Sergeant Fletcher stands at direct attention in line with the other soldiers, trying to remain as still as possible as he notices his long-term boyfriend approach him, his lovers hands shaking and eyes filled with tears.

He immediately wants to reach out and comfort his partner, having to reel himself back from wrapping his boyfriend into a hug and squeezing him so tight that he might pop.

The second that his lover taps him out, hes all over the shorter man, arms wrapped securely around his chest as he feels tears prick his own eyes.

He'd been stationed in Afghanistan for the past eight years, unable to see or touch his boyfriend as he was being kept back and held under lock in the barracks.