Work Text:
As a respectable gay, Lucius Spriggs had a fine appreciation for a good show.
It was what had initially drawn him to Captain Bonnet’s crew. It was plain as day, even to a man with no seafaring experience like Lucius himself, that Bonnet had no bloody clue what he was doing, but at least he made it a show. The dramatic speeches, the sweeping flourishes of his arms to emphasize a point, his notes on the crews’ performance … honestly, Stede Bonnet playing as pirate captain was peak entertainment.
Of course, every show has to come to a close, and eventually Stede was really just beating the bit into the ground, so when Pete, with those gorgeous eyes and ass Lucius just wanted to sink his teeth into, had asked, Lucius had immediately been on board with mutiny.
In hindsight, that may have been a bit hasty. But since it made no sense to dwell on past misjudgements of character, Lucius forgave himself.
Now, Jim. That was a show! Nobody had a clue whatsoever that they were in disguise, and the reveal? In the midst of being attacked by the Spanish? That was art. The fact that their captain had literally just been stabbed in the gut and it was not the most dramatic thing taking place on the ship … honestly, five stars, two thumbs up there.
Jim truly stole the show.
A part of Lucius wondered if perhaps Stede held any sort of resentment toward Jim for stealing the focus away from him during his big dramatic would-be death scene. He jotted a note down in the journal to ask him the next time he feels the captain needs to be taken down a peg.
Now, Blackbeard. Lucius had seen through that performance nearly immediately. Of course, he deserved some credit for effectively establishing the legend of Blackbeard. Not many people could pull off creating an aura of genuine mystery and horror to that degree.
But once they got past the initial shock and awe of having the great Blackbeard on board, it was pretty clear he wasn’t all that great. (And no, Lucius didn’t care what Oluwande said; he was not speaking from a place of jealousy that his boyfriend was inordinately obsessed with him.)
Blackbeard was just a scarier than average pirate with a bold reputation who, like everybody, desperately wanted to be loved. Now, Lucius could never have predicted that Stede would be his type, but in a weird way, it worked.
Of course, Blackbeard and Stede could not be trusted to be on their own for two minutes without Lucius’ guidance and they just threw away all his hard work in getting them together. The result, it seemed, was that Blackbeard had thrown himself into a new performance, as a kind of Stede on steroids. He donned Stede’s banyan and wandered the ship, nodding his head thoughtfully, wanting to bring out the best in everyone and talk it through as a crew.
Truthfully, Lucius had enjoyed it greatly up until the minute he’d been tossed overboard which was, overall, a downer.
That’s just the danger of getting wrapped up in an actor’s performance; sometimes it’s hard to separate fantasy from reality until it’s too late.
But now, here they were: the gang was all back together again.
Except this time the only show they were putting on was the long-anticipated talent show.
Lucius squeezed Pete’s hand and smiled as they watched Roach attempt to juggle to a … unique duet between Buttons and the Swede and accompanied by Frenchie on the lute. Jim had Oluwande tucked between their legs; every so often they’d whisper something to each other and laugh. Wee John was sitting on a wooden crate that may or may not have a spewing Izzy trapped inside and looked quite pleased about it. And Blackbeard and Stede were watching from a high place of honor, applauding and offering rousing positive feedback, and making out whenever they thought nobody was watching.
Somehow, Captain Bonnet and his people-positive management style had transformed this crew from one that put on a show in order to survive, to one that put on a show because that’s just a fucking fun thing to do with your friends.
It was a little messy, a little absurd, admittedly heartwarming, and wholly entertaining.
Overall, ten stars, would join the crew of the Revenge again.