Work Text:
"What?" Stede asked, brows arching as he met Ed's extended gaze from the other end of the couch. The weight of Ed’s dark, steady eyes felt heavy in the best way, like a thick blanket wrapped snugly around Stede’s shoulders, perfectly reassuring compression and warmth. "You're staring, is there something on my face?" He rubbed his thumb at the corner of his mouth self-consciously, the amethyst ring he’d been admiring flashing in the candlelight.
"Nothing on it, just your face," Ed said, expression soft and surpassingly fond as he studied Stede, lingering on his lips slightly longer than on the rest of his curious expression, his quizzical eyes and the lines across his forehead. "Your lovely, expressive face."
"Psh," Stede dismissed the compliment, averting his gaze back to the jewelry box between them, full of trinkets and treasures from Ed's years of piracy that he'd been sorting through with great interest. Ed had no regard for the bright metal and shining jewels he’d brought out for Stede’s enjoyment; his eyes were only for his co-captain. "I think you've had enough to drink tonight, if you're calling me lovely."
"Don't 'psh' me, Bonnet," Ed said playfully. "Don't need a drop in me to recognize your beauty, just to speak it aloud." He reached over to catch Stede under the chin with one finger, tilting his face back up for continued appreciation. "You pull focus to your posh clothes and your fancy manners, as if what's valuable about you is the setting and not the absolute gem you are in and of yourself."
"I'm hardly—" Stede went silent when Ed crossed his lips with the rough pad of his thumb, flushing pearl-pink to match the necklace currently woven through Stede's fingers as his objection was peremptorily stifled.
"You're a rare and priceless treasure, Stede," Ed said, quiet and firm, the low rumble of his voice brooking no disagreement, "the only one of your kind, and if I'm the sole soul who recognizes your worth, then I'll be damned if I don't make sure you know it beyond a shadow of your own doubts."
Stede's eyes went wide, the flicker of candlelight sending brightness through his brandy-dark gaze. His cut-off denial of Ed’s admiration caught in his throat, silencing him until he swallowed it down and croaked, "Well, I suppose if anyone knows about treasure, it'd be you..."
"Exactly! Trust me, I'm the expert, and in my expert opinion, you're more beautiful and more precious than this whole box of baubles put together." Ed nudged the jewelry box between them with his knee, not intending to upset it, and not sparing a glance down as it spilled its contents across the settee and to the floor, gems and gold sparkling as they scattered across Stede's bare feet. The sight of delicate chains draped over his pale arches wasn’t enticing enough to draw Ed’s focus from the liquid depths of Stede’s intoxicating eyes.
Stede's lashes dipped as he looked down with a soft sound of startlement at the cool touch of fine metal and precious stones against his skin, and stayed low when he looked back up at Ed. The protests that couldn’t make it out of his mouth still clamored in his mind— you're nothing, not worth a second glance, useless spoiled rich boy, a gaudy garish spectacle— but they were growing quieter by the second with Ed's steady, solicitous gaze rapt at the sight of him. Ed's broad hand cupped his cheek reverently, thumb brushing up and down the gold of Stede's sideburn in a most disarming fashion, pacifying Stede’s doubts until their ruthless grip slackened and Ed’s hold on him was the only one that mattered. "I defer to your expertise," he breathed, allowing himself to tilt into Ed’s touch.
"About time, mate!" Ed replied, the quirk of his smirk hidden in his beard until he leaned in to remove the distance between them and meet the lips he'd been staring at all night.
Stede inhaled sharply, freezing for a split second before he melted into the kiss, the blissful silence where his constant mental self-deprecation usually yammered more than convincing him that letting Ed have his way could only be to the benefit of them both. If the man was mad enough to count Stede as more precious than a lifetime of plunder, if he was so devout in his need to convince Stede of his incalculable worth, then the only reasonable reaction Stede could take was to allow Ed to treasure him just as dearly as he clearly intended.