Work Text:
Mary created group “Laser tag”
Mary: I can’t believe I’m saying this, but does anyone want to play laser tag.
Ava: HOLY SHIT YES
Lilith: language
Ava: but also is everything alright mary
Ava: shut up lil we’re not nuns anymore
Camila: me!!!
Lilith: not that you ever were one
Mary: I guess I just miss shooting people in the face.
Lou: im down. when?
Mary: My guy said there’s a slot for us in the evening. Also he said we could get a discount if we showed up in christmas costumes.
Ava: omg lilith would be perfect as an elf
Ava: she already has the CHEEKBONES
Lilith: I am not showing up as an elf
Ava changed group name to “xmas laser tag!!! 🔫🔫”
Camila added a group icon
Ava: LOL good one cam
Ava: throwback to when mary still had both shotguns
Mary: I’ll give u a throwback over that cliff.
Camila: has anyone seen bea?
Ava: yeah she’s right here
Ava sent an image
Camila: AWWW you guys!!!!
Mary: Cute, but what the fuck are y’all wearing
Ava: hey no need to throw hate just cause you and lil dont have matching christmas sweaters
Mary: I’ll have you know that we have matching christmas SOCKS.
Ava: yeah to cover ur stinky ass feet
Lou: ok y’all are cute or whatever but what about teams?
Ava: im with lilith!
Bea: No, absolutely not.
Mary: Nope
Camila: LOL no
Camila: also hi bea!!!
Bea: Heyy
Lou: wait, why not?
Mary: Girl, she can walk through walls. And my babygirl can teleport.
Lou: riiight
Lilith: please put me on a different team from Ava. i need to shoot her multiple times in the back.
Ava: omg do u guys think i could phase thru laser?
===
As it turns out, Ava cannot phase through laser. Lilith also shows up with elf ears and a green elf costume, complete with a hat and oversized curly-toed shoes, and Ava snaps about a hundred pictures to use as blackmail.
Ava herself is dressed as Rudolph, with huge antlers that are definitely going to give away her position during the game, a red nose that she definitely nabbed from a clown costume, and a brown suit jacket that she definitely stole from Beatrice.
“The clown nose definitely fits,” says Mary, who somehow managed to make a Santa costume look sleek.
She turns towards Beatrice, giving her a once-over. “And what are you supposed to be?”
“..I’m a candy cane.”
“Could’ve fooled me. You look like Waldo.”
Beatrice just narrows her eyes at her. “It’s Wally.”
Mary leans back against a wall. “You totally reused a halloween outfit, didn’t you.”
Beatrice looks at her from the corner of her eyes, and a smile slowly stretches across her face. “Yeah,” and she looks like she’s about to burst out laughing.
Mary takes another good look at her and something clicks in her mind that this is Beatrice, a trained warrior, and she’s wearing what literally looks like red and white striped pajamas that are too short for her lengthy limbs, and there’s a stupid Santa hat on her head where her habit used to be. It looks ridiculous. She’s sure she looks just as ridiculous to Beatrice in her own Santa outfit. The both of them share a look, struggling to keep a straight face, before Mary snorts, and they finally dissolve into a fit of laughter that has them bent over and clutching their stomachs.
Lou arrives in a white sleeveless button-up shirt, a top hat, and a pipe in her hand. Ava finally stops making fun of Lilith and gasps. “Frosty!” From behind Lou comes a faint rustling, which turns out to be Camila dressed as a Christmas tree. She’s wrapped in garlands with baubles and ornaments hanging from them, and even has a star on her head. Trust Camila to go all out. The others hug them in greeting, careful not to crush Camila’s carefully placed ornaments.
The place is an indoor laser tag arena which is comfortably spacious for the six of them, with fairy lights and other small Christmas-themed decorations strewn around its dark walls. There’s some faint Christmas jazz music playing through the speakers while some guy hands them their guns and vests, explaining that the vests will flash red when they’ve been hit.
“Once that happens, you’re out. Last team standing wins.”
Ava, Mary and Lou are on one team, wearing yellow vests, while Beatrice, Lilith and Camila are on the other, in blue.
“This’ll be fun.” Lou mutters to Camila, eyes shifting between the two couples staring each other down.
She flashes her biggest smile. “It will!”
Once the teams have taken their starting positions at opposite ends of the arena, his voice comes through the speakers.
“I’d let you play as many games as you want until our next group comes in, but I heard you guys are like.. ex-marines or something? So I suppose this game is gonna last pretty long.”
Ava raises her eyebrow at Mary. “Ex-marines? That’s a new one.”
“Yeah, people will believe anything nowadays. Your scrawny ass, an ex-marine? Shit.”
“Dude, I like, saved heaven or whatever. Show a little respect.”
“Really? I thought that was me.”
“Ehh, I guess you helped a little.”
Mary chuckles at that, shaking her head as she checks her gun and peers over a wall, waiting for the game to start.
“Hey, I have a question.”
“What?”
“Are there cameras in here? Because I think your guy might be a little freaked if he sees me walking through walls. Or, you know, Lilith teleporting.”
The music suddenly stops, replaced by a deep bass sound that reverberates throughout the arena. A robotic voice starts counting down.
“I sure hope not.”
“Oh, shit.”
“You may begin.”
Mary darts out of their cover immediately, ducking under walls and advancing towards the other end of the arena. She catches a glimpse of greyed hair and an elf’s ear peeking around a corner and starts firing, but not long before a gun darts around the same corner and narrowly misses her.
Mary’s the best shot of them all, and Lilith’s been out of practice ever since she mastered her demon powers, but- “Stop fucking teleporting everywhere!” Yeah. This is going to be a long game.
Ava follows closely behind Lou, who is a pretty decent shot. She figures she has a better chance of not dying so early in the game if she sticks with someone, and she sure as hell wasn’t going to interrupt whatever Mary and Lilith were in the middle of.
Their backs are against a wall, clutching their guns close to their chests, and Ava thinks they’d look pretty badass if they weren’t dressed as Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman.
“Think you can bear to shoot your girlfriend?” Lou says with a smirk.
She’s just about to come up with a snarky reply when something moving behind Lou catches her eye.
“Lou, watch out!”
Lou turns around just in time to catch Camila rounding a corner with her gun aimed at her. She ducks, narrowly dodging Camila’s shots, and sprints off towards the nearest cover. The two immerse themselves in their own one-on-one gunfight, which ends in Lou managing to tag Camila when she gets distracted for a split second.
Camila walks off the playing field, her vest flashing red (a nice touch to her Christmas tree costume), muttering under her breath.
“Were you distracted by my arms?” Lou teases.
Camila’s head snaps up, looking like a deer in headlights, and flushes the same shade as her vest.
“I was not!”
Lou holds her hands up placatingly, seemingly satisfied with that answer, or at least willing to let it go for now. She exhales as she sits back against the wall next to Ava.
“She was totally enraptured by my arms.”
Ava looks at Lou, a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. “Yep,” she says, popping the ‘p’.
They hear a frustrated groan from a distance away. “Fuck you, Lilith!”
“I’ll let you, if you make me dinner.”
“Shit, Mary’s out? We’re so fucked.” Ava whispers.
Lou pokes her head around the corner and checks for movement. “It’s us against.. Beatrice and Lilith. Shit.”
“Okay, listen. We have to-“
Lou’s vest starts flashing red.
What the fuck?
Ava phases through the wall, and bolts.
So much for fight over flight.
Okay, so the game might not last that long after all.
She’s running, and running, and running, frantically checking over her shoulder for anyone chasing her, simply trusting the halo to phase her through any walls that are in her way. It’s when she turns back to face her front that she sees a portal opening, and Lilith materialising right before her eyes.
She’s caught so off guard by it that she trips over her own feet, effectively dodging Lilith’s first few shots, but landing flat on her face.
“Ow.”
Yeah, she’s definitely dead.
She peels herself halfway off the floor to offer Lilith a congratulatory smile - or in this case, a grimace - only to be faced with a flashing red vest on top of Lilith’s green elf outfit, making her look positively festive. That is, if you ignored the menacing death glare she currently directed at Ava.
Ava checks her own vest. It’s still yellow, like it should be.
She looks at her gun. It’s pointing right at Lilith’s chest, her finger on the trigger.
Oh.
She picks herself up and jumps to her feet, dusting the front of her shirt.
“Is it just me, or was that like, totally badass?”
Lilith just pinches the bridge of her nose and sighs. “You’re lucky God’s on your side today.”
As Lilith walks towards where the rest are gathered, Ava shouts after her, “Better luck next time!” She can’t help herself. She’s sorry. She’s not sorry.
She only realises she’s just given away her position to Beatrice once she’s done smiling to herself about beating Lilith (even if it was only thanks to sheer, dumb luck).
Shit. Gotta run.
She’s about to put as much distance between herself and her current location before it hits her - if Beatrice is coming for her, why not wait for her here and be prepared for it? As she quickly scans her surroundings for a good hiding spot, she feels almost impressed at herself for coming up with such a plan. Her warrior nun training really seems to be paying off.
Staying quiet, she finds refuge in a corner of the arena, the only source of light being the faint glow of the halo and some dim fairy lights strewn atop the partition separating her from the rest of the playing field. It casts her hiding spot in a warm glow. There’s only one direction that Beatrice can attack Ava from; she’s covered on all sides except for one. So she steadies her breathing and keeps her gun trained on the one spot that Beatrice will have to appear in to get to Ava. And she waits.
“Ava?” Beatrice’s soft voice comes from the other side of the partition. She jumps about a foot into the air and almost drops her gun.
Despite that, Ava can’t help the warmth that flutters across her chest at the sound of her voice.
God, you’re trying to kill each other. Get it together, Ava.
Okay, that’s a little dramatic. It’s just laser tag, after all.
Ava swallows. She stays silent, keeping her gun trained on the same spot, her hands slightly shaking now.
“I know you’re in there, I just need to come and give you something. I promise.”
Still silence.
“Look, I’ll even drop my gun.”
As promised, a laser gun slides across the floor in front of Ava.
“I’m coming around the corner, okay? Don’t shoot.”
Beatrice rounds the corner slowly, holding her hands up to show Ava that she means no harm. Ava shifts her gun so that it’s pointed at Beatrice’s chest.
She looks adorable in that stupid candy cane outfit.
What are you doing? Shoot her!
Ava narrows her eyes at her questioningly before Beatrice can get too close.
“I just-“ She points helplessly at something above Ava. “It’s mistletoe.”
Ava’s gaze shifts upwards, and indeed, a bunch of mistletoe hangs from the ceiling, right above her head, illuminated by fairy lights. It seems.. oddly romantic.
Before she knows it, Beatrice’s hand is on her own, gently guiding her gun down. She steps into her space. Her other hand comes up to tuck a lock of hair behind her ear, lingering at her jaw, caressing her cheek. Ava’s breath stutters, but she wills herself to stay focused.
Beatrice’s eyes are on her lips, her thumb hovering at the edge of her mouth. Then, the soft pad of her thumb brushes her bottom lip, and Ava knows she’s gone.
Their lips meet, and it’s everything it’s ever been before.
God, she will never get tired of this.
Beatrice’s lips are warm, and they remind her of hot chocolate on Christmas day. She feels Beatrice’s hand in her own, her thumb stroking across her knuckles absentmindedly.
Hold on.
Where’s my gun?
She feels Beatrice smirk against her lips before anything else.
She pulls away, and that’s when she sees it: her vest - now flashing red, and her gun - now in Beatrice’s hands, pointing square at her chest.
She vaguely hears the rest of her friends call out in disbelief from where they were gathered - probably watching the game through cameras placed around the arena. (Mary definitely has some explaining to do to her friend regarding one case of wall-phasing and multiple cases of teleportation.)
“Sorry, babe.” Beatrice whispers in her ear, before giving her one last peck on the cheek and then leaving to celebrate the win with her team.
Which leaves a shell-shocked Ava, leaning against the wall of a Christmas-themed laser tag arena, stunned by a kiss (and a fresh betrayal) from the love of her life.
Oh, she’ll get Beatrice back for this one.
===
“I can’t believe you cost us the game for a kiss.” Mary scowls, but there’s a hint of a smile in there. Ava knows it.
“Actually, I can totally believe it.”