Diamondsaregold prompted: I love jealous Eric. Eric getting all grumpy and emo and shit when he sees Tris with someone else. I also LOVE reading about them training together, like the running/fight scenes in Prove It.
Spotter
I scratched at my nose before easing back into the crook of my rifle. It was hot. I was sweating. Lexi was taking forever to tell me my next target. "Uhmm," she murmured for the dozenth time. "Give me a minute."
This was the pattern of the day. Set up in the scout position. Wait for Lexi to line up the target in the spotting scope. Wait some more for her to check her reference cards. Consider making the shot with my own damn math. Work out the cramp in my hands. Finally get to make the shot. Rinse, repeat. We were assigned eighteen targets to get to today. It wasn't happening.
"Lex, I know you're a perfectionist, but this is ridiculous," I growled. She huffed and tucked her hair behind her ear. This was hair tuck number five within the past few minutes. Minutes.
The scope finally went back to her eyeline. "Fifty yards on a decline," Lexi stated. I had enough to make the shot. This was intended to be a team training exercise but it was worth any bitching from Lexi to just get the hell home.
Exhaling, I pulled the trigger and watched the target dummy get launched from the post it was tied to. I liked my load heavy, what can I say? A grin on my face, I pushed off the ground to stand up once again. "Sun's setting. Do you want to just call it?" I wanted to make the suggestion in a way that Lexi would be the one making the actual decision. It wasn't my fault we had only gotten through half the circuit.
She shrugged one shoulder. Good enough.
I had expected to get chewed out by Corporal Melanie. The dressing down was relatively fast and painless; most of her comments were directed at Lexi for not having studied enough before agreeing to try the circuit. Hefting my rifle over my shoulder, I started off towards the armory to check it back in. Until I passed all levels of sniper training, I wasn't authorized to requisition my own even from the surplus store.
I was nice enough to take Lexi's spotting scope though. This was probably not my best call as mid-trek to the armory, Eric tracked me down. "Where do you think you're going?" he asked. From the mad twinkle in his eye, I didn't have to guess what kind of mood he was in. Or what he was about to suggest.
The scope passed from my hands to his waiting ones and off we went. Nine more training dummies were waiting for their chance to be blown to bits. Eric looped one arm through the rail on the top of the train car and the other around my waist. With the sun setting through the open doorway, all of Chicago was laid out before us. I sighed and leaned my head back onto Eric's shoulder. "You never let me have a night off."
He chuckled, squeezing my waist for a moment. "I can't be accused of playing favorites, so that means you can't get away with anything. Even when you get stuck with a shitty spotter. But I can at least make all the extra training more entertaining. You deserve a partner who knows what they're doing," he murmured into my ear.
"That hardly seems fair," I complained. "I happen to be dating a Leader so I have to work all the damn time?"
"I'll let you in on a secret: being a Leader means doing that anyways. The more you get used to it, the less you'll have to adjust once you get the job." He was always doing that - alluding that I was destined for the same position he held.
I twisted around - adjusting my rifle to stop it from smacking into my calf - and rested both arms around his neck. With the doorway behind me, Eric was the only thing keeping me from tumbling out into the abyss. "You're going to give me an ego the size of Erudite if you keep talking like that," I teased.
Eric squinted for a moment. "Going to?"
A/N: A casual reminder to check my profile for links and information about review responses and updating queues.
