Fandom High School

"You don't get paintball guns today," Steve announced as the contenders arrived. "Instead, we've added buckets of paint throughout the course. You can use them to throw at each other, but if you set off one of the tripwires and get covered, you're just as out as you would be if you got shot."

Tony was positively beaming at this. "They're prototypes. Real world feedback is going to be great."

Yes, they allowed him to do this to his class. Thank the moose, everyone.

"It's going to be so great," Steve said enthusiastically.

Assuming, of course, that Thor wasn't gunning for him. Bucketing for him?

"Oh, we added hoods for the suits for this," Tony said. "Because paint buckets."

"And helmets because we've met you," Steve added a little wryly.

It was the summer, so naturally that meant heading to the campsite away from town that had been entirely claimed as a paintball course by now to meet your very excited teachers. One was being decidedly more cool about it than the other. (It was the sunglasses that made the other one look so cool.)

"Welcome to paintball!" Steve, the less cool one, said excitedly. "For those who are new to this sport, we take these guns--" he held it up, "and shoot them safely at each other until there is only one remaining. That person has bragging right for the week and is generally the target in the next class."

"My name is Tony Stark and this here is Steve Rogers in case you're new," Tony added. "Don't worry, we'll be getting right into playing without much more preamble. For this first go at it, feel free to use any powers or skills you might have. Gives us a level we should be designing the courses for."

They'd stop before river of lava, Anakin.

"Make sure to put on the coveralls we've provided," Steve said. "And the eye protection."

"And remember to have fun!" You competitive weirdos.

"Tony and I will be joining in," Steve added because unlike cooking, they were actually pretty talented at paintball.

Did the paintball course today look suspiciously like an agility training course for dogs, only human-sized? Well. Yes. But! Steve was no longer a golden retriever, so you at least had that going for you?

"Welcome to the second session!" Steve said with a grin. "My apologies for being...indisposed...the last two weeks."

"But at least no one will be running from a dog this week," Tony added brightly.

Steve laughed. "I was kinda good at that, wasn't I?"

"But this week, you'll actually get to compete against each other." Exciting, right?

"Grab your rifles and your clothing-protective jumpsuits--" just what everyone wanted to wear in mid-July, "--and get ready to run!"

Or hide in that giant plastic tunnel thing.

"Since the pits were such a hit last week," Steve began with perhaps an unclear recollection of last week, "we're keeping them and adding additional obstacles this week."

"Land mines," Tony said cheerfully. "Well, paint ones. Expect to get pretty messy if one goes off, though."

Was this cruel and unusual? No, because there weren't any bugs.

Or any niche Chicago booze flavored like bugs and regret. So it could be a lot worse, right, Anakin?

"So just like in a real battle, you have to look out for more than just enemy combatants," Steve said, nodding. "Be on your toes. Not literally."

"Maybe a little literally depending on the area," Tony chimed in.

"It'll be swell," Steve assured them. "Have fun. No power usage."

Well, that had sure been a weekend, which could explain why Steve and Tony were standing so close together that their shoulders brushed. And all of the pillow forts scattered throughout the space.

"Welcome back to paintball," Steve said with a smile. "I'm guessing some of you might need to work things out today."

"Or some time to hide a bit if that's how things went," Tony added. It was how things went for them at least.

Steve would much rather still be hiding, honestly. "The paintball guns are in their usual places and we also have non-human targets in the back if you'e prefer to do that."

"Call this a breather class," Tony suggested. "It'll let you be prepared for next week."

Steve was back from his husband-assisted birthday off and was looking rested and relaxed. And slightly devious. "We're keeping the pockets of anti-gravity," he said. "You're advanced enough to work around it."

"He's upset he missed out on it last week," Tony whispered helpfully.

"Only a little bit," Steve admitted, laughing. "It sounded swell."

"We're also adding paint 'grenades' for you to try out along with the anti-gravity fields," Tony added.

Steve was doing an amazing impression of an excited golden retriever right now. "No powers, please. Have fun!"

The teachers had put up a hasty sign by the normal obstacle course:

Due to Memorial Day, both teachers have prior engagements. Please accept our apologies and we'll see you next week!

The class had been told to meet out by the old high school camping area: an ideal locale that gave lots of cabins to hide behind or snipe from on top, as well as trees and collapsing piles of logs.

Steve and Tony had also modified the area with fences, ropes to climb up and swing from, plexiglass barriers to hide behind...it was a lot. They'd learned from last summer's class that the people on this island took paintball unbelievably seriously.

"Welcome to our first class," Steve said, grinning. "Grab yourself a suit, some goggles, and a weapon. In future classes you can bring your own suit, if you have one, but please use our weapons to make sure we're all starting out with the same quality."

"The suits are a must unless you really want to go avant-garde with your fashion choices," Tony added. "Now, this class is simple. It's a battle Royale to see who lasts the longest without getting hit."

"As the summer goes on, we'll add additional barriers, or put you into small teams," Steve said, "but for today, it's every being for themselves. Today we're using paint guns. Other classes we might use balloons, or cans of paint, or something that Tony invents to cause additional mayhem--" Steve grinned. He loved when Tony came up with something to cause more mayhem. Ahem. Learning opportunities. "--but right now, we'll keep it classic."

"Let's get to it!" No time like now to get shot with paint, right?"

Well, hopefully everyone caught up on sleep for class! Because it was back to the extreme competition that was paintball.

"Welcome back," Tony said, coffee in hand. Because he spent way too long trying to figure out why the alarms all went off before deciding it was just Fandom. "Today we'll be trying something new with traps."

Tony, no.

"No holes," Steve said, like that would make it better.

"There are paint showers throughout the arena for anyone to use, but also for people to avoid." Look, he'd been inspired the other day.

"And traps that will yank you into trees," Steve said, beaming like this was not a terrible, terrible idea. "Have fun!"

Look, they had to do something to up the difficulty here.

Paintball couldn't just be a normal game of paintball after all this time. No, instead, it was set up with the same obstacles and hiding spots, but within a roller rink.

"For our last class this session," Steve said, grinning, "we thought we'd up the difficulty again. You guys are getting too good!"

"So. Rollerblades," Tony said proudly. "There's padding and helmets, don't worry."

No, do worry.

Worry a lot. "We're back down to the paint balloons, so those should be easier to use while rollerskating," Steve said.

Or you would trip and fall and cover yourself in paint, which also seemed likely.

"Just remember to have fun." Was that aimed at all the weird rivalries in the class? Yes. Pointedly.

"Anakin," Steve added, crossing his arms over his chest and looking disappointed.

The set up had once more been altered so as to not give anyone an advantage at the game, but the rest was very much the same as the previous weeks.

"So, you made it through another week of classes," Tony said, maybe riffing on someone's PSA's a little bit.

Steve had the weirdest impulse to find a chair to sit on and look at him from! "Dean Skywalker sends his regrets," he said, grinning at Stark and Lana, "so him not being here will probably make things slightly...um."

Less cheaty? Or not because Five was still there.

"Less competitive?" Tony ventured. Because the Hargreeves mostly went after each other.

Steve nodded in agreement. "Today we have some modified Nerf guns for you--better for distance than the balloons but still not going to hurt anyone. Have fun!"

Did Steve have to show up in his Captain America gear? He did not, but it was something he knew he could wash paint off of and he was, at heart, pretty practical (even if he was wearing something semi-spangly). He was bouncing a water balloon full of paint casually in one hand and grinning. "Today we'll start off a bit easy, just to see what kind of level of combat skills we'll working with," he said.

"Also fewer bruises this way," Tony added. "Paintball guns hit pretty hard."

But you will be colorful by the end.

Steve gestured around at the course he and Tony had set up by the old, abandoned campsite in the woods. "There's plenty of moddable stuff to hide behind and climb over," he said. "Feel free to use powers if you have them today--we'll make things tougher as the session goes on."

"And have fun with it," Tony said like half the class wasn't insanely competitive or something like that. "We can get introductions once it's over with."

Or people could storm off because of the competitive nature thing.