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“Fuck, it’s late.”
Ed was stretched out on Stede’s sofa, several brandies deep, exhaustion beginning to hit him. And no bloody wonder, after the day they’d had: hiking through a fucking forest on the hunt for an orange paperweight was enough to take it out of anybody, even notorious pirate Blackbeard.
Stede, however, didn’t seem to be feeling the same effect. “Is it?” he asked, like it hadn’t even occurred to him that they’d been nightcapping through the night.
“Yeah, it’s been tomorrow for most of today,” Ed chuckled.
“Ah,” Stede said, looking down at the long empty glass in his hand. “I suppose we should probably… get to bed, then.”
He sounded almost disappointed about this, which Ed thought was fair enough, since they’d been having a pretty nice time. For starters, there was the brandy. Then there was the whole co-captain agreement, which Ed considered to be a stroke of genius – he couldn’t have very well stuck around any longer on someone else’s ship without having a real reason to be there… but now they were both captains, lounging in their quarters, sharing one too many nightcaps and plotting their next adventure – yeah, he could stick around for that. Except not for much longer, ‘cause it was time to go to sleep.
Which gave Ed another stroke of genius.
“Hey, can I crash here?” he asked.
“Oh,” Stede blinked, looking taken aback for a second before promptly slipping back into gentleman mode. “Yes, of course! This is the captain’s cabin, after all, it seems only right that we… share.” He swallowed, looking around the room. “Not very practical at the moment, though,” he added a little awkwardly. “Maybe we should have another bed put in.”
Huh. Well, that hadn’t been the response Ed had been hoping for. “Yeah,” he replied, voice stilted. “Maybe.” He shifted in place, wondering whether to just pack the idea in and go slinking back to where he’d been sleeping every other night. But then he remembered how sad Stede had looked at the thought of them going their separate ways, and decided that he could probably compromise. “Guess I’ll stick with the sofa tonight then, yeah?”
“Yes,” Stede nodded, then furrowed his brow, looking Ed over. “Or… will you be comfortable? With your knee, and everything? Would you prefer to get in the bed?”
“Yeah, bed’s good,” Ed said immediately. “If you’re alright with that.”
“Of course I’m alright with it,” Stede confirmed.
“Alright, great,” Ed grinned, because finally it looked like they were on the same page. “Cool, let’s just… get comfy, then.” He stood from the sofa and was about to make his way across the room when Stede spoke up.
“Do you want to borrow a nightgown?” he was offering, motioning towards his wardrobe. “I have quite a few spare ones, and it can’t be comfortable sleeping in all that leather.”
Ed might have mentioned that he hadn’t been planning on sleeping in all that leather at all, as a matter of fact, but maybe sleeping in your undergarments wasn’t… gentlemanly enough. Stede always had those long gowns and fancy robes, and Ed admittedly did quite like the look of them, so he wasn’t going to turn his nose up at the idea, even if it was a bit more material then he’d been hoping to cover himself up in. Hey, if they were going ahead with this co-captain business, they might as well match.
“Yeah, cheers mate, sounds good,” he nodded.
Stede hopped up from the sofa, grinning as he went over to his wardrobe – he always got the same look on his face when he had a little task to be getting on with, like he was excited to be taking action, whether he was raiding a ship or raiding his own wardrobe. It was, unfortunately, extremely fucking cute, and Ed had to hold back a grin of his own as he watched Stede flouncing across the room, humming to himself as he picked out their nightclothes.
“There you go, that should do,” he announced, tossing a gown over to Ed, and leaving him to get changed in the cabin while he stayed concealed in the wardrobe. Ed wanted to tell him that there was really no need to worry about modesty when they were about to be sharing a bed, but if Stede was more comfortable undressing separately, then he supposed that was fine. After all, he wasn’t used to living on ships in close quarters, seeing every member of your crew naked (more times than you’d really want to, in some cases). Ed assumed that the whole gentleman thing came with some pretty prissy rules about taking your clothes off in front of people. That was fine. It was fine.
It did, however, mean that Ed was now undressing in Stede’s cabin (their cabin?) alone, with a whole load of questions on his mind, the main one being whether you were supposed to wear anything under these things. He guessed not. Or maybe that was a hope rather than a guess, but he was gonna make it his reality all the same, stripping off entirely and maybe a tiny little bit hoping that Stede would come out before he covered himself up again. That’d be one way to get his intentions across. It didn’t happen, though, so instead he just hung his clothes over the back of a chair and pulled the nightgown over his head, letting it settle over his body. Like the rest of Stede’s clothing, it fit him pretty perfectly, and was comfortable as fuck. This one wasn’t silk, or cashmere, or anything especially fancy, but it felt nice and light and airy. The frilly sleeves were a bit ridiculous but also kind of delightful, which was Stede all over, really.
Now he was all kitted out, he made his way over to Stede’s bed to review the situation. He was already pretty familiar with it, considering how long he’d spent at Stede’s bedside after the stabbing incident – familiar enough for it to feature in several of his fantasies since then – but preparing to actually lie down in it was a different matter. It looked… cosy, was probably the right word. Not a great deal of room for two people, but for Ed, that was the opposite of a problem. Besides, there were two lots of pillows there, so obviously Stede was open to sharing it with somebody else. And Ed was ready to be that somebody. With that thought in mind, he pulled back the covers and climbed in, and was just contemplating what would be the most seductive pose to strike, when Stede emerged from the wardrobe in his own nightgown.
And immediately headed for the sofa.
“What’re you doing?” Ed asked at once, sitting up in alarm.
“I’m… taking the sofa,” Stede replied awkwardly, gesturing towards it.
Fuck. And here Ed had been thinking that they were on the same page, but apparently there’d been some grand miscommunication somewhere and what he’d thought was sharing was actually switching. Well, this wouldn’t do.
“Hey, c’mon,” he sighed. “It’s your bed. And there’s plenty of room.” That last part may have been a bit of a lie, but there were two sets of pillows, and that wasn’t nothing. He may have even lifted the covers entreatingly at this point, just to really sell it, but he wasn’t sure it was working: Stede stood there looking at him like he was trying to remember how to speak. His mouth opened and closed a couple of times, until finally some words came out of it.
“Okay, then.”
Ed tried not to beam too obviously as Stede headed over, because he wanted to play it cool, dammit. He did shuffle up a little further against the wall, though, just to make it clear how plentiful the room was. He could always move back once they were settled. Except it didn’t look like they’d be getting settled, at least not in the way that Ed had hoped. Because, yeah, Stede got in the bed. But then he turned away. Fully away – immediately putting his back to Ed like he couldn’t even face the idea of looking at him, using every available inch of the bed to ensure he wasn’t so much as brushing against him.
“Alright,” Ed said, faltering, because apparently none of his expectations were going to be met tonight. “Well… night, mate.”
“Good night, Ed,” Stede replied.
And that was that.
***
It must have been nearly an hour later and Ed was still awake.
And he was pretty sure Stede was, too.
He didn’t know what he’d expected from tonight. He hadn’t gone into this convinced that Stede would immediately roll on top of him and fuck him into oblivion, but he’d at least hoped that the guy would be a little more… well, not turned away from him, for a start. Considering he’d agreed to share this bed with him, his entire body was screaming that he’d rather be anywhere else. He was still holding himself tightly, body completely stiff, like he’d turned to stone the second he’d got into bed. There was no way he was relaxed enough to be asleep right now. At least they were both on the same page there.
“Stede?” Ed whispered.
No response.
“Stede?” he asked, a little louder.
Nothing.
And then the guy started fucking snoring. Unbelievable.
“I know you’re awake, Stede,” Ed said in a level tone.
The snoring stopped. And then, a hesitant voice.
“You do?”
“Well, I do now, yeah.”
“What, uh… do you need to get out?” Stede asked, like he was worried he was in Ed’s way or something.
“Do you want me to get out?” Ed checked.
“No, that’s not what I meant,” Stede hurriedly replied.
“’Cause you seem pretty uncomfortable.”
“I’m not uncomfortable,” Stede argued.
“Uh-huh.”
“Everything’s fine,” Stede insisted, “go back to sleep.”
“I haven’t been to sleep.”
“You haven’t?”
“Nope. Just been lying here wondering what’s up with you.”
There was another moment of silence before Stede spoke again.
“Nothing’s up with me.”
“Uh-huh,” Ed repeated, looking him up and down sceptically, because this was not the body of a man that nothing was up with. “You always sleep like this?” he challenged, determined to get to the bottom of things.
“Like what?” Stede asked.
“Like you wanna roll off the bed.”
“I’m just… giving you some space,” Stede asserted.
And Ed wondered if that was really all it was – Stede trying to be a gentleman, make room for him without crowding him. This was a small bed, after all. But the thing was, Ed wouldn’t be opposed to being crowded. In fact, he’d encourage it. “I don’t mind,” he said casually. “Y’know, if you wanna… get a bit closer.”
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”
“Why not? Do you not like…” Me? Because Lucius told me in no uncertain terms earlier that you did, and I’m getting a fuckton of mixed signals here to be honest. “…being close? To people.”
For an uncomfortably long time, Stede didn’t reply, and Ed started to feel a bit bad for cornering him like this.
“It’s alright if you don’t,” he tried to make clear, because the last thing he wanted was to pressure him. “Just wanna understand why you’re acting like I’ve got the plague, that's all.”
“It’s not that. It’s just a… personal problem,” Stede got out eventually, like it pained him to say the words. “It’ll be gone by morning.”
There was something about those words that struck a particular chord, and it took Ed a second before it finally all clicked into place. But when it did…
“…Stede,” he said slowly, grin spreading across his face as realisation hit him. “Have you got a fucking boner?”
“I’m so sorry, Ed,” Stede replied at once, and Ed could practically hear him cringing. “It’s – it’s involuntary.”
“Yeah, I know how it works, mate, I’ve got the same equipment,” Ed laughed, flooding with relief. Of course there was a simple explanation to why Stede was being so fucking weird. “And that’s why you’re lying there all stiff?” he asked, and then giggled to himself. “Oops, sorry, poor choice of words.”
“I’ve been trying to make it go away,” Stede continued frantically, “but nothing’s working.”
“Y’know, they’ve figured out a pretty efficient way of doing that,” Ed said, smile probably not fading any time soon. “Fun, too.”
“Ed, please,” Stede whined, and Ed didn’t need to see his face to know that it was bright red. He obviously wasn’t used to this kind of talk – another thing they probably didn’t get up to in polite society. Their loss, Ed reckoned, since it obviously made them way more embarrassed about it than they had any need to be. Or maybe that was just Stede. Either way, it looked like Ed was gonna need to take a gentler approach.
“Stede, it’s alright, stop stressing,” he said calmly, resting his hand on Stede’s shoulder. “It’s fine, it’s natural.”
“No, it’s not,” Stede protested.
“Uh… pretty sure it is, mate."
“Not for me,” Stede replied meekly. “I could never… when I needed to. In my marriage, I mean. It was always a Herculean task trying to… you know… get it up.” He whispered that last part, like he was afraid of even saying the words, and Ed had to wonder just how deep this shame went.
“Yeah, well that’s probably ‘cause…” he began, wondering if he should be the one to tell Stede that he clearly wasn’t attracted to women. Maybe not now, when the poor guy clearly had enough on his plate. “Y’know, everybody’s different.”
“But now that it’s the worst time it could happen,” Stede babbled, “it won’t go down, and–”
“Hey, why’s it the worst?” Ed asked, trying not to sound too offended, because he reckoned he was a pretty decent guy to have an erection around, actually. “I mean, do I seem bothered?”
“…No.”
“Exactly,” Ed said, hoping that settled things. But he did have to wonder, judging by the way Stede was going on, whether this was in fact a totally random boner not caused by Ed at all, and that was why he was so mortified at it happening now. At the worst time. Again, not exactly lining up with what Lucius had told him, but Ed was beginning to wonder if the guy knew anything at all actually, because Stede wasn’t seeming all that eager to get up close and personal with him even now that the truth was out. He’d been more enthusiastic getting up close and personal with a fucking moth. Maybe it was time Ed left well enough alone, took himself out of the situation. So, with a heavy heart, he added, “and, y’know, I’d be happy to step outside for a bit, if you wanna… sort yourself out, or whatever.”
“But you’d know what I was doing!” Stede exclaimed, sounding downright horrified at the idea of somebody knowing he was having a wank. As if Ed needed any more evidence that Stede had not spent much time sleeping among a ship's crew. Particularly his own.
“Yeah, I would,” Ed shrugged. He waited for Stede to say something more. But he didn’t. “So… might as well just stay, then?”
“Yes,” Stede agreed firmly. “And I’m sure it’ll all go away if I just persevere.”
“Stede, c’mon,” Ed sighed, because this was getting ridiculous. The man couldn’t lie there like this all night, terrified of inching any closer to Ed out of embarrassment. He really would end up falling out of bed at this rate. And maybe he wasn’t all that into Ed after all, but surely he’d still accept a quick favour from him. “Let me help you.”
“Help me?”
“I mean, clearly you’re suffering, and not to blow my own trumpet but I know my way around a dick. Happy to offer my services, and all that.”
“You mean you want to…” Stede began, but he didn’t finish the sentence, because of course he didn’t. Poor bloke would probably pass out if he even said the words. Looked like it was up to Ed, then.
“Jerk you off?” he filled in as casually as he could, even as he felt his heart thudding in his chest at the thought. “Yeah. Really fucking want to.”
“Oh,” Stede said, and Ed could practically hear the cogs turning in his mind. “Why?”
“I can think of a few compelling reasons,” Ed chuckled, wondering if Stede could really be that oblivious. “Mostly, I think you’d enjoy it, and I think I would too.”
“You would?”
“Mmhmm. Enjoying thinking about it.”
“You are?”
Fucking hell, Stede was either the densest person Ed had ever met, or the most insecure. Oh shit, was that what this was about? Was the reason he seemed so embarrassed by all of this that he couldn’t possibly fathom that maybe Ed would be interested in him? Because Ed was interested alright. More than interested. And he'd thought that'd been obvious, but there was one way he could make it crystal fucking clear.
“Want me to show you how much I’m enjoying it?” he asked, certain this question was going to make or break them, but very willing to take the risk.
“I… I think so, yes.”
Turned out that this was all the encouragement Ed needed. The time for subtlety was over, so he shifted closer to Stede, sliding the full length of his body right up behind him, pressing the evidence of his growing arousal right up against Stede’s arse, settling comfortably like he belonged there. “Feel that?” he asked in a low voice. “Feel how hard I am for you?”
“I feel it,” Stede stammered, but it didn’t sound like it was out of nerves, not any more. There was an edge of excitement to his voice that Ed picked up on immediately, and now he finally understood what he was working with here. A man who definitely hadn’t done this before, but really, really wanted to. And Ed was only too happy to oblige.
“What about you?” he murmured into Stede’s ear, coaxing him gently. “Are you hard for me?”
“Yes,” Stede whispered, barely audible. But Ed could hear him well enough.
“Do you want me to touch you?” he asked, hand slowly trailing down Stede’s side and resting on his hip.
“Yes,” Stede repeated, head nodding just a little.
Ed smiled and slowly slid his hand around to Stede’s front, lightly tracing the outline of his cock through the thin material of the nightgown, and heard Stede let out a shuddering breath. Emboldened by this, Ed wrapped his hand around him, feeling his length, his heat, even through the fabric. There were all kinds of filthy things he wanted to say to him right now, about exactly what he wanted to do when he properly got his hands on him, but he planned to tread carefully here.
“How’s that?” he asked softly.
“G-good…” Stede breathed out, voice trembling. Shit, his whole body was trembling.
“Let’s get this out of the way, hmm?” Ed asked, releasing him and skating his hand down the nightgown as he tried to move it up Stede’s body as seamlessly as possible. This was trickier than he’d anticipated, considering Stede was laying on top of it and it seemed to go on forever – no matter how much of it he felt like he was pulling up, he was making no leeway. “Fucking – how long’s this thing?” he muttered under his breath as he tried and failed to grasp the bottom of it.
“Sorry, let me,” Stede said, springing into action by lifting his hips and tugging the nightgown up from the front. It was the most he’d moved since getting into the bed and Ed couldn’t help but be a little amused by this: even Stede’s propriety, it seemed, had a breaking point. He kept pulling at it until Ed could feel that it was bunched around his waist, and then his arm dropped back down again. “It’s… it’s up,” he said weakly, as if he realised halfway through that he was stating the obvious.
Not that Ed cared. He was just happy it was out of the way, and placed his hand on Stede’s newly-bared hip, relishing the feeling of skin against skin at last. Nothing underneath the nightgown. Thank fuck. “Alright, you ready?” he asked quietly.
“I’m ready,” Stede said, with another one of his little nods.
And maybe there were more gradual ways to build up to this, but now that Ed finally had the chance, he wasn’t gonna wait any longer. So, he shifted his hand around to Stede’s front again – only this time, there wasn’t any pesky material preventing him from getting exactly what he wanted.
“Ah – ah…” Stede gasped softly, hips shifting the tiniest fraction as Ed’s hand wrapped around him, gripping him firmly at the base.
Ed's lips curled into a smile as he dragged his hand up the length of Stede’s cock torturously slowly, wondering what other responses he might draw out of him as this went on. "Feel good?" he asked innocently.
“Yes…” Stede whimpered, “yes…”
“Good,” Ed said in a low voice – he had reached the top of Stede’s cock, and took a moment to rub his thumb over the head, spreading the wetness he could feel leaking from it. “Wanna make you feel good.”
“You do – I mean, you are. I mean… oh, fuck,” Stede groaned, his loudest response so far, and the sound went straight through Ed’s body like a shock.
“Yeah?” he asked, maybe a little too eagerly.
“Yes,” Stede hissed, bucking into Ed’s fist.
Ed chuckled at the sudden movement. “Bit desperate, are we?” he teased, glad he wasn’t the only over-eager one around here.
“Sorry,” Stede gasped out, stilling his hips at once. “Sorry, sorry.”
“Hey, shh, don’t be sorry,” Ed insisted, trying to soothe him before he got tense and nervous all over again. If the hand stroking his dick wasn’t enough to relax him, he hoped reassurances would do the trick. “Quite like you desperate. Makes sense, too. How long have you been lying here in this state?”
“Since I got in the bed,” Stede admitted quietly.
“Thought so,” Ed said, trying not to feel too smug about it. He could feel flattered, though, that was fine. And it was only a step or two behind smug, which was maybe how his next question slipped out. “You’ve been waiting for this, haven’t you?”
“I…” Stede faltered, like he was still ashamed of his desires, even now.
“’Cause I have,” Ed murmured, and rolled his hips against him once, indulgently, in case Stede had somehow forgotten just how much he wanted this, too. “Been waiting a long time. You’re a difficult man to get into bed, Stede Bonnet.”
“I didn’t… I didn’t know…” Stede said weakly.
“Mmm, yeah, I’ve been really subtle,” Ed laughed softly into Stede’s shoulder, beginning to wonder if this man would ever have gotten the hint if he hadn’t outright offered to jerk him off. But since he had, he was damn well gonna take advantage of the opportunity.
So he kept up with his long, slow strokes, trying to draw this out just a little bit, because if this was more than just a helping hand, then he could take his time with him. As he went on, he was rewarded with soft little moans and the occasional thrust, which only made him double down, stroke him slower, tease more of those delicious reactions out of him. Because he wanted Stede to enjoy this, really enjoy it. He wanted him to throw caution to the wind and let go completely, no inhibitions, just mindless pleasure. He wanted him to have an explosive orgasm and come back for more because he knew what Ed could do to him now, what he’d been missing out on all this time. And yeah, maybe, selfishly, he also wanted to keep touching his cock, because it was fucking spectacular, twitching and throbbing in his hand like it was ready to burst. Ed only wished he could see what he was working with, since this was all going on under the covers, which was a real fucking shame because if Stede’s dick looked as good as it felt, he was missing out on quite the sight. But he knew it was long, and he knew it was thick, and he knew it was leaking like crazy, so really, what more did he need?
“So fucking wet,” he mumbled to himself as his hand slid easily up and down, marvelling at how slick it was, wouldn’t even need oil, probably just slip inside him, fuck. He bit back a groan as he tried to focus on the task at hand, because there was no way he could ask Stede to fuck him right now, not least when the poor man was obviously not going to last much longer, thrusting urgently into Ed’s fist, his earlier shyness forgotten, letting go, just like Ed wanted. “Fuck yeah, Stede,” he grunted, hips lurching forward to rub up against his arse, desperate for some friction against his own neglected cock. “That’s it, fucking move, that’s right.”
“Ed, it’s so good,” Stede panted.
“I know.”
“You’re incredible.”
“Keep talking,” Ed half-laughed, half-groaned, because this was really doing it for him, actually.
“I think… I think I’m close.”
“Yeah?” Ed asked breathily, hand speeding up as he grinded up against him with equal fervour. “You gonna come for me, Stede?”
“Yes,” Stede gasped.
“You gonna stain these sheets for me?”
“Yes!”
“Good,” Ed choked out, “‘cause I’m about to ruin this fucking nightgown.”
“Oh, please!” Stede sobbed, pushing back into him, hips rolling desperately, like he’d suddenly realised he could bring Ed off like this, and fuck was it working.
“So fucking hot, grinding on my cock,” Ed growled into his ear, finally getting the friction he desperately needed and fucking revelling in it. “You want it, don’t you?”
“Yes, yes!” Stede cried out, almost like a chant now, like all he could tell Ed was yes, yes, yes.
“I want yours,” Ed groaned, feeling himself losing control, words spilling out of him as he jerked Stede's cock like a maniac. “Wanna ride it, wanna fucking suck it–”
“Ed!”
“Need you inside me,” Ed barrelled on, even as he could feel Stede coming undone in his hands, hear him gasping and moaning through his release, his entire body shaking. “Need you – fucking – Stede – fuck.” With barely any warning at all he found himself following Stede over the edge, feeling the hot spurts hit his stomach and cursing the damn nightgown for being the one thing stopping him from coming all over Stede’s arse, or fuck, in Stede’s arse, the guy had been pushing back on him so hard, he’d wanted him inside of him too, Ed just knew it, and his cock pulsed with the thought as he came again and again, wishing he was filling Stede up, wishing Stede was filling him up, he’d take either, or both, they could take it in turns, just fuck each other all night long over and over until they were both completely spent.
Might be a bit too late for that now, though, since Ed was pretty sure they’d both already reached that point and it hadn't even taken that much. He couldn't actually remember the last time he'd shot off so easily, and it might be worth being a bit embarrassed over if it hadn't felt so fucking good. He let out one last low, satisfied groan as he came down from his high, while Stede was heaving breaths like he’d just remembered he needed air to survive, until he finally gave a deep sigh. Ed smiled against his shoulder, finally letting go of him and sliding his nightgown back down for him as a completely unnecessary act of modesty. He reckoned Stede would appreciate that. And speaking of things Stede would appreciate, he got the feeling that this little escapade had been a roaring success. And he was gonna be a little smug about that, too.
“There, now doesn’t that feel better?” he asked, voice light and teasing.
“Oh, it’s all over the sheets!” Stede whined so pathetically that Ed had to laugh. There was the Stede he knew. He'd missed him.
“You didn’t seem to mind that a minute ago,” he pointed out. “In fact, I seem to remember you being quite enthusiastic about it.”
“Well, clearly I wasn’t thinking my brain,” Stede huffed.
“Thinking with your brain’s no fun,” Ed chuckled, and then tapped the side of Stede’s hip, because if they were gonna deal with this then they’d better get moving. “C’mon, up we get.”
“Nope. Can’t move,” Stede mumbled, not budging an inch.
Looked like Ed was doing all of the work tonight, then. Stede did seem to have had a pretty earth-shattering orgasm though, so Ed decided to let him off, clambering slightly awkwardly over him as he climbed out of the bed. Once he was standing upright, he gathered the sheets in his arms and carried them off into the next room, where Stede’s bathtub lived, because that seemed like the appropriate place for them. He dumped them on the floor for now, and then tugged off his nightgown (giving himself a quick wipe down with it in the process) and added it to the pile of iniquity, not exactly sure what to do next – usually when he wound up wrecking his clothes, he’d just steal new ones, but he couldn’t imagine Stede would want to let go of his nice things so easily. But also it was really fucking late and Ed wasn’t in the mood to clean stuff right now, not when Stede was lying there in the next room with an Ed-sized space next to him. He decided that this could be a problem for Morning Ed and Stede: nothing more co-captainly than cleaning cum out of silk sheets. That’d get Stede used to the pirate lifestyle alright.
For now, Ed wandered casually back into the cabin completely naked, looked over at the bed just in time to catch Stede snapping his head away, and grinned to himself. He felt like telling him it was alright to look at the guy who’d just made you come, but maybe that wasn’t gentlemanly either. He just hoped Stede wasn’t putting himself back in his little box of repression, because this was not supposed to be a one-time thing they’d pretend to forget about later. Ed couldn’t handle that, not right now. Still, sensing that maybe this was too much too soon, he did him the courtesy of grabbing another nightgown from the wardrobe (how many of these fucking things did Stede have?) and slipping it on so Stede could look at him again without turning bright scarlet. Then he grabbed a fresh set of sheets from the drawers and laid them out on the bed, over the top of Stede who was sitting up against his pillow now, giving him a polite little smile while Ed covered him up.
“There you go, good as new,” Ed announced proudly, stepping back to admire his handiwork.
Stede hummed in response, polite smile still on his face, but gaze shifting away from Ed and down to the sheets. And Ed was trying not to worry, but it really did seem like Stede was closing himself off again, just as he’d feared.
“You alright, mate?” he asked, hating how uncomfortable things had become.
“Yes, yes, I’m… just very tired, suddenly.”
“Yeah, well, busy day,” Ed shrugged, standing there awkwardly. “Lots of… physical activity.”
Stede hummed again, fiddling with the edge of the fresh sheet.
And as the panic settled into his chest, Ed wondered if Stede even wanted him there anymore. To be honest, he’d thought the aftermath of this would involve a lot more cuddling and a lot less skulking off to his own room, but right now, it was looking increasingly like it was going to be the latter. And it wouldn’t be the first time, but he hadn’t thought it would be like that with Stede. Or maybe he’d just hoped.
“Ed?” Stede asked, his voice breaking into Ed’s thoughts.
“Yeah?” Ed responded immediately, because whatever Stede was about to say had to be better than waiting in this limbo.
“Do you really want to do all those other things, or were you just saying that?”
“Wh– uh, what other things?” he asked, hoping Stede didn’t notice the embarrassing way his voice just cracked.
Fortunately, Stede seemed like he was occupied being embarrassed by everything else. “You mentioned, when you were, uh… towards the end, you mentioned some… things,” he rambled, still avoiding Ed’s eyes.
“Can you be more specific?” Ed asked innocently, heart pounding in his chest now, because this could surely only mean one thing, but he still needed to hear Stede say it.
“There was something about, uh… sucking?” Stede replied, and his voice may have been high and nervous, but at least he’d managed to come out and say it, which was more than Ed could have imagined at this point, and he felt relief flood his body for the second time tonight.
“Was there, now?” he asked, grinning widely as he watched this new, freshly debauched version of Stede rear his head.
“That, and, um… some other things.”
Alright, not entirely debauched just yet, but this was progress.
“Mmm,” Ed mused, nodding. “Well, if we ever wind up in bed together again… speaking of which, budge up.”
Stede immediately shifted back towards the window to make room, and Ed lifted the sheets and slipped into the bed beside him, rolling onto his side to face him – Stede was still sitting up a bit, so they weren’t quite face-to-face, but at least his back wasn’t turned any more. Progress. And speaking of progress, Ed wouldn’t mind advancing to one of those ‘things’ Stede had mentioned… ‘cause yeah, Stede seemed to be done for the night, but Ed reckoned he could get him hard again with the proper encouragement (the proper encouragement being his mouth). Then again, maybe it’d be better to wait it out, give them something to look forward to tomorrow. Provided they were going to be sharing the bed again, that is.
As if he could read his mind, Stede suddenly spoke up. “You know,” he began, casting his gaze around the room. “I’m not sure we could really fit a second bed in this room anyway. It might… disrupt the flow.”
“Might disrupt a lot of things,” Ed said suggestively, fixing his gaze on him.
“Yes,” Stede replied, keeping his voice neutral, but finally turning to look back at Ed. “So maybe we just… keep up with this arrangement?”
“Whatever you say, captain,” Ed grinned, looking right back up at him with mischief in his eyes. “Now, c’mon, get to sleep. Got a very important co-captain duty lined up for us tomorrow morning.” He tried not to give too much away as he thought about the state of those sheets in the next room and resisted wrinkling his nose. “Real baptism of fire.”
“Sounds exciting,” Stede responded eagerly, shuffling down the bed until he was lying on his back. He turned to face Ed with a huge smile, finally face-to-face, and Ed was almost overtaken with the desperate urge to kiss him when Stede announced, “well, good night!” and turned to rest his head back down on the pillow.
At least he didn’t roll away this time. Ed wondered if maybe he should, so they were both on their backs, but he didn’t really want to do that. He was comfy like this and Stede didn’t seem to mind being up close and personal anymore. Ed wondered what he would do if he shuffled in even closer, wrapped an arm around his waist, maybe rested his head on his chest… after what they’d already gotten up to tonight, it wouldn’t exactly be crossing any more boundaries. But then Stede started to drift off – he probably really was exhausted – and Ed decided to just let it lie. They had plenty of time to figure out how to approach this: what was okay, what wasn’t, what they wanted, what they didn’t. Speaking for himself, Ed was pretty confident that he wanted it all, but he’d known that for a while. Stede was gonna be the tricky one here, because Ed wasn’t convinced that even he knew exactly what he wanted. Except apparently getting his dick sucked, which, yeah, he was only human.
The point was, Ed had no fucking idea what happened between them next. But right now, he had Stede falling asleep beside him, breathing slow and steady, not feeling like he had to turn away and hide from him anymore. And that’d do for the meantime.