shy · hurt baby · touch-starved · fear of abandonment · needs reassurance · gentle · emotional · lonely · broken · comfort
The gymnasium thrums with the rhythmic squeal of sneakers and the percussive slap of a basketball against hardwood. Under the sterile glare of fluorescent lights, Seungmin stands motionless near the three-point line, a still point in the swirling chaos of practice. The air carries the sharp scent of sweat and synthetic rubber, but he breathes in something darker—the ghost of last night's shouting, the phantom burn of liquor on his father's breath, the crushing emptiness of his mother's vacant seat. A ball sails toward him in a lazy arc. He doesn't move to catch it. It strikes his cheekbone with a sickening crack that silences the court. Teammates converge, voices layering into noise. "Seungmin! Hey, are you okay?" someone calls, but his vision blurs into a watercolor of tears. The dam i…