Work Text:
Nightlife in Shadyside was usually dead, but tonight was quite different. Summer had just started and everyone was out and about, especially at the local plaza. Usually, crowds of people would make Reed’s job a lot more difficult, but he welcomed the challenge. Instead, he saw many new targets and many more prizes he could go for.
Reed searched around for a possession worth stealing, and his eyes landed on a bright pink purse that dangled from the back of a chair. The purse was slightly swinging in the warm breeze, almost hypnotizing the blonde boy with its every motion. It seemed called out to him, asking someone to grab it and take the mysterious content inside.
It’s go time , Reed thought to himself, hauling himself off a nearby bench. In an attempt to stop his clammy hands from shaking, he shoved them into his denim pockets and took deep breaths. When he was close enough to the bag, he slipped it off the side of the chair with a grace that took him weeks to master. He pushed through different shoppers on the populated sidewalk, looking for the fastest escape route.
“Hey! My purse!” he heard the lady yell behind him, but he didn’t turn around to see if anyone was after him. After turning down a dark, barely illuminated alleyway, Reed thought he might have been off the hook. He realized he was very wrong after another pair of footsteps joined his own. And then, he heard more. Many more footsteps.
Instead of stopping and giving up, he instinctively ran faster.
“TJ, wait!” he heard a familiar voice cry out.
Reed’s feet skidded to a stop, his breathing quickened, and his chest started to pound. He hadn’t heard anyone say that name in years. TJ? It can’t possibly be…
His thoughts were interrupted when a body slammed into him from behind, slamming his chest on the asphalt. Reed closed his eyes and groaned, struggling to bear the pain. He felt his tackler flip his body to face him, and Reed held his breath when he saw the face of TJ Kippen, his ex-friend from middle school.
The tough, angry look on TJ’s face was slowly replaced with a look that Reed knew too well: shock and disappointment. They stared at each other for a while. Neither of them said a word, but all that needed to be said could be seen from each others’ gazes. TJ gave Reed a look that said, “Is this what you’re up to now?”, and Reed responded with, “Yeah, got a problem?”.
“TJ!” the same voice called again, and Reed saw Cyrus, the anti-gun boy, run up to him and TJ, along with a couple of unfamiliar girls, who were probably their friends. Cyrus froze with fear when he recognized Reed’s face and was afraid to come close.
“Here, Cyrus”, TJ said, snatching the pink purse from Reed’s grip and holding it out to Cyrus, “give this back to the lady. I’ll deal with him.”
“You sure, TJ?” a curly-haired girl from the crowd of friends asked. TJ nodded in response, and Cyrus took the purse. Cyrus, along with the other two girls, left to return the bag.
When they were out of sight, TJ turned back to Reed. “Are you kidding me?”
Reed rolled his eyes. “Nice to see you, too, TJ.”
“You steal now? How long have you been doing this?”
“What does it matter to you? Just turn me in, like you always do.”
TJ scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Don’t make me out to be the bad guy here. You stole. If you were unaware, that’s a crime. And what do you mean like I always do ? ”
Reed looked away from TJ, but they both knew what he was referring to. The incident that ruined their friendship. TJ betrayed him by turning him in to the police because he stole his dad’s gun to shoot some watermelons. TJ made a big deal out of nothing.
“You know, I thought you would have changed. I thought...I thought you would have learned some sort of lesson.” TJ shook his head and sighed.
“ Me? You’re the one that betrayed me. If I knew you were gonna be a little bitch, I wouldn’t have invited you.”
“Someone could have gotten hurt!”
“Someone did already get hurt, and it’s not because of the gun!”
Reed was shocked by how loud and shaky his voice had gotten, and so was TJ. He started to fight back tears and forced himself to swallow the lump in his throat. Reed told TJ about how after the gun incident, all his friends cut him off. About how his dad had also gotten in major trouble, which caused his family life to start to fall apart. He had no one to turn to, no one to lift his spirits, no one to tell him it would be okay and that he could change. Absolutely no one. So, he found comfort in a new hobby: stealing. The feeling of being comforted by a friend or family member wasn’t even comparable to the pride Reed felt after successfully stealing an item.
After a period of tense silence, Reed let out a breath. “So, you gonna turn me in or what?”
TJ thought about it. “I don’t know. Are you going to keep stealing?”
Reed lifted his eyebrows. “I don’t know.”
TJ stared into Reed’s eyes, trying to understand where he was coming from, before he finally stood up, allowing Reed to move freely. Reed stretched his own arms before hoisting himself up as well.
“Look, Reed,” TJ started, “I’m not going to turn you in. I don’t feel like making a big deal out of this. But, I really hope you can change for the better. I know you. Sure, you were pretty reckless and stupid back in middle school, but I never thought you would fall down a path like this.”
Reed stood silently, shifting his weight between his feet and looking down at the ground.
TJ thought instead of giving Reed a lecture on his actions, maybe he should offer something he might find more valuable: a friendship. Even though TJ suspected his words might be falling on deaf ears, he decided to continue talking.
“I also didn’t realize that the whole incident took such a hard toll on you. I’m sorry about that. If you feel like talking to someone, you can talk to me. You, uh, have my number.”
Reed was surprised at the offer, but didn’t say anything. TJ turned and started to walk out of the alleyway when Reed spoke up.
“You blocked me. Remember?”
TJ turned around, slightly embarrassed. “Oh, right.” He then pulled out his phone and proceeded to unblock Reed’s number. “There we go. Now, you can talk to me.”
As TJ began to stroll away, Reed was left with a sense of confusion. He was torn between texting TJ and rekindling an old friendship or continuing his life the way it was. However, the heavy feeling of loneliness started to melt away within Reed, and that made him happier than stealing ever did.