This prompt has lived rent-free in my head since you sent it in. I had a lot of fun with it!!
(Pretty much always taking prompts for 1k word fics! I love 'em because they're great to write when I have writer's block on other projects, so don't be shy!)
Ed had been out of his probation period for a few days now. Most of the crew seemed to be comfortable enough with him again; they came up to him with questions, they invited him to sit next to them at dinner, they talked with him and invited his input. Lucius had…stopped flipping him off every time he saw him out on deck.
Thing was, Ed was genuinely trying to leave all that awful dark scary Kraken shit in the past, and pushing Lucius overboard to the sharks? That had been the worst thing he’d ever done during all that nastiness. Lucius had only ever offered him support and friendship, and Ed had pushed him overboard for it. And now Lucius made a point of talking over Ed, shouting at him, dismissing his suggestions, insulting him, and just generally proving at every opportunity how much he hated him.
And Ed knew he deserved all that and worse. But if he was going to leave the Kraken behind, something would have to give.
When he overheard Roach talking about something Izzy had told him at breakfast, Ed knew his game plan.
It only took Ed a few seconds to get everything he needed set up, and then he found Lucius up on deck. When someone flips you off that enthusiastically at every opportunity, you can’t really miss them.
“Hey,” he said, making a beeline up to him. “Can you come with me for a sec?”
“Absolutely fucking not,” Lucius said immediately.
Ed’s pleading desperation must have shown on his face, because Lucius made a sort of go-ahead gesture, and he let Ed lead him to a space he’d cleared out in the empty galley. He’d already set up bottles of antiseptic, gauze, and everything he’d figured he might need.
“What’s all this?” Lucius frowned at the equipment Ed had laid out, and he shouted in alarm when Ed thrust the old saw into his hands.
“Izzy said you suggested cutting my leg off,” Ed said, plopping down on the bench and stretching his bad leg up in front of him at what he figured was an ideal chopping height. “Have at it. I’d prefer this one, but, uh, dealer’s choice.”
Lucius just kept blankly looking at him.
“I expected some reluctance, but don’t worry,” he said, holding up one hand to show the length of rope he’d looped around his wrist. He put his hands behind his back, slipping his other wrist into the knot he’d prepared, then tugging at his arms to prove to Lucius he wouldn’t be able to get free. “See? Not gonna try to hit you or anything. Whenever you’re ready.”
He hoped Lucius wouldn’t be able to see how hard he was shaking, and he jumped a mile when Lucius just tossed the saw onto the table.
“You fucking idiot,” Lucius spat, “I’m not doing that!”
“It’s okay,” Ed assured him, “I know I deserve it -”
“I don’t want to chop your leg off!”
Ed just stared up at him. This had been his last hope. “Then what do you want?”
“Oh, uh, I dunno,” Lucius said, “maybe a fucking apology?”
Ed snorted disbelievingly. “That’s all you want? You just want me to say, I dunno, oh, Lucius, I’m so sorry for what I did to you, and it was the worst time of my life but that’s no excuse, I was scared and I hurt you and I’m sorry, and I think about it often, and I feel terrible, and I wish I had a way to tell you how deeply I regret hurting you, and could you please forgive me?”
“Yes,” Lucius said simply.
“Oh, Lucius,” he said softly. “I am so sorry for what I did to you. It was the worst time of my life, but that’s no excuse. I was scared and I hurt you because of it and I’m sorry. I think about it often, and I feel terrible. I wish I had a way to tell you how deeply I regret hurting you. Could you please forgive me?”
“See, that’s a fucking start,” Lucius said, crossing his arms and nodding primly. “Follow-up question. What did I do to deserve that? What did I do to you that made you do that to me?”
Lucius’ voice wobbled, a bit, and Ed looked at the floor to avoid having to meet his eyes.
“So, uh,” he started haltingly, “you remember how you listened to my lyrics? And you gave me advice and shit?”
“Izzy kinda said that he should’ve let the English kill me and I better watch my fuckin’ step -”
Lucius reeled back a bit. “Shit, did he really?”
“Yep,” Ed said, with the best shrug he could manage with his arms behind his back. “And if I had to go back to being Blackbeard, I figured you were the only one who could’ve seen through me.”
“That is fucked up,” Lucius said with a loud groan. “That is so fucked of you, that is such shit.”
“Yeah.” Ed went back to looking at the floor. “I was having a really shitty time of it, and I wasn’t thinking right. I’m sorry, man.”
“For what it’s worth,” Lucius sighed, “I was kind of having a really shitty time of it when I said the whole chopping your leg off idea. I didn’t really mean it.”
Ed let his shoulders relax. “Could you maybe untie me? This knot is really tight, I can’t feel my fingers.”
“Yeah, sure,” Lucius mumbled, grabbing the pair of medical scissors on the table.
Ed still held his breath as Lucius moved behind him, but he just cut the rope without even attempting to stab him in the back. Progress.
“We’re not good,” Lucius said when he crossed back in front of him again. “We’re nowhere close to good yet.”
“Understood,” Ed mumbled.
“But.” Lucius held out a hand. “Crewmates?”
Ed beamed, taking his hand for an enthusiastic shake. “Crewmates.”
