Archive of Our Own

1.

It’s a week into being back on the Revenge that Stede has the dinner idea.

Things have been going just shy of well - once he was able to actually get Ed to speak to him, to let him explain, it actually hadn’t been that hard for Ed to…well, not forgive him, per se, but understand where he had been coming from. It had been the same for Stede; he couldn’t exactly forgive Ed for marooning his crew and trying to drown Lucius, and not just because it would be forgiving him on the others behalf, but he could similarly understand why Ed had done it.

Of course, Stede can’t forgive himself for any of it - the hurting Ed, the ripple effect that then hurt his crew - but that’s a story for another day.

And so, Stede was largely moved back into his captain’s quarters - the few bits of clothing and books he’d collected over his journey back to Ed allowed to fill up the space Ed emptied. He usually sleeps on the makeshift cot that had been carried over from the now abandoned ship he’d stolen to chase down Ed, though occasionally they’ll spend the night together - talking or kissing or both until it’s so late and the two of them are so tired they fall asleep right where they’re at like children. They haven’t gotten far in either regard (the talking or the kissing), but it’s farther than Stede probably deserves, so he’ll gladly take it.

Stede is happy. He is beyond happy; when he found his crew and they told him how hurt Ed was by Stede leaving, he didn’t know if he’d ever be able to get Ed back. So even in baby steps, in moments more closed off than they’d been before, Stede was beyond happy.

The dinner idea - which mostly entails Stede letting Roach know what he’d like made (and bribing Roach with the promise of being allowed to torture their next hostages, as well as some gold) and picking up supplies at the next port they stop at to sell the loot they combined when rejoining the Revenge last week - is, admittedly, a way to try and get back the feeling of easy camaraderie. Some of Stede’s favorite times with Ed, before he went and blew it all to shit, were sitting and talking over food - marmalade, cake, tea. He never was a part of that, with Mary and his kids.

So, here Stede is: setting up the dishes he bought (only two of each dish, and nowhere near as fine as the china he once used, since they were purchased with his meager earnings as a only slightly successful pirate) in the captain’s quarters, while Ed is off figuring out where the ship should go now that they’ve pulled out of the port, and Roach finishes up on the meal Stede commissioned. Luckily Ed saved Stede’s desk, so they have a table, and they have chairs plundered from other ships. All in all, it’s a nicer setup than Stede had hoped for.

He’s leaving to go grab dinner from Roach when Ed stomps in, earlier than Stede expected him. He stops in his tracks when he sees the setup. “What’s this?”

“Well,” Stede says, “I was hoping to have it all ready before you got down here, but I was thinking we could have dinner.” His weak jazz hands are met with a confused stare. “We, um, we don’t have to?”

“Dinner sounds nice.” Ed says, looking down at the table. “Where’d you get the plates?”

“I bought them yesterday at the port.” Stede explains. “They’re nice, right? The seller claimed they were from China, but I’m not sure I believe him… still, the pattern is lovely.”

“Yeah.” Ed nods, tracing the vine pattern around the plate's edge. “Um, where’s the food?”

“Oh!” Stede laughs. “Right, I was headed over to the kitchen to grab that now. You sit down, get comfortable; I have water boiling on the fireplace for tea, but it probably won’t be hot enough until after I get back so just relax until then.”

He hurries out of the room before Ed can say anything else, and takes a second to collect himself in the hallway before entering the kitchen. “Everything just about done, Roach?”

“Sure is.” the man gestures to the food all prepped on the table. “Do you want it all now or will you be back for dessert later?”

“I’ll take it all now and be out of your hair for the night.” Stede says, grabbing a tray so he can stack the dishes of food onto it. He has to walk fairly slow to keep the stack of dishes balanced as the ship rocks back and forth, but he manages to make it back with no significant spills.

Ed is sitting at the desk when Stede walks in. He’s changed out of his leather into a more loose fitting pair of breeches and one of his undershirts - in the week since they’ve been back, this is the first time Stede’s seen Ed entirely in a getup without a sign of his leather; even at night he tended to keep on the jacket and the boots.

“Looks good.” Ed smiles at Stede as he sets the plate in front of Ed. The meal isn’t anything too special; the most showy part of the meal was the fresh meat bought at port (and Stede had made sure to get enough for everyone on the crew - it cost a pretty penny, but the nice thing about being a pirate was you often didn’t need to much money since you could always just steal more), though Roach has also made fresh bread and blackberry jam to accompany the meal, and scones for dessert.

The teapot whistles before Stede can sit down, so he quickly makes their tea; they don’t have enough funds or need to really justify the cost of sugar at the moment, so Stede laden's Ed’s cup of tea with date syrup and hopes it’s sweet enough for him.

“So.” Stede says, sitting the teacups down and sitting catty corner to Ed. “Where’d you, Izzy, and Buttons decide on next?”

Ed quickly swallows the bite of bread he’s been chewing on. “We were thinking Saint Mary’s Island - it’s out towards Africa, and we could get on the Indian trade route that way.. My crew and I haven't been in a while, and Buttons seems to think he’s the only one on your crew who’s been to that area.”

“That sounds lovely!” Stede says. “So you’ve been? What’s it like?”

Ed launches into a story of the last time he was there a few years back, with Stede interjecting oohs and aahs occasionally to let Ed know how much he’s enjoying the story. The dinner passes what seems like it must be quickly but can’t be, based on the light starting to dim outside the windows.

Stede gets up to light candles, insisting that Ed continue his story, and they continue on.

At some point, once the food is gone and the tea is drunk and the candles have been burning for what seems like hours, Ed reaches over mid-sentence and rests his hand on top of Stede’s on the table.

And. They’ve done more than this in the past week, sure; kissed and touched each other and slept in each other's arms. But as Stede turns his hand over so he can lace his fingers through Ed’s, he realizes this is the first time Ed has initiated the contact since Stede has come back.

When he squeezes Ed’s hand, a light thank you, Ed smiles across the desk at him, and Stede feels warmer than he’s felt in months.

2.

It’s in the crew’s quarters - not usually a space worth ransacking, admittedly, but they managed to take out everyone on board with ease, and the ship is high ranking enough that Stede finds it worth his time to check for knick-knacks and books in the quarters - that Stede catches sight of them.

They’re long, silken ribbons in a variety of colors. As far as Stede could see, none of the crew had hair long enough for them to be useful, so they were probably meant to be a gift to a sweetheart or a sister back home.

The second Stede catches sight of them, he can’t get the picture of them braided through Ed’s hair out of his mind.

So he pockets them, and throughout the rest of the day - loading every valuable onto the Revenge, tying up the crew of the boarded ship and cutting the tiller ropes from their helm, and then once they’ve sailed a nice distance away going through the loot with the crew so they can claim the items they want and store away the rest to be sold off at the next port - he manages to forget they’re there.

Stede and Ed don’t make it into their quarters, at least not alone, until the end of the day, after everyone’s eaten a dinner made largely from the new preserves they looted from the vessel earlier, and after Stede’s finished up story time.

They get ready for bed quietly - it’s been long enough since Stede returned that they’ve settled into a nice routine. As long as they have the water for it, Stede will heat buckets of water over the stove - sometimes enough for a full bath, sometimes enough to just rinse off, tonight the somewhat in between of a large bucket each - and they’ll clean themselves (or, sometimes, each other) off, trading kisses.

They dress in their nightclothes - Ed’s being a more comfortable version of his day wear, since he still hasn’t been able to shake the need to be prepared for danger at all times; he even continues to wear his shoes in the bed. When Stedee first learned this, he had dug through the remnants of his wardrobe to find the softest shirt and breeches he had, and Ed had luckily taken those to be his nightwear.

Stede, as soon as he felt he had the right to ask, has taken over brushing out Ed’s hair each night, so once they’re dressed for bed he takes the brush and combs the knots out of Ed’s locks.

Then, because they’re too tired for anything else (the cons of being old men, and of pirating being fairly taxing on the body) they climb into bed - Ed lies on the outer edge of the bed and faces the door, another habit he hasn’t been able to shake. Stede hardly cares, since it allows him to wrap around Ed and hold him close, burrow his nose into Ed’s back and fall asleep to the sea-salt and lavender smell of the other man.

The next morning starts slow - the past few days they’ve been tracking down the last ship, so the crew deserves as slow a start as pirating allows. They are, ostensibly, headed to Tortuga to sell off the wares they’ve looted over the past month, but their stores are full and the loot not so heavy as to weigh them down, so right now they’re sitting pretty with not much to worry about.

Stede takes this as an opportunity to lazily kiss Ed before either of them are needed out of bed and up on the deck of the ship. Ed, never the type to turn away such an opportunity, manages to stretch the kissing out until there’s a knock on the door, and Lucius calls out that Roach needs to see Stede to discuss something related to the active yeast starter he has onboard.

“I suppose we should get going.” Stede says, rolling off of the bed so he can start his morning routine. Ed grumbles but does the same, wiping the night sweat off from the small pale of water and then getting dressed.

Stede’s always loved clothes, even now that he has a smaller selection and more often chooses outfits based on both practicality and style, but he’s found even more joy in watching what Ed chooses to wear. His wardrobe is a mix of his leather garb, Stede’s clothes, and clothes they’ve looted from ships or bought at ports in the past few months.

Today, he’s wearing his leather pants with a carmine red blouse they had found on a colonial merchant ship. The dark red of the blouse makes Stede think how good it would look with the light pink of one of the ribbons he had found yesterday, which is when he remembers the ribbons at all.

“Oh, I forgot - I got something for you.” Stede says. Ed raises his eyebrows suggestively, and Stede laughs. “No, no, not that, let me just-” He pulls out the jacket he was wearing yesterday, and then from its pockets he digs out the cloth that holds the ribbons and unwraps them. “Here they are!”

He presents them to Ed, who looks them over - there are ten or so in total, ranging in color from deep reds to light blues, and Stede is happy to see Ed instinctively reach for the light pink one. “Where’d you find them? I didn’t see any fabric on the ship.”

“Crew cabins.” Stede says. “They were probably a gift for someone. Can I put that one in your hair?”

Ed hands it over, and Stede wraps it around the half-ponytail Ed has already tied. He isn’t sure if Ed will go for a bow, but he does one anyway, figuring they can always change it if he doesn’t like it. “Lovely.” He says, and kisses the crown of Ed’s head.

“Let me see.” Ed bounds over to the small mirror they managed to purloin from a merchant ship, twisting around so he can see. A smile spreads across his face as he catches a look at the ribbon. “Fucking awesome, mate!”

“You like them?” Stede asks, draping himself over Ed.

“Love them.” Ed turns around and kisses Stede. “Love you.”

Stede smiles, and leans in to deepen the kiss - only to be interrupted by a sharp rap at the door.

“Listen!” Lucius calls out. “I am not coming in there, but you two should know that Roach is really starting to freak out. I don’t know how active yeast can be this big a deal but I think he could use someone to talk to and all of us are actively avoiding that warzone right now.”

“Right.” Stede sighs, backing up and heading towards the door. “Raincheck?”

“Raincheck.” Ed nods, and Stede begins his march to the boat's kitchen.

3.

One of the first things Stede started to do, once he got back to the ship, was rebuild his library. He didn’t have any ill-will towards Ed for emptying out the ship of anything that reminded him of Stede - or, well, any of the inanimate objects that reminded him of Stede. He didn’t necessarily forgive Ed for marooning the crew and trying to kill Lucius (even though Lucius, shockingly forgave Ed pretty easily), though to be fair ill-will would be a strong way to describe how he felt about all of that. Disappointed, maybe.

But the point was, he completely understood Ed dumping his library into the ocean.

He did desperately want that library back, though, and so the second he was able to think of anything beyond getting Ed to forgive him enough to allow him back into his life (and ship), Stede started to rebuild his library. The first few books came from the collection he had started from his time chasing down Ed. The rest were built up slowly, during raids or with his share of the money from said raids.

Ed comes up with the wonderful idea, one day after a storm, to make cabinet doors for the shelves. Pete agrees to do the woodworking, to try and make them match the rest of the room, and does a fairly amazing job.

The shelves are still pretty empty - not every boat has books, and when they do they tend to be at least half navigation books that don’t really lean much towards Stede’s reading proclivities. But it’s growing, and even though there are books Stede deeply misses, he can’t help but find it fun to continue to fill up the shelves with both new copies of old favorites and tomes he’s never even heard of before.

Ed has been enthusiastic about helping Stede refill his shelves - oftentimes he’ll be searching the ships they board for their libraries before Stede has a chance to.

In fact, once Stede’s made sure that the crew knows what they’re doing stocking up on water supplies (they’ve had to make an emergency stop at Nevis, a bit less of a pirate haven than they’d like, so Stede has taken point on running the operation) Ed is pulling Stede along to a small bookshop they’d passed when carting barrels back to the ship.

Buttons promises to keep the ship slightly offshore while they and a few others in the crew spend their shore leave; that way, when one of them inevitably draws negative attention they have a faster exit.

So, they walk up the secluded path away from the beach they’ll come back to and watch the Revenge pull out to sea.

The shop itself is small and overpriced - though, Stede supposes, books do weigh a great deal, so getting them to islands without printing presses of their own probably takes a lot.

Stede is delighted to find a few copies of old favorites he hasn’t been able to replace, and even though he really should be finding new books he can’t help but stack those into a neat pile on the counter, smiling at the two men leaning rather listlessly against the counter.

“Oi, Stede, look!” Ed calls out, holding up a book. “Isn’t this that one you said the guys would like? Don Quicks-ote?”

Stede’s learned, ever since coming back on the ship, that while Ed can read it’s mostly only enough to get by. He can tell from the titles which books are in English, and sound through words if he wants to, but life as a pirate certainly doesn’t make reading a priority. He likes reading to Ed, and had been all but forced to put behind any prejudice he had about illiteracy when he realized most of his crew was illiterate and also much more skilled than him at most things related to their current job. Ed was a practical genius in his own right - Stede’s thought about bringing up teaching Ed to read, since he’s sure Ed would catch on fast, but there really isn’t much use for it, and Stede selfishly likes when Ed asks him to read a passage from some book or another each night.

Stede’s only taken a few steps towards Ed when he hears one of the men behind the counter scoff and mutter to his companion, “Can it even read?”

Stede feels his blood turn cold and, before he even processes his own movement, he has the small dagger he carries at his hip drawn and pressed against the man's throat. When his companion tries to run, Stede grabs him by the collar with his free hand and slams him down onto the counter. “Well,” he smiles - still not as intimidating as he wishes, but certainly more so than he’s able to manage when he doesn’t have a knife against someone’s throat. “That was a bit of a dickish thing to say.”

“What’s going on?” Ed asks, walking nonchalantly up to Stede and holding the book in his periphery.

“Oh, that’s it!” Stede gasps, and when the man with the knife at his throat decides this seems to be a chance to try something, Stede only feels a little guilty about pressing the knife harder and drawing blood. Okay, that’s a lie, he doesn’t feel guilty, it’s more the sight of blood still turns his stomach a bit. He’s working on it.

“Why don’t you grab the books on the counter,” Stede says to Ed, nodding to the books, “and we’ll leave here without any more harm coming to these men.”

“Didn’t know we were planning on robbing the place.” Ed shrugs and grabs the books.

“I wasn’t.” Stede says, and he shoves the men to the floor. “Unfortunately, some people seem to have forgotten their manners, and as Lucius says, we shouldn’t support bullies.” He points his dagger at them in what he can only hope is a convincingly intimidating manner. “Do not follow us, or report this theft, if you know what's good for you.”

Ed chooses this moment you place one hand on his hip, drawing back his jacket and showing off a gleaming dagger and pistol. The men seem sufficiently dissuaded, so Stede allows Ed to lead him out of the store and to the path back to the beach.

No one seems to follow them, and Stede can’t hear any commotion; they probably need to get on the boat quickly, but it certainly doesn’t seem to be any sort of emergency. They slow their pace a bit, in acquiescence to the heat of the day.

They’re dressed a bit more gentlemanly than they’ve had any need to be in a good amount of time, and while the lovely deep purple jacket Ed had worn when they’d attended the French ships party all that time ago had been thrown overboard with much of Stede’s clothes, the much less gilded (but still purple) silk jacket he wore now brought that memory to the surface.

The red flowers hanging from the trees that line the path brush up against Ed as he walks in front of Stede, so Stede can’t help but pluck a bunch of the flowers and grab Ed’s elbow to stop the man.

“There you are.” Stede says, tucking the veritable branch awkwardly into Ed’s chest pocket. Though it takes him too long to position the flowers for the move to be counted as smooth, Stede’s quite pleased with his work. The deep red of the flowers look lovely against the purple of his jacket, and even lovelier still when paired with Ed’s own loveliness - hair tied back, cheeks bare - though Stede has yet to find a color or a lovely thing that wasn’t made a thousand times more beautiful when it was worn by Edward Teach. “Delonix regia.”

“What’s this for?” Ed looks down at the flowers tucked in his lapel.

“For carrying my books. For being here. For making fine things lovelier simply by wearing them.” Stede answers, and then with a quick glance around to ensure the shaded trail they walk is still secluded, he lifts Ed’s chin up so the man is once again facing him and leans across the small divide between them to kiss Ed deeply.

Ed hums into the kiss, and Stede only breaks apart from Ed so he can giggle when the man drops the books he’s holding and wraps his arms over Stede’s shoulders to pull him closer.

“Sorry.” Ed says, laughing as well.

Once Stede’s stopped laughing into Ed’s shoulder, he bends down to pick up the books. “No problem, my dear. But let's get these back to the ship before the crew leaves without us.” He hands half the stack to Ed, and laces Ed’s free hand in his own.

“Somehow didn’t crush the flowers.” Ed says, turning towards Stede as they walk as proof. Sure enough, the red flowers are still unrumpled.

“Well, even if we had, I’d just pick you another one.”

“What if we crushed that one?”

“Obviously I’d pick another!”

“What if we crushed them so many times there wasn’t another de la… um-”

“Delonix regia.”

“Delonix regia flower to be picked on Nevis.”

“Then we’d sail straight to St. Kitts so I could pick them out of Delonix regia as well.”

“What if we pulled up and they told us they were just plum out of the damn things?”

“Well…” Stede thinks on it trying to recall the locations the flower had been introduced in. “I think the Delonix regia can be found in Florida and parts of the Caribbean, and it was originally cultivated from Madagascar, so I guess we’d have to go on a hunt at those places to find the tree, and hope the flowers were in bloom when we got there.”

“Well then,” Ed says as they emerge onto the beach and spot their ship anchored a dozen or so yards away, plus Oluwande and Swede with a small rowboat pulled up on shore, “I guess it’s a good thing we didn’t crush it.”

4.

One of life’s pleasures, Stede has found, is giving Ed things he can wear. Whether it’s old robes of Stede’s leftover from before most of Stede’s clothes went overboard, or purloined treasures from ships they raid, Stede has found the small expression of delight that crosses Ed’s face when handed something he could adorn himself with is a quick way to brighten his own day.

The gold chain studded with emeralds, and the matching emerald studded gold drop earrings - they’re a bit more ornate than any of the jewelry Stede has seen Ed wear. But they’re undoubtedly well made, with a sturdy fastening that would allow the necklace to withstand even the wildest storm.

The crew is all allowed a cut of their winnings - either in the form of physical items or coin when the items are sold off at port - and technically as co-captain Stede is more than allowed first pick of any ship they board’s treasures, so he doesn’t feel bad grabbing the box and slipping it into his satchel for later.

He isn’t sure he’ll give them to Ed - sure, he hasn’t been able to get the picture of Ed wearing them out of his mind since he spotted the set, but that doesn’t mean Ed would like or wear them, though Stede knows if he presents them as a present Ed will wear them just to make Stede happy.

But Ed likes nice things - likes an excuse to dress up and wear finery, in situations without all the societal rules around, which is why he and Stede often dine in their cabin in silk robes or damask jackets. Ed, while still much more a natural pirate than Stede, enjoys dressing up in a way that matches Stede’s own enjoyment of it.

So Stede doesn’t pawn them off at the next port, or the next, even though he hasn’t found a way to naturally gift the set.

He has several nicely hidden hidey holes around the ship, in addition to his secret passages, so he doesn’t really worry about the jewelry being found.

Until Ed accidentally leans on a sconce on the wall and the paneling below pops open, displaying the box - in all its glory - to the world.

“What’s this?” Ed says, reaching down and pulling it open. He goes to open it and then stops.

“You can open it.” Stede sighs, putting down the book he’d been planning on enjoying so he can watch Ed as he opens the box.

As soon as Ed has the lid popped open, Stede knows he could have just given Ed the set without worry. His eyes instantly get the glint in his eyes that means he wants something, and his thumbs brush over the gems. “They’re pretty.”

“They’re for you.” Stede says, and Ed quickly removes his thumbs from the earrings and looks up like he’s a kid caught with his hands in a cookie jar.

“You don’t have to give them to me just because I found them in your hidey hole.”

“No, I got them for you.” Stede says, standing up and crossing over to where Ed is. “I just wasn’t sure if you’d like them - I mean, I’m sure you’ve plundered far finer and never chosen to wear any of them, so.” Stede shrugs.

“I don’t know. Seems silly to wear such fancy stuff when you’re on a boat all day, and if you’re off it they can catch the wrong kind of attention.” Stede raises his eyebrow at Ed, and Ed laughs. “Well, not all of us can go around being the Gentleman Pirate, can we?”

“Here.” Stede says, taking the necklace out of the box and moving behind Ed so he can clasp the necklace around his neck. “I think we both know it can be quite fun to get fancy for no reason. Besides, why have nice things if you won’t wear them?”

“I suppose.” Ed tilts his head down to look at the necklace around his neck, and Stede does the same. The gold and the green jewels look like they were made for him.

He’s still standing behind Ed, so he takes the chance to press a kiss into the exposed base of Ed’s neck. “It suits you wonderfully.”

“You think?” Ed says, touching the necklace as he turns to face Stede, pressing the two of them close enough together that he can probably feel the rising situation in Stede’s breeches. “Mate, if this is your reaction I should wear jewelry more often.”

“Sweetheart, you could make a potato sack look like brocade.” Stede says, beginning the well practiced art of kissing Ed silly while also trailing their way over to the bed.

“Brocade?” Ed asks as they tumble into the bed. “Is that the stuff your blue coat is made of?”

“The seafoam one, yes.” Stede says, maneuvering so that he’s straddling Ed’s waist. He works at the ties that make up the opening of Ed’s shirt, and thanks whoever's listening that Ed chose to wear a loose fitting linen pair of breeches today and not his leather one’s - not that he doesn’t find the leather pants unbearable sexy, they just take a minute to get Ed out of.

“You get out of your clothes, I’ll work on getting myself ready.” Ed grabs at the jar of oil they keep beside their bed, and then reaches up behind his neck as though to unclasp the necklace.

Stede cuts him off with a deep kiss. “Keep it on, okay?”

Ed nods jerkily, and Stede is then distracted from any further thought by watching the man pour oil onto his hand and start to finger himself open. It isn’t until Ed nods pointedly at the clothes Stede is still very much wearing that he remembers to slip them off. He thinks about sucking Ed’s cock while the other man works at opening himself up, or taking over opening Ed up, but all he can manage to do is kiss Ed - and he’s quite pleased that Ed’s diligent work stutters to a momentary halt to kiss him back.

“Ready.” Ed gasps out as Stede grinds his hips down onto Ed.

“How do you want me?”

“Don’t care.” Ed manages. “Anyway. Now.”

“Ride me?” Stede asks, rolling over onto the other side of the bed so Ed can do just that. Ed scrambles excitedly over to straddle Stede, and then he does. Stede’s fucked Ed many times, in just about every position the two of them can manage in their middle age, but he still swears his heart stops completely when he presses into Ed.

“Mm, god, Ed, darling, that feels perfect.” Stede chokes out, grabbing onto Ed’s hips as he slides onto Stede’s cock. “You’re so - ah - you take me so well.”

He thrusts - almost involuntarily - into Ed, and Ed grasps at Stede’s chest wildly, bending down over Stede as far as he can, loose hair and necklace swinging wildly above Stede’s face. “Fuck, Stede, I need you-” His voice catches in his throat, but Stede doesn’t need him to finish the sentance.

“God job, darling,” he croons out while Ed hovers above him, holding himself up with two hands on Stede’s chest while Stede thrusts deeper into him. “You’re doing such a wonderful job.”

They don’t last long, either of them - Ed has Stede shuddering into him within only a few minutes, and all it takes for Ed to follow is a few quick licks of Stede’s tongue.

It’s late enough in the evening that no one will expect to see them again - though some might be let down by the night’s lack of storytime - so Stede’s grabs a rag and some of the water they keep in their room to quickly wipe the two of them off before either of them manages to fall asleep.

“How’s your knee?” Stede knows the kneeling can sometimes set it off, and even though Ed mumbles back what sounds to be a ‘fine’, he still asks, “Do you want me to bring over some bandages so you can wrap it.”

Ed groans rather dramatically, but props himself up on an arm to nod yes. “Is this what being old is?” He asks, as he wraps his knee tightly. “I mean, the perks of not having an aching knee tomorrow are great, but I’m not really that good at the foresight business.”

“What are you talking about!” Stede says, laying down next to Ed. “You’re one of the best tacticians I know. Remember the first night we met? Or, well, the first night we met that I was awake for the entirety of?”

Ed nods, too drowsy to do much more. They lay there without speaking, long enough that Stede is sure Ed has fallen asleep, when Ed moves to lean over Stede.

“You know,” Ed says, reaching out to pinch Stede’s earlobe, “you’ve been mentioning getting a piercing.”

“Mm-hm.” Stede confirms, too tired to talk at the moment.

“If you do, we could share the earrings.”

“Mmm.” Stede agrees, and then he thinks on - a matching set shared between the two of them, only complete when they’re together; he can’t think of anything lovelier.

A sudden burst of energy allows him to prop himself up and press kisses into Ed. “I can’t think of anything lovelier.”

5.

The whole crew is on a supply run in Port Royal, and Stede has tasked himself with picking up some soaps and oils to restock his collection on the ship. Some of the crew - namely Izzy, though Black Pete had agreed - complained that bathing wasn’t a very pirate-y habit, but considering it was Stede’s share of the money going towards everyone's soaps, and considering Lucius reminded Pete how much they enjoyed the oils Stede stocked, no one minds when he slips off into a chandlery.

He ends up managing to not just stock up on soap and oil - including a rather lovely mint scented soap, as well as some lavender soap for Ed, and some dill oil for Frenchie (it supposedly warded off a whole swath of bad omens as well as brought good luck) - but also some wax and paint he knows the ship's stores are running low on. He’s haggling with the shopkeep when the shaving kit catches his eye, and he ends up getting the kit thrown in with his purchase when he pays full price for the rest of the items, so he’s fairly pleased.

Wee John has accompanied him to the shop, and between the two of them they manage to bring the load back to the ship with relative ease.

Ed’s group is back, unloading food onto the ship, so Stede pulls Ed away and into their quarters, excited to show him the spoils of the trip.

Ed’s taken to experimenting with his facial hair ever since his stint at the navy reformatory. When Stede caught up to him and the two reunited, his beard had grown fairly long, but he quickly chopped it off again - something about it being a depression beard and not wanting to see it on his face any longer.

Nowadays he swings between shortly groomed facial hair and no beard at all (though Stede shudders to think about the brief hour he spent with a mustache before Stede forced him to shave it off - Stede generally liked to think of himself as open-minded, but the sight of that mustache had quite frankly been revolting).

Stede thinks he’s maybe noticed some pattern, in the days when Ed chooses to shave his face down smooth versus the days he let’s the stubble grow out; has noticed that the former is usually paired with blousey clothes and more feminine touches - loose clothes and jewelry and the hair ribbons - while the latter is usually paired with a leather vest or jacket. But it’s not a perfect science, and Ed hasn’t brought it up. Stede doesn’t ask him about it - Ed deserves his secrets, and Stede’s finding that part of the fun of a relationship can be how the person you love grows and changes.

The kit he’s been using consists of a straight razor that’s seen better days and the small mirror they keep in their quarters. When Stede pulls out the new shaving kit, Ed just stares at it.

“What is all this stuff?” he asks, poking around at the extra bits and bobs in the kit.

“A new razor, obviously, with some replacement blades, as well as some scissors for if you let your hair grow longer,” Stede points out, before moving on, “and then a specialty stone for sharpening the blade before use, and a brush for lathering the soap onto your face. And some soaps - floral scented, I figured you’d prefer that to the musk scent - though of course you can use any soap with it.”

“Oh.” Ed looks through it all. “I didn’t know there was all this to shaving, to be honest.”

“There can be.” Stede shrugs. “Certainly not a need, but it can be nice.”

“You don’t have something like this.”

“Used to - before.” Stede says, trying to move quickly past that - not that there haven’t been many discussions on their shared destructive past, just some things can be discussed ad nauseum. “I just don’t have to shave as often as you do - less a chance you would have seen it.”

“Oh.” Ed’s looking it over with an odd look on his face.

“You don’t have to like it, darling.” Stede says. “Sometimes gifts don’t land, and it was free anyways.”

“No, I like it!” Ed says, drawing the kit towards him as though to prevent Stede from taking it away. “I just - is it just for me?”

“What do you mean?” Stede asks, confused.

“Usually when you get me things, they’re things only I like. Or clothes that maybe you like too but would fit me better.” Ed says. “I was just - isn’t this something everyone could use?”

“Sure.” Stede says. “If you want. I’m sure the others have their own shaving setups, but the brush and sharpening stone are nice and could certainly be shared.”

“No, that’s not-” Ed growls, rubbing his hand down his face. “Sorry, I’m being stupid. I love it, I’m not sharing it - well, I’ll share it with you, but no one else.”

“Okay.” Stede says, unsure what’s happening, and Ed sighs and looks him straight in the eyes.

“Thank you. For thinking of me. Even though you could have thought of anyone.”

“Oh.” Stede smiles, finally cottoning on. “Ed, dear, I’m thinking about you constantly. Even if I see something I don’t think you’ll like, that’s how I think of it - as ‘oh, Ed wouldn’t like this or that’.”

“Oh.” Ed says as he smiles dopily at Stede. “Well, would you show me how to use it?”

“It’s fairly self-explanatory…” Stede trails off when he catches the raised eyebrow Ed sending his way and realizes he’s giving up a fairly great opportunity to touch Ed - not something he likes to give up easily. “Of course, darling.”

And so, he leads Ed over to one of the chairs in the room, and then he goes about it - lathering the soap and brushing it over Ed’s cheeks, sharpening the razor, and then sliding it ever-so-carefully over Ed’s neck and face. He stops to think briefly, on how much trust this is, holding a sharp knife to the neck of Blackbeard (as retired from that name as Ed now is, he’s still that same man, fearsome pirate who has to watch his back so some up-and-comer or officer doesn’t kill him for the glory).

It isn’t lost on Stede, as he slowly and efficiently shaves the hair off of Ed’s face, how much this trust is worth. There was a point, months ago, even when Ed had allowed Stede back into his life, there was a point when Stede wouldn’t have ever thought he’d be granted this level of trust and intimacy. He isn’t sure he deserves this - Ed’s eyes closed, his head tipped back, throat bared, as though he couldn’t possibly imagine Stede hurting him.

Though, admittedly, the way Stede has hurt Ed has been historically of the emotional variety, not the physical, so maybe Stede was looking too deeply into this moment.

He rinses the remains of the lather off, and takes a second to appreciate Ed’s bare-faced beauty; Stede can never decide what he likes better, the roguish facial hair or the chance to see Ed’s full face, but he’s fairly certain his answer is whichever version of Ed he’s looking at at the moment he’s asked.

“There we go, all done.” He says, resting a hand to Ed’s cheek.

Ed turns his head to press a kiss into Stede’s palm, and then sighs. “We should probably go help with the unloading, huh?”

“Read my mind, co-captain.” Stede answers, offering Ed a hand to pull him out of the chair.

+

6. (and you, you ought to give me wedding rings)

At this point, Ed has a whole collection of rings stashed away in the back of the closet.

None of them are right. Too fancy to be practical or too plain to be something deserving to sit of Stede’s finger for what Ed hopes will be a very long time.

And, okay, it’s not just the ring's fault. There’s also the fact that Ed is terrified Stede won’t say yes - yes to forever together, yes to mateloge, yes to Ed - even though he knows that’s silly. Stede’s already said yes to Ed; already begged to be back with Ed.

That’s what Ed’s telling himself - that Stede already is already operating under the assumption that they’ll be spending forever together, ring or not - while he digs through the loot they’ve just taken from a passing merchant ship.

The ship itself seems like a good bet to find what he’s looking for - Stede’s already ooh-ed and aah-ed over the bolts of fabric the ship carries and has laid a claim to some in the hopes that they can be turned into clothes the next port they reach with a tailor. There’s expensive jewelry on board, and Ed has found a box filled with jewelry intended for wherever the ship is heading. All in all, even if he doesn’t find a ring worthy of Stede, they’ll make a good amount of coin pawning this off, even taking into account the crew all grabbing their share of the items.

And then he finds it: gold, inlaid with a colored porcelain, and inscribed on the inside of the band words he’s fairly certain sound out to be Difficulty Sweetens Enjoyment. The colored porcelain takes the shape of flowers - white daisies and blue forget-me-nots with the trailing gold vines connecting them around the band.

It almost seems too perfect - sure, it’s small enough that Stede will most likely have to wear it on his pinky, since it’s undoubtedly a woman's wedding band, but other than that it really is exactly what he was looking for. Stede’s love of flowers combined with an engraving that almost shocks Ed at how perfect it is gives Ed the push to decide, then and there, that this is it.

And, okay, maybe he can give Stede the other rings too. But this’ll be the one he uses to ask Stede to marry him.

Once he’s got the ring, he realizes that the whole zero-ing in on finding the ring has allowed him to block out the much more terrifying part of the whole idea (beyond the still for some reason persistent fear that Stede will say no): planning a proposal.

He’s Blackbeard - well, not officially, anymore. Technically Blackbeard’s dead. But as Stede points out, Blackbeard is a part of Ed, and a part of Blackbeard is absolutely insanely amazing fuckery’s, and what’s a proposal if not a fuckery that leans more into the theater of love instead of the theater of fear?

So, you know, a lot of pressure on a guy who just wants to be able to call his boyfriend his husband.

He thinks about asking some of the crew for ideas, but ultimately discards that idea - none of them are any good at keeping secrets (with the exception of Jim, who would most likely offer no help, and Oluwande, who actually probably could help but it felt weird going to just one person) so he’s on his own, at least until he comes up with an idea.

The problem is, he doesn’t think he can come up with a fuckery deserving of Stede Bonnet, and even if he can he doesn’t want to waste the time it would take. He wants to ask now, wants Stede to be his husband as soon as possible.

That feeling of now ends up being so deep and unrelenting that instead of wasting another second planning anything, he decided then and there - still in the midst of a raid, though all the excitement has died down and now their crew are just cleaning the place out - that he’ll ask tonight. Easy, quick, and immediate.

The loading of everything pilfered onto the ship doesn’t take much longer - the ship has a lot of valuable shit on it, but they’ve already gotten most of the load over onto the Revenge by the time Ed finds the ring.

So Ed helps load the rest of it over, helps stick all of the shit that hasn’t already been claimed by someone in the cargo hold, helps sail off from the merchant boat they leave sailless and adrift in the sea.

And then Ed goes into their quarters, now properly filled with a variety of fine things and knick knacks and treasures from the past year, and he decides to make himself a bit more presentable (he should look nice, when he asks Stede, right? Stede deserves that - someone who can match him in his nice-ness, or at least try to), so he pulls out a necklace (the one Stede gave him, a bit ago) to match his earring, and pulls off his heavy leather vest (Stede loves the leather, sure, but Stede also loves the blue silk shirt he’s wearing beneath it, and the leathers have started to feel less and less like a safety net and more and more like a costume), and pulls his hair back into a quick braid.

And then he sits on their bed and takes out the ring, metal warm from being pressed between his skin and his leather vest in its spot in the pocket of his undershirt, and fiddles with it between his fingers while he waits for Stede to finish up helping Lucius catalog the stuff and join him in their quarters.

Stede takes just long enough that Ed starts to wonder if this was a bad idea - Stede might not want to get married again, not after the disaster of his last marriage (didn’t he mention something about it being uncomfortable being married? Maybe he didn’t just mean to a woman he could never love in the way a marriage should require, but marriage in general). Stede might not want to get married to Ed, who gets restless easily, who is clingy and emotional and prone to mood swings, and more importantly, who tried to kill the majority of Stede’s crew.

Maybe he should ask some vague questions about Stede’s thoughts on the matter before he asks. He spends the next few minutes thinking up what those could be - and quickly shooting them down for being too obvious or so vague they wouldn’t get any good information - while still playing with the ring.

And then the door swings open, and Stede walks in gorgeous as always: hair perfectly in place despite the raid, green brocade vest open and the white blouse underneath it low cut enough that Ed can see a tantalizing slip of Stede’s chest, breeches cut short enough to show off the stockings stretched across his calves, and even though it’s been more than a year since they reunited and he just saw Stede not even an hour ago - Ed fumbles the ring, and it goes clattering across the floor, practically landing at Stede’s feet.

“Fuck.”

“Ooh, what’s this?” Stede bends out to pick it up, and looks at the small ring admiringly. “Did you find this on the merchant ship?”

He stands up to hand it back to Ed, and must see the stricken look that crosses Ed face, because he instantly looks worried. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, yeah.” Ed swallows. “Just, you know, I was going to-”

“Going to what?”

“Just- Can I have the ring back?” Ed says, gritting his teeth. Stede looks confused but hands the ring over, eyebrows still knit in worry. “Right, I certainly wasn’t planning on doing it like that - not that there was much of a plan, but, well.”

He sighs, and grabs Stede’s hand - seated on the bed while Stede stood over him probably as good as counted as kneeling, and Stede knew Ed’s devotion without the religious flourishes anyway. “You don’t have to say yes, if you don’t want to, and you can have the ring either way, but, um.”

He can’t get the words out, but Stede seems to figure it out - his eyes dart down to Ed and then to the ring Ed has clenched in his hands, and the confusion clears away from his face. “Oh. Oh!”

“Oh?” Ed says, and Stede nods aggressively, dropping down to the floor so that he’s slotted between Ed’s legs, hands cupping Ed’s face gently.

“Ask me?” Stede says.

“Stede Bonnet.” Ed breathes out, “Will you marry me?”

Stede starts kissing him when he’s barely even done asking, and it’s enough of an answer in itself, though Stede does quickly break away. “Yes, of course, yes.”

“I have a ring. Obviously.” Ed says, holding up the one Stede has, of course, already seen. Stede pulls himself off of the floor to sit beside Ed, and splays out his left hand so that Ed can slide the ring onto his pinky finger. It fits perfectly.

“It’s beautiful.” Stede pulls it off immediately to get a closer look at it, and properly oohs and aahs over the flower inlay and the inscription in the inner band of the ring. “Can we actually get married?”

“What do you mean?” Ed asks, suddenly unsure - Stede’s said yes, but maybe he didn’t know what he was saying yes to.

“We’re both men. And, technically, dead, even if the men thing wasn’t the case.” Stede says. “Not that I’m not perfectly happy to call you my husband without an actual marriage - we could even have a party with the crew!”

“Well, I mean, I was thinking we could be matelots.” Ed shrugs, and Stede stares at him with the confused knit back in his brow. “You know, mateloge?” Stede shakes his head no. “It’s kind of like marriage, but you don’t do it in a church or have it recognized by the government or whatever. Like, you know, for pirates specifically - so that if one of the people in the partnership dies, the other person can have their share of money and treasure. Some people just do it for that - so they know their belongings are going to someone they like and trust - but others do it for the marriage aspect.”

“Oh.” Stede says, and leans over to kiss Ed again. “That sounds lovely, darling. I would love to marry you.”

“Good.” Ed says, and he suddenly feels silly for all the worry - Stede’s told him countless times he wants to spend forever with Ed. Even if that hadn’t entailed a mateloge, what would it have mattered?

Not that he wasn’t beyond thrilled to have Stede say yes.

“Now I need to get you a ring.” Stede says, pulling away to admire the ring around his finger.

“Oh, shit, right!” Ed says, scrambling off the bed to go over to the back of the closet so he can pull down the box he’s been filling with pilfered rings. “These are also for you, so you can choose one for me if you want.”

“That’s what you’ve been keeping back there?” Stede says, holding the box reverently. “I was wondering, but I didn’t want to encroach on your privacy…”

“Well, now you know.” Ed says, as Stede opens the lid and looks at all the rings.

“They’re all lovely.” He breathes out. “How long have you been planning this?”

“A while.” Ed shrugs, suddenly embarrassed. “At first I just thought I’d keep my eyes open in case we were ready in the future, but then it took so long to find a perfect ring I figured I was ready to at least ask.”

“Well I’d certainly like to return the favor.” Stede sifts through the rings, growling a little. “None of these really scream ‘perfect’, though. I suppose you wouldn’t mind if you didn’t have a ring immediately? Gives us time to plan the wedding, anyway. Assuming you want a party?”

“Of course I want a party! But are you sure you don’t just want all the rings for yourself?” Ed teases, and Stede laughs, pulls Ed close.

“Darling.” He says, and kisses Ed so soundly Ed swears his toes start tingling. “You should know this by now: what’s mine is yours.”