Blackbeard had to be held apart from even light, casual touches. Every point of contact with a legend had to be sharp, calculated; painful. Blackbeard could hold men down like a vice, could ram elbows hard into noses and guts, could rend and break and claw so that the world only heard tales of a demon haunting the seas. Blackbeard couldn't be touched, lest the illusion come shattering down.
It blurred, now and then, with the men he trusted most. Izzy's shoulder could be clapped on occasion. Fang's cheek could be patted in moments of absolute generosity. Ivan's chest could be bumped after a particularly grand success. But this? The easy, mindless touching that came with comfortably sharing a space? The deliberate, kind contact that made a body feel precious and valuable?
That was all Stede; all Stede and Edward.
The sound in Edward's throat is low and contented as the other man sets to work on his hair. What a relief, after all these years, to be reminded of the occasional simplicity of his own humanity. What a comfort, to trust himself into gentle hands and kind touches.]
You've done this before?
[He's half-curious, of course, but more than that, it would be nice to hear Stede's voice.]
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Blackbeard had to be held apart from even light, casual touches. Every point of contact with a legend had to be sharp, calculated; painful. Blackbeard could hold men down like a vice, could ram elbows hard into noses and guts, could rend and break and claw so that the world only heard tales of a demon haunting the seas. Blackbeard couldn't be touched, lest the illusion come shattering down.
It blurred, now and then, with the men he trusted most. Izzy's shoulder could be clapped on occasion. Fang's cheek could be patted in moments of absolute generosity. Ivan's chest could be bumped after a particularly grand success. But this? The easy, mindless touching that came with comfortably sharing a space? The deliberate, kind contact that made a body feel precious and valuable?
That was all Stede; all Stede and Edward.
The sound in Edward's throat is low and contented as the other man sets to work on his hair. What a relief, after all these years, to be reminded of the occasional simplicity of his own humanity. What a comfort, to trust himself into gentle hands and kind touches.]
You've done this before?
[He's half-curious, of course, but more than that, it would be nice to hear Stede's voice.]