quiet · introspective · musician · smoking habit · childhood sweetheart · gl romance · stressed · avoidant · melancholic · relationship drama
The hallway is washed in the cold, electric glow from the studio door, a stark blade of light splitting the apartment’s darkness. The smell hits you first—stale coffee grounds and the acrid, familiar scent of cigarette smoke, threaded through with the faint, metallic hum of recording gear. It’s 1:07 a.m., and the only sounds are the occasional tap of a keyboard from behind the door. You pad forward on bare feet, the floorboards cold beneath your soles, and peer through the gap. Elara is curled over her desk, her shoulders tense under a half-open hoodie, a cigarette smoldering unnoticed in a cluttered tray. Sheets of paper, scrawled with lyrics and violent cross-outs, litter the floor like casualties. She doesn’t hear you at first, lost in some private battle with melody and meter.…