OUTLAW || ATEEZ x Reader

38

That night, the boys had taken it upon themselves to have their own small party in honor of starting the heist tomorrow. San had brought out some Moonshine they had saved, Wooyoung and Seonghwa made a good dinner. All of it was meant to keep the hopes up. A way of keeping them all happy before something that would take up all their energy.

You, however, seemed to keep thinking back to the whole thing. It might have been something the boys were used to. In fact, it was probably a lot tamer than what they were used to, but you couldn't help to think how wrong it felt.

It wasn't because you were going to feel bad about the entire thing–quite the opposite. Honestly, if Klein was doing something illegal with the money he was taking from the citizens, he deserved everything he had coming to him. Same thing with Quaid. The thing that left you bothered was the fact that you would be taking part in a heist.

Had you learned that what you have planned had happened from someone in town, you would've said: Well, good. They deserve something like that. You're not above thinking they weren't criminals. Because they were in fact just that. If it was up to someone else, you would praise them for what they are going to do.

But you grew up knowing the law, being told what was wrong and right. No matter how many times you would tell yourself that this was for the greater good, it still left a sour feeling in your gut. You could push someone for having taken a towel from the hotel and still feel bad about it. Only because you were told to be polite. Never steal. Never cheat.

But there were greater evils out there than just someone taking a towel. And your boys were the ones who were stopping them.

"You alright?" Hongjoong asked, coming to sit at your side.

"What was your first heist like?" You asked, turning to face him.

"A complete and utter uncoordinated mess." Wooyoung cackled, moving to sit in front of you.

He sat crossed leg, placing his cheek against your thigh as you sat on a log. The rest of the boys calmly walked over, some nursing a shot of moonshine. Seonghwa took the other side of the log next to you. Mingi sat on the floor in front, wrapping his arms around the leg Wooyoung wasn't occupying.

"That bad?" You snorted.

"We got what we needed, but we weren't exactly stealthy with it." Hongjoong explained. "Left a huge mess behind." He rolled his eyes, looking over at some of the members who looked away, guilty.

"But we still pulled through." Yunho told you, coming up behind you to rest his head on top of yours. "Besides, it wasn't our problem after taking the horde. As long as the people were happy." He shrugged.

Thinking about all those stories they were able to tell you so far, each one ended in a happy ending–for both them and the poor people of the town they were in. You had yet to hear about a heist gone wrong. The only time you did was when they claimed Yeosang got captured by the Black Pirates.

However, that was before they started doing what they do. Back when they were just teenagers, following everything their families would tell them. Nonetheless, it seemed that they had been doing heists after saving Yeosang from the Black Pirates. So they must have known what they were doing while being in Strickland. It left you to wonder how they had gotten discovered.

"Why did you guys get caught in Strickland?" You spoke up. "That you had to leave."

"We might have gotten used to being stealthy, but this was something out of our control." Hongjoong sighed. "We just messed with the wrong documents that gave us away. However, we got what we needed. At least enough for us to move forward with plans of taking down Strickland." He told you.

It seemed to be the ultimate goal for all of them. Wanting to take down that compound. And you could understand why. Who wants to live in a world where no one has their own emotions? It might sound like a utopia to some, thinking that everyone would be equal, but who would want that? Who would want to lose their free will?

"Was it enough?" You asked.

"More than enough." Seonghwa answered softly. "At least for us."

There was no guarantee that the government would allow Sciensalver to go through with their drug of creating emotionless people. Maybe they would be stopped before it got to a certain point. But what about the corrupts of the world? The ones who would see it as an opportunity to gain control over a lot of things. Something like that in the wrong hands would not go well.

"It's normal to be nervous for your first heist." San began to tell you. "If any of them tell you they weren't, that's a lie." He grinned, giggling when some of the boys began to protest.

They started to bicker again, you watching in amusement as they seemed to let go of everything holding them back from tomorrow. They were so carefree. It was clear they had been doing those kinds of things for a long while. Even better when they knew how to work with another.

"I don't know if it's nervous of things going wrong or just me doing something criminal like." You admitted.

"You'll get an adrenaline rush as you're going in. The thoughts of being a criminal will be far from your mind." Yeosang rubbed at your shoulders, taking Yunho spot behind you. "Besides, when you leave the money at the doorsteps of people who need it, everything feels better."