Chapter Text
It was a rainy, rather boringly grey day in London. It was that kind of day when you’d stay inside and watch a movie while sipping a cup of tea or spend some bonding time with your family and friends. But for Dan Howell, these kind of days didn’t give anything but trouble. He was a thief, a pickpocket, and rainy days tended to make people stay home rather than go out shopping or for a walk, which meant less people to get money from. Stealing was also a whole lot harder when there was not a big crowd to hide in, so Dan had given up pretty early when the first drops of water had landed on his nose. Then he had wandered around the city aimlessly for mere fifteen minutes, but when the rain started to pour down he had quickly gotten in the nearest cafe he saw. That’s how he ended up in a super expensive place which regulars probably were mostly rich, posh people and nothing like Dan himself.
Dan was trying to be as smooth as he could, though. He ordered the cheapest thing possible, which turned out to be a small glass of water that costed five pounds. Even though it hurt his heart and wallet, he paid for the water, shrugging off the funny looks the waiter was giving him and went to sit down, avoiding looking suspicious. People like him didn’t go to places like this one, and he already looked like a beggar compared to all the businessmen in their suits when he was wearing an old dark hoodie and black skinny jeans that were ripped at the knees, so he didn’t want to draw any more attention to himself than he already was.
The cafe had creamy white walls and dark, glossy floors, completed with white lamps that had a bit of dark brown in them. The tables and chairs were modern-styled, probably from one of the top designers in the world, and they sure looked expensive. Dan sighed as he let his gaze wander around the place, and took a small sip from his ridiculously expensive glass of water, soon pulling his phone out. Being in a place like this made him feel a bit uneasy, because only the lamps alone probably costed more money than he had ever owned in his entire life. He was lucky to even have a phone, according to his financial situation. It had taken him nearly two years to save up the money for the iPhone he wanted, and it was undoubtedly the most valuable item he owned and he was very thankful to have it.
Dan tried to kill time playing games on his phone as he waited for the rain to stop. When he had sat in the cafe for half an hour he was starting to get a bit restless, and the waiters were giving him odd looks because he had finished his water ages ago. He put his phone back in his pocket and threw another glance around the place. He was still lacking a lot of money for today, and it wasn’t like he was able to pickpocket someone outside. Maybe he could steal something from the rich people here who were enjoying their afternoon tea in peace? There was an old couple sitting in the booth next to the window, a busy looking lady who was speaking to his phone and typing on her laptop and a group of important looking businessmen who were talking quietly, and a few others who didn’t intrigue Dan that much.
Dan pondered his options. He could grab the old woman's purse, or maybe sneak the lady’s wallet from her laptop bag, and then there were the businessmen. There were three of them at the moment, but Dan swore there had been four people when he came. He shrugged it off, and focused on finding something worth stealing. The guys had laptops, but they were currently using them, and they seemed to take a good care of their other belongings as well. Except, wait a minute. Someone had left their briefcase on the floor, leaning against the leg of one of the chairs. It was probably the fourth man’s property, who was now nowhere to be seen, Dan figured and bit his lip, thinking. He could easily snatch that from there if he walked past them, but he had to make sure he wouldn’t get caught later on. He quickly checked the locations of the security cameras, which were mainly pointing at the door and the cash register. Good. The fourth guy was still missing, and the other three were so wrapped in their conversation that they wouldn’t even notice if the world was ending around them. Dan smiled to himself. This was almost too easy for him. He didn’t let his hopes get too high, though. There was probably nothing too important in the briefcase, as it was practically abandoned on the floor, but Dan hoped that there were at least a few quids in there.
Dan rose from his chair, leaving the empty glass of water on the table, and started slowly approach the table where the men sat. He kept an eye on his surroundings the whole time, but made a good job at keeping up his ‘just a bypasser’-act. At least there was one thing he was good at, due to a lot of practise. The thought made him smirk, which he quickly wiped off his face as he passed the men’s table and smoothly picked up the briefcase from the floor, covering it a little with his body as he continued walking. Soon he was out of the cafe, and he finally let himself breathe out properly. At least he got something today.
He made his way through the rain to the less wealthy parts of the city where his shared apartment was. He and his roommate Jimmy had a one-room apartment, where they both lived just fine even though the lack of space made it a bit difficult sometimes. It was better than living in the streets like they used to when they were younger, and alone they definitely couldn't afford an apartment, so it didn’t matter that much. Their landlord was a creepy guy himself, and didn’t care what kind of people he rented his apartments to as long as they paid their rent somehow, so that wasn’t a problem for them. And if it was, Dan and Jimmy would still find a solution to keep their apartment, it just would include some illegal things and street gangs. Nevertheless, they had a place to stay so everything was fine.
“Nice weather out there”, Jimmy commented when Dan stumbled through their apartment door, soaking wet at this point. Jimmy was lying on his bed and counting what seemed like coins, flashing a grin in Dan’s direction. Huffling, Dan just rolled his eyes and stripped out of his damp hoodie, throwing it on his friend who let out a sound of protest. Then he walked to his bed and laid the briefcase on it carefully.
“Whatcha got there?” Jimmy called out as he took the wet hoodie off himself and threw it on the floor and watched from his bed as Dan struggled with opening the thing.
“I took some businessman’s briefcase”, Dan explained as he rummaged through it when he had got it opened, “ I wonder if there’s any money in here.”
He kept examining the briefcase, which seemed to contain a lot of papers that said nothing to him, and he tossed them aside without a much of thought. Finally, when he had gone through the whole briefcase, he found three £20 notes from between the papers. “A-ha!” he exclaimed and showed the bills to Jimmy, who nodded approvingly.
“Seems like we’ll manage for a few more days”, he said with a smile, which Dan returned.
“Did you got anything today?” Dan asked from his friend, who shrugged.
“Not really, barely two pounds or so from the parking machines”, he said and shook his head. “People didn’t exactly like going out today.”
Dan had to agree.
Later that night Dan was on his phone and Jimmy was reading a book in the light of their only lamp they had found in a recycle bin and fixed. Dan, as usual, was scrolling and trying to distract himself from the guilt that was gnawing him from the inside every single night when he got to think how bad human being he was. He felt even worse now, because he usually stole only what he needed desperately, but now he had stolen some papers he really had no use for, and they looked like they could be important to people who understood something about them. Dan sighed, and turned to look at his reading friend.
“Jim, I think I’ll try to find the owner of the briefcase and give it back to him if i do”, he told his thoughts out loud and Jimmy looked at him, a knowing look on his face.
“Dan, are you feeling bad about it again?” he asked, and sighed when the only response he got was a nod. “You know, it’s life. Ours tends to be pretty crap, but we try to make the most of it”, he said gently, and watched as Dan’s emotions changed from guilty to puzzled and back.
“It’s a bit weird that you’re still feeling like that after all these years”, Jimmy noted with a little laugh, but Dan didn’t laugh along, he just groaned.
“Not funny! I feel like I’m a terrible human being! Which I am, but, well, you know how I feel”, Dan mumbled and buried his face in his hands. Jimmy shook his head fondly, and stood up from his bed, putting his book away and went to sit down next to Dan.
“I do know how you feel”, he started gently, wrapping his arm around Dan’s shoulders. He sure knew, because this wasn’t the first breakdown Dan’s had over the years, and probably wasn’t going to be the last one either. Hell, even he himself felt like that sometimes. “But you should know that we won’t do for long with those few pounds we got, so I think you should consider showing the papers to Theodore”, he continued.
Theodore was the leader of the ‘gang’, a group of criminals that ruled the streets around here, and what Dan and Jimmy occasionally helped and did some tasks for.
“If he finds them interesting, maybe he’ll pay us something”, Jimmy suggested and Dan nodded slowly, “but if even he isn’t interested, feel free to find the guy who you stole this from, I’m not stopping you even though it sounds like a stupid idea.”
Dan nodded again and smiled weakly. “I’ll do that”, he whispered to Jimmy, who smiled reassuringly. “Thanks for cheering me up again”, he continued, sounding a bit ashamed of himself.
Jimmy just laughed and stood up again, gently pushing Dan to lay down and then throwing his old, a bit dusty duvet over him.
“Try to sleep now, okay?” he smiled and Dan nodded, chuckling quietly.
“You too.”