Tony

I was working on some project, not really concentrating too much. The kid was gonna be here soon and he asked if we could do some upgrades on the suit. Since I seem to be having a very hard time saying no to the kid, I of course agreed. Besides, he really cheers me up and I had a 4-hour long meeting with Ross earlier, so a little Parker positivity is nice to have after having to talk to Ross bitch.

"Boss baby Stark has arrived"

I almost burst out laughing when I heard Peter's new nickname. Seems like Nat has been hacking Friday a little. Should probably run a diagnostic to make sure she didn't do anything else. I won't change the name since Peter is gonna die of embarrassment when he hears it. The doors to my lab opened and when I turned around I saw my favorite enthusiast walk in.

"Hi Mr. Stark!" Peter said happily.

"Hi kid. You're an hour early" I said.

"Yeah I corrected my teacher during a Quiz and she sent me home since it's the third time in two months and she already knows I know everything" Peter said as he sat down on the stool beside me.

"Did they....?" I start

"I still passed. I'm not in trouble" Peter answered.

I smiled and we started getting to work with his suit.

"So anything interesting in school or do you know everything?" I asked after a while.

"Well....my English teacher gave us a pretty interesting assignment" Peter said.

"Oh yeah? What?"

"We're gonna do something about the battle of New York. We could write a news article, make a short documentary or just an essay" Peter said

I felt how my heart started beating and I had to start concentrating on breathing. Not in front of Peter. He shouldn't see his mentor have a panic attack about something he thinks I was handling well.

"And I was thinking....maybe....if you're okay with it....I could interview you and you could tell me about your point of view and the thought process while going into that black hole" Peter said.

Fuck. I felt my hands start to shake and the panic in my body started boiling up.

"Peter you need to get out" I said quickly trying to sound like I wasn't on the verge of a panic attack.

"What? Why? Did I say something wrong?" Peter asked and looked at me worried.

"No, no just.....fuck" I said as it was too late.

My heart was almost beating itself out of my chest with my arc reactor. My whole body was shaking and I couldn't breathe. I tried sucking in air but it was like there was no air to get.

"Mr. Stark! Holy shit. Okay, okay....Mr. Stark look at me" Peter said grabbing my shoulders so I would face him.

If it wasn't for the lack of air and pure terror in my body I would've enjoyed hearing him curse for the first time.

"Peter....you need to...." I said trying to talk but it wasn't working.

"Mr. Stark no offense but this time you need to listen to me. I need you to name 5 things in this room" he said suddenly looking all serious.

I looked at him confused but I didn't have the strength to argue. So I glanced around.

"Uhm.....screwdriver.....y-your suit....Dum-E....cables....coffee mug" I said.

"That's great. Now tell me 4 things you can hear"

"....the vents....breathing....data loading....and Dum-E's motor"

"Good, you're doing great. Now tell me 3 things you can feel"

"Your hands....my arc reactor....the seat below me"

"Alright. Now tell me 2 things you can smell"

"Uhm....your smell and....something burnt"

"Great. Now tell me 1 thing you can taste" Peter said letting go of my shoulders as I had become much calmer.

"Coffee" I said and took a deep breath. "Thanks Peter" I said relieved I could finally breathe.

"It's no trouble. I'm glad I could help" Peter smiles.

I study his smile. It seems so genuine. Not full of pity or worry. He's not faking it. He's genuinely happy I'm okay.

"I'm.....I'm sorry you had to see that" I apologized.

Peter looks at me confused for a sec.

"Mr. Stark it's nothing to be embarrassed of. You can't control how you feel. And when you do get an attack it's nice to have someone there"

I smiled at the kid before I turned back towards the desk and grabbed a tool. This one time....I'm glad Peter didn't do as I told him

"Thanks for staying with me kid" I said.

"No problem Mr. Stark" Peter said and we went back to working on the suit.

"Hey how did you know that grounding technique?" I asked and looked at some new programs for his suit.

"Oh! May always use that on me. And I thought it might help you too"

"You get panic attacks?" I asked confused.

"Well....yeah sometimes. Lately I haven't had as many as I used to though."

"Do you....wanna talk about it?" I asked carefully.

"Not really" Peter said and shook his head.

"Alright....but you know I'm here for you to kid?"

"I never doubted it" Peter smiled.