Thomas Shelby Fanfics

Stronger Than You Think

word count: 6242 

setting: during the war- from 1914-1917 (pre-season 1)

smut: no

proofread: yes

edited: yes

extra: MENTIONS OF SUICIDE/SUICIDAL THOUGHTS, MILDLY GROSS DETAILS WITH DEATH. I had this idea and I've never seen a fanfic like it so I obviously had to write it. Historically, I don't know if this happened? Definitely not to the length (Y/N) got to. Women stayed back home and men left so I thought hey why not make the protagonist different? Fluffy, gay, cutesy??? To not spoil too much, I mess with gender here, so be warned if you experience gender dysphoria * I personally do not have any, so none of the experiences the protagonist go through is factual or accurate* It's something different I wanted to do :) Enjoy!

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It all started in the summer of 1914. Your older brother came running home that morning, a large grin on his face as he announced to you: "We're at war, (Y/N)! We're at war with the Germans!" The fork you were eating with clattered down into your plate. The news shocked you- you hadn't thought things in Europe were this serious- you thought wars were medieval, a thing of the past between quarrelling religions. 

Apparently not.

It hurt you deeply to see your brother go. He was your prime caretaker since your mother had fallen terribly ill with tuberculosis and was locked in quarantine in a hospital with little available visiting times. Your father wasn't around either. Since you could remember, it was always you and Robert. You cried into him at the train station when he was about to leave, staining his uniform with your tears. He pulled away, wiped your tears and smiled at you, his own chin wobbling but he was keeping his tears in, forever trying to show you he was your brave big brother,

"We'll be home by Christmas, (Y/N). There's no need to cry. How about I bring you a gift when I come back, huh? Or we could go to America? You'll see. It'll all be alright," Those were his last words to you because the train blew it's whistle impatiently and your older brother disappeared forever. 

You lay in his bed sadly that night, hugging his clothes and pressing your nose into his pillow, crying. Anxious thoughts flowed through your brain and inaudibly voiced themselves in your sobs. What if not enough men joined? Most of the boys in your town had been ignorant like you, so there was a high chance they didn't go. And women were forbidden from fighting... 

But what if you weren't a woman?

Your tears stopped and you sat up, curious at your own ideas. You looked at the tear-stained white shirt in your hands and took your dress off, putting on the shirt. A quick glance around his room and you found his old trousers. They were too big to fit, so you had to find a belt. You gritted your teeth and made a hole far above all of them, so when you put them on they'd be able to fit you. Lastly, you rolled up the cuffs. One look in the mirror and you were astonished. Loosely tying a tie (you remember how you had to teach yourself because your brother could never do it and his job required a tie) around your collar you grinned. You looked so strange! A caricature of androgyny on the wall smiled back at you. When you turned to the side you frowned, your breasts clearly poking through the fabric. You hummed and undid a couple of buttons, finding some bandages in the bathroom and removing your bra. You wrapped your bare breasts down, so your chest would lie flat. When you were done, you taped and pinned it down, before doing up your shirt again. You looked back in the mirror, even happier with your results. One last thing to fix was your hair. Your smile dropped. If you wanted to pass off as a boy, you'd need to cut it...