abstract
| - Mike Valens is the son of Ramiro and Rosa Valens, older brother of Scotty Valens, and the husband of Alegria Valens, with whom he has two children, including Emilio Valens. He's used to only getting visits from his brother when Scotty runs out of breakfast cereal. As a child, he was molested by his boxing coach, Coach Fitzpatrick, which was inadvertantly witnessed by his brother Scotty. This caused Mike a lot of distress, he slept in his clothes that night, and as an adult had a nervous breakdown shortly after being asked about it by Scotty, who had been sent to see if he was willing to testify in an upcoming sexual assault case against the coach. Despite being given a clean bill of health by the doctor, Mike insisted he was just sick when asked why he wouldn't get out of bed. When concern from his wife prompted her to send Scotty to see him, Scotty again asked about the molestation and Mike denied the entire evening (including sleeping in his clothes) happened, despite humming the same song Scotty had recalled from that night the moment he left the room. He also took up smoking, and continued to deny the molestation even when told his childhood friend and the only witness in the Coach Fitzpatrick case had committed suicide. Knowing Mike was the one man who could make or break the case, Scotty pushed further until Mike beat him up, at which point Scotty began crying and apologizing, and finally admitted that he saw what Coach Fitzpatrick had done to Mike. Mike relented, and with his brother's support, agreed to testify to put Fitzpatrick away.
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