The drive back into Stanford was admittedly disappointing in Eleanora's eyes. She couldn't remember a time when she had felt as carefree as she did throughout the entirety of the road trip with Tony and Rhodey. Not to mention, she still hadn't spoken to Tucker since their argument over the phone and she was not looking forward to his reaction. 

However, she did feel incredibly guilty over the whole thing. Of course her boyfriend wouldn't be happy about her sharing a suit with two other guys. She only did it because she was quite shaken about the break-in but maybe she was just being dramatic, it's not like anything actually happened (thanks to Tony, anyway). 

"Where are we dropping you off?" Rhodey asked from the front of the car. 

Eleanora paused. When Tucker agreed to let her go, he had done so under the condition that she got picked up and dropped off at his place, however, she wasn't sure if that still stood after their argument. She supposed they needed to talk anyway, though, and it was probably better to get it out of the way. 

"Tucker's house," she answered. 

"So you guys are cool now?" 

Eleanora smiled slightly and gave a casual shrug. "I'll find out, I suppose." 

Tony craned his neck around to look between the two. "Wait, what? What did I miss?" 

"We just had a bit of a fight, is all," she shrugged it off. 

"When was this?" 

"Thursday night. You were shit-faced." 

"Ah," he nodded. "So... what happened?" 

A part of Eleanora didn't want to tell him. Frankly she was embarrassed, ashamed that she couldn't be the girlfriend Tucker wanted her to be. She'd prefer for them to not even know they were fighting in the first place, it was humiliating. But they knew now, and she knew that Tony and Rhodey would be the last people to judge her for such a thing. 

"He just wasn't really happy about the room arrangements," she explained, glancing out the window. 

"You mean us all being in the same room?" Tony asked. 

Eleanora nodded. 

"Did you tell him someone broke into your room?" 

"Yeah, but he's just..." she trailed off and made a vague gesture with her hand. "I mean, I can see why he'd be upset, it's fair enough." 

"Uh, no it's not," Tony frowned. "I mean, I get why he'd be jealous of my beautiful face, but we were just making sure you were safe. Would he rather-?" 

"Don't finish that, man," Rhodey interrupted. 

While a part of her was relieved and grateful that Tony was backing her up, it also worsened her guilt. It didn't feel right to talk about Tucker like that behind his back, what kind of girlfriend did that? He hadn't even been doing anything wrong, he had just been expressing his feelings about Eleanora's own actions. And she encouraged that, she encouraged honesty and communication about these things. 

"Would he feel better if he actually met us?" Tony suggested. "I'll even turn off my natural charm so he feels less threatened." 

Eleanora's lips quirked upwards and she rolled her eyes slightly, despite the fact that Tucker would indeed be more likely to actually like Tony if he was less... Tony-like. "Uh, probably. I guess the fact that he has no idea who you two are has made him a bit antsy, but maybe if he met you he'd... calm down." 

However, when they turned onto Tucker's street, she caught sight of a sleek red Alfa Romeo in the driveway and her heart sank. "Oh, fuck." 

"What's wrong?" Rhodey asked. 

"That's my dad's car. What the hell are they doing here? Tucker must have told them I was coming back today. That's just fantastic." 

"Do you still want us to go in with you?" 

"Definitely not... no offence. It's just my parents are gonna be really mad at me and they won't be scared to lash out at you too. It's probably safer if you don't actually stop the car, just slow down enough for me to jump out and then drive far away," she joked. 

"Let's not do that," Rhodey said at the same time Tony replied with "If you insist." 

Eleanora let out a breath as the car came to a stop outside Tucker's house and made her way around to the boot to grab her suitcase. She saw Rhodey go to open the car door, most likely to hug her goodbye because that's just the kind of person he was, and panicked slightly, knowing it was quite likely Tucker and her parents were watching her from the window and the last thing she needed was for them to see her hug a guy they had never met before. 

"Thanks for inviting me, I had a really great time," she spoke up quickly, stepping away from the car. Rhodey and Tony exchanged a look. "I'm sure I'll see you again soon, Rhodey, and Tony, I'll see you on Monday." 

"You'll see each other at my birthday party next month," Tony piped up. "Assuming you can come. No pressure, but if you bail on me I won't speak to you ever again." 

"Is that all it takes?" she asked teasingly. 

"I set myself up for that one," he sighed as Rhodey just laughed. 

"I'll be there," she promised with a slight roll of her eyes. "Bye guys." 

As she walked back towards the house, the dread in her stomach swirled uncomfortably. She swallowed hard before knocking on the door, and it opened mere seconds later. Tucker beamed at her, immediately pulling her in for a firm kiss and wrapping his arms around her. 

"I missed you, baby," he mumbled into her ear. 

"I missed you too," she replied tightly, pulling away and stepping over the threshold, casting a fleeting glance back outside as Tony's car pulled away from the curb and drove away before Tucker closed the door and guided her into the house. 

Eleanora found herself slightly confused by his behaviour, having expected at least some hesitance or tension from him. 

"Your mom and dad wanted to come by to see you when you got back," he explained as he led her into the living room, where her parents stood up from their positions on the couch. 

"H-hey," she breathed nervously, suddenly at a loss as to where her courage had gone. She wondered how her both of them could make her feel so shitty with just a stare, though they had certainly had practice. 

"I'll give you guys some privacy," Tucker offered, as if this was very noble of him. Eleanora shot him a pleading expression knowing that he most likely knew what was about to take place, however, he just kissed her forehead and walked out of the room. 

She slowly turned back to face her parents, cringing at the tension. 

"You're finally back," Reginald broke the silence calmly. "I take it you had fun on your... trip." 

Eleanora nodded uneasily. "Yep... I had a great time."  

"You're aware of how much we're paying for you to be attending that school, aren't you?" Beatrice demanded. 

She clenched her jaw. "I can't imagine how I'd forget considering how often you remind me-" 

"So explain to me," she cut her off harshly, "what makes you think you can go gallivanting off to get drunk and act like a whore on spring break when you're two months away from your finals and we know you could use all the help you could get?" 

"I'm on straight As!" 

"Not to mention," she continued, ignoring Eleanora's angry objection, "that you've become friends with Howard Stark's son of all people." 

"You don't know either of them!" 

"I've heard enough about Howard to know what kind of boy that Tony is." 

"And kids are replicas of their parents are they?" she snapped. "I'm sure as hell grateful I'm not." 

Beatrice's eyes flashed with hurt and she let out a sigh, stepping closer to Eleanora and gently brushing some of her hair out of her face. The young woman found herself leaning into the touch slightly, despite everything. 

"We only want the best for you Eleanora, we want you to be successful," her mother explained softly. 

"I will be," she replied, eyes on the ground. "But it'll be doing what I want to do." 

"You don't even know what you want to do!" Reginald scoffed, crossing his arms. 

Eleanora swallowed and looked up at them angrily. "But I know what I don't  want to do and yet you're trying to push me into it anyway!" 

"You're a child!" Beatrice hissed. "You are ignorant and naive and you don't understand what the world is like! We are trying to guide you and you keep resisting because you're stupid and think you know better!" 

She recoiled, the rejection and sting of her mother's words piercing her chest as her eyes burned with tears. 

The woman simply sighed heavily. "Don't act like we're the bad guys here. We just want what's best for you." 

"Stop saying that, you don't!" Eleanora managed to get out around the growing lump in her throat, shaking her head. "You don't know what's best for me. You think you do but you don't! You set these impossible standards and then get mad at me for not fulfilling them! You're crying over a grave of your own making that has no corpse in it and I don't need to fill it for you, nor do I need to feel guilty for not doing so!" 

"What on earth are you talking about-?" Reginald began, only for her to interrupt, unable to hear anymore of their bullshit. 

"Please leave. I don't owe you an explanation as to why I'm following my own path and I'd like for you to go."  

Her parents stared at her for a moment as if waiting for her to say something else, but after a few moments, started walking out the door. 

"She'll come around," she heard Reginald assure Beatrice just before the front door shut behind them. She stood there for a few moments, shaking slightly and trying to hold herself together, jumping a little when a hand touched her shoulder. 

"Babe?" Tucker spoke up softly, eyes staring at her in concern. 

Eleanora's resolve weakened suddenly, eyes tearing up again and swallowing the lump down again as she threw her arms around his chest and buried her face in his neck. He immediately ran a soothing hand up and down her back and placed a kiss on the top of her head. 

"That wasn't right," he frowned. "Although, to be fair, they did tell you they didn't want you to go, so you can't really be mad at them for that." 

Eleanora pulled away, feeling as though a rug had been pulled out from under her feet. "You don't get it, Tucker. Just because they told me they didn't want me to go doesn't mean that it's wrong that I went. I don't live to do what they tell me to do and I'd appreciate it if you'd stop siding with them." 

"And I'd appreciate it if you didn't go off on a holiday and share a room with two guys but we don't all get what we want." 

There were so many things wrong with that response that it threw Eleanora off slightly. 

"I already explained to you why that was the case," she frowned.   

"So you're really not willing to accept that you were even slightly in the wrong?" Tucker asked with a scowl. 

"No, you're absolutely right," she shot back sarcastically before she could stop herself. "I should've stayed where I was and gotten murdered or assaulted, would that have made you feel better?" 

His eyes flashed angrily. "That's not what I said and I'd appreciate it if you would stop trying to manipulate me into being okay with what happened." 

Was that what she was doing? She was just trying to defend herself but maybe subconsciously she was manipulating him. 

"I'm not trying to manipulate you," she responded calmly. "I'm just surprised that you're more worried about me being in the same room as two friends than me being alone in a room that was broken into by a stranger." 

The hand that Tucker had around one of her biceps grew tighter. "Stop acting like I don't care about your safety! You keep disregarding my feelings about this and it feels really shitty, El!" 

Eleanora let out a gasp of pain as his hand squeezed firmly, pain throbbing under his grip. At the noise, he immediately let go, glancing between her arm and his hand in horror. 

"Shit, I'm so sorry," he croaked, face pleading. 

"It's okay," she dismissed. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for disregarding your feelings and I'm sorry for making you feel like you couldn't trust me." 

"Thank you, El, I really appreciate that," he smiled gratefully. "What do you say to coming upstairs and having some fun?" 

Eleanora had to hold back a groan. "I'm pretty tired, Tucker, I just-" 

"C'mon, please? I haven't seen you for a whole week, I need this!" 

"Yeah, I know, but after all of that-" she gestured to where her parents had been standing "-I'm feeling really shitty and I just want to go to bed." 

"You'll be in bed!" he grinned cheekily. 

"You're kidding me, right?" 

"You won't even have to do anything, you can just lie there!" 

"How romantic," she scoffed. 

"Please?" 

"Fine." 

As Eleanora followed Tucker to his bedroom, she couldn't help but think about the fact that she already missed Tony and Rhodey. 

• • • 

"This is kinda weird, man." 

"I just don't feel right leaving her in all of that," Tony replied as they circled back around the block towards Tucker's house. 

"Her parents?" Rhodey raised an eyebrow. 

"Something just doesn't feel right," he insisted, hand tapping at the steering wheel anxiously. Something about the expression on her face he had caught just before the door closed had made him feel uneasy. 

"They're her parents, Tones, they're not gonna hurt her." 

Tony turned to him with harsh expression, not even needing to say anything before Rhodey's face immediately fell in guilt. Tony swallowed and looked away, feeling slightly betrayed by the remark, though knowing that Rhodey hadn't meant anything by it. 

"I'm sorry... that was... that was a really stupid thing to say."

Tony just shook his head and waved his hand dismissively. 

"Do you know if they hurt her?" he asked.

"She hasn't said anything about it. I think she would have told me if they did. But that doesn't mean they won't." 

"Okay, but remember that they're literally at her boyfriend's house, I don't think Tucker or whatever his name is would let that kind of thing happen." 

"She was just saying that he was shitty at her because she stopped staying in a room alone after her room was broken into!" Tony argued. "He clearly isn't that concerned with her safety." 

"I think he's just a possessive idiot. There's a difference between being a dumbass and letting her parents hurt her," Rhodey reasoned. 

"I still don't like him." 

"Alright, well, what do you actually want to do? Because I really don't think it would help to go in there but sitting outside is just creepy and it's not like we could see what's happening anyway." 

"I don't know, I can't explain it, I just have this bad feeling, okay?" 

"Okay..." Rhodey nodded slowly as they pulled up on the side of the road across from Tucker's house again. "I'll do whatever you need me to do, man."

At that moment, the front door swung open and a couple that he assumed were her parents walked out with scowls on their faces. They were clearly not happy and, assuming that it was because Eleanora had stood up for herself, Tony smirked slightly in pride. 

"So, they're gone now..." Rhodey said as their car pulled out and drove away. "Do you feel okay now?" 

Tony opened his mouth to respond, pausing when he caught sight of Eleanora's silhouette behind the sheer curtain through the front window. She was still until another silhouette appeared - presumably Tucker - and they embraced. 

"Yeah," he nodded, trying to shake off whatever the weird feeling he had was. "Yeah, let's go."