Christina finally talked me into hosting a Candor or Dauntless party at my apartment. Eric swears it will be fine, but I warned Veronica and Harrison anyway. They both laughed and started telling stories about when they played as young people. I got some good ideas for dares!
My apartment has never been this full before. Christina and Will are here, as well as Tobias, Tiffany, Zeke, Uriah, and Lynn. Even Shauna and Marlene have a weekend off from guard duty at the wall, so with Eric and I hosting it brings the count to eleven people in my little living room.
Being the hostess, it's my duty to go over the rules again. Obviously we've all played together many times, but Zeke insists that if we don't go over the rules each time someone will try to weasel out of a dare.
"I want to pick who goes first!" yells Uriah. "I have a great idea! I want the person with the most piercings."
"I'm out," says Tobias, "I don't have any."
"I'm out too," says Will, "I just have the one in my ear."
"I have four!" yells Uriah with his usual glee.
"Me too," say Marlene, Shauna, and Tiffany.
"I only have three, so you already have me beat," says Zeke. "But I see more than that on Eric's face. How many do you have, anyway?"
Eric thinks for a minute. "Eleven," he says.
"I think we have our winner," says Uriah.
"Yup," I interject, "me. I have thirteen. Nobody can beat that?"
Everyone shakes their heads, so I start looking for my first victim.
"Wait a minute," says Uriah, "I only see five. No wait, six with the tongue ring."
"Plus six dermals in my leadership tattoo," I explain.
"Oh yeah," he says. "But that's still only twelve."
"Yup. But I have thirteen."
"Well, where is the thirteenth?" he presses.
"None of your business," I state, making our friends hoot and holler as I blush.
Christina catches my attention from across the circle. She gestures to her lap and makes a questioning face. I shake my head, no. She points to her chest and I shrug noncommittally. She grins broadly at my virtual admission.
For that I decide to start with her. "Christina," I ask, "Candor or Dauntless?"
"Candor," she says confidently.
"Pansycake!" yells Uriah, making us all groan.
"What is it like when Candor parents teach their kids about sex?" I ask.
"Oh my god!" she yells. "It is so embarrassing. Thankfully just my mom talked to me, and not my dad, but she was still waaaaay too open about it. I got all kinds of advice about birth control and even positions! I kept telling her to shut up, but she just kept yammering!"
Will laughs. "Erudite parents are very clinical. Mine gave me a book. I was still embarrassed, but at least I didn't have to hear about their sex life!"
"Abnegation parents don't talk about it until the day before their kids get married," I say, "so I never heard the talk."
"Do we need to teach you about the birds and bees?" asks Uriah.
"Oh, I've educated her pretty well on that," says Eric, making me blush.
"My turn," Christina reminds us. "Uriah, Candor or Dauntless?"
"Dauntless, of course!"
"I knew you would say that. I dare you to give me twenty points so I can go buy you a bottle of some really nasty liquor, and you have to take a shot every time you say 'pansycake' for the rest of the game."
Our friends all cheer the dare.
"Fine," says Uri, pulling a twenty out of his wallet.
"I know just the thing," says Zeke. "Come with me."
They rush out of the apartment, and the rest of us take the opportunity to get some snacks and catch up on our jobs and lives. Marlene is in the middle of a funny story about a coworker who nearly fell off the wall from laughing too hard when Zeke and Chris return.
"Voila!" she says, handing Uriah a bottle.
"Ugh, no!" he says, "not the cinnamon stuff!"
Christina laughs. "We hardly went through any of it last time we played, so Zeke donated it to the cause, and I get to keep your twenty points!"
"At least it's my turn," grumbles Uriah.
"Tris," he says with an evil smirk. "Candor or Dauntless?"
"Candor," I say.
He bites back the habitual response with a pout. "Fine. Where is your thirteenth piercing?"
"None of your business," I say, removing my sweatshirt.
The penalty shot tonight is a peppermint schnapps that smells really potent. I cringe as I pour myself a shot and toss it back.
Eric leans close to my ear. "Lucky thirteen is just for me," he growls, making me swallow hard. I give him a chaste peck on the lips. "Mmmm, minty fresh," he teases.
"Shauna," I call, "Candor or Dauntless?"
"Dauntless," says Shauna.
"How about a tattoo show and tell?" I suggest.
She shrugs and climbs off Zeke's lap. "I only have three," she says.
She turns her back to the group and lifts her shirt a few inches, revealing the outline of Chicago's city skyline.
"That's really pretty," I say.
Shauna drops her shirt and faces us. She pulls her sleeve back to reveal the butterfly on her left wrist. "This was my first one," she says.
Next she lifts the cuff of her jeans to reveal a bracelet of stars tattooed around her ankle. Then she adjusts her clothing back into place and takes her seat on Zeke's lap.
"Four," she says, "Candor or Dauntless?"
"Candor," he says, and everyone looks at Uriah to see if he'll slip up. He doesn't.
"I know it's cliche," says Shauna, "but I'm going to ask the same question we always ask. What is your real name?"
"Tobias," he answers easily, as if she had just asked him what color the sky is instead of asking him to reveal his long-held biggest secret.
Everyone is stunned into silence. It's obvious they never expected him to give in. Tiffany and I grin at him proudly.
"Why have you always refused to tell us?" asks Lynn.
"My name is Tobias Eaton," he says. "My father is Marcus Eaton, the head of the Abnegation council. He abused me my whole life until I chose Dauntless to get away from him."
"Woah," says Uriah.
"Yeah, woah," agrees Zeke.
"So you're a stiff?" asks Lynn.
Tobias smiles at her. "No, I'm a divergent with sixty-five percent Dauntless and thirty-five percent Abnegation aptitude."
"Dude!" says Uriah. "My aptitudes are Dauntless and Amity, but I don't know the percentages."
"That's new this year," I explain. "Four took the test recently as part of some research Eric and I were doing. Eric took it too. He's ninety percent Dauntless and ten percent Erudite, which isn't divergent. Apparently you have to be at least twenty percent something else to be divergent.
"You're divergent?" Shauna asks Uriah, thoroughly shocked by the revelations. "Both of you?"
"And me," I add. "I didn't take the new test, so I don't know my percentages, but I'm Dauntless, Erudite, and Abnegation."
"Three?" asks Will. "Is that possible?"
"She's the only one I've ever heard of," says Eric, proudly.
"Whose turn is it?" I ask to redirect the conversation away from me.
"Mine," says Tobias. "Tiffany, Candor or Dauntless."
"Well, I'm not divergent like you," she says, "I'm all Dauntless as far as I know, so I'll take the dare."
Tobias looks at me, panic on his face. I smile and nod encouragingly. He stands to his feet, digs for something in his pocket, and gets down on one knee in front of the beautiful redhead.
"Tiffany," he says, his voice shaking a little, "I love you. I dare you to marry me."
Tiffany gasps and covers her face with her hands. I lean in to Eric's side, and he puts an arm around my shoulders, pulling me close.
"Yes!" she says as tears stream down her cheeks. "Toby! Yes, I will marry you!"
Our friends clap and shout, then Zeke jumps out of his chair, nearly dumping Shauna on her backside, and throws his arms around Tobias.
"Oh Toby," he says, "I'm so happy for you!"
Tiffany blushes deeply, and Tobias growls at his friend, "If you ever call me Toby again I will dangle you from the chasm. Only Tiff can call me that."
Zeke drops his arms from Tobias and wraps them around Tiffany instead. "Protect me!" he says in a voice of mock fear that makes us all laugh.
Suddenly we're all hugging, and a few of us get a little teary-eyed. I slip out to the kitchen and pull three bottles of champagne out of my fridge. I get everyone's attention by loudly popping the cork on the first bottle.
"Trissy!" Uriah says accusingly, "you knew!"
I shrug. "I may have helped Four pick the ring, and he dropped off the champagne earlier today so it could chill."
The game is over after that, but we stay at my apartment talking and sipping champagne until the early hours of the morning.
.
xxxx
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Ta da! The End. I always wanted Tobias to open up and share his real name in a canon-compliant (or canon-adjacent) fic. I think a game of Candor or Dauntless is the perfect way to do it.
That's all for Emergent, but if you enjoy my writing, please check out my other stories. I have one-shots on how Tobias feels about being called a 'Dauntless Prodigy,' Al's thoughts as he ended his life, a songfic inspired by P!nk's U+UR Hand, and a crossover where Divergent characters live out The Breakfast Club. I also have longer fics in both the Divergent and Hunger Games universes, including some game-based fics where the Divergent characters play Would You Rather?, a five-factions version of Candor or Dauntless, and Never Have I Ever.
Special thanks to everyone who read, followed, favorited, and reviewed this story. It's fun to hear from you!
Xoxo,
Libby