Hello, my name is Spiritrunner181 and I have delved back into the world of Thomas the Tank engine lately and have had so many ideas that I have taken to writing stories to get them out of my head. Most of my fics are/are going to be Jamescentric as I feel he has some interesting personality traits. This one is is going to be a semi serious romance fic that will have a gay/slash pairing so if you're not into that then please hit the back button now. This is "Not Like You".
James the splendid red engine sat in his shed waiting for his driver to arrive for the days work. The morning sun casting brilliant shades of purple and orange had awoken him much earlier. However James attitude was just the opposite of the bright and cheery sunrise. Today was Valentines Day or as James liked to call it "singles awareness day". For the past week the engines had been bustling about finding date, helping set up decorations, and chatting way into the night about their plans.
James had tried every year to get into the spirit of things yet could never get cupids arrow to strike him. Finally his driver and fireman arrived, Jim the driver had a giant box of chocolates for his wife with him. "Morning James old fellow, look what ive got the misses for later!" He smiled up at the red engine. "A lot of stuff and nonsense if you ask me" James snorted growing impatient with the two men.
"Oh come now James, hey ive got an idea how about we try to get you fixed up today? You're one of the prominent colors of the holiday after all." Jim chuckled. His firemen Burl looked up at the now fuming red engine. "Oh now you've done it Jim, you know how touchy his on this topic. Of course I would be too if I was shunned by every female on Sodor" Burl picked at his engine.
"You're lucky I can't run over you two right now, as for your offer ill take a pass on that ive seen both of your women and I would rather be forever alone then with what you've got" James snapped back with extra malice. He was in no mood for either of their jokes. Truth be told he didn't mind the holiday itself, just the rumors that came with it. Diesel had started the rumor that he was gay due to the fact that he never had anyone with him. This caused some uncomfortable situations between himself and the others. Deep down he had admitted to himself long ago that he fancied males more than females but feared being shunned so he kept it to himself.
"Ugh, I can't be thinking about that right now, ive got work to do" With that James steamed out of the sheds towards the shunting yards to begin work. As he left Jim muttered to Burl "This is going to be a long ass day with captain cheery here"
"I heard that!" James called back annoyed. "Well you are supposed to be Sodors most splendid engine arn't you? Act like it!" Burl called back.
"Burl, one more word out of you and I will tell your girlfriend about your "friend" you brought up into my cab for a ride" James smirked. The two men were silent for the rest of the journey.
Pulling into the shunting yards he quicky got his work list from the Fat Controller and set to task getting the trains ready to move out. First he had a long line of stone filled trucks to place on the far track for Henry to pick up. He was a bit rougher than normal with the trucks as they cried out in pain when he slammed into them. "Hehe atleast I get to work off a little steam on these poor fellows before I get assaulted by pink and red vomit decorations in the stations" he thought to himself. "Easy there James you want to leave something left for Henry when he comes" Jim cried out to him.
James was about to bite out another snarky comment when he heard Henry's whistle float across the horizon. He wasn't that far away and James still had a few more trucks to move. "Shit!" he mentally cursed as he raced off to finish staging the train. He managed to finish just as the big green engine backed into the yards.
"Morning James, is my train ready to go? Henry asked. "Right over there Henry, he glanced at the long line of trucks." "Ah right, thanks James, are you alright by the way? You look as if you've had a rough morning." The big engine asked with concern flowing in his voice. "Er yeah im fine, just haven't been sleeping well thats all" James reassured his friend. "Well if you find you want to talk about anything you know where to find me" Henry gave his friend a reassuring smile. With that the long train pulled out.
James found himself admiring the way the sun gleamed off of Henry's Boiler and for that matter what a nicely shaped boiler it was, followed by that lovely green tender.
"Ahhh damn it, why am I thinking like this? He mentally cursed that he had let himself slip back into that sort of thought. Besides even though I am gay, there is noone around here that would understand."
"James... JAMES!" Burl's voice snapped him out of his thoughts. "Henry is stuck on Gordon's Hill, we need to go be his back engine" The thought of this prospect both excited and terrified him at the same time. James hurried off to the aid of his green sexy friend.
Soon he found himself coupled up to the back of Henry's train whistling that he was ready to go. As the train started rounding the curve he caught sight of Henry. Gleaming in the sun, Henry's drive wheels were turning slowly and powerfully. James could hear the larger engine groaning with effort trying to crest the hill. He soon became engrossed in watching Henry's struggling form. James drive wheels began to spin faster and faster, completely forgettingabout keeping the same rate of speed. Faster and Faster "Steady James!" Jim called wondering what the hell was happening to his engine. James could feel the pressure building in his boiler and his firebox roared. "What the..."Burl started, then looked out his side of the cab, he followed James eyes to the green engine on front. Combining what was happening now and the shakey convo their engine had with Henry earlier He had a good idea of what was going on in the red engines head.
Burl whispered his revelation to Jim. "Holy shit you think?" he said under his breath. if it was true he didn't know how his partnered engine would react to someone else knowing.
"Lets keep this under our hats for now and see how it plays out." the two silently agreed.
They had just reached the top of the hill when they heard a loud SNAP and a cry of pain from their engine. "Whats wrong James? Burl called worriedly to his engine. Jim signaled for Henry to stop and once stationary got out to look at James. James had managed to crack his left siderods as well as burst his safety valve. "Now thats what you get for getting all worked up pushing a train." Jim scolded. James rolled his eyes, he really wasn't in the mood for their jokes, now more than ever as he bit his lip in pain.
After discussing options it was decided that Henry would take the train on and Thomas would come to shunt James to a shed at the nearest station. "Oh great, thats all I need is cheeky Thomas." James muttered trying to keep his mind off of the now dull ache in his axel. He looked up when he heard Henry's goodbye whistle feeling himself becoming sad as the big green engine drifted out of sight.
Not long after he heard two whistles, one familier and one not. He looked over to see the blue #1 tank engine come into view with a pink tank engine by his side. "Hi James, I heard you got a little too worked up pushing Henry over Gordon's hill eh? The little engine laughed. " Ha. Ha. can we cut the crap today Thomas Ive had one hell of a day" James said dryly. Thomas, not wanting to aggitate the already irritated red engine set to work getting into position to shunt him. Thomas came in front while Rosie went behind him. As they got underway James started to pick at Thomas. "You know, I know I know I am bigger than you but did you really need a second engine to help you?" he snarked. Thomas not liking the slight on his strength slowed down just enough to bump back into James setting off a new wave of pain to what had become a dull ache from earlier.
"Ow, damn Thomas it was just a joke, who is your friend anyway?" James asked. "My name is Rosie, Thomas and I are together, hes so kind and sweet and adorable that I couldn't let him out of my sight so I came with him! she exclaimed. For the rest of the trip Rosie went on and on about how much she loved Thomas and about their Valentines Day plans. Thomas was enjoying it while James was trying to devise a way to push her off the nearest cliff. Finally they reached a siding at Knapford and left him there as they went on their way to continue their plans. Jim and Burl looked at the station clock, it was nearly 6pm. "Oy my wife is going to kill me! Ill be back to check on you tomorrow James and arrange for a ride to the steamworks. With that JIm sped off to catch the nearest bus home. Burl climbed down slowly moved his hand along James broken side rod earning him a hiss of pain from the big red engine.
"Sorry old boy, was just trying to see if I could make it better." James, too tired to bother with a retort for being called old looked down at Burl. "Shouldn't you be getting home like Jim? He asked. "Eh, I wanted to talk to you for a little while, you seemed even more distracted and irritable then normal today and I have worked with you for going on 15 years now" James stared at the man hoping this wasn't going in the direction he thought it was. "I saw the way you looked at Henry earlier" yep this is going exactly where he didn't want it to James thought irritatedly. "It's nothing to be ashamed off, Jim and I would support you 100%" Burl went on gently trying to comfort the engine. Sensing that the charade was up he asked "How long have you known?" "Well there have been some small hints here and there but we never really put the pieces together until today. Burl said reaching out to touch the red engine who was giving him an almost scared look. "You won't say anything will you, I am not sure how the other engines will react." James whispered
"Of course not, that is your business and as I said before Jim and I support you in anything you wanna do, aside from murder, don't think we could get away with that." Burl said with a laugh. "Are you sure? I was contemplating it with that rosie chick of Thomas's."James said in an oddly serious tone. "Why what did she say? Jim and I had earbuds in the entire time" Burl asked with a grin. James expression switched to a non too amused one. "Why you dirty son of a whore!" James screeched adding multiple explitives to the end of the sentence. To this Burl just chuckled and went to find a ride home. James after calming himself down fell into an uneasy sleep, the thought of his drivers figuring out his secret is bad enough. If those two who he would affectionately refer to as thick headed figured it out, who else had?
Well here it is, the first chapter of Not Like You. This story will develop slowly for anyone who is wondering. It will also carry an M rating for violence etc in later chapters. Constructive criticism is always welcome. Thanks for reading! All characters are owned by their respective parties except Jim and Burl. THose two belong to me.