It was time for lunch, the twelve boys meeting up with each other as usual and finding the biggest table they could, eating together and discussing their activities. Apparently, the other half of the group had been given the task of orienteering which was, in the words of Kai, “so boring, it’s untrue”. However, with the leadership skills of Suho and D.O, they completed their task fairly quickly and beat the other half of their group, reaching the end of the course in a faster time. Xiumin and Chen managed to get lost for about three minutes but they were found when Lay back-tracked and took the opposite turning. Back safe and sound, they were all enjoying sitting down and not having to read any maps or get trapped in any big mud puddles. Lay’s tracksuit pants were still covered in drying mud, splashes of brown up the sides and the back where he’d kicked it up.

Finishing their food, the teachers told the students to meet in the main hall once again to receive instructions on the rumoured mystery group challenge. The twelve made guesses about what the task could be, thinking of a mud fight, a hunger games-style fight to the “death” and a scavenger hunt involving a cash prize, before Kris revealed what the activity actually was. He’d been told by students in the year above that it was a paintball session, involving all of the students and the teachers too. There were four teams – red, blue, yellow and green. The teams were split randomly, friendship groups tagging together with other friendship groups and forming a single unit. Each team had a leader, one of the teachers, and the aim was to capture all the opposing team’s flags without getting shot and, therefore, metaphorically killed. Chanyeol started to clap like a loon, loving this challenge already, despite the fact that it hadn’t even started. The teachers began to divide the teams as soon as everyone was in the hall. It ended up with Luhan, Sehun, Lay and Suho in the blue team, Kai, D.O, Kris and Tao in the red team, Chanyeol and Baekhyun in the yellow team and Chen and Xiumin in the green team. They agreed not to be too hard on each other, saying how a little bit of friendly competition was healthy and that it should be fun.

The year group was led outside by the staff and over to a large forest area, trees and shrubs everywhere, making for great hiding places. Suho and Lay immediately started discussing tactics, locating the best areas to wait for the other teams. Chanyeol bent down and collected some wet mud in his fingers, drawing lines under his eyes like an army soldier, wanting to do the same to Baekhyun too. The shorter male pushed Chanyeol’s hands away and told him that the mud was disgusting. Chanyeol just laughed and attacked Baekhyun, holding his wrists together with one hand while applying the mud with the other, ignoring the older boy’s screams of protest. By the end of the civil attack, Baekhyun had a dot of mud on his nose and three lines on each cheek, forming muddy whiskers for the poor bullied boy. Tao asked if he was allowed to use Wushu on the enemy teams but Kris forbade him from doing so, saying that any injuring caused intentionally by their group would result in disqualification, D.O adding that it would also get them into serious trouble when they got back to school. Chen and Xiumin weren’t too bothered and agreed to just head deep into the forest together and rest until the game was over, meaning that they would probably get lost again and have to call for help for someone to save them.

Everyone got suited up with a paintball gun, protective goggles and a tough jacket to prevent injury to the chest. The pupils were told that only a shot to the chest or back area would count as a hit and that once you were hit, you were out and you had to come out of the arena and sit on the grass of the field until the game was finished. There were stations set up in the forest where they could reload on paintball pellets if they needed to but, obviously, you had to go at your own risk as you would probably get shot at if you exposed yourself for too long. The four flags were spread out at the four corners of the forest, the red flag in the upper left corner, the blue flag in the upper right, the yellow flag down in the lower right and the green flag in the lower left. It didn’t matter who got the flag from each team but you had to collect all flags from the other teams and take them back to your base. You were allowed to have people guarding your flags but no one was allowed to hold it. You could just stand around it or next to it. All clear on the rules, the students tested out their paintball guns, firing them at the floor or at some nearby trees, amused by the effect it had.

A horn sounded, signalling the start of the game and the students started to run towards their bases, eager to find where their flags were located so that they could protect them.

While everyone else was running off in diagonals towards their coloured flags, Chen and Xiumin began to walk straight ahead into the trees, turning left and strolling leisurely through the forest.

“How’s your Chinese?” Xiumin asked after a while, continuing their conversation from earlier in the day when they were discussing the language skills they had.

Chen shrugged, “It’s alright, I guess. Not great.”

“Say something.”

“What?”

“Anything,” Xiumin smiled, walking slowly, stepping over branches and vines, “Talk about your family in Chinese.”

Chen grinned, “That’s easy!”

He went on to talk about his family, saying that he had a father, a mother, an older brother and, of course, himself. He seemed pleased with his performance once he had finished.

“Not bad. Your accent’s pretty good, in fact,” Xiumin complimented, surprised at Chen’s oral skills.

They reached a clearing and walked over to a fallen tree, sitting on the horizontal trunk.

“Now your turn,” Chen said, turning to Xiumin.

“For what?”

“To speak in Chinese.”

“I don’t know what to talk about,” Xiumin chuckled nervously. He wasn’t fond of speaking Chinese in front of people. It was embarrassing. What if he messed up or stuttered?

“Just say whatever. Talk about what you see around you.”

Xiumin nodded and paused for a second, thinking of what he could talk about with at least some fluency. He decided on a subject and began speaking, the words flowing together nicely with only one or two pauses for thought. Once he was done, Chen clapped and gave him a ‘thumbs up’, smiling.

“That was awesome!” he praised the shorter male, “What did you say though? I could only understand a few words.”

Xiumin shook his head, blushing a little, “It was all nonsense really. Just ramblings.”

“You said something about eyes, I know that much. Something about clothes, as well?” Chen ventured, trying to guess the content of his friend’s little speech.

Xiumin nodded but said nothing.

“Come on~” Chen whined, patting Xiumin’s knee, “Tell me what you said.”

Clearing his throat, Xiumin finally explained the Chinese words he had uttered.

“I said that you are really nice and I was glad to have met you. I also said that you have really nice eyes and your fashion sense is good. I said I was lucky to have you as my friend, despite the fact that we hadn’t known each other for that long.”

Chen’s eyes widened slightly after Xiumin had stopped, surprised that the older male had been talking about him. Well, he did tell Xiumin to talk about what he saw and, being as though Chen was right in front of him, it was a pretty easy subject to describe. Still, he was flattered by the comments Xiumin had made and decided to pull the shorter one in for a quick hug, squeezing his shoulders and thanking him for the compliments. Xiumin smiled and hugged back for a moment, pulling away and looking down at the floor, embarrassed.

Back in the game, the green team had already lost their flag to the blues, their leader (Miss Kim) having been killed off by a small group of attacking red shooters. D.O and Lay had also been killed off by members of their enemy teams, the two of them now sitting on the grass, pulling up the green strands out of boredom. They were covered in paint, the capsules having burst upon contact with their protective jackets and spurting up to dye their jawlines in rainbow colours. Suho came walking out of the forest moments later, dripping with red paint and looking like he’d actually been shot. He dragged his feet as he neared the other two boys, flopping down on the floor and lying on his back, looking up at the clouds.

“You got hit?” Lay asked, even though the answer was obvious, “You were doing so well.”

Suho laughed, “I did a suicide mission. I ran to get more ammo for the team and got killed in the process.”

“Why did you volunteer for that?” D.O came in to join the conversation, “Weren’t you having fun?”

The older male shrugged, “It got boring after Lay got killed. I didn’t really know anyone on my team so I just wanted to get out of there. Plus, Kris and Kai are taking it pretty seriously. From what I’ve heard, they’re brutal. I got killed by some of their team mates so I guess I’m lucky.”

D.O nodded, “Yeah, they’re pretty competitive. Kris shot me, even though I was on his own team, because he thought I was hindering them and holding them back. That’s why I’ve got red paint on me too.”

“Ouch,” Lay commented, lying down next to Suho and joining him in cloud-watching.

Deep within the forest, Sehun and Luhan were standing side by side, guarding their blue flag from any approaching enemies. There were about seven other guards surrounding the flag, making it practically impenetrable.

“My legs are hurting,” Luhan whined, “I don’t like standing still for so long.”

“Do you wanna go off and shoot some people?” Sehun asked, taking Luhan’s hand and squeezing it gently.

Luhan shook his head, facing the younger male, “I wanna stay with you.”

“Let’s go together then,” Sehun smiled and called over to some nearby blue team members, “Hey, can you switch with us? We’re bored and we wanna run for a bit.”

The two tired blues nodded, thankful for a bit of a rest from rushing around, away from the opposing teams. They swapped places with Sehun and Luhan, the two boys heading off into the trees, guns in hand. Sehun led the way with Luhan following close behind. They came across a few of the yellow team and shot them in the back, ‘killing’ them. They shouted in victory and continued on to find more potential victims. Spotting a group of three greens, they crouched down behind some tall shrubs and poked their guns through the leaves, aiming at the nearest two and shooting them down easily. They quickly aimed at the final green member and both shot his chest, teaming up to take him down. Sehun turned to Luhan and gave him a high-five before jumping up and running off again, in search of more kills.

Kai shot four of the blue team, one after the other, Kris taking the three yellows that approached them. They were guarding a stolen stash of paintballs from the opposing teams, stopping anyone who tried to get near them. Tao was up a tree, shooting from above and getting any of the pupils who tried to slip past Kris and Kai’s blind spots. Suddenly, to everyone’s surprise, Kai was shot in the back. He spun around and prepared to glare at the person who had kicked him out of the game. It was Sehun, sticking his tongue out at the older boy as Luhan stayed protected behind his back. Kai aimed his gun and shot Sehun square in the chest several times before throwing the gun down on the floor and storming off. Sehun’s eyes were wide for a second before he called out to the angry male, disappearing into the trees.

“Hey! That doesn’t count, Kai!” he yelled, “You’re dead! You can’t shoot me!”

Kai stuck his middle finger up at the younger one and carried on out of the forest to sit with the others.

Luhan bit his lip, “Is he mad?”

Sehun shrugged and held Luhan’s wrist, tugging the boy away before Kris or Tao had a chance to shoot them out of the battle. Luhan got hit but not in the target area. He felt a sharp sting on his right calf where the paint capsule had hit and then burst, soiling his pants with red paint courtesy of Kris’s gun.

“Ow!” he screamed, “These things hurt!”

He carried on running with Sehun, the two boys passing by Chanyeol and Baekhyun who were stalking through some tall grass, spying on Mr. Park and preparing to shoot him down together. They took aim and fired, hitting the teacher in the back. He swung around and yelled at the two boys, complaining that he was on their team. Chanyeol laughed, looking embarrassed.

“Sorry, sir,” he apologised as Mr. Park walked off.

Baekhyun hit his boyfriend on the back of the head.

“Idiot,” he scolded, “I thought you told me Mr. Lee was our team leader, not Mr. Park.”

“I thought he was,” Chanyeol stated in his defence.

The game dragged on for almost another hour, the sun falling slowly in the sky and casting long, eerie shadows within the confines of the forest. One by one, the teams fell and, soon, the field became crowded with ‘dead’ students and staff members. Miss Liu was the only teacher left standing, representing the blue team. Sehun and Luhan had been killed, Tao finally taking revenge for the death of Kai, along with Baekhyun, Chen and Xiumin, the latter two being ambushed by a screaming group of girls and getting pelted with yellow and blue paint. Baekhyun had been killed by Chanyeol’s incompetence. The shorter boy had been stung by some thorns on a branch and, as Chanyeol was hugging him to make him feel better, the taller male had accidentally fired his gun and shot Baekhyun in the back. Chanyeol apologised insanely, begging for his life but Baekhyun just laughed and asked Chanyeol to promise a win for the yellow team. The hyperactive one gave a salute and promised that he would do his best. However, up against Kris and Tao, he didn’t stand too much of a chance. Tao ran from one direction and Kris came from the other, both of them firing randomly in hope of hitting Chanyeol’s chest or back. He was defeated after only four shots and was forced to go out and face his boyfriend, a failure to his promise. His head was hung low as he trudged over to the group of boys, expecting to be met with a chorus of ‘boo’s and a stern look from Baekhyun. Instead, he was given a hero’s welcome, the others clapping and cheering for him, Baekhyun waiting with a smile on his face and his arms open wide. Chanyeol ran into them, embracing the smaller boy back.

“You did well, yeobo~” Baekhyun cooed, nuzzling the taller one’s neck, “I’m proud of you.”

They broke apart after a moment and shared a sweet kiss, not noticing that the teachers were staring at them after the commotion they caused with their cheers and loud shouts.

A few more minutes passed and Miss Liu stepped out, disappointed about being killed off but glad to be able to rest. The students cheered for her and she bowed dramatically, giving her thanks through blown kisses and flying hearts.

Another short burst of silence before a second horn sounded, indicating that the game was over and there was a winner. The pupils waiting with anticipation to see which team had been victorious. The ten boys sitting in their little clique had a fairly good idea. As predicted, Kris and Tao strode out from between the trees, a flag in each hand and their guns slung lazily across their backs. Their arms and legs were splattered with all four colours of paint but their chests and backs remained clean, showing that they hadn’t been shot and were, therefore the victors of the game. A couple of the instructors from previous activities came over to give Kris and Tao their prizes, a tin of small, individually wrapped chocolates each, and to present the red team’s leader with a little plastic trophy. Mr. Lee took it proudly and patted the boys on the back, congratulating them on their valiant efforts and good teamwork.

Once everyone had calmed down, Mr. Park announced that the students had twenty minutes to go and get cleaned up before they would be called for a quick afternoon meal. Taking the opportunity, all twelve boys made their way back to their dorm rooms, those who needed to taking quick showers and those who didn’t simply changing their clothes and washing their faces, cleaning themselves of any remaining paint specks. They met up again outside the canteen, ready to get food after such an unexpectedly tiring activity. Even if they weren’t running the whole time, the adrenaline really drained the energy from the boys, making them need food more than they thought. They ate quickly and met with the teachers for the final time. The students would be heading back to school in about half an hour so they had to get themselves packed up and ready to leave by four. The coaches were leaving at quarter past four and everyone had to be on the vehicles at that time. They were expected to reach school at around half six to seven at night, taking the traffic into consideration.

Splitting up, the boys made their way over to their dorm rooms and started to pack their things up. It took them about twenty minutes to get their stuff together and to check that they hadn’t forgotten anything. Baekhyun had even made a list of all the things he’d packed so that he could read it through and check off each item as he placed it back into his bag. They did one final search, in the wardrobes and cupboards and under the beds, before dragging their luggage out to the front of the centre. The students were told to strip their bed sheets and leave them outside the door, locking each dorm room and giving the keys back to the teachers as they left. They were sad to leave, even though it hadn’t been a long trip. Still, it was like a mini holiday for most and it had been pretty enjoyable. Also, to add to the pain, they were starting school the next day, not even given a day or a morning to recover from the activities.

Loading the luggage onto the coaches, they stepped aboard the vehicles and took their seats. They were in the same groups as when they had arrived so they sat next to the same people. Sehun offered Luhan his shoulder to sleep on again for the duration of the journey and the doe eyed boy gladly accepted, leaning down and getting comfortable as the coach started rolling along the road, heading back to school.

Two and a half hours later, the coaches had arrived back at the school, three vehicles of tired teenagers aboard. They piled off the coaches and walked around the back to collect their cases. Some parents had turned up to collect their sons and daughters but the others were left to catch the school buses, scheduled for a later pick-up time purely for the older students, to make their way home. The pupils split again and said how they were looking forward to seeing each other the following morning, even if it was at school. They made their way to their buses or cars and set off on their way home, fairly pleased to be back after such a tiring weekend, able to sleep as soon as they were back at their houses.

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A/N:
Hey everyone!
I'm sorry that I haven't updated in a while.
I've been on a 4-day trip with my Uni.
We went to an outdoor activity centre, actually, like in this story :P
It was fun but I'm glad to be back now and able to upload stuff again.
Hope you're enjoying it so far~
I'm almost up to where I left this fic off in 2012 so I'll have to actually work on writing new material soon... Hopefully I'm not too rusty :/