A/N: This was written for SmoakandArrow's Hiatus Flash Fic Challenge. The prompt was #35: A Shot Rang Out. Enjoy!

The Most Fun Way to Use Paint

As they were walking across the parking lot, a shot rang out. She felt Oliver's hand in hers tense a little bit, but she gave it a reassuring tug and threw him a bright smile.

"I can't believe you talked me into this," he grumbled.

"Stop being such a wet blanket, Ollie!" Thea called over her shoulder from where she and Roy were walking arm in arm.

"I'm sorry if I get shot at enough as it is and I don't exactly want to spend my afternoon dodging bullets of neon paint," he snipped.

"I'll protect you," Felicity vowed with a giggle. She grinned and reached up to peck the corner of his mouth, causing him to relax a little and wrap his arm around her waist as they walked. "Does the paint stain hair, Roy? Because I just dyed it like a week ago…"

"Hopefully!" Roy called with a laugh. "I think we all deserve to know what you really look like, Blondie."

Felicity pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes. "Oh, it's on," she whispered for only Oliver to hear. They watched as Roy said something to Thea which sounded suspiciously like it contained the phrase "hit Oliver in the ass" and Thea erupted into giggles.

Oliver's face matched Felicity's. "Yup," he affirmed. His sister and his protege were going to regret inviting them to a friendly match of paintball.

A few minutes later, after paying for their game of paintball and renting some equipment, Oliver, Felicity, Thea, and Roy stood in the front office putting on their protective gear. An employee was explaining the rules to them, but Felicity was only half listening - too distracted with fastening the endless belts and buckles on the armored vest she was being forced to wear. She did catch a few phrases though - no head shots, if you get hit in the red target area in the center of your torso you're out, no climbing trees, and so on. She tried not to be irritated when Oliver pulled his gear on effortlessly and was ready to go within 60 seconds. Her slight irritation must have shown though because he grinned at her and shrugged. The employee told them that there were already a few groups out there playing, but since the Paintball Haven owned such a large wooded area, the likelihood of running into any of them was small.

When they were all ready, they decided to head out into the yard separately. Oliver, feeling confident, insisted that Thea and Roy get the head start.

When it was their turn, Oliver paused at the door and tugged her close to him. He lightly pulled on the straps of her helmet to make sure they were secure, then dropped a kiss on the tip of her nose. "You ready?"

Felicity's eyes were bright and she was practically bouncing with excitement as she nodded. "Let's go teach them not to mess with us."

Oliver grinned that rare dimpled smile.

They stepped outside and Felicity immediately brought a hand up to shield her eyes from the bright sun. In front of them was a huge wooded area with a fence extending on either side of them until they couldn't see it anymore. The employee had been right; this really was a large plot of land.

Oliver was immediately in his element. His eyes focused and he looked intently at the three different paths they could take into the wooded area. She hovered silently slightly behind him, ready to follow wherever his instincts led them. If anyone could find Roy and Thea here, it would be Oliver. Felicity shuffled her heavy paintball gun from hand to hand, trying to get a good feel for the weapon.

"Right," Oliver concluded suddenly, edging towards the path on the right and glancing over his shoulder to make sure she was following. "Thea made a huge mistake by wearing those heeled combat boots." He smirked, and Felicity smiled as she bounced behind him.

"You know, I think Roy and Thea are at a little bit of a disadvantage here," she surmised pleasantly, watching where she was walking carefully. Oliver listened, but kept his eyes forward and a tight grip on his paintball gun. "I mean, not to bring up any bad memories or anything, but this place does kind of remind me of mine-field island."

"I really hope we won't be running into any mines today," Oliver deadpanned, his lips twitching slightly at the corner.

"Yeah, that would be a little more than I bargained for for my afternoon off," Felicity babbled lightly. She stepped on a twig and almost ran into Oliver's back when he stopped. She cringed. "Oops," she whispered. "Sorry, I'm being distracting."

Oliver stopped fighting the twitching in his lips and turned to face her with a smirk. "Felicity, it's not life or death this time. It's just for fun. That's what you told me earlier, right?"

Felicity pursed her lips. "Right, but I really want to win."

They continued deeper into the woods, Oliver looking out for signs of movement and Felicity following his lead. She tried to stay silent - knowing how much her babbling could distract him - but occasionally she couldn't help herself.

Like when she thought she saw a deer off to their left. She gasped and grabbed Oliver's arm. He stilled. "Oliver, is that a deer?!"

Oliver followed the line of where she was pointing her paintball gun and squinted his eyes. After a moment, he turned to her with furrowed brows. "Where?"

"Right there! I swear I just saw it move!"

Oliver glanced over his shoulder and then back at her with a teasing grin. "Felicity, that's a tree stump. Are you wearing your contacts?"

Felicity smiled sheepishly and gave his shoulder a playful shove. He didn't budge. "Something over there was moving."

Oliver was about to say something but what cut off by a loud "pop". Felicity felt a burning sensation on the back of her arm and stumbled forward into his chest with a yelp. Automatically, she brought her free hand up to clamp around her throbbing bicep and felt something wet and sticky. Oliver wrapped his large arm around her waist to steady her.

"Hey!" he called angrily to someone behind her.

She ignored the shuffling and rustling she heard behind her and removed her hand from her upper arm to find it coated in bright red paint.

Oliver glanced down at her with a strange expression on his face. He frowned before looking behind her, his gaze murderous. She turned around to see two young boys - probably 13 or 14 years old - stumbling out from behind some large bushes. The two boys looked at Oliver with eyes the size of saucers. "Sorry, wrong person!" the taller of the two boys yelled nervously.

Felicity could feel Oliver's irritation from where she was standing right in front of him. "Be more careful next time," he growled, draping his paintball gun over his shoulder and gingerly reaching out to remove Felicity's hand from her bicep. The two boys nodded and ran away in the other direction. Felicity could have sworn she heard them laughing as they ran.

"That's going to bruise," she grumbled, letting him examine her arm until he was satisfied that the red paint was the only sign of injury on her body. When she noticed his clenched jaw and the hard set of his eyes, she backtracked. "It's fine, Oliver. It doesn't really hurt." He didn't relax. She tried again, adding a smile as she spoke in her teasing voice. "I don't even think it got on my shirt, which is basically the best case scenario."

Oliver let out a soft breath and she saw his shoulders relax a little. "It just...of course it was red paint," he murmured, tugging her closer by her waist and pressing his lips into her hair. Her heart beat painfully when she understood what he meant. She knew how often he woke from nightmares where the people he loved were covered in blood.

Maybe paintball wasn't such a good idea.

"Hey," she whispered, using her clean hand to tilt his face down to look directly at hers. She smiled softly. "We're safe here, Oliver. I'm safe. It's just a little paint. Which had better not be oil based."

He allowed her a ghost of a smile and nodded. He knew that, of course, but sometimes instincts were hard to shake.

"You know," she mused, her eyes turning mischievous, "there are probably more fun ways we could be using paint."

Her eyes sparkled as she stood on her toes to place a kiss on his lips. His eyes closed, but his lips turned up at the corners. He grabbed her paintball gun from where it was slung over her shoulder and dropped it unceremoniously on the ground before threading his arms around her back and pulling her closer to kiss her again. Her arms wound up so that her hands were placed on the sides of his neck, bringing him closer when they both stopped.

The side of his neck was now covered in splotchy red paint. He blinked. She bit her lip to keep from laughing. His eyes hardened like a predator about to pounce on its prey.

"Oops?" she offered breathlessly.

He lowered his head so he was so close that she could feel his breath against her lips. "Now you're in trouble."

2 hours later, Roy and Thea were finally back at the front office turning in their equipment. They had both received a text from Oliver that he and Felicity were forfeiting almost 2 hours ago, but neither of them had seen it until about 10 minutes ago when they themselves decided to give up because they couldn't find their targets anywhere. Ollie had said that he and Felicity would wait for them in the parking lot.

When they walked outside, they were met by a very interesting looking Oliver and Felicity. Thea narrowed her eyes at her brother's puffy lips and the faded red paint marks that originated on his neck and disappeared below his shirt collar. Felicity didn't look much better with her disheveled hair and the red marks around her collarbone that didn't look like faded paint.

"Really?" Thea huffed. Oliver shrugged. Felicity flushed. Roy just rolled his eyes.