Tris hears knocking and jogs out of her room to answer the door.
"What's the emergency?" asks a concerned looking Marlene.
"I don't know what to wear," Tris admits sheepishly.
Marlene blinks before narrowing her eyes.
"I'm sorry, but did you really call me in a panic because you don't know what to wear?"
"Just get you butt in here and help me, please," Tris replies firmly before turning around and walking back to her room.
"We missed you at breakfast today," Marlene calls out to Tris as she closes the apartment door.
"Oh crap, I forgot I told Christina I was going to be there."
"She thinks you're mad at…oh my God," Marlene exclaims, losing her train of thought as she approaches Tris' room and sees the explosion of clothes strewn across every inch of it.
"I know. I swear I've looked at everything I own and for some reason I suddenly hate all of it."
"Okay, we can figure this out, but I need details. What are you trying to dress for?"
Tris contemplates how much information she really wants to divulge to Marlene. With the possibility of leadership on the horizon, she's thinking it might be wise to keep the details to herself.
"Brunch."
"Brunch?" Marlene echoes turning to face Tris with one eyebrow raised.
"Brunch," Tris confirms.
"Where and with who?"
Tris shifts uncomfortably.
"If you want my help, you're going to have to give me more than 'brunch.'"
"Fine, but this stays between us. I don't want anyone to know, okay? Not even Christina."
Marlene smiles mischievously.
"Spill."
Tris takes a deep breath.
"Brunch, with Eric, at Eric's apartment."
"No shit! Seriously?"
"Yeah."
"No wonder you don't want Christina to know. Don't worry, I'll keep it to myself. But tell me, how did that happen?"
Tris shrugs.
"After you left last night, he walked me home and then he asked me out," she says, giving Marlene an abbreviated version of events.
"I didn't realize you were actually into in him."
"To be honest, I don't think I was, at least not until we started talking last night. He's…different than I expected."
Marlene bounces over to Tris' bed and plops herself down.
"Different how? Tell me everything!" she encourages eagerly.
Tris sighs, she's still not used to 'being a girl' as Christina once put it, at least not the part where she's expected to casually dish about her personal life.
"Tell you what, help me figure out an outfit and tomorrow I'll give you the details."
Marlene looks a little disappointed, but she gives Tris a small smile and stands up.
"Deal. Okay, let me think. Brunch feels fairly casual, so definitely no need for anything fancy, and it's pretty early in the day, so not too much skin, but it is a date so a little bit of skin would be good," Marlene rambles as she picks through the pieces of clothing on Tris' bed. "It's Eric, so I'd go with something typical of Dauntless fashion, and I've definitely seen him looking at your ass so I'm thinking something that accentuates it."
"Marlene!" Tris exclaims indignantly.
"What! It's true," she responds without looking up. "Okay, I think I've got it. Put this on," she adds passing a handful of clothing to Tris.
Tris grabs the outfit from Marlene and turns her back to her before starting to change.
"Are you sure you don't want to let me in on any of the details?" Marlene asks sitting back down on Tris' bed.
"I'm sure," Tris says, pulling a shirt over her head. "Okay, what do you think?"
Marlene smiles.
"I think we're close."
Tris walks over to the full-length mirror by her dresser and takes a peek at her appearance. Having unlimited access to a mirror still feels a bit forbidden but in moments like this she is glad she has it.
She looks down at the ripped black skinny jeans that sit snuggly around her hips, they feel foreign to her, and she realizes suddenly that Marlene had leant them to her months ago and she'd forgotten to return them. Her eyes flit to Marlene who winks at her.
"Don't worry about it, they fit you better anyways."
Tris turns her attention back to the mirror. Marlene has paired the jeans with a loose, black, off the shoulder v-neck t-shirt. Tris likes it, but there's something not quite right about the overall look.
"Tuck the front of the shirt in, just a little bit at the button and put your hair up."
Tris quickly does as she's told, and the outfit suddenly looks ten times better.
"Do you still have those shoes Christina bought you?"
"You mean the completely impractical overly chunky trainers that made me roll my ankle the one and only time I've worn them? Top shelf," Tris replies, pointing at her closet behind Marlene.
Marlene laughs as she makes short work of grabbing the shoes and tossing them Tris' way.
"Perfect," Marlene says as Tris finishes tying them up.
"You think?"
"Absolutely."
Tris looks at herself in the mirror one last time. The outfit really is perfect. Never in a million years would she have come up with it. Had she not called Marlene she'd probably have just given up and thrown on a pair of leggings like usual.
"Thank you," she says, relieved.
"Anytime. Speaking of time, when are you supposed to be there?"
"Around 10."
Marlene pulls her com out of her pocket and checks the time.
"It's a good thing you're ready, because it's already 10:04am."
"Crap."
The girls quickly make their way out of Tris' room. Marlene heads to the main door while Tris grabs her com from the kitchen and shoves it in her back pocket.
"You know I'm going to expect a very detailed description of everything that's gone on between you and Eric since you've given me absolutely nothing so far, right?"
Tris smiles while rolling her eyes at Marlene.
"I'm surprised you're even letting me go with the little information I've given you so far."
"Well, you seem nervous, so I figured I'd cut you a break this time."
"Much appreciated. Now, let's get out of here."
Tris checks the clock on her com device for what feels like the millionth time while pacing outside of Eric's door.
10:17am.
She knows she should knock to announce her arrival, but the longer she paces the harder it is to bring herself to do it.
She doesn't know why she's this nervous about spending the day with him. They got along well last night and he's surprisingly sweet but for some reason she's worried she's going to make a fool of herself.
She's also convinced this is a terrible idea and will only make it harder for them to be professional with each other in the future.
"Are you planning on coming in anytime soon? Or should I bring you a plate out here?"
Tris jumps, startled by Eric's sudden presence.
"I was, just about to knock," she lies, embarrassed to have been caught.
"Sure you were. I'll be in here whenever you're ready," Eric responds, chuckling as he goes back inside leaving the door open for her.
Tris takes a deep breath before crossing the threshold into Eric's apartment.
She purposely takes a few extra seconds when closing the door to give herself time to compose herself.
Tris makes her way over to Eric who is standing at his kitchen island beside a contraption she has never seen before.
"What is that?" she asks, tilting her chin towards it.
"A waffle maker," he responds nonchalantly as he whisks a bowl of batter.
Tris scrunches up her face.
"A waffle maker? What does it do?"
Eric stops whisking and looks up at her.
"Makes waffles."
"You say that like I'm supposed to know what a waffle is."
"You've never had a waffle?" Eric asks incredulously.
Tris shakes her head in response.
"You mean, they don't have waffles in Abnegation?"
"No. It doesn't even sound like a real word to me."
Eric laughs.
"I'm just messing with you. Most people don't know what waffles are."
"Wait, what?"
"Waffles, which for the record are not a common food these days, were evidently a breakfast staple back before the wars. They're kind of like pancakes, similar batter but not identical, and instead of frying them in a pan, you put them in that thing, and it turns them into…well…waffles."
Tris moves closer to the waffle maker and points at it.
"May I?" She asks, wanting to investigate it.
"Go ahead."
Tris pulls on the handle, opening up the waffle maker and revealing the waffle plates.
"Where did you get this thing?" she asks, continuing to inspect it.
"You'd be surprised how many random prewar items are still kicking around. This thing was actually a gift from someone at Erudite that I did a pretty big favour for. He knows how much prewar technology interests me and thought I'd get a kick out of it."
"And what," Tris says looking up at him, "you just randomly decided to put pancake batter in it?"
Eric laughs.
"No, I've actually had a pre-war recipe book since I was a little kid. I used to read it over and over again. When Joel brought me the waffle iron, I knew exactly what it was for."
Tris' eyes widen.
"You have a book from back before the wars?"
"It's over there," Eric says, pointing behind her.
When Tris turns, she is shocked to find an entire wall filled with books. She walks over to the wall slowly and stares at it in awe.
"This is amazing," she says reaching to pull one off the shelf before stopping short and glancing towards Eric for permission.
"Go ahead," he replies as he ladles batter into the waffle maker.
Tris is momentarily distracted by Eric's activities in the kitchen. She watches with rapt attention as he closes the top of the maker, spins it upside down and opens the other side. He then proceeds to ladle more batter into this side before closing it again.
"They'll be ready in a few minutes," he tells her, putting down the ladle and walking over to where she's standing.
Tris reaches out and runs her fingers gingerly across the spines of a few of the books but doesn't remove any from the shelf.
"Have you read them all?"
"I have. It's been a while since I've read a lot of them though. Being in leadership doesn't really allow me a lot of free time, but I still manage to get a few in here and there."
"Do you have a favourite?"
Eric nods and quickly scans the wall. His eyebrows furrow briefly before he turns and walks towards what Tris can only assume is his bedroom. He re-emerges with a well-worn book and hands it over to Tris.
Tris accepts the book cautiously, running her fingers over a particularly rough looking crease in the top corner of the cover. Something about this moment feels exceptionally intimate and her heart begins to race as she looks up at Eric.
"What's it about?"
"It's a kind of hard to explain. The first time I read it, I had to do a bit of research on one of the great wars that took place during the time that we consider 'pre-war'. Until then, I didn't even realize there had been wars before the wars that our society talks about. The book is essentially a fictionalized story of the last days of a fallen German emperor who is living life in exile. He longs to reclaim his throne despite the atrocities that the German army are in the midst of committing during the war. There are two other main characters, a British housemaid and a German solider. They fall for each other and the soldier, who ends up questioning the actions of his country, is torn between his love for her and his duty."
"Wow," Tris says, a bit stunned. "I didn't even realize books like that existed. The only books I've read are textbooks on the datapads at school. Caleb had a few physical books that my dad managed to get for him through connections in leadership, but they were all about science and technology. Nothing like this."
Tris turns the book over in her hands examining the dents and creases that have clearly appeared over time. She is slowly flipping through the pages when a noise goes off in the kitchen.
She looks towards the noise and then at Eric.
"Waffles are ready," he says smiling. "Why don't you go take a seat at the table and I'll bring the food over."
"Sounds good," she says, passing the book back to Eric.
Instead of returning the book to his room, he puts it down on the corner of the kitchen island and makes his way over to the waffle maker.
Tris watches as he removes the waffles and places them onto individual plates. He puts one plate in front of her along with cutlery and the other in front of the empty space across from her. Next, he makes his way over to the fridge, takes out a bowl as well as a measuring cup filled with a thick brown liquid which reminds her of gravy and returns to the table.
Tris looks at Eric expectantly, unsure of how to proceed with her meal.
"This," he says, picking up the measuring cup, "is brown sugar syrup. You can drizzle it on like you would with pancakes or, you can do what I do and slowly fill every divot of the waffle with it."
Tris watches as Eric meticulously drips the syrup into each of the little squares that make up the waffle.
"Then, I suggest you take a generous helping of the whipped cream and plop it right in the middle," he adds, dipping a spoon into the bowl and flicking a large dollop of whipped cream onto his plate. "Your turn."
Filling every square seems a bit excessive, but Eric's enthusiasm while delivering his instructions is enough to convince Tris that it'll be worth the effort.
Eric waits for her to dress her waffle, his fork in one hand and his knife in the other.
"Ready?" he asks when she done.
She nods in response.
"Let's eat!"
Despite his direction, Eric doesn't move but instead watches Tris as she pops her first bite into her mouth.
"You're staring is stressing me out," she says, swallowing.
"Well, what do you think?" he asks impatiently. His expression reminds Tris of an eager child looking for their parents' approval and she can't help but grin.
"First of all, I think you tricked me. This is not a breakfast food. This is dessert."
"Maybe by present standards, but apparently not in pre-war times because I promise you it's in the breakfast section of that cookbook."
Tris laughs.
"Fine, I'll accept that. Secondly, it's frigging delicious. Like better than Dauntless cake delicious."
Eric smiles.
"Well now I'm torn, because in this apartment Dauntless cake is King, but also that's a crazy good compliment so I'm going to let that slide. I'm glad you like it, now I can finally eat."
The pair sit in silence, too busy enjoying their brunch to talk. The meal is large, and the last few bites are a struggle, but Tris is determined not to let a single crumb go to waste.
"Thank you," she says, putting her cutlery down and leaning back in her chair. "That might have been the best meal I've ever eaten."
"You don't even know how happy that makes me."
"I know I've already said this, but you really aren't anything like I thought. I never would have guessed how sweet and fun you are. I think I've smiled more with you in the past two days than I have since transferring."
"Not a lot of laughs with Number Boy then?"
Tris internally chastises herself for walking right into that question.
"It's not that we didn't enjoy each others company. I guess he's just kind of an intense person, so our relationship was intense. We never really dated, we just sort of fell into a relationship after the incident at the chasm and I didn't realize until now that the intensity was specific to my relationship with him and not necessarily to all relationships. Being with you is just a different experience, I guess. I mean, all relationships can't be the same and that's probably a good thing."
Tris expects Eric to make a crack about her relationship with Four but instead he just nods his head and starts collecting their dishes.
"I've actually never been in a serious relationship," Eric admits as he places their plates into the sink.
"Really?" Tris asks, surprised.
"I've gone out and I've hung out with some girls but nothing that ever lasted more than a few dates."
"I guess we're kind of the opposite in that way. I've been in a relationship, but in a way, this is my first real date."
"And as you're first date, how would you rate it?"
Tris bites her lower lip and walks over to where Eric is standing by the sink.
"I think I need one more piece of data before I can answer that," she says looking up, her eyes affixed on his lips.
"And what would that be?" he whispers, lowering his head so their lips are mere millimetres apart.
Her heart is racing as she pushes up onto her tip toes and presses her lips to his. She doesn't know where this forwardness is coming from but as their lips move passionately and his arms find their place around her waist, she is eternally grateful for this rare moment of boldness.
A/N: First of all, if you want to cancel skinny jeans, you'll have to pry them out of my cold dead millennial hands.
Second of all, I am by no means a war buff, so I hope I did that description justice.
Third of all, I think I enjoy writing breakfast scenes more than the average person.
Anyways, I hope you enjoyed some fluff! That was the first part of their date which means there are two more mini dates to come. Comments are always welcome and thank you so much for reading!