METHOD OF MADNESS ━ 𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐬 𝐒𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐛𝐲 ¹ (Under editing)

𝓋. 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓇𝓉𝓎-𝑜𝓃𝑒 : sun rises again

ᴺᴼᵂ ᴾᴸᴬᵞᴵᴺᴳ : follow you - bring me the horizon

⇄ ◃◃ ⅠⅠ ▹▹ ↻

v. thirty-one: ❝sun rises again❞

✵✵✵

Small heath, Birmingham

As the night surrendered to the first tendrils of dawn, the day's arrival felt almost like a thief in the quiet darkness. Tommy and Marianna's tangled night had reached its end, leaving a reality more vivid than dreams—his presence, his face, his whispered question of whether she'd be his. The world outside seemed a cruel jest, a place of betrayal and false promises.

Marianna had been bound to leave; that was the nature of their dance. Fate had warned her against desiring him, but desire is a stubborn beast. She had wished for him nonetheless. Tommy had ignited a flicker of hope within her, a delicate edge of anticipation that felt as perilous as it was enticing.

It was the reason for the scantily clad limbs, for the single patchwork cot they'd shared, for their bodies entwined so closely. Marianna stared out the window, the memory of his blazing eyes and the curve of his lips etched into her mind. She saw how easily she'd been ensnared, how foolishly she'd fallen. And yet, she welcomed it. She loved it.

"Are you still awake, Tommy?" Marianna's voice cut through the blissful cocoon of their shared warmth, a soft murmur that grazed his ear.

Tommy's breath tickled the top of her head as he exhaled, "I don't hear the shovels against the wall."

"What shovels?" Marianna's tone was curious, slightly amused.

"The night we stayed in my room, I didn't hear them either." Tommy said, his fingertips trailing through her straw-blonde hair, savoring every second of their closeness.

After all these years, Tommy thought he'd come to terms with time. He'd hoped to make peace with it, to find a way to coexist with it—not as friends, but not as enemies. Yet, the span between nightfall and dawn felt the cruelest. Time seemed to mock their naked bodies entwined in each other, slipping away with each tick of the clock.

The minutes dripped away like water through his fingers, a relentless stream between now and then, between the family business and the tangled mess of their lives.

"Tom—" Marianna began.

"Will you help me, Mari?" He asked, his voice raw and earnest. He was greedy for her, and if that greed meant having her by his side, then so be it.

A small, knowing smile curved her lips as she pressed a tender kiss to the bare expanse of his chest. "I thought I'd been helping you all along, Tommy."

"I just wanted to be sure you're alright with it." Tommy admitted, sounding a bit out of breath.

"Hmmm. Help you with what?" Marianna inquired, her gaze lifting to meet his bright blue eyes, a teasing shrug in her shoulders.