Peaky Blinders. One shot and imagines

Angel of the trenches - Part 8 - Tommy x Reader

"So.............?" Tommy asked, as the train made its way back to Birmingham.

"So, what................?" (Y/n) replied, as she looked at the countryside flying by. The occasional cloud of smoke, from the smokestack of the engine the only thing to mar the scene.

"Alfie.............." Tommy continued, as the former corporal finally turned to look at him.

"Are you asking my opinion of the man, or...............?"

"Just tell me what ya think................" Tommy added, as he took another cigarette from the silver case.

"I wasn't in the office long enough to form too much of an opinion.........."

"(Y/n). Knock it off. Tell me what ya think..............." The ex-sapper said. (Y/n) sitting up a little straighter in the seat and chuckling slightly.

"He's a man that likes to dominate others; but he's not a mindless thug, though some of his actions might say differently. No, he's a smart man. Might not want people to know how smart he really is; but I would never underestimate him. From what you told me, I wouldn't trust time as far as I could throw him. I get a feeling he likes you, but that doesn't mean that he won't stab you in the back if the mood takes him; that, or if he's offered the right price. Making a deal with Alfie Solomons, is like making a deal with the devil; you need to read the fine print and watched out for the pointy tail and pitchfork.........." (Y/n) said, with a slight shrug. Unable to stop herself from smiling, as Tommy gifted her with a rare smile of his own.

"Good............" Tommy replied, before he himself turned his attention to the world beyond the carriage window. A comfortable silence falling over the pair.

It was like this during the war. The two just sitting with one another when there was a lull in the fighting. When the air wasn't filled with the sound of artillery shells and gun fire. (Y/n) reading whatever book she could get her hands on; and Tommy, well, Tommy would do exactly what he was doing now, smoke. But usually in the trenches, he also had a mug of tea in his hand.

She, or should that be George, was often teased by the others for spending so much time reading. The lads from the country often asking her if she was some kind of fancy college boy; but then later, would come to her and ask if she could help them write a letter home to their family, explaining that they could neither read, nor write. But when Tommy had asked her why she read so much, she felt the need to tell him the truth, as she placed the beat up copy of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, that had at least three pages ripped out of it; which, to her horror, had been used by one of the boys as toilet paper, when he had used up his ration, to the side. She had explained everything, that books were her escape. That even when times were at their worst; when their mother was throwing what little they had, around the house in a drunken rage, she could go to her little hiding spot, and read; she could be a million miles from all the chaos, with just a few words. She could go around the world in eighty days, with Phileas Fogg. She could chase white whales, with Captain Ahab; or even, as now, descend Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea, in the Nautilus. And if there was ever a time that she had wanted to escape the lunacy, it was most definitely when she was surrounded by death and destruction. Tommy just nodding at her words, before taking another drag on his cigarette.

"I read it; ya know............." Tommy suddenly announced. (Y/n) looking at him, her brows furrowed.

"Read what...............?"

"That book ya told me about that day before we went over tha top.........Coriolanus............."

"You.......you read Coriolanus...........? What.......what did you think.........?" The former corporal enquired, as she moved a little more forward in her seat. A little taken back that her sergeant had actually read the play. Tommy just shrugging before finishing his cigarette. (Y/n) chuckling, as she shook her head and sat back. Just hoping that he watched his back when it came to Alfie, better than Coriolanus did with Aufidius.

                                                          >>--------------------------------<<

"I'll be at the shop all day tomorrow.............." Tommy said, as the train pulled up at the station. It the first words that he had uttered since he had mentioned reading the Shakesperean play. It not bothering (Y/n) in the slightest, quite used to the long periods of nothing from Tommy. Knowing that he would only speak when he really needed to. And when he did, you better listen.

"I want you in the office with me............." He continued, as he opened the carriage door and stepped out onto the platform. (Y/n) simply nodding in agreement. The head of the family firm not having let her out of his sight since she had turned up on the doorstep; not that she was going to complain. As far as she was concerned, she had spent to much time away from the man she cared so much about; so now, she would spend as much time with him as he would allow her. (Y/n) taking his hand, as he helped her out of the carriage.

"Anything you say........boss..............."