Her heart hammered against her ribcage as she sat in the opening of the train wagon, her legs dangling in the air as they travelled further into Chicago. Lilith hadn't been able to stop thinking about what Eric was planning during the whole day, her cheeks gaining a red tint whenever she spent too long thinking about it. He hadn't asked her to keep it a secret, but the brunette had still assumed that this was yet another thing that people wouldn't be too happy about, so she'd kept it to herself, only feeling bad when she told Nate that she couldn't practice with him. Besides, if this got to Peter's ears, it would be almost impossible to prove that his accusations were wrong.

She'd denied Rita's request to return with her to the tattoo parlour after dinner, making the blonde girl pout for a few brief seconds, before she was able to convince Jonathan and Lynn to tag along with her. As incentive, Lilith had promised to give her her dessert for the next two weeks if she rounded up the courage to ask out Lavinia, to which Rita had rolled her eyes. After making sure that she'd gotten rid of all the people who would wonder about her whereabouts, Lilith had rushed to the dorm to grab a jacket and hastily made her up to the train tracks.

Eric had already been waiting for her, his hands shoved in the pockets of his own jacket as his gaze was pinned on the tracks. Once he'd heard the door closing behind her, he'd faced her and given her a small smile, Lilith's cheeks instantly warming up at the unusual greeting. Her whole body still ached from her combat with Edward, but the girl ignored Eric's attempt to help her into the train wagon when it was finally time to jump, pushing herself inside with a hiss escaping her lips. When she'd looked at herself in the mirror, that morning, she'd noticed that her ribs were severely bruised, but the swelling around her eye had grown smaller, allowing her to finally see out of both eyes normally. Even with her injuries, she'd managed to defeat her opponent in that day's combat, and she'd even had a small competition with Christina when they did knife throwing.

"Get ready to jump," the leader's voice interrupted her train of thought, and she looked up to where he was leaning against the wall, her heart hammering in her chest.

"Can you tell me where we're going, now?" she questioned, as she pushed herself to her feet. Her brown eyes moved to Eric once more as she dusted off her pants, raising her eyebrows as she waited for a response. However, the only thing she received was yet another smirk, and she rolled her eyes, before turning to opening, "Let me know when."

A few more seconds went by before Eric told her it was officially time to jump off, and the pair leaped from the wagon at the same time, both of them firmly landing on the platform next to tracks. The impact caused a sharp pain to sear through Lilith's bruised ribs, and the brunette placed a hand over it, gritting her teeth as she looked at her companion for an indication of where to go next. 

Eric gestured at her to walk with him, and they made their way down the street. The silence made it clear to the girl that wherever they were, it was an abandoned part of the town. The buildings were severely neglected, most with broken windows and grafitti covering the walls. Lilith wondered if the Dauntless escaped to this area often. A cold breeze blew through the street, and she paused for a few seconds to zip up her jacket, taking the chance to look around. She soon spotted a sign nearby, and her eyes narrowed in confusion, "We're in Michigan Avenue?"

"Yes," he nodded, looking towards the south of the city, "Well, the part that's abandoned, anyways."

"Why?"

"You'll see."

Lilith followed after Eric with her features still showcasing her confusion, only realizing that he was leading her to the tallest building in the surrounding area a few minutes later. Her gaze flickered all the way to the top of the building, barely visible through the darkness of the night, and her throat began to dry as she wondered why they were making their way there. The leader walked with his usual confidence, the only difference being that he seemed to actually be putting an effort into moving at the same speed as her. In all of her time knowing Eric, it was the first time she'd seen him do something of the sort, almost as if he was unsure that she'd keep walking with him.

Eric had almost reached the doors when Lilith simply stopped walking, folding her arms over her chest in a childlike manner, "Okay, you know what, I'm not taking another step until you tell me where the hell we're going."

The leader immediately rolled his eyes, before pointing upwards, "Up there."

The former Candor narrowed her eyes, staying put for a few more seconds, before beginning to move towards the entrance once again. Eric allowed her to walk into the building first, and the noise of broken glass being crushed under their boots echoed in the building. The male took the lead once more, since Lilith had no idea of where to go next, walking through a dark hallway and stopping in front of a door that she assumed would open to reveal an elevator.

"Are you going to push me off?" she asked, once the doors finally opened.

Eric didn't even glance at her as he pressed the buttom for the 100th floor, "If I wanted to push you off a roof, I would have done that back at Dauntless and blamed it on Peter."

"Hilarious."

The elevator started heading upwards faster than Lilith had expected, causing her to tumble to the side, her bruised ribs smashing into a railing. A curse word left her lips as she pushed herself against the wall, hoping to keep her balance more easily. Eric had given her a curious glance when she'd spoken, but he hadn't acknowledged her mishap, instantly turning back to face the doors. Taking advantage of the fact that the walls were mirrowed, Lilith glanced at the leader's face in the reflection. His expression didn't usually change much, only he became angry about something, and that made him hard to read. The only thing betraying him was the way he cracked his knuckles, his eyes fixated on where the numbers of the floors flashed.

A minute of silence went by before the elevator came to a stop, the doors opening to reveal yet another dark room. Lilith's attention was immediately drawn to the ceiling, in which there was a hole she could view the stars through. Her eyes met Eric's after a few seconds, his features softening as he caught sigh of her elated expression but, before she could question him further, he walked out of the elevator. The brunette followed, watching as he grabbed a ladder and placed it against the edge of the hole. He was quick in climbing it to the roof, signaling for her to follow as he held the top of the ladder in place.

As soon as her head emerged from the hole, Lilith was struck by a gush of wind that sent her hair flying in front of her eyes. Frowning to herself, she stopped, running a hand through her dark hair in order to get it out of her face. Her huff of frustration made Eric let out a sound that sounded like a chuckle, and she glared in his direction before pushing herself up the remaining steps. She hadn't had the time to analyze her surroundings before a voice spoke above the volume of the window.

"Hello there," they said, and Lilith turned to see a dark skinned boy looking curiously in her direction.

"Zeke," Eric gave the boy a nod, before gesturing at her to follow him as he approached the other Dauntless.

"Who's this?" Zeke inquired, folding his arms over his chest as his eyes drifted to her. There was something familiar about him, but she couldn't quite put her finger on what it was.

"I'm Lilith," she held out her hand for him to shake, before Eric could speak.

Zeke raised an eyebrow as he shook her hand, his eyes drifting to Eric for a brief second, "A transfer?"

"Yes."

Eric's lack of explanation only seemed to make Zeke more curious, but it wasn't too long until his lips spread into a toothy grin, "Well, nice to meet you, Lilith. Uriah has told me a lot about you."

Realization took over her, "You're brothers, right?"

"Yeah," Zeke's smile grew as he nodded, "Though I'm much better looking," he added, sending her a wink.

Lilith snorted, "And modest, too," her eyes travelled to the pole that Zeke stood in front of, and she soon noticed the thick cable attached to it. She had no clue of where it led, for it disappeared in the darkness. A rustling sound brought her focus back to the two males, and she watched as Eric picked up a black sling from a pile on the ground, "Excuse me, what exactly are we doing?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Eric raised his pierced eyebrow, "We're sliding all the way down to the ground, from the tallest building in this part of the town."

"So you are going to push me off of a roof."

The leader simply rolled his eyes, while Zeke attempted to mask his chuckle with a cough, though Lilith could see his mouth twisting as he attempted to hold back a grin. Eric was still fiddling with the sling when he spoke, "I'll go first, if it makes you feel better."

Her eyes widened, "You think I'm scared?"

"Terrified."

"Fuck you," she retorted. After she'd realized what she had said, her eyes moved from the sling to Eric's face, and she was surprised to see that he didn't seem bothered at all by her swearing. In fact, it was almost like he hadn't even heard her. Licking her lips, she continued, "But fine, go first, if you're so eager."

Lilith watched closely as Eric wrapped the sling around his torso, noticing how the fabric wouldn't be enough to secure him if he had more muscles. After making sure that the sling was properly placed around him, he gave Zeke a nod, and the boy secured a strap across his back, latching it to the dark sling across his shoulders and near the end of his spine, and attaching a final strap to the back of Eric's thighs. Lilith would be lying if she said she hadn't taken the chance to let her eyes linger over Eric's form.

One moment, Zeke was asking Eric if he was ready, and the next, the leader was gone from the edge of the roof, leaving Lilith to look down to where he was descending into the night. Excited screams left his lips, and the girl didn't manage to hold back a smirk, watching as he disappeared from sight.

"Eric having fun with something? Now I've seen it all," she mused, earning a laugh from Zeke.

"You know, at first I didn't really understand why Eric said I had to keep my mouth shut about this," he said, gesturing at her to wait as he secured her sling to the straps. Lilith wondered why Eric had put on his sling first, but she didn't interrupt the other boy as he continued, "Usually it's just Granger and him. But I get it now," his smile grew, as he gestured at her to position herself in the sling.

"What do you mean?" her eyebrows were furrowed as she layed on the black fabric, her stomach flat against it.

"It's unsual for members to spend time with iniciates, outside of training," Zeke replied, stating what Lilith had pushed out of her mind up until that point. She could feel the boy's firm movements as he did a few last minute adjustements to her straps, before he tested if they held on well enough. Her hands grasped the straps on her shoulders tightly, but Zeke didn't seem to notice, "He'd be accused of favoritism if this were to get out."

"I know," she nodded her head.

"No one's gonna hear it from me," he continued, after a few seconds, "Eric would literally kill me, and I'm quite fond of being alive. Anyways, ready?"

Her response had barely left her lips when Zeke released his grip on her sling, and she instinctively held her breath as she fell vertically towards the ground. Wind whizzed past her during the drop, and her fingers tightened around the straps even more. The lack of light in that area of town made it impossible to know just how far she was from the bottom of the building, and Lilith found herself being concerned at where exactly she would stop. The brunette couldn't think about it for much longer, since there was a sudden turn that made her screech.

With her heart slamming against her ribcage faster than it had ever been before, Lilith released a breathless laugh as the cable drove her further away from the building. She noticed that, even though she was still approaching the ground, the route was significantly more horizontal. Building passed her by at a speed that made them blurry, the windows reflecting her as she floated past them. She wondered what it would be like to make the descent on her back, with her eyes fixated on the night sky.

Eventually, Lilith was flying parallel to the ground, her lips spread into a wide grin as her speed dwindled. Eric entered her field of vision not too long after, standing under where she assumed he had jumped down from the cable. She wondered if she should yell out something to him to share her excitement, but her voice was still caught up in throat, making her laugh until she suddenly came to a stop. Still held up by the straps, she wriggled her legs, soft giggles leaving her lips.

"You coming down?" Eric's voice finally echoed, and Lilith looked down at him to see a slightly amused look on his face, "I'm pretty sure Zeke left soon after you, so unless you want him to crash against you, I'd suggest getting down."

"Okay," she nodded her head, licking her lips as she reached out to the strap that Zeke had secured to her legs. A bit of wriggling was necessary for her fingers to find the place where the strap connected with the sling but, after a few seconds, her legs were loose. The strap around the small of her back was easier to undo, and Lilith hung only by her shoulders a few seconds later. She stuck out her tongue as her fingers fiddled with the last strap, and there was a clicking sound before Lilith was falling, "Oh shi-"

Praying that she would break an ankle when she hit the ground, Lilith clenched her jaw, but her fall wasn't as messy as she expected. Warm hands were firmly placed on her waist, Lilith opening her eyes to find Eric right in front of her, helping her regain her balance. Her cheeks immediately heated up when his eyes met hers, her breathing faltering for what seemed to be the 100th time in the last few hours. None of them said a word, and the brunette wondered if he could her heart thumping in her chest.

Eric's face seemed to be moving closer to hers, her eyes widening slightly as she wondered if she was imagining things. Still, she found herself moving closer as well. She'd wondered what kissing him would feel like, back before they'd been properly introduced and she'd been faced with how much of an asshole he was, and she'd be lying if she said she wasn't still curious. Their noses were almost touching when a loud scream echoed in the night, and the pair jumped away from eachother, the leader's hands leaving her waist as quickly as they had gotten there in the first place.

Zeke was flying in their direction, joyful yells leaving his lips as he spread his arms wide. She looked in Eric's direction one last time, hating the way her heart accelarated when their gazes met. 

She really was screwed.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE

Hey y'all!
Sorry for the lack of updates last week, there was a lot of extra work for uni and I just felt really burn out so I thought I'd skip an update (in retrospect, it was cruel because I was holding back on the "date" chapter, oof) but yeah! This week is Spring Break and I've been taken advantage of my time to work on school projects, and also write a little. Having this much free time isn't good for me tho, ever since lockdown started I've had a need to keep a steady routine and I don't have one for this week so it's been kinda shitty, but I'm still here!
Anyways, regarding the chapter, I'm not used to the "romantic" and the relationships aspect of writing yet, but I did want this to be slightly awkward and not full romance. It actually came out how I pictured so yeah... We've officially gotten to the stage where there's something going on, even if neither Eric or Lilith are currently doing much about it. Makes me giddy tbh!
I hope you enjoyed, please leave some feedback if you did! I'll try to update again next week!