Archive of Our Own ^beta

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𓂃𓈒𓏸𓈒𓂃𓈒𓇼𓈒𓂃𓈒𓆉

Location: Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

Temperature: 5°C (41°F)

Humidity: 68%

Wind speed: 11 mph, NE

Caitlyn had spent at least three hours glaring at the budget sheet on her laptop screen.

Three months of paperwork, proposal emails, and bureaucratic hell- and this was what she had to work with? One diver.

She was leading a six-month research expedition, and the budget was tight enough that apparently hiring a proper two divers team was too much to ask for. The buddy system of scuba diving wasn’t even a luxury- it was common sense.

God, academia was infuriating. 

There were plenty of places she could cut back, if she had to. Less advanced boat rentals. Fewer high-tech monitoring devices— a standard diving computer would suffice, even if it wasn’t ideal.

Or, if it came to it, she could simply self-fund the second diver.

But that would mean she couldn’t make this work with the resources given to her. And she certainly didn’t want her colleagues to call her a nepo baby at her back who asked mommy for financial support. Had she not fought enough to be here without the whispers of “family connections” trailing behind her?

With a sharp sigh, she pushed back from her desk, shoving her laptop into her bag. Jayce had texted an hour ago, reminding her- rather obnoxiously, that he was already waiting at a cafe. She rolled her eyes but didn’t argue.

A distraction, however brief, was exactly what she needed right now.

𓂃𓈒𓏸𓈒𓂃𓈒𓇼𓈒𓂃𓈒𓆉

She spotted Jayce almost instantly the moment she stepped into the bustling cafe.

“Sprout! Over here!” He waved, already halfway through a coffee. Caitlyn swore he had an uncanny ability to always be holding a drink in any social setting.

Jayce only glanced at her briefly before frowning. “Damn. Did you just lose a grant proposal?”

Caitlyn didn’t even bother rolling her eyes. “Not yet.” She clutched her drink, feeling the cold condensation dripping down in her palm but she was far too troubled to care. “I’m trying to balance the budget of my research trip, and it’s…well, tight.”

Jayce’s eyebrows raised momentarily. “ You? Struggling with budgeting?” He let out a dramatic gasp. “I thought donating a building for Harvard solved all your problems.”

Caitlyn levelled him with an unimpressed stare. “We did not donate a building.”

He chuckled, taking another sip of his coffee. “So what’s the issue now?”

“I need a second diver.” She took the first sip of her drink, sighing. “I could self-fund, but—”

Jayce nodded. “But then you’d be proving every Ivy League nepotism conspiracy theorist right.”

“Exactly.”

Jayce grinned. “Well, lucky for you, I know someone.”

Caitlyn blinked. “You do?”

“Yeah, a friend of mine. Actually, she helped Victor in one of his projects. She can solo dive.”

The last bit of information made Caitlyn pause. A solo diver? Most divers preferred working in teams or at least with a buddy, for obvious safety reasons. Solo diving required a certain level of skill, training, and sheer capability that few possessed.

Jayce grinned as he seemed to sense Caitlyn’s interest. “Want me to send you her info?”

Caitlyn hesitated for a split second, calculating in her head. A solo diver had to be expensive. But if she was truly as skilled as Jayce claimed, she should at least look into it.

 “Fine. Send it over.”

Jayce pulled out his phone, tapping quickly before sliding it across the table.

“Her portfolio is impressive.”

Caitlyn took his phone, glancing down at the Linkedin page on the cracked screen.

Violet W. 

Boston University, M.Sc. in Marine Science.

Technical diver. Deep-sea explorer. Research expeditions across the Pacific and Indian Oceans.

Her eyes trailed down to the email adress.

Email: [email protected]

Caitlyn stared.

Vi goes down? Seriously? Who uses that as a professional email? She glanced up at Jayce suspiciously, questioning him with her gaze- are you pranking me?

Shaking her head, she skimmed over the long list of qualifications- impressive, to say the least. Then her gaze flicked up to the profile picture.

It was a woman in a black diving suit, grinning wide with droplets of water clinging to her flushed skin. Short, tousled beight pink hair with one side shaved clean.

Caitlyn cleared her throat, hoping Jayce didn’t catch her staring for a beat too long.  “She looks… capable.” She said, tone perfectly neutral.

Jayce smirked. “That’s an understatement. You can’t find a better diver in Boston.”

Caitlyn hummed noncommittally, still staring at the profile picture. “I’ll reach out myself.” 

“Suit yourself.”

She lifted her cappuccino, taking a slow sip.

Cold. Perfect.

𓂃𓈒𓏸𓈒𓂃𓈒𓇼𓈒𓂃𓈒𓆉

When Caitlyn returned to her lab, she dropped her bag onto her desk, sighing slowly as she pulled out her laptop again. The spreadsheet from earlier still glared at her from the screen, the ridiculous numbers stacked in neat yet infuriating columns. 

She ignored them and opened a new email draft, fingers moving over the keyboard swiftly as she composed her message.

To : [email protected]

Subject : Potential Collaboration - Marine Research Expedition

Dear Ms. W.,

I hope this email finds you well. My name is Caitlyn Kiramman, and I’m currently leading a six-month marine research expedition based in Jervis Bay, Australia. My focus is on bioluminescence and deep-sea ecosystems, specifically their response to shifting climate conditions.

I came across your profile through Jayce Talis and was impressed by your experience in deep-sea diving and marine exploration. Given your background, I wanted to reach out to discuss the possibility of you joining as a professional diver.

The expedition will run for approximately six months, beginning in the start of December. The expedition will include only you and I. Responsibilities will include routine solo dives for sample collection, environmental monitoring, and documentation of underwater conditions. All travel, accommodation, and equipment expenses will be fully covered.

Please let me know if you’d be interested in discussing this further. I’d be happy to discuss this at your earliest convenience.

Looking forward to your response.

Best regards,

Caitlyn Kiramman, PhD Candidate 

Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology

Harvard University 

She hovered over the send button for a second, giving the message one last glance. It was direct, professional, and precise, exactly what she wanted. She hit send.

Caitlyn leaned back, stretching her arms over her head. There. Hopefully it would be one less thing to worry about.

𓂃𓈒𓏸𓈒𓂃𓈒𓇼𓈒𓂃𓈒𓆉

Two days passed, and still- no response.

Caitlyn had nearly forgotten about the email, too consumed by the grant proposals and research notes to spare it much thought.

Now, she was curled up on her couch with a blanket draped over her legs, absently popping a piece of dried mango into her mouth, eyes fixed on the glow of the 70” TV in front of her, watching The Deepest Breath. She had seen it before, of course. More than once. Yet she could never get tired of watching.

The ocean stretched endlessly across the frame, a free diver slicing through the depths with grace. The breath-holding, the sheer control and the silent descent into nothingness. Caitlyn’s fingers holding the piece of dried mango twitched against her mouth.

She would never know what that felt like.

But she didn’t let herself dwell on the frustration. Instead, she reached for another snack, munching idly as the documentary moved to the next scene.

Suddenly, her phone vibrated on the coffee table, cutting through the sound of the ocean waves for a split second. She leaned over, reaching for it.

New email from [email protected]

Caitlyn tried to unlock her phone, failing several times to use the face id in the dimly lit room before finally giving up to type her password.

She tapped on the notification, opening her outlook app.

Subject: Re: Potential Collaboration - Marine Research Expedition

Hello Ms Kiramman,

Sorry for the late reply i just saw your email. Sounds interesting.

I’d like to talk more about the details. Might be easier in person instead of email so I can swing by Harvard next week if that works for you. Please let me know when you’re free. And please just call me Vi.

Also, I looked up some of your research. It’s amazing. Can’t wait to hear more about it.

Thanks,

Vi

Caitlyn’s fingers hovered over the screen, debating how to respond. There was nothing particularly wrong with the email– it was direct, straight to the point except it seemed a little bit too casual to be work-related. But Caitlyn couldn’t care less now.

She huffed, pressing the button on the remote control to stop the documentary from rolling and proceeded to type back a short, professional (if not slightly cold) response.

Subject : Re: Potential Collaboration - Marine Research Expedition

Dear Vi,

Thank you for your response. I’ll be available next Wednesday at 2:00 PM. We can meet The Buckminster’s Cafe near the Harvard BioLabs. Please Let me know if that works.

Best,

Caitlyn Kiramman

She hit send, then sighed deeply before sinking her shoulders into the plush backrest of the couch, as if only now realising how much the uncertainty had bothered her. With this, the biggest hurdle in her budget was settled.

She resumed the documentary, slowly chewing on another dried mango slice as she focused back on the azure waves rolling across the frame.

𓂃𓈒𓏸𓈒𓂃𓈒𓇼𓈒𓂃𓈒𓆉

Location: Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

Temperature: 4°C (39°F)

Humidity: 72%

Wind speed: 9 mph, NE

Next Wednesday, Caitlyn arrived at the cafe exactly on time. It was a small, quiet spot near the Harvard BioLabs, the kind of place frequented by exhausted grad students and over-caffeinated professors, which meant nobody actually paid attention to her when she walked in.

She glanced around, scanning for-

Oh .

She spotted her instantly.

Caitlyn only recognised her from the striking pink hair, slightly tousled just like in her profile picture. But what the picture hadn’t captured was the rest of her, the faint freckles dusting across her nose and cheeks. and- her tattoos.

She had known Vi was a diver. Had gone through her certifications, the credentials, the expedition history. She had processed, logically, that most professional divers tended to be athletic. Strong. Built. But seeing it in person was a whole other level.

This woman was all toned arms, broad shoulders. Caitlyn sucked in a breath to steady herself, adjusted her bag over her shoulder and approached first.

“Excuse me-”

Vi looked up, blinking at her, but her expression soon shifted.

“No way,” Vi muttered under her breath, smiling as she leaned back slightly in the chair. “Miss Caitlyn Kiramman?”

Caitlyn raised her brows slightly at the unexpected comment. “Yes?”

Vi let out a low chuckle, tilting her head slightly. “Sorry. You’re just younger than I thought.”

Caitlyn frowned. “And what exactly were you expecting?”

Vi leaned in slightly, her eyes glinting with clear amusement. “Maybe someone older. Anyways, nice to meet you.”

Caitlyn blinked, feeling caught somewhere between mild offence and disbelief. “May I ask why would you expect someone older?”

Vi shrugged. “Your emails just sounded way too formal.”

How rude.

Caitlyn exhaled through her nose slowly before pulling the chair out to sit down. “Forgive me for maintaining professionalism.”

“Oh don’t worry. It’s cute.”

Caitlyn stiffened.

Vi seemed entirely unbothered. “Smart girls are my type. Especially ones that sound like they could ruin my life in a peer review.”

Caitlyn paused just briefly, then shrugged as she pulled out her laptop. “Well, you have a point.”

A beat of silence stretched. Then something flickered across Vi’s expression. 

Her smirk widened, slow and knowing as though she just stumbled upon something incredibly important.

Caitlyn refused to acknowledge the way her brain momentarily stalled at that. Instead, she cleared the slight huskiness out of her throat and steered the conversation back on track. “Let’s talk business. I assume you read the details of the expedition,” she said, opening her laptop.

Vi nodded. “Mhm. Sounds fun. I’m in.”

Caitlyn hadn’t even entered her laptop password before her hands froze above the keyboard. “Just like that?”

Vi shrugged. “Why not? You’re covering expenses, I get to dive in Jervis Bay, and-” she tilted her head slightly. “-I get to work with a hot scientist.”

Caitlyn’s brain almost crashed for a moment, struggling to process the meaning of the last two words. Hot scientist?  “-Excuse me?” She blurted, about three octaves higher than intended.

Vi leaned forward slightly, propping her chin on her hand, watching Caitlyn flounder with amusement. “You heard me.”

Caitlyn made a strangled noise, aggressively typing in her password as if it had personally offended her.

Hot scientist. Hot. Scientist. 

Yet Caitlyn didn’t have a choice. She was the best diver she could find at the moment– but she certainly did not expect her to be a seemingly hot lesbian who was good at casually flirting in between conversations.

She cleared her throat. “I’ll book your flight for next week.”

Vi only hummed. “Cool. So, what’s our living conditions gonna be like?”

Caitlyn clicked aggressively into the travel details. “Separate accommodations.”

Vi snorted. “That was fast.”

Caitlyn didn’t dignify that with a response. “I’ll send you the itinerary by tomorrow. What’s your preferred airline?”

“Uh- anything that won’t crash? Oh, Qatar has the best food though.”

Caitlyn closed her eyes for a brief moment. “Great. Thank you for the insight.”

She redirected the conversation back to the expedition, going through the logistics, research schedules and diving expectations. And to her mild surprise, Vi was passionate.

“So, you’re studying bioluminescent species at deeper levels?” Vi leaned forward slightly, tapping her fingers idly against her cup. “You ever seen one of those massive comb jellies in person?”

Caitlyn’s lips parted slightly. “Not in the wild. I’ve studied samples like fluorescence tests and photoprotein analysis though. But I’ve never…”

“You’ve never actually seen one underwater?”

Caitlyn pursed her lips. “I’ve seen recordings.”

Vi huffed, shaking her head. “Not the same.”

Caitlyn frowned, just slightly. “And you have?”

“A few times,” Vi nodded. “I’ve been in the water with them before. Nothing beats seeing one light up right in front of you.”

Caitlyn couldn’t respond right away. Something about that unsettled her.

She was an expert. A scientist. She had dedicated years to studying the ocean- analysing data, running simulations, perfecting methodology. But Vi had actually touched it, had been in it, seen things Caitlyn had only ever observed through a screen or a tank.

And Caitlyn envied that.

It wasn’t like Caitlyn hadn’t let herself indulge in her imagination of floating in the dark, face to face with a glowing, ethereal creature, watching its cilia ripple with neon pulses. No lab, no glass barrier. Just the deep teal ocean, endless and undeniably real .

Yet she remained on the other side of it.

She leaned back slightly, studying Vi for just a fleeting moment. She hadn’t expected to find someone not just capable, but genuinely enamoured with the ocean in the way she was.

And it helped, of course, that Vi was experienced. She spoke passionately about diving with a confidence that Caitlyn was sure came from years of real-world knowledge rather than theory alone. The conversation had been nice, inspiring even.

They had gone over most of the logistics by now. And it had actually, against all odds, been productive. 

Caitlyn glanced up from her laptop screen. “I’ll send you some documents by tomorrow. What’s your email again?”The question was almost an afterthought.

Vi’s grin widened. “Oh. It’s [email protected] .”

Caitlyn’s posture stiffened. “... Right .”

Vi rested her chin on her hand, looking entirely too entertained. “Why’d you hesitate?”

“I didn’t,” Caitlyn muttered, shifting her gaze back to her laptop.

She so did. Because Vi had said it so casually, and for a second Caitlyn’s mind had absolutely ventured somewhere it most certainly shouldn’t have— but she would never admit to even a fraction of it. 

Vi seemed to enjoy the way Caitlyn’s face remained perfectly neutral, save for the slight tension in her jaw. “Well. I do always go down.”

Then her lips curled into a grin. “...I mean diving ,” Vi said, staring straight at Caitlyn with her wide powder blue eyes way too innocently. “What were you thinking?”

Caitlyn exhaled sharply, then stared back at Vi dead in the eye. “ Nothing. ”

But her gut told her this was going to be the longest six months in her entire life.

𓂃𓈒𓏸𓈒𓂃𓈒𓇼𓈒𓂃𓈒𓆉

Location: Jervis Bay, New South Wales, Australia

Temperature: 25ºC (78ºF)

Humidity: 91%

Windspeed: 17 mph, NW

Week 1 

A week later, they landed in Sydney. 

The journey had been a complete whirlwind– two long flights, a layover in Dubai, rushed boarding calls, and so much airport coffee that Caitlyn was beginning to feel permanently caffeinated.

The whole thing had passed in a blur of exhaustion and questionable airline meals, until the only thing keeping her conscious was sheer willpower.

Vi, on the other hand, had slept through half of it. Somewhere between takeoff and cruising altitude, Vi had knocked out completely. And at some point after that, so had Caitlyn- which was how they ended up in a completely unacceptable situation of Vi dozing on Caitlyn’s shoulder. And then later, Caitlyn had apparently returned the favour which she had only realised when she woke up on the next flight to find herself half-leaning against Vi.

She had very quickly righted herself, and Vi had smirked at her when she woke up. But thankfully, no further comment was left other than that.

The hotel Caitlyn had booked was right by the shoreline, with sprawling views of the teal ocean stretching boundlessly beyond the balcony. The windows were already ajar, letting in the soft recuperating sounds of waves rolling onto the shore, the slightly salty breeze mingling with the humid air.

Vi dropped her bag and suitcase inside her room, peeking back out into the hallway where Caitlyn was unlocking hers. “Damn. Didn’t think you had this kind of budget.”

Caitlyn, still focused on how to insert the keycard properly, didn’t bother to glance up. “It’s significantly cheaper than hiring another diver.”

Vi leaned against the doorway. “Fair enough.”

Caitlyn exhaled deeply, finally managing to get the door open with a small beep . “And please don’t make me regret cutting costs.”

Vi smiled, shifting to lean casually against Caitlyn’s door frame. “Well, if it’s just you and me on this thing, you know I would’ve done it for free.”

That made Caitlyn pause midway through entering her room. “—What do you mean?”

“I mean you’re beautiful. You could’ve just batted those pretty eyelashes on me and I’d follow you anywhere.” She flashed Caitlyn an easy smirk.

Caitlyn blinked. Once. Then twice.

Vi grinned even wider. “Hell, I’d even follow you all the way down to the bottom of the Challenger Deep if you want me to.”

Caitlyn huffed a sigh, turning away from the door frame before stepping into her own room. “I don’t dive.”

She could hear Vi’s seemingly delighted chuckle from outside the room before she closed her door. “I know.”

The day after tomorrow. They would start their research the day after tomorrow. She could certainly deal with that after two full night’s sleep.

𓂃𓈒𓏸𓈒𓂃𓈒𓇼𓈒𓂃𓈒𓆉

Location: Jervis Bay, New South Wales, Australia

Temperature: 26ºC (79°F)

Humidity: 92%

Windspeed: 12 mph, SSW

Week 1 

After a day of complete rest, Caitlyn and Vi made their way to the Jervis Bay Marine Discovery and Research Centre, a compact but well equipped organisation situated right beside the coast.

They were greeted by the team, exchanging quick introductions of the place.

By the time the afternoon rolled in, the temperature of the day  had already climbed to its peak.

Caitlyn had rented a small but well-equipped boat, with a series of all the essentials they would need for the first exploratory dive—from the basics, a BCD, regulator, professional dive computer, a scuba tank to more fancy equipment that Caitlyn probably wouldn’t need for surface support but she prepared anyway.

Vi took the helm naturally, one hand on the throttle, the other resting on the wheel as she guided the boat further out.

Caitlyn could drive, of course. But she could already tell Vi was far more accustomed to this than her. And Caitlyn trusted her professionalism.

Vi was already in her wetsuit, the slightly briny breeze ruffling her pink hair as the boat approached the open water.

The clearest, most impossible shade of teal instantly infused their visions. The water beneath them was crystal clear that Caitlyn could see straight down the radiant  patches of shallow water corals and the shifting shoals of fish, the sand rippling from the pull of the current.

Caitlyn could confidently say she’d seen the ocean more than a thousand times, in a thousand different ways- through satellite imaging, from research boats, yachts, laboratory tanks- yet she still couldn’t ignore the undeniable pull of the very origin that nurtured this entire planet.

The sharp ache of wonder and curiosity had neither faded nor dulled. And she knew no matter how many times her gaze met this sight, how many years she dedicated to studying the vast yet unknown azures, she would always feel this way. Like she was falling in love with the ocean. Over and over again.

Vi’s eyes widened likewise at the immense sight expanding before her. “ Holy shit. ”

Caitlyn, despite herself, felt the exact same stunned awe catch in her chest. 

When they finally reached a suitable dive point, Vi slowed the boat to a stop, cutting the engine until all that remained was the rhythmic lapping of the gentle waves against the hull.

Caitlyn moved instinctively into work mode, double checking the equipment before stepping over to where Vi was already securing her dive harness.

“You’re just doing an initial exploration today,” Caitlyn reminded her as she reached for the rest of the gear. “Check the conditions and record the footage. No sampling required yet.” She handed her the regulator. Vi took it easily, looping it over her neck while Caitlyn reached for the dive tank.

“Turn around,” Caitlyn instructed. Vi obeyed, turning her back as Caitlyn lifted the tank onto her shoulders. She adjusted the straps, placing a hand against Vi’s shoulder to balance the tank– only to freeze for a fleeting instant.

Because oh shit .

Firm. Like, actually firm .

Caitlyn had always known the fact that divers were strong. Divers spent hours in the water, weaving through currents with unbelievably hauling gear. Of course Vi was built. But seeing it with her eyes one thing; feeling it under her own fingertips was something else entirely.

“You’re done?” Shit- Vi must have noticed her pause. Caitlyn immediately yanked the straps tighter. “Uh- yes. Just making sure it’s secure.” It wasn’t obvious that she was having a minor internal crisis, was it? 

She shifted her focus on securing the rest of the gear, very deliberately not contemplating the fact that Vi was ridiculously built with stupidly firm arms, shoulders—and tattoos creeping up her neck, the topmost edge just visible beyond the wetsuit’s collar. And that she had somehow let the diver distract her for a full five seconds.

Vi clicked her dive computer into place and flashed her a grin. “All set now?”

Caitlyn nodded, clearing her throat. “I’ll double check the surface support devices.”

She worked quickly by calibrating the dive computer to track Vi’s depth, air supply and dive time, adjusting the multiparameter sensor to make sure it was accurately reading the temperature, salinity and pH levels of the water.

Meanwhile, Vi sat on the edge of the boat, slipping on the fins one foot at a time. She gave her ankles a quick stretch, flexing the fins slightly before adjusting the straps. 

“Vi? Is your BCD set?” she asked.

Vi tugged the inflator hose. “Partially inflated.”

“Your camera is running?” 

“Recording as we speak.” 

Good. Now that everything was secure, Caitlyn could finally begin the first ever dive of this expedition. She took a step back, nodding in satisfaction. “You’re clear. I know you’re a professional, but you don’t have a dive buddy. Just… be careful.”

Vi paused mid-adjustment, then to Caitlyn’s horror, she grinned. “Don’t worry.” She resumed her adjustment on the BCD. “I’m incredibly good with my mouth.”

Caitlyn froze. Here we go again. She knew better than to take the bait. She really did. She should’ve been used to it.

Vi blinked multiple times in a row with those gleaming celeste eyes, feigning innocence. “Breathing techniques. Chill.”

Caitlyn narrowed her eyes, only to find Vi grinning again, now even wider. “I am chill.” 

Vi only hummed, smirking as she adjusted her regulator. “See you topside.” She smirked, taking a big step off the edge of the elevated surface of the boat into the water.

The moment Vi was fully underwater, she turned back and tilted her head up towards the boat, lifting her hand in the standard “OK” signal.

Caitlyn exhaled slowly.

She returned the signal from the deck, watching as Vi’s form disappeared deeper into the vibrant blue.

Vi was down there now.

And Caitlyn would just have to trust her. 

𓂃𓈒𓏸𓈒𓂃𓈒𓇼𓈒𓂃𓈒𓆉

An hour or so later, the sun had started its slow descent towards the horizon, streaking the sky with soft amber and dusty pinks.

Caitlyn sat at the edge of the boat, gaze fixed on the dive computer on her hand, tracking every meter of Vi’s ascent.

10 metres. 8 metres. 6 metres.

Her fingers clenched tighter around the edge of the seat than necessary. She knew , scientifically, statistically , that Vi was experienced, that she knew how to regulate her ascent, how to avoid decompression sickness. Yet she had been holding her breath.

The moment Vi’s silhouette finally broke through the surface of the water, raising an arm to signal her resurfacing, a sharp breath of relief escaped Caitlyn’s lips. 

Vi’s ascent had been gradual, textbook level of perfection even. It was precisely what Caitlyn expected from a professional.

Only then did she realise she’d been unconsciously holding her breath the entire time. Because Vi was alone down there, and Caitlyn, being stuck up here, could do nothing but wait.

She clenched her jaw.

That was probably why she never had the talent to be a diver. The first rule of scuba diving was simple: breathe continuously– which meant divers never held their breath. Yet every time she imagined herself underwater, she knew better. She was acutely aware that she would do exactly what she just did. Freeze instinctively, hold it in, and forget how to breathe. 

Vi swam towards the boat’s ladder, fingers curling around the rungs as she hoisted herself up, saltwater cascading from her suit in silver rivulets. Caitlyn stepped forward, extending a hand.

Her hand instinctively gripped the diver’s palm, warm in spite of the crisp seawater. With an easy pull, Caitlyn helped haul her onto the deck.

Vi pulled out her regulator, again flashing Caitlyn with that grin she now almost found herself feeling familiar with. “Miss me?”

Caitlyn exhaled. “You took your time.” Vi smirked and dragged a hand through her wet hair. “I told you I’m good at staying down.”

Caitlyn immediately let go of her hand. She absolutely was not blushing. The warmth prickling at her face was undoubtedly due to the sunset. 

Instead, she turned towards the equipment, focusing on removing Vi’s BCD and the camera attached on it. She then grabbed a towel from the equipment bench, stepping forward as Vi finished loosening the straps of her dive cylinder. Saltwater clung to her skin, drops streaming down from her jaw to the curve of her neck, glistening under the golden sunlight.

Caitlyn didn’t spare much thought as she lifted the towel and gently pressed it against Vi’s face.

She felt a small inhale against the fabric, the briefest hitch in Vi’s breath almost imperceptible.

Caitlyn’s hand holding the towel moved delicately. She started at her forehead first where a few strands of the striking pink hair plastered to it. The towel brushed over Vi’s brow, her temples, down her faintly freckled cheekbone and the small tattoo on it before drifting lower. When the towel reached Vi’s jaw, Caitlyn unconsciously lifted her other hand to her chin, fingertips touching the damp skin just enough to tip Vi’s face up as she continued gently dabbing at the saltwater.

It was just a light touch. Vi was slightly shorter than her, and it was easier this way to keep her steady. The sun was setting, and the ocean air would be cooling fast. It wouldn’t be ideal for her diver to catch a cold on the first day, much as she knew that was unlikely. At least to Vi.

She barely even noticed Vi zoning out, until she shifted the towel slightly and felt the diver’s gaze on her, her lips parting slightly, breath shallow as though thinking about saying something else.

Caitlyn’s brows furrowed. “Can I help you?”

Vi didn’t answer at once. She blinked- slow and deliberate, before the corners of her lips curled into a smirk.

“I’m good. Just appreciating the view.”

Caitlyn faltered for the briefest of moments before pressing the towel not-so-gently into the diver’s face, muffling the soft chuckle, though not enough to hide the amusement beneath it. 

“...We’re heading back before it gets dark.” Caitlyn muttered, refusing to indulge her even further- and hoping Vi wouldn’t mistake the sunset’s crimson glow on her face for a blush.

𓂃𓈒𓏸𓈒𓂃𓈒𓇼𓈒𓂃𓈒𓆉

The ride back to shore was smoother than Caitlyn expected. Vi leaned against the helm, one hand steady on the throttle and the other casually tapping against the side of the boat. “We should get beers.”

Caitlyn glanced up from her logbook. “What?”

Vi grinned. “Beers. After a dive. It’s a thing.”

Caitlyn sighed, too tired to even argue. “Fine.” 

Once they docked, they had a quick dinner at a beachside restaurant with grilled seafood. The ocean breeze drifting through the open-air seating carried the slightest scent of salt, and somehow also carried away their exhaustion.

After long showers and a quick stop at a convenience store, Caitlyn found herself sitting on her bed with a cold beer in hand, watching Vi’s dive footage on her laptop. Vi was beside her, with the scent of shampoo still lingering faintly from her hair.

And Caitlyn, despite seeing footage like this a thousand times before, was stunned. 

The ocean looked almost surreal. Vibrant reefs sprawled in impossible hues of red, orange and violet. Schools of tropical fish wove through the teal in synchronised waves. The way the sunlight filtered through the water, scattering across the seafloor in trembling ripples. 

For all Caitlyn’s research, for all her years dedicated to studying the ocean, she still found it hard to believe at times.

She took a slow sip of her beer, feeling the unfamiliar bitterness expanding on her tongue. “It’s so much more vibrant than I expected,” she muttered, more to herself than to Vi. She didn’t want to admit it, but she was, indeed, jealous. Jealous that Vi could get to see this firsthand, sink into these waters so effortlessly like she belonged there. That she could experience what Caitlyn only ever got to witness through a screen.

She exhaled, tilting the bottle in her hand slightly. “I mean… I’ve seen footage like this before. But it must be different when it’s real.”

Vi studied her for a moment, then softly, almost teasing, she nudged Caitlyn’s arm. “Could always come with me sometime.” 

Caitlyn snorted. “Funny.” She shook her head, her eyes still fixed on the footage. She would never. Not after everything- but she didn’t say that aloud.

Instead, she took another sip of her beer, letting herself quietly envy the way Vi got to immerse herself in the ocean while she could only ever reach for it from a distance.

“For real though. The footage is good but it’s nothing compared to actually being down there.” Vi gestured vaguely at the video. “The colours are way more intense. The way the light moves is completely different when it’s wrapping around you instead of just through a lens.” 

Caitlyn could tell it in the way her expression softened slightly, the way she gestured with her hands as though she was trying to recreate the movement of the water itself. She was completely in love with it. In love with the ocean and its weightless depth, the way it wrapped around her like she belonged to it.

And Caitlyn was somewhat glad now after hearing that, rather than jealousy. She was glad that she’d found someone who wasn’t just here for a paycheck or seeing this as merely another job.

Vi was impassioned– Caitlyn realised that the moment her clear celeste eyes glinted with something that almost looked like affection when she talked about the ocean, as if she belonged to it as much as it belonged to her. 

Maybe Jayce had found her the right person.

Somewhere during the second beer, the conversation drifted into easier territory rather than sheer professionalism related to the footage still playing on Caitlyn’s laptop. 

It was stupid, really. The way Caitlyn had initially expected this to be a strictly professional partnership. Yet now she was simply chilling on her hotel bed, drinking cheap beer, barely able to suppress a giggle.

This felt less like an expedition– more like a vacation now.

It started when Vi suddenly groaned. “I love the ocean. Genuinely.” She exhaled. “But seabirds are bitches.”

“What?”Caitlyn blinked.

Vi sat up slightly. “Listen. You ever had a Subway sandwich snatched from your hand?”

‘No?” Caitlyn’s hand somehow found its way to the laptop keyboard, pausing the footage as she tried to focus on what Vi was about to let out.

Vi pointed at her, dead serious. “Then you don’t know what’s betrayal.”

And then she launched into the apparently traumatic story. 

How, during a low-tide walk near the reefs, she had been minding her own business, enjoying an Italian B.M.T. after a long day of diving, until a full-sized seagull swooped down from the sky and yanked it mid-bite.

“I’m not even joking. I was literally chewing. I fucking felt it being ripped from my hands.”

Caitlyn nearly choked on her drink when she couldn’t contain her giggle anymore. 

“And the thing is he didn’t even eat that shit.” Vi folded her arms.

Caitlyn wheezed slightly. “Wait-”

“That bitch dropped it into the water.”

That did it. Caitlyn actually doubled over, gripping her stomach, giggling so hard she had to press a hand to her chest to catch her breath. It felt almost foreign. The joke, in fact, wasn’t even that funny- but she blamed it on the tipsiness the (barely) 6% alcohol just gave her.

After the ridiculous (but tragic) discussion about seagulls, Caitlyn finally hit play on the rest of the footage. Vi had propped herself up on her elbows beside her, taking lazy sips of her drink while watching the dive playback.

“See those pale spots on the corals?” Vi nudged Caitlyn’s arm, nodding towards the screen. 

Caitlyn squinted. “Is that- early-stage bleaching?”

“Yeah. The water’s probably warmer than usual in that area.”

Caitlyn hummed and made a mental note. A few minutes later, Vi pointed out the way the fish patterns shifted, and the way certain species moved in and out of the reef.

And Caitlyn realised that Vi wasn’t only good at diving. She also had an eye for detail, and a way of seeing the ocean beyond the raw data and cold numbers.

For the first time in ages, Caitlyn had actually felt surprisingly elated to discuss her passion with someone who was equally passionate, so much so that she almost didn’t want this to end. 

It was ridiculous. They had been together all day, and they were going to see each other first thing in the morning. Yet she couldn’t shake the feeling that the moment Vi left, the room would feel so much emptier.

Because Caitlyn, despite being exhausted herself, wasn’t tired of talking. She had so many questions left unasked- she wanted to ask Vi what it felt like to sink into the reef, watch the fish move around her like she was part of the current. She wanted to tell Vi about her own research, the hours spent mapping migration patterns, the thousands of papers she had combed through just to understand a single behaviour or mechanism.

And more than anything, she wanted to hear everything Vi had to say. 

But soon she reminded herself they had six months ahead. This was only the third day.  And more importantly, Vi must be exhausted.

Had Caitlyn been any less disciplined she might’ve allowed herself the selfish thought of keeping her diver here just a little longer. But she deserved rest, and Caitlyn was nothing if not composed.

Vi stretched with a lazy yawn, shaking out her shoulders. “Think that’s my cue to crash.”

Caitlyn hesitated for half a second before nodding. “Yeah. Get some rest. You’ve done a lot today.”

Vi grinned. “Don’t miss me too much.”

Caitlyn rolled her eyes, lobbing a pillow in Vi’s direction, which, unsurprisingly, she dodged with ease. Smirking, she took an empty beer bottle and made her way to the door.

And then she was gone, just like that.

Caitlyn sat there for a moment, staring at the now blank laptop screen, listening to the faint lull of waves against the shore outside her slightly ajar window.

She could have kept talking. Shared more. 

But they had time.

Chapter Text

𓂃𓈒𓏸𓈒𓂃𓈒𓇼𓈒𓂃𓈒𓆉

Location: Jervis Bay, New South Wales, Australia

Temperature: 24°C (75°F)

Humidity: 78%

Wind speed: 5.5 mph, SE

Week 2

Two weeks or so had slipped by, mixed with a handful of dives and more cheap beer than either of them cared to count.

In these two weeks, Vi dived, and Caitlyn logged. Vi explored, and Caitlyn analysed. Every time Vi resurfaced, Caitlyn was already there. Her first instinct when she saw Vi complete her ascent, was to move towards the ladders.

Vi would then emerge from the depths, droplets of seawater glistening against her skin, tiny beads of salt clinging to her pink hair aflame under the warm Australian sunlight. And before she could even reach for the towel herself, Caitlyn’s hands were already there.

Unclipping  the BCD straps, loosening the regulator, unfastening the dive computer, then the towel. It had almost become a habit now. Caitlyn would press the fabric against Vi’s damp forehead first, sweeping gently over locks of soaked pink hair, then along the side of her face down to her jaw. And her hand would always instinctively shoot up to lift the diver’s face slightly with her fingertips as if it had always been a part of her job.

And Vi had never stopped her. She never pulled away, nor did she reach for the towel herself. All she did was simply stand there, unmoving and letting Caitlyn tend to her. Sometimes, if she tilted the towel just a little more, she would have glimpsed the faintest trace of a smile lingering at the corners of the diver’s lips. There, then gone again. 

It was nothing, really. 

And yet Caitlyn was close enough to notice. 

Close enough to see the faint freckles dusting Vi’s nose and cheekbones softened by the sun. Close enough to catch the small, near invisible scar on her upper lip, slightly faded but there nonetheless. Close enough to watch the droplets of seawater trailing slowly down the hollow of her throat.

Too close. Too damn close.

The moment she felt her own face warm, Caitlyn did the only thing that came to her mind- she yanked the towel higher, smothering Vi’s face entirely. 

Vi let out a muffled, startled sound. “Mmf- Cait- what the hell? ”

Caitlyn ignored the way her heart had the audacity to palpitate for a split second when Vi said her name, and forced herself to focus. On regaining control. On willing her expression back to neutrality. On anything but the heat crawling up her skin.

“Hold still,” she muttered, now deliberately pressing the towel against Vi’s face to cover her vision. 

Vi let out a half-sputtered laugh, muffled by the fabric yet undeniably amused. “-You tryna suffocate me?”

“Just drying you off,” Caitlyn countered, supposedly detached as though she wasn’t internally cursing herself for reacting at all.

She heard Vi chuckle beneath the fabric, low and slightly teasing before she finally lifted the towel enough to meet her gaze again.

Caitlyn swore to herself she was never going to get caught staring for the second time.

For all the banter, two weeks had been enough for Caitlyn to learn one undeniable truth that Vi was committed and thorough. She knew exactly what she looked for, what to record, how to maneuver through the reefs without disturbing the natural ecosystem as if she was a part of it.

And more importantly, she knew what Caitlyn wanted.

Before she even asked, Vi had already logged temperature variations, mapped out the shifts in fish movement and marked any key areas for future exploration. She wasn’t just a hired diver who drifted aimlessly while Caitlyn did the real work- she was almost an extension of Caitlyn’s research.

Despite Caitlyn’s initial reluctance to entrust others with her work, not once had she felt the need to double check Vi’s findings. She should’ve felt surprised, but she didn’t. And much to her quiet satisfaction, Caitlyn found she didn’t mind it in the slightest.

Except, there was one problem.

Vi never listened to Caitlyn about  certain things.

It wasn’t until a morning after a week since the expedition started, as they prepared for the next dive, that Caitlyn noticed it.

Vi- for all her skill, for all her supposed deep-sea expertise, for all the experience that should’ve made her more aware than most- was, quite literally, an idiot.

She had been reminded. Warned, even.

“Vi, put on sunscreen. The UV index here is terribly high.”

Vi, grinning, had waved Caitlyn off with the ease of someone who had never faced the consequences. “Nah. I’ll be fine. Water reflects light anyway. I’ll be underwater half the time.”

Caitlyn was far too accustomed to dealing with stubborn field researchers who thought themselves invincible. So she had merely sighed, and decided to let Vi suffer the inevitable.

And Vi was predictable.

Vi sat at the edge of the boat, the back of her neck now tinged with an unmistakable shade of red. Caitlyn leaned against the railing with her arms crossed, watching quietly with the distinct satisfaction of someone proven entirely, indisputably, spectacularly right.

“I told you so.”

Vi groaned and dragged a hand across the back of her neck. “Ok fine. Roast me.”

“The sun already did that for me.”

Vi huffed, tilting her head back towards Caitlyn. “It’ll heal. I have a fast metabolism.” 

Caitlyn barely rolled her eyes before reaching into one of the equipment bags, pulling out a bottle of sunscreen. Without so much as a warning, she tossed it to Vi.  And surprisingly, she didn’t catch it- the bottle hit the deck with a soft thud instead.

Vi blinked. “…You want me to do it myself?”

Caitlyn sighed sharply, already regretting everything in her mind. “God- just turn around.”

Vi grinned, but for once she actually obeyed.

Caitlyn stepped forward, putting a hand on the zipper, sliding it down slowly, exposing the lean muscle of the diver’s back, her skin still damp with saltwater and faintly sun-kissed from hours on the boat. But just as Caitlyn parted the fabric, she saw-

The tattoo sprawling across her whole back, curving along the side of her neck, inked in deep and intricate black.

Caitlyn’s hand stiffened.

The design blended seamlessly, something that Caitlyn might have traced over with curiosity had she not been in the midst of experiencing a mild existential crisis.

Of course Vi had tattoos- and of course she had to be the kind of woman who wore them effortlessly. And now Caitlyn had to pretend she wasn’t staring hard.

Vi, who seemingly started to notice Caitlyn’s sudden brain malfunction, let out a sigh and rolled her shoulders. “Go on, hands-on experience is the best way to learn.”

Caitlyn snapped out of it so hard she nearly dropped the bottle. “-Shut up.”

But Vi only chuckled.

Caitlyn, now red for reasons beyond just the sun, squeezed way too much sunscreen into her palm and hastily pressed it onto Vi’s back.

Mistake. A big mistake.

Because now she had to touch her.

Her hand smoothed over the inked skin, fingers ghosting over the edges of the tattoo, the firm muscle and warmed flesh.

But her hand stayed for a second too long.

She knew she should have pulled away, stepped back immediately, grabbed a towel or literally anything else. But she stood there instead.

Meanwhile, Vi’s back remained bare before her- canvas of sun-warm skin, marred only by faint scars, the inky sprawl of that damn tattoo, and the subtle shift of muscle as she moved.

For a reason that defied all logic, all rationality and resemblance of sanity- an intrusive thought crossed Caitlyn’s mind.

What if I wrapped my arms around her waist from behind? Press my cheek against her shoulder and feel the rise and fall of her breath beneath my palms-

The second the thought had materialised, Caitlyn’s mind nearly shut down on the spot.

What. The. Fuck. Was. That.

Her hand jerked backwards so fast it was a miracle she didn’t physically recoil. 

That was irrational.

Outrageous.

Delirious.

That was- Shit. She probably needed to get off this damn boat and throw herself into the sea.

Vi,  still blissfully unaware of the full-blown existential crisis currently raging in Caitlyn’s head, let out a low exhale and stretched her arm over her head idly. “Mmm. Feels way better now.”

Caitlyn wasn’t looking. She was not.

She grabbed a towel and threw it at Vi’s back. “Cover up.”

Vi chuckled, catching it with ease. “Aww. Don’t get shy on me now.”

Caitlyn whirled around so fast it was almost a tactical retreat, pointedly ignoring everything about this situation including the fact that she just had the most horrible intrusive thought of hugging a woman from behind whom she had known for barely two weeks.

But yeah, other than Caitlyn’s (not so) minor internal crisis, she had to admit working with Vi had been somehow comfortable and efficient.

𓂃𓈒𓏸𓈒𓂃𓈒𓇼𓈒𓂃𓈒𓆉

Location: Jervis Bay, New South Wales, Australia

Temperature: 23°C (73.4°F)

Humidity: 76%

Wind speed: 7 mph, SW

Week 3

Naturally, Caitlyn didn’t make Vi dive every single day.

 As much as she depended on Vi’s expertise underwater, even the most seasoned diver needed rest days.

Decompression days, as Vi called them- a break from the relentless cycle of gearing up, descending, recording data, resurfacing, and doing it all over again.

Their schedules were structured accordingly with regular breaks, like days meant for reviewing footage, analysing data, and ensuring Vi didn’t burn herself out before they were even half way through the six months.

And of course Caitlyn had used  those days efficiently to catch up on her reports, double checking sample analysis, and refining her plans for the next dives.

But apparently Vi had taken them as the opportunity to sleep in until noon, wander barefoot around her room, and occasionally- much to Caitlyn’s annoyance- derail her routine with unsolicited conversations and (entirely unnecessary) commentary on her reports.

Which was why Caitlyn wasn’t the least bit surprised when, on one of their scheduled decompression days, a knock on her door interrupted her morning.

Caitlyn had barely pushed her laptop aside before pulling open the door, ready for whatever nonsense Vi had decided to bombard her with this time.

Vi stood on the other side, dressed in casual board shorts and loose tank top, her pink hair slightly tousled- no doubt from sleeping in. And Caitlyn could immediately tell she was not here for anything work-related.

“What do you want?”

Vi leaned against the doorframe. “We should go out.”

Caitlyn blinked in confusion. “Go out?”

Vi gestured towards the open balcony where the morning sun spilled golden light across the rooftops. “Explore. Walk around. We’ve been here for three weeks and we haven’t even actually seen the town yet.”

Caitlyn frowned slightly. “We’ve been busy.”

Vi snorted. “Yeah I know. But we have today off, so let’s do something that’s not staring at your laptop.”

Caitlyn sighed, already expecting this conversation to be a battle. “And why exactly do I need to go with you?”

Vi smirked. “Because you definitely won’t do it on your own.”

Caitlyn opened her mouth to argue, only to promptly close it again. 

… Damn it. Vi had a point. She hadn’t actually allowed herself to take a whole day off to do anything besides work since they arrived. Not that she ever did on expeditions, but… still.

Vi must’ve sensed her hesitation because she nudged her shoulder lightly, “Come on. It’s just a few hours.”

Caitlyn exhaled slowly. 

She should probably say no, but she knew better than choosing the alternative- which meant spending the entire day cooped up in her room, reading through essays and writing reports that she actually had plenty of time to do later.

Finally, she shut her laptop and crossed her arms. “Fine. Just a few hours.”

𓂃𓈒𓏸𓈒𓂃𓈒𓇼𓈒𓂃𓈒𓆉

The town was far quieter than Caitlyn had expected.

The streets were lined with a series of small and colourful shops, their signs painted in vibrant colours, swaying and creaking gently in the sea breeze. The air carried the faintest scent of salt, mellowed by the warm aroma of freshly brewed coffee from a nearby cafe.

They didn’t have any destinations in mind. Just wandering aimlessly, watching as the town unfolded around them.

Vi was unsurprisingly at ease, hands stuffed into her pockets, nodding at whatever caught her eye. Caitlyn still felt slightly disoriented as if she had somewhere else to be rather than wandering around idly.

They wandered past a surf shop and a small bookstore, until something in the next window again caught Vi’s attention.

A seashell necklace.

An iridescent shell pendant on a delicate silver chain, simple yet elegant. Vi’s steps paused in front of the display, tilting her head slightly as she stared at it. 

Caitlyn glanced at her. “Thinking of getting it?”

Vi hummed. “Yeah. It’s cute.”

“For yourself?”

Vi snorted. “No. For my sister.”

That somehow caught Caitlyn’s interest. Vi had never mentioned having a sister before. “You have a sister?”

“Yeah.” Vi nodded, stepping into the shop. “Her name is Powder.”

Caitlyn followed, watching as Vi picked up the necklace, turning it over in her fingers. “She’s in college now. Studying engineering.”

That, for some reason, made Caitlyn pause.

She hadn’t expected that. Engineering was rigorous, demanding and technical. Her gaze flicked from Vi to the necklace, “you two are both smart.”

Vi let out a quiet chuckle, shaking her head lightly. “Powder’s the smart one. She loves building stuff. Used to tinker with old machines when we were kids. She could literally take apart a radio and put it back together in an afternoon.”

Something in the way Vi spoke about her sister felt warm, fond and guarded that made Caitlyn’s genuine curiosity stir.

She nodded forward the necklace in Vi’s hand. “She’ll like it.”

Vi glanced down at it, brushing over the shell’s smooth surface with her thumb before heading to the register with a faint smile. “Yeah, she will.”

After leaving the shop, they continued wandering aimlessly, their steps in sync along with the distant lull of the waves.

Caitlyn hadn’t expected herself to enjoy walking beside Vi with no particular goal in mind, no itinerary or agenda at all.

Until they walked past a tiny bakery.

Among the dainty pastry and tarts in the display was a single blueberry cupcake. A soft vanilla base swirled with light indigo frosting, flecked with tiny silver sprinkles on the top.

Vi stopped dead in her tracks. Then she pointed directly at it, without any hesitation whatsoever. “Ohhh- look, Cait. That one looks like you.”

Caitlyn blinked flatly. “…What?”

Vi turned to her, grinning like she had just discovered the sixth ocean on Earth. “Neat little swirl on top. Perfectly put together. Bit of a cold exterior but probably sweet as hell if you get past it. It’s giving you.”

Caitlyn stared at her. Then at that cupcake. Then back at Vi again.

“…Vi. It’s a cupcake.”

Vi nodded with a light chuckle. “I know. But that’s what I’m calling you now.”

Caitlyn exhaled, already regretting every decision that had led her to this moment. “Absolutely not.”

Vi, positively beaming with satisfaction, stepped inside the bakery.

Caitlyn lingered outside helplessly for a long moment, staring at the display, trying very hard to not think about how utterly ridiculous the way she just gained herself a new nickname was.

Yet she barely even protested when Vi came back out with that single blueberry cupcake in hand. 

Somehow without much thought, they found themselves wandering back towards the shoreline, the same stretch of coast that had already begun to feel familiar.

The waves lapped gently against the shore as they walked beside each other all while Vi was still taking unhurried bites of the cupcake, speaking between mouthfuls, slightly slurring her words. “Puerto Rico’s insane.” She licked a tiny crumb off her thumb. “I was there during peak season once and the whole shoreline was glowing blue.”

Caitlyn hummed, barely listening.

“It kinda sucks we haven’t seen any here yet. Could be the temperature though. I think water needs to at least hit 27 degrees celsius for it to go crazy. But I dunno, maybe-”

Caitlyn wasn’t listening at all now.

Because her focus had completely, irrevocably locked on something else entirely- on a tiny smudge of the blue frosting just at the corner of Vi’s mouth.

Her hand moved on instinct, fingers grazing Vi’s jaw, swiping across her lips with her thumb, wiping the frosting away before she could even process what she was doing.

“Stay still,” Caitlyn muttered absentmindedly, focusing entirely on the task of removing that tiny smudge that had been bothering her since five minutes ago.

Vi’s lips parted, then shut almost immediately.

And Caitlyn only realised her mistake when she felt the warm, undeniable softness against her thumb.

Vi’s lips were soft. Unbearably soft.

Her breath was stuck in her throat for an instant.

Her hand lingered there a fraction too long, fingertips still gently pressed against the warm skin.

Oh shit.

Caitlyn’s spine locked up instantly.

She snapped her hand back as though Vi’s skin was physically burning her.

And Vi had the absolute audacity to look thoroughly entertained. The corner of her now frosting-free mouth curved into a slow, almost smug smile.

“Damn, Cupcake.”

Caitlyn didn’t dare to move or breathe.

Vi tilted her head slightly, radiating off an idle kind of confidence.

“That was hot.”

Caitlyn nearly choked on nothing but pure air.

Heat flooded her face instantly, racing down her neck, an uncontrollable reaction that only worsened when Vi grinned even wider.

“Please stop calling me that,” Caitlyn sighed.

Vi, predictably, looked delighted. “Ok cupcake.”

Caitlyn turned on her heel so fast she was practically fleeing, striding toward the water hoping she could physically remove herself from the situation.

Unfortunately, Vi easily kept pace, still looking at Caitlyn’s back with that damn knowing smirk.

Caitlyn exhaled sharply, forcing her focus ahead. The waves rolled in steadily at her feet as if mocking her for getting flustered over something so insignificant.

And yet her steps slowed. Not intentionally, not because she wanted them to but rather unconsciously until Vi fell into stride beside her once again inevitably.

The remnants of embarrassment still lingered, a faint heat clinging to her skin. She had to shift the conversation- back to science, back to anything that she could hold onto.

After a moment of silence filled with only the rhythmic sound of the ocean waves splashing against the shore and some occasional screams of seagulls flying in the air- Caitlyn finally managed to speak as she turned towards the boundless teal stretching in front of them.

“…What’s it like?”

Vi glanced at her. “What’s what like?”

Caitlyn hesitated, watching the tide curl at their feet. “…Being in the ocean. Really being in it.”

Vi chewed the inside of her cheek, contemplating. “It’s… different. From anything else in the world.”

She tilted her head slightly with a light smile, flicking her gaze towards the sea as if she could see right through the surface of it.

“It’s cold when you first go under, not unbearable though. After a while you just stop noticing it. The deeper you go the quieter everything gets, and you just forget the world above even exists.”

Caitlyn listened, staring right into the diver’s clear eyes now glinting with something almost reverent. “You feel… weightless. The water moves around you and it’s loud but also silent.” She exhaled lightly towards the vast sea beside them, smiling thoughtfully.

“It’s like freedom but surrender at the same time. Like… the ocean is letting you there but only for as long as it allows.”

Caitlyn’s breath caught slightly.

The way Vi said it made it sound like the ocean was something sacred, like she wasn’t merely diving. She belonged to it, completely and willingly.

How could she just do this so easily?

How could she simply slip beneath the waves, disappear into the deep and move through the water as though she had never belonged to land in the first place?

It was effortless to her. Being in the ocean was almost like her second nature.

And Caitlyn, for all her knowledge and research, for all the ways she claimed to love the ocean, could never.

She could study the tides, learn the science, memorise the names of every species that called the reefs home. But she couldn’t be in it. She couldn’t cross that line between observation and immersion, between understanding and feeling.

And Vi simply did all that.

The slightest pang of envy hit her more than she ever wanted to admit.

Whoosh.

A blur of a white creature shot past them, jolting her thoughts to a screeching halt.

And before Caitlyn could even register the situation, the cupcake in Vi’s hand was already gone. 

Snatched straight from her hand.

Vi froze.

Caitlyn blinked rapidly.

For a solid five seconds, neither of them spoke.

Then Vi turned her head slowly, watching as a seagull  flapped smugly away with a sizeable chunk of blueberry cupcake clutched in its beak.

Caitlyn covered her mouth, barely stifling a giggle.

Vi just stood there. Processing the worst robbery in history that just happened five seconds ago.

Finally, she groaned.

“…I fucking hate the ocean.”

Caitlyn lost it. Laughter bubbled up before she could suppress it, loud, sudden and unrestrained. It broke through the briny air, shaking through her shoulders.

She turned to Caitlyn, deadpan. “Oh yeah. No, go ahead. Laugh your ass off.”

Caitlyn absolutely was.

Her stomach hurt. She hadn’t laughed like this in like- God, who knew how long. She couldn’t even remember.

Vi shook her head, exasperated. “Fucking unbelievable. I spent hours underwater literally dodging sharks and you’re telling me I got beaten up by these small bitches.”

Caitlyn wiped at her eyes, breathless from the abrupt wave of laughter. “I can’t-“

Vi narrowed her eyes. “I just suffered the biggest aura loss in my life.”

That just made Caitlyn laugh even harder. 

What’s funny wasn’t even the seagull anymore. It was Vi’s sheer devastation and defeat, and the fact that the exact same thing had happened to her twice. And her dramatic sigh and the way she couldn’t do anything but glare at the sky. Essentially everything about this situation.

Caitlyn giggled again, hand still on her mouth, chest suddenly feeling lighter than she had ever expected.

For once, Vi didn’t argue back.

Caitlyn’s giggles finally died down, tapering off into something quieter- and only then did she notice.

Vi was watching her.

She was quietly looking at Caitlyn as she giggled, her eyes almost imperceptibly softening, a look Caitlyn didn’t even notice until the last remnants of her laughter left her breath, until she realised Vi hadn’t said anything in the last ten seconds.

But then Vi only chuckled, grinning again as if she hadn’t just been staring at Caitlyn in silence. “You know what? It’s fine.”

Caitlyn’s brows raised slightly. “You’ve made peace with your tragic aura loss?”

Vi only shrugged, tucking her hands casually into her pockets. “Yeah. I mean, I’ve got a cupcake right here anyway. This one’s even better.”

Silence.

Caitlyn’s smile froze.

Again. For god’s sake. 

The way Vi had uttered the nickname with such ease, so unthinking that it only made Caitlyn acutely aware of her own internal reaction. Perhaps this was simply how she was with every other woman she encountered, and Caitlyn was an idiot to think otherwise.

Why would I ever think otherwise in the first place?

“What’s wrong, Cupcake?” Vi’s voice abruptly cut through her train of thought.

Caitlyn abandoned her silly little introspection, spinning on her heel with crisp finality. “We’re going back.”

Vi laughed, easily falling into step beside her again. “We?”

Caitlyn ignored the way her own words echoed back at her. 

Vi only chuckled, bumping Caitlyn’s shoulder slightly. 

𓂃𓈒𓏸𓈒𓂃𓈒𓇼𓈒𓂃𓈒𓆉

Location: Jervis Bay, New South Wales, Australia

Temperature: 26°C (78.8°F)

Humidity: 81%

Wind speed: 8.9 mph SW

Week 3

The air at the open water was thick with the briny scent of the ocean as the boat swayed gently with the current- one Caitlyn barely registered, so accustomed was she to its lull.

Caitlyn stood by the equipment bench, double checking the surface support devices before glancing up.

Vi was already adjusting the straps of her BCD, rolling her shoulders like this was merely an afternoon swim instead of technical diving.

Caitlyn hummed in satisfaction, handing Vi the multi-parameter probe, ensuring it was securely fastened to her gear.

“I need the temperature, pH and salinity readings at forty metres. We’ll use them to compare against the samples later as the season changes.”

Vi nodded and clipped it onto her BCD. “Any specific species I should focus on?”

Caitlyn considered. “Maybe the conditions of some corals but that’s not the aim of today. Or anything outside the expected population.”

Vi grinned, adjusting her mask. “So basically find the weird shit.”

Caitlyn sighed. “Find the data.”

Vi only chuckled,  adjusting the gas tank on her back before stepping onto the edge of the boat.

Caitlyn still stood nearby, watching as Vi made her final checks. Forty metres wasn’t beyond her skill. Far from it, even. Caitlyn knew better than that. 

“Be careful.” The words tumbled out of her mouth before she could talk herself out of it. “…Don’t get tangled or something.” And now she could only say something else to make it up.

Vi glanced up, smirking before the words had even fully settled between them. “Aw. You worried about me, Cupcake?”

Caitlyn somehow didn’t hesitate or deflect. Her instinct told her she didn’t want to soften the truth with a wry remark or an arched brow. 

“I am.”

Vi blinked.

It was brief, so fleeting that Caitlyn might have just missed it had she not been watching so closely.

Something flickered in those soft blue eyes. But then as swiftly as it had surfaced, Vi buried it by blinking once again. She chuckled as the teasing edge in her tone had seemed to fade, softening at the seams. “I’ll always come back to you, Cupcake. I’m a pro.”

Caitlyn wasn’t sure why these words sank low beneath her ribs, heavy as an anchor and impossible to dislodge yet somehow weightless at the same time.

She told herself it was relief as she watched Vi slip her mask over her face, stepping backward off the boat with one last wave of her hand.

And yet she felt an uninvited shiver of warmth curled low in her stomach as though something within her had loosened in Vi’s absence but had only just begun to make itself known.

The water parted around her in a seamless ripple, sunlight splintering across the shifting surface before closing in once more, swallowing her whole.

Caitlyn exhaled slowly and leaned back against the bait railing. 

A few seconds later, Vi’s silhouette turned slightly, lifting a hand in the universal “OK” sign.

Caitlyn pressed her lips together, also lifting her own hand in response.

Only then did she step away, letting the gentle sway of the boat shift beneath her. Her hand fiddled absently with her hair, pushing it back as the breeze caught the strands of midnight blue, teasing them loose.

She exhaled sharply as if she could brush away the thought as easily as she did the stray strands clinging to her neck. 

Today’s too warm.

The warmth was from the sun, nothing more. But the breeze was barely enough to temper it. 

The heat trailed down the back of her neck in drops of sweat. With a soft sigh, she gathered her hair in a swift motion, twisting it high and securing it into a ponytail with a thin black hair tie on her wrist.

The relief was almost immediate when her skin had come to exposure to the breeze.

She let her hands drop to her sides, flexing her fingers slightly before stilling again, awaiting for her diver’s ascent.

𓂃𓈒𓏸𓈒𓂃𓈒𓇼𓈒𓂃𓈒𓆉

The sun had climbed even higher by the time Caitlyn caught movement on the dive computer of Vi ascending.

Right on schedule.

Caitlyn exhaled in relief, stepping towards the edge of the boat when Vi finally broke through the water.

She resurfaced with effortless ease, pushing her mask up onto her forehead, droplets of seawater tracing slow paths down her skin. 

Caitlyn was already moving around towards her. She barely thought about it anymore.

She stepped forward, extending her hand towards the ladder almost automatically. Vi grasped it, letting Caitlyn pull her up just enough before she steadied herself to climb the rest of the way on her own.

“Hey Cupcake. Your diver’s back.” Vi pulled off the regulator with a grin. 

Caitlyn sighed as she reached for Vi’s BCD straps, fingers moving with ease, unfastening them without a second thought. She knew exactly where the clips are now, exactly how the weight would shift as Vi shrugged free of the gear.

The camera was still functioning. Vi looked completely fine. Everything was as it should be.

And so, Caitlyn reached for the towel as always. She pressed the soft fabric to the diver’s forehead first, moving carefully along her temple, then down her cheek, sweeping away the lingering saltwater.

Just as Caitlyn’s hand moved to tilt Vi’s chin, to lift her face as she always did, Vi beat her to it with a subtle tilt of her head. A fraction of a second but deliberate.

A faint smile lingered at the corners of her lips, barely visible but there nonetheless.

Caitlyn’s hand stilled for a split second.

It wasn’t much. Just a breath of hesitation, just the space of a heartbeat, before her hand finally moved again.

And of course Vi didn’t pull away as always.

Caitlyn swallowed,  exhaling slowly as she pressed the towel one last time against Vi’s freckled cheek before stepping back, clearing her throat.

Vi, still entirely too pleased with herself, let out a slow sigh, rolling her shoulders. Then she tilted her head slightly, blinking up at Caitlyn with those infuriatingly half-lidded eyes.

“I’m tired.”

Caitlyn blinked, still absentmindedly folding the towel between her hands. “Take a break.”

Vi’s grin widened. “You gonna help me out, Cupcake?”

Caitlyn paused her movement on the towel, narrowing her eyes slightly. “I just did.”

Vi tipped her chin towards the damp strands still clinging to her skin, saltwater trailing in slow rivulets down her shoulders. 

“My hair is wet too.”

Caitlyn blinked. Once. Twice.

She narrowed her eyes once again, caught between the urge to throw the towel at Vi’s face or actually do as she asked. 

She gave up. “…Come here.”

She lifted the towel, pressing it against Vi’s head, ruffling through the damp pink strands with slow movements, careful not to tug too hard.

Vi let out a low hum, drifting her eyes shut and leaning slightly into the touch. “You’re spoiling me.”

Caitlyn rolled her eyes, but her hands didn’t stop. 

Vi smelled like the ocean. Not just salt and wind, but also like the sun, the deep and the warmed currents.

But obviously Caitlyn wasn’t thinking about that.

She was thinking about how Vi’s hair was an absolute disaster, pink strands still dripping, tangled beyond reason. “Your hair is a mess.”

Vi huffed a quiet laugh, eyes crinkling slightly at the corners. Caitlyn worked her way down, fingers deft and careful as she ruffled through the diver’s hair, soaking up the seawater with the fabric.

Vi sighed, slow and deep, tilting her head slightly forward as if she was melting beneath the attention. “God, this feels nice,” she murmured.

Caitlyn’s hands faltered just for a fraction of a second before continuing, slower now, almost hesitant.

She wiped along Vi’s temples, brushing back a few stray strands that had fallen over her face. The fabric traced behind her ears, then lower, down the curve of her neck where salt clung stubbornly. 

“Better?”

Vi chuckled quietly, eyes still closed. “Mm. You’re a bit too good at this.”

Caitlyn scoffed lightly. “You wouldn’t need me if you could just dry your hair like a normal person.”

“But I like this VIP treatment.” Vi leaned her head slightly to the side, sinking into Caitlyn’s touch without much thought, completely at ease.

Caitlyn’s fingers continued to move through the damp pink strands, brushing gently over Vi’s scalp and ruffling through the ends before running the towel over them slowly.

Vi sighed again, low and content, almost sleepy.

She really is tired.

Caitlyn shook her head as a small chuckle slipped past her lips. 

Vi’s eyes fluttered open at the sound. She blinked up at Caitlyn, a little dazed. “Did you just laugh?”

Caitlyn immediately schooled her expression, her hands stilling instantly against Vi’s hair as a faint wave of blush creeped up her face. “No.”

Vi grinned. “You totally did.”

Caitlyn huffed, shoving the towel into Vi’s hands. “You’re dry enough. Handle the rest yourself.”

Vi chuckled, running a hand through her now fluffy hair and walked towards the helm of the boat.

Caitlyn flexed her fingers once, then again, shaking off the lingering droplets of seawater. She curled and uncurled her fingers repeatedly, giving them another brisk shake as though the warmth ghosting over her skin could be dismissed as easily as the saltwater clinging to her.

It was absurd. Completely and utterly absurd.

She was a grown woman. A scientist. Someone who had spent years in rigorous academic study, presenting field reports with unwavering precision. Yet here she was, standing on the deck of a boat, blushing like a lovestruck schoolgirl because Vi was, quite frankly, too attractive to stay close with.

But the warm echo of touch remained.

Caitlyn wiped her palms almost aggressively against her shorts for good measure, hoping the sea breeze would somehow carry away the residual warmth on her cheeks.

It wasn’t as if Vi had done anything extraordinary. She had merely looked at her. Smirked at her, let Caitlyn touch her without a flicker of hesitation, allow her to brush salt from her skin and towel-dry her hair as though such a thing was natural between them.

But the worst thing was Caitlyn had actually felt natural about it for only a fleeting instant.

And they were only three weeks in.

That meant twenty-three more weeks of whatever this was. Twenty-three.

Caitlyn didn’t dare to imagine how the rest of this expedition would go. The thought alone was unbearable enough.

Chapter Text

𓂃𓈒𓏸𓈒𓂃𓈒𓇼𓈒𓂃𓈒𓆉

Location: Jervis Bay, New South Wales, Australia

Temperature: 27°C (80.6°F)

Humidity: 78%

Wind speed: 10.2 mph, NNE

Week 4

The town was alive today.

Even from the solitude of her room, Caitlyn could hear the distant thrum of the crowd drifting from the beach outside her window.

Christmas was just around the corner, but she had no intention of joining the festivities. Much as the energy outside was infectious, it held utterly no pull to Caitlyn. Today was another decompression day, a schedule reprieve from the expedition and she intended to keep it that way. 

The heat outside was heavier than usual, so she had drawn the curtains just enough to let in the afternoon sunlight, leaving the window slightly ajar.

Her laptop sat quietly on her bed. For once she wasn’t buried in research papers with it, or reviewing sample reports. If nothing else, she was allowing herself a rare indulgence today.

She opened Netflix, and clicked on Our Oceans, which had been added to her My List a few months ago but didn’t actually have the time to sit down and watch properly, until now. (She had to admit she was kind of hyper fixated on The Deepest Breath)

Reclining against the headboard with a pillow propped up behind her back and a pack of dark chocolate Digestives within easy reach on the nightstand, she pressed play and let the cinematic narration fill the empty spaces of her room.

There was something strangely soothing about it. To her mind, there were a few things as humbling as the sea. Vast, boundless yet untouched. Seeing it displayed like this, stretching beyond sight and time was a reminder of why she was here at all. Why she had always been drawn to it despite never being able to touch it the way others could.

Everything was good. The warmth of the afternoon. The low and rhythmic cadence of the narration. The faint scent of salt drifting through the gap of the window.

Until a knock at the door echoed through her room, rupturing the moment like a bubble.

Caitlyn blinked.

She reached for the keyboard, pausing the documentary just as a breathtaking wide shot of deep sea and whales filled the screen.

Another knock came through. More insistent this time.

She sighed. Dragging herself upright, she stretched slightly before padding towards the door, sweeping some strands of hair from her shoulders in a half-hearted attempt at composure.

With a resigned exhale, she pulled the door open.

And of course Vi was standing there. Who else could it be?

Caitlyn barely had time to greet her, let alone protest, before the diver strolled right past her into the room with all the ease of someone who had long since decided boundaries were just optional.

“Hey Cait. What’re you up to?” Vi asked, casting a casual glance around the room.

Caitlyn sighed again, stepping aside to close the door. “It’s called knocking, Vi. You do it, and then you wait.”

Vi only grinned unapologetically.

Her gaze flicked to the laptop screen on Caitlyn’s bed where the frozen frame of Our Oceans still glowed softly. “Oh,” she drawled, leaning in slightly for a better look. “I wanted to watch that one. Didn’t have time, though.”

Caitlyn folded her arms. “And?”

Vi turned to her, smirking. “So, you’re gonna let me watch it with you, right?”

She didn’t wait for an answer. Of course she didn’t. 

Before Caitlyn could form a response- verbal or otherwise- Vi had already flopped onto the bed like someone who had made a permanent home in transient spaces, her limbs sprawling without thought like she’d done this a hundred times before and would do it a hundred times more without asking. And maybe she had, though Caitlyn suspected the number was slightly less than that. Slightly.

Caitlyn let out a small breath, arms still loosely crossed as she watched Vi settle in. She stretched out with one hand draped across her stomach, the other reaching for the Digestives on the nightstand.

Caitlyn narrowed her eyes. “Help yourself.”

Vi took a bite of the biscuit with deliberate satisfaction, looking entirely unbothered. “Thanks, Cupcake.”

The sigh Caitlyn let out wasn’t truly exasperated- too soft, too fond at the edges to carry any weight, but she let it out anyway, if only to keep up the pretence.

She didn’t tell her to leave. She simply lowered herself onto the bed beside her and hit play.

The soft narration opened with a sweeping shot of the Pacific Ocean. A pod of whales emerged, gliding through the deep. “Ohh. I love whales.” Vi muttered.

Caitlyn, without looking away, extended her hand towards the nightstand. “Vi, pass me the digestives.”

Vi blindly reached for the pack on the nightstand, her eyes still fixed on the endless shades of blue on the screen. But instead of handing it directly to Caitlyn’s hand, she simply placed it between them on the bed, resting against their legs.

Caitlyn glanced down at the packet, then at Vi, who hadn’t so much as blinked, just stayed exactly where she was, eyes still fixed on the screen.

Neither of them spoke much. The quiet between them was not empty but rather comfortable.

Then a minor disaster happened.

A mere brush of hands.

Fleeting and insignificant. Barely a brief collision of their fingertips as they both reached for a biscuit at once. Yet Caitlyn’s hand froze instinctively for just a fraction of a second just enough to let her thoughts stutter.

“Sorry,” she murmured, withdrawing her hand.

But of course Vi didn’t withdraw hers. Instead, with a distinct lack of hesitation, she plucked up a biscuit and held it up right in front of Caitlyn’s lips without preamble.

Caitlyn blinked. “What?”

Vi only smirked, gaze still fixed on the screen. “Didn’t you want it?”

Caitlyn exhaled sharply through her nose. “Vi. I have hands.”

“Yeah I know.”

The implication made Caitlyn’s stomach twist slightly. She stared at the biscuit at Vi’s hand, at the infuriatingly casual way she held it out.

Her face suddenly felt warm now. Not embarrassingly so, but rather like a warmth that crept in slowly like the heat of a candle held just a little too close to the skin.

Still she refused to make a scene out of this.

She leaned in with careful slowness. the edge of her breath brushing Vi’s wrist as she brought her lips just close enough to the biscuit to take the smallest possible bite.

She was painfully aware of every detail: the sudden dryness in her mouth, the exact distance between her and Vi, and the calculated movement of her lips, careful not to touch Vi’s fingertips.

It was absurd. Like a ridiculous exercise in restraint.

Vi’s smirk tilted, seemingly satisfied.

Caitlyn swiftly turned back to the screen, willing herself to absorb even a single word of narration or a frame of the footage. But the documentary had already blurred into meaningless sound, the images reduced to vague movement.

She suddenly became acutely aware of Vi’s presence beside her now, of the half-eaten biscuit still held aloft and how this entire situation felt oddly intimate, more than it had any right to be. But she soon reminded herself maybe that’s just the way Vi was. No boundaries with strangers whatsoever.

The biscuit remained.

Caitlyn inhaled deeply. But she was already tangled in this ridiculous game, so all she could do was lean in again, lips parting for another delicate bite, even more precise this time as if she could control the flush rising to her cheeks by managing the angle of her mouth.

Vi chuckled but made no move to withdraw her hand.

The warmth blooming across Caitlyn's face had crept to her ears by now like it had nowhere else to go. Act normal. Just eat the damn thing.

So she did. Or at least she tried to. She bit down again and again until the biscuit was gone and Vi’s fingers were finally empty without either of them acknowledging what exactly they were doing. 

Which was great. Perfect, even. Except Caitlyn was absolutely not digesting the Digestive right now.

The last of the biscuit disappeared between Caitlyn’s teeth, though she felt the crumbs were taking more time to dissolve than they should have.

Vi dusted off her fingers.

Caitlyn swallowed softly, trying to ground herself in the sweeping movements of the whales gliding through the ocean. 

“…Have you ever dived with them?” she asked quietly, feigning casualness.

Vi turned slightly, her eyes still half on the screen. “Whales?”

Caitlyn nodded.

Vi’s smile was soft with something like memory curling at the corners, fond and faraway. “Yeah, a few times. Mostly Humpbacks, though. Once in Tonga. Baja California and Norway too.” She laughed under her breath. “That one was freezing but still worth it.”

Caitlyn didn’t realise she’d shifted, but somewhere between Vi’s words she’d drawn her legs up onto the bed, folding them loosely beneath her and resting her arms atop her knees. “How did it feel to be so close to them?”

Vi’s gaze returned to the screen. “Peaceful but gigantic. Powerful too, but not in a way that makes you afraid. It just… reminds you how small you are and you’re in their space.”

Caitlyn listened in silence, gaze fixed on the screen though she wasn’t really seeing it anymore.

Something in Vi’s tone- low and thoughtful, laced with reverence and ease- curled softly in her chest.

A strand of hair slipped loose across her cheek, and she tucked it behind her ears instinctively, her heart fluttering in that quiet but unsteady way whenever Vi spoke too beautifully about something she loved with quiet enthusiasm.

I could listen to her talk about whales for hours, Caitlyn thought, unreasonably and without warning. About anything, really. As long as she spoke like that.

“I actually studied their migration patterns during my third year,” Caitlyn’s voice took on that familiar but quiet precision she used when she let herself slip into something she loved. “It was part of a broader project on marine megafauna, but I kept coming back to whales. The way they travel across entire ocean basins and still return to the same bays for breeding every year is just… remarkable.”

Vi looked at her, something soft flickering behind those pale turquoise eyes. “Of course you know that.”

Caitlyn’s lips curled just barely. “I just want to know their behaviour and instincts. I thought maybe if I understand their routes more precisely, I could help make conservation policies that actually work.”

Vi was quiet for a moment. “That makes sense,” she said eventually. “You’d want to protect something like that.”

Caitlyn didn’t answer, though the glint in her eyes said enough.

𓂃𓈒𓏸𓈒𓂃𓈒𓇼𓈒𓂃𓈒𓆉

Location: Jervis Bay, New South Wales, Australia

Temperature: 24 (75.2°F)

Humidity: 75%

Wind speed: 11.8 mph, S

Week 4

Caitlyn stirred awake to the distant hush of waves beyond the open balcony. 

Sunbeams spilled through the sheer curtains across the hotel room. She blinked at her phone on the nightstand. 10:07 AM.

The air in the room was slightly crisp from the air conditioning, but the Australian sunlight was streaming in through the windows anyway. 24°C already, and it wasn’t even properly afternoon yet.

She pushed herself to her feet and padded toward the bathroom. The cool tile sent a small shiver up her legs as she turned on the faucet, cupping water in her hand before splashing it over her face. She brushed her teeth methodically, staring into the mirror as she worked the mint foam through her mouth. At least she looked well-rested, if a little thoughtful.

By the time she returned to the bedroom, the light had shifted slightly, lighter now  and pooling soft golden waves across the bed.

She put on a pair of black linen shorts and a sleeveless white blouse, casual enough just to get around.

She ran a hand through her hair, tucking a stray lock behind her ear before retrieving her keycard from the nightstand.

Then she hesitated just for a second.

There was no real reason to knock on Vi’s door. They hadn’t made plans nor had they spoken about the morning. But Vi had a habit of sleeping in when left to her own devices, and the thought of spending Christmas Eve alone in separate rooms felt rather… wrong.

Caitlyn sighed, shaking her head as she stepped into the hallway.

Vi’s door was right next to hers. Unassuming. 

She lifted a hand and knocked three firm and deliberate taps with her knuckles against the white wood.

The door swung open after a beat of silence. Barely.

Just enough for Vi to lean against the frame, one arm braced over her head, eyes still heavy with the remnants of sleep. Her hair was of course, predictably, a complete disaster. The fiery pink strands practically sticking out in all directions was evidence that she had likely only just rolled out of bed. She blinked slowly at Caitlyn, sluggish like her brain hadn’t fully comprehended the fact that she was now standing.

And god, of course she wasn’t even properly dressed. Just a loose tank top and a pair of sleep shorts.

Caitlyn exhaled slowly.

“Do you have any plans for Christmas Eve?” she asked, carefully ignoring the absolute mess in front of her.

Vi yawned, rubbing a hand over her face before squinting at Caitlyn. Then she smirked with absolutely no hesitation. “You askin’ me out, Cupcake?”

Caitlyn immediately wished she hadn’t even knocked on the door in the first place.

“No- uh-” she cleared her throat. “There’s a Christmas market. It won’t be open tomorrow, so I figured we could go together.”

Vi hummed, tilting her head slightly in consideration. Then, she stretched- long and slow, absolutely unnecessary. Probably just to make her tank top ride up an inch. Just to make Caitlyn stare.

And Caitlyn did not. 

“Alright,” Vi murmured, grinning around another yawn. “Lemme get dressed. Try not to miss me while I’m gone.”

And with that she closed the door right in Caitlyn’s face.

Some banging noise of Vi brushing her teeth and washing her face in the bathroom. Then five minutes or so later, the door swung open again. Well, still barely.

At least she wasn't wearing pjs now, and her hair was somewhat tamed, though a few rebellious strands still stuck up at odd angles in a way that suggested she probably just ran her fingers through it once and called it a day.

Caitlyn gave her a once-over and turned towards the hallway. “Come on.”

Vi fell into step beside her as they stepped out into the warm morning air.

The sun was already high at 11:00 AM.

A light breeze carried the salty tang of the ocean but the heat had settled comfortably against Caitlyn’s skin. Not unbearable and just enough to make the shade feel like a relief.

The Christmas market stretches along the waterfront. Vendors stood beneath striped awnings, their surroundings full of people- mostly tourists.

But the crowd had thickened slowly. 

One moment, Caitlyn was keeping pace with Vi, the next, the space between them began to shift.  Someone sidestepped in front of her, another veered abruptly to the left, and Vi was suddenly just a little ahead- not far but far enough.

Caitlyn adjusted her stride, lengthening it instinctively. It should have been easy. She was taller than most people around her, her line of sight unobstructed even through the shifting sea of bodies. But the movement of the crowd was erratic and unpredictable.

She sighed, about to call Vi’s name, when-

A hand caught hers.

Firm and unhesitating.

Caitlyn’s breath caught in her throat as she looked down to find Vi’s gaze already on her, already pulling her forward gently. There was no hesitation in her grip, no glance back to check, just certain motion as though she’d always expected Caitlyn to follow.

And Caitlyn did. She let herself be drawn forward, her palm settling against Vi’s like it belonged there. She could have pulled away. She didn’t need to be led through a crowd, she was taller, perfectly capable of navigating a crowd. But Vi held her with a quiet certainty. Not tight or forceful, just barely a tether. 

The noise around them dulled.

For a fraction of a second, Caitlyn could only focus on how it felt.

She’d held Vi’s hand before, but only on the boat. Always damp and slick with seawater, fingers rough from gripping ropes and railings as Caitlyn hauled her up after a dive. Those touches had been practical, braced and efficient.

But this time it felt different. 

The first thing Caitlyn felt was a dry warmth. Then the calloused ridges of Vi’s fingertips brushing against her skin. She could practically feel the faint scratch of healing cuts, smoothed over but still present, along with the roughened edges of someone who probably spent more time in the water than on land. But beneath it all, was the undeniably grounding heat.

It lasted less than a minute. A few heartbeats at most.

But when they finally emerged into an open stretch of pavement, when Vi finally slowed and released her hand, she did it just a second too late. 

“Be careful, Cupcake.”

Caitlyn exhaled with an almost artificial kind of steadiness, ignoring the way her pulse hitched slightly beneath her skin.

“…Thanks.”

𓂃𓈒𓏸𓈒𓂃𓈒𓇼𓈒𓂃𓈒𓆉

Location: Jervis Bay, New South Wales, Australia

Temperature: 25°C (77°F)

Humidity: 72%

Wind speed: 9 mph, NNW

Week 5

They spent Christmas quietly in Caitlyn’s hotel room.

Not out of necessity, but because neither of them seemed to want to be anywhere else. The morning passed in a quiet sort of ease, the curtains drawn halfway down to let the gentle summer light in, the laptop screen aglow with endless blues as Our Oceans played softly between them.

At some point, Vi dozed off with her head tipped back, arms folded loosely across her chest, breathing even. Caitlyn didn’t wake her. She simply watched the footage roll on, and let the quiet settle around them like something earned.

And dinner was Vi’s idea. Naturally.

An oyster restaurant she’d “just happened to find” with 4.8 stars on Google Maps and a grin that dared Caitlyn to question it. She didn’t. Not really. She just followed as she always did, and let Vi order for them both like she hadn’t spent most of the afternoon curled into a nap.

After Christmas and lots of decompressions, they were back to routines again.

A few dives followed in early mornings with quiet preparations and the familiar hush of the sea wrapping around the hull. There were long hours on the boat, sun-warmed metal beneath their feet and salt in their hair.

And suddenly, it was New Year’s Eve. 

There was a knock on the door. Three sharp taps.

Caitlyn glanced up from the edge of the bed where she’d been half-heartedly scrolling through the news, legs folded neatly beneath her. Outside the slightly ajar window, the muffled sounds of celebration had begun to swell with music from the waterfront and the distant laughter of the crowd.

She crossed the room and opened the door.

Of course Vi stood there in a white tank top and loose shorts with a six-pack of Asahi beer dangling from one hand.

“Hey Cupcake,” she said. “You wanna go do the countdown?”

Caitlyn blinked at her. “Now?”

Vi shrugged. “Well, it’s not gonna be New Year in two hours, is it?” She gave the beer a little shake. “I brought motivation.”

Caitlyn glanced down at the label then back up at Vi. “You knocked on my door with alcohol and no plan?”

“Incorrect. I have two plans. One: go to the beach and join the countdown with the locals. Two: drink these and watch fireworks from the balcony. Either way, we’re not ending the year separately. That’s just depressing.”

Caitlyn turned back towards the night outside where the sea was dark and soft, lights scattered across the shore like fallen stars. She then glanced back at Vi, who was already halfway inside without waiting for an answer.

Caitlyn sighed, folding her arms. “Fine. We’ll stay here.”

Vi grinned, triumphant as she wandered towards the sliding door.

They stepped out onto the balcony together, the warm breeze catching the edge of Caitlyn’s hair as she leaned her forearms against the railing. The view stretched wide with the open curve of the bay where the scattered glow of streetlights below and groups of people gathered near the sand. Some small new year fireworks had started sparking along the coast, blooming gently against the  starry sky.

It was peaceful up here. Detached from the chaos but not completely separate from it, like they were part of it all, but watching from just far enough away to breathe.

Vi handed her a beer without a word, the cap already popped. Caitlyn took it, their fingers brushing briefly for a split second before a silence stretched between them, save for the distant crackling noise of the fireworks.

They stood like that for a while.

Caitlyn turned slightly, studying Vi’s profile in the dim light. The wind tousled her cerise hair, her eyes on the distant horizon.

Caitlyn sighed softly before asking almost tentatively, “Vi. Why did you become a diver?”

Vi didn’t answer right away. She tilted the bottle against her lips, took a slow sip then rested her arms beside Caitlyn’s on the railing.

“My dad’s a technical diver,” she said. “Used to take me out on calm dives when I was fourteen. Not deep but just enough to get a feel for it. I didn’t think I’d fall in love with it, though. But I did.”

Caitlyn turned her head slightly, catching the way Vi’s celeste gaze lighting in flickers of blue and gold from the distant sky.

“I know you know it, but I studied marine science too,” Vi continued. “Finished my master’s and apparently I was good at it. A few professors tried to talk me into a PhD. Thought I’d be a great researcher. Teaching, publishing, that sort of thing.”

She shook her head faintly. “But I didn’t want that. I don’t want to write papers about places and species I’ve never seen. I want to be out there diving and travelling, seeing things most people don’t even know exist. I want to see real sea creatures in the wild. Not catalogued or sampled. Just… real. They deserve to stay in their natural habitats.”

Caitlyn said nothing. She couldn’t have, despite her effort.

A long silence stretched.

She stood with her arms folded on the railing, her grip tightening slightly around the neck of the  cold bottle and her heart catching somewhere between admiration and ache. She looked over the water where the faint bursts of green and gold unfurled against the dark. And all the while, Vi’s voice lingered in her mind, unpolished and threaded with a genuineness that Caitlyn had always found so quietly devastating.

Yes, she admired Vi, she realised. Deeply. Not the stories, not the places she’d been, not even the creatures she spoke with reverence, but the certainty and resolve. The ease with which she’d built her life around what she loved as if the choice had never felt like a risk at all.

It wasn’t that Caitlyn hadn’t felt passion. She had and she still did. The ocean was everything she studied, every paper she published, every field project she fought to lead. But she’d always known the boundaries and thus had always worked around them.

Vi didn’t.

Vi moved through the world like it couldn’t stop her, like it never ever had. She followed instinct, not approval. She chose motion over safety, immersion over distance. And while Caitlyn knew how to admire the ocean from afar, she had never quite known how to live it. 

But she wanted to. She yearned for that kind of life, the kind that’s constantly moving and meant something, not just in theory or research but in experience, in memory, in skin and salt and every breath.

She glanced sideways. Vi was quiet now, eyes half lidded, the bottle still hanging loosely from her hand. The breeze caught her hair and the light touched her jaw and for a moment Caitlyn couldn’t look away.

Another soft burst of colour lit the sky, reflected in the glass of Caitlyn’s bottle.

“What about you?”

Caitlyn turned slightly, feeling her breath hitch a little then looked back out over the sea.

“…I wanted to understand it,” she said after a moment. “The ocean.”

Her voice was softer than she meant it to be. She took a slow sip before continuing.  

“It covers over seventy percent of the Earth’s surface, and we’ve only explored- five percent of it? That’s maddening. There’s so much left to be discovered. Entire ecosystems and species we’ve never catalogued.”

She paused and narrowed her gaze slightly on the horizon where sea met sky in a hazy blue blur.

“I think that’s what gets me the most. How something can have so much abundance but still be a mystery.”

Vi didn’t say anything, but Caitlyn could sense she was listening.

“Every time I see a new species, even just footage… something strange or ancient or bioluminescence, I just… can’t look away. It’s just awe. Every single time.

She smiled subtly to herself. “I don’t think I’ll ever stop wanting to know more,” Caitlyn murmured as the light breeze curled through the loose strands of hair next to her cheek. “About how they live and how they’ve adapted. They survive in pressures that would crush us and communicate in frequencies we can’t even hear. Migrate across entire oceans without a map. They’re… unbelievable. Sometimes I just can’t believe they’re even real, living on the same planet as us.”

Caitlyn heaved a sigh.

“I know that twenty percent we’ve charted probably won’t become thirty. Not even twenty five in my lifetime.”

Vi glanced at her then, but said nothing.

“It’s frustrating,” Caitlyn shifted her tone, now profoundly restless. “Humans spent centuries trying to understand something that’s always been right here all around us. Nurturing our planet since the beginning of everything. And we’ve only just scratched the surface.”

She let that hang for a moment, then lifted the bottle to her lips, taking a tiny sip as the fireworks flashed dimly against the glass again.

“…But I still want to try,” she said, softer now. “Even if I’ll never see the full picture or never touch the deepest places. I want to know every single thing I can possibly know.”

Another pause.

“And I want to protect it. I want to improve conservation efforts, strengthen marine protected areas and push policies that actually preserve what we have left. I want the ocean to keep going and survive us.”

“Because it gave us everything… and we’ve given it almost nothing in return.”

She looked over, finally meeting Vi’s gaze. 

And paused.

Vi’s gaze was already on her, the aquamarine eyes clear and unflinching, now glimmered faintly under the light and slightly widened.

Caitlyn felt her breath catch.

Oh god.

Had she talked too much?

She dropped her gaze all the way down to the bottle on her hand for a second, heart suddenly racing with embarrassment.

Of course I did.

It had all come out in a rush. She blurted everything she’d been carrying, all the longing and frustration, the unshakable ache to understand something so vast yet untouchable as the ocean all at once. Like a complete nerd. And now Vi was just standing there, blinking at her in silence.

Maybe it had been too much. Maybe Vi had only asked to be polite. Maybe she was just humouring her, waiting for her to finish rambling about conservation as if any of that mattered to her.

Caitlyn bit the inside of her cheek.

Idiot. 

“Yeah,” but then Vi said softly.

Caitlyn looked up.

“I mean-” Vi cleared her throat, eyes flicking backward to the sea for a second as if grounding herself. “Not in the same way. I don’t want to be the one reading data sheets at midnight or designing climate models like you, though. Or whatever it is you do when you lock yourself up for hours in your room.”

Caitlyn huffed a short breath of a laugh.

Vi looked back at her. “But I want it to survive, too. Everything down there. I wanna see it stay wild.” Her fingers tapped lightly against the glass bottle. “And if you’re the one helping it do that,” a soft smile pulled at her mouth. “Then I’m glad I’m here.”

Caitlyn blinked. That was the last thing she expected from Vi’s mouth.

While Caitlyn was still spiralling for a response, Vi tilted her head slightly, curving her lip into something far more dangerous than a smile.

“By the way, I never thought conservation could sound this hot.”

Caitlyn’s entire posture stiffened.

Vi took a slow sip of her beer, eyes never leaving hers. “Don’t worry, Cupcake. You didn’t talk too much. It’s cute when you’re nerdy.”

The simple words smacked Caitlyn harder than they had any right to. 

How could Vi just read her mind this easily?

Caitlyn flushed lightly, heat blooming across her cheeks so quickly she had to glance away. She abruptly took a sharp sip of the cold drink to will herself to remain composed, feeling the bubbles sting her tongue.

She was failing. Utterly.

And Vi said nothing.

She simply leaned her arms back on the railing and moved her gaze towards the horizon again like she hadn’t just caused a complete system crash within Caitlyn with just a simple response.

Caitlyn’s heart still thudded traitorously in her chest. She kept her eyes on the sky, hoping the fireworks would be enough to hide the way her skin was almost burning, which she clearly knew had nothing to do with the alcohol but the woman beside her. 

Vi didn’t tease her further, though. Instead, she tilted her head slightly. “You have a favourite sea creature?”

A breath of relief left Caitlyn’s mouth, feeling somewhat grateful for the shift of the conversation into something safer, even if only slightly. She allowed herself the time to think for a moment, then answered quietly, “Jellyfish, actually.”

Vi blinked. “Why?”

Caitlyn shrugged gently. “Because they don’t think. They don’t even have brains in the first place. No thoughts, no fears, no anxiety.” She paused, smiling faintly to herself. “Sometimes I envy that simplicity. Just existing and no questions and curiosity whatsoever.”

She took another sip of her drink, felt it warm her throat before continuing softly. “But then… I think how terribly sad it must be to never know… just float through the darkness for years and understand nothing about the wonders around them. To have no concept of how much they’re missing.”

Vi watched her intently, waiting for her to keep going. 

“Theoretically, jellyfish could live millions of years. There’s evidence some of them existed unchanged for sixty six million years, though it’s unlikely one jellyfish ever lives quite that long. But the thought of it… sometimes when I’m overwhelmed or lonely, I picture them drifting in the dark. And I wonder if their lives are peaceful or insanely empty.”

She turned her head slightly, meeting Vi’s gaze again.

“I don’t think I’d ever truly want to live like that. But sometimes I just wonder what it would be like to not feel so much. To simply be beautiful with nothing else required. So…I kind of go back and forth between wanting to be one and being grateful I’m not one.”

She paused, her lips curving just slightly into an almost embarrassed smile. “I suppose that doesn’t answer your question, does it?”

“I think it answers a lot.” Vi chuckled. “That’s… unique, I like it.”

The silence held for a while, though it was rather a stillness that didn’t need to be filled.

Then Vi spoke again casually. “Is there a specific type you like? Or are you just jellyfish positive in general?”

Caitlyn let out a quiet laugh, then hummed in consideration. “Mm. Maybe… Aequorea victoria.”

Vi blinked, then snorted. “Just say crystal jelly, you nerd.”

Caitlyn flushed again, more from amusement this time  than nerves. “Well, excuse me for using their proper scientific name.”

Vi grinned. “God, I knew you were going to say something like that. You couldn’t have gone with moon jelly or mauve stinger. You’d love the one that’s absurdly delicate and has a bunch of light producing proteins.”

Caitlyn gave her a side glance. “Just two, actually. And it’s called GFP and aequorin. It was the basis for a Nobel Prize.”

Vi smiled. “Yeah, yeah. I've seen them before.”

Caitlyn turned to her, feeling mildly surprised. “You have?”

Vi nodded. “Yeah. Off the coast of California. We were tracking moon jellies, and suddenly they just appeared. Delicate and clear like stars underwater.”

Caitlyn’s heart skipped a beat. She could practically imagine the darkness in the water, the shimmer of the bioluminescence and Vi suspended in it all like a part of the constellation.

“I was twenty,” Vi went on. “And I remember thinking this is the kind of thing no one ever gets to see unless they’re lucky enough. Right here. Right now.”

She looked at Caitlyn then. “So yeah, I get why you love them.”

Caitlyn swallowed gently, her fingers tightening slightly around her bottle. She let the silence stretch a little longer, the hush between them laced comfortably with only the glow of the distant fireworks and the scent of salt.

She tilted her head then with a small smile tugging at her lips. “What about you then?”

Vi blinked at her.

“Favourite sea creature,” Caitlyn clarified. “Since you asked me.”

Vi looked out towards the water, pressing her lips together thoughtfully. “Mm… rays, I guess?”

Caitlyn raised her brows slightly. “Really?”

Vi nodded. “They have the biggest brain of any fish. Like, by a lot. So there’s a good chance they’re actually really smart.”

She paused, lifting her beer bottle to her lips. “And they’re harmless. But people call them devilfish.”

Caitlyn’s brows furrowed slightly. “Yeah?”

“Because of the two fins that curl forward by their heads. They look like horns, apparently.” Vi shrugged. “That’s it. No reason beyond that. Just… because of the shape of them.”

She looked down into her drink. “It’s unfair, right?”

Caitlyn smiled, almost fondly. “Misunderstood rays of the sea.”

Vi let out a soft laugh through her nose. “Exactly. They’re just trying to vibe.”

Caitlyn chuckled. “I never would’ve guessed that’d be your favourite.”

Vi shrugged lightly, returning her gaze to the sea beyond the balcony.

Caitlyn turned her head slightly. “…If there’s no limitations, where would you go? No physics. No funding. Anywhere.”

Vi was silent for a moment. Then she spoke, low and sure.

“The Challenger Deep.”

Caitlyn glanced at her. “The Mariana Trench?”

Vi nodded. “The very bottom. The deepest place on Earth.” Her eyes stayed fixed on the horizon. “I want to see what lives down there. How they move in perpetual darkness and under pressure that could crush a submarine like a tin can.”

She sighed. “Down where absolutely no light reaches. Where life shouldn’t even exist… but somehow still does.”

Caitlyn didn’t speak. Her breath caught slightly, not in surprise but because it somehow sounded so perfectly Vi. She couldn’t have imagined otherwise.

Vi turned towards her then. “I want to dive into the place no one understands. Because if something’s survived that deep, that long… I want to see it myself.”

Caitlyn watched her for a moment, watched the way the subtle light caught in her hair and the way her voice softened when she spoke about the unknown with not fear but reverence.

Her lips curved, a little dry yet a little fond. “So… is that why you told me on the first day of the trip, that you’d follow me all the way down to Challenger Deep?”

Vi blinked, looking almost sheepish for a second. Then  she smirked. “You remember that?”

Caitlyn chuckled lightly. “It’s hard to forget someone offering to dive ten thousand metres for you when you’ve barely known her for three days.”

Vi laughed. “Hey, I was making an impression.”

“You did.”

Vi smiled softly, then tilted her head. “What about you? If there’s no  fear and no boundaries. Where would you go?”

Caitlyn remained quiet for a moment in introspection. Her fingers traced the curve of the bottle absently where the light caught faintly along its surface. Then she looked out towards the sea as if she was searching for the place in her mind.

“Point Nemo,” she finally said. “The oceanic pole of inaccessibility. It’s the most remote location in the entire ocean. The farthest you can be from any landmass. There’s nothing around you for over two thousand kilometres.”

She paused. “The closest humans to you… are probably astronauts aboard the ISS.”

Vi didn’t laugh or tease. She simply stared at Caitlyn’s profile quietly. 

Caitlyn’s voice dipped even softer now. “Only one person has ever been there. Just one. It’s not deep like the Mariana Trench, but it’s isolated and utterly unreachable. It just fascinates me… how something can be so vast and still so untouched.”

She glanced at Vi, eyes catching hers in the half light.

“I think I just want to know what it feels like to stand at the edge of the world and realise you’re the only one there.”

Her voice trailed off into the night like a wish too long unspoken.

Vi’s gaze remained on Caitlyn’s, still glinting faintly with the shimmer of fireworks.

And then she spoke, almost haltingly unlike her usual self. “…You know, you could always come with me on a dive. I mean it.” Vi turned towards Caitlyn.

Caitlyn blinked, turning slightly in kind. “…I don’t dive.”

“Yeah I know. You’ve said that multiple times since we met. But why?”

Caitlyn hesitated. Her fingers clutched the neck of the bottle. The question itself wasn’t something new.

Vi waited for her response.

Caitlyn’s brows knit faintly, her gaze dropping to the stretch of ocean in the distance.

“When I was nine,” she said slowly, “we were on my family’s yacht. My parents were below deck, having lunch.”

She tried to keep her voice even. “I was leaning over the edge, just watching. I remember the water was clear that day, I could see all the way down the reef. I thought it was beautiful. And I just…”

She inhaled softly as if gathering the courage to speak the truth aloud. “I reached out, a little too far.”

“And I fell. No one noticed for a minute. Maybe even two. It was… so cold and quiet. I couldn’t find which way was up. I couldn’t breathe. And no one was there.”

She swallowed hard. “Jayce found me. He came up to look for me. I was still under when he shouted. That’s when they realised.”

Vi swore under her breath. “Shit. Cait, I’m-”

“It’s fine,” she said almost automatically. “I’m fine.”

But her voice caught slightly. “I tried diving after that. I wanted to prove it didn’t break me. So I trained and learned the equipment. I thought I could rationalise through it.”

She laughed once, though it was short and lacked even the slightest hint of humour. “But the moment I’ve fully submerged, that fear crashes back. Every time. My whole body just freezes. I can’t move. Can’t breathe. I just-”

Her words faltered. “I don’t know how to be in the water anymore.”

Caitlyn’s words faded into the night air just like that, swallowed by the gentle sea breeze and the hush of distant fireworks. Then the silence stretched between them for an agonisingly long moment.

Vi exhaled. 

And when Caitlyn glanced up, she found Vi already looking at her.

Her eyes, pale turquoise and quietly unwavering, seemed to hold galaxies now, constellations flickering just beneath the surface like light refracted through the sea, before she finally opened her mouth.

“Then I’ll do it for you.”

Caitlyn’s breath caught in her throat.

Vi didn’t look away.

“I’ll be your hands,” she lowered her voice just the slightest bit, now almost reverent. “And your eyes under the sea.”

The words slipped between them like an unadorned vow. Yet it somehow sank into Caitlyn’s chest like weightless gravity.

Her whole body went still.

She forgot how to breathe.

For a second, she almost thought she was underwater again, but not drowning. Just suspended and floating. Held.

Then a sudden explosion of colour split the sky.

Caitlyn flinched just slightly as the first of the midnight fireworks shattered across the horizon, brilliant bursts of crimson and gold blooming in the dark. The sound followed a second later: deep and echoing booms that rolled over the water and up to the balcony but softened by the distance.

On the beach below, the crowd had already started to count.

Ten. Nine. Eight.

Caitlyn’s pulse was already racing, but now it thundered. For a moment she truly hoped that the crack and flare of fireworks would be enough to drown it out.

She dared to glance to her side.

Seven. Six. Five. Four.

Next to her, Vi was watching the sky, her face tilted slightly upward, firelight blooming across her skin. The colours of it flickered in her eyes, catching every glint and flare as though the constellations had come home to rest in them. Her cerise hair shimmered faintly in the light, soft strands catching gold and violet, though nothing else stole the light more than she did.

Three. Two. One.

Vi turned her head.

Their eyes met.

“Happy new year, Cait.”

The words were quiet, yet Caitlyn felt them strike somewhere deep like a match drawn delicately across her ribs. For a breathless second, her heart surged in her chest, pounding so fiercely it seemed louder than the fireworks crackling overhead, thundering in her ears in the most impossible yet unrelenting rhythm.

Her breath caught.

Vi’s eyes- those implausibly pellucid eyes, clearer than any oceans on Earth, held the brilliance of the most resplendent and breathtaking fireworks she could ever imagine.

And maybe suddenly she wasn’t just longing for the ocean anymore.

Chapter Text

𓂃𓈒𓏸𓈒𓂃𓈒𓇼𓈒𓂃𓈒𓆉

Location: Jervis Bay, New South Wales, Australia

Temperature: 24°C (85°F)

Humidity: 73%

Wind speed: 8.3 mph, SW

Week 8

Her name was Mariana.

A navy blue Jellycat bunny with long ears and a perpetually gentle expression- soft, limbs slightly floppy with age.

Caitlyn had been nine when she first held her.

She remembered the hospital room smelled like antiseptic and lemon, and her hair still held the faint scent of seawater even after two shampoos. Her mother had said very little. She simply handed her the navy blue bunny wrapped in tissue paper in a box, and kissed her temple without a word.

She’d named it Mariana that night.

“Because,” she whispered into the bunny’s floppy ear, “it’s the deepest place on Earth. Deeper than Mount Everest is tall. So deep no one even really knows what’s down there.” She pressed her cheek against the bunny’s soft head, voice trembling slightly in the dark. “I think… you feel a little like that.”

Mariana didn’t reply.

“It was scary,” Caitlyn whispered. “I couldn’t breathe. I didn’t know which way was up.”

A breath.

“I really thought… I might not come back.”

She clutched Mariana’s plush body tighter.

“But even now… I still love the sea. Isn’t that silly?”

She sniffled, cheeks damp but unbothered. “I still want to learn everything about it. I want to know why it’s so massive. Why it sounds like it’s breathing.”

Why the whales sang, why the jellyfish glowed, and where all the shipwrecks went when no one was looking.

She held Mariana closer, her heart still fluttering from the moment of sinking. 

“Maybe if I understand it better… I won’t be scared anymore.”

A pause.

“…You won’t tell anyone, right?”

Mariana never did.

As she grew, Mariana remained. 

She was thirteen.

She’d tossed her bag onto the floor, kicked off her shoes with unnecessary force and collapsed face first onto her bed, her voice muffled by sheets.

“Mari. Today I got so excited about whales that I forgot we were meant to be presenting in pairs.” She would say, half groaning. “And then I heard them say I sounded like a documentary narrator. Again.”

Mariana remained silent as ever.

Caitlyn would roll onto her back, eyes flicking towards the ceiling.

“I know I got carried away,” she’d murmur. “But they act like it’s a flaw. Like curiosity is something to be embarrassed about. Like loving something too much makes me strange. I just-”

Her fingers would find Mariana’s ear and twist it gently between her thumb and forefinger. “I just think it’s beautiful that there are creatures that survive by glowing. Don’t you think so?”

Mariana always listened.

In high school, the conversations with Mariana grew heavier. 

Less about classroom embarrassment, more about the slow pressure of expectations. She’d sit curled on her bed with curtains drawn, Mariana in her lap and a frustration in her chest she hadn’t yet learned how to overcome at the age of seventeen.

“She wants me to go into politics,” Caitlyn would whisper, the words laced with mild exasperation. “She says it’s the most useful path. That marine biology is just a childhood phase I’ll outgrow.” 

Her voice tightened. 

“Except I don’t want to outgrow it.”

She stared down at the soft fur beneath her fingers, smoothing it instinctively, over and over. “I don’t care if it’s not practical. I want to understand how fish glow and why coral dies and what’s still hidden in the deep. I want to protect it, Mari.” She blinked, then laughed sheepishly. “…She said political science would be more impactful.”

A beat.

“But I don’t want power,” she whispered. “I want purpose.”

Though not all the moments were tear-soaked. Some were giddy.

Caitlyn burst into her room one evening, cheeks pink with an excitement that made her limbs move too fast, and plopped onto her bed with a graceless bounce. Mariana waited, as always, propped neatly on her pillow, and Caitlyn reached for her with the same instinct she’d had since she was nine.

“She said yes,” she whispered as though saying it aloud would undo it. Her voice then cracked into an almost breathless laugh. “She actually said yes.”

Mariana, unsurprisingly, didn’t react.

But Caitlyn pulled her into her arms anyway, hugging the plush bunny close against her chest as she grinned into the soft fabric.

“She still thinks it’s impractical,” she said, barely able to suppress a smile. “But she said if I really want it… I can study marine biology.”

Her fingers curled around Mariana’s floppy ears.

“I’m applying to Harvard,” she added, and the word itself made her heart skip. “I’ll fly to the States on my own. Live on campus. Conduct real research. Learn conservation and bioluminescence and- God, Mari, can you believe it?”

Then she was finally in college.

Deadlines. Lab reports. Presentations. Nights when the library lights stayed on long after the rest of the world had gone to bed.

And through it all, Mariana stayed.

One night, Caitlyn groaned into her blanket, then turned her head towards the bunny.

“I think I’ve forgotten how to blink. My eyes are just… permanently open now.”

Mariana’s navy fur peeked out from behind her laptop.

Caitlyn sighed. “I spent forty minutes re-reading Jellyfish: A Natural History instead of reviewing protein structures.”

She flopped back on the bed, eyes tracing the spotless ceiling.

“Can you believe we’ve come this far?”

No answer, of course.

And now, she was in Australia. Jervis Bay, to be exact. Lying on her back atop the hotel bed, legs half draped off the edge. And above her, held delicately between her fingers like a relic, was Mariana. Her navy ears dropped downward while Caitlyn stared up at her pink little nose with a mournful expression somewhere between resignation and heartbreak.

“It’s been two weeks,” she said quietly, almost conversationally. “And she hasn’t mentioned it. Not once.”

She gave Mariana a slight tilt in the air as if seeking agreement. 

“The promise, I mean. The one she made on New Year’s Eve.”

Her voice was steady. Too steady it could only mean she’d already spiralled and was now smoothing over the wreckage.

“She said… she’ll be my hands. My eyes. That she’ll dive for me.”

A small puff of breath left her mouth.

“She said it like it was real. She didn’t say she would, she said she will.”

Outside the window, the sea lapped gently against the shoreline.

“…She probably forgot,” Caitlyn murmured, more to the ceiling than to the bunny now. “Or didn’t mean it the way I thought. Maybe it was the beer. Or the fireworks. Maybe that’s just what she does. She says things in the moment and doesn’t… stay in them.”

Her thumb brushed absently over the slightly worn velvet of bunny’s ear. 

“I named you Mariana,” she whispered again, her voice barely louder than  the hush of waves through the window. “Because it’s the deepest place on Earth. It’s mysterious. Untouched. Impossible.”

She let out a breath, half laugh and half sigh. 

“Which just so happens to be exactly where she wants to go.”

There was a beat of silence.

Caitlyn huffed a quiet but breathless chuckle, her lips curling uncontrollably as she stared up at the ceiling like it had answers tucked between the plaster lines.

“Isn’t that a little too much of a coincidence?”

She paused.

“God, I sound insane.”

Caitlyn let her arms fall back down, bunny and all, until Mariana rested against her sternum, right where her heartbeat had thundered that night under the glow of fireworks.

“But it’s not like I chose you because of her. You came first.”

Her heart was suddenly beating too fast again. Loud and traitorous.

She swallowed, pressing Mariana closer to her chest as if the soft cotton might muffle the rhythm rattling beneath her ribs.

Do I like her?

The thought arrived uninvited, sharp as salt in an open wound.

No, she scolded herself. It’s the setting. Forced proximity. Misattribution of arousal. Heightened emotions, elevated cortisol. But even in her head, the rationale felt flimsy. An excuse dressed in the language of science, stretched too thin to cover the way her stomach twisted when Vi so much as glanced at her with a smile.

It didn’t explain the ache.

Or the stillness in her bones every time Vi looked at her.

Do I really like her?

Me?

Have a crush? 

On Vi?

Vi, who flirted with abandon. Who made everything look easy, from diving into the abyss to teasing Caitlyn out of her head. And she spoke of her dives like the sea was sentient. And Caitlyn had listened like a woman spellbound.

She talks. But she also lets me talk. Not just tolerate but listen. Like she really cared about conservation and jellyfish. 

And when she looked at me like that-

It wasn’t a flutter.

It was a nosedive.

A breathtaking, reckless descent into the clear celeste gaze.

She closed her eyes, heart still thudding and let her cheek rest against Mariana’s familiar softness.

Am I her exception? Or am I just another expedition memory? A passing presence. A name she’d forget by the time she boarded her next flight. Caitlyn swallowed hard, fingers curled into Mariana’s navy fur, her chest tight with the effort of pretending it didn’t hurt her even just the slightest bit.

What if Vi was like this with everyone? What if the soft smiles and biscuits and quiet yet devastating attentiveness weren’t for her, but simply the way Vi was to everyone? What if none of it was hers to keep?

I’m not special. 

But God-

She makes me feel like I am.

Like the world narrowed and decelerated whenever Vi turned toward her. Like every word was for Caitlyn alone, every glance laced with fondness. Like she was seen, really seen in a way she hadn’t even known she was longing for until now. And that was the cruelest part. Because it would be so much easier if it meant nothing.

If Vi’s hand hadn’t found hers in the crowd. If she hadn’t leaned into her palm whenever she was drying her hair.  If her voice didn’t soften whenever Caitlyn started talking about the ocean. If her gaze didn’t linger like she was memorising her features.

She exhaled, long and slow until there was nothing left to press down. No more logic to weaponise, no more excuses to hide behind.

Mariana lay still on her sternum, soft ears now folded.

Caitlyn stared at her for a long beat. Then, with an incredulous little scoff, she flipped the bunny upright to face her, eye to eye as if the thread and stuffing might offer her absolution.

“God,” she muttered, dragging a hand through her hair. “Just- leave me alone.”

Mariana didn’t blink.

Caitlyn’s mouth twisted in something between a grimace and a helpless smile.

“Fine. You want honesty?” She said, her voice hoarse from the mental exhaustion and something dangerously close to longing. “I’ll admit it.”

The words cracked open like a shell.

“I have feelings for her.”

Her throat bobbed.

“I like her.”

There. It was out now. Inevitably.

“I don’t know if it’s real.”

A pause. She then pressed her thumb into the soft space just above Mariana’s stitched pink nose.

“But I do like her now.”

The silence that followed was deafening.

She glared at Mariana’s stitched little face for a moment longer, then let out a breath that was equal parts of exasperation and surrender.

“Happy now?” she muttered, and with theatrical petulance, tossed the bunny back onto her chest. Mariana landed with a soft thmp, limp ears splaying across her collarbone.

Caitlyn lay there, still, heart pounding traitorously fast as the admission echoed in her mind like a sonar ping.

Meanwhile, right next door, Vi was probably fast asleep. Spread out like a dumb firebrick starfish across the bed. Snoring. Drooling. Dead to the world and probably dreaming of manta rays or humpback whales or whatever it was that she saw under the sea.

And here she was, lying flat on her back, confessing a crush to a stuffed bunny like she was seventeen and in the final act of a particularly humiliating romantic comedy.

It wasn’t fair.

Because even the thought of Vi asleep like that, limbs sprawled, mouth slack, one sock probably half off. And somehow, impossibly, all of it still managed to be hot in Caitlyn’s mind.

Which, frankly, felt like a personal attack.

Because what kind of person found that hot? What kind of rational, self-respecting scientist would look at the mental image of someone snoring with her arms thrown everywhere like a collapsed sea cucumber and think: attractive?

Apparently, her.

Now she couldn’t even be mad at her anymore. Not really.

Because how do you hold a grudge against someone for making you feel something undeniably real that made your heart flutter? Especially when she didn’t even mean to. She let out a breath, sharp at the edges but trembling underneath, and whispered, “This is ridiculous.”

She reached out and pulled the bunny close again, her voice cracking into a sort of despairing disbelief.

“It’s only week eight.”

“Eight weeks,” she murmured, staring into Mariana’s eyes. “And I’m already here- already daring to say aloud that I have a crush on her.”

The confession again lingered in the air like the previous ones, raw and frightening in its simplicity.

She had a crush. An unreasonable one.

She sat up slightly, dragging Mariana into her lap, her fingers absently smoothing down one velvet ear as if grounding herself to the soft familiarity could tether her to something sensible.

“I never expected this,” she whispered. “Never in a thousand years did I imagine I’d develop a crush during an expedition.”

The word felt ridiculous in her mouth. Crush. Like it couldn’t possibly contain her irrational feelings.

“She was just supposed to be my expedition partner."

She looked down at Mariana’s worn little face, trying not to smile and trying not to ache.

“I don’t even know if this is fleeting. If it’ll vanish once we’re back home, or when the sunburns fade and the research is published.”

She lay back down, Mariana now cradled against her chest.

Is this what a crush feels like?

This strange, aching sweetness that curled in her stomach like a fist and unfolded like a wave in the same breath. Gut-wrenching yet blissful, maddening yet weightless all at once.

She’d dated, sure. She’d held hands, gone to dinners.

But it had never felt like this.

There was something about the way she’d felt now, that ironically left her lightheaded yet ecstatic with its ethereality, for the first time in her life.

It wasn’t logical, or purposeful.

Her feelings, she realised, were almost untainted here, in this tiny seaside town.

Unadulterated in a way that felt abnormal at this stage of her life, when so much of everything else had always been balanced and measured. The kind of feeling that she hadn’t thought herself capable of anymore.

It absurdly reminded her of the way high school girls fell in love.

the quiet and uncertain longing she’d once seen written across desks and love letters: affection without demand, attention without expectation. The kind of crush that bloomed simply because they could. Because someone sat beside you everyday and smiled in a certain way that made the air feel different just by being in the room.

And here, in this sun drenched town- where her days blurred gently from boat to shore, and the tide was the only real sense of time- Caitlyn felt like that girl. Like someone whose life had been momentarily stripped of its noise. No conferences. No academic deadlines. No grant proposals.

Only the sea. 

And Vi.

The two unknown confounding variables.

And with everything else so quiet, so spacious, she was hyperaware of the way her own emotions rose to fill the room. Raw and soft and impossibly sincere. There was no purpose behind her feelings. No motive. Just the undeniable fact that she liked her. Truly and helplessly.

Like a girl falling for her deskmate with nothing to gain and nowhere to hide, only the ache and awe of finally feeling something so uncomplicated not in its intensity but in its purity. 

All it took was eight weeks. Fifty four days, to be exact.

Scientifically, according to behavioural psychology, habit formation, neuroplasticity- twenty one days was often enough to adjust to a change in routine, to form attachment through repetition and familiarity.

Twenty one days. That was all it should take, sometimes, for the brain to start believing something completely new was normal. And Caitlyn had passed that threshold twice over now.

Vi’s voice in the mornings. Vi’s laughter over Digestive biscuits. Vi’s hair, still damp from the sea, brushing against Caitlyn’s hands when she leaned in to her touch. 

It simply sneaked in, unnoticeable at first yet entirely logical in hindsight. 

And she'd selfishly, silently wished time would stop. That they could stay here in this quiet seaside town where the air smelled like salt and sunscreen, where days moved slowly and Vi was always just a room away. If life could stay like this, she thought maybe she’d never ask for more.

Caitlyn slowly heaved a sigh, smoothing one navy blue ear between her fingers, voice dipping into something almost conspiratorial.

“Don’t tell her when she comes into my room tomorrow, alright?” she whispered. “Not a single word.”

Her lips then curved into a quiet laugh, soft and breathless as she shook her head at herself. 

“I’m twenty seven, a PhD candidate at Harvard. And I’m talking to a Jellycat bunny like she’s my therapist. How ironic.”

She tilted her head slightly as if waiting for Mariana’s judgement. None came. Of course.

But at least for tonight, her feelings were hers alone. And Mariana would always keep them safe.

𓂃𓈒𓏸𓈒𓂃𓈒𓇼𓈒𓂃𓈒𓆉

Location: Jervis Bay, New South Wales, Australia

Temperature: 28°C (82.4°F)

Humidity: 76%

Wind speed: 13.7 mph, NE

Week 9

Vi leaned against the balcony railing, one hand curled around her phone, the other lazily draping over the railing. Her hair was still damp from her last rinse, the faint scent of salt and sunscreen still clinging to her skin.

The sun was almost down, and next door behind the thin walls, she could hear faint movement. Footsteps. Probably Caitlyn pacing or talking to herself.

“Okay sis,” came Powder’s voice through the speaker. “How’s it going with your hot British Harvard marine biologist?”

Vi blinked. “Woah. Straight to the throat.”

Powder laughed, a little too satisfied with herself. “You literally called her ‘terrifyingly pretty’ the first five minutes of your last voicemail.”

Vi ran a hand down her face, groaning softly into her palm. “That was private.”

“You also said she talks about jellyfish like poetry.”

“I mean,” Vi muttered, glancing towards Caitlyn’s balcony door like her words could somehow slip through the wall, “they kinda are when she says it.”

“Mhm. So, are you in love or just single for too long?”

Vi choked on her laugh. “Oh my god, Powder.”

“I’m just saying! You’ve been gone for nearly two months and every time you call, it’s Cait this, Cait that.”

Vi rolled her eyes, but her smile softened. Her gaze drifted towards the thin strip of space between the two balconies.

“She’s… different. Like, I dunno. I’ve met a lot of researchers and people with passion. But… she’s not just about knowing the ocean, you know?”

A pause.

“She wants to protect it. Every single part.”

“Sis, that’s just an average conservationist.”

“God, I know-”

Powder didn’t even wait for Vi to elaborate. She let out a gasp so dramatic Vi actually pulled the phone away from her ear.

“No way, you have a crush.” Powder said, gleeful and savage. “Oh. My. God. You have a crush and you don’t even know it. Holy shit I’m gonna tell Ekko. And Mylo and Claggor and dad.”

Vi groaned into the crook of her elbow. “No I don’t. Shut up. And don’t tell anyone.”

“You so do.”

“I do not.”

“She talks about fish or whatever and you literally melt.” 

“That’s called appreciation of intellectual brilliance-”

“Vi.”

“-What.”

“You literally just said she makes jellyfish sound like poetry.”

Vi blinked rapidly. “…Okay, but that’s-”

“That’s called a crush, genius.” Powder howled, positively delighted. “You’re gone. Done.”

Vi rolled her eyes so hard it hurt. She stared out at the ocean like it might have answers, or at least a little mercy.

“And,” Powder went on triumphantly, “since you’re already so down bad for her, you might as well send me a photo.”

“What?” 

“A picture of you two. I need to see if she’s actually hot or if you’ve just been with fish and corals for too long.”

Vi opened her mouth, only to close it again. She frowned. “…We haven’t taken any.”

“Hold on. Hold on.” Powder was audibly pacing now. “You’ve been in Australia for two months. You see her every single day. And you haven’t taken one single photo together?”

Vi rubbed at her brow, suddenly embarrassed. “It’s not like that. We’re working. We’re not exactly doing tourist selfies out on the boat-”

“Not even one?? Not even like, oh haha she’s holding a sea cucumber, better capture this life altering moment?”

“Pow. I was busy admiring the sea cucumber, okay?”

Powder groaned dramatically. “Admiring her, you mean?”

“…”

“You haven’t taken a single photo because the moment you stand next to her you’re gonna combust and whisper ‘God she’s beautiful’ by accident.”

Vi opened her mouth to argue. But no words came out.

Powder cackled in victory.

After a beat, barely audible over the hush of wind, Vi muttered in response, “She hasn’t brought it up.”

Powder hummed. “Brought what up?”

Vi hesitated, then tapped her finger against the railing. “New Year’s.”

She didn’t say anything else at first, but Powder knew her well enough to wait. “The promise I made. I told her I’d be her hands. Her eyes under the sea.”

Another pause.

“…Vi. That’s corny as hell.”

“I know- but she hasn’t mentioned it since that night.”

Powder’s voice gentled. “Do you want her to?”

“I don’t know.” Big fat lie. 

Because the truth was- she did. Desperately. She wanted to know if it landed, if Caitlyn had held onto it the way she said. If it meant something, anything to her.

Her voice caught. “She loves the ocean more than anyone I’ve ever met. She talks about it like it’s alive and worth saving. And she can’t even set foot in it without her whole body freezing.”

She ran a hand over her hair, frustrated.

“It’s not right. She should get to see everything.”

Another beat. Then her voice dropped to almost nothing.  “If I can’t fix that- I at least want to bring it to her.”

She leaned forward on the balcony railing, feeling the sudden breeze ruffling her hair before continuing. “…The weather’s perfect tonight.”

Powder’s voice perked up. “For what?”

“Bioluminescence,” Vi said, eyes scanning the darkened shoreline. “The blue tears. Or sea sparkle. It’s hot, no moon.”

She paused, then added more quietly, “I was thinking of asking Caitlyn to come see it.”

Powder was quiet for half a second. “Oho.”

“It’s not a big deal,” Vi rushed to say, too quickly. “We eat together all the time. And we hang out. It’s not like a date or anything.”

“Uh huh.”

“It’s just- we’ve both been working all day. And she likes marine stuff. Obviously.”

“Vi, she’s a marine biologist.”

“I’m aware.”

“And you want to take her to see glowing plankton on a dark and moonless night?”

“It sounds weird when you say it like that.”

“It sounds romantic when you say it like that.”

Vi groaned, resting her forehead against her arm. “God. It’s just… it’s rare, right? Conditions like this don’t happen every week. It’d be dumb not to go see it.”

“Mhm.”

“She’s seen it before,” she muttered, almost to herself. “I mean, she’s in Harvard. She does research on bioluminescence.”

Powder snorted. “And you still wanted to show it to her.”

“It’s not like that,” Vi responded almost immediately. “I just think… even if she has, it might still be nice. You know. To see it again. With someone.”

“With you,” Powder replied flatly.

Vi rolled her eyes, but couldn’t deny it. She did want to see Caitlyn see it.

Not just the blue bloom of light across the tide. But her expression when it happened. That quiet awe she got sometimes, the kind that softened all the hard lines on her face like the sea was something sacred and she was lucky just to witness it.

Vi wanted to see that again. She wanted to be the reason for it. Even if Caitlyn had seen it a hundred times before. Even if she had memorised the science of it. Even if she already knew exactly which organisms were glowing and why, down to exactly which enzyme was catalysing the reaction.

Vi just… wanted to be there. Beside her.

“God, listen to yourself,” Powder groaned. “You’re so down bad.”

Vi scowled. “I’m literally not even saying anything.” 

“Exactly. You’re not saying. You have feelings.”

Vi laughed, low and sheepish, brushing a hand down her face. “Shut up.”

“Just ask her out, idiot.”

“It’s not a date.”

“You wanna take her to see magical plankton, Vi. It’s a date.”

Vi hesitated for a moment longer, chewing her lip. Then she said almost offhandedly, “Whatever. I might bring my Instax tonight.”

There was a pause, a long one, on the other end.

“You what?”

Vi scratched the back of her neck. “You know. The instant camera thingy. It’s waterproof- well, water resistant. Mostly.”

“Vi.”

Vi cleared her throat, watching the faint light through Caitlyn’s balcony window. “I just thought… if she’s okay with it, maybe we could take a photo. Or two. Of the sea.”

Powder gasped. “You wanna take polaroids with her?”

“Just one!” Vi hissed. “…Or maybe a couple. Just- if she wants to. I dunno.”

“Oh my god.” Powder was cackling again. 

“I just thought it would be nice,” Vi muttered, defensive but already smiling. “Y’know. A memory.”

“A memory.” Powder repeated in a mock swoon. “What are you gonna do, stick it in your dive log next to a little heart sticker?”

“I will hang up on you.”

Powder wheezed with laughter. “You’re gonna take a Polaroid of her in the blue tide and stare at it when you miss her, huh?”

Vi didn’t respond. Because she kind of would.

She could already picture it. Picture Caitlyn in the surf, the bioluminescence curling like a galaxy around her ankles, her hair catching the breeze, her eyes reflecting the sea.

Vi would hold that photo forever. She just didn’t know if she could say that out loud.

So she settled for: “I’ll ask her if she wants to go.”

𓂃𓈒𓏸𓈒𓂃𓈒𓇼𓈒𓂃𓈒𓆉

The hallway was quiet at this hour. Most of the other rooms were dark by now, save for one.

Vi stood outside Caitlyn’s door at exactly 10:57 PM.

She checked her watch twice. Not because she needed to, but because her heart had been racing for the last five minutes and she needed something to do with her hands. The camera strap was slung crossbody over her hoodie, the soft lilac instax nestled against her hip like she hadn’t wiped the lens twice and debated whether or not to bring it at all. 

Vi exhaled slowly, shook out her hands and knocked three soft taps as usual.

A beat of silence. Then another. And then the sound of footsteps.

She straightened, one hand casually resting on the strap of her camera like it wasn’t suddenly the heaviest thing she’d ever worn.

The door opened with a soft click, and there she was.

Caitlyn stood at the door, wearing a navy Harvard hoodie, sleeves slightly pushed up, the hem just brushing the top of her bare thighs, ridiculously long legs pale against the soft hallway light. Loose shorts barely visible beneath the oversized hoodie. Her hair down and slightly tousled.

Casual and unbothered.

And still- God.

Vi instantly felt the air leave her lungs like she’d taken a punch to the solar plexus.

How could someone look this good wearing the most basic outfit imaginable?

A hoodie. And shorts. That was it. But somehow Caitlyn still wore them like they were tailored silk. 

The navy matched her hair. The sleeves swallowed her wrists. And Vi- absolutely doomed, stood there with her stupid lilac camera and forgot how to speak for a second.

She was supposed to say something cool.

Instead, her brain short circuited somewhere between Harvard hoodie and bare legs and gave her exactly nothing. Not even a full sentence. 

Just: Wow.

Vi managed to recover after exactly 2.4 seconds of internal combustion. She cleared her throat, tilted her head just enough to pass for casual, and leaned a little against the doorframe.

“Hey cupcake,” she started, gesturing vaguely towards the sea, though the ocean was out of view. “The tide’s glowing tonight.”

Caitlyn blinked, still backlit by warm yellow light, one hand resting lightly on the edge of the door, the other tugging the hoodie sleeve over her palm.

Vi pressed on, heart thudding slightly louder now. “Perfect conditions. No moonlight, warm water. Thought maybe you’d wanna come see it.”

Then she tapped the purple instax strapped across her chest and added, a little more lightly, a little more grin in her voice, “And I brought my- uh, Instax? Polaroid? Whatever you call it. We could maybe take a couple of photos if you’re cool with that.”

Caitlyn blinked, then nodded once. “Alright. Give me a second.”

She closed the door softly.

Vi sighed slowly, leaning back against the wall, camera strap warm against her chest, her heart still doing its obnoxious little gallop.

The door creaked open again less than two minutes later.

And there she was- hair pulled back into a ponytail, hoodie still drowning her frame but now with simple white sneakers on her feet. But what caught Vi most, what made her pause mid breath, was the colour on her face. A faint yet unmistakable flush dusting the tops of her cheeks just barely visible beneath the hallway light.

Vi blinked.

Was she… blushing?

Over this?

Over glowing plankton and a couple of photos?

Her chest warmed instantly, slow and ridiculous.

Cute, she thought, utterly helpless. So cute.

Caitlyn glanced up at her, face carefully composed except for that hint of pink that refused to fade, and Vi felt her grin threaten to spiral into something much softer.

She reached for the door to hold it open. “Ready?”

Caitlyn nodded. “Ready. Let's go.”

𓂃𓈒𓏸𓈒𓂃𓈒𓇼𓈒𓂃𓈒𓆉

They walked in silence. Not an awkward one, just quiet and natural.

The path to the beach was dimly lit by lantern posts and scattered string lights draped along fences, their footsteps slightly muffled by sand already trailing across the hallway.

Vi kept her hands loose in her pockets, the camera bumping gently against her hip with each step. Beside her, Caitlyn moved silently, shoulders relaxed but posture straight, eyes slightly downcast. The sand shimmered faintly where the waves met the shore, tiny pulses of bioluminescent blue flickering with each swell and retreating.

Vi paused at the edge of the boardwalk and glanced at Caitlyn.

“Looks like we’re not the only ones with the idea,” she muttered.

Caitlyn’s eyes were on the tide, now slightly widened. “No, but I don’t mind.” She then slowly stepped forward first as though the tide might vanish if she moved too quickly.

The waves swelled and folded against the sand, and the bioluminescence flickers flared beneath her steps, trembling pulses of electric blue blooming beneath her feet. She lowered herself to her knees at the very edge of the surf, the hem of her shorts brushing against the wet sand. Vi followed and knelt beside her. Their shoulders almost brushed as both of them hunched forward slightly. 

The sea glowed with each retreating wave, the phosphorescent plankton lighting up like a breath held and released again.

Caitlyn extended a hand towards the water- not to touch, but to trace the line where light met the dark, her fingers suspended above the glowing tide carefully with reverence. Vi simply watched as Caitlyn leaned forward slightly, her gaze trained on the shifting light of the tide with that quiet and studious focus Vi had come to recognise far too well.

The electric blue glow of the bioluminescence bathed her skin in soft light. Caitlyn’s eyes tracked the ripple of light as the tide swept in and shimmered away again.

And her hair, god.

The impossible shade of ultramarine, rich and deep, moved gently along the sea breeze, a slow sway that mirrored the water itself.

It looked like the tide had risen just to touch her.

Vi watched her, momentarily breathless. She swallowed hard, her heart thudded, sharp and soft all at once.

Ultramarine. 

The rarest of blues. The most expensive pigment in the world, once worth more than gold, mined from lapis lazuli and reserved for only the sacred, the divine, the unattainable.

And now it stood beside her, kneeling in the sand like a miracle in cotton and sea wind, not even realising what she was.

Caitlyn leaned in just a little more, the blue glow shifting against her features, painting the hollow of her cheek, the sharp curve of her jaw, and Vi felt her pulse stutter. Caitlyn’s gaze lingered on the glowing water, her breath slightly shallow with awe. 

“It’s a chemical reaction,” she murmured, more to herself than Vi. “The enzyme luciferase catalyses the oxidation of luciferin.”

Vi blinked.

She wasn’t entirely listening. Not to the science, anyway. She was listening to her.

To the way Caitlyn’s voice dipped slightly on the syllables and her quiet concentration that stitched into every word.

“Noctiluca scintillans. Or sea sparkle.”

She raised a hand mid sentence and absentmindedly tucked a stray lock of ultramarine behind her ear.

Vi forgot how to breathe.

That one small motion, so casual and unthinking, had left her completely undone.

Because the sea was glowing, the air was warm, the tide was whispering and Caitlyn was kneeling on one knee beside her, mumbling words like luciferin and noctiluca scintillans or whatever that was while touching her hair like it wasn’t the most beautiful colour Vi had ever seen.

It wasn’t fair.

How could someone be so effortlessly brilliant and beautiful in the same breath?

Caitlyn turned to her then, just slightly, and Vi’s breath caught before the words even left her mouth.

“Look,” Caitlyn whispered. “It’s so beautiful.”

And Vi looked. But not at the sea.

Instead she looked at the way the electric blue glow from the tide caught in the planes of Cailtyn’s face, illuminating the gentle curve of her cheekbones, the delicate shape of her nose, and those eyes. Cerulean under the phosphorescent shimmer. Deep, clear but bottomless. Eyes that looked like they didn’t reflect the ocean so much as contain it.

And her hair- Vi couldn’t stop seeing it, couldn’t stop feeling the ache of it move in her chest- the strands of ultramarine shifting gently in the wind, just brushing her jaw, shimmering like spun from the night sea itself.

It wasn’t just a colour anymore. It was a current.

Something so rare and precious like the pigment it was named for. Something you would travel across the globe just to behold once.

Vi could barely breathe now.

Yet she felt blissful. 

She looked into Caitlyn’s eyes once again, those endless, glinting pools of cerulean catching the ocean’s glow, and she felt something shift deep inside her chest, both powerful and unbearably gentle.

She thought- she might have truly discovered the sixth ocean on Earth.

An ocean hidden within the cerulean depths, undiscovered and boundless. An ocean painted in every luminous shade of blue Vi knew and countless others she couldn’t name- cerulean and ultramarine, cobalt and indigo, colours yet undiscovered, depths unmeasured, waves untouched.

An ocean that existed solely within Caitlyn herself.

Vi felt her pulse flutter, breath hitch gently in her throat. Her heart was now adrift, sinking willingly into that gaze that seemed softer than sea foam.

Her gaze had never left Caitlyn. Not even for a second. Caitlyn had turned back to the water, watching the tide shimmer, utterly oblivious that Vi hadn’t looked at the ocean once since she’d spoken. And Vi, her heart thudding slow and reverent in her chest, felt the words rise like a tide she couldn’t escape.

“Yeah,” she said softly, her voice hushed. “So beautiful.”

Caitlyn only hummed, still entranced by the flickering shoreline. “Isn’t it?”

But Vi knew she hadn’t been looking at the sea. She hadn’t meant the water, or the plankton, or the even light. She meant the woman beside her, bathed in the soft pulse of bioluminescence, ultramarine hair shifting like ocean currents, cerulean gaze glinting with curiosity and awe.

She meant the way her voice had wrapped around the word noctiluca like it was sacred, and the way she never seemed to realise she was the most breathtaking illuminant in the world when she talked about the sea. All of that without luciferase to catalyse.

Caitlyn’s eyes remained fixed on the glowing tide, watching each wave spill across the shore in electric blue, her hands now resting delicately on her knees as if even her posture respected the sea.

And Vi, still half breathless, still hopelessly adrift, felt her hand move almost unconsciously.

She slipped her fingers beneath the strap across her chest and unhooked the Instax from her side, the plastic warm from where it had rested against her all night.

She flicked it open with a soft click.

The camera whirred quietly to life.

Caitlyn didn’t turn or notice.

And Vi raised it. She framed her in the viewfinder like she was trying to hold on something fleeting and ethereal like sea foam that could vanish in any second.

Her hair caught in the breeze. Eyes lit by sea sparkle. That same soft expression held on her face.

Vi wanted to remember her like this.

Not as an intelligent marine scientist. Not as her expedition partner. But as the woman who glowed like an ocean hadn't been named yet.

The shutter clicked. The soft flash lit the air for a blink of a second.

This moment was hers.

And Caitlyn turned.

Brows furrowed, voice low. “Excuse me? Did you just take a picture of me?”

Vi froze, camera still half raised in front of her face.

“Uh, yeah.” She lowered the camera quickly. “But it’s probably blurry. Bad light.”

Caitlyn blinked, visibly flustered. A pink flush rising just beneath the soft electric hue of her cheeks. “Oh. Well… throw it away then.” She shrugged almost awkwardly.

Vi didn’t answer. She watched the small square of film slowly begin to slide out of the camera with the faint whir of mechanism. She caught it gently before it dropped, still undeveloped but warm between her fingers, knowing damn well it was nowhere close to blurry.

The glow framed her perfectly. Caitlyn’s eyes were soft, thoughtful and gleaming with the tide. Her hair caught in motion, windswept and luminous. It looked surreal. Like a goddess- Amphitrite, or whatever goddess of the sea- carved out of the ocean itself.

Sorry, Cupcake. This one’s mine, she thought with the faintest grin at the edge of her lips as she slipped the film into her hoodie pocket.

Caitlyn had turned back to the sea, arms loosely wrapped around her knees, eyes still slightly dazed from the soft flash until she glanced sideway almost hesitantly.

“Didn’t you say you wanted to take a picture together?” 

Vi blinked. Then her uncoordinated heart skipped in her chest. She blinked again.

Caitlyn wasn’t looking at her. But her fingers were fidgeting with the edge of her sleeve, and the tip of her ear had gone faintly pink.

Vi grinned. “Someone wants a souvenir?”

Caitlyn gave her a side eye, but the blush lingered. “You were the one who brought the camera.”

Vi lifted it, turning it over in her hands. “Okay, but fair warning, I’ve only taken selfies with this thing like… twice. Ever. No promises on the angle.”

“There’s a mirror,” Caitlyn muttered, tilting her chin towards the lens.

Vi blinked, then laughed softly, full of affection. “Of course you know.” 

They shifted closer, knees bumping slightly as Vi angled the camera up. The sea behind them glimmered in slow pulses, the blue glow reflecting in the water and their eyes. And then Caitlyn leaned in, just enough for their cheeks to nearly brush.

Vi forgot how to hold the camera still for a dizzy second.

“Ready?” She cleared her throat.

Caitlyn nodded.

Vi hit the shutter. The camera whirred.

The flash bloomed once more.

Vi pulled the photo free and held it flat between her palms as it developed, the colours fading into place with that dreamy haze unique to Polaroid film. She tilted it slightly under the moonless sky, the blue glow casting just enough light for her to make out their faces- cheeks close, eyes bright, hair tousled by breeze, Caitlyn’s smile barely visible but unmistakably genuine.

Perfect.

She smiled to herself, barely able to suppress the urge to say something stupid like frameworthy, and slipped it into her hoodie pocket. But before she could say anything, Caitlyn’s voice came, laced with something impossibly gentle.

“…Could we take one more?”

Vi lifted her head.

Caitlyn’s hands were folded neatly in her lap, her eyes lowered for a breath before lifting again to meet hers, gleaming and earnest under the lingering shimmer of the bioluminescent tide.

“I just…” she added quietly, “I’d like to keep one too.”

Vi felt something sharp and sweet twisting in her chest. She grinned, slow and utterly helpless.

“Wow,” she said, tilting her head. “You want a picture of me for your wallet?”

Caitlyn gave her a flat look that barely masked the flush blooming across her cheeks. “I said us, not you.”

“Mhm,” Vi teased, raising the camera again. “Still includes me, though.”

Caitlyn rolled her eyes, but she was already leaning in, already brushing shoulders again, already folding into the space beside her.

Vi adjusted the angle, found the frame, then whispered, “Smile for science, Cupcake.”

The shutter snapped again.

The flash washed over them once more.

The photo slipped out with a soft mechanical sigh, and Caitlyn caught it between careful fingers, the edges still warm from the print. She looked down, lips parting slightly as the image bloomed into clarity.

Vi quietly watched the way she tilted the image slightly under the faint light,  brows drawn in the smallest furrow of concentration. And when the picture came into full focus, both of them were side by side, haloed in blue, hair tangled with wind, cheeks dusted pink from the breeze or something else entirely, the tide shimmered faintly behind them like the world had paused for just that second.

And for a second, she wished she could hand Caitlyn her own eyes instead of a picture. Because the camera, for all its convenience, hadn’t managed even a fraction of the truth.

“It’s a good shot,” Caitlyn smiled softly to herself.

Vi watched as Caitlyn’s eyes softened and her thumb hovered lightly above the glossy surface. “Yeah. Camera didn’t do you justice, though.”

Caitlyn blinked, turning to glance up at her.

Vi met her gaze, her eyes entirely too sincere. “It can’t even capture a millionth of what you really look like.”

Caitlyn’s breath hitched just slightly. Her eyes widened, then dropped. The blush was instant, high on her cheeks, softening the corners of her mouth as she tried to cover it with a quiet scoff. “…Well, you too, I guess.” She muttered after a stretched beat of silence.

But Vi had meant it. No photograph, no chemical, no perfect mirror could ever capture what she looked like in this moment.

She’d still try, though. Again and again if only to catch her in that impossible instant, in the stillness before the flash faded.

Chapter Text

𓂃𓈒𓏸𓈒𓂃𓈒𓇼𓈒𓂃𓈒𓆉

Location: Jervis Bay, New South Wales, Australia

Temperature: 23°C (73.4°F)

Humidity: 76%

Wind speed: 10.6 mph, SW

Week 11

It had been a week since the tide had glowed beneath their feet and etched them into a frame of instant film.

The blue shimmer had faded back into the sea before dawn, but the proximity between them had never quite returned to what it once was. Caitlyn couldn’t pinpoint what exactly, but it was tangible enough in how the distance between them unbelievably shrank even further. 

They sat now at a small cafe near the harbour which they’d discovered by accident during one decompression day last week, one with mismatched chairs but unnecessarily “exquisite” cinnamon rolls, according to Vi, who had insisted they come here again before their afternoon field research.

She’d knocked on Caitlyn’s door with one single word and a grin. 

“Breakfast?”

 Like it was a ritual instead of a trifling excuse to see Caitlyn in the morning light. At least that was what Caitlyn had internally wished for.

They sat outside, sunlight warming the wooden table. Vi leaned back in her chair and speared a sugar glazed piece of her cinnamon roll with no subtlety whatsoever before holding it out. “Open up, cupcake.”

Caitlyn narrowed her eyes. “You’re far too comfortable with this.”

Vi only grinned, seemingly undeterred. “You say that every time.”

Caitlyn inhaled slowly. She felt the familiar warmth blooming at the tops of her cheeks, tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear with a composure that was mostly performative, and leaned in. Softly. Carefully. Lips just parting enough to catch the corner of the bite like how she’d eaten that digestive biscuit. 

Vi chuckled low in her throat, satisfaction curling at the edges of her smile.

Caitlyn chewed slowly, resisting the urge to cover her face with her hands. “It’s still good,” she murmured instead.

“I know, right?”

Caitlyn, who had studied bioluminescence and whale migration and ecological complexity- couldn’t for the life of her figure out how someone could make something as ridiculous as feeding her pastries in public feel so unbearably intimate. 

Yet she accepted the second bite without much protest like it hadn’t dismantled her troubled heart multiple times in a row.

“…Do you always feed people like this?” she couldn’t resist the urge to ask.

Vi shrugged, licking glaze off her thumb. “Yeah, I do it all the time with my siblings. Especially Powder. She never finishes anything unless I hand feed her.”

Caitlyn stiffened. Just for a breath.

But internally she was struck by what could only be described as a full on emotional whiplash.

Her sibling.

She feeds her siblings.

So this was familial? Affectionate in a platonic, entirely unromantic way?

Caitlyn blinked slowly, unsure whether it was the sunlight or her own thoughts that had suddenly made the world tilt slightly sideways.

Oh. I’m a sibling. A goddamn sibling to her.

The thought clanged around her head. She forced a tight smile that clearly didn’t reach her eyes, nodded like she hadn’t just experienced a minor internal breakdown and sipped her coffee in silence.

I’m a clownfish. I’m a goddamn clown.

Vi didn’t notice the spiral, of course. She was already tearing off another piece of roll, eyes fixed on the waves in the distance. 

Meanwhile Caitlyn sat perfectly still and tried not to visibly pout.

Being treated like a sister by your crush… god, she thought, there’s no greater humiliation in the animal kingdom.

She was still caught somewhere between embarrassment and silent mourning when Vi’s phone buzzed against the table.

Caitlyn blinked instinctively. The sound snapped her straight out of her spiral.

Vi picked it up casually,  not even glancing at the screen before answering. “Hey, Powder.”

Caitlyn sipped her coffee to ground herself, gaze drifting idly to the phone in Vi’s hand- and froze.

There, behind the clear case, slightly creased at the corner but still crisp and whole, was the polaroid. Their polaroid, to be precise. The one they’d taken a week ago on the glowing shore, tide blue and luminous in the background, Caitlyn leaning in just slightly and Vi grinning at the camera. Tucked carefully inside, not folded, discarded, or forgotten.

It was kept and carried.

Vi leaned back in her chair again, phone pressed against her ear. “Yeah, I’m having breakfast with Caitlyn. Shut up we’re not on a honeymoon.”

Caitlyn’s heart did something unfortunate to the word “honeymoon”. Suddenly her previous emotional mortification felt a little absurd. She looked away quickly, pretending to examine the last curl of cinnamon roll glaze with great academic interest.

The unexpected and inexplicably tender realisation pulled the corner of her mouth into the smallest, softest curve. But she caught it just in time by lifting her coffee mug to hide it before it could betray her further.

Vi squinted at her while mumbling something incoherent to the phone, then rolled her eyes dramatically, shoving her phone across the table.

“Uh,” she muttered, “Powder wants to talk to you.”

Caitlyn blinked over the mug. “Me?”

“Yeah, you,” Vi crossed her arms, “She said, and I quote, ‘Put your hot scientist girlfriend on the phone.’”

She nearly choked on the word “girlfriend".

“She what-”

Vi shrugged. “I’m just the messenger.”

Caitlyn stared at the phone like it was a trap. Which, to be fair, it probably was. Still, she picked it up tentatively, holding it just far enough from her ear to preserve her dignity. 

“…Hello?”

A chipper voice crackled through the speaker. “Oh my god- you’re the hot marine biologist girlfriend? You’re real??”

Caitlyn nearly dropped the phone.

She turned slowly toward Vi, who had the audacity to sip her coffee with complete serenity.

“Um,” Caitlyn began stiffly. “We’re not-”

“I’m kidding,” Powder said breezily. “Mostly. But Vi does talk about you all the time, just so you know.”

Caitlyn blinked.  Her heartbeat, which had only recently returned to normal, promptly lost all composure again.

“Oh,” she said faintly. “She…does?”

“Yeah. All the time. Every call. Caitlyn did this, Caitlyn said that. Bla bla bla.”

Across the table, Vi frowned suspiciously. Caitlyn instinctively turned her head, hiding half of her face behind her hand. “I- uh- thank you?” She replied stiffly, unsure what part of that warranted gratitude.

“Anyway. Has she fed you anything yet?” Powder went on.

Caitlyn blinked again. “What?”

“Vi,” Powder clarified like it was obvious. “She feeds people. That’s like… her love language or something.”

“She said she always did it with you,” Caitlyn responded a little too quickly, eyes flicking towards Vi who was chewing a bite of cinnamon roll with the intensity of someone very much not aware she was under cross examination.

There was a beat of silence on the line.

Then Powder burst out laughing. “She lied to your face.”

Caitlyn stammered in confusion. “She- what?”

“No that dumbass did not feed me.” Powder sounded rather scandalised. “Not even when I had my wisdom teeth taken out. She cooked for us though. But that was all.”

“Oh,” Caitlyn said softly. Just one single syllable was all she could manage to force out.

Why did she lie to me then?

The realisation bloomed behind her ribs like a quiet wave. No fireworks, no revelations, just relief. Warm, ridiculous and a little dizzying. Her face warmed instantly, pink spreading across her cheeks.

She turned her face slightly, hiding behind her coffee mug once again, but this time she didn’t bother to suppress the smile that tugged at her lips. “Anything else?” she asked lightly. 

“Just tell her to text me back. We all miss her.”

Caitlyn hummed in confirmation, and handed the phone back with the smallest, most mortifying giggle still caught in her throat.

Vi narrowed her eyes as she took the phone. “What did she say?”

“Nothing,” Caitlyn said quickly, tucking a lock of hair behind ear and pretending to examine the crumbs on her plate. “Absolutely nothing.”

But her smile lingered. And her cheeks stayed pink. And somewhere deep beneath the surface where logic couldn’t reach, she let herself hold that tiny joy like a shell in her palm, all while still hiding her smile in the rim of her mug.

Vi slipped her phone back into her pocket, still eying Caitlyn with thinly veiled suspicion. “You’re smiling. What the hell did she say to you?”

“Nothing important,” Caitlyn stirred her coffee too quickly like it might grant her composure. “Something about- uh, orthodontics?”

Vi narrowed her eyes but didn’t ask anything further. Instead, she leaned her elbows on the table, and took one last bite of the pastry casually. “You free next week? Decompression day?”

Caitlyn blinked, lifting her gaze. The diver was looking at her, fingers idly toying with the fork on the edge of her plate.

“Why?” Caitlyn asked, suspiciously but mildly  intrigued.

Vi shrugged, a small smile curling at the edge of her lips. “I was thinking… we could take the boat out.”

Caitlyn blinked again. “For what?”

“Squid. They come up close to the surface at night. You shine a light, drop a jig, wait for them and snap. It’s fun.” 

Caitlyn tilted her head. “I’ve never gone squid fishing before.”

Vi grinned, that easy, insufferably charming grin that undid her without even trying. “It's okay. I’ll teach you.”

Caitlyn cleared her throat. “Alright,” she said, quieter than she intended. “Sounds… interesting.”

“Trust me,” Vi said, eyes glinting. “You’re gonna love it.”

And Caitlyn- still pretending not to smile- nodded once, composed as ever. But inside, she was already counting down the days like a schoolgirl having her first date with her crush.

𓂃𓈒𓏸𓈒𓂃𓈒𓇼𓈒𓂃𓈒𓆉

Location: Jervis Bay, New South Wales, Australia

Temperature: 22°C (77°F)

Humidity: 67%

Wind speed: 15 mph, SW

Week 12

The boat rocked lightly beneath them. It was nearly midnight, leaving only the distant hush of waves against the hull.

Caitlyn stood near the edge of the deck, her hoodie sleeves pushed up, clutching the fishing rod.

“Like this,” Vi said from just behind her. “Loosen your grip.”

“I’m being precise,” Caitlyn muttered, eyes narrowed on the dark water. .

Vi, still watching from her side, let out a soft laugh that ghosted across the dark. “Relax, Cait. You’re not about to arm wrestle the squid.”

“I am relaxed,” Caitlyn said through her teeth. But before she could think, Vi stepped in closer and reached forward without a word, her hand settling gently over Caitlyn’s, while her other hand slid slowly beneath Caitlyn’s wrist, easing the tension there with a light pressure.

Caitlyn froze.

Vi was right behind her now, close enough that her breath traced the line of Caitlyn’s neck, feather light yet devastating.

She swallowed. Hard.

Her fingers didn’t move. Neither did the rod. She couldn’t even focus on the water anymore. All she could feel now was the heat radiating off Vi’s hand against hers, the soft press of her arm along her side and the barely perceptible warmth of breath where her shoulder met her throat.

Vi adjusted Caitlyn’s grip with care, thumb gliding just over the joint of her knuckle, fingertips brushing her wrist, patient and assured.

“God,” Vi muttered unexpectedly, her voice dipping low against the shell of Caitlyn’s ear,“you’re too tight-”

Caitlyn’s entire body jolted.

She whipped her head around, scandalised, whisper-hissing the only word she could manage: “Vi!”

Vi only burst out laughing. A full, delighted, unapologetic laugh that echoed over the water. “I meant your grip. Jesus. You should’ve seen your face.”

Caitlyn huffed, turned abruptly back towards the water, praying to any marine deity that the dim boat light wouldn’t betray the inferno now blazing across her cheeks. God. She’d known Vi for long enough to be accustomed to this. But somehow she still wasn’t.

It was a blessing, really, that the glow was subtle just enough to cast outlines and shadows but not enough to show how completely crimson she’d gone all while her hand was still in Vi’s.

Vi’s laughter still echoed in her ears. She tried to convince herself the way she leaned in like it was nothing and the casually suggestive jokes were just part of the service . Caitlyn let out a slow breath, trying to reel herself back in but it was no use.

She’s such a flirt , Caitlyn thought, eyes narrowing at the dark sea surface. A shameless, insufferable flirt . And yet Caitlyn still let her hold her hands, still liked it far too much when she laughed even when it was at her expense. Though she secretly resented the way her brain lurched and her heart reacted like a reflex.

Still, she was hopelessly, stupidly in love with her. Not in the poetic, historic way she’d always imagined love would feel, but in this unpredictable yet achingly sweet way that gradually filtered into her life without her even noticing.

The worse thing was she couldn’t imagine Vi saying things like this to anyone else. She couldn't imagine Vi grinning into another girl’s shoulder, calling her cupcake , casually feeding her pastries, brushing her hands in the dark, taking polaroids with her.

And if she did and Caitlyn saw it? She already knew. She’d be painfully, irrationally jealous.

𓂃𓈒𓏸𓈒𓂃𓈒𓇼𓈒𓂃𓈒𓆉

When Caitlyn returned to the hotel that night, her hair still carried the faintest scent of the sea.

They’d caught a few squids. Not too many but enough to make Vi grin with her whole face when Caitlyn reeled one in for the first time, slightly awkward but triumphant regardless.

Vi had brought her instant camera again, of course. And she’d snapped a few photos of Caitlyn holding the line with a medium sized southern calamari dangling from it, both of their hair wind blown and ridiculous. Another with Vi’s arm slung around her shoulder, both grinning into the dark like idiots, and one where Caitlyn hadn’t meant to smile at all but was caught mid laugh, blurred at the edges but still beautiful in the way only pure joy could be.

And what surprised her most, more than the photos, the squid, more than anything, was the way happiness could come from something so simple. Just her and Vi with salt in the air and ink on their sleeves. A night with no science and precision but only breathless laughter and the gentle splash of the sea around them.

Of course Caitlyn had insisted they release the squid. “They're uninjured,” she had said. “We’re not eating them.” And Vi had sighed dramatically, tried to argue but relented in the end, grumbling yet obedient as if she could never say no to Caitlyn.

Now, hours later, Caitlyn lay curled atop her bed, one hand holding Mariana close to her chest and the other turning over a polaroid they’d taken earlier.

She thought of the past three months. Of the early mornings on the boat, sunburns and damp hair and Vi humming tuneless songs, sitting  beside her on her bed while they reviewed sightings. Of digestive biscuits, sea sparkle on that night and Vi’s stupid jokes. Of polaroids tucked into pockets like treasure. 

It was absurd, really- how much joy had bloomed in such a short span of time. 

These unplanned and unscheduled days had quietly become the most delightful days she’d had in years. 

With Vi, it hadn’t felt like a research or some career-defining expedition. It had felt like freedom. Like they were simply two girls on a sun-soaked vacation in an eternal summer instead of a scientist and a diver on an expedition.

And she didn’t want this to end. She didn’t want to go back to Harvard, to the sterile brilliance of labs with this dazzling and narcotic interlude still stuck somewhere between her ribs all while her life went on.

But she knew she had to. Three and a half months left. And then this wonderful, ethereal dream that had slipped between the cracks would dissolve like sea foam. Her feelings, whatever they were, needed to be left here, tied up and sank into the deepest depths of the sea. Filed under field phenomena and environmentally induced delusion.

Because surely that’s all this was. Merely a fever dream. A midsummer night’s dream spun from saltwater and laughter and sunlight. She couldn’t let it follow her home.

She pressed her thumb to the edge of the photo and closed her eyes in spite of feeling utterly restless. 

Her heart gave a small, traitorous thump. Then another. It had been like this for weeks now, every time when Vi had flirted with her like it was her second nature, had fed her like it was habit, and held her hands with the same bold confidence she brought to every dive.

And Caitlyn- silly, catastrophically smitten Caitlyn- had begun to hope. Which, of course, was the most dangerous thing of all.

Because what if she wasn’t special? What if Vi smiled like that for every woman who sat across from her, laughing into a coffee mug, flustered by the shameless glint in her eyes?

She had assumed, almost defensively, that Vi was like that with everyone- effortlessly charming and maddeningly tactile. And Caitlyn, with her aching chest and shy glances, had foolishly mistaken kindness for affection.

But then Powder told her. 

Powder, who’d laughed through the phone while telling Caitlyn that “feeding someone was Vi’s love language”.

And suddenly the floor had tilted.

Because if Vi didn’t feed anyone, not even her sister, then what did that mean? It could only mean the bites of digestives and cinnamon rolls weren’t a reflex but a choice. 

And that quiet, incandescent joy that instantly bloomed in her chest at the thought was so profound, so utterly ridiculous that she nearly laughed aloud from the sheer, disorienting delight of it.

For a moment, she felt like it was enough to eclipse the spiral. 

But that joy, too, was fragile and delicate. Barely a shimmer on the surface of the sea that could vanish within a ripple. Because if Vi had chosen her in fleeting moments, Caitlyn couldn’t be sure whether those moments meant anything beyond them. 

And the truth was, she wanted so badly to tell Vi that these past three months had been the happiest stretch of time in her life, that walking through sunburned days with her had felt like freedom and belonging. To simply thank her for bringing forth such pure happiness and elation to her life, for her companionship that seemed to make the ocean even more breathtaking simply because she was there beside her.

“I’ll never forget these six months,” she muttered, clutching Mariana with her arm.

The feelings in her chest had swollen and accumulated after that night with fireworks blooming above them, and that night where the sea had glowed beneath them, so aching and whole that they frightened her. 

And Vi was far too bright, wild and uncontainable. What if Caitlyn’s feelings were too much for her? Too loud and unreasonable and too heavy? What if Vi, who flirted like breathing, would only blink at her confession and not feel the same weight of it the same way?

Caitlyn was exhausted. She couldn’t keep living like this. She needed a break from this impossible, anaesthetic feeling unfurling inside her like a tide with no moon to guide it. From her ridiculous little crush .

She hated that word. It was too juvenile for what this felt like, too fleeting and too frivolous. And yet it was the only word she could cling to that made this longing feel more survivable. 

Because she was afraid Vi would see through it. Not through confession yet but in the way Caitlyn looked at her when she wasn’t supposed to, gaze full of overflowing affection like a rising tide that could no longer be contained. She feared Vi would see it in her expression, in the way her gaze would follow the curve of her lips when she laughed.

That she would feel it in every quiet touch, every time Caitlyn dried her face and hair with a gentleness too delicate to be casual or held her hand longer than necessary under the pretense of balance. She would feel it in her fingertips.

She feared Vi would notice. And not feel the same. Because she was Caitlyn Kiramman, and she was raised to always think about and prepare for the worst case scenario in advance. 

If she didn’t feel the same, then what would they be? Three and a half months trapped on boats and beaches with nothing but awkward silences and half swallowed apologies.

That thought had made Caitlyn feel sick. The last thing she wanted was to make Vi uncomfortable. She didn’t want to stain the pure, unspoken connection they had built between them with the heavy flow of her own potentially unrequited longing.

So she would pull back just slightly.

And if- if, by the end of these next three and a half months, her heart still beat this hard when Vi so much as glanced at her, if the tide of her affection didn’t ebb with time or distance, if she still liked Vi-

“Then I’ll tell her,” she muttered to herself.

But not now, while the air between them was still packed with fragility and unconfirmed possibilities, while she couldn’t risk shattering it with her honesty.

When the last dive had been logged and the final polaroid hidden away, when there were no more days to jeopardise. If she still wanted her then- though she was afraid she always would - she would gather every single swallowed word, every hidden glance and place them gently into Vi’s hands and say:

This is what you meant to me. This is how I’ve been feeling about you. This is what I could never say while we still had time left .

And if Vi ever feel the same… God. If only she felt the same. Then perhaps this hadn’t just been a hazy midsummer night’s dream carved out of salt and breeze. Maybe it was something that could outlast even the tide. 

But until then, she would hold her heart tightly in her palms like something too precious and volatile to spill.

𓂃𓈒𓏸𓈒𓂃𓈒𓇼𓈒𓂃𓈒𓆉

Location: Jervis Bay, New South Wales, Australia

Temperature: 27°C (80.6°F)

Humidity: 81%

Wind speed: 12 mph, SSW

Week 13

Caitlyn had barely endured the last few days. She’d kept her distance, just enough to breathe and keep her hands still, her gaze brief. Every time Vi leaned in, she leaned out slightly. Every time Vi offered her something sweet, she took it with steadier hands and quieter thanks instead of her own mouth. 

It was awful and exhausting. Because nothing- not the science, not the salt air, not the glittering water and the ecosystems underneath- had made her feel more alive than being near Vi. Yet she’d spent a week pretending her heart didn’t lurch every time Vi so much as said her name.

A knock echoed through her room. 

Caitlyn opened the door as always, and there Vi stood, bright eyed in a loose t-shirt with that familiar grin that had always left Caitlyn lightheaded.

“Morning, cupcake. Wanna go see stingrays?” Vi said, her voice bright and crackling with barely contained excitement. “They’re close to the shore.”

She shifted her weight on one foot. “You can touch them, if you’re gentle. I thought… I don’t know. I figured you’d like it.” She smiled, golden and infuriatingly soft. Then she added offhandedly like it didn’t mean everything: “Since you can’t dive.”

Caitlyn’s heart palpitated. Vi had considered her and found something beautiful that was within her reach, something wild and shimmering just beneath the surface, and thought I want Caitlyn to have this.

And Caitlyn suddenly felt her restraint in the past few days beginning to crumble like sand washing away under her feet. Because no one had ever done this for her. No one had ever thought: You love the ocean, so let me bring it closer to you.

She gently swallowed once. She hesitated in the doorway, her hand still on the knob, heart stuttering beneath her ribs like it couldn’t decide whether to race or break.

Vi stood there, awaiting her response, that smile still flickering on her lips, gentle and expectant. God - she looked so bright in the morning light, cheeks slightly flushed with the promise of a good day and shared wonder that was supposed to be unforgettable.

And all Caitlyn had to do was say yes.

Yes, I want to go.

Yes, I want to see stingrays, I want to see your favourite sea creatures with you.

I want to stand beside you in the shallows and forget the rest of the world.

“I- I’m sorry,” she blurted out before she could convince herself, “I think- I need some space today.” 

Vi blinked. Just once but it was enough for something in her expression to falter, barely a breath but noticeable nonetheless. 

Then she nodded. And smiled. A smile too easy that was meant to cushion a fall. “Yeah,” she said. “Fair enough. Have fun, Cait.”

She turned before Caitlyn could say anything else, before she could catch the apology burning on her tongue and press it into Vi’s palm like a plea.

And then she was gone. Down the hallway, out of sight. 

The door clicked shut behind her. Caitlyn stood in stillness, breath caught somewhere in her throat, guilt bleeding through her like seawater into a wound.

Vi had found her the ocean and placed it gently into her hands. 

And she had said no.

Even as every single fibre in her body was screaming: Yes. Yes, I’ll go. I’ll go anywhere, as long as it’s with you.

But she had chosen silence instead. And now she didn’t know if she’d ever get the question again.

Because the truth- bitter and breathless- was that Caitlyn hadn’t declined because of the idea of manta rays held no allure. But because of this quiet but sharp ache that had started as a flicker  but was now blooming, tidal and unrelenting within her chest. It was breaching past the careful boundaries she had set, swelling into something that threatened to consume the very air she breathed.

Vi was sunlight and seawater incarnate. Impossible to detain. And Caitlyn was just a girl too full of feelings with a heart stitched together by restraint and worst-case scenarios. 

Her entire body, every instinct was begging her to step forward and reach for that outstretched hand and let herself be pulled gently into the shallows beside her.

But she had known that if she went with her, if she saw Vi laughing beside her at manta rays, it would be the end of whatever fragile composure she still possessed. It would shatter her. Because her heart was already halfway in Vi’s hands, and if she didn’t take it back before she couldn’t, she would never survive the goodbye that waited three and a half months down the line.

And if Vi didn’t feel the same, if this had only been sunlit affection and not something deeper, then Caitlyn would rather fracture herself quietly now than crumble entirely later.

𓂃𓈒𓏸𓈒𓂃𓈒𓇼𓈒𓂃𓈒𓆉

Caitlyn had spent the rest of her day doing what she did best: compartmentalising.

She curled into the corner of the bed, Mariana tucked beneath her arm, laptop balanced precariously atop her knees, and opened Netflix.

Seaspiracy. Mission Blue. Chasing Coral.

One after another. Back to back. No room to overthink. She’d convinced herself this was solely educational, that she was “catching up on perspective”, that it was research instead of avoidance.

But somewhere in between, Vi’s voice threaded in where narration should’ve been-

You’d love it, Cait.

I thought of you.

They’re right here. You could touch them.

She shut her eyes for a moment, jaw clenched. Her spine ached from sitting all day. Her eyes burned from staring at the screen for too long. Her heart felt like it had been treading water all day, quietly trying not to sink. 

She’d watched species going extinct and disappearing into statistics. Coral fading to white and ecosystems collapsing because of climate change. But nothing hit her harder than the image now seared behind her eyes- Vi standing in her doorway this morning, bright and hopeful, grinning like she’d found something just for her.

And Caitlyn, who had wanted to say yes , even screamed it silently- had said no.

Because she was in love.

And apparently, that was reason enough to run.

She groaned softly, dropping her head into her hands, fingertips pressing against her eyes as though she could physically erase the memory. “God,” she muttered aloud, her voice slightly hoarse from disuse, “What am I even doing. Idiot.”

Who pushes their crush away because they like them too much? Who turns away from the one person who outshone the oceans she’d spent her whole life trying to understand?

She did. She had. Because she couldn’t tolerate the thought of Vi feeling it, or seeing it in her eyes but not echoing the fullness of her heart.

And now she was alone, with her laptop full of tragedy documentaries and a bunny under one arm. A chest full of ache.

And Vi- God knows where she was now. Maybe touching manta rays and smiling without her.

By the time she’d finished binge watching all the documentaries, the room had grown dim.

Caitlyn blinked at the soft shift of lights across the wall, then at the clock on the wall almost absently.

It was evening. Proper evening.

And the last thing she’d eaten was a half stake digestive biscuit sometime around three in the afternoon. Her stomach ached, though not entirely from hunger. Still, the thought of staying in this room for one more moment, sitting in the same air where she’d rejected kindness and watching entire oceans collapse in documentary form- made her feel like she was starting to fossilise.

She needed air. Or some movement, at least. 

𓂃𓈒𓏸𓈒𓂃𓈒𓇼𓈒𓂃𓈒𓆉

She didn’t even remember deciding where to go. One minute she was walking in silence, and the next she was standing outside a seaside bar.

She didn’t like drinking all that much. Never had.

But something about the crowd and the noise made her step inside without much thought.

It was crowded. Packed shoulder to shoulder with tourists and locals, the sharp scent of salt and citrus tangled with perfume. Still, she pressed forward, found an empty stool near the edge of the bar, her back to the sea.

She hadn’t meant to order a beer. It had slipped from her mouth before she could stop it like muscle memory. “Stone & Wood Pacific Ale,” she told the bartender.

She didn’t drink beer until three months ago, when Vi had started  passing her cold bottles after dives, cheersing with that stupidly refreshing yet somehow alluring grin. 

Caitlyn had never quite liked the taste. But over time, the bitterness had mellowed under repetition, their mingled laughter and Vi’s presence beside her. Now it felt rather familiar.

She raised the bottle to her lips, eyes wandering, searching for nothing in particular, until she caught a flicker of pink at the very edge of her vision. Subtle yet bright and unmistakable.

She turned on instinct. And there she was.

Vi. Leaning back against the bar, hips angled casually, her head tilted towards- 

A woman standing beside her. 

Her smile was slow and seemingly tipsy, as though it had bloomed there hours ago and never quite left.

And that woman- 

She was striking.

Red hair, curled and long and slightly tousled like it had been kissed by sea breeze. Red lipstick. A laugh that tilted through the noise and seemed to draw Vi in closer.

Caitlyn froze. Her grip on the bottle tightened. Her shoulders stiffened. Something in her spine locked like she’d just taken a wrong step off the edge of something high and unforgiving.

She couldn’t hear what they were saying. Couldn’t even read Vi’s lips from this distance, but the distinctive glint in those pale turquoise eyes was unmistakable.

Caitlyn continued to sit in silence, shoulders drawn tight, the bottle of Pacific Ale turning slowly between her fingers. The cold condensation slid down her palm, momentarily forgotten and pointless.

She hadn’t taken another sip. Her traitorous and stubborn eyes kept flicking sideways, dragging her gaze back to the pink blur at the far end of the bar, to Vi and the woman beside her, and the shape of their laughter curling into the air like an inside joke she couldn’t comprehend.

That should’ve been me. I was the one who’s been laughing by her side for the past three months. Me.

Caitlyn pouted without even intending to. It was just the smallest downturn of her mouth and a tightening in her jaw, her lips pressed together like a quiet protest. She looked away only to look back again. She couldn’t help herself.

Vi’s shoulders were shaking with laughter now, head tossed slightly back, the bottle balanced loosely between her fingers.

And that was the moment that consolidated her earlier thoughts, the one she hadn’t dared to test out loud. That if Vi ever laughed like that with another woman, if Vi ever flirted with someone else, she would get painfully, irrationally jealous. And now she jinxed it. Sat in a bar with a beer she didn’t want, heart pounding while jealousy burned between her ribs.

Of course she knew she had no claim or right. She was the one who pushed her away, yet the ache in her chest had no care for logic whatsoever. It pulsed anyway. 

Caitlyn, in all her aching restraint, stared just for a second too long. 

And that was all it took.

That woman leaned in towards Vi, said something that was too muffled to hear but too close to not notice, and Vi turned her head with a curious expression, blinking rapidly.

Then her gaze swept over the bar, casual and searching until it landed on Caitlyn- who was still watching. 

Their eyes met just for a mere flash.

And Vi’s eyes widened ever so slightly in recognition.

Caitlyn’s heart practically stopped. Her breath stuttered in her lungs. Her spine snapped straight. Her entire body reacted like it had been caught amid committing a crime.

Shit .

Her fingers instinctively tightened around the bottle now lukewarm in her grip, the label softening from the condensation. She tore her gaze away, dropped it to the rim of her drink, feigning concentration on the useless beer that now tasted very much like regret.

Beers had never tasted more bitter.

Her face burned instantly from embarrassment and the unbearable fact that Vi had seen her exactly as she was- exposed, jealous, wanting.

She didn’t dare lift her gaze. Her eyes stayed fixed on the bottle. Her heart was now pounding too loud that she hoped it would drown out her shame.

And then a familiar voice came from her side.

“Hey, cupcake.”

A little slurred around the edges, apparently softened by tipsiness. Caitlyn blinked, heart hitching before she forced herself to glance up. 

Vi was standing just beside her now with that same lazy smile, the bottom of her cerise hair curling slightly from the humidity, her freckled cheeks pink with alcohol. “Didn’t expect to see you here,” Vi said as she tilted her head slightly to the side, those unchanged celeste eyes catching hers.

Caitlyn stared at her flushed cheeks for half a second longer than necessary. Then she cleared her throat. “Uh- me neither.”

Vi hummed, tipping the bottle slightly against her palm as she leaned an elbow on the table. “So… you on a date or something?”

Caitlyn blinked. Her fingers tightened around the bottle, the chill suddenly sharp. 

“What?”

Vi grinned, slightly dazed. “You’re staring tragically into a beer. Looks like a first date with disappointment.”

Caitlyn flushed. “I’m not on a date.”

Vi blinked. “No?”

“No,” Caitlyn straightened a little. “I’m just here alone.”

Something visibly flickered in Vi’s eyes, though fleeting and indecipherable. Then her smile tightened by a fraction, her gaze flickering towards the floor and back. 

“So you just hate being with me so much you had to take a day off just to drink alone?” 

Caitlyn blinked, stunned. “What? No-I-”

Vi huffed a small breath, half a laugh and half something else. “It’s fine,” she interrupted softly before Caitlyn could finish her sentence. “I get it.”

Then she tipped the rest of her beer back in one clean motion, neck tilted upward. the last swallow hitting the back of her throat like she wanted it to sting.

Caitlyn only stared at her, lips parting slightly.

She wanted to say something. Anything. It’s not like that. I wasn’t avoiding you. I just don’t want to fall for you any further.

She wanted to ask- Who was she? The woman with red hair. Was she just company, or something more? She wanted to know even if she wasn’t sure she could bear the answer. But the words caught in her throat, too fragile and too late. 

And so she said nothing instead.

 Vi set the empty bottle down with a soft clink, then raised a hand to flag the bartender. “Another one, please.”

Caitlyn’s brow creased. “Vi- how much have you had already?”

Vi didn’t look at her, just leaned her cheek into her palm and squinted vaguely at the bottles behind the bar. “Uh… I dunno. Seven? Eight? Maybe more. I wasn’t counting.”

Caitlyn blinked. “That’s… a lot. It’s a miracle you’re still standing.”

Vi hummed like she hadn’t heard the concern laced through her voice. “Chill. It’s just 4 percent.”

“You should stop. Seriously. I’m not going to carry you back to your room.”

Vi chuckled lightly at that, though undeniably hollow and crinkling at the edges with a lack of emotion. She tilted her head slightly, eyes still dazy. “Why not? Thought you were the helpful type.”

“I am,” Caitlyn said gently, “but not when you’re clearly trying to pickle yourself in Pacific Ale.”

Vi blinked slowly. “Pickle myself,” she echoed, though there was no real smile on her face..

Caitlyn hesitated, watching her carefully. “…why are you drinking so much?”

For a moment, no answer came. Vi simply stared into the rim of her bottle like it might contain some version of the night where everything hadn’t gone sideways. Then she finally said, too casually, “Huh? Oh. Just… got rejected?”

She gave a half chuckle again like the words didn’t carry meaning, like they didn’t punch holes straight through Caitlyn’s chest. “Not a big deal.”

Caitlyn’s heart skipped in her ribs. “Oh,” she breathed, lips parting. “I… I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

Vi shrugged, eyes still avoiding hers. “Didn’t really announce it anyway.”

Caitlyn didn’t need to ask. The conclusion had already rooted itself somewhere beneath her sternum.

So Vi liked someone else. Not her.

Not her who spent hours memorising the tilt of her smile and the cadence of her laugh, listening to her dive stories like she was mesmerised. Not her who had, hours earlier, said no when every cell in her body screamed yes I do.

She would never have rejected Vi. Not in a million years.

The irony struck like salt in an open wound, bitter and cold. Caitlyn blinked down at the table, throat bobbing as she forced the thought away, trying her best to replace it with concern. Vi’s skin had gone a shade too flushed, her freckles pinker than usual and her eyes slightly glassy at the edges.

“You’re burning,” Caitlyn said softly, and before she could stop herself her hand was already reaching out, tentatively, instinctively, stupidly- and brushed the backs of her fingers against Vi’s cheek. “Your face is burning.”

Vi blinked, startled at first then leaned into the touch by tilting her head ever so slightly. Then her lips curled into a subtle smile, though there was barely any amusement underneath. “Yeah? It’s from seeing you.”

Caitlyn froze. Her fingers stiffened where they hovered, still cradling the line of Vi’s cheekbone. Don’t say that, she thought, panic blooming quietly at the back of her mind. Don’t say that when your heart is already somewhere else.

But her heart gave a traitorous flutter anyway. Vi’s lashes lowered slightly, her gaze flicking towards Caitlyn’s lips and then away again. She slowly reached up and gently closed her fingers around Caitlyn’s wrist, not pulling away but holding her there instead.

“Your hand is so cold,” Vi said softly, her voice thick with exhaustion and liquor. She pressed Caitlyn’s palm more firmly against her cheek in an apparent attempt to warm it up with the heat radiating from her own skin.

And Caitlyn, who had memorised the migratory paths of whales, could not remember a single coherent thought right now.

She blushed so hard she could feel it in her scalp.

Vi’s lashes fluttered once, then twice. And then her head tipped forward ever so slightly and landed on Caitlyn’s shoulder.

Startled, Caitlyn blinked down at her. “Vi,” she muttered. No response. 

Vi’s eyes were half lidded now, her grip on Caitlyn’s wrist loosening, bottle forgotten at the edge of the table, posture slackening.

“Violet,” Caitlyn said again, a little firmer this time. “You need to go back.”

Vi made a low, vaguely grumbling sound. “I’m tired,” she muttered against Caitlyn’s shoulder, the syllables all soft edges and breath.

“I know you are,” Caitlyn sighed, fingers curling instinctively around Vi’s forearm. “But you’re going to pass out if you stay here.”

Another sleepy mumble. Something like, “you smell nice,” followed by a lazy blink.

Caitlyn flushed to the tips of her ears and immediately regretted all her life choices. “God,” she muttered under her breath. “Unbelievable.”

Vi didn’t argue, though. She was already starting to slide off the edge of the stool.

Which meant Caitlyn had to grab her, loop one arm around her waist and drag her out of the bar like a disoriented koala. 

The night air hit them like a soft slap, cool and briny, laced with the scent of eucalyptus and ocean. 

“Careful,” Caitlyn muttered, adjusting her grip. “I am not letting you faceplant on the boardwalk. If you get concussed I’ll have to write a formal report and I swear to god-”

But Vi was barely listening. She was smiling now. Sleepy but content. “You smell like a cupcake,” she slurred, her head lolling against Caitlyn’s shoulder again.

Caitlyn didn’t respond when everything in her mind was screaming something wildly inappropriate like I’d let you fall asleep on me everyday if you wanted .

The breeze carried the soft clatter of tourists still wandering the boardwalk in scattered clusters, laughter and camera clicks echoing.

Caitlyn paused.

Just past the edge of the docks, where a group had gathered in a crescent of excitement near the shallows, the water shimmered.

A fresh bloom of bioluminescence had come to kiss the bay again, dancing beneath bare feet and wading silhouettes. It was faint, not as vivid as that night but still visible.

It felt like a ghost of the tide that had glowed beneath them that night. Of the instant film photo still tucked inside Vi’s phone case.

Caitlyn’s throat tightened.

Vi stirred against her, muttering something unintelligible and sagged heavier into her side.

Caitlyn turned away from the glowing tide.

Of course she did. Because the woman who had once grinned at the sea beside her now couldn’t keep her eyes open long enough to see it. And Caitlyn couldn’t stand there watching it alone.

So she turned back.

Meanwhile, Vi stumbled again, giggling into Caitlyn’s shoulder. And Caitlyn- utterly doomed, constitutionally weak for this woman- bit back a sigh that turned traitor halfway out of her mouth.

Because Vi drunk was… God. She was unbearable.

Her cheeks pink and flushed, her lashes low and fluttering, her voice slurred and hoarse like honey being poured from a jar. Her laughter came looser.

And Caitlyn could barely function.

There was something maddeningly magnetic about this version of Vi, unguarded, leaning into Caitlyn’s touch without hesitation, smiling at her like it was instinct.

And yes, yes, it was hot. Caitlyn wasn’t delusional.

It was hot in the way sunburns were. unexpected and dangerous and showing up far too late. But beneath the blush that climbed her neck and the guilt that still twisted under her ribs, was the low and quiet ache of worry.

Because Vi had never drunk like this before. Not in three months of dives and decompression days and beachside dinners.

And Caitlyn found herself disliking it. She disliked the glassiness in her eyes, the slur of her voice and the way she’d said “ got rejected ” like it meant nothing even when her whole body said otherwise.

Caitlyn tightened her grip around her waist just slightly. She’s too bright for this , she thought. Too full of light and everything good . She should never have to drink like this just to forget someone. She should never get this drunk again.

By the time they finally reached Vi’s door, Caitlyn’s shoulder ached and her patience had long dissolved into nothing.

“Alright,” she murmured, shifting Vi gently against the wall for support, “we made it. Where’s your keycard?”

Vi blinked slowly. “Huh?”

“Your keycard,” Caitlyn repeated softly, more carefully now, brushing a strand of cerise hair out of Vi’s eyes. “Where is it?”

Vi blinked again, then shrugged. “Dunno. Don’t remember.”

Caitlyn closed her eyes for a long, slow beat.

Of course. 

She sighed through her nose, grounding herself with a deep sigh.

Now she was faced with a choice. 

Drag her to the lobby, explain to the front desk that yes, she was trying to get this half drunk, half sleeping woman back into her room without causing suspicion, and wait for the spare keycard.

Or-

Put her in her own room instead.

She glanced at her own door. The rational choice was obvious. Bring her inside. Let her sleep it off in a real bed. It was safe, simple and logical.

Except it wasn’t, at least for Caitlyn.

because Vi would definitely crawl under her sheets and mumble something devastating like “you smell good, cupcake” and Caitlyn would spiral directly into the Mariana Trench with no hope of resurfacing. Because she wasn’t sure if she could spend an entire night listening to Vi breathe beside her and not imagine what it would be like if they were something more than almost.

So, no. The safer option for her sanity was finding that damn keycard.

She turned back to Vi, gently bracing her against the wall again. “Okay, alright. Let’s try this again.”

Vi blinked at her, sluggish and bleary eyed. “What’re we doing?”

“Looking for your keycard.”

“Mmm.” Vi grinned slowly. “You’re gonna frisk me or what?”

Caitlyn did not dignify that with a response. Mostly because she was too busy combusting internally.

Her ears turned red for what felt like the hundredth time tonight. Violently. “Just- stand still.”

She started with the front pockets. Nothing. Side cargo ones. Nothing but lint and what might have once been a mint.

Vi hummed softly under her breath, clearly entertained. 

Caitlyn grit her teeth. She was trying very, very hard to remain professional about this. But then she reached her waistband, then lower. And her fingers brushed along the curve of Vi’s hips- only to meet more fabric, and absolutely no keycard.

“Jesus Christ,” Caitlyn hissed, flustered beyond salvation. “Where is it?”

Vi tilted her head, smiling sleepily. “You could try my back pocket. That’s where all the good stuff is.”

Caitlyn stared at her. Then made the worst mistake of her entire academic career: she reached.

And sure enough, buried in the back left pocket, dangerously close to the source of all her moral sins, was the keycard.

Her fingers curled around it as she yanked it free.

Vi chuckled. “Damn. At least buy me dinner first.”

Caitlyn nearly exploded. “Shut up,” she snapped, cheeks flaming, keycard clutched in a white knuckled grip.

Vi giggled in response.

And Caitlyn, who had absolutely not signed up for this, shoved the card into the door’s reader with more aggression than necessary, praying the sea deities that the universe would grant her enough composure to survive the next five minutes.

The door clicked open.

Caitlyn practically dragged Vi inside. The lights were off, thankfully, and she guided Vi towards the bed, one hand steadying her waist while the other still clenched around the keycard. The  with a sharp exhale, she let go. 

And Vi flopped right onto the mattress, limbs splayed like a real firebrick starfish that looked exactly like Caitlyn’s imagination.

Caitlyn ignored her. She was too busy wrestling the comforter. She finally managed to roll Vi onto her side just long enough to tuck the blanket underneath, then dropped it over her with finality like she was sealing away her last shred of sanity.

And then she stood there in the dark, looking down at this utterly inebriated yet beautiful woman who had flirted with her, rejected her and accidentally ruined her entire life in barely two hours.

Vi’s hair was a mess, curling widely across the pillow. Her lashes rested against flushed cheeks, lips parted slightly.

Caitlyn couldn’t bring herself to believe in the fact that she was hopelessly in love with this woman in front of her. Someone who giggled when drunk, who hid keycards in her back pocket, who made squid fishing and sea sparkle somewhat the most romantic things she’d ever experienced and someone who tucked their polaroid in her phone case like it was meant to be intimate.

Someone who didn’t even like her back.

She looked at Vi one more time, swallowed the lump in her throat and added in an exasperated sigh with both what sounded like humour and heartbreak.

Then she turned to leave.

But then she felt fingers abruptly curling around her wrist, not tight but rather firm, not pleading but slightly possessive like a tether suddenly snapping taut between them.

Caitlyn froze.

She didn’t even have time to turn before the pull came, a single and utterly ungraceful tug that sent her stumbling backwards, flipping her until her knees hit the mattress and she collapsed, not beside Vi but on top of her, hands splayed across the blanket but still quite unable to stop herself from falling through it.

“What-“

But she never had the chance to finish the sentence. Vi, half asleep and entirely unguarded, wrapped one arm loosely around her waist and the other slid up, fingers tangled in Caitlyn’s hair, then buried her face in the curve of Caitlyn’s neck.

Caitlyn was absolutely losing her shit.

Because the scent was instant. 

Vi smelled like summer.

Like sunscreen, saltwater, and the ghost of coconut shampoo. Like sea breeze and something sweet but unidentifiable- might be glaze, might be beer or just the sheer heat of her skin.

Her breath was warm against Caitlyn’s throat, edged with the faint tang of alcohol. The soft huff of  her breath against Caitlyn’s pulse point- the press of her body beneath her, devastatingly warm- all of it had her overwhelmed in just a few fleeting seconds.

Caitlyn’s entire body went taut, her heart thudding so violently it felt like her ribs might splinter from the inside.

She swallowed hard.

“Vi,” she whispered, voice shredded down to a thread. “Violet, let go.”

Vi mumbled something unintelligible. Then her nose nudged against Caitlyn’s skin as though she was chasing the warmth instinctively in her sleep.

And Caitlyn, still trembling and resisting the every single impulse screaming to stay right there- pathetically bit the inside of her cheek until it ached.

Her hands stayed braced on either side of Vi’s body, not touching her but not moving either. She didn’t dare. Because she wasn’t sure what would happen if she did.

All she knew was that she was breathing her in like she was drowning.

She remained there for what could’ve been ten minutes or an hour- she didn’t know.Time had collapsed into sensation, into the soft but hot breaths against her neck and the aching stillness of being held by someone who should not belong to her.

Her muscles trembled from the effort of restraint, arms gone faintly numb from where they braced her against the mattress, every joint caught in impossible stasis that was too close to yield to gravity yet too far to call it an embrace.

Her neck stiffened, spine beginning to ache beneath the strain of holding herself aloft, of not folding for the warmth that whispered stay, Caitlyn. Stay.

But Vi still didn’t let go.

One arm still draped carelessly across her waist, the other wrapped around Caitlyn’s neck while her face remained tucked into the hollow of it, lips parting ever so slightly against Caitlyn’s skin like a benediction not meant to be witnessed.

And Caitlyn- god, she had never felt more undone in her life.

She could feel the slow and steady rhythm of Vi’s heartbeat pulsing gently through the thin barrier of cloth and heat where their chests nearly touched. 

And her own traitorous, desperate heart stuttered once, then adjusted its peace as if it was trying to match.

A moment later, it did. 

Their heartbeats fell into rhythm, quiet and synchronised like a secret language spoken only in blood and closeness. Caitlyn flushed, the blood rushing towards her face, warming against the still air of the room.

Her breath hitched.

If only our feelings could sync the way our heartbeat just did, she thought. If only love were as simple as muscle memory, something instinctive and involuntary. Something that wouldn’t have her questioning.

This was everything she wanted, distilled into a moment too fragile to last. And yet she knew with an almost burning clarity that she had to let go.

Obviously not because she wanted to or because the thought of staying didn’t ache so sweetly it made her chest feel too tight for breath. But because Vi wasn’t sober, and she had laughed with a red haired woman hours ago and apparently confessed, albeit drunkenly, to being rejected by someone Caitlyn believed was not her.

And it would be wrong, unethical, unprofessional and unforgivable to stay tangled in her arms like she belonged there, to pretend this was almost hers to have when it was borrowed from blurred memory.

So she exhaled slowly, quietly and began the delicate work of retreat.

Her hand slid first, inching out from under the diver’s lax fingers. Then she shifted her weight back, every movement slow and excruciating.

Vi didn’t so much as stir. She just murmured something wordless into the dark, her arm falling limp beside her, and Caitlyn, who was still suspended between longing and logic, tucked the blanket up to Vi’s shoulder with trembling hands and a breath that caught in her throat.

She stared down for a moment, helpless in the face of everything unsaid.

And god, she wanted- more than clarity, more than oxygen, more than any discovery that awaited her in the abyssal dark- to be kissed senseless by this woman in front of her until her thoughts dissolved and her name was nothing but a whisper between breaths.

She wanted Vi to pull her back down and press their mouths together like Caitlyn was hers to devour and Vi had simply been waiting for the right moment to do it. 

She wanted to taste the remnants of what she imagined was the tang of citrus on her lips, something that would be recklessly sweet and tantalising like mischief soaked in sunlight. To drag her tongue softly over that faint scar just above her upper lip like she could kiss the history from it, learn her by taste alone.

She desired that aftertaste of alcohol and breathlessness, to let the warmth of the diver’s mouth unravel the last of her reason.

But she had principles.

So she turned quietly and walked towards the door.

And she fled, with the flush of someone whose composure had cracked at the edges, who urgently needed to put physical distance between herself and the temptation she could no longer trust herself to resist.

She quickly reached her own room, fumbling the keycard twice before finally entering. Back pressed to the door. Breath ragged. Face flushed like she’d run a mile. Chest heaving like she’d barely survived a race- in fact, she had.

And still, beneath the logic and shame and restraint, there was the unbearable truth that she had wanted to stay. She had wanted to curl into Vi’s warmth and fall asleep right there beneath her arm.

She wanted to be kissed breathless, held with the kind of urgency that bruised and healed in the same touch, undone completely by someone who smelled of sea breeze tangled with coconut and sunscreen, tasted of citrus and intoxication like every forbidden thing she’d ever craved pressed softly to her mouth.

But instead, she’d fled once again.

Caitlyn huffed under her breath, half frustrated and half delirious. She told herself she’d had enough of the teasing, the temptation and the chaos wrapped in sunburnt skin and sugar coated smiles.

But the truth bloomed bitter and undeniable beneath her ribs as she clicked her own door shut.

No. She would never have enough of Vi.

And god help her- 

she already knew it.

Chapter Text

𓂃𓈒𓏸𓈒𓂃𓈒𓇼𓈒𓂃𓈒𓆉

Location: Jervis Bay, New South Wales, Australia

Temperature: 26°C (79°F)

Humidity: 78%

Wind speed: 11 mph, SE

Week 15

The sun was already high when they boarded the boat, the water below gleaming like glass fractured by motion.

Caitlyn stood near the bow, arms loosely folded over her chest, watching the final preparations with what she hoped resembled her usual expression.

But of course her gaze would always drift towards Vi.

Vi, who was now standing near the stern adjusting her BCD, wetsuit clinging to her muscles. Vi, who smiled at her earlier, not teasing like before but rather soft like nothing had happened.

And maybe nothing had. Maybe Caitlyn had imagined everything.

Because Vi hadn’t brought it up. Not in the seven days since. And neither had she. The week had passed by with the slightly awkward civility of two people trying not to step on the broken glass between them. Their conversations clipped at the edges, laughter more polite than spontaneous, proximity maintained just enough to appear normal but not enough to feel like it used to.

They were still friendly, but something had gone quiet beneath the surface.

Because if she’d forgotten, if she truly didn’t recall the drag of her hand and the way she had murmured into her neck like it was the safest place on earth- then maybe it had never meant what Caitlyn had wished it did.

And if she did remember, and still hadn’t said anything… Well. That hurt in a quieter, more complicated way.

Caitlyn looked away, her fingers tightening around her clipboard, the paper beneath it fluttering slightly in the breeze.

She wasn’t sure when everything had started to feel like a performance. One where she was standing in for herself, mimicking the confidence she used to carry before her body remembered what it felt like to be wanted if only for a breathless moment in the dark.

For the past three months, Vi had been making the ocean feel closer than ever like it was no longer something to fear.

Through every story she told, Vi had taken Caitlyn’s utmost fear of submersion and softened it until it almost resembled solace, by telling her tales of manta rays gliding beneath her and octopus curling around her fingers.

She had spoken of the depths not as something to conquer but rather something to marvel at, painting marine creatures in the wild with such vivid tenderness in her words that Caitlyn had begun to lean closer without meaning to. To wonder if maybe through Vi, she could learn to stop fearing the abyss.

But now it felt like the tide she had finally gone closer to was ebbing. And Caitlyn was left standing alone at the shore again, wet sand slipping beneath her feet and water receding from her like she was no longer invited to touch.

She cleared her throat, clipboard steady in her hands, though her grip on the pen betrayed her tremor. “I know we’ve already discussed this, but just to confirm… today I’ll need you to descend to sixty metres. I’m looking for a sediment sample from a low disturbance zone, ideally. It shouldn’t take long, but…”

Her voice faltered for just a moment. Vi looked up from where she was checking the seals on her diving mask, blinking at her.

Caitlyn hesitated. Then added almost tentatively. “Be careful.”

She had said this before. It was simple, clinical even.

Vi blinked again, her smile slow and easy as it curved across her lips, eyes glinting even through her mask like sunlight refracted through shallow water. “Sixty?” She repeated, slinging her regulator hose over her shoulder. “Please. I’ve gone way deeper than that. I’m technical, not recreational.”

She smirked light-heartedly. But her voice had that familiar and anchoring undertone she wore whenever Caitlyn worried too much. “I’m a pro, cupcake,” she added, pulling her wetsuit sleeves. “You know that.”

Caitlyn let out a breath she hadn’t realised she was holding. She nodded once, offering a faint smile that didn’t quite smooth the tension in her shoulders. “I know,” she said. “I just…”

She didn’t finish.

And Vi, ever intuitive in the quiet ways Caitlyn couldn’t defend against, didn’t ask her to finish. Instead, she reached out, one gloved hand lifting without hesitation, and gave Caitlyn’s head a small, gentle pat.

It was light, brief, almost teasing, but there was an unexpected tenderness in this simple yet reassuring gesture, like a wordless way of saying I know you care, but don’t worry.

Caitlyn stiffened for half a breath, startled by the contact, and then felt the flush rise to her cheeks before she could school it down.

Vi had already turned, crouching by her gear, utterly unaware, or perhaps completely aware of the tiny tornado she left in her wake.

Caitlyn blinked, the space where Vi’s hand had touched her hair still tingling faintly. She stared for a moment longer at the curve of Vi’s back, and the way the wind toyed with the wisps of hair next to her cheek. Then she finally looked away, heart pounding as though trying to escape the very ribs she had caged it behind.

It was such a simple thing. So casual. Yet so intimate.

But she could only think, with the kind of bitter, breathless awe that tasted almost like laughter, that if Vi had done that to every woman she met, it was no wonder they’d all fall for her.

Because how could they not? How could Caitlyn not fall in love with her?

She adjusted the clipboard in her hands again, though she didn’t need to. She needed anything to tether herself to logic again and pretend she wasn't unravelling in plain sight.

Meanwhile, Vi tugged at the straps of her BCD, fingers slipping beneath it with a confidence that made Caitlyn’s stomach tighten inexplicably.

And then, god help her. Vi lifted the regulator and secured it to her tank.

Caitlyn stared. Very explicitly.

And then with absolutely no mercy from the universe, she uncontrollably thought of how lucky it would be to be that regulator. To rest on her mouth for so long. To feel the press of her lips, the shape of her breath and the heat beneath the cool.

She audibly gasped.

What is wrong with me?

That was an oxygen supply device. Scientific equipment. That was- fuck. Vi didn’t even like her back. She wasn’t allowed to even hold a single thought like that.

Vi glanced over her shoulder just then, lips parting slightly and blinked at her as if she could feel the descent into madness happening behind her.

Caitlyn looked away so fast she nearly dropped her clipboard. She cleared her throat a bit too violently. “Everything looks fine, the temperature’s perfect, uh-” she said, pretending to check a nonexistent reading.

Vi chuckled softly, the sound muffled by the splash of waves beneath them, and turned back to adjusting the gas tank on her back.

God. She needed help. Touch some grass instead of the sea. Give up on her hopeless crush. Or maybe all of them.

“Is your DiveTrack active?” Caitlyn asked, painfully proud of how steady her voice came out this time.

Vi nodded once, tapping the device clipped to her dive computer. “The transponder’s on. You’ll see my telemetry in real time.”

Caitlyn exhaled softly, almost inaudibly, and gave a small nod of approval. “Alright. You’re cleared to enter.” 

Vi nodded back, and without hesitation, turned and stepped cleanly off the edge of the boat. She disappeared for a breath, then reemerged, breaking the surface, body bobbing lightly in place as her BCD held her afloat.

Caitlyn moved to the railing, eyes fixed on the water below. Then Vi turned towards her, hand lifted in the air as her fingers formed a clean OK sign. Caitlyn’s heart jumped every time at this sight. But she never quite let it show. She raised her own hand in reply, returning the gesture.

Then Vi’s head disappeared beneath the water.

𓂃𓈒𓏸𓈒𓂃𓈒𓇼𓈒𓂃𓈒𓆉

Roughly five and a half minutes had passed since Vi’s body had vanished beneath the surface.

Now, the only proof of her presence was digital, a series of data points crawling across the surface of Caitlyn’s tablet. Her fingers hovered near the screen, eyes fixed on the DiveTrack display.

Dive Time: 0 5:48

Depth : 45.3m

PO2 : 1.3 ATA

CNS Exposure: 22%

Tank Pressure : 165 bar

No-Decompression Limit : 13:14

All well within acceptable parameters.

Vi had insisted a rebreather meant for extended time on the bottom was overkill for a simple sediment grab. 

Of course she knew Vi was professional. Methodical when it mattered.

Still, Caitlyn couldn’t help stop the tightness that had gathered at the base of her throat, a constriction that didn’t belong to science. She adjusted the angle of the tablet ever so slightly, though nothing on the screen had changed significantly.

The minutes ticked by with the deceptive slowness only anxiety could stretch, each metric a fragile reassurance she read again and again as if the act of observation alone could will Vi safely through the depths. Her eyes scanned the DiveTrack interface once more, the glow of the tablet reflecting faintly across her face. The sea remained calm, but her pulse was anything but.

Dive Time: 08:57

Depth : 59.4m

PO2 : 1.5 ATA

CNS Exposure : 23%

Tank pressure : 163 bar

No-Decompression Limit : 12:31

Caitlyn swallowed, adjusted the angle of the screen with a flick of her fingers to make herself feel like she was participating in Vi’s safety beyond silent hope.

The numbers ticked forward.

Depth : 60.1m

There it was.

The target and limit where Caitlyn had only ever imagined through sonar scans, dive logs and sediment samples sealed in tubes. Vi was there now, suspended in that pressurised world collecting with her own hands the data Caitlyn had only ever dreamed of touching.

And Caitlyn couldn’t even communicate with her. All she had were these numbers and lines. And this small electronic window that felt at once intimate and wholly insufficient.

CNS Exposure: 26%

No-Decompression Limit : 11:03

Vi would need to ascend within the NDL, otherwise she would likely experience a high CNS oxygen toxicity and decompression sickness.

She fidgeted unconsciously, the tip of her finger tracing along the screen’s edge, her other hand tapping a silent rhythm against her thigh, trying not to stare too hard at the countdown of the NDL that had begun the moment Vi reached bottom.

And then finally, the number shifted.

Dive Time : 14:53

Depth : 59.8m

Time to Surface : 45:00

Tank Pressure : 140 bar

No-Decompression Limit: 3:17

Time to Surface : 45:00

And again.

Depth : 58.7m

Vi was now ascending.

Caitlyn felt the breath leave her in one slow exhale, long and tight. Her fingers stilled against the screen.

Dive Time: 15:42

No-Decompression Limit : 9:43

Time to Surface : 44:11

Caitlyn watched each change in depth like a heartbeat on ECG, reading the rhythm of it with a silent reverence.

Depth : 56.5

53.2.

50.4.

The first scheduled decompression stop would come at forty eight metres for around one minute to allow Vi’s tissues to off-gas safely. 

Dive Time : 15:51

Depth : 49.1m

No-Decompression Limit : 8:53

And then the depth reading was held there.

Status : Decompression required

48.0m.

Time to Surface : 43:05

There it was. Vi had safely reached her first expected decompression stop.

Caitlyn stared at the number, watching the seconds tick silently forward, her breath slow but shallow as if she were the one being suspended in water.

Dive Time : 16:34

No-Decompression Limit : paused

Time to Surface : 42:22

Tank Pressure : 132 bar

PO2 : 1.30 ATA

CNS Exposure : 25%

Everything looked stable. Predictable.

Caitlyn tracked the numbers with the quiet devotion of someone who didn’t trust her own heart to count correctly. She sat on the bench, tablet now balanced in her lap.

She didn’t blink often. Didn’t let her eyes off the screen. Because every breath Vi took down there was invisible, held together by a thread of trust that Caitlyn could only measure in numbers.

Depth : 46.8m

43.4m.

41.5m.

A sharp breath escaped her before she even realised she’d been holding it.

Dive Time: 18:01

NDL : 10:43

The next scheduled stop would be at thirty-three metres, give or take. Approximately three minutes to let the gas shift.

Seconds slipped by.

34.5m

Dive Time : 18:58

NDL : 15:02

The reading steadied.

Depth: 33.0m

PO2 : 1.28 ATA

CNS Exposure : 27%

NDL : paused

Tank Pressure: 124 bar

Caitlyn’s gaze flicked down to confirm the decompression hold. Vi had now reached her second decompression stop.

The next reading came three minutes or so later.

32.2m.

30.8m.

The ascent resumed.

28.6m.

Dive Time : 21:46

27.1m.

She was nearing the next decompression stop. 

Caitlyn shifted slightly where she sat, shoulders tight despite the steady readings. She kept her eyes fixed on the tablet, watching for the next shift in depth, expecting the profile to resume as planned. The next deco stop would be precisely at twenty four metres, if just as scheduled.

Depth : 25.9m

Dive Time : 22:03

PO2 : 1.3 ATA

NDL : 24:03

Tank Pressure : 108 bar

Time to Surface: 35:30

And then-

Nothing.

25.7m.

25.6m.

Vi wasn’t ascending.

She was seemingly hovering just above twenty four metre mark now, suspended somewhere between one decompression stop and the next. 

Caitlyn’s eyes quickly scanned the rest of the data, her breath caught in the back of her throat.

PO2 : 1.3 ATA

CNS Exposure : 27%

NDL : 20:11

Vi had been at 25.6m for approximately four minutes now. The NDL was ticking downward again, slow but unmistakable. Each second was subtracted from Vi’s margin of safety as she lingered at a depth not quite shallow enough for her scheduled stop.

Caitlyn’s fingers twitched against the edge of the screen. 

Vi is a professional, she reminded herself. She’d done this a hundred times. Probably even more. And yet the sliver of uncertainty curled at the edges of her composure. 

Had Vi miscalculated? Misread her gauge? Was she delaying deliberately or had something subtle shifted, something that Caitlyn couldn’t identify from the surface?

25.6m.

Dive Time : 28:58

NDL : 17:32

She told herself again. That Vi would know what to do.

But the seconds continued to pass, and Vi had not yet ascended to twenty four.

And Caitlyn. despite the metrics still within acceptable range, found her thumb beginning to press against the edge of the screen as though by holding the number steady she could keep everything else from slipping.

Dive Time : 22:43

Depth : 25.6m 

PO2 : 1.3 ATA

CNS O2 Exposure : 30%

NDL : 14:59

Time to Surface : 34:24

Caitlyn’s eyes narrowed as the new line flickered onto the display. The number had shifted again. She checked it once more to be sure.

Time to Surface : 35:30 

It was rising gradually.

It should’ve held steady around thirty-two, maybe thirty-three at most based on the initial profile. Vi’s schedule had been tight, but efficient at least. Her decompression stops were calculated down to the second, designed to bring her back clean, safe and unharmed.

But she hadn’t ascended to twenty-four metres in time.

And now her time to surface was increasing, creeping upward minute by minute as nitrogen burden accumulated in the tissues Vi was usually so precise about managing.

Thirty six .

Caitlyn’s thumb hovered over the corner of the screen, another hand clenching against her chest where the tension had begun to build like slit in the lungs.

And her tank was draining. Caitlyn could see the values shift with each refresh. The numbers were not yet catastrophic but it wasn’t supposed to be used this much if she was only ascending. Had Vi been breathing heavier than usual?

Depth : 25.6

Dive Time: 26:21

NDL : 11:41

PO2 : 1.35 ATA

CNS Exposure : 34%

Tank Pressure : 96 bar

Time to Surface : 38:30

Her jaw locked. She found herself standing up and pacing, her shoes silent against the deck in an attempt to contain the rising tide of unease crawling up her throat.

Vi wasn’t ascending. 

At first she told herself it was expected that minor fluctuations in the NDL weren’t unusual at this depth. Small oscillations, a breath here and there was perfectly explainable.

But then:

Depth : 25.6

NDL : 10:02

09:38

06:21

This wasn’t normal.

And Vi hadn’t moved.

Caitlyn was now glaring at the depth reading, unchanged now for over ten minutes and every second ticking forward only fed the growing tightness in her chest.

She shifted where she stood, weight moving restlessly from foot to foot, tablet held tight in one hand as the other rose unconsciously to her mouth. Her teeth found the edge of her thumbnail, a nervous habit she’d long buried now unravelling once again.

NDL : 05:39

PO2 : 1.37 ATA

CNS Exposure : 38%

Her PO2 and CNS O2 exposure had so far remained safely within tolerable thresholds. But if the NDL kept falling and her remaining gas kept decreasing, then Vi would be forced to have more decompression obligations. Which meant she must ascend from 25.6m to avoid decompression sickness- the bends. And that meant something wasn’t right. 

Caitlyn’s stomach churned.

What if she was stuck on something down there? What if she caught her harness on a ledge? What if she ran out of gas? What if-

Her eyes dropped again to the DiveTrack. The data held firm, impersonal.

NDL : 05:02

She felt it in her spine. That something was wrong.

And then the deeper fear crept in, unspoken but there all the same.

What if- What if it’s narcosis?

Even with trimix gas at this depth, it wasn’t impossible. Time didn’t move when you were seven atmospheres down and thoughts dragged. You didn’t always realise it was already happening, just that everything felt too good until it wasn’t .

What if Vi thinks she’s already at 24?

Caitlyn’s heart was pounding now. She bit harder into her nail, the faint taste of blood blooming across her tongue and her eyes locked again on the screen, willing it to change.

Depth : 25.6m

NDL : 04:19

Time to Surface: 40:00

Please move , she thought. Please. You have to ascend.

The number was almost a plea now.

Depth : 25.6m . Still.

Caitlyn’s breath faltered. Her hand trembled against the tablet. And something in her chest that she once thought was dormant for years, suddenly clawed its way to the surface again.

The ocean.

The way it had swallowed, smothered her once when she was nine, terrified, falling off the side of that gleaming yacht into a world too cold and vast for her tiny lungs to understand.

She remembered it too well. The choking silence and the brightness fracturing above her. The helplessness of knowing no one could hear her scream underwater.

And now- she was back in it. She was nine again. Except she wasn’t the one sinking, ironically.

It was Vi.

Who had kissed the sea with her whole being, had made Caitlyn believe submerging in the abyss wasn’t something to be petrified of. Who had always looked invincible down there regardless of never witnessing it herself. She was untouchable, effortless, and free.

But the data said otherwise.

Depth : 25.6m

PO2 : 1.38 ATA

CNS Exposure : 40%

NDL : 03:54

Time to Surface : 42:30

Still no ascent. No movement.

Caitlyn’s heart pounded so hard she could hear it echo in her ears, drowning out the breeze, the creak of the boat and the splash of waves again at the hull.

Tank Pressure: 85 bar

Caitlyn blinked rapidly. Fine. Not ideal, but manageable at this depth. Enough to complete the ascent with buffer if Vi managed to continue ascending within her NDL.

She paced again, fingers tapping the back of the tablet.

Tank Pressure: 81 bar

Another four bars were lost. Faster than she expected. She frowned, waiting.

Tank Pressure: 77 bar

NDL : 03:13

Her heart stilled.

No . 

That wasn’t right. That was too fast. A drop of eight bars in barely a minute- more, if she counted the lag between transmissions of the transponder.

Caitlyn’s breath caught in her throat like a knife pressed just beneath the sternum.

She stared, eyes wide, pulse thudding violently in her ears. Her lips parted, though soundless and could only mouth numbers and intervals.

That kind of gas usage- could only mean Vi was breathing heavily.

Something was definitely wrong.

Vi wasn’t using a rebreather. So there was no silent gas recirculation to mask the panic. If the gas was draining that fast at twenty-five metres, it meant her consumption rate had spiked.

Rapid, shallow breaths. Stress responses. Possibly malfunction. Possibly panic.

A cold sweat broke across Caitlyn’s spine.

If she was panicking, burning through her air supply like this at depth without initiating ascent, then she was no longer just late on her deco. 

She was in danger.

Yet Caitlyn couldn’t even communicate with her. She couldn’t even know if she was tangled in something or her gear was malfunctioning or-

She should’ve had a buddy.

She should’ve never sent her down there alone.

What kind of scientist- what kind of idiot approved a solo dive at sixty metres with no redundancy and safeguard? Just because Vi had gone deeper before? Just because she was the only one capable of it?

She should’ve fought harder. Should’ve even begged for another diver in the grant. Should’ve paid out of pocket. Should’ve done anything.

Now all she could do was watch. 

Watch the numbers tick lower. Watch the PO2 climb gradually. Watch the gas in her tank disappear with every breath. 

And still, Vi didn’t move.

She didn’t ascend to 24. 

Even if Vi surfaced now, she’d be passing the limit. She was going to get decompression sickness. And if she didn’t surface- if something had already happened- if she exceeded her NDL and ran out of gas without a buddy-

No.

No .

It can’t be her.

Not Vi. Not the one who made the ocean feel like poetry. Not the woman who laughed at mantas and taught Caitlyn the awe and reverence of being right beside a marine megafauna that was 20 times bigger than herself. 

Caitlyn’s knees nearly gave beneath her. She gripped the railing hard, and squeezed her eyes shut for half a second to stop the sea from taking shape like a mouth beneath her, opening wide to take Vi away.

There was no time left. Vi would soon exceed her NDL if she didn’t ascend immediately. 

Caitlyn’s eyes drifted towards her tablet again.

Depth : 25.6m

NDL : 01:57

PO2 : 1.4 ATA

Tank Pressure : 66 bar

Time to Surface : 45:00

Still unchanged. Vi would soon exceed her NDL. The gas remaining was still sufficient for her to complete her ascent including deco stops, if only she resumed her ascent now.

But Vi hadn’t moved so much as a breath’s worth upward. And the number was ticking down with terrifying finality. Two minutes left on her no-decompression limit. On top of that her gas was being rapidly consumed.

Caitlyn swallowed hard but the lump in her throat didn’t move. Her vision almost blurred for a moment, and she blinked rapidly, trying to clear it and read past the shine of fear gathering in her eyes.

The sea can’t have her .

You took me once. That was enough. Not her. Please .

She knew the rules of scuba diving. Decompression stops weren’t a suggestion but an exacting science. A margin of +/- 0.5 metres was acceptable. 1.6 metres too deep was not.

It didn’t matter that Vi had the experience or she’d handled dives far more dangerous than this. This was still a mistake that could be easily avoided if she had a buddy, or at least a rebreather to reduce gas consumption.

Even though the sea was what she had spent her whole life loving- even though she had devoted years to its mysteries, it’s implausible beauty- 

She would never forgive it if it took Vi away.

She could not return to the ocean with the same eyes if it harmed her. She would never again be able to look at a coral bloom or the smack of jellyfish without remembering the numbers now ticking downwards on this screen; without remembering the helplessness of waiting for Vi but not knowing if she’d ever come back safely.

The bioluminescence pulses and even the undiscovered species in the abyssal zone- none of it meant anything if it existed without Vi’s laughter echoing off the surface, without her stories told through sea breeze and sunlight.

Because what was the point of solving the ocean’s mysteries if it meant losing the one person who made its wonder feel tangible?

Caitlyn gripped the edge of the screen even her thumb trembled. She bit the inside of her cheek to stop the sentimental sting behind her eyes, but the ache in her chest bloomed anyway.

Just move, please. Just give me one more metre.

That was all she needed. Just a single ascent and Vi would reach her next decompression stop, proof that she was still making decisions instead of drowning in narcosis.

A tear broke free and slipped down her cheek.

Depth : 25.6m

NDL : 01:14

Tank Pressure : 60 bar

Still no change in depth.

Caitlyn wiped her cheek with the back of her hand, swift but trembling, forcing the motion into silence as if pretending she hadn’t cried could undo the fact that she had.

She closed her eyes and drew in a breath, long and shallow, and whispered the words she needed to hear.

I trust her.

Because she had to.

Vi wasn’t just some reckless diver. She was indeed technical, experienced and disciplined. She’d been diving since fourteen, had handled far worse situations, whether it was nitrogen narcosis or decompression sickness. She didn’t dive recreationally.

And Caitlyn knew that if Vi were standing here beside her, saw how tight Caitlyn was clutching the tablet, how she’d nearly bitten through her thumbnail and how she’d cried over a reading that hadn’t even breached a red flag yet- She’d be annoyed. Maybe even hurt. And she’d probably say something like, “ You don’t trust my skill, cupcake?”

Because if Caitlyn didn’t trust her with this, then what could she trust her with at all?

This wasn’t even that big of a deal for someone like Vi.

So Caitlyn exhaled slowly again, pressing her lips together. It’s me , she thought. It’s just my trauma talking. The sea had already taken her once. And even now, it still knew how to reach for her with old memories.

Even if the gas was sufficient, Caitlyn still couldn’t bear the thought of Vi surfacing wrong. Bent.

She didn’t want Vi to suffer something so preventable like decompression sickness. She didn’t want her strong, capable body to seize up in pain hours later as the aftermath of nitrogen in the blood, joints stiffening, skin aching.

She could trust Vi’s skill, but she couldn’t trust the ocean she’d spent her whole life trying to comprehend.

Depth : 25.6m

NDL : 00:00

Tank Pressure : 49 bar

The number finally hit zero.

And Caitlyn went still. 

Utterly, completely still.

It was as though time stopped with it. The wind, the waves, the creak of the boat beneath her feet. Her breath caught in her lungs, heart lurched into the space silence left behind.

The alert blinked onto the screen.

Alert : Mandatory Decompression Stop

No.

No, no, no - she wasn’t moving. 

The sound split straight through her spine.

That was the threshold. Vi would now be forced into a mandatory decompression stop, one that would be more time and obviously gas consuming, given that she’d been breathing heavily.

Depth : 25.3m

Caitlyn’s breath caught in her throat. She blinked again for clarity.

25.1m.

24.7m.

Oh-

God.

She was ascending.

Not drifting anymore.

Caitlyn pressed a hand to her chest, the impact of that single metre of motion hitting her like a tidal wave, sharp and overwhelming in its gentleness.

A laugh broke in her chest and dissolved into a sob.

Vi was moving.

Vi was okay.

Vi was coming back.

And Caitlyn who had just moments ago sworn she would never forgive the sea for keeping Vi; stood motionless on the deck, finally breathing again because Vi was .

Depth : 24.0m

Dive Time : 38:02

Time to surface : 40:00

PO2 : 1.38 ATA

Tank Pressure : 44 bar

NDL : paused

Vi stopped. Right on time, right on target.

Caitlyn stared at the reading, eyes burning, heart still trying to regulate itself in the wake of that terrifying plateau at 25.6m.

This was normal. This was part of the plan. A two minute stop, maybe slightly more, to let Vi’s body clear the burden it had taken on. Everything in the numbers told her it was right save for the slightly limited remaining gas.

Her hands were still trembling.

Now that Vi had finally reached the stop, Caitlyn’s heart betrayed her again. What if she lingers again? What if she hovers just above the next one, just like before until she utterly runs out of gas? What if something was wrong but she was too deep in it to notice? 

Caitlyn’s instincts shaped by fear and the sound of water swallowing her once long ago screamed louder than logic. She glanced again at the screen.

Depth : 24.0m

Deco Time : 01:14

Her pulse throbbed in her throat. She paced three steps to the railing and back. She whispered Vi’s name under her breath like it might penetrate the epipelagic zone of the sea.

Just move.

Just ascend.

The seconds dragged like tides.

Depth : 23.7m

23.3m

22.6m

She was moving again, just as she should. Caitlyn clutched the tablet to her chest, breath catching, laughter and relief tangling in her chest all at once.

Her eyes never left the screen ever since. Now that Vi was truly ascending, she should’ve felt better. But instead she found herself holding her breath through every single deco stop like she wasn’t allowed to breathe until Vi did.

Ironically, Vi wasn’t allowed to stop breathing underwater, so all the breaths were Caitlyn’s to hold.

Depth : 21.0m

The first shallow stop for one to two minutes. But to Caitlyn, it felt like a small eternity.

18.0m.

Two to three minutes for this one, her mind supplied automatically. She’d calculated with Vi’s dive computer herself. But now every moment felt like her own heartbeat being measured.

15.0m. 

Caitlyn gripped the tablet so tightly her knuckles ached, the aluminium edge digging into her palm. Her eyes flicked between the numbers and the slow countdown in her head.

12.0m.

Three minutes for this one.

She could feel her own pulse ticking off the seconds.

9.0m. Another three minutes.

6.0m. The final long stop for five minutes at least, sometimes more, especially when Vi had once exceeded her NDL. It was the most crucial point.

Caitlyn counted the seconds, watched the TTS go downward, the CNS exposure stabilised.

Then her stomach dropped.

Tank Pressure : 29 bar

Her breath hitched. 

That was low. She stared again, willing the number to hold steady.

22 bar.

No, no, no-

Her fingers moved faster across the screen, flicking to the ascent rate, watching how the slope of Vi’s profile was changing.

Too steep. She was rising rapidly.

Depth : 5.7m

5.2m

4.8m

Caitlyn’s throat tightened around a silent gasp.

Tank Pressure: 20 bar

Depth: 3.9m

3.5m.

3.1m.

Caitlyn’s breath was almost nonexistent. 

Vi wasn’t stopping.

The 3 metres deco stop, one that was short but essential, was slipping past. And Caitlyn knew exactly what that meant.

Her body needed this last stop. 

But Vi wasn’t taking it.

And Caitlyn could see why.

16 bar.

12.

8.

Vi was conserving her remaining gas. And that meant making hard decisions.

Because descending now to redo the stops wasn’t an option either. Rapid ascent could cause a bubble shift, worsening the bends. If Vi tried to fix it now by dipping back down, she could end up with arterial gas embolisms, spinal cord hits, or even paralysis.

And Caitlyn knew- God, she knew that Vi knew this too.

She was choosing to risk it. Because staying too long might mean running out of breathing gas eventually.

All Caitlyn could do was watch the depth shrank.

2.8m.

2.3m.

1.6m.

And she wanted to scream.

She’s going to get the bends. Badly.

The kind of bends that didn’t just ache. They damaged. Joint pain, of course. But also nausea. Numbness. Cardiac strain. 

But the numbers flashed one last time.

0.9m.

0.4m.

0.0m.

Then nothing.

Dive over.

But Caitlyn wasn’t breathing. She stood at the edge of the deck, heart lodged somewhere between her ribs and throat, waiting.

Please please please-

A splash. A gasp. A burst of movement where the water broke silver blue.

A hand. A glove. A curl of air expelled from the regulator.

And Vi resurfaced.

Caitlyn sprinted.The world tilted with her steps as she ran to the gunwale, knees crashing into metal, hands reaching, grabbing Vi’s forearm.

“Got you,” she breathed, voice shredded. “I got you-”

She hauled Vi upward with both arms, straining against the weight of the gear, the sodden wetsuit, the adrenaline that made her hands clumsy. Vi groaned faintly but moved with her, letting Caitlyn pull her upward.

“Come on- up, I’ve got you-”

Vi half collapsed over the edge, landing in Caitlyn’s arms with a grunt, water sheeting off her skin in rivulets. Her mask slid sideways, her mouthpiece hung from one strap. Her chest heaved.

Caitlyn was shaking, frantically unclipping her gear.

BCD off. Tank unlatched. 

“Breathe- are you breathing- Vi, look at me-"

Vi did. Her lashes fluttered. She looked exhausted. But at least she was conscious.

“No paralysis, no narcosis?” Caitlyn choked out, already scanning her limbs. “No vision blur? Numbness? Chest pain? God, Vi , are you-”

Vi blinked up at her. Then her lips curved slowly. “I’m fine,” she rasped. “You… you always cry when I come out of the water?”

And Caitlyn, who had been holding everything together by threads, let out a breath so sharp it cracked in her throat. She quickly turned away and grabbed the towel on the bench, wrapping it around Vi’s shoulders with hands that still wouldn’t stop trembling. She pressed it firm, more for grounding than warmth.

Vi sat hunched on the deck, salt still dripping from her lashes, cerise hair clinging to her cheek in damp strands. Her breathing had slowed, though her skin was still too cold with saltwater beneath Caitlyn’s fingertips.

Caitlyn sank to her knees before her and, with her voice already thick with tears, asked, “What happened at twenty-five point six metres? I thought-” Her throat constricted.

“I thought you got hit with narcosis. It’s not impossible at that depth. You didn’t move at all for twenty minutes! And then you skipped the three metre stop completely- was it to conserve gas? Vi, you know that’s dangerous-”

Vi blinked slowly. Her eyelids were heavy, her voice hoarse. “It’s fine. Just got tangled in kelp. The tank- on my back. Couldn’t reach it on my own without a buddy. Took some time to get rid of it.” She gave a soft, tired laugh. “Solo diving’s not as glamorous when you’re wrestling with seaweed.”

But Caitlyn didn’t laugh. Her hands curled into fists at her sides. Her voice cracked. “No. It’s not fine.”

Vi blinked at her again, the smile on her lips half formed.

Caitlyn pushed on, tears now springing anew, words stumbling over her own guilt. “I should’ve gotten you a buddy. Someone who could’ve helped. Someone who could’ve given you gas when you were low. It was my responsibility- I knew the risks-”

Vi leaned back against the side rail. “Cupcake,” she mumbled, lips curving faintly. “I’m a professional diver. This is literally my job. I’ve dived twice this deep. I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not,” Caitlyn said, eyes glistening again with unshed tears. “You skipped a deco stop. You were stuck- that was the most terrifying twenty minutes I’ve ever had in my life. I should’ve convinced you to at least use a rebreather. You- you could’ve ran out of gas there and- died.”

Vi gave a weary smile as she leaned her head back slightly, voice a little more than a breath.

“Wouldn’t be the worst place to go.”

She probably meant it as a joke, one that was supposed to be light and careless that could dissolve like salt spray. And when she looked at Caitlyn, she was still smiling.

But Caitlyn didn’t smile in kind.

Her lips parted, gaze softening not with amusement but with something far more fragile that seemed hollowed and trembling. She stared at Vi as though the words hadn’t landed in jest but pierced through instead.

“…Please don’t say that.”

She finally spoke, voice barely above a whisper as though speaking too loudly could shatter her.

Her throat worked around the ache. 

“Please.”

Her voice crumpled on the second please, and the unshed tears that had been threatening, clinging quietly to the edges of her lashes, finally fell again. One after another, cutting warm paths down her already damp cheeks.

She couldn’t bear the thought of losing Vi to the place she loved the most.

Vi’s eyes widened, the teasing gone from her face in an instant. “Shit- no, Cait-”

She reached out without thinking, instinct talking over but her fingers were still soaked, slick with saltwater from the dive. She cupped Caitlyn’s face, fumbling slightly, trying to brush the tears away. But her hands only made things worse, smearing salt over salt, slicking Caitlyn’s cheeks until they glistened.

Vi flinched, frustrated with herself. “Fuck- wait, let me-”

She fumbled with the towel around her shoulders, desperately dragging it forward, brought it up to Caitlyn’s face with both hands, and gave an almost tentative offering. She wiped the tears away delicately, sweeping the towel along Caitlyn’s flushed cheeks, her jaw, then the trembling corners of her mouth.

“Hey,” she murmured. “I’m sorry, Cait. I didn’t mean that. It’s not your fault.”

Caitlyn didn’t speak. Her shoulders were shaking. Her hands curled into the front of Vi’s wetsuit now like she didn’t know what else to hold on.

Vi kept her voice low, steady in spite of the rasp in it as if coaxing a frenzy back into stillness.

“Don’t blame yourself, okay? None of this is on you.”

She leaned in, close enough that their foreheads touched, towel still pressed between her fingers.

“Didn’t I tell you?” she whispered. “That I’d always come back to you.”

A pause. Then Vi took a deep breath of the briny fresh air instead of the trimix gas in her tank she’d been relying on in the previous hour underwater.

“You still remember that, right?”

Caitlyn choked on a breath, half-sob and laugh, broken down the middle, and then nodded fiercely. And she let the tears spill, openly this time. Not from fear, instead from a flood of relief so overwhelming.

Vi didn’t say anything while Caitlyn cried. She didn’t try to hush her or pull her close too soon. She simply stayed there, towel still in hand, quietly, gently dabbing at her cheeks.

And when the tears finally slowed, the ragged edges of Caitlyn’s breathing began to settle, she didn’t move away. Caitlyn drew in a shaky breath, but this time it made all the way to her lungs. Her eyes, still glistening, met Vi’s.

“I thought I was going to lose you to the sea,” she said, “it already took me once. I can’t… I can’t let it take you away too.”

Vi’s expression softened. She leaned in, her forehead brushing Caitlyn’s just barely, and her voice was hoarse with exhaustion but steady with earnestness. “If I said I’d always come back to you, I will.”

The words slid into Caitlyn’s chest like a balm and an oath all at once.

Then Vi smiled softly. Her thumb brushed over the corner of Caitlyn’s eye. “Those pretty eyes of yours should never be used for crying. Okay?”

Caitlyn let out a breath that sounded a little too close to a sob and a laugh at once at how ridiculous yet reassuring this sounded to her. She pressed her forehead more firmly on Vi’s and closed her eyes, squeezing out the last drops of tears. “Then don’t make me use them like that again.”

She kept her forehead lingering against Vi’s for a moment, though her mind refused to rest. 

Vi had ascended too quickly and skipped the final deco stop. And even if she looked fine now, Caitlyn knew decompression sickness didn’t always hit immediately. They tended to creep in after resurfacing, when you’d already let your guard down. So she finally stood reluctantly, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand and pulled out her phone with fingers that still shook faintly. “I’m calling a cab,” she said softly. “There’s a medical centre not far from here. It’s the only one around here with a hyperbaric chamber.”

Vi blinked up at her, brows twitching. “You… marked one in advance?”

Caitlyn nodded once. “Of course I did. I needed to make sure there was somewhere to bring you if you did get the bends.”

Vi blinked at that. Her mouth twitched like she might smile again, but this one couldn’t quite make it. “You think I need hyperbaric oxygen therapy?”

Caitlyn looked down at her, eyes softening without ever faltering her voice. “You skipped the shallowest deco stop and got tangled at twenty-five point six metres down for twenty minutes. You know latent symptoms can take hours. I’m not taking any chances.”

Vi grumbled a soft “fine,” under her breath, her body half-slumped like she couldn’t quite summon the strength to posture anymore.

𓂃𓈒𓏸𓈒𓂃𓈒𓇼𓈒𓂃𓈒𓆉

Caitlyn guided Vi towards the dock in silence, her hand firm around Vi’s elbow, jaw clenched as she flagged down the car.

They slid into the back seat together without Caitlyn ever letting go. Her grip was steady on Vi’s arm, though her breathing was otherwise.

Halfway through the ride, Vi shifted uncomfortably, twisting her legs with a slight wince. “Mm,” she muttered. “My knees feel weird.”

Caitlyn turned to her so fast the seatbelt jerked against her collarbone. “What? How? Describe it.”

Vi winced again, pressing her palm to her thigh. “Like…uh, it’s sore. And kinda… tingling?”

Caitlyn’s blood almost ran cold. The bends were beginning. 

She was pulling out her phone again, snapping through the contact from she’d bookmarked just in case before this expedition even began, leaning forward to the driver with startling intensity.

“Please drive faster. Medical emergency.”

By the time they reached the centre, Caitlyn was out of the car before it had fully stopped, rounding the side to open Vi’s door herself, hand outstretching to steady her.

“She’s experiencing joint pain,” she told the first ever nurse she saw. “Possible type one decompression sickness. She surfaced too fast, was stuck at twenty five point six metres down for over twenty minutes, skipped a deco stop and had less than ten bar left in her tank. I need you to prepare a hyperbaric chamber now.”

The nurse blinked at her, seemingly stunned by the deluge of information, then nodded and gestured to the front desk.

“Vitals now,” Caitlyn snapped. “Neurological check immediately. And call the attending technician- she needs to be recompressed now.”

And then she turned back to Vi who was still leaning on the doorframe, feigning casualness despite the visible stiffness in her jaw. “Relax, cupcake. It’s not a big deal. I’ve had these before.”

Caitlyn’s hands were already on her waist, steadying her.

“I don’t care. I need you to be completely okay.”

𓂃𓈒𓏸𓈒𓂃𓈒𓇼𓈒𓂃𓈒𓆉

Vi was eased into the hyperbaric chamber by the attending technician, still in her damp wetsuit that had now slightly dried from the sunlight, an oxygen mask fitted snugly over her nose and mouth.

Caitlyn hovered just outside the viewing window, watching every adjustment, every monitor and every methodical breath Vi took inside that pressurised cocoon.

“Two hours,” the technician said gently. “You can go get some rest if you need. It’s stable now.”

Vi’s voice filtered through the intercom, muffled slightly by the mask. “Cait. Seriously. Go back and get some rest.”

Her tone was too light like she hadn’t just come up from a dangerous ascent. As if she hadn’t joked about dying in the sea an hour ago.

Caitlyn didn’t so much as flinch. Her eyes remained locked on the chamber, arms folded  across her chest. 

“I’m staying.”

“Cait-”

“I said I’m staying.”

Her voice wasn’t even raised though it carried a finality. There was no edge to it but only a weary certainty that was somehow immovable. So Vi didn’t argue again. She simply looked at Caitlyn through the glass, and closed her eyes. 

Caitlyn sat for a minute. Then stood again. Then paced back and forth in front of the room, again biting her thumbnail. She tapped her fingers against her elbow. Checked the time. Moved to the window then moved away again. Stared at the door. The floor. Then to the chamber eventually.

𓂃𓈒𓏸𓈒𓂃𓈒𓇼𓈒𓂃𓈒𓆉

At some point, Caitlyn must have fallen asleep.

Curled sideways on the stiff vinyl bench in the corridor outside the chamber room, arms tucked around herself, neck bent awkwardly. The tension hadn’t fully left her limbs, even in sleep she looked like she was bracing for impact.

The light in the corridor had shifted. The whir of medical equipment had gradually faded into white noise.

Until she felt a light tap on her shoulder.

“Morning, cupcake.”

Her eyes snapped open.

Vi.

Standing in front of her, hair still damp, face slightly pale under the fluorescent lights but at least still alive and breathing.

Caitlyn surged to her feet like she’d been electrocuted, hands already reaching instinctively, checking Vi’s arms, pulse, the angle of her stance and even the clarity of her gaze.

“Vi- God- are you okay? Are you dizzy? Do your limbs feel normal? Are you-”

“She’s fine,” a nurse nearby offered calmly, smiling gently as she approached with a chart in hand. “Her recompression went smoothly. We ran all standard post-treatment checks. No immediate neurological symptoms, no rash, no respiratory complications.”

Caitlyn’s breath hitched. Relief didn’t wash over her so much as it sank.

“But,” the nurse continued, “she’ll need to be monitored for delayed symptoms. Joint pain, nausea, dizziness, tingling- those can all still occur after therapy. And no diving.”

Her gaze flicked to Vi with a wry smile. “At least five to seven days minimum. Preferably longer.”

Caitlyn turned immediately to Vi, brow furrowing. “Did you hear that? Rest. No diving. And if anything starts to feel wrong, we come back.”

Vi exhaled slowly, then turned her gaze to Caitlyn, smile faint but tiredly amused. “You really gonna bubble-wrap me now?”

Caitlyn didn’t smile. She stepped forward, gently reached for Vi’s hand. “If I could, I would.”

𓂃𓈒𓏸𓈒𓂃𓈒𓇼𓈒𓂃𓈒𓆉

The door of Vi’s room clicked shut behind them.

Vi moved slowly, easing out of her shoes with the motion of someone whose limbs had been hollowed out and refilled by pressure. That towel still hung limp around her shoulders, and her hair was beginning to curl at the damp edges.

Caitlyn didn’t pause.

She moved across the room, taking out two bottles of water, two kinds of electrolytes, a strip of ibuprofen, and a small plastic bag just in case the nausea kicked in.

Vi watched from the bed, face still slightly pale but eyes alert.

“Cupcake.”

No answer. Caitlyn was already checking the dosage of the packet.

“Caaaitynn.”

Still nothing. Now she was lining things up in an orderly row on the nightstand.

Vi huffed, a small laugh catching in her chest. “I’m fine. Really. Chill.”

Caitlyn whipped her head around, eyes sharp, voice quiet but laced with something tightly wound. “You’re not fine.”

Vi blinked.

Caitlyn looked away again, smoothing the towel over Vi’s shoulder without much thought in particular.

“You were tangled underwater for over twenty minutes. You skipped a deco stop. You surfaced too fast. You were in a hyperbaric chamber for two hours. You say you’re fine, but if something happens again- if I didn’t do enough-”

Her voice faltered, barely audible now.

“This was partially my fault. I’m the one who hired you without a buddy. I’m the one who said solo was enough. So I need to be at least… responsible.”

Vi tilted her head slightly, the faintest smile ghosting across her lips.

“Then stay with me tonight.”

The words were soft, unpretentious even. 

Caitlyn froze at the suddenness of it.

Vi’s voice lowered, sincere and slightly drowsy. “If you’re gonna keep checking if I’m breathing every ten seconds, you might as well do it from the same bed. You wanna be responsible, right?”

Caitlyn swallowed slowly.

Then nodded once.

“Fine,” she murmured. “I will.”

She hovered at the foot of the bed, fingers still fidgeting despite everything being in place. Her eyes then flicked down to the towel slung over Vi’s shoulders.

“You should take a shower. The seawater could irritate your skin if it sits too long.”

Vi blinked up at her, lips twitching. “You’re offering to join me?”

Caitlyn flushed instantly, straightening with a sharp inhale as though the question itself pulled her spine upright.

“No,” she snapped, eyes narrowing, colour blooming high on her cheeks. But god, she wanted to say yes. “If you’re well enough to make jokes like that, then I’ll just go back to my room and leave you to your own recovery.”

Vi immediately reached out, catching the edge of Caitlyn’s shirt with a grin. 

“Hey, hey- don’t go. I need to be monitored, right?” she said, dramatically slumping against the headboard. “My joints hurt. My heart’s fragile. I need emotional support. Be responsible.”

Caitlyn huffed, trying not to smile fondly. She sat back down on the edge of the bed, arms crossed. 

“I’ll wait,” she repeated. “But be careful. If you get dizzy in there, call for me.”

Vi blinked. “What, you gonna bust the door down?”

“If I have to,” Caitlyn said smoothly. then immediately regretted when Vi smirked.

“Damn. My hero.”

Caitlyn buried her face in her hands. “Shower, Violet.”

Vi chuckled as she finally eased off the bed and disappeared into the bathroom, leaving Caitlyn sitting there, still pink in the cheeks but smiling faintly now.

𓂃𓈒𓏸𓈒𓂃𓈒𓇼𓈒𓂃𓈒𓆉

Fifteen minutes or so later, the bathroom door creaked open, and Caitlyn looked up instantly, posture already rising from the foot of the bed in anticipation.

Vi stepped out slowly, skin slightly flushed from the shower. But her expression had shifted; that playful smile was gone instead replaced by a faint furrow between her brows and a tightness around her mouth.

Caitlyn was on her feet in an instant. “What is it? Are you dizzy? Nauseous? Is it your joints again- does it hurt?”

Vi raised a hand, placating, though her limbs moved slower than usual. “No- no. Not bad. Just…” She hesitated, then took a breath. “Can you help me out?”

Caitlyn blinked. “How?”

Vi motioned towards the bed with a small nod. “Sit on it. Just- on top of the covers.”

There was confusion in her tone now, but Caitlyn obeyed without question. She would do anything at this point if it meant keeping Vi comfortable. So she moved to the head of the bed and sat carefully, legs tucked neatly in front of her. Vi crossed the room wordlessly, then without preamble, she climbed onto the mattress and folded herself along Caitlyn’s side until her head found its place in Caitlyn’s lap.

Caitlyn froze.

Vi’s hair was still damp, strands warm from the steam of the shower, and her cheek was pressed just above Caitlyn’s thigh, arm draped loosely across her waist. She let out a slow, relieved breath, and closed her eyes.

And Caitlyn exhaled softly once she recovered from the suddenness of it, shoulders sinking back into the headboard. She mindlessly brought one hand to Vi’s hair, cradling her fingers through the damp strands in steady motions. “You didn’t feel well because you were tired,” she murmured eventually, “You could’ve just said that.”

Vi didn’t open her eyes. “Would you have sat still if I had?”

Caitlyn’s fingers paused for a moment, then continued. “I would,” she muttered, a hint of stubborn dignity laced through the softness in her voice. “I’d do anything for you if it meant you’d be fine.”

Vi didn’t reply. She shifted slightly, adjusting her position sluggishly, cheek nestling more securely against Caitlyn’s thigh, arms wrapping around Caitlyn’s waist.

And Caitlyn shivered, despite the warmth in the room. She still couldn’t quite process the fact that Vi was now curled into her lap,  cuddling her like her body was made to cradle her through the comedown of a near miss.

She swallowed hard.

Her heart was now racing like she’d just ran from shore to sea. Her hand, still resting lightly on Vi’s hair, trembled ever so slightly each time her fingers brushed the warm skin underneath. She could feel every single puff of breath she took and the heat of her body against her own, a comfort so intimate it felt almost imagined.

And God.

This was Vi.

Her diver. The woman she’d been hopelessly crushing on for two months- who had now seemingly gone completely quiet. Her breathing had softened. There had been no movement in several long minutes.

So Caitlyn just sat there in silence, trying her best not to be too aware of the warmth on her thighs and the faint scent of residual saltwater mingling with coconut shampoo.

Until Vi’s eyes suddenly fluttered open, gaze tilted upward, blinking slowly at her. She then lifted one hand, and let her fingertips brush gently beneath Caitlyn’s eyes, a soft graze against skin still slightly swollen from tears not long dried.

“Your eyes are still a little puffy.”

Caitlyn’s breath caught. Her cheeks coloured instantly, blooming warm beneath Vi’s touch. “That’s… because you made me cry.”

Vi blinked again, then let out the faintest chuckle, one that sounded affectionate but simultaneously rueful. “Sorry. I won’t anymore.”

And then the room went completely quiet again, save for the rhythmic sound of waves lapping at the shore from the slightly ajar window almost like a lullaby that lulled their tired minds to sluggishness.

“Hey, Cait.” Vi suddenly murmured, voice roughened by exhaustion and closeness.

Caitlyn startled slightly, blinking down at her in surprise. “I thought you were asleep.”

Vi didn’t move, but her voice came again. “Talk to me.”

Caitlyn blinked. “About what?”

Vi’s lips curved faintly against her thigh, barely a smile. “Anything. Jellyfish or whales. I don’t care.” she breathed. “I need to hear your voice.”

Caitlyn swallowed, hesitated for a moment, unsure and mildly flustered. And then, hand still stroking gently through Vi’s hair, she spoke. “Did you know that… there’s a jellyfish capable of biological immortality?”

Vi hummed faintly in response, not quite an answer though not disapproval either.

“It’s Turritopsis dohrnii. Or the immortal jellyfish. When it reaches the end of its life cycle, it sinks to the ocean floor and decay. And then… its cells reorganise through transdifferentiation. It doesn’t form another adult jellyfish, but reverts into polyps that are genetically identical to itself. And from those polyps, new jellyfish emerge. And it begins again.”

Her fingers ghosted through Vi’s hair again. “I think about it a lot. If humans could do that. If we could shed the history of our lives and just… begin again from the juvenile stage as the same person.”

Another pause. Vi didn’t speak, but she shifted just slightly in Caitlyn’s lap, nuzzling closer. Caitlyn stared ahead, one hand gently smoothing back a strand of damp cerise hair falling on her freckled nose.

“And what’s strange is that it doesn’t even have a brain or a centralised nervous system. It doesn’t think to restart because it wants to. Ironically, humans have always tried to outwit mortality. We search for cures, freeze our bodies, and build monuments that can outlast us. Anything to avoid the truth that one day… we all end.”

Her fingers paused in Vi’s hair. 

“But this jellyfish just does it. Like nature gifted it the very thing we’ve chased for centuries but forgot to give it a mind to understand how they’re such a miracle.”

She breathed in slowly. Then Vi stirred slightly, shifting her head, voice slightly muffled and warm against Caitlyn’s body.

“But maybe that’s the point.” 

Caitlyn blinked down at her.

Vi’s voice was low and drowsy, threaded with a genuine clarity.

“Life’s probably meant to be lived once. It’s not about running from endings. It’s about… filling the middle. Doing everything you can, going where you want, loving who you wanna love. Right now, at this moment.”

She took another breath.

“That’s why I became a diver. I wanted to go to all the places I wanted to go. Feel the edges of the world while I still could, meet all the creatures I dreamed about as a kid. Make it all count while I can. And if I did that… really did that, then I think once is enough.”

Then Vi just stopped talking. Her breaths began to lengthen, lashes fluttering shut.

And Caitlyn sat there in the silence that followed, heart aching with the simple beauty of it all.

Because Vi was right.

Perhaps the value of everything, of time, joy, and love itself, was born from its impermanence. Perhaps it wasn’t immortality and eternity that made something precious, but the fact that it's fleeting. That it had to be chosen deliberately, cherished delicately and lived fully in the brief stretch of time it was offered.

To love people you love now with the time you’re given- that was the point, wasn’t it? Not to defy endings but to fill the space before them with everything that matters right now, in this very moment.

Caitlyn whispered. “Violet?”

No response. She’d completely gone to sleep.

She had just spoken something quiet and staggering, something that people spent decades trying to learn, and simply- fell asleep.

Of course she had.

And maybe that was the very reason Caitlyn was so wholly, irrevocably captivated by her. Because Vi could hand you the entire ocean in a single breath, and then simply close her eyes without expecting you to drown in it. She could speak with such effortless clarity about her worldview, yet never pausing to realise how profound it was, as though understanding the vastness of existence came as naturally as breathing to her.

Caitlyn sat there, still braced against the headboard, heart pressing hard against her ribs as something intense and overwhelming swelled inside her chest. It was unbelievable, how much she felt at that moment. How deeply, how quietly yet fiercely.

She shouldn’t. Couldn’t. There were boundaries, professionalism, fear - so many reasons not to.

But none of them mattered in that moment. Because her heart had no more room to contain it. And if she didn’t do something, didn’t act on it, it would soon overflow like a tsunami, immense and unstoppable until it felled her entire being.

After all, she was the one who said it, wasn’t she? That we should live as fully as we could, go where we wanted to go, love who we wanted to love, while we still have time.

So Caitlyn made her choice. Without permission. Knowing that she would probably regret it later yet she was too reckless to properly consider that in this moment.

She would love Vi with everything in her, for as long as she was allowed. The time she was offered was indeed limited, though her feelings weren’t. They stretched beyond the numbered weeks and the days etched into itinerary, beyond this eternal summer.

She can’t be mad at me, Caitlyn told herself. When all I’m doing is what she told me to. To love who I want to love with all the time I’m given.

And I want to love you, with all the time I’m given in this summer.

Even if it was merely an infatuation now, a fever dream induced by too many long days together on the boat. Caitlyn couldn’t care less. She was so stupid in love. All of this had started irrationally anyway, hadn’t it? Then she would keep it irrational until the very end. Even if Vi felt drowned in the overflowing feelings in her eyes. Who cares? Let her drown in them. Let her choke on how much I like her.

So with one hand still gently combing through Vi’s hair, Caitlyn bent forward, careful not to stir her, breath trembling in her lungs as the space between them narrowed. Butterflies erupted in her stomach, not soft or fluttering but rather frantic like wings beating too hard against a rib cage too small to hold them.

And she pressed the softest, most breathless kiss to Vi’s forehead.

Something no one could ever see. Something she would never admit. Something that she clearly knew wasn’t ethical, let alone professional.

But the truth that curled hot and unbearable beneath her ribs was that she didn’t only want to kiss her forehead.

She wanted to kiss her mouth. Tilt her face up and press her lips to Vi’s with the full, aching force of every unsaid feeling caged inside her. But that would have been too much, too selfish.

She leaned back, eyes glazed with the quiet ache of a heart too full. And as she looked down again at the woman curled into her lap, asleep and obliviously tearing her heart apart, Caitlyn realised.

That if she could just fall in love with Vi like this, so unapologetically without considering any consequences, for however long she was allowed. If she could give her heart away to Vi so recklessly without ever needing it returned, even if Vi didn’t bear the same amount, the same depth of affection. 

Then once in a lifetime would not only mean enough.

It would be everything.

Because if she could only live her life once, she would recklessly give it all to Vi. Just like how she devoted her life to the oceans that could never be thoroughly comprehended.

She didn’t need immortality.

Chapter Text

𓂃𓈒𓏸𓈒𓂃𓈒𓇼𓈒𓂃𓈒𓆉

Location: Jervis Bay, New South Wales, Australia

Temperature: 24°C (79°F)

Humidity: 63%

Wind speed: 8.5 mph, SSW

Week 15

Vi remembered waking in the dark.

Not entirely, though not clearly. Her limbs had been heavy, head thick with sleep and residual ache lingering in her bones. But what she remembered with a rather odd clarity, was warmth, and weight.

She had stirred to find herself still nestled in Caitlyn’s lap, her cheek pressed to the soft fabric of Caitlyn’s shirt, and the gentle thrum of heartbeat pulsing steadily just above her.

Caitlyn hadn’t moved.

Her back was still braced against the headboard, posture rigid despite being in sleep, arms curled around Vi’s shoulders with something that almost resembled protectiveness. There was a tenderness in this stillness, but Vi could see the way Caitlyn’s neck tilted at an unnatural angle and the strain in her shoulders even in unconsciousness. 

She had fallen asleep like that yesterday too, while Vi was in the hyperbaric chamber.

And something in Vi’s heart cracked quietly. So with careful hands, Vi shifted. She eased herself up in spite of the ache and numbness in her body, and reached for Caitlyn. She slipped one arm around her back, the other beneath her knees, and tugged her gently, slowly, until her body slid down from the headboard and the tension unwinded with a small sigh escaping her lips.

She lay Caitlyn flat across the mattress, rearranged the pillow beneath her head and smoothed the tiny crease between her brows with the back of her knuckle. 

Then Vi had curled in beside her, body still heavy but guided by instinct more than thought. She pressed close, nestling her head into the crook between Caitlyn’s shoulder and neck where the air felt the warmest, where the sound of her heartbeat could almost be heard beneath skin. 

Then her breath caught slightly on the faint but unmistakable and familiar scent that rose to meet her. Driftwood and jasmine. A trace of salt. And underneath it all was coconut. The same shampoo they both used, placed unceremoniously on opposite sides of the hotel sink, whose scent clung now to both their strands, cerise and ultramarine mingling across the pillows.

Vi breathed in. 

It was absurd, really. That something as small as shared shampoo could feel this intimate. But it did. Somehow the fact that she and Caitlyn carried the same scent felt like a quiet kind of closeness, unspoken but in sync nonetheless.

Like they belonged to the same place. Like they both belonged to the ocean, didn’t they?

Vi closed her eyes, exhaling against the line of Caitlyn’s collarbone, her arms curling loosely around her middle, her neck tucked against the fabric of her t-shirt.

And Vi fell asleep once again being wrapped in warmth and a scent that felt like where she should belong to. 

Then she woke to that warmth again.

It stretched across her back and along her side like a cocoon of stillness laced with the sound of waves beyond the balcony and sunlight spilling through the curtains. Her mind surfaced reluctantly, forcing her head to lift up.

And Caitlyn was there. 

Close. So close that Vi could count every individual lash brushing against her cheek. So close that she could see the way morning light pooled in the hollows of her collarbone. Her ultramarine hair was now tousled in sleep, soft strands curling across her forehead and temple, one lock caught on the edge of her slightly parted lip where the tiny tooth gap showed.

She was lying on her side, her face turned towards the light, body relaxed in a way Vi so rarely got to see. No tension in her jaw, no crease between her brows, only a peaceful serenity with the faintest lift and fall of her breath. Her arm lay close between them, their hands almost touching.

And Vi allowed herself to stare.

The moment felt too delicate as though it might rupture like a bubble if she so much as blinked. The warmth in her chest expanded, almost painful in its depth. There were no words for this kind of beauty, not the obvious kind she always wore but rather edgeless yet ruinous that left you breathless in the face of it.

Vi’s throat tightened. God. She’s so beautiful. So beautiful it almost hurt.

Something unbearably full twisted beneath her ribs. She thought- if I could have this. If I could just wake up like this everyday. To sunlight sifting through gauzy curtains. To the distant hush of waves folding gently onto shore. To the slow rhythm of breath rising and falling in Caitlyn’s body beside her. 

If she could just have this, then she thought she’d never ask for more. Not even from the sea that had once held all her wonder. Because waking up to Caitlyn like this by her side felt like something miraculous. Like a fleeting kind of grace Vi wasn’t sure she was meant to hold, let alone retain.

How had she gotten this far? 

Vi didn’t know when exactly it happened. Only that it had .

She was so deeply in love, so impossibly immersed in the sunlit joy Caitlyn offered her that inside her there was no plan, no impulse and no desire at all to ascend . Her feelings hadn’t struck like lightning. They had risen, rather steady yet inevitable.

Like a tide.

At first, she was just at the edge of it, standing barefoot on the shore, content to watch from a distance.

When she first met Caitlyn back in Boston, the only coherent thought in her mind had been beautiful . Striking, really. The kind of poised beauty that made you sit up a little straighter. Blue hair deep like the midnight zone of the ocean. Studious. Unreachable. Out of her league.  

Vi had thought she was the kind of girl who belonged to the libraries and clean white labs. She respected that, and didn’t expect much else.

But the tide kept coming in.

They began to spend days together, soaked in salt and sun, shared laughter and windblown hair and waves slapping against the hull of the boat.

And god, Vi had been doomed the moment she saw that blush.

The first time she’d flirted with her, lightly and teasing just to see if her facade of composure would crack. But what she hadn’t expected was that Caitlyn had blinked and flushed all the way to her ears. 

Vi could still picture it as though it was burned into her memory.

Soft pink blooming across her cheeks, even down the curve of her neck. Her lips parting, her composure momentarily shattered as she scrambled to recover or say something in retaliation. Chin lifting, words clipped, pretty eyes everywhere but on Vi’s.

It was the cutest fucking thing Vi had ever seen in her life. No reef. No manta ray. No rare sighting beneath the ocean could compare to the miracle of Caitlyn’s blush.

And once Vi saw it, she became addicted.

She flirted with her again. And again. Sometimes subtly, sometimes shameless. Just to watch her squirm. Just to see those porcelain cheeks flush with colour and pride and something else Vi couldn’t quite name at that time. 

There was no such thing in the world more adorable. And Vi would chase that pink-tinged, breathless little smile through surges if she had to. It made her feel like she was discovering something rarer than anything she’d ever seen in the sea. Something that she wanted to keep, knowing that it would only be kept by herself.

It wasn’t all banters and flirting, though. Vi could still remember that night with blinding clarity. The hush of the sea just past midnight and the unguarded way Caitlyn had spoken under the scattered fireworks of a fading year.

She’d talked about the ocean like her childhood secret. Not in the way of reciting data a scientist would usually do, instead with a tone deeper and more intimate as if her whole soul ached for the mystery of the unmapped.

She’d spoken of her desire to discover what still held in the abyss, to study what others overlooked and to preserve creatures. Of her dream to travel to the very edge of the world- Point Nemo, and witness it herself.

Vi remembered, too, the way Caitlyn had spoken about jellyfish that night, casually like it was merely a passing thought yet it had stayed lodged in Vi’s chest ever since.

How could someone take something as translucent and mindless as a jellyfish and turn it into an existential metaphor? How could someone look at a brainless creature and think “ god, I wish I didn’t have one either. But if I didn’t, I’d itch for knowledge anyway” ?

Vi had never met someone like that. Anyone who could look at sea creatures and see through them, pour their heart into them.

And it only made Caitlyn even more dazzling in her eyes, not for the brilliance alone but also the way she loved the ocean. Not from above, but from within . Vi had stood there stunned, quietly undone by the scope of Caitlyn’s wonder, and the way her voice trembled ever so slightly with awe.

Yes, Vi had always considered herself passionate, restless and hungry for everything beneath the waves. But compared to Caitlyn’s slow burning devotion, her own fire had felt almost dull.

Because Caitlyn didn’t just love the ocean, she realised. She belonged to it. Her soul felt carved from salt and sky and unanswered questions in the abyss.

But then Caitlyn had told her about the yacht.

Her voice had dropped a little, a touch more stillness between her words. And she’d said it, finally, how she’d fallen off a boat when she was nine, into waters too deep and too sudden. How she hadn’t been able to dive since. That even now, standing at the edge of the boat made her heart race and fingers curl into fists. That she had never admitted it aloud, but it was actually a symptom of aquaphobia.

A fear of the very thing she loved most.

And Vi had thought fuck , how unfair . How cruel it was for someone who loved the ocean with that much purity to be locked out of it by her own body’s rebellion. It lodged in Vi’s chest like a stone ever since.

So she had said it casually, maybe with a slight grin that she couldn’t quite recall to soften it.

“Then I’ll do it for you. I’ll be your hands and your eyes under the sea .”

But she’d meant it more than anything.

She would dive to the depths Caitlyn feared, swim through currents she could never touch. She would find every creature Caitlyn had studied from afar and bring them back in stories, in footage, in light . She would go where Caitlyn couldn’t. Not because she petied her, but because she wanted to hand her everything the sea had stolen from her.

And Vi remembered that night like it had been etched into her skin, the one where they kneeled side by side in the sand, the tide glowing electric with bioluminescence beneath their feet.

It was supposed to be the highlight of the trip. People planned their entire travels around moments like this only to witness the ocean come alive in luminous waves that danced like constellations fallen from the sky.

But Vi hadn’t spared it a single glance. Because her eyes had never left Caitlyn.

She remembered watching the blue glow kiss her cheeks, her throat, the line of her collarbone, and her eyes. 

God, those eyes didn’t reflect the ocean. They carried it. An entire ocean was trapped in her irises.

And her hair- before that night, Vi had thought of it as a colour of the midnight zone: dark and unknowable. But under the bioluminescent tide, under that moonlight and magic, it came to definition.

That was the night she learned its true name. 

Ultramarine.

A shade so rich and rare that the sea itself might have wept trying to match it. Something precious and untouched like the pigment itself.

And so, hands trembling slightly with the itch of wanting to preserve it, Vi had raised her instant camera and framed Caitlyn through her lens. If she couldn’t keep her, if this version of Caitlyn bathed in bioluminescence and sea breeze could only exist for a heartbeat, then she would capture her. Detain her. Preserve the miracle. Keep her in this one small way forever.

Later that night, Vi had called Powder.

“I think I’m in love with her,” Vi murmured.

There had been a beat of silence on the other line. “That’s the first thing you’re telling me?” Powder said smugly with a laugh. “So you’re not even denying it anymore?”

Vi smiled. “No, I’m not. I really really like her.”

“Eww. So, what are you gonna do?”

“I’ll try. I’ll approach her.”

After that night the tide had seemingly gotten even closer.

Most nights, Vi would slowly sift through the Polaroids they’d taken together.

The one from the bioluminescent tide behind her phone case always came first. Then the shots from the night they went squid fishing. And the ones Vi had taken without permission, all blurry yet stupidly precious. Caitlyn had noticed, of course. But she said nothing and let Vi keep them instead.

And Vi would just stare with her thumb brushing over the edges. Thinking- what if this didn’t end? What if this expedition didn’t have a return date, a flight booked home, a deadline stitched into its final chapter? What if the summer never had to fold into goodbye?

She thought about it more often than she would have liked to admit. About travelling the world with Caitlyn like this. Town after coastal town, island after island, chasing tides and sea creatures and insects or basically just anything. Nothing could ever seem dull or mundane had Caitlyn been by her side. Visiting every bioluminescent beach in existence with her. Waking up to her voice and falling asleep to her breath- something that Vi hadn’t yet tried at that time but now she had, and it was more addictive than she’d ever dared to imagine.

And the thing that Vi didn’t want to admit the most was that she remembered the curve of Caitlyn’s lips parted in surprise, the faint blush rising in her cheeks as Vi had held out a bite of whatever food she was eating. She’d teased her, of course. Grinned and shrugged when Caitlyn asked why she was being like this. And she told her she always fed her siblings.

A big lie. It had never been about her siblings. She loved them with her whole heart, though, she just wouldn’t hand feed them the way she did with Caitlyn.

She just hadn’t known how to say- I wanted to feel your breath against my fingertips, watch your mouth open for something I gave you. I wanted you to take it from me, because it was mine to give and yours to have.

There was something about the act that felt- god. She couldn't even find the right word to describe it. It was rather… carnal in its gentleness. Watching Caitlyn chew softly, mouth brushing her fingertips in the barest touch, Vi had to fight not to shiver.

God, how many times had she had the thought?

That intrusive, uninvited, utterly deranged thought, one that whispered, just do it . Just slide your fingers past her lips, feel the warmth of her tongue, watch her eyes flutter when she realises what she’s doing, what you’re doing . Let her lick , and suck , and maybe bite a little, because Caitlyn was always biting back things, wasn’t she?

It wasn’t even about sex- well, not only about sex. It was also about the ache and the need to give her something and watch her take it without thinking, with trust, with her mouth . To feel the drag of her lips across her fingers, the hot wetness and the way her lashes might lower to make Vi’s restraint just crack.

And Vi, the fucking idiot she was, would just sit there, smiling casually like she hadn’t just imagined getting devoured alive by the girl across from her over a cinnamon roll. She’d swallow it. All of it. The impulse. The image. The sound she’d probably make if Caitlyn really did it.

It was desire, yes, but something more dangerous than that. And Vi would sit there and wonder if this was what falling for someone felt like.

This ache to ruin her, to stain her, and yet at the very same time to hold her so gently so that she'd never shatter. To kiss her where she was the softest, to protect every fragile edge like she was the most precious treasure in this world.

God help her.

After that, Vi had quietly planned it like a gift that she was too shy to admit was sentimental.

She’d spent hours scrolling through local updates and research logs, skimming seasonal shifts and tourist photos until she was sure, this week, right now, the manta rays would be swimming through the shallow coves of a nearby beach, close enough that they brushed against ankles.

They were her favourite. Always had been. Mysterious but never threatening.

And when she’d seen those photos of rays swirling just past the shore, her first thought hadn’t been how beautiful .

It had been: I want Caitlyn to see this. I want her to touch it. To stand barefoot in the shallows and feel that wonder for herself. Not just in theory and data but in real time. I want her to see that the ocean isn’t always cruel. That sometimes, it comes to meet you . 

So she’d asked almost carefully. “ Wanna go see manta rays? They’re close to the shore. ”

And she’d expected, even hoped for a smile and a quiet yes . After everything they’d shared, all the days spent beside one another, how could she possibly not?

But Caitlyn had hesitated. And said no . Not unkindly, though definitely. And Vi had nodded, masked it all with a shrug and a grin. But inside, her heart was splintering.

Now the past few days made sense. All her hesitation and subtle distance instead of softness. And the way she began to pull away ever so slightly.

Vi’s chest tightened with the thought. That she had overstepped . She must have made Caitlyn uncomfortable, crossed a line Caitlyn wasn’t ready to let her cross. Vi had gotten too close, had mistaken affection for permission, and now she was paying for it.

So she went to the bar alone and the alcohol flood her senses and her self-reproach.

Vi remembered that night too clearly. The way Caitly had dragged her back to the hotel, flushed and frantic, muttering about her keycard as they stood outside the door. And Vi, barely upright, lips parted from too much alcohol and insufficient oxygen, had blinked slowly and mumbled something unhelpful.

“ Dunno… Don’t remember.”

Another lie. Of course it was.

She knew exactly where it was, tucked snug in her back pocket right where she’d slid it hours ago. Yet the second Caitlyn hesitated, then started awkwardly patting her down , her hands skimming Vi’s sides, her waist, her thighs; Vi had gone still. And stayed still.

She let her fumble clumsily around her side pockets. Let her fingers sweep along the hem of her shirt, skimming too close to skin. Let her hands slide over her hips, her breath catching the moment they neared her backside. 

Vi hadn’t even pretended to help. 

Because that might have been the only way she’d ever get to feel it. With no affection and desire but merely contact. Authorised. Necessary. Allowed . She was shameless. And she knew it. But god, if that was the only way Caitlyn would ever lay her hands on her, Vi would take it as it was. 

But what she remembered the most was the moment she tugged Caitlyn down, arms wrapping instinctively, greedily around her. She’d buried her face into Caitlyn’s neck just like last night, the scent of driftwood and jasmine clinging to her skin and coconut on her hair.

She had done it on instinct. But beneath all that sleep and alcohol was her most desperate wondering: Would Caitlyn stay? 

But she hadn’t.

She fled. And that was when Vi knew.

That Caitlyn didn’t feel the same. If she did, she wouldn’t have run. She would’ve stayed. Caitlyn didn’t want her back.

And yesterday- yesterday was… exhausting.

Twenty minutes. She’d been stuck for twenty fucking minutes. 

Somewhere between twenty-five metre mark, Vi had felt a snag, a drag at her shoulder. A tension that bloomed across her rig. Kelp . Tangled in the back of her harness where her hands couldn’t reach.

It should’ve been fine. She’d dealt with worse. She was a solo technical diver. She was trained for this.

But still, those twenty minutes felt as though time was turning solid. Her tank gauge ticked lower, every second slicing away her no-deco limit. She was burning gas she couldn’t afford and she was alone, with utterly no buddy,  no backup, no one to share gas with. No Caitlyn, of course.

And maybe that was the part that started to undo her, neither the kelp nor the oxygen running short in her tank. But the thought of Caitlyn.

Above, waiting. Watching her ascent data plateau. Watching her CNS exposure tick higher, her PO2 fluctuate, her NDL numbers dwindle. And Vi knew that Caitlyn would probably be panicking, pacing on the boat right now, biting her thumbnail. That crease between her brows etched deep, eyes blown wide with dread.

And she remembered Caitlyn’s voice that night. “ I fell. I couldn’t find which way was up. I couldn’t breathe.” She said it with a steadiness that only made it more heartbreaking.

Vi had squeezed her eye shut, bile rising in the back of her mouth. 

No. No. No.

She couldn’t do this to her. She couldn’t let Caitlyn relive that fear because of her.

She had to cut the kelp. She had to get the fuck out. She had to surface and say, I’m fine . To pull her in and remind her this wasn’t like before. That Vi was here now, and Vi would always come back.

Her hands were shaking. The knife slipped, cutting her glove. But she kept sawing and twisting. 

Because Caitlyn didn’t only deserve someone who loved the ocean. She deserved someone who would fight through the ocean to reach her . Even if it meant skipping deco stops. Even if it meant pain. Even if it meant surfacing with every joint screaming and the edges of her vision flickering white. 

The bends be damned.

She had to get back to Caitlyn.

Because she knew what this would do to her, and Vi would never forgive herself had she let Caitlyn shed tears alone on that boat. 

Not only did she not heal Caitlyn’s wound, she was now deteriorating it.

And when she finally made it back to the boat, Caitlyn had grabbed her, practically yanked her out of water with shaking hands and panic crackling in her voice. So Vi had tried to cut the tension the only way she knew how.

With a joke. A particularly stupid one.

She’d said, “ Wouldn’t be the worst place to go.” Too offhand like she hadn’t just missed a critical deco stop and ascended too fast with barely enough gas to last her final ten metres.

But then Caitlyn’s breath hitched.

“ …Please don’t say that.”

And Vi froze.

The words barely landed before she knew with a  bitter clarity that she had utterly fucked up. It was evident from the way Caitlyn’s already red eyes glistened again instantly, the way her bottom lip trembled as she tried but failed to suppress it.

It undid Vi completely.

She panicked.

Her hands, still soaked and shaking, flew up to Caitlyn’s cheeks instinctively. She hadn’t even properly registered that they were still dripping with seawater, that she was only making it worse as she smeared brine across her face in a desperate attempt to stop the tears she hadn’t known how to handle.

After the utter whirlwind of yesterday, Vi was now laying on her side, one arm curled beneath her head, the other barely brushing against the warmth of the woman beside her who was blissfully asleep in serenity. Though her eyes were still faintly puffy, the edges tinged pink where tears had dried barely a day ago.

Vi reached out, barely daring to touch. Her thumb hovered, then swept ever so gently across the skin beneath Caitlyn’s lashes.

God .

She hated that she’d made her cry. Hated that those eyes had spilled over for her, for the sight of her resurfacing too late and too breathless.

Those eyes were meant to carry the ocean. 

Not overflow with it.

Vi swallowed hard, chest tight with guilt and something else deeper. Reverence, maybe. Love , definitely. 

She would do anything to make Caitlyn smile again.

Not the polite and diplomatic one. She meant the genuine one. The one where her eyes glinted like sunlight caught in the surface of the sea, pure and unfiltered. The one that curled up the corners of her mouth just enough to show that impossibly endearing gap in her front teeth. 

It killed her. Every time.

Vi had seen rarer things. Creatures in the deep people spent lifetimes chasing. Critically endangered species on the Red List; fragile corals that bloomed once a decade, deep sea bioluminescent jellies that pulsed otherworldly, ones that could only ever be witnessed through the window of a submersible.

Yet none of them could compare to the preciousness of that smile. None of them held a candle to the way she genuinely smiled, the way the tiniest gap showed between her front teeth that made Vi feel like finding Atlantis. None of them could make Vi feel so thoroughly drowned yet so blissfully breathless. 

And if Caitlyn looked at her and said go to the bottom of the Challenger Deep, Vi would strap on her gear and dive until the water swallowed her whole, until her lungs burned.

But if Caitlyn looked at her with that same smile and said, stay,  Vi.

Said , I want you here.

Said, I need you beside me.

Then Vi would hang up her wetsuit and let the entirety of the sea be obliterated. She would spend the rest of her life on dry land if that’s what it meant to secure that smile. The ocean had never offered her anything half as precious anyway.

By the time Vi realised how far the tide had come, it was already too late.

She was submerged.

Her whole chest was now brimming with a love that had grown so immense, so quickly, it should’ve overwhelmed her yet it didn’t.

Because somehow loving Caitlyn felt impossibly natural to Vi. Like breath, like buoyancy, like something her heart had been built to hold even if it hadn’t known it until now. Like loving Caitlyn was the very reason she was even born in this world. Fuck, she was so dramatic.

So last night she had borrowed the convenience of discussing her worldview and slipped in her little confession in between. 

“Doing everything you can, going where you want, loving who you wanna love. Right now, in this moment.”

What she hadn’t said, or hadn’t needed to say, was you .

“I love you. Right now. In this moment as we speak. And if I could love you with my whole life, then one life would be enough for me.” 

It had been a confession veiled in philosophy. But it was real, it was everything inside her heart that she so badly wanted to tear apart and give Caitlyn.

Much as Vi thought one life was enough for her, if she could ever start her life over again like the immortal jellyfish, returning to the earliest version of herself, becoming polyps just to begin again, she would still choose this.

She would still choose to fall in love with Caitlyn for the second, the third, the hundredth time- if she had the chance to redo her life over again, and she would never regret this. She would defy all the YOLO she had ever shouted and restart her life again from the juvenile stage if it meant she could go through this summer and fall in love with Caitlyn like this over and over again. 

But in reality, if life could only offer her one chance, one summer, one Caitlyn , then god, she would make it all count.

Vi let her thumb stoke along Caitlyn’s cheekbone, featherlight as if she didn’t want to wake her but couldn’t quite control herself to not touch her either.

Her voice was barely above a whisper, slightly hoarse with sleep.

“Did you get what I mean?”

It wasn’t meant to be heard. It was meant to dissipate like seafoam, fleeting and tender.

But Caitlyn stirred. Her brows twitched ever so slightly, lashes fluttering, and then slowly, sleepily, her eyes opened, cerulean and dazed and so damn close .

Vi’s face, inches from hers. Vi’s fingers still resting on her cheek, thumb pausing amidst a stroke. Vi’s mouth curled into a grin that looked slightly guilty but wrapped in fondness. She chuckled. “Morning, cupcake.” she murmured, thumb brushing once more against her flushed cheek.

Caitlyn shifted beneath the covers, blinking against the soft sunlight. Her breath felt loose with sleep until she became abruptly aware of how Vi was now nestling close to her, one arm slinging lazily across her waist, face tucked so comfortably against her shoulder it made her pulse skip.

She cleared her throat awkwardly. “Vi. We should… probably get up. It’s late.”

Vi only groaned in response and burrowed closer, her nose brushing just beneath Caitlyn’s jaw. “I’m not feeling well. My joints hurt.”

Caitlyn narrowed her eyes, though her voice came out far gentler than intended. “Vi, if you say that again I won’t believe you next time.”

A grin ghosted across Vi’s lips. “Then don’t. Hurry up and hug me back.”

Caitlyn hesitated just for a moment. Then with a trembling breath, she slipped her arms around Vi’s shoulders, tentative and careful. Vi hummed in satisfaction, arms tightening around her waist in return, pulling her closer until there was no space left between them.

Only warmth, breaths, and the sound of waves beyond the balcony.

They stayed like that for a while.

Until Vi mumbled. “You should’ve kept sleeping.”

“Why?” Caitlyn asked softly. “It’s nearly noon.”

“So I could keep staring at your pretty face.”

Caitlyn froze. Her breath caught. Her hands still wrapped gently around Vi’s back tensed slightly, and the blush bloomed so quickly on her cheeks that Vi could feel the warmth radiating off her without even pulling back to face her.

After a few more minutes of silence and soft breathing, Vi murmured again into the curve of Caitlyn’s neck, “So… Do we have a plan for this week? You know, since I can’t dive for a while. Doctor’s orders.”

Caitlyn glanced down at her. “Did you have anything in mind?”

Vi hesitated. She felt Caitlyn’s hand resting lightly against her spine, and it just happened to give her enough courage to ask again. 

“…Do you still wanna see the manta rays?”

Caitlyn didn’t even pause. “Yes,” she said, her voice sure and immediate. “I’d still go even if it’s not manta rays.”

She hadn’t expected Caitlyn to say yes so quickly. She’d asked this question almost cautiously, still bracing herself for the sting that might come if Caitlyn turned her down again.

Vi nearly short circuited.

She pressed her face into Caitlyn’s shoulder so hard she probably looked like she was trying to merge with her atoms. Her arms tightened around her waist even more, fingers curling instinctively into the fabric of Caitlyn’s shirt and all she could do for this moment was hold on .

Because god.

God, I love you so much.

She wanted to scream it. Right then, right there, in the goddamn bed or her heart would explode. She wanted to throw herself on top of Caitlyn and say, how the hell do you expect me to behave after saying shit like that? How can you just say something so devastatingly warm and not realise what it does to the person holding you? 

The words blazed behind her teeth, already impatient and aching to escape. Vi bit the inside of her cheek so hard it almost bruised. Behave , she told herself. 

Caitlyn, still trying to recalibrate her pulse, cleared her throat again. Her fingers twitched lightly against Vi’s back where they still rested, but she hadn’t moved. “But not today,” she muttered, her voice touched with reluctant amusement. “Vi, you need to rest. No manta rays yet.”

Vi blinked up from where her head was tucked beneath Caitlyn’s chin, eyes shining with the most obnoxiously wounded expression imaginable.

“So what, you’re gonna reject my recovery plan again?”

Caitlyn tried very hard not to smile. “You need a break.”

“Fine. But that means you’re spending the whole day with me. No excuses.”

Caitlyn huffed a breath, not quite a laugh though not quite a sigh. She looked down at Vi who was still nestled into her chest, and it was so ridiculous, so undeniably soft, she couldn’t help herself. 

“Fine,” she whispered, cheeks pink. “I’ll stay.”

𓂃𓈒𓏸𓈒𓂃𓈒𓇼𓈒𓂃𓈒𓆉

Location: Jervis Bay, New South Wales, Australia

Temperature: 25°C (77°F)

Humidity: 74%

Wind speed: 12 mph, NE

Week 16

Some days had passed since Vi’s recompression.

Vi’s health had restored, so the excuse of necessity and staying by her side because of medical caution had fallen away.

Caitlyn had returned to her own room at last.

It felt quieter than she remembered. Colder, somehow. As if the walls had stretched in her absence and now felt wholly empty without Vi’s breath nearby filling the space.

They hadn’t gone to see the manta rays. The tide hadn’t been right and the sea hadn’t yet offered them that moment. And perhaps that was what haunted Caitlyn, this persistent certainty now bubbling beneath the doubt. She knew with a clarity clearer than any data could show that her feelings had long since passed the point of no return.

And the pressure of it had become unbearable to carry in silence after that tentative forehead kiss that night and the… not so platonic cuddles in the following morning. It was no longer a secret. It was a reckoning, one she couldn’t defer any longer.

She didn’t care anymore if Vi wanted her back. She didn’t care if Vi turned away, or smiled kindly and said I’m sorry , or simply just didn’t understand.

But even then, there lingered that relentless whisper of hope beneath all her resignation. That maybe Vi’s affection hadn’t been meaningless. Because surely, someone who felt nothing wouldn’t have held her that way, or curled into her lap and said things like I want to hear your voice, or stay with me tonight , or tell her she’d always come back to her.

Caitlyn wasn’t naive. She knew Vi was disarming, impossible to predict. But it had felt somehow different in the way her gaze and voice would soften when she spoke to Caitlyn as if she was something to be cradled rather than admired.

She could be wrong, or just projecting. But how could she believe that Vi had no feelings whatsoever when every breath they shared was practically filled with possibilities? 

What mattered was that this truth, this furious yet beautiful ache in her heart that had taken the room the moment Vi had walked into her life and begun to speak of the sea like it was palpable, even for someone like her.

Caitlyn would tell her. She had to.

So she made her choice.

The next time the sea glows again, when the water blooms with electric blue like that night they smiled to one another.

When nature offers her the chance.

Then she would tell her.

𓂃𓈒𓏸𓈒𓂃𓈒𓇼𓈒𓂃𓈒𓆉

Location: Jervis Bay, New South Wales, Australia

Temperature: 28°C (82.4°F)

Humidity: 81%

Wind speed: 9.5 mph, SW

Week 17

The sea was glowing tonight.

Not just faintly in scattered flickers but blooming in full and luminous swells across the darkened shore. Each step they took stirred trails of iridescent blue beneath their feet, the water pulsing softly.

They walked in silence.

Their arms brushed occasionally. Their footsteps were quiet against the wet sand, but Caitlyn’s pulse was deafening. She’d asked Vi earlier that evening with her best effort to mask the tremor underneath.

“ Do you… want to see the bioluminescence again?”

Vi had blinked at her, momentarily surprised at the fact that it had come from Caitlyn. For the last few months, it had mostly been Vi suggesting things, inviting, teasing and drawing Caitlyn into orbit. But today Caitlyn had reached out instead.

Vi smiled. “Yeah. Sure, was all she said.

And now here they were, ankle-deep in the glowing water under the moonless sky.

Caitlyn’s hands fidgeted at her sides. She wasn’t sure what to do with them. Whether to keep them clenched or loosen them into something brave. 

She had been watching the weather forecast almost obsessively the past few days, cheking moon cycles, tide charts, waiting for the precise window when the conditions would align.

And finally, finally- tonight, the sea had bloomed for them again. 

Now all that was left was to bloom herself.

She stole a glance at Vi, who was watching the water light beneath her steps, idly swirling her feet. Caitlyn’s chest ached, lungs tight. Her courage was like a tide ebbing and crashing with every second she waited.

They spoke at the same time.

“You-"

“I-”

Both voices overlapped, then faltered into a breathless silence. Vi let out a quiet chuckle, nodding at Caitlyn to go ahead but Caitlyn only shook her head, motioning gently with one hand that said you first .

Vi hesitated for a beat. Then she looked back out at how the water shimmer under her feet, catching blue fire with every small step. Then her voice dropped lower, almost like she hadn’t meant to say anything but now couldn’t stop herself.

“You know, I almost didn’t become a solo diver,” she said.

Caitlyn turned fully towards her, mildly startled. “What?”

Vi smiled faintly. 

“I was nineteen. It was my first real solo dive. I was trying to prove I was ready. I thought I was invincible.”

She nudged the water with her shoe absently, watching it bloom bright blue.

“I went down to thirty. It should’ve been routine. I’d done it a hundred times with instructors. But that was the first time I went alone and I guess I just… got hit with it.”

Her throat moved as she swallowed. “I got narced. Like, really bad. Everything felt… too good. I didn’t even realise something was wrong. It felt like I was drunk.”

Caitlyn’s breath had slowed, but her heart hadn’t.

Vi exhaled, kicking the glowing water gently with the tip of her shoe.

“I didn’t come up when I should’ve. Like last week. Didn’t check my time.” Vi let out a breath that trembled slightly. “Apparently my DiveTrack was still pinging. My dad was on the boat and saw my numbers go weird.”

She glanced sideways. “He put on his gear and dove in after me.”

Caitlyn blinked.

“He saw me just… hovering there. Not even reacting. He had to grab me by the tank and drag me up himself.”

Her fingers twitched at her sides. “Afte that, he lost it. They all did. He yelled at me. Powder didn’t talk to me for two days. He said if he wasn't there, I would’ve drowned without even knowing I was dying.”

“And I got it. I did. They were scared. I scared them.”

She looked back out at the tide.

“But I still went back in. I trained harder and learned what to look out for. Drilled protocols until I could follow them blind. I didn’t want it to win.”

Caitlyn was quiet for a long beat after Vi finished speaking, her eyes still fixed on the sea though not really seeing it. Her gaze had turned inwards instead, the glow at her feet fading into the background.

Then she said softly. “I admire you.”

Vi blinked, turning towards her.

Caitlyn glanced at Vi, her voice laced with earnestness. “I admire your resolve and that you actually went back after something like that.”

Vi fully turned to her then, startled by the reverence in her voice. “Cait…”

“No, I mean it,” she muttered, eyes still on the horizon though her focus was nowhere near it. “You chose to keep going. That’s… not easy. I could never have done that.”

Vi’s brow knit, soft with understanding. “Hey,” she said gently. “That’s not your fault.”

But Caitlyn only shook her head with a faint smile, one full of longing and ache. “Still,” she said, “I’m glad you did. Because if you didn’t… if you’d stopped being a solo diver after that… then I wouldn’t have met you.”

There was a beat.

Vi slowly blinked once as if the words had stunned her. Then of course, because she was who she was; she chuckled. “Wow. That might be the closest thing to a romantic line I’ve ever gotten from you.”

Caitlyn laughed, an embarrassed, breathless sound, and shyly tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “Well… you’re not the only one who almost didn’t end up here. I almost didn’t become a marine biologist either.”

Vi tilted her head, curiosity piqued.

“I was seventeen, and still in England. My mother insisted on me studying political science. She said that was what the Kirammans do. We argued about it for months. She thought the ocean was a good hobby, but not a career.”

She paused, a fondness flickering through her eyes.

“But eventually… she saw how much it mattered to me and how miserable I’d be living someone else’s future. And she let go.”

She took a breath.

“So I flew to the states alone and went to Harvard. I studied everything I’ve wanted to study so badly since childhood.”

She looked at Vi then, her gaze clear and implausibly blue under the glowing tide.

“And I guess it brought me here.”

She looked down at the glowing sea curling around their ankles. Then she finally spoke again, voice trembling slightly as though she had barely gathered enough courage to let the subsequent words tumble forth.

“I… always thought the ocean was where I belonged. Like I was born to understand it.”

Her voice faltered.

“But no matter how hard I tried  it just never let me in. So I thought that was enough, I thought that loving it from a distance was the closest I could ever get.”

She finally looked up at Vi then.

“Then I saw you being a part of it. Like… every time you dive you were simply going home. Every story you told me just made the ocean seem even more dazzling than it ever was. But you could easily outshine all of it.”

A breath caught in her throat, trembling at how embarrassingly incoherent she now sounded. She hadn’t planned any of that. She hadn’t rehearsed any of the words but instead found the shape of her truth as she spoke it, letting every word just tumble forward naturally.

Caitlyn had never been one good at voicing affection. She preferred action instead. Yet she’d still try if it meant she could show Vi every feeling that had been afflicting her heart for months.

“I… used to be jealous of that when I first met you, back when this whole trip just started. I was envious of the way the sea just welcomes you so easily but locks me out instead.”

Her fingers fidgeted, twisting into the hem of her shirt in an attempt to find something to hold onto that wasn't the rapidly spiralling mess of her own confession.

“Maybe… I do belong to the ocean in some way.”

She took a deep, grounding breath, bracing herself for the next sequence of words she was about to let out. It was ridiculous, how even herself was startled by her own words coming out unscripted from her mouth.

“But then I saw you in it.”

Her heart skipped, but she pushed through anyway. Because this part mattered.

“And I realised… the ocean itself belongs to you.”

The moments these words left her, her chest constricted. God, how absurd and corny it sounded. It wasn’t even entirely what she meant. No quality of words could capture what she had truly wanted Vi to know, how deeply and profoundly she felt that not even the Mariana Trench could compare, yet she knew it was partially correct. That it was aligning with her feelings, even just the slightest bit.

But it was subtle. Too subtle.

And she didn’t know if Vi would catch the true meaning and understand what Caitlyn was trying so desperately to say underneath all the metaphors.

That she had spent her whole life chasing the mysteries under the sea, chasing its beauty and its depths. Yet none of them could elicit an adoration more than what she felt when she was chasing Vi with her own heart and eyes.

She needed to say something more proactive.

“Last week… you told me that one life could be enough if you filled it with what matters.”

Her chest now rose and fell in a fragile rhythm.

“And I think… I finally understand. You taught me to do what I want to do. To go where I want to go. To… love who I want to love.”

She glanced away for a heartbeat then back at Vi, her voice now full of resolve knowing there was no way to take everything back.

“And I want to use that life to love you. If you ever want that.”

The silence that followed felt cavernous.

Vi’s breath caught in her throat, barely audible yet unmistakable. She stared at Caitlyn, eyes now widening as though the world had just stopped turning and somehow she hadn’t noticed until now. Her expression had gone still like she was memorising the way Caitlyn looked as she spoke, like it might never happen again and Vi couldn’t afford to miss a single detail.

Caitlyn swallowed hard, forcing the tightness in her throat down where it couldn’t betray her. 

“…I used to think I wanted to be like the immortal jellyfish. I used to think that one life would never be enough for me with how insatiable I was. I thought I’d needed a lifetime just to scratch the surface of the sea.”

Her voice caught slightly.

“But if I could only live once, I’d give it all to you.”

𓂃𓈒𓏸𓈒𓂃𓈒𓇼𓈒𓂃𓈒𓆉

“Holy shit.”

The words slipped out before Vi could even think.

She stared at Caitlyn, utterly thunderstruck.

She couldn’t speak again right away. There were too many things coursing through her mind, too much feeling to sort through quickly.

Because what else could you possibly say when someone suddenly confessed something like that? When Caitlyn told you that if she could only live once, she would spend it on you? When Caitlyn just handed her the kind of truth that people wait their whole lives to hear from someone they love? 

And god, she loved her so much.

But what words could possibly match the weight of her love right now?

So she stood in the silence for a moment, letting herself breathe through the quake that had just shaken something loose inside her. Her chest swelled with something so immense it physically stung. Her pulse was a drumbeat of disbelief and awe so overwhelming she might actually combust from the inside out.

The silence that followed wasn’t empty but rather dense with everything left unsaid or everything awaiting to be said, until Vi breathed again.

“I actually… thought the opposite.”

Caitlyn’s breath caught with a sharp intake of air that barely moved her chest but somehow shifted the entire atmosphere between them.

“I used to think one life would be more than enough for me. But then I met you.”

Caitlyn’s lips parted ever so slightly, blinking in confusion.

“And I suddenly wished I could be like the immortal jellyfish. Not because I’m scared of dying, though. I wished I could just go back to my juvenile stage again and again. I’d do it a thousand times. I wouldn’t even care how long it took or how many times I had to go through transdifferentiation. As long as you’re somewhere in it, I’d fall in love with you every time.”

A sharp exhale shivered past Caitlyn’s lips. Her eyes had gone faintly glassy, struck wide and now unblinking, ultramarine hair swaying among the sea breeze.

“But then I remembered… jellyfish don’t have brains.”

A sound escaped her lips, almost like a laugh but folded with disbelief and tenderness, and that painful kind of adoration.

“They can’t remember shit. They don’t retain anything. And I thought- god, what if I forgot who you are? What if I forgot the exact shade of your eyes when they catch the glowing tide like now? What if I couldn’t even recognise you?”

Caitlyn looked like she wanted to say something, but her throat moved with the effort of holding it in and letting Vi speak even whilst her own hands were already trembling with the desperate urge to close the distance between them.

“So I guess I don’t wanna be the immortal  jellyfish after all. I don’t want immortality if the price of it is forgetting you.”

Caitlyn’s expression faltered. Her mouth opened and closed again, her lashes fluttering like a breath had passed through her body too sharply.

And Vi said it fiercely like a vow.

“I’ll cope with one life. Just this one, and I’ll spend every remaining second of it memorising you.”

Silence.

Caitlyn stood there, stunned, utterly disarmed by the sheer force of what had just been given to her. Then her voice finally came; hoarse and edged with disbelief.

“Why?”

Vi blinked, momentarily caught off guard, then let out a breath that sounded halfway between a sigh and a laugh. She shrugged, though the gesture seemed unusually slow and far more fragile than nonchalance.

“Why? Because I want you,” she said plainly without ceremony. “Is that not obvious enough?”

Caitlyn’s breath visibly stuttered.

“I said what I said,” she murmured, her voice now rich with conviction. “Why the hell would I let you crawl into my bed and fall asleep next to me, if I didn’t want you?”

She took a step closer.

“Why do you think I flirted with you like that? Tease you every damn day just to see you blush?”

Another step.

“Why do you think I remembered every word you’ve ever said about whales and jellyfish?”

And by now, Caitlyn was barely a breath away from the tide behind her, her shoes grazing the edge where water met sand, the sea blooming with electric blue beneath them like it, too, had been holding its breath for this moment.

Vi’s hands reached out then. She took Caitlyn’s wrists in her palms, thumbs brushing lightly across the pulse points where she desperately needed to feel it. Her voice dropped, threaded with heat and everything unsaid she’d been holding back for far too long.

“Cait,” she whispered. “You have no idea how much I want you.”

Caitlyn’s lips parted, breath trembling and her entire body suspended in that singular moment between restraint and surrender. 

“You… You want me? I- I never expected that. I just… wasn’t sure,” she murmured, eyes flicking away. “If you’d… do this with anyone else. Let someone else that close.”

Vi blinked, her grip still warm around Caitlyn’s wrists.

And Caitlyn, already spiralling again, pushed forward before she could stop herself.

“You said… at the bar that night. You said you got rejected.” Her voice barely rose above the sound of the tide.

“Oh. That.”

Vi tilted her head, the ghost of a smile curling at the corner of her mouth, almost sheepish.

“I thought you rejected me.”

Caitlyn blinked, a breath catching in her throat.

“You said you didn’t want to see the manta rays with me. And I thought that meant you didn’t want me. That I made you uncomfortable.”

“No,” Caitlyn said, suddenly breathless. “I’d never not want you, Violet. I’d never not want to see the manta rays with you. I’d go anywhere with you even if it’s not manta rays. I just… didn’t know if you’d ever feel the same. And I thought you said when you’re rejected, you meant her. You seemed to be… uh, having fun.”

Vi shook her head gently, eyes never leaving Caitlyn’s. “No. But she did ask me if I had a girlfriend. And I said… Not yet. But I hope she'll say yes.”

Vi said as she leaned in, though not yet quite closing the distance between their mouths but let Caitlyn feel the warmth of her breath, the desperation it was laced with.

“I wasn’t laughing because of her. I was laughing because she asked about you. And I told her the reason I wasn’t taken was because I wasn’t sure I’d ever be brave enough to tell you what I just did.”

Her hands stayed firm around Caitlyn’s wrists, letting her feel every word that followed.

“So no, babe,” she breathed, “I wasn’t having fun.”

She pulled Caitlyn just a fraction closer, the tide glowing from the sudden disturbance of the motion, and the smile she gave her then was soft and impossibly fond.  

“Now I know why they all say falling in love makes people stupid.”

Caitlyn’s breath hitched on a laugh as she looked down, flustered by the sheer weight of Vi’s confession. Now that all the miscommunication had been peeled away and laid bare, she figured she was allowed to express the tiniest flicker of jealousy she’d kept locked in the cage of her throat for weeks, just this once.

So she cleared her throat softly and glanced sideways, “Well… That redhead… She's beautiful.”

Vi froze.

Then slowly, almost disbelieving, she huffed a breath and shook her head, then lifted her hands from Caitlyn’s wrists to frame her face instead. Her palms were warm against her cheeks, thumbs brushing gently along the edges of her jaw as if making sure she was looking right in the eye.

“Caitlyn. Have you seen yourself?”

Caitlyn blinked in surprise. Her brows twitched, her body going rigid under the diver’s hands as if the intensity of her gaze alone could drag her under.

“You’re standing right next to one of the most beautiful natural phenomena on Earth,” Vi said, tilting her head slightly, gaze tracing over every part of Caitlyn’s face like a map she could never tire of reading. “The sea is literally glowing around you.”

She leaned in further, barely a breath away now.

“And I swear to god, all I can see is you.”

Her hands tightened slightly around Caitlyn’s cheeks, grounding her and making her take every single word. 

“I’ve seen massive whales. Coral reefs. Bioluminescent jellyfish that look like stars. Things I’ve chased my whole life under the sea.”

She exhaled, forehead finally pressing softly against Caitlyn’s.

“But if they’re all right next to me now, I still wouldn’t take my eyes off you.”

Then she lowered her voice until it was barely a whisper.

“When I look at you, I’m not even an inch underwater and you’re already taking my breath away.”

Caitlyn stood frozen for a second longer, the blush visibly rising to her cheeks even among the dark, her eyes shimmering with the glowing tide along with astonishment and awe all at once.

And then she spoke again, quiet and incredulous as if she couldn’t believe she was still standing. “…Vi. That’s so corny and dramatic.”

Vi huffed a laugh, her hands still holding Caitlyn’s face like something too precious and rare to risk letting go.

“I know,” she murmured with a grin full of adoration. “But you’re worth it.”

Vi stared at Caitlyn, at those implausibly cerulean eyes, the faint flush rising high on her cheeks and the slight part of her lips like she didn’t even realise she was waiting to be kissed.

And fuck, Vi’s whole body ached with the need to close the final inch of space between them. To kiss her breathless. To bury every restraint, every held breath between the press of their mouths until nothing remained but the taste of this very moment.

But something about it felt too sacred, too holy and unholy at once- and god, she needed an excuse. A justification. An opening she could slide through without feeling as if she was shattering something too delicate to even touch.

So instead, she leaned in further, her hands still on Caitlyn’s face like it was the most fragile and treasured thing she’d ever cradled, and asked with a voice like velvet aflame.

“Cait. Do you ever wonder what nitrogen narcosis really feels like?”

Caitlyn blinked in surprise by the sudden turn, but curiosity soon flickered in her eyes.

“I do,” she murmured, brows furrowing faintly. “I know it’s due to the elevated pressures at depth. Well… you told me it’s like drunkenness and disorientation. Euphoria but dangerous.”

Vi smiled at the response- and fuck, it was sinful.

“You know,” she whispered, leaning in until her breath skimmed Caitlyn’s mouth, “you don’t have to dive to feel it. I can show you.”

“What-”

And then she kissed her before she could ever finish that sentence. Vi didn’t need to hear the rest of it.

She crashed her lips against Caitlyn’s, not entirely gentle but deep as though she was claiming the air out of her lungs just to see what she’d sound like when she was breathless. Like breathing itself was secondary to this. Her mouth moved with heat, tasting the soft gasp Caitlyn gave her as her hands slid firmly to her waist, pulling her in.

Caitlyn melted into the suddenness of it all, her fingers clutching Vi’s biceps, breath stuttering into her mouth. Her lips parted willingly, and Vi drank in every shiver, every sigh and faltering heartbeat beneath her palms.

And then Vi pulled back just an inch to behold the wrecked cerulean daze in Caitlyn’s eyes, the flushed cheeks, and slightly swollen lips.

God, she would keep reminiscing about this sight for the rest of her life.

Then she kissed her again, even harder this time, and spun them both, arms locking around Caitlyn’s waist as though she couldn’t bear a single inch of space between them. The movement was clumsy and exuberant, to which the sea responded  by sending glowing tendrils of blue spiralling outwards with every twist of their feet. The bioluminescence bloomed wild beneath them, igniting the shallows with stunning streaks of electric blue.

They stumbled slightly, laughing into each other’s mouths, their bodies colliding repeatedly. The tide curled around their ankles, gentle but pulsing with light, responding to every sway and shift as though they were dancing with the tide itself.

Caitlyn gasped, breath catching in her throat, then let out a breathless, giddy giggle, one that slipped straight into Vi’s mouth only to be swallowed in another kiss, deeper and more even dizzying than the last.

When Vi finally pulled back, they were both panting, pupils blown wide, chests heaving as though they’d just surfaced from a dive too deep and far too good.

“Dizzy yet?” Vi murmured, lips brushing Caitlyn’s jaw, her voice dripping with satisfaction but threaded with too much tenderness to be teasing.

Caitlyn giggled, breathless and flushed, her hands still gripping Vi’s arms. Her voice came between gasps, dazed with laughter and affection. 

“I think I’m clinically intoxicated,” she whispered. “Including but not limited to vertigo, euphoria, and an overwhelming compulsion to let you kiss me again until I forgot my name.”

Vi let out a laugh, stunned and utterly smitten. “Damn,” she said, kissing her temple. “You’re such a freaky nerd.”

“And you’re corny and dramatic,” Caitlyn whispered back.

“Perfect match then.”

Vi kissed her again, more urgent this time knowing now that she had permission she’d never stop again. Her hands roamed with a confidence that boarded on reverence, fingers splaying across Caitlyn’s hips. And Caitlyn responded like flame to oxygen, soft but hungry and half laughing into her diver’s mouth as her fingers tangled in the fabric of her shirt, tugging her closer like she couldn’t get enough.

Then Vi spun them again just for the sheer joy of it, feet sinking into the wet sand, bioluminescence flaring like fallen stars beneath every step, and Caitlyn let out another giddy laugh, her arms now wrapped around Vi’s neck, their lips never separating.

They kissed through the spin, dizzy and breathless, laughing against each other’s mouths in a whirl of light and saltwater and tongue.

Until Caitlyn frantically tapped Vi’s shoulder.

“Mm?” Vi hummed into the kiss, her mouth still moving lazily against Caitlyn’s not noticing anything at all was wrong.

“Vi-” Caitlyn gasped, lips still brushing Vi’s. “Violet- stop.”

Vi blinked, dazed, lips still parted as she reluctantly pulled back just barely. “What?” she whispered, still drunk on the taste of Caitlyn’s laugh.

Caitlyn glanced over Vi’s shoulder, then hissed through a mortified laugh. “I think we're attracting an audience.”

Vi turned over her shoulder.

And froze.

A handful of tourists had gathered not far along the shoreline, gazes unmistakably fixed on them, no doubt drawn by the glow of the sea and the spectacle of two women tangled in one another, kissing and spinning around like no other things in the world mattered right now.

Vi blinked once. Then her  mouth dropped open slightly. “Wow,” she whispered. “Holy shit.”

Caitlyn made a strangled sound, one that sounded like a laugh but also a whimper, her face already burning hot. “That's your fault.”

But before she could do anything, before she could run or melt or vanish, Vi leaned in again,  pressing their lips together without any shame whatsoever, deep and defiant with sheer adrenaline coursing through every inch of her body.

And against Caitlyn’s lips, she muttered.

“I dont fucking care.”

Caitlyn made a tiny noise of protest, half surprise and half surrender. And when Vi finally pulled back, Caitlyn dropped her face immediately against her shoulder as she gasped for air, fingers curling into her shirt.

“Oh my god,” Caitlyn mumbled, voice muffled into Vi’s neck. “This is so embarrassing.”

Vi chuckled, soft and smug, arms still wrapped around Caitlyn’s waist, utterly unbothered. “You’re glowing,” she teased, brushing her knuckles down Caitlyn’s flushed cheeks. “Like, Literally.”

“Stop,” Caitlyn whispered, but she was giggling now, still hiding and clinging to her like a shipwreck to driftwood.

“Cupcake,” Vi tilted her head, lips brushing against Caitlyn’s mouth again, voice low and almost conspiratorial, the grin on her face utterly unrepentant.

“Should we run?”

Caitlyn peeked out from where her face was still buried against Vi’s shoulder, cheeks flushed, eyes wide.

“Run.”

Vi didn’t hesitate. She grabbed Caitlyn’s hand instantly, fingers twining tight, and took off with a startled laugh.

And they ran.

Across the glowing tide, feet slapping against wet sand, trails of iridescence blooming beneath every splashing step. Their laughter echoed, breathless but uncontainable with both panic and delight, as though they were just two high school girls; having been caught making out behind the gym and didn’t care as long as they were holding hands when detention came.

Caitlyn yelped when she nearly slipped on a patch of wet shells, at which Vi cackled, tugging her closer to keep her upright, and neither of them looked back.

Because the only thing that mattered right now was the tide at their heels,  the electric blue lighting their way and the girl beside them, clutching one another’s hands like they’d never let go.

And if they tripped, if they tumbled, if they collapsed in a breathless heap outside the hotel doors yet still giggling like absolute idiots…

Well. That was nobody’s business but theirs.

Chapter Text

𓂃𓈒𓏸𓈒𓂃𓈒𓇼𓈒𓂃𓈒𓆉

Location: Jervis Bay, New South Wales, Australia

Temperature: 26°C (78.8°F)

Humidity: 75%

Wind speed: 10.7 mph, SW

Week 19

Caitlyn woke to the sound of waves.

Morning light filtered through the half open glass, the curtains drifting slowly in the sea breeze.

Vi was still asleep beside her.

One arm slung across Caitlyn’s waist, her breath slow and even against Caitlyn’s collarbone, lips slightly parted in that unguarded way that made Caitlyn feel like the luckiest woman alive to witness it. Her hair was mussed from sleep, cerise strands splaying across the pillow.

And Caitlyn just… stared. At the way their legs were tangled together beneath the thin white sheet, the curve of her broad shoulders catching the morning light and faint smile at the corners of her lips as if she was content even in dreams.

It felt surreal.

Unbelievable, really- that two weeks ago, under the moonless sky black with stars and water alive with bioluminescence, Vi had looked her in the eye and told her she felt the same, that everything Caitlyn had buried in silence for months had been received carefully.

That night had been something carved out of fiction, something people wrote songs and poems about. The sea had glowed beneath their feet, the tide had shimmered with every step while they kissed. And in the hush among the sea sparkle, Vi had told her she changed her perspective in life, that I used to think one life would be enough, but now I met you and I want immortality.

Caitlyn smiled faintly now, barely breathing lest even a single movement break the enchantment before her.

Because how something so perfectly, implausibly romantic could have happened to her? How was she lucky enough waking up beside the ocean and the only person that could ever compare with it?

Since that night, whenever the sea sparkled to life, Caitlyn thought only of Vi. It no longer mattered how many times she’d witnessed bioluminescence before, or how many years she’d devoted to chasing the elusive glow of plankton; nothing had ever taken her breath away the way Vi did. 

The phenomenon and the person had become inseparable, as if bioluminescent had etched itself into her mind as a memory Vi’s hands on her waist, her mouth on her lips, and her voice when she said I’d fall in love with you every time.

She couldn’t imagine watching the sea sparkle beside anyone else for the rest of her life. She didn’t want to share it, didn’t want to see the tide ignite in electric blue with anyone else at her side. That inexplicable magic belonged to Vi now, just as Caitlyn belonged to her.

And she realised with a quiet, aching sweetness, that all the years she’d spent studying the ocean had, in the end, given her a gift far more precious than knowledge or recognition. The sea had given her Vi. And that was enough. More than enough.

She’d never blame the ocean for never letting her in. It had waited, and gave her the best miracle imaginable.

Perhaps it was too soon to say so, but still- she loved Vi. Not in the way she’d once thought love would arrive, like a thunderclap or a sweeping current, but in a quieter way that made her feel as though she’d been made for this. For her. It was the kind of love that made her believe, for the first time, in the possibility of miracles, in futures and in the rare truth that some stories are so breathtaking in their simplicity they didn’t require embellishment at all.

She hadn’t even imagined she could be this in love. And yet here she was, utterly, irreversibly, incandescently drenched in her own affection.

She turned her gaze towards Vi’s lips. She could do nothing but watch, overcome with a reverent gratitude so vast it eclipsed language. She wanted to thank her. For not just existing in this world, but for stepping into Caitlyn’s life with a certainty that unraveled everything Caitlyn once thought she knew. She wanted to thank her for the way she laughed, for making the ocean feel nearer like the depths were suddenly within reach. She wanted to thank her for letting her in. And most of all, for looking at her that night above the glowing tide and saying, I want you.

Caitlyn had spent years believing love was a non-renewable resource, a finite thing you either found or didn’t, that once it burned out there was no rekindling it; only echoes, ashes and memories at best.

But loving Vi defied that logic entirely. Loving Vi was pure, unrestrained abundance. It was fulfilment, renewal, a quiet kind of salvation. Laughing with her beneath the sun, with salt in the air and their hair, felt like happiness in its truest, most startling form, so immense and unfiltered left Caitlyn breathless with the realisation that perhaps she’d never truly known joy until now. And being loved in return, being chosen by Vi was something so luminous and delicate that she scarcely knew how to hold it except by cherishing every fleeting second she was allowed to remain by her side.

Even if it all vanished tomorrow, even if the sea rose and swallowed the world whole, she would remain grateful beyond reason for having been part of Vi’s life at all. Grateful to have loved her, and to have been loved in return. Grateful that in all the vastness of this world, their paths had intersected; if only to teach her what it meant to crave nothing more than the privilege of loving someone this entirely, for however long the world would allow.

They had been, at first, two entirely different souls shaped by opposing worlds. Yet somehow by some miracle they both arrived at the ocean’s edge carrying the same unquenchable devotion for the deep. That singular passion had been their only intersection, a thread so thin it should’ve frayed. But somehow, it impossibly held. And Caitlyn found herself believing that perhaps even parallel lines, when bent by longing, could converge.

She smiled.

Her gaze dipped lower.

It wasn’t intentional, but the way the sheet had slipped down Vi’s side left little to the imagination. One arm was still thrown across Caitlyn’s waist, and the rest of her was sprawled carelessly that could only mean she was deep in undisturbed sleep. Her toned back shifted ever so slightly with each breath, the faint morning light tracing every curve of muscles carved from years of swimming and strength.

Caitlyn swallowed hard.

She shouldn’t be staring. She really, really shouldn’t be staring.

But god, was she only human. And Vi looked like this just lying there, hot and golden in the sunlight.

And the worst part was-

They hadn’t… well, done anything.

They hadn’t done anything since the night they’d confessed their feelings. Since Vi had kissed her under a sky full of stars and sea sparkle and said because I want you. All they had done was merely kissing, laughing, falling asleep in each other’s arms night after night ever since.

And Caitlyn, who had imagined this woman’s hands on her long before she ever admitted she wanted it, was now two weeks into a relationship that had become a cuddle marathon.

Every night, Vi held her. They tangled up in limbs  and warmth. And Caitlyn loved it. She truly did. Every night in her arms felt like heaven.

But also- god. She wanted something more.

She pressed the back of her hand to her cheek, which was now very, very warm.

You’re two weeks in, she scolded herself silently, internally shrieking. Stop being so-

Her eyes drifted back to Vi’s biceps.

- horny.

Maybe she didn’t want you like that.

Maybe Vi only wanted the comfort, the laughter, the hand holding and smooches before sleep.

And yet…

How could she think that when Vi kissed her the way she did?

When she held her every night like she was something precious and breakable, like she belonged nowhere else in the world except exactly where Vi’s arms were? 

Last night, Vi had whispered you’re all I’ve ever wanted into her neck before falling asleep and Caitlyn had practically melted into the mattress.

So no. There was no doubt Vi wanted her. That wasn’t the problem.

The problem was Caitlyn didn’t know how to ask for more. How to say: so I’ve been thinking about you touching me for approximately four months and I love you I’m going insane. She didn’t know how to start the conversation without physically and mentally combusting. Because if Vi didn’t make the first move… Caitlyn wasn’t entirely sure she’d survive initiating it herself.

She pressed her hand over her burning face again.

And her stupidly hot girlfriend only stirred with a soft groan, her arm tightening briefly around Caitlyn’s waist as consciousness began to pull her back from the depths of sleep. Her lashes fluttered as she turned slightly into the pillow, breath slow, muscles warm beneath the sheets.

Caitlyn didn’t even think twice.

She leaned in and pecked her on her lips. Their lips met for a brief second, then Caitlyn pulled back only when she felt Vi begin to smile against her mouth.

Vi blinked up at her, barely awake. 

“Damn.”

Caitlyn chuckled, mildly flushing. “Good morning.”

Vi grinned, eyes still half-lidded as she reached out and tugged Caitlyn back into the crook of her arm. She rested her chin on Caitlyn’s shoulder and mumbled against her skin, “What’re you thinking, cupcake?”

Caitlyn hesitated, her heartbeat stuttering. A blush crept up her cheeks, her mouth parting before her voice even knew where it was going. She whispered almost sheepishly, “I… uh… I was thinking of saying thank you. To you.”

Vi blinked at that, brows furrowing slightly as she pulled back slightly to look at Caitlyn. “Thank me? For what?”

Caitlyn exhaled a soft sigh, “Well… for, liking me back,” she murmured, “for coming into my life. I don’t know… I used to think love was rare and vanishing. Like it’s nonrenewable and I’d miss my chance.” She let out a breath of laughter, “I never expected you to like me back. So… Thank you. For being part of my life at all.”

Vi stilled, seemingly stunned into silence for a heartbeat. 

Caitlyn chuckled awkwardly, thinking maybe she’d handed over her heart with too many words attached. But before she could retreat into the spiral, Vi leaned in and kissed her with no warning but only an unbelievable tenderness.

𓂃𓈒𓏸𓈒𓂃𓈒𓇼𓈒𓂃𓈒𓆉

It was an instinctive action. 

Vi’s heart clenched tight, and she found herself utterly stunned by the sheer sincerity of it all, overwhelmed by the depth in Caitlyn’s voice and the trembling smile that followed. Vi hadn’t expected to feel so smitten by gratitude, hadn’t anticipated the way it burned in her throat. The feeling was impossible to convert into words.

Gratitude pulsed through her in kind, but she didn’t know how to return it in equal measure when her love for Caitlyn didn’t feel like something that could be wrapped in a few pretty sentences. It made her want to grab Caitlyn and trap her in her arms and never let go; to never risk losing this feeling.

She knew Caitlyn wasn’t someone who found it easy to articulate affection aloud, and Vi wasn’t much better. But still, when Caitlyn bared her heart like that and cracked herself open, Vi knew she had to return it with something equally genuine, and make sure Caitlyn knew just how fully her feelings had landed.

So she reached for the only thing that could hold the shape of all that affection, all that impossible wonder: Thank you. Because Caitlyn had said it first, and that courage deserved more than just love.

“Thank you too,” Vi murmured with a faint smile, her eyes shining with fondness and holding Caitlyn’s gaze without flinching yet in her heart she still somehow couldn’t believe this was her life now. “For telling me how you feel. For being with me at all.” She tucked a strand of hair behind Caitlyn’s ear, fingers lingering and brushing along the line of her jaw. “I love you.”

And she hoped Caitlyn heard everything that didn’t make it out, her every unspoken thought pressed into those three words, every second of the months she’d spent falling harder than she knew what to do with. She hoped Caitlyn felt it, the commitment and the endearment that behind those three words that she had never dared to say aloud before.

𓂃𓈒𓏸𓈒𓂃𓈒𓇼𓈒𓂃𓈒𓆉

It was the first time Vi had said it. And Caitlyn felt like the world tipped. Her breath hitched, and all she could do was stare for a whole five seconds, stunned into stillness by those three impossible words. I love you . Spoken so gently, so earnestly and yet it struck something violent in her heart, an affection so fierce it bordered on aggression. She felt almost dizzy with it. Ridiculous. Like the luckiest woman alive.

Caitlyn shifted forward, unable to stop the sudden pull in her chest, the need to be closer and feel Vi’s heartbeat beneath her, to let this joy melt into something tactile. So she eased herself into Vi’s lap with unthinking ease, letting her legs straddle Vi’s hips. 

Vi didn’t miss a beat. Her hands immediately slid up the sides of Caitlyn’s thighs until they found her hips and settled there. 

Caitlyn let out a small, delighted chuckle at the contact, and leaned down just enough for their foreheads to nearly brush, her hair falling over her shoulder in a soft curtain that brushed Vi’s cheek. “Say that again?”

Vi’s lips curled into a contented smile, her fingers tightening ever so slightly around Caitlyn’s waist. “I’ll say as many times as you want. I love you.”

Caitlyn let out a satisfied giggle and tilted her head, eyes sparkling with giddy affection. “Again?”

“I love you,” Vi said, firmer this time. “I love you I love you I love you-” The fourth came out rushed, almost breathless. But before the next could tumble out again, Caitlyn pressed a finger gently to Vi’s lips to hush her, grinning through her laughter, the swell of her own affection making her lightheaded. 

“Don’t say it too many times,” she said teasingly, “It might depreciate.”

Vi didn’t so much as blink. She huffed a breath through her nose and said, “It doesn’t depreciate.” She grabbed Caitlyn’s wrist, lifting it and pressing a slow kiss to her fingertip. “It only accumulates.”

Caitlyn stared at her, momentarily struck dumb by the sheer tenderness and playfulness of it all. For a beat, all she could do was gaze silently again as Vi’s grip shifted. Her fingers glided slowly up Caitlyn’s wrist before curling around her hand, weaving their fingers together. Their palms met, Vi’s thumb brushing once over Caitlyn’s knuckle, and something in Caitlyn palpitated with a realisation of just how entirely she’d fallen for this woman. That even something as simple as holding hands alone was enough to make her want to stay in the moment forever.

Something fragile in her cracked open, warmth spilling through her in waves, and she leaned down slowly, mouth curling into a smirk full of sweetness, and rested her weight against Vi just enough to feel her chest rise under hers. 

“Violet,” her voice dropped to a languid whisper, threaded with a shameless affection that was just a little teasing.

And then she paused with an uncertainty of not knowing what to say next. She stayed there, gaze drawn to the curve of Vi’s mouth. Her breath caught slightly as her eyes traced the soft line of her bottom lip and the tiny scar just above it. Caitlyn lifted her free hand almost without realising, and gently dragged the pad of her thumb across it. She’d never been so attracted to a scar before, never even noticed them, really. But this small, imperfect mark on a mouth that had kissed her could always somehow make her feel positively unhinged with affection. Embarrassingly in love.

Vi smiled and caught Caitlyn’s hesitation, gently guiding her hand downward while keeping their fingers threaded. Then she leaned upward and kissed her softly, the other hand pressing to her hip before flipping them over in one smooth motion that knocked the breath right out of Caitlyn’s lungs and turned her bubbling laughter into a startled gasp.

They giggled into the kiss, mouths brushing and catching again, Caitlyn’s fingers tangling in Vi’s hair as she tried not to dissolve from sheer emotional overload of it all, everything too much yet never enough.

When their laughter finally ebbed, Caitlyn let one hand slip up to gently caress Vi’s cheek, her thumb brushing along the tattoo beneath her eye. “What do you want for breakfast?” she asked quietly. 

Vi grinned with absolutely no shame. “Cupcakes.”

Caitlyn snorted. “Violet. Be serious.”

”I am. You’re sweet and make my mornings better.”

Caitlyn rolled her eyes fondly, cheeks already pink. “That’s not breakfast.”

”It is if I’m eating you for-”

”Don’t finish that sentence,” Caitlyn warned, blushing furiously now but laughing through it. 

Vi chuckled, clearly satisfied with the effect, and leaned in again but this time her lips found Caitlyn’s neck instead of her mouth, pressing a playful kiss just beneath her jaw. Caitlyn flinched with a surprised squeak. 

“That tickled,” she giggled softly, trying but failing to sound indignant.

Vi pulled back just far enough to smirk at her. “Sensitive?”

”Shut up,” Caitlyn muttered, cheeks flushing deeper as she tried to hide her smile against Vi’s shoulder. 

𓂃𓈒𓏸𓈒𓂃𓈒𓇼𓈒𓂃𓈒𓆉

Location: Jervis Bay, New South Wales, Australia

Temperature: 29°C (84°F)

Humidity: 79%

Wind speed: 11.5 mph, SW

Week 20

The sea at midnight was quiet. The stars hung luminous above, and the gentle lull of waves beneath the boat gently rocked them.

Caitlyn sat at the edge of the deck, her bare feet brushing the air just above the water, the fishing rod in her hands held carefully. Beside her, Vi adjusted the lantern that hung from the boat’s side, its glow casting soft halos on her shoulders and lighting the edges of her profile in soft amber.

She had asked Caitlyn earlier. “Wanna go squid fishing again?” 

And Caitlyn had said yes without hesitation as if the word had been awaiting freedom on the tip of her tongue all day. Squid fishing at midnight, she thought. Only Vi could ever make something like this feel like a date. Though she wasn’t complaining.

Vi finished adjusting the lantern and settled next to her, her thigh brushing Caitlyn’s for a fleeting second before she stretched her arms out and lazily leaned back on her palms. The boat rocked gently beneath them with the motion.

Vi sat forward again after a beat and reached out, her fingers curling gently around Caitlyn’s hand where it gripped the fishing rod. “You’re tense,” Vi murmured, her breath catching the curve of Caitlyn’s cheek. “It’s a fishing rod, cupcake. Not a rifle.”

Caitlyn exhaled, trying not to lean into the warmth behind her and notice how Vi’s other hand had casually slipped over her wrist to guide the movement. Her touch was warm and unhurried, familiar in a way that made Caitlyn’s blood flow with instant adrenaline.

“I’m not tense,” she muttered, but even she couldn’t quite convince herself with that.

Vi chuckled softly. “You were holding it like it owed you money last time,” she teased, adjusting Caitlyn’s fingers patiently. “Relax.”

And then she left her hand there, resting lightly atop Caitlyn’s, not guiding anymore but rather touching in a way that wasn’t entirely professional or wasn’t pretending to be at all. Caitlyn swallowed, pulse skipping under her skin.

The silence that followed wasn’t an awkward one. 

Caitlyn stared down at the water, watching how the line dipped slightly beneath the surface. Then she finally spoke quietly, her voice slightly trembling with the courage that had taken her months to gather.

“Vi,” she said, eyes trained  on the water, though her pulse was fixed entirely on the woman beside her, “why did you lie to me that day at breakfast? When you said you always feed your sibling?”

She felt the way Vi stilled, shoulders no longer swaying, fingers pausing atop Caitlyn’s own hand.

There was a pause.

“…Wait,” Vi said slowly, glancing sideways with a squint. “Did Powder tell you?”

Caitlyn blinked. “She might have mentioned something about… feeding people being your love language.”

Vi groaned softly under her breath and leaned back against the railing. “Goddamn it, Powder.”

Caitlyn turned to look at her more fully now, the smile threatening at her lips gentler than teasing. 

Vi didn’t return it right away. She was quiet again, mouth pulling tight as her eyes drifted out across the water. Then she said, voice low and a little frayed, “Because…” She glanced down at their stacked hands.

Caitlyn waited.

“…I was thinking about something else.”

That gave Caitlyn a pause. Her brows drew in, heart thudding a little too loud. “What?”

Vi hesitated, then finally looked up from their hands at Caitlyn. “You wouldn’t wanna know.”

Caitlyn turned fully towards her then, the fishing rod now long forgotten between them. Her heart was stuttering with hope, fear and a breathless determination. She sensed the air between them shifted in this instant, imperceptibly at first like the subtle shift in current that heralded a coming tide. The air had somehow suddenly grown warmer, more charged, and how Vi was no longer avoiding her gaze but instead meeting it with something unreadable behind those pale turquoise eyes.

So she leaned in. Not but much but enough for the lantern’s light to catch against the curve of her cheek. Her lashes lowered slightly as she spoke again, shifting her tone subtly on purpose. “Violet,” she murmured, letting the syllables drip and reverberate like honey, “please, tell me.” 

Vi froze just for a breath. But Caitlyn caught it nonetheless- the flicker in her throat as she swallowed, the way her gaze faltered for a single second before snapping back to her face.

Caitlyn’s lips curled into the faintest satisfied smile, one corner tilted with quiet triumph.

Vi didn’t answer her with words at first. She stared back at Caitlyn as if the question had stripped something bare between them, leaving no room for pretense. And then she finally spoke softly but with an unrushed certainty that made Caitlyn’s pulse stutter for an instant, “Because I was thinking about this.”

Her hand lifted slowly. 

Caitlyn’s breath caught.

Vi’s fingers, two of them, rose and came to rest against Caitlyn’s mouth, the pads of them brushing the softness of her lower lip with a gentleness that sent heat flooding to her cheeks. Her eyes didn’t waver. Nor did her touch tremble.

Then she whispered.

“Open up.”

Caitlyn froze. Not because she didn’t want to. God, she wanted to. But the command short circuited something inside her, melting her thoughts into liquid heat. Her lips parted without her even realising it, slowly and shyly, breath fluttering in her throat.

And Vi smiled.

Caitlyn’s lashes fluttered once, but her gaze never wavered. She kept her eyes locked on Vi’s as she parted her lips further to let the tip of her tongue graze slowly along the pads of Vi’s fingers. The taste of salt and callus. Then without flinching, she closed her lips and sucked gently, her mouth hot and soft around the diver’s fingers.

Vi’s breath hitched. It was a whisper of a sound nearly swallowed by the sea breeze but Caitlyn heard it anyway.

So she decided to take things further by biting .Soft and controlled, the faintest pressure of her teeth against skin. Vi’s entire spine arched a fraction, her free hand twitching uselessly on Caitlyn’s as her mouth dropped open slightly. Her pupils darkened and dilated instantly like ink spilling over the iris.

“Shit,” Vi rasped under her breath.

And still, Caitlyn didn’t look away. Her lips slipped from Vi’s fingers with a slick little sound, and she tilted her head just slightly as if to say was that what you’ve been thinking about? 

Then she let her mouth part from Vi’s fingers, the glossy sheen left behind glinting in the lantern light. Her tongue darted out once more, licking the tip of one finger with a deliberate, almost seductive slowness. Then she tilted her head and looked up at Vi, her voice like sin stitched in velvet. 

“Wouldn’t you,” she muttered, “rather put them somewhere else?”

For a beat, everything stopped.

The sea. The wind. The entire fucking world.

And then Vi snapped. 

She surged forward in a blur, grabbing Caitlyn’s waist like she’d been starved for centuries. Their mouths collided with no pretense, no patience but only want, molten and all-consuming. Caitlyn gasped, but Vi caught the sound with her mouth, swallowing it whole as her hands roamed with reckless abandon.

She kissed her like she was claiming territory. Like Caitlyn had said “ somewhere else” and Vi was determined to explore every possible interpretation of that geography, starting with her lips, her jaw, her neck, then her everything.

Caitlyn clutched at Vi’s tank top with a breathless laugh breaking between kisses, her body curling into Vi like a tide folding into the shore. But Vi barely gave her the time to breathe. “Fuck, Cait,” she muttered against her lips, “You’re gonna fucking kill me.”

Caitlyn, flushed and breathless, just laughed and whispered against her mouth, “You started it.”

Vi’s lips trailed lower, fevered and unhurried until they found the tender hollow of Caitlyn’s neck. She kissed there once, twice, then dragged her teeth lightly along skin that flushed instantly under the contact. 

Caitlyn let out a breathless sound, not quite a gasp though not entirely a moan either. And her thumbs fumbled at her sides in a desperate attempt to stay tethered to reality, which didn’t stand a chance. In the next second, her grip slipped, and with a clatter and an abrupt splash, the fishing rod tumbled off the edge of the boat and disappeared into the dark sea below.

Her eyes snapped open. “Vi- the rod-!”

But Vi didn’t so much as look. She only pulled back enough to meet Caitlyn’s widened eyes, whispering with a grin curling at her lips.

“Let it go. You’ve already caught what you want.”

And then she kissed her again, this time slower but deeper, drawing a helpless sound from Caitlyn’s mouth into her own, and Caitlyn clutched the straps of Vi’s tank top like it was the only thing anchoring her to the boat which was now swaying gently with every motion of their bodies.

“Vi-” Caitlyn gasped, breath catching as their lips barely parted. “Wait- not here- we’re fall off-” Her voice was soft and almost pleading but trembling with lust underneath.

Vi didn’t reply with words. With one arm wrapped around Caitlyn’s waist, she reached up with her free hand and flicked the lantern switch, snuffing out the glow in a heartbeat. Darkness rushed in instantly, leaving the moonlight the only source of light around them. Then in one fluid movement, Vi lifted Caitlyn like she weighed nothing. Caitlyn let out a startled, breathy noise, her hands scrambling for purchase against Vi’s shoulders as she was carried back towards the bench behind them.

The moment her back hit the seat, Caitlyn was no longer waiting. She reached up instantly, fingers curling into the straps of Vi’s tank top, and yanked her down into another kiss, her mouth hot and trembling with too many nights of waiting. Vi groaned softly against her lips, her hands bracing on either side of Caitlyn’s hips, caging her in. Caitlyn pulled her closer, lips parting again out of desperation for more contact. 

She broke the kiss just enough to sit upright, cheeks flushed, lips slightly swollen and eyes gleaming despite the dark. Then she reached for the hem of her shirt without a word and tugged it off in one smooth motion, discarding it to the floor of the boat.

Vi stilled. Eyes wide, mouth parted in awe. The moonlight hit Caitlyn’s newly bare skin, making Vi feel momentarily stunned, as though every nerve in her body had to recalibrate to stay upright.

Then she moved. Her hands swept up to Caitlyn’s sides, tracing her waist, thumbs brushing the edge of her lace bra with a hunger so palpable it made Caitlyn shiver. She leaned in, kissed down her throat, each press of her mouth leaving heat in its wake. 

One hand slipped to Caitlyn’s thigh, her thumb stroking just beneath the hem of her shorts. The other undid the button and slowly dragged them down. When Caitlyn lifted her hips in silent permission, Vi made a quick work of it, letting the shorts fall to the deck with a soft thud.

She didn’t stop. Her fingers slid back up to the waistband of Caitlyn’s underwear; a soft whimper escaped as Vi pulled them down, leaving Caitlyn bare to the night, knees parted slightly, breath trembling in her chest.

Vi clicked her tongue to herself, amused and flustered all at once, and then she tossed it over her shoulder, letting it flutter somewhere onto the deck with a rustle.

Finally, Vi reached for the last piece. She eased the straps of Caitlyn’s bra down her arms, fumbling briefly with the clasp until it gave. The bra slipped free. Vi barely glanced before tossing it aside, too distracted by the sight before her. 

Caitlyn giggled a soft, breathless sound, chest rising with it, though she didn’t get to laugh long.

Vi was already surging forward again, mouth crashing into hers with a heat that erased sound. Caitlyn gasped, and that too was swallowed, her giggle smothered between lips gone hungry. 

And then Vi pulled back just enough to look down. 

Caitlyn, bare-chested, skin flushed and glowing beneath the moonlight. Her breasts rising and falling with every shaky breath, goosebumps painting delicate constellations along her arms, her nipples taut from the night breeze and anticipation alike.

Vi went very still.

“Holy shit,” she whispered in awe.

Her mouth found Caitlyn’s collarbone first, pressing slow kisses across the ridge before drifting lower, lips hovering just above the swell of Caitlyn’s breasts. Her hands rose to cradle them gently, but firm enough to draw a shudder from Caitlyn's spine. Her thumbs circled the peaks, coaxing a soft gasp from parted lips.

Then her mouth followed. 

She sucked lightly, tongue flicking beneath before her lips closed around one nipple and drew hard. Caitlyn gasped, breath catching as her fingers tangled in Vi’s hair. Vi moaned in response, pulling back to bite then smoothing the sting with a slow lick. Her other hand kneaded the other breast like she couldn’t bear leaving it untouched.

Caitlyn could only whimper, her head tipping back as her chest arched into Vi’s mouth. 

And then Vi’s hand drifted lower, from waist to hip to thigh, her palm finally settling just beneath her centre, not touching yet but claiming her all the same.

Caitlyn’s breath caught. Her thighs tried to press together for any friction possible but Vi’s other hand pushed them apart, firm and commanding with no room for protest. And then finally, her fingers slowly slid between Caitlyn’s legs. 

Caitlyn gasped sharply.

Vi smiled. “Babe,” she breathed, voice thick with arousal like just feeling how wet her girlfriend was had broken something inside her. “Someone’s desperate?”

Caitlyn’s voice was barely a whisper, slightly choked on the sound of her own need. “Then don’t make me wait.”

Vi stopped. A beat passed.

There was something unholy in the silence that followed, a thrill curling in her belly. Then she leaned in, kissed the inside of Caitlyn’s thigh and let her breath wash hot over soaked skin. 

“Ask nicely.”

Caitlyn made a noise that was somewhere between a moan and a plea, and let her head tip back against the bench, hips grinding down into nothing.

“Vi-” she gasped. “Please-”

Vi didn’t move. Instead she pressed another slow, lingering kiss to the top of her thigh, then another, lower this time. “Say it properly.” she murmured, lips brushing skin with every word. “C’mon, baby.”

Caitlyn whimpered. Her fingers gripped the edge of the bench like it could steady her, but nothing could when Vi’s breath was ghosting over the place Caitlyn needed her most yet still didn’t touch.

“Please, Violet,” she whispered, voice shaking.

Vi groaned again like her name itself wrecked her. She muttered something unintelligible under her breath that Caitlyn couldn’t catch. 

She was going down.

Finally.

Her tongue moved slowly at first, dragging up through Caitlyn’s slick heat, devouring every twitch and desperate little sound that spilled from her lips. Her hands gripped right at Caitlyn’s thighs, fingers gently digging into warm flesh. 

The sensation bloomed like warm water under her skin, spreading up her spine, curling low in her belly. Vi licked firmer again, parting her folds, tongue gliding through the mess she’d made and flicking upwards.

Then Vi sucked her clit into her mouth, just once but still made Caitlyn jolt, her hips rocking up instinctively, a ragged moan tearing free as an instant pleasure licked up her spine.

Then she pulled back just enough to speak.

“Rock the boat for me.”

Caitlyn whimpered in reply, thighs quaking where Vi held them wide, her firsts clenching against the bench as the wind tangled her hair and Vi’s mouth undid her.

Vi licked deeper, dragging her tongue in long strokes, curling just inside her before sliding back up. Then she circled her clit with tight swirls, each one sending Caitlyn’s spine into spasms of need.

And then Vi flattened her tongue and dragged it up through the slick heat slowly, letting it smear through Caitlyn’s wetness before flicking hard at the swollen peak again. The contact made Caitlyn’s hips jerk, a full body, involuntary thrust upward that nearly unseated her from the bench. 

Vi moaned into her, the vibration rolling through Caitlyn’s core like thunder, her hips started chasing Vi’s mouth with small, helpless thrusts. 

Vi pressed closer. Her nose pressed to Cairlyn’s mound, her mouth sealing over her clit as she licked faster, tighter. Caitlyn was gasping now, twitching under Vi’s grip, thighs spread wide and shaking.

The bench creaked. The boat swayed harder.

Vi barely lifted her mouth to rasp, “Yeah. Just like that.”

Then Vi dove back in. flicking, sucking, lapping molten and messy, drawing out every sound from Caitlyn’s throat. Every shudder sent a mirrored pulse straight between Vi’s thighs, an ache that built every time Caitlyn gasped.

Vi was dripping, arousal slick between her thighs, her mouth gleaming with Caitlyn’s taste that only made her needier and crave more.

She licked harder, slower, then faster, suctioning over Cailtyn’s clit in a steady rhythm. The way Caitlyn responded- how her thighs trembled, her voice climbed in pitch; sent a fresh wave of aching heat straight to Vi’s core, making her hips grind down against nothing, chasing friction she refused to give herself until she’d taken Caitlyn all the way there.

It was too much. Too intense. Every flick of Vi’s tongue was like sparking down Caitlyn’s spine, every suck and swirl sent a new tremor through her gut. 

Her hand flew up to her mouth. It was a desperate, instinctive action. Her palm smothered the wrecked moans spilling out and the muffled cry she was so close to letting loose. But Vi noticed anyway. She paused only for a breath, shifting her mouth slightly to speak right against Caitlyn’s soaked, trembling skin.

“It’s dark. I can’t see you properly.”

Caitlyn’s breath hitched. Vi licked a long, slow stripe, then bit gently at the inside of her thigh, and said, “So let me hear you.”

And then before Caitlyn could recover, Vi dove back in, her mouth locking into place as she sucked her clit with growing urgency. Her own hips jerked again uselessly, aching, wetness coating the inside of her thighs as she worked Caitlyn towards the edge. 

Caitlyn’s fingers clawed at the bench behind her, nails scraping wood as her thighs clamped around Vi’s head, trembling and struggling to stay open even as her body tried to curl in on itself. 

A blinding pleasure surged through her like lightning, her breath broke into shattered gasps behind her hand as hips jerked-  once, twice, before she cried out, legs spasming around Vi’s mouth as she came.

“Vi- Violet- fuck-” she choked, her voice cracking open with the force of her climax.

Vi looked up and nearly came herself.

Caitlyn’s head was thrown back, mouth parted, hips grinding helplessly through the aftershocks, thighs twitching as her orgasm ripped through her in waves.

It was the hottest fucking thing Vi had ever seen. The way her legs spread loose and trembling, the mess between her legs, the flush on her chest and cheeks, the way she tried to stifle those soft moans and gasps- Vi could’ve lost it right then and there.

She pulled her mouth back only slightly, eyes still locked on the way Caitlyn’s stomach fluttered with each shaky breath. Caitlyn whimpered softly, hips jolting with every wet drag of her clit still against Vi’s tongue.

God help her. Vi’s hand reached up on instinct, fingers gliding up Caitlyn’s inner thigh, tracing through the soaked mess she’d left behind. She moaned softly at the heat, her fingers now sliding up Caitlyn’s folds, spreading the wetness with little teasing circles.

Caitlyn twitched, hips jolting at the oversensitive contact. “Vi…” She gasped, breath trembling, then shifted her hips, rising just barely in an attempt to push down against Vi’s hand without meaning to. “Please,” she whispered, “I need-”

Vi leaned in, her mouth brushing against Caitlyn’s thigh as her fingers kept curling her clit. “Need what, baby?” she asked, almost smug but barely. Because she was so fucking turned on she could barely keep her cool. “Tell me.” 

Caitlyn moaned, thighs falling wider. “Inside,” she gasped, “Please, Violet- fuck me with your hand-”

That was all it took. Vi inhaled sharply and slid two fingers in slowly, inch by inch, soaked to the knuckle. Each thrust was slow and deliberate, knuckles gliding in and out with a slow rhythm that was infuriating how precise it felt. Caitlyn moaned helplessly, the entire length of her spine arching off the bench.

Vi curled her fingers- and Caitlyn snapped. Her breath caught on a choked gasp, thighs clamping around Vi’s wrist before falling open again.

“There you are,” Vi murmured, thumb stroking her clit as her fingers pressed deeper right into that spot again. And again. And again. 

Caitlyn’s head dropped forward, a sob escaping her lips. But Vi didn’t let up. Her pace quickened, slamming into her g-spot, making Caitlyn writhe on the bench, voice climbing into breathless moans that drowned out the sound of waves around them.

“Fuck- fuck, Vi- don’t stop,” she panted, though barely coherent, her body rocking down to meet every thrust. Vi’s jaw clenched as her own arousal throbbed, slick between her own thighs, but she stayed focused. 

“Vi-” she gasped, “I’m- so close- mmh-”

Vi didn’t wait. She dipped down, her mouth sealing around Caitlyn’s clit again as her fingers curled deep inside her. She sucked, tongue flicking in tight circles while her hand fucked her right through it.

Caitlyn’s thighs slammed shut around Vi’s head, hands flying to her own mouth again, muffling a cry that sitll broke through in sobs and gasps. Her cunt clenched right around Vi’s fingers, pulsing with release, soaking Vi’s fingers as her orgasm hit again like a wave crashing through her.

“Good girl,” Vi muttered right against her heat.

The praise made Caitlyn seize again, body jerking, another pulse of pleasure crashing through her whole body.

“Yeah, babe,” Vi whispered. “Drench me.”

And Caitlyn did. Wetness gushed, dripping down Vi’s hand, coating her wrist. Her orgasm didn’t crest so much as spiral, a relentless tide that had her hips bucking, her hands flying to the bench for balance. The blunt surge of pleasure was maddening, unbearable yet perfect all at once. 

Vi’s fingers kept thrusting, curling, sliding over that sensitive spot again and again, tongue stroking her clit until Caitlyn shook beneath her, writhing as though her skin couldn’t hold the pleasure inside.

When it finally broke and the pressure snapped, it tore through her in trembling waves, her body convulsing as she came harder than she ever had before. She pulsed around Vi’s fingers, releasing spilling in hot, clenching bursts that left her gasping and spent.

When her breath finally returned in shallow, shaky pulls, Caitlyn collapsed fully onto the bench, chest heaving with every aftershock. Sweat clung to her skin, a sheen of heat and release. Her thighs still twitched faintly where Vi’s hand remained, fingers now still, lips brushing soft kisses into the mess she’d made.

Vi finally eased her fingers out, dragging every inch from Caitlyn’s soaked, fluttering heat with the same care she used to fuck her. There was a quiet wet sound, and Caitlyn twitched slightly as the air kissed the sensitive skin left behind. 

Vi moaned under her breath, then leaned in and pressed a final, lingering kiss on the inside of Caitlyn’s thigh before licking her fingers clean with a satisfied hum. Her mouth was gleaming with Caitlyn’s slick, cheeks flushed, hair tousled with salt and sweat. 

And then Vi finally looked back at Caitlyn, who was still sprawled on the bench, bare and breathless, legs slack and trembling from the orgasm she was still coming down from.

“Goddamn. Look at you.”

Caitlyn couldn’t respond. Her thighs twitched when Vi moved again, instinctively trying to pull away, but Vi was having none of it. She leaned in with an indulgent little hum and licked her clean, tongue slow and unhurried. She lapped up every last trace of Caitlyn’s release with care as though savouring the taste and committing it to memory. Caitlyn whimpered, hips jolting at the overstimulation, her hand flying to Vi’s hair in a loose, trembling tangle of fingers.

“Oh my god,” Caitlyn gasped eventually, voice still airy. “That was-”

Vi pulled back with a self satisfied grin, chin slick, mouth swollen, eyes absolutely glowing with smugness. 

She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “I told you I was good at staying down.”

Then she smirked wider, shrugging and climbing up the bench to straddle Caitlyn’s thighs, planting a kiss on her collarbone. “Thought you knew it from day one.” 

She pulled back slightly and glanced down at the wood beneath them, running a slow hand along Caitlyn’s spine. “Did the bench hurt your back?”

Caitlyn huffed a breathless laugh, her fingers now curling weakly around Vi’s forearm as she whispered, “I couldn’t even remember my name, Violet.”

Vi groaned, dropping her head to Caitlyn’s shoulder with a chuckle, “Fuck, say that again.”

Caitlyn managed a chuckle. “You should’ve done all this earlier.” She whined, her voice still fluttering at the edges from everything she’d just endured.

Vi blinked and leaned down, her forehead brushing against Caitlyn’s temple. “Babe. We’re two weeks in.” She pulled back just enough to look Caitlyn in the eye. “You’re that horny?”

Caitlyn didn’t even hesitate. “Yes,” she said, completely shameless at this point. Then she giggled against Vi’s shoulder with a shaky exhale, “god, I am.”

Vi let out a sharp, delighted laugh. “Well,” she said, tilting her head and kissing Caitlyn’s jaw lightly, “at least now you know where to send future complaints. Direct inquiries to my inbox.” She kissed Caitlyn’s lips slowly, then whispered, “Vi goes down and stays there.”

Caitlyn rolled her eyes affectionately with a smile.

“Just so we’re clear,” Vi added, “You’re never going squid fishing with anyone else.”

Caitlyn let out a breathless, startled laugh that turned into a groan as her entire body flushed with post orgasmic giddiness. “God,” she whispered, “Vi-”

“No, I mean it,” Vi went on, eyes glittering in the moonlight. “That’s our thing now. Never do this with anyone else.”

Caitlyn covered her face with both hands, her body shaking with laughter. “You are so dumb.”

Vi grinned wider, absolutely unrepentant. “I’m dead serious. Next time I say squid fishing,” she leaned in and kissed Caitlyn’s bare shoulder, “You better know what I mean.”

Caitlyn peeked through her fingers at her, cheeks red. “And what exactly does that mean?”

Vi’s grin turned almost predatory. “It means I’m gonna get you back on this bench, spread those pretty legs and fuck you all over again while the squid watch.”

Caitlyn snorted, slapped her shoulder and dissolved into uncontrollable laughter. “You’re so disgusting,” she wheezed. Her heartbeat finally began to slow, though her limbs still felt like seafoam.

Vi ran a hand up Caitlyn’s spine again, and let out a satisfied, slightly winded sigh. “That was the best dive in my life.”

Caitlyn groaned immediately. Vi grinned in response. 

She dragged her fingers through Caitlyn’s sweat damp hair, “You just set me a new personal depth record.”

Caitlyn buried her face in Vi’s shoulder, exhaled a shaky laugh and reached down to swat her half heartedly. “Oh my god.” She lifted her head barely but with enough fire left to smirk through her breathlessness.

“Well, statistically speaking, the level of stimulation should’ve triggered a burst of oxytocin so intense it temporarily altered my neurochemical response to sensory output.”

Vi blinked. “…What.”

Caitlyn kissed her again. “You gave me hyperventilation, muscle tremors, temporary loss of motor control.”

Vi was speechless. Then she exhaled one stunned breath. “Fuck. I am dating a biologist.”

Caitlyn giggled, still laying on the bench when a thought suddenly slinked its way into her mind. A wicked, irresistible one. She lifted her head slowly, watching Vi with a newfound glint in her eye, “Vi? Drive us back to shore?”

Vi blinked in surprise. “…What, now?”

Caitlyn just shrugged, “Yeah. Is that a no?”

Vi narrowed her eyes at her suspiciously. “Why? You’re suddenly craving land?”

Caitlyn’s smile deepened, too pretty to trust. “Maybe.”

Vi groaned and rolled her eyes but was already walking away from the bench. She muttered, nearly stepping over a t-shirt and someone’s discarded bra, “Fine. If my brilliant girlfriend says so.” She turned, shooting Caitlyn a skeptical glance.

Caitlyn laughed, a soft huff from where she was still stretched on the bench, then started slowly tugging her own clothes back on. Her lace underwear, damp and balled somewhere by Vi’s foot, she left for later. Instead, she pulled on her own shorts, then the shirt she’d discarded earlier,  now wrinkled and smelling faintly of salt and sex. 

The boat began to stir beneath them, the low rumble of its engine rolling gently through the deck as Vi took her place at the helm, one hand adjusting the throttle, the other resting on the wheel. 

𓂃𓈒𓏸𓈒𓂃𓈒𓇼𓈒𓂃𓈒𓆉

Caitlyn’s feet moved soundlessly across the metal, her fingers brushing the railing for balance. She slowly closed the distance between them with one step, then another until she stood just behind Vi, close enough to feel the heat radiating off her back.

Then with a softness that belied the intent simmering behind it, Caitlyn slipped her arms around Vi’s waist from behind. Her palms spread over Vi’s stomach, her body pressing into her back. Her cheek rested against Vi’s shoulder for the briefest moment, breath slow but her touch was anything but casual.

Vi chuckled knowingly. “Well, hey there,” she murmured, voice laced with amusement, her hands still steady on the wheel even as the rest of her melted slightly into the touch. “Couldn’t stay away from me for more than five minutes, huh?”

But Caitlyn said nothing at first. She tightened her arms around Vi’s waist a little, fingertips brushing beneath the hem of Vi’s tank top. Her body moved subtly against her but not enough to distract.

For a beat, there was only silence. 

The boat whirred beneath them. Vi’s hands stayed firm on the wheel, gaze fixed ahead.

Caitlyn remained behind her, arms still looped around Vi’s waist, body moulded to hers in a way that felt almost innocent now, serene, even. Her cheek hovered near Vi’s shoulder, breath mingling with the salty air, the curve of her thighs nestled snugly behind Vi’s. 

It should’ve been sweet. It was sweet. 

Until she looked down.

And saw the unholy curve of her girlfriend’s ass.

Firm. Perfectly framed beneath the tank top. It looked unfair. Sinful. 

Caitlyn swallowed. Fuck. Her brain short circuited for a beat, until an intrusive thought crossed her mind.

And she decided to act on it.

Without thoroughly thinking through it, she lifted her hand and gave Vi’s ass a quick little slap.

Not hard. Not mean. Just a causal, confident, deliberate little smack, a punctuation at the end of silence and serenity.

Vi jerked forward slightly with a sharp inhale bursting from her lips, hands tightening instinctively on the wheel. Her mouth dropped open but remained speechless for half a second before she twisted her head over her shoulder, caught between offence and arousal.

“What the fuck, Cait.”

Caitlyn was already biting back laughter. She leaned in a little closer until her lips were near Vi’s ear. “Focus on the water, Captain.”

Vi groaned softly, a sound mixed with exasperation that could only mean she was wildly, shamefully turned on. “Shit,” she muttered, trying to ground herself against the grin threatening to break across her face.

Caitlyn chuckled softly. Her arms tightened again around the diver’s waist. Vi grumbled slightly under her breath, both hands steady on the helm, trying to maintain some semblance of control over the boat and (less successfully) her body.

Just as her breathing began to even out, Caitlyn’s hands slipped under her tank top. Slowly. Deliberately. Sinfully. Her fingers were warm against Vi’s abs at first, grazing lightly over taut muscle. Then they travelled upward, higher, softer, until her palms cupped Vi’s breasts from behind.

Vi’s hand nearly slipped from the wheel. Her breath hitched so hard it bordered on a gasp. “What the fuck are you doing, Caitlyn-” she groaned, voice cracking in the dark.

Caitlyn didn’t flinch. She only leaned forward, mouth brushing the curve of Vi’s neck as she whispered again, “Shh. I said focus on the water,Captain.”

Vi groaned again, tilting her head back slightly as Caitlyn’s thumbs began slow circles over her nipples, teasing them into aching peaks.

“You don’t want the boat to sink, do you?” Caitlyn added with a sly smile, her voice tantalisingly sweet and poisonous. Vi turned her eyes forward again with a choked breath, gripping the wheel like a lifeline. “I’m gonna fucking crash this thing,” she muttered, chest rising rapidly, her jaw clenched so tight she could taste the tension behind her teeth.

Caitlyn only hummed, utterly pleased with herself. Her thumbs continued to brush over Vi’s nipples, her palms pressing into the softness of her chest, her fingertips grazing the edges of ribs and sternum.

She wasn’t rushing or desperate. But Vi was unravelling. She was still gripping the wheel, still facing forward but already trembling under Caitlyn’s hands. Her breath came in short and ragged pulls, her arms straining slightly from how tightly she gripped the helm.

Then Caitlyn leaned in further and kissed the curve of Vi’s neck just beneath her ear, pulling a soft gasp from her girlfriend’s throat. Her head dropped forward, her forehead thunking gently into the crook of her own arm resting against the wheel like the boat would have to sail itself now because she couldn’t be trusted with basic motor function.

“Fuck.” she breathed, voice muffled and desperate. “Cait.”

She turned her head slightly, cheek still against her forearm and blindly reached behind her with one hand, trying to catch Caitlyn’s wrist or her hip- at least something, anything would work. She was panting slightly, flushed. Then she said with a voice torn between a moan and a plea, “Kiss me.”

But Caitlyn smiled.

“No.”

Vi froze. 

Then Caitlyn leaned in again, pressing her lips to Vi’s shoulder and whispered once again, “I said, focus on the front, captain.”

Vi groaned loudly, openly suffering now and lifted her head just enough to glare forward into the open water. “Holy fuck,” she muttered, “I’m being edged by a scientist.”

Caitlyn chuckled lightly in response. Her hands were even firmer now, one splayed across Vi’s stomach, holding her close, the other sneaking back beneath her tank top to knead and tease her breast. And her mouth was suddenly on Vi’s neck again, trailing kisses and slow, scorching bites along the stretch of inked skin just beneath her ear, across the slope of her neck down to the top of her shoulder.

She bit gently with just enough force to make the diver (or now a captain?) jolt, her hips twitching back instinctively into Caitlyn’s. And then she soothed the mark with her tongue over and over again.

Vi moaned softly, head tipping back helplessly into Caitlyn’s shoulder, eyes fluttering shut as her body arched into the heat behind her. Her voice cracked on the edge of need, wrecked from the restraint from being so devastatingly close yet still denied. 

Caitlyn’s lips curved into a slow, maddening smirk as she kissed the side of Vi’s neck, her hand still resting just barely beneath the waistband of her shorts.

“Be patient, Violet.”

Vi’s hands slapped the wheel, her head dropping forward again in complete, glorious defeat. “You fucking brat,” she groaned, voice hoarse and shaking with disbelief and lust, her legs trembling from the sheer effort it took not to throw her beloved girlfriend down onto the deck.

Caitlyn’s hands moved again, reaching for the hem of Vi’s tank top. With a careful motion, she slid it upward, inch by inch, exposing the tattoos on her back to the cool night air. Caitlyn’s fingers ghosted over the design, tracing each line gently, a touch so featherlight and delicate it made Vi’s breath stutter against the wheel. 

“You’re torturing me,” Vi whispered, her head still bowed against the wheel.

But Caitlyn didn’t respond. She traced lower. Down the curve of Vi’s back, fingertips skating over the dip of her waist, thumbs grazing the top edge of her shorts.

Then she undid the button.

Caitlyn leaned in close again, her breath a soft drag against Vi’s shoulder as her hands dipped lower, thumbs sliding beneath the waistband.

Vi groaned for what felt like the hundredth time tonight. “Yeah,” she panted. “Hurry up, babe.” Her voice cracked on the last syllable, desperation turning into command, every ounce of control she had finally slipping through her fingers and out into the sea.

Caitlyn slid her shorts and boxers down with gentle care.

Her breath caught the moment her fingers slid down past the small of Vi’s back and the waistband of those half-lowered shorts, down to the heat that pulsed beneath. She hadn’t expected it to be this bad. But the second her fingers touched the slick heat between Vi’s thighs, she gasped, a quiet and involuntary inhale that rushed straight to her own centre. 

God.

Her fingers slid deeper, and her own arousal hit her like a punch to the ribs, a slow burning ache that radiated outward, tightening low in her belly and flooding her senses with heat and awe.

Vi was so wet. So achingly, shamelessly wet.

It clung to Caitlyn’s fingertips, thick and warm, coating her in lust and desperation. She spread it with a slow, deliberate motion, her fingers gliding through the slick mess. Vi moaned, her head dropping forward again until her forehead was pressed into the crook of her arm on the wheel.

Caitlyn’s heart pounded in her throat. Her own thighs clenched, heat blooming beneath them with a sudden and painful intensity. She stilled her fingers inside, resting there, holding Vi open and leaned forward.

And still, it wasn’t enough. 

Caitlyn felt a fierce, unrelenting need to give, to show Vi with touch what words could never quite carry. She had loved Vi before this, but this aching and urgent desire to give back, to make Vi feel her love in every trembling nerve and clenching muscle; was something else entirely.

Vi was standing at the helm, arms trembling, legs shaking faintly, already panting from the touch that hadn’t even properly begun yet.

Caitlyn’s heart thudded so violently she could barely hear herself think. All she knew was that Vi had given her everything; her body, her trust, her pleasure without restraint, and Caitlyn couldn’t let that go unanswered. 

So she slowly slid two fingers into Vi’s soaked entrance.

“Fuck-” Vi moaned, muffled into her arm as her hips snapped back, fucking herself on Cailtyn’s fingers. Her walls clenched greedily, and Cailtyn could only stare in stunned awe, watching her fingers disappear again and again into the woman she adored.

Her free hand gripped Vi’s hip, holding her steady. Her pussy was a dripping mess, heat pulsing with every thrust, slicking Caitlyn’s palm, making each drag louder and needier. 

Caitlyn started to move. Slow at first, every push calculated to make Vi tremble. Her fingers sank in and dragged out in a rhythm that made Vi pant, her whole body pressing harder into the wheel. 

She picked up the pace.

Her fingers curled with each stroke, hitting that spot that made Vi jerk, her moans dissolving into wrecked whimpers. The helm rocked. Vi’s knuckles turned white as she clutched it, forehead pressed down, breath fogging her arm.

“Violet,” Cailtyn breathed against her back, “You’re so beautiful.”

Vi didn’t answer her. She was grinding back into Caitlyn’s palm like she didn’t care how loud or messy it sounded. Her thighs were soaked, Caitlyn’s hand drenched, thumb brushing her clit barely to make her squirm.

Vi gasped. “Fuck- Cait- I’m gonna-”

Caitlyn felt it coming in the way Vi’s body wound tight, every muscle in her back pulling taut, her breath catching in frantic bursts. “Fuck- fuck, I’m-” 

Caitlyn leaned forward and kissed her spine softly. Vi’s moan tore loose as her whole body shook, cunt pulsing tight around Caitlyn’s fingers, her orgasm hitting like a thunderclap.

Caitlyn kept going, no rush now but rather gentle to ease her through it, coaxing every last wave until Vi completely collapsed forwards, chest heaving, arms slack over the wheel.

But Caitlyn didn’t pull out yet. She stilled her fingers inside, resting there and pressed her mouth to Vi’s ear with the softest possible voice. 

“Give me one more,” she whispered, so sweet it could’ve been mistaken for kindness. Then she whispered again just to twist the blade, “Please, Captain.”

Vi let out a noise that wasn’t quite a laugh or a moan or a sob. “You’re insane.”

Caitlyn smiled and started again. Fingers curling, dragging against her sweet spot that still ached from the orgasm before. “You don’t have to- oh- ok fine-” Vi panted, already twitching again, knees wobbling slightly.

Then Caitlyn shifted. She kissed the small of her back, then suddenly pulled her fingers free, trailing them down the inside of Vi’s thigh as she dropped to her knees behind her.

“Cait, what the hell are you- what-”

The moment Caitlyn’s tongue touched her, Vi choked on a moan and slammed her palm against the wheel, her other hand reaching back blindly, grabbing for Caitlyn, or anything.

Caitlyn licked again, dragging it slowly up the soaked, sensitive seam of her folds, savouring the taste of her which was heady with arousal that elicited an ache in her own body.

Vi whimpered, “F- fuck- Caitlyn-”

But her voice dissolved again the second Caitlyn’s tongue circled her clit, so swollen and sensitive that even the gentlest flick made her legs buckle. Caitlyn reached up, hands gripping Vi’s thighs, holding her open and steady as she buried her mouth into her from behind.

Vi was moaning now, head falling forward again onto her arm, breath shallow and wrecked. She tried to speak again, but the words just fell apart in her mouth, melting into a whimper and another desperate moan. “Cait- shit-”

She was close again. Caitlyn could feel it in the way her thighs trembled, hips twitching. So she licked and sucked harder in response, letting her nose nudge against her skin as her tongue swirled firm and slow over her clit, sucking just enough to make her shudder.

Then the pleasure accumulated, the second orgasm crashing down, sharper and more intense than the last. She cried out slightly, hands slamming into the helm as her hips jerked uncontrollably. Her pussy spasmed around nothing, soaked and gushing, the taste of her flooding Caitlyn’s mouth.

“F- fuck- Cait-”

Caitlyn kept going, dragging her pleasure out- until the intrusive thought struck again. That one. The same one.

That ass.

Round. Firm. Still quivering slightly from the aftershock. It was just too fucking much of her to handle.

So she followed through again.

Smack.

Another swift, instinctive little slap.

Vi let out a shocked moan that melted instantly into a sob as her body jerked again, her cunt clenching harder around Caitlyn’s fingers. Her legs gave a violent shudder, her knees knocking slightly as her thighs tried and failed to stay open. The orgasm surged back up, double-peaked as if that little smack had struck the fuse all over again.

“What the f-fuck-“ she gasped, voice slurring slightly, forehead collapsing forward into her arm, breath punched out of her lungs.

Caitlyn couldn’t help it.

She gave that perfect, trembling cheek a little squeeze.

Fingers sinking in slowly like she was trying to memorise the shape of it, the way it yielded under her grip, warm and stupidly good. Her mind was a blur, a burning fog of desire and admiration.

Caitlyn finally pulled back, kissing the inside of her thigh. She hadn’t meant to spank her. But god, it had been worth it.

Vi suddenly reached back with one shaking hand, still trembling, her breathing ragged and erratic, and she gripped Caitlyn by the collar of her shirt and yanked her up. “Get up here,” she muttered, her voice hoarse with urgency. Caitlyn barely had time to blink before Vi turned, grabbed her face with both hands and kissed her. 

It was messy, all tongue, teeth, salt and sweat, and Vi moaned into it. Her hands were now in Caitlyn’s hair, gripping tight, pulling her in and Caitlyn stumbled forward with a breathless whimper.

Then Vi finally broke the kiss just long enough to whisper. 

“Fuck-”

Another kiss. Rough.

Then she finally pulled back, gasping. Her forehead dropped to Caitlyn’s, breaths mixing between them, both of them trembling as climax met a sudden confession. Caitlyn’s hand cupped Vi’s flushed face, the boat rocking softly beneath them with the abrupt motion.

There was a beat of silence. One slow inhale.

“Cait. What the fuck was that spanking shit.”

Caitlyn blinked. Her face went a little too still. Then her ears went crimson all at once.

“I- what?” she breathed, voice cracking with guilt. “Shit. That was- I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking, it just-” she bit her lip, trying to suppress a laugh and her own horror. “It was right there- it’s… too tempting. It’s so- it’s too- I swear it was an intrusive thought. I didn’t intend to-”

She trailed off, flustered, pushing her hair behind her ear. Then she asked sheepishly in an attempt to backpedal, “You didn’t like it?” her eyes widened in panic, cheeks flushed in sudden embarrassment, “I won’t do it next time, I promise-”

But she didn’t finish that sentence. Vi grabbed her face with both hands, pulling her in and cutting her off with another desperate kiss. Caitlyn gasped into it, lips parting in surprise before they melted into Vi’s. Caitlyn made a soft noise, one hand clutching Vi’s bicep, the other threading into her hair as the kiss turned messier, sweeter, filthier.

When they finally broke apart, though barely, Vi was grinning again, still panting, smudged with sweat and adoration. “Don’t promise stupid shit,” she murmured against Caitlyn’s lips. “If you don’t do that next time…” she kissed her again, quick and teasing. “I’ll be disappointed.”

Caitlyn blinked. “Y- you liked it?”

Vi let out a breathy laugh. “That was so fucking hot.”

Caitlyn chuckled, still slightly lightheaded as she leaned in to kiss her fondly again, her lips still a little swollen. Her hand brushed along Vi’s jaw as she pulled back just enough to murmur, “so… are you going to drive us back to shore now?”

Vi exhaled a laugh, still breathless, her forehead falling gently to Caitlyn’s. “Yeah. Unless you suddenly decide to fuck me from behind again, in which case…” She trailed off, grinning, then kissed her once more quickly. “…we’re probably gonna end up stranded.”

Caitlyn laughed again, her face flushed with giddy joy that only came after being thoroughly ruined and kissed breathless on a boat in the middle of the ocean.

“Worth it.”

𓂃𓈒𓏸𓈒𓂃𓈒𓇼𓈒𓂃𓈒𓆉

Location: Jervis Bay, New South Wales, Australia

Temperature: 29°C (84°F)

Apparent Temperature: 40°C (104°F)

Humidity: 100%

Wind speed: 11.5 mph, SW

Week 20

Chapter Text

𓂃𓈒𓏸𓈒𓂃𓈒𓇼𓈒𓂃𓈒𓆉

Location: Jervis Bay, New South Wales, Australia

Temperature: 24°C (75°F)

Humidity: 64%

Wind speed: 12 mph, NW

Week 23

“Here, just let them come to you.”

It was almost uncanny how the timing had worked out after weeks of waiting; the stingrays had finally returned to the shoreline this morning. It just happened to be one of their decompression days, and so now Caitlyn stood barefoot in the shallows as Vi guided her hand downwards, fingers resting delicately on her own.

The sea lapped gently at their ankles, the water transparent enough to see one of the stingrays drift near them, brushing its velvety body against Caitlyn’s outstretched hand. 

“They’re gentler than they look,” Vi said quietly, her voice right at Caitlyn’s ear now, almost indistinguishable from the sound of the sea. “Just keep your palm flat.”

“Their tails are venomous, though,” Caitlyn said softly in reply. It felt strangely surreal standing in the shallows with her hand brushing its living body. “I’ve only ever seen them in aquariums and labs. But I’ve never… touched one before.”

Her tone didn’t exactly hold embarrassment. It was rather a humbled disbelief of feeling somewhat lucky to bridge the chasm between knowing and experiencing. 

Vi smiled. “That’s why I’m here.”

Caitlyn couldn’t help but laugh in reply, a breathless, slightly incredulous sound that carried something more complicated than mere amusement. She looked down at the water again, at the broad bodies of stingrays. She felt that silent, breathtaking gratitude blooming in her chest again.

It was ridiculous how something as simple as bringing her to see fish- stingrays, no less- could feel like salvation. But that was Vi, and that was who she was, apparently. She never arrived with the intention of saving anyone, yet Caitlyn had never felt closer to the ocean in such a vibrant way than she ever had.

𓂃𓈒𓏸𓈒𓂃𓈒𓇼𓈒𓂃𓈒𓆉

“Cupcake.” 

Caitlyn turned from the stingrays, brows lifting in a question. “Hm?”

Vi swallowed. Her hand was still on Caitlyn’s, their fingers loose but not yet released. She traced her thumb softly along Caitlyn’s knuckle in consideration before speaking again, lowering her voice slightly.

“Would you…” she faltered for just a fraction, searching for the right words. “Would you wanna come into the water with me? Just for a little. I just-” she took a breath, eyes flicking briefly towards the horizon then back to Caitlyn. “-I thought maybe you could try holding your breath underwater. With me.”

Vi wasn’t trying mend the fractures of Caitlyn’s fear nor was she trying to coax her into the sea when she wasn’t yet ready; instead there was simply a hope unfurling within her that perhaps if she was there beside her, then maybe the water would no longer feel too overwhelming. Perhaps Caitlyn could reclaim a space beneath the surface of the sea she always deserved but had always held her captive from a distance.

She didn’t ask out of pity, of course. It was rather out of longing to offer Caitlyn a bridge to the place she loved the most. 

Caitlyn looked at her, lashes fluttering with a barely perceptible tremor of surprise. For a moment neither of them spoke. Vi held her breath without intending to, observing the subtle shifts in Caitlyn’s expression. Her gaze dipped towards the water then lifted again.

“…I haven’t been fully underwater for a long time,” she said at last, her voice laced with a touch of uncertainty.

She didn’t explain it further. There was no need.

“I might… need some time to prepare,” she added after a pause, though there was fortunately no obvious refusal in her tone. 

Vi nodded once, an unobtrusive gesture that carried no pressure and expectation whatsoever. Of course . It was more than reasonable. She would never ask Caitlyn to walk into the water until every part of her was ready, not just her body but also the memories bound within.

If that readiness took days, months, or the entirety of her life- then so be it. She would extend to Caitlyn all the time she needed and more still should she ever ask. This was never about chasing progress or overcoming fear for the sake of accomplishment anyway. Vi would wait and offer Caitlyn patience until she was ready to step forwards. And when that day arrived, she’d make sure Caitlyn wouldn’t face the water alone. She could turn back at any moment and Vi would be there with a hand outstretched as it was now, ready to guide her into the depths step by step if that’s what it took.

Vi lifted her other hand slowly, and gently tucked a stray lock of Caitlyn’s hair behind her ear- the breeze having pulled them loose, tangling them across her cheek. Her fingers lingered briefly on the side of Caitlyn’s neck, reluctant to detach.

“Yeah. Take all the time you need. The sea can wait.”

A pause.

“ I can wait,” she added, hoping the words sounded like a promise to Caitlyn.

Caitlyn leaned gently into her touch, her expression now softening with relief, a soft smile blooming at the corners of her lips. “Thanks,” she said gently, her voice barely above the sound of waves around them yet fuller than any other words might’ve been. 

Vi’s breath caught slightly in her chest as her eyes fell inevitably to the small, unmistakable gap in Caitlyn’s front teeth, that imperfect yet radiant detail she’d never once thought to love in anyone else but now regarded as one of the most precious things she’d ever had the privilege to witness. It felt like something singular, something unrepeatable.

She smiled back. “I don’t mind waiting for the rest of my life, cupcake.” That was embarrassingly the only smooth thing she could drag out from her mouth now, but she knew Caitlyn would understand.

 𓂃𓈒𓏸𓈒𓂃𓈒𓇼𓈒𓂃𓈒𓆉

Location: Jervis Bay, New South Wales, Australia

Temperature: 25°C (77°F)

Humidity: 68%

Wind speed: 10.5 mph, SW

Week 24

Caitlyn lay curled beneath the sheet, her leg slotted between Vi’s, her cheeks resting upon her chest where her breath rose and fell in a lulling rhythm. She blinked slowly, and her gaze drifted upwards naturally over Vi’s throat. 

Her fingers twitched against Vi’s skin, tracing absent paths across the smooth skin of her broad shoulder. 

“ Would you want to come into the water with me?”

The question echoed through her still, reverberating like a knock from within. 

After all these years of fear and studying the ocean from paper, wasn't there a small and stubborn part of her that longed to say yes? 

Once, she had believed that being the shore would suffice; that being the harbour to which Vi would one day drift back to was its own kind of solace. She had crafted an entire life around that conviction, conforming to her fear with repression that told her devotion need not follow into the depths. 

Yet there had always been a restless part of her that longed not to witness Vi’s world from a distance but to be in it.

If Vi was the ocean, then Caitlyn desired to be very hue of it. To dissolve into the boundless, lucent blue into which Vi might disappear. To be the vast expanse through which she moved, the current that carried her ever onwards.

And oh, it was all there in Vi’s eyes, so luminous and tender at once, awash with the pale, shifting colour of seafoam. When she looked at Caitlyn and asked that question, there was something unspoken veiled behind her glance. Something like a plea, soft as sunlight yet startlingly incandescent: Come with me .

Step off the edge of the world.

I’ll be there to catch you .

Those eyes, all devotion and reckless trust had conquered her heart more surely than any rare bioluminescence. And Caitlyn knew with a painful clarity that she no longer wished to be the one standing ashore. She wanted to follow her, to dissolve and become part of the endless blue. To truly, utterly belong to the ocean.

Without thinking, Caitlyn brushed the back of her hand tenderly across Vi’s cheek, a habit she’d never meant to form yet one she found herself repeating again and again whenever Vi slept beside her. She wasn't sure why she did it, only that the affection she felt when she looked at Vi was so inevitable that she couldn’t resist the pull.

Vi stirred at the touch, her brows furrowing faintly, a sound catching in her throat. Her eyes fluttered open, still weighted with sleep. She shifted towards Caitlyn, the brush of their bare skin against one another’s setting Caitlyn’s heart alight all over again.

“Sorry,” Caitlyn whispered as she brushed away a loose strand of hair falling on Vi’s face.

𓂃𓈒𓏸𓈒𓂃𓈒𓇼𓈒𓂃𓈒𓆉

Vi blinked up at Caitlyn, drowsily smiling as she took in the sight of Caitlyn’s widened eyes. 

“It’s okay,” Vi muttered, the words slurring slightly together, “I love waking up to you. Especially naked.” The corner of her mouth lifted higher at the faint flush on Caitlyn’s cheeks. 

Vi had always been attuned to Caitlyn’s silences, and the instant their eyes met Vi could tell there was something going on behind those eyes. But she didn’t want to push her. She never wanted Caitlyn to feel cornered by her own heart, and yet there was always a fierce, possessive part of her that wanted to glimpse every emotion behind her gaze. 

Vi wished to share in all of her- double her happiness, halve her burdens and sadness; to be the one securing that radiant, elusive smile upon her lips. 

She knew that Caitlyn’s love had never been loud or ostentatious. Words had never been her native tongue when it came to affection, and Vi, also inarticulate herself, understood that better than anyone. It was the very reason they fit together as they did, like two halves of the same soul.

Last time, Caitlyn had been the one who had reached out with the courage Vi knew she so often doubted she possessed.

Thus this time it must be her turn. It must be Vi’s hand closing the distance. Because she loved Caitlyn so fiercely, that the feeling of it felt too vast to contain within the brittle confinement of her mortal body. 

She reached out, fingers drifting up to trace the delicate curve of Caitlyn’s neck where faint bruises Vi had left earlier that night bloomed against her pale skin. Her thumb brushed lightly over one such mark, and she felt Caitlyn flinch slightly. 

Vi smiled in satisfaction, utterly smitten by how endearing she found it. She leaned in, her mouth finding the soft hollow of Caitlyn’s throat then pressing a languid kiss over the mark she’d left, before dragging her teeth and scraping teasingly against the slope of her shoulder. Caitlyn made a soft gasp in response, and Vi caught the flutter of her racing pulse with her lips. 

“Vi,” Caitlyn breathed, voice trembling slightly, equal parts admonishment and helplessness, “you’ve already left enough.”

The words were scarcely chiding, softened into near affection by the way her fingers curled instinctively into Vi’s hair, not pulling away but instead holding her even closer. Vi chuckled, a sound that vibrated along the fine bones of Caitlyn’s collarbone before she lifted her head to rest her forehead against Caitlyn’s throat with a little sigh of contentment.

“Violet?”

“Yeah?”

“I… Can we talk?”

Vi hummed against her, tilting her head slightly so that her nose nuzzled at the line of Caitlyn’s jaw. “About what?” She slid her arms around Caitlyn’s bare waist, gathering her close as her palms splayed across the expanse of her back. 

“When you said last week… about me going into the water with you.”  

Vi’s hands faltered as she lifted her head slightly, searching for Caitlyn’s tentative gaze in the darkness of the room. 

“I think… I want to try. Well… it’s not the first time anyway. But still.”

Oh.

𓂃𓈒𓏸𓈒𓂃𓈒𓇼𓈒𓂃𓈒𓆉

It surprised Caitlyn, how easily the words had come. When she looked into Vi’s eyes, something in her heart had simply broken free.

“You don’t have to force yourself,” Vi mumbled, stroking soothing patterns along Caitlyn’s back. “Just one step at a time. There’s this thing called, uh- systematic something.”

“Systematic desensitisation?” 

Vi chuckled softly. “Yeah. That one. Trust me. We’ll go slow. I’ll be there with you.”

Caitlyn swallowed and blinked down at Vi, the burn of unshed tears gathering at the edges of her vision. There it was again, that relentless devotion and patience.

She whispered, “I-I’m sorry.” She pulled a shuddering breath, unable to meet Vi’s gaze anymore in resentment at herself for such weakness. “Maybe you would’ve been better off with someone who could dive with you. Someone who could be your buddy down there.”

But Vi’s hands flew to her face, cupping her cheeks as her forehead pressed against Caitlyn’s, their breaths tangling in the space between.

“Cait,” Vi whispered, her voice airy with desperate protectiveness. “That wasn’t your fault. It never was.”

She pressed her thumb against the corner of Caitlyn’s burning eyes.

“I wish I could part the whole sea to let you in. I know I can’t do that but… at least you can trust me to keep you safe. I’ve been face to face with sharks.”

Caitlyn managed to let out a watery laugh, her heart nearly splintering from the onslaught of such pure, undeserved devotion.

“Actually, the probability of a shark attack is one in 3.75 million.”

Vi laughed softly. “That’s a metaphor, nerd. I would fight a shark to keep you safe, though.”

Caitlyn huffed despite knowing it was just another humourless joke, “…That does sound like what you would do.” Her fingers brushed lightly over the inked skin of Vi’s arm, “I understand why your father and you siblings were furious that time you tried to dive alone and ended up having narcosis.” 

She swallowed thickly, “And that time when you were stuck for more than twenty minutes… you still told me to go back even when you were the one in the hyperbaric chamber.” The words came out continuously like a series of relentless cannonballs being fired at once. “Do you even consider how the people who love you would feel if you never came back? Do you think about me?”

A moment of silence passed. 

“I do. When I got stuck underwater that time… the first thing I thought was I couldn’t let you relive your fear. I had to come back and tell you it’s not like before.”

Yeah, but she joked about dying in the sea instead.

Caitlyn’s eyes were glassy again. “I just… I wish I could be down there with you. I want to be the one to give you air when you run out of it. I want to be beside you with whales and rays. I want to see it all with you.”

Vi smiled, her hands finding Caitlyn’s waist again. 

“No, baby. You know I wouldn’t mind that.”

She tightened her arms.

“I don’t love you because you can or cannot dive with me,” she pulled Caitlyn even closer to herself. “You know that’s not why I love you in the first place.” Their bodies pressed so tightly together now, and Caitlyn could practically feel the indistinguishable rhythm of their hearts colliding.

“I love you, Caitlyn,” her voice lowered to a whisper, but steady nonetheless. “And when I say that, I don’t just mean the parts of you that shine so brightly. I didn’t only fall for you because you’re smart, or brave, or stubborn and hot in the cutest ways.”

She retrieved a hand from Caitlyn’s waist and reached up to her cheek instead. 

“I fell in love with the rest of you, too. Your fears and things that you try so hard to hide. I see all of them- and I still love you. Above the water or below it. It doesn’t make a damn difference to me.”

She chuckled almost sheepishly. “Well… it’s not like I can help it. I don’t make the rules.” Her lips curled into a helplessly fond smile. “I love you. You just have to take it.”

Caitlyn’s breath hitched audibly. Tears spilled over, glistening trails rolling down her flushed cheeks, but Vi caught them with gentle fingers. 

“If you ever want to be underwater, then yes, I’ll be right next to you. I’ll give you my breath if you ever run out. And if you don’t want to, that’s okay too. I’ll bring you to every single aquarium in the world. I’ll sit next to you and watch the sea through glass if that’s what you want. As long as you’re there, then I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be.”

Caitlyn’s blood was rushing so quickly towards her face it nearly made her dizzy.

“I love you, and that’s not something measurable, cupcake. It’s not diving depths.”

Tiny droplets of tears were squeezed out to spill again as Caitlyn tried to blink them away.

She’d never realised that love could be something holistic . She’d never imagined she was ever eligible to be loved not despite her fears and flaws but because of them . And all she could do was hold her lover as tightly as she could, burying her face entirely into the curve of her neck as if proximity alone could translate all the amplified gratitude and overflowing love she had no language big enough to express. 

But she knew there was only one ultimate answer worth offering, though such simple words might not bear the same amount of devotion she was given.

“ Violet, ” Caitlyn gasped against Vi’s shoulder. She was losing all her eloquence now. How embarrassing. “ I-I love you. ”

Vi chuckled breathlessly, running her hand in  comforting paths along Caitlyn’s hair. “I know that.”

Caitlyn let out a sound somewhere between a laugh and a sob, pulling her arms around Vi’s neck once again as if there might’ve been any scant distance left to be closed.

 “I- I don’t know how I deserve that,” she said at last, the words tumbling out with small tremors along with tears spilling anew.

“Cait,” Vi whispered, her voice trembling likewise with how her heart laid helplessly bare. “I’ll take you anywhere you wanna go. I’ll find another way if you can’t get into the sea. I’ll find a submersible if that’s what it takes. I’ll make it work.”

She paused, “If you told me to dive to the Mariana trench, I think I really would. I’d go to the deepest place on Earth if you asked me to.” Her eyes chased Caitlyn’s wavering gaze, “But if you want me to stay on land with you for the rest of my life…”

She breathed shakily. “I’d stop diving tomorrow.”

Caitlyn’s heart cracked open with the sheer immensity of the notion of Vi finding ways to bottle the vastness of the sea just to place it gently in her vision. Another wave of unshed tears that had welled finally brimmed over as she chuckled through them. 

“Vi. I don’t need that.” Her smile wobbled, though luminous with all the indescribable love. She blinked forcefully through the salty blur of her vision. 

“I’ll still love you regardless. Just like you said you loved me. It never mattered where you’d go for me or where you could lead me. As long as I have a heartbeat and even one single breath in my lungs, you can be sure I’ll still love you.”

Vi’s breath faltered just barely, but Caitlyn felt it in the way her arms tautened ever so slightly, and the way her lips parted with no words ready to meet the moment but only a few short, palpitating draws of breath.

“…Then I’ll give you my breath, so you can keep loving me,” she smiled subtly, a fervent sort of awe filling her gaze. “I’ll give you my regulator to keep you breathing.”

Caitlyn made a soft, quivering noise like a sob, and instinctively reached up to press her hand against her mouth in instant embarrassment. “God,” she sniffled softly.

Vi drew in a shaky breath, “Well, if you don’t need a submersible, then…” Vi paused, huffing a soft laugh, “at least let me bottle the sea sparkle for you, yeah?”

Caitlyn blinked up at her in bewilderment. “Why?” she asked, wondering what magic Vi could possibly see that wasn’t already here. 

Vi smiled then, her expression turning almost bashful, and she tilted her head towards the pillow in contemplation.

“Because that’s where I fell in love with you.”

Caitlyn felt her breath catch sharply in her throat. “…You did?”

Vi chuckled, though soft and scarcely a laugh at all; and nodded. “Yeah,” she said, closing her eyes for a moment in reminiscence, the blue in the memory still so vivid it might’ve happened only heartbeats ago. “You were kneeling next to me, and the sea was lighting up all around you. The blue was in your hair, your eyes, and on your skin. Like… the stars fell down to the sea just to light you up.” 

Pulling back, she brushed away a few stray strands of hair from Caitlyn’s face and tucked it behind her ear for better access to her face. “I think I’ve been falling ever since.” She smiled, “I’ve never seen anything more beautiful.”

Caitlyn made a strangled noise in her throat, a sound tangled with shyness and disbelief; and ducked her head, frowning slightly and trying to hide the way her cheeks flamed further under Vi’s gaze.

Vi let out a delighted chuckle, and reached out to cup Caitlyn’s face between her hands before she could retreat any further, tilting her up insistently. 

“Hey, don’t hide, cupcake.” Vi smiled widely, leaning in and pressed a featherlight kiss on her forehead. 

And then another, against her temple. 

And another, brushing the curve of her cheekbone where thin streaks of tears trailed down barely minutes ago.

And another at the tip of her nose, where Caitlyn wrinkled it instinctively.

Vi laughed softly, and Caitlyn found herself laughing too, the breathless sound spilling from her in waves that shook her shoulders. Vi quickly kissed the corner of her mouth again, and Caitlyn giggled outright, covering her face with her hands even as Vi tried to chase her retreating smile with yet more kisses.

“Stop-” Caitlyn gasped between fits of laughter, failing to wriggle away. 

“Nope,” Vi said cheerfully, “I’m too stupid in love.” She punctuated the declaration with another softer kiss, lingering a moment longer against Caitlyn’s lips.

𓂃𓈒𓏸𓈒𓂃𓈒𓇼𓈒𓂃𓈒𓆉

Location: Jervis Bay, New South Wales, Australia

Temperature: 26°C (79°F)

Humidity: 71%

Wind speed: 11.7 mph, SSW

Week 25

“Just take it slow, cupcake. I’m right here.”

The words strangely settled Caitlyn’s frantic heartbeat as the chilly water skimmed her ankles and sent continuous shivers down her spine. She looked down at the water refracting the sunlight at her feet, and inhaled deeply through her nose. 

Vi already stood halfway in the water, waiting for Caitlyn with an arm outstretched. Caitlyn hadn’t worn anything extravagant but a simple t-shirt and black shorts that could be ruined without consequence yet she felt strangely exposed with the coldness swathing her bare legs.

She gritted her teeth against the sensation, forcing herself to move one foot forward, then another, until the water touched the hem of her shorts and her body shivered not only with the physical coldness, but a petrifying anticipation instead.

She took Vi’s hand, threading her fingers through hers. The water reached her thighs now, every instinct in her screamed to turn back but Vi’s hand was warm around hers, and Caitlyn found Vi watching her, gaze full of genuine pride.

“You’re doing great. One step at a time, okay?”

Caitlyn drew another breath, taking one more step towards the water. Vi shifted closer, bringing their joined hands up to rest lightly on her chest. “Alright. I want you to take in a deep breath and hold it. That’s all. I’ll be right next to you.”

Caitlyn nodded and followed the instruction, filling her lungs with air until the bottom of her throat felt pain with the effort of it,

Vi gave her hand a reassuring squeeze, “You can close your eyes. You’ll be safe with me.”

And Caitlyn trusted that declaration with her whole heart. She trusted Vi .

So she stepped forwards with one final step, and let the water claim her.

For a moment, there was only one sharp and stunning shock of cold rushing up over her skin, dragging her under. She squeezed her eyes shut, clutching at Vi’s hand. She held her breath as she’d been told but the moment the water closed over her ears, muting the sounds above; her body recoiled instantly with primal terror.

The cold was absolute, an invasive sting wrapping around her lungs. Her limbs stiffened then locked with the muscle memory of fear, back when she didn’t have anyone’s hands to hold. The panic struck abruptly, reviving the memory of flailing and sinking with saltwater flooding her mouth and nose. 

Her vision was a void, and all she could feel was how she was utterly at the mercy of the sea again. 

No one will save you . 

You’re drowning again.

Her heart hammered wildly, her body screaming for oxygen and light. She felt herself begin to twist, pulling instinctively towards the surface. Her lungs started to burn after what felt like ten seconds or so, but she kept her breath held, entirely relying on that fragile thread of air with all the desperate tenacity she could muster. She felt a frantic jolt of her mouth opening against her will, the convulsive gasp for breath that water refused to give.

This was how it always ended, wasn’t it? 

Never once had she repressed the fear buried in her subconscious.

In her panic, she realised something was worse- Vi’s hand was no longer there.

She felt the sudden and hollow absence, the retreat of that warm pressure against her palms leaving panic tearing through her lungs, the fear of it somehow eclipsing the fear of the water itself. 

No. No. No. 

Please. 

Through the wild shrieking of her own pulse, she felt something.

Two warm presences rose from the murky weightlessness and came to cradle her face with a profound tenderness. Something that resembled calloused fingertips- though Caitlyn didn’t have the mind to register them- framed her trembling jaw. 

Before another panicked gasp could leave her mouth, there was instead a tender, impossibly gentle press of softness against her trembling lips.

Caitlyn startled, her body jolting reflexively, though the press wasn’t invasive nor forceful but rather patient, coaxing her lips apart.

Her mind came to realise that it was Vi’s lips now pressing against her own, guiding hers open with no more than a light pressure. 

Suddenly a fresh, almost sweet surge of oxygen flowed into her mouth. Her lungs seized on it greedily, pulling in the breaths Vi offered her with a desperate reflex.

Caitlyn felt Vi’s hand shift, retreating from her face and again squeezing her hands instead before panic could rise anew. And this time, the terror didn’t swallow her whole. There was oxygen in her lungs now. Vi’s hands moved again, resting firmly against her shoulders, bracing her against the sway of water. 

For a short span of time, Caitlyn simply floated. The panic gradually ebbed, and for the first time she felt a newfound hope- I can do this. I am doing this . 

But her borrowed breath ran out after barely tens of seconds.

The ache returned inexorably, the warning pull of her body begging for air. Fear stirred again, but before it could bloom into terror, she felt Vi move. Strong hands tightened on her shoulders, guiding her upwards gently. She let Vi haul her upwards, her body finally breaking through the surface as she gasped and coughed for air.

Caitlyn stumbled forwards, but Vi was already there wrapping her arms securely around her. 

“You did so good, cupcake. It’s okay. I’ve got you. I’m right here.”

Caitlyn threw her arms with a force that almost resembled aggression around Vi’s neck, burying her face into the soaked warmth of her shoulder to ground herself in the feeling of light, of fresh air filling her lungs anew.

Vi froze for a fleeting moment then melted into her embrace, wrapping her arms tighter around Caitlyn’s shaking form. Her hand rose instinctively, threading through Caitlyn’s dripping locks of hair, stroking them from her face. 

Vi chuckled fondly then, “Just say you want another kiss.”

Caitlyn let out a choked chuckle against her shoulder and drew back slightly, her face flushed with streaks of saltwater. For once, or perhaps for the first time in her life, some small part of her rose with an almost childish boldness that believed she deserved at least one kiss as a reward for this all. Positive reinforcement, they say?

“Yes please,” she whispered, smiling fondly.

Vi smiled eagerly, seemingly unable to deny her for even a second more. She looked as though she’d been waiting for the chance to oblige and give Caitlyn precisely what she asked for and more.

So her hand rose to cradle the nape of Caitlyn’s neck, fingers threading through damp hair but she paid no mind. She tilted her own face slightly and gently pressed their lips together once more, this time amidst open air instead of the sea.

It wasn’t like the one they shared underwater just now, but something even sweeter, almost vertiginous in the best way possible. Vi reluctantly pulled back at last only by the barest fraction, resting their foreheads together, shallow breaths fanning softly across Caitlyn’s lips. 

“I said I’ll give you my breath if you ever run out. And I mean that.” Vi whispered fondly, and Caitlyn’s heart promptly disintegrated.

 “Oh my god- That was- thrilling.” Caitlyn gasped lightly, her breath coming in short bursts.

Vi chuckled in response, “That was a literal kiss of life.”

Caitlyn laughed breathlessly, unable to stand upright as relief crashed over her limbs, and allowed herself to finally fully collapse against Vi’s chest, knowing it would be a safe place.

She knew how dangerous it was to pass air from mouth to mouth even in the shallow water. It was definitely not as simple as the romance of it often suggested. 

After all these years, after all the distance she had placed between herself and the place she had once loved and feared in equal measure, she had stepped back into the deep. And it hadn’t been courage alone that had carried her there, but Vi , her touch and quite literally her breath guiding her through the depths when her own couldn’t suffice.

Vi pressed another kiss on Caitlyn’s forehead, “We’re gonna have something special for dinner tonight to celebrate.” 

Caitlyn tilted her head back slightly, blinking up at her, “What dinner?”

Vi grinned, “Mmm,” she hummed, pretending to ponder, “oysters?”

Caitlyn snorted incredulously, smacking her hand lightly against Vi’s shoulder. “That’s barely an excuse.”

Vi only chuckled again shamelessly, tightening her arms around Caitlyn’s waist, dragging her even closer. “Can’t let you think I’m completely predictable.”

Caitlyn rolled her eyes, affectionate and exasperated all at once. 

Yeah, she loved oysters.

𓂃𓈒𓏸𓈒𓂃𓈒𓇼𓈒𓂃𓈒𓆉

Location: Jervis Bay, New South Wales, Australia

Temperature: 28°C (82.4°F)

Humidity: 80%

Wind speed: 9.8 mph, SW

Week 26

It was late, later than she usually let herself stay awake, but Vi made no move to sleep. Caitlyn slept beside her, her breath steady against the pillow.

They had worked themselves raw that day with hours spent on the boat collecting water samples; Caitlyn hunched over her laptop after, drafting the research paper she was publishing soon. She blinked blearily at her laptop until at last she surrendered, curling instinctively into Vi’s side with an exhausted little sigh.

God, Vi thought, what a miracle this was.

Vi swallowed hard against the thought of how this dream- this once seemingly endless midsummer’s night would soon end.

Barely a week left. Barely a week before the world would come dragging them back to reality.

Vi tightened her arms around Caitlyn’s sleeping form, tucking her closer, brushing another kiss against her temple, preserving her scent for the colder days ahead. 

How could this possibly be real?

How could it be that after everything, after all the fears and failed attempts, Caitlyn had trusted her enough to step back into the place that had once threatened her life and left irreparable scars on her heart? But she’d still done it. Caitlyn had stepped forwards despite everything. Just because Vi had asked her.

The thought of it filled Vi’s heart with a blistering bliss. She’d been the one to guide Caitlyn into the place she loved the most, and for that alone she thought she might believe in miracles after all.

She pressed another kiss to Caitlyn’s forehead. And god, she never wanted Caitlyn to blame herself for not being able to dive beside her. She’d already told her again and again, that her feelings for her had never been something measurable in depth.

How much she loved her was almost laughable. Unreasonable. Implausible. A feeling so immense and all-consuming it bordered on ridiculous, as though her heart had expanded past the limits of what one person ought to be able to carry. It made her lightheaded at the oddest times, breathless at the mere exchange of their glances, It left her trembling with something perilously close to exaltation, a dizzying euphoria that almost resembled the effects of nitrogen narcosis. Only, the irony was that Vi had been on land the entire time she’d fallen in love with Caitlyn. 

And still, she felt like she was drowning. 

She knew that Caitlyn didn’t need her to prove anything. But love, real love was action, at least to Vi. She only knew how to show it by doing, giving, offering up her hands like devotion. Because how else was she supposed to show her love?

If Caitlyn ever wanted to see the blue glow of the bioluminescent shore again, Vi would bottle it for her. She would return to that stretch of ocean in the dead of light and gather each grain of the glow with her bare hands. She would trap the radiance in glass, and place it at Caitlyn’s bedside so that even on the darkest nights and in the lonliest hours, Caitlyn would wake to wonder.

Not that Vi would ever let her feel lonely, though. 

And when the plankton dimmed as all lights do in time, Vi would go back.

She would go back again, and again, and again, as many times as it took until her hands blistered, or the tides changed, to bring that light back to her. Because Vi had fallen in love with that smile, and if it was in her power to make her shine like that again, then there was no ocean too vast. 

Vi shifted slightly, turning her head towards the balcony where the briny night air leaked into the room from the slightly ajar glass door. Beyond the railing, the shoreline shimmered with said glow, faint and spectral, subtle but nevertheless unmistakable. 

The sea was glowing again.

Vi smiled to herself, turning back to the bed, and found Caitlyn awake- her eyes wide open, transpicuous even in the gloom. She hadn’t said anything nor stirred in her arms but simply lay there. 

Vi chuckled. “Cupcake?” She whispered, “How long have you been awake?”

Caitlyn blinked slowly, “Like… a few minutes ago?”

“Can’t sleep?” 

Caitlyn hesitated, then gave a tiny nod agaisnt her shoulder. 

Vi chuckled softly, “You drink too much coffee.” 

Caitlyn huffed a breathy laugh in response. “Maybe.”

Vi grinned, feeling her heart swell unbearably in her chest. 

“Hey,” Vi said, pulling back slightly until she caught Caitlyn’s drowsy gaze. “Wanna go see the sea sparkle again?”

Caitlyn’s eyes, still heavy with slumber only seconds ago, now gleamed with a newfound anticipation that made Vi want to drop to her knees and thank whatever gods who made this woman hers. 

Caitlyn straightened slightly in her arms, blinking fully awake now, nodding.

“Yes.”

𓂃𓈒𓏸𓈒𓂃𓈒𓇼𓈒𓂃𓈒𓆉

They walked along the path to the beach. Vi had Cailtyn’s hand clasped tightly in her own, an empty plastic bottle swinging back and forth lightly in her other hand.

Ridiculous? Maybe. But promises were promises, and Vi was never one to take them lightly.

The tide shimmered in pulses of electric blue, soft light stirring at every crest of waves. Vi knelt and gently plunged the bottle into the shallow water as the glowing plankton spun around it like tiny captive stars. She pulled it out carefully, holding it aloft as drops of water dripped down the bottle.

Caitlyn knelt beside Vi, tucking a windblown strand of hair now glowing faintly along with the sea behind her ear; the colour of ultramarine stealing the very breath away from Vi’s lungs.

“The plankton will eventually die,” she murmured. 

Vi turned to her slowly, feeling her excitement now overthrown by the sudden sentiment in Caitlyn’s voice. She reached out with her free hand, interlacing Caitlyn’s fingers with her own. 

“Then I’ll bring you to another beach. We’ll see another sea sparkle before that.”

Caitlyn looked up at her, eyes wide and luminous in the dark, catching the blue glow below. “You… don’t have to keep chasing it for me.”

Vi squeezed her hand, “I’m not chasing it for you. I’m chasing it with you.” She chuckled, tightening her grip and hauled Caitlyn up from the damp sand in one tug. 

“C’mon, cupcake. Let’s walk a little.”

They walked along the shoreline. 

Vi swung their intertwined hands lightly as they walked. “Oh-” She nodded forwards, where a small outcropping of rock silhouetted against the bioluminescent tide. “That’s where we took the first Polaroid.” 

Caitlyn let out a soft laugh, leaning her shoulder into Vi’s. “We did.”

“And there,” Vi pointed further down the beach, “right there- you confessed.”

Caitlyn’s laughter ceased for a second as she glanced at the spot, her cheeks colouring faintly at the memory. 

Vi grinned, “We kissed and ran like goddamn idiots because literally half the people on the beach were staring at us.”

They both dissolved into laughter then. 

But there was no one else now. No locals, no tourists, no strangers. Just the glowing sea and the stars above. Vi let go of Caitlyn’s hand only to frame her face with one palm, her thumb brushing lightly along her jaw and leaned in until their foreheads touched, hearts stuttering in tandem.

“No one’s watching us now. We can kiss all we want.”

And she did exactly so. She leaned in and kissed Caitlyn, her mouth moving slowly over hers, and Vi deepened it further when she felt Caitlyn parted her lips tentatively while sliding her free hand to the back of her neck. The precarious plastic bottle in Vi’s slackened grip slipped free as she tried to slip her hand around Caitlyn’s waist. It dropped to the sand with a soft thud, and the faint bioluminescence trapped inside flared in electric blue instantly at the moment of the impact.

They both broke the kiss in a breathless laugh, Caitlyn letting out a tiny gasp against Vi’s mouth.

Vi smiled, and licked her lips with no shame whatsoever. “Mmm. Yeah, That one’s even better than the first one.”

Caitlyn laughed helplessly, her breath shivering against Vi’s lips. “Stop and pick up the bottle.”

“No,” Vi said simply, tilting her head. “Actually, come closer.”

Caitlyn gasped, the flush still high on her cheeks. “I literally can’t be any closer,” she protested, retrieving her arms from Vi’s neck but the movement was soon interrupted halfway through. With a joyous little chuckle, Vi slipped one arm firmly beneath Caitlyn’s thighs; the other looping securely around her waist, and hauled her clean off her feet.

“ Wha -”

Caitlyn let out another undignified yelp, scrambling to tighten her arms around Vi’s neck to balance herself much as she trusted Vi not to drop her.

 “Vi- Vi! What- what are you doing-” she gasped, laughing even as she kicked her legs lightly in protest.

Vi only chuckled, and began wading towards the water where the tide lapped higher with each step, sending small bursts of blue flame spiralling around her ankles. 

“Lighting up the sea for you,” she laughed, giddy with sheer delight. 

And she spun Caitlyn around in her arms.

Caitlyn let out a startled little squeal, gripping Vi’s shoulder instinctively. The tips of her shoes skimmed the surface of the shallow water, stirring the sea into abrupt luminescence that was somewhat even more intense and brilliant than before. A ring of striking electric blue iridescence flared outwards in a perfect circle as they spun, encircling them in light below.

Vi laughed exultantly again, and Caitlyn was laughing too, the breathless sounds echoing through the dark, overlapping with the sound of the sea.  

Fuck, Vi couldn’t help it. She shifted and shuffled her feet for another kiss, a quick and clumsy one with laughter bubbling from the tiny gap between their mouths.

They broke apart, gasping for air while broad grins spread across their faces. 

Though still dizzy herself, Vi gently offloaded Caitlyn onto the sand, balancing her with both arms around her waist. Caitlyn swayed slightly, blinking away the retroactive dizziness that stirred her brain belatedly, both the breeze and the movement mussing up her untied hair.

“Oh my god ,” she said at last, “That was-” she paused to catch her shallow breath, “-dizzying.”

Vi let out a hoarse chuckle, “Good. That’s what I want.” She reached down to lace their fingers together again, gently pulling Caitlyn back to walking along the luminous shoreline

After they passed the place where Vi had dropped the bottle, she stopped and picked it up, then gave it a little swirl, smiling when the trapped plankton once again shimmered inside.

For a while, they walked along in a comfortable silence. 

“We’ll be back home soon.” Caitlyn smiled ruefully as they walked. “No bioluminescence there.”

Vi gently squeezed her hand and pulled her a little closer, feeling her heart swell almost painfully at the tenderness in her voice. She swung their joined hands slightly between them, trying to coax Caitlyn into a genuine smile of delight.

“If you want sea sparkle, I’ll just bring you to a different beach every year. We’ll travel until we’ve seen every single one on this planet.”

Caitlyn laughed under her breath, and leaned her head against Vi’s shoulder as they walked. “I’d like that.”

Vi shifted her tone, now less flippant. “But I don’t really care where we go.”

Caitlyn glanced sideways, brows lifting slightly in question. 

Vi held her gaze as she spoke, “It could even be Point Nemo or literally anywhere.” She smiled faintly, “It doesn’t really matter to me.”

Caitlyn watched as Vi drew in a reassuring breath. 

“Because home is wherever you are.”

Caitlyn blinked, her breath catching faintly. She couldn’t do anything but stare for a solid five seconds, as though comprehending how something said so offhandedly could feel so impossibly vast. After a beat, a chuckle tumbled from her lips. “Then you’ll have a home all around the world.” She paused, squeezing Vi’s hand. “I’m planning to go everywhere with you.”

God, Vi nearly keeled over. 

Her heart stuttered so violently she wasn’t sure if she was in the throes of tachycardia or on the verge of complete cardiac arrest, every beat a thunderclap ricocheting through her ribcage. She felt that ache again, the impulsive one that made her want to wrap Caitlyn in her arms and carry her across oceans just to show her how beloved she truly was. 

She loved her so much that some foolish and reckless part of her was genuinely considering what it’d take to get them to Point Nemo; to the most desolate, inaccessible place on Earth just to see the wonder spark in Caitlyn’s eyes. 

Well, she’d go if Caitlyn ever asked. She’d still go if she didn’t. 

If Caitlyn ever wanted the sea, Vi could bottle up the whole Pacific ocean for her. And if she wanted to go somewhere no one else ever had, Vi would take her there, and hold her hand all the way.

“Yeah. I might actually do. You’re spending all your money on flight tickets, cupcake.”

𓂃𓈒𓏸𓈒𓂃𓈒𓇼𓈒𓂃𓈒𓆉

Location: Jervis Bay, New South Wales, Australia

Temperature: 27°C (80.6°F)

Humidity: 64%

Wind speed: 12 mph, SW

Week 26

The remaining days slipped away inevitably.

Vi surfaced from the sea for the last time, and as she’d done every time, Caitlyn waited with a towel in hand by the gunwale of the boat. 

She reached for Vi, gently cradling through her dripping hair and drying it with the same patience she’d had since day one of this very journey. The towel traced a gentle path across Vi’s forehead, her cheeks then finally the slope of her jaw, the fabric dabbing and soaking up streaks of saltwater trickling down her skin as she went.

But when she was faced with the sight of Vi closing her eyes as usual in utter trust, Caitlyn couldn’t resist and so, decided for once to strike a minor act of rebellion.

A kiss was then pressed softly to Vi’s forehead.

Vi’s eyes blinked open at the gentle ambush, and Caitlyn smiled a little shyly, though completely unrepentant. 

Later that day beneath the sunset, they stood at the shoreline once more, Vi holding the bottle of bioluminescence in her hands. 

She hesitated, glancing down at it as her fingers curled protectively around the shape. The light within was no longer shimmering in broad daylight, yet for a moment she felt almost reluctant to let go despite knowing the plankton would eventually dim and they wouldn’t be able to bring it back home.

But Caitlyn stepped forwards, her hand coming to rest atop Vi’s in a gesture of reassurance. 

“We don’t need it.”

“Why?”

Caitlyn smiled. “You promised to take me to every bioluminescent beach on Earth. Let it go. It’s done its part.”

Vi stared at her. Caitlyn was bathed in the golden hues of twilight, cheeks aglow with fondness and thoughtfulness alike. 

Wasn’t that all Vi ever needed?

Yes, Caitlyn was right. It had already done its part.

𓂃𓈒𓏸𓈒𓂃𓈒𓇼𓈒𓂃𓈒𓆉

Location: Jervis Bay, New South Wales, Australia

Temperature: 25°C (77°F)

Humidity: 67%

Wind speed: 13.5 mph, NE

Week 26

It was their final decompression day.

Vi took the helm (where she got bent over by Caitlyn) just before noon, guiding the boat into open water. The translucent sea stretched endlessly before them, and Caitlyn sat on the bench (yes, where Vi fucked her senseless), the onshore breeze teasing the loose strands of her hair sticking out from her ponytail. 

They were headed further away from where they’d usually been for diving, to a place where dolphins were likely to surface if the weather held. It was windy, and Caitlyn had to constantly press a hand behind her ear to stop the windblown strands of hair from obstructing her vision.

Caitlyn raised her voice slightly higher to be heard over the breeze. “I used to track a whale and a dolphin on my phone.”

Vi blinked, glancing sideways. “You did?”

Caitlyn nodded with a subtle smile. “You buy a bracelet, and part of the money goes to marine conservation. They give you an animal to ‘adopt’. Well, a tag to follow, to be precise.”

“That’s meaningful.”

“Mmhm. I was seventeen or eighteen when I got them. I checked on them every few days.” She huffed a soft, almost embarrassing laugh. 

“But one day the tag… stopped pinging,” she paused, staring into the ocean ahead. “They probably died. Or the signal failed. They replaced them with another whale and dolphin. The bracelets were the same but… their names changed.”

Vi turned fully towards her, but no words tumbled out from her mouth yet. 

“I couldn’t do anything but keep tracking the new ones.” She smiled wistfully. “It’s silly. I still have the bracelet at home. I still track them now.”

Vi looked at Caitlyn, at the slightest downturn of her mouth. She imagined the image of a younger Caitlyn, curled neatly on her bed with that stern little frown of concentration, tracking a whale and dolphin on her phone. It might’ve been the most heartbreakingly adorable thing she could ever imagine.

But now that Vi was beside her, she found herself seized by the desire to become the vessel through which all of Caitlyn’s wonder might manifest. She wanted to render Caitlyn’s curiosity into something visible and real before her eyes, regardless of whether she could dive or not- Vi would always find a way to bring her closer to the sea anyway. She’d make sure that was far from the orbit of Caitlyn’s concern.

“But you have me now,” she said with an almost teasing lilt, “I can take you to see the real ones. They’re a lot bigger than your phone.”

Caitlyn blinked, then let out a fond breath of laughter. “That sounds exciting.”

Just as Caitlyn’s words left her mouth, the sea began to stir next to them. From the glittering surface, a pod of grey dolphins suddenly leapt forth, arching mid air before plunging back together with a splash. 

Caitlyn straightened immediately, eyes widening and lips parting in awe and amazement as she turned to watch them. She said nothing but her expression showed enough; her entire face alight with wonder and reverence mingling with joy as the dolphins continued to dance beside the boat.

Well, Vi didn’t so much as look at the dolphins.

𓂃𓈒𓏸𓈒𓂃𓈒𓇼𓈒𓂃𓈒𓆉

Location: Jervis Bay, New South Wales, Australia

Temperature: 26°C (79°F)

Humidity: 71%

Wind speed: 10.2 mph, SSW

Week 26

It was finally, finally their last morning in Jervis Bay. 

Though not a morning person herself, Caitlyn had woken up when the sky just began to pale, and proceeded to drag Vi out of bed. Her arms slung about Caitlyn’s waist, one of them sliding sneakily in an attempt to grope her ass in sleep. Caitlyn flushed, swalting her arm away with a muttered, “ Not now.”

Before they left, they returned to the beach one final time. They walked alongside one another in silence, until Vi glanced sideways with a wry smile. 

“You know… I did say we’re gonna see every bioluminescent beach on Earth.”

Caitlyn blinked. “Well, we better actually do it.”

Vi tilted her head slightly.. “And when we really do…” she trailed off, the smirk widening ever so slightly.

Caitlyn glanced at her warily. “Yeah? When we do, then what happens?”

Vi gave a little shrug as if the answer was obvious. “Then… we get married?”

Caitlyn stopped short, blinking as though struck. “Wha- Vi! You can’t just say it like that-” Her voice pitched slightly higher incredulously, though the sudden flush that bloomed across her cheeks was unmistakable.

Vi only grinned wider. “Like what? Like you’re really gonna do it?”

Caitlyn looked away, lips pressed tight in an effort to suppress the smile threatening to show, her ears already glowing pink. 

“…You know I would.”

“… Huh?”

Vi’s breath hitched. Her whole body stopped moving as though petrified, even the blood in her veins ceased to flow for a second. 

You know I would . 

She didn’t expect that. She’d meant it as a lighthearted joke, a throwaway tease to make Caitlyn blush even though it wasn’t like she didn’t ever want that to happen. But now she was the one stunned.

“Oh.”

A beat passed.

There was nothing else her brain could conjure now.

“ …Shit."

𓂃𓈒𓏸𓈒𓂃𓈒𓇼𓈒𓂃𓈒𓆉

They then began their three hour drive northwards to Sydney again.

Caitlyn drifted to sleep somewhere in between, her head gradually coming to rest on Vi’s shoulder. But unlike their first journey, Vi now drew her a little closer, one arm curling around Caitlyn’s shoulders.

The flights back to the States were no less tiring than the outward one. The hours dragged in much the same way; especially when accompanied by the underwhelming smell of the still questionable airline meals. Caitlyn once again consumed an inordinate quantity of coffee, though all the effort was barely enough to stop her from dozing off completely. 

They watched a random cheesy horror movie together. Caitlyn clutched Vi’s shoulder with a start when some grotesque ghost suddenly popped out. Vi chuckled at the reaction, until a jump scare mere minutes later made her jolt so violently she nearly dropped her headphones. 

Eventually, after more turbulence and bad coffee, they touched down.

Finally, finally, they were home after six months.

Outside the arrivals hall, Vi turned to Caitlyn with a look of mock solemnity.

She cracked her knuckles. “Alright. We settle this like adults. Rock paper scissors. Winner decides whose place we crash at.”

Caitlyn frowned. “That’s absurd.”

Vi grinned. “You’re scared?”

Caitlyn rolled her eyes with a sigh that barely hid her fond exasperation. “Fine. One round.”

They both lifted their hands, then counted under their breaths.

Rock, paper, scissors- shoot.

Two perfect pairs of scissors. Of course.

There was a beat of silence.

Then Vi tilted her head, eyes gleaming with  infuriating casualness.

 “Oh. So we scissor then?”

Caitlyn nearly choked. “Violet-!” Her voice pitched upwards in scandalised disbelief, a flush rushing through her cheeks. “Please. Don’t say that in public. Oh my god.”

Vi simply shrugged, utterly unrepentant. “Yeah no. Not in public. So we’re gonna scissor at your place.”

𓂃𓈒𓏸𓈒𓂃𓈒𓇼𓈒𓂃𓈒𓆉

Location: Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

Temperature: 14°C (57°F)

Humidity: 38%

Wind speed: 9 mph, S

“So,” Jayce leaned back in his chair, eyes narrowing. “You two, uh…”

Caitlyn’s outstretched hand reaching for her coffee faltered. “Uh- yes,” she replied a bit shyly, tucking a handful of hair tendrils behind her ear. “We are. I suppose.”

Vi only grinned and draped an arm casually along the back of Caitlyn’s chair. “Yeah.” She glanced at Jayce with a wink. “Thanks, pretty boy.”

Jayce blinked, visibly surprised for a moment. Then he let out a huff of laughter, shaking his hand lightly in disbelief. “I never thought I’d be a matchmaker.”

Vi grinned. “That’s a hidden talent.”

Jayce’s expression shifted a beat later, his smile softening into something more sincere. “Just… treat her well, yeah? She’s like a sister to me.”

Vi’s smirk faded at that. She straightened slightly and nodded. “I know. I will.”

Caitlyn felt a peculiar fondness knowing Jayce had always looked out for her in his own way. There was a pause, a tentativeness lingering between them.

“Actually,” Caitlyn said, her voice a touch hesitant, “I haven’t told you this yet. But… I went underwater.”

Jayce looked at her, brows furrowing. “What do you mean? Like- fully underwater?”

Caitlyn nodded once. “Yes. After all these years.”

He stared for a moment longer, then sighed slowly with surprise still lingering plainly on his face. “Cait. That’s-” he paused, gaze drifting back and forth between Caitlyn and Vi. “I… I always hated that I wasn’t the one who pulled you out back then.”

“You did what you could. And… it was Vi who brought me back under, by the way.”

Jayce’s eyes widened slightly. He looked at Vi anew, not just as Caitlyn’s girlfriend now but also as the one who helped her face her utmost fear. He gave a quiet sort of laugh. “Damn.” He nodded lightly in approval. “Thanks, Vi. Really. I’m gonna trust you with her.” Jayce shot Vi a grounding smile.

Vi found herself unable to search for the right response. Trust . That word hadn’t come easy to her; and receiving it from someone who had grown beside Caitlyn meant more than she could quite put to words.  

She gave a nod with a smile, “Yeah. I won’t let her down.” 

Caitlyn tilted her head slightly in curiosity. “So… how did you two even meet? I don’t think you ever told me.”

Vi chuckled lightly, rubbing the back of her neck. “Oh. It was- three years ago?” She glanced at Jayce, who nodded. “Yeah. It was a conservation conference.” He laughed softly. “Vi was running late. Like- super late. I think you missed the first two slides.”

Vi snorted. “The traffic was bad. Can’t blame me. I snuck in and found the last row and sat next to this guy- who was holding a whole plate of cookies and a full ass cup of coffee, just so you know.”

Jayce raised a hand in defense. “They were on the conference table.”

Caitlyn bit back a laugh. The image seemed absurd in her mind. 

“And he offered the cookies to me,” Vi grinned. “No introduction at all. Just, ‘hey, want some cookies?’ So I took two. Or maybe three. And he said he’s a biotechnologist and he was there for Victor.”

Jayce nodded. “Victor was presenting. I was there as- uh, moral support.”

“And free cookies,” Vi quipped. 

Jayce laughed. “That too.”

Caitlyn chuckled lightly, shaking her head as she sipped what remained of her now lukewarm coffee. “I honestly can’t believe I never heard this story before.” She glanced at Jayce, smiling in amusement. “Why didn’t you introduce us earlier?”

Vi grinned at that. “Oh, so you’re saying,” she leaned in slightly in Caitlyn’s direction, her eyes narrowing suggestively. “If Jayce introduced us three years ago, you would’ve fallen for me sooner?”

Caitlyn’s lips parted in shock, a silent whisper of Vi! escaping her. Jayce made a mildly horrified expression that said please don’t start it. He cleared his throat a bit too audibly, lifting a hand as if to physically block the chemistry across the table. “Okay- nope. No. I don’t need to hear this.”

Vi snickered. Jayce pushed back his chair with a small groan. “I’m leaving before you two start kissing right in front of me. I need to see Mel and Victor.”

Caitlyn laughed softly, glancing sideways at Vi who was immensely proud of herself.

𓂃𓈒𓏸𓈒𓂃𓈒𓇼𓈒𓂃𓈒𓆉

Location: Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

Temperature: 22°C (72°C)

Humidity: 86%

Wind speed: 6 mph, S

Acknowledgement  

…

Most of all, I owe my deepest gratitude and sincerely dedicate this work to Violet, who brought the data to fruition through her skill and curiosity. This work is only possible because of her strength, her brilliance, and her endless courage to dive when I could not.

Thank you for being my eyes under the sea; and for trusting me to make sense of what you have brought back to me.

Caitlyn paused, debating whether to keep it as it was or delete the entire sequence to rewrite it from scratch. She heard the soft taps of footsteps padding across the wooden floor behind her, followed by the clink of porcelain that caught her attention instead.

A cup of steaming tea was placed beside her hand. 

Then came the warmth.

Strong arms slid around her from behind, folding gently across her front as Vi’s chin came to rest atop Caitlyn’s head. Caitlyn sighed slowly and let her shoulders drop, her typing forgotten for a moment as she leaned back slightly into the embrace for a small reprieve. 

Vi’s eyes wandered to the screen, landing on the half written page. Her breath caught, not audible but enough for Caitlyn to feel the way her grip tightened lightly. A soft and delighted chuckle rumbled against Caitlyn’s shoulder.

“…You’re dedicating the research to me? Damn.”

Caitlyn’s fingers twitched above the keyboard as though she might backspace the entire thing out of embarrassed reflex. “Well-” she replied, a little stammer in her voice she hated but couldn’t help, “you did contribute to literally most of it. I mean, I couldn’t have done any of it without you.”

She didn’t turn to look at Vi. She reached for her tea with exaggerated casualness instead, hoping the steam could shield the growing pink in her ears, but the hotness of it on her palms seemed to only raise the temperature of the room to an almost sweltering degree.

Vi was uncharacteristically silent for a moment, and Caitlyn found that playful grin of hers was tempered now by something softer and more astonished. “You’re serious?”

Caitlyn nodded. “Yes.”

Vi blinked, then tightened her arms around Caitlyn from behind. She leaned down and placed a peck of affection on Caitlyn’s cheek.

Caitlyn chuckled softly, the sound almost bashful, only for it to quickly dissipate when she realised Vi didn’t stop there. Instead, she lowered her head further down and trailed a soft path of kisses along the curve of her jaw, down to the length of the side of her neck as though worshipping the way her skin flushed pink almost instantly at the contact.

Caitlyn gasped and gripped the edge of the desk. Vi slowly reached up and, and almost reverently swept Caitlyn’s hair over one shoulder, running her fingers through the silky strands before leaning down to place another kiss on the nape of her neck, now subject to Vi’s intense gaze.

The kiss there was gentle at first. Chaste, even. But it was soon followed by another, and another. Caitltyn’s breaths began to falter with a smouldering anticipation, her body instinctively arching backwards to the warmth behind her. Then Vi’s lips parted, hed warm breath hitting that sensitive spot, the gentle scrape of her teeth followed by a quick nip, light and playful but still enough to make Caitlyn jolt in her seat,

“Vi-” 

Vi hummed amidst kisses. “You dedicated a whole research paper for me. Let me show a little appreciation, cupcake.”

She resumed with a newfound sense of purpose before Caitlyn could respond, mouth trailing downwards again with intermittent grazes of teeth against bare skin. Caitlyn’s eyes fluttered shut, lashes quivering as her breaths went shallow, each one adjoining a soft whimper. 

Vi drew back from Caitlyn’s neck, slipping her hands down along the armrests of her chair and gently turned it, guiding Caitlyn around until they were face to face. 

They smiled when their eyes met, a soft, giddy sound escaping their mouths simultaneously. 

Vi took that as a signal of approval and leaned in. 

Their lips met and Caitlyn’s breath caught at that, her fingers twitching uselessly in her lap before they slid up and found the fabric of Vi’s shirt, clutching it as something warm began to unfurl low in her belly like flailing wings.

Vi’s hands slid downwards along Caitlyn’s waist, skimming the edge of her hips before one slipped decisively beneath the curve of her thigh. Caitlyn gasped softly again, but she didn’t protest and instead clung tighter to Vi’s shoulder as she felt herself lifted in one fluid motion. And then- oh god.

Vi kicked the chair out of their way.

The wheels of the chair creaked faintly as she nudged it sideways with a swift movement of her foot, clearing it from their path like she was determined to focus solely on Caitlyn in this very moment; like she was the only thing in this room worth handling with care. 

Caitlyn’s brain short circuited.

It was objectively a minor action- practical, even. But something about the sheer, unbothered strength of it, the way Vi cleared the space like nothing would get between them, like she didn’t give a single shit, sent a rush of heat down Caitlyn’s spine so fast she nearly moaned. That was hot. Terrifyingly hot. And she was, to her own dismay, suddenly very turned on.

Vi stepped forwards, and with ease settled her atop the edge of the desk, the cool surface beneath her thighs a sharp contrast to the heat coiling fast in her body. 

The kiss barely broke, just long enough for their eyes to meet again, and Caitlyn was startled by the burning hunger now behind Vi’s eyes. Her hands didn’t hesitate. Her fingers found the way under Caitlyn’s shorts and began tugging them down, casting them on the floor. The chilly air hitting her thighs made her shiver, though it was nothing compared to the boiling heat thrumming under her skin. 

Then Vi hooked one hand under Caitlyn’s knee and lifted her leg, folding it easily around her hip and holding it aloft. 

Caitlyn’s breath faltered- then grew heavier, faster. She braced herself on the desk behind her, chest rising and falling with urgency as she looked down at the flushed face so close, so intent, so hungry .

“Vi-” Her voice came breathlessly, tinged with disbelief. “The couch is literally right there-”

Vi didn’t look up, only grinned against her skin. “I know. I just can’t wait.”

One of her hands slipped under the band of Caitlyn’s panties, her fingertips sliding along hot skin, pulling forth an involuntary shudder. Her other hand followed suit, lifting the hem of Caitlyn’s shirt inch by inch until it bunched just above the swell of her breasts, exposing them to the cool air but even more to Vi’s gaze.

Then her fingers dipped deep into the wet heat between her thighs, gathering slick with an excruciating slowness until it enveloped her fingers, and Caitlyn felt her head tip back as a choked sound escaped her lips. Her body quivered, thighs tensing around Vi’s hips in search for friction as the desk beneath her creaked faintly. 

Vi took a breath and withdrew her hand slowly, languidly raising her now glistening fingers.

She extended her tongue, dragging it along the pad of her fingertip.

And she did that all while staring directly into Caitlyn’s eyes.

Caitlyn stopped breathing altogether.

She made a strangled noise she’d never heard from her own mouth before, her body flushing wholly as if lit from within. The sensation was so vividly intimate that Caitlyn felt it between her legs as if Vi’s mouth were already there, tasting her in real time. She bit down on her lower lip to keep from making more awful, broken noises, but it was futile; the desire curling through her now was molten, insistent, starved .

She didn’t just want Vi’s mouth. She didn’t just want to fall apart beneath her.

She wanted all of her.

She wanted to reach the brink of euphoria with her, to come undone not alone but together, to feel Vi’s pleasure against her own, mirrored, matched, magnified . To fall apart not in isolation but in communion.

“Vi-” she breathed. 

Vi lifted her brows, lips still glistening. “Hm?”

Caitlyn’s voice caught for a moment before she found it again, coming out almost pleading. “Can we… do this on the couch, please?”

Vi tilted her head. “Why?”

Rather than answer with words, Caitlyn took Vi’s hand in her own trembling hand and guided it between them. She shaped Vi’s into a peace sign, then made the same with her own- and pressed them together in that devastatingly suggestive gesture.

Scissoring.

Vi blinked.

Then a wry smile spread across her face. 

“Damn. Okay.”

But as Vi swept one arm beneath her thighs to lift her once more, Caitlyn’s eyes instinctively flicked to her side where the familiar object rested there beside a stack of her highlighted research printouts. 

“Wait.”

Vi paused, brows arching in curiosity and faint amusement. 

Caitlyn reached over and snatched the sleek object- her black round glasses, the ones Vi had once called criminally hot . She held them up to her, eyes wide with pleading and mischief in equal measure. “Put these on?” Her voice was nearly faltering. “Please?”

Vi’s gaze dropped to the glasses in her hand then back to Caitlyn’s face, and something visibly shifted in her expression. Dark and amused all at once. She took them delicately between two fingers and brought one of the arms of the glasses to her mouth without ever breaking eye contact, and bit down on it, holding the frame between her teeth as she adjusted the other arm with one hand. 

The action was utterly unhurried and so unbearably sensual that Caitlyn felt her knees weaken even as she sat perched in Vi’s arms. Vi smirked around the frame as she slid the glasses on, now perched low on her nose; and gave Caitlyn an almost appraising glance as though deciding whether to seduce her or study her. 

“Academic enough for you, doc?” 

Caitlyn swallowed hard, nodding frantically. “Yes. Very.”

Vi grinned victoriously and shifted her grip.

She lifted Caitlyn again, carrying her those few steps to the couch (their couch now, Caitlyn just realised), the unnecessarily big and overstuffed thing her mother had chosen for her for comfort, which was… about to become something far more dangerous.

Vi sat and lowered Caitlyn into her lap, who landed astride her with legs straddling her hips. Her breathing was shallow, light puffs of air slipping between parted lips. And when she leaned in for more contact, nose brushing Vi’s cheek, a quick burst of warmth escaped her. 

Vi’s glasses fogged.

For a span of a heartbeat, they both froze- then a soft, incredulous little giggle rose between them. 

“Oh- sorry,” Caitlyn whispered, trying and failing to stifle a grin. 

Vi blinked behind her misted lenses, and Caitlyn let out another helpless giggle. “You look so silly,” she whispered through her smile.

“I was supposed to look hot in them,” Vi said dryly. “Now I’m just goofy and blind.”

They both dissolved into quiet laughter again, breaths mingling in between. But Vi soon slid her hands down, until they found the curve of Caitlyn’s ass and squeezed gently. 

Caitlyn’s laughter faded to breath. Her fingers moved on instinct, sliding between them, finding the button of Vi’s trousers but fumbling slightly in her urgency. 

Vi tilted her head and dipped her mouth to Caitlyn’s neck. She gasped softly. Her fingers trembled, but she kept going, undoing the button then pulling down the zipper- god, why did it feel like this had never been done before? Like every inch of Vi was brand new?

Vi pressed a soft open-mouthed kiss just beneath her ear, “Keep trying, doc.”

And Caitlyn did. She dragged Vi’s trousers the rest of the way down, and Caitlyn let her hand slip lower.

She found slick with shocking ease.

The sound Vi made in response was barely more than a stuttered whimper, but Caitlyn could still feel it vibrate right against her throat as Vi buried her face into the curve of her shoulder. Caitlyn stilled for a breath, then experimentally let her fingertips drift once more. A stroke higher across her clit- and Vi shuddered, her arms tightening slightly around Caitlyn’s waist, another low moan muffled against her collarbone.

Oh.

Caitlyn blinked, surprised by the discovery, then did it again.

A slower stroke this time with the pad of her fingers.

Vi gasped. Her hips jerked.

Caitlyn bit her lip, trying to suppress an emerging grin and repeated the motion again and again, light, teasing touches that coaxed more of that exquisite slick from her, more of those little noises. 

Vi whimpered again. “Fuck- Cait- fuck, baby, I’m-”

“I know,” Caitlyn whispered. 

Vi’s thighs had gone tense beneath her, her hips twitching against every brush of Caitlyn’s hand, her breath stuttering, teeth sinking lightly into Caitlyn’s shoulder as she gasped again and again. The sound alone was enough to make Caitlyn’s core pulse with heat. 

So she slid her free hand between her own legs just to feel. She dipped into herself with a sigh, not to chase her own release but to match the rhythm, to feel what Vi would feel when they were finally pressed together.

“Holy shit,” Vi gasped. “Are you- fuck, are you touching yourself while you do this to me?”

“Yes- Want to feel how wet you are when we- mmh- when we move together.”

Vi let out a strangled sound, her body tightening beneath Caitlyn’s as she clung harder.

“ Please , Cait- oh my god- I’m gonna- fuck-”

“I want to feel you come,” Caitlyn murmured, circling her fingers just a touch faster. 

And Vi did.

She came with a soft cry, face still pressed into Caitlyn’s shoulder, her thighs trembling as her hips jerked helplessly. Caitlyn followed suit, her own fingers having never wavering, the slick slide of it sending gasps escaping her mouth, her forehead falling against Vi’s temple as she came in tandem. 

They stayed like that for a long moment, clinging to each other through the aftermath. Vi’s arms remained wrapped around her waist as she breathed, “Fuck, Cait…”

Caitlyn was breathless, yet her desire hadn’t abated with the absence of that sense of accomplishment that only came after they truly felt one another. 

Vi leaned back, those damned glasses now pushed up onto her head without neither of them realising. 

Caitlyn didn’t like this. So she reached up with one shaky hand and touched her wrist. 

“Put them back on,” she whispered.

Vi blinked. “The glasses?”

Caitlyn nodded, cheeks burning. “Yes.” 

Vi grinned. “Say please .”

Caitlyn huffed. “Do you have a thing for making me beg?”

Vi tilted her head, feigning innocence as she picked up the glasses. “Maybe.”

Fine.

“…Please,” Caitlyn whispered.

“Please what?”

“Please… fuck me… with my glasses on.”

That was all Vi needed. 

She slipped them back onto her face. Then without a word she leaned in, and gently lowered Caitlyn down onto the soft cushions of the couch.

As Vi shifted above her, her fingers moved to the waistband of her boxers, now damp and clinging, entirely in the way. With a low breath she hooked her thumbs beneath the band and slid them down her hips, baring herself completely. 

Only once the last bit of fabric had been tossed aside did Vi settle fully atop her. Caitlyn lay back, her legs parting automatically, her body already anticipating every press and slide. Vi kissed her again, and reached down to guide Caitlyn’s leg, hooking it over her own until their cores aligned.

And then she moved.

The first grind was slow and exploratory. Vi’s body rolled with hers, hips tilting in rhythm. Vi reached down and laced their fingers together, holding Caitlyn’s hands above her head as she moved. “Is this ok?” she whispered between pants.

Caitlyn moaned softly, already arching up. “Don’t- don’t stop.”

Vi grinned and kissed her, bodies sliding perfectly in time. The friction was maddening; slick, hot, perfect. Caitlyn’s head fell back against the cushions, eyes glazed, mouth parted, eyes flicking upwards in search of her lover’s face.

Vi was above her, glasses now slightly askew, cheeks flushed as strands of cerise hair stuck to her temple, lips wet and red, her eyes hooded behind the frames. And god- Caitlyn could hardly breathe.

She was so fucking hot like this. So unintentionally or totally intentionally seductive. And Caitlyn could feel herself grow even wetter just at the sight of it. 

Vi leaned down, hips still grinding slowly and whispered against Caitlyn’s ear, “You’re so wet for me. You feel that?”

Caitlyn whimpered.

Their rhythm grew more frantic all of a sudden, their slick cunts grinding together in a delicious slide that sent heat pulsing through every nerve. Their faces were so close now, noses brushing, lips parting against one another’s without quite kissing. Caitlyn’s breaths puffed, little clouds fogging the lower half of Vi’s glasses once more.

“Fuck- doc-” Vi gasped, “You feel so-”

Caitlyn let out a desperate little moan, “No-” she panted, “I haven’t- ah - graduated yet-”

Vi blinked. “Are you- seriously - correcting me right now?”

“I-” Caitlyn moaned again as Vi rolled her hips harder, “It’s just- not technically and mmh - academically accurate-”

Vi groaned. “You’re ruining the mood.”

“You’re still fucking me,” Caitlyn countered breathlessly.

“You’re right,” Vi leaned in to bite her lip before pulling away just enough to smirk. “I am .”

Their hips continued snapping together, grinning and sliding, overstimulated clits catching and dragging in wet friction. Their moans echoed into one another’s mouths as the pleasure coiled tighter and tighter in their bellies. 

Caitlyn’s breaths came more erratically, puffs of them hitting Vi’s face, fogging her glasses a third time, so thick the lenses went utterly opaque.

Just as the orgasm began to crest, as her clit pulsed and her whole body tensed, her instincts dominated her and she reached up, snatching Vi’s glasses right off her face.

“I- I need to see you,” she gasped, panting, her hand gripping the frame as Vi’s face finally came into unobstructed view.

Vi’s eyes snapped into focus, glazed in pale seafoam. Caitlyn screamed, a sharp cry that ripped from her chest as she reached her climax, grinding up in frantic thrusts, slick dripping down her thighs. 

Vi’s fingers tightened where they were laced with Caitlyn’s above her head, her other hand digging into Cait’s waist, pulling her down harder and closer. “ Fuck -”

She gasped against Caitlyn’s mouth, shuddering as Caitlyn’s release dragged her own out of her- hips stuttering, legs shaking, a loud, filthy moan escaping her as she came, clit throbbing against Caitlyn’s. Their slickness had become an utterly obscene mess between them, smearing along their thighs and soaking the fabric beneath them.

Caitlyn collapsed completely back against the cushions, panting while her fingers were still loosely entangled with Vi’s as the last shudders worked their way through their limbs. 

They stayed like that for a moment, simply breathing in the intimacy.

Vi was the first to shift, pushing her damp hair out of her face as she blinked hazily down at Caitlyn. Her gaze drifted to the glasses still clutched in Caitlyn’s hand.

“You know, I think you might have an academic kink, cupcake.”

Caitlyn blinked up at her, dazed by the sudden statement- or an exposure. “I- what? No, I- um-”

Vi smirked. “Really? Cause you begged me to wear them. And then you ripped them off in the middle of us coming.”

Caitlyn groaned, dragging a hand over her face. “Okay- fine. Maybe. Yes. Please just- wear them sometimes when we-” she faltered. “You know.”

Vi leaned down and kissed the corner of her mouth, grinning against her cheek. “So you do want me to fuck you in glasses.”

“Occasionally,” Caitlyn mumbled with flushed cheeks.

Vi nipped gently at her neck. “Then I’m gonna make you beg for it. Occasionally.”

Before Caitlyn could gather any semblance of a reply, a low, unmistakable growl erupted from her stomach. Loud and perfectly timed.

Vi blinked. Then promptly burst into laughter, dropping her forehead to Caitlyn’s shoulder with a breathless chuckle. “Was that you?”

Caitlyn groaned. “Apparently.”

Vi tilted her head, peering towards the clock on the far wall. “Babe. It’s eight pm. We haven’t eaten.”

Caitlyn sighed. “We were… preoccupied.”

Vi gently peeled herself away, still chuckling. “Alright. Come on. I’ll cook something.”

“Can I help?” Caitlyn offered.

Vi pulled on her boxers and trousers, shaking her head. “No offense, doc. But I don’t trust you not to burn water.”

Caitlyn huffed. “Fine. Then I’ll just… stand behind you.”

Vi glanced back at her with a grin. “For what?”

Caitlyn smiled coyly. “Uh- Emotional support?”

Vi laughed. “Right. Emotional support. Not girlfriend.”

𓂃𓈒𓏸𓈒𓂃𓈒𓇼𓈒𓂃𓈒𓆉

Dinner had been decided naturally by a solemn round of rock paper scissors, which was Vi’s preferred method of all domestic arbitration. Unlike before, this time they had not both drawn scissors. Vi had won fair and square and therefore declared that lasagna would be the meal tonight.

Caitlyn had merely smiled and nodded, letting Vi lead. Well, because she couldn’t cook anyway.

Now she silently approached from behind as Vi stirred the pot of whatever sauce it was with one hand, and reached for the shredded cheese with the other. 

Caitlyn wrapped her arms around Vi’s waist from behind, resting her cheek against her shoulder. Vi stilled for only a second, then let out a soft breath and leaned back into the embrace, her movements resuming unaffectedly.

“You’re really good at this,” Caitlyn muttered, her voice slightly muffled against the curve of Vi’s neck. “I could never do that.”

Vi chuckled and glanced over, the corners of her mouth lifting. “My hands aren’t only good in one context.”

Caitlyn hummed teasingly. She didn’t mean to speak anything further, but the thought had been plaguing her mind for days now since the research paper had been drafted. 

“Actually…” 

“Hm?”

There was a pause. A hesitation that rose before words could emerge.

“When I finish publishing this research…”

Vi didn’t turn back. “Then what?”

Caitlyn let her chin rest against Vi’s shoulder, closing her eyes as though bracing herself for the impending, or rather imaginative disappointment. 

“Then I’ll need to start planning the next expedition. It’s… going to be long. More than half a year. Might cross into a few countries.”

Vi’s stirring slowed just slightly. 

“And I’ll… need your help again. But I know you have your own work. Your own dives. Your own life. You don’t have to spend it chasing mine.”

Vi turned just enough to glance at her out of the corner of her eye. “No?”

“I mean…” Caitlyn looked down, voice faltering further. “I just… I don’t want you to feel like I’m expecting you to come with me. To follow me across oceans and build your life around my field notes.”

Vi didn’t say anything for a moment.

Then she chuckled almost fondly. 

“Cupcake,” she said as she set down the spoon, turning in Caitlyn’s arms until their foreheads nearly touched. “I told you I’d follow you down to the Challenger Deep. Literally on day one. And you don’t trust me with a few more countries?”

Caitlyn blinked. Her throat bobbed. She hadn’t anticipated it to be that easy. Or maybe she had, but simply couldn’t let herself believe it until the words were right there in front of her.

“Thank you,” she whispered, smiling in relief and nuzzling Vi’s shoulder. “There’s going to be bioluminescence beaches too. Maybe not quite like Jervis Bay but… close.” 

Vi smiled. “Fantastic,” she said, eyes gleaming. “That’s one step closer to our marriage pact.”

Caitlyn huffed a laugh, ducking her face against Vi’s shoulder to hide her blush. “I’ll add a few more beaches to make it faster, then.”

Vi chuckled, holding her a little tighter.

But Caitlyn knew that Vi would never wait until they had seen every single bioluminescent beach on Earth, checking them off one by one before doing what they both already knew they wanted.

And truthfully, neither would she.