Disclaimer: I Do not own Divergent or any of the characters.
"What am I doing here? What are you doing here?" Four counters angrily.
"I'm trying to make sure Tris gets home safely and doesn't end up with anymore bruises along the way," Eric replies pointedly.
"That's not fair. I wouldn't hurt her like that."
"Isn't it? Because last I checked her wrist contradicts that statement."
Four deflates slightly and looks towards Tris.
"Can we please talk for a minute?"
"She doesn't want to talk to you," Eric says firmly.
"I wasn't talking to you," Four snaps. "Tris, please?"
Eric opens his mouth to speak, but Tris beats him to it.
"Okay, go ahead and say what you want to say," Tris says, squeezing Eric's hand firmly in hopes of reassuring him that she's okay.
"Does your bodyguard really need to be here for this?" Four asks rolling his eyes.
"Maybe if you weren't such an asshole, she wouldn't need a bodyguard around to protect her from you."
"Right, because I'm the one who's an asshole here," Four replies, taking a step towards Eric.
"Enough," Tris speaks, irritated.
"Can't we just go inside and talk," Four says addressing her but refusing to take his eyes off of Eric.
"There's no way in hell I'm leaving you alone with her."
"As if I haven't already been alone with her more times than you can count," Four says smirking.
Eric moves to step towards Four, but Tris tightens her hold on his hand, and he stays put.
"I said, enough!"
The volume of her statement causes both boys to turn and look at her.
Tris glares at Four before turning towards Eric.
While she doesn't really want to be alone with Four, Tris can tell that Eric's presence is only going to make this conversation longer and more difficult, and she'd rather just get it over with.
"I think it'll just be easier if I talk to him by myself," she says softly.
"I'm not leaving you alone with him," Eric replies firmly, glaring at Four.
"If I don't let him talk, he's just going to keep coming back. I'd rather get this over with."
Eric looks down at her.
"So, you're asking me to leave?" his words are steady, but she can tell by his expression that he's hurt.
She shakes her head.
"No, I'm asking you to go inside while I talk to him, and I'll meet you in there when we're done."
Eric glances quickly over at Four who is wearing an annoyingly smug expression and then back down at Tris.
"Okay?" she asks.
"Okay."
Tris leads Eric over to her door, plugs in her code and pushes the door open.
"I'll be right on the other side of this door if you need me," he says.
She smiles in response, standing up on her tiptoes and kissing him softly on the cheek.
"Thank you," she whispers, lowering herself back down.
Eric reluctantly let's go of her hand and steps into her apartment closing the door behind him.
Tris sighs and turns towards Four.
"Say what you want to say," she says firmly, crossing her arms over her chest.
"I'm sorry."
Tris raises her eyebrows.
"For hurting me?" she asks, lifting her hand to show him her wrist. "Or for accusing me of cheating on you?"
Four closes his eyes and takes a deep breath.
"Both," he says, looking her in the eye. "I don't know. I just saw you with him and I was so angry and jealous and something inside of me snapped. But there's no excuse for hurting you and I can't even express how sorry I am."
Tris let's out a breath and relaxes a little, her arms falling to her sides.
"Thank you for apologizing," she says.
Four nods. Tris watches him expectantly, waiting for him to say more, but despite seeming torn, he says nothing.
"If that's all, I'm going to go inside now."
Four takes a step towards her and she instinctively steps back.
He shakes his head and returns to his original position.
"Can I ask you something and then I'll leave you alone?"
"Go ahead," Tris replies cautiously.
"Why him? Of all the people in this compound, why do you have to be with him?"
It's really none of his business. She knows she should just refuse to answer and go inside, but there's something about the look on his face and the sad tone in which he asked that compels her to respond.
"I didn't plan it. I don't even know what it is or if there even is an it, but he's not at all who I thought he was and I like spending time with him."
Fours stays silent for a moment.
"But you know what he's like," he says, choosing his words carefully. "He's not a good guy."
Tris shakes her head.
"That's the thing. I don't really know that he's not a good guy because I don't really know him. I only know what you've told me. You have every right to feel how you do, he was awful to you during initiation and when you beat him, he was jealous and didn't handle it well. You've both been awful to each other ever since and I get that that sucks for you but the way he is with you isn't the way he is with me."
"You can tell a lot about someone by how they treat other people, and you said it yourself, he's awful to me."
"If that's true of Eric, then shouldn't it also be true of you?"
Four scrunches up his face, confused.
"What do you mean?"
"You're just as awful to him as he is to you, but I know that you're a good guy and you've always treated me well. What's to say Eric wouldn't be the same."
Four rolls his eyes again.
"It's not the same. You're being naïve, he's going to hurt you."
"It is the same. But regardless, you don't get to decide who I do or do not spend time with. If I get hurt, that's on me."
"Okay."
Tris nods and turns towards her door, but before she opens it, she looks back at Four.
"You know this is over, right?" she adds, gesturing between the two of them. "You get that I'm moving on and I'm not going to change my mind about us?"
Four nods solemnly.
"I'm starting to realize that, yeah."
Tris gives him an apologetic look before turning and going inside.
As she steps into her apartment, she is hit by a familiar scent.
"Did you make coffee?" Tris asks Eric as she closes the door.
"I hope that's okay," he says, walking out from behind her kitchen counter, mug in hand. "I didn't know how long you would be, and I couldn't just stand around doing nothing."
Tris nods in response.
"So, how did that go?"
"Did you make enough coffee for me?" Tris replies, sighing.
"That bad huh?"
"No, it actually went better than I expected, but I would like some coffee."
Eric turns towards the counter and pours her a cup.
"It's decaf," he says as he hands it to her.
Tris accepts the mug and motions for Eric to follow her towards the couch. She sits down at one end with her back against the armrest and crosses her legs. Tris inhales the scent of her coffee before taking a large gulp as Eric gets comfortable next to her.
"I don't think he'll be bothering me anymore."
"He said that?" Eric asks, raising his eyebrows.
"Not exactly, but I told him I have no interest in getting back together with him and that I'm moving on and he seemed to accept that."
"Seemed to?"
"Well, I asked him if he understood that we were really over, and he said he did," she replies, shrugging. "Anyways, I think that's about all the Four talk I can handle for tonight. What were we talking about before he showed up again?"
"I was asking you if you would be interested in joining leadership."
Tris' face brightens.
"Oh right! Do you really think Max would give me a second chance?"
"He's desperate, no way he would turn you down."
"Oh," she says her enthusiasm disappearing.
Eric shakes his head. "I didn't mean it like that. Yes, we desperately need people to join leadership, but Max isn't about to just let anyone in. Trust me, there are plenty of people in this complex that would jump at a shot, but Max wants someone who is capable and competent. Someone who will fit in with everyone but also bring fresh ideas to the table. He wants someone who understands the importance of what we do and who he can see staying on long term. There aren't a lot of people who fit that description, but you do."
"You really think all of those things about me?"
"Yes."
Tris can't help but smile. All those months she spent around Eric during initiation she had no clue he thought so highly of her.
"You said if I had joined originally, I would have gotten to choose between you, Khloe, and Carter. Is that still the case? Or was Max able to find anyone between then and now?"
"Still the same."
"So how do I choose? Do I just pick one of you and tell Max, or…?"
Eric puts his coffee down on the coffee table and turns slightly so he is facing Tris straight on.
"Well, you could choose based off of each of our job descriptions and what interests you the most or I think Max mentioned something about job shadowing each of us for a bit and then deciding after a couple of weeks."
"Interesting."
"If you were to choose one of us now, without shadowing, who would you choose?"
Tris thinks for a minute. Because of his history, she's already written off working with Carter. Khloe seems nice enough, but her job doesn't really interest Tris. Plus, if Khloe does take over for Carter in the future that would mean working with Marcus and Tris really doesn't want to have to do that. Which leaves Eric.
"Can you go over everyone's jobs again?" she asks, stalling.
"Carter: Abnegation, Human Resources, Event Coordination. Khloe: Amity, Supplies. Me: Erudite, New Members, Housing," he runs through quickly.
Tris laughs. "Thank you for the brevity."
Eric shrugs.
"I'm happy to expand if there's something you want to know more about?"
She does have a few questions, but none of the answers are likely to sway her gut reaction.
"No, that's okay."
"So?"
Tris takes a deep breath.
"Okay. Just with that information, I'd have to say you, but..."
"Perfect, it's settled then. I'll go to Max on Monday and tell him you're going to be my new assistant," Eric says happily, cutting her off.
"I wasn't finished."
Eric smiles. "I could tell, I just didn't want to hear the rest of it."
"Eric."
"Fine. But…?"
"But," Tris starts again. "If you're going to be my boss, then our relationship would have to be purely professional."
Eric blinks a few times.
"You mean…when we're at work?"
Tris shakes her head.
"No, if you're my boss then you're my boss 24/7 not just during 'business hours.'"
"So, what you're saying is, if you decide to be my assistant, I can't ask you out."
"Yeah."
Eric sits quietly for a moment as Tris waits for his reaction.
"Right, so hypothetically if leadership wasn't on the table and I asked you out you would say?"
"Does it matter?"
"Humor me?"
"I would say yes."
They both sip their coffees quietly for a moment before Eric speaks again.
"I think we're getting ahead of ourselves. Let's table the 'who would you choose to work with' question until I'm able to talk to Max on Monday. Right now, everything about this conversation is hypothetical."
Tris nods her head. She doesn't see how anything could change between now and then, but it is 1am, and maybe not the best time to be making this decision.
"What are you doing tomorrow?"
"What?" Tris asks, his question catching her off guard.
"Spend the day with me."
"What about what we were just talking about?"
"It's irrelevant. I haven't talked to Max yet, you aren't part of leadership yet and I'm definitely not your boss yet. I see no issue. Spend the day with me."
Tris can't help but smile at his logic.
"Don't you think that will just make it worse if you do end up being my boss?"
Eric shakes his head.
"I don't think so. We don't really even know each other. Sure, I've had a bit of a thing for you for a while now, and I've enjoyed spending the evening with you, but at the end of the day we've only spent what, like an hour and a half together one on one, ever? Who knows if we actually have enough chemistry for this to go anywhere. What I'm proposing is we spend the entire day together tomorrow. I'm thinking a full day equals around…three dates? That feels like enough time to get a better sense of our chemistry. If it turns out we have no chemistry then this won't even be an be an issue."
Tris feels an odd mixture of nerves and excitement at the prospect of spending an entire day with Eric. A huge part of her wants to say yes, but the other part is apprehensive. While his logic might seem sound on the surface, she's fairly certain that despite only having spent a small amount of time together, they do have chemistry and she's worried that if they explore it even further it's going to affect her decision when it comes to leadership.
This is meant to be her second chance and she really doesn't want to let a guy affect her career decisions again.
"I don't know."
"Pretty please?" he says, playfully batting his eyelids. "All I'm asking is for one day. At the end of it we'll either be in the same position we are now, or we'll have made things easier."
"It's not that simple and you know it."
"It is that simple, unless we choose to overcomplicate it."
Tris pulls the side of her lower lip into her mouth with her teeth and starts to chew on it while contemplating what to do. Her better judgment is being overridden by the part of her that can't stop thinking about what it was like to hold Eric's hand and wonders what more would feel like.
"Okay," she says, hoping desperately that she won't regret it.
"Okay?"
"Yes, I'll spend the day with you."
Eric smiles the biggest smile Tris has ever seen, and a kaleidoscope of butterflies immediately takes up residence in her stomach.
She is so screwed.
Suddenly, Eric is on his feet.
"I think I'm going to leave now, before you change your mind. Meet me at my apartment around ten tomorrow?" he says as he makes his way to the door.
Tris stands up and follows him.
"Ten?"
"I want to make you breakfast, but since it's already after 1am I'm thinking brunch might be a better option."
"You're going to cook for me?"
"You're impressed right? What can I say, I'm a man of many talents."
Tris snorts, smiling.
"What are you going to make?"
"You have to show up to find out," he responds with a wink. "Goodnight, Tris."
"Goodnight, Eric," she responds as he opens the door.
He steps through the doorway and gives her one last smile before disappearing down the hallway.
Tris closes the door and leans against it.
"What have I gotten myself into," she says out loud before walking over to the coffee table and collecting their discarded mugs.
A/N: Hello lovelies! Thank you for coming along on this journey with me. I'm honestly having such a fun time writing this one. It's lighter than what I've written lately which is a nice change of pace.
Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this one! Let me know what you think. Up next will be date day!