Star-gazing: Eric Coulter

Chapter 1

TW- swearing

Song: Stargazing
Artist: the neighbourhood

Layla's pov:

I sat down at one of the metal benches opposite Four, sighing as I did so. I was so fucking tired. "What's up with you?" He muttered serving himself a portion of porridge from one of the dishes in the centre. I did the same, but giving myself a smaller portion of the mushy substance. "I just got back from a mission last night, and now Max wants me to help you guys train the new initiates." I groaned, as Lauren came towards us. "I just need a rest." I whispered the last part but I think Four heard me. I wasn't lying though, Max hadn't given me a break in the last few months: constantly ordering me out of the dauntless base on missions and forcing me to interrogate several factionless members that Eric and his team had caught.
"Oh come on Layla, you should be happy. Training the initiates is fun! You get to boss them about." Lauren told me, interrupting my thoughts. "I guess." I told her. I just wasn't in the mood.

I felt like a zombie, I hadn't slept in almost a week and this was probably the first meal I had consumed in the last few days. There just hadn't been any time. The last mission I was sent on was over at amity, spying on some of their fields for suspicious activity- from the safety of the nearby forest that bordered their faction. There had been serious accusations thrown around that amity had been using 'peace serum' to drug members of the council, Max needed us to get to the bottom of it. We hadn't found anything. And Johanna (Amity's leader) surely wasn't happy about it once she found out. But that wasn't my teams' problem, it was the Dauntless council's.

"You sure you're alright?" Four wondered as we left the base for our morning run. I nodded, leaping over a puddle.
"Yeah of course, just got a lot on my plate at the moment." I told him, wiping the thin line of sweat off of my forehead. "Eric's in a good mood by the way, so he won't be gnawing your head off today as usual." I chuckled at their stupid feud.
"Thanks for the heads up." He laughed.
Quickly, we finished our run and made our way up to our different leadership apartments: to shower and get changed before the choosing ceremony- which only Eric and I were attending.

Pulling the silver key out of my tight-fitting shorts' pocket, I popped it into the lock and twisted it, before harshly pushing the door open. "We really need to get that fixed." I mumbled to myself, thinking back to our awkward front door.
"Eric? You home?" I shouted through our apartment, whilst taking off my trainers and throwing them into the corner.
When I didn't get a response, I made my way into our shared bedroom and saw him picking a black shirt from one of his drawers. "It would've been nice if you acknowledged me when I spoke." I tutted- barging past him towards the shower. Before reaching the bathroom, my husband gripped my wrist and spun me around to face him.
He looked me up and down (examining me for god knows what) as he cupped my cheeks in his huge hands, I leaned into his touch. "Four texted me." He grimaced at his name before becoming serious again. "He thought something was up with you. Is Max giving you to much to do?"
I shook my head, "No, no, no Eric it's fine. Everything's perfect- I promise. I'm just tired." I laid my head into his chiselled chest and traced my fingers over his impressive abs. Then made my way into the bathroom to strip and scrub the sticky, treacle-like sweat off my smooth skin. "The trains arriving in ten so get your ass out of the water!" Eric yelled directly as I turned the shower off. "Never mind..." I heard him mutter at the end.

He was stressed. Anyone could tell that, especially me. I grabbed his hand as we awaited the train alongside the dauntless-borns, "Are you doing any of the training this year?" I ask. He nodded his head, "Yeah, but I'm mostly overseeing it so put on your best show, darling." He smirked, roughly bringing his hand to my jaw and pulling me in for a sloppy French-kiss. He caught me off guard, Eric wasn't usually into giving PDA. Several dauntless-borns gagged at out behaviour, but Eric shut them up as the train neared us. "Get ready!" He yelled as the train rapidly approached us, most of us starting to run.
The train passed us faster than usual. I picked up my pace as my boyfriend leaped onto the small foot ledge and grabbed the shiny support bar connected to the side of the train, next to the door. He held out his hand for me, "I can do it myself." I told him, but nonetheless he picked me up by my waist and placed me into the moving cart. "I know you can."