Final.

Of all the billion hearts in the world, you ended up stealing mine.

Seulgi first meets Irene when they’re both trying to steal the same Michelangelo painting that’s displayed at the famous Daegu Museum.

It took Seulgi and her team months to plan this job. The Daegu Museum is heavily protected, after all, with all sorts of countermeasures like security cameras, a pressure sensitive floor (Yerim actually had a hard time disabling those since she’s doing it all the way from their temporary headquarters two streets away from the museum) and motion detectors. Seulgi’s already feeling half-triumphant when she finally reaches the painting after successfully infiltrating the museum dressed in full janitor gear. She had to crawl through one too many vents along the way but, as Sooyoung always drawls at her, it’s part of the job.

“I’m taking off the lid now,” she whispers and waits for a response, positioning herself near the frame.

“Remember, I can only disable the motion detectors for a minute before it restarts. You have to be quick, unni,” Yerim’s voice floats through her earpiece and Seulgi nods.

“Got it. Taking it off in 3, 2, 1!” she immediately removes the glass lid with a tool, peels the canvas carefully off before replacing the glass on the now empty frame as fast as she can. She grins to herself when she notices that she has 10 seconds to spare, “And that’s how it’s done.”

She studies the painting curiously, amazed that something so small can cost such a fortune before shaking her head. She swiftly places it in the frame they prepared before turning around and placing her tools back in the small black bag that she’d taken with her.

“Ah, thank you for this,” a voice speaks from behind her and Seulgi jumps in surprise, twirling quickly in search of the source but all she hears is the echo of zipping rope from the opened vent across the room and the painting that she placed beside her nowhere to be seen.

“.”

Sooyoung is going to kill her.

They meet at the rooftop, with Seulgi gasping for air. The stranger stands by the edge of the building, with pale skin and hair blacker than the midnight sky, holding the frame containing the painting that Seulgi and her team worked so hard to steal.

“Irene?” she asks, because there’s only one person in this world that can possibly blindside them.

Irene looks at her and tilts her head to the side with a smile, “You know me?”

“Everyone does,” she replies because it’s the truth. In their world where anonymity is sought for, Irene is an anomaly who thrives in her reputation of doing the most high profile jobs and never getting caught by the police. Everyone has heard of her, she’s practically a legend in the business. So much of a legend that some people even think that she’s a myth.

Clearly, that’s not the case.

She’s probably just really really good at avoiding cameras.

Seulgi kind of understands why, because Irene is striking. That much, she can tell, even in the current darkness of the horizon. It’s the type of face that you will never forget once you’ve seen it, the kind that belongs to the front-page of the most popular magazine.

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” Irene nods at her and Seulgi has to shake her head to focus back on the current situation, because this person just stole the thing that she’s supposed to be stealing.

“How?” she asks, gesturing at the painting. Because Seungwan has been planning this heist for two months and Seungwan’s plans never fail, “We double-checked everything. How did you get past our defenses?”

Irene beams at her and she’s so beautiful that Seulgi’s breath hitches against her will, “I’m always one step ahead, that’s how.”

Then she jumps.

Seulgi’s mind and body freezes for about thirty seconds before running to the edge of the building, looking frantically for a sign of the woman but she’s long gone and Seulgi belatedly remembers that Irene is a thief so she probably has a harness strapped and ready for her escape.

“Seulgi?” Seungwan’s voice resonates from her earpiece and Seulgi realizes that the thing has been giving her static since Irene appeared earlier, “What happened? We lost contact for a few minutes there, did you get the painting?”

“I didn’t,” she answers distractedly, still staring at the vast darkness of the streets fifty feet below.

“What do you mean you didn’t?”

“It flew away.”

“I can’t believe you let her get away with it!” Sooyoung complains loudly at her as soon as she enters their headquarters.

And by headquarters, she means the largest hotel suite that they can find that’s closest to the museum. The entire place is stupidly lavish and they all had to act like spoiled chaebols, complete with fake identities that Yerim pulled out from who knows where, when they checked in two months ago. Sooyoung definitely enjoyed that one. Especially when they watched the poor bellboy struggle with Yerim’s massive suitcase filled with her collection of gadgets meant for hacking.

“You said it was an ugly painting anyway,” she murmurs to herself but her voice carries over the entire living room because Yerim scoffs and Seungwan lets out a loud snort.

“That ugly painting is worth 800,000 dollars, unni!” Sooyoung moans in a devastated voice from her position by the couch, “Two months of prep and scouting, all gone for nothing!”

“Hey! It’s not like I let her take it from me willingly!”

“Unni, that wasn’t what you were saying twenty minutes ago when the painting ‘flew away’,” Yerim chirps sarcastically from beside Sooyoung, arms moving in an exaggerated version of air quotation marks.

Sooyoung continues to grumble to herself, something about Seulgi being unprofessional and flirting while on the job, before standing up and dragging Yerim by the wrist to their shared bedroom.

Seulgi looks helplessly at Seungwan, who’s been quiet all this time sans the unladylike snort, and Seungwan just chuckles at her, “It can’t be helped. We did plan this job for quite some time so they have a reason to be grumpy. It’ll pass. Just don’t expect them to let you off for the next few weeks.”

“I know. It’s my fault anyway,” she sighs tiredly, giving Seungwan’s arm a reproachful pat, “I’m sorry about that. I’ll be more attentive and careful next time.”

“You better be,” Seungwan glares playfully before laughing to herself, “Don’t worry, I’ll let you off this time because you went up against someone out of your league.”

“Hey! She is not out of my league!”

“We totally lost this one, Seulgi, just admit defeat,” Seungwan sighs, “We all should’ve been more attentive. I didn’t expect Irene, of all people, to crash in on our job. I’ll take that into the equation next time.”

“You do that,” she replies, already making plans to change her locks as soon as they get back home. She has to protect her stash of Pringles from Sooyoung and Yerim.

They don’t bother her Pringles.

Seulgi does end up having orange hair for an entire week though.

Seulgi makes sure that she does a stellar performance on their next job so that Sooyoung and Yerim can finally give it a rest with the constant pranks. Life moves on and she likes to think that her meeting with the woman with dark hair and galaxy for eyes is a thing of the past.

Which is why she gets the surprise of her life when, not even three months later, she sees Irene standing in the middle of the living room of their permanent headquarters in Seoul.

“What is she doing here?” she asks incredulously at Seungwan who’s busy typing away on her laptop.

“Didn’t I mention that I’m recruiting another person for our next job?”

In fact, Seungwan did, and Seulgi even remembers cautiously agreeing.

“Yes, I know. But Irene?!” she exclaims. Seungwan sighs at that, looking at Irene who’s grinning at the both of them.

“If this is about our little date last time, let me tell you that the painting doesn’t have your name on it. It’s not my fault you got careless and let me steal it from you,” Irene pipes up.

She’s about to snap back when Seungwan raises her hand, “Alright, alright, you guys need to calm down. Irene, would you mind waiting here for a bit? I need to talk to Seulgi for a minute.”

“Not at all,” Irene smiles, nodding lightly, “Take all the time you need.”

“Okay, tell me, does she have dirt on you?” Seulgi asks as soon as they enter Seungwan’s room.

“No! Of course not! What are you even saying?” Seungwan replies, sitting on the queen-sized bed and tapping it to signal Seulgi to sit down beside her, “I met her by chance when I was scouting around SM. She’s targeting that company too so I figured it’ll be easier if we worked together for this one.”

“How are you sure that she won’t just run away with the money? She’s a thief, Seungwan!”

“We’re all thieves, Seulgi,” Seungwan chuckles, “But, seriously, she promised to actually help. Besides, SM’s CEO uses digital banking for their money transfers so Yerim will be in charge of the actual stealing of the money. We just need Irene to infiltrate the place to insert our usb so Yerim can access it.”

“Why does it sound like you’ve practiced this all in your head already?” she replies and Seungwan laughs nervously beside her, “I don’t know, Wan. We’re not sure if we can fully trust her for this.”

“I know that. And I think she does too. Just give her a chance, Seul. Let’s do small jobs first then you decide if she gets to stay or not,” Seungwan proposes and Seulgi sighs to herself.

Well, Irene did manage to infiltrate the Daegu Museum on her own when it took their entire team to do it so her presence will definitely help against such a big and well protected company like SM.

“Fine,” she finally says and Seungwan does a small little fist pump in victory.

“Let’s introduce her to the kids, then.”

Introducing Irene with the rest of the team doesn’t turn out to be as disastrous as Seulgi expected it to be. Though she does end up praying for a hole to swallow her up half-way through because Sooyoung and Yerim starts the teasing and calls Irene the girl that made Seulgi’s heart fly away.

“So, Irene-unni, did Seulgi make your heart fly away too?” Yerim asks in an obnoxious voice while Sooyoung cackles beside her. Seungwan is laughing too, but Seulgi will give her a pass because at least she’s trying to cover it up with a cough.

Irene just chuckles good-naturedly with them, giving Seulgi a brief glance before focusing her attention back to the two satans in front of her, “She’s cute. Kind of like a bear.”

The laughter that comes after is noisier than Sooyoung’s screams whenever someone surprises her and Seulgi decides that Irene definitely cannot be trusted.

The first time she encounters Irene in their building’s rooftop, she freaks out because the girl is sitting with her feet dangling over the edge of the building with no harness in sight.

“What the hell are you doing?!” in retrospect, she probably shouldn’t have yelled because she doesn’t want to surprise the girl into actually tumbling over the edge into certain death. Seulgi doesn’t really want that in her conscience.

Irene doesn’t jump, though. She merely gives Seulgi a look over her shoulder, head tilting to the side, “I was wondering when you’d come up here.”

“This rooftop is private. How’d you enter?” she asks impulsively before cringing because that’s probably one of the stupidest questions that she’s ever asked. Irene probably already knows at least ten different ways to access the rooftop and she’s not even counting the main door.

“Why don’t you take a guess?” Irene smiles mischievously at her and Seulgi feels her cheeks warm up in embarrassment.

“How’d you know that I’ll be here?” she asks in response and Irene chuckles at the subject change, turning her back to Seulgi to look at the skyline.

“There’re crumbs of Pringles lying around here and there. And you’re the only one who keeps a stash of them in your closet,” Irene answers.

“I’m going to ignore the fact that you practically just admitted to snooping around in my room,” Seulgi replies, sitting down a few feet away from her companion. (And certainly far away from the edge of the damn building.)

“So,” Irene begins, a few minutes later, “Aren’t you going to interrogate me?”

“What?” Seulgi blinks in surprise.

“I know that you don’t trust me in the slightest,” Irene looks back to her again with a slight smile, “So why don’t you ask away.”

“Trust isn’t built that way,” Seulgi hums and Irene gives her a confused look, “You build trust through time and actions, not words.”

Irene stares at her for a few more seconds before commenting, “You’re weird.”

Seulgi really doesn't want to hear that from someone sitting on the edge of a building with no safety harness whatsoever, “You’re weird.”

Irene laughs at that, “Is that bad?”

“No,” she finds herself replying, “It’s not.”

Surprisingly enough, Irene integrates herself well into the group. She shares Seungwan’s love for the kitchen, so Seulgi often finds them gathering around together discussing pastries and food whenever they’re not planning on how to take down SM.

Sooyoung seems to be slightly wary of her, like Seulgi is. Or maybe the girl is just acting grumpy and petty because Yerim immediately takes a liking to Irene, often following the older girl around and asking how on earth did she manage to dodge all the security cameras back in Daegu. Seulgi chalks it up to Irene being a shiny new puzzle that Yerim can’t wait to solve.

Seulgi enters Irene’s room (she gets to live with them for the time being too, Seungwan insists) nearly a month after she first moves in. They’re having a group meeting regarding the SM job and she gets assigned to call their new teammate. She finds the room bare of anything personal and, if not for the fact that Irene is currently sitting by the foot of the bed, nothing in the room suggests that anyone’s been living in it.

“Why is your room so bare?” she blurts out in surprise.

“Oh, hello, Seulgi,” Irene looks up from her phone, immediately standing up and approaching Seulgi, leaning well into her personal space. Irene does that a lot, she notices.

“You’re not bringing anything in this room?” she asks, clearing nervously, feeling a bit too aware of their proximity.

“I brought my clothes. They’re in the closet,” Irene answers.

“I know, but what about any decorations? A plant, maybe?”

“A plant?” Irene looks at her in confusion.

“Yeah, you know, so it will look like somebody is actually living here,” she answers, gesturing vaguely around the room. Frankly, the place looks even more deserted than when it was used as storage for Sooyoung’s collection of make-up and costumes.

“Right,” Irene drawls skeptically, as if she doesn’t understand Seulgi’s point at all and Seulgi wonders if Irene’s always been this way. Never leaving an imprint of herself to the places that she visits.

“Never mind,” she says instead of pushing. It’s none of her business, after all, “Let’s just go to the discussion room, we have a company to scam.”

“You’re here again,” Irene greets her with a grin, the next time that Seulgi runs into her on their building rooftop.

Seulgi quirks her eyebrows, “I could say the same for you.”

“Sorry for crashing,” Irene grins wider, “I just really like it up here.”

That, Seulgi’s noticed, “You like rooftops?”

“You’re finally interrogating me?” Irene grins playfully, “I like being free. Walls feel constricting. When I’m up here, it feels like no one can catch me.”

“You must really hate having to crawl inside those tiny vents whenever you have to steal something,” she snorts.

“Those are the worst,” Irene agrees with a small chuckle, nodding her head before giving Seulgi a small smile, “But if it means that I get to jump off a building afterwards, then it’s a small price to pay.”

They settle into a comfortable silence for a few minutes, both of them gazing up at the sky, though Seulgi can’t help taking peeks at the girl sitting by the edge.

“You’re not afraid of falling?” she asks impulsively, immediately clamping shut as soon as the words leave .

Irene looks back at her again, dark hair snapping along the dance of the wind, “Are you going to push me?”

“What? Of course not!” she sputters out, dropping the can of Pringles that she’s been munching on.

Irene throws her head back in laughter and Seulgi gets another minor heart attack because she dangles even more from the edge.

“Then there’s nothing for me to be afraid of.”

Seulgi remembers Seungwan asking the team during their first official meeting, “It’ll take months before we get to fully figure out the interior of SM’s main building anyway, so it’ll be good to test out our team efficiency with small side jobs in between. You guys up for it?”

Nobody objects, as Seulgi predicted. Seungwan likes it whenever she gets to plan a new job. Yerim loves the challenge of having a new computer or server to hack. Sooyoung is always ready to suit up and play whatever fake identity it is that’s needed for that particular job. And she’s pretty sure that Irene doesn’t really care how many jobs they take as long as she gets to jump around buildings in exchange.

“What do you even do?” Irene asks her. They’re partnered together to scout the small company building that they're marking, the CEO is some corrupt low tier government official that’s been using the people’s money for his own company (Seungwan always always makes sure that they steal from the corrupt. Never from the innocent, that’s not their thing.), “Sooyoung’s the grifter, she’s the decoy and the inside man. Yerim deals with all the digital stuff. Seungwan obviously plans the whole thing. You’re probably their infiltrator but you're not very good at it. You even let me steal that painting from you that one time.”

Seulgi hums in response as they both turn left on a shady alley where one of the small windows that can be used as a make-shift entrance for the company building is located. Both of them stop in their tracks half way through, however, when they see four sleazy looking men sharing some beers situated right beside the window. One of the guys looks up and whistles appreciatively, actively getting the attention of the other three.

“Oooh. What’re the pretty ladies doing here?” they stand and slowly start moving towards them.

“Ah, should we run?” Irene asks her, voice just a little higher than usual. It’s the only thing that alerts Seulgi that her companion is getting slightly anxious.

“Stay behind me,” she whispers back.

The guys converge in on them and Seulgi makes quick work of dispatching everyone with swift blows and kicks in calculated places. They’re drunker than she thought, so the fight wasn’t even a fight. Not really. She makes a grand show of dusting her hands before turning back to Irene who’s looking at her with slightly wide eyes.

“That,” she says with a slight smirk, “is what I do.”

“So,” Irene pipes up as soon as they get back home after the scouting mission, “You punch things.”

“Is that bad?” she asks back, pressing her lips together to stop another smug smirk that’s threatening to burst out.

“No,” Irene replies with a small smile, “It’s not.”

The smug smirk turns into a stupid grin.

Seulgi can’t even find the strength to stop.

“Oh, ,” Seulgi whispers to herself, doing her best to calm the harsh beating of her heart. They’re in the middle of their first job as a team and everything is going according to plan until the guards decide to do their rounds 20 minutes earlier than usual. And now she’s in danger of getting busted.

“Unni, do something!” Seulgi can hear Seungwan ordering urgently through her earpiece, “The guards are closing in on Seulgi’s location.”

“Give me a minute, how’s Sooyoung?” she hears Irene’s reply, voice slightly breathless.

“She’s out already. She’s about to meet Yerim in five minutes.”

“Where is Seulgi?”

“Seulgi’s in the third floor corridor. Just turn left!”

“I see her,” Seulgi turns around to find Irene running towards her with a determined expression, not stopping until she’s three inches away from her face.

“W-what do you think you’re doing?” she stammers out as Irene pushes her against the wall, one hand wrapping around her waist and the other around her neck.

“Shut up and play along,” Irene whispers breathlessly and then they’re kissing and Seulgi finds herself trying her best to calm the harsh beating of her heart for an entirely different reason altogether. Irene kisses her as if it’s something that she’s been wanting to do for a really long time, swiping her tongue against Seulgi’s lips and immediately deepening the kiss as soon as Seulgi opens .

Seulgi’s head starts to spin as she responds to the kiss, tugging Irene closer and closer and-

“Hey! This place is off limits!”

They both spring apart as if they’re children caught with their hands inside a cookie jar. Seulgi blinks dazedly at the two guards looking at them, one of them blushing lightly, and she finally remembers that they’re in the middle of a job.

“What are you doing here?” the other guard asks with a disapproving glare.

“I’m sorry, we we’re just looking for a quiet private place to..” Irene trails off with a slight blush on her face while gesturing at Seulgi’s dishevelled state.

The guard stares at them for another second before sighing and clearing his throat, “Okay. Just, please go back to the reception area on the second floor. And, er, please refrain from coming back here.”

So they get away. Just like that. She catches Irene’s eye while they’re both in the elevator and Irene gives her a sly wink.

Seulgi thinks Irene should try being a grifter.

“So,” Seungwan starts with a barely hidden smirk when Seulgi enters the living room that night with slightly swollen lips, “How’d you guys get away?”

“Shut up, Seungwan.”

The rooftop meetings start to become their thing.

Seulgi makes it a habit to bring a can of Pringles whenever she can because Irene smiles just a little bit wider whenever she offers the snack towards her.

“Why become a thief?” she asks one time. She’s sitting against the wall while Irene’s sprawled on her back, conveniently using Seulgi’s legs as a pillow. Irene is clingy, another thing that Seulgi’s learned about her.

Irene regards her with a contemplative look, head tilting to the side (it’s a habit, Seulgi notices), “What else do you imagine me doing?”

“I don’t know, an idol?” she suggests and Irene bursts into fits of laughter.

“That might just be one of the most absurd things that I’ve ever heard.”

“I’m being serious. I’m pretty sure you’ll fit right in on one of those groups that we often see on tv,” Seulgi insists, poking Irene’s cheeks.

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” Irene snorts in response.

“I’m serious,” she repeats, almost in a whisper, “You’re beautiful, Irene.”

Something in her tone must’ve changed because Irene stops chuckling and starts turning the most attractive shade of red that Seulgi’s ever seen. Silence envelops them again for a few minutes before Irene finally speaks up.

“Well, I’m glad that I’m not an idol.”

“And why is that? You like jumping around buildings too much?” she teases.

“Because I wouldn’t have met you.”

Ah.

Seulgi tries to calm her beating heart again.

(She fails, of course she does.)

“Are you sure you guys can handle this?” Seulgi asks worriedly while Sooyoung twirls around in front of the mirror dressed in stewardess attire. She sprained her ankle during their last job three days ago and now Seungwan’s banned her from leaving the headquarters.

“We’ll be fine. This is more of a technical thing anyway. Yerim and I can handle it on our own,” Sooyoung responds, brushing off invisible specks of dust in her uniform.

“Right,” Seulgi isn’t too sure about that. The last time Yerim played grifter with Sooyoung, Seulgi had to literally punch her way through an army of guards to get them out because Yerim overacted like nobody’s business and managed to offend every single person that they’re supposed to be scamming.

“Really, unni, Yerim’s improved. And it’s not like this is a big job, plus Seungwan-unni’s coming with us,” Sooyoung finishes her mirror inspection, turning around to face Seulgi with a sly smirk, “Besides, Irene-unni’s missing again so I think it’s time for your rooftop date together. Don’t worry about us, we’ll handle this. You two take your well deserved vacation. We’ve been working you guys too hard for the past three jobs.”

She leaves after winking at Seulgi and Seulgi has to stop herself from throwing Seungwan’s precious antique vase at the younger girl.

Instead, she tries to find Irene but she’s surprisingly not in the rooftop when she goes up and checks. She scans around their floor and finally finds the girl inside her (still freakishly bare) room, squished inside the closet.

“What are you doing there?” she exclaims, immediately trying to tug the girl out but Irene refuses to budge.

“I don’t want to go outside, it’s cold,” Irene whines and Seulgi notices that her voice sounds hoarse and her hands are clammy.

“So you opted to smother yourself in here? Come out,” she orders, tugging harder, “And you’re sick.”

“I’m not sick!” Irene defends herself and Seulgi snorts.

“Seriously, Irene, come here. Have you even eaten anything yet?” she asks worriedly.

“But I don’t get sick,” Irene pouts but she finally relents and leaves the closet.

“Sure you don’t,” she replies absentmindedly while tucking Irene in bed, she straightens up to leave with an intention of getting some warm food when Irene grabs her shirt.

“Don’t go,” Irene protests at her, tugging at her shirt helplessly and Seulgi wants to scream because, of course, Irene has to be whinier and clingier when she’s sick.

“I’m just reheating the soup that Seungwan made earlier, I’ll be back,” she tries to untangle herself but Irene holds on tighter.

“But I don’t want you to leave. You’re warm,” Irene responds, standing up and tugging Seulgi harder.

And that’s how she ends up reheating the soup with Irene latched onto her, face buried against her neck and arms clinging around her tightly.

(She ends up sneezing her way through the next two days.

She doesn’t mind at all.)

During the next job that they take, Irene disappears during the last ten minutes. Normally, this will be a good thing, as getting away after stealing the small antique sculpture is sort of the point of this plan.

Except Irene is the person who’s supposed to drive their getaway car for this particular job.

So they end up waiting anxiously in a random coffee shop two blocks away for Seungwan to pick them up as the police swarm the building that they just stole the sculpture from. Needless to say, Seungwan nags them the entire twenty minute drive back to their headquarters.

To Seulgi’s relief, Irene arrives with the sculpture thirty minutes after them.

“You shouldn’t have gone on your own earlier. You have not experienced any of Seungwan’s lectures yet, have you?” Seulgi complains as she watches Irene put the sculpture on top of the living room table.

“I bought a plant,” Irene answers and Seulgi stops herself from starting the long winded explanation about teamwork and the importance of communication during a job.

“You bought.. what?” she blurts out.

“A plant. I saw this and I thought it was beautiful but the vendor was already getting away so I ran after him,” Irene elaborates while holding up a cactus in a pot, looking at Seulgi innocently as if it’s a perfectly reasonable explanation on why she left them in the middle of a job.

“You nearly got us busted because you saw a cactus?” she asks in a deadpanned voice.

“You were the one who said that I should buy decorations,” Irene says and Seulgi tries to convince herself that strangling Irene will not benefit anyone right now, “I’ll name it Irene.”

“You’re naming your plant after yourself? That’s a whole new level of narcissism,” she gives up and just responds accordingly.

“Irene’s not my real name.”

Oh.

Of course.

“R-right,” Seulgi stutters because she doesn’t know why Irene is suddenly telling her this.

“Joohyun,” Irene speaks up after a few minutes of silence, voice barely above a whisper, “My name. It’s Joohyun.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“I don’t know,” Irene looks so lost and confused and maybe just a little bit terrified. Seulgi feels her heart fluttering, all the frustrations of being left behind during a job evaporate and a new warm feeling spreads from her chest to the tips of her toes.

“Thank you,” she says.

“For what?” Irene, no, Joohyun, asks her.

“For telling me.”

(Babysitting the cactus gets added to their routine.)

On their next job, they end up going home with a puppy in tow. Long story short, they scammed a corrupt compound owner and Sooyoung ‘accidentally’ takes one home with her.

Yerim and Joohyun doesn’t want to keep it but they’re out numbered (re: Sooyoung won’t shut up about it) so they end up in a truce where they’ll get to keep the puppy until Sooyoung finds someone worthy enough to adopt him.

Unfortunately for Joohyun, the puppy seems to have formed a weird obsession with her, chasing her around the headquarters whenever she so much as leave her room so Joohyun resorts to literally climbing Seulgi like a pole whenever it happens.

“Ooof,” she grunts out as soon as she feels arms around her shoulders and legs around her waist, “Joohyun? What is it now?”

“Podom won’t leave me alone,” Joohyun whines against her neck and Seulgi turns around, grunting slightly at the extra weight, and sees the adorable little poodle barking at her feet.

“Podom, go back to your satan mother for a bit, you’re scaring this baby here,” she tells the puppy and Joohyun makes a protesting sound, tightening her hold against her and Seulgi laughs.

Now that she thinks of it, she really doesn’t mind keeping this annoying puppy forever.

On their final job before the SM one, they needed an extra face so Seungwan had to play grifter alongside Sooyoung but they actually get busted midway and Seungwan had to jump from the top of the building with Joohyun to get away. All they can hear from their earpieces for five minutes straight is Seungwan’s terrified screams.

Yerim records it and sets it as an alarm for everyone during the mornings and Seulgi’s pretty sure that Seungwan’s close to kicking everyone out of the place whenever it plays around their floor.

The constant threats from Seungwan and Yerim and Sooyoung’s cackles will wake Podom who ends up chasing Joohyun around. Which will lead to Joohyun clinging to Seulgi like a leech which will lead to teasing. Then Yerim will play the audio again and everyone will end up laughing all together.

It’s ridiculously chaotic.

Seulgi tries not to think of how much this feels like home.

“I met Seungwan when we were eleven,” she tells Joohyun, the night before the big plan against SM. They’ve been in the rooftop since the afternoon because Joohyun insists on bringing her cactus for some sunlight. The cactus has a flower now, Seulgi notes with a tiny bit of pride, one delicate pink bloom right on top of the plant.

They’ve been sitting side by side in comfortable silence, shoulders touching, when Seulgi breaks it. She doesn’t know what makes her say it. But now, it’s as if the dam surrounding her heart has been broken and she starts sharing anything and everything with this girl that stopped being a stranger somewhere between the rooftop meetings and fake kisses.

She tells her about being unhappy with her life back then. About the household that she ran away from. About Seungwan, precious Seungwan, who devised a plan to get themselves out of the orphanage that they both detest. About meeting Sooyoung and Yerim along the way. How they ended up turning into this little ragtag family that sticks together through thick and thin.

When she’s done, Joohyun’s looking at her with the softest smile that she’s ever seen in the girl’s face and something within her melts all over again.

“It must be nice. I wish I met you guys sooner,” Joohyun sighs, leaning against Seulgi’s shoulder.

“That’s okay. You’re here now, aren’t you?”

Joohyun doesn’t answer but Seulgi feels her smile against her neck and she takes that as a yes.

The next day, they kick SM’s shady to the moon and back. They celebrate by buying Podom a new doghouse and eating pizza, chicken, and beer until way past midnight because they just stole nearly thirty million dollars worth of money from a corrupt corporation.

Everything was perfect.

She should’ve known it wouldn’t last.

“Seulgi, she’s gone.”

Seulgi turns around groggily at the sound of Seungwan's voice. Her head aches from the slight hangover and she's pretty sure she has a neck cramp from falling asleep at an awkward angle. It takes her approximately one minute and twenty seven seconds to process what Seungwan just said, “What do you mean she’s gone?"

“She left. Yerim just checked our accounts. She transferred her share to multiple banks this morning, it's almost untraceable by now, especially if she's managed to transfer them manually. Yerim can try tracing them but, if our estimate is correct, she's been gone for four hours now and that's a lot of time already for someone like Irene."

Seungwan continues talking but Seulgi zones her out and focuses on the only thing that matters.

She's gone.

Joohyun’s gone. Just like that. As if the past nine months didn’t happen at all.

She should've known. Really. This is the exact reason why she didn't want her in the team all those months ago. She wants to yell, to throw something. Except she doesn't have the strength at all. As if all the fight has left her just like the girl with the dark dark hair.

Instead, she swallows down the vile in . Something that tastes like betrayal.

Irene is a thief, she repeats to herself. She's always been one.

(She ignores the voice inside her head, “But Joohyun isn't.”)

She visits her room, despite knowing that she won't find anything. It's as bare as always, even more so now that even the closet is empty.

The cactus that they've been taking care of sits at the bedside table, mocking Seulgi with it's very existence. The flower is gone, ripped apart at the seams. How appropriate, Seulgi thinks, for her to remove the lone reminder of the time they've spent together.

Irene is a thief, she repeats to herself. Like a mantra. Like a prayer.

It would have worked too. If not for the fact that Joohyun didn't even steal anything, she just took her share and ran away. Just as their deal entails.

She leaves the room as soon as the same vile rises up once more.

Who was she kidding. This wasn't about the money.

It never was.

“Seul? Do you mind if we talk?”

“You’re already talking."

Seungwan sighs but sits next to her, “I’m sorry. I know you want to be alone right now but the kids are getting worried. You haven’t said anything since..”

“Well what do you want me to say, Seungwan?” she snaps. She knows that she’s out of line and she’s yelling at the wrong person but she’s so mad and angry and disappointed that she can’t even bring herself to care, “Do you want me to say that we should’ve seen it coming? Well I’m not going to say that because I didn’t! She played us all. She used us. She used-“

Me.

She used me, she wants to say. But she chokes on her own words so she just turns around to wipe away the tears from her cheeks. She hates this. Hates feeling this pathetic. Hates that she trusted someone that can easily throw away everything as if she amounts to nothing at all.

“Feel better?” Seungwan asks gently once she’s calmed down, sitting beside her and wrapping an arm around her shoulder.

“Why would she do this? I thought..” she stops herself again because saying it makes everything real.

I thought she felt the same way.

She stops the thought right away. Buries it in disappointment and anger and betrayal.

Don't be silly, Seulgi. You never even had her.

A month after Joohyun left, Seungwan insists that they start doing jobs again. Sooyoung and Yerim agree enthusiastically. Seulgi knows that they're doing this to distract her. And she's thankful.

It works. Sort of.

Because focusing on the job makes her forget the feeling of being left behind. But then, it also doesn't. Because focusing on the job makes her remember all the things that Joohyun could've done had she stayed.

It's a stupid thought, really. Because everything should've been fine. They just have to rewind everything to the day before Joohyun joined. But it's evident that it's not.

It's in the way Yerim prepares five sets of earpieces before they leave the headquarters. The way Sooyoung watches Podom sadly as the dog scratches futilely against Joohyun's door. The way Seungwan will mistakenly yell 'unni' in the middle of a job.

The four of them have always been a complete puzzle. But then Joohyun comes, in all her jagged glory, and rearranges them and fits herself comfortably. And now that she's gone, they're left with broken pieces that doesn't fit in the same way that they did before.

She's scouting around a small company building near the seaport in Busan, two months later, when Seungwan's voice blares through her earpiece.

“We found Irene-unni’s location!” Seungwan says, slightly breathless from excitement.

“What?" she stops in her tracks right away.

“I completely forgot that the earpiece that I gave her during the SM job had a built in wireless gps! We used it so we can track everyone's location during the job,” Yerim's voice explains, “We can finally talk to her and maybe ask her to come back? She's nearby too!”

“Where?” she asks, already starting to walk again, her heart beating faster and faster by the minute. If it's because of excitement or anger, she doesn't know.

“She's by the docks! Around a kilometer from where you are. I think she's on one of those warehouses near the port stations,” Yerim chirps.

“I’m going in.”

“Wait! Seulgi! You can't go there yet!” she ignores Seungwan's warning, taking out her earpiece and running straight for the docks.

She'll see her again. Nothing else matters.

She creeps along bunch of abandoned warehouses before she finds the right one, making sure that she doesn't make a lot of noise to avoid alerting the girl of her presence.

And there she is. Standing behind one of the crates, looking as beautiful as ever. Dark hair gathered in a neat ponytail and eyes staring straight ahead as if she's waiting for someone. Seulgi wonders if she's on a job right now.

She decides that she doesn't care.

“Joohyun,” she whispers. She hates herself, just a little bit, when saying her name ends up sounding like a prayer.

Joohyun snaps her head in her direction, eyes widening and mouth parting in a silent gasp. Looking at Seulgi like she’s seen a ghost.

And maybe that's all she was.

“Seulgi?” Joohyun whispers, eyes softening, as if she's reminiscing a good memory, before hardening all over again. She comes closer, way into Seulgi's personal space (it's nice to know that at least that didn't change), “You shouldn’t be here.”

“How dare you say that, when you're the one who left without saying goodbye,” she means for it to be scathing, but her tone just ends up broken and begging. Joohyun’s eyes soften again, and she’s suddenly back to the girl on the rooftop talking about freedom and dreams.

“I-” Joohyun starts but then she her head, as if she's listening to someone then her eyes widen and she begins to drag Seulgi.

“What are you doing?” Seulgi asks.

“You have to leave now,” Joohyun whispers urgently, “I’ll explain later.”

“But-”

“. Hyun, watch out!” she hears someone yell.

Then everything happens at once.

A single shot rings through the air and Joohyun is suddenly pushing her until they’re both tumbling against the wall.

Seulgi hits her head with a dull thud and black spots dance around her vision but all she sees is Joohyun’s slumped form against her and there's red blooming on her back.

Blood. Blood. Blood.

Everything seems to move in slow motion from there. She registers that there are more people around them than she initially thought, the abandoned warehouses not so abandoned after all, and she vaguely hears someone yelling at her ear to let go of Joohyun. She hears more shots being fired but it all fades gradually into the background as she notices that they’re being dragged into a car that looks like an ambulance.

There are even more people talking and she thinks she sees the police getting involved but her ears are ringing and Joohyun is looking at her with half-lidded eyes and she wants to hold on to her tighter because there's so much red.

But she's fading and the last thing she registers before the black consumes her is Joohyun's ghostly pale face.

“I'm glad you found me.”

She wakes up in a hospital bed to Sooyoung's voice, asking in a barely contained frantic whisper, “What happened?”

“Be quiet, unni!” she hears Yerim respond.

“I’m sorry,” Sooyoung apologizes in a softer voice, “But can you guys explain? Why are we even here? There are police everywhere!”

“Calm down, Sooyoung,” another voice answers. Seungwan’s.

“I am calm!” Sooyoung responds in a loud tone and she hears a light smack.

“Shut up, unni!”

“Irene got shot. I was trying to contact Seulgi to tell her that Yerim finally broke the code on her computer. Irene’s been working with the police all this time, we saw the emails she sent using our internet. She's good at deleting her tracks but Yerim's better at finding them. She was supposed to spy in on us, to gather enough concrete evidence so that the police can finally get us all. But then, for some reason, she negotiated that she’ll help them take down this mark instead.”

“So she’s working for them in exchange for our freedom?” she finally speaks up and Seungwan jumps in surprise, hitting her elbow against the corner of the table, “Is that why no one is arresting us right now? Why she was at the docks?”

“Seulgi! You’re awake! How are you feeling?” Seungwan asks worriedly, brushing the strand of hair that falls across her face.

“Where is she?”

“Seulgi-”

“Is she okay?” she asks and her voice breaks.

“She's fine. The bullet hit her on her shoulder but the surgery was a success, they're just waiting for her to wake up now,” Seungwan explains, pushing her back down against the bed, “And you have to rest. You've got a concussion.”

“I need to see her,” she insists, rubbing her eyes to stop herself from crying in front of Sooyoung and Yerim. She hears the door open, followed by a chorus of 'We'll leave for now, we hope you get better unni!', and the door closing.

“Seul,” Seungwan calls, patting her shoulders affectionately, “It's okay to be weak sometimes.”

And that's all it takes for her to finally break. She's crying because Joohyun just got shot because of her. She's crying because Joohyun is an idiot. She's crying because Joohyun cares. She's crying because she feels like the worst human being all over again, “What if she doesn't wake up?”

“Don't be silly, Seul,” Seungwan chuckles, “This is Irene we're talking about. She'll definitely wake up.”

“The person who shot her,” she starts and Seungwan shakes her head.

“I already asked Yerim to scout. Leave that to me,” Seungwan smiles, “We'll crush them.”

Joohyun's ward is suspiciously well-guarded, Seulgi notes when she's finally deemed fit enough to stand and leave her room. There are two officers currently stationed outside of Joohyun's door, whether the intent is to keep visitors out or to keep Joohyun in, Seulgi doesn't know and neither does she care. She waits for the telltale ring of a phone, before a nurse comes running towards one of the officers.

“Officer Hwang? You have a phone call from the senior detective. He's asking for you,” the nurse informs one of the officers, who gives a confused look at his partner before nodding in understanding and proceeding to follow the nurse towards the reception area.

A few seconds later, Sooyoung passes by, dressed in a nurse uniform while pushing a cart filled with tissues and napkins. She 'accidentally' knocks over one pile while in front of the remaining officer, who immediately helps her in picking them up.

While all of this is going on, Seulgi takes her chance and slips inside Joohyun's room quietly. She closes the door and takes a deep breathe before turning around.

She doesn't know what she's expecting. But it's definitely not an empty bed.

Disappointment crashes into her in waves. In retrospect, she should’ve expected this. Irene is a thief, she finds herself repeating. It’s the same mantra that she’s been using for the past two months. The words that’s been keeping her sane.

Irene is a thief. Irene is a thief. Irene is a thief.

“Seulgi?” a voice that is achingly familiar, albeit huskier than she remembers, interrupts her thoughts. Breaks through the reverie that she’s created upon herself.

She whips around and finds Joohyun standing by the bathroom door, one hand casually holding her IV drip and the other a toothbrush, looking at Seulgi in confusion. She looks fine. Normal, even. So Seulgi recomposes herself, as if her world didn’t just break and rebuild itself all within the past thirty seconds.

She wonders if she’s gone crazy enough to the point of summoning an illusion.

“What are you-” Joohyun stammers as she crowds the smaller girl against the wall.

“Shut up,” she whispers before kissing her. She notes that this probably isn’t the best way to greet an injured patient but then Joohyun makes a noise that’s somewhere between a gasp and a moan and Seulgi finds that she could care less about patient-visitor etiquettes.

She presses harder, kisses deeper, though careful enough not to jolt Joohyun’s injured shoulder, and bares everything that’s been bottled up inside her ever since the other girl left. All the pain and confusion and anger. She runs her hand down Joohyun’s back, settling around her waist to pull her closer. Bites Joohyun’s lips just a little bit harder, before running her tongue to sooth the ache.

“Hey,” she greets against Joohyun's mouth, when they’re finally forced apart by the sheer need of oxygen. Joohyun doesn’t pull away though, so neither does she.

“Hey,” Joohyun responds breathlessly, wincing slightly when she accidentally moves her shoulder too fast.

“You’re an idiot,” she states, dipping down to kiss Joohyun again, softer this time before tugging the other girl by hand towards the hospital bed, “Do you think we’re in a movie? Taking a bullet for me like that.”

“Ah,” Joohyun comments, “I take it you weren’t hurt at all. They wouldn’t tell me when I asked.”

“Just a concussion,” she answers nonchalantly but Joohyun’s brows immediately scrunch up in worry.

“What? Should you be moving around?” Joohyun asks frantically, her hand reaching up to cup Seulgi’s face gently.

“Stop fussing, you’re the one with the bullet wound,” she frowns, taking Joohyun’s hand and intertwining it with hers.

“I know,” Joohyun smiles, “And I’m thankful that it’s me.”

Seulgi wants to crumble all over again.

“Why would you do something like that?” she wants to ask. But she doesn’t. She already knows the answer anyway.

“Seungwan’s already making a plan to catch that bastard,” she says instead, “We’ll start working on it once you’ve recovered.”

Joohyun looks surprised at that, “I’m still part of the plan?”

“As long as you’ll stop with this noble idiot business,” she comments sternly before tucking a stray hair away from Joohyun’s face, “And of course you’re part of the plan. You’re part of the team, aren’t you?”

Joohyun stares at her, eyes quivering with something that’s close to tears.

“Thank you, Seulgi.”

They don’t let go of each other’s hand. Not even once.

They present Seungwan’s grand plan to the senior detective in charge of the case. Not everything, of course. They’ve dealt with the police enough to know that they shouldn’t reveal everything when negotiating with them. So they give him a rundown of Plans A to C. (They have until Plan P, as of the moment, because nobody is willing to take chances with this particular mark. Call it a personal vendetta.)

The senior detective immediately objects to their plan because, You can’t just make him do what you want! That’s not how this world works.

All five of them smirk at that, looking at each other knowingly, and Seungwan smiles the same angelic smile that fools everyone into thinking that she’s just some innocent girl and not an actual theft mastermind.

“Watch us.”

That damn bastard who shot Joohyun didn’t stand a chance.

Seulgi hopes he rots in jail.

“How come you were working with the police to get us jailed, anyway?”

They’re back in the rooftop. Their rooftop. A week after they take down the stupid mob boss that shot Joohyun. Joohyun’s in the middle of showing her an extensive list of things she’s stolen, all written in a worn out notebook, when she remembers to ask the question that’s been bothering her.

“Oh, Junmyeon's my brother, he asked for my help,” Joohyun shrugs and Seulgi immediately freezes.

“Junmyeon.. Junmyeon as in Suho? The senior detective is your brother?!” she exclaims loudly and Joohyun turns to her in confusion.

“Yeah? I thought you knew?”

"How can I possibly-" she starts, running a hand down her face in disbelief, "Is this why you never get caught? You've got an in with the police?"

"Of course not!" Joohyun glares at her, looking more offended than she's ever been, "Junmyeon can try all he wants but he can’t catch me.”

She turns back to her notebook then, and Seulgi just resigns to playing with her hair.

“What is that?” she asks when she notices some dried leaves tucked within the pages.

Joohyun suddenly turns red in the face, “These are Irene’s flower petals.”

It takes her a moment to process what that meant, “You mean the cactus?”

“Yeah. I kept it. I thought we weren’t going to see each other again after what I did,” Joohyun answers sheepishly.

She stares longer than she means to and Joohyun turns even redder. She’s so adorable that Seulgi can’t help but steal a kiss.

“Well you thought wrong,” she murmurs after, when they’re both gasping for air, “I’d like to think that we’ll be seeing each other for a long long time from now on.”

“That sounds good.”

(Joohyun's room is filled with plants now. And a purple cushion for Podom. And an alarm clock.

There's even a painting.

Seulgi laughs when she sees that it's the same damn Michelangelo painting where this all started.)

“Is this even legal?” she asks with a slight hint of apprehension in her tone.

Joohyun looks back at her from her position by the edge of the roof, her black hair snapping behind her in wind-struck tangles, before giving her a sly smile, “We’re thieves, Seulgi. Since when did we care about legalities?”

Then she jumps.

It’s almost like a replay of their first meeting. With the midnight horizon and a girl flying across the sky.

Except, now, Seulgi jumps too.

fin.

A/N: As always, I thank all the readers for reading this story! (And for tolerating my extremely slow writing process) So, what's next? Anyone up for an HP au? It'll take forever again but it'll get written, I promise lol