Work Text:
Ed sighed. No one ever remembered his birthday anymore. June 21st. The wooden floorboards creaked under his feet. He stepped out of his cabin. Fang nearly smacked him.
“Fuck Fang,” he said. “Why are you running through the halls like a demon’s chasin’ you?” he inquired, somewhat angrily. He was not a morning person and hated being woken up early. Especially on his birthday. “And what are these ribbons for?” he asked, confused. There were a whole lot of them, and they were in some pretty random colors, red, purple, and baby blue.
Fang stopped and shifted his weight. “Frenchie wanted ‘em,” he said quickly. “Stede wants a new robe.”
Ed’s heart jumped when Fang said Stede’s name. Stop it! He told himself that every time, but it never worked. “Carry on,” Ed said reluctantly. He doubted that a fancy new robe was really what those ribbons were for, but he didn’t really care. If it made Stede happy, then he was okay with it.
Ugh. He walked out on deck into the usual chaos. Black Pete being piggy-backed by Wee John. Buttons with his weird seagull. (Ed always forgot its name.) Frenchie playing his guitar thing. Roach cooking something that looked remotely like steak. Izzy was writing in a book. It looked like he was crossing words out and writing them back in again. When Ed got close, Izzy hid it underneath a box.
“What ya got there, Izzy?” he asked.
“Nothing,” said Izzy very unconvincingly. Ed stared at him suspiciously, then shrugged and nodded. He had to find Stede. Stede would tell him what was going on.
He found Stede in his cabin, reading a book about old Roman shit. He seemed to be very interested in it. He didn’t notice Ed enter the room. “Hey,” Ed said, and Stede looked up from his book.
“Hello, Ed,” he said. “This book is very interesting. Did you know that Romans let cats wander anywhere?” Stede said, clearly enjoying telling Ed that. Ed looked at Stede, his cute blonde hair, his blue eyes. Ed really wanted, what exactly? Oh, right. He had to ask what Fang and Izzy were doing.
“Hey, Stede?” Ed asked gently, sitting down next to him on the couch. Stede looked up, shifting nonchalantly so their legs touched.
“Yes?” Stede said in his aristocratic, honeyed voice.
“Izzy and Fang were doing weird things today. Do you know anything about that?”
Stede looked surprised, then looked away from Ed, at the floor. “I can’t tell you, I’m sorry,” he said in such a quiet voice Ed could barely hear him.
Ed stood up in a rage. “Well if you won’t fucking tell me, then I guess no one fucking will!” he yelled, throwing his hands into the air and stomping out of the room.
“Ed, wait!” Stede called desperately. Ed almost did, he almost turned around. But he didn’t. He went back to his cabin and slammed the door, then locked it. He exhaled and went to lay down on his bed. No matter how much sleep he got, he was always tired. He fell asleep a few minutes later.
“Ed?” someone said. Ed snapped his eyes open to find Stede’s face above his. For a second, he thought Stede was gonna kiss him, but no. Not now. “I have something to show you, Ed,” Stede said.
Stede looked so pretty in the glow of the moon. Ed’s cabin had a skylight. Stede took Ed by the wrist. It was dark in the halls, except for the light of the moon.
“How long did I sleep?” Ed asked. Stede laughed. Ed loved it when Stede laughed. He led Ed outside on deck. It was quiet for a few seconds, and Ed thought they were alone. Then there was a ton of light, and the crew yelled, “SURPRISE!”
The party was great. Ed told some stories that captivated their attention, Frenchie played his lute thing, Izzy and Jim had a knife-throwing contest, Oluwande and Ed had a fencing bout, and Wee John was thrown overboard. When it was time for cake, Stede started singing Happy Birthday. Ed waited until they were about halfway through, then blew out the candles. They all burst out laughing.
“You’re supposed to wait till after we’re done singing to blow out the candles!” Oluwande said between laughter.
“I don’t fucking care!”