#*self insert

You click on the Youtube link in the email with a ridiculous smile. George’s face pops up immediately and you sigh, wishing he could be with you and not in some far off field in the middle of nowhere. He had been away for almost two months now and although you were talking on the phone and through texts and emails almost every day, it did not stop you wishing he was home again by your side.

Taking a deep breath to prepare yourself, you press play.

George leans back into his seat from turning the camera on and gives a little wave. His nervous half smile is enough to send your heart racing and you can’t help waving back.

“Hello,” he says and you want to hug your computer in the hopes that he might feel it wherever he is. “So it is a special someone’s birthday,” he is saying and you blush in spite of yourself. “And I cannot be there with them, as much as I want to, and so I am doing this for them. I know how much they love this song and I couldn’t think of a better one to express how I feel, so here goes. Happy birthday my darling, I love you.”

You feel the pin pricks behind your eyes as George picks up the guitar in his lap and begins to strum it. You recognise it immediately as This by Ed Sheeran.

“This is the start of something beautiful…”

You sway back and forth to the song, unaware that you are smiling through tears and you watch your perfect boyfriend serenade you from halfway across the world. As the song comes to an end, George blows the camera a kiss and blushes. This video is not private and you know he is thinking about all the not-you-people who are going to watch this video. George is shy enough as it is, so to post a video of him saying ‘I love you’ to someone and blowing them a kiss was no doubt a difficult thing for him to do and so you promise yourself not to tease him about his flushing cheeks when he returns.