He Surprises You When He Discharges ~ J.Seph
The nervous tapping of his hand against the car door was enough for Matthew to end up stopping the car. As he did, Taehyung stared innocently across at him, furrowing his brows as to why he’d bought the vehicle to a sudden stop on their journey from where he was stationed, to you.
“I know you’re nervous, but I’m trying to concentrate,” he chuckled, smiling across at his elder. “Y/N has no idea you’re coming, it’s going to be an amazing surprise, there’s no reason for you to worry about anything going wrong,” Matthew assured him, trying to ease the nerves that he experienced.
His head nodded, but that didn’t stop his heart from pounding as their journey continued back towards the hub of Seoul. It had been a while since Taehyung had seen the roads anyway, but knowing they led back to you gave him a whole new, and exciting, view.
“It’s been so long since I got the chance to see her,” Taehyung mumbled as he noticed his first familiar building, “I always wondered whether she’d want to stick around, especially knowing that I put her in your trust and care whilst I was gone.”
Matthew scoffed loudly at his comment, shaking his head across at him. He’d made sure to take the best care of you whilst Taehyung was in the military. Anything you needed, he was there, well, at least most of the things that Taehyung did for you.
He knew that being away from you was one of the hardest struggles that Taehyung experienced during his enlistment. Neither of you had ever been restricted before in being able to talk to each other, let alone barely able to find the time to see each other in person.
You knew that his discharge was coming up, but Taehyung was always reserved to tell you the exact date. He was desperate to surprise you on the day of his discharge when you’d least expect it.
Eventually, the car pulled up outside your workplace. Taehyung’s eyes lit up as soon as he peered out of the window and recognised where he was, glancing through the front window of the store to see if he could see you in there.
“Just go in and you’ll see her,” Matthew teased as he stopped the car.
“I’m nervous now,” Taehyung giggled, glancing back at his friend. “What if she doesn’t recognise me or something, my hair’s grown a lot since I last saw her.”
“She has a photo of you as her lock screen, there’s no way she can forget you,” Matthew joked, hitting Taehyung against the back. “Just go in, play it cool, and make sure that you give her the best surprise that she’s ever had.”
He leant down and picked up his hat, placing it firmly on the top of his head. Once he had the thumbs up from Matthew, he opened up the car door and stepped out into the open air.
“I hope you know how much I appreciate you bringing me here and picking me up today.”
“It’s just nice to have you back,” Matthew smiled.
As he walked into the store, you were nowhere to be seen, instead his eyes fell on one of your colleagues who stood behind the counter. Her eyes went wide as soon as she saw you, bringing her hand over her mouth to stop herself from making any sudden noise.
Just as he began to walk over to greet her, the sound of footsteps came down one of the aisles. Taehyung’s head turned to look down it, noticing it was you, absentmindedly scrolling on your phone whilst no customers were present.
As he watched you closely, noticing how little attention you paid, he decided to clear his throat in the hope that you would look up. As soon as the sound hit you, your eyes darted up, blinking several times as you studied the figure before you. Taehyung reached up and took his cap off, opening his arms open wide for you to run straight into, not caring where you were.
“What are you doing here?” You laughed, pulling away from his shoulder so that you could study his face closely. “Are you finished?”
“I got discharged this morning, and of course, the first place I had to come was here.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?” You sighed, kissing the tip of his nose. “Actually, it doesn’t matter, I’m just relieved that you’re finally able to come back home.”
For just under two years the apartment had been empty, Taehyung left a huge hole that none of your friends and family could ever fill when they came to visit and keep you company.
“I wanted it to be a surprise,” he informed you, “I asked Matt to check up on where you’d be today so that he could drive me straight over here to see you.”
Your head shook in disbelief, “how does it feel to be able to take your first steps of freedom again? Are you excited to get back to music? To move back home.”
He chuckled loudly, as he placed you back on the ground. “So many questions,” he teased, “but I’m excited about it all. But, what I’m most excited for is to be able to be back with you, I’ve been left without you for far too long Y/N.”
“Nineteen months,” you frowned, shuddering just at the thought, “sometimes those months began to feel like forever.”
“I know what you mean,” he acknowledged, “I lay sometimes at night and countdown how many days were left before I could come home. One night, I was sure I hit two hundred days, but it turned out I counted wrong and it was actually three hundred.”
“I’m sorry,” you sighed, but before you could speak again, Taehyung tickled your sides, refusing to see you unhappy around him, especially since he’d only just got back.
His head shook back at you, “there’s no reason for either of us to be sorry now, even if I did just end up waiting a hundred days longer than I thought I needed to.”
“I can’t believe you managed to get hundred days so wrong.”
The time was the last thing Taehyung cared about anymore, just having you there with him was all that he could focus on right now. It had been the only thing he could dream about night after night during his enlistment, the chance just to finally be back with you.
“Now, seeing as your boyfriend has come home, I’m sure your lovely boss could stretch to giving you the afternoon off,” he smirked, smiling across at your colleague, who’s head slowly nodded.
“You’ll get me into trouble,” you frowned, but as your colleague assured you that it would be fine, you went out back and grabbed your bag, holding onto his outstretched hand.
“I’ve waited for the chance to hold onto you for so long.”
You squeezed his hand a little bit tighter, swinging your hands high and low together. “It’s nice feeling someone by my side again, it was beginning to get a bit lonely constantly walking along all of these roads alone.”
“I don’t plan on going anywhere for a very long time.”
“Good, because I don’t want you to go anywhere either.”
---
Masterlist
