•·.·' ❪ hostile — act one ❫ '·.·•
| CH. 1|

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THE SUDDEN SILENCE in the Garrison Pub pulls Charlotte back from her thoughts, her eyes slowly drifting up to the door, meeting with Thomas Shelby's body as he strides insides, pulling his flat cap off. Around him, the other man filling the pub fall quiet, edging away in their seats as he nears and watch him with wide eyes. Whereas, a mischievous grin etches onto the barmaids face, making the same expression appear on his as he nears.

"Charlie." He nods in greeting.

The pair had known each other more of their life. Their mothers were very close until they both sadly passed, bringing the Peaky Blinder and the girl closer. Unlike every other citizen in Birmingham, Charlotte wasn't scared of the family — in fact, she trusts them with her life.

"Tommy." She returns the gesture, "You want the usual, Mr Shelby?"

He rolls his eyes, leaning against the bar, placing his hat beside him, "Charlotte, shut up with that." He waves her off, chuckling lowly, "But, yeah, the usual."

"Wouldn't want to upset the royalty now, would I?" She teases, rolling on her heel to grab the whiskey, majestically pouring it into a single glass before politely handing it to him, earning a simple nod of thanks, "Someone's moody." She grumbles, "Usually you'd be chattin'."

"Not today, Char." He shakes his head, his finger running around the rim of the glass as he places a cigarette in his mouth, allowing the barmaid to light it for him like usual, "Tar."

"Pass me one." She pinches her fingers in front of her parted lips and Thomas kindly gives her one, returning the favour by lighting it himself, "Tar, Tommy. How's your day been then?"

"Arthur's called for a family council meeting." He snarls, "You're coming."

"Like always." She smiles, nodding, blowing a cloud of smoke out into the air, wafting it away before it covers Thomas' face completely.

"When do you finish?" He questions, peering up at her, "Thought you finished an hour ago."

She purses her lips, glancing at the small pocket watch on his waist coast, "I finish in a few minutes. Harry kept me in longer because of 'em." She points to the large group of men in the back corner, the majority of them already drunk, "He couldn't handle 'em all by himself."

"He's bloody lucky to have you as his bar maid." Tommy rolls his eyes at the idea of Harry overworking her without extra pay, "Don't know why you work here."

Charlotte scoffs, "Where else is there? I need to keep Josh and myself alive somehow."

A hand taps down on the bar in front of the woman, catching her attention immediately, she looks to the side, noticing an idle Freddie Thorne, disapproval smudged all over his face.

"Yes, Freddie?" She seethes, his presence alone being enough to rile her anger up, "What do you want?"

"I'll take a mild." He spits, leaning down on the bar beside Thomas, his eyes never leaving Charlotte's frame while she stands there intimidatingly, hands on hips.

"As seen as you asked so fuckin' nicely." She smiles sarcastically, clenching her jaw before whirling around to pour his drink, leaving him to chat with Tommy.

After a few moments, she turns again, placing the pint of beer down in front of the man, sending me a look, waiting for his payment. Nonchalantly, Freddie reaches across taking a coin from Thomas' pile that he laid out there for his own drink. Charlotte scoffs in disbelief, earning a glare from Tommy, telling her it's fine and not to intervene in the man's nonsense.

"Cheers, Thomas." Freddie nods, taking a swig from his pint, the foam mixing it with his freshly trimmed beard, "Good health to you."

Charlotte's eyes roll back and she grabs a towel, moving away from the two men to leave them be, having a private conversation while she steps out from behind the bar, wandering over to unoccupied tables, cleaning the dried rings of alcohol etched onto them.

All of a sudden, the doors thrown open followed by a raging Danny, his arms flying all over the place and shoving tables and chairs open, one of the nearly catching Charlotte if she hadn't dashed out of the way in the time. The rest of the customers in the Garrison jump back, shouting at him to stop, completely unsure of what's happening. Charlotte steps forward to help the struggling man but Thomas rushes over, gently pushing her away before gripping onto one of Danny's arms, Freddie taking the other.

"They're gonna get me! They're gonna get me!" Danny repeats, his nostrils flared in fear.

"On three." Thomas commands towards Freddie, "One, two, three, down!"

The pair of men push Danny onto the floor, lowering his face and chest to the wooden boards while he squirms beneath them, still yelling as loud as he can.

"Danny! Danny!" Tommy calls into the man's ear, "Danny, you're home. We're all home in England. You're not in France." He licks his lips, thinking of more things to call him, "You're not an artillery shell, Danny, you're a man. Eh? You're not a whizz bang. You're a human being, Danny." He besties for a moment, feeling Danny relax, "You're alright, you're alright, you're alright. Up! Up!" They drag him up again, placing a comforting hand on his shoulders, "It's alright, it's alright."

Danny gasps for air, his eyes roaming Tommy, his voice broken as he begins to speak, "Oh, hell. Did I do it again?"

Thomas nods sadly, his expression full of sympathy, "You did it again, Danny." He places his forehead against the sobbing man's, "Got to stop doing this, man. It's alright—"

"Oh, God, Mr Shelby, I'm sorry." He cries, wiping his eyes.

"It's alright." Thomas lest go of him, using him towards the open doors of the pub, "You go home to your wife now, Danny. Try and get all that smoke and mud out of your head, eh."

Danny nods profusely, backing away and tucking his flat cap into his back pocket with shaky hands, "Yes, Mr Shelby. I'm sorry."

This scene was nothing new to the younge bar maid. In fact, it was a common occurrence — drunk, blasted men hallucinating and imagining they were back in the war, surrounded by shots and bombs, Germans trying to blow their heads off. Some soldiers were easier to deal with than others, but whenever it was a tricky one, Thomas was always there to aid and comfort him.

"Mr Shelby, you have to do something about him!" Harry says as Thomas returns to the bar, running a hand over his head.

"Damn right, Harry." Freddie nods, "You pay the Peaky Blinders a lot of money for protection. You're the law around here now, Tommy, aren't you?" He sighs, "Maybe you should put a bullet in Danny Whizz Bang's head like they do with mad horses. Maybe you'll have to put a bullet in my head someday, too."

Charlotte waltzes over, chucking the towel carelessly onto the bar before smacking Freddie around the back of the head, "Shut your mouth, Thorne before I do it for you."

Thomas chuckles lowly, placing his flat cap back on before gripping the woman's arm, dragging her to the side, "You comin' or what? Get your coat."

"I don't wear a coat for work." She says, noticing the confusion on his face, "The men around here will steal from me if I do."

He shakes his head in disbelief, matching to the door, gripping the handle before howling around at the last second, his finger pointing towards Harry, "Bring the bull to the Peaky Blinders. We'll take care of this." And with that he's gone, Charlotte on his heels.

"See you tomorrow, Harry!" She calls out, waving a hand through the small gap in the door before rushing after Thomas, her hands curled around her dress as she slows at his side, "For fuck sake, I hate these bloody dresses. Who's idea was it to have the woman wearing dresses while the man get to prance around in comfortable trousers?"

"You look gorgeous, Charlotte, be quiet." He rolls his eyes but doesn't look down at her, just keeps his gaze trained on the road in front of them, "You always do."

・❥・

"I've called this family meeting because I've got some important news!" Arthur calls out from the front of the room, glancing around at the rest of his family with a hateful glare, "Scudboat and Lovelock got back from Belfast last night." His arms cross, "They we're buying a stallion to cover their mares. They were in a pub on the Shankhill Road yesterday, and in that pub, there was a copper..." He picks up a few pieces of paper, passing them to Charlotte and the men behind him.

Before she even has a chance to read a single letter, it's ripped from her hands by John Shelby, causing her to smack his leg harshly, earning a sharp wince before he speaks, "If you're over five feet and can fight, come to Birmingham." He reads out, eyebrows furrowed.

"They're recruiting Protestant Irishmen to come over here as Specials." Arthur informs the group.

Ada lifts her head, "To do what?"

"To clean up the city, Ada." Thomas speaks from his position leaned against the wall, "He's a chief inspector. The last four years, he's been clearing the IRA out of Belfast."

Charlotte's eyebrows furrow as she stares at her best friend, "How do you know so bloody much?"

"'Cause I asked the coppers on our payroll." He replies bluntly.

Arthur tilts his head, "And why didn't you tell me?"

Thomas swallows, "I'm telling you."

"So, why are they sending him to Birmingham?" Polly questions, her magnifier pressed against the leaflet, inspecting it.

"Well, there's been all these bloody strikes at the BSA and the Austin works lately." Thomas tells her, "Now the papers are talking about sedition. And revolution. I reckon it's Communists he's after."

"So, this copper's going to leave us alone, right?" Polly raises an eyebrow, flicking her cigarette into an ash tray.

"There are Irishmen in the Green lanes who left Belfast to get away from him. They say Catholic men who crossed him used to disappear in the night." Thomas shrugs, his fingers fumbling with his cap.

"Yeah, but we ain't IRA. We bloody fought for the King." John straightens on his stool as he speaks with his usual harsh tone, "Anyway, we're Peaky Blinders. We're not scared of coppers. If they come for us, we'll cut them a smile each!"

"So, Arthur... is that it?" Thomas lowers his head to the square table occupied the three women, "What do you think, Aunt Pol?"

"This family does everything open." She says, her gaze lingering on him, "You've nothing more to say to this meeting, Thomas?"

He shakes his head, "No. Nothing that's women's business."

Charlotte sits up in her seat, halting at him, "This whole fuckin' enterprise was women's business while you boys were away at war." She snaps, leaning forward on the table, "What's changed?"

He smirks down at her, eyebrows raised, "We came back."

・❥・

After the family meeting, Thomas politely escorted Charlotte back to her house before rushing off to deal with more business, shooting her once last smirk before disappearing into the night.

She didn't bother fumbling with the keys in her dress pocket, knowing Joshua would've picked the lock before she got home. The boy was inpatient and refused to join her whenever she attended a Shelby meeting, leaving him with nothing to do in Birmingham and without the house keys. So, after a few minutes of pointless wandering, he used his lock picking skills to break into his own home, not bothering to ask Charlotte for the keys.

"Josh, I'm home!" She calls, slamming the door shut behind her with her foot before waltzing into the kitchen, noticing him asleep on the table, his arms draped by his sides and his plump cheeks flat against the wood, "Josh!" She hisses, smacking his face gently.

His eyes fly open and in a second he's smacking her hands away, small yelps of terror passing his lips. Eventually, his actions slow down and come to a stop once he realises it's only his sister, "Fuckin' hell, Charlie."

She snorts, "Why the fuck were you asleep on the bloody table?"

He shrugs, wiping his tired eyes before yawning, "I dunno. I was tired."

"Yeah, and you have a bed for that. I don't work as a bard maid for nowt, you know?" She rolls her eyes, wandering around him to grab a glass of water.

"How was the family meeting?" He questions, leaning against the counter in the squashed kitchen.

She nods, pursing her lips, "The normal."

"Don't understand why you even like 'em." He grumbles, shaking his head, his eyes staring at his feet, "Bloody bastards they all are."

She scoffs, smacking his arm gently, "Don't understand why you don't like 'em. Joshua, they're lovely people, you just can't be arsed to get to know 'em. I've known them since I were a baby. Now that Mother's gone, they're the family now, okay?"

"Mother's been gone for years."

"And they've been family for years." She retorts, slipping past him and towards the slim stairs, trudging up them, "Get some solid sleep! Love you!"

"Yeah, yeah. Love you too." He waves his sister off carelessly, slumping back into his chair, throwing his head back and groaning loudly, sleep quickly taking over.

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the way i'm already in love with charlotte

if anything is spelt wrong, i will get round to correcting it dw

enjoy babes<3

word count : 2290