"This, my friends, is the best paintball venue of all times. Welcome to GoBallistic!" Niall dramatically gestures towards the sign.

"Niall, it's just a paintball venue." Louis rolls his eyes and Harry chuckles. "By the way, where's the rest of them. They were closer to the venue than us."

"I don't know. Let's at least get the markers, paintballs, goggles, paintballing clothes and hoppers." Niall claps excitedly.

"And what about the pods and harnesses? Do you plan on holding your paintballs or what? And squeegees? And the pads? And gloves?" Louis snickers.

"Stop mocking me you asshole. I'm not paying for you anymore."

"Ni... Who are you kidding. You weren't paying for me earlier either." Louis laughs and they enter the venue.

"Louis?"

"Yes Harry? Everything okay?"

"I don't know what all that stuff is."

"Oh it's simple really, markers are your paintball guns, hoppers are like the loaders. They load your gun, I'm assuming you know what paintballs and goggles are-"

"Why do we need goggles?"

"Harry I'm sure you don't want to be hit by a paintball in the face. Anyhow pods are your carriers for the paintballs and harnesses let you easily access the pod, squeegees are used when a pod bursts inside the marker. You can always shoot through it but accuracy really decreases, the rest is protective gear."

"Lou you sound like a professional." Harry giggles.

"Nah, babe, just play a lot."

"I'm nervous, what if I mess up?"

"It's okay Harry, I'll keep you on my team, get you through it. You'll do well yeah? And it's just a game. For fun yeah?" Louis pats his shoulder and follows Niall to the rental area.

"For fun." Harry echoes and follows the other two. When he reaches the rental, they're having a full blown argument.

"Niall are you an idiot? We don't need the fucking 120 pod packs!! We're not going to be here our whole lives!!"

"10? Are you insane? Do you think you're a sharpshooter of sorts? Do you expect not to miss at all?" Niall screams.

"W-what's going on?" Harry asks timidly but no one pays attention.

"Niall you absolute idiot, there's only three people to shoot!! That's still 3 paintballs per person. 3!!! Are you a two year old with a shit aim?" Louis scoffs.

"Listen, stop being an idiot. What if the ball bursts?" Niall irritably rubs his temples

"Still 9 left, three per person. What are the odds of the ball bursting anyway?"

"Go for 10 if you want, I'm going for a 120."

"That gives you an unfair advantage!! You're probably not even allowed to have differently sized pods."

"Louis we never have this argument, why today?"

"Because Liam always decides." He huffs.

"Louis?" Harry calls softly and the frustrated lad turns to him, his frown lightening.

"Yes, Haz? Everything okay?"

"I asked you what was wrong?"

"I'm so sorry, I didn't hear. Nothing, really. Niall's being an idiot." Louis waves his hand.

"Am not!" He protests hotly.

"Are too!!" Louis nearly yells.

"Am-"

"Woah, woah lads, let's calm down yeah!" Liam runs past Harry and between the two. "What's the problem, guys?"

"The problem is that Niall wants a 120 pod pack and there's no way in hell we need anything bigger than a 10."

Liam turns to Niall as Josh and Zayn enter talking animatedly. "Niall, you realise 120 is very unreasonable? There's only six of us, lad. We really don't need that many."

"But 10! Only 10? That's, that's too little!" Niall protests

"Louis, you need to compromise too, man. 10 is too little."

"Um, Liam?" Harry calls softly.

"Yeah Harry?"

"How about we vote? You can decide a number and we can vote?"

"Yeah okay. Okay let's vote, good idea Harry! Okay, who wants a 10 pod pack?"

"Me." Louis firmly says. No one else bothers. Louis looks at everyone in disbelief and Harry sighs softly.

"Me." He says giving Louis a small smile. Louis' face lights up and he winks at him. Harry blushes and Niall gawks at them.

Zayn snorts and mumbles "get married already," under his breath and Josh doubles up with silent laughter.

"Okay." Liam clears his throat. "Okay," he repeats "well, for 120?"

Only Niall voices in agreement. The girl at the rental calls, "does my vote count?"

"Oh shut up you only want the extra money." Louis huffs. Harry gasps.

"Louis, don't be rude!!" He slaps his arm.

Liam turns around and smiles at the girl. "Thank you, but no, sorry." And Harry is instantly making heart eyes at Liam. Louis scoffs with disdain.

"Okay then, sorry Ni, that's definitely out. Okay what about -"

"Me." Zayn says.

Liam laughs softly. "Appreciate the sentiment babe, love the support but we need a number yeah? 30, lads?" He looks at everyone.

Josh shrugs his agreement, saying "yeah sounds reasonable." Harry looks torn between voicing his opinion and supporting Louis.

"Well," he mumbles, "I guess that sounds best?" He looks away from Louis, not wanting to see disappointment on his face.

Louis sighs. "Okay, I guess, we already have a majority but, yeah, I guess Liam's right."

Everyone turns to Niall. "Well I'm outnumbered aren't I?"

"We still care what you think Niall." Liam says.

"In that case, I agree, it's way better than either of our extreme ideas."

They all cheer and go to rental counter. Louis stops Harry by wrapping his arm around his stomach. Harry falls back into Louis' chest. "Hi." Louis says cheekily.

"Hi." Harry sighs breathlessly. "What's up?"

"Thank you for supporting me, even if I was unreasonable." He mumbles into his neck

Harry places his hands over Louis' on his waist and pats it lightly. "Of course, Lou. Come on, the boys are waiting." He slowly pulls away and takes his hand. Louis double takes but smiles at him warmly, intertwining their fingers more firmly. Harry grins up at Louis, a warm blush on his cheeks. Louis laughs softly and brushing a curl out of his face he drags the boy along.

They buy the required equipment and rush to the open grounds.

"Teams!"

"I call Liam!" Zayn yells.

"NO FAIR!! You can't always 'call Liam'" Louis rolls his eyes.

"Oh shut up whiner." Zayn flips him off.

"Fuck you. Harry you're with me."

"Louis, you don't even know how I play."

"So what? I want you on my team anyway." Harry blushes and looks down.

"Fine then, Josh is with us." Liam sniggers

"Fuck," Louis mumbles under his breath. "Whatever, Niall come on, we got arses to beat."

"They're the best players Lou." Niall murmurs.

"I know, we got this."

"Oi?"

"What Malik?" Louis sighs.

"Loser buys lunch for a month." He states and Louis hesitates.

"Scared Tommo?" Liam challenges.

"You wish, Payno." Louis seethes. "You're on."

"Louis!!!" Harry gasps.

"Don't worry, Hazza. Get ready for one month of free lunch."

"Louis you're gonna get us killed."

He shushes them and pulls them to the changing rooms. "Okay now... We have a definite disadvantage," he starts, pulling of his shirt, "they have better players, while we have Harry who's never played," Harry looks down. "Hey now, none of that Harry. I picked you, and I would pick you again if I could. Anyhow, so let's set some rules, no creeping up on each other to tip off. So if you sense anyone behind you just shoot. And be as quiet as possible. Harry you'll stay with me. Niall, you gotta cover as much area as possible. Take out Liam first if you can. We gotta get this. I'm running out on money. I barely have enough for my lunch, let alone a second person. Let's fucking do this."

They nod solemnly and pull on the jerseys, picking up their equipment. "Now careful, they could be outside already."

They go out one by one and go in two different directions. Niall quickly takes cover of a tree.

"Harry watch out!" Louis pulls Harry as a paintball flies past them. "Fucking Liam." Harry pulls Louis down as a ball narrowly misses their heads. "Good one, babe." They rush to take cover of a rock. "Shoot! NIALL WATCH OUT!" Louis screams and Niall turns in time to see Josh shooting. Niall jumps out of the way and rolls on the ground, quickly standing up to shoot Josh, missing narrowly, the ball losing speed and falling to the ground creating a magenta splatter on the grass.

"YO TOMMO BEHIND YOU." Niall yells and Louis turns around and shoots instinctively, nailing Liam square in the chest.

"Fucking hell." He groans wiping teal paint off his chin.

"Niall!!" Harry yells but it's too late, Zayn shoots his back with green. Niall groans.

"My hair!" He cries out feeling them get sticky.

"Woo!! Way to go babe." Liam laughs jogging to the showers. Louis and Harry laugh and Liam shoots them, hitting their collarbones.

"Cheater!!! You're out you fucker." Louis sputters wiping red from his neck. Harry giggles.

"You're all red."

"Look at you! Purple monster."

They both laugh. "Okay hush we gotta get Josh and Zayn." Harry giggles.

"Yeah you're right. Look there's Josh." Louis points to a figure peeping out from behind a tree in the distance. "And Zayn-?"

"Is here!!" A voice yells from behind and the sound of a trigger pulled follows. They both turn and shoot towards the sound of the voice. Harry's ball bursts inside and he gets hit with a blast of yellow while Louis nails Zayn.

Harry pouts, wiping paint off his goggles. "Get Josh, Lou."

"Of course." Louis quietly slinks closer to Josh's hiding place, taking a round route. He finds himself behind Josh in no time. He's looking for someone, him probably. Louis taps his shoulder. "Looking for me?" Josh turns in surprise and before he can react Louis kicks the gun out of his hand and shoots him.

"Aww man... This ain't fair... And pink really?"

"That's a taste of your teammate's medicine for you." Louis laughs and runs off to the changing rooms. "We won, lads."

They cheer and go in for a group hug.

"I'm getting free lunch for a month. That's kinda the only thing I care about." Niall laughs.

"Honestly me too. And you were amazing out there Harry."

He blushes and smiles softly. "Thank you." He mumbles.

Louis quickly gets changed and the three of them head to the exit, meeting the others there, driving home after rubbing their win in the other three's faces. Louis drops off Niall first, promising to see him at school tomorrow.

"Well here we are Harry, home sweet home." Louis turns to smile at Harry since Niall called shotgun.

"Thank you Lou. Today was amazing, I loved it, thank you so much."

"Of course, darling. I'll pick you up in time for school tomorrow yeah?"

He nods, getting out of the car. "Bye Lou. See you tomorrow." He leans on the driver's side window. He moves in closer and kisses Louis' cheek.