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Stede sidles up to Ed while the crew are busy gathering for story time. “I picked a short one tonight,” he whispers, eyebrows lifting in a “contemplating mischief” expression. “D’you think we could get away with turning in early?”
They’ve been “turning in early” a lot lately. Kissing’s recently become something they do, as opposed to something they’d done twice: once the day Stede ran off, and once after he got back, when Ed finally decided not to kill him.
“Reckon we could,” says Ed, and gives Stede’s arse a cheeky squeeze.
“Ed!” Stede scans the deck, checking if anyone noticed, but his eyes are twinkling with scandalized delight.
“Backs to the rail, love. No one saw but the fish.”
Stede’s fresh off his years as a repressed rich guy, and is still squeamish about showing affection in public. Says he wants to keep up “a modicum of professionalism,” though Ed's pretty sure it's more about a stuck fear of being bullied by bigots. Ed has gently pointed out that they’ve both walked in on crew members mid-blowjob in just about every room on the ship, but he doesn’t want to push— plus, he’s kind of enjoying the feeling of sneaking around with Stede.
Tonight’s conveniently-short story revolves around a fuckery of sorts: two guys con an emperor into buying “magical clothes” that are actually nothing, and he gives a parade with his pasty royal arse on display. It prompts a lot of questions, but Stede still manages to slip away— fakes a yawn and announces, “Well, you’ll have to discuss without me, I’m afraid. I’m dead on my feet!” before practically skipping below decks.
Ed’s gotten caught up in a side conversation about actual magic clothes, and ends up having to diffuse a fight about the mechanics of selkie skins. Buttons was apparently married to a selkie once, and Black Pete’s “talking absolute shite” on the subject has him about ready to dig out his fangs. By the time Ed has sorted them out and made it down to the cabin, Stede’s already in his robe and nightgown.
The glass on the dark windows has fogged up from the warmth inside, so that as soon as the door shuts, they’re sealed away in a little world of their own. Stede’s been fussing with the room, Ed notices. He’s re-arranged the pillows and blankets and candles and things in a way that somehow has the space feeling extra-cozy, almost festive.
“What’d you do in here?” Ed asks, impressed.
Stede waves it away. “Oh, just a bit of vibe stewardship! Wanted things nice.”
“Vibe stewardship,” Ed echoes with wonder, marveling at the niceness around them as Stede leads him straight to the bed.
Stede sits on the edge of the mattress while Ed strips to his underwear. He can feel Stede’s gaze on his body like breath, warming each part he uncovers.
They’ve been taking things slow so far, trying out the opposite of the “one ‘I think so’ and we’re off to China” approach. They’ve spent weeks just kissing and holding each other, never more than shirtless. It’s been good. Different. Sex as Blackbeard was mostly quick fucks against a wall or pushing someone down and commanding them to lick him. He’d never taken the time to enjoy each stage for what it is— soaking up the glow of being together, the longing to have even more. In fairness, there was never so much feeling to soak up, before Stede.
Ed takes his time working his leather trousers off, watching Stede watch him. Maybe it’s all that vibe stewardship, but the air between them feels changed tonight, at once lighter and more charged. Ed reads vibes like Stede reads books—be dead by now if he didn’t— and right now he feels a readiness opening. So when Stede offers him the loose shirt and breaches he’s been wearing to bed, Ed hold his gaze significantly, and hands them right back.
“Ohhh.” Stede’s eyebrows shoot towards his hairline, a smile rounding his cheeks. “I see.” He reaches out, and Ed climbs into his lap.
They kiss and kiss until they’re both woozy. Stede keeps leaning back to get a better look at Ed’s body, then making a soft, overcome sound and diving back in to kiss and touch him. The silk robe is slippery-soft on Ed’s thighs, and he's startled at how daring and shivery he feels just from baring some skin. It’s quiet right now, too, so that every little sound stands out: meeting of lips, rub of cloth and skin, little gasped moans.
Blackbeard was always pretty vocal during sex. It fit the brand, for one thing, and if you want anything in particular out of a 10 minute fuck in a supply closet, you’d better say so at the jump or it won’t happen. Ed’s surprised to realize how much you can communicate with your body alone, when you’re both actually sober and actually care.
He stripped and climbed into Stede’s lap, and it said, Look at me. Touch me. I’m for you. He brought Stede’s hands to his scarred chest, and it said, This isn’t off limits, you know.
He tips his head back and Stede hums in delight, diving in to mouth all over his throat.
When he reaches the base of Ed’s neck, Stede growls, licking into the hollow between Ed’s collarbones. It shocks a high, embarrassing sound out of the back of Ed’s throat, and he automatically leans in for more—but more doesn’t come.
When opens his eyes to see why, Stede’s peeking back at him with his head cocked, like he’s about to take a risk.
“Ed, darling…” he starts, “may I, ah, may I see you? Here?” And he reaches to trace the waistband of Ed’s underwear.
Just that shy question set Ed’s whole body on fire.
“Fuck,” he breathes, “Yea, mate. ‘Course you can.” The air between them feels bowstring-tight, suddenly, humming with anticipation.
Stede beams at him, rosy and dimpled-up, and guides Ed down against the heap of pillows. For a moment, he just looks Ed up and down, like he’s memorizing how Ed looks all laid out and ready to unwrap. Then those sun-freckled hands stroke over Ed’s belly and flanks, heading for his waistband, and Ed holds his breath.
There’s no need for nerves at this point, really, because Stede already knows what he’ll find. As soon as they’d agreed they wanted in this for real, Ed gave him the whole talk: born supposedly-female, top half got a surgical remodel, herbs and potions brought in the namesake beard, etc. It’s never Ed’s favorite conversation, always stresses him out and at this point honestly bores him. He did it though, and Stede only looked thrown for a moment before he called Ed perfect and asked a lot of fucking questions, so sweet and earnest that Ed didn’t mind answering.
You’d think all that would’ve earned Ed the right to fucking chill out and enjoy this, but his flushed skin still prickles with cold as Stede starts to ease down his underwear. It’s just, everything Stede’s said about sex with his wife suggests disappointment start to finish, and if he and Mary have roughly the same parts—
There’s only a few seconds of fear before he’s naked, and Stede gasps and goes wide-eyed and says “Oh, Ed,” like Ed’s just given him the most wonderful gift.
“Yea? That… gonna work for you?” Ed asks. He knows what a rapturous “Oh, Ed,” means, he does, but it’s like his skin’s still too thick for the goodness to soak through.
Stede gives a disbelieving little laugh, smiling sympathetically at Ed’s nerves. “Darling, you’re only the most gorgeous thing I’ve ever seen. I knew, I’ve known, but seeing all of you at once, is just…. Agh.” He strokes the dark curls he’s uncovered and shyly says, “Show me?”
For a second, Ed’s confused— he’s naked, isn’t he? Stede’s already staring right there. Then Stede lays his hands high on Ed’s thighs, stroking his thumbs into the crease where they meet, and Ed’s pretty sure he gets it.
“You want me spread out for you?” he asks, eyebrows raised.
Stede doesn’t even bother to look shy this time. Just nods earnestly, sighing, “Yes.”
“Fuckin’ hell, mate,” is what falls out of Ed’s mouth. “Yea, alright.”
He’s been told to spread his legs before, loads of times, but in like a dirty talk, pinch-of-humiliation kind of way. No one’s ever been keen just to look, not at their own dripping cum, not at the fucked-open hole they’d left, but at him.
He takes a deep breath and goes for it— spreads his legs for Stede, pressing his feet together and his knees out until his swollen lips open up like moth’s wings. The whole time, he’s watching Stede watch him, watching Stede’s eyes blow wide and dark. He looks fascinated, which is so very Stede, and nakedly hungry, which is so new, and somehow this feels like the lewdest thing Ed’s ever done. He’s done some rank shit, too, shit that’d get an eyebrow raise out of a seasoned hooker. Doesn’t matter. It’s this.
“This,” Stede says with wonder, and touches Ed’s cock with a gentle fingertip.
Ed gasps at the shock of pleasure, lets out a shaky exhale. He’s still not 100% on what all’s happening here, but Stede looks pretty astounded, so he pulls himself together to give a tour.
“Yea that’s my… well, my clit, technically. Uhm… ‘clitoris’?” Stede had looked puzzled at the short form, then nods at the clarification.
“I was under the impression that the clitoris is rather teensy?” he says doubtfully, like he’s only ever encountered such a thing in a medical textbook. “I really don’t think Mary… I mean, I’m sure it was there.”
Christ. For the first time, Ed feels a brief but genuine zip of empathy for Mary.
“But yours—” Stede marvels, “it’s like a little penis, isn’t it?”
How is that hot? How is so hot that Ed’s head falls back?
“God. Yea,” he manages, “the, uh, the stuff I took makes you grow. Gives you a cock. Not like yours I know, but—”
“Most gorgeous cock I’ve ever seen,” Stede says with finality, and pets it lightly with his finger.
That shallow breath of contact makes Ed’s knees tremble, makes him grind out fuck and claw into the sheets. He expects Stede to start stroking him then, or rubbing him, or something, but apparently Stede’s still not done admiring. He just keeps staring with soft intensity, tilting his head like a connoisseur taking in a work of art. Ed wonders if Stede can see him dripping.
“Mmm.” Stede inclines his head at Ed’s cunt. “That’s called ombré, you know.”
“What?” Ed says blankly.
“See how the colors fade from one to another?”
Ed leans to watch as Stede traces the spread of his inner lips, edge-to-center, showing how the colors slide from dusky purple-brown to tan to glistening pink.
“In fashion, that’s called ombré. From the French. They make these utterly gorgeous fabrics, dyed just like this.”
Again, always—only Stede. It’s so endearingly odd, but also, Ed’s eyes are welling up, maybe?
He’s always been praised for the boxes he ticks on a list of Desirable Features— strong bone structure, thick hair, warm hole to stick a cock in. No one’s ever zeroed in on some weird detail and praised it so specifically that Ed can’t doubt they mean it. It’s a bit full-on, being seen in all his particulars like that, and he suddenly has an urge to cover up.
“‘S a cunt,” he grunts. He stretches, hoping it looks incidental that he’s also sitting up and tucking his legs under himself. “Looks like something you’d find in a tidepool.”
“Well, to me looks like the man I love more than anything,” Stede says gently. “But I do have a colored print of tide pool creatures. Used to have it up in my study. They’re quite beautiful too, lots of them.”
Ed’s looking down at the bedspread. Stede’s thumbs swoop in to wipe under his eyes.
“Alright, love? Too much?”
“Just. Can’t believe you’re fucking real,” Ed mutters. “You’re too sweet to me. Don’t always know what to do with it.”
“Ah, darling. Here, let’s lie down for a bit, eh?” Stede climbs under the bedcover and holds it, and his arms, open to Ed.
Ed slides in gratefully, slotting their legs together and tucking his face into Stede’s neck. They rest together until Ed feels like they’re melting into a little pile of warmth, his jumpiness rising off him like steam.
As he settles, he becomes very aware that Stede’s nightgown has hitched up, so that his cunt is pressed to Stede’s bare thigh. It’s the most intimate contact they’ve ever had. It makes Ed flash back to his hours at Stede’s bedside back when they first met, the first tentative touches he laid on Stede’s hands and forehead.
And now he’s naked in Stede’s arms, feeling Stede with every part of himself as Stede’s hands stroke his back. He can feel Stede’s cock, just barely covered, half-hard where it’s pushed up between their bellies. Ed’s getting hard too. He can feel his cock swelling out of his slit, nudging against Stede’s skin. How would it feel if….
He shifts his hips just barely at all, and it feels so good that his cunt lets out a pulse of wet.
“Fuck,” he says, like he’s impressed, and does it again, and again and again, humping Stede’s thigh with the tiniest of motions.
“Christ,” Stede grates out, voice choppy. “Ah. I can feel you, love. Does that, is that nice for you… rocking like that?” He brings a hand down to press gently on Ed’s arse, encouraging him.
“Yea. Yea, nnngh. ’S how I first learned to get myself off.”
Stede makes a sharp sound in the back of his throat.
“Pillows n’ shit,” Ed explains. “Like you better.” He nuzzles into Stede’s neck, nips his ear to make him gasp. “I can feel you too,” he adds, pushing his belly against the Stede’s erection. “All big and hard for me. Fuckin’ love it.”
“Ed,” Stede shudders into his hair, moving his own hips a little now. “Can I, how can I make you feel good? I want to give you pleasure, I—”
Ed grabs Stede’s hand and shoves it down between their bodies, until he can thrust his wet cunt into Stede’s palm.
They both moan. Stede nuzzles their faces together and gropes at Ed desperately, drinking down the feel of him under his fingers.
“So wet, Ed, you’re so wet,” he gasps. “I mean, I could feel it on my leg but you’re so— oh, you’re, god, your cock is, it’s really sticking up, isn’t it? So big when I touch you, ahh. You want it, love?” He’s nuzzling his mouth against Ed’s like he wants to kiss him, but can’t stop talking and moaning, the most amazing fucking thing Ed’s ever heard.
“Yes,” Ed says, to all of it, over and over. “Yes, yes, yes. Rub me, please, fucking rub me.”
Stede cups all of him, rocking the heel of his hand a bit. “God, yes. Show me how?”
Ed laughs, breathless. “Not gonna take much finesse, sweet. Just, make your hand flat and do little, yes like that, like that, ohhhh my god—”
He humps into it, lips and cock dragging against Steed’s palm, everything soaking wet and he knows this can’t last long. Not with Stede touching him like that, like all he wants in this world is to pleasure him. Not with Stede looking down all flushed and open-mouthed, eyes desperate like he’s feeling this along with Ed, like he’s shaking at the edge with him.
“More, more,” Ed begs, til Stede’s rubbing his whole pussy fast and messy and Ed feels it building in his belly, rushing, rushing—
“Fuck, Stede I’m gonna come, I’m gonna come in your fucking hand, I—”
Stede gasps, says, “Yes, love, please,” and Ed barely has time to snatch up Stede’s free hand to clap over his mouth and then it’s happening. He’s crying out and tasting Stede’s skin and coming in Stede’s palm, coming like a wave that catches him up and rolls him under and under and under.
Stede holds him through it, staring in wonder, and then through the aftershocks that make Ed’s whole body twitch. Kisses his sweaty forehead after, murmuring, “Seeing you like this… ahh. It’s the greatest gift I can imagine. Your face when you come, Ed, I ….”
“Fuck,” Ed shudders. “Show me yours?” His limbs may feel like jelly, but no way is he getting off without bringing Stede with him.
Stede rolls onto his back and pulls his nightgown up, exposing himself. His cock is, fuck, startlingly big now—count on Stede to be a fuckin grower. It’s all twitchy and flushed, the head peeking out of its foreskin to leak on Stede’s belly.
“Nearly there if I’m honest,” he says breathlessly.
“Perfect,” says Ed, about all of it.
He gets a hand on that gorgeous cock and starts rubbing it against Stede’s tummy. Stede’s already moaning, but oil would make it even nicer, and…. Ah! In a stroke of instinct, Ed slicks his hand on the soaked mess of his cunt before reaching for Stede’s cock again.
Stede’s eyes go huge at that, and he flings his head back hard against the pillow. As soon as Ed’s wet hand rubs up over his swollen cockhead, Stede’s brow furrows and his mouth goes slack. His eyes stay locked on Ed’s as he cries out and comes and comes helplessly, arching and writhing and coating his belly in white.
He curls on his side as he comes down, head ducked against Ed’s chest. Ed just holds him, feeling his back heave as he pants “oh, oh, oh.”
After a minute, he pokes his head up. “Well!” he says on an exhale, “My goodness!”
The shift back to Stede’s everyday vocabulary surprises a laugh out of Ed. He presses their foreheads together a moment, and then, without thinking, flops onto his back to suck Stede’s come off his fingers.
“Ed!” Stede gasps. “Stop doing erotic things, you’ll break me! And doesn’t it taste… not nice?”
“Eh… acquired taste, maybe? I like it. ‘Specially when it’s yours.” Pause. “You’ve never tasted yourself?”
Stede shakes his head, expression stuck on shock.
“Oh. Here. It’s fine, see?” Ed lifts Stede’s hand, the one Stede touched him with, and sucks Stede’s fingers, prompting a sharp squeak.
“Now you,” he encourages, offering Stede a tiny taste of come off his belly. Stede looks doubtful, but he still opens his mouth and pokes out his tongue just a little, letting Ed touch his finger to it.
“So? What’s the review?”
“Hmm.” Stede concentrates hard for a moment before looking up decisively. “Salty.”
Ed laughs, warm and fond, and follows the grabby gesture Stede’s directing at the nightstand, where a rag hangs on a water basin. Oh—of course Stede would want to clean up right away. He wets the rag and hands it over.
Stede busily cleans himself, and then Ed, ignoring Ed’s protests that he can just deal with it later. It’s an odd new sensation, having his legs parted and his cunt gently wiped down after sex. Leaves him feeling a little shaky again, so that he’s grateful to snuggle back into Stede and pull the covers over them.
They just rest for a few minutes, Stede stroking Ed’s head as it rests on his chest. Ed feels held and safe and a little… something. Sad? Like a cozy room, with an echo in it.
“I know I have very little to compare to,” Stede says quietly, petting the baby hairs at Ed’s forehead, “but that was absolutely wonderful.”
“I have a lot to compare to,” says Ed, and the echo rings a little louder at that. “None of it comes close." After a moment, he adds, "Really is different when you’re in love, seems like.”
Once it's out, Ed starts second-guessing his phrasing. ‘When you’re in love’... was that clear? He tries again to be sure.
“Never, y’know. Done this stuff with someone I really fucking loved before, so. Different.”
Every day since they were first reunited, Stede’s told Ed he loves him. Ed’s been trying to show him that it’s mutual, has done and said a ton of things that could hardly leave doubt that it’s mutual, but. Turns out there’s this thing where, if you’ve never had occasion to say “I love you” before, not even to your mom— if you’ve spent your life around people who’d tear you apart if you ever said a thing that soft— it’s hard to learn new shit at forty-seven. So. This would be Ed’s first try with that.
He can feel Stede tip his chin down to peer at him. Cautiously, he sneaks a glance up to find Stede smiling softly, his eyes shining with adoration. Ed ducks down again, nuzzling into the sparse hair on Stede’s chest. They fall asleep like that— Ed with a smile at the corners of his lips, listening to the steady beat of Stede’s heart.