“You got everything?”

“Think so. You ready?”

“Do we REALLY have to do this?”

“Do you REALLY wanna eat tonight?” I sighed. Aish this kid- he was smart, but too smart for his own good. I knew he was right though. It had been almost three days and all we ate was a little bit of rice and one piece of fish. 

We. Were. Starving. 

I hated it, but I knew what we were about to do was the only way we could survive in this back--ward town.

~

I had found Taemin when he was only sixteen, and when I say found- I mean I literally stumbled over his half-conscious body in the alleyway of a bar. It was dark and raining that night, at first glance he looked like a heap of wet trash. Thankfully he wasn’t roughed up too bad, but still needed some medical attention. I ended up dragging him home and we have been living together ever since.

 Tae came from a normal family like me; loving, caring, but extremely demanding. They wanted him to become a doctor or a teacher of some sort, but Taemin, well he wanted nothing more than to become a dancer and singer. The tension from the disagreements almost broke the family in half according him him. However, his parents planned to resolve things by setting Taemin up with an arranged marriage. The night that I found him was the night he away ran from home, away from his family, and away from a woman he could never love. 

As for me? Well, I grew up in this town. This small, nameless, old, uninteresting, town. I had a pretty easy life, my family loved me, I was popular in school, and was looking forward to a bright and promising future...that was...until everyone found out I was gay. 

My world came crashing down after I came out. I thought that even though I was proud of who I was, people would look past that, but as I found out the hard way, that was entirely and irrevocably wrong. My parents grew distant and eventually stopped talking to me all together, my friends were lost just like the memories of the fun times I had with them. I had no money, no job, no friends, and no life. The only thing I could claim as mine was a small apartment that my grandmother had bought me after I graduated high school. She, unlike everyone else, was the one person who I could still count on and trust. She was my world now. Her and Taemin.  

Taemin and I had a rough start living on our own at first, but or lives quickly revolved around each other, we had too, since no one else wanted to associate with us. Yet, soon, living started to get tough. Taemin had job as a waiter for awhile until his boss found out he was living with a ; and just like that Taemin lost his job. For weeks I felt ashamed and responsible for screwing up his chances at a decent life. Yet this complete stranger surprised me, not getting angry, but by moving on. He hated how people could think the most twisted and ed up things about us without even knowing us, judge us, then think it is the most natural thing to do. He swore to himself and to me, that he would never be a kiss- to a bigot if it meant he wasn’t allowed to support what he believed in. 

From then on, we were inseparable.

Just like Tae, I had applied for every job imaginable in our small town, but no one wanted to hire ‘the gay boy and his pretty pet.’ Money was running out fast and we were running out of options. We needed a plan to make money, and we needed one fast.

~

That’s how Taemin and I ended up standing outside of a local quick mart in black clothes, ski masks, and spray painted aero-soft guns. Because of our lovely life -ups, we were now piss broke and starving, living off of what little money my grandmother could spare us. Sure, she had bought me the apartment, but we had nothing else to our names except the few things we took with us when we left our past lives behind. I had always told my grandmother that we were fine, when in fact we were the complete opposite. I never wanted her to know the truth, I wanted her to keep thinking that things were getting better for Tae and I. She was kind enough to give us a home and still love us even after everything- I couldn’t make her worry anymore than she already had; and because of this, I vowed to pay her back every penny that we owned her...once we figured out how. 

That’s how my roommate and best friend turned into my partner in crime.  

It surprised me actually. Taemin seemed to enjoying the whole “Robin Hood” scheme we were pulling off. Sure, we both regretted it every time, but that feeling fades away fast when you have food to fill the void. Tae was a thinker- he may have seemed innocent with his big brown eyes, soft skin, and short brown hair, but he was the brains behind every job and managed to work out every detail, guaranteeing that we would never get caught. Like I said, the kid was smart, like scary smart, but outside of our “career”, he was still as innocent as ever.

It was almost midnight now and the west side of town was completely deserted. Lights flicked on and off in the small parking lot. The quick mart would be closing soon, so it was now or never. Taemin turned to me and gave me a silent nod. I sighed as we pulled our ski masks over our head. Time to go to work. 

We swiftly rounded the corner and pushed the front glass door open. The clerk at the front desk looked up at us with a confused glare. Suddenly everything seemed to pass by in a blur. Taemin and I raised our guns and pointed them to the store clerk. 

“Don’t move! Just give us your money and make it fast!” I heard Taemin scream. He sounded distant and muffled- but everything sounds and looks different when you have adrenaline pumping through your veins. I stood and kept watch on the door, never lowing my guns. Taemin moved to the front and barked orders and the clerk, who was no older than 20, to put all of the money from the register into our bags. I watching as the man shakily shoved the bills in and raised his hands to his head once he finished. Taemin backed away slowly towards me and the door.

“Don’t even think about calling the cops!” The man shook his head vigorously, his eyes filled with fear. I would never forget that look- the same look I had seen in every store or bank we robbed. It kept me up most nights dreaming about it. What if it were me? What if I was the one being robbed at gunpoint? Would I have that same look? I guess anyone would if they were staring down the barrel of a loaded gun, fake or otherwise. 

Taemin turned and gave me the signal to move. Then, we ran. Hard and fast. We took off running in separate directions, bags of money in hand and smiles and laughter spilling from our lips. We ran all the way back to our apartment on the other side of town. We had used the back roads and only stopped to hide in the shadows when we heard the police sirens heading our way. Even then we kept running. The crisp spring air hit our faces and we raced home. We pulled and tugged off our black masks and clothes as we went. Eventually we ran into each other as planned, and by the time we were strolling up to our apartment building we were in normal street clothes again, all evidence of our heist stuffed away in our backpacks- along with the money. But we didn’t stop. We ascended the stairs that lead to our third floor apartment. 

When we reached the  door, we were both out of breath and panting, sweat rolling down our necks and foreheads. I reached for the key and once the door was open, we both stumbled into the apartment. Slamming the door behind us, we slumped to the floor exhausted.

There is always that moment after pulling off a job where you feel invincible. Where you are so high on adrenaline that nothing can bring you down,  you feel you can take on the world, regardless of morals or your sense of right or wrong. Taemin looked and me, and I looked down at him. We smiled at one another before pulling each other into a tight, bone crushing hug, as giggles and laughter filled the room. 

We did it. 

We pulled off another successful heist. 

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