#lois bennett x oc

[evita-shelby]

Tie your heart to mine

Chapter 18

It was easier to think of the other girl as a faceless entity who was Jan's sister.

It is difficult to know Kasia is beautiful and sweet and undeserving of the hell she’s suffering through.

Kasia Tomazeski has lost both her parents and fights for freedom in Nazi occupied Poland...

...and Lois slept with her husband.

Lois feels disgusted with herself because Harry tried to explain things to her, to break things off for good and Lois had to tell him she loved him.

Even worse, she gave him her virginity because he said he still loved her. Because everything was going to change and she wanted one thing in her life to be as it as before.

She doesn’t tell Tom any of that. She couldn’t take his disappointment in her when he discovers how stupid she was.

Why couldn’t you be more like Tom? She hears Connie’s voice say in her head.

Tom was irresponsible in almost everything except his sex life. Left when he started noticing the signs his girl had the wrong idea about him, made sure he always had sheaths to spare so there was no consequences and never went after those spoken for.

Dad would be so disappointed in her for this.

He encouraged freedom as long as it was within his lines. Bad enough she’d joined ENSA and already packed her bags, now this.

“I’m sorry, Loo.” Tom said softly and kissed the top of her head like he always does when her romances fail spectacularly.

“Do they know what’s in here?” she asks burning from the humiliation of it.

She doesn’t like pity, no one does.

Diane could understand, but Charlie? Charlie who has been nothing short of Prince Charming for her and she decided to ruin it all because she thought Harry was the One?

“They say its bad manners to look at someone’s else’s files without permission.” He answered with a bit of a scoff. Neither of them has been able to get used to how normal things like getting government files on someone was for them.

How different they were and yet Lois has never seen Tom so serious and in love as hew was with Diane.

“I suppose that’s a good thing.” Lois dried her tears and slammed the door on her past with Harry. “Won’t have them look at me with pity tonight.”

There was no way she was going to stop living for Harry, no way she was going to spend any more seconds of her life thinking about him.

Fuck him. Fuck Harry and his fucking lies.

Tom hasn’t spoken much to his father since he came that morning.

It had been a week almost, he’s leaving for Cornwall on Monday and even though he knows this is isn’t the end, it feels like it.

As if the Tom that leaves isn’t the one coming back. He knows what shellshock does to man, he knows how it is to have your dad have it and know you can’t be a normal kid or a normal teenager or even a normal adult because of it.

And yet he says this when he and his dad sit alone waiting for Lois to come home. She’d gone to get adjustments made on her ENSA uniform with Connie and Diane and putting up a damn good fight against her heartbreak by letting Charlie Shelby treat her to lunch.

“I’m gonna marry her, dad.” So you have someone taking care of you when we’re gone. So I can die knowing I existed beyond a fucking number and a grave.

Tom doesn’t need to say it, his dad did the same in the Great War. Told Josie Vera Jones he’d marry her when he left for training and made her Josie Bennett in 1916 because she was two months pregnant with him.

“I said the same to your grandfather when I signed up in ’14.” His father stopped smoking when mum got sick, when the smoke made her cough until she spat blood and yet he takes one out of his pack and gave into the old habit.

Only did so when he was terrified to death.

Like when Lois started going out with boys or got her first gigs and they feared some bastard would take advantage of her. Several times they’d ended up here smoking on the table after Tom thrashed a man getting handsy with his little sister.

Or when he taught Tom how to drive on a borrowed car and he crashed it because he saw a pretty girl walking by the street.

Tom couldn’t help but laugh at the memory, him and his dad sitting on the table wondering how the fuck they’d pay for it. Sitting here being closer than they’ve ever felt even if his father is angry and terrified underneath the veneer.

“And what did grandad say?” Tom asks taking a drag from his cigarette in an odd imitation of the man in front of him. It had been he who taught him to smoke, when he’d caught him with a fag on his mouth wanting something to calm him down after the first time he’d been sent to jail.

“You need a ring for that.” His dad answered and stood up with a groan and proceeded to dig up mom’s things that he kept in his room.

Lois had all her things, the clothes she could refit to match the fashion and her size, the jewellery she treasured and even the perfume.

But there was one thing she hadn’t gotten: her wedding ring.

‘That’s for the lucky girl you’re going to marry, Tommy,’ she had said and told them how granddad gave dad the ring grandma used to wear as his blessing.

Back then Douglas was brash and carefree and happy, just like Tom was, or so what’s left of their family and friends love to point out.

War made a man out of him, the men like to say.

Your mother made a good man out of me, his dad says when they visit her grave.

“I don’t even know if she’ll say yes, dad. Save the ring for later.” Later when I can prove to myself I can.

“It’s like I’m hearing myself talk. Next thing you’ll say is that you’re moving out once you have enough for a house.” His father laughed nostalgically, like he did when telling them stories from his youth.

“I suppose we’re more alike than we think, aren’t we?” Tom can’t help but grin as he opened the ring case and saw the simple gold band carved with orange blossoms.

He has never been this serious in his life, as if knowing it could end any moment had changed something in him.

“Yeah, we are.”

He is not stupid.

He knows she doesn’t mean it when she flirts and touches him as they walk alone in the park.

Even worse, Charlie knows she doesn’t mean it when she kisses him because it would hurt Harry who came here with his little brother-in-law.

It’s not the first time Charles Absalom Shelby has felt used, and it won’t be the last.

“I shouldn’t have done that.” She apologizes after he doesn’t reciprocate the kiss.

“Yeah, you shouldn’t have.” He could’ve kissed her back, given into his attraction to her, but Charlie wants a woman who is with him for the right reasons and not because she’s hurt. “I’m not a toy, Lois.”

“I know.” Lois said looking ahead in embarrassment.

“But if you wanted me to help you hurt him, you could just ask, as a friend would.” He makes it all worse.

“As a friend?” she asks noticing the change with displeasure.

“As a friend.” He nods. Charlie had pursued her and given up, now she was disappointed in not having him after wasting her time on Chase.

He’d treated her for lunch as a friend would. If she wants him, she’d have to do the chasing and the wooing from now on.

“And what things could I ask of you, Charlie?” she asks turning on her charm all the way.

It shouldn’t be surprising that they end up in his hotel room and thanking his lucky stars he came prepared for this.

[happilyhertale]

Finding the courage – Tom Bennett x female!reader, Part 3

Summary: You spent a sheltered childhood in Brighton. Until the time when your father died. Your mother is overwhelmed with the role of caring mother, which eventually leads you to leave home and seek happiness elsewhere. But you have not in the least anticipated what or who awaits you in your new adopted home.

Pairing: Tom Bennett x fem!reader

Warnings: In some parts Smut as well as Violence. There will be an extra warning for the respective parts.

Author’s note: Hey you (:

This short Tom Bennett story is based on the request that was sent to me.

The story takes place before the first season of World on fire. I hope you will enjoy the story! English is my second language, please forgive me if I made any mistakes (:

Word count: 3.8k

Part 1, Part 2, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8

Other stories of mine

· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

With your backpack on your back, you make your way to the Bennett house. It is still early in the morning, but the city is beginning to wake up. Many people are already on the streets, trying to get to work in a hurry. Here and there a few groups of children run across the streets to get to school on time. Conversations and laughter fill the streets.

You walk down the street that leads to the Bennett house. You pass all the other houses that are close together in this street. When you arrive at the Bennett house, you knock.

Lois opens the door for you and smiles, "Good morning y/n!"

You smile at her, "Good morning Lois."

As you step into the house, you notice that Lois is about to leave for work. Mr Bennett peers out of the kitchen into the hallway, "Good morning!"

"Good morning Mr Bennett!" you smile.

"I've written you a list of things that need to be done. Just do as much as you can manage!"

You nod at her

"Where you'll find the cleaning supplies and other stuff, I've also written down for you... Oh! I have to go! See ya later!"

She calls out to her father from the hallway and then hurriedly leaves the house.

You go into the kitchen and see Mr Bennett getting ready for work as well.

He smiles at you as you enter the kitchen.

"Thank you again, Mr Bennett, for allowing me to work here."

He laughs a little, "Thank you for working for us free of charge"

"Well, I get food for it," you smile at him.

He smiles, " I have to go now... Don't be scared, my son is still asleep upstairs. He probably will be for a while as he came home late... So, don't get scared!"

And with those words, Mr Bennett also says goodbye and goes to work.

You get to work as well and fetch the cleaning supplies that Lois has written down for you. You work through one task after the other. Around noon you discover the radio in the kitchen and switch it on. While you are dusting, you dance to the music in the kitchen.

"Hey Lois! Don't you have work to do? What are ya... Well... Hello?"

You turn to the stairs, startled, as the voice rings out. Frozen, you stop as you see your yesterday's saviour standing on the stairs, those beautiful blue eyes looking back at you.

"Did you like me so much to follow me, love? You could have come upstairs with me, I wouldn't have complained"

He grins at you and you look at him indignantly, "I don't think that's why I'm here," you retort.

He laughs, "Calm down love. I've been kidding ya. But what are you doing here?"

You clear your throat briefly, "I work here now. Well, sort of."

"Working?" he looks irritated.

"Well, I help your sister with the housework and in return I get to eat with you in the evening"

He smiles, "Mmmhm... so we're always here together during the day now?"

You blush slightly, "Well if you don't have a job... yes?"

He laughs softly, "This is going to be fun love."

He slowly walks back up the stairs.

"Where are you going?" you immediately bite your tongue... Why do you ask him that?

He pauses and looks at you with a grin, "I want to shower... want to join me?"

Your cheek turns a deep red, "Of course not!"

He laughs loudly and goes up the stairs, "But the colour of your cheeks says otherwise, love"

You close your eyes and have to sit down.

When Tom arrives upstairs in the bathroom, he quickly locks the door. He has to take a deep breath. He expected many things, but not to find you in his kitchen. He almost fell backwards down the stairs when you were suddenly there, moving to the music. He was desperate to see you again, but he hadn't expected to see you so soon. He grins in the mirror as he thinks of what an exciting time he has ahead of him.

You are sitting at the kitchen table cutting the vegetables for dinner. Upstairs you hear the water running in the shower. After the water has been running for some time, you blush slightly as the thought creeps into your mind that he is upstairs, naked in the shower. You quickly push the thought aside as Tom suddenly comes down the stairs.

He stops at the bottom of the stairs and you look up. His hair is still a little wet and you are tempted to just brush through it.

He lights a cigarette, "I'll be out for a moment, but I should be back for dinner."

You look at him questioningly.

"Well, in case you want to ask where I'm going," he winks at you.

You stick your tongue out at him and he laughs.

As he walks towards you, your heart almost stops.

"By the way, I'm Tom"

He holds out his hand to you. When you want to take his hand, he takes yours and gently turns it. A light kiss lands on your knuckles.

Heat rises in your cheeks.

"Do you have a name too?" you hear him whisper, while your hand still lies gently in his.

"Yea... I‘m y/n"

"Hello y/n," he looks into your eyes for a moment and you don't dare breathe.

"But now I have to go, I'll see you later love".

You don't have time to answer, Tom has already left the house.

Love... No one has ever called you that before, but the way it comes out of Tom's mouth, you kind of like it.

Shortly afterwards Lois comes home, "Heey! It's me," echoes through the hallway.

You smile as she enters the kitchen.

"So, did everything work out?"

You nod, "Of course, I got everything done."

"Great! You've already started preparing dinner... You're a darling!"

Together you are now taking care of the dinner preparation, when Lois suddenly looks at you from the side.

"Have you met my brother yet?"

You blush slightly and Lois laughs, "I'll take that as a yes."

You can't help grinning.

"I know his comments are a bit inappropriate sometimes... and you're pretty, you'll probably get a lot of pick-up lines from Tom... But he's a really good person," she smiles sweetly at you.

As the front door opens and Mr Bennett steps into the hallway, "Hello you two," he calls to you from the hallway.

You greet him as he steps into the kitchen with a newspaper under his arm. He sits down at the kitchen table and flips through his newspaper.

You eat together and talk a lot. Mostly it is just you and Lois talking, but Mr Bennett is pleased that there is such a relaxed atmosphere in the house.

When Lois suddenly asks you, " Where do you live, y/n? Somewhere around here?"

You sigh, "Mhm, well, I haven't found a room yet. But it's the next thing I want to do! And in the industrial area, behind the factory, I found a small house. It's quite spacious and there's a comfortable sofa in it."

Mr Bennett looks up from his newspaper, which he has turned back to after eating, "No, that's out of the question. You can sleep here"

Your eyes grow wide, " Mr Bennett, that is not necessary. It's already too much that I'm here during the day and get to eat with you in the evening!"

But Mr Bennett just shakes his head, "No. Absolutely not. A young woman should not have to sleep alone on the industrial area. You can sleep here, that's no problem at all."

You have to smile, "Thank you Mr Bennett."

He smiles at you, "And please call me Douglas... "Mr Bennett" makes me look even older than I really am, doesn't it?"

You laugh together.

"You can sleep here on the sofa, I'll give you a pillow and a blanket" Lois strokes your shoulder.

As Tom suddenly steps out of the hallway into the kitchen, "Well what do I hear, we have a sleeping guest?"

You bite your lip a little, just briefly, but Tom notices.

"Leave her alone Tom. Isn't your presence needed in some pub?"

Tom grins at his sister, "It's ladies night tonight. I have too much in my crotch for that to gain entry."

You blush as Lois smacks him against his arm. Douglas just sighs, but doesn't look up from his paper.

"Besides, y/n, you can sleep in my bed. I'll sleep on the sofa", Tom suddenly turns to you.

You look him straight in the eye for the first time that night, "What? I can't steal your bed"

Tom lights a cigarette, "It's not stealing if I offer it to you. Besides, you girls can chat and giggle until late into the night... and if I do want to go to bed, I can always just lie down with you and keep you company," he winks at you.

You look at him in shock, but still you feel yourself getting warm.

"Oh shut up Tom! Don't worry y/n, he won't come into our room"

Tom walks out of the kitchen laughing and sits down on the sofa in the living room.

Lois takes your hand and walks with you to the first floor. She leads you around and shows you the first floor. Meanwhile, Tom has made himself comfortable on the sofa in the living room and Douglas has gone to his room.

First she shows you the bathroom. It is a small bathroom, but it is sufficient. Next to the small shower there is a shelf on the wall where she creates space for the things you need. Through the small corridor she leads you to a room. It must be her room, which she usually shares with Tom, because there are two beds, one on each wall. In the middle of the room is a cord with a sheet hanging from it to divide the room in two. There is a small window in the middle of the wall.

"It will be more pleasant with you as a roommate"

You have to laugh for a moment, "Why is that?"

"Tom has taken to climbing through the window when he comes home late at night. The first few times I was so scared, but now it's annoying when he wakes me up," she smiles at you.

You look around the room a little as Lois makes room for your thing in her wardrobe. When your mind suddenly wanders and you have to imagine that Tom normally sleeps here …

"I know it's only a small room, but we love it," you hear Lois say as she snaps you out of your thoughts.

"No, Lois, it's perfect! And a thousand times better than the little sofa I slept on," you smile at her.

Soon you'll be in bed. You talk and giggle for a while, but eventually Lois falls asleep. You lie awake in bed and cannot fall asleep. You turn back and forth in the sheets, but Tom's scent is in your nose and it keeps you awake. You like his naturally somewhat sweet scent, which has a hint of cigarette smoke. Even though he is preventing you from falling asleep, you enjoy his natural scent in your nose. You have to grin as you press your head into the pillow.

But when you still can't fall asleep after what feels like an eternity, you decide to get yourself a glass of milk. Quietly you get out of bed and go downstairs. As you stand in the kitchen, you glance towards the living room, but the door is ajar and there is no light to be seen.

You go to the fridge and pour yourself a glass of milk. Lost in thought, you stand at the kitchen window and look out over the small backyard. The moon is high in the sky and shrouds the backyard in a faint silver veil.

"Can't you sleep?"

Startled, you turn around and Tom is standing there. Just in his boxer shorts.

"Mhm no-o, not really", you stutter a little.

He smiles, "Maybe I should have kept you company after all?"

You blush slightly, but try to keep a clear head, "In your little bed? Then neither of us would have really found any sleep"

He chuckles, "That would really have had other reasons"

You look at him, startled.

"Love, I can see your red cheeks glow even in the dark."

You snort and sit down at the kitchen table, "Are you always this cheeky?"

He smiles, "Only when I want to get someone's attention."

You shake your head but have to suppress a smile.

"Have you maybe tried just being nice and not always trying to make the other person uncomfortable?"

He sits down at the kitchen table with you, "Are you uncomfortable with me?"

Even in the darkness you can see his blue eyes. But your gaze falls on his chest and although only the moon shines through the kitchen window, you see how defined his muscles are. How his arm muscles move slightly as he slips a pencil through his fingers that was lying on the table. You could stare at him for hours, but you pull yourself together when you realise he is looking at you questioningly.

"No..." you say softly and he smiles at you.

"Okay, I'll try to be nice. How come you're so good at running a household and cooking?"

You smile, "You're really interested in that?"

He nods, "I'm nice and I want to know more about you."

You laugh softly, "Well, my mother was a lot... "busy". And I had to make sure that my big brother and I had something to eat. And yes, the house had to be cleaned as well"

"Your mother was "busy"?"

You nod and look to the side and Tom can tell you are uncomfortable.

"Okay, so then you helped take care of your big brother?"

You laugh slightly again, "That's a funny way to put it. But yes, in a way I did."

Tom smiles at you, "Where's your brother now?"

"I think in London," you say a little thoughtfully.

"So he's gone away too?"

"Yes... we both sought our fortune elsewhere"

"And... are you having any success?", and although you don't look up, you hear him smile.

You laugh again, "I can't tell yet"

Slowly you stand up and put your glass on the sink.

"But you met me", and again the cheeky grin is on his lips.

"Yes, and as I said, I can't tell yet".

He clutches his chest painfully, "Oh... Love... My heart aches… You are so harsh!"

You laugh again and you like the fact that he always seems to make you laugh.

"Good night Tom," you head for the stairs.

And you can hear him saying quietly into the room, "Good night love..."

Time has gone by faster than you would have thought. It's been a few weeks since you were accepted into Bennett House and you can't help but say it feels like home. Well, the way home should feel.

You enjoy Tom being at home in the mornings. You don't really know why his presence is so pleasant, but you just enjoy it.

As soon as you come down to the kitchen in the morning, it doesn't take long for Tom to show up as well. You talk about all sorts of topics and Tom always manages to make you laugh. It even happens sometimes that Tom gives you a hand and helps you around the house.

He even manages to refrain from his pick-up lines for a while. But, although you wouldn't admit it, you kind of like them. Every time a pick-up line leaves his lips, a warmth floods your body that seems to peak in your cheeks.

Yet sometimes, when he came home late at night, he is not in the kitchen with you in the morning. After a while, when he doesn't show up in the kitchen, you carefully poke your head into the living room for a moment and see him sleeping peacefully. The sight pleases you. Mostly he is lying on his stomach, his face pressed into the pillow, his hair a mess from sleeping and the blanket slipped down to his waist. Then you go over to him quietly and nudge him gently. Sometimes it needs a few more nudges, but eventually he responds. If he doesn't try to pull you to him on the sofa "Because he needs morning cuddles", you send him upstairs so he can sleep in peace. Often he just mumbles "Thank you, love" and trudges upstairs.

One morning Tom is sitting with you at the breakfast table. He smokes, you drink a cup of tea and leaf through a magazine. You have already done most of your work and so Tom has persuaded you to take a little break.

He watches you for a while as you leaf through the magazine, taking a sip of your tea now and then. He hates to admit it to himself, but rarely has he found a young woman so beautiful. Your big green eyes are a dream, every time you look at him he could lose himself in them. Your full lips, which look so soft that he has to pull himself together not to kiss you immediately. And your dark blonde curls that fall over your shoulders and frame your face perfectly. He also can't miss how flawlessly your clothes fall over the curves of your body, accentuating them perfectly.

And yet you are so shy, almost innocent. You blush immediately when he says something cheeky or gets a little too close to you. That often happens because he likes to sneak up behind you. Every time you turn around and suddenly find yourself standing right in front of him, you hold your breath and blush. He loves this sight. But this beautiful moment only lasts for a short time, because you then hit him against his chest and then ask him to stop.

But what he loves almost more is when your cheeky nature comes out. When you say something cheeky to him because he wanted to tease you with something. And that shows him that you can't be as innocent as you seem.

He can't deny it, he finds your innocent nature hot and it almost magically attracts him. He is almost as magically attracted to your physical appearance. When you scurry around the house doing your work and he secretly watches you, which he doesn't even notice at first. How your light dress sometimes reveals a little more of your thighs when you reach for something and bend forward a little. How your hair falls in your face or sticks to your skin wet with sweat when you scrub the floor. Most of all, he would love to be responsible for your hair sticking sweatily to your skin. He has to stifle a grin.

When he sees you sitting there, he realises that he doesn't really know anything about you. He watches you lightly biting your lower lip while reading an article in the magazine. He loves this sight.

"Y/n?"

You look up and give him a curious look.

"Why did you sleep on the industrial area?"

You hesitate at first. You are uncomfortable talking about it and actually you were quite happy that you did not have to talk about it until now.

"Mhmm... I couldn't stay with my mother any more... because she was "busy". And then I had to look for something new."

"And then you go to Manchester?"

"Yeah? This is where the train stopped."

He tilts his head a little, "So it was pure coincidence that we met?"

You nod and smile a little.

"Then I guess I should start going to church."

You laugh a little, "What? Why?"

"Well to thank God you ended up here in Manchester," he grins at you.

You blush slightly again, "Stop fooling around, Tom..."

He looks at you again questioningly, "Was your mother ill? So... because you were running the household there and eventually left..."

You look at him, you're afraid to talk about it.

As he continues, "Because... my mother was sick... She died when I was little. I felt a closeness to her that I couldn't build up with anyone else afterwards. When she was gone... there was an emptiness inside me..."

Tom looks down at his hands, at the cigarette lying between his fingers.

You look at him and see the pain in his face that you know only too well. You would like to take him in your arms now.

"My mother is not ill..." he lifts his head and looks into your face "but my father was."

Your eyes offer each other comfort.

"He was always there for me... and when he got sick, it wasn't long before he died. My world came crashing down. My mother was still there, but we didn't have the best relationship. She tried to earn money through different ways... but when she started seeing men..." You suddenly stop, you've never talked openly about this with anyone before and you just look at Tom, startled.

He looks you straight in the eye and you see that he somehow seems to understand your pain.

"... She spent "time" with men?" you hear him say softly.

You just nod and breathe a little harder.

Suddenly you see anger in his face. You feel the fear inside you that he might not like you any more.

"Has anyone ever touched you?", his hand suddenly grips the packet of cigarettes lying on the table, as if he needs to hold something to keep his hand busy.

But you shake your head, "No, Tom. She wanted... me to make money with her... but then I left..."

"... and ended up in Manchester?"

You nod.

He smiles slightly and you hear him sigh as he suddenly gets up from his chair and sits down in the seat next to you. He takes your hand in his and lets his thumb wander over your soft skin. You blush slightly, "Y/n, nothing will ever happen to you... I won't let anyone lay a hand on you, okay?"

Now you have to smile, "Tom... Why?"

He grins slightly, "I don't know... you're so... gentle and I can't let anything happen to you. I couldn't bear it..."

He looks into your eyes as he gently continues to caress your hand. You smile and bite your lip slightly as you feel the warmth spread through your core.

When suddenly a "Heey, it's me!" sounds from the hallway.

Tom pulls his hand back and stands up. You turn your attention back to the magazine in front of you.

"Lois! Ey! Do you always have to be so loud?" and he slowly walks up the stairs.

As Lois enters the kitchen, you smile at each other.

"Shall we cook?" she asks you.

"Yes with pleasure! I'm starving"

· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

Tag list

@aemonds-wifey @chainsawsangel @hoshi-miharu-blog @khaothick @yentroucnagol @daydreamy-me @depressedperson88 @iwontshutuptilltheyaddgeckoemoji @greenowlfactif @aemond-targaryenx @bcon24

[evita-shelby]

Tie your heart to mine

Chapter 14

Gif by @emziess

Eva knows that look.

That faint blush, that starry eyed look and the sudden shyness the young witch had around her boyfriend.

She knows it, because she has lived before.

“You saw something, didn’t you?” Eva asked her daughter the moment she got a chance.

“I don’t know what you are talking about, mami.” Diane dismissed and tried not to stare at her boyfriend for too long.

She loved him, loved him in a way she never had before and would never love anyone else.

“He’s the One. Just as your father was the One for me.” The older witch doesn’t beat around the bush.

And why should she? Life is too short to not seize your moment.

Tom could die in the war; death was tricky bastard to pinpoint.

Eva only saw that of people she holds no attachment to or how someone she loves dearly will cheat it.

“How did you know?” the little witch asked, still surprised that her mother truly does know everything.

“I was the same when I met your father. He saw it too; his mother was a witch and that moment we saw a future we never thought we would have.” It had been just glimpses of them marrying, of holding the twins after they were born, knowing the names of their two other children and that they would grow old together.

She had wept from the sheer beauty of it. Tommy had laid there frozen, wondering if he was losing his fucking mind.

He already thought Eva had bewitched him when he came to her that first night. Thinking she’d put a spell on him because he couldn’t stop thinking about her.

“Did he see something too?” she asked, Tom had no magic in his blood. Perhaps his kin long ago did, but there was no trace of it in his aura.

Perhaps he wasn’t privy to a vision like that, or maybe he was better at hiding it than Diane.

“I don’t know. I haven’t asked him.” Her daughter admitted.

He knows that when Diane’s eyes roll to the back of her head, she is having a vision. To know that not for the first time he’s managed to cause that when they fuck is a source of pride for him.

She will tell him what it was about later, last time it was sudden luck at the greyhound track.

“If you aren’t careful, you’ll make me a grandfather before the year is out, boy.” His dad warns him as he finished changing into the one of two sets of formal wear he owns.

“We’re responsible, dad. We would’ve had a little Vera wailing her little head off months ago if I wasn’t.” Tom said as he finished buttoning his shirt cuffs.

“Vera?” his dad asked at the name they’d chosen for their hypothetical baby.

“A joke, told Diane if we ever have little ones of our own, the first girl we have has to be named Vera, after mum.” Tom finds himself embarrassed with his answer. He’s only gotten the balls to tell Diane he loves her and yet they’ve named their firstborn already.

It’s stupid, and his dad will probably think it too.

“You’re serious about her, aren’t you?” his dad looks almost proud of him, always does that face when he thinks Tom’s maturing.

Always surprising him, never expected like with Lois’ achievements. Lois never disappoints him; Tom has always lived to disappoint his old man.

And then Tom does something he doesn’t like, and the moment is over.

He’d like for his dad to stay proud of him no matter what turns he takes for once. Maybe when he shows up as a war hero, but he doubts it. Likely to think him a bigger disappointment when he learns he is joining the navy.

“Wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t.” He answered sullenly. He would’ve thought his dad would know he’s serious about Diane given he’s never been like this with anyone else.

“She’s a lucky girl, then. Your mum would have adored her.” No girl has ever received his dad’s approval before, nor his mum’s either.

“I heard you have a boyfriend in Poland.” Charlie, Diane’s twin brother, asks Lois who does a fine job pretending she is not thinking about Harry.

The party’s great, dad’s doing fine and despite how rich the Shelbys were, they aren’t made to feel out of place.

She had a few questions; Charles Absalom Shelby was very happy to answer them.

“I don’t know if he’s still my boyfriend. I broke things off with him before he left, and I guess he understood we are final.” Play stupid games win stupid prices.

Lois had expected him to answer her letters accepting her apologies and forgive her for breaking his heart that night.

To have him come back to her like the boys in novels.

But Harry understood over means over.

Maybe Lois should too.

“Sorry. I shouldn’t have brought it up.” The young man said as they danced to Spanish songs playing on the gramophone.

She knew how to dance but that seemed to fail her when the songs had a slightly different rhythm, the bolero was as new to her as the earrings Diane’s mother had taken off her own ears and given to her because she said they were nice.

Tom had no issue with the dance, both him and Diane lost in their world and whispering to each other about the magical nights spent in her yellow vardo and her boarding room.

She envied him, he had his posh girl while she let go of her posh boy thinking he’d come back.

“Its fine, you didn’t know.” Lois said and changed the topic. No need to dwell on him or Harry tonight, the girl tells herself as she asks, “How come only Diane is celebrating her birthday today, I thought you were twins?”

“Oh, we are. We just hate sharing a birthday. We rescheduled mine, had it a few days ago when I came back for the weekend and dad wanted to go hunting.” He answered as he spun her.

Charlie was good company, taller than his sister and looking more like their dad if a bit softer round the edges and had a smattering of freckles like the ones his mum hides under her makeup.

He has the same electrifyingly shade of blue eyes as his dad and Diane’s left eye. Charlie also had a similar dreamy look about him, just as Harry did, does, Lois corrects herself reminding herself he was just in a different country not dead.

Charles’s girlfriend, Mary, was a lucky girl and she tells him. Something that had him purse his lips and give her a sheepish smile.

“You too?” she guessed and he nods.

“Would you mind if I wrote to you?” she finds herself asking as the song ends.

Maybe her last letter to Harry should be her last to him.

If he still loves her like he said he did, he will come back.

“What did you see earlier?” he asks once they are sure no one knows he’s here.

“Just so you know, just because I saw it, it may not actually happen.” Diane feels herself blush as crimson as her dress.

No more lying, they had said and she intends to honour her word.

Once he nodded in understanding she told him every bit she saw.

Them getting married and starting a life together.

“You are under no obligation to make it happen, just so you know.” She feels as nervous the first time he spoke to her.

While Diane may give the appearance of someone who is as cool as a cucumber, she is painfully ordinary inside.

Not at all like her mother who is always in control of herself and so perfect people cannot help be want to be like her.

“What if I do?” he asks, perfectly serious and that scares her more than anything.

[evita-shelby]

My first Peaky Blinders fic, Between the Shadow and the Soul ,is officially 3 years old!!!

So to celebrate my 3 years in this fandom I am throwing a party.

Everyone is welcome to attend and encouraged to bring their OCs

(yes i am doing this again because yours truly somehow mistook 2020 and 2021)

You can send a request (gifs, songs and pictures welcome) for a blurb/drabble or a moodboard with the only requirement for it to contain one or all of the following:

🕯- prompt or title summarized in 3 words

🕯- something dark and/or supernatural with a motif of 3

🕯- take any of my Peaky Blinders OCs (limit is 3) for spin

🕯- 3 pictures 1 word (where you either send me 3 pictures and i guess the word or i post 3 pictures, and you guess the word)

*add 🎯to make it a poll and see what wins*

🕯- lets play fuck, marry, kill (or alternatives to it)or two truths and a lie *add 🎯to make it a poll and see what wins

🕯- What Would Eva Do? WWED (Ask Eva a question)

🕯- Caption This!: where a pic or gif is sent and i caption it (can also be a caption sent in via ask and if three or more people decide to caption it we make it a poll and see which one wins)

Same rules apply for any gifts you guys wish to give for the occasion and for tagging purposes the tag is 3va's party and will not be peaky exclusive because Eva couldn't be limited to just one show and has her whole evacore universe

Diane's masterlist: dianecore

Thank you for 3 years of fun and friendship y'all 🖤

Masterlist

[evita-shelby]

Tie Your Heart to Mine

Chapter 15

Gif by @thecruel

Taglist: @thegreatdragonfruta @assortedseaglass @arcielee @peakyblindas

September 1st of 1939 finds them in bed.

Strange to know the world keeps on going even when something as catastrophic as a second Great War has begun.

“I can pull every string to get you out of the war.” Diane says after she finally mastered the French inhale he’s been teaching her all morning. To think Poland was invaded just moments ago and yet he and Diane are here wrapped in her sheets and sharing a fag after a good fuck.

“I think your old man would find a way to send me into the frontlines, especially if he knew the things I do to his innocent little princess.” Tom doesn’t say yes or no as he took a drag of his cigarette.

It isn’t like he wanted to go, but he would never last as a conchie and as much as his dad would be proud of him for following in his footsteps, Tom knows he isn’t cut out to be a pacifist.

Besides, Navy’s gonna stay in the ocean away from most of the fighting.

“And I’d follow you there, Tom.” Diane gave a small smile that told him she absolutely meant it. “Besides, I’m no innocent little princess.”

“Yeah, what are you then?” he asked drinking in the bold look in her blue and brown eyes.

“I am a witch.” She answered taking his cigarette in the blink of an eye to make her point.

Despite her resolve to leave Harry in the past, knowing he is in the heat of it has her fraying at the seams.

Charlie is nice, a good young man who dreams of being a member of parliament like his dad and could make Moseley shit his trousers with one of his charming smiles, but he is not Harry.

They are very similar and yet, talking to Charlie feels like she’s being disloyal to Harry.

“Don’t lead him on.” Tom warned tossing the mail on the table on his way in.

He didn’t like the idea of Charlie and her, Lois finds it too hypocritical of him considering she has never been against him being with Diane.

Tom had gone as far as using Diane and Charlie being a year younger than her as a reason it was a bad idea.

As if he wasn’t two entire years older than Dia.

“We’re just friends, I already told you.” Lois said as she opened the letter.

Charlie had joined the Birmingham Rifles because he knew most of the boys from Arrow village and Small Heath. He wrote about the officers going harder on him because he was a Shelby and he not minding because if succeeds in this then he has a bigger chance of being alive to see the war end.

“I was friends with plenty of girls who thought we were serious, Loo. If you are still hung up on Posh Boy, gotta be honest with Charlie so he knows not to lose his time with you.” Tom reminds her, as if his exploits hadn’t ruined some of her friendships.

When Thomas Michael Bennett discovered his looks and reputation of local bad boy could get girls like honey gets flies, it became a nightmare. Girls wanted to be her friend just so they could come visit for a chance to corner him and get him to take them out for a dance or even a walk. The moment Tom got bored of them and moved on to the next pretty girl, they dropped her like last week’s trash.

Even Harry couldn’t compete with him and when his date left him with a pink rose in his hand to go flirt with her brother, Lois supposed there was an upside to Tom thinking he was Longsight’s own Casanova.

“Oh, yes, because some nobody from Longsight can compete with Winston Churchill’s fucking daughter.” Lois rolled her eyes and decided she’d read the letter later, when Tom got bored of being here and returned to Diane’s place. Spends so much time with her, Diane had a whole drawer of his things and a set of his clothes in her wardrobe.

“Don’t sell yourself short, Lois. I have it on good authority that you turn heads everywhere you go.” Her brother points out with a bit guilt for making her feel insecure. No matter what he says, he always tries to make it better.

“So you say, Tom.” She’ll miss him when he leaves for the navy. It was always them against the world. Who’s going to take care of him in that big ship?

“You’re worried for Harry?” he asks knowing what’s really on her mind.

“Yeah, had to turn off the radio because that’s all everyone’s talking about.” All were speaking about the war, about the casualties, about the lies the Nazis were saying to justify it and when will their country declare war on Germany.

“Diane said all the diplomats and everyone else in the embassy are expected to leave Poland by the 3rd, that’s when we’re joining the war.” If it’s bothering him to know his time is coming closer and closer, Tom doesn’t show it. “You should expect Posh Boy in the audience by next week. Maybe seeing Shelby following you like a lovesick puppy might get his head out of his ass.”

“And where will you be, Romeo?” Lois asked knowing he’ll be there with Diane. He hardly missed her gigs now, not when he had someone to dance with.

“The Pen. I think, the dibble’s been trying to catch me doing anything since Di came back and they might just get their wish.”

[evita-shelby]

Tie your heart to mine

Chapter 19

Cw: suggestion of an illegal abortion(as an option)

Douglas hadn’t been expecting Thomas Shelby to call and order him to meet him at Diane’s Office.

The man sat on the desk Diane looked too young behind in and held as much authority as he did when he was the feared Sergeant Major of the 179th Company. It was his distinguished service in the tunnels that made the Crown turn a blind eye to his crimes, an open secret most knew.

“I would’ve asked to meet at a more relaxed setting, but I can’t risk getting caught with this.” The gangster turned politician offered him a medical file, one with all the signs of its legitimacy.

“Why?” Douglas asks wondering why this man who cannot stand his namesake would do this kindness.

“Because.” The same answer they always got during the war. This time it meant something different.

Because I’m a father too.

“If anyone asks, I called you here to discuss a job in the transportation department in my company. The file was retrieved from the physician that saw to your son and was misplaced by his nurse.” Shelby rubbed the cigarette on his lower lip before lighting it.

Douglas Bennett hasn’t run like this since Lois was born. He is out of breath and ready to collapse and by divine luck, finds Tom packing in his bedroom.

“Unpack, boy, you aren’t going anywhere!” Douglas tossed the file on the bed for him to see.

“How did you get this?” Tom does not open the file detailing some nonexistant thing that rendered him unfit to serve.

“Doesn’t matter, all that matters is that you won’t be coming back dead to me.” The older man is so relieved that he can’t help but grab his son’s head and kiss the mop of blond hair so like Vera’s. “You aren’t dying, Tom, you’re staying here away from the war.”

“Dad. I’m going, not gonna die there anyways.” They had never agreed on much, and yet this is the last thing he thought they would disagree on.

Tom has always placed himself first, his life, his fun. Tom’s selfishness always won and yet here he was refusing this last ticket to freedom thinking himself fucking immortal.

“That’s what everyone fucking says about it until your best friend dies in your bloody arms! Ships sink, they get attacked and you just can’t bullshit your way out of the prison camp or fucking death, Tom!” it always comes to him trying to shout sense into his bloody fucking head.

Stubborn as he was before the war. Douglas saw the boy who died in France so much he couldn’t live with him half the time.

“Diane’s seen it. I trust her visions, and if she says I’ll live long enough to marry her and give you grandchildren, then I know I’ll be fine wherever they send me.” Tom confessed his reasoning and resumed his packing.

“You’ve never believed in that bullshit and now you’re trusting someone’s who you’ve only known for less than six months?!” his father cannot wrap his head around how his son who doesn’t even believe in God believes a girl who claims to see the future.

“I believe her, and I’m going to marry her when the war fucking ends whether you like it or not.” He stands his ground, because of all the lessons he’s tried to teach him, that is what sticks in his thick head of his.

“Suit yourself then, boy.”

Those are the last words Douglas Bennett will speak to Tom until he returns from the Battle of River Plate.

“You’ll write to me, won’t you?” Diane’s voice is quiet and soft as they say goodbye at the station like all families and lovers are doing.

He has had the ring in his pocket since that morning and yet no moment feels right. Tom has never been one for thinking things through and living in the moment and yet this has him hesitating and doubting himself.

Perhaps it was because things had gone to shit with his old man again after he refused to present the phony certificate claiming he’s got some fucking heart condition, and his blind trust in Diane’s visions of his future.

He’d said goodbye to Lois who was getting on her own train as well and now he was here holding onto Diane who refuses to let go as if he was being sent out to die already instead of basic training.

“Yeah, gonna bore you to death with my letters so much you’ll know you’re worrying for nothing, Di.” He answered cradling her face in his hands and reminding himself it’s just basic training.

The blond is aware he could die in training too, but the vision Di had of them having a life after the war gives him the confidence to think himself immortal. That nothing will hurt him and that he won't come back as a shell of a man like his old man did.

Diane’s never been wrong.

“I love you.” She said holding back tears and the ring feels heavy in his pocket.

But he doesn’t reach for it, Tom knows she’d say yes, but it just doesn’t feel right.

“Steal away to Cornwall, and I’ll find a way to see you off-base, Di,” Tom leaned down to kiss her goodbye and added after, quietly as if it weren’t obvious, “I love you too.”

Lois knows she’s dome for when there is a second month she doesn’t bleed. There is no question about what led to this, and she hates there is no chance it wasn’t Charlie’s.

It would be easier if it had been him, no matter what decision she took he’d support her and do the right thing if need be.

“Did you ever think about what would happen if you and Tom weren’t playing it safe?” Lois rolls onto her side and sees Diane take her brother’s bed as if it always belonged to her.

She’d moved in here with them at dad’s suggestion. Not all the boarders were as nice as Mrs. Johnson, some distrusted her because of her Romani blood made worse by Tom’s presence almost every night in her bed.

So Lois’ dad asked her to stay one night and suddenly a month and a half later, Diane was living with them even if she still paid her rent to Mrs. Johnson.

“We’ve talked about it, well, more like joked. We agreed we’d get married and name the first girl Vera Eve after your mum and mine.” She spoke so sure of it, as if Tom’s ever been serious about anything longer than an hour.

“He’s serious when he wants to, or has some external force pushing him to be. The baby is Harry’s, a girl, by the way.”

The witch looked at her having heard her thoughts, how Tom dealt with this on a daily basis was beyond Lois’ understanding.

“I suppose Vera it is.” The Mancunian girl had really hoped it wouldn’t come to this.

One fucking time.

Single mother to Harry’s bastard baby daughter, just her fucking luck.

“You don’t have to, you know, there’s people you can go to. My mum knows someone in Birmingham who can do that.” Her mismatched eyes tell her she’s not kidding, that she really is suggesting an abortion.

Lois hadn’t considered she may have a way out.

She’d heard of it, as something wrong and dangerous and illegal, heard of women who pay to get rid of unwanted babies and go on living normal lives as if it never happened.

It was a tempting offer, something she wasn’t refusing right away because she isn’t even sure what she’s going to do with a baby.

“Don’t tell my dad or Tom, please. You know how they are.” The blue eyed girl pleaded and the witch nodded in understanding.

The distance between Manchester and Torpoint is enough that Diane only comes down twice a month and in her vardo hitched to horses and as a guest of a nearby farmer lending his land to some romani family Diane only met on her way here.

Tom knew Norman had his back and would cover him as he has always done, especially now that they’d be shipping out to the Falklands. There they’d go on to serve on the HMS Exeter in the warm and sunny part of the world. He’s a fleet arm air gunner, third class, just as she had said before the war became true as well.

If that came true then the rest will too, he reminds himself. He won’t die. He’ll be the same Tom who returns home. He’ll not become like his dad nor hers.

“Dad’s worrying for nothing, no reason for the gerries to be there. Just a bunch of trade ships.” The blond says tracing patterns on Diane’s bare back.

They don’t always fuck, some nights he just holds her pretending its still spring in Manchester. Does that now that his training is ending, and his first posting came.

Tonight he’d taken his time, committed each freckle and sound she made to memory. She’d follow him anywhere, but the Falklands isn’t somewhere she can go with ease.

“Argentina is a great admirer of the Germans, might be the only one who likes them in Latin America.” She knew about things like these because of her parents, figures she’d do her homework about his assignment before he even knows himself.

“Well, now they’ll admire the way I look in my uniform.” He joked hoping to put her at ease.

If she knew how it ends, why was she so worried?

“I’m gonna marry you. After the war, so I know I won’t die before that.” Tom had hoped for a better way to do this, and yet no place was as special to them as this canary yellow vardo.

She smiled and leaned up to kiss him again. “Is that why you’ve been carrying your mum’s ring in your pocket every time I come here?”

“Yeah, been wanting to since I left.” He answered leaning over to grab the coat from the bench next to the bed and finally popping the only question that’s ever made him truly nervous.

She’ll say yes, he knows she will.

[evita-shelby]

Taking moodboard requests y'all. I'm bored af and in the mood to play with pretty pictures today.

Can be for my fics, ocs, your fics, your ocs, ships characters in Peaky Blinders and World on Fire , aus you might like, etc

[evita-shelby]

Tie your heart to mine

Chapter 17

Charlie knows Harry Chase is what’s stopping Lois from becoming serious about him.

He would’ve hoped she’d gotten over him after six months of silence, but the fucker stayed there on her heart like he was branded on it. He really likes Lois, she was beautiful, kind, politically minded like him and so determined to shine no matter what cloud stood in her way.

“Something came in for your sister’s, ah, friend.” His father said, refusing to call Lois anything else but Diane’s friend. He hates Tom for obvious reasons, and despite how well he gets on with Douglas, he refused to acknowledge that Diane will be Diane Bennett come hell or high water.

Thomas Shelby holds a thick envelope marked with the neat handwriting of Florence Rosenburg ---or Frida Solomons as she had been named at birth--- naming Henry Chase.

It had Harry’s picture, name, address and other pertinent things. There was also a file wedged inside it with a sperate photograph held to it with a paper clip. He could decipher the top of a blonde woman’s head.

Charlie is no idiot.

Harry Chase had gotten married in Poland, that is why he never wrote back. Not only married a different girl, but a blonde.

Lois will be crushed.

“I can take it to Diane, maybe she can break the news gently to her.” Charlie says fighting the urge to peek into the files and see what this dime a dozen interpreter had that he didn’t.

Henry Chase was handsome, blue-eyed and the type of boy girls like his own sister would sigh over. Had he been available, he knows they’d be having this conversation about how to break this to Diane.

“If you are a gentleman, you will leave that file unopened.” His father sat back on his chair and stared at his son to see what he’d do. “If you are my son, you will open it and take flowers to console the girl.”

That settled it.

“And because I am your son and a gentleman, I will be leaving it closed and buying flowers for Lois.” Charlie knows his father was expecting him to do the latter –unless mama was nearby then he was the perfect gentleman she raised him to be--- and the man looked positively proud that he found a great space in the middle for himself. “Do you have anything for Dia?”

“Keep Douglas’ boy out of her bed for me, your mother doesn’t want a grandchild for her birthday.”

Despite his resolve to become a pacifist, Tom cannot escape fate. Or so he says when he is provoked by some young man he knows and joins the navy to show he is not a coward.

“We could run to Mexico, the war won’t touch it for a while. We could live there in the sun, on the house by the beach.” Diane suggests gently pushing his hair away from his face as they lounged in the couch.

He’d come here after a row with his dad, with Lois and him leaving on the same train, poor Douglas was at his wit’s end. Lois told him their dad had a night terror and chewed him out for not being there for him, Tom now felt guilty for causing him such trouble.

Always causing trouble for him, he’d said as he’d come in and asked her to join him on her couch.

And what better way to assuage his guilt for leaving him than by pretending the world doesn’t exist beyond the door of her room.

No sex, just them cuddling on her too small couch pretending to hear the opera playing in her wireless.

“No. And leave dad all alone when Lois is going too? Can’t do that to him.” I’ve already disappointed him enough. Rather die a hero instead of a coward, Diane can hear the words as if he’d said them. “Besides we’ll win the war, we’ll get married and tell little Vera and Junior about how daddy became a war hero.”

He is saying that to make her feel better as if he wasn’t the one going to his death. You’d think their hypothetical children would be the last thing on his mind.

“Not even married yet and you’re thinking of having a second child, Tommy.” She looked up at him to see that cheeky grin of his.

“Gotta give you something to do while I’m at sea, Mrs. Bennett.” The way he says it makes her forget this isn’t them joking about their future life together. “Gotta give me reasons to keep my mouth shut and stay alive.”

Sounds so sure of it, as if he was the one afflicted with clairvoyance instead of her.

“You shouldn’t say things like that, I might believe you.” She warns him and part of her hoping he means it.

“Why not, my wages and my leave time go up if I’m married and we could share the lease until I save enough to pay for half the house we’ll get.” So he had been given it a thought or two when he was in jail.

Two weeks alone can do that to you.

“Tell me the other reason, Tom.” There is one. One reason he’s afraid to say. Not afraid for her saying no, but afraid because he might never come back.

“If you’re my wife, I can leave knowing you’d take care of Lois and my dad for me.” He can be serious when he needs to be, most people take what they see thinking there’s isn’t much else to Tom.

But there was.

His jokes, brashness and carelessness were his way of moving through life. When you needed him to be serious, to be the man he knows he must be, he delivered on that.

“I’d take care of them for you even without a ring, Tom.” The witch let her hand trail down the side of his face and tried her best not to think about him never coming back.

“But I want to. We can marry later, when the war ends or never if that’s what you want. Fuck, you don’t even have to give me an answer now. Won’t leave for training yet, anyways.”

Diane knows the answer, there’s no need to think it, but she can’t seem to voice it.

The witch is relieved when Mrs. Johnson interrupts saying Charlie’s calling from the station.

While Diane and Charlie claim it’s a bad idea to look at files meant for someone else, Tom has no qualms in reading what Shelby managed to find on Posh Boy.

It was worse than any of them had initially thought.

Harry finding a girl in Warsaw was not a big deal.

Harry marrying a girl in Warsaw and bringing her and her little brother to Manchester was.

To think Tom had stuck up for him when Lois asked him his opinion on Harry’s silence the day he came back from Strangeways.

His sister was going to be crushed. She’d already said he had been different when she saw him a few nights ago at the dance hall and then last night at his mother’s.

She’d come back angry or so his dad had said when he asked why she was stomping around looking like she could burst into tears or kill a man at breakfast.

Fuck.

She already knew, probably met the new Mrs. Chase and had her heart broken at the old bat’s house.

“I could break the news to her if you want.” Diane offers and he shook his head. Lois deserved to hear it from the people who loved her most.

If Diane told her it would have her shooting the messenger. She’d lash out thinking they could’ve spared her the heartache and humiliation yesterday evening.

“Has to be me. If anyone has to break Lois’ heart with the news, it has to be me.” Tom only shook his head and closed the file holding a photograph of Harry and the girl, Kasia something, on their wedding day. “If you want to show her not all Posh Boys are the same, Shelby, she’s doing a farewell show tomorrow night.”

[evita-shelby]

Me: I'm on break no writing until i get out of this funk.

My brain: here's 1k+ words of the Bennetts before Lois leaves for ENSA and Tom leaves for the navy and Lois x Charlie and Tom and Douglas having a nice moment not fighting with each other.

[evita-shelby]

Look at some point Eva’s gonna be helping Lois amd Diane with something incredibly mundane like cleaning and will casually admit to having had a threesome with Diana Mitford/Mosley and bringing that up to get under Mosley’s skin whenever they run into each other.

[evita-shelby]

Is the Bennett’s family turning much more angsty as i write?

Ch.13 preview

Cw:mentions of death, ptsd and suicide

Lois hadn’t been surprised to have Diane’s family invited them to spend the weekend at their place and celebrate Diane’s birthday.

She was surprised to know her dad knows these people.

The man on the front seat is named John Shelby and a black reverend named Jeremiah sits beside him.

Apparently Jeremiah Jesus had given up violence after the war like her dad did and focused on god even when the vicar he replaced sneered at the thought of a black man leading the flock.

“Imagine my surprise when I heard little baby Tom showed up at the Pub looking for Diane. He was only four last time I saw him.” John Shelby says as he drove them out of Longsight and out of Manchester .

Lois had never been this far out save for that time they went to the beach before her mum died.

She envied Tom, he had his sweetheart and got to see the world while she’s stuck at home taking care of their dad getting sick of waiting for Harry.

“You’re one to talk, Shelby, you had only four little ones in 1919. Poor Esme, eight children and you to take care off to boot.” Her father joked, it was nice seeing him like this.

Reminded her of Tom when he lets himself relax and catch up with his former comrades.

There was a wariness he had about with the Shelbys, them being criminals and that, but he had shared experiences with them.

“Diane’s told me that Freddie married your sister, named his only son after Karl Marx. I’d like to pay my respects to him, and Danny Whizz-Bang and Barney, if that’s alright with you.”

The Shelbys along with Jeremiah and the three men who’d died in the past decade had formed their own pal’s battalion like her dad and his friends and brothers had.

Only difference was Douglas Bennett was the only one to return home alive while Thomas Shelby didn’t lose a single man.

They paid their respects to his friends every armistice day, and spat on the grave of the officer who sent them to their deaths.

Same officer she came to find was actually Harry’s dad who’s guilt overwhelmed him so much he put the gun to his head.

She’d been terrified when she introduced him to her family, afraid he’d been treated badly on account of his dad being the reason her dad had shellshock.

But he hadn’t blamed him for what his father did, just like he didn’t blame Diane for what her father does.

“Yeah, we got time. We’ll give you a tour of Small Heath, doesn’t look like the one you saw in 1916 anymore.”

[evita-shelby]

I vaguely remember trying to put all my moodboards on a list but i can't find it , so imma just do it again

Not in order i am afraid

Peaky Blinders

Sophisticated (Grace, Tatiana, May, Diana and Gina)

Miss Shelby

Something in the Orange (Tommy x Lizzie)

Odette (Lizzie Stark/Shelby)

Odile (Grace Burgess/Shelby)

Victor (Jack Nelson hunger games au)

The Black Hand (Luca Changretta hunger games au)

The Peaky Blinder( tommy hunger games au)

Arsonist's Lullaby (Jack Nelson)

Eva x Tommy

A Shelby Christmas

Prosperina

Pluto

Nothing left to say

Paloma Negra

The Pearl Anniversary

Perro Fiel

The Shelby Children

Charles Absalom Shelby

Diane Elizabeth Shelby

Luca Changretta x Eva

That Yacht Life

Incantatrice

Chiaroscuro (ft @call-sign-shark Heaven and Arthur)

Faith, love and family.

Mayores

Till Death

Jack Nelson x Eva

Christmas in Paradise

Magic

Birds of a Feather (ft. @call-sign-shark Heaven Lavey)

Soulmates

The Nelsons of Beals Street

Sun to me (hunger games au)

Always (reincarnation moodboard and blurb)

Violent Delights (knight au)

September's Shrine (modern!wedding)

My OCs

Eva Smith

Mrs Rosenberg (Frida 'Florence' Solomons)

Like Fine Wine (WWII!Eva)

Apex Predator (Eva ft mean girls, Apex Predator and pink)

They did not know we were seeds (hunger games district 10 au)

Modern!Eva/Evacore

Katie Nelson

Isabel

Others OCs

Wonderland (Eva ft. Heaven Lavey @call-sign-shark )

Solomons and Shelby (Diane ft @raincoffeeandfandoms Allie Solomons)

Juliusz (@rysko Juliusz Ferenz)

Devil’s Sacrament (Eva Nelson ft @emotionalcadaver Lucy Winters)

Inception

Love's a State of Mind

The Fischer Affair

World on Fire

Kasia x Lois

Robina Chase

Tom Bennett x Diane Shelby

How sweet it is

Let me wrap my teeth around the world

Ewan Mitchell

Pretty Boy

Black Panther:Wakanda Forever

Of Gods and Witches

Eva x Namor

[evita-shelby]

The World on Fire/Peaky Blinders cross-over no-one asked for.

Well, not canon pb per se, more like my pb fic universe meets WoF.

Tom Bennett x fem!oc, Diane Shelby (Tommy Shelby's oc daughter from my fics about him and Eva(my 1920s mexican oc))

Still untitled, mostly just a blurb that won't leave my head

Gif by: @lady-phasma

She is wearing a yelllow dress when he first sees her.

Some girl Lois made friends with weeks ago and invited to her gig because Tom kept teasing her and Connie about whether said girl was real.

A soft smile painted red and a twinkle in her mismatched eyes telling Tom no girl here could ever be as interesting as her.

He was here with another girl, some neighborhood girl he admits to stringing along because her dear old dad is a police officer and the bobby hates he can't toss him in jail for seeing her.

She’s with the gypsies ---no, the Romani as Lois said the girl in the yellow dress calls them--- but you wouldn’t know it from the looks of her.

Behaves like a lady, wears clothes finer than Lois could ever dream of having even if she were to marry Harry and even her Brummie accent that strange polish to it.

Got a secret, that one.

A secret Tom Bennett's going to find out.

“What a gentleman you are, leaving your poor date in the lurch like that.” The girl said the moment he reached her with a drink he didn’t even pay for.

“Call me Tom.” He said putting on the charm that comes as easy to him as breathing.

“Diane.”

[evita-shelby]

Apple Cider

Tom Bennett x Shelby! OC

Really just Tommy Shelby and Tom Bennett bonding about pts(d)

Its his first Christmas without his dad.

He doesn’t spend it with Lois at home like last year, he can’t stay in Manchester anymore, what was the point of his childhood home and his old man were gone?

Tom spends it with his in-laws instead, with Diane who puts him back together when he feels like breaking into pieces.

Arrow House seemed untouched by the war even as planes flew overhead and armed reservists patrolled the lands.

It has small gatherings to boost morale, hosts dignitaries and fleeces the pockets of the rich and mighty to sustain a myriad of charities he can’t keep track of.

“Got hard cider if you think you need it.” Shelby says quietly as he eyes his wife like he’d kill the fucker who even thinks of her that way.

Shelby probably has, Tom wouldn’t put it past him. Tom would be lying if he didn’t feel like doing so whenever the way too perfect Jack Nelson Jr showed up.

“Drink brings the devil out of me. Thinking I should lay off it for a while.” He admits because he knows exactly what he means by it.

Nightmares get worse, as does his already short fuse and inability to shut his trap. Last time he’d gotten drunk he couldn’t stop himself from beating a man for calling his dad a coward.

He'd gotten reprimanded by his superior officer and given shore leave to get his shit together.

Shelby had picked him up and looked as disappointed as his own dead father had and slammed a glass of water onto his desk before telling him about his own time in France.

Sobriety was a bitch, how the fuck did his father do it, Tom asks himself as he drinks the cider.