On the Run Together

Chapter 10: Hawkeye Get Your Bow

Clint hadn't heard K get up and leave that morning, but she must have gone while he was dead to the world asleep, because by the time he emerged from his room, bedheaded and rubbing his eyes and dragging his feet, K was up, breakfast was ready... and there was a bow on the table.

Clint's eyes went wide when he saw it, and he quickly rushed over to see it. "You found me a hand-me-down," he said, gently reaching out to touch the bow.

K nodded lightly. "I told you — around here, it wasn't hard to find someone with an old bow."

"So, can I shoot it?" Clint asked.

"Won't do you a bit of good if you don't," she pointed out. "Just need to set up the target and walk you through the whole thing."

Clint grinned at that, and once he had his sights set on the bow, he practically wolfed down his breakfast at lightning speed, which had K shaking her head and smirking to herself at his enthusiasm when he was practically bouncing in place.

Sicem had picked up on Clint's enthusiasm, too, crouching down and wagging his tail and looking ready to pounce as soon as Clint got up before he simply started bounding around Clint's ankles all the way toward the barn.

Once they got out there, though, before Clint could start Robin Hood-ing, K made sure to set down some ground rules for the range. She took the time to show him how to hold the bow not just when he was shooting but when he was carrying it around, making sure to emphasize that he should never pick it up by the string or whack it against anything — or it would damage the bow and the wood could literally explode.

Which, of course, Clint thought was awesome, but he nodded all the same and swore to be very, very, very careful with the bow.

She showed him how to string the bow — the person who had owned it had a small red nock in the string to show him where to put his arrow — and where to put his hands as well. He wasn't supposed to draw the string back without an arrow, either — or he'd do a 'dry fire' and might hurt the bow.

Beginning bows were kind of... fragile.

"Don't worry about getting a bullseye to start with," K said as she strung an arrow on her bow — which was a lot more sturdy-looking than the one Clint was starting with. "Just try to hit the target at all, but aim for the center, of course." She pulled the string back so that Clint could see the way she positioned herself. "Find a spot you like ... always go to it. I like to use the spot right by my ear and touch it with my thumb for my anchor point."

Clint nodded, watching her as she drew her bow back before he copied her movements, still grinning to himself as he set his sights on the target down the line.

"Mind your breathing," she said, her voice getting a little more even. "And release when you let out all your breath."

Clint wasn't sure why she wanted him to do that, but he followed the directions all the same, taking a huge breath and then letting it out at once at the same time he released his arrow...

... which was definitely not anywhere near the target. In fact, he hit the one beside it that K was aiming for.

He grinned sheepishly , turning toward K to watch as she released her own arrow, which of course hit the yellow middle of the target. And once she turned his way, he gave her a self-deprecating sort of smile. "We can totally say I was aiming for yours, right? I got on the black!"

"Totally," she agreed with a smirk. "It takes some time, and a ton of practice, but go ahead and use everything in your quiver before we go downrange. Try and relax a little. That will help."