ninetoes | Noctium Inbox

[wait actually or—]

Oh, no, no issue. Ed and I talked it all over, you see. After our little chat.

[You know the one.]

It's just that Ed told me what he used to make it. The effect that it has.

[That sounds extremely ominous.]

And

And I'm terribly fascinated by the idea.

What happens if one were to touch it?

[What in the fockin frilly frock-]

We both know what happens.

Are you propositioning me Stede Bonnet.

You know, I think I rather am?

[And he is having a major adrenaline rush right now holy shit?]

[Holy shit is right what the fuck??!]

Does Edward know about this?

Well, yes. Like I said, we had a nice little chat that day. Neither of us is very good at keeping secrets from the other.

That's my one condition, actually. Ed would quite like to be invited next time.

You do realise how fucked up it is to ask me to play prop in your martial fucking bliss yeah

Izzy, you wound me. I thought nothing of the sort!

[Although now he can sort of...see how he would think that, yeah. Oops.]

Of course, if it's a no, we never have to speak of it again. On my honor.

[He's really making a mess of this, ugh.]

I don’t understand why this is happening

Fuck it where are you

[Neither does he? Stede's not sure when he started to lose his damn mind but he thinks it was Blowjob Day.]

My cabin. I'm alone at the moment.

Day one for Izzy who has clearly been losing his fucking mind since the night he arrived.

He growls and scrubs his face with his hand before pocketing his phone and pulling himself up. No idea where Ed or Lucius are on this little boat, but he’s been perched out on the back of the small quarterdeck. It’s a bit stupid but he’s been missing his wings. He’d quite like to jump and glide away right now.

But no, no instead he goes to see Stede. Certified fucking mad man.

Izzy knocks at the door twice with his knuckles before opening it anyway, not waiting for permission to walk into what feels like a big fat trap.

A beat. He looks unimpressed from his position leaning in the door jamb.

“I’d very much like to know what exactly it was you’n Edward discussed.”

When Izzy enters, Stede is near the window, tending to the small assortment of plants he's been accumulating over the past few months. Being an Emerald means he's got an affinity for plant life, and he's very much enjoying having a greener thumb than usual. He glances up at Izzy and sets down the little glass mister bottle he's been using to water his succulents, turning away from the window with his hands folded patiently in front of him. He fixes Izzy with a smile. Such nice manners will go a long way with Captain Bonnet.

"Of course. Have a seat, if you'd like." He gestures to the little table and chairs occupying the space across from the bed, crossing to sit at one of the chairs. He is, at the least, fully dressed this time. "Mainly what we discussed our individual encounters with you that day."

He was sort of impressed that Izzy managed to get kisses from the both of them in such a short span of time, truth be told. "Both of us were afraid the other might be angry, of course, but we resolved that in short order. Ed seemed rather fascinated by my own account, of course..."

His gaze wanders to Izzy, trying to gauge his expressions. It's hard to know how far is too far with the man, and then how far is far enough on the other hand.

Mm, yeah he had a feeling that's what this is about.

Reluctantly, very reluctantly, Izzy crosses the room, closing the door behind with his foot. Sitting makes it feel weird and formal and civilized, so he stays standing and elects to do so behind the offered chair - hands resting on the seat's back. If he wants, he can leave quickly and there is a physical barrier between them. Not a conscious choice, but it makes him feel safer.

Is he in trouble, here? Ed doesn't seem to be present. There's quite a lot that has happened between all of them and it's all happened extremely quickly. Just the thought makes him dizzy and his guard is, naturally, on very high alert. He isn't sure if he's in danger, here. He isn't sure if he wants to be. That's a frightening thought.

"And?"

Stede doesn't object to Izzy's choice to remain standing, simply folding his hands in front of him. He's itching to make tea, but he's got Izzy's attention now and he's not of a mind to waste it.

"Well," Stede hedges, "we made an agreement. To see what happens, so to speak. Anything goes, as long as we're honest with each other about it." He chuckles. "Although, hilariously, it was Lucius who alerted me to the whole tattoo situation first."

Which...he didn't mean to rat Lucius out, but he honestly thinks it's kind of hilarious. He takes a long, slow inhale to wind himself up for the next part.

"But as for where the two of us stand, I'm afraid I'm a bit confused."

So it’s…what. An open marriage? Is he being asked to be a prop or is this an invitation into something more.

The idea that something more could even be a possibility is absolutely fucking stunning.

Izzy’s gaze flicks from Stede to the bed. It hasn’t been long since he was laid out on it under Edward. Does Stede know. Was it sanctioned. Forgiven. Is that why Stede wants to see the tattoo so badly.

Izzy was very clear with Ed that he didn’t want to exist on this boat to play audience to this union. Ed had rebuffed it but failed to give Izzy a designation and then fucked him in his marriage bed. So.

Confused, no kidding.

“I don’t think we stand anywhere,” he answers truthfully and looks back - mind full of endless pleasure spread open across those soft, soft sheets which smelled like Edward and Stede combined.

Absently, Izzy’s hand raises to his chest, but he stops himself just in time and curls his fingers. He must remember that Stede propositioned him just now. He also makes a mental note re Lucius. There is some tangling between them as well.

Oh this is so very complicated. And emotional. And delicate. And confusing! Had Izzy lived under different circumstances his poet’s heart would be so overwhelmed with promise. As he stands now he is overwhelmed with suspicion, mind racing as it calculates how much of this may be a trap. How much danger is he in. How exposing himself in any way- trusting Stede in any way- may destroy him.

Kindness is always a trap.

“So- so you’n Edward,” he tries, working it across his mind in real time. Is it Stede and Edward at all, or is Stede doing this for Edward. For Izzy? Is it pity?

“Why the fuck would you ever want me?”

Oh, Stede knows. Stede got every little detail out of Ed, listened with a dry mouth and a pumping heart as Ed had told him what transpired. And he doesn't miss the way Izzy's eyes dart behind him, toward the bed, as if remembering the same.

He nods, mulling that over. If they stand nowhere...could they stand somewhere? Anywhere? The rules of this planet, the overall lack of danger compared to their life of piracy, they all make it difficult to find one's footing. And ever since their last meeting, Stede's found himself wondering if he and Izzy might ever be able to find a common ground.

Izzy pipes up again, working over the words as he says them, he can see it in his face, and Stede hums below his breath. "I can't speak for Ed, of course," he murmurs. "But I do know you're awfully important to him. And...if someone's that important to Edward, then I've got to respect that, complicated as it may be." His lashes flutter, his gaze flicking from Izzy's face to his hands folded on the table. "As for me, well."

The sunburn and freckles on Stede's cheeks can't hide the flush that has crept up from his neck. "I can't deny that, despite my general dislike for you...you have your charms."

He recalls distinctly their confrontation in Nassau, how Izzy had torn Stede's shirt to shreds without breaking a sweat or shearing a single hair off Stede's chest. How he'd admitted to kind of liking it. A memory he's never quite been able to shake off, a stark impression of a man both infuriating and highly capable. An intoxicating combination, to be sure.

So Stede is literally...directly...actually propositioning him. Of his own volition. With Edward's awareness or at least approval. Because Izzy has charms. That is.

That is the most buckwild thing he has ever fucking heard.

And yet, it's kind of nice? Ugh, Izzy, no. Bad.

"And you think because I sucked you off that I would want this," he asks flatly. In actuality, he sort of does. A deep voice in the back of his head offers the coward's way out and he nearly shivers from the force of it's presence. If you can't beat them, join them. It fits right along side Edward's promise to have a place beside him with the inclusion of Stede.

Is this what he had meant?

Would it have been like this back home had he been more vocal about his feelings? If he hadn't gleaned every scrap of intimacy through violence and absent minded pats on the back? Could he've had this the whole time? How long? It makes the knot in Izzy's stomach clench tightly. Is he honestly that stupid? Revelation after revelation. It makes him feel a bit sick.

He had been fucked up and self destructive enough two weeks ago to sink to his knees in challenge. Is he fucked up enough to lay on his back now?

Probably. He deserves it.

Stede isn't sure what to expect, but Izzy's response, his flat tone of voice, immediately cause his brow to wrinkle in confusion. He knows there were some sort of weird power dynamics at play that day, but he distinctly remembers Izzy asking to do it. Lemme suck you off, he'd breathed, voice all gravel and crushed velvet. Stede blinks several times, looking up at Izzy askance with uncertainty written all over his face.

"Er, well, yes? You...offered, so I just thought..." That it had been something Izzy wanted. That he had been wanted. Just a little bit. At the very least, that he was conveniently-placed and not repulsive. Stede lifts his shoulders, a bit flustered. He'd been so sure of himself for a minute there. Stupid, really. He's often wrong.

"If I was mistaken, then I offer my apologies for the misunderstanding."

Backing down. As he thought. What a disappointment.

Izzy takes it all in for a beat and exhales through his nose. He can see that this is the precipice of action, and if he doesn't bend now then the tumbling future before them will be nothing but pain.

"The thing you misunderstand is, Bonnet," Izzy says as he lets go of the last of his fucks and raises his hands to his shirt front, loosening his tie before he begins on the fastenings.

"If you want something, you need to take it."

It's an intricate game, this one. Stede has faltered, but it is so be expected, really. He doesn't know how to play. They haven't known each other long enough. He doesn't know the only way Izzy can accept these things is at the sting of his own defeat. That he's never been allowed otherwise and wouldn't know the first place to start.

Shirt and waistcoat opened enough, he pulls them to reveal the left side of his chest, adorned with thick black ink in the shape of a kraken - entirely filled in and already healed. Knowing the effects of Edward's tears, one can imagine what it did to him.

"No matter the resistance, you do not stop until it is yours."

Stede spends a moment trying, as he often has, to decipher Izzy's facial expression. The man is hard to read, his expressions minute and easy to miss. He finds himself wishing, not for the first time, that the man came with an instruction manual.

And then, alarmingly, he's loosening his cravat, that little ring glinting above the knot, and begins to undo his buttons. Stede feels his mouth go dry, not understanding until that fabric is yanked to the side, showing off the black mark on his chest. Stede's fingers curl against the tablecloth, rings glinting from his knuckles, unable to stop from connecting the shape of Ed's mark on his chest and the words coming from Izzy's mouth. Eyes still glued to his chest, Stede slowly shakes his head as he remembers how to form words, finally dragging his gaze up to Izzy's.

"I've never been one to take what wasn't willingly offered," he admits. "It doesn't sit right with me. But you...you like that?" It had been fairly evident from Lucius's photograph that Izzy had been enjoying himself that day, pinned down by Ed and all his tentacles, being marked. Claimed. How could Stede ever hope to match that?

Does he like it.

No one has ever asked him before, that's just how it's always been. It is the closest approximation of tenderness he has experienced and it's always been fine. He has always endured. Sometimes, being offered tenderness feels like the very proof that you've been ruined, and he is a ruined man.

"Is what it is," he manages, words getting stuck beside the truth of no, actually, I don't like it at fucking all but beggars can't be choosers. It's fine.

This is why Stede Bonnet is a shit pirate. Who looks for consent on the open water, especially in their trade? It doesn't fucking exist.

"Are you gonna make me ask, or what?" he says and jostles his shirt a bit. Stede asked for his tattoo and he's offered it. Is that not good enough?

Izzy's answer isn't a no, but it isn't a yes, either, and for a moment Stede's tender heart clutches in his chest, hurting for this man who's only been offered rough touches and forced affection. He wonders if he's ever been given to instead of just taken from. There are miles between those two things, Stede knows. Just as there are miles between a marriage you chose and a marriage that was chosen for you, something he never realized until Edward.

"Oh," he murmurs, snapping back to attention as Izzy jostles his shirt, and he rises to his feet. No, he won't make Izzy ask, but the demand is consent enough for Stede, and he comes around the table with bated breath. His eyes flicker from Izzy's to the tattoo, uncertainly, and slowly he reaches his fingers out. He has a theory as to how this might work, based on what Ed's later recollection of the encounter, and his gaze slides back up to Izzy's face as they brush against the black ink, gentle and warm. Watching, with bated breath, for the reaction he knows will come.

Just the gentle rub of fabric against Izzy's skin has been enough to keep him teetering on the edge - but under warm, soft fingers it's like sliding into a pool of warm, all enveloping bliss. The reaction is huge and immediate as Izzy gives a fucking filthy moan and closes his eyes. His knees threaten to buckle out from under him and he reaches out to find purchase against Stede and keep himself up, grabbing the back of the man's neck for stability. Just like that, he's his. It's so fucking easy.

Has Izzy ever been given to, no. Not even this really counts. It isn't exactly taking, but it isn't giving. He doesn't know what to call it, all he knows is that coherent thought is leaving him as quickly as the tattoo's sensations flood in to replace it. By then, he doesn't care. By then he's pressing his face into Stede's neck wanting- needing the contact more than anything else.

Stede is there to catch Izzy before his knees can betray him, one strong arm looping around his waist just as the other man clasps a hand around his neck. Goosebumps scatter across his skin as he takes in the reaction, spellbound, the gorgeous moan erupting from Izzy's mouth, the way his eyes squeeze shut from the force of it. He knows all too well what that ink does, had spent an entire morning letting orgasm after orgasm wrack his body at Ed's behest, had sucked it from his thumb all too eagerly.

He can understand, then, why Izzy's immediate instinct is to buckle into him, to grasp at him and bury his face in Stede's neck, where he can feel the damp warmth of every heavy breath. His reaction is pure instinct; he pulls Izzy close, against his broad chest, and passes a soothing hand over his hair, petting it back away from his face. "There, there. I know. It's a lot, isn't it?" He slips into this gentleness so easily, because it is who he is at his very core. And he's never seen someone so in need of gentility in his life. Now the only question is whether or not Izzy will take it.

"He ran me through the wringer, the first time we changed together. I swear my heart nearly gave out..." He doesn't mention that it was because all his blood supply was being pumped so hard to his massive prick. "But Ed took care of me then." Stede bends his head, brushing his nose against Izzy's hair, smelling for the first time the scent of whatever pomatum he uses. "Will you allow me to do the same for you?"

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Action but fuck brackets

FUCK BRACKETS

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