Virgil climbed up the stairs to his bedroom while emptying his pockets. It was full of small trinkets that he "borrowed" from random people on the street today. Watches, earings, wallets... He took a mental note to mail the person's cards tomorrow morning. He likes to pick people's pocket but he knew too well how hard and stressfull it was to lose your identity card and stuffs like that. He carefully put everything on the many shelves he had in his room and open one of his desk's drawers to see how many pins he had left. Only about five of each, he will have to order more soon. The small cloud and lightning pins were a challenge his friend Remus dared him to do when he learned about Virgil's talent at pickpocketing. Remus always liked to bid or challenge Virgil to do stuffs. At first, Virgil hated that, but after a while he came to the conclusion that he was in fact much more talented than he thought in lots of things. He even wondered sometimes if Remus did this so Virgil could improve himself.
Virgil learned about pickpocketing in highschool during one of his many sleepless night. He would loose himself on the internet and one night, he watched a video explaining the basics of this trick. He watched this video over and over again until he was finally confident enough to try it on a person. He chose Janus, his cousin, and it worked perfectly well. And it was so funny to watch Janus run around the house, trying to find his motor scooter's keys. After an hour, Virgil even managed to put the keys back in his back pocket and asked him if he checking his back pocket ''Of course I did emo...'' but he never finished his sentence because he reached for his pocket and pulled out his keys. He was so mad that he left without telling anyone. After that, Virgil never stopped doing this little trick. He even got a bit too confident one day and tried to take something way too big in Remus's pocket and that is how his friend found out. Luckily for Virgil, Remus didn't get mad at him. He asked him so many questions about what he took from people and how he could do it. And if Virgil's memories were right, it wasn't too long after that that Remus dared him to put something else in the poor victim's pockets so people would know it was him. Virgil didn't really think he would become 'famous' for his little tricks, but turned out he did. There was this Facebook group about him, they even gave him a name ''The thunderstorm thief''. Virgil still can't believe that he actually like this silly name. He even joined the group only to find out that the person that created the group is his favorite target: Remus's brother, Roman.
When he told Remus about this, his friend couldn't help but laugh. Roman was always so dramatic. But Remus still belived in his brother. Remus would always bid with Virgil that this time Roman would notice that Virgil was taking something from him. That this time it would be like for Remus, he would feel something and turn around and catch Virgil in the act! But so far Roman never noticed anything and couldn't even get the clue Virgil commented it on one of Roman's post. Roman was complaining about the fact he was the one with the most pins. He even had the audacity to say that maybe it was because the thief had a crush on his. Virgil couldn't resist and commented 'Ooooor,maybe it's because you are an easy target?''Roman didn't like his comment at all and he didn't even try to be more careful! It was too easy to steal from him. Like today, he was so distracted that he keeped bumping into random people. 'It's going to be a piece of cake' Virgil thought. Virgil crossed the street and ran a bit to get ahead from Roman before crossing back again and walked in Roman's direction. Obviously, Roman bumped into him and he quickly took the big object that was sticking out of his pocket and dropped as mall cloud pin in ''Excuse me my dear stranger!'' Roman said with his arm over his heart, virgil simply nodded and walked away. This time, he almost thought Roman would notice... Almost. But like always, he didn't. Virgil can't help but to smile widely. Remus bid something bid this time and Virgil can't wait to shove it in Remus's face!
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After his day at work, Virgil was back home and was playing with the Ninja Turtles figure that he took from Roman. He was also scrolling through facebook without really looking until he saw Roman's post on the group. He said how sad he was that The thunderstorm thief stole Patton's gift for his birthday. Virgil read the comments to see that the figure was something really special to Patton and Roman didn't know if he could manage to find another one before tomorrow. Virgil shifted in his chair. He knew Patton, well not really but everyone in town knew about Patton. He was working at the local bakery and was always so nice to everyone. He stared at the toy in his hand for a few minutes until, finally, he sighed out lout and picked up his cellphone to call Remus ''HIIII!'' Remus blurted out way too loudly.
''I need your help. Did you see Roman's post on the group?''
''Of course I did and this is going to cost you a lot my friend!''
Virgil closed his eyes and sighed loudly "What do you want?'' He knew it was worthless to try to change Remus mind. Even for a good cause, Remus would always ask for something in return. Remus laughed on the other side of the call ''Oh you know what I want!''
''....Fine! But! I don't promise anything!'' But Remus were already screaming and laughing way to loudly to hear anything Virgil said.
The next day, Virgil and Remus were waiting for Roman near the bakery. Virgil had his arms crossed in front of him while Remus was teasing him about what this was going to cost him. Virgil finally spotted Roman and gestured to Remus to go. It was easy to put a small object in someone else's pocket, but the toy was kind of big and Virgil was really nervous about this. He needed a big distraction and he knew Remus would provide him what he needed. Remus bumped really hard agains't Roman and started laughing ''Good morning, Remus.'' Roman said in an annoyed voice.
''Hi brother!!!" Remus exclaimed while punching and teasing him like any good twin brothers would do. That is when Virgil sneaked behind the brothers and quickly put the Ninja Turtle back in Roman pocket. Virgil only had the time to take a few steps away from them when Roman finally broke free from Remus ''Where are you going, brother? Why are you so in a rush to walk away from your lovely brother? Roman! ROMAN!'' Remus shouted and when he knew Roman couldn't hear them anymore, he turned back to Virgil ''Did you do it?''
''I did.'' Remus jumped in place, knowing perfectly what that meant for him. Remus put his arm around Virgil's shoulders and whispered in his ear ''Oh I can't wait to finally really meet your cousin, Virge!''
Virgil pushed him off him and walked away without saying a word. The only thought of Remus and his cousin Janus together made him sick. They would make a way too good team to make Virgil's life a nightmare. So he can't help but to step in the bakery to see if it was all worth it. And when he saw Patton jumping over the counter and hugging Roman, he knew it was. Virgil walked out of the bakery without buying anything, Roman and Patton were having a good time and he didn't want to interupt them. Once he was back on the street, he pulled out his hood over his head for everyone to see the small lighthing cloud on the side of it.
Maybe one day someone will notice the cloud on his hood and finally make connection between him and The thunderstrom thief. But until then, Virgil will keep doing his little tricks and handing small pins to his victims.