💙❤Those two tankies were buddies before becoming lovers
💙❤Thomas has a crush on Rosie, and he wants to admit it to her, but the problem is the other engines are teasing him with no reason, Especially Bill, Ben and Diesel, when he defented her they start to teas him
💙❤but everyone knew that Thomas has feeling for Rosie, and she also shares the same feelings, The evidence of all this is in an episode "Rosie is red", In this episode, he finally confessed his feelings to Rosie
💙❤Although Thomas sometimes hangs out with other female engines like Emily, Ashima, and Daisy, Rosie is the one he hangs out with the most
💙❤in my au, When James talks to Rosie, Thomas feels a little jealous even though he knows that they are just friends and nothing more
💙❤They do many fun activities, such as playing in the mud, collecting flowers, and shunting cars together in their engine form
headcanon: james is actually way less materialistic than he lets on. his red paint is nice, but he won't ACTUALLY go to hell over it- it's more of a way for him to build his own identity and almost his "place" on sodor than it really is a materialistic thing. in some way he finds it thankful that he has a boastful reputation about his red paint, as it saves others from asking him if he wants anything for christmas, or build days- thomas probably asked a few times early on in his career on sodor, to which james would always end up stuttering and stammering- he doesn't want gifts, he wants a sense of belonging (but obviously, that's probably odd to say, so he simply says nothing). sometimes, however, it's probably brought him some inner turmoil, seeing how some engines and individuals see him as only obsessed with his red paint and being splendid. i would expect james to be more of a charmer/gestures individual- small acts of love being his favorite thing. he loves to cheekily race with thomas, he loves when gordon feels comfortable enough to open up to the engines about his siblings, he loves seeing henry return from the steamworks (and probably jokingly calls him "as beautiful as a newbuild"). he greatly admires rosie for being his voice of reason when he isn't, and does his best to do the same for her. sometimes he loves to put together edward's coaches and trucks for his branchline duties when he's available, and loves it when edward does the same for him. he prefers the nights when he's able to talk deeply with edward and almost soothe him to sleep positively, and although not a morning person, definitely prefers waking up before all the others to see edward peacefully asleep and smiling with the others.
week full of emotions for Gordspost who sometimes regrets his choice of study path, but oh well, it's part of the game. this is what I came up with between one breakdown and another, nothing special but ok. hell, I knew I had to be a bricklayer like grandpa that time💀🙏
I've already mentioned that Rosie would be Steven since she takes over Thomas's role after he leaves Sodor. (With that in mind, we'll save Connie for later ;) )
And I've already seen you guys suggest that Ryan would be Greg. And honestly, yeah I can definitely see it! Like Greg falling for Rose, Ryan would be starstruck by Thomas and wants to work with him. When Thomas meets Ryan, he's already matured but still has trouble empathizing with others and expressing his feelings, since he has became more secretive than ever. So initially he looks down on Ryan and is pretty cold towards him. But Ryan, that sweet purple lad, tries his damn hardest to get Thomas to understand him at his level. It takes a while for Thomas to realize this, but little by little, he warms up to Ryan and starts appreciating him for being so kind and patient to him.
Does that mean he starts falling in love with him too? Who knows?