#if you think ed's destined to become abusive then i'm hunting your racist ass for sport

[piratecaptainscaptainpirates]

I love how Ed treats Stede so gently. He's always so careful with him. He has this special soft voice he only uses with Stede, when they kiss he cradles Stede's face like he's the most precious thing he's ever held.

Ed doesn't know yet that Stede has probably never felt love before him. He doesn't know that Stede has never been given such care in his entire life. But still, his instinct is always to give Stede all the gentleness he can muster.

It's all the more poignant because Ed doesn't have a blueprint for this. He was raised in an abusive household and grew up in piracy, famously a culture of abuse. Many of the times he's cared for people, he's had to watch them get hurt in front of him (his mom, Felix the cabin boy, etc.). But this reaffirms that even though he grew up with his terrible abusive father and then Hornigold as examples of how men should act, Ed's instinct is never violence or even roughness. It's to treat the man he loves with gentleness and care and hold him with all the love in the world.