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Amihan (ə-'mi-hən) ([personal profile] camalyng) wrote in [community profile] greenstickered2014-02-18 04:09 pm

Uncharted/The Last of Us: Something Not Theirs

Title: Something Not Theirs
What: The Last of Us/Uncharted fanfiction - short story
Rating: PG13 (language)
Words: ~600
Summary: On a job in Boston, Elena has a chance encounter with a couple of teenagers.
Notes: Left Behind spoilers! Inspired by [tumblr.com profile] beltsquid's tags for [tumblr.com profile] ohyeahgames's Left Behind gifset.

After doing her degree in Boston, the city holds a certain level of nostalgia for Elena, and it's a feeling she allows herself to indulge when she's assigned there. It'd be nice if she got to share it with Nate, but somehow his jobs never align with hers in this city; she's spent more time in Boston with Sully than with her husband.

Wish you were here, she texts him, squinting at her phone a little in the glare of the summer sun. I'd show you all my old college haunts - they're probably different from yours :)

She hits send, and almost immediately her phone goes flying out of her hands as two teenage girls barrel into her one after the other, knocking her over.

"Fuck, sorry," says the first girl, all dark skin, eyes, and hair. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," says Elena. She reaches for her phone, which, miraculously, is also fine, and gets to her feet. "Just - watch where you're going, okay?"

"We will," says the other girl, brushing back a strand of brown hair from her face as she picks up a water gun off the ground. "I'm so sorry. Tag."

She squirts her friend with the water gun, who shrieks in dismay, picking up her own water gun off the ground. "Ellie, that wasn't fair!"

"You're still it," crows Ellie, and Elena watches the two of them run off again with a smile. How cute.

It's only when she's in line for an iced coffee and reaches for her wallet that she discovers her purse is open. Of course her wallet's gone. Nate's pulled the bumping into her to pickpocket her trick often enough ("just practising", appparently) that she feels stupid for not realizing that was what was happening at the time. Great, someone had taken advantage of her distraction.

She backtracks to where the girls had bumped into her. Luckily it's not hot enough that the water droplets have evaporated, and she follows the stains on the pavement until she reaches an arcade, a newer place she doesn't remember from living here. Inside, she finds the two girls laughing over some fighter game.

Elena marches up to them and sticks her hand out. "My wallet?"

They whip around, eyes widening with surprised guilt. Ellie reacts first. "Are you nuts?"

"No, I'm missing my wallet," Elena says patiently. "And I think you two know where it is."

"What makes you think I'd take something of yours?" asks the other girl, putting her hands on her hips.

"I know the misdirection trick," Elena replies. "Just hand it over now, and I promise I won't call the cops."

The girls turn to each other and confer with only eye contact; while Elena can't read it, she can tell they know each other well, the way she knows Nate and the way Nate knows Sully. Eventually, the girl lowers her hands and fishes Elena's wallet out of her back pocket. Elena's sure to zip her bag closed after she puts her wallet away.

"We spent the coins already," Ellie mumbles.

"That's alright," says Elena. "Just don't let this happen again, alright?"

They nod sullenly. Elena gets the feeling that it's going to happen again and they're just going to try harder not to get caught, but with Nate for a husband, she doesn't like being too hard on what she's guessing are street kids.

She starts to leave, but when she's across the road, she glances back: The girls are holding hands as they discuss something, and then they lean in to kiss.

Elena hides a smile as she turns away. They might be pickpocketing tourists, but at least they've got each other.

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