Jongin had seen that look on Luhan's face all through junior high, senior high, college and his working life. That look meant trouble, no two ways about it. Jongin didn't even know Kim Jongdae but he couldn't help feeling sorry for him, because all the signs indicated that Luhan was determined to prove to the unsuspecting Yixing that he was far more trouble than Jongdae could ever dream of being.

 

The glare from the afternoon sun was so blinding that Jongin had to squint to make out the figure walking unhurriedly in their direction. Natural inquisitiveness radiated from Jongdae as he looked around the field, absorbing his surroundings. Based on what he'd seen of the guy at MeyerCorp and what he'd heard Kyungsoo and his friends say about Jongdae, Jongin was expecting nothing less than mayhem to ensue when Luhan and him finally came into each other's orbit. 

 

"Hyung, I can't watch." Jongin whispered and Kyungsoo turned to face him with an identical look of trepidation, "I can't either." Their hands came up to cover their faces as Jongdae came closer and closer to their circle.

 

"So you're one of the accountant's reserves, huh?" Luhan fired the first shot and Jongin couldn't stop himself from punching him lightly on the arm, "Stop calling him that! His name is Kyungsoo." Luhan completely ignored him, of course.

 

"Who are you?" Jongdae gave Luhan a level stare before surveying the others - stopping when his gaze fell on Jongin, "Oh, I know you! You're that delivery guy who brought flowers for Kyungsoo the other day,"

 

"Deliv-?!" Sehun managed to get out before Jongin gave him a warning kick in the ankle, "But hyung, I'm the ..." But Sehun never finished the sentence - silenced abruptly by Jongin's death stare. Kyungsoo gave him a questioning look and Jongin tried his best to shrug nonchalantly, not wanting him to suspect anything. 

 

"Who are you again?" Jongdae threw Luhan a somewhat challenging look, which the latter returned with a sarcastically raised eyebrow. By now all the staff of IN BLOOM, Xiumin, and Kyungsoo and his friends were unashamedly gawking as the drama unfolded.

 

Jongin heard Yixing whisper to Kyungsoo, "Fifty bucks says Jongdae will be lying on the ground bleeding in two minutes tops."

 

"That's really loyal of you, Yixing." Kyungsoo shook his head, trying not to chuckle.

 

"I'm with Yixing. I know a superior troll when I see one and this dude has our Darth beat. I can feel it in my gut." Baek joined in the whispering.

 

"I ... can't disagree. I think Jongdae may have met his match." Junmyeon whispered sadly. 

 

"I can ing hear you!" Jongdae suddenly whipped his head in their direction and gave them a venomous look while Luhan sniggered. He tried his best to look vicious at least, but his features were just too congenial. Even Sambuca-hangover tainted skin wasn't enough to make Jongdae look halfway intimidating, and none of his friends looked particularly cowed. Jongin shook his head - this whole scene was getting a little too melodramatic. He was almost expecting lightning, thunder and gale force winds to materialize next - it had become just that farcical.

 

"So who are you again?" Jongdae asked, voice strident.

 

"Luhan. Pleased to meet you," Luhan took the opposite tact, voice smooth and manner urbane - which naturally took some of the wind out of Jongdae's aggressive sails, "I'm the one who organized today's paintball session. And you are ...?"

 

"Kim Jongdae. I'm one of Kyungsoo's friends." He sounded disgruntled as he introduced himself.

 

"Ah, so you must be an ... accountant too?" 

 

Before Jongdae had a chance to take offense - and he definitely would have because Luhan had somehow managed to make the word 'accountant' sound more like 'sanitation worker' - two extremely tall men dressed all in black arrived on the scene.

 

"Tao! Kris!" Jongin greeted gratefully.

 

"Hi everyone, sorry we're late," Kris interrupted the confrontation before it had a chance to really erupt - and knowing intuitive Kris, he'd probably been more than aware of what had been going down before he'd sliced through the tension. He suddenly noticed Junmyeon standing a few feet to Jongin's left and reacted with surprise, "Jun! How'd you end up here?" 

 

"Jongin asked me to sub for him but he showed up in the end." Junmyeon smiled.

 

"So many new faces, are we doing introductions or what?" Tao suggested as he waved amiably at Kyungsoo and his friends. Jongin had to shrug off his shy nature as he quickly introduced "the new faces" to Xiumin, his co-workers and his next-door neighbors. Fortunately, he pulled it off with no ensuing drama as Luhan and Jongdae seemed to have decided to suspend hostilities. For the moment at least.

 

Tao stood beside Jongin and gestured towards Kyungsoo who was bent on one knee, retying his shoelaces, "Is that ...?"

 

"Yeah," Jongin nodded, smiling. He pulled Kyungsoo over, "Hyung, come and meet Tao properly. He's my next door neighbor. Remember I told you Kris and him are like my de facto big brothers?" And Kyungsoo smiled warmly at Tao - almost as if he'd already made up his mind beforehand to like the Chinese photographer. 

 

As his nostrils were invaded by the asive fragrance of Pep-O-Mint, Jongin warned firmly, "Sehun-ah, you'd better spit that out before the match starts or you might just end up choking on it."

 

"Hyung, can I ask your accountant something?" Sehun ignored the wry advice. 

 

"Will everyone stop calling him that? His name is Kyungsoo!" Jongin looked and sounded annoyed and Kyungsoo snorted in amusement behind him. 

 

"You must be Sehun?" Kyungsoo moved forward so he was standing closer to Jongin, their shoulders just touching.

 

"Yep. I'm Jongin's cousin - and no matter what he may have told you, I am not bratty.  A little boisterous maybe, but not bratty. Promise. So anyway, I wanted to ask you ... um, your friend Baekhyun - is he seeing anyone? Does he have a ... girlfriend? Or maybe ... a boyfriend?" Jongin observed Sehun's directness with a mixture of awe, respect and horror. He could never be that confident.

 

"Er, no, he isn't seeing anyone as far as I know. And I don't think he has a ... boyfriend. Why don't I introduce you guys properly?" Kyungsoo started waving Baekhyun over. 

 

"Okay, people! People! I'm getting a little disturbed. This is starting to look like a cocktail party. Can we remember we are here to shoot people, please - not have cosy chats with them. Let's start forming teams now. Tao and Kris, you're officially forbidden to be on the same team because you're too lethal together. Not having it." Luhan's powerful voice seemed to project clear across the field and everyone started clustering into two groups. Jongin tried not to look too obvious about sticking close to Kyungsoo but Luhan was in a generous mood apparently as he didn't pry them apart and put them on opposing sides.

 

His team position secure, Jongin looked around and picked Chanyeol out from the crowd - which wasn't hard considering he was about a head taller than all the people nearest to him. It was a revelation. He'd worked with the guy for three years and he couldn't remember ever seeing him smile more than five or six times - that is really smile so it reached his eyes. But here he was, smiling so it reached his eyes and the person he was directing that rare smile at was Kim Junmyeon.

 

"What's so interesting?" Kyungsoo placed his hand on Jongin's elbow. 

 

"It's Chanyeol, hyung." He pointed out the tall, thin man with the riotous mop of copper curls, "He hardly ever smiles. He's quite moody usually, but he's hardly stopped smiling since Junmyeon hyung got here. It's ... nice."

 

"Yes, it is. Jun is pretty upbeat but yeah, he seems happier than usual too."

 

"I'm glad." Jongin said quietly as he watched the two men interact a while longer, "Yeol is too serious for someone his age. And if Junmyeon hyung makes him smile, well ... It's nice."

 

"You're letting your romantic side show again," Kyungsoo smiled, giving Jongin's elbow an almost imperceptible squeeze. 

 

"No, I'm not." Jongin insisted but even he didn't look convinced.

 

"Your cousin is trying to chat up Baek." Kyungsoo chuckled.

 

"Oh God, noooo. He's a brat. You'd better warn Baekhyun. And he's more than a little hyperactive - he drives Luhan up the wall even. I think he's the only one who's ever managed to make Luhan lose his cool."

 

"It's still early days yet. You haven't seen Jongdae in action yet. Give him a little time and he might just make Luhan lose it too - he's trying to shake a Sambuca hangover and your best friend seems like a formidable opponent. But your cousin and Baek ... hmm, the prospect is kind of cute. Baek is a very chill guy so hyperactivity won't faze him. Not much does." Kyungsoo was grinning now.

 

"Hyung, Sehun is really hyper. And persistent. Really persistent. I'm pretty chill and even then I want to ask him to just stop sometimes. If they hook up and things don't work out, I'm not being held responsible. Can I just say that up front first?"

 

"No one's going to blame you if he's too much for Baek to handle. We're all adults here. But I honestly can't tell right now if Baek is interested. They seem to be laughing quite a bit though. Looks promising."

 

"TOO MUCH TALKING! Match time in T minus ten minutes! EVERYBODY LISTEN UP. RULES!" Luhan bellowed and everyone stopped in mid-conversation - shocked into silence by the sheer volume of Luhan's voice. His best friend would have been perfect for the Broadway stage, Jongin thought, if not for the fact that he was utterly and unapologetically tone deaf.

 

After the equipment had been handed out - masks, guns, paintballs etcetera - and rules for their elimination game reviewed, Luhan rubbed his hands excitedly.

 

"We need two team leaders. I'll volunteer for my side unless anyone else wants to do it?" 

 

"NOOOOOO." Jongin, Kyungsoo, Yixing, Tao and Xiumin chorused loudly.

 

"Ok then! Delta Blue Team Leader Luhan reporting for duty. Any takers for Omega Green Team? Kris?" Luhan looked expectantly at the tallest player on the field.

 

"I'll do it." A voice wafted from somewhere behind Kris and Luhan gave a mischievous grin as he identified the owner of the voice. 

 

"Ok, Omega Green Team Leader is Kim Jongdae. Leaders have three minutes to strategize with team members and then GAME ON!" Luhan's cry reeked of bloodthirst and Jongin shook his head warily.

 

"Didn't I say it was going to be a bloodbath?" Jongin turned to look at Kyungsoo, and the other man just laughed. It was going to be an interesting afternoon. 

 

 

A/N Omg, guys I'm so sorry this chapter so monumentally but I really have no idea how to write so many people on the page all at once. Epic fail /sobs. Hopefully you won't all abandon me after this :(. Oh, and I've never played paintball in my life so my most sincere apologies if I get wrong, ok? SORRY SORRY SORRY (no pun intended, SuJu) this chapter so so so bad /runs off to hide in shame ...

 

PS: Isn't that ChenLu picture perfect? Just imagine Luhan's vest is blue and Chen's green and you're all set!