The Flash is owned by The CW.
Disclaimer: I do not know how to fire a gun. There was a lot of research involved in this fic. Also, there was an error with my word program in which it repeated a paragraph. If you favorited the old fic, my apologies. It should be fixed in this version.
Joe knew that Barry could protect himself well enough with his powers, but that still didn't satisfy that fear in the back of his mind. He'd taught Iris to shoot a gun for the same reason, but now he had to teach Barry. He couldn't sleep at night knowing that Barry didn't know how to shoot one. So, he walks down to Barry's room.
"Can't sleep?" Barry asks, slowly sitting up.
"No, I can't." Joe answers.
"Can I help?" Barry asks.
"Come with me." Joe orders, walking outside the house.
"What… are we doing?" Barry asks as Joe puts six empty bottles on the porch. It was then that he hands his gun to Barry.
"You're learning to shoot." Joe answers simply.
"Now? Joe, it's the middle of the night!" Barry shrieks.
"I don't care, you need to learn to shoot a gun Barry." Joe demands, and that's when he walks in the house, turning on the porch light. Once he did that, he returned to Barry's side.
"Ready Bar?" Joe asks.
"Ready." Barry answers.
"Always check to see if the gun is loaded, even if someone tells you that it is." Joe instructs. Nodding, Barry takes out the magazine and pulls back the slide to check if there were any bullets in the chamber. Sure enough, there was.
"That's good Barry. Now, you think you can load the bullets?" Joe asks. Nodding, Barry loads the bullets.
"Know what's behind where you're aiming." Joe instructs, and that's when Barry puts his finger on the trigger.
"Finger off the trigger. Never touch the trigger until you are ready to shoot." Joe scolds, handing Barry fake bullets to load into the gun. Sighing, Barry changes the bullets to the fake bullets, loading them.
"Okay, let's try shooting it. First, don't be afraid of it. It's just a thing, but know where your finger is all the time. Don't put your finger on the trigger unless you really want to hurt somebody." Joe instructs. Barry nods.
"To aim, look right down the top, through that notch." Joe instructs.
"Line up the sight at the end with your target." Joe instructs.
"Is there anything else?" Barry asks.
"I know these are just bottles, but you have to aim for your target. The head or body." Joe instructs.
"Now what?" Barry asks.
"Why don't you try shooting those trees in front of you?" Joe asks. Slowly Barry aims the gun at the trees.
"Don't lock your elbows." Joe warns. Nodding, Barry relaxes his elbows.
"Good, now put these on, and aim for those trees." Joe instructs, handing Barry some shooter muffs. When Barry shoots the tree, he jumps, startled at how loud the gun was.
"You okay?" Joe asks with concern.
"My hands hurt, and that was loud." Barry whines.
"I know Bar. Let's stick with it, okay?" Joe pleads.
"Do I have to?" Barry whines.
"Yes, you do." Joe informs as Barry tries again. This time the noise didn't startle him, and he managed to shoot the bottom of the tree.
"Try it again." Joe instructs. Slowly, Barry raises the gun a little higher, hitting the middle of the tree.
"Good Barry. Keep doing that until you run out of bullets." Joe instructs. Nodding, Barry continues to shoot the middle of the tree. Eventually the bullets run out.
"Want to try real bullets now?" Joe asks.
"I don't know." Barry admits.
"You can do it Barry." Joe tries to reassure him.
"Okay." Barry mumbles, switching to real bullets.
"Now, the bottles are a lot smaller target, so you'll have to be a lot more precise. Okay?" Joe instructs as Barry aims for the bottles. Slowly, Barry aims for the bottle closest to him.
"Barry, your elbows." Joe reminded him. Slowly, Barry relaxed his elbows, aiming for the bottles. After the fifth try, he manages to shoot the first one. Real bullets were even louder, and it made the gun a lot heavier.
"Now try to group them, get the shots as close together to each other as you can." Joe instructs. Nodding, Barry follows his instructions. After the tenth shot, he gets it.
"Want to try a few on your own now?" Joe asks.
"Okay." Barry mumbles, switching to real bullets.
"Barry, your elbows." Joe reminded him. Slowly, Barry relaxed his elbows, aiming for the bottles. After the fifth try, he manages to shoot the first one. Real bullets were even louder, and it made the gun a lot heavier.
"Okay." Barry mumbles, trying it on his own. Barry struggled on the first two bottles, but by the fourth bottle, he was a natural. Eventually Barry manages to shoot all six bottles.
"You did great, Barry! I'm proud of you!" Joe exclaims, and that's when Barry takes off the muffs.
"I hope you won't have to use it, but you know how these things work now. I want you to start carrying one, just in case." Joe demands.
"But Joe, I don't own a gun." Barry protests.
"I know, that's why we're going to work on getting you your own." Joe informs. Now that Barry knows how to shoot, Joe felt a hell of a lot better for Barry's safety.