A/N: Just a fun little thing I wrote because Sully and Chloe are so witty. Note that this doesn't really follow the Uncharted timeline and presumes that the two of them met earlier on in life for some contracted work. Please R + R!
Summary: ["Don't tease a man like me, Miss Frazer. You'll get exactly what you expect."] Sully gives Chloe a lesson in shooting and flirtation. Then again, it seems she already knows what she's doing…
Friendly Fire
Sure Chloe's at that age that precocious mothers would call 'tender', but she's quickly losing her softness in exchange for rough edges. At twenty two, she's more than aware that there is no such thing as a safe bet. Deals can be broken, trust can be lost. And maybe it's a bit heavy-handed (and Freudian) to trace back the roots of her skepticism to its most natural origin, but she's finding that it matters so much who breaks your heart for the first time.
Years of trying to shape herself into the son her father always wanted but never got sure as hell taught her that lesson. It was only a matter of time before her desperate need to please him had inverted and turned into a strong desire to please only herself. But it was a matter of luck that her reckless ways and natural cunning earned her a pretty penny.
A hired hand is a hired hand, and she likes the freedom it gives her even if she has to prove herself over and over again to the highest bidder. She gets it –she's untested, and the whole world is searching for some peace of mind. Sully's nicer than most because he's willing to give her an audition. Chloe's more than ready for tests like these especially when the money's good. And if she's being honest with herself, she's in need of a new distraction –things aren't happy at home. Even so, she could do without the reminders…She's found herself ontop of the roof of an abandoned munitions factory with a gun exactly the same make as daddy's old scoped rifle. This one belongs to Sully, and he's watching how she handles it because this little heist she signed up for requires a different aptitude.
Funny enough, with the alcohol out of his blood, Sully's all business and more attentive than she guessed he would be.
"Why did you come to me?", he asks. It seems like a simple question, but Chloe knows better than that.
"Because I hear you're good at this sort of thing", she says. He returns her devious smile before she makes a coy correction, "Business, I mean."
Suddenly shy, Chloe returns to the sight with increased concentration, and focuses in on the target in the distance that he's picked out for her.
"You've got shaky hands", he says, correcting her posture and angle. "Is this your first time?"
Chloe almost laughs, if only because the words come very close to her ear. She appreciates this kind of doublespeak.
"No", she says. There are so many different levels of (in)sincerity bleeding through her body right now.
"Didn't think so."
And he's looking at her like a rogue with some chewed-through advice: pick a story and stick with it, sweetheart. It's possible he's already drawing conclusions about her if he hasn't already gotten a file on her, that is. She should've played dumb, but it's too late –she's confirmed in words what he saw for himself: how her fingers knew where to go to adjust the sight, how she balances the weight of it. She already knows what to do…all of a sudden this assessment of her skills becomes a test of his.
Sully could probably read the prelude of her story in her eyes, figured very easily that she was more or less an orphan (literally and/or figuratively). Maybe he has experience with girls like her. With that slightly savage but gentlemanly look about him, that look that fits in so closely with memories of her father, it seems likely. But maybe all ex-marines are built that way, she reasons.
"Remember, I don't want you to fire. Just get comfortable with holding it in your hands."
And that devil, he's humouring her because he can see as well as she can that sure she's rusty, but she's familiar.
"You've got a unique talent for making everything sound dirty, Mr. Sullivan."
She doesn't exactly trust him but Sully has absolutely no interest in being a father to her, literally and figuratively. And she kind of likes it. Even if his moral compass is muddy, Sully can see something worthwhile in her right away and she doesn't have to waste her time and reopen old insecurities to prove it.
"Think you can manage it?", he asks.
"The rifle or your gutter mouth?"
"Both."
He's smiling now, and there's a reckless authenticity to it that reminds her of who she wants to be.
"I'm a big girl, I can take it."
"That's what I thought."
She fires and hits the mark. He throws an arm around her shoulders, and she doesn't lean away from it, because it feels like he actually means it, and in some of that slick talk is genuine pride. Possibilities are lining up, aren't they? Chloe knows better than to let her ambition burn this bright, but she's been waiting for moments like this to confirm her own credibility (and mostly because her thrills aren't so cheap anymore). And the things she's heard about Victor Sullivan…well, she could see for herself that they weren't all exaggerations.
Sully slings his gun behind his back, getting ready to leave, "We're done for the day, sweetheart."
"Oh have we finished already? I could go for longer."
Sully's an old scoundrel for the way he's looking at her now, like he's played all sorts of games like this before and knows how to properly enjoy them.
"Don't tease a man like me, Miss Frazer. You'll get exactly what you expect."
Chloe does laugh this time, and the sound is rich and almost breathless as if she's just been kissed. It's not long before that smile of hers turns devious, and she knows it in her gut that she's won him over in an important way. Maybe they'll both get what they want out of this arrangement afterall.