Tumgik
#tommyshelby x black!reader
saintsir4n · 7 months
Text
19
WARNINGS: MENTIONS OF WAR
1914
"YOU'VE got a what?" Finn asked, the expecting couple.
Isaiah's gasped, "In where?"
Days had passed since the celebratory drink in honour of another Shelby baby and the boys were still confused about all of it, so Tommy and Eden pulled them aside from their learnings to explain as much as possible, considering he and his brothers would be leaving in very soon.
"How is a baby in there?" Isaiah turned to his best friend.
"Sex," Finn answered, despite not knowing what he was saying.
The couple looks at each other in shock watching the two interact.
"How does he..." Eden was too stunned so Tommy took over.
"Boys, Eden's got a baby in her tummy, just like Martha did –"
"-- she might again," Eden mumbled, luckily only Tommy heard but she gave him an 'I'll tell you later' look and he continued.
"The baby will come when I'm not here, so you two need to be on your best behaviour," Tommy instructed, leaning down as they stared up at him with their innocent faces, "no messin' around, no gettin' on her nerves, just be good, alright?"
His words went straight over their heads, "Does that mean I still get sweets?" Finn asked no one in particular.
Tommy pinched the bridge of his nose, "Finn you've been told you're gonna be an uncle for the second time and you're worrying about sweets."
The Shelby boy awaited an answer.
"Yes, you'll get sweets Finny and another niece," Eden reassured him.
His brows pinched together, "What's that?"
Finn understood that he was an uncle but nothing more than that.
"Is it a girl?" Isaiah questioned, folding his arms, when he received a nod, the boys exchanged grimaces, "Ewww."
Immediately they ran off and went back to their books, leaving the couple alone.
"What the fuck?" Eden blinked rapidly.
Tommy took her hand, before palming her stomach once again.
"Now that's done, let's go," he said, nodding to the basket on the floor.
"But what's up with 'em?"
"Fuck knows."
__
Two days, the lads were leaving in two days. Tommy's heart hammered in his chest at the thought, nevertheless, he promised Eden a perfect day, filled with chocolate slices, sandwiches and a flask of tea. She wore the sweetest frock she could dig out of her closet, it was cheery red, matching the colour of her lips. He adorned a crease-free shirt which was concealed by his favourite navy blue jumper, his shoes were polished, and the gifted horseshoe and box were in his slacks.
Despite not carrying his gun with him, he decided the blades in his cap would suffice and along with the knife he knew that clung to Eden's thigh, they would be safe.
They rode Shadow once again, this time Eden was much more relaxed and free, the light wind combed through Tommy's hair and luckily didn't move a strand of hers, being that she styled it into a low bun.
After tying the horse to a nearby tree, they found the spot overlooked the city, allowing them to spread out the blanket and sit down, basking in the heat.
The sun felt like hot kisses against Eden's skin, leaving her with tints of amber, drawing Tommy's attention as he pulled out all the food he'd spent making up that morning. She was everything he dreamt of and more, the very thing that he yearned for in both body and spirit, she challenged him in ways he hated to love and often drove him to madness, but brought him back with only the right sequence of words. Eden bloody Dawkins, she was his home.
"What?" she felt his stare.
Tommy simply cocked his head to the side, raising his brow at her as a smile tugged at his lips.
"Aren't I simply a dream Tom?" she teased, winking at the man.
"That you are my love."
Eden bashfully laughed at his response and started to dig into the spread, she carved anything and everything, the previous night she'd woken up Tommy so he could make her some rose tea, he didn't have a clue of what she was on about and cautiously told his aunt about it. Polly wasn't pleased with being pulled out of her slumber but aided him anyway.
"How's the little one treatin' ya?" he gently palmed the slight swell of her stomach.
"Can't feel much, bumps don't show properly for another two months," when you're away, she wanted to add, but decided not to, "nausea's died down for now."
"Can see that," he nodded to a half-eaten sandwich in her hand, making her snort.
"And you can say it's a girl, Tom unless you don't believe your aunt," she gave him a pointed look.
"I believe her, things might change, just being realistic."
"'Cause you want a boy?"
"Did I say that?" his hand didn't leave her stomach as he picked up the flask.
"Y'know she's a girl, so you're not havin' a peaky blinder," she narrowed her eyes at him, "but by the grace of god, we have a boy he ain't becomin' a blinder Thomas alright? Promise me." he shrugged, making her hit his forehead, "You promised a perfect day so promise me."
He nodded after gulping down some tea, "Alright, I promise... if it's a boy he ain't becoming a blinder," he paused, "I'll make sure he goes to London and becomes one of those established toffs."
She scrunched up her face, "Ugh, I think I'd prefer a blinder."
They both started to laugh, but in truth wanted a bright future for their child, their children, not wanting them to be subjected to the same misfortunes they inherited, but it was a lot to ask for, let alone dream about. Money could change a lot, but it couldn't change blood.
"You thought of any names?" she asked, as he rested his head in her lap.
His eyes fluttered shut, "A few."
She gently patted him, "Spill."
He inhaled sharply, "It's a lot to ask..."
"Go on."
"Somethin' to do with my mum," his reply had her intrigued.
"Mara Shelby," he stiffly nodded at her mention, "it's a pretty name," she said smiling.
"Esme too," he added, recalling how he and John were up a couple of nights ago talking about it. Arthur joined in, and so did Ada before they passed out in the front room.
"Esmerelda," she liked how it rolled off her tongue.
He chuckled before saying the next, "Pollyanna, but don't tell Pol 'bout that."
"Secret safe with me," she giggled.
"You thought of any?"
"Nothing's come to mind, none have felt right, my mum told me that she spent months thinkin' of what to call me and then changed her mind on the day," she said, combing her hand through his thick locks.
"Really?"
"Yeah, spontaneous thing right?"
"Sounds it," as a man who made part of their child, he didn't want to influence Eden too much with the name of the baby, but the fact she was taking his input made him grateful.
"Just picturing the little girl, runnin' 'round, with a dog chasing her..." her eyes fluttered shut at the image.
"A dog, what one?" he questioned, envisioning the image also, it made his heart swell.
"Bullmastiff," she breathed out.
His eyes fluttered open. "Those big dogs?"
"Yeah, family dogs apparently, but can be brutal when needs be," she continued with the vision, believing it would be the perfect addition to the home they already dreamt of.
"Ballmastiff it is, anything else Mrs Shelby?" and with that question her eyes snapped open, glancing down at the smirking man.
She swallowed the lump at the back of her throat, "Not Mrs. Shelby yet, haven't even popped the question."
"That's true," Tommy sat up, then rose on one knee, rendering Eden to softly chuckle behind her shaking hand, "Now, I was gonna do this a while ago, back when I got permission from your parents. And yes even your dad gave me 'is blessin', a shock to me and all, but I promised I wasn't gonna fuck this up, and I'm not am I?"
"No, you aren't, keep it up."
"Been thinkin' of all the ways I was gonna ask you this, dreamin', talkin' talk my self 'bout how I was gonna ask you to be my wife, did it so often Pol thought 'bout 'avin' me admitted," a teary laugh escaped her at his confession. "So I thought what would my Edie do when she's stuck? She'd write it down wouldn't ya love?"
"I would," she admitted.
"But I couldn't do that," he jokily tutted, making her laugh even more, "I scrapped the paper and thought speakin' from the heart was better, even though I think I'm doin' a crap job at it, but you're smilin'" her smile reached her teary eyes, making his heart hammer once more, "best smile I've ever seen, the brightest too," his voice cracked slightly, "and a great woman once said 'you have to be a bright ball of fire to be seen' and I've never not seen you, Eden. You're everything to me, my bright ball of hope, Christ how sappy is that?"
"Keep goin'" She softly nudged him, despite her tears.
"Oh right," he reached into his back pocket, "even before that little one starting growin' inside you, I was gonna propose. We speak about the future and mine wouldn't be right — it couldn't be without you in it. You've always been in it, so Eden Mary Dawkins would you –"
"Yes," she practically fell into his arms, covering his face with kisses.
"Darlin' I 'aven't shown you the ring yet or properly asked the question."
"Fine, ask me," she playfully rolled her eyes, not letting go of him.
"Will you marry me?"
"Yes, it was always gonna be yes," she exclaimed.
An uncharacteristically wide smile broke out on his face as he produced a small box, but that didn't stop her from kissing him and he immediately kissed back, flooding her with feelings that burst through his chest and she did the same, swirling his mouth with the joy that took over her.
Pulling away, he presented her with a ring, that she squealed out, much to his shock, sure it shone in the sunlight, but he didn't think it was much, in honesty he thought she would hate it, but it was the best he could do.
"Brought it for cheap, don't be mad," he said, settling down onto the blanket again.
Her brows furrowed slightly, "And why would I be mad?"
"You deserved better."
"It's perfect," she wasted no more time and slid it onto her finger.
She even laughed when he fitted his cap onto her head.
My secret blinder, he thought.
She wouldn't stop looking at the ring, so he took his time to speak again, "I want us to have the best weddin', but can't do it now only when I come back, so promise me you'll tell people we're married."
"For protection?..."
"Exactly, protection, our little Shelby needs it, just like you," he and his family agreed to it as well, making sure to spread the word that they'd wed, so no one questioned it. Even asking Jeremiah to pretend he performed the ceremony and Polly to put together a fake marriage certificate.
"'Course," she smiled at him, watching as he slipped on a wedding band of his own. "Should we make up our own vows then?"
"If you want," he couldn't stop smiling.
"Well, I... promise to be loyal to you, always, mind body and soul."
He let out a nervous chuckle, "Not to love ey?"
"You can love someone and hurt 'em right?" she blurted out, eyes widening at the words she spoke. It was out of experience she wanted to be cautious, she loved Tommy and he loved her, but the future they planned wouldn't be plane sailing. "I promise to always love you, also, but loyalty, our loyalty to each other can't be brought, or made, it was always there, alright?"
Tommy couldn't disagree despite himself.
"I promise to be loyal to you, always, mind body and soul."
They sealed that vow with a kiss, arguably far more meaningful and sacred than the last.
The sun brightened, bearing witness to the faux wedding, shining down on their rings with its harsh rays, before Tommy turned to whisper something to her bump, putting on voices for his daughter to hear, making his fiancé laugh at his utter foolishness as she ran her fingers through his hair. Thirty weeks left of her pregnancy to go and Tommy had to make the most of this moment, imagining what their child would look like before she popped out.
He was about to go through the flames of war, but right now all he could think of was his family, and how he would make sure to cherish them, despite how little time he had.
▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃
a/n:
for a while, i was trying to figure out how far along eden is and she's roughly two months pregnant, give or take a week.
we all know when it comes to tommy loyalty is more vital than love, merely because he's committed atrocities in the name of love and family, so he's really not one to be trusted.
how did you find this chapter? the proposal? the happiness between teden?
next time chapter will be the last before the epilogue and bonus chapter, guys so might want to bring some tissues.
Tumblr media
49 notes · View notes
ablxssm · 3 years
Text
MISCHIEF MARRED
PREVIOUS — 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓 :: 𝐈𝐈 — NEXT
Tumblr media
Tag List: @makapaka11 @hamdehlesmis @mzcrazy2
Summary: The youngest Shelby finds out she holds some very special and peculiar powers. Who knows what this little girl will be up to when she is offered a place at a school. Or… Poor Tommy Shelby and the case of confusion of magic.
Warnings: Cursing, mild violence later on!
Word Count: 1389
─── NOTHING WAS FOUND, not even a whisper or a sentence in books. Nothing. Tommy was at a loss with where to start. So he looked at the wax seal and tapped twice. Within minutes there was a knock on the door. He scoffed to himself and opened it.
A man with platinum graying hair stood.
“Mister Shelby, Professor Dumbledore said you’d call. I’m Abraxus Malfoy, I’m a patron of the school and he has asked me personally to greet you.”
Tommy nodded and opened the door more. He purposely placed his gun on the table and the man just smiled at the gesture.
“I see you chose your weapons well. However you have no need to pull that on me,” he sat with him.
“You don’t know that yet. I have questions, and you will answer them.”
His smile was polite, annoyed, but polite nonetheless.
“Of course you do. Before we start, I must ask where Miss Shelby is. Perhaps it’s important for her to hear those questions.”
Tommy shook his head, “No. These are questions of my own. Now…” he sighed and crossed his hands.
“How did you know about Theodora?”
“The ministry has a trace on all underaged children with magic. She popped up on the radar and the rest is history.”
“Where is the school?”
“Scotland. It a castle hidden from muggles, the non-magic people, for their own safety.”
Tommy nodded, “Understandable. You understand we won’t just let her go without questions about her safety, Theodora is the youngest of my siblings and the only one we have left of our mother. A mother who also had powers, now why didn’t she go to this school.”
“That, I cannot answer for you. Dumbledore might, but the possibility could be that she was so well hidden that we had no way of finding her.”
“Fair enough…”
Tommy knew how to read people, but reading this man was hard. He was so plain with his expressions, but there was something else.
“Should we accept to bring her, how will we know she is safe.”
“Hogwarts is the safest place in the wizarding world. There are wards to keep dark souls out of the grounds, she will be able to communicate with her family whenever she wants-“
“How much.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“How much are you asking for us to give her to you?”
The man laughed, “Mister Shelby I can assure you we aren’t taking your sister from you. My son also attends the school, as have I and my forefathers before me. The school is well provided for and she will be cared for.”
“Money makes the world go round, how will we know our money will go to the right place.”
Abraxus narrowed her eyes, “Accept the terms and I will show you how safe your sister will be. I heard you have a large sum of money to confirm this. 2,000 pounds per year for her tuition along with another 2,000 for supplies and to start her account at the wizarding bank.”
Tommy lit a cigarette, “Fine. Tomorrow then.”
“Tomorrow? So soon?” He teased and Tommy glared.
“I won’t waste another minute before I change my mind.”
“Alright… tomorrow. A colleague of mine will come and help her adjust. I have another family appointment to visit tomorrow. She will be more than willing to show you and your sister around, look for an owl and you’ll know where to meet. It was a pleasure, mister Shelby.”
Tumblr media
True to the man’s word, a woman came to the door. She was older with a kind smile. She was in these elegant dress robes that were rather unconventional for Small Heath.
“Good morning, Mister Shelby… and Miss Shelby.” She directed to Theo who was clinging onto her older brother’s coat.
“You must be the woman that Mister Malfoy mentioned.”
“That I am… The name is Minerva McGonagall. I’m a professor at Hogwarts. I will also be helping you make your way around Diagon Alley, the place where all young witches and wizards go to get their supplies.”
“Diagon Alley? Hogwarts… you have weird names for places,” Theo commented and stepped forward a bit.
Tommy would agree, some of these names sounded highly unlikely to be real places. But he sucked it up and sighed. McGonagall seemed to be taken by Theo and indulged in her small jokes before she turned back to Tommy.
“Alright, would you prefer the fast way or the normal way to get there?” Her voice had mischief in it and he was rather curious.
“As opposed to…”
“The muggle way.”
He cocked a brow, “Might as well get her adjusted as soon as possible, yea?”
“Good. Hold onto me and whatever you do… try to not let go.”
Tommy Shelby never got sick, nor did he feel sick… at least not like this. His stomach was in knots and his mind felt like a bad trip with opium and blues. His sister, however, said it was like riding really fast on a wild horse.
“The fuck… was that,” He groaned and fixed his cap.
“That was a form of traveling us wizards can do called apparating. It takes a long while to perfect safely. It is also the fastest way of travel, I thought it would save you petrol on the way to London.”
“London! We’re in London?! Tommy, we can visit Ada from here without the car!” She jumped up and down and Tommy just clenched his jaw.
Minerva sent him a polite smile and handed him a piece of chocolate, “Here, it’ll make you feel better.”
He gave her a look, but honestly, he would take anything to make this massive headache go away. So he took a small bite and lit a cigarette in comfort. Minerva gave him a tight smile and led them out of the alley they were in.
“Welcome to Diagon Alley,” Tommy couldn’t believe his eyes. There was so much color and intricate things he would never understand. He felt Theo squeeze his hand and she smiled so brightly. Perhaps this would be a good thing for both of them. His heart already felt a bit lighter and Theodora was the happiest he had ever seen her be. Minerva noticed this and smiled warmly.
“Come on then, let’s exchange your pounds for galleons.”
Tumblr media
Both of them learned so much about the other world. She even got a wand for her schooling to help conduct her magic, an owl to communicate with them since they did not have a line at the school for phone calls, some books and supplies, and a pet snake as her familiar since she was rather scared of cats and toads. The owl was nice enough, rather sleepy, but nice. The snake was pure white with these intimidating blue eyes, which she said looked like Tommy and Ada a bit, while the white held Polly’s grace. The owl had this warm auburn hair color that reminded her of Finn’s and well… it acted a bit like John and Arthur. Both brash but sweet. It warmed her heart in a way that she would have reminders of her family at this new school. So she appropriately named the snake Peaky and the owl Ginger, it seemed that her three other brothers carried the gene.
They left Minerva a while ago as they had decided to spend the night with Ada and have her drive them back tomorrow morning. Minerva had also said she would send the items home instead of her worrying about them for the night, as for the owl and snake… well the owl wasn’t the problem. Polly would rant on about the snake once they came home, saying it would bring them bad luck or something along those lines. Tommy just said he would handle her and say, “We bought them already and even named them.”
Theo fell asleep in the cab ride to Ada’s and Tommy carried her into a spare bedroom and after, he joined his other younger sister in her main room with James. He still rented from her for the time and didn’t seem fazed by the whole thing. Tommy and Ada wondered why, but before he could even explain or they could ask, he retired for the evening with a cheeky grin.
Tumblr media
191 notes · View notes
wordlessbabbling · 4 years
Text
Ozymandius
A Thomas Shelby x femm!reader story
Requested by @fifty-shadesof-tommyshelby
“You are a gangleader at the top of the chain. You’re civilian occupation is being a pub owner. The Peaky Blinders were looking to either make an agreement with you, or kill you, but where’s the fun in that? Today, Thomas Shelby walked into your bar.”
Warnings: none, I think. Thomas Shelby’s a dick? Idk
Masterlist
Dylan, your secretary, slid a small piece of paper across your desk and sat in the chair opposite you. You looked up from the document you were signing and eyed the card suspiciously.
Slowly, you snatched it in your well manicured hand and glanced your eyes over the paper once. Then again. Then once more.
You looked up from the paper and grinned, holding the sheet to your chest.
Without another glance, you immediately left the room to prepare.
You, Ozymandius, King of Bristol, you were going to battle.
Although this time, you were armed with a bottle of whiskey and two drops of perfume.
“Hello.
-T.S”
----
You donned your brown skirt with your creme coloured loose sleeved shirt. 
You scanned the bar and noted the regulars along with your workers who stood idly in case something broke out.
The “King William Ale House”, your pride and joy. Of course you owned about 60 other pubs in Bristol, but this was your baby, your first one. The furniture was black leather with gold linings. It had a gramophone in the corner and often men would come in to request songs.
On Wednesday nights, you always had a slow night, so often chairs and tables would be cleared out and couples could come and dance in the evening. On Sundays after lunch, men came in and often asked for the radio to hear about the latest news or the racing broadcasts.
Today was Wednesday meaning it was slow so it would be easy to eye-fuck the Peaky Blinders.
The doors opened, in stepped one man; then another; then another; then another; then another; and a final one.
If you were a suspicious woman, you would say those were your new business associates; lucky for them, you were because you swiftly greeted them and played the slowest song you had. 
It was time to finesse your way into these gangsters hearts.
“Evening boys, welcome to the “King William Ale House”. The couples booths are in the corner and dancing is encouraged for all. Drinks?” Your accent was thick and sultry. Really, you were teasing them, but you were never one to discriminate.
“Orright. Isiah, Finn, go to the booths-” the one with the burly moustache grumbled.
“-the couples booths?” the ginger one screeched.
Another man spoke up, identical to the rest of them, “for fucks- just go, Finn. Scud can come sit by you if your pride is hurting too much.”
One of the men placed his caps on the counter. In the corner of your eye, you saw the glinting sheen of a blade sewn into the plane and rather boring cap.
So it is true?
“A bottle of Irish and the whereabouts of Ozymandius.” His voice was monotonous and deep.
“I apologise, Mister, but I do not know their whereabouts.”
The man with the burly moustache got very close to your face, “now you listen here, sweetheart-“
“-Arthur, Arthur. Calm down, eh. We’ll wait.”
The men sat at the bar and smoked. Others in the room got up on their feet and danced quietly together. In your opinion, you were rather enjoying yourself. There’s a certain rush one gets when they deceive the arrogant of the world.
You leant your back to the bar and faced the array of drinks and sours; and above the debauchery rested a plaque.
Everyday you read that plaque. Everyday you remembered where you came from and why you do what you do.
“I woulda thought the King of Bristol woulda had a watch on him, Tommy.” The one with the baby face and toothpick sneered, “I don’t like waiting like this.”
“Ozymandius is never late. They need no watch for they know that time is wasted.” You muttered saltily.
“Are you a spy?” The one with the monotonous voice asked, ‘Tommy’ you think.
You didn’t move your head from the plaque, only continuing to stare at the italic writing. “No, not a spy. Though I do like watching.”
The hush fell over the room again as you listened to the slow music playing quietly.
The door opened once more and another couple stepped in. It was Daniel and Lisa, a lovely new couple. They even had a baby on the way!
“Danny! There you are! Ah Lisa, how’re you doing? How’s the baby?” You smiled warmly at the couple.
Daniel used to hang about on the streets when he was a kid, you saw him as useful and put him to work in the local inn. He met Lisa and the rest was history. You were definitely a bit of a romantic
Danny was about to open his mouth when you heard a bottle slam on the counter again, it was the rude man with the monotonous voice. “Are you a whore, then?”
You played nice and told “Tommy” to excuse you and you carried on with your conversation with Danny and Lisa.
While watching Danny and Lisa dance and look at each other, you remembered what your mother used to say to you.
“There are locked rooms inside all women; kitchen of lust, bedroom of grief, bathroom of apathy. Sometimes, the men—they come with keys, and sometimes, the men—they come with hammers.”
While you were lost in your thoughts, you heard the sound of a fist being slammed into oak: the man with the moustache was having a tantrum.
“Have we been fucking stood up, Tom? Is that it? Lady-“ he took a gun from his holster within his jacket, “-you’re gonna tell us where Ozymandius is, otherwise I’m gonna blow your fucking brains out.”
You trotted around the counter to face the man head on with his gun still pointing at your face. You grabbed the gun directly from his hand and twisted it, listening for the sickening crunch of his finger in the trigger slot.
To avoid hitting anyone else in the bar, you twisted the gun down. You used your right hand to stop the wrist as you used the left hand to bend their wrist, grabbing the gun, and pushing the gun down.
After quickly disarming the man, you pushed his quivering frame to the floor. You took the gun in your hand and like a good game of ‘Simon Says’ all the others with peaked caps took out theirs as well.
You pointed your gun to Tommy who you now understood was the leader, all silent and sneer of cold command. You were no fool.
With one gun pointing to one man and four pointing at you; you liked your chances.
The one with the baby face spoke up, “who are you, eh? Who is she?” His voice was loud and maybe distressed but now was not the time for shock analysis.
You stared and got closer to the man, ‘Tommy’. He made the wise decision to not extract his gun, but his expression looked nearly bored. You admired that in a man.
“Evening ladies and gentlemen, I’m very sorry to disrupt your couples night, but for tonight, the “King William Ale House” is closing early.” Danny and Lisa along with the other couples all scurried out.
All that was left now was you against the blinders. Your men who still sat in their chairs did not move. They knew not to. They were only there in case you died. Unlikely, but you didn’t like leaving much up to chance.
You inched closer to ‘Tommy’, despite his bored exterior, you saw the curiosity that resides in his temple. “I’m not a fucking whore, eh? You hear me?” You brought the gun closer to his face, hearing the tell tale click of it’s metal as you pressed it against his face.
“Who are you then?” His eyes quivered, but his face remained like a stone, eyebrow crooked.
“My name is Ozymandius, King of Kings;
Look on my works, ye Mighty and dispair!”
You pushed the cold metal closer to his face. You sighed again, “I’m very sorry boys, but we’re going to have to cut this short. You were late for our meeting, anyway.”
You clicked back the gun on to safety and instead cupped Tommy’s jaw. You leaned in close, making an effort to fan your breath.
“I’ve read about you in the papers, Shelby. Maybe next time, don’t be late for our evening date?” You felt his spine shiver as you spoke. “Two weeks. Meet me back here. Same time. Bring your cleanest suit and maybe some flowers, just for me? Yeah? Alone and sweet; how quaint.”
Leaving the frozen men behind, you toddled back around the counter and started washing glasses that sat there.
Slowly while swaying to the music that still played, you hummed the tune to yourself. When you looked up again, the men were still standing there like ninnies.
“What’re you lot still doing here? I told you, we’re closed.”
You carried on your work of cleaning glasses while heavy boots shuffled on the ground, and two of them picking up the groaning man with the burly moustache.
You placed down your glass and leaned back against the counter again. Looking up at the plaque, you read aloud:
“I met a traveller from an antique land,
Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal, these words appear:
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”
——
Based off of ‘Ozymandius’ by Percy Bysshe Shelley
Thanks for the love.
Feedback and comments are wanted.
See ya next time!
57 notes · View notes
saintsir4n · 7 months
Text
17
thank you for 10k views 
WARNINGS: SMUT, MENTIONS OF WAR AND ABORTION
1914
THE Shelby brothers had enlisted and Eden Dawkins wanted to kill them all.
"Why?" She finally asked after being silent for five unnerving minutes.
"We wanted to do it on our terms," Tommy exclaimed, watching her nervously as she played with her fingers.
He and his brothers brought her to the nearby park where they all used to play. It was vacant but her boiling anger was suffocating them all. John sat next to her on a swing, but Arthur stood next to a cautious Tommy.
"Your terms?" Eden repeated, folding her arms.
He stiffly nodded, "Our terms."
"What's Pol said?"
"Very little."
"Ada?" Eden asked, and that's when John took a good look at her, seeing how she glowed, despite her frustration.
"Wouldn't stop cryin'" John grimaced at the memory.
"John," Arthur hissed, Tommy just sighed.
"What? She did."
"Little Finn? I know Isaiah was bawlin' his eyes at last night when he woke up they were swollen," Eden stated.
"We're tellin' 'im later tonight," Arthur informed, averting his eyes.
She turned to John, "And Martha?"
"She smacked me, then cried," the force of the slap caused his head to whip to the side full force whilst his aunt consoled his crying wife.
"She's your wife, popped out a baby for you and now you're off to war, I don't blame her," Eden muttered, and John sighed.
"Alright Eden," he didn't want to feel guiltier than he already did. He was leaving his girls for however long. But it was his decision and there was no way he or his brothers back out of it now.
Eden stared up at Tommy, with a look he couldn't read, "My dad and uncle told me the same this mornin', that they enlisted as well, my dad vows, promises to my mum, well they don't mean shit anyways."
"Thanks, Eden," John grumbled, then stormed off, leaving Arthur to follow him presumably back to the house.
Tommy appeared in front of her, "Edie, love."
She stood up and softly shook her head, "Don't, give me time to think."
She didn't sound angry anymore, just hurt, there was so much on her mind, the baby was a big factor and how was she gonna raise a child when he was shooting the enemy at war? Is there any point in telling him now? Her mother asked her if she wanted to keep the baby, as did Polly the following Monday and she instantly said yes, but it was all before this madness.
Before all the men in her life were gonna up and leave for... a few months? What a load of shite, it wouldn't be that easy, it never was. Her father would be gone, a part of her world. She wouldn't cope if she ever lost him.
"Fuck, don't shut me out," Tommy ran a hand throw his raven locks, which continued to grow.
He would have to cut it again, fuck Eden stop thinking about it all. But she couldn't. It was real, it was gonna happen whether she wanted it or not. It's men's business. Fuck.
She sent him a sad smile, "I'm not, just thinking about more life-changing decisions."
"What's that supposed to mean?" He cupped her face, trying to read her, her comments hadn't been making much sense to him recently.
"Nothin' Tom, just give me some time alright?" She placed her hands over his, then caught the panic in his eyes, "And before you ask, I'm not leavin' you, I'm just thinkin'."
"Alright," that answer he could deal with.
But the fact he wouldn't be here to protect her made him realise how much he needed her to put on the pendant, to put his mind at ease, fuck her stubbornness.
His eyes couldn't look away from her, fuck she's beautiful, he did notice a glow on her face, the summer added to her beauty, he realised.
"Alright," she nodded.
"I'm sorry," he dropped his hands and tugged her closer, bringing her head to his chest, breathing in her scent, her everything.
"Don't be, I know it's been on your mind for a while, I could tell, I'm just... upset," she mumbled against his jumper.
She was surprised tears were not pouring from her eyes, her emotions have been all over the place recently, it's the baby, her mum kept saying and wasn't wrong. She remembered Martha being the same.
"I know, I don't want you to be," Tommy tugged her away, raising her chin so she could look at him, "I love you."
His tender words made her smile reach her eyes, "I love you too, just give me a minute, okay? I have work tomorrow, come by after that, we can talk."
It's good to talk, Tommy nodded and just pulled her back to his chest as they stood alone in the vacant park, listening to nothing but the cool breeze whistling in the air.
Sitting across from the Dawkins was Tommy Shelby. He decided he needed to talk and explain himself to them, properly and in person, and alone while Eden was at work. Luckily he got them as they returned from their shifts and after he got John and Arthur into the betting shop to run the business in his haste absence.
Cecil Dawkins wasn't forthcoming in the slightest, he never really took to the Shelby man and didn't think he was good for his daughter, and despite trying to convince both Celestine and Eden the same, it was like talking to a brick wall. Celestine claimed it was because she could see Mara in Tommy, the friend they lost not long ago, but Cecil only noticed the same trickster act Arthur Sr wore throughout Small Heath.
He didn't buy it then, he wasn't gonna by it with Tommy sitting in their kitchen.
Or at least that's what he told himself.
"You claim to love my daughter, yet you enlisted," he started, rolling his broad shoulders back and not taking an eye off the younger man.
Tommy immediately couldn't ignore the hypocrisy, "Aren't you doin' the same to Mrs Dawkins?"
Celestine made a face, "He's got you there love."
"Celestine," Cecil cast her an annoyed look.
Tommy leaned closer, "Your daughter sees me. I used to hate it. Now love it. Well, I hate that I love it."
Celestine couldn't help but be touched by his words, "Awww—"
Cecil cut her off, "Celestine, he beat up that poor boy, made our little girl cry more than she smiled and we're supposed to give her off to 'im."
Tommy narrowed his eyes on the carpenter, "She's not property."
Cecil craned his neck to look at him in disgust, "Are you gonna lecture me 'bout property?"
"Boys," Celestine was quick to interrupt, "Cecil, I know what he's done and now I'm seein' what he's tryna do for our girl."
Cecil already recognised the influences Tommy had over his daughter, one day she was adamant that religion wasn't for her and all of a sudden she came back with a black Madonna on her neck, well not so much anymore. He knew Eden had her own mind, but love was clouding it and her dreams, big dreams, he didn't want Tommy dimming them in any way.
"Eden came home cryin' yesterday, those Changretta boys have signed up and all, she found out 'bout through Dorris." Cecil informed, turning back to him with a frustrated look, "You ruined that friendship for her as well."
After suppressing another glare, Tommy averted his gaze as the guilt and the nerves took over him. He was trying, very very hard to make things right with Eden but he knew it was something she would always hate him for, even if she was in love with him. The looks he received from Cecil were only adding to that, piling onto the remorse.
So he nodded, and finally snapped his head up again, "I know, it's somethin' I regret, can't change the past now, need to focus on the future, my future with your daughter."
"Sound so confidant," Cecil muttered bitterly.
"I am."
Celestine blurted, "Thomas, you think you've made the right decision, what if Eden comes to you with some news of her own?"
"Like what?" both men turned to her in curiosity.
"Who knows," Cesltine quickly waved them off, but Tommy didn't glance away from her, "y'know our Edie, she's a mystery half the time."
"I know she is, but she's easier to read than I thought," Tommy said, still trying to decipher her previous question.
Cecil rolled his eyes at his response.
Tommy continued, "I get that I've done wrong by her, but I'll live up to the promises I've made her. I'm not perfect –"
"–got that right –" Cecil murmured, wincing at the pinch he received from his wife.
"– But I'll be my best for her, I'll give you my word, that I will," Tommy stated.
"A man's only as good as his word," Celestine added, half smiling at the younger man.
Now I see where Eden gets her forgiving trait from. Tommy thought.
Cecil bitterly snorted, "Thank you my sweet but I'm not worried about his word, it's his actions that I'm cautious of."
"I understand," Tommy insisted.
"Dont think you do," Cecil argued, waves of conflicting feelings washed over him.
"I understand that in all the years I've spent on this lane, you two are the only ones that had a functioning relationship. No domestics, no lyin' or cheatin' from what I've seen," Tommy remarked, "Just love, understanding and forgiveness. That's what I want with Eden."
Tommy pulled out the ring he wanted to propose to Eden with, making Celestine's face light up, Cecil remained unimpressed. He's been carrying the ring around him for days since he brought it, (more than the horseshoe) looking for the right time and day to ask. It was a simple ring, one he brought before Greta passed away along with one for himself.
Two wedding bands.
Tommy rubbed the back of his neck, "It's not much, I know, Eden deserves a lot better than me. She's your daughter and you'll do anything for her, what parent wouldn't? But give me a chance, another one, I already lost her once, and I can't do it again. She makes me a better man, a smarter man, and with her brains it easy to do that," Cecil couldn't deny what he was saying. "I'll make her happy, happier than she's been, I fucked — I mean messed up already, I'd be a fool to do that again. If I didn't respect you, I wouldn't be here, I would've just asked her to be my wife and she'd say yes because I know her, but I'm here, askin' for ya blessing Mr. and Mrs. Dawkins."
"Celestine," she corrected.
"Celestine," Tommy smiled at her, and she returned the gesture, it's just like my Edie's. Turning back to Cecil, hespoke clearly, "And if it goes to hell, then I'll put the revolver in your hands, with a bullet that has my name scratched across it, Mr Dawkins."
Cecil hummed, "Sounds good to me."
"Cecil," his wife scolded.
"Don't fuck up," he jabbed a finger at Tommy.
"Oi."
"I won't," Tommy nodded along.
Celestine hissed at her husband, "Watch your language."
Tommy did his best to conceal his amusement as he watched the two bicker, is this what me and Eden look like? Christ.
"Sorry my sweet," he cupped her hands, pressing a kiss to them, then turned to the younger man, about to say something he hoped he wouldn't regret. "You've got my blessin'."
Tommy let out a breath he didn't know that he was holding and shook his hand with Cecil's.
"And you, Mrs — Celestine, do I have ya blessin'?" He corrected, much to her excitement.
Celestine chuckled, "You had it before you walked in, Thomas."
Tommy finally smiled.
"Anythin' you wanna tell me?"
"Like what?"
Tommy knew Eden inside and out, he'd been observing her since they came to lay on her bed after she got home. How she wiped off her subtle make-up and got undressed, revealing parts of her that he believed to have grown or thickened, had him aroused but overall he knew something was different.
So after she wrapped her hair in a scarf, he sat down at the edge of her bed, ready to ask her some questions.
"Your mum said somethin' weird today, somethin' 'bout you might havin' some news of your own," he pressed, still confused by her cryptic words.
"I don't," Eden rushed out, internally cursing at her mother, despite knowing she meant well.  "Besides you're off to war," she added, knowing the gears were turning in his mind, but she couldn't have him asking any more questions, "you all are, how are we supposed to cope?"
Tommy took her hands in his, "It won't be for long, papers sayin' it'll be a couple of months and we'll be back for Christmas."
"As if you believe that," she muttered,  softly scoffing at the thought. It's a fucking lie, the papers are lying to them all.
"'Ave to believe somethin'."
She pulled her hands out of his grasp, "It'll be hell. We joke 'bout Small Heath bein' hell but this is hell, all the things we learnt in school and church– "
" – You barely went to church," he remarked, smirking slightly.
She rolled her eyes, "Tommy it'll be hell, I just know."
"Aye, then we'll need to return to our havens soon," Tommy spoke with a glint of glee swimming in his eyes. 
"Please don't go," he could hear the pain in her voice, it almost crippled him.
It was too late now...their papers had been turned in, and they would be shipping out to France soon.
Taking off his blazer, he slipped into bed next to her, turning on his side, so he could take all of her in.
"Love listen, I'll come back to you, sooner than you think," he vowed, "you can write to me, and by the time I come back, you'll finish that book you've writing."
She bit down on her bottom lip, "What book?"
He softly chuckled, "The book that's runnin' through your mind right now, you fuel it with whatever you set your sights on so you can put pen to paper."
"It's hard to do that when war is on my mind and has been on yours for quite some time," she whispered.
"I know," he nodded, "what'll make you feel better eh? Visit a medium and they'll tell you what's what."
Tommy was never a believer in fortunes, well sometimes he was but his dad was a trickster for a living, stealing horses and telling fortunes, Tommy didn't want to be tricked but he needed Eden to settle and she hadn't been for a while.
"Don't need to see a fraud like Mrs. Price or whoever to know what's what Tommy, you'll be gone for a while..." and who knows if you'll come back the same.
Eden sniffled at the visions flashing through her mind, she was pregnant and he would be gone. How big was she gonna get, how much would she change? All the dreams and wishes she had about having a big family, she always thought Enzo and Dorris would be there for her, all three of them together, but the former wasn't an option and the latter, wouldn't be much of a help, instead turn it into a big joke and that wasn't what she needed right now. She needed guidance.
Hearing the Changrettas were all aboard with this suicide mission, her old best friend was gonna get himself killed and she couldn't even get within five feet of him for her to tell him to stay at home.
Soldiers at bloody war.
"Does Finn know?" She broke the silence with a quiet question.
Tommy frowned at the memory, "He does. Wants to come along with us."
"Course he does, you're his heroes."
"I'll be yours when we come back," he countered, not wanting to think of his little brother crying and begging to come along.
"How confident," she muttered the same thing his father had done hours before.
He smirked, "Y'know me."
She nodded, "I do know you."
"Can I ask you somethin'?"
"What?"
"To put the pendant back on," he rushed out, narrowing his eyes when she sighed, "We're together now Edie, no point of you carrying on this act. You love me, I love you. What happened ain't in the past, I know that, I messed up, it fucked up your head and all, but listen I'm changin' and I can't leave 'ere with the thought of your beck bare."
Eden deeply sighed.
"I don't wanna rush ya —"
"Give it to me."
His eyes widened.
"What?"
"Give it to me, I'll put it on," it's for the baby, she wanted to be safe and careful with the pregnancy, especially if he wasn't gonna be there.
Tommy quickly pulled it out of his pocket, shocking her that he'd been carrying it around this entire time. He put it around her neck, just like how he did when he first confessed his love for her.
It looked beautiful and he couldn't stop smiling, she thought his face would have to hurt.
In all honesty, she did prefer it on and missed it so dearly, but she was a stubborn woman and wanted to be petty.
"Back where it belongs," he said aloud, trailing a finger over her cheek, "You look so fuckin' beautiful, y'know that?"  he loved her more than life itself, "Can't get enough of you."
She blushed at the look he was giving her, "Tom..."
"You're glowin' I don't get it. But I love it. Come here," he tugged her closer.
"No, I'm mad at ya," she didn't bother fighting.
"Good, the sex is better when you are," he stole a kiss from her.
"My parents are here," she gasped when he tugged at her nightie.
"Like that's stopped us," he started to undress, rushing to get his clothes off.
She gasped when he got into bed again, still in his undergarments, but she could see all of him fuck no wonder I'm pregnant.
"Tom..." she whimpered when he got on top of her.
His lips trailed up and down her neck, "If you're worried 'bout puttin' a baby in you, I won't, I'll wait for some here."
She fought a frown and asked, "So you don't want a baby now?" She asked and he pulled back.
"Not yet, when I come back, maybe when the business improves y'know?" He rushed out, standing up and going to the door.
"Right," she whispered, knowing now wasn't the right time to tell him. Fuck when was it?
"Come here," he grinned after shoving the door stopper under the door, so they wouldn't be interrupted, "I love you alright, now, I need to make it up to you, your parents know I'm stayin' over, so lay back and be quiet."
Her small breathy moans haunted him at night in his room alone. Touching himself, imagining how it would be when he had her all over again. He craved Eden like the very air in his lungs.
"You're not tired?" She asked, putting aside her confession and focusing on his hardened state, palming it, earning a soft groan from him.
"Of you? Never," his head moved all over her body, travelling from the hem of her nightie to the inside of her thighs, "surprised your knife ain't here, can't 'ave you stabbin' me."
He didn't need another incident with the flick knife.
She let out a breathy laugh, "I wouldn't... yet."
Eden dragged his face back to hers, enveloping him in searing kisses as his hands began shifting off her nightie, pulling it over her head, freeing her breasts, whilst her nimble fingers pulled down his undergarments, he groaned against her feverish lips.
"Fuck, you're everythin', ya know that?" He grunted at the feeling of her hands.
Tommy pulled back, trying to suppress his grunts and groans but he couldn't. He moved away her hand, wanting, no, needing to focus on her and only her.
His tongue teased her breasts, "'Ave these got bigger? They fuckin' 'ave."
It was something he couldn't deny.
"Oi, that hurts," she hissed, then panicked at the worried look in his eyes, "Avoid 'em for the night. Just feel a little sensitive, that's all."
"Y'sure?" she never reacted like that before "They look so..." Tommy trailed off, biting down on his lip at how big they were, "alright sorry," he quickly apologised, then was taken back by her roughly pushing him, managing to flip him over, "Fuck."
"Wanted to be to top," she murmured as his hands settled on her waist.
He needed all of her, she squealed when he sat up, still keeping his firm grip on her.
"By all means, darlin'," he groaned, watching her rise on her knees, "be on top."
Sinking down on him, they both groaned and gripped each other.
Eden knew she would have to find a better time to tell him about the baby on the way.
▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃
a/n:
it upsets me that those who went to war only thought they would be away for a few months. i was gonna watch 'all quiet on the western front' but i don't wanna upset myself. never been a fan of war films but been hearing a lot praise from that one.
and yes i finally made eden put the pendant back on, just for the sake of the baby. she's a superstitious person, so it would just bring her comfort to know that she's safe and so is the baby.
also i didn't realise how quickly this book would take for me to write, honestly thought it would be longer but I'm glad it wasn't too heavy, or violent, but I've been enjoying it so much, i love eden and tommy.
Tumblr media
7 notes · View notes
saintsir4n · 7 months
Text
20
WARNINGS: MENTIONS OF WAR
1914
IT was time.
Today was the day everything changed for Small Heath, Birmingham really, lads being sent off, promising their families they would return. Trimmed and shaven hair made them all look the same, no individuals just soldiers going off to war.
The journey to the station was gruelling, barely anyone said anything, just small talk as a way to calm their nerves.
Crowds of people were saying goodbye to their loved ones.
First Eden stood by her mother, both ready to say goodbye to her father, who put on a brave face. Neither of them had slept, Celestine sobbed through the night, clinging to her husband, fearful that if she didn't take in every detail of him, she would forget.
"Edie come 'ere," he tugged his daughter to his chest, feeling the shakes emitting from her body. She breathed him in, smelling the cigars and smoke as he spoke, "You are everything to your mother and me. We did the best with what we had to make sure you're set for life. You may be a nurse now, but I doubt that's gonna last with the way you jot down anythin' that comes to mind. You're gonna be somethin', don't let this city hold you back, don't let anyone of these fuckers, hold you back, alright?" he tugged on her chin and saw the tears pooling in her eyes, "Check you're room when you go home, got you a present – well it's for my grandchild more than you," he nodded down to her stomach and softly patted it, before embracing her once more, "keep savin' lives until I get back."
"I love you, Dad."
"I love you too."
Soon she reluctantly left her mother and father alone, trying to push past the swarm of crying mothers and wives, before stumbling into her godfather and godbrother.
Jeremiah had a sad Isaiah in his arms, the preacher's locs were still intact, and his son gripped them ever so tightly.
"Edie," Isaiah quietly waved at the pregnant woman, who pressed a kiss to his cheek.
"You're a blessing child," Jeremiah mumbled after pulling her in for a hug and kissing her forehead, "Stay safe, the devil is lurkin'."
"He's never stopped," she replied with a sad smile, "Look after my dad please,"
"I will," he nodded, then tightened his hold on his son, "You do the same with my boy."
"I will."
Eden soon spotted a familiar face, one that had healed from the scars that had been slashed and thumped, her breath hitched when he smiled at her and walked over.
"Well doesn't pregancy suit you," Enzo grinned down at the woman, after pulling her away from his family, knowing they weren't going to be welcoming.
"He told you," she beamed up at him, the sides of his hair were shaved, it made him look older, more mature.
"He told me," the ring on her finger caught his eye, "suppose I should congratulate you on the wedding," he teased with a knowing look that she giggled at, "oh how I pray your daughter gets your face and not his beady eyes."
They pair laughed.
"Oh and look," he pulled out something from his uniform pocket, showing off the picture she gave to him more than two months ago, making her tear up all over again.
"Enzo..."
"Should've brought the flower crowns ey?" they heard a voice behind them, smiling when they saw Dorris standing not too far away, "how did we get 'ere? One pregnant and the other a soldier."
"And what are you Dot, The brat?" Enzo joked, folding up the picture and putting it away.
"No that's Edie," she nodded to the pregnant woman, who feigned offence.
"Oi! So what are you then?" Eden teased, "The princess?"
"Got that right," Dorris nodded making them chuckle, as her eyes drifted down to Eden's slightly swelling stomach, "so what are you gonna name the little one then, can I suggest Dorathy?"
"Or Chiara?" Enzo suggested.
Eden raised a brow, "Italian yeah? That's gonna go down well."
"Well, I better find out soon and so what if it's Italian, you're the one carrying the kid," he muttered, then reaching out his hand, "Can I?" he waited for her to nod, then pressed his hand to the bump, blinking back his shock when he realised how real it was, "fuckin' ell, shit's real."
"'Course she is," Eden playfully smacked his hand away, whilst Dorris shook her head.
His eyes shot out of his head when he caught a familiar spot from where he stood, he motioned for them to turn around, pointing to their special place. They spent hours looking down the hill, watching trains go past and now here they were, how times have changed.
"Promise me one thing Mrs. Shelby, Miss Martin," they both waited for him to continue, "When she's born, take her to our old spot," neither of them had been they since the breakup, it was still too sore, "it'll be good for the troublemaker."
"I promise," Eden didn't hesitate and threw her arms around them.
"So do I," Dorris muttered.
"I love you," Enzo mumbled against their heads, it sounded like a proper goodbye and neither of them liked it.
He'd been coming back right? Right.
Pulling away from each other, they each caught the eyes of various people, Eden smiled when she saw Luca staring at her from the distance, and he smiled back. Dorris flirtingly blew Angel a kiss, which he caught without his mother and father seeing. But when Enzo met a pair of pale blue eyes, all he could do was nod.
To his surprise, he revived a nod back.'
"Someone's waitin' for you," his words caused Eden to spin around, seeing the Shelby clan all huddled up many yards away, "Go Dawkins, trains gonna be taking off soon."
With one last hug, she sprinted off, cautious of the time.
"Thought we wouldn't see ya before you left," Arthur steadied her with a grin.
"Couldn't 'ave that could we? A Shelby not sayin' goodbye to a Shelby, fuck that," John teased, keeping his arm wrapped around a teary-eyed Martha who passed a wide-eye Katie to her father.
"John," Polly playfully scolded her nephew, trying to prevent more tears, she said goodbye to Arthur first, leaving Tommy to hug his youngest siblings, Ada wouldn't let go of him and Finn was starting to cry again.
Freddie pressed a kiss to her cheek, even shooting a small smile at the Shelby girl, then went off to his mother.
"Johnny, don't die," Eden joked despite herself.
"Us Shelby's are hard to kill, especially me."
She sighed, "I'm serious."
"I know you are, come here."
After hugging him, she turned to Arthur, who brought her into a warm embrace, "By Arthur."
"Goodbye sister," he pressed a kiss to her head then turned to his youngest siblings, "Come 'ere you lot."
Taking a deep breath she took a few steps and came up to Tommy.
Eden gripped Tommy's hand, determined to not let go, wanting, no, needing him to stay with her, now and always, but it wasn't possible, they both knew it and yet neither relented. Fearing that if she let go, he would disappear, from her vision and possibly her life, she kept holding on, and they both did.
"I'll be back before you know it," he whispered.
She sniffled, "Don't keep me waitin'."
"I know how you get when I'm late, the whole of Small Heath does."
"I love you, y'know that right?" she felt bad for not saying it enough.
"And I love you," he said, feeling his arms hooked around his neck, he responded by holding onto her waist, "Both of you," he could feel her small bump against his stomach. "Make sure to not take that off, need you to stay safe," he gestured to the necklace she wore.
"I promise Tommy," and she meant it, he could see it in her eyes.
It seemed that they were searching each other's faces, to commit every detail to memory.
"You called me Tommy," his heart swelled and threatened to burst from his chest.
She cheekily smirked, "'Bout time right?"
"'Bout time," he paused, "Until we meet again," he vowed, blocking out the world around them, it was just her, only her.
"Don't say that. You'll be different."
"But I'll still be yours alright?" he dared to ask, feeling his throat dry up and his eyes sting with tears.
Eden nodded with hesitation, "And I'll still be yours."
"My wife," he muttered against her lips.
"My husband," and with that a kiss was shared, passionate and devoted. The love she felt was so powerful it would knock her off her feet, and the hope she gave him was enough. Everything she did for him was enough.
His Eden and Her Tommy.
"Last call for the five o'clock train! Boarding will end shortly!" the ticket-taker announced, as the couple pulled away from each other, drawing their foreheads to meet as they collected their breaths.
"It's time," Tommy whispered, closing his eyes, trying to live in this moment. He had everything he wanted in his grasp, but he needed to do this, for his country and his people.
"I love you, Tommy" she breathed out, whilst sadly running a hand over her bump. "Make sure that horseshoe stays on you," she mustered up a teasing smile after patting his behind.
"Watch it," he playfully scolded, "and I will Edie. I promise," he assured her, cupping her teary cheeks and staring into the brown pools he would miss ever so much, "I love you, so much."
And with one final kiss, she was the first to pull back, falling beside Polly, Ada and Finn, Martha softly grabbed her daughter's hand and waved it at the Shelby men's retreating figures It wasn't long before Dorris approached reaching for her hand, with Celestine and Isaiah not far behind.
Until we meet again, Eden mouthed to Tommy, who struggled to look away, but with one pat from Arthur, he turned to bend down and pick up the duffel bags they were bringing with them.
They all made their way over to the ticket-taker who, punched their tickets just as the conductor called out all aboard and blew the train's harsh whistle.
Eden caught glimpses of various faces through the windows, her father, her godfather, Enzo, Luca, Angel, then Freddie, Arthur, John and finally her Tommy as the train car vanished from sight. 
▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃
Tumblr media
a/n:
anyone else crying? no just me okay.
originally i was just going to post the epilogue after this, but I'm gonna add a bonus chapter also. 
that manip is so cute Omg, also the fact it room eden so long to call him tommy again was hilarious and I loved that she did it just before he was leaving.
Tumblr media
6 notes · View notes
saintsir4n · 8 months
Note
That was amazing!! Bad ass Eden is the GOAT
Thank you so much, I love Tommy but I hate when characters forgive him so quickly
1 note · View note
saintsir4n · 6 months
Text
UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN
Teasers:
Wattpad Story link
Opinions:
Tommy Shelby stories
Writing POCs into period pieces
Story:
Prologue cast list 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
15 16 17 18 19 20 Epilogue Bonus chapter
One shots:
More Shelby’s
Tumblr media
85 notes · View notes
saintsir4n · 10 months
Text
TOMMY SHELBY STORIES
Despite me writing a Tommy shelby story, I generally believe that his stories can’t have much of a happy ending.
Since I stated I was going to write one, uploading TikToks about it and even spoke about it on my conversations wall, people asked me whether or not I’ll make him cheat or just hurt the reader in any way.
I immediately said no to the cheating as I think there’s ways to create angst in a story and cheating is one of those unforgivable acts especially in stories and I never understand why people write it in unless they allow the LI (tommy) to suffer consequences by making the reader eventually leave him. Majority of stories don’t, they subject the reader to disrespect of the highest regard and we as readers just have to go along with it.
I mean no disrespect to writers who do so, it’s just tiring to read as well as disheartening as it gets to the point that many readers get attached to the character and feel their pain.
So when I was planning my Tommy story I was thinking about all the ways he would and could hurt my oc (Eden Dawkins) and considering his flawed nature, there are many. Eden is a young black nurse from Small Heath, why? Because nursing was a prominent profession especially back then and was fairly easy to get into. She’s black because I am and there is a very big absence of black original characters in peaky blinders stories and I’m tired of rereading the same ones.
Already Eden and Tommy will be subjected to prejudice, because of their pairing and their backgrounds, her being a black woman and him being from Irish and Romani traveller parents. So that is a big factor in their relationship.
Another being. Tommy is an ambitious man, and as he said as well as others, “he has no limitations.” He doesn’t, well apart from his family and the love he has for them.
But considering that this story is set before the war, his ‘worse self’ as I like to call it, hasn’t kicked in. The fact he was living with ptsd and survivors guilt after the war and he already viewed himself and the others he survived the war with as dead and everything else was simply “extra” he just kept going into he reached the top and even then he didn’t stop.
So how I’ll write Tommy, the Tommy before the war, the one that smiled and wanted to work with horses, I’ll still incorporate his desire to push his family to the top, to crawl out of the hole that is small Heath, all whilst in a relationship with my girl Eden.
The problems in their relationship will revolve around his communication issues, jealousy and possessiveness. Now Eden is forgiving, but she won’t forget. It’s impossible for her since his misdeeds will prominent and cling to her like a leech. As will her insecurities and how they will prevent her from being all in when it comes to Tommy.
Being with someone like Tommy isn’t for the faint hearted, she knows what she’s gotten herself into and won’t forget all the sacrifices she’ll have to make in order to keep up with the unstoppable force that is the blue eyed devil.
But then again, he’s the Tommy before the war…
How bad can he be?
a/n:
Check out “until we meet again” on my wattpad
Tumblr media
39 notes · View notes
saintsir4n · 1 year
Text
UPDATED MASTERLIST
STARTED: 04/04/2023
A DARK TWISTED FANTASY 
Blurbs/ Headcanons:
Hand Kisses
Jealousy
Blood
Fluff:
Affection 
Pretty boy
Give me what I want
I want you
Mikaelsons go abroad 2 3
Smut:
Champagne
Three’s a crowd
Angst:
I’m tired 
I miss you
Bro
Teasers:
The full moon
Natural Order
A New Beginning 
ADTF TRAILER
Opinions:
Marriage in ADTF
Writing POCs into period pieces
Damon Salvatore
Problems with tvd
Bonnie Bennett’s Style
Tumblr media
UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN
Blurbs/ headcanons:
Fluff:
Smut:
Angst:
Teasers:
Wattpad Story link
Opinions:
Tommy Shelby stories
Writing POCs into period pieces
Story:
Prologue cast list 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Epilogue Bonus chapter
Tumblr media
THE MIDAS TOUCH
Blurbs/ headcanons:
Fluff:
The wedding
The reunion
Barbenheimer
Angst:
His Relly
Teasers:
Opinions:
Tumblr media
68 notes · View notes
saintsir4n · 10 months
Text
New story out now
24 notes · View notes
saintsir4n · 7 months
Text
EPILOGUE
WARNINGS: MENTIONS OF WAR, DEATH AND DEPRESSION
1918
ARMISTICE.
The war had finished.
Four years of bloodshed and treachery, lies and survival, broken promises and death.
Within those four years, a lot had changed for the people of Small Heath.
In the second month of nineteen fifteen, Eden Dawkins gave birth to a little girl, Inara Nadine Shelby. Her teal blue eyes were the first thing everyone recognised, bright little things that followed you around the room, just like her father's, but she'd gotten her bronze complexion from her mother, as well as her dark kinky locks. When she gave birth in the Vardo, Polly was quick to spread the word, writing to her nephew, who had already sent a letter about a name suggestion, Nadine, a French name that meant hope, which they all needed. Hearing that his daughter was partially named after his mother, brought him to tears whilst covered in blood, sweat and mud. Inara had a beautiful meaning; heaven sent and after receiving a picture of his two girls, he placed it in his dog tags, kissing it every time he felt like life would leave his body and take him away.
Tommy addressed all the letters he sent to Eden as follows,
Eden Shelby 12 Watery Lane, Birmingham, B9 4HN.
But as the mud thickened and clung to him like a second skin, the letters gradually died down, but Eden didn't lose hope, she had to keep going, despite being a new mother, she helped care for Martha who had been pregnant at the same time as her and given birth to twin boys William and James two months after Inara. It was supposed to be a happy time, but the pregnancy took her life and broke the family, and if only that were the last of the deaths that would render them in such a way. John wasn't the same after he'd heard the news of his beloved wife, torn between injuring himself so he could be sent home to his kids or to continue to fight alongside his brothers.
He stayed, of course, fighting, digging and slashing enemies.
As the year first year of the war was drawing to an end, Eden slowly gave up on her dream of getting out of Birmingham. Her family needed her, both families. Although she and Dorris stayed in touch, even fulfilling their promise to bring little Inara to 'the poor man's heaven', they started to grow apart. Dorris wanted to move away, to London and finally got enough money to do so, she and her mother were planning on leaving in the new year.
Everyone thought the lads were going to come back when nineteen-sixteen came around, but that wasn't the case at all, they stayed fighting and Eden fell ill only for a month, bedridden and filling those around her with worry. Allegedly it had something to do with Inara's birth, the infection almost spread around her body, but her mother recognised the symptoms and caught it before it was too late. The young nurse wasn't drafted due to that. Being so close to death, Eden turned to god, finding religion again, believing it was the only thing she, her mother and Polly had to lean on.
Slowly she was back on her feet, typing away on her typewriter, in between Inara's feedings, spending time with her and also caring for the other new additions to the family.
The summer of that same year, The Lonely Stallion, by Adam Garden, was published, it was tough, but with Dorris' connections she got from starting her new life in London, it happened, Eden was an author, coming up in the ranks, just like Tommy was who became Sergeant Major.
Unfortunately, it wasn't much to celebrate, Tommy was getting dragged further into the mud and had to bear the weight of not only his best friend Freddie taking a bullet for him, but witnessing the death of Cecil Dawkins, his future father-in-law stunned him. Killed in action, those words shattered Celestine's heart and took a part of Eden's with it. The last letter that he wrote to his wife and daughter ended with a prayer, 'Give me strength and courage to keep moving forward, give me the strength to see my girls, especially little Inara.
Time moved on, but it took another life, Lorenzo Changretta was impaled by a bayonet, after pushing his brother Angel out of the way. Once word got back to Birmingham, Eden didn't really react, she couldn't if she did she wouldn't be able to function and after her father, she barely recovered, thinking about Enzo's lifeless body only motivated her to keep striving and not look back. She and Dorris didn't speak much after that, the latter only sent gifts to her goddaughter during the holidays but that was it.
Due to a new regime called 'daylight savings' being implemented, days were longer, which meant the grief process clung to everyone like a bad smell.
Inara Shelby began talking in broken sentences in the year nineteen seventeen, asking who the man in the pictures was, that's daddy, Eden told her and broke down in tears when her daughter called out for him at night. Despite the success of her book, she felt a disconnect, her father, her best friend and her Tommy hadn't returned, and some never would. Eden didn't receive a lot of royalties for the success of the book, partially because it would be impossible for her to collect them in person, so she sent the trusted surrogate uncle for the Shelby family to get them, much to his discontent. She donated some of the money to the Shelby betting shop and the rest to her mother.
Reaching nineteen-eighteen was gruelling and tough, but Eden got there. Every day she would wake up afraid to receive a letter that someone else had been killed in action, but fortunately, none came. The four years since the war started had shown on Isaiah and Finn, who'd grown up quickly. They understood death despite their young age and always stuck together, even helping care for the youngest members of the family. Ada felt lucky, that although part of her family was torn, they were alive, or at least that's what she hoped, she went to church alongside Eden, Celestine and Polly and on the side helped other families that were struggling, all while the betting shop had sustained.
The women ruled the empire equally and fairly, when Eden wasn't working or raising her daughter she was at the betting shop, helping Polly with whatever. She wasn't the best at numbers but she got better, better at a lot of things actually. Multitasking became one of her strong suits and it had to be when raising a Shelby. Soon they managed to purchase a car, it was beaten up, but it was easily mended, after she knew what needed to be fixed and being the daughter of a carpenter, her father used to tell her about the best auto shops.
Inara never stayed in one space, always wanting to explore and run around, so every week, they brought her to Charlie Strong's yard, where she watched him with all the horses, round them up and even wanting to help. Since he didn't have the Curly there, Charlie occasionally let little Inara feed the horses, seeing Tommy in the young girl was unsettling for him, nevertheless, being the man he was -- a man of very few words, when he talked, she listened, which came as a shock, because the troublemaker barely listened to anyone, if it wasn't her mum or aunts. Shadow also took to her like he knew that she was part Tommy.
"'Nara!" Eden called her daughter's name from the bathroom.
Today was the day they'd be coming home.
Polly instructed, coming up the stairs,  "Eden it's time, they're comin' home, get your things, your mum is downstairs with Isaiah, I'll round up the rest of the kids, you get the little troublemaker."
Eden didn't know what to feel, excitement? Sorrow? Joy? Everything was all over the place, not everyone they'd waved away would be returning.
She and Polly grew far closer over the years, leaning on each other when times got rough and boy did they.
Turning around, Polly banged on her niece's door, "Ada c'mon! It's only your brothers who you 'aven't seen in years."
"Give me a second!" the Shelby woman shouted from her room.
"Nara!" Eden left the bathroom and opened Tommy's bedroom, seeing her daughter rise from the floor after playing on her stomach.
Pale blue eyes met hers, and along with it was a bright smile, the little girl had two bows at the end of her corn rows and a red dress Polly made flowed from her frame.
"Yes, mummy? I was playin' with Dolly," the three-year-old beamed, holding up the doll her grandfather bought for her all those years ago, it was a toy horse, soft and fluffy that Inara hadn't let go of since it was placed in her crib.
Kneeling down she tickled her daughter's sides, the giggle and squeal that fell from the girl's lips put a smile on Eden's face. Anything her daughter did made her proud, even recently, she'd been listening in conversation that Isaiah and Finn were having about spelling and the three-old girl somewhat caught on.
"We're goin' on a little trip to the station, where we'll meet your uncles and daddy," she told Inara, whose eyes doubled in size.
"Meetin' Daddy?" Inara's accent was almost as thick as hers.
Celestine always told Eden how much Inara was a replica of her, despite the blue eyes, Inara had beauty spots on her face matching Eden's which no one could ignore.
"Yes, we are" Eden nodded, matching her daughter's excitement.
"Will he like me?" the question had them both frowning.
Inara only saw Tommy in pictures and heard about him in stories, just like cousins with John. it was weird, she felt connected to her father, but also worried he wouldn't like her.
"He'll love you, sweetie," Eden was certain of it.
Inara continued with her questioning as she fidgeted with her toy, "Is he the same as before he left, will he play with my dollies, like Katie, Billy and Jamie?" she referred to her cousins using their nicknames, preferring to pronounce them than William and James.
Eden harshly gulped at the thought, they won't be the same, no one will be, "I don't know if he's the same, but we'll find out soon and you can ask 'im to play with you, and he'll say yes and if he doesn't, y'know what to do?"
Inara quickly pouted and fluttered her eyelashes, a trick that Eden taught her, but regretted whenever it was used against her.
"Good girl," Eden praised, standing up and opening up the closet.
"'Ave you got your neck...nex...lace?" Inara managed to say as Eden turned to show it off with a grin.
"My necklace and I do, smart girl," Eden grabbed her daughter's coat. November weather was brutal and she didn't want her daughter to catch a cold.
"We leave now?" Inara asked after they both had their coats on.
"Yes, my girl," Eden responded, "your cousins are downstairs waitin', with Aunt Pol, Ada and Granny Cece."
"Well come on," she grabbed her mother's hand, much to her amusement, "let's see Daddy."
And off they all went with a sense of dread and joy in their step. I'll be back for Christmas. Lie, I won't be gone for long. Lie. I'll come back to you...so many promises were broken.
As they all reached the station, Eden muttered to herself, words that weren't heard amongst the crowd of people rushing to reunite with their loved ones.
"We better meet again Thomas Shelby or so help me God."
▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃
a/n:
ridley asha bateman as 𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗿𝗮𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗯𝘆
sorry i killed off cecil and enzo, loved writing them, but they will be missed. many things happened through those four years, even figuring out how to add small details was bittersweet as i really loved writing this book. it's sad how many people changed and never reverted back to their old selves, mainly because they couldn't and had no support, especially if they were poor.
the book that eden wrote was basically a parody of the peaky blinders plot and since there were very few men she trusted with the information of her writer's name, she made sure that charlie strong (i didn't know whether or not he went to war, but's indicated that curly might've) retreaved her royalies, despite it being very little money, however it put her 'name' out there.
the bonus chapter I'll publish will be the reunion between tommy, inara and eden, it'll be short but sweet. hope you enjoy and please comment and vote.
12 notes · View notes
saintsir4n · 13 hours
Text
MORE SHELBY’S
when eden meets michael grey
1921
“Oh Michael, this is your cousin-in-law, Eden.”
Polly proudly introduced her to her son, she clutched him tightly as he sheepishly fiddled with the cufflinks of his cheap suit. Eden waddled in with the help of Tommy, her bump was getting big and she was ready to give birth in days, everyone knew it.
Arthur and John snickered once they saw the astonishment on Michael’s face. Their young cousin knew that Tommy, the head of the family had a wife, but she didn’t know what she looked like, every time he asked his mum… Polly, she answered, like one of the few people to rein your wild cousins in. It was the understatement of his fucking life, and Eden was truly a stunner.
“I can’t be that big can I?” Eden asked, with a smile. “Tommy, you said I wasn’t that big.”
“You look beautiful alright,” Tommy rushed out, with a hand resting on her back.
“She’s carrying another Shelby in there Michael,” Arthur nodded to his sister-in-law.
John clasped his hands together, “Here’s praying it’s a fuckin’ boy.”
“There’s already too many of you lot,” Eden scoffed, then stepped forward, feeling Tommy’s eyes on her as she stood before Michael.
“It’s nice to meet you,” he nervously shook her hand, immediately thinking he maybe should’ve kissed her cheek or hugged her but, his cousin didn’t look like he would let her go. “Another Shelby?”
Before she could respond, Arthur did.
“Apart from John’s kin, Ada’s little one, you've got another cousin, little ankle biter,” he teased, earning a small smile from his cousin.
“Inara, spittin’ image of Eden but with Tommy’s eyes,” Polly informed her son, as Eden sat down with Tommy assisting.
Their six-year-old daughter was about to be seven, inquisitive and cheeky she was, whenever Inara would get grumpy she’d look like her father but whenever she was lively and joyful she was the very picture of her mum.
“Yeah, she’s a brat,” John’s words made the married couple snap their heads in his direction.
“Oi, you don’t want to compare children,” Tommy pointed out.
“Not with your roster Johnny,” Eden quipped, making the room chuckle.
John rolled his eyes, “Fuck off.”
Eden pointed at him, “You do not want to rile me up, It could induce labour you pillock and I’m not givin’ birth here.”
“Yeah, leave it John boy, you do not wanna see a kid come out of her,” Arthur said through his laughter.
Tommy playfully glared, “Stop talkin’ about my missus and my baby.”
Michael sat back, amused by the bickering. As first impressions go, he was pleasantly overwhelmed, the men were playing with their guns like toys before Tommy settled them. It was obvious Tommy ran things, he was the one who Michael first met. Tommy was confidant, powerful and very dangerous, that was clear, but his wife was something else. A beautiful woman, but to put up with this family, she had to have something up her sleeve.
“Where is Inara?” Michael asked, breaking the arguments flooding the room.
“She’s with my mum,” Eden spoke softly, stroking her bump.
“‘Nara threw a strop yesterday, sayin’ she didn’t want another sibling,” John stated.
Tommy huffed out a smile, “Well it’s too late for that.”
“She’s fuckin’ gettin’ one,” Eden agreed. “You’ll meet her soon Michael,” for the first time she looked at the boy, really looked at him, she saw his eyes, the detail swimming in his iris’, “My god you look so much like your mum.” She found herself choking back sobs, missing the joy on Polly’s face but catching the shock flashing across Michael’s. “Sorry, anythin’ and everythin’ gets the tears flowin’.”
John wasn’t shocked, “Cried over some flowers dyin’ didn’t you Edie?”
“Watch it,” Tommy warned, rubbing a hand over her back as she wiped her tears.
“Last week it was a candle blowin’ out.”
“And next time it’ll be a knife in your face,” Eden snapped, groaning at their laughter.
Michael was startled by the threat.
“There’s my girl,” Tommy pressed a kiss to her cheek before she pushed him away. “Pol, can you boil the kettle,” he noted the pot of tea was bare as were the cups.
Polly nodded, knowing how much Eden drank during her first pregnancy, her second was even worse.
Michael gulped, although no one apart from Tommy caught it. The teen lowered himself into a seat as his mother scolded his cousins for their poor habits, claiming she didn’t want him to mirror them.
“You should meet Isaiah, he’s around your age Michael,” Eden said, sending a look toward Tommy. “It’ll be good for you to make a friend.”
Michael nodded, listening to whatever advise he could take, eyes darting between Eden, trying not to get caught looking at her too much, and so he would look toward his cousin Tommy, who stroked her large bump and then his mum who returned with a cup and the steaming kettle fresh from the fire.
He occasionally heard the mumbles from his other two cousins — Finn and Ada, he hadn’t met yet — John and Arthur snickered off to the side, still stood up as if they were waiting to leave.
“… friends, what’s the point? They might end up like Eden and Grace,” Arthur whispered, quite harshly to his younger brother.
John’s mood soured at the mention, “That bloody barmaid.”
They knew not to mention Grace around Eden. Their sister-in-law fought she found a friend ever since Enzo and Martha passed and Dorris moved to London, but was a huge mistake. The Irish Woman’s betrayal caused the hole in Eden’s heart to grow as did her paranoia.
Tommy felt he should’ve protected her more, but he trusted Grace as a friend, especially since he didn’t have many female friends. But it costed him a bullet to the shoulder.
Even with Lizzie, Esme and Dorris from a far he was wary about everyone who surrounded the family, even if they were family.
Tommy was constantly thinking. Always.
“That won’t happen with Michael. Isaiah is loyal, you’ve seen him, Eden practically raised the boy,” John said quietly. “He’s Jimmy’s son.”
“I ain’t worried, we just have to be careful, not everyone’s a friend alright,” Arthur muttered, knowing that Isaiah wasn’t the one he didn’t trust.
“But family is family.”
The two broke apart to see Tommy right behind them. They didn’t even hear him move.
“Fuck, Tom,” John cursed, eyeing him.
“Keep your bloody trousers on,” Tommy scoffed, “you ready to go?”
“‘Course Tom,” Arthur nodded, shoving John forward, “you need to wear a fuckin’ bell on ya.”
“Yeah, alright.” Tommy smirked, then turned back to to the table, to see Eden sipping on some tea with a pensive look on her face. He pressed a kiss to her head as he stared at his Aunt, “Make sure he treats my Edie well, Pol.”
“Get going,” Eden playfully shoved Tommy away just as he gave her a chaste kiss on the lips.
“Don’t worry Michael, we’ll be back to show you, what’s what,” John grinned.
Polly gasped, “You’ll do no such thing!”
“Let’s leave ‘em boys,” Arthur said, “Wouldn’t wanna ruin the tea party.”
That had John snickering.
Michael smiled, watching as Tommy scanned Eden again.
The pregnant woman waved at him, “Bye, my love.”
“Darlin’, stay safe,” Tommy didn’t want to leave her for too long. “The both of you, alright.” He was pulled away by his brothers as he nodded at the mother-son duo, “Pol, Michael.”
When the door slammed shut behind them, Michael coyly smiled at his mum.
“They seem nice.”
Eden and Polly laughed.
The latter spoke, “They’re anythin’ but.”
Eden agreed, “But they’re your family, so got used to it.”
——
a/n:
I was thinking what if Eden met Michael before his corruption… so season 2.
Tumblr media
6 notes · View notes
saintsir4n · 7 months
Text
BONUS CHAPTER
WARNINGS: MENTIONS OF WAR, DEATH AND PTSD
1918
THOMAS Shelby's breath got caught in his throat when he saw... them. Despite his soul being split between life and death, his heart remained in Small Heath, in the clutches of two people who looked at him like he wasn't the same man. He wasn't, he and the rest of the Birmingham Riffles were already dead, and seeing his daughter pull away from Eden's grasp and run between the crowds of people and her uncles who were wrapped up in the hugs from the family, he dropped his duffle bag as soon as she threw her arms around him, he finally caught his breath.
"Daddy!" she cried into the crook of his neck. She recognised him despite the sombre look in his eyes, "It's you, from the pictures and stories."
He didn't let go of the little girl, feeling the liveliness and joy radiating off of her, warming his undead heart. Her croaky voice brought tears to his eyes. Pulling away, her arms never moved from his neck, but her legs settled around his waist.
"'Ello," he uttered in awe.
Inara's smile grew wider by the second, taking in his hollow cheeks, raven hair and pale blue eyes that mirrored hers. Tommy couldn't believe it, no description from any letter did his daughter justice, she was something else, she was the very pull he needed to keep fighting in France. He didn't think he would be able to love someone more than Eden and here she was, half him, half her.
The beauty marks dotted around her innocent face were what got him, just like my Edie, my pretty girl.
He would protect her with his life and that vow he would never break.
"'Ello Tommy," Eden reached him after being almost knocked over by John and Arthur. Jeremiah made sure to thank her for the role she played in his son's life while he was away. The three men spent their time off to the side, greeting the rest of the family, doting over the new additions and pointing out the differences they could all see.
"Mummy it's Daddy," Inara squealed, laughing at the two, wondering why they were just staring at each other, shell-shocked and stunned beyond belief.
All the details they tried to take in before they parted all those years back, had changed ever so slightly, they were the same, and they were different. Eden appeared far more vigilant and attentive, partially due to the little girl in his arms, she had to change. Her hair; in its natural state, settled above her neck, whilst his was shaven around the sides, just like she'd last seen.
But it was the eyes, all in the eyes, they never lied.
She could see that he wasn't there, her Tommy was trapped, part of him died back in those trenches if not all. Trapped between life and death. Some made it back, others didn't, but those who survived didn't really, part of them still entangled by the mud and the patting of the shovels.
He could see that his Eden morphed into someone else, far less reactive and impulsive.
They both simultaneously pulled out their lucky charms, his horseshoe and her necklace, it brought a crooked smile to his face but failed to meet his empty eyes. There were times in the mud, the bullets and miles of death when he thought his luck would run out, his time was finished and life seconds from ending, where Eden would fade from his memory, but she was also stuck in his mind, pulling him out of the hole he dug himself. Each time he touched the horseshoe, he thought of his little girl, and she was enough, the motivation she gave him was enough, enough to survive. The necklace draped around her neck has pushed her to prevail, through the lonely nights, sleepless ones, the ones where she cried herself to sleep thinking of all she lost.
The rings they wore bound them for life, but what life would they live now? The only place to go was up.
"I promised we'd meet again, didn't I?" Was the first thing he uttered to his fiancé.
You didn't come back, not really. He knew what she wanted to say, but instead, she rushed over, placing a hand on his face, Inara watched their interaction with an innocent smile.
"You did," Eden finally smiled.
Tommy's lips connected with Eden's, arms wrapping around her waist and it was like everything was slowly coming back together, like two missing puzzle pieces. Neither had looked at another soul since they'd parted, sure they were French girls who threw themselves at him, just like there were men who glanced Eden's way, but they paid no mind to the attention, just fixated on the future flashing through their minds and ongoing battles they were facing.
"My girls," he muttered against her lips.
"Like my dress daddy?" Inara paid no attention to the kiss, slightly wrapped up in the toy horse in her hands, which caught Tommy's attention, it made him stiffen, knowing who had bought it for his daughter, "Wore it for you Daddy, it's pretty."
"I can see that," he didn't hesitate to respond, trying to be as engaged with his daughter as much as possible.
"Pretty like mummy and me," Eden blushed at her words.
Tommy turned to his fiancé, and his crooked smile, morphed into a grin, "It is, very pretty," Inara stared, hanging onto his every word, wondering what he would say next. That's when he knew he had to be better, protect her from the world around them and the demons that taunted his mind, "I wish you could've met me before the war," he whispered to her, but Eden could hear.
"You're 'ere now," Inara didn't stop beaming as she spoke.
"I am, that I am," he agreed with her then took Eden's hand in his.
It wasn't long before the rest of the family swarmed the trio, chuckling and cheering amongst themselves, shocked by the similarities that the little girl shared with Tommy, just like everyone was stunned by how John's twins were the spitting image of Martha, God rest her soul. More hugs were given, and cries of joy were heard and sad tears were shed, blessings were said, but unfortunately, the soldiers couldn't take much in.
Instead, they couldn't help but think back to the times when smoke meant a cigarette had been lit and not that a bomb had been blown. When balloons popping didn't sound like gunshots, but that was a lifetime ago.
Everything changed, they'd changed and now they'd returned.
The war might've finished back in France, but it was only starting in Small Heath.
▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃
THE END
a/n:
i hope you all enjoyed this short story, i started planning it a couple of months ago. i loved writing about these different characters, especially eden. for some reason i found her to be more challenging to write because she is a very emotional person (and i am one too) but i also tend to write characters that are dissimilar to me to an extent. although you can see in the epilogue and this chapter that the four years did a lot to her and she hardened up, not because she wanted to, but because she had to manage and raise a baby.
even in this final chapter, writing the interaction between inara and tommy was sad in my opinion, we all know how closed off and vacant he became because of the war, even with how he was with charlie, he wasn't much of a dad in the end, (i lowkey blame that on the death of ruby and polly and grace even though i wasn't her biggest fan). i believe if i wrote inara throughout the show, she would see a side to tommy she would grow to hate but also learn to work with. that little girl would be his karma, considering eden was forced to grow up mentally, whilst inara would mimic her past behaviour. tommy loves his girls and vows to protect and love them but also always be loyal to them, so it would be interesting to see.
before anyone asks, i have thought about writing the rest of the show, however, that would take a lot out of me, considering its six seasons worth of planning and truthfully i doubt eden would stay with tommy after the shit he pulls in canon, even the things i'd thought about adding it would possibly break her, so i won't be writing the show, but i have thought of ideas to put on tumblr.
thank you for reading guys and follow my tiktok, tumblr and watch out for any conversation posts on my wall.
- liv
15 notes · View notes
saintsir4n · 7 months
Text
18
WARNINGS: MENTIONS OF WAR
1914
THE Shelby family home was a mess to put it lightly, the kitchen was packed, and the brothers were stuffing their faces, as had been ever since they'd enlisted, leaving little Finn to follow in their footsteps even though his stomach couldn't take it. Ada and Polly were whispering to each other, leaving Eden and Martha to worry whether the men were going to choke on their food.
Martha seemed to recognise the changes in Eden's body, and so did John surprisingly, the Shelby wife threatened her husband a few times so he wouldn't spill the beans.
"God, slow down would ya? The rest of us have to eat somethin'," Ada murmured, sitting down next to her brothers, "some more than others."
"What's that supposed to mean? We're soldiers at war," Arthur's voice was muffled by the toast in his mouth.
"Not yet you ain't," Eden retorted, wiping the crumbs from Finn's face.
"Exactly and I weren't talkin' 'bout you," Ada continued, missing the alertness on the women's faces, "pregnant women need more food than most."
"Ada!" Polly and Martha warned, just as the men's forks clattered against the table.
Eden tensed up, instantly feeling Tommy's eyes on her.
"What does pregnant mean?" Finn's innocent voice broke the silence.
Arthur snapped his head towards John, and cheered, "You and Martha 'avin' another one? well done."
"She ain't talkin' 'bout –" One glare from Martha, silenced John.
"Drop it." Martha snapped.
"What are you sayin'?" Tommy got up, just as Eden did, "Eden what's she sayin'?"
Eden sighed, "Nothin'."
Polly scolded her niece, "Adelaide, you and that bloody gob."
"What did you just say? Ada, you've never had a problem speakin' before," Tommy demanded, not taking his eyes off his woman, only to glance at her stomach.
Arthur and John each exchanged looks, but the latter continued to eat.
Ada frowned at his tone, "Pol said somethin' about a girl on a horse and Eden –"
"Ada!" Martha exclaimed, pinching the bridge of her nose.
"What? Was it supposed to be a secret?" the Shelby girl went back to eating, now that her brothers stopped.
"What 'bout Edie?" Finn asked, very worried, "And whose horse was it? Not mine, Eros's gonna be alright —"
"— Finn, go upstairs," Polly ushered the pouting boy out.
Eden's breaths quickened, she needed to get out of the house, and the pressure was getting to her.
"Fuckin' 'ell, when I said Edie would 'ave his balls I knew it was a matter of time" Arthur chuckled, alongside John, both were quick to get a smack to the back of their heads from Martha. 
"Fuck!" Eden raced out of the room, then out of the house, faintly hearing the sounds of Polly reprimanding her nephews, neglecting to see Tommy chasing after her.
The warm weather slapping against her face did nothing to cease the dread she felt.
"Eden, darlin' stop, runnin' in your state —stop would ya?" even in heels he was stunned by how quickly she could escape his grasp.
"Just get it over with Thomas," she rushed out, senselessly palming her flat stomach. She couldn't turn around and look at him, worried about the expression on his face.
His brows pinched together, "Thomas? Fuck, is puttin' a baby in you so fuckin' awful that you're mad at me, takes two to make one, and you weren't complainin' about a bloody thing last time I checked."
He was still reeling from the news, he was gonna be a dad, a father, and have a child to protect love, feed, and provide for. It was happening and it was real and Eden wouldn't stop walking away, fuck.
"Would you just stop – come here Eden," he pulled her under a tunnel, away from prying eyes.
The eyes of small heath were everywhere.
He watched as she avoided his gaze, nervously playing with her fingers, whilst thinking of what to say. It was then he realized all the times she pulled away from him, the sensitivity of her body, how she flinched away when his hands caressed her breasts, her thickening hips and the glow kissing her skin, how she would throw up if the stench of booze was too much for her it all made sense and he was kidding himself before. Even when she allowed him to regift his mother's pendant, it was to protect the baby.
"Just tell me that you're done with me," she threw her hands up in the air.
"I'm what?"
"That you want me to get rid of it," she reiterated, panting slightly.
His face contorted from confusion to hurt, "What... you think..."
Her shoulder slumped, "What, it's not like you want to be a child now, you said it yourself last week."
"Have you not listened to a word I said? I want a family with you," he exacerbated.
"Those are just words, Tom," Eden's mind was drowning in a pool of dread, she missed the frown taking over his face.
Tommy scoffed, "Comin' from the wanna-be writer, seems a bit rich. I tell you I want to have a future with you and you think it's all lies? That's my baby in there too you know, I want you to have it, why on Earth do you think I would tell you to get rid of it?"
Eden shuffled back, "Because..."
"Because what? You jump to conclusions faster than I pull out a smoke, which you can't do for a while," he rushed out, trying to deduce how far along she was.
Fuck she needed a cigarette, "You want this, you sure?"
Tommy sighed, knowing it was her insecurities and anxiousness plaguing her brain, but it didn't hurt any less. He wanted her, the baby and nothing else.
So he gently pulled her against him, grabbing her chin, so she could see that truth floating in his eyes.
"Unclog your bloody ears, I want this baby, do you not want it? Is that why you're so up in arms about it."
She pouted, "I'm not up in arms."
He gestured all around them, "You ran out onto the fuckin' street."
"For exercise," she mumbled, accidentally inhaling his aftershave and surprisingly it didn't affect her.
A chuckle escaped him, "Liar."
"No, it's good for the pregnancy," she argued, despite wanting to smile.
"Is that what Pol's feeding you eh? I guess you told her before everyone else includin' the father of this little troublemaker?" she detected the slight irritation in his voice and felt worse.
"She just knew, my mum too," she meekly informed him, before he let out a deep sigh.
The realisation hit him, "Shit. You're mum knows, means your dad..."
"Won't kill you," she promised, settling her hands on his chest.
He clicked his tongue, "Not yet, but do you want this baby," he asked, silently curing himself for never doing it before.
And when Eden nodded he smiled.
"'Course I want the baby, I wouldn't 'ave been stressin' 'about ways to tell you if I didn't," she retorted, though she was happy he knew, it didn't settle the nervousness she felt.
"Thankin' Ada and her loud mouth for that one," he tried making light of the situation.
"But Tom, you're not gonna be here, all of you are leavin'. What am I gonna do?" she stressed, blinking rapidly.
"It's only until Christmas, come 'ere," his arms settled around her waist, "I'm gonna be there. For the both of you, no war will stop me from gettin' back to you. We'll 'ave that house, with the horses, ponds and studies. I'm gonna make it happen, y'know that alright?" he needed to her to have faith in not just him, them as a couple, their future, their family.
Eden hummed, looking down at her abdomen, "In the vardo, given' birth in the vardo."
"Yeah, the vardo, pushin' out our baby, fuck." His hands ran over her stomach as if to feel the baby growing beneath his fingertips, the feeling inside of him was indescribable, everything in that moment changed for him.
"Havin' a little me, that's what Polly says," she whispered, loving how in awe he looked.
Tommy couldn't stop smiling. He was going to have a daughter with the woman who owned his heart for years, it was all coming to plan. Now, he envisioned more babies in their future, his daughters wouldn't be married until they were thirty, and his sons, he wouldn't care as much but would protect them all the same.
If their daughter was anything like Eden, he'd be beating boys off with a club. 
"Suppose we need more Shelby woman eh?" he murmured, keeping his hand on her.
"Too many men 'round 'ere," she joked and gradually her stress was fading.
"I'll make my way back to the two of you," he spoke low, pressing his forehead against hers, "but I need you to do somethin' for me."
"What is it?" She asked, quietly
"Next time, tell me first alright?" I wanna be the first to know.
She immediately understood his silent plea, "Alright."
Tommy's smile morphed into a grin, he didn't hesitate to pull her in for a kiss, pouring his love into it as his hand cupped the back of her head. Actions were louder than words, for the both of them, so Eden couldn't deny the indescribable feeling she felt as their lips moulded and tongues grazed each other. I love you, it was like every fibre of their beings absorbed the unspoken words.
Daring to pull back, Tommy was breathing deeply, "I need you to put your feet up, don't want you standin' until this little one's out, no doubt the rest of 'em are plannin' somethin' so I want you restin', next to me until they call on us'' she nodded rapidly, still dazed from the breathtaking kiss.  "Eden, wanna know somethin'?"
"What?"
"You've made me the happiest man in the world, that's what."
"I know that," confidence took over her, it'd been missing for a while.
He raised a teasing brow, "Do you?"
A smile took over her face, matching his, "I do, now, let's get goin', unless you want to see Mrs. Granberry "
"Ah, that bloody woman."
That was another thing he was grateful for, he wouldn't have to see that woman for months if he was lucky.
So gathering Eden in his arms, he walked back to the Shelby family home, Eden, Tommy and their child-to-be.
The Shelbys piled into the Garrison, each as joyous and cheerful as the next.
The room was packed, but they would soon make themselves at home in the snug.
"What will it be?" Harry asked from behind the bar, as Arthur and John approached him.
"Whiskey, lots of it, keep 'em comin'." the eldest Shelby brother exclaimed, nodding to his aunt and sister-in-law as they disappeared into the snug.
"You lot celebratin'?"
"Yeah, we're celebratin' a big one," John wore a shit-eating grin, turning to his older brother, who stood behind Eden and softly rubbed her stomach, much to her amusement, "Our Tommy put a baby in there Harry."
"Holy Jesus," Harry's eyes widened, "Congratulations Mr Shelby, you too Miss Eden, no usual then?"
Eden shook her head, looking up at her boyfriend who smirked.
"Don't serve her for the next eight months, unless it's a clear glass of water," Tommy's tone was light-hearted, but they all knew he was serious.
"Yeah, yeah, come on," she dragged him into the snug, where the rest of the family were.
It wasn't long before more friends of the family entered, Freddie greeted them all, pressing a kiss to Eden's cheek, before laughing and hugging his best friend, overjoyed by the news. The Jesus' were next to join, Jeremiah made sure to whisper a small blessing to the happy couple, whilst Isaiah sat next to Finn, giggling about their plans to steal a pint of beer.
Eden knew Tommy wished that Greta was there, just like Freddie, the two men had a look in their eyes whenever they talked and it never went away. It didn't quite match hers, considering her closest friends were alive, only one didn't speak to her.
"'Ello Mr Dawkins, ya hear the news?" John laughed, slightly slurring his words as the Dawkins Patriarch walked in with his wife in his arms.
"I'm to be a grandfather, yes Jonathan I'm aware," Cecil received a few laughs, some nervous, the other drunk. He embraced his daughter, smiling down at the joy on her face.
Celestine was quick to pull her daughter in for a hug, even shedding a tear even though she knew her condition all along, and then sat on the stool next to Polly.
Tommy stood up and apprehensively approached Cecil, everyone watched the tense exchange.
Cecil rolled his shoulders back and eyed the man, before begrudgingly holding out his hand for Tommy to shake, which he did, allowing everyone else to exhale and continue the festivities.
"No threats from me Thomas, you know she'll ruin your life if you fuck her over."
"That she will!" John yelled, making them laugh.
Judging from the look on Eden's face, they were right with that assessment. Tommy saw Eden for who she was, some days she was his haven, but if he got on her bad side, she could be his worst nightmare.
"C'mon Tommy, put a ring on her finger," Arthur nudged his brother, once he sat down again.
"Once you Marry a Shelby, you stay fuckin' married," John drunkenly added, believing to be quieter than he was.
"Boys!" Celestine rolled her eyes at their language.
"You've said worse love," Cecil quickly raised his hands at the glare she sent him.
"He's not bloody wrong," Polly stated, remembering how her friend could curse at the wind if it got on her bad side.
Martha made sure to monitor the six-year-olds, luckily baby Katie was with her mother for the weekend.
"Mum drank with most of you" Arthur commented, looking at Eden who rested her head on Tommy's shoulder, "Mainly with John Boy."
"Explains a lot," Eden laughed, even when the man in question scowled.
John gasped, "Oi."
"Love ya."
"And what did she drink when she was 'avin' me?" Ada wondered aloud, leaning forward hoping to get a coherent response from her eldest brother.
"Smoked with you, must've what gave ya such a big mouth," Arthur joked, earning a few laughs.
"Oi," Ada bashfully smiled at her future sister-in-law, "and sorry Eden, I didn't know."
"It's alright," Eden would get back to her one day.
"Thought Tommy had bigger brains than that y'know?" that response caused the room to erupt into laughter.
"Watch it," Tommy playfully warned, snaking his arm around Eden's shoulder.
John clapped a hand on his brother's shoulder, "Tom's joined the Shelby dad's club."
"'Bout time you did," Arthur nodded, smiling at his younger brother as if to tell him he was going to be a good dad. Tommy smiled back, nodding in appreciation.
"Don't mess 'er about like John does me," Martha quipped, moving the pints away from the six-year-old menaces.
John pouted, "Leave it out Mar, I'm tryin'"
"Yeah, I know," she pressed a small kiss to his cheek, before getting up from her seat.
"We'll be feedin' an army with the Shelby sperm count," Arthur joked, then reeled back at the scolding looks he received from Polly and Celestine, who nodded to the children who were surprisingly paying attention.
"What's sperm Dad?" Isaiah questioned rather loudly, drawing snickering from Freddie and John.
"Nothin' son," Jeremiah tried hushing his boy, but he knew it wouldn't work.
Finn tilted his head to the side, "But what is it?"
"Boys, wanna play a game?" Eden interrupted, pulling their attention, "Whoever can count how many drinks your Uncle John has tonight wins."
"What?!" John suddenly realised what was happening, "I'm not gonna have that many."
"Okay," The two boys agreed, ignoring the world around them and just stared at John much to his annoyance.
Tommy smiled at how quickly Eden handled them, it made him wonder what type of mother she would be, but all he did know was that she wouldn't ruin their child, she was too perfect to do that.
He pulled away from Eden and decided to chat with Freddie, leaving her to talk to his sister.
"Jimmy let's go for a smoke, been itchin' for one a minute now," Cecil patted Jeremiah's back after they both sent appreciative looks to Eden for managing the boys.
The two men exited the room.
As Eden chatted away, Tommy's eyes tended to drift back to her stomach, almost like he would miss it swell if he looked away.
Polly approached him, nodding to Freddie and he knew to leave.
"You're gonna be better than you're father," Polly stated definitively, following his gaze to where Eden was sitting.
"You can see that yeah?" Tommy's heart pounded in his chest, his aunt's praise meant a lot to him.
"Don't need tea leaves or dreams for that one," Polly pressed a kiss to his cheek, then patted over it," I'm proud of ya, you and your brother chose good ones."
Tommy couldn't help but grin, "We did."
"Christ, men and their drinks," Eden grimaced at how quickly Arthur could down a pint. She was never much of a drinker, because of the lightweight she was.
"Couldn't imagine workin' 'ere," Martha murmured, wondering how Harry did it.
"And you won't 'ave to love," John retorted, wiping his mouth.
"A woman workin' in the Garrison, that'll be the bloody day," Ada joked, sounding much like her aunt.
"Only women who would work 'ere are insane or spies," Eden added as Tommy came over to sit next to her.
"That's what you think love?" he teased, eyes dropping to her stomach once more.
She nodded, "That's what's what."
Throughout the night, singing began and ended, and the two six-year-olds drifted off to sleep, resting their heads on Ada's lap before being woken up by the banging of Arthur's hand. Polly didn't bother scolding him, she knew he wouldn't comprehend a bloody word she spoke.
Harry pulled open the hatch every so often, asking if more drinks were needed and obviously no one said no.
"I see you lookin' at Freddie," Eden whispered to the Shelby girl, whose eyes doubled in size.
Ada shook her head, "What, I wouldn't – I never."
She even glanced around, hoping no one could hear the exchange, luckily most of the men had vacated the space and the boys had drifted back to sleep.
"Calm down, I won't say anythin' 'bout your crush," Eden hoped that's all it was.
Ada swallowed the lump in her throat, "Promise?"
"Promise."
Tommy re-entered, immediately noticing the blush taking over his sister's face, he shot Eden a look, to which she mouth, don't worry. He held out his hand for Eden to take and she carefully manoeuvred herself around the table.
Taking them to the room in the bar of the back, Tommy didn't take his eyes off of her, watching the frown take over her face.
"What ya thinkin'?"  he asked, his palms met her cheeks.
She leaned into his touch, "That I wish I could tell Enzo 'bout our daughter, I know Dotty could just let 'im know, but it won't be the same."
He nodded understandably, "'Ave you told her yet?"
"Not yet, been thinkin' 'bout how to do that and all," she didn't know how Dorris was going to react. "it won't take long, but with Enzo, it'll be a shot in the dark."
"And you can't shoot to save ya life," he mused, then winced at the pinch she gave him.
"But I can use a knife so watch it."
"Yeah, I know better than anyone what you can wield." he pinched her cheeks, making her laugh, "But just leave that to me, I'll make sure Changretta hears the good news."
Tommy would find a way to get the information to the youngest Changretta and only him, for Eden's sake.
She eyed him warily, "You sure?"
"There's a truce, my love, he'll know," he didn't say more on the matter.
She slowly nodded, "Alright."
"Y'know, there's somethin' I've been meaning to ask you," he said, smiling widely.
She mirrored his expression, "Oh really? And what's that?"
"You'll find out soon Mrs Dawkins." oh how he wanted to say, Mrs Shelby.
"Okay, Mr Shelby," she joked as their lips met again.
Back in the snug, it seemed the room was packed once more, everyone returned, but only some seemed to continue drinking, whereas the youngest members of the blended family were having a debate.
"It was sixty," Isaiah argued with his best friend.
"No it was fourteen," Finn tried holding up his fingers.
"Sixty? Fourteen? It's nine boys," Freddie was so confused about where they got their numbers from, "your uncle would die if he had that many."
"No drink is killin' me," John slurred, raising his head from the table as everyone else returned to their seats. "Not even a bullet can do that."
Arthur agreed, "Got that right John boy."
His loud voice caught his aunt's attention, "Settle down you two, like bloody kids."
"And ones got a bloody kid."
"For now," Ada teased the woman after Polly shot her an unreadable look.
The snug door opened, revealing a flustered Eden and Tommy.
John and Freddie cheered at the sight of them before getting hushed by Polly.
Tommy tugged Eden close and held up a drink, gesturing for everyone else to do so.
"Not one for speeches," he started.
"Liar," Ada scoffed, making the room laugh.
"Go on Tom," Freddie nodded to his best friend.
"Alright, here's to, expanding the Shelby family," everyone raised their drinks, and Arthur started clapping, clearly gone out of his mind, John banged on the table as he whistled,  "And my Edie, she may be known as the delight of Small heath, that she is, but she's also the mother of our child and my future wife, so let's raise a glass to her, to Edie."
They all cheered, "to Edie."
▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃
a/n:
the war apparently didn't start for the brits until august when they declared war on germany, however, i will send the boys off to war a bit earlier, I'm pretty sure that was normal.
also, i'm going to be doing double updates until the end because by the time this book is finished... another fan favourite one will be ready to update...
Tumblr media
16 notes · View notes
saintsir4n · 7 months
Text
15
WARNINGS: SMUT
1914
TOMMY Shelby was happy, in fact, he was more than that, the woman who owned his heart was back in his grasp, and regardless of it not feeling the same, he was adamant about making their relationship better. It was tough, considering he was the reason that she lost a friend...a brother and there was no fixing that. Your best friend gets taken from you and you try and do the same to me, Eden's words always echoed through his mind. She was right and there was no mending her ruptured soul, all he could do was make her feel better.
And that was hard.
Not even Stevie would talk to Eden, someone who was an extension of Enzo and wanted nothing to do with her, it only hurt more.
But what brought her tears was what she met on her doorstep on a rainy morning. A second-hand typewriter and along with it was a note,
For all the times you helped, loved and protected me.
May you shine through the fog of the mirky city, little sister,
- E. Changretta.
P.S. Adam Garden is the perfect name.
Tommy was the one to bring it into her home, rubbing a hand over her back as he read the note with appreciative eyes, despite not understanding most of it contained. Typewriters weren't cheap, even if they were second-hand.
"You've got more motivation now don't ya Edie?"
She cast him a sad smile, "I guess I do."
"I'm sorry," Tommy breathed out. He'd been saying it for days, ever since she stormed into his house, demanding that he treat her well, he was doing everything in his power not to mess up. "I'm sorry Eden." For everything.
She simply nodded and looked away.
Meeting Tommy in the betting shop like he wanted, Eden smiled at the workers, made up of four Peaky soldiers (mainly old friends from school or boys needing work, like Danny Owen and Sudboat). They smiled back, knowing who she was and more importantly in their eyes, who she was with... one of the big bosses.
"Boys," her batting eyelashes and smoulder almost cause them to fall from their chairs and if it weren't for Tommy emerging from the office, with John and Arthur behind him, they would've.
They tipped their caps in her direction, "Miss Dawkins."
And with that, they quickly returned to their work.
John and Arthur smirked at each other, greeting the nurse with a wide grin. She didn't press a kiss to Tommy's cheek, which irked him, watching as she entered the office, leaving the brothers to whisper.
"Careful brother, she's got them foamin' at the mouth," John teased, adjusting his hat and putting a toothpick back in his mouth,
"Yeah yeah, try and make it home without fallin' up the stairs," Tommy retorted, not in the mood for quips, because he didn't receive a kiss from his lady.
"No promises, ain't that right John boy?" Arthur jokily nudged him.
John nodded as they turned to leave, not before he made one last gag, "And make sure to give Edie a proper seein' to, bet she starved."
"Fuck off," Tommy pushed them both away, ignoring their laughter as he turned back around and opened the office door.
"They think I'm starved?" Eden questioned, hearing everything that was said.
"Don't worry 'bout 'em, they weren't there yesterday were they?" his eyes shone with lust, referring to their ex-rated activities as he rounded the desk that she was sitting behind.
Tommy seemed to ride Shadow miles out, with Eden gripping his torso and the hat she wore for safety. A picnic he said, and why the fuck did she listen. Horse riding wasn't for her, not this soon anyway, but she got on. It took half an hour for him to find the place he rode to a few weeks back, thinking of the empire he wanted to build.
Helping get off the shadow and tying his reigns to a tree, he grabbed a blanket and then took her hand and ran, as fast as possible, with giggles falling from her lips.
Soon she lay naked, back on the blanket, staring up at Tommy.
"Here Thomas?"
"Yeah, I promise no one will lay an eye on you," or he would cut them a pretty smile,
Tommy found himself inside of her, the only place where he could forget about every worry and doubt, her velvety walls fluttering around him, her nails on his chest his back, whilst purring pretty words in his ear, driving him crazy.
She was drunk on the waves of pleasure washing over her.
"You're so beautiful," he grunted, pressing kisses to her neck, nibbling on the skin drawing more whimpers from her. The sounds she made only spurred him on. Grabbing her hands and placing them above her hand, he didn't relent, "fuck."
"Please, don't stop."
"I was there Thomas, you don't 'ave to remind me."
"Suprise you still have your voice," he remarked, sitting on the desk, pushing some work out of the way,
She coyly chuckled into her hands, "I hate you,"
"Keep tellin' ya self that," he teased, grabbing her ankle and pulling off her shoe, earning a confused look before he began to rub the heel of her feet, drawing a satisfied sigh from her, "How was work?"
"Witnessed some poor bloke get amputated today," Tommy snapped his head up at her words, "turns out, one day he was cold and drunk, so he turned on his oven, to warm up his hands, as you do."
"Standard practice," he said highly amused.
"He fell asleep and woke up to one of his hands burnt to a crisp, the other was decent because he moved in his sleep I guess. He screamed down the bloody hospital when he arrived, demanded that we somehow get him a new hand," she said with a deadpanned expression, making Tommy laugh, "we couldn't obviously, so the surgeon – thankfully one came in today. He had to knock the guy so he would stop screamin'. The surgeon wanted my mum to gather some nurses so we could see how to properly amputate someone, so she got me and a couple of the girls to see 'im sew up his wrist. Blood was everywhere and the hand was chucked away, thank god, Thomas it was charred like a burnt chicken - remind me to not eat chicken for a while."
"I will, sounds like you had an eventful day," Eden marvelled at his hands, trying to focus on his speech, "the surgeon didn't have somethin' to put him under?"
"There was a chloroform shortage today," she informed, "well that's what they told us, I think it was one of the nurses, stealin' 'em because some think that 'god created humans and gave them the strength to go through pain,' would love to see 'em go through childbirth and still think that."
"My mum went through it five times," he breathed out.
"Strong woman," she instantly replied.
Tommy wordlessly agreed, placing down her foot gently, then grabbed the other, slipping it out of her shoe and began massaging it.
"Don't know how she did it," she murmured, stunned he was talking about his mother, it was rare when he did.
"Pol helped." Dad didn't, he chose not to add. A man's place wasn't in the birthing room, he and his brothers weren't taught many things by their dad but that was one of them. "Me and Arthur were born in a Vardo."
Her eyes widened, "Really?" Tommy nodded in response, "Where is it now?"
"Somewhere in Charlie's yard no doubt," he paused, "Want to see it?" he asked, patting her leg and placing it down.
"You'd take me?" she leaned forward in intrigue.
"I'd take you anywhere you asked."
Her heart swelled at his words, "Yeah, one day I wanna see it."
"Alright," a grin tugged at his lips, "When I finally put a baby in you —"
"--Tommy —" she gasped, not like that stopped him.
"---You can 'ave the baby in there," he proposed, smiling at the memory of the dreams he'd been having.
"The vardo?" Eden pondered for a moment, smirking at the thought, "Okay, I'll have our baby in the vardo."
His smile reached his eyes, causing her to quirk up a brow.
"What?"
"You said 'our' baby," butterflies swarmed his stomach at the thought.
Yes, he proclaimed copious times that he wanted her to be the mother of his children, this was just the first time she verbally agreed.
She huffed out a chuckle, "Well who else is gonna knock me up?"
"If they wanna keep their balls, no one," he said emotionlessly.
"Got that right," She agreed instantly, "but what if I decided not to 'ave 'em?"
"Then we don't 'ave 'em."
"Just like that? really?"
"Really," he wouldn't force her if she wasn't ready and with how he'd be behaving, he was lucky that she continued to consider it.
Eden winced at what she was going to say next, "But y'know, our children... it'll be tough on 'em. The world I mean."
"Then I'll burn it down," he stated with indifference.
Eden sighed, "Be serious."
"I am."
"Half black, half traveller... the worlds gonna really love 'em," her tone laced with sarcasm.
He shook his head, "Fuck the world if it's got somethin' to say."
She blew out her cheeks, "Raising children in this society --"
"I'll be there to support ya, you're not raising them alone," he promised.
She rubbed her temples, "I probably will, you're a man."
She worried about many things, but regarding their relationship, she didn't know if the moment she got pregnant, he would treat her like a possession or a partner. Recently, he'd tried to stop doing so, though, she imagined it wouldn't last long, but she was allowing herself to be delusional for a moment. 
"A man who will help you raise our children." He wondered if their children would have her beauty marks or his blue eyes.
His mother had beautiful brown eyes like Eden but none of his siblings inherited her darker features, only her dark hair and wild spirit, as Polly liked to call it.
Standing up, he took her face in his hands, catching the blush spreading across her cheeks, no doubt it was the same one kissing his.
"You won't be alone, not when I helpin' out a baby in your stomach," he winked at her and Eden couldn't help but laugh.
"I'll be walkin' 'round like a whale."
"A pretty whale," he retorted, eyes dropping to her stomach.
She feigned offence, "Thought you said pretty was an insult."
"Not to a whale."
She tried to push him away, but he didn't budge, "You got jokes now."
"You said I was funny."
"When you do voices – not impressions of me of course," she reiterated.
He chuckled, "I'll do 'em to our kids,"
She teasingly jabbed a finger in his face, "You'll be lucky if they like 'em."
"It won't be luck."
"Tell that to the horseshoe you're walkin' round with," she responded knowingly.
"What's this?" Tommy picked up something that fell out of her cardigan pocket as they lay there bare.
"Now this, I didn't steal it... John did," she revealed, sheepishly smiling and tugging his blazer over her body.
He snorted, "That don't surprise me."
"Remember the carnival last month," he nodded, still staring at the horseshoe, "Well, my dad told me there was some merchant that sold very good antiques — he found out for my uncle Jeremiah — anyways, I told John about it, asked him to find a horseshoe... for good luck."
His face lit up like a kid at Christmas, "For me?"
The bronze horseshoe was a perfect gift.
"Who else would I be askin' for?" He raised his hand in surrender as she continued, "he came back with that after nickin' it from the stall and I even offered to pay him for it, but he wouldn't take it, which is a shock because anythin' shiny —"
"—my brother can't keep his hands off."
"Exactly."
"Why am I only seein' this now?" something quickly dawned on him, "'cause of how I was actin'"
"Glad you remembered, your big brains finally workin'," she giggled.
"Alright, alright come here," he cupped the back of her head, bringing her to a passionate kiss, sending a wave of goosebumps over her skin.
"Thomas –" she felt him drop the horseshoe somewhere on the blanket, "make me feel good."
"Wanna feel good?" he muttered against her lips, pulling away his blazer, revealing the body he knew every inch of, knew where to touch, where to love, "so greedy,"
His kisses trailed from her lips to her neck, before his lips found her breasts.
"Fuck," her back arched as he sucked at her nipples, blowing over the skin.
"And you say you ain't forgiven me yet," he muttered, kissing further down her body.
"I bloody 'aven't."
Tommy licked his lips, groaning at the arousal between her legs.
"You will."
"Yeah, the horseshoe was a gift from you," he said, feeling it in his pocket.
Wiggling her brows, she asked, "So you'll always carry it around?"
"For good luck," he recited her, with a smile.
It wasn't the only thing he always carried around.
She winked at him, "For good luck."
Looking around the room, a framed picture of a horse caught her eye. A stallion to be exact and she knew amongst the brothers, Tommy would be the one to put it up with a proud smile on his face. He was cute when he smiled, adorable even. She hoped he never stopped smiling, rather than beating down her friends.
She turned to him, realising that he was already smiling down at her.
"What?" he asked softly.
"Do you think I could be a writer, a real one?" nerves came off at the mere question.
His face scrunched up, "Wouldn't have bought you that notebook if I didn't. 'Ave you finished writin' int it?"
She rapidly nodded, "Last week."
A wild smile took over his face, "See..." he pressed a kiss to her forehead, "You tried usin' that typewriter yet?"
He felt her tense under his touch.
"No, not yet," she averted her eyes.
And Tommy decided not to press on the matter, it was something to do with Enzo, he knew it was.
So he changed the subject, correction, he joked about what he had to do to get on top, to be King.
"Birmingham is so fuckin' dull, you have to be a bright ball of fire to be seen," she exclaimed, turning to look at him. "If you wanna do somethin' big, you gotta start small."
"Like what?" he rushed out the first thing that came to mind, "burn pictures of the King?"
She laughed, "And that's small to you?"
He nodded, "Got your attention."
"Why, do you hate the man?"
"I don't, he's done nought to me."
She raised a questioning brow, "Wanna get yourself killed?"
"No."
"Let me guess, Tommy Shelby ain't afraid of death?" she teased.
Tommy chuckled but didn't say anything in response. Twenty-two years old... he was afraid of death, dying really and if he ever reached a point where he wasn't then he would no longer be himself.
He wished there was a time when all he had to do was work with horses, but he knew it wasn't realistic, there was more he needed to do -- had to do, for just not him, but the family.
Seeing a slight change in his demeanour, Eden grabbed his hand, "Well put aside those anarchic thoughts and think 'bout somethin' happy, like our future house."
"And what about it?"
"What do you want in it?"
"In our big house..." he blew a raspberry, thinking of their future sanctuary "Let's see, the kids have to be runnin' 'bout, all up and down the halls, round a pond, in the stables –"
"Stables?"
"Stables, where we'll keep the horses," she rolled her eyes at his sarcasm, but listened nonetheless, "I need a study, and so do you. A nursery, or a bench where you can read to the kids, y'know one of those rooms."
Her brows furrowed, "A playroom?"
"That's what they're called." she nodded, in response, then motioned for him to continue, "want our house to have one of those fountains out front."
"Our house needs to be far out, so Mrs Granberry won't be near."
He shuddered at the thought of her, "That woman... hope to never see her again."
"Amen to that," she then began to ponder, "How many horses we havin', none racin' ones?"
"Two, at first, one for me and one for you," he proposed, already seeing her head shaking.
"No," she let out a nervous laugh, "I can't ride horses – and no Tommy, you don't count."
A smirk tugged at his lips, "Weren't gonna say that. You were ridin' Shadow just fine."
"I was squeezin' you so tight, I'm surprised you didn't suffocate."
He forced himself not to make a joke at her phrasing, instead, he said, "You'll be better next time."
She sent him a pointed look, "You say that to Freddie? I know he's never been on a horse."
"Prefers walkin', he does."
"And rallyin' of sorts," she added, remembering all the big speeches Freddie made at school, it was usually against capitalism or him defending his Jewish faith before he and his family had to change their name to avoid further discrimination.
"Got that right," Tommy agreed.
"Where is he? 'aven't seen 'im in a while."
Tommy played with a stray strand of her hair, "Out with some girl, he's seein'"
"Right," she stood up, Tommy pulled her, between his legs, then held out a cigarette, which she didn't light for him, earning a grunt, but she happily took a few drags, Eden went as far as to tease him by blowing the smoke into his mouth, grazing their lips in a taunting manner before pulling away,  "How was your day?"
Tommy stared at her, his eyes swarmed with joy and his heart practically wanted to beat out of its chest, he couldn't hide his happiness. She was so close to me, willingly too, although she tended to tense or shift or shuffle away sometimes, she was still close to him. He just needed her to wear that bloody necklace.
So he just kept smiling, and said something she wasn't expecting,
"Well... John reckons he's knocked Martha up again."
"He's what?!"
▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃
a/n:
gratiela brancusi as 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗮𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗯𝘆
no, mara shelby will not be in the story, however, she will be included and i wanted you guys to have an image of what i imagined her to look like. considering she had to be around 35 in canon when she passed away (i know i changed the ages of some of the shelbys)
i hope you guys are seeing the changes in their relationship, sure they're having sex, but their small intamacies have changed. eden is being stubborn (as she should) still not kissing him outside of the bedroom, or lighting a cigarette and especially not wearing his mother's necklace.
i wanted the horseshoe eden gifted tommy, to relate to the horse he rode in the first episode of the show, but online it doesn't say what breed of horse it is, which was annoying. also, pre-war tommy, i doubt was so adamant about death, he was scared in my opinion, and everyone was. polly mentioned a few times that he wanted to work with horses, so i made sure to mention that.
I feel like if I were going to continue the book post-war, then I would have written a scene where Eden would amputate someone, for the the foreshadowing aspect. But don't worry that won't happen, even though it would have been a very intense scene.
Tumblr media
11 notes · View notes
saintsir4n · 10 months
Text
WRITING BIPOC’S INTO PERIOD PIECES
It was certainly a struggle as a black writer to write someone like me into not only fandom that I like but one where the lack of representation for not just black people, but people from other cultural backgrounds pretty much don’t exist.
So I’ll break down this little rant by talking about two of my books, from separate fandoms.
Here we go…
A DARK TWISTED FANTASY
I know many people have watched the vampire diaries and immediately jump to write about how Bonnie was treated badly by the writers and was made into the “token” and “magical negro” of the show, which is why I had to think long and hard about how I wanted to write my main oc and how I wanted her to be perceived. It’s hard as a POC in general searching through books on wattpad, tumblr, ao3 and so on to find something that’s for me, so I just decided to write a tvd fic, but not just a tvd fic, but with klaus mikaelson as the love interest.
Listen, I love Klaus as a character, but his flaws are never-ending. Not only is the man abusive (physically and mentally), narcissistic, controlling and spiteful but he also tends to throw around the fact he saved Marcel from slavery constantly throughout the originals.
Which of course I didn’t fully realise until I started publishing my story (ADTF). Don’t get me wrong I love writing my oc alongside him but that isn’t a flaw I could just ignore, especially considering the era she’s born in.
For those who don’t know, Adrienne Lumiére is a grey witch (dark witch by some definitions) who was recently made queen of the witch faction in NOLA because of the sudden death of her mother. Oh… did I forget to mention she’s a dark-skin, eighteen year old who’s being courted by Klaus Mikaelson in 1917?
You see the problem I had when was writing?
Well, since I didn’t want to write a canon tvd book where the same thing happens, Klaroline, Esther returns, Klaus wants his hybrids… bla bla bla, I settled with a period piece set when the Mikaelsons were ruling over NOLA before Mikael came along and burn down their accomplishments to the ground. I wanted to give a new take and I did, but trying to balance a somewhat “healthy relationship” between Adrienne and Klaus during this time and how he is when it comes to race was challenging.
Reading the book, you might see him being “colour blind”, believing that because she’s a powerful being, it eradicates most of the struggles she had to face due to her race… classic Klaus right? I mean it’s only right to portray him in such a way because that’s how he is. He might acknowledge her race and strongly hate anyone who is prejudiced towards her but it doesn’t mean he fully understands nor could he ever.
And no, him adopting Marcel doesn’t mean he single-handedly erased racism, him “saving” Marcel in my opinion had little to do with his race and more to do with Marcel’s actions leading up to Klaus noticing him. You know… marcel rightfully throwing an object at his slave owner (defending himself) making Klaus see “himself” in Marcel.
Therefore I write klaus, how I view him to be most of the time as “colourblind.”
Now onto, “how writing Adrienne sometimes can be challenging.”
It is challenging because even though I would love to write her into a space where her struggles as a black woman ( a young one at that) wouldn’t exist, it would be a lie. I also feel like mentioning even it a little is triggering but if I chose to ignore it wouldn’t be doing the book justice. Of course, I try not to over indulge because it’s a fictional character, being written into a fictional world, but I still want to keep my character realistic, so I incorporate how black woman styled their hair back then, how they would dance, the professions they might have (even embellishing a little) and the family dynamics.
Her physical relationship with Klaus is shown a lot —but behind closed doors and that’s for a reason. You see interracial relations were illegal and despite Klaus’ ignorance most of the time, he knows that and wouldn’t risk Adrienne’s safety (because of his fear of his lover dying, leaving him, or being killed because of him… and so on leaving him lonely and even more destructive) so they keep their touches in public to a minimum, but in private, you know how they are.
I know some parts of Adrienne's story might be very unrealistic, but I am leaning into her supernatural status a little just so she can live a little lavish… come on, Adrienne deserves the world and honestly, I’m glad I chose the 1910s to write her into, of course, nothing was okay, or even right back then, but it’s fiction, it’s escapism and I want people to have fun when reading about her and how her family contribute to NOLA back then.
I love Adrienne and even though writing to her with Klaus can be very exhausting, it’s quite fun sometimes.
(And yes I will finish the story before anyone asks, but don’t ask when I’ll be updating)
Tumblr media
UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN
Eden Dawkins is my other original character set in the 1900s, but this time in Birmingham as a twenty-year-old brown skin nurse currently dating Tommy Shelby before he goes of to war.
For some reason I found this story to be easier, it might have had something to do with the lack of supernatural elements but still, I did a lot of research not only for black people back in 1914 but also the English/Irish and Romani traveller culture during this time also. (beliefs, family values, etc.)
considering that Tommy (who's played by cillian murphy) is constantly looked down on by his enemies and plenty of others because of his background I had to think about how my girl Eden would be seen. although we do see reoccurring characters like Jeremiah (played by Benjamin Zephaniah) and Isaiah Jesus who are a black father and son that were heavily involved with the Peaky Blinders, do experience racism but luckily it wasn't their entire character portrayal, although I did wish they were fleshed out more.
so when I started writing about Eden, who is in a relationship with not only a small-town gangster, I needed to access her views on violence and if she was okay with it. crime was notorious, especially in small heath, no one was rich and the working class were the majority. in the show of peaky blinders, theft, loitering and drug dealing were common. the entire show is based around criminal activity and how the Shelbys used it to their advantage to get themselves to the top.
since my story is set in 1914, the Shelbys, I believe were starting up the betting shop and did already have some sort of reputation for being people not to be messed with, I wanted Eden to already be aware of them. I decided that she would be the same age as John and even be friends with him during school. since she is the god-sibling to Isaiah (and he's besties with Finn) I wanted her and the little 5-year-olds to be close, so that's another tie she has to the Shelbys, meaning Tommy can’t miss her.
he didn't and if you've read the prologue it's known that he's been obsessing over her for a while.
back to Eden... she's a nurse, it was common to be back then and was also an easier profession to get in than it is now. it was also common for many people who were getting treated in hospitals to turn away help from black/brown nurses and doctors due to their prejudice, this is a fact that I mention in my book, in a sly and occasionally jokey way. Eden's mother Celestine is a matron; a title belonging to a nurse of higher status and more experience. Celestine had been a nurse for 20 years.
Eden's been a nurse for at least a year and since she tends to operate with needles, I made sure her defences are knives instead of guns. IT'S FANFICTION GUYS. I know it isn't accurate but she's dating a gangster, lives on a chaotic street and is surrounded by normalised crime, she needs to defend herself somehow and you'll soon understand why she doesn't use guns.
when writing a black character I sometimes forget that it is okay for them to be the opposite of the "strong" stereotype that many portray us to be. Eden is a very emotional person, she's in touch with her feelings and knows she can also let them run her to the ground.
taking this into account, you might ask, "How does Eden react to Tommy's actions?"
to summarise how she would, if it's affecting her or the people she loves or anyone innocent, she has a problem and lashes at him, however, if it doesn't affect her at all, she'd let it slide.
you'll see more of that in a short story.
the black girl experience is also included just like I did with Adrienne.
also, Tommy and Klaus... I see that they do share similar traits, even when it comes to their families, but I won't go into that too much, however, I do want to say that the main difference between Tommy and Klaus and how they react to the race of their partner is I feel like Tommy would be and is more aware of it.
Tommy knows Eden's black and doesn't ignore it or act colourblind, but you know he's very forward-thinking as well as dangerously ambitious, but fortunately, that side of him doesn't kick in until after the war.
…well we can only hope.
a/n:
does this make sense? I really can’t tell.
Tumblr media
18 notes · View notes