I just realized I’ve never posted any Christmas-themed what-ifs… I shall remedy that right now!
So what if in a s1 AU where Izzy joined Ed and Stede at the fancy party and there was no duel, it’s almost Christmas and Ed and Izzy are a bit baffled about how excited Stede is about it.
Ed and Izzy aren’t used to big celebrations and presents and decorations and when Stede and the crew start hanging Christmas ornaments (some of them handmade, some of them found in a recent raid) and tinsel everywhere, it takes Ed like five minutes to jump in and start helping with the preparations, excited like a child on… well, like a child on Christmas morning.
And then Stede is organizing an exchange of presents and Izzy is looking around horrified because they have also hung mistletoe EVERYWHERE, but Stede simply says ‘it’s a tradition’ when Izzy tries to complain that it will distract the crew even more from their tasks.
And soon there are people smooching in every corner at random moments and Izzy is having a hard time doing his job around the ship because he tries so hard to avoid stopping under any sprig of mistletoe and there are SO MANY.
(Also he might be a bit paranoid but Izzy thinks the crew is watching him more closely now. Even Stede, who is quite bad at pretending he is not staring at him, by the way.)
Izzy manages to avoid the mistletoe for a few days, but then when Ed calls him to check on some clouds by the railing, he makes a mistake.
(But he is distracted by how beautiful Ed is looking that morning as he points at the horizon in a red silk shirt, who could blame him?)
When he walks to stand beside Ed, Izzy sees him turning to look at him with a mischievous smile and then it’s when Izzy realizes there is a very small sprig of mistletoe right above them.
“It’s a tradition, Iz,” Ed says, his smile softening.
And then he is leaning down to kiss him and Izzy has stopped breathing for some reason and then… the ship is hit by a strong wave and it sways roughly, almost making them lose their footing and making the mistletoe fall into the water.
Izzy runs away, trying not to look as if he is running away, and the pain in his chest feels more like disappointment than fear.
Ed looks heartbroken and Stede and the crew try to cheer him up.
“Don’t worry, darling, there will be a next time,” Stede says, rubbing his shoulders. “You got a lot closer to get a kiss from Izzy than me anyway.”
“Sorry I didn’t knot the mistletoe better, Ed,” Frenchie apologizes.
“Do we have more around?” The Swede asks. “We could hang more mistletoe so the captains would have more chances.”
“We could move the ones we have to different places,” Wee John suggests. “He won’t be expecting that!”
“Why don’t you idiots simply tell him that you want to kiss him?” Jim says, annoyed.
But the captains simply ignore them and keep planning their next move.
