But imagine established steddyhands. They've not been together long enough for it to be anything close to routine, but long enough that they know the lay of the land they're traversing.
Ed and Izzy have always been more to each other, though they'll both admit (Ed more willingly than Izzy, of course) that they've only come to understand it and voice it recently.
Ed and Stede, once they worked through their respective abandonment and abandoning issues, fell right back into an easy, passionate connection that has them both feeling young and reckless and alive.
Izzy and Stede, though, well-
That's a more difficult story. While Ed would argue that they both were more to each other from the beginning (Izzy rarely took an interest, positive or negative, in anyone outside of Ed and the crew and Stede was consummately polite to everyone save for Izzy and Ed always found it interesting), and Stede and Izzy disagree out of what Ed approximates is sheer stubbornness alone. They spent the first few months of Them, all together, saying they were there for Ed and comfortable sharing and Ed had to sit there and watch them throw furtive glances at each other, sometimes over Ed's actual fucking body, until they finally gave in and started reaching out for the other. Stopped trying to touch each other through Ed. Not that Ed minded the attention, though.
It took another month for them to kiss. Another three for them to be intimate without Ed.
But after that they started to fall into their own rhythms and Ed felt happiness on a scale he'd never imagined he could. He woke up tangled with his two favorite people and he got heaping loads of love and devotion thrown at him daily and fuck if it wasn't a dream come true. And now that Stede and Izzy were also realizing what they could be to each other, Ed's lucky enough to watch the two loves of his life fall a little in love with each other too.
Once they'd defined their whole, Thing, Izzy had become much more tactile with Ed. Openly seeking and providing cuddles, tucking Ed's hair behind an ear, and, implementing his morning ritual of dropping a kiss onto Ed's forehead before heading up on deck. Each morning, Izzy woke with the dawn, Ed following a short time later, and Stede resolutely refusing to wake up until he had no choice to. So when Izzy finished dressing he'd drop a kiss to Ed's forehead and that was the official start to the day. It had been that way for months and Ed came to look forward to it.
He also couldn't help to notice that he never did the same to Stede. Ed pushed it from his mind for the most part. A key strategy for loving the two most stubborn and downright bitchy men on the high seas was to know when to push and when to retreat. They seemed to be figuring it out, so Ed let it go. Well, maybe not let it go, but at least didn't bring it up.
Then there was a storm. Fun and loud and the type of thing Ed used to love. Now, he loves people and that's a far more dangerous game. Stede has learned to sail enough to be helpful, and as Co-Captain of the vessel resolutely refused to stay below deck. Ed was equal parts nervous and proud, but ultimately trusted Stede to know his limits. Izzy, though, seemed anxious and, Ed noticed, almost always had an eye turned toward Stede as the storm truly set in and the chaos started. As the rain and wind pelted against the hull and soaked the ship tip to stern, Izzy's laser focus turned to a look of horror and Ed almost missed it, focused as he was on the color draining from Izzy's face.
A strike of lightning illuminates the sky and there's a deafening crack and one of the lines breaks, looping the rope Stede is lashed too and sending both over the side of the ship.
Ed screams, but he barely hears it over the violence of the storm and his own pounding heart. He turns to Izzy to bark an order only to find Izzy stripping out of his vest and climbing over the side to grab Stede's rope and start hauling him up.
Ed sees Stede break the surface. He's still attached, thank something, but he's limp as Izzy, and a few of the crew, bring him back aboard and Ed's happy world starts to shatter around the edges. All he can think, desperately, is no.
Izzy's a flurry of movement as he tries to sit Stede up and get him to wake up, and Ed's crying so hard he can feel the tears even with the rain pouring down, and the crew is looking on, horrified, and Ed's about ready to fall to actual pieces when Stede's eyes open and he coughs up a worrisome amount of water. As soon as the worst of it passes, he looks over at Ed, smiles a little, then turns to Izzy and reaches a shaky hand up to his cheek before turning his head and coughing more water up onto the deck.
Ed remembers that he has arms, and legs, and a voice, and thirty years of experience sailing through storms, and gets the crew back to work getting them through this. Then he and Izzy get Stede back to their quarters, warm him up and put him in dry clothes before doing the same for each other and getting situated in bed. They'll address the damage, physical and emotional, tomorrow. Tonight is for rest and for Ed to cling to them both like a limpet.
He doesn't sleep a wink. Stede is out quickly, followed by Izzy, both exhausted he's sure, and Ed just stays up staring at Izzy, the fucking hero of the day and Stede, his love that he almost lost. He decides not to look away and if he sneakily checks a pulse here and there, or stokes blonde or salt and pepper locks occasionally, no one needs to know.
When Izzy wakes, early with the sun as always, he does something a little different. Before getting out of bed he kisses Ed twice, then takes a deep breath and brushes Stede's golden curls from his forehead. There's a complicated expression on his face, and it's raw and gorgeous but Ed doesn't want to ruin the moment so he keeps the thought to himself. Izzy drags his hand down Stede's cheek, gentle as can be, and leans forward to press a long, firm kiss right on his cheekbone.
Stede's eyes open but he says nothing. Just looks at Izzy for a long time before he turns his head and kisses Izzy's palm, soft and reverent. Izzy's eyes are bright when he pulls away, but he turns around quickly, resolute to begin the day, and Ed curls himself back around Stede knowing he won't be leaving his side today and basking in the overwhelming warmth of what he just saw.
Stede falls back to sleep quickly, especially with Ed's fingers running through his hair, but there's a soft smile on his face that Ed can't wait to see more of. He's also very interested for Izzy to see it and to know he put it there.
There's more love here, he thinks, than any of them thought possible and for once, he's very, very glad to have been wrong.
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