text reads: “I don’t think I ever really learned how to be around other people correctly. Not in a way that felt real. Like I wasn’t putting on a performance.” Izzy scoffs at that, still absentmindedly tracing along the intricate embroidery of the sheets. He’s indulging Stede in another few moments of pillowtalk while he resurfaces from the haze of his orgasm. The room is dark, but with the curtains pulled back there’s the dim night pushing through to outline the shapes around them in a fuzzy gray-blue. “What does it matter?” Izzy responds. Stede frowns down at him. They’re laying side by side, Stede angled a bit higher. He’s turned on his side, cheek resting in his palm. Izzy shrugs, tries to come at it from an angle that won’t have Bonnet pouting. “You’ve got an idiotic amount of confidence in yourself. Why give a fuck?” “It makes sense that you wouldn’t understand,” Stede says. Gives a dramatic sigh that makes Izzy roll his eyes. “Anyway, I was going to give you a compliment. But since it doesn’t matter…” “I understand,” Izzy growls back. “I just don’t see why you would let it bother you. Just look at Edward. He’s as crazy as you. Not exactly a people pleaser either.” The blankets shift. Izzy is spreading his toes unconsciously. Stede’s hand, heavy and warm, reaches out to press into the roll of his waist, and Izzy lets it guide him closer. Hears Stede cooing into his temple before he kisses him there. It’s a long, steady pressure. Out of place but comforting all the same. Stede brushes the back of his hand across Izzy's throat.
"And look at you, little bird." Izzy stiffens. Sees a torrent of white feathers, bursting from the center of his vision and fluttering outward. An ivory bird nestled beneath the parted water at the bow of a boat. He feels the prick of feather quills, stuffed into a pillow. Spots the tawny brown caught in the teeth of hungry dogs. They fall away to starlings, dark and fluttering and free. Twisting masses thinking in tandem. Murmuration. One breaks away and makes for the sea. Another follows without hesitation. “Izzy?” he hears, somewhere closer. “Are you listening?” Stede is looking down at him, fingertips pressing into his skin. “I said… I don’t put on a performance when I’m around you. I’m just… me.” Somewhere else there’s birdsong, echoing back and forth. A mismatched flock. Rain and snow on ruffled feathers. A nest of warm bodies and joyful sounds. “Good,” Izzy hums and indulges Stede in a soft kiss. Somewhere a sparrow sings.
🖤 straight to my heart, as the crow flies 🖤
stizzy || fly home
[ #stizzy #stedebonnet #izzyhands #drabble #shortfic #ofmd #ofmdfic #creaturetongue ]