ninetoes | Noctium Inbox

Stede would be lying if he said he hadn't listened at the door before heading back to the master cabin. Just long enough to make certain the two of them weren't going to kill each other, and then he'd torn himself away from the door and gone to get ready for bed. He's been wearing the same clothes since yesterday, fretting over whether or not Izzy was going to come back, and whether or not he decides to join them for the night, Stede's craving a fresh change of clothes and a nice, relaxing glass of brandy before bed.

So when Izzy comes through the door, Stede is settled on the settee he'd placed at the foot of their huge bed, enjoying his brandy in front of the lit fireplace, draped in a fresh nightgown and a baby blue silk velvet dressing gown. He startles when he hears the door open, and gets to his feet when he sees Izzy standing there in the doorway. Heart pounding in his chest, he just smiles at him for a moment, his brain frantically scrambling for the right words to say. He settles on, "Hi."

Izzy can sleep fucking nude if he wants, Ed is just trying to be accommodating. He should probably just give the other man his robe back, but truthfully, since Izzy’s returned, he's forgotten he's wearing it.

Ed follows behind Izzy into their bedroom, a sort of prideful smile on his face as he watches Stede light up upon their entrance. He closes the door behind them, then slips away from Izzy to fuss with the bed to let he and Stede have a moment. It's the largest bed Edward has ever seen, plenty of room for the three of them, and he sets about to arrange the pillows so that each of them will be comfortable.

Instinctively, Izzy moves to the side to let Ed through without breaking eye contact with Stede. Of course he'd be posed there in his nice things with a drink. A gentleman in repose. Had he practiced this? Had he planned it? Waiting in the bedroom in velvet like some... blonde sex kitten, what the fuck is happening.

Well. Turns out. This is happening.

Hi. Why is that so cute. Fuck, FUCK!

Izzy wets his lips, Watching Stede while Ed faffs about in the background building a nest or whatever the fuck he's doing. A cozy nest for three. Imagine.

"So we've spoken." It's almost like he's giving a report. It's certainly easier than coming in here like he's vulnerable, still a little confused, wanting, hungry, horny, and scared.

"I'm not agreeing to anything blind and I'm not playing lesser to you lot."

But it sure sounds like he's staying. Like he has agreed to something.

Stede shoots a beaming smile Ed's way as he slips past the two of them, thrilled that things seemed to have gone so well in his absence, but he quickly turns his attention back to Izzy.

"Oh?" He can't keep the delight out of his voice, doesn't even try to; he's nodding along with Izzy's demands eagerly, setting his drink aside as he steps closer, into his space.

"Absolutely," he agrees. "Anything you want." Emboldened by the positive turn of events, Stede reaches out and takes Izzy's hand, the one without the glove, in both of his. Lifts it up to his lips, and lowers his head to press a soft, warm, lingering kiss to his knuckles. "Thank you for coming back to us." His voice is soft enough to be just for them, a shared moment of semi-privacy, before he lowers Izzy's hand with a squeeze.

"You'll stay with us tonight? Please?"

The kiss is near chivalric, whose is. It something Izzy has ever had extended towards him but finds he likes rather a lot. Why don’t more people kiss his hand in gratitude? Why isn’t that a thing. It bloody should be.

Just as strange as they two of them going through all this for him. Making a show of giving a shit. Or actually wanting him, or being sorry, or having any kind of fucking feelings.

Funny, they’ve been there all along in one form or another.

It reminds Izzy of early conversations he’d had with Ed upon his arrival. He hadn’t believed this world was so different from theirs. That there could be space for emotion and it not immediately equivocate to sure death or snivelling weakness. Edward was right. He’s seen it now, felt it now, for himself.

Feels like a dream.

A dream he’s being asked to stay in. And you know what? He wants to. Of course there’s a part still screaming this is all a sham. Screaming that someone has to resist because something will happen and one of them has to be ready for it, but he is so fucking exhausted from listening to that voice. From living in survival mode without joy. He is exhausted.

Maybe that voice can just…fuck off for a bit.

“Yeah, alright.”

Not particularly elegant but there you have it. Nah, he can do better.

“Take me to bed, Stede Bonnet.”

Stede's hands lower Izzy's back to their natural height, but they don't let go quite yet. He clings to that small point of contact, his body gravitating toward Izzy's the way he does toward Ed's. And when Izzy agrees? Oh, it's the most wonderful feeling, the burst of Synchrony that radiates from their joined hands nearly overwhelming him for a moment.

"Oh, splendid," he breathes. "Yes, I shall."

He doesn't plan it, doesn't really think about it beyond a joyful, spontaneous burst of Golden Retriever energy that he's prone to. Stede just bends in the middle beneath Izzy's sternum, arms darting around his middle to haul him up over his shoulder. "To bed with us!" he chirps, turning excitedly toward Edward and the pillow nest he's created in the bed. "Edward, darling, look what I've brought home!"

Never mind the short, sharp squawk of indignant outrage and scandal.

Suddenly ass over tit over Stede’s shoulder (when the fuck did he get strong!? Has he always been strong!?!) Izzy flails before realising a struggle might mean falling.

It is for that reason and that reason alone he curls up tightly and claps Stede heavily between his shoulder blades.

“PUT ME DOWN YOU FUCKING LUNATIC!”

Edward had been fussing with the sheets and pillows, slunk off the robe he'd borrowed from Izzy to begin with, and had been hovering near the bed, sitting at the edge of it, watching with adoration as his two loves have their own little exchange. The noise that erupts from Izzy immediately brings Ed glee; he is literally giggling and kicking his feet.

As far as Stede's strength goes, Edward's certainly admired the muscular arms and legs that surely had some strength to them since they'd first met, but his emerald seemingly has made him super-powered, able to lift men with ease and certainly even hold Ed down a few times. How could he not notice that? It's fucking sexy.

"Nice find, babe, but you should probably do as he says..." he hums, patting at the center of the bed, "Mm, right here'll do."

Stede wheezes and coughs at the hard collision of Izzy's hand between his shoulders, but his grip remains firm, curled around the backs of his thighs just under his ass, and over his knees. He beams at Ed, looking absolutely radiant where he's waiting at the edge of the bed, and takes three long strides before he unloads his armful onto the soft mattress.

"You asked me to take you to bed," he reminds Izzy as he stretches out on the mattress beside him. "You didn't specify how. It felt up to interpretation."

“And yet you chose violence,” he scowls, having landed with a soft loft and quickly scrabbled to right himself.

In hindsight, he isn’t sure what he was expecting.

(He hates that it was kind of nice.)

Izzy shoves out of his boots because he isn’t an animal and even he has standards about shoes in bed. He knows there’s no point in enlisting Ed against the mishandling because Ed will think it funny. Hell, if it hadn’t been him, Izzy would have also found it funny. Damn you.

Doesn’t stop him from shooting Stede a look as he lays down. Then to Ed for good measure.

“I’m already regretting this.”

"Typical." Ed replies, turning to crawl up the bed at Izzy’s other side. He's now delightfully sandwiched between Stede and Edward, the latter of which's arm is already draping over his torso.

"Wouldn't be the same if you didn't put up a fight." he teases, then nuzzles his face right against Izzy’s in the most obnoxious way he can muster. This is it. This is what you get. There's no turning back, now. And Ed's clawed toes (well overdue for a trim) are cold as ice as they press against Izzy’s.

Stede's already pressing in close on the other side, shedding his dressing gown in favor of sliding under the sheets and settling back against the stacks of fluffy pillows. He grimaces when Izzy lets out a shriek, no doubt due to Ed's infamously icy feet.

"Mmm, just get comfortable," he agrees, winding an arm around Izzy's middle, his chin settling near his shoulder but not resting on it. "You're warm," he sighs, letting himself relax into the mattress. "Ed, he's so warm."

Sufficiently trapped and very unsure how he feels about it, Izzy contemplates wriggling out of tender grips and icy feet attacks alike.

This is.. a lot. So much. Too much, maybe, now he’s here.

But he is here and deep down he wants to be here. He wants affection, he wants doting attention, he wants to be fucking loved.

And so he settles, even winced against Ed’s sharp fucking demon feet. A bit longer and he’ll give up with Ed’s hair in his face and everything.

“Chuck me over your shoulder again and you’ll find out just how warm I can be,” Izzy warns but sounds suspiciously like he welcomes the challenge. He runs hot these days, though it doesn’t bother him in the slightest. Can’t really feel it like that now.

“You too,” he murmurs to Ed without any heat at all. “You’re colder’n a witch’s tit. What’s the matter with you?”

It's a shriek that only brings more delight to Ed, causing him to annoyingly squirm closer until he's practically draped atop Izzy. He is warm. It must be the ruby lodged in his chest, he thinks, having been scorched by Izzy’s flames before. Similarly, Edward can blame his own stone for his temperature, most days.

"It's my Sapphire..." he mutters quietly, "But don't worry, I don't feel a chill." he smirks. Because yes, Edward, everyone here is worried about your comfort.

"You'll warm me up, anyway. S'nice."

"Mmm, I'm certain I will," Stede agrees, unbothered by the threat. One of his arms worms its way behind Izzy's head, beneath the pillow, so his hand can curl around the back of Ed's neck. This way, they're all touching each other somehow, and it's indescribably lovely to feel the cautious, tender blossom of Synchrony that spreads across his skin. It's a new strain, different from what he feels with either of them individually, but even more wonderful for that fact.

"Just wait until you wake up in the middle of the night, and he's sweating all over you," Stede chuckles, his fingertips scrabbling playfully in the hair at the nape of Ed's neck.

"Might do it on purpose," Izzy agrees. His raised hackles aren't really called for, but call it reflex. This is a wholly unfamiliar circumstance.

And now, apparently, the beginning of a new normal. Wild thought, that.

He takes a breath and forces himself to give in. To relax and simmer in the same synchrony as the other two. He can feel Stede more than he can Ed, but the fact he can feel Edward at all means hope. It means they might not be entirely broken beyond help. Something he thought may be the case.

Sleep doesn't feel likely, at least not for some time, but he will certainly lay there listening to the other two.

Someone should be on watch, anyway.

"Mhm. Delicious." he teases back, Stede's fingers in his hair bringing a fresh burst of Synchrony from his Sapphire.

Sleep is questionable for Ed as well, but where his head rests he can hear Izzy’s heartbeat, and it lulls him into a tired comfort. He's terribly happy, he thinks, even with the buzz between them so small. It's there, and he will do whatever it takes to feel it fully again.

Stede's had a long few days with very little quality sleep under his belt. Now, however, he feels himself beginning to drift off as soon as they're all settled in, one arm curled loosely around Izzy's waist. Before long, he's fast asleep, breathing slow and warm and even into the crook of Izzy's neck.

His dreams are blissfully vague and muzzy, all warm skin and soft kisses and promises made. As usual, Stede sleeps like a rock, all but dead to the world.

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