Friends to Lovers

Friends to Lovers Pt. 5

In the infirmary they gave me a pill against the swelling and the pain. After that I walked back to the training room, but couldn't do much for the rest of the day.
Xavier cheered me up, talking nonsense the whole day. Lucy still glared daggers at me and after he won, Tyler smirked at me as if I had missed out on the biggest price ever.
I still catched Eric shooting me glances, I just didn't know if he was annoyed that I couldn't continue training or if he was worried about me. Either way, Eric dismissed all of us for lunch after a few more fights.

"Your fight was awesome! The way you dodged him and that kick! You have to show me!" Xavier cut my steak for me while he bussed around me. "If you stop talking, I will." I took the fork into my left hand and began eating. Meanwhile, Xavier zipped his lips and threw the key away. I quietly chuckled at his behaviour. Our light atmosphere was disturbed when Lucy walked by our table and Xavier, still completely oblivious to her feelings, had to talk to her.
"Hey, Lucy! Where are you going? We are over here!" Sometimes I wanted to hit Xavier for his oblivious mind but it was just too cute.
"You have her, so don't bother with me." Lucy immediately turned around and walked to another table. Xavier sunk back to his seat, defeated. "Did I do something wrong?" He looked at me with big, sad eyes. "No, she just doesn't understand yet, but I'll talk to her, okay?" I rubbed his back and stood up. Lucy looked up as soon as I got near her table.
"What do you want?" "A talk." I sat down opposite from her leaning on my elbows.
"Okay, talk." She continued eating without even looking at me. "Not here. Come on." I stood up, but she just stared at her plate. "Lucy?" "Why is it you? Okay, I'M not nearly as beautiful as you are, but why can't he like me? This is just unfair! You don't even want anything from him! You're always bickering with the leaders so leave him alone!" Lucy began to yell at me. She stood up and began walking towards me. "I hate you!" She was standing right in front of me, her hands balled to fists.
"Lucy, calm down, you don't mean that." I held my hands up defensively. Meanwhile the whole room was quiet. "Bullshit."
She threw a punch my way. Trying to dodge it, I fell backwards. Staring  at her I tried to get up again but she helped me with that. She grabbed my collar and pulled me to my feet. She was really strong for her small statue.
Just as she was about to punch me square in the face, a arm wrapped around my waist and pulled me out of her grasp. The person placed me behind them and took the punch for me.
"Xavier!" He fell backwards and I just barely managed to catch him. Lucy stared at him in shock but quickly ran away.
I looked around, I needed someone to help me carry Xavier to the infirmary but I didn't know anyone near us. Finally I discovered Four standing a few meters away from us and staring at Xavier.
"Four! Please hel..." Xaviers body was suddenly lifted off of me. I looked up and stared into two cold blue eyes. "Come." Eric started walking out of the cafeteria and I rushed to keep up with him.

He put Xavier down and told the nurse what happened. As soon as the nurse was finished checking Xavier, I pulled a chair beside his bed. He is such an idiot, why did he do this? God dammit.
"Are you okay?" Eric stood beside me, looking at Xavier. I shook my head and hid my face in my hands. "He is brave. And a good friend." Those were the kindest words that left Erics mouth since my arrival here. "He is an idiot." I laughed quietly. Eric squeezed my shoulder and turned to leave.
"Thank you Eric. For everything." He stopped walking and turned back to me. "I'm sorry." He left after uttering those words.

Xavier slept for a few hours before finally waking up. Nobody visited him but I stayed by his side.
"Hey there sleeping Beauty." I softly smiled at him. "What is sleeping Beauty?" He looked at me confused. "A princess that slept for a hundred years before she was woken." I laughed and took his hand.
"Lucy got a lot of strength inside her, huh?" He broke the silence, looking at me again. "Did she visit?" He had a glimmer of hope inside his eyes and it broke me to shatter that glimmer.
"No. She didn't. After she knocked you out, she ran away." He nodded and looked the other way.
Again, silence filled the room.
"Why was she trying to punch you anyway?" "She's in love with you and thinks that you love me." He immediately started laughing. "I thought it was obvious that I am gay!" He was laughing hysterically by now and I couldn't help but chime in. "Hey, it shocked me too when I first found out!" We laughed and there was no end in sight.
"Excuse me?" Our laughter immediately died down as soon as Lucy spoke up.
"Lucy. Hey. Come here." Xavier waved her to him and she obeyed.
"I'll give the two of you some space." I quietly left the infirmary, hearing the two of them talking. 
I made my way back to the dorms, needing some sleep after this busy day. Instead I found myself in the leaders quarters.
The names stood in the doors and I couldn't help searching for Coulter. It took me a few minutes but I found his room.
I debated if I should knock and ask him to talk about everything. It wouldn't really matter. I'm not allowed to be here but the cameras already filmed me.
I was about to knock when I heard a scream from inside.
"Eric?" I pressed my ear against the door to listen more closely and could only hear ragged breathing. Without thinking I started hammering against the door, calling his name. Still, he didn't open.
I began searching for a way to open the door. It had no keyhole, but after pressing a button in the doorframe, a keypad appeared.
I seriously needed a code to get in there! I mean, how should I know the code?
I tried his mothers and fathers birthday. After that I tried his birthday and all the numbers that could mean something to him. His address in Erudite, his locker number in school or his door number here in Dauntless. Nothing worked.
I was close to giving up but one last idea struck me. My birthday.
After my mother and sister abandoned me, he was the only one that remembered and that celebrated it with me.
I pressed the numbers and the lock clicked. I threw it open and ran inside.
No trace of Eric in his living room. Neither in the kitchen or bedroom.
Finally I heard that scream again, leading me to the bathroom.
"Eric? Open the door!" His breathing was still ragged and I heard him moving on the other side of the door. "(Y/N)? What are you doing here?" He panted and stumbled over the words.
"I swear to whatever might be up there, if you don't open this door, I'll..." "You'll what?" "I'll go get Max and Four." Even though he couldn't see me, I shrugged my shoulders.
I could hear one or two swears on the other side, but the door soon opened. Eric stood there, his hair a mess, sweat on his forehead and tears in his eyes. Looked like he had a panic attack. "Oh, Eric..." I wanted to hug him but he moved back. "Please, save your 'Oh Eric'! What do you want?" He walked past me towards his bedroom.
"Well excuse me! I was outside and heard you screaming. I'm sorry I was worried!" I swear, this man...!
"Just...leave." He laid down and covered his eyes with his arm.
"No." I stood at the foot of his bed looking at him. "No?" He sat up and looked at me. We stared at each other, both keeping our poker faces as long as we could. It has been normal for us to have our staring contests when neither of us wanted to back down. But this wasn't then and we were no longer kids.
"Look, I don't really want to fight with you right now. I want to help you and I'm going to help you, whether you want it or not. So sit on your ass and I'm going to make you a coffee and after that you'll tell me what happened. Okay?" I turned around and walked to his kitchen.
After searching every cupboard, I finally found his coffee and started making him a cup.
"You should hate me." Eric apparently made it from his bed to the dinner table, where he sat down again. "Who says I don't?" I took the milk out of his fridge and placed it on the table along with the sugar.
"I know how you look and act when you hate someone. You wouldn't care for me at all. So why are you here?" He looked at me with such doubt in his eyes, I couldn't look at him for too long.
"I don't know. I really don't. Maybe it is our connection from the past. Maybe it's just that I was able to rely on you for so many years, I want to repay you. I'm not sure."
I finished his coffee, placed it on his table and sat down beside him.
"Thanks." I pressed my lips together, as an attempt to smile. "No, I mean it." He looked me in the eyes, for once they were not cold and hard. "I know." I grabbed his hand and squeezed it.
"Well, I'll get going. See you tomorrow." I stood up and walked to the door.
"Are the beds still as uncomfortable as to my time?" He too, stood up and walked towards me. "Sleep here tonight. You earn it after today. And I won't try anything." He pointed towards his bedroom. Xavier wouldn't miss me tonight and I already had a look at his bed. It looked as soft as the clouds in the sky. "Only if I can take a shower here too." I was already on my way to his bathroom and I could hear him chuckle quietly behind me. "I'll lay some clothes for you on the counter."

The shower was marvellous, I can tell you that! The hot water cascading down my body and finally being able to use proper shampoo and body wash! Heaven.
"I'll leave the clothes here!" Eric stood on the other side of the shower curtain. "Oh and I found nothing besides a shirt that could fit you, but I picked my largest one so it should cover most of you." Before I could answer he left the bathroom and I continued my shower.
Way too soon, I had to leave this hot heaven.
I dried my body and put on the shirt Eric left me. I searched for a hairdryer but found none. Not that Eric would need one with that short hair. So I wrapped my hair in a towel and made my way to his bedroom. He laid in bed, reading on his tablet, still wearing his uniform.
"That was perfect! Thank you." I laid down beside him and sighed out of content.
"Mhm." Eric continued looking at his tablet, seemingly very concentrated. "What are you reading?" I placed my chin on his shoulder, looking at his tablet. "Just some reports about factionless. Nothing important. Go to sleep." Right now he was back in his leader mode. But he was probably right. I really needed some sleep.
So I kissed his cheek, rolled onto my side, my back facing Eric and closed my eyes.
The last thing I felt were his strong arms wrapping around me, pulling me to him.

It was the first night without a nightmare in a long time.