Peaky Blinders One Shots

Memories - Thomas Shelby x Reader

The train gurgled alongside them, smoke consuming the air as soldiers and families battled for their last goodbyes.

Your cheeks grew a deep shade of crimson as Tommy's calloused finger tips grazed along the angle of your jaw, "I'll be back before you know it Evelyn, I promise you. Till Christmas they said." His lips lingered on your forehead, the train making its last signal for set off as all three of the Shelby brothers picked up their bags, kissing their ladies for the last time until Christmas and heading for the train.
"I love you Tommy." He smiles wide, a face you wish you could frame and hang on your wall for the rest of time.
"I love you Evelyn." Hugs are shared between you, Arthur and John as they set for departure, a piece of your heart leaving with each of them until their anticipated return. Tommy doesn't look back, afraid that if he does, the two of you would run to each other and not let go.
They say distance makes the heart grow fonder, but yours ached for just one more touch against Tommy's skin. One more extra hour in bed with him, one more dance, one more laugh, kiss, hug, drink. Just one more... or a million more.

Christmas came around and you had received a letter from Tommy, mentioning that they'd be a little while longer, not knowing the time they'd be back put you on edge and filled you with anger, until Christmas they said. Everything the government mentioned about the war was a cotton spun lie, the women being forced to take control of the businesses the men left behind, no longer were women being kept inside, cooking, cleaning, tending to their children and lovers, now they were replacing the men whom you now feared would never come back.

You couldn't bring yourself to instantly write back to Tommy, your pen hitting paper umpteen times but barely moving and sentences hardly making sense.

You'd spent the past three Christmases  with Polly, her gift to you this year being a beautiful necklace and black dress and yours to her being a gorgeous pair of shoes she had seen months before. As you sat opposite Polly, the two of you sipping the whiskey that had been left untouched since the boys left, you couldn't help thinking about Tommy, Arthur and John. You wondered what it was like where they were, wondering if their safety was being portrayed by the government as ever lasting, but you knew deep down there was nowhere that they were safe, unless they were here, in Small Heath. You wondered what they had seen, who they had met, how many soldiers they had seen die beside them, and the thoughts made you cringe.

Polly's hand lay atop of yours, the other grasping the whiskey tumbler, the edge of your teeth gripping onto your lower lip in attempt to muffle the sob you so badly wanted to release.
"I know Evelyn, I know." Her delicate fingers stroked the top of your hand, your fingers fumbling to grip onto hers in desperation as another sob rattled through your body.
"Pol I miss them so much, what if they don't come back?" You knew that Polly couldn't push your worries at bay, you knew that she couldn't tell you to forget about it and move on like you could for other things, you'd been walking around Small Heath with a heavy heart for over three years, the burden of memories that you had with them all now becoming exactly that, just memories.