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It’s an ugly, stained old mattress, and it’s on the floor in the front main room of the inn. But they’ve spread beautiful sheets and soft blankets over it, and Stede’s sitting on it with Ed, and the setting sun makes him glow softly, and Ed knows no king or governor in history has ever had a finer bed.
It’s a lot of responsibility, being a fisherman, innkeeper, retired Dread Pyrate, and the best boyfriend in the Caribbean. Ed tries to focus on one thing at a time these days. Everything else will still be there tomorrow. That’s a new idea for both Ed and Stede: that they can slow down, focus on doing one thing well instead of trying to micromanage five projects at once or plan ten steps ahead. For now, the carpentry and interior design tasks of the day are done and Ed gets to zero in on his favorite role. He thinks it’s the one he’s best at, if Stede’s frequent loud and enthusiastic praise is anything to go by.
It’s not that Stede doesn’t know what he likes in bed. He likes Edward Teach. He’s rock-solid certain about that, and he has no qualms about telling him so. The only problem is that Stede’s imagination has its limits due to lack of what one might call hands-on experience, so Ed has been taking it upon himself to help Stede navigate this new course between them. And Ed spends a good chunk of the day staring at and/or making excuses to touch his co-innkeeper’s broad manly heroic chest anyway, so when Stede bites his lip and gives him an inviting look, it’s a no-brainer to reach out and run a thumb over one of his nipples.
“You ever play with yourself like this?” Ed asks. Stede looks more confused than coy as he shakes his head, but his eyes go half-lidded as he lets himself feel Ed’s touch. It’s a little tickly, a little tingly, and then the warmth starts flaring under the pad of Ed’s thumb, spreading down into his belly and lower. Stede grabs his wrist.
“Take your robe off and keep doing that.”
Ed grins. “Yes, sir. Right away, sir.”
Stede blushes and grumbles something under his breath as Ed darts away to drape his robe over the back of the chair that’s doing its best to serve as closet space for both of them. It’s a nice fucking robe, all flowing and silky with pretty flowers and butterflies embroidered everywhere. Barely any blood left from when Stede had stabbed that guy while stealing it for him. He’s not leaving it on the floor with the fucking spiders, no matter how horny he is.
Stede is waiting for him impatiently, bare and flushed with arousal, when he kneels back down on the mattress. “Gorgeous,” Ed growls, barely getting the end of the word out before Stede yanks him down for a rough kiss. The sun has slipped noticeably lower by the time their lips finally part, and Ed mutters a curse. He’d wanted more light to see Stede by tonight, but hell if he was going to stop now to go grab a candle and fumble around with the damn matches. He’ll just have to make sure Stede moans good and loud for him, instead.
Ed licks the pad of his thumb and presses it back to Stede’s nipple, who gasps at the added slickness and pressure circling the increasingly sensitive bud. Ed winks at him—Stede loves it when Ed winks at him, says it makes him look charming and roguish—and lowers his head to take Stede’s nipple in his mouth. He doesn’t even suck at first, just lets Stede get used to the wet warmth of his lips and tongue on him. At the first few dainty little kitten licks Ed gives him, Stede grabs the back of his head and shoves him down harder. Ed giggles against the delicate skin, and the vibrations of it must be pretty fucking fantastic because Stede whimpers like he’s starving and tries to grind his hips against Ed’s belly.
“I don’t think so, mate.” Ed twists out of Stede’s grip and pushes at his shoulders, urging him down the mattress until he has to plant his feet on the floor and Ed has enough space to kneel above him, leering at him upside-down. He takes each of Stede’s wrists in hand and presses them down to the mattress. He listens carefully in the fading light and hears a surprised gasp and a wanton sigh, but no objection. “I wanna savor this,” he murmurs in Stede’s ear. “We’re all out of those little candies you got the last time you went to town. I need something sweet to suck on.”
Stede shudders underneath him. “Please, Ed.”
Ed leans down and laves his tongue over Stede’s nipple, the right one this time, starting light and teasing but pressing firmer the louder Stede gets. He whimpers high and desperate in the back of his throat at every sweep of Ed’s tongue, and when Ed starts to gently suck he could swear he hears wildlife scattering at Stede’s shout.
He sucks a little harder, and a little harder, and Stede’s moans and whimpers ramp up and up til he sounds like he does when Ed’s sucking his cock, like he does when he’s about to come, except he doesn’t come. His wrists twist halfheartedly in Ed’s grasp, desperate to touch himself, but Stede is strong enough to get out of any hold Ed can put him in these days and he’s clearly trying about as hard to escape as Ed is to hold him down.
“So what’s the verdict? Seems like you might like it, but it’s hard to tell. You’re being so quiet about it.”
“Ed, if I get any louder I won’t be able to speak tomorrow.”
“Can’t have that. Your voice is my favorite sound.” Ed gives him a quick kiss on the cheek.
“Don’t you dare make me cry in the middle of sexy times!”
“Well, it’s your turn! You had me going last night.” Ed bends back down to capture his nipple again.
“Ed, wait.”
He pulls back and loosens his hold on Stede’s wrists. “What’s up, love?”
“Maybe, um… the other side?”
“Oh, keeping it symmetrical, huh? We can do that.”
Stede giggles, pushing up to press a kiss to Ed’s jaw in the dark. “And, ah. My hands?”
“Your hands, what?”
“You know.” Stede flexes his hands in Ed’s light hold. “I might’ve liked that too.”
“I see.” Ed presses Stede’s wrists down firmly into the mattress and hears him sigh, feels all the muscles in his arms relax.
Ed gently sucks Stede’s left nipple into his mouth, teasing with the tip of his tongue. He crosses Stede’s wrists one over the other so he can hold them both down with one hand and begins pinching Stede’s right nipple with the thumb and forefinger of the other.
“Ed, fuck! Fuck! So close, don’t you dare stop, you nut, oh God I’m right there I’m right there and I can’t, I can’t, I...”
Ed can see the stiff line of Stede’s painfully hard cock in the dusky light, thrusting up into nothing as his hips jerk in frustration, dripping steadily onto his own belly. He moans, feeling close to the edge himself. He rolls Stede’s nipple between his fingers and pinches firmly.
Stede is fully panting now, a desperate whine on every other exhale. Ed pulls off his nipple with a hard suck, and Stede nearly wails.
“Fuck, babe, are you gonna come like this?”
Stede’s mouth twists in a bitchy scowl. “Not if you keep stopping!”
Ed grins and kisses the frown from his precious mouth. “Steady on there, Captain. You need to be patient when exploring new terrain. Never know what you’ll discover.” He blows a cool stream of air over Stede’s saliva-slick nipple to watch it harden further. Stede writhes and whimpers, kicking the sheets into a hopeless tangle.
“Ed, please!”
When Ed bites him, Stede screams. Full-throated, full-bodied, full-volume screams. Ed scrapes his teeth over his nipples, tugs the hard little peaks between his teeth, and he bites. At first, Ed doesn’t realize Stede is coming, because he already sounded like he was coming for the past ten minutes. But he can’t exactly miss it when splash of Stede’s spend hits him as his co-innkeeper comes all over himself, sobbing all the way through it.
Ed eases up on Stede’s hard-used nipples when he seems to be coming down, gentles him through to the end of what looked like a pretty fucking phenomenal orgasm. “Fuck, you’re beautiful,” Ed mutters, hardly expecting Stede to hear him. He releases Stede’s wrists with a kiss to each one, then reaches between his own legs.
“No.” Ed is surprised to see Stede’s eyes pop open, but even more surprised when he’s hauled bodily down the mattress and flipped over onto his back. Stede wriggles around until he’s kneeling over Ed. “No,” he repeats, “that’s mine.”
“Greedy,” he murmurs affectionately, and Stede hums in agreement before sucking him down. Stede barely gets him in his mouth in time. He spills the first pulse over Stede’s tongue, and then it’s all over him and all over Stede’s face, and Stede’s still licking him and licking him and moaning like it’s him who just got his dick sucked until Ed has to beg him to stop.
Stede crawls back up Ed’s body for a kiss before burying his face in his neck. He’s still moving restlessly, gently rutting his soft cock into Ed’s, dragging his sore nipples over Ed’s wiry chest hair. Ed shivers as the edge of too-much threatens to skitter up his nerves, but breathes through it. Stede’s not so much chasing arousal as indulging in the simple sensuality of their bodies pressed together, unable to let go of the moment. Ed wraps his arms around him and squeezes him tight. Stede sighs and melts into him, still and sated at last.