Peaky Blinders Imagines/Preferences

Tommy - Silent Declarations

The next chapter is going to be another lyric preference. This chapter is Tommy's lyric preference, but I feel like it needed its own chapter. The lyrics I chose for Tommy's are quite sad (the whole song has me sad), but I feel like I needed to write something more happy for Tommy.

TOMMY ~ Halsey, Sorry

Sorry that I can't believe,

That anybody ever really starts to fall in love with me.

If there was one thing that everyone knew about Y/N, it was that she was completely in love with Thomas Shelby.

She tried to hide if for the first few months, but most people could see right through her. Polly was the first one to comment on her affection, seeing how Y/N would run to him at the click of his fingers. And somehow everyone else had figured out that she most definitely had a soft spot for the second eldest Shelby. Everyone but Tommy himself.

She had tried to make it obvious. She had his papers in his office organised early in the morning for when he got there. She cleaned his whiskey glasses every night and topped up the decanter with his favourite Irish whiskey. She sharpened his pencils and made sure he had a new packet of cigarettes on his desk when he ran out. She had noticed that at the same time every day, at 2pm, he asked for tea, so she cottoned on to the time and had it ready every day before he even had to ask. Some may say all of this was just a part of her job as Tommy Shelby's assistant, but others saw them as acts of love that went unnoticed.

Tommy was surprised the first time he saw his papers in order first thing in the morning, the first time it happened anyway. Now it was just normal for him to have sharp pencils every day, a topped up decanter and new cigarettes when he needed them. He thought he had employed the worlds best assistant and even gave Y/N a pay rise because of it.

"Do you ever get sick of it?" Ada asked Y/N one day while they were having tea.

"Sick of what?"

"Giving all of these silent declarations of love to my brother only for him to shit all over them with his oblivious mind." Ada sighed. The question made Y/N place her tea cup down in shock. She had never thought of it this way. She always saw her extra help as something she wanted to give to him no matter if he noticed or not. She wanted to care for him even if she couldn't in the way she wanted to.

"I mean, I guess not. I just know that sometimes he's too busy to look after himself." She frowned back. It was true. Tommy Shelby was in fact too busy sometimes to make sure he had new cigarettes. He also never had the patience to sharpen his own damn pencils.

That was the day Ada Thorne suggested something that may finally show Tommy how Y/N felt. Tommy had grown accustomed to having these little things done every day, so what if they just stopped? Y/N would do the jobs any other assistant would do, and without the extra care Tommy was bound to notice.

So that evening when Tommy had gone home, Y/N didn't wash the whiskey glasses, she didn't top up the decanter either. The next morning Tommy had entered his office to see his papers piled up rather than neatly organised. Throughout the day he noticed that his pencils were blunt from the day before, and his whiskey wasn't as full. He smoked his last cigarette only to find no new pack on his desk. And when 2pm came around, he had no hot tea.

Thomas Shelby is very rarely confused and frustrated, but on this particular day, he was indeed confused and frustrated.

While Tommy was having a nervous breakdown in his office, Y/N was sat outside at her desk, writing letters in short hand to pile up for the second eldest Shelby the next day. She was quite content until Tommy called for her from his office.

"Yes, Tommy?" She asked innocently when she appeared in his office. He beckoned her to sit down opposite him at his desk.

"What's happened with you today? I feel as though you haven't fulfilled your role." He spoke, leaning back. She knew he was talking about the lack of care she had given. She either hinted towards her feelings now, or Tommy Shelby would be oblivious for the rest of his life.

"I've been thinking that some of my gestures are slightly inappropriate for my job role."

"But it's your job, Y/N." He frowned.

She weakly smiled at his confusion.

"When have you ever seen an assistant voluntarily sharpen pencils?"

It was this question that made Tommy soon realise that everything she had done wasn't just a part of her job. This woman had been looking after him for months, and he hadn't even noticed. Now everything made sense. One thing's for certain; Tommy Shelby never wanted to be without sharpened pencils or new cigarettes. He never wanted to be without the caring gestures.

He never wanted to be without Y/N.