Noctis preferred a sword to a gun, the weight and feel of it in his hand, knowing for certain that he hit something and hit it hard. Also the advantage of warpstrike made ranged weapons no better than melee weapons as far as he was concerned, and worse in the fact that it lacked that certainty. Sure, they had their advantages, but it just didn't compare.

It was loud too, shooting a gun. Some people said it was a 'bang' when you used one, but having practiced enough Noctis knew the sound was more of an angry, percussive 'pop'. It kind of reminded him of bubble wrap taken to the extreme, kind of. And right now he was really beginning to hate it.

Pop poppop pop pop.

He fired off several rounds in quick succession, letting his hand drop with the weight of the pistol, and letting out a frustrated sigh. How was he so bad at this? Prompto made it look easy, over there jumping and twirling around like some sort of really clumsy ballerina but still managing to hit the target every time.

Noctis was struggling just standing still. It looked like he may have grazed the target's arm. Great, it wasn't moving, he wasn't moving, and he was pretty sure the target was still winning this fight.

"Noct, you done already?" Prompto threw an arm over his shoulder as he continued to try and glare the target into submission. "Dude, did you put up a new target, or do you just suck?"

Noctis turned to hit Prompto but the other danced out of his way, laughing. "Don't get mad at me, I'm not the one with no talent."

"Shut up," He looked at the pistol. "There's gotta be something wrong with this thing, it's not my fault."

"Let me see," Prompto snatched the pistol out of Noctis's hand before he could protest, checked that it was loaded, aimed, and fired off another five rounds. A little keyhole appeared right in the center of the target's face. "Seems fine to me." He shrugged and handed it back.

"Thanks for your assessment." He snatched his pistol back back, reloading it and lining up for another shot.

Prompto grabbed his arm as he brought it up, "Whoa, whoa, I think I know what your problem is already. Dude, you gotta aim."

Noctis looked at him like he was stupid, "I am aiming."

"Nah, you're just pointing the gun down range and hoping it will hit." Prompto shook his head. "This isn't like hitting something with a sword or a spear, this requires finesse."

"Funny, coming from you." Noctis let his arm drop again, eyes rolling at how ridiculous this was, at least Prompto could hit something though. "Fine, tell me how I finesse this thing to death."

A wide grin spread over Prompto's face, a flash of teeth. "Alright, let's do this."

He grabbed Noctis's shoulders and faced him towards the target. "First square off, feet shoulder width apart." He moved to stand next to Noctis, drawing his own weapon from the ether. "Okay, from here there are two stances you can use, technically either's fine, but it's whatever you're more comfortable with."

Noctis thought it was stupid, but he humored Prompto, moving to stand like he was being shown. "Like this?"

"Yeah," Prompto nodded approvingly. "Now, for the first one, which I don't like too much by the way, you sort of squat down, lean forward and form a triangle with your arms. Elbows slightly bent." He demonstrated, and it looked ridiculous. "Now you do it."

Noctis sighed, and felt like he might roll his eyes out of his head at this rate. "Okay," he adopted the stance.

Prompto straightened, examining Noctis's stance critically. "No, stick your butt out more, and bring your shoulders forward." He grabbed Noctis by the hip and shoulder, guiding him into what had to be the most uncomfortable position to stand in, ever. "Like that."

"Okay," How was this a shooting stance? He straightened, "What's the other one?" Hopefully it was less uncomfortable than this.

"You don't want to try it first?" Prompto asked, gesturing down range.

"No, I want to see the other stance first." Noctis just really didn't want to stand like ever again, if he looked half as dumb as Prompto had, it would be best to pretend that it never happened.

"Okay," Prompto shrugged, "Square off again."

"Great." Was this one going to be just as bad? This is why he hated guns.

Now, step forward with your dominant foot, and lean forward a bit, so your knee is bent and your weight is shifted forward." Prompto put a hand on his shoulder, guiding him into position. "Good, okay." He brought his gun up, "You still want your shoulders to be facing the target, but your elbow on your non dominant side is going to be more bent."

This was marginally less offensive, though still felt uncomfortable to stand this way. "Am I doing it right?"

'Hmmm," Prompto looked over his stance. "Mostly, I think. Just shoot a couple of rounds, and I'll correct you from there."

"Sure," Noctis aimed and fired. He still missed everything. "Great, it's definitely working."

Prompto shook his head. "Noct, you're still not aiming. At all."

"What the hell do you think I'm doing?" This was stupid, guns were stupid, and Prompto obviously had no idea what he was talking about.

"Try one more time, but I'm going to help you a little." Prompto waved a hand back at the target. "I promise, once you figure out the basics you can do all sorts of stuff." Noctis really didn't want to. "Please?"

"Fine, fine, whatever." He got back into the stance Prompto had shown him, wondering exactly how Prompto was going to help him a little. Was he going to move the target so close he couldn't possibly miss it?

"Okay," Prompto stepped up behind Noctis, putting one hand on his hip, the other on his dominant hand holding the gun. "First, bring the sites up to your eyes, not your head down to the gun." He raised Noctis's arm, so the gun was right in front of his face. "Line up the rear site and front site, the front should sit between the two sides of the rear, and the tops of them should be level covering where you want to hit. Go center of mass for now, so chest."

Noctis tried to focus on what he was being told, and not Prompto's breath on his cheek or warmth against his back. He aimed at the chest of the target. "Okay, I think I got it."

"Good, now, make sure you're supporting the weight of the gun in both hands, and that the pad of the tip of your trigger finger is all that's on there, if you use too much it'll pull your shots. Also don't anticipate the recoil, just let it happen and reset."

Noctis nodded, adjusting his grip, suddenly feeling nervous. "What next?"

Prompto leaned a little closer, his hair brushing against Noctis's neck. "Exhale, and squeeze."

With another loud 'pop' the gun fired. Prompto stepped back, slapping him on the back. "Noct, you did it." The target had a nice hole right in the center of the chest, right where Noctis had wanted to hit.

"Huh," He could feel himself smiling too. "I guess it does take a little more finesse than I thought."

"See man, I told you." Prompto punched him in the arm. "You just gotta learn the basics, the rest will come naturally."

Noctis dropped his pistol, letting it disappear. "So, if that's the way it's supposed to work, how the hell do you do all that dumb shit and still hit the target?"

Prompto scratched the back of his head, laughing embarrassed. "Practice."

"Practice?" Noctis asked, knowing that he always came here with him for live fire, which wasn't often because Noctis hated it.

"Yeah, a lot of practice." Prompto admitted. "Let's go to the arcade and I'll show you."

Noctis laughed. "Okay, sure, but if I'm going to get my ass kicked in shooting games you're paying for them."

Prompto gave him a cocky smile. "Then I'm not going easy on you this time."