A/N: Wow, thanks a ton for the reviews, alerts and favorites so far! :D It's really great to know that you seem to like this story so far, even if it's only the first chapter. I hope I won't disappoint you guys. And I'm sorry for the long wait. This chapter takes place a few months after the previous one, somewhere in August, so Aqua's still ten years old and Terra's eleven. Again, it won't be that special, because I had the biggest trouble with coming up with something fitting for this prompt. Then again, I still have 98 chapters to make it up to you, right? Hope you'll all enjoy. :)

Thanks: HawkRider, Jcthegirl, Demmy, Terra ForceXIII, resistance123, ninachan13, MonMonCandie, Sabathiel, fujingodofwind, Chandramukhi, Olive Josh, The Trio of Twilight, and RoseOfADifferentColor, my brilliant beta.

~ "But don't let his sweet looks and innocence ever deceive you, 'cause he's a little devil once you really get to know him," he said, in warning. "Trust me on that one." ~

2) Log

Aqua rushed into Terra's backyard, despite the day being that special kind of lazy, sultry heat. It wasn't so much the heat that annoyed her, but the stickiness that came with it, thanks to Radiant Garden's humid climate. It was more than just uncomfortable; as soon as she exited her house, the back of her shirt would cling to her (almost desperately) within seconds, as if she'd stepped out of the shower.

When she spotted who she'd been looking for, she automatically halted, tilting her head to the side in confusion.

The ten-year-old girl blinked. What in the world is he doing?

At the moment, her brunet friend was dragging what seemed to be a rather heavy log from one side of the backyard to his destination, a huge tree on the other side of the yard, where several other building materials sat, shaded under the branches. It looked like he was planning to build something. Perhaps a doghouse? But he didn't even have a dog! Then again, with someone like Terra, one could never be too sure.

Another aspect of her friend that was mildly mystifying was his ability to work so hard when it was so unbearably warm out. Even from this distance, she could see how sweat had started to form on his forehead from all that exertion and yet, he didn't quit. Terra had also taken his shirt off, showing off his rake thin physique. He was even thinner than Aqua. It was hard to believe, but the bluenette knew that her eyes weren't deceiving her.

It was then that the boy noticed Aqua standing there. Cutting through the awkwardness, she scrambled to find her voice, greeting her friend."Hi."

"Hey," he greeted back with a lopsided grin. "Nice timing. Can you help me with bringing these logs over there? That would be really great."

With his head, he gestured to the tree, as to clarify.

Aqua hesitated slightly, before nodding. "Yeah, sure."

She made her way towards the materials, picking the top most log off the pile. However, she soon discovered that Terra had made the task look easy. Aqua had never thought that wood could be this heavy. It almost felt as though she was trying to carry two babies at the same time... as weird as that sounded. Judging from their weight, she would be feeling the ache of this for days. Oh well, if it made Terra happy, then she didn't mind just this once… But he'd better not make a habit of asking her for help. What was he trying to achieve with carrying those things and dumping them on the other side of the garden, anyway? Another mystery of the male mind, she assumed.

"Where's Ven? I thought he was here, with you?" She asked, glancing at him quizzically.

It was strange that their younger friend was nowhere to be seen, since usually, the boys were inseparable. Terra had known Ven long before Aqua, since they were neighbors. When Aqua had become friends with the older boy, she'd started hanging out with Ventus, (Ven to his friends,) too. From that moment on, the three of them had become joined at the hip, even though Ven was only seven years old. The age difference didn't matter however, the blonde was like the little brother they never had and Ven had obviously no problem with that. If anything, he liked the attention that he got.

In the mean time, Terra tried to free his hands, but he was having some difficulty with the extraordinarily stubborn log. Eventually he gave up and let out a long-suffered sigh.

"Nope. He called me just before you arrived and said he was sick, so he couldn't come here today."

"Oh…That's weird. I saw him yesterday and he looked all right. In fact, I had never seen him that hyper before."

And that said something. Ven had been practically bouncing the other day. The memory of that alone brought a small smile to the bluenette's face.

"Then I bet his laziness took over and the only reason he didn't come was because he didn't want to help me with these," Terra commented, grimly.

Aqua frowned. That didn't sound like the exuberant blonde. One could say a lot about the spiky-haired boy, but he would never let down his friends. Of that, she was sure.

"Ven would never do that…"

"That's what he wants you to believe, Aqua. But don't let his sweet looks and innocence ever deceive you, 'cause he's a little devil once you really get to know him," he said, in a warning tone. "Trust me on that one."

She pondered if he was serious about that or not, before posing another question, one that she'd been dying to ask since she arrived.

"...Just out of curiosity, what exactly are you going to do with those?"

"Build a tree hut, of course. What else? It's one of the few things that I miss from my old house. Who knows what kind of annoying brat is playing in my old tree hut now, doing whatever he likes with it…"

He clenched his hands into fists at that particular thought, before he allowed a small smile to appear on his face again. "But I guess that things like that happen in life and I can tell you this much; this tree hut is gonna be the best you can find in this world!"

Aqua watched him curiously, as he told her all about his big plans for the hut. For someone who was almost twelve years old, Terra surely acted like a little kid sometimes. Or maybe Ven was rubbing off on him, because his enthusiasm truly had no boundaries. It made his deep cobalt blue eyes gleam brightly, matching the beaming look on his face.

But wasn't that what she liked so much about him, anyway; his never dying determination to make all his dreams come true? His words always inspired her, too.

"Hey, let's take a break from this. I'll ask my mom if she wants to make us some lemonade. She makes the best lemonade on the planet!" Terra suggested, interrupting her train of thoughts.

Aqua nodded, relieved. He didn't have to say that twice; she'd seen enough logs for today.