Pierced Through the Heart - cecillusive (doorwaytoparadise), waterofthemoon (original) (raw)

Izzy catches up with Stede back at Jackie's, hours after seeing him dart off, presumably eager to make new enemies as fast as possible.

He's seen Ed twice since then, both times alone: once at the docks, watching the fish come in, and once in passing, later, a storm cloud of emotion around him. Izzy wanted to ask, but the pain where his leg should be stopped him.

Stede's not alone when Izzy finds him, but from the strained look in his eyes, he might as well be. He's sitting at a table with Steak Knife and Bloodbucket Bill, talking to a man Izzy only recognizes in passing.

"Wow," Stede's saying when Izzy makes his way over. "Could we do that now, do you think?"

The man rests his hand on Stede's knee and cups Stede's chin with the other. Stede stiffens at first, then seems to force himself to relax into it. Izzy doesn't have to wonder when he started paying enough attention to Stede to notice.

"Yeah, you've got good ears for it," the man says. "Got my kit with me, too." He grins, lascivious enough to make Izzy's blood boil. "Let's go out back, where it's nice and quiet."

It's not Izzy's job to stop Stede from making ill-advised decisions while they're on shore leave. But it sort of feels like it is, because something's gone wrong between Stede and Edward since this morning, and Stede looks fucked up about it, and if Izzy can intervene here, Stede might even want him to.

Izzy stomps over to the table.

"Fuck off, all of you." He ignores the others and looks directly, only at Stede. "Come with me, you're needed elsewhere."

Stede's gaze up at him flits from confused to concerned in a heartbeat. "What—is something wrong with the crew?"

"Just come with me, fuck."

To his credit, Stede scrambles up from the table as Izzy turns and walks away. "Where are we going? Is the ship all right?"

"Ship's fine, crew's fine." Izzy doesn't turn around, doesn't meet anyone's eyes. He's not going to feed the gossip mill more than he has to. "Just wanted to get you out of there."

Stede, however, clearly doesn't mind people saying whatever they're going to say, because he grabs Izzy by the shoulder in the middle of the bar and turns him around. Izzy's gotten his feet under him with the new leg, for the most part, but the move still catches him off balance.

"You don't have to do that." Stede looks annoyed now, and Izzy considers leaving him after all. "I can handle myself."

"Yeah, I know you can." Izzy shakes off Stede's hand and keeps walking, out into the night air. "That doesn't mean you have to."

*

They wind up back at the ship, where any lingering worries Stede might have appear to be assuaged when he sees she's in one piece. Izzy tromps all the way back up on deck before Stede stops him again.

"Izzy, wait."

This time, Izzy turns around of his own volition. Stede, still on the dock, sighs.

"I suppose you noticed Edward's not with me." He's looking up at Izzy through his lashes, and the ties of his shirt are coming loose, leaving his chest slightly more exposed than before.

"Yeah," Izzy admits. "That guy you were with? He's not who you want to rebound with, Bonnet. Trust me on that."

Stede sputters. "What—no! He was going to pierce my ear for me, that's it."

He tucks his blond curls behind his ear in a move Izzy absolutely should not find devastating. "Don't tell me you don't think I'd look good with an earring, Izzy."

And fuck, Izzy can't deny that he really would.

"Yeah, that's not all he wanted from you," Izzy informs him instead, to which Stede responds with a considering noise, presumably filing that away for later.

Izzy's thinking about it now, Stede with an earring. The sun glinting off the metal as he struts from one end of the deck to the other, the way it would flash when he swings his sword around. Like a proper pirate.

He speaks before he knows he's going to.

"I can do your piercing for you," Izzy says. "If you're still into that."

Stede beams and practically runs up the gangplank. "No time like the present! Let's do it."

He sweeps through the door leading to his cabin, leaving Izzy standing there, wondering how badly he's just fucked himself.

*

Stede has an earring he wants to use, a gold hoop he plucked off some guy on a recent raid. Ivan taught him that, Izzy recalls, about searching the dead for valuables.

Well, no use dwelling on the past. He watches while Stede pulls another chair behind his desk.

"Er—what else?" Stede asks.

"Get a needle and thread," Izzy says. "Any color. You might want to pour yourself something strong, too."

Stede waves him off. "Oh, Izzy. Any pain is part of the experience!"

"Pour me one, then."

Stede's hands on the decanter are strong and practiced, and his fingers brush Izzy's when he hands him the glass. Izzy takes a long swallow of liquid courage.

"Right," he says. "Sit down, then."

The first step to piercing someone's ear is to sterilize the needle, lest they wind up with a nasty infection and have to have the whole thing lopped off.

There's certainly no shortage of candles aboard the Revenge. Izzy plunks one on the desk, then holds the needle in its flame. Stede watches him, intensely focused.

"You like that, don't you?" Stede remarks. "The blaze of a candle can be quite mesmerizing, I agree."

Izzy grunts in acknowledgment and sets about threading the needle. His personal affairs are Stede's business, now they're captain and first mate.

"Yeah," he allows. "It's nice. Now sit the fuck down, I won't ask you again."

To his credit, Stede sits. He holds perfectly still while Izzy stands over him and eyes up his earlobe, then jabs the needle through. Izzy only has a moment to revel in the hard metal penetrating soft flesh before Stede hisses and pulls away.

"Wish you'd numbed up now, don't you?" Izzy smirks and guides Stede back to sitting upright. "Come on, got to get the earring in."

Stede takes a sip from Izzy's glass. "Bit pointier than I thought, I admit. Still, I can certainly see the appeal."

He turns his head, offering his ear up to Izzy. Izzy slides the needle out and the earring in, clasping the hoop behind Stede's earlobe with a gentleness he's rarely felt.

Their breaths catch at the same time, as Izzy's hand lingers there, fingertips brushing through Stede's curls. Izzy starts to withdraw, but Stede clasps his palm around Izzy's wrist.

"Izzy," Stede murmurs.

And that's when Izzy realizes how alone they are, how vulnerable Stede is, how far out of hand he's let this get. When Stede leans up to kiss him, it's soft but firm, open-mouthed but slow, giving Izzy plenty of time to stop. He doesn't.

The kiss slides into something else, though, when Izzy gets his arms around Stede to find him shaking. Izzy pulls back, and Stede's face drops down to his shoulder.

"Bonnet. Stede. You all right?"

It's clear that he's not, but Stede's response is about what Izzy expects.

"Yep!" Stede assures him. "Completely. It's just…."

Izzy waits him out, one hand stroking down Stede's spine.

"It's so much," Stede whispers. He looks up at Izzy. "How do you cope with it all?"

In moments like these, Izzy remembers how green Stede still is, to all of it—piracy, and love between men, and fame that doesn't come from being born into it. He cups Stede's face, thumb slipping over his jawbone.

"Not coping is worse," Izzy says. "You and I, we understand that more than most."

Stede laughs. "Unfortunately true."

Izzy wants to say more—give Stede advice he wishes he'd given himself decades ago, maybe—but he figures it'll keep for later. Instead, he lets Stede rub his cheek over Izzy's palm like a cat until Stede looks him in the eye again.

As Stede does, they both lean in until their mouths meet, sweet and warm, already horrifically intimate. Whatever this is, Izzy can't bring himself to wish it was any different.

"No regrets?" he asks Stede, just to be sure they're of a mind here.

Stede shakes his head. "Honestly, I think coming back here was the only good decision I've made in the past sixteen hours. Thank you."

And neither of them invokes Edward, or the fate of Ned Low, or the world waiting for them outside this ship. Izzy just pats Stede on the thigh and stands up.

"Go on, then," he says. "Go see what you look like, now you're pierced. I know you're dying to."

And the smile Stede flashes him in the mirror, bright with the thrill of sharing his new look, is just about worth everything.