"..Why can't we get the fireworks?"

Jesse sighed, grumbling in exasperation upon hearing his younger friend complain. He hit the tree with the stone axe again, the cracks in the tree slowly spreading. "Because.." A grunt as he swung the axe, "Axel.. called dibs.."

They were gathering materials for their fireworks dispenser for the Endercon building competition, which was three weeks away. Honestly, none of the boys thought it was necessary to prepare this early, but Olivia was persistent. So here they were, in the heat of a Friday afternoon, chopping down trees to get some wood.

"Ugh.. It's so hot.." Reuben complained, taking his jacket off. He dropped it between his legs as he sat cross legged under the shade of one of the trees. His brows furrowed as he observed his older friend, who was dressed in what could only be some of the worst clothes to wear in the summer- a long sleeved, black, collared shirt. Sure, he wasn't wearing jeans like Reuben was, but a black shirt? He didn't even roll up the sleeves!

"Don't you feel it?"

"If I'm feeling anything right now," He swung the axe again, which finally broke the tree. It shattered, the wood blocks dropping to the floor. Jesse picked them up. "It's annoyed by you not helping me get the wood."

Reuben grinned. "You've got it covered."

Jesse gave the boy an unimpressed look, the latter childishly sticking his tongue out in return. He rolled his eyes. "So how much more left?"

He took a quick look at his inventory. "Six."

"Whew." The boy fell back, his back hitting the tree behind him. "Six mo- oomph!"

Jesse stifled a laugh as Reuben winced in pain from the axe that he threw at him. Reuben was not pleased. He huffed, glaring at the older boy, who, at this point, was cracking up. "Jesse!"

"What?"

The boy stood up, holding his jacket in one hand and the axe in the other. "You nearly killed me!"

"Pfft." He waved his hand dismissively, "No I didn't. Anyway," He pointed at the tree Reuben was just sitting by, "Your turn."

Reuben's cheeks puffed in faux rage, which only made Jesse laugh harder. He sighed, mumbling "Fine," then went to mine the tree. Jesse crossed his arms and smirked, amused.

The boy wasn't wrong- it was actually pretty hot today. He tugged at his collar, feeling beads of sweat begin to trail down his forehead.

…wait a minute.

His back straightened, the feeling of someone watching him from behind taking over. "Reuben, do you-"

His vision filled with black before he could finish.


A/N: oh my god this thing's finally up

so uh. if you're reading this.. yay! I hope you enjoy the story :'D

updates'll be... i dunno, really. Not including this, I've got three chapters pre-written right now, currently working on chapter 4 as we speak. when do you want updates? 4 days apart, or weekly?

ah well. either way. :p

see you in the next chapter, and have a good day.