Random

She/her; 22

[theyoungeragrippina]

✨ 15 gentlebeard fic recs ✨

i have spent the last month trawling the pages of ao3 for you, dear reader, to find the best ofmd fics. all the works on this list:

are longer-form (generally 40k+)

have no steddyhands (simply not my thing)

are generally, all around brilliant (well-written, had me kicking my feet and giggling, laughing, or crying)

are complete!

A Heart Unsated by roughwinds

48k, explicit

"Stede Bonnet has just moved into Orange Crescent. There’s a house on the corner, opposite Stede’s own, with a garden full of flowers and a gleaming motorbike on the driveway. He’s forgotten to buy sugar.

Edward Teach has his morning disturbed by his new neighbour. Enamoured at first sight, he invites Stede round for a chat, and then another, and then another.

This is the story of them."

man i normally avoid fics with lots of alma and louis in them because its just not for me, but literally every second of the family bonding in this was so wholesome i was forced to change my entire mind.

all you left me was a pearl by @sightofsea

88k, mature

"1717. The Golden Age of Piracy. Stede Bonnet sets about wooing the love of his life through any means necessary.

Things do not go as planned."

every day i wish for a precise memory erasing potion to be invented so i can read this again for the first time. i would devour like 2000k more words of this if it was offered to me. brilliant.

forgive & forget by @fool-for-luv

44k, mature

"It hits him then, like a wave breaking on sand, loud as thunder when it crashes, then trickling away into little rivulets flowing back home, murmuring one word over and over and over. Ed.

The problem is, Stede doesn’t recall ever having met anyone named Ed."

so sweet and wonderful, and i wish there was more.

#gentlebeard is trending! by regional_catastrophe

41k, teen

"In which Stede accidentally convinces the pirating world that Gentlebeard (or Blackbonnet or Stedward; there's a poll) is canon, reunites his crew, and gets his boyfriend back."

hilarious & silly & great, but also the most compelling notes of any fic i've ever read. a proper learning experience.

if music be the food of love (then darling, you're a feast) by @fool-for-luv

107k, unrated

"“Hey, so, those two, right, they get together in the end?” Ed asks.

“I would protest spoiling it, but I think it's rather obvious, isn't it?” Stede says. His nose wrinkles as he smiles. “The tension is certainly there from the beginning. It just takes them a while to get there.”

“Good. Would have been a shit story otherwise.""

i love sassy stede and i love ed who is a grump and i love that they share one single braincell at any given time.

If You Were Mine to Keep by @mysterybees

162k, explicit

"Caught between the gallows and the end of an English sword, Ed accepts the Act of Grace: marry into the aristocracy, leave the English ships alone, and live to sail another day. But who in their right mind would ever agree to marry the mad devil pirate Blackbeard?"

Worth every second of tiredness I felt after pulling an all nighter to finish reading.

It's Only Right by hexuponye

53k, explicit

"A modern AU based on Imagine Me & You, in which Edward is a florist who does the flowers for Stede's wedding."

mary gets to be a little silly sometimes too as a treat.

pliocene by unfortunatelyobsessed

75k, mature

""man, it's just ocean for miles.” Ed motions out to the waves, where there is no sign of any sort of ship, their small dinghy pulled far up on the sand. “I told you when the clouds look like seagulls you take fuckin' cover. Goddamn ocean mutinied me.”"

william golding wishes he did something this brilliant and significant when he wrote Lord of the Flies. the best deserted island story.

quite a career shift by @stedesparasol

157k, explicit

"Stede's been posting book reviews on Youtube for two months now. It's taken him that long to finally get a comment, and the person it comes from is rather unexpected."

rip stede you would've LOVED booktube. furious i can never really watch his content.

Semaphore by komodobits

124k, explicit

"Talking things through as a crew is easier said than done, and honest communication has never really been Stede’s strong suit. When it comes to Ed, he is willing to try."

so good that i was properly and truly laughing and gasping and 'oh no-ing' out loud while i read it.

Such Joie de Vivre by @louciferish

94k, explicit

"Professional thief Edward Teach is tired of hole in the wall apartments, shitty pub food, and skipping town every few months to keep the cops off their tail. He’s well past the age he meant to flee the country and retire, and all he needs is One Last Job to set him up for life. When he hears that some rich bastard outside of town has just the sort of treasure he’d trade his good knee for, Ed sets out in disguise to get the lay of the land."

i (so so foolishly) avoided reading this for a while because i simply didn't think i was one for nanny aus. i was so, terribly wrong. don't make the same mistakes i did. showstopping. incredible stuff.

The Chains of Flowers are Fragile Things by @grandmastattoo

62k, explicit

"Stede can't see the shop he's inherited from his late father as anything other than a burden, another insult added to a life that's going nowhere fast. Then he meets the charismatic man who owns the tattoo studio next door, and Stede finds himself forced to consider the idea of home."

maybe i love tattoo shop owner ed fics, sue me. i love this stede and i love his embarrassing mistake tattoo.

The Love Experiment by karawrites

65k, mature

a married at first sight (aus) au. i didn't know i needed it until i read it.

Water/line by @the-gentleman-mermaid

60k, teen

"During a raid on a smuggler ship, Ed finds a merman named Stede locked in the hold."

So good that I would actually pay the author real person money to do a similar story but where Ed is the mermaid.

Where the Daylight Begins by @xoxoemynn

116k words, explicit

"Modern day AU slow burn featuring a pining Ed, a clueless Stede, found family, roughly a million animals, and a very magical house."

This one sort of gave me House on the Cerulean Sea vibes; it was so much fun and genuinely necessitates a proper use of the word whimsical.

[janadoesstuffwrong]

Yeah I'm still not over this at all.

Why did he get the full regency period forbidden love treatment???

[sophou1a]

Crumbs yall may not have picked up:

Even tho there’s only the one paintedspirit epic fight scene, it’s implied that they keep going to see each other..

First off zuko is following Katara around in broad daylight and then he’s waiting on a rooftop outside where she stays in his blue spirit getup. Then there’s a few scenes of him pretending to work a night shift job to iroh, both toph & long feng calling katara out for leaving EVERY. SINGLE. NIGHT. and jet clocking her as a “flame lover” (Katara doesn’t know who’s behind the mask, but jet probably figured it out…)

But that’s why zuko was there to help when katara got captured, bc it was a routine of meeting up…

Then when they’re in the crystal catacombs and the mask is gone and he has his back to her and she’s all like come onnn turn arounddd and he’s like nah 😳 and that’s also probably why he got so much more sensitive about his face😔

[yourhighness6]

NATLA Crystal Catacombs Debrief

I promised an extra post about my thoughts on the crystal catacombs so here it is! I decided just to separate it into likes/ dislikes because that was easiest so enjoy:

Likes:

Zuko refusing to turn around at the beginning because he's afraid of what Katara will think when she learns its him

"Of course I want to know... I want to thank you" "You won't"

Kia's acting when she said "Zuko?" when he first turned around the angst and tension were palpable

"I'm not gonna fight you"

"I thought you were good" "I'm trying" // "I don't deserve it" "You will"

"I'm so stupid" "You're not" // "Aang was right... everything I did was stupid" Genuinely how are they going to make kataang canon after that one Zuko in the background saying "you're not an idiot for having hope and wanting to do good" while the reason she thinks she's an idiot for those things is her canon love interest COME ON

"This is what I deserve... to be locked in a cave with a monster" meanwhile all season all Zuko has wanted to do was avoid becoming the monster his father tried to make him and his mother feared he would become ARGHHHHHH THE ANGST THE LAYERS

Katara trying to escape with water bending because of course she wouldn't just sit there

Katara asking "Did you always know it was me?" when he literally knew from the first night but didn't decide to attack her or Aang and instead decided to defend her when she was in trouble

"That's a more elaborate plan than I've ever come up with" when Katara's describing how she thinks he's trying to trick her so he can trap Aang peak Zuko behavior

"When I saw the Dai Li attack you I didn't think I just helped"

"Because of your father and his father and all of the little men that go all the way back to Sozin" I fear she ate down with "little men"

Katara's anger felt more organic than in the cartoon because she had a whole speech leading up to her talking about her mother's death instead of just a few lines. I know in the original its heavily implied that there was off-camera conversations between them that leave plenty of time for her to get worked up about the topic but I liked the way they did it here better. They really took a lot of what was given in canon and expended upon it in this scene

"I feel guilty because I lived" No because the emphasis on that one word says so much about how she's learning to outgrow her survivor's guilt and realize it wasn't her fault. She understands now that not only is she no longer powerless but also the way the FN made her feel is ridiculous because no one should feel guilty just for being "allowed" to live and THAT is the evil of the Fire Nation destroying kid's childhoods right there

The og lines omg! "You have no idea what this war has put me through... me personally... the FN took my mother away from me" "I'm sorry... that's something we have in common"

The implication that they talked more in between Zuko revealing his mother's death to Katara and Zuko telling her about his mother... they're giving us room for fanfic within the fanfic

"Do you know how hard it is for a fire bender to get burned?" this was TRAGIC to me his father didn't just want him to be in pain he wanted him to have a constant reminder of his pain on his face scarring him was completely intentional. "He has to down his basic defenses, instincts he's born with" also this implies he was so trauamatized by Ozai's past abuse (in my opinion specifically his abuse against Ursa that Zuko witnessed in one of the flashbacks) that he couldn't even defend himself

"My father may have scarred me but deep down some part of me believed I deserved it... that part of me let him" Netflix WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME

Katara being quiet until Zuko finishes his story because she realizes how vulnerable he's being and how he's probably never talked to anyone like this before

Also Zuko oversharing was lowkey in character this is the same guy who told Aang "My father said Azula was born lucky and that I was lucky to be born" in the middle of a blizzard after he'd kidnapped him in the cartoon

"Why were you defending them?" "Because they were helpless. Why were you?" "Same reason" They are the same person different font as I have always and will always say

"For so long when I saw the face of the enemy it was your face" "No matter how much you hate this face Katara I hate it more" "That's not what I see anymore"

Zuko scoffing when Katara said he needed healing because he's still afraid of showing weakness

"It's been known to cure the deepest and most dire of wounds... maybe even those that reach back generations" this line because she's talking about healing his personal generational trauma yes but it's also so loaded knowing that he's the one who eventually becomes Fire Lord and breaks the cycle of perpetuating violence against other nations/ cultures!!! because he's representative of the Fire Nation as a whole and what THEY need to do to make up their for their mistakes

"I wonder if this is the reason I was given this water in the first place. Because it was meant for you" BECAUSE THEY WERE MEANT TO BE THE SHIP WAS MEANT TO SAIL

"I don't deserve it" "You will" I already mentioned this it was so good it had to be mentioned twice

The tentative way she reached up to touch his scar, the hesitation on her face, the acting, the cinematography, everything about this moment was perfect. She's literally reaching out to him and offering him a chance at redemption because she believes he can make up for his mistakes SHE BELIEVES IN HIM!!! I'm going into a catatonic state

Sokka fucking barging in there where Katara yelled "no he saved me" That is such an unambiguously romantic forbidden love type trope

Zuko just looking resigned to Sokka beating him up because he knew it was too good to be true

No Katara running to hug Aang because we all know kataang is nonexistent in this season

But Zuko still hugs Iroh

The way Katara says "Zuko. Both of you" trying to get him and Sokka to calm down and not fight because she feels responsible for both of their actions [in a way a sister would to Sokka but also sort of in the way a gf would to Zuko]

THIS WAS ALL THEY WERE DOING FOR HALF THE FUCKING EPISODE BECAUSE THEIR RELATIONSHIP IS THAT IMPORTANT TO THE STORY

Dislikes:

Zuko telling Katara it was his father who scarred him. Look, listen, I know he wasn't trying to guilt trip her into forgiving him because of his tragic backstory but... The narrative doesn't know that. I liked how in the original they left it up to interpretation when and if Zuko told the gaang because #1: fanfic potential and #2: he's trying to genuinely change and he's not using his past or the things Ozai did to him as a way to justify his past actions.

Zuko also has come to terms too early with how wrong what his father did to him really was. In the cartoon Zuko is only able to confront this in DOBS, a pivotal moment in his arc where he finally chooses to join the gaang. Him telling Katara "no story they could come up with [about how he got his scar] is as horrible as the truth" makes it seem like he's fully come to terms with his father's evil but... doesn't care when he betrays Katara in order to rejoin his family

The way the scar touch itself was done because she genuinely looks like she's just sort of brushing it with her fingertips. It's a more professional, medical-looking touch in my opinion because in the cartoon it literally looks like she's cupping his face and her thumb is even touching his lips. in this version it doesn't seem as intimate

No jealous look at Zuko from Aang

[alicent-florent]

Avatar: The Last Airbender S02E07 "Something Broken"

[pigfartsviatardis]

I doubt this was what the actor was going for but the way Katara reacts here reads to me as very much how she might react if she’d been harbouring a lil crush on the blue spirit…

Like others have pointed out, the show makes it clear that Katara kept sneaking out repeatedly to be the painted lady, as did zuko at the same time to be the blue spirit, and this continued after they first encountered each other and zuko realised who she was. So they might well have had more interactions that we didn’t see, especially since zuko seemed to develop a minor fixation on Katara (watching her back at the villa, following her through the market). But possibly most telling… when the two of them are captured, the locals refer to him as her sidekick. Kind of a weird thing to say unless they’ve been repeatedly seen in action together. So, plenty of evidence that they’ve been working together in their vigilante disguises, and possibly even spoken a small amount.

When they get thrown into prison together without their disguises, zuko is tense and reluctant to turn around because he knows she won’t react well… but Katara seems excited to finally see who the mysterious blue spirit is, as though she’s been wondering about him and wanting to know more. And when it’s revealed that he’s none other than zuko, she is obviously angry and upset, but she also seems… embarrassed?? The ‘I’m such an idiot’ line and the turning away as though wanting to hide definitely caught my attention. It comes off like she’s not just shocked and disappointed that she was working with her enemy, but specifically horrified and frustrated with herself. For what? Perhaps for being so fascinated by the dashing blue spirit she felt such kinship with? Perhaps even for having daydreams of his identity reveal going very differently…?

Plus zuko’s reply and how he seems sad about her reaction, but very unsurprised. It would make sense if he KNEW they’d been vibing and maybe even flirting a little in their painted spirit disguises… but he always knew that would all change as soon as she knew who he was.

Yes obviously I’m viewing this with a heavy Zutara bias but that’s the funnest way to watch the show, sue me

[clarkegriffins]

2006 // 2026

[nonmooss]

Something that really punches me in the guts in WHA Chapter 93 [Major spoilers of course]

It's the way Olruggio is all smiles while telling Qifrey to erase his memories. He seems so cheerful about it, which is such a contrast to how Qifrey is crying his heart out.

He seems like he's downplaying the gravity of what is happening so much, perhaps to not make this more difficult for Qifrey if he shows he hurts too ?

He's all cheers and smiles, until he snaps. Until he can't hold it anymore. And that's the only time he snaps in this scene:

The only time he snaps out of his smiley cover is when he wants Qifrey to grasp his future, to not give up on life. The only time he got a tear in the eye, is him yelling he doesn't want Qifrey to die.

I don't know for y'all, but to me Olruggio trying to smile through it all despite how desperate he actually feels is one of the major reason this scene is so haunting to me

[superpowered-dirt]

I have a sinking feeling about Qifrey and where his story is headed.

MASSIVE spoilers and maybe slightly long-winded theorizing below the cut.

I believe quite certainly that Qifrey intends to reveal the complete truth to Olruggio very soon, and that while he seems to be accepting his fate, he is trying to maintain as much control over the terms of what he believes to be his inevitable end as possible.

Following the events of Chapter 88, after he reveals his nature as a Silverwood host to Coco, he asks to postpone his complete confession, wishing to be able to reveal the truth elsewhere, in a peaceful place beneath a wide open sky where his roots would have room to comfortably grow. He has described the land around the atelier in this way many times before.

Later, when the entire group is finally reunited and Olruggio tells Qifrey they’re going home. Qifrey’s expression looks pained for a moment, before he answers, “Alright then. Let's go home. Our atelier awaits."

His verbal recognition of the atelier as his home is a rather glaring signal that he is beginning to accept his imminent end and has chosen the atelier as his ideal final resting place. This is hinted at early on in a sequence during which Beldaruit spoke to Riliphin of the Silverwoods, and implied that he knew of Qifrey’s condition as he privately worried that his beginning to think of the atelier as his home could be dangerous for him.

At a point during their journey home, we return to the group to find the girls all asleep, while Qifrey has distanced himself from the rest, sitting on the bank of a lake to write in his book. Olruggio joins him and points out how far he’s sitting from the fire.

I think this was probably intentional in an effort to be closer to the lake to keep himself anxious, since it is my personal theory that here, Qifrey is actually writing a letter to Olruggio in which he tells him the entire truth, and that the narration through the next arc is comprised of excerpts from that letter. The lake is intended to be a failsafe of sorts, since of course, we know that vocalizing the truth to Olly is Qifrey’s greatest comfort trigger, while water touching his skin is his biggest anxiety trigger. Given this, it makes sense for him to choose this particular spot to begin to release the truth so he has a means of keeping the Silverwood at bay readily available should he need it, which he evidently does later on.

In the segments that follow, Qifrey reminisces on how he and Olruggio crossed paths at the Great Hall and became close.

Through the end of chapter 91, we watch the story unfold neutrally as though it is happening in real time, with no narration, but in chapter 92, something shifts. As soon as Qifrey’s recount reaches the part of the story that would have been lost to Olruggio’s memory, a past-tense narrator voice begins to cut in, and suddenly, it becomes clear this story is being told to someone, not merely recalled, and not just to anyone, but to Olruggio by Qifrey. This is the strongest evidence that what we’re reading is actually the contents of a letter to Olruggio.

All of this indicates to me that Qifrey is not just reminiscing, but is actively preparing for the end. The telling of the story, the physical and emotional distance Qifrey has put between himself and the others, and his now repeated framing of the atelier as both home and the kind of place where he would want to be forever, are all supportive of that.

As far as we know, Qifrey hasn’t been the one to initiate a full confession since they were kids at the Tower of Tomes. Spilling his guts in a letter written under duress is probably a new tactic, and it’s a smart one, as it ensures Qifrey can get the complete truth out on his terms without the usual interruption from the Silvertree, and if the others read it without him around, then he also doesn't have to worry about the potential for harming them with his transformation.

Him wanting to be away from his loved ones when he changes is what has me especially worried for him now, because Olruggio and the girls just left the atelier, leaving Qifrey there by himself. Maybe I'm projecting (probably), but the thought of Qifrey leaving a note before seeking out a means to essentially kill himself while they're split up makes my stomach hurt. Painfully though, it does feel in character, especially now that he's vocalized his trust in his students, particularly Coco, to carry on his mission. Olruggio, please go home now, your husband is an active danger to himself!!

Fortunately, Hiehart and Jujy pay the atelier a visit, but even upon greeting them, he does already seem on edge and uncharacteristically down. He's clearly having a hard time. I think he WANTS to live, but he's also teetering on the edge of thinking he doesn't get to live anymore.

Hopefully, whatever Hiehart has to say will get Qifrey out of his head and convince him to keep living for a little while longer. I'm guessing he's going to ask Qifrey to take on Jujy as his apprentice. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Anyways. To conclude, here is Qifrey’s directed narration/possible excerpts from a letter to Olruggio compiled:

Every day I turned my gaze away from the encroaching dread, and for as long as I was in the dark, I was happy. I greeted each morning with excitement, for with the rise of the sun came another adventure with you. I thought if I could retrieve the past I lost, my joy would be as genuine as yours, and perhaps I would have a real chance to share in your happiness. A child can dream. Like ordinary boys, we would share our visions of tomorrow with each other and we would laugh at how far away it all seemed.

Little did I know that felicity came with forgetting. It was a bliss born of ignorance. If I knew what I was… If I knew that I was never meant to be saved, I would've stayed far away from you, the sky’s kindest, most radiant star.

I once read an old poem that likened stars to boats sailing through the sky. But as far as I know, boats don’t twinkle like stars. The light doesn’t come from the vessel itself, but its guiding torch. Like your pyreball, it burns at the bow. A beacon of light in the dark.

After that fateful day, you would uncover my secret again and again. Each time you would respond with disbelief. Then your face would twist and turn in anguish. And after biting back a few words, you would show me grace, and comfort me and forgive me for lying to you. And then, without fail, the Silverwood’s roots would grow. You would offer me the same path back every time, and I would take it, adding to my mess of sins.

I had often considered leaving your side. I thought that perhaps traveling alone would save me from taking away your memories. But even that minute solace was enough for the Silverwood. I knew then that distance would do nothing but break my promise to you.

So I had another thought: A master never wants for worry with apprentices to look after. The selfishness behind my reason for taking on pupils made me ill, but they’d never have to know that. So I decided to put every fiber of my being toward becoming a good educator. If only I had known then what a joy it truly is to watch your students grow with each passing day.

It’s somewhat rare for a Silverwood to take root in people. Unlike animals, they tend to hold onto too much anxiety. Which is why the tree planted in Custus that gave him his legs raises some questions. My right eye was the only one to sprout during the experiments. It must have some connection to the Silverwood in Custas. For so long, I thought I was the only host, but now I'm not so sure. There could be more victims out there than I ever imagined.

Did I make the right choice?

Would it have been better to throw everything aside and hunt down the brimmed caps?

Doubts like these turn in my head, but the moment I see my atelier, I remember.

This is where my heart is. This is where I want to be.

--

[EDIT 5/28: just to be clear, i do not think qifrey's story will END with him as a tree. i am praying for dear life that it will culminate in something hopeful. i DO however think it's imminent that he will fully transform at some point, especially since they have explicitly established that it doesn't matter how far they've progressed, the process can still be reversed if their peace is taken away again. i think a significant part of coco's arc will include saving qifrey before she saves her mom, and think that her journey to the tower of tomes will ultimately result in her learning more about qifrey rather than finding the picture book. you can see more of my theory about her trip to the tower here]

[just-a-random-dungeon-master]

the fandom is like ‘Gojo and qifrey are basically the same guy’ are you sure? Qifrey and Geto are both girldads who are the reason their ten-year situationship since school can’t work out, with something evil taking root inside them, who are incredibly mentally ill and grow increasingly erratic/concerning in their behavior.

meanwhile Olruggio and Gojo are both child prodigies who grew up with immense pressure to be the best, who have had to learn to accept not saving everyone but can’t accept killing, who aren’t quite anyone’s dad but certainly aren’t NOT their dad, who have been yearning hopelessly for years and years while watching the person they care about grow more unstable yet being unable to actually stop them, and who ultimately are the only ones able to stop the cycle with Qifrey/Geto but still can never bring themselves to do it

[writemeialive]

The silliest thing I find about this whole "they only got 30 years together in the end with no memories of their shared history so what was the point" is that EVERYONE THINKS THEY ONLY MET EACH OTHER IN THIS ONE SINGULAR LIFETIME REALITY instead of my immediate thought that as its architects, Aziraphale and Crowley were wound so deep into the fabric of the new universe that there is a version of them finding each other and falling in love every single generation for billions and billions of years??????

A Roman version and a French Revolution version and a WWII version and ON AND ON AND ON AND ON AND---

For goodness sake the song that plays over this version of them finding and falling in love is "Time After Time"! THE IMPLICATION IS THAT THEY WILL ALWAYS FIND EACH OTHER!!!!!! ***ALWAYS*** IN EVERY LIFETIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[kerizaret]

damn this doomed yaoi got hands

[kerizaret]

unfortunately quifrey is an extremely memeable character so once more he needs a separate post

[yfel-axel]

[birdmanbirdplan]

More stock image pose practice turned orufrey!

[kaidenchii]

Witch dads doodle

[milly-dew]

Olruggio and Qifrey are both actively hurting the other so they can stay together as long as possible, because they both know that's what the other wants. It's like circular codependent manipulation

[shitpostingkats]

Olruggio was having a normal day three hours ago. He was coming home after a long day at work looking forward to seeing his husband best friend and eating a warm dinner. Pat the kids on the head and then go lie down. NO Qifrey says I have obtained another child she's a part of an active criminal investigation and a sign that I am dipping back into my worst destructive behaviors that you thought I'd set down years ago you have to be okay with this right now or else I'll lobotomize myself. Also there's a rat in the living room.