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2024-10-13
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2025-06-23
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Short Stories of the Revenge

Summary:

A collection of short stories, mostly Stizzy (although other ship tags might be added later), where things get better and nothing hurts. Well, not for too long, at least.

Or: all the very short fluffy ficlets I post on Tumblr that I wanted to collect somewhere. More info on each chapter. I'll be adding tags as I go.

Chapter 1: Just a nap, darling (Stizzy)

Summary:

Chapter 1: Stede/Izzy, fluff.
I was sleepy and I wanted a nap and I made it their problem too.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

“I don’t take naps, I’m not a child!” Izzy loudly complained when Stede first suggested it.

“I’m just saying that it looks like your leg’s bothering you quite a lot today and you could use some rest, darling,” Stede calmly insisted. “A short nap could certainly help. Actually, I feel like having a nap myself, it’s been a hectic day, don’t you agree?”

In a heartbeat Izzy was very gently manhandled onto the settee, something that could sound impossible, but that Stede always managed to accomplish with surprising ease, and soon Izzy was lying with his head on Stede’s chest, the captain’s arms delicately but firmly wrapped around him.

“Should we try to have a nap now, love?” Stede suggested relentlessly. “Just closing our eyes for a while, relaxing a bit?”

“It’s not going to work, this is a waste of time,” Izzy grumbled.

He squirmed uncomfortably in Stede’s arms, but the captain didn’t let go. One of his hands started rubbing Izzy’s back softly and the other moved up until it reached his neck, scratching lightly the back of his head. Then Stede started running his fingers through Izzy’s hair in a slow, soothing motion while he started humming a song very softly.

“I don’t need a lullaby, I’m not a-“

“Yes, I know, Israel, you’re not a child, I’d never imply such a thing,” Stede interrupted him, his voice low and warm. “But I was trying to remember this song that one of my nannies used to sing to me when I was little. She was such a nice lady and I loved that song very much. I’m not sure I remember the words now, but I’d like to see if I can. Would you indulge me, my darling? Just for a little while.”

Izzy grunted, agreeing reluctantly, but only because there was nobody there to see it, and Stede started humming again as his fingers kept running through Izzy’s hair.

It was nice, Izzy admitted to himself. The vibrations of the humming coming from Stede’s chest and the repeated motions of his fingers caressing his scalp were soothing and even the few lines of the song that Stede seemed to remember were softly sung, even if they didn’t make much sense to him. Something about the night being long… And hearts meeting at dawn… Or… maybe it was meeting ‘at last’, maybe it was… maybe…

(Stede felt Izzy’s body relaxing against his as he fell asleep, but he kept humming the song for a while longer anyway)

Notes:

I leave things quite open in some of those short ficlets on purpose so people can choose to fill the gaps as they please. Where is Ed on these? Maybe he is still away living as a fisherman? Maybe him and Stede broke up because Stede still wanted to be a pirate and Ed didn't? Maybe he is just outside the room and this is an undercover Steddyhands fic? Did he die? Did Stede kick him out?... Everybody can choose their favourite option here ♥️

Chapter 2: Healing (Stizzy)

Summary:

Chapter 2: Stede/Izzy, hurt/comfort

Chapter Text

 

When he slowly came to, Izzy’s eyelids felt way too heavy to open his eyes so he didn’t even try. He was lying on his stomach on a soft mattress and his mind was fuzzy, but he knew he didn’t have to worry about anything at the moment.

There had been a fight, he remembered it now, but it must have ended some time ago since there was no screaming, no smell of smoke, no sounds of cannon fire. They had been raiding a merchant ship and the crew had been doing well, but at some point he had seen Frenchie trip over a loose rope and Izzy hadn’t hesitated. If he had, Frenchie would be dead now, but the pain on Izzy’s back reminded him that he had been fast enough. It was comforting, in a way.

Izzy had turned around as fast as he could with his unicorn leg and had stabbed the man that was about to run his sword through Frenchie’s chest, then he had cut his throat just to be sure, but before he could manage to turn around to face the rest of them, Izzy had felt a sharp pain spreading through his whole back and had fallen to the deck, hitting his head against it hard.

The Revenge must have won the fight in the end, Izzy thought, since he was alive and had been taken care of. He could feel a bandage covering most of his chest and back and the nasty taste in his mouth and the fuzziness of his brain meant somebody had given him laudanum before patching him up. Soft twats, he thought fondly, there was no need, he had had worse.

Izzy sighed and tried to move a bit, but realized that not only his eyelids were heavy, his whole body felt like lead. He tried to move just his hand then only to notice that he couldn’t, not because it was heavy but because there was another big, warm hand wrapped tightly around his.

A voice started singing softly nearby then, words in French, warm and soothing, and Izzy didn’t find it difficult to know who was there with him. Frenchie, of course. The man was probably just trying to show his gratitude by keeping him company. Or maybe he was simply trying to avoid hard chores. In any case, Izzy made himself squeeze the hand holding his as a thank you gesture, because he really was thankful. It was nice to have people caring about you. Who would have guessed?

Izzy could feel he was starting to drift off when he suddenly heard the strains of a lute joining Frenchie’s voice. It took him a bit, but eventually his brain caught up. If Frenchie was playing the lute, who was holding his hand?

It took him all his strength, but Izzy managed to open his eyes slowly and when they finally managed to focus enough to see, he found himself staring at Stede Bonnet, sitting on the floor, resting against the bed sound asleep and still holding his hand tightly.

 

Chapter 3: Healing - part 2 (Stizzy)

Summary:

A tiny continuation on the previous story. Still fluff and still Stizzy, as it should be.
A bit of hurt/comfort and some hand-holding.

Chapter Text

The lute music stopped and when he slowly turned his head, Izzy finally saw Frenchie, sitting on a chair by the bed.

“How are you feeling, Izzy?” Frenchie whispered, smiling kindly at him.

Izzy tried to speak but his throat felt too dry to get the words out and he groaned in frustration. Stede stirred lightly by his side, but he didn’t wake up and his hand only gripped Izzy’s tighter.

“Don’t wake him up, babe, he deserves a nap,” Frenchie said without raising his voice. “He’s been worried sick about you the whole time. He just felt asleep a few minutes ago.”

“H-how long?” Izzy managed to croak out.

“Over a day. You’ve been quite out of it for most of it so you probably don’t remember much,” Frenchie said with a shrug. “I think Roach might have overdone it a bit with the laudanum, but man, you needed quite a lot of stitches there.”

Izzy grimaced. He could only feel a dull pain on his back at the moment, but that was probably going to change soon when the effect of the laudanum disappeared completely.

“Don’t worry, babe, we’ll take care of you. All of us, but very especially the captain, as it seems,” Frenchie added with a smirk.

“W-why this?” Izzy tried to ask, lightly shaking his hand with Stede’s still grasped around it. “C’ptain should be resting in ‘s cabin.”

“Well, that’s actually on you, Izzy,” Frenchie replied, amused. “You were the one who took his hand while Roach was sewing you up. The captain simply didn’t let go once you fell asleep. He refused to leave at all.”

“WHAT!”

The squeak even in his hoarse voice was enough to finally wake Stede up and when Izzy turned to look at the face of the captain, he saw a smile bloom on his face when he noticed Izzy was awake.

“Izzy, are you alright?” Stede asked, immediately growing concerned. “What a stupid question, my apologies, I’m sure you’re feeling awful at the moment. Can I bring you something? Some water maybe-?”

Stede seemed to notice their intertwined hands then and stopped abruptly and Izzy thought he was about let go of his hand immediately, as if it burned him, probably ashamed, maybe even disgusted, and he braced himself for the disappointment that he was already starting to feel without even knowing why.

Stede smiled and simply put his other hand over them. That maniac.

“I’m so glad you’re safe, Izzy, I was so worried there for a moment,” Stede said, both his hands squeezing Izzy’s lightly.

And all Izzy could do was stare wide-eyed at him as Frenchie chuckled lightly beside them.

Chapter 4: A story of the Swede (gen)

Summary:

Just a short thing about the early days of Blackbeard and his crew on the Revenge from The Swede's pov.

Notes:

Written for Tumblr's Izzy and Crew event, The Swede's Week.

Chapter Text

The Swede was terrified of the Blackbeard crew, especially of the angry first mate who kept yelling at them constantly, but he had a job to do and he knew it was important so he steeled himself and got ready to do it.

First he went to see Roach in the galley and then made a round, checking on his crewmates but without distracting them from the tasks they had been given, although to be fair, Lucius and some of the others were simply pretending to work while they chatted nervously, but The Swede kept it short anyway since they were doing a good job at pretending and he didn’t want to ruin that either.

Once the easy part was done, though, he had to approach Blackbeard’s men because now that Bonnet and Blackbeard were co-captains of the Revenge he supposed they were also crewmates. Scary and angry crewmates most of the time, except for Fang, who seemed to smile a lot more now that he and Lucius were friends.

He decided to talk to Fang first then and he got a big smile and a thank you from the bearded man. Encouraged by this, The Swede walked towards Ivan, who simply grunted and nodded and then, feeling a bit more nervous, he went to find the First Mate Hands.

The man was by the railing, seemingly checking the rigging with an angry frown on his face, but The Swede still walked straight to him and cleared his throat to get his attention.

“WHAT?”

“Good morning, First Mate Hands,” The Swede said politely. “One of my tasks is to make sure everybody on the ship has an orange every day, so here it is yours, sir,” he added, handing him the last of his oranges.

The first mate looked at the orange on the palm of his hand as if it was some strange sea creature he hadn’t seen before and his mouth opened as if to yell again, but no sound came out.

“It’s good for your health,” The Swede explained. “To avoid getting scurvy, you know? That’s a very nasty thing.”

The older man looked even more confused, but at least he closed his mouth so The Swede hoped there wasn’t going to be any more yelling for now.

“It’s alright if you don’t want to eat it now,” he added. “You can always keep it in your pocket for later, sometimes I do that too. But you have to remember to eat it if you don’t want to lose your teeth, they’re very important and you wouldn’t like that, believe me.”

Finally, the first mate raised his hand slowly and took the orange and The Swede smiled broadly. He had fulfilled his most important task, every crewmate had an orange, even the scary ones.

“T-thank you,” the first mate finally said, looking wide-eyed at him.

“You’re welcome, sir!”

And with that The Swede walked away, ready to keep going with his other tasks, while the first mate stared in amazement at the small orange in his hand.

 

Chapter 5: No hesitation (Steddyhands, Jim)

Summary:

Jim thinks Izzy is in trouble and things get a bit ugly for a moment there.

Notes:

Steddyhands, Jim and the crew friendship.

Not sure it's necessary a CW, it's really just a vague thing, but I guess it's better safe than sorry in those cases so you can check the notes at the end for the CW.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Izzy had been acting strange and of course Jim had been the first one to notice it.

The first mate had been shifty and nervous, acting more unsure than Jim had ever seen him before. He hadn’t been yelling at them as much as usual, not even at Lucius, and he tended to disappear into the captain’s cabin at weird times. The whole thing had been very suspicious and Jim hadn’t liked the feeling of it.

Then one afternoon, Jim had been walking below deck when they had seen Izzy and Edward just outside the captain’s cabin. The ex-captain had been towering over Izzy, much closer than the asshole had the right to be and then Izzy had shaken his head and said a barely audible ‘no, Ed’, but Edward had grabbed his arm and tried to drag him inside the cabin.

Jim must have made a sound because then Izzy had turned and had seen them. He had looked surprised for a moment before he had lowered his eyes in shame. Edward had turned to look at Jim with a smile on his face and had put a hand on Izzy’s shoulder.

And Jim had seen red.

By the time Olu and Roach had managed to drag them away from Edward, Jim had already thrown a few well-aimed punches and a vicious kick to the groin that had sent him to the floor. Yes, they knew how to fight dirty and they weren’t ashamed to do it if it was needed.

“Don’t you dare fucking touch him ever again!” Jim yelled as they were restrained by Olu and Roach.

The rest of the crew was already there, attracted by the commotion and Stede had walked out of the cabin immediately and was now crouching by Edward’s side, trying to comfort him.

Jim was ready to throw a punch at him too when a hand grabbed their arm lightly.

“It’s-it’s nothing like that, Jim,” Izzy said calmly, looking seriously at them.

Apparently Jim had got it wrong, very wrong.

As it seemed, the captain, Edward and Izzy were in ‘the early stages of a romantic relationship’ as Stede cheerfully explained to the crew once things had calmed down. They had decided to keep it a secret at Izzy’s request because he was uncomfortable with the crew knowing about it for now and what Jim had witnessed was simply Edward playfully trying to convince Izzy to have an ‘improvised romantic moment’ in private.

“Just say ‘sex’, man,” Roach said with a grimace as Izzy groaned and covered his eyes in embarrassment.

They had gathered on deck and were sitting on the floor as Stede explained the whole thing with his usual flowery language. Edward looked a bit uncomfortable, but Izzy looked as if he was ready to jump overboard and Jim could totally understand him.

“But I’m glad that now it’s all in the open,” Stede finally said after his lengthy explanation. “That means that now I can hold Izzy’s hand on deck and give him a kiss if I feel-“

“No, you absolutely can’t!” Izzy stopped him immediately.

“But why not?” Stede replied, barely containing a pout.

“I-I do not- it’s not professional!”

“Don’t push it, mate,” Edward whispered to Stede. “It’s too soon. Baby steps, remember?”

“Why didn’t you want us to know, Izzy?” Frenchie asked, looking a bit hurt by it.

“It’s because you thought it wouldn’t last?” The Swede asked. “That’s the reason?”

“No, that’s not-”

“You don’t trust us?” Fang asked, looking teary-eyed.

“No, it’s not that, alright?” Izzy replied, blushing lightly. “I’m just not… good at this and a first mate has to be professional to be respected and… Well, it seemed easier that way.”

“Aaww, Izzy, I’ll not respect you less now,” Lucius said with a big grin on his face. “I’ll respect you as little as before.”

“Fuck off, twatty,” Izzy replied with no heat behind his words.

Then it was time for Jim to apologize for beating Edward repeatedly and they did it curtly, but sincerely, as usual. Edward accepted the apology gracefully and seemed actually pleased by the whole thing.

“I’m happy that Izzy has someone that would look after him, aside from me and Stede,” Edward said, smiling.

“He doesn’t just have Jim, mate,” Wee John replied. “Any of us would gladly kick your ass if you ever tried to hurt him, right?”

A chorus of agreements answered Wee John’s question.

“That’s-that’s great, guys,” Edward said, his smile only fading slightly.

The gathering dispersed after that and only Izzy and Jim stayed there. They leaned on the railing side by side and stared at the sea without saying a word for a while.

“Thank you, Jim,” Izzy said eventually. “For having my back.”

“I know you would have mine,” Jim simply replied, looking at him.

“I would.”

They nodded at each other and then turned to stare at the sea again and didn’t say a word for a long, long time.

Notes:

CW: there is the vague suggestion that Jim believes Ed had been forcing himself on Izzy, but it's not graphic and it ends up being a misunderstanding.

Chapter 6: A story before bedtime (pre-Stizzy)

Summary:

So what if… everything was the same in OFMD s2 until Stede’s fight against Zheng, but there was no attack from the British then because Prince Ricky had simply gone home to lick his wounds and was never heard of again. And Stede is very drunk and very sad and wants some comfort, but Izzy is not very good at that, or is he? (No, he really isn't, but the man tries, ok)

Notes:

Another short thing posted on Tumblr. I don't usually post here the present tense what-ifs, but I liked this one so here it is.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Izzy takes Stede back to the Revenge after the humiliating defeat at Zheng’s hands and the captain is embarrassed and upset and very, very drunk so after Izzy patches his light injuries he tries to convince Stede to go to sleep, but once lying in bed he pouts and begs Izzy to read  him a bedtime story.

“I read to the crew all the time, why can’t you do it for me now?”

“It’s late, Bonnet. I won’t go now looking for one of your books to read it by candlelight…”

“Then why don’t you just tell me one that you remember, surely you know some fairytales, don’t you? Do you know any about mermaids?”

Izzy tries to resist, but drunk Bonnet’s puppy eyes are even more effective than normal and Izzy eventually agrees to tell him one story, a story about a mermaid his mother used to read to him when he was little.

So he sits on the bed beside Stede and starts the story about a mermaid who falls in love with a human prince and how she makes a deal with a sea witch to get legs so she can go and find her prince. She gives her voice in exchange for the legs and suffers quite a lot, but she finds him eventually and… things don’t go as well as she expected because although the prince is nice to her and treats her very kindly, he falls in love with a princess from a nearby country.

By the time Izzy is about to end the story as the prince marries the other woman and the mermaid is about to die because that was also part of the deal with the sea witch, Stede is crying openly and begging Izzy to stop.

“That cannot be, Izzy! You must be remembering it wrong!” Stede cries inconsolably.

“No, it’s- the story ends like that, Stede. I’m sorry.”

It’s true the story doesn’t have a happy ending, but Izzy didn’t realize Stede would get so upset about it and it’s simply the only fairytale about mermaids he remembers.

“But-but she gave up everything to follow the man she loved and-and that cannot be her ending!”

“Well, sometimes life’s just like that.”

Stede cries even harder at that and Izzy tries to calm him, petting him awkwardly on the arm, but Stede turns and then he is on Izzy’s lap, clinging to him as if his life depended on it. Izzy sighs and allows it, because what else is he supposed to do.

“Well, maybe I remember it wrong,” Izzy lies then, rubbing Stede’s back softly. “Maybe that’s not how it ends. I heard the story a long time ago after all.”

“Maybe there was a loophole in the witch’s spell and she managed to get rid of it,” Izzy adds, trying to come up with a way to fix the story, but he knows he isn’t very good at this, he has never had much imagination or so he has been told.

“She needed a kiss from the prince,” Stede adds after a moment, still sniffling. “But maybe it could be just any prince?”

“It could be, the wording of the spells is important,” Izzy agrees.

“So maybe, maybe the mermaid met some other prince in those fancy balls she attended when she was human,” Stede keeps going, as he calms down slowly. “Maybe that other prince met her there and noticed what a wonderful creature she was and fell in love with her.”

“It makes sense that there would be other princes and princesses in those balls, I guess. They don’t like to mingle with peasants exactly,”

“So at the wedding, this other prince decides to court the mermaid and she likes him and she realizes that it’s not the end of the world,” Stede continues.

“Hmm-mm, and they kiss before dawn, of course.”

“Yes! And so the mermaid is saved as she falls in love with this other prince which is more handsome and much kinder than the other one,” Stede finishes the story with a smile.

They stay quiet for some time and just when Izzy is thinking maybe Bonnet has fallen asleep, the man speaks again.

“Do you know any other story, Izzy? One with a happy ending?”

Stede is snuggling comfortably in his lap and doesn’t look like he is going to move anytime soon so Izzy just shrugs and gets comfortable himself, lying down a bit.

“I don’t know many, really. Fairy tales are more like your thing, Bonnet. Why don’t you tell me one? It’s your turn now, anyway.”

It has been a long day and Izzy is very tired so when Stede starts talking softly about a poor young woman who is cruelly mistreated by her stepmother and stepsisters, he allows himself to close his eyes and he eventually falls asleep.

 

 

Notes:

So what a coincidence that Izzy recalls this story in particular, isn't it? Why would he? And why would he think it's a very normal ending, the mermaid dying at the end because the prince didn't love her? Right? No biggie, that's just life, right?? 🥺

It made sense that Stede would ask for a story about mermaids, but I chose that story because this is actually one of my childhood traumas and I wanted to share it with everybody and make it your problem too. I was very young when I read The Little Mermaid and I cried SO MUCH (picked a book of fairytales in the library that was actually a faithful traduction of an old German compillation of old fairy tales). I refused to watch the Disney movie for years (I thought 'what kind of psychopath would make a movie about that story?') because I didn't know they had changed the ending. Because of course they did.

Chapter 7: A story before bedtime - part 2 (pre-Stizzy)

Summary:

Stede doesn't want to go to sleep yet and it's his time to tell a story. It's Cinderella... or is it not?

Notes:

I had a full Cinderella AU ready in my mind when I wrote the first part of this story so I had to write part 2 before I forgot it. That's mostly the fic, more snuggling, Izzy being bad at feelings (or good at ignoring them) and Stede being very drunk and very honest.

Chapter Text

Izzy is rudely awakened by an insistent poking in his ribs and he groans, opening his eyes to see Stede Bonnet, still very awake and very drunk, pouting at him.

“You fell asleep in the middle of my story, Izzy,” he says, sounding very disappointed.

Izzy sighs and barely resists the urge to smack the man on the head. As it looks like, Stede is even more annoying while drunk than usual, but, well, except for the quiet brooding type, that is quite common among people who have had a few too many.

Stede’s current drunk fixation with fairy tales is quite unheard of, at least in Izzy’s experience, but he guesses it kind of makes sense, considering not-drunk Stede’s interest in books and stories in general.

So here Stede is, looking at Izzy with wide, pleading eyes and a pout on his lips, demanding him to listen to his story and Izzy thinks that, well, it isn’t by far the worst thing he has had to do to keep his captains happy so he sits up a bit straighter on the bed with Stede still on his lap and clears his throat.

“Yes, yes, I’m awake now. You were talking about that young woman and the evil stepsisters.”

“And the fairy godmother, Izzy! Didn’t you hear that bit?”

“Yes, yes, she could do magic and she gave the young woman-“

“Cinderella, Izzy, they called her Cinderella because she had always ashes all over her clothes!”

“Yes, all right, so Cinderella got a fancy dress and some glass slippers and was going to a posh ball, right?”

“Yes! It was going to be an amazing ball, everybody was going to be there, even the prince! Doesn’t it sound exciting, Izzy?” Stede says, looking up at him with a big smile.

“A posh ball full of posh people you don’t know? Not to me,” Izzy replies honestly. “They all would probably be very annoying, trying to impress a spoiled prince to get something from him.”

Izzy sees Stede’s face fall and curses himself. Why couldn’t he just keep his thoughts to himself? He has upset Stede and now it’s going to take Izzy ages to get him to fall asleep.

“The food and drinks would probably be very good, though,” Izzy adds, trying to fix it. “Hmm, the music too, maybe, I guess it wouldn’t be too bad…”

Stede frowns, biting his lower lip while he seemingly mulls over Izzy’s words. The first mate is trying to come up with something more positive to say about the damned ball when Stede finally looks at Izzy thoughtfully and nods slowly.

“You’re right, Izzy,” he says, as he rests his head on Izzy’s chest again. “Of course, Cinderella wanted to go to the ball at first, but then she thought about it and… she didn’t want to go to a palace to be laughed at because she didn’t know how to dance properly or how to have a polite conversation with a prince. It would be so stressful for her! And people would notice and point and laugh… The dress was very pretty, though…”

“I’m sure, and very expensive.”

“The glass slippers, on the other hand, had to be so uncomfortable,” Stede muses. “Not sure what the fairy godmother was thinking, really. Walking on those had to be painful!”

“Not the best idea for some shoes,” Izzy agrees.

“So in the end, while the stepmother and the stepsisters went to the ball, Cinderella put the dress and the glass slippers in a bag and left the house with the stable boy, the cook and the gardener, never to return. The stepmother and her daughters were awful to them too, you know?”

“It makes sense. But at least they looted the place before leaving, right?” Izzy asks, always practical.

“Of course! Besides the dress and the slippers, they took many valuable things that they sold to buy a small house for the four of them in a town very far, far away. And eventually, she got a nice job in that small town with a good pay and people respected her and were nice to her.”

“She was a hard worker, I’m sure it wasn’t difficult for her to get a job. She did well, she didn’t need a fucking prince to live a happy life.”

“Oh, she certainly didn’t! Actually, she and the stable boy were in love, they just kept it a secret, but now they could live happily ever after together.”

Stede yawns and Izzy can see that he’s finally starting to look sleepy.

“Hmm, I’m sure the cook and the gardener knew,” Izzy replies quietly. “They always know what’s happening in the house.”

“You’re probably right, Izzy,” Stede says softly after another yawn and finally stops talking.

It looks like Stede is finally about to fall asleep so Izzy tries to carefully disentangle himself from the man to leave the bed, but Stede whines, disgruntled, and snuggles closer, putting his arms around Izzy.

“I think two stories are enough for one night, Captain,” Izzy whispers. “It’s time to go to sleep.”

“Can’t you stay, Izzy?” Stede begs, sounding already half asleep. “I want you to stay.”

Izzy rolls his eyes. Stede is also a clingy drunk, apparently.

“Why? So you can kick me off the bed in the morning when you wake up and find me here,” Izzy replies, amused. “You don’t even like me, Bonnet.”

“That’s not true, I like you very, very much, Izzy,” Stede says, tightening his arms around him.

“That’s just the rum talking.”

“No, it’s true, I wanted to kiss you before, but I didn’t want you to run away from me…”

Those words make Izzy’s heart do something funny inside his chest, but he ignores it. It’s just the rum talking, he reminds himself, nothing else.

“Will you stay?” Stede asks again, softly. “I promise I’ll still want you in my bed in the morning.”

Izzy’s heart does something funny again and when he opens his mouth to speak, no words come out. After a while, when he is still trying to make his brain work properly and give Stede an answer, he hears a soft snoring. Stede has finally fallen asleep.

No point in trying to escape now, Izzy thinks, unless he wants to wake up the man again and then who knows how long it will take for him to fall asleep again. It’s better to get comfortable and get some sleep and in the morning… well, Izzy can always laugh it off, tease Stede about it and move on. It was just the rum talking, after all.

The bed is soft and Stede’s warm body against his is not a bother, but this time sleep doesn’t come as fast to Izzy for some reason, so he stays there, listening to Stede’s steady breathing for a long while until his own eyes eventually close.

 

Chapter 8: That ugly voice in your head (Stizzy)

Summary:

Izzy is feeling insecure. That's all, that's the whole (very short) ficlet.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Izzy is so proud and self-confident as a pirate, but then, in a relationship? Not so much. Because he is not used to that and this is Stede, who insists on wooing him and arranging dinner dates and other romantic stuff and Izzy doesn’t know exactly how to deal with all that, but he tries to act cool and things seem to be going well.

But then the real problem comes when they are about to have sex one lazy afternoon and they are slowly taking off their clothes. And it’s not like it’s their first time exactly, but it’s different from the blowjobs and the quick fuck they have had while still keeping some of their clothes on because they couldn’t wait. Now they are about to be totally naked and take their time and Izzy suddenly feels exposed, insecure,… ashamed even.

Because all he can think is that he is old, with scars all over his body and he is missing a fucking leg, for fuck's sake. And more importantly, he is not Edward.

Stede might not have had many lovers, but Edward was the last one, before he decided to leave to be a fisherman, and Izzy knows he can’t compare himself to him, never could, even when he was younger, and now? When he feels like he has aged a decade in the last months? He knows he is not the biggest prize Stede could get, not by far.

Izzy, already naked on the bed, watches as Stede finishes undressing and folds his clothes carefully over the settee. Izzy knows he is about to turn around to look at him and he is terrified. He is sure Stede’s face is going to fall when he sees him, his smile will falter but he will try to hide his disappointment and smile again because he is a gentleman after all. But Izzy is not a coward so he straightens his back and gets ready to face it all.

Then Stede turns around, looks at Izzy and… he gasps, smiling as he stares hungrily at him.

“Oh, Izzy,” Stede says, sounding breathless. “You’re so beautiful.”

Notes:

Very, very short thing, but I simply wanted to play with this idea, Izzy feeling insecure about his body and Stede just looking at him and seeing how beautiful he is and saying so. That's all.
I wish I could have written something longer about this, but sometimes fic ideas are tiny and refuse to grow.

Chapter 9: Sharp Words (Stizzy)

Summary:

Stede and the crew get into a fight, but what's the real reason behind it? And why don't they want Izzy to know it?

Notes:

This is my usual Stizzy s2 AU (Ed left to be a fisherman, Stede and Izzy became a thing and life went on) and this is a very short thing, also, as usual, that I liked and wanted to post here.
Previously posted on Tumblr.

Chapter Text

While The Revenge is safely docked in a friendly port, Stede has gone with part of the crew to buy some supplies and Izzy and the rest are on the ship working on fixing the rigging. When Izzy hears them coming back he turns to greet Stede and freezes, looking at them in shock.

Their clothes are torn in places and most of them have a minor injury or another. Black Pete has a small cut on his temple, Oluwande is holding his left arm carefully against his chest, Frenchie’s nose seems to have stopped bleeding very recently and Stede has the signs of what is soon going to be an impressive black eye. Jim is the only uninjured one, if you don’t count their bruised knuckles, but they seem even more pissed off than usual.

They have been in a fight, that’s for sure, but it was supposed to be an easy stop for restocking so Izzy is a bit confused.

“What the fuck happened?” Izzy asks.

They all look a bit uncomfortable then, especially Stede, which confuses Izzy even more.

“You see, Izzy…, we stopped for a drink before heading back,” Stede starts explaining hesitantly. “And while in the tavern-“

“An idiot started making fun of the Captain’s outfit!” Oluwande interrupts.

“Yes, they were so mean,” Pete adds, nodding eagerly.

“Y-yes! Yes, they were!” Stede says. “People with such bad manners and a terrible taste in clothing. I couldn’t let it go, had to teach them a lesson, right? You told me I had to make people respect me.”

“I did,” Izzy agrees. “So you lot started a fight, didn’t you?”

“Yep, we did,” Frenchie says proudly. “We had to defend our captain.”

“We didn’t exactly start it, they did it with their rude words,” Stede points out. “But we did end it!”

“We set the place on fire on our way out,” Jim explains flatly.

“Good,” Izzy replies with a proud smile.

Stede beams at him and then he leans down to kiss him to make sure there won’t be more questions for a while.

Because the thing is, that was not the true story.

They went to the tavern, that much is true, but nobody made fun of Stede. The people there didn’t even pay much attention to him or the other crewmates and at some point some assholes started talking about Blackbeard’s old loyal dog loudly enough for Stede and everybody to hear. Things they probably wouldn’t dare to say to Izzy’s face no matter how tough they pretended to be.

“I heard Blackbeard kicked him off the Queen Anne…”

“I heard he fell overboard and Blackbeard didn’t bother rescuing him…”

“He’s too old anyway…”

“Heard he’s a cripple now…”

“Heard some idiot pitied him enough to take him on his ship…”

“Probably can’t fight to save his life…”

 “Useless…”

“Old relic…”

“Waste of space…”

Their laughter made Stede see red and before he knew what he was doing he had smashed his jar on one of those idiots’ head and had started a fight. He didn’t even have to ask the crew to follow him, they were already behind him, making those idiots pay for those words.

Stede is very proud of his crew and a bit about himself too since he managed to land quite a few good punches in the fight, but he doesn’t think Izzy needs to know all the details of the incident now so he simply keeps kissing him for a while until Izzy tries to make him go with him to check the new supplies.

Stede pouts at him, but eventually caves in and follows him below deck with a proud smile on his face.