Title: Beside the Sun in the Afternoon
Author: James Walkswithwind
Rating: G
Pairing: Wesley/Gunn
Series: Scene Shots
Archive: list archive, http://perian.slashcity.org/gila
Feedback: suwa
Disclaimer: Not mine, no profit made.
Summary: A single shot scene.

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Beside the Sun in the Afternoon

He whistles as he walks down the hall from his apartment. He's heading for the parking garage, knowing his truck will be sitting, untouched, in its same corner. It's old enough, beat up enough, that nobody who would want something would touch it. Gunn's rep doesn't protect the truck anymore - people don't recognise it, don't realise that the modifications hidden throughout mean anything.

It bothered him the first time he realised it. It still does, a little, but he doesn't think about it often. He whistles as he walks up to his truck and unlocks the door, and throws onto the seat his duffel bag containing whatever weapon he's grabbed that day. He keeps his ax in the truck, or at the office, but he carts blades and other things back and forth to his apartment with him. Wesley's trying to teach him how to shoot a crossbow, but Gunn figures he's more of a 'swing sharp, heavy metal things' guy.

He likes letting Wes teach him, though. Wesley gets all serious and focused when they head into the Hyperion's garage where they've set up a shooting range. He talks about aim and balance and technique, and he seems to forget who he's talking to, or maybe he just always gets that way when he teaches. Gunn doesn't know anyone else Wes has taught, so he can't ask for comparison.

Does Wesley always sound so strict, so confident? Does he always hold his hands so steady, as if it doesn't even occur to him that he could doubt himself, or his ability? Do all of Wesley's students feel the way Wes' hands touch theirs, strong and firm and tolerating absolutely no nonsense, and the clap on a shoulder when the quill's struck home or the light touch across the back when the shot goes astray? Does Wesley always speak so softly, so assuredly, in his students' ears? Accent turning the words into something more than simple instruction?

Or is it just Gunn, who whistles because he's going in to work?