#stede isn’t the best father

[ekezable]

Eventually Mary agrees to let the kids visit Stede!

#ofmd #our flag means death #ofmd fanart #ofmd fandom #blackbeard #edward teach #stede bonnet #alma bonnet #louis bonnet #mary allamby bonnet #she isn’t there but you could feel her presence #the gentleman pirate #blackbonnet #steden #gentlebeard #stede x blackbeard #ofmd meme #stede isn’t the best father #ofmd olivia #buttons ofmd

[stargirl-and-potts]

Ed called himself the devil, and the crew his kids, like he was making them into some absurd legend of the high seas. And he kept up a hell of a theater. Everything the crew had asked Stede for at the start, everything they’d seemed to revere in Ed — he produced it tenfold. He looked just like the myth, the monster, the terror, and he made them the same. He did everything to show the world that caricature Izzy demanded. And Edward watched his step, and cried behind closed doors, and didn’t speak. Edward wasn’t seen on deck once after Izzy told him to put him away.

And then after they “talk it through,” and Ed knows decisively he’s failed even this — even his best performance — then he washes his face, and puts his hair up, and shows up smiling and soft-faced to steer them straight into the storm. I think that was Edward on deck, giving up at last on watching his step. Not the Kraken — Edward in despair, because his best bravura performance of the theater of fear couldn’t save or satisfy anyone. And he knew it never would — if they went on like that they’d all die anyway, on someone’s sword, or on the end of the noose.

When he asked Izzy to enlighten him on where he’d gone wrong I do think he wanted to offer Izzy one last chance to admit he didn’t want what he’d demanded from him. But I don’t think he had any real hope that Izzy did regret that. He believed Izzy was going to continue to believe in brutality, to require his performance of Blackbeard until they all mutinied or died, and that no one would stop him; that no one wanted just Ed.

And Izzy then says again to his face that it’s love that ruined everything, not the monstrous performance overtaking their humanity, and that’s what puts Ed over the edge.

He wants the crew to kill Izzy for saying love has ruined them, since he can’t. And when they don’t, he wants Izzy to kill him. (Izzy seems to love that he wants that from him; he beams, and he seems flustered to find he can’t quite do it. He adores that Ed wouldn’t ask anyone else — one final intimacy of shared despair, the death of both their humanity, and he can’t pull it out of himself. He pretends it’s Ed that’s the coward, still.)

And since Izzy won’t end him, Ed steers into the storm, puts on his brightest, bravest performance of Ed the madman, but for once it’s a performance he believes in. He wants the crew to despair of him, the way he has. He wants them to fear him the way he does. He wants their horror, their hatred, as well as his own, if he can’t have anyone’s heart.

I think he wants Jim to fight him instead of Archie — to prove to him that love means something to someone on this ship. And maybe he thinks Jim and the rest deserve to die with him if they won’t put him down and save their loves and spare the world from him. But his euphoric “Finally” makes me think he trusts they will — that they’ll see he shouldn’t live and spare him the decision. That anyone can see he’s earned his end.

It’s horrible, but it’s all he believes is real any more — that there isn’t a place for him on this earth, that the albatross can never land, and that the only peace he’ll get is to be sent under the waves like his father before him, like Hornigold and Jack and the rest — to go down to where the monsters sink when the world is done with them. And when Izzy decides Ed’s request for death is justified, and returns shot for shot, instead of saying he was wrong — Ed is glad. When the rest of the crew finishes what Izzy can’t, Ed welcomes their despair of him. He can’t keep tallying the days on his wall. He can’t bear any more hope.

Which is why I love that we saw in the end, in the in-between, he wasn’t really ready to go. In the quiet of his own soul, without any eyes on him, he was still trying to kill the Hornigold in him who said this is all he was, that he would never be good for anything else, that dying was all he could hope for.

And it’s why I love that Stede didn’t meet him at the surface, in the open air— he dove down into the depths with him. He brought the light with him; he changed the waters from a nightmare into a dream. Ed went from sinking to weightless, just because he realized that there in the depths one person still wanted Edward — one person believed in his love.

#ofmd #ofmd s2 #edward teach #I really don’t know if I can ever watch that part again #because it’s so close to the bone #my god the relief in his voice when he sees someone will end it for him #it’s utter horror #and my good god the relief it was to me to see him admit that after all that he still didn’t really want to go #tw suicide #suicidal ideation

[biceratops7]

*Wakes up in a cold sweat*

Ed and Stede give eachother exactly what they need. It’s the way Ed looks at Stede and the way Stede says Ed’s name. They share these rituals together in a way neither dreamed possible.

There is a running visual motif of Stede being looked at. In these moments we’re placed (literally, talking about the camera here) in his point of view, where we can feel how… confronting it all is for him. His father glaring down at him with dissatisfaction that’s long since boiled into anger. His wife staring at him in an awkward silence like the frustration of being lost in emotional translation isn’t even worth a comment anymore. Nigel’s mocking gaze, Izzy’s calculated focus, It’s all to make you feel how unflinchingly exposed he is… but not vulnerable. He doesn’t get that because in order to be so you need to be understood. Stede lives with all eyes on him, but is not seen.

Then there’s Edward, who essentially has the same crushing issue but with a different presentation. His motif is his name, and what the other characters choose to call him is indicative of if they know him, or just know of him. Blackbeard is what he answers to most, but it’s not something he identifies with in the present, at best he has a very complicated relationship with the person that name represents. The greatest sailor who ever lived, the devil pYrate, a persona he perfected that has flown to the tallest mountains dragging Ed behind him. The only characters that call him Ed/ Edward unprompted or unironically are Stede, and interestingly… Izzy. We’ll come back to that later.

Now here comes Ed, sauntering out of the hell fire and into Stede’s life like the patron Saint of leather daddies. And here we see that same familiar pov shot, and boy does Ed fucking LOOK at him. The last sight Stede sees before he conks the fuck out is this beautiful man who’s heard so much about him at his… well, Stede-iest, and is gazing at him like the loveliest thing in the world right now would be to know him even more. Ed’s heart eyes are no joke, they’re famous for a reason. Each time he looks at Stede, it is giving, it is wanting, it is a deliberate act of love.

Of course in the same sense Stede fills the hole in Ed’s life as well (not that one shut up), the desire not to be revered, but beloved, known. To just be… Edward.

Stede used to have no noteworthy opinion on the matter of Blackbeard, enthralled by the legends as anyone else… until he met him, saw this kind and excitable man who loved all the things everyone else found silly. And suddenly now it’s none of his business. Stede doesn’t push, gets offended when information is revealed to him without Ed’s consent. He treasures all the ways he can get to know Ed, and holds space for whenever he can’t. He still admires Blackbeard sure, but only because he’s one of many facets that create someone far more interesting: Edward. From Stede, Ed’s real name is spoken with love, playfulness, simple familiarity, returning the warmth of the way Ed looks at him like another fine thing he deserves. Even when he’s not actually around to hear it, the natural thought process in Stede remains.

I think it adds nuance and depth to each relationship that this is presented in foil with Izzy, because Izzy uses Ed’s real name as a commodity. It has value only as a threshold of hierarchy for Blackbeard’s inner circle, which as the previously sole member, Izzy is preoccupied with keeping exclusive. He’s possessive of a concept, and the more he learns just how different “Ed” is from it, the more the simple notion of Ed becomes ridiculous. Though both call him “Edward”, it’s only Stede that does so as an unconscious demonstration that he accepts Ed’s autonomy of personhood and is adoring of whomever that is.

The last time we hear Izzy say “Edward”, it’s mocking. To him the name now only represents the pitiful death of a greater ideal “Ed” decidedly is not. The last time Stede says it, it’s when he’s confessing to Mary that he loves him. One instance treats Ed’s name as a mask of his true self, and an inferior one at that, and the other is quite literally revealing.

The image he holds when he tells Mary he’s in love is Edward looking up at him smiling, breaking bread, completely un-pedestaled and joyful to be so. And Stede knows understanding now, being wanted, vulnerability, comfort. He calls those all Ed.

#our flag means death #ofmd #stede bonnet #edward teach #blackbonnet #gentlebeard #meta #analysis #episode 10 #biceratops

[pluviophiliced]

“Not moving on is worse.”

In the context of season two, I struggle to reconcile the intersection of sincerity and comedy, and the idea of what pains and traumas we are meant to understand at the deeper level of what trauma is with those that serve only the purpose of comedic timing. This isn’t limited to one character, but rather to the season as a whole.

Season one highlighted childhood trauma and the ability to move on from that, becoming the best adult version of oneself possible. We see this evident in Ed, Stede, and Jim specifically as we are allowed to explore their pasts and their traumas — and we can presume that no one on the crew of the Revenge is without trauma (Fang’s dog, anyone?) of some kind that they carry with them. Stede handles his traumas and how to process them through running away and avoiding the issue until he no longer can. Ed does something similar, though he is able to craft a facade to use as a shield and a weapon, even if he never delivers a killing blow himself. Jim dedicates their life to revenge.

We witness all of these characters allow the defining characteristic of love to be allowing themselves to be saved and valued for who they are — not for what they can offer.

When season two opens, we as an audience see Ed at, arguably, his worst (I say arguably because we didn’t see Blackbeard in his prime, so… do with that what you will, I suppose). We see how this affects beloved and treasured characters, as well as new characters that we have yet to fall in love with. We see Fang fall apart not once but twice within the first two episodes alone. In episode two, we see Ed — a much beloved and adored character who we know intimately — lash out when confronted for his behavior. He lashes out at his crew and physically mutilates his closest confidant for daring to question him. “But that’s piracy!” And you’re right! But don’t we watch the first episode of season one highlight how much Stede Bonnet wants to change piracy? Isn’t this show supposed to be about found family, and getting better, and finding healing? In which case, we’re watching Ed behave abusively in the wake of his mental struggles as he once again attempts to hide behind the same facade that has protected him in the past. Ed suffers this breakdown in response to not one but two perceived rejections from the two people he would claim to be the most important in his life, and in a classic mental illness fashion, he barricades himself off and settles into the persona that is everything he doesn’t want to be.

His crew fears him. They’ve been kidnapped and essentially held hostage under the man they believe to have murdered their crew — their friends — and are watching him continue to devolve. Enter Izzy Hands and Jim Jimenez. Izzy is well aware of his hand in Ed’s state. “Well, he instigated it!” He did. He wanted back a version of Blackbeard who he saw as safe territory: a necessary evil for the continued survival and safety of the crew, ship, and Ed and Izzy themselves. And then he watched Edward “Only Ever Killed One Person Personally” Teach fulfill the legend he’s always been known as, and watched him become someone who couldn’t care less about life or death or anything in between. Ed surpassed and buried the version of Blackbeard that Izzy wanted to return, and he was force-fed the consequences of this with an unavoidable cruelty. “Well, he deserved what he got! Violence was always on the table, because it’s piracy!” But once again, we’re operating under the assumption that the big themes of this show are healing from trauma and being worthy of being loved even if we’ve done bad things. 

While we’re on that topic, though, let’s explore that. Ed’s childhood trauma comes from his abusive father. He carries the weight of that abuse with him well into adulthood, as well as the weight of what he had to do to survive it. What he had to do to save his mother. This season sees him abusing those around him. Despite this, despite his erratic behavior and the mistreatment of his crew, he is still loved (by crew and fandom both, if I may add). He is still loved by Stede, despite the trail of blood he leaves in his wake. Stede is still longing to find him, despite knowing what he’s done and what he’s now capable of, and this continues to reiterate that idea of you deserve to be loved even when you’ve done wrong.

And then, Stede finds him.

We as an audience witness Ed make the choice to stay alive. We watch the thought process, we see that he chooses to fight for that love that comes alongside being saved. Being wanted. Being seen for who you are and loved because of it. And up to here, I’m on board. I’m excited to see what’s next and how Ed will reconcile for what he’s done and the harm he’s caused at the hands of his mental illness — because the truth is, we harm people when we aren’t adequately being responsible for our mental illness. This is a real-world thing. We lash out when we’re hurt, or when we’re rejected, or when we’re struggling. When we’re suffering, we often can’t see past ourselves to see whether or not we’re also causing others to suffer. This does not make us bad people — and it didn’t make Ed one. And then the “apology” came and went. The only member of the crew Ed really sits and ever has a drawn out conversation with about anything is Fang, and even this is somewhat shallow. Fang absolves him and moves on. We don’t get to see whether or not Ed ponders this conversation long-term or whether or not he battles with himself over how to move on. 

We’re left with a traumatized crew who semi-accepted a half-hearted apology and a beloved character who hasn’t actually been held accountable at all. “But he apologized and wore the bell and fixed that door latch!” Yes, and? He physically mutilated his first mate, instructed him to be killed, traumatized an entire crew — and this all takes a backseat to his relationship with Stede. And what a stunning scene between the two of them in the moonlight, where Ed finds it in him to ask to take things slow. Where he recognizes his needs and vocalizes them. I left this episode feeling so hopeful, because half-baked apology aside, Ed is actively learning to vocalize his thoughts and ask for what he needs when he recognizes in himself that something is going to be harmful to him. We had a kiss, we had Ed asking for help when he needed it, we had a proposal, we had “not moving on is worse,” and even knowing only three episodes remained, I left feeling like we had been so perfectly set up to see how things were only going to keep improving. 

In the first episodes of the season, we see murderous raids and mutilated first mates and two suicide attempts (though I suppose one was more of a mass murder-suicide attempt?) and these are all thrown together. In episode six, Stede deescalates a raid from a bloodbath of his own crew and sends another crew on their way with the lessons and values that he has been pursuing since the first episode of the first season. He then, in a parallel to the French ship of season one, causes a man’s death. This is highlighted as a turning point, something that can’t be ever moved on from. (“There’s no coming back from that.”) But what about the other traumatic events of the season that are treated as jokes? Izzy’s drinking, day in and day out, bottle after bottle after bottle — coping with the reality of his life and the way it’s been altered beyond recognition. The mop he used as a makeshift leg snapping, forcing him to pull himself away from the crew with his own hands. Lucius’s mention of being sexually assaulted and Stede’s look of disgust, the way he literally runs away from the conversation. Lucius never gets to air out his traumas, not really, not with someone who listens and tells him he’s safe and allows him to talk things through. Even Pete gets ill instead of being able to offer support.

I struggle to reconcile what is and isn’t comedy in this season, or what violence is meant to be taken for what it is. The Ed and Izzy breakdowns in episodes one and two sat far too close to my chest for me to look past them into comedy — and the suicidality of both men was glossed over and moved on from so quickly, never explored. Did Izzy’s “I wanna go” in the final episode mean he never moved on? That some part of him was still lying in that room with a gun to his head? You don’t become non-suicidal in a matter of days — is there still something lingering in the back of Ed’s mind? There was never a conversation about it, and there was never anything between the two of them that could allow me comfort in knowing that they had reached some sort of understanding. This season pulled domestic abuse, alcohol abuse, and suicidal tendencies straight from my own traumas and never held anyone accountable for any of them. There was no healing. There was no real talking it through. “Well, it’s not a rom-com, so—” Except it continues to be presented as one. Shortcomings of storylines of characters that seem to have been cast aside or mischaracterized this season aside, I cannot for the life of me reconcile how a show about kindness and moving on and being loved amidst all of your flaws could have a season so wrought with traumas and yet never discuss them. Never explore them in a way that allows me to move on. I love this show and there were so many good things about this season; I love these characters, and yet I feel so disconnected from it for the first time in over a year. Not moving on is worse, sure, but moving on without accountability leaves wounds unable to heal. How do you move on from that?

#ofmd #our flag means death #pluviophiliqueue #ofmd s2 #my thoughts and feelings on s2 #ofmd s2 critique

[mermaidlighthouse]

Why I think Izzy’s death was actually necessary despite me being sad about losing my favorite* character…

So I am once again looking to reframe a moment/scene involving Izzy around Ed because as much as Izzy was his own character (with a wonderful redemption arc) his function in the narrative imo is as an extension of the Blackbeard persona and therefore Ed and his perception of himself

Ok so this is gonna be long but I think it’s necessary to frame this properly

Izzy and Ed’s relationship is one of misery loving company and instead of finding ways to legitimately pull each other up and heal from whatever brought you to that place it turns to one of toxicity where you either repress the trauma (Ed never telling anyone that he killed his father, that he feels like a monster) or express it in ways that only perpetuate the misery. At this point that constant cycle of misery is so familiar it can be difficult for the participants to recognize what they’re doing to themselves and each other and it’s difficult to not fall back into those patterns.

So while Izzy is making strides and having his arc, instead of saying to Ed maybe don’t go looking for darkness when you’re standing in the light, don’t look for trouble or problems that don’t exist just because that’s what you’ve come to expect he says maybe you’re just a mopey twat and there isn’t a fuckin storm, when Ed does apologize for his leg Izzy’s only response is fuck off.

They can’t communicate with each other effectively and it’s already caused issues. When Izzy tells Ed to listen to the feeling of throwing away the trappings of Blackbeard, Ed does but he has also been told by Izzy that Ed isn’t good enough so why would Stede want him now that he’s not gonna be Blackbeard. I think Izzy meant well and had the right sentiment but the fact is that the damage of what they do to each other has already been done. Izzy doesn’t just represent the devil on Ed’s shoulder, he’s the voice in his head telling him he’s worthless without Blackbeard.

So could the narrative have just said Izzy went off on his own or went with the crew in the end? imho no they couldn’t because in order to have a healthy relationship with Stede, and just to be a generally well adjusted person Ed needs to love himself and the constant knowledge that his self loathing can just pop up out of nowhere (something explicitly shown as an Izzy staple) won’t allow him that freedom. (I recognize this isn’t how self development/self esteem works irl but this is a dark comedy rom com just let some things be hand wavy.)

Sometimes the best way to help each other grow and be whole is to recognize that you need to let the other person go. That’s true for BOTH of them.

Izzy dying was the only way they could finally communicate honestly without the jibes and the looming Blackbeard of it all they could just talk to each other as family as people who love each other (this is not my ship and I have a serious issue with the lack of nuanced takes on love in this fandom but that’s a separate issue).

To give Izzy some grace here I would like to point out that his story can also be seen as one that tells the audience that toxic people in your life or people you have complicated relationships with are allowed to grow on their own and make positive changes for themselves BUT that does not mean you have to accept them back in your life, you are not required to give them space after they’ve wronged you. You can celebrate their growth but you don’t owe them anything. Ed can recognize that Izzy has changed but he was never going to fully excise Izzy from his life he’s too familiar and too much a darkness to hide in and it would have created more toxic situations. So yes Izzy had to die.

*I always mean favorite side character because my favorite character is EdStede/StedeEd. If you don’t love them, together and separately then you don’t love the show because this is their story

#yes I still cry whenever I watch this scene #I’m also masochistic enough that I added Du Gamla to my playlist #and I cry about that too #this may end up just being for me but I needed to get it out of my head #izzy hands #the new unicorn #edward teach #ed teach #blackbeard #stede bonnet #the gentleman pirate #blackbonnet #gentlebeard #ed x stede #our flag means death #ofmd season 2 #ofmd s2 #ofmd

[jaskierx]

After being subjected to the canyons utter dismissal of anything Izzy did in s1 I honestly started to feel like I’d been misinterpreting the show. The confrontation between Izzy and Ed in s1ep10 is boiled down to Izzy just “saying some mean things”. Izzy’s controlling and shitty behavior is just him being protective and in love with Ed and it’s actually so tragic that Ed would dismiss Iz like that, guys. Take after take, I began to wonder if maybe I’d blown things out of proportion. Maybe he wasn’t that bad.

But then the gears in the logical part of my brain start turning and I remember why framing Izzy in that light is so frustratingly shitty. Like, okay. We all get that Ed isn’t an evil monster for killing his dad. It was a direct response to feeling threatened after suffering and witnessing his fathers abuse. We can all agree on that. So why is it different when Ed has a similar reaction to Izzy threatening him? Why is it okay for Izzy to berate and mock and tell Ed he was better off dead? Izzy displayed controlling and honestly abusive behavior in season 1. Ed was fighting back against his abuser when he killed Father Teach, and we got that. But suddenly that isn’t the case when he fights back against Izzy? I’m so tired of people acting like mental abuse isn’t as valid as physical. That it was only mean words, and that Izzy did everything out of love.

Homophobic parents can be controlling and abusive “out of love”. They think they’re protecting you. That doesn’t absolve them of their shitty behavior. That doesn’t change the fact that their actions are harmful. The same should be said for Izzy. Ed was mentally tormented by that man‼️ For people to dismiss that and act like abuse can only ever be physical is so disheartening. I’ve suffered both. One is not necessarily worse than the other. It feels so invalidating…I want to engage with fans and talk about this because I feel like it’s important, but if I had anyone argue with me about it I think I’d explode into a pile of silly string. It sucks that this is the state of the fandom 😭

yep people will absolutely bend over backwards to view all of izzy's actions in the best possible light. they give him the benefit of the doubt, they full on make shit up that 'must have' happened offscreen, they rationalise his abuse of ed in a hundred different ways. 'it was for ed's own good' 'he was trying to protect the crew' 'ed was going to get everybody killed' etc

(and often when they post about this it's really telling about their attitudes to stede being femme/gnc - i've seen too many posts along the lines of 'izzy needed to stage an intervention for ed, the talent show was the last in a long line of batshit things he'd been doing because he was obsessed with some ponce')

as many people in this fandom have already pointed out, it's like the canyon thinks that a white guy can say whatever the fuck he wants regardless of how threatening or abusive it is, but the moment the brown guy he's saying it to dares to retaliate to protect himself, he's an abuser and he's completely unjustified and etc etc

i resent being called an abuse apologist by the same people on this website who will unironically post takes like 'izzy wasn't abusive to ed because he wasn't trying to hurt him, he was acting in ed's best interests, ed forced his hand' (sound familiar?) or 'if izzy is so abusive then how come he tried to get ed out before the navy got there' (idk bestie maybe he could've tried not selling the crew out at all? maybe if he really did care about ed he wouldn't try to get his partner killed?)

#the izcourse #asks #anon #cw abuse #izzy critical

[suffersinfandom]

I’m still thinking about dumb discourse because my brain is broken and guys there’s so much “Ed and Stede are not as queer as Izzy” out there what the heck. 

Anyway. I said this in response to a different post:

There are so many ways to be queer and so many kinds of queer experiences. Not everyone is going to see themselves in Ed or Stede, and that's fine. Some people are going to see themselves in Izzy, and that's also fine. What's not fine is asserting that your pet white guy (who, yes, conforms to pirate standards of masculinity better than anyone else on the Revenge) is the only character with a valid queer arc.

But why do some Izzy fans (can we call them Izzy Heads? Izheads? I want a word for that specific flavor of fan) relate only to the queerness in Izzy's story? I can't stop thinking about it.

It seems that at least some people who consider Izzy the best example of queer rep in OFMD do so because they relate to the character. They don’t have a romantic partner or they’re in love with someone who doesn’t feel the same way. They’re disabled and focus on the intersection of disability and queerness. They feel as though they’re outsiders, even in a queer community (or a largely queer fandom like this one). They’re not cis men and they’re not trans in the same way as Jim is, so they don’t see their gender explicitly represented onscreen. 

On paper, most of that describes me too. The thing is? I do relate to Stede and Ed and I don’t relate to Izzy at all.

I’m an AFAB nonbinary person who’s physically and mentally disabled. I’m aromantic and asexual with the sliders all set to 100%; I have never so much as dated, and I almost never engage with romantic media because I just don’t get it. I feel like a freak in most circles, like I’m missing a fundamental part of what makes humans human. There isn’t a character in OFMD who shares my specific gender or sexual identity, but Ed and Stede are absolutely queer in ways that are understandable to me and, I think, a lot of other people in this community.

Ed and Stede both grow up and live the first decades of their adult lives in societies that don’t want them to be themselves. Stede can’t love flowers or bright and flashy fashion; he needs to dress down and become a family man. He’s forced to marry a woman he doesn’t love (and who doesn’t love him) and father children to inherit his wealth. Ed can’t fancy a fine fabric or pursue a peaceful life because his world is one that demands cruelty and violence. He has to wrap himself up in leather and layers of myth and legend to survive. They’re both GNC and wearing masks and entirely miserable.

I know -- I think most of us know -- what it’s like to suppress who we are so we can fit in or be who the people around us expect us to be. I think we know what it’s like to be miserable and lonely for ages -- to bury who we really are deeper and deeper until we barely remember who that person is -- right up until we find out that there are people out there who get us. There are places where we can be who we are, or at least experiment a bit and discover ourselves.

Even if we don’t know what it’s like to find a great love like Stede and Ed do, there are parts of their relationship that we understand. I'm sure plenty of us know what it’s like to meet someone who doesn’t ask us to pretend for the first time. We know what it’s like to be on the same silly, stupid wavelength as someone else, and we know how it feels to play with someone who gets us. I think that the friendship that Ed and Stede share, even with the romantic and sexual elements removed, is a distinctly queer one. 

So I guess I still don't know why Izheads only relate to his queer experience when Ed and Stede, in my opinion, are both extremely queer even beyond, like, the thing where they're wildly in love.

I want to think it has something to do with Izzy's status as a side character and not racism, internalized homophobia, or anything else like that. Characters without fully fleshed-out backgrounds provide opportunities to project whatever we want, you know? If you want to see your specific gender or sexual identity in a character, just grab one with little canon lore and fill in the blanks. Maybe I can be happy with characters who aren't just like me, but I don't expect everyone to be content with that.

What was I even typing about?

Oh, right.

Ed and Stede are super fucking queer. You don't have to relate to them because there are infinite ways to be queer, but you do have to acknowledge that there is nothing heteronormative about their relationship or them as individuals.

#ofmd #me typing things #like no really #i'm just out here typing things #no thesis no plan #gentlebeard #ofmd discourse #edward teach #stede bonnet #breaking news: ace discovers their first OTP #now i even read smut! #(if there's good character work) #(which there usually is with these guys) #queer #< tagging just in case

[lesbianballofgender]

Okay but in all seriousness the writing of season two is perfect to portray exactly who Ed and Stede are and who they’ve always been. If David Jenkins had said “fuck it” and given them a happy ending right away it would’ve been magic, but so false. Stede and Ed aren’t perfect like that so a perfect and easy ending isn’t correct for them.

They’re going through another break up over the pettiest of shit (I mean a fish for fuck sake) but that’s exactly what Stede and Ed would do. Because we all know it’s not actually about a fish. As Ed was running away he said ‘fishermen and pirates are nothing alike’ which just surfaces a whole bunch of new things they need to talk through. Because in that scenario Stede is the pirate and Ed is the fisherman, a complete 180 to season one’s dilema where Ed’s the pirate and Stede an Aristocrat. Stede knows it’s not the real reason he’s leaving because he even yells ‘it’s not about that’ to which Ed yells back ‘it’s everything about that! It’s everything about fishing!’ yet there’s no reason it would be. Ed is making up an excuse because he’s afraid. He kept repeating how he wanted to take things slow yet (like he mentions) everything has been doing the exact opposite. They had sex but I don’t just mean that. Stede also was very close to confessing his love for him, which to Edward I’m sure would be a huge deal as no one has probably ever loved him truly and purely before in that way. And I’m not being funny but especially a man. Ed killed his own Father and as far as we know the only person to have loved him (besides like ig Izzy) is his Mother. So it may be difficult for him to accept love especially from another man because he never received it growing up. The entire episode ‘man on fire’ also highlights exactly how truly whim-prone Ed and especially Stede are. It doesn’t take much for Stede to get swept away by praises from his fans, enough so he even gets his ear pierced. And Ed deciding to become a fisherman from catching one fish is really… the best example.

Even in ‘Calypso’s birthday’ when Ned calls Stede Ed’s ‘pet’ it brings about these doubts Stede could have about Ed’s true feelings for him that, paired with ‘Man on fire’, is fucking incredible. Because right after Stede has been told that his boyfriend only likes him because ‘of his bumbling amateur status’ he changes completely, kills two men (Ned and the man on fire), has gay sex for the first time, gets his ear pierced and a bunch of people start to get tattoos of him on their bodies. These doubts need resolving though but instead of talking it out, of course his initial response is to bottle it/have sex… though it isn’t like he was given much of a chance to bring it up to talk about it because Ed ran away (a response that is so fucking accurate to both of them as characters).

I’d just like to point out that I love the detail of Stede always preaching for everybody to ‘talk it through as a crew’ yet I swear he has never practised what he preaches. This man running away back to Mary instead of talking his feeling out but telling the crew to share their thoughts is one of the most realistic thing about his character.

No one can say this show has bad writing. The inevitable conflict was hinted at so many times throughout the season. Ed and Stede could’ve never stayed happy as soon as they met up in ‘Fun and games’ because Stede still hadn’t met his goal of being a known pirate (his whole goal from season one) plus he literally ran away from having a normal life so of course he wasn’t going to give up the seas quite yet while Ed has been so clearly saying he’s done with pirating for a long time. The entire persona of ‘Jeff’ is the only evidence we need. He wants a normal life, not as Blackbeard but as ‘Edward Teach born on a beach’ or as ‘Jeff’ - the innkeeper or accountant. It’s impossible not to pick up on this. Even the line ‘you wear fine things well’ is just this idea incarnate. They both say it to each other on severed occasions, it being a complement showing their adoration for one another. When Ed tells Stede those words it’s a comedic moment because he’s relaying Stede’s words, it’s sweet because they kiss and it’s such an obvious thing to say because Stede is (as he put it in ‘a gentleman pirate’) landed gentry so of course it suits him. Yet when Ed’s being told he looks good in nice things it’s the best thing someone has ever told him, because Stede looks past him being a pirate and a murderer and says “hey, that suits you”. No one has ever seen him as someone worth anything more so he feels seen more then he ever has before. That one line is so powerful and that’s probably why it’s repeated in season 2; because it feels like proof they will end up back together again.

They don’t understand their own feelings half the time, they’re whim-prone and they’re very good at running away, however they see one another for who they are and so far have always found their way back to each other.

#ofmd #ofmd season 2 #our flag means death #pirates #lgbtq #i love this show #I love these stupid gay pirates #gay #thought dump #stede bonnet #edward teach #ed x stede #ofmd spoiler #stede fucking bonnet #man on fire #David Jenkins

[amuseoffyre]

OFMD S2 Speculation

I put together a little list of things I think are coming in S2 on twitter, and I’m stashing it here too in case the bird snuffs it.

As S1 was Stede going through his best then worst and figuring things out, S2 is going to be Ed's story

Hornigold. Why else have Jack mention him, especially when so much of Ed's past is shaped by Hornigold and his father.  I suspect he's the villain for S3, but I like the idea of him being there through S2 like the shark in Jaws, finally appearing at the end to ruin everything 

Which leads me into the belief we're getting 3 season. S1 is A New Hope. S2 is going to be Empire Strikes Back, with one captured and/or forcibly separated with an “I love you”/“I know” vibe. S3 is going to be their Return of the Jedi :D (And in this story Izzy gets to be Lando - sold Stede out, saves him (hm. If I follow this train of thought that makes Stede the Leia. Stede ending up in a metal bikini... oh dear))

Izzy is 100% getting a tasty arc, especially since he’s dealt with Blackbeard before but has never been around Kraken!Ed. I also love the idea of him, against his better judgement, acknowledging Stede's bonkers genius. Izzy respects people who *earn* their way instead of buying a way in. I think he's going to see Stede in a whole new light. Stede&Iz brotrip in S3!

This probably won't be until S3 if we get it, but Stede's obsession with fake heads is how they finally get away: Blackbeard's death famously involved his head hanging from the mast of his ship. What if Ed snipped his hair, kept the clippings to made a fake head and escape? (“Our old lives will be gone. Dead” - one down, one to go)

I suspect Ivan is toast. Jim, when motivated by very vengeance, will take it out on the people they know to be guilty. Ivan was one of the two people who was involved in the marooning and is the one who is in the room with the feral assassin with no idea of their full skillset 

Pretty sure that Jackie is married to all of the Siete Gallos and diverted Jim from killing more hubs because she's a cunning old fox who knows how the game works. Jackie's proved she knows how Jim ticks and she played on that like a virtuoso in their last confrontation.

Ed isn't the only one flipping the bird to the king. Izzy sold out too, in order to save Ed, but he seems to have forgotten this now that he's a pirate again. I'd like to see him being very surprised when that comes back around to bite him. 

I am VERY suspiciously watching the half-orange. I feel like it's very important that Alma kept a bit and Stede kept a bit and I wrote a whole fic that involved it. I am suspicious bastard by nature :D

This is less speculation and more desire: I want Ed and Stede to end up chained together before they've had a chance to make-up. I want them to have to escape while bitching and bickering and fighting all the way. Inspired by the Obi-Wan, Anakin & Dooku episode of Clone Wars 

I am very excited. Can you tell?

#ofmd s2 speculation #ofmd #our flag means death

[mixtapetraxx]

Call me crazy but I don’t think DJenkins saying that Izzy was like a father figure to Ed is that weird when we consider the following:

1. Ed has a really fucked up idea of what a father is, and probably doesn’t have the best idea of what a father should be.

2. Izzy is an older, (seemingly) more experienced, practical man whose advice is very valuable. He is undoubtedly a mentor figure for Blackbeard (which DJenkins also says), but the relationship starts feeling familial because love came into the picture which brings me to…

3. Izzy and Ed’s love for each other is very messy and undefined. Think back to season one. It takes awhile even for the audience to come to the idea that in canon (cannot stress in canon enough), maybe Izzy is in love with Ed. In season 2 it becomes clear that Izzy’s feelings for Ed are romantic, but fundamentally, they are not reciprocated. Ed and Izzy felt different kinds of love for each other. This could be supported even further by Ed saying that Izzy is the only family he has as he’s dying.

4. Ed’s daddy issues are apparent by his relationship with several men in this show. He gravitates towards men like Izzy, Hornigold, and Pop-pop (that one is like, wildly on the nose). We even see Stede assert his influence over Ed a couple times (albeit in a much healthier way). Ed has a tendency to let men who are capable, in-charge, powerful, etc., influence him. He’s subconsciously seeking protection and support from men the way a child seeks it from a father. He has a bad habit of seeking fatherly validation and guidance in all the wrong places because of his trauma.

5. Relationships are complicated. Just because DJenkins also compared this relationship to the Jesus Christ Superstar Judas/Jesus dynamic doesn’t mean there aren’t also aspects of a father-son dynamic, or a “bitter exes” dynamic. It’s nuanced. And for a relationship this messed up? OF COURSE it’s not going to be easily defined. You guys have to remember that writing isn’t about labels, tropes, or formulas. Really good stories about people require that you understand the complex, fluid, irrationalities of how human beings operate, especially in their relationships to each other. These dynamics are not mutually exclusive unless you are determined to put these characters and their relationships into labeled boxes.

In conclusion, I don’t see DJenkins’ statement as a claim that Ed thought of Izzy as his dad, rather Izzy was someone who filled in some fatherly roles that Ed never experienced as a child. He’s not Blackbeard’s father, he’s his father figure.

#ofmd #our flag means death #ofmd spoilers #ofmd 2 #was going to tag this as Izzy Hands but honestly I’m afraid the freaks will come after me #edward teach #blackbeard #ofmd meta

[iwillstabyou]

Ok I want to say something about episode 10 and Stede’s ‘selfishness’ (and why Stede left - spoiler alert: it’s trauma). I put selfishness in quotes because I completely understand how and why he is interpreted that way, but I don’t think that selfish is quite the right way to describe it in this instance: I’m not saying that Stede isn’t selfish at all, I just don’t think it’s an accurate explanation of his actions in the moment.

Stede has been taught by years and years of bad experience that he is the problem. He doesn’t fit in with the other pirates, which is expected because of the class divide/his privilege. But he also doesn’t fit in at all with his own class either. As a kid, he was relentlessly bullied for being different. All we ever hear from his father is criticism. He never fits in with his family(pre-running away): in the dinner table scene, his only comment is immediately met with an awkward silence before they move on, completely ignoring him (this scene hit hard because I’ve had people react that way to me way too often and it fucking hurts). Stede also says in ep 5 “I was never really good at these things,” when talking about the party - the typical way of interaction for his class, and it is VERY clear throughout that episode that he is not ‘one of them’ by the way he is treated by them. There is not a single time in his old life where he is accepted for who he is.

Now let me tell you from experience, years and years of being lonely and unwanted, never fitting in, no matter how hard you try, does not do good things to your mental state. I feel like this especially applies to autistic people (and I definitely read Stede as autistic btw), as often it’s not even like we can change anything and magically be liked. You learn that YOU are the problem, it’s always YOUR fault. This, my friends, leads to a shit ton of crippling self hate.

So really, it’s no wonder that what Chauncey says really gets to him. His view of himself is so skewed by his past trauma that he cannot see himself as anything other than the monster Chauncey makes him out to be. Stede absolutely loves Ed. He cares about him so much, and wants Ed to be happy, so he does what he thinks is right - he leaves. He thinks so terribly of himself that he is convinced that his mere existence is ruining Ed’s life. Therefore, he thinks that the only way to ensure Ed’s happiness is if he is not there. (It’s heartbreaking to be honest. This poor man needs a hug so bad)

Stede leaves because he genuinely believes that Ed is better off without him. This was not a selfish decision: Stede isn’t putting himself above Ed, it’s actually the other way around. We know that Stede doesn’t want to return to his old life. He was utterly miserable all the time and he was so lonely. The only time that he is truly accepted by others without judgement is once he’s met Ed. Why would he want to give that up, especially after a lifetime of bullying? He doesn’t. But because he cares so much about Ed’s happiness, he does what he is convinced is the best thing - he leaves. The issue isn’t that he doesn’t care about Ed’s needs, it’s that he cares, but he’s so traumatised that he is wrong about what those needs are.

#sorry for the long post #I’m having a category 5 autism moment #this was going to be much shorter but I got carried away #ofmd meta #our flag means death #stede bonnet #stede bonnet really needs a hug #and a bathtub scene in s2 #I need to see that man have a breakdown #he needs it #also this man is 100% autistic #it just makes sense #and I love him #autistic stede bonnet #my beloved #it’s blorbo posting hours hehe

[notebooks-and-laptops]

you know, there are so many ways they could have done Mary dirty in OFMD. Like, literally so many ways for her to become the villain, to be the woman we first see from Stede’s perspective who glares at him across a table when he tells the family his favourite horse is Arthur. 

Do you know how amazing it is that she doesn’t remain that at all? That she becomes a fully fleshed out character in episode 10. There aren’t many women in OFMD (let’s fix that in season 2 please it’s the one thing this show is missing), but I think the way it handles it’s two main female side characters (Spanish Jackie and Mary) is really well done. And Mary she just...

She’s a painter. She’s got a bit of an attitude. She builds herself a life. She is not the villain in Stede’s story; she is, in many ways, a victim of Stede. Stede regularly ignores her, and he seems a lacklustre father at best. When he does come home, he is constantly pissy with her, so that we really see Stede from her point of view and the narrative actively encourages us to do so by framing the opening of episode 10 around her. 

And like, episode 10 so MUCH is happening, they really could have been like ‘nah we don’t have time’. But they didn’t. They built her up. And yes, it’s a comedy device, and yes, it furthers Stede’s own plot and story, but it also is just. She is 3 dimensional. She isn’t just the supportive ally who hugs Stede when he says ‘his name is Ed’, she is a woman happy to be involved in a fuckery, she is a woman who was planning on killing her husband and taking direct action to get her happiness back, she builds a community for herself, a support group. She is flawed and she is wonderful. 

And I just. I love that Mary actually got to be a character. A wonderful character that I REALLY hopes makes a return in season 2 even if just for an episode. She’s not just ‘Stede’s ex-wife who was mean to him :(’. And that’s so great (and gives me hope for how they could handle introducing more women into the narrative in season 2 and beyond)

#ofmd #mary bonnet #stede bonnet #our flag means death

[emopirates]

Thoughts about the wooden demon boy who thirsted for life

OK so I think early in his pirate career Stede latches on to the story of Pinocchio because it’s about a "fake" boy becoming “real.” And for Jim, Fang, and Archie the focus is on a "wooden" boy becoming "flesh."

Stede has masked his entire life, with his father and his bullies and his arranged marriage. He has buried his true impulses over and over (when he made himself look at that bloody goose, when he posed for portraits with a stranger he didn’t want to marry, when he said his life wasn’t monotonous, when he told Mary his crying was an owl). A puppet who wants to be human resonates with him because maybe he has become a puppet, a little bit. He's done what people manipulated him to do, and what he himself learned to make himself do, to get by and stay out of trouble. When he leaves home, Stede isn't sure who he will become or what will happen, but he knows he has to go in order to find out. He takes a leap of faith, and I think he hopes it will lead him to be more authentic to himself than anything he’s known lately.

To Jim, Archie and Fang, the story of Pinocchio is maybe the same, but it’s also about a “wooden” boy who is becoming “flesh.” Which is hilarious because it makes it a horror story, and Jim and Archie and Fang are all in on that joke! But also, the lives they have led, as an assassin trained from childhood, as career pirates, have led them to be tough and guarded (Jim takes a year to tell their best friend their favorite color; Archie isn’t phased by fighting to the death because that’s just how stuff goes; Fang is more raw and open, but also his persona is so different on raids vs on the Revenge that that juxtaposition is used to set up the whole cake-eating scene). Jim and Fang both remember a time when almost everyone on the Revenge was unguarded and soft most of the time. They wore soft clothes and sketched each other and played the lute and went on little day trips and talked about their feelings and kissed. Archie probably doesn’t know all those specifics but she can piece some of it together, I think. I think, to Jim and Archie and Fang, maybe the wooden boy story is still about unmasking and shedding learned behaviors, but instead of the focus on those behaviors being untrue, now the focus is on those behaviors being protective.

Side note: we don’t know this for sure, but Pinocchio could be the same story, mostly, in both tellings! Certainly they’re compatible with each other. Which maybe is a comment on what it’s like to put your story out in the world. People will make it their own and use the parts they need, and that’s the desired effect! That’s part of it! Look how much relief and hope it’s giving these folks to do these silly demon voices! Look how this fancy guy is enjoying reading this kids' story to his new family!

Also both s1e1 and s2e1 end with Pinocchio (if you include the post-credit tag) which I just think is neat.

Seagull feast

I think this is related. I was wondering if the seagull feast is maybe a goose callback?

Goose: baby Stede making himself go through the motions of seeming tough and masking to avoid mean comments from dad. Mostly this isn't successful, shown by baby stede’s flinch and dad’s lecture. Dad still mean, goose still not nice to look at. Flashbacks to the goose moment always come when Stede feels like he's weak or weird or wrong :(((( — but, I think this is changing in season 2!

Seagull: Shows that the crew have made themselves BE tough since the storm / almost killing Ed. They are much more effective at toughening up than baby Stede (not flinching at the sight of the dead bird but digging in!! eating it!!). They are more armored up than ever rn. They're eating a SEAGULL and not flinching even a little bit. They've gone full box-in-the-mind.

I love so much that Stede seems to see the bloody seagull and barely registers it (or jumping overboard, swimming, climbing up a ~!~ladder~!~ for that matter). Now he only wants to find Ed, and flashing back to his dad is the farthest thing from his mind, dead bird what dead bird who CARES I have important things to do. He’s got no time for his filters and protective layers and second guessing his instincts, he’s a real boy and he’s going to find Ed damn it!!!!! Ahhhh!!

Nine guns

There is so much to think about with Ed and Blackbeard and masks and armor. When Ed meets stede he’s been wanting to soften and take off his Blackbeard armor for a while, and within the first one hour and forty seven minutes :D of meeting, he does so, a bit, in the form of softer clothes. Ed lowers his guard over and over, in the bathtub scene, the kiss scene, etc, even renounces piracy (kinda ;), he is his real soft self and then when he gets his heart broken :(((((( he tries to suit back up with his emo makeup and nine guns, but he can't really get that armor to stick. Maybe because it's tied up in the Blackbeard persona which he was so ready to shed anyway???

I think I'm really glad he gets the head bonk and the cold shoulder in the antique shop and talking shit with Mary Read because they’re all little ways he’s getting little bits of protection/autonomy back?? in ways that feel authentic to Ed and not blackbeard, and not ed as part of ed+stede??? And then once he's that little bit safe he starts saying thank you to compliments from stede and yes I'll come back to the ship and gahhhhh

I have no conclusion and this is half formed, and I want to think/read about how the cake toppers and gravy basket fit in too, but really I just can’t wait for ed and stede and the crew to get more story time and art therapy. ✨🎶🎨

#ofmd #our flag means death #ofmd s2 #ofmd s2 spoilers #ofmd s2 e1-5 #or 1-4 I guess?

[biceratops7]

Y’all for real,

I need less fics/ concepts of Ed going all Kraken on Stede’s ass and waaay more stubborn determination to not be like his father.

One of the best things about their relationship is that Ed is so fucking gentle with him. And he’s a pretty naturally amiable guy, but it’s this special kind of carefulness reserved specifically for Stede.

He goes so out of his way to speak kindly to him, touch him only with affection and reassurance, vocally express his delight at all of Stede’s silly little habits. I think the harshest we’ve ever heard Ed be with him is when he’s being a dick about the map burning up, and it lasts for two minutes before he’s like “oof, that was so cringe” and spends the rest of the episode making sure Stede feels happy and appreciated.

It’s the small shows of care for his well being too. He doesn’t just generally want Stede alive and mostly uninjured, he doesn’t want him to hurt himself with the lantern sparks, he arranges for someone to come get Stede just so he can sleep a little and feel rested for the road ahead

Fuck Ed doesn’t even want him to feel scared, or think bad things about himself.

Cause he’s lived his whole adult life as a pirate, a literal pirate, and still the most impactful source of pain and trauma he’s endured to this day was watching his mother be mistreated, the terrible choice he had to make to protect her. Ed’s mother coped with her abuse by teaching her son that nothing can get better and that they were designed by God to be undeserving of comfort and safety, something that low key really fucked him up. More Ed continuing to nuke the cycle of abuse please! If the events of episode 10 are Too Big and he messes up, I get it, healing isn’t linear, but holy shit please stop letting it go unexamined. Don’t ignore this context.

I don’t think that resolved look is just for promising to end his mother’s suffering, but also “I will not recreate it.”

#actually let’s examine the tendency to normalize violence in mlm relationships in general #ofmd #Blackbeard #our flag means death #Edward teach #Stede bonnet #blackbonnet #meta #my meta #cycle of abuse #healing #gentlebeard #healthy relationships #analysis #biceratops

[decent0distraction]

*sigh* ok

So-

Listen-

I-

….

I didn’t want to do this. In fact, I have avoided this particular alternate universe as much as I could. But I got bored in Bio and started writing this dumb little thing instead of making flash cards.

I may fail Biology but I’ll never fail making strangely angsty and intriguingly amusing Our Flag Means Death AU’s.

(Update: I got a C)

This AU is, drum roll please….

HIGH SCHOOL/CHEERLEADING AU!

Yeah, not my best pitch. But hear me out. Or don’t. I won’t know either way. [as]

Sorry, I’ll get to the point now.

Stede Bonnet is a rich kid at a rich private school, King George Academy, until he decides he’s going to the nearest public school, Queen Anne High School. His girlfriend, Mary, only finds out he’s breaking up with her and leaving when her friends message her asking if Stede has a brain tumor or something (sparking the flames of “Stede Bonnet died” rumor)

But Stede isn’t dead! No, no, he just committed social-suicide to…captain the Queen Anne cheer squad??

There’s two problems with this. One, there isn’t really a squad for Stede to captain. I mean, there’s a few students who need the extra credit, a couple that have nothing better to do, and some who need it for their college applications. So yeah, if you count a bunch of weirdos and misfits who have no cheerleading experience whatsoever as a squad, then yeah, Stede’s good to go.

The other problem is that while the school itself doesn’t have a cheer squad, a group of talented students travel to the only top schools and their best games to cheer the teams on. This squad-for-hire is captained by Edward Teach and his head cheerleader, Izzy Hands.

Stede likes to think he and Edward are the same, but let’s get one clear. Edward is a captain because his team is so good that no one sees the need to strap a teacher or coach to the squad. Stede doesn’t need an adult chaperone because no really gives a shit. That lot is a team?? Since when? Ah, who cares?

Got it? Cool.

But by the time Edward and his squad return to Queen Anne, the word has gotten out that a fancy private school twink has built a team that’s attractive in the way that ugly purse dogs are cute. Or something like that. You know, the circulation of the rumor mill at this school is very concerning.

Edward sends the best of his team, Izzy Hands, to check out this new squad.

Total mean girls moment when Izzy approaches Stede with Ivan and Fang, the two of them getting into it and the principal getting involved.

And the principal, who I haven’t put a character to yet but the idea of Spanish Jackie breaking up this fight like the principal in Mean Girls, yk

“Hell no, I did not leave East High for this” or was it north east high? Northeastern high? Someone fact check this quote, please? Thank you.

Anyway, whoever the principal is, they pause bc

Stede Bonnet?? As in father’s the inventor of the toaster strudel, that Stede Bonnet?

Or was it something else?

Who cares; the point is, why is this kid in this principal’s school and why are they just now finding out about it?

That’s not important right now tho because it’s become apparent that this school doesn’t have room for two squads so they make Stede and Edward co-captain one large squad. And since it’s clear this is gonna be a problem, they assign the weird old history teacher, Mr. Buttons, to chaperone.

(If I find the flash card I wrote on, I’ll update with any extra details I wrote that isn’t already on this post)

#ofmd #our flag means death #izzy our flag means death #izzy hands #frenchie our flag means death #jim our flag means death #stede our flag means death #edward our flag means death #our flag means death brain rot #our flag means death au #ofmd au

[theclaravoyant]

AN ~ Inspired by the events of Ep07, a UA following when Stede leaves the party. MASSIVE FUCKING SPOILERS.

For @fictober-event’s Fictober 2023 prompt: “You're the smartest person I know." Masterpost of my Fictober OFMD fics

Fandom: Our Flag Means Death Characters/Relationships: Ed Teach, Stede Bonnet. Ed/Stede. Tags: Canon Typical Violence, Panic Attack, Hurt/Comfort.

Slow

“I’ll be in my quarters.”

In a daze, Stede takes off toward his room. Ed feels something sickening and heavy settle in his gut. The crew tremors - some of them shout encouragement after their Captain, some of them seem as struck numb as he himself is. Ed glances at Izzy. Maybe this is the storm he hadn’t been able to see coming.

“I’ll go check on him,” Ed murmurs, nodding to Izzy the task of taking care of the rest of things here. Fucking Ned. Fucking Stede. Why did they have to be like this? 

He raps a knuckle on Stede’s door. Nothing.

He tries again. Adds a “Hey.” Still nothing.

He’s just about to take a deep breath and push his way in when the door swings open in front of him. Stede is standing there still looking all sorts of messed up. There’s a deep, warm adoration in his eyes - maybe more than adoration, something steamier than that.

“Hey,” Ed offers. “You alright? I kind of freaked out after my first kill too. Although. It was my dad, so -”

Stede isn’t even listening, and for the first few seconds, Ed doesn’t care. Stede grabs him by the lapels and spins him around against the closed door and Ed’s concern turns into molten smutty goo. He’s only a man, and Stede’s strong I’m a real pirate arms are holding him and he’s moaning against his lips and digging his hands into his hair and it feels like flames are licking up through his body and it’s everything he dreamt.

Except for the fucking bell. The bell tinkles against his neck and knocks him coldly back to reality. He grasps for the last remaining scraps of his resolve.

“Stede- Stedestedestedestede,” he insists between kisses. “No. Stede! You’re whimming! We’re whimming! Fucking- Stop this!”

He shoves Stede back hard enough to knock the frenzy off its course. It dies quickly, like dousing hot metal in the sea, a choked off whimper in his throat. Stede’s eyes fill with tears.

“I’m sorry,” he breathes. “I don’t know what’s happening to me.”

“It’s just the adrenaline, mate. You’ll be fine.” Ed takes a moment to catch his breath, and pry his back off the door - and, if he’s being honest, curse this whole healthy choices business - but Stede doesn’t look convinced. He looks like he’s about to throw up.

“D’you want to go sit in the bathtub about it?”

-

The actual bathtub is otherwise engaged, serving as an oversized ice bucket for the abandoned party drinks, but as it turns out they might have something better. Ed pegs up one of Stede’s robes over the windows in his little bed nook and wraps him in another. Stede tries to be helpful, but his movements are stunted and unsteady as the memories play behind his eyes. Bad memories. Ed’s been there.

“I’m an idiot,” Stede whispers. “My father was right. I was never cut out for this.”

“Hey,” Ed chides. “You’re not an idiot, you’re the smartest person I know. Even smart people don’t make the best decisions all the time.”

“I should have listened to you, Ed.”

“‘Should have’ is a dangerous road to go down, mate. You made the decisions you made. Gotta make peace with that or it’ll drive you crazy.” He drops his eyes. He’s such a fucking hypocrite. But he’s trying. “Besides. He’s a prick, he deserved it.”

Stede shakes his head, but he can’t really articulate what he means by it. He’s always been an impulsive ass. He sometimes gets it in his head that he’s better than that and prides himself on a sense of justice based on more than what people may or may not deserve. He’s always been insecure about his lack of a stomach for violence. But now that he’s had the chance to indulge in it up close, and he’s taken it, and he can’t take it back... He wishes he was naive again, and in the same breath, wishes he was stronger. 

The thoughts chase each other around in his head, until he’s so sick with them he can’t even properly appreciate the fact that Ed is now kneeling in front of him, helping him out of his boots and his belt so that he can properly embrace the sheltered little cove he’s created for them. He watches in awe of Ed’s gentle touch after everything he’s been through. Everything he’s done. He can’t shake the feeling of blood on his face but he pushes through it. Maybe he doesn’t have to choose between the beauty and the violence in this world. Slowly, slowly, the room stops spinning.

Ed encourages him to lie back, and tucks him into the blankets, and he’s never felt so warm and safe in his life. It’s a good little hidey for a breakdown. Satisfied with his work, Ed gives him a smile and Stede smiles back.

“You gonna be okay?” Ed asks again.

“Yeah.” Stede nods this time. “I think so.”

“Okay, then.” His smile falters, bittersweet, and he stands up to leave. Stede hooks a finger to hold him back.

“Wait,” he asks. “Would you stay? Just to sleep, I promise. Please?”

That, Ed can do. He indulges himself in one of those delectable robes and requests some of Stede’s new favourite - camomile tea - from the crew outside. They exchange some looks. Of course they do. Wouldn’t be the first time there’s been Holy Shit I Just Killed Someone sex on a pirate ship. Let alone That Was Really Hot, You Defending My Honour Back There or the classic Thank God We’re Alive sex. Let them twitter, he figures. They’ll sort all that shit out later. For now, he gets to stay. And make himself into a cradle behind Stede and stroke his sweat-slicked, humidity-addled, soft and most perfect hair while the dust begins to settle around them. Gradually their hearts both slow. He could have sworn they were starting to breathe together, when Stede breaks the silence once more.

“Ed?” he asks quietly. “Tell me more about our inn.”

“What?”

“Our inn. Back at the Republic, you said we ran an inn. I’d really like to hear about it. If that’s okay.”

It’s so fucking okay he could cry.

#fictober23 #blackbonnet #gentlebeard #ofmd #our flag means death #ofmd s2 #ofmd spoilers #clara's fic tag