Eric woke up and groaned and he cursed himself for drinking as much as he did the night before. He swore he was going to kill Ryan later when he saw him, that purple haired prick, he thought to himself. Eric had agreed for a couple of drinks and Ryan had managed to twist his arm and they stayed out until much later. Eric couldn't deal with today either, it was when all the shits came and he couldn't stand the dealing with the new transfers, he had more important things that needed doing. Eric looked at the time, realised he had two hours to get ready and get to the roof to welcome this year's group of initiates. Eric saw a glass of leftover whiskey and a bottle of painkillers on his bedside table with a note that read 'Hope you're not feeling too rough sweetie. See you later, love Ryan xxx' Eric rolled his eyes, took the painkillers, and downed the whiskey. God, I feel like death, Eric thought and got up from bed. He somehow made his way into the bathroom and went into the shower.
Once showered he went into his kitchen and remembered he had nothing to eat. "Fucking brilliant." Eric muttered to himself and made his way to the mess hall. There were other Dauntless around and all it took was a stare for everyone to stay out of the way. Eric pushed to the front of the line and the person behind the counter was quick to make Eric his coffee and to give him fresh scrambled eggs on toast. "Thanks." Eric said and walked off to sit at an empty table near the back. He was eating in peace, glad of not being disturbed when he felt someone sit next to him. Eric turned around to tell the person to fuck off when he saw the purple haired person he wanted to kill. "Good morning my favourite little leader." Ryan made a kissy face towards him. "Fuck off." Eric replied. "Aww no way to talk to your best friend. Has someone got a little hangover?" Ryan laughed. "Thought my little present might cheer you up." Eric glared at Ryan. "Oooooo the big bad leader is actually grumpier than usual." Ryan was laughing. "How the fuck are you so awake? If I remember you were drinking before I joined, you." Eric replied. "Simple, I never stopped drinking, nor have I slept." Eric shook his head, while Ryan beamed at him. "Now as much as I want to kill you, let me have my breakfast in peace, my head hurts and I have to deal with the initiates in less than an hour." "That's okay Eric I'll have my breakfast with you." Eric sighed. "Haven't you got any work you needed to be doing?" "Nope." Ryan said popping the p. "You gave me the day off." Eric sighed again. "Fine, but we're sitting in silence." Eric grumbled.
After a not so quiet breakfast, thanks to Ryan talking about God knows what, Eric left to make his way to the roof. Once at the top he sat on the ledge, his legs hanging off and had a cigarette. His headache had left now, and he had ten minutes before the train came. He took the last drag and threw the cigarette of the edge of the roof, hoping that it hit Four on his stupid head. Eric stood up at the ledge, putting his hands behind his back, waiting for the initiates to turn up. He was glad he chose a black vest, with his combat trousers, forgoing his leader's jacket as it was warm with a slight breeze. When Eric saw the train approaching, he puffed out his chest and made himself look as intimidating as he could. He watched the initiates jumping from the train and noticed that a Stiff was joining them this year. He waited for the last one to jump off, and unfortunately no one had stayed on the train or managed to kill themselves jumping onto the roof this year. Eric glanced at the group quickly and his eyes landed on the Stiff, and he looked at him. He noticed the shaved black hair and striking blue eyes. He remembered him from the aptitude test and gave him a look of disgust.
Eric took great delight in waking up the initiates on the first day of training and took even greater joy when he realised whose bed he kicked to wake up. No one really caught his eye, apart from the Stiff and he was surprised when Four wanted to speak to him. Curiosity got the best of him, and he waited outside to door to listen to the conversation. His eyebrows were raised when they began to argue, and he heard the doors open to be confronted by Jamie. And can you imagine the shock Eric felt when he learnt that Four's younger brother was here. Eric's ex Erudite brain started calculating a plan to get back at Four and was going to manipulate the Stiff to follow in his direction and to destroy Four.
Eric woke up the next day with a clear head and went to the training room to do some weights and to punch a bag. The training room was where he usually went as he wanted his own space and to avoid Ryan, he was too hyper first thing in the morning. He was lost in his own thoughts when he heard someone come in and apologise, the Stiff surprised Eric yet again. Eric wasn't easy to impress but he was by Jamie's dedication. It helped that he was Four's brother, and a plan came into his head to help him and while doing so it would annoy Four to no end.
So that is how it continued for the next three weeks, and Eric couldn't help talking to Jamie and getting to know him. Gone were the plans of manipulating him, he was wanting to help him. Truth was there a war going on between the Factionless and Dauntless and the plan was to get the best of the best to help to go onto covert missions and help aid the war and Eric suspected that Jamie might be a good fit with his attitude. Eric wondered what it would be like when Jamie did his weapons training next month.
It was during one of their many breakfasts together that Eric started to care about the Stiff. He saw the looks his group gave him and he felt protective of the man. He didn't mean to catch feelings and usually he didn't take the time to know someone before he fucked them, but Jamie was different. He enjoyed talking to him and seeing him smile. Maybe it was because of what Jamie had told him about growing up with Marcus. Eric didn't have a great childhood either and he bonded with Jamie with that.
The only person that Eric spoke to about his children was Ryan, however they had been childhood friends. Eric had slipped to Jamie that he never felt good enough for his father either and that his step mum Jeanine had high hopes for him, and he tried to get away from them with deflecting to Dauntless. It was party the truth, but he was worried what Jamie would think if he knew the whole truth.