Thomas Shelby Fanfics

Home Again

word count: 2753

info: uhm so as of writing this (3/5/21) this has 8.5k reads which is insane. This is the first fic of mine to blow up like this so that's really cool. Thanks for reading. Enjoy simping lol. I'm not proud of this, I think it's shit but I'm procrastinating studying for my media exam tomorrow (wish me luck or I'll never update again) sooo... This is as much as you'll get from me. Once again, thanks for reading simps, have a good day!!

smut: no

edited: no

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On the train home, Thomas didn't say a word. He stared blankly out of the window, his eyes scanning over the country he fought to protect for four years and how it had changed. He could hear his brothers, John and Arthur, as well as some of his men, talking and laughing amongst each other, but he wasn't paying attention to the words. His mind replayed horrific caricatures of war until he blinked and focused on his family. It started like that. Short pauses, where he found himself back in the trenches and wondering if he was still there, insane with the longing to go back home. 

All his fears of that melted away when he stepped off the train and his eyes locked with yours. 

His breath left him as he admired you. You were actually there. You weren't just a figment of his imagination, laying in his arms to aid him in falling asleep. You were there, standing next to Polly Gray and Martha Shelby. He spun you around when you jumped in his arms, the sounds of your laughter mixed with happy tears silencing the whizzing of bullets and whistle of shells in his brain. Your warm body pressed into his, your breaths staggering as you sobbed into his uniform, drinking in his comforting scent, which had begun to fade off the bed you shared back home. His own face sought comfort in the nape of your neck, one hand desperately clinging to your shoulder while the other holding your back. In the midst of other families reuniting and the loud chatter of men, you heard him sniffle, and you laughed,

"Thomas Micheal Shelby, are you really crying?" You teased and felt a smile forming against your exposed skin. God, you hadn't changed. Even when his head was plagued by nightmares you were the dream he yearned for. As he felt you trying to pull away to look at him, he held you closer, making you gasp and laugh,

"Stay here, love," His voice was smooth and caused fresh tears to cascade down your cheeks because Thomas was back. Thomas was finally back, and it meant you didn't need to worry about him anymore. You didn't need to lay awake, praying to God to let him be alive.

Once he finally did pull away, his hands went to your cheeks, rubbing your tears clean off your cheeks with his thumbs and desperately kissing you. You both relaxed into the kiss, yearning to feel each other after the four-year break.

Almost as soon as he left for the war he realised how much he needed you. 

You met when you were teenagers, you having freshly moved into Birmingham and quickly becoming friends with the Shelby's. Your mother had too many children and couldn't look after them all, so it wasn't a huge problem when you slipped away. Half the time she didn't realise you were gone. When you were home, you mostly saw your older siblings, who gushed about moving out and living on their own, away from your clustered household. You only truly understood when you found yourself being the primary carer for your younger siblings at eighteen. It took a huge toll on you, and you were constantly stressed out. Tommy, your best friend at the time, realised something was wrong when you would decline or not even respond to his propositions of dates and outings, and that when you did have time to spend time at the Garrison with him and his brothers, you'd drink like a madwoman and stagger home. When one night, you broke down into his arms and told him about your situation, he made a tough decision and called the coppers on your mother. They deemed her unfit to care for so many children, and your siblings were moved into an orphanage. It hurt you so deeply to see them go, but it was the best decision for them. You couldn't juggle school and look after seven siblings of varying ages.