Hello! It is Wednesday and I am back with a new chapter. I am back to continue the story of Justin and Eli this week. This one takes place about a month before they reconnect again and begin their (intense) one month relationship where they live together - and just under a year after their first week fling. As the title suggests, it takes place during the night of Kalos and where many emotions definitely run high! I hope you enjoy :)

Ages:

Justin: 22

Eli: 34

Disclaimer: I own the story and the OCs mentioned!

A cool, night-time summer breeze blew into the openings of a bedroom and distant bug Pokémon amongst the blades could be heard chirping as they said farewell to the day and their friends. Eli hovered near the French doors and as he lingered, white curtains were like ballerinas right next to him, billowing and grooving in the moonlight.

The bright and crisp disc in the sky reflected light into his eyes that were focused on ahead. He appeared. Fingertips disappearing into the material of the curtains, he clutched onto them like they were a dear friend. Another light bounced off his inquisitive yet sunken orbs, that some far duller and with yellow hues.

In spite of the wind providing him with plenty of oxygen, he had a sudden, brief inhale like he was starved for air.

Okay so, he thought to himself. Justin's light was still on, he noticed. Bringing his bottom lip into his mouth and then sucking on his top lip, he stopped focusing on noticing and pondered instead. Justin must still be awake, he told himself.

His fingers stopped dancing among the wind swept ballerinas and fell to his sides loosely. He was still awake, wasn't he? His own bedroom light was on. The clock wasn't ticking too late into the night. His bedroom light was on. He must have been awake.

Could he be certain, though? Eli's fingers longed to find themselves feeling the sensation of the curtains once more but he forced himself to stand still instead, his arms draping by his sides. If Justin's light was on then there was no way that he would be awake.

There and then, his throat begged for breath but in a different manner than before. He didn't really want to cast his mind back but he was carried to the past when a thought swirled through his brain. No, Justin needed complete darkness to be able to fall asleep. So much so, that he slept with a pillow over his head as he dozed on his back. That had unnerved Eli way back when… Whenever.

Bobbing his head to the side, Eli did not allow his imagination to take him back there. There was a chance that Justin was awake. And that's all he needed to know. He would stay awake himself and he would tiptoe back over to his own bed and carry on with his own activities way into the night.

He had some work to crack on with that he hadn't chosen a window of time during the day to complete it so he should probably do that. But if he was so insistent on procrastinating then there was always his book to continue reading. Or giving into the relaxing atmosphere of the summer home in Kalos, he could just simply sit down on the bed and stay awake, listening to the noises that were spoken only during the night.

Those sounds were vastly different than the ones of his childhood and other parts in his life. However, they were not unnerving. They did bring a strange sort of comfort. But even so, Eli felt those kinds of things were best enjoyed with company. Since he had more people in his life at that point, he felt that more and more.

No, Eli would not do any of those things. For a moment more, he lingered by the dual doors and enjoyed the company of the white specters dancing in his room, his eyes of course finding their place of focus being where the soft, yellow glow was emanating from.

And then in the moment after, it stopped being only the curtains that were moving. Enough was enough, Eli thought. Why shouldn't he go right over there? They were staying in the same holiday home, weren't they? There was no reason that they shouldn't interact.

His mind was encouraged as far away from thinking of reasons why they shouldn't react as best as it could. His body then moving more than his brain, he started leaving his vacation bedroom behind and tiptoed along the balcony.

Eli had a relapse in his actions for a handful of seconds and he crossed back over the threshold into his bedroom once again almost as soon as he crossed it the first time. But this was because he went back to wrap his bare upper body and patterned bottoms in an extra layer of a dressing gown. Feeling the warm material embracing him, he tried again.

He might end up uncomfortable. But at least he would always be warm, he told himself. And with that, he took more strides on the tips of his toes across the balcony, peering all the while and his very white teeth sinking just so into his bottom lip.

When I was told this story in due course, it was explained to me that Eli hardly remembered his actions of actually making his way from his balcony outside his own bedroom doors to the one identical that belonged to Justin, right next to his and a bit to the right.

In the same way that he got lost in the moment in those instances that he danced, he was simply just suddenly in the location that he needed to be. Like when a song came to an end and his performance had been completed, he was clueless to how he had arrived there. But he had. And it was time to deal with that reality.

Unlike the Unovan male, the Kanto born one had the doors connecting his bedroom and the balcony shut. Eli's lip fell into his mouth once more. Though he couldn't actually see the younger male, he knew that he could feel him there somewhere. And this was almost enough for him to turn on his heel and scrabble back where he came from.

He didn't recall doing this, though, because he didn't lose his nerve. Forcing himself not to backtrack on himself, he took lots of miniscule steps closer to the window. He saw his own reflection more than anything, as well as the moon in the sky and all of its speckled star companions. Nevertheless, he managed to resist craning his neck around behind him, using those eyes of his that were full moons themselves to appreciate what a Kalos night sky had to offer.

His two otherworldly eyes instead focused on trying to peer in through the double doors, working out whether the room was alone or not. There was a chance that Justin had taken himself off to the restroom and was brushing his teeth before bed. In equal measures, there was a great possibility that he had carelessly left his bedside light on and disappeared downstairs to one of the many other rooms of the holiday villa and was hanging out with Eli's own cousin.

Silly Justin, he couldn't help but think. He didn't know whether it miffed him more that he might be in the company of Jordan and hadn't invited him, or was bewildered that he wasn't there – wherever he was.

It suddenly dawned on the man lingering outside in the bathrobe. What was to say that he hadn't snuck out under the nose of his father in the middle of the night and was out exploring the town in Kalos at night? Alone or with others?

He didn't allow himself to fathom out why but that notion made the back of his neck feel like that of a Sandslash so he tried to steer his mind away from all of that completely. Toasty cheeks and saucer-like eyes Eli possessed there and then. And it was while he appeared like this that he finally heard a noise.

Mirroring the same contorted rasp that had escaped his own throat a couple of times, it could be heard sounding from inside Justin's bedroom. The slender framed male had glanced up from re-stringing his guitar in his own company and jumped when he saw someone standing outside. Those slim shoulders of his lurched in surprise.

Although Eli hadn't got so far to plan what he was going to do when he was finally in the presence of the younger male once more, he knew he just had to act on instinct at that point. He could not freak him out.

"Hi." He attempted at a greeting and to accompany his rather stiff word, his hand raised upward rather robotically. His expression still like that of a rabbit caught in the headlights and his heart undoubtedly hammering in his chest at the momentary fright, Justin's own arm rose awkwardly. Eli's hand gestures switched while Justin's hung limply in the air like he was high fiving a ghost. "May I?"

The deep violet haired male's fingers danced in a gesture towards the door. One second passed. Two seconds passed. Three seconds passed. Justin's hand at last stopped being attached to the air and fell back down towards his guitar in his lap.

Unable to tell his face not to withstand surprise at the sudden company of Eli, Justin felt two lines forming in between his eyebrows but then he nodded his head just once. He couldn't be sure what exactly was said from the muffling glass between them but it was pretty clear.

Before his mind could be changed – either one of theirs – Eli's partially clumsy yet sturdy hand reached out towards one handle of the French doors and pulled it downwards. He scurried in.

In the same way that he hadn't prepared for what he was going to do when he saw the younger male's face once more, Eli was uncertain of what he was going to feel when he saw his face in the flesh rather than through the distorted reflection of the doors. He would find out presently. He was hit with a strange wave of nausea yet bliss.

He tried to enter the room like it was the most normal thing in the world and they had only just seen each other the previous week but that was not the case. In truth, it had been months. And the last time they crossed paths, it had not been the easiest thing in the world. For Eli as well.

Silently to himself, while trying to appear casual as well as grateful that he had been let in, he actually felt the most thankful that Justin not only stopped looking so dismayed but stopped looking at him entirely. While he didn't go back to re-stringing his precious instrument, his face bowed down like he was going to continue doing so in any minute.

This didn't exactly add to Eli's bliss but it certainly provided him with another, third emotion. Yes, he was grateful that he wasn't looking back at him. Who knows what he would have felt if he did. And who knows what he would have done.

"Hi." The deep purple haired male caught the older male off guard by offering these words back to him a good few minutes after he had proffered them. In addition to this, his words were spoken down towards his lap before he did look up, his pupils actually flickering though they managed to appear very steady all the same.

Along with a steady, composed stare, Justin's lips pressed together in which was an attempt of a polite smile. And all Eli could do was bring his top lip into his mouth before doing the same with his bottom one and then pressing his own lips together. All he could do was just keep very still. Though he wanted to fall over due to a great many things.

He still looked the same. That was hardly out of the norm because it had been just a few months and it wasn't like he was going to grow even taller. Regardless, Eli noticed that he still looked the same. A dimple appeared on the side of his closed mouth when he attempted to smile and his hair was still kept short, appearing damp after an evening shower and choppy on top of his head.

As ever, he came with a guitar almost as his conjoined twin. And when his fingers traced on the neck of his beloved friend for something to do, his nails were endearingly bitten down and his digits seemed as soft as always, and every gesture was thought out as well.

He had seen him from the window looking down into the villa garden when he first arrived for the holiday with a couple of Justin's other family members and he had glanced up when he was sunning himself on the decking while Jordan was in the pool and swore that he saw the silhouette belonging to him too.

Yet that was the first time he was seeing him up close again. He told himself it was the hotter atmosphere in his room from the fact he didn't have open doors and windows that was making him woozy.

"You can't sleep?" Justin made an effort to speak more than just a singular greeting to him and while these words tumbled from him, his thoughtful fingers made purposeful gestures. Shifting himself on the edge of his own bed and crossing his legs beneath him, he resumed adding the final few strings to his guitar while it relaxed against his lap.

Like the Unovan male before him, his own mind made the same effort not to be cast back. It was hardly unusual for Eli to be unable to sleep, was it? He had felt him remaining awake in bed with him way back when… Yes. Then.

A groan from the lowest string of his guitar sounded at that point and memories subsided. A second or so after the thick wire decided to command the attention, Eli's head shook. For a couple of moments, it seemed as though it was going to be his turn to become the wordless of the two. But after some gentle ticks from the clock on the wall, Eli invited himself to sit on the chair about a meter away from Justin's bed.

"It seems like you can't as well." He pointed out at the same moment that the grey material of his dressing gown hit the wooden structure of the chair. Justin fell even more silent despite the fact that he hadn't said anything since his previous words and was focused on adding another, new string to his fret board.

Eli was about to silently fret himself. Almost, a furrow threatened to take over his brow.

But then Justin spoke to him all over again, though the mahogany red frame on his lap had the luxury of his soft, concentrative gaze.

"Guitar was sounding a bit dodgy towards the last show or two." Justin explained, taking a moment to pry his fingers away from the fret boards and the nubs and fitting the strings and instead traced his touch along the blushing red of the frame with tenderness. Eli felt the same, the hairs on his neck erecting once again. "He needs some TLC."

Eli's mind swerved away from the sensations in his body in spite of the fact that he was naïve to them and instead couldn't help but notice how the first letter in the first word of Justin's second sentence wasn't sounded at all.

It made him appear… Untouchable? It was like how rock stars spoke when they were on tour and knocking back a beer and wrapping an arm around a band mate of theirs. Yet at the same time it made Justin seem… softer?

Like when you see someone being unable to suppress a yawn anymore and let them ago, allowing someone to see your tiredness that made you appear vulnerable. Or like when someone gets comfortable with you and you're allowed to see them in their pajamas that gave the illusion they were still about five years old.

A smile tugged on the corner of Eli's lips. I don't know if it was there for anyone to see.

Eli didn't have anything to say in response to Justin's word so he didn't make up something on the spot to fill the silence. He nodded his head just once and continued watching him do what he needed to do. The younger male was not oblivious to this. So he decided to go back to doing what he needed to do.

One last string and then he was done. After over half of his whole life performing that particular task, he was done in no time. Moments later, his cherry red signature guitar was propped on his leg that was clad in his own pajama bottoms that bore no pattern. Understandably, his fingers wrapped around the fret board without so much as a second of hesitation and the ones belonging to his right hand plucked and tugged at the new strings.

A melody started to be played. One that was soft and eerie and sounded exactly like the moon and the stars that were watching over the world on that particular night.

However, Eli put a stop to this moment when it hardly had a chance to happen in its entirety. Remembering something from earlier in the day, his bare feet pressed against the wooden floor of Justin's bedroom, he leaned closer to the younger male.

"Hey, I heard you playing something earlier when I was by the pool…" he started. It was a rarity that Justin didn't look over at the Unovan male opposite him when he spoke, let alone from the second he felt him leaning closer to him. He can't have been blind to it. "Will you give it a go now?"

That would've been the moment to look up. While Justin's expression did alter and a curious dent couldn't help but form in his brow, his eyes focused down at his guitar as he remained playing the previous tune rather than the one that Eli had memories of.

"How did it go?" he questioned. In comparison to the high toned, almost whining of the noises that were swanning from his guitar, his voice was low. His voice was as factual as the seasons changing.

Eli leaned closer the more that time went on, a frown decorating on his own features as well. It wasn't clear whether it was the way that Justin's attention was so honed onto his instrument or whether it was concentration of his own as his mind tried to recollect how exactly it sounded.

It ran through his mind with complete ease. He could still hear it shimmying through his mind. And yet he still paused for another moment or two.

"It was like…" Eli began again and at that point as he was continually leaning forward, he suddenly realized that he wasn't going to mimic the tune with his vocal chords. Shame, I thought in hindsight. That probably would've garnered Justin's full attention! And everybody else in the villa. "Funky. I don't know how else to describe it."

The back of the chair felt the pressure of Eli's back. His knees drew closer together and his mouth slammed shut before he responded with words.

It was sod's law when Justin chose to look over at Eli in the moment that he had an expression that was bordering on sour. He tried to make it vanish but the younger male noticed. And though it didn't reveal itself, the corner of his own mouth threatened to curve.

"Ooh…" Justin's lips pursed and it seemed as though he recollected. The mahogany red on his lap was altered in position and then placed back in the same way again for seemingly no particular reason. A guitar pick on the wooden, flat foot of the bed was reached for and placed in between his lips before he adjusted his hair and then set to play, his fingers reformed on the fret board. "This?"

Eli's studious eyes honed to the guitar pick when it was in between the lips of Justin and then down to where it was helping him perform the tune. Sounds buzzed and oozed from between the strings and at once, eyelashes danced and grooved on the lids of the deep violet haired male.

However, not even a few seconds into Justin playing for Eli, another, even bigger frown started to take over the older male's expression. You might have thought that even though he was the type to not usually hold back words that he would in this particular occasion. But he still didn't!

He noticed something wrong. So he pointed it out, his chest pushing towards Justin and his guitar all over rather than the back of the chair fully feeling his structure.

"No, no, not like that." he told him. Any other musician would have been unable to resist looking over at him, even if it was between eyes that resembled slits. Justin clearly wasn't any other musician. And he didn't look over even though his playing came to a halt. "I can hear it's alike but that's quite different. It sounds more… Moany."

Eye contact was made there and then. And this was shared at the same moment that Justin's left hand slid up and down the neck of the guitar, causing their eye contact to be broken by Eli looking at that instead of the face of the male opposite him.

The guitar squeaked. And then Justin shrugged.

"Oh. Well that's 'cos I changed it." He answered, with a flicking motion of the head ridding himself of loose strands that tickled against his eyelashes. Looking away himself and not having a problem that Eli was focusing on his guitar rather than him, he started to play the tune once more even if it was not to the older male's taste. "I wanted it to sound more 70s."

A pause. Not many people would have dared to say what Eli would go on to say. But in the same way that I described for Justin, Eli was certainly not many people!

A dent appearing in the corner of his mouth as he made his lips purse together and his naturally round eyes shrinking as one twitched, he waved a hand to command Justin.

"Well I don't." he told him. A second glance from Justin was received from Eli. The deep violet haired of the two continually looked back, his chest still pointing in the direction of both beings in front of him. "Play it how you did when I heard you from the garden. Please."

The middle of Justin's lower lip felt pressure and wetness from the tip of his tongue at the same time that strings were comforted by the touch of their artist's and collaborator's fingers. Eyes raising towards the dark of the ceiling for just a second, the deep purple haired man considered before it appeared as though he was going to grant Eli's wish.

Although he didn't utter words of compliance, it certainly seemed as though he was going to do what was asked of him at that point.

How could someone be so rigid in spirit yet utterly obedient as well? That time as the smallest of smiles tugged at Eli's lips, it could be seen.

I can't be sure in hindsight, but maybe that is why the both of them stopped hearing the tune that they knew Eli had been referring to.

The older of the two's face began to fall all over again. Instead of a furrow of the brow being seen washing over his face, quite the exasperated look appeared. Hands flew into the air.

I had a feeling Justin liked this even if it remained a mystery.

"You changed it! You changed it again." Eli's erupted in a voice that was not dissimilar to the way that his cousin could heartily bellow (at an increased percentage of the volume) when he thought of something that he wanted to say.

Showing no signs of enjoyment whatsoever at the antics or even the company, Justin encouraged his demeanor to appear composed. Brows drawing together and mouth becoming as much of a line as his guitar strings were, his lips had to part again in order to answer.

Another shrug rolled off his shoulders that made Eli fall back in his chair once more with such pointedness that it groaned.

"Well yeah." Justin didn't bother to hide his mischievous motives. This caused a wave of exhalation to cascade out from the nostrils of Eli. A second flicking motion of the head as he rid himself of annoying strands hanging in his face, the younger male added. "I felt inspired to give a more pop music twist."

And catching Eli off guard, it was this moment that Justin decided to look right over at him with fingers twitching on the strings as they continued to buzz and vibrate even if his actual playing had come to an end.

This contact between the two of them should have put even more of a smile on the older male's face but it didn't. Rather than filling him with a nauseating sense of joy which had been quite familiar to him a year or so ago, he mistook that purposeful gaze for competition. He certainly mistook it for pettiness.

Maybe it was that. But maybe it was coincidence. Then again, some things between the two of them were completely planned.

"Forget it." Eli suddenly with incredulous irritation bouncing off his twitching eyes that were smaller than usual. The flaps of his robe and his bottom left the structure of the wooden chair as he decided that he was going to leave the room for good.

He never should have gone in there, he thought to himself with an ever growing chagrin latching onto his person. He knew that he had not been mistaken when he felt like Justin had been purposefully avoiding him from the moment that he knew he was going to be arriving at his family's holiday villa.

And now he realized that the last thing he wanted was his company. He attempted to feel the same way.

He was just about to be crossing the threshold and heading onto the balcony for good when he was prevented. Inside of him, he was petulant over the fact that he had been won over with too great of an effort on Justin's part.

But he felt like he couldn't help himself. Exhaling out of his nostrils once more but that time in an attempt to compose himself, he didn't have it in him to not walk backwards back into Justin's bedroom and crane around to face him all over again when he heard him playing.

He was being offered the tune of which that he had heard while he had the sun beating down on his face and his soft, brown back pressing against the decking. In the same way that Jordan had sunk down into the water while this melody floated out of the window for all to hear, in the present Eli sunk back down into his seat.

That time he was okay with the guitar having Justin's full attention. He could see him for the artist that he was. And he could not ignore the fact that he had missed the companion that he had been. Though of course, he didn't have the faintest of ideas how he would tell him – if he ever would.

Justin played the song for Eli in its entirety. He made not a single mistake and he played it with concentrative passion that rolled off ones back as easily as the water in the pool of Kalos. Even if he had made any errors, the Unovan male would not have noticed.

They both noticed the silence that washed over them when the small performance was over and Justin rid himself of the guitar for good. That halted quality of the room was prolonged, I believe, by Justin's lack of guitar. He no longer had any buttons to fiddle with or any strings to graze his finger nail along and let out a metallic sound.

He was forced to be present. He was forced to be present with the man that he was secretly tried with great effort to move on from his presence.

Justin's lower lip was licked on and then drawn into his mouth. Even if he did not have something to do, he would find it. Anything was better than growing overcome with a red flush. Anything was better than allowing his own studious eyes to wander.

"How are you, Justin?" Eli asked. It seemed sudden, and like a jagged nail was running over his bare skin in the same way that he did to the metallic strings of his guitar to bring himself comfort. Even if he didn't outwardly react in the slightest, he was caught off guard.

He should have known that sort of question would be asked eventually. They had not seen each other in months. And their last face to face interaction had been pretty rough.

Justin's initial reaction was to shrug. Like a teenager who was being questioned by his parents, a fraction of him hoped that that would suffice. But then he realized that he wasn't in those years of his life anymore.

His eyes finding the sight of his own knees wrapped in pajama bottoms far more interesting than anything else, he watched as they stretched out and down onto the floor below. He retracted them ever so slightly from Eli's own limbs halfway through the words that he was speaking.

"I'm fine." He answered politely enough in spite of his previous mischief as well as his shadowing teenager-y mood. His knees grew closer together and crossed. While his arms reached backwards to support himself as he sat on the bed, an out of place smile stretched at his mouth. "Navigating a break up isn't the nicest thing in the world but I'm getting quite practiced at it."

These words escaped from Justin's lips before they could be stopped. Immediately in the split second after, his knee twitched with the same regret as the rest of his body. He didn't know why he said that. He didn't know why he said that to Eli of all people.

Inwardly, he cringed. Outwardly, the older male reacted.

Eli had eyes that resembled the saucers beneath Justin's cups of tea at the best of times but this time they had even more of a wider and rounder quality. They appeared as white as the finest china too.

It was in these moments as well as a great many others that he would've said the first thing that came to his mind. He would send his thoughts straight to the ether and for all to hear. But on that night, he had a moment to hesitate and make sure that he said not only the right thing but at least an acceptable thing.

All the same, he still couldn't appear to be anything other than surprised which he was.

"You… You're…?" Surprise really was in the forefront of his mind and what rung out on the words that were muttered on his lips. The younger male could not be sure whether the words 'single' or 'broken up' were intended to be spoken in full but either way, he regretfully nodded. Eli's lips became a line and then they parted another time. "What is the reason this time?"

Eye contact happened. Eye contact parted. Justin squirmed a little on the bed, his palms feeling as though they couldn't contain all of his weight as he lay back even though he was quite a slight young man.

Justin couldn't lie though. He rarely did. He liked to hope he saved it for special occasions and when it was really necessary.

His lips made a bit of a popping noise to decorate the silence as the bottom one popped out from being clamped between his long, straight teeth. He shrugged. He didn't know why he did that either. Of course he knew the reason.

"Long distance…" he answered. Hardly a full answer, one hand broke away from the bed to tuft through his own hair before waving haphazardly. Waving bravely. "He finds it too difficult."

Eli studied Justin all the while that it was one sided, his pupils swerving in circles as he looked from the curl of his ear to the width of his chin to the prominent line leading down from his nose to his upper lip. And then although he tried to occupy his mind in other ways – even taking in the straight bone of his thumb and the ring clung to his right pointer finger – he could not help but point out his observation.

"So he decided to add more distance between the two of you by breaking up…?" Eli questioned. Bewilderment couldn't stop from being the driving force of his words. His expression told all as well as the words that he uttered. His dark and well-shaped eyebrows danced near to his forehead in disbelief and his own lips appeared full, almost as full as Justin's.

The younger of the two's thumb bent and the bone became more prominent as it pointed to the thick, silver ring that came adorned on his pointer finger almost every single day of his life. He still felt like he didn't know why he had chosen the conversation to go down that path of all places but there they were. He didn't like to backtrack either.

A sound escaped from him rather than words. Eli told Justin that he was sorry. He could tell that he didn't believe him even if his direct gaze didn't tell him that so despite his brows dancing more on his face, he persisted.

"No, really. I'm sorry." Then came Eli's turn to shrug. It seemed to have far more of an impact because he did it rarely and it was undeniable from the way that his broad shoulders grooved. And then it wasn't only his shoulders that grooved. When Justin's arms stopped supporting him from behind and his fingers wriggled in his lap instead, Eli's chest faced the younger male. "Do you think you could actually look at me when I'm talking to you?"

In retrospect, even Eli understands that these were the wrong words to utter. Even if he stood by the sentiment, he knew that he sounded like a school teacher or an authoritative figure or something like that. No wonder Justin reacted in the way that he did!

He finally smiled in the presence of Eli. Though it was one filled with rancor and acquiescence. A slight scoff couldn't help but escape his widened lips as he altered his position on the bed some more and his crossed legs seemed far more interesting to him than looking over at the older male.

His pattern-less bottoms appeared to be the most capturing thing in the world. Eli had no reservations in calling him out on this at long last.

"I don't get you sometimes, you know…" he began, a hot sensation prickling on the inside of his throat as he knew he was going to point out that he was certain that he had not been mistaken. The last thing that Justin wanted was for Eli to be there for his family. And he wanted him in his room there and then even less. "I don't get why you go through these phases where it's like a burden for you to look at me." Eli halted. Ironically, Justin got the itch to look at him then. He resisted while the other male could not resist his words. "Are you still mad about…?"

The second before had been like an annoying voice screeching in the ear and with breath tickling at the neck, telling Justin to look up. And the second later, it was actually acted upon.

His hair swooshing on his face in spite of the shorter length during those moments of his life, his eyes blinked and then were opening at the moment that they locked back onto the face of Eli. This filled the older male with even more of a prickly sensation.

"Am I mad about what…?" he answered. Level was his voice in comparison to his attitude. Composed and steady and bordering on stare-y was his gaze. Eli managed to resist clicking his teeth together. He was not there to play games.

The Unovan male attempted to answer with the same composure, even if the way that Justin turned bratty drove him round the bend.

"Are you still mad about last year?" he persisted. And then with a shake of the head which caused the neck and chest wrapped area of his dressing gown to fall an inch or so apart, drooping from being so close to his ears, Eli elaborated in a way that he felt able to. "I thought things had been resolved between us regarding that…"

His tone had a jagged end to it towards the apex of his first sentence then it was back to being thoughtful in spite of his blunt personality. It was low and it was deep. It rumbled and it rumbled through Justin.

He could feel it in his Adam's apple and other parts of his body when Eli spoke in that tone but rather than comforting him at that point, the causation was that previously almost baleful expression making a comeback. There was an invisible string connecting the core of his pupil to the core of Eli's.

"What about the previous year…?" Justin's eyes fixated on Eli's, a great comparison to how they had tried so hard to look everywhere else the rest of the time before. Those orbs of his were innocent. Eli did not like the tone in his voice one single bit. His silence was telling and his recoil was even more so when he refused to say it with words. This fired Justin up way more than before. "If you're not going to tell me what you mean then how am I meant to answer you, Eli?"

A split second silence. He didn't learn forward in his chair once more and his admirable posture as it lingered right near the back of the wooden chair somehow captured his own frustration all the more.

"I know and you know so just tell me!" Eli's voice rose but not enough to disturb the middle of the night. And not enough to come across as yelling. His voice had an influx of exasperation. Eyes filled with a lacquer quality as they embedded right into the gaze that was not being shared with him from Justin anymore, the hot quality of his throat resided in his cheeks also.

Looking down at his plain grey pajama bottoms, a shake of the head from Justin caused his hair to flop down in front of his face. That time, he didn't shimmy those strands away, focusing on the comfort they brought as he kid himself he became disguised.

His words could not be disguised. Though he tried to vehemently deny, he appeared as though he was a child that denied eating sweets from the covered while having a sticky gloss on his mouth.

"I'm not mad about last year, Eli." Justin told him. Eli felt his eyelashes clapping together just once when his name tumbled out of the lips of the younger male once more. Then the corner of his right eye could not help but squint, his mouth making almost rhythmic movements right before he decided that he had enough care to question him some more.

He knew that if he made it known that he knew Justin was hiding things from him, then he would act all the more surreptitiously

"If there is something, then you can tell me anything…" Eli told Justin and he hoped that he knew that his words were true because they were. He had picked his approach tentatively with the intention of not making the younger in denial all the more. However, his tactic was one proven to be ineffective.

Yes, he stopped hiding things. And in fact, he went the opposite way. All of a sudden, the deep purple haired male was on his feet and riding a wave of emotion instead of care that he would wake anybody some sleeping in the villa; his cheeks flushed the same red of his guitar as he looked down at Eli, his eyes glossing over with his own heat.

"What am I supposed to do, Eli?!" he suddenly retaliated, causing the seated Eli's eyes to wander upwards and very much resemble the moon in the night sky just outside of the doors. "How am I supposed to feel?" Justin's question came. A harsh swallow to suppress more eruptions was futile. Shaky hands roamed through his own hair as he didn't break eye contact down at his former love interest. "You're in my bloody room and you're-"

However, he did not finish his sentence. Not because Eli cut him off. But because he seemed to choke on his own words. With a shake of the head, he wordlessly made it clear that he was not going to finish his sentence, wherever it led to.

The older male started to get a bit of an idea where his frustrations towards him were coming from. Though, first of all, Eli swallowed himself and he too rose from his seat. Unlike Justin, as he closed the distance between the two of them as best as he could and with their height difference too, his eyes, while they had the same luminous as the moon, they had the same care too.

He looked concerned as he spoke his own next words.

"You're looking quite red, Justin." He said his name and he told him in the most prosaic voice he could muster. In actuality, he didn't try to cultivate this tone. It just leaked out of him, his eyes flickering from the top of his head to the base of his chin, all of which were the twin shade of his most beloved guitar.

Justin let out an agonized exhale from his nostrils. He believed that was the worst thing that Eli could do. The worst thing that he could say. Even if he didn't act it, he felt self-conscious enough for his display but certainly did when his appearance was pointed out to him.

He knew that after the exhale escaped from him, he was to pair it with an inhale. To not lash out at Eli even more was one of the reasons. He could not believe that he was acting so heated in that moment. It really was not like him at all. Another reason was to steady his emotions. And of course a different one was to bring composure to his cheeks.

For some reason, these gestures coming from the younger male seemed to make the older one see more clearly too. Letting out his own private sigh, he glanced down at his feet before attempting to meet the eyes of Justin once more, straining from his position a good few inches below.

"Look…" he started again. He hoped his voice whatever words he said wouldn't anger Justin all over again and it didn't. When he looked back at him weakly with eyelashes that were shaking a little, his hands were limp by his sides even if his intention was collected. "I knew that me getting placed in your usual bedroom here was a problem…" he spoke. Before Justin could confirm or deny, he added. "If it really bothers you then we can swap back. No trouble at all."

Another inhale from Justin. Another exhale. It had been hard to make himself focus on the face of Eli on that night at the best of times, whether he had really tried or not. And in that instance, with his face a few inches down below his own, it felt all the more possible. Yet it felt all the more strangely liberating when he was able to do it despite the difficulty.

He still couldn't find it within himself to shake his head, telling him that it wasn't the room arrangements that were the problem. Staring back as Eli was continually looking at him with concern – no, care – words escaped from Justin's lip with a damp residue above it.

"I… I am fine. But I'm tired… I just got off tour and sometimes I feel so out of it. Getting used to regular life when everything is so busy and bright and vibrant…" Justin started. After these words were uttered, his mouth slammed shut and his jaw became all the more prominent than ever. He tried not to make excuses. He just wanted to explain. "I didn't mean to make you feel like this or question things… I didn't intend to distance myself… Maybe I did… But I just wanted to make sure I was myself when we saw each other again…"

At the end of his words, his lips grew very firmly pressed together for comfort. And in spite of their unfaltering ability to look back at him that whole time, his eyes failed and then they looked down again, shutting.

It's funny how Eli knew that that was how he was telling the truth but that was the truth as well. He couldn't stop himself – and didn't bother to stop himself – from casting his mind backwards and remembering certain parts about Justin.

His eyes fluttered shut when he did the most important things in life. When he took to a crowd and commanded a moment and sung. Right before he thought of a necessary thing to say. When the two of them embraced. When their lips touched each other for the first time and the last time. And unknown to Eli, when he yearned for him after they had grown close for just one, special week.

No doubt could Eli not help his heart rate sinking yet elevating for the younger man at one. He had been so bewildered about how he acted towards him. Not coming down from his new bedroom to even say hello when he arrived at the holiday villa. Not showing up to dinner and being left sat next to an empty seat. His guitar noises from his room being undeniable but still, a face didn't appear to match those melodies that were being produced.

Yes, he had been bewildered. And a little bit angry. But it probably was so disorientating for him to not only be finished with tour for a couple of weeks but to be in the presence of family in a villa with someone you once shared a bed with.

It was easy to forgive. It was easy to be equally as truthful there and then. More so than being confused and irritated, he had been very worried when he saw Justin have a somewhat loud outburst for the first time.

So seeing him back to indeed his usual self after he had got all of that out made him feel glad. He didn't hold back from showing this on his face. His five o'clock shadow could be seen in the dark of the room and it contrasted against the white of his teeth as his lip tugged open and he smiled.

His eyes blinking to show that relief, he did not stop himself from admitting.

"I'm glad you're fine…" Eli started. It felt out of place, too much to say his name again so he refrained from doing so. He would have liked to all the same though. He liked the way that it sounded coming from his mouth equally as much as the younger male had when they were together. "I was worried…"

He confessed, his arm then rising upwards in a very different motion from the way that he had robotically waved at him from outside of the dual doors. Justin watched his arm and his palm and his digits rising upwards and before he knew it, all of those parts of the older male were so very close to him.

Eli's hand was warm yet refreshing as it brushed over his forehead, making sure one last time that he really was fine. Justin couldn't look at him. His heart rate was elevating once more, just like when the older male had suddenly surprised him by being there, right outside his bedroom door.

If he looked right at him while Eli's eyes didn't dream of looking away from his face and his fingertips didn't resist lightly pressing against his hairline, then his knees would've surely buckled. A second later, he couldn't resist doing all of these things anyway. And perhaps, the weakening of his knees and hairs standing up on the back of his own neck were a reason he did it as well.

Even so, he tried to make light-heartedness out of it. His more agreeable self was returning for good.

"You were worried about me…?" Justin questioned in a voice that was subtle but just teasing enough to get his point across at the same time that Eli's touch did manage to part from the face of the younger male.

He still didn't look away from his shorter stature, his head then tilting to the side as he didn't give any insight to what he was thinking at all. And then out of nowhere, it was clear as day written on his face.

Eli's head swerved in the opposite direction. The corner of his eye that became decorated in sunny marks when he laughed and smiled, twitched as he focused on the face and the presence of the younger male. His mouth began to make movements, appearing as though he was chewing on inside his own lower lip before simply dancing, not knowing where to settle.

Justin could not joke anymore. And Justin could not look away anymore. He didn't hear an answer from Eli, defending himself or otherwise. All he heard was complete and utter silence. His heart hammering in his chest and ears.

Unbeknownst to him, it was the same exact way for Eli. And they were both united in reaction with what happened next.

They were right opposite each other, as close as close could be. With the wind blowing in from outside and the bug Pokémon chirping their merry tunes well into the night and the moon shining in with a look of knowing contained within its crevices, Justin took a step forward and closed the distance between them all the more.

"You were worried…" he repeated, that time, his voice not as teasing and a little more serious. There was a rasping edge to his quality. Before Eli had a chance to utter the words 'behave' or another catchphrase of his that was similar in its own way, their eyes fixated on each other all the more and it was this that paved the way for what happened next.

Justin's gaze fell down even though it was so encapsulated by Eli's and longed to seek comfort and thrill in there forever. Noticing the bareness of his chest as it was accentuated by the 'v' of the crossed over robe embracing his body, his eyes slipped down. And his hand slid out before he could stop himself.

He really had willed himself to not fall for Eli's eyes even more so when they were to be in Kalos together. And in that moment, it became apparent that all of that had gone out the window and he simply did not care.

Eli had a hitch in his throat to which he swallowed even if for most of the part other than that, he remained composed. His eyes flickered down as Justin's hand slid down, tracing the bare of his skin as well as inadvertently causing the shape of the lapels to widen further still. His palm and the pads could feel an increase in heart rate beneath soft skin and it was the same for him too.

Justin smiled. His lips unable to not be tugged upwards, he shared that gesture with Eli as well. They did not pull away. They did not look away. They knew they were in trouble. But they embraced it.

The long drawn out nights of Kalos as well as the warm, sunny days and the many adventures to be had would make their stares all the more unpreventable and all the more enriched. And they welcomed it. Even if it didn't lead to something proper for the time being. It certainly led to many, wonderful things in the long run.

And somehow, it could be felt in the moment of a soft touch of the hand and an elevated fluttering of the heart. It was in those moments, that they had no doubts. They had something of once in a lifetime. They just needed to know when to rein it in when needed be. And to let it roam when was necessary too.

All in good time. But to tell you the complete truth, they're still learning to this day. As they once learnt so much about each other underneath the Kalos sky.

The End.

There you go! Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed. This has been one of my favourites that I have written and read through in a while. I was inspired to dig into more of the setting and symbolism of this one and it was fun to tackle a direct dispute between Justin and Eli, because, as you know, in their actual romantic relationship, things are a lot more unspoken and passive aggressive! This whole holiday with some of the Morgan family and Eli too certainly isn't the easiest of occasions. And I wonder if I'll tackle it more? Although they settle things at the end of this chapter, there are some more things that cause a stir! :P Thanks again and I will be back on Wednesday so see you then :)

Amy signing out!