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It’s a cold night on the ocean, wind whipping every which way and biting sharply at any exposed skin.
They’d only been out of port for a week, but Izzy could already feel every hour of it deep within his bones. He tugged his leather vest tighter around his thin chest, trying to stay focused on the task he was assigned.
Tonight was the first night Izzy had been given a job to do besides simply acting as a runner for the other crewmembers, or – worse – put on laundry duty. Tonight, he was instructed to man the sail toward the back of the boat with another sailor, Edward.
Izzy hadn’t spoken to Edward since they met in the line to get their contracts, where they had exchanged a few pleasantries and Izzy had privately blamed the red hue of his cheeks on the sweating hot sun rather than the way Edward’s eyes crinkled at the edges when he smiled. He had seen the man around the ship in the days past, sure, and on one occasion Edward had actually winked at him before turning back to his work.
Izzy sorely hoped that he wouldn’t do anything like that again tonight, despite the way his breath had caught high in his throat when it happened the first time. Securing his position on Hornigold’s ship was to be his primary focus tonight.
Edward was already busy tying knots when Izzy climbed to the top part of the deck, but he waved over his shoulder to indicate that he heard the other man arrive. Izzy walked over to where the ropes sat and began readying them as well, not sure if it would be better to make conversation or marinate in silence for the duration of the shift.
Luckily, or – perhaps – unluckily, Edward decided for him. “How’s it hangin’, Hands?” he asked, using his teeth to pull one of the smaller ropes into a tighter not. The moon was just bright enough that Izzy caught a glint of gold off one of the man’s back molars. The thought of how licking it might send a metallic tingle down Izzy throat was decidedly not thought at that moment.
It was, maybe, saved for later, though.
“It’s good,” Izzy said. They practically lived on top of each other, for god’s sake. Izzy didn’t think that there was much to talk about.
Edward, invariably, did not agree.
He launched into a story about how Fang had almost chopped off his thumb when they were cooking supper, which led him to pause and explain another instance of near-auto-mutilation because “seriously, Iz, if you really understood just how clumsy that fucker really is, it makes the story a million times funnier.” When Ed had run out of gory horror stories, he switched to recounts of his “hero days.”
Izzy frowned at him for the first time over the ropes advancing up the mast between them. He couldn’t know for sure, but he was reasonably certain that he and Edward were about the same age. The grand tales of heroic exploits on the high seas seemed implausible, but the lilt of Edward’s voice and the way his accent made him pronounce some of the words was…pleasant, if nothing else. Izzy almost found that he liked it.
It made the long shift seem to go faster, if nothing else.
Edward had finally paused in his rambling, long enough to take a breath at least, and he leaned across them to kick at Izzy’s ankle. “You’re the quiet type, aren’t you, Iz?” he asked, no accusation in his voice.
“I’m just trying to do my job,” Izzy replied. That was the second time Edward had called him Iz, and that made it the second time in Izzy’s life that he had ever heard his name shortened like that.
“Is part of your job standing silently at your post like a gargoyle?” Ed teased him, swinging the ropes gently to knock into Izzy.
“I don’t look like a gargoyle,” he retorted, catching the ropes in one hand and stilling them.
Just then, a figure appeared behind Ed, clapping him on the shoulders. “What’s this about Hands here being a gargoyle?” the man asked, just as Ed whipped around to wrap him in a headlock. The guy took it in stride, though, like he had been expecting a fight, and he shoved at Ed’s ankle to throw him off balance, sending them both sprawling on the ground.
“Dickfuck, Jack!” Ed whisper-yelled, pissed enough but not wanting to alert the rest of the crew of their quarrel. “I’m working here!”
Izzy snorted at that, earning a grin from the blond man entangled with Ed.
“That’s what I thought, mate.” He hopped up from the deck and offered his hand to Ed to help, but Ed just grabbed his forearm and started twisting the skin there in opposite directions with both hands. “Ah, ah, Jesus, Ed!” Jack yelled, wrenching his arm from Ed’s grasp and rubbing at the reddened skin.
“You deserved that, cunt,” Ed grumbled, but he gave Jack a friendly punch on the shoulder after.
“Well if I deserved that, maybe you don’t deserve any of this.” Jack held up a tiny glass jar encasing two small green bunches.
“I take it back,” Ed moaned dramatically, clasping his hands in front of his chest. “I take it all back!”
Jack just rolled his eyes, unscrewing the jar and taking out a bunch, crushing it up in one palm. Ed produced a pipe from one of his many layers of clothing, tapping it out on the side of the ship before offering it to Jack.
“I thought we were working here?” Izzy found himself saying. It wasn’t that he didn’t like drugs or anything, or even that he particularly cared that Ed wanted to piss off of work. When Jack glared at him, though, Izzy began to realize what it was.
“Is he a fucking narc?” Jack asked Edward, inclining his head toward Izzy.
“Nah, mate,” Edward replied easily, not even glancing at Izzy. “He’ll be good.”
He’ll be good.
Izzy’s face burned at that, but it was dark enough that neither of the other men could see. He didn’t justify Ed’s assertion with a response, but merely went back to adjusting the ropes. With two men, it was an easy enough task, but doing it by himself required a little more effort.
Edward lit a match and Jack tilted the bowl of the pipe forward, inhaling deep. He coughed a little as he passed it over to Ed, who took an easy hit and then began to show off with smoke rings.
“Bastard,” Jack muttered, trying and failing to copy him.
“You want some, Iz?”
Izzy whipped his head around, looking to where Ed was now extending the pipe toward him. He glanced between the glassware and Ed for a moment, before Jack scoffed. “Leave it, man. He’ll just waste it, anyway. Bet he doesn’t even know how to inhale.”
If Izzy hadn’t decided whether to accept Ed’s offer before then, his mind was now made up. He wrapped the ropes around their metal hanger before walking over to Edward. He took the pipe in hand and inhaled, pulling off and handing it to Jack without a sound. Not a puff of smoke left his lips as Jack struggled to relight the bowl.
“Alright, Iz!” Ed grinned. “See, Jack, I told you. Good.”
Izzy’s eyes were watering because he had just taken his first toke of weed straight to the chest, not because Ed’s praise meant anything to him.
Jack’s glare had lessened, and he lifted an eyebrow as he looked Izzy over. “Maybe,” he said.
Partly because he was stoned out of his mind, and partly because he had actual work to do, Izzy didn’t linger to hear the rest of Edward and Jack’s conversation. He returned to adjusting the ropes, retying loose knots and the like until the sky began to turn more purple than black. Edward had returned at some point but, by the way he sighed as he sat against the mast, Izzy was sure that he would be no help.
They traded out with the morning shift an hour later, everything going smoothly. Though he wouldn’t know until later if Hornigold had deemed his performance good enough for a promotion.
Just as he was about to close the door to his cabin, a leather-toed boot shoved its way through the crack in the door. Izzy looked up to see Jack.
“Jack,” he said, trying not to let the confusion bleed into his voice.
“Hey, Izzy,” Jack grinned wider, taking Izzy’s short greeting as an invitation to let himself into the man’s room. He closed the door behind him, which Izzy took quick note of.
“Do you – um, what’s up, Jack?” he decided on, attempting to banish his feelings of hostility.
Jack let out a loud breath, throwing himself back on Izzy’s bed but letting his feet hang off the edge. “Nothing, yet,” he replied cryptically, crossing his hands behind his head. “I was real impressed with you last night, Iz,” he continued.
“Thanks,” Izzy said. He still didn’t know where this was going.
“You’ve got some good breath control, huh?”
Izzy now knew where this was going.
“If that’s your way of propositioning me, Jack,” he sneered, standing to open the door and see the man out. “No thank you. Goodbye.”
Faster than he was prepared for, Jack caught Izzy’s wrist before he could move. He pressed Izzy’s hand against his groin, and even over the layers of clothing, Izzy could tell that he was hard. “You’re not gonna leave a man in his time of need, are you, Izzy?” Jack leered, grinding his hips up into Izzy’s touch.
“Not if your filthy dick was the last human appendage in the world,” Izzy stated flatly, pulling his hand out of Jack’s grasp. “Now leave.”
“You haven’t done this before,” Jack realized, and the way that Izzy froze in his place was answer enough for both of them. “Izzy Hands is a virgin.”
“Shut the fuck up,” Izzy hissed, turning around with lightening speed and crushing his hand over Jack’s mouth, grimy mustache and all. This, however, only delighted the other man, who began licking sloppily at Izzy’s fingers. Izzy pulled his hand away in disgust, wiping it dry across Jack’s fringe vest.
“I won’t tell,” Jack promised, raising two fingers in what was supposed to be some kind of verified salute but only served to, in this context, act as a disturbing promise. Just as Izzy exhaled a sigh of almost relief, Jack followed up his statement. “I won’t need to.”
“What in the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
Jack laid back against the bed again, frustratingly, looking even more relaxed this time. “I won’t need to tell anyone – or, in your case, a certain someone – that you’re a virgin.”
Izzy pressed his fingers to the bridge of his nose, taking a deep breath before he continued engaging in this pointless go-round with Jack. “And why would that be?”
Jack shrugged. “He’ll know.”
The simplicity of his statement cut down Izzy’s spine like a bucket of ice water. In truth, it had been something he had feared, if he was ever lucky enough to take his casual crush on Ed to another level. The implausibility of that dream, though, was enough that Izzy hadn’t yet come around to worrying about it much.
Until now.
“So what?” Izzy snapped at Jack. “So I should fuck you now, just in case Edward wants to fuck me later?”
Jack shrugged again. “I didn’t say it; you did.”
Izzy let out another, terrible sigh. “And if – if – I were to practice fuck you,” Izzy said before he could stop himself, “It’d be our secret? No strings?”
Jack smiled much wider than Izzy was comfortable with. “Absol-fucking-lutely, babycakes. No one will hear it from me.”
While it wasn’t exactly a binding contract, Izzy was reasonably sure that Jack didn’t want to be associated with his just as much as Izzy was reluctant to distance himself from Jack. After one last sigh, he began to unbutton his vest, kicking his boots off under the bed. Jack began to divest his own clothes in earnest, but Izzy stopped him with a kick to the mattress.
“If we do this, we do it my way.”
Jack nodded, his mustache bobbing up in down in a comical way that nearly made Izzy call it all off, after all. Once Izzy was bare, except for his cotton shirt, he swung his legs over Jack’s hips, pushing his shirt up a little to get at the buttons of his pants. “Top drawer on your right. Hand me the square tin inside.”
Careful not to jostle his hips too much less he lose any of the friction Izzy’s ass was creating on his dick, Jack retrieved the small tin and passed it to Izzy. After pulling Jack’s trousers down, leaving him in his underwear, Izzy swiped his fingers through the balm in the tin and reached behind himself.
“Oh, fuck,” Jack moaned when he realized what Izzy was doing. Izzy grunted softly as he breached his hole with two fingers, leaning forward with one hand on Jack’s chest to keep himself steady.
“Zip it,” Izzy groaned, head tipping down and a few strands of hair falling around his face.
“Isn’t this supposed to be a learning experience?” Jack asked desperately, as Izzy’s hips were lifted slightly off his own and the lack of friction was nearing painful.
“Zip it except for constructive criticism,” Izzy amended, adding another finger. “I mean it.”
Jack made a noise in the back of his throat.
A moment later, Izzy lifted his hand from Jack’s chest, sitting back against his thighs and swiping his clean hand through the balm again. With his teeth, he pulled Jack’s underwear down and tucked the top seam under his balls. Izzy curled his fist, covered in the balm, around Jack’s cock, pressing his thumb harshly under the head.
“More, Izzy, c’mon,” Jack moaned, fucking his hips up into Izzy’s fist as best as he could with Izzy’s weight on his thighs.
“Not constructive,” Izzy tsk’ed, but removed his fingers and wiped them again on Jack’s stupid vest. He lifted up on his knees, holding Jack’s dick in his fist until he had sunk down halfway.
Jack’s eyes rolled up in his head, his eyelids fluttering as Izzy ground his hips in a tiny circle, fitting more of Jack’s dick in his hole. Once he was fully seated, Izzy gave his own cock a few tugs, then rolled his hips against Jack’s.
To his credit, Jack kept his mouth closed, instead letting out little huffs of breath every time Izzy sank back down, sweat dripping at his temples with the effort.
Izzy wasn’t anywhere close to finishing himself, but the tight flex of Jack’s biceps as he gripped the sheets made him sure that the same thing couldn’t be said of his partner. “Close?” he asked anyway, voice bored.
“Jesus, fuck, yes, Izzy, I’m so goddamn close, can I please -”
Izzy pressed all the way up on his knees, letting Jack’s dick slip out of his hole. Before the other man could start bitching, Izzy wrapped both his hands around Jack’s dick, licking intermittently at the tip. In a moment, Jack let out a strangled cry, and Izzy backed his face away as he came across his fists.
Izzy blinked a few times, staring at the mess on his hands before he stood up and washed his hands in the bowl on his dresser. Jack laid there like a fish, and Izzy listened to his uneven breathing for only a few minutes before he turned around and set his jaw.
“Get lost, Jack. I think I can take it from here.”
Jack gave him an incredulous look as he tugged his pants up, still unaware of the stains on his vest. “Yeah, uh, good – good work, Hands.” He didn’t close the door behind him this time, but Izzy didn’t really give a shit.
Izzy tore the top sheet off the bed, lest any of Jack’s essence disrupt the rest of his evening. He laid on his side and let himself fall asleep,
---
“Good morning, Mr. Hands!”
Izzy looked at Jack suspiciously as he sat down at the breakfast table, and eyed the plate pushed in front of him with even more suspicion. “What is this?”
Jack glanced between Izzy and the plate. “It’s breakfast?”
“Is it?” Izzy asked rhetorically, using his fork to push the eggs around the plate. “And why did you bring me breakfast?”
Jack’s eyebrows creased, and he almost looked hurt, before his face smoothed out into its usual half-assed grin. “It’s breakfast time, dumbass? Why else!” As he exited the dining hall, he nearly crashed into Ed, who was still wiping the sleep from his eyes.
“Watch it, dick,” Ed grunted.
Jack checked his shoulder harder than was necessary to pass by Edward in the doorway. “Fuckin’ take him, man, I don’t give a shit,” he muttered as he left.
Izzy believed, just for a moment, that maybe he was lucky enough that Edward, in his half-slumbering state, didn’t hear Jack’s last remark, or that maybe he didn’t think of it as anything other than Jack’s typical bitching.
But then Edward made his way back from the kitchen with a small plate of bread and fruit, mug of coffee in his hand, and he sat across the table from Izzy.
“Fuck’s that mean, then?”
Izzy chewed twice as much as he needed to, and he allowed himself a drink of water before answering. “Dunno. Just Jack, I guess.”
Ed squinted his gaze, fork poised unmoving in his hand. “Did something happen between you two?”
And of course Edward would’ve picked up on whatever it was between him and Jack mere hours after it had begun, and of course he would confront Izzy about it. Damn perceptive.
Izzy squinted back, clenching his teeth to hide the nervous tick in his jaw. “Fuck do you care?” he spat, but he instantly realized that it was the wrong thing to say. Edward’s face closed off, his mouth a flat line under his curly black beard. He drank the rest of his coffee but left the plate full of food on the table, getting up and walking toward the door after a moment.
He did pause, though, right as Izzy was debating whether to burst from his seat and apologize for being stupid. Ed looked at him, one hand braced on the doorframe.
His face was sad.
“You’re right, Iz. Sorry.”
And then he left.
Izzy continued to sit at the table for another ten minutes or so, hands curled into fists and fingernails cutting half-moons into his palms. His left leg wouldn’t stop shaking.
This is what he gets, he thinks, for relying on a plan formulated by “Calico” Jack Rackham.
---
Jack, unlike Edward, apparently, was not so easily rebuffed.
He appeared at Izzy’s door later that night, this time with a bottle of ale.
“I don’t want to do another ‘lesson’,” Izzy sighed, but didn’t bother to resist when Jack forced the door open anyway. “You’re a pretty shit teacher.”
“Or maybe you’re just an inattentive student,” Jack replied easily, taking a swig from the bottle and passing it over to Izzy.
“I was the only one fucking doing anything,” Izzy reminded him.
“Feedback from the class suggested that some people were feeling neglected,” Jack said. He made himself at home next to Izzy on the bed, leaning up against the headboard.
“Yeah, well, I got what I needed,” Izzy sniped at him. He took another long drink from the ale. “Why should I care about you?”
“Don’t need to,” Jack reassured him, almost concerningly quick. “Just let me handle everything.”
“Oh, because you’re so good at that,” Izzy replied sarcastically. Jack, by that point, was already nosing at his neck, one meaty hand sliding down the front of his chest and tripping itself up on the buttons and straps. Izzy lay still, except for his drinking hand, letting Jack do his thing.
“I don’t have all night, Jack,” he said, after a moment. Izzy grabbed at Jack’s bent knee, dragging him to kneel over his legs. Jack sat up on his heels as Izzy worked his own pants down to his knees, kicking his ankles at Jack until the other man removed them altogether and tossed them on the floor.
“There you go.” Izzy sighed, despite himself, when Jack bent back down and wrapped his lips around Izzy’s cock. He let Jack rest his hands on his thighs, but smacked his left one when it began to creep up toward his ass. “Don’t get greedy, mate,” he reminded.
Jack moaned in mournful assent, but the vibrations felt amazing as they rippled down Izzy’s shaft. He massaged at his own nipples through his shirt, the thin cotton fabric rubbing the skin raw.
“More,” Izzy instructed, using his free hand to grip the hair at the top of Jack’s head and push him further down his cock. He could feel Jack’s hands flex tighter against his thighs, but he didn’t care. “Fuck, I’m almost there.”
He pressed Jack’s head down one more time, grinding his hips up toward his face. With a loud breath, Izzy came down his throat, pulling out only once the aftershocks had run through his body.
“Good?” Jack asked, scrubbing the back of his hand over his mouth.
“Fine,” Izzy replied. Instead of getting dressed, he lifted up the corner of his blankets and slid underneath, sliding his foot across the bed to prod Jack off the edge. “Close the door on your way out this time.
“Must’ve been good if you’re ready to fall asleep,” Jack crowed as he retied his boots.
Izzy just held up his middle finger until he heard the door click closed.
---
And things continued more or less exactly like that for several weeks, until the weather began to turn cold and the ship deck was covered in a thin layer of frost more mornings than it wasn’t.
Jack continued to show up to Izzy’s room uninvited, although the way in which Izzy consistently let him in and let him stay probably amounted to some sort of implied or standing invitation. He was careful to never let Jack overstay his welcome, though, often kicking him out the door with his belt still undone.
Edward avoided him most days, remaining uncharacteristically silent on the rare occasions they were assigned to a shift or a job together. Izzy’s pathetic attempts to make conversation went unmet, and perhaps even reviled, from the dark glint in Edward’s eyes.
Izzy thought for a moment that it was a cycle, the terrible ache in his heart from Ed’s cold demeanor that he soothed with his visits with Jack, which were terrible in their own right and made him desperate enough to attempt to mend things with Edward, who in turn rejected him, causing that terrible ache again…
Even Jack had begun to notice something at this point, but he wasn’t nearly astute enough to pinpoint quite what it was.
“Everything alright, Iz?” he asked one night, purposefully delaying his re-dressing after one of their trysts.
“Wouldn’t tell you even if it wasn’t,” Izzy responded, not opening his eyes from where his head already rested on his pillow.
“Christ, man, I wasn’t even asking that in a sexy way. You just kind of look like you’ve been feeling like shit, lately, that’s all.”
“I didn’t ask, Rackham.”
Izzy heard him swear under his breath before he heard the zipping of pants, then the door closed.
Whatever this was, it wasn’t working.
---
Izzy, it appeared, was not the only one who thought that.
When the weather began to turn cold, so did Edward’s mood. He was usually a morale booster for the crew, infallibly optimistic and a problem-solver with a can-do attitude. Now, though, he was worse than a ghost of himself.
Izzy initially thought Edward’s sour attitude was the result of stress. Hornigold, in his old age, had started to take a step back from his responsibilities as captain. Rumors swirled the ship that he was going to retire and pass the ship to one of her members.
Izzy believed these to be just that – rumors – until Edward had showed up to shift assignments one day, not to receive one, but to hand them out. He brooked no argument about it, either.
And then it started to happen more frequently, Edward inexplicably taking Hornigold’s usual position in the crew’s matters. Nobody dared to ask him directly about it. Izzy would have, he thought, once upon a time, but not for a long time.
Then, one day, Izzy came to change his mind about the cause of Edward’s disposition.
He was busy finishing up his duties for the day, unexpectedly tired and ready to spend a quiet evening in his cabin, when the sound of yelling from across the deck pulled his attention. When he looked, Ed and Jack were going at it, shouting in each other’s faces and fists curled at their sides.
“I’m sick of your fucking attitude,” Ed snarled, pressing a finger into Jack’s chest.
“My fucking attitude?” Jack asked, exasperated. “You’re the one who’s been bossing everyone around like this is your ship.”
“It might as well be,” Ed growled. “I outrank you, Rackham.”
“You don’t have to be a bitch about it, Eddie.”
Ed’s hand shot out and the back of it connected with Jack’s face, sending him stumbling across the deck. “Watch your fucking mouth before I watch it for you.”
“Not necessary,” Jack grinned, blood coating his teeth. “I’ve already got somebody to do that for me.” He glanced across the deck to where Izzy was pretending to help Fang and Ivan unload several boxes, and Izzy felt Edward’s gaze follow.
The smart remark earned Jack a kick to his side. “Get your sorry ass off my ship by morning,” he commanded, voice steely and eyes black in the moonlight. “Or else.”
Izzy took a step toward them, before he could stop himself. “Ed, I don’t think- ”
“Do you fucking get paid to think?” he barked, facing Izzy with a wild look on his face. “Fuck off, Izzy.”
“Ed, Jesus, just take a minute and- ”
Ed stormed over to him, shoving a finger hard against his chest. “Stay the hell out of my way, Hands, I swear to god.”
Izzy just dropped his head, looking down at the deck. Ed spat at his feet, before looking up at the silent audience around them. “Everybody get back to goddamn work!” he yelled. As he walked past Jack, still groaning and propped up against the mast, he kicked at his boot. “I meant what I said. I don’t want to see your face here past first light. Get one of the men to set you up with a dingy and fuck all the way off.”
Ed slammed the door to his quarters, and the noise level on the ship slowly returned to normal. Izzy abandoned his task, following where Edward had gone and closing the door behind him.
“Edward, what the fuck?”
Ed didn’t look up from where he was sitting at his desk, a glass of rum in his hand. “Go away, Izzy.”
“I’m not going anywhere, Edward. You had no right to kick Jack off the ship like that.”
Ed slammed his glass against the desk, standing to stalk toward Izzy. Without a word, he shoved him hard against the chest, and Izzy fell against the door, accidentally bitIing his lip. “You were out of line, Israel,” he said.
“So?”
Ed leaned close to his ear, biting hard on the cartilage until Izzy heard a sickening crack. “I’m your superior officer,” he whispered harshly. “You obey me.”
“You were acting fucking crazy,” Izzy shot back, squirming against the wall under the tight grip Ed had on the back of his neck. “I was trying to keep you from doing something you’ll regret.”
“You think I’ll miss that pig fucker?” Ed laughed, short and cruel. “Good riddance. He was a distraction.” Ed wrapped his fist in Izzy’s shirt, tugging the fabric tight across his throat. Izzy could still breathe, but he knew that was only because Edward was letting him. “You need to get your shit together, Israel. Fall in line.”
“I may work for you,” Izzy conceded, “but you don’t get to decide what I do in my free time. You don’t own me, Edward.”
Before he could move, Edward yanked him back from the wall, kicking the back of his knee as he stumbled and tried to catch his balance. Instead, Izzy fell to the floor, and Edward kicked him again until he was lying on his side. He had one arm curled around his stomach, half in pain and half in fear that Edward would strike him again.
He didn’t, though, at least not at first. Ed crouched next to him, kneeling one knee on Izzy’s outstretched arm to keep him down. With one hand, he flicked out a pocketknife, admiring the blade in the low light of his cabin before bringing his face even with Izzy’s.
“Don’t I, little bird?” Without another word, he grabbed the back of Izzy’s head, pulling his hair until his throat was laid bare and he was completely immobilized. Then, he brought the tip of the blade to the soft crow’s feet at the corner of Izzy’s eye, and pressed in.
Izzy could feel the blood drip down his cheek as Ed drew another line across his flesh, sure that this was the end for him. But as quick as it had started, it was over. Ed patted his face twice, right across the new wound, before standing up smoothly and stepping over Izzy’s body on his way out the door.
He laid there for a few more minutes, catching his breath. When he stood up, he wiped his sleeve over the cut on his face, then chanced a look in the rusted mirror set over his washbowl.
Right below his eye were two sharp, clean, perpendicular lines, a small red cross permanently adorning his face.
Like a brand.
A wave of feelings crashed over him, then, the cross feeling like it was burning a hole through his skull. He sat back on his cot, gingerly fingering the puffy red skin around the mark.
When he slept that night, he pressed the cut side of his face hard against the pillow.
Maybe it would scar.
---
And that was that. They were back to Ed and Izzy, Izzy and Ed. Edward never did look at him quite the same as he had before he had introduced him to Jack, but they went back to living alongside each other like normal crewmates.
Sort of.
Izzy was, perhaps, quicker than he had been to carry out Ed’s orders, especially when it became clear that Hornigold was going to let Edward captain his own ship and choose his own crew.
The day that Ed asked him to be his first mate was burned into his memory, the way that Ed’s eyes had darted to the thin pink scar under Izzy’s eye as he made his request. When they returned from their next shore leave, the scar had been tattooed over in bold black ink, but Edward never said anything about it. Izzy knew that he knew, though, by the way that he never seemed to look Izzy directly in the eyes, but kept his gaze zeroed in just below his gaze, looking right through him.
Edward didn’t exactly favor Izzy amongst the crew as he rose in the ranks, but he always seemed to look out for him in subtle ways. He deferred to Izzy’s professional judgment on matters of the crew and battle tactics, even asked for his input on possible trade routes and which ships to board.
The years passed, and Izzy stuck around in hopes of…something.
---
The arrival and integration of one Stede Bonnet certainly didn’t help matters, either.
Izzy had never seen Edward this happy. It was like he was a different man, but only in the ways that mattered. He never swore at the crew, he was always on time for morning debriefings, and he was even eating more than once a day and drinking less.
If it had been anyone but Stede, Izzy reasoned, it would’ve been a miracle.
But it was Stede, in any event, and so it was less of a miracle and more a constant thorn in Izzy’s side. And his heart, though he was loathe to even think about such a thing.
Stede seemed to share that sentiment. In fact, he appeared to resent the way that Izzy resented him.
Izzy did his best to keep his emotions in check but found himself slipping when it came to Stede Bonnet. When the other members of the crew scoffed at his orders, slacked off in their tasks, and generally turned their nose up at Izzy’s position of seniority, he simply bit his tongue and stalked away.
But when Stede challenged him…
It was cold again, as it was every year around this time. There were extra chores to do around the ship and less motivation to get them done than usual, so everyone was extra on edge that evening.
XXX
Izzy grinned wildly as Edward dragged him below deck, hand firmly grasping the back of his neck. At first, he had felt badly about yelling at Stede. The poor man was still technically learning how to pirate, and the mistake he had made was one that, really, could have happened to any of them. The way his eyes had widened at Izzy’s screeching, along with the hurried way he had stepped backward as Izzy tore across the deck…
As soon as Edward had fixed his gaze, though, all those feelings of guilt went away as quickly as they had arrived. With the hard press of Ed’s hand at his neck, his blood sang, knowing what would come next. It would all have been worth it.
Except, once they were behind closed doors, Edward didn’t throw him to the ground. He didn’t push him into the wall, didn’t put his hands anywhere near Izzy’s body. He released Izzy from his grip like one might drop a hot skillet back onto the stovetop. Izzy stumbled forward, catching himself on the edge of his dresser. He braced himself for a blow, anyway, but peeked his eyes open after a moment when nothing happened.
Edward was leaned against the closed door, bent over slightly at the waist. His fingers were steepled taught against his face, brow creased in frustration.
“Edward?” Izzy dared to ask, earning a heavy sigh in reply.
“Why do you do this shit, Iz?”
Izzy stood up straight at that, still balancing against the dresser. “What – what do you mean?”
Ed stood abruptly, pushing off the door and finally getting in Izzy’s face. He smacked his hand on the top of the dresser inches from Izzy’s, his rings meeting the wood with a sharp metallic clack. “Your attitude is out of control, Izzy,” he snarled.
But unlike the last time Izzy had heard this criticism, Ed’s eyes were focused, face knitted in concern rather than violence. He pushed almost gently at Izzy’s chest with two fingers when the other man failed to respond, but the Edward that Izzy remembered would have used his whole fist.
“I – I don’t know what you’re talking about, Captain,” he recovered, after just a moment.
Edward rolled his eyes instead of backhanding Izzy across the teeth. “I know that you don’t like Stede.”
Despite himself, Izzy let out a cruel laugh. “Everyone knows that I don’t like Stede. Including Stede, I hope.”
Ed sort of looked like he really was going to backhand Izzy at that, but blew the air out of his nose and took a step back instead. “That’s the problem, Izzy. You’re being a dick, for no reason.”
“I just gave you a reason. I hate him.”
“You don’t hate him, Izzy, you barely know him.”
“I don’t want to know him!” Izzy yelled, getting frustrated. Edward was trying to talk him in circles, using whatever communication mind tricks Stede had taught him. “He’s a shit pirate and a shit crewmate and he’s no good for you!”
“Since when do you know what’s good for me?” Ed glared at him, some of the fire that he had lost earlier making an appearance. “Was it good for me when you were fucking Jack every night behind my back? Was it good for me to beat the shit out of you, all those times?” He shook his head, looking at Izzy incredulously. “Forget it, Iz. I don’t give a shit what you do, or don’t do. Just lay off Stede, okay?” Without another word, Ed was stalking out of Izzy’s room, slamming the door behind him.
Izzy just stared into space, trying to process.
He knew that Edward was different with Stede around, but until now, he held out hope that Blackbeard was in there somewhere.
It was clear to him, now, that wasn’t the case.
XXX
Stede sat on the bed, legs stretched out before him with Edward curled squarely in his lap. He was braiding the other pirate’s long hair, finger-combing through the loose curls and plaiting the strands together. Ed was quiet. Whereas he would usually spend this portion of their evening chatting away, telling Stede about everything and anything that had happened that day, even though they practically lived in each other’s pockets.
“Do you want to turn in early tonight, my darling?” Stede asked as he wrapped a thin ribbon around the tail of Ed’s braid.
Ed didn’t reply at first, not until Stede ran his fingers gently down the side of his arm, curling around his wrist and thumbing softly at his pulse point. Ed turned his head slightly, letting Stede press a few kisses to the side of his face, before leaning all the way back against him. Stede tucked his arms under Ed’s, letting him hold both of Stede’s hands in his and play with his fingers.
“Sorry I’m distracted,” Ed mumbled, turning his face into the side of Stede’s neck. Stede hummed back, letting Ed feel the rumble of this throat. He didn’t seem annoyed, just concerned, and Ed knew he didn’t have to say anything until he was ready.
“Is this about your talk with Izzy, earlier?”
Ed shrugged in Stede’s arms, but then nodded against his neck. “I didn’t – I didn’t hit him, or anything, but it feels worse than if I did.”
They had talked about Edward and Izzy’s relationship, or whatever had been lingering between the two of them since Jack was exiled. Ed cried when he described the things he had done to Izzy, even while assuring Stede that Izzy had loved every minute of it. Still, after much conversation, Ed had agreed to…suspend their activities, for a while at least, until he could figure out how to explain these feelings to Izzy with his words.
“Doing the right thing isn’t always the easy thing,” Stede soothed him. “I appreciate you trying to defend my honor, in any case.”
“He thinks we’re no good together,” Ed whispered, holding Stede’s hands tightly.
“And what do you think, love?” Stede asked gently, lifting Ed’s face to his and cupping his chin.
Ed’s eyes began to water, his mouth twisting in pain. “I love you, Stede. Like I’ve never loved anyone else and like I don’t think I’ll ever love again.”
“Then we’re fine, see?” Stede leaned down to kiss at the corner of Ed’s lips. “Even the people you love can be wrong about things, Edward. I’m sure if Izzy had all the facts in front of him, he’d change his mind about us.”
“I didn’t say that I loved him,” Ed mumbled, though the blush that colored his cheeks said differently.
“You didn’t have to, sweet thing.”
Ed sat up, suddenly, his hand clutching at Stede’s shoulder. “I love you,” he said again, fervor in his tone.
“I love you,” Stede said back. “And Izzy loves you, too. See how that all works out?”
“He can barely look at me,” Ed dismissed him. “And he told me that he hates you, so it doesn’t all really work out.”
“Like I said,” Stede said, manhandling Ed back into a little spoon position so they could lay down in the bed. “I’m sure that if he had all the facts, Izzy would think differently.”
Edward was too tired to argue, at this point, and merely curled tighter into Stede’s arms as he began to drift off to sleep. “That’s the dream, mate,” he mumbled, before sleep took him.
Stede was a big believer in dreams, always had been. However, he was an even bigger believer in well-laid plans.
That night, as Edward slept in his arms, Stede started to plan.
XXX
Izzy woke that morning much later than he usually did, as he had taken a double watch the night before and only fallen asleep as the sun was beginning to peek over the horizon.
He would have slept even later, in fact, if he hadn’t been awoken by an exceedingly polite knock at his door.
Now, Izzy knew that if it was Edward come to finish him off, he wouldn’t have bothered to knock. Most of the crew, in fact, would forego knocking either out of recklessness or laziness.
These facts narrowed down Izzy’s visitor to just one potential pirate, though Izzy sorely hoped that he was wrong. That hope was dashed as he opened the door to Stede, holding a covered platter in both hands.
“Izzy!” he exclaimed, as though he were surprised that the other man answered the door. Izzy found himself a little surprised as well, but quickly masked that emotion with a grimace. He did not invite Stede in, but stood propped against the doorway with one hand on the doorhandle.
Stede made his way into Izzy’s room anyway, brusquely moving Izzy inside with the platter between them as a makeshift battering ram. Stede placed it on the dresser, removing the cover with flourish. “I brought you breakfast!”
Izzy stared at the plate of toast, fruit, and jerky, as well as the cup of coffee that was still steaming. He looked several times between Stede and the plate.
Stede’s smiling expression didn’t waver, once.
“Why?” Izzy asked, making no move to pick up the platter.
“I heard that you worked overnight,” Stede replied easily. “I figured that you’d sleep through breakfast with the crew, but I didn’t want you to miss out and go hungry until dinner!”
Izzy continued to stare at the platter, but Stede caught a slight tremor in his left hand before he tucked it into the pocket of his trousers.
“Well, don’t mind me, then.” Stede clapped his hands together, collecting the cover for the platter. “Enjoy!”
And with that, he excused himself, closing the door behind him softly. Izzy didn’t move for a moment, as if he were waiting for Stede to throw the door back open and snatch the plate away with a cruel laugh, sneer at Izzy for being stupid enough to ever believe he would deliver him breakfast.
Once he was sure that wasn’t the case – the steam had stopped coming off the coffee, and the butter had melted all the way into the toast – he picked up the cutlery and began to eat.
---
As the crew was slowly dispersing after story time that evening, Izzy felt a hand grab gently at his elbow. When he turned, he found Stede, smiling as ever. It was a testament to how much progress Izzy had made that he didn’t immediately rip his arm from Stede’s grasp.
“Yeah?” he asked, voice guarded.
“Edward and I were wondering if you would be so kind as to join us for a nightcap,” Stede requested, though, by the look in his eyes, he was already sure that Izzy would agree.
As soon as Izzy opened his mouth to object automatically, in fact, Stede interrupted him. “You don’t work a shift tomorrow morning, I already checked. And we’re at least five days from port, so there’s nothing to be done tonight that can’t wait.”
Realizing that Stede was three steps ahead of him, Izzy simply nodded. “Fantastic!” Stede cried. “We’ve plenty of rum, so don’t worry about a thing. Just bring yourself.”
As he watched Stede walk away, Izzy bit back a hysterical laugh. He was going to Ed and Stede’s cabin, for a drink. At night. Alone.
There was simply nothing that could go wrong. Or right, Izzy guessed.
---
Stede opened the door to him with the same smile he gave Izzy earlier when he invited him, though he was now dressed in simple linens and a cozy house robe decorated with flowers. Ed was wearing a similar robe in a different color, but he had decided against a shirt and wore only high-waisted trousers beneath his. Mercifully, he had tied the robe across his waist, covering most of the bare skin of his torso from Izzy’s sinful gaze.
“Iz,” Edward greeted him, lifting his glass toward Izzy. By the looks of it, he’d already had a few himself, and by the tightness in Stede’s jaw as he filled a glass for Izzy and topped of their own, Stede was not pleased with this development.
Izzy, in turn, downed his glass of rum in an instant, pushing the empty glass across the table for Stede to refill. He did so, dutifully, but looked suspiciously between Edward and Izzy as if he were picturing his carefully planned evening collapsing before his very eyes.
“I’m glad you decided to join us, Izzy,” Stede said as he poured Izzy another drink.
“Okay,” Izzy replied.
“Stede thought it would be a good idea,” Ed supplied from across the room, half his new glass already drained. “If we all hung out. Together.”
Stede pressed his lips together in a thin line, but nodded. “You’re our first mate, Izzy,” he said, as if that explained anything. “Team bonding is very important in high-stress work environments.”
“Running a ship shouldn’t be a ‘high-stress work environment,’” Izzy quipped, though he felt bad immediately after when Stede’s face dropped. “It’ll get easier. Once you’ve sailed for a while,” he offered, struck by his desire to correct his missteps in front of Stede.
Stede just sipped daintily at his own drink, watching Edward carefully where he sat on the chaise.
“Maybe there’s something stressing the crew out, making it hard to work,” Ed mumbled, mostly to himself, but loud enough for both Stede and Izzy to hear him. Izzy pretended not to, hiding his face in his drink and cataloguing the way Stede’s grip tightened on his own glass.
“Edward,” Stede snapped, his voice heavy with the command. Ed looked at him guiltily for a moment, but his face hardened again when he glanced over to Izzy.
“You brought him here so we can talk,” Ed shot back, but wouldn’t meet Stede’s eyes that time.
“First, I didn’t ‘bring’ Izzy anywhere,” Stede replied, still calm, still authoritative. “Izzy, I invited you to drinks, and you accepted of your own free will, correct?”
Reluctant to get involved in whatever this was, but not unaffected by Stede’s confident demeanor, Izzy nodded, also averting his gaze from Stede’s eyes.
“And second, Edward, we both agreed that we’d broach the conversation with Izzy, together. I didn’t agree to stand here and let you drunkenly berate him.”
Ed appeared slightly more contrite when Stede explained it like that, dipping his head and placing his glass on the floor. Stede, apparently, found this convincing enough to turn his full attention toward Izzy.
“Izzy, darling, we didn’t mean to ambush you. If you want to leave, you’re more than welcome -”
“I don’t need you to defend me, Bonnet,” he said. “If Edward’s still pissed off, he can tell me himself.”
“From what I’ve heard, your conversations with Edward on these matters tend to not be…productive.”
Izzy felt himself blush, his skin growing hot under his collar. He whirled around in his seat to look at Ed, who seemed to be trying to absorb himself bodily into the chaise. “What the fuck did you tell him?” he hissed.
“Iz, I just -”
“Edward told me what I needed to know, as the other captain of this ship,” Stede interrupted. “If the First Mate is having problems, don’t you think that I would need to know?”
Izzy’s stomach turned at the way Stede looked at him, so gentle and comforting, and it made Izzy feel silly to even answer with anything besides another nod of his head. His head warmed further at the smile Stede gave him in reply, and he –
The only other time Izzy could remember feeling like that was the look Ed used to give him after a successful raid, high on adrenaline and freer than they’d ever been. Since Stede had arrived, though, raids had been a much more organized affair, less of a final-supper bloodbath and closer to a formal merger and acquisition occasion.
Izzy missed that sensation of functionality, purpose. Loyalty.
“That’s all, then, Izzy,” Stede explained, taking a drink casually. “Edward and I just want to know what’s going on. We want to hear what you have to say.”
Izzy blinked nervously toward Ed, who was no longer curled up like a sullen child. Edward had his arms wrapped around his chest, looking about as vulnerable as Izzy felt.
“Just talking?” Izzy heard himself whisper, and he didn’t miss the way Ed’s hands trembled.
“Of course, darling,” Stede assured him. “Now, the other day. When you yelled at me.”
Izzy looked at the floor. “Yeah.”
“I’m sorry, Izzy, for not being more careful. I should have looked where I was going.” Instead of looking to Izzy for a reply, Stede looked toward Ed, who was shuffling off the chaise toward his lap. Stede welcomed him with an easy familiarity, wrapping his arms around Ed’s waist.
After taking a deep breath, Edward met Izzy’s gaze. “I’m sorry for dragging you off like that,” he said quietly. “I should never have put my hands on you.”
Izzy keened, flexing his fingers in his lap. “I’m not upset about that,” he admitted.
“What are you upset about, Izzy?” Stede asked, his chin tucked over Ed’s shoulder. When he shrugged noncommittally, Stede mad a disapproving noise in the back of his throat. “You don’t know? Or you don’t want to tell us?”
Izzy shrugged again, looking up at Stede helplessly. “I can’t,” he said in a small voice, begging Stede to understand.
And somehow, somehow, he did.
“Edward, lover,” he said, stroking his hand down his side through the silky fabric of the robe. “Why don’t you trade places with our Izzy here, hmm?”
Izzy shot up from his seat, stumbling and steadying himself against the dinner table, only for Edward to grab onto his upper arm and help steady him as he sunk into the chair Izzy had just occupied.
Izzy slowly set his weight onto Stede’s right thigh, a little surprised at its firmness. Stede placed his hands under Izzy’s knees and lifted his legs across his other thigh, his right arm snaking around Izzy’s waist and landing on his hip as if it were the most natural thing in the world. With a shaky exhale, Izzy leaned into Stede’s body, resting his head on Stede’s shoulder.
Stede squeezed Izzy’s knee with his free hand, and Izzy felt the barest press of lips to his hairline.
Edward sat across from them with his legs spread wide, his robe puddled in a silk pile across his lap. He kicked one of his feet out, resting his ankle against Stede’s, who met him with a relaxed smile.
“Now, dear,” Stede began again, not releasing his grip on Izzy’s hip. He let his thumb graze at the skin right over Izzy’s waistband, sliding the digit between his belt and the leather, then the leather and his skin, then back again. “Would it help if I asked you yes or no questions? I believe I may know what’s got you so upset.”
Izzy glanced to the side, watching Edward. Ed nodded encouragingly, tapping his ankle against Stede’s. “He’s pretty good at this stuff, Iz. Let him help.”
Izzy relaxed his position on Stede’s lap slightly, but his hands remained clenched into fists in his lap. “Okay,” he murmured.
“Excellent.” Stede rewarded him with a hand petting over his hair, smoothing a few unruly strands back and tucking them behind Izzy’s ear. He tugged lightly at the gold ring pierced through the cartilage there and Izzy relaxed further. He could feel that Stede was pleased, a warm sound rumbling in his chest.
It bothered him a lot less than he thought it would.
“Izzy, do you enjoy working on this ship?”
Izzy looked up at Stede, confused, but Stede just looked back at him expectantly.
“There’s no wrong answers here, sweetness,” Stede promised.
“I swore an oath to my captain that I would serve any ship he commanded,” Izzy answered instead. Ed let out a pained little noise, which sent Izzy’s spine in Stede’s hold.
“I know,” Stede replied patiently. “I asked whether you liked it, not whether you had to do it.”
Izzy still looked puzzled. “I like whatever my captain likes.”
Stede and Ed shared a look, then, across Izzy’s body, and he couldn’t decipher their silent conversation. Finally, Stede cleared his throat, and Edward leaned forward and braced his elbows on his knees. He held both of Izzy’s hands in his where they rested in Izzy’s lap. “You know that I’m grateful for everything you’ve done for me,” Edward said. “For us. I owe you my life, Izzy.”
“That’s my job,” Izzy said, quiet. “I would never break a promise to you.”
Ed’s eyes only got sadder. “I would ask you to,” he said back, equally quiet. “If you wanted.”
Izzy’s head began to spin. His breath grew faster, and he felt trapped with both of them pressed against his body. He tried to extricate himself from Stede’s arms, but the other man held him fast, despite his desperate keening. “Oh, Izzy, lovely thing,” Stede shushed him, holding the side of his face and rubbing softly at his back. “It’s alright, darling, you’re safe.”
“Do you not want me here?” Izzy asked, voice thick as he held back tears. Stede Bonnet was not going to see him cry.
Edward looked at him, shocked. “Izzy, why would you think that?” He moved closer to them, joining Stede in his gentle touches. “I don’t know what I’d do without you here.” Ed’s voice broke on the last word, prompting Izzy to unclench his fist and place a shaky hand over Ed’s, their rings clinking against each other.
“You don’t need me anymore,” Izzy admitted, saying it first so that Ed couldn’t. “You hate the way I handle the crew.” Izzy looked sadly between the two of them. “I know.”
Stede just held him closer, combing his fingers through Izzy’s hair as he pressed him against his chest. “We’re always going to need you, Izzy,” Stede told him, and it sounded like a promise despite the alarm bells going off in Izzy’s mind.
“For what?” he asked, exasperated and meaning for the question to be rhetorical. Ed laughed, not at him, though, and rested his head against Izzy’s shoulder.
“Besides your skills on deck?” he asked. “Iz, you keep me straight. I know I haven’t always been good about showing, it, but…” Ed’s grip tightened. “You know I love you, right?”
Izzy gasped, then, his body beginning to tremble. Stede’s hands remained steady, holding him upright as he shook. “I, I-”
“You don’t have to say it back,” Edward said, seeming sincere. “I just had to tell you. Izzy, please stay. I have to have you here.”
“You have me,” Izzy swore, gripping Ed’s hand back with force. “I’d never leave you.”
Ed left the chair, coming to kneel at Stede’s feet and press his face in Izzy’s lap. “Please,” he begged.
“You’re always welcome here, Izzy,” Stede murmured softly into his ear, still holding him tight. “Not just on the ship, of course. Izzy, we want you here, as often as you’d like.”
Izzy looked between Stede and Edward, his gaze measured. “I know you love him, too,” Izzy said to Stede. He heard Ed’s sharp intake of breath at the “too,” but that was all he could bring himself to say then. “I know that…that I can’t compete with that.”
Stede held his face, stroking his thumb lovingly over the small “x” under his eye. “I would never ask you to,” he swore. “If you choose to stay – and I hope so much that you do – it will be on your own terms.” When Izzy still looked unsure, Stede continued. “We talk things through here, as a crew. Even if it’s just the three of us.” Stede looked at Izzy, then, seriously. “It would mean that you’d be our partner, Iz. Not just in matters related to the ship, but…in everything.”
Izzy still looked suspicious. “I don’t know if – I’m not good at…stuff like that,” he finished, unsure.
Stede didn’t miss a beat. “No one is, at first.”
Edward agreed. “Do you know how long it took me to figure this shit out? I’m still not all the way there.”
Stede made a small noise of protest, but Izzy was already moving on. “What if I fuck it up?” he asked in a small voice.
He was sure that time when Stede pressed his lips to his forehead, his arms warm around Izzy. “I hope that you do,” Stede replied. “Fucking up is how we learn. When we learn, we get better.”
Izzy frowned at that, and Ed let out a short laugh. “It sounds like a crock of shit at first, mate, but I promise that he’s telling the truth.”
“Does that sound alright to you, Izzy?” Stede asked, then, and Izzy paused before answering. He looked at Ed pointedly, and Ed got the message quickly.
“We don’t have to stop…everything,” Ed explained. “There’s…ah, a ‘right’ way to do, um, what we do.”
“Of course, lovely,” Stede chimed in. “Our arrangement isn’t meant to – ah, ‘preclude’ any of yours and Ed’s activities. Only to make them easier, on both of you.”
Izzy looked at Ed, then, brow furrowed. “It’s – for you?”
Ed hung his head, facing away from Izzy. “I don’t like to that I have to hurt you to get close to you,” he admitted softly.
Izzy stifled a small sob, tangling his fingers in Ed’s hair where he hid his face against Stede’s knee. “I don’t know what else to do,” he confessed, the feeling of Ed’s soft curls in his hand grounding him.
“Would you be amenable to my help in this situation?” Stede asked. “You’re under no obligation to agree, especially not tonight.” He stroked at Izzy’s face, looking sweetly into his eyes. “But I would very much like to help.”
“Why?”
Stede blushed, then, and averted his gaze slightly. “Israel Basilica Hands,” he said in a shaky voice, his touch on Izzy’s skin tender, “I care for you very much. And I would like to show you, if you’d let me.”
Something in Stede’s eyes twisted at Izzy’s gut, and he curled further into Stede’s arms. “Please,” he asked, barely audible.
Without a second thought, Stede stood up, holding Izzy in his arms bridal style. Izzy immediately reached up and wrapped his arms around Stede’s neck, more than likely expecting to be dropped, but Stede only carried him over to the freshly made bed in the corner of the room, laying him across the sheets like a present. He stroked his hand over Izzy’s chest as he climbed into bed beside him, lying next to him against the wall.
Edward crawled in after him, lying on the outside of the bed and immediately pulling Izzy flush against him. With Stede’s hands still holding his hips, Edward held Izzy’s face in his hands, pressing a feather-light kiss to the “x” on his cheekbone before devouring his mouth. Izzy relaxed into his hold, licking at Ed’s lips and breathing into the kiss.
“I’ve missed you so much, my Izzy.” Ed kissed him sloppily, tonguing the back of Izzy’s teeth. Izzy drank it in, his hands floundering as he held onto Ed’s shoulders, then his waist, then his wrists. “My Izzy,” Edward repeated, a hand inching up under Izzy’s shirt to pinch at his nipples.
Izzy bucked his hips, swinging one leg over Ed’s to grind against his thigh. Stede’s hands moved lower, down his back, to push his lower body closer against Ed’s. “You two are so beautiful together,” he admired.
Izzy broke their kiss, turning partly onto his back to reach up and hold Stede’s jaw gently in his fingers.
“Would you let me kiss you, Izzy?” he asked, one hand drawing small circles on his stomach. Izzy leaned in closer, rather than answering, and bumped their foreheads together.
“Yes, please.”
Stede’s kiss was softer than Ed’s, but no less passionate. He bit at Izzy’s lower lip, soothing the hurt with a wet swipe of his tongue. His hand continued its ministrations as Ed began unlacing Izzy’s trousers, tugging them down and off over his feet before he moved on to his own pants.
“You gotta let me taste you, Iz,” he seemed to beg, pushing Izzy’s knees apart and moving up the bed to be closer to him. Ed ran his hands up and down Izzy’s sides, pushing his shirt up and over his chest. Stede leaned down to lick at his collarbones, kissing up and down his neck while Ed’s fingers drew closer to where Izzy needed them.
Izzy spread his legs further, lifting his hips gratefully when Stede pulled away for a moment to shove a pillow under his lower back. Ed’s fingers trailed up and down the insides of his thighs, his mouth hot at the crease of Izzy’s hip.
Ed sucked Izzy down in one swallow, his lips touching the base of Izzy’s cock. He held his hips down against the bed, working Izzy over with care.
“Edward – Christ,” Izzy swore, hands flying to curl into Ed’s hair, grinding up into his mouth.
“How does he taste, lover?” Stede asked, mouthing at the side of Izzy’s neck.
Ed groaned around Izzy’s cock, pulling off for just a moment so he could answer. “Perfect,” he said, but he was looking at Izzy, not Stede.
Izzy turned to hide his face in the bed pillows, but Stede tutted softly and righted his chin. “Don’t you want to see what you’re doing to him?” he whispered into Izzy’s ear, brushing his fingers over Izzy’s where they were wrapped in Ed’s hair. “Look,” he instructed, the same hint of command lacing his voice.
Izzy gazed down at Ed, whose hands had migrated from Izzy’s hips to his ass, kneading the flesh there with purpose. Stede noticed, taking his attention away for just a moment to retrieve a vial of oil from the nightstand.
“Would you let him fuck you?” he asked Izzy, loud enough for Edward to hear. “Would you let him slide his fingers into you, stretch you open and fill you up until you couldn’t stand it anymore?”
Izzy was sweating, now, every swipe of Edward’s tongue and scratch of his nails bringing him closer to the edge. He breathed heavily, his thigh twitching, as Ed slowed his mouth, pulling up until just the head of Izzy’s cock was between his lips. Ed hollowed his cheeks, sucking lightly.
He seemed to be waiting for an answer.
“Yes,” Izzy gasped, releasing one hand from Ed’s hair to grasp at Stede’s forearm. “Yes, fuck, anything, please -”
Stede silenced him with a hard kiss, dropping the still-capped vial on the bed next to Edward’s knee. “No need to beg, my treasure,” Stede said. “Not tonight, anyway.”
The words were full of promise, and they squeezed tight around Izzy’s heart.
Stede helped Izzy sit up a bit, scootching up the bed to sit behind him. He pulled his shirt off over his head, then kicked his feet between Izzy’s, using his calves to hold Izzy’s legs open where Edward knelt between them. Izzy watched Edward pour some of the oil into his hand, warming it, before he lowered himself closer to the bed, bracing on one elbow. “Love you, Iz,” he murmured, kissing the inside of Izzy’s knee in a way that seemed almost chaste, given that he was naked and practically spread apart for him.
“I know,” Izzy replied, and Edward understood it for what it meant.
He rubbed two fingers across Izzy’s hole, teasing, before he pressed in to the second knuckle. Izzy’s body shook, and Stede knocked his legs open wider. “So good for us, Izzy,” he cooed, running his palms across Izzy’s stomach. “Can you take more?”
Izzy nodded, furiously, and Edward obliged. He slid in another finger, crooking them both together as Izzy let out a long moan. “Do that again,” Stede said immediately, and Edward fucked his fingers in deeper this time.
Izzy reached for his cock, but Stede batted his hand out of the way. “Not until he’s inside you.”
Another shiver rolled down Izzy’s spine, but he dutifully moved his hand, settling it on Stede’s thigh that was bracketing his body.
“One more, baby?” Ed asked, though he had already his ring finger pressing at the rim of Izzy’s hole.
“More,” Izzy begged, trying to buck his hips up into Edward’s hands, but Stede’s grip held him in place.
When Ed was satisfied, he withdrew his fingers, crawling higher up the bed and wrapping one big hand around his own dick. As he leaned over Izzy, he bent down to kiss his forehead. Then, he turned his face to lick into Stede’s mouth.
The wet noises their mouths made in Izzy’s ear only stoked the fire in Izzy’s gut, and he moaned again.
“We’ve got you, love.” Stede punctuated his promise with a kiss to Izzy’s jaw, and they both heard Ed take in a shaky breath as he positioned himself at Izzy’s hole.
“Tell me if this is okay?” he asked. He pushed in, slowly, letting Izzy get used to the stretch. Stede kept rubbing small circles at his hips, his stomach, his side, helping him relax as Edward rolled his hips again.
“Edward,” Izzy gasped, hands coming up to paw at Ed’s chest as soon as he was fully seated. “Oh, fuck.”
“‘Fuck’ is right,” Ed breathed, rocking up into Izzy’s body. “God, Iz, you feel so good.”
“You’re taking him so well,” Stede praised. “Just like that, Izzy. Good boy.”
Izzy’s head was floating, the thick pressure of Edward filling him up and the hot press of Stede’s body against his back. He felt safe, which was an odd feeling, but one that he thought he might be able to get used to.
“Izzy, I don’t know – this isn’t gonna last much longer,” Ed admitted, one hand next to Izzy shoulder holding him up, the other stroking at Izzy’s hair, moving the sweaty strands of grey out of his eyes.
“Do you want to come, sweetness?” Stede asked, his hand inching closer to Izzy’s dick.
He nodded, and Stede’s fingers came to wrap around his member. With a swipe of his thumb over the tip, Izzy came, tightening impossibly more around Ed’s dick. Stede brought his messy hand to Izzy’s mouth, smearing the white liquid across his mouth and chin before pushing two fingers into his mouth. Izzy lapped at the digits, let Stede pull his mouth open and drag his fingers across his tongue and teeth.
“Jesus, oh, fuck, Iz, I- ” Ed’s hips stuttered, and he smashed his lips against Izzy’s as he rode out his orgasm. When he pulled back to look at Izzy, he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
“Can we do that every day?” he asked, his smile bright even in the dark of their cabin.
“Now, give him a minute, Edward,” Stede chastised him gently, rubbing soothingly at Izzy’s shoulders as Edward pulled out and readjusted so he could lay by Izzy’s side. “You’ve just fucked his brains out.”
Izzy turned over in Stede’s arms, placing his head on Stede’s chest. The new position, though, reminded him that they were in fact, not quite finished.
“You haven’t come,” Izzy pointed out, wiggling his hips against Stede’s and earning himself a shuddering groan.
“No bother, lovely. This was about you.”
Which wasn’t an answer that Izzy was willing to accept. He scooted further down the bed, unbuttoning Stede’s pants and helping him push them down just far enough that Izzy could tuck the waistband behind his balls.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” he muttered, wrapping his fist loosely around Stede’s cock.
“You don’t – ah! – have to take it all,” Stede said, voice unsteady.
“Let him try,” Ed encouraged, curling up to Stede’s side and resting his head on his shoulder. “I bet he could.”
Izzy licked a stripe up Stede’s shaft, kissing the head before swirling his tongue around it and into the slit. Stede reached up to grab the headboard, breathing heavily but not taking his eyes off of Izzy. Izzy sucked him down, not even reaching halfway down his length.
“Izzy, your mouth is exquisite,” Stede moaned, crossing his ankles across Izzy’s lower back. “Good god.”
“Nope, just our Iz,” Ed corrected him, in between pressing kisses up and down the tendons of his neck.
“I – oh, Izzy, if you don’t want to, then you’d better -”
Izzy only doubled down on his efforts, letting the tip of Stede’s dick graze the back of his throat. Moments later, Stede was coming down his throat.
Izzy swallowed, even licking his lower lip before he laid back against the bed. Stede immediately turned over on his side, tugging his pants back up and pulling Izzy closer to spoon. Ed reached over him to rest his hand on Izzy’s hip, tucking his head into the divot between Stede’s shoulder blades.
Izzy’s head was still swimming, but pleasantly so. Stede’s breath was warm against the side of his face, and Edward’s hand grounded him to the bed.
He still wasn’t quite sure what to do, though.
Stede apparently sensed this anxiety and kissed behind Izzy’s ear. “You did wonderful,” he said. “I do hope that you’ll decide to stay.”
“Forever, please,” Edward added.
Izzy made a soft noise in the back of his throat, pressing himself closer to Stede, who happily wrapped his arms tighter around him. Stede kissed him again, on the cheek, before sighing contentedly. “As long as you want, Izzy, we’ll have you.”
For the first time in his life, Izzy thought that he might want to stick around.