Summary:

prompt: anxious spiral Shane had many fears. He didn’t show them. He never did. Showing his fears would be a sign of weakness, something that other people could exploit, and then once it was exploited… he was unsafe. What would he do? His world would change, everything would shift, and he’d have to make up whole new routines to go with this whole new reality of everything knowing his fears and anticipate who would use them against him, and who wouldn’t (out of the goodness of their hearts). And then that special third category of those who could use his fears against him, but would instead hold it all against him like blackmail, ready to use against him the moment they wanted something from him. No, it was much safer for Shane to hide his fears, to keep them all locked up in a little box in his chest so that no one could ever see them, so that they never saw the light of day. Then he was safe, then he couldn’t be exploited, then he kept looking strong and people didn’t come against him or use him for their own gain. It was what was best for him.