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#polly shelby
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Angel of Birmingham ~ Alfie Solomons x Reader
Summary: Before he meets Tommy Shelby, Alfie gets the pleasant surprise of encountering the lovely Angel of Britain, and from then on, he swears to always protect her from all the dangers of the world.
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If she were to ask herself who was the first to call her that - That undeserving nickname - She’d have to guess it might have been Arthur. He always had a way with words without realizing, and it all happened when they were children... More or less, considering she is closer to John’s age than his, and she would patch him up after fights and whatever marks of ‘good behaviour’ he got from playing around.
Seeing how great she was at taking care of him and his brothers, Aunt Polly suggested she tries to become a nurse or something. She saw potential in the little girl. Intelligent, charming, beautiful and pretty damn innocent. She shouldn’t stay too close to their dark side, it may taint her, and neither of the Shelbies wanted to see her upset. She was too much of a ray of sunshine and they desperately clinged to her and her kindness.
In the bleak midwinter.
But the girl was also highly ambitious and she didn’t want to settle with being a simple nurse - No, she wanted more. More and more and more. She was smart, she was greedy and she was a conqueror.
Veni. Vidi. Vici.
Until they received a beating sister with death and they suddenly opened their eyes towards the Godly truth in front of them.
She was going to become the only surgeon in Birmingham and she will succeed without a doubt, despite her young age.
The Shelbies already had connections with some important people so it was easier to deal with uncooperative people who dismissed her for being a woman and didn’t even look at her amazing knowledge and skills.
For a while, she had to be away and work in the London’s hospital as she studied medicine, despite her very young age. She hated being alone from her family and her second family, as she always called the Shelbies, but despite her timid personality, she still made some pretty good friends, albeit with the nurses, as most of the girls didn’t have the right connections and the money to bribe their way so high-up the medical field.
For now, that is. Y/N wanted to change the world. She aimed high and jumped higher. With the right money and influence, things will change. She was sure about that.
It was all going splendid for her, until the First World War began and her three Shelby brothers were enrolled - She was desperate to keep them home, but she knew she couldn’t.
So the next best thing was to go with them.
She was a doctor and they needed war doctors to take care of the wounded, so of course, she was accepted without a second thought.
She had to go to Verdun and to Somme, and she had to see so many people being brutally taken away from life - Bombs, gunshots, wails of anguish and despair, fear, cries, agony and shivers.
If Y/N could describe war with a single word, it would be simply ‘Hell’. 
There was no better word to describe it, without a doubt, and an angel in hell always gets her wings burnt horrifically painfully.
She prayed day and night for her three brothers to be alive and well by the end of all this, at least physically, since mentally, she knows neither of them will be the same, that’s for sure.
And this hell went on for four agonizing years that went by, day after day, at an alarmingly lethargic pace, as if time and space were enclosed into a continuous loop of no return, a dark void from which they will never return.
But they did.
And when they did, they were welcomed with hugs and kisses and lots of love from their families...
Yet they reciprocated with a dead look in their eyes.
They died in War, and this was just a second attempt at living, like a dead man roaming the world again.
The worst that happened was Tommy getting shot during his tunneling, but Y/N made sure he would be treated properly, and yet, there was one thing she couldn’t do, no matter how perfect her healing skills were, and that is to erase their mental and emotional pain and all the nightmares and PTSD they had to suffer from.
She tried to stay strong for them, to smile and be radiant as before, to try to take away some of their unseen pain, to talk to them, to sooth them... God knows they needed it. 
She would crawl in Tommy’s bed at forsaken hours and hold him tightly whenever he’d wake up screaming in fear, afraid that the shovels will breach through the walls and he’d get shot again, and she’d talk to him, reassure him and tell him he’s not there anymore and nothing will get to him again, she will protect him from any danger, and her wings were there to shield him.
She would leap out and hug Arthur from behind, dragging him away from murdering or fatally beating more men who looked at him the wrong way, so he wouldn’t lose control of his mind and body again, and she will shoo everyone away while she holds him and lets him cry out his fear and stress and pain.
And John... Poor John... Ever after being home, he was still in a state of shock, and he was so confused, and would look down at his hands, trying to wash them so much that he got burns and irritation, only to get rid of the ocean of blood that he created by killing hundreds of men, and witnessing a thousand more.
And yet...
There was nobody there for her.
Nobody to hold her down whenever she wanted to lash out into hysterics and tear everyone apart limb from limb. There was nobody there to reassure her that she didn’t fail anyone for not managing to save the man split in ten pieces after falling prey to a bomb. That there was nothing wrong with taking lives as long as you protect your own. There was nobody to reassure her during a nightmare or embrace her protectively whenever she’d flinch, jump or panic from the louder noises or frequent gunshots all over Birmingham.
She needed a change. She was going further down and down, spiraling into the horrible abyss that the bottomless pits of anguish and torment she was succumbing to, and she knew that, no matter how much she’d smile and say ‘I’m alright’, she’d only drown deeper into her darkest despair.
And that’s how she chose to cope with all her pain. Work herself into exhaustion, study, practice, work, learn - Do anything but sleep or stay idle - As long as her mind was preoccupied with different things, there was no way she’d recognize her downwards descend into hell.
Thus, with continuous work, gunshot threatenings and more influence and bribes, she managed to become the Head of the Birmingham hospital, as the only capable surgeon in the city.
But now that she achieved this, she needed something new. She couldn’t fall into platitude, or she’d go insane. She constantly needed stimulation, because if she relaxes, even by a little, she will remember she is a human being with human emotions and that’s when shit will hit the fan hard, and she was afraid that was the point of no return.
So she extended her influence in London, went to conferences, met new people and ironically, the big hospital was close to The Angel and Camden Town and she became sort of an administrator - section chief around, so she could organize every patient and treatment the way she wanted. Everyone reported to her.
She was Britain’s Angel.
Things were going very well for her, she got a lot of money, people loved her, she was neutral with all the gangsters, mafia, police and every normal peasant or royalty - Healing did not discriminate against any social criteria made by the higher ups - And she had a very lovely, small house and a beautiful flower garden, a lovely maid who helped her keep things tidy, a decent car ( although she preferred walking ) and a few dogs to keep her company.
Another day, another struggle to keep on going. Y/N got up, drank her morning tea in peace while listening to the gramophone. She combed her long hair, letting it cascade down her back, completely disregarding the fashion of the Roaring ‘20s, and went to look at her wardrobe. She chose a black turtleneck thin blouse with high-waisted black pants, a pair of leather boots, some accessories and an elegant trench coat which she wore over her shoulders. It was Spring, so it wasn’t truly cold enough to dress warmly, but not hot enough to wear a sundress either.
The most peculiar thing happened while walking to the hospital - She heard a groan of pain from a dark alley and going to investigate, she saw a fair haired man whose white shirt was stained with red.
“Is it yours?” the woman asked him as she carefully stepped in front of him, completely disregarding the two dead bodies from the ground.
“Some o’ it. Most o’ it is theirs, poor fellas.” he tilted his head to the side left and right, almost comically.
“Fairs. Let’s get you to the hospital, I’ll treat your wound. Free of charge, of course. Let the state pay for something for once.” she chuckled lightly, extending her hand for him to take - To accept her proposal.
“Who are you, Miss? I don’t recall ever seein’ you ‘round. A new nurse from the hospital?” he asked as he almost skeptically stepped by her side, following her.
“Oh, yes, of course, I’m sorry, I forgot my manners. I am Y/N... I’m sort of the head of the hospital nearby. And, uh... I’m a surgeon.” she grinned at him serenely, almost as if to defy and shock him by his previous assumptions.
“A woman doctor, aye? Now that... That’s top. How’d ya do that? I thought they didn’t accept women at University ‘n such.” despite his words, he seemed genuinely interested and wasn’t mocking her.
“Well... Yes, not wrong. And I want to change that. Hmm, how do I explain this without scaring you away... I’m a pretty smart cookie I guess!” her laugh was crystalline and lovely, and if weren’t for the pain from the bullet he took, he would have laughed as well rather mirthfully.
“That you are, lass, I’m sure.” he grunted as he nodded, a bit robotically.
“Ah, we’ve arrived. Before we go in, are you from a mafia gang or something? Some social... Political... Something? It’s not that I care, but I have to put people in different wings for their own good, you know?” she chuckled awkwardly, fidgeting with her fingers a bit.
“I’m not sure I understand, lass.” he raised his eyebrow, analyzing the soft-spoken woman, trying to understand her intentions, whether they were good or bad.
“Well... My hospital accept everyone, you know? But at the same time I don’t think most people want to be rooming with coppers. Or... I know there are some gang wars around... Italians and Jews I think, or something like that. To put some Sabinis and some from Solomons’ gang in the same room, I not only fear for their lives, but also for the good of the rest of the patients and my hospital, you get me? That’s why I at least have to ask. Who knows, maybe I have some of your peers around for you and you can chat and feel better together.” she shrugged at him, feeling a bit uncomfortable being stared like that by him.
“Alright, alright, I get it, lass. Let’s go to the Jews, right? Y’got some o’ those, don’t ya?” he asked, following her as he watched her smile and greet sweetly every person she was walking past.
“Oh yes, of course. Yesterday came a boy called Oliver... Oh, I mean Ollie. He gets upset when I call him by his full name. And there’s this one called David. They said they work for Alfie Solomons, so I put their occupations as bakers. Would you like me to do the same for you as well?” she asked as she hurried inside the room and asked where he would like to stay, and thus preparing the bed.
“Ye even got flowers ‘round ‘ere. This looks more like a home than a hospital if y’ask me.” he chuckled softly as he let himself fall down on the bed, taking off his shoes.
“Oh, yes! Studies show that if patients feel welcomed and are well taken care of, they have higher chances of recovering at a much faster pace. I wanted to test this theory, so I made a contract with the flower shop down town to always bring me flowers. Isn’t that lovely?” she smiled sweetly at him, which rendered the man speechless and in awe.
“Boss, what happened?!” suddenly, Ollie’s worried voice resounded through the room as he leapt from his bed, by the mysterious man’s side.
“Just some dead fish, don’t you worry, lad.” he downplayed his injury as the woman watched the wholesome exchange between those two.
“Oliver - Uh... Ollie, I mean, forgive me. I have to extract the bullet from Mr. Solomons’ body. I will have to ask you to please not worry, I promise to save him, okay?” why was this woman so sweet with everyone? Was that how a doctor should be? Or was she just some exemplary woman?
“...Alright, miss...” the boy muttered, dejected as he watched the woman leave the room, no doubt to get the right equipment for the extraction.
“Honestly, lad, you worry like some maiden. Let the girl do ‘er job.” the Jewish boss chuckled reassuringly at the tall brunet boy.
“She’s no girl, Mr. Solomons. She’s Britain’s Angel. Haven’t you heard o’ her?” Ollie went to sit on the boss’s bed, leaning down to whisper in his ear.
“That’s ‘er? Really?” Alfie’s eyes widened in surprise, but he quite understood now why she earned the reputation.
“Aye! She grew up with the Peaky Blinders and their influence and bribes got her into University, but she’s like super smart! I ‘eard they call her Angel or somethin’, especially after her services in the War. Can you believe that?! A woman voluntarily enrolling into war?! That’s insane, who’d want a free ticket to hell?!” Ollie’s voice became a bit higher as he gossiped with his boss.
“Someone who wants to protect her family.” a feminine chuckle broke the conversation as the two Jews snapped their heads towards the entrance, seeing her casually leaning back on the wall, looking at them with an amused expression, mock-reprimanding. “Don’t you know it’s not nice to gossip?”
“Sorry, lass. This one has quite the chatter mouth to him! ‘e just can’t seem to ever shut it!” his over the top gesticulation, among with Ollie’s shocked expression made the girl hide her mouth to laugh as she shook her head and pushed the tray with the needed instruments to Alfie’s bed.
“True. If he didn’t call you Boss, I wouldn’t have known who you were, Mr. Solomons. Now, I would have to ask you to let me unbutton your shirt so I can begin the procedure. It won’t last long, and with the local anaesthesia, you won’t even feel a thing... For the most part, at least.” she chuckled awkwardly as she sat down on his bed, smiling calmly at him.
“Nah, lass, no fancy ana-thingy, I want none o' that. Ain’t gonna get some drugs to put me down. I’ve been through this before in war, right, and ya didn’t have anaesthesia in war either, so that’s that.” as he said those things, he immediately noticed the smile disappearing from her face as a dark look flashed before her eyes that used to sparkle with fake happiness.
“It’s local anaesthesia, it won’t make you sleep. Besides, I used cocaine in war. It still works. Don’t be like that, Alfie. Please.” she seemed to almost desperately want to use that numbing solution for some reason.
“Why do you insist on going against your patient’s wishes, miss doctor?” he challenged her, narrowing her eyes, as if he was trying to peer into her mind.
“I can’t stand people’s raw cries. You heard Ollie. I’ve been to war, but a part of me never returned home. If I can do something to absolve the pain from someone, I’m gonna do it, whether they like it or not.” her dark voice seemed to make a complete 180 from the sweet one from earlier.
“Do you do the same with coppers too, lass?” his light question, as he unbuttoned his shirt, came as a begrudged agreement to her proposition.
“Nah. I just hit them over the head with a bottle of alcohol. Works every time.” her devious, vague smirk made him wonder whether what she was saying was true or not.
“Now that -- I really wanna see that, right. Would’ya call me next time you gotta do that?” Alfie chuckled as he attentively watched her gently wipe the blood from his skin.
“It’s usually a spontaneous decision, really. I get impulsive too, sometimes, you know? I’m not perfect. But, should the time come, I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to have an audience that would be pleasantly surprised by my act of aggression.” she smiled softly as she carefully administrated the novocain around the area where he got the bullet.
“So where’d ya serve?” he asked, as the girl encouraged him to talk and get his mind away from the procedure.
“Somme and Verdun. I asked to be deployed as close as possible to the Shelbies... I’m sure you got that by what Ollie just told you. Y’know, the tunnels Tommy dug and all that? Wasn’t fun. And you, Alfie? ... Ah, actually, forgive me, I shouldn’t address you so casually without asking for your permission, I got ahead of myself. You can call me by my first name too. I prefer it that way, kinda. It’s more casual and light-hearted.” she chuckled awkwardly - Alfie realized she wasn’t the best at social interactions. He wondered if this was just how she was, or it was a post-war effect.
“No, s’all right, ya can call me Alfie, no problem. I was a Captain in war, right, I was a Captain and I led tons of lads to their death, yeah, but we killed more than we got killed, so that’s that, I guess. Meddled with gas’n’bombs’n shit like that.” Despite trying to keep things light hearted, he noticed the upset look on her face.
“As long as you’re alive, anything is justified.” She muttered, more to herself than to him as she started poking the area under anaesthesia to see if it got numbed down properly.
“Oi, lass, how about I tell you a story, aye? ‘S pretty funny, I reckon.” He suggested, seeing as she smiled softly and nodded at him, putting on her gloves, ready to extract the bullet old-school.
“Sure, Alfie, I’d love that.” She gave him a quick look as he fingers dug inside his wound, making him flinch.
“So, this happened during war, right. My regiment had some nasty Italians around, and they pissed me off so fucking much, yeah. Well, I tell ya, I once carried my own personal form of stigmata on an Italian.” He used one of his hands to gesticulate wildly, as if to keep her engaged in the story whilst he grunted from the discomfort and pain he felt as she rummaged inside his wound.
“Ohh, the Italians. This is going to be a very good story, I’m sure. What did you do?” her smile widened slightly as she felt the bullet shards and started extracting them one by one, putting them on a napkin until they all formed a complete bullet.
“Listen, Y/N. Listen, right. I pulled his face up against the train and shoved a 6 inch nail up his fucking nose and I hammered it on with a duct board, aye.” As he told his story, Y/N had to turn around and slouch a bit, unable to contain her laughter.
“Oh my God, Alfie, that was horrible!” but despite the words used, she just laughter harder.
“It was fucking biblical, lass, I tell ya!” his voice went a bit higher, as he started chuckling as well.
“Okay, okay, say that again, but this time slower. I-I want to imagine – To, to get a better image of this in my head. “ no matter how much she tried to hide her laugh, she couldn’t, which only fueled his wish to amuse her.
“So, this fucking margherita bastard came to me and started throwing around those cross fingered hands back and forth like he wanted th’ gouge my eyes out o’ somethin’. Just! Like! this!” Alfie started aggressively mimicking the Italian hand gestures as the girl had to put down the needle and thread from shaking so much.
“G-Go on!” she encouraged him quickly.
“Yeah, so, listen, I grabbed him by the fucking head, yeah, and I saw this bigass nail, like this big, and shoved it up his nose, y’know, like the fuckin’ Egyptians hooked the brain out through the nose, right, with the mummies and shit.” He had no idea why, but he really enjoyed making her laugh like this.
“I think I’m getting a nose bleed just by imagining this!” she covered her face entirely as she swung left and right from laughing so hard.
“He’s leaning back on the train now, yeah, and he’s hazy like he’s fuckin’ high on pepperoni or some shit, and I see this board just layin’ there on th’ ground, innocently, begging to be used somehow. So I pick it up nicely, yeah, I pick it up and SLAM it into his face. Once. Twice. Thrice. More. Dunno how many times, until I can’t see the nail anymore… But I guess, by then, he didn’t really have much of a face anymore, kinda just became a jam pancake or somethin’.” The girl needed a few minutes of laughter to calm down and wipe her eyes from laughing so hard.
“Oh, Alfie, I haven’t laughed so hard in my entire life. That was wonderful. I-I have no words. I can’t… I can’t… Okay, I’m good now, I’m good. But don’t say more stories, I won’t be able to sew up your wound if I laugh like that again.” She grinned at him, grabbing the needle and thread.
“Fine, lass, fine, I won’t say more stories today. How about you say one, then?” the Jew leader smirked at her with amusement.
“O-Oh, uhm… I-I’m not exactly the funniest person in the world, you know. Actually, I’m not even sure I know what to say. I’m a horrible conversation maker.” She chuckled nervously, as she continued to make knots and stitch the wound.
“Doesn’t matter, anything works, really! I just wanna hear an angel speak.” Mr. Solomons was truly an amiable one.
“Well, alright then, let me think. So, I think you’ve heard already of the Peaky Blinders and how there are quite a few Shelby siblings, yes? Well, they used to have a baby cousin, before he was taken away by some nasty coppers and put in foster care. I was also pretty young back then, but I remember Arthur used to throw baby Michael out of the window repeatedly for either John or me to catch. Mind you, it wasn’t the ground floor.” She chuckled lightly, remembering the stupid kid things they used to do before the war, when life was so simple.
“Really, now?! Poor lad, must’ve grown up with some serious height fear!” Alfie barked a laugh.
“That’s one thing. John put him in a shoe box and kicked him down Watery Lane. Sometimes when cars were passing by too. It was insane, really, growing up with them. But it was fun. If you ignore the copious amount of times we got in trouble and almost died.”  She mused, finishing the procedure and applying some marigold ointment before bandaging the wound properly.
“Thanks, lass, that was quite the experience. Well, I’ll be off then, I won’t bother you anymore, yeah.” He said, trying to get up, only to quickly get pushed down on the bed.
“No! You need to rest and get better, as well as that, you can’t do effort or brusk movements or you risk breaking the stitches.” She explained as he saw worry in her eyes.
“Let’s compromise, alright lass? I’m these guys’ leader, yeah, I’m the leader, so I can’t stay here, I ‘ave to go home’n all that. But I promise you I’ll take it easy and only do office work, yeah, that good? And to thank ya, I’ll even call you by the bakery, how’s that? Nice and warm fresh cookies? How’s that sound?” he asked, as he saw the girl clasp her hands together to her chest.
“Well… Alright then, I can’t really refuse you. But please do be careful. At least let me walk you home or something, I don’t think anyone will attack you if I’m around.”  She muttered, still worried.
“Oi, lass, I am the gentleman here, right, I am, so I should offer to walk you home, not the other way around, aye. Let me walk ya home and tomorrow I’ll come by with cookies.” as he got up, he was ready to button up his messy shirt, but the girl stopped him.
“Alright, Alfie, you win. Let me find you a new shirt, I’m sure we have some around. Before I leave, I have to check up on one of Sabini’s men. It will be pretty short, but I still have to make sure he’s alive and kicking.” The girl offered him a smile as she rushed out to find him a new blouse.
Much to his surprise, she returned rather quickly, even dressed in her normal attire, as when she first came by, and they were ready to leave that wing. However, as soon as they exited the room, the girl was pinned to the wall by none other than Mr. Sabini himself. Alfie was ready to react and throw him off her, but a stopping signal from her did the trick, albeit, he was still confused.
“Mr. Sabini. How many times must I remind you not to greet me in this inappropriate way? I lost count after twenty.” she smiled sarcastically at him as she roughly pushed him off.
“I simply cannot help myself around una fiore cosi bello! You have to understand me, mio angelo, it is your fault for being so beautiful. And how many times have I told you to call me my by name, bella?” The sleazy Italian smirked perverted at her.
“It is inappropriate to display such behaviour with your patients, as well as that, I do not feel comfortable addressing you in any way but the formal one. I will also have to ask you, again, not to use compliments with me, I will not, under any circumstance, accept your courting proposal. Not to mention, you and your men have your own ward at a completely different floor, so I will have to politely ask you to please stop bothering my other patients who have the same rights of being treated as you do.” Her voice was so cold and venomous, as a sword’s edge cutting deep into flesh. Alfie was shocked to see the angelic woman capable of such a demeanour, considering how sweet and shy she was previously when she was laughing so much that she started tearing up.
“But Y/N, amore mio, mio Tesoro, I can give your lovely hospital monthly charity cheques, to fund it, bring you only the latest technology in pharmaceutical and medical stuff! I can buy you anything you want, only say so, and I will bring it to you! I will –“ he continued boasting about his money until he got quickly cut off by the girl.
“Enough. I don’t need your money, Mr. Sabini, I have my own. Not only that, I will also really want to ask you to stop bothering me already. I have to remind you, you have been harassing me for quite a long time now, and I have all the right in the world to choose the patients I’m admitting, considering this is now MY hospital, and if you don’t stop your desperate cry for attention, I will completely eliminate the Sabini ward and divulge all your secrets to the other mafia gangs. And don’t you dare pull out your stupid gun and threaten me, I’m not afraid of you or of death. I already died in war, now I’m just living a second chance. Good bye, Mr. Sabini.” And with that, Y/N turned on her heels, motioning for Alfie and Ollie to follow her as the click of her shoes echoing through the corridors emanated the angry aura around her.
“So you’ve got the same kind o’ personal vendetta against those stupid Italians too, aye?” Alfie chuckled, hoping to lighten up the mood for her.
“Yep. That story from before – I’d do it with Sabini without thinking twice. Or I’ll have you do it, I don’t think I even have the physical strength to pick up a duct board. I have noodle arms.” She let out an amused breath as the Jew looked at her with a smile.
“Ya bet I’ll help ya.” And thus, they arrived in front of her house, being greeted, as usual, by her barking dogs who jumped on her from happiness.
“So… Tomorrow, yes? When should I be expecting you?” she asked, trying to pacify her excited puppies.
“Maybe ‘round noon?” and thus, the agreement stood and the girl waved at him sweetly as she went inside the house, followed by her furry babies. “Y’know what, Ollie? This one is a woman that comes once every thousand years. I dunno how Thomas Shelby could let go of her, but he can’t be as smart as he thinks he is.” Alfie chuckled, nodding to his right hand man to begin walking.
The next day, as expected, Y/N woke up early to make sure nothing is out of place everywhere in the house. Maybe it was her weirdly acting up over-perfectionism, but she couldn’t stand still if something wasn’t where it should have been.
After all, she hasn’t had visitors in… Well, never. It was always her who would visit the Shelby family, but other than that, she would meet up with friends in pubs and clubs, not at home.
Before she knew it, noon arrived and the sound of barking announced Alfie’s arrival. As she opened the house’s door, she noticed he was on the ground, getting loved by all the dogs.
Shocker.
“They say dogs can always tell a good person from a bad one. You passed their test, well done.” She gave him an amused side-smile, leaning on the door frame.
“Anyone who has so many dogs is trustworthy in my books.” He cackled as he got up, walking towards the girl, holding the basket up so the four-legged beasts won’t steal it away.
“I taught them horribly bad. They eat at the table with me, I cook for them more than I cook for myself. And now, look at them, those rascals, they will do anything for food as if they’re famished! Spoiled brats, I’m telling you!” she smiled as she removed the flower vase from the table and poured some tea, aromatic and very nicely smelling.
He admired the tea pot and the matching cups – They were a soft, light blue with painted pink flowers. – Very cute, he thought, and very fitting to her own sweetness. He’s seen so many women affected by the bitterness and anger of having to be unheard, submissive and mistreated, in this ugly, monochrome, wet Britain, so meeting Y/N was like a breath of fresh air, completely different, not afraid of being as sweet and kind as she wants, without implicating herself in any trouble or business and just doing her own stuff.
“Tea, lass? I haven’t had tea in ages, yeah.” He chuckled as he carefully put the plate of still steaming cookies along with some challah bread.
“…Oh. I forgot most people prefer alcohol. Oh My God, I’m so sorry, I don’t have any kind of alcohol in the house-“ she freaked out a bit, only to be stopped by Alfie’s chuckle.
“I’m a tea guy too, lass, don’t worry so much over silly things like that, right? Tea’s fine too. What’s it got?” he asked, easing her worries quickly.
“Vanilla, cinnamon, cherries and a bit too much honey. I like sweet things.” She smiled at him as she raised the tea cup and clinked it to his. “Cheers.”
“Sweet things like you, little lady, love things just as sweet, yeah? Cheers! It’s quite nice, aye, not bad, not bad at all, I think I’ll want more.” He blinked in surprise as he saw the girl immediately get up and pour more tea into his cup.
“Woaw, Alfie, you’ve made these? I’ve never eaten chocolate chip cookies before! They’re amazing! And this bread… It’s so soft and it tastes like honey! If you ever wanted to stop your underground business, you could definitely make a fortune opening up your own bakery! Imagine this… Alfie Solomons, the sweetest man in all Britain, loved by every citizen, earns a Royal Warrant from the Queen for baking the best cookies in the world!” Y/N praised the man as she ate what seemed to be the 4th or 5th cookie by now.
“Bah! Who cares ‘bout that old hag with a crown on her head? If the right person likes it, it’s all that matter, right, nothing else matters to me, and you already like my baking, so that’s that, yeah, that’s just that!” Alfie laughed, making the girl in front of him make a cute kitty smile and look down, her cheeks becoming just a tiny bit rosy.
“Alfie, now you’re just being too nice with me. You don’t have to do that just because I treated you.” She chuckled softly, surprising the man.
“You think I’m being nice to you because o’ that? That’s silly of you, lass, yeah, very silly, that’s not the case in the least, that’s just who I am!” he protested vehemently, his golden chain bracelet clinking softly with each movement.
“So you just like me? Just like that?” her eyes widened in shock.
“Why’re you looking so surprised, lass?” his voice became gradually much calmer and sweeter, seeing the genuine emotions from her.
“Oh, I just… I haven’t heard that in quite a while, I guess that’s why. Apart from the doctor work I do, and all the people thanking me for saving them, I don’t have much social interaction, so someone saying they like me for  my personality, as Y/N, not Britain’s Angel who saved them, is… You know… Unexpected.” She admitted, smiling shyly at him.
“How would you like to hear another story?” it’s true that he wanted to see her so bashful in front of him, but he also loved hearing her laugh, so why not give it a try with one more of his famous stories.
“Oh, I’d love that! You have the best stories, Alfie!” she immediately cheered up, putting her elbows on the table and resting her chin on her hands oh so cutely.
“Now, now, don’t flatter me, lass, it’ll go to my head, yeah, I’ll get used to you cute words.”  He leaned back on the chair, getting a better look at her.
“That just means I’ll have to say them more often.” Oh, how cheeky, Alfie thought as he grinned at her.
“Right, perfect plan! So, there you go! Tommy Shelby came by recently – Just a few days ago, right – And he, he started being a cheeky bastard with me, so I wanted to teach him a lesson. Got the gun out, cocked it in his face. I said – Look, let’s say I just shot you already, right, in the fucking face, and the bullet goes bone, mush, bone, cabinet over there.” Alfie made a finger gun with one of his hands, pointing it at the smiling girl, and then pointed behind her, where a pretty landscape painting was hanging.
“Oh, Tommy in London? I’m surprised he didn’t tell me anything about coming here, or at least visiting me. What a shame. I’m not surprised by his behaviour though, he’s become a bit of a jerk after the war.” She nodded in acknowledgement, smiling at him to continue.
“Right, it’s a shame, it really is, because that cabinet is fucked. I gotta get rid of it. So, what I do is this, I said. It’s fucking simple, mate.” And thus, he intertwined his fingers together on the table, playfully putting on the intimidating look of his.
“You burn it to splinters?” she tilted her head serenely like a cute puppy.
“Nah, even better. I cut that cabinet in half, don’t I? I do, I’ll just cut the cabinet, I cut… I cut the cabinet literally in half, mate, I said, and threw him a rag to wipe that bleeding nose of his. He was looking at me like a fucking dead body, lass, beaten up and bruised, by Sabini’s men, but still got the cheek to play coy with me on my turf!” Alfie told her the truth, knowing she’d want to know about her old friend.
“Tommy got beaten up by Sabini? What in the world did he do…? That boy never knows when to stop, does he. Anyway, so you cut the cabinet in half. Now what do you do? Throw it in the ocean?” she asked, quickly forgetting about the Shelby boy.
“No! I take half of that cabinet and I put it into a barrel, and take the other half of the cabinet, and all its pieces, and I put that into another barrel.” His hands shifted between left and right to show off imaginary barrels.
“And you fill them up with gun powder and make them explode in your enemy’s factory?” she grinned excitedly at him.
“Gosh, lass, no! But now I hate that you have more imagination than me! But listen – This barrel – I send this barrel off to… Mandalay.” He flapped his left hand around dismissively, making the girl bite her lip to stop herself from laughing. “And the other barrel off to somewhere like… I don’t know…” and he looked deep into Y/N’s eyes, unblinking and trying to come up with a funny city name, as she smiled with expectation for the punchline. “Timbuktu! You ever been?” the line was successfully delivered as the girl had to hang her head down and hide her face in her hands as she burst into laughter.
“Mandalay? Timbuktu? Where the hell are those?” she asked, unable to control herself.
“Fuck if I know, lass, but that’s the best of it! And y’know what? Know what, lass? I saw Tommy Shelby, right? Yeah, I saw him. All gloomy and dark and stuff. But I always thought he’d have a great, big, fucking gold ring in his nose!” Alfie joked around, and the girl was almost afraid she’d faint from laughing so hard.
“Oh, Alfie, you are the funniest man alive. So what did he say, how did he react to that?!” she urged him to continue.
“Nothin’! Nothin’ at all! He was silent as a fucking lake, lass! That Shelby boy has got no funny bone in his fucking body! Can’t even make a joke with him! Shoulda learnt from you, your company is a delight.” He saw Y/N quickly nod in agreement.
“Yeah, that’s right, Tommy has no sense of humour at all! He hasn’t smiled or laughed since the war. He’s changed completely. I know he’s been through a lot, you know? Everyone has. He still has that kind heart, and all he does, he does for his family… But it wouldn’t hurt him to be more genuine with them, or accept the fact that he’s not the only hurt one who can’t get over the war. I mean – I mean John, he’s my age! Got married, has like 4 kids already, married again and he’s still a brat as always! And you, Alfie! You said you were a captain, but you are the greatest person I ever met! He has no excuse for being a jerk. If he had a nose ring, like the bulls have, you could’ve just gotten a hook and tied him to a car and had him paraded around the streets of Camden Town!” she giggled in amusement, roasting her old friend shamelessly.
“Y’know lass, I think you’re as much of a fairy as I am, aye. You look all angelic and pure, but you have a wicked sense of humour!” the girl couldn’t help but let out a mock gasp of hurt and offense.
“Me? Wicked? Never! My, Alfie, you hurt me - How ever in this world could you possibly call me the Devil, when I’m known as Birmingham’s Angel? Recently, Britain’s Angel?” she laughed, almost as though she was making fun of her own nicknames.
“I think I’d much rather hear you being Alfie’s Angel.” Y/N’s smile froze, and her cheeks warmed up instantly, her gaze looking down at the tiny crumbles left behind from the tasty cookies. “Wha’chu say, lass?”
“I... Think I would like that very much, Alfie.” she could barely contain her timid smile.
“Wonderful news, lass!” Alfie merrily got to his feet. “Well then, I’ll be seeing you tomorrow, pretty Angel. Don’t forget to serve your little companions their dinner at the table, a’ight?” he bent down slightly to plant a small kiss on her cheek, a little ticklish from his bear, before nodding his head at her, a cheeky smile on his face, and he left, not without all the dogs desperately seeking affection from him.
“Alfie’s Angel, huh? Doesn’t sound half-bad.” Y/N giggles softly to herself, only to hear her maid coming out of nowhere and cheering for her for landing such a good man, though not without warning her not to get into trouble with the very many gangs and their wars. She was a sweet girl, Y/N thought - Perhaps Ollie would like to date a lovely lady like herself.
Many days and weeks, and even months passed, and Alfie visited Miss Y/N daily, never skipping a single day, or missing to bring her the prettiest flowers, and the freshest cookies and bread. He was going to spoil her rotten, that one, and he loved every bit of it, especially the shy look she always had on her face, and the hesitation of accepting so many gifts - He just loved pampering her, what could he do? It was in his nature after all.
And Y/N absolutely loved whenever he’d come over, and each day, with a new story to tell, and new jokes and rumours and gossips - He was an absolute delight, and her dogs loved him perhaps a little bit more than they loved her, at this point. It was no wonder, after all - Alfie started baking food for them! And Y/N thought she spoiled them! 
For once, Y/N stopped feeling the terrifyingly heavy pressure of anguish and torment weighting down on her very soul and being. She didn’t feel the need to work her mind into exhaustion, not tire out her body to the point of fainting asleep. She didn’t need to do any of those anymore, to feel alive and human. She only needed to look at those beautiful eyes of his, and those kissable lips, always forming a mirthful smile; to feel vitality returning into her body, and any sense of fear and anxiety escaping her very being. She remembered what it was like to have a sense of care and possessiveness over her own life, and finally, after so long, she wanted to be free - As free as it could get, unbound by any rule and regulation - To just have fun and thrive in the bliss of romance and happiness.
Once Alfie heard that, he kissed her sweet lips for the first time, admitting to wanting to retreat from the mafia life, and retreat to a calmer area where no one would be searching for him. Margate. A small cottage, cozy and warm, by the sea, where nobody would care to scold them for shooting those noisy seagulls, and Cyril and her dogs could run around aimlessly and run day in and day out, while they spend their time reading and baking and all the cutesy things that couples in love are supposed to do.
Before that, however, a few more things had to happen - Retirement wasn’t an easy process, after all, not in this business, and shrouding yourself into the veil of the unknown was even more difficult a task. People wanted their vengeance, after all, and they’d stop at nothing to achieve it. Nothing, including threatening the beautiful, benevolent Angel who was supposed to have neutral immunity from all kinds of parties. That is what she thought. That is what everyone thought. It was the catalyst of Alfie’s decision to speed up his retirement process and get this done and dealt with already. He never felt as angry as he was now.
It came during a time when Tommy rang Y/N asking for a favour, though rather uncomfortable. Alfie didn’t agree with this at all, he warned Y/N it would be dangerous - Deals with Italians were unpredictable, those bastards, and Sabini was a lecherous fuck who wanted to steal her away - But how could Y/N deny doing a favour to the man who helped her reach such heights though his influence? The man she went to war to protect? The man she took a bullet for? Her brother from another mother?
“Y/N, lass, you’re going to get fried to death if you approach that pasta fucker. I can’t just let you go.” Alfie grumbled worriedly. “And it ain’t just Sabini I’m worried about, love, it’s Changretta too. ‘course, all the fucking pizza fuckers came ‘round to screw things over, but Sabini keeps saying he ain’t working with that other fucker.” he paced nervously around the room, to and fro, fro and to. “Y/N, listen - Listen, a’ight? LIsten. It’s not Sabini I’m worried about, y’know? We’ve been at each other’s throats since school, it ain’t flash news, right -- I can deal with ‘im somehow -- But the other one? I know shit about ‘im. Came over from fucking America, and now he thinks he owns the whole fucking world, that one. And y’know what, hun? ‘e can fuckin’ have it, for all I care. Let Tommy Shelby fight with him. But you --- I’ll be fucking damned before I let him take you away from me.”
“Alfie, sweety, look at me.” Y/N got up from the bed, and approached the frantic man. She cupped his face and brought him into a tender kiss. “There’s no force on earth that can keep me apart from you. Besides! The hospital, remember? Even if Changretta comes over, I will just tell him of the deals, and the treatment and... He won’t hurt me.” without even realising, Alfie’s arms were wrapped around her smaller form, holding her close to his chest, pouting like a clingy child. “Alfie~! Come on, don’t tickle me with your beard! I promise I’ll give you attention all the after this is over, okay? But family is family, and I promised to help out. It won’t take long. And... It’s supposed to be some private party, right? A party with lots of people. He can’t just threaten me in front of everyone, right?”
“I don’t like risky things like this, Y/N. Can’t blame a man in love for worryin’.” He muttered against the skin of her neck. “But better tell Tommy I’m not gonna let him send you do his errands for him anymore, a’ight?”
“Alright, alright, I’ll tell him.” she couldn’t help her sweet, uncontrollable giggling, all because of him playfully running that trickly yet well kept beard of his over her soft skin.
Just as promised, Y/N dressed in a very pretty dress, making her look like an innocent, sweet flower blooming in Spring, overshadowing all around her with her beauty, thought there was no Tommy Shelby there waiting to escort her at the party. She didn’t think much about it though - She hadn’t a watch at her, so she couldn’t tell whether she was fashionably late or not, and he just went on ahead to do some of his work dealings with his gang friends. It was none of Y/N’s business, she was just supposed to be there as a peacemaker, a mediator, considering she was neutral with all, thanks to her position as the head of the hospital.
She grabbed herself a glass of champagne from a waiter and waited by the sidelines, watching the party unfold, with gorgeous dancers and the orchestra playing songs of all kinds. When a slowed song began, she awkwardly played the wallflower, not wanting to gain any attention to her, but of course, her not so favourite Italian came by, gallantly asking for a dance. Of course, she couldn’t refuse, more or less because she was a diplomat, and despite all the harassment from the past, all of them taking care in the hospital, at a party, it was all fine. Still, she hoped Alfie could have been there - It would have been more bearable.
“A gorgeous lady like yourself shouldn’t be all alone at a party.” Sabini said, making Y/N give a polite smile.
“Well, I was sure Tommy would be busy talking business with you, Mr. Sabini. I’m surprised you’re here, with me.” the man rose a quizzical eyebrow, hearing that.
“My dear, Thomas Shelby never once spoke to me today. In fact, I was not aware he was here at all.” Y/N’s body froze, and their dance stopped.
“What do you mean?” she asked in a whispery voice. “Tommy said he needed me here, as a mediator between the Peaky Blinders and the other gangs of London. If he’s not here -- Why would he ask me to be here?”
“Ah, bella, bella, bella, so your naivite and innocence only makes you more endearing.” he gave a smug smirk. “Luca Changretta asked your dear Tommy, to have a... Pleasant conversation. Negating deals. Business talks... Men talks. Signorina Y/N, he sent you over to receive a message, as he feared for his life, but counted on our long lasting friendship.” his chuckle sent shivers down her spine. Suddenly, she felt terrified for her life.
“I... Don’t want to get involved in your business matters. I don’t do business. I just heal people, that’s all. I wanted to do Tommy a favour, as he is my brother, but I want to have a peaceful life, away from all the gang wars. Please, let me go home, Mr. Sabini. If you want me to send Tommy a message, I will, but I won’t get involved any further than this.” the Italian nodded his head, an almost nasty smirk on his face. 
“By all means, no one wants to hurt you, Signorina. It would be terribly rude of us to kill the messenger... Though Signor Changretta’s father was ruthlessly killed, in front of his wife, for no reason, by your brothers. But us, bella - We, Italians, care for our family above all, and Signor Changretta admires your devotion to your own. He is going to love meeting you.” Y/N slowly removed her hands from the man’s shoulders and offered a small smile, trying to keep her composure. But she was terrified to the core, almost as much as she had been during the war. Not only did Tommy betray her, but he threw her in a pit of vipers... Like a weaponless gladiator, forced to fight a hundred starving lions in the Colosseum. She was a healer, not a fighter! Damn it, Tommy!
“It was a lovely evening, Mr. Sabini. I will be taking my leave now.” with a certain elegant swiftness, Y/N was able to slip past Sabini and hide her presence in the sea of people, trying to make her way to the exit of the grand mansion, only to bump into another man, much taller than Sabini was, and he was towering over her, a passive smile on his face. It was much clear now, the whole place was filled only with Italians. She was trapped.
“Signora, what kind of man was vile enough to make a woman cry? Tell me, please, I will not have such disrespect in my family.” his accent was heavy, and his aura was dangerous, with a mysterious darkness. The stranger rose a hand to cup her cheek and rose her face to wipe the wet, gleaming under eye of the woman.
“Uh... Forgive me, Mr... I didn’t mean to bump into you and disturb you. I... I am not a very sociable person, I don’t do well with crowds. I... Was hoping to return home.” she offered an uncomfortable smile. This man was trouble.
“Don’t worry, bella, I will make sure to discipline my men better.” he nodded, chewing on what looked like a toothpick... Or a match? Was that a match? “You will have to forgive them. Anyway, may I escort you outside and call for a car for you?” something made her feel as though she hadn’t any choice in the matter.
“Y-Yes, please.” she nodded meekly, her voice barely audible from all the noise of the party.
With his arm around her waist, the stranger gentlemanly escorted the lady outside of the mansion, and outside, into the darkness barely illuminated by the lights from inside the house. Were it not for the loud music and all the chattering from the mansion, the graveyard silence would have been entirely ominous, save for the soft cricket and toad melody.
They were all alone.
“Do you wish to kill me, Mr. Changretta?” Y/N asked, frightened out of her mind.
“Kill you? Oh, Signora, no, no, why in the world would I wish to harm an beautiful lady like yourself?” he let out a sardonic chuckle. “Sabini tells me they call you the Angel of Britain. May I call you... Angelica?” Y/N didn’t answer. “Have I frightened you so, bella? Mi dispiace, it wasn’t my intention.” though, based on the sarcastic slur of his words, he was having his fun tormenting her.
“Mr. Sabini said you wished me to deliver Tommy a message. What is it?” the woman asked, holding her hands together tightly.
“Ah, yes, of course. Very brave of Mr. Shelby, sending his dear sister to do his dirty work. How shameful. You see, bella, we never put our ladies in danger. Sabini especially says he’s taken a liking to you for quite some good years. I can see perfectly well why. I’ve never seen a woman beautiful and intelligent such as yourself.” Luca’s hand found itself caressing her face, his long fingers reaching up to her hair, strong her long velvety hair. “I love how you defy this decade’s fashion, though you manage to look more elegant than most.” he kept complimenting her.
“Mr. Changretta, please... I am already dating a man, and we are soon going to move in together. I would appreciate it dearly if you would not continue your courting, though I am very flattered that one like yourself would find me attractive.” the man looked up at the sky, a dry smile on his face, watching how the lady tried to step backwards every time he inched forwards, only to end up with her back flush against a tree.
“Somehow, I don’t quite believe that. You are far too terrified from the simplest gesture. Admit it, Signora, you’ve never been with a man before, have you?” his smirk only widened watching her face burning with a sweet blush. “You needn’t say any word, your body betrays you.” he chuckled, getting uncomfortably close to her. “I hate making ladies cry. My mamma taught me better than this. She taught me to respect and cherish women, for they are a treasure - And I agree. I will not hard you, Signora Y/N. But perhaps you need to be reminded of the importance you play in this gang war... And maybe even remind your dear brother, as he seems to have forgotten about you and how much you worth. Would he react at all, if I were to laugh in his face and tell him I’ve claimed you? Will he even get angry, if I tell him I killed you? Thomas Shelby finds himself to be rather the undefeatable businessman and politician, but from our latest interaction, I say, he’s a man as much as any other, and he has easily exploitable weaknesses. It is really too bad you had to get caught in the middle of all this. I bear you no ill will, Angelica.” he leaned his face closer and closer to her own, to the point of feeling his warm breath on her skin - She tried to move away, though he fixed her head, cupping her cheeks forcefully. He truly just wanted to steal a little kiss, nothing more! He wanted to get a taste of her pink, plump lips that looked like the softest rose petals, bathing in shiny morning dew.
Instead, the loud, resounding sound of a gunshot made the man close his eyes in anger, whilst Y/N squeaked in fear, trying to fall to the ground and defend herself; an awful habit she couldn’t break even after the war was over. Luca used the woman as a shield, one hand buried in her hair, the other, holding a pistol to her temple.
From the paved street the soft sound of a cane was heard, as Alfie Solomons appeared, looking all dressed for a party. He looked alone. Was it him who shot, or was it another? Surely, he wouldn’t be stupid enough to come by all alone, even if it was to rescue Y/N - And if he did, it only meant her worth was a hundred times more than he expected. Was he the man she mentioned just previously?
“Ah, Mr. Solomons, what an unexpected surprise. I don’t believe we’ve had the pleasure. I’m Luca Changretta.” the Italian smirked, chewing on that match, approaching his face to touch his cheek to Y/N’s. 
“Oh, yeah, I know who you are. You are a bit of a failure, aren’t you? You come all the way over here, to this country, yeah, in order to kill Tommy Shelby - But, I mean, well - He’s not dead, is he?” Alfie smiled fakely at the Italian, forcing himself not to look at the whimpering look of his beloved.
“He would have been, were he not saved by Angelica over here. But he cowarded out, didn’t he? Can’t even have a conversation with someone who hides behind his sister’s skirts.” Changretta sneered mockingly.
“That’s it. I’ll tell you what, right? I didn’t want to come ‘ere, in your home, without a gift, yeah? It woulda been rude - And Jews are known for their hospitality, of course. Here - It’s free. A souvenir.” Alfie rose a single bottle of his rum, showing he was unarmed. “Now, why don’t you let go of that lady over there, and we say our goodbyes?”
Changretta smirked darkly at him. “Signora, why don’t you take the bottle and have a sip? Rum is sweet, for women. Men prefer dry, strong gin.” with trembling hands, Y/N extended her arms to get the bottle from Alfie. It was almost excruciatingly painful, being so close to his protective arms, yet so very far away... “Go on, Angelica, take a sip.” Alfie frowned, watching Y/N’s face contort slightly - She didn’t drink alcohol, she hated it. Even if rum was sweeter than most alcohols, it still wasn’t anywhere close to her sweet teas with too much honey in them.
“This clown wants me to run his shit rum into New York.” Changretta let out a dry laugh, insulting the Jew in Italian.
“Damn fucking straight, mate, otherwise you wouldn’t still be thieving my oxygen and patience, would you? Because I have 200 barrels a month, yeah, cleared by your people, distributed through your teamsters.” Alfie continued with the straight business deal.
“Didn’t you just hear me? People want gin these days.” Luca repeated.
“I heard you wanted to come over with a proposition for me. I hate waiting, yeah - So, that’s why I came over, to quicken things up a bit, before they get stale, right. I already know what you want. I just want to hear you say it out loud so I can check how ridiculous it is.” Alfie inched closer to the two, not once breaking his overly dramatic mannerism.
“Ah, bella, what will I do, I am losing my patience with him.” Luca shook his head in disdain, burying his face in the crook of her neck. Based on the twitch of his enemy’s eye, he had hurried over with a half-baked plan. No doubt, Thomas Shelby must have gone over to him to search for an ally in him. To come in the enemy’s den for a woman - Alfie Solomons was a suicidal maniac. “There is gonna be a little fight, a boxing match, between your boy and Tommy Shelby’s boy, and the whole Shelby family is gonna be there.” Alfie hummed, already knowing all this. “And you, Mr. Solomons, you too will be there.” Luca started stroking a lock of Y/N’s hair, intentionally taunting the Jew. “You know, they say you’re a smart guy. You already know what we want before we say it. That’s funny because I believe I know what you want even before you say it. Yeah. You want the girl back, that’s why you’re here. Maybe for the barrels too. But the girl... Yes, I get why you’d want her back. Can’t miss out on claiming a treasure like her.” he pressed a kiss to her temple, his lips lingering and going down, towards her ear, whispering a small threat and softly slipping the sleeve of her dress a little down her shoulder with the barrel of his gun, revealing flawless skin, before leaning down her neck, and to her bare shoulder. Y/N tried to struggle away from him, whimpering from the uncomfortable fear she was feeling, and how violated she felt by the Italian, but the tight grip on her hair only brought out a whimper of pain and disgust from her.
If someone could look deep into Alfie’s eyes, they could see a wrathful fire raging inside his soul. He wanted to make pasta sauce from that fucker for daring touch his sweet lady and making tormenting her so. He had to play his cards well, feign ignorance and uncare, otherwise, he was afraid that wop will be taking Y/N as a bargaining chip and blackmail him, to the point that not even Tommy Shelby playing God would be able to save the sweet lady. “I want some cash too. Don’t worry, ‘cause I’ve broken it down here.” from the pocket of his coat, he took out a neatly folded paper. “A list of costs pertaining to the assassination of a dear friend, all right?” from his other pocket, he took out his glasses, putting them on as he read the terms and conditions to their deal. “Now, a normal dispatch, well, it’s, you know, 500 pounds cost, but you’re going to have to have to add another 100 to that because Tommy Shelby, like me, is from an oppressed people... And... I need you to put another tonne on top of that because his brother is a fucking animal and he will come after me.” Alfie kept reading, frowning every so often at the inconveniences he was listing. “And then you will need to put another 100 on top of that, because, well, you’re a fucking wop, mate, hmmm?” Changretta remained speechless, looking at the mess of a Jew who found himself hilarious, messing with him. “And then... We have to deal with the ugly business of which I’ve been incredibly clear of, before I’ll need another 500 pounds, because, like I stated, Tommy Shelby is a very, very good friend of mine.” though he wished to wring his neck for throwing Y/N in danger like that. “And... Another 500 pounds for threatening my wife. And 500 more pounds for making her cry.” Alfie folded back the paper, handing it to his enemy. “Total is down there, in black and white. All right? Crack on.”
“Mr. Solomons, I’m gonna be very fucking clear with you. I don’t need you to kill anybody. I have people that I trust, okay? So you are gonna take my boys and you are gonna bring them to the ring as seconds.” Alfie frowned at the Italian.
“Well, in order to qualify as my seconds, right, they would first have to qualify as being Jewish, yeah? And in order to do that, they would have to replace their natural Italian fucking arrogance with a Jewish air of absolute certainty. You see, my good friend, Tommy Shelby, he will know the difference.” he warned the unbothered Italian don.
“You see, these days, back in the old country, a lot of the, uh.... You know, the Jewish people, they, uh... They are having to pass themselves off as Italian.” Changretta chuckled menacingly. 
“All right, well, you’ll have to add another ton onto your bill - For being a cunt, mate.” Alfie refuted with a chilling calm. “All right?”
Luca looked away briefly. “You will bring my men to Birmingham?”
Alfie nodded his head, hoping his crazy humour was acting as reassurance for his lady. “You will circumcise them?” Luca was mute. “Yeah, you will have to circumcise them. Because the Peakys will check, yeah?”
“If they’re going to have their pretty doctor check, surely, she wouldn’t quite know the difference, would she?” the Italian jabbed at the Jew, who was imagining different ways of torturing this fucker.
“Don’t bother your little wop brain over what my wife does. She won’t be there.”  Luca smirked, knowing very well his uppercut landed perfectly.
“Okay. Any other requests?” he asked, laxing his grip on her hair. “Two hundred fucking barrels, we have a deal.” Alfie frowned, looking at him with disinterest. “What’s the matter? I said we have a deal.”
“Eh, you just made a deal without a negotiation, didn’t you?” Alfie stared him down. Luca affirmed that statement. “Yeah, Tommy Shelby was right about you, wasn’t he?” then, for the first time, Y/N heard the man speak in his own, native language. “You plan to kill us all.” though she didn’t quite understand what he said, the look in his eyes was enough to give her a good guess. Still, with the deal in place, Luca Changretta smirked in triumph, and with one last gesture of condescence, he forced Y/N into a deep kiss, before pushing her towards the Jew. “Sogni d’oro, mia bella Angelica.”
Alfie instinctively lunged forward, catching and gathering his lady into a tight embrace and watching carefully as Changretta stepped inside the mansion. He could feel Y/N’s soft trembles of her small body as she cried in soft whimpers - She was trying desperately to stay composed, but after everything she’d gone through, he couldn’t blame her. That margherita fucker must have creeped her to hell and back. “It’s okay, darling, cry as much as you need. I’m here, love, I’m here, okay? Alfie’s here, and I’m not gonna let go of you again.” she felt so warm, so safe in his large arms. “Let’s go home, yeah? No more of this gang shit. I’ve done over my plans, and we’re leaving faster. I’m not gonna let any of this fuckers even look at you ever again.” he massaged and stroked the back of her head, where that jerk hurt her, and he kissed her forehead and her cheeks and even her nose, before guiding her to the car, with Ollie driving them to the comfort of her own home, with her many dogs, and a shit ton of guards all around.
Y/N couldn’t say anything, and when they got home, Alfie had her maid draw her a warm bath so she could relax. He made sure to put a nice vinyl on the gramophone, and had Ollie return to their house to bring the emergency cookies for comfort, whilst he continued to internally curse Thomas.
He wasn’t sure how long she calmed down in the bath, with her maid comforting and chatting with her to get her mind off of the anguish she was put through, but when she returned, she was wearing one of her beautiful silk nightgown that barely went down to her knees, and she let herself plop on the bed, cuddling into his arms like a kitten seeking warmth. “How did you know?” her soft voice asked as he pulled them to lay down, stroking her hair and her face dearly, occasionally planting kisses and calling her sweet things. When Ollie finally came back with the cookies, her maid had brewed the sweetest tea in existence for them.
“Well, I always did pride myself with having good intuition, you know, but when Tommy came by my bakery, I realised - Shit, my sweet lady’s in trouble.” Alfie spoke, watching her cringe softly at the mention of the Shelby. “Asked him what the hell he was doin’ over at my place, instead of being there with you, and he said - Who would hurt you? Sabini wouldn’t, surely. There’s no person with more immunity than you, right?” he mimicked the man. “Thought I was gonna lose my mind, hun, hearing that. I was this close to beating him to death, yeah, nobody dares touch my sweet girl after all. He said some things about those fucking greasy wops, and it got me thinking - I already knew things were going to shit, and very fast, right, and I knew I had to make our exit as swift as possible - But when I heard you were all alone, with a bunch of sleazy fucks, my mind went crazy.” he gesticulated dramatically, before pinching her cheek playfully. “I promised Tommy Shelby a beating at some point, and I managed to land one good punch on him before coming to my darling’s rescue. Glad I got there just in time, but fuck, I’m so pissed - So fucking pissed you had to go through all that. I should’ve never let you go. Should’ve trusted my gut.” he grumbled, clearly angry at himself.
“Alfie.” she had an upset, pouting look on her face. “I’m sorry I let him kiss me. I wasn’t strong enough to fight him off.” she hung her head in shame. “If you hadn’t come when you did... I fear what he’d have done.”
“Y/N, lass, what the hell are you apologising for?!” he exclaimed, his hands immediately going to raise her face gently to look at him. “As if a weaponless woman could fight a grown ass man with a gun. If anything, I should be the one to apologise for not being fucking able to protect you as a man should. I thought playing the wife card, and the extra billing, would get that cheapskate fucker let go of you already. Fucking cunt. He’ll pay, I’ll make sure of that.”
But Y/N frantically shook her head. “I don’t care about that, Alfie. I don’t want revenge, and I don’t care what happens to any gangs, okay? I’m sorry, Alfie, I’m sorry I- I’m selfish, okay? I don’t want to do this anymore. I just - I can’t. I really can’t, you know? Always in the middle of danger, always in the middle of war -- I just want to go live out a happy, peaceful life, with you, and our dogs, and a shit load of seagulls to shoot whenever they wake us up with that annoying screech of theirs. And then -- Then, I wanna go have a good travel, maybe. Let’s -- Let’s go to the mountains, I heard it’s fun hiking. The forests are very pretty too. We can hide away from everyone, we’ve got enough money, don’t we - And if you wanted to, I told you, you can open up your own real bakery, and live perfectly comfortable with those earnings. Anything - Anything, just to get the hell out of this God-forsaken, war-riddled, decrepit, barren city, and away from this awful, exploiting people who care for nothing but their damn fucking business.” the way her eyes were gleaming with both hope and desperation shattered Alfie’s heart. “Can we do that, Alfie? Please, can we do that? Just the two of us -- Maybe Ollie and Annie too, if they wanna - And our dogs too - Just us, a nice, big family.”
Alfie’s very soul felt honeyed from her words of love, and her wish of staying together with him - And it was tempting too, taking Ollie and her maid with them, he had to admit. They would finally be living the god damn peaceful fucking life that they deserved. He had been dreaming during the day, and during the night, of a life spent together with her, all away from this shit city, away from the shit gang wars and what nots. He was exhausted, he wanted to let his guard down for once, and he knew he could do that with Y/N. He wanted to provide her a beautiful, comfortable life, a peaceful once - She’s never been to the beach, and he really wanted to show Margate to her. Just them, and the sound of the ocean waves breaking against the shore, walking barefoot into the wet sand and playing in the water.
Perhaps it was a little close for comfort to both France and London too - Maybe some day, they could go further north, further away from the capital. Perhaps they can even change their names, take on new identities, retire completely. Sure, he’ll still be taking care of his Jewish community, but he would stop the mafia dealings - Let the younger generations get themselves in trouble a hundred thousand times per minute, he was completely done for.
“Yeah, my little cookie, we can do that, and we’ll fucking do it, and very soon, yeah? Very soon, I promise you that. I’ll keep you safe, and comfortable, and happy. First, in Margate, and if we get bored, wherever the hell we want, a’ight? With Ollie and Annie if they wanna join, and with our spoiled dogs, ‘course.” he leaned in, capturing her lips into a sweet kiss.
“Alfie?” she called his name, her cheeks flustering lightly, unable to meet his eyes, despite the beautiful smile on her face.
“Yeah, meyn ketsele?” Y/N always blushed so hard whenever he’d call her his little kitten.
“Is the... Erhm... Wifey spot still open? I’d like to apply.” Alfie couldn’t help but start laughing mirthfully at her bashfulness, only to pull her into a loving embrace, peppering her face with kisses all over.
“Ikh hob dikh shtark lib - I’d love nothing more than to be your husband.” Y/N felt faint from all the suffocating love and affection she was receiving all at once, but she couldn’t help but melt to the sound of Alfie speaking in his native language, saying that he loves her so much, that she was the love of his life and what more. It was almost funny, how quickly he became smitten beyond repair for her, but he simply couldn’t help it. Women like her only came about once every thousands of years, and he was just so happy, just by seeing that shy smile of hers, or waking up to her in his arms. How could he ever let her go? 
Y/N wasn’t Birmingham’s Angel anymore, and like hell was she Britain’s Angel. She wasn’t an angel, she was a little wicked fairy, the sweetest lady there was, and any other overdosing sugary sweet and entirely embarrassing term of love that Alfie could ultimately generate from the top of his head, just to see her adorable blush, but by hell, he was feeling trapped and addicted to her magic, and he was never going to let go of his darling honey bunch lady.
And Alfie was going to make her the happiest woman alive, and their wedding was gonna be fucking biblical.
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storywriter007 · 7 months
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Life or Death - Thomas Shelby x Fem!Reader
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summary: in which y/n realizes thomas shelby hasn't been good to her
warnings: character death, cursing, poverty, catcalling, mentions of sex,
genre: heartbreak
word count: 2.9k
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Birmingham, 1900
"i'm starving." a young thomas shelby said aloud.
"have you not had anything to eat today?" a young y/n asked.
"money's been tight, i've had to skip meals." tommy explained.
the two ten year olds sat in silence for a moment.
y/n knew what it was like for money to be tight. her family's income had been tight, after the passing of her father. her mom went to teach children at a local school while making dresses on the side to keep the two of them afloat.
"it's almost suppertime, why don't you come to my house?" y/n invited.
"really?" he asked.
"of course." she nodded. "you're my best friend, why would i want to see you hungry?"
that evening, y/n and tommy walked home together and were given a warm welcome by y/n's mother.
"tommy! welcome!" she exclaimed. "come on in you two."
they sat down at the table and began eating supper. stew and dumplings. it was warm and delicious.
to tommy, y/n's house often felt more like home than his own. it was quite small, but it had home-like decorations everywhere. it was nice and toasty since it didn't take much fire to heat the place, and moreover y/n was there.
"you children cannot stay out in the cold during this time of year." y/n's mother scolded, putting her hand on tommy's cheek and seeing how cold it was.
"but we were playing a game-" y/n argued.
"play games inside. i don't want to see you to freeze to death." she continued.
"yes mom." y/n laughed, looking at tommy, knowing they were going to go outside the next day anyways.
it was getting dark out and tommy was full.
"i should probably get going. bye y/n, by ms. y/l/n!" tommy said, getting up.
"wait!" y/n said, running to the kitchen.
she came back with tupperware.
"here, take some home." she insisted.
"no, no, i couldn't-" he argued.
"take it! tell john, arthur, and ada i say hello!" y/n said, shoving the tupperware into his arms.
that night, tommy's siblings had a warm meal.
"this is delicious tommy! where'd you get this from?" arthur remarked.
"y/n. she insisted." he responded.
"you better marry her for this one." arthur laughed.
.....................................................
Birmingham, 1904
"look at the body on that one." a classmate remarked as y/n walked by.
she just rolled her eyes and continued walking. this wasn't unusual.
"you'd make a ton of money at the whore house!" the boy yelled out again as laughter followed.
so would your mother, y/n thought of saying, but decided that it was best for her to not. this boy was twice her size.
"so would your mother." another boy's voice called out.
y/n turned around to see tommy and the other boy standing chest to chest, about to fight.
"what'd you say shelby?" the boy asked.
"so would your mother." he repeated, not an ounce of fear in his voice.
a teacher came and pulled the two apart.
"both of you seperate. if i see this again, i'll make sure to tell your mothers!" she scolded.
both the boys backed away from one another. tommy caught up with y/n.
"thanks tommy." she said.
"it's nothing, i've wanted to say that to him for a while now." tommy laughed.
"my mum's sending me to get groceries today? would you like to join me." y/n asked.
"of course." tommy agreed. "can't wait to eat apples out of the farmer's cart."
"don't do that! you got us chased down last time!" y/n scolded, remembering a set of angry farmers running after them.
they settled down after they were paid, at least. otherwise, who knows what could've happened.
"it was fun!" he argued.
"it was." she agreed.
as she watched tommy walk away, y/n realized that she had a crush on him. but it was just a crush, it wasn't that serious.
.....................................................
Birmingham, 1914
"glad to see you dr." tommy smiled, opening the door to the pub.
"happier to see you mr." she returned the joke.
y/n had always wanted to save people's lives, so she entered the medical field. after gaining main patients, it became more difficult to see tommy as often as she used to. even tommy was on the rise in the business world. it was hard to hangout with one-another, but they always made time.
over the years, y/n's crush on tommy had turned into love, but she didn't know how to tell him. no time ever seemed right.
"there might be a war." tommy said, drinking whiskey at the pub.
"you think you'll get drafted?" y/n asked, wanting him to say no, but knowing what the answer was.
"yes." he answered. "unfortunately."
"it'll just be me and ada." y/n chuckled. "she's better company than you."
"oh really? go drink with her." tommy laughed. "you'll miss me when i go off."
"you know i will." y/n smiled.
.....................................................
y/n realized her worst nightmare had come true as tommy stood at her front door.
"i have to go to france." he said.
she felt water fill up her eyes, but she stayed calm.
"i'll miss you." she smiled.
"i'll miss you too." he smiled back.
he turned around to leave.
"tommy, wait." she said, trying not to cry.
he turned around.
"i didn't know when to tell you this because no time ever seemed right and we were always so busy." she rambled. "but since you're going to france, and i might not see you again, i just want you to know i love you. it's no use for me to say i don't, because it's true. i've loved you ever since i've known you."
the tears started falling. he stared at her for a minute. did she ruin their friendship? did he not feel the same way? would he never talk to her again? did she have to do this before he left?
lost in her thoughts, y/n didn't realize tommy had leaned down and kissed her.
.....................................................
Birmingham, 1918
y/n got down on her knees, that had already been bruised from how much she'd kneeled.
"dear god, please keep tommy, john, and arthur safe." she pleaded. "please keep tommy safe."
she'd done this every morning and every night since the boys were drafted.
"please make it end soon." she continued.
she looked at the couple of photographs her and tommy had together from years before. they used to love taking together, and writing the story on the back.
she got to their last picture. taken four years ago. it was hear and tommy making silly faces. on the back, it said, "tommy's going to france."
she felt a tear run down her cheek. what if he never came back? what if that was their last photo together?
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Birmingham, 1919
y/n was overjoyed when all three brothers returned, alive. she hugged tommy so tightly, glad he was alright.
but something had changed. tommy wasn't as happy as he used to be anymore. he didn't smiled as much, but he still did when they were together, and that was all that mattered to y/n.
y/n knew all about the shelby business, having grown very close to ada and polly, she was informed about everything. even when tommy was doing gang work before, he was never as gloomy as he was now. he was much more serious.
she tried desperately to comfort him, and it did work. he did talk about the war with her, and y/n understood he was traumatized. she didn't try to change him or tell him lighten up, she understood the mental toll it had taken on him.
countless nights would tommy tell her about the memories of war and they would end up falling asleep on the floor, in a mix of papers and books.
they were never officially together, they had never gotten then chance. but when tommy was ready, y/n hoped they could make it offical.
one night, they walked into the garrison. y/n had just finished with a long day of patients.
"dr!" arthur greeted y/n with a hug.
"arthur!" she laughed back.
however, there was a new face at the pub. she was pretty, with blonde hair and blue eyes. y/n came up to her.
"i haven't seen you around! are you new?" she smiled, asking.
"yes, i am new." the barmaid responded, quite curtly, y/n noticed.
"i'm y/n! what's your name?" she asked.
"grace. my name is grace." she said, briefly.
"well, grace, i just wanted to say, i think you're absolutely gorgeous." y/n smiled.
grace gave a brief smile back and went back to bartending.
odd, y/n thought, but assumed it was because of how busy the pub was, her mind was probably on working.
.....................................................
"there's this new copper who's been on my ass." tommy said.
"that sucks. has he been sniffing around?" y/n asked.
"yes." he responded, taking a long drag out of his cigarette.
y/n noticed grace very clearly listening to their conversation.
"he's been asking me about, well, y'know." he continued. "they're taken care of, but still. he's onto me."
of course she knew. the guns. tommy had told her everything. his plan and why.
"that's enough about that." he ended. "how's your business, doctor?"
"it's going well." y/n chuckled. "i'm seeing entire lineages now."
"whiskey?" grace asked, coming over.
"no thank you." y/n smiled. "i should get home now."
tommy smiled and said goodbye. y/n thought that was odd, since usually tommy would've walked her out.
"thank you grace." she said, before leaving.
grace ignored her.
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y/n was sitting with the shelby's at the garrison. she noticed something about tommy, something odd. he straightened up whenever grace entered the room and he always smiled.
this wasn't the first odd thing tommy had done. since she came, he was at the pub more. he also took her to a horserace. not to mention, his eyes foretold a story between them. it had been a while since tommy looked at her that way.
but there was something odd about grace. she was always listening in and trying to get closer to tommy.
y/n asked to see tommy privately, and that's when she made her point.
"the barmaid, she seems suspicious. do you notice how she's always listening in and trying to get close to you? and how that copper start bothering you the same time she came here?" y/n said.
"her name's grace." tommy responded.
"yes, grace, seems odd." y/n corrected.
"what is it y/n? you can't stand there's another friend of mine?" he said, clearly aggravated.
"no, i don't care about that. i just don't want you to get hurt-"
"hurt? hurt is when i was in france." he interrupted.
"tommy, will you just try to listen?"
"to your bullshit? no." he said.
that hurt.
"you're free to leave." he said simply, taking a drag out of his cigarette.
y/n chuckled, and left.
.....................................................
can y/n say it came as a shock when tommy told her grace had betrayed him and fled the country? not really.
"i told you so." y/n said, plainly. "it was obvious."
tommy seemed pissed at that comment.
"that doesn't mean you can talk down on her." tommy stated.
"well tommy, you can't really control what i say and what i think." she responded back, beginning to get aggravated at his blindness. "and what i think is that grace is a traitor."
"what i think is that you should leave." he said.
"always running from the truth, now-a-days, aren't you?" she smiled, leaving.
y/n would be lying if she said she didn't go home that night and cry, because she did. why was tommy so wrapped around grace? had he fallen in love with her? no, no. it was probably just attraction. it had to be. right?
the next day, tommy apologized for being so harsh to her, and everything was back to normal. no more grace, no more deception, and no more stupidity.
.....................................................
y/n was still waiting for tommy to make it official, but he still hadn't. the war had been over for two years now. she had thought about tommy everyday for the past seven years.
she missed him, she missed what they used to have. it was almost midnight, and she decided she wanted to go see him. she couldn't keep waiting.
she called his number three times, but he didn't pick up, so she drove to his home, and knocked on the door. no answer. she was starting to get worried. she opened the door and walked in on something that made her stomach drop.
it was tommy with grace. and they were having sex on the sofa, and he whispered how much he loved her and how he thought of her everyday. it seemed they had finished, because now they were getting dressed. when tommy turned his head and saw y/n, his eyes grew wide.
y/n felt tears in her eyes and a lump in her throat.
he dragged her into his office.
"what the hell y/n! you can't just fucking barge into my house!" he yelled.
"i called you three times. i knocked on your door and waited outside for five minutes. with the life you live tommy, i got worried." she said, wiping her nose.
"y/n, you have to leave." he said. "i've got something here, and i can't lose it again."
again. y/n felt her stomach drop and her heart break into a thousand pieces.
"again?" she asked. "again! tommy, i have waited for you! i waited for seven fucking years, waiting for you to say you want to try something with me!" she yelled.
"do you not remember! do you not remember the night you got drafted, because i sure as hell do!" she screamed.
"y/n, calm down, you're going to scare grace-"
oh that sent her.
"grace! you think i give two fucks about grace! the one who deceived you, lied to you, manipulated you, and now comes running back!" she screamed even louder.
"i love her!" he yelled.
"you love her! you love her! than what about me!" y/n yelled, tears starting to flow. "what about every day and night i prayed for you during the war! what about every time i invited you to my house for supper! i have waited and waited for you to say that you love me and you just don't!"
tommy was silent.
"i have loved you throughout everything. i was always kind to you. i was good." she continued.
"i'm a bad man, y/n, we know this." he said.
"and i love you even though you're a bad man! you believed every one of her lies of all of my truths. and i still loved you! you kicked me out everytime i brought it up! and guess what? i still loved you."
tommy looked at her.
"who was there by your side when you were scared and alone? who was there every night when you got back from the war and had terrible nightmares? who was there taking care of finn while you were off at war, because i don't think it was fucking grace!"
"i'm sorry." he said.
"no you're not because if you were, you wouldn't have done this in the first place!" she screamed through tears.
"who was there thomas!" that was the first time she had said his full name. "i'm done. don't fucking call me, don't show up to my office, don't come near me. i'm done playing your dark and twisted games just for you to switch the rules so someone else wins. i'm done dealing with a different you every fucking night. i'm done."
thomas looked at her.
"who's it going to be?" y/n asked.
"so well." he responded.
y/n smiled and turned around to leave, but before she left, she said he final words to thomas.
"i'm never going to aid you again. whether it be in life or death."
that was the last conversation between y/n and thomas.
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Birmingham, 1924
"just have some soup and rest up, and you'll feel a lot better." y/n advised her last patient of the day.
work had become more of a thing for y/n after word of her spread all across birmingham, she was getting patients from everywhere. and for right reasons, she was a damn good doctor.
she walked them outside before sitting in the waiting room with her receptionist.
"thank you edward, you're free to leave." she said, smiling.
"see you tomorrow doctor." edward smiled as he exited.
y/n was left to close her office. she began putting files away and cleaning equiptment. the doors and windows were locked. the stationary was put away.
suddenly, she heard a loud knock on her door. she turned around to see a face she thought she'd never see again. she stared into his bright blue eyes for a moment, before realizing he was actually here, and that it was just a figment of her imagination.
y/n opened the small window on the door. she looked down to see him carrying grace. she had been very clearly shot.
"she might have a chance, please y/n."
"you chose her over me." y/n said, looking into his piercing blue eyes.
he froze.
"and i told you that very night, i would never aid you again, whether it be life or death." she reminded, shutting the window door.
he banged on the door, pleading. she shot him one last look before shutting the blinds, turning the lights off, and leaving out the back.
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everythingelseisextra · 8 months
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Part Eleven: You're Like Me
Description: After a miscommunication, Tommy apologizes in the only way he knows how. Warnings: Language, self-hatred, Thomas being inept at communication Word Count: 2439 Tag List: @theshelbyslimited @ttaechi @weaponizedvirtue @majesticcmey @optimisticsandwichgladiator @zablife @princesssterek @mm0thie @callsignvenus @ay0nha @mgdixon @babayaga67 @shelbydelrey @look-at-the-soul @globetrotter28
You are brave. You insist on this in the cab, and you insist on this when you walk up the driveway, and you insist on this when you knock on the door. You have courage. You think this as you settle in the dining room, at the edge of the long wooden table, the high ceiling and portraits and pale yellow lamps and grandfather clock making you small, insignificant. You speak with strength. You tell yourself this as Tommy walks in, checks on you, and all you can do is nod when he asks if you’re ready. You are worthy of him. This one is the hardest for you to master, the hardest for you to hold onto. You remind yourself this as you hear him greet her, hear their footsteps in the hallway.
When she appears in the doorway, all drawn back shoulders, piercing eyes and impeccable fashion, you lose all sense of yourself. You stand and bow your head, as if a queen has appeared in Arrow House, which in a way, she has. Like Tommy’s, her eyes flick over you like a cat watching a bird, that intensity and deep rooted sense of predatory analysis. She walks right up to you, and you resist the urge to step back, to remove yourself from her aura. 
“Polly Gray.” A cigarette dangles from her lips and her outstretched hand is steady, stable, while the one you reach out to shake with shakes slightly. When you don’t respond with your name, her thin smile widens slightly and she tilts her head. “And you are?”
You open your mouth to speak, to give her something, anything, and nothing comes out. Frustrated and embarrassed, you look to Tommy for help, but he gives the slight shake of his head, barely moving it. You’re on your own. 
Polly glances back at him, amusement in her sharp brown eyes. “Does she talk?”
“When she wants to.” His answer is immediate. His gaze flickers between the two of you, so neutral that you can’t read what he thinks, whether there’s shame in those deep blue eyes. Whether he regrets choosing you, out of all the women in Birmingham and England and Warwickshire. 
“Now would certainly be the time.” She looks back at you, expectant. “Have you not got anything to say for yourself?”
You bite your lip, gaze still on the ground beneath you, desperately wanting to speak, to be strong, to be the person you want to become. You know you can, know you’re capable, but your voice gets stuck and your heart freezes and your lungs stop working and suddenly you’re frozen in a panic you feel in your body but not in your mind. 
“I think speaking is a base-level necessity, Thomas.” She turns and starts the long walk out of the room, slowing as she passes him. “You could do better.”
“You don’t even know me.” You step forward, dragging your gaze off the ground to stare at the back of her head. She’s paused, listening as your cracked and clenched voice reaches her. “You have no idea what my life has looked like, and you decide that I’m not good enough just because I can’t always get the words out?”
She chuckles and turns to face you, that reserved smile back on her lips. “That’s more like it.” 
Your brow furrows. “Forgive me if I’m not as thrilled as you are.”
“Tommy told me you’d take some convincing. Worth the work, he said.” She moves back towards you, slow, languid, a panther pacing.
“Did he, now?” You shoot a look at him, and find his eyes away from you. “You planned this, did you?” 
He takes a drag from his cigarette, gaze still pointedly elsewhere. “Had to. Only way to get you talking.” 
“I see.” Your voice grows tight. “Was I all you expected, then, Mrs. Gray? Do I meet your expectations?” 
“It’s Polly.” Her smile stays, almost threatening in its own right, proof that no matter what you say, you will not shake the ground she stands on. “You don’t need to be like that. Tommy’s been needing a good woman on his arm. Glad to see he’s found one, after how the last one worked out.”
You laugh humorlessly. It’s supposed to be a compliment, you know this, but Polly also must know that any intelligent woman wants to be more than an ornament on a man’s arm, a trophy for him to parade. She underestimates you, views you as another pretty face, and you don’t know how to prove her otherwise. She’s not to be taken at face value, either. The Shelby’s, the whole lot of them, hide beneath a facade. Arthur’s is brute strength, John’s is humor, Tommy’s is intensity, and Polly’s is charm. Ada seems to be the only exception. 
“I think I do need to be like that, actually.” You cross your arms, fingers playing at the shirt you wear. “I’m stepping from one dangerous world to another. I’d rather keep my guard up, thanks.” 
“Danger comes from wanting more than what you have.” She glances at Tommy, quick and sweeping. “I doubt you’ll do that.” 
You’re at a loss for words. How do you explain to her that you never had the privilege of wanting more? How do you explain that you’re stuck as a child learning to crawl, and you can’t lift your head to see that others can walk? Her words point towards Tommy but squash you at the same time, making you simple and lesser.
“This is wanting more.” You look down. “This is more than I’ve ever had.” 
Your vulnerability earns you silence. You think that, in their world, no one wants to admit that they’ve been hurt, that they’ve been on the ground looking up at the sky, wishing they could fly like the birds. No one wants to admit that they’re human. And you just did exactly that. After a moment, you look up at them, afraid of what you’ll see but even more afraid of what you might miss. 
Polly’s eyes lock onto Thomas’. Quiet communication flows between them, something so quick that you can’t follow. Within a couple seconds, Tommy gives her a subtle nod, and she sighs. Her eyes shift back to you, searching your face for something. You swallow hard. Keep your head up, your shoulders back. Meet her eyes and let her peer into you. 
“I hope you know what you’re getting into,” she says to you, her tone softer than before, more welcoming. 
“I do.” You think it might be a lie. You think you’re stepping into a storm that you’ve never weathered before, thinking that you can save yourself while battling the wind.  
“And you.” She turns to face Tom again. “I hope you tell her what you’re doing.”
“I do.” His eyes flick to yours, and you immediately look away. You don’t feel warm towards him at the moment, don’t feel like allowing him the privilege of silent connection. 
“Alright.” She smiles faintly at you, then turns to start her walk out of the room. “Then my job here is done. See you at the meeting, Tom.” 
You watch her go, your heart in your throat. You close your eyes and fall into a brief fantasy where everything is simple and everything is good. In this world you aren’t battered or bruised, aren’t scarred or scared, and you’re brave enough to speak without being manipulated to do so. In this world you know that his ‘I do’ was not a lie like yours. In this dream you hold a knife and your hand does not shake when you lift it.
Tommy clears his throat and you open your eyes and the world of your creation disappears, and you’re left with the coldness of the dining room, the emptiness of the fifty seats, all but one unoccupied. You sit back down and place your head in your hands, your elbows on your knees. 
“Thomas,” you say, a little hesitant, a little scared. Now that Polly is gone, now that your own mask has dropped, there’s hollowness to your chest and a strange pulling sensation on your eyes, like you haven’t slept in days. “Am I just… work to you?” 
He stays where he is, leaning against the wall to your right, his suit jacket in one hand and his cigarette in the other. As usual, he seems to be searching for something in your expression, eyes observing the subtle changes in your face like one would study a newly-discovered animal. His jaw works slightly and he looks away. “Sometimes you are. Sometimes you aren’t.” 
You look down at your hands in your lap, your fingers pulling at each other until they hurt, then relaxing. “Oh.”
“Everything’s fucking work.” He gestures vaguely, voice too tense to be calm but too casual to be conflict.
“I’m not supposed to be work,” you say quietly. “I’m not supposed to be part of that.” 
He pauses, dropping his arm with the cigarette to his side and furrowing his brow slightly. He opens his mouth to speak, but you stand and speak before he can. 
“I need to get to the horses. I better go.” You start for the door, half hoping he’ll follow you, try to convince you to stay, but he doesn’t. He stays where he is, watching you go in silence, his brow still furrowed in that strange, almost confused expression. 
You work in the orange hour of the evening, sweating and thirsty and hungry and ignoring all of it. Work, work, work, all of it a reminder that you yourself take up too much energy, that you’re a burden on those around you. You squint in the falling light and convince yourself that the extra liquid in your eyes comes from the dryness of the coming cold. 
You thought that, maybe, he’d tolerate you. That his lying and stealing and cheating and all the crime that creep through his bones would balance you out. That all the pent-up anger and vulnerability and broken promises and the gentleness of your touch would make up for the fact that it was you he was looking at, you he was pursuing. You didn’t want to be saved, you wanted to feel worthy of being saved. 
You’re a chore. You’re work. 
You retire to your house long after the sun has set, wiping the sweat from your brow and skipping the bath to crawl into bed. You don’t close your eyes. Staring out at the stars in the sky, wondering whether you’ll ever be small enough to fit into someone’s life. You’re a broken thing, and yet, you stare out at the sky like you did when you were a child, wanting to touch the stars even if they burned you. 
A few hours later, the clattering of machinery and the steady pound of horse hooves outside your house disturbs your stupor. You sit up in bed, trying to see through the haze of night. Squinting, the shape of a horse-drawn carriage comes vaguely into view. You catapult out of bed, pulling clothes on haphazardly, and your bare feet patter down on the cold wooden floor as you make your way to the kitchen. You unlock a drawer, open it, and pull out a gun, ready to defend yourself, unwilling to be a victim in your own home. 
You rush out into the night, and freezing air hits your face. You’re not dressed for the cold, wearing a simple short-sleeved shirt and pants. You hold the gun up, aiming carefully at the carriage from the doorstep, waiting for someone to draw a bead on. 
“Put the gun down.” Tommy’s voice calls from the carriage. You do as he says, stepping back into your house to place it back in its drawer. When you come back out, your eyes fall on a gleaming white horse, elegant and seemingly glowing in the night. 
“What the fuck?” You step down onto the driveway, slowly approaching Tommy, who holds the horse’s lead rope loosely, allowing him to hold his head up high, staring out into the darkness. 
“You didn’t get a horse from the track.” His quiet, irritatingly calm voice answers your question smoothly. “Figured you could use someone helping you.” 
“Tommy.” Conflicting thoughts bounce through your skull. You don’t want to see him, not after what he said, but he’s brought you a horse all the way from the racetrack, something that usually costs you a few months worth of savings. You open your mouth, then close it and shake your head, not knowing what to say. 
“His track name is ‘Watch Me Forever.’” He reaches out a hand to stroke the stallion’s neck. “Needs a barn name.” 
“This is the gray you liked. The one with the broken leg.”
“Paid to have it fixed. A few months of recovery and he’ll be ready.” 
“Tommy.” You resist the urge to punch his chest. “You can’t just do that!”
“Why not?”
“Now I’m— I’m in debt to you.” You shake your head. “You can’t do this.”
The stallion’s neck arches and he reaches down his soft pink nose to sniff at you, ears forward, eyes soft. Tommy is quiet for a moment, and all that’s heard between you is the warm breath of the horse. 
When he speaks, it’s not the usual, well thought out, precisely planned phrasing. It’s awkward and rambling and, you have to admit, endearing. “Gentling a horse is work. It’s not easy. Teaches you more about yourself than it does about the damn horse. Makes you a better person; more patient, kinder. It’s— It’s work, but if I could choose between that and anything else, I’d choose the horse every fucking time. Does this make any sense?” 
You stare at him, and a weight lifts off of you. “Yes. I think it does.” 
His eyes search your face, soft and beseeching. “You understand me?” 
“Thank you for explaining what you meant, Tom. I forgive you. I—” You hold back the cliches bubbling in your throat, trying to push you to say something too soon, too recklessly. “I understand you.” 
He nods, looking as relieved as you feel. His eyes turn back to the stallion, his posture straightening, his expression moving back to something harsher, more businessman-like.  “What will you call him, then?”
“I think… I think Iris is good.” You stroke his soft nose, looking at his eyes, one blue, one brown
“That’s a woman’s name.” 
“It’s a fucking flower, Tom. Flowers don’t have gender.”
He shrugs. “Iris it is, then. Iris it is.”
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cissyenthusiast010155 · 3 months
Note
Ask and you shall receive :)
2,5,6 + "you like my name? Ok, then moan it." With Polly Gray
Thank you ❤️
Snowed In, Let Me Show you How it’s Done ~Polly Gray xFem Younger(20s)!Reader ~Holiday Bingo
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Summary— Polly, the Shelby’s, and Reader, Esme’s cousin, are all stuck in the Shelby Birmingham home due to a show storm. Sparks fly between you and Polly. Anon Response— Hi hi anon!! Thanks for the request. I can absolutely write this! Hope you Enjoy ♥️
Previous Day <—found here!
Holiday Bingo <—Here!!
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Mommy… Master List
Requests & Prompt-List
Prompt— Snowed In/Blizzard & “You like my name? Ok, then moan it.”
#2. “Be a good girl and tie yourself to the bed posts”
#5. “Shut up and kiss me already”
#6. “My eyes are up here”
Warnings: NSFW, 18+!!, smut, age gap (all legal), grinding, eating out, fingering, restraint use, gagging, ball gagging use, teasing, kissing, semi-public teasing, flustering, praise, implied praise kink, implied gagging kink, etc.
Enjoy (;
All the Shelby’s and associates pent up in the Birmingham house was bound for chaos. It was a blizzard. The worst of its kind to ever cross over all of England. And it was hitting Birmingham hard.
The kids were running all around the house, until eventually Arthur shut them up inside the living room, so that the adults could discuss in peace in the betting room.
Aunt Pol sat in her chair in the middle of the big centerpiece table, smoking and chuckling to herself as she watched the hectic dysfunction. Being snowed in was certainly free entertainment for the older woman.
You stood uncomfortably in the corner of the room, unsure of what to do. You were Esme’s cousin, and Esme had invited you over, as she often did. Now you were stuck in the house, with the Shelby’s.
Polly scanned the room and each person her gaze met, before landing on you. She smoked some more and puffed the smoke up in the air, her gaze still on you. Her free hand on the table indicated for you to join her at the table, along with a slight nod of her head.
You timidly came forward, sitting and angling yourself next to the woman with crossed legs. You blushed lightly under the woman’s eyes. The room was anything but silent, but Polly’s silence made all the over sound drown out.
“Your Esme’s cousin, Y/N… right?” She spoke, in a low and inquisitive tone and taking another puff.
“Yes” you said quietly, your head low as you nodded.
“We’ve never officially met…” Aunt Pol hummed, “I’m Polly. Family calls me Aunt Pol.”
Her free hand was now out underneath her table, offering to shake yours. You took a breath, extending your hand and taking hers to shake it. Her grasp was direct and firm, but not overbearing like most of the hands you’d shook. And her hands were silky to the touch, yet still thoroughly worked and rough. The contrast made your head spin.
Hell, her entire demeanor alone just made you dizzy in the head…
Once you let her hand, you immediately missed her touch. But you didn’t have to wait long for more, as Polly’s hand then landed on the knee of your crossed leg. Your breath hitched lightly and you blushed even harder. Polly leaned in closer, and her tone went lower and quieter.
“Tell me about yourself, Darling.”
You gulped and your eyes widened slightly.
How could you refuse this woman..?
“Um…. Well I…” you stammered, your attention and eyes diverted to the woman’s hand slowly creeping up your leg, closer and closer to your inner thigh.
“My eyes are up here…” Polly hums teasingly.
Your eyes shot back up to Polly’s gaze, as they widened even more.
“Sorry Polly…” you whimper, “I… I was married, b-but he died… in the war.”
Polly’s eyes softened, and her hand on your thigh started to rub and caress you caringly.
“Oh Love, I’m sorry… I understand some, my husband died as well.” She cooed softly.
You took a deep breath.
“It’s alright, actually a pretty good thing… he wasn’t… the best…” you quietly admitted.
You tried to convey your certain sense of dislike for your husband, which Polly immediately picked up on.
“Never did the trick, huh…?” She bluntly said, with a teasing edge to her tone.
Your blush tenfolded at her words, and her hand had continued its teasing once more. You shook your head lightly in embarrassment.
“No need to be embarrassed, Love…” Polly immediately cooed, “When’s the last time?”
Her fingers tipped against your closed thighs. You immediately uncrossed your legs, opening them up to the other woman’s access. Polly hummed in satisfaction of your immediate obedience.
“With him. Years ago…” you whispered.
Polly’s eyes widened and her mouth threatened to drop in light shock, instead she took another puff of smoke before smushing the cigarette against the table, effectively putting it out.
Her fingers had crept in your dress and were running light circles over your clothed clit. You sucked in a breath and resisted the urge to roll her eyes back and let out a breathy moan.
“We’ll probably be in this mess for a while… Want help…?” Polly suggestively cooed.
“Ah—I…” you breathily stammered in a groan., “Y-yes please…”
Suddenly her touch was gone, her hand back in her own lap. Polly’s hand on the table reached over and clasped your wrist, tight but not one but painful.
“Upstairs, last room to the right. Left side drawer…” Polly purred in your ear, “Be a good girl and tie yourself to the bed posts.”
Your breath hitched and you nodded slowly.
“Yes Polly…” you whimpered.
You left the betting room first to go up the stairs, and entering into Polly’s room. You look around, finding the bed and immediately stripping down to your undergarments. You got on the bed, reaching into the left side drawer and pulling out some ribbon ties.
Polly left to join you a couple minutes later. She walked into her room, closing and locking the door behind her. Her eyes landed on the sight of you, with one hand tied to the metal head of the bed while struggling to tie your other hand to the opposite end of the metal. Polly smirked.
She had you all to herself. And none in the house, adult or child, was the wiser…
Polly came up to the side of the bed that you couldn’t quite tie your hand to, taking the tie from you.
“Let me.” She said, helping you tie it. She took that moment to allow her gaze to sweep up and down your undressed body. She bit her lip in satisfaction.
Polly then backed away to the edge of the bed to fully examine you. You wiggled against your ties, squirming underneath the woman’s gaze.
“Please Polly…” you whimpered. Polly chuckled. Her gaze made it feel like she was about to pounce on you. And oh how you wanted that so badly…
But instead, the older woman stayed standing before the edge of the bed, as she began stripping. She took off every last piece of clothing, slowly and tantalizingly. You bit your lip, yet still unsuccessful as the whimpers and groans still left your lips.
Polly loved all the sounds she was drawing from you. Finally, she was completely out of clothes to disrobe out of. And the woman finally got on the bed, and crawled up to you.
You immediately opened your legs wide for the woman to crawl in between. Polly did so happily. She hovered over you, her gaze going once more up and down your figure, looking like she was ready to eat you up.
“Do you care about your undergarments…?” Polly inquisitively and lustfully cooed, her eyes darkening as she gazed down at the little clothing you still had on.
“Mmmm not really, cost a bit…” you groaned, arching up into the woman, desperate for any touch. You already knew that her touch made you dizzy. The she made your mind go fuzzy. You wanted more. You wanted her to make you silly, to go dumb from her touch.
“Hmmmm, you’ll have to be quiet…” Polly purred, “Can’t have the family catching on…”
“Mhmmmm just shut up and kiss me already Polly please—!” You groaned, tugging against your restraints again.
Polly only chuckled and pulled away, making you lose hope of any and all touch in the near future. She sat herself at the back of the bed, barely in between your feet.
“Tsk tsk tsk, that’s no way to ask for something, Darling… Use your manners.” Polly cooed wickedly.
“I—no I’m sorry…! Sorry please come back Polly— Need you close please” you stuttered out, your face going deep red as the older woman watched you intently.
She quirked an eyebrow at you. Polly then got on all fours and stalked back up to you, hovering above you once more. She had undone her pinned curls when she had stripped, so as she lowered herself to you, her haired angel’s angelically around her face.
Then Polly’s lips were on yours. It was no question that she was in charge, and that she was dominating the kiss. Your heart was racing at the feeling of her again. You moaned lightly into the kiss, happily letting the older woman take the lead. But she pulled away too fast, making you only want more or her even more so.
“You like my name, Darling…? Alright, then moan it.” Polly purred wickedly.
Your eyes widened and you gulped.
Polly then began kissing and sucking marks on your skin, along your neck and shoulders. She hit the sensitive spot on your collar bone, making you squirm against her and the ties.
“Ahhhhh P-polly…!!” You moaned out.
“Hmmmmm, good girl…” the older woman hummed, continuing her markings along your skin.
Without warning, the woman tore your bra right off you with a quick tug and snap. It was thrown aside with ease. You gasped and were pretty sure that the clasp had broken from it. But before you could voice your complaint, Polly’s hot mouth was latched around your left nipple.
“Ahhh..Mmmm—! Pol…!!” You squeaked out in light shock but even greater pleasure.
“I’ll buy you a new one…” Polly cooed, as she switched to your other perked bud.
As she focused her attention and her tongue on your right nipple, one of her hands slipped down your frame and to your knickers. She bit down on your bud, while ripping your knickers with ease. You yelped and arched your back up into Polly in response.
Arching your hips, Polly was able to remove your knickers and throw those to the aside as well.
“I’ll buy you a new set…” Polly purred, moving off your tits with her tongue, and starting her journey further down south, where you so desperately needed the woman.
Finally, her tongue reached your lower patch of curls. Polly hummed in delight as she dipped her tongue into your folds. You arched your back and bucked your hips up to the woman’s face, pulling again against your restraints.
“Yes yes yes Polly please don’t sttopp—!!” You cried out, so happy to have the feeling of a woman’s touch once again.
“Shhhhh, don’t make me gag you, Love…” Polly hummed through your folds.
You bit your lip and whimpered, “Sorry Polly…”
“Hmmmm, it’s alright…” Polly cooed, now latching her lips on your clit and sucking.
Your eyes rolled back and your hips jerked up.
“Ohhhhhh GOD Pol—!!!” You practically screamed.
Polly pulled away slightly with a chuckle, reaching for her drawer. You gasped and gulped, realizing how loud you had just been.
“I—I’m sorry fuck sorry sorry Polly—” you rambled.
Polly chuckled darkly, pulling out a ball gag from the drawer.
“Know what this is…?”
Your eyes widened and you nodded.
“I’m not afraid to put it on you if you can’t be quiet, understand Darling…?” Polly purred in your ear.
You gulped and nodded vigorously.
“I understand Polly…” you whimpered.
“Good girl.” Polly hummed, placing the ball gag right next to your head as a reminder.
She lowered herself back down to your core, immediately dipping her tongue into your sex, making you arch your back once more and whimper out in pleasure.
Polly now began eating you out a ruthless pace. Her tongue sloshed in and out of your cunt, and while one hand held your thighs firmly from crushing her head, her other hand was in between your legs, her thumb working your clit.
Your legs shook and you bit your lip to muffle the cry that tore through you as you came for the first time that snowed in day. Your eyes rolled back and you lost your composure, groaning too loudly for how thin the walls were.
But Polly was swift. While her tongue fucked you through your first orgasm, the finger on your clit quickly got stuffed into your mouth, effectively muffling your cries as you came down from your high. Once Polly was sure your high had teetered out, she removed her fingers from your mouth and brought herself back up to your upper body.
She chuckled and grabbed the ball gag. You whimpered and begged the woman with your eyes. But the way your legs were rubbing together in need of friction and the way your body arched upward to the woman told Polly that you didn’t mind the gag one bit. She positioned the ball gag around your head so that the ball was placed perfectly in your mouth.
Your eyes pled Polly for more.
“Now we can actually begin…” Polly teased you, “And I can make you drool much easier…” she added with a wink.
You groaned, which easily got muffled by the ball gag, so instead you ground your hips up against Polly’s legs.
“Alright alright…” Polly chuckled, positioning her legs entangled with yours so that her cunt could easily grind against yours.
Polly rolled her hips, creating a delicious friction in between your cunts, making your pull harshly against your ties as your eyes rolled back. You immediately and wildly bucked your own hips back.
Polly smirked and kept a strong yet slow tempo of grinding her sex against yours. It was slowly corroding your sense of competency and self. Meanwhile, her hand wandered up your figure and pinched your nipples without warning, sending jolts of hot pleasure coursing through your veins, along with the slowly building pleasure of the grinding.
You yelped, whimpered, and moaned out loudly, but it was all muffled by the gag. And this only seemed to spur Polly on even more. Polly’s grindings began to speed up and to become more sloppy. Before you knew it, you were crashing over the edge once more. And Polly was right behind you.
She collapsed on top of you, your legs still entangled. You loved the feeling of the woman skin on skin with you. It made you terribly needy and your body sparked with pleasure.
Polly was quick to sit back up, this time straddling your stomache. Her breathing was labored and she looked angelic in her post-orgasmic sheen of sweat. Her pupils were big and dark, starring down at you.
She continued to met your gaze, as her hand slithered behind her and in between your legs. Her fingers met your slick and sensitive sex, and you immediately bucked and jerked your hips in response, still sensitive from the last two orgasms.
“Want more, Love…?” Polly breathlessly and lustfully cooed.
You nodded vigorously, your whole body still on edge from your last high. Polly wasted no time in plunging two fingers into your core. Your eyes rolled back as you adjusted to her manicured digits. She began to pump and curl her fingers inside you. Your hips eagerly met her hand with similar rhythmic thrusts.
You closed your eyes from how overstimulating it was all starting to be. Polly slid a third finger inside you.
“Nuh uh… Eyes open. Look at me.” Polly tutted, punctuating her sentences with a pointed curl each time.
Your toes curled in delight with each thrust, and your legs started to shake again. You pulled against your ties, and you moaned desperately as you got dangerously close to your next orgasm. Polly could tell.
“Cum for me, Love.” She cooed.
That was all you needed to topple over the edge and scream your way through your high. All of which was gagged of course. But it didn’t make it any less of entertainment for Polly.
She grinned wickedly, as she swiped touting your folds afterwards, making you nearly start to cry at how raw and sensitive you were. If you could have begged for her to stop, you would have, but at the same time, you wanted to bed for more.
Polly decided for you, getting off of you, and going to undo your ties. She kissed your wrists as she undid them from their ribbon restraints. She took off the gag, then Polly went to grab a washcloth, so that she could clean you up. After she had payed the power attention to you, she lit a cigarette and sat next to you in the bed.
She smoked the cigarette with a long puff, sighing in satisfaction. Your heart was still racing and you were still electrified with pleasure. Polly pulled you into her lap.
“You did really good.” She hummed, then offering you a smoke, which you politely declined.
“Thanks…” you bashfully murmured, your red face returning to you.
“Such a good girl…” Polly cooed, making you go beet red in the face, making the older woman giggle.
~~~
Next Holiday Bingo <—Here!!
Polly Gray Masterlist
Holiday Bingo 2023 Masterlist
Tag List: @storiesofsvu @willowshadenox @vexed-jade @lunala-rose23 @aemilia19 @sapphixwriter
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call-sign-shark · 6 months
Text
The Month of Sin Masterpost
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A masterpost for all the works that are related to the requests sent for event “Peaky Blinders Kinktober”.
If you want me to add you in the taglist so that you don’t miss the kinky and steamy stories, please comment or reblog this post. It’s even more important considering how Tumblr tends to mess with us lately.
Thank you again for your participation, you’re the best community ever and I hope I’ll do Justice to your fantasies.
Taglist: @emotionalcadaver @peakyswritings @mollybegger-blog @hwangrimi @munson24 @tommyshelbywhore @devotedlyshadowytheorist @stevie75 @brummiereader @triplethreat77 @sebastianstangirl01 @izzy10369 @kimvolturicullen @peakyltd @dreamy-caramel @lanadelreylover010 @anime-lover-forever-1127 @2pacl0ve
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Day 1: BREATHE - Breathe With Me (Tommy x Reader)
Day 2: CUT - Cut Your Wings (Alfie x Reader)
Day 3: MARKED - Engraved in The Flesh (Finn x Reader)
Day 4: AFTER CARE with Finn
• with May
Day 5: ROPE BUNNY with Arthur
Day 6: DRUNK with Tommy
Day 7: BLINDFOLD with John
• with Aberama
Day 8: CREAMPIE with John
Day 9: PRAISE with Bonnie
Day 10: SIZE with Alfie
• with Luca
Day 11: POWER with Michael
Day 12: ORAL with Bonnie
Day 13: BREEDING with Alfie
Day 14: BLOOD with Tommy
Day 15: TAMED with Arthur
Day 16: DENIAL with Tommy
Day 17: DADDY with Michael
• with Aberama
• with Alfie
• with Arthur
Day 18: PUBLIC with John
Day 19: THREESOME with Tommy and ??
Day 20: LEASH with Arthur
Day 21: KNIFE with Isaiah
Day 22: STRIP with John
Day 23: OVERSTIMULATION with Tommy
Day 24: CAR with Tommy
Day 25: PUNISHMENT with John
Day 26: WORSHIP with Luca
Day 27: BEGGING with Tommy
Day 28: CORRUPTION with Arthur
Day 29: BLASPHEMY with Arthur
Day 30: AGE GAP - Tangled Desires
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unknowntoyou2205 · 11 months
Text
Never threaten with the Shelby sister (1/2)
Info: Tommy Shelby never believed y/n when she said a guy had threatened her life for something her brother did, but she realizes the truth when it's too late.
Relationship: Tommy Shelby x sister
Masterlist
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Y/n Shelby lived a completely different life to her brothers, when she finished school she went on to college and got a nurses degree and moved on to get an actual job instead of the gangsta life her brothers lived. Growing up y/n was always protected by her brothers, when they came home from the war Tommy did all he could to prevent his sister from seeing the life he had when he was abroad at war. He tried to keep her away from the life he and his brothers lived, but ultimately he couldn't prevent his enemies from knowing that he had younger siblings, and that his prized possesion was the baby of the group, Y/n Shelby. Everyone knew that y/n was the apple in Tommys eyes and that if they even came close to hurting her, they would pay. Though perhaps not everyone did, or some were more daring than the others.
Y/n finished up her shift and started making her way home from the hospital. Rooting through her bags fro the house keys she didn't realize that there was someone behind her until she was grabbed and pulled backwards into an alley way. Y/n tried to dig her heals into the ground to prevent her attacker from taking her when two men came and grabbed her from her attacker, pinning her to the wall and allowing her head to smack against the bricks. She groaned as her vision blurred before clearing, only to see a man come into vision.
"Ahh the young shelby girl, guess th rumours are true when they say you've got the body that men crave." THe man taunted her, coming closer to her face.
"Who the hell are you?" Y/n demanded to know, also moving her head closer to the man only for him to push it back into the wall.
"You don't know me but your brother dure does. I believe his name is Tommy Shelby."
Y/n went to move her knee up to the mans crotch but the man seen her intention and grabbed her leg before she could move, and smirked as he placed it up around his waist.
"Now now, be nice, we just need you to bring Tommy boy a little message from us. Tell him that if he doesn't give back what is mine, his dearest sister will pay the price." The man spoke, bringing a hand up to grab y/ns chin, before moving her head to place a kiss to her cheek.
"Who are you?" Y/n asked again, her voice trembling a bit.
"Doesn't matter who I am, your brother will know when you pass on the message." The man spoke before nodding to the two men who had her pinned to the wall "Let her go."
Y/n gasped as the men pushed her away from the wall and onto the ground, winching upon impact. She glanced up at the men who attacked her as they laughed and left her there to gather herself up and head on home.
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Tommy Shelby sat at the kitchen table with a cigarette in his mouth and a glass of whiskey in his hand as he waited for his youngest sibling to come home. Usually, when he came home late at night, y/n would be in the kitchen waiting for him to get home and make sure he ate before leaving for bed. She would tell him about any troubles she had in her day of work and in turn he would tell her how well they got on with the gambling business that day. Some days he would walk her home from work and they would stop at the stables to see his horses, and y/n would get up on one and they’d go for a short run before heading home to Grace and Charles for dinner.
Today however, none of that happened. When Tommy went to surprise his sister outside the local hospital one of her colleagues told him that she had finished earlier today and had made her way home but when he got home the only people there were Grace and their son. Which is why he was now in his seat at the kitchen table awaiting the sound of the key in the door. But when one hour turned to two, Tommy grew worried and got up to go look for her. He had just grabbed his coat when he heard the front door open and y/n stepped through it, her work dress dirty and hair out of place.
Y/n sat at the kitchen table and placed her hands on her face, sighing in frustration as the tears  began to fall down her cheeks. She looked up at the pot that began to boil as her vision was clouded with tears, afraid for what would happen if Tommy didn’t soon believe her.
“Tommy.” Y/n spoke ,relieved to see him.
“Where the fuck have you been?” Tommy cursed at his sister, and y/n flinched at the harsh tone he used  at her.
“Tommy, let me explain.” y/n stated, hanging up her coat and heading towards the kitchen, Tommy following.
“Please do, why were you out this late. I went to walk you home from work only for one of the nurses you work with to tell me that you finished early today. So imagine my surprise when I got home to see that you weren’t here either. I was expecting the worst till you just strolled in as nothing happened.” Tommy raged to his sister as she filled the pot with water to boil for some tea.
“Oh a lot has happened trust me. This man…”
“Your seeing a man and he made you late is it? Well I want to see this man and…”
“Tommy no, it’s really nothing like that. This group of men attacked me and this man threatened me, told me to tell you that if you don’t give back what’s his than your dearest sister will pay the price.”
So it was a group of men now. I think your trying to cover for where you actually were.”
“No Tommy I’m not. I think this man was serious. Whatever you took from him he wants back.” Y/n stated, moving to lean against the table as she looked at her brother.
“And who was this man y/n? Who threatened your life if I don’t give back what’s his hmm?” Tommy asked, narrowing his eyes at y/n.
“I dunno, he said you’d know who he was when I told you.” Y/n shrugged her shoulders, looking at her brother with pleading eyes.
“Thomas, what’s going on?” Grace asked as she came down the stairs to the kitchen where Tommy stared at his sister.
“Nothing love, let’s head to bed.” Tommy stated, heading towards Grace and following her out of the kitchen.
“Tommy please, I really don’t think this guy is fooling around. He seemed dead serious of what will happen.” Y/n pleaded with her brother as she moved to the kitchen door.
“Right y/n, and I am dead serious, get rid of the man before I find out who your getting involved with.” Tommy stated, pointing a finger at his sister before heading upstairs with Grace.
“I’m not fooling around with anyone.” Y/n cried out but her cried fell on deaf ears.
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Three days later y/n was on getting ready for work. The last few days had been emotional to say the least. Tommy still refused to believe her and as a result, Grace had asked her to leave their house for to allow things to cool down as their conflict was starting to effect Charles. So y/n had returned back to Pollys home where she had consoled in her aunt about what was happening. Y/n feared for what could happen if Tommy soon didn’t believe her and Polly was running out of ways to comfort her youngest niece. Polly couldn’t believe that Tommy didn’t believe his sister, the same sister that stuck by his side at his worst.
Shouting bye to Polly and grabbing her lunch for the day, y/n began to make her way to work for the day. Polly had asked Michal to walk his cousin to work so the young man was trailing behind her to allow her some space. As they turned the corner to the hospital y/n can’t help but stop as she felt someone was watching her. She looked around to see if she could see anyone, and as Michal went to ask her what was wrong a shot was heard. Y/n and Michal ducked their heads as Michal ran towards y/n, trying to get her to safety. He pushed her onto the ground behind a car as a figure came into view.
Y/n looked to the left of the car to see another man from before coming towards them. She hit Michal’s arm to catch his attention as the man lifted his gun towards her.
“Y/n Shelby, I tried to warn you.” The man called out, taking a shot to the ground close to where the duo hid.
“I tried to tell him, he wouldn’t listen to me. Please, leave me be.” Y/n called out to the man with a shaky voice.
“Who is he?” Michal asked his cousin, seeing the look of fear present on her face.
“I dunno, someone Tommy crossed.” Y/n shrugged before flinching as a bullet went through the window above them.
The two covered their heads with their arms as glass showered them and Michal got out his gun.
“Since when do you have a gun?” Y/n whisper shouted at her younger cousin.
“Tommy gave it to me. Told me I was a Shelby so needed one for the family business.” Michal explained briefly as he peaked over the cars bonnet to see if he could see where the man was.
“Yeah, family business is great alright.” Y/n muttered, “Does aunt Pol know?”
“Yeah.” Michal spoke before taking a shot in the direction of the man.
All y/n could hear were bangs continuously going off. Pain encased her body as another shot was fired in her direction, hitting her in the stomach and she cried out, gaining the attention of her cousin. Michal glanced down at the girl his aunt told to protect when he felt something hit his shoulder. He groaned in pain and looked up to see the men fall to the ground as another bang was heard, and Michal turned his attention to his cousin as she struggled on the ground.
“Michal…” Y/n tried to get her cousins attention before a sharp pain was felt on her shoulder.
“What?” Michal asked before seeing the other man.
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Thomas Shelby was a man of many things, and one things that was known was his ability to be stubborn. Never would you hear him apologize for his actions or admit if he was wrong. But this changed when it came to his youngest sibling. Y/n took out the best of him, so after their falling out and y/n leaving the manor, Tommy’s attitude became more rigid. No one was an exception to the hot worded conversations he gave, and his aunt was no exception.
And so, he did. Tommy stared at his aunt for a few minutes before sighing in frustration and grabbing his coat, putting on his cap as he left. Hands in his pockets, Tommy strolled along the back alley towards the hospital where y/n work. But the sight he seen wasn’t one he expected. One-minute he seen y/n and Michal were walking towards the hospital, the nest gun shots were heard and the two were ducking their heads as they ran to a random car for cover. Tommy looked around and seen no one, but grabbed his gun as he moved closer to the scene. Two men came into his vision and his blood ran cold, realizing who it was. Glaring ahead of him, he raised his hand, shooting towards the men, wounding one on impact. Hearing a gasp, he recognized the voice as y/n and instantly ran closer to the other man, causing him to turn and look at the Shelby man who pointed the gun at him.
“Thomas Shelby, I am very disappointed in you. Disregarding your sister like that.”  Polly exclaimed to her nephew as she walked into the manor.
“If this is about y/n and her attitude than I don’t want to hear about it.” Tommy stated sharply, causing Polly to tut in disapproval.
“Oh you will listen to me Tommy, because you and I both know that y/n doesn’t easily become scared, and I have never seen her as scared as she has been since them men threatened her for your stupidity.”
“I’m sure she’s fine Pol, she’ll get over it.” Tommy rolled his head up before lighting his cigarette.
“Go to her Tommy, see for yourself.” Polly stated, staring hard at Tommy.
“Never threaten the Shelby sister.” Tommy stated before pulling the trigger, the man dropping to the ground.
Part 2
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Clementina pt2
A/n: thank you for the support in the likes and comments on pt1, it means so much to me.it looks like this series will have three or four parts. I DO NOT GIVE PERMISSION FOR YOU TO REPOST THIS ON OTHER WEBSITES AND TRANSLATION OF THIS FIC.
Pt1: pt3: pt4
T.W: violence, blood, details of child abuse, nun being misogynistic.
Summery: The Shelby family are in for a shock when they find out they have a sister hiding in plain sight.
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Word count: 1,567
The sound of two cars racing up the makeshift road that leads to St Hilda’s orphanage catches the attention of a group of older girls, ordered by the mother superior to get the milk that was left by the milkman, who delivers twenty boxes of milk to the orphanage weekly. The youngest girl in the group watched as the two black cars swerve around the corner, the grounds keeper barely having enough time to open the gates for the speeding cars.
The elderly grounds keepers eyes widen as he watches the cars pass by him “Bloody hell, it's Thomas Shelby” he states, his fragile legs beginning to run in the opposite direction. He knew that wherever Tommy Shelby goes, there is trouble.
The cars park outside of the double doors of the orphanage, the girls still stood there holding some of the boxes of milk, watching the man in a long black coat and a peaked cap step out of the first car with an older woman wearing a long red coat and a black hat climbing out after him. The oldest out of the girls gasp quietly “ it’s the peaky blinders” she whispers, the other girls look towards her then back at Tommy and Polly “ sister Wilson” the girls call out as they rush into the building. Leaving most of the boxes of milk outside.
Tommy grabs a cigarette out of his pocket and lights it, looking up at the building, blowing out some smoke before Polly starts to talk “ there are children around Thomas, be mindful” she warns. The sound of a car door slamming shut ,Arthur getting out of the other car, makes Tommy glance at Arthur then back towards the double doors , not answering Polly back but starts to walk towards the doors.
Just before Tommy could knock on the old oak doors, a youngish nun opens it quickly. She looks up at Tommy and her eyes immediately take on a haunted look “ Mr Shelby” she gulps “ we weren’t expecting another meeting quite so soon” she fretted.
“ nor was I, but you and your mother superior kept something from us” he answered, his eyebrows raising slightly as he spoke.
Polly hums beside Tommy “ may we come in?” She asked, her voice indicating that it was more of a demand than a question.
The young nun nods “ of course, how rude of me” her hands shake as she slides open the door wider to let them in “ mother superior is in her office, I’ll go inform her that you are here” the nun announced before tilting her head down and quickly walking away, turning the corner to the corridor that presumably holds the offices of the nuns.
Polly looks around at the foyer of the orphanage, a large stair case to the left of them most likely leads to the school rooms, bedrooms and bathrooms of the children that live here “ your sister lives in a fuckin shithole” she grumbles. Before anyone could reply, mother superior walks around the corner, she stops for a second as she glances between the three people she least wanted to see today.
“ Mr Shelby, Mrs Gray” she greets them, smiling slightly and wipes her hands on her black habit “ what may we do for you..again” she asks, her voice laced with annoyance.
Tommy casually blows a cloud of smoke from his mouth into the nuns face, causing her to cough slightly and waft the smoke away with her hand “ you have a secret and I would like to know why you kept it to yourself ” he retorted, Arthur walks around the foyer, looking around to make sure that nothing seemed suspicious.
Mother superior glances at Arthur before she continues to speak “ everyone has secrets Mr Shelby, i don't see why it is of importance for you to disturb breakfast hour” she bespoke, her shoulders raising slightly as she lets out a quiet huff.
Tommy was getting more irritated the more the nun spoke, he rubs his eyes with his thumb and index finger. he looks up at the ceiling then back at the nurse “this secret that i speak of has the name clementina” Tommy declares, his eyes turning ice cold as the nun immediately tenses. He throws his half smoked cigarette onto the floor and squashed it with his foot.
Arthur had disappeared down the hall that had no candles light and looked the most unused, his hand in his pocket holding his gun in case someone ambushes him, back at the foyer Polly began to argue with the nun.
“ why would you keep a child away from her family, unless you are a cruel hag that enjoys the pain and emotional torture of children” Polly squawked, her hands and arms moved as she argued.
“ her mother was a whore, Mr Shelby paid good money to keep her here in secret, she does not deserve to be in the world, she is born a bastard who disobeys my every word and goes against god, she is a sinner just like how her mother was” she snaps, finally showing her true colours. Polly slaps her, the sound of skin hitting skin penetrates the atmosphere.
Before Polly or Tommy could say anything more to mother superior, Arthurs' bellowing voice reacts them “ Tommy, you better get here”.
Tommy points at mother superior “we are not finished here” he warns, turning around and stalks down the corridor, in the direction of where Arthur disappeared too, as Tommy and Polly got closer to Arthur the sounds of a little girl crying and the sound of something sharp hitting her could be heard from the room at the end of the hallway.
Polly immediately performs the sign of the cross, praying that the child is okay. Tommy stands in front of the door and holds the door handle whilst getting his gun from his holster with his other hand. Tommy signals towards Arthur that he'll open the door on the count of three, Polly steps back, grabbing her rosemary from around her neck and kisses the cross as the sound of the child crying and screaming for help gets louder.
After the count of three, Tommy opens the door and points the gun at the nun that was standing behind the girl who was kneeling on the floor and bent over a chair, her undergarment shirt pulled up so her back was on display. the nun looks towards the door, her eyebrows rise in shock as her arm holds a leather whip in the air as she was in the middle of whipping the girl.
“ drop the whip now” Tommy bawled, his eyes filling with a murderous rage, Polly pushes past Tommy and rushes over to the young girl as the nun drops the whip and holds her hands up. her hands shaking from the mixture of adrenaline and fear as she looks towards Tommy.
“ its unlawful to hurt a nun Mr Shelby, we are the property of the lord” she states, trying to sound confident but failing as her voice wobbles.
“and it is unlawful to hurt the innocent, but you do, you fucking do” Polly interrupts, kneeling beside the quivering girl, who curled herself up onto the floor in the fetal position.
Arthur stops mother superior as she rushes down the corridor, pointing his gun at her face, the barrel pointing between her eyes. Tommy kicks the whip away from the nun so she was unable to pick it up again.
“ you made a big mistake prioress” Tommy used his index finger to turn off the safety on the gun, the clicking noise making the nun flinch.
“ it was an order, from mother superior, the lord told us to punish her to clean her of her sins” the nun defends her actions, which only made Tommy more angry.
“ she is an innocent girl, unluckily for you she is a Shelby” Tommy proclaimed, not breaking eye contact with the nun. “ i demand you, to leave this building and go as far as possible” Tommy begins to declare, moving out of the door frame “ if i find you, and i promise i will, you will have a bullet with you name on” he threatens, nudging his gun towards the door “ now” he suddenly yells.
the nun runs out of the room, mother superior following. just as the nuns ran to collect their items, the arranged collection for the other orphan girls began to arrive. Tommy got someone to get into contact with esme, to arrange for the lees to allow them to use their carriages for the groups of girls going to be placed together.
Tommy puts his gun back into his holster, adjusting his cap on his head, pulling out a cigarette then gives it to Tommy, he was about to light another cigarette for himself when the sound of pollys panicked voice grabs his attention.
“ Tommy, she needs a doctor” she declares as she holds her scalf against clementina's wounds, it seemed this wasn't the first time the young girl was whipped, as the old scars had reopened, causing deep lacerations on her back.
“ Arthur, get the car ready” Tommy demands as he takes his coat off to wrap around the girl.
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agentidiot · 4 months
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peaky blinders characters as cakes pt. 2
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polly
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michael
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linda
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grace
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lizzie
part 1 part 3 part 4
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lucien-calore · 5 months
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listen, i love cillian murphy, paul anderson, sophie rundle, joe cole, harry kirton and helen mccrory as much as the next person, but if you're going to make a show about a bunch of siblings (arthur, tommy, john, ada and finn) with a half romani father and a fully romani mother (+ half romani aunt, aka polly) who are called the g slur, marry into other romani families (esme lee and aberama gold), go to romani camps (?), have funerals in a romani family's home (john's funeral at the lee family home), are cursed by other romani people (grace and ruby), speak (theorically it should be) the romani language, go to romani fortune tellers and make it a point to say they're romani, the least they could do is hire romani actors, not white, blue eyed europeans.
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crowleying · 1 year
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My policeman | m!reader
Date: 06.12.2022
Pairing:  Tommy Shelby x m!reader
Reader’s pronouns: he/him
Words: 4.840
Fandom: Peaky Blinders
Characters: m!reader, Tommy Shelby, Polly Gray, Ada Shelby, John Shelby, Arthur Shelby, Esme Shelby, Harry Fenton, others
Genre: Romance
Length: Oneshot
Warnings: Angst with a happy ending
Requested: No
Prompts: No
Summary: Tommy Shelby is suddenly very interested in you and you have no idea why.
A/N: English is not my first language, so feel free to correct any mistake, and I would love to know what you think about it. If you like my works, please like and reblog them. REQUESTS ARE OPEN. I posted a List of prompts, so check it out! Let me know if you would like to be tagged in my works.
IF YOU LIKE MY WORKS, PLEASE REBLOG THEM
Masterlist
Ao3
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You were on patrol around the city with one of your colleagues. You knew he was on the Peaky Blinders' payroll but, after all, only a handful of policemen weren't. You were one of them. It was confusing to most people in Small Heath, mainly because they knew you were John Shelby's best friend. He had offered you money to give them information and turn a blind eye to their affairs as they did with everyone, but you had made it clear that you couldn't be bought. He had respected that. The balance was fragile. The whole deal was based on your friendship. You had been able to refuse the money without losing your job because you were friends and people respected you because of your bond to the most powerful family in Birmingham, and a little because you did your job and wouldn't hesitate to throw people in jail if needed. You didn't pretend not to see what happened around you. Not even if the Peaky Blinders were involved. However, being friends with John also prevented you from trying to tear the whole business down. Everyone had learnt it pretty soon, so they had just started doing their things when you weren't on patrol, which meant your rounds were always quiet. You didn't complain. You didn't like arresting people, especially if they were Blinders.
That day seemed to be especially quiet. Well, as quiet as Small Heath could be. Your eyes observed the people going on about their lives around you while you chatted with your colleague. Many people greeted you, and you smiled back.
You turned to your partner, your eyes wide and a big smile on your face. "What?! No way. What is this, your... seventh?"
"Yeah," he replied smiling proudly under his thick moustache. "Four girls and two boys. I'm rooting for another boy."
"Congrats!" You patted his back, but you saw his face change, suddenly becoming serious.
He looked up and touched his cap, tilting his head down. "Morning, Mr Shelby."
You turned and saw Thomas Shelby on one of his horses, riding down the road. You nodded towards him as a form of greeting but didn't touch your cap or wish him a good day.
He nodded back at you, and you felt his icy blue eyes pierce through you. It wasn't anything new. You felt that way every time he looked at you and you wondered if everyone could feel it when they were under his gaze as if he could see everything that was inside. It felt as if God was scrutinizing you. You did understand why John called him Tommy the Almighty.
Even as he passed by you, you could still feel his eyes burn holes in you. You kept walking but turned to look at him and saw he was already looking. You turned back to the front.
"I don't know how you can refuse their offer. By the way he was looking at you, he really wants you on his payroll."
"Yeah, well, John knows it won't happen." You shrugged, but the feeling of his eyes on you lingered and stayed with you for the rest of the day.
When you walked into the Garrison that night and asked Harry for a glass of whiskey, he refused your money and said it had already been paid for, then nodded towards the private room next to the counter.
"Mr Shelby wishes to speak with you."
You rolled your eyes at the formality John liked to mess with when you were involved and grabbed your glass heading to the room.
"Come on, John, how many tim-" you started as you opened the door only to stop mid-sentence when you met Tommy's icy gaze instead of John's warm and playful one. "Thomas."
He was smoking alone, a glass of whiskey in front of him.
He beckoned you with a motion of his fingers. "Close the door and take a sit."
Your eyebrows raised, unimpressed by how he was treating you like one of his men. Maybe he had forgotten you didn't work for him.
"If you want to buy me, Thomas, you can save it. I'm not on sale," you said without doing any of the things he had asked of you.
He observed you for a few long seconds as if trying to read you. Then he sighed, tearing his gaze away from you and knocking the ash of his cigarette into the ashtray. "That's not why I wanted to talk to you."
When you still didn't move, he turned towards you again. "I promise. Please, come sit with me."
You hid your surprise at hearing him saying the word "please." You didn't think he even knew how to pronounce it for lack of use. You closed the door behind you and took a sit on the other side of the table from him.
You rolled the whiskey in your glass waiting for him to speak. "What did you want to talk about?" you asked when he didn't.
He offered you a cigarette but you refused. You didn't trust him outside family gatherings and that wasn't a social call.
"I would like to invite you to dinner."
You frowned. You had already been to dinner at the Shelbys plenty of times and not once had Thomas himself been the one to invite you. "Uhm... sure, tell Polly to count me in."
"I mean with me."
His reply startled a laugh out of you. "I never thought you were one for pranks. Thought you left that to Johnny."
He stared at you, his expression unchanged. There was no trace of a smile on his face. "I'm serious."
You looked back at him with a newfound seriousness and slammed your glass on the table, spilling some of its content. "I really hope not."
It was your turn to observe him, trying to understand what his real intentions were. "What do you really want from me, Thomas?"
"I want to take you out for dinner."
You snorted. "You think I'm a fool?"
"No," he let out much lower than his usual tone.
"You can't buy me so you're trying to get me arrested. That's too low even for you."
He shook his head. "That's not-"
"Save your bullshit," you interrupted getting up. You leaned forward pointing a finger at him. "You try this shit again and I'll get you arrested."
Then you walked out.
You were smoking with John by the cut like you did when you were fifteen. You loved the fact that your friendship hadn't changed all that much, not after you had been to war together, nor when you had decided to join the police. With John, it had always been easy. No judgement, just two boys having fun and doing what they had to live in such a hard world.
"So, new girls?" he joked.
You looked at him unimpressed, before looking back in front of you.
John was the only person who knew you didn't like girls. You had found out thanks to him. When you were young, you had experimented with each other. There had been some kisses and a couple of hand jobs. He had soon understood he wasn't into men, but he had never judged you. To these days he still joked about it and you had never really minded until Thomas had asked you out.
"Did you tell him?"
He abruptly turned to look at you. "You know I would never."
"Then how the fuck did he know, John?" you asked, throwing your unfinished cigarette into the cut, clearly upset.
"Tommy, he always seems to know shit," he said slowly, playing with his cap and looking down at it in his lap. He looked at you. "But he means good. He isn't trying to fuck you up."
You snorted. You trusted John and you were sure he believed what he was saying, but Thomas was cunning and he could have people believe anything he wanted. Maybe he had tricked his own brother into believing he really was interested in you, knowing he would have put a good word in for him.
"Are you still coming to dinner tomorrow though?"
You had been a guest of the Shelbys every Saturday for dinner for as long as you could remember.
"Will he be there?"
"Probably."
You groaned.
"Come on. You won't even have to talk to him. How many times have you two talked at dinner?"
You frowned. "Probably more than you would expect."
Now that you thought of it, Tommy had always found a way to exchange a few words with you after dinner about the most random topics. You had always enjoyed those moments. Talking with him was nice. He didn't smile a lot, not like before the war, but he had always been kind to you. You had always thought he did that just for John's sake, so you had never considered him a friend or anything. In addition to that, the huge crush you had had on him had made it hard to be as comfortable with him as you were with the rest of the family. You had completely overcome that now, though. Still, the awkwardness was hard to shake off.
John bumped his shoulders into yours, bringing you back to the present. "The kids will be a pain if you don't come."
You rolled your eyes. "Fine."
John grinned triumphantly.
When you stepped into the Shelbys' household the following evening, you got surrounded by John's kids. They either hugged you, pulled you somewhere, or screamed at you about their day. You loved them, but they could be a lot. Finally, Ada came to save you, and you smiled gratefully at her. She hugged you and invited you to follow her to the kitchen where all the others were. Tommy was missing, and you felt relief flooding you. You hadn't even finished greeting everyone when the front door opened. Little Finn ran to welcome the newcomer. You held your breath and your eyes found John's on the other side of the room. He looked guilty. You frowned, but before you could take him aside to ask what he had done, Tommy walked into the kitchen with Finn in his arms. When you turned towards him, he was already looking at you and you couldn't bring yourself to utter a word in greeting. Your lips stayed still.
"Let's sit and eat," Polly said, setting the pot in the centre of the table.
While she served, everyone took a seat, and somehow you found yourself next to Tommy. John had taken the seat that was usually reserved for you and you had to take his. Now you understood the look you had seen in his eyes earlier. You would punch him later.
"Not exactly what I had in mind, but it's something." Tommy's murmur was drowned by the others chatting and you would have missed it too if you hadn't been so close to him.
You pretended you hadn't heard and instead thanked Polly for filling your plate.
For the whole dinner, you did everything you could to forget Thomas was there. You chatted with everyone, complimented Polly for her cooking, asked Esme how she could be so patient with all those troublemakers around, glared at John multiple times, joked with the kids, even taking one of them on your lap when he wanted to show you the small gap in his smile left by the tooth he had lost a couple of days earlier.
Tommy stayed silent for the most part, as usual. He commented on a thing here or there and messed with the kids for a little fun. You could always feel his gaze on you. His eyes might have been the colour of ice, but sure as hell, you could feel them burn on your skin. He saw to it so that your glass was never empty, and even if you remembered distinctly rejecting him that day at the Garrison, it seemed like he hadn't gotten the memo, although he had probably just decided to ignore it because Tommy Shelby only ever played by his rules.
After dinner, the children went off somewhere to play while Polly and Esme washed the dishes. Ada had excused herself saying she was tired and she would go to bed early, but you were pretty sure she would climb out of the window to go see Freddy. Arthur took out a bottle of rum and filled four glasses.
"I should go, actually," you announced, getting up.
"No way!"
"Oh come on, you can stay for a nightcap."
John, who was now sitting next to you, pulled on your arm and you sat back down with a sigh. Arthur grinned and a small, pleased smile appeared on Tommy's face. You wanted to slap it away. Instead, you glared at him and grabbed his cigarette case to take one in retaliation. It only caused his smile to grow.
You put the cigarette between your lips and scowled at him when he leaned in touching the end of your cigarette with yours to light it up. You hated how your heart skipped a beat and blood rushed to your cheeks. You inhaled and pulled back quickly, missing the looks Arthur and John had exchanged seconds earlier.
You exhaled the smoke and quickly downed your glass, making John snort. You pushed the glass towards Arthur, silently asking for a refill. He chuckled and shook his head but poured you another glass. Tommy was looking at the whole thing with an amused glint in his eyes. Once again you did your best to ignore him.
"Seeing a girl tonight? Is that why you're in a hurry?" Arthur teased.
You felt Tommy tense next to you, but you couldn't be sure and you didn't dare turn to look at him, not wanting to give yourself away.
You waved a hand. "I'm leaving them all to you, Arthur."
That made him laugh. "That's wise."
"You should have it easy now that Johnny is taken," you commented. Then you turned towards Tommy. "What about you, Thomas? I bet you have all the girls falling for you. What is it? Nobody is good enough for the great Thomas Shelby?" you teased.
"You're the only person who calls him that," John commented amusedly.
"And aunt Pol when she's angry," Arthur added.
Tommy stared at you seriously.
When you had given up on waiting for a reply and went to take a sip of your rum, Tommy finally spoke. "I already have my eyes on someone," he said quietly.
You choked on the rum and coughed. John patted your back. "You alright?"
You nodded and pulled at the collar of your shirt, although it didn't really do anything to help your situation. You did your best to compose yourself while Tommy tried to hide a small amused smile behind his cigarette.
"So, who's the lucky girl?" you asked when you finally managed to breathe again.
Arthur's boisterous laugh filled the room. "That would be some change."
Tommy paid him no mind and kept his glacial eyes on you. "Wouldn't you like to know?"
Both his reply and Arthur's comment confused you. Before you could inquire further, you heard John's glass clink on the table, soon followed by Arthur's. Your eyes snapped to them as they got up.
"We're headin' to the Garrison. Are you coming?" Arthur asked.
"Uh... no. I should really go. I have work tomorrow."
John patted your back. "See you tomorrow?"
You nodded and they left. The last conversation had made you forget about John's guilty look at the beginning of the night.
You suddenly realized they had left you alone with Tommy. You cleared your throat and put out your cigarette into the ashtray, then downed the rest of your rum.
"I should really go."
You got up, but so did Tommy. He killed his cigarette. "I'll show you to the door."
You nodded stiffly and walked to the door. When you stopped at the hanger to get your coat, you found him closer than expected and your heart picked up.
"You like horses, don't you?" he asked, putting his hands in his pockets. You hated how cool he was about everything.
You nodded.
"You should come to the races once."
"Have you forgotten I go there for work sometimes?"
"Not for work."
Not again.
"It's not something I enjoy watching," you said shortly, then opened the door, anxious to leave that hallway that had never looked so small in your whole life.
"You might change your mind."
"I don't think I will," you insisted dryly, looking at him in the eyes, hoping he would get the message that you were talking about the whole situation.
You opened the door and he held it open for you. "It's not a no."
You were doing everything you could to avoid Tommy, and it was not working. On the contrary, he was everywhere. He would pass by your house every time you were leaving for work and he would offer to walk or drive you there. You refused every time. You would meet him as you were walking by the cut. You would see him at a pub he had never frequented before. You even saw him at the market a couple of times. When you saw him in church you thought you were hallucinating. It seemed like the universe was working against you, but it was only Tommy Shelby, and maybe his family.
John always found a way to mention him. He had never talked about Tommy as much as he had in the last few weeks. You pretended not to notice. You hoped Tommy would just give up at some point. How wrong you were.
You were surprised to find a little box on your desk at work on Monday. You looked around to see if any of your colleagues had noticed anything. They seemed to be minding their business as usual. You returned your attention to the box and opened it. A precious pocket watch was laid there, with a piece of paper. You picked up the note. You didn't recognize the handwriting. It read "counting the seconds to the moment you'll accept my offer."
You crushed the note in your fist and rolled your eyes, closing the box vehemently and shoving it in the only drawer in your desk that had a key. You locked it up. You thought you would deal with that later, but it was a busy day and you forgot until the next morning when something else was waiting for you on your desk.
It was your favourite book from when you were a kid. It was about horses. They were your favourite animals and obviously, Tommy somehow knew. You opened it and on the first page, with the same handwriting from yesterday's note, there was written "I think you'd really like to meet my horses. Think about it."
You heard one of your colleagues calling you, so you quickly closed the book and threw it into the drawer where you had left the watch.
That evening you went to the Shelbys, hoping to find Tommy and give him back his presents. When Ada opened the door, you walked past her hastily.
"Where is Thomas?" you asked looking for him around the house, startling the others, confused by your manners so out of character.
"He isn't back yet," Ada said, closing the door to follow you into the kitchen.
You let yourself fall down into a chair with a groan and discarded your hat on the table.
"Hello to you too," Polly piped up.
"Hi Pol, I'm sorry, but your nephew is trying to ruin me."
"Tommy?" Esme asked frowning. She wasn't a fan of him, but she was quite sure he would never do anything to ruin you.
"What are you talking about?" Polly asked taking a seat next to you.
"He is just being over dramatic." John waved a hand. You glared at him.
"Let him talk." Ada slapped his arm, making him roll his eyes. "What did Tommy do?"
You suddenly sobered up. You couldn't tell them. They wouldn't approve. You shook your head and got up. "It's nothing. I should just talk to him. I'm sure we can fix this."
"Where are you going? Stay for dinner." Polly stopped you gently.
Before you could refuse and leave, someone knocked.
Ada went to open the door.
"Hello, Ada." Thomas.
Ada was already telling him you were there looking for him when you walked up to him, hat in hand. He smiled smugly at you.
"Thought you would last longer," he commented.
You just looked at him as if you wanted to kill him.
Ada's eyes moved between the two of you.
"Would you mind leaving us, Ada?" Tommy asked, without taking his eyes away from you.
She rolled her eyes but did as she had been asked.
Once she was gone, you pulled the gifts out of your coat and shoved them into Tommy's chest. "You can take these back and leave me alone."
His hand raised slowly to take a hold of the items and he glanced down at them. "You didn't like them?"
"That's not the point. Stop fucking trying to ruin me. If I'm such a huge problem for you, why don't you pay my superior to transfer me somewhere else? Do you really hate me so much just because I'm not on your fucking payroll?"
He shook his head. "I'm not trying to ruin you."
"Really? Because sending me gifts at work tells me otherwise."
"I really am into you."
You scoffed. "Sure."
"What do I have to do to make you believe me?" his voice, quiet as usual, seemed to fill the entire house. Only then you realized the chatter that previously came from the kitchen had stopped. You glanced that way, then looked back at Tommy.
You lowered your voice. "If you care for me, stop this."
For the first time since you knew him, Tommy looked like he didn't know what to say.
You didn't wait for a reply. You just headed to the door, stopping in your tracks when Polly's voice came from the kitchen. "You're not staying for dinner?"
It was clear the others had listened in on your conversation.
You sighed. "Maybe next time."
You opened the door and stepped outside, putting your hat on.
Polly's interjection had given Tommy enough time to come up with something to say.
"Just give me one chance," he said quickly before you could leave. "We can go out of the city with the horses tomorrow afternoon. Nobody will see us. If after that you still want me to leave you alone, I will."
You turned to look at him and you hated yourself for being so weak.
"One chance. Then you will leave me alone."
The following day was nerve-wracking. No matter how you tried to distract yourself, you couldn't stop thinking about the date. The anxiety was eating at you. Part of you didn't want that afternoon to arrive, and another part was looking forward to it.
Time would not stop flowing for your sake, and soon you were making your way to meet with him out of the city. You asked the driver to drop you off way before the meeting point and walked the rest of the way.
Tommy was waiting for you with two horses. He smiled when he saw you, and you didn't know if it was knowing that this was the last chance you had given him or if that was actually the most genuine and happiest smile you had ever seen on his lips.
You smiled back. It was a very different smile from his. It was small and it had a hint of sadness to it. You wished this was real, but you couldn't bring yourself to believe it.
Without a word you got on the horses and guided them through the countryside. Sometimes Tommy would stop to show you something. He told you about his love for the countryside and that he would love to live there one day. He liked the idea of being surrounded by green fields and animals, especially horses, a passion the two of you shared. When you asked why he was so in love with the countryside, he explained that it made him feel closer to his mother. That was where her people lived and where she had grown up.
You hadn't realized, but at some point, you had relaxed. You and Tommy talked, joked, laughed and raced each other. Before you noticed the sun was setting. Tommy suggested you stopped to enjoy the view before heading back.
You got off the horses and sat down on the grass. You stayed silent for a while, simply admiring the colours of the sky. When you turned to look at Tommy, he was already watching you. You stared at each other for a few long moments before he cleared his voice and looked away.
"What's the verdict, then?" he finally asked, not looking at you.
"I had a good time with you," you admitted easily.
"But?"
"Is this really what you want? This life is... not great. So if you ever liked a girl in your life I suggest you go back to her and give it one more try."
"It's always been you and I know you are scared, but I sincerely don't give a fuck if you are a policeman or if you aren't on my payroll. We made arrangements to do our things when you're not on patrol just so you wouldn't have to arrest any of us. It wasn't much trouble. You are important to me, to all of us. I would never do anything to hurt you."
Your brain had gotten stuck on the first few words. "Always?"
"What?"
"You said it's always been me."
"Yes."
"Then why now?"
"Because I found out only recently that you like boys."
You frowned. "How did you find out?"
"I saw you with a man one night, in the alley behind the Garrison," he admitted.
"Oh... Right. So John didn't tell you."
"No, not a word. He would rather cut his own arm off than betray you."
"I know," you replied relaxing.
"But you thought he had told me."
"Maybe he had mentioned when he was drunk." You shrugged.
"I promise he didn't."
You nodded.
"I've had a crush on you for a while too," you said, still looking at him. You had long forgotten about the sunset. How could you look at something as trivial as the sun when you had Tommy Shelby right beside you?
"Yes?" he asked, hopeful.
You smiled and nodded. "It's impossible not falling for you."
He leaned closer but stopped a few inches away from your face. "I really want to kiss you right now."
"What are you waiting for, then?" was all that came out of your lips before they met his.
"Fucking finally Tommy, dinner was getting cold," Polly's voice came from the kitchen as you followed him inside the house that night.
"Sorry Pol," he replied taking little Finn in his arms and putting his cap on his youngest brother.
He reached for your hand with his free one after you had hung your coat. You took it, although nervously. He had assured you that his whole family knew about him and that they would accept you but after a lifetime of being careful about everything you did and said, you couldn't just stop.
Tommy kissed your temple, hoping that would help your nerves.
You smiled at him, then winked at Finn who grinned back.
Tommy led you to the kitchen. "We have a guest," he announced. Everyone turned to look at you, and your grip tightened on Tommy's hand. They all seemed surprised.
"But it's not S-" Arthur was cut off by John shoving his elbow into his brother's ribs.
That seemed enough to shake Polly out of her surprise. "Of course!" She hugged you smiling. "You're always welcome."
You felt your nervousness melt away and hugged her back. "Thanks, Pol."
She pulled back and turned to her nephew, pointing a finger at him. "If you hurt him, Thomas Shelby, I'll make you pay for it."
"What?! Why are you telling me?" he asked putting Finn down.
"Well, because he would never do anything bad," she replied without even thinking about it.
"Wait, aunt Pol. He is my best friend, I should be the one to give Tommy the talk."
Tommy shook his head. "This is absurd."
"Come on, I'm sure he is more than capable to look after himself."
You nodded quickly, agreeing with Ada.
"And I'm sure Tommy won't do anything he might regret unless he wants to have the whole family against him," she added crossing her arms and glaring at him.
You sighed and turned to look at your boyfriend. "Don't worry, I'll protect you from them."
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Tags: @one-green-frog
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themultifandomgal · 9 months
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Shelby Sister- Opium
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This was another request from Wattpad
⚠️Warning this imagine talks about depression, unkind/derogatory words, attempted suicide, mentions making themselves sick and someone else making them sick (not in detail)
YN Shelby has always been the quietest of all her siblings. She keeps to herself, typically reading a book alone in her room. Because she's so quiet she doesn't have many friends and at school is often bullied. This is why her brothers have always felt the need to protect her.
Recently YN has been acting more quiet than usual, so much so that Ada her elder sister voiced her concern during a family meeting where YN wasn't present.
For YN life sucked. She was smart, good with words and numbers, but a push over. Finally the words her classmates tell her, she starts to believe, 'your ugly' 'fat' 'gypsy scum' and so much more.
One gloomy evening YN was walking home from school by the cut when some of the boys in her class run up to her
"Look here she is" one of them laugh "so when will you get married off?"
"Naaa no one will want her. Tommy will have to pay thousands to get someone to marry that" YN tries to ignore the comments, hugging her arms closer to her body
"At this point you may as well just kill yourself. Hey why don't I help you?" the boy takes YNs arms and starts pushing her
"What are you doing?" YN panics
"Oooo she speaks, thought you were a mute" the other boy says before pushing the young girl into the cut.
This became a daily thing until the day she snapped. YN had had enough. So she bunked off school pretending to be sick, of course Aunt Polly wasn't having any of it until after YN ate her breakfast and pretended she was going to throw up so ran to the bathroom, knowing her aunt will be behind her, YN made herself throw up. Polly kept her off school and when the house went quiet YN snuck out of her room and into Tommys looking for one thing in particular. Opium.
YN had heard about some people passing away after taking it and so she decided to try.
Tommy is the first to arrive home from a long day
"YN?" he shouts knowing his little sister is unwell. Not hearing a response Tommy makes his way up the stairs and into YNs room. But when she isn't in bed panic starts to set in, he know YN wouldn't have just pretend to be sick for no reason. Exiting her room he sees his bedroom door open. Frowning he makes his way into his room. Looking around nothing seems to be missing, that is until he notices the draw at his bedside table is slightly ajar
"Shit" he shouts opening up the draw and seeing that his opium is missing. Getting up he starts running around the house trying to find his sister. Finally he finds her pale, clammy and passed out in the bathroom "YN? YN I need you to wake up" Tommy shakes his sister "please love" he checks her heart rate, it's slow but there. Her lips have a slight blue tinge to them. Tommy has seen this before. After the war many soldiers used opium to kill themselves, but because of this  he knew how to help. He needs to make her throw up. Bracing himself he sticks his pointer finger and middle finger down her throat to make her throw up.
YN wakes up feeling comfortable and warm. Confused YN opens her eyes and sees a very stressed looking Tommy and Polly
"What...?" YN coughs. Her throat feeling sore
"Shhh" Polly rushes over and sits on the sofa next to where YN is lying with blankets covering her "thank god your alright YN"
"What we're you thinking?" Tommy scolds
"Thomas"
"Why? Why feel the need to go take my opium and hurt yourself"
"I'm sorry Tommy"
"Tommy why don't you go and get YN a drink eh?" without a word Tommy walks to the kitchen
"He's mad"
"He was scared YN. We all were, but Tommy has got a point. Why?" YN just shrugs her shoulders. Tommy walks back over to YN and helps sit her up. She takes a sip of water which helps sooth her throat a little
"I thought I'd lost you YN. Your upset, I understand but no mater what war that's going on in that head of yours means you do what you did"
"But you use opium every night to sleep" shocked Tommys eyes widen. He didn't realise that she knew that, if he did he would have been more carful
"I'll make you a deal. I'll stop if you promise to never to something like that again. You talk to me if somethings wrong"
"Ok"
"So you going to give me the names of the kids who've been bullying you?"
"How do you?"
"Finn heard some kids laughing about pushing you in the cut"
"I..."
"You don't have to tell us anything yet. When your ready" Polly takes YNs hand in hers and gives it a little squeeze. For the first time in a long time YN doesn't feel alone. She's never been alone and never will with her family around her.
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cosmic-crybaby · 1 year
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Blue Skies- Tommy Shelby
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Summary: Sparks fly when a self-sufficient, newly single mother meets the cold-hearted bachelor gangster of Birmingham. On their first outing, it was like everything in the world was asking for them to finally meet each other. But when fate intervenes, they soon find themselves suffering the reprocussions of their own decisions.
Rating: Mature, Minors DNI plz
Warnings: Warnings will be advised on each chapter. 
Story Playlist
Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 | Chapter 13 | Chapter 14 | Chapter 15 | Chapter 16 | Chapter 17 | Chapter 18 
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La Dolce Vita - New Series Alert!
Darlings, while finishing my other two WIP's, I have been bitten by the bug of a new idea. This series, entitled La Dolce Vita, will not be a chapter-by-chapter affair as usual, but a collection of one shots gradually chronicling the arranged marriage between John Shelby and Cosmia Changretta, my OFC. So, I thought I'd introduce her as well as the series! She's... spicy, to put it mildly.
First part coming soon. Until then, some visuals!
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And I couldn't resist giving you all a teeny little excerpt...
“Ain't you ever heard of smiling, Cosima?" He charged her with, eyeing her defiantly. 
She pulled the white fox fur warming her pale curves tighter around herself, taking one last drag upon her cigarette before flicking it away. “If you give me something to smile about, I might.” 
Oh, he had his work cut out for him, John scratching his jaw. “I’ll stick my fucking face between your legs for about half an hour, then you’ll be grinning like a loon, you miserable cow.” he muttered, but not nearly quietly enough.
“What the fuck did you just say to me?” 
“Nothing, bab,” he grinned, gritting his teeth behind that forced smile. “Nothing at-fucking-all.”  
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cissyenthusiast010155 · 6 months
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~𝓟𝓸𝓵𝓵𝔂 𝓖𝓻𝓪𝔂 𝓷𝓮𝓮. 𝓢𝓱𝓮𝓵𝓫𝔂 (𝓟𝓮𝓪𝓴𝔂 𝓑𝓵𝓲𝓷𝓭𝓮𝓻𝓼)
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theshelbyclan · 2 years
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Hurt
Summary: Teddy gets hurt and the brothers are not having it.
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A/N: Anon requested: Hi love!!! I was wondering, can you maybe write something with Teddy getting hurt, like her getting beaten maybe and the brothers just exploding in anger over it?? Thank you so much if you do write it! Xxxxx I usually write a lot of fluffy fics for Teddy, except for the Teddy series maybe, so this was very different to write, but I liked it! Gave me a chance to explore a different side of Teddy as well. This takes place before the series starts, in 1918, when the Shelby’s are still building their empire and racketeering business. Teddy’s nine. Hope you like this 😊
Words: 2772
*****
She wasn’t supposed to be there. All her life, Teddy had found her way around the rules, bending them ever so slightly to accommodate her or ignoring them all together. She often knew in advance she’d probably get into trouble when she did, but it was a risk she’d take. However small she was, she then decided it would be worth it. But not this time.
They’d just been playing around the Garrison and some of the other pubs. The kids often hung around there, trying to earn a little bit of money by doing some chores.
One of the girls behind the bar had called outside, “Two of you! I need you to carry these buckets down to the water.”
Teddy had jumped up, eager to prove herself. The man who owned the pub, a rough sort of fellow by the name of Amos, had given the two kids the bucket. But as he did, he suddenly squinted at Teddy.
“You’re a lass, aren’t you,” he’d snarled then, watching her up and down. Teddy was wearing Finn’s clothes, but if you looked closely, she had the fine features of a girl and no mistake. He’d continued, “Get out of the way, you, let one of the boys do it.”
“No!” Teddy had protested angrily, “I can do it! I can do everything a boy can do too!” But he’d tried to take the bucket from her roughly, which caused Teddy to resist and jerk it, not willing to give up so easily. The bucket had fallen and the contents had spilled all over the floor.
Fury had burned in the landlord’s eyes and forcibly, he’d grasped Teddy’s hair and dragged her into the back room, shouting out for everyone to hear, “You want to pretend you’re a boy? You want to lose me money? I’ll treat you like a boy who’s just lost me money!”
Finn had still been outside, but he’d heard the commotion well enough. Quickly, he’d realised his sister was in trouble, but he couldn’t get to her. On the other side of the door, he’d been able to hear her screaming as the cruel man beat her to make some kind of point, but there was nothing he could do but pound his fists on the door and wait. Eventually, Teddy was pushed back out.
“I’ll kill him,” Finn had said with all the venom a ten-year-old can muster, when he’d taken one look at his sister’s face. This wasn’t some regular beating, because they were both not unfamiliar with that, but he’d taken it a lot further. And Finn had spat again, “I’ll tell Arthur and he’ll kill him.”
Uncharacteristically, Teddy hadn’t said a word. She’d taken Finn’s hand and practically sprinted out of the pub. Only when they’d put enough distance between them and the man, Teddy had whispered urgently, “You can’t tell them.”
“Teddy,” Finn had started, looking at her face and seeing she was clearly in a lot of pain.
“Promise me,” she’d urged, “Please, Finn. Tommy told me I wasn’t allowed to go near the pubs, so if you tell him, he’ll beat me too. Don’t tell them.”
He hadn’t liked any of this, but, as always, his little sister had been adamant. So begrudgingly, Finn had agreed.
****
“Where’s Teddy?” Aunt Polly asked Finn, as she tried to gather up the family to have a meal together.
Finn looked away and lied, “She said she wasn’t hungry. She went up to bed.”
Polly frowned, “I haven’t seen her come in.”
“She went straight up.”
Tommy and Polly shared a look and his aunt ordered him, “Go up and check on her.”
He nodded, but Finn protested a little too fervently, “No! She said she didn’t feel well. Just... leave her.”
“What’s going on.” Aunt Polly demanded.
“I’ll check on her,” the youngest Shelby brother offered quickly, “I’ll make sure she’s alright.” A few minutes later he came back with the message that all was well and Teddy just wanted to sleep for now, but both Thomas and Polly weren’t buying it.
The next morning, Teddy still didn’t show herself for breakfast. Polly had started to get more irritated than worried, and asked her nephew, “Thomas, did she get up with you?” Teddy often joined him at five in the morning.
“Teddy? She’s with Finn, isn’t she?” he smoked a cigarette and drank his tea.
“Fuck,” she whispered, “I swear to God, if she’s gotten herself into trouble again...”
Tommy looked up and after a few moments of thinking, he bellowed, “FINN! Get in here!”
A very sleepy boy appeared.
“What’s happened with your sister,” he interrogated his younger brother, “and don’t try and lie to me.” His eyes were cold and strict, but Finn didn’t want to break the promise he’d made to Teddy. So instead he shrugged.
Tommy looked at Polly and she confirmed, “He’s lying, covering up for her.” They always could see right through the kids.
“Don’t you fucking lie to me again, or I’ll make sure you regret it,” he huffed as he pointed at Finn, “Last chance: what did Teddy do this time. You tell me now or you’ll feel the back of my hand.”
Finn bit his lip and asked, “If I tell you, what will you do to her?”
“Did she disobey me?”
“Yes,” he said in a small voice, “but that’s not...”
Icily, Tommy cut him off, “I’ll teach her what happens when you disobey me. Same goes for you.”
Angrily, Finn suddenly stomped one foot down onto the floor and shouted out, “This is why she didn’t want me to tell, you know! She didn’t want to get a beating, again!”
Tommy held up a hand, nostrils flaring with anger now, “If you two won’t fucking behave, you’re going to get beaten. That’s how it is, alright? Now, I know you didn’t agree with me punishing her last week after the fucking pony incident, but...”
“Not you, him!” Finn interrupted his brother, “He already beat her and she doesn’t want you or Aunt Polly to know because then you’ll do it too!”
“Wait,” Polly stopped Tommy who was about to open his mouth, “Who are you talking about, who beat Teddy?”
“The man from the pub!” Finn almost started to cry out of sheer frustration, “And it was really bad, but Teddy didn’t want you to know and made me promise, because she didn’t want you to get mad at her again!”
“Oh fuck, Thomas...”
Tommy sighed and ran a hand through his hair, “How was I supposed to know...”
“You never listen to us!” Finn exploded in a manner that was usually more Teddy’s style, “You just want us to behave and obey you, but you never listen. And you weren’t even here and now you’re back and all you do is yell at us. Why did you even come back if you don't like us?”
For a moment, it looked like Tommy was about to burst out into anger as well, but he changed his mind after looking at his aunt. So, to Finn he said, “Alright, I’m listening. Tell me what happened, eh? You won’t get into trouble.” And when he saw his sceptical little face, he added, “Nor will Teddy.”
So Finn told them the whole thing. Polly listened and when he’d finished, she walked up the stairs to kids’ bedroom without saying a word. Tommy stayed behind in the kitchen with Finn, but he didn’t speak either. Rage filled him at the thought of someone else laying a hand on Teddy. It was his job to do the disciplining, no one else’s. That’s why he came back from France, that’s why he dug the tunnels in order to survive; to take care of his family and to do his duty as the older brother.
But when Polly came back down with Teddy on her hip, he quickly realised that this had gone far beyond disciplining a cheeky kid. The little girl’s face was covered in bruises and even part of her neck was starting to turn an ugly colour. Polly pushed a bit of hair behind her niece’s ear and noticed the dried up blood next to her eye. In shock, she breathed, “Jesus Christ... what did he do to you?”
“Rings,” Teddy whimpered, “He wore rings.”
As Polly examined the rest of her bruised face, Tommy was frozen to the spot. Carefully, she put her down and when Teddy winced, she looked at her back. Polly lifted up her shirt a little and found the welts of a belt all across her back. A cold determination came into her voice, “Thomas, get John and Arthur.”
Tommy walked off and without many words of explanation, came back with his brothers. Both were shocked at the sight of Teddy, demanded to know what had happened, but Polly was the one giving the orders now, “Tommy, I want you to find the animal that did this to her and fucking end him. Not too quickly either, you make it last. John, you burn his fucking pub down to the ground. And Arthur, you’re the oldest; make sure everyone knows what happens when you fuck with the Shelby’s. And that if anyone touches her again, Polly Gray will personally bring hell down upon them. Go.”
Arthur and John left at once. Seeing Teddy like this had hurt them beyond belief, but they didn’t have the words to make it better. They did, however, know of some actions to make it right. This is what they knew: an eye for an eye, but then you take the hands, the ears and the nose as well, just to be sure. Because as soon as you let them take even an inch, they would try and take everything and you’d end up back in the mud. And if they’d let that happen, the word would spread and the fear would diminish. So, the brothers set out to send a message written in blood: this is what happens when you touch one of ours.
Tommy lingered just a little bit longer in the kitchen. He looked at Teddy, but she didn’t meet his eye. Then he said, “He won’t hurt you again.” And with that he turned away and stalked off.
Teddy sighed deeply and let herself be picked up by her Aunt Polly again. Carefully, she asked, “Is Tommy mad at me? For going there?”
“No, darling,” Polly put her down on the kitchen table and started preparing some herbs to easy Teddy’s pain, “He’s going to see about that man.”
“But where is he going? Why did he look mad? What’s he going to do?”
Polly sighed, “Teddy, you’re a Shelby. What do you think that means?”
“I don’t know...” she shrugged.
“It means your brother has gone out to kill a man,” her aunt decided to no longer mince her words, “because he hurt you. Now, in this family, we do bad things. We fight people, we do illegal business and we rob and kill. But we have rules. And one of those rules is: you don’t touch an innocent.”
“Like Teddy.” Finn added at once.
“Like Teddy. Now, it’s important the two of you understand, because people are going to tell you we are bad people. That we, Shelby’s, are rotten and scum. But the truth is, we have found a way to even the playing field, together. You might not understand now, but you will. This world isn’t fair, it’s filled with coppers and bullies, but we as a family have to stick together. That’s the second rule: we protect each other as a family. Because together, we can win. Just like in the war. When they hurt one of us, they hurt all of us, and we take care of it. That’s what they’re doing now, do you understand?”
Aunt Polly tried to explain and Teddy furrowed her brows trying to understand. Finally she said, “So, we’re the good guys?”
Polly sighed, because it wasn’t easy to explain this to a little girl. Especially after the war, none of it was still black and white. “Your brother, he’s not a good man, Teddy. But he is the best one. And the bad men out there will do far worse if we don’t respond with their language. Make them be afraid for a change. Let them be in the mud. It’s not about being good or bad, it’s about surviving and sticking to your own people. Tommy understands that.”
She didn’t really understand, but Finn, being an older brother himself, did, “Tommy takes care of us.”
But Teddy still didn’t understand.
***** That night, she was laying in bed. Polly’s potions and remedies had helped a little with the pain, but it still hurt. But that wasn’t the real reason she couldn’t sleep. The real reason was far more complicated. 
Sighing, Teddy dragged herself out of bed. Carefully trying to avoid any painful parts, she climbed out her window and, hovering above the ground, she moved onto the other windowsill, where she could easily climb up onto the roof. All at once, she was up. 
Tommy watched as a shadow crept across his window. He was laying in bed, but smiled as his youngest sister climbed on by. Then he followed her.  Up on the roof, Teddy sat hunched over and let her head rest on her arms. Tommy approached her from behind and said in a low voice, “And what do you think you’re doing?” 
Teddy nearly jumped out of her skin, but Tommy quickly grabbed her by the shirt to stop her from falling off the roof. He flashed her a smile, but she mumbled, “You scared me.” 
He lit a cigarette, “I was only joking, no need to be afraid, eh?” 
“Well, I am,” Teddy replied, almost sulkily. 
Tommy looked at his sister for a moment and asked, “What’s the matter? We took care of the man that hurt you, eh? And no one else will dare to touch you again, not now they know.” Teddy nodded and then shrugged, “Aunt Pol explained. You make them afraid and that way they can’t hurt us.” “That’s right.”  “There’s just one problem, Tommy,” she continued. “What?”
She looked up at him with those big brown eyes, that seemed to be black in the night, “It works on me too.”  He sucked in a breath, “I scare you, too?”
“Yes. Not always, but ever since France, you sometimes get so mad. You’re not... you. Like when me and Finn don’t listen... Aunt Polly is strict too, but she’s not scary.” “Fuck...” Teddy looked at Tommy for a second and then added, “But Aunt Polly said we have to stick together as a family, but...” “...but you can’t do that if you’re scared of me,” Tommy finished for her “Fuck, okay, listen to me, Teddy. How long have we been back from France now?” 
“A few weeks?” Teddy guessed.  “Yeah,” he nodded, “A few weeks. But sometimes, it’s like I’ve never left at all. Like we never came home. France is still...in here,” he pointed at his head, “And I know that’s hard for you to understand, but...I wanted to make something of this family and I wanted us all to be safe, so that we wouldn’t have to fight another fucking war.”
"Oh,” Teddy sounded so small. War meant very little to her, except of dead men and dead brothers and absent fathers and crying mothers. It was over now, or so they’d told her, but it wasn’t really.
“I wanted to keep you safe. And Finn. Even when you did stupid things...” he tried explaining again, “But you don’t have to be scared of me. I won’t hurt you. Not anymore, not like that. I may sometimes get angry, my head, it’s fucked, Teddy... But not like that man did to you. People like him, I’ll hurt them for hurting you, alright?” 
“Alright,” but Teddy frowned again, “Aunt Polly says you’re not a good man, is that true, Tommy?” 
“It’s true,” he cleared his throat, “I’m not a good man, Teddy.”
She was quiet for a long time, as she grew more and more comfortable in her brother’s presence yet again. Because the truth was, they all had to learn to get used to each other. For years, the boys had been gone and when they’d come back, it had only been for a little while. Polly had raised them and now Tommy had sort of taken over again, and it all felt very strange and unfamiliar. But sitting with Tommy on top of that roof, this did feel familiar. Then she asked him, carefully, “Can’t you try, Tommy?” 
He smiled down at Teddy and hugged her closer to his side. He thought of France and all the horrors they’d faced there. He remember how they’d come back, changed men, and how it felt like they’d died in the mud too. He’d been so determined to make something of the Shelby business, if only he could build and empire, then he could keep everyone safe. But none of it mattered, if it meant his little sister was afraid of him. He thought of his father and realised: what kind of man are you, if you scare children into silence? He didn’t want to be like that. He knew he was harder now, lost in a way, but he never wanted to be like that. And he looked at the one person who still had faith in him to be a good person.
Solemnly, he promised, “I’ll try.”
*****
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kpopgirlbtssvt · 1 year
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Ooo is anyone interested in writing this request??? Tommy Shelby x long lost daughter where Tommy finds her much like Polly found Michael. Y/n is in her early 20s and she is very sweet, soft, and pretty much dances to the beat of her own drum, pretty much skipping in a flower field and she’s very bubbly (very much the opposite of the rest of her family. Her and Tommy become inseparable and with each other all the time (Tommy is sooo overprotective and loves her so much, and is very soft around her, never raising his voice even the slightest). The whole family (John, Finn, Ada, Polly, and Arthur) absolutely LOVES her and are all super protective of her and gentle with her, except Michael… Maybe he sees her bubbly, soft, and gentle personality as weakness and doesn’t think she belongs in the family’s and doesn’t live up to the “Shelby name”. Maybe Y/n walks in on a meeting that she was excluded from, and hears the family arguing with Michael over this, and Y/n runs off crying, thinking her family doesn’t want her anymore🥺 But they all go and comfort her and prove her wrong🥺
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