Chapter Text
Thursday, December 8, 1959
All Ed wanted was to get home and take a shower. He’d had a long day at work, following the test driver around town, snapping photos of the new Ford Galaxie as it plowed over asphalt, sand, you name it. Ed was about a month into a six-month contract with Motor Trend Magazine , and while he wasn’t going to complain about getting paid good money to take pictures of cars all day, he was still getting used to having a boss. And coworkers. And, my God, the traffic! Just getting back to Claremont from Los Angeles was a trial.
His frustration faded a little as he turned down the little tucked-away street that held the little tucked-away house that Ed shared with Stede. Home, and Stede, and a shower- that was what he needed to feel right again.
His frustration rose again when he got close enough to see a familiar beat-up car parked in his driveway. In his spot.
“Lucius,” Ed swore under his breath, seething with resentment as he parked in the street.
Stede’s assistant opened the front door just as Ed reached it. “Edward!” Lucius greeted him with that smirk that seemed permanently stuck on his face. “You must be excited to see the new arrival.”
“Uh?” Ed answered.
“Stede warned me that it was going to be big, but my goodness! I didn’t even realize they made them that size.” Lucius winked and stepped around Ed in the doorway. “I’ll get out of your hair, I guess. I know you and Stede have a night planned and all.”
Ed had no idea what Lucius was talking about. It wasn’t the first time, and it sure wouldn’t be the last. He nodded a distracted goodbye at the young man and stepped into his home.
Oh. Right. That .
A brand-new color television stood proudly in the middle of their living room wall. It dominated the space, with its modern wood console paneling and built-in speakers. It cost a small fortune, more than Ed made in a month- a fact that he and Stede had argued about quite a lot, just a few weeks prior. Stede had won the fight, in the end. Obviously, since the behemoth was already set up and plugged in. There was even a scraggly little potted plant sitting on top of it already. Ed smiled despite himself as he took off his boots, imagining Stede shifting the plant back and forth until he found the perfect spot for it.
He found Stede sitting at his desk in ‘his bedroom’. It was really just his office; the separate bedrooms were a precaution, a pointed nod to propriety. The smartly-made twin bed against the wall had never even been slept in.
Stede only looked up from his papers when Ed cleared his throat. “Darling!” he greeted him, and his look of concentration was replaced with a fond smile.
Four months had passed since Stede dragged Ed onto a train as it was pulling away from Reno. Four long, stressful months, full of apologetic phone calls back to the ranch, endless deliveries of crates from Chicago, fruitless job applications, arguments, and traffic .
But when Stede pressed a kiss to Ed’s cheek, Ed knew he wouldn’t trade the last four months for anything in the world.
“You’re home late,” Stede said, but he wasn’t chiding. “Bad traffic?”
Ed confirmed with a tired grunt.
“Well!” Stede dusted invisible dust off of Ed’s shirt. “Why don’t you go take a shower? You must be dying for one.”
Affection soothed Ed’s chest, and he kissed Stede properly, smooth and slow and deep. “A shower sounds good,” he agreed when they finally parted. Feeling generous, he added, “Saw the television set. Looks nice.”
Stede’s face lit up. “Doesn’t it? I knew you’d like it once you saw it. The broadcast starts at 6:30, so go get yourself clean, love. I’ll get started on supper.”
+++
‘Supper,’ as it turned out, was ham sandwiches with a green salad. Stede wasn’t much in the kitchen yet, that was for sure, but he had learned how to make a reliable French salad dressing. He took great pains, measuring out the ingredients like a mad scientist and whisking them together with joy.
They ate quickly, taking turns griping about their day- Stede was guiding his students through early drafts of their end-of-term papers, apparently- and then Ed washed the dishes as Stede went around and closed all the curtains in their sunny bungalow.
“Oh, I’ve been looking forward to this for ages,” Stede sighed, and he shifted in closer. Ed’s arm raised, almost as a reflex, and settled in around Stede’s shoulders. Ed hadn’t been looking forward to it at all- it sounded impossibly cheesy, a Broadway musical spectacular of Peter Pan , airing in color on NBC- but it made Stede happy, so he might as well bear down and get through it.
He smirked to himself when Stede gasped at Peter Pan’s first appearance. The big false windows at the center of the stage blew open wide, and- well, all right, the wire work was pretty impressive. Soon enough, Peter and the three kids were flying around onstage, singing a song called- get this- I’m Flying . It was interesting on a technical level, but it still wasn’t Ed’s cup of tea.
Things picked up a bit when they got to Never Never Land, and the dastardly Captain Hook arrived on the scene.
“Awh, you call that a pirate?!” Ed sputtered as he took in Captain Hook’s closely-tailored long jacket, shining and bright red. “Pirates didn’t go around all fancy like that. Pirates should be rugged.”
Stede swatted his knee. “He’s not just any old pirate, Ed. He’s Captain Hook! The Captain Hook! He doesn’t have to be rugged- he has a crew to do his dirty work.”
“What sort of pirate is afraid of a little dirty work?” Ed grumbled, but Stede ignored him.
When the next commercial break started, Ed made a run for it. “I’m gonna grab a beer, I think,” he said. “Want anything from the kitchen?”
Stede shook his head. “I’ve got everything I need here.”
It was hard to argue with that.