Chapter Text
"Dora, when is mum going to be here?" Theodora's little sister Clara asked, tugging on Dora's shirt sleeve.
Theodora sighed, wishing she had a good answer for her little sister, but knowing whatever she reason she came up with would still probably hurt the little girl's feelings - so Dora decided she might as well be truthful: "Because she's looking after baby Hattie, Clara. She doesn't have time to walk us home today."
Clara's eyes watered: "But it's our first day at school and we don't know how to get home yet!"
"Of course I do." Dora reassured Clara: "I'm your big sister, aren't I? That means I know everything."
It was a lie, and Dora was only certain of about half the route home, but she didn't want to tell Clara that. Her little sister had been so nervous since their dad died and they'd been made to move house, and Dora didn't want to set her off on another of her crying fits. They always left Clara so tired, and Dora was too tired herself to carry Clara home.
So she put a wide smile on her face, took Clara's hand, and started on what she thought the way home was. About half-way - she thought - Clara started jumping up and down and waving to a girl her own age on the other side of the road, tugging on Dora's hand excitedly to go and join the girl. Dora held her back, looking carefully at the two boys that were walking with the other girl, noticing that they were doing exactly the same thing to her, and they weren't friendly about it. Maybe they thought Dora and Clara were strange because they were wearing boy's clothes - but all their older cousins were boys, and of course all their hand me downs were for boys! It wasn't like it really mattered - clothes were all clothes, after all, as long as they kept you covered up - but people always teased Clara about that, and Clara always cried when she got teased, so Dora resolved to keep her sister on this side of the street and away from the unfriendly boys, only to see the girl leading them over anyway.
Dora tensed up, and glared at the boys still looking at her and Clara strangely, but didn't say anything - not when the girl was smiling just as widely as Clara was.
"Clara!"
"Ada!"
The two younger girls started babbling excitedly, from which Dora gathered that they were in the same class and the two older boys were the Ada girl's older brothers, Arthur and Tommy, but she didn't think all that much of either one of them, especially Arthur when he opened his mouth: "Why're you wearing boys clothes if you're girls?"
"So I don't get my dress dirty when I knock you about in the dirt." Dora snapped, ready to take Clara's hand and lead her away, only pausing to watch Ada smack her older brother's arm.
"Clara and her big sister wear boy's clothes because that's what their family gives them to wear!" she snapped, her voice not allowing for any arguments.
"Oh." Arthur responded, clearly catching Ada's real meaning - that Dora's mum couldn't afford new clothes for her daughters - and turning to nod an apology to Dora: "Sorry. Didn't mean to ask stupid questions."
Dora just nodded, suspicious of Arthur's apology since she'd just threatened to beat him up, but not wanting to bif a fight with a boy bigger than her: "'S fine."
"And I ain't mad at ya for threatening to hit me." the older boy continued, seeming to be a bit more friendly now Dora was calmer, hos tone brightening: "I'd do the same if someone asked me a question I didn't like."
"As he often does." remarked the middle boy, his face still but his eyes laughing.
It was all Tommy said on the way home - but the three older children didn't say much at all, letting Clara and Ada do all the talking, since it was clear the two of them had decided they were best friends as soon as they found out they lived on the same street.
When one of them did speak, it was mostly Arthur to the younger girls or Dora, but Dora decided that she didn't actually mind him so much. He was loud, but he wasn't mean, not like some of the girls in Dora's new class who had said mean things under their breath when they thought she couldn't hear them. They were stupid - but Arthur was a lot nicer than them. And Ada might not be as nice as her brother, but she was kind to Clara, so Dora didn't care if she made the occasional sarky comment about one of their other classmates. But when it came to Tommy, though...Dora couldn't say she was too sure about him.
He was too quiet, and his face was too still. He reminded her of the man in the nice suit who had come to their old house, the one who had sent the big men in to take away anything valuable to pay Dora's dead father's debts. And he never really stopped staring at her, with blue eyes that felt like they could see inside her head and know everything she was thinking.
Dora decided very quickly that she didn't like, or trust, Tommy.
And she was right not too - Clara and Ada ran off ahead at some point, Arthur running after them to make sure they didn't get into any trouble, and as soon as they were out of sight Tommy turned and shoved Dora against the wall, pressing his forearm against her throat as he leant in and glared at her: "If you ever threaten Arthur or any of my family again, I'll - "
"You'll what?" Dora taunted, using the little air she had in her lungs to laugh at the boy: "Cry?"
He looked confused, his hold slacking off as a result: "What?"
Dora didn't respond - not with words, at least. Instead, she kicked him right between the legs: just like her mum had told her and Clara to do if they were ever bothered by a strange man. Then she slammed her foot into Tommy's instep, and punched him in the throat.
She stopped short of raking her nails across his eyes, but only so he could look up at her from where he was gathering his breath on his knees: "Threaten me again, Tommy Shelby, and I'll make you regret it."
"Oh really?" he glared, grabbing her arm and yanking her into the mud, trying to roll on top of her and pin her to the ground. He was heavier, but Dora was faster, and kept rolling around with him until she could knee him in the stomach, and use his distraction to clamber up and away from him, separating them while so they both panted for breath and glared at each other...until Tommy smiled: "You're a good fighter, for a girl."
Dora rolled her eyes: "I'm better than you."
"Are not."
"Are so."
"Prove it."
"I already did, didn't I?" Dora teased: "I'm standing here, and you're still laying in the mud, so I'm clearly the better fighter."
Tommy grumbled, but he got to his feet without trying to reach for Dora again - not that she would have let him get close enough to grab her; she was watching him this time: "I meant it. You are a good fighter - and you didn't cry when you got your clothes muddy, not like Ada does...that means we can be friends, if you want?"
Dora considered it for a few seconds: he had tried to scare her, but he also didn't seem to mind that she'd gotten the better of him afterwards: "Okay. But I meant what I said earlier - you ever try and scare me again, or scare my sisters, and I'll put you back in the mud."
"That's why we're friends now, Dora. So we don't have to fight." he offered her his hand to shake, expression serious: "Friends forever?"
"Friends forever."