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Under the steady flickering of a glowing candlelight, Stede and Ed lay in their homemade nest of blankets and sheets and pillows. All they could muster up with the limited funds and resources, this had been their bed for the past few weeks. Glittering stars bleed through a few holes left in the ceiling, shafty pieces of wood applied crooked atop the large, gaping holes in the roof from when they started. They were doing their best. It would only get better with time.
Realistically, they could’ve hung up some hammocks similar to what they had on the ship, but what fun would that be?
Their somewhat comfy little nook pressed against the wall, pillows creating some semblance of a headboard. The blankets, plentiful, but hardly any back support. They were both routinely awaking in the morning with knots and sores in nearly every joint and bone. Sadly none of the soreness in the way Stede had been desiring.
It had been a few weeks, sure. But neither her nor Ed had discussed their first time being declared a mistake. Whenever Ed’s hands had wandered past the point of chasteness, toeing the line of obscene grouping and expressing a wordless desire to take a step further, Stede had promptly, politely, agonizingly steered Ed into a more pure session of petting or waved her off to go attend to something that absolutely needed to be done around the house right. This. Instant.
It was clearly a subject that required lengthy and uncomfortable discussion, but Stede’s gentle rejections and Ed’s wandering hands were so far and few inbetween that it was hardly becoming a pressing matter among their renovations and dreams of becoming inn-keepers. Her restraint in the name of preserving their budding romance was not without its consequences. In her unsatisfying marriage, fornication was for the purpose of producing delightful little offspring. Now Stede was spending day in, day out daydreaming about tan muscles and the scent of Ed’s sweat and the feeling of her body pressed against hers. And it was quite overwhelming.
Being sexually repressed for so long (a few decades at least), allowing herself to have… impure thoughts about her lover was breaking the dam to a very, very full river.
There wasn’t much she could achieve in terms of alleviating the tension as well, she didn’t exactly have ample opportunity to be helplessly rutting against her fingers in private. They had an inn to build, and Ed was beside her, holding on to her, being in her presence most of the day, and night. Another reason Stede showed her reserve, if she had let herself get swept up in the moment, well, she might’ve ridden Ed into another dimension and straight into scaring her away again, at least that’s what Stede believed.
Today, Ed had put on quite the display for Stede, that cursed purple crop top riding up her gorgeous midriff, exposing bits of tattoo and skin. Damned top. Ed had taken more to wearing plainclothes recently, given up the life of Blackbeard, but maybe today she was feeling sentimental and wore her old leathers. Maybe they were running out of clean clothes. Maybe Ed was truly nefarious and knew exactly what the tight leather gripping her strong thighs, ass, every inch the leather stuck to, did to Stede. She hadn’t taken to wearing the asymmetrical leather jacket, just a step too far, especially in the heat blaring down today. The sleeves of the top wrapped around her biceps beautifully, too. Not that Stede was looking. And thinking, and fantasizing. Absolutely scandalous.
So Stede was a little worked up. They had finished their work for today, ate dinner, and settled down into looser, softer clothes before settling into their nook. Neither of them were ready for bed, Ed was just in the middle of a riveting pirate’s tale during dinner, and Stede was going to be damned if she missed out on listening to her girlfriend talk and talk and talk.
Propped up on one elbow, hand to her cheek, Stede watched with adoration. She could get lost in just the way she moved. Ed was in her element, excitedly talking with her hands, exaggerating movements to add to her story. Stede could just listen to her voice all day. Those big, brown puppy dog eyes. Dark freckles dotting her cheeks, smile lines etched into them. She could probably spend the rest of her life memorizing every wrinkle and dot that her skin had to offer her, and she would die happy.
“And, and then, oh you’re gonna love this, he…” Ed trailed off, turning her eyes to Stede, to find her completely tuned out of this plane of existence, “Babe, are you even listening?” Ed slumped, incredulous that Stede would be spacing out during her epic tale.
Caught completely red handed in admiring her partner rather than listening to her story, “Uhm, yes, yeah I was. Go on” Stede replied, very convincingly.
“Babe.” Ed teetered her head to the side, “What’s goin’ on? C’mon.” She placed a hand upon Stede’s forearm.
“Nothing, honest. I was just… you’re very pretty, you know.” Stede finished, bashfully.
“Oh, come off it.” Ed was unconvinced, throwing her head back just a bit, rolling her eyes.
Stede gripped both of her hands in her own, “Serious as sin, love. I just got a little lost in watching you.”
“Mhmm, saw somethin’ you liked?” Ed creeped closer to her.
“Very much so.” Stede whispered barely above her breath, Ed now close enough that she could hear it. Stede met her the rest of the way, sealing their lips together. Stede sighed through her nose against her.
In everything that Ed did, there was power, weight to it. The same was with her kisses. Strong and soft against Stede’s lips. Her lips were a little dry due to the heat and their lack of all the fancy soaps and oils that Stede had kept upon the ship, back in the day. But Stede wouldn’t have wanted her any other way. She threaded a hand through her salt and pepper locks, Ed placed a gentle hand upon her cheek, rubbing her thumb against it.
It was easy to get lost in kissing her, the movement of their lips together was intoxicating, dizzying. Soft, warm breath against Stede’s face. Loved being close to her, being able to do so in the first place, it was all she could ever want.
As it went on, separating for breath, smiling at each other, bumping noses and foreheads, there was a question beginning to simmer underneath Stede’s skin. Just kissing her was getting her riled up, but that was a given with all the dreadful tension already stewing inside her. Could Stede simply let this progress further despite her qualms?
Ed’s warm tongue split from between her lips and glided against Stede’s and her head went numb. She didn’t have half a mind to pull away or reject her. She opened her mouth and Ed greedily explored. If there wasn’t cotton filling in her skull in place of brain matter before, there certainly was now. Her tongue was slimy and warm, of course, the same as the rest of her body feeling well above a hundred degrees against Stede. Ed pushed a golden curl behind Stede’s ear and adjusted her position to this new angle of kissing.
Maybe with anyone else in the world tongue kissing would be gross, mucousy muscles rolling over each other. But with Ed, it would be hard for anything she did to be gross. And every movement of her tongue moving against her own was sending hot sparks of desire straight to her stomach, indulging the sporadic butterflies that resided there. Stede wasn’t in control of the soft noises she made against Ed’s mouth. Everything just felt good . Stede had both of her palms against each side of Ed’s face, Ed holding hers in return with another hand lying idly on her shoulder.
Ed was eager in exploring every inch of Stede’s mouth that she had to offer. Slid around her teeth, gums, anywhere she could reach, but mostly focusing on pressing her and Stede’s tongues together. Stede hasn’t exactly done a lot of “french kissing” in her life, and she can’t recall it ever being this erotic or exciting. Ed hummed softly into her, intermittently.
Then, as slowly, gently, carefully as ever, Ed’s hand from Stede’s face made a grand descent to finally rest on Stede’s chest. Stede hardly noticed, at first, giddy at best and completely drunk at worst. Then the very slightest of pressure, hardly even a proper fondle of her breast and Stede halted. This was it.
Ed was very clearly giving her an indication of wanting this to go further, and Stede had to make a decision. Every fiber of her being was screaming to let Ed take her, ravage her, any way she wanted. But unwillingly, a flash of the day Ed declared her new fishing career and renounced piracy wiggled its way into the forefront of Stede’s mind.
“I think last night… was a mistake”
Stede instantly pulled away, the words strangling her heart in a vice, as painful as the day she first heard them. She was slow about her retreat, and Ed assumed she just needed some air, so she gave her a dazzling, thrilling smile. She was clear as day excited about where this was going, but the scab on the wound was wretched far too open for Stede to convince herself to continue. Stede huffed in and out big gulps of air, she actually did need a breath, and watched Ed carefully. How in the world was she going to diffuse this?
The hand Ed had upon Stede’s shoulder lifted to her face, to lull her back into kissing. Stede resisted, ever so slightly. Ed’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion, it was going well, wasn’t it? She pulled the offending hand that laid upon Stede’s chest away immediately.
“Ah, well, that was nice…” Stede started, lamely. Ed huffed out a small laugh.
“Yeah I reckon it was. Any idea why we’re stopping?” Stede didn’t have time to hide the reaction of her uncertainty.
“I just um, it’s quite late isn’t it? Got a big day tomorrow, and everything” Stede attempted to return to her usual cheeriness and started shifting, ready to turn away and lay down and forget this ever, ever happened.
“Stede… we have a big day every day, and the sun just set not too long ago” Ed argued, more confused than anything.
They let the silence fall upon them for a few seconds, Stede didn’t have a retort, only worrying her lip between her teeth.
“Talk to me.” Ed pleaded, entirely evil melty brown eyes meeting Stede’s. Stede sighed.
“It’s just… I don’t want to do anything that either of us… might regret.”
Realization dawned upon Ed, “That’s what this is about?” no hint of an accusatory or irked tone behind it.
“Baby, I don’t regret our first time.”
“But you said-”
“Yes I know what I said,” Ed sighed, contemplating her next choice of words “and it wasn’t exactly… incorrect?”
Hurt flashed upon Stede’s face, before she was dwelling over it in a way that she had some idea that Ed didn’t mean it, and now it seemed as if Ed was confirming she still felt that way. Ed recognized the hurt and was ready to explain herself.
“Stede. You had just wasted Ned Low. The night before I had told you I wanted to go slow. It wasn’t exactly… ideal conditions.”
“Oh, Ed I’m so sorry,” guilt washed over Stede, threatening to consume her.
“Nothing to be sorry about. I was a very active and willing participant if you recall.” Stede does recall. It was certainly the best sex she had ever had. To hear that Ed did feel that it was a mistake certainly stung, but she also understood her meaning. It wasn’t ideal at all. Ed brought both of Stede’s hands into hers.
“Just because our first time wasn’t under perfect circumstances doesn’t mean I don’t want to have sex with you ever again.”
Stede allowed the words to soak in, ignoring the heat that spread across her face at the meaning behind them. Ed held her as firm as ever to let her process, eyes never leaving hers.
“Are you sure you’re ready?” Stede whispered.
“I kind of wanted to do you ever since I saw you in my leathers,” Ed shrugged and cocked an eyebrow, “and I think we’ve gone just slow enough for me” she allowed just a bit of a sultry tone in her final admission.
For a moment they only watched each other. Ed considered that maybe that wasn’t Stede’s only hold up and began speaking once more,
“But if you’re not ready that’s-”
She was quickly cut off by a suddenly very animated Stede pulling herself atop Ed and fisting her hands in Ed’s shirt. She pulled her by the collar to smash her mouth into hers in a searing and heavy kiss. They crammed their mouths together, breathing hard against each other. Stede pulled away after only a few moments.
“ I am very fucking ready ,” she heaved, husky and graveled. It was Ed’s turn to go a little brain-numb, letting herself take pride in bringing the self proclaimed Lady Pirate to swearing, which she did so only on occasion.
There was little time for reveling, Stede brought Ed back to her mouth eagerly. Ed could only hopelessly grip at Stede’s sleeves as she took control. Stede eased Ed to lay back into a more comfortable position, not minding to break the kiss as she did so.
She moved her lips against hers with heat and urgency, moving her head this way and that to get all the angles she possibly could.
She broke the kiss to lick a quick swipe against Ed’s mouth to dive back in and let her tongue slip between her lips. Ed groaned pleasantly at the intrusion. Stede’s only experience in this was her exposure only a few minutes prior, but her confidence was not about to fizzle out just yet. She copied Ed’s expert ministrations as best she could, and with the way her lover let soft moans spill from her mouth, she was doing just fine. Every noise coming from her went in through her ears and soaked into her boiling blood, Stede prayed they’d live clear in her memory for the rest of her life. She found herself selfishly only wanting to hear more.
They were sloppy with their tongues intertwined, uncaring about the saliva spread across their lips. Stede was unsure about the next steps after this. They broke apart, gasping for air, and by God how Ed was as beautiful as ever. Puffy, red lips, sweat sticking to her skin and eyes half lidded.
Stede ducked her head to press fat, wet kisses to her neck, starting at her jugular and creeping her way up to her ear. A certain spot under her ear lobe made her giggle.
“Tickles,” she explained, “you know you can be a bit rougher with me. I won’t break. How about a hickey? Or two…” she whispered hot against the shell of Stede’s ear. Stede pulled back to look at her through her lashes. She pressed her lips into a thin line.
“Have you ever given someone a hickey before?” Ed questioned without mirth. Stede shook her head lightly. “I’ll teach you. Do you want me to give you one?”
“I’m not exactly sure what that is.” Stede admitted, a little bashful at her lack of experience. Conception for the purpose of procreation was all she knew, and was ever taught.
“It’s also called a love bite. Sucking on your neck makes a bruise, kind of tells everyone that you had sex.” Stede adjusts to be facing Ed more head on.
“Not many people to be showing it off to around here.”
“And it feels good, and maybe I wanna be the one seeing you walk around with a mark from me.”
Stede bit her lip in excitement, “Okay, go ahead.”
Ed gently maneuvered Stede’s head so her neck was within biting range. Her breath ghosted over her skin, “It might hurt a little at first. Just say the word and I’ll stop” she promised.
Stede nodded in response, and Ed clamped her mouth around her. She gave her a mild bite, Stede sucked in through her teeth, and Ed sucked hard. Stede braced a hand on the ground beside them and moaned wantonly before she could hold back the vulgar sound. Ed held on for only a short period before letting go, kissing the red, wet skin.
“Good?” she whispered against her.
“Yes, yeah, really good,” Stede was breathless. She leaned back and Ed gave her a toothy, goofy smile. She couldn’t help but plant another kiss upon her lips. It didn’t last long, Stede was now determined to give her some “love bites” in return.
She resumed her position against her neck and hovered there.
“Tell me what to do.”
“Mhh, okay, so biting is optional, but I actually quite like that. Go wild with biting if you want. Then, make an ‘o’ with your mouth and just suck as hard as you can.”
Stede nodded, then lightly nipped against Ed’s neck, testing the waters. When she writhed under her and gasped, Stede took it further, bit at her a little harder.
“Fuuuuck,” Ed groaned in response. Stede then did as she was instructed and latched onto her neck. Ed only squirmed harder, “fuck, yes just like that, just a little longer.” Stede hummed against her in approval.
“That-that should be good.” Stede released her with a wet sound, and before Ed could say anything, she descended upon her again in a different spot.
“Fuck, Stede!” Ed snaked her hands into her blonde curls, simply resting there and encouraging her. Feeling brave as she broke away to only begin another one, she moved a hand to Ed’s chest and squeezed tentatively. After a fourth bruise made upon her collarbone, Stede’s eyes stayed upon Ed’s face as she drew her spit-covered lips down, kissing all the way to the end of her sternum, where the dip in her shirt ended.
She tangled her fingers in the strings holding her shirt together and undid them with only a little bit of a struggle. Ed sat up to help her get the shirt off of her. Stede gripped the hem and pulled it over her head in one sweep, tossing the item aside. Ed laid back down and Stede could only stare.
In her age and in the times where she had wrapped shreds of fabric across her chest in order to better pass as “Blackbeard”, her breasts lay lower on her ribcage than other women’s may. Shiny stretch marks adorned them. Salt and pepper hair collected around her belly button and trailed down, disappearing underneath her trousers. Hard, taught muscles across her abdomen flex and relax in her minor squirming. Ed didn’t watch Stede in her staring, looking off to the distance. The silence was too much for her to bear.
“I know-”
“You’re beautiful.” Stede cut her off in awe, sliding a hand down her side, positively captivated. Stede had seen topless women before, far more often in her pirating life than ever, but it’s just something else whenever it’s Ed .
“Touch me, Stede.”
“With pleasure, my darling.” Spoken in a secret only for them to know.
Reverent as ever, Stede descended upon Ed, carefully rounding her breasts into her hands. She explored their weight, her soft skin, becoming accustomed to the shape of them in her palms. Meticulously she brushed a thumb across one of her plum nipples. She brought her other hand to attend to her other breast as well. Pinched and prodded at them and weighed her reactions accordingly.
She tentatively swiped a tongue across her target, then devoured the bud, massaging it with her tongue. Ed’s response to her prior fondling was subtle, but at the new sensation she was arching into Stede’s mouth to chase the feeling. She rolled her nipple around her tongue and sucked down hard, letting it leave her mouth in a wet pop. As she turned to lavish her other tit in the same manner, Ed groaned, frustrated.
“Please, Stede, mercy,” she pleaded. Stede gave her an impish smirk, then ever so slowly laid kisses between her chest, leading all the way to the hem of her pants. The string holding her pants together were, at the moment, Stede’s worst enemy. She couldn’t untangle them fast enough to get to what she wanted. In Ed’s eyes her hands must’ve only been a streak in her vision at the rate she was tearing into the dreadful ties.
At her triumph, Ed raised her hips to help Stede in pulling her trousers down her legs and thrown aside with the same afterthought as her top. Before Stede could gluttonously look over her once again she pulled a pillow aside to tuck under Ed’s bad knee, and bent the other, spreading her legs open.
“Oh, Ed,” She sighed, positively infatuated, dragging a hand up and down her calf. Ed has never been bashful. Insecure, sure, but under Stede’s scrutinizing gaze she felt far too vulnerable. She kept her arms covered over her face to at least slightly obscure the sight of her lover revering her body. She was positively drenched . Her arousal saturated her thick, dark hair, shining in the crease of her thigh, Stede was sure that if she had paid more attention that she would’ve found a sizable wet spot on her bottoms.
“You’re perfect, love. Let me see you.” Stede leant back down upon Ed’s body to be at eye-level with her again. Ed’s arms retreated hesitantly. Their body’s flush together, Stede brings her lips to hers once more, sweet and almost too chaste given their current situation. She keeps a steadying hand upon her waist. Stede wanted to simply dive in and ravish her, but they had time. She greedily wanted to take as much time as possible in this space, just her and Ed and their intimate bubble. She wasn’t a particularly torturous lover, however, and understood that Ed is likely becoming quite uncomfortable.
She settled back down into her new favorite place in the world, between Ed’s thighs, and assumed her position, rearing her head closer and closer to Ed’s core.
“I’ve never done this before.”
“I assumed so,” Ed teases her lightly. Stede scrunches her face at her.
“I’ll tell you what to do, beautiful,” Ed assures her, settling a hand into her curls, “you can start with, just kissing me. Wherever you’d like.”
Stede follows her instructions happily, kissing she is familiar with. She presses her lips against her thigh. She gives her pecks up and almost to her knee. She moves to her other thigh and bites down on the plush skin there. Ed, caught off guard, keens and a surprised groan squeezes from her throat.
“Yeah, that’s-that’s good too. Fuck.”
Stede, quite pleased with herself, admires the indents of her teeth before continuing her venture of kissing as much of Ed as she can. She’s sure she would be happy just doing that for the rest of time. She takes this opportunity to bury her face in the beautiful abundance of hair on her pelvis, kissing her there too. She’s likely inadvertently covered Ed in a thin layer of her saliva all over the hard muscle of her thighs when Ed speaks again.
“Get a bit closer, mate,” breathy with anticipation. Stede obliges her happily, trailing her kisses from her thighs closer inward. She pecks at her mound, lips, and labia.
“Then you can stick your tongue out, and lick very slowly, from the bottom to the top.”
Stede watches her from under her eyelashes and dutifully complies. Ed seems to release some tension in her body at finally, finally having Stede’s mouth on her.
“Just keep going like that for a bit.”
Stede does as she’s told, dragging her flat tongue from her entrance to the root of her clitoris. She can’t help but hum in enjoyment at being able to taste her. It’s almost sweet, certainly musky and salty, but to her its entirely delectable. She can taste the sweat from her hard day of work, and she doesn’t mind it one bit. It’s all part of Ed. She considers that even if she tasted unpalatable that Stede would still bury her face in between her thighs as often as she’d let her. Insulting her taste buds would be a far away thought when it came to making Ed feel good.
Shuddering, “alright,” Ed cups the underside of Stede’s jaw gently, angling her mouth to hover over her red and swollen clit.
“This is the good spot, but you know that already don’t you,” Ed smirks down at her, “this is where all the action happens. You’ll pretty much just rub it the same way you’d touch yourself. Use a flat tongue though. Sucking on it feels phenomenal. To tease me, give some attention to the other bits. Just experiment with it, I’ll let ya know one way or another how I’m feeling about it.”
Stede nods, lashes fluttering, absorbing the information. Given that she has the same parts it’s pretty easy to imagine what would feel good. Stede happily pulls her back into her mouth. She rolls her tongue around her experimentally, then relishes in the reaction that Ed has. Knocking her head back, grinding her hips forward to chase the sensation, and mewling in relief. Stede’s brain swims at the brief thought of just letting Ed rut into her mouth while she kept still, letting her girlfriend fuck her face. But not tonight. Tonight is about Stede learning what makes her feel good. She brings her hands on her hips to keep her from wiggling too much after her first jerk.
Stede goes slow, painfully slow, using the fat meat of her tongue to stroke her, up and down, in circles, and when she’s feeling merciful she will suck down on her, hard.
“Fuck, Stede, beautiful, you’re doing so well,” Ed whimpers praises, her hand in her hair twitching with the urge to yank on her pretty curls. Stede doesn’t notice however, only happily humming and lapping. She can’t help but dip her tongue lower, taking avaricious licks to taste her, her new favorite flavor. Maybe she would have Ed for every meal if she could. She would surely starve to death, but she would likely die happy.
“You-you can use your fingers. If you want,” she pants, “make sure to use your arm- fuck uhh - not-not your wrist. Shit gets painful real quick,” even in Ed’s rapidly deteriorating demeanor she’s offering her advice. Stede makes an agreeable sound, ever eager to please. She snakes a hand around from her waist to line up a finger to her entrance. She breeches her easily, sinking into her, wet and warm. She drags back, curling her finger in the way she enjoys doing to herself, almost completely pulling out before plunging back into her again. She knows that if Ed had been more coherent she would’ve quipped about her being experienced in fingering, but only a pathetic, “more,” spilled from her lips.
Stede obliged once again, adding a second finger and beginning to steadily fuck her, continuously curling them both against her sweet spot. She finds a consistent rhythm between her tongue stroking her up and down, and fingers curling within her and focuses hard to keep them that way. She takes a bit of mercy on her when her ministrations with her tongue increase in speed, steadily, slowly. When she happens to glance up at her, Ed is watching her intently, and God is she a vision. Eyebrows scrunched together on her forehead, mouth open and panting and groaning, flushed deep red. She has to bring her eyes away from her face in order to keep concentrated on her task at hand. She’s not helping with the soft praises of “ so good ”, “ there you go, baby ”, and most miserably, “ Stede ”, a few times in a drawn out and whiny way.
There’s a soreness spreading throughout Stede’s arm, her jaw aches and although she’s never heard of it happening before, maybe there’s some sort of medical condition where your jaw is forever slacked from eating pussy. Stede is ever determined however, wouldn’t stop even if the pain were debilitating. She mourns every sound that she inadvertently tunes out from her engrossment in pleasuring Ed, little bits of wank material being lost to the human mind's inability to focus on so many things at once. She knows she has forever to build her collection of Ed’s moans, kept in its own little pocket of her brain.
Ed is swimming, riding the waves of pleasure reverberating throughout her body, Stede can feel nearly the exact moment it becomes a critical thing. A hard shift, her thighs twitching from the muscle behind them preventing Stede dying a possible best death from being crushed between them. She keeps them open despite the effort, being so so good for Stede.
“Stede, baby, I’m getting close,” punctuated by a huffy groan. Stede eyes her, awaiting instructions.
“Don’t stop, don’t-don’t change anything about what you’re doing. Just keep going just like that, so perfect,” Stede has to double down her efforts to keep Ed in place with her free hand, knowing that if she were released that she would be wildly bucking up into her mouth. Stede’s sure it's not intentional, but Ed’s formerly relaxed hand in her hair is tugging on her, just a bit, and she finds that she doesn’t mind it one bit, and whether she enjoys it or not is something she will have to process later.
Ed’s squirming under her became a less controlled chase of friction and more of an animalistic writhe, Stede understood that there must be quite the battle of courtesy and need going on in that pretty head of hers.
“Stede, Stede, Stede,” becomes the only word she can seem to find in her limited vocabulary, whimpering, and Stede hopes she will at least be able to remember that from their second time, years past.
And then Ed curls into herself, possessed from her laid back position to a hunched one, streaky grey hair falling into her face, which is wrenched open and silent in a scream. If she was not already tense to begin with, it seems to tenfold in the moment her orgasm rips through her, lighting up every nerve within her like a livewire. Stede can feel her clamp down on her in a vice, rhythmically and unintentional, muscles contracting hard . Ed finds her voice after the initial peak and groans most raw and fucking filthy . Her hand in her hair yanks harder than ever, and maybe Stede moans at the act, maybe she doesn’t. She would never tell. Stede knows how much better it feels when you keep going during an orgasm, and does so. It’s taken everything in her to keep her former pace, being instructed to not change anything about what she had already been doing. Ed’s contractions begin to fizzle out, and she moves her hand from her head to her jaw once again, lightly pushing her away. She gets the idea and releases her lover.
Stede sits up, and for a moment they only stare at each other, both breathing heavily. Stede is quite the mess, saliva and Ed’s arousal nearly dripping off of her chin, fingers wrinkly and in a similar state. Lips puffy and red, face flushed, eyes sparkling with desire. She lets her weight fall upon Ed, and she meets her in a kiss. Something only passionate and full of adoration. Ed is feeling the post-coitus exhaustion settling in her bones from quite possibly the best orgasm she’s ever had. Seeing Stede between her legs is the stuff of only the best dreams. She fights through the blissful haze to grope at Stede through her trousers. Stede shakes her head, breaking the kiss.
“Can I just…” she trails off, adjusting her position so her cunt is pressed flush against Ed’s thigh. She rolls her hips experimentally, enjoying the feeling of the drag against her clit. She braces Ed’s shoulders, and Ed places her hands upon her hips to help direct her grinding. Some other time Stede would love to let Ed eat her out or fuck her on her fingers, but there was far too much stimulation tonight, and she was getting far more desperate than she’s ever been.
“Just like this?” She whispers against her lips. Stede nods, frantic.
“This how you like to do it alone?” Ed quirks her lips up in a half-smirk. Eager to learn everything under the category of Stede’s sexual preferences. Stede nods again.
“This is pretty dirty, actually. Almost looks like I’m fucking you,” Ed purrs. Stede lets out a guttural sound at that.
“Please just kiss me,” Stede’s polite way of telling Ed to shut up. She indulges her with great pleasure, pulling her into something more obscene with her tongue breaching her mouth. There was a thrill in this too, such a needy thing wanting to get off so bad that she’s humping her girlfriend's leg like a dog. Ed’s thigh was certainly the best pillow she’s ever had between her legs.
“I can feel how wet you are, fuck,” Ed breaks the kiss only momentarily. Stede whines into her mouth. Ed releases her hip with one hand to palm at one of her breasts, only briefly scandalized by the sudden realization that she is still fully clothed.
She reaches her hand behind the cloth of Stede’s open shirt to more directly massage a nipple between her index and thumb. The sensation sending white hot heat down her spine and egging her on further. She lets herself be held up mostly by Ed, entangling her hands in her salt and pepper locks. She’s running out of lung capacity in this state, only able to pant helplessly.
“Getting close already, love?” Ed whispered to her in a tone that was nearly teasing.
“Yes, yes, Ed, you feel so good,” Stede gasps. In a blurry motion Ed pulls off her shirt to take in a mouthful of her breast, still teasing the other with her fingers.
In one, two, then three slow, final thrusts Stede draws out a long moan of Ed’s name, clenching her hands into her hair. Finally, finally , is all she can think as she is thoroughly wrecked by the all-consuming bloom of ecstasy radiating through every inch of her. Pulsing and clenching around nothing. She grinds through it like a mad man, chasing every last sensation she can with the stars behind her eyes lingering. It’s instinctual for her to close her eyes during, but she ends up feeling a twang of regret at not looking at her lover as she reached her high. There will always be next time.
The pleasure fades away gradually, and she’s left soft and feeling as if her whole body were made of jelly. In a huff she ungraciously flops down next to Ed. She knows before they can rest they will have to clean themselves up and get into proper dress for bed. Until then they bask in the afterglow, the air feeling stuffy with sex and mushy feelings. Ed turns her head to look at her, Stede looks back. Those big, black doe eyes full of adoration and something warm and deeper are captivating as ever. Stede could just watch them all day long. She could…
There’s something they need to discuss.
Stede stands quickly to change clothes and retrieve a cloth for cleaning up Ed. She uses only a bit of their drinking water to wet the cloth to wipe down Ed’s sticky thigh, then gently wipe in between her thighs so she doesn’t have to sleep with a wet discomfort lingering there. She expects Ed to swat her away and insist that she is very capable of cleaning herself up, but she lays pliant and maintaining her stare on Stede. Maybe it’s the exhaustion. Maybe it’s something else.
“Are you sleeping naked?” Stede asks as she throws the cloth aside for a future Stede to be concerned about.
“Figured I might as well, you’ll keep me warm won’t you?” Ed croaks, voice hoarse.
“Don’t I always?” Stede smiles at her warmly, “I hope you don’t mind if I stay clothed, I find it gets quite cold in here at night.”
Ed shakes her head, “don’t mind one bit, doll.”
Stede pulls a quilt over them and lays on her side, facing Ed once more. She tangles a curl around her finger.
“How was it?” She asks, quiet. Ed laughs, genuine.
“How was it? It was pretty fucking amazing,” she gives her a dazzling smile. Stede returns it happily.
“It was quite good for me too.” They giggle together. A silence falls once again, only staring into each other's eyes with meaning passing between them like a phantom, no words required. Stede has to tell her.
“I love being here with you,” she starts, trailing off to give the impression that she will continue the thought. She awaits a response from Ed before doing so. Something cold and heavy drops from Ed’s chest to her stomach at the words. This is the moment where they run from each other again. The sex was too much, Stede will tell her that she can’t live here anymore and needs to go back to pirating. Needs to fulfill her dream. That she will go with or without Ed.
Instead of conveying her worst fears, Ed squeaks a pathetic, “okay…”, hopefully urging Stede to continue. Rip the bandaid off.
Stede darts her tongue out to lick her lips, takes Ed’s hands in hers for the countless time tonight, “I want to be with you. Wherever we are. Wherever we end up. If you ever want to go back to pirating I will be there right by your side, co-captaining the way we used to. If you want to spend the rest of our days here, I will fall asleep at your side every night.” Tears spring hot in Ed’s eyes, leaving a wet trail in their wake as they fall from her face. Stede continues.
“You’ve given me something I could only dream of in my prior life. I am okay with my legacy being killing Ned Low and… and loving Edith Teach, with everything I have.” The word “killing” is still a bit of a struggle for her to say. Ed sniffs hard, tears spilling from her eyes freely.
“You mean it?” She sniffs again.
“I do.”
“I don’t want to hold you back. You were the cream of the crop out there. Promised Zheng we would help her with revenge and shit.”
“We can still help her, and then come back here. Retire. I’ve found something much more satisfying than being a pirate could ever be.” Ed sobs hard. She spends a bit of time trying to contain herself, snot and tears clogging up her puffy face.
“I’ve actually found retirement to be pretty enjoyable.” Ed answers her, voice heavy with crying. Tears find Stede’s eyes as well.
“I think I enjoy it quite a bit, too,” she laughs, kissing Ed’s knuckles. She brings her into a kiss, only passionate and loving and warm.
There isn’t much more said that night, Stede doesn’t even want to think about how late it is in the night by now, dreading that if she dared peek out a window or through a loose board that she will see evidence of the sun coming up on the horizon.
Feeling safe, secure for maybe the first time in either of their lives, they fall asleep quickly and with great ease.