For some reason I just can‘t stop imagining Ed defeatedly crawling into the auxiliary wardrobe to wallow in his sadness, alone, only to be met with a familiar voice saying „well, well, well“ and as he turns around Lucius is leaning against the door frame as wet as a poodle and sassily says „Look who went back into the closet“
This is for @jelly-of-many-ships because they gave me the courage to give fanfic writing another shot - this continues right from my headcanon above:
„Lucius?“ Edward froze.
“Yeah, well I’m not the ghost of Christmas Past, that’s for sure”
There was no mistaking it now, it really was him. Drenched from head to toe, covered in algae and with a look on his face that would have probably even made old Hornigold shudder, if the bastard was still around.
Izzy would have probably told Edward to “man up” if he’d see him now, to threaten Lucius or to release a ridiculous manic laugh to startle him, but Edward was alone, unwatched and further patronizing Lucius was not one of the many desires he had currently burried in the deepest parts of his soul.
Even more so, the auxiliary closet was his save haven, it was the place he visited after putting on a face for 18 hours, pretending to be the Blackbeard from some twisted fairytale that someone else falsely made up about him a long time ago.
And if these past few months had taught him anything, it was that he hadn‘t been that man in a long time - maybe he never was. He had tried so hard to be what everyone wanted him to be, to let go of Stede, to redirect his anger - but nothing worked. Stede had inherently turned his whole worldview around in the short time that he was in his life and there was no recovering from that. He taught him that there was nothing wrong with being kind, imaginative or pursueing the things you enjoy, even if they appear silly to others. But most of all he taught him how to love…until he threw him away.
Just like he threw Lucius away.
And there was only one thing he could possibly do now, one that Izzy most definitely would not have suggested or in any shape or form approved of.
But he did it anyways.
And so he ran towards Lucius, who let out a surprised shriek, and hugged him. He hugged him so tightly that for a moment the startled brunette thought he’d perhaps made his way through the secret tunnels of the wrong ship and the guy in front of him was not ‘his’ Blackbeard.
“Lucius, I’m so sorry. Everything- fuck, I don’t know, it’s all gone to shit. I’ve made so many mistakes, I shouldn’t have let it all out on you. I just… I just miss him so much.” The word-vomit left Edward all in one breath as he violently sobbed into the already wet jacket of the only true friend he felt like he had left at this point.
“Am I getting this right, you want emotional support from me after literally trying to drown me?!” Lucius laughed coldly.
But as he stared at the most fearsome pirate of the seven seas shaking in his arms like a leaf on a tree during a heavy storm, he sighed and at last added with an annoyed snarl “What happened between you two anyways?”
And so Edward told him. He told him about their kiss on the beach, about their plans to run away together and how, finally, he was made to sit and wait for the man who never came.
All the while Lucius just stared at him with what could only be described as the stare of an angered mother who waited for her children to explain which one of them broke the new window and more importantly so: why?
“So you went and searched for him then, I assume”
Ed blinked very slowly, still recovering from having to re-tell one of the most tragic moments of his life “Sorry, what, mate?”
Lucius pinched the bridge of his nose, clearly knowing that the man in front of his was not an evil monster but an idiot who was head-over-heals in love and never learned how to properly handle his own feelings - or those of anyone, really.
“I asked if you went and searched for him then? Because you must have surely considered the possibility that maybe he didn’t want to abbandon you, but that something about your ‘let’s break out of this guarded military school‘ plan went wrong and he got caught or worse injured instead of point blank deciding to dump you after you two just kissed, right!?“
Ed audibly swallowed and his jaw dropped only to immediately close again.
“Yeah well, no wonder you threw me overboard, you obviously have no interest in listening to any voice of reason whatsoever”
Lucius almost missed the helpless paddling in the ocean now. Was being dead really so much worse than being the therapist of this emotionally immature wreck of a man?
„…You think he got hurt?“ Ed said quietly after a moment of silence with the softness and pain of a child who was just told about the passing of their pet cat.
The damp man in front of him sighed once more and then strolled over to take a seat on the floor next to him and started to surprisingly gently adress him:
„Well, sweetheart I don‘t know, okay. All I know is that this ridiculous make up and these 9 guns aren‘t gonna make you feel any better. Stop wallowing in your self-pity! You miss the captain? Good, so do I! So go and search for him, give him a chance and hear him out. And if you still think he isn‘t worthy of being with you afterwards then move on, but…“ Lucius paused and vaguely gestured at Ed‘s whole being „this just isn‘t it, babe“
All the pirate captain could do in response was to nod absently minded and whisper, “you’re right” as another tear rolled down his face.
After just being confronted with the possibility that perhaps this whole time HE was in fact the one who accidentally dumped Stede and simply left him, to whatever problems he had to confront that night, he didn’t have much more to respond with. Yet somehow he still felt better. He needed to hear these words, god, he needed to hear them so badly, but no one besides Lucius was capable of telling Ed the non-sugarcoated truth.
Suddenly the sound of a small laugh tore him astray from the trail of dark thoughts slowly taking over his brain right now.
“Did you make that?”
Oh no.
“No I- I stole it. I just… repainted it”
“So that you look like the bride of Captain Bonnet?” Lucius was grinning from ear to ear now after he laid his eyes on the small wooden figurines which stood on a nearby crate.
“You know, I could still throw you back into the sea” Ed growled without any real heat, besides the one that was currently spreading towards his cheeks.
But all Lucius did was chuckle and pat Ed on the shoulder before earnestly saying
“We’ll find him, don’t worry”
Ed extended his hand as an offer of forgiveness but instead his opposite gave him an eyeroll before pulling him into a very brief awkward hug.
And for the first time since kissing the man of his dreams Ed could feel a sincere smile forming on his face, that didn’t just reach his lips but also his heart.
"Thank you, Lucius, for everything”
THIS IS SO GOOD OMG I absolutely love how you used parts of the s2 trailer and the way you write is so in character for both of them. This exactly how I hope it goes and this rly cheered me up from a shitty school day thankyou!🫶
Aww thank you so much, you have honestly no idea how much that means to me 🥹 Thanks for inspiring me and I’m happy that I was able to cheer you up ❤️
