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They’d slowly been getting the inn renovated and Ed’s quite happy with the progress they’ve made in such a short time. They’d started with the kitchen and bedroom, ensuring that they at least had somewhere to make basic meals, and a place to rest their head at the end of the day.
The room allocated as their bedroom now has a large bed draped with soft linens that Stede had found on a market stall. They even had a closet, well a small cupboard with one rail that barely fits all the clothes Stede’s been buying recently.
Stede assures him that it’s fine, that extra closet space isn’t a priority right now when there’s still shattered windows and holes in the roof, and he’s probably right. But that doesn’t stop Ed from wanting to give Stede the best, maybe he still feels a little bad for making Stede leave piracy, even though Stede’s said multiple times it’s what he wanted too.
So Ed has made it his mission to make Stede an auxiliary closet in the small room next to their bedroom. His mind wanders to the first time he’d seen the auxiliary closet on The Revenge, through all his years as a pirate it was one of the coolest things he’d ever seen.
Now he just needed to recreate it without Stede getting wind of what was happening. Which is easier said than done when they spend about 95% of their time together, waking up together, doing repairs, cooking, going into town, not much of it is done apart. Then there’s the struggles of getting the supplies in the house without Stede noticing - railings to hang the clothes on, wood that he was going to make into shelves, and some art he’d spotted on a market stall that will be perfect for the space.
But how do you tell the love of your life that you wanna spend some time apart when that’s the opposite of what you really want?
Stede had looked quite dejected when Ed had suggested that Stede went on his nature walk alone, it took all Ed’s willpower to not chase after him. But instead he had gotten started on the closet, it turns out that it’s a lot harder to do alone than he’d thought it would be. When he’d put up the railing in the small closet, Stede had been with him and it had only taken a few minutes. This time however, it’s taken him over an hour just to put one railing up, he’s about to get started on the second when he hears Stede’s voice.
“Ed, are you here?” Stede calls.
Ed quickly rushes out of the room before Stede gets suspicious, throwing himself onto the bed. “Yeah, in here babe.”
“Oh there you are.”
“Yeah, just fancied a little nap after doing some repairs. How was your walk?”
“Oh Ed, it was lovely.” Ed listens as Stede reels off every insect he saw, perfectly aware of how smitten he most likely looks. “What have you been up to, darling?”
Ed freezes, he doesn’t like lying to Stede, even little white lies, he’s terrible at it. “Just doing some repairs, then decided to have a nap.” A half truth.
Luckily Stede didn’t ask anymore questions, too excited about telling Ed more about his walk as they cuddled in bed.
This carries on for the next couple of weeks, Stede would ask Ed if he wanted to go with him to the market or for a row in their boat, and he’d decline saying he wanted to stay home to work on something or other.
Ed knows Stede’s starting to get suspicious of why he keeps turning down any offer to spend time together, likely overthinking the reason why, but he feels that the surprise will be worth it.
It’s a warm sunny afternoon when Stede returns from the market with a basket full of delicious smelling food, Ed’s sat in the living room reading a book when he comes in and stands in front of him.
“Hey love.” Ed greets his boyfriend, putting the book down to look up at him, which is when he notices the frown on the man’s face. “What’s wrong, babe? Did something happen?”
“Edward, have I done something wrong?” Stede asks, a small pout on his face that pulls at Ed’s heartstrings.
“Course not babe, why d’you think that?”
“Well it’s just that you never wanna spend time with me anymore. I thought maybe you were getting bored of this, of me.” Stede adds sadly.
Shit. Ed was hoping to have time to hang all Stede’s clothes up in the new closet before showing him, but he wasn’t going to let his boyfriend worry anymore.
“Babe, I promise it’s not that, can I just show you what I’ve been up to?”
“Okay.” Stede replies with a sniffle.
Stede allows himself to be led towards the closet door. “Why are we going in here, it’s empty-“
Ed seems to have achieved the impossible and rendered his boyfriend speechless as he opens the door to reveal the new auxiliary closet.
Stede walks in, hands brushing against the gold rails that line the walls ready for his favourite outfits, and the shelves ready for his trinkets. Stede’s eyes wander to the paintings and tapestries that hang above them, mouth slightly open in awe.
“Ed, you did all this?”
“Um yeah.”
Stede runs over to Ed and pulls him into a kiss. “I love it so much, thank you darling.”
“So you’re not upset?” Ed asks.
“Well I was a little when I thought you didn’t want to be with me anymore, but this shows the complete opposite. Edward, this means a lot to me, thank you.”
Ed feels a weight lifting from his shoulders, pleased to see that this has brought such joy to his boyfriend. “I’m glad you like it babe, I just wanted you to have somewhere special to hang your clothes, you deserve it.”
Stede wraps his arms around Ed’s neck, their foreheads now touching. “You really are something special Edward Teach, I love you.”
“I love you too Stede, so much.”