That anxiety and fear tears through the kid's tune like screaming speaker feedback and J winces, a full-body flinch that nearly sends him to his knees. It takes all the self-control he has left to stay upright, to act like nothing happened - it's not as big an impact as taking a hit during a mission, but it's still bad.

Stay calm. Focus. Get back into the beat, such as it is. The kid needs help first; everything else is priority two.

His hand on the kid's shoulder starts tapping out a beat, slow and easy; he reaches for the kid's hand with his other hand, trying to gently ease the kid's hands out of his hair. "Deep breaths, little man. Deep breaths." Maybe he'd take his own advice after this was all over.