Chapter Text
It was the day before New Year’s Eve, and all the engines were dreadfully excited. The Earl was holding a huge fireworks display at the castle, and visitors would be coming from all over to attend. All the engines bringing passengers to the castle would also get to watch the display, and the subject was the talk of the sheds.
Once again, Edward was disappointed. He would be sitting alone in the shed while everyone was out enjoying the party. Just three more days until he got his bandages off, but those three days seemed like forever.
As he pulled his last passenger train for the day, James’ thoughts were with his partner. He would, of course, be pulling coaches up to the castle the next night for the party, but he didn’t like the idea of leaving Edward in the shed. Everyone else at Tidmouth would be at the party, which meant the blue engine would be alone all evening, until after the display was done. That was no way to spend New Year’s.
Pulling into Tidmouth station, James had a sudden idea. Sir Topham was standing on the platform, checking in on the engines as they finished up their work day, and came over towards James as the red engine came to a stop.
“Sir?” James looked over to his owner as passengers began to disembark, “Could I ask you something, about tomorrow night?”
“Yes, James?” Sir Topham always got a little worried when James, of all engines, wanted to talk to him about something, but was willing to listen.
“Can Edward double-head my passenger train with me tomorrow night?”
“It’s your normal run of coaches, James.” The Fat Controller frowned, “You don’t need any help pulling them, and I don’t like having Edward run after dark right now.”
“But. It’s New Year’s, sir. And Edward would be all alone at the sheds. I just. . . don’t like to think about him spending New Year’s alone. Sir.” James was getting a little worked up just at the thought. “If. If he can’t come up to the castle with me. I’d rather stay at the shed with him. Sir.”
To say Sir Topham was surprised was an understatement. –James- was refusing to pull passengers? James, who hated pulling trucks and constantly bragged about his coach-pulling ability? This could be seen by some as a sign of the engine’s relationships interfering with their work, but to be honest Sir Topham was mostly impressed to see James thinking about someone besides himself. Putting another engine’s well-being before his own desires. It really wasn’t something he ever thought he’d see.
“Well. . .” Edward and James –had- proved that they were capable of working together safely, even in the dark, when they had taken Henry’s train. “Alright. I’ll talk with Edward’s crew and have you double-head with him tomorrow night. Just be careful, I expect you to look out for him. Alright?”
“Oh thank you, sir!” A huge smile broke across James’ face. He couldn’t wait to get back to the shed and tell Edward the good news.
The next night, Edward could barely contain his excitement as he and James picked up their passengers. He couldn’t believe that James had convinced the Fat Controller to let him attend the party at the castle. Now, he would get to spend the holiday celebrations not only with his partner, but at a party with all their friends. He had already rewarded James with lots of kisses, but had plenty more to give out that night during the fireworks.
Things were already getting crowded at the castle, and track space was at a premium. Coaches were all shunted over into sidings outside to make more room for the engines themselves on the tracks with good views of the party. Edward and James were sandwiched between Henry and Gordon in front, and Thomas behind. Fortunately, though, the little chatterbox seemed to be intent on running around with Percy instead of bothering the larger engines.
“Wow.” Edward breathed as James helped him step down from his cab. He couldn’t see much, but he could tell that there were hundreds of people all around at the castle grounds. It was more humans than he had seen in one place in a long time. It was actually a bit overwhelming just how many people were here surrounding them.
“That is a lot of people,” James agreed. Most were walking around with blankets and folding chairs, trying to stake out a choice bit of ground to watch the fireworks from. Soon, there wouldn’t be a single square inch of grass or stone visible anywhere on the castle grounds. People were even getting fairly close to the engines, though their drivers made sure to keep them at a safe distance. Wouldn’t do to frighten someone with a sudden release of steam during the show.
“So. Where do you want to sit?” Edward wanted to watch the show in his human form, so that he’d be able to cuddle with James, but didn’t particularly want to spend the evening awkwardly perched on his buffer beam.
James frowned and looked around, then glanced back up at his body. “Wait. I have an idea.” He led Edward over to his cab and helped him step up, then scrambled up onto his tender.
“Uh,” Edward looked up at his partner, who was kneeling in the supply of coal and reaching a hand back down for him. “I’m not sure I can-“
“Sure you can. Just take my hands.” James took both of Edward’s hands and with a tug pulled him up onto the coal pile with him. One of the fun things about their human forms was that they were both lighter and stronger than real humans.
The two slowly stood on the uneven, shifting surface and found their balance. Carefully, James stepped across to the roof of his cab and reached back to help Edward across as well. The blue engine really didn’t like climbing around like this while he was completely blind, but trusted his partner not to let him fall. It did help, of course, that he knew he couldn’t be hurt like this.
“Just a bit more.” James positioned Edward in front of him, keeping a tight grip on the blue engine’s shoulders as they clambered out onto the curved surface of James’ boiler and sat down. Now, James’ back was pressed against the bulge of his firebox with Edward’s back against his front. A normal human wouldn’t be able to handle sitting up here, with the intense heat put off by the metal of his boiler and firebox, but they didn’t feel it. “Now, we’ll have the best seats for the show.”
“As long as I don’t have to climb back down from here,” Edward joked, taking up James’ hands in his own as he leaned back. He had to admit, this was an excellent place to sit. There was a clear view of the night sky, and being so high up meant that hopefully they wouldn’t be bothered.
The people on the ground below settled into their chosen spots as midnight approached, and over some kind of speaker system a voice announced “one minute to midnight!”
A hush fell over the crowd as everyone waited with bated breath, and then someone started a countdown. The entire crowd joined in with much enthusiasm, yelling out the numbers. “FIVE, FOUR, THREE, TWO, ONE!”
As the cry of “HAPPY NEW YEAR” rang across the castle grounds the first firework exploded in the sky above with a bone-shaking boom. The Earl had spared no expense on the display, and the fireworks painted a beautiful display of light and color across the dark night sky.
Edward gasped as the smears of color lit up the blackness above. If only he had been able to get his bandages off beforehand, he would have been able to truly enjoy the display in its full glory. But for now, he would be content with what he had. “It’s beautiful.” He breathed into James’ ear. “Oh, I wish I could see it better.”
“I’m sorry,” James immediately felt guilty, dragging Edward all the way out to attend a fireworks show that he probably couldn’t even see. “I didn’t even think-“
Before James could get any further, Edward cut him off with a kiss. Not a quick one either, as Edward pressed on until James relaxed and reciprocated. The nice thing about not needing to breathe in these forms was the ability to go on for quite a while. It was clear that reassurances weren’t doing much to help James, so Edward was determined to show him without words how he felt. He didn’t blame James for his injuries in the slightest, though he knew that the red engine would probably never truly be able to believe it.
The grand finale exploded overhead, the kind of all-encompassing boom that felt like a fist wrapped around your very soul. There was the briefest moment of silence as the last firework faded away before the entire castle grounds erupted into cheers. Engines still in their bodies blew their whistles, while the rest joined in with the hooting and hollering. With one final kiss, Edward and James went back to their respective bodies to fetch their coaches and take everyone back to their homes for the night.
Two days later found Edward sitting in a stall in the back of the Steamworks. He was almost quivering with excitement and nervousness, for it was finally time for him to get his bandages removed. The momentous occasion had been delayed slightly until James had a break from his duties, for Edward had insisted on his partner being there with him. It was maybe a little sappy, but he wanted James to be the first thing he saw. Fortunately, the workers at the Steamworks had been happy to oblige.
The lights in the back of the works had been dimmed to their lowest setting, with just enough light for the workers to see what they were doing.
“Okay Edward, let us know if you start feeling any pain.” The works foreman instructed as the workers slowly began to peel back the top corner of his bandage.
Edward winced and grit his teeth, but the expected pain did not come. Just the slightly irritating tingle of the medical tape being tugged off. As the bandage was rolled back, the exposed part of his face felt uncomfortably cold. Again, not painful, just the consequence of suddenly allowing cold air to touch his skin after two months of it being covered.
Hank looked approvingly up at Edward as the gauze was removed, keeping a sharp eye out for any area still burned or damaged. There was still a slight discoloration where the burns had been, but it was only really noticeable if one knew what they were looking at. Otherwise, he appeared completely healed.
“Alright, Edward. Go slowly now, and you can open your eye.”
Here it was, the moment of truth. Edward well remembered the pain that had resulted the month before when his bandage had come off in the hailstorm, and this made him very cautious as he slowly cracked his eye open and squinted in the dim light.
Even that small amount of light was almost too much, and Edward squeezed his eye shut again. He was emboldened, though, by the absence of any stabbing pain. After a moment he gathered the courage to open his eye again. Blinking a bit to clear his vision, he waited for the dark shapes to clear. And, miracle of miracles, they did. Things came into focus until he could make out the group of humans standing around him and James on the track facing him. But it wasn’t enough to really see anything beyond their outlines.
“Are you alright?” Hank waited for a cry of pain that didn’t come. From what he could see, the blue engine’s eye appeared to be back to normal.
“Y-yeah. I can kind of see, is it supposed to be this dark?” Edward thought someone had mentioned the lights were going to be turned low, but he was worried that this darkness was a result of impaired vision instead.
“Yes, we turned the lights down. You haven’t seen anything out of that eye in four months, we can’t just immediately expose it to the overheads.” Hank turned to one of the other workers. “You can start turning the lights back up now, but slowly.”
The worker obeyed and the lights began to inch their way back to full intensity. Things gradually became more clear, colors regaining their vivid hues and shapes finding sharp definition.
Finally, after months of squinting and frustration, Edward was able to truly see James’ face. He had almost forgot what the red engine looked like, after so long. Edward’s face broke into a genuine smile, and he laughed even as tears welled up in his freshly uncovered eye.
“I can see, James!” Edward cried happily as the lights reached their full brightness. “I can see!”
The laughter was infectious and James found himself crying as well. He wanted nothing more than to embrace his partner and kiss his tears away, but the workers insisted on doing a few tests first. Until then, James would simply have to sit and enjoy being able to see all of his partner’s smiling face instead of just half of it.
Edward put up with the tests with his usual patience, and finally Hank declared that he had fully recovered his vision. Sure, he still had one bad eye, but Edward would rather only be able to see from one eye than not being able to see at all. Finally, life would be going back to normal.
Or, well, mostly back to normal, Edward thought as he looked over to James. Some things had definitely changed for the better. “I think this is the start of a wonderful New Year.”
EDIT: Now with art!
