Blind Date Masterlist

Blind Date Masterlist

Modern Thomas Shelby

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98

Masterlist -

In This Together - Thomas Shelby

P 1 P2 P3 P4 P5 P6 P 7 P8 P9 P10 P11 P12 P13 P14 P15 P 16 P17 P18 P19 P20 p21 P22 P23 P24 P25 P26 P27 P28 P29 P 30 p31 P32 P33 P34 P35 P36 P37 P38 P39 P40 p41 P42 P43 P44 P45 P46 P47 Part 48 Part 49 Part 50 Part 51 Part 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89

The Disappeared

Tommy Shelby x Martha Shelby

Summary: Tommy’s last memories of his mother.

Author’s Note: Written for @noforkingclue ’s 2500 follower celebration. 2 months late, but I’ve finished it! The prompt was “You can’t make me disappear.”

Warning: language, mental illness, spousal abuse, mention of suicide

Moodboard credit: by the amazing @the-makingsofgreatness

The house was quiet, it was always quiet when his mother went dumb. She’d sit in the copper bath for hours until his father came home drunk and tore her from it, sloshing water about the floor, creating a dark river across the floor boards Tommy and Arthur would have to mop up. Arthur Sr. would drag her by her hair, but she never made a sound. Tommy wished just once she would fight back, claw him or kick at his shins. The silence was worse than her screams he thought. He wondered if she were dead inside her body.

Her face never moved and her eyes tracked one spot on the wall, watching something inside, listening to a sound he couldn’t hear. But she never looked at him, never looked at anyone. Her husband could scream and yell all he wanted, but she never flinched, the bruises that bloomed over her skin the only reply to his cruelty. Tommy wondered where she’d gone in those moments. Perhaps back to the Black Patch where she talked about when she was happy. 

One morning he woke to find her gone. His father had thrown the teapot against the wall and the children watched it shatter. Hopes of any sort of comforting warmth a distant wish unable to be fulfilled. Tommy wanted to hate her for abandoning them, but a part of him understood. Envied her even for flying away when she had the chance as he sat rooted to his chair.  He could sense it in her, that her spirit was dying and she couldn’t be contained within these walls a moment longer. 

He tried to forget her, spending his nights in the stables with the horses and Uncle Charlie. The cries of his baby brother too piercing and harsh to bear, he preferred the silence of the yard where he kept watch over the fire as the wafts of smoke were carried away on the wind. He only returned to the house when Aunt Polly came looking for him. She insisted he eat something because his bones were protruding.

The weather began to turn and Polly had managed to put a bit more weight on him when his mother suddenly returned. She strode back into town with a wild, carefree air about her. She carried a satchel slung over one shoulder and in the opposite hand held fast to the reigns of a beautiful white pony. Tommy was alone in the lane when she approached, cocking his head and squinting to be sure he wasn’t having visions of his own. As she came closer he observed her wispy curls and thought how different she looked after her time away. 

“Mum?” he called out hesitantly and she nodded slowly in affirmation.  He looked down, suddenly shy. “I-I thought you’d disappeared forever,” he admitted.

Her satchel slipped from her shoulder as she stopped to consider him. “Here now ain’t I? Thought you’d have more sense Tommy,” she said dismissively. Then with a small smile she added, “You can’t make me disappear.” As she lead the pony to Charlie’s yard she looked back at her son calling, “Come on!” And he raced to catch up to her. When they reached the yard he jumped up onto the pony and he rode bareback, grinning as the horse picked up speed, feeling the wind on his cheeks.   

Tommy rode the horse all afternoon, dismounting when the sun set over the cut, his legs sore, but his heart full. His mother had returned and that had to mean something. She must have found what she was searching for on her long journey. However, with the setting sun she had wandered away and he found her staring out over the water with sorrowful eyes, her good mood seeming to have shifted.

The melancholy he had so often witnessed was seeping back into her bones, evident in the slump of her shoulders and the deep sighs she exhaled every so often. He placed an arm over her shoulder and steered her toward the house, helping her into bed with some effort. He hadn't bothered with the light blue dress she wore in his haste to settle her beneath the duvet, exhaustion sweeping over her like a plague.

——————————————

“Where is she?” Arthur, Sr. slurred, banging the front door open with a loud thud. He had heard from the men in town that Martha was spotted sauntering into town and his blood boiled at the thought of her arrogance.

Polly looked up from the pants she was mending and hissed, “She’s fucking sleeping, like everyone else. Go to bed, you pathetic drunkard.”

Tommy listened from behind his bedroom door, waiting to hear what his father would say about that, but Arthur Sr. only fell into a nearby chair grumbling to himself incoherently as he removed his boots. Tommy could only make out a couple of sentences, but the words he overheard made him want to fight his father instantly. “How dare that fucking whore humiliate me this way? Should’ve stayed gone and you know it, Pollyanna.”

“She’s the mother of your children,” Polly said sharply. Then as she pinched the thread between her teeth she added,  “You should get down on your knees and thank God she came back at all.” 

At that remark Arthur Sr. scoffed loudly. “She should be thanking me.”

“And what makes you think she should have returned to you?” Polly asked harshly.

“I’m her husband. She belongs here with me and her children. It’ll do her good to remember she has duties here,” Arthur Sr. explained.

Polly winced at the notion. The last thing Martha needed was one more night in the presence of her abusive husband and the strain of her responsibilities which had already pushed her to the brink. “Can’t you see she’s already dead?” Polly said, a quiet prophecy yet to be fulfilled.

“What the hell do you mean?” Her brother asked in annoyance.

“Martha’s passed over long ago, Arthur. It’s only the body that remains,” Polly warned in a chilling voice and Tommy closed his door before he could hear anymore.

——————————————

The knock at the door the next morning was loud and persistent. The drumming causing Arthur Sr.’s head to pound more ferociously than before. “Mr. Shelby! Mr. Shelby!” The voice on the other side called out. The banging continued until Tommy opened the door and found a boy about his age standing in front of him, looking sickly and gray. “Tommy, I need to speak with your Dad,” he said, gulping harshly.

"You can speak to me," Tommy said, stepping over the threshold. He could tell something horrible had happened. "Fucking tell me," Tommy persisted pushing his chest out.

The other boy nodded and beckoned him to follow. The morning was cool and the street felt damp beneath Tommy's bare feet. He hadn't bothered with shoes, wanting to know the truth he held in his heart. As a misting rain began to fall over them he watched men pull a body from the cut. The light blue dress and dark curls obscuring the face familiar to him. "She's already dead," Aunt Polly's voice echoed in his mind.

"Do you want to fetch your Da?" the boy asked nervously. "Tommy? Did you hear me?"

"Why? He knew she wasn't really coming back," Tommy said, attempting to hide the way his voice cracked. Then hanging his head to hide his tears, he added lowly, "Give her peace. Let her disappear." But his heart clenched in his chest as he thought of her. She would never leave him. She had told him so. And the thought frightened him because he wasn't sure if it was a blessing or a curse.

-------------------------

Tag list:

@peakyswritings

@evita-shelby

@shelbydelrey

@alanadetigy

@wandawiccan60   

@severewobblerlightdragon

@lovemissyhoneybee

@theshelbyslimited

@kittycatcait219

@peakyrogers

@christinasyellowflowers

@notyour-valentine

@theshelbyclan

@dreamlandcreations

@cillmequick

@raincoffeeandfandoms

@there-goes-thefighter

@pherelesytsia

@the-makingsofgreatness

@flysafepapi

@peaky-cillian

@kpopgirlbtssvt

@celticmelody

@look-at-the-soul

@l1-l4

@madame-wilsonn

@rangerelik

@runnning-outof-time

היץ (Heat) - An Alfie Solomons/Reader one shot story.

So, here it is as promised, the sequel to Ride the Bull. Enjoy! 

Words - 2,208

Disclaimer - 18+ only. Minors DO NOT read

You’re not too sure how it happened, exactly, but it did. That one time in his office wasn’t enough for either of you. You both knew it, too, as you sat clasped together, breathless and perspiration soaked, that you’d have to have one another again, regardless of guilt. Well, guilt on your part, at least.  

After all, you’re still married. Barely, it must be said, but wedded to another nonetheless.

Would one time with Alfie ever truly have been enough? Doubtful. That’s how affairs begin, after all. Two people who cannot get enough of one another, no matter how illicit that craving may be. Make no mistake, you crave him unlike you’ve ever craved anything before.

Keep reading

Blind Date Masterlist 2

Modern Thomas Shelby -99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108

109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126

127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149

150 151 152 153

This look he has just reeks of touch my wife one more time and I'll raise hell. Or reader is shy (and married to Tommy) and is trying not to be rude + moving to stop the touches on her arm. Tommy sees if they keep doing it before he intervenes

Tommy watching you do just anything at home

John pretending to read but watching you tell a someone off. Also him waiting to see if the guy does something

Sorry 😅idk what to do with myself

Tysm for the ask, darl! I love all of these amazing ideas! Protective Tommy makes me feral and that look in the 2nd GIF is pure sunshine. However, I've written loads of Tommy requests recently so I'll show John some love.

Place Your Bets

"You there!" a mean looking drunk shouted over the din of the betting shop. You didn't bother looking up from your desk as you concentrated on taking a customer's bet over the telephone.

Undeterred, the man slowly clomped toward you, swaying as he walked. He approached wreaking of whisky and body odor and you hung up as quickly as possible to shoo him away. Rising from the desk you motioned to the back of the queue, closer to the doors where the stench would be carried away with the breeze. "You'll have to wait your turn," you informed him tersely.

"I know you," he said with a sneer, showing off a row of rotten, yellow teeth. "You was the lass who took my bet last week."

You turned away, unsure how the poor sod had placed his bet and not caring in the slightest.

"I'm talking to you!" he shouted and you turned with fire dancing in your eyes as he dared to continue. "You gave me that rubbish tip about Monaghan Boy!" he said, wiping his nose on the back of his sleeve.

"Gonna let your missus handle that one?" a secretary asked as she passed John's desk.

John lowered his paper as he shrugged, "Why not? She can take care of herself better than half the men here," he said, voice swelling with pride. He grinned to himself as he thought of all the times you'd bested him in an argument and counted himself lucky someone else was on the receiving end of your temper for once.

"He must have been off his tits! Came in dead last," the man grumbled to you.

"You'd know something about that, eh?" you countered, snickering as you pushed past him to gather a few papers.

"What did you say to me?," the man asked, puffing out his chest.

"Oh, God, this is going to be good," John said with a slight giggle. He could tell by your folded arms and the way your foot began to tap rapidly against the floorboards you were properly angry now.

You whipped around, annunciating your words as if he were a complete idiot, because he was. "I said you're a fucking drunk who made a shit bet so don't come in here and throw a wobbler like a bloody child!"

Sitting back to watch the drama unfold from behind his paper, John snickered as he listened to you give the man a tongue lashing. The man retaliated calling you a cunt.

John sucked in a breath. "Ooh, I wouldn't call her that, mate!" John commented to no one in particular, shaking his head. He kicked his feet off the desk and leaned forward slightly to see how you would return the insult.

You wagged a finger in the man's face, half his size, but berating him as though you were equally matched. "Call me that once more and I'll cut ya, ya filthy animal! Don't fuck with me!"

That's when John saw the man reach out to grab you by the arm and he was on his feet in seconds, pounding the floorboards menacingly. He pinned the man to the wall, narrowing his eyes at the bastard who dared lay a hand on you, asking, "What the fuck do you think you're doing?" The man could only gurgle in response as John held him by the throat.

You brushed your sleeve, noting the dirt he'd left behind with a frown before collecting yourself and lightly placing a hand on John's shoulder. He turned to look at you, eyes softening, but grip remaining firm.

"Can I borrow your blade, darling? Left mine in me other skirt," you said, voice as thick and sweet as honey.

"Of course, love," he said, handing it over with a quick kiss.

"Wait, wh-what's sh-she going to do with that?" the man stuttered, too afraid to move.

"Cut your balls off, I reckon," John replied. Breaking out into a shit eating grin, he reached up to smack the man on the cheek a couple of times. Then he pulled back to take in the look of horror as he snorted, "Nah, just take your eyes. She's a blinder after all and she did warn ya not to fuck with her."