People Glare at That Hat You Wear
Dinah sees C.B come slowly rolling closer to her and the other coaches with a distant look on his face. He’s quietly muttering to himself, like he usually does when trying to figure out how to solve a problem with a plan. When he’s within grabbing distance, she does grab onto his arm, pulling him close enough to whisper.
“How did it go? Did you find out anything they don’t want people to know?”
She adds the second part on because she knows how to get the most information out of C.B without letting him know that she’s prying. C.B calmly pulls her over to the bench that they usually eat lunch together at, sitting down and patting the space next to himself for her to sit down.
“Well, they asked me to eat together again tomorrow, and I agreed. I found out that they don’t need to eat, instead they charge for about half an hour three times a day. They don’t consider their components friends, but more of a dearly beloved working crew. They keep calling me Caboose but not in the way that Greaseball and the freights do. And, objectively speaking, they’re beautiful.”
Dinah hums, not trusting herself to speak without squealing at how oblivious C.B is about his own feelings. She coughs once, trying to regain control over her voice.
“That’s good! It sounds like they’re susceptible to letting you into their inner circle! Just keep going like this and you’ll be able to set the second phase of your plan in action within a month or so!”
C.B groans and drops his head into his hands, still not recovered from his interaction with Electra.
“Yeah I guess! It's just so weird to actually try to make a friend! I mean, I’m not even sure how we became friends!?”
Dinah rolls her eyes, putting her arm around C.B’s shoulders.
“It’s gonna be okay sweetheart, you’re funny and charmingly evil, and based on what I know about Electra, they like that! And let’s not bring up how we became friends, it wasn’t exactly fun for either of us, remember?”
C.B groans louder and leans into Dinah’s side, remembering the mess that ended up with them becoming friends. It included a train wreck (not C.B’s fault), emergency reconstruction, and a huge misunderstanding of who caused the accident (again, not C.B).
“Yeah okay that’s fair. It’s just so weird! And they’re so easily fooled! I asked a few general questions and they answered without being even a little suspicious! It opens a door for me to ask more personal questions in the future! Why would they allow that kind of opening?!”
Dinah chuckles and tucks C.B’s head under her chin, hugging him and rubbing his arm.
“Well, maybe they’re just not as distrusting as you are? They’re not that old yet, so they haven’t had as much time to get betrayed as you have! They were constructed about ten years ago, right?”
C.B nods, having actually asked Electra about that. Their body was only constructed nine years ago, but their computer started being built almost twenty years ago, so age gets weird for them. But most trains are constructed as adults, so it’s irrelevant. The only trains that really “grow up” are typically brake cars, because of the time it takes to learn when and how to brake.
“Whatever. I’m not going to give this up, I just have to get used to it! I will find out about Electras secrets and then ruin their life! And it will be glorious!”
Dinah rolls her eyes, head still resting on C.B’s so he thankfully can’t see it.
“Yes you will, and I can’t wait to see it happen!”
She’s so supportive! C.B thinks to himself, happy to have her as his friend. The whistle signaling for the trains to line up for the daily rounds cuts through their conversation, causing Dinah to startle enough to accidentally push C.B off of the bench.
“Oh my Starlight, I am so sorry sweetheart are you okay?”
C.B waves her off, ensuring that he’s okay while brushing dust off of his uniform. Greaseball rolls over, clearly wanting to talk to Dinah.
“Sorry to interrupt, but we need to get going. Caboose, you have a few tasks for today, you can get them from Rusty before we leave. Dinah, my dear, would you please come with me?”
He reaches out a hand to help her up. She takes it, and when the pair starts rolling away she looks at C.B and waves with a soft smile. He waves back at her, and starts on his own way to get his work from Rusty.
~~~
A few hours later the work day is over. The coaches asked C.B to eat dinner with them, which he accepted, grateful for a chance to spend more time with people who don’t fully hate him. They spent dinner gossiping and joking about said gossip, pretty standard for them honestly.
But eventually dinner had to end and everyone went off to their own stables or the stables of their partner. And thus C.B the red caboose is alone again. He’s taking his time on the way to his little shed, watching the starry sky above him, and listening to the sounds of the late evening. When he passes by the night trains’ stables he sees Cecil and Elliot standing outside doing some stretches. They wave to C.B, who waves back, and then return to the stretches. He just keeps rolling, eventually getting to his shed.
He closes the door behind him and carefully takes off his shoulder pieces and skates, leaving him in his base uniform. He changes into his “relaxing at home” clothes, which is a shirt he stole from an engine he used to work with (and hated) and a pair of sweatpants he found in a lost and found bin. He walks around his humble abode, making a cup of tea and turning on the radio. He sits down at his tiny kitchen table with the pieces of his smashed alarm clock. He then proceeds to spend a few hours putting it back together and setting an alarm for the next morning. Once he’s finished with that it’s late enough for him to brush his teeth, wash his face, and get into bed.
And now comes the tricky part. Falling asleep. He tries counting sheep, remembering details of his favorite wrecks, he even tries planning how to murder Greaseball and get away with it. Nothing is working.
What was it Cecil said? Talk yourself to sleep? Might as well try that.
“Alright. Well, today I ate lunch with Electra. That was a good thing, because I need to find out as much about them as possible so I can set my plan in action. You’re me, so you know about the plan. I’m a bit confused about something though, why is Electra so open to me? I’ve done nothing to deserve this kind of acceptance, in fact, I’ve given them so many reasons not to trust me. But for some reason they do? At least enough to let me near them.”
He rolls over, staring at his wall.
“And then there’s the appearance thing. Why do I find them attractive? I’ve never had much of a drive for romance, and I still don’t, but I’ve also never felt attraction before? Or I have, in passing. But this is for some reason different? I don’t get it!”
He turns over again.
“… It must be misplaced hatred. There’s no other option. I mean, what would Dinah say?”
He pauses, trying to think about what Dinah would say.
“… I actually have no idea what Dinah would say. She’s just too spontaneous and unpredictable. In a good way.”
He continues talking aloud to himself, taking the time to sort through the day as well as airing his previous grievances about this and that. Eventually he falls asleep, snoring softly.
In his dream he’s being held. Someone warm and solid wraps their arms around him, combs fingers through his hair, kisses along his hairline, and touches his skin with reverence. The dream changes, and now he’s being pinned down by that same faceless person. Their breath fanning against the side of his neck as they press sloppy open mouthed kisses to his throat. Every touch burns, setting him on fire in a way he’s never been. But he likes it. He wants more. He’s reaching out to them, trying to catch a glimpse of their face, and just when he’s about to reach them, he gets pulled out of his dream by the screeching of his alarm clock. Shit.