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Izzy loved Ed’s cabin.
Sometimes, when he was particularly drunk, he wondered what it might be like to wake in the cabin.
Tangled in the sheets.
Next to Edward.
He shook his head to clear it before entering. The room was dark and pungent with the smoke from Ed’s pipe. The sun filtered in from the window, but it did little to combat the dreary drape of curtains and dank dimness.
It was perfect.
“Captain,” he said as he entered, doing his best to seem unaffected. It was an art he’d well mastered by that point; were his captain to be aware anytime he was affected, Izzy would’ve been out of a job years ago. “We’re a few hundred yards out from The Revenge.”
“Nice. Very good,” Ed muttered around his pipe. Izzy watched the smoke puff out, clouding his face. His leg was up, which was good; if Izzy had to get on his knees to rub at Ed’s, he’d soon be walking back to his cabin throbbing with want. “Love that.”
Izzy needed to stop getting so distracted.
“Honestly, I really don’t think this Bonnet is worth your time,” Izzy countered. He didn’t want to go on some chase for another one of Ed’s fascinations. The joy in Ed’s face used to be all Izzy needed in life, but it had become more and more painful to know that it wasn’t Izzy putting that smile there, not really. He’d hunt down the object of Ed’s attention, he would present the prizes to his captain, but still… it wasn’t for him.
It was always something else.
“Oh really?” Edward asked.
Shit. Izzy had lost track.
“What then, pray tell, would be worth my time?” Edward asked.
Izzy’s breath stopped.
Me, he couldn’t say.
“Well? Cat got your tongue?” Ed turned his head. Something must have shown on Izzy's face, because Ed put his pipe down, keeping his focus on Izzy. “Come here.”
Izzy went.
An order from his captain, after all.
Looking down at Ed was uncomfortable, so Izzy sank to his knees, his normal position for massaging Ed’s knee. Ed hummed, considering him.
“Izzy, do you know what I think you want?” Ed cocked his head, a smirk playing on his lips. Izzy shook his head. “I think you want more than your station provides you.”
“Edward?” Izzy asked in a hushed voice. Was he here to be punished?
Ed took his leg off the cushion and leaned forward into Izzy’s space. Izzy’s breath caught. Ed smelled like smoke and, underneath that, some citrus Izzy couldn’t place; it was intoxicating and a contradiction that was so very Ed that Izzy couldn’t help but swoon internally.
A warm hand brushed his cheek. Izzy blinked to find Ed meeting his gaze, searching his face for something.
“Edward?” Izzy tried again, eyes flicking down to where Ed was wetting his lips.
“Yeah, Iz?”
“Did you want something from me?” Izzy’s heart was beating in his throat; he felt like a teenager again, though he’d thought he’d left these kinds of emotional upheavals in his past.
Instead of answering, Ed leaned in further until they were close enough that Izzy’s eyes unfocused. Ed still pressed in until his lips brushed Izzy’s.
Oh.
Oh.
Izzy answered the kiss as best he knew how; it had been a while since he’d taken advantage of his shore leave, but kissing Edward was nothing like kissing other people. His lips were surprisingly soft, and he kissed with a fervor that swept Izzy away. It was as though Ed wanted to devour him—and Izzy would be his willing victim.
They broke away, both breathing hard as they looked at each other. There was something open and vulnerable on Ed’s face—not Blackbeard, not the captain, not even Edward, but that youthful hope of Eddie mixed with the fear that was only Ed.
“I didn’t think—” Ed started.
“I’ve always been looking, Eddie,” Izzy explained, voice gentle like he was trying to calm a mare. “It was improper—”
“We’re pirates, Izzy.” Ed smiled then. “We can do what we want.”
“I couldn’t lose you,” Izzy further explained. The idea of Ed’s potential rejection had hurt Izzy more than he had realized, so he’d buried it—away from Ed and away from himself.
“You could never lose me, Iz.” Ed stroked Izzy’s cheek again, and Izzy let himself close his eyes and lean into the touch.
They weren’t young men anymore. Izzy bore the marks from past loves, and Edward had had more dalliances than Izzy cared to count—though he had kept track anyway. His knees reminded him of his lost youth, even though he kept them in as good a shape as possible with his morning drills. Edward must’ve seen something on his face, because he gestured to the footstool he’d been using.
Groaning as he got up, Izzy gratefully sat on it. It was low, but still better than the wood planks beneath their feet.
“So, what now?” Izzy asked. His mind was spiraling out, thinking of the possibilities and those who would see this as a weakness or something to be exploited. How would the crew react?
Would they even tell the crew? Would it be just for Ed and Izzy?
“Now,” Ed interrupted. “Now, I take you to fucking bed like I’ve been meaning to since you agreed to be my first mate.”
Izzy must’ve looked disbelieving because Ed cracked a smile. “That long?”
“Maybe longer,” Ed admitted. “You were handsome. Still are.”
If Izzy could blush, he was sure he would be at that comment alone. As it was, his heart was still beating too fast.
“You’re one to fucking talk,” Izzy countered. Ed laughed, but then he was leaning in and they were kissing again and all other thoughts left Izzy’s mind.
He could get used to this.
When they broke away again, Ed had a twinkle in his eye. “Bed?”
That startled a laugh out of Izzy. “Insatiable. Yeah, bed.”