the first half of this book needs to be rewritten tbh
did ya'll ever watch Red Band Society?
please like and vote! it makes me v happy :)
ELENORA ROGERS WASN'T FULLY RECOVERED.
A clear tell-tale of that was the diagonal stitches around a red, inflamed circle on the left side of her chest.
Elenora wasn't cured, she wasn't fixed, and in the eyes of her fathers, she was not ready.
"There is no way," bucky denied as Elenora rolled her eyes for like the seventeenth time that day. "Don't do that! There is no way you're going to training. You just got shot, Elenora."
"That was like two weeks ago!" Elenora whined, pushing her self away from the island to follow her dad around the kitchen. "I'm so much better now."
Steve, emerging from his bedroom, called out to Bucky, "Is she still going?"
Bucky glanced away from his coffee. "Yep."
"Dad!" Elenora shouted, rushing towards Steve because everyone in the family knew he was much weaker when it came to saying no. "Dad - C'mon!"
A door shut before she could make it out into the hallway. Elenora rolled her eyes for the eighteenth time.
"C'mon guys!" she shouted both to Bucky and Steve from the middle point between them. "I'm perfectly fine!"
She was greeted with silence, and Elenora let out a loud groan before she heard the sound of an opening door behind her.
Connor.
"Woah, Ellie, chill out," he told her, almost seriously before adding, "Don't wanna give your self any heart problems, right?"
"I'm gonna kill you!" she shouted, lunging at him, but Connor was dodging her attack, slipping under her arm before appearing on the other side of her, hands raised, his hair widely splayed across his face.
"Out of practice much?" he chided cockily, a very confident smirk rising on his face as he brushed his hair out of his face.
Elenora practically fuming at this point, and her eyes were darting around the hallway, looking for something to throw; her eyes landed on a decoration bowl on the side table to her left, and just as she grabbed it, someone's hand was on hers.
"Alright, enough," Steve said, his tone very calm as he placed the bowl back on the table, and pressed his hand against Elenora's shoulder. "Have you eaten?"
"I'm not hungry," Elenora argued, narrowing her eyes at Connor who was rolling his eyes at her and grabbing a piece of toast from Bucky. Her face falling into a pout, Elenora looked back up at Steve with a puppy dog face, "Please, Dad? I really need this."
Steve met her eyes for second before sighing a diverting his gaze. "You need to eat," he contradicted, earning a groan from Elenora as he guided her to the kitchen, where Connor was sitting with a smug expression.
Elenora went to shove him off of his seat at the island, but Steve directed her shoulders away before she could.
"You want eggs?" Steve questioned, and Elenora just shrugged, annoyed. There Connor was in his gym clothes, looking all ready to go practice and it was aggravating Elenora to even look at.
Connor noticed the heat of her stare and turned to Elenora with a grin.
"Don't worry, Ellie. We aren't doing that much without you. Just all the fun simulations, I promise."
Noses flaring, Elenora reached for the fork at the side of her plate, but Bucky had grabbed it first, sending her a look of disapproval.
"He's taunting me!" she argued, trying to get the fork from Bucky who was holding it farther out of reach. "Discipline him!"
"How could I?" Bucky asked, staring at Elenora with a deadpan expression. "He hasn't gotten shot yet, I don't see anything wrong."
"Seriously, Buck?" Steve responded, looking away from the fridge to send his husband a look.
"It was one time, Dad," Elenora argued, her jaw setting harshly as she did.
Connor piped in, "I've never gotten shot."
Elenora turned to Connor with a look of astonishment. "I can't stand you."
Bucky and Steve mumbled variations of "C'mon, Ellie," but Connor didn't mind ; he was taking it in his stride.
A smile set on his face as he said, "Just pointing out the obvious, El-Bell."
"I'm going to murder you," Elenora finalized. "I'm actually going to kill you."
Connor stuck out his lip in a pout. "Trying not to strain yourself, if you do."
Elenora lunged again, but Bucky was holding her back as he placed a plate of scrambled eggs in front of her.
"Stop taunting El," Bucky chided Connor, but Elenora was not satisfied with him. In response to her harsh glare, Bucky asked, "What?"
"Tell him he can't go to practice if I can't go!" Elenora suggested.
Connor looked at Bucky with wide eyes. "That's not fair!"
"That's not happening," Steve assures from his place as he leaned against the fridge.
Bucky agreed, "Connor didn't get kidnapped. He gets to go to practice."
Elenora narrowed her eyes. "Not my fault, Dad!"
"Sure," Connor said sarcastically, and Elenora threw a piece of her toast at him.
"Oh, whatever, Connor. You only go to practice to fawn over-"
Connor, with wide eyes, yelled at the top of his lungs, "ELENORA!"
"Fawn over who?" Steve questioned, curiously, and Bucky stared at the two, amused because Steve was really oblivious.
"C'mon, Connor," Bucky called. "Let's get going."
Connor nodded, slipping off his chair and grabbing his back, sending Elenora a scathing look.
She rolled her eyes in response but said nothing. She thought Steve would have caught on by now, and she knew for a fact that Bucky had, but apparently not.
"See you later, Steve," Bucky said, grabbing the keys from the counter. "We've got a conference at three, yeah?"
"Yeah," Steve nodded, a forced smile settling on his lips. The last thing he needed was a conversation with Nick Fury. "Have fun at practice, Connor."
"Thanks," he said with a smile. His eyes fell down to Elenora. "Have fun, Ellie."
Elenora was going to throw something directly at his head, but the door was closed before she could make any movement.
With a sigh, Elenora looked back to her dad.
"Eat," he urged, leaning against the counter, "and then we'll go do something. Just the two of us."
"I'm not hungry," Elenora argued. "I feel full, actually."
"No, you don't," Steve argued with a pointed look as he straightened out his position to stand across from Elenora. "You know you can't take the meds without food. So eat."
"I'm not hungry."
"Elenora Charlotte Rogers."
"This is hardly a full name matter, Steven."
"Why?" Steve asked, and Elenora looked at her, feigning innocence. "Why won't you take the meds?"
"I'm all better," Elenora told him with completely confidence and a blank expression.
"El-"
"I don't need the meds anymore," she finalized. "I promise. It doesn't even hurt. Honest, dad," she promised to the expression he sent her.
There was silence, for a moment, before Steve met eyes with her again. "You'd tell me if it's too much?"
Elenora nodded. "I promise."
"Fine," Steve caved. "But eat, at least."
Elenora looked down at her plate before her dad. "Oh, Dad, I'm seriously not-"
"Eat, and then we'll leave, yeah?" Steve asked in that way that really wasn't a question. Elenora restrained from comment and ate her food in silence.
***
Elenora didn't know where her dad was taking her, but she was really, really hoping it was the Towers.
It took her about five minutes into the drive to realize that wasn't it.
"Where are we going?" she asked when she finally came to terms with the fact that they were heading in the opposite way of training. "I thought maybe-"
"Elenora," Steve warned. "We've talked about training, already. You're still hurt."
"I'm really not," she disagreed. "And besides, I need to go back. It's time, Dad."
"You're hurt," he repeated for what felt like the millionth time that week.
"I'm better, Dad," Elenora promised, but it had no effect; he stayed quiet after her comment. Elenora didn't know how else to convince him and figured it was a lost cause. "Where are we going?"
"I thought we should talk about something you said," he told her, narrowing his eyes ahead of him. "When you first woke up. About your mom."
Oh. That. Elenora knew exactly what he was talking about; the whole seeing her dead mom thing. Why did she even share that? Elenora blamed the medication she was on.
"I don't really want to talk about that," Elenora said. Because she didn't. It felt like every night she fell asleep she was going to see her again. Like every time her eyes close the white light ad the warmth was going to come back, but it never did.
It made Elenora really sad.
"We should talk about it, El," Steve persuaded. "You can't deny whatever it was upset you."
"I wasn't upset," Elenora said, "just disappointed."
Steve echoed, "Disappointed?"
Elenora said nothing, knowing this was not how she wanted her day to go. This is not how she wanted any day to go.
Instead of answering, she asked again, "Where are we going?"
"I was thinking," Steve started, his grip tightening on the wheel until his knuckles were white. "I guess I thought you'd wanna see Beatrice's grave."
Elenora should've been reserved. Emotional.
But that made her indignant.
"Gosh, Dad, I know she's dead!" Elenora exclaimed furiously, her lips pursing and eyes narrowing and eyebrows furrowing together. "I don't need proof, that's not what I meant when I said I saw Mom-"
"I know, I know, El," he comforted calmly, which only seemed to anger Elenora more. "I just thought you might-"
"Might want closure?" Elenora offered, scoffing and falling back against the chair harshly. Steve winced. "I'm not crazy, okay? I saw her when I was asleep. I must've been hallucinating-"
"El, I'm not implying that-"
"Just because I got shot doesn't mean I've gone crazy, Dad!" she defended. "I just was dreaming or something-"
"El, you woke up and asked for your mom, okay? I just want-"
"I don't want to go!" she yelled, her heart racing and chest blushing with heat. "I don't want to go. I'm not going."
Steve didn't know what to do. Elenora had never been like this before and judging by the redness of her cheeks and the grinding of her jaw, she was very, very upset.
Instead of yelling back, Steve asked in a stable tone "Then what do you want, Elenora?"
"I want everything to go back to the way it was," she breathed out as her head fell on the window, squeezing her eyes shut before mumbled, "let's just go home."
***
At about 1 PM, Elenora decided to be rebellious.
However, there's only so much rebellion you can do in the half-hour before your doctor's appointment.
Bruce had been doing most of the work, recently, but he had left on a trip with Tony a few days prior, and he had left a card of a friend of his who owned a clinic. Apparently, the lady was pretty used to weird patients, so Elenora's whole gunshot wound thing wouldn't be shocking.
Knowing that her appointment was in the approaching thirty minutes, Elenora made a phone call before walking out of her room, and to the front door.
"Where are you going?" Steve questioned, looked up from the kitchen table with a very strict expression.
"To my check-up," Elenora told him bluntly, sliding on her shoes. "The ones that you're forcing me to go to? Honestly, Dad, if I put on Neosporin, I'd be fine-"
"You are not going alone," Steve stated, staring at his daughter like she had gone insane.
"I'm not going to get kidnapped," Elenora defend, but before he could say anything, she defended, "Anyways, I'm not. Peter's coming."
"Peter's taking you to the doctor's appointment?" Steve checked, looking at his daughter like she had grown two heads. The last he heard, she wasnt talking to any of her friends - let alone the boy that made her cry.
"Yeah," Elenora told him, resisting the urge to smirk, and checking her phone before saying, "I'm out. See you later."
"Should I-"
Elenora had left the house before he could finish.
***
"Are you still mad at me?" Peter asked for like the gazillionth time.
Elenora rolled her eyes again.
Her appointment was in two minutes, and it felt like every second was slowing down, and it didn't help that Peter was staring at her like she was going to explode.
"I'm not mad," Elenora told him, very unconvincingly. "I never said I was mad-"
Scoffing, Peter said, "There was practically steam coming from your-"
"Do you really think I'm a cartoon character?" Elenora demanded, looking at Peter with a daunting expression.
"I'm not cornering myself," Peter said, leaning back against the seat as Elenora stayed hunched over. "I will not answer, then."
"Saying no is incriminating," Elenora pointed out, and Peter furrowed his eyes; before he could say anything, Elenora was interrupting. "Look, I don't want to fight. I've already gotten into a fight today."
"What happened?" Peter questioned his voice back to concern.
"Dad thinks I don't know my mom's dead," Elenora said bluntly. "And they won't let me go to training because of the whole heart thing."
Pete thought about it for a second. "Well, does it hurt?"
"Honestly?" Elenora asked, watching as Peter nodded. "It does. A lot. But I'll get better. I'll know it."
"If it hurts, then why don't you ask your dads or Bruce for something to help?"
"Because they'll never let me train again," Elenora groaned, feeling a pang in her chest when she thought about everyone but her at practice. She could practically feel her grip on captain leaving. And then, in a sudden realization that Peter was still in training, she spun her head towards him. "Whose got my position?"
Peter's eyes grew wide. "What?"
Elenora narrowed her eyes. "Who. Took. My. Place?" Elenora emphasized. "Who's replacing me?"
Peter hesitated because he knew that this was exactly not the thing to admit. He shouldn't tell Elenora who was replacing her - talk about stress!
(And he was like 50% sure Connor would actually kill him if Elenora was to find out.)
"I don't think that's really-" Peter started, and just as Elenora leaned forward to threaten him, another voice was piping in.
"Elenora Rogers?"
The brunette pulled away from Peter to peer and the small, female doctor at the end of the hallway, motioning her forward.
"I'll be back," she sneered to Peter, who nodded with very wide eyes and then turned to the blonde doctor with a big, fake smile before heading towards the lady.
"It's nice to meet you, Elenora," the doctor said with a very real and soft smile as she led the two of them into an office. As she closed the door, shutting the view to Peter, she told Elenora, "Bruce has told me much about you."
"Nothing bad, I hope," she joked with a small chuckle as she stepped further into the room.
"Of course not," Doctor Lillian promised as she focused on her computer. "Take a seat on the bed, please."
Elenora nodded, not that the woman could see, and shuffled onto the paper-lined bed.
At the end of it all, Elenora could not believe that she spent thirty minutes walking silence alongside Peter Parker to find out that she wasn't even dying. She didn't even have an infection.
She would have been perfectly fine without a check-up.
(As Bucky would remind her, that is the point of a check-up.)
"I just have a quick question," Elenora mentioned as she slipped off of the medical bed, eyeing the Doctor who was holding the door open. "I sorta, uh, do some physical training. Nothing insane just like oh, I dunno running and self-defense kinda stuff, and I just wanted to make sure that it's totally fine that I continue to do that."
Doctor Lilah blinked once. Then twice. "Ms.Rogers, you know you have been shot, right?"
The girl winced. She knew her answer from her face. "Got it," she nodded, before turning on her phone and finding a very interesting text message from her dad.
You told me it didn't hurt. why wouldn't you just tell me the truth?
A grimace covered her face as she left the room, and it quickly turned into a full expression of aggression as she approached Peter, who she grabbed by the shirt and dragged him along.
"W-what happened?" he stuttered fearfully, because wow, was Elenora strong for someone who legit had just gotten shot.
"Got a text message," she explained, still dragging him along and getting quite a few concerned stares from the people in the waiting room. But Elenora didn't care; the second they were out of the building, she turned to him with as much anger as she could contain and demanded, "Are you ratting me out to my dads now?"
"What?" Peter demanded because again, he was so lost. Actually, this time he wasn't as lost, but it was better for both of them that Elenora thought he was.
Meanwhile, the girl was running her hand through her hair aggressively, nearly shouting, "I told you that in confidence! I can't have you and Connor telling my dads every time I so much as breathe wrong-"
Pete cocked his head, arguing, "Confidence ends when you're in pain, Elenora, that's like common knowledge-"
"And all I want is for everything to go back to normal!" she concluded, out of breath and crimson in the face. Anger was the only emotion Elenora ever felt anymore. She couldn't even meet Peter's eyes. "I-I just want it to go back. Before everything."
"But it can't."
Elenora resisted rolling her eyes because wow, with this speech again. It felt like all she ever heard now was "can't" and "don't". Could someone just tell her everything was reversible?
"It can't, Elenora," peter tried again. "And you know it. Things are different now, and not just to your dads or Connor or me."
Despite her disinterest in his speech, Peter went on. He spoke for a lot of different reasons, for Elenora and Steve who had just texted him, but mostly, he spoke because he owed it to El.
Peter knew that things would have been different if Elenora always lived with Steve. He knew that if they were always father and daughter, in the way they were now, he would have never trained the way he did. Never get the help on missions or in the gym.
Peter knew, that for a long time, he was the stand-in for Elenora.
And this speech, that he got like two years ago, after a terrible mission, didn't belong to him. It belonged to a lost daughter. Peter only got it by default. And he felt guilty, a lot, because of things like that.
He told her what he thought because she should've heard it long before him.
"You've been hurt, Elenora. You could have died. And yeah, that's scary for your dads and everyone, and me especially, but I know things are different for you too."
Her shoulder's had fallen. Her jaw slackened and her eyes were getting dry. The tension in her chest, however, was still there. Huffing, she told Peter, "I feel fine."
"Sure, you feel fine," Peter agreed, and in a way that was only partially sarcastic. His eyes weren't on her anymore, but when Elenora looked at him, she couldn't seem to look away; like hers, his cheeks were red and eyes narrowed and face trying to hide fear. Her eyes quickly darted back to his when he started, "But you don't feel invincible, anymore. I know you don't, Elenora," he countered before the girl could try to say otherwise. She always did. "And I know it scares you. It feels like anything could kill you or ruin everything you've worked for and all you want to do is get better and better to have that feeling back. To be indestructible again, but Elenora-" he looked like he was going to cry. She was. "You were never indestructible. You'll never be indestructible."
Indestructible.
Destructible.
Elenora didn't want to break anymore.
***
There's a turning point in every relationship, and this was Peter and Elenora's. They had been happy for months. They hit a rough spot, and now, here they were, lying on the couch of Elenora's family room, and watching whatever movie decided to play that night.
Neither was paying attention to the screen.
In a very out of character action, Steve excused himself from the front part of the house when the teenagers opened the door, seeking warmer weather.
They didn't need heating, though, Steve was pretty sure they were close enough to produce a good level of body heat.
Elenora had had this thing, since she came back from the institute, about not laying down. Not by her dads or just on the couch with Connor; she would never let anyone see her lay. She sat up straight. Stood, if it was natural, even. She was trying to prove a point.
But Peter knew all her points. He knew her.
Black hair played against Peter's legs, and Elenora's head, laying on him, was the source of it. She had chosen this position the second Peter had sat; Elenora followed suit, plopping her head on his lap and extending her feet down the long way of the couch.
"I wonder if Fury's mad," Elenora wondered, her tone light but her voice giving hints of fear. "About everything that happened because of me."
"It wasn't because of you," Peter promised, his voice just as soft and gentle. "None of that was your fault, anyway."
Scrunching up her nose, Elenora asked, "You don't think?"
Peter shook his head, his curls moving as he looked down at Elenora. "I don't."
A smile pressed against her lips, and a wave of relief rushed through her. She knew that it wasn't her fault, but honestly, that truth was deep, deep down; all the jokes and the restrictions made Elenora feel a lot like it was her fault.
But Peter didn't.
"Do you think I'll ever get to train again?" Elenora wondered, her eyes blinking a few times before she met Peter's brown eyes again. She melted all over.
Peter just smiled in that sad way he didn't when there was an unspoken truth. "Yeah, of course."
Confident because of the answer, a braver question left Elenora's mouth; "Who took my place?"
His motions with her hair stopped, and in that very-Peter like tone, he started, "Elenora-"
"I'm just asking!" she exclaimed as she pulled herself off his lap; immediately, Peter's hands shot out to spot her, one pushing her from her back and the other reaching for her hand. Not even bothering to comment on his attempt to help, Elenora grabbed his hand, held it in hers and promised, "I won't get upset. I just want to know, Pete. It's killing me."
Killing me.
She could have been dead.
That was enough to break Peter, because his stronghold on the situation faltered, and Elenora held back from cheering yes as his expression changed. "Promise you won't get upset?"
Elenora, now on her knees on the couch to meet Peter's eyes nodded, and extended one hand. "Pinky."
Skeptically, Peter sighed and reached forward to clasp his finger with hers.
"It's Cooper."
Elenora knew it. She f-ing knew it. And you know, she used to like Cooper; he had that sorta smile and the all-around good guy aura, but how dare he-
"You're mad," Peter pointed out, and Elenora's nose immediately unraveled and her face straightened out; before she could defend herself, Peter was shaking his head and saying, "I knew you were going to get mad!"
"I'm not mad!" Elenora argued, brushing her hair out of her face, already missing the feeling of Peter playing with it. "I'm just...shocked."
Peter's nose flared, identical to Elenora's previous expression. "He took over when I was late."
Rolling her eyes and ignoring the sinking feeling at the memory, Elenora countered, "That's different."
"How's it so different, Elenora?" Peter prompted, in a slightly aggressive way.
Letting out a 'hmph', Elenora readjusted herself on the couch as she mentioned, "Well if you don't recall, Parker, I've been shot-"
With his hands raised in the air, Peter nearly yelled, "Ridiculous! You cannot play this card and then expect us to act as nothing happened!"
Narrowing her eyes, Elenora said, "That's exactly what I'll do!"
They were loud enough, as they usually were, to grasp the attention of Steve, who was just trying to sneak a glass of water from the kitchen. The sound of their yells almost made him drop his glass, gaining the attention of the teenagers.
"Dad," Elenora called, turning so her elbows were propped against the back of the couch and she was facing the kitchen. "Tell Peter I can use the I-was-shot card all I want."
Steve spared a look at Peter, who was watching him desperately; the man could tell that the young boy was very passionate about this subject. Sighing as he closed the kitchen door, Steve said, "I've gotta agree with Peter on this one. You either use it, or pretend nothing happened. You can't do both."
Elenora looked at them both, pouting, before announcing, "Well, Dad lets me use it all the time. He'd never say no to it."
Steve, barely restraining from pulling a face, commented, "Yes, and he does that because he is convince anything will hurt you now."
Pausing in her own actions, Elenora's eyebrows furrowed, "He does not. He just-"
"Let's you get out of events because he thinks you're fine?" Steve guessed, and Elenora, guilty, shrunk in her seat. "Trust me, Ellie, I'm not the worst about you going back to practice in the house."
Elenora didn't say anything else, because that seemed to be the exact opposite of what she was thinking this entire time.
Peter looked from the puzzled Elenora to Steve, before catching the older man's eyes and being asked, "How's the group, Peter?"
"Good, Sir," Peter told him with a slight nod, straightening up as he spoke, just out of reflex. "We're getting better."
"Not much better without me," Elenora quipped, more aggressively than jokingly, before grabbing Peter's hand ( Steve raised an eyebrow at this) and said, "You agree, right, Pete?"
There was no right way to answer that. Peter decided, "Yeah, of course, Ellie."
Satisfied with the response, though she knew it wasn't true, Elenora smiled and turned to her dad. "Where's Josie? I haven't seen her since I got home."
"She's lying in Connor's room," Steve told her, taking a sip of his water. "She's always in there when he goes to practice."
"Just another traitor in our midst," Elenora commented, keeping her hold on Peter's hand as she made her way to Connor's room. Steve tried not to look at that - he was pretty sure it would physically pain him.
"Am I even allowed in there?" Peter questioned, eyeing the door like it was a wall between him and a world of secrets. Or a bomb.
Elenora rolled her eyes, clasping her hand tighter around Peter's as she explained, "Please, Peter. Connor would never leave anything lying around that he didn't want Steve or Bucky to see."
Cocking his head, Peter felt his eyebrow twitch up as he said, "Elenora, I didn't mean that-"
Peter's room was yellow, now. Since she wasn't allowed in the towers anymore (Steve and Bucky couldn't trust her not to sneak into training), Elenora found her self, three days into her punishment, hobbies.
At first, she tried cooking, but after she nearly gave Connor food poisoning, Steve suggested that she didn't do that anymore.
She tried reading, but it gave her a headache and Connor would make fun of her glasses anytime he saw them.
(She was pretty sure that he was sending pictures to Bridgit and Peter for their own amusement.)
Now, Elenora wasn't any good at painting, but Steve and she were bored and Connor mentioned yellow as a favorite color, and in the spur of the moment decision, the two of them bought pales of paint and got to work.
You can imagine the expressions on Connor and Bucky's face when they saw Elenora and Steve's paint-splattered clothes.
"I didn't expect him to be," Peter inhaled for a second, scrutinizingly looking around the room, " this organized."
"Me neither," Elenora muttered, slamming her palm against the light switch (Peter flinched), and stepping further into the room. As her eyes skimmed across the room, checking on the bed and under his desk for Josie. "My Dads realized that teenagers could do this, and now I have to clean my room every morning."
"Ouch," Peter dully sympathized for her, and Elenora sent him a scathing look.
"I'll be sure to remind May it's completely natural for you to help with laundry," Elenora threatened, jokingly peering at him before peeking in the closet.
Peter watched as she did this, stuffing his hands in his pocket as he told her, "I'll have you know that I do chores around the house." Elenora mumbled a "sure" as she looked around the room again, trying to figure out where the dog was. "And speaking about May," he started, getting Elenora to pull her eyes away from the room to meet his, "She wants to apologize. About the whole thing with...Andrew."
She didn't want to freeze at the name, but Elenora did; just the picture of his face in her head gave the BANG BANG more of a rush and the pain from her chest more heat.
Elenora tried to shake it off with a shrug, "No need," she promised with her back to Peter. "I don't really wanna-"
In a second, something had caught Elenora's eyes and she dropped to the ground; it scared Peter, who half thought she had just passed out beside him, and he dropped next to her.
Instead of being greeted with an unconscious Elenora, he saw a sleeping blonde dog peeking her eyes open.
"Josie, you scoundrel," Elenora teased, reaching out her arms under the bed, and pulling them out with and small, yawning dog. "You've gotta stop hiding there! My mattress is so much better than his," Elenora promised as she crossed her legs under her, laying the dog in her lap.
Josie took this as her new resting place and curled back up.
Both Peter and Elenora sat silent for a moment, petting Josie and just enjoying the peace before the door slammed open.
Connor, in his gym clothes with messy hair, peered down at Peter. "You're in my room? Again?"
Bucky, who was on his way to his own room, echoed, "Again?"
Remembering the night Peter came to visit her, Elenora grew red, and luckily for her, all the teenagers stayed silent until Bucky had passed, and they could talk in private.
"Jeez, Connor," Elenora breathed out in relief before narrowing her eyes at hin. "Could you be any more subtle?"
"Like you were this morning?" he retorted his own mean expression. He turned to Peter. "I thought you and El weren't talking."
"El is right here," Elenora said, flicking Connor's shoulder as she stepped in front of Peter is somewhat of a protective manner. Both the boys caught on to this, but before either could make a comment, Elenora was asking, "What took you so long? Peter was done with training hours ago."
Peter and Connor met eyes; Elenora noticed that Peter's were much wider than Connor's.
"What?" Elenora demanded, agitatedly. "What, for the hundredth time, am I not in on?"
Connor pulled his eyes away from peter's pleading ones; no matter what, Connor's loyalties were always with Elenora.
Plus, Peter made her cry; Connor had to get back at him, somehow.
"Peter left practice early," Connor informed, his eyes meeting Elenora'swho looked thoroughly confused. "Said he had to go help his aunt."
Elenora's head whipped around so fast her hair nearly hit Peter; instead, it wrapped around her neck as her blue eyes stared him down. "You lied to come? I thought you weren't busy, I didn't-"
Peter shrugged, avoiding her eyes. "It's fine, El," he told her. "I mean, I wanted to come and it's not that big of a deal-"
"You lied to get out of practice-"
"As much as I love that you two are getting along," Connor told them sarcastically. Elenora raised her eyebrow - he was certainly getting much braver. " I spent three hours in training, and I'd like to take a shower."
"Stop stealing my dog," Elenora hissed, walking out of the room and trying to trip Connor.
He was smart enough to avoid it.
***
Peter left maybe fifteen minutes later, because this time, Aunt May actually needed him home.
So Elenora was alone again.
Okay, she knew she wasn't really alone; her dads and Connor were home, but after her freak out with Steve over the cemetery, Elenora didn't think she could look him in the eye. And Connor, after getting out of the shower, immediately began texting on his phone.
(Elenora wanted to make a comment, but she was like 90% Connor could totally beat her up, now.)
So instead, Elenora did the thing she never thought she'd do out of her own free will: she studied.
She studied and studied and studied history and English and science until her sight was getting blurry, her clock read 6 PM, and there was a knock at her door.
Elenora pulled away from her textbook, blinking once, and then twice before calling, "Come in!"
It was from Steve. Elenora had the fight the urge to turn back to her table because she had to admit, she really didn't want to look at him right then. She didn't want to remember every second what she was missing.
"Hey, Ellie," he called, in that soft tone he only reserved for when Elenora was mad, sick, or tired. It felt like Elenora was a mix of all of that right then. "We're having dinner."
Eyes darting back to her notebook, Elenora nodded, "I'll be out in a minute," she told him, and Steve nodded silently and left the door slightly ajar.
When she had put all her pens away and packed her school bag up, she made her way to the kitchen, where Connor was setting all the plates down, Bucky was cursing at the oven, and Steve was correcting him.
Elenora grabbed a couple of glasses for water, saying nothing as she did.
"Ellie," Bucky called as he put down the baked pasta on the table. Hmming, Elenor turned away from where she was filling up the glasses, and looked to her dad. Bucky's blue eyes seemed darker than usual - they'd been like that for a while now. Since Elenora had come home. "Natasha's been asking about you. Have you talked to her, lately?"
The young girl turned away, trying to hide her blush of embarrassment. Sure, she complained a lot about being alone recently, but it was her own doing. She stopped replying to texts. Stopped answering phone calls. She knew the reason that Peter came in a hurry was that she hadn't talked to anyone in almost a week.
Bridgit grilled Connor at practice, demanding to know what was going on with Elenora. Connor couldn't explain it. When Natasha asked steve, he couldn't, either.
"I'll call her," Elenora promised, and Bucky did nothing but nod.
What else could he do? Buck recognized withdrawing behavior. He had done to same. He does the same.
Bucky didn't want to think about it.
Neither did Elenora.
So instead, they just ate dinner.
And as Elenora was learning, pretending everything was ok was a lot easier than trying to make it that way.