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Well. There he was. Ed had agreed to the rendezvous that morning and now sat pensively on the beach grass, surrounded by wildflowers. The breeze threw his hair fluttering in all directions so it shimmered like the waves before him. Flower petals moved with the wind and had him in a soft sea of rainbow colors. He dug the toes of his boots in the sand and hugged his legs, threading his lovely tattooed fingers together. He wore a rare expression of serenity as he watched the horizon from land for probably the first time in ages. What a stunning picture.
“There you are,” Stede whispered gently so as not to alarm him. He approached carefully, basket and blanket in hand, and Ed glanced up.
“What’s all this then?”
“Thought we might have a picnic dinner date to wind down the day.”
Ed raised an eyebrow. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea for us, Stede.”
“I brought cake for dessert,” Stede added hopefully.
That was all it took. Ed was on his feet in a minute, fluffing the large blanket over the grass for a cushy setup. He kept to one corner as Stede set up cured meats, cheeses, oils and crunchy breads as well as sweet dried fruits and, yes, bite-sized cakes with frosting.
Stede kept his chatter light and warm, and Ed eventually crept closer to help himself to the treats and share a giggle over a cloud that looked like a duck. He truly seemed to be getting more comfortable until Stede’s eyes lingered a bit too long on their hands on the blanket. They were only inches apart and Stede longed to thread his fingers with Ed’s. He imagined how strong and grounding the feeling might be.
“D’you think we can just pirate together and not deal with all the other stuff?” Ed asked.
Stede felt taken aback at the brusqueness, but he found the answer still came easily.
“I meant what I said the other day—about being near you and how I feel. I understand you don’t want to get hurt again and I respect that, but I won’t pretend my feelings for you have waned. I will wait for you. As long as it takes.”
Ed lay back and stared at the darkening sky. “That one looks like a mermaid.” He gestured and then pointed at another cloud.
Well, if he wanted to change the subject, Stede could go with the flow. He leaned back himself, and, moving neither closer nor further away from the love of his life, pointed at more clouds.
“Oh, look at that,” he whispered, taking in the expanse of the sunset. “‘Red sky at night…’”
—-
Stede was awoken by whimpering and trembling, and his first thought was for the crew. Fitful sleep was more common than ever among their ragtag party, and it was nothing a small cuddle couldn’t fix—
“Don’t go,” came the small, broken voice, and Stede came crashing back to the present. Ed, it was Ed, tucked in Stede’s arms, clinging tight, and crying. Stede felt every tear hitting his linen-dressed chest like a pinprick to his heart.
He couldn’t bear the thought of moving and possibly spooking Ed awake, but the man was clearly in the throes of a nightmare. He considered kissing the top of Ed’s head to offer unspoken comfort, but no, no , that was too much even if his soft, sweet smelling hair was right there.
Instead, Stede tightened his hold on Ed. They must have found each other’s embrace in sleep, and Stede didn’t dare disturb that fragile solace.
All at once, Ed fisted Stede’s shirt, sobbing “Don’t go!” and lurching awake.
And he fought. He simultaneously shoved Stede away yet gripped his shirt tightly enough to nearly tear. His fingers flexed and body tensed, shaking violently with the drop back into consciousness.
Stede focused hard on making out Ed’s features, lit as they were only with the moon and stars now. His eyes were fiery with alarm, brows drawn together, lips tight to reveal half a snarl, curls fluttering in the ocean breeze. Stede didn’t let him go, though. Ed could thrash awake, but Stede would hold fast.
“What?” Ed snapped acidly.
Stede stammered but couldn’t answer. He only ran soothing palms and fingers over Ed’s leather-clad back and shoulders.
“Edward…” Stede finally managed.
Ed made to push him away completely, but Stede found he couldn’t release his firm but gentle hold.
“Where were you going?” Ed demanded.
“Oh, Ed…” he whispered, “I’m not going anywhere.”
Ed cast those brilliant, bright eyes over Stede’s face and body. They were both still reclined on the blankets spread over the cushy, dense grass just a few meters from the velvety sand and sparkling waves. Stede’s boots were cast aside, the picnic still a mess, and his gun and knife only just within reach. He wasn’t leaving.
The fight slipped out of Ed, and he trembled more with the release in tension. He all but collapsed back down onto Stede’s chest.
“You were leaving again…” he explained in the quietest whisper.
“Never again in the waking universe,” Stede responded. Ed sniffed and hid his face in the shadow. Stede slipped one hand up Ed’s back to caress his hair and the other to find Ed’s hand and interlock their fingers. Ed let him.
“While you might not want to hear it, it’s true: I love you,” Stede said. He wouldn’t get a response, and that had to be okay. “I won’t leave. I’ll love you as long as you let me.” Ed leaned into his embrace, breathing in shakily.
“Okay,” he responded after a long moment, and Stede dared to hope that Ed believed him. He considered maybe one day Ed could respond in kind, and he resolved to wait forever. Even being so near to him now was more than he dreamed could happen even twenty-four hours ago. Everything might be okay one day—
Stede’s heart sank with Ed pushing himself up and away, and in the moment his traitorous arms released the warm body of the love of his life, he felt a crack in his heart.
But then Ed finally unclipped his weapons and set them aside. He pulled off his jacket and then his boots, leaving them in a tidy pile, and settled back into Stede’s arms as though it were the only natural place to be. Stede tentatively touched him again.
“The sun’ll be up soon,” Ed offered as explanation. Stede stroked the soft fabric of Ed’s shirt with his thumb, trying to riddle out what he meant. Ed nuzzled into him and took a deep breath, coming down properly from the adrenaline of his nightmare. “Don’t go,” he whispered.
Stede answered by kissing the crown of his head, and the act instantly felt too familiar, too intimate for how chaste it was. Ed’s hair was so soft, but a different kind of soft than the rest of him. When they first sailed together, Ed touched him all the time, and those careful touches, claps on the back, and hugs were calibrated for Stede and Stede alone. The tension continued seeping from his lithe body as Stede held him, and that hard worked form really was so soft and pliant under it all. He even smelled soft, lavender clinging to every part of him even after the events of their day.
Ed looked up at him. “Again,” he breathed, a request for Stede’s ears only, so quiet that even the meddlesome wildflowers spotted in the beach grass wouldn’t hear.
Stede tilted his head and kissed the apple of Ed’s cheek. He was soft there, too, just above where his lovely beard was growing back. Stede could feel more than hear Ed’s hum of approval. Ed gripped Stede’s shoulders to draw himself level and look down at Stede. Only the moonlight lingered between their faces.
“Again?” Stede asked, and he knew Ed’s beautiful face well enough to spot the tiniest quirk in the corner of his mouth. He’d never know who moved first, but it didn’t matter.
Memory was no comparison to the reality of Ed’s lips on his again. The light pressure was so careful, but Stede immediately found the lucious swell of Ed’s lower lip between his. They separated for the briefest moment, and Stede tilted his head, leaned in again, and kissed Ed eagerly. He explored the sensation, offering a chaste connection and then opening the tiniest bit. And Ed kissed back, allowing Stede to pursue him and take what he wanted.
Stede wasn’t even sure how his hands had migrated down Ed’s body as Ed leaned over him, but the moment his fingertips touched bare skin, they both parted from their kiss with a shiver. For all the times Stede’s eyes had lingered there, he hadn’t realized how badly he’d needed to touch the sun-kissed skin of Ed’s midriff. He knew he’d remember the sensation forever.
“Is this okay?” Stede asked.
“Y-Yeah—” Ed barely got the word out before he leaned his full weight into Stede again. They kissed lazily and indulgently, tasting each other like a feast of dessert for two. Stede thought his favorite taste might be the tickle of sensation of Ed’s tongue on his cupid’s bow, but then he slipped his fingers under Ed’s shirt and caressed the rolling plains of his back. The answering cool, trembling exhale from Ed’s mouth sparked heat low in Stede’s hips.
“Did you want to sleep more before the sun comes up?” Stede huffed, desire rising as he pressed parted lips to Ed’s cheek, jaw, and earlobe.
Ed shook his head and whispered, “no.” He nuzzled his face into Stede’s neck and breathed deep. Stede’s fingertips found a particularly lovely slope from Ed’s lower back up his spine, and what was probably meant to be an easy kiss to Stede’s neck became a shuddering nibble.
They broke apart, both breathing heavily now and Ed stroking a thumb over Stede’s cheek. His expression was grave and searching, those enchanting dark eyes blown black and sparkling with the moonlight. Stede opened his mouth to assure him that, yes, he was staying and would stay forever. Ed stopped him by brushing his thumb over his lips.
He must have found what he was searching for because his expression softened and Stede could hear the click of him swallowing dryly. He looked… hopeful?
Stede wanted to resist, to give Ed all the space he asked for and to demonstrate he’d honor him forever, but he needed nothing more in this moment than to embrace him. It was a risk, but god, to hold Ed with unrestrained fervor…
So he did it carefully. Every move was purposeful and slow, so if he felt even a moment’s hesitation from Ed, he could back off. But with an arm around Ed’s waist and another around his shoulders, Stede tipped him so they both lay on their sides facing each other. He held Ed tightly so their chests and hearts pressed together, the beats naturally syncing up. He slotted a thigh between Ed’s and kissed his cheek, and Ed sank into the full-body embrace. And Stede whispered, if only once more: “I love you.”
Ed hid his face, giving Stede better access to his neck, and nodded in acknowledgement. It was more than Stede had hoped for. He waited patiently for Ed to steel himself to look at Stede again, but the moment he did, Stede had no reason to hesitate. He covered his mouth, cheeks, neck, anywhere he could reach with kisses.
“Stede…”
Stede paused before answering, “I’m not going anywhere.”
“I want you. Closer.”
Stede obliged, kissing him again, and Ed slipped his tongue across the seam of Stede’s lips. Stede opened easily for him, and several things happened in quick succession:
Ed devoured him, licking into his mouth and tasting deeper. Stede tightened his hold on Ed and shivered hard, grinding his thigh against Ed. Ed gasped and held Stede’s face in his hands, thumbs brushing his cheeks and fingertips caressing his hair. They stared, unflinching, into each other’s eyes as Ed found a subtle rhythm grinding against Stede again. His breath grew shorter and his movements more insistent.
“Closer,” Ed urged.
Stede gripped Ed’s hips and felt Ed growing harder against him with each inhale. Stede kissed him deeply, treasuring each gasp or moan that escaped Ed’s throat in the tiny breaths between embraces.
“Stede—”
“Tell me. Anything—” Stede gasped.
“I want you closer, want to feel you inside me…”
“Oh, well that’s—” Stede began, overwhelmed with the rush of blood to his cock. He stopped himself from saying more, almost hoping Ed would simply understand.
But Ed only gazed at him, chest rising and falling and fingers flexing minutely. Stede stared back into the dreamy darkness of Ed’s eyes.
“Finish your thought, Stede,” Ed urged darkly.
Stede leaned in again, and Ed’s eyes fluttered shut in expectation of a kiss.
Instead, Stede whispered: “perfect.”
Ed’s huffed exhale and small smile lit a fire in Stede. He felt his heart pounding and courage surging. He kissed Ed’s lower lip once, but before Ed could react, he drew it between his teeth until Ed let out a delicious little moan.
Edward wanted him.
Edward wanted him.
Edward wanted him.
Stede would give him everything he wanted. He kissed Ed’s earlobe and then nibbled there, the metal of his earring teasing Stede’s lips.
“It’s perfect,” Stede repeated, letting his hot breath hit the spot he’d kissed. “I will love every inch of you, Edward. Can I undress you?”
“Fuck yeah.”
And Stede set to worship as though he now understood with fervent credence that heaven existed. He brushed aside Ed’s curls to lay a kiss on the delicate baby hairs near his nape. He dropped open mouth kisses down his neck and over the clothed shoulder, across the inked bicep and forearm, ending at the deft, beautiful fingers that first had soothed Stede awake from a fever nightmare all those months ago. He urged Ed onto his back, and it was true: his eyes glowed.
Stede had every intention of divesting Ed of that perfectly soft shirt, but oh, his torso was so distracting that the second Stede touched his hips, he couldn’t resist the electricity of brushing thumbs and fingertips over Ed’s soft middle. Stede bowed down, hiked up the shirt, and kissed him there, over the constellation of scars now-healed.
He moved to the other side of Ed’s belly and kissed the unmarred skin there, too.
“M-More…” Ed requested, tone and control tenuous.
Stede would never deny him. He kissed there again and again and couldn’t get enough of the sweet taste of Ed. He sucked and nibbled and Ed trembled under him, and he drew back only long enough to see, even in the moonlight, Ed bore a red mark. It was a perfect mirror image to the scars of stabbings.
Fuck, he was delicious. Stede tasted him again and then again. He drew skin between his teeth in gentle bites and then blew cool air between his lips.
“Stede…”
“Mmhmm…”
“Stede.”
Stede brushed his lips over the spot once more and looked up.
“Come back,” Ed whispered.
Stede hooked his fingers in Ed’s shirt, taking it back up with him and over Ed’s head before casting it aside.
“I’m here, darling.”
“Stay close, okay?”
Stede smiled softly and kissed Ed’s now-bare shoulder as gently as possible. “Of course,” he responded.
Ed pushed up into him. “Bite me again—please,” he panted.
Stede obliged. Ed tasted so sweet and lovely there too, right in that lovely tattooed dip between his shoulder and the swell of his chest.
“Harder, Stede… make me feel it—FUCK!”
Stede tasted him again and again, drawing blooms of purple to the surface of his skin. His mind whirled in near disbelief for his most passionate dreams coming true: Delicious. Gorgeous. Divine.
He drew a hand over Ed’s chest and pinched and rolled a lovely nipple between his fingers. He wondered…
“May I?” he asked, and thank god Ed knew exactly what he was after.
“Yeh— ohh!”
Ed’s voice always had a satisfying cadence, the loveliest music Stede had ever heard, but that quivery moan the moment Stede drew that perfect budded nipple between his teeth—
“More,” Ed all but sobbed. Stede groaned in agreement, laving his tongue over the sweet skin and dropping teasing bites any time Ed might have gotten used to the sensation. Oh, he was so responsive.
“You’re so pretty like this, Edward,” Stede murmured in the moments he could take a breath. “Purple suits you.” He kissed the fresh, bright bruise he’d bitten over Ed’s heart, easily apparent in the shine of moonlight.
Ed gasped and grinded his hips upward but couldn’t find the friction he sought. He found Stede’s wrist, rubbed his thumb over the small, sensitive space between wrist and palm, and then drew his hand lower, lower, until he urged Stede to feel his hard cock restricted by those stunning leather trousers.
Stede blanketed him, one hand palming his cock, mouth tending to his chest, the other hand sinking into his hair.
“That’s it,” Ed exhaled, rolling his body and chasing the sensations. “Fuck, Stede, don’t stop.”
Stede moved up again and kissed Ed’s neglected lips for a moment as sweetly as he could even as he stroked Ed through the leather. He shifted to open and remove them, but Ed redoubled his embrace of Stede’s neck and shoulders. He couldn’t bear even inches separating them.
Instead, they both unbuckled and unbuttoned, Stede pushing trousers and smallclothes from Ed’s hips and Ed shimmying and kicking until he was dressed only in moonlight. He never had to allow Stede out of reach.
Stede lifted Ed’s leg around his waist and kissed him hard, but Ed still moved with urgency and want.
“Closer,” he urged, hard at Stede’s collar as though he intended to tear it open. Stede slipped his hand down to Ed’s ass and squeezed, giving him the leverage to chase the sensation of his cock against Stede’s clothed thigh. Ed’s answering moan conjured the wind and shook the trees.
Ed scrambled frantically at Stede’s shirt, yanking it up his back and over his head. He tossed it aside carelessly to wrap arms fully around Stede’s bare torso, letting out a long, deep breath. Stede could feel Ed’s frantic heartbeat against his own.
“Fuck yeah,” Ed whispered again, those beautiful lines around his eyes turning his expression more blissful than desperate. The skin to skin contact warmed Stede to his core, and he let his hands wander over every bit of Ed he could reach—all the scars and softness and muscles and ink—while Ed chased his pleasure. Stede kissed him and devoured every gasp and moan from Ed’s throat.
Ed caught his own broken moans before he lost control and held Stede’s face in his hands. “Not like this,” he panted. “Need you closer.”
Stede’s confidence surged again and he released the hold on Ed’s ass only to wrap his fingers firmly around his cock.
And it was lovely. The velvet sensation of how hard and hot Ed was gave Stede a jolt of pleasure as if he were the one being stroked and fondled. He handled Ed with an expertise he didn’t know he possessed, slipping fingers up the underside of his cock, drawing his thumb over his slit and rubbing the bead of precome over the darkly flushed head. Ed buried his face in Stede’s shoulder and forced out broken obscenities until he paused again and found his resolve:
“I need you to fuck me, Stede.” He nibbled Stede’s ear, tonguing the gold earring there.
Stede silently thanked whatever spirit or intuition possessed him. Suddenly, it was so easy to cradle Ed, whisper, “I will take care of you,” and stroke him to near-ecstasy. It was just like breathing to feel Ed’s pleasure rising and then to back off and let him float back to earth. Stede could even sense the way the corners of Ed’s lips quirked into a tiny smile the moment before it happened, so Stede could meet the smile immediately with a kiss.
He leaned heavily into Ed, biting at his neck again and simultaneously reaching past him to fumble at the remains of their picnic. He knew exactly what he was searching for.
Ed knew what he wanted, too, deft fingers wandering to unloop Stede’s belt and slip free the sash around his waist. The pair paused for just a moment, Ed casting his eyes over Stede’s face, waiting for permission. Stede nodded once.
Ed shoved a hand into Stede’s breeches and eagerly gripped his cock, and his jaw dropped in delighted surprise as Stede gasped with a surge of pleasure.
“Been holding out on me?” Ed teased, fondling his balls and then tracing the line of a vein. Stede’s heart sang with the fondness in Ed’s tone and his pulse raced with the luxury of Ed’s ministrations.
“Never,” Stede rasped. He kissed Ed’s earlobe again and urged Ed to part his legs and bend a knee. “Talk me through…”
“How about just one finger to start, Captain?” Ed stroked him firmly.
Stede didn’t recognize the growl that came out of him as he sank his teeth into Ed’s neck again, and Ed’s answering chuckle only spurred him on. He managed to open the jar of oil from their picnic, dipped a finger, and gently ghosted it over Ed’s hole. Ed hissed an inhale, but with gently increasing pressure as he massaged, Stede knew how perfectly they’d fit together.
“Oh Edward,” Stede whispered as he slickly breached Ed’s entrance—just a delicate fingertip to start. And he knew he’d done it just right—continued small intrusions just right—with how Ed arched and exhaled Stede’s name and stroked Stede’s cock eagerly. He needed their pleasure to be shared.
“You’re a dream, darling,” Stede praised, sinking his finger in deep. Ed looked blissed out already, and Stede’s breath stuttered when he resolved to bring Ed as much pleasure as he could bear.
Ed hardly had to ask, anyway. Stede fingered him gently, then roughly. He added oil, added another finger, heaped praise on Ed for how well he took Stede’s fingers. He bit bruises across his collarbone that set off the sparkling jewelry Ed had taken to wearing.
Ed basked in the hedonistic attention, writhing and whining for Stede to “get naked, now” and to “give me another finger so I can take that cock.” Stede obliged; Ed shouldn’t have to become impatient for a damn thing. Ed deserved everything he wanted when he wanted it.
“C-Curl your finger a little—ohhh…” Ed stammered, keening with unintelligible gratification when Stede did so immediately. Stede gazed down at where his fingers disappeared into Ed’s body; he could satisfy Ed, and he could do even better than this. And Ed’s flushed, weeping, gorgeous, neglected cock was right there—
“Now,” Ed huffed before pushing up into another kiss. It was messy and hot and adoring and not at all long enough. He turned his body away to lie on his belly, and he forced out, “come here, come back.”
Stede was over him immediately, biting his shoulder and kneading his ass before rubbing slick fingers over his loose hole again. He reached for his discarded clothes, arranging and folding them into a small cushion to tuck under Ed’s knee. He looked at the ink across Ed’s back and spent a moment massaging his shoulders, perhaps attempting to alleviate his own guilt for breaking Ed’s trust.
Trust no one.
He’d prove that tenet wrong if it was the last thing he did. Fingers worked a bit longer over a small knot of tension in Ed’s back over the enormous skull inked there. Stede would properly ease his pain one day—he had to.
Once he’d sufficiently seen to Ed’s comfort, he slicked his own cock generously, and a small moan escaped his own throat at the momentary pleasure.
“Get back here!” Ed urged, looking over his shoulder. The tone snapped Stede back immediately; he’d sounded nearly as distressed as when he’d first awoken.
“Darling, I’m sorry, I’m right here,” Stede insisted. He crawled up Ed’s body and grinded his cock against the cleft of his ass.
“I need to feel you.”
Stede wrapped an arm around Ed’s middle and hauled him to hands and knees, immediately parting his cheeks to line up his cock with Ed’s entrance. Every minute movement in Ed’s body told Stede he was relaxing at the prospect of them being joined so intimately. Ed wanted this.
Every instinct told Stede to move slowly—to relish every inch of sensation, to ensure Ed would feel good—and he held back from surging forward. The effort to stay present and not lose himself to pleasure had him trembling, but god, Ed took him so perfectly, a steady anchor—or better yet, a guiding light with the small arches of his back and eager nudges backward to take more and more of Stede’s cock.
Still, Stede held back. He clung to Ed’s body, gasping as he pushed past his rim and pressing his face against Ed’s shoulder to keep from shouting. Ed, however, kept his needs known, gasping a steady stream of more, more, I need it, please as Stede slowly sank in deeper.
Ed pushed up and back into Stede, and Stede sank his teeth into Ed’s shoulder at the moment Ed took him to the hilt. Their shared shout at the moment they were fully joined echoed across the sand before them.
Stede kissed and nibbled across Ed’s shoulders before either of them moved. Ed relaxed further into Stede’s embrace, happily seated and holding Stede deep. Stede briefly ran a thumb over a fresh bruise on Ed’s back, pressing the tiniest bit so Ed sighed and pushed his ass back to Stede somehow even more.
“I’m going to move, okay?” Stede asked, brushing a loose ringlet curl behind Ed’s ear. Ed swallowed thickly, and Stede drew himself out only inches before Ed reached back and clamped a hand on Stede’s hip.
“Don’t go!” Ed choked out frantically. He looked over his shoulder and there was no mistaking his brimming eyes.
Stede pushed fully back inside again, and they both cried out with it. He held Ed tight, but Ed wouldn’t release the shaky grip he had. Stede tried to whisper endearments in his ear, but Ed’s panic still poured out…
Don’t leave me.
Don’t go.
Stay here.
Don’t leave me.
I need you here.
I need to feel you here.
Stede kissed his shoulders, back, hair, ears, anything he could reach without shifting their embrace. Ed’s back was hot against his chest and stomach, and he could feel every breath now.
“I promise, Edward,” he interrupted when Ed took a shaky deep breath in. He held him firm and rocked his hips firmly, fucking as hard as he could into Ed without drawing away.
“Make me fucking feel it, Stede,” Ed demanded wetly.
Stede rolled his hips harder and Ed shouted. His fingers and teeth on Ed’s body were bruising, and Ed shouted louder. Ed released Stede’s hip and braced himself against the ground, meeting the punishing, deep movements with rapturous cries.
The sky had begun to lighten, the stars disappearing, the ocean already beginning to glimmer. The sun would break the horizon any moment, and Stede was possessed with ensuring Ed would be surrounded by warmth and comfort.
“Sit up,” he urged quietly, though Ed’s body was pliant and pleasure visibly rolled through him at being manhandled to his knees. Stede encouraged Ed’s arms up and back around Stede’s neck, and he wrapped one arm across Ed’s chest, rubbing the swell of his pec, and let his other hand creep down to Ed’s thigh to massage the muscle there. He kept his thrusts careful; he wouldn’t risk slipping out of Ed’s heat even for a moment.
“Say it again, Stede,” Ed pleaded, tilting his neck back over Stede’s shoulder. Stede knew to trust his instincts again; he knew what Ed needed. He nibbled his earlobe for a moment, pinched his nipple, reached up to his chin to tilt his head so Stede would be able to say it again against those sweet, plush lips.
“I love you, Edward.”
Ed kissed him, messy and imprecise, but earnest and real.
“Touch me.”
“Oh sweetheart,” Stede chuckled fondly. “You’re so beautiful, so precious; I have to savor you…”
“Please…”
Stede gazed down at Ed’s cock over his shoulder, running his fingers over the crease in his hip. God, it was perfect. He snuck his hand briefly to dip fingers into the oil again. He then slid a slick fingertip up and down the length of Ed’s cock a couple times, and Ed somehow went even more boneless against him. Stede curled his hand around Ed’s cock, ensuring Ed felt every motion, and precome dripped from the slit. He continued thrusting shallowly with the music of Ed’s pleased gasps.
“Look,” Ed exhaled happily.
“I’m looking,” Stede responded immediately, taking in the golden glow of Ed’s body down the plains of his chest, stomach, thighs. He sparkled with sweat, his muscles rippled enticingly.
“Look!” Ed insisted, and Stede looked up.
There it was to the northeast, the golden dawn of the sun breaking and lighting up the world—lighting up his Edward. The clouds took on the golden tint, shadows still resisting sunbeams streaking the sky with purple and violet.
Stede looked back down at Ed, thrusting deep again. “Look at you,” he corrected. Ed’s tan skin was lit up somehow more divinely than the sky itself, and he too bore lovely purple marks, claimed by Stede’s mouth and hands. Stede would remember them there forever.
He jerked Ed’s cock firmly and took Ed’s cries of pleasure as the opportunity to pull out a bit and drive home, again and again.
“Oh, oh, Stede!” Ed moaned, clinging tight, his stretched and vulnerable body on display for the whole ocean to envy. He arched and moved with Stede like second nature. “That’s it. I wanna come…”
“You’re so good, my love. So beautiful, so tight, so wet for me. Come for me, my Edward…”
Ed flew off the edge with a drawn out shout of Stede’s name, coming in pearly streaks over the blankets under them, embraced by sunlight over his front and Stede Bonnet at his back. And when he collapsed forward onto his hands again, he wore a peaceful grin as Stede drove in and out of him with abandon until he fell over himself, shaking and filling Ed as pleasure rolled through his own limbs over and over. It was bliss he never imagined. It was exciting and thrilling and felt like it went on for ages. He felt something change inside; love could feel like this. Loving Ed felt like this.
Words failed as they sank down to the blanket together again, Ed laying on his belly, pillowing his hands, and Stede’s softening cock slipping out as Stede hummed gratefully. He half-laid over Ed, both of them messy and spent, and idly ran fingers over his skin, tattoos, and bruises.
When Stede finally spoke, it took all his bravery. He wouldn’t say it again after this morning until Ed was ready, but he couldn’t resist once more before they had to face an unforgiving world again.
“I love you.”
Ed looked away from the sun toward Stede, an enigmatic tear escaping the corner of his eye. He wouldn’t say it back, Stede knew, but maybe someday. And Stede would prove to him every day they’d never be parted again.
Ed looked back toward the dawn.