Obsessions ⇢ Tony Stark

31 | Date Night

Needless to say, Eleanora's next psychologist appointment was... rough.

"How did it go?" Katie asked tentatively when she got back. Eleanora just hugged her, craving the comfort after the emotional clusterfuck that had just occurred. "Ah, okay. Are you in more of a let's-go-smash-some-shit mood or a let's-watch-sad-movies-and-cry kinda mood?"

Eleanora thought about it for a moment. "Both."

"Alright," she nodded, a small growing on her face. "Let's go smash some shit then come back and watch sad movies, sound good?"

"Sounds extremely cathartic."

"Hell yeah, it does."

• • •

It was a rough couple of days, and for a while it made Eleanora want to give up on the entire thing. But with the support of Katie, Tony and Rhodey, and a little self-belief, it ended up driving Eleanora to work harder on herself. She stuck closer to her exercise routine and meal plan, and even got back into meditating, even if it was really hard and boring.

That weekend, Rhodey was leaving for the air force academy, so Eleanora, Tony and Katie all ended up at the airport to see him off, as well as Mr and Mrs Rhodes. The older couple seemed rather excited to meet her, which she was a little confused by until she saw the amused look Rhodey was shooting at Tony and remembered the farewell lunch they'd been at the previous week. She wondered what he'd said about her.

As Rhodey's boarding time drew nearer, Eleanora could tell that Tony was a little unsure of what to do with himself, not sure how to handle his best friend flying halfway across the country without returning until Christmas. From what Tony had told her, he would have struggled immensely at MIT if it weren't for the older boy's friendship.

He's pulled me out of quite a few rough patches, Tony had said one day. Got me out of bad situations.

She'd never asked exactly what he meant, she didn't need to know. She was just extremely grateful they had each other.

Much too quickly, the goodbyes came and the hugging commenced. When it came to Tony's turn, he embraced his best friend tightly and stayed in that position for a few moments before reluctantly letting go. Then they watched him walk away, and Eleanora linked her fingers through Tony's and gave his hand a gentle squeeze.

They stayed to watch the plane take off, but once it was a speck in the sky, it was time to go home.

Tony was very quiet on the drive back, and when they got back at his apartment his behaviour only seemed more off. He was putting up a stoic, calm front, but it was clear that whatever was going on inside his head was a vast contrast. Once again, his eyes gave him away.

"Darling..." Eleanora spoke up gently as Tony sat on the sofa staring blankly ahead, and took a seat on the coffee table in front of him. He startled slightly, eyes landing on her on softening. She reached forward to take his hands in hers, "You have to let yourself feel what you're feeling, stop repressing it. This is really shitty, you don't need to pretend to be fine."

Tony glanced down and bit the inside of his cheek. "I just..."

"What?"

"I don't wanna be... I don't want you to feel like I don't need you too."

"What- Tony, you're allowed to be upset, I'm not going to feel unneeded because you miss your best friend. We're entirely different people." She moved to sit next to him and pulled him into her side, hand reaching up to weave through his hair. "He's like your brother and you've never been apart from each other like this, whatever you're feeling is perfectly reasonable."