"Why exactly do we have to do this?" Tony's intern complained as they both descended in the elevator. "I just don't get why it's a big deal."
"Kid, you very nearly live on an island, and it came to my attention this week that you can't actually swim. Like I've watched you play in the swimming pool, but didn't realize it was never in deep water. And May says she's pretty sure you can't."
"I kind of can. I took lessons as a kid."
"May said that was for about two months." What Tony didn't address was that Peter's lessons had ended abruptly when his parents died, and that he hadn't ever been willing to go back after that. They exited the elevator and headed down the hall towards the Tower's pool room.
"You show me you can swim all the way across the pool without touching the bottom, or getting panicky, and I'll let it go for now."
"Mr. Sta-a-ark," Peter whined. "This is so dumb. Spiders can't swim. It doesn't matter if I can't swim. There's not a lot of swimming in New York."
"You've already been dumped in the water once while in your suit. I thought it was your parachute that dragged you down, which was probably also somewhat true." Tony stopped, turning to face the kid, who was decked out in red swim trunks against his will. "But Peter, what if I hadn't been online to get the alert? What if I hadn't had a suit on standby?" Tony tried to convey the gravity of that with his expression and voice, but it was obvious the kid was just nervous and frustrated.
"You need to know how to swim, bud. Both because you're a superhero, and because you're a person . Being able to survive in deep water, at least for a bit, is an important skill. You want to take lessons somewhere else? Fine, I'll pay for them. But you have to go."
Peter glared at his feet, and shrugged. "Not really."
Or we can work on it together for a few lab sessions, and I'll bet you'll be swimming in no time. It's not common knowledge, especially since I generally avoid water now, but I actually swam competitively for several years before I went to college. I wasn't great, but I was good. And I liked it." Tony surprised himself by admitting that, especially as he noticed his left hand was shaking a little. He nonchalantly grabbed onto it to help still it. This was not the time to think about Afghanistan. This was about drown-proofing a certain underage vigilante he had somehow put himself in charge of.
"Besides, you're not scared of water, which is one big hurdle we don't have to overcome. Remember that trip to Phoenix a few months ago where you forced me to watch you splash around for hours and I got the world's worst sunburn?"
Peter leveled a stern look at his mentor. "You're the one who didn't put any sunscreen on and then fell asleep in the sun, sir," he corrected.
"The details aren't important," Tony said brusquely. "And how do you learn how to dive when you can't even swim?"
Peter shrugged. "I'm as surprised as you. That part came kinda naturally, being in the water for the first time after the spider bite. Like lots of other things have. I just don't know how to not sink when the water's over my head…"
They had reached the pool, and Tony could smell the bite of the chlorine before they opened the door. "FRIDAY said it's empty right now, and she won't let anyone in while we're working, okay?"
"Okay," Peter said with a disgruntled sigh.
Unfortunately, Tony's body picked that moment to freak out. He immediately did what he could to stave off the panic attack, noticing details as he tried to ground his senses and stay in the moment. He'd gotten better at hiding the signs from most people so he had time to deal with it.
It didn't work for kids with super senses, though. Peter looked over at Tony with alarm. "Um… are you okay? Your heart rate and breathing are all messed up, Tony." He let that first name drop with soft concern.
"I'm… I'm not… fine, but I will be. If you can work on something you're…uh, scared of, so can I," Tony said, trying to slow his breathing. It didn't always work, but it seemed to be calming down this time. He opened his eyes to see the kid's worried face, and he took another deep breath, letting Peter's presence lend some gravity and calm to the moment.
"I'm just gonna sit for a moment, Pete. Can you get in and start experimenting with moving through the water without touching the bottom?"
"Okay," Peter said quietly, doing as Tony had asked. But Tony could tell he was still focused on him for several more minutes, until the engineer felt his heart rate and breathing truly settle. He took a few minutes to watch Peter in the water and try to see what he was doing wrong. It had been so long since he learned to swim, but he had glanced through a few instructional videos for teaching adults to swim so he'd hopefully had some good tips for him.
Finally, Tony stood up and approached the steps leading into the pool. He gingerly set one foot and then the other on the first step, then quickly moved down to the second step while he had a little momentum. He felt slightly lightheaded and realized he was holding his breath. The billionaire concentrated on just breathing for a few moments, and soon noticed the splashing sounds had stopped. Peter was standing up in the water and was looking at him with concern.
"Mr. Stark, you don't have to get in the water. I know you don't like that. You can just tell me what to do, and I'll do it. Or we can have FRI put some videos up or something…"
"No, it's okay, Pete. I need to work on this anyway, and it's better for me to be in the water with you while you figure stuff out."
Tony stepped down further into the pool until it was at mid-chest level. When his mind started flashing through scenarios he wished he could forget, Tony focused on the differences between the waterboarding in Afghanistan and where he was now.
Smell. The chlorine smell (which indicated a lack of contaminants, he told himself) was strong, very different from the stale, musty smell from that awful room. Touch. The only parts of him that were wet were parts he chose, and he didn't ever have to put his face in unless he chose to. The air was also humid and just barely on the warm side, instead of hot and desert-dry. Hearing. He heard only the quiet lapping of the water against the walls, instead of angry voices yelling at him in languages he didn't understand. Taste. He could detect the slight aftertaste of the minty toothpaste he'd used that morning, which reminded him that he was free to be as hygienic as he wanted, versus being shoved back into a dirty cave. Sight. He had to open his eyes for this water was clear and appeared blue, versus being brackish and cloudy with dirt and who-knows-what-else. Plus, there was an anxious pair of brown eyes staring at him from just a few feet away here, and if the kid was with him, he wasn't in Afghanistan. He was home, and safe, and Peter needed him to be okay. So he was.
"Mr. Stark? Tony?"
"Sorry, Pete. I'm okay. I'm here. It took me a minute, but I think I worked through it. Let's get started, shall we?"
Tony demonstrated a few different simple strokes (up out of the water, where Peter could see his arms) and they worked on the kid's kicking technique for a bit, then Tony put a hand flat under the boy's torso and walked alongside while he tried them out. It really only took about twenty minutes for Peter to get the hang of a basic freestyle stroke and backstroke, with a little instruction, and soon Tony was able to just lean against the wall and call out corrections or tips at the end of each short lap. The kid was a natural, (especially with the athleticism the spider bite had added) and just needed someone to point him in the right direction.
After an hour, they moved over to the diving pool, which Peter climbed down into with more trepidation, sticking himself firmly to the wall while Tony explained (and tried to show) how to tread water long-term. It wasn't really working though, so Tony finally sighed and slipped into the pool himself. I'm going to end up getting my head wet, he thought, but it's going to be okay. It's my own choice, and Peter's the only other one here. He would never hurt me, and he'd probably figure out a way to save me if something crazy happened. I'm choosing this. I don't have to go in.
Tony blinked through his internal thoughts quickly, then let go of the wall and started treading water, having Peter observe and try to copy his movements.
It took more work than learning strokes for some reason, and there was a lot of sputtering and going under and Tony pulling him back up, but they got there eventually, and Peter was effectively (if nervously) treading water like a pro. Once he mastered that, Tony had him review his two strokes to go across the shorter distance of the diving pool. Peter's eyes bulged a little at the idea of heading out over the center of the 12-foot depth, but he did completely fine once he tried it.
Tony was so busy trying to drown-proof his protégé that he didn't hear Pepper's approach. She wasn't in her normal heels, and her flip flops didn't make much noise.
"I heard we were swimming," she said brightly behind him, startling Tony. When he turned, he figured her elated grin had very little to do with her excitement for the activity, and a lot to do with seeing him in an indoor pool of his own free will. She lnew he hadn't been in a pool in years, and had held him through the aftermath of many nightmares featuring the events that prompted his phobia.
"Miss Potts! Peter shouted from the other side. Look what Mr. Stark taught me!" And the little show-off did a perfect shallow dive that moved into a graceful freestyle stroke that brought him back to them quickly.
Tony splashed him half-heartedly when he arrived. "Yeah, yeah, give you an hour and you swim better than I ever did," he groused. But the proud smile on his face gave away how pleased he was with the boy's progress.
"Lookin' good there, Shamu," Pepper teased. "Have you done any diving yet?"
"Just jumping in like that," Peter said, tilting his head in interest.
"Want me to show you a few? I'm guessing you could have a lot of fun with diving, having seen all the acrobatics you usually do in your suit."
"Yeah, that'd be cool!"
Pepper slipped out of her cover-up and headed up the ladder of the high dive. Tony watched her with interest, and not just because she obviously cut a striking figure in a swimsuit. Pepper knew how to dive? How had this never come up?
His fiancée continued to surprise him as she bounced up high in the air, flipped backwards and entered the water with a minor splash.
After she moved towards them with strong strokes, Peter cheering at his side, Tony looked at her incredulously. "Pepper, when did you ever …"
She smiled at him smugly. "High school dive team. We were runners up for state champions my senior year.
"How have we never talked about this?"
"Well, we've never been in a pool together, I guess. But it looks like you just needed the right motivation," she said, smiling, as she tipped her head toward the teen, who was rapidly climbing the diving board ladder with a look of nervous determination on his face.
"Yeah, I guess so. It hasn't been easy," Tony said quietly, a little shiver running down his spine. "But worth it. I don't think he'd drown now if someone like the Vulture dumps him in the bay, or a lake, or the ocean. That's three fewer places that can kill him," he stated with an eye roll at how much risk Peter took on a regular basis. "An afternoon well-spent."
Pepper smiled, and slipped in close to hook an arm around his neck and give him a quick kiss. As she pulled back they heard Peter yell "Here goes!" and their heads snapped up to watch him bounce high off the board, twisting his body impossibly fast into several aerial maneuvers. It was graceful and beautiful and all kinds of impressive. Up until the point that gravity introduced the surface of the water into the equation, and Peter happened to be mostly horizontal at the time. SMACK.
Pepper and Tony's faces both recoiled in sympathetic horror, and Tony watched worriedly for a moment until the boy finally surfaced, sputtering and gasping. When he reached the edge and could finally breathe and speak again, Peter winced, and said, "Maybe I could use a few more tips." Tony and Pepper both tried hard not to laugh, but when Peter started laughing at his own fail, they couldn't help but join in as they all dragged themselves up out of the water.
"C'mon, Underoos. Let's hit the showers. We'll do laps once a week for a while to make sure it sticks, and you can work on your diving some more next time if you're feeling brave."
Peter grinned at his mentor, and then his eyes softened. "Thanks, Tony. This turned out better than I ever expected it might."
Tony grabbed Pepper's hand and slung his other arm around the boy's shoulders as they dripped across the floor towards their towels.
"I tend to have that effect on situations," he said confidently.
Peter rolled his eyes, but laughed as he fell into step with them. "Yeah, I've noticed that. Nothing ever goes wrong when you're around."
"I have a list, and it's a long one," Pepper countered, grinning over at Tony.
He enjoyed the laughter coming from either side of him. He felt a little worn out from the panic involved in facing one of his stronger fears, but was also happy and satisfied at how the afternoon had gone. It gave him a little hope that he could eventually conquer some of the other hard things he was facing. It was nice to feel like he had some motivation and support again.
