Ah

I think his lack of outright sad emotion is making everyone callous but this kind of thing is genuinely really heartbreaking. His anger and stoicism are coping mechanisms, but you can see his excitement and desperation for parental love when he smiles running in to show his dad the trophy, you can see the way he's rattled after his dad calls him a loser, and the way he tried to call his mom home as a child is genuinely super fucking sad. Having family that has suffered from addiction and seeing the way abuse and addiction tears a family apart is awful and heartbreaking. Seeing your only family, no matter how shitty they are , dead on the floor from on overdose is extremely fr traumatic. I don't think his story is less impactful than other toxic semes, I think his personality just makes everyone feel less bad or like it's less serious since he bottles it up and turns it into anger that he releases during fights. It's really fucked.

Does it excuse his behavior in the slightest? No. He's continuing the cycle of abuse. But he's also never learned how to love properly seeing as the only person he outwardly loved abandoned him entirely and there was nothing he could do, so I do think this puts him in a place where I feel for him and I know he's not just a cold asshole anymore.

Hope he and Dan both go to therapy