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"Maybe he"s right, guys. Should we pack it in? It"s been a day," Ed said, clapping Jack on the shoulder.
"Ah, no, mate. Night"s still young," Jack protested.
There was a soft snore from the base of the mast, and Ed gestured to where Lucius and Pete were already deep in slumber, heads bumped together and drooling in tandem. The rest of the crew mumbled agreement, and there was a soft "Thank the almighty," from the bow where Buttons was moonbathing.
Jack shrugged. "Fair enough. Got a bunk I can kip in?"
Ed opened his mouth to tell Jack to pull up any piece of the deck that appealed when he remembered one of the lessons Stede had given him, in amongst identifying the difference between a salad fork and a dessert spoon.
"A guest is a jewel on the cushion of hospitality," he"d proclaimed. "His comfort must always come before yours."
"Right," Ed said. "You can - uh - take the guest suite."
Jack raised an eyebrow at him, possibly not entirely sure what those words meant together. A guest suite to pirates was more likely to mean the brig.
"It"s real nice," Ed went on, not sure why he was still talking. "There"s little soaps in the shape of elephants."
"Okay," Jack said, surreptitiously glancing down at his own hands as if worried he was drunk enough that they too were in the shape of little elephants.
"Just - um - give us a moment to make sure there"s - uh - fresh… sheets." Ed swivelled around Jack and opened the door to the guest suite. He stepped inside then slammed it behind him. He flew around the room like a hurricane, tucking clothes into drawers and kicking his extra boots under the bed. Thankfully, Jack was probably pissed enough that he"d be lucky to even end up in the bed instead of on the floor, so he was unlikely to note that a) the dread pirate Blackbeard was sleeping in a guest suite with actual hand to god curtains, b) that among the things strewn around the room were two silk robes, a book with long, fancy words that Ed was still trying to find the courage to ask Stede to teach him how to decipher, and something Stede called "Bed Socks" which had done wonders for the problematic dry skin between Ed"s toes, and c) that putting Jack here meant Ed had nowhere to sleep.
Ed finished his speed clean and opened the door again. "All yours, mate." He guided Jack in with a firm hand on his shoulder, and steered him towards the bed. "Sleep well."
Jack grunted and tipped towards the mattress, starting his first snore midair, so Ed stepped back out and closed the door behind him, finding himself back on the deck which was now dotted with sleeping crew members. It was a quiet night, now that no one was hooting and hollering, so Ed leaned against the mast for a moment, looking out at the clear black sky, dotted with the pinpricks of stars.
He"d be passing the night out here, he supposed. He"d spent his fair share of nights with nothing but wood at his back and the blanket of night above him, but if he was quite honest, he"d gotten rather used to the guest suite of the Revenge. "You"ve gone fucking soft," he muttered to himself, but without heat. It was a nice kind of softness, really. That was getting easier and easier to admit to himself, easier and easier to indulge in.
He"d sobered up almost entirely over the last hour, but he was still a bit too churned up from all the carrying on to go straight to sleep, so instead of looking for a soft patch of deck up by the bow, he spun on his heel and rapped his knuckle against the elegant door of Stede"s captain"s quarters. "You still up, mate?"
There was a soft noise from the other side of the door, something between a frustrated grunt and a resigned sigh, and then it opened. Stede was in his robe and nightclothes, his silly, little nightcap perched on his head. Ed"s eyes were drawn up to the delicate stitching across the cuff, and he hoped his silly, little smile at the sight was obscured by his beard.
Stede wasn"t smiling. Stede was pursing in lips in way that recalled the concept of passive aggression to Ed"s mind, sending a shiver up his spine. "Yes?" Stede asked tightly. "Did Buttons fall overboard again?"
"Nah," Ed half-shrugged, suddenly not really sure which bits of him controlled his shoulders in a way that didn"t make him look like a mad marionette. "Everything"s fine. I just -" He shrugged again, then pushed past Stede into the room. Some of the tension uncoiled from his core when Stede closed the door behind him instead of kicking him right out again. "I put Jack to bed."
"Ah," Stede said. "Okay."
Ed gestured over his own shoulder with one thumb. "I gave him the guest suite."
There was a heavy pause. "Oh."
"You know, cause a guest is a jewel on the -" Ed rolled his hand in front of him in lieu of finishing the sentiment.
"Ah. Right. Well." Stede cleared his throat. "How gentlemanly of you." There was another pause. "And now you"re -" He looked around.
"Oh. Right. I just." Ed searched for a reason for why he was standing in Stede"s room instead of tipping someone out of their hammock to use it himself. "Wanted to say goodnight. I guess."
"Oh," Stede repeated, only now there was a soft flush colouring his cheeks. "Where are you going to sleep?"
Ed shrugged again. "Wherever."
"So not with -" Stede cut himself off abruptly.
"What"s that?"
"Hmm?"
They stared at each other.
Stede cleared his throat. "It"s a bit…unseemly, isn"t it? For a captain to sleep on the deck with his crew?"
"Ah, well. If I lose their esteem from a night in the open air, I"ll just feed someone"s pinky finger to a shark. Scare "em into respecting me again."
Stede sighed, rolling his eyes in a way that Ed hoped was affectionate. Then he wondered why he hoped it was affectionate. "You know…" Stede started. Then he stopped.
"Yeah?"
"Well, I mean." He coughed lightly, taking half a step back. His eyes danced around the spacious room. "If we really are to be co-captains, you have as much right to these quarters as I do. It never mattered before, since you were perfectly comfortable in the guest suite, but now I feel I"ve been rather remiss in failing to acknowledge all the privileges that should accompany your position. Unfortunately, when I designed the Revenge, it never occurred to me I might need a second captain"s cabin."
"Well," Ed offered, "we are rather unconventional." His eyes dropped to the decorative end table sat by the arm of the chaise. It had a cloth draped over it, woven, in greens and reds and yellows, and Ed couldn"t stop his shoulder from drooping down so he could run his finger lightly across the raised bumps of the stitches.
Stede smiled at that. "We are, aren"t we?" He paused. "And yet I still don"t feel it"s fair for me to occupy all this space myself. If nothing else, what kind of message does it send to the crew? We"re already asking a lot of them, to respect us equally as co-captains. You"ve taught me a lot about how important that respect is - though I"m not sure I"m on board with feeding body parts to sharks. I wouldn"t want them to treat you like a guest, however, just because you"re sleeping in the guest quarters." He shuffled a little closer, and Ed found himself suddenly craving a swig of rum. "Revenge is your home, as long as you want her to be."
"Yeah… I guess that makes sense." Ed looked around wildly. He couldn"t imagine the space being any different. It was so Stede, through and through. "Maybe we could - um - divide it…"
Stede followed his gaze. "Yes, I"m sure we could make that work." He paused. "Not tonight, though."
"Oh, yeah, I mean. Too fucking late, tonight, isn"t it?" Ed reached out to clap Stede on the shoulder, then changed his mind halfway there and patted the back of the sofa instead. "Guess, I"d better let you get your rest." He gave Stede a lazy salute. "Goodnight. That"s what I came here to say. Co-captain." But when Ed moved toward the door, Stede didn"t shift away from it to let him pass.
Stede cleared his throat. "Or…"
Ed"s heart picked up into double time.
"I mean… for tonight." Stede"s eyes went to his bunk. The curtains were pulled back, and Ed could see the crisply made sheets. "Since you"ve so kindly given up your bed to our… guest."
Ed had sat on that bed once, on the first night he"d seen Stede, watching him sleep, wondering who the fuck this madman playing at piracy was. He still hadn"t answered that question, really, more than, he"s Stede, which maybe was an answer after all. One that Blackbeard wouldn"t have been satisfied with, but Edward didn"t seem to mind. He"s Stede.
"You offering to share that fancy bunk of yours?" Ed tossed out, trying to cover the way his heart was fluttering up into his throat like a flock of gulls let out of a too-small cage.
If he expected a joke, or hedging, he got neither; Stede simply nodded. "Yes. If you like."
Ed shrugged again, his shoulders operating fully independently of his will by now. "Why not? Better than sleeping on the floor." He firmly ignored the sprawl of couches, ottomans, and armchairs spread around him that he could easily offer to take instead. If Stede was willing to share, Ed wasn"t going to refuse the chance. Apparently.
Stede smiled encouragingly, then bustled off into his bathroom to no doubt do things with soaps and lotions and creams, and Ed was left staring at the ornate pattern on the coverlet. He hadn"t even known the word coverlet before he met Stede.
"Would you like to borrow a nightshirt?" Stede"s voice was suddenly right at Ed"s shoulder, and it took decades of piracy for him not to jump right out of his leather trousers at the surprise.
"What?"
"A nightshirt. I"m not sure what you usually sleep in, but you don"t seem to have brought it with you."
"Oh." Ed looked down at his clothes. He usually stripped off most of the leather, if he had the time and the bother, but that was pretty much it. "Alright?"
Stede beamed, seemingly always happy to get to dress Ed up in fine things. He popped open the auxiliary wardrobe, and Ed watched idly as Stede flicked through his hangers, a bright smile on his face. "Oh, I do think this one will suit you nicely," he said, finally pulling one out and holding it up to Ed"s chest. To Ed, it looked the same as all the others, but he caught a fold of the fabric between two fingers and rubbed it. Soft and silky.
Stede handed Ed the hanger and left him alone in the closet to change. Ed unbuckled and unbuttoned and unfastened, then pulled the nightshirt over his head, briefly cringing at how dirty he was no doubt making the soft, cream-coloured cotton.
But when he smoothed it over his chest, he couldn"t help the soft rumble of a purr that leaked out at how decadent the fabric felt against his bare skin.
Back in the cabin, Stede had the curtains spread wide, revealing the bed that he was currently turning down. "Plenty of room," he said cheerily, "it"ll be just like sleepovers from when we were lads." He frowned. "Not that I had any friends to have sleepovers with." He looked over at Ed and winced. "You probably didn"t -"
"It"ll be great." Ed dropped his hand onto Stede"s shoulder. "Thanks for sharing." He waved towards the bed. "You want the window or the aisle?"
Stede gestured Ed in first, and Ed had to admit he preferred to have his back to a wall, if possible. Though, perhaps he should be on the outside. Just in case something happened. He could protect -
"Everything alright?" Stede asked.
"Hmm? Yeah, yeah of course. Tired, you know. Long day."
Stede hummed, and Ed knew him well enough now to hear the tightness in his voice. Not wanting to upset him further, he climbed into bed and shuffled back tightly against the wall, the cool glass of the window leaching heat through the thin fabric of his nightshirt.
Stede lifted the covers and slid in on the other side, facing Ed. What had seemed like a sizable bunk compared to the cots and hammocks Ed was used to, suddenly felt like a bare strip of mattress they were squeezed up on together. Ed"s mouth was drier than after a week on a deserted island with no freshwater, but in order to reach the nearest bottle of rum, he"d have to press his entire body over Stede"s. "Well, isn"t this cozy?" he managed, clearing his throat roughly.
"Are you comfortable?" Stede asked, looking genuinely concerned about it.
"Yeah, of course, mate. Never been so fucking comfortable in my life."
"Excellent." Stede beamed. "Co-captain."
Ed chuckled and shifted until his weight was off his shoulder, cushioned by the soft pillow. Stede"s face was only a few inches away, his eyes still open and fixed on Ed"s.
"Hey, Ed?" Stede started.
"Yeah?"
"I"m sorry if I ruined your day with your friend. I"m afraid Calico isn"t particularly fond of me."
"Ah, Jack"s a dick. Don"t worry about him. You didn"t ruin it. If anything, I ruined your day."
"Not at all, my dear fellow. I"m delighted you got to reunite with…" He trailed off.
The moon drifted behind a cloud and plunged the room into darkness. Ed thought it would be easier if he couldn"t see Stede"s bright eyes fixed on his, but with his sight gone, he felt Stede"s presence in other, more intense ways. He could smell his soaps and lotions, hear the soft in-and-out of his breath, and feel the heat radiating off his body, under the blankets they shared. The rocking of the ship, usually nothing but a comfort to Ed, seemed to be trying to roll them both into the middle of the mattress.
"Ed… do you feel you can be yourself around me?" Stede whispered in the dark.
Ed"s fingers itched to seek out actual contact, but he twisted them together to keep them on his side of the bed. "Course. I mean. I dunno. I guess I don"t really know who I am. Haven"t known since the first day I met you with your books and your summer linens, asking me if I work for Blackbeard. I know who Blackbeard is. Everyone knows who Blackbeard is. Don"t reckon I ever got the chance to figure out who Ed is."
"Well, I quite like the Ed I"ve gotten to know. So if you want to be him, I wouldn"t mind."
"I think -" Ed swallowed heavily. It was easier to talk about this, in the dark, in a nightshirt, all his trappings, all the pressure, in a pile on the floor of Stede"s auxiliary closet. "I think I"m scared… that if you find out who Blackbeard is, you won"t like Ed anymore. So if you don"t like who I am with Jack, maybe… maybe you don"t like me at all."
"Oh, Edward. You think you"re the only one who doesn"t always like who they are? I don"t only like the best version of you. I like that you"re trying to be better, trying to find Ed. I like that you"re open to learning something from a namby pamby aristocrat." The clouds blew along, and the moon sliced through the window, lighting up Stede"s face again, soft, caring. "I don"t always like everything you do, but I like the very core of you." Stede reached out and pressed one finger against the centre of Ed"s chest, the lace cuff of his nightshirt falling around his hand.
On pure instinct, Ed reached up and caught Stede"s fingers in his before he could pull away. "Really?"
"I think I know you, Edward Teach. And if I don"t, I"m trying to."
Stede hadn"t reclaimed his fingers, letting Ed wind them together with his own, so Ed used the leverage to tug Stede a little closer. Then he pushed up on one elbow and bent over Stede, casting him in shadow once more. "I want you to," he husked, and then he pressed their lips together.
It wasn"t, perhaps, as smooth and confident as was befitting Blackbeard, but Ed had never kissed someone like this before, gently, questioningly, out of care.
Soberly.
Ed had had his fair share of tumbles, men and women, but it had never really mattered before, whose was the other warm body involved - bodies, a few times - because it wasn"t about that. It was about physical pleasure. This, right now, was about not being able to restrain himself any longer from the way he felt for this silly, little man, spilling out of him like an overfull cup.
Emboldened by the way Stede melted under him, Ed ran his tongue along the seam of Stede"s lips, letting more of his weight press their bodies tightly together. He broke away from Stede"s delectable mouth and kissed his cheek, the edge of his jaw, the join of his ear. A hurricane hitting the ship couldn"t have stopped him, not now that he"d broken the seal on everything he"d been bottling up for weeks. The only thing that could stop him now was -
"Ed? Ed, wait."
Ed jerked back, heart skipping. "What? What"s wrong? Did I -" But Stede didn"t let him go entirely, keeping one hand on his hip and one on the back of his neck, wound through his hair.
"If this is only a - a dalliance," Stede breathed, his stuttery exhale warm on Ed"s cheek, "I think it better you find it in the guest suite, after all." There was a set to his jaw that only made Ed"s heart beat harder, thudding painfully against his ribs.
Ed leaned back, pushing up on one elbow to look down at the man spread beneath him. He hummed, low and rumbly. "So that"s what else you and Jack were talking about in the trees today."
Stede huffed softly, pouting. "You have to be aware that looting and pillaging aren"t the only things you have a reputation for, Blackbeard."
Ed tried to smirk, but it broke into an amused laugh, an honest smile. "Thought you"d figured out by now that I"m not always quite what I seem."
"Ed…"
A wash of anxiety twisted Ed"s stomach into knots, and his first instinct was to bail out - just cut and run, leave Stede to his fancy sheets and embroidered nightcap and fuck off into the night. He"d hoped the kiss said enough, but Stede needed something more, and he wasn"t sure he could manage it. But when Stede"s fingers twitched where they still rested against his hip, it pushed out a question. "Do you really want -" He meant to finish it with this, but the final word wouldn"t slip past his teeth.
But Stede finished it for him with, "You? Yes. I do."
All sixteen swords he"d taken to the gut over the years running him through at once still wouldn"t have hit him as hard as that one word did. You. Because he knew, same as he knew the weight of his pistol in his hand, that when Stede said, You, he meant Ed. And even if Ed wasn"t quite sure who that was, what that meant, he knew Stede believed in him.
But because he was Ed, instead of saying, I think I"m falling in love with you, he said, "Fuck off, you don"t."
Luckily, Stede laughed. He nodded, and the fingers on Ed"s hip slipped up under the bottom hem of his shirt. The pad of his thumb rubbed over the bundle of scars gathered on his lower left side. "I do want you, my dear. The question at hand is what you want."
"Thought I made that pretty clear when I shoved my tongue down your throat."
"And tomorrow? What are you going to want then?"
Ed had seen fearsome pirates face down firing squads, raise their swords again after a fatal blow had been dealt, and be swallowed by the sea with nothing but a grim smile on their faces, but in that moment, Stede was the bravest man he"d ever met.
Ed couldn"t be shown up by his co-captain, could he?
So he decided to be the bravest he"d ever been, himself. "Tomorrow… tomorrow I"m going to want muffins. With marmalade. And tea. In this bed. With you." Ed bent down and pressed his lips softly to Stede"s. "And the day after that. And the day after that. As long as you"ll have me."
"Ed…"
Ed nibbled his way along Stede"s jaw, tasting lavender and saltwater on his skin. He"d never had the time or the inclination to indulge like this, just exploring someone"s body, not even below the belt, just searching for the spot on Stede"s neck that made him gasp and squirm the most. "You do know me, man. The core of me. It"s just fucking terrifying," he whispered against Stede"s skin. "Cause it"s the real me, you know? So I can"t -"
"Can"t take it off and put someone else on if you don"t like it anymore?"
"Yeah. Yeah, that"s it."
Stede ruffled his fingers through Ed"s hair, combing the curls out of his face. "Well, for what"s it worth, I"d rather you didn"t. I"m quite fond of my co-captain, just as he is."
"Your co-captain," Ed echoed. He pressed his lips to Stede"s once more, then drew him into his arms, curled up together in one ball, like an octopus in a clam shell.
It had been nice to see Jack again, after all this time. A little nostalgia was a fun indulgence. But come morning, Ed would be sending Jack on his way.
And not because he wanted his room back.