Comfortember: Game Night

You hold your breath, desperate to remain hidden in the dark labyrinth.

You're not accustomed to using a gun, and it certainly doesn't help that the one in your hand feels so heavy.

You hear loud, heavy footsteps on the other side of the maze wall. It's so dark, practically pitch black, and you can't see a thing. You clap a hand over your mouth to smother the sounds of your labored breathing as you start shuffling backwards to put as much distance between yourself and the footsteps circling you.

You're halfway through a sigh of relief when you hear a familiar voice behind you, "Nothing personal, kid."

A breath gets caught in your throat as you prepare to accept your fate.

But instead of a shot to the back, you hear another familiar voice, "I wish I could say the same."

Before you or Sam can whirl around, two quick shots fire into his back.

Sam indignantly gasps, the two of you spinning around to see Bucky standing there with the most smug of smirks and a freshly fired paintball gun.

"You asshole!" Sam angrily exclaims, bending his back to reach the spot he was just shot in. "I was so close to finally winning - You're not even on the same team!"

The lights come on and Tony's voice echoes over the training room, elaborately set up for a more extreme version of the Avengers game night, "Come on. No one likes a sore loser, Sam."

"He isn't even in this round!" Sam argues.

"He wasn't eliminated last round either," Steve reminds him, a large orange splatter on his forehead from his own earlier round.

Still rubbing the sore spot on his back, Sam looks up at the viewing room where Tony had been playing referee for the entire game night, "Can we go back to Pictionary?"

Tony presses on the intercom looking incredibly pleased with how the night was going, "You were the one that wanted different games."

"Well, getting shot in the back changes a person's mind, Tony!"

"Aww...." You step around Sam, putting both your arms around Bucky. "You saved me."

"Saved you and shot Sam, a pretty good night for me," Bucky smugly remarks.

You take a step back, stepping just out of Bucky's embrace. You look up at him, smiling brightly, "I just wanted to say thanks again."

He smiles down at you. "Of-"

"And that I'm sorry." Before Bucky can even ask what you're talking about, he feels a paintball shot into his vest. Bucky gasps, his jaw dropped as he processes the fact that you just shot him to win game night. "And just like that, I win game night!"

"Okay," Sam calls up to Tony, a giant grin now adorning his face. "I change my mind again. I love game night!"