Hey! I'm so happy that you write for Arthur! Do you think you could make a reader who is 10 years younger than him and Arthur is insecure, especially since people tease him about it, saying the reader is a kid compared to him. But she saves him and shows impressive skills and how much they love each other? Love you work, dear!
Unlikely Pair - Arthur Shelby x Reader
TW: Graphic depictions of violence and death
Thank you for the request!!! Enjoy!
Taglist: @hxnky-cat @imagine-richards
*****
"You're sort of an unlikely pair, aren't you?" Ada joked, nudging your arm.
"What do you mean?" you questioned, trying to get her to admit what you already knew she would say.
"Well, it's just.. you know? You're a bit young for him." she shrugged helplessly.
You sighed, "Arthur loves me, and I love him. He's only 10 years older than me. It's not that large of a gap. I'm getting tired of repeating myself here."
"Alright, alright, I'm sorry. We just get defensive of him ever since Linda was around." she said, giving you an apologetic smile.
"I get it. I'm just tired of being compared to her. I'm not going to hurt him, Ada." you promised. You could understand her being protective of her brother. It was just the merciless teasing from Tommy and Michael that got on your nerves.
---
"Come on, Arthur, it's just one family dinner. How bad can it be?" you told your boyfriend, trying to console him. He was the hothead of the Peaky Blinders, but with you he was as docile as a sleepy cat.
"Nah, I don't wanna go. They'll just make fun of us. I don't care if it's a family meeting." he whined, burying his face into your shoulder as he hugged you. His much larger frame was so comforting to be held against.
"I know, love, but without you there, they'll just go behind your back on decisions that you should be a part of." you told him, running your fingers through his hair. It was getting long lately.
"You're right." he straightened up, and took your hand. He looked smug, and it made your heart clench. This strong and confident side of your boyfriend never ceased to amaze you.
You joked and gave his hand a kiss, "I know."
"You're coming with me." he decided.
You gasped, "Arthur! I don't think I'm allowed to."
He pressed his forehead to yours, "I don't care. You're my family, which means you're coming with."
"I love you, Arthur Shelby." was all you managed to reply, overwhelmed with how strongly he cared for you.
A short while later, you and Arthur had arrived at Tommy's house. Thomas and Lizzie were the hosts, and you were trying desperately to stay optimistic. They all thought of you as a child, despite you being just slightly younger than Michael. Their endless taunting was infuriating. If you got annoyed, they used it against you. If you acted un-bothered, they didn't let up. There was seemingly no winning. You'd only been together with all of them twice, and both times had ended quite badly. The only one of the Shelby's who liked you at all (besides Arthur) was Ada, and she wasn't going tonight.
"Good evening, brother!" Arthur announced joyfully when the pair of you happened upon Tommy and Lizzie in the den.
Lizzie's gaze caught yours like a snare, "Oh, good, we're on babysitting duty again."
'Fuck you!' you thought bitterly, her words immediately ruining what hope you had for tonight.
"Oh, not this again!" Arthur huffed, hand tightening in yours. You held back twice as hard, knowing that he was about to flee.
"Why? Are Charlie and Ruby joining us?" you bit back.
"No, they're at Ada's." Tommy responded coolly, standing. You could never tell what he was feeling, but you hoped you were right in thinking he seemed annoyed with Lizzie's comment.
"Good." you snapped, before letting Arthur pull you from the room like a rabid dog on a lead.
"I knew we shouldn't have come." Arthur grumbled once out of earshot.
"No! We're staying. We're going to prove them wrong, even if we have to shove it down their throats." you argued, stopping him in the hall.
"Alright, fine. I'm going to go find the cook. I want this dinner over as soon as possible." he sighed, before leaning down to give you a quick kiss.
"Good luck. This place is a damn maze." you tried to lighten the mood. You gave him another, deeper kiss before letting him go.
Alone now, you went to find someone else to talk to. Michael hopefully would be kinder to you, seeing as he was closest to your age. However, his mother Polly was just like the Shelbys. If he wasn't with her, you'd have a chance for normal conversation. If she was there, you'd go find Arthur.
As you wandered down halls and through doorways, you had a vague feeling that someone was watching you. You kept reminding yourself that it was just because you were on edge, but you couldn't get that feeling to dissipate. It was starting to feel quite alarming. So much so, that you turned around and began walking swiftly towards where you thought the kitchen to be.
Arthur didn't want you to be defenseless, and so he had bought you a small pistol. Ever so slowly, you dipped your fingers into your purse to touch it. The cool metal was a relief to your fingers, especially as you saw the closet door across from you open slightly.
"Who's there? This isn't fucking funny." you called, realizing it must be someone playing with you. You knew they didn't like you, but damn!
"I'm going to shoot if you don't come out this instant!" you called out once more. You pulled the pistol from your purse and primed it. You were through with being teased.
You heard a muffled groan, and instantly all thoughts of a prank flew out of your head. That sounded like Michael, and it was definitely a noise of pain. Oh god.
Dashing forward, you flung open the door. As you suspected, Michael was sitting on the floor with his wrists and ankles bound. He had cloth shoved in his mouth and his head was bleeding quite badly, but he was awake. Polly was next to him and looked mostly unharmed, but was unconscious. Then, there was a man you'd never seen before. He was definitely dead, and had what looked like a long needle sticking out of his eye. You diverted your gaze quickly before you could really focus on it. It seemed as if though they were attacked, and then shoved into here.
"Michael, what happened?" you got out, dropping to the ground. You pulled off your shawl and pressed it to his head before taking the cloth out of his mouth. Then, your fingers flew to the knots in the rope. Within seconds, you had him free.
Shakily, he took your shawl from your hand to hold it on himself. In the exchange, you were relieved to see that the head wound was superficial. It was just bleeding profusely. He explained, "Four men. Now three. I don't know if there's more. They kept asking where Arthur was, but heard you coming and ran toward the kitchen."
"Fuck! Are you alright here?" you questioned, heart jumping into your throat. Arthur!
"Where's Arthur?" he asked, trying to get Polly out in the open with his free hand.
"The kitchen!" you told him, on the verge of abandoning him.
"Fuck, go! We'll be fine now." Michael assured you.
You took off towards the kitchen, too panicked to cry or be upset. All you could focus on was getting to Arthur. You knew he was more than capable of defending himself, but even he could lose to three men! Possibly more!
When you finally found the kitchen, you nearly collapsed on the spot. There was blood everywhere, with seemingly half of it on Arthur. A mangled body was on the floor with a mess where the man's face was supposed to be. The other two that Michael had warned about were in the process of killing your boyfriend. One had a rope wrapped around his neck, while the other was restraining his arms.
Remembering there was a gun in your hands, you took aim and fired. The kick wrenched your arm back and disoriented you. You hadn't expected it to be so strong!
"Hey!" one of the men shouted as his partner fell to the ground. You'd somehow nailed the man holding Arthur's arms in the back of the head. It had to have been sheer luck, because you'd only ever shot at bottles before. What wasn't lucky however, was watching blood and viscera spray across the once pristine kitchen. You had no time to react because there was still another threat.
"Leave him alone!" you screamed and fired at the second man. More prepared for the kick this time, you nailed him three times in the chest. His body looked wrong as it crumpled to the kitchen floor, spilling more blood across the white tiles.
You then ran to Arthur, and wrenched the noose open enough for him to breathe. A quick examination told you that nearly all the blood on his person belonged to the already dead man on the ground somewhere behind you.
"Are you okay?" you demanded, cupping his face in your hands.
"Yeah, I am now. Damn Italians!" he rasped out, grasping for you.
Tommy burst into the room, gun blazing. He looked around for a few seconds before seeming to realize what happened. He lowered his gun and came to your side.
"Arthur, are you alright?" he questioned, concerned.
"I am, thanks to Y/N. She saved my life." Arthur answered, not once letting you go.
"You did this? These were some of Changretta's men." Tommy asked you, gesturing to one of the bodies. You hadn't been around during the dealings with the Italian mafia, but you'd heard enough to know how serious it was.
"They were strangling Arthur to death." was all you could manage to say. You'd just killed two men. What would your life be like after this?
"I'm impressed. And thankful. I owe you a debt for saving my brother's life, and an apology for doubting your affection for him." Tommy admitted honestly.
You helped Arthur stand, "You don't owe me anything, Tommy. Just don't make fun of us anymore, and we'll call it good."
Tommy stared for a moment before speaking, "Alright. Let's get you both a drink."
---
"Polly is resting, and Michael is getting his head stitched up by one of the maids." Tommy updated you as he passed around drinks to the rest of the family.
"Who were they?" Lizzie asked, lighting a cigarette.
Tommy explained, "Italians. Changretta's old crew. I believe they were working alone, since as we all know, Luca Changretta is no longer a threat. Y/N here made sure they wouldn't be either. She killed two out of the four men who invaded my home in order to save Arthur's life."
"The kid's got some nerve." Lizzie said, but with no malice in her voice. She raised her glass to you, and the rest of the room followed suit.
"She's shown us that she and Arthur are serious. Anyone who doubts that now can take it up with me. She saved my brother's life today." Thomas explained further, before knocking back the rest of his drink.
"To Y/N." Arthur announced, voice still raspy.
"To Y/N."
