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Playing paintball was not supposed to go this way.
Even organizing that day was a task and a half. First of all, there were just five of them, so they needed a sixth member. Sure, theoretically any of them could have backed out from it, but that was never going to happen. So, they had to find a sixth person to break even.
Thankfully Bai Haotian was happy to help out.
She appeared in the gravitational pull of Wu Xie after the five of them did, but very quickly established herself as a force to be reckoned with both out there on the field and their personal life.
“Are you sure you’ll be good at this?”
Shen Qiong asked Xiao Bai while dressing up for the game, and Bai Haotian just smirked a little.
“Well you’ll just have to wait and see! You think I’ll be an easy target?”
“Oh, I wouldn’t make the mistake of underestimating the Director of Warehouse 11.”
“And I wouldn’t make a mistake of underestimating a former Wang operative,” Xiao Bai grinned, her eyes shining. “So we are even!”
Really, everything started off normal.
They could easily split themselves into two groups.
Li Cu, Yang Hao and Xiao Bai in one group.
Wang Can, Su Wan and Shen Qiong in the other one.
The logistics were simple - both groups took up one of the less experienced fighters, in an attempt to balance the team out. Su Wan insisted he learnt a lot from his training sessions, and Xiao Bai kept insisting she is not to be underestimated, but this way of splitting up the teams seemed reasonable.
They made the rules clear - no headshots, no blind shooting. Try to keep all limbs intact. Don’t go out of bounds.
There is no elimination. The team with the most hits in total wins when time’s up.
Seemed reasonable enough.
So… how did it end up in total chaos?
The fact that Su Wan was surprisingly quick on his feet was one thing. He did pick up a lot during his training with Hei Yanjing.
So that was one thing.
None of them was really expecting what Bai Haotian ended up doing.
She was fast.
She was short, and quick, jumping out from behind corners, and disappearing again. Shen Qiong had heard rumors that Warehouse 11 included a lot of running, so that shouldn’t have been surprising.
Which meant that Bai Haotian was a ruthless menace with the paintball gun in her hands. She didn’t think that she’d spend most of her time running from her.
She was terrifying, and she’d pop up where you’d least expect her.
“So. Recap. How the hell did we end up like this?”
Shen Qiong was cursed with her current teammates, seeing as Wang Can was passed out on the floor, and Su Wan was nervously holding onto his gun as if his life depended on it.
“I panicked,” Su Wan whispered.
“You… panicked.”
“He was in hiding, shooting at Ya Li, because you know, sniper and all, and suddenly she popped up from nowhere, and I panicked, so I knocked Can-ge out to drag him to safety.”
“Su Wan. For fuck’s sake. We are playing paintball. You didn’t have to drag him to safety!”
“As I said! I panicked! Director Bai is very scary.”
Shen Qiong sighed, massaging her temple.
“Alright. Game plan. You wake him up, and you two take care of Ya Li and Hao-ge. Can you do that?”
Su Wan nodded enthusiastically, lifting his gun.
“Does this mean you are going to deal with Director Bai?”
Shen Qiong nodded, securing her grip on her own gun.
Time to go out to hunt.
Shen Qiong was aware that the boys devolved into their own little war around the arena.
She had a target - and that target was Bai Haotian. Apparently she was terrifying enough to scare or at least scare her teammates, so Shen Qiong had to find her.
“Xiao Bai~ Director Bai~ Where are you~”
Shen Qiong was singing, flattening herself against a wall.
“Shen Qiong? Is that you?”
Shen Qiong was on high alert.
“Can you help me a bit? I think I hurt my leg.”
Now that was concerning, so she came out of hiding - and Bai Haotian was indeed sitting on the ground, cradling her leg, her gun in her lap.
…in hindsight, it should have been alarming. She knew enough of gun safety. She should have noticed it.
But Bai Haotian sitting on the floor, looking distressed, somehow disarmed the alarms in Shen Qiong’s mind, and she just walked closer.
“Are you alright?”
She should have seen it coming. She really should have.
Because as soon as she got close enough, Bai Haotian grabbed her gun, and pulled the trigger - hitting Shen Qiong straight on her chest.
She yelped, and Bai Haotian jumped to her feet, starting to run - and Shen Qiong aimed and shot on her leg, making her trip.
“That was a naughty thing to do, Director Bai.”
She hurried over, aiming her gun again, and Bai Haotian just lunged forward, grabbing Shen Qiong’s leg, making her fall with a yelp.
There was a struggle for the guns, and it was hard to tell what was happening - and suddenly there were a pair of lips on Shen Qiong’s.
Her brain short-circuited from Haotian’s kiss, and she instinctively kissed back - and that’s when her grip on her gun and then—
And then Bai Haotian pulled the trigger, and it hit Shen Qiong on her thigh this time, and it was burning, and she yelped out.
And then the alarms rang through the arena.
Time was up.
In the end, Shen Qiong’s team lost. Not by a lot - apparently the battle between the boys got really ruthless as well while she was on the hunt for Bai Haotian, so it was really only by a small margin.
Wang Can was predictably fuming about being knocked out, and Su Wan was very apologetically pawing on his jacket. All in all, all four of them looked like they went through the grinder.
Not that the girls looked any better.
Director Bai’s hit-it-and-quit-it strategy meant that she was the least bruised, but while they were getting changed, Shen Qiong could see the bruises were already forming on her skin as well.
And well, Shen Qiong had a bunch of them.
The one on the inner thigh, the last hit she had taken - that was especially painful.
And meanwhile Bai Haotian was chattering.
“This was a lot of fun. I think we should do it again! Maybe next time we should get more people we know - there are definitely a lot of people who should relieve their frustrations like this.”
“So you could kiss more people?”
Bai Haotian giggled - she actually had the audacity to giggle behind her.”
“Well - it worked didn’t it? But, to be honest with you… this is not how I imagined it happening.”
Shen Qiong turned around - she already changed her shirt, but her legs were still bare, as she walked over to Bai Haotian, putting up her leg on the bench next to her, raising her eyebrows.
“Well, look at this. Look at what you’ve done! Is this how you imagined it, Xiao Bai?”
The bruise was already forming on Shen Qiong’s inner thigh.
There was a playful glint in Bai Haotian’s eyes.
“Want me to kiss it better?”
“I think that would be the least you could do!”
She didn’t really think Bai Haotian would do it.
And yet, she gently hooked an arm around Shen Qiong’s leg, and softly pressed her lips to the bruise on his skin, sending shivers up Shen Qiong’s entire body.
“Feeling better?” Xiao Bai asked her, teasing, and Shen Qiong smirked.
“I have more bruises.”
“Ah, right. I shot you here as well, didn’t I?”
Xiao Bai pushed Shen Qiong’s shirt up a little, exposing her stomach, pressing a kiss to another bruise there, making Shen Qiong laugh out from the ticklish sensation.
“Actually, I think Yang Hao shot me there - this one over here, that one’s you,” She said, pointing to another bruise.
And Bai Haotian leaned over, pressing another kiss to the bruise, and Shen Qiong pulled away, and Xiao Bai just let out the cutest whining sound.
“I hit you on your back, didn’t i?”
Xiao Bai immediately lit up.
“Yes! Yes you did!”
“Well then, turn around.”
She did so, obediently, and Shen Qiong just pulled her shirt up, seeing the bruises on her skin - they were all going to be in so much pain tomorrow, but right now, she didn’t care.
“Oh my. I have no idea which one was me. Well, better to make sure I got the right one.”
So she just pressed soft kisses all over Bai Haotian’s back - her arms touching her waist, her stomach, and she could feel her breathing becoming uneven, as Shen Qiong kept pressing kisses over her skin.
When she thoroughly kissed all of her bruises, she pulled Xiao Bai closer to herself, pressing her back to her chest, and she could feel her gasp, especially as Shen Qiong whispered into her ear - she could no doubt feel Shen Qiong’s breath on her skin, and she was gently trembling in her arms.
“I gotta tell you, Director Bai,” Shen Qiong breathed. “I didn’t think you’d play that dirty.”
“So what? Are you here to punish me?” Bai Haotian’s voice was almost raspy, and Shen Qiong grinned, sliding her hands down on Xiao Bai’s body, touching her thigh.
“Maybe.”
Bai Haotian already had her pants on, but it was easy to flip the button open and slide her hand underneath, and the way Haotian gasped, grinding her hips against Shen Qiong’s touch made Shen Qiong want even more, she wanted to keep going, she wanted to—
There were hands banging on the door, and Shen Qiong jumped, pulling her hand back, suddenly remembering where they were, and Bai Haotian let out a displeased whine.
“Hey, what is taking you so long?!” Li Cu’s annoyed voice came in through the door. “We reserved a place for us at a pizza place. If we want to not lose our preservation, we gotta hurry! We are waiting for you!”
“We could have just ordered takeout,” Shen Qiong muttered, but she stood up, walking back to her own clothes.
She could see Bai Haotian sulking as she was also gathering herself, and Shen Qiong couldn’t help but smile.
Well.
Not exactly the kind of payback she had in mind, but it worked didn’t it?
And… who knows what will happen after they finish their pizza.
Not quite how this day was supposed to go, but Shen Qiong couldn’t wait for the next plot twist.