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Edward hates Mr Jopson.
The man is beautiful. Yes he is extremely beautiful and that makes him conflicted, the milky skin and sea grey eyes must be what have him waking up hard and aching in his cabin morning after morning, but that isn't why Edward hates him.
The captain loves Mr Jopson. Edward is supposed to be his second, is meant to be held in his regard, but as the old sot slides further into drink and further away from responsibility he also loses his propriety. Forgets to turn his smiles away from Jopson and toward his Lieutenants. Like an absent father, he cares more about the piece of skirt he's chasing than the sons he's meant to be bringing up.
(Does he fuck Jopson? Does the old man grab that pert arse and seat himself inside it? Does Jopson drop to his spotless knees and service the old man, if he can even achieve a cockstand? Edward does not dwell on it but his mind churns in the background whenever Jopson's hand darts into vision to anticipate Crozier's needs and he thinks and he thinks and he thinks.)
D'you need me for something, sir? Impertinent in his asking, likely due to the late hour and the presumable intoxication of the Captain. Jopson is visibly tired around the eyes and spent in his shoulders and Edward… well, his father always said he's never had a good idea in his life.
Jopson whines when he's kissed, shivers against Edward and clutches at his chest like a drowning man seeking shore, and Edward holds him firm and still until he's pliant. He may not like Jopson, he may be jealous in his core and resent every drop of hard-wrung affection the man receives from what is meant to be Edward's captain, but Edward isn't stupid. Too hesitant, yes, too willing to wait for orders, perhaps, but he is not stupid. An in with Jopson is an in with Crozier in a way he is meant to have without getting his yard involved.
Jopson loses his paltry attempt at a fine accent and drops his gs when he spends. Edward swallows his revulsion and kisses his beautiful, doll-like face all the same. Jopson clutches at him like a lover and Edward indulges him, allows him to snuggle close where he might throw a normal conquest or helping hand out on his ear for being so presumptuous. If Jopson wishes to play at this being a romance then let him, Edward only needs to secure the knowledge that the Captain isn't lost to him entirely when everything else is so uncertain as to feel like an anxious dream.
So let Mr Jopson conjure a romance from a fuck, if he must. There can be no harm in it, after all.