Work Text:
The trio was sitting at their camp.
(Insert annoying ambient dialogue that plays every time you get close to a camp in-game.)
It consisted of three blankets, a campfire, and a large rock that blocked the campsite from outside view and cast a shadow over the area.
A nice, cool shadow. 🕶
The three chatted for a while, talking about cultures, the water shortage, humans, and demons.They shared some laughter.
Somehow, Belz found himself staring at the gun in Rao's pocket. And he must have been staring for quite some time, because Rao suddenly asked—
"Do you wanna try shooting it?"
Out of nowhere.
The demon prince widened his eyes and pointed at himself, in surprise.
"Who, me?"
Thief grimaced.
"...Rao, are you sure this is a good idea?"
Rao shrugged.
Thief had nothing to say to that.
But the demon certainly wasn't amused. Or happy about it.
Hadn't Rao told them that the gun didn't even have any bullets in it in the first place?
... Well.
You couldn't really blame a man for being careful.
Thief shrugged.
Beelzebub had never really touched one of those guns before.
Belz streched out his arm, with the gun in his hand.
He didn't dislike them either, he just... never cared that much.
And actually holding one?
Let alone pointing one at a cactus?
That was ridiculous.
He stared at the poor plant as if he could make it explode through sheer force of will.
Sure, while that one demon from Demon Village was always yapping Belz's ears off about those guns...
Unfortunately, that did not make the guns less of an annoyingly loud human thing.
Humans were supposed to fear demons, not hand them guns to play around with.
Thief eyed the fiend prince, thinking something along the lines of:
Please don't do anything stupid.
As if Belz ever did anything stupid.
He wasn't stupid.
He was evil.
...
Come to think of it...
Now that he had carefully considered all the reasons why he probably shouldn't be doing this—like a good evil demon raised under proper evil demon conditions—
He felt his tail swish across the ground.
It was kind of exciting.
He wondered whether he'd look cool with it.
"You need to hold it with both hands," Rao said.
Cowboys in games usually held them with one hand, though.
"Uh... like this?"
Still, the demon adjusted his grip, and inspected the gun.
Now, how was he supposed to shoot it...?
The old man nodded.
"Yeah. Now you have to aim and—"
Belz felt his breath catch in his chest, his hand twitched.
Suddenly, a gunshot echoed through the desert.
Thief yelped.
Belz froze.
The bullet flew right past the cactus.
"...And don't forget to breathe calmly," Rao finished.
Belz felt sweat rolling down his face. His ears were ringing.
Ooof.
This…
He swallowed a lump in his throat.
This seemed way easier in games.
"Whoa.... This is hard."
The fiend prince smiled awkwardly. Then he handed the gun back to Rao.
Thief blinked, slowly recovering from the shock.
He sighed.
"...You could have at least let Rao finish his sentence, prince."
Belz rolled his eyes at that.
"Pah... As if you wouldn't do the same. You drove off the second you got to be in the driver's seat, remember? I at least waited for the old man to tell me where the gas pedal is."
A smug smirk stretched across the fiend’s face.
"Wha—What's that supposed to mean?!"
Thief growled.
Rao just hummed, listening to their bickering, looking at the gun.
"Well...It wasn't that bad. It was your first try afterall, and—"
The old human paused.
Then he reloaded the gun.
Thief and Belz flinched.
(They wouldn’t admit it. Not even on their deathbeds. 💀)
"—Every new skill is hard to learn at first, but If you practice, you'll get better at it."
The old man continued. He still wasn’t putting the gun away.
Belz bit his lip.
...
He gave the cactus a deathglare.
...
Practice, huh?
After a while—after days and hours of practice—Belz did not manage to hit the cactus.
(…Goddamnit.)
The cactus, however, looked a bit stressed for some reason.
…Can cacti look stressed?
Yes.
Don’t quote me on that.