This Kills The Man. - Tumblr Posts
🪐 — edward teach ;
a low hum vibrates along his throat. he doesn’t doubt his first mate’s words even for a second, even in this state. he trust izzy to take care of things when the weather gets a little rough and his head ducks down under, surface barely in sight. he trusts him to handle the crew, and keep an eye out for trouble — coming from both outside and inside, since they both know mutinies don’t just fall on your stupid head out of nowhere. there are always signs, people muttering about some inane thing or the other easily turns into dangerous little whispers. edward should know. it’s exactly how he became captain in the first place, all those years ago ( good riddance benjamin, have fun in hell ). but it’s not that bad yet — izzy would tell him, if it were. he would put a stop to it with as much efficiency as he does anything else. shit. he really would, wouldn’t he? the absolute certainly hits him like a tidal wave, for some reason.
perhaps it’s just that, or the subtle shift in tone, which finally prompts him to move. izzy deserves a little better than being dismissed without a glance, after all. so edward opens his eyes, takes his hand away from his forehead and.. he is forgetting something, isn’t he? but what? he’s not thinking very straight. oh. he moves up too fast and of course his stupid knee locks up, pain shooting through it. his legs almost buckle as he stumbles, barely managing to grip the back of the chair in time. ❛ oh, fuck off. ❜ voice strains around a half muffled groan, still he manages to wheeze out something close to a laugh. the first one in days. ❛ how’s the weather? think it might rain soon. ❜ one thing that knee is ever good for, at least: it usually troubles him more when the sky is about to turn ugly and dark.
HE HAS TO FORCE HIMSELF not to go to his captain’s side when he stumbles, not to reach out a comforting hand. that is not how things are done. not for them. life is pain, & they survive only out of a refusal to show weakness in the face of it. & yet izzy still has to choke down the desire to do whatever he can manage to soothe not edward’s aches. his own pain is easy to weather, but to see his captain flinch & grimace as his old injury locks his knee is all but insufferable. ( after all, it had been his inability to stand by & bear witness as the english tortured edward that had caused izzy to leave his old life behind & follow him instead all those years ago. ) yet he still manages a gruff attempt at humor about it as he steadies himself with a firm grip on the back of his chair, & izzy allows himself a brief smile, pride flaring hot in his chest. ❝ it might do, tomorrow, ❞ he agrees with a curt nod. in truth, blackbeard was far better at predicting the minutiae of the weather — yet another reason he was sorely missed abovedeck. but izzy knows that this particular prediction likely comes more from the stubborn enduring weakness in his knee than from atmospheric observations. & while he knows too well that tenderness is not permitted between men like them, he also knows that no one is watching them here. & perhaps it’s only an excuse for him to draw closer, but it is izzy’s job to serve his captain’s needs, after all. ❝ is your brace alright, boss ? does it need to be tightened ? ❞ he asks, his tone uncharacteristically gentle as he takes a tentative step forward. he hasn’t been called but still he comes, drawn to edward as a moth to flame, no regard for the potential to be burned. ❝ let me help you. ❞