#Something something Stede's handwriting in love letters | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

heavens-bookshop · 2 years

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The Book Of Marmalade (read on AO3 here!)

"You want me to do what?"

Lucius has a look about him like a cornered rabbit, and Ed supposes that's fair. Still hasn't quite recovered from the whole attempted murder thing, it seems.

"I want you to show me how to… write stuff," he mumbles, feeling his ego dent somewhat at having to make the pathetic request twice.

"Okay…" The fear on Lucius' face morphs to something more quizzical. "Why not ask Captain Stede? He's got much better handwriting and I'm sure he'd be more than happy to help you."

"I can't ask Stede," Ed says through clenched teeth.

When Lucius continues to stare, baffled, Ed spits out the embarrassing truth.

"I wanna… I want to surprise him with a love letter."

"A love letter?"

"Yeah, you know," Ed says, waving his hands and ignoring how hot his cheeks are getting. "I love you and… I think your face is great."

Lucius cocks a rather cynical eyebrow. "Is that usually how love letters go?"

"Well I wouldn't fucking know, would I?"

Lucius brings his hands up defensively, and there's that panic again. Ed only feels a little guilty about it.

"Alright, alright, I'll help. So when can I pencil you in��?"

"Now."

"Now?" Lucius asks, and then shrinks a little under Ed's glare. "Okay, now. Let me go get some supplies, I guess."

They set up at a small table wedged in a corner of the crew's mess, somewhere they hope Stede won't come looking. Lucius spreads out their materials - several books, some bits of parchment paper, a bottle of ink, a quill - and spends the next hour or so going over the shapes and names of letters that were up til now just squiggles to Ed's eyes.

"So," Lucius says at last, pulling a fresh piece of parchment in front of them. "Why don't we get cracking on your letter?"

Ed twirls the quill between his forefinger and thumb. "Okay." The pen feels odd in his hand, a phantom limb. "I don't think I know how to start though."

"Right, well we could just go with his name," Lucius says. "That's S-T-E-D-E."

Ed scrawls the letters onto the paper, pen scratching with every stroke.

"How's that?"

Lucius pulls his mouth into a thin line and nods.

"It's… yep, that's a start."

Ed stares down at his handiwork.

"It looks like a fucking child wrote it."

"Yeah. You've also done the D backwards."

"Eh?"

"Says Stebe."

"Oh fuck this," Ed growls, crumpling up the parchment and tossing it across the table.

"Come on, you've only been at this for like, an afternoon," Lucius grabs another piece of paper. "The captain'll love it, just have some patience with yourself."

Patience is not something Blackbeard is known for - least of all with himself - but then Ed imagines Stede's face when he sees the letter, plastered with that stupidly soft smile, and finds his resolve.

"Fine."

Lucius tips his head to the side and then holds out a hand. "Here's an idea. Why don't I write the first draft, and then you can copy that?"

Ed nods and passes him the quill. "Yeah that sounds alright."

"Okay," Lucius says, putting pen to paper. "Let's see here. To my… dearest… Stede…"

Ed watches him write, the loops and lines flowing easily from the nib, until he stops and stares up from the parchment.

"So…?"

"Oh shit," Ed says flatly. "I need to come up with words."

"That is traditionally how letters are written, yes."

When Ed doesn't say anything, Lucius shrugs and says, "I love you and your face is great?"

That dislodges a growl from the back of Ed's throat. It seems somewhat obvious now, but he'd been so caught up in the anxiety of the asking and the learning and the overall gesture of the letter that he'd simply forgotten he actually needed something to say.

"Fuck, how am I supposed to do this?"

"Well, what's inside here?" Lucius gestures to his chest with the feathered end of the quill.

"Guts, I guess. Blood. About half a bottle of rum."

"Good god," Lucius mutters under his breath. "No, I mean your feelings."

"Oh. Well… I love him." Ed scowls at his own simple-mindedness. "Except I wanna say it fancier than that. I dunno how Stede's so good at this, I've got all this stuff in my head but I don't know how to make it come out of my mouth."

"How about we try it another way. What do you think of when you think of the captain?"

Ed takes a moment and thinks about Stede - thinks about warm eyes and kind hands, about quiet kisses on a beach and you wear fine things well. He thinks about tea and silk and breakfast together on the maintop.

"I dunno… I guess… marmalade? Warm and sweet but also weird and tangy. Got all those unexpected bits in it."

He thinks about waking up together, about sleep-warm skin and finding each other's soft edges in the early light of dawn, and smiles.

"And I like the taste of it first thing in the morning."

Lucius' face crumples in disgust. "Oh Jesus Christ."

The reaction hits Ed like a punch to the gut and suddenly his face is on fire. "Oh for– I meant, like, kissing!"

"God it's like… picturing your parents going at it."

"Well stop picturing it then!"

"Okay, okay, okay." Lucius rubs his face and takes a deep breath. "That's actually… oddly sweet. I think we can make something out of it."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

The next morning is a calm one. Lucius stands on the quarterdeck, covertly eyeing up his co-captains sitting side by side on the maintop. It's become their routine, eating breakfast up there together, though Lucius can't help but notice how much Blackbeard has been fidgeting for the last ten minutes.

"They're cute, aren't they?" Pete says as he sidles up next to Lucius.

The two of them watch as Blackbeard hands over a piece of paper, much to Captain Stede's surprise.

"Hm… How would you feel if I wrote you a poem about marmalade?"

Pete leans into Lucius' shoulder. "Um, I dunno. That sounds kinda sweet."

Lucius studies Captain Stede's face carefully - or at least as much as he can from this distance.

"And if it contained the line 'orange you glad we met'? What then, Pete?"

"Oof. You didn't let him write that, did you babe?"

Above them, Stede breaks out into a smile and pulls Blackbeard into an enthusiastic kiss.

"Okay, seems like Captain Stede likes it well enough at least."

The kiss gets a little more lively, Stede pushing his body into Blackbeard, until the two of them disappear in a heap on top of each other.

"Wow, he really likes marmalade, huh?" Pete says.

"Yeah, I think this is our cue to get back to work."

Lucius grabs Pete by the elbow and hurries them off below deck, firm in the knowledge that he will not be able to so much as look at the jam room for the foreseeable future.

#my fics #our flag means death #ofmd #blackbonnet #more ficlets hell yeah

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karuinekom · 2 years

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frenchie is literally that kind of guy that could go straight to izzy asking him to teach how to write and read, if we assume he doesn't know how to read well. because i wanna point out the fucker was still able to read the french invitation for the party

and so, he just does it one evening, after dining with the other, grabbing a plate for izzy, who has been skipping meals with the crew because he still gets pissed at them sometimes. frenchie, walking in his room, which is still izzy's, even after edward and stede reunite. after the crew reunited, and jim and olu had to accept that. but somehow, now, it's also frenchie's because he's been hanging out there way too much. and he doesn't even deny it. but rather he barges, and he barges a lot about it saying "the other day i saw him knitting something, did you know he could knit?" as he meant that nobody else has seen him like that, and makes him feel special. however, izzy doesn't deny it as well

as if the crew doesn't know what kind of the relationship they have. as if they haven't noticed how frenchie follows him around, as izzy doesn't bark at him that harshly, as frenchie sings for him, like, he's still singing and playing for the crew, but the songs seem always love letters to him. and izzy knows it, knows it well, and that's why he doesn't want him to down anything. because he knows he'll crack at the image of frenchie's writing in the most crappy handwriting, complaining about how izzy's calligraphy is much more readable

so, izzy initially refuses, not breaking even after the lad starts pushing him, saying to him ‘pretty please' and the grumpy pirate is basically restraining himself, he's trying to do it at least and he knows he could be crack at any moment, at another single good word from frenchie, but the bard has already given up, after a couple of minute of pestering him and is instead walking to stede or lucius, probably lucius asking him to teach how to do it. not to jim because he still doesn't know they could read and write actually. he asks lucius and the scribe is half wanting to help and half hating it because it's interrupting his day of ‘not doing anything'. but he still agrees, and he starts from the basics, testing what frenchie could actually do

but then, izzy walks on deck and notices frenchie and lucius studying, just after izzy rejected frenchie's request, and he's outraged. almost offended because it was this easy to replace him with lucius. and as he just passes near the duo and ignores both of them – thing he does at first, for like two minutes – he just can't. and maybe it's jealousy, but whatever that is, izzy stomps towards the fool and squeezes his shoulder, looking visibly annoyed

"what's wrong, dizzy izzy?" says lucius as he hands his quill to frenchie. izzy death glaring at him and squeezing more and the fool jolting away not to get his shoulder broken. "mind bother us the only time i do something on this ship?"

frenchie is just silent because izzy can literally break him. and the second he opens his mouth, izzy is already barking at him a "you! move! below deck. now." and releasing his grip, frenchie jumps on his feet, a thrilled-half scared smile because that part of izzy is still quite hot and he walks back in izzy's room. waiting. and before izzy turns his heels and goes downstairs as well, lucius calls him out.

"he wanted to write you love songs and letters. c'mon dizzy, let him have some fun." and izzy now even more frustrated as the scribe pointed out frenchie's intents. and after cursing at him and calling him a twat as usual he storms away, kicks the door opens and locks it behind, the lantern wobbling on top of their heads, grabbing frenchie by his yellow necktie and slowly mellowing as he's gazed back by those dark eyes and he doesn't speak for a moment

"why you asked spriggs for help?"

"you told me you wouldn't teach me."

"that wasn't my point."

"so, what was it really? because you're so cryptic in your silences. you always make me wonder what you could've been thinking. don't like to do all the hard work by myself."

and Izzy does go silent again, because frenchie got him like he always does. he knows his weak points and he sees through him so well. and for a second izzy is so close to dropping the act and just leaning in for a kiss, still hard and too high to reach, while the other look sat him adamant. and for once is frenchie's silence that breaks izzy.

"fffine—"

"was my pretty face that cracked your shell or did the idea of teaching me something turned you on?"

"shut up you twat."

the way he said that is everything but derogatory, it's actually soft and as soft as he pulls the necktie, frenchie now lowering, deceived he'd get a kiss, just to be flipped on the floor. and a small book and a quill are thrown at him. izzy pulling the chair of his desk close to the bed where frenchie is now leaning on and starts talking, mapping the letters of the alphabet, and frenchie has to focus so much to actually learn, and not just be dazed by him

#ofmd #our flag means death #izzy hands #frenchie #frenchizzy #frenzzy #ouizzy #izzy x frenchie #ofmd izzy #ofmd frenchie #the idea of izzy teaching him how to read will be living in my head till the end of times #i kinda got carried away but ouizzy does that to my brain

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shrimp-piss · 2 years

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new chapter of It’s You, It’s All For You is now up! here’s a snippet!

Stede decided to ignore the letter.

Found on his desk, with blue ink left dripping onto the page, was the letter. It was real. Stede made sure of it. He flipped it around, inspected every word, every letter, every stroke of the ink. It was real and it was in Ed’s handwriting. Edward’s handwriting. Edward Teach.

Stede gently pressed his fingertip to the page, tracing each letter as his hand shook. Love. Written over and over again, there was the word: Love. How did – why did Ed write this for him? Leave it out and in the open for him to find? His thoughts raced. There were no real answers in sight. Love, his mind and eyes supplied helpfully. But he wasn’t ready to accept this fact. It didn’t feel real. If it was real, the next step would be – if he was in a romance novel – was to run all over the ship searching and calling Ed’s name until he found him. He could imagine Ed’s face. Puzzled, eyebrows hitched far on his forehead, eyes wide and mouth slightly agape. He would spread his arms wide, running into Ed, knocking him onto the deck. He would grip Ed’s jacket into his hand, maybe even wrinkle and crease it a bit. Tears would be running down his face and he would say something like, “Dearest, you don’t know how much I love you.” And then he would kiss Ed. He would laugh and cry and kiss Ed over and over again. But he was not in a romance novel. He was trapped in real life, and real life wasn’t as easy as a romance novel. There was no final page that destined him for a happy life filled with no more trouble.

#omfd #our flag means death #our flag means gay #stede bonnet #edward teach #edward x stede #gentlebeard #blackbonnet

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isrighthand · 1 year

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Dear Izzy,

I wish you could know how much I want to love you, and love you unconditionally. I want to be there for the happy moments, and hold you through the sad ones. I want you to be able to be yourself. I want to love you with no restrictions. I think you’re so handsome, with a charming smile, a beautiful laugh…even if i was just a small part of your life, if I got to be a part of it, I’d be so happy. I just don’t think you’d ever even *notice* me, let alone like me.

So for now, I will stay:

-Your Secret Admirer

Izzy is, at first, entirely sure that it's Lucius playing a prank on him. He barely even reads the letter, in all honesty, so sure is he that no one could ever truly feel this way for him.The sentences start to blur the longer he reads and the only thing he really captures from it it that it's supposed to look like a love letter from a secret admirer.

He's not supposed to punish the crew anymore. He's been confined to 'positive reinforcement' ever since Stede came back, whatever the fuck that means. Fortunately, this isn't a matter of his position, it's a matter of Lucius Spriggs being a dick to Israel Hands.

His theory starts to fall apart as soon as he tears Lucius' journal out of his hands. Lucius is pissed, obviously, more so when Izzy blindly tears out the first page with writing on it he can see. They get into a spat, but Lucius doesn't seem to be concerned in the right sort of way that Izzy stole his handwriting. Just angry about the loss of his page.

When he sits down in his quarters to compare the writing, he can tell it isn't the same, straight away. Part of him thinks Lucius could have faked it, but looking closely, there isn't any similarity in the letters, as there should be, if he had.

The second time Izzy reads the letter, he actually pays attention.

For a brief moment, he wishes it were Edward writing this, but he knows well enough that Edward couldn't write something like this. He would recognize Ed's voice anywhere, even on paper, if he could write something like this.

The only people aside from Lucius that Izzy knows can write are Bonnet and Jim. He's seen Ivan read a bit (wanted posters, street signs and the like) - it's possible he can write, too. And of course, Bonnet had recently started that fucking class, teaching anyone who wanted how to write, and so maybe it could be anyone. Maybe it's fucking Buttons.

Izzy gives a stressed out little laugh and buries his face in his hands.

Someone meant this. Someone wrote his a fucking love letter. His chest is all aflutter, heart warm, nervous.

He has to find out how it is. He reads it a third time, and a fourth, and a fifth, and pays close attention, feeling somewhat blown away, complimented, soft, but he notes, too, the details. They've seen him smile, and laugh. He thinks, for a moment, that might be something, and then he recalls the one time Roach had made him laugh when he'd bothered to join the group that one night, and unfortunately, has to discard it. (Could it be Roach? He hadn't paid attention to who the hell was taking Bonnet's class . . . ) The other part that calls to him - 'I just don't think you'd ever notice me' - so it's someone he hasn't paid much attention to, then. That crosses Lucius and Edward off the list for sure.

This letter, the words inside - they're going to be flitting about his head for the next few weeks, he knows, if not the next few years. Everyone's a suspect. He's equally pleased and distressed at the idea that someone wrote this, for him. That something so simple as a page is making it difficult to think straight. He's losing his touch.

He folds it and tucks it inside his vest. No rest for the wicked - he has to get back to work.

#this has essence of stede written all over it but if it is from a lucius i'm gonna have to rewrite this response lmao #me screaming from the rooftops: IZZY IS A ROMANTIC AT HEART #ic.

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