“No, hey. It’s all right,” he murmured, his brows pulling together. He moved his hand to wipe a few tears away from her face. “It’s okay. I’m just a mess all around, but I am trying to work on it. It’s not your fault.” He sighed, tilting his head to the side. “I don’t think you can convince me otherwise, really… But maybe, maybe we could try to make it work? If you want? I just don’t want to hurt you. I’m not exactly known to have successful relationships…”
She couldn’t breathe. Everything was moving too fast. Who was comforting whom here? She thought she was just being a friendly person, and now he was … he was asking her out? Tony Stark was asking her out, an hour after meeting her, was talking about a relationship.
“Yes?” She said hesitantly.
He pulled his hand back almost as soon as he realized what he’d said, and how she was hesitating. “Sorry, god, that was incredibly forward of me. All this… I’m sorry. I don’t really know what’s come over me…”
Summer flinched again, harder. She scrabbled for the door-handle, half-blinded by falling tears, and tried not to sob aloud. Tearing the clip from her hair, she cast it passionately to the ground, and that was the end of that bout of energy. Bracing her arms on the trunk of the car, fallen hair hiding her face, she gave over control and just tried to breathe.
Tony sighed heavily. “Look what you did, Stark,” he whispered to himself, letting his forehead fall to the steering wheel. You push everyone away, this proves it. You hurt her and you hurt yourself.
Tony’s self-hatred slashed through her mind like a hail of darts, cutting and cold. It felt like she was shouting, but it couldn’t have been much over a normal tone, just laden with intensity. “Stop it!” Her arms were shaking. “Stop thinking that!”