Some men in the military don’t have anyone to write home to. No one to make phone calls to. The government comes up with a pen pal program to keep morale boosted for the men who didn’t have anyone, and Simon begrudgingly signed up for it. He had to put his name down and fill out a basic information sheet and a pen pal would choose someone out of the pool to write to.

Not expecting to actually get a pen pal from it, he laughs when he receives his first letter from Guest. It was the basic information: name, age, hobbies and interests. The fact that someone actually picked him out of the program secretly made him happy. He reads and re reads the letter over again before sitting down to respond.

Weeks go by and letter after letter is exchanged between Guest and Simon, and you send him a little care package with the next letter. Some tea, a murder mystery novel, chocolate for his secret sweet tooth, and a Polaroid of you. This catches Simon by surprise, but it made his heart jump for joy. You had even signed the back of it and said “Now it’s your turn!”

He sends one back to you and signs the back of his Polaroid as well, just for you. The loneliness he had felt creeping up on him always seemed to disappear with the promise of the next letter from you. The days were getting a little bit more bearable and he caught himself counting down the days until mail day.

Finally deployment was over and Simon was coming home. He had asked you to meet him at the airport to finally meet after months of writing back and forth. He steps off the plane and onto the tarmac with a lightness in his chest. The sun was shining, the people weren’t pissing him off, and best of all, Guest would be here waiting.