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Ed managed to slip through the crowd and out of the ball while those idiotic Badminton nobles kicked up a fuss about something or other. They had been insufferable the entire night, complaining about where they were seated, the food, the quality of silver used for the dinnerware. Before being appointed as one of Emperor Hornigold’s advisors and getting some land and a title, he had assumed all the nobles spent their time sucking up to whatever ruler was around. While that was definitely part of it, there was this fucking bizarre element of talking shit about whatever was around in order to seem better than everyone else? Honestly, Ed didn’t fucking get it at all.
Ed quickly walked through the hallways, trying to return to his room. He thought he had an bottle of rum in his bags. At least he could enjoy that in peace. Turning the corner, he smashed into someone.
“What the fu-”
The guy that he ran into, or rather, who had run into him, was stunning. Clearly a noble, dressed in a gorgeous teal colored shirt and pants with these sick lacy bits by the sleeves and the neck. There were like four different kinds of fabric making up this fancy as fuck outfit.
“So sorry about that. I really am, I wasn’t looking at where I was going.” the blonde man babbled, “Honestly, thank you so much for save, I can’t apologize enough.”
“It’s fine mate, no harm done.” Ed grins. “You were sure in a rush to get out of there, huh?”
“It was a lovely evening, the musician in particular was quite good and I really did enjoy the oysters." The blonde's eyes sparkled as he spoke. "However, there was a bit of a disagreement stirring and I was keen to avoid it.”
“Oh those Badminton fuckheads? Yeah, they kept going on and on about some issue they had. I had to get out of there, everyone kept talking to me like I was some fucking sideshow.”
The blonde man nodded sagely. “They always do that when someone new arrives. It’s rather like a trial by fire. Or worse honestly, like a swarm of bees stinging you all over your body for an extended amount of time.”
Ed laughed.
“I’m Stede Bonnet by the way.” and Stede Bonnet stuck out, smiling like he was delighted to meet Ed.
“I’m Ed, Ed Teach.” Ed grinned and grabbed Stede Bonnet’s hand.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you Ed! I really hope your evening wasn’t too awful.”
“Not too bad. Little tiresome but I’m about to have a few drinks so that’ll turn it around for sure.” Ed hesitated, then seized the impulse. Honestly, his impulse control was iffy, but his instincts had rarely steered him wrong. “Would you like to join me? I have a bottle of rum we could share.”
Stede looked taken aback. Then Ed watched as a slow smile stole across his face. “Why not? Sounds fun.”
Ed grinned.
Stede grinned.