Author's Note:

Okay... so, yeah! Here we go! More from the Ocelots, and, yes, it's a bit of an insult to my own creativity about how Aiden's trying to hide his Wither sickness, but... I hope you guys still enjoy the story nevertheless! Anyways, Watcher321 hit it spot on as far as what I wanted to achieve in this story: Epic Ocelot-Group Dynamics! That's this story in two words.

Hit it, Crisper!

Crisper: (hits it)

Aiden woke up, blinking his eyes a bit. The dark sky played outside of the hole above him and he sighed. His body needed rest, but sleep was unachievable with the angst he was going through. He pulled his hands outof his pockets. The once-healthy limbs were now black and purple, only a few patches of clear skin visible on his lower arms. The infection, gratefully, hadn't spread to his upper-arms but the pain was still there.

"Aiden, what is that?" He flinched at the sound of the feminine voice, jerking his head around to see Maya, staring at him from behind.

"It's nothing, Maya." He spoke quickly before she started crawling towards him. "Maya, you're supposed to be asleep!"

"You're not the boss of me, Aiden. What's that on your arms?"

"It's nothing, just... dirt, okay?" He lied, rolling his jacket-sleeves back over his darkened arms and looking away. Maya couldn't see his hands due to folded arms, but decided to pry anyways.

"What is it, Aiden? For real?"

"It's nothing, Maya! I fell down a hill and got dirt on my hands. Now shut up and go to sleep! Leave me alone!" He yelled, rolling over and cringing when his body weight was on both of his hands. Maya continued to stare at him a bit more.

"I don't think it's dirt." She said before returning to her spot for some sleep. Meanwhile, Aiden tried not to cry.

((Timeskip brought to you by Stereotypes and Overused Plot Styles!))

The sun rose slowly in the pale sky and Gill opened his eyes and yawned.

"Aiden, Maya, get up." Gill demanded, standing to his feet. Ignoring the soft snapping of his tired joints, he walked over to Maya and Aiden, simultaneously shaking them awake. "We need to get out of here, it's time to go."

"Why do we have to get up so early?" Maya groaned, shoving Gill's hands away. "We're safe here, plus we're all tired." She said, rolling over.

"We need to get food, Maya. That's why. So get up." He pulled her onto her feet before handing her a few blocks of dirt. "Build a staircase so we can get the Nether out of here." She sleepily allowed him to place the blocks in her hands before he walked to Aiden. "Aiden, wake up!" He shook the other male awake, unknowingly squeezing Aiden's burning arms. Aiden jerked awake, instantly slapping Gill across the face.

"Ow! Unnecessary roughness, Aiden!" Gill shouted back while Aiden rubbed his arms. "Okay, I'm just going to act like that didn't happen. We need to-"

"Uh-uh. I am not going to let you lead us again."

"Alright, Aiden. What's your plan? Sleep all day and play hard to-" Before Gill could finish, Aiden gave him another sound slap to the face, and the angered look on Aiden's face let Gill know that he meant to slap him that time.

"Shut up and listen. We don't have time to clean up your stupid mistakes." Aiden said. Gill noticed Maya fuming silently behind the two of them. Gill felt his hands forming fists.

"Fine. Whatever you say." He agreed, walking towards Maya. He spun on his heels to face Aiden, a deadpan look on his face as he folded his arms. "Well, what now Aiden?" He asked, scratching his face a few seconds later.

"We..." Aiden felt his throat become suddenly dry, and he knew that it wasn't connected to his painful arms. He stood for a few minuts, his grass-green eyes focused on his feet. Gill shifted and Maya felt uneasy.

"You don't have any ideas? Do you?" Gill accused.

"I have an idea! Why don't we go get food, like you planned, Gill?" Maya suggested, standing between them and giving them an annoyed look as the two boys stared each other in the face, Aiden glaring sharply while Gill wore an annoyed, dull frown.

"I don't think we should go fishing. That's my plan. We need to follow Aiden's plan." He explained to Maya with a smug, as a matter of factly voice that made Aiden sharpen his scowl. "Well, Aiden?"

"... Screw you." He spoke with venom and spite. Gill only scoffed.

"Well? Who's plan are we going with? Yours, or mine?" He asked. Aiden's lip quivered and his hands would've formed fists, but they were throbbing at that moment. He sighed defeatedly, looking away from Gill ashamedly.

"Yours." He admitted.

"Thank you." He said firmly, snatching the dirt-blocks from Maya and building them a quick staircase. After the short climb, they started searching for a lake.

For the first few minutes, there was nothing but silence. Finally, Maya decided to speak up, ease the tension.

"So... uh..." The annoyed glares of the two men scared her speechless. "Yeeeaaah..." End of story. A bit later, they spotted a small lake, just right for fishing.

"Alright. We need someone to go mining for stone and coal for a furnace. Aiden, you're with me." Gill commanded.

"Can't. Tired." Aiden explained hoarsely. Gill sent him a frustrated glare while Aiden stared back dully.

"You're full of it." He concluded before walking away. Aiden watched him leave with Maya shaking her head.

"Come on. Let's go, Aiden." She said, grabbing him by the arm. Immediately he jerked back from her, wincing in pain. She gave him a weird look and he stared at her for a few seconds before frowning aggressively.

"What're you looking at?"

"Fine, whatever. Let's go already." She said, walking off. Aiden straightened, his back feeling stiff as he followed her.

((Le timeskip, brought to you by Le Otra Timeskip))

After some trees were punched by Maya and some water checked by Aiden who wouldn't punch said trees, two fishing rods were produced and said people fished.

They cast their rods in, allowing the bobber to... bob. Aiden seemed focused on his line, but Maya was more concerned about the purpled fingers and hands that trembled slightly as if fighting to keep hold of the rod.

"Are you ever going to get that mud off?" She asked softly. Aiden kindly ignored her, staring straight ahead as he struggled to steady his hands. She backed off with a sigh, focusing on her line.

POV Switch

'I thought she was NEVER going to look away', Aiden thought, sighing with relief when she finally left him alone. His eyes tracked over to her line that she was suddenly so dissolved in. He noticed that she stared at it intently, as if a Creeper was about to spawn at the end of it. That's when he noticed that he was staring at her face. The instant it dawned on him, his face flushed red and he quickly looked away, pretending to be focused on the pond ripples.

(and Maya's like OMG he looked at me! lol, jk)

POV Switch

"Maya, don't be so... bummed about the way Gill and I've been fighting, okay?" He asked. Maya glanced at him and he quickly looked away. "I mean, we're boys. It's what we do. We fight for things, like jobs, attention, girls, ah! N-not that we've been fighting for girls lately... it's just... sometimes." He explained, quickly shutting up. He cleared his throat, trying to ease the embarassing mood.

"Okay, Aiden." Maya replied stiffly. "I just wish you wouldn't do it so much." She added. Aiden sent her an annoyed, yet sorry look. His lip twitching, he turned back to his rod before it dropped out of his hands just like that. The rod fell into the water with a splash, and Maya instantly turned her head.

"Um... Aiden?"

"What?"

"... are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Maya. I just dropped my fishing rod." He explained stiffly, reaching into the water to pick it up. The cold water was abundantly refreshing to his sore fingers, and it took him a little bit to get the stiff protrusions to curl around the rod's handle. After working at it awkwardly, he finally managed to pull his hand out of the water. He sighed as the pain in his arms subsided with the cool water.

"Aha!" He instantly flinched turning his head to face Maya.

"The heck, Maya!" He shouted, just about pushed over the edge with her snooping attitude.

"I knew it wasn't mud!" She shouted, pointing a finger at him, his purple hands specifically. "If it was mud, it would've washed off. And since when is mud purple?!" He glared at her for a moment before softening his eyes and looking away. Her voice. It wasn't completely of the accusing 'Oo! Busted!' nature, he felt. It seemed more like felt like she had finally gotten him to admit something important that she felt she needed to know. If you can understand me, here. "Seriously, Aiden. Open up, already. What're you hiding?"

"Nothing. I'm fine, okay?"

"Oh, okay." She finally agreed, looking crestfallen. Aiden rolled his eyes and bought her trick, turning back to his line before he felt a horrible pain shoot through his arm.

"OW!" He shouted, grasping his arm and realizing that Maya was inches from him and had just poked his arm. She had tricked him and now he truly knew how hard it would actually be to get her to give up.

"That's what you call 'fine'? I barely even tapped you and you act like I just stabbed you with something!"

"I'm not yelling about that, Maya." He lied.

"Then what was it, Aiden?"

"A fish bit my toe."

"Your feet aren't even in the water! Why are you grasping your arm if it's not hurting?" She asked, pointing at his arm.

"OW!" He shouted again, causing Maya to flinch.

"Sorry. That was actually an accident." She admitted sheepishly as Aiden cursed under his breath. "There's something wrong with you, Aiden." She said. Aiden stared at his fishing rod for a few moments, his hands trembling as well. He stared his hands down, as if trying to command them to be still for his sake. After a few minutes, the stick wobbled out of his grasp. He tried to refrain from screaming, instead kicking the stick further into the water and standing up to leave. Maya sighed frustratedly.

"Seriously. What is with boys?" She asked, standing up to follow him.

Author's Note:

Me: Ikr with boys. And that's coming from a girl, so men, don't be offended. It's just that we girls don't understand you boys, but we all have our flaws. That's okay, as long as you try to fix them. Women are crazy sometimes too. We have our moments.

But men with Wither are a whole nother story (if 'nother' is a word)

Petra: Hey, Gamer. Don't forget that we have girl's night tonight. Bring your gossip with you!

Me: Alright! There's this really juicy one about this guy! He's got probz, Petra!

You: Hypocrite.

Me:... *hids in a marshmallow*

Petra: Gamer? Where'd she go?... *Shrugs* Close it, Crisper.

Crisper:... I'm a boy, too, you know. I don't really like the idea of girls getting together to gossip about our boy-problems.

Petra:... *chuckles nervously* GIRLS, WE'RE BUSTED! (closes it)