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notyour-valentine · 2 years

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The Boy in the Window 9 ~ Tommy Shelby x Reader (Series)

Chapter Summary: That night leaves (Y/N) doubting, while a newcomer makes an enemy of Lizzie and Charlie both, as Tommy braces for what tomorrow may bring

Notes: Sorry about the delay. Some edits only showed on the desktop version and not the mobile one I do not consent to my work being translated, copied or posted elsewhere on this platform or any other.

Here, you can find my [Masterlist] and the [Series Masterlist]

Warning: Canon conforming mention of violence. Implied sexual content. (18/21+). Your media consumption is your own responsibility. Expect spoilers for Peaky Blinders Season 1-4.

Wordcount: 5297

Part 9

[Previously]

The longer she thought of it, the more she came to the realisation that she shouldn't have enjoyed it nearly as much as she had.

It was wrong.

They were unmarried, not even in a relationship, in any relationship really - apart from a few childhood memories and the fact that she was taking care of his son. His son, who had been sleeping upstairs in a bed next to her daughter.

It had been all wrong.

But not one of these many reasons changed the fact that she had felt good, felt whole again. Like a woman, and not just like a broken widow or a tired and trying mother.

(Y/N) had thought she would never feel like that again, but she had. Thanks to him.

But just like her, he didn't seem sure what to make of it.

He had been so gentle with her, not only during, but after too, when he had held her in his arms, surrounded by his warmth, soothing her to sleep with soft touches.

But with everything that was going on, there was not a moment of peace to be had, not as soon as the sun rose. The children were around constantly throughout the day, and the business kept him away so that they hardly had a moment alone, let alone the chance to talk.

In a way she preferred it that way, as the thought of a confrontation made her stomach turn.

(Y/N) still felt his eyes on her though, taking the measure of her the same way he had done in the first few days of their arrangement - trying to weigh her worth.

He must worry that there could be consequences.

She prayed there wouldn't but it would be weeks before they knew. And in the worst case, she'd be in a world of trouble. They both would.

So it was no wonder that he regretted it.

Yet in spite of that, he still sought out her touch the same way he had before.

Perhaps he sought her warmth, like a traveller coming in from the rain. They too would settle down and enjoy the heat of a hearth, maybe even needed it for a while only for them to inevitably move on.

The knock and the door made her look up from the carrots she was cutting.

She wiped her hands on the apron before letting him in. He was dressed in his coat and hat, and had undoubtedly been about doing business.

"I'll call Charlie.", She quickly said, but his hand closed around her wrist.

It wasn't forceful, and not even close to bruising, but with enough intention to stop her from moving away.

"I don't have time."

With his grasp still lingering on hers, she turned to him and what she saw made her breath hitched.

"They're coming for Arthur today."

"What?", (Y/N) asked.

He nodded, glancing at the door in impatient anticipation.

"So don't leave the house today, yes?"

"Of course."

The affirmation left her lips as soon as he had asked it of her.

Tommy’s orders - they had become such a sample of life in Small Heath, the words had found their way into daily conversations.

“She was scrubbing at it like Tommy Shelby ordered her to,”, could be heard when a mother complained about her daughter’s housekeeping skills, while wives complained that “he drank like it was Tommy Shelby’s orders.”

They joked, but they all knew the power of his words. They were more than just sound and air, more binding even than the laws of church and state combined.

And she too obeyed them.

"What will you do?", she asked.

"Stop them.", Tommy said. "Or try to."

Those three words made her heart clench.

"Be careful."

It was only a whisper, but he caught it anyways.

His leather gloved hand brushed a half moon on the inside of her wrist before he cleared his throat and walked out, leaving her alone with two children and a sea of worry.

For them, she put on a brave face, and lied at lunch when they saw that she didn't let a bite pass her lips.

All day, she listened for noise, for cars, for shooting, for explosions, but there was nothing.

Nothing could be good, but it could also be horrifically bad.

She had half a mind to cross the courtyard and enter the house on Watery Lane to find out what had happened.

But he had told her to stay inside. It was safer that way.

(Y/N) had only just served the children dinner, when his shadow appeared on the kitchen door.

"He's fine.", Was all he said as he entered.

"Who's fine?", Emma asked, having understood the words even if he had only hissed them.

"An old friend of ours.", (Y/N) lied. "We thought he might be ill but he isn't."

Thank God he isn't.

That thought startled her.

It was only natural that she felt some form of affection for Tommy after the time and the night they spent together, and if not for him, for Charlie's sake. But somewhere along the way, the lines had been smudged further and (Y/N) realised that perhaps she had been foolish to assume she could stay impartial in all this, even if she held no personal care for Arthur or the others.

When she returned from putting the children to bed to find him sitting on the edge of the sofa. The orange-red flickers of the fireplace reflected in his eyes as his head was braced against his hand.

For a while she wasn't sure he had even noticed she had come down again, not until he held out his hand, without looking at her.

After a few seconds, she dared to take it, letting him pull her down next to him.

"Is there anything I can get you?", She asked. "Some tea? Whisky?"

She hadn't missed the absence of a glass.

"I have to think."

With a nod, she tried to rise, but his hand clasped down on hers, stopping her movement before she had even truly begun.

So she settled back down again, watching him stare into the flames.

He was perfectly, almost frighteningly still, as his mind raced beside her.

And all the while his hand clutched hers tightly, holding onto her.

When she awoke the next morning, she realised that it could only have been him who had placed her head on a pillow and taken her shoes off before lifting her feet up on the sofa.

Tommy had left her with a flickering fire and a blanket draped over her shoulder and on the table beside her, she found the earrings and watch he had taken off of her so they wouldn't sting her during the night.

Charlie’s horse had elevated both his and Emma’s spirits beyond the skies. He wanted - no needed - to go every single day, as he would declare during each and every breakfast.

Emma was also more than eager to go as well.

The yard with all its secrets had captured her imagination and she loved nothing more than to run around and explore, with either (Y/N) or Charlie Strong chasing after her.

Somewhere along the line, her giddy excitement had won the old man’s heart.

He still didn’t let her touch everything she wanted to, but (Y/N) didn’t fail to notice how he would steer her in a certain direction where she could explore something that was in equal measures exciting and safe. Curly preferred Charlie’s company.

Together, they would spend hours in the stables, and Charlie was more than eager to try his hand at everything from cleaning fur, mucking out the stables, or feeding the horses with everything he had to offer. (Y/N) had to make sure that he didn’t overestimate his own capabilities however.

He was still only five.

Curly’s affection for Charlie did not mean he was unkind to Emma, but as he once remarked to her: “She’s so loud and hasty, makes me all nervous sometimes.”

And yet he was tender with her as well, a gentle giant, as they all soon grew to realise.

Another advantage of taking the children there would make sure that they didn’t run circles around her constantly.

As a thank you for letting them come and keeping the children occupied, she always came with a basket that did not only hold sandwiches for the children, but also something sweet for Mr. Strong and Curly.

They were never short of sweet goods these days, since Charlie and Emma had discovered baking as something they both enjoyed.

It always took half a day and made a historic mess, but they had such fun with it, and it was something they could do inside without getting all too bored.

Today, she brought a cake for them.

Sitting down on one of the chairs in the entrance of the stables, she could watch Charlie and Emma at the same time.

It was from that very spot that she watched the other woman arrive.

Her coat was the first thing she noticed, incredibly fashionable and horrifically expensive.

Clothes like that could only have been worn by a select few people in Birmingham but if she had been a Shelby, (Y/N) would have known. And since she wasn’t, she had no business coming here.

“Ah.”, Mr. Strong said and walked over to her.

She was a very beautiful woman, with a sharp, shapely face, dark captivating eyes and an undoubtedly charming smile that lit up her face when she shook Mr. Strong’s hand.

They talked for a moment, and Mr. Strong waved in the direction of the stables.

“Who’s she?”, Charlie asked, having come up beside her.

“I haven’t got a clue, darling.”, (Y/N) said.

He huffed, his eyes, his father’s eyes, narrowing in suspicion.

They only narrowed further as the woman began to come closer, her polished leather heels sending splashes of mud and mucky water flying onto her pale coat.

But she didn’t seem to care.

“Hello.”, she greeted with a wide smile, as she crouched down slightly.

“You must be Charlie.”

Charlie only glared at her, but that didn’t daunt her at all.

“My name is May.”, she introduced herself.

The way she spoke gave her more away than her clothing ever could. She spoke the way people talked up and down the country, independent of where they lived, because these people lived in a world of their own, a world of vast gardens and sprawling estates, of dinner parties and champagne, silk and satin.

“Good day.”, Charlie muttered, his right hand finding the fabric of (Y/N)’s coat behind his back.

“I hear you like horses too. Is that true?”

He nodded.

“Just like your father.”

When he nodded again, he smiled slightly, unable to hide his pride at her words.

For a boy at his age, or perhaps at any age, being compared to their father was the greatest possible compliment - unless it was the deepest insult. There was no inbetween.

“I’m here to meet your father’s new race horse. I’m going to train him.”

A woman training a horse- at least that would explain her presence here. And it was evident why Tommy had chosen her. Or why any man would. Her lips tightened.

“Dangerous?”, Charlie asked.

“Yes, Dangerous. Well done.”, she praised.

(Y/N) could see how Charlie liked her words.

“He’s really tall and really fast and Dad says he’ll win the Derby.”

“I will try my best.”, she promised the son, undoubtedly repeating the same commitment she had made to the father.

“Now, it was a pleasure to meet you, Charlie,”, she said, saying goodbye, “be good to Nanny.”

At once the smile was wiped from Charlie’s face as his hand balled into a fist.

“Don’t call her that!”, he snarled, his eyes flashing.

The woman, May, was so startled by his change of demeanour that she took a hasty step back, shocked at the flash of his father’s temper.

Even (Y/N) flinched, shocked to see remnants of the father’s rage coming from the son.

“She’s not! She’s not!”, he called. “She’s Emma’s Mummy and Dad's friend!”

“My, my.”, she said, stepping back once more.

Emma had heard the commotion and had come running.

“What’s going on?”, she demanded to know.

“I want to go home!”, Charlie demanded, turning towards her. “Please, can we go home? Please! Please!"

When she didn't react fast enough for him, he jumped up and down in urgency, pulling at her arm as if he wanted to yank her away by force.

“I think that would be a good idea.”, she agreed, her voice barely above a whisper compared to the screaming loud thoughts in her.

They didn’t quiet down, not even when they had returned home. Instead they raced and raced, but towards a finish line, or with a goal in mind - no, they circled around one single thought, like a cat chasing its own tail, only in her case she had already sunk her teeth in it, making it not only foolish but needlessly painful in some almost ritualistic of penance.

Well; it wasn’t like she didn’t deserve it.

When the knock came from the front door, she knew it wasn’t Tommy, and so she was cautious in opening up, despite knowing that four Blinders were watching the house at all times.

But all her fears were quashed as she saw the familiar dark eyes of Lizzie Stark.

“Good afternoon.”, she greeted as she let her in.

“Afternoon.”, she replied. She held a basket in one hand, while another one was carried by a young boy, barely sixteen years old.

(Y/N) did not know whether he was a Blinder or a local boy, although these days she didn’t know if there was much difference. All of Small Heath, independent of their views about the Blinders, had united in the face of a foreign enemy.

She thanked him for his efforts and carried the basket inside, leaving it for later to unpack.

“Tea?”, she asked Lizzie.

“Why not?”, she said, glancing out at the kitchen entrance of Watery Lane.

“Hello Lizzie!”, Charlie called from the living room, giving her a wave.

“Hello, Charlie, love.”, she replied with a soft smile.

“We’re playing knights and dragons!”, he explained.

“And Emma’s the Princess?”, Lizzie asked.

“No!”, Emma snapped, pulling a face. “Charlie and I are both knights! Mummy’s the princess.”

Am I?

She hadn’t realised she had become part of their play.

“Princess, huh?”, Lizzie asked, a sly smirk playing on her lips as she lit her cigarette.

(Y/N) offered her Tommy’s ashtray, before continuing to prepare the tea.

“Thank you for the shopping.”, she said.

“Ah, no worries.”, she said, “We are all glad to have something to do - going half mad stuck in fucking Small Heath.”

Sometimes she forgot that Lizzie Stark too was part of the group around the Shelbys that had made it out - now living in a nice house in a nice part of town with a nice car and wearing nice shoes. Usually.

Unlike (Y/N), who was stuck in Small Heath for all her life.

But she doubted that the return was easy for Lizzie, not in a small place like this, where everyone knew everything about everyone.

And yet it was just because everyone knew everything about everyone else that (Y/N) had never had a problem with Lizzie Stark.

The war’s dark and cruel clutches had not just taken the men and torn them away onto distant, blood soaked shores, but had dug its claws into those that remained too, showing them not an inch of kindness.

And unlike the men, there were no medals for the sacrifices the women had to make.

The same women, who had resulted in the same for equal or even less noble reasons than Lizzie had done, had never told their husbands or fathers or brothers and resumed their life after the war like nothing had happened, but were not above pointing fingers at Lizzie.

And the same men, who collapsed into her arms, buying and paying for affection they either couldn’t receive at home or didn’t dare to ask for were no better, in fact, they were even worse.

What right did the buyer have to shame the seller?

But then again, there was no point in looking for logic in the world of men.

“How are you holding up?”, she asked Lizzie.

“I’m bored and frustrated and Tommy’s losing his fucking mind which doesn’t make anything easier.”, she snapped. “I swear to God, I’ll strangle all the Italians myself if it means I can finally go home.”

(Y/N) watched her bring the cigarette to his lips to inhale deeply as she shook her head.

The porcellian cups clattered slightly as she placed it down in front of her, with the milk and some sugar.

“How are you holding up without John I mean.”, she corrected.

Lizzie’s eyes snapped around, then she swallowed hard and averted her eyes.

That was another thing she knew.

She had been in her first year of school, when a few of the older boys had decided to pick on Lizzie Stark. She had always been pretty and so she had always been a target.

That particular day they had taken her braids and had tried to tie them together around a tree branch. They never got that far.

John, who had been in the same class as Lizzie, had been small, scrawny and malnourished, half the size of the other boys and yet he hadn’t even hesitated for a single second despite it being him against three of them, well, it hadn’t just been one of him for long. If one Shelby fought, all Shelbys fought.

That carried throughout the years. An old neighbour of Lizzie Stark’s, back when she was still living in her old flat, had told her of a particular customer, who had pounded her door demanding, probably, more than just money, and getting increasingly angrier when the door stayed shut. Until one night, the door didn’t stay shut.

But inside he had not found Lizzie, but instead John, and the better side of his razor blade. Needless to say, he had not returned.

Lizzie’s hand trembled as she raised the cigarette again.

And (Y/N) waited. It wouldn’t do to push, not in questions like this.

“Why did it have to be John?”, she finally asked. “I’m not saying I’d rather it have been Arthur or Tommy, but why did it have to be John?”

Because life isn’t fair and death is random.

Because there never is an explanation good enough for the heartbreak of sudden loss.

The way her voice trembled, made (Y/N)’s throat tighten.

“Any words on the children?”, she asked.

Lizzie shook her head.

“Esme’s taken them on the road, fucking wagons and horses.”

She tapped the cigarette far harsher and far more times than necessary.

“I think it’s bloody madness, but it’s what John would have wanted, so….”

She sniffed and cleared her throat.

“I had my problems with Esme alright, but she’s not a bad mother. And she took all eight of them, even Martha’s four.”

The other woman shook her head once more.

When she reached for the tea, she drank it as if she wished it was whisky, burned her tongue and cursed.

“You know what the worst part is?”, she finally asked, meeting her eyes again.

(Y/N) shook her head.

“Sometimes,”, she sighed, “sometimes someone will bang the door of the shop or park the car with screeching tires and I’ll it’s him. I’ll look up, thinking it’ll be John and it’s just not.”

Her voice cracked and she swallowed whatever further elaboration she would have shared.

Slowly, she reached over and placed her hand over hers, giving her hand a little squeeze.

“When my husband died,”, she said cautiously, “I’d forget too. Always, in the mornings, right after waking up. And I’d feel so stupid, because how dim would I have to be to forget that my own husband was dead?”

Lizzie turned her palm and gave her hand a squeeze.

For a while they sat in silence, both half drowning in their thoughts and grief, her’s old and Lizzie’s fresh.

“Anyways, I have to go.”, she finally said, clearing her throat. “Here, I got you this.”

With that, she put a small, square box on the kitchen table in front of her.

“What’s this?”

“Open it.”, Lizzie said.

(Y/N) opened the black box and gasped, pulling away as if the box had turned to bright red iron.

Inside, she found a pair of earrings that sparkled in the yellow kitchen light, as if they were stars plucked from the midsky sky.

“Wha- …?”, she stammered in utter disbelief, dropping the box as if she had burned her fingers.

“Pff. Tommy said I’m supposed to buy you whatever you need.”

“But he was talking about groceries, not this!”, (Y/N) gasped.

Lizzie only shrugged.

“So what? You fucking deserve it and it’s not like Tommy can’t afford it.”

“It’s too much money!”, she insisted, her cheeks burning with shame.

“Should’ve gotten the emerald ones. They were three times the price.”, she sneered, pursing her lips. “Just like I should have put more than 10 000 pounds on that woman’s check - the way she talked to me made me want to slap that fucking smile right off of her face, and Tommy just let her. But she won’t be smiling when she sees that withdrawal.”

(Y/N) didn’t have to ask which woman she meant, her presence clearly the reason Lizzie had decided to bring the earrings, a small way to make Tommy pay.

He raised his eyebrow when she handed him the box, inspecting the jewellery closely. It had taken a while for him to be able to open it, with fingers made fidgety from drink.

“Lizzie’s got good taste.”, he commented, before setting it down again.

“Well, I haven’t even touched them, so you will have no problem returning them.”, (Y/N) said, even if she doubted Tommy Shelby would have problems getting anyone to do anything in this city.

He shook his head, bringing the cigarette to his lips once more.

“Keep ‘em.”, he simply said. (Y/N) had realised as soon as he had stepped through the doors that he hadn’t arrived completely dry, not with his hair slightly out of place and his eyes shining.

He was also even more impatient than he normally was, but she hadn’t realised he was this drunk, if he treated diamond earrings like a casual trinket.

She shook her head.

“No, I can’t accept that. Besides, I’d be robbed in the streets.”

He snorted, leaning back in the armchair.

“Not in these streets.”

Your streets you mean.

(Y/N) wasn’t oblivious to the rumours that had begun to circulate.

Nor had the fact that the Peaky Blinders not only left her alone, excepting her and her alone from their many checks, controls and random searches, but had started to guard her house, gone unnoticed.

Especially the fact that Finn Shelby had driven her home one late afternoon had raised many eyebrows.

The 'why' most people still hadn’t been able to piece together, and no one had the guts to ask outright. But it had become impossible to deny.

By now, (Y/N) didn’t know what to tell them anymore, not when she didn’t even know herself.

“I would never wear them.”, she declined again.

His response came as quick and effortlessly, almost carelessly.

“Keep ‘em until Emma wears them.”

“I don’t think Emma and I are cut from the cloth that wears diamonds.”

He tilted his head, despite being drunk still hearing the things she had not said out loud.

“Curly told me she thought you were the Nanny.”, he said, bringing the cigarette to his lips again.

(Y/N) glanced down at her lap and bit the inside of her lip. It took a moment for her to gather herself, with a deep breath and a much needed reality check.

“Why wouldn’t she?”, she said, meeting his eyes again.

He studied her once more, reading things she’d rather keep hidden, but she was used to it by now. And since he never shared the results of his inquiry, nor his reaction, she could consider herself reasonably safe.

Putting out his cigarette, he left her behind and walked over to the kitchen only to return with a bottle and two glasses.

Unscrewing the top, he poured both portions rather generously.

“Try this.”, he said, letting himself drop back into the chair before reaching up to his collar.

He fought with his tie, tugging harder at it when it refused to come loose at first, but then it bent to his will. Rolling it up with rather thick fingers, he stuffed it into the pocket of his trousers before undoing the top button of his shirt.

Once he was done, he leaned his head back and inhaled deeply.

“Go on.”, he insisted.

Cautiously, she brought the glass to her lips and drank.

It tasted strong and fresh, but not in an overwhelming, burning way.

“And?”, he asked.

“I…I don’t know.”, she admitted. “I don’t drink gin.”

“Then you are my target demographic.”, he stated. “Women who don’t drink gin. Too sweet or not sweet enough? I’ve heard conflicting things.”

(Y/N) brought the glass to her lips again, even though she knew it wouldn’t gain any other result.

“I have nothing to compare it to.”, she admitted truthfully.

“Better than whisky?”, he asked.

“Almost everything’s better than whisky.”, she argued, making him snort.

Leaning over, her fingers could grasp the bottle, bringing it into view.

The first thing she noticed on the label was the horseshoe, and only then the three large letters identifying the type of liquid.

“Shelby Company Limited Gin,”, she read out loud, “Distilled for the eradication of seemingly incurable sadness?”

Now it was her turn to throw him a questioning look.

“You disapprove.”, he said, sounding amused with her reaction, his eyes narrowing in on her like a hawk on its prey, revelling in anticipation of the game it could play that only existed because of him.

“It sounds very poetic.”, she argued, trying to sound convincing.

“And you don’t like poets?”

“I think that poets often lie.”, she retorted, bastardising a quote she had read long ago.

To her surprise, the corners of his lips twitched. It must’ve been the rhythm that gave her away.

“...awake at night, staring at the ceiling, having to think about things that are true.”

To say she was impressed was an understatement, but the way his eyes searched for a reaction made her crumble.

“Well, I still don’t think that sadness is incurable.”, she stated, almost clumsily, as she was quick to change the topic.

“Course not.”, he sneered, sipping his own gin once more.

“What is that supposed to mean?”, (Y/N) demanded to know, the liquor and the late hour loosening her tongue and lowering her inhibitions.

“That you don’t need gin. You just sing and soothe and kiss all the worries and sadness away.”

There was a darkness in his voice, a bitterness that turned the taste in her mouth to bile.

(Y/N) didn’t know if he was mocking her or not, not until he had taken another sip and dared to speak again.

“The way mums do.”

Why were it always the soft spoken words that cut the deepest? At least when it came to him.

She took another gulp, a larger one than before, if only to have something to do.

But it wasn’t enough to build her confidence to the necessary level to endure his gaze.

“Well, it is what it is.”; she forced herself to say, bitterness dripping from her every word like some kind of venom that poisoned both her and him at the same time.

The feeling his words had given her was like an ever tightening noose around her chest and she wanted nothing more to be out of his sight, out of the reach of his words before she lost her composure completely.

Only her flight was short lasting.

She had gotten up and walked around at a safe distance, but he had somehow leaned forward far enough to grab her hand, tugging her back, and not only towards him.

Losing her balance, she stumbled into his arms.

“Tommy?”, she gasped, her hands still flat against his chest from her failed attempt to stop herself from crashing into him.

He didn’t seem to mind.

On the contrary - his arms snaked around her waist and pulled her into his lap.

“Tommy!”

“Shh.”, he insisted, his forehead almost brushing against hers. “Shh.”

As his eyes fluttered shut, he dropped his head onto her chest, his hair brushing against her chin as she could feel his heavy sighs tickling her collarbone with every breath he took.

He pressed a fluttering kiss to her skin.

“Tommy, I think you’ve had enough to drink.”, (Y/N) said softly.

“Not nearly.”, he said, lifting his head again. “Not nearly enough for what happened. And not nearly enough for what will happen, (Y/N).”

As he spoke, he lifted one of his hands to twist a strand of her hair. It was an innocent, childish gesture that didn't match the gloom of his words in the slightest.

His eyes shone, wide and glassy like a little boys.

“What will happen?”, she asked.

He only shook his head slowly, as if he couldn’t even find the words to express his thoughts.

“Must’ve gotten the mixture wrong.”, he mused as he reached for the gin again - the whole bottle this time.

He took a sip and shook his head once more.

“Cause I’m still sad.”

The way he said it was so close to Charlie’s voice made her chest ache.

It also wasn’t the first time he had stared up at her with wide, shining eyes that were desperate for an answer, a reprieve, like they had been all those years ago when he had confessed to her things he had never shared with anyone before or since- the one time Tommy Shelby had very nearly deserted his family.

But all the years since hadn’t made her any wiser, not in this.

“Oh Tommy.”, she whispered, reaching up and stroking the back of his head.

If only it were as simple as to distil and drink some gin.

If there was a magic cure, she would have given it to him gladly, even if it cost her her own relief- that is how much her chest burned when she saw the pain in his eyes.

But there was none, or if there was, she hadn’t found it.

Despite everything, or maybe because of it, he leaned up and captured her lips with his in an almost desperate attempt.

She let him press his lips to hers for a moment, before pulling back.

Slowly, he shook his head, contemplating a new truth.

“Tommy, what are you doing?”, she wanted to know.

She did not miss how the hands that were already wrapped around her waist began to play with her dress, drawing circles in the fabric, although not fully daring to pull it up just yet.

“You’re drunk and you will regret this.”, she reminded him once more, but he only shook his head.

“I’m sad and I don't want to feel sad anymore, (Y/N).”, he pleaded as he leaned up once more, to kiss her again, as his hands found their way under her skirt.

End of Part 9

Part 10

Thank you for reading! I’d be very grateful for feedback of any kind!

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jellycreamjammedart · 9 months

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FNAF Security Breach Ruin, post-"betrayal" elevator ending

hurt/comfort, Found Family, something I like to call "Hopeful Horror"

Summary: Having had her kindness stomped on then spat back at her, betrayed by who she thought was her friend, and now stuck at the ruined remains of Freddy Fazbear's Mega PizzaPlex, Cassie tries to find the slightest bit of meaning and worth in all of this.

Fazerblast is quiet save for its distant music theme still playing in spite of all the destruction-- it hurts to hear, in a way; Cassie remembers how it used to be, a beloved childhood memory, like Roxy's place. She can see the shreds of semblance of them, buried under the horrors of change.

She quietly tiptoes over a broken, fallen Fazerblaster maze wall, a chill in her stomach as she remembers how this place's sentinel basically violently sent that same piece down off his way. Trying to keep herself from breathing too loudly or too panicky, she looks into the arguably small section of the attraction she was in, seeing the deactivated AR Inhibitor that had been used on her before, but no signal of the beast. He probably wandered off after he could no longer follow her into the vents. Hopefully somewhere she wouldn't need to cross.

Cassie frowns upon coming to a dead-end on the small section she was in; originally she could get into it while running from him, but getting out of it was another thing. "Helpi, can't you make one of those AR doors here?" She asks just barely above a whisper referring to the AR portals, afraid of alerting lingering presences.

"Unfortunately, no. The environment in the real world isn't favorable to craft them in the AR world. You'll have to figure out a way yourself, and rely on the already existing portals." The little bear broke the news for her. It seems he's limited to what's already in the AR world most of the time.

Cassie lets out a shuddering breath, not fancying being stuck in such a small area. She's not even actually claustrophobic! Still not fun, though. "What do I do..." She thinks out loud in a mutter, looking up at the makeshift pathway she had previously used to climb down into here, now too up high to reach from the other way around.

Wait-

She remembers something and goes the other way again; At some point to reach the Inhibitor, she had to climb two wooden crates with a piece of metal rail gate partly as a ramp-- likely originally meant to secure the catwalks above so that people didn't just fall off there, obviously. Maybe she can use it as a ramp to reach over the wall, too.

While not unfathomably heavy, it's still difficulty for a small (and injured,) child to simply carry it. Cassie manages to tug the rail gate off the two crates causing it to land fully on the floor with a loud metallic sound, causing Cassie to flinch while sucking in a breath, and being stock still for a bit, as if in fear of some immediate consequence for causing such noise. Fortunately, though, it appears nothing spurred up from that. Cautiously letting herself breathe again, she tries to lift the rail gate off the floor, but it's too heavy for her to carry it clean off, and she feels the dull pain in her shoulder verging into returning from her efforts, along herself drifting close to getting dizzy too. No, that won't do. With no other choice, she simply holds onto one end of the rail gate and begins to drag it over the floor with her stumbling backwards while looking over her shoulder to see where she was going, the metallic piece scraping over the floor; it's a bit noisy but not as badly as when it fell and hit the floor. She grits her teeth behind her lips hearing all the scraping, but knew that with her limitations that was the best way she could do this.

She drags the rail gate over to under the edge of the upper pathway, walks over to try lifting it from the other end and tries to topple it against the wall of rubble and attraction parts that piled up; if she does it right, it could work as an improvised ladder. It's easier than the locker from before, though the rail gate's length still puts it a bit under the upper edge, but Cassie probably could reach it from there with a bit of work.

Once she's gotten the rail gate in place, she begins to climb it up, the bars of it working much like ladder steps indeed. Once she climbs up to the top of the rail gate, it's a bit of an awkward place, but keeping her footing, she tries reaching out to the edge of the upper pathway with her hands, hoping to hoist herself up onto it.

Unfortunately, it's not a stable set-up; Cassie's weight causes the other end of the rail gate to slide back a little, eventually until it could no longer remain propped up on the wall, causing itself not only to land flat back down on the floor, but causing her to fall off onto it as well with a yelp before she could grip to the upper edge she was trying so hard to reach. She and the rail gate landing back on the floor below is loud and nasty, with Cassie taking a moment to even register that she was back at square one on the floor-- not to mention the landing hurt.

"Hey, are you alright?" She heard Helpi's worried voice, to which she could only nod breathlessly in response. A little stunned, she tries to slowly lift herself back up, getting first on her hands and knees. Okay, okay. It's okay, she still has the rail gate, she just has to try again, maybe use a S.T.A.F.F. Bot torso or something to keep it from slipping off this time. Or maybe she can try scaling up somewhere to get over to the other side.

But she doesn't even get to try getting up.

Before Cassie knows it, one of the former maze's walls around her gets slammed off like it was made of popsicle sticks, hitting the other far wall and crumbling to pieces basically inches away from hitting her causing her to gasp; She could feel the wind of it whisk past her as it cut through the air and the tiny particles and grains of concrete and whatnot bump into her from the impact against the other wall. To her misfortune, the wall crumbled and its pieces fell over half of the rail gate, essentially pinning it to the floor.

Cassie looks up in shock, feeling her stomach sink upon seeing who stomped in from the freshly-made pathway, that being no other than the headless Glamrock Freddy that had chased her relentlessly before. It seems all the noise she's caused finally caught up to her.

"No..." She whimpers to herself as the beheaded bear has his body turn her direction, the jagged lids of his stomach hatch open out into a thundering, mechanical roar of blind hostility. Even without M.X.E.S' distress signals, it seems he still has sensors to detect her. Cassie bites back a cry as she scrambles up to her feet and tries to run, promptly hearing the heavy stomps of the robot hot on her heels just like before.

Unfortunately, it's a very small closed off area they were in, with little to no room for maneuvering. Cassie finds herself quickly running into the same dead-end she'd been trying to overcome until now, pushing her back against the wall of attraction pieces and rubble that formed the upper pathway right up above, upon seeing the headless Freddy right there. Before she could try maneuvering to either side, he slammed both his sharp hands against the wall behind her by the sides of her head with terrifying force, digging his very sharp endoskeleton claws and fingers into the concrete, as if to trap her in place between himself and the wall. His inner mechanisms let out a vicious screech as his jagged stomach hatch lids opened and quivered aggressively, less than an inch away from touching her and forcing her to see very well into the metallic nightmare that was inside his cavity, a lot of sharp pieces of debris and metal rods pierced into it.

Cassie couldn't keep herself from letting out a cry and scamper to duck under one of his arms before his stomach hatch could potentially chomp down on her, slipping away and off past him, prompting him to rip his hands off the wall to resume chase, which causes to pile of rubble and props to shake a bit from the sheer viciousness of his movements.

At least she had somewhere to go now, running through the freshly-made pathway the bear himself had made, letting her into the larger portion of the ruined space-themed maze. That hardly meant less danger, however.

"The mask! Put on the mask!" Helpi's frightened voice reminds Cassie, as she had been too scared to immediately think of that. Right! The mask basically makes them invisible to each other! She quickly slips the mask down over her face hoping to fall off the beheaded animatronic's radar.

To her absolute horror, even in the AR world, she can still hear the heavy aggressive stomps behind her even if a little slower. She looks back over her shoulder in shock, seeing the nightmarish glamrock still giving chase, but at a bit of a slower pace, as if the mask was now only giving his sensors a delay. This change appears to also shock Helpi and even M.X.E.S, who now was visible, and could only gesture a shooing motion to Cassie with an alarmed expression, urging her to just keep running, before the headless bear's form obliviously phases through it, causing its cybernetic body to ripple into blue digital squares.

It seems they've underestimated the damaged bear.

"Oh no! It seems the M.X.E.S security system's integration into the V.A.N.N.I system has altered how the network functions in some aspects!" Helpi croaks out. Or maybe it could have been that thing down in the sinkhole pulling the strings to make sure Cassie wouldn't end up killed while it still needed her alive. "Just keep running!" Helpi urges. "If you reach the nearest existing AR portal, it should take you straight to the parent node!"

No need to tell her twice to keep running, with Cassie hearing her chaser still locked onto her even if a little slower-- it gives her a bit more breathing room, but she definitely should not stop, at the risk of getting caught.

She eventually runs into the area she had originally met him, over that pile of destroyed S.T.A.F.F Bots and under rubble. She has the slightly risky idea of weaving around the pile, trying to make him trip over it to give herself more distance. And yes, he can detect her and tries to beeline after her, tripping a little over the pile he was previously stuck in, but it's not as effective as she had envisioned it to be, the beheaded bear more so kicking and shoving the top parts of the rubble off the pile. However, a little ways down she can see the AR portal just ahead of her and she basically dives through it.

If Cassie had eaten recently, she would surely have puked, with being so under the weather now and these portals already being rather nauseous to cross over. But at least she was farther away from the once lovable Glamrock Freddy; she could hear it pacing around in the distance, but his stomps are farther away and at a more 'leisure' pace as he appears to have lost track of her once she went through the AR portal, now more so wandering in search.

Either way, the shortcut took her straight to the parent node, and a realization hits her as she sees the four pieces that formed the node scattered on the floor in the AR world. "How am I supposed to reactivate the node? It's split in pieces!" She asks out loud in distress.

Fortunately, M.X.E.S has come to her aid! The digital rabbit manifests itself next to her, its ears perked slightly as it looked down at the four pieces of the deactivated node, as if examining through each of them.

"Each parent node has a core!" Helpi explains. "When you deactivate a parent node, you're deactivating its core, and it remains within one of the node parts. However, it seems only the M.X.E.S security system can determine which part has the core." And as on cue, M.X.E.S reaches its hand down to touch one of the four node pieces, the contact causing white circuitry lines to appear on the piece much like the patterns on its body. "That one! Use your Faz-Wrench on it!" Helpi instructs. And of course, Cassie does as mentored, pulling out the Faz-tech tool and using it to trigger the node.

In her AR vision, the AR Network control panel pops up with the hologram-linking process, which she has done several times times now. The girl wastes no time trying to will the links among the corresponding holograms, knowing that if she takes too long, the beast currently stalking through Fazerblast could eventually find her again while she's stuck in the prompt.

Eventually she manages to complete the task, prompting the 'SECURITY NODE ACTIVATED SUCCESSFULLY!' message to pop up on the AR panel in her vision, followed by the second message of 'WARNING: SECURITY NODE VULNERABLE TO BREACHES! ACTIVATE THE CHILD NODES TO STABILIZE THE SECURITY NODE.' After that, the control panel ends with the PizzaPlex logo before disappearing.

The pieces of the parent node appear to then will back to life, rising off the floor and towards one another as if they were magnetic, forming the polygonal rabbit-shaped head once again. "Great job!" Helpi congratulates joyfully. "You've reactivated it! However it's still vulnerable with its child nodes deactivated. You need to find and reactivate them again." And indeed, the parent node was in that blue colors hinting its protections were down. She had to make it red again by reactivating the child nodes.

"Are the child nodes still the same ones?" Cassie asks a little short on breath, seeming hasty on her feet.

"Yes, they should be the same ones." Helpi answers, and M.X.E.S also nods its head in an affirmative response. "Just follow the cables over to them like you did before." The little bear explains.

Before Cassie can make a go for it, the sound of another wall being burst through echoes through Fazerblast; The headless Glamrock Freddy appears to be now breaking through walls and debris of the ruined attraction looking for her. "Hurry! Before that animatronic finds you again!" Helpi heeds her. "The sooner you reactivate the child nodes, then sooner you can leave Fazerblast behind!"

And Cassie does make a run for it through the destroyed maze, hastily searching for the child nodes with the cables guiding her in the AR world.

It's fortunate that the two child nodes aren't exactly far away, but with the disarray of the attraction, there were a lot of dead-ends that the cables wiggled through, forcing her to backtrack or or find different branches to stay on track. Soon she finds one child node, on what appears to be a menu display of sorts, probably belonging to the Faz-Pad (the AR world filter makes it hard to read it... not to mention she won't stop to read it with a beartrap animatronic plowing through for her.) Using her Faz-Wrench, Cassie manages to reactivate it, and as soon as she finishes it, she hears the headless bear burst another wall somewhere off, making her shudder. Okay, it's okay, just one child node left now...

It was very hard not to panic, though, as Cassie hurries through the ruined maze looking for the next node; Each second she took looking for it, the stomps of the patrolling robot felt ever closer and more assertive.

But soon she finds it, which it was hard to make out, either a prop or perhaps a busted screen, and like with the other, she reactivated it with her Faz-Wrench. "Great job! This area's parent node is up and running again!" Helpi congratulates once more. "Now hurry! A new AR portal should be open nearby the parent node that can take you to the exiting area of this attraction." And Cassie doesn't question it twice, scurrying through. Though on the way back she spots another freshly-made opening, meaning the beheaded glamrock was VERY near, but she tries to not let it distract her; the shortcut is her best bet.

Up ahead, Cassie can see the parent node now red, meaning its firewalls were up once more. As she neared the area, the AR portal would become visible. Yes! She's right there!

But before she knew it, something wrapped around her shin and pulled on it, causing her to lose her footing and fall down on her stomach, the mask falling off her face in the process. She barely gets to try getting back up when she felt herself being dragged back over the floor by her foot. She flips on her back only in time to see the horrifying stomach mouth looming over her. He had a grip on her foot which he let go after pulling her, but quickly went to grab down on her neck instead, earning a cry from her as he lifted her off the floor. Cassie squirms against his grip, but to her luck, before he could force her into his deformed stomach cavity, some props of the attraction piled up slip off the top and fall behind him, just grazing by his back; it distracts the headless Glamrock Freddy, causing him to accidentally loosen his grip on the girl as his upper body turns a bit likely wanting to look back. This gives Cassie the opportunity to break free from his grip, landing on her legs then scrambling up on her feet to try and run towards the AR portal.

Wait, she dropped her mask, she can't access the AR portal without the mask!

Fortunately it was just up ahead where she had been pulled off her footing, and she tries to reach for it again. But without it, it meant the animatronic's sensors were not delayed.

The headless Freddy manages to catch up to her once more (since she hadn't gotten very far to begin with,) grabbing at her neck again and lifting her off the ground with loud hissing coming off his inner gears, his jagged hatch growling mechanically and menancingly at her. "N-no!! No!!" Cassie begins to struggle rather desperately against his grasp, crying out with how close his chomping 'mouth' was, and with him pulling her even closer towards it despite her struggling, his twisted hatch opening wide. "No, please...!!"

Just as he was about to force her into his cavity, something dripped onto his exposed endoskeleton hand, and it caused him to hesitate, his twitchy frame quivering like a shudder.

He clearly had sensors separated from the head, with how hellbent he was at hunting her even without M.X.E.S ratting her location out to him. And besides detecting Cassie's presence, he was also detecting something that took a bit more priority in his system, however beat up it is.

He was detecting blood.

Cassie was bleeding on her head again, and she didn't get to wipe it in time, the blood trickling down the side of her forehead and face until it eventually dripped down on the sharply-clawed endoskeleton hand grasped around her neck.

That seemed to 'wake up' all sorts of alerts within the headless animatronic, despite his lack of higher thinking and thus being stuck in a much more feral state:

INJURED CHILD DETECTED.

However neither of the two get to process the hesitation, as creaking metal and shifting debris sound around them. And the top of a high pile of rubble, props and broken S.T.A.F.F Bots begins to collapse and fall around and onto them. It seems that the headless animatronic's viciousness through the attraction slamming his hands into the walls or breaking them down shook the stability off some of the piled junk through the ruined maze, especially those over the walls.

The robot drops Cassie upon feeling rubble falling onto him from above the walls, an horrible mechanical scream leaving him. The girl falls on her side, just shy from having things falling onto her too. The collapse raises a thick fog of dust and debris, hindering her vision and making her cough as breathing in such air is quite bad. She stumbles back up onto her feet and hurries away, picking up her mask on the way. Just as she was about to put it on to access the AR portal, she looks back over her shoulder.

She can see the robot pinned down under a newly formed pile of rubble as the dust cleared, only his upper body sticking out from underneath; his arms flail and hit around him, fighting to no avail to free himself. All that junk has to be clearly very heavy on him, and the mechanical scratched screeching that left his inner mechanisms very well suggesting he was in pain down there with the weight crushing onto him.

Cassie turned back around to try putting the mask on and leave, but the robotic beast's noises makes her hesitate. Even without very comprehensible communication, his sounds were clearly sounds of pain and anguish, maybe even fear. Well so what, right? He didn't care about her pain and fear, after. She turns ahead again, and despite that, she still couldn't bring herself to ignore his plight. She just couldn't.

She looks back at him again; with the mechanical noises he made and the way he moved erratically and thrashed, she could, even with him lacking his head, totally see the mental image of it with a look of suffering and misery if he still had it. That's not the kind of expression that should be on Glamrock Freddy's face. And she just...

Hasn't he suffered enough already? Hasn't she suffered enough?

Haven't them all suffered enough? Wasn't it enough? How was any of this fair?

Against what could be dubbed common sense, Cassie tucked her mask away into her backpack for the moment, moving over to the trapped headless bear while darting her eyes around, until they spot a long metal rod, likely part of the structure that used to keep Fazerblast up. She picks it up with both hands and approach the thrashing headless Freddy, holding the rod as if she was going to use it to put him out of his misery.

But instead she sticks it underneath the pile that pinned him, then tries elevating it by pushing the rod upwards in a tilt, trying to widen the gap that the animatronic was stuck in. Cassie visibly struggles with the weight she was fighting up against, which often barely seemed to budge, or her feet would skid backwards as a result of her getting pushed back instead of the pile getting moved. It was rough, it was high-effort, and it was dangerous;

With how she keeps trying to tilt the pile to loosen it off the flailing robot, the top of it above them both was starting to rock loosely with the movement. To make matters worse, all her struggle was catching up to her with her much more beat up state now, feeling her aches returning and her vision starting to double. Her throat felt dry and scratched up, her head starting to feel heavy and spin. And she realizes a bit too late that she was rocking the pile onto them both.

And to Cassie's utter disgrace, a severe dizzy spell hits her from all the physically taxing effort she had to put in, causing her to become dazed in midst of it. The sound of falling metal and rubble surround them as the top finally began to collapse over them; the sound however fading away in her ears as she blacked out way too quickly for her to evade or somehow try to protect herself.

To Be Continued...

#fnaf sb ruin spoilers #fnaf #fnaf sb #fnaf sb ruin #five nights at freddy's #five nights at freddys #five nights at freddy's security breach #five nights at freddys security breach #five nights at freddy's security breach ruin #five nights at freddys security breach ruin #cassie #roxanne wolf #glamrock freddy #prototype glamrock freddy #helpi #mxes #lost and found superstars #jellycream art

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