This one's a little bit different, as neither Bucky nor Darcy are on the receiving end of the whump this time.
Also, I have never played paintball, so if I screw up something with the rules, that's why.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own the Marvel Cinematic Universe or any of the characters contained therein.
WORD COUNT: 1062
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Bucky frowned, trying to figure out the straps on his paintball helmet, "I mean, I'm not intruding on anything, am I?"
Darcy snorted, wiggling into her boots. "Hell, no. Significant others get invited into the game all the time. You should've seen the time Jasper brought his Navy lieutenant girlfriend – this was before he met his husband. I was lucky enough to be on their team, and we crushed it! Imagine how well we'll do with you on the team!"
It was a day that Darcy usually dreaded: the day of the annual Brewer Family Reunion Paintball Match. She was always one of the first casualties, especially when her least favourite step-cousin, Deanna, was playing, and regardless of whether or not they were on the same team. But this year, Darcy had brought along her new boyfriend, a super-soldier with super speed, super reflexes, and – most importantly – sniper training from before he became a super-soldier. Aside from being able to brag about having bagged an actual Avenger (and a war hero prior to that) as a boyfriend, she just knew she was going to have a much better year at paintball.
"Are you sure this isn't cheating, though?"
Darcy shrugged. "Meh. As long as the refs are okay with it, it's not cheating."
"If you say so."
Once they were all geared up, the pair made their way to the paintball grounds that the Brewer family rented every summer, along with the numerous other relatives. Most of them were the cousins of Cecil Brewer – Darcy's stepfather – and their kids and grandkids. Cecil's branch of the family only consisted of his wife and step-children, and his late brother's daughter Deanna Brewer, who was four years Darcy's junior and sweet as pie to literally everyone except for Darcy and her mother and siblings. She even flirted with Bucky, even after – no, especially after finding out he was there with Darcy.
And speak of the devil, there she was, waiting with the rest of the family, twirling her ponytail around her finger and honest-to-God batting her eyes at Darcy's boyfriend.
When the teams were announced, Darcy sighed as Deanna was assigned to the pink team alongside them. And of course Deanna took it upon herself to collect the box of their team's ammo and hand out the clips to everyone, and when she got to Bucky, she actually tried to take his hand in one of hers and place the clip in his palm with the other. Bucky quickly evaded her grasp and plucked the clip right out of her fingers, causing her to blink in confusion. He also swiped clips right out of the box for Darcy and her younger sister Kristie.
The game was a basic 'capture the flag' scenario. The playing field was divided in half, and each team had a brightly-coloured flag at the far end of their half. The objective of the game was to retrieve the opposing team's flag and bring it back to the other side of the 'border'. If an entire team was eliminated before they could achieve that goal, the other team won by default. Any hit to the head or torso was deemed an instant kill (Bucky whispered to Darcy that that was so not true in real life, and she elbowed him to shut him up). A hit to either arm meant you could no longer use that arm to shoot, and while shooting one-handed was possible, it was rather awkward. A hit to either leg meant that limb was also taken out of commission, and a hit to the pelvic region (one of the cousins apparently had an unholy obsession with shooting his opponents in the groin or the ass, male or female) disabled both. Attempting to wipe off the paint would see the 'wiper' instantly disqualified. If you were eliminated, you were to holster your weapon and immediately leave the field with one or both hands up. They were mostly playing on the honour system, although there were designated referees patrolling the paintball field, as well, and shooting one of them was also an instant disqualifier.
The pink team's captain quickly assigned Bucky to position himself on the tallest structure on their side of the field, using his sniper training to give them an advantage. Darcy was also put on defense, patrolling her own section roughly to his ten o'clock. Kristie was assigned to the group that would be infiltrating the other team's territory, and Deanna was put on the front line border defense.
Bucky easily picked off every member of the blue team that popped into his range, giving Darcy and many of their other teammates nothing to do. Until one group managed to pull a fast one, with some acting as human shields and allowing their teammates to advance closer to the flag. He could have shot those ones, but he saw Darcy raise her gun, and, knowing that Natalia and Clint had been teaching her how to shoot (he'd actually subbed in for them, one week), decided that it would be better to let her have some fun.
Darcy's training had certainly paid off, as she rained pink hell down on a cousin and an uncle, and Bucky was having so much fun watching that he didn't notice the gun aiming at her back from behind an obstacle until it was too late.
He fired at the same time as his girl's attacker, and pink paint splattered all over both Darcy's back and the helmet and goggles of a very shocked Deanna, who clearly had not been expecting the shot that landed right between her eyes.
Deanna would whine and complain about it later, but the team captain had seen the whole thing, and since Bucky could honestly say that he hadn't seen the pink bandana tucked into her waistband that labelled her as a teammate, he was ruled as being in the right.
Even though she'd been eliminated, Darcy crowed for days about the little minx getting what was coming to her.
Deanna never tried to flirt with Bucky again, and even avoided him throughout the rest of the reunion.
Next chapter: Self-sacrifice.