The Tag About Not Appreciating Nathan's Puppy Dog Eyes From Op Is So True. Just Look At Him!!!

The tag about not appreciating Nathan's puppy dog eyes from op is so true. Just look at him!!!

I'm glad I'm weird about gender in a joyous transgender way and not in a miserable cisgender way

Taking beastrogen to become a wretched creature

I have never loved a piece of writing more 💜

Words

Part of Five Days of Izzy Hands week

Izzy Hands/Male Reader (Developing relationship, both Aromantic and Asexual)

Summary: After a long day Izzy seeks you out and takes care of you when you have no more words left to speak.

Word count: 1369

Fic link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/46106704

Words. Words were hard. Sometimes after a hard day's work, there were no words left in you. You left the mess room and left the chatting groups behind and saw to whatever small duties you had left.

Then you turned and headed for the one space on the ship that was yours. You were lucky to get a cabin, you knew, even one as small as this. Blackbeard had not quite taken pity on you but seen something of a kindred spirit in you, giving you your own private space in which to lock away the outside world.

So that was exactly what you did now. You shut the door but didn't bolt the latch in case you were needed again. Not having the energy to do anything else other than flop, you slid down the side of your cot and gently hit the floor, curling your knees up towards your chest.

There you stayed until a knock came at the door and you summoned enough energy to look up at the slab of wood.

“Yeah?”

Even that one word felt heavy, almost leaving a bitter taste in your mouth.

“It’s Izzy.”

Ah. The first mate had seen or sensed your low mood and was coming to check on you. You didn’t need to guess that that was his intent, you could already tell that by the fact that he had sought you out in the first place.

“Izzy.”

More words would have been more difficult and also unnecessary. You hoped just the tone of your voice might convey a thousand words anyway.

Your hopes were confirmed when you saw Izzy’s face as he opened the door, the man’s face a wash of concern and sympathy. He was taking his time getting into the room and when you saw his hands you realised why, a cup of something that looked like tea being held in each. You made no effort to move which he seemed fine with, placing the cups down on the floor and then eventually sitting down himself just opposite you to join you in your floor experience.

“No words left?”, he asked with a small kind smile and you nodded, drawing your knees a little closer to your chest as the other man watched the movement.

“Do you want me to keep talking?”, Izzy asked next, tilting his head to get a better look at you. Oh, the famed Izzy Hands could be kind when he wanted to be. And most if not all of that kindness seemed to be directed at you these days.

You offered a shrug and then pointed at him. The ball was in his court. You wouldn’t mind either way.

Izzy nodded sagely, offering you another smile before he reached down for the two cups. He offered one to you, and you tried not to shiver when your fingers brushed as you took the proffered gift.

“Just a bit of honey in there. Sweet, just like you.”

The comment caught you off guard, a giggle slipping out of you as you felt your cheeks flush with heat. Over the rim of your cup Izzy Hands was grinning at you, proud of the reaction he had caused in you. If he was hoping to make you smile, he had certainly succeeded. If he was intending on making you adore him more, even if he didn’t know that’s what was happening, then the older pirate had succeeded in that too.

Fumbling for what else to do, you leaned across and clinked your cup against his, startling a laugh out of Izzy.

"You really are something, aren't you?"

Whether the question was rhetorical or not, you allowed yourself a little nod. Self love was tough but Izzy Hands had a funny way of making you believe that you could climb mountains.

Silence lingered between the two of you for a moment whilst you became distracted by a loose thread on your shirt and Izzy became entirely distracted by your facial expressions, as he often did. It was flattering to think that one of the hottest men in the Caribbean couldn't stop staring at you. To be fair, you couldn't stop staring at him either, but were just a little bit more sneaky about it.

"Is there anything else I could do to help?”, Izzy murmured, breaking the quiet stillness of the cabin, hazel eyes honest and kind. There was something he could do, and you thought he would like the idea of it. Whenever the pair of you touched or hugged it seemed like Izzy was trying to hold himself back from clinging onto you forever, never squeezing hard enough to hurt you but enough that you knew he was feeling in need of comfort.

So you gave the man a smile and motioned for him to stand up, trying to stand up too on legs that had gone to sleep long ago and were now feeling a bit wobbly. Izzy was there to catch you as soon as you looked like you needed it, and his arms made a welcome bracket to hold onto until you could trust your own body again.

And then, given the man was so close already, you only needed to ask and then fall.

“Hold me?”

Izzy Hands was nodding quickly, moving to reach for you instinctively but then realising that he should let you make the first move. So against his body you fell, winding arms around his broad back and squeezing tightly enough that the man let out a little “oof” noise. One of Izzy’s arms wrapped around your middle but the other one slung across your shoulders, hand delving into your hair. You sighed loudly as he started to massage his fingers through your hair, not applying enough pressure to keep you in place but merely to just hold you and let you know that you were being held and supported. Izzy felt so real and warm against you, so delightfully solid and squishy. You loved that the man was a little squishy, meaning there was even more of him to hold and squidge against you. The muscles in his arms relaxed as he sagged against you a little bit, evidently needing to be held as much as you. It made you sad that Izzy seemed to have had so few people in his life that would hold him like this, affirming his need for physical touch. It meant all the more for you, you supposed, but still.

Izzy Hands deserved the world. And maybe one day would figure out how to give it to him.

You reckoned that both of you lost track of how long you spent in each other’s arms. It was long enough for you to be so relaxed that you yawned, feeling sleep pull at the corners of your mind. Izzy was attentive to you immediately, pulling back with a soft smile to look at your sleepy face. He even ran a few fingers down your left cheek, leaving goose bumps in his wake.

“Come on then, let’s get you into bed.”

After the day you had had, you certainly weren’t going to argue. Izzy stood by the door as you washed and undressed, only joining you again when you were slipping under the covers so he could properly tuck you in and make a fuss of you.

“Try and get some sleep and I’ll see you in the morning, yeah?”

You nodded as much as you could.

“Bright and early”, you managed, and that had Izzy grinning. Both of you liked those early mornings of work when it was just the two of you on deck.

“Bright and early”, he echoed, taking a step away to collect the two cups he had left on your chest of drawers.

“Good night, sweetheart.”

Oh, how soft his voice sounded. It truly melted your heart every time he called you by that nickname.

“Good night, Iz.”

Izzy Hands gave you one last smile before retreating from the room, shutting the door behind him. As you drifted off to sleep, all you could keep on thinking of was Izzy’s smile and how long it would be until you got to see it again.

karl says gay rights (olivia says gay wrongs)

you guys literally are all so brave. even through the screen i can tell. keep going