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Stede never came back. Izzy tried to track him down once, right after it happened, after he abandoned Ed and Ed sank lower and lower into a kind of numb sadness tinged with rage.
Izzy hadn’t told Ed. Couldn’t bring himself to make things worse. Couldn’t bring himself to even mention Stede’s name. Fang had kept Ed busy one night in port and when Izzy came back snarling, Fang had only looked away and shook his head. Izzy didn’t beg for anyone but for Ed he had tried. Stede’s cold indifference sealed his fate but he didn’t know it yet.
That was the end of the good times, if such a thing ever existed. Ed was hollow and Izzy was remorseful but there was nowhere for his remorse to go so he choked it down deep inside.
One night Ed barged into Izzy’s room drunk and Izzy startled awake. Had Ed come to his senses? Maybe he wanted to relive the good old days? But Ed was crying, and Izzy broke apart under his sad eyes.
“You can pretend I’m him. If you need to.”
Ed’s eyes softened and the way he held Izzy’s cheek felt more violent than years of pillaging. Izzy swallowed and let it happen. Wanted it to happen. Needed Ed to take what he needed so Izzy could pick up the jagged pieces later.
Ed’s touch was gentle, his lips full of praise, and he turned Izzy around to stroke the solid globes of his ass. “Are you sure?” Ed asked even as he didn’t wait for an answer.
Izzy would never say no.
It was passionate and sweet, and Izzy wished for the flash of pain because this was too much. To know that Ed might have held Stede like this. That Ed would have teased Stede open, fucked into him like a prayer, kissed his cheek and gentled his hip. Even his touch on Izzy’s cock felt foreign.
When it was over, because it was much too fast and would never end, Ed kissed Izzy deeply and thanked him by name.
And that was it. Izzy was alone, Ed was still broken, and Stede would never atone for his sins. At least not until Izzy snuck back the following night to make sure Stede never hurt Ed again. It would show up in the papers later, stupid ponce dead in his dressing gown, but nobody would ever believe that Ed’s favorite dog would murder his lost love.