here are about making a statement. It's a status symbol, especially for someone in leadership. Notice how when we got serious suddenly Max is moving me out of junior leadership and you into the ambassador program?" He asks and she nods, "Marriage is a sign of maturity and a sign of commitment, but unless we both want it it's off the table. Just like sex was."
"Was, very past test, sex will always be on the table, or kitchen island-"
"Or desk-"
"Or maybe even a bed," She giggles before he kisses her again.
"I love you." He says and she smiles against his lips.
"I love you too. I'm so glad I chose the right door that night."
"Me too, Tris." He sighs happily.
They're married on the three year anniversary of their first night together, the night Christina had sent her to his apartment to "get fucked". Tris had thought that's all she wanted that night, and when Eric opened his door he knew their lives would forever be changed if he didn't make a quick decision.
He chose the possibility of forever.
She chose him.