from the moment I've met you @shinylostcause - Tumblr Blog

Omg seeing you back in my notifications after all this time caught me so off guard jndkf in a good way ofc <3 hope you're doing good 🫶

hiiii!!! Yes I've been slowly coming back to tumblr and omg it's so great to see familiar faces again! i hope you've been well it's good to be back 🥺❤️❤️❤️

#yippie #tuka talks #looking at my crusty old af art i posted here LMAO #its been HOW MANY YEARS SINCE FREE! AIRED??

follows-the-bees

Ever think about Ed using his whole body to protect Stede in the exact same spot on the ship.

hattersarts

a longing.

hansoeii

we go just right.

hansoeii

stuck in the rain.

cherriielle

just to hide outside your door 🐍🍎

srapsodia

69 with Stede and Ed (hehehehe). I think. Ed threatening, "It's about time someone put you in your place." to a nervous Stede, and then in the next panel Stede is sitting on Ed's lap and they're both like :)) (cause that's his place u see)

69 (nice): One scaring the other

right where he belongs ❤

#our flag means death

please read this modern au by @justkeeptrekkin

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

#ofmd #our flag means death #nsfw #blackbeard #blackbonnet #gentlebeard #stede bonnet #edward teach #tuka art

aanakin

Leslie Jones as Spanish Jackie in Our Flag Means Death (2022-)

#ofmd

aanakin

I’m gonna try and undo some of the damage from that interaction.

#ofmd #our flag means death #oluwande is mvp

that damn interview 😔

#ofmd #our flag means death #tuka art #blackbonnet

beanabouttown

#ofmd

hustlerose

im cured! (is salted and dried with seasonings)

triflesandparsnips

The thing I am fucking feral about today: this shit.

Look. Look at this.

Stede, by and large, is not a Toucher. (That’s a whole separate essay.) He’s hesitant as fuck about it, and tends to initiate contact, if at all, through some intermediary: clothing, air, etc. Later, with Ed, he’ll do incidental touches, little things that could be explained away like the brush of arms together, etc.

(THIS IS NOT THAT ESSAY.)

But look at this shit. “May I?” Stede asks, and he gives it a moment but Ed doesn’t actually hand it over. He doesn’t even answer.

And Stede just reaches out, takes an end of the silk, and

slowly

drags it

through Ed’s fingers as Ed fucking tilts his eyes upwards in complete silence, his gaze clicking from spot to spot as his heart gets unwound from his lax – but not relaxed – grip.

And while I like the meta where Stede has NO FUCKING CLUE ABOUT HOW SEDUCTIVE HE’S BEING, I also like the idea that for the first time in his life, because this is a Queer Situation, Stede has the glimmerings of Game. Because, my god, the forwardness of it. He didn’t wait for Ed to give it to him. He just reached out and took, but in such a syrup-slow manner that Ed could’ve said no, could’ve just tightened his fingers if he didn’t want to let Stede take this precious thing– and Stede’s giving him that time while simultaneously also making some pretty great allusions, intentional or not, to how exactly he’d make his move, if a move he ever made.

Like, “May I?“ Stede would ask, and Ed (Blackbeard) wouldn’t move, wouldn’t say a word, but he wouldn’t step away either, would just watch Stede with a clicking gaze as Stede stepped forward, raised his hands, and drew Ed syrup-slow toward him, every moment one where Ed could turn away and every moment clear that Stede was here, wanting this, wanting him, and deliberate in his want.

So my god, the pure queer seduction of this scene: the intermediary object as a stand-in for themselves; the plausible deniability; the silent consent (a subgenre of plausible deniability); coded language; “innocent” touch as protective camouflage…

(It’s a little distressing to consider how much queer romantic context comes from trying to be both Open to a possibility while simultaneously trying not to get the shit beaten out of us for being wrong. It’s a powerful language. It’s a tragic one. It’s what makes it feel so special if it goes right.)

Anyway. Stede may have no idea the levels he’s playing at here, but he’s a man who was explicitly and in canon abused for displaying a particular flavor of non-masculine behavior. Even if he doesn’t know he’s queer, he knows the need for the language of safety; he’s been learning it since childhood. So he speaks it– and Ed, who engages in at least “when at sea” levels of queer living, picks up on it like the Stede-radio he’s been tuning for ages now to find a signal that explains him has suddenly gone from static to the crystal-clear notes of Gnossienne No. 5.

Is it any wonder that Ed’s oh no moment is fucking palpable here? Is it any wonder that Stede comes away from this scene a little more certain of himself around Ed, able to argue him into staying, pull him into a treasure hunt, touch his bare arm against Ed’s when they become co-captains?

GAH these fuckheads, look at them.

triflesandparsnips

A very small selection of some of the absolutely excellent tags from people reblogging this post: