“Really? Who looks good in old navy blue jumpsuits anyways? With awkward padding no less!” I sighed as I zipped up my own version of said suit.

We had arrived at the paintball indoor arena to find everyone waiting for the three of us. Bob and Frankie had picked up K.C. and I could see the look on Bob’s face still. Must have been an interesting car ride with the two of them in the back seat. Though if I had heard correctly, Bob had offered to pick her up and to take a hyper Frankie along as well so I didn’t feel quite so bad. He had brought it upon himself. We had checked in and the others had bought a pass for the time we were going to be playing since Frankie was true to his word and I got his other certificate. And so here we were, zipping ourselves into our very own padded jumpsuits which were a faded worn out navy blue in color. I had found gloves small enough for my hands and had picked out a pair of goggles to complete my ensemble. I felt utterly ridiculous but it was well worth it.

“So how is this going to work?” I asked as I looked dubiously at my goggles.

“Since it’s my birthday present I’m going to pick teams. Each team will get a color and then it’s game on!” Frankie exclaimed excitedly as he jumped up and down in his own ridiculous jumpsuit.

“In the dark?” K.C. asked from beside Bob, she looked terribly tiny next to him and in that jumpsuit.

“It’s going to be kinda dark. But don’t worry, you can be on my team!” Frankie exclaimed, a giant grin on his face. A grin that K.C. herself returned. Oh those two had it so bad.

“So what are the teams?” Mikey asked as he came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist. I leaned against his chest out of convenience rather than anything else.

“Uhhh. Mikey, Ray and Bob on one team. And me, Gerard, Jay Bird and K.C. on the other!” Frankie exclaimed with a grin.

“How come we only get three people?” Bob asked.

“Where’s Sharon?” I asked at the same time, only just then realizing that she wasn’t with us.

“She couldn’t come, she got called into work the other night,” Gerard answered with a shrug.

“Oh. Why didn’t we reschedule for another day?” I asked, fidgeting with my utility belt that I assumed would eventually be filled with containers of extra paintballs of my teams color.

“She said not too. And you aren’t going to be able to get a day off any time soon so we decided to stick with today so you could come,” Gerard answered, again with a shrug of his shoulders.

“Oh, okay,” I answered softly, I kinda felt like a shmuck that we were going today and not waiting till Sharon had a day off. But the decision had been made without my knowledge so I guess I couldn’t get too butt hurt over it. Still kinda sucked that she couldn’t be here for it.

“Still, why do we only get three people to your four?” Ray asked, repeating Bob’s earlier question that had gotten forgotten when mine was answered.

“Because we have both girls, so that gives us a disadvantage,” Gerard answered smoothly.

“Yeah!” Frankie chimed in like that had been his plan all along.

“Hey!” K.C. and I chorused at the same time as we both hit the guy beside us from our team. Which oddly enough meant I hit Frankie and she hit Gerard. Apparently K.C. had some balls under all that shy Frankie-esque exterior! Good on her!

“It’s true. Though we’re gonna smoke you no matter how many extra people you have,” Mikey said with a cocky grin as he held up his paintball gun all macho like.

“We’ll see bout that,” I grinned back, just as cocky. Though I had no idea what my skill was like, but it didn’t hurt to bluff. Psych out your enemy right?

“So we’re taking green as our color,” Frankie chimed in, ready to get the game started.

“We take red,” Mikey offered in return.

“Ooo Christmas colors!” K.C. added gleefully. I heard Bob groan and I couldn’t help but smile.

“I’ll shoot you now if I hear one more word about Christmas,” Bob said with an evil grin as he aimed his gun at K.C. while the rest of us got our paintballs and loaded up. K.C. simply stuck her tongue out at Bob which made him chuckle as he grabbed containers of his color.

“Everyone know how to use your guns? How to shoot and aim?” Gerard asked. Everyone nodded in agreement.

“Frankie taught me how!” K.C. said cheerfully as she locked in a cartridge of green.

“Oh we’re so doomed,” Gerard groaned as he put his head into his one free hand and sighed.

“Let’s lock and load!” Mikey commanded, an evil grin still on his face. At his shout we all filed into the area we had for our use for the day.

“K.C. you stay hidden as much as possible and just shoot like there’s no tomorrow. Preferably the other team please. Frankie and I will go stealth. Which leaves you Jay Bird as sniper. Can you do fast on your feet?” Gerard asked as we stood on “our” side of the area as it was.

There were rocks everywhere, and from where I was standing I couldn’t tell if they were real or fake. There were also trees, obviously fake, and other structures made of wood around the entire place. The ground was covered with some bastardized version of Astroturf, so at least we weren’t going to slip and fall on our asses. But this place was HUGE! I stared across at the other team of Mikey, Ray and Bob. They weren’t in position yet, since the lights hadn’t gone down yet, but they still seemed so far away. Sniper?

“I can handle fast on my feet. So sniper it is,” I grinned, I had a feeling I was going to like this more then I had previously thought.

“Good. I think we have a chance then,” Gerard said with a smile. I smiled back automatically. There was something about when he actually smiled a real smile that just made you want to smile back. It was like it was contagious or something.

“Hey Gerard!” Mikey shouted from his side of the area.

“What?” Gerard yelled back at his brother with an eye roll.

“I hope you don’t mind that I used your Iron Maiden t-shirt to clean up the couch after Jay and I on Halloween,” Mickey shouted over.

I watched Gerard’s mouth drop open in shock. They went even wider when he was hit dead center of his chest with a red paintball from Mikey. The lights hadn’t even gone down yet! Gerard did nothing but look down at his chest in shock while the other team cackled. Psych out your enemy I had said.

“Hey Mikey!” I called over. Right as he looked up at me I shot him in the stomach, right above his crotch but not on it. The rule was no low blows and I was keeping to it. I figured I’d just scare him as a little pay back.

“It’s SO on girlie!” Mikey called out as the lights went down and we all scattered to our starting hiding places.

My team of four some how made it to a large area of cover without getting hit by Mikey’s team as they covered their retreat with rapid fire. We had found a space to group without being seen and huddled down in the twilight lit arena.

“Okay Frankie take K.C. to a good spot where she can stay easily hid but has a good view of the entire place before heading off stealth. Jay I want you to move quick across this entire place, shooting direct hits as much as possible. I don’t know how good you are but give them a run for their money. Eventually I want you up in that stand over there just picking them off,” Gerard whispered as pointed way off at a sort of tree house like structure. There wasn’t much cover but I figured if I laid down on my stomach I wouldn’t give much of a target.

“I think I can manage that. Though I don’t really know how good I am at this,” I whispered back. We didn’t know how much time we had to discuss plans but figured the other team was doing something similar.

“You shot Mikey in the crotch without actually shooting him in the crotch. I say you’re good enough,” Gerard whispered with a grin that I could see even in the semi dark.

“What about me?” K.C. asked in a harsh whisper.

“Like I said, I want you to stay hidden as much as possible and just fire off like there’s no tomorrow. If you see it moving, and it’s not Frankie or I, I want to riddle it with green okay? Jay will be behind you or near you to help keep you covered if need be,” Gerard said with a thumbs up to see if she understood. She did, giving her own thumbs up in return.

“Alright let’s go before they find us sitting here like ducks and annihilate us,” Frankie whispered. Well attempted to whisper in the only way Frankie can. Though I will say it was his best attempt as of yet since I had known him and that was saying something. I pretty sure if the other team was at least five feet away they wouldn’t have heard him. Maybe.

We all nodded in agreement and split off. Frankie took K.C. off to the right while Gerard went off to the left. I stayed put for the time being, seeing if I could get a view of any of them before moving off to where I needed to eventually be. Which was more or less off to the right where Frankie and K.C. had gone. I saw movement off to my left and waited to see if it was Gerard. The hair turned out to be blonde which was very much not Gerard so I opened off two shots quickly. I was pleasantly surprised when the second one hit Bob in the shoulder and the first one only just barely missed him. Once my shots were off I got down quickly and quickly ran to a new spot before wiggling to where I could scout again. I saw K.C. off ot my right open fire like a crazy woman on shape a little to her right that I hoped to god wasn’t Frankie. When the victim swore a nice string of obscenities I knew that it wasn’t, she had shot Ray! I gave a silent cheer for the crazy girl and went about firing at Ray as well. Hey he hadn’t ducked for cover yet and I could still see him.

I shot over and over, never staying one place very long as I had been instructed. I had only taken a few shots, two in the arm and one in the shoulder. So far the rest of me stayed unscathed, I was beginning to like Gerard’s plan of quick on my feet. I had not seen Gerard or Frankie but that made sense as they had taken stealth mode, though I had heard them both once at one point followed by a ridiculous amount of firing. The outcome was still to be seen but I was hoping it was in our favor. A few times I had to hold my breath as feet crunched past me in my hiding spot that I had been sniping from. They were moving too quietly and sneakily to be a team mate of mine, so I had kept quiet since I didn’t want to lose this spot. That it wasn’t really a place I could get out of easily if cornered. I held my breath till I couldn’t hear them before releasing and going for a peek to see where they had possibly gone.

“Ahhh!” I heard a girl scream followed by fire, K.C.

I scrambled out of my position and went to where I last knew she was hiding and firing like a maelstrom at anything that moved. Which to give her credit for she hadn’t hit me yet, though I was generally always behind her I hadn’t put it past her to even hit me then when we had first started.

“Run K.C.!” I shouted from where I was standing. I was smart enough not to shout from where I was going to fire from. But I had to be quick about changing positions so I could fire at whoever was painting K.C. and still allow her to get out of there without getting shot myself.

I heard scrambling feet and limbs and had to assume it was K.C. getting the hell out of dodge. I stood up and stepped around a giant fake boulder as tall as I was and opened fire on whomever it was shooting at K.C. still. I got them in the back and judging by the oomph they let out it was Mikey! I hadn’t thought I had gotten him this entire time, though he wasn’t unscathed from green paint. Just not as much as I would have liked. As it was I riddled his back and shoulders with green before he whipped around to fire at me. I dove back behind my boulder, only grazed on the shoulder again. I listened to see what he was going to do next, either slink off into a shadow or come after me.

“I know you’re there Jay Bird, you can’t hide from me. Gerard made you sniper did he?” Mikey sang at me. He hadn’t moved yet so I let myself catch my breath as I checked my current ammo supply to see if I needed to reload yet.

“That wasn’t very nice Mikey, coming up on poor K.C. like a creeper in the night. I wouldn’t call that fair,” I called out as I reloaded my gun from my belt. I was about half way through my supply and I didn’t know how much longer this game was going to go on.

“All is fair in love and war my dearest Jay Bird. And this most definitely is war,” Mikey growled, emphasis on the last war as he spun around the boulder I had been hiding behind. Had being the key word.

“No truer words my dearest Mikey,” I grinned as I shot him in the chest from atop the boulder beside the one I had been hiding behind previously. I wasted no more time then all it took to get off one shot before scrambling down and running for my next hiding spot, I was almost to that damn tower. Problem was that the other team had one too and I didn’t know if they had someone up in theirs or not.

“I’m gonna get you Jay Bird!” Mikey called out after me, but his voice was at least farther away at this point. He hadn’t followed me. Yet.

“Eat green bitch!” I heard someone shout before firing off like crazy at a momentarily caught unaware Mikey. K.C.!

I heard Mikey cry out in alarm before, I assumed, he ran off to escape our crazy K.C. who seemed to have a kamikaze wish. I couldn’t help it, I let out a whoop of joy at K.C.’s Rambo move before I scrambled to the raised area I needed to get to. Once I got to the base I snuck a peek around to see if anyone would see me climbing up the slat ladder on the back side. Judging the coast clear I shimmied up the weird ladder and crawled on my stomach across the floor of the stand. Shimming to the edge I peered out and got my gun ready, putting an extra thing of ammo beside me just in case. I had a feeling reloading while on my stomach in a permanent position like this was going to be difficult no matter how I swung it, but that this might be the easiest option. Sighting through my gun I picked off a fro topped shadow and knew I must have either hit him or come damn close because Ray moved away quickly after that.

I must of sat up there forever, picking shots off at Mikey’s team. I don’t want to brag but I do believe most of my shots hit true, well maybe not true but I do believe most of my shots at least hit the person I was aiming for. I had long since lost feeling in my elbows from staying in this position for so long, with them bent and my forearms up holding my gun. I only had to scurry back a few times when people tried shooting at the general direction of where I was. None that I knew came anywhere close to where I actually was. I was surprised they hadn’t sent one of them up they’re own stand to get a better level at me, but then again I didn’t know if the other team was working together as one or not.

“Come on Bob, rear your giant blonde head for me,” I spoke softly to myself, making sure I couldn’t be heard below.

“Beg me not to splatter your back in red,” I heard a voice grin from behind me.

“Shit,” I swore to myself. “Come now Mikey, I’m sure we could come to some agreement here,” I said, not moving my gun or my sight off of where I knew Bob was still hiding. There was no point in possibly losing my kill since I knew I was screwed when it came to escaping Mikey this time. Double shit.

“I like begging better. Maybe get you on your knees. Looking up at me with those big. . .”

“Now!” I heard Gerard shout, interrupting Mikey. I had no idea what the hell he was talking about but I just closed my eyes as tight as I could and pulled my trigger as fast as possible, as much as possible.

I kept my eyes closed and kept shooting and I knew I was hitting Bob because I could hear him swearing. Though how I could hear him swearing amidst all of the other pandemonium going on around me I don’t know. I do know that I didn’t feel any shots in my back, which had to be a good sign for me If not for my team as well. I did also hear a lot of swearing come from Mikey which lead me to also believe it was good for my team.

“Game, set, match!” I heard Gerard yell.

I sensed the lights come fully on and opened my scrunched up eyes to look around me. Looking down I saw Bob where I had guessed him to be, splattered with green and I knew it couldn’t be all from me. Especially since he wasn’t facing me dead on. Following where Bob was looking I saw Frankie off to my right, waving emphatically at me up in the stand. I did a little wave back before looking else where. Standing to Bob’s left a few feet was Ray, almost as if he was suppose to be guarding Bob’s back. Fat good that did him, especially since Ray was aimed away from anyone shooting at Bob. I followed Ray’s line of sight and saw that it landed on a commando looking K.C. who was aimed with a deadly look at Ray still. And by the looks of how K.C. was standing she wasn’t Ray’s actual target, Gerard had been! From the looks of things K.C. had stepped in and covered Gerard’s back and kept Ray busy dodging her own green paintballs! I never knew she had it in her and I was guessing by Ray’s face he hadn’t either! That left Gerard. I found him and almost startled a bit when I saw his gun aiming directly up at me, his eyes still squinted like he was aiming even though the lights were on and the game had been called. That’s when I remembered that Mikey had been behind me. Rolling up onto my side I looked behind me to see a dripping Swamp Thing where Mikey had once stood.

“I don’t do well with begging anyway,” I grinned wolfishly up at him before sliding along the floor and down the ladder so I could go and throw myself at Gerard.

“Did we win, did we win?” I asked as I threw my arms around Gerard’s neck, causing him to finally lower his gun from his younger brother.

“We won,” Gerard sad with a soft grin, most of his words getting muffled in my bandana covered hair. I hope he didn’t walk away with any more green on his face then there already was because of it.

“We won! We won! We WON!” Frankie chorused as he danced his way over to mine and Gerard’s lopsided hug, making it a group hug.

“I accidentally shot myself in the foot,” K.C. added nonchalantly as she joined in our victory group hug.

“But you sure as hell can shoot!” Gerard added with a grin as he ruffled K.C.’s blonde and blue hair.

“I mostly just close my eyes and hope,” K.C. said sheepishly as Frankie kissed the side of her head in victory.

“I think this calls for a celebratory trip to the bar eh?” Bob asked as he came up to pat us all on the backs. It made me like him even more then before, I never did care for sore losers. Though I didn’t think Bob had it in him to be anything other than charitable, honest, solid, caring and everything else a sore loser couldn’t possibly be.

“I thinks drinks are most definitely called for. All in favor say aye!” Gerard called out above my head.

“AYE!” seven voices chorused loudly in reply.

Notes

Wee hoo for awesome paintball!!!