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Izzy Hands was aware of what a fight sounded like. More often than not, he’d had a front row seat to grown men beating the actual shit out of each other at the docks on a near daily basis and if he had learned anything in his short fifteen years of life it was how to stay back and watch a shit show. This, however, wasn’t lining up with the usual sounds of a skirmish he’d hear on the docks.
The first difference was that the sounds were coming from deep within the woods. Not many people tended to go into those woods. It was just a small stretch of woodland with a river running through it. Nothing too special really. Though Izzy had sort of claimed it for himself. Nothing that was outright stated but in his mind that small patch of woods was his space. When he didn’t want to go home or to the docks, he’d wander through the woods. It was usually empty, save for the few animals that lived within it, which meant it was the perfect place for Izzy. The second difference was the pitch of the voices were much too high. Children, perhaps? Curiously, Izzy followed the voices.
As he drew nearer, he began to hear the sound of running water. Then he was able to make out the sound of crying. Once he had finally found the group, he stalked up to the tree line and stayed in the shadows. There weren't many of them. Three boys, they couldn’t be older than thirteen, stood on a small cliff that overlooked the rapidly moving stream below. They were bunched together, crowded around… something? Izzy wasn’t really sure what.
“Awh, is Baby Bonnet going to cry?” One of the boys sneered. “What? It’s not like you can’t swim! Don’t be such a crybaby.”
“Chauncey! Put me down!” Another voice cried. Izzy wasn’t prepared for the little twist his heart did at the despair in the kid’s voice.
“Come on, Baby Bonnet! You were just talking about how much you adored swimming!”
It didn’t take long for Izzy to connect the dots. These kids were obviously bullying a classmate of some sort. Given the nice clothes, they were probably from the private school a bit aways from here.
Izzy sighed, more than a little annoyed. These fucking idiots were really going to ruin the peace of the woods with their petty bullshit. He crossed his arms over his chest as he weighed his options. He could say something, he supposed, make his presence known. Would that really change anything here though? He shuddered to think about the brats turning to him. How they would glare down at him, despite the bit of height that he had on them, like he was not more than a bug on the bottom of their shoes. He growled under his breath as he thought about how they would undoubtedly threaten to have their fathers “ruin him” or whatever bullshit the rich would throw at penniless scum like him. This whole endeavor just wasn’t worth his time.
He began to turn away. Planning to just walk away from the whole altercation and wash his hands of the mess entirely but he stiffened as he heard the boy in the center of the bunch scream in actual fear. There was a clawing desperation in the boy's voice, one that Izzy knew intimately. The desire to be heard. The desire to be given one iota of respect or care. Begging for someone, for once, to stand up and help. Praying that his oppressors for once would just please stop. Please stop before you-
“Chauncey please!” The boy was sobbing now. “Please don’t do this. It’s too high up! The water- It’s too fast! I can’t-”
“Hey!” It took Izzy a minute to realize that that was his own voice. He didn’t know when he had turned around but apparently he had stepped out of the tree line and was now glaring down at three teenage twats. Well, he thought to himself, no turning back now.
The three boys stared up at him with wide fearful eyes. They had all turned towards him and it had given him the chance to see their victim for the first time. He was only able to vaguely see the cuts and bruises that littered the boy’s pale white skin. Izzy supposed he must have looked more than a little pissed about the state of the boy because the others quickly shoved him away and ran off. Sadly, due to the shoving, the bruised boy slipped from the perch on top of the hill and began to fall. Izzy darted forward without thinking, just barely being able to snatch the boy’s sleeve before they both went tumbling into the water.
The rapids themselves were nothing particularly deadly but he knew that the jagged rocks that laid beneath the tides were not something to trifle with. Drowning was always a possibility. His mother had drilled into his head that people could drown in puddles if they didn’t know how to properly swim. He gritted his teeth as he already felt the slam of the waves pushing him downstream. Izzy knew these waters better than most. His swimming ability was also nothing to scoff at. He was confident he could keep the two of them alive.
Pulling the boy protectively against his chest, Izzy went with the current until he was able to maneuver them closer to the water's edge. He shoved the boy into the hard wall of dirt against the bank of the river before he pressed himself there as well, one hand clutching at the grass as he coughed.
“You alright?” He gasped out as he caught his breath. It looked like the younger boy was struggling to do the same. The little thing blinked up at him with wide panic filled eyes. Sighing, Izzy hefted himself up onto solid ground before yanking the boy along.
“Are you alright?” He asked again. This time the boy was at least able to nod which Izzy took as progress. He was still extremely shaken. It was understandable. The kid could have easily been murdered by his dickhead classmates. Anyone would be a bit shell-shocked. Sighing once again, Izzy arranged the boy to sit with him in the sun. He took off the boy’s outer jacket but refrained from removing any further close. That was a boundary he was not comfortable crossing. Plus the weather was warm enough that, without that jacket, the boy would dry in the heat in no time. He placed a hand on his back, rubbing in little circles like he did when one of the younger boys at work was pushing back tears.
“What happened?” He asked softly as he heard the boy sniffle. It was silent for a long time. The only noises around the two were the babbling of the stream and the wet squelching of the boy’s clothes as Izzy rubbed little circles into his back.
“The other boys don’t like me very much.” His voice was shaky but soft. His brown eyes were fixed to the water gently rolling past them. It was a world of difference from the rapids that pulled by the small cliff.
“Well,” Izzy said as he dropped his hand from the boy's back. “They looked like a bunch of rich pricks so I don’t think I’d like them very much.”
The boy’s mouth turned up slightly before falling down again. He turned to look at Izzy.
“Do you like me?”
“I don’t know you.” Izzy answered, easily. He wasn’t quite prepared for the small boy to hold out his hand to him. For a while he just stared at the hand, marveling at how soft it looked.
“I’m Stede… Stede Bonnet.”
Izzy took his hand. It was, amazingly, softer than it looked.
“Izzy Hands.”
After the “daring rescue,” Izzy assumed that that would be that. The Bonnet kid would go off to cry to his school teacher about the mean bullies and Izzy would be done with rich brats. The universe, it would seem, had different plans in mind.
Stede had taken to following Izzy around like a baby duck. When Izzy would come to the small woods for some peace after work, he would find Stede there, waiting for him. The boy never really did anything to annoy the older boy. He would usually sit near him and read. Izzy chalked it up to the boy seeing him as a strange guard dog of sorts. The idea annoyed him to no end so for the first few days he was determined to ignore the child as best he could. It wasn’t so bad when the boy was just quietly reading in his peripherals but suddenly the boy was trying to actively add him into conversations.
“Do you like to read?”
“I saw a very pretty Lark in the woods today. She looked a bit hungry. Do you think she’d like it if I brought her some seeds?”
“You’ll never guess but I saw a fox moth earlier today! She was beautiful really. Very fluffy looking. Have you ever seen a fox moth before?”
Izzy left the conversation rather one-sided, answering with nothing more than a few grunts at a time. This didn’t seem like a deterrent to Stede Bonnet. Oh no. He’d talk Izzy’s ear off about whatever book he was reading that particular week or whatever nonsense crossed his mind. The worst part of it was that Izzy would be lying if he said he didn’t somewhat enjoy it. It was kind of nice background noise. He couldn’t really deny the melodic quality of the boy's voice as he spoke. Plus, if the kid was just going to talk at him for a few hours while he wondered about, it wasn’t that big a deal. It wasn’t until Stede started to bring him food that Izzy began to actually add to the conversation beyond more than a single word or grunt.
“What’s all this?” He said a bit gruffly as he watched the boy pull out a small blanket and linen wrapped foods. Stede smiled brilliantly at him.
“It’s a picnic!” At the quirk of Izzy’s eyebrow, he hastily explained. “It’s for us- well actually it’s more for you. It’s a thank you for- well for being my friend.”
“I’m your friend?” Izzy really didn’t mean for such a blunt thought to escape his lips but it seemed his mouth had other ideas. “You hardly know me.”
“I know enough, I think.” The boy countered as he busied himself with setting up the blanket. Intrigued, Izzy sat opposite Stede on the blanket.
“Well? What do you know about me, Bonnet?” He challenged with a smirk.
What could this posh little thing know about Izzy? How could he possibly comprehend the world Izzy lives in when his own was surely so pampered and blissful? He was so ready to trip this little ponce up. He knew that the boy would start with his name. Say something like ‘well I know you’re Izzy Hands for one thing’ which technically wasn’t true. He couldn’t wait to jump up and say. ‘That’s where you’re wrong, Bonnet. See? You don’t know me at all.’
“You work at the docks.” Izzy choked on his retort.
“That’s- what?”
“You work at the docks.” The boy repeated, a small smile tugging at his lips. "Whenever you’re here you smell like salt and the sea. So you must work at the docks and you come here on your breaks or after work.”
Izzy blinked owlishly at the boy.
“... what else?” He asked softly.
Stede absolutely lit up at his interest. It was at this point that Izzy thought about how genuinely bright the boy was. Not just in an educational sense, no, but how the boy practically glowed. How this boy radiated a warmth that Izzy had never known before. Sunshine . His heart sang, naming this strange radiance as he watched Stede unwrap more of the food for their picnic.
“Well, I don’t have much evidence for this part but I have a feeling you’ll like this.” He offered a small bundle of dried fruits to him. “Try some. Izzy.”
“Israel.” He said softly as he accepted the fruits.
“Pardon?” Izzy chuckled softly at the polite startledness in Stede’s voice.
“My name is actually Israel. Most people just call me Izzy.”
“I see. Well then,” Stede smiled and watched as Izzy popped the dried fruit into his mouth. “Do you like dates, Israel?”
He ignored warmth that bloomed in his chest, hearing Stede say his given name so happily, and focused on the sweet taste of the fruit- no of the dates- in his mouth. He could practically feel his edges softening as he looked at the sunshine boy.
“Yeah. Think I do.”