peaky blinders imagines + smut.

john shelby: personal nurse.

As tempting as it was to close the door on John, you simply couldn't. His battered face was in the need of medical attention, blood was dribbling down his face and onto the expensive suit yet somehow, there was a grin on his face, probably because he knew that he wound you up. He always loved doing that.

You stood in the doorway, blocking him from entering, and stared at John with a deadpan expression, he was too beautiful to resist. No matter what time John came stumbling to your front door in the need of a personal nurse, you would always let him in. It had been that way for a few months now. You wouldn't be surprised if John was getting into bar fights on purpose just so he could see you.

"Get in," you mumbled, slightly pushing him through the door to hurry him up. It was gone two in the morning, you had to work the next day at the local hospital and somehow you had been dragged into cleaning up John, again, the third time in the last month. "This best not become a habit, mister," you said as you pushed him down onto the wooden chair in the kitchen.

John raised both his hands, mockingly surrendered to you. "It's not fault! It happened down on Alma Crescent and it was easier to come here than my house."

You looked at John with a dumbfounded expression, he knew exactly what he was doing. "Alma Crescent is a two-minute walk from your house so don't even try that one with me. You just wanted to come here because you knew I would be the only idiot who would let you in and clean you up."

John raised his eyebrows, you weren't wrong. "I thought you'd be happy to see me, love. It's been a good week since we last spoke, I know that you miss me a lot."

You leaned up to grab the medical kit from the top of the cupboard, ignoring the cheeky grin that was on John's face once you had turned around. "I was happy the first time because it was only a little cut. However, these injuries seem to be getting worse every single time which means you spend longer here. Are you doing this on purpose so you can spend time with me?" you asked jokingly.

"What if I was?" John responded with the same level of humour. "No, I just prefer you over everybody else. Polly can get nasty when she cleans me up, I swear she does it on purpose and Arthur wouldn't know what to do, I'd rather go to a professional such as yourself."

Yours and John's relationship had always been a weird one. The two of you would go months without seeing each other but then out of nowhere, you would reconnect and it was like nothing had happened, the two of you going back to being very good friends for a couple of months before communication cut off. Flirting was a common occurrence, you pretended to hate the comments that John made but he knew that you loved them, which you did. You just didn't appreciate his two-am visits.

"I'm honoured."

You pushed John's head back as you attempted to clean the wounds, ignoring the hisses that slipped from his mouth. "Stop being a baby," you mocked when John told you to fuck off because of the pain, your voice a little bit stern as you needed to get this over and done with without John acting like a child. He had suffered much greater injuries so a bit of alcohol to the wound shouldn't have affected him that much. "Who did this?" you asked, genuinely curious. Listening to John's stories about his bar fights was always fascinating and they amused you greatly, they always started over something stupid. For example, the time that someone accidently knocked over John's drink and the poor bloke ended up with a broken nose.

"How am I meant to know? I've never seen the bloke before in my life but he started on me in the pub so I finished it. The bastard just managed to get a few punches in."

"And how is this bloke?"

"Still alive, I think, so that's something."

"It was nothing to do with business, was it?" you asked. Business was always your main concern - you didn't want to wake up to the news that John had passed away because of what he did for a living. The possibility was strong but you didn't want to think about it, the thought of not having John in your life at all was heart-breaking. Despite being annoying, he was loving as well and deeply cared for you.

John shook his head. "I've never seen the guy before in my entire life so I reckon he was just some drunken fool who thought that he could take on the mighty John Shelby," he joked.

"You are not that mighty," you chuckled as you clipped him lightly around the head. "Well, at least these injuries are better than last time. I still haven't got the blood out of my dress."

"I'll buy you a new one."

"No need, I'll sort it out."

There was a comfortable silence for another ten minutes, except for the occasional curse word from John whenever the pain got too much. Despite you being annoyed at John for his visit in the middle of the night, you didn't mind deep down. You enjoyed his company, you just wished he would pop in at a normal hour without needing medical assistance.

"I think you use me," you mumbled, leaning down so you were directly in front of John and quickly checking that everything was cleaned up properly, you didn't want to risk an infection coming along.

"And why's that?" John leaned closer, your mouths barely apart but neither one of you made a move, too afraid of what the consequences would be. John hesitantly moved a hand to your waist, an innocent move that had your heart racing. "Go on, why do I use you?"

You tilted your head to the side and licked your lips, you could never get over his boyish, handsome looks. "You only come here when you need someone to clean up your wounds and when you're drunk, why? You know where I live so why don't you just pop in for a cup of tea in the afternoon?"

John looked down, he was about to make a fool of himself and he knew it. "I get nervous talking to you when I'm sober." Well, you didn't expect that answer but you weren't complaining. "You make me nervous, love, and I don't know why. When I'm drunk, I just find it easier to talk to you because at least then I'm not a nervous bloody wreck."

"You're not a shy boy, John."

"I know," John said with a nervous chuckle. "It's just you that I get shy around and you know the reason why I get so anxious."

You did know and you felt the same, you just wanted to hear him say it.

"Do you love me?"

John smirked, his attitude coming back. "Have done since we were nineteen, love. I thought it was obvious."

You tilted your head to the side and grinned, of course it was. Everyone knew that John was in love with you, it had just taken you a while to understand that your love for him went deeper than friendship. There were too many risks with dating John Shelby though, you had seen that first hand. Girls came out the relationships heartbroken, sad because the Shelby brother didn't want to continue with whatever they had, which was usually a quick fuck whenever he fancied it, but maybe it would be different with you. John had been waiting too long, he was willing to make it work as long as long you were as well.

"Well then, you best show me how much you love me." 

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authors note: hi guys, i have just started a new john fic [million dollar man] and i am really happy with the way that it's turning out so please go and check it out along with my new tommy fic [cocaine heart]. thank you so much and i hope you enjoyed this. quick reminder that you can send requests over to: tcmmysheiby on tumblr, it's the only place where i will accept requests.