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Fighting your friends wasn’t easy. Sure you knew their weaknesses and if you had the heart to it you could use it against them, but they also knew yours. Natasha was suspicious the second she heard Clint’s whisper through the air-ducts, because she knew he could communicate with team members without being heard.
But she followed the sound anyway, because she always, always played to win and she’d be damned if she’d let Clint Barton beat her. As she got closer, his words started to come through more clearly.
“Do you think they saw us? We’re dead if they find out,” Clint said.
She couldn’t make out the answer, but the voice was recognizable as Scott’s. Natasha smiled and stepped into their hiding place.
“Hello, boys,” she said as she pointed her weapon at them and shot them point blank.
Clint’s look of open-mouthed surprise and betrayal, morphed into one of satisfaction as he spotted something behind her.
The gun was too light in her hands and she didn’t have to check to see that she was out of ammunition. She cursed and twisted around as she fought to reload.
The Winter Soldier was walking towards her and pointed his weapon at her, a cold glimmer in his eyes. He didn’t make any snippy comments. He just fired his weapon at her. She flung herself out of his path, narrowly dodging the first few hits, but as she landed she felt the impact of the fourth slug, right in her side.
“Goddammit,” Natasha swore. The blue ink dripping down her vest.
James had the nerve to smile as he stepped closer, lowering his paintball gun. “And here I’d thought it’d be just the two of us against each other. Half the players are still in the game.”
“I got two from Team Cap and you only got one from mine.”
“I got Team Iron Man’s deadliest member, that has to count for at least two or three.”
“Hey,” interjected Clint from the floor.
“Aww, so sweet coming from the man who just shot me,” she said ignoring Clint.
James shrugged. “Win some, lose some.” He put his arms around her, smiling down at her.
“You’re gonna have to make up for this later, you know. You missed my chest plate, it’ll leave a bruise,” she said, running her fingers along James’s jaw line.
“I’ll make sure to kiss it and make it all better,” he murmured and dipped his head to kiss her.
Scott and Clint were both complaining loudly by now, but she ignored them, weaving her fingers into James’s hair as he deepened the kiss. Forgiveness was easily obtained when you were this good a kisser.
“You’d better,” she breathed when they finally broke away. “Now, go kick some ass, loverboy.”
He shot her a wide grin and turned away to stalk noiselessly down the hallway.
The paintball tournament had sounded like a dumb idea when Clint had proposed it, but she’d have to give it to him, it was a lot of fun. And tonight was sure to make up for the indignity of going down before the end of the game.