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“Alright, alright, fine, I’ll do it Jim,” you laugh and give them a slight playful push on the shoulder. The two of you had just finished a practice duel with a bit of a dare behind it. You win, Jim has to let you have bragging rights and will announce it to the whole crew. Jim wins, you have to attempt to intimidate Izzy. They’d taken to wanting to annoy him as much as possible, despite your hesitations that Izzy was “a good first mate,” and “didn’t need to be harassed.” Well, it was your turn to get yelled at, most likely.
Funnily enough, as Quartermaster of the Revenge, you had the most authority after the co-captains. Most ships didn’t have a Quartermaster these days to watch over the mates, but Stede was a bit of a traditionalist. He had hired you relatively recently, realizing the larger crew of the Revenge plus Blackbeard’s ship required a bit more of authority. Though he preferred the authority to be kind. And the crew agreed, hardily giving you a majority vote to solidify your position.
“Wait, wait, wait, the others wanna watch, Y/N!” Jim attempted to loudly whisper. They pulled Olu and Lucius over behind the wheel so they wouldn’t be caught. Lucius looked at you with a devious smile and waved his hands to push you along. You stuck your tongue out at him.
You put your sword back in its scabbard and marched down the stairs to the main deck. It was the perfect opportunity – a rare situation in which Izzy could be caught doing nothing but gazing out over the sea. “First Mate Hands!” you barked.
Izzy reeled around on his heels, surprised at the tone of your voice. “Yes Quartermaster,” he responded and stood straight. He attempted to rearrange himself to seem more threatening and stared into your eyes. Trying to hide it, he almost took a step back as you approached closer.
“What do you think you’re doing?” the question rolled out with an icy quality. You looked up at him with a glare. Sure, you hate to admit it but you’re now the shortest crew member of the Revenge. But it helps you get through tight places in a raid. Yet Izzy still felt himself shrinking in your presence.
What was this? he thought to himself. A member of Stede’s crew has the nerve to treat him like this? He stuttered, “I had finished making my rounds and Blackbeard hasn’t given me anything else to do.”
“Well find something else to do then, you useless twat! Don’t make me find a chore – I’ll make sure to give you the worst,” you sneer and step forward again. It should have been fun to throw one of his own insults back at him, but it somewhat stung your heart as you said it. Izzy could feel your breath now and he just didn’t know what to do about it. He’d never seen you like this.
“Y-yes Quartermaster,” he faltered and stepped back, slightly reaching for his sword but trying to not let his rage spill over. He still hadn’t caught on to your little joke, thoughts of I’ve always been in charge, Edward trusts me to be in charge racing through his head. Bonnet may have hired a good one. Could he have done such a thing?
You decided you had enough of making fun of Izzy, as you didn’t want him to truly think that you hated him. You turned back to where Jim and the others were hiding, attempting to not snicker in the process. Giving them a wink, you leaned up against the main mast to wait to see how Izzy would act. He stood, looking at the deck for a minute. The others let out a small gasp as they watched Izzy clench his fists together and then let them go with a sigh.
Lucius stepped out from his hiding space and let out a ridiculous laugh, pointing at Izzy and then started to clap. Olu quickly followed in applause, reaching his arms out in your direction. From below deck, others were surprised to hear such a ruckus and began to emerge. Black Pete ran to Lucius to get caught up on the gossip.
“What the fuck!?” Izzy shouted at the crewmates throwing an impromptu party. Frenchie and Roach started to make silly sounds in his direction, while Lucius and Pete did a funny little dance.
Jim stepped forward and made a slashing sign over their throat at the crew, seeing you eye them with a glare. You all were friends. You could spare a fake glare or two to make fun of Izzy, they thought, but not to your friends. Your focus had shifted back to Izzy, watching his movements intently.
“I’ve had enough of your little games Quartermaster! I WILL NOT listen to Stede fuckin’ Bonnet’s crew, no matter your rank,” Izzy growled. This time when he reached for his sword, he drew it, pointing it at you. “I mean it.”
“Aww come on Izzy, Angel Y/N here could have never done nothing to yah. They may keep things on schedule, but they’re not mean,” Olu responded. You drew your sword for safety but shrugged at the same time. You didn’t think he’d have the nerve to actually attack you.
“I knew Bonnet couldn’t do anything as smart as hiring a responsible pirate. There still isn’t a single real pirate in his crew,” he paced closer to you, shaking the sword around to his words. Red was creeping onto his face and his hair became frazzled.
“A little theatrical there, aye mates,” you laugh back at the crew. Roach shook his head wildly and the Swede gave you a thumbs up. But Izzy wasn’t going to back down. Not this time, likely not ever.
Izzy had crossed the line of what you felt to be safe, so you held the sword at the ready. There was still enough room between the two of you to protect yourself. You aimed your weapon, but he was too fast.
Standing with the tip of his sword at your breast, you cast yours to the side in hopes of conceding defeat. With a swift motion, Izzy slashed his sword up towards your face. Yet, he didn’t even scratch you. You took it as a warning.
“IZZY,” a booming voice echoed from the other side of the ship. There stood Blackbeard and Stede. Izzy caught something in his hand and tucked it into his breast pocket, drawing back in response to his captain’s call. “Leave them alone, that’s an order.”
As Izzy walked away, Jim ran up to you out of breath. “Dios mio, are you okay?” they panicked. You didn’t respond immediately, intently watching the pirate who had just attacked you. For some reason, this anger-filled, nasty man had you fascinated. What it would be like to know what went through his mind. What made him tick?
Snapping out of it and a slight blush leaving your face, you sighed to Jim. “Yeah, I think so.” They smiled and waved the others over to join you all in talking about what just happened. Certainly, Lucius would have a grand retelling of what happened in his point of view, making you seem like the hero. He was a great storyteller, after all.
While the others trundled over, you looked down at yourself. “Jim.” They turned back around to look at you, where you pointed to a piece of thread dangling off your coat. “He stole one of my coat buttons,” you stated in a deadpan voice.
“That’s weird. Oh well, cada loco con su tema.” Every crazy person has their own problems.
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The sunrise cast long shadows across the deck of the Revenge, while the morning air forced you awake. “Y/N!” a smiling Stede called from across the ship. Another day on the Revenge, another day of co-captaining, another day of fun. At least, that was what you tried to think to yourself. There were so many things you’d rather be doing.
“Yes captain!” you responded in a cheery tone, composed yourself and bounded across the ship.
“Well! Thank you for bringing some joy to this little old ship. Anyways, I need you to take care of a few things today,” Stede started. He handed you a small sheet of parchment with a short list of tasks on it. Reading through it, you notice that you were on stock duty and assisting in navigation. The last couple of points were Stede’s way of getting you to take a break. “I hope that you’ll find reading another section of Leviathan to be relaxing,” he laughs and smiles like a dope, shoving the book at you.
“Thank you, captain. I appreciate your concern about my wellbeing, but truly there must be something more I can do to help around the ship,” you protest. It wasn’t that you didn’t like the novel, but rather that you felt that you had to constantly be doing something. It was just part of your nature. Take care of everything you could to care for your pirate family: your responsibilities, your friend’s responsibilities. Hell, you’d run the whole ship – captain down to the cabin boy if you could.
“No, no, that’s it dear Y/N! Please, don’t overwork yourself again!” he shooed you off to start your day with the rest of the crew.
Into to hold you went, ready to go see if there was anything the crew needed next time there was a stop to land. Of course, there could not be another scurvy incident. Not on your watch.
Towards to hull, the ship’s pantry and storage were stocked to the brim with whatever a pirate could want. Stede always made sure of that. You counted bins of biscuits and barrels of rum as the live chicken stock clucked quietly.
Caught off guard by the sound of footsteps, you whirled around and then stepped into the shadows when you saw who it was. Izzy’s figure came into view, pausing for a moment to fiddle with something in his hand. He scoffed to himself, thinking he was alone.
“Israel…” you purred from in the darkness. He looked up, startled. You let him glance around for a moment and then made your location known. “Fancy seeing you here,” you brushed your hair out of your face and stepped fully out of the shadow.
“You know, this ship isn’t all that big,” he sneered. Taking a step closer to you, his face flushed.
“Not big enough for the two of us to keep up this little game, Israel” you admit, waiting to see a reaction. He shuddered at you using his full name, twice. He was used to Izzy, First Mate Hands, but never Israel.
“What game?” he spat, almost growling. He paced forward to appear threatening but ended up close enough for you to feel the heat coming off his cheeks. He could probably feel your blush too. It took you off guard to see the look behind his eyes not be threatening, but rather soft.
“This. This thing where we pretend to hate each other,” you sigh. He tilted his head to the side as if questioning what you said. “I don’t hate you, at least. Who knows what you think about me?”
He just looked at you, shoulders slumping as he glanced you over. “I don’t understand you, truly,” he stated. There was almost no emotion in the words, which sent a chill down your spine as you saw the physical emotion he gave off at the same time. His words were jaded and defensive, but for a change his posture was weak.
“Look, I have work to do. Calm down, let me pass,” you admitted. As you freed yourself from the corner he’d put you in, you rested your hand on his shoulder and smiled. He almost recoiled from the touch, but then leaned into it slightly. “Someone has to steer this ship.”
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The section of Leviathan that you read was as dry as ever. When you had first started reading, you had hopes of a giant sea monster, much like the biblical Leviathan. As much as Thomas Hobbes was respected, philosophy was just not your thing. How come Stede read the rest of the crew Pinocchio, and this was what he left you with?
You closed the book with a huff and hopped off the barrel you had been perched on. Looking out over the front of the ship, the sun was setting a brilliant pink and orange. “Couldn’t you just watch that forever?” you asked back to Buttons, who was checking on the course of the Revenge.
“Aye, someone understands. The sun, the moon, bask in their glory,” Buttons roared and gazed into the sky. He nodded his head at the sun, like tipping a hat. A way of giving a silent acknowledgment to the power of nature.
“I’m not sure if I’ll be doing any of that basking,” you laugh. He gives you a slight glare but decides to let it go. Plus, you were already halfway across the ship on your way to return Leviathan to Stede.
You knock on the captain’s cabin door, not wanting to interrupt should Ed be there. Rather, Lucius opened the door, still holding his quill. “Hi Y/N, what can I do for you?” the tone sounds vaguely seductive even though he didn’t care for you in that way. It just oozed off him at all times.
“Just here to drop off Stede’s book. He can keep it forever, for all I care,” you made a disgusted face and held it with two fingers like it was slimy. Stede wasn’t immediately within earshot, so you were fine being a little silly with Lucius.
“Oh! Well, I will just go ahead and take that for you then,” he laughs and throws it onto the desk. “I didn’t like that one either,” his nose scrunches up.
The two of you sat down on Stede’s couch and poured cups of tea, discussing some gossip about Calico Jack’s ship being mutinied again. Honestly, he deserved it.
Lucius looked down at your coat, aiming to try to charm you into giving it to him again. But he stopped and asked, confused, “What happened to your jacket?! I was always hoping you’d leave that one to me if you died.”
“Very nice, Lucius. Thinking far ahead, are we?” you chuckled and looked down at it yourself. “You know, I was wondering, what does it mean if someone steals something like that from you? Who takes a button from someone’s jacket?”
“A little keepsake perhaps,” he smiled mischievously. You raised your eyebrow at him, causing him to pause momentarily. “What, Izzy took it didn’t he?”
“Yeah, but why would he want a keepsake of that little spat?” you inquired, ready to question Lucius in the same way he usually did to everyone else.
Lucius’ jaw dropped and he pretended to gag. Finally, he gasped dramatically. “Oh, you oblivious little dunce. Didn’t you see the way he looked at you?”
“Like he wanted to kill me, sure,” you scoffed.
“No, no, no honey. He was tryin’ to show off. He wants to impress you,” Lucius gabbed. He patted you on the head as a joke and giggled again.
“As if, as if Lucius. That’s not his way,” you objected. Though you sort of secretly hoped Lucius was right. He was more perceptive about these things, after all.
“Come on, the tension when he had the sword pointed at your chest! I just, ugh,” he rolled back on the couch and kicked his legs up in the air, being dramatic as ever.
“Now that you mention it, I suppose. He was odd earlier today when I got even remotely close to him,” you mumbled, rose filling your cheeks at the thought.
Lucius pushed himself back up off the couch. “I told you! I told you! And you like it, don’t you?”
You rolled your eyes at him. “I am not answering that question. I’ll be on my way now, Lucius. Say ‘hello’ to Stede for me,” you cut off the conversation before it could get a bit too personal for your taste. As much as you liked discussing the rest of the crewand the other emotions floating around the Revenge, yours’ were not about to get out to the ship gossip. Plus, he knew the answer already.
Closing the door behind you, you stepped into the passageway that led between the captain’s quarters and the rest of the rooms on the ship. It had gotten dark, and no one had put out any candles. You stood for a moment and let your eyes adjust.
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Izzy walked down the hall, turning the button around over and over in his bare hand. It was mother of pearl, with multiple designs carved into its shiny surface. What stood out to him most was the bird emblazoned on the very center, wings spread out as if taking flight. He ran his finger over the front, taking in the texture.
He leaned up against the wall and smiled to himself. Oh, you were an interesting one indeed. The past few days only made you more interesting. Izzy knew something was different about you, something he couldn’t quite lay a finger on. It made him want to be around you and study your every move. His heart fluttered a little at the thought.
He had admitted to himself that, while you may not have been an excellent pirate, you were remarkably bright and knew how to lead. It was the violence that did not suit you. But why must you be part of Bonnet’s crew? Oh, the lunacy of it all.
Izzy sighed and gazed up towards the ceiling, thinking about your interaction earlier in the day. He still felt the buzz of your touch on his shoulder and hoped that it might never go away. It was uncertain if it would happen again.
Tucking your button back into his pocket, he decided it was about time to retire for the night. He turned to head towards his room, where he might find some peace from the crew he felt so trapped with. If he could manage to dodge all of them on his way there.
From the end of the hall, he saw that someone was approaching. Footsteps made hollow thuds across the wooden floors. He tensed, hoping that no one needed or wanted to stop to talk to him. He could always just push past, shrug his shoulders, and tell them to “fuck off.”
“Iz?” you looked up, startled. You stopped and rubbed your eyes. It was getting late, and you were not one used to not getting sleep. Even just the question of his name had come out as a sleepy mumble.
“Hello Quartermaster,” he murmured, making you a bit more alert. He walked up to you with a slight smile on his face, which made you step back at first. Izzy looked tired, with natural rings around his eyes like a raccoon. Leaning against the wall again with a sigh, he glanced over to you, trying to catch your attention further.
“I think I have something of yours,” he started, upon realizing that you were just going to continue on your way. Something felt different then, something to do with the quiet darkness enveloping the two of you in its embrace. He wanted you to stop, to talk to him about anything really.
“Hm?” you turned back to him. He extended his hand, showing you the button from your own jacket. It glistened in the moonlight drifting through the window. “Oh,” a whisper escaped from your lips in surprise. He turned his head away as you delicately took the button from his hand. You barely caught the sound of gasp from Izzy as your fingertips feathered over his palm.
“Why does it have a bird on it?” he asked. His hand dropped back to his side as he looked back at you. You smiled at him, and a blush trickled into both of your cheeks. Izzy leaned closer to you when you also leaned up against the wall next to him.
“It’s a raven, one of smartest animals out there and the most intelligent avian,” you explained, giving him back the button so he could look at it again. His hand shook as he looked at it closer, even though he had already memorized the pattern. “The flowers are irises; they also symbolize wisdom. Stede told me that, at least.”
“Well, that’s one thing Bonnet would be correct about. You are smart,” he stifled, realizing what he had said. Izzy looked down, nervous to meet your eyes after his slip up.
“Wait. Iz, you think I’m smart?” your words came out gently and with a genuine tone of question. You tried to read his face, gaze darting from his eyes to the furrowed lines between his brows, to the corners of his mouth. The moonlight trickling through the nearby window obscured his expression. It might have been worry, sadness, or even happiness, but nothing could be certain at midnight.
He placed the button back in your hand and curled your fingers around it, turning to leave. You could feel the hesitant tremors running through his touch. “You heard what I said,” he guarded again, but the words did not bite.
A terrific swell of wind gusted over the ship and clattering could be heard from all around. Waves came crashing down and the scent of sea spray stung your nose. The summer storms had been bad, tonight being no different. You lost a bit of your balance and pressed against the wall to steady yourself. In fact, you found yourself reaching out for Izzy’s shoulder to lean on.
But he wasn’t there. By the time you had swept your hair out of your eyes, he had left down the hall. That was what you should have expected, everything remotely tender to be a fluke. You didn’t want to let him go, though. You needed to try.
“Israel!” you called to him, the tone shaky and almost catching before his whole name could leave your lips. You thought to move, to go to him, but instead more words spilled out, “Please, Izzy, wait.”
He paused, appearing strangely vulnerable. It was then you decided to approach him again. One step, two steps, and Izzy turned to look you in the eyes. “May I have my heart back, Y/N?” he spluttered. You were taken aback in surprise, by his remark and the weakness in his eyes.
“Iz. What are you talking about?” you stepped closer and took his hands in yours. Instinctively, he tried to pull back and retreat into his cold exterior. But your warmth kept him lingering, particularly as you squeezed his hands tighter in anticipation of a response.
He gained the courage to entwine his fingers around yours. “You’re a heart thief and I want mine back,” he tried, “I can’t keep being pulled to you anytime we’re in the same room.” He glanced down at the pair of hands tangled in one another, almost not recognizing his own. With an uncertain feeling rising in his chest, he realized your movement. Your thumb drew nervous circles on the top of his hand. “Not unless you’ve given me yours.”
A small smile crept across your face, accompanied by a slight chuckle. “Oh Iz, you do have my heart. You’ve had it for quite a while now,” your words come out as if you are telling a secret.
Oh, it’s only been a second, but Izzy felt something in his chest that he wasn’t sure he had ever felt before. And there you are, experiencing for the first time what it is like to have Israel Hands bringing his arms around you into an embrace. Your heart was already skipping beats, but more were lost as he buried his face in the crook of your neck.
He couldn’t find the words – what words could there be? Instead, you felt a stifled sigh come from deep in his chest, the breath tickling along your skin. You ran your fingers through his soft hair, growing disheveled again from a long day. His grip tightened around you as he managed to sorrily whisper, “I don’t deserve this, dear.”
“Hey, hey, shhhh…” you leaned back just enough to put your forehead to his, to look into his eyes. You half expected to see tears in his eyes, but instead, his face read as defeated. “You do deserve love, Iz. You do.” At that moment, you tucked the button back into his breast pocket, symbolically giving him your heart.
Izzy placed a featherlight finger under your chin, sending shivers through you. He seemed to wait a moment for permission. As soon as the smile on your face melted into lovesickness, he closed his eyes to lean down and softly kiss you.
The kiss was gentle, but the longing was there. His facial hair tickled your nose, but you didn’t care. It was him; it was finally him.
Slow from tiredness, you were somewhat surprised when he tried to continue the kiss when you pulled back for air. Izzy let out a small laugh when he realized, a smile you’d never seen before taking over his face. Sweet, kind, and gentle, he brushed your hair out of your eyes.
This time when Izzy leaned in again, it was with a bit more force. He was surer of himself, of you, of this. Is this what love felt like? He had finally begun to think so.
You could feel the passion, smiling through the kiss. Cupping your hands around his face, you tried with all your heart to make Izzy feel like this is what your love felt like. And that it was his. In response, he somehow deepened the kiss further. You felt as if you were floating.
Sometime, you’d have to thank Jim for challenging you to that duel.