#Void sings his lofi songs to Hood to help him sleep through the pain

[thatonetwig]

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"Aghh!", another player groaned as he was shot in the back three times.

("Twenty down...one more to go..."), Psychic thought while reloading his paintball marker.

To Psychic, paintball was no different from taking down targets in actual missions. Lock on target from the shadows, shoot, reload. Those three simple steps applied here as well, except the targets wouldn't die. They were lucky that they'd walk away with a nasty bruise or two from it at the most. After all, there was nothing preventing him from making the little multicolored pellets hurt more than they already did.

("Hm. I like this, actually. I should thank Hood for suggesting this."), Psychic thought as he scaled down the tree he was in and began scanning his surroundings.

However, just as he finished looking around, he stopped the paintball flying towards his back and redirected it to the tree on his left.

"Come out, Void. You know that doesn't work on me.", Psychic said while rolling his eyes.

Not long after, Void emerged from the trees above and decended down right in front of Psychic.

"Aw, lighten up, will ya Psy? After all, I'm just giving you a taste of your own medicine!", Void exclaimed, firing another shot at him as he finished his sentence.

Psychic immediately caught the capsule and fired it back at him, with Void letting out a yelp as he barely managed to move out of the way in time.

"I'm surprised you lasted this long without Lux and Tux.", Psychic said as he prepared his marker.

"Hey, ain't my fault you took them down first. It's all about skill and survival! That's how you win!", Void said as he almost dropped his marker while trying to prepare it.

"You mean cowering behind trees and using other players as living shields?", Psychic replied, groaning in annoyance.

"Wha-?! Shut up! It's not like you're one to shoot other guys directly! You always gotta be hiding somewhere!", Void spat back.

"Am I not supposed to do that? You shoot, you win. It doesn't get more complicated than that.", Psychic said while lowering his marker slightly, starting to regret not taking him down first.

"Ugh, whatever! The point is that I'm gonna win! And you ain't gonna stop me!", Void said, pointing his own marker directly at him.

"We'll see.", Psychic said as he raised it directly at him as well.

The two simply stared at each other, eyes fixated on the other like hawks to see who would make the first move.

Then, with one pull of the trigger, a capsule was fired.

The capsule traveled right towards the other before it suddenly slammed to the ground in front of his feet.

"What?"

Void looked up and glared at Psychic with a manic grin on his face.

"Dont forget, you're not the only one who can deflect shots, pal.", Void said before firing a barrage of shots right at him.

Psychic snapped out of his initial shock and jumped between the shots like a bird flying through a canyon between trees and rocks. He then countered with his own barrage of shots, which were quickly sent barreling towards the ground like the shot before it.

"There's more where that-"

Suddenly, paintballs went flying past both Void and Psychic, just barely missing as they struck the trees in the distance.

"Who's there?!", Void exclaimed, pointing his marker in the direction the capsule came from.

Without thinking, Psychic pointed his marker in the same direction, not considering that Void could take this opportunity to shoot. Fortunately, though, Void missed this opportunity as Psychic slowly decended to the ground.

"Where the hell did those come from?", Void asked, turning to Psychic.

"There must have been another player we weren't aware of.", he replied.

...

"So, you wanna help me get em?", Void suggested.

"What?"

"Look, man, I wanna be the one to take you down and win. What if I get shot by that other guy after that? Or what about you? They almost got us back there. Come on, what do you say?"

On that note, Psychic didn't know why he was entertaining this and decided against shooting Void while he was rambling. Did he find it amusing and not realize it? Or did he feel bad for him for not taking down any players?

No, it couldn't have been the latter.

"Fine. Truce?", Psychic reluctantly proposed.

"Truce.", Void said while raising his marker, expecting Psychic to tap his against his own.

"Let's just go.", Psychic said, walking past him and preparing his own marker.

"Damn...okay assh-"

"I beg your pardon?"

"N-nothing!", Void exclaimed as he ran to catch up with him.

The two snuck around, glancing in every direction to find the third player before Void heard a rustle in the bushes and guided Psychic in the same direction towards the noise.

The two then crouched behind the trees next to the bushes, reloading their markers one last time before exchanging glances with one another.

Then, the two jumped out and began firing and shouting as loud as they could. They fired until the trees were coated in paint. They fired until their throats hurt from screaming. They fired until their markers completely ran out of ammo, and the only sounds that could be heard were the clicks of the triggers firing nothing.

Slowly, the two opened their eyes and took a look at what they had done. On the ground, the player was crouched into a ball with their back facing them and completely covered in paint. No less than a few seconds later, they turned around to reveal their face, surprising the both of them.

"Hood?!", Void exclaimed.

"Were you the one who fired those shots at us?", Psychic asked.

"Y-yep...y-you got me...and it looks like I got you guys too.", Hood pointed out.

Void and Psychic looked at each other to see a single paint stain on each other's chests.

"G-guess that means we all win, huh...h-hold on...I gotta- I gotta lie down for a sec-", Hood said before promptly passing out.

The two panicked and ran over to help their friend, taking off their helmets and discarding their markers.

"Hood! Wake up! Hood?!", Psychic shouted, shaking him and removing Hood's helmet and taking off his vest.

Void then flipped Hood on his stomach and lifted up his shirt, revealing dozens of bruises dotting his back and arms.

"Oh shi- w-well, don't just stand there! Help him!", Void shouted at Psychic, to which he lifted Hood up into his arms via telekinesis and began running while Void dialed an ambulance.

"I pay the ambulance and you pay the hospital bills?!", Psychic shouted at Void as they ran.

"Deal!"