Kibum squinted up at the mid-spring sun, letting its rays caress his cheeks and the slight breeze move his hair gently. He was standing in front of the paintball-field, waiting for the others to arrive. Minho had given him a ride since they both finished work at the same time and now they were standing side by side, looking at the small, gravel road lined by trees, leading up to the little ranch-like place, waiting for other cars to arrive. It was a long time ago he’d been outside like this, with friends. If ever, really.

Kibum cleared his throat, gaining Minho's attention.

“I’ve never played paintball before,” he informed, “what do you do? And I heard that you could get bruises.”

Minho raised his eyebrows at him with an amused expression.

“Well, for starters we’ll divide into two teams.” He explained. “There are two sort of fortresses in the ‘battle field’,” he air quoted the word, “and we’ll have to protect the flags hidden inside them.”

Kibum turned around to look through the metal grid surrounding the field they would play in. Half of the place was open ground filled with stacked up hay bales here and there, one of the fortresses Minho had spoken of visible. It was a simple construction made out of thin wood planks and covered in blotches of paint from earlier games, not much to defend in Kibum's opinion. The other half was covered by a small artificial forest, which Kibum couldn’t discern anything from except the tree-trunks.

“And about the bruises,” He looked back at Minho who smiled mischievously, “I can’t promise anything.”

Kibum grimaced at him and looked out over the field again.

“But isn’t that kind of unfair?” He asked.

Minho looked at it as well. “What?”

“Well, since I can only see one fortress, it means the other is inside the forest, right?” Kibum reasoned and the taller nodded. “So isn’t that unfair?”

“I guess.” Minho shrugged. “We usually flip a coin to decide who gets what and all.”

Kibum looked at him disbelievingly. “That’s your solution?”

He grinned. “Sure, why not?”

Someone honked and they both turned around to see a fancy, shining black sports-car approach them at a speed Kibum thought wasn’t legal on the small road. He froze slightly as Minho waved. Suddenly Kibum became nervous. He was sure that there would at least be a few more people he recognized from back in the mansion.

The car had barely stopped when Taemin all but flew out the door at the passenger side and at them with a big grin brighter than the sun, before slamming into Kibum so hard that he lost his breath.

“Taemin, what?” He coughed and Minho laughed.

“I haven’t seen you in two days!” The boy exclaimed tightening his arms around the other's waist.

The corners of Kibum's mouth pulled up, faintly remembering a similar situation. Taemin had been too busy with school to come to the café after having given Kibum his phone lessons, but he never thought they were so close that the boy would miss him in only that time.

Unless you count from the time before…

Kibum angrily told the voice in his head to put a sock in it.

“I missed you too.” He chuckled instead, patting Taemin's head gently. The only problem was, he always missed the boy even before they met again.

Taemin looked like a praised puppy, Kibum could almost see a tail wagging behind him, and released his hold around his waist.

“That was a happy reunion.” Jinki smiled as he reached the three after parking properly, ruffling Taemin's hair. Kibum smiled back at him. “We got a bit stuck in traffic and this kid was on the verge of running along the highway, all the way here.”

Taemin grinned sheepishly. “Well, I have enough energy as it is.”

Minho shook his head and rolled his eyes. “By the way, where’s Jonghyun? I thought he’d go with you guys.”

“Girls.” Was all Jinki said and wrinkled his nose.

Kibum's eyes widened a little and he felt his heart sink slightly. “I-is he having problems with his… girlfriend?”

There was a second of silence as they all looked at him. Then they burst out laughing like he’d just told them the joke of the year. Kibum blinked confusedly.

“It would probably be a good idea if he got one, actually.” Jinki snorted. “He keeps on being harassed for his money and status, although some say it’s for his looks as well. Only problem is he’s just too distrustful.”

“He is good looking.” Taemin laughed. “But I look better!”

“Whatever,” Minho shook his head, “I’m glad my parents didn’t make my face public or I’d have the same problem as Jonghyun.”

Kibum pulled up one corner of his mouth and raised his eyebrows at them.

“Aren’t we confident in our looks?” He chuckled.

“Yeah, it kind of comes with the whole rich, bratty kid packet.” Minho smiled and the other two chuckled.

Kibum laughed. “Sure.”

The sound of tires on gravel could be heard again and soon they saw five new cars approach them, all fancier than Kibum had ever seen, glistening in the sunlight and almost blinding him. And all driving far too fast for the small road. A dust cloud rose as the cars skidded to a stop, the owners parking them wherever, however, they wanted in the small parking lot in front of the field.

“Kibum!” Sekyung stepped out of one of them and waved cheerily at the small group by the fence.

They all waved back. Kibum saw Jonghyun and Kangin step out of the car behind her. Then his heart did a little double take as he recognized the girls he’d known as Yuri and Seohyun, and the boys Sungmin and Kyuhyun. There were also three new people he had never met before, two guys, one slightly shorter than him and black haired while the other was tall and lanky with blonde hair, and one tomboyish girl with short hair, a rebellious air about her. There was a loud chatter as everyone greeted each other gleefully. Kibum was introduced to the three he didn’t know and learned that the shorter boy was named Dongho, the blonde one was Eunhyuk while the girl’s name was Amber. He greeted them shyly, glancing at Minho who had done the introduction. He nodded at Kibum encouragingly and came to his rescue as Amber started bombing him with questions.

“Are we an even number?” Kangin called over the chatter to be heard. Jinki started counting heads loudly and gave thumbs up. “Then let’s flip a coin to decide teams! Heads are field, tails are forest! First seven to get either are a team!”

A coin was passed around and Kibum watched as the other’s flipped it with ease. He blushed slightly when his turn came, and dropped the coin even before he could flip it, glancing up and catching Jonghyun's eye. The other gave him a friendly smile and Kibum blushed even more before he tried again, wishing for the same sign as Jonghyun. However, luck wasn’t on his side and he was placed among the first half getting the forest fortress.

Minho slung an arm around his shoulders when the teams had been decided and grinned widely. “We’re on the same team!”

Kibum smiled back at him, throwing another glance at Jonghyun who was talking to Jinki. He couldn’t deny that he felt a little disappointed they weren’t on the same team. It would have been a good opportunity to get closer.

Suddenly Taemin appeared in his field of vision, gloom written all over his face.

“Hyung,” he complained to Minho as he grabbed Kibum's hand, “change with me!”

The taller shook his head. “I’m not the one deciding the teams.”

He pouted but before the boy could whine more Jinki called everyone to the equipment room. Taemin and Minho quickly released Kibum and raced to the small shed just beside the entrance to the field, elbowing each other playfully. Kibum laughed at them and started to make his way over as well.

“Hi Kibum.”

Kibum's feet stopped immediately as his heart flew up his throat and he spun around with wide eyes to be met by Jonghyun's smiling face, letting out an awkward cough to get his heart in place again.

“H-hi.” He stammered and blushed again at his quivering voice, trying to force his heart rate to slow.

Jonghyun's smile grew slightly. “I thought I should just greet you before we start, since I didn’t manage in the tumult before.”

“Right.” Kibum smiled, relieved that his voice was back to normal now that his heart had calmed down. “Because we wouldn’t be able to greet each other on the field right? You’d have to shoot me.”

Jonghyun laughed and Kibum felt his spirit soar.

This was going way better than the other times.

“Or you me.” Jonghyun chuckled.

“Guys!” Dongho shouted. They turned to him. “You two are going to get the worst equipment!”

“I always get the worst anyway.” Jonghyun muttered so lowly Kibum was the only one who heard. He started laughing and the corners of Jonghyun's mouth twitched as they made their way to the shed together.

Soon Kibum was on the top floor of the fortress in the forest with his teammates Minho, Eunhyuk, Dongho, Kyuhyun, Amber and Seohyun, making a plan to invade the others’ fortress and steal their flag and soon Kibum was thrown into the battlefield, barely keeping up, trying to hide from the small balls of paint flying everywhere. He had absolutely no idea of what he was doing and figured that he would survive by just staying hidden since he couldn’t aim for the life of him.

He was in the middle of the open field, barely having made it out of the forest when a ball of blue passed his head by millimeters, hitting the tree behind him. He immediately threw himself behind the hay bale just in front of him and collided with another person choosing to do the same at just that moment. They both groaned in pain as their heads bumped together.

“That hurt.” Kibum heard Jonghyun breathe in his ear and his heart stopped.

He looked up into warm, brown eyes and only then realized that he was half lying in Jonghyun's arms, their legs tangled.

“Sorry.” Kibum apologized sheepishly and tried to free himself, although a part of him was screaming to stay like that forever.

That they were on different teams and should probably take each other out never crossed his mind as he fought to untangle their legs, ignoring how his body just wanted to lean into the other’s chest instead.

“It was my fault too.” Jonghyun smiled and withdrew his arms.

Kibum got a lump in his throat, finally free, but still so very close. They were even closer than they had been in Jonghyun's office.

And for some reason they stilled all their movements, leaning against the hay bale, staring at each other with the rest of the fight continuing around them as if it were miles away.

Kibum bit his lip nervously and searched Jonghyun's eyes. He could see something move inside them, but he couldn’t put his finger on what it was and his heartbeat was going so crazy it hurt his chest with every thud.

Suddenly he felt the light touch of Jonghyun's fingers on his cheekbone, his eyes wandering over Kibum's face. The world outside wasn’t just distant any more, it was completely gone. All Kibum could focus on was the feeling of Jonghyun's fingertips on his cheek, the warmth of his eyes as his gaze traveled over his face and how very, very close they were. He could only wish he had the courage to erase the little space that was between them to connect their lips and bodies.

Their eyes locked again and Kibum was sure they were thinking about the exact same thing at that moment. Kissing.

Time slowed down as Kibum watched how Jonghyun's face got closer in slow-motion. He didn’t know if he was the one leaning in or Jonghyun, and he didn’t care. All he could think of was the sudden momentum of ‘should I kiss him or not’.

Then the moment passed, along with the thought and both of them pulled back slightly, unconsciously.

“Uh…” Kibum breathed, blushing. “W-what are you…?”

Jonghyun blinked, looking slightly confused, and retracted his hand hastily. Kibum felt a little disappointed at the loss of his touch.

“S-sorry.” Jonghyun stammered, getting a small tint on his cheeks as well. “It looked like you had some paint on your cheek so I...”

Kibum stared at him. He knew for a fact that he had no paint on his face whatsoever since he had done everything to avoid getting hit. Jonghyun glanced up at him again, bottom lip between his teeth and an uncertain expression in his eyes. He opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by a ball of pink paint hitting him in the back.

“Aha!” Minho shouted triumphantly, appearing behind a tree. “Got you Hyung!”

Jonghyun turned to him with big, confused eyes and Minho stopped in his tracks to look between them questioningly with raised eyebrows.

“What are you guys doing, flirting back here?” He asked with a mischievous grin.

Kibum blushed even more and Jonghyun stood up immediately.

“No, I-I just…” he stammered. “Kibum l-looked like he had some… paint on his cheek and I just wanted to… rub it off…”

Minho's eyebrows rose even higher. “Right.”

Jonghyun muttered something unintelligible, then he glanced at Kibum again before he his heel and left for the waiting area.

“Good job.” Minho said as Kibum stood up and brushed of some dust. “He’s always hard to shoot.”

“I-I…” Kibum took a shaky breath. “I didn’t plan it.”

Minho chuckled. “I know.”

Kibum stared after him in astonishment as he ran off again, sprinting to the now empty fortress of their enemy team.

A/N: Soo, I'm giving you the un-edited version of this chapter since I haven't uploaded for some time... :/ I hope you like it anyway! ^_^

And how many of you saw this almost kiss coming? Haha, Jonghyun should have just done it!

Okay, that's it from me it think... I might not be able to upload as frequently as I have been because I have other things to do but we'll see... It depends quite a lot on my mood as well

Anyhoo, I hope this was to your liking! And comment! I like comments! The happy ones as well as the critical ones!!

I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!

Bye~! <3