#even after ed said 'he guessed' he wanted revenge for izzy

[itswhatyougive]

Headcanon (or. How I Made Sense of the S2 Finale):

After Izzy's death, Stede underestimated the grief of the crew and tried to act like everything was business as usual.

After an especially insensitive comment, Frenchie chewed out Stede for coming up with such a stupid plan that cost Izzy his life.

Ed tried to come to Stede's defense, but Frenchie finally stood up to Ed and dressed him down entirely, telling him he didn't get a say because of all the abuse he put Izzy through in life.

The crew were so impressed that they unanimously voted for Ed and Stede to leave the ship and Frenchie to become captain

[fandomfaeofveryfewf4cks]

Spoilers for Our Flag Means Death finale.

I just needed to talk things through as a crew.

So, I already posted something about how I felt about Izzy's death immediately after watching the finale. Now that I've given myself more time to mull it over though, I'm not quite as satisfied with the ending as I thought. But I think I know why I'm not exactly angry about it either.

I think I just see it as an open ending for next season? Like, I can see how Izzy's death brings parts of the story around full circle. (Mainly in Ed growing out of being Blackbeard who wasn't really Blackbeard without Izzy Hands.) However, after thinking about it some and reading some other people's thoughts about it, it doesn't really work for bringing Izzy's story around full circle, does it? No, really, does it? I'm still not entirely sure.

On the one hand, I've seen people talk about how Izzy represents piracy and piracy is coming to an end, so it makes sense for him to die with piracy. With his talk with Ricky about how they may die, but they'll live on in other ways, it makes sense.

On another hand, I also see people talking about the fact that Izzy survived a suicide attempt (potentially for the reason of protecting the crew) only to end the season saying he wants to die...

This choice just makes me a bit queasy because it invalidates some of the hope I've had building up with every episode I watched, especially in season 2, where Izzy goes through the bulk of what I feel is (at least mostly) such an amazing character arc.

On a third hand, I saw someone saying that Izzy should captain the Revenge while Stede and Ed go off to run their inn. I had thought this was going to happen too until I started seeing the foreshadowing for Izzy's death and started doubting that theory.

Part of the reason this makes so much sense is because, firstly, Izzy runs the ship already. Plus, he's changed his priorities to be about the crew.

Remember in season 1 episode 9, when the crew is planning to mutiny against Izzy and are trying to decide who should be captain next. And Oluwande says,

"It's gotta be someone we can all trust. Someone who's got the whole crew in mind. Not just themselves."

Izzy didn't make a good captain in that episode because he still didn't trust them, they didn't trust him, and he was doing everything for himself.

In season 2, none of that is true anymore.

The crew DOES trust him. He DOES think about the crew first and foremost. And, we even get to see him learn to trust the crew as well. Learn that they see him as not just a part of the crew they have to deal with like in most of season 1, but a crucial part of the crew and a person they all care about.

In short, it really would have made so much sense to make him Captain.

"Okay, but why do you think his death is an open ending? Death is typically a decidedly very closed off ending."

Ah, I see the point I keep losing is back.

How many times has someone been "dead" only to come back later. How many times has IZZY "died" to come back later. Granted, Izzy going through this multiple times is part of what foreshadows the idea that he's going to not come back this time, so it's possibly just false hope to think he'll come back (assuming we get a third season).

But think about it. Izzy has died. Stede gave up his pirating dream, which seems how likely to stick? And Ed thinks he's going to be able to work a customer service job? And both Stede and Ed think they'll be good at running a business they don't know jackshit about? Ed has proved to be lousy at working a "simple" life. Ed's subconscious said so. Pop-pop said so. Even Jackie sees this as a "wish I was a regular dude phase." Also, Stede has proved that he can be a decent pirate. Zheng said so. Spanish Jackie said so. The entire Republic of Pirates said so. The Pirate Queen said so.

I guess I just have a hard time believing the creators of ofmd couldn't bring Izzy back somehow and turn out a new plot for another season if they wanted to.

At the end of season one, Ed and Stede resign themselves to a future that is not ideal for them and Lucius "dies."

At the end of season 2, Ed and Stede decide to try for a future that is arguably also not ideal for them (it's just less angsty than season 1) and Izzy "dies."

I dunno. I guess what I'm saying is, it makes enough sense for an ending, but not this story's ending. And this show actually managed to make me feel things in my mucky rustbucket of a heart and gave me hope like not many things do. I'm just not ready to give up on it yet.

. . . . .

Maybe they didn't want to make Izzy captain because then if/when Stede and/or Ed come back wanting to be Captain, they'd have to decide how to make that work? But that wouldn't be too hard to figure out, right? I mean, they already decided a ship can have two captains. Why not 3?

Here's some of those posts I was talking about:

[laceratedlamiaceae]

I know this is an unpopular opinion (among Izzy enjoyers at least), but I truly don't believe that Ed cares about Izzy, like, at all. Maybe he did at one point, but by the time of the show he acts like he wants absolutely nothing to do with Izzy at all.

There are a few points I've seen people raise as evidence that Ed does care, but none of them are particularly convincing to me. There's the scene where Ed is excitedly showing Izzy the model ship, but to me that reads more like Ed being like that one annoying kid who never shut up about whatever caught his interest (we all knew one of those, right?) because Izzy clearly doesn't give a fuck about the ship and Ed just ignores that--because he doesn't actually care about what Izzy wants, he just wanted to talk about the ship and Izzy was the only one there. There's the fact that Ed asks Izzy to stay at the end of Discomfort in a Married State, but again I think that has more to do with Ed than it does Izzy; my perception is that it was partially because Ed needed Izzy to help him kill Stede and mostly because of Ed's abandonment issues. I think he was just so used to Izzy being there, and so used to the song-and-dance of Izzy threatening to leave, that he didn't even think about letting him go. At the beginning of This is Happening, shortly after Izzy's banishment from the Revenge, Ed is contemplating leaving, and though from what I've seen most people think it's because of Izzy, I think it's just that he doesn't have a way to justify staying to himself now that he's decided not to kill Stede (and then the rest of the episode gives him a reason to stay). Lastly, there's the toe thing, which I've seen some people interpret as Ed showing he cares about Izzy in some sick, twisted way, but in my opinion whatever feeling would motivate someone to do something that horrifying shouldn't be considered 'caring.'

Beyond all that, the way Ed treats Izzy just isn't the way people treat the ones they care about. Like, I get that Ed is a deeply fucked up guy, but still. I guess I could buy that Ed has grown to resent Izzy, and maybe that is it's own form of caring, but I just can't get behind the idea that Ed has any positive feelings about Izzy at all. That being said, I do get why people think Ed does care about Izzy, and I'm not trying to say their interpretations are wrong, but I do think it's just as valid to see it the way I do.

[manesalex]

I have my own set of thoughts about ofmd "no longer being a kind show" and, rather than hijack someone else's post, I figured I'd add to the conversation.

As others have pointed out, the outside world has always been cruel in this universe. Stede and Ed both had awful childhoods. Jim's entire family was murdered. And, as Oluwande said in the pilot, they're all (other than Stede) pirates because they don't have another choice.

But, on the Revenge, they choose kindness. We start with Stede paying his crew, having arts and crafts time, and telling them bedtime stories. We see this kindness win over the other characters. We see it transform them. In a lot of ways, we see it free them from the pressures to perpetuate the cruelty and violence of the outside world.

And we see this with Izzy too. In season one, he was bringing that cruelty from the outside world onto the Revenge. He was, essentially, trying to force his sense of normality onto the crew (also his toxic masculinity, but that's another topic for another post). But, in season two, the kindness finally reached him. The crew made him the unicorn leg. They embraced him. Even after everything he did to them, at what he'd likely see as his lowest point, they chose to treat him with kindness. And so he started to change, started to embrace the kindness on the Revenge.

And then he was shot. Again with the cruelty of the outside world on this show. And, rather than revert to the Izzy we knew on season one, rather than bringing the outside world with him (as he did in season one) he held on to that kindness that he learned on the Revenge. He apologized to Ed. He told Ed to just be himself.

Idk, I think that's beautiful. OFMD showed us the transformative power of kindness. How we can still choose to be kind to each other, no matter how we suffer. How, as queer people, we can continue to embrace each other, continue to celebrate each other, no matter how the outside world treats us. How maybe that gives us strength to face the outside world and to continue to be ourselves, rather than hiding who we are.

All that said, I understand the Izzy fans who are hurting. I wish they wouldn't take it out on other fans or on the writers, but I understand their pain. We've all lost characters we love, characters who feel like a part of us. We've all come into a story expecting one thing and being surprised and hurt when we didn't get what we expected, when we felt like that changed or twisted the message of the show for us. Whether or not we feel that way about this show, I'd be willing to guess we've all been there.

So, to those Izzy fans who are hurting, I'm so sorry. And I'm offering virtual hugs to all of you. I hope you find the joy that you used to find in this show somewhere else. And I hope you write a shitton of fanfiction to give yourselves the story you wanted here.

[kosegruppaa]

revisiting my pre ep6-8 wishlist, after the finale dust has settled

real i love you's that are going to be so cute and healing and will make me cry -> didn't make me cry but omg i love it so much the way ed can barley keep the words in

more jim and olu (and archie and maybe zheng i guess?). i miss them being more significant characters. -> check for zheng, my darling!! jim and olu .. not really, but i'm happy we got what we got at least.

if they are in a poly relationship (i def see it that way, to be clear) it would be cool to actually have that confirmed, yes? -> well. i am choosing to ignore word of god and just focus on the dancing in ep6.

also first mate oluwande boodhari! i want that!! -> no. but i didn't even know to wish for captain frenchie and we got that! i am choosing to believe oluwande actually doesn't want it.

killing british navy soldiers. really kicking their ass -> oh they really delivered on this!! they kicked their asses both violently and comically and really said killing british navy soliders doesn't even count as murder actually.

some more stede focus outside of the stede and ed as a relationship. idk i feel like he does a lot but also not. not like main character focus. which is a shame, cause he is? -> i would have taken two more episodes of it but also his journey from first kill to infamy and overconfidence to cringefail loser was great

however: so much ed and stede. give me all of it i will gobble it up, nomnom -> i did infact gobble it up <3

them talking more about their relationship, probably through plot but like. they are soulmates, have a unique connection etc etc. but also they are on kinda opposite life trajectories. i wanna see that explored a little. -> check. it was however a more minor issue in reality, than it was in my and ed's head.

stede and ed sex scene (or like implied + aftermath). can't tell if i want it to be funny or not. -> check. glad it wasn't funny! still hurts me that ed described it as a mistake.

more fancy outfits for stede. i miss them so much. he looks good this season but also let him wear fancy stuff without it being cursed. -> well. half a point for the british navy outfit i guess.

things kicking into gear for an epic finale. right now i have no idea what that's going to be (other than knowing there is one due to bts stuff). i get that the relationship is the show but also c'mon!!! build the tension!! -> check!

for the inevitable ed and izzy conversation to not piss me off. idk what exactly that means i just know it has the potenital to lol -> it didn't - and in fact when all was said and done in 2x08 i loved it.

for ed and stede (and everyone really) not to be separated in the finale. or at least not by choice. -> they weren't and i am so grateful!!! it's sad that they were separated from the revenge, but also i think it’s the right choice for the characters and the story right now

[leatherbookmark]

oops, objective "don't read stupid ass takes" failed :(

"izzy is not suicidal, like yeah he shot himself in the head but he missed and besides that was EPISODES ago, he has since found community and joy and acceptance and saying he's suicidal is erasing all that. now ed, however," ah, well, if it was only once, then it doesn't matter i suppose.

"blackbeard is both ed and izzy, ed can't be free of blackbeard if izzy is alive, and if izzy dies, ed will never return to being blackbeard" i'm sorry. let me make sure i heard you right. even when both izzy and ed have found love and acceptance, even when izzy is his own person, having "divorced" ed in episode 3, even after izzy's shown being supportive of ed loving stede and quitting being a pirate... izzy still has to die to free ed. and this is fine and normal, and not the proof that there's something kinda Fucking Wrong with ed. sometimes you just can't be fully happy until that one person who's moved on from you and from whom you have moved on as well is fucking dead. and that's okay! hashtag self care. i gotta be honest i'm impressed. i don't remember hearing of a more fucked up dynamic, and this one belongs to a silly comedy show! truly, the writing for this show is exceptional. and by that i mean at this point i'm starting to wonder whether i've had a stroke at some point and it's only catching up to me now

"what would izzy do? just stay on the revenge and whittle? he's not fit for hard physical labor, and he doesn't want to be a captain, so he has to go!" uh oh, black pete, i have bad news for you. no no, enjoy your husband first, taste the marital bliss, make some precious memories! god knows you're going to need them once we kill him off for being useless unfit for physical labor. ha! lighthearted jokes aside, um, wow. i, er, can't quite find my words yet, so, um, well, it's. it's a pirate story, and pirates were famously all fully abled, like, can you imagine a pirate with a wooden leg doing pirate shit? that's, that's unrealistic, it doesn't-- hm? "he’s found value in not having a distinct role or purpose on the ship, decoupling his worth from the job he’s expected to perform"? aah, huh. hmm. well. well that's. hm. yknow guys i'll get back to you later i think, i need to sit on this one

"do you really think con, an experienced actor and an adult, would feel bad about izzy dying? especially after getting to explore this character so well, especially after djenks has said he took it well?" well i can't say what con would feel because i don't know the man personally, right, but if i had a chance to explore a character i really like, play him finding his happiness, queerness and place to belong unconditionally, and then found out -- halfway through the shooting, despite my character's death apparently being known to the writers from the very beginning -- that he dies shot by the antagonist who symbolizes everything he hates, not even during a fight or a duel, not even protecting someone he loves, but just because he was the nearest pirate, and his last words are all about inspiring the guy whose lil depressive episode cost him a leg to fucking, hashtag be free and live his truth, while everyone else kinda just stood by and watched and didn't even try to help, i guess because eh, if he dies he dies, then actually yeah, i would think it's a little bit unfair, i suppose. but that's just me of course

[adzeisval]

I thought I was getting better

Happy last day of Whumptober! Wrote the first draft of this a while back. Happy things were better for Izzy and the crew in reality. Also on AO3.

Izzy Hands watched the dinghies row away from the revenge and sighed. Even after two years of being on the Revenge with Ed and Stede as co Captains and everything going rather well Izzy was nervous. 

Because Ed and Stede, along with Jim, Olu, Roach, and Fang were in the dinghies heading to land and Izzy was temporarily the Captain of the Revenge. 

It had only happened a few times before and every time Izzy had been nervous. But this time was different. He didn’t have Fang, Jim, or Roach around, the crew that he was closest too and felt more comfortable around. It just so happened that they also needed to do some routine ship maintenance and Edward had given the direct order that he would like it done before he got back. 

Izzy knew asking Lucius, Pete, Wee John, Frenchie, the Swede, and Buttons was going to be a challenge. Maybe Buttons wouldn’t protest. Maybe. 

“Alright you lot, we’ve got some work to do. We need to restrain the foredeck and get some barnacles off the stern,” Izzy said. 

“Really do we have to,” the Swede asked. 

“Yes, if you don’t want this ship to fall apart,” Izzy said. 

“Maybe we do,” Lucius said. 

“Maybe you’d like to go for a swim Izzy,” Pete said. 

“Fuck off, this really won’t take long and then you can do whatever you want,” Izzy said. Izzy was fairly certain that the crew wouldn’t actually tie him up and throw him overboard but he wasn’t one hundred percent certain.

The crew started to move to work and Izzy thought he might be able to get the work done. Izzy set up a few stations for some of the crew to hang over the edge of the ship so they could work on the barnacles. He tested the rigging out himself to make sure it was safe. He brought a chair over to where the deck needed staining; Wee John could clean the surface and maybe even paint sitting if his back was acting up, which it often was. He checked to make sure he had some lamps to hang wherever the Swede was working to help with his poor night vision of things took that long. He hoped not. He’d like the crew to have time to rest and he’d like to have time to sit in the crows nest and rest, they just needed to take care of the ship first. 

Izzy heard a splash and went to investigate. He caught Lucius and Frenchie giggling though the quickly tried to hide it. 

“We dropped the stain,” Lucius said pointing to the water, “I guess we can’t work now.” 

“The hell you can’t,” Izzy growled, “I’m going into town to get more stain and when I get back the barnacles better be gone. If they’re not you’d better be fucking dead!” Izzy stomped away. 

He was fuming all the way in and back from town. Really was it that much to do a little work to keep their home safe and floating now and then? The sun was setting by the time Izzy got back and he noticed right away that the lamps weren’t lit and the barnacles were still there. Izzy sighed. 

Izzy climbed back aboard the Revenge ready to yell at the crew. He had his mouth open ready to lay into the first person he saw but…something was wrong. It was too quiet. Something caught his eye and Izzy gasped. 

Blood on the deck. 

A body. Frenchie’s body. Izzy dropped the tin of stain and drew his sword. His heart was pounding as he looked around for danger. He saw more blood and he saw Wee John’s body. 

“Izzy…” 

Izzy turned and saw Lucius stumbling toward him, clutching his gut, his shirt torn and bloody.

“Spriggs…” 

Lucius fell to his knees and Izzy ran to him. Lucius clutched the wound and groaned. Izzy saw blood trickling from Lucius’ lips and where the wound was and how much blood was there…Izzy knew a fatal wound when he saw one. 

“Keep still Spriggs, what happened?” Izzy asked, “Are they still here?” 

“No. They…they were looking for you…don’t know…ahhh….” 

“Easy Spriggs,” Izzy pulled Lucius into his arms. 

“It fucking hurts,” Lucius said. 

“I know,” Izzysaid, “I won’t hurt you.” 

“They wanted you,” Lucius said, “I don’t want to die…” 

“I’m sorry Lucius,” Izzy said gently, “I should have been here.” 

Lucius groaned and tears fell down his cheeks. Izzy could feel him shaking, could feel how labored his breathing was. It wasn’t going to be long. 

“I’ve got you Lucius,” Izzy said.

Lucius shuddered and went limp in Izzy’s arms. Izzy laid Lucius gently on the deck. He retrieved his sword and looked around. No one was there. He was the only living person on the ship. No one was groaning or screaming. Silence. Death. Izzy’s chest felt tight and tears sprang to his eyes. 

He should have been there. The tightness in his chest was too much and he fell to his knees barely able to breathe between the tightness and the sobs. 

“I’m sorry, I should have been here. Fuck!” Izzy sat on the deck and drew his knees to his chest and buried his head. He couldn’t even really think about the fact that someone had come looking for him. At the moment that person could be on the ship and he wouldn’t care. He’d just gotten six people killed. He was going to have to stand in front of the Captains and the rest of the crew and tell them he hadn’t even been on the ship. 

It wasn’t the first time Izzy had lost crew, it was almost impossible in his line of work. It hurt every time. Izzy sobbed and wished he had been on the ship. He might have been able to save them or at least he would have fallen alongside his crew.

“Izzy?”

Izzy gasped and looked over as Lucius sat up and wiped blood off himself. Izzy heard movement and looked as the other crew members were also getting up. 

“We’re alright Izzy, it was just a prank,” Lucius said as he stood. A prank? Why would they do such a cruel thing? Izzy stood, still a little bit shaky, still trying to make sense of what just happened. Lucius was looking at him a little bit sheepishly. He looked like he was expecting Izzy to tear into him and Izzy certainly felt like it. 

Then he heard the others laughing and his throat was too tight to even speak much less yell. Izzy wrapped his arms around himself and walked away from the crew and to his room trying not to cry and failing miserably. 

Izzy fell into his bed and sobbed. 

Izzy couldn’t get to sleep, even once he stopped sobbing. Every time he closed his eyes he saw blood and death. He kept seeing the faces of crew members lost in the past. Izzy had lost men on his watch before. He had held many dying crewmates over the years. Each loss was seared into his heart no matter how he tried to keep his distance, no matter how hard he tried to wall himself off. 

Izzy was getting quite fond of the crew of the Revenge no matter how he tried to deny it and hide it. He was glad that the crew were alright, but at the same time he was devastated. He thought the crew at least somewhat liked him, he thought he’d made efforts to get closer to the crew. 

Pretending to have been slaughtered in his absence was cruel enough, but Lucius had specifically said they had been killed by someone looking for Izzy, making it Izzy’s fault doubly. Lucius had wanted it to hurt Izzy. A prank was not unexpected, especially on the Revenge but what they had done to him was beyond that. 

Izzy slept in fits and woke from horrible nightmares and memories. He ended up getting up around four in the morning because he didn’t think he would be able to get any more sleep and there was work to be done. 

The crew had cleaned up their fake bloody mess at least. Izzy stained the foredeck by himself. He didn’t care about being quiet, if the crew didn’t want to be woken in the early hours of the morning they should have done the work the night before. 

When he was done with that Izzy went to make breakfast. Roach had made a batch of porridge the previous morning for the crew to reheat for something to eat while he was gone. Izzy had a bowl and kept the pot on the burner for the crew when they woke up. 

It was still early when he was done so he went to scrape barnacles off the ship. The rigging was still in place from the night before so it didn’t take him long to get started. He wanted to get a good portion of it done before the Captains got back. 

He wasn’t going to tell the Captains what happened. He didn’t think they would laugh but it would kill him if Edward laughed at him for falling for the prank. He didn’t want to hear Stede downplay what the crew had done. He didn’t want the other crew to come back and laugh at him though Lucius was sure to tell them. 

Izzy's stomach was churning at the thought of it. Izzy felt his stomach cramp and realized that wasn’t all. Luckily he was already hanging over the edge of the ship so all he had to do was hang on to the ropes as he vomited into the water below. 

Izzy tried to work a little longer but he was feeling a little dizzy and decided to go up. He vomited twice more. When he was sure his stomach was empty he made his way up to the crows nest so he could at least keep an eye out for the crew and watch for the Captain’s return. 

The crew started getting up just after sunrise and went about their morning routine. Roach and Fang came back first with supplies. Then Jim and Olu came back. 

An hour or so later Izzy saw Edward and Stede heading back. Izzy made his way down to greet them. He caught sight of Lucius who looked nervous. Izzy still wasn’t going to tell anyone what had happened. 

“Izzy? Are you feeling alright?” Edward said. 

“Nightmares,” Izzy said, “Vomited this morning.” 

“Ah, I’m sorry mate, you should go rest, I’ll come check on you later,” Edward said. 

Izzy nodded. He really didn’t want to try to sleep again but he didn’t feel like he could go about his duties as usual. And he didn’t want to hear it if the rest of the returned crew were laughing at him. 

Izzy managed to fall asleep but it wasn’t long before his nightmare interrupted. 

Izzy had been first mate less than a month. A raid was going bad.Izzy was trying to get everyone back to the Queen Anne alive. A hail of musket fire hit the retreating crew. Izzy was hit in the arm but barely noticed it when the man beside him, a man barely of age, screamed in agony. 

Izzy managed to help him back to the Queen Anne but once Izzy got a good look at the man he knew there was no hope. The man had been hit twice in the gut. He was squirming in agony in Izzy’s arms. 

“Help me, please, it fucking hurts.”

“I’ve got you Tom,” Izzy muttered. Tom spent the next twenty minutes screaming in Izzy’s arms until finally death took him. 

Izzy woke with a cry and groaned. Izzy spent the day in and out of sleep and nightmares and stomach cramps. 

He wasn’t sure he was going to be able to go get dinner but he knew it would only make his stomach problems worse if he didn’t try to eat something. 

“I made you some soup Izzy, heard you were having stomach trouble,” Roach said. 

“Yeah, thank you,” Izzy said. He thought it might settle well and then Lucius, Pete, and Wee John sat down across from him. 

“What?” Izzy asked.

“You didn’t tell the Captains?” Lucius asked. 

“No. What the fuck were they going to do?” Izzy said.

“I’m sorry Izzy, we went a bit too far,” Lucius said. 

Izzy scoffed, “Then why did you do it? I’ve had a lot of sailors die in my arms over the years and somehow pretending to do so is funny? What the fuck have I done to you to earn such cruelty?” 

“I was just being a dick,” Lucius said. 

“We didn’t think you really cared that much for us,” Pete said. 

“I would be devastated to lose any one of you,” Izzy said, “I would do anything to protect every single member of the crew.” 

“Duty,” Wee John said, “Out of duty and because it’s your job not because you actually care.” 

“I do care,” Izzy said quietly, “I thought that I was getting better at showing it.” 

Wee John shook his head and Pete scoffed. 

“I am sorry about the prank Izzy,” Lucius said, “I just don’t see you going down to save any of us.” 

Izzy watched them go and turned back to his half eaten soup. His stomach clenched and thought he shouldn’t eat anything else. He wasn’t sure he’d be able to keep what he had eaten down. 

Having people around him not realize he cared about him or how he showed that care was not a new thing. Izzy didn’t know any other way to show people he cared besides doing things for them. He wasn’t charismatic and good with conversation like Edward or kind like Stede. But he could be practical and keep the ship safe and the supplies topped up. He wasn’t always good at it of course but he tried. It was the only way he knew how to be.

Izzy was glad he didn’t eat anything else; he barely made it topside and to the railing before he vomited everything he just ate. 

Luckily he was off duty for the evening and night and went straight to bed once his stomach was empty. 

That  night he had another nightmare. 

Will Roughton was just seventeen when he joined Blackbeard's crew. He was young and eager and Izzy rather liked him. It turned out that Will was a rather good sailor. He worked hard, learned fast, and best of all he was loyal. He was a bright and up and coming sailor and Izzy thought he was an asset to the crew. 

Will went over the railing during a particularly nasty storm. Izzy went after him and managed to get Will and himself back onto the Queen Anne. 

Izzy spent ten minutes that felt like ten hours trying to get Will to breathe again. He gave the young man compressions and breathed air into his lungs but to no avail. Will was gone and Izzy couldn’t save him. 

Izzy woke with a cry. 

He groaned and wondered if it was close enough to dawn to get up or maybe he should just get up anyway. 

A moment later someone knocked on his door. 

“Izzy? Are you alright?” Jim’s voice came through the door. 

Izzy groaned and went to the door, “I’m sorry. Nightmare.” 

“Are you alright Izzy? You look like shit,” Jim said. 

Izzy snorted, “I feel like shit too. I…I’ll be alright.” 

“Good,” Jim said. 

Izzy sat back down on his bed and figured at last he might as well get up. He went about his morning rounds and tried not to pay too much attention to the looks the crew were giving him. 

Izzy tried to look like he didn’t care, but he did. He cared a lot about the crew and he thought they knew. They didn’t. Izzy didn’t know how to make them understand. Maybe one day they would see it, but until then all Izzy could do was protect the crew as best he could.

[ourflagmeansgayrights]

no sorry i’m still on this point. personally i don't see any evidence anywhere in the show that supports the claim that ed said "i need you here" specifically bc he knew izzy was in love with him. as of right now we don't know if ed knows abt izzy's feelings for him (i'll admit that it would be funny if ed did know, bc izzy doesn't, but that's beside the point). however, i DO see evidence that izzy set up that whole interaction by throwing all his shit really loudly into the boat to try and get ed’s attention because he wanted to apologize to ed and hopefully be allowed to stay.

like, let's look at the events leading up to izzy's apology and ed's "i need you here" line:

the day before, izzy called ed an “insane, unpleasant shell of a man who's merely posing as blackbeard” and then gave ed “my fucking resignation, you absolute twat.”

then, ed reveals the fog plan and izzy’s first thought is “fuck me.” fuck me. not, “what the fuck ed, why didn’t you tell me about that?” izzy's response is that he messed up by not knowing what ed was alluding to with the sausage clouds.

then etc etc buttons points out “hey the fog doesn’t help if we’re in their path” and ed is like “yeah but it’s september 2nd so it’s fine” and izzy’s like “uh wrong date, boss” and then ed is like “guess i’ll die!” and we get one lingering shot of izzy’s very unhappy expression. idk what his face means here but he looks very tired

THEN. lighthouse fuckery. we don’t see izzy participate in that at all so it's hard to say for sure, but personally, i think izzy thinks that ed came up with that plan on his own. even if ed did verbally give stede his due credit within izzy’s earshot, i 100% think izzy would just dismiss that as ed being weirdly fascinated with stede. izzy continually underestimates stede, he doens't realize that stede's just as good at coming up with insane out-of-the-box-plans as ed

long story short tho: the lighthouse fuckery works. izzy lives to see another day. and the last thing he said to ed in private was that when that happened, he was going to retire

but izzy just watched blackbeard, most brilliant sailor he's ever met, come up with two genius plans to save their asses. one of them almost would've worked, one of them did work, and now izzy once again is alive because of ed's insane plans

so when dawn breaks at the end of e4, i think there are two things going through izzy's brain: the first is "ah fuck, i called ed a twat posing as blackbeard last night and then he saved the day. i sure have egg on my face now." the second is "i also told him i was resigning. now i have to fucking resign."

the "i need you here" conversation starts when ed hears izzy preparing a dinghy. and ed hears this because izzy is preparing the dinghy by very loudly throwing things into it. ed is somewhere above him while izzy just goes about loudly chucking stuff into the little boat within ed's earshot.

and it's kind of weird how much stuff he throws into the dinghy, bc presumably ed's ship is nearby, and also presumably the only reason izzy's on the Revenge at all is so they can force the crew to repair the ship and then execute them and steal the ship. idk why izzy would've packed for a long sleepover. but look at all the shit he throws into the dinghy in this episode:

so when izzy is "leaving" in episode 4, he loads the dinghy up with the following: five (5) sacks (two large, one medium, one small), one (1) mysterious brown cylinder, and one (1) barrel. (also he throws some rope in there too)

compare this to when izzy actually leaves in e6:

when izzy actually leaves, all he takes with him is one (1) barrel, one (1) knapsack, one (1) coil of rope, and one (1) ambiguous bolt of white fabric that might be a sail. and this is after izzy's spent a fortnight on the Revenge. i feel like he should have more stuff with him, not less?

so i actually think izzy's only "packing his stuff" in e4 to get ed's attention. i think he's throwing random shit that isn't even his into the boat in hopes that ed will come down to the deck and izzy can apologize. i think izzy was already fully prepared to stay with ed the second ed said he could. he wasn't going to outright seek ed out and say "ed can i take back my resignation and keep being your first mate," but as soon as ed shows up izzy starts of the conversation by immediately apologizing for insulting ed. then he stops preparing the dinghy and waits for ed to continue the conversation. he's in no rush to get out of there. he's waiting to be told to stay. and when ed offers to make him captain if he stays—unrequited love or not, why the fuck would izzy say no?

it's possible none of this matters. maybe the directors just grabbed random props for both of these scenes, and in e4 they wanted izzy to keep throwing shit into the dinghy as he started talking to give the conversation some action, so that's why he takes so much more stuff in e4 than in e6. and maybe izzy is making a perfectly normal amount of noise while he's packing the dinghy. idk. i didn't write the show.

my point is not that this IS what happens. my point is that imo, my interpretation of that conversation is just as plausible (more plausible actually but whatever) as @butchpedia's assertion that ed was intentionally leveraging their relationship and izzy's feelings to get izzy to stay. but i'm not trying to argue that my subjective reading of this scene is proof of izzy's gross manipulation tactics (i got other scenes for that one, lmao). my point is that using this scene as proof that ed leverages his power over izzy is dumb. thank you.

(also. all that aside. even before we get the "i need you here" line and ed's little pat on the shoulder that makes izzy nut his pants (god bless con's acting choices). look at this man's fucking face when ed is like "the crew is gonna need a new captain, someone who really knows the ropes":

that does not look like a man who wants to leave. that does not look like the face of a man who needs a lot of convincing to stick around. ed's little "i need you here" seals the deal for izzy, sure, but i really struggle to see that line as "ed leveraging his relationship with izzy and izzy's clear love for him to get izzy to stay" when ed hardly even needs any more leverage to get izzy to stay??)

Not to keep harping on this but I accidentally saw a post that pissed me off a little bit so I’m gonna talk about it. Originally I was gonna put this at the end of the post but I’ve decided to move it to the top because I know some people are determined to take me out of context so I’ll sacrifice the formatting of this post and some of the impact of this sentence in a vain hope that my point will not be misconstrued. I fully anticipate people skipping over this first paragraph anyway but at least I did my due diligence. You can like Izzy, I like Lestat (AMC IWTV), I like the Joker, It’s fine to have an evil blorbo. It’s the apologia that gets me tho. You’re fake villain fuckers and you can’t admit that your blorbo is fucked up in some deeply uncomfortable ways.

That said on to my angry meta: Either Izzy is homophobic, or he’s an abuser. He could be both, but he can’t be neither otherwise the literal climax of the first season doesn’t make any fucking sense. Like he calls in a swat on Stede and the crew because Stede has, quote, “done something to his boss’s brain” and he wants Stede dead because of it. homosexuality as a corrupting influence is textbook homophobia. He thinks Stede has made Ed soft and he thinks he’s using his limp wristed wiles to do it.

If you don’t want to read it as homophobia (which would be a weird reading because it fails to explain that line and misses the whole message about toxic masculinity, but I’ve heard it’s the reading that some people go with so, let’s look at it) and you think that he’s doing all of this because he’s in love with Ed and he’s jealous, I hate to tell you but that brings us back around to the abuser reading.

Like, the reading that this subset of the fandom seems to want me to believe is Izzy is in tragic gay love with Ed. But that doesn’t make a single damn thing that he did ok. In fact it kind of makes it worse. Like trying to kill the loved ones of your beloved is text book abuser behavior. You’re telling me that Izzy feels so entitled to Ed that he cannot take “Fuck off you’re banished from the ship” For an answer, and he has to kill the guy that he blames for turning Ed against him? And I’m supposed to sympathize with that? Get real. That’s text book abuser behavior. If that’s the reading, then Izzy can’t handle Ed having someone in his life that isn’t Izzy, he can’t handle Ed making decisions that Izzy doesn’t approve of, and he can’t handle Ed breaking off their relationship (which was Izzy’s fault by the way he agreed to duel Stede sorry you can’t handle the consequences honey). Those first two things you have to be able to handle if you want to have friends or even professional relationships, and the third thing is something that you’re allowed to be upset about but that you’re gonna have to move on from. Instead Izzy comes up with a hair brained scheme that risks the crews lives, Calico Jack’s life, and, most importantly, risks Ed’s life in order to… what? Undermine Ed’s own autonomous choice to pursue a relationship with Stede? Get rid of a guy that he thinks is driving him and Ed apart so that Ed will maybe take him back? That’s abuser shit my guy.

If there’s another explanation for Izzy calling the fucking cops I’d love to hear it but as far as I can tell the options are “He hates Stede because Stede is frilly and camp and thinks Stede is making Ed weak” aka Textbook hate crime and “He’s in deeply dysfunctional love and is therefore trying to force Ed to be in a relationship with him despite the fact that Ed has made it clear he doesn’t want that” aka Textbook abuser.

To be clear I wouldn’t have Izzy any other way. The roll he plays in the narrative is important to the story. I don’t like him, per se, but I like stories about overcoming toxic masculinity, and those stories have to have a villain, and I was deeply emotionally ruined by the consequences of his actions, (i.e. the domino effect that caused Stede to abandon Ed on the dock) so I want him around for as long as they decide to keep him around. Just, like, fucking pretending he’s never done anything wrong ever? Come on now.

[gffa]

Well, well, well. Guess who fell into the new gay pirates fandom? And guess who finished OUR FLAG MEANS DEATH and was immediately like, “I gotta find some fic to read to fill the void.” Despite that I swore up and down I wasn’t going to get drawn into another new fandom, five minutes after the final episode, I was opening up AO3 and clicking away like my life depended on it. I thought it’d just be a fun, silly show to watch in between more serious ones! Just some cute pirate antics with some nice queer rep! Sure, maybe some heavier stuff might happen, but it was ultimately a silly pirates show and I wasn’t going to have real feelin– OH NO NOW I’M HIP DEEP IN FEELINGS AND I AM MAKING IT EVERYONE ELSE’S PROBLEM WITH ME. Because if fic is going to make me cry and/or laugh through my tears, I’m not suffering that alone. So, here, read a bunch of fic with me. OUR FLAG MEANS DEATH FIC RECS: ✦ He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven by AuntieClimactic, ed/stede, NSFW, 14.4k    “Here we go again,” he heard Lucius scream over Izzy’s furious cursing. ✦ and he doesn’t mind the (ooh) by thatbug, ed/stede & cast, NSFW, 5.4k    As a curious man, Captain Stede Bonnet determines that he should learn more about the great piratical pastime of buggery. Edward Teach is surprisingly unwilling to discuss. In which it’s much harder than Stede would expect to convince Blackbeard to fuck him up the ass. ✦ do no harm, take no shit by holsmi, ed/stede & mary & cast, 2.1k    Mary Bonnet receives some uninvited guests. ✦ The Biblical Sense by Fyre, ed/stede, NSFW, 2.5k    Ed’s eyes creased around the edges. Smiling. One could always tell by them, even if his beard and moustache and everything else hid his mouth. “I know you’re a bit new to the whole… seaman thing,” he said with that rumble of amusement in his voice, “but I thought even you’d recognise a come on when you saw one.” ✦ echo your name (call it love) by treescape, ed/stede, 1.6k    Or, Stede realizes he’s maybe, possibly started calling Ed rather revealing things. ✦ Beyond Vanity by reserve, ed/stede, 2.3k    After Izzy leaves, and Stede gets patched up, Ed uses the bathtub for something other than a nervous breakdown. ✦ Hold me deep beneath your waves by makesometime, ed/stede, NSFW, 1.2k    “Would you believe…” Stede breathes, voice shaky in that way that Ed’s come to learn means he’s excited, but like, in a nervous way. “That I’ve never done… this… before?” ✦ this is not your grave, get out by morian, ed & lucius (& ed/stede & black pete/lucius), 10k    Or: Lucius survives. For better or for worse. ✦ Break down, it’s alright by rowenablade, ed/stede, NSFW, 3.2k    “Stede.” Ed’s voice breaks, dragging Stede’s eyes back up from where they’ve been staring at the floor in shame. “Please.” ✦ you reached out your hand to me by holsmi, ed/stede, 4.1k    Stede Bonnet sneaks onboard the Revenge, and sets some things right. ✦ the relationship counselor by Nanashi07, ed/stede & olu/jim & lucius, 4k    Lucius Spriggs: the unofficial – and involuntary – relationship counselor of The Revenge. ✦ peccadilloes by Badgerette, ed/stede, 2.1k    On the benefits of literary references. Now with a variation on a theme. ✦ ease one life the aching by treescape, ed/stede, 1.1k    Or, Ed’s not used to being taken care of. Stede wants to change that. ✦ separating salt from water by morian, ed/stede & cast, 6k    Or: The Revenge has been becalmed for six days. Ed has bigger things to worry about, like sharks and being in love. ✦ denial by huojuvuus, ed/stede & mary, 2.1k    (or, mary builds an unlikely friendship and maybe saves her ex-husband’s relationship in the process.) ✦ when you love it by mia_ugly, ed/stede, NSFW, 5.7k    Stede’s being kissed before the door fully clicks shut behind him. ✦ on the bed of this blue ocean by kirkaut, ed/stede, 9.6k    [Or: Ed hears about Stede’s ‘death’ and promptly falls apart.] ✦ Trick by Desdemon, ed/stede, NSFW, 4.2k    Stede teaches Ed how to play piquet. ✦ Two Captains and a Baby by triedunture, ed/stede, 9.2k    The crew of The Revenge finds a lost infant during one of their bouts of fuckery. Stede and Ed play caretaker for one night. ✦ every morning the world by treescape, ed/stede, NSFW, 1.1k    Or, breakfast in bed doesn’t go exactly as planned, but that’s okay. ✦ we were warnings by mia_ugly, ed/stede, NSFW, 13.1k    Stede comes back. Ed does too. It just takes a little longer. ✦ Never Been Sketched by Luddleston, ed/stede & lucius, 3.6k    Or: Ed poses for a portrait in the nude, and Lucius has to watch Stede go through a life-altering internal crisis, witness a frankly upsetting level of sexual tension, and deal with the most fidgety portrait subject ever. At least he gets to ogle Blackbeard while he’s at it. For the sake of art. Obviously. ✦ heartless by Nanashi07, ed/stede & izzy & frenchie & jim, 4.8k    Stede seems determined to win Edward back. It must be why he keeps “accidentally” showing up in Edward’s life.

[monimolimnion]

hello my beloved!!! for the prompts: "Stede, mate... not that I think it's a bad idea, necessarily, but d'you mind telling me exactly _why_ Izzy is locked in the brig with two casks of rum and a seagull?" or, if you're feeling more aa inclined: "Maya Fey, you cannot seriously be proposing that my upstairs bathroom is haunted by a ghost." ty!!

i have been hoarding these last asks from the 5 sentence ask meme for a rainy day! and boy is it wet inside my brain of late. so here we go!

"Stede, mate," says Ed, coming up behind his co-captain with a bracing arm around his waist - habit, after everything that has happened, and something he can't bear to not do abovedeck even with peering eyes all around (who reminded him at regular intervals that it was 'gross' and 'like, totally grounds for a malpractice suit'. Sometimes he almost feels vindicated for the overboard thing. A little bit.)

"Yes, darling?" says Stede absently, without looking back but swaying into his touch, unconscious, even as he remains staring out over the side of the ship into the waves. He has that little pucker between his brows that means he's mulling something over, or troubled, in a way he's trying not to let fully consume him. Ed has a decent guess as to what that is, if not exactly why.

"Not that I think it's a bad idea, necessarily, but d'you mind telling me exactly why Izzy is locked in the brig with two casks of rum and a seagull?"

And there it is - the pucker deepens, worried, and yet dancing around the set of his mouth is the curl of mischief that he has hidden all this time under frippery, designed to drape over and mask it - but Ed knows better now.

"Why don't you ask him?" says Stede, a little archly.

"I did. He said to ask you. Then he fell back asleep." Not that he was really conscious to begin with...

Stede sighs, sobering. "He's adamant that Buttons be cast ashore. I wouldn't let him. Things... escalated."

"Buttons? I thought he liked Buttons."

He really had thought that. Despite a few screws being loose and rattling around audibly in there, he'd always got the impression Iz found Buttons the most capable at sailing by that far he was lonely. That he liked him the best, besides Lucius, maybe, but then that was love and hate and other things all in equal measure.

"So did I. But he got on the sauce at port, and started going on aboutwitchcraft. Said he'd hexed him."

"Well we know he does... Do that." Whether it actually works or not is another thing.

"Aye. Iz was admant Buttons'd made something not work properly... to be honest, he wasn't that coherent, so I'm not sure what it is."

Uh oh.

"I'm... sure he'll be fine."

Stede's mouth pulls sideways into carefully contained amusement. "Me, too. Regardless, apparently Buttons has stationed Olivia to watch over him until everything... resolves itself."

Ed tries his utmost not to burst into laughter that would absolutely spread intrigue like wildfire amongst this, the most gossipy crew on the seven seas.

"Wise," he manages to choke out, swaying closer to Stede and feeling his partner's ribcage tremble with the same effort that reverberates through his own; this, just one more of the most mundane of moments that nevertheless nestle like beach sand into every nook and cranny of his heart and body, everpresent.

He has no reason to want to wash them away anymore, either, so he lets this moment settle there like all the others; a pristine beach of memory, awash over past bedrock and open wide to the ocean spray of the future.

Never a dull day aboard the Revenge.

[thornfield13713]

Character game: Jim Jimenez

general opinion: fall in a hole and die | don’t like them | eh | they’re fine I guess | like them! | love them | actual love of my life 

hotness level: get away from me | meh | neutral | theoretically hot but not my type | pretty hot | gorgeous! | 10/10 would bang

hogwarts house: gryffindor | slytherin | ravenclaw | hufflepuff

best quality: I mean, it’s probably not their objective best quality, but I love the way that Jim is just...constantly undercutting their own drama by getting into Muppety shenanigans. Like- I love that their idea of a distraction is knocking something off a table like a bored housecat. I love that their attempt at a grand standoff with Spanish Jackie turns into them going for drinks! It’s just so enjoyable to watch, and they always seem pretty delighted by the Muppety shenanigans. People call Izzy the one human in a Muppets movie, but...honestly, I think Jim is also an emigrant to the Muppetverse. They’re just a very specific Tim Curry breed of token human who is ABSOLUTELY down for joining in the Muppetry.

worst quality: I think that Jim...knows what they want, but isn’t secure enough in it to defend what they want in the face of pressure. And, to their credit, they get over this after a conversation with Spanish Jackie, and I do think their plotline isn’t over yet (we still need to find out what happened to their brother), but Jim...doesn’t seem to want to carry on with the revenge quest, but gets pressured into it anyway out of a sense of obligation fostered by Nana, despite the fact that their first kill clearly deeply affected them even knowing that the man deserved it. I feel like Jim needs to get a bit better at defending their choices and desires in the face of pressure, just for the sake of their own happiness.

ship them with:  Oluwande. I mean, look at them, they're adorable. More than that, though...these two handle their relationship in probably the best way out of anyone on this show. They do their best to support each other, when Jim leaves to handle their business with the Siete Gallos, they communicate about it maturely, even when it hurts them both to part, and they understand each other so well that Jim can sign a complex concept like 'when you kill someone, part of you dies as well' and Olu can get it perfectly without missing a beat. Honestly, these two are couple goals and Ed and Stede should aspire to get on their level where communication is concerned if they want to make their relationship work.

brotp them with:  Lucius. Yeah, I know, the start was rocky, but...I kind of love everything about it, from Lucius reaching out to Jim about their secret using his experience of being closeted, to him retrieving their knife for them not even days after being locked in a trunk...I want to see this developed further when Lucius is living in the walls in season 2, because I absolutely believe that a) he is doing that and b) Jim is going to be part of the conspiracy keeping those in charge from finding out.

needs to stay away from: I mean...not as a forever thing, but I feel like maybe they need to work on themselves and their ability to stand up for what they want to do with their life other than revenge before they go and see Nana again. Other than that...no, don't really have any people they ought to stay away from. If people are unkind to Jim, I am entirely confident in their ability to make said people regret it.

misc. thoughts: I have a lot of feelings about Jim and 'when you kill someone, you die too'. Like- A lot of the fandom portrays Jim as a lot more murder-happy than that line would imply. And, while Jim is shown more surrounded by violence than the rest of the cast even if it was technically Jackie who killed Geraldo...I keep thinking back to this line. Because it adds a whole new painful context to their stopping at just one murder, and then the decision to go back and finish the task even knowing that they will be facing a sort of death of the soul every time. I just- I would like to see Jim and their relationship to violence get explored more.

[effervescentluminescence]

Hahahahaha yes! I’ve noticed this too! No one can stay mad at the muppet man! His feelings are too plain on him. He is terrible at hiding what he is feeling. Whatever mood he’s projecting is exactly what he is feeling in the moment. Any time he wants something, even something relatively mundane like that petrified orange, his desire is plain and palpable. He’s gonna tell Ed he’s sorry and that he never wants to be away from him ever again, and Ed won’t have any choice but to believe him.

Also, I can’t imagine Ed not burning out on the Kraken bs after any longer than a week or two. My guy is mercurial and gets bored easily. He’s gonna wake up one day and not feel like putting the face paint on and be like “well, guess that’s over….oof, that was weird, wasn’t it? Kinda embarrassing, actually. Maybe if I just act caszh everyone will forget about it,” then find a new heartbreak activity. He did the “wear all my ex’s clothes things while crying and stress-eating” thing, the “I’m gonna completely reinvent myself” thing, the “destroy all my ex’s stuff” thing, the “the world is cruel and hard so I will be crueler and harder” thing, plus a break-up makeover...

Oh no, the only thing left is a rebound relationship. He’s gonna go around kidnapping guys who look like Stede (but in a funny way, probably not a Hell or High Water way (which if anyone isn’t reading that, you’re missing out)) while insisting that “it’s for ransom! You’re crazy, I don’t see it, what are you talking about, he’s nothing like Stede. Oh shit did this one escape too? Ah well, whatever, guys like Stede are a dime a dozen. Nothing special about Stede, was there? I’m sure I’ll find another one.” The real Stede gets back to the Revenge and even Izzy is like “oh thank god.” And Ed tries to be all “why did you come back? I’m totally over you. What? No that’s not a new tattoo. What does it say? None of your business! That’s not what it says, but…oh you’re sorry? Good, you should be. Not that I care. At all. You’ve got freckles now. Huh? Who said that?” and won’t shut up because he knows that as soon as Stede starts talking in earnest, the gig will be up.

I’ve read at this point a non-zero number of OFMD reunion fics that are absolutely dripping with angst and drama and recrimination and Ed being half out of his mind with grief and rage over Stede abandoning him and Ed even committing some atrocities in the process of grieving and it’s so funny to me because the tone is so so heavy and then Stede shows up…

… and the tone just shifts. And it feels like it’s not even on purpose on the writer’s part! But Stede shows up and just instantly the mood lightens. The comedy returns often in spite of the tone of the fic. Ed might rage a bit or they’ll have an argument but it’s like the bottom just falls out of the angst because even the most angst-committed writer can’t sustain Ed being a miserable wreck in the face of Stede’s unrelenting Stede-ness.

The guy is an absolute menace to any tragic arc. He just shows up, being ridiculous and fancy and an absolute bulldozer of unconditional love for Ed and it’s like you can feel the writer lose control of the story at the same time Ed does.

Like, how do you stay mad at this guy?? Sure you can add plot twists or action beats or just have Ed be really stubborn or maybe knock Stede unconscious for a bit, but the minute Stede starts talking uninterrupted for 5 minutes you know it’s all over for Ed being able to maintain any kind of outrage. Stede is just too bizarre and crazy and full of love for the most terrifying pirate on the sea and absolutely nothing will dissuade him and it’s like, how do you even deal with that if you’re Ed and still feel something for him and think he abandoned you because he doesn’t care about you when it’s clear he really really does??

Stede as a character just morphs the narrative around him in the most fascinating way, even in fic that’s not trying to be faithful to the tone of the show. It’s absolutely bizarre to watch happen and I keep seeing it happen again and again but it’s also kind of delightful?

I’ve said before that I struggled to keep Stede and Ed mad at each other in any fic of their reunion that I write and then I see writers across the fandom also struggle with the same thing even when the momentum of the story is heading towards drawn out angst or darkness or misunderstanding and you see it all just crumble under the weight of Stede being Stede when he’s around Ed, over and over, and this phenomenon is at once vindicating and absolutely delightful to watch.