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dauntless-gothamite · 2 years ago

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Kiss Me Under the Mistletoe

Fandom: Venom (Marvel) Pairing: Eddie Brock x Venom Summary: Eddie and Venom prepare for Christmas together, and Venom has no idea what to get Eddie. When an argument gives him a gift idea, Eddie wakes up and fears that Venom has left, he voices all the feelings he has been keeping hidden. A/N: I wrote this yesterday and I’m hoping it will help me get out of my writing slump; let me know what you think!!

- December 20th -

Eddie rolls out of bed with a groan as Venom emerges from his shoulder, forming as a floating head. “Eddie, what are we doing today?” Venom asks, antsy after waiting hours in Eddie’s body for his host to finish sleeping. Eddie places a mug under the coffee machine, sighs, and turns around to lean against the counter and face Venom before answering.

“I am going to schedule an interview with an artist who has been doing interactive exhibits around San Francisco, and then, maybe–just maybe–we can go get a Christmas tree.” Eddie feels Venom shuffling around in his mind for a moment and thankful when it stops, Venom quickly having found the answer he was looking for.

“A Christmas tree would be nice, Eddie. We will get the biggest one we can!” Venom exclaims, buzzing with excitement. Eddie grabs his now-ready coffee and takes a sip, hissing as he burns his tongue.

“Woah, woah, I said maybe!” Eddie answers as he pulls his shirt over his head and walks back towards his room, ready to get dressed for the day. The moment he finishes speaking, he feels the tough texture left behind by the burn in his mouth cool and fade, and a small smile settles on his lips. “Thanks, buddy,” he says.

“...Now can we get the tree?” Venom asks.

Sighing, Eddie says, “Yes, we can get the tree, just as soon as I’ve set up this interview.” Venom hums and Eddie takes that as him agreeing and continues with his morning routine.

Venom stays silent and still as Eddie talks on the phone and schedules an interview, thoughts of Christmas filling his mind. From what he has seen in Eddie’s memories and on television, Venom has gathered that Christmas is about two things: people you love and presents. Unexpectedly, Venom starts to feel unsure about a lot of things. Eddie has some Christmas traditions; would he want Venom to be a part of them? What would he get for Eddie? Would Eddie get anything for him? Just as he starts to spiral, Eddie says, “You can come out now, V! Let me grab my wallet and put my shoes on, and then we can go.” He has a relaxed smile on his face, and Venom thinks to himself: this is when he is happy. How can I make him feel like this for Christmas?

- December 21st -

“Eddie, Eddie! Today we are going to decorate the tree!” Venom says, pulling Eddie from his sleep and extending a tentacle holding a mug of fresh coffee towards him.

“Yeah, but not at,” Eddie pauses to look at the clock on his nightstand, “7:15 in the morning,” he grumbles.

“That is why I made the disgusting drink you like so much,” Venom explains. Eddie just rolls his eyes and gets up, ready to get to work.

An hour later, Eddie sits on the couch, Venom’s head floating next to him, to admire their handiwork. “You know, V, you’re pretty good at this whole tree decorating thing,” he muses.

“Of course I am, Eddie,” Venom replies. “I do not know how you get anything done with so few arms.” Eddie chuckles and that same smile from the day before once again appeared on his face.

“Yeah, me neither,” Eddie jokes. Turning to Venom, he continues, “I don’t really have anything to do today; do you want to watch a Christmas movie?”

“I would like to watch Elf. The internet says it is very funny,” Venom says.

“Really? Because I was thinking we could watch “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” Eddie replies, fighting not to smirk.

“Why?”

“Well, you know, weirdly-colored not-human thing living far away from civilization-” Venom playfully slaps Eddie with a tentacle, causing him to break and release the laugh he’d been holding back.

“No, we are watching Elf,” Venom insists.

“Alright, Elf it is,” Eddie says as he begins to set the television up.

- December 22nd -

The interview Eddie had set up the day prior has been going on for the past hour, and Venom is starting to get bored. So far, he has occupied himself by moving around in Eddie’s body, but he decides it’s time to see how much longer he’ll have to hide. “Eddie, how much longer?” he asks in Eddie’s mind.

Eddie glances at his watch and mutters “Twenty, max,” into his shoulder. The artist across from him raises a brow and twists their lips, so Eddie plays it off as a cough to the best of his ability. The next twenty minutes are some of the slowest in Venom’s life. But, he knows how much Eddie hates it when they interrupt him when he’s working, so he remains silent.

As they leave the coffee shop where the interview had taken place, Venom suddenly stops Eddie in his tracks. “What is that?” he asks, extending a tendril from the crook of Eddie’s neck to point at the marshmallow and whipped cream covered drink in a passing stranger’s hand.

“Oh that? That, my friend, is hot chocolate. Anne used to make it all the time when it got cold out. It never tastes as good when I make it, so I haven’t had it much lately.” Venom hums noncommittally, a melancholic feeling washing over them as Eddie reminisces about Anne. That has been happening a lot more lately, they notice. “Tell you what, V,” Eddie says. “Why don’t we walk a few blocks to the holiday market and get some before we go home?”

Shortly thereafter, two large takeaway cups of hot chocolate in hand, Eddie ducks into an alleyway, and Venom emerges from his shoulder so they can enjoy their hot chocolate together.

- December 23rd -

The sun is starting to dip below the horizon line, and Eddie is standing in front of the mirror with Venom fussing over his hair and outfit. “Venom, why do I have to look so nice, we aren’t trying to get Annie back or do anything funny, remember?” he scowls.

“Don’t pout, Eddie, we like to look good for Anne! And Dan, too! Besides, she will probably want to take pictures.” Eddie sighs and nods, letting Venom pull various items out of his closet until he has decided on an acceptable outfit. In the end, Eddie is wearing a dark red sweater under his signature leather jacket and dark designer jeans with leather boots.

“We should get going, we don’t want whatever Anne has cooked to get cold before we arrive,” Eddie says, turning away from the mirror. On the way out, Venom grabs the bottle of wine Eddie had left on the counter to take to dinner and delivers it into Eddie’s hands before disappearing back inside Eddie. “Thanks, V” Eddie smiles.

“You are welcome,” he replies.

“Come on in,” Anne greets when Eddie rings the doorbell after parking the motorcycle down the street. “You look nice,” she nods in approval.

“Thanks. Oh, this is for you,” he says, holding the wine bottle out to Anne, who accepts it and leads him into the kitchen, where Dan is adding garnish to a chicken dish. “Dan, nice to see you,” Eddie greets.

“Likewise!” Dan says and makes his way over to shake Eddie’s hand. “Is uh…are you-” he starts awkwardly.

“Yeah, Venom is here,” he says at the same time that Venom forms a floating head connected to Eddie by just a few strands of gooey material at the back of his shoulder.

“Merry Christmas, Dan! Merry Christmas, Anne!” Venom says loudly.

“Merry Christmas, Venom,” Anne replies fondly. “Dinner is ready, let’s head into the dining room,” she says and falls into step beside Dan. At the threshold of the doorway between the kitchen and the dining room, Dan and Anne pause, and Dan leans down to kiss Anne. “Mind the mistletoe,” Anne teases over her shoulder to Eddie and Venom before looking up to the plant hanging above her. Eddie laughs and shakes his head, walking under the mistletoe without pause, and Venom makes a mental note to ask Eddie about the mysterious ceiling-plant later.

- December 24th -

Venom has been more quiet than usual this morning, and Eddie notices. “Hey, V, everything alright?” he asks after Venom fails to comment on how disgusting coffee is by Eddie’s third sip.

“Yes, Eddie.”

“Are you sure? Because you are being really quiet this morning.”

“I am just thinking,” they reply.

“Well that’s dangerous,” Eddie jokes. “What are you thinking about?”

Venom hesitates before answering, “Mistletoe. Why do we not have any?”

Eddie coughs and sputters, cheeks turning rosy, and he says, “Well, mistletoe… the thing about mistletoe is that you are supposed to kiss someone if you’re standing under it together. So it works well at parties, you know, when there are a lot of people. But here, it’s just us, so it doesn’t really make any sense,” Eddie explains.

“Then why do Anne and Dan have it?”

“Because Anne and Dan have friends who come over for holiday parties,” Eddie answers quickly. He takes a breath and adds, “And because they are in a relationship.”

“If they are in a relationship, then they can kiss anytime they want. Having a plant to tell them when to kiss makes no sense!”

“I guess it doesn’t,” Eddie muses. “But it’s a fun holiday tradition,” he shrugs.

“But you did not want to kiss me under the mistletoe,” Venom points out. Eddie's cheeks go from a light pink to a deep red in just a few seconds, and Venom feels his heart rate spike.

“Well you and I are, um, we-”

“Yes, Eddie?”

“We aren’t that, we aren’t a couple, so I can’t just kiss you, especially not in front of my ex-fiancee and her new fiancee!”

“What about when we are here?” Venom pushes.

“Venom, I don’t want to kiss you, okay! Sometimes, I don’t even want to talk to you! Just shut up about it!” Eddie snaps, and Venom stills beside him. Without a word, Venom dissolves against his skin and settles silently inside him.

Eddie regrets yelling at Venom almost instantly, but he knows that if he says something, he’ll have to explain, and he isn’t ready for that. How can he tell Venom that for a while now, but during the past month especially, he has felt differently towards them? That Venom’s enthusiasm to decorate the Christmas tree not only gave him hope that the holidays wouldn’t be lonely this year, even though Annie isn’t here, but also made him think that they could even be better? That the sight of Venom licking the last dregs of hot chocolate mix out of a cup made him think about that tongue in completely inappropriate ways? He couldn’t.

Eddie and Venom don’t speak for the rest of the day. Eddie just hopes things will be okay in the morning.

- December 25th -

Eddie is pleased to wake up on Christmas morning to the smell of coffee next to him, and he is even happier to see that it’s just after 9:00 in the morning. He smiles, ready to thank Venom, when he pauses. Venom didn’t wake him up this morning. He looks around the apartment quickly, as though that would give him some kind of reassurance that Venom hasn’t left, when he finds the note:

Dear Eddie,

Merry Christmas. I did not know what to get you, but last night you helped me figure out the perfect gift: you have a whole day to yourself, where you will not have to hear me think or talk.

- Venom

Eddie sets the note down and stands in shock for a moment. Did Venom mean he’d left Eddie’s body and would be back, or was he still there, just silent and still? And if he’d left, where would he go? Would he be okay? Eddie is starting to freak out at this point and gets dressed and brushes his teeth and rushes out the door, turning to stuff the note in his pocket at the last moment.

Unthinking, he speeds towards Anne’s house and once he’s there, he’s knocking frantically. She opens the door, and he shoves past her, looking around before turning to her. “Have you seen Venom?” he asks.

“What?”

“Have you seen Venom!” he repeats as he takes the crumpled note out of his pocket and shoves it into her hands forcefully. “Look,” he says, unable to resist reading the words once again. She doesn’t answer right away, taking time to read the note.

Then she looks up, shoulders slumped downward, and asks “What did you do?”

“I yelled at them,” Eddie admits quietly, shame heating his face. “I don’t know, I freaked out, and I just–I’ve yelled at him before, maybe he finally had too much.”

“Hold on, don’t freak out,” Anne says, pacing a few steps back and forth.

“I’m already freaked out!” Eddie snaps back.

“Okay, well what did you and Venom argue about?” Anne asks. “Maybe that will help us figure out how to get him to come out.”

“That’s if he’s still here in the first place!”

“They are, I can tell,” Anne says, eyeing Eddie.

“How? I can’t tell and it’s my body!” Eddie replies, patting himself down and turning around in a circle to look over his shoulder in search of Venom.

“I just can, but that’s not important,” she sighs. “Now stop moving around and tell me what you two were arguing about.”

Eddie stills, hesitating before he speaks. “Mistletoe.”

That stops Anne in her tracks. “Mistletoe?”

“Yeah. V had all these questions and he was confused and I think maybe I offended him or something…” he trails off.

“And?” Anne prompts.

“And what?”

“I know you, so I know there’s more you’re not saying. Out with it, now.”

Eddie runs his hands down his face and takes a deep breath. “I said that I don’t want to kiss him… and that sometimes I don’t even want to talk to him.”

“Oh, Eddie,” Anne says, deflating. “You’re such an idiot.”

“Hey! Wait, what?” he asks, dropping his hands. Anne pinches the bridge of her nose and leads Eddie over to the couch and takes a seat beside him.

“You know Venom has been looking out for you for a while, right?”

“Yeah, but I don’t see where you’re going with this,” Eddie says, furrowing his eyebrows.

“Then why would you tell him you don’t want to kiss him?” Annie accuses.

“Wh-because I don’t!” Eddie replies too fast and crosses his arms over his chest.

“You do. I’ve noticed things between you two are different, and that’s okay! And you can’t seriously expect me to believe you’d rather not talk to him,” Anne adds.

All of a sudden, Eddie’s defenses drop. “Yeah, you’re right. It has only been last night and this morning, but… I miss him,” he says. “I’m scared, Annie,” he whispers. “What if he left last night and something happened and I can’t do anything?” he confesses, unshed tears making his eyes glassy.

“He didn’t leave, I already told you. Now, I have an idea, okay?” Anne says and rests a hand on Eddie’s shoulder.

“You’re not going to throw a knife at me or something, right?” Eddie asks, trying to lighten the mood, but the joke falls flat.

“No,” Anne smiles sadly. “Now walk over there,” she points to the mistletoe, “and talk to him. Be honest. I’ll be upstairs; I’m going to take Dan some coffee,” she says, rising and exiting the room. I hope this works, Eddie thinks to himself before striding over to the doorway and standing under the mistletoe.

“Alright, V. I hope you’re in there and that you’re listening,” he breathes out shakily. “I’m sorry for yelling at you and for the things I said. They aren’t true. The truth is that–okay, I really hope you’re listening because this is going to be really embarrassing otherwise–I really want to kiss you under the mistletoe. And not under the mistletoe. I just want to kiss you, I have for a while now, I think. And I like that we can talk all the time, even if I shouldn’t be talking to you at a certain time, like at work or something, because I still want to. And I was, I am, nervous because well, I’ve never wanted to kiss–and maybe do some other stuff,” he adds, blushing, “with an alien that lives in my body, so it’s all a little unprecedented, so if you’re in there listening, can you please come out right now so I can kiss you under this stupid plant?”

For a moment, nothing happens, and Eddie doesn’t know what to do. He didn’t realize he’d started crying until now, and he wipes his cheek dry only for it to be licked by what is unmistakably Venom’s tongue. Eddie looks up and finds himself pressed against the thin edge of the doorway and Venom’s hulking black figure leaning over him. Eddie searches his opal eyes for something he can’t quite name before thinking fuck it and standing up on his tiptoes to pull Venom in for a kiss. When he finally pulls back, he meets Venom’s toothy smile with one of his own and says “Merry Christmas, V.”

“Merry Christmas, Eddie,” Venom answers. “Can we do that again?”

“I’d love to,” Eddie smiles, laughing as Venom reaches up and rips the mistletoe down.

“It is in the way, I do not like the feeling of it on the back of my head,” they explain. They both lean in for another kiss only to be interrupted by Anne, who is standing just a few feet away next to Dan, clearing her throat. Eddie groans at the mirthful glimmer in Anne’s eyes, knowing he’s about to regret ever coming here.

“I’m glad you two figured things out,” Dan starts diplomatically, only to be interrupted by Anne.

“Me too,” Anne says with a smirk. “But why don’t you both go home; we can meet up tonight for dinner, okay?” Eddie nods and Venom morphs into his floating head form.

“That would be very nice, thank you, Anne!” he says.

“No problem, big guy,” she says, winking. “See you later. Merry Christmas!”

“Merry Christmas!” Eddie and Venom say in unison, leaving quickly, eager to continue where they left off. Eddie decides he can worry about Anne’s teasing later; for now, he just wants to enjoy the day with Venom.

#symbrock #veddie #eddie brock #venom #eddie x venom #dauntless-gothamite #dauntless gothamite #motherfxking-flannel #motherfxking flannel #holiday imagine #marvel #sonyverse #christmas fic #oneshot

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dauntless-gothamite · 2 years ago

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url change!

motherfuxking-flannel -> dauntless-gothamite

#motherfxking-flannel #motherfxking flannel #dauntless-gothamite #dauntless gothamite

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dauntless-gothamite · 3 years ago

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Prove Them Wrong [9/?]

Fandom: Divergent Pairing: Eric Coulter x Fem! Reader Summary: Y/N is a Dauntless transfer from Erudite, and she has a drive, an ambition that sets her apart--it always has, even back in Erudite. She brings her perseverance (and need to prove others wrong) to Dauntless when she transfers, and she uses her mind to make her way through the initiation process. Along the way, she makes friends and enemies, and she finds herself comfortable around the man most people in Dauntless avoid at all costs: Eric Coulter. A/N: wow, it has been a while! I'm sorry it has been so long; I am pretty busy with school at the moment. But I wanted to let you all know that I see your kind asks/messages, and if I haven't answered you yet, I will soon; I appreciate each and every one of them! This chapter has the fear sim and reader accidentally skips lunch, so trigger warning for fear of not being good enough/failure, and Peter being a creep (nothing happens though). Idk how I feel about this chapter, but please let me know what you think! <3

Metal on metal woke you up, and you sat up with a start at the unpleasant sound. After scanning the room, you saw that it was just Four with his trash can lid and ladle waking everyone up, as per usual. “Alright, today is the first day of stage two, and after last night we let everyone sleep for an extra hour. So, get your asses out of bed, get dressed, and eat breakfast before reporting to the training room, and we’ll walk from there to the simulation rooms together. In one hour, we are going to start the simulations, so don’t be late!” Four announced before walking out of the room. As soon as he was out of sight, several initiates groaned in frustration.

“I am so fucking tired,” Christina said.

“Tell me about it,” you replied, lifting up your shirt to reveal the bruises on your side from your fight with Peter. Christina’s eyebrows rose in surprise.

“Holy shit! I can’t believe that was yesterday! Do you need pain meds or anything along with breakfast?” she asked, her eyes softening in concern.

“I’ll be fine,” you smiled, getting dressed as you spoke. “I just want something to eat.”

“You can say that again,” Will said as he and Tris joined you and Christina, making a small circle.

“Alright, let me get my shoes on,” you said, pulling on your already worn-in combat boots and lacing them up before the four of you left the dorm.

The four of you walked into the dining hall, heading straight for an empty table. As Will started filling his plate with scrambled eggs, you scanned the room, feeling someone’s eyes on you. All the other initiates were too preoccupied with making themselves eat despite how appealing the idea of taking a nap right at the table seemed. Eventually, your gaze made its way to the leader’s table, where you locked eyes with Eric, who raised an eyebrow at you as if in some kind of challenge. You held his gaze momentarily, only looking away when Tris tapped your shoulder. You looked at her questioningly, and as she passed you the serving spoon for the eggs, you realized everyone else had begun eating except for Tris, who always waited until everyone was served to eat. Old habits die hard, you supposed.

As if rudely parodying your thoughts, Peter stepped up to the table you and your friends were sitting at and said “The Stiff still doesn’t understand that here, she actually needs to eat if she wants to survive.”

“Fuck off, Peter,” Christina said, rolling her eyes.

Stepping away, Peter raised his hands in mock surrender. “I’m going, don’t worry. I just wanted to make sure you all knew that there’s no way you’ll pass the fear sims,” he smirked, turning on his heel and leaving everyone at your table annoyed and a little scared, the reminder about the fear sims bringing your anxieties about them to the forefront of your mind. And it seemed like you weren’t the only one.

“What an ass,” Will said, trying to focus on his food rather than the churning nerves in his stomach.

“You’re telling me,” Tris mumbled, and you grinned a little bit at this snarky side of her.

Just as you turned back to your food, you heard combat boots hitting the concrete behind you, and without turning around, you said “I thought we told you to fuck off, Peter.” The table had gone quiet, and you saw everyone staring at you. Dread settled over you. “It’s not Peter is it,” you asked with a wince.

“No, initiate, it’s not Peter,” Eric’s unmistakable voice chuckled from behind you. You sat up straight, turning to face the leader, who stood with his arms crossed and a smirk on his face, amused at your embarrassment.

“Sorry,” you laughed. “Obviously, I was expecting someone else.” Eric raised a brow at that but otherwise his face reimagined stoic.

“Clearly,” he replied. “I came to ask you two,” he looked between you and Will before continuing, “what you know about the latest serum developed for fear sims.”

Will shook his head, eyes wide. “Nothing, sir,” he said. With a nod, Eric turned his attention to you.

“Only that it’s more powerful, obviously, otherwise they wouldn’t need to update it in the first place, but--” you cut yourself off, suspicion that had been creeping in since Eric asked the question finally taking over.

“Anything else?” he asked knowingly.

“No, sir,” you shook your head.

“Alright,” he said unconvinced before walking away without another word.

“What was that about?” Will asked, leaning across the table towards you.

“I don’t know, I just gave the basics about why any serum would be modified, and I had this feeling… I don’t know, it just seemed suspicious that Leadership would ask us rather than Jeanine. Maybe it was a test?”

“Something like that,” Will said, trying to convince himself.

Tris, who had gone silent, stood up abruptly, tapping you on the shoulder. “I’m going to use the restroom before heading over to the training room. See you there,” she excused herself, nodding at you subtly. A few moments later, you excused yourself from the table and made your way to the nearest bathroom, where Tris stood waiting.

“Hey,” you whispered. “What’s up?”

Without wasting any time, she said “We have to tell Four what you just told Eric.” You hesitated for a minute before nodding. Something was strange about what had happened earlier, and if Tris was willing to put her trust in Four, you would too.

“You tell him,” you said after pacing the bathroom for a moment. “He knows you better anyway,” you added.

“Okay,” Tris agreed. “I’ll tell him later today if I can.”

“Good. Now, let’s get to the training room,” you said, already heading for the door.

“Ladies,” Peter leered as you and Tris walked into the training room and walked over to where Will and Christina were standing. As other Dauntless initiates filed into the room, Four and Eric stood at the front of the room, surveying the crowd.

“Okay,” Eric said, stepping forward to address the nervous crowd. “Everyone follow Four and me, we are taking you to a holding room where you will wait to be called for your first fear simulation. Let’s go,” he barked out the order after explaining, and he and Four started walking through the hallways, stopping once they reached a stark, white room with benches lining two of the walls.

“Take a seat, give us a minute to set up, and then we’ll start calling you into those rooms,” Four said, pointing to the two doors on the back wall.” Then, he and Eric disappeared, each through one of the doors, and the room went silent as initiates fidgeted in their seats. After about a minute, Four and Eric popped their heads out of the doors, calling names, and the fear sims had begun. The initiate in Four’s testing room walked out thirteen minutes later on wobbly legs, pale and sweaty. Thirty seconds later, the initiate in Eric’s room walked out in tears. All the initiates in the waiting room looked around, the reality of the situation settling over them, becoming real in a way that it hadn't been before. As the next pair of names was called, the two people who had been selected stood up much more hesitantly than the first pair of initiates had, and Eric glared at one of them, who you recognized as Selene. You watched as the other woman steeled herself and walked faster, more confidently, towards Eric’s room, the door slamming shut behind her.

Minutes seemed to stretch on forever, and each initiate walked out looking worse than the last. You’d fallen into a kind of stupor, choosing to focus on what you know, facts that could keep you grounded. Fact number one: it was a simulation. Fact number two: even if the sim caused a real-time trauma response in the body, which it seemed like it did, no one had ever died from a panic attack--at worst, you pass out and your body “resets” in a way. Fact number three: neither instructor would let something truly terrible happen. Four wasn’t malicious, and Eric had mentioned your potential; he wasn’t going to let someone who could help the faction in the future die. A part of you hoped he cared about you as an acquaintance after the limited time you two had spent together. It wasn’t enough to be a friendship, but it was more than anyone else had with the ruthless leader. As your mind wandered to thoughts of your time with Eric, you reminded yourself to stick to facts only; those were certain, they were grounding. Before you could continue talking yourself out of thinking about feelings rather than facts--fear is technically a feeling, something deep inside the crevices of your mind echoed, as if tying tall of he thoughts you’d been having for the past hour or so up in a pretty knot, Eric opened the door to his testing room and made eye contact with you. “You’re up, initiate,” he said. You rose to your feet, and walked forward. It was time to face your fears.

You stood in the middle of a crowd, arms and legs tied together, mouth gagged. Your muscles ached; you’d been fighting for hours, and your mind was sluggish after so much exertion. Looking at the faces around you, you saw the faces of various people who had appeared in your life, ranging from your friends and family to a Factionless man you’d seen on the street a year ago. “It’s okay,” they said, speaking in one echoing voice. “We know you did your best.” You looked down at yourself and saw blood and grime, and your cheek stung as a salty tear rolled down your face. Inside your mind, you knew that there was a second part to that statement, something the voices had left to say. You stared into the eyes of your father as he said in a foreign chorus of voices “your best just wasn’t enough.” Suddenly, you knew this fear; you’d been here before, maybe in your nightmares once. If the simulator plays off the subconscious, you thought, then it can only use things I already have the capacity to imagine. So how would I get out of this? You considered. You saw a knife strapped to the ankle of one of the strange bodies surrounding you, and despite your hands being bound, you made a grab for it. As you reached for the knife, the ground opened up beneath you, transforming the space around you into a cell. There was blood on your hands, and Dauntless leadership stood outside the cell beside your parents.

“You did what you had to do,” your mother reassured you. “You’ll get out of there soon.”

“I-I didn’t do anything wrong,” you defended, despite being unsure of what had happened. Max stepped forward.

“No, you did what you had to do. That child was a threat to us all.” And, much like the last scene, you realized what the fear was in one horrific moment. You had killed someone, someone young. It was self defense, you’re sure of it, but that didn’t change the guilt that you felt. What if, even though you could perform your Dauntless duties you couldn’t handle the emotional aftermath? Before you had the chance to spiral, you caught a glimpse of Eric’s tall figure walking around beyond the cells. If he can live with himself, balancing the good with the bad, you thought, remembering all the times he had yelled at initiates as well as the time he let you sleep in his apartment, then so can I. Survival first, there will be time for guilt later. And then the scene changed again.

You were in the fighting ring, and Peter stood over you. “Someday, I will beat you,” he whispered threateningly. “And when I do, I will show you which one of us really holds the power.” An adrenaline rush unlike any other came over you as Peter’s words sank it, and without a second thought, you headbutted him, standing up.

“You are a coward!” You yelled. “Threatening me with something like your pathetic manhood just to feel more in control? It’s because you can’t beat me unless I’m scared, and you think you can scare me.”

“It worked, didn’t it?” Peter smirked. You rushed at him, and as your fist collided with his face, you woke up.

“Well, that was fast,” Eric drawled from beside you. You were startled, having forgotten he was there, but you managed not to flinch. You looked up at Eric and locked eyes with him.

“Did I do well?” you asked, only shaking slightly as you came down from the adrenaline high.

“Yes,” Eric nodded. “Now, get out of here. I have more initiates to test.” With a deep breath, you rose from the chair, stumbling slightly, and Eric steadied you. “Careful, I’d hate for one of our top initiates to accidentally fall into the chasm just because they aren’t used to the feeling of the serum wearing off and coming down from the adrenaline spike.”

“Thanks,” you said with a tight smile as you slid out of his grasp and walked out of the room, carefully avoiding your fellow initiates’ stares.

After wandering the halls for a while, taking care to avoid the chasm, you grabbed your bag from the dorm room and searched for a quiet spot to read, settling on an empty training room that was a little smaller than the one you and the other initiates had trained in. After settling down on a surprisingly clean sparring mat, you reached into your bag for the book your father had given you on visiting day. You were almost done with Eric’s book, and you knew if you read it now you’d finish it, but your mind wanted to get lost in another world, which was why the book your father had given you, titled Mythos Priories: Origin Stories and Mythologies From Around the World, was the perfect book to read right now. You took a moment to admire the beautiful quetzal that graced the front cover of the book, vibrant scales and feathers lined with gold amazing you every time you looked at them. You opened the book and began reading, content to get lost in the legends of long ago for the time being.

Some time later, about fifty pages into the book, someone stopped in the doorway, cleared their throat, and said “Well, this is unexpected.” You turned to see Eric, trying to keep your annoyance at being interrupted under control. “You know this is a private training room, right?” he questioned.

“No, I did not,” you replied with a frown as Eric walked over to you. “The door was open,” you shrugged.

With a short laugh, Eric said “Just because a door is open, doesn’t mean you should enter,” and you studied his face, unsure if he was being serious or messing with you. His possibly serious demeanor changed in an instant though, as he looked down at your book and plucked it with your hands, grinning. “Origin stories and Mythologies, how interesting,” he said, looking at the cover of the book before opening it back up to where you had stopped reading. “Japanese mythology?” he asked, skimming the page.

“Yeah,” you nodded enthusiastically. “It’s so interesting and overlooked, as are most Eastern mythologies, in academia in favor of Western mythologies. I mean, everyone knows the Greek and Roman myths, but this stuff is much less common,” you said, excited, and Eric smiled a bit at your enthusiasm.

“I thought you were done with Erudite?” he teased.

“I am!” you defended yourself. “I just like reading…”

Eric nodded before saying “I would keep that a secret if I were you,” he advised. “Wouldn’t want anyone doubting your loyalties before you’re even a fully-fledged member of Dauntless.” You searched his eyes for a threat in the statement, but there was none that you could see, and you nodded, taking the book back. “Are you done with my book?” Eric said, breaking the semi-awkward silence that had fallen between you two.

“I’m almost done with it,” you said. “I just wanted something a little more fantastical, after, you know…” you trailed off. Eric nodded in understanding.

“You did well. It gets easier, you know.” It came out stiffly, but you knew that was his way of offering comfort, and you smiled in thanks. “Now, if you don’t mind, I was going to train in here, so either get ready or get out,” Eric said, crossing his arms. You sat there for a moment, shocked, before making a split-second decision to join him in training.

With a nod, you stood and gathered your things, put them on a bench near the wall, and jogged back to the mat.

You groaned as Eric kicked your leg out from under you, sending you harshly to the mat once again. “Damn it,” you forced out, propping yourself up on your elbows. Eric only grinned at you smugly. “I am still an initiate, no need to be so smug about beating me,” you muttered as you stood up, feeling new bruises develop on your already tender skin. You expected the leader to scowl; your exhaustion had lowered your sense of self-control, and this wasn’t the first snarky remark you’d made to him. Instead, he raised an eyebrow and smirked.

“Well, well, it appears someone gets hangry,” he said, checking the clock. You followed his gaze and saw that it was already dinner time--how had you missed lunch? Usually you didn’t let time get away from you like that, but after the fear landscape, you’d delved into reading and training, and the hours had flown by faster than you’d realized.

“Sorry,” you said sheepishly. “I guess I read through lunch,” you explained.

Eric’s demeanor changed in an instant. “You didn’t eat lunch? And still trained with me? What the hell is wrong with you?” You winced a little, feeling like an idiot. He wasn’t yelling at you, but you could feel the disappointment radiating off of him.

“It was an accident; I guess I just read through it, I--” you started to explain, and you were glad your face was flushed from training because it hid the embarrassing pink flush across your cheeks.

“It’s fine… this time,” Eric said, a little calmer than before. “Just… you know you could pass out if you do something like that again.”

“I know. I didn’t mean to, I promise.”

Eric nodded and gathered his things, and you did the same. “Let’s go; it’s dinner time and I am walking you to the dining hall to make sure you don’t pass out on the way there. Make sure to eat something.”

“I will! I-” you said, a little defensively, before cutting yourself off. You were about to say “I promise”, but that felt too intimate, too personal. Was it weird to make promises, especially ones like that, to your leader? You supposed it was already weird to train in a private room with your leader, so after a moment of consideration, you finished the sentiment, locking eyes with Eric as you said “I promise.” He nodded curtly, and the two of you walked out of the training room together, bags in hand, and made your way to the dining hall.

Tag List: @shykoolaid, @taina-eny, @parabatai-winchester, @marvel-ousnesss, @kid-from-new-zealand, @polychr0matic, @maan24, @abysshaven, @darkenwolfie, @adaydreamaway08, @ssa--holmes, @poisonmenegan, @hannibalsslut, @louiselikeswriting, @haroldpatterson, @urgrlfnm

#divergent imagine #divergent fanfiction #four divergent #tris prior #tobias eaton #eric coulter x reader #eric coulter imagine #eric coulter #peter hayes #motherfxking-flannel #caleb prior #dauntless #abnegation #erudite #amity #candor #divergent

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dauntless-gothamite · 3 years ago

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Prove Them Wrong [11/?]

Fandom: Divergent Pairing: Eric Coulter x Fem! Reader Summary: Y/N is a Dauntless transfer from Erudite, and she has a drive, an ambition that sets her apart--it always has, even back in Erudite. She brings her perseverance (and need to prove others wrong) to Dauntless when she transfers, and she uses her mind to make her way through the initiation process. Along the way, she makes friends and enemies, and she finds herself comfortable around the man most people in Dauntless avoid at all costs: Eric Coulter. A/N: So idk if I am really happy with this chapter; I think it is one of the less entertaining ones I have written so far, but it’s setting some stuff up that I need so oh well I guess. School is pretty busy (should have done work this morning but gave this a final reworking instead) and I am sorry for how long updates are taking. Please let me know what you think! <3

You finished eating and sat at the table, waiting for Eric to return, but the minutes ticked by, and there was no sign of him. In fact, the silence of his apartment was almost eerie. Eventually, you moved to the couch, unsure if you were actually allowed to sit there but deciding to do it anyway, pulled out Mental Conditioning: Getting Your Mind and Body On the Same Page to distract yourself, deciding that you could probably finish it before Eric got back, seeing as all that was left to read was the conclusion. You lost track of time as you got lost in the final pages of the book, and just as your eyes reached the last paragraph, the door slammed open, revealing an especially angry-looking Eric.

“Get out,” he said, deadly calm. You frowned and stood, leaning over to put the book in your bag–you’d finish it later–but he stopped you. “Now, initiate! Leave the damn book, just get the hell out!” Scowling, you pushed the feelings of hurt down and put the book down on the coffee table a little more harshly than you normally would, slung your bag over your shoulder, and left without a word and without looking back, confusion, hurt, and anger brewing under the surface as the door closed harshly behind you. Your light footfalls echoed throughout the compound as you wandered about, thinking you’d eventually make your way back to the dormitory but choosing to clear your head first. Scowling, you muttered to yourself “I can’t believe he made me leave the book with only one paragraph left.” You knew your anger wasn’t solely because of the book, though that played a large role, but it was easier to focus on that than the emotional whiplash Eric had just put you through–the emotional whiplash of the last few days as a whole. As you wandered the corridors, you saw a training room with the lights on, and you moved towards it cautiously, curious as to who might be training at this hour. You poked your head into the training room and saw Selene, one of your fellow initiates standing in front of the targets, knife in hand. She aimed, and after a moment, she threw the knife towards the target, where it embedded itself a few inches below the center.

“Mind if I join you?” you asked, stepping closer.

Startled, she turned around before her eyes flickered in recognition. “Hey. You’re Y/N, right?”

“Yeah,” you nodded as she gestured to the target next to her, offering you a place to practice. “Thanks,” you said. Picking up a knife, you took a moment to assess its weight in your hand before positioning yourself, aiming, and throwing hard and fast. The entire blade of the knife lodged itself right in the middle of the target and Selene let out a low whistle.

“I do not envy the person who angered you,” she said teasingly, and you found yourself smiling a little.

“Oh, it’s stupid,” you said, a little embarrassed.

“I highly doubt that,” they said. “I know we aren’t close, but you don’t seem like the type to get overly upset about small things.” Then, they turned back to the target and threw their knife, which also landed a few inches below the center.

“Well… I was reading a book and the person I was borrowing it from made me give it back when I had one paragraph left,” you admitted, blushing over how childish it sounded.

Selene let out a chuckle. “Not what I expected, but fair enough,” they said before walking to the target to pick up the knives.

“I don’t want to be presumptuous, but might I offer you a suggestion?” you asked, throwing a second knife, which landed right next to the first one.

“Sure,” Selene shrugged.

“Before you throw, taking a moment to assess the weight of the knife can be really useful. That way, you know how much you have to account for gravity and how far above the target you should aim so that it lands right in the center.”

Humming, Selene replied, “That…actually makes a lot of sense. Thank you,” she smiled, picking up a knife, feeling its weight in their hand, getting into position, and throwing it. While it didn’t land perfectly in the center of the target, it was at least a few inches closer to than the other knives she’d thrown. Selene turned to you, eyebrows raised, and said, “You’re going to be a good leader, you know.”

“Word spreads fast around here, doesn’t it?” you asked with a blush, wondering if the whole faction already knew about the meeting you, Peter, and your friends had in Max’s office. Selene nodded, and you continued, “I still have to actually get the position, but thanks,” you acknowledged, earning you a smile from Selene. You picked up another knife, and the two of you fell into a rhythm of throwing knives and retrieving them, a comfortable silence filling the room.

You weren’t sure how much time passed in the training room before you heard a set of heavy footsteps making their way down the corridor. At first, you thought it must be Eric; he always seemed to be nearby when initiates were doing something against the rules. But after listening for a moment, you knew from the pattern of the footfalls that it wasn’t Eric, the gait sounded slightly shorter and each step seemed lighter. Shaking your concern away, you turned back to the target when Four’s voice echoed throughout the room. “You two should be in bed,” he said.

You and Selene just looked at each other, unsure what to say, and Four stepped all the way into the room with a sigh. “I know that fear sims can make sleeping difficult, especially at first, but you need the rest for tomorrow because you will have to do it again,” he started, warmth in his eyes. Selene shifted beside you, nervous, and nodded before going to retrieve her knives from the target. Four shifted his gaze to you, and you forced out a stiff nod, trying not to scowl as you went to grab your own knives. You were annoyed that your session in the training room was being cut short, but Four was right, so you chose not to argue, and there was no need to tell him why you were really there; the two of you didn’t have that kind of rapport. After putting your knives away, you and Selene walked to the door where Four stood with his arms crossed. “I’ll walk you back to the dormitory,” he said, leading the way. As you trailed behind with Selene, tiredness washed over you, and you were suddenly grateful for Four’s interruption. And when the three of you reached the dormitory, you gave him a small smile and nod, which he returned, before you made your way to bed, hoping you would be too tired to entertain any thoughts about the fear simulation as you faded into unconsciousness.

–

Though you had grown used to the sound clanking of metal rousing you from sleep, you woke with a start that morning, startled. You rubbed your eyes and looked at your fellow initiates. None of them looked particularly well-rested, but it was clear some had slept more than others. You didn’t have any nightmares last night, but you could feel a cold sweat on your back, and if your covers were any indication, you had tossed and turned all night. With a quiet groan, you made your bed, got dressed, and waited for your friends to be ready before walking to the dining hall for breakfast. As you walked into the dining hall, Tris by your side, you caught Eric’s eye across the room, and you quickly looked away with a scowl. Beside you, Tris quirked a brow, questioning you silently. You just shook your head before sitting down between Tris and Will to eat.

A forkful of fruit was lifted halfway to your mouth when Peter walked into the room, smiling far too widely for your liking. There was a newfound cockiness to his step, and when he strutted past your table without so much as a taunt in your direction, relief mixed with suspicion in your stomach. Your confusion and curiosity grew as he made his way towards the leader’s table–right for Eric. Dread must have shown on your face because Will gave you a light squeeze on the shoulder while your table watched the interaction as subtly as possible. You were too far away to hear anything, but Eric started to look angrier with each word that came out of Peter’s mouth while the ex-Candor just grinned wider. After a moment, Peter made his way to an empty table close to the leaders but still among the initiates, and Eric leaned over to whisper something to Max. Max’s eyes locked with yours, and your heart beat faster, the uncertainty leaving you nervous and discontent.

“Y/N, I need to see you in my office. Now,” Max said in a low voice that carried across the room effortlessly. Embarrassed, you could feel a blush rising on your cheeks, and you gave each of your friends a nervous smile as you stood and walked to the exit, where Max was waiting for you with crossed arms and an impatient expression. In an uncharacteristically silent manner, Max spun on his heel, and you followed him towards his office, wishing it had been a little longer between visits.

–

“So,” Max started, taking a seat in the black leather chair behind his desk. “You are continuing your Erudite education despite choosing Dauntless?” Max asked, his impassive face betraying nothing.

Brows furrowed and nose slightly scrunched in confusion, you were only able to say, “What?”

“It has been brought to my attention that Eric confiscated a book from you, and you were rather upset about it. Is this true?” he asked.

“Well-” you started, only to be cut off by Max.

“You chose Dauntless, Y/N. But it seems like you are struggling to leave your old faction’s lifestyle behind, which, at this stage of training, is unacceptable.”

You bit your lip in frustration, holding your tongue as you mentally combed through recent events, attempting to figure out how Max could have come to this conclusion. You weren’t sure, but you could ponder the issue more later, you thought to yourself. Right now, you just had to make sure you kept your status as a potential leader in Max’s eyes.

“I did have a book,” you admitted, pouring every ounce of guilt you’d ever felt into the statement. “I think talking to my dad on visiting day was a mistake,” you said, lying through your teeth. “I had my doubts about seeing my parents after leaving Erudite, knowing it would make the transition harder, but in the end, I thought I would be fine…I was wrong,” you said, dropping your eyes to the ground for a moment before meeting Max’s gaze once again. “I took the book from Eric’s office, but he noticed and took it back. I realize now how stupid that was, and I promise it won’t happen again.”

Max’s gaze softened ever so slightly. “I remember after all the new Dauntless the year of my choosing ceremony; they seemed to have a hard time with the transition. Especially those with strict routines in their old lives, as is so common in Erudite.” With a sigh, he continued. “I will let this go, just this once; you are a promising recruit and it would be a shame to eliminate such talent before the trials of leadership have truly begun.”

You exhaled in relief, uttering a thank you to Max along with promises to do better. Max waved your apologies off and stood, flicking out the lights in his office and ushering you out before locking the door from the outside and leading you back through the hallways to the dining hall once again. You gave the older man a small smile before rushing to your table, hoping you could eat a bit more before all the initiates were led away for today’s fear sim training.

All of your friends stared at you curiously, and you said “I’ll tell you later” as you sat down. For a moment, you were surprised Tris didn’t turn to whisper something to you like she normally would, but you smirked, noticing Four had taken a seat on her other side. “Hey,” you greeted Four, who nodded back. He looked like he was about to say something, but before he could, Eric spoke from the front of the room.

“Initiates, get a move on; fear sims start in two minutes!” Groaning, you and your friends rolled your eyes as you rose to put your plate away.

“He sounds extra grumpy today,” Tris mumbled, and Four was doing his best to suppress his laughter next to her. You nodded with a smile, agreeing, falling into place within your little group of friends and Four, looking up as someone took a step up to be next to you.

“Good morning,” Selene said cheerily, and you smiled wider.

“Hey!” you said, happy to see her. “Ready for training today?” you asked, attempting to make conversation.

“Ready as I’ll ever be to face my actual worst fears,” she shrugged, feigning nonchalance.

You gave her a small grin and said, “You’re going to do great” as you entered the room and took a seat on a bench at the edge of the room, falling silent as you did so. There wasn’t a rule against talking while waiting to be called into one of the testing rooms, but it seemed like everyone agreed it was best to remain quiet, so you sat beside Tris, offering a tiny wave to Selene as they peeled off from the group to sit next to Uriah and a few people you didn’t know.

With only your thoughts to entertain you as you waited to be called, you attempted to settle your mind and strategize so you could be even faster in the fear sim than you were yesterday. But try as you might, your thoughts kept returning to last night. It was odd–yes, Eric was known to be volatile and even cruel at times, but technically, snapping at you and demanding his book back wasn’t either of those things. Your eyes wandered to Peter, who was trying to keep his fidgeting to a minimum, and you wondered if Eric had confronted him last night, and if so, how it had gone. Neither one of them said anything to you about it, but you knew you were missing a piece of the puzzle. Based on last night and this morning, you could guess that they had encountered each other last night, and for some reason, whatever happened had left Peter feeling secure in himself, possibly even smug. Meanwhile, Eric was just angry. The obvious answer was that Peter had continued to show disrespect to the faction leader, but if that were true, why wasn’t Peter being punished? Before you could chase that line of thought any further, Eric called you into the testing room, voice clipped and serum already in hand.

As you approached the smaller room, you debated saying something to Eric, but with your new position as a potential faction leader, you decided to hold your tongue, opting to give him the cold shoulder instead.

“Ready?” he asked as you settled in the chair. You nodded, and with a small pinch in the neck, the sterile testing room faded.

–

A synthetic soreness crept into your muscles, and the clarity you’d had moments ago disappeared as a mental fog dominated your mind. Once again, you were tied up, surrounded by familiar faces long departed from your life, both living and dead. This time, your mother looked at you coldly and said, in the same echo of a thousand voices your father had spoken in yesterday, “Your best never was enough, was it? Why do you think this whole… “leadership thing” will be any different? I mean, look at you: even if you train to perfection, you’re not really fooling anybody. We know that you aren’t–” you cut her off, looping your tied hands over her head and around her neck, using your rope-bound hands to choke her, tears you couldn’t hold back running down your cheeks as her strangled coughs fell quiet.

The rope around your wrists softened for a split second before snapping into the hard form of handcuffs, and you were back in a cell at Dauntless. Max was there, again, sizing you up, and after a moment, he spoke. “I know it was hard, but you did the right thing. We’ll clear this up right away; we have the security footage to prove that you did nothing wrong. We’ve already sent someone to tell the parents, so that is taken care of…”

You tuned the Leader’s voice out and focused on the cell around you: the walls were grey, the cuff around your wrists were a cool metal. These were things you had become familiar with during initiation. This cell, you realized, even if you felt trapped and guilty, was still a part of your new home. And you don’t get to pick and choose which parts of life you want when you’re part of a collective, at least not right now, you realized. So, once again, you let acceptance flow through your veins, fighting against yourself and the urge to steep yourself in guilt, and the cell fell away before your eyes.

Now, you were with Peter, alone, in an unfamiliar room. It vaguely reminded you of Eric’s room - one of you must be a Leader in this scenario, you thought briefly - but you didn’t dare take your eyes off of the man before you. He opened his mouth to speak, but this time, you were ready. You picked up the closest thing you could find, which happened to be a small desk clock, and hurled it at his head before rushing him. Unlike yesterday, you said nothing to him, and you certainly didn’t give him the chance to say anything to you. As you beat him to a pulp beneath you, tears once again flowing from your eyes, you woke up with a start.

You wiped your tears quickly, catching Eric’s raised eyebrow and stoic expression. Other than that, he didn’t acknowledge you as he scanned the data on his tablet. You stood, about to exit, when he caught your arm. You turned your head over your shoulder to look at him, wanting nothing more than to leave this little room. “I heard they have something a little bit different for lunch today…” he started awkwardly. If you weren’t still upset with him, you would have cracked a smile at the way his words and tone were so different from his still stony face. “Which is rare. So… make sure to stop by the dining hall before training.” You nodded and looked down to his hand, which still gripped your arm loosely. Eric followed your gaze and retracted his hand, letting go of your arm aggressively, almost shoving it away. His eyes snapped back up to yours, and you nodded once more before turning back to the door and leaving him to prepare for the next initiate. As you walked towards the dining hall, interest piqued by Eric’s comment, you couldn’t help but turn the interaction over in your mind. When studied in the context of last night and this morning, you came to the conclusion that…Eric made no fucking sense. With a quiet groan to yourself, you looked up to find Will and Uriah already sitting at a table - they must have both been done relatively early and not know anyone else, you figured, as they didn’t normally sit together - and you made your way towards them, eyes widening at the colorful display of fresh food on the table. It was something you hadn’t seen since leaving Erudite, and you’d honestly never expected to eat it again: sushi, nigiri, edamame, and seaweed salad decorated the table. Sitting next to Will, reaching for a food more common in Erudite due to its clean nature and density in omega three and other nutrients that were good for keeping your brain healthy, you felt nostalgic. In the back of your mind, you wondered if Eric had something to do with this or if Jeanine was trying to use food to gain loyalty from Dauntless. You shoved the thoughts down, eager to enjoy this before you would once again be alone with Eric and confronted with all the mental musings you were working so hard to avoid.

A/N: I know I said I would have this up last week, so I am sorry that it is only getting posted now! Also, even if I have not/do not reply to your comment(s), know that I see them and they mean so much to me, I am just bad at replying to people :|

Tag List: @inpraizeof, @shykoolaid, @taina-eny, @parabatai-winchester, @marvel-ousnesss, @kid-from-new-zealand, @polychr0matic, @maan24, @abysshaven, @darkenwolfie, @adaydreamaway08, @ssa--holmes, @poisonmenegan, @hannibalsslut, @louiselikeswriting, @haroldpatterson, @urgrlfnm, @thisbreakableheaven, @criesinliess, @anon-1112, @angstyadultaries

#divergent #divergent fanfiction #divergent imagine #eric coulter imagine #eric coulter x reader #Eric Coulter #Dauntless #erudite #candor #abnegation #amity #Peter Hayes #Tris Prior #Tobias Eaton #four divergent #motherfxking-flannel #motherfxking flannel

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dauntless-gothamite · 3 years ago

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Prove Them Wrong [10/?]

Fandom: Divergent Pairing: Eric Coulter x Fem! Reader Summary: Y/N is a Dauntless transfer from Erudite, and she has a drive, an ambition that sets her apart--it always has, even back in Erudite. She brings her perseverance (and need to prove others wrong) to Dauntless when she transfers, and she uses her mind to make her way through the initiation process. Along the way, she makes friends and enemies, and she finds herself comfortable around the man most people in Dauntless avoid at all costs: Eric Coulter. A/N: Sorry it has taken so long to update! You all are so understanding and patient, which I am really grateful for. I hope you like this chapter, and I can’t promise to update faster, but I will make an effort!! <3 also, this story s 52.5 pages long on google docs...with 1.15 spacing - I cannot believe it! I’m pretty sure this is the longest fic I’ve ever written!

When you reached the dining hall, you didn’t even have time to scan the room for your friends at a table because they were already calling out to you.

“There you are!” Tris said, jogging up to you. “We didn’t see you at lunch, everyone was worried,” she continued, either not noticing or not acknowledging Eric’s presence by your side.

“Sorry,” you said, embarrassed. “It was an accident.”

“Okay, good. We saved you a seat, by the way,” she said, turning back towards the table.

You turned to Eric, nodded, and said “Thanks for walking me here, by the way,” you said with a weak smile. He only nodded, crossed arms, firm stance, and hardened face giving away nothing.

“No problem. Go eat with your friends.” You fought the smile that arose from hearing kind words come from someone whose expression was so blank, only a sparkle in his eye showing that his words were genuine. As you turned on your heel and started walking to the table where your friends sat, you smiled fully, a feeling of contentment settling over you like a blanket.

—

“Hey!” Christina greeted, with Will nodding next to her, as you took a seat. “Where have you been?”

“I went looking for a quiet room to read in after the fear sim this morning, and I guess I was in a private training room that isn’t technically open to initiates…” you trailed off, mildly embarrassed.

“And?” Christina pushed, raising an eyebrow, knowing there was more.

“And then Eric walked in to train.”

“So what, you just sat there and read as he trained?” Will said jokingly, causing your friends to chuckle.

“Actually, I trained with him,” you smiled. Tris’ fork clattered against her plate as she dropped it, and everyone stared at you slack-jawed.

“You trained with Eric? As in ‘I will destroy you all, initiates, so listen up!’ Eric?” Tris asked, picking up her fork.

“Yeah, what the hell?” Christina asked. “I’ve heard he has a strict rule against training or sparring with initiates; rumor has it there was even an incident involving him and an initiate last year.”

Before you could say anything, Will jumped in. “I mean, we know you’re good at all this Dauntless stuff, but training one-on-one with a leader? You might want to watch your back if some of the others catch wind of this,” he said, leaning in and lowering his voice towards the end.

“Look, I don’t know why he didn’t kick me out, but hopefully after I’ve finished eating and gotten some sleep, I can process the training and learn some stuff–I was a little out of it at the moment,” you admitted.

“Maybe he wants to recruit you for leadership,” Will suggested casually, and your friends looked at you excitedly, excited shock coming over you.

“Or maybe she whored herself out to him,” Peter’s grating voice said as he walked up to you and took a piece of chicken off your plate and ate it.

“What the fuck!” you growled, turning slightly to face him, face flushing in anger. “First of all, the amount of time you spend lurking and listening to our conversations, which you are not a part of, by the way, is both creepy and pathetic. Secondly, how dare you insinuate that I am making my way through Dauntless by ‘whoring myself out’, as you so eloquently put it. When I am a fully-fledged Dauntless, a spot earned honorably, you better hope I’m not your superior, Hayes, otherwise I will make sure you’re so busy with menial tasks you don’t have time to worry about what other people do in their free time, even if it is sleeping with other people. In fact, you’ll be so miserable and busy you won’t even have time to find someone willing to sleep with you, and on the off chance you do, you’ll be too miserable to get it up. You understand me?” Your eyes flashed in anger, but your voice remained even as you held his gaze.

“Someone’s feisty,” Peter said, whistling as he looked you up and down, trying to provoke you. “But with a mouth like that, it’s a miracle you haven’t been thrown from the chasm yet,” he drawled.

“What can I say, you bring out the worst in me,” you said and rolled your eyes, turning back to your dinner.

Just before you took a bite of food, Peter leaned over your shoulder, so you could feel his breath on your ear. “You might have everyone fooled into thinking that you’re cut out for life at Dauntless, but I see through you. After all, that’s why you went for the verbal takedown, right? A real Dauntless would have just hit me. Guess we know you’ll never actually get to carry out that threat you made, huh?” And with that, you set your fork down and rose from your seat.

“Sorry,” you said to your friends before grabbing the neck of Peter’s shirt, turning him around, and slamming him into the spot you had been sitting at moments before, so you hovered over him slightly. “I didn’t want to ruin the dinner my friends and I were having. Trust me, me not hitting you before has nothing to do with a lack of Dauntless spirit,” you all but spat in his face. Then your tightly balled fist flew towards him from beneath, the uppercut hitting his chin and throwing his head back. You quickly followed the first blow with a punch to his face, purely because of how much he was annoying you, and then a kick to his groin, which made him yelp in pain. After all that, you grabbed his shirt once again and pulled him out of your seat and threw him to the ground. “Leave me alone, Peter. Or next time I will kick you so hard you can’t have children,” you threatened, your voice an icy cold that made Peter’s eyes flash in fear for a moment.

You were about to return to your table, ready to eat the rest of your meal, when Max’s voice rang out across the dining hall. “Y/N and Peter. My office, now! Actually, bring your whole table, Y/N. Now!” There was a sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach as you looked around at your now-standing friends apologetically. With a sigh, you and your friends walked out of the dining hall, Peter scrambling after you.

–

When the five of you entered Max’s office, you weren’t surprised to see Eric and Four inside, stone-cold expressions on both their faces. “Close the door,” Max barked at Peter, who did so quickly. “Now, this isn’t Amity, which is to say, I’m not in the habit of settling disputes,” Max started, taking a seat behind his desk. “But, to be honest, this is fucking ridiculous. We haven’t had a rivalry this bad since those two asshats,” he gestured to Eric and Four, “were initiates.”

“Wasn’t that just a few years ago?” Christina asked, but Max silenced her with a glare.

“As I was about to say,” Max continued with a pointed look at Christina, “this rivalry wouldn’t bother me normally, but Jeanine Matthews has been assessing the productivity of the new training methods we implemented this year, and the two of you are fucking up the results! I swear, if I have to hear Jeanine tell me about the importance of a proper testing environment when gathering data one more time, I will bash your heads in so hard your brains are the consistency of a scrambled egg! Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, sir,” you said, fighting the urge to look down and answer softly, instead maintaining eye contact and forcing your voice to stay strong.

“Yes, sir,” Peter said moments later, resentment clear in his voice.

“Good. Now, everyone who isn’t Y/N, Peter, Eric, or Four, get the hell out of my office.” You’d never seen your friends exit a room so fast, but it only took a few seconds for the room to empty out significantly and the door to close again, leaving just you, Peter, and your higher ups in the room.

“Take a seat,” Max said, gesturing to the chairs in front of his desk. Reluctantly, you and Peter each lowered yourselves into a chair, and you were surprised by how comfortable the seat was. “I’m going to level with you both: it is too early to be sure, but you are both being considered for leadership. But if you can’t cut the bullshit and keep disrupting Erudite’s testing of our program, I will not hesitate to make sure you never so much as have a chance at leadership.” His tone left no room for argument, and you knew that Max would make good on his threat, which left a hint of anxiety in the back of your mind. “Everyone, out,” he said after allowing an uncomfortable silence to settle over the room, testing both Peter’s and your own resolve.

It wasn’t until you’d left the office, that you allowed yourself to take a deep breath, and you shot a withering look at Peter as he walked away from you.

“You handled yourself well in there,” Four said with a nod and small smile before walking away, likely to find Tris, you thought to yourself.

“I never thought I’d say this,” Eric started, stepping forward towards you, “but I actually agree with what he just said.”

“Thanks,” you said with a laugh. “So, is being yelled at by Max a rite of passage for potential leaders or something?” you joked as you and Eric started walking away from Max’s office, still side by side. Your smile widened as Eric barked out a laugh.

“It certainly seems like it’s becoming one,” he replied lightly.

“Well, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow,” you said, ready to turn down a hallway and head back to the dormitory.

“Actually, I think you should come with me,” Eric said, locking eyes with you.

“Where are you going?” you asked skeptically.

“We are going to my apartment,” Eric replied. Your eyebrows shot up, Peter’s comments from earlier echoing in your mind. “I want to talk to you about…stuff.” You narrowed your eyes in suspicion but nodded, following him to his apartment.

–

Eric closed the door to his apartment behind you, turned the lights on, and finally broke the silence that had settled between the two of you as you’d walked through the halls of the Dauntless compound. “So, leadership. Do you want it?”

You were shocked by the question, but you surprised yourself by replying with a confident “Yes” almost immediately.

“Good,” Eric said, his face betraying nothing as he sat down at the same table you’d eaten at, once again gesturing for you to join him at the table. “Then here’s the deal: every day, after the fear sims, you will train with me in the same room we trained in earlier. You may have passed the physical portion of recruitment, and even done well, but you have to stay in top shape if you want to pass the leadership exam. What do you know about computer programming?”

You so badly wanted to ask Eric why he was telling you this, why he was going to train you for leadership, but you figured you could ask him after his little interrogation. “I know all the query languages and a few more, and I am familiar with some of the more advanced stuff, too, but reviewing it would probably be a good idea if it’s important.” Eric rose without a word and walked into his room, only to return moments later with a book.

“Read this. It is a pretty comprehensive review of computing concepts that you should refamiliarize yourself with.” Nodding, you took the book, which was heavier than it looked.

“Eric?” you asked as the leader sat back down. “Why are you doing this?”

“Because we are starting to work more closely with Erudite, and you are already familiar with the faction.”

“Oh,” you said, disappointed.

A moment passed, Eric examining your face as you looked at your fidgeting hands. “And also because I can’t imagine working alongside Peter every day for the next few years,” he added lightly, causing you to brighten a bit. “Besides,” he said casually, “you’d be good at it.”

That last statement surprised you, and you smiled widely at Eric. “Thank you,” you said, genuinely happy.

The corner of his mouth turned upwards ever so slightly as he nodded back at you. Then, as a silence settled between you and the leader, Eric’s eyes suddenly snapped to meet your own. “So,” he started, his voice taking on an almost playful tone. “What did Peter say that got you so angry?” You open your mouth to answer, but he wasn’t done yet. “Which, by the way, I did notice resulted in your friends and yourself not getting to finish dinner, which I gave you strict orders to eat,” he finished. Despite the teasing tone, you could tell there was something serious behind Eric’s words, and you dragged a hand down your face in exasperation as you were reminded of dinner.

“He said something… about you,” you started, your tone playful as you withheld information, an idea forming in your mind as you spoke.

You smirked as Eric said “Oh? Well that’s interesting because that then begs the question: why did you get in a fight over it?” It seemed he’d caught on to your playful tone when he added “Did you feel the need to defend my honor, initiate?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” you said conspiratorially.

Now, Eric was the one smirking. “You’re playing with fire, initiate. Come on, out with it.”

“Actually, I have a proposal for you,” you stated confidently.

“Well, this doesn’t happen often,” he chuckled, clearly amused. “And as badly as I want to send you back to the dormitory so I can get on with my actual work, now I’m curious. Go on.”

“As you pointed out, my dinner was cut short. You have an apartment, meaning you have food. So, here’s what I’m thinking: I’ll tell you everything in exchange for some food. It doesn’t even have to be good food, I just–” Eric’s laugh cut you off, and you stared for a moment as he composed himself.

“What’s so funny?” you huffed.

“Nothing, it’s just that I forgot how much it sucks not to be able to decide your own eating schedule as an initiate,” he said, standing. “And, as it turns out, I was in a meeting during dinner, so I haven’t eaten either, so I’ll just make a little extra food than I would otherwise,” he shrugged. “Although,” he started as he rifled through his fridge for ingredients, “I’m starting to think you are an elaborate schemer determined to eat all my food–after all, this isn’t the first time you’ll have eaten dinner here.”

You groaned as he made fun of you before asking, “What are you even making?”

“Dinner,” he deadpanned.

“Eric!” you exclaimed, curious. And although you could just get up and look, it would ruin the little game of verbal sparring you two had fallen into playing, so you decided to feign annoyance.

“You’ll find out when you’re eating it, relax!” he sighed lightly. After a pause, he spoke again, his tone serious this time. “What did Peter say to you?”

Your face flushed as you remembered Peter’s words and insinuations, and suddenly you felt self-conscious. “It’s nothing…”

“Y/N,” Eric chastised, letting you know you weren’t getting out of this.

With a sigh, you said, “He, uh… he suggested that I slept with you to succeed in Dauntless,” you said, eyes glued to your hands as they twisted in your lap. Eric’s movements stilled, and he was deadly silent. “Eric?” you asked after a moment, when the silence had grown tense and uncomfortable.

Finally, he turned to look at you. The expression on his face was one of lividity. Your face blanched, and you pushed down the urge to apologize–you had done nothing wrong. “I will deal with this,” he started slowly before turning back to the now-cooked meal and serving it onto two plates. He set a plate down before you, and you were pleased to find a stir-fry with beef, snow peas, onions, and some other vegetables. After setting your plate down, he turned towards the door and grabbed his jacket, jaw clenched.

“What are you doing?” you asked, noticing his own plate of dinner still on the counter.

“I am going to teach Peter what happens when people question the integrity of their faction’s–or should I say future faction’s–leadership,” he growled, stepping into the hallway. Just as the door closed, you could have sworn you heard him mutter something along the lines of “and suggests the best initiate around earned her spot by fucking me,” but you weren’t sure, and before you could say anything, the door slammed shut. With a sigh, you turned back to your meal, deciding to deal with this mess later; right now, you just wanted to eat your dinner.

#divergent #divergent fanfiction #eric coulter imagine #eric coulter x reader #Eric Coulter #Tris Prior #Dauntless #erudite #candor #abnegation #amity #four divergent #Peter Hayes #motherfxking-flannel #motherfxking flannel

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dauntless-gothamite · 3 years ago

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Prove Them Wrong [2/?]

You woke up to the sound of metal clanging together, an unpleasant alarm if you’d ever heard one. “Get up, get dressed, and be in the training room in two minutes,” Four said, banging the metal together one last time before leaving the room.

Everyone scrambled to get dressed in their new black Dauntless clothes, and as people entered the training area, they began to form a semicircle around Four and Eric. “Ok, let’s get started,” Four said, clapping his hands together. “There are two stages of training. The first is physical, you will push your bodies to the breaking point and you will master the methods of combat. The second is mental, again breaking point. You’ll face your worst fears and conquer them--unless they get you first. You’ll be trained separately from the Dauntless-born, but you’ll be ranked together. After initiations, rankings will determine what jobs you move into: leadership, guarding the fence, or keeping the factionless from killing each other.”

“The rankings will also determine who gets cut,” Eric cut in, rising from where he sat on a concrete slab. An uneasy whisper spread throughout the initiates. No one knew about this, and you had to admit, you were getting a bit nervous yourself. “At the end of each stage of training, the lowest-ranking initiates will be leaving us,” Eric continued.

“To do what?” asked Al.

“Well, you can’t go home to your families, so you’ll be factionless.”

Another wave of murmurs rippled through the crowd of initiates, but it was quickly silenced by Eric’s glare. “Someone should have told us,” Christina said.

“Why? Would you have chosen differently? Out of fear?” Eric replied challengingly. “I mean, if that’s the case, you might as well get out now. If you’re really one of us, it won’t matter to you that you might fail, alright? You chose us. Now, we get to choose you.” Eric looked at each initiate, his blue eyes challenging each person to look away. Some people did, others didn’t. You didn’t.

Instead, you held his intense gaze as the itch to prove others wrong that had been inside you since the day you were born rose up, ready to be set free. What Eric said was scary, but it didn’t matter--all your years of studying the faction system told you that they would try to scare the initiates, and while you hadn’t expected this, you had known it wouldn’t be easy. But you had worked your ass off for years to be top of the class in Erudite, and you’d be damned if you weren’t going to do the same here, in your new faction.

“Everyone, get some water before we move into the next segment of training,” Four called out. It took everything in you not to bend over as some others were doing; you knew standing up straight, getting fresh air in your lungs, would make the cramp in your abdomen go away faster, even if it hurt more now.

“Tris, stand up straight,” you whispered to your friend, who was red-faced after running twenty laps around the room, which was everyone’s warm-up for the day.

“Just so you know, tomorrow we won’t just be running laps,” Four said, surveying all the tired initiates. “So get used to this.”

You sighed, mentally thanking yourself for joining a small workout group in Erudite. It was fairly new, and it was only created because studies showed that after some physical activity, the brain was better equipped to come back to problems it struggled with earlier and continue working whereas remaining stagnant was more likely to result in burnout and fatigue. The workouts were nothing like this, but you were still appreciative of them.

“Alright, everyone find a punching bag and start hitting. Eric and I will be walking around correcting your form, but it’s on you to put our advice into practice. Go,” Four announced after barely even a minute of the “break” had gone by.

Turning on your heel, you walked over to the nearest punching bag and lined yourself up. Feet spread evenly about as wide as your shoulders, then step the left foot forward just a bit. Knees bent slightly, fists raised high. Then, you get to punching.

After what felt like an hour of hearing Four quietly critiquing other students between Eric’s shouts of disappointment at other initiates, the two trainers finally got to your area of the training room. Out of the corner of your eye you caught Four walking up to Tris, slightly adjusting her position and giving helpful tips. Another set of footsteps came to a stop behind you, which meant Eric would be the one helping you. Your shoulders tensed for a moment, but you quickly forced yourself into a more relaxed position and continued punching. Just pretend he isn’t there, you told yourself. After hitting the punching bag six times, called out “Stop” from behind you. He walked over to your side and took a fighting stance. “Make sure your hips are square, like this, so when you throw a punch with the hand that is further back, you can twist your hips and use core strength to put more power into it,” he said stoically, and you did your best to mimic his stance. “No, like this,” he said, grabbing your hips and twisting them, holding you firmly in place for a second before letting go. “Try it now,” he said. You started throwing punches again, and he nodded before silently walking away. When you paused to readjust your stance, you heard Eric yell “Did I say you could stop, Y/N? No, I did not; keep going!” You took a deep breath and began the next onslaught of punches as the room fell quiet save for the sound of fists hitting punching bags, a rhythmic thumping sound.

“First jumper!” Eric called out, disrupting the steady beat and sense of calmness in the room. “In the ring.” Beside him, Four sighed and looked down at his feet, and you had a bad feeling about whatever was about to happen. “Last jumper,” he continued, looking at a girl with dark hair--you think you may have heard her friends call her Molly, but you aren’t entirely sure. “Time to fight.”

Tris and the girl stepped up to the ring. “How long do we fight for?” the girl asked.

“Until one of you can’t continue,” Eric said in response.

“Or one of you concedes,” Four interjected, stepping forward.

“According to the old rules,” Eric corrected. “With the new rules, no one concedes.”

“You really want to lose someone in their first fight?”

“Well, a brave man never surrenders.”

“Lucky for you, those weren’t the rules when we fought.”

Eric clenched his jaw, irritated, before saying “You’ll be scored on this, so fight hard.” Tris and the other girl squared up and began to circle each other, but Eric was getting impatient. “Go!” he barked.

After nearly falling off the mat, Tris lunged, but the other girl dodged, twisted, and retaliated with a swing of her own, landing a punch to Tris’ face. As Tris retreated, the other girl pressed her advantage, catching Tris’ waist, bending her over, and punching her stomach a few times before Tris managed to break free of her hold. Just as she reached the end of the mat and turned, Tris was met with another punch to the face, sending her to the floor. The other girl--Molly--glanced at Eric since Tris was down, and he nodded, signaling Molly to send one last blow Tris’ way, knocking her out. As you watched the fight, you felt bad for your friend; she was much smaller than Molly, and part of you wanted to speak up about the cruelty that the trainers were showing, but you shoved it down. There was no need to compromise your position right now.

“Next,” Eric yelled, pointing to a girl named Selene and a former Candor named Peter who had made fun of Tris, calling her a Stiff several times. You secretly hoped Selene would kick his ass, but it was unlikely, he was tall and strong, plus he was willing to fight dirty--he’d admitted as much in the dorm area. Guess he still couldn’t keep his mouth shut, even though he’d left Candor.

Selene was tough; what she lacked in strength she made up for in endurance, but after a few rounds of dodging Peter’s punches, he finally landed one to her solar plexus, stunning her, allowing him to sweep her legs out from underneath her and kick her as she lay on the ground. You clenched your jaw as he did so, feeling anger rise up inside of you. Selene was unable to fight, that was the stopping point of the fights, but Peter was still kicking her. And Eric, the emotionless person that he was, didn’t do anything.

“Peter,” you said, “stop it.” Peter turned towards you and smirked.

“What are you going to do if I don’t?” he taunted. You considered for a second before turning to Eric.

Looking up at him, you steeled yourself. “I know we don’t get to determine the fighting order, or who we fight, but I would like to fight Peter. Now,” you said, sure to keep your voice level and maintain eye contact with the leader.

He raised an eyebrow at you curiously, and thankfully, Peter had stopped kicking Selene when you started speaking to Eric. Selene scooted to the edge of the mat, but that was as far as she could move without assistance. “You two,” Eric yelled at two initiates, “help Four get this one,” he pointed at Selene, “to the infirmary.” Then he turned back to you. “What are you waiting for, initiate? Get up there.” For a moment you were stunned, you didn’t actually think you would end up fighting Peter, and you knew that both Eric and Peter were expecting you to lose quickly. You caught Four’s eye as he carried Selene out with the help of two initiates, and you looked around to see Christina, Tris, Will, Al, Edward, Molly, and a few other initiates staring at you like you were mad. Maybe you were, but it was too late to back out now. You stood in a low, sturdy fighting stance, just like Eric had shown you. Peter did the same. For a moment, the room was dead silent as your eyes locked with his, and then both of you whipped into action.

Peter went right for the face punch, but you quickly blocked upward and threw a low roundhouse kick at his knee, making him wobble. He recovered quickly, and he quickly used his height to his advantage, moving to grab your shoulder and slam you into the ground. You were smart though, and you let him move you slightly before turning the downwards motion into momentum that allowed you to do a somersault, twisting his arm and landing on your feet. As he was turning around to face you, you sent a snap kick right to the back of his knee, making it buckle. You moved quickly to his other side, ready to send a few punches to his face and knock him out, but he sprung forward, wrapping strong hands around your neck and squeezing. For a moment you panicked, hitting his arms, but they didn’t move. Everyone was sure that was it for you, but you had another trick up your sleeve--Peter was overly confident this would weaken you and in the process of squeezing, he had left his own body defenseless. So you kicked him in the groin. Hard. He called out and released you, and as he leaned over in an instinctual reaction to pain, you kicked his forehead with your knee, shoved him to the side, knocking him over, and kicked him again, this time in the solar plexus. You stood there, stone-faced, and when Peter didn’t make a move to fight back, you turned to Eric, who nodded, and you jumped down from the mat.

You landed next to Will, Tris, and Christina, all of whom were staring at you in a mixture of horror and admiration. You blushed in embarrassment and looked at the ground, thinking to yourself, What the hell did I just do? You were so lost in thought that you didn’t realize the next two initiates were on the mat and fighting, and you only came back to yourself when Eric yyelled, “Hey! Are you deaf, initiate? I said go grab some ice for your neck, I don’t want to hear complaints about it tomorrow!”

You nodded to your friends and said “I’ll be back in a minute,” shocked at how hoarse your voice was. “Just going to… yeah,” you trailed off before walking quickly towards the infirmary.

A/N: can you tell I love writing fight scenes? also I do martial arts and have played sports my whole life, so I love when I get to use my knowledge of anatomy and physiology two write action scenes :)

Tag List: @shykoolaid

#eric coulter #eric coulter imagine #eric coulter x reader #divergent #divergent im #dauntless #erudite #divergent fanfiction #abnegation #amity #candor #tris prior #four divergent #tobias eaton #peter hayes #caleb prior #motherfxking-flannel #motherfxking flannel

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dauntless-gothamite · 3 years ago

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Prove Them Wrong [1/?]

Fandom: Divergent Pairing: Eric Coulter x Fem! Reader Summary: Y/N is a Dauntless transfer from Erudite, and she has a drive, an ambition that sets her apart--it always has, even back in Erudite. She brings her perseverance (and need to prove others wrong) to Dauntless when she transfers, and she uses her mind to make her way through the initiation process. Along the way, she makes friends and enemies, and she finds herself comfortable around the man most people in Dauntless avoid at all costs: Eric Coulter. A/N: hey, everyone! so some elements of this are based on myself and how I interact with people, mainly because I tend to bond with people who are not well-liked (i.e. I got along well with teachers everyone hated, consistently). I plan to keep most descriptions of the reader vague so you can insert yourself, though! this first chapter is a little bit slow, but I am already well into writing chapter 2, and I am really excited about where this fic is going! Enjoy!!

“Dauntless!” Marcus Eaton called out--Abnegation was hosting the Choosing Ceremony this year--and as your blood hit the burning coals, a series of cheers and claps erupted from the fearless faction. You took your place next to the other Dauntless transfers and snuck a glance at your family. Your parents looked sad--disappointed, almost--but it was nothing compared to the way some parents reacted to their children choosing another faction. Your father caught your eye as he pulled a handkerchief from his crisp blue suit and handed it to your mother, who was just barely containing her tears. Quickly, you looked away. A moment later, a girl with dirty blonde hair sat down beside you. Her loose grey clothing indicated she was in Abnegation, or at least she had been. She was Dauntless now, and so were you.

A series of names you only half heard filled the room, and before you knew it, the ceremony was over. Then, as if they’d been waiting for the chance to get up from their seats, all the Dauntless rushed out of the building, racing for the train tracks. You and the other initiates stared at them as they began to climb, shocked. Sure, you knew you’d be taking the train, but you’d never thought about how you’d actually get there. Shoving the thought out of your mind, you began to climb, the Abnegation girl from before and a girl from Candor scaling the poles on either side of you. Once you made it to the top, you saw everyone standing in a line, facing away from the train. That’s when it hit you: they were going to run and jump onto the train. This was unlike anything you’d ever done, but it was exciting, and you knew that with the right speed and angle, you’d be fine. When the rails started to vibrate and the train came into view, you took off.

You weren’t the fastest, but you weren’t the slowest either, and that was worth something. At the very least, you would make the train. Then, out of the corner of your eye, you saw an opening, and without hesitation, you jumped. It was so different from life in Erudite. There, nothing was done without consideration. You had to look at a problem from all angles and weigh the possibilities, consider the outcomes of every scenario, even for the simplest of tasks. Here, you could just do. It was liberating, and you knew you’d made the right choice. Although, it would be damn near impossible to drop all of the habits you’d picked up in Erudite. Some aspects of the scholarly faction were simply a part of you; it would be impossible to erase that. But, for the sake of your survival, you’d have to do your best.

“Hey,” said a voice from behind you. You turned around and saw a boy with brown hair and dark eyes, which stood out against his pale skin. “I’m Albert,” he said. “But everyone calls me Al.” He stuck his hand out and you shook it.

“I’m Y/N,” you said, glad to have already made one friend. You smiled before turning away to look out at the city; the train provided a great view when it wasn’t in the center of the city surrounded by buildings. While you were looking at the skyline, you saw movement and heard screams of both terror and excitement to your left. You turned to see what was causing the commotion, and you saw people jumping from the train onto a gravelly roof.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Al said as he joined you at the edge of the train.

“This is crazy,” you agreed. But whereas Al looked terrified, you were grinning, adrenaline from boarding the train still pumping through your veins, making you aware of each and every nerve in your body. Then, with the roof coming up, you took a few steps back, ran forward and jumped.

Your body hit the gravelly roof hard, ripping a hole in your blazer. Thankfully, it seemed like that was the only thing that broke; your body felt perfectly fine, if a little sore from the impact. You looked around to see Al a few feet away from you, and you smiled, glad he’d made it. The two of you got up and headed to the other end of the roof, where the initiates who had already jumped off the train stood facing a tall man with cropped hair and neck tattoos. “Alright, listen up,” the man said when the last car of the train passed the edge of the roof. If someone wasn’t off of it yet, there was only one stop for them now: factionless. “I’m Eric, one of your leaders here at Dauntless. I will also be overseeing your training, which began the second your blood hit the coals. So, rather than waste any more time, let's get on with it. You want to get into Dauntless, this is the way in. Who is going to jump first?”

At this point, everyone was peering over the ledge Eric stood on, more focused on what was behind him. A dark hole in the concrete far below where we stood. You looked around you, nodding at Will, who you knew from Erudite, happy to see a familiar face amongst all this chaos. As you moved towards him, the girl from Abnegation who had sat next to you earlier stepped forward. “Me,” she said, volunteering to jump first. Everyone looked around with wide eyes while Eric scoffed.

“The Stiff? Alright.”

Unbothered, the girl stepped onto the ledge, and a few seconds later, she disappeared into the shadowy depths of whatever lay below.

Watching the girl in grey jump first had sent a shock of surprise through you, but it was followed by something new, the desire to try this new and dangerous thing before you, and as the third jumper stepped off the ledge, you found yourself stepping forward, volunteering to go next. As you stepped onto the ledge, Eric raised a pierced brow at you, waited a few seconds for the previous jumper to get off of the net, and jerked his head towards the net, motioning for you to jump. And then, in a silent response, you jumped, a smile unexpectedly gracing your lips as you made contact with the net below, landing with a bounce. You turned to the man standing next to the net who helped you out of the net, and he introduced himself as Four before directing you to stand in line with the other initiates who had already jumped. Minutes crawled by as you waited for the rest of the initiates to jump, and after what felt like forever, Eric landed in the net and directed his cold stare at the initiates lined up as he slid off the net without Four’s assistance--though it didn’t seem like Four was inclined to help him, either. Interesting.

The transfer dorm was small, crowded, and damp--somehow it was exactly what you expected and entirely different at the same time. As everyone claimed a bed, Four and Eric stood near the door, ready to make an announcement. You smiled at the Candor girl with short, black hair who was setting up the bed next to yours, about to introduce yourself when one of the trainers by the door--most likely Eric--cleared his throat, silencing the room. “Welcome to Dauntless, Eric said. “As Four just explained, this is where you will be staying for the next few weeks while you complete your training. You will receive more information about the training process tomorrow morning at the first session, but for now all you need to know about it is that the training room is three floors up, down the hallway, and to the left. Meet in the Pit, which is upstairs, in fifteen minutes for some announcements from Max and dinner.” Then, he left.

“That guy is all business, huh?” the girl you were about to introduce yourself to said lightly.

“Yeah,” you smiled back. “I’m Y/N, by the way.”

“Christina,” she replied with an outstretched hand. As you shook her hand she looked you over and said, “So, Erudite. What made you want to transfer?”

“Well, it is best for one to go to a place for which they are well-suited…” you trailed off. “What about you, Candor?”

“Candor is a place of words and action, with slightly more words. I wanted more action,” she shrugged. A thud on the bed on your other side distracted you before you could respond, and you turned around to see familiar light green eyes.

“Will!” you said, wrapping your fellow Erudite transfer in a brief hug. You’d vaguely registered his name at the choosing ceremony followed by the word “Dauntless”, but it hadn’t really dawned on you until now that there were fellow Erudite transfers here. “Have you seen Edward?” you asked.

“Yeah, he’s right over there,” Will replied, pointing to the corner of the room. You waved at Edward, and he smiled back as he continued setting up his bed.

“Amazing,” you said softly, more to yourself than to Will. “By the way, this is Christina, she’s from Candor,” you said, remembering your new friend. Will shot her a smile, and Christina reached out to shake his hand.

“Nice to meet you,” she said enthusiastically.

“Likewise,” Will replied. Seeing all of your fellow transfers getting to know each other was exciting, and even though you wanted to stay in this room with all of them and get to know everyone else, you knew it was a better idea to start making your way to the Pit; there was rarely a time when showing up early was a bad thing, and leaving early would make sure you got there in time even if you got lost along the way. As you started to head out down the hallway, the former Abnegation joined you, seeming to have the same idea. “Hi,” you said, introducing yourself. “I’m Y/N.”

“I’m Tris,” she replied quietly. “You were in Erudite, right?” she asked.

“I was. And you were in Abnegation?”

“Yeah.” There was something sad about the way she said it, but you decided to let it go; you didn’t really know her yet. As you were thinking of what to say next, Tris interrupted your thoughts saying, “My brother just transferred there. To Erudite, I mean.”

“Don’t worry, he’ll love it,” you said, smiling fondly as memories of the Erudite libraries surfaced in your mind. “You get to spend so much time learning and teaching others, and they actually respect personal space--at least a little bit. I’ll even let you in on a secret: the suits are much more comfortable than they look, I promise.” She laughed a little bit at the last statement, and you relaxed, starting to enjoy her company.

As it turned out, you and Tris had no trouble finding the Pit, and it wasn’t surprising that you were the first ones there. Both of you sat down, and you did your best to ignore the occasional looks from Four and Eric as they stood on a balcony overlooking the Pit with Max, the head of Dauntless leadership and the faction’s representative when the five factions held council, and talked amongst themselves. Soon, thankfully, a few more of the transfers sat down with you and Tris, and they were soon followed by a steady trickle of transfers, the room getting louder with each person who entered. Max walked to the edge of the balcony and called for everyone’s attention, and the room got quiet, a nervous excitement filling your body.

“Welcome, initiates,” the leader’s low voice filled the room. “We are glad to have you here at Dauntless. Here, you will be trained to be protectors of our city. You will be tested physically, emotionally, and mentally, and it will be hard, but you will come out stronger and braver, which is what you need to be to survive in this faction. Your training starts tomorrow; you will be working with Four and Eric, the initiates who aren’t transfers will be working with Lauren. For now, dig in, you’re going to need your strength for tomorrow.” Cheers erupted across the room, and people got up to grab food before racing back to their new friends. This was the beginning of something new for everyone, and excitement raced through your veins. You were ready to start your new life.

#motherfxking-flannel #motherfxking flannel #eric coulter #divergent #divergent imagine #dauntless #erudite #tris prior #four #tobias eaton #amity #candor #abnegation #veronica roth #eric coulter imagine #eric coulter x reader

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dauntless-gothamite · 2 years ago

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When I talk about the reader’s tattoo design in Prove Them Wrong, this is what I have in mind:

It’s a dragon curled around three circles, two small ones and one large one. Inside each circle is a faction symbol, with erudite at the top, candor in the middle, and dauntless in the middle, occupying the largest circle.

#rough sketch #eric coulter imagine #eric coulter x reader #divergent #divergent imagine #divergent fanfiction #dauntless #erudite #candor #motherfxking flannel #motherfxking-flannel

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dauntless-gothamite · 3 years ago

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Prove Them Wrong [5/?]

Fandom: Divergent Pairing: Eric Coulter x Fem! Reader Summary: Y/N is a Dauntless transfer from Erudite, and she has a drive, an ambition that sets her apart--it always has, even back in Erudite. She brings her perseverance (and need to prove others wrong) to Dauntless when she transfers, and she uses her mind to make her way through the initiation process. Along the way, she makes friends and enemies, and she finds herself comfortable around the man most people in Dauntless avoid at all costs: Eric Coulter. A/N: I am so glad people are enjoying this so far! I am having a great time writing it, and I am excited about the chapters that are yet to come. I’d love if you let me know what you think of this new chapter, but no pressure, enjoy!!

The next morning, as all the other transfers ran laps, you made your way to the infirmary for physical therapy. When you got there, the doctor who had stitched you up the day before waved at you in greeting. “Hello, Y/N, how is the leg doing?”

“Better than yesterday,” you replied with a small smile.

“Glad to hear it,” she replied. “You’ll be working with Andre today, he’s one of our physical therapists,” she said and pointed to Andre, who was standing a few feet away and waved.

“Alright, thanks,” you said and started walking towards Andre. “Nice to meet you,” you said and stuck out your hand.

“Likewise,” Andre said and shook your outstretched hand. “So the program I have designed for you focuses more on keeping your leg muscles engaged without running the risk of tearing your stitches open more than recovery because the injury is serious but ultimately, it is just a deep laceration.” You nodded in understanding, and he led you over to a stationary bike. “For the next half hour, you are going to ride this bike. I want you to work your leg muscles and cardio system, but do not put more strain on your legs than necessary, the last thing I want is to tear those stitches or for your leg to start bleeding. Here is a set of headphones that hook up to the bike’s electronic system; I know riding a stationary bike for half an hour can get boring, so feel free to listen to music while you work. I’ll come get you in half an hour, but you can call me over at any point.”

“Sounds good, thanks,” you said before getting on the bike and connecting the headphones to browse the music selection for a little while before settling on an upbeat song with a strong bass beat. Then you got to pedaling.

You were sweating--not as much as you did during regular training, but you were still getting a good workout in--when the thirty minutes ended. Andre walked over to you and helped you get off the bike, and it took you a second to adjust to the solid ground beneath your feet. “Good job,” Andre said. “It really seemed like you were pushing yourself while still respecting the boundaries set by the injury. That’s smart, if you keep this up, you’ll probably heal quickly. Most dauntless go all out and reinjure themselves, so it takes even longer to heal. But I see you have some brains, a good quality for future dauntless.”

“Thanks,” you beamed at him.

“Y/N,” someone said, waving you over from the entrance of the infirmary. You turned to see Four standing there, and you furrowed your brow; you were supposed to be at physical therapy for another half hour before going back to the training room.

“What’s going on?” you asked as you walked over to him, Andre right behind you.

“Eric changed the plan, we are working with crossbows today instead of fighting, and since you can participate in this, I came to get you while he explains what's going on to the other initiates,” he explained. “Although, perhaps leaving them alone with him wasn’t the best idea,” he said, half-joking, earning a smile from you.

“Alright, let’s go then. I’ll see you next time, Andre,” you said to the physical therapist as Four walked with you back to the training room. “So… what’s up,” you said to fill the awkward silence that settled between you and Four as you two walked. He looked at you, amused.

“Oh, you know. Training initiates.” You laughed at his bluntness.

“Right,” you chuckled. “So, why did Eric change the plan?” you asked cautiously.

“I’m not entirely sure,” Four shrugged. “Though I suspect it has to do with the fact that he’s particularly… grumpy today, and he probably wants to shoot arrows at someone.”

“Well, that does sound like a very real possibility,” you agreed, and the two of you reached the training room to see Eric walking up and down the line of initiates holding crossbows and aiming at targets, aggressively yanking them into the correct positions, yelling all the while.

“Finally,” he snapped as you picked up a bow and walked to the end of the line, lining yourself up with the target. You closed your eyes to prevent yourself from rolling them at his comment while he continued roughly moving arms and legs of different initiates, sometimes making them wince in shock, surprise at the force, pain, or all three. When he got to Tris, who was right next to you, he looked her up and down, moved her arms, and said “Back straight, initiate! With that posture, you’ll shoot yourself in the foot, assuming you even get the arrow out of the crossbow!” He waited for a second for her to move, but he quickly became frustrated and yelled to Four, “Four, you deal with this one, I’m going to catch Y/N up, since she has finally graced us with her presence,” he said sarcastically. Tris made eye contact with you, and you knew she was wishing you luck, making you smile a bit.

“Alright,” Eric said, turning to you. Turn sideways, aim down the line, legs shoulder distance apart. Don’t lock the knees, but stand straight. Non-dominant arm straight, other arm pulls the string back once the arrow is notched, pulling with the middle three fingers. Pull the string all the way back to your ear, look down the line, and shoot. Go,” he said, stepping back and watching with crossed arms. You took the stance Eric had described as well as possible, and Eric’s hands landed on your hips, turning them just the slightest bit. Then, as quickly as they had landed there, they were gone. “Same thing as with the punch, initiate. The angle of your hips matters; it’s where your legs and torso connect, so there’s a lot of power there. You can use your core to help your arm pull the string back further, allowing you to aim better and send a more forceful arrow.” You nodded, notching an arrow, pulling back, and looking down the arrow towards the target. Without hesitation, you released, and the arrow landed mere millimeters from the bull’s eye. “Good,” Eric nodded, walking away.

As you reached for the next arrow, Tris said, “What the hell just happened?”

“What do you mean?” you asked.

“Eric. He made us run fifty laps, then he changed up the plan and told us all to take an archery stance. Then, he walked up and down the line, pushing and pulling people into the right positions--I think he almost sprained Al’s shoulder! And then, just now, he just… what, turned your hips? No yanking or bending at unnatural angles or anything!”

“It’s probably just because I got injured yesterday and he doesn’t want to reopen the wound,” you shrugged.

“Maybe,” Tris said with a sigh. “But still, that was… weird.”

“As opposed to the way Four helped you?” you countered, and she blushed. If she thought you hadn’t noticed the way Four had helped her by taking a softer approach than Eric, she was in for a surprise.

“It’s better to try and get into a position you have a hard time with when you exhale,” she defended, knowing you’d heard Four’s suggestion of a quick breathing exercise.

“I know,” you smirked.

“Ugh, let’s just get back to shooting,” she said, and you laughed.

“You two, shut up and get shooting,” Eric’s voice called out, quieting your laughter and causing both Tris and yourself to fall silent. You both made eye contact though, took aim, and released your arrows at the same time, each sending a swift arrow into the center of your respective targets, pride for both yourself and your friend rising inside of you.

“Ten more minutes,” Four called out. “After that, you will retrieve your arrows, put your equipment away, and get to lunch. So give it your all!”

You took a deep breath, and each arrow you shot for the next ten minutes was aimed with extreme precision, resulting in a pretty crowded center of the target when Four called for everyone to stop. It also made the job of retrieving arrows easier since they were all in one area, which you were grateful for as you pulled each one out of the target.

As you and Tris walked over to the storage cabinets to put your bow and arrows away, Will and Christina jogged over to you guys, having already put their stuff away. “How was physical therapy this morning, Y/N,” Will asked as he came to a stop.

“It was good,” you replied, “I just rode a stationary bike so I could get a cardio workout and engage my leg muscles as well as my core in a more controlled setting.”

“That makes sense,” he nodded in approval. “I’m glad it went well. The rest of us had to run around here fifty times!”

“So I heard,” you said, still surprised at the number of laps your friends had run that morning. “And this one here,” he put an arm around Christina’s shoulders, “was one of the first people to finish!”

“Congratulations!” you said with a smile to Christina. She had set a goal for herself to improve her cardio, and it would seem she had reached it. “I’m proud of you.”

“Thanks,” she smiled, blushing slightly at the contact with Will. “So, wanna get out of here and grab some lunch?”

“That sounds great to me,” you nodded, ready to go.

“Y/N,” Eric said loudly from across the room as he strode towards you and your friends.

“Yes?”

“Before you go, I want to take a look at your leg; there’s a first-aid kit in here and I want to see if it needs cleaning seeing as you sweat earlier. The last thing I need to deal with is an infection.”

“Alright,” you said and walked over to the bench, your friends following you. You rolled up the leg of your sweatpants, and thankfully, the wound didn’t look too irritated.

Nodding, Eric said, “It looks good, but make sure to clean it well later. Use soap and water, and halfway through the day or between workouts, I would recommend disinfecting it.”

“Is there anything I can use now? Just to be safe?” He nodded and grabbed the first aid kit from a shelf on the wall, opened it up, and grabbed a hydrogen peroxide wipe.

“Here,” he said, handing it to you. “There is also some cream here which you’ll be glad to have once you feel the sting of that wipe,” he said, handing you some ointment.

“Thanks,” you said as you ripped open the hydrogen peroxide wipe and cleaned the wound.

You hissed as it stung, and Eric sounded further when he said, “Told you,” since he was putting the kit back. You grunted in acknowledgement, and after wiping the area down, you put some of the ointment on, which was a much nicer way of keeping the area clean. Then, you rolled down your pant leg, stood, and made to toss the ointment back to Eric, but before you could, he said “Keep it.”

“Thanks,” you said, surprised as you pocketed it. Eric simply nodded.

“Now get out of here,” he said, “go eat lunch.” And with that, you were swept out of the training room by your friends.

“So, we missed you at dinner last night,” Christina said as you and your friends sat down at a table in the dining hall. “Although I totally get that you had other things to worry about. You did get to eat though, right? We wanted to save you some food, but it was pasta night, and everyone had to fight just to get their fair share.”

“That’s sweet of you guys,” you said. “Four tried to do the same thing, but he was too late. “Luckily, Eric had a backup plan.”

“Oh my god, did you eat dinner with Eric?” Tris whisper-yelled, making eye contact with Christina, whose jaw was hanging open.

“Yeah, last night was a lot. I waited in his apartment while he got me some sweatpants, which are really comfy, and then he got back and made ‘low-carb enchiladas’ for dinner.”

“Of course they’d be low-carb, Will said, rolling his eyes.”

“Were they good?” Christina asked.

“They were so good,” you nodded.

“How was the company?” Tris asked.

“Honestly it was fine. I think that the fact that we didn’t talk because we were both tired prevented an argument from breaking out.”

“That’s good,” Christina said. “I’m glad he wasn’t completely horrible to you after you’d just gotten hurt. Although, I have to ask, why wasn’t he completely horrible to you today? I didn’t think he’d have that long of a ‘grace period’ after injuries.”

“He probably didn’t want to reopen the wound,” you said, repeating what you’d said to Tris earlier. “Why are you guys so interested in him?”

“Because he is the scariest person here, and he just gave you some ointment for your leg, which is the exact opposite of what it seems like he would do!” Will said.

“You do have a point,” you admitted. “Look, I don’t know, but it doesn’t really matter. Besides, we still have to talk about the way Four keeps eyeing Tris,” you said, smirking evilly as you turned the attention away from yourself, launching a new line of questioning, this time aimed at your friend.

Tag List: @shykoolaid, @taina-eny, @parabatai-winchester, @marvel-ousnesss, @kid-from-new-zealand, @polychr0matic

#eric coulter #eric coulter imagine #eric coulter x reader #divergent #divergent imagine #divergent fanfiction #four divergent #tobias eaton #tris prior #dauntless #erudite #amity #candor #abnegation #peter hayes #motherfxking-flannel #motherfxking flannel

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dauntless-gothamite · 3 years ago

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Prove Them Wrong [4/?]

“Alright, the rankings have been updated. If you’re below the line, you have two days to fix it, or you’re out,” Eric said to the group of sweaty, tired initiates. You scooted to the front of the group, eager to see where you fell in the rankings. After scanning the list, nerves gathering in the pit of your stomach, you found your name in eighth place. You sighed in relief, as long as you kept up the work you were doing, you should be fine.

“Looks like that brain of yours isn’t going to save you, isn’t that right?” you heard Peter say to someone else in the group. Turning around, you started looking for Peter’s tall figure, and you found him standing in front of Edward, arms crossed.

“Hey, asshole,” you said, walking up to Peter. “I know you’re doing well according to the board, but if you feel the need to make the people around you feel like shit, then maybe there is something you’re afraid of… that isn’t very Dauntless of you, is it?”

“Well, isn’t this cute? You, coming to the rescue of your Erudite friend? And for what, you want to go again on the mat? And this time, I’ll go in knowing that you are too weak to win without kicking me in the--”

“So it’s ‘smart’ when you play dirty, but it’s weak when I do it? How do you figure that? Please, enlighten me.”

“You’re the smart one, Erudite!”

“You two, cut it out!” Four yelled from the corner where he stood next to Eric, watching the initiates search the board for their names.

With a scowl, you walked away from Peter, ready to join your friends, who stood in a group just a little to your right.

“Watch out!” Tris yelled, eyes wide, and you hit the concrete floor as Peter tackled you from behind.

“You fucking coward!” you yelled, jabbing your elbow downwards, hitting the top of his head. He loosened his grip for just a moment, and you used it to slip out of his grasp and take a defensive stance. As Peter made to stand up, you kicked his arm, dropping his shoulder back to the ground and causing his face to hit the concrete. You heard a crack, and when he looked up, blood was gushing from his nose.

“You’re going to pay for that!” he said, standing and ready to lunge, and you ran. You didn’t run out of the room, though. Instead, you wove through the punching bags, using your agility to your advantage until you got to the rope that hung from the ceiling for initiates to climb. At that point, you used the momentum you’d been building up to pull yourself up, closer to Peter’s height, and swing around, hitting the side of his head with your knee. As you dropped down from the rope, Peter grabbed your leg, and you felt a sharp pain in your calf. Panicking for a moment, you kicked Peter’s arm, and you heard a knife clatter to the floor. You didn’t know when he’d picked it up, but you dove for it, reaching it just before he did and stood up fast.

“Stay down, or I swear, I will stab you in the stomach with this, taking you out of training for a week!”

“Ha!” Peter laughed. “I’ll stay down, I already got what I wanted; you won’t be running fast enough or winning any fights soon, not with that leg,” he said, nodding at the leg he’d stabbed. Coming down from the adrenaline, you began to feel the stinging pain and the feeling of warm liquid dripping down your calf. As you looked at your calf, you tried to stay stoic, but Peter was right: you’d need time to recover.

Staring him in the eye, you said “I will manage,” lowering the knife.

“Sure,” Peter said, standing. “But I suggest you walk around Dauntless as much as you can with that leg injury because you won’t be here much longer.” And with that, he walked out of the training room. As soon as he left, Tris, Christina, Will, and Edward ran up to you.

“Y/N, are you okay?” Christina said, panicked.

“Let’s get you to the infirmary,” Tris said, wrapping an arm around you to support your weight, providing relief for your wounded leg. You nodded, and your small group of friends began to head out.

“Wait,” Eric said from the corner. Looking to where he stood, you noticed Four was gone. “I already sent Four to the infirmary, the medics are coming here.”

“Oh,” you said. “I guess I should just wait on the bench or something,” heading toward the bench at the edge of the room with Tris’ help. Eric nodded, looking at Will.

“Get her bag and water or something,” he said in a tone that implied he thought Will should have already done that. Will nodded, rushing off and returning in a second with your bag and water bottle.

“Thanks,” you said to him before turning to Eric. “And thank you, too,” you said to the leader. He nodded gruffly in response.

“Alright, everyone out of the way,” a doctor said, entering the room with Four. “Pants off, I need to see that wound clearly. Anyone who isn’t necessary for this, get out.”

You stood up on your good leg, grunting a little, pulling your pants down over your butt before sitting back down. Will, Tris, and Christina were being ushered out of the room by the doctor, who returned to tend to your wound before noticing Edward had not moved. “Why are you still here?” she asked.

“I just… I just wanted to say something to Y/N,” he replied and turned to you. “Thanks to Y/N for sticking up for me back there, you didn’t have to. And, to be honest, I feel a bit guilty--”

“Don’t worry about it,” you interrupted. “Getting into it with Peter was my choice, and I was getting really tired of his bullshit. I guess now I have to pay the price for that decision, but at least it was, like I said, my decision. See you around, Edward,” you said, giving him a small smile as he headed out of the room.

After he left, it was just you, Four, Eric, and the doctor in the room. Bending down to inspect the injury, the nurse said “I’m going to need to clean this, and you’ll need a few stitches. And for the next two weeks--at least--you’ll be doing physical therapy instead of running laps or doing fights. You can still shoot and throw knives though.”

Your eyes went wide. “Two weeks! I can’t sit out of fights for two weeks, I’ll fall below the line!”

“This isn’t negotiable, Y/N,” she replied.

“And being factionless isn’t an option!”

Turning to Four and Eric, the nurse said, “Help me out, you two.” You looked between the two of them, silently pleading for them to understand that you could not sit by and watch as your name dropped in the rankings.

“Give us one second,” Four said, dragging Eric away. You tried to listen in, but they were pretty quiet, and as they spoke your anxiety grew. Finally, they walked back over to you and the nurse.

“Four days. That’s how long she can sit out of fights and get out of running during training. She has to participate in everything else, and after the four days are up, if she isn’t back to training as usual, it will affect her ranking,” Eric said.

“Four days!” the nurse exclaimed. “That isn’t--”

“The decision is final,” Four said, sounding defeated.

“Fine,” she scowled, getting to work on cleaning your leg. “But from what I heard happened,” she said, turning to Eric, “you’d be a fool to let an initiate like this be held back from some of the higher positions of Dauntless just because of an injury.” He said nothing, and the nurse pulled out the supplies she needed and began to work on stitching your leg.

“I’m going to make sure there’s still some food left for all of us when we finally get to the dining hall,” Four said. “I’ll be right back,” he called as he jogged out of the room.

“What you did was pretty dumb,” Eric said after Four left. “And to be honest, it’s the first dumb thing I’ve seen you do since you got here.”

You sighed. “I know, I just got so tired of Peter’s bullshit. He talks so much shit, but it’s more talk than anything, and it makes me want to punch his teeth out.”

The corner of Eric’s mouth lifted into a smile. “I know the feeling. But unless you want to end up either patrolling the factionless or as one of them, you need to keep yourself in check. Depending on how you do in phase two of training, you could end up near the top of the list. Don’t sabotage yourself by doing something else stupid.”

“I won’t,” you replied. “Thanks.”

“What for?” he asked.

“For the advice,” you replied, thinking it was obvious. “A lot of what you say is helpful, you know. It’s just that a package of good advice comes in a box of insults, and most people don’t want to deal with the insults.”

Eric looked at you, surprised. “What?” you asked.

“You are… very direct, regardless of who you’re talking to or what the subject is.”

“Maybe Christina has been rubbing off on me,” you joked.

“Not like that,” he said. “You aren’t a rude loudmouth like most people from Candor.”

“Oh,” you replied lamely, unsure what to say.

Before Eric could say anything else to you, the doctor finished your stitches, bandaged your leg, and said “I’m going to grab you a pair of sweatpants; they’ll be looser than the pants you were wearing before, so there will be more room for your leg to breathe. I’d recommend sticking to looser bottoms for the next few weeks.”

“Will do,” you replied, nodding. “I just need to go shopping I guess,” you added, thinking about the fact that initiates only had a few points to spend and how any piercings or tattoos you wanted would have to wait.

“Will this clothing affect her training?” Eric asked the doctor.

“Yes, increased irritation will result in the injury needing more time to heal.”

Eric nodded and picked up your pants. “What are you--oh,” you said, embarrassed at first before you realized he was looking at the tag for the size. “I’ll get you a pair of sweatpants tonight, but I’m only buying you one pair, so don’t ruin them,” Eric said, dropping your bloodied pants.

“I won’t,” you smiled at him, grateful.

“And don’t fail out of initiation either; these pants are an investment!” he added.

“I won’t!” you insisted, and you knew that to him, it was about more than just the points he was going to spend on pants. You knew that even though you hadn’t spent much time with him, it was still more time than any of the other initiates had spent with him, and it wasn’t quite friendship that you two had, but there was an understanding of sorts.

“Good,” he nodded.

“I need to return these supplies to the infirmary,” the doctor said, packing up her equipment and standing. “Keep that wound clean!” she said to you sternly.

“Will do,” you nodded as she departed, leaving just you and Eric.

“So… I still need pants,” you stated awkwardly.

“Right,” Eric replied, looking around the room and grabbing one of the clean towels that were there for people to wipe away their sweat. “Wrap this around yourself,” he instructed.

“What, why?”

“Because, I am not going to carry you around in your shirt and underwear through the Pit to get clothes, and I’m not going to go all the way there and come all the way back when I could leave you somewhere closer to the dining hall.” You nodded, wincing as you stood a little to wrap the towel around yourself, and before you could sit back down, Eric scooped you up and began to carry you out of the room.

“Wait! My bag and water bottle,” you reminded him. With a scowl, he grabbed your stuff before walking out of the training room, to an elevator, up two floors, and through a series of hallways you were unfamiliar with. Approaching a room, Eric raised a leg to balance you as he typed a code in, and as the door swung open, you realized this was his room. He walked you over to the couch and set you down.

“Okay, don’t move. I’ll be back with some sweatpants, and I’ll stop by the dining hall to make sure Four hasn’t been overrun by hungry Dauntless who want to deprive us from a good dinner,” he said, and you chuckled, reaching into your bag for his book.

“What’s so funny?” Eric asked.

“Just the image of Four fighting a mob of hungry Dauntless while holding a plate with cake on it above his head as he stands on a table,” you explained.

Eric chuckled a little at that. “I’ll be back soon, don’t move,” he said, repeating his order to stay still with some authority in his voice before leaving the room, the door falling shut behind him.

True to his word, Eric returned holding a pair of loose, soft-looking black sweatpants. “Here,” he said, tossing them to you.

“Thanks,” you replied, catching them midair, setting the book down, and pulling them on. “So how was Four doing on saving us some food.

“About that… he got there too late, all that was left were some apples and hamburger buns.”

Groaning, you let your head fall back on the couch. “Great, just fucking fantastic, now I’m going to show up tomorrow both weakened from this injury and from lack of food!”

“Hey, cool it, initiate! I have a plan,” Eric interrupted, sounding annoyed. He walked over to the fridge and pulled out a few things, though you couldn’t see what they were from your position on the couch.

“You’re making dinner?” you asked, shocked.

“Yes, I am making dinner, I can’t have you passing out at training tomorrow or that doctor will say you need more than four days, which you already know is the final amount of days you get to recover.”

“What are you making?” you asked, unable to contain your curiosity as Eric moved around the kitchen area of his apartment.

“Low-carb enchiladas,” he responded as he got to work on the dish. “You can just… read or something,” he said, and you nodded, grabbing the book and picking off where you’d left off.

Almost an hour later, Eric said, “Alright it’s ready,” and walked over to help you up off the couch. “Get up,” he said. “I can’t have you spilling enchilada sauce or something on my couch,” he explained. You hobbled over to the table, and he poured himself a glass of whiskey before sitting across from you at the table. Without any preamble, he started eating, and you did the same.

After taking a bite, you paused. “Woah, this is good!” you exclaimed. Eric raised a pierced eyebrow at you, a little smug.

“I know,” he replied cockily.

“Why do you ever go to the dining hall when you can actually cook?”

“My job takes up a lot of time,” he said.

“Oh, that makes sense,” you said. “But still, I’ve got to say, while I was grateful that you made me dinner, I was a little nervous because, well, you don’t really seem like the type to cook.”

“I’m not,” he said. “I just know how to make a few things. And it’s actually better for you to eat a variety of foods rather than the same thing every day.” You nodded in agreement, having learned that in health class at Erudite.

As you finished your enchiladas, Eric drained his glass of whiskey and took your plate to the sink. “Alright, let’s get you back to the dorm; I have stuff to do.”

Rising, you limped over to the couch, where your bag was, and you put the book back inside the bag and slung the bag over your shoulder. “I’m enjoying the book so far, by the way. I really like the author’s voice and use of the natural world to explain each principle,” you said as he opened the door, allowing you to exit first.

“Good,” he replied, leading the way to the dorm and away from his room.

As you entered the dorm, most people were asleep, and those that weren’t didn’t question Eric’s presence, but they did give you a few weird looks. You sat down on your bed and Eric nodded, satisfied that you weren’t going to fall over. Nodding, he simply said “See you at training tomorrow, initiate,” and walked away.

A/N: so I know that getting stitches while conscious and without painkillers hurts like a bitch so I didn’t really add that but since I didn’t want to think about the experience too much, so please don’t @ me for making that part unrealistic

Tag List: @shykoolaid, @taina-eny, @parabatai-winchester, @marvel-ousnesss

#eric coulter #eric coulter imagine #eric coulter x reader #divergent #divergent imagine #dauntless #erudite #amity #abnegation #candor #four divergent #tobias eaton #tris prior #motherfxking-flannel #motherfxking flannel

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dauntless-gothamite · 3 years ago

Text

Prove Them Wrong [3/?]

When you walked into the training room the next morning, everyone avoided looking at your face, specifically, your neck. Instead, people looked at the ground. You knew you had bruises around your neck from where Peter had grabbed you, but you hadn’t expected a group of dauntless to be so touchy about it; bruises were common here.

“Alright, listen up!” Four yelled. “We are doing some target practice today, so line up and get throwing,” he said, pointing to the line of targets against the wall. At least you weren’t fighting today; your body could use a break. That fight with Peter really had worn you out, and since you guys had thrown knives a couple times already, you were starting to get familiar with the technique.

You walked up to a free target and looked over the knives positioned on the table before you, holding one and turning it over in your hand. “Well? Are you going to throw that knife or just stare at it all day?” the gruff, aggressive voice of Eric asked. You turned to look at him, and a part of you was pleased to notice that he was looking you in the face, not avoiding your eyes and neck like everyone else around here.

One side of your mouth quirked up in the beginning of a smile before you replied, “I’m about to throw it.”

“Then get on with it!” Without hesitation, you turned your body to the target, and you positioned your feet similar to how you would if you were throwing punches instead of knives. Gripping the handle, you drew the knife back, aimed, and twisted forward, releasing the knife as you traced an invisible arc over your head. The knife stuck to the target with a thud, but it was a little lower than you’d hoped it would be. Eric nodded and said “Get that figured out before I get back, and maybe I won’t yell at you,” before walking away to stand behind some other initiate, most likely to stress them out so much that they’d miss the target completely. Maybe that’s why he doesn’t yell at me very much, you thought to yourself. Because I don’t break under the pressure of his judgemental stare. After taking many math tests with teachers walking around the room, looking over each student’s shoulder as they frantically scribbled down answers, you were used to being watched and assessed.

Picking up the next knife, you lined yourself up just like you did before and repeated the motion, letting go of the knife a bit earlier this time. The knife landed at the height you wanted it to, but it was a little far to the side. Grabbing for the next knife, you made sure that this time you didn’t twist as much, but you did everything the same way you did before, and the third knife landed just a few millimeters from where you’d aimed, but you were satisfied. Smirking to yourself, you looked to either side before walking forward cautiously to grab the knives from the target. As you grabbed the first knife’s handle and pulled it out of the target, you heard the sound of a knife flying through the air near your head, and in an instant, said knife embedded itself just a centimeter above your head in the target.

“What the fuck!” you yelled. Whipping around to glare at whichever person’s knife had gone so far off course, you saw Eric standing where you had been standing to throw the knives with a smirk on his face.

“Just testing you,” he said nonchalantly. You scowled in response, eyeing the knife he still held in his hands. You locked eyes with him, and his smirk grew wider as you backed up against the target, knowing what would come next, right before Eric’s second knife landed between your arm and your torso. You turned back around to grab your knives, and Eric said “Grab mine too, initiate.” While you were turned around, you rolled your eyes, but you did retrieve his knives for him, passing them back to him curtly. He grabbed them out of your hands, fingers brushing ever so slightly in the process, before turning around to torment someone else.

At dinner, just as you were about to take a bite of your hamburger, Will asked, “How did you do it?”

“Do what?”

“Get Eric not to hate you!”

“He doesn’t like me,” you scoffed.

“At the very least, he doesn’t yell at you every five minutes,” Tris butted in, to which Will and Christina nodded fervently.

“I don’t know,” you shrugged. “Luck, I guess?”

“No way, luck could not possibly get that man to be even a little bit nice to anybody,” Christina countered.

“Ok, maybe not, but like I said, I don’t know! Maybe it’s because I don’t crack under pressure or something.”

“Something like that,” Will conceded with a sigh before turning on Tris. “Your turn; what’s going on with you and Four?”

“Nothing!” Tris replied.

“Come on, don’t lie to us,” Christina said. You badly wanted to say something to try and get more information out of Tris, but you refrained just in case they decided to turn back on you and start asking about Eric again.

“I don’t know,” Tris said. “He’s cute, though,” she admitted with flushed cheeks.

The banter between you all went on like that for a little while as everyone ate their dinner, until Will got up and said, “I’ll see you guys back at the dorm; I want to get there early and hit the showers while everyone is still at dinner. Get a little privacy for once,” and stood up with a smile.

As soon as Will was out of earshot, you leaned across the table to Christina and said “So, when are you finally going to tell Will you like him?” you smirked.

“What? No,” Christina said.

“Come on, Tris, back me up here,” you said.

“She has a point,” Tris said with a nod.

“You guys are unbelievable!” Christina said and stood up, prompting you and Tris to do the same, and then you all headed out of the dining area together to stroll through dauntless for a little while before going back to the dorm so as to give Will some privacy.

“You know, I think I’m going to try and shower early as well,” Tris said as the three of you walked. “But don’t worry, Christina, I won’t look at Will,” she winked and laughed before peeling off towards the dorm.

“Hey!” Christina yelled after her as you stood next to her, doubled over in laughter.

“Will, can you calculate the speed at which my fist hits the punching bag? Can you--” you teased Christina.

“Stop it!” she shrieked, her blush deepening.

“Just admit that you like him, it should be easy for an ex-Candor!”

“Fuck off!” she said, but there was no malice in her tone. You couldn’t help the laugh that escaped you, and that was the last straw before Christina gave you a hard shove, making you stumble as you laughed at her expense. Then your body collided with something solid. You heard whomever you had just crashed into growl in frustration as you stared at their black boots. Eric’s black boots. Your laughter died in your throat as you stood, taking note of the numerous pages and folders that were undoubtedly full of important files in them scattered across the floor. You made eye contact with Christina’s, who at least had the decency to look guilty as she retreated down the hallway, as Eric said “Well, initiate. I don’t know what you were doing, nor do I care, but the rest of your evening will be spent reorganizing the files you just scattered everywhere.”

You nodded as you made eye contact with him before bending over to pick up the pages on the floor. Once you had picked everything up, Eric started walking and you followed up three flights of stairs and down a hallway, eventually coming to a stop outside a door which he unlocked. You followed him inside as he turned on the lights, and looking around, you knew this was his office. “You will sort these pages by category and date, then leave them on my desk when you’re finished, understood?”

“Actually, I have a question,” you asked as an idea occurred to you. He raised an eyebrow, unimpressed.

“What?”

“Wouldn’t something physical be a better punishment? Just because I happen to be good at sorting, this feels like it’s--”

“No,” Eric said. “I know what you’re doing. Trying to get an advantage by extra training and building it into something you already have to do. I’m not an idiot, Y/N.”

Nervous to push him any further, you decided to throw one more thing out there, and if he didn’t take it well you would shut it and sort the files. “Well, of course not, you are from Erudite originally, so--”

“Who told you that,” Eric asked, annoyed. You weren’t sure, but you thought you saw a glimpse of something else in his eyes for a moment.

“No one, it’s just that Ms. McKimmerer talked about you all the time.”

“That old math teacher? He asked incredulously”

“Yeah, she always said ‘Eric Coulter memorized more digits of pi than any other student in his year, try to be more like him’ and ‘It’s a shame he left Erudite’ when she taught us about pi.”

“Ugh, don’t remind me,” Eric scoffed. “And don’t mention that to anyone, initiate!”

“I won’t!” you said, slightly amused. After a brief pause, you said, “But you should know, there is even a picture of you from that year on her desk, with your hair combed back and a blue collared shirt.”

Eric paused for a moment, and you did your best not to break, but eventually you howled in laughter; his wide-eyed reaction was just too funny.

Scowl in place, Eric schooled his face into a calm, if annoyed mask, and said “get to work on those files. I will check back in a bit to see if you’re done sorting them.” Then, he walked out and shut the door behind him. Chuckling to yourself, you got to work on the large stack of paper before you.

The door opened loudly and you woke up to the sound of Eric Coulter clearing his throat. “Did you finish sorting the files before falling asleep at my desk, initiate?”

Sitting up, slightly embarrassed, you nodded. “Good. Now get out of my office and go eat dinner.”

You stood from the desk, hesitating for a minute. “I actually wanted to ask you something,” you said, turning to face Eric.

“Yes?”

“Well, I noticed you have a few books in here, and I was wondering if I could borrow Mental Conditioning: Getting Your Mind and Body On the Same Page. I wasn’t looking through your stuff, it’s just on the self over there--”

“I know where my own damn book is,” he said, walking over to it and grabbing the book off the shelf. “Here,” he said, handing it to you. “Return it when you're done, and it better be in the same condition it is now when I get it back, understood?”

“Yes, thank you!” you smiled at him, pleasantly surprised that he was letting you borrow the book.

That night, when you got back to the dorm room, you read a few pages of Eric’s book before going to bed. It was a little hard to focus with all the noise--you’d find a better spot to read tomorrow--but you were happy nonetheless; while dauntless was great, you had missed all the books that were available to you at Erudite. As your eyes grew tired, you reached into your bag under your bed, which held your few belongings--every initiate got one--and pulled out a napkin you had been doodling some tattoo ideas on during lunch, placed it between the pages to act as a bookmark, and put the book away in the bag. You closed your eyes, surrounded by your friends, mind calm from reading, and for a moment, despite the lingering pain around your neck, you were completely at peace as you drifted off to sleep.

Tag List: @shykoolaid, @taina-eny, @parabatai-winchester, @marvel-ousnesss

#eric coulter #eric coulter imagine #eric coulter x reader #divergent #dauntless #erudite #amity #candor #abnegation #tris prior #tobias eaton #four divergent #peter hayes #divergent imagine #motherfxking-flannel #motherfxking flannel

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