Alright round two on the Blackstede AUs I really need to see, this time featuring Flinthamilton! We have two nickels guys and I am gonna use them goddamn it.
Takes place well after s4 of Black Sails and s2 of OFMD. (We’re going to assume James and Thomas have eloped from the plantation and settled in a nice little cottage somewhere obviously.)
So The Revenge crew are landbound for a little rest and resupply. (When the morale is low and the pockets full, a little shopping spree is in order -Stede) Everyone’s off doing their own thing, Jim testing out new hats, Olu checking out the jewelry, Roach bargaining over a set of butcher knives, heck even Lucius had the day off of scribing Stede’s every move. All was swell for the first time on a land trip. All except for one.
Edward stood in front of a street vendor glaring at books upon books all spread out with their fancy titles and pretty bindings. He’d been wandering around for hours trying to find something just right. Something for Stede that is. Giving gifts wasn’t his thing but the bizarre little man brought out strange behaviors in Ed. Thus he was trying and failing to find a book that Stede might like. Really anything would do, but it had to be perfect.
He’s interrupted from his grumbling when a man beside him compliments the book in his hand as being a good read. The stranger is tall as shit with short blonde hair. He’s carrying a stack of books already so Ed assumes the guy knows his shit.
They chat for awhile, Ed eventually learns the man’s name is Thomas and he helps sell books at this vendor for a larger bookstore in the city. He wraps Ed’s purchase in brown paper and kindly invites him (and the soon to be owner of the purchased book) to dinner at his house, noting that he has a much nicer collection of books at home.
Later after Ed’s awkwardly given Stede his gift (“For me?” “Yeah, whatever, fuck off.”) He broaches the idea of dinner with the promise of a fancy personal library tour from Thomas. Stede is delighted, of course.
The library lives up to the hype, at least for Stede, for Ed it’s really just another pile of books. Thomas and Stede are excitedly chatting over poems when the front door swings open and a sturdy man saunters in with a bewildered look upon his face. He glances between Thomas and his guests but has to do a double take when he sees Ed lounged back on an armchair with his feet kicked up. Ed knows immediately this man is dangerous and the look of recognition in his eyes when he glares at Ed is cause for trouble.
Thomas, oblivious, greets the man (James) and happily tells him how they all met and that they’d be staying for dinner.
James gives a heaving sigh and closes his eyes as he listens to Thomas. When Thomas is done he turns a much softer gaze on the man and says in a tired but kind voice, “Thomas, dear. You’ve invited Blackbeard and The Gentleman Pirate to our house for stories and soup is what you’ve done.”
Stede is standing aghast the whole time, though it’s only later after they’d left that he aggressively whacks Ed’s shoulder and proclaims how the foolish man had brought them to have dinner with Captain-freaking-Flint and apparently his lover! Honestly he’s a little starstruck. Best dinner date ever.
