#and jim +olu share a wall with them

[ofmd-incorrect-quotes]

Frenchie: What if “It’s Raining Men” and “Let the Bodies Hit the Floor” are both about the same events but from different perspectives

Jim: once again i must remind you of my policies for conversations at four in the goddamn morning

Jim: namely that I will strangle you with your own small intestine

Roach: no no, I want to hear more, the man has a point!

Jim:

Jim: that's it I'm doing away with you both for the good of all of us

[rottingformerfirstmate]

All of Us Alone Together: The Doll [1/4]

Summary: A collection of shared moments between the crew of the Revenge.

Day: 2 | WC: 1k | AO3 | Prompt: Cornered

NOTE: This installment was inspired by [this] piece of fanart by @cliopadra

Jim was lucky, all things considered, to have wound up on Stede’s ship when they ran away with Olu. Stede didn’t know enough about the world of piracy to recognize Jim as wanted, nor that it would be a fool’s move to go up against the wrath of Spanish Jackie by having them on his ship at all. And they were lucky Blackbeard didn’t care much about most of Stede’s crew until recently, so he never connected those dots before Jim made nice with Jackie at her bar. Luck has been on their side for a long time, long enough that it shouldn’t come as a shock that it’s finally run out. 

This isn’t like Blackbeard before, according to Fang and Ivan; Jim wasn’t sure, having only met him during his not-so-affectionately nicknamed Stede Phase, but the two of them say that before that, he had been strange and deadly in a different way. 

“We didn’t see him all that often,” Ivan admits one night, keeping his prescribed watch on Jim while Blackbeard and Izzy sleep. “Mostly everything came through Izzy, and he never answered our questions, but I got half the sense it was ‘cause he didn’t know either. We saw Blackbeard about enough for him to prove he didn’t care much whether we lived or died.”

His words don’t surprise Jim, honestly, but it does serve as a reminder of exactly what this man is capable of, what he was capable of at a point in time with less stability than in Stede’s presence, but evidently more than he is left with now. There’s no way off this boat, with Blackbeard having cut off the dinghy ages ago and refusing to make port as often as they undoubtedly need, and even if there was, Jim wouldn’t exactly feel right abandoning everyone else to contend with the wrath of Blackbeard while they frolic off into the sunset, or whatever it is that they’d assume Jim to be doing. In reality, any escape would be to find out where everyone else went and if they’re still alive. It’s just hard to even think about the kind of complex planning and secret-keeping escaping would bring, when they don’t know if the others are alive and still maintain a responsibility for the lives of the remaining crew aboard The Revenge.

“Is he gonna kill us?” Jim asks in return. 

Ivan shrugs. “Maybe. Maybe not. If he plans on it, Izzy would know.”

“Would Izzy tell us about it?”

“Well, Jim, to be quite honest with you-” Ivan starts carving his initials into a plank on the wall, “-maybe. Maybe not.”

This isn’t at all reassuring, and so Jim stops asking him questions for the rest of the night. Eventually they fall asleep, restless with the nightmares of a lifetime of always drawing the shortest end of the stick. The cries of the beast Blackbeard has become echo over hazy recollections of Jim’s family dead at their feet, cut through with new creations of Olu suffering for Jim’s mistakes. 

Come morning, no one is on watch. The Captain and/or Izzy must be awake already. This is a blessing, however, because Frenchie slips through Jim’s door without drawing attention. Some sort of object is stuffed under one of his arms, making it difficult for him to operate the latch when he comes inside, while his other hand is occupied with a bowl of porridge that presumably passed for breakfast this morning. 

“Hey, Jim,” he says, faux-chipper as he hands over the bowl. “Sleep well?”

Jim tucks their legs under them and takes their first lukewarm bite. “Not really.”

“I get that. I do. Um, I have something that might help, maybe? If you want it?”

He pulls the object out from under his arm and holds it up for Jim to see. It looks like a cross between a pillow and a doll, but not just any doll; the orange hat, dark skin, beige shirt, and little blue button where an ear would be on one side all add up in their head in seconds. It’s Olu. 

“The other night, I was- I felt really alone, you know, and- and I just wanted to feel a little less alone. I made one of Wee John, cause we used to- when it was time to sleep, we’d usually…”

Frenchie fiddles idly with the arms of the doll as he trails off. Even from a couple feet away, Jim can see the care that has gone into the stitches, secure and not even all that visible. The button - Olu’s earring, they realize - must have been salvaged from Stede’s things before they got thrown overboard, unlike the shiny black ones that serve for eyes. Jim’s throat feels tight all of a sudden. 

“I’m sorry. This is weird. I’ll- I’ll get rid of it.”

“No,” Jim says. “Um. Thank you. Can I…?”

He passes them the doll. Jim sets their porridge down to clutch it in both hands, finding it surprisingly firm. It can’t be feathers in here. It’s too light to have grits or something in it. A ridge under their tight grip makes them realize it’s crammed full of spare fabric. Jim squeezes it to their chest. 

The doll is nothing like Olu. It isn’t warm, it doesn’t hug Jim back, it doesn’t tell them everything will be okay, it doesn’t kiss their temple and it doesn’t find them a way out of this. But it does make the weight of the world a little less crushing. 

“Thank you, Frenchie. Really.”

“That’s what friends are for, right?” Frenchie says.

Jim nods, shifting the doll to hold close in one arm, more against their chest than pressed to their ribcage in contrast to how He had carried it, as they finish their breakfast. They’ll have to hide it before Izzy comes to let them out for the day to help run the ship, and keep it hidden during night watch, but the comfort will undoubtedly provide the necessary resolve for Jim to keep themselves and the crew alive until they can go back for the real Olu. 

[asweetprologue]

okay so some future ofmd predictions / things i'm manifesting:

Captain Stede Edwards (a historical alias he used that makes me FUCKING insane)

Lucius in the walls (obvious)

bonus: lucius convinces ed that he's a ghost haunting him

the crew is just as pissed at Stede for abandoning them as they are at Ed for marooning them. Olu takes the lead in challenging Stede over his choices

in every scene that they're raiding a ship Stede finds a new item and adds it to or exchanges it for another part of his new outfit. he's got literally no clothes so he's got to rebuild the brand, but he's doing it through a bunch of random stolen pieces. each piece is probably highly symbolic of where he's at in his journey to becoming the fully realized version of the Gentleman Pirate

Frenchie and Jim become besties. This isn’t rly a prediction it’s just an ask

Calico Jack was Anne Bonny's husband irl, so my bet is that in season 2 they'll introduce her looking for revenge - specifically in a "if anyone was gonna kill that son of a bitch it was gonna be me" way. she is joined by Mary Read, her lover

they are played by lucy lawless and renee o'connor. seriously thoughts and prayers for this one i'm truly begging--

the second season culminates in a large four ship battle - the Revenge, Stede's new ship, Anne Bonny's ship, and an English ship (possibly led by a third Badminton brother). All of these groups have been seeking Blackbeard, with Stede trying to get there before any of Ed's enemies. He manages to convince Bonny to help them fight the English, and the three pirates demolish and Bonny parts from them with an uneasy peace treaty arranged

instead of Stede taking back control of the ship, the crew votes both him and Ed off the island and promote Olu as a temporary captain until they get their shit together

Ed and Stede have to share the little room that belonged to Olu and Jim bc Olu automatically gets the captains quarters. this is, of course, hilariously awkward

this is later for a s3 or 4 beat but Stede's daughter runs away from home and stows away on the ship. the crew find her first but spend like a good day or two actively hiding her from the captains

Stede's Parenting Crisis(tm)

Edward's Parenting Crisis Deluxe(tm)

Alma wants Jim to teach her how to fight, but Jim doesn't want her to end up like them - forced into a life of violence. Alma is desperate to prove that she fits into the pirate life, so she does something reckless that puts her in danger (her dads lose their minds) and Jim saves her and decides to teach her because if she's going to do this shit anyways it pays to be prepared

[toomanykidsverse]

Behold, the fabled stim post!

Stede

- The Classic, flappy hands <3

- rocks back and forth on his feet

- spins/twirls, especially to music

- walks on his toes if he's not wearing shoes

- bites his nails as a nervous stim

- stims with nice fabrics <3

- paces when he's nervous

- snapping/clicking his fingers

Ed

- shakes his fists up and down

- bounces

- drums his fingers on surfaces

- taps his feet against the floor

- give him some drum sticks and he'll go wild, the man is a drummer

- loves pressure stims. weighted blankets, getting Stede to lay directly on top of him, and the feeling of tight leather are some of his favorites

- also stims with nice fabrics, but most the ones Stede is wearing

Izzy

- Running his hands along Poppy's fur

- nail polish asmr videos

- draws on his skin and clothes with markers absentmindedly, specifically really likes drawing stars

- hums the tunes of his favorite songs when he's alone

Olu

- sort of specific one here: he pulls his knees to his chest and then pulls his hoodie over his legs

- fidgets with rubik's cubes

- yo-yo king, king of the yo-yo

- blows bubbles. really likes those bubble wands that look like swords

Jim

- This one is kinda specific, but I think they have one of those practice butterfly knives that they spin around a lot. They want a real one but they aren't allowed to have one just yet.

- cutting wood with their pocket knife

- rips leaves off of plants and tears them up

- popping the bubbles that Olu blows

Lucius

- Stim toys galore. Has more pop-its and cute squishies than strictly necessary, but uses them all often. aways has several in his backpack. He'll share with anyone who needs one

- chew necklaces that he matches to his outfits

- flippy sequins!

- claps his hands and bounces when excited

- calligraphy asmr videos. with the sparkly ink <3

- dances as a happy stim

John

- pulls his arms into his sweater sleeves

- has one of those 3D printed slug fidget toys that he carries around a lot

- swimming as a stim! the water feels nice

Pete

- stress balls! specifically those ones with the goo inside and the nets around them.

- punches at the air when he's excited

Frenchie

- Flappy hands with sweater paws!

- also has lots of stim toys! really likes fidget cubes

- slaps his hands against any surface. tables, walls, his own legs.

- always humming and whistling

Buttons

- bird sounds! he'll echo different calls that he hears

- just generally repeats sounds he hears

- animal stims. will pet any animal for long periods of time.

Roach

- slime!

- loves how soft flour is, will shove his hands in a bag of flour

- bites his fingers

- finger painting

- fidgets with those stretchy lizard toys

- rainbow groan tube

Swede

- bites the straw on his water bottle

- runs his hands along his favorite blanket

- vocal stims from his favorite cartoons :]

and now, shared stims!

- I think most of them, if they make a sound at someone in the house, the other will echo it back most of the time. if several of them are in one spot they just go on with this for a bit.

- Ed and Frenchie are the musical boys, and if one of them starts humming or whistling or drumming a beat, the other will probably join

- Ed and Stede both fidget with their wedding rings <3 (they also eventually catch onto this and think it's very sweet they both do it)

- Ed, Lucius, and Swede are the chewy necklace gang.

- watching stim videos is a family activity, they all give their input on which ones they like or don't like after each one

- Ed and Stede will hold hands and spin together, but they can't do it for very long. Very good stim for very high happy energies :]

please share with me any other stims you think any of them would have <3 or if you do any of these let me know!

[knowlesian]

from a post finale haze i bring you: deeply disorganized thoughts about jim/olu, more or less centered around e7 but we all saw that finale. you all understand why i got three and a half hours of sleep. complaints about any interpretive jazz-esque sentence structure can be tied to the leg of a magical seagull and sent direct to david jenkins himself as he is to blame.

- why not start at the obvious thing right off the top: they nearly kissed, team. WE ALMOST HAD IT. olu leaned in. jim leaned back. the space between their beautiful wonderful faces was ALMOST. GONE.

it’s such a great mutual approach, too. jim’s smirk morphs into staring and then olu moves closer and jim moves closer still and they are SO IN SYNC. they have only been a team for a year and olu just found out jim’s favorite color like an hour ago, but they are a goddamned perfectly functioning unit.

- which makes me go back to the scene where olu gets to hang out in the house and nana says she likes olu and asks if he’s jim’s husband. there’s such a great rapport between the two of them right there! after jim notably doesn’t say no (and neither does olu! he just looks pleased) and they have this soft eye exchange of ‘seriously???’/’what, i’m just having fun!’ jim sort of... softens as nana goes to look outside at jim’s found idiot family they dragged back home with them and i think a lot of it is because jim did find a home with these big ol’ dopes and they’re fond of the whole lot of them.

but the rest i would argue has a lot to do with how well olu fits into this side of jim’s life, too. the crew is outside, walls still between them and jim: olu is in the house. they didn’t want to go home and face the proverbial music, sure, but i think there’s a piece there where jim was afraid bringing olu to see nana would break the spell, and instead olu is happily getting along with everybody’s favorite murdernun and sitting at the table easy as you please and that opens the avenue that this thing with olu could be for real and for keeps.

- which makes me wonder: is this a story where jim’s favorite color is teal because olu’s earring is teal, or is this a story where the day they met jim met a beautiful man with kind eyes who already wore their favorite color? (or is this a story where jim met a man with a different earring and they bought that one for olu because they wanted to see him in their favorite color goddamnit now i’m having feelings at the mere potential.)

- extra shoutout to the way olu calls out “JIM. YOU DID NOT DO ENOUGH MURDER, MY SOUL BLEEDS WITH DISAPPOINTMENT IN YOU” was a damaging interaction for jim. we love a ride or die bitch, especially when they have kind eyes and hilarious line delivery.

- which brings me to: “if you wanted... i could be family”. pain. sheer beautiful pain. not erasing what came before, but adding to; nana is Part of You, but i could be yours as well. it’s so, so sweet and supportive and then the way jim RESPONDS. the acting on this show, i’m mad about it and i’m gonna die mad about it. jim’s gaze flicks away but then we are BACK, THERE IS A SLIGHT GRIN. A LEGIT GRIN. and then that glorious mutual approach i already yelled about.

- and because i didn’t mention it above, the little “holy shit, we almost kissed! wow, huh?” look they share after stede rolls up to ruin the moment. SO CUTE.

- which brings me to the goodbye, where olu doesn’t try to talk jim out of it just supports their choices and makes it clear olu remains a safe place to land, no matter what. he gives them this little adorable almost hug and then: the hat slap.

i am obsessed with this little motion. it’s fucking adorable, first off, but it’s also possibly the physical manifestation of why this ship has burrowed into my heart and made its home there.

like: we know jim trusts olu. they allowed olu to watch their back and even speak for them before they found their own voice as jim. i know there’s an in-world reason for that, but the METAPHOR. i wanna eat it like izzy ate his own toe. when jim couldn’t raise their voice, they trusted olu to have the right words.

add to that olu knows jim is scary! he just got finished telling nana he watched the revenge murder go down and honest, it was super vengeful. no notes, shocked faces all around. (sidenote: i want to know how that all happened. did olu know shit was gonna go down or just help jim get out of dodge after? probably that last one, but inquiring minds!)  

the point is that olu knows who jim is in their entirety, from the revenge thriller canon they were born into and the muppet hijinks they have now embraced. and olu still slaps the brim of jim’s hat because just like he’s a safe space for jim, they’re a safe place for olu.

- i can’t wait for olu’s backstory. i will ASCEND. i need it. jim clearly fills a hole in his heart and i want to know e v e r y t h i n g. i need to see how they met. EVERYTHING.

- and finally, because it doesn’t fit anywhere else but i want to add it: if i’m going with the grand unifying theory of jim following The Call to Muppet while izzy does not that makes the way they handle lucius in e3 extra hilarious. that is a muppet-ass plan if i have ever seen one!!!! and in a muppet movie somebody could survive being chucked over the side in a box/footlocker/whatever that was by simply floating to the nearest island, i’m js. (yes i’m a lucius lives truther, now and forever. IN A MUPPET MOVIE, YOU LIVE. THE END.)

[happyandticklish]

jkdfhdkhf it was so hard to decide what to ask you for, and if you give me permission i will absolutely send you more lol. Can I get some 🐷 with lee!Jim and ler!Olu? Thank you so much, my friend!

🐷 -Snort

“C’mon, tell me. I told you, it’s only fair.”

“I never made you tell me,” Jim protested, raising a finger quickly. “All I did was ask a question. You didn’t have to answer.”

The two were curled in bed together, having retired to Oluwande's room for dinner. Their plates were shoved up onto a shelf now, having been eagerly cleared after a day of cleaning the ship. Having Blackbeard with them now was nice and all, and it clearly made Stede happy, but now that they had an official captain, their workload had increased tenfold. By the time they had finally crashed into Olu’s room, they were clumsy and laughter-filled with the giddiness that comes from exhaustion. 

“Semantics,” Oluwande insisted, not willing to lose this fight for reasons inexplicable to even him. Jim had a habit of squirreling information away, and he jumped at the chance to find out anything he could about them. Especially when it came to this particular topic. “I’m sure the answer is no anyway, so there’s no reason for you to be so evasive about it.”

“I’m not being evasive,” Jim said evasively. They weren’t looking at him, and if Oluwande wasn’t stupid he would have assumed the red creeping across their face was a blush. “It’s a stupid question, and I wouldn’t have brought it up if I had known you were going to be so weird about it.”

“It’s not weird if I want to know if my friend is tickl—”

“Okay, okay, no need to be so loud about it! I don’t want the others barging in!” 

Okay, definitely blushing now. This was a new side to Jim, one that, apparently, they felt comfortable sharing with Oluwande. His entire being buzzed with a pleased energy at that, and he tried not to smile too wide as he turned to look at them. 

“Jim. Are you t—”

“I thought I said don’t say it, pendejo.” 

“So that’s a yes then.”

Jim opened their mouth before closing it with a scowl. They grabbed the tip of their hat, drawing it down so that it obscured the top part of their face. They continued to glare at the wall for a while, effectively ending the conversation there. A while ago, when they first boarded this ship together, Oluwande might have let it go and moved onto something else, with the implication that further pursuing the conversation would end in his quick and untimely demise. Now though, he knew Jim better.  

He wasn’t sure what persuaded him to ask, but staring at Jim’s flustered, curled up form against the wall, he knew that there might never be an opportunity like this again. 

“Can I tickle you?”

Jim stiffened, their eyes darting over to him underneath their hat before quickly returning to the wall. 

“You can say no,” Oluwande continued quickly, needing them to know how in control they were, how he would never do anything they didn’t want, how he would never want to do anything they didn’t want. “Really. It was a stupid question anyway, you really don’t have to. If you don’t want to—”

“Who said I didn’t want to?” Jim drew their shoulders up, the smallest of smiles tugging at their lips. It was a helpless gesture born out of the same giddy atmosphere that permeated the air and made them do stupid things, like ask their best friend if he could tickle them. 

“Really? Like, really really?”

“That’s what I said, didn’t I?” They gave him a pointed look, though the threat of it was depleted a bit by how excited they obviously were. “Tell the others and you’re dead.”

Oluwande raised his hands in ascent, nodding quickly. Not that he would have anyway. This moment was a precious thing, breakable and lovely and not something he would soon share with others. He waited until Jim relaxed, content in his response, before asking, “So. Should I just...?”

He held his hands up, reaching out and hovering over their torso but not touching, not until he had explicit permission. Jim’s smile widened slightly, and they tugged their hat down further with a slight nod. There was a tense moment before he began, where even the air around them seemed to hold its breath. And then, Oluwande started. 

His fingers trailed over Jim’s stomach, digging hesitantly into the fabric of their shirt. Jim jerked forward, their stomach twitching under his hands as they let out a strangled noise. Oluwande paused, but they didn’t stop him, so he continued, fanning his fingers over their sides. Jim squirmed subtly underneath them, resisting the urge to move away as they allowed themselves to feel every touch of Oluwande’s hands. They breathed out shakily when he moved up their sides, nails dragging gently as he went. They gripped the bed tightly as they did, forcing their arms to their sides to give him better access. A soft giggle escaped them when he started tracing their ribs, and Jim twisted underneath him, their grin clear as day now. 

“I gather this spot is a bit ticklish then?” Oluwande teased, scratching at their topmost rib and delighting in the squeak that particular move caused. “Cause you seem to be having trouble holding still.”

“I-I’m nohot having troHOuble!” Jim’s voice pitched up when his fingers skittered around the edges of their underarms, and they arched back instinctively in an attempt to get away. 

“Ah,” Oluwande agreed, raising an eyebrow. “No, no trouble at all.”

“Y-Yohou just keep tahalking, see what hahappens—fuhUCK!” 

Jim jumped when he reached a hand out suddenly, gripping their knee and squeezing tightly. A snort startled out of them as they reached forward, trying to pry his grip off their leg. 

“Oh my god.” Oluwande’s eyes were wide with delight and fascination. “Did you just snort? You?”

“No,” Jim insisted quickly, but another flurry of knee squeezes proved otherwise as another, frankly adorable, snort slipped out. “Ohoholu!”

“Do you want me to stop?” He squeezed the other knee as he asked, and Jim nearly whaled him in the face as they flailed forward in useless protection. “All you have to do is say the word and this ends.”

For a moment, he thought they might as they scrabbled desperately at his hands. However, they shook their head with a determined growl, trying to force down the giggles building up in their throat. Surely it wasn’t possible for any one human to be that cute, and yet Jim had once again beaten the odds. 

Oluwande was well aware that he was blushing just as much as Jim at this point, but luckily for him, they were too distracted to notice. “Alright. It’s your funeral after all.”

-

This ended up a bit longer than it was supposed to be, but in my defense, I’d give my life for Jim & Oluwande. And you can absolutely send in more asks if you want!! They probably won’t be as long as this one though (I kind of got carried away with this ask lol). Thanks for sending in the ask!

[ourflagmakesmeferal]

One More Moment

Fine, I’ll do it myself, I’ll write the tender cuddling fic myself. Small disclaimer that I haven’t written fanfic for anything in probably seven years and haven’t written in anything in three years but here you go ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Stede shifted in bed, attempting to get up but a strong arm held him down. He looked to his left where snuggled up beside him, with his head nuzzled in Stede’s neck, was Edward. Edward lifted his head to look at Stede’s and a lazy smile spread across his face. Every day he woke up to Stede and every day he fell more in love with him. He pulled Stede tighter to his chest.

“Come now, mate, the days already long begun!” Stede tried once more to get up, this time making it to his feet before Ed pulled him back down and wrapped his arms around him once more.

“Oh who cares about the day beginning, we could just stay in here for a little while longer, couldn’t we?” The bed that Ed and Stede had slept in for the night was decidedly too small for two people and Ed’s feet touched the wall but he didn’t care. He had the love of his life wrapped up in his arms, he was in a warm and cozy bed, and for the first time in, well probably ever, he was happy. 

“I suppose if we stay in bed a little while longer it couldn't hurt, but by god man you’ve done this everyday since we started sharing a bed!” Stede teased but he knew that he enjoyed the company, he enjoyed being held by someone that desired him. Sharing a bed with Mary had never felt like home, they didn’t love each other and Mary couldn’t hold Stede in the way he so desired from a lover.

Edward grumbled something under his breath along the lines of “we could always stop sharing a bed” but Stede was much too distracted with Ed’s loving embrace to listen to him. Ed noticed that Stede wasn’t present in the moment and took his chance to start planting soft kisses along Stede’s neck. This earned a quiet moan from Stede which only motivated Ed to keep going, his kisses slowly gravitating to Stede’s lips.

“Ed, what if a crew mate comes in, they know that my cabin is always open to them,” Stede knew his complaints fell on deaf ears, they were more of a formality anyways. It was true that his cabin was always open to his crew to come in and talk to him about their feelings or whatever ailed them but they rarely did. Lucuis had taken him up on the offer once but had walked in on Stede and Edward with lips locked half naked, no crewmates bothered after that.

“Don’t worry mate, I put a sock on the door, learned that one from Olu and Jim,” Edward locked his lips with Stede’s, leaning over him slightly and placing one arm on his other side, essentially trapping him.

Stede didn’t mind, he met the kiss wholeheartedly. When they had first kissed on the beach Stede was too shocked to properly reciprocate, by the fifth kiss he learned how to. Their lips broke apart and Ed went back to planting kisses along Stede’s neck. In return Stede brought Ed’s hand to his mouth and planted a gentle kiss on it before holding it close to his chest. 

“I think we’ve wasted away too much of the day at this point, you may have been right about staying in bed a little while longer.” Stede turned to face Edward and placed another gentle kiss on his lips. Edward stroked his hair tenderly as Stede buried his head in the other man's chest and slowly drifted off.