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First Date

A look on Edward and James’ first date. Set prior to The Yellow Rose of Sodor

Everything was perfect.

Edward and James had been sitting on the balcony together late at night undisturbed, the other engines sleeping soundly in their berths. Very rarely did anyone ever take their human form. It was odd and it came with odd feelings that many of the engines deemed useless.

Edward and James, however, found that it helped take their relationship to the next station. Sure they had found ways to kiss and they were attracted to each other but to really touch one another, to feel each other's face, to hold the other, there really was no beating these human bodies.

James was curled into Edward, head on his shoulder as they watched the sunset and sighed.

Edward chuckled, “Alright, Jamie, what’s the matter? I know that sigh.”

James pouted, “Why don’t we go on dates?”

Edward looked at his partner in surprise, “What are you talking about?”

James sat up, legs dangling down the balcony, swaying, “Like, a date! I’ve heard humans talk about it all the time and I want to go on one.” He turned and pointed at Edward, “Specifically with you!”

Edward blushed a bit, having never really gotten used to the red engines outburst of affection, “O-OK..?”

James groaned in frustration, “I see people going out to eat or having picnics or even the younger ones running around together. I just want to experience that with you.” He folded his arms, still very much pouting, “Is that such a crime?”

Edward watched and listened to James and chuckled, “All you had to do was ask, James. I’m not a mind reader.”

“Well, why should I have to ask? Don’t you want to go on dates with me? Why haven’t you asked?” James looked over looking a little hurt.

Edward smiled, putting his hand on James’ shoulder, “I just didn’t know you wanted to do such things, Jamie. Of course, I would love to go on a date with you. I enjoy spending time alone with you.” He leaned over and kissed his cheek. James blushed at the affection, causing Edward to chuckle, “Anything in particular you want to do?”

“I… I don’t know. But something fun! Something we couldn’t do in our engine forms!” James responded.

Edward sat back in thought, “Hmmm… There is something I’ve wanted to do, though it is a bit childish.”

James raised an eyebrow, “Is it fun?”

Edward nodded, “I’ve seen both children play it and seen adults in love play as well.”

James stood up quickly, “Well, let’s play it then! Let’s go do it!”

Edward smiled and laughed. He stood and dusted himself off and then took James by the hand. “Do you want to play outside or inside?”

James looked out at the sleeping engines at Tidmouth Shed and then back at the manor’s door. “I like being outside… but inside is good too.”

Edward smiled, “Let’s start outside. We’ll go to the shunting yard at Knapford.”

“The what now?”

——

“…18… 19… …20! Ready or not, here I come!”

Edward turned around to find Knapford empty again, save a few of those trucks and cars that weren’t alive. He was glad the troublesome trucks were elsewhere for the night, they most certainly would have ruined this date.

Edward walked around the yard, checking under empty cars and around uncoupled trains ready for the next morning. He gave that up rather quickly after realizing that James wasn’t about to get dirty for the game. He ran up to the station, which they agreed would be in the game's limits as it was further away from where some of the others were sleeping. As he got closer to Sir Topham Hatt’s office, he heard someone slip down to the tracks below. He grinned.

“Oh, Jamie~” He called in a singing tone.

He hopped down looking down stations 1 and 2. He shined his hip light down the empty lanes and then moved to the next. Still nothing. As he got closer to 5 & 6 he heard movement. He quickly moved to look down the tracks and saw the tail end of James as he ran along the end of the stations.

“Found you!” Edward called and raced back down to the other stations. He heard James laugh in response.

Edward hopped back up to the station platform and cut across to James, hot on his wheels. James looked behind him and grinned, “You’re not gonna catch me!”

Edward only smirked. He knew James was the faster of the two but he was bound and determined all the same. It was unfortunate that he was still getting used to his human body. He tried to lower the wheels at his legs down to his feet, but it was still such an odd feeling and he ended up twisting his ankle as he raced around a corner after his beloved. He winced, but didn’t yell out. James, who was getting away, turned to gloat when he saw Edward further away. He skipped to a stop and turned to get back to his partner.

“You OK?” He asked getting closer.

“I’m fine. Just a twisted ankle. Honestly, I can walk on it.” He smiled, watching James approach. “Don’t get too close, I might tag you.”

James snorted and rolled his eyes, closing them afterward, “Oh please, I would jump out of the way before you even thoug-“

Edward reached out and tagged James with a poke on the nose, “Gotcha.”

James stood speechless and stared at Edward, who just smiled. The smile turned into a laugh after James kept staring agape.

“Did you just..?”

“I most certainly did.” Edward kissed his cheek. “And now, my dear James, it’s your turn.”

——

Edward ended up choosing a hiding spot he was sure James would have a hard time with. He ended up picking a fairly clean, but still not sparkling clean, coal car and hiding in it. It had been emptied and was amongst the many cars. He was amazed he had been able to get in without much effort after his twisted ankle. Now he sat quietly humming to himself as he heard James finish counting.

“Here I come!!” James shouted, probably a little too loudly.

Edward quit humming and sat as still and quiet as he could. He heard James run past the car he was in, looking in between the cars. He listened as he ran back up to the station after looking around shortly. Impatient as ever Edward thought and smiled. After a few minutes of silence he called out.

“James!!!” He called, cupping his mouth.

He heard running and even a skid to a halt. Even in his human form, James couldn’t resist skidding.

He could hear him circle the yard and a few cars. He could picture the annoyed look on his beloved’s face.

“Where are you??!!” James asked irritably.

Edward chuckled, “Follow the sound of my voice.”

James ran forward, running right past the car. It took everything Edward had to not laugh as he listened to the murmuring James did.

“You’re going the wrong way.” He teased as James walked away.

He heard James stop in his tracks and couldn’t help the laughter that time. He covered his mouth as James walked up to the car.

“Edward.”

It was just a statement. He clapped both hands over his mouth.

“Tell me you’re not in the filthy coal car.”

That broke the dam. Edward started laughing harder than he had in a while. He barely heard the footsteps as James climbed up the car and looked down. He erupted in laughter again as he looked at James’ face, shaking his head at the blue engine dying of laughter in the car.

“You’re filthy.”

Edward could only laugh, laying on his back, “Why is this so funny?”

“Because you’re ridiculous. And here I thought I was the silly one in this relationship.” James chided, shaking his head again.

Edward stood up, dusting himself off, “Well I can’t let you go off and have all the fun.” He grinned at the other engine, “Now help me up and out, please?”

James looked at him in mock surprise, “You think I’m going to fall for another trick? You’re going to pull me in.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it, Jamie dear.” Edward smiled sweetly.

“Don’t call me that.” James said with a blush, “You know I can’t say no to you when you do that.”

“Aren’t you my dear though, Jamie?” Edward said, “I promise not to pull you in.”

“You better keep that.” James said, reaching down and taking Edward’s hand. The smaller engine climbed his way up and James leaned back to help. Somewhere in the mix of things, James slipped and both ended up back in the coal car with a thud.

“Ahh!!”

“Waitwaitwait!!”

“Owowowowow…”

“Ugh…”

James sat up, cradling his head, “You OK, Ed?”

Edward started laughing again, despite lying on his back and dirtier than before.

“How can you be laughing at this??” James asked bewildered.

“It’s just… How can you not be?” Edward said through laughter.

“I’m filthy, Ed!!” James shouted, gesturing at his dirty clothes.

Edward could only laugh and soon enough James’ face broke into a smile and he began laughing too.

“You goofball.” James said, curling into Edward.

“I’m not the one who dropped us.” Edward reminded.

“I can’t help it if you’re heavy.” James said, lightly pushing the older male.

Edward gasped, “I am not that heavy!”

James smirked, “You’re right, you’re not. You’re a bit on the smaller side.”

Before Edward could argue James scooped him up in his arms, grinning at the yelp. James grinned and kissed the other engine.

“You’re something else, Eddie.” He beamed.

“I believe that’s my line, James.”

James pouted, “No Jamie?”

Edward chuckled, “Alright then, Jamie.”

James grinned and flipped his hair from his eyes, “Wanna go wash together?” He wiggled his eyebrows.

Edward squirmed and visibly blushed despite the dark of the night, “James!!”

James laughed, “We could do it as engines. Less awkward that way.”

“And how are we supposed to get clean, exactly? We have no crew. Plus our clothes are ruined.” Edward said looking down at himself.

“The clothes clean when we clean as engines. Not to mention, you scrub my back and I’ll scrub yours.”

Edward squirmed again in James’ arms, who only held him tighter, “You’re being quite bold tonight, James.”

“Jamie.”

“James.”

James pouted and whined, “I don’t often get the chance to be like this. Plus you’ve taken me out on an awesome date.”

Edward sighed and thought in the silent night, “I’d rather take a shower…”

James beamed, “Who’s the one being bold now?”

“We’ve been together for years now. I guess it’s not unexpected you’d want to.”

“It’s just a bath, Edward.” James said, setting the other engine down. “Where’s your mind at?” He leaned forward towards the other's face.

“Oh, no you don’t. You’re not turning this on me. You’re the one who started the naughty talk.” Edward held a finger up at him.

James grinned, “I guess you’re right. Though I can’t say it wouldn’t be a bad idea.” Oh, how Edward wanted to smack that silly look off his face.

“One day, Jamie. One day.” Edward said with a smile, kissing James on the cheek. He enjoyed the content sigh that escaped the red engines mouth.

“Now,” He said, looking up at the ladder to get out, “How are we going to get out of here?”

James shrugged his shoulders and grinned, “Simple.” Without warning he bent down and put Edward on his shoulders causing him to yelp and holler.

“J-JAMES!!” He clung to his boyfriends head, trying to steady himself from falling over.

James could only laugh.

Made something in Pinterest today… I wonder what this is all about… 😏❤️🥰 Wedding bells are ringing, can you hear them? Monday can’t get here soon enough.

FINALLY, MY MASTERPIECE IS COMPLETED!

Pebble

Rated G for General Audiences

Summary: Pebble’s, the stuffed rhino that belongs to James, origin story.

“What are you going to do?”

“Me?! What do you mean?? You were involved too, Thomas!”

“Yeah, but I’m not the one who broke it.”

“I didn’t know it was going to break! James’ shouldn’t have asked me to help with his laundry if there was something like this in here.”

Thomas and Percy stood next to one another, both with a slightly worried look on his face, looking down at the washing machine and the piles of wet fluff that littered all over James’ clothes. Mixed in the clothes, and the producer of the fluff, was a very deflated rhino plush.

“M-maybe he won’t notice or care?” Percy asked frantically with worry, glancing at Thomas. “I didn’t even know he had a stuffed animal until he asked me to put his laundry in the wash.”

“Was she in the basket?” Thomas asked, not taking his eyes at the devastation of the stuffy.

“No…” Percy confessed, “But she was filthy, I mean even her red bow had faded, and she was next to his laundry so I figured she was just supposed to be in there.”

Thomas picked up a piece of the fluffy innards of the stuffed rhino and squeezed the excess water out of it. “I dunno, Percy. James doesn’t just keep random things and he freaks out when anyone touches his stuff.”

“We’ve got to hide her then!” Percy said, frantically picking up the fluff, holding out his shirt like a pouch and stuffing them in there, “We can fix this right?? Do you think Emily or Camille know how to sew?”

Thomas eyed him, “You know they’d slap you for that kind of remark.”

“I don’t mean it like that! I just don’t know any guys that do and I know Camille does cross stitch sometimes!” Percy shrieked, panic beginning to take over, “What if this was really special to James?? I’m a dead engine!”

Thomas couldn’t come up with a rebuttal for that and quickly helped sort of the fluff from the clothes and put James’ clothes in the dryer. It easily looked like half of the stuffed rhino had fallen out and she looked like a raggedy dog chew toy by the time they fished her and her red bow out.

“I’m so dead…” Percy whined.

“Not if we can fix her first.” Thomas smiled confidently, “It can’t be that hard to fix!”

At that moment, the laundry room door opened and both engines startled, Thomas hiding the rhino behind his back. Percy had no way to hide the shirt pouch he had created but pulled it close so the contents couldn’t be seen. Edward walked in and looked between the two of them with an odd expression.

“Is something the matter guys?”

Percy was basically shaking where he stood. Although James would have been the absolute worst person to see at that moment, Edward, being James’ significant other, was indubitably the next worst thing.

Thomas, however, didn’t seem to think so. He looked relieved, “Oh Edward! It’s you! Percy could really use your help!”

Percy squawked at his best friend’s sudden betrayal.

Edward still looked fairly confused, “In the laundry room? It’s not that hard and we’ve done this for years, Percy, I would’ve thought you figured out the laundry machines by now.”

Percy’s face fell flat, “I’m not so dumb as to not know how to work the laundry machine.”

Edward blinked and looked at the two, “Well, if that’s not it, can I get by? James forgot to do his laundry and I know he asked the two of you to help but-“ He stopped and began to worry himself, “You didn’t do something to James’ clothes did you?”

“What?! No! Are you crazy?!” Percy asked, still holding tight to his shirt, his slightly pudgy belly showing, “Who in their right mind would mess with James’ clothes??”

Edward sighed and placed his hands on his hips, “Then what is this all about? Why are you two so antsy?”

When Percy couldn’t quite find the words to speak, Thomas took the lead again much to Percy’s chagrin. Thomas simply revealed the deflated rhino and her ribbon that he had been hiding.

Edward paled a bit at the sight.

“You washed Pebble??”

“She has a name?” Thomas asked incredulously.

“Sh-sh-she was right by his laundry!” Percy tried to explain as Edward came close and held the floppy remains, “A-a-and she was dirty and I thought she was supposed to have been in the basket since a couple of other clothes hadn’t made it into the basket and I didn’t know she had a hole in her because I wouldn’t have put her in otherwise and I’ve got her fluff here-“ He showed Edward his makeshift kangaroo pouch, “and I’m gonna fix her I just have to call Camille or maybe Emily and I promise to stuff her back properly and everything please don’t tell James!”

Percy was panting from lack of oxygen after such a confession and watched as Edward held onto Pebble and opened up the now very large hole in her side.

“We’ll need to be quick.” Edward sighed, pulling the remaining fluff out and handing it to Percy, placing Pebbles in the dryer with the rest of James’ clothes, “James doesn’t go one night without Pebble nearby and he will notice, I guarantee it.”

Percy was nodding quickly as Edward spoke, hanging onto every word that the older engine said, looking for guidance. Thomas, however, couldn’t keep his cheek in check.

“What’s a grown and married engine like James doing with a kids stuffy?”

Edward smiled as he shut the lid and started the load of laundry, “It’s not too long of a story. I can tell it to pass the time.” He smiled at Percy and knew he would have to reassure the small engine down from a full panic attack, “We can get her fixed before James comes home. You’re lucky I’ve had to stitch her before. C’mon.” He led the way out of the laundry room, holding the door open, “Let’s get her fluff cleaned up.”

All three engines made their way up to James and Edward’s room. Edward grabbed a towel and hair blow dryer from their private bathroom. He asked Thomas to go grab a small bowl from the kitchen and laid the towel down. He then nodded at Percy, signaling him to drop all the fuzz.

“This is everything?” He asked.

Percy nodded, “Y-yup!”

Thomas returned with the bowl and handed it to Edward before sitting down on the floor and joining the other two engines. Edward gently squeezed the excess water from the fuzz and placed it down on the towel to dry.

“Pebble has been around for a while.” Edward said with a smile, “Though not even I knew about her until James’ started moving into my bedroom. He kept her a secret, I think, due to his pride.” He chuckled, “You all remember how much he used to look up to Gordon? I think that in part was why he hid her. He didn’t want Gordon thinking he was small, weak, and childish.”

Thomas rolled his eyes at the mention of the large tender engine, “Of course Gordon’s involved somehow. He sure knew how to be a bossy butt when we first all started working together.”

Edward chuckled again, “Well, I think Gordon’s own pride comes from his own familial issues, but we won’t get into that today.” He moved the bowl after squeezing the last bit of stuff n’ fluff and turned the hair blow dryer on low, starting to dry the fluff slowly.

“James got Pebble from one of his passengers shortly after we became a team of six. He doesn’t really remember when, but it was before Emily’s time.”

——

James had brought himself to a screeching and grinding halt at the station, barely keeping himself from overshooting the platform. He smirked brilliantly.

“Heeeeere’s James!!” He shouted to the other passengers at the platform and to Gordon who was trying to catch a few winks.

The larger engine startled, looking around, when he caught a glimpse of the red engine. He sneered, “Really, James? Must you do that every time you arrive at a station?”

James looked at him haughtily, “Do you have to say ‘express coming through’ every time you depart or arrive at a station?”

Gordon gritted his teeth and rolled his eyes, “I have a very important job, you know. Announcing my comings and goings keeps every keen and wary that a large, powerful, and fast engine is approaching and to make sure to get out of my way. We wouldn’t want any accidents.”

It was James’ turn to roll his eyes, “You’re not the only important engine on the island, Gordon. Not to mention, I’ve had to do your job a few times for you since you have a knack of getting into trouble with the boss.” James smirked.

Gordon wrinkled his nose and closed his eyes, “Hmph!” That was the end of that conversation.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” James said with a sigh, waiting impatiently for his passengers to load and unload.

His driver came up, not looking too thrilled, “James!”

James sighed irritably, “What?!”

The driver glared and pointed a finger at him, “You’ve got to stop doing your stops like this! You could injure yourself, or members of our team, or worse yet a passenger! What if someone was thrown from their seat or hit their head? It would’ve been your fault!”

James frowned, “They should know how to stay seated till I come to a complete stop. Not my fault if they’re bad at keeping seated or balancing.”

His driver looked ready to fight some more, but heard the whistle from the station master and looked to see the doors shut for the coaches.

“Listen to me, James. One day, your reckless driving is going to get this railway into a lot of trouble.”

James rolled his eyes, “Oh please. Me? Trouble? Ha!”

But of course, there would be trouble. As it so happened, not long after this little conversation James ended up in the Steamworks with terrible dents, scratches, and cuts alongside his face and paintwork. The cause? He was so busy trying to be splendid and fast that he nearly hit a stray cow that had found herself stuck on the rails. Her hoof was caught and seeing the engine barreling down the lines she panicked all the more. James did his best to brake and move onto a different set of tracks, but it was no use and he ended up derailed on his side. Worse yet, his passenger cars ended up coming with him. It was a very serious accident with several critical injuries. He thanked Lady above that not a single passenger was labeled a fatality.

He found himself unable to look Sir Topham Hatt in the eyes as he was scolded repeatedly and almost threatened to be removed from the rails indefinitely. The passengers and their families were suing the railway and it was all James’ fault. He couldn’t help the frightened tears that ran down his face or the constant apologies he spoke as a result of the accident. A VIP was ready to have him scrapped and the pressure was put on the Fat Controller that it was seen through. The railway leader refused to have such a monstrous action happen, taking a life was not going to fix injuries faster, and it was no quick and painless death for an engine to be scrapped. James was staying, however he was to be taken off the lines and then some. He wasn’t going to be pulling coaches anytime soon.

The others visited him when he could, Edward most of all. Years later, that moment would become one of the turning pivotal points in their relationship. James still was nervous despite everything.

He was feeling particularly upset with himself one day, sitting all alone in the steamworks, when his former driver approached him with his little girl. She was holding a stuffed animal close to her chest as they approached. He looked up at them nervously.

“James, this is my daughter Tilly and she has something she wants to give you.” The man nudged her forward, “Go on, Tilly dear.”

The little girl walked up to James’ buffer and showed him a stuffed rhino with a red ribbon around it’s neck, “This is Pebble! Whenever you’re scared or afraid you’re supposed to give her a big hug because rhino’s are tough and can make scarier things go away.” He blinked in surprise at her, “I.. I know you can’t hug her but you can have her. Daddy said you’re really sorry about what happened and that mean people were saying really mean things about you. But you’re my favorite engine, James, and you’ve gotta be tough.” She smiled up at him and placed the toy on his buffer, standing on her tiptoes to nudge it closer to his face, “Pebble will scare all those bullies away. Mummy even gave me a splendid red ribbon to tie on her. I hope you like it.”

James looked down at the stuffed animal and the little girl who smiled up at him, a few teeth missing in her grin, and he couldn’t help but smile back. Not one passenger had ever given him a gift before and here this little girl was just looking out for him.

He swallowed and smiled at her, “Thanks Tilly, I’ll take really good care of her.”

She pointed a finger at him in a feisty manner, “You better! She’s the best stuffie in the world and she should go to the best engine in the world!”

He smiled brightly for the first time in a long time that day. James thoroughly apologized, again, to Sir Topham Hatt and the others and after a while was back on the rails. He had his driver hide Pebble in his cab and on days when he was alone or feeling particularly down he had the man pull her out from the cab and put her on his buffer to have close. When the day did come that the engines were able to shift one of the first things James did, once he had gotten used to his legs, was hold Pebble close, besides hold his beloved Edward.

——

“And that’s the story.” Edward said as he finished drying all her fluff, “At least we can get her repaired. She is pretty old.”

“No wonder James is so protective of this toy. I would be too.” Thomas said.

“And I ruined her…” Percy said feeling down, out, and defeated.

Edward chuckled, “No, you didn’t ruin her Percy and it’s not the first time Pebble has found herself de-fluffed in a washer.” He winked, “If you keep my secret, I’ll keep yours.”

Percy and Thomas chuckled, though Percy found himself really relieved, “Thanks Edward. Your secret is safe with us.”

Edward smiled, “Now, let’s go grab her from the dryer and get her all sewn up. We’ve still got some time before my husband gets home.”

Percy grinned, “You sure like to call him that, don’t you, Edward?”

Edward looked kindly at the small engine, “More than you can ever know.”

OK I haven’t done any venting about the upcoming wedding chapter but GUYS, I HAD A BREAKTHROUGH! I could NOT for the life of me get a groove for James’ walk up the aisle nor the pep talk the others were giving him but the music was such a key part of that! I have been a very musical oriented person all my life from choir to band to piano to church choir and musical auditions (though I never made it far or big) and because James’ song wasn’t really clicking it was making it really hard to write and everything felt so… blah! I almost postponed everything because I was feeling the heat on this chapter! BUT TONIGHT I found the SONG!! And OHMYGOSH, my heart filled with all sorts of emotion when it was played (both the wedding version and the actual song itself *no spoilers*) and we are in it to win it baby!!! I am SO EXCITED now!!!

Get ready for 34 pages of pure 2 x 5 Jameward bliss!

Rated M for a small honeymoon scene towards the end. Cause, you know, why not? 😉😏

The newest chapter of The Yellow Rose of Sodor drops tomorrow September 25th at 11:00 Alaska time.

Chapter 19: Forever and Ever is here!!!

Congratulations Edward and James!! What was your favorite part of your wedding day? ❤️💙❤️💙❤️💙❤️💙❤️💙❤️💙

Edward: Thank you kindly! 😊 I believe my favorite part was watching James walk up the aisle. I had promised myself I wouldn’t cry and I ended up anyway. He was so handsome, I’m getting teary just thinking about it.

James: Ed…

Edward: What? You were so beautiful!

James: I think I really enjoyed feeding him that slice of cake-

Edward: That was a fun moment.

James: -at the hotel 😏

Edward: 😳😳😳😳😳😳 JAMES!!!!

James: Hahahaha! Just kidding. It was fun serving the cake slices at the reception.

Many happy returns to the newlyweds! I hope you two enjoy your honeymoon, and your married life!

🎁 Gift Anon 🎁

James: Thank You, gift anon!

Edward: We plan on it. It’ll be nice to get away from the rails for a bit.

James: Well… 😏

Edward: One more crude joke out of you and you’ll be sleeping on the floor, James Hughes.

James: Yes dear…

James Edward, congratulations 🎊 👏 💐 on your Marriage.

Edward: Thank you!! 😊

James: Thanks a lot! 😁

Edward: We’ve had a lot more support than we originally expected, it’s been really nice. Really, thank you so much.

This is so stinking cute!!!

This could be us but I’m lactose intolerant 😔

Bonus :

Mini James got his wheels stuck on the floor’s cracks, based on spinks’s video on discord😭😭😭

*puts hand on James’ shoulder* Hey, you need to calm down. I know your worried about Edward but you need to calm down. Edward wouldn’t want you to panic, would he? I swear we will find who did this and we will get our revenge, but we can’t do that if you keep freaking out here. I promise everything will be ok.

James: *Hyperventilating* I… I know… he’s just everything to me… we just got married… He’s everything to me… my husband… he’s my husband…! *trying to remain calm*