GLUE EACH OTHER BACK TOGETHER (BUCKY AND PETER)

Glue Each Other Back Together

this is not a bucky/peter fic! if you choose to read it that way, that's fine, i'd just rather if you didn't comment anything regarding romance or sexual stuff between them :)  

     Peter had a panic attack on patrol once, and it was Bucky who came to his rescue.

     The teen had gotten a man off of some six year old kid, and the wide eyed little girl (who, quite frankly, reminded Peter of himself) stared up at Peter with so much awe it made him a little bashful. Not hard to do to him, actually. Immediately, the kid was throwing out questions involving the battle against Thanos. With those questions, Peter was back on Titan, dying in Tony's arms. Shit, he thought, I can not have a panic attack in front of this little kid.

     Peter smiled (grimaced) the best he could – even if the kid couldn't see it through the mask – and knelt down to her level. Peter placed a hand on her shoulder. "Kid," he said, praying the girl couldn't hear how strangled he sounded, "The battle was hard. Thanos was a tough cookie, you know? But we're here to save you. Never forget that. You are always safe here, because the other Avengers and I.... we protect this world with everything we've got."

     The little girl hugged him and gave him a paper to sign. Peter scribbled on a 'Spider-Man' and doodled a spider with a happy face before webbing away. The panic was still there in the back of his mind as he landed in the alleyway. "Karen, who's closest?"

     "The Winter Soldier, sir."

     Peter stumbled and fell on the dirty ground. "Great, is he – is he busy?"

     "No,sir."

     "Send him to me, please. Alert."

     "Of course."

     Peter couldn't get the thoughts out of his head. All he could think about was Titan, of disintegrating in Tony's arms, and suddenly he was there. He could feel his Spidey Senses again, just like he did then, overwhelming him, pushing him forward to safety – to Tony's arms. He felt himself fade, first his hands, then the rest of him, slowly, slower than the others. Finally, (I'm sorry-) his head. His last memory was Tony's face above his own.

     Then someone was in front of him. Through his tears, Tony's face morphed into Bucky's, then back into Tony's and it repeated over and over again as Bucky talked to him. "Kid," he was saying, trying to get Peter's attention.

     (Kid, you're alright, you'll-you'll be okay, kid.)

      "Mr.Stark," Peter gasped, drawing his legs even closer to himself. "Mr.Stark, I'm sorry-" Peter broke off into a sob.

      Peter's senses were dialed to eleven, except the 'panic attack' eleven and not the normal eleven. The eleven that made him aware of only the minute details, the little movements and noises things made. He was acutely aware of Bucky's "Shit," which was barely even a whisper. Any other person wouldn't have been able to pick it up. He was aware of the way Bucky's eyebrow moved slightly and every twitch downward of his lips. But the words Bucky were saying to him went in one ear and out the other. Peter could barely hear them, they were smaller than whispers to him.

      Peter was still on Titan. Bucky was still Tony and Bucky and Tony and Bucky all at the same time. Peter was disintegrating in Tony – Bucky –Tony's arms.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

     Bucky had read up on this.

     He had because not only did he have panic attacks, but so did the majority of the Team. It was something everyone on the team knew how to do. Heck, everyone had their own little AI (Bucky's was a little hologram that came out of his metal arm) that could contact the others with, and there was a special protocol the AI performed if a member was having a panic attack.

     "Peter," Bucky said, "Peter. I need you to breath with me. Can you do that, Pete?"

     The kid wasn't hearing him. Bucky thought for a second, before remembering what Tony had told him about Peter's panic attacks –his Spidey Senses kick into overdrive, made him only notice the minutiae. Bucky lowered his voice to an imperceptible whisper. "Peter, breathe with me. Can you do that?"

     It took Peter a moment. He's probably remembering Titan, Bucky thought. But he nodded ever so slightly.

     "Okay, listen to me, okay? Breathe in, okay? Take a long deep breath. Good. Now hold it. 1, 2, 3, good, breathe out nice and slow. Good, can you keep doing that Peter?"

     Peter once again gave the smallest nod in the galaxy. "Can I touch you, Peter?" Bucky asked. Another nod. "Is my metal arm okay?" Peter shook his head and took a strangled breath. Bucky placed his human arm on Peter's shoulder and squeezed slightly. "Hey, Peter, I need you to keep breathing like I told you, okay? Breathe in... 1, 2, 3,breathe out. Good. Tell me if I squeeze your shoulder too tight, okay?"

     This time, Peter says "Okay."

     Bucky smiles, "Good. You're doing good, Peter. Do you want me to bring you home Peter? Or to your Aunt's? I'll bring you wherever you want."

     Peter lifts a weak hand up to Bucky's. "The compound, please. Home."

     Bucky picks Peter up bridal style. After asking if it was okay, Bucky hails a cab (much to the confusion of the poor driver. Bucky cringed,realizing how weird they must've looked.) On the drive to the compound, Bucky tries his best to hold a conversation with Peter. It was mostly one sided, but Peter showed he was conscious by correcting Bucky or giving him his opinion every once in a while, and that was all Bucky really wanted. Bucky talked about Peter's web shooters, how cool they are, and asked him about the formula. He complimented him on how genuinely brilliant he was to come up with that formula. He talked about May, asked Peter about her cooking. Talked about everything he could to keep Peter engaged and keep his mind off anything involving Thanos and Titan.

     Finally, finally, they made it back to the compound, and half the Avengers (plus Pepper and Shuri) were on him within minutes. They'd all received the alert from Karen, of course, Bucky was the one that went only because he was closest. Peter got checked into the Med-Bay, and  Bucky took a deep breath.

     They were all broken. With what they had gone through, there was no way not to be broken. But they were gluing themselves back together one by one. And they all had each other.

      WORDS: 1088

      EDITED AND REVISED TEN MINUTES AFTER PUBLISHING (wattpad does this weird thing where it gets rid of the spaces between random words when i publish - you know what, no one cares)

     also! this is not a bucky/peter fic! if you choose to read it that way, that's fine, i'd just rather if you didn't comment anything regarding romance or sexual stuff between them :)