The second she tasted the fear, she let go. Tony Stark was afraid? How did that even work? They looked at each other through the wavering water, and Summer started cursing herself. Fear, pain, anguish … every time, those emotions set off the bond early.
There had to be a way to stop that from happening. Gritting her teeth and surfacing, Summer blinked at him for a long moment. “That was a hell of a lot of fear,” she commented finally. “I didn’t think you were afraid of anything.” She tried to slow down her breathing, tried to get used to the faint sense of Stark in the back of her mind.
Rubbing at the back of her neck, she swore again under her breath and started slogging toward the side.
Tony gave her a mildly perplexed look, irritation easing in favor of confusion. ”Everyone’s afraid of something,” he replied. ”Was I really that obvious?” He was generally pretty good at keeping that in check… After all, it wouldn’t do for Tony Stark to freak out in public, now would it?
Logically, he knew the difference, obviously. The pool was just the pool, and no one was holding him under. But knowing that didn’t mean he was going to enjoy it.
Hitching herself up the side of the pool, Summer said over her shoulder, “I cheat. I’m sorry; I won’t do it again.” She flung herself off the edge again, speeding under the water until it was too deep for her to stand before rolling over and surfacing. “If you’re that afraid, this isn’t the fun I thought it would be, though.”