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The moon is full, the weather is perfect, and Ed decides this is as close to a sign from the gods as he’s going to get.
They go ashore together, though Izzy waits until they’re away from the ship to allow Ed to slip an arm around his waist. Everyone on the crew probably knows – they’ve been together for more than ten years, after all, and pirates are gossipy bastards – but Izzy insists that it’s no one’s business but their own, so Ed obliges him and keeps his hands mostly to himself where others can see.
Izzy asks where he wants to go. They haven’t been to this port in a long time, and half their usual haunts have probably shut down, burned down, or both, and Ed tells him he doesn’t particularly care so long as they go there together. Izzy rolls his eyes but looks secretly pleased. Izzy isn’t much for saying “that sappy shit” out loud. He doesn’t need to. Ed knows. But he still likes to say as much sappy shit as possible, just for the satisfaction of making Izzy blush.
Their boots have barely left the dock when Ed says, “Come with me,” and yanks Izzy off the street.
“Ed, what the fuck?” Izzy snaps as he nearly loses his balance, but Ed is determined, and drags him along by the arm.
“Just come with me, Iz, I’ll explain when we get there.” He pulls him out onto the sand and begins to walk along the shoreline away from town. Izzy regains his balance and catches up, removing Ed’s hand from his arm.
“Are you going to tell me what this is about, or is this another one of your ‘Izzy I swear it’ll be fun’ surprises?”
Ed slips his arm back around Izzy’s waist. He loves to touch him, to have him in his arms in every way possible, so now that they’re off the ship and away from the prying eyes of the crew he wants to take every opportunity. “What, a guy can’t just enjoy a beautiful night with his sweetheart?”
Izzy mouths the word ‘sweetheart’ sarcastically with a roll of his eyes, and in the dark Ed can’t tell if he’s blushing or not. Izzy is fucking adorable when he blushes. Ed’s made it his goal to see as much of it as possible.
They walk until the sounds of town fade behind them and the beach is well and truly deserted, their footprints the only ones disturbing the sand. He pulls Izzy down toward the water so they stand just at the edge of the tide: it doesn’t feel right to do this fully on land when their lives are lived on, defined by, the sea.
He turns to face Izzy and takes both his hands, and every single word he planned leaves his mind immediately.
He opens his mouth to speak and nothing comes out. Izzy looks at him expectantly, then with growing confusion. “Edward, are you alright?”
“You said I could have my choice,” Ed blurts out, which is very much the wrong place to start. “Of the. The ones you stole. And I.” Oh gods, he’s babbling now, this is not going to plan.
“Edward.”
“You said I could choose, and I chose one, but I was worried it was wrong, so—”
“Edward.”
“And I wanted to do this right and now I’m doing it wrong and making an idiot of myself so please make me stop talking.”
Izzy laughs, cups Ed’s face in both hands, and rises up on his toes to kiss him. Gods, ten years in and it still works. Izzy’s kiss is soothing in its comfort and familiarity: Ed knows exactly where he is and whose arms are around him, and this is where he belongs.
When Izzy drops back down he feels much calmer.
“Edward,” he says, running his thumbs along Ed’s cheekbones the way he likes, “whatever it is you want to say, you can say it. It’s just me.”
He’s right. It’s just Izzy, who he knows as well as he knows his own heartbeat. Izzy, who has pulled him out of any number of scrapes and dangerous situations and mistakes of his own making. Who has seen him cry, seen him sick, seen him euphoric with success.
He takes a deep breath and tries again. “Last year, when you get me out of jail and you robbed that governor, you said if I wanted to marry you I could have my choice of any of the rings you stole. So I, uh, I chose one for you.” Izzy couldn’t possibly look more surprised if Ed were to shove him into the water, so he takes advantage of the silence and barrels on. “I was going to pick one for myself, but it didn’t seem right, I wanted you to do it, so…” He reaches into one of his pockets and pulls out the handful of rings, the same ones Izzy handed to him nearly a year ago. “Will you pick one for me? Any of them, Izzy, I’ll wear it if it comes from you.”
The shock hasn’t worn off Izzy’s face. “Ed, are you asking me to—”
“Yes,” Ed interrupts, because he has to say it right this second. “I know it’s silly and after all these years it doesn’t really matter, but I want to marry you. I want to think of you as my friend and my first mate and as my husband. I want us to be together until we get old and can’t be pirates anymore, and then I want to find a place on a beach and get even older. Do you… do you want that, too? With me?”
He doesn’t say anything for so long that Ed starts to panic, but then Izzy throws himself into his arms and kisses him. Ed wraps his arms around his waist so tightly that it lifts Izzy back onto his toes and Izzy has to hold onto his shoulders for dear life to keep from toppling them both over.
“I take it that’s a yes?” Ed asks when they finally come up for air.
“Of course it’s a yes, you idiot!”
Ed laughs and pulls him in again. This is perfect: the beautiful night, the sound of the waves, and Izzy in his arms.
They kiss until a rogue high wave smacks against their knees. Ed squawks in surprise as his boots fill with seawater and he, to his horror, fumbles the handful of rings, which splash down into the water and vanish.
“Oh, fuck,” he mutters, and Izzy, sensing what happened, presses his head into Ed’s chest and starts to laugh.
”Please tell me you didn’t just drop all of them,” he says, even though the tone of his voice says he knows the answer.
“I didn’t! I still have one!” He lets Izzy back down and holds out his hand, and it’s true, a single ring still sits in his palm. It’s a gold band set with a large pearl. It’s not at all the one he would have chosen for himself, and when Izzy holds it up to look on it, the expression on his face makes it clear he wouldn’t have either.
“I’ll nick you a different one,” he offers.
“Please and thank you,” Ed agrees, but Izzy presses the ring back into his hand.
“Keep this one until then,” he says. “Now, tell me you didn’t drop mine, too.”
“No, I didn’t, it’s in my other pocket, I have it right here.” He digs into the pocket, nearly dropping the pearl ring again until Izzy takes it from him with a chuckle. Finally, he produces the ring he kept in reserve: a simple band with a single inset stone. Understated, with no sharp edges to catch on anything. “Do you like it?”
Izzy smiles at him. “It’s perfect. Now put it on me before you lose this one too.”
Ed takes his hand and slides the ring onto his finger. Just as he hoped when he chose it, it fits perfectly.
Ed lifts Izzy’s hand and presses a kiss over the ring. “Izzy, I love you. That’s the most important thing, and I don’t think I say it enough. I love you, and I want to be with you always. I want to rule the seven seas with you by my side, and I want to get old and gray with you. So, um, I guess that’s my promise: whatever happens next, and whatever happens after that, we’ll be together.”
Izzy looks up at him with eyes brimming with love and, to Ed’s surprise, tears.
“Iz, are you crying?”
“No,” he insists, but wipes at his eyes all the same. “That wave. Got saltwater in my eyes.”
“Of course.” He smiles and gives Izzy a second to gather himself, not pushing.
Then Izzy takes a deep breath, squares his shoulders, and holds out the ugly ring. “Edward, I’ve loved you since we were barely more than kids, when you were just a reckless idiot who risked his neck to steal me an orange when I was hungry and scared and alone on that ship. So no matter what happens, you’ll never be alone, because I’m going to be by your side.” He tries to slip the ring on Ed’s finger, but it’s too small and barely fits over his first knuckle. He kisses it anyway.
It's perfect and Ed, overwhelmed, pulls Izzy into his arms. Izzy rests his head on his shoulder and sighs like he’s perfectly happy, and Ed feels the same.
Eventually another wave catches them off guard and their soaked feet get cold and they agree to head back to the ship. Still, they take their time, holding hands with their fingers interlaced.
Ed can’t remember the last time he was this happy.
“Izzy,” he blurts out when they’re most of the way back to the ship, “did we really just get married? I didn’t dream it, we actually did it?”
Izzy grins and holds his hand up so the new ring sparkles in the moonlight. “Yeah, Edward. We did.”