#this yeah
OFMD Angst Prompt:
It’s after the season finale, Stede and the crew have finally caught up with the Revenge and as soon as Ed catches sight of Stede, he bursts into tears and welcomes him abroad. They cry together, promise their eternal devotion and forgive each other. Lucius pops out of the wall, Jim decides that they’ll wait to enact revenge on Blackbeard and Frenchie collapses into Wee John’s arms.
Everything is fixed! Everything is solved!
Well, except, of course, for Izzy. He limps over to Stede, presents a saber and challenges him to a duel. The crew, at this point, are so over Izzy that they’re about to rush him, pick him up and toss him overboard when Stede asks his terms.
Izzy says winner stays on the ship.
And the loser is killed.
The crew gasps. Ed begs Stede to refuse. Wee John and Jim offer to just kill Izzy outright. Lucius hides his face in his hands.
But Stede, high on the adrenaline of reuniting with Ed, accepts. He’s bested Izzy twice and surely he can do it again! In fact, he privately decides that when he wins, because he truly believes that he will, that he’ll just tie Izzy up and dump him at port.
So they get into their stances, swords held high and the duel commences. The crew cheers for Stede as he slashes and advances on Izzy, who’s taken the defensive position and for a moment, Steds begins to feel sort of proud.
Because he’s winning. He knew those lessons from Oluwande and Roach would help him! He begins advancing more and advancing, cutting Izzy off at every turn and backing him into a corner.
And just as Stede is about to knock the sword from Izzy’s hand, he catches the confused look from Ivan and Fang. They’re stating at Izzy… like something’s wrong.
So Stede pulls back, allowing Izzy to advance and…
Then he realizes. Just to check, he raises his sword and swings his sword to cut across Izzy’s face, making sure his move is so obvious and slow that even a child could parry it– and there!
As soon as Stede’s arm moves, there’s a small twitch under Izzy’s eye– he’s seen the attack coming but his sword doesn’t move to even block it. In fact, Izzy waits until the absolute last second to parry and doesn’t take the opportunity to advance.
Stede can’t believe it. He doesn’t want to. So again and again, he swings wildly, like an amateur and every time, Izzy lets him get so close to actually hurting him before he blocks or parries or dodges. Stede stops, frozen, when Izzy lets the tip of Stede’s sword cut a thin line across his face.
But again, Izzy does nothing. Absolutely nothing!
Stede can feel a pit growing in his stomach. The cheers from the crew have quieted as Stede waits and waits and waits for anything, any attack. He’s wide open, Izzy could easily rip the sword from his hand at any moment. But Izzy doesn’t move an inch.
Stede feels sick.
This is a fight to the death.
And Izzy is losing on purpose.
So this could go any way.
Preferably towards Steddyhands. Please. Please God please please please steddyhands steddyhands steddyhaThere comes a point when Stede simply cannot take it any longer. He really does not want Izzy dead, but he wouldn’t mind seeing him hurt, except Stede realizes that Izzy *is* already hurting. So he throws the Saber down and announces, “It’s over, I yield.” Which means it’s Izzy’s choice. He could run Stede through.
But he doesn’t. He just stands there, blood running down his face like tears–and there might be actual tears mixed in, but nobody is looking closely enough.
“That’s enough, I’m declaring a draw,” Edward says, and no one is going to argue with Blackbeard, nor do they want to see Stede dead. But Izzy, well. Everyone is suddenly uncomfortable with the idea of Israel Hands as a person.
But suicidal ideation is not a new thing for Blackbeard or Stede. Even without orders, the crew disperses, this is not the time. “Come along, Mr. Hands, we need to talk,” Stede orders, and Izzy obeys, almost blankly.
Once they’re in the privacy of the captains’ cabin, Edward starts to yell at Izzy. But before he gets too far, Stede tells him to “Edward, shut up,” and that’s shocking enough that it works. And even Izzy is surprised that Stede has the balls to say it.
But Edward shuts up, and Stede very quietly tells Izzy, “I wish you could see, I am not taking him from you. I wouldn’t want to. Ed and you both know that you have a… special relationship, and I don’t want you to feel like there isn’t a place for you. Your place is by his side, and my place is by his other side. Ed belongs to both of us, and if you give that up, you will regret it, just like I did. Please, Izzy. Learn from my mistakes.”
“How the fuck do you think that could work? I hate you, I tried to kill you,” Izzy points out.
“You’re far from the only one. Even Edward has had a go at killing me, and I did too. I don’t take it personally any longer. Nor do I hate you. I could never hate anyone Edward loves so dearly.”
Both Ed and Izzy look up in surprise, Ed because what the absolute FUCK, and Izzy because he didn’t want to be seen, especially by Stede fucking Bonnet.
Stede smiles a little sadly at Edward, and he tells Ed, “I had plenty of time to think on the rowboat and on the way to get back to you. I realized then that I wasn’t the only one who loved you, and that you loved him and me, too.”
“You’re wrong about that, Edward doesn’t - -”
“Hey, how about you let me speak for myself,” Ed interrupts, because he realizes that Stede is right, because the thought of being without Izzy makes him feel just as lost and unmoored as he felt when Stede left him.
Edward and Izzy kiss, Stede is happy for both of them, and Edward tries to pull Stede over. But Stede thinks, “Izzy needs you, Ed, not me.”
Then Izzy’s gloved hand is tangled in Stede’s sleeve, not letting go, but not pulling either. Just grabbing, holding like he’s drowning and Stede is his only rescue. “You sure you want to keep me around?” he asks, not realizing that he sounds nervous, needy, not threatening.
“Of course I’m sure, you idiot,” Stede answers, and Izzy’s fist crumple even harder on Stede’s sleeve. “You have a place here for as long as you want it.”
Izzy realizes that Stede is being honest, that he does want Izzy, not just for Edward’s sake, but for Izzy’s too.
When Izzy’s on deck the next morning, there’s two rings in his cravat; the new one is a square turquoise-colored stone set in gold, and Lucius notices one of Stede’s rings is gone, and instead, he’s wearing one of Edward’s red stone rings.
