thinking about lucius as the personification of stede’s consciousness and feelings, as stede’s narrative mirror. how they both have very similar sideburns, wear little neckties/cravats, stede dresses them both in the matching white outfits but lucius is the one who ends up a bloody mess, how lucius writes down all of stede’s inner monologues and he’s the only one who also reads from stede’s library, how lucius has the proof that stede is a proper pirate and it’s what allows him to stay alive, how lucius comforts stede when ed leaves with jack, how lucius is the one that ed seeks out for a heart-to-heart when stede is no longer an option, and of course how lucius is the one thrown overboard because he’s too close, he understands too much, he very bluntly called out how much they liked each other and never pretended it was anything else. he gets rid of his heart (the silk) and then he gets rid of the representation of stede’s voice, his feelings, his sexuality. he’s stede’s compass or navigator of sorts. lucius is stede’s emotional awareness, he sees what takes stede a little longer to see, and he looks out for him even if, at first, his feelings (lucius) were ready to turn on him (the mutiny in the pilot). stede is always ready to punish himself, after all. apt that his mirror should.

also worth mentioning how lucius is openly gay now but says his mum thought he liked girls for years and not all beards are actual beards, when stede was in a loveless marriage to a woman (his beard) and was not aware of being gay and falling for a man. lucius and black pete could then serve as mirrors for predicting stede and ed’s future in terms of them accepting each other, accepting that they can’t lose each other, being together romantically and sexually, the fact that they love each other and don’t own each other.

(an extra note: kinda love that black pete is called black pete, it reminds me of blackbeard and then he also wears the black armband reminiscent of ed’s black band tattoo, and he’s the one who brings ed into the narrative first by associating himself with him textually. and black pete hypes blackbeard up to be just like a legend, a violent myth, but he’s just a man, just like black pete - men capable of being soft and tender and loving with the men they love rather than just being blood-thirsty pirates.)

fic, ofmd: hugging it out as a crew (ed/stede, ed & revenge crew, pg13)

hugging it out as a crew; ed/stede, ed & revenge crew as a whole, ed & lucius, minor jim/oluwande, lucius being the ship therapist and needing a lot of raises; crack treated seriously/tooth rotting fluff/ED GETS ALL THE HUGS, more on the ao3 tags; pg13; 12k ca;

“What do you mean,” Olu says, silencing everyone else as the room erupted in noise the moment Lucius told them what the fuck just went down in the captain’s cabin, “you told him we hug it out as a crew?”

“Listen,” Lucius says, “I just – he looked miserable, and I thought that he really seemed to need a hug or ten, and then – the poor sod never got hugged before, or in a very long time, or something!”

“That’s sad,” Roach remarks, everyone else nodding along – except for Jim, who’s just rolling their eyes at the ceiling.

“Aw, really?” Wee John asks. “That’s – wow. No wonder he’s this moody.”

Or: in which Lucius (who absolutely needs a raise or ten) and the rest of the crew make sure the one captain that's still on the ship gets enough TLC to tide him over until the other captain comes back from wherever he's run off to.

... and I’m officially into the omfd brainrot and I wrote pseudo crack fic that kicked me out of writer’s block so I’m just dropping it here and officially join the fray.  *DROPS CRACK AND GOES*

Heart-Shaped Box

by anneiled

Years after they were in The Mutineers, a locally famous grunge band in Seattle, and decades after they met in Catholic school, Ed and Izzy discuss Ed’s desire to build a family–with Stede. Izzy agrees to surrogate for them, surprising everyone. Jack Rackham, former groupie and slutty Cassandra, figures all their shit out before everyone else. Ft. Daddy Fang and dad Ivan, Dr. Roach and Nurse Swede, and bitchy art therapist Lucius. Through this rocky experience, Ed, Izzy, and Stede learn who they are to each other and what family means to them.

Part of the 2023 OFMD Reverse Bang, this fic is inspired by Nads's lovely art and prompt! The art will be embedded in chapter eight.

I'll be posting chapters every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday till the official RBB post date on August 9th.

I also made a playlist for this fic!

Content warnings will be posted in a click-down note before each chapter.

Ch. 1 CWs

Brief discussion of Fang Daddying Izzy in the past

Words: 1917, Chapters: 1/10, Language: English

Fandoms: Our Flag Means Death (TV)

Rating: Explicit

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: M/M, Multi

Characters: Blackbeard | Edward Teach, Stede Bonnet, Israel Hands, Fang (Our Flag Means Death), Ivan (Our Flag Means Death), "Calico" Jack Rackham, Roach (Our Flag Means Death), The Swede (Our Flag Means Death), Lucius Spriggs

Relationships: Blackbeard | Edward Teach/Stede Bonnet, Blackbeard | Edward Teach/Stede Bonnet/Israel Hands, Blackbeard | Edward Teach/Israel Hands, Stede Bonnet/Israel Hands, Fang/Ivan (Our Flag Means Death), Israel Hands/"Calico" Jack Rackham, Blackbeard | Edward Teach/"Calico" Jack Rackham

Additional Tags: Adoption, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Autistic Stede Bonnet, College Professor Israel Hands, Costume/Cosplay Designer Stede Bonnet, Daddy Fang, Domestic Fluff, Edward Teach has ADHD, Eventual Happy Ending, Grunge, Jack Rackham’s Rusted Out Honda Civic, Marijuana, Miscommunication, Nurse Swede, OB/GYN Roach, Parenting, Polyamory, Pregnancy, religious trauma, Seattle-Flavored Transportation Issues, Seattle, Sign Painter Edward Teach, Slow Burn, steddyhands endgame, Surrogacy, Therapist Lucius, trans Fang, Trans Israel Hands, Trans Jack Rackham, Trans Pregnancy, Trans Roach, Air Pulse Vibrators, Kissing, Oral Sex, Piss, Pregnant Sex, Rimming

source https://archiveofourown.org/works/48808009

lucius!! 🪶📕🌈 reblogs welcome but don’t repost

we have not talked nearly enough about stede jealously saying that jack has nice hair and olu immediately telling stede he has nice hair too. and while we’re at it, i just love the atmosphere stede has cultivated on his ship. the way olu casually slept on stede’s couch all night and sleepily talks to him, the way lucius wanders in and speaks with olu and then with stede - and the little comforting touches lucius always provides, to stede’s knee in this scene but also to stede’s chest when he’s impaled in the ship’s mast. they’re all very openly affectionate and complimentary of each other, including physically, and it is incredibly refreshing between male characters and i just love it so so much

lucius saying to jim that sometimes a beard isn’t really a beard about being gay/queer, it’s a disguise to hide how you really feel, and then we end the series with ed and his face painted to become blackbeard again. it’s also so telling that lucius is the one thrown overboard, the one that encouraged himself and stede together the whole time and ed is angry about that of course, but i reckon ed also knows he’d see through the charade in an instant.

ed: trying and failing to make tea the way stede used to make it for him and then sending his teacup hurtling against the wall before starting to cry with his head in his hands

lucius watching his breakdown in real time: 👁👄👁