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It's quicker and easier to eat your young.
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HIS FATHER'S LOVE WAS like a bullet wound. Searing in its agony, blinding in its fury. On the flipside, it also got Jack's hands bloody and was far more trouble than it was worth. But he was used to it. Being Arthur Shelby's only son was a burden he'd long since learnt to carry alone. He was a man from the moment he took his first breath and his mother sobbed her last. A man didn't need his father to hold his hand and fight his battles for him.
In truth, Jack was dead inside. He had drowned long ago. Buried in the muddy wasteland at the bottom of the Cut were the parts of himself that would sever straight through the already fraying string that connected him with his father and their notorious family name.
Or so he thought.
Secrets had a way of bludgeoning a person's life to pieces. Buried or not, they whispered their woes beyond the grave. Taunted. Forced into submission even the strongest of Gods.
And Jack Shelby was no God.
Secrets weren't promises of eternal silence. They always found a way to reveal themselves. To tear down the perfect façade created to conceal them.
No matter how much he maimed himself ― and others ― to prove it, Jack Shelby was playing a losing game.
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( EAT YOUR YOUNG )
STARRING. . .
FREDDY CARTER as JACK SHELBY eighteen ― twenty-seven
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ANYA CHALOTRA as INEZ SHARMA sixteen ― twenty-five
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SAI BENNETT as EIRENE ADAMS-SHELBY eternally nineteen
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FEATURING. . .
paul anderson as arthur shelby cillian murphy as tommy shelby joe cole as john shelby harry kirton as finn shelby helen mccrory as polly gray finn cole as michael gray daryl mccormack as isaiah jesus
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Disclaimer: I don't own Peaky Blinders. All rights belong to BBC Studios and their series. I only own my original characters, as listed above, and any plotlines you're unable to recognise.
Eat Your Young contains mentions of violence, death, homophobia (it's the 1920s; both internalised and from other people), racism (again, 1920s), sexual references and other potentially triggering topics. Viewer discretion is advised.
Now we've gotten that out of the way ― I want it known that Jack Shelby is confirmed bisexual. He likes both men and women, but given that he's alive in 1920s England, he never discovers the bisexual label until much, much later in his life. For most of this story, Jack struggles with what his family and what society expects from him and what he knows in his own heart. Hence the warnings above! If this makes you uncomfortable, please don't feel like you have to read this fic. There are multiple love interests for a reason, and I'm not going to spoil anything, but Jack makes a lot of wrong choices. It's realistic to the time period which I find really important, but I love him so, so much already and I hope you do too!
