my glass is still half empty (but the water's fine)

I'm sure in time, all things will vanish anyway

If someone had told Tony a year ago, even six months ago, that he would be sitting in a teenager's room, comforting him after a panic attack, he would have laughed in their face. Or at the very least, given them a very confused look, and muttered "what the fuck?" under his breath, before promptly asking (not yelling, he had to keep his reputation) for security to take them away. 

Nevertheless, that was where he found himself on a Saturday night, after receiving a rather distressing alert from the kid's AI which he had named, for a reason Tony was not aware of, after a Sponge-bob character. 

The AI, Karen, had told him Peter was experiencing the symptoms of a panic attack, and Tony was ready to fly to him in seconds. He hadn't bothered to tell Pepper, but he figured she knew, seeing as she had been the one who originally informed Tony of his the kid's in trouble expression, and he was likely wearing it as he raced past her in the hallway - although Tony wouldn't be surprised if he was moving too fast for her to even see his expression. 

Once he had finally, finally, made it to his apartment, after instructing FRIDAY to go as fast as she possibly could, Tony stumbled in through his window, took one look at how scared Peter was and was ready to burst into tears . He was a kid. He didn't deserve this. 

Tony knew he wasn't good at emotions. Instead of talking about his own, he often isolated himself and, although he had since been sober, used to get drunk off his ass as opposed to working through his problems in a healthy way.

Peter was better than him in every way possible. 

Tony was well aware of every movement Peter was making. Every time he shifted a slightest bit, Tony saw. How could he not? The kid was terrified, even if it was only momentarily, of him. Tony had to make sure he was careful or he could be even more scared. So of course, when Peter began melting into a puddle on the floor, Tony was already hypothesising the different possible causes in his head. It didn't take him a long time to deduct the fact that when he was speaking, Peter melted more into the relaxed state. So, naturally, Tony kept talking. It seemed to be helping. He even had seemed to be moving towards him.

And suddenly, before he had time to process it, Peter's back was pressed up against Tony's shin. He resisted the urge to put his fingers through the kid's hair, gently untangling the knots, as he often did when Peter fell asleep on him during movies. Tony was relatively sure he had caught him pretending to sleep on him once after a bad day, potentially for that very reason.

He was still shaking, albeit less so than before. A million thoughts ran through Tony's head, countless questions that his brain was trying its best to answer. 

Tony had seen Peter get panic attacks before. He was justifiably traumatised by the things he saw and experienced during his life as Spider-man. Tony knew what Peter needed during panic attacks - something to ground him, a hug or hand on his shoulder to reassure him that the people that he loved were okay. Or at least, that's what he usually needed. 

This time, Peter had flinched away from his touch, rather than leaning into it. He scrambled away from Tony when he moved even an inch closer and cowered when he wasn't at eye level with him. He had never seen Peter like this before - most of his panic attacks were based upon guilt and worry for other people. This one, he was scared for his own well being, and although Tony had been repeatedly telling Peter he needed to put himself first, a panic attack wasn't exactly how he had pictured the kid doing so. Tony wasn't sure if he couldn't figure out why it was so different, or if he didn't want to figure it out. 

The two stayed there, Peter curled up against Tony's leg, and Tony staring down at him, telling him the most trivial of stories he could think of - lighthearted ones that he had probably already told the kid before.