Chapter Text
Stede Bonnet was singing. This wasn’t entirely unusual, Alma thought, he used to sing all the time when she and her little brother Louis were little. Soft little lullabies or humming to help them drift off to sleep, singing an awful kidz bop version of a pop song in the car with them for fun on a road trip, absolutely butchering an attempt to sing all parts of Bohemian Rhapsody.
The thought that had struck her as odd at seeing her dad singing along mindlessly to his playlist is that she realised she hadn’t heard him sing in a long time. It must have been a couple of years at least - maybe since he and Mum had got divorced now she thinks about it.
She was 9 when her mum and dad had sat her and Louis down to tell them they were getting divorced. They had been calm and collected, explaining that it was nothing to do with them, it’s just that Mum and Dad weren’t working as a couple anymore. Dad was going to move out and live somewhere else but they would be able to see him as often as they liked. They said Mum and Dad will still always be friends - at the time this statement had surprised Alma, her parents hardly spoke to each other she’d noticed. She loved her dad, he was the parent who would play silly games with them, he could do incredible voices and make a bedtime story come to life – it made her sad to think he wouldn’t be around as much anymore but if this is what would make her parents happy then she knew it wasn’t worth kicking up a fuss about.
But as it turned out, however her parents were right, they really were much better friends now. They would laugh in each other’s company, they hugged hello and goodbye, they still looked after her and Louis in the most amazing way – technically Alma and Louis lived with Mum but at least 3 times a week they were at Dad’s for their dinner or he would be taking them to one of their various sporting activities or he would sometimes even just be over at Mum’s anyway. And now she even had a bonus dad - Doug! He was Mary’s boyfriend of almost 18 months and he had just moved in with them at Mum's house. She really liked Doug, he played football with them in the garden, he snuck her and Louis extra cookies when Mum wasn’t looking and she could tell her Mum was happy, far happier than she had been when with Dad.
Since her Mum had Doug, she did wonder if maybe her dad was lonely sometimes – he would hang out with them as much as he could and occasionally his friend from work Lucius and his boyfriend Pete would be round at her Dad’s but she didn’t think either of them were a Doug equivalent. She knew her dad loved a love story, maybe he was finally finding his Doug. The prospect of another bonus parent did intrigue her.
Maybe that was why he was singing again. Now she thinks about it, Dad had seemed lighter recently, a bit more free and happy.
That day she had been to a dance class as she often did on a Friday with her friend Heather and Heather’s mum had dropped her at her Dad’s where she was staying this weekend. She had walked into the kitchen and found her Dad cutting up vegetables for dinner, while singing softly to the song that was playing.
“it’s a love story baby just say yes”
“Dad?” she said quizzically, as she dumped her bag on the floor.
“Oh!” Stede startled out of his daze, turning round with his familiar bright smile. “Alma sweetheart! How are you? Good day at school? How was your dance class?”
“Good, yes it was fine and dance was fun. … Dad are you okay?”
She glanced over at her little brother, who was sat perched at the breakfast bar on a high stool. He had a book in his hands but he looked up to meet her eye. In that strange telepathic way siblings can communicate, especially when it comes down to the bizarre behaviour of a parent, he shrugged which she understood as “Yes I have noticed he is singing, yes it’s weird and no I don’t know why”.
“Of course darling why wouldn’t I be?” He turned round to look at his children, realising they were both staring at him with baffled looks on their faces. “Have I got something on my face … or clothes?” suddenly pausing and glancing down at himself.
“No Dad it’s just that… well you seem in a good mood. You’re, er, singing”
“And that’s…” he paused “that’s weird? I’m always in a good mood! I always sing!”
“Except you haven’t… exactly. Not recently” Alma offered as she went to join her brother on the stools at the breakfast bar. “What’s going on? Did you make a big sale at the bookshop today or something?”
“Well yes … in a way. Not a sale as such but more a question that was answered“ He smiled and went towards the counter to where they were sitting to face them properly.
“Okay can I tell you both something?” They nodded looking at their dad with increasing suspicion, but Alma had clocked her dad was properly smiling and seemed content. She was beginning to think this must be a really good reason and was keen to hear more.
“I met someone recently. A new… friend, he owns the new video game store that opened close to the bookshop”
“Blackbeard’s?” Louis exclaimed eyes opening wide. “The whole school has been talking about that place!
“Yes Blackbeard’s. Or well… his name is Ed” Alma noticed the way her dad softened when he said Ed’s name.
“You met him! Dad he’s like famous, he created the Kraken video games! They’re so cool” Louis babbled.
“Yes I know, or at least I know that now, I truthfully hadn’t really heard of them before” Stede continued and then paused to look at this son. “Hang on those games are rated 15 at least how do you know about them?”
“I watch a lot of gaming YouTubers” Louis retorted.
“Okay we will come back to that in a bit” Stede shook his head briefly. “Well anyway. Ed and myself met a few weeks ago, he popped into the bookshop to introduce himself and we really get on. We’ve been hanging out a lot the last few weeks on the evenings and days I’m not with you little rascals”
Alma started to smile at the way her dad was talking, he seemed so happy. She realised the look on his face was similar to how Mum had got when she started to mention Doug.
Stede continued. “Ed asked me today if I would like to go on a date with him officially. So I said yes. And that’s why I am happy today I guess.
“It’s nice Dad” Alma said back to him. “When is your date?” she wasn’t really entirely sure what a date was, she just knew that Mum and Doug would go out for date nights and that’s often when Dad would come over to look after them.
“Sunday night, once you two are back with your Mum and Doug”
“Is he going to be your Doug?” Louis asked innocently.
“I. er. Yes I hope so” Stede stammered a little in his reply at first.
A few weeks later, and several more days and evenings of Alma finding her dad singing along to the radio again and seemingly being incredibly happy, happier than he had been in years, Ed was finally going to be meeting them for the first time. She truthfully couldn’t wait to suss this man out, he seemed to make her dad very happy but she needed to meet him to truly see it for herself.
She had done some research on him, video games were not really her thing but everyone had heard of the Queen Anne company. They had a breakout game in the early 2000s, called Kraken following a crew of pirates headed by a little boy being pursued by the giant squid across the ocean. It had resulted in several spin-offs and sequels and prequels, propelling Ed – or as his online name became known as Blackbeard – into stardom and a lot of money. In her googling of him, she had found out he had sold the Queen Anne Games company to his former Operations Director Izzy Hands. Ed had used some of the money to set up a new video game store and café, just a little way down from Dad’s bookshop. It seemed strange to step away from a life of success like that, she wondered why.
Her dad had been anxiously cleaning that morning, he often did when he was nervous. Her and Louis were sat in the living room, the TV screen had some random Saturday morning cartoons on. Louis was sat on the floor with a colouring book in front of him and she was curled up on the sofa with a book in her lap but she wasn’t really paying attention to it. She was watching her dad dust the same shelf for the fifth time in the last hour.
The doorbell rang and Stede jumped into action, stalking off towards the front door. Alma peered round best she could to catch a glimpse but couldn’t really see without making it obvious and she wanted her Dad to bring Ed on his own terms. She could overhear a quiet conversation. “Hey handsome” she heard a voice say and what sounded like a quick kiss. “Hello yourself” her dad replied. “You ready to meet the kids?” “Absolutely” she heard the other voice reply and then a quick inhale from the other man.
Her dad returned and was holding Ed by the hand to bring him into the room. “Guys? This is Ed, my …boyfriend” Stede said, grinning at saying the words out loud. He was still getting used to saying it.
Alma looked up at the other man with an appraising look in her eye. He was a little taller than her dad, grey-ish hair pulled up into a bun, wearing a purple t-shirt and some black ripped jeans. She even saw some very cool black inked tattoos going up his arms. Ed waved his spare hand in greeting. “Hey guys” he said smiling. He had a nice smile, Alma thought.
“Hi. I’m Alma” she said, holding out her hand for him to shake. She had seen other adults do that. Ed grinned at her, leaning forward to take it and he shook her hand profusely. “Nice to meet you” Ed said. Louis looked up from his pages and waved at Ed. “I’m Louis” he offered but then quickly turned back to his colouring book.
“Do you want a tea Ed?” Stede asked as Ed sat down carefully on the arm chair set a little way from the sofa.
“Yeah please. Seven –“
“seven sugars and a dash of milk, I know darling” Stede grinned at him, heading off into the kitchen.
Now her dad was out of the room, Alma turned to Ed and said “So, Ed. Can I ask you some questions?”
“Of course you can” he said nodding and turning his full attention to her with a curious smile on his face.
“What’s your favourite colour?”
“Purple”
"What’s your favourite animal?”
“Dolphins”
"What's the best pizza topping?"
"Mushrooms, ham and extra cheese"
“Why did you want to open a video game store when you had a big company?”
Ed looked briefly baffled for a second at this change in subject from his favourites, but he answered sincerely.
“I loved designing the games originally. Kraken had a lot of success and it gave me a big company you're right. But Kraken ended up being quite dark sometimes. It took a lot out of me to keep coming up with the stories and eventually I had enough. The money and the success weren't enough to keep me going. I needed a change. Izzy, my friend who had worked with me for a long time still believed in the Kraken games so it made sense to let him take over”
“Was it sad to say goodbye to it?” she asked curiously.
“Well. Yes and no. I worked with some great people and it set me up for life financially, which isn't something I had always thought possible for me. But no in one way it wasn't sad - I was becoming sad to be there and that isn't worth it for any amount of money in the world. I needed to work out what my life could be without Kraken”
Alma nodded understandingly – she seemed a lot wiser than her 11 years Ed thought to himself.
“What made you go into my dad’s shop for the first time?”
“I’d seen him around a couple of times and he looked…” Ed paused a second seemingly searching for a word, “Kind” he settled on. "Like someone I should be friends with"
Alma smiled at that.
“Why do you have seven sugars in your tea?” she asked finally, hearing her dad finishing up in the kitchen.
“It wouldn’t be the same with six” Ed replied, a little grin on his face.
“Alma sweetheart, don't interrogate the poor man” Stede said as he came back into the room, handing Ed a mug, Alma noticed it was the nice purple one he saves for best.
“She’s being perfectly wonderful Stede, don't worry” Ed replied.
They chatted for a little while longer, Ed asking both kids what they had been studying at school and their hobbies. He was intrigued to learn about Alma’s budding cross-stitch project and Louis’s success in football at school, explaining he had always been rubbish at sports at school. Louis brightened saying maybe he could teach him! “I bet you could little man” Ed replied.
Alma noticed her dad staring at Ed, with a sweet look in his eyes. It was definitely how Mum and Doug looked at each other.
Throughout the afternoon, she saw how her Dad and Ed just clicked. They laughed at each other’s jokes, they seemed to just understand each other. She knew her dad could be what others considered quirky, it was why he sometimes struggled to make friends but she could see that Ed just accepted this as part of Stede.
Ed was fun as well – he made them an incredible blanket fort when they decided to watch a film in the afternoon. He put Louis and Alma inside it and built it around them so it didn’t fall down and offered superior comfort.
While the film was on she glanced over at her dad tucked into Ed’s side and it felt so natural. Like Ed had just always been there, maybe he had been the missing part of their family for a while and now he was here, it felt right.
She could hear later on when Dad and Ed were cleaning up from their pizza takeaway in the kitchen, both singing along to the radio. She loved it that Dad was singing again properly and he sounded even better now he had a second voice to join in.
“Open up your eyes then you realise. Here I stand with my everlasting love. Need you by my side, girl to be my bride. You'll never be denied, everlasting love”
It was time for Ed to head off just before her and Louis went up to bed. She caught Ed alone putting his boots on in the hallway and she stood in front of him. “I just wanted to say …” she frowned a little unsure how to word it.
“Yeah?” he offered encouragingly, smiling at her as he stood up properly from tying his shoes.
In a bold move from her, especially with someone who was still essentially a stranger but it felt right, she quickly stepped forward to wrap her arms around his waist in a hug.
“Oh hey what’s this for?” Ed faltered but smiled in slightly disbelief as he brought an arm around to hug her back.
“Thank you for helping my dad to sing again” she whispered, still holding him tight.
“Oh Alma sweet. That is the loveliest thing you could have possibly said to me” Ed whispered. “I hope you know he makes me so very happy too” he said back with a final squeeze to her shoulder as she stepped back.
“I know” she said. “I can tell you both just… work”.
“You’re very observant you know” Ed said to her. “Don’t ever lose that, it will get you far in life”
She grinned. “Night Ed” she said and waved back at him. “See you soon” he replied.
When her dad stuck his head round the door to say goodnight, she could see him hesitate for a second.
“Al darling, thank you for being so kind to Ed today. He was nervous about meeting you guys”
“Dad you always taught me to be kind to everyone”
“I know. But just still. Thank you love. You’re the best daughter I have” Stede grinned at her cheekily, he was about to leave and close the door.
“Dad?” she called out. Stede popped his head back into the room.
“I like him” she said smiling. “Yeah?” Stede sighed happily. “Me too love. Night”