The boy that crawls (Peaky Blinders)

Ashamed

(Theo's P.O.V.)
I watched Inspector Campbell closely. His face filled with irritation and his fist clenching in anger. He then waved his hand up, indicating I was allowed to leave. Two officers made there way over to me. Before I could even protest against them, I had been roughly pulled up. A loud gasp left my lips as I pushed down the urge to scream out in pain, when one of the officers had kicked his leg against mine. I did not know if it was accident or not but I still gave him a glare as I held my leg tightly, trying to subdue the pain as quick as possible. Not caring that I was in pain, I was dragged forward. The instant movement made my legs jerk and another groan ripped from my throat. I tried to consol the pain in my legs with my hand but considering the officers each had one of arms over their shoulder, I had no way of reaching my legs. Because of that my legs grew only more painfull. Eventually when we arrived in front of my father, I was roughly pushed towards him. My legs instantly gave way from underneath me and I fell forward. Thankfully I was caught by my father. He hadn't really expected my full weight and almost fell aswell, but luckily for the both of us he remained standing. He turned himself around so that he could put my right arm over his shoulder while snaking his left arm around my waist. Then with much effort we made our way out of the jail. I groaned more as we went down the stairs. Then all of a sudden alot of pain shot through my legs and I went down to the ground. "Theo you are not making it easy for me" Dad commented without realising what exactly he had just said to me, as he tried keeping me upright. "Well I am sorry that my broken legs are such an inconvenience for you" I snapped at him, "That's not what I meant and you know it!" he replied back with the same tone I had just held. "Yet you still said it" I scoffed. "Theo-" he began and you could hear the apologetic tone in his voice, "just forget it" I told him and pushed him off of me so I could fall to the ground. Although it was still painfull to catch myself, it hurt way less than falling face first onto the ground. I caught myself before pushing myself up "where is your car?" I questioned. "It's right over here" he said and pointed to his car as he knew I was to stubborn to let him carry me. While crawling towards his car, I felt more pain rise into my legs, but pushed it down. I wanted him to drive me back to the orphanage but he had refused. Instead drove us to the house on Watery lane. I got out the car and crawled behind my father towards the house. The small stones dug into my legs and hands making me hiss in pain. It was so painfull that I stayed still by the car. My hands began to bleed because of it aswell. "You need help?" My father asked me.

(Tommy's P.O.V.)
Theodore looked up at me. In his eyes I could see debate. I could tell that he did not want my help, yet he was in to much pain to even move further. His eyes furrowed before deciding to crawl anyway. I looked around us, feeling the stares of everyone. It wasn't directed to me but towards Theo. Some even mumbled amongst themselves as the held there gaze on Theodore. I moved towards him to pull his arm over my shoulder, so I could carry him inside. Atleast then it just looked like he was wounded instead of looking like a cripple. But no matter how hard I tried, Theo wouldn't let me. Quickly moving away, not caring that he would hurt his legs. I could see his face contour in pain, yet the anger still ruled his features. "Theo, you are not going to crawl-" I began but he cut me off with an angry look "why not?" He sneered. I stopped in my tracks and looked down at Theo who crawled slowly towards me. Like a lion stalking towards his prey. "Am I embarrassing you when I crawl? Huh?" He questioned mockingly, "is the great Thomas Shelby feeling the judging eyes of  the people around him?". I didn't know how to react to his statement, he was out of line but right none the less. I did feel the judging stares burning holes into my body. Theo let out a dark chuckle "welcome to my life, Mr Shelby" before turning around to crawl further. He still refused to call me anything else than Mr Shelby. I remember what he had said to me when I had told him, that he didn't have to call me Mr Shelby anymore. "You are nothing beside a sperm donor to me". Again he was right. I had not shown anything to him that remotely suggested I cared for him. To him it must only look like I want something from him. But there was also something in him that wanted to give me a chance. I saw it in the way in his shoulders and how his head hung. He let out a deep sigh and then reached his hand up. He turned his eyes to meet my gaze, a small sign of forgiveness towards me showed in his eyes. I took his hand in my own and pulled him up to his feet. Painfull groans leaving his lips as he leaned almost fully against me. "My apologies" I softly told him and he just gave me a small smile, through his pain. I took him inside. "Wait wait" he breathed out in pain, as he reached his hand up to the wall to find even more balance. Theodore's face was full with pain. But after taking a deep breath he nodded for me to continue. I walked with him into the bettingshop. When arriving all eyes turned to us and I felt Theo's muscles tense up under their stares. "What are you looking at?" I snapped at the workers, "get back to work". Every worker did immediatly what they where told. I took Theo over to a chair to sit him down. I lowered him down, but pain shot through his legs as he fingers dug into my shoulders. He let go when he was seated. His eyes had been shut tightly but with a deep breath, they carefully opened. A shaky breath left his lips as he looked towards me. "Are you alright?" I questioned him as I laid a hand on his shoulder. He nodded as a strained breath left his lips. He was in pain as he shifted into a more comfortable position. My eyes looked down at his legs. I could see the slight deformity in them. "Result of the many times I have broken them" Theo told me with a dry laugh as he noticed me staring. He moved his hand over his leg, inspecting them. An annoyed expression on his face. "Fuck" he breathed out and sat back in the chair. I raised an eyebrow at him. "My legs they need to be rebroken" he told me, "but they are still broken. Are they not?" I questioned him. He nodded "yes but they are healing out allignment". The memory of him screaming out in pain when he had broken his leg unintentionally filled my mind. And now he told me it needs to be broken intentionally. "Its what I get when I refuse the Iron legs" he chuckled but you could hear the pain behind his words. "Then why do you refuse them?" I questioned. "Because people tend to see the braces and forget that there is a person wearing them".

Published: 8th of May 2023

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