A/N: This is a story where the characters have all been humanised. This fanfic is intended to be light-hearted fun but I will be exploring darker tones when it comes to it. I will try and keep the characters loyal to their original personalities, as to not alienate the readers. Hope you enjoy.
Thomas, Henry, James and Percy all sat waiting outside the school. The four brothers were the last ones there, everyone else had either been picked up or made their own way home. Their home was too far to walk, so they had to wait for their father to pick them up.
Thomas is the second youngest, at 10 years old. He has blue hair, like his father. He's a bit short for his age but he doesn't like to be teased about it. He can be rather cheeky and quite rude at times. But he does mean well and tries to do well in his classes.
Henry is the oldest, being 16 years old. He has green hair, and is built a lot like his father. He is quite muscular, and taller than most of his age. He is often grumpy and bad-tempered. He may be a rough person on the outside, but he has a soft spot for nature.
James, the second oldest, is 12. He has red hair and is bordering the line between muscular and scrawny. He can be arrogant and vain at times, but his father puts it down to a lack of self-confidence.
Percy, the youngest, is only 8. He has green hair like the eldest, and like Thomas is short for his age. The two youngest get on well, and Percy looks up to Thomas, unfortunately copying his cheeky nature sometimes.
Eventually a car arrived and their father got out. "Sorry boys, I was caught up at work," said Gordon as they all approached the car. Thomas and Percy quickly raced to the car and jumped in the back.
"About time," muttered James as he climbed into the back with his younger brothers. "I was worried it would start raining and Henry would hide away in a tunnel again."
He and his siblings laughed but Henry didn't seem to find it funny. He appeared to be sulking about something. As he sat in the front next to his father, he didn't say a word. Gordon tried to brighten the atmosphere. "Have a good day at school?" he asked as everyone put on their seatbelts.
"It was okay," muttered James from the middle back seat. "At least I didn't have to sit through history today."
"Thomas?"
"We did creative writing, so I made up a story about a magical railway with an evil diesel trying to destroy steam engines, but these humans came in a magic steam engine and saved the day."
"That sounds stupid," muttered James. "I can't see anyone making a film out of that."
A/N: Magic Railroad reference in case you couldn't tell.
"James, don't put your brother down!" scolded Gordon, keeping his eyes on the road. "What about you Percy?"
"I crashed into Principal Hatt's luggage trolley and his trousers landed on my head."
"What?" Gordon decided to forget the strange situation his son had described. "Okay, um..." He glanced at Henry, who was leaning against the door and staring out of the window. "What about you, Henry? Anything happen to you today?"
"No," muttered Henry sourly. Gordon didn't like the attitude his son was giving him, but he didn't want to shout at him. His son had gone through a lot in the past few months.
"Look Henry, I know things haven't gone great the past few months, but I want you to forget about the past and start enjoying yourself," said Gordon as his son continued to look out of the window. Henry didn't respond. Gordon sighed. Henry had been through a rough patch. It started last year, when Henry would often fall ill. The Principal was concerned so he told Gordon to take Henry to the doctor. The doctor recommended a special type of food from Wales, and Henry always had to have that with his meals for a very long time. Then when the winter came, Henry had been riding his bike when he slipped and broke his arm. Henry had healed surprisingly quickly, but he knew his arm would still feel pain every so often. At one point Henry had been so miserable that he hid in a tunnel and refused to come out. He claimed it was because of the rain, but Gordon knew there was more to it than that. Henry had recently got over his constant illnesses and no longer needed his special food, but it didn't stop him feeling sorry for himself all the time. He didn't smile very often anymore, and Gordon was worried that Henry would end up suffering from serious depression if he didn't change soon.
Gordon could tell the mood in the car had darkened, as his other children had also fallen quiet, so he decided to cheer everyone up. "Good news, I was able to get this weekend off! We can spend the weekend together like we planned."
Percy instantly cheered up. "What are we going to do, Dad?"
"I decided we're going camping," he said. The mention of camping suddenly sparked Henry's interest, and for the first time since he got in the car he looked at his father. "I was thinking we could camp near Culdee Fell mountain, my father took me and your Uncle Scot there when we were boys, so I decided to carry on the tradition."
"Well I hope we won't be camping somewhere my clothes will get dirty," put in James, shuddering at the thought.
"I hope we're not fishing," added Thomas, sticking his tongue out in disgust. "I hate fish."
"We know," muttered James.
"Don't worry, I'm not forcing you boys to do anything you don't want to do," chuckled Gordon. "What do you think, Henry? Fancy spending some time bonding with your family?"
"Sure," shrugged Henry, acting like he didn't really care. But Gordon knew it was an act. Because he saw the slightest sign of a smile in the corner of his mouth.
Gordon had just ordered a takeaway. He wanted to get some alone time while his children were busy upstairs. Thomas and Percy were playing upstairs in their shared bedroom, James was in his room probably admiring his reflection, while Henry had left to go to the forest he usually hangs out in. Gordon didn't get much time alone, he was usually either at work or with the kids. He flopped down on the sofa with the TV remote in his hand and he put on the most recent episode of his favourite series. He was only finishing the intro when the doorbell rang. Gordon groaned as he pressed pause, sat up and made his way over to the door. He opened it and was greeted by a shorter, skinnier man with similar blue hair.
"Hi Gordon," said the man cheerily. "I hope I wasn't interrupting anything."
"Not at all, Edward," replied Gordon as he stepped aside and gestured for the man to enter. "Come in." Edward came in and Gordon closed the door behind him. "Are you planning on staying long?" asked Gordon, fingers crossed behind his back.
"No, it's only a short visit," replied Edward as he stood in the middle of the living room. "I just wanted to let you know that Jem Cole is employing. I was wondering if Henry would be interested."
"I haven't really thought of Henry working yet. I'll mention it to him when he comes home."
Edward then lowered his voice. "Gordon, I know this might be a sensitive topic, but how has he been coping lately? I know a lot has happened in the past couple of years."
"I'm not sure," sighed Gordon as he sat down. "He puts on an act like he doesn't care, but sometimes it's hard to tell."
"Hopefully work experience might keep him busy, stop him from losing it."
"I'm supposed to be taking the kids camping this weekend," added Gordon, looking up at his friend. "I hope getting away from the stress of daily life will have a positive effect on him."
"I see." Edward fell silent. After a few seconds of no one talking, he spoke up again. "Well, I won't keep you much longer. I promised I'd go see BoCo later. I'll see myself out."
"Take care, Eddie," Gordon called after his friend as he opened the door, and soon Edward was gone.
Gordon picked up the remote and allowed the episode to continue playing. After a minute he put his feet up and sighed. "No kids, no work, no distractions."
Ding dong
"Oh, for the love of-!" Gordon once again had to pause his episode as he marched over to the front door and opened it. "Yes?"
"Hello, Gordon, mind if I come in," asked a man, older than Gordon with unkept chocolate brown hair. He wore a flat cap and a slightly scruffy appearance.
"Hello, Toby," sighed Gordon, rolling his eyes as he stepped to one side, allowing Toby to come in. "We weren't expecting you until Friday. Or am I getting my days mixed up?"
Toby was Thomas and Percy's tutor. He visited every Friday to help them with subjects they were struggling with at school. Normally Gordon wouldn't have the money to pay for a tutor but Toby didn't make him pay. He was just a kind man wanting to help out children. Normally people would be weary about older men spending time alone with their kids but Gordon knew Toby, he was a good man with good morals.
"I'm not hear for tutoring today," said Toby. "I just came to invite you and your family round one day. Henrietta hasn't been feeling too well and I wanted to invite people round to talk to her."
"Of course," said Gordon, tapping his foot rather impatiently. Gordon was a man with little patience, but he tried to be friendly to a good friend. "How about this Thursday?"
"Of course, of course," said Toby before he checked his watch. "Wow, look at that. I'd better get going."
"Well, it's been an absolute pleasure seeing you, Toby," said Gordon, his eye twitching slightly as his patience deteriorated. "Shame you couldn't stay longer. Goodbye."
As Toby left the building, Gordon slammed the door behind him. He sat back down and waited for a minute. "I know the second I play this someone else is going to knock at the door," he muttered. After sitting 3 minutes with his arms crossed, Gordon finally let the episode play. "Maybe I'm just being-" Ding Dong"WHAT NOW?" exclaimed Gordon, making his way back to the front door. He swung the door open, yelling "WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?"
An 11 year old boy with green hair stood on the doorstep, looking rather frightened. "I-I just came to see Thomas and Percy..."
"Sorry Duck," sighed Gordon, immediately regretting shouting at a child. "It's been a long day. Thomas and Percy are upstairs if you'd like to go up."
"Thank you, Mr. Thomas and Percy's dad," replied Duck before he passed Gordon and climbed up the stairs.
"Strange boy," muttered Gordon as he went to sit back down. But before he did, he turned around, marched back to the door and opened it again. "Alright I know someone else is there."
Seconds later a delivery driver entered the front garden and carried several pizza boxes towards the house. "5 pizzas for a Mr. Awdry?"
"That's me," muttered Gordon as he took the boxes. "Thank you," he said before stopping. "Actually, could you hold these for a minute." He gave the pizzas back to the delivery driver before disappearing back inside the house. He reappeared seconds later wielding a hammer, to the confusion of the delivery driver. Then, to his horror, Gordon started acting like a madman, using the hammer repeatedly to smash the doorbell to pieces, letting out the battle cry of a warrior out for blood. Then when the doorbell was completely destroyed he began stamping on the remains. He stopped and began breathing heavily, before turning back to the traumatised delivery driver and giving an innocent smile. "Now, let me go get my wallet."
"N-no, it's fine," replied the driver quickly as he put the pizzas down and pelted back down the garden. "This one's on me!" Then he jumped onto his bike and took off quickly.
Gordon shrugged before picking the boxes back up and taking them inside, closing the door behind him.
A/N: I know it wasn't anything crazy, just a small story to introduce the main characters, and a few supporting ones, as well as set up some future chapters. I went through a few drafts before being satisfied with the result. Not all stories will focus on light-hearted interactions like this one, there will be some more serious ones further along. A few of the early chapters will be experimenting. I hope you enjoyed it, as well as future chapters.
