Hell and Back (EXO x Reader)

Sharpshooter (Trials 43-44)

Word count: 1076

Chapter warnings: Mild language and Mild themes

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"What did I tell you." Kyungsoo was fighting with Kris. "Picking dare is stupid!"

"Come on, I'll take the hit for it this time, promise!" He was saying with a laugh. She was starting to think he enjoyed it when things went a little bit wrong. Getting a bit tired of their fighting, she picked dare just so they could move on. After all, the last one hadn't been that bad at all.

"Alright, the next dare-" She stalled her speech as she waited for the text to appear. Reading through it, she looked more than a bit confused, leading to the other boys leaning in, trying to get a look.

[Dare] 43: Tree of Knowledge

Pick one player to complete a different challenge than the other players.

"It says we need to pick someone who's trial will be different." She said, swallowing nervously. "I don't think it's going to tell us what the actual trial is until we pick." A familiar list of names was hovering inches beneath her fingers.

"I vote Kris." Baekhyun said immediately. "He messed with us on the last one, so that's what he gets. Plus, he just said he'd take the hit for it."

"What if it's easier, though?" Sehun whined. "Then he gets two in a row."

"Have you seen how this whole thing has been going?" Xiumin joked. "There's no way it'll be good... right?" While she knew it was just a lighthearted jab, she felt a twist in the pit of her stomach, the guilt of dragging them into this.

"That's fine with me," Kris shrugged. "You all are babies anyway. Whether it's harder or easier, I'm happy to do it." She looked between him and Suho, as their unofficial leader was bound to have a say. Surprisingly, he didn't actually speak anything, just giving her a sort of, 'whatever' look. Finally, she herself threw caution to the wind, tapping on his name. Would you like to submit Player Kris for Trial 43? She confirmed her selection, and read out the actual trial.

Trial 43: Tree of Knowledge

Have Player Kris stand against the wall. In the cavity of the bass drum, you will find a gun and ten bullets, as well as an apple. Place the apple on Player Kris' head. Each player will take one shot at it. You may aim as close or as far off as you'd like. If a player hits the apple, the trial will be completed immediately, and the players will skip to trial 45.

Limited power: Kai

Drop-out Fee: R.P.

"What does R.P. mean?" Kyungsoo was the first to ask.

"Why would we know?" Chen asked in a tone a bit too snarky for his liking.

"I was just asking a question." He snapped back.

"Calm down, I'll ask the search bar." She sighed. They were all on edge, but their bickering was going to become annoying very quickly. After a few moments, she had an answer for them. "It stands for 'relative penalty'."

"Well, what does that mean?"

"I was getting to that." She glared playfully, "Basically, your penalty will have to do with the challenge. If someone had dropped out of Kris', their penalty would have probably been to drink something really gross."

"Oh..." Kyungsoo scrunched up his nose in distaste. "In that case, why not just name each one?" She shrugged.

"Maybe to make you think it's worse than it is?" She asked. "I'm not sure. Either way, we need to play this dumb game. If we don't have to shoot towards him we should probably just be safe. Kai can't teleport anything, so it's the best option." Suho and Kyungsoo nodded in agreement, with most of the other boys just idling around waiting for directions, or at least mob rule.

Kai walked over to the drum kit, and sure enough, pulled out a gun, a cardboard box of bullets, and a crisp, green apple. Kris looked at is skeptically.

"Couldn't they have at least picked red?"

"That's your concern with this?" Kai asked in return. He simply rolled his eyes, grabbing the apple and placing it atop his head, backing up against the far wall.

"Alright, do your worst." Kai was the first to shoot, simply because he was holding the gun. He purposely missed by a good bit, making sure to keep the bullet away from the studio equipment. Lay was up next- his hold was strangely shaky, almost as if he was having controlling his body, but his shot missed by a wide margin as well. Sehun excitedly took the firearm from him, barely aiming before pulling the trigger. This time, it lodged itself in the wall about two feet to the right of Kris's face.

"Watch it." The man growled, looking over.

"Haha! Made you flinch!" Sehun bragged.

"Oh, wow, I flinched while getting shot at." Kris deadpanned, mentally commanding them to get on with it. When Baekhyun took the arm from Sehun, though, he looked over at Kris curiously.

"What?" He asked, trying to break the awkward silence. Saying nothing, he held the gun up with both hands, shifting his feet slightly. He wasn't just aiming out of the way. He was aiming aiming.

"Wait-" Kris started to say before the boy pulled the trigger. Shutting his eyes in fear, his shoulders scrunched up, but when he opened them once more, he found that he was indeed alive.

"Woah!" Xiumin said suddenly. "That was amazing!" Both pissed off and curious, Kris reached up to pull the apple off his head, a hole neatly placed in the bottom third of the fruit.

"What the fuck?!" He asked, practically running towards Baekhyun in an aggressive manner. She wasn't sure what he'd been planning to do, but she got between them, barricading the way and blocking his path as he tried to push through her.

"Calm down."

"Why are you so mad?" Bakehyun stuck his tongue out like a kid. "I saved us all the trouble, and we get to skip a trial. You're all about doing dumb things, remember?"

"You little-"

"Both of you, enough." Suho said.

"Where did you learn to shoot like that?" Chanyeol asked incredulously as Baekhyun continued making faces at his would-be attacker.

"I'm just that good." He joked, not actually answering the question.

"Can we just get on with it?" She asked with a deep breath. The sooner this was over and done with, the better.