Icon by @ThatSpookyAgent. Call me Tir or Julian. 37. He/They. Queer. Twitter: @tirlaeyn. ao3: tirlaeyn. 18+ Only. Star Trek. The X-Files. Sandman. IwtV. OMFD. Definitionless in this Strict Atmosphere.
My favorite ship dynamic is “they’re both extremely stupid in completely different ways and extremely smart in completely different ways, but rarely is any of that useful because they just get extra double stupid when together”
The thing about the “you wear fine things well” scene is like. Let’s take this from Ed’s perspective.
You’re the meanest sonofabitch on the seven seas. Everybody knows your name. You reputation alone can win the day before you even fire a shot.
And you are fuckin bored.
So bored that the instant you get wind of some weirdo who appears to not be even a little impressed by you, you run to meet him. And by god, the first thing he says to you and your lustrous black beard is: “Do you work for Blackbeard?”
It immediately rotates your worldview. “Never thought of it like that before. Yeah, I suppose I do.”
But then he tells you about retirement. And you think, yeah. Yeah, actually, that sounds great. How do I do that?
Well, a fuckery of course! A good one, too. Something worthy of Blackbeard, with a tiger or something. But the important part is that there’s a corpse—the corpse of a man you made sure is similar enough to you in height and build to wear your clothes.
So now you’ve got a plan. You’re great at plans! And all you have to do is learn how to be a fancy ponce so you can go live the fancy ponce retirement of your dreams. Easy as that. How hard can it be to learn how to use silverware?
But it all goes wrong, doesn’t it? Catastrophically wrong. You struggle with the basics because you panic, and when’s the last time you panicked? Then you’re laughed out of a room by people who would wet themselves if they knew who you really are, and it occurs to you, suddenly, miserably, that if you go through with this, if you choose this life, you will never have that crutch again, because Blackbeard will be dead.
Worst of all, though, is the blooming doubt that this is what you want. This glittering world is meant to be your scrap of silk writ large. You’re not sure if it is, any more. You’re not sure if a world like that exists.
Now what?
Well. Now, along comes this silly man. You wrote him off as naïve because why else would he ever want to be a part of your world? Why would he claim he wanted to be “like Blackbeard” when he has his secret passages and model ships and summer linens? But you’ve seen what he’s running away from, now. You’ve seen he’s as much a master of that world as you are of yours. And you feel understood. You feel like an equal.
So when he tells you in the moonlight that you belong with that piece of silk, and it belongs with you, you believe, suddenly, that there’s a place in the middle, between your worlds, where you’re still yourself but you wear silk and eat marmalade and talk to handsome men in the moonlight. And Stede fits there, too.
NOOOO stop I’m thinking about the way that badminton kept passive aggressively referring to how quaint and silly stede’s ship was and that his library was ridiculous and stupid, how could he ever be a pirate. and then ed, THE pirate of all time, world renowned blackbeard, sees stede’s ship and is fascinated. he loves it. hes immediately enamored by the novelty, the fact that he has a little model of the ship, he gets so excited! when stede reveals the secret closet ed literally goes “fuck off!” with the hugest smile on his face. hes so enchanted by it all.
he found someone who cared, who was in love with the pirate lifestyle like he was, someone who still found novelty in things. the nice marmalades and dressing up fancy and expensive alcohol, ed is being treated to nice things for the first time in his life, and not being made fun of for liking it. he’s allowed to indulge in fine things for himself and not be made to feel foolish, like!!!!!! and stede is so happy to share his lifestyle, because his crew has been so unappreciative of his gentler captaining. they keep saying he’s soft, “pathetic” but ed thinks its cool! he likes it!!!! I’m losing it!!!
i think the most love ive ever seen between a couple on tv is the scene with ed in the bathtub. like he’s wrapped up in stede’s robe crying in front of him, telling him that he’s a bad person, that he has no friends, and that he was supposed to kill him and yet stede stays the whole time and tells him that they’re friends, that actually he enjoys ed’s company. that moment at the end where he reaches his hand out and ed rests his head on it is one of the most love filled things ive ever seen
