1930s for Marcomina Week
Title: Partners in crime
A/n: I tried a bit more with this one. It's filled with lots of 30s slang that doesn't make sense, and I lowered their ages down to about 12-13 because that's awful cute. This is also a gross AU that I came up where Erwin Smith runs a small ring of child pickpockets around the walls. Obviously, this was inspired by Oliver Twist with a little less violence and suffering and child labour law violations. But it does have a fair share of overreactions.
"School girls, 3 of them. 10 o clock. Bags by their sides, they ain't no scrubs. Might swoon if you fake an injury. Worth it?"
"Why give the ladies a hard time? Haven't they been through enough these days?"
"... uh, all right. 2 o clock though, businessman. Seems fancy lookin' and careless. Worth it?"
"Probably. I'd suggest the old fashioned hit-and-run. What about you?"
"Sneak attack could be good if you're careful."
"I could hit and you can sneak. Sound good?"
"You got a deal, Pigtails."
"Lets do this then."
Scooting their butts off the street curb, the youthful pickpockets stood up on their feet and put their plan into action. Mina turned her head to Marco and gave her freckled friend and affirmative nod before running west of their target businessman, mentally prepping herself for what she had to do. In return, Marco just walked normally near the man. He was of average height, had a moustache among his upper lips that seemed to be a men's fashion trend these days, and the two children expected him to be bald underneath that top hat of his. A man of such status could probably afford to lose what Marco planned to swipe from him.
Mina's fingers gripped the tip of her newscap as she positioned herself far away enough from the target. She gave Marco a tip of her hat, and once he reciprocated her tip with a nod, Mina proceeded with the plan.
Her movements and runs have always seemed youthful, whether that was a ruse to hide her true intentions or something she couldn't help when she had to break off into a dash. Bravely, Mina picked up her pace, her way-too-big leather boots that were probably best worn on boys feet tapped clumsily against the concrete streets of Trost.
Marco tipped his fedora down over his eyes, which was easy considering that it was not made fit for a boy his age, as Mina provided the initial first blow.
Eventually, Mina did as she intended to and rammed right into the businessman with all her might, and from the look of it, even the smartest man in the city would think that Mina was just another girl running too fast and not watching where she was going. As planned, she fell back on the ground right after hitting the moustache-man, making some rather convincing sounds of pain. "Ow! My achin' head!"
The businessman was of course, surprised by her little crash. Suddenly alerted, he took notice to the poor girl lying in pain on the concrete and knelt down. "Good god, kid. What on earth were ya runnin' for?"
That was Marco's cue to move in. As Mina bullshitted her way through this like she did almost every week, Marco's actions were swift as he covertly darted his hands around the personal bubble of this unsuspecting businessman.
"I'm beat, mister. I ain't got no cab, car, or carriage. All I got is my two boots, my uprights, and my own two feet!" Mina dragged out, trying to make this as long as possible to maximize Marco's time.
It paid off well, because after a little bit of moving, Marco managed to fill both of his hands with the contents of the businessman's coat pockets. At this point, he could not look at what on earth he grabbed to identify the loot, so pulling his hat off and dropping the items in was the only option.
"You should be more careful about runnin', kid! Especially on the street," the businessman warned, wagging a finger at Mina as the girl got herself onto her two feet.
"I know, mister, I know," Mina apologized. She kept one eye on the man and the other on Marco behind him. Seeing as her partner in crime had done the deed and gave her the nod of approval, Mina knew that she was validated to finish this operation off. "Sorry 'bout that, I'll try to be more careful next time."
"You better be, little missy," Mr. Moustache replied, Marco slowly prodding away into the safety of an alley way without being noticed.
"I'm sorry," Mina topped off, trying to look as innocent as possible as she backed away from him. "I hope I haven't bothered you too much, sir. Have a nice day." With the lie set in place and Marco safely out of sight, Mina took off on her own two feet and escaped from the area.
They met up mere moments later, Marco slumped against an alley building's wall with his hat on it's crown while Mina remained standing, propping her hands on her knees to to look down at their new loot.
"3 cigars, a pocket book, a watch, and a wallet," Mina recited, shifting her hands in the hat to grab each and every item out. "Wow, Marco, you're fingers are gettin' stickier and stickier every day."
"Thanks," Marco beamed, oddly proud of the petty crime he had just committed. But hey, why not smile if there's a chance one will get caught every day? Live life to the fullest until the cops catch up to you was the motto for those two. "Hey, you think Erwin's gonna mind if we take the cigars or is he gonna want those?"
"I doubt it, all he really needs is the pocket books and wallets, and he ain't even gonna take the money though, just the IDs," Mina shrugged, picking up the three sticks, handing one to her friend while she separated the last two, giving them homes in her coat pocket and behind her ears. "I'll probably give the extra one to Annie, she's been tryin' to swipe a new one since last week."
Marco accepted the cigar with a smile, "Thanks." He began putting the remaining items into his own coat pocket before standing up, "We should probably get back to base if we don't want Shadis screamin' at our asses, it's gettin' dark." Propping his hat back on his head, his free hand kept on searching in his jacket pocket, looking for something in particular. "Hey, got a light?"
In response, Mina started digging around in her coat pocket, "I may have Hitch's lighter somewhere here." As she spoke, she started to walk, and some what obediently, Marco followed, cigar stuck between his lips to hold the thing in place as he cut the end of it with the trust cutter he stashed inside his pocket.
Eventually, Mina retrieved the catty girl's lighter from her coat and held it out to Marco with a small flame spewing from the wick. Leaning forward, Marco let his friend light up his cigar, and once the deed was done, he gave her his usual friendly with the thing held between his surprisingly white teeth. "Thanks."
"Don't mention it, Marco," Mina replied with a grin, snapping the lighter shut and slipping it back in her pocket. "You know, I ain't never been able to say no to a guy lookin' plenty rugged with a cigar in his mouth."
The freckled boy took a some short puffs while trying to hide the flustering feeling building up in his cheeks, taking the cigar away from his lips to reply to his friend's compliment, "Stop it, Pigtails, blushin' ain't good for my freckles!"
"You don't have to call me that, you know," she reminded conscientiously, hands stuffed into her pockets, cap low over her eyes. "Just 'cause Annie calls me things like Carolina, pigtails, dingy, or twit, doesn't mean everyone else has to."
Marco comprehended her words as he blew out a rather good looking smoke ring, a little skill that he was getting better at ever since his first lesson from Jean, "Oh, all righty then. What do you want me to call you then?"
The scent of his smoke finally hit Mina's nose, a rather pleasant aroma mixed with the robust smoke that went surprisingly well together. She gave it a curious inhale before replying, "Mina usually works well, got that name for my birthday."
Marco managed a chuckle at her joke, rolling his eyes at her, "Have it your way then." He then proceeded to repeat words said earlier before, "Stop it, Mina, blushin' ain't good for my freckles!"
She snickered, lifting her hat up just a little bit to look him in the eye, "My bad then, I'll hold back on the compliments next time. But then again, anyone looks snazzy with a good fed and a cigar."
Marco blushed.
Disclaimer: I will never own Shingeki No Kyojin.