Chapter Text
“Are you sure you want to stay here?” Izzy asked them in shock and seeming horror.
“Of course, it’s going to be stunning!” Stede puffed himself up proudly.
“I mean… it looks like it’s going to fall apart at any moment,” Roach squinted.
“It’s going to be amazing,” Stede huffed.
“There are… holes,” Lucius stared at the building and then just waved his hands in the general direction of the building. “Everywhere.”
“Yeah, it has more holes than Izzy.” Pete nodded, which gained him a glare from everyone. “You know, because of the gunshot…”
“We know,” Izzy barked. Ed watched him, his face pale and twisted in pain. It was a close shot.
“Speaking of Izzy!” Stede clapped his hands. “If you would prefer to stay ashore until you have healed up a bit, be our guest!”
Ed watched Izzy blink like he was processing it, with confusion and disbelief.
“I'd rather sit on a soggy ship than stary in this shithole,” Izzy said coldly and Ed glared at him.
“Rude,” Stede huffed, turning around and going inside.
“Are you sure you want to stay here?” Izzy lowered his voice.
“Yeah. I need a break.” Ed smiled at the house.
“Are you sure it’s what he wants?” Izzy asked and Ed looked down at his first mate.
Ed squinted, thinking how he didn’t like how Izzy poked at this wound, and maybe he was glad Izzy refused to stay here.
“We can always change our minds,” Ed just said.
“How about we run a wellness check on the two of you in a few months?” Lucius suggested. “In case you’ll decide that you don’t want to be…”
“The innkeepers,” Ed said with pride.
A moment of silence had fallen, before Black Pete said, “You do realise that right now you’d have to pay people to stay here, right?”
“It’s going to rain today,” Ed said in the late afternoon, as he patched up one of the holes in the wall.
“What?” Stede lifted his head from where he was on the floor, patching up one of the infinite number of holes with which their one-day-to-be-inn was "decorated".
After they evicted a family of racoons and threw away a worryingly large amount of rubbish, holes became their newest priority. They had a long discussion, during which Stede insisted that their top priority should be a bed.
Even if Ed would love to have a bed, like the one they had on The Revenge, Ed knew it wasn’t such a big priority as Stede believed.
“It’s going to rain,” Ed repeated, putting down something that used to be a bench and now was a nicely cut plank for a hole. They used up some of the old furniture they found here for temporary planks.
“No! The weather is perfect!”
“Stede,” Ed sighed, looking down at his lover. He looked kinda hot like that, on his back, being useless with the hammer. “I know clouds, and trust me when I say it’s going to rain, it’s going to rain! We have a hole in the roof. So maybe we should focus on that…”
“Well, we also have a hole in the floor, in the walls, there are holes everywhere and we can’t fix all of them today, it’s afternoon so I will focus on the floor, so we have something to sleep on before we get ourselves a bed!”
“We should really focus on the roof…”
“Edward, getting on that roof before we fix the walls might be a health hazard!”
“And you’re fixing the floor.” Ed pointed out with a smile. He was in love with a madman.
“Because I want to make love to you on something that isn’t just holes,” Stede mumbled quietly, looking away.
“Ooooh,” Ed gasped suddenly. “That’s why you want the bed so bad! So we can fuck!”
“No! Yes! I mean… my fortysomething back won’t mind a nice bed! And it’s the same with you and your knee!”
“Okay, fair, it would be nice to have a bed for us…”
“And our future guests!” Stede prompted.
“Ah, fuck, right, them,” Ed laughed easily.
“Well, of course, Edward!” Stede huffed.
Ed stood above him for a moment, thinking about this madman. It made sense now why the few of their nights spent here were just cuddling. Ed didn’t mind that, but he didn’t consider that The Gentleman Pirate thought that sex could only happen in bed. Ed knew he had to fix that.
“You know,” Ed let a sly smirk appear on his lips, as his foot touched Stede’s calf. He heard the surprised breath that left Stede’s throat. “I can fuck wherever,” Ed laughed easily. “I don’t need no bed, just your body.”
“Oh,” There was a blush on Stede’s cheeks. “That’s… okay.” He looked both excited and nervous.
“I could go down on you rights now. With the hole right next to your head.” Ed smiled mischievously at his lover.
Stede’s eyes went wide and Ed could see he was doing some serious maths in his head. Figuring out options, trying to find a solution…
“Yes!”
Ed couldn’t stop the burst of laughter that left his mouth as he went to his knees and kissed Stede on the lips.
Drop.
“You know what?”
Drop.
“I’ll never guess.”
Drop.
“You might have been right about the rain.”
Drop.
“Was I?” Ed gasped and got smacked on the hip by Stede. They laid naked on the floor, covered by their clothes.
Drop.
“Oh, fuck off.” Stede mumbled grumpily and it only made Ed laugh. It didn’t matter that they were both damp from the rain that came some time ago just like Ed predicted.
“Not gonna,” Ed kissed Stede on the lips. It would be a miserable night if it wasn’t for the warmth of Stede’s body, to feel him next to him, to know that Stede was his. “I’m gonna go to the village in the morning, maybe I’ll get some real planks or someone who knows how to fix a roof.”
“Or someone who can get us a bed?” Stede sounded hopeful and it made Ed laugh.
“I don’t know if there’s gonna be anyone there who would have one.”
“I will contact the crew, maybe they’ll be able to get a bed during one of the raids… Or maybe Mary knows someone…”
“I will ask around,” Ed promised. “I'll get us candles so you can keep on reading me that letter over and over again.” Ed moved his finger down Stede's chest.
“I've written so many of those, I wish more of them would have come up.”
“You can tell me all about them.”
Drop.
“When it's not raining.”
Ed carried the letter he got from Stede in the pocket on his ass. He had no better place to always keep it on himself. Stede laughed at him a bit when he was putting it there, but a man had to do what a man had to do.
People looked at him suspiciously at first, he was almost sure some recognised him, but he just introduced himself to everyone as Ed. He was able to order some planks to be delivered to them in two days, and also bought food supplies for a few days. Sadly, there were no books, but there was a seamstress who looked at Ed suspiciously when he told her he and his “business partner” would like to order some beddings. She got less suspicious when Ed tossed her ten doubloons.
He was just about to head back home when he spotted a peculiar goat with a bottle stuck in one of his horns.
“How did that end up there?” Ed asked the owner.
“Pedro sneaked to the beach one day a few weeks ago and came back with it. It's stuck. There's some paper, probably some spam inside, but…”
Ed's eyes went wide and he stopped listening to the man. He looked into the bottle and from what he could see…
“Can I remove the bottle? I think it's a letter for me.”
The guy looked at him suspiciously and shook his head.
“Nah, it's an integral part of Pedro.”
"Stede!!!" "Stede!!!"
“What?” Stede came out running from the building in a clear panic. “Edward, what the hell is that?!”
“It's Pedro, our new goat,” Ed said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. He looked at Stede, who stood there with his hands on his hips and shock plastered on his face.
“Our what?”
“Our goat!” Ed beamed up, running up the hill, pulling Pedro by the leash. He wasn’t very cooperative, but Ed was persistent in pulling him towards their house.
“Why the hell have you gotten us a goat?!” Stede’s voice was full of confusion as he wiped sweat from his forehead.
“Pedro had a bottle stuck between the horns, with your letter inside! The guy who owned him said that I couldn’t just take the bottle, so…”
“So you stole a goat?!” Stede gasped as he strolled down the hill to Ed.
“Nah, I've bought Pedro.” Ed ran to Stede who breathed a sigh of relief. Ed couldn’t hide his excitement as he grabbed Stede in his waist and pulled in for a kiss. “We need to have good relationships with them, right?”
“Yes, of course,” Stede nodded, as he awkwardly patted Pedro. “Well, at least we're gonna have fresh milk…”
“Nah, Pedro's a dude.”
Stede fell silent for a long moment as he stared at Pedro.
“I guess goats are good at eating the grass and weeds.”
“And we can get him a friend who makes milk! We could make cheese for our guests or something… Fang had that goat, maybe we should ask him…”
“I like your long term planning!” Stede smiled as he bent to inspect Pedro. “I see the bottle is empty…”
“Good catch!” Ed triumphantly pulled the two letters he now owned from his back pocket. “I couldn’t remove the bottle without hurting him, but I have it here.”
“Have you read it…?” Stede clearly had a polite smile on his lips, but something in his face seemed nervous and…
“Why? Are you shy?” Ed asked with a smirk, as he opened the letter.
“No…” Stede laughed nervously.
“Bonnet, are there perverse letters I, or someone else, could find?!”
“No!” Stede’s voice got higher as his cheeks became darker. “Have you read it…? I’m just curious…”
Ed smiled widely, he had read and re-read it twenty times already.
“My beloved,
It’s been weeks since you’ve kissed me. I keep thinking about that moment, when you pulled me into your embrace, kissed me, and held me. If I could, I would have gine back in time to that moment, to have you in my arms again. I wouldn't have let you out of my arms even if the British came to take us back to the barracks.
I can't wait for the day when I'll have you in my arms again, when I'll be able to kiss you first. I won't let go of you for the rest of our lives.
I hope you're also waiting for that day.
Yours until my last dying breath,
Stede Bartholomew Bonnet.”