Work Text:
He's not the same as he used to be.
He used to be so scared of talking to others, of just being around them, of sharing what he's created.
Maybe scared isn't the right word. He's just never felt safe. It's distressing in its own right, knowing that a situation is perfectly safe, yet your body reacts as if it's not.
It reacts like you're in danger. It reacts like you have to run, or fight.
It doesn't matter if you know that it's safe.
It reacts like you're about to die.
It didn't change in a single day. It wasn't a magical transformation from anxiety into nothing.
It was steps. Steps forward, steps back.
Meeting with familiar people. Meeting with friends. Being observant of his thoughts. Making time to review them.
Having good days, having bad days, fighting through the bad days to turn them good, resting on good days to have strength for the bad.
Day by day, week by week, he broke down the obstacles one by one.
He proved to himself that he was safe.
Sometimes he would get proof it wasn't safe. That was fine.
He would try again.
He has a reason to try. He's felt what it's like to not live in fear. To be invincible, to be anything he wants to be.
He has other reasons to try too. He has people who make him feel safe. He has people who are looking out for him.
He has people who help him calm the storm in his mind, silence the alarms blaring in his mind.
It gets easier every day. It gets easier with practice. It gets easier with company.
Marc will destroy those final barriers that are keeping him caged within his own mind.
He won't be afraid.
He'll be free.