Tommy Shelby One Shots

I hate it when you're not here

POV : You're Tommy's partner

This will be just a small, fluffy chapter ! It can take place whenever you want to, before John's death ! I hope you'll enjoy ;)
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You were standing in front of a window, a cup of tea in your hands, nervously fidgeting it while endlessly staring at one of the many streets of Birmingham.

Tommy should have been back. He should have been back at least an hour ago. But if there was one thing you had learnt during all the time you'd been frequenting him, it was that punctuality was not always his greatest qualities. But still...
You could not help but feeling worried everytime he went somewhere for "business" and didn't come back on time.

John and Arthur were with him, though, They should be fine.
Should...
Nothing was ever certain with a Shelby.
And this was one of the reasons for which you had immediately said "yes" to Tommy, without an ounce of hesitation. Every day you spent with him, with them actually, was a surprise.
"They should be back soon." a voice suddenly spoke, making you jump slightly in surprise and causing a few droplets of your tea to fall on the floor. A voice you rapidly identified as Polly's.
"Bloody hell, Pol ! You scared me !"
"So I see," answered the woman, with a small smile on her lips.
You chuckled softly, realising how ridiculous you must have looked.
"I thought you were sleeping ?" you asked, being quite sure that you had heard her go to bed earlier.
"Well I guess we're both awake for the same reason, dear," she answered simply.
You sighed.
Of course Polly was worried as well. The boys were like children to her... Or... Brothers, since she was barely three years older than Arthur. Yet she felt so much older, so much more mature, so much wiser, too, which was a very good thing.
Just as the woman approached you near the window, you heard the very familiar sound of a car nearing at great speed before parking right in front of you.
You heard Polly sigh and turned around to face her.
"Well... Judging by how fast they arrived, I guess I'd better have some medicine ready..."
You felt your chest constrict slightly at her words, for obvious reasons, and hurriedly looked outside, to see two black silhouettes helping a third one out of the car. Alas, in the darkness, you could not make out to whom which one belonged.
You kept your eyes locked on the car for a few seconds, breathing quite rapidly, a thousand thoughts filling your mind.
You were suddenly brought back to reality when you heard the front door being slammed open and Tommy shouting in a rather unusual raspy voice :
"Polly !"
Then, footsteps hurried to the door and you heard the worried voice of the woman :
"Good Lord ! What the hell happened to him ?"
"Just take care of him, Pol ! You'll lecture us about that later, alright ?" you heard Arthur's sharp retort.
"Alright, you two take him upstairs, quickly !"
You just stood frozen on your feet, not daring to see which one of John or Tommy was injured. You had no idea how much time passed with you standing rather stupidly like that, but when you finally gathered enough sense to finally finish your tea, it was cold.
Then you heard limping footsteps coming downstairs, a small cough and a throat being cleared.

It sounded familiar to you, but your mind could've been playing tricks on your ears.

And you saw him. Standing right in front of you, staring at you with both questioning and worried eyes, and you couldn't help but feel a rather selfish sense of relief washing all over yourself.
He looked alright.
Well, he had been better, obviously, but he was still standing tall.
A small cut on his cheek, maybe a small bump on his head, a tendency to favour his right leg over the left one, probably some bruises hidden under his coat and clothes, but nothing more.

"Are you alright ?" he asked in a rasped tone, taking a few steps forward to brush your chin with his finger.

Right, of course..., you thought, 'cause he's the one supposed to ask that...

"Don't you think I'm the one who should ask ?" you retorted quite sharply.

He sighed, which apparently caused a nasty sounding coughing fit to make its way up his throat, before going to sit on a chair and lighting up a cigarette.

"I'm always alright."

A very Shelby-like answer...

"What's the matter with your throat ? Are you sick ?" you asked in a tone you wanted to be as flat as possible.
Of course, you were relieved the man was finally back and doing rather alright, but a small part of yourself couldn't help but feel somewhat angry at him for getting you worried like that again.

Tommy simply shook his head as another coughing came in. You carefully neared the man and kneeled in front of him, grabbing his free hand.
Only then did you realise that he was shaking. In the slightest way, but still.

And all anger left your mind, replaced with deep concern.

"I got strangled," he simply answered when the fit was over.

Your eyes involuntarily opened a bit wider at the words, and you grasped his hand a little tighter in yours.

"How bad ?" you asked in worry.

"I didn't pass out."

"Hmm," you just answered, trying your best to forget how constricted your own throat felt (not for the same reason, obviously), and reaching up to unbutton Tommy's shirt, despite his sighs and whispers of protest, as usual.

Yet, you could feel something wasn't really right, or else he wouldn't have let you even get close to his skin if he didn't want you to touch it.
You could guess what was wrong, yes. You wanted to help him. But for that, you needed to know what exactly had happened... And who knew how the man would react to that. He could go from staring blankly at the wall, to shouting at everything and everyone in the room.

"Tom... Tommy, what happened to John ?"

The man remained silent for a few seconds, and you didn't say anything either.
Then, he took a deep breath, cleared his throat another time, before answering in a slightly unassured voice.

"The bastard tried to play the hero while we were fighting the other boys... It was a fair fight, three against three, we had the high ground..."
He paused and swallowed before continuing,
"I was fucking stupid... Put my opponent out, but didn't see the fourth man behind me... He jumped to my throat. Arthur and John didn't see it, focused on their fight. But then, eventually John saw me and... And the bloody fool jumped on the man strangling me and got shot by the one he was fighting. Right in the hip. Arthur had to finish them almost by himself, I was fucking useless."

You grabbed both his hands in yours, tightly, and placed a small kiss on them.

"Johnny's gonna be alright, Tommy," you said, softly, "And I know you've already done the same for him, so don't blame yourself for what happened. Please. You're not the one who shot him, and I'm sure everyone here would rather have one of you injured than another one dead. Besides, Polly would have probably killed both Arthur and John if something had happened to you anyway."

You didn't dare to say "if you had died", but the understatement was quite easy to get.

"I'm just glad you're alright and in one piece, Tom..."

You got up and placed another kiss on his forehead.

"I'm going to make something for your throat. You stay here and rest."

You were about to turn and leave, when you felt his strong fingers closing on your right wrist.

"I love you..." he said, simply.

You bent down again in front of him and looked at him right in the eyes before speaking in a teasing voice :

"If you love me, then why do you keep worrying me like that ?"

He chuckled softly before answering, a thin smile on his lips :

"Because that's who I am, and that's who you married and took the name Shelby of,"

"I know... But still, I hate it when you're not there..."

"So do I."

He leaned forward and placed a very soft, almost shy kiss on your lips.