You’re a Freakshow

C.B can absolutely not tell anyone about his dream. Not Dinah. Not anyone. It’s embarrassing! Truly, imagine if you went through your whole life never dreaming about being held, and then suddenly dreaming about exactly that! And liking it too! He feels a deep sort of shame burning in his stomach when he thinks about it, he’s not supposed to think about that stuff. That’s just not who he is! He’s the mysterious guy who’s always smiling, but who secretly harbors dark thoughts. Not the sad and pathetic guy who dreams about being held and kissed by a faceless someone with warm hands. But whatever. No one has to know! If he just keeps his mouth shut about it, no one will ever find out! Great plan, really smart C.B!

C.B goes through this whole thought process while getting ready for the day, taking a quick shower, brushing his teeth, painting his face, the whole shebang. He prepares his lunch for the day and takes his time getting dressed. He even brushes his hair for some reason! It’s always hidden underneath his hat, so he usually never bothers doing anything with it. But who knows, he might end up taking off the hat at some point today, and then it would be embarrassing to walk around with a case of bedhead. Or maybe he keeps the hat on all day and doesn’t have to worry about that at all. Which is the most likely option. Either way, he’s already finished brushing it and is putting on his skates, so it doesn’t really matter anymore. Once C.B finally steps out the door it’s seven thirty and the sun has risen just above the horizon. He takes a few deep breaths of fresh morning air before he starts making his merry way to the meeting place. A few morning birds sing in the trees, the distant sounds of a nearby highway blend together with nature to create a nice ambiance.

C.B hums a tune as he skates forward, seeing the freights and coaches beginning to gather in the open area in front of him. Dinah hasn’t shown up yet, and neither has Greaseball, but it’s still early, so they’ll probably show up later. Pearl and Rusty are standing to the side and talking while holding hands and staring lovingly into each other’s eyes. Gross. Dustin and Flat Top are standing more in the middle of the meeting place, purposefully ignoring the Rockies who are seemingly trying to stack rocks, smallest on the bottom. Sitting on a bench is surprisingly Belle and Cecil, who should both be asleep by this time of day. Wondering what’s going on, C.B rolls over to the pair.
“Hello Belle, Cecil. How come the two of you are awake? It’s a bit past your usual bedtime is it not?”
Belle waves at C.B while covering her mouth to yawn. Cecil smiles, his dramatic hair and makeup much more visible in the light of day.
“Hello C.B, a pleasure to see you, as always. Aunt Belle and I are awake for different reasons. I'm awake because I have a week off, and Belle is here because she promised my dear father to keep an eye on me.”
C.B nods in understanding, sitting on the bench next to Cecil.
“Ah, I’m guessing that the night train has a lot of bigger passenger loads this week, right?”
Cecil fidgets with the hem of his dark cable knit sweater.
“Yeah. Another sitting train had to be called in to take my place. I wish I could be more useful to my family, but alas, one damaged axle, and you’re never trusted with a heavy load again.”
C.B remembers the crash that damaged Cecil. It was a few years ago, he was carrying his max amount of passengers one night, and suddenly his right axle gave out. It turned out that he had been manufactured wrong, with weaker metals in some of his most important framing. It’s not something that can be fixed without completely taking him apart and remaking him “correctly”. And the chances of him ending up a different person afterwards was just too big to risk it. So they just decided to keep him the way he is and not bring him along on bigger transports, or when a sitting car is not needed. C.B makes a sound of acknowledgement, but they don’t keep talking. It’s easier that way. As they sit in comfortable silence, Greaseball and Dinah eventually show up, Greaseball immediately shouting orders at people. He tells Flat Top and Dustin to go pick up their loads, and the Rockies to stop being stupid and do the same. The loading docks are behind and to the left of where Belle, Cecil and C.B are sitting, so the freight trucks have to roll past them to get there. And on the way there, Flat Top looks at Cecil, doing a double take, before stopping completely to stare. He waves C.B over, making the brake van reluctantly stand up and roll over. When he’s close enough, he gets grabbed. That seems to be happening a lot recently.
“Aye, C.B, who’s that freaky goth coach you were sitting with?”
He’s pleasantly surprised about not getting yelled at.
“Oh, that’s Cecil. He’s usually a part of the night train as the sitting car, but he has a week off and has decided to spend some time in the sun, so to speak.”
Flat Top lets go of the vice grip he had on C.B’s upper arms, instead staring out into mid space with a completely gone look on his face.
“Cecil…”
“That’s his name! Was that all, or did you need to know anything else?”
Flat Top grabs him again, not as hard this time.
“Yes! Is he single?”
Wow he is desperate for information about Cecil- oh wait a second.
“Flat Top. Do you find our little night train attractive, perchance?”
The effect is immediate. Flat Top lets go instantaneously and crosses his arms over his chest, turning his head to the side as if that would somehow hide the redness that’s spreading over his face.
“... No… I have to go get my bricks now. Bye.”
And then he quickly skates to his designated loading dock. Well that was interesting… I wonder how Cecil feels about trucks… And with that he turns around and goes to ask Cecil increasingly personal questions about his dating life.

~~~

A few boring hours later it’s time for C.B to leave to go eat lunch with Electra again. He spent the time waiting and trying to learn some new tricks. All he has to show for it is a few new bruises and dust on his clothes. He tries to get as much dust off of his clothing as he’s skating over to Electras station; he's mostly successful. When the station house becomes clearer, he can see Electra approaching with their components, having just got back from a shorter transport mission. It’s unfair. Here they are, shining and glittering in the sun, while C.B has dust and dirt on his clothes. Maybe that’s just the dichotomy of trains. Either way, they’ve noticed him standing there, staring at them and their entourage. Electra waves to C.B with a sort of relaxed elegance. C.B waves back with only slightly faked enthusiasm. It surprises him that he actually feels happy to see Electra, he was so sure that he would have to work really hard to suppress his anger and hatred, but alas, never look a gift horse in the mouth.

Electra uncouples from Wrench, who immediately darts off to prepare the charging station. The other components go about their own business, leaving Electra to calmly roll over to C.B, standing in front of him with crossed arms and their head tilted slightly to the side. They’re studying me, C.B realises, staring up into the face of the engine.
“Hi Electra. Nice weather today, huh?”
They raise a perfectly sculpted eyebrow.
“Hello C.B. Yes, not a cloud in the sky.”
They lift a hand, placing it on C.B’s shoulder, guiding him towards the bench they sat on yesterday. Wrench is whistling a tune while pressing buttons and flicking switches on the weird looking charging machine. Electra lets go of C.B to roll over to sit on the bench, going through the same motions as yesterday. The same electrifying groan from Electra sets fire to nerves in C.B that he didn’t know he had, a weird tingle settling in his lower stomach. For some reason he’s reminded of his dream that he promised himself not to think about. Strange and unusual, all things considered. He ignores every warning sign his body is sending and sits down on the bench next to Electra. They’re more stretched out than yesterday, an arm resting behind C.B’s head and their legs spread. It’s almost too much, the slight bit of touch from Electra’s arm against his neck and their knee leaning against C.B’s own. He clears his throat in an attempt to draw attention from the slight redness that’s creeping up his neck and the tips of his ears.
“Do you want to hear some train yard gossip?”
Electra hums, or is it just the sound of their battery charging?
“Why not? I don’t spend enough time around the other trains to hear anything interesting.”
C.B takes a swig of his WD-40 before continuing.
“Oh then allow me to enlighten you. Buffy and Ashley are in love with each other, but they’re both convinced that the other one isn’t interested, so neither of them makes a move. There’s some rumours about Dinah and Greaseball, and some of them are true, but I’m not allowed to tell you which ones, because I promised Dinah. Oh yeah, and most recently, Flat Top met Cecil the night train sitting car, and I’m pretty sure he has a crush. Not sure how Cecil feels though, I asked him a bunch of questions, but he refused to give any straight answers.”
Electra looks pleasantly surprised at C.B’s knowledge on gossip. He keeps talking, sharing details of others' love lives in a way that he definitely shouldn’t, but Electra’s not going to stop him.

C.B keeps chattering on about rumours he’s heard, Electra only chiming in every once in a while with questions and appropriate reactions. It’s nice. Strangely domestic, and it throws them both off. It throws off C.B because he’s supposed to hate Electra, not get along and gossip with them. It throws off Electra because they’re not supposed to feel this comfortable with someone, especially someone who caused them to crash only a few weeks ago. Neither of them hate it. The components watch from afar, Killerwatt ready to forcibly remove C.B just in case, the others trying to convince him that if Electra trusts him, so should they.
Maybe they can let their guard down just this once.