Chapter Text
Ed wakes up the next morning to a knock on the door. The room is bathed in a dappled light that filters through white linen curtains and green vines. He’s in a strange bed, curled up against the familiar shape of Stede. Stede is making the most of the wide bed, on his back with his arms and legs stretched out, Ed tucked into his side with the sheets draped loosely over them both.
On instinct, Ed gropes around for something to use as a weapon. In Nassau, if someone knocks on your door you’ve about a 50-50 chance of it being a brothel madam come to tell you you’ve overstayed your welcome, or a rival captain come to chop your fucking head off. He sits up and sees his pistol and knife lying on the other side of the room, useless in a heap of discarded leather and silk.
There’s another knock, louder this time, and Stede finally stirs when Ed throws a protective arm over his chest. He rolls over to face Ed and smiles against his thigh.
“Breakfast.”
“What?”
“I asked the landlady to bring us breakfast. Is it really morning already?” Stede yawns, his breath hot against Ed’s skin.
Ed relaxes a little. Stupid instinct. The rules are different when Stede is around, when will he learn?
A third knock rattles the doorframe and Ed tries to get up, but Stede’s arm anchors him to the bed.
“I’ll get it.”
Ed watches as Stede gets out of bed, the sheets falling back to expose his beautiful body to the soft morning light and Ed’s hard, hungry gaze. Way too quickly for Ed’s liking, Stede pulls on a dressing gown and heads for the door, combing his fingers through his hair to settle the unruly curls. Ed is so fond of him it hurts – and when he shifts on the bed, there’s a sharp discomfort where Stede’s cock filled him the night before, took his rightful place in Ed’s body. Ed luxuriates in the feeling, relaxing against the headboard with one knee bent in a delicious stretch.
Stede returns with a tray of coffee and toast and fruit, laid out with a little vase of fresh flowers. Ed remembers a one-night stand from a decade ago, who allowed him to gulp down a cup of coffee before kicking him out and Ed fancied himself in love for, like, a couple of weeks. He never in a million years thought he’d get to have flowers.
“She’ll send someone to run us a bath,” Stede says as he sets the tray down on the bed. The smell of coffee, as well as the sight of Stede’s cleavage as he bends down so close to him, makes Ed’s mouth water.
They eat their breakfast while a girl goes in and out of the room tipping buckets of steaming hot water into the bathtub – the first time she enters, she glances shyly at the men on the bed, then at the leathers and weapons on the floor, then wide-eyed at Ed with the tiring look that Ed immediately recognises as oh shit that’s Blackbeard. Stede notices Ed and the girl staring at each other and gently tips Ed’s face towards him, kissing him with just enough tongue that Ed’s brain is wiped clean of any frustration or anxiety about being recognised. After that, the girl minds her own fucking business and Ed minds the business of mostly gaping at Stede in lovestruck adoration and occasionally nibbling at some toast.
Breakfast done and the girl gone, Ed eyes the steaming bathtub longingly. He imagines sinking into a hot, soapy bath, letting the water soak off the soreness in his body, wash away the way his bad knee is letting him know it doesn’t appreciate being fucked on all fours at this age.
“You know,” Stede says, fingertips travelling absentmindedly to Ed’s knee and massaging the muscle above it. “I think the tub is big enough for us both. D’you want to try it?”
As if Ed would ever say no. So, he says yes and scrambles off the bed to follow Stede across the room. Stede pauses next to the tub and turns to him, stopping him with a hand on his chest.
“You need to undress first.”
Ed gestures at his naked body. Stede takes a step closer, touches a hand to his throat. To the scarf.
“Oh.”
“May I?”
“You may,” Ed chuckles. Man’s had his cock in Ed mere hours before and now he's asking for permission to untie a fucking scarf. Like a fancy gentleman timidly courting someone equally fancy. He lifts his chin slightly, offers himself up.
Stede’s skilled fingers make quick work of the knot and the scarf slides off, coiled into a neat bundle on Stede’s palm. He bows his head to kiss Ed’s neck where the scarf used to be, softly at first and then sucking at the sensitive skin until Ed is weak at the knees and gasping. Stede bites him, licks the bite mark and bites down again, and Ed can’t be held responsible for the things he says or promises or begs for but Stede sounds quite pleased when he hears them, rewards him with one more burning hot kiss before pulling away. Like a gentleman pirate boldly romancing someone he really, really wants.
“You wear it well,” he says, and his soft words, the teasing line of his lips, go straight to Ed’s groin. He can feel the tingle of a bruise building under his skin, his pulse shivering against the gently damaged skin.
Turning around, Stede shrugs off his dressing gown and dips a toe in the water with a little moan. Ed steps closer, eager, as Stede sinks into the swirling water.
“If I sit down like this,” Stede leans back in the tub and rests his arms on the curved, gilded edge. “You can lean against me if you’d like?”
Ed’s never got into a bathtub so quickly in his life. It’s a tight fit, but he slips down with his knees bent and his head against Stede’s soft chest, and it’s bliss.
“Fuck, man,” he sighs, running his hands down Stede’s beautiful legs on either side of him, the downy blond hair covering his skin like a silk stocking underwater.
“We should get a bigger tub for the ship,” Stede murmurs. “A bigger bed.”
“Mmmh. Bed’s fine as it is. I don’t mind having to sleep stacked up like fuckin’ sardines. Not when it’s with you.”
Stede makes an amused noise deep in his throat and reaches for the lavender soap. His hands move lazily over skin, seemingly not caring about where his own body ends and Ed’s begins, massaging sore muscles with soap-slick fingers and lulling Ed into a trance like his hands are fucking magic. He pours water over Ed’s scalp with cupped hands and rubs soap into his hair, and Ed is stirred to mumble little thanks and other embarrassing things, drunk with the pleasure of Stede’s fingertips massaging his temples. He turns his head enough to make contact with the base of Stede’s neck, presses an open-mouthed kiss onto skin bitter with lavender oil.
“We’re all clean,” Stede whispers. “Do you want a moment alone, stretch out your knee?”
What Ed wants is to stay like this forever, leaning into the solid warmth of Stede Bonnet, their bodies a soft tangle of limbs and beating hearts, but…
“Yeah.”
He leans forward enough to let Stede get up and out of the tub. Sinking back down, he’s able to stretch out his legs a bit better and fuck it feels nice. He stays for as long as he can bear to, craning his neck occasionally to appreciate Stede pottering about, spreading lotions on his already soft skin, emptying their bags of clothes but thankfully not putting on more than his robe, picking up and neatly putting away the stuff they left on the floor the night before.
When Ed gets out of the now-tepid water, Stede looks up from the bed where he’s curled up to read, gaze immediately drawn to him. Ed takes his time rubbing his skin dry and languidly stretching out his body, eyes flicking up occasionally to make sure Stede’s attention is still glued to him. It is, every time.
“See something you like?” he says eventually, all warm with the way Stede is staring.
Stede swallows. “Mm-hmm.”
“Tell me.”
“Your… hair. Needs combing.”
Ed runs a hand over his wet tangle of hair, flexes his muscles just a bit. “Shit, didn’t realise I was in a beauty contest. I thought this was all about your unbridled carnal lust for me.”
Stede laughs, blushes a little. “This is very much about that, Edward. It’s never not about that.”
“Thank fuck.”
Stede sits up cross-legged on the bed, picking up a comb and a small bottle of oil from the bedside table. With his damp hair slicked back and the dressing gown draping loosely over his broad chest, he looks like everything Ed has ever wanted. His soft smile, and his voice when he says “come here” – Ed is pulled to him like he’s the moon and Ed is the tide climbing up to the bed to lie down with his head in Stede’s lap.
Stede tips some of the sweet-smelling oil onto his palm, rubs them together and then touches his hands to Ed’s hair. He starts at the ends, massaging and untangling with his fingers, and anticipation coils in Ed’s stomach as he feels Stede’s expert hands move closer and closer to his scalp.
When his fingers finally make contact with Ed’s skin, Ed lets his eyes slip closed and leans into the touch with a contented murmur.
“First prize in that beauty contest, by the way,” Stede whispers. His fingertips work the residual oil into Ed’s scalp, and Ed’s toes curl with pleasure, his mouth falling open in a sigh. He can feel Stede running the comb through his hair, impossibly gentle in the tangles of his curls and his hand a firm pressure at the roots.
Ed falls asleep a little, lulled by the hypnotic, methodical rhythm of Stede combing out his hair, humming to himself while he works – something quiet, something that sounds like a love song with the way the music forms in his chest. It’s like floating in the ocean, safe and good and affirming. The water could pull him under and hurt him, but it won’t. It just touches him in ways no one has ever tried to before, like it knows what’s good for him.
He’s startled back into consciousness when he suddenly becomes aware of Stede’s hand smoothing its way down his stomach, trailing over scars and tattoos and ghosting soft fingertips along his half-hard cock. How’d that happen?
He opens his eyes to see Stede looking down at him with a soft expression. “Finished your hair,” Stede says, as if that explains why his thumb is now rubbing slow circles against Ed’s sensitive, bath-soft inner thigh. Ed arches into his touch. It’s like being a fucking teenager again – a little bit of gentle petting and he’s all ready to go.
“Stede,” he whispers.
“Ed.”
“ Stede.” Stede palms him lightly and Ed bites back a whimper. “D’you maybe wanna act on that unbridled lust of yours, mate?”
Stede withdraws his delicious, maddening fingers, takes Ed’s head in his hands and kisses him on the forehead.
“Lie back on the bed, darling.”
Ed pushes himself up on his elbows and repositions himself on the bed. His dressing gown has slipped open, or has been pulled open by Stede, and it falls off one shoulder as he lies back against the pillows. He’s so well and thoroughly on his way to losing his mind that even the brief slide of silk against his skin pulls a needy little mewl out of him. Stede smiles, licks his lips and straddles Ed’s thighs – God, his thighs. He smells of lavender soap and the oil he used in Ed’s hair, and his cock is peeking through the opening of his dressing gown, pink and heavy and plumping up. Ed reaches down to feel the muscles of Stede’s things, just as Stede leans down to kiss him. Stede’s hands rub up his rib cage, soft with fancy lotions, his fingers finding Ed’s nipples and squeezing gently. Ed’s cock twitches against Stede’s thigh where they’re pressed flush against each other. And Stede’s tongue is licking into Ed’s mouth, and the bed is soft under Ed’s back, and no one has ever wanted him like this.
Much too soon, Stede straightens up, withdrawing his mouth and his hands and leaving Ed gasping.
“I… I want to say something,” Stede says, a little out of breath too. “I’ve never… I mean. I should have said it a long time ago.”
“Yeah?” Ed is too dazed to panic, but a tentative nervousness stirs somewhere beneath all the soft and warm and comfortable and turned-on.
“I –” Stede takes a deep breath, thumbs rubbing over Ed’s hip bones like he’s nervous. He looks Ed in the eyes. “I love you.”
“Yeah, I love you too. What is it?”
“Well. Just that I’ve never said it.”
“You haven’t?” Ed frowns. That can’t be right. Stede is always talking about feelings, calling him pet names, soft and sweet and doting. Surely he’d…
“Never. Not like that. Not to anyone except the kids.” Stede is blushing now, a lovely flush high on his cheeks and spreading along his collarbones.
Ed scrambles up to sitting and pulls Stede into a wordless hug. He presses his face into the crook of Stede’s neck, wraps his arms around the man as tight as he can.
“And I’m glad,” Stede whispers into his hair. “I’m glad it was you. Sorry it took me so long.”
“Don’t,” Ed says. “I love you so much. Don’t apologise.”
“You knew though, right?” Stede pulls back enough to look at Ed, hands cradling his face. There’s a little crease between his eyebrows that Ed desperately wants to kiss away.
Ed thinks of soft words in the moonlight, cups of tea with seven sugars, a comb run so carefully through his hair. “Yeah. Yeah, I knew.”
Stede’s face softens into a smile. “I figured, since you’re more of a… man of action, as it were.”
“Uh-huh. Speaking of.”
“Oh. Quite.” Stede looks down, and Ed follows his gaze to where Stede’s cock is straining against his stomach, wet at the tip, and Ed’s own cock rubs against Stede’s thigh. “Do you want me to…?”
Ed hesitates. A pleasant soreness still lingers in his body despite the bath, and holding Stede in his lap is actually quite nice. He looks up.
“Up to you, mate.”
“Can I try something?”
Ed nods.
“Open up,” Stede says softly, thumb against Ed’s lower lip. Ed parts his lips and allows Stede to push in, the pad of his thumb sliding smoothly against Ed’s tongue. Stede sighs, eyes blown dark, and his voice wavers when he adds, “Good man. Nice and wet, like that.” He pushes two more fingers into Ed’s mouth and Ed laves at them, coating them with spit and enjoying the way Stede begins to squirm in his lap. It’s new, this feeling of not knowing what’s going to happen next, without any of the fear that used to accompany it. Trust, Ed thinks, and sucks on Stede’s fingers until he pulls a little moan out of him.
“Okay. Enough,” Stede breathes, with a nervous laugh. He pulls his fingers out and Ed releases them with a filthy grin. That grin is wiped quickly off his face when Stede adjusts himself and wraps his slicked-up hand around both of their cocks.
Ed’s hips buck up, but he’s held in place by Stede’s weight on top of him, unable to do anything except grab onto Stede and bury his face in his neck as Stede flicks his wrist and his cock throbs against Ed’s and it’s –
“Oh, God, Stede, Jesus –”
“Look at me,” Stede commands, tightening his grip. Ed lifts his head. “Together?”
Ed mirrors Stede’s grip with shaky fingers, gathers some of the precum from Stede’s eager cock and slides his hand down. They both cry out, then laugh.
“Fuck, that’s nice.”
“Mmh. Better than I imagined.”
Turns out, they fit together perfectly like this. Stede’s shorter, thicker cock presses against Ed’s, smooth and hot and hard, and they’ve had enough practice to know exactly how to move their hands in order to draw the most obscene swears out of one another. Turns out, feeling the twitch of your lover’s cock against your own as you move your fist just the way you like it is hot as hell.
Ed turns his head, catches his reflection’s eye in the mirror. His hair is falling down his back in neat, damp curls, dressing gown draped at his elbows in a lush waterfall of silk. In his lap, Stede is all golden hair and pink skin and smooth yellow velvet.
”Look at us,” Ed says. Stede does, and his reflection smiles at Ed, a little laboured. He rolls his hips and Ed moans, head falling back and exposing the bruise on this throat.
”Gorgeous. Oh, my love.” Stede kisses his throat, his jaw, his lips, and repeats, ”My love.”
Ed wraps his arm tighter around Stede’s lower back, tries to pull him closer as they move together.
“Am I too heavy?” Stede pants, forehead against Ed’s. “How’s your knee?”
“It’s fine.” Ed thrusts into Stede’s hand, and okay, maybe there’s a slight twinge in his bad knee and maybe his legs are a little numb from being sat on for so long. “Maybe a little – ah – a little…”
“Lie back.” Stede kisses him and grips his shoulder with his free hand. “Lie back.”
Ed leans back and lets the pillows behind him take his weight. Stede follows with a groan.
“Fuck,” Stede hisses. “I’m close, I’m afraid I can’t, you know –”
“It’s okay,” Ed promises. “Lead the way, mate.”
Stede bucks into their joined hands, babbling little endearments and curses with that sweet, concentrated look on his face he sometimes gets when he’s far enough gone to stop being polite. With the frantic rubbing of his cock against Ed’s, Ed isn’t going to last much longer either.
“Go ahead,” Ed manages, “Come for me, love.”
“Ohh,” Stede says. “I’m so – you’re so –”
“Yeah, agreed.”
Ed pushes his free hand between their bodies, reaches down to cup Stede’s balls and press a finger into the soft skin behind them.
Stede cries out, eyes wide, as he comes. Ed squeezes him gently through it, uses the warm seed spilling out of him to slick up his own cock and rub himself leisurely until he catches up and falls over the edge, back arching off the bed as he comes, long and hard, into Stede’s waiting fist. It’s easy, it’s good, it’s like breathing – he doesn’t know how he’s ever survived without Stede Bonnet’s divine fingers working him until he sees stars, without Stede Bonnet whispering that he loves him as curses and comes all over them both.
Stede wipes his hand on Ed’s chest, and leans in to kiss him, his body a warm, messy weight on top of Ed. The room smells of lavender and toast and sex. Ed smooths his hands down Stede’s back, feels his soft buttocks through the velvet.
“What was the point of the bath even?” he mumbles into the kiss. “We already need another one.”
“This,” Stede replies. “This was the point.”
“Best bath of my life, then.”
"Wait 'til you hear about our itinerary for the rest of the day. And tomorrow. And the day after."
"Oh, I'm listening."
xxx
“Good shore leave?” Lucius asks, draped around Pete and grinning on the deck of the Revenge. The rest of the crew are milling around, getting the ship ready to go.
“It was pretty alright.” Ed drops the bags he’s been carrying onto the deck and stretches out his back. Spending the morning practically folded in half on the bed while your co-captain nails you into the mattress really fucks up your spine.
“We were about to start putting up posters,” Lucius says. “No one’s seen you for a full three days.”
“Yeah, well. We were busy.”
“I bet. I’m surprised you can still walk.”
Ed winks at him, lewd and relaxed and happy. He nudges Stede, beaming by his side.
“You should see the other guy.”