Thomas is my favorite as well; there's something extremely satisfying about a character in a show like that who works against the grain, as it were, of the show's message. He doesn't want to be a servant, he doesn't think there's anything laudable about the social hierarchy, he's completely outside the main through-line of the show and almost always is working against it. In some ways it's amazing he's even in the show; on the other hand, the way the show treats him for not being who it thinks he should be is horrible. I definitely agree that fic is the answer here.