shh shhh shhh because because like because edward never talks about women at all in all his exploits and grand stories and blackbeard heroics there's no like "girl on every shore" nonsense, none of his crew or anyone who knows him and talks about what a legend he is mentions any sort of flirtation or scoundrel tomcat behavior like you would expect. he is tangentially curious who mary is when stede is mumbling in his sleep. and then at the fancy french party antoinette takes a clear interest in him "you can finger my dents any time" and he just. doesn't respond. he's uncomfortable with her fawning over him. she tries to touch him and he flinches terribly and is horribly on edge. when calico jack shows up he reverts to classic frat bro behavior and still. no women spoken of. at all. the only reference to ed's sexual or romantic interests are about stede, and when jack says "anything goes at sea... we've had our dalliances"
and all of this in comparison to stede "uncomfortable in a married state" bonnet. who was unhappy in his marriage from the start, not once in mary's company is he ever content. he looks absolutely miserable, doesn't even try to connect with her, like it's pointless from the jump. his only haven is his kids playing pirates with him. the model ship.
it's like.. piracy as a means of being openly lgbt. because ed has been a pirate forever, and is only ever referred to as being interested in men, stede specifically. and stede is barely a pirate at all, but he wants to be so desperately, so wholly, he keeps trying. he could go back. he could leave whenever he wanted, settle somewhere with money or go back to his land. he has everything going for him if he was a traditional straight aristocrat. and to shun all of that in favor of grubby nasty scary pirate life because its the only thing that makes him feel free. yknow what I mean??
tangentwithtanner
dededos
prguitarman
stormborns
kaledo-art
baratheonpilled
jbbartram-illu
