Tris didn't know what to say now that she was face to face with Eric in the middle of the Pit.

She knew what she wanted to ask, but she didn't know how to ask it. She hadn't thought about how flawed spontaneously running after Eric was until he was impatiently waiting for her to speak. It wasn't like she could start the conversation with the question: why are you such an unpredictable, confusing, moody jackass? Or why do we seem to be friends one minute, then you hate me the next? Tris stood there, opening and closing her mouth, starting to speak and then stopping, until Eric moved to walk away.

Tris practically shouted, uncomfortably, "What did you get?"

She didn't really want to know what the tattoo looked like, and that was not the point of this little chat. She wanted to hold his attention, and get him to not walk away so she could think of a way to speak to him about the whole 'moody jackass thing'. Now that she thought about it, she was quite curious about what he got, though.

Eric face was full of confusion, and he turned toward her, intrigued and pissed. "What?"

"Your tattoo." Tris pathetically gestured to his arm and cleared her throat. She was seriously regretting her decision to lead with that question – as well as running after him to talk in the first place.

Tris saw a flicker of amusement cross over his face before he shoved his jacket up his arm to reveal his tattoo. It was the silhouette of a pine tree inside the outline of a triangle. There were no trees in Chicago unless you counted the ones near the Fence or the ones out in Amity.

"What kind of tree is that?" Tris had never seen that type of tree before. There were no trees in Abnegation and she couldn't read about them or research them outside of school. Before she could stop herself or think about what she was doing, she lifted her hand and tentatively tugged his arm closer to her, then bent her head down slightly to get a closer look.

Eric was the uncomfortable one now, clearing his throat before answering, "It's a pine tree. I've never seen one, but I read about them in Erudite."

Tris looked up at him, still holding his arm, and smiled a little. "So you did go Erudite." Her voice was filled with amusement, and he smirked at her. Then she remembered why she went after him in the first place and dropped his arm. The fact that Eric had just smirked at her when he was just angry with her– not even a minute ago – made Tris more determined to find out what was wrong. "Listen, Eric, I just…"

"Yes?"

"Ummm…. I just want to know why you're always so unpredictable." Now that she had said it, she got the confidence to continue on, "You are fine one minute, and it's like we are friends - like when you talked to me after Four broke up with me. Then, the next minute you despise me, yell, and want me gone. Earlier today, on the way to lunch, we were talking; I say the 'bully' and you leave sulking. And now, you just stormed out of the tattoo shop like your mad at me. I don't know what I did, but I would like to know." Tris let out all of her feelings, and continued to rant. She wanted to get it out know while she still felt the courage. "I mean, Eric, God, you're so unpredictable! And if it's something I did, I would like to apologise and maybe… I don't know….help you?"

Tris was so relieved that it was over and out in the open. This whole conversation was making her very uncomfortable and the more time that passed when Eric didn't talk, the more shy she felt.

Eric looked around at the small crowd that had gathered staring at the drama that was Tris and Eric unfold before them. He sneered at them, and then grabbed Tris arms with so much force that he was pinching the skin between his fingers. He dragged her behind him along the wall of the Pit to one of the quieter tunnels leading into it. He stopped and pushed her away. "God, you're such a Stiff!" He hissed.

"So? Trying to help someone makes me a Stiff? Really Eric?" Tris crossed her arms, "If that makes me a Stiff, then I want to be a Stiff."

"No one else would do this, you know. No one would confront me to talk about my feelings. No one but you." He pointed at her accusingly and continued to ramble. "No one would want to help me Tris, because people are scared of me. And that's how I want it. So no, I don't want help. And am I okay? No, I am not okay, but I will deal with it on my own like always."

It dawned on Tris that maybe he was just lonely, and she almost laughed at the thought that scary, untouchable Eric was lonely. He didn't have any friends, and she knew that being an ex-Erudite that he poured himself into work. She had also never seen him at parties or in the Pit on Fridays, so she assumed that he didn't have much of a social life. Being a leader must be his life, Tris thought.

…

"Your always on your own, aren't you?" She sounded pitying, and Eris hated pity.

If he wanted pity, he would pity himself, which he never did because it was a sign of weakness. In Erudite, they taught him that it was not intelligent to dwell on what you cannot do or do not have, and also to fix it. Erudite – mostly Jeannine – would shun you if you asked for help, so whenever Eric had to deal with something, he would deal with it alone and quickly, even now. He agreed with Tris that he was always on his own, but Eric was far from lonely. He was content being a loner; at least that is what he told himself. He figured that when he wanted Tris to be his friend, he was just relapsing and acting on those feelings deep inside him that he wanted to stay buried. "You know what Stiff? You know nothing about me. Nothing." He scowled, and his barely contained anger was about to become uncontained.

"I know more than you think."

"No you don't. Whatever you think that you know about me is wrong. And it doesn't even matter. I am completely content as I am." He laughed without humour.

"But you just said that you weren't okay." She sounded sad, like she really had wanted to help him and it threw Eric off guard for a minute. He had always known she was a Stiff, but he always thought that she had hated him, so why did she want to help him now? She always made him rethink things when he was usually so sure of what he was thinking.

"I also said I would deal with it on my own." He was still mad, but couldn't find the energy to yell at her. Even through his thoughts of frustration and confusion, he could see that she just wanted to help. He was grateful that one person wanted to save him. No one in Erudite did, and everyone hated him in Dauntless. "Tris, I know you want to help, but trust me, I don't need help. How do you think I got to be the youngest Dauntless leader?"

Tris laughed, exasperated, "Trust you? Really Eric? You're a former Erudite, so you commit yourself to your work. You don't have any friends, so you don't have anyone to support you. You're a stubborn person, so you won't let anybody help you!" Tris's voice started to rise, "Pretty soon, you won't have anyone to even want to try and help you; because it's barely even been an hour and I…I give up."

"And you don't commit to your work? You aren't stubborn?" Eric scowled at her. "I want you to give up. Then I won't have a fucking Stiff following me around trying to help me when I don't even want it!"

"For fucks sake, why don't you just accept the fact that you need help? No one is completely fine on their own! Not even you! Why are you doing this to yourself? Why are you doing this to me…?"

She took a step back, startled at her sudden candor.

"What?" His voice sounded like he had just run a kilometer, and his eyes reflected hers with surprise and confusion. "What do you mean? Why do you want to help me?"

She was so relieved that he stopped yelling that she decided to tell him the truth. "Eric, I like you—"

A satisfied grin overtook his face, "Well, if you had just said that in the first place, I'm sure… something could have been arranged."

She laughed at him and nudged his shoulder with her hand. "Not like that, asshole. I want to be your friend, and c'mon Eric, we both know that you need one."

He considered her offer. He had spent so long denying the want of a friend. Would it really hurt? His expression turned grim. He couldn't be friends with her; because she was Divergent and he was hunting her kind. He couldn't lie to Jeannine that way… or could he? Maybe being Tris's friend would give him more ways to protect her and to keep her safe. Yes, that would work. He decided that since this is most likely his only chance at actually having a friend, he might as well take it - even if his new friend was a small and unpredictable Stiff.

Eric looked at Tris and scratched the back of his head, suddenly nervous. What does being friends even mean? "Friends?"

She shook his outstretched hand and grinned up at him. "Friends."

"You know," He started to say as they walked back to the Pit together. "I am not sure why you what to be friends with someone who you have only known for two days."

"I have known you since my initiation!" She shoved him lightly, and he faked coming at her with his hands out, stopping at the last second. "But I know what you mean. I don't know." Tris considered her answer, "I guess I thought, why not? We are going to be spending a considerable amount of time together in the next month."

He laughed and she smiled up at him.

Oh God, what have I gotten myself into?