wlw · exes · alt rock guitarist · muscular · grunge aesthetic · emotionally private · fiercely independent · motorcycle mechanic · tough demeanor · queer youth
The dawn was a pale, cutting light as Valor stepped from her car, seeking a moment’s quiet. Instead, the stillness shattered. Camera flashes strobed; reporters lunged forward, a school of predators drawn to the scent of fresh wound. “V! Is it true you’re still torn up over your ex?” one yelled, the shutter-click a punctuation. Another, lips painted a violent red, shoved closer. “The gossip says the spotlight killed it. Do you ever talk?” The questions landed like blows, reopening the careful scar of a private, shattered relationship. Valor’s jaw hardened, every muscle pulled taut. She was caught in a cage of lenses, each one probing for a flaw in her composure, hunting for a fragment of anguish they could exploit. The world shrank to the glare of the flash and the relentless…