Over the course of the next few weeks, Tony and Eleanora continued to sit with each other in physical chemistry. There was something about sharing the cause of your deep-seated psychological issues and unfulfilling childhood that bonded people, even if their memories of the night were a little foggy from the booze. 

"I don't know what's going to happen after college," Eleanora stated as the two walked out of the library. "Mum and Dad want me to do what they want, but... there's a fork in the road, and I'm scared that I'll do as I'm told because I don't know who I want to be." 

"What makes you happy?" Tony asked. "Or what do you think would make you happy?" 

Eleanora pressed her lips together in thought. "I don't know... but... not med school." 

"So don't go to med school," he shrugged. 

"It's not that simple." 

"Why not? You can't spend years of your life doing something that you know won't make you happy." 

"Well, I mean... I can."

Tony flicked her on the side of the head, causing her to give a quiet shout of pain and smack his hand away. 

"Look-" 

She was interrupted by the sound of her phone ringing. She muttered an apology and dug through her backpack to find it. "Hello?" 

"Hey, baby!" Tucker's voice greeted her. "Are you busy right now?" 

"Why? What do you need?" she questioned, eyebrows furrowing in concern. 

"Can you... can you talk dirty to me?" 

Her jaw dropped slightly and her cheeks heated up as Tony looked at her curiously, having no idea what was happening on the other end of the line. She turned her body slightly. 

"Uh, now is really not a great time, babe, can I call you back later?" 

"Come on, baby, I've been super stressed out lately and I need a release." 

"What have you been stressed about?" 

"What, you don't think that I have a valid reason to be stressed out?" he demanded, having taken her question the wrong way. 

Eleanora pinched the bridge of her nose.  "No, I'm just asking so that I can help you. That's not at all what I meant." 

"Could you come over tonight?" 

"Sure, babe," she agreed softly. 

"After five."

"Um, okay?"

"I've just got some errands to run before everything closes, that's all. Maybe make it five-thirty just to be on the safe side, so you're not waiting for me to get home."

"You know, if you gave me a key we wouldn't have this problem," she rolled her eyes fondly.

"I'm getting on it," he dismissed.

"Alright, after five-thirty then. I'll see you then."

"Wear something sexy. I love you."

"You know I will. I love you too." Eleanora cleared her throat as she hung up. "Sorry about that." 

"Boyfriend?" Tony guessed in an amusement. 

"Yeah, he's been stressed out lately so he wants some company."

"Company or company?" he smirked, wiggling his eyebrows. 

He let out a yelp when she hit him roughly on the arm in response. "What? It's a natural thing, no need to be shy about it," he defended. "Does he go here?"

"No, he's... older."

He raised an eyebrow. "How much older?"

"He's twenty-five. It's not- it's not that weird."

Tony just nodded. "What's his name?"

"Tucker," she answered. 

"His name is Tucker?" 

"Stark-" 

"Sorry. But come on... what's his last name?"

Eleanora hesitated for a second. 

"It's something weird isn't it?" Tony snickered. 

"Oates," she sighed. 

"Tucker Oates."

"Oh, shut up. I need to go now."

"You cannot marry him. Or if you do, at least keep your name. You can't be Eleanora Oates, stay Eleanora..."

He struggled for a moment, and despite acting as though he was trying to remember her last name, she suspected he'd never known it in the first place. 

"Myers," she finished for him. "Eleanora Myers." 

"See, that's a much better name. Please don't take his name." 

"Stark!" she sighed exasperatedly. 

"Okay, okay!" he held his hands up in surrender, although the smirk never left his face. 

At that moment, Eleanora caught sight of Maddie approaching, licking her lips with unnecessary effort, and wrinkled her nose in disturbance. She wasn't passing judgement on her sexual life - Eleanora thought the idea of shaming someone for the number of people they slept with was ridiculous, and Maddie could sleep with whomever she wanted. What she didn't like was the girl's manipulative tendencies.

"You can do better than that," she muttered quietly to Tony, who looked confused until Maddie called his name from behind. "I'll see you tomorrow." 

Eleanora made her way back to her apartment off-campus, and flopped down heavily on her bed. She honestly just wanted to spend her night finishing off some assignments and then reading in her bed, but she'd already promised she'd go to Tucker's house. There was no doubt what she'd really been doing that night - there was rarely an occasion that Eleanora went to his house and they didn't have sex - which was, by no means, a bad thing. And normally Eleanora was one to take a night out (not that going to his house was really 'out', but it was out of her apartment) over a night in, but she really wasn't in the mood. Nevertheless, when the time came, she pulled on some lingerie, slipped into a dress, popped a piece of chewing gum in her mouth and called a taxi to pick her up. 

When Tucker let her in, she gave him a peck on the lips, however, when she went to pull away, he pulled her closer and kissed her hungrily, causing her to erupt into giggles. 

"I'm trying to be passionate and sexy and you just laugh!" he huffed playfully.

"I'm sorry, it just took me by surprise!" she laughed, kissing him again. "Now, I'm gonna guess from the burnt smell that we're not having a home-made meal for dinner?" 

"I'm sorry," Tucker apologised sheepishly. 

"Don't apologise for making an effort," she immediately shook her head. "So what if it didn't work out? Besides, I'm not sure about you, but I'm not overly hungry right now anyway..." 

He grinned as her hands trailed down his chest, a coy smile pulling at her lips. He grabbed one of her hands and guided her to his bedroom. She separated herself from him for a moment and put her gum in the bin, but paused when she caught sight of the shopping back stuffed behind it. The lacy red fabric inside made her blink. 

"Oh, crap, that was meant to be a surprise," Tucker groaned. 

Eleanora pulled the contents out in amusement, quirking an eyebrow at the revealing lingerie. 

"That.. was not a good hiding spot," she snickered. "Why did you tell me to wear something sexy when you already had something prepared? Not to mention, I don't know why I need to bother when they don't stay on very long anyway," she added teasingly. 

"Don't act like you don't love it," he shot back, unbuttoning his shirt. 

"You make a compelling argument," she smirked. 

• • • 

The following morning, Eleanora woke up beside Tucker, his legs tangled with hers. He stirred as she pulled herself away and sat on the edge of the bed. She sniggered when he let out a cross between a whine and a groan, grabbing needily at her hips. She brushed him off with a laugh and made her way into the bathroom to use the toilet, but paused with a smile when she saw an extra toothbrush by the sink. 

"Is this toothbrush for me?" she called. 

"Who else'd it be for?" he responded, coming up behind her and wrapping his arms around her waist. 

"Is this a hint that you want me around more?" she prompted, twisting around in his arms. 

"Dental hygiene is very important, baby," he grinned innocently. 

"Exactly, so shoo while I clean my teeth." 

Although she would have much preferred to spend the rest of the morning at Tucker's house, she had work to catch up on and a couple classes to attend, so she reluctantly showered, called a taxi and headed back to the university. 

As she made her away across the campus to her apartment, a loud whistle caught her attention. She spotted Tony jogging towards her, a large smirk plastered on his face. 

"Is this the walk of shame?" he taunted. 

Eleanora lifted her chin and folded her arms. "You can't do the walk of shame if you're not ashamed." 

"I like that attitude." 

She took in his rather messy appearance - his wrinkled clothes were clearly thrown on without much thought, and his hair had obviously not been touched since he woke up. "Are you doing the walk of shame?" 

His smile widened. "You can't do the walk of shame if you're not ashamed," he repeated her words. 

She rolled her eyes. "Look, I need to get back to my apartment and you clearly need to shower, so-" 

"Rude." 

"I'll be going now." 

"Alright, alright. I'll be in the library this evening if you want to join me," he added. 

She wasn't sure if it was an active invitation or if he was just letting her know where he'd be if she felt like joining him. There was a very fine line between the two ways of interpreting the offer, but when she remembered the work she was planning to do the previous night, she decided she didn't particularly care. 

"Yeah, okay," she shrugged. "I'll see you there. 

• • • 

After her last class, Eleanora returned to her apartment to dump everything she didn't need and headed off towards the library. When she walked in, she spotted Tony tucked away at a table in the corner of the room, and went over to join him. 

"You actually came," he said in surprise when she sat down. 

"Did you not actually want me to come?" she asked, wondering if he had only been joking when he asked. 

"Not at all, you just didn't sound very enthusiastic when I asked." 

"Next time I'll be sure to jump for joy, then," she teased, reaching into her bag. "Oh, for fuck's sake." 

"What's wrong?" 

"I must have accidentally grabbed my organic chem notebook instead of my physical chem one. I'm a fucking idiot. I'm going to go all the way back to my apartment to get the dumb book and then I'll be back," she sighed. 

"I'll come with you," he offered, packing up his things. 

"It's a ten minute walk from here." 

"That's not far. Besides, my back is killing me." 

"Alright, old man." 

He scowled, and Eleanora laughed, leading the way out of the building. 

"So, how was your day?" he asked, and she blinked in surprise at the question. 

"Uh... it was okay, I guess. I got a lot of study done between classes, but I didn't really do much else, to be honest... wow, that sounds sad. What about you?" 

"Yeah, it was good. I only had one lecture, then I spent most of the afternoon working on a personal project, and then I came here." 

"What kind of personal project?" 

"Well, about three or four years ago, I made a robot called Dum-E in my dad's workshop and I brought him with me to make modifications and improvements to when I get bored." 

"That's... really cool." 

"Thanks. I can show him to you one day, if you like." 

"Really? That would be fantastic!" 

When they reached her apartment, Eleanora took out her key, unlocked the door, and made her way to her bedroom to start digging through the messy pile on her bed. 

"Where's your roommate? Kate, right?" 

"Katie. And I'm not sure exactly, but probably in someone's dorm."

"Ah," he nodded in understanding. 

Eleanora  glanced down at the notebook in her hands with a sigh of reluctance, wondering if Tony would hate her if she said she couldn't be bothered going back to the library.  

"Not feeling it?" 

"Did I say that out loud?" she asked in mild horror, causing him to bark out a laugh and shake his head. 

"You just looked like you wanted to set it on fire. Besides, you said you did a lot of study today, and it looks like it too." 

"What do you mean it 'looks like it'?" she asked, affronted. "Actually don't answer that, I'm well aware I look dead inside." 

"That isn't exactly what I meant, but..." Tony trailed off with a smirk. "Look, we don't have to go to the library. Don't feel obligated to do something just because past you said you would. That was a completely different person, and you're so much wiser now-" 

Eleanora cut him off with a playful shove. 

"I'm kind of not in the mood right now, anyway," he continued. "I'll just go and I'll see you tomorrow-" 

"But you came all this way," she interrupted guiltily. "Do you wanna stay for a bit...?" 

Tony shook his head and grinned. "You get this one for free, but from now on, my escort services will cost you." 

"I have booze?" she offered, opening the fridge. 

"You know what, on second thoughts..."