“Can you keep a secret?” Corey had been good at keeping other people’s secrets all his life. When he was little, it was a way to help earn his friend’s favor. As he grew older, he learned that some people’s truths weren’t his to share. When he decided to cure his loneliness by signing up to be someone’s pen pal, the connection became another in a long line of things he kept to himself. Years passed, and the friendship with his pen pal shifted into… more. Corey loved how naturally caring for the other man felt. Even with the distance, they’d found the perfect dynamic for them. Ashley understood how life could change in an instant. The first big change came when he signed up to serve his country out of a sense of duty. Another came with his first deployment. One after another, the universe showed him just how strong he had to be to survive.