Uriah and Marlene distract me with mindless chatter as they accompany me back to my dorm while Lynn lends her silent support. As we near the room Uriah perks up.
"Hey, man!"
I tear my gaze from my feet to see who was it that he was greeting to see my brother hovering by the door.
Tobias jerks his chin in one of those 'bro-greetings' that boys seem in do and pats Uriah on the back, "Thanks for taking care of her."
Uriah shakes his head, "Don't worry about it. Nessie here's one of us now. She won't be able to get rid of us even if she wanted to."
I raise a brow at him teasingly, "What makes you think I don't already?"
"You love us too much, Ness." Marlene nudges me with her shoulder with a big grin on her face before pulling me in a hug, "We'll see you at breakfast tomorrow! Try to get some rest."
I nod and wave goodbye to Uriah and Lynn before they leave and then turn to face my brother.
"What are you doing here?" I ask.
"What does it look like? I'm catching up on my brotherly duties." He jokes.
I snort, patting him on the shoulder like he did with Uriah before. "I assure you, I'm fine." I said before adding, "How's Drew?"
"Still an asshole," Tobias replies, in such seriousness that it makes me laugh.
My smile fades as memories of our fight assault my mind and I'm left with the guilty ache in my chest.
"Do you ever get used to hurting people?" I ask. If anyone would understand the turmoil I'm experiencing right now, it would be my brother.
"No," He shakes his head, "That's the ugly side of being a part Dauntless that people don't see." Tobias sighs, "It scares me sometimes, too. But I don't take pleasure in hurting people. Do you?"
My eyes snap to his and I frown at his question, "Of course, not!"
"Good," He states, "You know what that proves? You're not like him. We're nothing like him, V. If you let the memory of him haunt you, then you might as well have stayed in Abnegation because letting him have a hold on you, anyway." Tobias says, "He's not worth the pain, V."
Tobias pauses his speech as a couple of initiates walk by. I'm sure to them, it looks like my instructor is having a chat with me about what had gone down after the fight.
As soon as they disappear, Tobias says, "I was wrong."
"About what?"
"About it being a mistake that you chose Dauntless," He replies, "I don't think I've ever seen you happier, V. Don't let him ruin that for you."
With that, he pulls me into a quick hug and presses a kiss to the crown of my head like he used to do when we were kids.
"Get some rest, you'll need it."
✧
It's already after midnight when I awaken from an incredibly restless sleep. I fell asleep a little after ten but despite the two hours' worth of sleep, I still feel just as exhausted as before.
Dressed in a tank top and some sweats, I climb off of bed, only pausing long enough to throw on some shoes before I head out the door.
I walk aimlessly through the compound, but before I know it, my feet have carried me all the way to the back of the compound and I'm standing before the rickety-looking door that Eric led me through the last night.
I wasn't looking forward to the five-storey worth of steps to climb, but the rewarding view at the end of it is worth it and so I set off up the stairs.
By the time I get to the top, my legs are burning and I was breathing as if I'd just run a marathon.
I walk down the hall until I reach the door at the end. Wrapping my fingers around the knob, I turn it and a soft click sounds then...nothing. It's locked.
I curse myself for being such an idiot. Eric had a key to the door that other night, and it had completely slipped my mind.
Frustrated with myself, I turn the knob a couple more times as if it'll magically unlock itself when I door swings open and Eric stands on the other side of it dressed in a similar getup to mine- a tank top and a pair of grey sweats, sans shoes- wearing his signature scowl, though that quickly vanishes when he sees it's only me.
"I'm sorry," I blurt out, "I didn't think you'd be here and I just-"
Eric doesn't even wait for me to finish my sentence, simply moving to the side to let me in.
"I don't want to intrude-"
The infuriatingly sweet asshole cuts me off before I could offer to leave, "Just get your ass in here."
I step into the room and he shuts the door behind me. Once again, I'm blown away by the sheer beauty of the room that's entirely made of glass. I don't think I've ever seen anything quite like it.
My eyes land on the beat-up sofa in the corner of the room that's positioned so it's facing out the window...though, I guess in a way, whichever way it's facing is considered facing out the window in this room.
I notice that the same blanket I used the other night is draped across the sofa. Half of it was hanging off of the back of the sofa as if someone had haphazardly shoved it off of them before getting up, and a pillow is propped up against the armrest.
"I'm sorry for waking you," I apologise again when I realised that judging by the setup, Eric was probably sleeping.
He waves me off, "Don't worry about it." Eric makes his way over to the sofa and takes a seat. "Are you alright? Why are you here?" He asks, sounding concerned.
I shrug, "I couldn't really sleep...technically, I slept. Just not too well." I'm blabbing nervously now that he's staring at me with those intense eyes of his.
He nods and then reclines onto the sofa, making himself comfortable against the pillow and throws the blanket over himself.
Just when I think he's really just going to return to sleep, he scoots back a little, pulls back the blanket and taps the- almost non-existent- space on the sofa for me to join me.
I shift on my feet unsure of whether this was a good idea. Just thinking of the sheer proximity that would be between us makes my palms sweaty.
As I sort out my thoughts, Eric never pushes me to join him, leaving the decision up to me as he waits patiently for me to finally decide.
Before I could think too much into it, I close the distance between us and lower myself onto the edge of the seat. I take my time pulling off my boots to give myself a chance to calm down before I lay down beside him.
The sofa was wide enough for two people, especially when one of them has shoulders that are as wide as Eric's, but as he wraps an arm around my waist and pulls me closer to him, I find that it was the most comfortable I've ever been despite being half sprawled out over him.
I nuzzle my face into the crook of his neck, enjoying the weight of his arm around me.
The tips of his fingers trace the scar above my left brow and he breaks the silence by asking, "What happened there?"
I chuckle at the memory against his chest, "It's a funny story, actually." I thought it was up until the part where Marcus got involved. Though, I kept that part of it to myself.
"Tell me," He mutters.
"I think I was about six or seven, then." I start, "My brother and I always got really bored, and so we started this tradition of going out to this wall we'd discovered right on the very end of the Abnegation sector. At first, it was weekly, and then it started becoming a thing that we'd do on each other's birthdays since we weren't allowed to celebrate."
"And would one do at a wall?" Eric asks with a teasing smile.
"There was a ladder we'd use to climb to the top," I explained, "The view was amazing. Comparable to the one here in my six-year-old mind."
"Climbing walls?" Eric raises his pierced brow at me, "Sounds to me like you were born to be Dauntless."
I laugh and jump back into the story, "Well, we stopped going there for a while, so this one time on my birthday, Tobias decided it was a good idea to go out there for old time's sake. What we didn't know until we got there was that the ladder had been removed and we had no way up and so, we decided to get a little creative with it."
Eric groans, "That doesn't sound good." I can't quite decide if he's just going along with it for my sake or if he's genuinely invested in the story. Either way, I decide it's pretty cute.
"There were these crates lying around, so stacked them up. The idea from there, was for me to climb on Tobias's back and he'll lift me onto the wall, from there I'll tie this rope that we'd found onto a metal railing so he could climb up."
"And whose bright idea was that? Yours or Tobias?"
I grin, "It was Tobias's."
"Your brother sure sounds like the life of the party," He lets out a laugh.
I snicker at the fact that unbeknownst to him, said brother and his archenemy were one and the same.
Propping my chin up on his chest, I glare at him. "Did you just imply that I'm boring?"
Eric's smile widens, "Your words, not mine."
"If that's your way of telling me that I'm boring you, then I should get go-"
Eric's arm tighten around me as I pushed myself up and he tucks my head under his chin. "Finish the damn story, initiate. That's an order."
The playfulness in his voice makes my smile even wider until my cheeks are feeling a little numb from it all.
"Well, we acted out the plan; I managed to get onto the wall and secure the rope, and as he was climbing, I reached down and attempted to help him. Attempted being the keyword, here." I go on, "I lose my balance and fell over." Pointing to my scar, I say, "Had to get stitched up and was concussed for two weeks."
Eric's chest rumbles under my ear as he laughs and I realise how incredibly natural and intimate it was to be lying on his chest while I told him tales from my childhood. Though this was all still new and could possibly be a little awkward, it felt comfortable.
It all feels so lighthearted that I leave out the part that comes after. The part where I had to get my stitches redone because Marcus had managed to rip them, or the part where Tobias could barely walk after the beating he had gotten.
"There's more to the story, isn't there?" Eric asks as if he could read my thoughts.
I shake my head, "Not in the way I like to remember it."
Eric hums thoughtfully but seems to accept my answer. I appreciate how he never forces me to talk, letting me do it on my terms.
I shift against him so that I could get a better look at his face. His usually harsh features look softer now that he's relaxed, and I'm not sure if it's just in my head, but his eyes feel warmer and lacking the usual iciness that I associated with them.
Eric looks back at me curiously, as if silently asking what I was staring at him like that for.
Doing something I think neither of us expected me to, I lean forward and I kiss him.
Eric doesn't even hesitate, his lip immediately moving against mine as if he's been waiting for this moment ever since we'd first kissed.
Unlike our first, this kiss is slow and sensual, but somehow just as passionate.
As I slide my hand up his back and into the hair at the nape of his neck, it feels as if time had slowed down just for us.
Especially here, where I feel as if I'm at the top of the world, the way Eric's lips move against mine makes it feel even more special than it already does.