OUTLAW || ATEEZ x Reader

17

You had been helping the boys out with moving things around the camp, tidying up as you were so used to. You could hear their bickering and giggles from inside one of the tents as you picked up their dirty clothes and things they might have left laying around. They didn't ask for you to do their chores but seeing as they had done so much for you, you wanted to return the favor.

"Hey, doll." You turned around to find the tall man giving you a charming smile.

"Hi, Mingi." You whispered breathlessly.

He casually walked closer to you, making you smile as he wrapped his arms around your shoulders. You placed down what you had in your hands to wrap yours around his waist, rubbing your cheek against the leather of his vest. The skin of his arms made you shiver as they encased around your head.

"You doing alright?" He asked you quietly.

You pulled back to look at him, sighing deeply. You had a soft look on your face that made Mingi's lips turn up. He could see how much it brought joy to you to be with them all again. It made him feel like a little kid getting praise.

"I thought I wasn't going to see you again." You admitted to him. "I mean, that was stupid of me to think. Ain't no way you guys were just going to leave the others in Cromer." You shook your head as your lips wobbled. "But honestly, I thought they were going to leave without me getting to say goodbye to you all."

Mingi's large hand moved up to your cheek, his thumb rubbing just under your eye. He gave you a light smile to calm your racing heart. "We're all okay." He whispered. "Nothing is going to bring us down. And you mean too much to us to just leave without saying anything."

He sighed deeply as he took you in. "Besides, I was worried about you too." He added.

"You were?" Your eyebrows furrowed together, lips pulled out into a pout.

"You were shaking so bad that day." Mingi began to explain. "Wouldn't let me leave. Seonghwa had to take my place to get you to calm down. "

Your shoulders dropped as the first thing you felt was embarrassment. He–and possibly some of the others–had seen you in your most vulnerable state and it left you a bit bothered. You hadn't really talked about that day with any of the boys because you felt ashamed of how you felt. Not just because of your anger, but because you felt so helpless.

However, your doubts about him seeing you in a different light faded away as he kept explaining what it was he felt that day. "I didn't want to leave you like that. It killed me to not know anything about you."

Your breath got caught in your throat at his revelation. You could keep telling yourself multiple times that you knew what the boys meant to you, but hearing it from their mouths that you meant something to them made you feel light-headed.

Each one of Mingi's words swirled around in your head until you could no longer stand. They made you want to jump on your bed and kick your feet in the air from how giddy you might have felt. But his words also held heavy meaning. There was a story behind why he felt that way and it reminded you of your own feelings of self loath.

"I'm sorry for worrying you." You told him.

"Don't apologize for that, Doll." He bent down to be eye level with you, cradling your face in his hands. "I'll always worry about you now."

He stood back up as he clenched his jaw. "I have never felt so much anger until I saw you being caged in by those animals. I knew they didn't deserve mercy. Not with the way they hurt you. I will never forgive myself if that ever happened to you again."

With how he had been expressing himself to you about that day, you were reminded all about how you felt seeing his large hat at the end of the alleyway. At first, you were terrified when the blood of the men splattered on your face but seeing his tall figure there was like a punch to the gut. Relief had washed over you in buckets and you wanted to cry from the overwhelming emotions.