anixety
Rhodey watched Peter and Steve from his spot at the kitchen isle.
The boy was almost glued to Steve's sigh and would jump anytime a small noise went off, Steve had wrapped an arm around his shoulder and had pulled him close whilst he cooked eggs and bacon one handed. The entire time chatting away like nothing was out of the ordinary. Rhodey watched quietly as Peter suddenly dived his head into Steve's side as his own phone pinged with a message. "Pete, it's ok. It was your phone." Steve held it up. Looking at it quietly he raises a brow. "Your friend 'Art nerd' says 'Hope your cuss word gets better soon loser. Miss my awkward turtle comments on my art' ....wait is art nerd that curly haired girl?" Steve got a massive grin across his face and Peter looked at him in confusion.
"Did you just say Cuss word instead of swearing?" He asks, ignoring Peter's question completely. Rhodey grins a bit as he watches Peter's smirk appear. "Life's a cussword and then you die right?" He teased a little. Though he jumped and hid into Steve's side as the phone pings again. Rhodey sighs getting up awkwardly.
"Ok, Uncle Rhodey would like attention from his nephew, as well as food without extra salt so come here lover boy" He wrapped an arm around the boy and Peter immediately slammed into his side, Rhodey gasped a bit in shock. "Jeez kid. You're stronger than you look" He teased a little. Though he felt the boy shaking in his arms and flinched. "Oh kiddo. Come on, time to eat" He says softly. Steve hands places two plates on the isle, and Rhodey gets Peter to sit down.
"Ok Pete. If you can eat at least half we won't have a problem." Steve says watching the boy push the food around. Rhodey looks to him in concern. "It's fine. When he's having days like this, getting him to eat is like pulling teeth. Last time Tony had to force him to whilst I held him." He mutters and Rhodey grunts.
"Reason why you need him to eat so badly?" He asks and Steve nods.
"Missing one meal for him is like missing 2 days worth of food. He needs as much as me and Bucky" He mutters, watching the boy finally eat. He sighs in relief, maybe it wouldn't be so bad.
Another ping and a hiding Peter was seen.
***********
Steve and Rhodey sat on the sofa, Peter curled up between them with a cup of hot chocolate, StarWars was playing on the big screen and Peter was entranced. Steve leaned over and whispered to Rhodey. "He'll be like this for a while. For now all we need to watch out for is an anxiety attack." He mutters, Rhodey nods a little.
"So he gets that from Tony or...?" He mumbles and Steve shrugs a little. "What's his triggers? Or signs he's getting closer to one?" He asks lightly. Steve sighs.
"Triggers are usually things like yelling or raising your voice. Things breaking or crashing, nightmares such like that. Sometimes it just comes on at random. His signs for it are usually he'll rock and sway when he's sitting or standing, that or he'll just shut off. No emotion." He grunts a bit when Peter's hand clings to his sleeve in a childish manner.
"Shhh! You're gonna miss it!" Peter complains, Rhodey smirks a little and waits for Peter to get re-absorbed into the movie before talking.
"Tony is the exact same way with Dumbo" He mumbles, Steve chuckles a little.
"Thank you for that information Rhodey" He grinned evilly, Steve was going to have fun with that information and Rhodey knew it.
************
The afternoon was where the anxiety attack happened. Peter was getting a drink when a load of cups fell out of the cupboard.
Smashing on to the ground, he felt his throat tighten and his heart pound in his chest. He stepped backwards and slammed into the fridge, sinking down and down until he was on the floor.
He couldn't breath
His lungs didn't want to work.
His knee's pulled into his chest and he made loud gasping noises.
He felt hands trying to de-tangle him from himself but that just made him panic more.
Everything was too much.
The world was loud and quiet all at the same time and the only thing he could clearly make out was the sound of a gasping child.
"Peter!" A strong voice caught his attention, his breath was still trapped in his throat but he knew that voice.
Tony's eyes where staring at him. Steve had called him. "Peter, please. Deep breaths. Can you do that for me? Nice deep breaths." Peter tried to obey, copying Tony's own but all he could get out where little gasps. "Ok, it's ok if you can't right now, lets focus on something else. Take Cap's hand. Take it Peter." Tony orders, Peter finds the hand next to him. "Now I need you to squeeze it every time I put something on the screen that's blue ok. And count it." Tony orders. Soon a blue pen appears and Peter squeezes the hand and gasps out softly.
"One..." Tony pulls out a blue slipper.
"Two...." He pulls out a blue shirt.
"Three..." Peter was starting to breath normally, not that he noticed, he was focused on counting and breathing. They went on like this until Peter had completely come down from his anxiety attack. "Ok big guy. Feeling better? What's your code right now?" He asks, looking at Peter quietly. Peter squirms and waves his hand in a halfway gesture.
"Like a lime but...but like a code ginger at the same time?" He says awkwardly and Tony nods smiling at him.
"Ok, that's fine. Stay around Steve and Rhodey ok? When I get back we can talk about what set this off today until then just try to breath and calm down ok?" He asks, Peter nods a bit. Gulping in some air as Steve takes the phone away.
"Ok....OK...Steve....I'ma....I'ma lie down.." Peter says, fully prepared to lie on the floor where he sat. Steve snorted and lifted him up bridal style.
"Let's get you on the sofa. We can watch Dumbo so together we can prank Tony." A grin spread across Steve's face and Peter's matched it.
"Yeah...Prank his butt for...for calling MJ my girl. Prick" Steve tsked a little but let it slide. He set the boy on the sofa and Rhodey came over with a drink of juice for him. It wasn't long until Peter was asleep.
"That. That was terrifying." Rhodey says looking at Steve who shrugs. "How often does he-Is it always like that?" He asks, Steve sighs heavily.
"We don't count how often it is, but that's the third one this month. And no, that was a minor one for him. Usually that pretzel thing he does? Impossible to get him out of it unless your Tony or Pepper." He says running his hand through the boys hair. Rhodey bites his lip.
"He's had worse?" He asks, Steve nods.
"He goes somewhere. Kinda like he's not here but he's not in a bad memory either. Last he explained it, it was like a dark void and all he could hear where insults and names being screamed at him. Last month he had one like that and we had to sedate him and put him on oxygen because he wouldn't breath." He sighs. "I didn't mean to order you to stay back, sometimes he gets violent when he's like that" Rhodey rolls his eyes.
"I gathered. Otherwise I'd of told you to cussword your shield" He teased and Steve blinked and blushed.
"I'm never living that down" He groans loudly.
"No. No you are not"
The rest of the day was spent watching Disney movies and eating Chinese. Life was good.