A Rose By Any Other Name || Part Two
part one part three
series pairing: tommy shelby x reader, hints of john shelby x reader, hints of tommy x lizzie
summary: After your interaction with Tommy, there is a rift between you and Lizzie but an apology and the Epsom Derby threaten to strain your friendship further.
warnings: 18+ minors dni, mentions of prostitution, mentions of sex, alcohol consumption, typical peaky blinders content, (slow burn sorry)
author’s note: Thank you to everyone who read part one and interacted! There's no smut just yet but be patient it's coming (and so are Tommy and reader ;) !!!) Also I picture Thelma to look like Queenie from Fantastic Beasts but interpret her however you please <3 Enjoy!
After the ordeal with the Shelby brothers, The Garrison felt off-limits. Lizzie wasn't exactly pleased when she found out, and so you and Thelma decided to spend the night at The Marquis of Lorne.
The Marquis was packed, wall to wall with rowdy men and women from the BSA. You weren't planning on working tonight but, if the right man came along, you were in no position to turn him down.
The only upside of the job is that you didn't work in a whorehouse. People, however cruel, were even crueller to whorehouse whores. There was a strange level of acceptance, as if the men soliciting you could forget you were a working girl because they met you in places they meet regular women.
"Apparently there's a secretary job going," Thelma looked around the room at the smartly dressed women, "At the BSA."
"Have you applied?" You asked, sipping your gin. Employment was a sore subject between the two of you. Nobody whores unless they're desperate.
Thelma shakes her head and fiddles with the placemat under her glass. She draws her bottom lip between her teeth, her eyes fixed on the table.
"I wouldn't get it anyway."
"Why not? You can type, you can count, you're friendly-"
"I'm a whore," Thelma interrupted, amusement and hurt swimming in her eyes, "These women in here would be my colleagues. They don't think I'm worth the sheets I was born on... Sorry, we're supposed to be having fun."
Thelma blinked quickly and sat up straight, grinning, "Fuck it. Fuck them all."
She raised her glass and you met her toast.
"Fuck them all," You laughed, taking a large swig of your drink. The clear liquid burning your throat as you swallowed and exhaled.
Offering to get the next round of drinks, your attention was pulled by a heated argument by the bar. Two men in suits were subjected to verbal abuse from a drunken BSA worker.
One of them was a Blinder. You recognised him from The Garrison.
In a split second, fists were flying and knuckles were bloody. The Blinder and his friend were outnumbered but they held their own. Fruitlessly, the owner yelled from behind the bar for them to stop.
A table was knocked on its side as two men wrestled onto it and landed on the floor. Glass shattered somewhere in the room and the patrons of the bar tried to run.
Grabbing Thelma's hand, you yanked her to the exit. The crisp cold air of Small Heath seeped through your coat as you hurried towards Garrison Lane.
"Y/N?" Thelma asked once she realised the direction you were headed in.
"The Peaky Blinders need to know that two of their men are outnumbered," You replied, compelled by the power of the gangsters for the first time. They would fix this.
"What about Lizzie?" Thelma was now walking alongside you, matching you step for hurried step as you turned the corner.
The amber lights of The Garrison illuminated the pub and you rushed towards it like a moth to a flame.
Yanking the wooden door open, you pushed your way through the crowd, looking back to check Thelma was still with you. The door of the snug was open and three of the four Shelby brothers sat playing cards. Lizzie was tucked into the corner, chatting to Esme.
You lingered there for a moment before knocking lightly. All eyes turned to you, and Thelma gave a little wave. Lizzie's eyebrows shot up but she quickly neutralised her expression.
"Hello lovely," Arthur's voice boomed as he leaned back in his chair, "What do we owe the pleasure?"
"There's a fight at The Marquis. A Blinder and a boy. They didn't start it," You answered, the night's drinking deterring any nerves.
"But we'll finish it," John tossed his cards onto the table.
The three brothers got to their feet but Finn was shoved back into his seat.
"Nobody breathes a bloody word of this to Polly," Arthur threatened, his booming voice bouncing off the walls, "We will tell Tommy when he's back, alright?"
No Tommy? You assumed Lizzie turned down your offer tonight to spend her time with him. You were more confused than hurt, but the Blinder family was a family you had no desire to understand.
"When- When will Thomas be back?" You held your head high despite a wave of embarrassment rushing over you, "I owe him an apology."
"Don't know. Rich women are mad for working class cock these days," Arthur chuckles deeply, gulping down the contents of his glass and slamming it down, "I reckon he'll be back tomorrow."
Out of the corner of your eye, Lizzie shifts in her seat and straightens the skirt of her dress.
"I shall see you tomorrow then," You confirmed before the two men from The Marquis stepped into the snug, with scuffed knuckles and bloody collars. They smirk and grin at each other.
"We'll leave you," You nodded and disappeared out of the snug, back onto Garrison Lane.
Thelma giggled, "They certainly are intimidating."
You laughed a sigh of relief, surviving another interaction with the Shelby brothers. The door of The Garrison swiftly swung open and shut, as Lizzie joined you, pulling her coat on.
"Yeah yeah I'm a fool," Lizzie scoffed, sadness in her eyes.
"Who's the rich woman?" Thelma asked, hooking her arm around Lizzie's. Your eyes widened.
Lizzie lit a cigarette, "May Carleton. A toff who trains his horse. Rides his cock too. You don't have to apologise. I'm well shot of him."
Despite her foolishness when it comes to Thomas Shelby, you appreciated her forgiveness but there wasn't a world where you weren't going to apologise.
Three of the Shelby brothers witnessed your declaration and frankly you were afraid of the consequences of not following through.
The following afternoon you found yourself walking towards Shelby Company Ltd. There was a Blinder stood by the door, smoking a cigarette.
"Hello. I'm here to see Mr Shelby. Is he here?" You asked the gruff-looking man, who looked you up and down. Making his decision, he pushed the door open, eyes not leaving your body.
Being a whore really does get you in anywhere.
Inside was a foyer with gorgeous paintings decorating the walls and another set of double doors with Shelby Company Ltd embossed on the frosted glass.
With no sense of direction, you pushed through the double doors to find a few steps leading you down to two desks, facing one another.
"Y/N?" Lizzie's brow furrowed as she rose from her desk to greet you at the bottom of the steps, "What you doing here?"
"I promised Arthur and John I'd apologise. Is he here?" You winced.
"They won't cut you," Lizzie smiled, laughing softly, "He just got back. Oh, this is Michael, he's Polly's son."
Lizzie motioned to the desk opposite hers. The boy from The Marquis sat behind the large desk in a clean, pressed suit.
"Hello Michael, I'm Y/N," You reached for his outstretched palm and shook his hand.
"I remember," Michael smiled, youthful mischief danced in his eyes, "Thanks for the help last night."
"You looked like you needed the help," You joked, pulling a laugh from him.
"Alright, Tommy isn't paying you to flirt with my friend," Lizzie teased, guiding you to the doors of Thomas' office and knocking. After a moment, she pushed the door open and you followed her in.
"Y/N to see you," Lizzie announced, leaving you alone with him before he could respond. Thomas sat behind his desk, staring at the phone with a cigarette hanging from his lips.
The door closing jolted him from his reverie and he moved an opened envelope into the top drawer of his desk. Thomas cleared his throat and looked to you, taking a drag from his cigarette.
"Take a seat, Miss Y/L/N," His gravelly voice rumbled from deep in his chest, motioning to a chair opposite with his hand.
Sitting in the plush leather chair opposite him, you crossed your legs and braced yourself under his burning gaze.
"Drink?" He nodded to the glass decanter of whiskey on his desk, an already half-full glass sat beside it. Thomas rose to his feet and rounded the desk, retrieving another glass from a cabinet by the window.
Finding your words, you nodded, "Yes. Thank you Mr Shelby." Maybe a drink in your system would loosen you up.
A soft scoff fell from the man's lips as he poured whiskey into your glass, pushing it across his desk towards you and collapsing into his chair.
"None of that, alright?" He stubbed out his cigarette in a glass ashtray, the smoke floating in the air in one wispy streak.
You sipped your whiskey and swallowed hard, "Of course Mr- Thomas. I stopped by to apologise... about the other night. You went out of your way to help me and it was wrong of me to- to slam the door in your face. So I'm sorry Mr- Thomas."
Thomas' blue eyes scrutinised you as silence hung in the air between you. Fiddling with the glass in your hand, you cleared your throat and ruminated over your apologetic words.
Worry washed over you as you entertained the possibility that he didn't accept your apology.
"Would- Would you accept a drink on me by way of apology?"
Thomas' head tilted to one side at that. A small smile toyed at the corner of his lips. You shifted in your seat under his gaze.
"That won't be necessary," He shook his head once and the metallic click of his cigarette case opening sounded in the space between you. He ran a fresh cigarette along his plump lips, deep in thought for a moment.
"Have you ever been to the races, Y/N?"
Your brows shot up and your breath caught in your throat. Was he asking what you thought he was?
You shook your head and Thomas nodded, "I'll pick you up Saturday 9 o'clock."
Was this his was of accepting your apology? A favour for a favour? You weren't going to get on his bad side a second time and so, with confusion and apprehension, you agreed.
"I don't have anything nice to wear," You shyly admitted, a weak attempt to save yourself from further involvement with the Shelbys.
Admittedly, you were intrigued by the man before you. It brought a sense of shame but there was something captivating about the Peaky Blinders, especially Thomas Shelby.
Thomas reached into his pocket and thumbed through a sizeable roll of notes. He set two notes onto the table and tapped his index finger against the paper. Okay so you were definitely going to the Epsom Derby.
"9:00 Saturday, alright?"
"Yes Mr Sh- Thomas."
"Since we're going to Epsom together, you can call me Tommy, eh?" A small smirk tugged at the corner of his pink lips as he leaned back in his chair.
"Of course. I'll see you on Saturday Tommy," You smiled politely and made your leave. Anxiety rose within you as you passed Lizzie's empty desk, anticipating her reaction to your alarming news.
Wondering how you were going to tell her the man she loves is taking you to the races, you hurried out of the building and headed home.
You've only encountered Thomas Shelby on two separate occasions and it was clear that he was going to be the death of you.
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TWO SIDES AU!!
(Finished fully. I'm not changing anything now.)
Two sides AU is just two sides that kinda fight every now and then. When a player first enters the game they're randomly placed in a team (they don't choose)
Team A or Team C
Each round all players get 3 lives and once they lose all 3 they can't respawn until the game is over.
The goal of the game is to elimate the other team. When a team wins they now own that territory until they have to fight for it again.
What they're hoping to do is get rid of the other team for good so they can escape the game
Both sides currently think the other team is a bunch of npcs created by their ringmasters.
TEAM A
AIBEL
The leader of team A. He absolutely despises Caine yet he barely knows him and doesn't even know why he hates him so much. He clearly hasn't questioned this yet and is more busy keeping the players from burning the tent down.
GANGLE
Surprisingly the both strongest of Team A. When it comes to fighting she feels really bad about hurting the other team (unless they have their comedy mask on...) so if you're somehow still conscious after you get whacked by that hammer, you'll most likely hear them repeatedly apologize for hitting you.
JAX
(now with mime inspiration) Jax often enters the battle recklessly and never bothers to help his teammates. (They hate him) he also enjoys to constantly taunt and insult the other team, especially when he manages to gets a kill.
(for short, he's an asshole.)
ZOOBLE
Zooble doesn't like to rely on the others, and instead creates themselves a little army with small parts from their zoobox. But the thing is the critters have little HP and so taking them down is quite easy as long as you don't let them get too close to you.
QUEENIE
When the fight starts she tries to stay far and out of sight while taking down her opponents since she isn't the best with close combat. Although if it ever comes to it she'll leave her hiding spot and come to their teammates aid.
TEAM C
CAINE
The leader of Team C. He also dislikes aibel with no clue on why and a little bit of him wishes they didn't fight so much. But everytime they interact it ends in pointless arguing and bickering..
RAGATHA
Ragatha tries her best to help the team and lead them to victory. And so when her teammates are almost down she hurries to patch up any of their wounds. (literally patch it as in sewing.) Attempting to kill ragatha off first won't be easy since she always has her butcher knife prepared.
POMNI
A newer addition to Team C
She's still confused about everything in this place and rather leave than learn more about it, So often times she'll ditch her entire team to go and try searching for a way out. But when she's forced to stay in the fight she prefers to sneak up on her opponents exactly how she sneaks around the circus. (This is the reason she has no bells)
KAUFMO
(it's hard to draw him in my style :[ ) The second kaufmo gets on the field, everything is on fire. It's become a real problem to the point where outside of battle everyone tries their best to keep anything thats able to start a fire away from him, yet he always somehow finds a box of matches or two.
KINGER
When it comes to the battle kinger more focuses on his traps than the actual fight in hopes to catch a insect for his collection. (He has none so far.) If you let him, he'd go on rambles about the many traps he's thought of overtime and how they'd work. (Probably mentioning insects along the way)
EXTRA
I sadly reached the limit of 10 images so I'll just make a separate post and link it to this 😭
Extras here
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