borderline - the last of us.

15. match-make.

'YOU SEE? It's empty! The plan is good.' Henry smiled confidently, his voice echoing as they stood at the entrance of the tunnel. It stretched out far in front of them, the end not visible. Ralph wondered if he would even be able to make it to the halfway point.

'"The plan is good"? We've been down here two seconds, we don't know anything.' Joel snapped at him, flashing his light into Henry's face to discipline him. Henry looked to Ellie as she stood on the far side of Lou.

Leaning to the right, he told her. 'Your dad's kind of a pessimist.'

'He's not my dad.' 'I'm not her dad.'

Henry was taken aback by the synchronized response, turning to Ralph with a confused expression. The man standing in front of him shrugged like this either was a common misconception or a usual occurrence and began to limp after Joel.

Now with far more questions than he initially had, Henry began to walk as well, and the group progressed down the tunnel in silence. They walked for maybe five or ten minutes before he became restless and just had to ask Lou one of the few things that were on his mind right now.

'Okay, wait, let me get this straight.' He spoke quietly so that Joel wouldn't turn around and yell at him to be quiet again. 'Joel isn't Ellie's dad, but Ralph is your dad?'

'Yep.' Lou nodded with a small smile on her face. She seemed happy to be talking to someone new for a change.

'So, then, where's your mom?' Henry questioned, before correcting himself. 'Oh, that was totally dumb of me, I'm sorry. I'm totally cool with your dads, they're cute together.'

'What?' Lou laughed at him, and Henry felt infinitely more dumber. 'No, dad and Joel aren't... They aren't together.'

'Oh.' Henry raised his eyebrows, trying to connect the scattered puzzle pieces. 'So, they just hold hands for fun?'

Lou scrunched her face up like she had no idea what he was talking about. Henry made a mental note to learn how to shut his goddamn mouth.

'I have no idea why I can't keep my mouth shut right now.' He spoke once again. Lou laughed at him, lighthearted and assuring. He smiled a little bit too. 'Okay, right, now let me get this straight. Joel isn't Ellie's dad. Ralph is your dad, but Joel and Ralph aren't dating, and you and Ellie... Are-Aren't. You and Ellie aren't dating. God, that's...'

'Confusing as shit?' Lou finished his sentence for him, nodding so he wouldn't have to. He was grateful that she knew exactly what this looked like from an outsider's perspective. 'Yeah. Sometimes I even get confused too. But, nobody's killed each other yet, so, I guess it's working.'

'Is your mom back at home, then?' Henry knew he had, once again, shot himself in the foot when Lou looked at the ground and took a moment of silence.

'My mom, she, uh... She died a while ago.' Lou pursed her lips, frowning at the guilty expression on his face. 'Don't feel bad about it. I mean, I didn't know her. I still miss her, though. She died a little bit after outbreak day.'

'God, you're twenty?' Henry gasped.

'No, I'm, uh...' She shrugged to herself. 'I guess it was, like, my mom's big wish to have kids. My dad didn't want them, so they agreed to disagree for a while. After she died, my dad adopted me. From one of those FEDRA centers, where they put the kids that are still too young to be put into military school. Probably to, like, avenge her and shit. I don't, like, flaunt any of it around or anything. Don't feel bad for not knowing.'

Henry nodded, unsure of what to say, and Lou seemed alright with that. They walked in silence for a moment as he thought of more questions to spring on her, but Lou spoke before him.