Work Text:
Stede was sitting on the sofa in his room with a book in his hands. Ed stumbled in holding a bottle.
Stede looked up from his book and smiled. “Hey Ed!”
“Hey yourself, Captain Bookworm.”
“Have you- are you drunk?”
He walked over unsteadily to the sofa. “Pshh, nah, I’m always like this.” He plopped down next to Stede. “Whatcha readin?”
“Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.”
“What’s that about?”
“It’s the most beautiful and tragic love story of all time. Romeo and Juliet’s love is forbidden, but they’re so in love, and so they have to keep their love a secret.”
“Fuck.”
“Yeah.”
Ed swung his legs over the arm of the sofa and rested his head in Stede’s lap.
Stede looked down at him with wide eyes and was met with an innocent, expectant gaze.
After a few moments, Ed said, “Well? Aren’t you gonna read to me?”
“Oh! Sure. I’m up to act 2, so I’ll just summarize what happened so far. So there’s the Capulet family and the Montague family and they hate each other. Romeo is a Montague and Juliet is a Capulet, which is why they can’t be together. They meet at a ball and fall in love at first sight. After the ball, Romeo needs to see Juliet again, so he finds where her window is. And he sees her and says,” Stede cleared his throat, “But, soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.”
He recited Romeo’s monologue with the passion and gusto of someone who was on stage in front of thousands. He ended the monologue as passionately as he had begun, “See, how she leans her cheek upon her hand! O, that I were a glove upon that hand, that I might touch that cheek!”
He heard a small sob and looked at Ed. He had his hand over his eyes and was crying.
“Ed? Whats the matter, what happened?”
Ed sniffled and wiped his eyes. “That was fucking beautiful, mate.”
“That’s Shakespeare!”
“The way you read it, it was like… you were Romeo talking to m- uh, Juliet.”
“That’s acting!”
“Fucking mental.”
“I don’t suppose… you want to try it?”
He looked up at Stede who looked embarrassed by what he had suggested. Ed couldn’t stand to see him like that, especially in his drunken state. “Yeah, man, I’d love to.”
Stede’s face lit up. “Great! You can read for Juliet.”
“Alright. I’ve never acted before, though, so I won’t be good at it.”
“Sure you will! Think of it like a mini fuckery.”
“Oh, okay.” Ed sat up and scooted close to Stede to read the lines. His heart started beating fast as he felt Stede’s body against his.
“Ay me!” He clutched his chest dramatically.
Stede held back a smile. “She speaks,” He continued. “O, speak again, bright angel! for thou art as glorious to this night, being o'er my head as is a winged messenger of heaven unto the white-upturned wondering eyes of mortals that fall back to gaze on him when he bestrides the lazy-pacing clouds and sails upon the bosom of the air.”
Ed couldn’t take his eyes off of Stede. He looked so passionate and focused and… beautiful. Ed started feeling lightheaded. It was really like Stede was saying all of those beautiful things to him. Usually he could control his feelings around Stede, but not when he was drunk. Why did he decide to come to Stede’s room drunk in the first place? He tried to steady himself before his lines.
“O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name; or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, and I'll no longer be a Capulet.”
“That was great!” Stede exclaimed.
“Really? I thought I fucked it up.”
“No, it was brilliant! Are you sure you never acted before?”
“No never! I guess it just… feels real so it’s… easy to say those things, you know?”
“Wow, so you’re a natural actor! Is there anything you can’t do, Ed?”
Ed rested his head on Stede’s shoulder and sighed. “Yeah, there’s plenty I can’t do.”
“Oh yeah? Name one thing you can’t do.”
Without thinking, Ed rested his hand on Stede’s leg and rubbed his thumb in little circles on his thigh.
“Like… well, I guess… I can’t be positive all the time like you.”
“Oh… I- I’m not- not positive all the time, I mean, you know sometimes, things aren’t good so I’m not positive then.”
Ed smiled. Stede was so cute when he got flustered. Wait… had he made Stede flustered?
Ed looked at him; their faces were inches away from each other. “What about right now? Are you positive now?”
Stede was looking at him with wide eyes. He swallowed hard. “I… I am.” He rested his hand on top of Ed’s.
“Me too.”
Ed leaned in and kissed him softly. He expected Stede to pull away, but he kissed him back. Ed smiled into the kiss. It was warm and lovely and his heart was pounding as if he were in the middle of a battle. Stede ran his hand through Ed’s hair and Ed put his hand on Stede’s cheek and gently rubbed it with his thumb. He never wanted to pull away.
After some moments of pure bliss, Stede gently pulled away. “W-wow.”
Ed beamed at him.
“You- you’re a really good actor.”
Ed’s smile faded. “What?”
“The-the kiss. Because we were playing Romeo and Juliet.”
“Oh… right…”
“S-so, should I read more?”
“Actually I’m really tired, so, I’m gonna go to bed.” He got up off the sofa and headed to the door.
“Oh… okay. Well… sleep well!”
“Yeah, good night.” He said as he walked out the door.
He felt like the world was moving in slow motion as he made his way to the deck. He stood at the helm of the ship and wiped any tears that dared come out of his eyes.
“Of course he doesn’t like you like that,” he muttered to himself, “who are you kidding? You’re just friends. Friends.”
But he thought about how passionately Stede had kissed him back. How he had run his fingers through his hair…
“No he’s just a good actor. A really good actor. The kiss didn’t mean anything. It was just… fuckery.” He felt light headed again and steadied himself on the railing. He scoffed. “Look at the dread pirate Blackbeard now.”