A/N: This was originally chapter 12: Contagious of my challenge 'Aquatic Angel.' If you want to read about Aqua taking care of Terra (which is this chapter's prequel), it's chapter 9 "Immune" of my Terqua alphabet story; Hard to Breathe (which I'm going to work on after finishing this collection). I'm sorry that it's such a mess when it comes to where I uploaded my Terqua pieces. They're everywhere now and I can hardly keep track of them lol. Also, since this collection is more focussed on TerraxAqua, Ven will probably not make an appearance (never say never though). Anyway, Terra's 18 years old here, and Aqua's 17. Enjoy. ;D

Thank you: 7th Scale, Amulet Misty, HawkRider, HeartofFyrwinde, and Angelic Warrior. :)

~ "That wasn't a compliment!" ~

Aqua let out a rather annoyed sigh and looked at her brunet friend. Her patience was wearing thin, what with the way he was acting, and he probably knew it too. Heck, she wouldn't put it past him if he was doing it on purpose, too, just so that he would get his way this time.

"Terra, just drop the subject already, all right? I'm fine, I promise."

No sooner had she said that or she grimaced; her back felt as if it had been scrubbed badly while the skin had been on fire.

Terra shook his head, almost as though he couldn't believe that she was lying to him like that. "No, you're not. You're coughing, you're feeling cold, I just know that your back hurts by the way you're walking and you look sick. No, you are sick-"

"No, I'm not!" Aqua quickly interrupted, but Terra still went on, as if he hadn't heard her.

"And it's all my fault. I shouldn't have forgotten that it was contagious." He dropped his head in embarrassment. "I'm so sorry, Aqua."

It had been so nice when she had taken care of him. He hadn't even minded being sick, because she made everything better with her soft, sweet voice and gentle touches (maybe he should become sick more often if it meant that she would look after him).

Aqua thought that in a way, it was extremely adorable how he felt so guilty over something that he'd had no power over. Still, at the moment, she felt more annoyance than appreciation.

"Terra, for the last time, if there's anyone to blame here, it's me. It was my idea to look after you when you got sick after all."

"And now I'm returning the favor." In a gentler tone, he urged, "Get some sleep. You'll feel so much better when you wake up. I speak from experience, you know."

Aqua sighed deeply, but still got up from her seat near the fire. As soon as she did so, a shiver ran down her spine and judging by that look that the older pupil was giving her, he hadn't failed to notice her doing that. Darn Terra and his unusual sharpness.

"You're impossible, you know that?" she said, exasperated.

He could be so pushy sometimes (but that didn't mean that she wasn't appreciating it).

"Why thank you."

"That wasn't a compliment!"

Terra smirked. "Whatever."

A/N: Next chapter: "What do you mean? You dance all the time," he blurted out, before he could stop himself.