tratie one shots, vol. i

[ laser tag ]

i saw a prompt a while back about your otp going laser-tagging and i couldn't resist. i'm still working on a couple of other requests, but i started this and couldn't stop until i'd finished it, oops.

words: 1023

. . .

"I'm so excited!" Connor pumped a fist in the air the second the laser gun was placed in his hand, flailing it around with glee.

The man who'd just spent the better half of ten minutes explaining the rules of the guns sighed. "Please don't wave your gun around, you could hurt someone."

"Isn't that the point?" Connor grinned viciously, making Travis burst into laughter. 

I elbowed my boyfriend in the stomach and rolled my eyes at his brother. "Weren't you paying attention, Connor?"

Miranda snorted. "Does he ever?"

It wasn't often that Chiron let us leave the camp, but when he did, boy did he deliver. It was Connor's birthday, and he insisted he wanted to go laser tagging. With weeks of begging Chiron, he arranged for us to go a nearby center that was demigod safe. Miranda, Connor, Travis, and I went with a handful of other half-bloods to play some rounds. 

The man gestured to the playing grounds and nodded. "Go on ahead. You have one minute to prepare before the timer starts - put on your vest, charge up your gun. There will be four quarters of fifteen minutes, and whoever survives the longest each round receives more laser ammo for the next one. If you're shot, you're out for the rest of the rounds. Last person standing wins. Good luck."

Travis grabbed my hand and swept a kiss across my knuckles. "May the best man win."

"Thanks, I will." I giggled when he furrowed his brow and huffed.

We parted ways as everyone crowded into the large black room. Glowing neon tubes lined the corners of the room and variously-shaped walls scattered throughout the grounds. I stationed myself behind a circular foam wall to charge my laser gun and buckle my targeted vest. I wanted to demolish everyone. I had pretty good aim in archery, so surely this wouldn't be much different. 

Mostly, I looked forward to shooting Travis in the chest and having bragging rights.

The prep minute passed by quicker than I expected it to, but the starting buzzer didn't surprise me so bad that I couldn't shoot Miranda in the shoulder the second she tried to attack me. 

"Aww, come on!" she whined with a laugh. "I can't be the first one out!"

"Tough luck," I teased as she walked away.

As the round progressed, I heard lasers shooting, but I never got pounced on. I kept waiting for Travis to sneak up and try to zap me, but he never showed up. He hid himself pretty well, actually. I'd gone hunting for him since he apparently wouldn't find me, but I couldn't get to him.

Soon, three of the rounds had passed and only one remained. The man running it said over a mic, "There's only three of you left, whoever can manage to pick off the other two wins the game. Good luck!"

I had to see who was still in.

I rounded a corner to see Lou Ellen, the cabin leader of Hecate. She stood with her back to me, peering around a wall in anticipation. I grinned and raised my gun, but another shot fired past me and hit her in the back before I had to chance to.

"Hey!" Lou Ellen turned around and scowled.

"Sorry," Travis called, revealing himself from behind another wall. "My bad."

Lou Ellen stuck her tongue out at him before making her way outside the playing grounds. 

Rolling my eyes, I put my hands on my hips. "Where have you been this whole time? I've been trying to find you." 

He grinned. "That's why I had to hide."

We stared at each other for a second, both suspiciously pointing our laser guns at each other. There had to be around five minutes left in the round, and then one of us would win. I had to win - I'd hold it over his head for the rest of time if I did. The ideas of winning floated in the air between us, filling our heads with immediate distrust for each other.

"So, uh, what now?" He took a step closer to me, but I held up my gun more tensely. 

"Don't you dare." 

"What, you don't trust me?"

"Of all the people in camp, you are at the literal bottom of my trusting list." 

Travis pouted his lip, risking another step closer. "Aw, come on, Katie-kat." Another step. "You don't trust your very own boyfriend?" Two more steps.

During his whining, I moved backwards, still with my gun as a barrier between us. "Trav, you're a son of Hermes. Nobody should trust you."

"Are you sure?" He strode on. I hit the inside corner of a wall with an "oof!" and he chuckled. 

His face hovered inches from mine, one arm pressed against the wall next to my head and the other cradling his laser gun. Chills raced down my spine as he let out a rumbling hum and leaned in closer to me.

"I... I'm pretty sure," I managed right before his lips crashed into mine.

Styx.

I lost myself in him with reckless abandon, my lips fitting with his effortlessly. The way his arms wrapped around me and hugged me close sent me spiraling into a world of ecstasy. He grunted as he shoved me against the wall harder, leaving no space for even a breath of air. A shiver went from the base of my neck to my toes when he left my lips and nipped at my jawline, moving down nearer to my collarbone. Gods above, he was magic.

Zap!

His laser gun's beam hit me square in the middle of the target on my chest. With a grin on his face, he broke our kiss and pulled away. 

"I win."

I gaped at him as he casually strolled away from me just as the last buzzer of the game went off. 

"Stoll, you cheated!"

He chuckled and kept walking. "I don't think there was anything in the rules against kissing your girlfriend, Katie-kat."

I hated him.

"At least get back here and finish what you started."

He turned around and took a step back towards me.

"Gladly, Kates."