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After the strange events that resulted in every engine on the Island of Sodor turning into humans for a weekend, everyone was overjoyed when the engines went back to normal and everything continued as usual. However, there is no such thing as “normal” on Sodor and things never were quite the same.
James was the first to discover the engine’s new ability, not that he realized it at first. He had awoken from a nightmare only to find himself standing in his own cab, looking down at his human hands. Crying out in horror, James had shut his eyes and wished for nothing more than to be an engine again. The next morning, he was back to normal and passed the incident off as nothing more than a strange dream.
Not two days later, Percy was waiting at a station watching a bee buzz about right at the end of his nose. No amount of blowing or scrunching his face could get the insect to leave. Percy closed his eyes and wished he had hands so that he could swat the offending bee, only to find himself a human once again. This time, everyone sat up and took notice. It was quickly discovered that all the engines could go from their normal bodies to a human-like form at will, though it took some effort and practice to get the change down pat.
Some experimentation proved that the engines weren’t actually turning into humans, not really. The human-like bodies were more akin to solid ghosts. They didn’t eat or drink, didn’t bleed, and had only a dull sense of touch and smell. All engines agreed that their real bodies were far preferable, and rarely used their human forms as a result. They did come in handy, though, to do jobs which were far too dangerous for humans. Like getting in between trucks or dealing with the occasional runaway.
Gordon, befitting his role as the island’s largest express passenger engine, felt it beneath him to use his human form. He couldn’t deny, though, that other things had changed since their adventure as humans as well. He was dealing with new thoughts and emotions, stronger than they had been before. And many of them centered around a certain green tender engine.
When Henry had first arrived on the island, Gordon had rather aggressively befriended him on a purely selfish basis. They were technically sort-of cousins, being initially built from the same plans (even if whomever had built Henry had royally fucked up said plans), and Gordon had always preferred the company of larger engines like himself. The big engine was self-aware enough to know he had been a right ass in his younger years. He had been the third engine of the Northwestern Railway, after Edward and Henry, and upon arrival had been utterly dismissive of the smaller engine. Though Henry didn’t quite have the arrogant, selfish streak of many large passenger engines he had still gone along with most of Gordon’s stupider schemes over the years.
Things had changed in the fifty years since he had arrived on Sodor. Gordon had mellowed out, though he wouldn’t admit such a thing aloud, and actually considered the other engines of the island, big and small, to be his friends. Henry had grown more self-confident and was less likely to let himself be pushed around. Yet, Gordon still felt he was closer to the green engine than any of the others. When Henry’s face lit up with that amazing smile he had, it made everything feel right with the world.
Gordon wasn’t dumb, and he had an idea of what his feelings meant. But, before he made any attempts to move on those feelings, he wanted to ask an expert first.
Sam the engine driver yawned and stretched as he climbed down from Gordon’s cab after finishing the morning run with the express. It was a beautiful, sunny day outside; so after refilling his thermos with fresh coffee from the engine driver’s break room he decided to have a seat on Gordon’s buffer beam to enjoy the morning. He did this fairly often, liking to sit and watch the activity of the Knapford Yards while he enjoyed his lunch. Gordon normally slept, the big engine’s snores vibrating his frame, but today he was awake and alert as he watched his driver settle in front of his smokebox.
The yards were fairly quiet, and Sam nearly dropped his sandwich when Gordon suddenly spoke from right behind his head.
“Driver? Can I talk to you about something?”
“Uh. I guess?” Sam was quite surprised to hear such a request. He and Gordon didn’t often sit and talk with each other, most of their interaction came in the form of friendly ribbing or straight out arguing. Then again, things really had changed since that weekend several months before.
Gordon looked around the yards cautiously, not wanting anyone to overhear, before transferring to his human form just to be safe. Sitting next to his driver, he looked at the human with a solemn expression. “How did you meet your boyfriend?”
Sam nearly inhaled his coffee, and had to cough to clear his throat. Where the hell had that come from? In the nearly five years he had driven Gordon, the engine had never shown any kind of interest in his personal life. “Good god, warn a guy before you go and do that.” Sam set down the coffee cup and used a napkin to dab at the brown liquid that now decorated his shirt, “Aaron worked at my favorite bar. He flirted, I flirted back, we went home together and have been together ever since. Why the sudden interest?”
It was clear that this answer didn’t satisfy Gordon, because he shifted uncomfortably and his frown, if possible, deepened. “But. Why him? What made you know he was the right one?”
This could not be happening. “It. It’s complicated. I’ve been with a lot of guys, and Aaron was the only one I really clicked with. He’s cute and funny. But intelligent and witty.” And great in bed, Sam added mentally. “We get along well together. Look, why do you want to know?”
Now Gordon was flushing bright red and looking as though he’d rather be anywhere else. Sam was getting very suspicious. The gay community on Sodor was rather small and close-knit, and over the years Sam had ended up as a kind of mentor to many of the younger set. And here in front of him was every sign of “terrified young person with their first crush.” Sam’s immediate thought was “how does –that- work” because he’d never heard of engines falling in love before. Then again, they did have emotions and friendships. Sometimes they acted very human indeed. Maybe love wasn’t too far-fetched. “Alright, who is it?”
“Who is what?” Gordon spluttered. This wasn’t going the way he wanted at all.
“I know you aren’t interrogating me about my love life for kicks. Clearly, there’s someone out there that’s caught your eye. Fess up, who is it? I can’t help if I don’t know.” Well, he –could-, but Sam couldn’t help but be dreadfully curious who had Gordon so worked up.
The silence stretched between them, but eventually Gordon could stand the penetrating gaze of his driver no longer and muttered, “Henry.” He closed his eyes, awaiting some kind of terrible retribution for admitting his feelings.
Instead, Sam just nodded. “Good choice. Does he feel the same way?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well, we’ll just have to take care of that, won’t we?” Sam finished off his sandwich and brushed the crumbs from his lap, “You just leave everything to old Sam.” With that, he hopped down onto the ground and walked back into the driver’s break room.
Gordon watched him go with a sinking feeling. This had been an awful idea. He went back to his engine body, hoping to maybe have a nap, when a familiar whistle echoed through the yard. It was Henry, coming in for a rest after delivering some trucks to the yard for shunting. The green engine was parked on the same siding, facing Gordon, then his driver left to the break room for lunch.
“Good morning Gordon,” Henry said with a smile, “How are you?”
“Fine,” Gordon grunted, though he really wasn’t. His insides were doing all kinds of funny things, and he wasn’t sure he liked it all. What he was sure of, though, was that he wanted Henry to keep smiling at him like that. “Driver is off eating. I’ve got an hour ‘til my next run. You had an, ugh, goods train this morning, right?”
Henry laughed at Gordon’s obvious disgust at just the idea of trucks. “It isn’t that bad, Gordon. I don’t mind taking trucks. Besides, we can’t all be big, important, express passenger engines.”
“Isn’t that bad. Hmph.” The big engine couldn’t keep the smile off his face though. Just the sound of Henry’s laugh was enough to make him forget all his worries.
Inside the break room, Sam sat with his thermos in hand and contemplated just how he was going to go about his plans. This was a slightly more delicate situation than he was accustomed to, and it had been ages since he himself had been in the dating scene.
Just then, the door opened and Henry’s driver Ted walked in. Just the man Sam needed to see. “Hey Ted. Come ‘ere a minute.”
“Yeah, sure Sam. What’s up?” Ted took a seat next to the other man, opening up his lunch pail to pull out the sandwich inside. It wasn’t too unusual for the drivers to strike up conversation during their breaks and Ted and Sam were closer than most, having attended high school together.
Sam looked around cautiously, then lowered his voice to avoid being overheard, “So. Gordon just dropped a bit of a bombshell on me. He. Has a crush.”
Ted coughed and choked on his sandwich. “What?!”
“He was asking me about my relationship with Aaron, and got super defensive when I asked why. He was redder than a high schooler with his first crush on a cheerleader, it was embarrassing.”
“But. How.” Ted shook his head, trying to stay focused on the issue at hand. No use asking how it was possible for an engine to have a crush, because clearly it had already happened. “Do you know who?”
“That’s the clincher. He’s crushing on Henry.” Sam grinned when his friend’s jaw dropped open incredulously. He did so love to be the bearer of weird news.
Henry and Gordon. Gordon and Henry. It was a bizarre mental image no matter how Ted thought about it. “And I suppose you want my help matchmaking?”
“We both know that if I left it up to Gordon he’d repress his feelings and be miserable for the rest of his life. I just want you to see if Henry might have any kind of return feelings. I’ll take it from there.” Sam was already making plans in his head.
“What do you want me to do? Walk up to him and ask ‘Hey Henry, ever thought about shagging Gordon? Cause he thinks about doing it to you?’”
“I don’t know how you ever ended up married. Honestly,” Sam muttered. “Be subtle. I’m sure you can manage that.”
“Subtle. Right. I can do that.” Ted chewed on his sandwich with fresh determination.
Later that day, Henry had come to a stop at a water tower to refill his tender. Ted decided to seize the opportunity and walked up to the front of the engine while the fireman busied himself with the hose. “Afternoon, Henry.”
“Oh. Hello driver,” Henry looked down at the human with some surprise. He and Ted didn’t often talk, even during water stops. “Is something wrong?”
“No, no. Nothing’s wrong. Just wanted to have a chat is all,” Ted leaned against Henry’s buffer beam, trying and failing to find a comfortable way to sit and look up at Henry’s face at the same time. Talking to the engines was sometimes very awkward, “So. Henry. I was wondering. Have you ever thought about, say, relationships?”
“Excuse me?” Henry was taken aback. “What do you mean ‘relationships?’”
“Well. Me and the other drivers was just having a chat about this earlier. Do you engines ever fall in love? Or anything like that?” Ted wasn’t exactly a master of subtlety, but he was trying his best.
“Oh. I don’t know.” Henry was silent for a moment, he had never really thought about it before. “I think Salty and Mavis are together, if that’s how you mean. There might be a few others. It’s not something we talk about much.”
Salty and Mavis? Well, he supposed he could see that work. Ted nodded. “What about you?”
“Me?” Poor, easily flustered Henry turned bright red. There were a few engines he was closer to than others, but he couldn’t really seem himself with any of them in –that- way. Well. Actually. There was one. A certain blue A0 Pacific who always covered up how much he cared with a lot of bluster and teasing. Henry doubted that Gordon entertained such feelings towards him, though, and so stayed silent.
Ted had seen enough. Sam had been right, Henry definitely had feelings for someone. And he knew his engine well enough to make a good guess to who it was. As the fireman signaled that the water tank was full, he walked back to the cab and they started off to pick up their next train.
That evening, after all the engines were settled in their berths, Ted found Sam outside the break room at Tidmouth.
“Well, how’d it go?” Sam had worried about Ted all day, the man had all the romantic capabilities of a brick, but there hadn’t been anyone else for the job.
“You were right. I asked Henry if he happened to have any romantic feelings and he turned so red I could’a boiled an egg on his face.”
Sam face-palmed. Of course, Ted would just go right ahead and ask directly. Nothing to be done for it now. “Right. Well. I’ll talk to Gordon and we’ll see if we can’t hurry things along a bit.”
Later that night, Ted crept quietly into the sheds to get Henry ready for his run with the Kipper. The green engine was already awake, if a bit sleepy, and his fire was being coaxed back up by the fireman. In the stall next to him, Gordon was deeply asleep and snoring softly. Occasionally the big engine would mutter something, but his voice was so low that one felt it more than heard it.
“Well. I’m not sure I understand your taste,” Ted commented to Henry as they both watched the other engine sleep. “He’s always been a right arse to you and the others.”
It took Henry a minute to realize just what his driver was referring to. He should have known he wouldn’t be able to keep it a secret from the human forever. Ted wasn’t the most observant human around, but he wasn’t dumb either. “I guess I just know him better than you. He does care, he just tries to hide it by acting rude. But I’ve seen how he acts when he’s really concerned.”
“If you say so,” Ted rolled his eyes, but couldn’t help but smile. He’d had some concerns about this relationship ending in disaster, but watching Henry speak of Gordon had relieved them. He only hoped that Gordon’s feelings were just as strong.
“So, a little birdy told me that Henry might just have some strong feelings concerning a certain blue tender engine,” Sam leaned back against Gordon’s warm smokebox, enjoying the soup he had packed for lunch. Sitting next to him was Gordon’s human form, arms crossed with that characteristic scowl on his face.
“I can’t believe you told other people.” Gordon grumbled, feeling supremely betrayed. It took it a minute or two to process what his driver had actually said. “Wait, what? How do you know?”
“I have very reliable sources,” Sam said smugly.
“You asked his driver, didn’t you.”
“Well yes. Damn, you could’ve let me keep a little of my mystique.”
Gordon rolled his eyes and vanished. He wanted some time alone to think about things. Sam took the hint and went to the break room to finish his lunch.
Several days passed and no moves had been made by either party. Sam was getting frustrated. Normally, his solution would be to lock the offending parties in a closet until they worked it out, but that wouldn’t exactly work in this situation.
“I dunno. I think we should just let it play out.” Ted commented after Sam complained about it to him. “We’ve done our bit.”
“Bah,” Sam snorted dismissively, “Leave romance up to Gordon? He’s about as romantic as, well, as you are. And I don’t see Henry making the first move. No. it’s up to us.”
Outside, Gordon and Henry had been parked on the same siding facing each other again. Both were being uncharacteristically quiet, thinking about the conversations they’d had with their drivers. It was Gordon who found his voice first, “Can. I talk to you, Henry?”
“Of course, Gordon,” Henry spoke with his usual soft, unhurried tone, but inside he was shaking. Was this really happening?
“In. In human form,” Gordon specified, shifting over to his human-like body. Hoping maybe it would be easier this way. Henry was a bit confused, but followed suit.
The two stood facing each other for several long minutes, awkward silence between them. Gordon wasn’t often at a loss for words, but now he found his mind stubbornly blank. Finally, he decided to simply do what he’d seen a hundred humans do on the platforms over the years; he grabbed Henry and kissed him with all the passion he could muster. Henry was surprised, but quickly returned the rough embrace. It was a sloppy and awkward first kiss, but an electric thrill ran through their bodies at the touch.
Still feeling frustrated, Sam stepped out of the driver’s break room and dropped his coffee cup in shock. Because there was Henry and Gordon, making out as passionately as any cheesy romance movie stars. Ted was steps behind the other driver, and had to stifle his laughter at the sight. “I told you they didn’t need our help.”
Unfortunately duty took priority over love, and both of them had trains to pull that afternoon.
“Alright you two, break it up, break it up.” Sam walked over, a huge grin splitting his face. “We’ve got things to do and trains to pull.”
Gordon and Henry broke apart and vanished, going back to their true bodies with matching bright red faces. They hadn’t quite expected to get caught.
“I’ll see you tonight then, Henry.” Gordon promised.
“Tonight.” The other engine agreed, backing away with a dreamy smile on his face.
None of them noticed the small green tank engine watching them with wide eyes from the other side of the shunting yards.
“Thomas, Thomas!” Later in the day, Percy found his friend refilling his tanks at a water tower, “You’ll never guess what I saw at the shunting yards! It was Henry and Gordon. And they were kissing!”
“What?” Thomas looked very confused indeed, “But. How? Percy, I don’t think we can get close enough to do that.”
“In their human forms,” Percy clarified.
“Aahh,” But Thomas still looked rather confused. Gordon and Henry? Together? How the heck had that happened.
At Wellsworth station, Thomas found Edward and related what Percy had told him. Edward didn’t seem confused, though, he just smiled and said, “Finally. Only took them fifty years.”
By that evening, it seemed everyone knew that Henry and Gordon had been seen kissing that day in the yards. When the two returned to Tidmouth Sheds, the other engines all whistled for them. Henry turned bright red, but Gordon just smiled smugly as he backed into his berth. James looked primed to make a snarky comment, but a hard look from the big engine stopped him in his tracks. And later that night, none of the engines said anything when two ghosts slipped out the side door to sit together under the stars.