The Universe Of Neal Caffrey

Neal Caffrey's Guide to Pickpocketing

Co-posted on Ao3 under the pseudonym 00qverlord. Contains James Bond and White Collar.

Before Kwynten Caffrey became Q, he was on the opposite side of the law. Kwyn had only heard the stories that Neal had told him. Neal was 2 when James Bennett was arrested and killed, and Kwyn hadn't even been born yet. Neal would tell Kwyn that his daddy was a hero, and he went down at gunpoint, taking a bunch of bad guys with him. But as Neal grew older, he dropped his dream of being a cop, and when Kwyn asked him to tell him about dad again, the sparkle in his eyes would become less and less prominent.

Their mother barely had enough to support the two boys. So Neal learned to take care of them himself. Kwyn was often left alone after coming home from school, and Neal got back after Kwyn had long finished his homework and was waiting for him at the library. He couldn't go back to the apartment, because only Neal and his mom had keys, and his mother worked long hours to support them, and she got home long after Kywnten had fallen asleep. He only saw her in the mornings when she was going out the door. She kissed both Kwyn and Neal on the head, and then went out the door with 2 bags and a cup of coffee. When Kwynten was 9 and Neal was 11, he started to be curious where his brother went every afternoon. Neal had fiercely protested that he come with, so Kwyn let the matter rest for a couple months. Then one day, on the walk home from the library, Neal told Kwynten that they weren't getting anything fancy for dinner tonight. Fancy, for them, consisted of Kraft dinner, and maybe cookies from the corner shop if they were lucky. This meant it would be a small bowl of Cheerios from the cupboard that were probably well past their expiry date, but they hadn't finished it yet, so they didn't recycle the box.
Kwynten replied, "Why can't we?"
Neal told him it wasn't something he wanted to talk about on the street. So Kwyn repeated the question when they arrived back at the apartment. They sat down, facing each other on the old flower-patterned sofa, and Neal wrung his hands. When he did that, Kwyn knew it was something serious and not to make jokes about things like he usually did.
So Neal explained. He explained what had really happened to their father, that he was a scoundrel, a cheat and a murderer. It didn't draw the same reaction out of Kwynten, so when he saw his brother start to tear up even just by talking talking about it, Kwyn didn't hesitate to launch himself at Neal and attach himself to Neal and squeeze until he felt his brother's hesitant hug in return. It was a couple more minutes before Neal could continue.
"So I pickpocket people so we can have Mac and Cheese, Kwyn-"
"What's pickpocket?"
"It means I take people's wallets and I use the money in them."
Kwyn was wide-eyed, "You take people's money? That's-"
"Illegal, I know," Neal looked at the shoddy carpet, not being able to meet Kwyn's eyes, "but it's necessary. Some people have too much money, and then there's people like us, who don't have enough money. Have you ever heard the story of Robin Hood?"
"Yeah, I read it at the library, there was a book club one afternoon and I wanted to see what it was about. They were my age, but I think I can read better than them. Are you like Robin Hood?"
"Yeah, that's what I'm like." Neal grinned at Kwyn and mussed up his messy black hair. Kwyn's next question made Neal freeze.
"Can I help? I like Robin Hood and if it means we can have more Mac and Cheese, I could help you!"
Neal voiced his displeasure, but Kwyn didn't want to be the only one who wasn't doing anything to help his family. That, Neal immediately stood up to. He told Kwyn that he was doing things for his family. He was studying, he was getting himself an education. Neal would never go to college, but Kwynten would. If it would be the last thing Neal would ever do, he would send his little brother to college.

The next day, it was almost the last thing he never did. His mother came home late at night, and woke up both boys, taking them out of bed, and telling them to pack up whatever they wanted, as long as it was in 10 minutes. They grabbed their backpacks, Neal dumped all his school books and started loading clothes, food and water, and he told Kwynten to pack anything personal. Neal handed him a ratty old black wallet, his first successful pickpocket, and Kwyn, still tired and confused, put it in the front pocket. He dumped out all his school books as well, but he loaded it with trinkets that the two had collected over the years: The Forever War by Joe Haldeman (Kwyn couldn't read it, but Neal read it to him sometimes), an old coin collection of odd coins, when Neal added anymore loose change he could find in between the cracks of the old place, and the crystal vial necklace from a shop a couple years ago. Kwyn put it on. Neal got it for him with the scraps of money they had. It wasn't expensive or authentic, but it $5 at the dollar store and Kwyn had been staring at it when they went into town. He filled up the rest of the space with his own clothes and as much water and food as he could find that was left and wasn't packed. Their mother came into the room and told them it was time to go. Neal grabbed his brother's hand and dragged him along. Their mom told Neal to leave his key on the table, and both of them did.