A/N Thank you to everyone who weighed in to help me choose which story to publish. The feedback was an astounding FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS so here it is. For visual reference my Eric is movie Eric, and there are scene settings and outfits on my polyvore (Link in profile).

It's been a long time since I've published anything here and it's my first Divergent so let me know if I'm completely missing the mark. As always the names and faces belong to Veronica Roth I'm just manipulating them for my own entertainment (and hopefully yours).

Eric was trying to figure out why he was standing in the hallway outside of Tris' apartment holding a bottle of wine instead of their usual bourbon, and why the hell he was dressed in slacks and a black button up instead of jeans and a t-shirt. Just as Eric had convinced himself to go home to change before knocking, the door swung open and a distracted Tris rushed out with her face buried in her tablet. Before Eric could react she walked directly into him.

Tris' head shot up and when she realized who she'd run into she gave him a wide smile. "Oh, hey Eric," she greeted. "I was just coming to find you. We got an email from... Wait what are you doing here? Did we have plans?" She asked looking him over, "Oh no did I miss a meeting?"

"No I was actually just about to knock; I had something I wanted to talk to you about." He said rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand.

"Well come in then." She had already turned back to the email on her tablet as she opened the door and threw her keys on the table in the entryway. Eric watched her as she shifted her tablet from hand to hand to shimmy her blazer off before it ended up haphazardly deposited on the couch. She was wearing a layered red tank top with thin straps, that highlighted the tattoo of the word free with a sparrow on her collar bone, and tight distressed jeans that hugged her modest curves. She had on heeled knee high boots and her hair hung loose in soft curls. Tris wasn't most men's ideal definition if sexy, but now that he had memorized the way her hip bones tented her soft skin just slightly, and the exact shade of red said skin flushed when he dragged his teeth over it, there was no better way to define sexy for him.

Eric continued to watch Tris as she absently reached up into the cabinet to pull down two rocks glasses, should have stuck to the bourbon he scolded himself, he walked up behind her to put away the glasses and pulled down two wine glasses instead. This got her attention for a second and she turned her face up to him questioningly. He gestured to the bottle he'd set on her kitchen island as he reached into the drawer beside her sink to pull out a corkscrew. When he looked up from the drawer Tris had put her tablet down on the counter and she was leaning against it with her ankles and arms crossed studying Eric's movements. As he stepped to open the wine she started to speak. "We need to deal with the email we just got, but first I'm dying to know who you just went on a date with." It wasn't uncommon for one of them to go on a first date, and then show up at the others apartment to vent the tension or erase the memory.

"No date." He told her as he pulled the cork free from the bottle. She gave him a disbelieving look as she accepted the glass he offered. "What's the big deal about this email?" He asked before taking a long calming sip from his own glass. Eric held his hand out for her tablet, and she handed it to him still appraising his outfit with a hard look. He rolled his eyes, took the tablet, and began to read. It was the same email they received dozens of times a week requesting a meeting to discuss retaining their services. "This is pretty standard, what's the big deal?" He took another long drink as he looked up at her.
She was leaning on the counter again her free arm holding her weight as she sipped at her wine. "Didn't see who it was from, did you?" He pulled a face and read the signature line. Lauren Mason, Executive Assistant, Eaton Industries. "Nope, we're not doing it." Eric said putting the device down.

"Eric, this could be huge for us! Eaton Industries is a multi billion dollar corporation. The retainer alone could be exactly what we need to expand." She said logically. "How often do you think he would actually need someone in person, besides we can just send Peter."
"Because I don't want to send anyone to protect him. In fact I would love to do quite the opposite," Eric ground out through clenched teeth. "I haven't forgotten what he did to you."

"Neither have I, but Tobias is the client we need. He's got powerful friends, all of whom will need security services at some point." Tris tried to reason with him.
"They'll have to get it elsewhere. It doesn't make you suspicious that the man who disappeared on you while you were half dead in a hospital bed suddenly shows up wanting to hire you as his security consultant?"

"No more suspicious than when my Police Academy instructor, the one who tortured me through the entire academy and my probationary period, suddenly showed up asking me to be his business partner." She laughed.

"Are you actually comparing me to him? I've told you a thousand times; I was hard on you because I needed you to learn to be tough, and because you were cute when you got angry. I was also your partner for two years and I was the one who kept you from bleeding to death until EMS got to you." He reminded her. "Four on the other hand took everything he could from you for years, and when you got shot on the job and the possibility that he would need to take care of you for a while arose, he disappeared without a look back. Tris you can't actually be considering this." He was leaning forward on the island looking at her as he rehashed the truth to her.

Tris had been a Chicago Police Officer when she met Tobias Eaton, CEO of Eaton Industries at a bar on the navy pier. Tobias was the guy every girl fantasizes about, tall dark and brooding, rich, powerful, and incredibly seductive. She fell hard and fast for him and he kept her at arms length always offering just enough of himself to keep her wanting more. For six years she put up with all of it, and for the last two Eric had been a direct witness. One night Tris and Eric were responding to a domestic disturbance gone terribly wrong when she was shot in the femoral artery; she lost an enormous amount of blood, required emergency surgery and spent 3 days in a medically induced coma, and another week in the hospital. While Tris was in the hospital Eric visited every day before and after his shift, brought her parents and brother food, coffee and clean clothes. Tobias, her boyfriend, sent a bouquet with a generic get well message and took what little he had left at her apartment and left her belongings and the spare key on the coffee table with a note that said, "I'm sorry I couldn't be more for you."

"Tris?" Eric's voice broke her thoughts and she shook her head to clear it before downing the last of her wine. "So we tell them thanks but no thanks?"

"No, we take the meeting." She said sternly as Eric ran his hands through his hair frustrated.

"This is such a bad idea." He protested as he poured her more wine.

"I'm apparently full of bad ideas," She teased reminding him that their current 'beneficial agreement' began as one of her bad ideas. "The last one I had worked out pretty well for us didn't it?" She asked coming up behind him and dragging her nails down his back. Eric laughed as he turned to face her.

"There's no talking you out of this train wreck?" He asked and she shook her head. "Then we schedule a meeting with Mr. Eaton on Monday morning. Until then can we finish this bottle and maybe another and not speak of him?" He finished refilling both their glasses and took a long drink.

Tris shook her head at him and drank from her glass. "I can meet with him alone if you want." She told him as she walked from the kitchen to the living room.

Eric felt his heart rate spike at the thought of her alone in a room with Tobias Eaton and he had to consciously stop himself from yelling his response. He took a deep breath and calmly followed her into the other room saying, "No I will be there. We'll talk about it tomorrow at work."

"Right we're not speaking of him anymore tonight. So are you ready to tell me who you went on a date with now?" She asked as she sat down on the sofa pulling her legs up under her and throwing her arm across the back of the couch.

Eric rolled his eyes and dropped down into the arm chair facing her and threw his feet up on the coffee table. "I told you, no date."

"So you just felt like walking around the building in your first date outfit?" She asked with her eyebrows raised in question. As she went to take a sip Eric heard the clink of her vertical labret piercing tapping against the glass and it drew his attention to her mouth and he swallowed a mouthful of wine trying to suppress his urge to kiss her, and to delay his answer.

"First date outfit?" was his distraction in an attempt to avoid the question.

"You have worn that outfit on the last 5 first dates you've been on." She told him, "At least the ones you've come here after. So who was she and how did it go?"

"I didn't have a date Tris. It's just what I was wearing." He said.

"OK." She raised her arms in mock surrender; obviously he didn't want to talk about it. "So you said you were on your way here to talk to me, what's up?"

"It wasn't really all that important." He said finishing glass number 2 and leaning to the coffee table to pour another. He tipped the bottle to her and she reached her glass to him so he could empty the last of the bottle into it. "Besides, now all I can think of is how I'm going to make Four squirm."

So there it is Chapter 1! Let me know what you think. For those of you who were asking for this plot line with 20 somethings I hope now that you've seen a hint of Tris and Eric's back story you're on board that it just wouldn't fit. The years as police officers and then establishing a business wouldn't be believable if they were too young.