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The rich scent of sea air filled the cabin of The Revenge, Stede had been woken up by the sound of a closing door. He sat up in his bed, glancing around the captain’s quarters. Edward wasn’t asleep on the sofa. Stede didn’t know whether to follow Ed or go back to sleep. After all the time Ed had been sleeping on Stede’s sofa, he had never gotten up in the night. What if something was wrong?
The blonde man rose from his bed and set out towards the main deck. Nobody was there. Oh god! He thought. What if he left? What if Edward left? The panic that he could’ve taken a dinghy and rowed into the endless sea filled Bonnet’s mind. Would he do that? A gravelly voice interrupted these somber thoughts.
“Stede?” The voice trembled and curled like a writhing flower. Without a doubt, it was the voice of Blackbeard. The leather clad man sat up in the crow’s nest, barely illuminated by the midnight moon.
“Ed! What are you doing?” Stede saw the way the mighty Blackbeard was sitting, curled up with his knees huddled to his chest, rocking in concomitance with the ship. He looked so much smaller than usual. The Gentleman Pirate climbed clumsily up the Jacob’s ladder to join his companion in the crow’s nest. “Edward?”
Ed sniffed, when he looked over at Stede, tearful eyes sparkled in the moonlight. “I had a dream. A nightmare,”
“A nightmare? What kind of nightmare could possibly scare you?” Stede questioned. His eyes locked with Ed’s.
“I… killed you,”
“Oh.”
“There was blood everywhere. Fuckin’ everywhere, man. And Izzy was there. He was laughing. But I wasn’t. I couldn’t. You may be the only real friend I had and I fucking killed you!”
“Edward, I’m still here. I’m not dead. And you said the murder plans were cancelled, right?” Stede looked into his friend‘s eyes nervously.
“They are cancelled, but I still can’t shake that image…” Ed felt a hand cover his own. Stede’s hand. “You’re not scared of me?”
“No, of course not.”
“But I cut all your fingers off. And ran you through, but on the side with all the important bits!” Blackbeard was crying.
“Oh, Ed. My dear friend. My dear dear friend,” Stede’s fingers wrapped themselves around Ed’s hand. The two men just looked at each other for a few moments.
“You said that you wanted to pretend the murder idea never happened and now I’m bringin’ up the bloody murder idea again!” Ed’s voice broke into a sob.
“You’re not bringing the plan back to fruition. It’s okay, really.” Stede wanted to cry too, but he didn’t want to make poor Edward sadder. “Why don’t you head back to sleep. I can assure you’ll feel much better in the morning” Stede smiled. Ed wiped his eyes and squeezed Stede’s hand almost like he was saying thank you . The two climbed down the Jacob’s ladder, Blackbeard was careful to make sure The Gentleman Pirate didn’t fall off. Stede opened the door to the captain’s quarters.
“Do you want to sit together for a bit longer?” Edward’s voice was no longer as shaky. “We don’t have to if you want to sleep, you look a bit tired, mate. But-“
“I’d love to.”
They sat together on Stede’s bed. Quietly. They just existed beside one another. Until Ed laid down. Stede did the same. They turned to face each other and just hugged. Their arms wrapped around each other. This is something that all good friends do, right? They stayed this way until Stede fell asleep, snoring softly. Ed watched him. He didn’t dare move. He didn’t dare wake him again. He soon fell asleep as well.
Lucius came round to find Stede the next morning. He was not surprised by the sight of the two captains cuddling. Not at all.