i have one need, david. cut gag from the fix it comic that had to be a standalone
Ed: I killed lucius, stede. Stede: oh! yes, he’s very upset about that. Ed: [sniffle] what? Stede: See! No need to fret. Ed: No fucking way… Lucius: I lived, BITCH
i will never not love how stede handles this. it’s a small things but it’s also kind of everything. he doesn’t try to tell ed that he is, in fact, a good person. he doesn’t try to disprove ed’s belief about himself. because honestly the man just told you he was plotting to kill you, how exactly are you gonna spin that?
so he doesn’t bother. he just tells the truth.
because the thing is it doesn’t matter. ed is flawed, he’s done some questionable shit, some cruel shit, and it doesn’t matter. he doesn’t need to be anything but who he is because that person is stede’s friend.
good or not, flaws an all, he doesn’t have to be perfect to be loved.
Currently screaming about Stede instinctively saying that Blackbeard is lovely and then immediately realizing that this is not the answer that people wanted and, crucially, it is not an answer he can give them.
He spent weeks at sea, on the naval equivalent of a gay pride parade, surrounded by people who were welcoming, if not of his pirate style, at least of his quirks. He read them stories, he saw them being queer with no guilt, he showed them all of his heartbreak about Ed leaving and was only met with support.
He has forgotten what hiding feels like. Or, rather, he has forgotten that he’s supposed to hide. He’s not on the Revenge anymore, where he could have donned his silk robe and talked with Lucius and Olu about his feelings. He once again has to hide who he is and, he realizes, he has to hide who Ed is as well.
There are so many layers on which this is true. He has to lie about Ed’s vulnerabilities because they are something Ed himself keeps secret, and Stede can’t breach that trust. He has to hide Ed’s softer side because it won’t be accepted, just like Stede’s own softness isn’t. He has to keep up the Blackbeard persona because that is keeping Ed safe through the fear people have of him. And yes, he also has to hide their relationship because, as far as I can tell from Wikipedia, that was a crime punishable by death.
Stede has, in the span of two seconds, to take all of this in and quickly shift back into his old mask, profoundly aware that as friendly as these men are right now, he can never be honest with them. Which is only highlighted by the fact that they openly cheer after his speech about death, despite it being clearly traumatising for him.
Idk maybe I am projecting, but I truly felt what Stede felt, the need to smile and lie through a family dinner on order to avoid outing yourself or someone else you know. Brb I’m gonna cry now.
thinking about post s1, after stede and edward get back together
the crew is mad at both of them and they don’t want either as captain, so they decide to mutiny
Swede asks if this means they have to kill both of them, or throw them off the crew. There’s a good deal of muttering about this, but eventually they decide that they still want them around because they do like stede and ed. So they’re graciously allowed to stay.
stede is a little bummed to not be captain anymore, but he’s more than happy enough to be able to stay with the others. Ed doesn’t say anything because he knows exactly how this is all going to end up.
The crew votes for a new captain, and it’s decided it’s going to be jim, no matter how much jim argues that they don’t want to be captain.
They try it for a while, but whenever someone asks jim what to do, their response is always “i don’t fucking know, go figure it out yourself.” They don’t even want to take over the captain’s quarters because they like their room with oluwande.
It’s quickly decided they have to choose another captain. Next they choose oluwande. Except he keeps turning to ed or stede for advice on what to do and the others eventually catch on that stede and ed are essentially in charge again, and mutiny once more.
And just like that they cycle through all the crewmembers, who all decide they either can’t handle the pressure, or don’t want to argue with everyone when they have to make tough decisions or don’t know the first thing about handling crewmate disputes.
Not even a month goes by before they all grudgingly ask stede and ed to be their co-captains again
Ed is smug, because he knew this was how it would turn out. When he had told stede about it, stede had agreed and had decided to let them make their own mistakes as it were. “It will help them work through their hurt and anger towards the two of us, and will hopefully discourage further attempts at mutiny in the future if they all figure out that being captain isn’t all that fun at all”
And he’s right. By the time stede and ed have become captains of the revenge once more, the rest of the crew seem to have forgotten or moved past their anger and are just happy to have someone competent to tell them what to do.
I marathoned the entirety of Our Flag Means Death this weekend and I am awash in feelings, so I’m taking it out on the internet in the form of fan art. If you like pirates, gay kissing, theatrical gore, improbable shenanigans, and emotional damage, I highly recommend this wacky historical fanfiction romcom.
