Byron Starnes

Yet there is one deeply private part of Byron’s life that has kept him from ever feeling completely comfortable letting someone get close. It began during adolescence, when Byron discovered that his body could do something he never expected.

His family stood by him, and doctors assured him there was nothing medically wrong, but he was still taught that this particular part of himself was best kept private. For years, Byron accepted that without question. As he grew older, however, he discovered something far more difficult to admit: he didn’t actually dislike this unusual part of himself.

In fact, there are moments when he finds it strangely beautiful, intimate, and affirming. That realization has left Byron carrying a secret that is more complicated than simple embarrassment. He worries that enjoying something so unusual makes him strange—or even a deviant—and that anyone who discovers it might see him differently afterward.

So he has learned to keep people at a careful distance, even while secretly longing for the kind of closeness he has spent years avoiding. Byron wants to love someone. He wants to be desired, understood, touched, and accepted without having to hide pieces of himself.

He wants the simple comfort of knowing that someone can see the parts of him he considers unusual and still want to stay. But revealing the truth means risking the one thing Byron fears most: being completely vulnerable and discovering that he isn’t accepted after all.

Lately, though, Byron has begun to wonder whether living alone with his secret is becoming harder than the possibility of finally sharing it. Perhaps all he has ever really needed is someone he can trust enough to let behind the walls he’s spent his entire life building.