Divergent One Shots (Eric & Tris)

Thirty-Four-Party Games 8

Tris

Christina and I walk through the Pit heading to Zeke's apartment for a party.  He said it's a small one with games.  This is my first private party and I'm so excited. 
"Uriah said Four is working tonight so no problem," Christina tells me. 
I nod in understanding.  I know.  He always works late on Friday nights. I wouldn't have come otherwise.  Things did not end well between us.  I took a job in intelligence working for Jax and he threw a fit.  I'm technically seventh in line for Dauntless leadership.  So... if all of the leaders die and Jax, I will head the Dauntless faction.  I don't think it's a big deal.  That's never going to happen.  But... Four doesn't approve.  He thinks it's too much of a risk to work so close to them.  I've been in my position for four weeks now and it's going well—no problems whatsoever. 
We arrive down a narrow hallway in a residential area of the Epsilon District and Christina knocks on the door. 
"Hey, there you guys are.  The last to arrive," Shauna greets us at the door. 
"Yeah, sorry.  It's my fault.  I just got off and had to change," I admit.  I didn't want to go out in my uniform. 
"Yeah.  Me, too," Shauna nods. 
She lets us in and I see Lynn, Marlene, Zeke, Will, and Uriah seated in the living room.  There are a couple guys with their backs turned to us. 
"Hey, Trissy!" Uriah waves. 
I laugh lightly and wave back.  But I see two men turn their heads in my direction.  Eric and Ryan are here.  I hadn't realized they were friends with Zeke. 
"Come sit with us?" Marlene encourages. 
We step over and I sit next to her on the sofa.  Christina sits next to Will. 
"So... now that everyone's here, let the party begin," Zeke says happily. 
We start off with a card game.  Shauna passes out drinks to everyone and sits on Zeke's lap.  We play a couple rounds and I lose every time.  I'm not so good at this game.  But Eric and Ryan are phenomenal.  They seem to win every game. 
We move onto a question and dare game—Candor or Dauntless.  "So, it's my party.  I get to go first," Zeke insists.  He explains the game—that we either have to answer a question or do a dare.  Zeke asks first and we have to go through everyone before it can come back to him.  I nod in understanding. 
"Uriah," Zeke says sneakily. 
"Dauntless," Uri grins. 
"I dare you to drink five shots blindfolded of whatever I give you and tell us what they are," Zeke laughs. 
Uriah shrugs.  Someone ties a piece of cloth around his eyes and several of us join Zeke in the kitchen.  I trail behind and chuckle as I see a few jars of miscellaneous contents and other random items from the fridge lined up along the countertop.  Shauna joins us with a bottle of blue liquid from a back room and even Eric is laughing.  They pour drinks for him in shot glasses but I'm unsure what everything is.  I see milk in the middle and I think this won't be so bad. 
They place a tray on the coffee table in front of Uriah and Marlene is the one to put a cup of yellow transparent liquid in front of him.  He sniffs it and recoils. 
"Okay, I assumed this would be alcohol," he winces.
"It's whatever I decided," Zeke teases. 
Uriah quickly tosses back the liquid and coughs after swallowing.  "Pickle juice," he winces. 
"Correct," Shauna laughs. 
Marlene queues up the next one.  It's red. She puts it in his hand. He tips it back quickly.
"Ugh... salsa?" he questions.
Everyone laughs and he clears his throat a couple times of some random chunks.
Marlene gets the next one ready. It's also yellow like the first but somewhat cloudy.  Uriah sniffs it.  "What the heck is this?" he questions.  He downs it quickly, coughing and wincing.  "Straight lemon juice."
"You got it," Zeke chuckles. 
He's given the next glass and I know what this is. 
He drinks it quickly. 
"Yuck, Milk? Those do not go well together," Uriah complains. 
I grin at that. 
The next one is the blue liquid and I'm still not sure what it is.  Eric is already laughing.  So is Ryan actually.  Uriah downs the liquid. 
"Oh, God.  That's nasty together," he says shaking his head.  "Mouthwash."
I crack up at that. 
"Ugh, my stomach," he complains.  "I think it's making cheese."
"Yeah, nasty cheese," Marlene giggles. 
"Alright," Uriah says rubbing his hands together and surveying the crowd.  "Eric?" he calls out. 
Eric raises an eyebrow mid-sip of his drink. 
"Candor," he says. 
"Who was your first kiss with?" Uri asks.
"A Stiff," he replies.  I blink in surprise.  That's strange considering physical contact is a taboo. 
"No way," everyone says disbelievingly. 
"When?" Uriah questions. 
"You only get one question," Eric points out.  "Shauna?"
"Candor.  I don't want any of those nasty dares coming back on me," she replies. 
"Who was your first kiss?" Eric questions. 
"Zeke, of course," she laughs.  She calls on her sister who has to kiss a boy.  She picks Ryan and kisses his cheek.  She chooses him next and he has to chug two beers. 
"No more with drinking for Ryan," Eric insists.  "Or I'll have to carry him home... and by carry I mean drag because he's heavy."
We all chuckle at that and Eric and I share a look. He's grinning at me.
"It's my turn?" Ryan questions.  Everyone nods.  "Tris?" the leader calls for me.  "What's going on between you and Four?"
"Duh, that's easy, man," Zeke interjects.  "I could've told you that."
"Um, we're not seeing each other," I shrug. 
"You broke up?" Ryan confirms.  I nod.  "That's interesting," he grins and looks to Eric. 
"Christina," I call on her and she chooses Candor.  "How many pairs of shoes do you have?"
"Oh, that's a good question," she nods.  "I'd have to go count."
A few people leave with her back to our apartment.  It turns out she already has thirteen pairs and we haven't been out of initiation for that long—about a month. "Don't worry.  There will be more," Christina insists. 
I laugh at that.  I've seen. 
She chooses Will and he has to balance something on his head for five minutes.  He's actually pretty good.  Marlene has to stand on her hands and try to drink water upside down.  Zeke has to say something funny while running through the Pit.  I actually leave to witness this one. 
I'm giggling at him being completely silly.  Ryan and Eric join me chuckling at him.  We return to his apartment and he calls on Eric... but he doesn't give him a chance to choose. 
"When did you kiss a Stiff?" Zeke questions. 
"When I was ten," he shrugs. I have a strange flashback in my head and I shake out of it when Lynn calls on me.
"Are you over Four?" Lynn questions.
"What's there to get over?" I shrug.
"I think that's a yes," she laughs lightly.
The dares and questions get back to Eric and Ryan asks him who this mysterious Stiff was.
"She transferred to Dauntless," he says staring at me. I flush in that Four said there weren't many Abnegation transfers here—just the two of us. I meet Eric's eyes and he's staring at me.
The game continues and someone asks Eric if he still has feelings for her.
"There's only ever been her," he replies.
The game proceeds and I get called on by Zeke but he doesn't have me choose.
"I dare you to spend seven minutes in heaven with whoever the bottle lands on," Zeke says spinning a bottle. All the guys with girlfriends leave the circle of friends and back up. It's only Eric and Ryan remaining. I don't know what I'm supposed to do but it looks like it's going to land on Ryan. He picks up the bottle as it slows and points it at Eric on the table.
Everyone makes noise—hooting and cheering—pulling us both to stand up and dragging us down the hallway. We're shoved into a bedroom and they shut the door. Eric walks further in and lays down on the bed on his back with his arms folded comfortably behind his head while I hover around the doorway.
"What are we supposed to be doing?" I ask confused.
"Making out," Eric shrugs.
I cough in discomfort.
Eric chuckles in response.
"You used to make out with an Erudite boy," he teases.
"I did not," I deny coming and sitting at the end of the bed.
He smirks at me. "Not that you can remember," he continues.
"Yeah... but that can't be true," I insist.
"It is," he shrugs again. "I don't lie... well, not to you."
I chuckle at that admission. I throw myself back on the bed with my legs still hanging off the end. My arms are over my head.
I listen as Eric tells me about this childhood of ours that he's concocted. He speaks about my family going apple picking every year and my cheeks burn in embarrassment.
"We did go apple picking," I confirm.
"You think I'm not being honest?" he questions.
"I don't remember any of this," I shake my head.
He grabs my hand and pulls me up beside him. He lays on his side next to me. He softly explains that I was given a serum when I was younger—forced conformity to my faction—but it was administered by Erudite. I frown at that.
"I've missed you, Little Stiff," Eric whispers. His voice is so familiar and gentle—a soft caress—yet so different. It's deeper than I remember.
I look back to him and study his face. "You used to have curly hair," I whisper.
He smirks at that. "I do have curly hair," he says stroking my cheek gently. I close my eyes at the contact—the affection, the gentleness. It's sweet and caring. I feel his thumb run across my bottom lip and I shudder.
"Can I kiss you?" he whispers.
My eyes fly open at that and I sit up.
"This can't be real," I insist.
"I'm sorry," he says. "I should've taken you and ran. I didn't know the punishment was so severe. My dad warned me..."
I've never seen this side to Eric. He looks sad and disturbed in his thoughts. I remember falling from a tree and he caught me. I kissed his cheek. I lean over and kiss his cheek again. He meets my eyes as I back up. It looks like he does want to kiss me so I rise and walk around the room.
"Is this Zeke's room?" I ask.
"This is my room," Eric says. I look to him and raise an eyebrow skeptically. "My old room," he clarifies.
I nod. "I didn't know you were roommates," I say.
"Yeah," he replies.
"So... you have a crush on me?" I tease the leader.
"It's always been you," he whispers.
I shake my head in disbelief. I close my eyes and see that cute little Erudite boy. I open my eyes and I realize—he is one and the same. He's watching me.
"Do you want the truth?" he asks me.
"About what?" I question.
"Tonight was a setup. It was Zeke and Ryan's idea. They knew about you and they were trying to get us together," he tells me.
I laugh in disbelief about that... but then I remember how after a while, it seemed to be all about us. I see him striding over to me. He takes me in his arms without my permission. He kisses the top of my head and I sigh shakily. He's so familiar. I feel a kiss to my cheek and I can't help but turn into the kiss and meet his lips with mine. He seems surprised but goes with it, brushing our lips together. He deepens the kiss and I melt into it. This is familiar. He was my first kiss... and it feels so incredible. All the memories come rushing back and I pull away staring at him. He holds me with adoration in his eyes.
"It's always been you, Tris," he whispers.
"You gave me that name," I remember.
"I did," he grins nodding.
"Choose Dauntless," I repeat.
"And you did," he whispers rubbing our noses together. He kisses me gently.
"Seven minutes are up!" Zeke says pounding on the door.
Eric chuckles and looks down at me. "Best seven minutes in eight years," he whispers before kissing me again.
He laces his fingers with mine and opens the door. I know I'm blushing as he pulls me down the hall. He takes me with him to his seat and pulls me onto his lap.
"So... how was it?" Christina asks me grinning.
I look to Eric and back to the rest of the group who's hanging on every word. "Heaven," I chuckle.
They laugh in excitement.
"Are you guys a thing now?" Zeke questions. He can't help the smile.
I feel a nudge from Eric encouraging me to answer. I look back to him but he wants me to decide.
"Yes," I tell him.
He smirks at that and pecks my lips. The whole room cheers for us.