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mariamermaid · 4 years

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The witches wrath (1/3)

Tommy Shelby X fem witch reader

Summary: You meet Thomas when you were just a little girl travelling as a gypsy…

Words: 2.3k

Warnings: swearing, drinking, smoking

A/N: This doesn´t follow the plot of the show really

Halloween Masterlist

You´ve met Thomas Shelby when you we´re eight- he was ten at the time- when his parents took him, Arthur and Baby John to the first Gypsy party ever. You stayed out of town from Birmingham with your trailers, back then you were a large group of gypsies, almost 50 people. People back then weren´t too bothered by you, not like today. Of course, from time to time there were some numbskulls who bore hatred towards the gypsies, but things were different back then.

They used to shout my name, now they whisper it.

He remembered the exact moment he saw you for the very first time like it was yesterday. He and Arthur had his first beer- he chuckled thinking back when today only whisky made him feel that way- and he sat by the fire. The cold night didn´t seem to bother any of the people, women danced in short skirts with tinkling jewelry and when his eyes glided through the crowd, he spotted you. You stood across him and he saw you through the flames- how ironic he thought. He saw you in flames for the first and for the last time…

You grinned at him devilish, waking a sense of adventures inside him like only you could do. He immediately followed you and watched you running through the rows of trailers. Then you disappeared, but he caught sight of a single candle shining from a trailer. Carefully he took the few stairs and then opened the door. A wave of heat hit him and he remembered the smoke from the build-in ovens rising above the small colony of gypsies. He remembered you sitting at the table, watching every move he made precisely, your hands softly grabbing the crystal ball, which mysteriously glowed purple.

“Do you want me to read your future?” He was unsure what to say, nervously he nodded and sat down across from you. You wore a headband with jewelry that hung over your forehead. Even back then there was smudged eye makeup that made your eyes shine in the dark.

“I see great fortune in your future, Thomas Shelby.” He opened his mouth, wanting to ask you about his name, but then kept quiet. Chills ran over his skin. “But it´ll be hard to get there, a long way is ahead of you. Don´t forget to seek your family in difficult times, they will always stand behind you supporting.”

For a long time, you two were inseparably, constantly hanging around each other. His family, especially his brothers were first unsure about you, but they quickly learned to mess with you. Even Aida found a liking in you, since you often braided her hair. His father loved you. He loved the wild spirit gypsies had, just like you. He loved it because when he, Tommy and you took the horses out for a run, you didn´t need a side saddle. And when the horse went faster and faster, you stretched out your arms, embracing the wind. Smelling the scent after rain had fallen. Closing your eyes and feeling sincere freedom. They admired that about you, Tommy and his father. “Get a hold of her, Tommy, ey? You gotta keep a girl like her!” He often told his son and Tommy would dutifully nod. Tommy admired your sense for adventures, he couldn´t even remember how often you had gotten him in trouble. But he remembered that every damn time, you had found a way out. Every single time. He still didn´t know how you had talked him in to stealing a horse, or when a new mayor was elected you had exchanged the pig with a dead dog. On his birthday the school was unexpectedly cancelled. You had dressed Aida´s cat in doll´s cloth when little John didn´t stop crying. You had wandered with him for two days straight to find a crystal for his mother´s birthday present. His dad had taught you how to shoot and while you were a natural, Tommy needed a lot of practice. But not once you laughed about him. Not when you came to his house and Arthur had stolen his clothes. Not when he cried because an older boy had punched him. You punched back, because you always had his back. You were partners in crime.

But then the gypsies left town and so did you. It broke his father´s heart to see his son like this. Tommy didn´t eat for days. And every night you laid awake in your bed, wondering about young Thomas Shelby. Praying that one day you could go back to him. And you did, but the circumstances weren´t as you expected them.

In a blood moon night, men had overrun the colony, they killed almost all men and they had taken the women, often raping them. You had to run away, knowing that if you looked back, there would be nothing left but ashes. And so, you returned to Birmingham. As a broken young woman with no qualification for a job. All your hope laid on Thomas Shelby…

Your hands were shaking when your finger finally grabbed the bell to ring. It sounded off key, emptier and not how you remembered. A young boy opened the door, first tears formed in your eyes. “John.” You sighed. The young boy didn´t recognize you. “Yes?” He asked boldly. You chuckled. “Is Tommy here?” He nodded unsure and you followed him into the house. The smell of smoke laid thick in the air. You followed John to the kitchen and there sat they all. At the end of the table Tommy´s father, to his left Arthur, Thomas on his right. A young man with an angular face and piercing blue eyes. Aida sat on Arthur´s side and Polly ran around the kitchen. His father was just explaining something to him, when he realized a new person entering the room. Aida´s and Arthur´s fight also broke off and all of them suddenly stared at you. You had changed a lot over the years. You still had long hair, but it was now hidden under a scarf. Your face was denoted by a scar just above your eyes. It was also the eyes Tommy recognized. You had grown to a beautiful young woman and the minute his father saw you, his hope for Tommy to marry you, came back. But there was no smile on your red lips. “Y/n?” He asked confused. You couldn´t hide the pain behind your eyes. “Hello Thomas.” He still could read you. He knew you didn´t want them to see you cry. Immediately he jumped off his chair and a hand laid on your back while he pushed you in his room. You broke down in tears and he sat down next to you, his arms embracing you. He had missed you; it was undeniable. But over the years he had gotten used to it, used to being without you. But now you were back and he felt a missing piece coming back. “What happened?” He asked quietly. “They´re all gone.” You sobbed while inhaling his scent so deeply, hoping you would forget the horrifying pictures in your head. “We were close to the border to Scotland when more people started to riot against us. One night, men came and the killed our men and they took the women.” He pulled away, his hands grabbing your face. A sudden wave hit his body, his stomach had this tightening feeling, that he couldn´t quite get a grip on. “Did they hurt you?” You shook your head. “I was able to flee.” He nodded and embraced you again. “I don´t know what to do. I have nothing left.” You then finally admitted after a long break of silence. “You have me.”

He was right, he still had your back and you were endlessly thankful. Within a few months you were able to open a shop with healing herbs and medicine. And with the help of the Peaky Blinders, people more and more accepted you. You often helped rather poor workers who couldn´t afford a real doctor. And the shop filled you with hope. Hope for a new beginning.

It must have been three months after you moved to Birmingham, you just closed the shop for today. The night was already settling in, giving you cold shivers. You locked the door and packed the key away. When turning a man suddenly appeared. Surprised you recognized Tommy. “Geez Tommy! You scared me to death!” He chuckled lowly, a cigarette hanging loosely from the corner of his mouth. You could see the smoke in the soft shine of a lantern evaporating in the night sky. You smelled the bitter scent of whisky, he had been drinking. “What is it, Tom?” You asked while starting to walk. Your small flat was twenty minutes away from the shop and the walks often helped you clear your mind. And since you had moved there was one particular thing that was very often on your mind. Thomas Shelby himself. Of course, you had realized the man he had become and you admired him. He was brave, courageous and smart, sometimes bold but always reading the situations right. But not only his traits, but physical as well. His strong jawline, his bewitching blue eyes, his full lips. You both had grown up and you cursed at yourself every time your thoughts slipped. He was your best friend. “Can I walk you home?” You laughed. “I don´t know, can you?” You grinned when he hearing his drunken accent. He loved your laugh. It was one of the few things that still seemed carefree about you. You tucked your arm into his and together you walked to your flat. For more than half of the time you were silent. It drove you crazy not knowing what exactly was on his mind. Drunk Tommy was fairly new for you. He was unpredictable, especially when he had too much. But you liked his rebellious side, you found it remarkable attractive. You were only a few minutes from your home away when he finally spoke up. “Y/n?” “Hm?” You hummed in response, acting like you hadn´t waited the past minutes for him to speak up about what he wanted. “You know dad always hoped that we´d marry.” You huffed. “I know.” “Do you know I hoped so as well?” You stopped, looking up to his steel blue eyes. “What do you mean, Thomas?” And then, without a warning he leaned down and pressed his lips sloppily on yours. He wished he hadn´t been that drunk, that the first kiss wouldn´t be so messy. You pulled back, the action took you by surprise and stumbled a few steps back. He could´ve slapped himself. Good job, you fucked it up! “I´m sorry Y/n, I don´t know what has gotten into me.” You tried to calm down your breathing and after a few second you were able to look back into his eyes. “Maybe you should sleep off the whisky.” You suggested and he chuckled sadly. “You´re right.” He was hurt and for once, he couldn´t show it to you. You had pulled back, you didn´t want him. And the worst part? He was relieved! He hated when he drifted off in the middle of a meeting just because he suddenly thought about you. He hated it because he was afraid. Damn right, Thomas Shelby was afraid. Afraid to lose his best friend.

He turned to leave, but suddenly you grabbed his arm. “Maybe… Maybe you shouldn´t go back on your own. You´re not in the best condition.” You admitted and smiled at him devilishly. Oh, how he had missed that smile. And then you pressed your lips against his. First, he didn´t respond, but when finally realizing that you were actually kissing him back, his hands cupped your face and pulled you closer. He literally pulled you off your feet and carried you to your flat. (You still don´t know how he did that.) But when arriving at the front door of your house he already pushed you against the doorframe, his kisses getting more passionate and less sloppy. While his kisses even travelled down your neck you fiddled the key into the keyhole and opened the door. You walked up the stairs, there was no light in the house. Under you lived an elderly woman who went to bed early. She seemed nice but if you were honest, you didn´t talk much with her. One hand laid on the railing while the other hand pulled Tommy up behind you. He didn´t know the house like you did, but he trusted you and followed you through the dark. When you finally entered your flat and you turned on a small candle, he could finally see your face again.

“Do you know how often I had thought about kissing you?” He admitted and you watched the flame reflect in his orbs. “Why didn´t you do it?” He swallowed and pushed a strand of your hair, his finger travelling down the side of your face to your neck. “I was afraid”, he admitted. You smiled softly, grabbing his face with both of your hands. “Thomas Shelby, whatever happens, I will always be there for you, no matter what. I promise.”

“I´ll come back, I promise.” Thomas nodded, his head leaning against yours. Tears had dried against your cheek, it didn´t help anymore. War had settled between humanity and desire for power and men were called to fight. “Tommy, we gotta go”, his father stepped to the two of you. To his right Arthur, fear and pain in his eyes. Neither of them wanted to go. “Bring him back to me, will you?” You asked and he nodded, his eyes travelling to the ground. Tommy´s hands were still grabbing your waist, but you felt the cold when he left your starving touch. A last time, he pressed his lips on yours. “I love you, Y/N.” A sob escaped your lips again. “And I love you, Thomas Shelby and if you don´t come back, I´ll come and get you myself.”

#tommy shelby imagine #tommy shelby x reader #thomas shelby #thomas shelby imagine #cilian murphy #peaky blinders #peaky blinders imagine #mariamermaidimagine

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hadtochangemyurlquick · 3 years

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here’s 5.7k of the unsinkable 8 during the zombie apocalypse. good for fans of leatin and goodfoe. it’s super unedited and i’m mainly just posting it for fun cause i finished it today. some references to world war z the book for fun, and i used the zombies from that too.

A flash of blonde and Dot’s gun went up, pointed directly at the head of whatever made their way toward her. She had two bullets left, six cigarettes, and the last mini of hard liquor she raided from the motel back in Aquilla.

She’d have to get it in one shot, which would be hard sitting down, with her back to it, half delirious.

She grunted as she pulled herself around, her leg still out in the makeshift splint. The zed crept closer, not going at the usual hobbling pace. It definitely had caught her scent though, maybe it was down a few limbs already.

She cocked her gun, flicking off the safety, keeping her finger off the trigger. She’d wait until she could see the whites of its eyes. Get it in one shot.

The blonde head crept closer and she finally tucked her gun over the rocks, making eye contact with it for the first time.

“Shelby Goodkind?”

“Dot Campbell?”

Shelby stared at her, lowering her own gun and Dot let out a breath of relief.

“Dottie, oh my god, I thought you were one of ‘em.” She put away her gun, Dot doing the same and she ran over. “It’s so good to see ya, what’s wrong?” She looked at the leg, her face paling.

“Ankles broken,” Dottie muttered. “Was gonna treat myself to one last drink,” she gestured at the bottle.

“Oh lord,” Shelby said. “Well that’s no good, I got a place not to far from here I’ve been camping out in. Some first aid stuff too.”

“I can’t give you anything back for it,” Dot said.

“We both know two people are more likely to make it,” Shelby said.

She looked sunburned and hollowed out, a little hungrier than the last time Dot saw her, headed with her family to that military base. She was alone, and desperate, everyone was. Because here was how it went in Texas. You could trust a stranger as far as you could throw ‘em, but you needed people to live. So if you had people, you lived. And Dot was people, or as close to people as Shelby was willing to get. She musta lost a lot to lower her standards so far.

“Alright,” Dot said. “We’re gonna have to go slow and you’re gonna have to carry a lot of shit.”

“No problem,” Shelby beamed.

Back at the camp, an old rusting trailer with some battery Shelby told her she was saving for a rainy day, Shelby re-splinted her, fed and watered her, and they pooled their resources. Twenty-six cigs now, which might get ‘em a few hours in a safe car north, if they wanted it. Or it might get ‘em some food, or a get out of jail free card, depending on the hunger of the people hunting ‘em.

It was late at night when Dot realized she hadn’t even asked yet.

“Family’s gone then?”

“Yeah,” Shelby said. “You?”

“My dad died before this shit show,” Dot said.

“Lucky,” Shelby said. She took a swig from the mini, and passed it over to Dot. “What’s your plan?”

“I heard there was a safer spot near San Antonio,” Dot said. “Running water and shit.”

Shelby shook her head, “Gone, three weeks ago. Heard it on the radio.”

Dot nodded, “What about you?”

“Radio said Hawaii’s better,” Shelby said. “There’s an operation ferrying people there on the west coast. It’s a thousand cigs per person. But there’s work by the dock if you’re willing to do it.”

“Work for you?” Dot asked.

Shelby’s jaw tightened, “I’ll do what I have to do. Lord forgive me.”

Dot sighed, “Sounds like we go west then.”

They hung around in the trailer for three days, pushing the limits of what was safe, and stumbled on to a new place in the area at daybreak on the fourth day. Dot’s ankle wasn’t broken, with the inflatable cast Shelby had in a week or so she’d be something regarding useful, and as long as she didn’t push herself she’d be more than fine.

Spending time with Shelby Goodkind was another story. For one thing, despite the zombie apocalypse, complete destruction of their lives and modern society, the death of her family and everyone in their town, Shelby was still good and kind. She’d clutch at the cross around her neck every time they’d pass a body, and would never touch one, even the ones that were recent and obviously not stripped clean. It made Dot kinda mad, she found five cigs just walking, and she wondered how many Shelby passed off being squeamish.

But Shelby also wasn’t squeamish, wasn’t afraid to take down a zed with a kitchen knife, and with that same hand wipe the gore off Dot all gentle. She called her Dottie, gave her the last blanket, and always volunteered for the first shift so Dot could watch the sunrise. Dot hadn’t been cared for in a long while, hadn’t been around people in even longer. She decided she might love it.

But Shelby was a magnet, always had been, she talked about god’s light long enough that she got Dot believing it all fell on her. It wasn’t a real surprise when she showed up with a stray.

“What the fuck,” Dot said. “Did you kidnap a child?”

“I did not kidnap a child,” Shelby said, picking the girl up with some difficulty and lifting her onto the backseat of the broken down minivan they were holed up in.

“I sent you out to get sunscreen,” Dot said. “How did you come back with a child?”

“She’s our age,” Shelby said. “I think. And listen, I found her barricaded in a utility closet with a bad fever, I knew we had some tablets but I didn’t wanna leave her.”

“Like bite fever?” Dot asked. “We don’t have enough bullets to—”

“No,” Shelby shook her head, “Look,” she gently unwrapped a bandage around the girl’s arm, revealing a bad slice. “It’s infected. Not a bite. We’re okay.”

Dot sighed and nodded. The girl’d probably try and rob ‘em blind but if they watched her hands and got away fast enough they should be fine. They’d be fine.

“You’re more trouble than you’re worth,” Dot muttered. Shelby smiled, all sweet and gentle and bright and Dot rolled her eyes.

The girl took the tablets, they washed and changed the bandages, after about fourteen hours she blinked awake, unfortunately while Dot was on watch.

“Who—who are you?”

“Dot Campbell,” she said.

The girl stared at her.

“My friend saved your ass,” Dot said. “Shelby.”

“Um,” the girl inched back, “Why? Where am I?”

“We’re on the twenty-two, not from from the ten-eighty,” Dot told her. “You got a nasty infection there, got any cigs?”

“No, I don’t smoke.”

Dot blinked at her. “Alright then.”

“My friends will be looking for me,” the girl said. “I should get back to them.” She didn’t have an accent, Dot realized, not even a thin one like her own.

“Shelby found you around Mr. K’s, we can draw you a map if you’d like,” Dot said. “Where you from?”

“Austin,” the girl lied, badly.

“Alright then,” Dot said again. “Well we’ll draw you a map in the mornin and you can leave a day break. It ain’t far.”

“Thank you,” the girl said. “For helping me.”

“Shelby’s idea,” Dot said. Neither of ‘em slept the whole time, the girl smart enough to keep an eye out, and Dot’s whole job to watch out. She woke Shelby up when she was supposed to and easily muddled into a slumber.

A nice thing, about the zombie apocalypse, was Dot had gotten a lot better at sleeping. She used to stay up for hours thinking ‘bout how she’d pay the bills, how much her dad’s meds cost, whether he was coughing more that night than he did most nights, but now she hit whatever soft looking rock she decided to call a pillow and conked out until Shelby woke her. Shelby, on the other hand, barely slept a wink, shooting up at the slightest sign of trouble, even when Dot was on watch. Too much time on her own, Dot’d guess.

Before Shelby Mateo wandered with Dot. He was quiet and sweet and she had took care of him as best she could. Shelby didn’t have nobody before Dot. Just her dead parents, and if Dot remembered eighth grade soccer well enough, a couple of dead siblings too.

So Dot pretty much conked out and missed the way the girl and Shelby giggled all night. But even she wasn’t blind to their bond when she woke, the way the girls smiled easily at one another, laughed with each other, kept up with each other.

“Dottie,” Shelby said. “Martha,” so that was the stranger’s name “said you told her we could draw her a map but Mr. K’s ain’t far, we might as well take her.”

Dot grunted, she didn’t wanna waste a day but it wasn’t like Mr. K’s would take all day and they might as well see if they could find any more cigs. She hadn’t met any non-smokers in a long while. Apocalypse sorta took the fun out of being straight-edge, if Dot had to guess.

Dot took the back, a metal bat out and ready, and Shelby and Martha took the front. Shelby had a makeshift spear made, good for longer range, but worse up close, and she gave Martha the other bat they had. To borrow, Dot had emphasized.

One of the other things that never got old about the apocalypse, was walking up a highway. Walking straight up that middle line, knowing no one would dare drive a car ‘round there. It felt like the world was yours and empty, like you were finding it, rebuilding it, building it. It was as close to a cowboy as she had felt since her daddy let her ride on his back. It was as close to free as she had ever felt.

They got back to Mr. K’s and Dot saw the approaching figures first, aiming her rifle right at ‘em, safety off and gun cocked, but her finger off the trigger. It was Shelby’s hunting rifle, actually, but she had handed it to Dot first chance she had, looking kinda pale. She had Dot’s old handgun now, useless with this kinda range.

“Live ones?” Shelby asked.

“Can’t tell,” Dot said. “Just kinda standing there.”

“They could be waiting for me,” Martha said. Dot glanced at her, hoping the girl wasn’t actually as naive as she seemed. She probably was.

They walked as close as they dared, before Martha was able to confirm that yes it was her friends.

She ran at ‘em and one of ‘em collided with her, slamming her into a hug. There were two more, just kinda watching Dot and Shelby.

“We should go,” Dot said. “We did what we said.”

“Dottie,” Shelby said.

Dot sighed and the two of ‘em trudged up to the happy pair, reuniting like they had been separated for years, decades, instead of a few hours. It was a miracle they were reunited at all, Mateo said he’d meet her back at the camp in an hour and she had to bash his head in six months later with a sledge hammer.

“Who’re your friends, Martha?” One of the other people asked. It was four girls counting Martha, lucky, none of ‘em white, but they all looked around the same age as Dot and Shelby.

“This is Shelby,” Martha grinned, “And Dot.”

Dot nodded at them.

“I am just so pleased to make your acquaintance,” Shelby smiled, holding out her hand to the girl who still had an arm wrapped around Martha.

“This is Toni,” Martha said, squeezing the girl’s side when she didn’t take Shelby’s hand. “And Rachel and Nora.”

“Ah,” Shelby smiled, “Toni your sister right?”

Martha nodded, Toni glared. “Yeah it’s great to meet you or whatever. There a reason you kidnapped Martha?”

“I saw her passed out and worried she was alone,” Shelby explained. “I knew we had some tablets back at the camp but—”

“What do you want?” Rachel asked. “We got about six hundred if that’s—” Martha from Austin, Dot’s ass. Money hadn’t meant shit in Texas for awhile. These kids were from up north, probably pretty far up north too. Maine or some shit. Delaware.

“Got any cigs?” Dot asked.

“Yes,” Nora said. “We have a couple packs.”

“Great,” Dot held out her hands and two packs were dropped into them. Nora didn’t make eye contact the entire time, her hands fidgeting with anything. She was covered in scabs and scars, picking at her own skin probably.

“Where y’all headed?” Shelby asked.

“None of your business,” Toni said.

“Apparently the San Antonio Zone relocated to Tyler,” Martha said. “We heard some people talking about it last week.”

“Y’all got a radio?” Dot asked.

Martha shook her head.

“If you had one you’d know that that’s what they’re pulling now, telling people to go to Tyler, they shoot you as soon as you step foot in Athens.”

“So where are you guys headed?” Rachel demanded.

“West,” Shelby said. “Radio says they’re ferrying clean folks to Hawaii. It’s an island so.”

“Clean how?” Rachel asked, taking a step forward and lifting her jaw.

Dot sighed.

Shelby’s eyes widened, “Clean as in not infected, I mean.”

“Chill,” Rachel smiled, all thin, “I was kidding.”

“Great,” Dot said. “Not that this hasn’t been fun, but we should be going.”

“Wait,” Martha said. “It’s just, we might as well go west too. And we might as well go west together.”

“Marty,” Toni grabbed her by her uninjured arm, “I wanna talk to you for a moment.”

They got into a whispered argument for a few minutes. Rachel joined and it escalated but Martha came out on top, smiling as she approached them.

“We might as well go together,” she repeated.

Shelby’s smile was just as wide, “We would be alighted to have you.”

The new girls were a nightmare. Rachel and Nora, sisters as Dot would learn, hated one another. And by hated Dot meant, had a complicated relationship of love without trust or mutual respect. Nora didn’t trust Rachel, Rachel didn’t respect Nora, and they were constantly going at one another. Toni had some sorta toxic jealousy thing going on, despising Shelby because she was monopolizing Martha. She also tended to fly into these rages, making her wander off for long periods that had Dot itching to grab her gun and demanding the girl strip to check for bites. Mateo’s dad used to do the same thing, wander off to check his bite.

Shelby also was wholly focused on two things now: Martha, and Toni’s hate. Dot ambled along behind all of ‘em, keeping the sisters from killing each other, Toni’s voice down, and everyone else alive.

The worst part was it took Dot nearly three days before she caught sight of it.

“You have one hand,” Dot glared at Rachel. Rachel slung the pack over her shoulder.

“You’re just noticing that now?” Rachel asked. “I must be getting better with it.”

“The fuck happened?” Dot said.

“My hand got bit,” Rachel shrugged. “Cut it off before it spread, didn’t even know it would work.”

Dot whistled, low and quiet, like they were all used to being.

“I cut it off,” Nora corrected, sullenly.

Rachel rolled her eyes.

“I’m still quicker on the draw than you,” Rachel said, the words clunky in her mouth.

Dot set her jaw, “So y’all are sticking with the story that you’re from Austin?”

“We’re from New York,” Nora said. Rachel glared at her. “What? You think some group would waste three days on four teenage girls?”

“New York?” Dot asked. “Everyone knows it’s safer up north, why the hell are you down here?”

“You hear about Yonkers?” Rachel asked.

Dot shook her head.

“It was the last op the US military set up before they fell apart. We’d made it out by then but we watched it happen on the news. Someone in a group we had still had a phone and the whole thing was live streamed. All of the death. The group were supposed to go to some military bases up in Canada but we wanted a wide open space with plenty of guns.”

“Texas,” Dot said.

Rachel nodded.

“Stupid,” Dot told her. “You probably came for San Antonio too.”

Rachel sighed, “Nobody was gonna survive those Canadian winters without a base, and we weren’t sure we were gonna get one. Rather get bit than freeze.”

“How’d you meet Toni and Martha?” Dot asked.

“Toni and I got into a fistfight over some Takis,” Rachel said.

Dot nodded, “Fuego?”

“Fuego.”

And yeah they were a nightmare but quicker than Dot wanted they became her nightmare. Still though, she dragged Shelby away from Martha and Toni’s sides, and muttered, “we can still go. Ditch if you want. Whenever. We don’t know ‘em.”

Shelby, in high school, woulda been scandalized, muttered some bible passage at her. This Shelby was a little more grown and only looked at her all serious.

“You knew what I was when you picked me up,” she said. “And I knew what Martha was. We’ll face our consequences, I reckon.”

Dot nodded.

Walking all day, everyday, wasn’t easy stuff. Especially since they had to strip as many bodies as they could find. Nora figured it out pretty quick, mumbling something to Rachel who recruited Toni to storm over to Dot.

“You don’t smoke them, but you’re hoarding them,” Rachel said. “Why?”

Dot kept her easy pace. “These things are currency now, the value’ll only go up over time.”

“Currency for what?” Toni asked. “What are you trying to buy?”

“You think a ferry to Hawaii is free?” Dot asked. “I’m saving for all of us.”

“Dottie,” Shelby walked over, Martha sticking by Nora, “What’s up?”

“How much?” Toni asked. “Really, how much?”

“A hundred each,” Dot said, too quickly.

“Try again,” Rachel said.

“Dot,” Shelby got between them, looking at Dot. “Thou shalt not lie, right? Tell ‘em the truth.” Dot glared at her and Shelby turned back around to Rachel. “It’s five hundred each. We got about a hundred now, so no one’s going to Hawaii.”

“What if there aren’t enough?” Toni asked. “Who decides then?”

“We’ll draw straws,” Shelby said.

It was as easy a solution as anything but the tenseness started building up, Rachel and Toni viewing Dot with more suspicion. It’d fade, over time, Dot knew. Or they’d all die.

The worst it got, was actually Shelby’s doing, the easy peace maker of it all. They hadn’t bothered building a fire, despite how cold and exposed it got in Texas at night, but they huddled together between three cars they found abandoned along the highway that they pushed into a triangle. Someone got to the seat cushions of all three first, so there was nothing comfortable to lie their heads on. It was easy for Dot though, the asphalt as soft as anything to her now.

They stayed up later than they should’ve talking. Trading stories about their old life that all of them knew weren’t doing any good. Toni played basketball, was pretty good at it too. Rachel had a skill for swimming she’d never have again. Nora did quiz bowl, surprising no one. Dot talked about metal, fishing with her dad, what types of pills sold for what. Martha was a dancer, and a vegetarian once. It was something that made ‘em all crack up. When humans become man eating beasts, and once upon a time there were jokes online about vegans. Shelby talked about the yearbook, mission trips, Andrew.

But then cause Shelby started it by prattling on about Andrew Toni got it in her head to talk about Regan and Shelby was talking about Leviticus.

The next morning, Rachel quietly pulled Dot aside and told her to take all the cigarettes and head out. That they could make their own way west. Dot didn’t ask for an invitation to go with her.

They split off at the twenty-five, Dot and Shelby heading for the forty, Toni, Martha, Rachel, and Nora heading for the sixty.

Shelby was heartbroken for a few days, apologetic too, and grateful. Dot didn’t let her have any of that, only said, “It’s cause we’re from the same town. We might be the only ones from there left.”

They trudged on.

In Arizona Dot found the love of her life, her soulmate, Fatin Jadmani. In a completely straight way too. Fatin matched her tit for tat, spoke a language Dot hadn’t realized she’d been born knowing. Her girlfriend was an anxious woman named Leah, who Shelby got on with. Dot had worried, upon bringing the two back to camp, that Shelby would chase ‘em away again, but she hadn’t. Just smiled at the two of them, easily offering up a couple granola bars.

Whenever tenseness came about Fatin just laughed, and Leah rolled her eyes. It wasn’t perfect, Dot knew, there was too much hate for that, but it would last ‘em long enough. The four of ‘em just worked in this great lovely way.

Only problem was their destination.

“We barely managed to get out of LA,” Leah mumbled, she hugged her legs, her head leaning on Fatin’s shoulder.

“LA?” Shelby asked. “That’s where we’re headed.”

“What the fuck?” Fatin glared at Dot, “Dorthy I thought you had more sense than that.”

“There’s some military guys ferrying people to Hawaii,” Dot said.

“Where’d you hear that, the radio?” Fatin asked. She sighed at their nods, “They’re broadcasting out to whoever will hear it, but there is no ferry to Hawaii. The entire thing is just selling and shipping as many girls out as possible. We have no idea where though.”

“So when you say you barely made it out,” Dot said.

Fatin’s face was grim.

“We have to warn ‘em,” Shelby said.

“Warn who?” Dot asked.

“Toni and the others! They don’t know!” Shelby stood up. “I’ll plot out the course now and we’ll start out fresh tomorrow. We aren’t leaving ‘em to—to—we aren’t leaving ‘em.” She stormed off and Dot watched her go.

“She wants to go towards LA to help some motherfuckers who kicked you out of their group?” Fatin asked.

“Yeah,” Dot said.

“Are you gonna go with her?” Leah asked.

“I knew what she was when I picked her up,” Dot said.

“What do you wanna do?” Leah asked Fatin.

Fatin pressed her cheek to Leah’s head, “I don’t know if I can risk you.” Fatin looked at Dot, “Are you gonna be stupid?”

“No,” Dot said.

“Then we’ll come,” Fatin sighed. “Leah that okay?” Leah nodded.

Neither of ‘em were as good at offing zed as Shelby and Dot. Fatin was decent at finding stuff though, scoping stuff, and Leah had endurance none of the rest of ‘em could match. She was like a zed sometimes, just kept going, could keep going, until her knees wore down to dust and then she’d crawl, crawl until her fingers wore down to nubs and then she’d inch, inch until something put her out of her misery. It terrified Fatin and Shelby, but Dot couldn’t help being impressed.

So Dot ambled after Shelby toward Bethlehem on the forty but they were gonna leap back on the interstate and hopefully head ‘em off. Hopefully Martha, Toni, Rachel, and Nora’d be alive, and they’d find ‘em. And if they didn’t find ‘em, hopefully they’d be dead. And Shelby stopped sleeping about a day or two into trek. Would just keep staring at the maps and keeping watch, and taking inventory and thumbing around her necklace.

When Dot woke up on the third day of their walk, Shelby’s hair was much shorter and Fatin looked real scared. Shelby kept walking and walking and, in a fit of rage that matched Toni’s, launched her necklace off the highway. She looked like she regretted it after but they had no choice but to keep going.

They passed an arm and it looked like Rachel’s.

Shelby walked faster. Leah had that glint in her eye. Fatin took Dot’s hand and looked very very scared.

After two more days Shelby said fuck it, and found a car with some gas in it and told 'em to get in.

Dot stood in front, “Shelby,” Shelby glared at her, “This’ll attract every body in the fucking country. The sound, the smell, I’m not just talking about the dead ones neither.”

Shelby swallowed hard, “You gonna stay behind then?”

“Shelby,” Dot said. “If you leave me here I’ll get caught up in the hoard. That what you want?”

“Get in the damn car, Dottie!” Shelby said.

“If we get to ‘em in time, but there’s a fucking hoard following us, we won’t have anywhere to go but on,” Dot said. “Fucking think!”

“I am thinking,” Shelby spat back. She shoved Dot, “I’m thinking about Toni, and Martha walking from Minnesota to Texas only to die in California. I’m thinking about Nora and Rachel watching Yonkers fall and then getting shipped off to who knows where. That’s what I’m thinking.”

“Shelby we can make it,” Leah said.

“No we can’t!” Shelby said. “I’ve done the math, I keep looking at these maps, there’s no way we’ll make it in time without a mode of transportation. No car and they die.”

“Then what the fuck are we going there?” Dot asked. “If it’s too late—”

“It is not too late!” Shelby said, her throat was all closed and choked sounding. “I can save ‘em! Jesus fuckin Christ we have to help ‘em!”

“Shelby,” Dot said, she put a hand on her shoulder. “We can’t take a car, and we can’t make it by foot,” Shelby’s face crumpled. “They’re gone, alright? We should be planning our next move.”

“No,” Leah said. She shook her head, “We have to help them.”

“You don’t even know ‘em,” Dot said.

“I’m not letting four innocent girls go through what I nearly went through,” Leah said.

“I’m with Leah,” Fatin said. “We’ll take the car and play it by ear.”

“Play the-hoard-that-will-start-coming-after-us-the-second-we-turn-on-the-engine by ear?” Dot asked.

“Let’s vote,” Shelby said. “All in favor of going?”

Fatin, Leah, and Shelby all raised their hands.

“C’mon,” Dot begged. She looked at Fatin, “You told me not to be stupid!”

“So don’t be stupid,” Fatin said. “Get in the car.”

Dot sighed, wanted to punch something, wanted to cry, was too tired to do either, got in the car.

The car attracted so many fucking zed, they wouldn’t be able to stop, and they had to hope there was enough in the fucking tank to get them to wherever the four were. Dot watched the dead bodies creep closer, at their slow hobbling, relentless pace. Fatin drove, Shelby used her pike to spear any who got too close, Dot watched the maps and steadily got herself into a panic.

They were gonna die trying to save the asses of some girls they spent a couple days with.

This was not what Shelby was when Dot picked her up, this was not what she was. Shelby had gone behind Dot’s back and fucking grown as a person, hadn’t she? How the fuck was Dot gonna get away from her? She’d have to pack Fatin in a suitcase and then Leah too and that would mean entirely abandoning Shelby to be on her lonesome oh god.

Dot was stuck, wasn’t she.

As they kept driving Shelby had to keep spearing zed. It started off as one or two, but as the hours wore on they were leaning on five, six, a steady growing mass ambling behind ‘em.

If that had really been Rachel’s arm, they were probably dead. All of ‘em. Or maybe in the mass behind ‘em. And if they weren’t, they’d hear the car coming and head for the hills, assuming it meant a hoard was close behind. Which it was.

This was such a fucking terrible idea.

“So what, we just wait for a sign to say welcome to LA and then give up? We won’t find ‘em like this,” Dot said.

“Shut up!” Shelby said, she speared another.

“At least check you ain’t offing one of ours,” Dot said. “They could all be zed, for all we know.”

“I said shut up,” Shelby turned to glare at her and a zed slammed against the door. She speared it and Dot’s mouth clamped shut. “We just gotta keep going,” she said. “We’ll be fine, we just gotta keep moving.”

“You’re crazy,” Dot said.

Shelby didn’t have anything to say to that.

It was worse at nightfall, with visibility down, and they just had to keep going, to hope their car wasn’t stripped when they went over the bumps of mutilated corpses still hungry for a last meal.

“We’re almost to LA,” Shelby said. “We got nearly a hundred cigs, we might be able to bribe someone if they jump us.”

Leah snorted.

They were driving through an empty enough part of Nevada though, less corpses hurling themselves off the road and towards them. Still the ever growing mass behind ‘em now, maybe fifty, seventy five, but about twenty out.

“I gotta piss,” Dot said.

“Hurry,” Fatin said.

Dot stumbled out, no one noticing her grabbing her pack. The zed would follow the car, she’d make a clean break. She’d survive.

She was only seven minutes south, judging by the north star Shelby taught her to find when someone’s hand grabbed her. She pulled out her hand gun, jamming it into the head and flicking the safety off.

“Dot! Jesus Christ!”

The girl was wide-eyed, tan, hollowed out, empty and desperate. Reminded her of the empty pill bottles around her house after her dad died.

“Toni?”

Toni nodded, “Why are you here? Fuck that I don’t give a shit, you got water?” Dot handed it to her and Toni downed it. “The other’s are close, c’mon.” She stumbled as she got up, clearly dizzy, and Dot grabbed her forearm.

“We’ve been looking everywhere for you guys,” Dot said.

“Don’t tell me it’s you in the fucking car,” Toni said. “We’ve been running from that thing for ages.”

“I fucking told Shelby,” Dot said.

“Shelby?” Toni asked, she was almost too exhausted to sound disgusted, but she managed it.

“Listen, LA isn’t safe, we found out. They’re not taking kids to Hawaii, they’re taking them.”

Toni went pale, “Fuck.” She even sounded choked now. “Shelby’s having a fucking aneurysm worrying about you so I don’t even think she’s that fucking homophobic. I’ll get everyone back to the car, you tell ‘em I’m coming.”

Toni nodded, stumbling towards the street and Dot walked back to the direction Toni pointed to before she left. Rachel, Nora, and Martha were all in various points of disarray. Exhausted, dehydrated, starving, aching and bleeding. Dot had to half carry, half drag Nora with Martha and Rachel had to get a stick to lean on as they stumbled toward the street.

“We got like ten minutes,” Fatin said. “People are gonna have to double buckle, and before anyone else makes a decision, we’re going north.”

Dot strapped everyone in and found herself sitting next to Shelby who met her eyes in a hundred yard stare.

“You took your pack.”

“Yeah.”

“But you came back.”

“Yeah.”

“Fine.”

They started on again. Dot saw Toni keep sneaking glances at Shelby and Shelby kept sneaking ‘em back.

They weren’t far from Mt. Tobin when the two finally stopped dancing around each other.

Dot convinced everyone to ditch the car near LA, walking as quickly as they could once they did, knowing it’d take awhile to ditch the hoard too. Dot watched Toni talk to Shelby in low tones, Shelby full of apologies and panics and Toni keeping her cool longer than Dot had ever seen it.

Martha took to Fatin quickly, everyone did, and Nora and Leah spent long hours walking beside each other mumbling about books or something. Not anything Dot gave two shits about.

Rachel ambled along with Dot most of the time. Whenever Fatin and Leah were all over each other and Dot didn’t feel like third wheeling. Rachel was always listening to the radio and as time passed it became clear that the two of them were the most capable of keeping everyone alive. And not in a more knowledgable way. Because Nora knew what plants were edible, and Shelby was a better shot. Or in an emotional way, because Fatin and Martha handled that. But in a planning sorta way. Because Dot knew how to get them to point B, while Rachel was working on point E.

“We should go to Washington,” Rachel muttered on one of the late nights they spent keeping watch while they poured over maps. “We might be able to find a boat to Victoria.”

“Victoria?” Rachel pointed her out.

“It’s a Canadian island. Canada lasted a little longer than we did, Victoria might not be in such a bad way.”

“Less guns in Canada,” Dot said. “And there might not be a boat that’ll take us there. Plus, we don’t know the currency.”

“We’re eight teenage girls,” Rachel pointed out. “We stick around so close to Cali, we’re asking for trouble. We need to put an ocean between us and whatever the fuck they’re doing there.”

Dot sighed. So they’d go to Washington.

On the way they’d probably run into another group who’d tell them Washington was overrun but there was something decent in Wisconsin. Half way to Wisconsin someone would tell ‘em their information was bad and they need to get south where there were guns and space. They’d almost be in Georgia when someone would tell ‘em there was some real government up in New York again.

They’d follow pipe dream to pipe dream to pipe dream. They’d probably die young.

Toni curled around Shelby, holding Martha’s hand. Fatin and Leah held on for dear life. Rachel didn’t take her eyes off Nora. Dot watched them all.

Yeah they’d probably die young. Better than dying alone.

#gus writes #the wilds #the wilds fanfic #goodfoe fanfic #shoni #leatin fanfic #leatin #dot campbell #leah rilke #fatin jadmani #shelby goodkind #toni shalifoe #rachel reid #nora reid #martha blackburn #the unsinkable 8 #the unsinkable eight

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piratewithvigor · 3 years

Text

Stars

Chapter 4: 2013

In which our hero goes camping again

“Come on, we should be there soon, shouldn’t we?”

“Can’t you stop griping and just enjoy the walk?”

“How can I? You spent the three months before we moved here telling me about how dangerous this place is. Quizzing me on how to defend myself against 400 different species.”

“Aww, are you scared?”

“No!”

Kane couldn’t help but laugh. Daniel was terrified out of his wits. It was almost painfully obvious. Every time he thought Kane couldn’t see him, his eyes kept darting around the trees surrounding them. Inspecting the trees for things that might want to kill them. Which was fairly useless; everything in the Valley wanted to kill them, but nothing would dare. They knew they were under protection of the Undertaker and the creatures of the Valley respected such protection.

Even still, it just took one rogue beast to end both of them and turn them into dinner. They wouldn’t hesitate if they were hungry; the only vegan in the Valley was Daniel.

He took Daniel’s hand gently, doing his best to soothe his husband. Having had hardly any touches that weren’t meant to hurt him for decades, sometimes the gentler touches took Kane a little longer to get used to. Daniel was still the only one he could bear to touch for an extended length of time and certainly the only one he could bring himself to initiate such a touch with.

The gesture didn’t go unnoticed. Daniel exhaled softly as he squeezed a little.

He’d been excited for this trip. Hiking, camping; they were some of his favorite hobbies outside the ring. It was usually like pulling teeth to get Kane to want to come along. But he’d suggested this trip. The trip he used to take with his family on the first weekend of autumn. Spending the night in the woods of the Valley together, bonding. Kane didn’t talk about his family from before the fire too often, so Daniel was certainly not going to question why he brought it up then. Of course, at the time, the excitement had overridden the recollection that camping in the Valley was about equally dangerous as camping on a cliff face in the Grand Canyon. Except the danger was only held at bay by an unspoken supernatural promise.

So many questions from the Valley were better left unasked and just accepted.

“You’re gonna like it,” Kane promised. “It’s pretty. A lot of really soft grass.”

“I trust you.” Daniel wasn’t going to add that for as long as he’d lived there, he’d hardly seen any living grass, let alone really soft grass. Kane was excited, so he was going to keep his worries at bay. “You’re sure you remember the way, right?”

“Spent a night here every year for six years. I could find the clearing in my sleep.”

“Maybe, but that was thirty years ago.”

“Are you calling me old?”

“A little.”

“Take it back, or no s’mores for you.”

“That’s blackmail!”

“That’s life.”

“Okay, okay, I take it back.”

“Not good enough.”

Daniel exhaled in exasperation. “I’m sorry I called you old.”

“Thank you. I’m sorry I called you a goat.”

“You didn’t call me a goat.”

“I know. Now I’ve got one apology saved up for next time I do,” Kane grinned and avoided Daniel attempting a swat to the back of his head.

“You’re damn lucky you’re cute.”

“I know.”

Kane wasn’t exactly sure how he’d tricked Daniel into liking him. When they first met, they had some of the most awful fights Kane had ever been a part of. Both physically and emotionally. He hated Daniel at first. They would scream at each other until Kane was as hoarse as he’d been when he was re-learning how to talk. They were the tag team champions together and a formidable duo, but nothing like any other tag team Kane had been a part of. Everything felt wrong and off working with Daniel and it wasn’t because he felt like beating him more than their opponents. They just… had nothing in common. Except that they were both fueled with enough rage to be sent to anger management therapy together.

Kane had been gritting his teeth and hardly keeping himself from throwing Daniel through a wall every week. Until one week. The week of the trust falls.

“Daniel, just fall backwards, and Kane will catch you.”

“I will?”

He didn’t want to catch Daniel. Daniel didn’t want to be caught by Kane. Dr. Shelby was insistent. If they did this exercise, they might have a real breakthrough. Breakthroughs meant they could stop coming to these damn therapy sessions. Whether it was the promise of a breakthrough or the threat of having to do the exercise the next week, Kane wasn’t sure, but Daniel turned around.

“Kane, I trust you.”

He’d been stunned silent for a moment. Almost forgot to catch Daniel. But he didn’t. He caught Daniel’s shoulders easily and kept him from hitting the deceptively hard floor. The weight of a man who trusted him so completely so quickly was in his hands. He’d shoved Daniel upright to avoid letting him know his hands were shaking from getting so quickly overwhelmed with emotion. Dr. Shelby had been so proud of them. Moved them right on to the next phase of the exercise: working together. They were both instructed to catch some loser from the group. Even though they both put out their arms to catch him, he hit the floor hard as they pulled their arms back.

“Did you know that I wasn’t going to catch him?” Daniel had asked.

“Did you know that I wasn’t going to catch him?” Kane replied. A quiet smile had spread over Daniel’s lips.

“I think I finally understand you, Kane.”

They’d kissed for the first time that night. Still fought like cats and dogs, but in moments alone in the hotel rooms, they kissed. Sometimes they went further, sometimes they didn’t.

“We’re almost there,” Kane broke the silence, pointing with the hand that wasn’t interwoven with Daniel’s.

“Where? I don’t see any grass anywhe- holy shit…” The sight of the little clearing filled with lush, green grass seemed to take Daniel’s breath away.

“What do you think? Worth the hike?”

Daniel didn’t answer. Almost like he was dumbfounded such a soft place could exist within the harshness of the Valley.

“Daniel?”

“Very worth it.”

“You good setting up the tent while I gather the firewood?”

“Kane, I fucking swear, if you leave me alone in these woods, I will shit in your sleeping bag.”

One argument about proper firewood, one argument about tent raising techniques and three arguments about setting fires later, both of them were lying in the grass, watching the smoke from the dying fire rise into the night air.

“You shouldn’t be able to start a fire by hugging a log,” Daniel mumbled, snuggling up to Kane’s chest.

“I know.”

“How do you do that?”

“I don’t know.”

“It’s weird.”

“Can we change the subject?”

“Sure. To what?”

“Dunno. Know any good camping stories?”

“Well, there was one time I went camping with AJ and she needed to pee, but the bush under her was poison ivy and-”

“A different story!” Kane groaned, shuddering at the idea. Either because he didn’t want to know what happened with the poison ivy or because he didn’t want to know anything more about AJ than he already did. She was responsible for sending Daniel to anger management, so Kane owed her for that, but he didn’t want to know anything else.

“Okay, there was a time my family had a reunion at a campground and my aunt chopped up apples and tossed them in apple pie spices, then wrapped them in tin foil and stuck them in the coals of the campfire. Smoky apple pie filling.”

“Sounds tasty.”

“Should’ve told that story before so we could have done the same.”

“Maybe next time.”

He could promise a next time. He could swear that a year from then, he would still love Daniel. They would still be together. They could lie down in the grass and look up at the stars. They could marvel at how big the universe was and how miraculous it was that they found each other.

Far up in the night sky, a red star and one a little bigger seemed a little closer together.

#Stars #Kane #Daniel Bryan #Writing

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merakiaes · 4 years

Text

First Impressions - Tommy Shelby

Pairing: Tommy Shelby

Requested: Yes.

Prompts: None.

Warnings/notes: This might actually be the shittiest shit I’ve ever written. I’m posting it for now but I’m going to come back and re-write it once the other requests are done. Sorry if this sucks xD A short, hopefully better part three coming tomorrow.

Wordcount: 4360

Summary: Tommy invites you to meet the rest of the Shelbys and things get a bit out of hand, as they always do in the life of a Peaky Blinder.

Part One - Nice To Meet You

Part Three - Salvation

The day Ada had been trying to avoid since you first met Tommy had finally come.

After hanging around your shared home far more often than he usually would for two weeks straight, he had finally invited you to join their family for drinks at the Garrison.

You had gotten incredibly close with the Peaky Blinder leader since you met him two weeks prior, much to Ada’s dismay and everyone back in Small Heath was surprised to see how quickly he had taken a liking to you. He hadn’t even reacted that strongly when first meeting Grace and they hadn’t thought it would ever be possible for him to love anyone else that way again.

You were currently standing in front of the mirror of yours and Ada’s shared bathroom, putting in a pair of gold earrings and smearing a coat of bright red lipstick onto your lips while Ada and Tommy waited downstairs.

Karl had been dropped off at the babysitter’s house an hour before so that you and Ada would have enough time to get ready, and it was safe to say you were not going to be needing many drinks at the pub as you were both already slightly buzzed with the wine you had consumed.

Tommy had arrived only ten minutes ago, and you had yet to see him for the evening, but Ada had already started nagging his ears off downstairs, without a doubt about how to treat you, and the thought brought a slight chuckle from your lips.

You checked your reflection a final time, brushing your curled hair out of your eyes and straightening your red dress before finally retreating out of the bathroom and heading out into the hallway.

Already at the top of the stairs you could catch up snippets of their conversation, and even though you didn’t like eavesdropping, it was pretty much impossible to shut their voices out now that you were so close.

“She’s been good to us and I love her like my own sister.” You heart Ada say at the bottom of the stairs, her voice still slightly muffled. “If you ruin that I’ll kill you myself.”

Tommy’s voice followed shortly after, low and confident. “I would never do anything to hurt her.”

Merely his voice managed to bring butterflies to your stomach. You were ashamed to say that you, a grown-up woman, had fallen for him in such a short amount of time. Hopelessly so.

“That’s what you always say.” Came Ada’s response, but they didn’t get to continue their conversation as Tommy finally caught sight of you coming down the stairs over Ada’s shoulder, a smile instantly rising to his lips.

The sweet sight caused your own lips to pull into one as well, and Ada to turn around, clearly hurrying to put on a strained smile to cover up the fact that she was undoubtedly not happy about the idea of you meeting her family.

The very same family she had been trying to distance herself from ever since before Freddie had passed away.

You made it down the final step and your hand left the railing, and Tommy, who had already been holding your coat in his hands, wasted no time in coming over to you, opening the piece of clothing and helping you put your arms into the sleeves.

“Thank you.” You thanked him, smiling.

Once your arms were secured in the sleeves, he carefully reached his hands up to your neck and pulled your hair out, dropping the curls to your back.

“You look beautiful.” He complimented, looking down into your eyes, and for a moment, you almost forgot that Ada was there too, standing to the side watching the scene unfold before her with crossed arms, lips pulled into a straight line and foot stomping on the floor impatiently.

But you were quickly pulled out of your trance-like state when she let out a loud clear of her throat. “Are you ready to go?”

You and Tommy turned your attention to her, taking a step away from each other. You nodded, smiling, and wasted no time in walking forward, hooking your arm with hers and pulling her out through the door.

The second you had gotten away from Tommy, her mood was lightened again, and the two of you skipped down to the car awaiting you while Tommy locked up the apartment, a cigarette now hanging from between his lips.

He kept quiet pretty much the entire ride from London to Small Heath, only speaking when you sparked up a conversation with him.

Other than that, most of the ride was just you and Ada chatting and having fun, like you always did when you were together.

You reached your destination in a little under three hours, and by the time you were there, the dark had fallen outside, the clock now being around ten.

Tommy left the car first once you had stopped, helping his little sister out before moving on to you.

You smiled widely as you took his outstretched hand, thanking him quietly through your eyes and letting him help you down from the car.

Your eyes immediately looked around.

It was sure to say Watery Lane was no London, but it did have its own charm to it.

You thought so at least. Ada didn’t seem to care much for being back home, but you guessed you couldn’t really blame her after everything that had gone down in the past few years.

Ada started walking ahead, and you got left behind her with Tommy walking by your side.

“Are you cold?” He asked quietly after a moment of silence, his hands tucked into the pockets of his pants.

You turned to look at him at the sound of his voice and shook your head, but smiled gratefully. “I’m alright, but thank you.” You answered, and he smiled, before turning his eyes back forward.

Only three minutes later, the Garrison entered your field of view, and already from down the street you could hear the sound of loud singing, yelling and glasses clinking together.

It all seemed a bit chaotic from what you could see through the window upon closer inspection, but you were still excited.

Ada entered first and her name was instantly called out by several voices. Once you reached the door, too, Tommy wordlessly opened it for you, letting you step into the warmth before stepping inside himself, closing the door behind him.

“There she is!” A voice you didn’t recognize called out the second you stepped inside, but once your eyes landed on the source of the voice you could instantly come to the conclusion that it belonged to Arthur.

Ada had shown you more than enough pictures of her family for you not to recognize them.

The smile that had previously been very bright on your lips turned into a more nervous one as the entire Shelby clan was now watching you approach with expectant smiles on their faces, all yelling out for both Ada, Tommy, and surprisingly, you, in their drunken states.

But then again, you guessed it wasn’t very surprising, at all. After all, they had known you would be coming along.

Before you had even had the chance to think about getting your jacket off, Tommy had already started pulling at it, and you let him, smiling and thanking him silently over your shoulder.

Upon reaching the table where his family sat, Ada had already found herself a spot and Polly was the first one who stood up to greet you.

Her arms wrapped around you in an embrace and you gladly accepted it.

“It’s nice to see you again.” She said, and you smiled, hugging her back.

“You too, Polly. It’s been a while now.”

She chuckled, pulling away and giving you a mildly amused look. “Someone has to keep these idiots alive.”

You laughed, and she sat back down, Finn and Isaiah being the next ones to stand up, both with wide smiles and wasting no time in hugging you. Isaiah first and Finn last.

“Nice to see you boys again.” You smiled, having to stand on your toes to reach them as they were both taller than you.

As you broke away from Finn, you raised an eyebrow. “Keeping out of trouble, I hope?” You asked, bringing a hand up to the arm you had patched up when he had been shot, teasing him.

“Of course.” He agreed, but the smug smirk on his face said the opposite.

Finn sat back down, but Isaiah remained standing, holding his arms out for the man to his right. “This is my father. Dad, this is (Y/N).”

The man wasted no time in standing up, reaching a hand out for you to shake. “I’m Jeremiah Jesus. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

You took it in yours without a second thought, shaking it. “The pleasure’s all mine.”

He smiled and both him and Isaiah sat back down. Finally, after having hanged your coat on the back of an empty chair, Tommy pulled said chair out and offered you a seat.

“Thank you.” You smiled at him, sinking down in it. He sat down in the chair beside you and held a hand out towards John and Arthur, introducing them despite knowing you already knew who was who.

“This is John, and Arthur.” He said, and John wasted no time in straightening up in his seat, reaching over the table to shake your hand.

“It’s nice to meet you.” He said, a toothpick hanging from between his lips.

You shook his hand and nodded with a smile, and then moved on to Arthur as he did the same, reaching his hand over the table.

“Nice to finally meet ya, love. Tommy boy hasn’t shut up about you for weeks.” He joked, causing everyone around the table to snicker.

You blushed at his words, expecting Tommy to make some kind of protest, but he did no such thing, simply throwing his arm around the backrest of your chair and smiling as he filled himself a glass of whiskey.

“A pleasure to meet you.” You answered both John and Arthur, trying your best to hide the faint blush rising on your cheeks.

And you did an okay job. The room was very hot, which made it a pretty acceptable excuse that the heat in the room was the cause of the heat in your face.

Polly then put a hand on the shoulder of the boy sitting next to her, the only one who hadn’t been properly introduced yet. “And this is my son, Michael.”

Of course. You had heard enough about him to be able to recognize him from miles away.

“I’ve heard a lot about you. It’s nice to finally meet you.” You admitted, shaking his hand over the table like you had his cousins only seconds before, and he offered you a shy, boyish smile back, nodding his head.

“Likewise.”

“And you’ve met, Aberama.” Polly continued, waving a gloved hand towards the man in question.

You nodded. “Yes, I have. Nice to see you again, Aberama.”

“Likewise, miss (Y/L/N).” He answered, tipping his hat slightly but not attempting to shake your hand as you were too far away.

“How are your studies going, (Y/N)?” Finn asked then, being the first to spark up a conversation and very clearly proving the crush you had been told he had on you.

The thought made you snicker slightly.

“They’re going great. If everything goes as planned, I should have my degree by the end of next year.” You smiled proudly, and Aberama was the next to talk, congratulating you.

“Congratulations.”

“Thank you.” You smiled at him.

“What are you studying?” John pitched in, taking a drag from the cigar between his lips.

“I’m studying to become a surgeon.” You said, and when these words left your lips, Arthur’s interest was instantly piqued.

“Is that so?” He asked, and you nodded. But before you had time to answer, Finn spoke again.

“She’s got tons of books. I looked through them and I couldn’t understand shit.” He laughed, bringing everyone else with him.

“That’s because you can’t read, Finny boy.” Arthur turned his attention to him, teasing him, and at this, the light snickering broke into full laughter.

You joined in on the laughter, but felt bad as the youngest of the Shelbys burned bright red and turned slightly sour. “Don’t worry.” You assured. “I didn’t learn how to read until I was fifteen. I’ll teach you.”

He smiled, nodding in thanks.

“I’ve been able to read since I was eight and I can’t understand her books, either.” Tommy suddenly joined in from beside you and reached out to rub Finn’s head., having been quiet up until that point. “Just a bunch of Latin.” He chuckled, leaning forward to put out his cigarette on the ashtray.

At the mention of this, Ada finally joined in on the conversation, happily declaring. “She’s actually been teaching me some.”

“Yeah?” Tommy questioned, raising an amused eyebrow. “Like what?”

Ada smiled a crooked smile, repeating the phrase you had taught her some weeks before. “Verita Nunquam Perit.”

“What the ‘ell does that mean?” Arthur exclaimed, his face pulled into a mixture of a glare and frown, clearly confused.

“The truth never perishes.” She answered, but he only waved it off, turning to you.

“How do you say I need another drink?”

You chuckled. “Alio opus est bibere.”

“Well, I’m not repeating that.” He grumbled, causing everyone around the table to laugh.

He turned his head to the bar, reaching his arms up in the air for extra emphasis and yelled. “Harry! Get us another bottle!”

After ‘Harry’ had signaled an okay to him, he turned back to you, threw back the rest of his current drink and said. “Nice to finally have some brains in the family.”

Tommy chuckled beside you as everyone else laughed and started chatting about everything and anything again, introductions now being out of the way, and you smiled at the feeling of Tommy’s hand slowly moving to rest on your shoulder, his thumb brushing against the bare skin.

Your hand instinctively moved up to hold his, and your other hand went to grab the glass of alcohol you were soon being served, wasting no time in bringing it to your lips.

You talked and laughed a lot with the Shelbys, getting on with every single one of them like you had known each other your entire life.

But while you had fun with them, Tommy only ever chuckled beside you, only joining in when being directly spoken too, and you found yourself wishing he would have talked to you some more.

But you had known already before coming here that he was more of a ‘sit back and spectate’ type of man, so you guessed you shouldn’t have expected much more. He was much chattier when he wasn’t surrounded by other people.

A few hours and many drinks too many later, the entire pub had ended up gathered together, everyone standing with their arms thrown across each other’s shoulders and singing at the top of their lungs.

And you were no different, your drink raised high in the air as you stood between Tommy and Ada, singing along to some song you barely knew the words to.

A drunken man had taken the lead on top of the bar, much to Harry’s dismay as he was kicking and knocking over several bottles and glasses.

You didn’t get much time to register what was happening but soon, as the song came to an end, everyone was nudging each other around and someone managed to nudge a man a little harder than meant to, sending him stumbling into your body from behind.

In your drunken haze, the force was enough to successfully send you into a table, the corner knocking into your hip uncomfortably and Ada going with you as you were still attached by the arms.

When seeing you and his sister being pushed around, Tommy instantly reacted by pushing the man back the way he came from.

Too drunk to think by themselves, Arthur and John took this as an introduction to a fight, and wasted no time in running to their brother’s side, and the next thing you knew, the fun was thrown right out the window and the entire pub had erupted into a rowdy fight.

“What the hell are you doing?!” You yelled out as you watched Tommy knock the man in the nose, you and Ada using each other for support to collect yourselves after the stumble. “Thomas, stop it!” You yelled again, eyes widening as he kept pushing people who came too close, the rest of them doing the same.

Polly and Aberama had retreated to the back, trying to stay clear of the flying fists, and Jeremiah and Harry were both trying to stop it by yelling.

But no one was listening.

You wasted no time in leaving Ada’s side, despite her protests, and running for Tommy, grabbing the back of his waistcoat and trying your hardest to pull him back and out of the crowd.

But he was much stronger than you and didn’t even seem to realize you were there in the state he was in, simply shrugging you off.

“Thomas!” You yelled again, but it did nothing, and upon closer inspection you noticed that John and Arthur were both smiling, hollering with laughter as they punched and kicked.

They were having a jolly good time. A good time beating people up.

You had known what they did for a living ever since the start and knew that this was probably nothing in comparison, but still, seeing it with your own eyes made it all so much more real and left you shocked and horrified.

Realizing you wouldn’t have any luck with Tommy, John or Arthur, you instead hurried over to where Finn and Isaiah were fighting, and as they were both a lot smaller and less muscular than the oldest three of the Shelby siblings, you managed to pull them away from the crowd, taking them back to the table where Polly, Jerimiah, Ada and Aberama were hiding away, waiting it out.

“Sit down and stay there!” You instructed them, pushing the younger boys into their previous seats, much to the adults’ amusement.

They stumbled into their seats, landing rather roughly and in any other situation you would feel guilty and apologize for being so careless, but at this moment, you didn’t give a flying fuck. They had brought it onto themselves.

Once you were sure they wouldn’t be going anywhere and that they were supervised, you walked over to Ada, giving her a sad look.

“This is no scene for me. I’m sorry.” You shook your head, trying your hardest to ignore the sounds of fists hitting flesh behind you.

Ada only gave you a sorry look. “No, I’m sorry.” She told you, crossing her arms over her chest. “I told Tommy not to do anything like this and he didn’t listen.”

Her words drew a scoff from Polly’s lips. “What else is new.” She questioned, emotionlessly, taking a drag out of her cigarette.

You really found it horrible that she must be so used to stuff like this happening that she didn’t even bat an eye anymore.

You sighed, grabbing your coat from the chair you had previously been sitting in before turning back to Ada. “I’ll see you at home.” You said, and she nodded, giving you another sad, disappointed look.

Turning to Aberama, Jeremiah and Polly, you forced yourself to smile politely. “It was nice seeing you again, thank you for having me tonight.”

All of them nodded, and you turned to Finn and Isaiah, giving them one last disapproving glare to which they looked up at you sheepishly, before turning on your heel and pushing your way through the fighting crowd in the direction of the door, luckily getting there unharmed.

In the middle of a fight, Tommy spotted the back of your head as you retreated in the other direction and lost track of what he was currently doing to call out for you from the end of the room, but the yelling and sound of breaking chairs and glass was too loud for you to hear him.

The last thing you heard before the door closed behind you was Ada yelling Tommy’s name with more anger than you had ever heard her use before.

You didn’t even bother putting on your coat once you made it outside, just letting it hang over your arm as you walked away from the pub with rushed steps, not really sure where to.

You didn’t make it very far before you could hear the door of the pub opening, however, and sighed in annoyance when you heard the footsteps coming after you.

“(Y/N)!”

You didn’t turn around at the sound of Tommy’s voice calling after you, but rather picked up your speed and hugged your jacket closer to your chest.

Soon enough, he caught up to you and rounded you, coming to a stop before you.

“Don’t go, please. I’m sorry.” He was quick to apologize, but you only glared at him.

“Why the hell are you apologizing to me for?!” You almost roared back, throwing an arm behind you. “Apologize to those men you just gave a beating for no reason at all!”

“He hurt you.” Was his only response, causing your eyes to narrow.

“It was an accident, Thomas! Those do happen!” You let out a dry laugh. “You may be a Peaky Blinder but you still can’t just go around starting fights with people without a reason.”

If you weren’t mistaken, you almost could have sworn that intimidation flashed through his eyes for a short moment.

And you weren’t mistaken. All of the times he had spoken to you, you had been softer and kinder than anyone he had ever met. And now here you were, yelling at him and giving him a piece of your mind.

“You’re right.” He nodded, letting out a breath. “I’m sorry.”

You adjusted your coat over your arm, crossing your arms over the chest and pushing back the chill running through your spine.

You stared him down from another moment, allowing yourself to calm down, before answering sourly. “Apology accepted but you’re not off the hook.”

His entire body relaxed at your words, but his eyes remained desperate as he reached his hands out to take yours in his.

“Let me make it up to you.” He said. “I’ll take you to dinner, just you and me. Tomorrow.”

You snorted, letting your gaze run up and down his face, scanning him. “Better be one hell of a dinner.” You agreed, making the corners of his lips twitch upward.

“Will you come back inside?” He asked, squeezing your hand, and you raised an eyebrow, pulling it back and crossing it over your chest again.

“Are you gonna start another fight?” You challenged, and he instantly shook his head.

“No.”

“Is that a promise or just empty words?” You asked, not yet convinced.

But then he took a step closer, staring down at you with nothing but sincerity behind his eyes as he answered. “You have my word.”

You found yourself lost in his baby blues for a moment, the anger you had previously been fueled by melting right off you.

Your body relaxed slightly at the feeling of his fingers brushing against your bare arm, but you didn’t let any emotion show on your face as you looked down and nodded, mumbling out. “Alright.”

That was all the confirmation he needed to take you under his arms and carefully turn you back to the pub, slowly leading you back.

You had to admit it was nice to come back inside into the warmth, the evening air outside having been a lot colder than you had expected, especially when not wearing anything but a thin dress.

Upon re-entering the Garrison, the fighting had settled down again, and judging by the look of Polly and Ada standing behind John and Arthur with their arms crossed over their chests, they had been the ones to sort everything out.

Everyone were back at their original tables, some people now nursing cuts and blackeyes but drinking and talking as they hadn’t just been shoving each other’s faces into the floorboards while hitting them upside the heads with bottles.

You could see all the way from the door that Ada was practically fuming where she stood, and John and Arthur were sitting in their seats with straight backs, looking down into the table sheepishly, clearly terrified of the Shelby women. Just as they should be.

Once said women noticed you returning, they slapped the two men upside the heads, causing them to look up at you.

Both of them mumbled half-coherent apologized under their breaths, for having started the fight.

You only glared at them as you reached the table and Tommy pulled out your chair again, sinking into your previous seat and bringing the glass you knew was yours judging by the smudged lipstick on the edge closer to you.

“You’re all brutes and you should be ashamed of yourselves.” You told them without missing a beat, still pissed beyond words at the fiasco you had just witnessed.

But nonetheless, you tilted your glass slightly, looking at each and every one of the men around the table.

“Now who the hell’s going to get me another drink?” You asked, and all of those who had in one way or another participated in the brawl wordlessly got out of their seats and headed for the bar, Tommy included, while those whose hands were clean sat back down and made themselves comfortable, more than amused at the fact that you had only been there for a night and was already bossing them around – although more surprised than anything that they were already letting you.

So much for making a good first impression.

Tagged: @thatlittlered

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zodiyack · 4 years

Text

Speeding Cars

Requested by anon: Hello I wanted to ask if you could do a Tommy Shelby x reader angsty song!fic based on the song speeding cars by walking on cars. Also thank you in advance and if you can't no hard feelings.

Pairing: Thomas Shelby x Female!Reader

Warnings: Angst, swearing, cheating, mentions of abuse

Words: 2,164

Song: Speeding Cars by Walking On Cars

Key: Lyrics = Bold + Italic, Memories (and sometimes emphasis) = Italic

Taglist: @captivatedbycillianmurphy, @stydia-4-ever, @matth1w, @redspaceace, @simonsbluee, @jenepleurepasbaby, @peakysputain, @fandom-puff, @darling-i-read-it

Masterlist | Peaky Blinders Masterlist

So if I stand in front of a speeding car, Would you tell me who you are, what you like? What's on your mind, if I'd get it right? How I love that no one knows. And these secrets all that we've got so far, The demons in the dark, lie again, Play pretends like it never ends; This way no one has to know

He loved her, so Polly understood his pain. The family had recently told him about Y/n’s betrayal. How she never actually loved him. And even if she had, he had to give up his love for her to be with another woman. It hit him. Hard. But she understood his need for space.

At least, that’s what she imagined he was going through.

In reality, Tommy was going through the downfall of their relationship. Y/n had actually loved him, confessed her betrayal one night. Though his reaction was not ideal, expected- yet not ideal, he loved her nevertheless.

She came to him, just the other night, and fessed up the newest information. Her employer offered a deal; Tommy take the man’s daughter’s hand in marriage for peace, or their war would continue. Accepting would mean he, the employer, would no longer be a threat to the Shelby family, but it also meant Tommy could no longer see Y/n, as that would be crossing him.

His palms slammed down on the wooden surface of his desk, splinters piercing through his soft pale skin. The water in his eyes formed into droplets, splashing down on the papers in front of him.

“You don’t love me, do you?”

“That’s not what I said. And frankly, I believe I should be the one to ask that, of you!” The hurt in his voice made Y/n wince. “You’re playing the victim, after telling me you work for my enemy. How wonderful.”

“I understand, Thomas, you’re hurt-”

“Hurt is an understatement. I... I’m letting my family down by falling for you. I’m putting everyone I love at risk, because I was dumb enough to fall for you.”

His angry ranting continued as he paced the room. Y/n felt her own anger bubbling up to the surface before she finally snapped. “You think you’re the only one with that problem? I hadn’t intended to fall for you, but in the end, I did! I fell for you and I don’t regret anything besides working for that... that.. that dick!”

Tommy’s head snapped upwards, finally noticing the tears that streamed down her cheeks, how red and puffy her eyes had become. Her expression showed him just how genuine her confessional outburst was.

“You mean that?”

“Of course I mean it, Tommy. I would give anything to be able to live a normal life with you. No enemies, no living in fear of your life or my own, just a normal life.”

He hesitated, breathing slowly as he processed the information. Tommy scoffed at himself before walking over to Y/n and pulling her flush against himself. “I love you. I know, we’ll have to talk about this in the morning, but for now, I need you to know that I love you.”

“Promise me.”

“Promise you what?”

She pulled away slightly, looking into his eyes, “Promise me you’ll never forget me. If I betray this man... I could die. So, remember me. Whether I run or die. If I run, and the man forgets about me or dies or... so on, promise you’ll look for me?”

The silence that began to crawl it’s way into the room haunted Y/n. She held a breath, fearing the worst of his response before- “Do you even have to ask? How could I ever forget a woman like you?” A smile formed upon his lips, a chuckle following suite.

Even the half smile would have slowed down the time, If I could call you half mine, Maybe this is the safest way to go.

We're singing, Heya heya heya heya, Heya, heya heya. This is the safest way to go nobody gets hurt. We're singing, Heya heya heya heya, Heya, heya heya, You go back to him and then I'll go back to her

So if I stand in front of a speeding car, Would you give your little heart? Say the word? Due to just me and you, This way everyone will know; 'Cause these secrets all that we've got so far. The demons in the dark, lie again, Play pretends like it never ends, This way no one has to know

Tommy excused himself from a conversation with a friend of his wife’s, following something only he seemed to see. It had to be. He was certain. His heart began to pound in his chest.

Only a week ago, he’d married the daughter, gained mercy for his family, and broke his own heart as well as Y/n’s. He really wasn’t in love, despite convincing his wife and the people who’d attended the wedding. Deep down, his heart belonged to the woman he know held against the wall.

His lips traveled up her neck, hand gripping her thigh against his waist. Kissing was the only thing they’d done that night, but her hesitance told him something.

“Is there anything you’d like to tell me?” He mumbled against her jawline, the tingle-like tickle causing her to giggle softly.

“We have to stop this.”

He stopped, smile dropping from his face, and pulled away. “What do you mean?”

“Thomas.” He pulled away, allowing his eyes to scan her features fully. Though the light was dim, he could see every detail. The seriousness they held made his heart drop. “You have a wife. Her father... my employer... he found someone for me. Not my choice, as I would love to continue this... he just...”

“Knows you love me.” Tommy’s eyes fell to the ground, realization hitting him as he finished her sentence. “I understand.”

“Re-remember your promise?” Her words caught his attention once more, “Even though this is the way to live...don’t forget me. We can find a way to push through this.”

“You’re right.”

“I love y-”

“You made your point. I have to forget about you. This is the way to live. And if I still have you on my mind, it won’t seem real.”

“Tommy-” Y/n’s hand came to his cheek slowly, but he pushed it away. “Tommy, don’t do this-”

“No.” He scoffed, chuckling mockingly. “You tell me to give us up, then you tell me not to. Make up your mind, Y/n. Either risk our lives so we can be together, or be a coward and give us up.”

His words hurt her, stabbing her with figurative knives, until she put up the same emotional barrier she held when they first met. “You’re being just as much of a dick as he is. Maybe you should give us up. Cause I would really prefer not going through being under his influence again. So, this is goodbye, Mr. Shelby.”

Her shoulder bumped into him as she walked away. He didn’t miss the redness in her eyes, the way her voice struggled- like she was holding back. Making sure to break in front of him.

And she was; as soon as she left the back doors of the building, her eyes began to pour, just as hard as the rain over her head. Her fiancé waited for her at the front of the building, smoking his cigarette and laughing with his friends.

He was not the best of partners, and neither were the people he chose to spend his time with. She debated, truly, whether she should run back to Tommy, tell him just how bad their choices were, but she was too late. He spotted her, stubbing out the stick, and walked over, grabbing her harshly and announcing their leave to the group of men he had previously been chatting with.

Even the half smile would have slowed down the time, If I could call you half mine. Maybe this is the safest way to go. We're singing Heya heya heya heya, Heya, heya heya, This is the safest way to go nobody gets hurt.

Their attempts of straying from each other were useless. Tommy found himself realizing quite a bit that night. How unwise and cruel the words he used were, how he couldn’t ever try to pretend he loved her.

It wasn’t until he found his wife cheating on him with the man Y/n had married, did he realize they were both fucked over. The employer knew full well of his daughter’s status in loyalty, as well as the man he forced Y/n to marry, yet the grief they both went through from being split gave him a lot of amusement.

But he still wouldn’t let Thomas divorce her, or Y/n her partner. They were stuck, and Tommy didn’t like it one bit. Neither did Y/n. The bruises on her skin were hidden by her long gown, but revealed by the wind. While he was thankful for the sudden topic of discussion, he was beyond angry for obvious reasons.

“What happened.”

Her sharp inhale and slight jump cued Tommy in on her surprise to see him. He saw her eyes light up but dim down when she realized who she was talking to. “Tommy...we shouldn’t be conversing.”

They began walking, perhaps for a disguised conversation, or for the sake of avoiding being in the same spot- where anyone could hear. “Did you know?”

“That our spouses were... yeah. I found out, confronted him...”

“Is that how you got those?”

Her eyes widened. “Thomas- you can’t... you weren’t supposed to see that.”

“Yes, I’m sure I know that, but I did. And I’d like it if you told me what happened.”

“You really want to know what happened? The day you... the day we stopped seeing each other, he grew upset, thought I was planning an escape and slapped me. That was the only time he’d done something as fiancés. However, when I married him...it just got worse.”

His heart panged with guilt, anger, and so many mixed emotions. He wasn’t sure if he liked it or not; emotions stripped away from him when he stopped seeing Y/n. “I could kill him, you know. I’ve got friends-”

“Yes, but then your wife’s father will go after me, your friends and family, as well you.”

“He wouldn’t know.”

“Really?” She chuckled, “Yes, yes. The man who managed to get the Thomas Shelby to fear him would surely never notice a planned death, in which the mighty Tommy set up to get the love of his life back. If she even is that.”

“You are.”

Y/n stopped walking and turned to face Thomas. “Tommy...”

“I know, we must not see each other. I’ve got that part engraved into my brain due to my eternal hatred for it. Just- please, Y/n. At least spend one last night with me?”

The way her e/c orbs flickered away from his made him lick his lips out of nervousness. He hadn’t been this anxious since he was a teen. “Thomas- you know the answer. The least I can do... is this.”

He was about to ask her what she had meant, before her palm lifted to his cheek, her lips touched his, and his hands darted to her waist out of memory. They stayed there for a moment, wetness beginning to travel their cheeks, mixing together where their faces touched.

She pulled away, giving him one last pained look, “Goodbye, Thomas Shelby.” Then, just as they both feared, she walked away. She didn’t give him a chance to say it back, for a reason Thomas knew and clung to.

They wouldn’t let it be their last goodbye.

We're singing, Heya heya heya heya, Heya, heya heya, You go back to him and then I'll go back to her

So if I stand in front of a speeding car, Would you tell me who you are, what you like? What's on your mind, if I'd get it right? How I love that no one knows. These secrets all that we've got so far. The demons in the dark, lie again, Play pretends like it never ends. How I love that no one knows

Advertise my secret- I don't really need it. I know you can feel this, So advertise my secret; I don't really need it. I know you can feel this; So advertise my, Advertise my secret

The distance was too much for either of them to handle.

Y/n took it better than Thomas, clinging to their previous meeting, the softness of his lips bringing a red hue to her cheeks every time she thought of it, and the feeling of his smooth skin against her palm sending shivers down her back.

Tommy, however, was hellbent on getting her back. Their kiss was enough to send him over the edge, to find a way to get her back into his arms. He thought of many tricks and loopholes, but none ever played out successfully in his brain.

So he tried to drag Y/n into it.

He nudged her harshly, “Tell them. I could care less.”

“But I care. It could get us both killed.”

“Say that you threatened me with it.”

“Threatened you with the fact that I slept with you a number of times the week of and the week after your wedding? Yes, what a wonderful thing to tell the man who has the trigger at the ready. Tell him that I slept with his daughter’s husband despite, oh- you know, his daughter getting married to him.” Her sarcasm was painful.

“I’m trying to think of ways for us to be together, Y/n.”

“Maybe there isn’t one! Have you ever thought of that? Maybe- maybe fate’s keeping us away from each other for a reason. Maybe we just aren’t meant for each other.”

Tommy leaned against the wall, chuckling to himself.

“What?”

“Nothing...” He lit his cigarette and brought it to his mouth, still chuckling. “Just... fuck fate. I say we write our own destiny.”

The line brought a smile to Y/n’s lips.

“So, any luck?”

“Nope. I’m still working for the bastard.” She frowned, snatching the cigarette from his lips and placing it between hers. “How about you? Think you can take him?”

“Not currently. He’s clever, I’ll give him that, but clever doesn’t beat the Shelby’s. ...He thinks it’s fate, ya know?”

“What’s fate?”

“That he’ll be the downfall of the Shelby family.”

“Well...” She handed him back his cigarettes, “fuck him. And fuck fate.”

Her smile fell. She shoved past him and walked down the hall. He could hear arguing, voices belonging to Y/n and her husband, before the clacking of shoes returned. Y/n and her husband walked past Tommy, her husband sneaking a not so sneaky smirk to Tommy, in a rush.

The door slammed shut and that’s when he noticed it. The paper that had fallen from Y/n’s pocket. Words out of his view until he picked it up. The rushed handwriting returning the grin to his pink lips.

“Fuck fate.”

We're singing, Heya heya heya heya, Heya, heya heya, This is the safest way to go nobody gets hurt. We're singing, Heya heya heya heya, Heya, heya heya. You go back to him and then I'll go back to her

If I stand in front of a speeding car, Don't know who you are, Don't know who you are...Heya heya heya heya, Heya, heya heya, You go back to him and then I'll go back to her

#i tried #thomas shelby #thomas shelby x reader #tommy shelby #tommy shelby x reader #cillian murphy #cillian murphy x reader #peaky blinders #peaky blinders x reader #peaky blinders reader insert #reader insert #x reader #all readers #zodiyack #speeding cars #walking on cars

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jaceyneedsabetterusername · 4 years

Text

Doyenne ~ Part 7 (Final Chapter)

Warnings: Tommy Shelby x Reader

Summary: Tommy needs help from one of Birmingham’s most powerful underground gangs, the Hemlock Angels. Little does he know, he’s not the king of Birmingham after all.

Warnings: Murder, Illegal stuff (Is this even a warning for this show? Everything’s illegal)

Word Count: 5867

A/N: Ahh! The last chapter!!! As I go back and re-read the last few chapters, I’m nervous Tommy has been a little OOC (I hadn’t watched the show in a few weeks). But oh well! Thank you for sticking with me and I hope you enjoy the finale!

A/N 2: Also, all the monetary references have been adjusted for inflation. I think I forgot to mention it before. But, yeah. So 400 pounds was worth much more than 400 pounds now.

___________________________________

Fuck Thomas Shelby.

Fuck him and the way he treated everyone around him as if they were beneath him. Fuck him and the way he acted like people were expendable. Fuck him and the way he viewed everyone as pawns in his own overlord game of chess. Fuck him and the way he just blatantly called you out. Fuck him and the way he made you crave him.

Your encounter with him had been fulfilling in ways you hadn’t expected but it had also infuriated you, bringing back memories you’d struggled to suppress for the last two years. Memories brought out emotion and emotion was vulnerability and you had no room for that. But since Tommy had planted the seeds of memory in your mind, all you could do was feel the hidden rage and heartache you’d been concealing since Mason had screwed you over.

Mason had been your lover years ago as the Hemlock Angels grew. He was a poor boy desperate for money and you were a poor entrepreneur desperate for people willing to do illegal work. A romance very quickly blossomed and he was the first and only man you could say you ever truly loved. You’re whole heart and soul was invested in him.

He was tall and handsome with auburn hair that was slicked back on top but shook loose when he’d get into something he was doing - whether it was working hard loading crates, beating someone up who tried to cross you guys, or making love to you. He had a light smattering of freckles across the bridge of his nose that gave his otherwise chiseled and angular face a soft touch. Toned muscles rippled across his perfect body and-

Even today, after all this time, after all he’d done, you still felt love for him and you hated yourself for it. Once the Hemlock Angels took off as a whiskey exporter (though still a young and admittedly sloppy version of your current business in retrospect), he’d been caught at the docks with the cargo. He and the crates were seized by police and, with the promise of a very handsome monetary reward and legal immunity, he’d given the police the address of your distillery. Thankfully, you weren’t there when it had been raided but you lost everything you’d worked for because of him. ₤400 was worth your love and life’s work apparently. He took the money and ran off to Switzerland to avoid being drafted and lived off his money, leaving you to rebuild your empire.

The betrayal had destroyed you, left you a complete shell of a person, incapable of trusting others, especially men. But it had allowed you to grow the Hemlock Angels. To avoid the pain, you threw yourself into rebuilding the distillery and developing more foolproof protocols for business operation. Never again would you make the mistake of allowing someone to double-cross you. It was why you conducted your business quietly, even quieter than, say, Alfie Solomons, who was also fairly underground as these sorts of businesses were concerned.

Thomas Shelby made you feel things that Mason had made you feel and it terrified you to no end. The impending doom of repeated history loomed over you heavily, suffocating you and ripping your ability to breathe away. But it was a mistake that you kept feeling yourself drawn to making.

Friday night had come around quickly and you found yourself awaiting Tommy in your main office yet again. The last thing that you wanted was to see him in this room, the ghost of his touch coming to haunt your skin. But no. This needed to happen here because meeting him on his turf gave him the upper hand. And now that Jameson and Brandon, the only thing you’d asked for in return for your work, had been killed, this was feeling more and more like a free favor. You refused to stake anything more than you already had on a free favor.

“Y/N, Thomas Shelby is here for you.” Rita announced, peeking her head through the crack in the office door. You stiffened up, trying to play it off as just sitting up straighter but your prodege must have seen straight through you because she gave you a knowing glare.

“See him in. Thank you.” Straight-forward, professional, and impersonal. That was going to be your new tactic. No more of the games you’d attempted to play with him, the same games that you were usually able to play successfully with everyone else. No more hot and cold, nice then firm. Tommy was able to worm his way through the small cracks of your professional wall to see the parts of even yourself that you tried to hide and that vulnerability stopped here.

“Mr. Shelby,” You nodded in acknowledgement when he entered your office and you gestured to the chair across from you. Tommy’s eyes flashed with a hint of confusion. The entire energy of this interaction felt off already but nonetheless, he followed your gesture and sat down.

You reached down and grabbed a leather bag from beneath your desk, dropping it on the table. Reaching up, you clicked the little locks on top open and pulled the material appart, revealing thousands of American bills, “Here is the final installment of the money. All the same as the first.”

Tommy peeked into the bag, just to ensure that the money was in fact there. He lifted out a stack and flipped through them. They all appeared to be identical both to each other and to the last bag and if he hadn't known any better, he would think they were all legitimate notes.

You leaned back and watched as he inspected the money, sure that he’d be satisfied with the work, before continuing, “There is a shipment going out to America tomorrow night. I need to know what it is that you’re shipping so I can be sure to leave enough room onboard.”

The man shook his head, “I can’t tell you what it is that we’re shipping.”

“Then I can’t help you anymore.” You stated matter-of-factly, crossing your arms, “I need to know what I’m sticking my neck out for.”

“Like I stuck my neck out for you?”

“Yes.” Your eyes locked with his, refusing to back down or allow him to guilt trip you.

Tommy sighed, “It’s snow.”

Your eyebrow raised in surprise, “Didn’t have you pegged for a drug lord.” You actually were almost impressed. The man had range.

“Just dabbling as you would put it,” he responded vaguely.

So cocaine… It wasn’t the worst of the possibilities that you’d imagined. Ideas of dismembered body disposal or massive amounts of firearms or a million other worse things had occurred to you as possibilities. Of course, it depended on how much as well. “What’re the dimensions of the shipment?”

“Half a cubic meter.”

“Half a cubic fucking meter?!” You exclaimed, nearly choking on air, “How the hell did you come into that much blow?”

Tommy put his hand up, “Now that I can’t tell you.”

You nodded, “Alright, alright. I can respect that. A half cubic meter is an easy accommodation. Now, for the game plan…”

Shipment days were anxiety producing enough as it was when you weren’t shipping thousands of pounds worth of cocaine along with it but tonight, your heart felt like it was in your throat. “Billy said the crates are all loaded at the distillery.” Rita announced to you, holding one ear to the receiving end of the phone and covering the mouthpiece with her hand. You finished loading your gun at the kitchen table inside of your shared house, slipping each bullet one by one into their slots with experienced skill.

“Good. Tell him we’ll meet him at the factory in forty-five minutes.” With a final spin of the chamber - a ritual you’d developed after telling yourself (with no real evidence) that it was good luck years ago - you clicked the metal pieces together and slid it into the holster at your side.

“Forty five minutes? It’s only twenty minutes outside of town.” Rita questioned once she’d hung up the phone after relaying the information.

You loaded Rita’s gun for her while you spoke and slid it across the table to her, “We are picking up Thomas and his brother Arthur to take them to the factory to load up their cargo.”

She caught the gun and looked at you with wide cautious eyes, “Are you sure that’s a good idea? Taking the Shelbys to the factory?”

You sighed a knowing breath, “Yeah, I know. But he insisted that he remain in possession of the goods for as long as possible.”

Rita’s face scrunched, “He knows he’s gonna have to relinquish possession at some point, right? What is he even shipping?” She slipped the gun into the pocket of her skirt.

“Snow.” You confided with an impressed chuckle.

She nearly snorted, “Really? Didn’t have him pegged for a drug lord.”

A shocked laugh left your lips, “That’s what I said!”

Ten minutes later, you pulled up to the shipping yard that Tommy had said he’d be at with the cocaine and sure enough, there he was standing beside Arthur, both with cigarettes between their lips as they waited. In the shine of your headlights, you saw them both look over at you and move to pick up a wooden crate that was on the ground alongside an old military canvas bag. “Good evening, Y/N.” Tommy greeted politely once your tires came to a halt on the crunching gravel.

“Good evening. This is it?” You confirmed once you got out of the car, pointing at the crate and bag full of money on the ground.

He nodded, “Yes, this is it.”

“Alright, we’ll just load those in the back seat for now,” You pointed back over your shoulder towards the black automobile behind you, “You must be Arthur. It’s nice to officially meet you. This is my right hand lady, Rita.” You introduced, first shaking his hand and then moving so Rita could as well.

“Pleasure.” Arthur nodded to you both.

“Well, should we get going?”

Right on time, you arrived at the old factory you were meeting Billy, the man in charge of transport at the distillery, at. The factory was inconveniently located, even in its prime, set twenty minutes out of town, and had been abandoned since at least the 1880’s following a massive fire that had totally destroyed the structure and killed dozens of working men. The ghost stories surrounding it had kept it from ever being rebuilt and it had been abandoned for nearly half a century since, which now made it the perfect place for you to conduct business.

“What the hell are we doin’ all the way out here?” Arthur asked when the car pulled up to the building. There had been nothing for miles and even now there was just your car and a large truck.

After turning off the engine, you got out, the other three people in the car following, “I know it doesn’t look like… well… anything really. But trust me, this has worked well for us over the years.”

“There’s no ports, no railroad stop. We had to take a dirt road to get here. How do you even move goods from this point?” Arthur questioned, skeptically. You could almost feel him reaching for his gun, convinced they were being ambushed or something and maybe, if you hadn’t been so eager to get this deal over with so you could stop whatever the hell was going on with Tommy, you would have dragged this out and messed with them a little bit.

You pointed to the opposite side of the large factory - or what was left of it at least, “You can’t see it from here at night but there’s an old railroad track just on the other side of that wall. The train only comes through once every two weeks or so but thankfully it’s usually the same conductor. A few pounds buys us an unscheduled stop on his trips down to Gloucester where they load everything up onto a cargo ship and haul it off to America.”

You were proud of your little system you’d developed. It had allowed you to grow into an international exporter and was the main source of your success. Tommy had seemed impressed last night when you developed the plan and explained everything to him then and now Arthur seemed to match his affections.

The loud closing of a door drew all of your attention to the large truck. Billy, a stout, acne scarred man in his late forties, walked towards your group from the driver’s side of the truck. “Y/N! Will said the train is runnin’ a little late but should be ‘ere by 10:30.” He informed you in his thick Irish accent once he made it to you guys. A few other of your men jumped out of the passenger side but hung around the truck instead of approaching.

Rita flipped out her pocket watch and checked the time, “We got about fifteen minutes then.”

The next fifteen minutes were passed with pleasantries and conversation. Arthur never quite let his guard down and seemed on edge but had relaxed significantly. Honestly, you had as well. Something about tonight felt different than usual. There wasn’t the constant paranoia that the Shelbys were out to double cross you tonight you. Perhaps it was a mistake but, for once, you felt almost comfortable in his presence.

The train came by right at 10:30, it’s crawling pace coming to a screeching halt with a loud hiss of steam. Billy went up to one of the old metal train cars and undid the locks. The door was slid open to reveal an empty space. “Alrighty, we’ll just move the boxes from the truck to here and then we’ll be on our way.”

The other men who chose to stay by the truck had already lifted the canvas cover off the top and were carrying huge crates one by one, full with copious bottles of your illegal whiskey, to fill the train car. You stood off to the side with Rita, Thomas, and Arthur while your men worked, waiting patiently as they unloaded the truck.

“Alright, Mr. Shelby. We have the space for your cargo now.” Billy invited, hands outstretched to take what Tommy had to ship. You noticed a nervous glance from the crate to Billy’s hands from Arthur.

Tommy at least pretended that he trusted Billy, “Y/N told me that you travel with the shipment all the way to America,” He took out a picture from his pocket, “This is the man that will be awaiting your arrival there. Pass the goods off to him and only him, understand?”

Billy nodded, inspecting the picture of the man before folding it into his coat, “Yes, sir.”

Finally, Arthur relinquished possession of the cocaine to your man and he set it carefully on one of your boxes. After packing the duffel bag full of money, Billy hopped inside and the door was slid shut.

The other men took the truck back to the distillery and you turned to Tommy, “I’ll call you when I get the call that it’s arrived in America. It usually takes between seven to ten days, depending on the weather.”

“Thank you. Perhaps, we could get a drink to celebrate.” He suggested as if you hadn’t had sex out of spite the other night.

“What is there to celebrate?” You avoided the invitation.

He gestured around, “A successful business transaction?”

You cocked an eyebrow at him, “I feel like you’d use anything as an excuse to drink. I have a hunch whiskey flows through your veins in place of blood.”

He shrugged, “Nobody needs an excuse to drink.”

“Fair point.” Internally, you smacked yourself but you ended up nodding a reluctant agreement, “Alright, one drink.”

Tommy gave you a satisfied look that could have almost resembled a smile, “But this time I want to show you one of my establishments.”

Thankfully, Tommy had agreed to your suggestion of Arthur and Rita joining the pair of you as well, using them as a buffer to ensure no other mistakes were made with the man who seemed to be your kryptonite. You’d taken everyone to the Garrison, a pub that you’d known to be under the control of the Peaky Blinders for the last several years, right after all the work at the factory had been finished.

Tommy held the door for you as you passed through, Arthur taking over to hold it for Rita. Wordlessly, Tommy held up four fingers before ushering you away to a small booth in the back, along with his brother and Rita. All four of you slid along the cushion seats, making small talk yet again. Thankfully, now, after having been around each other for the last few hours, it was much less awkward and everyone was open to more conversation than initially.

Arthur excused himself after a moment and when a poker game opened up between some of the other Blinders, Rita, an secret card shark, disappeared to swindle some poor, unsuspecting men of a few pounds. You and Tommy found yourselves alone, exactly what you’d hoped to avoid.

“Sure she should be playing?” Tommy pointed over to Rita was his mostly empty glass of whiskey. You followed his gaze to see her with a disappointed look, one of the guys sliding his hand to take what you assumed were her chips.

You snorted, “Oh, I’m sure. It’s your boys that should be looked after. Give ‘em a few more rounds. She’ll be leaving with most of their money.”

Tommy almost smiled and nodded, “Aye,” He paused before beginning again, “Y’know, I can’t help but feel a little guilty. You helped us out with a lot and you didn’t exactly get your end of the bargain.”

You inhaled deeply and looked away from him, bringing back up that professional front that you’d felt slowly slipping away throughout the night, “It happens sometimes I suppose. I thought about asking for more but a deal’s a deal and unlike some others, I don’t like to change my conditions once they’ve been agreed upon.”

“And what is it that you would have asked for had you been one to change deals?” He leaned forward, listening intently to your next words.

“Is Thomas Shelby feeling guilty for taking more than he gave?” You asked in shock, “I wouldn’t even do that.” Your tone quickly became jestful. “No, I’m only joking. You did end up coming to the rescue the other day which is more than others would have done.”

Instead of seeming satisfied with your answer, though, he only raised his eyebrows and repeated the question, “What would you ask for?”

Something told you that he was offering you new circumstances, an extra favor. Who did that? In this line of work, who knew what kind of horrible request would be made?

What did you want? It was a good question. But did you have to answer honestly? Because an honest answer might jeopardize your life’s work and maybe even your life itself with some people. Tommy hadn’t double crossed you thus far though…

After a long pause, you licked your lips, “A deal.”

“Another deal?” He questioned curiously.

You nodded, a small smirk on your face, “Yes. A deal between the Peaky Blinders and the Hemlock Angels. Business partners and an agreement to aid each other when needed. Neither of us offer the same services or sell the same goods, with the exception of the Garrison and my little establishment, so there’s no need to worry about losing business.”

Tommy cocked an eyebrow, “I thought you didn’t trust me. A double crosser, I believe you called me when we first met?”

“I said that’s what other people had called you.” You defended, remembering your first interaction well. “But I must be honest, I had a hunch they were correct.”

“Then why trust me now?”

“I don’t,” You answered short and honest, “But I want to despite everything telling me not to. I figure this way, I can keep an eye on you.” You threatened in a joking tone, although you really weren’t joking all that much. As the saying goes, keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Or, more fittingly for your scenario, keep your friends close and your acquaintance/ occasional hook up/ business partner who might backstab you closer.

It took only a few moments for Tommy to weigh out the decision before nodding, “Alright, a deal then.”

You raised your glass to him and he mirrored the action, a slight ting as your glasses tapped against each other in a celebration of a new alliance. The next twenty minutes or so was full of small talk, something that Tommy never found himself doing with anyone, so why was it so easy with you? Every now and then, there’s be grumbles of anger from the table playing poker as new opponents who insisted they could beat Rita lost a larger and larger fortune with each round.

A quiet ding as the door opened made you twist your neck, curiously checking to see who came in. Then your heart stopped. “Fuck-” Your heart was caught in your throat and you wanted to vomit.

Mason.

He looked almost identical to how he did two years ago, just with a few more age lines. Time had been less kind to him than it had to you. He entered the room with a large casual air, surely unknowing of your presence.

Tommy noticed your sudden panic when you uncharacteristically sunk into the the booth, hiding your face from the red-headed man who had entered the pub, “So that’s the man, eh?”

You covered your face which had turned a shade somewhere between pink with embarrassment and red from rage. But nevertheless, you nodded, still side eyeing Mason from between your fingers as he ordered a glass of gin.

“Gin?” Tommy noticed judgmentally, “Drinks like a woman.”

Normally, under any other circumstances, you would have made some snarky comment about using your gender as an insult but you appreciated the effort to insult this man he’d never met, simply because he’d wronged you. “So what happened?” He inquired.

You sighed, finally sitting up straight, just keeping your eyes on the table, “My ex. We were practically on the verge of marriage. He helped me start up the Hemlock Angles before he sold us out to the cops for a few hundred pounds. Ruined us for months.”

Tommy listened to the story intently, watching the man out of the corner of his eye and quickly noticing that he seemed to have noticed your presence. At first, he glanced over nervously towards you before deciding to approach, a decision that Tommy had a hunch was the wrong one.

“Four o’clock.” Tommy mumbled over the rim of his glass. Your eyes immediately shot to four o’clock to see Mason walking over, all too confident for your liking, a confidence you had every intention of destroying.

“Y/-” He began, only getting half way through your name before you interrupted.

“You have a lot of fucking nerve showing your face ‘round here.” You hissed, venom dripping from every word.

Mason put his hands up in defense. Those same hands that used to be calloused from work and you’d seen covered in blood looked as if they hadn’t so much as lifted a piece of wood in months. “I didn’t come looking for a fight. Just wanted to see how you were doing.”

“You’re lucky I don’t shoot you dead where you stand right now you pathetic sack of shit.” Tommy sat back and watched as you destroyed this man with your words and he could only imagine the other stories about him you had. Your viper tongue had him on edge in the best possible ways.

“I-”

“No. You’re nothing.” You interrupted.

He sighed, “I wanted to say I’m sorry, okay? I’m sorry for what I did! I miss us. I miss you.” He reached down, trying to take your hand, but you snatched it away. He looked down and eyed Tommy for half a second, trying to determine whether your relationship was romantic or platonic.

You laughed a sadistic laugh, “You’re not sorry and you don’t miss me. You ran out of money didn’t you? Well I hate to tell you but you disappearing was the best fucking thing that ever happened to me. I run Birmingham now and it’s all thanks to you. Now get the fuck out of my city.”

Then for a second, there was a brief flash of danger in his eyes, that same danger that you’d fallen in love with. But this time, that anger was directed at you. His fist slammed down hard on the table in front of you, just barely missing your face, but you didn’t even flinch, “Listen here,-”

“She said fuck off, mate.” Tommy interjected finally. Both of you looked over at him and you could’ve sworn you almost forgot he was here.

Mason snorted, “‘N who the hell are you?”

“It doesn’t matter who I am. What matters is that you respect her wishes and kindly fuck off.” Tommy’s voice was calm, much calmer than yours, but still holding a very sincere threat.

Mason looked between the two of you and chuckled as if he’d been the one who was wronged in all of this before turning away, like he was trying to laugh it off nonchalantly. All of a sudden, he drew his arm back and began to swing his down onto Tommy. Before the blow could connect, you had your pistol out in a second and pulled the trigger.

The loud bang drew several startled yells from around the bar and everything got quiet as they looked at your booth to see Mason’s body crumble face first on top of the table, lifeless. When the realization of what you’d done hit you, your mouth fell open in shock. “Holy shit…” You whispered to yourself.

Tommy had jumped when the gunshot went off but now looked just as surprised as you did to see Mason lying dead across the table between you, “I really didn’t think you had it in you.” He really didn’t. Sure, he’d seen you shoot Sabini’s men but the way you looked at and talked about Mason, he assumed it was one of those loves you’d never be able to harm no matter the damage they’d caused to you. But, boy, was he blissfully surprised.

All the Blinders in the building, including two of the Shelby brothers, Finn and Arthur, jumped up, guns pointed and ready to take down the attacker. Tommy held up his hand, “It’s alright, boys! Hold your fire!”

You stood up to avoid the blood that was now dripping off the table and onto where you sat, “‘m sorry.” You apologized for the mess but Tommy shook his head.

“Don’t be. He looked like he had it comin’.” With a wave of his hand, a few Blinders that you didn’t know the names of stood up from their seats around the poker table and walked up, lifting the body off the table. You weren’t quite sure what to do or say. You’d actually shot him. You killed Mason. He wasn’t the first person you’d killed but that didn’t mean that you enjoyed doing it. Unless it was in a moment of grave danger, watching the life drain from someone’s eyes as they crumpled into a bloody heap never ceased to make you momentarily sick, thoughts of the family you may have ripped apart destroying you.

But you knew Mason didn’t have any family. The only person you’d hurt was him. You’d freed yourself.

You looked up at him as he now stood beside you and saw that he was gazing down at the body and then glanced over to you, nothing but pure impressed admiration on his face.

Tommy liked that you were able to take care of yourself and that you spoke honestly. It made him feel like perhaps this deal that you two had struck up would prove to be beneficial and trust based and that, just maybe, if things went well, perhaps the two of you could build your own empire together.

Tommy had always been rather daft (or perhaps was that he just didn’t care) when it came to other people’s emotions and he was well aware of this flaw. But now, it was like he could see every inch of confliction on your face. “You alright?” He asked when he’d noticed your eyes hadn’t left the body, even when the men’s forms had covered it.

His voice shook you out of your daze and you blinked yourself into clarity, “Yeah… yeah, I’m fine.” You turned away from the table to face the open room of the bar. Rita stood at the table, her chair tipped over on the ground behind her. She looked from you to Mason’s body that was being carried out back and back to you with a look of shock plastered on her face. The only other person who knew as much as you did about that situation was her.

You walked up to the bar and threw a few coins on the bar, “I don’t care what it is, just make it strong.”

“You don’t have to pay.” Tommy insisted but you ignored him, leaving the coins on the bar and taking the mystery drink that had been poured. Walking out the front door, Tommy trailed close behind.

Finally, you parked yourself against the outer wall of the Garrison and downed the whole glass in one go, the fiery liquid burning a trail down your throat. Whatever the drink was, you had no idea. You set the glass down on the ground and lit a cigarette to replace the glass rim.

Nobody spoke for a moment, until a small group of cops came running by. You tried your hardest to look innocent as they stopped and eye Tommy knowingly. “Tommy-” One of them started in a thick cockney accent.

Tommy shook his head and pointed down the road, “Wasn’t us this time. Came from down the street.”

It was clear from the looks on all three of the cops' faces that none of them believed a word that came out of his mouth but they weren’t about to cross Thomas Shelby. “There was a bit of a commotion from up there earlier before the shot.” You tried to reinforce the lie as smoothly and believably as possible.

The cop looked a little more convinced when you agreed with Tommy and nodded before the trio ran off down the road looking for another gunman. This exact situation was why you didn’t get involved with the cops because they’re not going to believe you when you need to lie about something like this.

As time passed, you became more calm, “I really am sorry about this, Tommy.”

“I’ve never had a woman shoot someone ‘cause I was ‘bout to be punched. It was quite attractive, I can’t lie.” Tommy lit a cigarette as well, standing beside you, almost blocking the activity of the street in what seemed like an attempt to protect you.

A smile cracked on your face when you chuckled a little, the constant matter-of-factness of his tone making almost everything he said sound like business, even when he was complimenting you, “Well, like you said, it had been a long time coming.”

You felt like you were being dramatic. Wasn’t killing just part of this gig afterall? “Y’know, I swear I can usually shoot someone without breaking down.” You tried to defend yourself with a weak laugh.

Tommy shook his head, “It’s not always easy, I know. My hands get the shakes at night. Just because it’s part of the deal doesn’t mean you have to enjoy it.” He took a deep breath before continuing, “You know, I haven’t felt the way I feel around you in a long time.”

His confession was simple and, while a small part of you wanted to smack him for his terrible timing, a larger part of you felt the same way. “Neither have I. I’m used to being airtight but you make me weak… and I hate it.” You looked away from him, avoiding his deep, knowing eyes.

“Whoever said that this had to be weakness?” He inquired, a hand running along your arm.

A scoff left your lips as you rolled your eyes, “And you don’t believe that romance is weakness?” It wasn’t until the words left your mouth that you remembered he’d lost Grace and a pang of guilt struck your chest for bringing up the memory. But you also weren’t about to revoke the question. It just further illustrated your fear.

Tommy looked at the ground a for moment, remembering what it was like to hold the love of his life in his arms as she died, knowing it was fault, and thinking about how it felt to relive that pain every time he looked at a portrait of her or his own son.

Finally, he nodded, “We’ve both lost people we loved but we also still have people we care about, whether they’re family or friends. A lesson that’s been very difficult for me to learn over the last decade or so is that it is impossible to completely rid yourself of all weaknesses.”

Again, an almost humorous comment coming from Thomas Shelby, who everyone had known to be as secure and weakness-free as you were. You thought about his words, though, and tried to convince yourself that this was a bad idea - that an alliance and romance with Thomas Shelby was only sure to blow up eventually.

“So?” He urged, his voice low and gravelly, after a few moments of silence.

Silently, you found yourself trailing your eyes from his chest that was straight ahead up to his lips and then to his eyes. You took just a step closer, closing the already thin gap between the two of you and placed your hand around his neck, slowly coming to lean up on your toes. The movement was slow, giving him more than enough time to protest or pull away from you but he didn’t.

Tommy’s hand lightly landed itself on your hip and he leaned down, meeting your lips in the middle. Unlike the last time your lips had met, this was soft and gentle, a side of Tommy that you had no idea even existed anymore.

The two of you stayed like that for a while before finally parting your lips. Your faces still rested just beside each other’s, bodies close enough to feel the other’s warmth through the cool night. Your eyes slid open finally to see Tommy already looking down at you, waiting to see if this was a kiss of new beginnings or of closure.

“Don’t make me regret risking everything for you.”

_________

Taglist:

@kiaoizz

@sweatydragoncloudknight

@hinagiku0

@stressedandbandobessed7771

#Peaky Blinders #peaky blinders fanfiction #peaky blinders smut #peaky blinder imagine #peaky blinder headcanon #thomas shelby #Tommy Shelby #tommy shelby imagines #tommy shelby x reader #doyenne

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rubysunnday · 4 years

Text

Florence Nightingale

Summary: WW2 has arrived and instead of staying in Birmingham, you followed them to the front lines - as a nurse

A/N: I think this is the longest fic I’ve written yet! I’ve had this idea in my head for a while and it feels good to finally get it down :)

The First World War had taken a lot from you. Your whole family was changed by those events and it haunted you al.

But when the news of the Second World War broke out, you knew that your whole life was about to be rocked. Your entire family was of age and was being sent to the front. The women were rising up to take over again.

Whilst the rest of your family stayed at home, working in the factories and helping evacuate children to the countryside, you made the decision to head to the front as a nurse, helping those injured by the fighting.

As much as you missed your family, you hoped that you’d never see them until their days off or until the war was over. I’d you saw them in the hospital, your heart would break into two.

You hadn’t told your brothers that you’d enrolled as a nurse on the front line, they would’ve freaked out and forced you to come back home. You waited until they’d gone before enrolling so they couldn’t do anything.

It was a very busy day in your hospital. A bomb had reached the trenches and dozens of soldiers were injured and in need of help. All around you, bombs were exploding and the sound of gun fire over powered the screams of pain.

Ironically, it felt like Birmingham.

“Y/N!” Patrick, the doctor in charge of the hospital, yelled at you. “I need you!”

“Coming!” You called back, wiping your hands in a towel and running over to where the latest soldier had been brought in.

“Shrapnel in his arm and side,” Patrick told you as they lifted the soldier into a bed. “I’m assuming you can manage?”

“Go,” you nodded, pushing Patrick out the door to go deal with those in worse shape.

You turned around to face the soldier and froze.

“No,” you whispered, shaking your head furiously. “Arthur?”

Your brother groaned and you immediately snapped back into your nurse mentality, sitting down on the side of the bed with a bowl of hot water, tweezers and a cloth to pull the shrapnel out of your brother.

This was your worse nightmare come true.

Night had fallen hours ago and you were sitting by Arthur’s side, carefully changing his bandages and cleaning them.

Your brother groaned softly and you looked up to see him slowly waking up.

“Arthur?” You asked softly, moving closer to him.

“Y/N?” Arthur asked, frowning. “What?”

“A bomb exploded in your trench,” you told him gently. “You’re in the hospital.”

“What? In Birmingham?”

You paused. “No, in France. At the front line...I’m a nurse.”

Arthur’s head turned to face you snd you had told hold him down (which wasn’t very difficult) to stop him from tearing his stitches.

“No, you can’t be -“

“Arthur, calm down otherwise I’ll have to knock you out again,” you warned him and he actually listened to you for once.

The two of you fell into silence for a while as you continued to clean his wounds, holding his hands when he hissed in pain.

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Arthur asked quietly after a while.

“Because you would’ve stopped me,” you said simply. “I didn’t want to just do nothing. My whole family’s here, why shouldn’t I?”

“If Tommy knew, he’d kill you,” Arthur muttered.

“He’d also be under my care so I could sedate him if I wished,” you shot back, smirking and Arthur chuckled.

“You know, Finn and Michael are under my command,” Arthur said.

“Really?” You asked, trying not to sound too hopeful.

“Yeah, managed to call in a favour and get them with me to keep an eye on them.”

“They weren’t with you when the bomb exploded, were they?” You asked nervously.

Arthur shook his head. “No, they were over the top when it happened. They’re fine, y/n.”

“I know, if they weren’t I’d know.” You sighed. “Try and get some sleep, Arthur. I’ll be right here.”

“Don’t you need to sleep?” Arthur asked as you settled down in your chair.

“Not much chance of that happening, Artie, “ you replied, smiling. You grabbed his hand and held it as he fell asleep.

Twenty years later and the roles had completely reversed.

The next morning came far too quickly for you. Arthur had slept the entire night, thankfully, and you had left him with Marie as you went to get him some breakfast.

“He’s our commanding office and our brother!”

You frowned at the yelling come from the front entrance. You turned around and walked back the way you came, bedding towards the yelling which was increasing in crescendo.

“Hey!” You called, silencing everyone in the room. “What is the problem here?”

“We want to see our commanding officer,” the soldier doing most of the yelling told you. “He was brought in last night after the bomb explosion...”

You stopped listening as you stared at the two soldiers in front of you, trying to figure out why you recognised them.

“Michael?! Finn?!” You exclaimed, cutting them off.

Finn frowned at you. “Y/N?!”

You gasped as Finn launched himself at you, hugging you tightly and spinning you around.

“What the hell?” Michael laughed, joining in on the hug as you dismissed the nurse behind the desk.

You couldn’t help but cry as you hugged your twin and your cousin.

“Is Arthur -“ Finn began, pulling away.

“He’s fine, I’ve been with him the entire night, Finny. I promise you, he’s fine.”

“Can we see him?” Michael asked. You nodded and gestured for them to follow you. You didn’t let go of Michael’s hand as you led them through the maze of corridors and walls to the room where Arthur was.

“Finn? Michael?” Arthur asked, trying to sit up.

“Don’t you dare, Arthur Shelby,” you scolded, forcing him back down. “I don’t want to have to stitch my brother back together again.”

“You’ve gotten bossy,” Finn teased and you elbowed him in the ribs.

“I need to go and do my rounds,” you told them. “I’ll be back in about two hours. Don’t do anything stupid, otherwise you’ll get kicked out.”

Finn kissed your cheek as you left and you gave him a smile.

Your rounds had taken you two hours, but you’d yet to get back to Arthur as an influx of newly injured soldiers arrived. You’d been caught up frantically arranging the beds, stitching injured soldiers up and holding the hands of those who were dying.

They’d gone over the top again that afternoon and plenty of soldiers had gotten caught up in the rain of bullets and bombs raining down around them.

You’d been tending to one badly injured soldier when two more came in - one with bullets in his stomach and leg and another with a shattered right leg due to a bomb explosion.

Patrick had done his best with them both, but wasn’t sure if they’d last the night. You, the new Florence Nightingale according to many soldiers, offered to sit with them both during the night, just in case.

But as you headed over to their beds, which were situated against the back wall, you finally caught a glimpse of the poor soldiers.

And you nearly fell to the ground in shock.

Tommy and John lay next to each other, both pale and practically dead. Tommy’s stomach was pierced with bullets and John’s leg was smashed to pieces, a cage set around it. Your heart dropped to your stomach as you pulled a chair to sit in between them.

You carefully took each of their hands and sat there quietly. You weren’t going to tell Arthur, it would make him even iller than he was.

“You alright?” Marie asked you quietly, noticing your face.

“Basically, my entire family is in this building. Two of my brothers are dying next to me and I’ve no idea how to tell Finn or Michael if they die. Oh god, I’d have to tell Polly.”

Marie put a hand on your shoulder and squeezed it gently. “Let me know if you need me, y/n.”

You smiled sadly at her as she walked off. The evening passed quickly, but the night went painfully slowly. You’d asked Marie to let Arthur know you’d been caught up with an influx of patients so wouldn’t be back for a while and you stayed with Tommy and John the entire night.

It was early the next morning when you finally began to doze off. It was the first time you’d slept in two days and as much as you didn’t want to, you couldn’t help it.

But when someone squeezed your hand, you instantly work up. You blearily looked over and saw John slowly waking up, squeezing your hand as he did.

“John?” You questioned softly, letting Tommy’s hand go and turning to face John fully.

“Y/N?” He mumbled. “Am I dead?”

You chuckled softly, trying not to cry. “No, but you nearly were.”

“Am I in Birmingham?” John asked, slowly turning his head to look at you.

“No, you’re still in France. I enrolled as a nurse for the army.”

“Huh, good for you,” John muttered, falling back to sleep.

You smiled sadly as your brother passed out again. You didn’t let go of his hand, re - adjusting your position so that you could hold Tommy’s hand too.

You fell asleep again, only waking when Patrick shook your shoulder.

Your immediate thought was that someone had died.

“Who’s -“

Patrick shook his head. “They’re both fine, y/n,” he reassured. “I came to tell you that there’s room next to Arthur if you want to move them.”

You nodded. “Thank you, Patrick.”

“They made it through the night; hopefully they’ll get it through the next two days,” Patrick told you.

“Tommy hasn’t woken up yet, but John briefly woke up last night,” you told him, standing up and yawning.

“That’s good,” Patrick replied, smiling. “Go and check on your other brothers, I’ll have John and Tommy brought through shortly.”

You got up and walked through the corridors towards Arthur’s room.

“Hey, y/n,” Michael called as you walked past him. “You ok?”

That was all it took for you to completely break down in front of your cousin. Michael quickly caught you in his arms, guiding you to the floor as you sobbed.

“Hey, hey, what’s wrong?” He asked softly, stroking your hair.

“Tommy and John came in last night,” you told him through your tears. “They’re in a bad shape and I don’t know if they’re going to survive -“

You cut yourself off as a fresh wave of tears hit you and Michael sighed sadly, hugging you tighter. You and Michael may have had your arguments the past few years, but you’d never been so grateful for your cousin before.

“You don’t have to be strong all the time, sweetheart,” Michael told you. “I know that your brothers are injured, but Finn and I are here and we can take up the slack. It’s ok to not be ok.”

You nodded, trying to calm yourself down as Michael kissed your head. “They’re being moved into Arthur’s room, if you want to see them.”

Michael nodded, helping you stand up. He put an arm around your shoulders and guided you down the corridor to Arthur’s room.

Michael watched you sleep next to Arthur, your brothers arm wrapped over your shoulders, holding you against him tightly. Tommy and John were in beds next to you, both still unconscious.

Finn and Michael had forced Patrick to sign you off your job so that you could spend time with your dying brothers and had take up the job of looking after you all.

Michael looked up as a groan came from Tommy. He stood up and headed over to his cousin, sitting down next to him.

“Tommy?” Michael asked quietly, trying not to wake you. “Are you with us?”

“Michael?” Tommy asked, scrunching his face up. “What?”

“You’re in hospital. So are John and Arthur.” Michael caught his cousin as he tried to sit up, forcing him back down. “They’re fine, Tommy. They’re right here.”

Tommy looked over and saw John, visibly relaxing. He turned his head the other way and saw Arthur and then you.

“What? Why is y/n here?” Tommy demanded, his voice still holding an air of authority despite the pain he was in.

Michael sighed. “She enrolled as a nurse on the front line. She’s been here since Arthur was brought in three days ok. First time she’s slept since.”

At the mention of your name you woke up, rolling over and spotting that Tommy was awake.

“Tommy!” You exclaimed, jumping off the bed and walking over to your brother. “Are you alright?”

“I’m better for seeing you, sweetheart,” Tommy said, smiling broadly.

“Thank god,” You muttered, bowing your head in relief.

“Tommy?” John grumbled, waking up to all the noise.

“What’s going on?” Arthur asked, also waking up.

“Oh, now they all wake up,” you muttered to Michael and he giggled.

You were so grateful that all of your family was safe and well. Yes, there were still years left of a war that could still kill them all, but for now it was all perfect.

You laid down next to Tommy, curling up into his side as he, Arthur and John caught up with each other. Finn and Michael joined in, Finn sitting down next to John.

“I missed you, Tom,” you whispered to your brother, kissing his cheek.

“Missed you too, gorgeous,” your brother replied and you smiled.

“Just, next time you want a family reunion, don’t fucking kill yourselves in the progress,” you said, loud enough for them all to hear. “I don’t think I can cope with it again.”

“She’s gotten bossy,” John muttered and you threw a cushion at his head.

“That’s what I said!” Finn exclaimed and you threw another pillow at your twin.

“I’m regretting being nice to you now,” your grumbled.

Tommy smiled in response, holding you tightly against him and pressing a kiss to your head.

“My little sister, the nurse,” Tommy said softly, smiling broadly.

“Y/N Shelby, the new Florence Nightingale of France,” Arthur announced and there was a murmur of agreement from your family. You just smiled happily, snuggling into your brother for the first time in months.

#imagines #peaky blinder imagine #peaky blinders #peaky blinders imagine #shelby sister #shelby sis #tommy shelby x sister!reader #arthur shelby x sister!reader #john shelby x sister!reader

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im-not-looking-for-forgiveness · 4 years

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Everyone's so mean to Lizzie and I love her so much :(( would it be too much to ask for a fic where reader's best friends with her and she's kind of afraid of how Lizzie'll react when she tells her that she's seeing Tommy but when she does instead of being mad and hurtful Lizzie just kind of hugs her and sighs with a bit of disappointment and tells her what she wishes someone would've told her when she started seeing Tommy? 🥺🥺🥺

If Only You Knew

Stan Lizzie Starke or perish!!!!!! I love her, too! Personally, I think she's the only one who can come close to being on Grace's level. She's good for Tommy, and he doesn't appreciate her as much as he should lmao. I hope you enjoy!

Taglist: @tranquility-or-chaos

*****

Lizzie Starke. She was your best friend. You absolutely loved her. She was like a sister to you, and you wouldn't know what to do without her. That's why you were so damn afraid to tell her that you were seeing her ex, Tommy Shelby. You hadn't really intended to fall for him, but it was impossible to control. He had a gravitational pull that Lizzie hadn't been able to ignore, and since you two were so alike, it made sense to you that you'd also be effected.

You were sure Tommy hadn't told her, which left it up to you. You didn't want her to find out by accident, and then get mad at you both. You didn't keep secrets from each other, until now. It was weighing on you so immensely that you decided that today was the day.

"Tommy, can I have a word with you?" you asked, standing before his desk.

"Hmm?" he responded, barely looking up at you. You didn't take offense. You knew he was up to his ears in paperwork, as usual.

In a split second decision, you changed your mind, "Actually, nevermind. I'll talk to you about it later."

You walked around to stand behind him, and draped your arms around his neck. You gave him a firm hug, and a kiss to the cheek. He hummed in appreciation, and kissed your hand.

"Later, then." he said to you, kindly.

"Later." you agreed, and left his office.

Firm in your decision, you went to go find Lizzie. You had to do it now, and not go back on your choice.

---

"I'm seeing Tommy." you got out, unable to wait any longer.

She silently stared at you for a few moments. Lizzie then rubbed out her cigarette and walked closer to you. You couldn't read her expression at all. You had no idea if she was pissed or disappointed.

When she raised her arms, you flinched. Instead of hitting you, however, she hugged you. You let out a massive sigh of relief, and slipped your arms around her slender frame.

"The Shelby curse has struck again." she said, before pulling back. You both then sat on the sofa.

"What do you mean? You're not angry, are you?" you asked tentatively.

"No, I'm not angry." she answered, taking your hands in hers.

You told her honestly, "Are you sure? I want you to know that I didn't start seeing him to spite you. It just sort of... happened."

"Yes, I'm sure. And I believe you. No one can avoid Tommy, or the others. In fact, I'll tell you what I wish I'd known when I started seeing him."

"Please, tell me." you nodded.

"Firstly, he's stubborn as hell. He gets what he wants most, if not all, of the time. Sometimes, it's easier to just let him do things than to try and stop him. He just wants support, mainly. The man is barely keeping it together at any given point in time. I'm sure you're at least a little aware of that?" she began.

"I've started to notice, yeah. He has nightmares when he actually manages to sleep. I read to him when he doesn't want to go back to bed afterwards, which seems to be helping." you told her, looking at your hands. It always breaks your heart when he has bad dreams.

"That doesn't surprise me one bit. The war changed him. I didn't know him beforehand, but people tell me he used to laugh. Have you ever seen him laugh? No, I didn't think so. He does this awful work to keep his mind distracted. If he slows down, it gets worse. It's because the man he was before couldn't handle what happened to him. So, he changed. He had to. If you understand that about him, you'll be able to see that in everything he does."

You didn't realize tears had come to your eyes until a warm droplet hit your hand. You gasped quietly, and hurriedly wiped your face. Lizzie was tearing up, too.

She continued, softer now, "You care about him. I do, too. I tried to change him, and it broke my heart. You can't change him, and the faster you learn that, the better. All you can do is love him and be there for him. It will be hard, but he's always been worth it."

"Thank you, Lizzie." you pulled her in for another hug. You took a deep breath to steady yourself. You knew it was going to be emotional, but not this much.

"You're welcome. I hope it all works out." she told you warmly, giving you a tight squeeze before letting go.

"Your blessing means a lot to me. I mean it."

"Good." she joked, re-lighting the cigarette she had put out earlier.

"Lizzie!" you chuckled, wiping your face a final time.

"Go on, get out of here. Now you won't have to hide from me when Tommy gets brought up."

"You knew, didn't you?" you half-heartedly accused, stopping in your tracks.

"It was hard not to notice with the way you look at him." she admitted, blowing smoke away from the two of you.

"That's mortifying." you began to laugh nervously. Had it been that obvious?

"It's kind of adorable, actually." she smirked.

"I'm leaving now." you told her, laughing fully now. You left the room and went to find Tommy once more.

The weight of not telling Lizzie was finally gone, and you felt like you could do anything. You had the best friend you could ask for, and a man you loved with all your heart.

#lizzie starke #tommy shelby #tommy shelby x reader #thomas shelby #thomas shelby x reader #peaky blinder imagine #peaky blinder fanfic #peaky blinders #cillian murphy #natasha o'keeffe #request #imagine

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welcometothebookreport · 3 years

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In 2020, I read 40 books (with maybe a few more to be added after I post this) after discovering my love of reading all over again. I am not a very hard reader to please, so it will be rare for me to rate a book with a low score, so I doubt you’ll ever see any criticism from me. So, here we go!

A few things before I start: There are three series in this list (but technically only two, because I’ve only read Serpent & Dove so far) but I’ve limited myself to no repeat authors. That must have been the hardest part for me. Since Jessi went the extra mile and ranked them in order, I’ve decided to make myself suffer the same. And while most of these were not published in 2020, they were read in 2020.

I am (sometimes) a picky reader, but any book that is on this list, I have loved. I chose not to rate them because honestly, they would have all been high. I give ratings easily, and try not to pick things apart even for books I truly did not like.

Please keep in mind that I do my best to add trigger warnings, but you should always check for certain triggers before reading. Triggers vary for everyone.

10. Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen

Warnings: There’s a male character that’s a creep and you’ll spot him as soon as you crack this one open. This tale deals with Peyton being sentenced to prison, and their mother practically glossing over what he’s done by victim blaming.

I have read Dessen’s books since I was 13 and I truly still enjoy her stories as much as I did then. While this was a re-read for me, it’s a tie for my favorite book of hers. It’s tied with Along For the Ride.

Sydney is left in the aftermath after her older brother, Peyton, is sentenced to prison after a drunk driving accident that paralyzes a boy. Formerly in his shadow, Sydney struggles to discover what it is she wants, and how she wants to be seen as her own mother seems to gloss right over her. It’s a YA read that always feels like more than the romance that originally interested me.

9. Serpent & Dove by Shelby Mahurin

Warnings: Misogyny. The church and religion plays an extremely heavy part of this plot, which was hard for me to get into. It’s clear that some characters do not value women in their actions and words toward Lou. It made me uncomfortable in spots because I just wanted to get past it, but I plan to read this one again since I know that it won’t bother me this time! Still, there is: violence in parts, religious zealots (in case that’s something that makes you uncomfortable like it did me), derogatory slurs toward women, and again, misogyny.

I finished this one two days ago, and I sincerely cannot wait to dig into the sequel. Lou is a witty, snappy character that was such a breath of fresh air from the normal. You usually see the male lead that’s a bit crude, a bit quick to pull the trigger, and the one that’s harder to crack. Is that what happened here? Absolutely fucking not. Shelby Mahurin took something I loved, enemies to lovers, and kicked its ass. Forced marriage? UM YES. A witch and a witch-hunter? Mortal enemies? Characters that can never possibly love each other? DONE DONE DONE.

It’s hilarious in parts. Serious when it needs to be. A bit spicy too, while not a lot, which I certainly appreciate. Reid’s character development is a wonder to watch, at least for me, and by the end of the book, I am so in love with him that I don’t know what to do with myself. I have so many annotations for this novel.

8. The Shadows Between Us by Tricia Levenseller

Warnings: There’s a fair bout of murder. Women are expected not to take lovers before marriage while men are not held to the same standard. Gross. Allessandra is continually underestimated so let me say: let the women do the work.

It’s called the Slytherin romance we’ve been waiting for, and I agree. While this is a shorter read, and a standalone, I was pleased with it. Both characters are incredibly ambitious, but it’s Allessandra that steals the show. The plan? To enter the palace, woo the king, and then kill him in order to take his kingdom. She’s wicked in all the ways I love.

I loved this book, and each page, but this was the line that will make me return to it: “I’m not a trollop,” I announce to the empty room. “I’m a sexually empowered woman, and there’s nothing wrong with that.”

The Folk of the Air Series by Holly Black

Warnings: Aside from murder, there’s nothing that stands out to me as a trigger.

A series! The first! There’s something interesting about this series for me, and it’s that I didn’t fall in love altogether, all at once. It was gradual, like wading into water until it went right over my head. By the final fourth of The Cruel Prince, I was fully invested in this world and I absolutely needed to know how Jude and Cardan would become, well, Jude and Cardan.

As a YA series, I was not expecting the sheer amount of mystery, political intrigue, and plot twists that came with this series. However, I never knew what was going to happen, and if I did guess what was coming, Black had at least two more twists to send me for a loop. The Queen of Nothing was likely my favorite book of the series, with The Wicked King as a close second.

6. Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

Warnings: Discussion of attempted non-con assault, forced disclosure of sexuality

I laughed until my eyes watered and I nearly cried in this book. Delightfully funny, and snappy, RW&B delivers on everything I didn’t know that I needed. I had never read a book where LGBTQ was represented in such a positive light. As someone raised in a more conservative household, I’ve known my own sexual orientation for a long time, but this book made me feel like I could relax in my skin because this story was stunning.

Alex and Henry left me with so much hope that it’s impossible to ever put the lid back on. I’m so happy I read this.

(oh, god, we’re in the final five.)

5. The Caraval Series by Stephanie Garber

Warnings: Physical and emotional child abuse.

I could dedicate multiple posts to this series. Maybe I still will. While this is at number five, it’s my favorite series I’ve ever read. If I could only have one series to read for the rest of my life, I would choose this one. Hands down. Full stop. These characters live in my head constantly and I would give an obscene amount of things to read it all over again for the first time. I actually read this with two of my closest friends in our many book club, and we all loved it.

Doused in magic, this world is unveiled to us with excellent descriptions. Truly, Garber owned my heart within a few chapters. Scarlett is the elder sister, Tella the younger, and if you don’t love Tella by the end of Caraval, I promise you will. I know because I was skeptical, but here I am. I’ve said it to my friends, but Scarlett is the one who holds my hair while I have a hangover. Tella is the one that helps me start the bar fight.

With non-stop turns, and magic, everything comes to life on these pages. And the romance, the romance. Please, please give me my great love in this style. It’s not too much to ask for, is it?

4. Letters to the Lost by Brigid Kemmerer

Warnings: loss of sibling, loss of parent, alcoholism, mention of infidelity, mentions of previous physical and emotional child abuse.

Mae sent this recommendation to me, and I devoured all of Kemmer’s books post-haste. Declan and Juliet fall in love without knowing who the other is, while also not liking the real version of their penpal. Juliet has lost her mother, and she’s treading water, but not well. Declan has suffered in the years that follow a family tragedy, and he’s not adapting to life with his new step-father.

But he opens with CemetaryGirl (Juliet) and it’s raw in the best of ways, and the openness between them that eventually moves from their bubble to reality is one of the most pleasing things to read. I’ve read it twice this year. I will read it again next year too.

I also read this twice this year and will for sure be reading it again in 2021.

3. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Warnings: Child abuse.

This was another novel that I fell in love with as I went, and that’s definitely because of the non-linear narrative. It was a little confusing, but I’m going to read it again someday since I know everything now! I read this to follow-up to Caraval with my book club pals, and it’s just what I needed to leave Caraval behind. Marco and Celia are incredible and I absolutely believe that the ending of this novel is one of the best endings I’ve ever read.

My book club has not finished this book entirely this so I’m not sharing any spoilers, but I would like to share one of my favorite quotes. “What did you wish for?” “I wished for her.”

2. Next Year in Havana by Chanel Cleeton

Warnings: Cuba is in the middle of a revolution, and it’s tense in parts. There are some bittersweet elements and I think the parts of the ending are like the punch in the gut you need in order to wake you up and remember to live.

This was my first read once I really dug back into this hobby in August. It was picked by Reese Witherspoon for her book club, and she always picks good books. This is a dual timeline romance, and mystery. It’s an absolute stunner of a book. It’s a dear favorite to me now. I’ve never been to Cubs, or heard stories, but Cleeton manages to make you feel like you’re right there feeling saltwater spray across your face.

The romance made me feel breathless, but truly it’s the strong familial ties that make this such a beautiful gem. It leaves you with hope even in the dark and with love in the absence of it. I could scream about this book for the rest of my life, which I absolutely intend to do.

Favorite line? “You’re going to be difficult to walk away from, aren’t you?” “I hope so.”

1 In A Holidaze by Christina Lauren

Warnings? There are none that strike me. This is a lighthearted read that pulls at the heartstrings, but it’s by no means short on the laughs. And, I’m sorry for the long wall of text below.

In A Holidaze is the story of a woman stuck in her ways of never going after what she truly wants until a stray wish lands her in a time loop over the holidays. It's only after repeating the same day a few times that she quite literally says "fuck this," and starts living for HER. I really expected this to just be a Hallmark kind of read, but it was SO MUCH MORE. You should read it, even if it's after the holidays.

It's witty, and heart-wrenching, and it's just everything I didn't know I needed. Mae is snarky, and brave when she figures out that there is nothing stopping her, and the romance is - GODDAMN. Andrew. I need an Andrew and a fan.

It's not quite a love triangle, which was what I expected and I was so pleasantly surprised. I have grinned like a goddamn fool all day. I have giggled all day in front of customers, and my co-workers. I have nearly CRIED in my bedroom when my heart fell out of my ass and landed somewhere near my ankles, because hello, it's gonna get you.

This is going on my yearly re-read list for the holidays.

In the two days since I’ve finished, I’ve convinced my two friends in book club to read it, convinced Jessi to order it from Book of the Month Club, convinced another friend to read it, and bought it for Mae on Christmas day because her library had a six month hold and that was simply unacceptable.

#kelseyreads #2020 Top 10 Reads

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cutmyhairabovemyjaw · 5 years

Text

Heaven and Hell Bound - Tommy Shelby ~ Part 5

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Hi Guys. Thank you so much for the love and comments, they truly brighten my day. During this part I decided to include some reference pictures of how I envision the clothing during certain scenes in this chapter. Let me know how you feel about these and if you’d like to see more or less of them.

After this part there will be one more chapter set during the war before we move into Birmingham which will loosely follow Season 1 of the show. I’ve been thinking of trying out requests for one-shots with different characters from the show and others. Let me know if you’d be interested in that :) Hope you enjoy reading part 5 and again, any feedback is most welcome. <3 <3.

Tags:

@namelesslosers

Part 5 - The Dance

Y/N’s POV

It had been a month since Tommy was brought to the hospital, a month since I heard his screams, a month since I felt his kiss. And there had not been a single night in which my head was not stormed by thoughts of him. I craved his touch, his smile, his caress. I had written him quickly, just as he had asked. We talked of the mundane, of the gruesome, of the merry. My diary was now filled with sketches he’d drawn and photos he’d sent. Most recently, however, he had requested that I send through one of my nurses ribbons. I was puzzled as to why he would wish for something as plain and simple as this.

“My dearest Y/N,

Please forgive my selfishness as, yet again, I ask for a piece of you. Whilst your photo sits forever in my pocket, I must find some rare time to pause and peacefully admire it. I noticed on my last hospital visit that all the nurses wear white ribbons somewhere on their person. I have had the pleasure of seeing you wear it in your hair and around your delicate wrist. I ask because many soldiers whose lovers volunteer as nurses, tie this ribbon in with the shoelaces on their boots. The idea is that as we soldiers look down at our feet and into the hell we may soon occupy, an angel stops us on our way. Perhaps you are not my lover yet but you are my angel. The Christmas Ball ever approaches. I believe the invitations shall arrive within the next week. I look forward to seeing you there. If you get invited that is. Perhaps the goblin matron of yours wants you all to herself.

Sincerely,

Your Tommy.”

His angel. That’s what he called me. I still believe that my eyes were deceiving me as I read and continued to re-read those words. I sent one away at once. If I could supply any hope or relief in his darkest times, I would gladly do so. Anything to see that stupid perfect smile of his. He was right about the invitations. In fact they arrived the following morning. And when they did, we all got very excited, perhaps Rosaline a little too much.

We sat upon our hill, the freshly delivered mail buzzing in our hands. The air seemed sweeter and the sun brighter as everyone in the hospital radiated excitement as the beautiful red envelopes graced the grey and brown hospital. It seems this year the higher ups have decided to use the annual Christmas ceasefire to up morale. It was nice to see some smiles around here. “You ready?” Ro asks me, her smile wider than before, if that were even possible. I look to her and nod, my eyes wide and ready. Ro tears into the envelope, erratically pulling and tearing, turning the once solid paper into confetti shreds. I laugh before carefully peeling the seal back, trying to preserve the item as best I can, knowing I will want it in it’s best condition for my diary. We simultaneously pull out the letter and read the message.

“Dear service Men and Women,

It is with great pleasure that we invite you to the 1916 Allied Christmas Ball. As a reward for bravely fighting for your king you will enjoy a night of dancing, singing and drinking followed by the second day of the two-day cease fire. Provisions have been provided by the Crown and the public. Formal uniform is expected.

God Save The King.”

I jump as from beside me I hear Ro let out a loud holler of joy and enthusiasm. I laugh and join her as we cheer into the sky. “You know what this means Y/N?” She leans forward, eyes wild. “Oh boy” I say in preparation for her explosion of joy, knowing what is to come next. “Dress up time!” We hoot and holler once more, taking full advantage of this moment. We burst into laughter. Whilst I had grown up on rural farm land with little time for glitz and glam, Rosaline was born into a family which lay on the wealthier side of things. Whilst she rebelled against many aspects of it, she was infatuated with fashion and beauty. One of our many post-war dreams was to attend the most extravagant regal event and cause havoc whilst donning dazzlingly expensive gowns. Whilst this wasn’t exactly that, Ro would make it work. “I’m going to give Tommy the most beautiful date of them all!” She declares, like a Queen to her kingdom. I laugh, the alien feeling of my cheeks hurting from smiling returning for the first time since the war began. She pulls me to my feet and begins to twirl me around, a horrible version of ballroom dancing does ensue. “You two will dance into the night, twirling, giggling, and drinking the whole way through. Before he finally seals the night with true-love's kiss” She puckers her lips out comically. I smash by hand against her mouth and she slobbers on my palm. “ Oh Jesus Ro gross.” I wipe my spit covered hand against my apron. “And then,” she continues, my anxieties growing, fearing what words may following next, “He fucks you well into the night as you howl his name down-” This time I firmly plant my hand over her lips, silencing her ridiculous statement. “Shut the fuck up Ro” I shout-whisper to her, my eyes wide and a blush rampant on my cheeks. I remove my hand, letting out the wild laughter Rosaline had produced. I sigh, shaking my head in shame trying to ignore all of the horrified looks the other nurses were giving us. I let out a small chuckle. “You’re ridiculous you know. Completely and utterly ridiculous.” I say, every word I utter is followed by a small jab to her stomach with my finger, using her ticklish nature to my advantage. “Ok! Ok! I’m sorry,” she surrenders to my actions, “It’s true though”. I simply shake my head once more. Of course I’d had my fair share of intimate thoughts of Tommy, but it was nothing more than a fantasy. Perhaps he shared these thoughts. Perhaps he wished to enact them. Fuck what am I thinking. He might not even dance with me… I hope he does. “Well come on Y/N. We’ve only got a week to prepare so let’s go!” She pulls me out of my train of thought both with her words and her hand which now drags me towards the hospital tent. I still have not decided upon how I feel about the Christmas Ball. Part of me dreads it with my whole existence whilst the other has never been more excited about anything.

The first day of the cease fire had dawned. The peace was unfamiliar, almost unsettling as opposed to the normalised violence of every other day. And with it, the cease fire brought the dreaded Christmas Ball. The nurses gossiped amongst themselves, sharing around what little makeup and products they had managed to keep. Practically every second word that were freed from Rosaline’s brain had something to do with the ball or the dressing up. I was happy for her. She deserved to be happy and play fashion, not to encounter death and sadness on the daily.

Rosaline had already gotten herself ready. She radiated perfect beauty as her red lipstick and black mascara accentuated her doe-eyed complexion. Her ginger hair flowing by her waist as opposed to the tight bun it normally found itself in. As we stood in front of her small mirror, the juxtaposition of complete beauty and myself was accentuated. I wallowed in my gloomy insecurity, looking down to avoid the striking gaze of the mirror. How was I supposed to compare to someone like Ro. How was I supposed to impress someone like Tommy. I felt two small warm hands guide me out of the depths of my brain as Rosaline now held my face. “Y/N listen to me hey? Just listen. When you guys first saw each other you stood still, blown away by each others beauty. And guess what you both looked like? You were in your uniform, you were sweaty and covered in all kinds of gross shit like vomit and blood. And Tommy? He’d just dragged John out of a tunnel so he was covered in bloody dirt and muck and was the most dishevelled we’ll probably ever see him. You guys fell in love while kinda looking like shit.” We laugh, I begin to understand what she’s saying. She continues on, smiling proud, knowing she’d won me over, “He’s going to think you’re absolutely beautiful, ok? Hell everyone’s going to think that. We’ll walk into that ball, arms locked together and stun them into silence. Perhaps a few may even cry,” she proclaims rather melodramatically. I smile, rolling my eyes at her antics. I turn to hug her, grateful for her love. She sits me down in a nearby chair. “Now come on, we’ll miss the bloody thing if we take much longer.” Perhaps he will find me beautiful.

Tommy’s POV

I stand in front of the dirty, sorry excuse we have for a mirror, fiddling with my tie and the buckles on my sleeves. I try, to no avail, to slick my hair back, push it to the side, I try everything to make it decent. Frustration fills me as I wipe my hands down my face. “Fucking fuck it” I exhale. What is she gonna think of the bloody mess that I am. I slam my hat down onto my head, sitting on my bunk to begin to tie my boots. That’s when I see it once more. Y/N’s ribbon. I take it gently between my fingers, closing my eyes and remembering her. I shall not ruin a night that could be filled with her smile, her touch, her eyes, with my silly insecurities. I hear the tent flap bustling as it is pushed open. I look up to see Arthur and John, dressed in the same garb as myself. “Tommy, they are uh, they’ve given the order to start heading off” he says kindly, holding his cap, fidgeting with his fingers. I blink slowly, nodding whilst looking to the ground. I wave one hand, gesturing to them that I’ll catch up. They look to each other, reading the worry written on my face. John moves to sit next to me putting his hand on my shoulder. “Tommy,” he says, the toothpick bouncing between his teeth and lips, “look mate, everything’s gonna be fine. You look fucking ugly as normal.” He laughs, I shoved his shoulder. “Come on now John Boy, tell him the truth” Arthur smiles at his younger brothers. “You look great Tom and she’s gonna look beautiful. So if you don’t get your sorry ass out there, every other fucking guy’s gonna dance with her. And we can’t have that now can we now Arthur”, “No John, course we can’t have that. Plus,” Arthur continues, a smugness tugging at his tongue, “What use would we have for this otherwise?” He pulls out a flask, whiskey no doubt dancing in the bottle. “Now come on, drink up, the Shelby brothers have got some work to do” he proclaims. I stand and laugh. I’d spent the last week dreaming of how this night will go. How’d she look. How’d we dance, drink and smoke. Perhaps even get close. Oh Y/N, what are you doing to me.

Y/N’s POV

An hour later we stand in front of the mirror once more, this time, surprisingly happy thoughts made their way through my mind. Our formal attire projected elegance as our normal uniform paled in comparison. It was clean, shapely, and flattering. Whilst the veil was slightly uncomfortable I had a plan for that. Once everyone had gotten drunk of booze and dancing, no one would pay any mind to a missing veil or two. Rosaline had given me very similar makeup to hers, carving stark black lines around my eyes, and a scarlet scenery to the hills and crests of my lips. If the notion of the fighting starting up again in two days was not present, perhaps truly good fun could be had, and true happiness could be felt. I stop myself from dwelling on this, everyday could be our last, and if my last involves dancing and Tommy that’s fine by me. “Ladies start filling through to the tent please!” Rosaline and I turn to the source of the noise, a high ranking soldier gives the order. A wave of cheering pours out from the nurses. A smile breaks onto my face. “Well come on then slow poke!” Ro runs forward, dragging me by my hand. “Wait wait wait! I have something for Tommy.” I run back, reaching into my diary, pulling out the small origami horse I had made for him. Quickly, I place it in my pocket before Rosaline’s beady eyes could ask any questions. “Ok. Let’s do this”. We loop our arms together. Our heads high. Stepping in time. We will take on the world, or at least the dance floor.

(Y/N’s POV on left, Tommy’s bumped to the right)

I finally catch a glimpse of the massive white tent which would soon house many a drunkard soldier and stumbling nurse. It seems they collected every light source from every bunk as the scene was set alight with beautiful bulbs and strings. It reminded me of one of those fancy christmas trees I would ogle at in shop windows. The music filled my ears, as did the tapping of shoes, and harmonized singing. A makeshift bar had been set up, tables and chairs too. My heart swells with excitement as Ro and I beam with joy. I hadn’t spotted Tommy yet, and it may yet be a task to do so as more and more people crowd in.

“Oi Oi!” Arthur yells as we enter the large tent. “It’s a fucking riot in here ain’t it” John speaks, before spitting on the floor. I watch as the dancing erupts onto the floor, amused by the singing antics of the already drunk. “Look at some of the birds in here mate. You’d have to pay a pretty penny to get with one of them back in Small Heath.” Arthur drools over the women, the party letting out the beast in some of them. “Well boys,” I begin, lighting my cigarette, “Go get drunk, get into as many fights as you can and go for any woman you like. Just not mine.” John whoops and claps, “Thatta Boy Tommy. Now John Boy, we’ve got some work to do.” They walk off, leaving me to myself.

“This is amazing Y/N! Have you seen some of the blokes in here?” Rosaline exclaims to me. Turns out her lover Edward hadn’t died, rather he’d being fucking their resident nurse over there. Nothing motivates Rosaline quite like revenge with a side of free drink. “Go have fun Ro. You deserve it.” I spur her on, knowing she ached for some fun and freedom. “You sure you’ll be ok?” I nod in response. “Now go you bloody minx, go!” I push her towards the group of dancing soldiers. I laugh and make my way to the bar. Besides I had a mission of my own.

Find Tommy.

Find Y/N. That’s what I had to do. I walk through the dance floor, noticing her friend Rosaline tearing up a storm. Yet my Y/N was not with her. Come on Y/N. I kept walking making my way to the rudimentary bar. Please be there.

I sat at the bar, not yet finding Thomas. Perhaps he’d been dancing. I smile at the thought. The night had only begun, I mustn't worry now. I begin to make my way over to the dancing circle. Come on Tommy, where are you?

3rd Person POV

Little did they know at this point that they had both been looking for each other.

Little did they know they were headed straight for one another.

In a parting of the crowds filled with dancing drunks, they saw each other.

Their eyes meeting, just as they had that fateful first day.

He looked unbelievably handsome.

She was breathtakingly beautiful.

They swam in each other’s eyes.

Silence filled their ears.

They peered each other up and down, taking in their elegant costume.

Neither of their feet moved.

For all one knows their hearts were beating too fast, or perhaps not beating at all.

Instead she waved.

A small flick of the fingers and a smile.

He laughs and returns the gesture.

As they walk to each other, the same thought plagues their minds.

Maybe tonight I’ll tell him.

Maybe tonight I’ll tell her.

Y/N’s POV.

We now stand face to face, awe spread across my cheeks. He looks at me with the biggest smile I’ve seen painting his profile. “Hello Sergeant Major Thomas Shelby”, I courtesy, deciding to play into this royal fantasy that our outfits created. “Why, you look ravishing Sister Y/N L/N”, he bows, taking one of my hands and places a gentle kiss on it. “Fuck off Tom”, we both laugh, he extends his arm for me to take hold of. I gladly do so. We wander together this time to the bar, taking a seat on the crates that had been scrounged together. “Two Whiskeys please” Tommy orders, leaning his elbow on the table. “So, I see that Rosaline is quite the dancer.” We look out, watching her as she flows from soldier to soldier, her skirt twirling and her hair flowing. “Oh yeah. I feel bad for any other girl that even attempts to get on that dance floor.” I respond, proud of my best friend and she wraps all those boys around her finger. “And what about you Y/N, do you dance?” he asks, grabbing his glass of now delivered whiskey as I do the same. I leaned forward and new wave of air taking over me, “Wouldn’t you like to know.” He smirks, playfully scoffing. “Well then,” He downs his whole glass, slamming it on the table before standing up, offering a hand to me. I following his actions, chugging my drink before hammering my glass down, taking his hand. “Let’s put you to the test then hey?”

We danced and danced and danced. We danced wildly, we danced passionately, we danced carefully. My head was now rested upon his shoulder as we swayed in each other’s arms. Our eyes rest closed, not a care in the world. I feel the vibrations in his chest as he hums along to the music. The party had well and truly died down. People had either gone back to their bunks, had collapsed on the floor or were savouring the last dance. Over the course of the night I had met Arthur and John, they were bruised and bleeding after just getting out of a fight of course, I’d drank way too much and blisters covered my feet from dancing. But I didn’t care. It was a perfect evening with Tommy. He called me beautiful, he’d kissed my cheek. I wonder if my face was now stained red, a blush had become a regular to cross my face. I looked up to admire him, his eyes still calm and closed. I had utterly and completely fallen for Thomas Shelby. But this thought brought more sadness with it than I anticipated. Tommy was a soldier, everyday could be his last. If he makes it home we live in different towns. We had completely foreign lives back in England. I worry that the intensity of the war had amplified our feelings, meaning outside of the fighting, there would be none. I fear I care for him more than he cares for me. I squeeze him tight, not ever wanting to let go. He opens his eyes and squeezes back, looking down to me worried. “You ok pretty girl?” He asks letting go of my hand and waist and instead, places his hands on my cheeks. I meet his blue-sky eyes and sigh into his touch, resting my hand on top of his. “I’m ok, just worrying about silly future stuff.” He laughs, “Silly future stuff hey? Don’t worry about that hey, just enjoy right now. That’s what they teach you down in the tunnels. Think about living now, in this very minute, the soldier’s minute. Just you and me hey?” I nodded timidly, his beauty still making me shy. We dance for a few moments more, savouring every touch and every look.

“Y/N?” I hear Rosaline call from behind me, a slight slur to her words. I turn to see her and a soldier practically holding each other up. “Me and this Noah here are heading back to our bunk. So uh...you might wanna find somewhere else to sleep…” They giggle amongst themselves. I roll my eyes, both happy she’s having fun, but not so happy about sleeping someplace else. “Play nice Rosaline. Now go on, have fun,” they cheer and smile to each other before turning around and stumbling out. “And no fun on my bunk!” I add. “No promises!” She yells back. “Cheeky fucker” I whisper to Tom. He laughs in response. “So where will you go now?” he asks, concern lacing his voice. “Well I suppose one of the hospital bunks will probably be free…” I kick my feet against the ground, realising how uncomfortable it will be. “I uh, I might have a solution,” he begins, scratching the back of his head, “John and Arthur have both gone back to their girl’s rooms, therefore...Why not stay with me?” My eyes fly up to meet his, “Really!” He laughs at my excitement. “I-i mean if that’s ok with you. I don’t want to intrude”, I stammer on, embarrassed by my reaction. He leans his forehead on to mine, “Y/N?” I hum in response, “Shut up” he jests. I laugh trying to brush away awkwardness. “Now come on, before any other drunk offers you their bunk.”

We walk hand in hand, enjoying the silence all the way back to his bunk. As I enter the space I take in my surroundings. I notice the 3 small bunks, one for each brother. I watch Tommy sit on the furthest bunk and begin to take his boots off. I walk over to join him, analysing what trinkets lay on his table. I try to remember everything. A diary, papers, cigarettes and matches, a knife and photographs, many many photographs. I flick through them, observing a younger Tommy surrounded by his family. I attempt to match the names Thomas had given me to the faces in the photos. Ada, Polly, Finn. They looked happy... I hope my present would fit perfectly within the decor of his table. “Tommy,” I begin, turning towards him, my hands clasped behind me to try and hide my nervousness. He was now wearing only his sleep shirt, and his trousers. He meets my eyes but I can’t help but look him up and down. He steps towards me, nodding for me to continue. “I have a Christmas present for you.” His eyes widen, a confused smile tugs on his lips. “A Christmas present?” I nod, now excited. “Sit down and close your eyes” I order, pulling him back to the bed. I sit next to him, waiting for him to do the same. “Now stop looking at me and close your eyes.” He leans forward, still experiencing the waves of alcohol “You’re so pretty tho” he drags out the last syllable. “Tommy close your eyes and put your hands out” He still leans towards me, “Now”. He huffs and finally does so. I gently pull out the origami horse from my pocket, laying it in his hands. I watch his fingers jolt slightly at the feeling. “Ok, now you can open.” His eyes open, yet he sits silently, taking the horse in his fingers, examining it closer.

I can’t read the expression on his face and I begin to worry. “I’m sorry, I know it’s stupid I shouldn’t have-” He cuts me off. But not with his words. With his lips. My eyes stare wide, shocked at the action before I melt into the kiss. It’s perfect. It’s everything Rosaline describes from her romance book. It’s everything my dreams had wished for. After what feels like hours, we pull apart. “Thank you Y/N. I-i I don’t even know what to say.” Thomas speaks quietly, a loving softness to his voice. “You’re welcome Tommy. It’s a thank you for all that you’ve done for me.” He places it upon his desk, admiring it for the moment. “Would you mind if we lay down...together” He asks, his eyes pleading for a yes. I can’t seem to form words at this point. Instead I simply nod. We get comfortable, I removed my shoes and veil before laying beside him. He wraps his arms around me as my head rests upon his chest. “Y/N? Can you promise me something?” I lift my head, noticing the vulnerability wobbling his words. “Anything Tommy”. “Promise me that even after this fighting is done, we will stay together and that we will always find each other. Even if we are separated by a world and a half?” I raise my hand, extending my pinky. “Pinky promise” I say, “Pinky promise”, he returns. Our fingers lock and my heart rests. “Now, come here”, he whispers, tilting my lips to his.

That night would never leave me. For how could one forget something as beautiful as that. We continued late into the night before finally falling asleep, bare in each others arms.

Just before the tidal wave of sleep took over us, one last thing was said.

“I think I’m in love with you Y/N.”

“I think I love you too Tommy.”

302 notes · View notes

cap-winter-barnes · 5 years

Text

Treat Her Fair (Alfie Solomons x Reader)

buy me a coffee

Thank you so much to @lex-bb13 for this request - this is for you dear. I have absolutely loved writing it and I hope you like it as much as I do. I really love writing for Alfie so if anyone has any other request pretty please let me know.

I have changed one quote from the show as I didn't want to include a ‘slur’ and didn't want to offend anyone by using it.

Words: 2027 - is this my longest fic?

Warnings: swearing, Alfie has a gun (is this a warning? idk)

It was a widely known fact throughout Alfie’s ‘bakery’ that Y/N was always to be treated kindly and with respect – if they didn’t, they’d either lose their job or their life. Whichever Alfie saw fitting. Any new men that came to work for Alfie were given a strict talking to before they were even allowed to meet you. Alfie’s assistant, although you were more involved within the business than just an assistant. Some would say that you were partners in the business if they didn’t know you well enough.

“Y/N love, bring me those papers o’er here will ya?” Alfie stuck out his arm, fingers outstretched waiting for you to place his papers into them.

“Of course, Alfie. Although, you do have legs you know.” You quickly gather together the papers that Alfie was referring to and carefully place them in his hand, giggling as you do so.

“Thank you, darling. My sciatica’s playing up again, ain’t it.” You nod and smile, making your way back to your desk across from him.

“If you say so boss.” He gives you a disgruntled look which quickly turns into a smile. He could never be mad at you. No matter the circumstances, you could do no wrong in Alfie’s eyes.

When you had first started working for Alfie Solomons, your desk had been wedged into the very corner of the room and cluttered with mess. You had barely started your first shift before Alfie had hurriedly crossed the office to clear the mess for you, he refused to let you help him. He had said that it should have been done before you started and that he would be having words with Ollie for not doing so. You had laughed at that, already knowing that he hadn’t asked Ollie to do anything of the sort. The sound of your laughter had made Alfie feel warm and he knew instantly that he was going to like having you around.

The very next morning you walked into the office and shook off your coat, hanging it on the back of the door. Alfie had yet to arrive, so you took a seat at your desk and started with your day. Not even ten minutes later did Alfie stumble through the door looking dishevelled. His scarf hung haphazardly around his neck; his hat slightly askew; and his shirt was buttoned all wrong. He was breathing heavily, as if he had run the entire way from his house to the ‘bakery’.

“Alfie, are you alright?”

“I’m fine love, don’t worry.” He threw his coat off and tossed it onto the back of the door, a skill you had admired since you had started your employment. You must remind yourself to ask him to teach you one day. You smiled at the thought. “Cyril, the bloody pest. He got out this morning chasing a bleeding cat.” Clearly Alfie had had to chase his dog down the street before he had made his journey to work. He explained all this whilst placing his hat and scarf onto the armchair next to the door.

You watched him as he limped across to his desk, using the edge as a support as soon as he was close enough.

“You forgot your cane Alfie. What did the doctor tell y-“

“I know, yeah. I’m sorry. Won’t happen again darling, alright?” You nod your head as you accept his promise. Alfie takes a seat in his chair with the least amount of grace a man of his stature could manage.

“Don’t forget you have a meeting with –“

“Thomas Shelby, I know love. How could I forget?” He smiles across at you and you return the gesture.

“Here, let me help you Alf.” You move towards him and he watches you carefully as you approach him.

You go to crouch down, but he stops you, instead standing up and turning himself so he sits perched on the edge of his desk, you were now stood in front of him. You delicately start to undo the buttons of his shirt, starting from the bottom and working your way up. This was an entirely new interaction between the both of you, a blush was creeping up your cheeks at the thought of how close the two of you were in that moment. Maybe you had thought of Alfie in another way than just your boss before, but nothing too extreme. But now these thoughts were running a mile a minute through your brain. Your hands begin to shake slightly as your fingers continue unbuttoning his shirt. You look up to his face briefly, a look of serenity on his face, his eyes bright and soft as he watches you.

Underneath his shirt he wears a sleeveless vest, a few tattoos peeking out from underneath the material. Without ogling at him for too long, you begin to re-button the shirt, taking care to ensure that it is done correctly this time.

You step back and pat his chest with both hands, smoothing down the material of his shirt.

“There we go.” You smile sweetly as you walk away from him and back to your desk. As you look across to him, he stays stood there as if in shock.

“Alfie, Mr Shelby will be here soon.” He quickly leaves his stupor and takes his seat again. His face flushed – was he blushing?

“Yeah, yeah, alright darling. Thank you.” He doesn’t look across to you as he speaks, his gaze set on his desk, rearranging the articles that sit atop it to make it more presentable.

Embarrassment starts to seep into you as you think over what you had just done. It was inappropriate. Uncalled for. You were going to lose your job.

“Alfie, I’m so-“

“Alfie, Mr Shelby’s here to see you.” Ollie has the most perfect of timing. Alfie nods in response and gets up to follow the boy out of the door.

“Stay here love alright? I won’t be long.” He winks at you as he shuts the door behind him.

Your heart rattling in your chest.

Minutes tick by as you sit and fill out paperwork and then file it away. Alfie returns through the door, his body language clearly showing signs that he means business. It’s strange to see him this way compared to when he is so relaxed.

You keep to yourself as they converse, Thomas Shelby, takes a seat opposite from Alfie. He immediately reaches into his coat pocket and retrieves a packet of cigarettes and a lighter.

“I came here to discuss business with you Mr Solomons.”

“Yeah.” Alfie nods in recognition of this, almost sarcastically if you know him.

“So, she needs to go.” Alfie stops all movement as you faltered in your writing.

“Who Y/N?” You look up, not moving your head, to make eye contact with Alfie, his expression stern. “Nah, mate. She stays.” Thomas looks uncomfortable under Alfie’s gaze as he stares him down. “She stays whether you fucking like it or not mate.”

You return to your work again, but this time you try your best to listen in on their conversation just metres from you.

“Y/N love.” You look up to Alfie as he addresses you. “Do you mind pouring us both a drink?” He then turns back to Thomas, “Well rum is for fun and fucking, isn’t it? So Whisky,” he glances across to you to let you know it’s whisky he wants. “Now that is for business.” He chuckles to himself; Thomas continues to look unamused by the situation.

“Let’s talk first, eh?” Instantly Alfie’s attitude changes to one firmer than before. As you pour Alfie a tumbler of whisky and place it on the mat in front of him, he gently takes your wrist into his hand. You look to his face but for the first time cannot read what he is thinking. He then takes your empty hand between the both of his and holds them there. “Get yourself a drink as well love, yeah?” You nod hesitantly, slightly confused by his behaviour. He’s never offered you a drink during a meeting before.

As you let the two men continue their meeting you sit cradling a tumbler of rum in your hands. Whisky was never to your tastes and even after working at the ‘bakery’ for so long, you still couldn’t find a liking for the drink.

It is Alfie that pulls your from your thoughts, “So don’t come in here and sit there in my chair, insulting my woman, and tell me that I am losing my war to a fucking Italian.” His voice was raised and harsh. The only words that registered in your brain was my woman. You weren’t his woman. He had never shown any interest in you like that.

You heart pounds in your chest as the conversation becomes more heated. Nervousness settles in as your hands start to shake and your breathing becomes uneven. Situations like these were never pleasant, especially when Alfie was at the centre of them. Honestly, he scared you when he became like this. Erratic and unreasonable was Alfie.

“Intelligence. Intelligence is a very valuable thing, ain’t it, my friend?” Alfie’s gaze shifts to you momentarily as he addresses Thomas, a look of regret passes over his face, but it was gone before it was really there. “And usually,” You knew exactly what he was going to do as his hand rummaged in his open desk drawer, “it comes far too fucking late.” His hand emerges from under the desk, a gun gripped tightly between his fingers. He cocks it and aims it directly at Thomas’ head.

“Alfie!” His name leaves your lips before you can even think about saying them. If he heard you, he didn’t acknowledge it.

“Let’s say that I shot you already, right, in the fucking face.” The tone of his voice terrified you, tears beginning to spill from your eyes.

“Alfie please.” He briefly looks to you, his face turning ashen as he sees the tears falling down your cheeks. Instantly he puts the gun away, ignoring the Shelby at his desk and he pushes his chair backwards and approaches you. Before you can even register that he is stood in front of you, he engulfs you in a hug. A hug so tight and warm, you don’t ever want to let go. You felt safe considering the situation that had just unravelled before your eyes.

“I’m sorry love, I’m sorry. Alright.” He kisses the top of your head gently. “I didn’t mean to scare ya.”

During this moment, Thomas Shelby stares at the both of you in pure and utter shock. Never did he think he would see the infamous Alfie Solomons consoling a woman with so much care. Tommy knew that from here the meeting was over, any chance of a deal was now scarce.

He silently left the office, leaving the door slightly ajar.

After a few moments held in Alfie’s arms you slowly begin to stop shaking. The tears long stopped, and your breathing was somewhat back to normal again.

“Alfie. Please don’t ever scare me like that again.” He shook his head, a silent promise that he would never do something like that again in front of you.

Leading you over to his desk, Alfie lets you take a seat in his chair. You’d never sat in his chair; it was known that nobody was to sit in that chair other than Alfie himself. He’d nearly shot Ollie’s head off when he put his hand on the chair when it was new, let alone sat in it.

“Alfie.” He hummed as a response, his eyes never leaving yours, your hands held softly within his. “Y-you called me your woman, w-when you were talking to Mr Shelby.”

“I did, didn’t I?” He chuckled to himself and bowed his head to look at the floor. “Well, that’s if you’d like to be my woman, love.” A cheeky grin began to spread across his face as a near identical one spread across yours.

“Of course, Alfie.”

Neither you nor Alfie had felt this happy in a long time.

#Alfie Solomons x reader #Alfie Solomons imagine #Thomas Shelby x reader #peaky blinders imagine

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lovebitesimagines · 5 years

Text

Flames

Requested by @2heures

For a request where Thomas constantly is looking out for the reader because the reader prefers to go out and deal with rough/dangerous business by (herself) . Maybe sometimes she does need a little help. Thanks :)

I am so sorry that this is up later than expected! I may well re-do this idea at a later date, as I'm not sure if I'm 100% happy with how I've done this. I had so many ideas, I struggled to get one cohesive idea straight haha. I do hope you enjoy it, and I hope I've done this idea justice.

Masterlist.

Tag list: @2heures @biba3434

Wanna be on the tag list, for any series? Lemme know!

Warnings: Fire, violence.

You’re head strong, and prefer doing business yourself. But sometimes, things don’t always go to plan.

It went without saying, that your marriage to Tommy Shelby, came with its fair share of excitement. Although, an outsider would be more likely to label your marriage as ‘dangerous’ ‘unstable’. You thought that was bullshit.

Yes, you knew what your husband was. You had been friends for a while, before your relationship had blossomed into something more. It was something that neither of you had seen coming, yet it had happened as quickly as a racing car and neither of you wanted to put the brakes on. You worked well together, the other half of you that neither of you realised was missing. You balanced each other out well, complementing the different quirks of your personalities. The Shelby family had welcomed you with open arms, relieved that Tommy had found someone who had settled so well into the family dynamic.

Yet you would be lying to yourself if you said you were never worried about Tommy. You had spent countless nights lying awake in your bed, watching the darkness slowly disappear into daylight, waiting for him to arrive home safe. When he did, you would feel relief wash over you as if you wore stood under a torrent of water, as you returned into his embrace, showing him with a million ‘I miss you’ kisses. But on those odd occasions, when he didn’t return home until the next day- or worse, the day after that- you would be restless with worry, unable to sit still or sleep. Your mind would be running wild, a concoction of dark thoughts and pictures appearing every time you closed your eyes.

You had taken it into your own hands, on more than one occasion, to face the danger your husband did. You knew how to handle a gun, how to fight and how to negotiate. Your way with words, and talent with your fists, was one of the things that made Tommy fall for you. Yet, your stubbornness and overwhelming desire to protect those you loved, did lead you to make rash decision, and go blindly into situations without assessing the danger first. This was often met with loud voices, and altercations. Tommy despised it when you did this, yet you loathed him walking head first into these situations. These differences in opinions often led to heated arguments between you both.

He hated it when you tried to deal with the rough side of business alone, so often you had to sneak behind his back to do so, although Tommy always found out. You knew the business inside out, including the people that Tommy associated himself with. You knew how to wrap them around your little finger, make them feel like they were safe, and then get them where it hurts. The Peaky Blinders adored that about you. All of them except one.

Tommy.

You knew what you were doing was wrong, sat across the table from Darby Sabini. His greasy black hair made your skin crawl, his pencil thin moustache twitching slightly as he glared across the table at you. A single oil lamp was lit in between you both, the dust that floated around the room highlighted by the flame. You ignored his henchmen, who stood behind him, arms folded, and frowns etched upon their faces. It was adorable, you thought, their pathetic attempts at seeming threatening.

“I must say, I was surprised when you asked to meet me Mrs. Shelby” Sabini drawled, leaning back in his chair. The aura of confidence that shrouded him, caused a sick feeling to bubble in the pit of your stomach. You hated men like him with a passion. He pulled up the cuffs on his shirt, before continuing to talk. “Usually it’s the man that does the business see”.

“You obviously haven’t researched your enemies that well, Mr. Sabini” you let his name tumble out of your mouth as if it was poison, not wanting to keep it behind your lips any longer. You mimicked his leaning back in the chair, wanting him to get the impression that this was a relaxed situation. It was nothing but. He couldn’t see the gun that was hidden in a holder, wrapped around your thigh, under your dress.

“That’s what you think, Mrs. Shelby” Sabini drawled, his voice sending uncomfortable shivers down your spine. He leant forward, his eyes glaring into yours, not even blinking. His henchmen took a step forward, and suddenly the atmosphere changed. A chill crept around the room, and you instantly knew that something bad was going to happen. Sabini pulled out a gun from his pocket, pointing it at you. “You think that I don’t know you?”

“You know nothing about me” you whispered, not breaking the eye contact that you both maintained.

“Oh I know everything about you, (Y/N). I know that you think you’re better than me. Smarter than me” his voice rose as he spoke, he stood up slowly and made his way over to you, the gun pressed to your forehead. The metal was harshly cold against your skin, your heart stopping in your throat. You had massively underestimated this man, and now you knew you would pay for it. “I suggest you stay still Mrs. Shelby, or this will hurt a lot more”.

His henchmen made their way towards you, pulling rope from their back pockets. It was soon tied tightly around your wrists and your legs, cutting into your skin. Panic spun in your stomach, as you tried to push the anxiety down. How did everything go so wrong, so quickly?

“Why did you call this meeting exactly, Mrs. Shelby?” Selbini growled in your ear, pressing the gun harder onto your forehead. You swallowed hard, your hands trembling slightly. “You think you have any place in mens’ business?”.

The gun pressed harder into your skin.

“I like meeting my husbands potential business partners. See if they’re worth risking everything for” you retorted, hoping your voice didn’t break and give away the fact that you were incredibly nervous. You knew your confident front was slipping, it had in fact been doing so since the chilling pressure of the gun was pushed against your forehead. Selbini laughed cruelly, before walking away. His henchmen were walking around the room, pouring a liquid substance all over the floor. It took a few, brief moments before the smell hit your nose.

Petrol.

Panic.

“We’re going to leave you here to burn Mrs. Shelby. Just like you fucking Peaky Blinders let everyone else fucking burn” he snarled, turning to face her briefly as he stood in the doorway. “I wish it didn’t come to this”.

He drew a match against the door frame, dropping it to the floor. The floor ignited instantly, the trail of petrol bursting into flames. The room was illuminated by the threatening orange glow.

He slammed the door shut behind him.

You were trapped.

Flames began to lap at the walls around you, like a hungry kitten in search for milk. It cruelly cackled at you, taunting you, making you aware of your fate. Thick clouds of black smoke masked your vision and choked your lungs. You desperately pulled at the rope which bit into your skin.

It was hopeless. You couldn’t see, you couldn’t breathe. Time was passing by too quickly, and any chance you had of escaping the fiery furnace was slowly becoming non-existent.

You began to slip in and out of consciousness, overcome by the smoke which took residence in your lungs. You were unaware of how long you had spent in the room. Ten minutes perhaps?

Your vision slowly began to fade, your eyelids gradually shutting closed. You felt yourself getting lifted up, and heard panicked, angry voices fill your mind.

Blackness.

You awoke to sunlight bathing your skin, the arms you felt still tightly wrapped around you, the sensation familiar and comforting. You blinked several times, adjusting yourself to the uncomfortable glare of the sun rays. Your body ached, as if you had been run over. Your lungs stung, smoke still remaining. You pushed yourself up, violent coughs forcing their way out of you, each one feeling like a punch to your chest.

“(Y/N)!” you heard a familiar sounding voice whisper from behind you, their voice choked with uncharacteristic tears and worry. You would know that voice from anywhere. You turned to face them, your vision still slightly hazy.

Tommy.

His arms tightened around you, as you brought your hand up to caress his cheek, his skin smooth under your touch. The dampness of his tears gently tickled against your fingers, your heart sinking at the sensation.

“I thought I lost you” he whispered, his eyes closing at his confession. “Seeing the building up in flames, I-I-“

“How did you know I was in there?” you asked, your voice croaky.

“Do you really think you step out of the door, without some form of protection?” his fingers ran through your hair, his eyes searching yours. “I’ve always got you”.

“I love you Thomas Michael Shelby” you whispered, pressing your lips gently against his.

And you knew, that you would always have him.

#Tommy shelby #tommy shelby imagine #tommy shelby x reader #peaky blinders #Peaky Blinders x reader #Peaky Blinders imagine #peaky fookin blinders #imagines #writing #writers #writblr #writers on tumblr #original writing #imagine #requests #request #requested imagine

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hazelnmae · 5 years

Text

Lies Travel Faster: Chapter Two

Summary: Sophia Murphy’s life seems to be on the upswing when she takes a job with Birmingham’s notorious Shelby Company Ltd. But when she falls for her boss, CEO and ruthless gangster, Tommy Shelby, she finds herself wrapped up in a tangled web of danger and deceit. After all, lies travel faster than the truth.

Tags: Tommy Shelby x Original Female Character; Tommy/Assistant Trope (it’s a hill I’ll die on)

Warnings: angst; smut (in future chapters); violence; language; rape/non-con; death

CHAPTER 2 (read Chapter 1 here)

Each gunshot echoed through the warehouse landing squarely against Alfie’s right temple. He usually let the men on the floor handle the starlings, but their terrible aim was threatening to turn his headache into a full blown migraine if he didn’t step in.

“Oy,” he yelled emerging from his office. “Right, let me at them, then.” He snatched the revolver from the young man closest to him and forced back the hammer, without pulling his eyes away from the man’s frightened expression. Leaning on his cane to steady himself, Alfie took quick aim and hit one of the two birds with his first shot.

“That’s how that’s fucking done, then.” He handed the gun back to his startled employee and motioned for him to continue hunting the remaining bird.

Turning on his heel, he lumbered back toward his office, talking all the while. “What is it they say? If you want something done fuckin’ right, it’s best to do it yourself? That sounds about right, doesn’t it mate? BACK AT IT, THEN,” he called, as he slammed the door behind him.

Ollie awaited him in the office wearing a worried expression and, while this wasn’t a rare occurrence, it did catch Alfie off guard. He wasn’t in the mood for a lecture and felt certain that’s what his friend was about to unleash on him. Alfie felt his heart pulse in his temple and pinched his nose in another attempt to stave off the headache. “What is it then, mate? On with it.”

“A message for you, Alfie,” Ollie answered, holding the telegram card out toward his employer.

Alfie took it absentmindedly as he placed his glasses back on his nose. He stroked his beard and looked it over.

LET US DISCUSS YOUR EXPANDING BUSINESS – L. CHANGRETTA

Alfie’s eyes widened and his fingers moved from his beard to scratch at the patch of irritated skin on his cheek. He’d heard the Italians were in England–no doubt in pursuit of their vendetta toward the Shelby family–but he’d hoped to stay out of the conflict.

“Fucking hell, mate –”

It was all he could get out before the gunshots rang through the warehouse again, startling him this time as he jerked violently in response.

________

Sophie’s first few days on the job were ordinary enough. Polly came around daily to check on her, but Sophie was smart and tough and didn’t need much oversight. She had the diary reorganized by the end of her second day and had corrected all of Arthur’s bad math in the books by the end of her third. Though he’d never admit it, Tommy was quickly impressed by her. She’d turned out to be more than just a pretty face and the war-torn story that captured his attention and prompted him to hire her.

After a couple of weeks, Sophie had fully adjusted and it was as if she’d worked there for years. She even moved her expensive electric percolator to the office so she could have fresh, hot coffee instead of tea.

Tommy’s fascination continued to deepen and he found himself seeking her company, faking the need for someone to take dictation or to help him schedule various meetings.

But as he grew increasingly fond of Sophie he also grew increasingly worried about an attack from the Italians. While Alfie worried over the starlings in his warehouse, Tommy worried over the black hand in his desk. It’d been a month since he received it and he’d yet to tell anyone in the family, except for Polly. No news wasn’t always good news, despite how his aunt tried to convince him otherwise. He feared it only meant Changretta was watching them, mounting an indefensible attack. Polly convinced him to keep the rest of the family in the dark until they had confirmation the Italians were near. Tommy agreed, but only after posting triple the usual number of Peaky and Lee boys to protect his family.

Today, his new assistant provided a nice distraction from the stress troubling his mind.

They worked in tandem, Tommy signing falsified purchase forms while Sophie filed them away. He considered how she hadn’t batted an eye at the ‘less than legal’ side of his business, watching her confirm the signatures on each forged document without a second thought for it’s content. She’d seen the wickedness of war. Was that why she was unaffected by the wickedness of his business?

“Did you always know you’d do this? Build an empire?” Sophie’s question was a welcome interruption to his thoughts .

Tommy chuckled. “No, I can’t say I did.”

“So what did you want to do with your life?”

He thought that over for a moment. It had been a long time since Tommy considered what he truly wanted. He’d been operating on auto-pilot for so long–making the moves he thought he should for the business, for the family. His family didn’t seem to understand that, but Tommy knew everything he did, he did for them.

“I don’t know. Something with horses,” he finally answered. He put down his pen and took up a cigarette, leaning back in his chair to enjoy it. “Do you ride, Ms. Murphy?”

This drew a small smile from her lips. “I grew up riding. Had a beautiful gray.” She re-shuffled he stack of papers. “Her name was Belle.” She continued to file the signed forms, not turning to address him directly as she talked.

“On the farm?” He asked, taking a long drag from his cigarette.

“Hmmm,” She hummed in reply, placing the next form in its place in the drawer.

He sat in the quiet that followed her response, the paper sliding along the file folders the only sound between them for several minutes.

“I grew up riding, too,” Tommy offered, feeling obliged to share more. “I’ve always been more comfortable around horses than people.”

Sophie had never met anyone who seemed more collected and comfortable around people than Tommy. In the month she’d worked for him, she’d seen him in many tense situations. Unexpected visits from men like Alfie Solomons, closed door meetings with Polly, coppers, politicians, foremen with long lists of demands for their workers, the list went on and on. And in every interaction, Tommy remained calm, stoic even, always completely controlled. He owned the room, regardless of who else was in it.

“You seem plenty comfortable with people to me,” she said. Finally finished with the signed documents, Sophie turned to face him for the first time since their conversation began and leaned against the heavy wooden filing cabinet.

“Do I?” He asked, extinguishing his cigarette and placing his hands on his knees. “Alright, come here,” he said, rising from his desk and stepping around the corner to where she stood.

Sophie did as she was told and closed the distance between them. He took her hand and placed it over his heart, sliding her fingers below his waistcoat so she could feel the warmth of his skin through the thin layers of cotton. The motion pulled her to him even more and it struck Sophie that this was the closest she’d ever stood to Tommy. She could smell his aftershave and could feel his warm breath as it hit the short, loose hairs around her face. She made note of how her eyes fell even with his lips. All this time she thought he was taller, but perhaps it was just his presence that was so commanding.

“Do you feel it?” His deep brummie snapping her back to reality.

She did. His heart. It was racing.

“Why is it beating so fast?” She asked with a furrowed brow.

“It always does when I feel intimidated or threatened,” he responded.

The tobacco on his breath filled her nose and left her head spinning. “But It’s just us here,” She said with a slight shake of her head.

She felt his hummed affirmation more than she heard it. “You must be intimidating,” he said.

She wasn’t entirely sure if he was serious, his expression, as usual, not betraying his thoughts. How on earth could this man, Thomas Shelby, be intimidated by her? He’d seen so much, done so much. How could she intimidate a man who’d killed numerous others, both in France and in Birmingham? How could she intimidate a man with such power?

Sophie found herself suddenly aware of her own heart rate and took a few deep breaths to steady it.

“Alright,” she said. “Now give me your hand.”

Tommy hesitated prompting a quick laugh from Sophie. “Come one now, I’ve humored you. It’s my turn.”

Leaving one hand on Tommy’s chest, she used the other to place his on her own heart. Her soft skin felt rich under his rough fingers, like a luxurious silk, and he fought the urge to let his hand explore further. He hadn’t noticed it before, but she had a pleasing scent. And while Tommy didn’t know enough about flowers to identify it, he knew it was distinctly floral and fresh. He breathed her in deeply.

He’d been with other women since losing Grace, but only out of necessity–either in business or in need of release. What he hadn’t experienced since losing Grace was the desire to learn a woman–to find what pleased her and revisit it again and again. He felt this desire building in him now, as he carefully read all the features of Sophie’s face.

Sophie watched as he ran his tongue along his lips and cleared her throat. “Right,” She said. “Now close your eyes and concentrate on your breathing.”

Tommy did as she instructed and felt her begin to tap her fingers on top of his hand mirroring her own slow, steady heart rate. Before he realized it, his own heartbeat had slowed and fallen into rhythm with Sophie’s.

“See, that’s not so bad,” She whispered with a smirk.

“How the fuck did you do that?” Tommy asked as his eyes sprung open.

Sophie just smiled and Tommy felt a familiar tug in his chest at the sight of it. Without thinking, he slowly moved his hand up her neck to cup her cheek, holding her eyes with his own. “Who are you Ms. Murphy?” he asked quietly.

She looked away from his scrutinizing stare. “Call me Sophie,” she replied.

His hand felt heavy against her face, but as much as she wanted to pull away, she couldn’t. Tommy broke the connection first.

“Gather your things, Sophie. I’ve somewhere to be and I can drop you at your flat on the way,” he said, dropping his hand. And just like that, it was as if the whole interaction had never happened. She just watched as he removed something from his desk, shook into his coat, and headed toward the office door.

He turned and held a hand out toward her, motioning for Sophie to join him.

“And call me Tommy.”

________

Even though the family had owned it for years now (and frequented long before), Tommy had never grown accustomed to the smell of The Garrison Pub. There was a time, when they were all still living in Small Heath, that they were the first to arrive and (Arthur at least) the last to leave. But their lives had changed dramatically over the last several years. Polly was comfortable in her posh neighborhood, Ada was making her way in London, Arthur and John had both moved their families to the countryside, even Tommy himself now lived at Arrow House–their nights at The Garrison seemed few and far between. That was before the arrival of Luca Changretta on Birmingham’s soil. Now, Tommy needed to convince his family to return to the muck and smoke of their roots, at least until he could feel confident they were safe.

As he entered the pub, Tommy took in the crowd. It was busy, which was good for business, but retained the same stale scent of spilled beer and sweat from the men who’d just walked off the line of a full day’s work. He quickly ducked into the snug, avoiding small talk with any of the patrons who may want to challenge, or kiss the ass of, the man who ran their streets.

His family was already waiting for him. Tommy could feel the tension between them as soon as he entered the small room. It had taken a while, but Michael, Polly and John eventually decided to put the incident of their arrests and damn near executions behind them. Michael, perhaps, was the only one who’d actually forgiven Tommy for turning them over, but he was grateful the others had, at least, moved on with business. Arthur was another story, likely being fed a hostile rhetoric from Linda, though Tommy couldn’t blame her. She was far brighter than some members of his family, and perhaps more manipulative too. He’d expect nothing less than her constantly in Arthur’s ear, pressuring him to leave his “corrupt brother and shady business dealings” and head for a new life elsewhere. Ada was hesitant to admit it, but she almost saw the necessity of what he’d done when Tommy turned on his entire family. He believed the ends justified the means and his own belief in that was almost enough to convince her as well.

He’d never know exactly what they were saying when he entered the snug, but he would have placed a bet it wasn’t in his favor.

“Right then, let’s get on with it,” Arthur said, impatiently.

Tommy remained standing. “A month ago, I received this,” he said, tossing the black hand on the table between them all. “I received it because we killed someone, Vicente Changretta.”

He watched as each member of the family reacted to the card on the table. Each one sharing in the shock and fear that washed through the room. Only Polly remained unfazed.

“And now, I have it on good authority, his son Luca has come to take revenge,” Tommy continued. “Men from New York and Sicily here in Birmingham. These men will not leave our city until our whole family is dead. That’s how it works–an eye for an eye. It’s called vendetta.”

Tommy paused and looked around the room to ensure all eyes were on him before continuing. “This means, that despite the bad blood between us, until this business is settled, we stay together.”

Linda rolled her eyes.

“And we stay here,” Tommy added.

“We can defend our own homes, Tommy,” Arthur said.

But Tommy didn’t acknowledge him. “From Small Heath down the corridor of Stratford Road to Arrow House. We know every face and every man is a soldier in this army.”

“Tom,” John interrupted. “Arthur’s right, we should remain in our own homes. I’m not uprooting my family because some fucking Italians think they can play soldier.”

“Don’t be an idiot,” Esme threw at her husband. “They’d likely come for us first, seeing how remote we are.“

“Right. And these men are professionals, they’re good at what they do, so we’re going to need more than we have. I’ve sent a message to Aberama Gold,” Tommy continued.

Johnny, who had remained quiet until now, pushed off the wall and took a step forward. “No,” he said. “No, Tom. I’ll get you fifty Lee boys. Good men, Tom.”

“I don’t need good men, Johnny. For this, I need bad men.”

“His people are fuckin’ savages. You know?” Johnny continued. “Heathens, Tom. They don’t even let them in the fair, so they come and steal our horses. You know, stealing from their own, Tom.”

“So this the plan, Thomas? This is the plan?” Polly asked. “I supposed there’ll be a bullet with a name on it? Help from a bunch of savages?”

Tommy took a deep breath. Although his aunt knew about the black hand, he hadn’t told her his plans to retaliate.

“We’re going to go on the offensive, Polly,” He added. “I’ve spoken to Moss. He’s putting out word.” Linda scoffed, but Tommy just pressed on. "Eyes and ears so we can find ‘em.” Tommy placed his hands on the table and leaned closer to his family. “Yeah, the truth is, the police are busy with the revolution. Moss says they’re expecting strikes and riots when the weather gets warmer. The Bolsheviks are planning��”

“The Bolsheviks couldn’t plan a fucking picnic,” Ada interrupted, “He’s reading the wrong papers.”

“Ada! Real or not real, the coppers don’t give a fuck about us. All right?” His sister rolled her eyes, but he just continued, standing up straight again and crossing his hands in front of him. “Which means that here today, in this room, we have to agree to end this war between us…” Tommy paused, staring at the back wall across the room.

“So we can move on to a bigger one.”

__________________

Read Chapter 3

#peaky blinders #peaky blinder fanfic #peaky blinders fiction #tommy shelby #tommy shelby x oc #thomas shelby #thomas shelby x oc #alfie solomons #luca changretta #I couldn't let John die again #HazelNMae

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chlobenet · 5 years

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– VIOLENT DELIGHTS ☠️

The roar of the crowd was practically deafening, and it was that very reason that Gennie gladly agreed to accompany Polly to the lady’s room when she was asked. She’d never cared much for fighting, it was far to barbaric in Gennie’s opinion, she could never understand what it was that men enjoyed so much about watching other men hurt each other on purpose, besides the money they gained from gambling of course. They pair walked arm in arm, as they so often did following John’s passing, and entered the lady’s room together where they were met by Lizzie Stark, who was adjusting her makeup in the mirror on the far side of the room.

Polly glanced at Lizzie, who did the same when she heard the door being pushed open, before she unhooked her arms from Genevieve’s and entered one of the bathroom stalls. Gennie walked further into the room, offering Lizzie a polite smile which was returned, somewhat reluctantly.

“So, what did Tommy say when you told him?” Polly’s voice floated from the bathroom stall she was occupying.

“He said I’d get a weekly allowance.” Lizzie responded, somewhat matter of factly.

“Oh isn’t he romantic.” Polly’s voice was laced with even more sarcasm than usual and Gennie couldn’t help but chuckle, offering Lizzie a small shrug when the taller woman turned to look at her. “As company treasure, I will of course be questioning that expense.” Polly exited the bathroom stall now, walking over to join the two other women, a smile on her face showing that her words were all in jest.

“He said something like, we’ve had enough death, let’s have some life.” Lizzie lit up a cigarette and took a long drag.

“Well, I think it’s lovely.” Gennie commented, a genuine smile illuminating her pretty features. Lizzie wanted to frown, but she couldn’t help but smile back – she was just as excited as the Lock girl seemed to be.

The door opened as Gennie spoke, and Ada Shelby sauntered into the room. “What’s lovely?” She asked as she walked over to join Gennie on the far side of the room. “…and this fighting is fixed isn’t it? Because our gypsy boy is getting battered out there.” Ada pulled herself up onto the countertop, sitting in an altogether very unladylike fashion but one that she felt completely comfortable in, given present company. “What’s lovely?” She asked again.

“Lizzie has some news.” Gennie smiled again, and Lizzie laughed shaking her head.

“Gennie!”

“Well, tell her…” Polly spoke, glancing away from the mirror for a moment to shoot Lizzie a glance. “Now, while the men are screaming for blood.” Picking up a bottle of gin from the counter top, Polly passed it to Ada with a sly smirk. “Have a swig, you’re gonna need it.”

Ada stared at Lizzie, who stared right back for a moment before she finally spoke. “I’m up the duff.” Ada took a large gulp of the gin, grimacing as she did so. “…and it’s Tommy’s.” The additional comment almost caused Ada to spit the gin out there and then in surprise, but she managed at the last minute to refrain and swallow before speaking. Her eyes moved from Lizzie, to Gennie, to Polly and then finally back to Lizzie again.

“How far gone are you?” She asked after a moment.

“If I were going to London, I’d be in Coventry.”

“And are you carrying on past Coventry?”

“All the way to fucking Piccadilly Circus.” Lizzie smiled proudly and took another drag on the cigarette.

“Have you found out whether she’s having a boy or a girl Pol?” Ada asked, and when Polly replied no she nodded towards Lizzie. “Go on then.”

Lizzie and Gennie exchanged a glance, neither of them knowing what was going to come next, but Polly crossing the room and cupping one of Lizzie’s breasts in her right hand was certainly not it. “Oh my Polly…” Gennie squeaked, much to Ada’s amusement who handed the bottle of gin to the Lock girl with a smirk. Gennie took a large swig before turning her full attention back to Polly and whatever gypsy magic she was performing.

“It’s a girl.” Polly said after a moment, and all three of the other women in the room beamed at one another. “Call her Ruby, Ruby Shelby…she’ll be a star in a Hollywood movie.”

Lizzie smiled, casting her eyes downwards towards her abdomen. Both Ada and Gennie moved towards her then, their arms outstretched as they moved towards her. Lizzie embraced them both with a smile. “Congratulations.” Ada said.

“I’m so happy for you Lizzie.” Gennie agreed, placing a soft kiss on Lizzie’s cheek with a smile.

The moment was only broken up when Linda Shelby entered the room, she was met with Polly, Ada, Gennie and Lizzie, each of them with their arms around the waist of the others, smiling and smoking, looking happier than any of them had looked in a significantly long time. “Here’s Linda!” Gennie announced with a smile.

“Welcome to the extraordinary meeting of the Shelby ladies club.” Polly greeted the blonde, and although Linda offered a bemused expression as a response, it soon melted into a smile.

“Is there spit on my back?” She asked, turning her back towards the girls, “there’s men out there spitting, it’s fucking disgusting.” Linda muttered as she rooted through her bag, digging out a small silver container that Gennie knew housed her own private stash of cocaine.

“No there’s no spit on your back,” Polly replied, catching sight of the container at the same time as Gennie. “Don’t let us stop you doing what you came in here to do.”

“What?” Linda asked, glancing around at each of the women in the room. “It’s helping me get through the fucking nightmare of being stuck in this city.” She leant forwards, sniffing a line of the cocaine before straightening up again and wiping the remnants from her nostrils.

“Well, since you’re here and you’re almost family, Lizzie’s got some news.”

From the opposite side of the room Lizzie announced once again, “I’m pregnant.”

“Oh,” Linda glanced over her shoulder towards the taller brunette, “and whose the father have you managed to narrow it down?”

“Yes,” Linda said through gritted teeth. “It’s Tommy.”

“Congratulations.” Linda laughed. “You’ve won the raffle at last.”

Polly reached towards Linda, wiping a small white smattering of cocaine from her nostril. “Yeah, she’s a real Shelby lady now Linda. Just like you.”

Genevieve felt a wave of awkwardness wash over her, she was stood in a room full of Shelby women, talking about their family and their futures, all of which she had no real part or business being involved in. There had been a time that she thought she may have taken on the name Shelby, but Luca Changretta made sure that would never happen the second he called the hit on John Shelby’s life. Gennie would never be a part of the extraordinary meeting of Shelby Ladies club, not really, and the realisation showed on her face.

Polly noticed Gennie’s expression, and the way that the usually bright and happy girls’ entire demeanour had changed in mere moments. It didn’t take a fool to figure out why Gennie appeared to be so unhappy, she’d lost her love, and here they all were talking about a future together. “Right ladies,” Polly moved from her position by the mirror and linked an arm through Gennie’s once more, giving it a reassuring squeeze as she did so. “Let’s re-join the gentlemen, and just remember Linda…if they spit, just spit back.”

They walked back to the ring together, laughing and gossiping as they went, and Gennie felt her sadness ebb away with each passing moment. She would always miss John, that was never going to change, but him being gone by no means meant that she wasn’t a part of the Shelby family, and Polly made that perfectly clear when she patted the seat beside her as they got ringside, indicating that Gennie should sit down.

On the opposite side of the ring, Arthur and Thomas watched as the women returned, laughing and chattering between themselves as they settled back into their seats. “What the fuck do you think they’re laughing at?” Arthur questioned his brother.

Thomas didn’t answer, instead his gaze was fixated on Gennie Lock who was sat beside his aunt with a smile so bright it almost blinded him. He hadn’t seen Genevieve smile in a long time, certainly not since John had died, and he had forgotten just how beautiful her smile was, how it illuminated her features and caused the faintest of wrinkles at the corner of her eyes. She looked happy, Thomas thought, and happy suited her.

“Eh, do you think they’re laughing at?” Arthur asked again, nudging Tommy this time to get his attention.

“I don’t know Arthur, women’s things…” Tommy drawled.

“Fucking women’s things, got no place at a boxing match do women’s things.”

No, Thomas thought, agreeing with his older brother for once, someone like Gennie Lock had absolutely no business being at an event such as this.

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merakiaes · 4 years

Text

On Your Knees - Tommy Shelby

Pairing: Tommy Shelby x reader

Requested: Yes.

Prompts: #48, #57 and #66 from the fluff/humour-list.

Warnings/notes: Indications to smut, but no full smut. Sorry if it’s shit. I had to mix and match two requests and it was hard to get everything working together so I hope this is readable xD I changed the form of the prompts a bit to make them fit better.

Wordcount: 2902

Summary: You go on a date, Tommy gets jealous and interferes, and it ends up with you doing the dirty. Basically.

Dating wasn’t easy when you were the long-term best friend of Tommy Shelby, the infamous leader of the Peaky Blinders.

He had always been protective over you, as had his brothers, but the possessiveness he held over you hadn’t made an appearance until you were about fifteen when boys started noticing you and asking you out on dates.

You accepted the possessive protectiveness the first few times, hoping that maybe he had feelings for you. But when he never made a move, your appreciation for his behavior quickly turned into loathing, said behavior making you lose all interest in romance after a time.

Tonight was the first night you had reciprocated a man’s advances and accepted to go on a date for… probably more than two years.

You had really grown so tired of Tommy constantly interfering your dating life that you had distanced yourself from any other men than him and his brothers all together.

But you were done with letting his mannerisms control your life. It was absolutely none of his business what you did on your spare time and who you were with.

Still, to avoid getting interrupted like you had all the other times you had attempted dating, you had done everything in your power to keep your plans a secret from everyone that associated themselves with the Peaky Blinders.

The only person you had told about your plans of going out was Polly, solely for the purpose of getting her to keep Tommy away if he, against all odds, still found out what you were up to.

The evening had started wonderfully.

Robert, as the man’s name was, had picked you up in his car at around six in the afternoon, complimenting your navy blue dress, kissing your hand and opening the door for you like a true gentleman.

You had started out with dinner at a nice restaurant a bit outside of Small Heath, then going to the pictures for a re-run of Frankenstein where you had been sneaking kisses at the back of the salon through the entire film, having you feeling like you were sixteen all over again.

And after the movie, you had ended up at the Garrison.

You had insisted that you go to another pub, despite knowing that Tommy and his brothers had other plans that night being nervous that he would catch word about your whereabouts and the company you kept.

But Robert, in turn, had insisted that he didn’t want to go anywhere else. And although you had wanted to punch him in the face for going against your wishes without even taking them into consideration, you agreed, too stubborn to let a night that had been amazing so far go down in the drain because of Tommy.

You had been there for about forty minutes now without any disturbances, drinking, sharing stories and jokes and just having a good time in general.

But like always when you tried having a good time without Tommy, it was bound to come to an end eventually.

Unbeknownst to you, Finn had come some while ago to fetch a bottle of whiskey for his brothers who were working late in the betting shop.

Being too wrapped up in your conversation, you hadn’t noticed him at all and therefor paid him no mind. Of course, being the loyal brother he was, he had turned around in the door the second he saw you, forgetting all about the whiskey and running straight back home to tell on you.

And only five minutes later, Tommy, John and Arthur had entered the pub, catching your eye instantly.

“Shit.” You cursed under your breath as you spotted them, trying to hide your face behind your hair.

Robert looked over at you with a questioning glance. “What’s wrong?”

You simply stood up, grabbing your jacket from the back of the chair. “Do you want to get out of here?”

Of course, he didn’t protest, without a doubt thinking he was going to get some with the way he hurriedly threw back the rest of his drink before standing up and grabbing his own jacket, putting it on.

But you didn’t get very far, as Arthur had now spotted you and pointed you out to Tommy, said man starting to walk over while Arthur and John lingered by the bar, ready to back him up if anything was to go down, which was exactly what you were trying to avoid.

Tommy reached you just as Robert was starting to lead you off, wasting no time in getting into his face.

“What a surprise to find you here, (Y/N).” Tommy greeted you, raising his eyebrows slightly. “Polly told me you were home sick and wanted to be left alone.”

You only sighed, rolling your eyes and grabbing a hold of Robert’s arm. “Well, she wasn’t lying about the last part.” You answered, not even bothering to lie as you knew it wouldn’t make a difference. “We were just leaving so you can have our table if you want. Come on, Robert.”

You tugged on his arm slightly, and he wasted no time in moving to follow, the two of you making an attempt to walk around Tommy. But surprise, surprise, he only took a step backwards, keeping himself in your way.

“You’re not going to introduce me?” He asked with a mocking smile teasing at his lips, eyebrows raised.

You glared at him, knowing exactly what he was doing. “Tommy, this is Robert. Robert, Tommy. Now, if you’ll excuse us.”

“What is it you do, Robert?” Tommy kept going, taking another step backwards when you attempted to round him again, and this time you weren’t the only time to pick up on his antics and get annoyed, Robert letting out an aggravated sigh.

“Look, you’re ruining a very good night.” He spoke, glaring at Tommy as if he had no idea who he was. You really hoped for his sake that you were wrong. “So if you would just get out of our way and leave me and the lady be, that would be great.”

You then felt Robert’s hand, that had previously been resting at your waist, slide down to land on your bottom, and that’s when you realized he either really didn’t know who he was talking to, or he just didn’t care. Either way, he was doomed.

Tommy noticed his hand moving south and you immediately recognized the look in his eye.

“Tommy.” You warned, glaring, but he paid you no mind.

Much to your surprise, however, he didn’t launch himself at Robert like you expected him to, but rather took a calm step closer to the two of you, reaching out and grabbing a hold of Robert’s hand, forcing it off your body, all while keeping eye contact with the slightly taller man.

And that’s when all hell broke lose, Robert being the one to make the first move and landing a harsh blow right in Tommy’s face, sending him flying backwards into the nearest table.

You yelled out in surprise, jumping backwards for a moment, before quickly launching yourself forward when Tommy launched himself at Robert, the two starting to land blow after blow on each other, causing the entire pub to break out into chaos.

Seeing as they were only one on one, Arthur and John stayed back, laughing at the scene in front of them, most likely at the fate Robert was sure to suffer.

“Tommy!” You yelled, jumping into the fight and trying to pull them apart, but to no use. You only got pushed away, stumbling into a man you didn’t know, Tommy not listening to a single one of your calls. And the same went for Robert.

“Tom, cut it out! Tommy!” You tried again, jumping back in to try to get them a part, flinching when he landed a punch right at Robert’s nose, resulting in a nasty crack to cut through the air.

But when you once again got pushed back, you knew you had to bring out the big guns, yelling at the top of your lungs.

“Thomas Michael Shelby!”

Everyone stopped what they were doing at the sound of your furious call.

The laughter and cheering died down, you could see how the smiles were wiped off of both John and Arthur’s faces, the two clearing their throats to calm their laughter down.

Tommy had stopped himself mid-punch, one of his hands holding on to Robert’s collar, and the other raised in a fist directed to his face, but his eyes were now looking straight into yours.

Not once breaking the stare, you marched up to him and slapped his hand away from Robert’s collar and grabbed a hold of the sleeve of his shirt, starting to pull him away.

“Come on, let’s go.” You told him sternly, and he didn’t dare protest, following behind you while the crowd cleared out of your way.

But before you got too far, Robert called out from behind you. “What? You’re going with him? After he came in here, ruined our date and attacked me?”

Before you could stop yourself, you had let go of Tommy’s sleeve and whipped back around, marched back up to Robert and punched him in the face, landing a perfect blow to his probably already broken nose.

A few of the women in the pub let out sounds of surprise, but you paid them no mind, simply pointing a finger at your date who was now holding his nose in pain.

“You ought to know better than to start a fight with a Peaky Blinder, especially in a place they own. You hit one of them, you start a war with all of us. And that’s a war you won’t win.” You told him coldly, not waiting around long enough for a response before turning back around.

Arthur and John were laughing mockingly at the man, roaring out in amusement. “That’s right! You don’t mess with us Peaky Blinders!”

But you didn’t pay them any mind either, simply shoving right past Tommy and out of the Garrison, stomping down the street with him close behind.

Back at his office, you didn’t even bother being soft with him as you cleaned the cuts on his face, pressing down extra hard on his split lip with the rag you had soaked in alcohol.

He hissed at the sensation, but said nothing, knowing better.

“What is it with you and always putting your nose in my business, huh?” You asked him, pressing down on his cut again and refusing to meet his eyes.

You may have been the one to deliver the last blow to your date after he had insulted your family, but you were still pissed beyond relief that Tommy had intervened in the first place.

Obviously, you didn’t like Robert enough to actually picture another date with him. But just like any human being, you had needs too. And unlike the men, you couldn’t just walk into a whorehouse and get them taken care of. You needed to fix it on your own, and once again, Tommy had prevented you from doing so.

“I didn’t like him.” He spoke back simply, analyzing your face as you moved on to a cut in his eyebrow, cleaning it off before pressing a small piece of tissue into the small, open wound to stop it from bleeding further.

You snorted at his mediocre response, shaking your head. “You don’t like anyone.”

He raised his eyebrows as you finally let yourself meet his gaze. “I like you.”

“Yeah?” You inquired, throwing the bloody rag onto his desk and taking a step back as he stood up. “Then why won’t you let me live my life the way I want it? Why do you have to intervene in every single thing I do?”

You crossed your arms over your chest, not giving him any time to answer. “Are you jealous, is that it?” You asked. “Does it anger you to see me with other men?”

You expected him to say something, to tell you that no, he didn’t mind, he just wanted to see you safe, but when he said nothing, he gave you all the answer you needed, and a mocking smirk quickly rose to your lips.

“Oh, you are jealous, aren’t you?”

He looked genuinely confused at the sight of the teasing smirk now playing at your lips. “You’re not angry at me?”

You rolled your eyes, scoffing.

“No, I’m not angry at you. In fact, I think it’s kind of hot when you defend me like that.” You corrected him, raising your eyebrows slightly but tightening your arms over your chest. “But I’m sexually frustrated because you keep denying me of the release I plan on getting by going out on dates. You men aren’t the only ones who need to fuck, you know?”

Now you had gone back to glaring at him, and you half expected him to say sorry like he always did. Not that he ever meant or kept it, but still. But instead, he only took a step closer, bringing his hand up to touch a strand of your hair.

“Why didn’t you just tell me that’s what you needed, then?” He asked in a low voice, and no matter how hard you tried keeping you cool, the shock of his response made the glare falter from your face and caused your arms to drop limp to your sides.

“I- What?” You asked, sucking in a breath as you were backed into the wall. You took a moment to collect yourself under his intense stare, before narrowing your eyes slightly. “Are you flirting with me?”

He didn’t answer, instead, the corner of his lip only tugged upwards slightly, and before you got any time to react, his lips were pressed against yours, having the back of your head slamming into the wall behind you.

But you couldn’t be bothered with the pain. If anything, it only made the feeling erupting in your stomach even more intense.

Your body reacted as if out of pure animalistic instincts, your hands shooting out to grab and tug at his hair while his fell down to your waist to tug you even closer, as if it was even possible to get any closer with the way he was pressing you into the wall.

Your heart picked up speed almost instantly, feeling as if it was going to jump straight out of your chest, and so did your lungs, burning with the same desire that was bubbling in the pit of your stomach and your chest.

Grabby hands were everywhere within the next few seconds, tugging at everything they could find while your lips molded together, tongues fighting for a battle neither of you seemed to be willing to lose.

Tommy let out a throaty groan as you tugged harshly on his hair, the sound getting muffled by your mouth and his hands responding by squeezing down at your ass, pushing your pelvis up into his.

The feeling had your hands away from his hair and pulling at his tie almost instantly, fondling with it for a few seconds before getting it lose. You threw it to the floor and started working on the buttons of his shirt with shaky hands and rushed motions, while Tommy’s hands moved from to your back where he started unbuttoning your dress.

In a flurry of hands and messy kisses, Tommy was soon left in only his slacks, and you in only your black underdress.

As you were working on the zipper of his pants, his mouth left yours and traveled down your jaw and neck, leaving wet, sloppy kisses in his wake and drawing sweet moans of ecstasy from your lips that were now, without a doubt, smudged with red lipstick.

You grabbed at his hair as he worked away at your neck for a moment, but when you felt his hands starting to brush the straps of your underdress down your shoulders, you snapped your eyes open and pushed him away by his chest.

The sudden and harsh action caused him to stumble slightly, but he quickly regained his balance, his eyes meeting yours.

His usually baby blue eyes were now several shades darker, his pupils so dilated you almost could have thought he was high on drugs.

Both of your chests were heaving up and down both from the excitement and from being out of breath. None of you spoke for a moment, just staring at each other with hungry eyes, but then you pushed yourself off the wall you were leaning on for support, and Tommy spoke up.

“Where do you want me?”

Without ever breaking eye contact, you slowly started walking towards him, brushing one of the straps down your shoulders, taking your sweet time just in order to make him as frustrated as he had made you the past few years.

Only when you were standing right in front of him again did you let any emotion show, a wicked grin rising to your lips as you answered.

“On your knees, Shelby.”

Like a dog would his master, he did as ordered, slowly sinking to his knees without ever looking away from your eyes, and as you brushed off the second strap and let your nightdress fall to your ankles, he wasted no time in getting to work.

#Tommy Shelby #tommy shelby imagine #tommy shelby x reader #thomas shelby #thomas shelby x reader #thomas shelby imagine #peaky blinders x reader #Peaky Blinders #peaky blinder imagine #peaky blinder fanfic #peaky blinder headcanon #arthur shelby #finn shelby #john shelby #ada shelby #ada thorne #michael gray #polly gray

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