Title: The First Time
Fandom: White Collar
Rating: PG
Length: 300
Summary: Neal's story to Peter, retold.




The first time Neal tried lifting somebody's wallet, he was in the 7th grade.  He was called Danny then.

He hadn't planned it.  This girl, Emily, had a locker right next to his, and as they both stood by their lockers, he noticed her bag was open.  The money was right there for the picking.  Neal pretended to grab a book as he looked her over.  She seemed engrossed in something.

He slipped his hand in her bag, unnoticed.  His finger closed on her purse.

"What are you doing?"

Neal pulled his hand back and spun around.

He'd been caught.  So much for going unnoticed.  One of Emily's friends, Pam or something, had been watching him the whole time, right across the hall.

She now stomped over.  "I saw you!  You had your hand in Emily's bag!"

Emily was now looking at him too.  Examining her bag.  "Did he take something?  What were you doing, Danny?"

They were both attracting attention.  Kids passing by stopped to stare.

He smiled, a smile full of boyish charm, hoping to placate the two girls.  It didn't work that well.

"What were you doing, Danny?"

His instinctive response was to lie.  Claim that he hadn't done anything.

The denial was on the tip of his tongue.

Emily was looking at him.

Her eyes wide with anger, fear, betrayal.

His heart was beating wildly.

But then, his fingers, now stuck deep in his jeans pockets, closed on something, and a story started to form in his mind.  "I didn't take anything.  I wanted to put something in there," he said.

Her brow quirked in a question.  "You wanted to put something in my bag?"

"The first time Peter Pan met Wendy, she gave him a thimble instead of a kiss."  Neal took Emily's hand, and opened it, palm up.  He placed a small button in it.  "In return, he gave her a button."

Emily blushed.

Pam was still looking at him suspiciously, but he was off the hook, for now.

It was a rush he'd never forget.