Chapter Text
His friends had once described him as a magpie. As someone who was drawn to everything that glittered and who didn't give the owner a chance to save their possessions.
He had laughed, told them it was silly of them to even think such a thing of him, but deep down he had known they were right. He had known that what they said were correct, that he was drawn to everything that glittered, but he hadn't wanted to admit it. Not when his profession required him to be secret about what he actually did.
His ordinary job had always been a cover, something that had been set up by the organisation he worked for to make him blend in and look normal. He hadn't wanted to stick out, and so to look as if he was nothing but an ordinary sales manager at a small company had worked perfectly for him. That way, whenever money rolled in from another robbery, it didn't look as if he was getting the money out of the blue.
In truth, Don could barely even remember how his criminal career had started. It had started with him taking things for fun, hiding them around his parents' house and watching them scramble for precious things, cursing him for making them late for appointments and meetings, but it had soon escalated. His interest in everything that glittered, everything which held some kind of value had grown, and he had started taking things for his own and selling them for some extra money.
It had been things found around his friends' houses, and things sneaked into a coat pocket in a store, but it had not been until he had stolen the wrong thing from the wrong person that he had properly been taken onto the criminal route. He had been a petty thief, but the people that had found him had made him into something much more than that.
–-
The flame of fire was nothing but a pinpoint in the dark alley, a small flicker in an otherwise dark world, and it was something no one noticed on the brightly lit streets outside. In the night, most avoided the darkness and stayed out of the alleyways, and that suited him perfectly. He needed somewhere to hide, where he could prepare himself before his next assignment and where no one would disturb him.
A drag was taken from his cigarette as he mentally went through the assignment ahead, making sure he had accounted for everything. Mistakes was something he couldn't afford, and so preparation was key, despite however dreary it could sometimes be. He couldn't risk losing his missions, just because he was apparently getting reckless.
Smoke slipped from his lips together with a short murmur of his instructions as he pushed himself away from the rough stone wall to start on his way, him well aware that he had a limited time to perform tonight's job. He was set to break into some rich man's house and steal jewels from a hidden case, and the family of the house would only be out for an hour or two, which meant that time was already running short.
It only took him a few minutes to reach the house he had been assigned, the large windows dark against the lights of the city behind it. He had almost expected there to be some kind of light on, something that would should even further what a large pay check the owner received each month, but there was nothing.
In a way, the nothingness was a relief to him. He had feared there would be lights that would create shadows, or a mistake in the timing, but as he quickly made his way up the short driveway and climbed the wide steps to the front door, it almost felt easy.
The lock was picked within seconds by used hands, and the cigarette he had previously smoked was extinguished and slipped back in the packet. He couldn't risk leaving any clues, not when he knew this mission would decide whether he would get to keep his position or not.
In all honesty, Don had no proper idea when things had started going wrong for him, because for months on end it had been going so well. He had been climbing the ranks, earning more and getting the more prestigious missions, and things had been looking up for him.
Then the other man had arrived and started to ruin everything he had built up.
It had been sudden, the other having seemingly appeared out of nowhere during one of his missions a few weeks back, and it had been an all but pleasant surprise. To find anyone whatsoever in a house that was supposed to be empty was always unpleasant.
He had thought it to be a onetime thing at that point, that he and a burglar had just happened to pick the same house to break in, and for that time he had tolerated it, because he hadn't wanted to make a fuss about it.
It was when it had happened again that things had started to annoy him. Especially seeing as the other found an amusement in trying to make him feel inadequate.
Shaking his head to clear it of his jumbled thoughts – and avoid the annoyance that always flared up when he thought of the man that he imagined almost to be a rival – he silently shut the door behind him, making sure to not make any loud noises. While the break in surely would be noticed when the owners came home, it was still important that he didn't cause any neighbours to suspect something was going on.
The large hallway, adorned with a large chandelier and framed paintings was quickly crossed, him already familiar with the layout of the house from the blueprints he had been shown together with the images of the jewels set to be stolen. It wasn't much, nothing more than a few necklaces and bracelets, but it was still valuable goods that was enclosed in a hidden safe.
Pausing in the doorway to a small – but extravagant – office, he allowed his eyes a moment to adjust to the gloom before he entered and started across the thickly carpeted floor. The fabric muffled his footsteps – something he was happy about – and with his focus on the wooden desk along the opposite wall, he didn't even realise that the room already had another in it. Until said person spoke.
“Well, well, well, fancy bumping into you here, nonsense...”