#apetslife

[saintvainglorious]

10 Best Black Sails Fics I Read in 2023

In honor of Black Sails' 10th anniversary, here's a list of my top 10 favorite Black Sails fics I read in 2023, in order from shortest to longest. Most Black Sails fic rec posts I've seen are now around 2 or 3 years old (though not all, bless @jaynovz and your #jay's esoteric rec lists tag) so nearly half of the recs in this list spotlight newer fics. It's amazing to see fantastic fics still being written and updated years after the show ended - y'all are keeping this fandom alive!

I didn't read that much Black Sails fic this year, comparatively speaking, so I'm sure there's plenty of newer gems that I missed. All the fics in this rec list are Silverflint unless otherwise stated.

1 - Gone To Port Royal by Apetslife (G, 3k) - a delightful oneshot from Gates' POV where they all go to a pirate afterlife. every scene is perfect. endlessly re-readable and never fails to make me smile.

Definition of Valhalla 1: the great hall in Norse mythology where heroes slain in battle are received 2 : a place of honor, glory, or happiness: heaven

2 - i’ll be seeing you by youatemytailor/@annevbonny (NR, 19k) - this is THEE post-canon Silverflint reunion fic. the anguish, the rage, the quiet jokes, the tenderness, it's all devastatingly in-character. particularly the chapter 5 climactic unspooling leaves me in awe upon every reread.

Silver is out of his chair and across the room before he knows it. He has a grip on the barkeep’s shirt before he knows it, and he’s pulling him up, hauling him eye-level, only to head-butt him to the ground again. The barkeep’s mouth is thrown open in a wail, but there’s no sound, Silver thinks, no sound at all, save for the blood rushing in his ears as he looks at the other man on the ground, watches him roll to his side with a groan. Flint, Silver thinks, and nothing else. It beats around the knife in his gut like a drum. Flint. And then Flint is looking at him.

3 - The Dark Lord Proprietor by Amiril/@runawaymarbles (M, 19k, Silverflintham) - a fuckin hysterical supervillain AU. Thomas has amnesia, Flint is pining, Silver tries to get them back together. what could go wrong? could not stop cackling.

A year ago, James Flint was in a stable relationship and was within spitting distance of taking over London. Now he’s single, with a dubiously loyal henchman, a lairmate determined to learn his every weakness, and a Secret Past with the new supervillain on the scene. And thanks to a new government program, it’s all a race to the bottom.

4 - the cross dimensional nassau bar of getting izzy hands laid by FortinbrasFTW/@fortinbrasftw (E, 19k ~WIP~, Flint/OFMD Izzy Hands) - a Black Sails OFMD Flint/Izzy Hands crossover. the very best kind of smut-as-character study. funny, gripping, and endlessly re-readable.

The first thing Izzy realizes is he looks absolutely fucking furious — which yeah, alright, fair enough. He’s got shorter ginger hair. A beard like Izzy’s but kept neater. Earrings like Izzy’s but worn simpler. Bleeding like Izzy but, well, maybe a bit less. And he’s handsome. Izzy realizes it suddenly and slowly somehow all at once. Bit like a bloody painting even. The kind you saw up on walls in rich folk’s houses. Only, well, no painting had eyes like that, did it? You’d have to be mad to keep a painting with eyes like that in your home. They were bright and clear and looked — honest-to-fucking-Christ — ready to set the whole damned world on fire. Izzy's terrible, horrible, no good, very bad night takes an interesting turn thanks to a completely different sort of pirate captain.

5 - frail and fragile bars by Ajaxthegreat/@francisthegreat (E, 21k) - Silver realizes, post-shark date, that he's in love with Flint. an instant, iconic fave fic. SO many delicious scenes and quotes that live rent free in my head. just read it, you won't regret it.

“I think you fuck,” Silver says. By which he means, with great intent: I think you are human. I know you are human. I see you.

6 - the whole estate of mortal man by Amiril/@runawaymarbles (T, 43k) - Creature Silver AU where he'll grant wishes in exchange for souls. first read this fic in 2020 and cried. reread it this year and cried again. the nature of the AU intersects so cleverly with Black Sails' themes, and the end result is devastating.

Silver has a limited memory, an unlimited lifespan, and a need for human souls. He spends months trying to buy Flint’s.

7 - our feast is but beginning by x_etoile_x/@etoilesombre (E, 55k) - Flint teaches season 1 Silver how to cook. they're definitely not dating. no, really. this writer writes dialogue so in-character that it cuts like a knife. features sensual cooking, Flint being a queer mentor for Silver, fun genderfuckery, and Them Being Real Tender.

Flint should walk away. Silver can figure out how to feed the men, it isn’t his problem. But roasting a pig is so easy, and when was the last time he had a hand in creating something rather than destroying it? Anyway, what else is he doing, with Billy taking the crew in hand with such annoying competency? He absolutely does not think about why he is reluctant for this interaction with Silver to end. “Go get another pig,” he says before he can reconsider. “Do exactly as I say.”

8 - With Strange Aeons by Amiril/@runawaymarbles (M, 60k, Silverflint + Flinthamilton + Jackanne) - Came for the Silverflint, stayed for the Silverflint but also for holy fuck Jack and Anne are sent to Savannah and break out of there with Thomas to battle literal Cthulhu. How can you NOT read this. I don't typically read Flinthamilton, but by god Thomas is amazing in this.

After the disappearance and presumed death of Captain Flint and Long John Silver, Max smuggles Jack and Anne to Oglethorpe’s plantation. Thomas learns that not only do the three of them have a friend in common, but he is not the only one whose dreams are haunted by a strange city and a terrifying name. Meanwhile, Flint and Silver try to escape an island trapped in time, impossibly built and impossibly old. Along the way they’re forced question reality, each other, and themselves. And in his house in R’lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming.

9 - The Salt and the Sea by x_etoile_x/@etoilesombre (E, 60k) - a between season 2 and 3 recovery fic. i still remembered months after reading that chapter 4 in particular left me undone. a harrowing journey into the ruins of post-leg loss Silver's mind, plus exquisite hurt/comfort.

John Silver was always able to make the best of a situation. If this particular situation had started to feel complicated, well, a vast fortune ought to prove clarifying. Whatever he might have imagined he’d seen in Flint, the reality was they had used each other. And he had been set to walk away on top. Except now he couldn’t. Now he was trapped.

10 - the straight walk home by vowelinthug/@vowel-in-thug (E, 73k, Silverflint + Jackanne + Maxanne + Billy/Vane) - A western AU and one of the best long fics in the fandom. Excellent comedy, amazing AU twists on our favorite characters, found family vibes, nail-biting action, and a fucking fantastic climax. Also, I can't believe this fic got me invested in Billy/Vane.

Let me tell you a story, about a vaquero named Vasquez...

[jaynovz]

4.09 Silverflint Sword Training Fic Rec List

In all ways but physical, I am up on the Maroon Island cliffs watching two clever idiots refuse to confess their love to each other. Except when they do tho, because this is fanfiction!

Here are my recs for stories centered around the 4.09 sword training scenes. Enjoy!

--

Cloth of Gold by dornfelder--

Summary: "Tell me one thing," Flint says.

Silver lifts his head, eyes full of apprehension. "If I can."

"If you were to tell me about your past – about all the things you cannot bear for me to know – what do you think I might do?"

Notes: One-shot, 3.3k, rated M.

A Ship is a Republic by robotboy--

Summary: Flint and Silver train every day on the cliffs, and Silver starts to realise he likes being told what to do.

Notes: Multi-chapter, 19.7k, rated E.

Riposte by Apetslife--

Summary: noun: riposte; plural noun: ripostes (Fencing) a quick return thrust following a parry.

Notes: One-shot, 3.3k, rated G.

flame you came from me, fire meet gasoline by jaynovz--

Summary: The incident on the warship lights a desire in Flint. It’s a powder keg with a fuse that burns slow but hot, flaring up at the worst moments and threatening to obliterate him.

It torments Flint off and on, but he manages to go long stretches of time without thinking about Silver's cock at all. About the delicious mouthful Silver is hiding in his trousers and how it might make Flint’s jaw ache pleasantly. Inevitably, Flint's mind drifts at the most inappropriate moments.

He cannot help but watch Silver and desperately want.

Notes: One-shot, 4.8k, rated E.

two dead boys stood up to fight by vowelinthug--

Summary: 4x09 flashback fic, made gayer

because flint looks like THAT while sparring, and silver is not actually Long John Silver. which is to say, he's only human.

Notes: One-shot, 5.8k, rated T.

Our Shadows That Are Bold by x_etoile_x--

Summary: “No.” Silver’s voice isn’t loud, but it is commanding in a way Flint hasn’t heard directed at him in a long time. A way that does nothing to quell the heat that is growing in him as he stands entirely at Silver’s mercy, heat that is much more than the remnants of exertion from their fight. “I think it's time you’re honest about what is happening here.”

Notes: One-shot, 4.9k, rated E.

you reveal the darkest versions of yourself at the precipice by coffeeandchemicals, red_plaid_on_red_plaid--

Summary: You are standing on the top of the cliffs, chest heaving, throat parched, wishing that you were back in the Doldrums. Because, even though you were starving, dying of dehydration, lips cracked, skin burnt and flaking, maybe from the sun, maybe from too many days with mere mouthfuls of water, even though you were sure that death was coming for you, at least Flint was not looking at you then like he is now.

Notes: One-shot, 1.9k, rated M.

That old sword-play by jauneclair--

Summary: 4.09 coda, in which sparring leads to sex.

Notes: One-shot, 2k, rated E.

we lean like gardens (toward light) by mapped--

Summary: Silver takes his shirt off. Flint probably shouldn't have criticised Silver for watching his eyes, because, as it turns out, that's just the pot calling the kettle black.

Notes: One-shot, 3.6k, rated E.

save every day 'til eternity passes away by lacecat--

Summary: Perhaps that’s where they exist, somewhere between the sea and sand, between something human and something otherworldly. Something known, tangible, and then something easily forgotten, as if it too was eroded by the waves.

[4x09 extended scene]

Notes: One-shot, 3.5k, rated M.

what we have left undone by pdameron--

Summary: “You have my genuine friendship,” he says on the cliff, voice quavering, “and loyalty. Can that be enough?”

Flint hesitates, stares down at his sword for a charged, long moment, and Silver can feel his heart splinter as he realizes that it isn’t.

(yet another Flint and Silver on the Cliff Fic)

Notes: One-shot, 2k, rated M.

something just like this by samedifference61--

Summary: Making James Flint purposefully wait for him? Now that’s something that sparks Silver’s curiosity.

A little 4x09 flashback cliff!porn piece that doesn't actually have any porn, just some sword fighting, stripping, banter, and kissing really.

Notes: One-shot, 2.1k, rated M.

--

As always, if there is an inclusion that you think I have missed, you can DM me and I will check it out. 💜

[mrswheelerjr-blog]

#orangetabby #orangetabbylife #scoots #cat #tabby #tabbylife #petslife #apetslife ##beautifulpets ##petmommy #petmommies #itsacatslife #itsacatthing #itsacatworld #hayesvillepets (at Marion, Oregon)

[olincino]

Black Sails Anniversary Appreciation Week April 1st - 7th 2019

Saturday - favorite minor characters

The Walrus Crew

+ 

Black Sails Anniversary Appreciation Week  April 1st - 7th 2019

Friday - fandom recommendations - rec your favorite writing or art or any fan         creation, creators - share your favorite work that you’ve created*

Gone To Port Royal by Apetslife 

An amazing afterlife fic I finished this morning.

[reddoorink-blog]

#Apetslife

[classybunnies]

Another day, another flight.... next stop: Jupiter . . . . #jettingdog #apetslife #chihuahua #pennylane #florida #jupiter

[alittleofthisandallofthat]

#misty #yorkie #chorkie #dog #doglife #pet #apetslife #sleepingdog

[obigail-blog]

Okay mom! Enough with the pictures! 😒 #camerashy #love #apetslife Purse by @alexandermcqueen 😇

[nvnailperson]

Allow me the occasional cute #catsofinstagram photo...... Tasha caught me mid snap as I tried to catch a cute sleeping pose with her and her doppelganger #Chloe next to her...#apetslife

[saintvainglorious]

Fics I Enjoyed in December/January

10 fics total. Includes fics from the following fandoms: A Song of Ice and Fire, Avatar (Cameron), Black Sails, Hannibal, MCU, Our Flag Means Death, and Star Wars

The Favor of the King by thingswithwings MCU | T'Challa/Sam Wilson | 18k | Explicit

T'Challa – King T'Challa of Wakanda, the Black Panther, Guy Who Dresses Up Like a Cat to Fight Crime or Possibly for Other Reasons, Who the Fuck Knows – T'Challa corners Sam during one of their visits to check in on Bucky and says, in a mild voice that should not sound as threatening as it does, "We need to talk." "We do, huh," Sam says, looking him up and down. He's just a king and a superhero and a genius inventor and possibly the richest man alive, looking way too fine and wearing the hell out of a tailored three-piece suit; Sam can hold his own against this guy.

Free Folk to the Bone by Jennie_D A Song of Ice and Fire | Gen, Jon Snow/Ygritte | 82k (WIP) | Mature

Jon will admit he doesn’t know a lot of things. He doesn’t know who his parents are or what clan he was borne from. He doesn’t know what’s on the other side of The Wall, though he’s been itching to find out practically since he could walk. He doesn’t know if he’ll ever learn to be a proper warg, or if Mance will finally let him go raid kneeler villages with Tormund’s band this year. But he does know one thing; he’s Free Folk down to his bones.

Order Carnivora by husborth/@husborth Star Wars | Gen | 8k (WIP) | Teen & Up

In a universe where Leia is told the truth of her biological parentage as a child, she makes a deal to save the galaxy from certain destruction; she'll surrender herself to Vader if he'll destroy the Death Star. Between the galaxy and what he wants, there's only one choice Vader always makes.

The Spiral of Lives by Damkianna Avatar | Gen | 20k | General Audiences

The last thought he has before everything goes black is, Shit. An AU of the movie, wherein the Avatar Program never existed. [Warning: some in-character ableism.]

Gone To Port Royal by Apetslife Black Sails | Gen | 3k | General Audiences

Definition of Valhalla 1: the great hall in Norse mythology where heroes slain in battle are received 2 : a place of honor, glory, or happiness : heaven

Ad Utrumque Paratus by obeyingthemuse/@otmuse Star Wars | Gen | 39k (WIP) | General Audiences

It's hard to bring balance to the Force when the only method you've seen is your black-cloaked psychic cyborg sorcerer dad with a severe breathing problem throwing an old man down the Death Star reactor shaft. As much as Luke would like to see the not-yet-Emperor dead, he doesn't want to be arrested by his unusually attractive(?) war-hero dad and spend the rest of his indeterminate time in the past dropping Ewok beats in a jail cell. Also Leia would probably kill him. But not before breaking him out of jail. So when the twins wake up on Tatooine decades in the past, they play it safe. They take over a planet, reconnect with their adoptive and real parents without weirding them out (too much), and accidentally cause the Chancellor perpetual near-death experiences. Nailed it.

Where All Ladders Start by emungere/@emungere Hannibal | Will Graham/Hannibal Lecter | 43k | Explicit | Part 1 of Ladders

Will is slowly losing his mind in the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane. He makes a deal with the devil to get out.

Whatever this is by equestrianstatue/@justlikeeddie Black Sails | James Flint/John Silver | 5k | Explicit | Part 1 of Combat

It was difficult to shake off the pervasive feeling of being permitted, even required, in the places that he most wished to be; and after knocking on the door of Flint’s cabin, Silver pushed it open without waiting for the call to enter. Flint had his back to him, but his head turned sharply at the sound. He was stood towards the stern of the cabin, by one of the gilted pillars, the hammocks newly-strung for the vanguard swinging gently beside him. “Oh,” he said, with no particular inflection, at the sight of Silver. Then he completed the action that his hands had been midway through: lifting the leather sword-belt from his waist and hanging it in place below a mounted candlestick. “What do you want?” (After Flint talks the crew round to bombarding Vane in his fort, Silver has some questions of his own.)

A thing of any relevance by equestrianstatue/@justlikeeddie Black Sails | James Flint/John Silver | 4k | Explicit | Part 2 of Combat

“You like this,” Silver said, and he allowed himself a grin, even though he knew it would earn him Flint’s arm pressing fractionally upwards, against his throat. Not hard enough, though, to cut off his voice. “Putting me in my place.” Flint’s eyebrows raised minutely. He looked down the length of Silver’s body, at the way it slouched beneath him, sprawled against the trunk; at the rise and fall of his chest, his hands curled loosely by his hips. Glancing back up, he said, “Not as much as you do.”

man on fire by Ajaxthegreat Our Flag Means Death/Black Sails | James Flint/Israel Hands, Edward Teach/Stede Bonnet/Israel Hands | 16k | Explicit

“Who the fuck,” Ed says, “Fucked you.” Or, we discover the consequences of jealousy.

[wataplease]

Chloe taking a snooze with #Buddy from #apetslife in the chair next to me while I'm listening to an audiobook #dachshund #wienerdog #sausage

[hotniatheron]

whats your favorite black sails fics????????????????????

thanks for asking so I can roast people

actually no, I only have about 10 or so because I’m SUUUUUUUUUPER picky about characterization

Seedlings by twofrontteethstillcrooked

slouches toward bethlehem to be born by straddling the atmosphere

Askance’s creature Silver fics (my ABSOLUTE favorite fics) 

capture what time forgot  (max/miranda) and half as happy as we by mapped

With Strange Aeons by RunawayMarbles (aka the Cthulu fic)

for the caged bird sings of freedom by craftnarok 

a little wicked, just like you said by youatemytailor

i by vowelinthug

the John Silver Can’t Get Here from There series by Apetslife

late night walk date by fandomfan (bc it’s like one of two pre-series flinthamiltons fics that I actually like)

[redwhale]

re: Fic Rec Days, I was hoping to have this done by the 12th! Nope. This is an updated rec list for James/Thomas and James/Miranda/Thomas for Black Sails. 

I am still wanting to rec a lot of the newer stories on this list separately (plus some other wonderful stories), but I don’t think that will happen before mid-March, so that’s really frustrating. Curses! I haven’t even caught up on writing reviews for some of the newer stories, which I’m even more frustrated about. I sadly don’t have a lot of time to read fic, so this is by no means an extensive list. There is so much goddamn fantastic work out there! The following is just a very small taste. Positively, there are some underrated gems linked here that deserve some more love. 

(I always feel awful about rec lists, because I know I’ve inevitably lost track of some amazing stories, and there are also equally as many excellent stories from stupidly talented authors that I might have missed or haven’t gotten to read yet, so I want to emphasize again, this is by no means extensive.)  The following stories are just AO3 links, as I’ve lost track of so many Tumblr fics, and when a user changes their username, the links break. Double curses!

James/Thomas:

Idealism Sits In A Prison -  Sunnyrea

Thomas Hamilton's ten years without James.

Stimulus -  AstronautSquid

After ten years of separation and hardship, their hearts love each other the same.

It's their bodies that need longer to settle.

Thomas Hamilton: A Life -  AstronautSquid

Thomas Hamilton is born with two front teeth.

He dies with the morning sun in his eyes.

This is everything in between.

Les mille et une nuits -  andloawhatsit 

Abigail Ashe grows up, buys a printing press, and finds a man she thought she'd never see again.

On Kindly Beaches -  Theonenamedafterahat

Woodes Rogers tries to get Thomas Hamilton to help him persuade Captain Flint to accept the pardons. This does not go well for him.

A Break In The Clouds -  moonflowers

The end of his nose brushed the back of the man's hood; he smelt of oil and salt and wet canvas. For the first time that evening, Thomas was thankful he was cold and miserable - it provided a distraction from the firmness of the body pressed against his front, and how inconvenient it would be for Thomas to crave it.

In which Thomas is lost in the rain, and rather enamoured with his rescuer.

For whither thou goest, I will go -  OrangeLady

When Thomas is set free from Bedlam, he knows he has to see New Providence, the place that stole so much from him: his lovers, his family and his life.

wooden tides to run -  AstronautSquid

James was almost certain he had walked more miles on wooden planks than on solid ground in his life.

Fascination -  AstronautSquid

“Pirates,” was all James rasped above him.

“A general history thereof,” Thomas agreed. “Detailing the most fearsome scoundrels to ever plague the high seas. Though I have to say, this likeness doesn’t quite do you justice. Your moustache is not as ridiculously curly as that.”

Imitation -   AstronautSquid

In battle he was clear-headed and footsure.

Faced with Thomas' request for a taste of Flint, James felt anything but.

Reorienting -  Palebluedot

Thomas grabs ahold of his holy apparition with both hands and keeps him there, draws him nearer. Let them hold each other until they both bruise, he thinks fiercely, for tenderness needn't always step light. Love owes them kind wounds.

Eye of the Beholder -  Palebluedot 

“Open your eyes for me, love,” Thomas reminds him, voice husky, and when he does, the first thing he sees is Thomas's reflected grin, hungry as the gaze that caresses every inch of skin from James's parted, panting lips down to his flushed and leaking cock. “Just look at you,” he sighs in James's ear before he trails imprecise, open-mouthed kisses back down to James's throat. Author’s Note: ((alternatively, that time bean was like "so what if they fucked in front of a mirror" and I was like "shit what if they DID"))

Unaccommodated Man -  kvikindi 

It is at this point that, for the first time, Thomas Hamilton begins to consider that he has gone mad.

The Peaceable Kingdom -  kvikindi

William Manderly visits the plantation, some six years after the events of Unaccommodated Man.

Congress -  kvikindi

James and Thomas put the "fuck" in "fucked-up."

The Cup of Their Deserving (the wages of their virtue) -  DreamingPagan

Madi decides not to be sent away after her rescue. When she returns to Skeleton Island, she finds a betrayal in progress and takes steps to save her friend and put her people's choice regarding the war back in their hands. 

name one hero who was happy -  mapped

Lying in bed together, James and Thomas talk about the Iliad. (Thomas is practically ready to write Achilles/Patroclus fanfiction.)

Crescent Moon -  sebastianL (felix_atticus)

One shot of the months following the finale, with a focus on a certain tattoo.

Bent -  azarias

In a warm room in London, James tells Thomas about the events on the Exeter.

Thomas applies what he learns. (Established relationship, consensual kink.)

With Fire and With His Sword -  azarias

After the reunion, after the plantation, Captain Flint returns to the sea.

He takes James and Thomas with him.

katabasis -  csoru

Flint discovers Thomas is a passenger aboard the Maria Aleyne alongside his father, and events proceed from there. 

Lord Captain -  Apetslife

“Once a year, I send a letter to My Lord father, accounting for every penny of commerce I have cost the colony of the Bahamas, and every lover I have taken in that time. So far, he has failed to send a reply. An oversight, I’m sure.” (Pirate Captain Thomas Hamilton).

Sea Salt and Lavender -  moonflowers

James hadn't heard the song, nor spared it a thought, for years. He'd had no need of it. But her singing grounded him, reminded him that he'd had a home once, before everything, where his grandmother had sung those same words as she rolled out pastry, where he'd played as a boy, and dreamt of sailing away through those harbour walls and making something of himself. It came as a surprise to uncover something of James McGraw from so long ago, and to find it still intact.

With Sweet, Reluctant, Amorous Delay -  Magnetism_bind

For the Flinthamilton prompt: "There's no way you're getting me in /that/"

Thomas takes James to a costume party.

The Loaning of Books Between Friends -  Magnetism_bind

Thomas loans books to James in an attempt to get to know his new liaison better.

The Fields of Elysium -  Fyre

A man who has been through bitter experiences and travelled far enjoys even his sufferings after a time. - The Odyssey.

The Pirate -  x_art

(Modern AU)  What if Pickram got there first?

The Sundering Sea -  x_art

Stepping into the foamy surf, gasping at the force of it, the surprise of it—it had been breathtaking. Thomas had been that for him, his boundless sea, and he wasn’t ashamed.

Folly -  x_art

It wasn’t too late to nip this in the bud. He could do it because he’d done it before, because his heart was always subservient to his head. Always.

Thomas the Mariner -  shirogiku

Thomas' voyage home takes slightly less than ten years, but not for the lack of misadventures.

a word like tiger -  bellis

A few months after Charlestown, Flint finds out that Thomas is alive. This is, by all accounts, terrible timing. 

James/Miranda/Thomas:

Feed Among The Lilies -  willowbilly

James has been warned that they are duplicitous people, and by all rights he should remain on guard.

He does not care to.

Thomas actually chuckles when Astraea meets his eyes as fiercely and haughtily and lingeringly nonplussed as only a raptor can be, and it is such a disarmingly lovely sound that she immediately discards all the proud composure she'd just managed to gather and swivels away to preen busily beneath her wing, her hot yellow glare in its bandit stripe of brown ducked and hidden with telling alacrity within the downiest and snowiest of her feathers. (Daemon AU)

Firebird -  Wind_Ryder

There are two truths in the world.

One: Before Thomas and Miranda leave London to begin Governing Nassau, they receive a note that reads: "Lt. James McGraw died a resident of Bethlem Hospital on December 25, 1705." And they have nothing left to live for.

and Two: on December 25, 1705, Admiral Hennessey takes James from Bethlem and brings him to his new life far away from London society. He is told he will never see the Hamiltons again.

These two truths were never meant to be spoken at the same time.

Elisha made the oil pour forth -  azarias

Miranda is a widow. Miranda has a husband, but not the one she wants. Miranda may have gone mad a month ago, but no one's had the guts to tell her.

Start Anew - Neery

James and Miranda rescue Thomas from Bethlem. This was supposed to solve all their problems.

As it turns out, things are more complicated than that.

Late night walk date -  fandomfan

Having just returned from the West Indies, James tries—rather unsuccessfully—to take his leave from the Hamiltons' London house. 

Where The Winds Sigh -  Chainofprospit

The last levee of tradition belaying him gave way, and with it any sense of reticence. James could feel his furrowed brow falling, his chin lifting, without needing to will it so. I am going to be kissed by Thomas Hamilton, he thought, and in the next second he was.

--

We've seen the moment that James and Thomas finally kissed; this is what I imagine comes after.

To The Upper Air - DreamingPagan

James Flint goes to sleep expecting a battle the next day. What he's not expecting is to wake, eleven years in his own past, with a very different fight on his hands - to save the people he loves and his own soul.

Full of Grace -  DreamingPagan

Alfred orders both Thomas and James to be taken to Bedlam. Miranda is left to rescue them with the aid of Admiral Hennessey.

You Can’t Handle The Truth -  Wind_Ryder 

Now, all of England and beyond were discussing how an MP of Thomas' reputation was actually gay, that a Naval Officer with James' CV was a home wrecker, and how Miranda was either the victim of her husband's deviations, or a slut begging for more. Modern AU: In which Thomas, Miranda, and James are outed to the press.

Thereto I plight thee my troth -  azarias

Thomas consults Miranda on the subject of his military liaison. Sexily.

a more rational burning -  sea_changed (foxlives) 

She had understood this as her role from the beginning, the head to Thomas's heart and James's hands.

and into what it will be changed - sea_changed (foxlives) 

His own heart, so often obscure to him, has become clear. (Tag notes: Political philosophy, art, naval policy, mostly threesomes.)

to ithaca -  sea_changed (foxlives)

Miranda finds him first.

A Savor of the Heart -  drivingsideways

In some cultures, speaking the name of the dead is taboo.

Apprehension -  orienter (orientinme)

For a year, Miranda watches them with fear. Until the day she understands why they feel none.

The Art of Asymmetry -  AstronautSquid

Her sketches of people tended to veer into caricature with their lively emphasis of all things out of the ordinary - a large nose, a double chin, a foppish gesture -, and had thus quickly been ruled unfit for display among polite company.

Thomas encouraged her to keep a rotating selection framed on a dresser in the chamber connecting their rooms.

It was a week into their affair that Miranda first sketched James.

No Part Behind -  atrata

James thinks of Thomas.

A Knock Upon the Moonlit Door -  FeoplePeel

A werewolf, a fairy, a witch, and a vampire walk onto a magical island and--no wait. Once upon a time, there was a Knocker who betrayed his friend and spent over a century in a Sidhe prison until he met a handsome werewolf and--hang on a minute.

There are stories that reach even the Sidhe's side of the Veil, of Nassau and its healing shores. But what use could the ghosts of giants, and vampires, and all of those who will never meet death find for a fountain of life? The obvious answer is: keep it away from everyone else.

Or: The story of how John Silver joined Flint's very non-traditional pack.

Miranda/Thomas:

May it happen to me (all) - drivingsideways

In the summer of 1695, Miranda Barlow meets Lord Thomas Hamilton.

James/Miranda:

book of days - sea_changed (foxlives)

He looks at her, lost, like he is trying to understand the distance between them and cannot. A line of longitude, incalculable, mysterious and imprecise.

whalebone, rigged to stem the floods - AstronautSquid

James had learnt how to unlace a woman's stays, and how to help put them back on.

The fine material of the cords had snagged on his callouses, but they were after all just delicate ropes, and ropes he knew. The knots came together between his fingers under Miranda's direction and adjusting the tension of the laces running through the eyelets felt surprisingly familiar, the same way he could almost feel in his own body the tension of a ship's rigging.

It was the first time during their affair that James had felt truly in control of the situation at hand.

[runawaymarbles]

Black Sails Fic Rec

Silver/Flint

shaking at the sight by vowelinthug | 1k | T |

two pirate kings, united vs. an entire island's naval forces.

the island didn't stand a chance.

look for something left in this world by vowelinthug | 2k | M |

it’s a nice day for a white wedding

too bad they aren’t having one

yer mother darns socks in hell by youatemytailor | 4k | M |

Christ, Flint thinks. He fucking hates Freetown.

el cuentacuento by straddling_the_atmosphere | 4k | NR | +Silver/Madi

At the end of the day, John Silver is an unreliable narrator.

Or: a storyteller’s story.

show me the way to go home by vowelinthug | 8k | NC-17 |

set during 2x4, in which Silver and Flint take a much-deserved time out and enjoy a drink or seven

and they both learn a valuable lesson about each other

namely that neither one has ever had any chill whatsoever in their entire goddamn life

let us possess one world by vowelinthug | 8k | NC-17 |

They return to Nassau after their defeat of the British Navy, only to be met by Agitator Billy and his propaganda machine. This is why Captain Flint tries not to let other people decide things.

In which: Flint wears a disguise, Silver tells a terrible story, one bathes the other, and only one man died the whole night which is, like, definitely a record for them.

What's in a Name? by Craftnarook | 9k | NC-17 |

Some conversations in the dark between Flint and Silver, set during episode 3x09. They have a moment alone in the Maroon camp, after Mr Scott's death, and what begins as curiosity and sharing develops into rather a lot more.

you are the queen and i am the wolf by vowelinthug | 10k | NC-17 |

They call him John the Giant.

Flint calls himself James the Early Risk for Heart Failure.

Don’t Fear the Ships (Fear the Black) by farasha | 11k | NC-17 |

“You can’t read sea charts.”

“Can’t is a strong word.”

Flint teaches Silver how to sail. As with everything they do, there’s a lot more going on unspoken.

Or, Silver tries to convince Flint that it would be a bad thing if he died.

ya filthy animals by vowelinthug | 12k | NC-17 |

Flint and Silver could be rulers of an illegal organization, major mob bosses, kingpins, criminal masterminds, etc.

But then they could also be petty shoplifters who like to drink during the day and fool around on their houseboat.

With Nothing On My Tongue by RosieTwiggs | 14k | NC-17 | +Silver/Madi

“Silver thinks: Maybe God likes it when I fight with him.

He wonders now, whether he’s been playing into God’s plan all along. Because no matter how angry he gets, how defensive, how many “fuck you”s he flings to the heaven, isn’t it all just proof that he still believes God is there, despite it all?

Silver doesn’t know how to counter that.

Maybe he doesn’t want to anymore.

Blue all in a rush by twofrontteethstillcrooked | 16k | NC-17 |

There were dozens of questions Flint wanted to ask. He chose, "Did it not occur to you I would find out you were here almost immediately?"

st. augustine is that way by vowelinthug | 18k | NC-17 |

James Flint had yet to meet a conversation he couldn’t avoid.

John Silver had yet to meet a routine he couldn’t disrupt.

(post-show domesticity, with oranges)

we must unlearn the constellations to see the stars by lacecat | 19k | M | + Flint/Thomas, Silver/Madi

Silver wakes up each time to a different day in his past.

He thinks that if this is his purgatory, he can’t say he doesn’t deserve it.

Sail These Roads and Back Again by neverfaraway | 20k | M 

James has fled the New World for the Old, shed his name and found quietude in his solitary existence. That is, until his favourite worst memory appears on the farm track, collapses upon his sopha, and refuses to be shaken loose. While Corsica smoulders and war becomes ever more likely, Flint and Silver enter a war of their own: to reclaim their past and forge an uncertain future.

gonna need a bigger boat by lacecat | 20k | Not Rated

“You really want to say that, when you’re sitting across from a man who lost his leg to a shark?” Flint scoffs. "There is no way a shark took your leg!" "Of course not," Silver says, smirking. After he draws the silence out, for what feels appropriately dramatic enough period of time, he adds, "It was two sharks."

Tell me we're dead and I'll love you even more by Craftnarook | 22k | M |

In the year 1725, or thereabouts, John Silver finds himself driven by a storm into an inconsequential little port town, barely a speck on any civilised map. Returned to the life of a drifter, tired and rough around the edges, he is resigned to waiting for the weather to pass before he can sail on again to the next town, and the next, and the next. That is until he overhears a conversation in the inn about a local fisherman, one Captain Barlow, and his tall tales of tempests and becalmings, devils and sharks, and Silver finds a new future opening up to him, haunted by the spectres of his past.

John Silver Can’t Get There From Here by Apetslife | 33k | Series, G-E | + Silver/Madi, Anne/Jack

Or: Fuck Treasure Island, And Also Actual History, And Probably Season Four Canon, Too

“He is so terribly in love with you,” Madi murmurs to him from out of nowhere, sitting easy in the curve of his arm in the shade of their small porch.

Fifteen Men in September by ballantine | NR | 34k |

Fifteen men on the dead man’s chest Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum! Drink and the devil had done for the rest Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!

A Black Sails origin story for the song.

turning saints into the sea by lacecat | 86k | NC-17 | + Flint/Thomas, Silver/Madi, Miranda/Flint

They say she arrived in Nassau during a hurricane. They say that she brought with her a priest she had kidnapped to father her children, whom she then turned into storms to guide the direction of her ship. They say she has sworn to kill as many men on this Earth as she could, that she bathes in the blood of young children ripped from their mother’s breasts to attain immortality, doomed to serve the seas forever in return.

In reality, Silver has seen Flint conjure exactly zero storm-like offspring, but she does know how she speaks with the sort of conviction that if she were a man, they would write books about her. There’s a stiffness to her posture that speaks of someone who might better be found in a London parlor rather than a dusty brothel in the Bahamas, and yet she has a fierce temper that rivals any man’s on the island, a dangerous look about her like the air rippling over fire.

Silver/Flint/Hamilton(+)

The Isle of Hope by ElDiablito_SF | 16k | M |

When a heartbroken John Silver arrives in Georgia ten years after the events on Skeleton Island, he doesn't quite have it in him to face Flint. Instead, he concocts a scheme to befriend Thomas, and gets more than he bargained for in exchange

The Tether Series by stele3 | 58k | M |

“So you did find him,” the man says faintly. When Thomas looks up he finds himself caught in perhaps the strangest regard one person has ever given another, a gaze that absolutely does not dissuade Thomas from the notion that a feral, scavenging animal has broken into their home.

Smallpox Verse by vowelinthug | 70k | T-NC17 | + Madi

post-finale, where everyone learns a valuable lesson about communication and smallpox. (no one actually gets smallpox.)

The Canterbury Tales by Wind_Ryder | 133k | NC-17 | +Madi

Pirates. Attacking Georgia. A part of Thomas wants to believe that there’s nothing at all relating the events outside to the events in his personal life.

But when he turns around and sees John Silver slipping in through the backdoor, he very much doubts that’s the case. “Tea?” Thomas asks blandly, throwing the latch and shutting his blinds like a good Puritan man.

Flint/Hamilton(s)

the stars and she who runs with them by alovelylight | 1k | G |

When she declared Peter Ashe a traitor, her heart beating fury into the expanse of her body, she knew this was what James felt like. The constructed castles of civilization falling to the ground, dragons from the dark breathing out and destroying all the lies they hold dear. This was what she wanted; this would be her peace.

Time Covers All Things by lilithi|ien | 12k | T | +Silver/Flint

She imagines it will be liberating to take a new name, to adopt a new life. The next day, as she steps off the gangway onto the island sand, she tries to leave who she was behind like a snake shedding its skin. She can almost get away with it. How Lady Hamilton becomes Mrs Barlow.

The Witch Queen of Nassau by shirogiku | 12k | NC-17 | 

After James is captured by the Navy, it falls to Miranda to organise the rescue. Nothing goes according to the plan.

Revenant by BethWinter | 18k | T |

After Charlestown burns, Abigail Ashe meets a man who says he was a friend of her father’s. He gives her a choice.

The Far Waste of the Waters by more_night | M | 22.5k |  + Silver/Flint, Silver/Madi

James McGraw removes Skeleton Island from his mind.

Somewhere in Boston by redwhale | T | 29k | + Laura Moon/Shadow Moon

Mr. Wednesday tries to recruit the dread pirate Captain Flint for his war against the New Gods, and runs afoul of Thomas Hamilton in the attempt. Meanwhile, Shadow just wants a new goddamn book to read, is that so much to ask?

Soon after, on the trail of Wednesday and Shadow, Laura and Mad Sweeney find themselves in a charming bookstore in Boston...

Unaccommodated Man by kvikindi | T | 27k |

It is at this point that, for the first time, Thomas Hamilton begins to consider that he has gone mad.

The Sundering Sea by x_art | 137k | NR | Flint/Thomas

Stepping into the foamy surf, gasping at the force of it, the surprise of it—it had been breathtaking. Thomas had been that for him, his boundless sea, and he wasn’t ashamed.

Max/Anne (+)

you'll always paint my sky by mapped | 2k | T |

She still loves Max, and it gets harder and harder to deny it to herself.

(Anne through the second half of S4.)

histoire à tiroirs by straddling_the_atmosphere | 3k | T |  +Max/Eleanor, Max/Idelle

histoire (n): a story, a fictional tale, a narrative account, a lie

Or: Max and shifting sands

Bounteous by willowbilly | 4k | M | Anne/Max/Mary/Jack

It’s a queer hurt, almost like the relief of peeling off an old scab, to feel her heart pulling in three separate directions and to feel it expanding to encompass the whole damn rest of the compass rose rather than be so fragile as to rip itself asunder. Anne never would have thought, before, that she’d be this fucking caring. That she’d had such a deep well of love waiting untapped within her, way down.

kintsugi by princejake | 6k | T |

Anne nestles into his shoulder, her hair brushing against his cheek, and suddenly Jack can breathe properly for the first time in weeks. Here they are, together, in balance as they’ve been from the beginning. Complete again.

When he opens his eyes Max is watching them from across the street. Her posture is carefully neutral, but her eyes are… solemn. Stoic. Filled with a kind of barren peace. She always could convey so much with just a look.

Something twinges uncomfortably behind Jack’s breastbone. /Oh./ Perhaps not so in balance after all.

Other/Misc/Gen

no man’s land by rhllors | 2.5k | T |  Jack/Anne/Mary

The man on the deck looks back at them, considering. He’s handsome but he oozes violence; armed, scarred, tall, hair slung round a bandana, the same colour of a recently opened wound. “I’ve heard of you,” he says, with an infliction she’s not familiar with: somewhere from the continent, not French. Perhaps Holland. “The name’s Read.” he continues, eyes tracing the rim of her hat. “Mark Read.”

armed with the past and the will by whimsicalimages | 3k | T | Silver/Madi

The language of winning and losing, this language that men favor – Madi can speak this language, though she disagrees with its precepts. Success takes different forms, and failing once does not mean failing forever. It does not even mean failing the next time.

Gone to Port Royal by Apetslife | 3k | G | All the pairings

Definition of Valhalla 1: the great hall in Norse mythology where heroes slain in battle are received 2 : a place of honor, glory, or happiness : heaven

same bottle, same gun: two shots by AstronautSquid | 5k | T | minor Flint/Thomas, Max/Eleanor

„I will walk,“ Flint interrupted her objections. „You have just maneuvered yourself into a position of considerable power on this island, and now you have gone and cast aside a man the island admires and fears. It won’t do for you to be seen sharing a horse with me like a wounded young girl.“ Eleanor stared up at him; a wounded young girl full of curses, with a rifle resting like a sleeping babe in her arm.

[Nassau, 1708. Eleanor Guthrie remembers a moment in the life of Lieutenant McGraw. Captain Flint doesn’t.]

what’s a king but a heavy name by thatsarockfact55 | 51k | T | Mr. Scott/Maroon Queen, Madi/Silver, background Flint/Silver 

In the quiet night, one stranger tells another what he has always known: “I have been so many names, Long John Silver, and if not for love I would be no one at all.”

-

One story of a spirit, a slave, a father, and a pirate king, told in seven parts.

Winds of Change and Chance  by PanBoleyn | 60k | T | (eventual Silver/Flint, Miranda/Thomas, Flint/Hamiltons, Flint/Silver/Miranda) 

In which a thief and his daemon make their way onto a pirate ship, and vastly underestimate how hard it will be to get off again.

Well, the thief does. His daemon had a feeling this might happen.

[wordsfromfanfics]

Flint is silent for a long moment, just looking at him with those disconcertingly clear green eyes. Silver meets them steadily, far too accustomed by now to the feeling of being seen, and known, and understood, all the way through.

Part One: The Land by Apetslife

[ao3feed-silverflint]

Part Six: The Cause

read it on the AO3 at http://ift.tt/2qClvZv

by Apetslife

“Up, up,” he calls to Silver down in the waist where he’s sitting with Shaw and a few of the other men, splicing rope. Silver looks up at him. “Time to learn to fight at sea.”

“It’s terrible when he gets like this,” Silver tells Shaw, as if Flint can’t hear him. “All bloody-minded and cheerful. Here, take this bit. The Captain calls, and I must answer.” Flint grins benevolently at them both and fetches the sticks he’d stashed near the mainmast in anticipation of this moment.

Words: 8927, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Series: Part 8 of John Silver Can't Get There From Here

Fandoms: Black Sails

Rating: Mature

Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence

Categories: F/M, M/M

Characters: John Silver, James Flint, Madi Scott, De Groot (Black Sails), "Calico" Jack Rackham, Anne Bonny, Max (Mentioned), A Bunch Of OCs Based On Pirates I Have Known

Relationships: John Silver/Madi Scott, James Flint/John Silver

Additional Tags: This John Silver Is Not A Bristol Tavernkeeper, Violence, Slavery, Pirates, Polyamory, Plenty Of Naval Jargon, James Flint Is A God Of War, AU from late S4, Post-Canon Fix-It

read it on the AO3 at http://ift.tt/2qClvZv