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Ed sits in the great cabin, leg outstretched in front of him on a cushioned ottoman as he watches Stede flit about his morning routine. The sun has just risen, painting the sky a mix of lavender and peach that makes him think of the gorgeous loon he shares his life with.
Said loon is the one responsible for his current situation. Ed had woken up with a locked knee, swollen and aching worse than any stab wound or renegade bullet that had left their mark behind. Before the Revenge —before Stede —Ed would have maybe taken a swig of laudanum and limped out on deck.
Today, though. Today, Ed let himself be pressed into one of their multiple overstuffed armchairs with a cup of tea and a pipe prepacked with tobacco and a pinch of opium.
He woke tangled in an emerald silk banyan they’d from a recent raid on an English merchant, already wincing in pain as he blinked the sleep from his eyes. Ed tried to stretch the pain from his knee only for it to lock on him, seizing brutally and radiating pain with every throb of his heart.
Ed gasped, making Stede jerk from rumpled and sleep-pink to wide awake in an instant. After that, no amount of dismissal or stubbornness was enough to convince Stede to let him pull on his leathers in preparation to meet the crew for the morning debriefing.
“Just relax, darling,” Stede soothes. “It can’t be good on that knee of yours for the rest of you to be so tense.”
Ed huffs, sulking even as he sinks further into the plush chair. “We’re meant to decide on a new heading this morning,” he points out. “You know how Izzy gets when we have to choose a heading.”
“Yes,” Stede drawls, raising a brow archly as he fiddles with getting his cravat to lay right. “Izzy has made his feelings quite known on the subject of how we select a new heading. He’ll just have to deal with the fact that there is only one captain on deck this morning.”
Teacup poised in front of his mouth, Ed snorts skeptically. “Good luck with that, mate.”
“Oh, I don’t need luck, darling; I have strategy.”
Ed eyes the haughty set to Stede’s shoulders with poorly concealed heat. He loves to watch Stede’s confidence settle into his bones. He adores how he purses his lips just so as he cuts merchants and pirates to ribbons with his sharp words and soft fabrics.
Stede bends to press a kiss to his brow. Ed doesn’t let him get away so easily, pulling him closer by his ruffled neck piece and giving a performance that will ensure Ed is never far from Stede’s thoughts when he has to leave Ed behind.
They part with a wet smack and Ed is treated to the sight of pink cheeks and fluttering hazel eyes. Stede shakes his head with a smitten look on his face—one he’s sure is reflected back at him on Ed’s own.
“Well, with motivation like that, I’ll be back with breakfast in no time,” he whispered, breathless.
Righting himself once more, Stede tugs a long silvering curl that has fallen free of Ed’s braid during the night and dodges Ed’s grabby hands. He pauses in front of the mirror to fix the hair Ed managed to free from their styled waves.
Ed pouts comically at Stede in the mirror as he lights his pipe. “You never told me your strategy,” he says.
“So I didn’t,” Stede remarks. “Shall I tell you? Or let it be a mystery?”
Ed scoffs, contorting his features dramatically with faux-outrage. “You’d better, after I told you all of mine!”
Sighing, Stede swirls on his heels to look at him with an aloof expression. “I suppose,” he sighs. His face morphs into an impish grin. “If Israel attempts to prevent our dear crew from coming to consensus in regard to our next heading, I shall simply have no choice but to inform Roach who is truly responsible for the disappearance of his much-coveted sweet stash.
“And if that isn’t enough, well. Frenchie might be interested to know that our dear Israel intends to bring a cat on board at the next port to deal with the rats he and Jim can’t manage to suss out. If Izzy wants to have a moment’s peace, he’ll heed the warning I give him before our negotiations begin.”
Ed guffaws in delight. “No one ever expects you to be so ruthless,” Ed admires. “He’s gonna fold like a cheap sail.”
“Precisely,” Stede sniffs, nose turned in the air. He cracks and gives Ed a broad, crinkly-eyed grin.
Sighing like a lovesick fool, Ed takes a lazy puff off his pipe and blows a slow stream of smoke without breaking eye contact. “You’re diabolical, mate,” he rasps. “No one ever sees it coming.”
Stede pauses in the doorway, looking back at Ed over his shoulder with an expression equal parts smug and silly. Stede cuts a striking figure in his coat as he’s silhouetted by the morning sun and he knows it.
“That’s entirely by design, my dear,”
“ Fuck, ” Ed breathes. “Never change, love—even if you are being a pricktease right now.”
With a wink, Stede strides from the room. His heels click at a measured pace as he calls back to Edward with a smile in his voice. “I’ll be back with breakfast in a jiff!”