#* v.

the rietvelds are in ketterdam for kaz’s eighth birthday, and on their way back to the hotel, they got into an accident on the road. to avoid the oncoming car  (driven by a distracted driver),  their father ended up swerving the car straight off a cliff and into the ocean, with the impact killing their father and jordie instantly.

kaz uses jordie’s corpse to keep himself afloat and attempt to swim to shore, and this is where his haphephobia stems from. he manages to swim to shore, but passes out instantly. the next morning, joggers find him and he is taken to the hospital.

unable to find any family in or out of ketterdam, kaz gets put into foster homes. he bounces from one home to the next, never able to stay in one place too long due to his personality and tendency to run away.

he starts going by kaz brekker when he’s nine years old. he hates the pitying looks people give him when they learn his real name, so he changes his name that’s taken from a piece of machinery he sees during one of the times he ran away.

kaz breaks his leg at eleven years old. it happens when he tries to escape from yet another foster home  —  a misplaced footing causes him to fall from the roof. though his leg healed and he doesn’t require a cane all the time, there are days where it still acts up and he requires it.

at twelve years old, kaz gets put up in an orphanage under the care of per haskell.

during his time at the orphanage, nicknamed the slat by everyone in ketterdam, kaz fell into the life of crime. he moved on from stealing candy from the store to stealing tourists’ wallets in a short amount of time. haskell took note of this, and because of kaz’s ability to evade capture, he took the young boy under his wing.

word spreads about kaz and his ability to steal just about anything, and he gets the nickname dirtyhands.

aside from the orphanage, haskell also runs the crow club, a prestigious club that accommodated the rich and dirty of ketterdam. because it was a sweet spot for the wealthy, kaz would often hang around and steal from club goers that were too drunk or high from their winnings to notice. he spends two years “working” at the club.

when he’s eighteen, he enrols into ketterdam university. he studies business, and has a lucrative side gig writing other students’ assignments for a hefty price. he also accumulates dirt on almost every student and teacher at the university, and uses this knowledge to his advantage.

after finishing university, kaz takes over ownership of the crow club.

notes:

kaz lives in an apartment in the university district. i headcanon that he rooms with jesper, but that can be discussed/changed (and also inej practically lives there too). 

he has four tattoos: a crow on his right forearm, a R (kerch) on his right bicep, an I (kerch) on his left wrist (hidden by his sleeve/watch), a sun on his left shoulder just above his heart.