Hello! It is Wednesday and I am back with a new chapter. This was one of those moments for me when I should have been having an early night for work the next day but I stayed up until the early hours writing instead! Those moments are becoming few and far between as I get older but when it does happen, it's magical and reminds me of the best moments that can occur as a creative person. I revisited Justin and Katie for this. A lot of people will know that James Bay was a heavy blueprint in a way for Justin and he had a new song called "Chasing Stars" in the summer. That paired with a moment in a nature documentary and the urge to write at 2am made this chapter happen. I hope you enjoy a romantic occassion when Justin and Katie were falling in love :)

Ages:

Justin: 23

Katie: 17

Disclaimer: I own the story and the OCs mentioned!

There are some stories that I wish that I could have been a part of. And how funny it is for me to say that in hindsight when, in the midst of it, I didn't know which way to look at all. Looking back, there are some tales that I would have wished to encounter unfolding for myself. But here we are. And instead of having me right in the middle of the story, we have on the very edge instead. Looking in. looking from very far. But knowing nevertheless – that some things are just going to happen no matter what strings people try to pull.

The last thing that Katie wanted was to wake up. From the distant sound of the waves crashing softly against the side of the ship and the bobbing motion of the vessel up and down, these two things were the perfect aid to her slumber. But there was someone sleeping next to her. And for a rare occasion, that was more than enough of a reason for her eyes to wander open as the sun longed to rise behind thick and foggy clouds.

Her breathing had been oddly shallow as she snoozed so when her body drew her back towards reality like a boat slowly bobbing its way to the harbour, it caused the person sleeping next to her to take his own unconsciously mimicking inhale of breath. However, unlike the orange haired female, his eyelids did not depart each other.

For a rare occasion during that period, they were at opposite ends of the spectrum. And hearing that sleeping bundle under the covers drawing air into his lungs, Katie knew that it was the right thing to properly wake up.

Head groggy and eyes puffy from equal measures of distant sleep and utter lack of sleep, Katie rolled over to be closer to her sleeping counterpart. How funny that the sleeping being was the reason for her wakefulness. But she told herself even if she didn't wholly think it, that she shouldn't really have been surprised.

What a rare thing to behold. Treasured. He was in her bed with her and laying there. Not only that, but his head wasn't buried under the pillow like it often would be when he encouraged himself to dreamland. With eyes tightly shut, he was facing her all the same. And Katie knew it was that face that she had woken for.

Ignoring the far off sensation of the rest of the world that wasn't just from lack of sleep, the orange haired young woman made an attempt to prop herself up on her elbow without wriggling the mattress too much and disturbing the deep purple haired male. She was successful. He did nothing more than continue breathing, his growing locks fanning out onto the pillow that they had been sharing.

A small, almost secret smile quirking up the corner of her lips, Katie looked to the places on him that were moving the most. She could not see his slim, mole glittered chest rising and falling as a duvet was being hugged closely to his bare torso. But his nostrils were ever so lightly quivering while he breathed in his sleep and his lips pursed together before falling open again in a never ending cycle.

It was this as much as anything that caused Katie to prop herself up a little bit more and also be unable to resist reaching out to him, the tip of her finger tracing down the slope of his nose but not in a method to wake him.

She simply wanted to admire.

"Oh, I best be going soon…" these words which tumbled out of her own momentary pursed lips caught her off guard, wondering why she had uttered them when as she traced her finger back up the bridge of Justin's nose, she knew that they were the last thing that she wanted.

But they were true and she knew it. Her mother would have been expecting her hours ago. The morning sun only just gathering the strength to appear as it rose was hardly an appropriate time to saunter home but she knew she would have to go there eventually.

Still, she wasn't entirely that place was even home anymore anyway. Her touch fell away from Justin's nose and nonchalantly cupped his cheek instead, pondering some more.

She really should be making her way home sooner or later, she told herself. But surely it would have been rude to creep out of there without saying goodbye. But then Katie remembered something as her touch faltered on a cheek and moved to a mole kissed and slender neck instead.

It was he who had snuck onto the secret part of her ship after everything that had happened the evening before. And she wasn't entirely sure that it would have been the best idea in the world for him to go home either so she could hardly wake him and force him to go there, could she?

The sleeping silhouette of Justin was none the wiser to the kiss planted to the narrow ball of his shoulder and this was Katie telling herself that no, she could not kick him out.

That place was as much his as it was then hers. He needed a place to be. He needed a place to dream. And she was going to be the last person to send him off with his tail between his legs. He must stay. But she must go.

She had to sooner or later. And after her mother had encouraged her to join him on the ship after everything that had happened before, she had to show her loyalty in return by showing her face at breakfast. Even if her eyes were then Justin's sunken ones and her chin drooped towards a cereal bowl like was often the case for him!

Yes, she must go. And then if she went then she could always return. That's what they always did for each other, wasn't it? They unclenched their grip on each other and it would always make its way back sooner or later. They knew that setting free was the ultimate nurturing of what they had… whatever that was.

Katie forced her body away from the mattress at long last – or rather, her body forced her being away from the plush that was residing beneath her. A light groan tugging at her throat, she somehow started to realise how exhausted she was once she had properly sat up and the duvet previously enveloping two people had slipped down away from her skin.

How she would have loved to face plant close to Justin's chest and join him in dreamland once more. And that time, proper dreamland. While their completely voluntarily lack of sleep in the past few days had been fun, it would have been nice to be able to feel energised by sleep rather than other things once in a while.

But Katie reminded herself why she was doing what she was doing. And as she reached to pop together the buttons of her black skirt after wrapping it around her waist, she would go on to be reminded just why it was so challenging to leave one of the cosiest beds that she had ever known.

While her back became the view point of the lounging silhouette, in his sleep he appeared to gather what was going on and tear himself away from slumber, his shut eyes steered to the view ahead and his sleepless, swollen lips speaking words that were so very obvious.

For the first time in ever such a long time, Katie did not know whether it would have been the best idea not to look directly at him.

"You going now?" Justin murmured, a sharp inhale catching them both off guard as this was his body's way of yawning without seeming rude. Nevertheless, it made its presence known while it was still a couple of moments before his eyes crept open, needing to adjust to the green-ish hue as the morning sun bounced the ocean waves into the lower deck that they were occupying.

Katie wanted nothing more than to turn to him and turn away from him in completely equal lengths. She wanted both things to be true. And she wanted neither of them to be. She wanted to them to have both remained asleep – properly asleep – and rousing to reality when the time was right.

But she had woken up in order to savour the sight of him some more, hadn't she? She had chosen to do that. Now she must face the consequences. She must deal with whatever came next. Katie had to choose which set of actions won out.

Of course, after a few of her own inhales and inhales, the sleepy face of Justin felt some eyes on it and a body turning back towards him and it was this that had encouraged him flick his own eyes open as best as he could.

"I best be going soon…" she repeated her words aloud a second time, that time towards a figure in a bed that could actually hear her. And just like the first time around as well, she couldn't resist reaching her hand out to him but this time tracing digits through locks that graciously welcomed her touch.

In the same way that the roots of his hair appeared to bind around the finger of Katie, Justin didn't stop himself from smiling sleepily into the unique light of the lower deck room and he captured her other hand for himself, those pursed lips of his having a different function as they brushed the top of her knuckles.

Immediately as he did this, his eyes appeared to absorb all of the energy from the lethargically rising sun and his irises became the main illumination of the room. His bare shoulders and chest started to appear from behind the duvet, his legs stretching out firmly underneath.

However, that subtle burst of his was short lived and it caused Katie's lips to have the second quirking upwards of the early morning. She watched as though he kept her single right hand of hers tucked between the both of his, he then slumped sleepily back against the pillow with a sigh.

"I'll make sure you get home safe…" he told her, though it was plain to see that his long eyelashes were already quickly drawing back together! Nonetheless, his lips no longer pressing against the hand of Katie, he was able to add to his previous sentence. "Just gimme a sec…"

And with that and with his slightly cold but still comforting hands surrounding around Katie's right one, she knew that it needed to be less than one single second or else she would lose him to dream land!

She didn't mind. And she told him of such. She showed it to him as well.

"I'm fine. You need to sleep." She answered him, wanting nothing more to relish his hold surrounding hers but knowing, like the first cold breeze in September told you that fall was coming, that it was time to slide her digits away from his. "I'll see you in the morning, won't I…?"

Her voice trailed off. Not because she feared that it was untrue though maybe there was an inkling of unadmitted uncertainty there. The reason for this was because she was unsure what to actually call those breakfast hours of the day when they were then used to being awake together as the autumnal sun only just gathered the strength to break across the region of Kanto.

Naturally it was the equal knowing of this that caused Justin to have his turn of a smile in spite of his tiredness. And forgetting about that feeling that was engulfing him completely, he focused on the other things that had started to be a part of him in an unspoken way.

Using gestures by his way of responding back to Katie, his torso stared to lift back away from the mattress once more and in the split second after his bare skin brushed against the arm of the orange haired female, he had two gentle yet firm hands on either sides of her face and his lips were planted against hers.

It was not the brushing kind of kiss that had whispered against her knuckles. And it wasn't the kind that spoke of what was to come after the shirt that she had draped around her shoulders threatened to fall after the movement on the mattress because of Justin.

It was exactly what it was. A kiss that was equally as much of a smile due to unspoken words that they had just then decided not to speak of the other ones too that they wouldn't go on to say for a very long time.

Lips pressed against each other. Touch was savoured. Any inclination of a world other than the two of them went out the window.

But then all of that fell away as touch fell away. Lips departed like a ship waving goodbye to the dockyard. And all over again, as quickly as the romantic gestures had come, Justin was planting himself back against the support of the mattress. And this time he went the extra mile, assuming one of his usual positions by shutting out the world with a pillow over his head in order to sleep.

The last thing that he wanted was to shut his Katie out. But her kiss had been a remedy. And now all he wanted was to dream. Of her. Of not her. He wanted to slumber a dreamless slumber.

She had things to do and he did as well.

This is why that Katie was not offended by his actions. She could have been. Maybe she should have been. After all, he had told her that he intended to see her home safe. Was that just a lie? Was that something just to look good?

While Justin could surprise anyone with his twists and turns, Katie was not one of these people and knew that while it could have been any number of reasons, looking good was not one of them. And in their wordless way, she agreed with him.

He had things to do. And she did as well.

It goes without saying that she would have liked to have him by her side for her things and she would have liked to stay behind and assist him with his. But they always found each other over and over again. If the last few days were proof of anything then it was exactly this.

So that is why that after Katie regained her modesty by draping the blush pink satin shirt closer around her slim shoulders, she tucked it into that black buttoned skirt of hers and she made her way out of the secret lowest deck room of her ship and out towards the open deck, kidding herself that she sensed the welcoming kiss of the cold breeze almost as soon as she thought about heading there.

The truth was that she certainly felt it for real when she made her way there, her hand reaching out and tracing along each piece of wood that took her fancy on the way, almost as if she was thanking The Valentine for the adventures that had been and the ones that she was hopeful were to come.

That ship had provided solace and new beginnings for the very people that were in the thread of her DNA. She never would have dreamed that it could have done the same for her too. She never would have dreamed that that new beginning would not be with the person that she had sailed that ship with – rather, whom she sailed that ship towards.

Life had a funny way of surprising you like that. Justin had always surprised her, she thought to herself as a chill brushed along her spin that was not just down to the open wind. Yet at the same time, there seemed to be nothing that he could do that would feel like it was untrue to himself.

The sudden exposure to the wind as she was then on the top deck of The Valentine and the morning sun was only just able to glimmer through grey fog clouds might have caught someone else off guard, rendering them breathless. But not Katie. Not Katie at all.

As soon as the chilling gusts were capturing hold of her and rushing through her lungs, she felt more alive than if she had been treated to a full night of sleep. And when she exhaled that same sea air after allowing it to remain trapped inside her for a couple of moments like a message in a bottle, it seemed as though the Kanto region was grateful for another thing set free.

The wind all around seemed to settle greatly and the creamy white of the sails no longer had a reason to brush against the mast. In addition to this, the previously moody disposition of the weather appeared not quite to disappear for a couple of moments but to have a think about what kind of display it was putting on.

Katie watched the orb that was the sun twitching and flickering behind dense clouds, as though it was winking at her. She winked back. But then she moved onto other things, not minding the cold as her bare feet padded across the deck and to lean over the ship itself, looking at the planks of the dockyard that were just a meter or so below.

The sailing ship had sunk into the ocean quite a lot while they slept, the orange haired female had noted. Either that or the tide was rather high for that time of year. She peered back upwards towards the heavens once again and looking for the sun's lover, she swung her attention around for the moon instead.

If she knew what kind of phase it was in then she could work out what was the reason for being closer towards the dockyards than in the middle of the night. But just like how the sun was seemingly being a jokester in the early hours of the morning, the moon was going the extra mile by keeping itself firmly out of view entirely.

That had to be fine, Katie told herself. She looked back down towards the sea licking at the edges of the dockyard. She should have known that it wouldn't take long for her own counterpart to appear. She should have realised that as soon as his memory popped into her mind, he would appear there like the most welcomed spectre she had ever known.

"What are you doing out here…?" Justin wondered, causing Katie's footing to slip at his sudden presence but doing such a good job of hiding it that he didn't notice at all. In actuality, all that he was noticing was the chill of the early morning, even if the wind had done the decent thing by calming down.

As if, however, the gusts were still blowing all around them, the deep purple haired male's locks that were again starting to grow down his neck reacted to the cold and started to point in all directions. This sight in particular comforted Katie against the surprise of him being back with her, and of course made her turn back around to face him while having her hands still on the rails.

She looked at his squinting, dishevelled but earnest opinion and knew that she couldn't be gladder for the way that he had got out of bed for her after all. But she also knew that she couldn't dwell on it for much longer or she would want him to go back there yet again – and for her to join him there.

"I could ask you the same thing." She reminded him, that time intentionally mimicking the squinting of his right eye before doing a brave thing and looking as far out to the ocean as she could see, the dullness of the sun behind clouds not doing a very good job of lighting the way. "It looks stormy today."

Though Justin would have much preferred to feel the sloping of his neck while looking at the silhouette of the orange haired female, he did what was expected of him by sliding his hands into his skinny jeans pockets that he had only just managed to half dress himself in before looking out as far as he could manage as well.

He didn't have the right eye for it and he knew as much, so he did not quite know how Katie thought it looked stormy from the sight of the ocean. But he thought that he could work it out from the chill that was clinging onto any bare skin that he revealed and the way that the sun was refusing to bless the region was no more than a sprinkle of rays every so often.

Then again, there was still time for things to get better. You could never write a day off just based on a few moments of weather. Especially not in Kanto!

"We should get going." It was Justin's turn to feel his eyes breaking apart and the whites of them showing prominently as he found himself speaking of the words that he couldn't possibly wanted to say less. Unlike Katie, however, he corrected them. "Or we should head back below." Katie's own neck craned as her touch faltered on the rail knowingly. "You'll catch a chill out here."

The orange haired female's expression didn't falter. She wanted to tease him that she had noticed the words that had slipped out of him, even if he played innocent and made it seem like he hadn't meant anything by them.

In truth, he probably didn't. If he wanted something, he would have just come out with them. It really was more likely that he was worried about her health. But it was always more fun to tease him anyway.

In the process of turning her head to look over at Justin with a tilt catching her neck and a movement creasing just one eyebrow of hers, she saw the way that he was standing there in that blue plaid shirt of his and his pale skin was threatening to match the colour of the threads that he was wearing.

He might have been worried about her temperature but maybe he should have focused that concern towards himself! Even so, that darned sweetness of his had to be on the end of her mischief.

"Go back inside and wait for me, Justin." She told him before she could stop herself. And she told him before she could even properly think of the words she was saying. It wasn't the same for Justin. He stopped hunching his slender figure so much and stood straighter with intrigue, a careful yet invisible fish hook tugging his brow to his hairline. "It's strangely pretty out here."

Katie was clueless to what she had let slip out. And it was equally the same way towards how Justin's eyebrow evened back out again and as he didn't revert back to his previous chilled stance, he was too busy looking at the sights that he wanted to see.

I'm told that the orange haired female was right though. Kanto was being awfully tricky with its weather and refusing to stay light for more than a few seconds at a time, giving the early hours of the morning the impression that it was still the middle of the night.

Yet when the rays could just ripple on the top of the ocean, it was a sight to behold. And the saturated yellow of any feeble beams of sun that were able to be omitted mixed with the deep hue of the ocean and made the world look as though you were seeing it through a green lensed pair of glasses.

It was the kind of scenery that great photographers waited hours to capture and then plastered their takings in every single scrapbook of theirs. It was the kind of atmosphere like everything was ending. But it was beginning all in one. It was eerie. And yet peaceful.

Katie was able to take a step away from leaning over the railings and back up, intending to hold anything other than the wood of The Valentine when Justin found his voice all over again. He had not been rendered speechless by the wind that had picked up all over again, after all.

"That's… unusual." He began, at last breaking his distance of being a few metres behind Katie by instead of pressing his torso innocently against the straightness of her spine to keep warm under the clouds; he joined her by her side. Justin's own fingers didn't bed into the railings for support. Instead, they touched at his heavily eyelids, accompanying his next words. "I think I need to get some sleep."

Immediately upon hearing this, Katie didn't feel offended that had hadn't huddled closer to her for warmth and instead prepared to reach her hand out to the round of his shoulder to make sure that he was okay. However, in the second before she made contact with his body through that blue plaid shirt of his, she saw something in her peripheral vision and made that connection to the way that Justin believed that he was seeing stars.

While the deep purple haired male still doubtfully touched at his heavy upper eyelid and wondered if he should head back inside before he hit the decking of the ship and utter blackness was all he knew for the next few hours, a torrent of air rushed into the lungs of Katie and it wasn't because of the wind that had picked up.

The truth was the breeze had evened out entirely. The sun had given up in this manner as well. It was wholeheartedly refusing to shine. But that was okay. Something else was leading the way. Katie properly reached her hand out to Justin as she explained to him of this.

"Wow, that a complete and utter treat." She mused and in the second after these words tumbled out of her lips, she felt that she knew how foolish she sounded. Truthfully, her words were Justin's but she was the vessel carrying them. Katie probably wouldn't have moved on from them if she had realised. "It's the bioluminescent waves. It's rare to see them this time of year." She explained, getting over herself enough to focus on the pads of her fingers entwining with Justin. "It's little bugs in the ocean lighting the way."

Like a specific plant reacting to touch, Justin's fingers clasped around Katie's in the same moment that he felt hers brushing against his. And in that same second, his head tilted and he couldn't help but question.

"Bugs?" he repeated, it breezing through his mind how different his reaction would have been if he was Katie's mother and was hearing about the little creatures causing such a show. "That is an utter treat."

Justin had managed not to relinquish and let the corner of his lips elevate at the thought of Misty feeling utter conflict at the beautiful sight of ocean nature being caused by bugs of all things. But he couldn't stop the reaction that came out of him after his initial one.

And it wasn't because he was copying Katie's words, agreeing with her. Anyone would have believed that the sight was wholeheartedly beautiful. But Justin especially so. It looked as though the ocean had swallowed up the fairy lights that had decorated poles close to the ceiling in the lowest deck room of the ship while his lips brushed against Katie's and his bare form pulled her closer than ever before.

No wonder he thought the sight was just for them. No wonder he never let this moment go.

He should have been used to new urges rushing through him during those moments of his life but he was caught off guard by the sheer ecstasy of it when, all of a sudden and as if he was a child, he just had to get nearer and nearer to it all.

All Katie could do was feel the loss of his hand in hers and then watch him clamber over the railing of her ship, plopping down onto the dockyard before. All she could do was try not to feel those butterflies rushing through him but for very different reasons than it was for Justin. But like him, she too could not swallow her feelings either.

Katie knew that she must join him when he kneeled down on the wood of the dockyard and his eyes opened wider than they seemingly ever had done before, as if the sight was so magical that he needed more of his irises to take it all in.

The orange haired female understood. Pushing a strand of hair delicately away from her face, she crossed the threshold of the railings and admired Justin while he admired.

The rare occurrence was all the more breath-taking in person. It was like when fireflies took flight into the sky and left a trail of gold to follow. However in this instance, it was tiny creatures at the bottom of a Kanto ocean and showing an illuminating path of cerulean blue. They replicated the heavens under the waves.

Justin wanted to touch. He didn't realise they were metres below the water. Even so, he wanted to touch.

"Careful, don't fall in, whatever you do." Katie warned but she did so in the quietest of ways. She had only just managed to find her voice within the shaky throat of hers that didn't really want to stop the sights she was seeing for a single second. And the nature's display was pretty spectacular as well. "I'll push you in if you lean too close."

She suddenly changed her tactic! Justin's fingertips bedding into the pools of the ocean below and seemingly not caring about the frozen state of it at all, he did still have enough sense of the world around him to catch onto what exactly Katie was saying.

Immediately, he turned and his bright eyes gave the ocean a run for its money. But then he felt her shoulder bedding against his. And the way that her eyes were reflecting back the light off his own ones and he couldn't help but reach out and poke a dimple in his cheek as he looked back at her.

He knew the truth. He spoke of such. But he still drew away a tad!

"You wouldn't dare." He realised, his adamant voice as flat as the ocean waves were then behaving. His hands shook in unison with each other, sending water droplets cascading back towards their seaside companions. Justin's flash of a smile then beamed as much as the pair's eyes. "Even you're not mad enough to get in the water at that temperature."

Katie would have liked to bed her cheek against Justin's shoulder upon hearing this instead of having her own shoulder nuzzling there. But that would have meant pulling her pinkie finger out of the dainty crevice of his dimple. And as time went on, that would mean losing out to his proffered competition.

All of a sudden, a different quality took over the shape of her eyes. Justin hadn't intended it. So at first, he didn't understand what it was for at all. It started to become clearer when a shrug naturally rippled off her shoulders and she stopped crouching on the docks like he was doing, instead preparing to swing her legs off over the side.

The deep purple haired male didn't catch on to what she was playing at until the last minute, instead, merely smiling at her and enjoying doing that as well as having the beauty of nature in his peripheral vision.

And because Justin was none the wiser until the final moment, all he could do was reach a hand out to her shoulder and feel a gasp encapsulating his throat before it really was too late.

"Want to bet?" she questioned him with a slant gracing her neck and with hands already ripping open her black skirt with a series of hurried popping noises of the buttons, revealing the skin hugging pair of shorts of Justin that were clinging to her thighs.

They would quickly go on to disappear into the water. It was then that Justin seemingly didn't care about toppling into the water with her, though he firmly clutched onto the decking below and reached out one more hand towards her in an attempt to stop her.

"I never bet you in the first place!" he exclaimed before his hand forgot about reaching out to her, lightly clapping over his mouth as if they were up to their hidden antics elsewhere and he needed to keep quiet or risked disturbing other people. Or they found out about things they didn't need to. From the side of him, Katie saw his expression grow serious, his eyebrows knitting together in an act of concern and companionship. "I don't want you to get sick."

If there was any sort of look that could have stopped the orange haired female from doing something then it would have been this one. Not that he was really trying to stop her anyway, not truly. It was pointless taming someone was free-spirited as her. And honestly, it would have been hypocritical as well.

Their kind suffered when they were bound. That's why it was funny that they were then bound to each other. Then again, it was an honour to be entwined with someone who would set you free when the time was right.

Justin's look could have stopped Katie in her tracks. But instead, she copied his actions from when just before he buried his head underneath the plush of the pillow.

He felt a pair of lips pressing against his in a tender, purposeful kiss. And then all he could do was watch as Katie rid herself of the pink satin shirt right as she hit the water, tossing it back against the decking and her skin merging with the ocean.

His fingers fell against his mouth for a different reason as he watched this sight. He was then mesmerised by something other than the illuminating critters at the bottom of the ocean as he was just recovering from his lips not feeling so lonesome. He would then go on to have to focus his attention on not dipping down as Katie submerged herself in the water.

Thankfully she spoke to encourage his eyes from sheepishly darting anywhere but her face, speaking through a voice that was a gasp from the chill of the sea as well as a laugh from all of his reactions.

"Are you coming in the water?" she questioned, the lapping of the sea being the only answer at first as well as the sound that she made back against the waves as well. Justin merely continued to watch, stunned, before he found his voice yet again.

He was beginning to sit on the decking of the dockyard with crossed legs, trying to get across just how unlikely it was that he was going to join her. But then again, he would think that, wouldn't he?

"You're mad." He informed her, trying to shake his head at her but in the end he knew that he had to add more words to his sentences or else the true nature of his mouth would have been revealed. Justin steadied the threatening quirk of his lips as she saw him from an angle. "I would have no clothes to change into."

Katie had no such ability to hide her true expressions as she heard this change of tactic, quickly understanding that he would come out with a barrage of excuses before he actually complied. She just needed to find an equal amount of answers to fire back at him. She just had to be as equally stubborn as him. She would peer pressure him. Eventually.

The ocean made more lapping sounds and splashing sounds accompanied it as Katie was promptly used to the chill of the ocean, hardly making a squeal or a fuss as she swam closer to the edge of the decking and thus Justin sitting there.

He felt two cold, wet and dripping hands soaking their way through his black skinny jeans.

"You can borrow mine like I have done for you." She pointed out, her chin jutting in a gentle and non-pressuring way to contrast her words that were very purposefully chosen. Katie swam backwards a couple of strokes to see his expression clearly and watched as his head tilted closer to hers and his right eye squinted in truly telling way. It was her turn to change tactic after breaking the distance with Justin yet again. "Please?" she asked. "I'll keep you warm."

Before Katie had uttered the single word of hers, she had swum back towards him yet again and instead of kneecaps feeling a touch, palms of hers pressed firm against the decking. Going against this, softness was the main ingredient of their lips as Katie's bedded against Justin's before pulling away again.

His eyes became butterfly wings and fluttered shut almost immediately. Then in the split second later that he opened them, he knew that he had been peer pressured but didn't mind in the slightest.

He was always going to follow her, wasn't he?

"Fine." He responded like it wasn't what he wanted. But anybody could tell the truth.

Katie swam a few strokes along to a deeper part of the ocean and dipped her chin into the water, hiding the feminine smile that graced her lips while Justin wriggled on the decking, ridding himself of his jeans first before his shirt.

He needed at least something to change into after the next adventure that was going to go down. And at least then he had the choice of changing back into that blue number or the white shirt of Katie's before it had ended up on the floor of the secret ship room.

In a manner that was far more ginger than even Katie's hair, Justin dipped his toe into the water and longed to wince and recoil before not seeing the point of doing so. He would end up with her in there eventually. So he might as well get it over with. The chill of the ocean was the part he needed to get over with. Whatever came next would thoroughly be enjoyed, no matter what it was.

Deciding to bite the bullet like he was lurking behind the curtain at one of his own shows and the only way to get rid of excited and anticipatory nerves was simply just to take to the stage and sing, Justin plunged into the water. Katie gasped. She hadn't expected him to hurry along so quickly!

In the end, she gasped more than he did and she did more so than when she had initially entered the water. To be honest, that sound had wanted to escape from Justin. But he was just so shocked into silence at the sheer freezing temperature of it that he didn't have it in him to utter a single then.

Then, when he was a bit more used to it thanks to time and Katie living up to her promise of keeping him as warm as she could, he found his voice but for a different reason. He used those vocal chords of his to focus on things that were not the temperature of the ocean.

And not even the closeness that he was sharing with Katie, her bare skin against his and only separated by the glimmer of a layer that was the water.

"Oh, I don't think the little thingies are glowing anymore." He noticed, still pulled against Katie's side but kicking free a little bit in order to flipper his foot against the water, looking down into the depths and double checking that he was correct. He was. It was like the night sky at the bottom of the ocean had been swallowed by a black hole. "You don't think I scared them, do you?"

The orange haired female had been silently giggling at the water that his long and lanky legs had been used like a flipper. But when she saw the concern in his sleep-filled but wide awake eyes and heard it in his voice, she knew she wouldn't ever dream of anything else than reassuring him.

It was like a natural urge that she couldn't fight. He was no longer tucked under her arm as he checked and made sure he was one hundred percent correct but she went on to reach out to him in a different way. She swam back nearer to him, breaking any distance and feeling his damp hairs reacting against her fingers.

She didn't have it in her to break the moment with a teasing – nor did she even have it in her to speak any words at all. Her actions did the talking and Justin received this as he felt her reassuring him with her touch and then her lips, planted brief yet soft and plentiful kisses against his own ones.

Justin smiled against Katie and his dimple decorating the side of his cheek was enough that it didn't matter that the crescent of the moon hadn't revealed itself from behind the clouds. It appeared whenever he looked at her.

Why would anyone dream of going to outer space when it was then there, residing under the orange haired female's thumb for her and her alone?

As time went on, their touch stopped lingering quite so on each other but they didn't break away from each other all the same. And even as fingers left hair strands and a finger left a dimple dip, hands then grew entwined all over again to speak of their closeness.

Time passed and the sea seemed to warm around them, becoming yet another thing in the background of their time together. Words didn't need to be spoken at all. Day was well on its way. Yet the day felt though it was just for them. It could be anything they liked.

Katie wasn't sure why she asked what she asked next. Maybe it was the disappearance of the reason they were in the sea together in the first place.

"Do you ever think about how quickly things can be lost?" she questioned, looking away from the horizon and where, if the sun had been setting, it would have painted an orange streak leading to wherever it was that the ends of the earth could be located.

She had been looking into the distance. But then her gaze had flickered, focusing on where it needed to be next.

Katie watched as Justin's expression was animated at the best of times, and it came in handy during these sorts of occasions because she could read exactly what he was thinking.

His cheeks were no longer crescent moons but his eyes were full moons, his hands clasping onto hers more rather than faltering in surprise.

"What makes you say something like that?" he wondered aloud, allowing quite a few moments of silence pass even though Katie was already shaking her head, the ends of her long and orange sunflower locks dipping into the welcomed ocean. Justin had to figure out more words for himself because she was then giving him nothing. "Are you referring to us?" he asked. Katie's eyelashes had just enough time to flicker. Justin quickly added more words, correcting, for things were far too new for that last word of his just to be left like that. "To us hanging out in the way that we have been…?"

Katie wanted nothing more than to be able to copy his stance and keep his fingers within hers and look back at him in return. However, the only thing that she managed was to be there. Her touch faltered on him. But she found his wrist instead, two of her hands stroking the one of his as her eyes darted backwards and forth, unable to look at him like he was then the sun and he had directly come out.

Another shake of her head. Justin watched strands of her hair come loose and trail, separate, in the ocean.

"I meant more like you going on stage… People losing other people. Chances. Opportunities…" Katie explained and with each one, the round of Justin's eyes died down but the nod of his head bobbed up and down more frequently. His eye contact must've dipped as well. Because she found her opportunity to look back at him while he wasn't looking at her. "But we can talk about that too." They formed mirrors. To look or not to look. "Do you think about that…?"

He should have seen that coming! Justin felt that he should have seen that coming a mile off. Yet for a rare, unusual occasion, he did not feel trapped. He did not get the sense that he was preparing to dig his own grave and whatever he would go on to say, it was the wrong answer.

While it was true that, granted, he did think about what he wanted to say for a good few moments as the corners of his nose scrunched up and he scratched the bridge with the spare hand of his that was not being held by Katie, for once he felt that there was no wrong answer.

There was only his answer. And that had to be the truth. So he told it.

His nose stopped being the focal point of his touch and he held Katie's wrist back in return while she was still clutching his left one.

"I think that with regards to any of those things, if you think about it being your last chance with someone or something then you can drive yourself kind of mad…" he began. His eyes were dropping down. Yet Katie was more lured in than ever. "Better to just enjoy things while they're around, I think." His main focal point was the ocean but his voice reached out just to Katie and Katie alone. "Chase them if needs be. Let go if that's right too. But don't drive yourself crazy by thinking 'what if'. That's no good for anybody."

And as his reply came to a close, Justin and Katie both focused on the same body part of each other as their fingers grew entwined, starting off by the pads at first until their palms were firmly pressed up against one and other. Their eyes had found each other again too.

It seemed that honesty really did set people free. It set Justin free. But he would need to learn to allow that to be the case even when he set Katie free as well.

In the same way that he thought about his response for a good amount of time before formulating words, Katie thought about what his answer meant to her before expressing anything indicating what she felt about it.

That must have driven Justin crazy as well! Yet moreover, he was just glad. It showed that she really listened. At least she did that.

"You're… You're wise, Justin." She told him, then not expressing to him more by her lips but her arm wrapping around his body instead, showing things by her chest pressing against his and with eyes fluttering shut, a nose nuzzling into his neck.

Justin in return reacted to the closeness immediately. Two long arms draped around her back, pulling her close. Like her, he didn't show any affection with his own lips at that moment. Still, he might as well have from the way that his lips formed close to her forehead as he replied to her.

"I'm cold." He humoured her by disagreeing with her. He relished in the warmth of her touch and the unspoken way in which she felt for him for a little while longer but then he started to pull away from her. But like he often did, he spoke of what he would go on to do to give her a heads up. "But I'm going to watch ya. So please enjoy."

And with that, as the bird Pokémon from all around Kanto started to join the morning chorus, the sound which accompanied that cacophony as well was the heavy sloshing sound as Justin made it back to the decking and he lifted himself back there, arms wrapped around himself and shivering but true to his word, was preparing to watch as Katie enjoyed the water.

As soon as the deep purple haired male left her side, the appeal of being in the sea funnily enough grew a whole lot less. And it certainly did when Justin sat on the side, pulling his blue shirt against his lap as a blanket of warmth and was no longer splashing about with her.

The ocean had always been just fine by itself. But Katie would go on to suppose that, once you shared it with someone that you could share most things with, it wasn't quite the same anymore. Even if it was marvellous. Even if it was a miracle. That kind of companionship was hard to beat.

And immediately, Katie's body missed the mirroring of Justin's.

"You're going to get pretty chilly over there." she him when she found her voice yet again, watching the way that he started to pile the shirt of his that she had been wearing on his lap too. But instead of leaving it there, his ring clad pointer finger started to run against the material. It was like he wanted whatever she had left lingering there to bed right into him and never be drawn out. "I'll join you soon."

Justin's hand dropped away from clutching onto the shirt material of his that was then so hers that it might as well be just theirs. And instead of stubbornly pointing out that he felt fine, he chose to wave that hand of his, crescent moon being revealed back on his cheek as his expression tried to portray contentedness. Which it did.

The truth was that if Katie did join him soon then he would have been overjoyed. But it was equally as true that if she never joined him by his side then he would have even equally as happy.

Though his body felt the cold and the wetness of the ocean water dripping down parts of him and sent shivers all over his being, there were fragments that didn't seem affected by any of that in the slightest.

And as he would go on to look back at this time in his life and he would look back at how he looked out upon Katie – looking at the girl who was as much part of the ocean as she was a part of him – he knew one thing that was for certain.

When she was around, he wasn't affected by the little things. He felt things deeper and he felt things stronger and he spoke his mind far more. But he also loved softer. He dreamed easier. And he let things go.

He knew that where would come a time that, like with anything, that he would have to let her go too. And that would be hard.

But just like he told her, at that moment in time, he wasn't interested in driving himself crazy by fretting about that. He simply enjoyed the love when it arrived. And he set it free when it was time. What goes around comes around. And what is set free makes its way back if it is destined too.

I believe that Justin and Katie were destined to witness those early hours of the morning together. Miracles don't just happen at the bottom of the ocean. Sometimes they rise up to the surface to meet you like an old friend waiting to reveal their true identity. That's like the two of them. True colours shine for certain people. But with those two, they get the whole spectrum. And it's always been completely dazzling to see.

The End.

There you go! Thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed :) Justin and Katie will always have such a special place in my heart. I have deeply fond memories of the time in my life where I started forumulating various aspects of their bond and so love revisiting that time. I wanted something dream-like and romantic for this. It is a moment in time for them that was almost at a crossroads, really. On the cusp of becoming official and falling deeper. But unfortunately, the next morning, other people intervened and they ended up being just friends. "Just friends" is an interesting term to say. I for one think that they may be soul mates. And I'm sure they think that of each other :3 Thanks again and I will be back on the 28th with Dear Darlings so see you then!

Amy signing out :P