Rock Bottom: Season One

Exercise

"Are you really this afraid of being touched?"

Seto just nodded while looking in the other direction. There were rare moments now and then when direct skin contact didn't burn him, but it still stressed him to be touched by someone else. Most of the time, he kept as much of his skin covered as possible with pants and long sleeves and his trench coat, so when he was wrestling Joey, there was little to no skin contact whatsoever. The idea of wearing shorts and a sleeveless shirt, however, filled him with paralyzing anxiety.

This was worse than Seth had realized.

"I'm just trying to help you, Seto. People are starting to notice that something is wrong."

"They are?"

"Ryou most certainly is. He watches you like a hawk. And if Ryou has concerns about you, then he's definitely voiced them to Marik, and who knows who they've talked to about it."

Seto shuddered, drawing closer into himself.

"You need to learn to be okay with human contact again. What are you afraid of, Seto?" he asked quietly.

"Being touched. I thought we already established that," he muttered half-heartedly.

"But what are you afraid will happen when someone touches you? Are you afraid that you'll be hurt? That someone will try to molest you?"

"Yes," Seto answered hoarsely.

"Which one?"

"Both." He wouldn't meet Seth's gaze, too ashamed to face the older, wiser soul. "I... have a hard time trusting people besides myself," Seto admitted quietly, as if he thought Seth hadn't figured it out on his own already. Seth was proud of him for saying it out loud, though.

"Given your life so far, I can understand why that would be difficult, but wouldn't you like to be able to relax and share your burdens with someone else, trusting that they will do their best to help you?"

"That does sound nice," Seto murmured, his eyes distant.

"I know it's not easy, but can you at least try to trust me?" Seth pleaded. They'd had moments in the past where Seto had either been forced to trust Seth, or he'd had no other option available to him. Those had been a start, but they weren't enough. There was still some part of Seto that denied and resisted the magic, the Egyptian spirit, and everything else he had a hard time swallowing. The implications of those things were just too much for him to handle, but he needed to embrace them for things to work between them the way they needed to. Seth hadn't bargained on how stubborn this piece of his own soul would turn out to be.

"I can try..."

Seth kissed the top of Seto's head quickly, before he could pull away. "Then let's try this out now," he said, standing up, holding out a hand to help his hikari stand as well. After a moment, Seto took it and stood beside the older man, releasing his hand as soon as he was on his feet.

"Do you see where we are, Seto?"

"My soul room."

"Look at the floor, look at the ceiling, the walls. What do you see?"

"We're... inside a giant cage," Seto answered, realizing this fact for the first time. Seth pointed toward a large opening.

"There is no door to cover the entrance, so why don't you try to escape?"

Seto looked up at Seth curiously, then toward the large hole in the silver bars of the cage. He approached it and looked out.

"We're hanging over a bottomless pit," he scoffed. "How on earth am I supposed to escape?" He turned around to face Seth, but he had disappeared.