Bite Me || Eric Coulter Fanfic - Divergent

23. Hot or cold

AHHHHH thank you so much to everyone who has read this story! I didn't expect this at all and it's great to see people still want to read divergent fanfics <3

Also, if you have any ideas about scenes/plot development, feel free to send them my way! I'd love to incorporate your ideas as much as possible.

I'm sorry I haven't been uploading consistently. University has been a bit crazy lately, but I'll try to write a few chapters over the break x

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I'm convinced this man experiences constant mood swings. There's no other explanation for Eric's behavior towards me. We were so close that night in the Pit and then in the fighting ring, I thought our playful interaction was paving the path for something new between us. But then, after stage two, he seems to be avoiding me like I've got the most contagious disease known to man. He doesn't look at me, stands as far away from me as possible, and hasn't talked to me in days.

Does he regret what happened that night at the Pit?
Was I too slow in my fear landscape that now he thinks I'm weak?
But worst of all, is this all in my head? What if he was just playing with me for a bit but now he's bored and ready to move on to someone new?

Overthinking this is exhausting and the fact that I keep seeing him in my fear landscape doesn't help.

Honestly, Eric's mood should be the last thing on my mind. This just serves to teach me not to invest emotionally in people who aren't prepared to invest in me as well. If Eric wants nothing to do with me, then so be it.

But I just can't help but think about how bizarre his behavior has been lately...

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Flashback: Two days after first fear landscape

"Okay everyone, pair up for some upper body attacks training" Four says, his voice booming around the large training room. "We have an odd number of people, so you'll be very happy to hear that one of you will be practicing with Eric" he says, his eyes twinkling a little with amusement. If possible, the room became even more silent, as people seemed to hold their breath.

"Eric, you wanna take one of the top initiates on the board?" Four says absentmindedly, but at that moment my whole body froze. I was at the top of the leaderboard. Would Eric have to train with me? For some reason, the thought filled me with more excitement than dread.

Fighting with Eric was exhilarating. His strength and precision were undeniable. Especially now that we were less hostile towards each other, I was looking forward to training with him.

But Eric seemed to have other plans in mind. The minute he realized who was at the top of the leaderboard, his whole body seemed to tense, and his eyes turnt darker than before.

"You can take this one today" Eric said nonchalantly. His tone was cold, void of any and all emotion, as if the prospect of fighting with me was a chore he wanted to avoid. "I'll be walking around to supervise"

With a shrug of his shoulders, Four ordered us to pair up and start the drills. He approached me casually and we fell into the rhythm of the training sequence. Unlike Eric, he didn't seem appalled at the idea of working with me.

Instead of walking around the room like he said he would, Eric seemed to be intensely focused on the other side of the room. Though he's always strict, today he seemed uncharacteristically cold and harsh. He would spontaneously yell at people for ridiculous reasons, like looking at him or breathing the wrong way. Needless to say, the whole room was incredibly tense throughout training.

Knowing how brutal it is to be on Eric's bad side, I decided to focus on Four and the drills.

It was surprisingly fun to train with Four. He was undeniably skilled and I found myself learning a lot of new techniques. However, the drills required us to be quite close to each other. At one point, Four was showing me a variation of a headlock and had his arms around me with my back pressed against his chest.

"How can you be so fucking useless?" Eric's voice tore through the room, stilling everyone and everything in its path. His outburst was so sudden and intense that Four and I sprang apart and turnt to look at Eric.

The sight was terrifying; Eric had a poor boy in a chokehold and was pushing him against the wall with his feet barely touching the floor. Even from a distance, I could see the boy's face turn an abnormal shade of blue and his limbs fall heavy at his sides.

"Eric!" Four yelled and took furious steps towards the man. "Enough".

His tone was deadly as he gripped Eric's shoulder and violently pulled him away from the boy who curled up on the floor and tried to regain his breath. At last, Eric seemed to snap back to reality; his shoulders lost some of the tension that had been keeping them upright, and his face relaxed slightly.

Without another glance at his unfortunate victim, Eric turned towards the exit, which happened to be in the general area where I was standing. He kept his gaze locked on the door, as if he was looking through me. Like a solider marching to battle, he walked across the room, harshly bumping into me in the process.

"Training's over for today everyone, get some rest" Four sighed, running a hand through his hair.

As I walked away from the training room, the almost feral expression on Eric's face kept replaying in my mind. Something was bothering him and I intended to find out what.

PART 1/3 OF THE TRIPLE UPDATE - CHECK OUT CHAPTERS 24 & 25 NEXT :)))