The rock was cold and rough, pushing into my stomach. The beloved sniper rifle that belonged to MacCready felt heavy in my arms. I try to steady them, as I stare through the scope at bottles, resting on top of an old car miles away. "We couldn't have started with them closer?" I whine, shifting, trying to get a little more comfortable. "No." He sighs, bumping my shoulder with his, from his same laying position beside me. "It's faster to learn this way."
He pops a disconnected scope to his eye, looking down at the bottles. "Try the one to the left. remember steady breaths to aim, no breath to shoot." He says shifting to his side to see better. I take one last deep breath and try to slow my breathing. I take aim to the farthest left bottle, trying to line it up perfectly. I suck a breath in and hold it, everything steadys. I pull my finger back, the gun fires, it bucks back into my shoulder, the bullet hits a tree a little too far to the left. I give an exasperated groan. "Damnit!" "Hey, it's fine, you're not goin' to get it right away." He encourages, patting my shoulder with enthusiasm. "Easy for you to say. You've been using this gun since you were a child." I say, rubbing the shoulder that got the butt of the gun, it stung a little but not horrible.
"Maybe if you demonstrated for me again?" I suggest. He rolls his eyes. "Sole. I've already shown you ten times. There's not much else to show off." He sets his scope down, looking at me, deep in thought. "Oh I have an idea!" He says ecstatically. "Oh God, no!" I mockingly gasp, he gives a dirty look, playfully punching my arm. "Shut up. Now, how much do you trust me?" He asks, I pout my lips out, pretending to be in thought. "With food, my wellbeing or guns?" I ask, he rolls his eyes again, but can't stop the grin from sneaking up on his face.
"With food? No, not really. With my wellbeing? Meh. Now, with guns…. No, not so much." "Sole." He laughs. "Okay, sorry, sorry. Yes, of course, trusted friend MacCready." I say with a dramatic bow of my head. "You're a real weird Mungo." He says under his breath, shuffling closer. "Okay. I'm going to guide you, so we'll be sharing a gun, just tell me if I squish you. Or don't, either way, I'll live." He shuffles even closer, till half his body is covering me. His right arm snakes around me till his hand meets mine on the trigger, while left curls up to help me hold the rifle steady. He doesn't hold it enough that I lose the weight but enough that it moves less.
"We're going to aim for the same bottle." He says softly in my ear, causing a shiver to crawl up my spine and a soft heat enters my cheeks. "Alright." I say looking through the scope again, trying to set it up right. "Do you have it?" He asks, I nod. "Let me look." I bring my head back as he leans his head in. He makes a humming noise. "I see what you're doin' now. You've aimed it right on the bottle. You want it up a tad and right a tad. The bullet drops, and the wind will take it. Here, take a look now." He adjusts the gun, he pulls his head back enough for me to look through the scope again, and get what he's saying.
"Do you see what I mean?" He asks, I can feel his breath on my ear, making my stomach do flips. "I do. I should have thought of that. I was just getting too irritated with it." He lets out a low cuckle. He pushes his right finger against mine till it's touching the trigger again, we breathe in unison, then we both stop as our fingers press down. It bucks back again, not as hard this time. It's like I watch it in slow motion as it glides through the air and into the correct glass bottle. The bottle explodes and my jaw drops. "Ha! I did it!" I shout, squirming excitedly beneath him. I quickly push myself over to be on my back, the gun glatters to the rock, but MacCready unwillingly follows. I pause on my back with MacCready sandwiched on top of me. Our legs tangled together, chests touching, noses an inch away.
We freeze there, both of our checks going a slight pink. "I did it." I state with wide unblinking eyes, staring into his. He huffed a laugh. "We did it." He retorts. "Still pretty hot though, right?" I say, trying to make a joke out of our situation. "Yea, kinda." He says gruffly, his eyes darkening a little. My cheeks heat more, and I want nothing more than to hide my face, but can't while pinned under him. "Are…" I start, but my throat goes dry, I try to softly clear it. "Are you going to move?" He blinks a few times, considering his options. "I don't know. Do you want me to?" He whispers. My heart flutters. "I don't know." I whisper back, feeling like my face was on fire, aware of the slight hardness pushed into my leg.
"What I do know is." I say softly. "If we stay like this, something will happen that will completely change our friendship." A small grin marries his lips. "Really?" He challenges. "Oh yea, completely. I'll start looking for a lot more attention, like wherever you go I'll be there. Haunting you." I joke. His grin is replaced by a smile as he shakes his head. "Shut up." He says, leaning in and softly places his lips on mine, I hum gently, gladly returning the kiss. He gives a slight pause making sure I was okay, before kissing me again, just as tender as the first one.
"Who would have guessed you were so gentle." I say once he pulled away. He pushes himself up onto his elbows, giving a shrug. "You just seem so breakable." I squinted my eyes at him, trying to decide if that was a compliment or an insult. "Thanks?" I question, making him laugh. I smile then pat his chest. "Come on, we're still in the middle of a lesson." I say, He nods, pushing himself up and away. She rolls back over, reclaiming the rifle, and taking aim.
"Let's see how well you've taught me. If I hit this. You can kiss me again. If not. I can pinch you." He considers it for a second then nods. "Sounds fair." I take careful aim, bringing together everything he's shown me. I press my finger down, and the bottle I was aiming for explodes. I perk up and look over at him with a cheeky smile. He smiles back before leaning in again.
