#ed teach

[happy-mokka]

Beautiful.

Had the opportunity to join on the You Wear Fine Frames Well project!

I was in awe of the first season's project that I was hoping to join on for season 2. Almost missed out but super thankful to be added on and be able to create for this. All artists and collaborators did such a great job and it all came together beautifully!

Full video with all the frames:

Website with everyone's work and info:

[follows-the-bees]

I love this shot of Stede and everything we can gather from it.

He is crouched down picking up the pieces of the burned map, but for all intents and purposes, this can be read like all the other times he's isolated. He is low to the ground, hunched over on himself, and alone, his body language screams defeat.

We are seeing this through the perspective of Lucius and Ed, Stede is blocked between them in the camera. Lucius words of "and you like him" overlap this shot. And Ed smiles at the knowledge — his love for him and the knowledge that Stede likes him back — just like he smiles when Stede is excited about seeing the foliage!

At this point Stede has seen Ed during a panic attack, isolated in the bathtub. And this moment is the closest we've seen (so far) of Stede vulnerable (I'm not counting the stabbing, I mean emotional vulnerability after they have known each other a while.)

Ed likes Stede at all moments — high and low — and I think it's telling that he finds out concretely from someone else that Stede has feelings for him too right when Stede is having a low moment and Ed gets to embrace that knowledge and act on it. Gets to take care of someone else, just like Stede did for him. And he encourages Stede, who then stands up tall, adjusting his clothing and sassing back, but both of them are so genuine that they cheer each other up.

Their like for each other is more than just sexual, not only during the good times. It is based on friendship and genuine like of each other, especially when they aren't having the best days. Just like when Ed is at his lowest Stede declares he is Ed's friend, Ed gets to comfort Stede while he's upset.

The blocking and body language in this shot really shows not only their budding romance but their friendship. Their love for each other during low times. I love them.

[shunstanpike]

Could not be more pleased with this commission I got from rocketlollyart of Ed from my pizzeria AU! El was such a pleasure to work with and brought my vision to life even better than I'd imagined it <3

And here's my short, tooth-rotting lil pizza fic! You can read it on AO3 here!

Two Gays, a Gull, and a Pizza Place

Stede loved Wednesdays. And this particular Wednesday was a beautiful one. The scent of daffodils and freshly cut grass rustled through the trees that lined the street. Stede slid open all of the windows, letting the breeze pick up the aromas of baking bread and roasted tomatoes to share them with the neighborhood.

At four o’clock, opening time, in came John Feeny with his neon hair and sweater to match, carrying a plastic bin through which shone a rainbow of yarn. He walked straight to his usual spot in the corner, and Stede went to the counter to put in his party’s order.

It never got old seeing Ed sashay from counter to oven to register, forehead glistening in the heat, short sleeves rolled even shorter, biceps on full display as they tensed from the weight of the paddle.

When Ed turned toward the brick oven, Stede admired the intentionally messy buns that kept his long curls off of his neck. Ed pulled a hot margherita pizza from the heat, and time seemed to slow. He spun around, loose ringlets floating around his beautiful face, and he smiled at Stede as he slid the pie onto an empty pan.

“Oh, hello there, sir,” he said. “How can I help you?”

“Four sparkling waters, please, darling,” Stede said, the order coming out as a sigh in his adoration.

“You got it,” Ed said with a wink.

The bell on the door chimed and Lucius strutted in, tapping away on his phone as usual.

“Afternoon, Lucius,” Stede greeted him.

“Stede. Ed,” Lucius replied, looking up from his phone to squint at the menu. “Do I want to know what a ‘Hot Nut Pie’ is?”

“Actually, you do,” Stede said just before Roach popped his head out from the back kitchen.

“Ricotta, crushed pistachios, and chili-infused honey!” Roach said, his eyes gleaming. He kissed his fingertips. “Delicious!”

Lucius shrugged and looked back at his phone. “Sure, let’s try it. Gluten-free crust, please and thank you.”

Ed scoffed.

Lucius’s eyes flicked back up in a glare. “Don’t start with me, Edward. Gluten intolerance is real.”

“You know it doesn’t taste as good, though,” said Ed.

“And whose fault would that be?” Lucius gave Ed a pointed look before taking his seat at a table next to John’s.

Ed frowned and muttered to himself as he slid a tray of glasses across the counter to Stede.

“Don’t listen to him, Edward,” said Stede, taking the tray. “You make a damn good pizza crust, glutinous or otherwise.”

Stede gave Ed a quick peck as thanks, and to take his mind off of Lucius’s remark.

“Are those hooks I see, John?” Stede asked when he brought over the drinks.

John nodded. “Jackie said she wanted to learn crochet,” he said in his melodious Irish accent, “so I’m teaching the group crochet.”

As if on cue, Jackie and one of her partners, the goofy but good-looking Swedish chap, paraded through the entrance. They were followed by the sweet and soft-spoken Fang, and the three joined John in the corner, hooting and hollering about the dresses, crop tops and vests they were going to make.

Next to arrive was Lucius’s husband Pete, who sat down just as Stede brought over their order.

“Did you get the gluten-free, babe?” Pete asked Lucius. “You know regular crust gives me a funny tummy.”

“I sure did, babe,” Lucius said, shooting Ed a look.

—

Stede alerted Ed when the clock struck five. With an obedient nod, Ed prepped a Sweet & Spicy Triple Pepper Pie and two dozen garlic knots. Not five minutes later, in came the rowdy crew from the ax-throwing bar next door.

Jim and Oluwande were the establishment’s co-owners; Jim brought the sharp-object-throwing expertise, and level-headed Oluwande had the business savvy. They were together, but Jim was also dating an energetic young woman named Archie, and Oluwande was dating Zheng, who was some kind of powerful executive (at least, that’s what Stede thought). But they were also all a little in love with each other. It was a bit beyond Stede, but they seemed happy, and Stede loved when they came into the pizzeria on Wednesdays with their board games.

On this particular Wednesday evening they had an additional party member: Zheng’s auntie. She seemed even more formidable than Zheng, but those kids had a way of warming the iciest of hearts.

Speaking of which, the week wouldn’t be complete without a visit from the loathsome landlord, Israel Hands. His dreary wardrobe darkened the pizzeria’s doorstep just after Ivan left with a stack of delivery orders.

“Rent, boys,” he growled, sidling up to the counter.

“Hello to you, too, Izzy,” Ed said with an exaggerated bow of the head. Stede had no idea how Ed didn’t despise the little man.

“It’s late,” said Izzy, turning to Stede. “Again.”

“Is it?” Stede asked. “Or are you perhaps impatient?”

“Both,” Izzy spat.

“Lighten up, Iz,” Ed said, whipping the slicer through a pepperoni pie. “We’ll get it to you. We always do.”

“Would a free slice of Meat Lover’s sweeten the deal?” Stede offered with a charming raise of his eyebrows.

Izzy scowled at him.

“Where were you two Monday night?” He asked. “I came by and the shop was closed.”

“Monday night?” Ed echoed. “Let’s see…”

“Monday was John’s show,” said Stede.

“That’s right!” Ed beamed. “We were at a drag show.”

Izzy rubbed the bridge of his nose. “You can’t just close the shop whenever you want!”

“Sure we can,” said Stede. “Lucius showed me how to update the Instagram so people know not to come in.”

Izzy’s jaw dropped and he shook his head. Then he gestured around at the restaurant. “Look at this. Board games? Knitting? You need to be turning these tables!”

“It’s crochet, actually,” Stede corrected. “And these are some of our most loyal customers!”

“Have they even ordered food?” Izzy whined. “It looks like they’re just… drinking water!”

“Do you want them to get sauce on their lovely garments, Izzy?” Stede snapped back.

“Who made you the king of running a restaurant, anyway?” Ed added.

“You lose business, I lose business,” said Izzy. “I want the rent by the end of the week.”

With that, he freed Stede and Ed of his presence and joined the board game table to inexplicable cheers from Jim and Archie. A table that he claimed to want turned, the hypocrite.

—

A bit later in the evening, during a lull, Ed and Stede were chatting and canoodling at the counter when Ed suddenly pointed out the front door and said, “Look! It’s Buttons!”

Stede followed Ed’s gesture and saw that, indeed, there he was, the seagull who they had first met the day they opened the shop.

They had just made a vegetarian pizza topped with spinach, black olives, and mushrooms. Stede was relaying to Ed that the type of mushrooms they had used, and that were used on most pizzas, were Agaricus bisporus, or “button mushrooms,” when the bird flew right in through an open window and pilfered a slice. Ed proudly nicknamed him “Buttons.” It was a stretch, Stede thought, but it worked.

Buttons was a frequent guest after that day, and especially loved to come by on Wednesdays.

Stede took a garlic knot from behind the counter, tore it into pieces, then tossed it out the door to the bird.

“Don’t feed him that, Stede!” Fang chided from behind his black and silver crochet project. “Bread isn’t good for little birdy tummies!”

Ed threw his arms up in exasperation. “Oh, now birds are gluten intolerant, too?!”

—

The place really came to life around seven o’clock, when Frenchie arrived to bestow the gift of live music. Fang and Roach helped him get set up between the crochet corner and the restrooms.

When Izzy saw what was going on he shouted, “You’d better not be paying this twat!”

But, of course, Izzy couldn’t help himself, and after a couple of songs he was up on the stage as well.

—

At 7:30, Roach emerged from the kitchen, glowing with enthusiasm for the creation he’d been working on all day: a dessert pizza with candied orange, cream cheese, and cinnamon. Everyone got a slice. It was a crowd pleaser, but Stede politely let him know it still needed some workshopping before it could be officially added to the menu.

—

They closed early, as they often did on Wednesdays, and ended the night with drinks at Jim and Oluwande’s place next door.

It was another perfect day.

Izzy did have some points, though, Stede hated to admit. Over the years since they had opened the pizzeria, the reserves of Stede’s family money had begun to dwindle. Perhaps having some sort of long-term plan wasn’t a terrible idea. It was a dream come true making pizzas with Edward and serving the community. Stede supposed if they wanted to keep the dream alive, they would need to have a bit more money coming in.

He made a mental note to speak with Ed about it in the morning, and let himself cherish the rest of the night.

[mermaidinn]

The bloody knuckles got me (x)

[poorlyformed]

taking photos so that I can finally (FINALLY) do a shop update next week. had to take a little video of my gentlebeard kissing charms too.

[sherlockig]

[meluli]

[crimson-and-clover-1717]

Weaponised empathy: to understand another’s feelings and triggers, and use that knowledge against them.

Izzy knows all about weaponised empathy. That if he throws a tantrum and threatens to leave, Ed will do whatever to stop it. This might be the first time we see it as viewers, but it’s not the first time it’s happened. Ed’s resigned ‘I should deal with this’ shows no element of surprise. He’s done this little dance with Izzy many times.

Izzy doesn’t explicitly know - and neither does Ed - that when Izzy behaves in this manner, he is pressing on psychological bruising linked with Ed’s father; picking at a seam that runs through Ed like a fault-line. Izzy just knows it works.

Izzy taps into Ed’s guilt when in fact Ed is the one wronged. Ed tells Izzy he was right to call him names; tells him he can be captain of the ship; tells him he’ll kill Stede Bonnet, interpreted as a vow Ed cannot change his mind on (‘He promised me’, 106).

Last time Ed fought back against an abusive father-figure, Ed killed him; and then Ed looked within and decided whatever it was that allowed him to do that was monstrous. Ed cannot look that ‘monster’ in the eye again, and so Izzy is able to repeat the fatherly-abuse pattern because Ed has put a blindfold on introspection indefinitely.

Feeling pity or sorrow for a person who deserves it, and wanting to help in some way is not weaponised empathy despite ideas circulating currently in the world.

What Izzy is doing is. He is able to read and feel something within Ed which is broken, using it against him as a form of manipulation. It’s sociopathic to feel someone’s pain and use it for your own advancement.*

How differently Stede acts when he realises Ed’s brokenness…

*I wrote this earlier this week in response to current political rhetoric and had it sitting in my drafts. I think it comments in other ways now also. I want to reiterate: feeling empathy towards someone who tells you they are genuinely hurting, and you wanting to do something to help, is not causing the collapse of the Western world. It is what sustains us. Those that choose to manipulate natural empathy against a person for their own gain are the ones weaponising. But I would rather give my empathy to 99 who need it, and allow the one who doesn’t deserve it to take some too, than not give at all. Be smart, protect your hearts and wallets where you can, but never stop saying ‘I’m your friend’. Never stop channelling your inner Stede.

[happy-mokka]

Our Flag means Death

Season 1, Episode 5

The best revenge is dressing well

Stede serving cunt. 🤗

[apllecrash]

Dreams of you all the time Feels so good when we're together, love

[gutz-spilled]

I figured since cartin got me kinda popular all of a sudden and I got a lot of new followers I might post some old art that I like

ALWAYS CREDIT ME IF YOU WANNA REPOST! or just don't repost, that'd be perfect actually

[ibenology]

I just keep adding to this and it’s slowly going from a meme to something I might have to talk to my therapist about

[izzy-hands]

Ed + Protecting Stede

[kiwistede]

I love you.

[simper-maximus]

,,I don't even like spiders, that's why I wear those black leather gloves"