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alexanderlightweight · 11 months

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hello! how you doing? thank you for your works ❤

this is for wensday prompt: jace and izzy going insane because they lost alec and meanwhile alec is chilling with prince of Edom and planning his wedding <3

i'm good thank you! i hope you are doing well too

thank you for the prompts <3

this is the alternate piece to vampire!alec fic called art of obsession and it's what would have happened if clary and the others had fucked up sooner rather than later. Alec ends up in Edom and Edom is very happy to keep him for Magnus who has been magiacally following him for a while

i hope you enjoy!

lumine

“We don’t even know if she’s trustworthy!” Alec protests as Fray insists, they use Iris Rouse to find her missing memories. Memories that no warlock has heard mention of and only Rouse has been willing to look for. “Something else is going on Fray, you just can’t see it.”

“Go home and be a coward, Alec!” Fray yells back and Alec would happily leave her to her fate, except she’s got his little sister and Jace in her web and in the array and he can’t leave them to take the backlash by themselves. Which is the only reason he grudgingly gets into place, furious even as he lends his strength to the ritual.

“A price must be paid, to return your memories from the clutches of Edom, what will you give?”

“Anything!” Fray yells, like the imbecile she is, and Alec curses himself for getting talked into being a part of this ritual.

“You will each pay a price!” Rouse yells, “something you love will be taken from you and—” her eyes widen, and she pales as she drops to her knees. “Forgive me!” She screams into the whirling abyss of magic, “I did not know it belonged to you. Please, take what you will from the circle. Anything in my contract and power, I give it to you in return for sparing my life.”

Alec curses her betrayal, and he readies himself, expecting a demon to come through and instead the array lights up with magic. It’s tantalizing and breathtakingly beautiful and Alec has to remind himself to focus in a way he hasn’t had to since he was a child

It doesn’t hurt, not even when it’s coursing through his body like a current and Alec can hear screaming, but not the sound of his own voice. The ground seems to open up Alec sees flames reaching for him hungrily before darkness takes him and he knows nothing.

—

“So just what about you does Edom like so much?” Magnus hums as he goes to where Edom’s magic is greedily hoarding away a live sacrifice that she plucked from earth. “Show it to me.” He demands and he snaps his fingers until the magic sulkily parts.

“Is that my—” Magnus trails off, shocked to see Alexander Gideon Lightwood lying in a writhing mass of Edomeic magic. For a moment, Magnus considers pressing the issue but then he realizes that he has Alexander all to himself, in Edom, with no one to rely on but Magnus.

“Oh darling, we are going to have a lovely time.” Magnus promises as he picks up Alexander and carries him from Edom’s core where Alexander was lovingly stored. Edom has spent too much time twined with Magnus’ soul not to know who Alexander is. Magnus keeps far too many intimate and magical trackers on Alexander for any power he wields to mistake him. It means that when Alexander stepped into whatever ill-advised ritual he did, Edom recognized the taste of him and used the power at her disposal to claim him for her king.

Magnus settles Alexander in his own bed and wipes away the soot and sand and chalk from him with soft touches and lingering caresses.

While unharmed, there is no telling how disoriented Alexander will be upon waking, or if the magic caused him any pain. There’s nothing really to do but wait and Magnus summons the memories that the ritual was trying to take as well as the magicks sense memory of the event.

It’s with a dark chuckle that Magnus watches and sees it go down and he knows exactly what happened. Rouse attempted to piggyback off the remnants of the ritual lingering in Clarissa’s mind, not realizing the signature belonged to Magnus. His magic would have seen the intrusion as a parasite and demanded payment in full and Edom had chosen Alexander to pay the price.

Brutally efficient and far less personally involved than Magnus’ first dozen plans.

Magnus now has his boy and Alexander has no way of leaving.

So, in Magnus’ opinion, things are going splendidly. It’s been a far less traumatizing experience for his boy than it could have been and Magnus is happy to keep him in Edom until the problems of earth fall into ash.

Magnus has no need for his seat of power on earth, especially not when he’s king of an entire realm in Edom.

—

“Alexander, how are you feeling?”

Alec blinks awake to gorgeous gold watching him with sincere concern and a hand holding his own firmly, but softly and he has to bite back the urge to lunge forward and hold the other close. It’s a visceral and deep reaction and he shudders, fingers clenching down to ensure his savior doesn’t leave him.

“Thirsty,” he gets out and he holds on stubbornly with a pout, determined not to be the reason the gorgeous man above him leaves.

“Well then, why I don’t I get you a glass.” His savior soothes and then magicks — he’s a warlock which is amazing, it means he doesn’t have to let go of Alec’s hand and that is very important for some reason Alec can’t remember — a glass of water into his free hand. He holds it with a straw up to Alec’s mouth so he can take slow, careful sips of the most delicious water he’s ever had. It’s cool and refreshing and it soothes the dry burn of his throat beautifully, so that he feels like he’s drank pure magic more than water.

“You were exposed to the salt plains of Edom for a few moments, sweetheart. It’s why you’re so thirsty. Come here, Alexander. Drink more.”

Alec hasn’t introduced himself and doesn’t know the other’s name, but he doesn’t care and he drinks deeply and even lets himself lean trustingly into the other because if this is death, it’s the sweetest embrace Alec’s ever known.

“Alexander, darling. Aren’t you a treasure—” he’s told as he slides listlessly towards the other and then lips are being pressed to the shell of his ear, “I’m Magnus Bane, darling.”

Something in him reacts to that name, to the power behind such a person but Alec can’t find it in himself to care, not when he’s being taken care of so well.

“Magnus,” he murmurs and there is something devilishly intimate in being allowed to say such a powerful name.

“How I adore my name on your lips.” Magnus admits and the words make Alec shiver, because he’s worth so little but Magnus is holding him like he’s priceless.

“How did I even get here? I was, there was a ritual.”

“Yes, a warlock was trying to trick my magic. She wanted to endear herself to me undoubtedly, but she was going about it in a very wrong way. “

“Edom claimed you for me, Alexander. And the price for trying to steal from a king is steep.”

“So, I was taken as a sacrifice?” Alec asks, wondering why feels so very calm despite the danger he could be in.

“Actually, as a consort. We’re very compatible and all of my magic can tell and recognize such a thing.” Magnus tells him with a smirk and Alec finds himself forgetting all rationality and blushing because that’s not exactly what he thought Magnus was going to say and he doesn’t mind at all.

—

“We have to find another way. There isn’t a single warlock powerful enough to help us who will also risk getting involved in hell politics. No one is going to risk opening a portal to Edom.” Jace says hoarsely as he watches Clary grimly strike the last name off of their list.

“We can find someone else, someone not on the list!” Clary suggests and then winces, probably remembering that they’re still trying to fix the problems.

“Alec didn’t trust Rouse and you saw what happened, we need a better solution than this. Alec is Raziel knows where! For all we know, he could be in Edom itself! We don’t have time to be sitting around here.” Izzy is furious and it shows with the way she throws a dagger and Jace intervenes, getting it taken care of before it can hit Clary.

“We can petition the king of the East Coast.” Jace says slowly, face grimacing with the weight of such a stupid suggestion and Izzy’s hope curdles even as it flares.

“Yes, he would have the power. Wouldn’t he?”

“But Iz, you know deals with him are never straightforward and an audience alone comes at a heavy price. I don’t think we have the time for it.”

Izzy swallows and then nods, “then we go to the clave. We’ll use the possibility of the cup as leverage and the fact that Rouse purposefully made the ritual fall. She practically sacrificed Alec to whatever that demon was.”

“We can’t do that! I need the cup to find my mother.”

“Actually, we need your mother to find the cup.” Izzy reminds her, “we’re all just hoping that if we find the cup first, we’ll figure this mess out. That does not mean we’re going to leave my brother in some angel forsaken dimension that we can’t even track him to!” Izzy slams her fists down at the last part, “especially when you created this mess. So, help me Jace, if I lose Alec because of this.” And Izzy looks wrecked in a way Jace has never seen her and he winces, because it’s bad enough how much it’s affecting Izzy, but all Jace can think of is how many times he’s told Alec that ‘his best wasn’t good enough’ when it was the only thing getting their asses through bad situations safely.

Without Alec, Jace isn’t sure where to go now that no one has his back. He’s never had to face a situation where Alec didn’t come for him and Iz and Jace is finding that he doesn’t like it, his breath catching in his throat and he clears his voice roughly.

“Look, we’ll figure this out. We need to sleep okay; we can’t contact the clave like this. Hodge knows Alec is MIA, he has alerts out for him on the downlow, so the clave and Maryse don’t find out until we can make it work. Okay?”

Clary and Iz both nod and Jace hopes he’s making the right call as he sends them and himself to bed, his hand clenching around his hilt and he wonders if Alec is even still alive.

#lumine writes #writing wednesday #writing wednesdays #magnus bane #malec #alec lightwood #shadowhunters #shadowhunters au #my fics #my fanfics #my ficlets

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paleode-ology · 7 months

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as always I’m thinking about the Stede/Izzy/Ed dynamic and trying to figure out how they can still win. I started going through this in the notes of a post and realized I just wanted to talk about it lmao so here we are

I’m Okay. So here’s the thing. I am so pro steddyhands. Like frankly it’s a dynamic that I love and want to see more of and like. As more mentally healthy individuals I think they would be soooo unstoppable like actually peak romance and chaos. BUT they are. Not. Mentally healthy individuals like they are all so incredibly fucked up. And that is maybe a post for another time. Anyway so I have two ideas about the ideal plotlines for these three, which I call the realistic plotline, and the one that won’t happen but would be sooooooo gay plotline.

This post ended up being kind of long bc I talk a lot lmao so here’s a cut.

Even though I want in my heart a steddyhands endgame, Jenkins has said that the third season would (if greenlit) be the last, and that’s just not enough time to work out a well-written and satisfying romantic end for the three of them. Also, I just honestly don’t think steddyhands was ever in the cards for this show; it would just be way too messy idk. Realistically, I think we can definitely get an Izzy and Ed reconciliation, and we’re DEFINITELY getting stizzy bonding this season, so at the very least they’ll all be friendly going into the third. But this season is obviously about Stede and Ed learning to trust each other again and get to know each other better before they go back into romance. They have shit to work out and they’re clearly gonna be starting to do that in the next few eps.

I thinkkk the plan is for them to heal this season and actually figure out their feelings for each other bc let’s be so real, they were so fucking repressed in season one and had just BARELY realized they were in love before things went to shit. The third season will probably just be them becoming proper husbands and co-captaining and like fighting the British yippee. Cannot wait.

As for Izzy. Oh my god Izzy. Okay. So he’s sticking around for now. He’s been the only one looking out for his crew this whole time (and honestly I think he and Stede might bond over that. Stede kind of gives very few fucks about his crew but he values their lives and doesn’t WANT to leave them behind. Tbh breaking them out while also dealing with Ed’s death was just so insane of him and like. He’s gonna be such a good captain.) and anyway, we know he’s going to be teaching Stede pirate things. Not to mention that everyone loves Con so Izzy’s undoubtedly going to be hanging with the crew and keeping them organized while Stede and Ed fuck off on their bonding excursions.

My running theory for Izzy in season three is that he’s going to be captaining the Adventure. (For those who don’t know, the real life Blackbeard had the real Israel Hands captain that ship for a hot minute.) Izzy’s wanted to captain a ship for a long time, and I mean, he’s the Revenge’s captain in all but name at this point. So once he’s sure Ed and Stede and the crew aren’t going to set the Revenge on fire and accidentally kill themselves, he’ll go off to captain the Adventure and have his own healing journey during the third season. Hell get to figure out what it’s like to be out from under the shadow of Blackbeard, and like honestly it’ll be way less stressful and he’ll have a good time. Season three can cut between his adventures and the Revenges adventures, and the overarching plot will have all of them reunite in the latter third of the season (deus ex machina Izzy PLEASE). They’ll work together, have a final reconciliation where they all end on good terms, and either Izzy will go his own way as his own pirate captain, or he’ll decide that he’s grown and healed but he still likes working with New Ed and he stays on with the Revenge or they form a fleet with the Revenge and the Adventure and maybe another ship that shows up at some point in the third (I just feel like a fleet of two ships sounds stupid sorry). Maybe they’ll give Izzy a boyfriend in season three also. Like maybe it’s just me but I feel like getting laid would fix him.

I’m really, really excited for Stede and Izzy to get closer this season. Their little enemies to romantic rivals to still romantic rivals but they have bigger things to worry about to besties is just so real. And I think that them being closer is going to just bring this new balance and dynamic that we haven’t seen before.

So that’s the realistic plotline. Everyone ends up happy, we have pirate husbands, and no one dies except for the British. Onto my insane pipedream plotline also known as the outline for the fic I will probably never write.

Basically, it starts off quite similar to the above prediction for the rest of the show. The only caveat is, the show extends past three seasons. I don’t know that Jenkins will keep writing after the third, even if the response is huge, just because he seems really dedicated to telling the story properly, and unless he decides now that he wants to keep it going, a fourth or more season would mess up the pacing of the show, especially since the season three finale is supposed to the The Show Finale. But for the sake of this fic outline, let’s pretend we get as many seasons as we want.

I still think Izzy should captain the Adventure. Like I really firmly believe that his and Ed’s relationship cannot fully heal unless they part ways for a bit, and as an Izzy diehard I just want him to have fun without worrying about Ed 24/7. I want it to be light, though. Like mostly just him working out his shit with Ed and what he wants from his life going forward.

Meanwhile, Ed and Stede get to have their honeymoon phase on the Revenge. They’ll have a mostly functioning crew for once, and I also like the idea of them escaping the law or fucking up nobles. Like just really have a fuck the rich moment. Once again, it’s light. BUT I also want them to acknowledge that they miss Izzy. Like Ed will tell stories about the years he worked with Hornigold and how he fell in love with pirating and probably compare this new beginning with him and Stede to when he set out on his own captaining journey and as he reminisces and starts to get over the trauma he never really dealt with, he’ll realize just how much Izzy was always there for him, and he’ll regret how he treated him when Izzy was the person closest to him for so long. Also, generally seems to be leaning away from being a full pirate rn. Like he’s definitely starting to realize that there’s more that he wants out of life, which he’s going to have to balance with pirating being the more that STEDE wanted out of his life.

Meanwhile, Stede will have his pirating tricks that Izzy taught him, and while Ed has his own style and certainly lots of pirating experience, he’s already taught Stede a lot, and, quite frankly, he’s a terrible teacher. Like. We saw how the sword fighting lessons went. Izzy is going to be more effective, and I think he and Stede are going to have a lot of fun once Izzy realizes that Stede actually respects his advice and genuinely wants to improve. Like that’s going to be really good for them. But then Izzy leaves, and Stede’s left with not very many people to go to with advice or ideas. People that will critique him (mostly) fairly. Once again, Ed loves Stede, but he mostly just wants Stede to be happy, and he’s good just being on the sidelines watching his husband slay the pirate life. So Stede misses Izzy too.

So does the crew. Ed tends to view himself as quite separate from the crew, and while that’s subject to change, I don’t think he actually knows how to be a good captain? Like. Izzy has been doing his job for him for forever. Meanwhile, Stede cares about the crew’s well-being, but he really isn’t that close with any of them. He very much sees himself as their leader, and lets them do whatever the fuck they want as long as the ship isn’t sinking and they all get to do some good old fashioned raiding.

Izzy, on the other hand, spent a long time in the space between captain and crew. While he sees himself as part of the crew, he has a huge responsibility that inherently comes with being first mate and is further burdened by the weight of dealing with post-breakup Ed. He earns the respect of the crew when they see how much he takes on for them. “He’s our dick.” While Ed’s prestige intimidates crews into following him, and Stede initially bought a crew, Izzy earned the respect of his crew, and he proved to them that he cared about their lives and their well-being. So yeah, going back to the Ed/Stede co-captaining chaos means that the crew is going to miss Izzy.

Note here that I think the Adventure would already have a crew. I don’t know under what circumstance they’d need a new captain, but let’s imagine that that’s what’s happening here. I want Izzy to be fully out on his own, without any of the crew he’d had before. Our season one crew stays with the husbands. In my mind, Izzy meets a guy from the Adventure, they become besties, and then that guy invites Izzy to come be their captain bc the old one like died or whatever. New guy is Izzy’s first mate, and helps him work through some of the Issues.

And Izzy LOVES being captain. He likes the responsibility, he likes looking out for his crew, and he enjoys looting and fucking over other pirates and colonizers and it’s just a whole vibe for him. He’ll earn the respect of this crew as well. He prioritizes their lives over his own, and they genuinely enjoy working for him.

Here’s the thing, though. Being captain is lonely. He has his own quarters, which are pretty fucking sparse. He has a new crew, and while making his own name is good for his ego, no one on his new ship knows him the way his old crewmates did. And let’s be honest, while his crew enjoys working for him, he runs a tight ship. He’s abrasive. He’s brutally honest. He can be cruel. He’s fucking insane with a sword. Let’s not forget that this is a man who, unlike Ed and Stede (for now) very willingly murders. Izzy can be SCARY when he’s not running himself ragged trying to please and take care of and save the man he loved without getting the rest of his crew killed.

So. He’s not really bonding with the crew. They aren’t friends. They’re just a team of pirates who trust their very scary leader. He’s close with his first mate, at least, since that’s the buddy who brought him onto the Adventure. For the most part, the isolation isn’t bad. He’s allowed to reflect and grow and become more confident in himself. He realizes he’s his own person and not just Blackbeard’s guard dog.

Still, he finds that there are things he misses about the Revenge, so when Ed and Stede find themselves in a tight spot (with the British? I do think it would be so fucking funny if we had ANOTHER Badminton), Izzy doesn’t hesitate to come to their rescue. He saves the day, gets to talk a bit with the husbands, and they decide that while being separate was good, maybe traveling together is something they can do again. The Adventure joins the Revenge, and we end season three.

THEN in season four we get to see the three of them together again. Their time apart has helped ease tensions, but there’s still work to be done before we enter poly territory. So Ed and Stede are fully in a relationship, with Izzy on the outskirts. Izzy’s gotten over his blind devotion to Ed and has grown closer to Stede, and it’s comfortable, but sometimes still a bit weird.

Izzy’s (and by extension, Ed’s) past is coming back to haunt him in this season. People he thought he’d left behind show up, enemies he’s made are coming back for revenge, and he can’t deal with it all on his own. Ed and Stede have to help him through it, and they have his back the way he had theirs at the end of season three. Ed begins to realize that he didn’t know Izzy as well as he thought he had back when they were shipmates, and so they get to talk and properly discuss what went wrong between them (namely Ed’s dismissive attitude towards Izzy and Izzy’s inability to accept Ed as anything other than the Dread Pirate Blackbeard).

Stede and Izzy get to be Violent together while Ed stays behind and organizes the auxiliary wardrobe, and now that Stede has improved on his swordsmanship even more, they get to have a lot of fun. Bonding via murder, my beloved. They learn how to work as a team, which would just be SUCH a dynamic like gentlemen pirate plus rabid chihuahua? Nothing better.

Eventually, I think the Adventure would make its departure. Izzy’s first mate would become captain, and they’d part amicably. Izzy stays with the Revenge. With Ed and Stede. The three of them take meals together. Izzy is a co-captain in all but name, preferring to remain first mate as long as he gets a say in what they do and where they go. He loves working more with the crew again, and they’re more responsive to him than they’ve ever been.

And slowly but surely, they all realize their complicated feelings for one another. Secretly and without telling each other, obviously. Ed and Stede are both confused with themselves because they’re HAPPY they have and love each other, but they also both value their time with Izzy so, so much, and of course they can’t say anything to the other because then Ed will think Stede doesn’t want him anymore, or vice versa, and that’s not what’s happening.

Izzy is just so fucking confused bc he can tell that how he felt about Blackbeard hasn’t gone away, exactly, but something’s different. And when he and Stede are fighting together or preparing the next ambush or discussing plans for their next stop, it’s so fun. Fighting with Stede is like breathing in a way that fighting with Ed never was. So. What the fuck? But it doesn’t matter how he feels anyway because Ed and Stede are together and why would either of them ever want to replace the other with Israel (Basilica) Hands?

So while they’re each having an existential fucking crisis, the entire crew knows what’s going on, or they at least have realized that there’s something weird happening with Izzy and the captains, but it’s not bad the way it had been before. So there’s betting pools going on who’s fucking who and whether or not Ed and Stede will leave the other for Izzy or if they’ll all just end up being together.

And just as things are reaching a breaking point between the three of them (Izzy retreats from them both, snapping at them and refusing to open up the way he had been previously and yelling at the crew more than usual, Ed stops talking to anyone at all, preferring instead to do target practice with Jim, and Stede is throwing himself into one raid or project after another, staying up through the night until he can’t stay awake any longer), our main conflict comes into play. We’ve been dealing with someone from Izzy’s past all season, and things finally come to a head. Tables are turned, and now Ed and Stede have to work together to save Izzy from whatever the fuck is happening. During this time, they realize that Izzy is equally important to the both of them and vital for the co-captain dynamic and they’re like. Fuck. Now we REALLY have to save Izzy.

And god, Izzy’s been saving their asses this entire time, hasn’t he? He’s always been there, and now they need to be there for him.

So uhhhh they rescue him and everyone kisses yippee that’s the ens of season four. Season five gets to be the True Poly Season, where they get to fuck around and be the baddest bitches of all time and it’s beautiful.

And that’s my rough outline for. What the show could be? A fic I want to write but probably won’t? Uhhhh yeah 👍

#ofmd #our flag means death #steddyhands #Izzy hands #ed teach #Blackbeard #Stede bonnet #gentlebeard #edizzy #stizzy #this is so long I’m gonna have to run it through a word counter bc I’m quite curious #but uh yeah #can you tell Izzy’s become my favorite character bc OUGH

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izzyshandz · 7 months

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"You hate me, don’t you."

Izzy didn’t know how he felt about Stede anymore, so when he asked the question his mind went blank and his hands curled into fists.

"Well I wouldn’t say I like you."

He replied curtly, attempting to keep any and all formalities out of his gruff voice. Leave it up to Stede to bombard him first thing in the morning, this was common after Blackbeard- Ed. After Ed had begun his recovery of the mutiny; that thought causing a forlorn jab to pierce through his gut almost vicious enough to keel over-- but Izzy didn’t outwardly budge. Stede would approach him and ask him about his sleep, and his leg, oh he hated when Stede asked about his leg. The little squeezing finger movements he would make when he requested to massage it all better, the harsh string of beratement from Izzy’s lips had put a stop to that on day one. They would stand on the deck and Izzy would grunt orders at the crew who dutifully obliged, despite being demoted by Blackbeard the Gentleman pirate practically demanded he help him instead.

At first he profusely refused, until Frenchie made eyes at him; damn Frenchies eyes- claiming to be unable and unfit to really lead (Which Izzy sincerely doubted, but accepted as fact regardless.). His loyalty lies to that crew and no one else, so if directing them beneath the helm of the great Stede Bonnet was helping he would do it. It has roughly been a week with Stede back on the ship and Izzy was restless, he would hear the irritable creak and growl of Ed in the chambers of Stedes room followed by marital-like spatting. He wouldn’t deny when he saw the formerly-disliked pirate leaning over that desk talking about Ed burning everything around him, he saw himself in Stede and over the time he was beginning to realize how alike they were.

Not just their attachment to Blackbeard, the love; as it were past or present but the ability to place unwavering loyalties. Stede stepped up to him in ways that got him shot and Edward listened. Perhaps he was jealous, no he was absolutely jealous. Though the time he spent alone with Stede like this made that ebb away little by little, the sunny training sessions and the almost comical way they carried themselves around each other. Stede was a more well put together version of him, how he managed it he didn’t know but Izzy was determined to find that path on his own; he wasn’t the only teacher on the ship anymore.

"-But hates a strong word, Bonnet."

Izzy spoke up again, earning a wide-eyed stare which he spotted out of his peripheral. There’s that feeling in his stomach again, Stede is smiling. "I seem to recall you liked the word hate last time we saw each other."

"Last time we saw each other I sold you out."

"Oh yes- I remember very well. I still haven’t forgiven you for that, by the way."

Izzy grinned, Stede caught it but didn’t say a word; seeing Izzy smile was a rare occurrence and oddly he didn’t wish to startle it away from his expression.

"Yeah don’t worry you’re not the only one. I’ve not forgiven myself either."

Those words struck the other pirate with a pang of sadness, this poor… small man. He’s got so many issues. To be fair, they all do.

"Well that’s just sad, doubting your own choices like that." He offered unhelpfully, making Izzy steel his expression once more. It was true he had been through a lot this past year, the past ten… no twenty even; he’s had little to no time to stop. The first hand leaned forward and for once, relaxed his upper half against the ledge of the ship- staring out at the waves crashing against its hull. He could feel Stede close beside him, corralling to try and take a look at what Izzy found so interesting.

"I was a scared man, Bonnet." He began truthfully, the other wading into a silence and getting comfortable to listen; an encouraging smile on his face the whole time. "Scared of the future, scared of the ship, scared of you."

"Of me!" The incredulous gasp met his ears, earning a short glare from the shorter male which briskly shut him up.

"I kept running into you." He admitted, "It was stupid, I suppose looking back. The instant Ed heard about you I felt-" Stede held his breath for the words he was about to hear.

"Useless."

The gentleman pirate deflated. "I had no idea you felt that way Izzy. If you had said something-" He began, immediately being cut off by a growl. "-nothing would’ve changed. Ed would still be head over heels flailing at you in a silk dressing gown and you would’ve broken him all the same." The pair stared at each other in unabashed silence for a moment before Izzy looked away briskly. "Maybe if I hadn’t have tried to speak against him I would’ve been fine." He sounded remorseful, that made Stede settle into silence.

"We’ve both fucked up quite a lot, haven’t we?"

Stede asked softly, earning another grin from Izzy. "We have, in some ways. We’ve all done something wrong, Bonnet." He turned to him again, this time a bit less gruff. "At least you haven’t lost a leg, Yet."

The man paled with horror at the thought, "Well at least you look absolutely fantastic with that leg Pete helped whittle for you!" He’d blush at the compliment if he realized it was for him and not Pete, chin coming to rest on his arm.

"Izzy-"

"Israel."

They both stilled, and he almost felt fucking timid. Stomaching that down he stood, attempting to ride off the briefly vulnerable moment shared between them. "You’re my captain, so you get to call me Israel." His chest felt absolutely sick as that cursed smile met him, it was so sickly sweet he feared he would hurl.

"Israel." Stede started fondly, a genuine note of true happiness to his lips as he nudged his hand against the others resting on the ship. "I’m quite honored to have your wisdom and experience aboard my ship. If you ever need to talk more-"

Yep. That’s it. "Say another word and I’ll chop your balls off." He said suddenly, sharply. Staring away with a visible tint to his features that did not go unnoticed by Stede, earning a gentle: "Noted." In his wake as he strode off to make sure Fang wasn’t slacking off. Didn’t matter if he was, he just needed to hide before the embarrassment crept up to his ears.

#gentlebeard #stizzy #stede x izzy #light mentions of blackbeard #i wrote this to cope with relationship trauma #stede and izzy both agree they’re a little silly pair of lads #THIS IS PG #ofmd #ofmd s2 #ofmd spoilers

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something-about-sunflowers · 1 year

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Thinking about Izzy with hanahaki, coughing up flowers over Ed for like 25-30 years. Yeah it sucks but its not gonna kill him. Obviously keeps it a secret (From Ed at least, Fang and Ivan caught on but they don’t wanna get involved in All That so they keep it to themselves and help Izzy out when he gets bad spells. None of them mention it but Izzy is grateful, which makes it all the worse when they start palling around with the Revenge crew over Izzy :’Tc).

(Uh, readmore cause I didn’t expect this to get. Like. Huge. lmao)

Then Stede Fucking Bonnet comes along and things get worse as he watches Ed fall for Stede, even if he doesn’t really understand. Still, he manages. Gotta push through, Ed would expect nothing less.

And when Stede leaves and the Kraken happens Izzy goes through a good bit of hell. Ed is barely out the room after the toe incident before Izzy is hacking up so many flowers he thinks he might actually die this time. He doesn’t, though. Cleans himself up, puts his shaky legs to work. (And then Lucius finds out, doesn’t really matter who pulled him back on board, Izzy knows about it because none of them are subtle. He keeps the secret because. He’s really not sure. But Lucius is in the walls and he hears Izzy having a fit and now he knows. He wants to ask. Tries to, even, Izzy shuts him down and he’s not even angry when he does it. Just. Defeated. Lucius silently adds another thing to his ‘Things I’m Gonna Bitch At Blackbeard For Once He’s Not Crazy Anymore’ list.)

When Stede comes back its. Better. For a while. There’s a lot of hurt all around but everyone is alive and they’re (mostly) talking it through as a crew. Ed makes his apologies to the crew, even to Izzy. Stede makes his apologies as well. Izzy accepts that This Is His Life Now. Since Stede seems to actually want to learn now that he can’t just throw money at all his problems Izzy offers to actually teach him (instead of ‘teaching’ him like Ed does). He shows him the ropes (literally), gets him passable with a sword, keeps Ed focused when he’s teaching him navigation (not Izzy’s strong suit, he can manage if he needs to but Ed’s always been better at it). They actually find themselves getting along.

Izzy starts joining the crew during ‘story time’ (sometimes its stories, sometimes its other group activities, easier to just give it the one label). One night, after Stede finishes the story and everyone is heading to bed, he watches Stede and Ed head to their cabin. Sometimes they’ll ask him along for a night cap, not always though, and its. Fine. But. He watches them head off without him. The way they hold each other as they go, smiling, only eyes for each other.

He barely makes it to his room before he’s coughing up the most flowers he’s done since Ed fed him his toe. He, frustratedly, sets to work cleaning them up but. He actually stops to look at them. He stares. And stares and stares.

Two distinct types of flowers littler his floor. He tries to deny it but he understands immediately the implications. Fuck.

Still, Izzy is nothing if not the worlds most repressed trooper. He sticks it out. Or. Tries to. Its hard because Stede and Ed keep asking after him and seeking him out and talking and touching him and. Its just camaraderie he knows but. It makes him want. And he knows he can’t have that. He wouldn’t have a damn botanical garden in his chest if he could. Its starting to take its toll on him though. He can tell its getting bad because Stede and Ed are starting to worry about him. They don’t say it in so many words but he can see it in their eyes. Ed is more hesitant to go on raids, makes up some excuse about his knee playing up more than usual, but Izzy knows it because he can see how his hands shake even when at rest and he’s thinking about him slipping up in a fight. Stede’s plying him with herbal teas and feeding him several small meals throughout the day, he’s noticed Izzy can’t stomach much anymore, how he’s getting weaker by the day because of it.

He leaves after Lucius catches him having another fit. A bad one. He says he’s going to get the captains but Izzy begs him not to. ‘Not yet,’ he lies, ‘I’ll tell them myself but. Just. Give me some time.’ Lucius begrudgingly agrees, gives him two days. ‘And if you haven’t told them by then I’m going to do it myself and you can thank me later.’ Izzy leaves that night.

He shouldn’t be surprised, when he finds Calico Jack in some seedy bar at the nearest port he can reach, though he is. ‘Thought you were dead.’ He finds himself relieved he’s not, its nice to have a familiar face around if he’s gonna die here. (He knows he’s dying. Not immediately, he’s got more fight in him than that, but. Its coming on the horizon and he knows it. Like he knows a storm eventually follows a red dawn.)

Jack eyes him, calculating, never as drunk as he pretends to be. Izzy doesn’t know what he sees but he breaks into his usual grin and says, ‘Nah, still got - what is it - four? Four lives left. Take more than some crazy bird’s cursed cannon ball to take down Calico Jack, babydoll.’ If it were anybody else, Izzy would be bristling at the nickname, but he’s long since resigned himself to being called things like that from Jack. Jack loses his easy grin though and adds ‘You look a bit like death fuckin warmed over though, fuck happened to you?’ There’s genuine care in his tone and it reminds Izzy so much of Ed and Stede and, thank fuck Jack seems to notice because Izzy’s slapping a hand over his mouth and Jack is taking his arm and they barely make it to the shitty little room Jack’s occupying before the petals start spilling out. Jack holds him through the fit, its nice. Izzy almost regrets when its over because Jack sets him down on the bed and steps back, fixes him with a look he’s too exhausted to decipher. ‘Fuck.’ He says, eventually. ‘Think we’re gonna need a drink for this.’ The alcohol burns his tender throat but he knows Jack is gonna get him to talk anyway and its easier with the rum so he drinks. And he talks.

Jack doesn’t call him an idiot but its strongly implied. Izzy doesn’t know what he expects him to do, its not as if he chose this. He doesn’t call him an idiot though, instead he. Takes care of him? Its odd, he knows Jack isn’t as callous and heartless as he pretends to be, knows he’s actually got pretty good bedside manners in fact (There’d been a time before all the legend and everything after when they were all sailing together, they’d lost their medic during a raid and Jack stepped up. He was no doctor but he knew enough to keep everyone from dying til they go someone new. He also had a child and Izzy knew, for all that he was regularly absent from their life, he wasn’t an absent father. He knew how to care for people.), but it surprises him nonetheless to have it turned towards him. Like it matters to him that Izzy is as comfortable as he can be, given the circumstances.

Izzy manages to be up and around most days but they’re growing fewer. Lacking much better to do (he’s never been good at sitting idle) he follows Jack around when he can manage to get out of bed. On days where he can’t Jack still goes out, Izzy wonders why, he mostly just drinks and fucks around, its hardly as if he can’t do that here with Izzy. He supposes he must not make for very good company, sorry state he’s in. Still.

He’s more than a bit annoyed that it takes him hacking up even more flowers after Jack leaves one morning, with a ‘Be back sometime this evening Babydoll, I got something for you,’ to realize. ‘Fuck’s sake,’ he rasps, staring down at the mound of three distinct types of petals. He’s so tired. He’ll clean it up later, promises himself he’ll be up before Jack gets back to clean them up.

He dreams of warm hands, fond smiles, soft touches, and tender voices and wakes coughing up more and more flowers. He can’t breathe. Tears sting his eyes, from the pain in his throat and his lungs, at the thought of being alone at the end like this. He spares a brief thought towards how Jack will react, coming back this evening to find him gone. Wonders how Stede would react. Edward. Still more flowers.

The door bursts open and Izzy doesn’t have the air or the energy to startle. Jack. Jack is there and he looks panicked. And there’s Stede behind him. And Edward. Somehow Izzy finds the air to let out a hysterical little laugh, it comes out more of a gasp. Must have died already, he thinks, how else could they all be here, as though his thoughts summoned them.

‘Izzy!’ He’s not sure which of them is calling him, his vision is starting to go spotty and his ears are ringing. Maybe none of them, maybe its a trick of his desperate, dying mind. There’s hands on him, warm and soft and. Instinct tells him to fight, he can’t see who’s touching him, he knows he needs to fight but. He’s so tired. He can’t see but he feels his eyes slip shut.

‘Izzy, I love you.’

Nothing.

#the dork is being a dork #the dork does a fic #apparently #izzy hands #edward teach #stede bonnet #jack rackham #uh #stackedhands #gentlejizzed #im not sure what the agreed upon ship name is tbh #izzy/ed/stede/cj #he wakes up afterward to some very angry worried faces #they're all crying and telling him they love him talking over each other #lucius is also there crying telling him he's a fucking idiot and he should have listened to him earlier #jack put 2 and 2 together to realize izzy was sick over ed and stede so when he went out without izzy he was tracking them down #as best he could without actually leaving trying to get the message to them that izzy was dying over them and 'if you dont get your sorry #fucking asses here before he does and fix this then i'm gonna fuckin kill yall myself'#naturally they were already looking for izzy and they booked it when word reached them #real talk i have no idea where this came from i was just struck by the thought #izzy hands‚ the one man repressed and stupid enough to almost die from hanahaki over THREE people at once #i hope its obvious that they all do love him and he's just really fucking stupid about it

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xamag-draws · 2 years

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Ed’s fears

Just wanna talk about Ed's trust issues and fear of rejection and embarrassment for a bit. I’m sure a lot has been said about it already, but I need to release the pressure from my cranium.

I love Ed because he’s simultaneously very confident and comfortable in his skin, with great people skills and open demeanor, but also has a lot of insecurities and feels lost in social situations he's not familiar with. He's up to any silly shit as long as others support it or find it cool, but if he thinks that people are starting to laugh at him instead of with him, he loses it.

Ed says that fear is the most powerful emotion, and that Blackbeard feels no fear. But the real Ed's biggest fear is being ridiculed and undermined. He simultaneously dislikes the caricature of violence people assign to him, yet subconsciously Needs to be the scariest pirate out there, because if people are afraid of him, they won't laugh at him.

It parallels Stede in an interesting way, because Stede is very familiar with being seen as cringe by everyone around, but he just kinda accepted it at this point, and doesn't let it stop him anymore. He only has this one life to live, and he's gonna do it his way, silly libraries on board and all, which is what Ed admires about him. Stede doesn't need to be some tough shit pirate to be able to handle some shade and throw some back, without absolutely losing it. If Stede learned to be a little more unhinged about standing up for himself from Ed, I hope Ed can learn some composure from him, too.

In the 5th episode, Ed is completely out of his element. These people have their own set of bizarre rules that are hard for him to follow, brilliant sailor or not. They don't know who he is, so his reputation and threats don't affect them. Not to mention him being a mixed person of color. His fear of being emotionally trampled was palpable in that shrimp scene, and he was about to resort to the only way he knows how to fix it: taking out his gun and maiming some bitches.

Ed's disturbed by the notion that thinly veiled insults exist as a form of emotional warfare, and that Stede obliterated an entire ship with politely delivered words alone. I think that moment of Stede's derangement was definitely respected and appreciated by Ed, but it also planted a seed of "he's capable of destroying me in ways I couldn't even fathom" in his mind.

During Ed's stay on the ship, he and Stede come to feel comfortable enough around each other to open up and be themselves without worrying about how others see them. This requires trust in each other, the trust that if you show your belly you won't get stabbed in it.

I think Calico Jack was the first blow to Ed's newly acquired trust in that regard. The old Blackbeard would've been on his guard and suspicious of Jack from the start, but for the new trusting Ed it was enough to cry about a mutiny (which I imagine Jack normally wouldn’t do). Jack tricks him, then laughs in his face and mocks the idea that pirates could even have friends. On top of that, Ed finds out that Izzy gave them up, and Izzy has always been his most trustworthy person.

Stede disappearing after their most vulnerable moment is obviously the biggest nail in the coffin. It's very telling that Ed didn't go back looking for Stede, in case he got himself into some trouble, but just kinda sat there in defeat, like deep down he expected it to go this way.

There’s a neat progression of his power dynamic with Stede. When they first met, Ed was obviously friendly and nice with Stede, but he had the upper hand there. Blackbeard is the legend of the seas, and Stede is a funny little guy who almost got killed for being stupid. Ed really enjoys casually revealing his identity to Stede, because he knows how much it'll awe him. "You're a lunatic and I like it" isn't an insult by any means, but it says “I know my shit, and you don’t (affectionate)”.

But then in the 5th episode, he learns that Stede is equally as knowledgeable and ruthless in other areas. In the 6th, Stede supports him through a moment of weakness and self-loathing. After that, Ed is no longer a cool menacing idol to a little incompetent goofball nobody; he fully comes to see Stede as an equal, hence them deciding to co-captain.

And after they level it out, Ed almost seems like he's afraid to believe that Stede Actually Really likes him back. He's very moved that Stede is willing to look past his assassination attempt; he looks surprised when Lucius tells him Stede went out of his way to do something fun for him; when Jack appears and badly influences his behavior, Ed sheepishly argues this is the real him, and Stede wouldn't like it anyway, so leaving is the right option. The way he says "what makes Ed happy is...you" is with baited breath.

If Stede is his equal and knows his weaknesses, he could hurt Ed like no one before, but Ed probably wouldn’t have the heart to hurt him back. That’s quite a vulnerable and scary position for him, so Ed is ready to explode the bridges and run if anything went even slightly wrong.

So maybe Stede's upset reaction to his resigned state confused him. Or maybe he projected his own unstable unreliable nature onto Stede. Or maybe he thought that Stede wasn't ready to become a real outlaw, or would rather not involve himself with such a horrible person after all. Or that their entire relationship was some fucked up social experiment invented by the upper class weirdos. Either way, I'm sure that when Stede didn't show up, he felt like a fool.

Ed convinced himself that there's no possible interpretation other than rejection and humiliation, and that's what he deserves. Sure, he could go back and check, but if he did and found Stede just chilling on his bunk bed like “oh sorry mate, I don’t actually want to gayly run off with you anymore, I hoped you’d just kind of go away“, that’d be fate worse than death. So it’s better to assume the unspoken, and get out.

Izzy's reaction back on the ship buried the rest of that coffin.

Izzy, Ivan and Fang strike me as very straight-forward with Ed. If Izzy doesn't like something, he's not gonna hold back or dance around the issue, he takes Ed aside and tells him how it is. And in turn, Ed is quite open to criticism, if it's delivered straight to his face. He might make scary eyes at you, but he's willing to try and make things better. In a way, they also talk it through like a crew, although they don't dig deeper for the roots of those issues.

But when Izzy goes "waa waa namby pamby pining for his boyfriend", this is the biggest slap in Ed's face he could deliver. No one laughs at Blackbeard, especially not his trusty assistant, who previously looked up to him as a sea god of sorts, who was literally ready to leave for being disrespectful to Ed before. So Ed's reflexes kick back again, and he resorts to violence to stop the mockery as he's used to.

And then, when he's left alone, the crew starts calling out for him to perform another song. There's something haunting about this moment, how you can feel his paranoia flaring up again, shifting his perception towards the people he thought he could trust.

He trusted Stede, he trusted Jack, he trusted Izzy, and all of them betrayed that trust one way or another. If the one person who allegedly cared about him so so much just left him hanging on a dock like an idiot, and his own right hand man feels okay with belittling him, then what about the rest of them? Who can he trust at this point? Who's not a fickle crowd?

Maybe all of them disliked him all along. Maybe they laugh at him behind his back. Maybe they're frivolously calling him Eddie and demanding another performance, because he's the ship clown. Maybe all of them need to be scared into their place again, with chopped toes and pointed guns.

I think this is confirmed by the way he looks at Lucius before throwing him overboard. Lucius comes to him talking about the talent show, and Ed gives him a bitter smile that says "I know what you're doing. I know exactly how you feel about me. I see it now, and I won't be made fun of anymore".

The way he calls the crew "Bonnet's playthings" too, not only objectifying them back into their role of ship's workers, but also separating himself from ever being friendly with these people. They can't hurt him anymore if they're some insignificant belongings of another person he has no feelings towards.

And after he's back to being the Blackbeard, the man who's feared but feels no fear, no rejection and no embarrassment, he sobs uncontrollably, now with even less emotional outlets for his pain, frustration and confusion. Probably certain that he will never meet another person who could love someone like him, whom Ed could love and trust back.

I know we like, jokingly blame everything that happened on Izzy, but he’s not the only one who needs the Blackbeard’s image. Neither of them have the social leverage without it, and Ed would need sooo much therapy before he can fully stop relying on being the Blackbeard, like he wanted in ep 9.

All in all, Ed's already fragile trust in people is now fucked beyond belief, and if Stede really wants to convince him his love confessions still means shit, he'll have to work his ass off for it. And i'm excited to see how it goes.

#xam rambles #our flag means death #ofmd #edward #stede #izzy #analysis

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mandiemon3 · 5 months

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The Best Revenge is Living Well- Chapter 4

“How are you feeling?” The gruff voice behind them made Mo jump. They spun around to find the speaker, and hit Izzy in the stomach before they realized there was no danger. The first mate doubled over and groaned.

“Ah, Izzy, I’m so sorry!” They grabbed his shoulders to stabilize him as he slowly straightened back up to his full height.

Izzy chuckled, holding his stomach. “Don’t be,” he croaked. “I’m glad you protected yourself.”

“Yeah, but I don’t need to protect myself from you!” Izzy’s unreadable eye contact made Mo’s face burn. They just knew they were turning an obnoxious shade of pink.

Izzy bit back a grin. “Well, before I was assaulted, I was just checking on you. Wanted to make sure you were healing alright after our training the other night.”

Mo realized they were still holding onto Izzy’s shoulders, quickly releasing him and fiddling with a ring on their hand. “Yeah, I’m doing alright,” they reassured hum, relieved to hear their voice didn’t betray their embarrassment. “I still have some pretty intense bruising, but hey, I’ve had a lot worse and still walked away.” They smirked. “Not even a fight with the great Izzy Hands could keep me down for long.”

Izzy smirked back. “Not when I hold back from giving the final blow,” he said dryly. “Yeah, but how could you bring yourself to hurt the ‘ray of sunshine pirate’?” Mo laughed when Izzy feigned a scowl, lightly punching him on the shoulder. “Don’t pretend like you’re not coming around to me. I can see it on your face, Izzy, you’re starting to like me. Or at least not hate me.” Izzy rolled his eyes, but took a small step back. He cleared his throat, wiping away any trace of his smile.

“Well, now that I know you’re alright, you should get back to work.” Back to being first mate and crew member, he made clear.

“Yeah,” Mo said, disappointed that they couldn’t continue joking around. “Hey, are we still good for night lessons tonight? I should be recovered enough to maybe do some more physical stuff again. Not that your navigation lessons weren’t fascinating," they added, hoping he could tell they were being sincere.

Izzy nodded. “I’ll have to check your bruising later to make sure you’re ready for it, but yes. I’ll see you tonight.” He began to walk away before Mo called after him. “Hey, Iz?” He turned back to face them. “Don’t work yourself too hard, okay? I know you didn’t get as bruised as me, but don’t run yourself ragged for my sake, or the rest of the crew for that matter.” Izzy rolled his eyes, but Mo saw the brief upturn of his lips before he turned away.

Mo turned back to work on removing the knots from old ropes. They were beginning to really look forward to their night lessons with Izzy. As much as they loved learning new skills that could potentially save their life one day, the thing they found themselves looking forward to most each night was spending time with Izzy. While they enjoyed what time they spent with him during the day, he was different at night. He had time to talk about things, and their ritual of drinking together after their more demanding lessons had allowed him to loosen up a bit. More than anything else, he seemed to benefit from time away from the rest of the crew. Even though they were willing to drop the “Izzy the Spewer” nickname, more for Mo’s benefit than for Izzy’s, no one else had warmed up to him yet. Every day, Mo was forced to watch him walk around, tense from the pressure of being first mate, unable to really connect with anyone else on the boat. Even when they had tried pulling him aside during the day to help him calm down after dealing with a particularly intense confrontation with Stede or Lucius, he couldn’t stop worrying about how the rest of his crew would see him. He refused to show any weakness in front of them, and having emotions was deemed a weakness by pirate standards.

Mo refused to give up on helping him. Not just because he was helping them, or even because of basic human decency. As much as dick as he could be at times, Izzy had become a friend, someone to protect. It hurt Mo’s heart to see him struggle so much, so desperate for respect and approval from his captain that he would never earn. They liked seeing his rare smiles, and every time he laughed, they would think about it the rest of the day and feel a little giddy. They couldn’t understand how people couldn’t see the good in him.

Mo’s eyes widened, their hands stalling as they froze in place. “Oh shit,” they whispered under their breath, trying to ignore the way their stomach lurched. “Do…do I…,” they trailed off, before looking around to make sure no one had noticed them. They didn’t dare finish the thought out loud. The idea of someone hearing them say they had feelings for Izzy Hands was too much to handle. “Fuuuuuuck,” they groaned quietly, turning to face the open sea so no one could see the way they grimaced.

They looked around, trying to find Frenchie. They spotted him across the deck, talking to Wee John. They carefully set down the rope they were working on before making their way across the deck to their friends.

“Hey guys,” Mo interjected softly, “is it okay if I borrow Frenchie for a minute?”

Wee John and Frenchie exchanged a concerned look before nodding. Mo mumbled a “Thanks” and grabbed Frenchie’s hand, pulling him down into the ship, towards the room the crew shared.

“Mo, babes, what’s going on?” Frenchie asked as he was dragged along by his friend.

“I, uh, I’ll let you know when we get there,” they stammered.

Once they reached the room, and Mo had closed the door behind them, they dropped his hand. They pressed their back against the door, heart beating rapidly in their chest.

“Honey,” Frenchie’s voice was soft, bending down to look at Mo’s face. “Darling, what’s wrong? Are you hurt?” Mo shook their head.

“N-no, I’m alright. I just, uh, I just realized something and I could not be up there around everyone.” They glanced up, meeting his gaze. “Shit. I’m sorry for grabbing you like that, I guess I just thought maybe you could talk some sense into me or something.” “Alright. Yeah, I’m sure I can do that,” he said, doing his best to stay calm. “But you have to tell me what’s going on for me to help.” Mo’s eyes began to sting, their face heating up. “Okay. I’m going to tell you, but you have to promise not to laugh. Or judge me. Gods, you’re going to want to judge me, but I need you to suppress the urge because you’re my friend, okay?” Frenchie nodded solemnly, crossing his heart.

They took a shaky breath, fighting to stay calm. “Okay, so I was working on removing knots from the rope, like Izzy asked me to, and I was thinking about our night lessons, and how much I enjoy them. I mean, I’ve always loved learning things, and these things are pretty important to know with our occupation.” Mo’s eyes began to water, and they had to fight off the tremor in their voice. “But I realized that my favorite part of the lessons wasn’t the lesson itself. It was…spending time with him.” Their voice cracked. “And it has been for a while, if I’m being honest with myself. The last few days, training with him has been…special. At least to me.” They laughed weakly. “Frenchie, I think I have feelings for him, and I don’t know what to do.” They looked up at their friend, unable to stop the first few tears from spilling over.

Frenchie looked confused, clearly caught off guard by their confession, but wasted no time in wrapping his arms around Mo, holding them closely and laying their head on his chest. He carded his fingers through their hair, quietly soothing them.

“It’ll be alright, love,” he whispered. “Are you just…caught off guard by these feelings, or is there something else going on?”

Mo sniffled, holding onto Frenchie’s shirt tightly. “I don’t even know,” they mumbled. “I guess it all just hit me at once. Oh gods, what am I going to do?” they whined. “How am I supposed to continue our lessons? It’s not like he’d ever… you know…reciprocate.” They took a deep breath, forcing their heart rate to slow back down. “One thing is for sure, I can’t go back out there looking like this.” They wiped their eyes, still clinging to Frenchie.

“Why don’t you take a minute in here, alright babe? You should have a moment to process it all before having to deal with anyone else.” Mo whimpered as Frenchie rubbed their back. What they did to deserve such a friend, they would never know.

They looked up at him, managing a small smile despite it all. “You’re a good friend, Frenchie. Thank you.”

Frenchie rubbed their cheek affectionately, smiling down at them. “Anytime, love.”

Suddenly, Mo had another, more unpleasant realization. They let out a loud groan, thumping their forehead onto Frenchie’s chest, ignoring the twinge of pain from their lingering bruise.

“Fuuuuuuck. Lucius is going to know so fast. He’s like a bloodhound for complicated relationships, and then everyone will know. Oh, why me? Why Izzy? Why couldn’t it be anyone else?” They buried their face in their friend’s shirt. “My life is a cosmic joke,” they mumbled, muffled by the fabric.

“Oh, dear,” Frenchie said quietly, rubbing his hand up and down their back. “Everything will sort itself out. And if it doesn’t, I’ll be here for you.”

“How in the fuck is this suppose to sort itself out though, Frenchie?” Mo asked, hating that they let themselves get in the situation in the first place. “He’s never going to feel the same way. And he’s on a different crew, with a higher rank, working for fucking Blackbeard of all people. There’s no way this plays out well, even if he did…reciprocate.”

They sighed softly. “And now I’ll just have to continue my lessons with him, like everything’s fine. Like I didn’t do the most Me thing possible and have an entire fucking meltdown because I realized a bit too late that I have feelings for him.” They groaned, screwing their eyes shut. “Gods, I’m a fucking idiot.”

“Hey,” Frenchie said sternly, drawing their attention up to him. “You’re not a fucking idiot, babe. You’re my best friend, and you’re brilliant. You’ve got odd taste in men,” he said with a small smile, “but you’re smart, and funny, and kind. If he can’t see that, it’s his loss.”

Mo nodded, giving him a small smile.

“Thank you, Frenchie,” they said quietly. “You know you’re my best friend too.” They dried their eyes on the back of their hand, slowly pulling themselves out of Frenchie’s arms. They sniffed, wiping their nose on their sleeve. They had allowed themselves their breakdown, but now it was time to get back to business.

Mo sighed wearily. “Okay,” they said, voice unusually bleak. “I’m ready to go back out.” “You sure? You could take a few more minutes if you’re not ready.” They shook their head, giving Frenchie a quick squeeze on his upper arm. “No amount of time is going to fix this for me,” they said, looking up at their tall friend. “I can’t dwell on it. All I can do is go out there and…deal with it. Somehow.”

Frenchie frowned. “Alright,” he said after a moment. “If you’re sure. You know, though, I’m always here for you.”

Mo smiled weakly. “I know, love. I’m always going to be here for you too. So,” they added, making an attempt to get their joking spirit back, “when it’s your turn to realize a crush and then have a total breakdown about it, I’ll be ready to return the favor.” They took his hand in theirs. “Now c’mon, let’s get back out there before Izzy realizes we aren’t doing our jobs. Last thing I need right now is the emotional whiplash of him yelling at me.”

That night, Mo sat on deck, waiting for Izzy. They had pushed a crate over to the railing so they could perch on it, looking out over the sea and the way the moonlight danced on the water. Before too long, they heard the fall of familiar footsteps.

“Hey, Iz,” they said, not bothering to turn around. “Isn’t the water beautiful tonight?”

Izzy sat down next to them. “Yeah, I guess it is.” He cleared his throat. “I overheard Wee John telling Bonnet about you running off with your mate Frenchie earlier today. He said you seemed upset.” He paused, swallowing thickly. “I guess I wanted to see if you were alright.” He glanced over, but Mo still did not turn towards him.

Instead, they looked down at their hands as they fiddled with their ring. Normally, Izzy noticing that they were upset and asking about them would make them feel over the moon, but tonight it felt like a cruel joke. The moment they realized what they wanted, something that could never be, that’s when he started being nice.

Mo sighed. “Yeah,” they said flatly. “Yeah, I’m okay. I just had a rough day.” They finally glanced over at Izzy, who hadn’t broken his stare. “Sorry for dragging Frenchie away from his work, and abandoning my own job. It won’t happen again.”

Izzy furrowed his brow. “It’s alright,” he said, uncharacteristically offhandedly. “What happened to make today rough, if you don’t mind me asking?” His voice was so gentle, it made Mo want to cry. He cleared his throat. “If something is happening among the crew to cause stress, I need to know. Part of the job.”

Mo could feel the muscles in their shoulders tighten, their jaw clenching. They could feel the emotions bubbling up, but they had no choice but to stomp them down. Izzy wouldn’t understand. Any big emotions scared him, and this emotion would have him jumping over the railing to get away.

“I’m sorry,” Mo managed, voice shaking. “I-I can’t talk about it. It’s all just…a bit much right now.” They sniffled. “So, you ready for our lesson?” they asked weakly, desperate to change the subject. “I was thinking maybe we could try fist fighting again.”

Izzy frowned, studying their face closely. “You sure you’re up for that?” he asked after a few seconds. “If you’re not feeling well, we don’t have to train tonight. Like you said, we shouldn’t be wearing ourselves ragged.” Mo smiled weakly. “So now you’re using my own advice against me? Low blow, Izzy.”

Izzy gave a small smile. “Anything to keep you from hurting yourself.” His words felt like a knife in their heart as they clambered off the crate onto their feet. “Please, Iz, just fight me. A little pain might actually ground me right now.” They chuckled sadly. “It’s better than getting piss drunk. Or at least I think it is.”

Izzy sighed tiredly, looking out over the ocean. The sad sound tugged at Mo’s heartstrings.

“Is there anything else that would ground you?” he asked, looking at them intently. “Something that wouldn’t break your ribs?”

Mo shrugged. “Nothing that I’ve found,” they answered honestly. “It’s always either been fighting or, when it gets really bad, drinking. I know it’s probably not the best coping in the world, but it’s better than mindless sex or drugs.” They paused, sighing. “Again, that’s my guess. I’ve never been one for either, but who knows.”

Izzy stood up from the crate, an odd look on his face as he walked to stand in front of Mo. He gazed down at them, his expression nervous but determined. He slowly stepped forward, closing the gap between them as he leaned down to kiss them.

The kiss was soft at first. Feeling Mo kiss him back, Izzy wrapped his arms around them, pulling them closer as their hands went to the back of his neck. Very quickly it grew in intensity until the two were struggling to breathe, each unwilling to pull away first from their frenzied embrace. Izzy’s hands went down to settle on Mo’s waist, and Mo pulled back, breaking the kiss.

“Wait, wait,” they stammered, panting gently. “What is this?” they asked, their voice quiet as they searched his face for answers.

Izzy’s expression was soft as he looked down at them. “It’s what you need.” He leaned back down, recapturing their lips.

Mo pushed against Izzy’s chest, forcing him away and breaking the kiss.

“No, no, no, no. I can’t do this, Izzy! Not-not with you!”

He pulled back, hurt flashing across his face.

“I’m sorry, it’s not what you think,” they rushed to explain. “It’s not that I don’t want to, it’s just, I- I can’t do this with you!”

He swallowed hard, using one hand to smooth his hair back. “I’m sorry,” he said quietly, his voice low and gruff. “I must have misread the situation.” He tried to walk away, but Mo reached out and grabbed his hand, pulling him back.

“Izzy, no! It’s not what you think, it’s not that I don’t want to, I just can’t!” “Why?!” he demanded, stepping closer to look down at them. “If it’s really not what I think, then what is it?”

Mo faltered. This wasn’t something that should just be blurted out. They tried to speak, but the words got stuck in their throat, leaving them squeaking and fumbling over words.

“For fuck’s sake, Mo! Just spit it out already!” A spark of anger ignited in Mo’s chest, burning away at their caution. “This is for your sake, asshole!” Mo spat. “I’m trying to find the right way to say it so I don’t freak you out, but I guess that’s unavoidable because you have no fucking patience! So you wanna know what it is?”

Izzy nodded, holding his arms out to the side. His face was red with anger as he glared at them.

“I have fucking feelings for you, you dick!” They faltered, their anger fading away. “I just…I can’t do this with you and then pretend in the morning that I don’t want to stay with you. I can’t do that and then just be friends, or colleagues, or whatever the fuck it is you’ve been calling whatever we are. I can’t be that close to having everything I want just to walk away in the morning and pretend like I’m fine.” They sighed, covering their face with their hands. They breathed heavily, slowly realizing the weight of what they had just revealed.

“Look,” Mo said, slowly peeling their hands back down, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to blurt that out to you. You don’t have to say anything. Well, maybe something.” They chuckled halfheartedly. “You-you don’t have to feel any pressure, is what I meant. I get it, you’re…not like me.”

Mo glanced up at Izzy. His face was stony, impossible to read. His eyes flitted around, his mind clearly going a mile a minute even as he stayed frozen in place.

“Iz?” they asked cautiously. “Please say something. Anything. Or punch me. Just…something, please.” Izzy stayed silent, refusing to look Mo in the eye.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, he spoke, still averting his eyes.

“Did Spriggs put you up to this?” His voice was flat, all fight gone from it.

“W-what?” Mo stammered out. “No, Lucius doesn’t even know. I mean, he might suspect something, since he’s basically a psychic when it comes to stuff like this, but I haven’t told him. The only one who knows is Frenchie, and that’s just because I had a public fucking meltdown on deck today about it.” They faltered. “Why would you think someone put me up to this?” Izzy’s mouth tightened, locking his jaw as he turned his face away.

Mo’s heart dropped. “Oh, Izzy,” they whispered. “I’m not saying this for anyone else. I promise, this is real. All of these fucked up emotions are mine.” They slowly reached out, ignoring the way their hand shook, and cupped his cheek, turning his face to look at them. “I promise, Iz.” His eyes, normally either ice cold or shooting daggers, were vulnerable. His face was guarded, but his eyes betrayed him, the sheen showing nothing but fear and hurt. His mustache twitched as they looked at him, betraying the nerves he was working so hard to hide. He looked devastated.

Mo dropped their hand, looking down at their feet. “I shouldn’t have said anything,” they said under their breath. “I’m such a fucking idiot. Look, we can just forget this whole thing,” they proposed. “I-I’ll just go to bed. It’ll be like this never happened. And if you want to stop out night lessons…I get it.” They ignored the prickling in their eyes, fiddling with a drawstring on their pants absent mindedly.

Fighting to keep their last bit of courage, they slowly forward, pressing a gentle kiss on his cheek. “Sleep well, Izzy,” they whispered, blinking away tears as they pulled back.

Mo made it through the door leading into the lower area of the ship before the tears began to fall. They forced themselves to keep walking, refusing to give in to the urge to just lean against the hallway wall and sob. They finally made it to the doorway of the crew’s sleeping quarters, forcing their breathing to return to normal and their shoulders to stop shaking before opening the door.

They crept through the crowded room to curl up next to Frenchie. The tall man stirred when he felt Mo tugging gently at a blanket, and shifted over, holding the blanket up for them to slide under. He first noticed the streaks of tears when they sat down, gently brushing away the salt water as Mo laid their head on his chest. He wrapped his arms tightly around them, playing with their hair and gently shooshing them as they shook with emotion. It took at least half an hour for them to stop trembling and sniffling, and at least another hour before they were able to drift into an uneasy sleep.

#ofmd #izzy hands #izzy hands x reader #izzy hands x oc

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internerdionality · 6 months

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Well I would LOVE to hear more about the t4t4t gentlescribed modern AU— What situation have they found themselves in? If you’re inclined to post a snippet obviously I’d be thrilled to read it

Okay! 😊 So, this fic arose because I was talking with fandom friends how the most common character, by far, in the fandom to get headcanoned as trans is Izzy, to the extent that people are starting to tag Cis!Izzy on fics where he's not trans, right? Which, no judgment or negativity there whatsoever, we just happened to be talking about how and why that became a thing.

And then I said 'wouldn't it be funny if I wrote a modern AU where everyone except Izzy is trans?'

And of course, then I had to do that.

Another idea I'd been noodling on for a while was something happening between Lucius and Ed when Lucius goes in to comfort Ed in S01E10. (I've seen other variations of that, liked them a lot, always wanted to play with it.)

So. In this fic, Lucius and Stede are both trans men, everyone else in the crew is some flavor of not-cis, the Revenge is a queer nonprofit that helps provide housing and funds for trans/enby folk in need, Ed and Izzy run an antifa biker gang/minor drug ring, and Ed's egg starts to crack when they all run into each other. (That's all backstory, the fic starts with Lucius going in to comfort Ed after the catastrophe.)

Note that Ed is trans femme/enby in this fic, but she doesn't know that yet, so they are still using he/him pronouns in this snippet.

“Okay, well. Blackbeard. Sir. How are you doing?” “Don’t have to call me that,” Blackbeard said, a little bit of a whine in his voice. “I mean—I don’t know if I want to be Blackbeard anymore. Not like there’s even a gray beard, anymore.” “We noticed that,” Lucius said tentatively. “What, ah—what happened? If you want to talk about it.” Blackb—fuck, what was Lucius supposed to call him?—shrugged. “Pigs said it was a security issue, could hide shit in it or some fucking BS like that. Coulda fought it, or kept a shorter one, but. Thought it’d maybe be smart, you know? Be less recognizable. Got a lot of enemies in prison. Didn’t end up staying long enough for it to matter, though.” “That makes sense,” Lucius encouraged. “And, maybe it just felt like time to try something new?” The other’s eyes widened and fixed on Lucius, as if he were seeing him for the first time. “Yeah,” he breathed. “Yeah, I just… I wanted to be someone else, you know? Sick of being this.” “Well, what would you like me to call you?” Lucius asked. The person formerly known as Blackbeard pursed his lips. “I always liked it when people called me Eddie,” he said softly.

#our flag means death #our flag means fanfic #writing wip #snippet #gentlescribed #lucius spriggs #ofmd blackbeard #ofmd edward teach #ask answered

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bubblepopsims · 4 months

Text

J: "oh shut it old dust fart."

There was a brief moment were both parties just death stared at one another. During this time Katrina finally came and brought the documents including a fresh cup of tea for each member. Trying to leave the high-tension room as quick as possible.

Juju gave the elderly woman known as Katrina a small smile and helped her pick up a fallen cloth. only to Hear Savrina's mouth once again going. S: "get away from her with your filthy disgusting hands. i don't want you tainting anything more than you already have!"

Juju tilted her head to the side as if to make sure she actually just heard what Savrina was saying but it didn't stop there. S: "It's people like you that defiled my sweet little girl! First that disgusting thing that I found in bed with my little girl! Having her think she likes women now and is dressing like a man! It's disgusting, you guys are disgusting. If i knew you were going to turn out like that i would have gotten rid of you long ago!"

J: “What did you just say?” juju couldn’t believe the words that spilled from the poisonous couple in front of her. Saying such things about their own child.. her love.. fists were beginning to form and before she knew it her feet moved step by step closer only to be stopped by Izzi.

I: “Ju.. Baby..no. It’s okay.. it doesn’t get to me anymore..”

Juju turned her head locking her eyes on pleading grey ones. Izzi was lightly shaking their head for her not to.

J: “baby im sorry but no. fuck no. are you serious? You really expect me to stand here and listen to them disprect you, the person I fucking LOVE so fucking much, be belittled, gaslit and beraded infront of me. Fuck no. absolutely fucking not. I love you, and you can be mad at me for this all you want, I will make it up to you for the rest of our fucking lives, but I can not stand here and listen to these swines, these disgusting, venomous, degrading, manipulative pieces of absolute everything I hate.”

Juju pushed Izzi’s arm out the way and approached Savrina, she was careful with her step yet confident. Standing a few feet in front of her.

J:“ You must feel really good about yourself don’t you Mrs. Ivanov, you “perfect” coldhearted venomous snake. who I have come to learn a lot, and I mean A LOT about. You see baby your mother is nothing but a good-for-nothing gold-digging bitch. -juju laughed-

J:"juju dared and rested her hand on the woman’s shoulder-But why am I even surprised. I mean you guys literally snitch on people to get to the top. Do you know what happens to snitches? They get fucking stitches and I am the one that is the cause of those stitches. I used to break faces of people like you, destroyed them and made them wish they were dead instead… so listen up buttercup”

J: You sat up here belittling everything that Izzi has built for themselves. Yes THEMSELVES. So You will address them correctly because quite frankly they are above you.” Juju spat with a devious laugh that followed. “You are nothing… nothing”

J: “Izzi didn’t have to play tricks, didn’t have to lie, steal or FUCK anyone to get to the top -her eyes staring directly through to Savrina- yeah let's talk about it shall we? How many did you Fuck Savrina to get you to where you are mmm… maybe 3… 5…. How about your whole fucking office build Lawson. Yeahhh your wife has been cheating on you continuously.. taking bits by bits of your money and stashing it in various accounts by people you work for… mmm”

Lawson's eyes shoot over at Savrina who for the first time showed any emotion in her face. And she was pissed.. Izzi only saw this face once and it was when they were caught with Ruby… and even now it sent shivers down their spine. Juju on the other hand seemed unphased even dared to get right up in Savrina’s face.

J:“you want to tell him your grand plan or should i?”

Savrina’s eyes widened as if there was no way juju would know of this. But by the expression on her face, that malicious and confident grin.

J: “You are going to die of a sudden heart attack Lawon. Just like… your grandfather.” Juju looks over her shoulder at Izzi whose mouth fell open.

L: “what?”

J: “Yes. She killed him, or more so had him killed off... You see your mother is an evil woman.. doesn’t care about anyone but herself.. and she craves power and money..”

S: “I had enough of you!” Savrina took her attempt to get her hands on juju, but something that had been forgotten in juju was that she was a fighter, a survivor, and not someone who was about to get beat on by a woman who quite literally she felt sorry for.

previous - next

#ts4 simblr #ts4 #ts4 screenshots #ts4 story #the tribe #my sims #oc: juju #oc: izzi

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run-me-through-but-not-like-that · 1 year

Text

Two of Spades

Shout out to anyone who read the Ace of Spades series, here's another instalment. This one is short but sweet, the next one will be a little longer and a little smutty!

Summary: Izzy and Spades finally get around to giving each other those tattoos they talked about.

The Revenge was anchored in safe waters, at least as safe as waters came. Buttons was on watch, somebody with a good eye, and the rest of the crew was sleeping. It was a quiet night, the crew dozing away in dream, and the waters steady.

It was the perfect time for the two men in the first mate’s cabin to set up Izzy’s old tattooing kit. It wasn’t anything special but it was reliable, varying sizes of needles and ink that was still good.

The two men sat on the floor of their cabin, legs folded beneath themselves, and facing each other with the tattooing equipment laid out beside them. An oil lamp placed close enough to provide proper lighting.

“You can do mine first,” Izzy offered as he sterilised the needle.

“Sure,” Spades nodded. “Last chance to back out,” he warned.

“Getting second thoughts?” Izzy glanced at him, raising an eyebrow.

“Not in the slightest,” Spades responded with no trace of uncertainty.

Once he was content with the job he had done, Izzy handed over the needle and held his hand out to be tattooed. Spades smiled as he shuffled closer, taking hold of Izzy’s hand before inking up the needle.

Izzy couldn’t help but stare at their enjoined hands for a moment, marvelling in how Spades cradled his hand in his lap, gently and with care. He thought he may have gotten used to the treatment he received from the younger man, but perhaps he never would.

“You have given somebody a tattoo before, right?” Izzy asked as the needle was brought to his hand.

“Yeah, don’t worry. Given two before, and we didn’t even have a nice kit. Surprised the ink didn’t kill them,” Spades assured him. At least, that’s what Izzy thinks he was trying to do.

“You let them go near your face with bad ink?” there was a clear judgemental edge to Izzy’s question, as if he hadn’t done stupid things in his youth.

“I was young and dumb, what can I say?” Spades shrugged before beginning the tattoo, making the first poke of the needle. Izzy nodded slightly, more to himself than anything. Spades knew what he was doing, at least a little. The stab was deep enough, the ink would stay, he shouldn’t have to offer him any guidance.

“You’re lucky it healed so well,” the first mate tutted.

“Yeah, but now it’s real pretty, right?” Spades grinned, shooting him a wink.

“Right,” Izzy muttered, purposely glancing away. Spades was pretty, too fucking gorgeous for his own good, in Izzy’s opinion.

Spades smirked to himself, knowing exactly what Izzy’s avoidance meant, as he completed the outline.

“Good size and everything?” Spades asked.

Izzy turned his attention back to the fresh ink between his thumb and index finger, inspecting it. He could complain about how it was a little too late to be asking that, that if he wanted it smaller it was too late, but he didn’t. “Yeah, it’s good.”

Spades smiled before tugging his hand back into his lap, filling in the shape he made. Izzy didn’t even flinch as he worked, finding the repetitive sting somewhat comforting, he knew what to expect, knew not to tense when the needle pricked his skin. Spades had a steady hand and worked consistently, didn’t fuss over him after every poke, Izzy was grateful for that.

“Done!” Spades announced proudly after laying the final prick.

Izzy lifted his hand, examining the tattoo. The Ace of Spades, inky black against his skin. It matched the tattoo on Spades’ face perfectly, though his was obviously healed.

“My turn,” Spades grinned, an enthusiasm Izzy had become fond of. A breath of fresh air, a light in the darkness. Izzy shook his head fondly, taking the needle from him. He turned back to the alcohol and flame, sanitising it again. “Very thorough, First Mate Hands,” he teased.

“Don’t much fancy risking an infection,” Izzy retorted.

Once he was done cleaning the needle, he gestured for Spades’ hand. Without hesitation, Spades placed his hand in Izzy’s. He held it with a surprising tenderness, just like Spades had held his.

The first mate got to work quickly, etching the cross into the skin between Spades’ thumb and index finger, ensuring the lines were straight and clean. Spades would flinch every now and again but took it well, it wasn’t a large piece by any means but it was in a fairly sensitive place.

He was done soon enough, Izzy was efficient like that.

“There. If you don’t like it, too late now,” Izzy declared, releasing his hand.

Spades smiled down at the cross on his hand. “It’s perfect, Iz,” he insisted, “thank you.” Spades wondered if he would get to see it fade, until it looked the exact way Izzy’s did.

“Alright, it’s nothing special,” Izzy rolled his eyes, wiping down the needle of excess ink.

“Uh-huh, sure,” Spades chuckled, watching Izzy clean the needle before tucking it away in his kit. “You’re a real artist,” he teased, knowing exactly how Izzy would respond.

“Fuck off.” There it was, the tried and true scoff.

“I mean it,” Spades smirked, crawling forward into his lap. Izzy huffed, pushing his kit further to the side, but certainly made no move to actually stop him. “Maybe I should have you do some more tattoos for me, make me look like a real pirate,” he hummed, snaking his arms around Izzy’s neck.

“Yeah, like what?” Izzy asked, playing along as his hands settled on Spades’ hips.

“Hmmm…maybe a ship or an anchor, something nautical. Might even earn myself a Swallow just like yours one day,” Spades considered, looking up the ceiling as he pondered his options. Then his face lit up in mock enlightenment, meeting Izzy’s gaze again. “How about…I.H right on my hip,” he suggested, a twinkle in his eyes.

“Fuck off,” Izzy laughed, an honest to god laugh. “You’ve practically already got my brand now,” he reminded him.

“Yeah? And you’ve got mine,” Spades wiggled his eyebrows before dipping in and kissing him.

“Have to tidy up,” Izzy protested weakly, as if wasn’t melting into the affection, as if he wasn’t chasing his mouth even as he spoke.

“You capped the ink. It won’t spill,” Spades assured him, lips brushing against his, just close enough to tease.

“Spades,” Izzy groaned, whether it was to tidy up or to kiss him again, neither were sure.

“Izzy,” Spades groaned back teasingly. “It won’t go anywhere,” he promised, offering a peck to his lips.

“...you know tattoo care, right?” Izzy asked. A clear after thought.

“My face didn’t get infected, did it?” Spades asked, only receiving an unimpressed look from Izzy. “I know, I know. Keep it clean, wrapped if possible. Don’t scratch at it. Hey, I think Roach even has some coconut oil, that will help with the healing process.”

“Alright, I’m convinced,” Izzy nodded, nose knocking against his.

“Thank fuck,” Spades breathed out before diving right back in for another kiss.

This time, Izzy’s arms looped around his waist, tugging him closer as he returned the kiss fervently. Izzy knew he was getting too old for this, to be sitting on the floor, making out on the ground of his cabin when there was a perfectly good cot right next to them both. But he couldn’t find it within himself to care, not with Spades holding and touching him like this.

#israel hands x reader #izzy hands x reader #ofmd izzy #izzy hands #ofmd #ofmd x reader #our flag means death

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quillyfied · 7 months

Text

Okay next batch of episode thoughts that I don’t know that I can expand into real coherent thoughts so heck it we’re doing it live and cramming them together, no chronology just memory vibes, PART TWO:

- “that’s six inches of silver in your scapula” MADAM.

- They’re doing an amazing job of showing Izzy in a pure pathetic state. I still have a lot of conflicted emotions about him but his increased confidence and ease around the ship BECAUSE the crew is taking time to be kind to him is…it’s. I don’t. GOLD UNICORN LEG OKAY. THE CARE THEY ARE SHOWING HIM AND HE DOES NOT DESERVE IT AND HE KNOWS IT AND HE BELIEVES IT BUT IT IS CHANGING HIM FOR THE BETTER ANYWAY.

- once again my expectations are being undercut. Of course Buttons isn’t the rabbit. Silly of me to think that. Of course he isn’t going to screw up turning into a seagull. He’s Buttons.

- …he’s coming back, though, right?? Guys Buttons is coming back at some point, right????

- Hang on have to go giggle about Izzy dragging himself across the floor mumbling existential horrors and shouting at the unicorn and then barking at people knocking on his door.

- Also have to giggle about the two halves of the crew coming at each other trying to help in two different ways and talking it through on their own, without Stede’s direct interference. I’m so proud of them.

- Wee John might just be slowly transforming into a mermaid. And I want his sweater.

- Ed referring to himself and the rabbit as lone wolves but immediately imprinting on the thing—and it not leaving him, either.

- HES SCARED OF SPIDERS

- How instantly Ed is glad to see Mary and Anne though. And the secret handshake with Anne. I cry.

- I also cry over how Anne instantly smells blood in the water with Stede before even knowing his connection to Ed.

- Like I guess Buttons not coming back makes sense bc he gave the most profound advice of the entire show and then flew off as a seagull, thereby completing his life’s dream, but have they considered the fact that I will miss him.

- (And so will the crew)

- I love that Ed and Stede finally have it out and get to a point where they can start to heal. I also find it so interesting to see the difference in what the fandom thought would be important to bring up, and what the show itself seems important to bring up. Stede could have blamed Badminton for his cowardice, but he doesn’t; he owns it and makes a greater stride towards mending things with Ed and being better himself. Ed could have mentioned what Izzy said to him, but instead he’s starting to work at the greater issue of his own self-loathing and how that drove him to harming the crew. It’s entirely possible that those details will come up later, but. I think Izzy has a point when he says it’s better to patch things with fiction (or silence) than never moving on. And maybe the hashing out of this stuff belongs to fanfic, not to canon. Because the events themselves don’t matter so much to canon as does what those events represented and THAT is what is getting fixed and addressed.

- Mary Read’s whole thing about “this is what an adult relationship looks like.” I have so many conflicted personal feelings about it. The summary: never been in a romantic relationship before and now at an age where I’ve witnessed plenty but I’m terrified of how I’ll be if and when that ever happens for me, bc the only experiences I’ve got is watching others and fiction. And I just was listening to both my mom and sister in law talking about how so many women my sil’s age have gotten divorced bc their expectations for what a marriage is were unrealistic, how marriage is more like a business transaction. And I was too scared to ask for clarification at the time. And I really do wonder if Mary has a point, yknow. When the mystery fades and the magic is gone…what’s left? Bc fiction tells us one thing. Real life often tells another. Dying alone doesn’t sound fun but it sounds better than accidentally ruining my and/or someone else’s life based on a false hope, yknow?

- Anyway that’s way too personal time to move on

- TO ANNE SETTING THEIR STIFLING LIFE ABLAZE AND REALLY REKINDLING THAT ROMANCE WITH MARY. HELL YEAH LADIES GET IT.

- I know it’s never gonna be addressed but please can the satanic ship be addressed at some point, even as a throwaway line

- (Also patiently awaiting the literal translation of what the dying priest was saying)

- PUT STEDE BACK IN FINE FABRICS 1717

- The absolute ball you know they were all having with this episode. Rhys Darby your FACE when screaming at Izzy after he reiterates that it’s cursed.

- Just the sheer hope in Ed’s face as he witnesses Buttons(?) fly away, as he submits to the jumpsuit and cat bell, the enthusiasm with which he jumps in to go fishing with Fang. The man is going through it but I love seeing him so earnest

- LUCIUS THO. SO MANY THOUGHTS. First and foremost I want his outfit this season, forget Stede’s cursed suit for a minute let’s talk about how Lucius is SERVING this season (and why it’s making me more hopeful for ABBA on the soundtrack at some point)

- How Pete gets through to him by pointing out that HE LIVED BITCH. TALK ABOUT A PERSPECTIVE CHANGE. Also the various blackbeard doodles I’m dying

- Izzy turning the tables on Lucius. I love a good parallel.

- Pete tho. Marry the F out of that man, Lu, he’s a keeper.

- “Loner artsy types” EXPLAIN CALICO JACK TO ME

- AND ALSO I NEED NAMES AND DESCRIPTIONS OF THESE OTHER ARTSY LONER TYPES

- Fang is such a wonderful character and we are so blessed to have him. I was a little wary that Fang was going to try and off (or offload) Ed just to make the crew feel better, but what we got was so much softer and better. Teaching Ed in such a gentle and honest way to examine himself! To sit with himself and learn to value the company! Telling Ed that he’s been crossing boundaries for a long time and giving Ed space to apologize and process! HIS NAME IS KEVIN AND IT’S A FOUR HUNDRED YEAR OLD TRADITION.

- Listen. Listen. Listen. Shirtless Con O’Niell is. A gift. That shirtlessness belonging to the character of Izzy is a little more of a conflict for me but given that Izzy has entered his “little shit and owning it” phase, I’m inclined to enjoy it.

- Also the SHEER BALLS on Stede Bonnet to manipulate Izzy into teaching him some piracy bits. That little stutter when Izzy tries to act unaffected but still asks what Blackbeard said about him. I’m just. Omg.

- And the way Stede sucks at the practicality but he excels at the instinctive/emotional bits. How he’s so creative and genuine and absolutely won his crew’s respect and loyalty and continues to prove that he’s worth it. I ADORE Stede Bonnet.

- Okay I gotta I gotta I gotta: KISS NUMBER TWOOOOOOO. I’ve only kissed one person in my time so far but I remember the moment after that initial dam break, when it occurred to me that I was allowed to kiss this person again; something about the casual way Ed and Stede both lean in just feels the same way to me. Like this is their new normal and they like it. And ADORE Ed setting a boundary and Stede immediately respecting it. AND. THE FINGERS. THE PLAYING. Comparing their games to what Anne and Mary get up to, it does make me hopeful that a mature relationship can be comfortable and playful and sweet and not just a grind or a business transaction. Idk man.

- Now I fully forgot that the episodes have post credits scenes so my reactions to them are not included here but I’ll be rewatching all five episodes later tonight so maybe a separate little baby post about them later.

#our flag means death #ofmd s2 #ofmd s2 spoilers #here we go much more timely #mainly bc I want to get these out BEFORE I do a rewatch #so it’s just initial thoughts and memories #more in depth posts will come later I think

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canonizzyhours · 3 months

Note

Re 250

Thank you this fandom needs more clarification of shipping. I don’t like edizzy bc what you described doesn’t appeal to me, but I can see the basic “enemies to lovers” hate sex vibes of stizzy easily. IN FIC. i used to read fic of these ships and talk about them but I backed away when I realized how many other people not only wanted it to be canon but convinced themselves it would be and started harassing people about it. I don’t want it canon! Izzy needs to stay far the fuck away in canon. Any Izzy ship as endgame would have been awful. At this point I’m afraid that people like us who like certain boilerplate fic dynamics are a minority among angry truthers. The truthers behavior ruined these fic ships for me bc they made me so angry I stopped talking to or trusting other Izzy fans unless I knew them well enough to know they didn’t believe he was a canon love interest. It ruined the enjoyment of toxic ship fics. I read other fandoms now for that bc there is so much racism against Ed and anger against gentle beard shippers in a fandom for a romance about gentle beard. Like get over it canyon it’s not canon it was never going to be canon I never wanted it to be canon and truthers harassed people out of the fandom and created a hostile environment for everyone else even those of us who also like Izzy fics. I went back and looked to see what was new and it’s all just full of Ed slander, edizzy turned into poor abused woobie and big evil brown man (that’s racist) and stizzy turned into stede and Izzy comforting each other when Ed is mean. Where are the fics of these pairings where Izzy is the bad guy? Making Izzy into a white man woobie ruined Izzy fandom. It’s racist and it’s boring. I would be overjoyed if other Izzy shippers made a distinction between fics they like and what they wanted in canon but the canyon killed the potential for self aware ofmd villain fucking and became assholes devoted to punishing fans of canon for enjoying canon. Id have stopped watching the show if steddyhands edizzy or stizzy had been canon, but I’d have stayed in the Izzy fandom if it hadn’t turned into what it is. You’re right, toe eating is sex and “Izzy did nothing wrong” makes fic and meta boring. Izzy is fun bc the other characters hate him. I kind of hate him and I love the guy. It feels like most Izzy fans just switched his personality/backstory with Ed’s and just went off on a flight of fancy about it. Let Ed be Ed. Let Izzy be Izzy. And for gods sake let canon be canon. Canyon needs to understand the difference between porn and and the source material bc their version of izzy ruined enjoyment of BOTH.

#256.

related posts: #250

#ofmd #izzy hands #edward teach #edizzy #fandom critical #canonizzyhours

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ourflagmeansfanfic · 2 years

Text

The Cat Came Back

Word Count: 4.9 k

The Revenge is dealing with a mouse infestation! Whatever will they do? Certainly not a cat, they are witches with knives in their feet, after all.

Song inspiration can be found here.

“Captain, I’ve got some bad news for yah,” Buttons approached Stede cautiously. He motioned for Stede to follow him from the deck to the hold. Stede raised an eyebrow in question but followed his first mate.

“It’s not mutiny again, is it Mr. Buttons?” Stede asked nervously. He remembered shortly after establishing the crew of the Revenge that they had threatened to throw him overboard.

As Buttons took Stede below deck, Olivia the seagull flew off his head and perched on a nearby barrel to wait for his return. He guided Stede towards the area where food was kept, greeted by both Frenchie and Roach. “No captain, not mutiny. We’ve got mice.”

Roach was on the floor, tearing up bread and putting it in a line like Hansel and Gretel. Once he was out of bread, he sat down with his hands forming a cup. With pursed lips, he waited to pounce.

“Roach, I can’t have you catching mice with your bare hands!” Stede sighed, exasperated with the ship’s cook. He rubbed between his eyes with a furrowed brow and looked to Buttons for help.

“Captain,” Frenchie started, while backing away from Roach’s homemade mouse trap. “Please do something. I’m scared of mice, yah know? They’re germy,” he looked at Stede and Buttons frantically and rubbed the back of his neck.

“Well! I have an idea!” Stede clapped his hands together excitedly. “For now, I suggest we poison some of that bread on the floor, Roach. But next time we dock, I think we should get ourselves a mouser.”

Frenchie gritted his teeth and sighed. “A what-now captain?” he wrung his hands together. With his previous experience ‘in service,’ he thought he knew where this was going. Should it be true, he did not like the idea.

“Aye Frenchie, a cat,” Buttons responded. Frenchie and Roach eyed each other, both aware of the superstition. Roach, being a little less concerned, shrugged with a light smile.

“Oh, come on Frenchie, you don’t actually believe those old wives’ tales, do you?” Stede groaned and put a hand on Frenchie’s shoulder. A lot of ships had cats on them for this very reason. Food was scarce as it was; little miscreants helping themselves to some did the crew no good.

Giving Stede a nervous grin, Frenchie responded, “Well, even if they aren’t witches, they still have knives in their feet.” He tried to nudge Roach for support but to no avail. “And I do think they’re witches,” he added, just for good measure.

At that moment, there was a loud clattering as Roach launched himself towards the tail of a mouse behind a crate. He managed to bump into a precariously balanced stack of jars, spilling orange marmalade all around the room. It would be difficult to think anyone escaped without a drop of marmalade plastered to them. Buttons stuck his tongue out in an attempt to lick some off of his nose.

“Okay, that’s that,” Stede decided. “Oh, and don’t let The Swede eat any of the bait.”

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The Revenge was set to take a rare trip to the Northern British Colonies to port at Cape Cod. No one was quite certain the Revenge could handle the swell of a northern ocean storm, the sea tossing the boat to and fro.

Wee John, Frenchie, and Black Pete were busy on starboard watch. Buttons kept a close eye on the course of the ship, while Stede watched the sea with a spyglass. Izzy was below deck nursing an upset stomach. Fang and Ivan ran about to batten the hatches. Everyone had it in mind that second mate Olu should allow everyone to go below for safety. But Ed assured Stede it was clear enough to dock.

Frenchie helped Wee John to untangle some rope and store it for future use. “I’m tellin’ yah, it’s all this talk of gettin’ a cat. The curse already hit,” Frenchie sighed, looking out at the grey waves.

Jim and Lucius finished with securing and lowering the sails so they wouldn’t tear, joining the starboard watch group. “Aw come on Frenchie, the kitty could be cute,” Lucius teased. Black Pete wrapped an arm around his boyfriend. “Of course, not as cute as you, love,” Lucius smiled.

The Eastham lighthouse came into view, cutting through the clouds. As Buttons skillfully steered the ship around sand bars, lightning struck nearby, and the thunder rumbled so loud that the crew could feel it shake the ship. Stede grabbed onto Ed’s arm to steady himself, their clothes and skin drenched from the rain.

“If we run aground, I am never trusting any of y’all again,” Frenchie retorted, grimacing at his crewmates.

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By some miracle, the Revenge docked in Eastham with minimal damage. Yet, with damage to the main mast, it was inevitable that the crew would have to stay in Cape Cod for an evening or two while it was repaired. Many disembarked with desires to find a tavern or even just get their land legs back.

Frenchie, Wee John, the Swede, and Roach banded together to explore the town. No one knowing the port well made it safer to stick in a group. Roach led the way as the pack bounded down a cobblestone street.

Eastham was a drab town, especially in the rain. What was one to expect in an east coast town? With a chill down their spines, the crew found a pub and ducked into the warm light of lanterns.

Nothing is quite as soothing to a group of sea-worn pirates as the amber glow of tavern lights. As they approached the counter, the lines on their foreheads from fret began to melt away. Porters, stouts, and ciders in hand, the group found a table tucked away in the back and settled in for a long night of drink and chatter.

Using his tankard to point at the others, Roach started, “We have to get more oranges. Captain made me make another one of those cakes and, with the marmalade spilling,” he sighed, frustrated, and crossed his arms.

“Those cakes don’t even have much flavor, Roach. It feels like such a waste,” Frenchie grimaced. He ran his finger over the top of his cup, as if bored. It was clear this was a crew that needed a break. Morale was down, and for some, discontent was arising. Why were they in the North, where no ships worth plundering could be found? All that were here was silly little British ships bringing settlers to the new world.

Wee John gave Frenchie a slap on the back in an attempt to cheer him up. “Aww come on Frenchie, don’t yah like Roach’s cakes?”

“’Suppose so. Just not when this one’s getting close to scurvy,” he pointed at the Swede. In response, the Swede put his hands up in defense.

“It’s not my fault!” the Swede squeaked. “Roach agreed to make the cakes,” he justified.

“He’s the captain. Of course, I did what Stede asked,” Roach fired back. Roach stood up, about ready to put his hands around the Swede’s neck.

As if trying to tell the crew to stop arguing, a clattering took over as something jumped onto the table. Drinks almost spilled and silverware screeched against the wooden tabletop. But, once the dust had settled, the crew was surprised to see a four-legged, furry creature on the table. Its fur was dark as the night and ragged. Eyes shown through the tufts like bright emeralds.

The tavern’s barkeep ran over and picked up the creature, while she apologized profusely. “So sorry boys, she’s been chasin’ around my knitting thimble and jumpin’ around like a bunny rabbit,” the barkeep smiled while rubbing the creature’s head.

"Is that your child?” the Swede asked, obviously endlessly confused.

The barkeep chuckled. “No, no. It’s just a raggedy kitten with no tail, dear. Our cat just had a litter and now we don’t know what to do with them all.” She set the kitten back onto the floor and patted it as if telling it to scoot along.

Roach looked to the others with a smile. Knowingly, Wee John gave Roach a thumbs up, but Frenchie shook his head ‘no.’ “Do you know what I’m thinking? I think we just found our mouser,” Roach waved back to the barkeep to tell her that he knew just the way to get rid of one of those kittens.

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“Wonderful job boys!” Stede beamed as Roach dropped the fluffy excuse of a cat into Stede’s arms. Stede rubbed the kitten on its belly, waggling his fingers around in a playful manner. Showing its prowess, the kitten managed to sink its teeth into one of Stede’s fingers. “Yikes! That’s sharp. It’ll do nicely,” he pried the kitten off him. A rush of blood came from the little vampire-like marks.

Wee John laughed and took the kitten from Stede so he could dress his bleeding finger. “It’s a right little bastard, aye Captain?” he smiled. The kitten and Wee John had started to bond, as the kitten realized it could scratch and bite with barely any complaint from the large man.

“Yes, yes, and a witch!” Frenchie piped up in reminder. “You better wash up quick, Captain. You don’t know what its’ done to yah.”

“Now, now, Frenchie,” Stede chastised. “I have business to attend to. How about you all figure out a name for the rascal?” He raised an eyebrow and smiled at the group as if to say, “you’re going to do this whether or not you like it.” With a twirl, Stede sauntered off to somewhere else on the ship.

“Rat,” Frenchie immediately suggested. “Oh, or maybe Devil.”

Roach sighed, “You just are not going to let this go, man?” He pinched his fingers around the bridge of his nose as if relieving a headache.

Wee John placed a gentle finger under the kitten’s chin to get a better look at her face. “How ‘bout we call her Thimble?” He leaned down and delicately placed the kitten on the floor to let her get to work. The kitten instantly wandered off into the boxes.

Hearing no objection, Wee John decided that the name was decided. He liked the idea of naming the kitten Thimble since the barkeep mentioned that this was what the kitten had been chasing when they first met. He smiled to himself as Thimble batted a lime around the floor. Every once in a while, she let out a little squeak, still learning to meow.

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A couple of days had passed with Frenchie successfully avoiding Thimble. No bites, no scratches, and not being within ten feet of “the thing.” He still refused to think a cat needed a name.

Practicing a new song while sitting on deck seemed safe. Thimble generally didn’t go above deck, having figured out that she would be underfoot. Even then, he sat as far away from the passage below as he possibly could.

A bit lost in song, Frenchie was jolted from his reverie at the feeling of something wispy along his leg. He looked down to see Thimble playing with his shoelaces. He pulled his legs back, disgusted that the cat had touched him. He went to get up and leave when Wee John came bumbling up the stairs.

“Oh, thank goodness, you found her!” Wee John exclaimed and scooped the kitten up into his big hands. “I can barely keep track of her, Frenchie! Worried to death she’ll crawl overboard.”

Frenchie set down his mandolin on a nearby crate and scoffed, “Wouldn’t surprise me.” He gave his friend a slightly pained smile, “Wouldn’t be good though.” He tried to hide his frustration with Wee John essentially becoming a kitty sitter.

“Look after her for a while, will ye?” Wee John asked. He didn’t give Frenchie much of an option, as Thimble was plopped down into Frenchie’s lap. Thimble looked up at him with those bright green eyes and let out a little meow.

He picked Thimble up by the scruff on her neck, going below to put his mandolin back into the berth he shared with Wee John. Frenchie set Thimble down on Wee John’s bed, figuring he wouldn’t mind. The mandolin was slipped back into the bag meant to act as a case. He pulled the drawstring shut and secured his instrument on a nearby shelf.

Frenchie turned back to where Thimble was now wiggling around on Wee John’s cot to scratch an itch. “You know, curiosity killed the cat,” he warned the puffball, who just responded with a chirping sound. He rolled his eyes.

A knocking came from the door and Roach let himself in. “Frenchie! Just the person I wanted to see,” he beamed. Whatever he had needed Frenchie for faded from memory when Thimble gave a welcoming meow. “And hello to you, little one,” Roach picked up the kitten and gently wiggled her around, laughing to himself.

“Seems like she likes yah, Roach,” Frenchie made a small laugh and pointed at the kitten as she purred in Roach’s arms.

“Well enough,” Roach responded. He touched Thimble’s paw, and instead of claws, she wrapped her toe pads around the top of his finger. He went to set her back down on Wee John’s cot.

“Yah know Roach, could yah do me a small favor?” Frenchie started. “Could yah look after the little witch for a while?” He would do anything to get Thimble out of his room and as far away as possible. No, still no cats for him.

Roach sighed and crossed his arms. “I suppose so. Goin’ to the kitchen for a while. She could run around there for a bit,” he replied. Even though Roach liked Thimble well enough, a cat in the kitchen isn’t always the easiest to deal with. Nonetheless, he scooped the kitten back up, draping her over his shoulder.

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Frenchie had begun to settle into swabbing the deck, a bright sunny day with a slight breeze being the perfect weather for such a chore. Ever since the crew had managed to escape the cold grip of the North, it had been smooth sailing. Feather clouds drifted across the robin egg blue sky.

Nearby, Black Pete and Lucius were gossiping, something about one of Spanish Jackie’s many husbands. Pete was whittling, continuously trying to fit a feather Olivia had dropped into a small hole. “A cat toy for Thimble,” he explained to Lucius, who smiled gently. The two imagined Thimble batting the toy around wildly.

Everyone on this crew had fallen in love with this cat, Frenchie had to admit. Nothing terribly bad had happened, no witch’s curse, no bad scratches, and some mice had been caught. True, they had soon found out that the Swede started sneezing any time Thimble walked into the room, but their interactions could be contained. “Too bad I’m not getting sick from that cat,” Frenchie mumbled to himself, thinking that it might allow him to not be around her.

Only about an hour had passed when Roach came above deck, Thimble in hands. She was squirming around, attempting to make a break for it. Noticing that the two were approaching, Frenchie started scrubbing the deck again to make it seem like he was busy. Either way, Roach walked up to Frenchie and tried to hand Thimble off.

“You’ve got to take her back for a bit, man. She’s getting into trouble. Worried I’m going to step on her,” Roach explained. As if to show protest, Thimble meowed loudly at Roach. His expression changed from frustration to one of raised eyebrows in questioning.

“Oi Roach, can’t you see I’m busy?” Frenchie exclaimed as the kitten was dropped into his arms. He tried to push Thimble back to Roach, yet Thimble tried to clamber back into Frenchie’s arms. “Hey there little beast, go with Roach,” he pushed Thimble again.

“It seems like she likes yah. Just take the cat,” Roach finally let go of the cat, leaving Frenchie holding Thimble whether he liked it. Roach brushed his hands together and turned to go back below to the kitchen. Frenchie just rolled his eyes and sighed.

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Sometime later, Frenchie and Thimble could be found below checking on the gunpowder stock. He topped off each crew member’s powder canisters that were running low. With each, he made sure to close the lid tightly so water wouldn’t leak in and ruin the powder. Thimble wandered around the room, climbing up boxes and barrels.

Frenchie was just about finished, getting ready to seal off the barrel he had been scooping gunpowder out of. “Alright you little brat, where did you go?” he called out to Thimble. There was naturally no response, as Thimble didn’t particularly respond to “brat.”

Frenchie tried whistling, but there was still no response. After all, Thimble was a kitten, not a dog or a horse that would respond to that type of call. He was desperate to move on to his next task, the last of the day. The hope of having enough time before dusk to play his mandolin usually pushed Frenchie to work faster.

Finally, he gave in and called to the kitten. “Thimble, where are you?” he said in the most deadpan manner of calling a cat as possible. There was a stifled meowing coming from the gunpowder barrel. He realized what had happened.

Frenchie peered into the barrel to find Thimble covered in gunpowder, somehow blacker than her own black coat. She had sunk into where her legs were deep in the gunpowder and her little body floated above. Looking up at Frenchie, Thimble sneezed.

A small laugh came out of Frenchie, not expecting to find something funny about the witch cat. He vaguely felt bad for the helpless lump of fur. Cautiously, he reached into the barrel and scooped Thimble up between her front and back legs. He could feel the rumble of Thimble’s purr on his fingers. He gently brushed some of the gunpowder from her fur and looked the cat in the eyes.

“And what do you two think you’re doing?” a familiar, scratchy voice tore through the air; a voice that always made the hair on the back of Frenchie’s neck stand up in fear. Frenchie slowly turned around, clutching Thimble to his chest, to face First Mate Izzy Hands.

“She fell into the gunpowder,” Frenchie stated, matter-of-factly, trying to be as brave as possible. Thimble sneezed again as Izzy glared at the two. Izzy glanced from Frenchie, to Thimble, to the closed barrel, to the filled powder canisters, a little disturbed that the work had been completed.

“Well, there’s no time for playing around. Get that cat out of the way and get back to work!” Izzy growled, pointing at Thimble and then out the door. He turned around to leave, only to be interrupted by Frenchie speaking up.

“I was asked to watch her. If you want me to get her out of the way, someone else has to take her. How about you?” Frenchie smiled nervously and held Thimble out towards Izzy. While he was not as afraid of the kitten anymore, he still was not thrilled to have her lingering around. Thimble looked at back him with wide eyes and mewed, begging not to be given to the hostile first mate.

To Frenchie’s surprise, Izzy took Thimble from his hands and walked off, not saying a word about the cat. For a moment, Frenchie just stood there in utter shock.

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The crew was huddled on deck for story time, with Stede starting to read A Midsummer’s Night Dream. Lucius was lending his voice to some of the characters, primarily that of Puck, the mischievous trickster fairy. Jim and Olu shared a sleeping spot. The Swede peeked his head of the barrel he called bed. Even Frenchie and Wee John were on deck despite being “room people” now. No one wanted to miss story time.

“How now, spirit! Whither wander you?” Lucius tried to act in a goofy voice, starting Act 2 of the play. The rest of the crew snuggled down as Black Pete giggled at his boyfriend’s silly reading.

Everything was going well, the story progressing with little interruption for clarification from the crew when Wee John suddenly sat up. “Where’s Thimble?” his voice wavered with a slight panic. He looked all around for her, but the little ball of fluff was nowhere to be found. “You had her last, Frenchie! Where is she?”

“Uh, no, Izzy had her last,” he diverted. Everyone was so certain that Frenchie still disliked the cat enough to lose her. Yet, despite what it seemed like, he truly had not done anything. “Ask Izzy, I’m being serious!”

Wee John still rolled his eyes, getting up to search for Thimble. Stede put a bookmark in the pages of the play, waiting for when they could resume storytime. The rest of the crew also jumped up to search. Frenchie followed, wondering what Izzy could have done with the cat.

Lucius and Black Pete immediately bounded down below deck to confront Izzy, who was hiding away in his bunk to avoid listening to a “stupid fucking play.” With that settled, other crew members split up to look around different points of the ship. Wee John approached Frenchie, looking around in a panic and a tear in his eyes.

“Frenchie, Frenchie what happened? Be honest with me, mate,” John begged. Frenchie put his hand on his friend’s shoulder, casting his gaze down to not make eye contact.

“I am being honest. I know how much you love Thimble,” Frenchie responded. He pulled Wee John into a hug, hoping to soothe his friend. “I’ll help ya look.”

With all the commotion and clammer, one would have thought a cat would have been scared out of hiding. No one had managed to find Thimble, though. They looked through the pantry stock, all around in ropes where she had been known to fall asleep, and in the captain’s quarters. Even Lucius and Black Pete returned with news that Izzy had not seen Thimble in a few hours, having set her down at some point and finding her missing the next. Needless to say, Izzy would not be forgiven for losing track of the kitten.

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Night had truly fallen, the sun no longer leaving a watercolor shine on the sea. The stars flickered overhead, and the moon provided just enough light to read. The crew had begun to fear the worst. Thimble was certainly gone.

Wee John sat down at the base of the main mast and slumped his head into his hands. Frenchie kneeled next to him and sighed. “She’s gone, isn’t she, Frenchie?” John cried. He truly did love that cat, even with only having her for about a week and a half.

Frenchie slid down the mast to sit and put an arm around Wee John’s shoulders. “I’m really sorry mate. I had no clue that this would happen,” he tried to reason. Deep in Frenchie’s heart, he felt terrible. He did not lose Thimble, but he felt responsible for what had happened. He truly hoped Wee John could forgive him.

The two sat in silence as they watch the stars above. Lanterns glowed all around them, and seagulls called through the pitch-black sky. Silence had fallen about the crew. Jim and Olu chatted while leaning up against a railing, clearly distressed and sad. Lucius tried to pull Black Pete back as he threw his whittled cat toy into the dark sea. It made a splash that sounded much louder than it should have.

The silence was necessary. If it had not been that quiet, Frenchie would not have heard the weak crying coming from above him. “John, John, do you hear that?” he whispered to his friend, shaking his shoulder.

Wee John looked Frenchie in the eyes, waiting to pick up on what sound he was talking about. “No Frenchie, sorry, I don’t hear anything,” he sighed and put his head back in his hands.

“No, I swear to you, John. I’m not a dick. I’m not tryin’ to be mean,” Frenchie jumped up. Yes, yes there was a sound coming from up the main mast. A meowing sound. Frenchie grabbed the nearest lantern and shown it upwards, hoping to see a scared Thimble clinging to the mast.

And that was exactly what he saw. Thimble, claws out as far as they would go, was meowing at the top of her little cat lungs for help. If a cat could cry, this was what a crying cat looked like. Her eyes had grown rheumy, and her fur was up on all ends.

Frenchie shook Wee John again. “Look, look! I found her!” he exclaimed. Some of the crew turned around and went to join the commotion at the main mast. Wee John got up and stared up at his cat friend. Upon seeing him, Thimble stopped her fussing and peered down quietly. A smile grew on John’s face.

“We have to get her down,” Wee John stated. Everyone who was around nodded enthusiastically, looking to see who would volunteer for a late-night climb. Stede and Ed both came up from behind everyone with lanterns to shed more light on the situation.

“I’ll do it, John. It’s the least I owe yah,” Frenchie concluded. He handed his lantern over, knowing that he would not be able to climb with it in hand. Wee John smiled widely as Frenchie cracked his knuckles in preparation. The rest of the crew lifted the lanterns further up so Frenchie could see.

Admittedly, Frenchie climbing the main mast in the dark was not the best idea, given that this was his first time heading up to the crow’s nest, let alone carrying a cat down. At first, after climbing a few rungs, he stopped to hold on for dear life. Sweat was taking over his palms and he was afraid of falling. With a firm breath, he continued up towards Thimble.

From below, the crew cheered Frenchie on. “You’ve got this, compadre!” Jim clapped, while Olu let out a sharp whistle. Frenchie tried not to look down at his friends but appreciated the encouragement. The world was bound to grow dizzy below him.

When Frenchie finally reached Thimble, she let out a small mew and looked him in the eyes, shaking. With a gentle hand, he reached out and wrapped his palm around the kitten’s belly. This time, the softness of the cat’s fur struck him as calming. He beamed softly while securing Thimble into the inner pocket of his jacket.

Frenchie was more concerned about getting himself and Thimble down the mast safely than he had been about climbing up. Finding footing backward seemed more difficult than finding footing forwards. After each step, he felt the need to hold onto the mast with a death grip. His brow furled in concentration and determination.

The night wind of the ocean whipped around them, making Frenchie waiver even more. For a second, he was worried he was going to lose his scarf but realized that was not what was important now. He felt the warm patch of heat coming off Thimble’s body and radiating through his shirt. Maybe a cat was nice.

Frenchie’s foot slipped off one of the rungs of the mast. Below, the crew gasped in fear. He yelped, scrambling to get his balance back. “Focus, Frenchie. You’ve got this,” he whispered to himself.

And with just a little more determination and a purr from Thimble, Frenchie found his feet steady back on deck. Everyone crowded around the pair, Frenchie receiving slaps on the back as the ordeal was laughed off. Frenchie reached into his jacket pocket and pulled the kitten out, who was now much more content than before. He passed her over to Wee John.

“Thank ye, Frenchie. I shouldn’t have doubted ye,” John apologized while stroking Thimble’s ears. A tear of happiness formed in his eyes that he tried to stop. John had had enough of crying for the night, but he was quite an emotional person.

“It’s okay, babe. Happens to the best of us,” Frenchie laughed, wiping sweat off his brow. He gave Wee John a light shrug. John responded with a hefty bear hug, poor Thimble going unnoticed in the middle of the pirate sandwich.

“Well then, I think that that is enough excitement for tonight!” Stede clapped his hands together. A couple of the crew members sighed or groaned in complaint that story time was canceled for the night. But, as everyone began to bed down for the night, dimming lanterns and grabbing blankets, there was a clear sign of relief. This, this was what being a member of the Revenge crew was about.

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Wee John and Frenchie had retired that night back to their room, with Thimble in tow. Originally Thimble had fallen asleep on Wee John’s cot, belly up feeling more comfortable than a cat should with a bunch of pirates.

It was not until the early hours of the morning that Frenchie was awoken by the light pawing of cat feet next to him. Laying with a slight curve to his body gave Thimble a spot to curl up close to Frenchie. The little kitten turned around a few times before settling down and closing her eyes.

Frenchie could feel the rumbling of Thimble’s purr against his chest. He reached out and gently ran a finger along Thimble’s back. With a sigh, Frenchie fell back asleep, happy to have Thimble back.

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skyland2703 · 2 years

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Hallooo!😂

Mini fic about Javi and Amelia doing a mini vlog at Buzzblast???

YES.

No, but. Yes. Just YES.

Ps: I really don’t know the minute little differences between lip balms and chapsticks and lipsticks. I really apologise that I've never done a chapstick tasting myself. I know some friends who'd have written this fic wayyyyyy better.

“What are you doing here?” Amelia asked, frowning slightly as she saw the brunet boy enter the studio wearing headphones and apparently vibing to his music, and he didn’t seem to hear her, just took a spot next to her, on the table where the products they were testing out today, were kept.

“Heyy” he grinned at her, before looking at the stuff on the table, “hey what are we reviewing today?”

She realised he’d not heard her question, and hadn’t even realised she was saying anything, so she pulled at his headphone, and yelled in his ear “HEYY JAVIII WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?” And that caught his attention immediately, he looked surprised, but then grinned, and pulled his headphones down, “there’s this song Worth the Fall, really niche but I’m totally obsessed” he explained, “so what are we doing today?”

“No; answer me first, what are YOU doing here? I thought this was my assignment”

“Oh yeah. I asked Jane” *cue flashback of Javi following Jane around saying pleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleaseplease like a broken record till she finally got annoyed enough and said “FINE” and gave in* “And she said I could do the next vid with you! I hope you don’t mind” he chuckled, and she grinned, “okay, I got it. But are you sure you’re up for doing this one?”

He looked amused, “I’m doing it with you, why wouldn’t I be up for it?”

“It’s chapstick flavour testing” she said, like it was a big deal.

He looked at her just as he had before though, “yeah, so why wouldn’t I be up for it?” A completely genuine question, that brought a smile to her face, “nevermind. I was thinking about something else. Let’s get to it?”

“Yeah” the grin he flashed her could light up the entire studio; Amelia instructed the cameraman to run the livestream, and the two of them introduced themselves to their audience.

Meanwhile, in another part of Buzzblast, watching the livestream as it happened, we’re their friends, Ollie, Izzy, Aiyon and Zayto.

“Is it just me or is Amelia literally doing all the talking?” Ollie pointed out, looking at Izzy, who stared at the screen placed in front of them, where Amelia and Javi, standing side by side in front of the blue curtain, with a number of chapsticks arranged on the table in front of them, while Amelia explained what the video was about.

Izzy tilted her head, “also notice that Javi is just staring at her like a lovesick puppy”

Zayto and Aiyon looked at each other, then at the blue and green rangers, “are you guys thinking what I’m thinking?” Zayto asked, surprised, when they all nodded their heads, “he’s looking at her all the time anyway” Aiyon pointed out, “I don’t know exactly why—“ Ollie completed the sentence, “but whatever happens there’s like a spring attached in Javi’s neck that makes him turn to Amelia to see her reaction” the group chuckled at the observation.

“Looks like my brother seriously has a problem.” Izzy laughed, and then they turned their attention back to the camera.

“You realise this is their first video together? Jane usually doesn’t give group assignments” Ollie pointed out, and caused Izzy to laugh again, “i shudder to think what he might’ve done to convince Jane”

“Shush they’re starting” Aiyon pointed to the screen, and Izzy and Ollie silenced, while Amelia handed Javi a packet, and they showed it to the camera.

“And this is the latest edition of the Classic collection!” She said excitedly, while he read it off the packet, “it has a cherry, strawberry and spearmint flavours! How merry!” They watched as Amelia’s expression turned from a perfect happy smile to more of an amused one when she looked at Javi, “hmm, so what’s your favorite fruit, Javi? Let’s start with that”

“I think we can start with spearmints. Not exactly my favorite, but I know it’s yours” he winked at the camera now, and the team burst into laughter, “he should never wink. He looks like a baby when he does that” Ollie commented, causing Zayto to counter with a “I kinda like it. And I think Amelia does too” heads turning back to the screen where the pink ranger now picked up the spearmint one, “I didn’t think you’d know it was my favorite”

Javi looked at the camera, dead in the eye, and whispered, holding up his hand like a shield against his mouth, and whispered— as if Amelia couldn’t hear him— “she thought I wouldn’t know. I know everything” which caused her to burst into chuckles.

“So let’s see, spearmint tastes nice” she applied onto her, “a little less stronger than the cool mint, but guaranteed to make your breath smell ✨minty fresh✨”

“Any particular reason why you’d want your breath to smell minty fresh Amelia?” He winked at the camera again, whispering “you know what I mean”

“Javi!” She punched him on his shoulder, “he’s an idiot. And he’s an idiot who would like to try out the cherry chapstick next” she handed it to him, and he opened it, and smelled it.

“Is it… is it just me or are they flirting?” Izzy looked up at the boys, and the three nodded, looking like the holy trinity giving their verdict on the situation going on between Javi and Amelia.

“They are. They’re totally flirting” Aiyon nodded, leaning in closer to the screen, “and I think Javi’s blushing as he’s smelling the cherry chapstick.” He started to scratch his head, looking at the two teens, wondering why that could be.

It struck Izzy, then, “cherry. Oh god I should’ve known. Amelia’s favorite song is cherry. And she loves it. And and and and and when we went shopping last time, she got herself a large size cherry almond flavour shampoo…” she trailed off. Ollie’s eyes went wide in realisation, while Aiyon’s reaction was somewhat different, and they spoke in unison.

“You and Amelia go shopping?”

“Javi smells Amelia’s hair?”

Zayto took both the boys by the neck, and turned their heads towards the screen, where Javi had already applied the hot pink colored chapstick, and was now rubbing his lips together, and licking them to taste the flavour, “yes and yes. Fern goes with them too, and Javi writes his songs inspired by Amelia of course he notices things about her” Zayto explained, and the team returned to watching the chapstick review.

“So Amelia,” Javi was speaking now, but his eyes fixated on his partner instead of at the camera, “I think this cherry one is swell! What should we try next?” Izzy and Ollie exchanged glances at the word ‘swell’, being from earth and knowing just how cringe it sounded— while at the same time, Zayto and Aiyon looked intrigued.

The next few minutes passed without much drama, with Amelia and Javi trying out different flavours, giving mostly positive reviews, suggesting colors and flavours to each other, pointing out that they’d think the other one would like it, and in general making fun of the other’s lips having turned overly colorful. At one point Amelia even took a handkerchief to wipe Javi’s mouth on it because he couldn’t stop laughing looking at himself in the mirror with green colored lips.

“So as you could see, that last one had a rather.. interesting colouration factor…” Amelia chuckled, “in my opinion Pink looks the nicest for Javi. Green? Not so much” she winked, and Javi giggled, “I can handle a little pink. Also I think black suits you” he added quickly, looking at the camera, and she stared at him, “you know my color is pink right?”

“I think we should swap colors though, I’ll give you a doe makeover, maybe you can dye your hair a bit… and a leather jacket” he grinned, leaning towards her, like scrutinising her, and imagining how she’d look in black leather, and the Dino rangers who were watching the programme almost banged their heads against a wall, “that’s them being subtle, isn’t it?” Aiyon question, causing the others to laugh.

“Anyway, this next flavour is looking at me like it’s your favoriiiite” she said, waving the next packet in front of the camera, “it’s the s’more collection!”

“What?” His eyes twinkled, “you’ve got marshmallows in there?”

“I do— but you’re not getting a taste of them.” She winked, “it’s mine… and you can get your own later” and he looked aghast, “okay” he said in a small voice that made all their viewers blast the entire buzzblast’s reaction section feed with the “🥺” emoji.

“You think she did that on purpose to trouble him?” Zayto asked, and the others nodded, “maybe she got irritated at the pink and black comments?” Aiyon suggested with a shrug, and Ollie shook his head, “naah it’s Amelia. She doesn’t get irritated. At all. I mean— she’d have killed me already if she got irritated easily”

“He’s got a point” Izzy nodded, “what’s she up to…”

Back in the studio, Javi continued to watch Amelia, although he looked a little jittery now, watching her apply the marshmallow flavour one, and then temptingly smack her lips together, and pout, “I think it’s not the… best flavour? I like it a bit. I think we can have Javi’s (very biased) opinion now, Javi?” She turned to him, innocent as ever, smirking gleefully, “what’s your opinion on your absolute favorite flavour?”

“You didn’t let me taste it” he pouted, puffing up his cheeks, and staring at the camera, “Welllll you can try it now… if you don’t mind used lip balm, that is” she grinned, and THAT was when the rest of the team actually understood what she was intending to do. Izzy found a blush moving into her cheeks, Ollie looked at the screen incredulously, “oh my god she’s so SNEAKY”

"Wait, wait what's she trying to do—" Zayto couldn't complete his sentence, as the entire crowd burst into gasps, followed by a spamming of the heart eyes emoji as the livestream's viewers found themselves pleasantly intrigued.

You see, what had happened was this: Javi had stared at the used chapstick Amelia had offered her, and he'd taken her hand by the wrist, and he'd pulled her closer, while leaning in himself, and firmly planted his lips against hers, kissing her for an entire minute on the livestream while their audience lost their minds.

"No, no, no, no, no rewind that SOMEONE REWIND THAT" Izzy shouted, "MY BROTHER DOESN'T HAVE GUTS LIKE THAT THAT'S AN IMPOSTE—" she couldn't complete her statement, finding Ollie and Aiyon's hands covering her face together, and she gave them both a death glare, and the three rangers continued looking at the livestream where the pink and black rangers were still making out, now with Javi's arm wrapped around her waist, and hers around his neck. Finally, they broke apart, and he chuckled, "yeah, no, completely biased opinion, but marshmallow is still my favorite chapstick flavour" he grinned at the camera as if he'd not just made out with his co-star for an entirety of two minutes and forty eight seconds.

Amelia on the other hand, looked a little shaken. She ran a hand through her hair, and said, her voice sounding a little husky, "you know what... you might have an excellent point after all, Javi." she panted, her cheeks flushing redder than that cherry chapstick looked.

He grinned at her, and she finally brought a smile to her own lips too, while Zayto, Aiyon, Izzy and Ollie tried to make something of the interaction.

"Do you think they're secretly dating and he just blew his cover?" Ollie asked, brows furrowed, and Izzy shook her head, "she looks like she's in some kinda full blown panic mode…”

“Let’s see what they do next” Aiyon hushed them up, and the four pairs of curious eyes turned back onto the livestream, where Amelia looked like she was still recovering from the shock.

“So, uh, Javi” they watched with interest, as a coy smirk spread over her lips, “what’s next on the list?”

He didn’t look at her now, and they could all see his own cheeks warming up as he the full realisation and impact of his actions hit him. “I— I don’t know. You say, Amelia”

She handed him one, and he took it while still looking down, and quickly applied it to his lips, mashing them together to spread it evenly, and then stuck out his tongue, “aw god this is awful why did you give me this?” He whined, and turned to the camera, “it’s one of those gas station (awful tasting) watermelon flavoured ones!! Eeeesh”

“So does that mean she didn’t want to kiss him?” Aiyon asked, intrigued, his friends all shaking their heads in disappointment.

“They’re hopeless” Izzy finally stated, leaning back in the chair like a dead person, “I’m tireeedddd this has been going on for almost half an hour now!”

“Wait no look!” Ollie suddenly pushed Izzy’s chair forward so she almost faceplanted into the goddamn screen. They pulled her back though, because she was blocking the scene while almost chipping her teeth, “geez thank you guys” she said with distaste, but back on TV, Amelia was laughing like she’d inhaled laughter gas, and Javi was wincing, “I like watermelons, that’s why” she said, and this time, she leaned in and kissed him, pulling at him by his jacket’s collars, and keeping him there for a good minute. When she finally let him go, Javi looked like he was right about to faint from being giddy and throughout the rest of the session, continued to be light headed, and mixing up lip balm flavours and staring at Amelia as she continued her own end of the review, like a lovesick puppy.

“You realise we’re exactly back where we started?” Izzy asked, placing her head in her hands, and Aiyon nodded, “yeah. Yeah man those two are HOPELESS”

“I don’t think so? I think we made some real good progress with them today” Zayto grinned as the Buzzblast employees began wrapping up the livestream.

“I wonder how Jane felt about this whole mess” Ollie said, and Aiyon nudged him, “why don’t you ask her yourself?” Pointing to the blonde lady who ran Buzzblast, coming their way.

“Hey Ja—“ before either of them could actually say anything to her, she burst into an excited stream of words herself, “those two have sone REAL chemistry! It felt so genuine, the way they were around each other, a little cute and idiotic, yes, but they handled the review SO WELL and apparently the comment section has been going CRAZY!!! I wonder why that could be!” Every word she said was as if punctuated by an exclamation mark, and Ollie raised his eyebrows, “did we… did we watch the same livestream?”

“Oh come on! Your eyes were also GLUED to the screen” Izzy teased, Aiyon supported, “we all were!!”

“I usually don’t give our couples assignments, but I think I’ll have to RELAX THE RULES, a little bit” she did a little dance, “those two really stole the show AAhh” she said in a voice full of utter bliss, and Zayto giggled, as Jane swayed away towards Javi and Amelia, as they got out of the studio— probably to congratulate them— “I think she’s really happy”

“Well this was crazy” Izzy finally heaved back into the chair again, “dear lord.”

“WAIT—“ suddenly Aiyon spoke up, all eyes turned to him, “does that mean Javi and Amelia are an official…. COUPLE?”

“I think that oughta answer your question” Ollie pointed to where Jane had gone looking for them, while they hid from her behind a desk, and continued to make out.

“Oh geez!” Aiyon said, Izzy following suit, “I think we have a subject for teasing them for about… a month, right?” She smirked, “I’m in!” Ollie added, Zayto just shook his head, like a dad looking at the mischief of his kids.

“Okay, but just one month—“ they were off before he could finish.

#power rangers #amelia jones #Javi Garcia #dino fury #power rangers dino fury #I duckin forgot to post this anscnnvndndn #it was living in my drafts—#while its been completed and forgotten aboyt for over two months—#fanfic prompt #my fics #minific #wait no this got too long

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