As Luhan began laying out the different phases of their team strategy, Kyungsoo's eyes wandered toward Jongin, who stood just a few inches beside him. He was dressed comfortably in baggy black shorts which ended at the knee, and a black tank top which draped loosely against his slim torso. Zephyr like currents of air were making the fabric flap in the most distracting fashion and Kyungsoo tried his best not to stare as the breeze alternated between making Jongin's shirt cling to his upper body, and lifting the edges of the fabric up to reveal tantalizing glimpses of toned, caramel hued abs.

 

As if the peekaboo ab display wasn't enough of a strain on his sanity, Kyungsoo was further tortured with a clear, uninterrupted view of the long, leanly muscled arms exposed by Jongin's loose tank. Kyungsoo wasn't sure he would even remember a word of what Luhan was volubly instructing his team members to do - so distracted was he by the oblivious young man standing next to him.

 

Just as Kyungsoo was reflecting on Jongin's oblivion, the other man turned around - smiling warmly at Kyungsoo as the wind whipped his hair into silky tangles. He mouthed, "Are you ok, hyung?" Perhaps not so oblivious after all, Kyungsoo thought as Jongin's smile made his heart beat ridiculously fast. It was a smile like the one he'd given his mom in the photograph Kyungsoo had seen earlier and it left him completely undone. He tried to look calm as he nodded yes to Jongin, when inside, he was desperately trying to erase mental images of toned caramel abs and lean, tanned arms. Focus, Do Kyungsoo, focus. Look at Luhan, not Jongin. Look at Luhan, not Jongin.

 

"Kim Jongin, are you even paying attention?" Luhan yelled accusingly, "I told you guys before! This is not a cocktail party or a high school prom, for the love of ... We are here to maim and shoot, not make googly eyes at each other!"

 

"We're not!" Jongin protested but Kyungsoo remained silent because technically, he had been doing exactly that when Luhan started yelling; and it was his policy to never lie except in the most dire of situations. Forcing himself to attend to the rest of the briefing, Kyungsoo studiously avoided staring at Jongin. It had been years since he'd last played paintball but already, he could feel the beginning rushes of adrenalin forming in his veins - his nerves and muscles strung tight as his body primed itself for fight mode.

 

The entire field was buzzing with random bolts of restless male energy as everyone began stretching and jogging in place. His eyes roamed the wide, green expanse before him and he easily spotted Jongdae (his failsafe technique was to always locate the source of the noise in any given area and he would usually find his friend in the thick of it) on the opposite end of the field. Maybe it was Kyungsoo's imagination but Jongdae's eyes seemed to be trained unwaveringly on the black wife beater-clad Luhan as he shouted out his team briefing. Kyungsoo had no inkling what Jongdae had planned but he had no doubt at all that it would involve the systematic decimation of Jongin's best friend. Persistence and determination were Jongdae's first and last name and Kyungsoo was really not looking forward to the bloodshed. He sighed, hoping everyone here survived with all their limbs intact.

 

He tried to bring his concentration back to Luhan's  pre-game briefing and vaguely registered standard instructions like "spread out", "try to hide behind obstacles", "stay away from the staging area" and "for the love of all that's holy do not get hit by anyone from the other side." As an afterthought, Luhan added that they should all try their best to keep as far away from Kris as possible because from previous experience, he could take down opponents with sniper like efficacy. Tao snickered at that.

 

"Taooooo! That's not funny. You'd better make sure you hit him first or he's going to give you about it for the next three months - if you're lucky. It could take two years for it to get old." Jongin warned.

 

Tao snorted, "Pfftt ... as if that old man could keep up with me." And Jongin laughed, his eyes twinkling mischievously as he teased Tao, "I should tell Kris you said that."

 

"Do your worst, kiddo, do your worst."  Tao gave Jongin a lazy, unconcerned smile and Jongin sighed exaggeratedly, "You're no fun."

 

"Oi! Don't lose focus! We are here to ANNIHILATE the six individuals on the other team. We do not have time for trash-talk, I want to see you guys actually take people down." Luhan shot Jongin and Tao disapproving looks before continuing, "Make sure you aim before you shoot please - I mean ALL of you." At this juncture he gave his boyfriend a reassuring pat on the shoulder, to which Xiumin said in droll tones, "Hey! I can shoot just fine. It was drizzling that day so I slipped on the mud."

 

Jongin whispered conspiratorially, "I think Xiumin is actually a better shot than most of us. I did target practice with him once and he hit almost every target. I think he misses on purpose sometimes just to get Luhan riled. You might have noticed Luhan is super competitive? Well,  Xiumin is always telling him it's a bad habit because it takes all the fun out paintball. Oh, Xiumin is Luhan's boyfriend by the way, but he doesn't take any from him. Not that Luhan gives him any - he is so gone on the guy." Kyungsoo nodded - amused at both the content of the gossip as well as the fact that Jongin now felt comfortable enough with him to share it.

 

"Kyungsoo and  Yixing, have you played before?" Luhan's voice was to-the-point and businesslike as he stared appraisingly at their two newest additions.

 

"We used to play together a lot in high school, so we should be able to avoid getting our asses killed ... for the first ten minutes at least." Yixing answered in that confident, relaxed manner he had. Kyungsoo always swore Yixing was born cool. Certain things just couldn't be learnt, and charisma was one of them.

 

Jongin whispered in disbelief, "Yixing was a math geek?"

 

"Nooooo, never. Yixing has always been an artistic, cool dude. He just happened to be best friends with a math geek who played a lot of paintball with other math geeks. That would be me." Kyungsoo laughed at his own lame joke and Jongin shook his head, sighing.

 

"Ok, overalls on, guys! And be quick about it! Don't waste time! And get your masks, helmets and rifles ready too." Luhan ordered. Luhan was incredibly bossy, Kyungsoo thought with amusement as he slipped on a the navy blue protective jersey and pants Luhan had distributed at the start of the briefing. It was no real surprise that shy Jongin would have the world's bossiest twentysomething as his best friend. Cosmic balance and all that.

 

"Kyungsoo has a gift for angles so he was our team sharpshooter - you might wanna let him range free." Yixing suddenly announced and Kyungsoo protested that he hadn't played in years and probably couldn't hit a Mack truck with any kind of accuracy. He gave Yixing a dirty look and groaned as Jongin nudged him - amusement written all over his tanned face, "Sharpshooter? When were you going to tell me, hyung?" And Kyungsoo felt himself turning an even brighter red shade of embarrassed.

 

"We have three sharpshooters? Scoooooooore!" Luhan shook his fist jubilantly.

 

"Kyungsoo, Tao ... Who's the third one?" Xiumin asked innocently.

 

"That would be me of course." Luhan looked genuinely offended. And this time it was Xiumin's turn to snigger. Before the Delta Blue Team leader could retort though, the Omega Green Team Leader shouted out his challenge.

 

"GAME ON OR WHAT?!" Jongdae's voice echoed across the playing field. 

 

"Ok, guys this is it ... IN 3, 2, 1 ... GAME ONNNNN!"

 

Squeezing Kyungsoo's smaller hand in his large, warm one, Jongin had just enough time to whisper "Good luck, hyung" before they scattered across the field like crows taking flight ...

 

* * *

 

For the next forty-five minutes, the players ranged stealthily cross the playing field - some more adept than others. Tao and Kris moved liked lethal ninjas - crouching and crawling and running swiftly on the balls of their feet. Most of the others did well enough but Chanyeol was the clumsiest followed by ... to Kyungsoo's great surprise, Kim Jongin. Everything he'd seen of him so far had hinted at graceful movement and adroitness, but Kyungsoo realized that elegant movement did not apply in the paintball arena where Jongin was concerned. It did not apply at. all. There was movement of course, but none of it was even remotely graceful.

 

As Kyungsoo missed shooting Jongdae by a hair, he saw Jongin barely avoid getting shot by Kris. To his mortification he realized that Jongin had narrowly escaped elimination only because he had tripped on the ground at just the right moment - not because he had employed some evasive maneuver. Kyungsoo shook his head, chuckling in disbelief. Who would've thought Jongin could be so uncoordinated? He was almost scared to watch as Jongin suddenly dropped to the ground behind a haystack - but he really couldn't stop himself from peering at him from his hiding place. Jongin carefully took aim with his rifle and released the trigger. A paintball sailed through the air and landed a few inches away from Baekhyun, but the latter had seen the projectile coming and leapt as high up and as far away as he could from the landing site. Well, at least Jongin was a pretty good marksman, Kyungsoo noted with relief - too bad Baek had nine lives.

 

Luhan and Jongdae were clearly out for blood and both were doing everything they could to get the other in their sights. They'd almost hit each other three times a piece - the paintball disintegrating just inches away while both players twisted their bodies acrobatically to avoid catching any flying paint drops. Jongdae's expression was getting more dogged and more determined as the afternoon wore on, and the sun climbed higher up the sky. Luhan, on the other hand, looked focused and relaxed. The two men seemed equally matched but Kyungsoo had a gut feeling Luhan was going to emerge the victor.

 

About twenty-five minutes in, Chanyeol's moss green jersey was splattered in blue paint as Tao shot him in the right shoulder. Dejectedly, Chanyeol took his mask off and staggered to the staging area to sit by himself until the next person was eliminated.

 

"MAN DOWN FOR OMEGA GREEN TEAM! MAN DOWN!" Luhan yelled with far more relish than was called for, while Jongdae shot him a look that was far dirtier than what was called over. And so it went as more and more blue and green bespattered individuals made their way to the staging area. The third and fourth last players to leave the playing field were Kris and Tao. True to his word, Tao had coolly blasted blue paint all over Kris'  left thigh and run for cover before his boyfriend could retaliate. Five minutes later, in a split second of inattention, Tao was wiping green paint off his right forearm as he fell victim to the Omega Green Team Leader himself.

 

"MAN DOWN FOR DELTA BLUE TEAM! MAN DOWN!" Kyungsoo swore he could hear a gleeful, underlying tone of neener-neener-neener  in Jongdae's announcement.

 

"Ten bucks says Luhan will be the last man standing." Yixing calmly placed a slightly crumpled, peach hued ten dollar note on the wooden planking of the staging area. All the fallen men had stripped off their paint-blasted gear and were chilling in the comfortable clothes they'd arrived in; and they were all ready for any kind of distraction.

 

"Ten bucks for me too. On Luhan." Baek added a tenner.

 

"I dunno. It's pretty close ... but ... I'm gonna let my ten bucks ride on Jongdae." Sehun spoke up.

 

"Jongdae managed to hit Tao so I think I'm going to have to forgo the whole BFF code of loyalty thing and put ten bucks on Jongdae too." Jongin said very solemnly as he added his money to the growing pile.

 

"Oh my God! With friends like you guys, who need enemies?" Kyungsoo laughed.

 

"This is not about friendship, Soo. This is business." Junmyeon offered sagely.

 

"I still can't believe you shot me, you little !" Kris playfully shoved a smirking Tao, "You could have shot Jongdae instead of me, dammit!"

 

"But it wouldn't have been as much fun, though. Besides, I was proving a point to Jongin. I had no choice really," Tao explained very reasonably as Jongin snorted and Kris rolled his eyes.

 

"Bets closing soon - they're moving into position," Yixing warned and the rest of the players hastily added their money to the pile. A minute later, everyone was watching, engrossed, as Luhan and Jongdae methodically zigzagged their way towards each other like navy blue and moss green colored chess pieces moving smoothly across a giant chess board. When the two rivals finally raised their rifles to aim at each other, you could almost hear everyone at the staging area hold their collective breath.

 

"And 3, 2, 1 ... Splat! Oh , make that splat, splat! Damn! Luhan is going to be a total nightmare. I need a mint." Sehun started digging around his backpack for his ever present roll of Pep O Mints.

 

"PAINT CHECK! I DEMAND A PAINT CHECK!" Both Luhan and Jongdae bellowed simultaneously as they glared at each other - feet planted firmly to the ground and shoulders held stiffly.

 

"Dudes, you have paint all over your chests. What paint check? You have clearly eliminated each other so you're joint winners, ok? Congratulations! Now shake hands like the good sportsmen I know you are and we can all carry on with the rest of our weekend. GAME ING OVER." Kris said firmly before things between Luhan and Jongdae could degenerate to mayhem and plain foolishness. Still a little dazed from Kris' rapid fire delivery, Luhan and Jongdae were on the brink of shaking hands before they stopped themselves, ignored him and started arguing animatedly in shatteringly loud voices while everyone else groaned.

 

"Damn, all bets are cancelled since they went and killed each other at the same time. I could almost smell that extra tenner." Yixing announced wistfully.

 

"Me too. I was so sure Jongdae was going to show Luhan the door." Xiumin shook his head regretfully.

 

"Wait, aren't you Luhan's boyfriend?" Yixing's voice was coated with wry amusement.

 

"Of course I am." Xiumin shrugged matter-of-factly and everyone laughed.

 

"Dude, I like your style." Yixing placed his arm companionably around Xiumin's shoulders.

 

"I still can't believe you shot me!" Kris had a chuckling Tao in a headlock.

 

Kyungsoo saw Junmyeon lean over to pick dried grass off Chanyeol's shirtfront as they chatted easily with each other. Both men looked relaxed and happy and Kyungsoo hoped things worked out for them. He couldn't help stealing a glance at Jongin then. Romantic, matchmaking Jongin who had turned his life upside down. He wasn't sure his body would ever recover from Wednesday night's gelato and Friday night's potato chip bender. And he didn't even want to think about his heart, which was a happy tangle of messed up emotions ... 

 

Baek was raising his eyebrows in what looked like amusement as Sehun chattered nonstop while offering Baek Pep O Mints. He looked amused though, not annoyed - contrary to Jongin's fears. Kyungsoo really couldn't tell yet whether Baek was interested - he'd have to ask him later. But the fact that he was letting Sehun hang around was a sign in itself that he liked the boy's company at least - or he would have made some excuse to leave already. Intriguing.

 

And then there was Jongin, lying flat on the grass beside him, breathing gently and staring up at the cloudless, cerulean sky. He caught Jongin's eye and they exchanged indulgent but tired smiles. Kyungsoo gave a sigh of contentment and lay down on the grass too. Jongin and Kyungsoo's eyes flickered shut as their shoulders and knuckles touched ... 

 

It had been the best afternoon, Kyungsoo thought. 

 

It took another ten minutes of verbal conflict before the two trolls were ready to admit defeat and agree to take joint victory - by which time half of the ten other people had already dozed off or were in the midst of dozing off.

 

The best afternoon indeed, Kyungsoo thought as he drifted to sleep.

 

 

A/N: Please don't kill me guys because this update truly had me hammered. I've been writing, deleting and rewriting for days and nothing really sounded right so I AM SORRY! Shoot me if I am ever stupid slash insane enough to attempt writing the OT12 in one scene again. I really didn't know what I was doing half the time so this is basically 2.7k worth of word vomit, orz. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the Clash of the Trolls at least a little because I worked really really hard on it - even though it turned out mostly lame /creys. 

 

I'm not sure if you've noticed but Jongin was wearing a TANK. I have a serious thing for his arms - just in case you haven't noticed from all my loving descriptions of them all thoughout the fic lol. So here, have some Kai guns spam :). Thanks again to all of you for reading, subbing and commenting. I love you all! And I love Kai! Oh, and I love Kyungsoo and the rest of EXO too! But mostly I just love Kai lol. Have a great weekend, guys!

 

PS: Thanks to TeatimeTaemint for pointing out that the boys would have been blasted raw if they'd played paintball in tanks and shorts lolz. My bad! Anyway, in the interest of keeping things real, I have made them play in VERY un-y protective jerseys and pants. But don't worry, Jongin's arms remain intact lol! And here they are ... enjoy!

 

 

 

 

And the gif that inspired the entire peekaboo abs scene ;) Jongin ILU!

 

(Cr. chanyeolsvoice)