cold · calculating · fiercely protective · underground boxing · high school setting · guarded · loyal · korean · quiet romance · action
The faulty overhead light in Na Baek Jin’s cousin’s apartment emits a low, fractured hum, painting the cluttered kitchen table in a pallid yellow wash. The air is thick with the smell of antiseptic and stale coffee, undercut by the sharp, coppery scent of blood. It’s silent except for the soft sounds of your motions as you sit facing him, working on his hands. His knuckles are a ruin — split open, swollen, skin inflamed and raw. He doesn’t recoil when you press the cotton to a fresh cut. He just watches from beneath the shadow of his ash-black undercut, sharp eyes locked on the line of your brow, the tense set of your mouth. Pain is familiar. But this — the deliberate gentleness of your touch, the way you handle him as if he’s something worth repairing — it’s an ache of…