Something Nice - Thomas Shelby x Reader (eventual Reader x Alfie Solomons) (Modern! AU) - Part 2
A/N: Welcome to part 2, where we are finally introducing Alfie!
Sidenote: I always try to keep the reader gender-neutral to the best of my ability - if at any point it stops being GN, please let me know and I will try to fix this.
Summary: Reader has been lifelong friends with Tommy Shelby and has always had feelings for him. However, when the reader meets Alfie, Tommy starts to show his true feelings and a decision has to be made.
The morning rolled around, but you had barely slept a wink. As Tommy had requested, you dropped him a text to let him know you were home and he didn't need to worry about you. His response, however, was what kept you awake. Well, that and everything Polly had said earlier. He responded to your message simply with a heart emoji. Tommy was not one for using emojis. This played on your mind heavily throughout the night. Thinking back to how... off... he had been all day, you could only hope he would be more like his usual self during your trip.
Before you knew it, it was daybreak and like the human clock he was, you heard the front door open without any warning at exactly eight AM. "You better be ready!" Tommy bellowed. "Great," you thought, "he's still in a mood." You rolled your eyes and called back "Yeah, I'll be down in just a second!" You could practically hear him roll his eyes. His way of gloating, he knew you wouldn't be ready.
You bounced down the stairs with your overnight bag slung over your shoulder, and over to where he was standing. You saw in an instant how his face went from stony and irritated to pure elation. His eyes lit up and he had a smile plastered on his face.
"Come on then, stop just standing there!" You teased. "Let's go!" You grabbed his arm and dragged him out of the door, laughing as you did so.
"What's got you so cheery this morning?" He asked.
"I just have a really good feeling about this trip, that's all."
"Me too." He whispered, barely audible, but you just about made out his comment.
"Wait, where's the car?" You asked, looking around as you turned around after locking your front door and wiggling the handle, just to be on the safe side.
"Right there." Tommy pointed to a taxi, which was parked just past your house.
"Since when did Tommy Shelby take a taxi?" You questioned.
"Felt like taking the train for this trip." He shrugged nonchalantly, opening the taxi door for you, before heading around to the other side and getting in himself.
The taxi ride was quiet, your brain was running at a thousand miles an hour, trying to work out if you should say something about his text last night or not. Every now and then, you glanced over to Tommy, normally you could tell what he was thinking by looking at his face, however, on this occasion he appeared to be doing everything in his power to conceal his face from you.
The taxi pulled up to the train station and you exited, waiting on the kerb for Tommy to walk around to you so you could head inside the station together. As he approached, he shot you a winning smile and offered you his arm. You had your bag across your body and he was wheeling a cute little suitcase that you always ridiculed him for. It did nothing for his "tough guy" persona.
"So..." you started, ask you took his arm and began walking towards the concession stands, "what exactly is this business you've got with Alf..."
"Business deals are not to be discussed where anyone can hear, you know that." He cut you off and threw you a glance.
"Yeah, I know but I just thought you might have at least told me why we are going... and why you need me for that matter."
"I need you," he stopped walking suddenly and unexpectedly, causing you to jolt backwards, turning so you were face to face as you did. You were so close to him that you could feel his breath on your face, "because you're my good luck charm and I really need this to work."
You smiled at his answer. When he wanted to, Tommy could be incredibly smooth-talking.
After eating, the two of you headed to the platform, where your train was already waiting for you. Naturally, Tommy had bought the two of you first-class tickets. You were walking in front of him down the train, trying to find your seats.
"Oh, here we are," you gestured to the table that would seat four. "Looks like this is us." You turned and smiled at Tommy.
"Indeed it is." He responded, reaching up to put his case in the overhead storage and holding his hand out to place yours up there too. You handed it over to him. "Not even going to try and do it yourself?" he laughed.
"You'll only laugh if I can't reach properly!" you responded matching his tone and giving him a playful shove.
Tommy took the window seat on one side, while you took the one opposite.
"So," you started as the platform staff began to conduct the final checks before departure, "how come we're taking the train?"
"I told you, I just felt like it."
"Come on Tommy, there's got to be another reason?"
"No other reason." He insisted.
"Okay, if you say so... not that I believe you!" You couldn't help but smile, and neither could Tommy. The two of you had always teased each other mercilessly, it was second nature by this point.
The train ride was going to take about an hour and a half, plenty of time for you to finally finish the book you were reading. Or so you thought. Around twenty minutes into the journey, Tommy got up from his seat. You didn't think anything of it... until he sat in the empty seat next to you.
"What are you doing?" you laughed, as he bounced down, "someone might want to sit there."
"I bloody hope not!" He replied, "I paid for all four seats!"
"Tommy, you've lost the plot, why in God's name would you do that?"
"'Cause I can," he responded with a shrug, "now, will you please tell me why whatever you're reading is more interesting than talking to me?"
"I'll talk to you," you closed the book, "when you tell me what's got you so worked up about this trip."
"He says, in the most defensive tone I've ever heard!" you laughed.
"Shut up, I'm not defensive." He laughed.
You looked at him and couldn't help but think "I haven't seen you laugh this much in a very long time," but you couldn't bring yourself to say it to him out loud, so you just nudged his shoulder with yours and said, "yeah, and I'm the Queen of Sheba!"
"God this train seems to be taking forever!" Tommy whined, "I should have driven."
"I don't know Tommy, I'm glad we took the train." You smiled at him, "although, having someone burst through my door at eight o'clock in the morning on a day where I could have been having a lie-in, is enough to make a girl tired!" You put your head on his shoulder and felt his body go tense. You paused for a second, trying to work out if you should sit back up, but after a moment, his body relaxed again and he touched his forehead to the top of your head, just briefly. "I'm just going to have a nap, wake me up when we get there."
Tommy chuckled and you felt the vibrations run through his body. "You've got it." He whispered.
He left you to sleep, even though his arm was becoming numb he enjoyed having your head on him like that. It brought him comfort, not that he would ever tell you.
"Time to wake up," Tommy whispered, placing his hand on your shoulder and lightly shaking you.
"Huh, are we there already?" you responded groggily.
"Not quite, we're about ten minutes out, but I thought you might want to give yourself a chance to wake up a bit." He smiled, and you couldn't help but smile back as you removed your head from his shoulder and sat up.
"Yeah, that's probably a good idea." You grumbled as you caught your reflection in the train window.
"Have a good sleep did you?" Tommy asked as you fixed your hair.
"Are you sure, it sounded special to me!"
"What?" Your jaw hit the floor, "Tommy, what are you talking about?"
"I'm only pulling your leg!" He chuckled. "Not like you were saying my name in your sleep or anything."
"Tommy, that's not funny, was I seriously talking in my sleep?" you asked, more embarrassed than worried about anything you may or may not have said.
"No, no you weren't," he saw you were glaring at him, "I promise!"
The two of you exited the train station and immediately caught a taxi. Tommy instructed the driver to take you straight to the hotel. The drive over to the hotel wasn't long at all, the two of you spent it in comfortable silence, neither of you wanted the driver to pick up on anything you were saying.
You arrived at the hotel and went up to the desk to check in.
"I'm sorry Mr Shelby, there appears to have been a mix up with the rooms." The young girl said.
"What kind of mix up?" There was fury in his voice, but he didn't let it show. Not yet, anyway.
"It appears we've overbooked, I can't accommodate two double rooms, unfortunately."
Tommy let out a sigh, ready to cause chaos right there in the hotel lobby.
"However," the girl added, "I can upgrade you to a nicer twin suite, it would be like having two double rooms as there are two separate bedrooms within the suite." Her voice was hopeful. Hopeful that he wasn't about to cause a horrific scene and also hopeful that he would appreciate her solution.
Tommy looked to you. You shrugged, signalling that it was fine with you, which it was. Your main priority was having somewhere to sleep.
"Fine, that'll have to do."
"Fantastic," the girl beamed as she typed away. "That's you checked in, here are your room keys," she handed you one each, "I hope you have a lovely stay, and if you need anything please do not hesitate to call down."
The hotel lift was rather small, there was barely enough room for two people, let alone two people and luggage! Tommy pressed the button for your floor. As the lift set off, it jolted a little, tossing the two of you into each other. You looked at one another and laughed about the lack of space.
"Maybe we should take the stairs back down." He suggested.
"I don't know," you replied, "it's pretty cold out, at least we would be warm." You laughed, and Tommy joined you in laughter.
Finally, the lift stopped and the two of you made your way to the room. Opening the door, you were shocked at how much space there was.
"Bloody hell," you commented, "could have taken some of the space out of this room and put it in that lift!"
Tommy chuckled and looked around a little before tucking his suitcase in the corner. "Come on, drop your bag, we need to get going."
"What, dressed like this?" You questioned, gesturing to the clothes you had travelled in.
"Fine, ten minutes, then we really need to get going." He agreed.
You smiled and headed into the bathroom to freshen up.
"Come on then, let's go!"" You announced, bounding out of the bathroom only to find Tommy wasn't there waiting for you. "Tommy?" You began walking around the room looking for him. Eventually finding him in one of the bedrooms, asleep. "Tommy, time to go, come on." You coaxed him up.
"Yeah, I'm coming." He grumbled.
"Having a nice dream there were you?" You asked as he approached you.
"Not what it sounded like to me." You turned and walked away quickly enough that Tommy didn't have time to respond.
"Oi," he called after you, "there's no way I was talking in my sleep!"
You hummed and shrugged your shoulders in response. Of course, you hadn't heard Tommy talking in his sleep, but he didn't need to know that.
The walk to... wherever it is you were going, as Tommy wouldn't even tell you that, was brisk. It wasn't cold out, but there was a sharp wind.
Tommy cut you off again. "Don't ask 'when am I going to tell you what's so important about this meeting' or I swear I'll leave you out here in the cold."
"Fine," you whispered, "I won't ask."
"Good, now will you please hurry up or we're going to be late."
Tommy offered his arm to you, so you took it. Safe in the knowledge that if you were walking right beside him, he couldn't tell you to hurry up. Every now and then, you would glance over at him, tru=ying to work out why he was acting so strange.
Tommy walked into the high rise office building, with you close behind and you were greeted with a smile by a young man. The name tag pinned to his jacket said 'Ollie'.
"Mr Shelby," Ollie greeted him with a handshake, "I'm pleased you were able to find the place, Mr Solomons is waiting for you upstairs, and," he paused, turning to you, "who might you be?"
"Oh, sorry," you responded, "I'm Y/N." You extended your hand with a smile. Ollie shook it and smiled back.
"A pleasure to have you here."
Ollie escorted the two of you to the lift, you and Tommy shared a look, both knowing what the other was thinking. "I hope this one has more room than the one at the hotel." But neither of you needed to say it. Ollie swiped his security card and hit the button for the very top floor. It was only a short trip, before you knew it Ollie was escorting you from the lift towards Mr Solomons' office.
"You wait out 'ere." Tommy instructed you, as Ollie knocked on the door and introduced the two men.
"Tommy!" You heard a booming voice, "Glad you made it, drink?"
Ollie then reappeared, shutting the door behind him.
"Feel free to take a seat," he advised, you got the feeling you would be here a while, "If you need anything, you'll find a desk just around the corner, Mr Solomons' assistant Brit will be able to help you out." He smiled and headed back downstairs.
Half an hour had passed and you were still sitting waiting for Tommy. That's when it began.
"What the FUCK are you talking about?" You heard being shouted from inside the room.
"Exactly what it FUCKING SOUNDS LIKE!" Came the unmistakable sound of Tommy's frustration.
Your ears pricked up and the conversation, so you moved your chair slightly, just enough so you could hear what was being said with a bit more clarity through the closed door.
"And how would you know that, how would you know anything about my fucking business?"
"Because," you heard Tommy respond, "they told me, they told me with a gun to my 'ead, that I 'ad a choice."
"Oh yeah, and what choice was that?"
"That I could join 'em, or meet the same fate that awaited Alfie Solomons."
"Someone's threatening your life?!" You burst through the office door, with no regard for introductions. Sheer horror plastered on your face at the thought of someone holding a gun to Tommy's head.
"I told you to wait outside." Tommy acknowledged you but did not answer you.
"I was waiting outside. It's not my fault you're shouting loud enough the whole of London can hear you."
"For fucks sake," Tommy started.
"Listen, can you two have your little domestic later on?" Alfie interrupted. "For now, what I want to know Tommy, is why you've got such a beautiful creature waiting outside while I'm sitting in here looking at your mug?"
Alfie was staring at you, he clocked you the second you walked through the door and hadn't taken his eyes off you since.
"Sorry," you sighed, "I'm just gonna..." you gestured to the door and began to turn around.
"Hang on a minute," Alfie stopped you, "you're in here now, you might as well stay."
Tommy let out a frustrated groan. The last thing he had wanted was for you to become involved.
"Come on, I don't bite," the man winked, "I'm Alfie, and you are?"
"Y/N" you responded. As you walked towards the empty seat, you took in the man in front of you. His sharp, well-styled haircut, the stubble on his face and the incredibly flattering navy suit he was wearing. You could see the blazer on the back of his chair, his white shirt done up almost all the way to the top and the waistcoat which almost made it look like his arms were about to pop out of his sleeves.
You took a seat next to Tommy, who only gave you a side-eyed glance. You could feel your face going red.
"Can I get you a drink or anything?" Alfie asked you.
"No, I'm alright thank you." You replied.
"You change your mind, you let me know hmm?"
"Now, Tommy as you were saying? Why the bloody hell should I join forces with you?"
"Because if you don't," Tommy sighed, looked to you and then looked back at Alfie, "If you don't Changretta will kill us both."
