{"id":192,"date":"2022-03-28T21:42:27","date_gmt":"2022-03-28T13:42:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cloverso.me\/fic\/?p=192"},"modified":"2023-06-22T21:44:21","modified_gmt":"2023-06-22T13:44:21","slug":"to-flirt-and-to-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cloverso.me\/fic\/192\/","title":{"rendered":"to flirt and to love"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

If anyone was to ask Lucius\u2019s opinion on the relationship between his co-captains, he would quite rightly say that they were irrefutably idiots in love. And while it was sometimes frustrating to see them completely oblivious to matters of the heart, it was always entertaining to watch their interactions. It was very amusing, and he and the whole crew got a kick out of watching Stede and Ed.<\/p>\n

As it was, the crew had disembarked at a tropical island in the Bahamas that operated for pirates. It was much smaller than the Republic of Pirates and fewer people, but it had a marketplace that allowed the pirates to restock their inventories without the worry of naval vessels. Stede had provided Roach some coins to get the necessary food and even given Lucius some to get new writing equipment.<\/p>\n

It was as Lucius was returning from the marketplace and heading back to the ship that he saw Stede and Ed with their feet on the ocean shore, admiring the horizon.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt really is a beautiful evening,\u201d Stede said, looking across at the orange hues of the setting sun reflected in the sparkling ocean.<\/p>\n

And Ed, like the pirate he was, merely grunted, too busy bending down to pick something up.<\/p>\n

Lucius watched Stede\u2019s gaze turn to Ed, a soft smile played on his lips. \u201cEd\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

And of course, that was when Ed ruined the moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cTake that you fucking ocean,\u201d Ed muttered as he skipped the stones he\u2019d picked up along the water.<\/p>\n

But maybe he hadn\u2019t ruined the moment, because Stede threw his head backwards, laughing. Ed frowned at the reaction but when he turned to Stede and saw him caught up in his laughter, his face immediately softened. It was a sight that no one outside of the crew would ever believe \u2014 Blackbeard wasn\u2019t soft, after all. But something about Stede always brought out the human in Ed. It was a marvel to see.<\/p>\n

Voices sounded behind Lucius so he stopped prying and made for the ship, new writing gear in hand.<\/p>\n

\u2014<\/p>\n

After several nights of stormy weather, the sea had finally calmed. To celebrate the crew had drinks out on the deck and were sharing their stories. Lucius was sitting next to Black Pete, who was busy talking to Fang but kept a hand on Lucius\u2019s knee. But that\u2019s not what had Lucius\u2019s attention.<\/p>\n

Ed was seated on the staircase, while the rest of the crew sat on the lower portion of the deck. Of course Izzy was elsewhere. Stede\u2019s eyes kept lingering on Ed, and perhaps attributed to the liquor he\u2019d drunk, he finally approached him.<\/p>\n

\u201cMay I sit there?\u201d Stede said, pointing to where Ed was.<\/p>\n

Ed raised an eyebrow. He gestured to the empty space next to him.<\/p>\n

Stede frowned. \u201cNo, no. That won\u2019t do. May I sit there?\u201d he repeated, pointing at Ed\u2019s lap.<\/p>\n

\u201cMate. That\u2019s my lap,\u201d Ed said. His lips were pursed together\u2014like he was containing his amusement.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes. That would be adequate,\u201d Stede said, and before Ed could protest, he had a lapful of Stede.<\/p>\n

Stede laid himself across Ed\u2019s lap, with his arms thrown around Ed\u2019s neck and his face buried in the space between Ed\u2019s neck and shoulder.<\/p>\n

Ed was laughing. \u201cStede, mate, I don\u2019t think this is very practical,\u201d he said, but nevertheless proceeded to hold Stede.<\/p>\n

Stede mumbled something to Ed and Lucius swore he saw a blush creep up Ed\u2019s neck to his face. Ed mumbled something back and a few moments later, Stede rolled off Ed and sat on the lower deck in between where Ed\u2019s legs were. Stede rested his head against Ed\u2019s knee, smiling up at Ed. Ed gazed back, eyes impossibly fond.<\/p>\n

Intriguingly, out of the two of them, Stede was somehow more composed, less flustered by it all. Was this what happened when Stede got drunk? Were his strong come-ons, reserved only for Ed, really capable of rendering the legendary Blackbeard speechless and flustered? Fascinating. Lucius tucked that information away for later\u2014it might come in handy should he need something; he was a pirate after all.<\/p>\n

\u2014<\/p>\n

What really consolidated Ed and Stede\u2019s relationship, in Lucius\u2019s opinion, was when Jim made a remark within earshot of Ed. \u201cUgh. Get a room if you\u2019re just gonna flirt,\u201d they said, followed by some Spanish that Lucius could not understand. Nevertheless, Lucius had chuckled and surprisingly Ed did not scold him, instead he looked somewhat confused.<\/p>\n

Lucius learnt that night why Ed was confused, only it took Stede reluctantly running a sword through Ed\u2019s body, upon Ed\u2019s insistence, to realise it.<\/p>\n

With the sword through the left side of his body, Ed laughed, and clutched Stede\u2019s wrist. His face was pained but he spoke anyway. \u201cSo are we flirting now?\u201d<\/p>\n

Stede blinked down at his held wrist and then back to Ed and his eyebrows shot up. \u201cI am literally stabbing you! This is the furthest from flirting!\u201d<\/p>\n

Ed huffed. \u201cDamn it.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was a moment of silence before realisation shone on Stede\u2019s face. \u201cThis\u2026 this is how you flirt, Ed?\u201d<\/p>\n

Ed furrowed his eyebrows, confusion or pain or perhaps both, Lucius wasn\u2019t sure. \u201cYeah, I dunno. Sometimes? I thought it was pretty standard on the ocean,\u201d Ed said.<\/p>\n

Stede frowned at that, but fell silent. \u201cDoes that mean\u2026 you want to flirt with me of all people?\u201d<\/p>\n

Lucius sighed, the noise surprising his co-captains.<\/p>\n

\u201cOi! Don\u2019t creep on us like that,\u201d Ed said, and then winced in pain at the movement.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, clearly I needed to. You\u2019ve chosen to be impaled by a sword. You have other priorities than flirting right now,\u201d Lucius said, massaging his temples. \u201cHow have you survived this long? Actually, don\u2019t answer that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Exasperated, Lucius went and got their medical supplies. Love could wait.<\/p>\n

\u2014<\/p>\n

After that night, it appeared that Ed and Stede had discussed the issue of flirting. Their interactions hadn\u2019t changed much, but they were aware of their behaviour now and continued to flirt, fortunately in safer ways. Of course, they never actually connected the dots as to why<\/em> they wanted to flirt with one another. Lucius had slapped his palm on his head at that.<\/p>\n

One step at a time and they would get there. Eventually. After all, love was a powerful thing.<\/p>\n

And in any case, if they didn\u2019t figure it out any time soon then it would just be a matter of time until the crew made it known.<\/p>\n

Lucius smiled as he watched Ed and Stede chatting together over their cups of tea and bread.<\/p>\n

Idiots in love indeed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lucius observes the idiots in love.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[7,46],"fandom":[47],"rating":[3],"ship":[48],"class_list":["post-192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-m-m","tag-canonverse","tag-idiots-in-love","fandom-ofmd","rating-teen","ship-gentlebeard","wpautop"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cloverso.me\/fic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cloverso.me\/fic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cloverso.me\/fic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cloverso.me\/fic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cloverso.me\/fic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=192"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cloverso.me\/fic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":193,"href":"https:\/\/cloverso.me\/fic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192\/revisions\/193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cloverso.me\/fic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cloverso.me\/fic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cloverso.me\/fic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=192"},{"taxonomy":"fandom","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cloverso.me\/fic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fandom?post=192"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cloverso.me\/fic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=192"},{"taxonomy":"ship","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cloverso.me\/fic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ship?post=192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}