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Filming of the current Run BTS episode was going well.
They were doing a part two to their first paintball episode. The filming was going smoothly, the weather was nice, and the forest was beautiful.
They were divided into two teams, team blue and team red. Team Blue was Jin, Hoseok, and Jungkook. Team Red was Jimin, Yoongi, Namjoon, and Taehyung. Each team’s goal was to make it to the other team’s base and shoot their paint onto a canvas that had the other team's color on it. The idea was for the paint to mix and make purple. They already made it through two rounds out of five.
So far, no one tripped or broken a limb like Namjoon was worried about. Everyone was having fun, even though they’d been running around for half the day like Yoongi was worried about. Leah could even come to watch them near the beginning of the third round.
They didn’t get a chance to say anything to her since the round already started, but they were excited to say hi.
Everything was going well.
Well, everything was, until they heard someone start screaming.
Truly terrified, screaming.
“Noona, don’t!” Jungkook was trying to hold Leah back from running in front of the cameras.
It didn’t matter. The shot was already ruined.
Jungkook had his arms tightly wrapped around her waist while she tried to fight him off. “Let me go!” Leah cried, tears dripping down her face.
To her horror, Jin stood up from where he fell down the edge of a small hill.
There was red splattered up his neck and on the side of the white hoodie he was wearing. Red was all over his body in different spots. A lot of it congregated on his left side above his hip—one of the few spots not covered by the safety vest.
Jin ran up to her, hands in front of him like he was trying to calm a frightened deer.
“What’s-”
He didn’t have time to respond before Leah forced Jungkook to let go and pulled Jin’s sweatshirt up. The material kept bunching up below the straps holding together the safety vest. Her hands were shaking badly, coordination thrown out the window, while sobs punching out of her throat.
“Leah, Leah. Stop, what’s wrong.”
Jin tried to grab her hands, tilt her face to look at him or make eye contact.
None of it was working.
She was sobbing, hands and eyes frantically looking around Jin’s body. He barely understood her when she choked out, “You’re bleeding,” causing everyone to pause, including the crew.
“I-I’m not bleeding?” Jin looked around, Jungkook’s eyes flickered to different points on his body. Most of the crew close by was doing the same thing. Whereas the other members were stumbling in from the forest, looks of confusion adorning their faces.
Leah stopped pulling at his sweatshirt, unable to get it above the safety straps.
“Hyung, the paint,” Jungkook whispered.
Jin’s eyes widened in surprise. Looking down, it looked pretty bad. Red paint was all over his body in different spots. Leah saw his ungraceful descent down the hill—no wonder she was freaking out.
Jin stripped the safety vest off as fast as he could, “Leah, it’s just paint, look.” He lifted his sweatshirt up, exposing his entire left side. There were a few bruises from the fall and the paintballs, but no open wounds.
Leah reached out, eyes still swimming in tears, and ran her hand up and down his side. Her hands were warm against his skin. She pulled his sweatshirt down, comparing where the paint was to the sides of his chest, stomach, and hip.
“I-It’s all, p-paint?” She asked in disbelief.
“It’s all from the paintball game.” Jin did a spin, showing off his other red spots.
“W-Why was it all over your side?” her voice wet.
“Because someone was being an asshole,” Jin glared, looking over his shoulder at Jimin. The man was notorious for going for everyone’s butt or other exposed areas during the game. Jimin just ducked behind Yoongi, trying to look innocent.
“I’m surprised he didn’t go for my butt or shoulders, I’ve heard they’re big targets.” Jin joked.
Leah didn’t laugh; she instead wrapped her arms around his waist and held on tight, still crying.
“It’s okay, I’m okay,” Jin whispered, petting her hair, hugging her back just as tight.
Looking around, the crew started to go back to their tasks. Now that they knew one of the boys wasn’t bleeding out.
“Hyung, is everything okay?” Namjoon asked the last to arrive at the scene.
“Everything’s okay, Leah had a bit of fright.” Jin rubbed his hand up and down her back.
“Do you two want to go take a moment? Go clean up a bit. The crew has a change of clothes for you.”
“Great idea Namjoon-ah.” Jin maneuvered so he could see Leah’s face. She still looked upset and even a bit grumpy. “Hey, let’s go get me out of these clothes.” He said softly, “I bet we could go find some snacks too.”
Leah was still frowning but nodded. She refused to let go, so Jin had to waddle their way over to one of the vans.
“Noona’s probably ready to strip search Jin-Hyung.” Jungkook stage whispered to Taehyung.
Jin didn’t have to look back to know the thud he heard was Yoongi hitting Jungkook upside the head.
Leah did, in fact, nearly strip-search him.
She checked every inch of his body, making sure he really wasn’t bleeding. Only letting him change into clean clothes when Leah was satisfied no part of the blood that was supposed to be inside his body was outside of it.
“Boxers off,” Leah demanded stubbornly.
“Babe, no.” Jin was profusely blushing.
There was no way he was fully stripping out in the middle of the woods.
“You could be bleeding!”
“I pinky promise you, I am not,” Jin said, grabbing her hands and linking their fingers.
A very tiny part of him was nervous she would get grabby hands and try and check.
“But-”
“No butt’s, especially not mine, were harmed in the making of the Run episode today. I promise . Let me change into new pants, and then we can go grab a snack.”
Leah pouted but nodded.
“And tonight, I’ll let you kiss all of the bruises better.” Jin winked, then leaned down, pecking her lips in a quick kiss.
Jin unlinked their fingers and went inside the van to change.
Once he was changed, Jin stepped back out. Leah wasn’t waiting outside of the van, as he thought. Instead, he could hear yelling coming from another one of the company vans.
Jin quickly crossed the parking lot, where he could see Sejin trying to appease a mad Leah. Shit.
“Who the Fuck thought it was a good idea to use RED PAINT!?”
“Natalie, I assure you the red paint looks fine on camera.”
Jin could tell Sejin was sweating. It wasn’t the first time he had to deal with an angry Leah. It probably wouldn’t be the last. At least they both held mutual respect for each other. If Leah was angry enough to talk to Sejin, that meant someone had really fucked up.
“I don’t care if the red paint looks pretty on camera. I thought I watched Jin get shot down! What will you do when someone uses a clip of the episode out of context?!”
Jin approached; in his peripheral vision, he could see Namjoon and Yoongi walking up too.
“Leah, you don’t need to worry about that. It’ll be fine on camera, and Army understands it’s just paintball.”
Leah whipped around, eyes blazing in anger, “You mean more to me than a stupid game of paintball. You mean more to Army! I won’t be the only one with a huge problem with this episode. An Army younger than me might see it and think you got seriously hurt, just like I did.”
“The red paint is supposed to mix with blue paint to make purple; it works within the episode's context,” Yoongi said.
“It looked like Jin was shot down atop the hill, and his body rolled down! That’s not okay! The red paint is stupid.”
“You’re being too emotional about it,” Yoongi said cooly.
“Emotional?! I can show you emotional-”
Jin and Namjoon stepped in between Leah and Yoongi. Namjoon at Yoongi, while Jin was directly in front of Leah.
“He didn’t mean it,” Jin cupped the sides of her face, crowding into her space, trying to be the sole thing she focused on.
He could hear Namjoon scolding Yoongi behind him.
“The two of them are just really focused on finishing the shoot because they want to get food after. Ignore him.”
Leah tried to look around him again, but Jin stayed directly in front of her.
“We’ve already shot half the episode. We can’t stop now.”
“Can you change the paint? Please .” Leah’s eyes started to mist.
“I can ask; you can even ask if you ask Sejin-ssi nicely.”
Leah pulled an annoyed face.
“I was being nice.” She pouted.
“Yelling at our sweet, old,” ‘ Yaaah!’ Sejin muttered behind Leah, “and kind Sejin-ssi isn’t being nice. I know you’re upset, but he’s on our side.”
She took a deep breath, “You’re right, I’m sorry. It was just really scary, and I thought you were really hurt.” Leah whispered.
“Oh, Babe, it takes much more than Jimin being an asshole with a paintball gun and an unfortunately placed root to take me down.”
“But you went down pretty hard; I think you bounced going down that hill.”
“I did not bounce.” Jin shot her an unamused look. “You’re really complaining about more bruises you get to kiss better once we're alone?”
“ Yes .” Leah whined, “You got them from bouncing down a hill!”
“I did not bounce!” Jin groaned before leaning forward and pressing their foreheads together. “I’m okay. I have a few bruises from paintball and a few bruises from gracefully rolling down a short hill.” Jin tucked a few strands of Leah’s hair behind her ears.
“How about you nicely convince Sejin to have management switch the paintball colors, that way, I can get Jimin back for giving me one hell of a bruise.”
Leah took a deep breath, thinking it over.
“Okay, I like this plan.”
“I like this plan too.” Jin pressed a kiss to her lips, smiling into it right before he pulled completely away.
Namjoon, Yoongi, and Sejin made it a point not to look at them. Awarding both of them a moment of privacy.
Leah intertwined their hands, “I’m sorry, Yoongi and Namjoon, for freaking out. And I’m sorry, Sejin-ssi, for yelling at you.”
“It’s okay.” The three of them chorused together.
“He means more to you than paintball; I get it.” Yoongi gave her a tight smile. “I’m sorry for calling you emotional. That was mean.”
“It’s okay,” Leah mumbled, looking away.
Yoongi nodded, then walked away from their small group and back to the other members.
Jin, using his head, gestured towards Sejin.
Leah sighed, “Sejin-ssi. Can we please change the paint color? The red splatters too much, and it could get mistaken for blood and cause a panic with Army.”
“That’s a valid suggestion. Let me speak with some producers and see what I can do. Meanwhile, can you get the rest of the paint off of Jin’s face?” Sejin held out some makeup wipes, olive branch effectively extended.
“I can do that. Thank you.”
It took nearly ten minutes to get all of the red paint off. It reached all the way up Jin’s neck from his collarbone. Some of it was even behind his ears.
They only paused once when Jin received a text.
“Production is changing the paint color. I’ve gotta get back to filming quickly so we can wrap up the shoot.”
“Okay, just don’t get hurt.” Leah squeezed Jin’s hand that she was holding.
“I won’t, I pinky promise.”
Jin set his phone down on his knee so he could bring his hand up and link their pinky fingers.
When they finished getting the paint off, he ducked down and kissed her forehead, her cheek, and then her lips.
“Let’s enjoy the rest of the shoot and then go get dinner. Okay?”
“M’kay.” Leah stood up and pulled him in for one last hug.
“Go kick Jimin’s butt.”
“Will do,” Jin said with a laugh.
The rest of the shoot went well. They shortened the rounds they were going to use to only three. Production agreed the footage they had so far was a bit too graphic.
They swapped out the red paint with purple, keeping the blue.
Jungkook and Hoseok had to go change out of their red paint-splattered clothes.
Yoongi, at one point, came by and wordlessly held Leah’s hand—a more sincere, silent apology.
Leah squeezed his hand back, accepting it.
The shooting resumed once the rest of the boys were back and red paint free.
Namjoon got to take a small bottle of paint and splatter purple on the three paint-free boys. He was trying to avoid continuity errors while not having to refilm anything.
The next three paintball games were fun to watch. Especially when Leah knew her boyfriend wasn’t getting killed right before her. When she arrived at the shooting location, they failed to inform her they were playing paintball. So when she heard yelling and something similar to gunshots, her brain went to the worst possible answer. Watching Jin fall down the hill didn’t help either.
The episode wrapped up well. Team Kim Seokjin won, and Jimin had a lovely splatter of blue all over his butt and upper arms. (courtesy of Jin) Leah had a new sweatshirt with red paint splatter to wear (also courtesy of Jin).
It wasn’t until Leah and Jin were lying in bed that night, all of Jin’s bruises thoroughly kissed better, that Leah was fully relaxed.
She was happy to stay cuddled up to Jin, fingers rubbing up and down his back, and she could breathe in the sweet smell of his skincare routine. Jin was okay; they were both going to be okay.
Leah slowly fell asleep to Jin humming one of their songs. (Probably Ephiphany)