so hey uh.

“I saw you.”

“Of course you did.”

this is Ed and Izzy’s relationship this season in the tiniest little nutshell and I am chewing concrete over it. just bash me in the head with a cannonball because the guy who’s known Ed longer and better than anyone else in his life, the guy who lost a fucking limb to Ed’s downward spiral is standing there still and saying to him it’s okay, I see all of you and I love you anyway.

I’m fine btw

The more I think about it, the more heartbreaking the line: "I forgive you, by the way. For sleeping with Doug."

First, Stede doesn't talk about sex. He's angered by Calico Jack's questions and insinuations, and he's very clear that "Ed's past is Ed's business." He seems to have zero issues with his crew doing whatever they like with whomever they like, but it's clear he's not participating or particularly talking about it with anyone. We know his married life is loveless, and that he's a closeted gay man who's in love with another man for the first time ever, so sex is a difficult topic for him.

And the one time he explicitly mentions sex, to his wife, is to drunkenly and resentfully forgive her for sleeping with another man. It's harsh, and not just because he's drunk—he emphasizes it. He breaks the statement into two sentences, so that she's very clear what he's forgiving her for. She even seems shocked by it—this isn't something he does. From what we see of their married life he's oblivious and distant and awkward, but he's not cruel.

The whole sequence from the art opening onward is juxtaposed against the Ed and Izzy scene where Izzy bullies Ed back into becoming Blackbeard and eventually the Kraken. So this sequence is Stede's "Kraken" moment, as the scene escalates from the embarrassing meanness at the art opening to the cruelty in private.

But Stede lives in a different world than Ed, and his society is shaped by "cutting remarks." Where pirate violence is physical, Stede's is mostly verbal. He knows how to use language against people; it has been done to him, and we see him do it to the French ship, to Izzy, and to Chauncey. He’s very emotionally attuned and he’s adept at getting the knife in when he wants to. He uses it carefully, though, usually in defense either of himself or someone he loves. But if he were to become a bully, he’d be horrific.

We never see Stede being deliberately vicious to someone who doesn’t deserve it, and he's being deliberately vicious to Mary, a woman as thoroughly trapped in that marriage as he is (even more so, because she has very limited options for escape). What we know, which Mary doesn't yet, is that his viciousness is coming from the ache of what he left behind.

Stede was able to try to reconcile his return as "doing his duty" for his family, and what he finds is that his family have moved on. Not only that, but the wife whom he was at least imprisoned with, who at least shared in some degree his discomfort and unhappiness and was obliged to make it work with him as far as they both could, has found the love and pleasure that he's denying himself. He's isolated in a way he wasn't before. He wants to isolate her again so that at least he still has some kind of companionship, even if it's just in suffering.

Mary's fears are clear. If Stede decides that she can’t be with Doug, he has a LOT of power to stop her. He’s a wealthy male landowner; he legally owns her and the children. He can ruin Doug and he can make her life hell. He legally and culturally has a lot of control over her sexuality. I don’t think for one minute that Mary ever feared Stede their entire life and she fears him now.

It is cruel, and it's not Mary's fault. Nor is this who Stede is, or who he wants to be, though it's clearly a sign of who he can become. Again, like the scene at the art gallery, the scene between them is important to develop how repression and self-loathing can warp a person, even someone as genuinely kind as Stede. He is so desperate to “do the right thing” that he’s twisting himself up into the very kind of man who has hurt him. And beneath it is the longing for Ed and the love and passion that he’s denied himself.

That this all pushes toward a breaking point where Stede and Mary are finally able to understand each other, and Stede is finally able to say that he's gay and he's in love with Ed, makes that moment much more powerful. Mary was perfectly ready to hate him and at least save herself, but she helps him find the words to express who he is and what he feels, and who he wants.

The poison turns into positivity.

it’s so fucking hard being an ed stan first and foremost when making posts like “i love how compassionate and kind they are to ed’s struggle and how they underline that his awful behavior comes from suicidal hatred of himself, he continues to be one of the most unflinching portrayals of fucked mental health that does not stop itself from showing how badly his own self hatred hurts other people as well yet doesn’t make him an irredeemable monster” gets people who think that ed didn’t even hurt the crew at all really they were just used to stedes management style and complaining for no reason and izzy getting his leg amputated is just comedic relief we’re supposed to laugh at and ultimately we should all be focused on condemning izzy for making ed upset in the first place in your notifs. like y’all make it actually impossible to praise the show bc you don’t even think the show is doing what it is doing

Bottle It Up: the most tangible theme in OFMD s2

So looking at s2 through the (super fucked up) lens that Jim asking Frenchie “How are you handling all of this so well?” And Frenchie responding by saying he puts all the terrible things in a box in his mind and never opens it again was the lesson everyone was supposed to learn this season and like, that’s there in the text more than anything else and I hate that.

Frenchie is handling everything well because he’s putting it in the box and never addressing it again.

Izzy finally says he has love for Ed, everyone is worried about him, the atmosphere is toxic and suggests talking it through and Ed goes on deck and points a gun at everyone as he asks them to talk about it, and when Izzy finally does address the reality of things and speaks Stede’s name aloud he gets shot in the leg.

Lucius isn’t talking about what happened. Avoidant about the Rat Boy name at first, says he fell off the ship, can’t remember when he picked up smoking.

Stede asks Lucius to talk to him about what happened after he was pushed off the ship, and Lucius starts to and almost immediately Stede runs away saying to save the rest for Pete.

Lucius says he talks to Pete and Stede says “please tell me you held back on some of the darker stuff” and Lucius confirms he did because Pete got nauseous and started crying.

Lucius tells Stede he should look past the man he loves and examine all the awful things he did, but Stede brushes it off and doesn’t do that.

No one will tell Stede they killed Ed. (Arguably this is for their own safety as well but it fits the whole “we’re not talking about the hard stuff” theme so I’m including it)

Ed finds out Stede went home to Mary through Anne Bonny. Stede begins to try to explain but instead, Ed smashes his chair against the wall and walks off. They have a very brief conversation with mention that Stede was kidnapped by Chauncey then watched him die.

Ed gives his influencer non-apology that was clearly written by Stede to the crew, and everyone but Lucius and Izzy seem to have forgiven him. During the “apology” Jim talks about how it made them feel and Stede shushes them so Ed can keep not apologizing. Afterward, for some reason, Jim says immediately says “I thought it was pretty solid for him” Archie says that’s how it goes in situations like this, Roach has never heard an apology before so they’re all good apparently now.

Lucius pushes Ed off the ship but isn’t okay yet. We’re addressing the trauma here and trying to make it right (even if it’s in a messed up way); we’re finally talking about it directly, but Lucius isn’t okay after this.

Fang tells Ed he’s not mad at him because he got it all out of his system when they beat him to death.

The whole Lucius/Izzy exchange “A shark did this to me. Dangling my legs over the side of the ship, served me right too.” “Okay, that seems healthy. Using a bit of fiction to cover up your trauma.” “Not moving on is worse.” (Another point at which Lucius wants to resolve trauma and he’s told no, don’t talk about it)

Lucius is clearly coping poorly and tries again to talk to Pete about how he almost died and Pete says he should find him when he’s no longer thinking about his trauma (“find me when Blackbeard isn’t living rent free in your head”) and that Lucius should talk about how he lived instead. Lucius then seems to decide that he’s fine, proposes to Pete, and is seemingly okay after that. (5th point in the story when Lucius tries to talk about something to heal and is told no in some way, and here is when he finally seems to moves on and is played as “better” after this)

Izzy’s drinking a lot even after he’s not totally dysfunctional like at the end of ep4.

The only Ed apology to Izzy is “Sorry about your leg.” With no eye contact as he’s walking away. To which Izzy responds “Fuck off.” After Ed’s out of ear shot.

Stede suggests Ed can absolve himself of everything by “turning the poison into positivity” and selling his treasure he got during the time he was abusing the crew to buy party supplies. Stede later says at the party that yes, Ed has achieved turning the poison into positivity, though Ed has done nothing by throw money at the problem.

Stede ignores Ed’s warning about not being able to come back from killing in cold blood and kills Ned Low.

Stede is visibly upset and Ed goes to check on him and begins to start talking, but Stede wordlessly grabs him and slams him up against a wall and then they have sex (which Ed has requested to wait on) instead of talking about it.

Ed decides he’s leaving to become a fisherman because Stede is infamous now and Ed’s been wanting out of that life so there’s a brief disagreement where not much is said and then he leaves.

“I’m sorry I was such a dick.” Is the biggest apology we’ve gotten all season. It’s immediately dismissed as “you’re not a dick. Life’s a dick.”

No one in the crew seems to be mourning Izzy’s death and we as the audience seem expected to move on from it very fast. Avenging his death is proposed by Zheng but then it cuts to nope, we’re done with that and we’re inn keepers now instead. Put the terrible thing you’ve seen in the box and never open it again.

I’m definitely sure I forgot some of these and it felt at first that these were being set up to be played negatively because this is the don’t-bottle-it-up/healing-from-our-traumas show but that just doesn’t play out. Like so much of it’s either dismissed without reason, played as a joke, or framed as acceptable and the fact that I could pull so much more of this stuff out of the text than I could any other potential thematic element does has me just so baffled. I don’t know what to do with it.

“Not moving on is worse.”

In the context of season two, I struggle to reconcile the intersection of sincerity and comedy, and the idea of what pains and traumas we are meant to understand at the deeper level of what trauma is with those that serve only the purpose of comedic timing. This isn’t limited to one character, but rather to the season as a whole.

Season one highlighted childhood trauma and the ability to move on from that, becoming the best adult version of oneself possible. We see this evident in Ed, Stede, and Jim specifically as we are allowed to explore their pasts and their traumas — and we can presume that no one on the crew of the Revenge is without trauma (Fang’s dog, anyone?) of some kind that they carry with them. Stede handles his traumas and how to process them through running away and avoiding the issue until he no longer can. Ed does something similar, though he is able to craft a facade to use as a shield and a weapon, even if he never delivers a killing blow himself. Jim dedicates their life to revenge.

We witness all of these characters allow the defining characteristic of love to be allowing themselves to be saved and valued for who they are — not for what they can offer.

When season two opens, we as an audience see Ed at, arguably, his worst (I say arguably because we didn’t see Blackbeard in his prime, so… do with that what you will, I suppose). We see how this affects beloved and treasured characters, as well as new characters that we have yet to fall in love with. We see Fang fall apart not once but twice within the first two episodes alone. In episode two, we see Ed — a much beloved and adored character who we know intimately — lash out when confronted for his behavior. He lashes out at his crew and physically mutilates his closest confidant for daring to question him. “But that’s piracy!” And you’re right! But don’t we watch the first episode of season one highlight how much Stede Bonnet wants to change piracy? Isn’t this show supposed to be about found family, and getting better, and finding healing? In which case, we’re watching Ed behave abusively in the wake of his mental struggles as he once again attempts to hide behind the same facade that has protected him in the past. Ed suffers this breakdown in response to not one but two perceived rejections from the two people he would claim to be the most important in his life, and in a classic mental illness fashion, he barricades himself off and settles into the persona that is everything he doesn’t want to be.

His crew fears him. They’ve been kidnapped and essentially held hostage under the man they believe to have murdered their crew — their friends — and are watching him continue to devolve. Enter Izzy Hands and Jim Jimenez. Izzy is well aware of his hand in Ed’s state. “Well, he instigated it!” He did. He wanted back a version of Blackbeard who he saw as safe territory: a necessary evil for the continued survival and safety of the crew, ship, and Ed and Izzy themselves. And then he watched Edward “Only Ever Killed One Person Personally” Teach fulfill the legend he’s always been known as, and watched him become someone who couldn’t care less about life or death or anything in between. Ed surpassed and buried the version of Blackbeard that Izzy wanted to return, and he was force-fed the consequences of this with an unavoidable cruelty. “Well, he deserved what he got! Violence was always on the table, because it’s piracy!” But once again, we’re operating under the assumption that the big themes of this show are healing from trauma and being worthy of being loved even if we’ve done bad things. 

While we’re on that topic, though, let’s explore that. Ed’s childhood trauma comes from his abusive father. He carries the weight of that abuse with him well into adulthood, as well as the weight of what he had to do to survive it. What he had to do to save his mother. This season sees him abusing those around him. Despite this, despite his erratic behavior and the mistreatment of his crew, he is still loved (by crew and fandom both, if I may add). He is still loved by Stede, despite the trail of blood he leaves in his wake. Stede is still longing to find him, despite knowing what he’s done and what he’s now capable of, and this continues to reiterate that idea of you deserve to be loved even when you’ve done wrong.

And then, Stede finds him.

We as an audience witness Ed make the choice to stay alive. We watch the thought process, we see that he chooses to fight for that love that comes alongside being saved. Being wanted. Being seen for who you are and loved because of it. And up to here, I’m on board. I’m excited to see what’s next and how Ed will reconcile for what he’s done and the harm he’s caused at the hands of his mental illness — because the truth is, we harm people when we aren’t adequately being responsible for our mental illness. This is a real-world thing. We lash out when we’re hurt, or when we’re rejected, or when we’re struggling. When we’re suffering, we often can’t see past ourselves to see whether or not we’re also causing others to suffer. This does not make us bad people — and it didn’t make Ed one. And then the “apology” came and went. The only member of the crew Ed really sits and ever has a drawn out conversation with about anything is Fang, and even this is somewhat shallow. Fang absolves him and moves on. We don’t get to see whether or not Ed ponders this conversation long-term or whether or not he battles with himself over how to move on. 

We’re left with a traumatized crew who semi-accepted a half-hearted apology and a beloved character who hasn’t actually been held accountable at all. “But he apologized and wore the bell and fixed that door latch!” Yes, and? He physically mutilated his first mate, instructed him to be killed, traumatized an entire crew — and this all takes a backseat to his relationship with Stede. And what a stunning scene between the two of them in the moonlight, where Ed finds it in him to ask to take things slow. Where he recognizes his needs and vocalizes them. I left this episode feeling so hopeful, because half-baked apology aside, Ed is actively learning to vocalize his thoughts and ask for what he needs when he recognizes in himself that something is going to be harmful to him. We had a kiss, we had Ed asking for help when he needed it, we had a proposal, we had “not moving on is worse,” and even knowing only three episodes remained, I left feeling like we had been so perfectly set up to see how things were only going to keep improving. 

In the first episodes of the season, we see murderous raids and mutilated first mates and two suicide attempts (though I suppose one was more of a mass murder-suicide attempt?) and these are all thrown together. In episode six, Stede deescalates a raid from a bloodbath of his own crew and sends another crew on their way with the lessons and values that he has been pursuing since the first episode of the first season. He then, in a parallel to the French ship of season one, causes a man’s death. This is highlighted as a turning point, something that can’t be ever moved on from. (“There’s no coming back from that.”) But what about the other traumatic events of the season that are treated as jokes? Izzy’s drinking, day in and day out, bottle after bottle after bottle — coping with the reality of his life and the way it’s been altered beyond recognition. The mop he used as a makeshift leg snapping, forcing him to pull himself away from the crew with his own hands. Lucius’s mention of being sexually assaulted and Stede’s look of disgust, the way he literally runs away from the conversation. Lucius never gets to air out his traumas, not really, not with someone who listens and tells him he’s safe and allows him to talk things through. Even Pete gets ill instead of being able to offer support.

I struggle to reconcile what is and isn’t comedy in this season, or what violence is meant to be taken for what it is. The Ed and Izzy breakdowns in episodes one and two sat far too close to my chest for me to look past them into comedy — and the suicidality of both men was glossed over and moved on from so quickly, never explored. Did Izzy’s “I wanna go” in the final episode mean he never moved on? That some part of him was still lying in that room with a gun to his head? You don’t become non-suicidal in a matter of days — is there still something lingering in the back of Ed’s mind? There was never a conversation about it, and there was never anything between the two of them that could allow me comfort in knowing that they had reached some sort of understanding. This season pulled domestic abuse, alcohol abuse, and suicidal tendencies straight from my own traumas and never held anyone accountable for any of them. There was no healing. There was no real talking it through. “Well, it’s not a rom-com, so—” Except it continues to be presented as one. Shortcomings of storylines of characters that seem to have been cast aside or mischaracterized this season aside, I cannot for the life of me reconcile how a show about kindness and moving on and being loved amidst all of your flaws could have a season so wrought with traumas and yet never discuss them. Never explore them in a way that allows me to move on. I love this show and there were so many good things about this season; I love these characters, and yet I feel so disconnected from it for the first time in over a year. Not moving on is worse, sure, but moving on without accountability leaves wounds unable to heal. How do you move on from that?

i haven’t actually seen the episode in full yet but uh. something i’ve observed I suppose?

Izzy Hands. He dies yes? Yes. It makes sense narratively. I can understand being upset, but I’m telling you!! Izzy was the last attachment Ed had to being Blackbeard; the last reminder that he was this bloodthirsty pirate, the last reminder that he was unhappy. Izzy Hands was never a character for the sake of a character; he was written as a plot device, and will continue to be one if we get a season 3, I’m sure.

Just because you love him doesn’t mean him dying is illogical. It makes sense. It is Blackbeard finally being dead. It is Edward Teach finally being free. Izzy was queer, Izzy was depressed, Izzy was tortured. We saw this coming. Some people are saying “We thought DJenks would be better than this!!” but this is storytelling. Thinking about Izzy as a plot device rather than a separate character shows a lot more— he is used as a direct analogy. He represents Blackbeard. The death of Blackbeard was long time coming. Blackbeard wanted to die; Ed wanted to live. Izzy singing and becoming comfortable as himself is literally an analogy for Ed becoming comfortable as Ed.

That out of the way, here’s my thoughts about the seagull on Izzy’s grave.

One idea is that the seagull is Buttons. He is a symbol of magic this season, obviously. So, in theory, because magic is real, we could be getting Izzy back via Buttons magic.

My other theory is that Buttons being on Izzy’s grave is a reference to “to love […] requires change”

In order to love Stede the way Stede needs to be loved, Ed needed to change; Blackbeard needed to die. If this is the case, then Izzy was the remaining part holding Ed back from changing.

Anyways sorry about this but it’s so frustrating having people complaining about this. Being upset is fine, but the show writing itself is absolutely magnificent. Bury your gays does not apply to this situation because these are the “bury your gays” definitions:

Gay Guy Dies First: When the often only queer character dies early on, before straight characters.

Gayngst-Induced Suicide: When an LGBT+ character commits or attempts to commit suicide because of reasons connected to or caused by being LGBT.

Homophobic Hate Crime: When a character is attacked and often murdered by homophobic characters.

Out of the Closet, Into the Fire: After a character comes out they are quickly killed, harmed, or cosmically punished.

Tragic AIDS Story: The story involves the miseries of HIV/AIDS, often starring gay men, sometimes treated like a punishment for homosexuality.

Vasquez Always Dies: The most lesbian-coded character, or the closest thing the work has to a butch character, always seems to get killed off, or has the most violent and drawn-out death.

The closest possible one, if this were bury your gays, would be “Out of the Closet, Into the Fire”. HOWEVER!!!!!! Izzy is not killed because he’s queer. He’s not killed “after he comes out”. Plus, literally every main character in the show is queer. Every single one. I do not believe this is a bury your gays. I believe this is a purposefully heartbreaking kill; you’re SUPPOSED to like Izzy by now! Because Ed likes Ed now. He’s accepted himself. That’s what Izzy was for; showcasing Ed’s internal journey.

Where Ed starts to learn that his actions were forgivable and that he is lovable.

Ed believes that he is unlovable and yet the crew shows him love despite everything he put them through. He feels guilt about what he did to them, and yet the crew forgive him easily.

This contradicts some of the takes I’ve seen over the past few months that suggest the crew didn’t forgive Ed, or that it wasn’t explicitly shown that they forgave him. I sometimes wonder if those people missed episode 5. In this episode everyone gets closure (or at least starts to).

Ed’s initial speech might sound like a politician’s speech, but even at that stage some of the crew are won over, some even impressed by his apology.

Ed and Izzy share a drink out of a bottle. Ed apologies to Izzy, saying sorry about his leg. It’s awkward, but it’s right for both of them.

Lucius might not get closure after throwing Ed off the ship, but he does start on a sort of path to healing. His therapy is drawing pictures of Ed in an attempt to reconcile the real Ed with the evil Ed in his head. He is putting Ed’s face on nice things that he likes, like flowers and dogs, and kind of creating positive associations with Ed’s face to wipe out the negative one that he had. It’s great therapy. And then Izzy tells him that moving on is better and Lucius takes Pete’s advice and focuses on the fact that he lived and he finally takes hold of what he wants - a life with Pete.

When Ed speaks to Fang he admits his guilt. He says: “Maybe I did too much. I took a man’s leg. Terrorised you. I wasn’t a good guy. I’d like to make amends, but honestly I wouldn’t even know where to start, what to say to make things better. How to say it. There are certain things I should be saying…”

At which point Fang interrupts and basically stops him saying any more. In fact he accuses him of talking too much “because you don’t know how to sit with yourself.” Why does Fang cut Ed off at that point? Maybe he is just saying it’s ok, we forgive you, or maybe he just wants Ed to stop scaring the fish. Whatever reason Fang thinks Ed has said enough. He is forgiven.

Ed takes on Fang’s advice to stop talking and just “sit with yourself”. The whole experience with Fang probably leads to Ed’s philosophical approach to being a fisherman.

What’s all this say? That Ed feels like he has to do more to make amends, but the crew is like: ”We’re ok. We still love you.” I also think there is an element of we don’t need to forgive you for what happened because it wasn’t your fault, it was your depression and despair. Nobody should be blamed for a mental breakdown.

But even in the next episode Ed still feels the guilt. In the Calipso’s Birthday episode we have the Guilt Room. “Excellent, A reminder of my guilt. A guilt room,” as Ed says. Even though the crew has forgiven him, he won’t forgive himself.

Ed uses the symbol of his guilt for something good, he turns the poison into positivity with the party paid for by the plunder. But then of course even that goes wrong with the arrival of Ned Lowe, which Ed blames himself for (Ned being one of his passive suicide options that he has now brought down on the crew and Stede).

I feel that the choice of words Ed uses when he tries to stop Stede killing Ned are significant. He says: “Killing in cold blood, you can’t come back from that.” I always wondered what he meant by that, it seems a strange thing to suggest that the circumstances would be “in cold blood” (e.g. no emotion, ruthless and unfeeling) when they are anything but. That’s not what Stede is doing at all, Stede is defending his crew and ridding the world of someone who sort to hurt and kill them all. He is defending his crew from an evil person, just like Ed defended his mother and himself from his father. It’s another thing Ed has to learn: that sometimes killing is justified and it doesn’t make you a bad person.

Then Ed goes to Stede afterwards to offer support and Stede’s reaction to Ed standing at the door talking about how his first kill was his father is to pull him towards him. Perhaps this isn’t just Stede saying he wants Ed, it could also be Stede saying that it was the right thing to do for both of them, to protect their family. And that they have that thing in common. They are comforting each other - and it’s definitely what Ed wanted to happen, I firmly believe he didn’t only go to Stede to comfort him.

I’m going to leave it there, because obviously Ed still has a lot to work through before he can truly forgive himself and learn that he is loved, but he is part way there.

I haven’t yet given my two cents about the season finale of ofmd, especially Izzy’s death. I’ve seen a lot of different opinions and i respect if yours differs from mine. I’m open to respectful discussion. But here’s my take that’s probably biased because I love Izzy.

Izzy’s death was unnecessary.

It was clear to me he was killed off to protect the show’s one true monogamous pairing that Izzy posed a threat to. He first tried to separate them in season one and secondly he clearly loved Edward, even saying so in season two.

But what makes me angry is that David Jenkins said he wanted a happy ending for the queer characters because in media they are often punished.

Is that not exactly what they did to Izzy? Or does that happy ending only apply to queer characters in relationships? Is one’s queerness only valid if you are in a relationship?

Here’s a screenshot of the article I’m referencing:

“It was important that if we don’t get to make more of these, the show doesn’t end in a dour way like the first season. Because a lot of times, if there’s a queer romance in a genre thing, the characters often end up being punished for it and it ends up tragic or unrequited. I think it’s important to give these characters a happy ending.”

The writers seemed to only value the queer characters in relationships and not those that weren’t.

This makes it clear to me was killed off to give Ed and Stede their happy ending. Because Izzy posed a threat to it and his impact to the plot was over, they killed him off.

But in doing that they did exactly that. Punished a queer character for being queer. They killed him because he loved Ed and had no other love interest.

Here’s a link to the article:

This is just my opinion and I respect if yours is different from mine. I’d love to hear your opinions feel free to share as long as your respectful.

You said you saw a lot of fics where the ship falls apart after Izzy leaves, could you recommend me some?

I'm probably using the wrong keywords but couldn't find them. Thanks so much!

I have to be upfront while it is a trope it’s rarely the sole focus of the fic, rather it’s usually included via throw away pieces of dialogue or brief sections, bc typically stories tend to follow Izzy’s journey more. So I have yet to find a fic where I am personally fully satisfied with this specific trope being addressed. I also have yet to see a fic where Izzy leaves and doesn’t get kidnapped.

That being said I do have recommendations: (bc these are Izzy centric do mind the tags)

This one is a classic. It follows the trope pretty darn close. Izzy and Ed get kidnapped. Stede and the crew have to learn to work without them:

This one is a sorta roundabout ver of the trope bc it’s a canon divergence au where Stede captures Izzy before meeting Ed but it still follows the format of Izzy being captured/ him showing the crew that they actually do need to do their jobs/ Ed realizing how much work Izzy does for him:

Izzy doesn’t leave in this one but it centers around the crew recognizing his abilities:

Of the fics I have bookmarked these are probably the ones that follow the trope most closely, but I know I’ve definitely read more that involve the trope to varying degrees. My advice for searching for these types of fics yourself; generally any fic that has to do with Izzy getting kidnapped will involve this trope in some way. Kidnapping is a tag you can search though it will take some digging. Another thing about this trope is it usually falls under the slowburn category so long word counts are also something to search by/ look out for.

And here are some recs that have some elements of the trope sprinkled in there (if my memory serves):

Deals with Izzy being heavily sought after and he does get sort of kidnapped at some point, at least the crew and captains think he does:

This one has Izzy bonding with the crew via workshops so it checks the “Izzy getting recognized for his value” box:

It’s been awhile since I’ve read this one so I don’t know how many of the boxes it ticks but it’s a very popular “Izzy gets kidnapped” fic:

Another popular “Izzy gets kidnapped” fic:

I was entertained by all the fics I’ve linked here even if they didn’t necessarily fulfill the full trope, they’re all good fics regardless. Hope you enjoy some of these!

Now that it’s been a minute and I hopefully won’t get “kys” comments on my posts, something to say.

I love Ed with my whole heart but he had no business crying when Izzy was dying. And no business crying because he’s his “only family”. For someone who tried to kill him twice himself not weeks ago.

Another thing, I love ofmd with everything I have and I thought season two was amazing, yet I’ll still say the ending sucked. We got a half assed burial for a crucial character that we were forced to fall in love because of all the character grow, and after that immediately the wedding and no one really even seemed to be that fucking affected.

The whole ending was about how much everyone loves Ed. I get that it was a private moment between him and Ed, which Ed had no privilege to have to begin with, but not a single person said good bye or even remotely let him know he was also loved. Because he was, they’re a family, they love each other. Izzy is the father that tried to protect them from Ed as much as he could, even from himself (hence saying “your feelings for Stede Fucking Bonnet” because with Edward constantly being high he might have just fucking shot himself. And Izzy wouldn’t let that happen).

I’m not saying that because of all the growth he did his death meant it didn’t matter, not at all. I’m saying it was poorly handled and made purely for shock factor and just to make it easier. Because in third season we have Stede and Ed and then Izzy doesn’t mix into the equation anymore, does he? With him being in love with Edward letting him go must’ve been a happy ending for them with “no interruptions”. That’s just my opinion. They didn’t even get a chance to sort anything out, to talk about anything except “sorry for your leg” scene. He got literally no closure, something I see often mentioned on here as well.

Izzy got the briefest time to feel actually happy. Imagine becoming a pirate at 16, scraping your way through life with so much violence, then working your ass off for Blackbeard and then here, you find a crew that lets you to just be, well, you. And he didn’t even get to feel that fully.

It was badly timed, the whole thing felt off, and once again, for someone who tried to actively kill and harm Izzy, Edward had no business bawling his eyes out how he’s his “only family”. A few weeks ago you discarded him like trash and didn’t even blink when you thought he was dead. Not saying people can’t change but holy shit balls is that a huge ass change for such short time.

I love Ed, don’t get me wrong, when you live among violence for so long it’s difficult to adjust your moral compass to something WE think is morally wrong or right. However I am saying it simply didn’t make sense.

And I love ofmd I thought second season was amazing, but the ending was not. And I think it’s okay to express something you didn’t like, just because I love it to death doesn’t mean I have to look at it like it’s the hand of god and I can’t be upset about anything.

I don’t think going forward I’ll make any comments on Izzy’s untimely death again, it’s just beating a dead (haha) horse over and over again, I’ve seen these things pointed that already but I talked how his death was fitting (in a way, it was) so now I wanted to say what was poorly handled. Because it was, in my opinion.

If you disagree, please don’t say that I deserve to lose a leg or “kys”, I really don’t think you should be watching ofmd if that’s your reaction to someone online criticising anything. And for that one lucky person who did say that, lucky to inform you, I already walk with the cane, so, half way there!

That’s it. That’s my final comment on this situation, I am slightly disappointed in how it ended but then again it’s just my opinion that means nothing in grand scheme of things. Moving forward I’m no longer commenting on this, only memes and good times.

Take care of yourself and most importantly love your fucking selves.

Fuck I love episode 6 so much…

CW: detailed discussions of a PTSD attack and trauma, mentions of domestic violence

You know why?? Because my special interests is psychology BECAUSE IDK WHY TF IT’S SO HARD TO JUST LET MEN HAVE NORMAL ASS MENTAL HEALTH PROBLEMS.

Literally, every friggin’ character who’s (textually) traumatized and male has to be either a war veteran or a serial killer for some reason. Like where the hell are all the dudes who shut down, cry, have panic attacks, use comfort items, regress a bit in language capabilities till they’re more grounded, you know, things that trauma actually causes??

I think I blue screened of death like 5 times watching this episode cause I couldn’t believe the show was just… letting this happen. Like thank fuck, (and please correct me if I’m wrong because I do not have this condition) an actually accurate depiction of ptsd for once! And now kindly follow me into the land of bullet points to illustrate this more clearly.

Ed’s anxiety/ level of functioning is not homogenized. He’s shown throughout the episode to have varying degrees of tolerance to triggers depending on the context and his emotional state. Telling the story to people he trusts in a safe context shakes him up a bit, but he’s ultimately able to laugh it off. Being reminded of the trauma when the environment is super chaotic and he’s about to literally repeat the event with someone he deeply cares for causes a full blown flashback.

It follows the proper… anatomy I guess(?) of a ptsd attack. Ed’s subplot in this episode is spent mainly breaking down his defenses, so when eventually there’s a sensory reminder (trigger) of his trauma he’s not prepared for, there’s a big reaction. He experiences a flashback (unsolicited vivid remembering, can be so intense your subconscious thinks you’re actually there), and he has a completely realistic response to it. No one’s concerned with emasculating him or whatever the fuck, men get overwhelmed and burst into tears sometimes damnit! And afterwards he’s not just fine, he actually needs to be grounded, attempting to take care of himself before Stede comes and helps him calm down completely. This isn’t seen as weak in the slightest, it’s just extremely unrealistic to expect someone to do such a thing quickly or without help.

There’s nuance and complexity. It’s unclear whether or not Ed’s breakdown was ultimately caused by the mention of the kraken, or the banging sounds of the puppet. It’s not supposed to be clear, not even to Ed. It’s obvious that witnessing the abuse of his mother and killing his father are not easily separated events in his memory. Trauma isn’t clean and pretty like that, and it doesn’t draw a perfectly traceable line from past to present in a one to one ratio.

He’s shown to continuously have triggers, it’s not just treated as a plot device cause we need Ed to break down and admit to attempted murder. And again they aren’t cleanly connected to the major traumatic event of killing his father, but rather smaller things that used to be unsafe day to day. The banging on the door explicitly reminds him of growing up with domestic abuse and watching Izzy fight Stede does so implicitly, being unable to even watch a loved one be put in psychical danger much less intervene.

And the absolute best part, what should be so friggin’ easy to do yet so many shows apparently prove that wrong, is that the framing doesn’t ridicule or belittle Ed for his emotions once. Not one single time. In a comedy no less. Oh sure the scene where he’s crying in a bathtub is fucking hilarious, but absolutely none of the humor comes from the fact that he’s crying in a bathtub. Because the writers know this kind of subject matter should be treated with gravity and are actually talented enough to do so without a weird out of nowhere tone shift. The closest I can think of to Ed’s trauma responses being seen as “funny” is when he falls out of the curtain sobbing and the Dutchmen freak out very cartoonishly and run away. But even then it’s clearly the Dutchmen who are the butt of the joke.

I get the same vibes as when they decided not to depict the abuse of Ed’s mother on screen. They not only portrayed this subject matter correctly but did so thoughtfully. They clearly wrote this episode while considering the needs of those who’d actually be able to relate to it.

Gunna take a break from Arcane for a moment to talk about Our Flag Means Death, because I am extremely disappointed and I have to put these thoughts somewhere. Putting it under a cut, because I myself forgot to filter the OFMD tag while I was working and got it spoiled for me. So ye be warned, OFMD SPOILERS AHEAD.

That ending was genuinely one of the worst I’ve seen in a long time. The only other time I can recall being this sickened and angry about a show’s ending was Game of Thrones. And it’s not because I’m sad or mad or confused by Izzy’s death, yes that’s partly it, but because a character who was experiencing massive change and character growth was ONCE AGAIN rewarded with death. I am so goddamn sick of rooting for people to do better, to be better, and then FINALLY get that catharsis only to have it thrown away for shock value.

What did this add to the story? Narratively, I mean. If this is indeed the end of OFMD, and it doesn’t get renewed, what the absolute FUCK kind of message does that send? Izzy was postured as some kind of obstacle between Ed and Stede in Season 1, but in S2, he was allowed to grow outside of that weird and fucked up love triangle (term used incredibly loosely, because his love was pretty much one-sided, and most of the time it was selfish and toxic). In S2, he went on an incredible journey of coming to terms with the fact that Ed would never be his again, not in the way he wanted. Even if it was never romantic or sexual (I do not see it), he wanted Ed to himself, and he had to accept that it would never happen. And he fucking DID, that’s the pisser. He learned to see the value in Ed’s transformation, the good that Stede was for him. And he learned to appreciate it and even start playing with it and teasing the two of them. And the worst/best part was that he embraced the crew, put them into that hole in his heart that Ed left. His speech to the Prince about them being family, and that you give up your wants and dreams for them, because being a pirate is bigger than any one person alone. GOD, his fucking character growth was incredible and heart-wrenching all at once.

And then to just throw all of that away, for what? To remove him as an obstacle between Ed and Stede? He already did that himself. To make the title of the show mean something (that the flag truly means Death?). That is just so fucking cheap and backhanded. Oh, Our Flag Means Death, but no one has died yet, better kill somebody; quick shoot Izzy Hands. How about you just make the word ‘death’ a symbol for change? The death of who you once were, the death of old biases, the death of toxicity and selfishness.

Because what would have been the problem with making Izzy the new captain of the Revenge, and letting Ed and Stede go off and do their thing? In the grand scheme of the narrative, why did two characters’ happy ending have to come at the cost of another’s?! It cheapens that happy ending, puts an asterisk on it. Especially when Izzy had JUST come to the realization that that crew, those people (no matter how ridiculous and soft they were) were his motherfucking family and he would do anything to protect them. He should have gotten to, and I just… I cannot forgive that. I’m not saying you can’t kill off characters, we shouldn’t expect anyone to have plot armor. But for god’s sake, at least make it make sense, give it a reason beyond shock value.

If OFMD gets a third season, I may or may not watch. It’s more than likely I won’t. And not because I don’t love the Stede/Ed story, or any of the other beautiful ones on that ship, I do. But because I’ve lost faith in the story.

none of this is going to be particularly articulate lmao but anyway,

i’ve already decided to ignore the izzy apologists but there’s something so……healing? about ed being cruel and dangerous and violent and emotional and yet still being treated sympathetically because at the end of the day, he’s shown that he doesn’t actually want to be that way and is terrified of that part of him

and idk, it’s just especially important to me to see a brown man go through that. our anger as POC is always seen as inherently more dangerous even when it’s justified. we can’t talk back, we can’t defend ourselves, we can’t argue that we’re being treated unfairly. so you can forget about having normal human emotions, like being upset that someone broke your heart

and yeah, the way ed acts is vastly worse than like, “curled up in bed eating ice cream alone” (although he WAS in that phase before izzy pushed him). but also getting to see him lash out is kind of refreshing? it’s scary and wildly unhealthy but part of the discomfort of watching him like that is knowing that he’s SCARED. he doesn’t actually want to behave like this bc he’s not the kind of guy who really revels in mindless violence. everything he does this season is a desperate cry for help

and like, i’ve been there? i’ve turned into the raging storm that tries to destroy everything in its wake — not because i don’t care about other people, not because i really want to hurt them the way i’ve been hurt, but because no one seems to see how much pain im in and i don’t know how to ask for help like a normal person. and maybe if i just act like a monster, then i’ll be proving my own point — that im unlovable, that i don’t deserve the friendships i have, that whoever hurt me was right to do so, that there’s something wrong with me for feeling hurt in the first place

and maybe i’m a little bit insane and there’s no fixing me

but then stede still comes back to him after all of it. stede cries by his bedside and begs him to wake up. stede knows everything ed’s done, understands immediately why it happened, understands what ed was trying to say with his actions, and he loves ed anyway.

and that’s what he’s always wanted, in the end — someone to see HIM, to understand what he’s been too afraid to say, to show him the kindness he needs to pick himself up and stop self harming in increasingly dangerous ways

all of that from a silly little pirate comedy

idk, i already know im fucked up bc what normal person would watch those 3 episodes and hardly be phased by them bc they relate so much? but it’s just…..nice. nice to know that it’s not that i’m irredeemably evil. it’s just that i’ve spent my whole life being treated like less than human, and i’m not a freak for being upset by that

(not saying that ed didn’t nothing wrong bc he definitely did lmao, but also the point isn’t to argue about how evil he is)

The scene where Izzy goes to Stede in the cabin and tells him that Stede doesn’t know Ed is so interesting.

Stede answers him, without missing a bit, that Ed was going to watch the world burn or die trying. So Stede wasn’t blind to the increasingly long list of crimes on the wanted posters. And the state of the Revenge speaks of Ed’s mental state.

Stede is more intuitive than he lets on, I think that he doesn’t completely trust his instincts yet but this season, he has been getting much better at talking it though (as a crew). Notably with Lucius. And the crew sticks with him, even without a ship, for a reason. He’s coming into the leader he can be.

But back to Stede and Ed’s relationship. Stede does understand that Ed was spiraling, suicidal and Stede blames himself for triggering his breakdown. Ed actually opened up to Stede about his trauma (killing his own father) and his depression (bored with the Blackbeard persona, wanting to retire or run away).

And Stede loves Edward, the soft side and the violent side, because he understands him, doesn’t judge him but still see the hurt Ed caused to the crew. I think Stede can help Ed so much, his love giving him a safe space to be able to confront his demons and find some happiness.

Izzy still thinking that Stede doesn’t get it and the face he makes when Stede infers rights away that Ed’s crew sent him to doggy Heaven shows us his realization that Stede actually understands Ed. His silliness hides depths of emotional intelligence and the bond he has with Ed is real.

Izzy tried to save Ed by having him reject the softness, or the perceived weakness of having tender feelings but Ed couldn’t handle to be emotionally isolated Blackbeard anymore, he hates himself too much and that was his last straw.

So those combined events did break Ed, but he was already on the cusp of deep depression before. We left s2ep3 with the crews reunited as one and Izzy actually trying to thank Stede for saving the crew from execution. I think the healing has started. They will get there.

Yo, super Izzy critical post incoming but I just want to take a moment to go back to the text and point out how sweepingly incompetent Izzy is across the board

I can’t get over the fact that Izzy gives himself so much credit for being this amazing competent pirate doing his best to keep his half-insane legend of a boss on the straight and narrow and yet we never see him succeed fully at anything he tries, most of the time he’s the chief architect of his own misery. Worse, he’s also objectively bad at pretty much everything he does and everything he claims to be god’s gift to pirates about, especially being a first mate. He is terrible at it.

1) He doesn’t succeed at stealing Stede’s hostages. Unprompted he picks this fight to poach another pirate’s win, underestimates his opponent and loses, only getting one hostage and getting soundly humiliated in the process.

2) He doesn’t even cover up his failure successfully, instead he stokes Ed’s interest in Stede by telling him what happened (or failing to lie about it). Arguably Ed never would have taken this level of interest in Stede if not for Izzy, unprompted, deciding to poach those hostages.

3) Izzy as a first mate doesn’t even take orders well or execute them as requested. Ed gives him one simple task, invite Stede to meet him. Izzy bitches and moans about it then lies by omission to Stede about who wants to see him then lies to Ed outright about what he said to Stede. The guy is just a bad lackey! He doesn’t even succeed at dimming Ed’s interest, he stokes it more with the lie!

4) He apparently loses men in the surprise ambush on the Spanish! And before we blame Ed for that, that was IZZY’S MISSION to bring Stede to him that got members of Ed’s crew killed. Sure, Ed ordered the mission but he delegated the operation (as would be his prerogative as captain) to this supposedly competent first mate who, if he had just done what he was told the first time by being honest with Stede (and/or done a better job planning the attack), wouldn’t have lost those men in the battle that he now blames on Ed and Stede.

5) He spends all of episode 4 bitching and moaning at Ed and griping about how Ed is going to get them killed by not having a plan. He claims HE will be the one who will save everyone. Yes, this is aggravating for Izzy. Yes, Ed should have shared that he had a plan. But Ed still saved them all, with Stede. Izzy did absolutely fuck-all (from a Watsonian perspective). He vanishes the moment Ed realizes the date and does absolutely nothing except leave in a sulk the next day. I thought you were going to save everyone since Ed wouldn’t, Izzy?

6) He spends the entire fancy party episode ordering around the captain’s (Stede’s because he is in fact objectively the captain of this vessel!) secretary, and. ordering him around to puff himself up because his pride was hurt. Lucius slacks off but it’s also objectively not his job to take care of the ship, his job IS calligraphy! Izzy presents himself as a hardass who gets shit done but he’s actually just a terrible middle manager that operates on pride rather than common sense and leads with abuse from the back instead of by example or from the front. He delegates tasks to the wrong person to enforce discipline on a ship that isn’t even his by giving it to the person who is least skilled at the job AND gets himself humiliated and his authority undermined in front of the crew for his trouble. Top notch managing skills there, Iz.

7) Finally, after ignoring the evidence before him that Ed likes this guy Stede that Izzy hates, and doesn’t want to kill him, Izzy takes matters into his own hands to kill Stede himself. And he STILL fails! It’s a completely unforced error. He’s outwitted by this buffoon that he underestimated not once but twice! He was given multiple outs to not fight that duel yet he forced the issue and then lost. He also disobeyed his captain multiple times I mean seriously for a guy claiming to be such an ideal first made it’s just insubordination as far as the eye can see. He sulks about getting banished from the ship when HE set the rules!

8) Izzy proceeds to outright betray his captain by calling the English down on them to express his petty grievance. Even Spanish Jackie is exasperated by his constant jealous bitching in their scene together. It’s not badass or cool, it’s just him feeling sorry for himself because Stede has captured Ed’s attention in a way he doesn’t like. And the bitching makes it clear just how personal and petty his grudge is.

9) Izzy doesn’t succeed at getting Ed away by sending Jack. He doesn’t succeed in getting Ed out of the situation that Izzy caused, at all, because he is deliberately blinding himself to reading the room about the fact Ed doesn’t want this guy Stede dead. Ed’s throwing himself in front of bullets to save Stede and Izzy is somehow shocked by all this, despite knowing how close they’ve become. It’s just willfull blindness at this point. Ed signs the Act of Grace and Izzy once again failed at his goal spectacularly. He’s just lucky the British didn’t decide to kill every pirate on board including Ed and Izzy jfc.

10) Izzy becomes captain of the Revenge and is immediately and gleefully terrible at it in the most nightmare middle manager of ways possible. He goes mad with power, forcing others to wait on him hand and foot, once again leading from the back while wielding the whip (TERRIBLE management style I’m just saying) and instantly losing what little respect the crew had for him through unforced errors of judgement and cruelty. He’s a worse captain than Ed, who he gave so much shit to. The man has no ability to command without Ed’s legend to hide behind. His longtime crew mates immediately sign up for the mutiny. Hell, he gets mutinied faster than Stede did!

11) He can’t pull Ed out of his post-abandonment funk and literally at the moment Izzy gets what he wants, with Ed emerging from his despair to clean up the cabin and start addressing the crew again, Izzy insults him, jabs a knife into the open wound of Ed’s recent heartbreak, THREATENS his CAPTAIN with death (insubordination AGAIN) and gets what he “wants” when Ed has an emotional breakdown and cuts off Izzy’s fucking toe to reestablish the hierarchy.

Well done, Iz, permanent maiming of an important limb on a ship is definitely a sweeping success. You sure won that round. Now everyone on the crew is either miserable and drowning themselves at the bottom of a bottle of rum, unwilling, overworked/understaffed because of the marooning, or a MURDEROUS ASSASSIN with every reason to kill you for murdering their boyfriend. Yeah, absolutely nailing it. 

Is Izzy interesting because of all of this? Yes! Is he a great antagonist and plot device? Double yes! But black leather and a raspy voice do not a competent manager make. The guy is a textbook toxic caretaker and the kind of person who should never be given power, like ever, much less captain his own ship.

Angsty fic idea that I might write myself someday, but is also totally free if someone wants to snag it.

(WARNING for mentions of self-harm.)

I’ve read a bunch of “Izzy the Spewer” fics where Izzy gets sick for whatever reason—rough seas, migraines, the terrifying ordeal of being known—and Stede swoops in with some good old-fashioned TLC that makes Izzy’s angry little brain short-circuit. Fantastically done, keep it up. HOWEVER, I have yet to come across a fic that really plays with the thought I have every time I read that scenario. Namely: “Izzy is learning to correlate kindness with illness, right?”

Right?

Izzy hails from Black Sails land where kindness is in short supply and desiring it—or worse, needing it—is basically a social death sentence. Or a literal one. So, after Stede offers some of that rare, quality grade H/C, Izzy is primed to explain half of that with, “Bonnet is a fucking bonkers man who doesn’t know how to pirate properly” and the other half with, “When someone as crazy as Bonnet does comfort you it’s only because you’re pathetic enough to warrant it. He’d never just do that on the regular, because who the hell would? The only time you get kindness is when you find a magical unicorn man who doesn’t know better and the only time he’d give it, especially to someone like me, is when you’re basically at death’s door.”

Izzy comes to the simple but highly problematic conclusion that Being Gravely Ill = Receiving Comfort He Can’t Get Anywhere Else.

Soooo… why not just be sick more often ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Which is far from ideal, obviously, but not for reasons Izzy is equipped to understand yet. The only thing he’s grappling with is the indignity of being sick in the first place, but significantly that ship has already sailed. Fang already told the whole crew about his nickname, Lucius made it a staple insult, and they all watched him losing his lunch over the side while Stede kept him from going overboard. There’s no coming back from that. But asking for more of that attention? He’s gonna—what? Just fucking walk up to Stede and request that he rub his back, or stroke his hair, or—heaven forbid—hug him? Absolutely-fucking-not. Izzy would rather die. Even if he DID make an attempt the words would literally not come out of his mouth. Being sick is the lesser of the two evils and since he’s already a weak, pathetic, needy excuse for a First Mate, might as well do whatever is necessary to deal with those failings.

Izzy might have the emotional intelligence of a rock, but he’s a damn good planner and can keep things subtle when it matters. At first no one notices that he only gives into the urge to heave when Stede is on deck and can see him do it. Everyone knows that Izzy eats dinner alone, long after the others have finished, but not that he’s restricting himself to the portions that have started going bad, resulting in many late-night bouts of suffering. He stops the breathing exercises he developed years ago to keep his nausea under control, stops self-medicating whenever a storm is on the horizon, even starts putting himself in situations that he knows will make his stomach churn, all with the intent of crafting a situation where, oh no, his stubborn Captain is insisting he’s taken care of? Well, who’s he to disobey an order?

And it works! Until it doesn’t, of course. Because I’m a fan of the crew continuing to develop their found family, they’ve been approaching the “Spewer” business as a kind of heavy-handed teasing. They know it’s not nice, but Izzy is such an asshole, and besides, they kinda thought it was a past thing? Not something he’s still struggling with and certainly not to this extent—like teasing your brother for falling down the stairs that one time except, huh, he’s falling down the stairs weekly now. That’s not funny anymore.

Their concern merges with Ed’s because really, he’s been sailing with Izzy for most of his life and it’s never been this bad. If anything, he should be doing better on The Revenge where there’s always fresh food and blue skies appear with an almost supernatural frequency. Stede too has started to grow suspicious, especially after that one time where Izzy didn’t really seem sick anymore, but kept claiming he was (because the idiot was so close—SO CLOSE—to just asking for comfort without this whole charade, but of course he didn’t).

It all comes to a head when Stede and Ed confront Izzy about it… which goes about as well as you would expect. Izzy goes into the meeting terrified that Ed noticed him playing this game with his boyfriend and is probably going to anchor him for it. Ed thinks it’s great that Stede and Izzy are bonding—the fact that he’s finally acknowledging his own crush on Izzy doesn’t help, given how overprotective he’s feeling— but otherwise he’s just confused? Especially since he’s such a tactile person and threw himself headfirst into touching Stede the second he realized that was allowed. Stede has the best handle on what’s really going on, but doesn’t know how acknowledge all that without making things worse. So he just, uh, makes things worse? Realizing that Izzy has the self-preservation instincts of a teaspoon, they try to go the “Making yourself sick means you’re not in a position to act as a functional First Mate” route because Izzy is all about being useful right? Except great, now he’s feeling guilty about how sick he can get, guilty about using that to get something he thinks he shouldn’t have, AND guilty about how that’s making him a liability. He and Ed get into a huge fight about it. Stede dithers. Punches are probably thrown.

They think things have cooled down a few days later, except then Izzy gets legitimately sick—no fuckery involved—and Ed just… doesn’t believe him? He’s suspicious now, understandably. Not because he thinks Izzy is always lying about when he’s ill, or always sets out to make it worse, and he certainly doesn’t have a problem with him getting comfort from Stede—or him!—for any reason, but he’s terrified that Izzy is still hurting himself and that shit needs to stop. But being accused of that when he’s actually ill is the fucking tipping point and Izzy… crumbles. Just fucking looses it. No more filters, or barriers, or excuses. The man’s a sobbing, exhausted mess and this is it, they’ll both be disgusted by him now.

They’re not, of course. This time Ed and Stede comfort Izzy together and, more importantly, insist that he stays with them even after he’s calmed down/is feeling better. Lots of talking it out where they insist that yes, he can have this. No, he doesn’t need to be ill enough to “deserve” it. Izzy, there’s two of us and we’re both overflowing with affection 24/7, we guarantee it’s not an imposition to ask for things. But he can’t. He just literally can’t. There’s no version of Izzy (yet) that can ask for comfort when he needs it, or simply take it with the understanding that it’s always freely offered. So they devise some strategies to help Izzy ask without feeling like he’s asking; simple actions that will cue them into his mood without anyone else being wiser. The most successful is having a designated spot in the Captains’ cabin that is his and his alone. For a long time, Izzy will only accept their attentions in complete privacy anyway, so sitting on this particular part of the couch always means… well, the whole point is that Izzy doesn’t have to say what it means. He’ll get there, but right now he just has to sit down—that’s it, just sit, even he can fucking sit—and his Captains understand precisely what he needs.

And with their relationship and Izzy’s coping skills developing, everyone lives happily ever after ^_^

(Bonus cathartic comedy moment: Someone unknowingly sits in Izzy’s spot and he reacts precisely like a pissed-off cat would. Glaring from across the room, coiled tight as a spring, hand ominously on the pommel of his sword. This means nothing to me, don’t fucking think otherwise, but you WILL move and you will move NOW.)