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It’s been about a month since they’ve decided to become innkeepers. Their fixer-upper is slowly getting fixed up. Priority one had been the roof, as there had been two gigantic holes in it, and two gigantic holes in a roof generally don’t work well to keep out the elements. Ed, it turns out, is a quick study when it comes to fixing things up. He has knowledge and experience from decades of doing repairs on ships and Stede is more than happy to take direction in this area. Now, weeks later, the roof is patched up and weatherized.
While their days are filled with repairs and foraging and hunting, covering their basic needs, their nights are Stede’s favorite times. And not just because that’s when they have time for… that— and god, Stede still doesn’t believe that Ed wants him like that, that Stede is allowed to want in return—but because it’s the time when they get to just… be. Be people, be Stede and Ed, be together, StedeandEd. They curl up on their blanket nest in front of the fireplace and just talk, or sometimes read to each other, or kiss a bit, or just lie in silence, comfortable.
Tonight Ed is telling him about his first few years on Hornigold’s ship, glossing over some of the bad parts of it—Stede isn’t sure if Ed is ready, or will ever be ready, to talk about some of the horrors he experienced under Hornigold—in favor of the fun times. Many of the stories involve Jack, who Stede instinctively grimaces at every mention of, making Ed laugh, but there are stories featuring Anne and Mary, and other people Stede has never met.
He’s giggling as he tells Stede about the time he and Anne managed to steal several bottles of high-end liquor from a particularly shitty rich guy they were robbing. “So she’s got me keeping watch on the storage room, and she’s still in that fuckin’ giant poofy dress, so part of that’s sticking out the door. And anytime someone comes by I give the door a kick, you know, to warn her there’s someone there, and every time she starts making the loudest fucking sex noises, Stede, I swear to fuck, and all the guards fucking just scurry past, not even giving me a second glance, because who the fuck wants to ask what you’re doing standing around there when it’s pretty fucking clear you’re standing guard for some snobby rich lady to get her rocks off with someone who’s not her husband.
“Anyway, so she finally comes out, and there’s no sign of the fucking dozen bottles we grabbed, and later I find out she’s got them all somehow tied under her dress, and every so often one of them clanks against one of the others, so she’s trying to walk all stiff so they don’t make noise. But finally we get back to the ship, without a problem for once, and me, Anne, Mary, and Jack all had a full fucking bottle each that night, and squirreled the rest away for other occasions.” He sighs, shaking his head. “Fucking morons, if we’d gotten caught by Hornigold hiding that shit, he would’ve whipped us raw. But, you know, dumb kids gotta be dumb kids.”
Stede laughs along with him, his head resting on Ed’s chest. He can feel the rumble of Ed’s laughter beneath his cheek. “Oh, I wish I’d known you back then, Ed,” he says.
“Mmmm…” Stede lifts his head to see Ed wrinkling his nose. “Yeah, I don’t know that you’d’ve liked me back then, babe.”
“Nonsense.” Stede pulls himself up, propping himself up on one elbow. “Were you a bit…uninhibited, shall we say? Yes, obviously, a great deal more than I’ve ever been. But you were still you, sweetheart, and I think I’d have liked to see you all young and carefree and… What?”
Ed is staring at him with his brown eyes wide, mouth slightly open. His cheeks are darkening. “Sweetheart?”
“Yes?” It takes a moment for Stede to realize that Ed isn’t calling him sweetheart, but that Stede called Ed sweetheart. “Oh, I… Damn, Ed, is that…okay? Just, I know you prefer ‘babe’, and that just slipped out, I’m s—”
“Whoa, hey.” Ed lifts up to sit back on one hand, the other coming to squeeze Stede’s shoulder reassuringly. “Don’t you dare fucking apologize, what?”
“Well, you always call me that, and so I figured that’s what you like to be called.” Stede feels frozen in place, watching Ed for any signs of anger or discomfort or dislike. “Is that not…?”
There’s none of that to be found in Ed’s expression, though. His eyebrows are furrowed, the corners of his lips turned down in confusion, but there’s no hint of anger or discomfort. “I mean, I call you that ‘cause, I don’t know, it’s just what comes out, you know? But you can call me whatever you want, babe.”
“Oh. Really?” Stede’s mind is whirling with the new possibilities opening up to him, a veritable dictionary of pet names opening in front of him.
“Yeah, man, of course.” Ed ducks in to press a light kiss to Stede’s lips. “Try some out, figure out which ones feel right to you. I’ll tell you if I don’t like any of them, but…” He shrugs, chuckling, though his cheeks are still flushed. “Honestly, I’ll probably like anything you call me.”
“So you…” Stede pushes himself up, legs stretched out to the side. “You like sweetheart?”
Ed’s breath catches as his eyes go all big again. “Yes,” he whispers.
“And what about…shortening it? Sweetie?”
“Yeah,” Ed says with a small nod.
“Darling?” Stede asks. He scoots a little closer. He glances down at Ed’s waist, lifting a hand in question, and Ed nods again. Stede curls his fingers around Ed’s waist. “Honey?”
Ed’s face is coloring all over, bronze darkening a few shades with his blush. “Mm-hm.”
Stede smiles, feeling a sudden surge of affection and daring. He coaxes Ed back down to the ground, settling him into the pillows and blankets that make up their cuddle nest in front of the fire. “Sweet pea? …Princess?”
Ed’s cheeks flame as he moans, “Oh my god.”
“Dumpling.” Stede drops a kiss on Ed’s cheek. “Kitten.” A kiss to his nose. “Sugar.” One to his forehead. “Muffin.” Chin. “Sunshine.” Other cheek. “Cutie pie.” Corner of his mouth. “Doll.” Jawline.
Ed’s eyes are crinkling in the corners in the way that Stede loves so much. He’s squirming happily beneath Stede and with every touch of Stede’s lips to his skin, Stede can feel the way the blood rushing to his cheeks in pleasure and bashfulness heats them up. “Hot stuff,” he can’t help but add, all out sucking at Ed’s pulse point, just beneath his chin.
Ed is giggling, his hands clenched tightly in Stede’s shirt. “How many more of these do you have?” he asks, voice breathless.
“Oh, you have no idea,” Stede says. He kisses up Ed’s jaw, another pet name falling from his lips with each one. “Honeybun. Buttercup. Poppet. Plum. Babycakes.”
Ed’s still laughing and his eyes are sparkling with joy. “All of these for me?” he asks, and the shyness of his voice betrays his fragility, the fears Stede knows Ed has about being a monster.
Stede smooths Ed’s hair back, smiling softly at him. He wonders if anyone has ever called Ed any of these things, or if he’s gone through life without ever having an endearment attached to him. Even Stede and Mary had endearments they used for each other, no matter how halfheartedly they were used.
“Every single one, angel.” Stede finally kisses Ed on the mouth after peppering his face with little pecks of kisses. Ed melts into it, one hand slipping up into Stede’s hair. “Dove,” Stede says when they part. “Toots,” and Ed laughs into Stede’s mouth. “Dearest,” and Ed’s laugh turns into a sigh, his fingers tightening in Stede’s hair.
They kiss for a long while, hands wandering where they feel called to, finding their way beneath shirts or cupping cheeks or tangling in hair. Ed crooks a leg around Stede’s calf at one point, and at another Stede breaks from Ed’s lips to service his neck, nipping and sucking bruises into his skin.
Eventually things cool off, both of them tired and sore from the work they did on the inn that day. Stede lifts his head, smiling down at Ed. He gently brushes a lock of silvering hair back behind Ed’s ear. “So what did you think? Did you like any of those?”
Ed scoffs. “Fuck off, you know I did,” he says, eyes sparkling playfully.
“So any of those are on the table?” Stede asks with a grin. “Good to know.”
Ed shifts below him and Stede rolls off onto his side, throwing his leg over Ed’s shin. “There was one, though, that you didn’t mention that I thought might be nice…”
“Oh? And what’s that?” Stede lifts his eyebrows in question as his fingers trail along Ed’s stomach, no purpose in mind, just to touch. He loves that he can touch Ed whenever he wants to now, that he doesn’t have to hold himself back as his fingers itch to touch.
Ed looks down, pressing his lips together. When he looks back at Stede, it’s in that way that he does, that Stede hasn’t yet figured out how to accurately describe, looking up through his eyelashes, soft and vulnerable. “Love?” he says tentatively.
Stede smiles softly. He flattens his hand against Ed’s stomach, rubbing up to his side. “Yeah, I think I can manage that, love.”
Ed’s smile threatens to burst right off his face. He squeaks out a, “‘Kay,” and then wraps his arm around Stede’s waist, burying his face into Stede’s neck.
Stede holds him for a long moment until Ed speaks again, his voice muffled against Stede’s skin. “But also if you wanted to use any of those other ones, that would also be good. Also. If you wanted. Not like I care.”
Stede nods, though he knows Ed can’t see it. “Of course, kitten,” he reassures him, laughing fondly at the way Ed’s body wiggles in happiness. “I’ve got more, you know. Plenty where all those came from, babe. I could…try them out, maybe? If you would like that?”
There’s a pause, and then Ed’s voice, muffled, says, “Could be nice. Maybe.”
Stede smiles, sucking in a deep breath, tightening his arms around Ed. “Good,” he says softly. “Good, pumpkin.”