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The past few days had been kind of tense. Nothing really happened, it was just that everyone on board noticed how absolutely miserable their first mate had looked all week. Like even more miserable than he usually looked. The day after Ed left, Stede was the first to see Izzy sulking around the deck and staring sadly out at the ocean. Before Stede could even think about going over to talk to his upset first mate, Izzy disappeared below deck and hid for the rest of the day, which only worried Stede more as Izzy never leaves his duties to the others without at least consulting one of the more competent pirates on deck.
The second day Stede had noticed Izzy’s worsened limp, the vacant stare he had acknowledged Stede with that morning, and how quiet he’d been for the past few hours. Stede had watched from a distance when Lucius had sauntered over to where Izzy was leaning over the rail on the main deck. He also listened as Lucius had tried to bait Izzy into fighting with him and then felt his heart drop when all Lucius got in return was a vague nod in his general direction.
One the third morning of Izzy’s disturbing silence Stede decided to do something about it. Stede is up and readying tea for him and Izzy before the sun is up. He walks out and scans the deck for the sullen pirate, it doesn't take long to find him leaning on the foremast and watching the sunrise. Stede makes his way over to him, stepping around the crew and trying to make the least amount of noise possible. He clears his throat and offers one teacup to Izzy. The other man looked over at him and glanced down at the cup. Stede gave him a soft smile and Izzy’s tense form seemed to relax a bit. Stede had pulled the rest of the crew aside throughout the day to tell them to go a bit easier on Izzy until he perks back up and they begrudgingly agreed.
That night as Stede is walking past Izzy’s room he hears someone rustling around inside. He stops and knocks gently on the cabin door and the commotion inside stops. Stede slowly opens the door and peeks inside, he looks over to the corner where Izzy’s sad excuse for a bed sits. He also sees Izzy curled up into himself, shivering despite it being the middle of June. “Izzy? Dear, are you alright?” Stede asks as he steps further into the room. He looks down at Izzy in the dim light of the cabin. He sees the distressed look on Izzy’s face and reaches to touch the nervous man below him. In a single second Stede is on the floor a knife against his neck, and Izzy on top of him with a panicked look in his eyes.
“Izzy! It’s me! It’s me.” Stede jumbles out, Izzy just stares at him but his grip on the blade has loosened. Stede then slowly reaches his hand up to cup Izzy’s cheek and rub small circles on the X tattoo with his thumb. Izzy lowers the knife and whispers out a short apology before clambering off of Stede and limping back over to the bed. No yelling or asking why Stede was in his cabin, nothing other than Izzy’s harsh breathing. When Stede pulls himself off the ground “You looked like you were having a night terror.” Stede said quietly. He got no response so he asked. “Are you alright Israel?” Izzy looked up when he heard his full name. Stede saw Izzy fighting back tears and he moved over to the bed to sit next to him.
Izzy gave no sign that he was going to push Stede away so he moved closer and carefully moved one arm around the smaller man's shoulders. Without any warning, Izzy leaned his head onto Stede’s chest. It was a weird angle and Izzy was stiff but Stede could make it work. He squeezed Izzy’s shoulder before laying down on the bed, taking Izzy with him. It wasn't really that comfortable with most of his legs hanging off the bed but he told himself that he’s here to comfort Izzy and not for himself. He ran his hand up into Izzy’s hair and gently scratched his scalp. Izzy makes a quiet content noise in the back of his throat and Stede smiles. After a while, Stede realizes Izzy has fallen asleep. He then closes his eyes and lets sleep claim him too.
When Stede wakes, he sees that Izzy is no longer there. Stede sits up and leaves his first mate's cabin only to see the man sitting on the steps next to the doorway. Stede walks over to the other pirate and plops down next to him. Izzy has a soft smile on his face when he looks over at Stede. He then reaches beside him and grabs a second cup of coffee then hands it to Stede. He grabs the cup gratefully and takes a small sip. The coffee was surprisingly sweet, Stede didn't know that Izzy paid any attention to how he drank his coffee. It made his heart flutter. “Thank you…for last night I mean.” Izzy says, snapping Stede out of his little daydream. “Of course dear, do you want to talk about it?” Stede asks. Izzy visibly tenses back up “You don't have to of course! I’m just offering to listen.” Stede quickly follows up his last remark. “Why are you and Ed so nice to me? I don’t understand.” Izzy asked quietly. He looked similar to a kicked puppy.
Stede wanted to wrap Izzy up in the tightest hug he could tolerate but he knew that Izzy probably wouldn't like that so instead he offered his hand for Izzy to take if he wanted to. Izzy took his hand without a word and still looked out at the ocean. “We’re nice to you because we love you, Israel. Ed and I need you in our lives, you complete our silly little love triangle. Ed has loved you for years and even though I’ve only known you for about a quarter of that time, I still love you all the same” Stede said slowly. Izzy looked away in an attempt to hide the smile that was slowly spreading across his face. Even though Stede knew that Izzy didn't fully believe him, he knew that he made his point clear.