In Small Heath | Peaky Blinders

twenty-one; as soft and cold as marble stone

The second eldest had told the Shelby Family that the fireplace was being fixed... four days ago, and yet- everyday Sebastian Shelby sat in the kitchen with a cup of tea in his hand waiting to be escorted to whatever strange location the other had chosen. It took four days before Thomas had even realised what he had said. The fireplace was fine, maybe a little dirty but it was Small Heath, the thing that really needed fixing happened to be the doors. Every single door.

Thomas had told himself that it was to make Bash's life easier, but in reality, during the night when he was back in the trenches- he needed an easier way to get out of the house and to breathe fresh air again. The doors were the easiest thing- Thomas would no longer be caught dead climbing down drain pipes, he had no secret lover to see.

Not anymore.

On the fifth day, Polly had dragged Thomas there by the ears and left him with his brother. The duo stood in utter silence for what felt like half an hour, but Thomas was waiting for the calculating thoughts of Sebastian to stop for a moment.

"You're five days late, Thomas. You are one for time keeping, are you not? Forgotten how to tell the time, have you?" His words were sharp, but his face and voice remained void of all feelings.

He was a shadow, like their father- but he was just better at hiding it now. His eyes used to be the telling sign, but after they began to cloud blue, they were empty pits of a bottomless void.

Whenever he smiled, it felt empty, like it was a chore for him to lift his lips upwards, but the family knew that Bash probably did actually want to smile and that it wasn't forced. Just like his older two brothers, Bash didn't force emotional acts. If he wanted to smile, he would. If he wanted to cuss everyone out with a raise of two fingers, he would.

"I had to make sure things were all set up for our arrival, Sebastian. Now, are you coming or not?"

"First, you're going to tell me why both Jimmy and Charlie tried to tell me that I hadn't actually slept a full night — for the last four nights? I know stalling and that wasn't stalling, that was bullshittery and you knew it!"

Bash was never one to blow up in peoples faces but already he hadn't the patience to be calm all of the time anymore. Not when people took advantage of his lack of sight.

He thought his brother, Tommy, would've been different.

But he was just the same as every other prick who thought they knew best, because Tommy Shelby always knows what's best.

Tom, not wanting to engage in the argument anymore than he already had - by breathing a little too loudly for Bash's liking, held out an arm for his brother to take.

The younger of the two took a step forward, clasping his hand onto the others with a tight grip. If he was taking the car, he'd need guiding there- the garage was never a place Bash had liked going. It was too much of a hassle and it didn't offer him much in terms of anything really.

The smell of petrol only brought him back to France, and it was just safer for everyone involved if he just left that room as an unexplored chamber of the unknown, at least it gave it a little bit of mystery.

Even if it only housed a car and a few spare tyres.

"Just stand up, Sebastian." Tommy ordered, and as he did so, Bash slammed down the tea cup he'd been nursing in his hand, onto the table.

Luckily for Bash, it hadn't smashed, he really didn't feel like facing the wrath of Arthur or Polly for breaking one of their mothers old tea cups when there were plenty of old and nasty beer glasses they'd lifted from one of the various pubs they all used to frequent.