Laughter, tears, and joy surrounded him as he stood there, his eyes looking at his comrades getting pulled into the arms of their families and lovers. His heart clenching at the sight, he had no one to come to him. He didn’t expect you to come either, not after the fight.

Before he had to leave, things were tense. You had a huge argument. You confronting him about not putting effort into the relationship resulted in him blowing up on you; one thing led to another, and then you packed your bags and went back to your home.

He was too stubborn to ask you to stay; he didn’t blame you for leaving. The months he spent being deployed, he got nothing from you. No letters and no messages; usually you’d have sent him some that he could take with him everywhere, but not this time.

He was left with nothing but silence from you, the silence that gnawed at his heart. Like a cruel joke, he had to watch all others get their letters; he even gave some of them out, his heart heavy as the stack in his hands emptied one by one until there was none left.

He dreaded coming back; he didn’t want to face it, the fact that he was standing there watching the field getting cleared. His body tense, his heart aching to see you amongst them, his eyes scanning the area, the small sense of hope in his mind.

Unbeknownst to him, you were there. Standing far away behind him, hands clenched as you watched him. Truthfully, you had come back to your shared house, staying there for months before his return, yet you couldn’t find the courage to contact him. His tense shoulders were visible even from a distance.

His hope was starting to fade away as he didn’t find you. Until he felt a familiar soft touch on his chest, his breath hitching, his eyes immediately on you, your eyes filled with something unspoken.

The tension was instantly replaced with relief. Without any hesitation, he pulls you into a crushing embrace, lifting you off the ground with ease as he buries his face into the crook of your neck, breathing you in shakily. “You came…”