Chapter Text
Izzy stares out across the water as he takes a sip of coffee. It’s early morning, sun just risen, and he’s at the end of an evening shift, the first one his captains–his lovers, now–have allowed him to take since all this began. It took a shouting match in the end, with him finally screaming that if they wouldn’t let him do his fucking job, they’d have to find another fucking first mate–a complete bluff, of course, but enough to make Ed and Stede begrudgingly agree to one night without him in their bed.
“I suppose absence does make the heart grow fonder,” Stede had muttered irritably. Ed had just crossed his arms and pouted. And Izzy had headed out, victorious, to an evening to himself. He always loved the night shift–the sound of the wind in the sails, the creaking of the ship, and Buttons bare-assed on the fo’c’sle his only companions.
The sun slants across the deck now as it makes its way higher in the sky and Izzy makes his way back to the captains’ cabin, drinking the rest of his coffee and abandoning his cup in the mess on his way. Roach pauses in his chopping to raise an eyebrow at Izzy. As Izzy turns to go, he calls out.
“Hey,” he says. “Listen. I’ve got a bet with Jim that the captains will Eiffel tower you by today at the latest. I’ll cut you in.”
Izzy snorts, looking back at Roach in shock, amazement, a little rage, and some admiration. The man certainly had balls. Roach stares back at him, unblinking, joint dangling from between his lips. Finally, with a sudden caprice, Izzy laughs.
“Mate, you won that bet three weeks ago,” he declares, then turns and walks out of the kitchen as a wide smile spreads across Roach’s face. From the corridor he hears Jim mutter “Mierda” as they walk away.
“Don’t forget to cut me in,” Izzy calls over his shoulder, a little smile playing across his face as he listens to Roach laugh.
He slips into the cabin silently. Ed and Stede are still asleep, Stede spread-eagled, Ed wrapped around him like an octopus. Izzy rolls his eyes affectionately as he pulls off his clothes, folding them neatly and placid them in the drawer that Stede set aside for him when he finally moved into the cabin after two weeks of nagging.
Ed mumbles sleepily as Izzy squishes into the bed, reaching out and pulling Izzy to him across Stede’s sleeping body. Stede, possibly the deepest sleeper Izzy’s ever met, barely stirs as Ed squishes Izzy in between them, arms and legs now wrapped around both. Izzy grumbles affectionately even as he feels sleep tugging him down, warm and safe between his captains.
“Missed you, Iz,” Ed murmurs into his hair, only half awake and Izzy smiles again, tucking his head under Ed’s chin, resting his head on Stede’s shoulder.
“Oh, fuck off,” he mutters, almost shyly, and then, “Missed you, too.”
And then, with the sun just risen and Stede snoring gently, Izzy Hands falls asleep.