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I.
The crew of the merchant vessel they had boarded was fighting back much harder than anticipated. Blackbeard’s crew was beginning to falter in their fight and Blackbeard himself was about ready to give in.
He should have guessed it would end up like this eventually. Months of going on raid after violent raid, barely stopping long enough at ports to get supplies, not to mention him being piss drunk and an emotional wreck all the time. Honestly it was a surprise his crew hadn’t crumbled sooner.
Blackbeard was about to yell the order for retreat, before they lost any more men, but noticed a sudden increase in bodies. Fortunately, these newcomers were assisting in capturing or killing the remaining merchants. Unfortunately, this usually meant that said newcomers were going to turn on his men next. He moved into action now that the crew of the raided ship was being dealt with.
His sword in his hand, Blackbeard lunged for the nearest (new) invader, gripping their arm, hooking his leg behind theirs, and turning them around, pinning them to the deck with a boot to the chest and his sword to their neck. The man yelped and held his hands up next to his face, wincing up at his attacker.
“..Swede?”
Blackbeard kept his position, swiveling his head around with furrowed brows. He noticed more than just the familiar face at the point of his sword. Jim was tightly embracing Oluwande, Wee John was holding Izzy down on the floor of the ship, and Roach was finishing tying up some hostages. Blackbeard assumed those he didn’t see on the merchant vessel must be sneaking back onto The Revenge to take it back. Attempt to, anyway. It wouldn’t be much of an issue to take care of them if they wanted to try to commandeer the ship.
Blackbeard took his sword away from the Swede’s neck and his boot off his torso. He started toward Oluwande to demand some answers. He was usually the one who knew what was going on out of that bunch. He barely registered the thunk that indicated someone else had boarded the boat behind him.
“Ed.”
He froze. Everyone on board got deathly quiet and turned to look at the person who spoke. Some shifted their gazes to Ed after a few moments to gauge his reaction.
“...Edward?”
He clenched his jaw and balled up his fists, hearing footsteps start moving toward him. His breathing was getting quicker and more shallow. His heart was pounding. He whipped himself around when he felt a hand ghost his shoulder.
There he was. Not dead.
Not dead. Ed thought. He’s alive. And he’s here. Really?
He suppressed any emotions he felt from that revelation deep, deep inside of himself. However, it only served to bring his anger, frustration, and general upset at the man in front of him promptly bubbling to the surface.
“Stede. Bonnet.” Blackbeard gritted out through clenched teeth.
“Oh, Ed, I am so terribly sorry. I’ve been trying to find you for so long. Please, if you’d let me-”
“I don’t want to hear it.”
“Bu-”
“You abandoned me! How could you think I would forgive you for that?” Ed felt himself tearing up and turned his face away.
“I don’t expect forgiveness, I just want to apologize,” Stede stepped forward.
If looks could kill, there would certainly be a dead man in front of Ed at the moment. Stede cleared his throat. He clearly got the message to stop moving for the moment, so he straightened his posture instead.
“I would also like to request an apology from you on behalf of my crew. Not for me, but for them.”
Ed looked up, glaring. “What?”
“You marooned most of them, tried to kill Lucius, and kidnapped Jim and Frenchie. I mean, honestly Edward. I understand you being upset at me. I do! I just don’t get the behavior toward them!” Stede huffed, gesturing toward the group behind them.
Tried to kill Lucius? He’s alive? Ed felt a bit of relief with that throw away statement, but quickly felt even more anger bubbling up from the general request of Stede’s.
“You lied to me Stede! You threw me away.”
“I never lied to you, Ed! If you would just let me explain,”
“I thought you died!”
“I’m sorry. Please give me a chance,” his eyes had a look of desperation in them that Ed wanted to ignore. Stede stepped closer, delicately placing a hand on the other’s arm. Blackbeard glared at it.
“Please,” Stede whispered.
There was a quiet tension for a few moments, Blackbeard glancing behind himself at the crew, back to Stede, then to the hand gently gripping his leather sleeve. He finally closed his eyes after a while, coming to a decision.
“Fine. You and the crew can come back to The Revenge.” he mumbled.
Stede let out a sigh of relief. The crew had evidently heard as they began to have little, mini celebrations. Izzy began to yell expletives of varying intensity and with quite a wide range of creativity, seeming intent on trying to dampen the mood. After a brief minute, they started moving through the merchant vessel and dealing with the hostages.
“Thank you, Ed,” Stede looked up at Blackbeard from the hand he still had on his arm. “I missed you.”
Ed looked at him, still feeling the pit of rage, grief, and frustration within himself. Now, though, he felt waves of despair beginning to lap at the edges of his psyche, all the while that familiar fluttering still lingered deep underneath it all.
“Fuck you, Bonnet.”
Ed wrenched his arm out of his hand, leaving the man behind.
II.
It had been about a month since Stede and the original crew of The Revenge had come back aboard.
Things were going rather smoothly and everyone was back on their regular routine again. The crew had (mostly) worked out their issues with Blackbeard after making him apologize. Perhaps, also, sitting down to watch their talent show that he had so rudely cancelled due to a combination marooning, kidnapping, and attempted murder.
As for him and Stede, they had tentatively reinstated the roles of Stede as sole captain and Blackbeard as a guest. Ed had shed his Kraken persona about a week into the reintegration, but hadn’t yet fully been able to go back to just Edward.
Stede clearly didn’t mind much, Ed had noticed. He would’ve been blind not to. From the tea he was brought every morning, “Just how you like it,” Stede would smile at him as he passed him the cup. To the trinkets Stede would buy him when they stopped at port. Of course, they perfectly suited Ed’s taste. He wouldn’t be caught dead admitting it to him, though. He was still pissed. Obviously. Not to mention Stede moved where he told stories to the crew to right outside the captain’s quarters, where Ed could hear from his sleeping spot on the (new) chaise. They had been working to refurnish the cabin as much as possible since Ed’s…episode. It was another thing Stede was doing. Asking Ed his input on decoration, saying in one way or another that it was their shared space so they both should like it.
Ed would have appreciated the gestures if he wasn’t trying so hard to ignore that incessant fluttering of his heart that presented itself whenever it came to Stede. He was supposed to be upset at this man. Not. Not…Blushing at his flirtations over afternoon tea. Blackbeard didn’t forgive and forget so easily just because some beautiful man showed him love and tenderness.
This couldn’t continue. He needed to do something.
“Hey Stede, we gotta talk” Ed said one afternoon, as Stede was bringing in tea and a few small snacks.
“Oh, Edward. Of course! What can I do for you?” Stede sat at the chair opposite the chaise Ed was on and took a sip from his cup.
“So, look mate, I get that things aren’t,” Ed scratched at his beard that was growing in. “that we aren't, uh, y’know. So. You don’t need to try so hard.” He grimaced. Smooth.
“I don’t think I follow? I mean, not the you and me part.” Stede looked like a kicked puppy. Ed would be lying if he said it didn’t feel like a stab to his gut that made him want to cave on his plans for this conversation. Fortunately for himself, he was a notorious liar. A pretty damn good one too.
“Ah, I just mean all the nice things, y’know? The stories, the tea, the gifts. Decorating. You don’t need to do that stuff, Stede.”
“But,” Stede sighed. He got up from his seat and went to sit next to Ed. “ But . Edward. I want to do those things. I know my apologies and my explanations can only do so much, but I don’t do these things for forgiveness.”
Ed looked at Stede’s hand as it gently settled on his knee. He breathed deeply. This was not going the way he wanted it to. Stede had already broken through about half of his layers of negative emotions about the entire situation by telling him exactly what had happened. Now he was making it even more difficult to maintain his mask of “Blackbeard” or at the very least “not Ed” by being, well, Stede.
“Ed, I do nice things for you because you deserve them. Because I am genuinely sorry and want to make it up to you. And,” Stede held Ed’s hand. “Because I love you. Truly Ed.”
Ed inhaled, trying to stay calm and collected. He looked up at Stede through his lashes.
“I love you Edward Teach. You deserve good things”
Ed shook his head, ripping his gaze away.
“We’re just not those kind of people.” Rang out in his head. He wished he could run further than the crow’s nest.
III.
Izzy was being, to use his own words, an absolute twat. Not that it was unusual for him, but he was acting much worse than normal. Ed was getting tired of it.
“Izzy, what the fuck is your problem today? Huh? Someone take a piss in your breakfast or somethin’?” Ed finally snapped after the first mate spat on the deck right in front of Lucius, who just explained he had finished up swabbing it.
“Wasn’t really clean anyway, Captain. Didn’t add much work for him.”
“You can’t be serious, Iz. You are being such a dick.”
“Oh please, this is hardly up to standard. You would never let this slide. Or you never fucking used to.” Izzy moved back over to where Ed was, abandoning his spot in front of a seething Lucius.
“Don’t start, Izzy.” Ed gripped the spot of the rail next to himself.
“I thought we discussed you softening up,” Izzy cocked his head to the side, plastering a smirk on his face. “I thought I said to watch your fucking step, Edward. ” He spat out the name like it was dirty.
Ed was glaring daggers down at the man, his nostrils flaring. He had to do something, but he didn’t want to fall back into the persona he tried so hard to shed. That demonic pirate everyone, including Izzy apparently, saw him as. It wouldn’t do anything but make himself and the crew suffer, and give Izzy some weird, sick satisfaction and power over him.
Ed closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He opened them and Izzy was gone. Well, not really. Stede had him pinned up against the railing parallel to the helm, arm against his throat.
“How dare you speak to your captain like that, Izzy? You think you have any authority to be speaking like that to him?” Stede growled out. Izzy squirmed a bit, trying to get a grip on something to move himself out from under Stede’s grasp.
“Answer me,” Stede spat out. “Who gave you the authority to talk to your captain like that? To threaten him? You think you have the right to do that?”
“N-no.” Izzy gasped out.
Stede pushed away from the railing and Izzy was thrown to the deck, coughing. He looked at the smaller man with pure disdain. His gaze then shifted to Ed, softening.
“Come on,” Stede beckoned him. Ed hesitantly followed the man to their shared quarters. He found the crew’s lack of shock at the outburst surprising.
When did Stede learn that shit? What the hell was he doing when we were separated?
Ed was confused, but also heavily impressed. Impressed was definitely the only word he wanted to put to the way he felt seeing Stede act like that. Yeah. Definitely.
“I cannot believe that pathetic little man. He is absolutely awful.” Stede huffed when the door to the captain’s quarters shut. He paced near the bookshelves.
“Yeah, he is. But that’s just Izzy, mate. He’s always been kind of a dick.” Ed eased onto a chair.
“He’s more than that, Edward! He threatened you! Has he done that before?” Stede stopped pacing and turned to him, a look of concern plastered on his face.
“Well, when I was having a hard time after,” Ed winced and started picking at a thread on a cushion on the chair. “Uh, after I came back from the privateering academy, he kind of said something similar. Maybe a bit more too. It’s what started me on my…spiral.”
Stede was very quiet. Ed didn’t look up from his cushion.
“What was the ‘bit more’?” Stede asked softly after a moment.
“He said he should’ve let the English kill me. That it was better than me becoming soft, becoming ‘Edward’, becoming some ‘namby-pamby pining for his boyfriend’,” Ed scoffed. He glanced up, but Stede looked anything but amused. He looked pissed, in fact. Absolutely furious.
“Maybe we should reconsider Mr. Hands’ tenure aboard this vessel.”
Ed was taken aback. Was Izzy a truly strange, pathetic, and horrible little man? Yes. But he had been with Ed through everything. He was his first mate. He was loyal. He would do anything for Ed. Well, okay, maybe he would do anything for Blackbeard , but Izzy was dumb enough to not really know the difference. Sure, he threatened him a couple times, but that was easy to straighten out.
Stede just didn’t understand. He hadn’t been pirating long enough. You don’t find loyalty like that in their profession. He’d gotten freakishly lucky with the crew he found.
“Absolutely not, Stede. I wouldn’t get rid of Izzy just like that.”
“Ed, he’s an awful person. Look at what he did to you! And he’s trying to force it to happen again!”
“That’s rich, Stede. You know, at least Izzy was here. He wouldn’t lie to me and then abandon me. He would at least stick with me to the end. Wouldn’t toss me to the side to go back to his old life.” Stede clenched his jaw at Ed’s remarks, his eyes getting teary.
“Maybe you should think again about why the English showed up in the first place.” Stede quickly turned, letting the door close loudly as he walked into a different room, leaving Ed alone.
Ed sat there, gripping the cushion. He buried his face in it and let out a scream. He could only hope it was sufficiently muffled.
How did this used to be so easy?
IV.
Stede had led the crew on quite a successful raid earlier in the day.
They had come away with plenty of loot, nabbed some supplies, and made their escape with practically no injuries. Well, practically no injuries on their end.
It was evening now and the crew was starting up a celebration in honor of their valiant efforts from the day. Roach had made some pastries in addition to the usual rations, and of course plenty of rum was brought out. Frenchie pulled out his lute to provide music at some point, Wee John pulled out a small drum, and a few new men that had stayed on from Blackbeard’s crew joined in with a flute and tambourine to liven up the music even more.
Everyone seemed to be in an excellent mood. They were drinking, dancing, talking, laughing, and just generally enjoying the night and the afterglow of their success. Everyone except for their captain and…captain…?
Blackbeard sure acted like he was a co-captain again, at this point anyway, and Stede did too. The official status was still “guest” though. The crew also understood that regardless of their actions in previous weeks, there was clearly some type of heavy tension between them again. That was typically how it worked with unresolved arguments and bad communication.
The two hadn’t made up from the fight after Stede’s altercation with Izzy. They had barely talked after it. It was driving Edward crazy. He felt like he had fucked everything up after things were just starting to get better again.
Usually he’d have company in his brooding during celebrations like this, but the crew had pushed Izzy up to watch the helm. Plus, he didn’t particularly feel like talking to Izzy recently anyway. Stede was right, he was a massive dickhead. Is a massive dickhead. He’d just been through a lot, hopefully being in the more relaxed environment of The Revenge would make him gain one single ounce of chill.
Ed would much rather be spending his time not being in a pissy mood, sitting and drinking alone on the stairs, and possibly hanging out with a certain blonde-haired and newly bearded pirate captain instead. Unfortunately, he was too stubborn to do anything about their communication stalemate. He could only hope his occasional glance toward Stede would somehow telepathically get the message across that he was sorry, which would then make everything return to how it was before their spat. That wasn’t really working out for him, though.
Speaking of glances toward Stede. Ed moved his gaze from the knife he was fiddling with over to the railing of the ship where the other man was gazing wistfully at the ocean. Or at least he was ten minutes ago.
Stede was wrapped up in a hushed conversation with Lucius. His brow was furrowed, arms crossing and uncrossing, head doing that small jerk to the side every so often.
He’s frustrated. Ed thought. What about? How the hell should he know? They hadn’t fucking talked in over a week.
Lucius turned over his shoulder. Ed’s eyes quickly shot back down, suddenly very interested in his knife’s hilt. He gazed up through his lashes after a quick beat, trying to not make his spying too obvious.
Now Stede was looking his way, saying something to a very, very unamused Lucius. The boy rolled his eyes and shook his head. The last thing Ed saw before looking back down again was Stede visibly protesting something and Lucius pinching the bridge of his nose, cradling his elbow with the other arm.
Before he had time to think about checking on them again, there were two pairs of feet in front of him. One was slightly behind the other and a voice weakly said “I don’t thi-” before getting cut off.
“Go on then, Captain.” Lucius pushed Stede to the front a bit more, hands on either side of his shoulders.
Ed was glancing between them silently, suspiciously. Stede cleared his throat.
“G-good evening, Edward.” Stede smiled nervously.
“Evening, mate.” Ed acknowledged him. He picked up the bottle of rum next to him and took a swig.
Stede turned his head to look at Lucius. The boy just gave his shoulders a squeeze and a “ go on with it ” look. He glared down at Ed when Stede turned back around. That relationship hadn’t quite been repaired yet.
“I was wondering if you would like to dance with me?” Stede glanced away as Ed cocked his head and raised an eyebrow. “Of course you don’t have to, I just wanted to offer. The music is nice, and I just thought…It’d be nice…is all. That’s it.” Stede visibly deflated throughout his short few sentences, only glancing back at Edward at the end.
Lucius shook his head, patting one of his shoulders and walking away to give the two a moment alone. Ed stared at Stede for a moment, holding his gaze. They hadn’t talked nearly at all and all of a sudden he wanted to dance ? Fucking dance? They hadn’t even gotten back to their casual morning breakfasts for god’s sake.
Edward took another swig of rum, staring at Stede, who was currently, suddenly, completely and totally fascinated by the end of his belt.
Fuck it.
“Yeah ok.” Ed said, sheathing his knife and setting the bottle down.
“Yeah?” Stede’s gaze shot up, belt left to hang loosely once again.
“Yeah, why not. None of that posh, fancy people shit, though.”
“Sure. I’m not sure I know any piratey type dances though.”
“That’s alright, mate. I can show you.”
Ed stood up, stretching a bit. He led the way to the part of the deck where the crew was dancing and playing music, trying his best to not let Stede’s huge smile affect him.
And show him, he did. Ed taught Stede a few simple “piratey type dances” as the man had put it. He caught on rather quickly, expressing that he enjoyed learning these much more than a waltz or a minuet. The pair danced for quite a while, stopping in between their rounds only a few times to rest for a bit and drink some rum.
At a certain point in the night, things began to die down. Or more accurately, most of the crew was either too drunk or too tired to continue on with festivities. Ed and Stede weren’t that far gone but decided to remove themselves. They made their way to the bow, where they could talk in private.
“Thank you for accepting my invitation tonight, Ed. And for teaching me.” Stede leaned onto the railing next to his companion.
“Ah, don’t mention it, mate. S’just dancing.” Ed picked at a spot on the wood that was beginning to splinter.
The two were quiet for a while. Stede leaning his back against the rail, staring up at the stars, Ed continuing to pull up small pieces of wood, their arms gently brushing up against each other every so often.
“Hey, Stede?”
“Yes, Ed?”
“I, uh,” Ed cleared his throat, scratching deeper into the wood. “I’m sorry for all that shit I said. It was fucked up. I shouldn’t have said it.”
“I should say the same. I think we both said some things we shouldn’t have.”
Stede turned to Ed. Ed stood slowly, dragging his gaze up to meet the other’s. Stede smiled at him. Relief flooded through Edward, but something else was slowly nipping at the edges of him. Certainly there was that ever-present fluttery feeling, but something else was there too.
“Maybe we could just. Move forward?” Stede asked softly.
Ed looked down at his hand, where the other man had moved to gently grasp it. He nodded slowly.
“Yeah. I think I’d like that.”
“Oh, Edward.”
Stede moved his hand to cup the dark-haired man’s cheek.
“I love you, you know?” He gave that soft, half smile. That beautiful little smile that Ed loved. But it all still hurt too much.
He felt himself tearing up. He couldn’t cry, not in front of Stede. Not now. Not when they were finally getting back to some type of normal.
Ed turned away. He tried to ignore the quiet, sad sound that Stede made. Ed’s hand stayed in his, caressing his fingers when he eventually took it away. He returned to the rest of the crew to wrap up the celebration officially. Hopefully his lingering touch was enough. It was all he could give at the moment.
V.
After a few successful raids, The Revenge had gained a fair amount of loot. The decision was made to make port so that the crew could get some shore leave and utilize their share of the spoils from this round of their piracy. They also needed to restock on some supplies, so it seemed the perfect opportunity.
Ed was making his way around a marketplace and deciding if anything was worth his time buying. Or, alternatively, if there were any people who seemed worth it to try to corral into an alleyway to rob. He wasn’t seeing anything particularly interesting, until he caught a glimpse of a familiar set of blonde curls.
He should have guessed Stede would come to the marketplace, especially one with a bunch of clothing, textiles, and knick-knacks. It was right up his alley.
Ed followed him for a while, of course he wouldn’t admit he was following Stede around. No. He was looking at the stall selling embroidered scarves which just so happened to be two down from the stall Stede was at. Then he was looking at some perfumes, close to where Stede was bartering about the price of a set of books. It was a complete coincidence that Ed was interested in the things that followed the same path his fellow pirate was on.
As he was very thoroughly examining a table of jewelry, he heard someone pull up next to him.
“I think those would suit a fearsome pirate captain-type rather well.” A finger pointed at a pair of tear-drop shaped rubies that dangled off of small golden hoops.
“You do, do you?” Ed looked at the blonde next to him, smirking.
“I do! And I’ve been told I have an eye for these types of things, you know?” Stede shifted his gaze away from the earrings and smiled at Ed. Ed gazed down at the table, spying a pair of small, light blue studs inlaid in gold.
“I reckon that those would suit a gentlemanly-type, myself.” Ed pointed.
Stede hummed. He looked thoughtfully at the studs. He even picked them up, turning them around in his hand and looking at them quite closely and at different angles before putting them down again.
“You may be onto something there.” He said, pinching his earlobe. Ed stared at him, eyes wide.
“You’d pierce your ears just ‘cause I said some jewelry would suit you?”
“I figure it’d at least help the more piratey image I’m cultivating.” Stede shrugged, smirking.
“That’s fucking mental. You are such a fool, Stede Bonnet.” He scoffed and shook his head as he walked off.
When he boarded the ship again that evening, he found a small box on the table next to the chaise where he was, again, spending his nights. Inside it were two golden hoops with a red jewel dangling off of each one.
The next day, when Ed woke up, he saw Stede sporting his new set of earrings at breakfast.
The lunatic actually fucking did it.
Of course, he eventually ended up vocalizing his support for the new jewelry. It was masked in an arrogant “I told you so” manner of speaking, but Stede understood and he appreciated it all the same.
Stede was about to return an “I told you so,” but only saw the usual silver sword dangling within the salt and pepper curls. He decided not to mention the earrings.
+VI.
Izzy Hands had run the ship aground.
“Oh. Don’t you worry. It happens to everyone. Remember when we first met? My ship had run aground then, and it turned out just fine in the end.” Stede tried to comfort the man, but only managed to make him angrier.
Their brief exchange ended with Stede feeling slightly offended and Izzy’s spittle on his cheek.
“Yeah, mate. Iz doesn’t take too well to encouragement and a positive attitude when he’s fucked something up. Let me handle this.” Ed patted Stede’s shoulder and walked toward his first mate.
Izzy was glaring at the exposed keel of The Revenge as if he could will it off the sandbar and into deeper waters with his mind alone.
Ed took a deep breath. He didn’t particularly want to deal with the man’s dickishness at the moment but he was probably the only one who could. And, to Izzy’s credit, he seemed to be putting at least a tiny bit of effort into being better in the past few months.
“You know the boat’s not gonna be intimidated back into the water, yeah?” Ed stepped up next to the smaller man, squinting up at the unicorn figurehead.
“I fucking know,” he forced out between his clenched teeth. His brows furrowed deeper, which Ed didn’t think was possible. He was honestly kind of impressed.
“Look. Iz. I know you’re pissed at yourself. Honestly, you should be, I’m not gonna lie to you and say that it’s okay that you ran the ship aground,” Ed looked down at Izzy. “But, we do have plenty of rations for the time being and I know that you’ll fix your mess.”
“I will, boss. Promise.”
“Good.” Ed clapped Izzy on the back, leaving the man to sulk by himself.
Stede had told the crew they could take another vacation until they were ready to get the ship back into the water. So, most of them were messing around at the moment. Ed decided to hang out with some of the crew who were trying to race turtles. He made a few bets, and won some useless trinkets.
As the day went on, the men were getting drunker, Wee John had broken out some fireworks they’d stolen off a ship a few weeks back, and Ed had gotten bored of gambling the same few items back and forth. He was starting to get that all too familiar, restless feeling gnawing at every last part of his brain.
Earlier he had seen Stede enter a bit of the forest on the island they were on.
Probably on a nature walk. Maybe looking for some cool foliage. Or insects. Ed thought. That suddenly sounded much more interesting to him than being around a bunch of drunk people. He made his way toward the part of jungle where Stede had gone.
Ed wasn’t the best at tracking, by any means, but he knew the basics. Stede also wasn’t incredibly delicate, so it made it easy for him. There were broken twigs on the forest floor and clearly disturbed areas of brush that Ed followed. Plus, there were several different striking flowers and interesting plants on the path he was trekking. Ed could almost hear Stede oohing and ahhing at them. He’d probably rattle off facts, cursing himself that he didn’t drag Lucius along to take notes and sketch everything they found. He smiled at the thought.
After a few minutes Ed could hear the faint trickle of a stream. After making his way past a few more bushes he found his way to it. As he suspected, Stede was there as well. The blonde was enraptured by a flower on the other side of it, facing away from where Ed was. He scuffed his foot a bit and cleared his throat to announce his presence to the man.
“Oh! Ed! What a pleasant surprise.” Stede beamed after he turned around and noticed him.
“Hey. Whatcha lookin’ at over there?” Ed craned his neck to try to see better.
“Ah, why don’t you come see? It’s quite interesting!” Stede waved him over, patting the ground next to him after Ed hopped over the small stream.
He plopped himself down and Stede started listing off facts about the flower to Ed, discussing all kinds of things about it. Its meaning in flower language, the other flowers in its species, and how it coexists with the other animals and insects around it. Ed listened with complete fascination. His gaze at some point shifting from the flowers on the bush to Stede.
He was so earnestly interested in sharing his knowledge with Ed, and Ed was perfectly happy to take it in. His expression softened as he watched Stede list more facts about plants. He’d long since moved on from the plant in front of them, having spiraled into a tangent.
Ed realized, then, that he had been doomed to fall for the man again from the second he stepped back onto the ship. In fact, he didn’t think he ever truly stopped loving Stede Bonnet. Despite his anger, and his heartbreak, and the lingering pain he still felt at times, he knew that he couldn’t have stayed away from him forever.
Ed’s eyes were pulled back to the bush as Stede went to touch one of the flowers. Stede glanced up at Ed briefly, then plucked one. He reached up, tucking the purple blossom behind his ear.
“There we go,” Stede said, smiling. He caressed Ed’s hair before letting his hand down. “Beautiful.”
Ed scoffed, “Nah.” He looked down at his hands in his lap.
Stede shook his head and gently cupped Ed’s cheek, guiding him to look up. The two stared at each other for a moment.
“Edward. You are absolutely perfect.” Stede whispered.
Ed’s breath shuddered. Stede’s eyes were dead serious. They were pleading, desperate, and most of all loving. Longing.
Ed was trying to grapple with the intimacy of it all. They were alone. Not in a room with a dozen men milling about above them, below them, and outside the door. No. They were alone in this forest and Stede was taking advantage of it.
Ed felt the tears right before they fell.
“Oh, darling.” Stede choked out. He pulled Edward into his arms, the man falling into the blonde’s chest.
Ed finally let everything go. Everything that had been building for months since Stede got back. Everything from before then. Stede caressed his hair, pet up and down his back. He shushed him, reassured him. He gave him gentle kisses on the top of his head. Ed felt a few extra tears land on his cheek.
They sat there together for a while. Releasing all the built up tension they’d accumulated. Not saying anything other than an occasional “it’s okay” or “I’m sorry.”
Eventually, Ed leaned away. He sat up carefully and wiped his nose on his sleeve. He glanced at Stede, whose eyes were slightly wet and red. Stede smiled gently at him. One of his hands was still on Ed’s shoulder and he gave it a gentle squeeze. Ed moved to grab Stede’s other hand, their fingers quickly lacing together.
“I-” Stede started to speak.
He stopped when Ed reached up to cup his face with his free hand. The two jerked forward, stopping momentarily before following through.
The kiss had none of the urgency of their first one that they had shared on the beach. This one was slow, calm, deep.
The two parted. Ed rested his forehead against Stede’s, breathing in.
The two were so close, they were practically in each other’s laps. Legs tangled together, hands grasping arms and cupping faces.
“I’m sorry I’ve been such a dick.” Ed whispered.
“I’m sorry too.”
“I love you, Stede.”
Stede pulled back a bit so he could really look at the person across from him. Ed stared into his eyes. Stede teared up again and smiled that sweet, small half smile.
“I love you, Edward.” He said.
The two sat there, holding each other, affirming their feelings, kissing occasionally, listening to the soft trickle of the stream next to them for a little while longer.
Ed finally felt free again. Safe, content, home.