Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

When Prince Stede Bonnet saw his betrothed for the first time, he very nearly blushed.

Edward Teach was a fearsome thing: pirate turned warlord, scourge of the continent. He wore black armor and bristled with weapons, including his famous sword, the Queen’s Revenge. The notorious beard which had earned him his nickname was gray now, but still full and menacing. They were almost of a height, but Stede felt dreadfully small in his presence.

Blackbeard had taken one look at Stede and grunted his approval. And Stede had almost blushed.

His immediate acceptance of Stede as a husband just proved what people whispered in the courts of Barrabas: Blackbeard was an upstart, and if it weren’t for his talent with violence, he’d have died in the streets of the Baharla capital penniless and pitiful. But he was talented with violence, very talented indeed. His army and navy had steadily grown for ten years, gobbling up the smaller countries of the continent that were closest to the coastal cove on which his castle sat. Stede’s father had struck a deal with Blackbeard to ally with his forces, as well as protect his own country from them.

An upstart, they whispered, masquerading kingship like a player on a stage.

It would be worse, now that Stede was to be his husband. They called him Bonny Prince Bonnet, a vicious and satirical nickname. Everyone knew he was the king’s starting bid. Fourteenth in line for the throne, widowed, lily-livered and frivolous. Caring more for his books and clothes than proper princely pursuits. No one expected Blackbeard to say yes to Stede, but he had, and Stede had almost blushed.

They also called him Blushing Baby Bonnet, even though he had long since trained the shameful habit out of his system. He knew with intimacy the cruelty of court whispers, and so he felt a kinship with his husband-to-be, even though he knew he shouldn’t.

Blackbeard was also quite handsome. That didn’t hurt.

But good looks meant nothing. The Badminton twins, who were to accompany Stede to his new home as his attendants, told him this over and over again.

“You’ve never been with a man, have you? He’ll hurt you, of course. Just do your best not to cry too much. Unless Blackbeard likes that, which he very well might.”

The thought of Blackbeard bedding him was not as daunting as it ought to be. He was certain he would be disabused of these notions when fantasy became reality. 

~*~

His father had not allowed him to pick his own wedding clothes, and Stede was trying not to fret about it. He felt very plain in his brown shirt and trousers, a shade he knew would clash with black. He would almost think it intentional, if the king had any eye for fashion. 

His personal servants had just finished dressing him when Stede heard his betrothed’s voice from outside his door.

“You will let me in, or you’ll be sorry about it.”

Stede shivered. From what, he could not say.

“Please,” he called. “Let him in.”

Blackbeard prowled inside the room like a jungle cat and looked at Stede like he was meat.

“Out,” he said to the servants, still looking straight at Stede.

“And close the door, please,” said Stede.

Blackbeard looked a little surprised at that.

“We’ll be alone together quite often when we are wed, I should think.” Stede was horrified at himself. Such cheek! He flinched, expecting to be punished.

“Suppose so,” was all Blackbeard said. “Prince Bonnet. It’s not too late to say no to this.”

Now it was Stede’s turn to be surprised.

“I beg your pardon?”

“You and I both know this is bullshit. Your father could choose a different prince for me. One that’s not so…”

Timid? Foolish? Ugly?

“Soft,” Blackbeard finished.

“But…” Stede began. “You said yes. Have you changed your mind?”

“That’s beside the point.”

“I rather think it’s not!”

Stede flinched again. But Blackbeard was chuckling, low and musical. It wouldn’t do for him to see Stede shiver, so he kept it inside himself this time.

“Alright,” Blackbeard said. “But don’t forget I offered.” He spun on his heel and made to leave.

“Wait!”

Stede wasn’t sure why he had said that. Blackbeard turned to him again, one eyebrow raised.

“Yes?”

“I… your tunic is very fetching,” Stede said. “But I think you could use a cravat.”

“I don’t have one.”

“I do,” Stede said. “Wait just one moment, please.”

He went to his accessories wardrobe and found the one he was thinking of. It was simple, just black silk, but it would look beautiful with the rest of Blackbeard’s wedding clothes.

“It’s one of my favorites.” He held it out to his betrothed.

“I don’t know how to tie it.”

“May I?”

Blackbeard grunted what might have been a yes. Stede took a step closer. He felt a bit dizzy. He had to touch the back of Blackbeard’s neck to tie the cravat, and his beard kept brushing against the backs of Stede’s hands as he worked. It was softer than he had thought it would be.

“There we are.” He stepped back and surveyed his work. “Now you’re perfect.”

Blackbeard was staring at him, and Stede almost blushed again. That was worrying.

“Thank you.” Blackbeard reached up and touched the cravat. “I like it.”

~*~

Word had gotten around that Blackbeard was in Stede’s rooms with the door closed, and now the Badmintons were tormenting him.

“Surprised you can walk!” said Chauncey.

“I would call it more sort of flouncing,” said Nigel.

Stede traded which twin he hated more depending on the day. He was free to think of grisly things he’d like to happen to them inside his own head while he kept a polite expression on his face.

“Saving the main event for tonight, I expect,” Chauncey said. “Are you ready, Bonny Prince Bonnet?”

Stede nodded. He wasn’t really listening. He was thinking of the soft brush of his husband-to-be’s beard on the back of his hands and the way he had said “I like it.”

The time came for him to stand with his betrothed at the front of the grand temple of the Sunlord to be wed. He knew his lines perfectly, and what Blackbeard forgot, Stede found a way to talk around. He certainly had a talent for talking, to his own detriment, most of the time. But Blackbeard was staring at him in what might have been a less-menacing-than-usual way, so he thought he did adequately.

Then came time for the kiss.

Stede was prepared, this time, for the softness of his beard. He was not prepared for the softness of Blackbeard’s lips against his own. It just seemed like everything about Blackbeard should be rough, but twice now, he had surprised him.

Three times, when the barest hint of tongue licked against his lips.

Stede opened his mouth. The temple seemed to shrink away, and nothing else existed except the press of his husband's beard and the slide of their tongues.

The priest cleared his throat and Blackbeard wrenched backward.

Stede blushed.

~*~

The wedding was an opulent affair - Stede’s father was far too proud for it to be anything else - but the details were indelicate. The flowers clashed with the candelabras, the entertainment was gauche, and the eighteen courses lacked a cohesive narrative. Not that Stede ate much of it. His stomach was far too twisted up.

Blackbeard did eat. And drank. And drank, and ate. He also completely ignored Stede, choosing instead to interact with the men he had brought with him. They were all so loud and boorish and seemed so free. They made obscene noises as they slurped through soups and gnawed through chicken. They kept lobbing crude jokes at Blackbeard about the bedding, and Stede did his best to tune it out.

It was harder to tune out the way the Barrabassian court looked at all this happening and the whispers that followed.

At one point, someone got a little too loud about it, and Blackbeard slammed his hands on the table and glared. The great hall was too big to go totally quiet, but the noise dimmed, especially in the bubble immediately around them. Stede laid a gentle hand on Blackbeard’s arm, and earned himself a snarl.

“Fuck this,” Blackbeard said. “We’re going to bed.”

He grabbed Stede by the upper arm and hauled him upright. He couldn’t help a small squeak of distress. Blackbeard let go and grunted what might have been a sorry. His men hooted and whistled at them as they walked away.

~*~

Stede was doing his best to suppress his trembling. It seemed to irritate Blackbeard, who was striding with purpose several steps ahead of him. Stede’s personal servants were even farther behind. He had a reputation for kindness with his retainers, for which the rest of the court looked down on him. He felt their distress and it made him straighten his back and cuff away the tears threatening to fall down his face.

They reached his rooms and his servants made to follow them inside.

“No,” Blackbeard said. “Leave us.”

“They need to help me undress,” Stede said.

“I’ll do it.”

Stede did not say “you won’t know how.” That would be cruel.

He nodded kindly to his servants, assuming he’d figure it out. Blackbeard wore a dagger with his wedding clothes - maybe he’d just cut Stede’s clothes off him. Maybe he’d even ask for it. He did so hate the brown.

He followed Blackbeard into the room and shut the door politely behind him. He turned to face his husband and tried a small smile. Blackbeard stared him down.

“What would you like to do next, Blackbeard?”

“Ed.”

Stede startled, but kept his smile inside this time.

“What would you like to do next, Ed?”

“Come here.”

Stede’s lower back began to sweat. He stepped closer to Blackbeard, who wrapped his hands around the hem of Stede’s shirt. He was so gentle, Stede did not even feel a tug.

“Wait!” he said.

Blackbeard let go and stepped back. Stede could not possibly begin to read his expression, so he forged ahead.

“The sleeves first, please,” Stede said. “At the shoulder, there are ties.”

Again, Blackbeard made a face that Stede could not interpret. Stede considered the cutting-the-clothes-off-him idea again, before he rotated his body so that his shoulder was facing his husband, raising his arm a small amount. Blackbeard stared at him. Then he reached out with both hands and fumbled with the knots at the junction between Stede’s vest and sleeves. Stede twitched when his husband strayed too close to his underarm. Blackbeard started to withdraw.

“Wait,” Stede said again. They stared at each other for a moment.

“Fuck this.” Blackbeard had his knife out so fast Stede almost didn’t notice until his sleeve was fully cut. His husband had sliced through the ties at his shoulder and underarm, rather than what Stede had been imagining. He spun Stede roughly by the shoulder and made as quick work of his left ties as he had of his right. Stede was able to push the sleeves over and off his wrists without assistance, leaving him bare and self conscious.

“What next?” Blackbeard’s voice had dropped a bit. Stede turned himself so that his back was facing his husband, revealing the ties there. Blackbeard sliced through them and the vest of the shirt fell away from Stede’s frame, which was a lot closer to what he had been imagining.

Blackbeard was suddenly very close behind him. Stede could smell the wine on his breath.

“Bonny Prince Bonnet.” His lips tickled Stede’s ear and his beard brushed against his neck. “The things I’ve heard about you.”

Stede very carefully did not blush.

“Undo the trousers.”

Stede was able to handle the ties himself, even though his fingers trembled. Blackbeard walked around to Stede’s front and rested his hands on his hips, his fingertips half on Stede’s waistband and half on his skin. Goosebumps raced across and up his torso as Blackbeard gave the barest rub. Then he pushed Stede’s trousers down. Stede had not noticed his cock was hard until it was laid bare. His husband chuckled and that made it pulse.

“It’s the fear,” Blackbeard said, straightening. “Happens to me as well. Close your eyes, Prince Bonnet.”

Stede slammed his eyes shut.     

“Put your hands above your head.”

Stede did as he was told. The part of him that wasn’t desperate felt foolish. Here he was, stockings and shoes still on, trousers around his ankles, cock hard against his thigh, and Blackbeard was playing games.

He felt a fabric around his wrists. Ropes? He had considered something like that, but didn’t think Blackbeard would use them the very first night. He was only slightly disappointed that the fabric turned out to be the soft silk of his nightshirt. Blackbeard slid it down his arms and body and let go.

“You can open your eyes.”

Of course he could , Stede very nearly said out loud. He opened them anyway. Blackbeard was staring again. Stede wished he could understand why. 

“What should I do next?” Stede said.

“Go to bed, probably.”

“But–”

He had guessed Blackbeard would not want him. So he wasn’t surprised, but he had thought that wouldn’t matter. He thought Blackbeard was interested enough in his royal blood and uncaring enough about his bed partners that he would tolerate Stede anyway. But Blackbeard didn’t want him, and wouldn't even use him to chase his own pleasure.

“We have to,” Stede said. “Or the marriage isn’t binding.”

“Are you going to tell anyone?”

“...No.”

“So what’s the problem?”

The problem was that Stede had been very hopeful about the bedding after the kiss. And even though he had guessed correctly about Blackbeard’s interest in his body, the rejection still stung.

“Alright,” he said. “May I help you get undressed?”

Blackbeard grunted. Stede stepped out of his trousers where they bunched around his ankles and curled his hands around the bottom of Blackbeard’s tunic. It was a much simpler garment than his own wedding clothes and could be pulled off in the usual way.

“This fabric is exquisite,” said Stede. “I was admiring the embroidery during the wedding, but I had not thought the fabric would be this nice.”

Staring, he thought. Always with the staring.

“May I?”

Blackbeard grunted again. Stede lifted the shirt up.

“Would you please raise your arms?”

Blackbeard did as he was asked. Stede took the shirt all the way off him and did not blush at Blackbeard’s bare torso. He was covered in tattoos - some of them artistic and deliberate, others looking more like they were done out of boredom. They were all very beautiful. He reached for his cravat.

“Leave it,” said Blackbeard. He was wearing hose instead of trousers. His codpiece, revealed now that the shirt was off, was straining against its laces.

“Are you certain about the bedding?” Stede blurted. He flinched.

Blackbeard was quiet for a while before he said, “I’m sure.”

“Would you like me to help with the hose?”

“Not sure how to untie the fucking things.” 

Stede was as light with his fingers as he could be, to avoid too much contact. He hesitated when the knots were undone. His husband had taken Stede’s trousers down, should he do the same? It would be more… intimate, with the hose. Blackbeard solved his dilemma by stepping away from him. He retrieved his own black cotton nightshirt. Before he could put it on, Stede asked, “Would you like to wear one of mine?”

He was starting to get frustrated with the staring.

“It’s lighter to sleep in. A special silk imported from the Aldra Islands. I do so want to visit them someday, but father says I would not be suited for a life at sea. It’s not as if I would be living at sea, just traveling, but unless I had my own ship I would not be allowed.” 

Stop babbling, he told himself.

“I’ve been to the Islands,” Blackbeard said. “They’re pretty. Good fuckin food, if you don’t mind spice.”

“Oh, yes, we had a jar of their paprika for a while. It was so unlike the one we make here!”

“Have you tried saffron?”

“I can’t say that I have. What’s it like?”

“It’s sweet, a little earthy. Kind of like honey.”

“Whatever would you use it for?”

“Rice, or desserts. It’s bright yellow, sometimes they just use it for color.”

“That sounds lovely.”

“I’ll take you someday.”

Stede felt himself flush, just the barest amount. That was twice now. He resolved himself to be more aware going forward. Something about his husband lowered his defenses and that simply would not do.

“So,” he said. “The nightshirt?”

Blackbeard nodded. Stede went to his sleeping wardrobe and retrieved the garment. This time he did not have to ask, Blackbeard just put his arms up for Stede to slide the shirt over him. He had to shake his beard out from where it was trapped under the frilled collar.

Stede had known his husband was handsome, but he had not known he could be cute.

“How many wardrobes do you have, anyway?” Blackbeard said, squinting at them where they stood against the walls of Stede’s room.

“Oh,” Stede said. “Too many, I expect. Plus a few closets. I will miss them when I live at your castle. I had them made with cherry wood and painted to match the wallpaper in this room.”

“Don’t see why we can’t bring them.”

“There are seven of them, and two are quite large.”

“Half my army is camped outside the palace. They can handle some fucking wardrobes.”

Stede was surprised. His father had told him he could only bring four trunks of clothes, and only two for books. He had wept about it for days.

“And… and my books?”

“What?”

"I'm sorry, never mind."

"Tell me what you were going to say."

Stede sighed. Blackbeard would surely be frustrated with his frivolity. But he had ordered Stede to tell him, so he had no choice.

"My books. Here." Stede walked over to his library door and opened it. His husband followed him inside as he lit the candles. Blackbeard whistled. 

"Holy shit, Prince Bonnet."

"I know, it's ludicrous. I'm sorry. I will only bring a few."

"Nah. This is fucking cool. We'll bring 'em all. But I don't have a separate room for you, you'll have to put them in mine."

"Oh, of course!" Stede was thrilled at the thought of sharing his books. "I did not think you'd have a library."

Blackbeard scowled. Oh dear.

"Only– only I wouldn't think there's much time to read, with all the pillaging?" 

"The pillaging."

"And the killing, and such?" 

"The killing. And such."

How had things gone so wrong so quickly? Stede had thought they had been getting along, Blackbeard's disinterest in bedding him notwithstanding.

"I'm sorry," Stede said. "I'm very pleased you'll share your library with me."

"I pillaged the whole thing."

Stede blinked at him.

"I'm teasing you, Prince Bonnet."

Always surprising him. He had not thought Blackbeard was the teasing sort. But at least he had told him. Sometimes Stede could not be sure. 

"Lucius has accumulated most of them so far," said Blackbeard. "But he hasn't got your taste. You'll like him. He's our record keeper."

This time, Stede did not say out loud that he hadn't thought Blackbeard was the sort to have a record keeper, even though he was a little off balance from the comment about his taste. 

"I look forward to meeting him,” he said.

Blackbeard yawned. Was Stede boring him?

"Drank too much tonight," Blackbeard said. "Think I'll turn in."

They removed the rest of their clothing in silence. Blackbeard was so graceful as he took off his hose and boots, and he stared as Stede stripped off his shoes and stockings in a much more ungainly manner. Stede took some time to fold the clothes on the floor that were not cut up and blew out the candles.

“I’ll make sure the servants pack your clothes before we leave tomorrow,” Stede said. “It would not do to leave such lovely garments behind.”

They looked at each other in the moonlight. They both seemed to be waiting for the other to get into bed first.

“After you,” said Stede. “Do you have a side you would prefer?”

“The one closest to the door.” He got into bed and Stede slipped in beside him. He could feel the heat radiating off of his husband from where he lay a foot away.

“Fuck, this bed is so fucking soft.” Blackbeard’s voice was already muzzy with sleep. “But I think even my army would have trouble bringing it to the castle.”

Stede calculated in his head. It would take a sizable chunk of the allowance his father was to send him each year, but Blackbeard was a rich man and would not let his new prize starve. “I can commission one. The bedmaker lives closer to your castle than he does to here.”

“Would be nice,” Blackbeard murmured.

“Good night, Ed.”

“Night, Stede.”

In the dim moonlight of his room, with his husband’s eyes closed, Stede felt free to blush.

Chapter Text

Stede woke up to the feeling of Blackbeard’s beard tickling his neck. His arms also seemed to be around him. Stede was perplexed. His husband was making soft snuffling sounds in his ear, so he was obviously still asleep. He must have been dreaming about another bed partner. Stede did not know what to do, so he simply kept very still. After a little while, Blackbeard’s breathing changed. 

“Morning, Prince Bonnet.” His voice was husky. “Forgive me for this.” He gave a soft squeeze. “I’m a cuddler. You’ll have your own rooms at the castle.”

His own rooms. Of course. Why would Blackbeard want to share a bed with him, if he wasn’t going to use Stede for pleasure?

Blackbeard yawned and rolled away. Stede felt bereft without his husband’s body heat behind him.

“Fuck,” said Blackbeard. “I don’t have any clothes. I’m not putting on that fucking hose again.”

“Oh!” said Stede. “I would absolutely love it if you would borrow some of mine.”

“You…” Blackbeard began. “Would love it?”

“Yes, yes!” Stede bounded out of bed and over to his summer wardrobe. “Here, I think this shirt, it’s a bit long on me anyway. And this vest, or this one, if you prefer a darker shade? And we’ll do trousers, since you don’t like hose. Let me know what you like from these four options. I’ll fetch some stockings in the meantime.”

Blackbeard was staring again.

“Or… or you can wear your wedding tunic, and just borrow some black trousers. I should have a pair somewhere.”

“No,” said Blackbeard. “I’ll take the other ones.”

Stede was pleased he had misunderstood the staring. He would figure it out someday. He fetched some stockings while Blackbeard picked clothes from the options Stede had laid out.

“Oh, excellent choices! You have an eye for fine things, Ed.”

Maybe the staring meant that Blackbeard thought Stede was being silly?

“I’ll call the servants to help us dress–”

“No.”

“It’s quite difficult to put on the stockings without help–”

“You do it.”

Stede could not disobey an order. “Alright.” He was pleased when his voice came out even. “Will you come over here, please? In case you lose your balance and fall, I would rather it be onto the bed.”

His husband prowled over to where he indicated. Stede knelt before him. His upper lip began to sweat.

“Your foot, please,” he said, quietly. Blackbeard raised it and placed it onto Stede’s knee. His calf was quite fetching, and also tattooed. Not for the first time, Stede wondered how far up the tattoos went.

Stede gathered the stocking and fitted the end over Blackbeard’s toes. He went slowly across the foot, but his husband still twitched.

“Ticklish,” he said. “Keep going.”

Over the heel. Sliding up the calf and shin. Approaching the knee, where the hem of the nightshirt rested. Stede gulped and considered whether he’d just try to continue pushing the stocking on under the shirt, or if that would make accidental contact with his husband’s genitals even more likely. Especially when it came time for the ties.

“Would you please–” He cleared his throat. “Would you please lift the nightshirt?”

Blackbeard plucked the shirt upward like a maiden raising the hem of her dress. It was dreadfully erotic, even though his cock was still covered. Stede tried not to feel too put out about that, especially because the tattoos did seem to go all the way up. He stopped staring and eased the stocking the rest of the way onto the middle of Blackbeard’s firm thigh. Then Stede made quick work of the ties (but perhaps not as quick as he could have).

He let out a breath he hadn’t known he was holding.

“Now the other. Please.”

Blackbeard obliged. Stede tried to remember to breathe through this one, but he forgot again when his husband almost lost his balance and reached out a hand onto Stede’s head to steady himself. The nightshirt had fallen back down, and Stede was too breathless to ask Blackbeard to raise it again. He tied the stocking up blind with trembling hands.

“Thank you.” Blackbeard’s voice was rough. It must take him quite a while to wake up in the mornings. He was staring down at Stede and his hand was still curled lightly in his hair.

~*~

Stede had thought his husband was handsome the first time he saw him. He had seen him without a shirt on and lived to tell the tale. But he was absolutely not prepared for Blackbeard in his element. The sun was shining and the wind slapped at his army’s flags and tents. He was chatting and giving orders and he looked so beautiful amongst his men. And women, and others too, Stede quickly came to realize. Not witches like the whispers said, just regular people, who all seemed enamored with and dedicated to his husband.

Stede was beginning to acclimate to the feelings of surprise Blackbeard elicited inside of him.

He flounced along after Blackbeard and tried to feel fine about being ignored again. Especially because his husband had taken one look at the Badminton twins and said, “Absolutely not. Fuck off” and sent them to a different part of his camp to get them settled with their new servants. 

Stede took in as much as he could without asking any of the questions bubbling behind his lips. His husband was clearly a trendsetter - most of the people in his army wore clothing pieces with black in them. Stede really appreciated their devotion to the look. It was both menacing and fashionable. They did stare a little when they saw Blackbeard was wearing Stede’s clothes. He had picked two dark shades for his vest and trousers, so it was mostly the bright white shirtsleeves that stood out. But they seemed to shrug and get on with it without too many comments.

They stared at Stede as well. He wore an understated outfit: a forest green tunic with flowering aquamarine vines embroidered along the square collar and sleeves, with a pair of plain gray hose with only a little of the special shimmer the wool-makers from Srl Abor were able to incorporate into their yarn. He had worn a bit more of an adventurous shoe, with a pretty white ribbon, and he was regretting it now. The whole camp was muddy, and there was horse shit besides. Stede had picked his clothes to compliment his husband, of course. He had thought it romantic, but now he felt like a pathetic little puppet in Blackbeard's shadow. A toy he didn't even care to play with.

Was this to be his married life? There were many at court who would tell him he’d be lucky if that were true. That if feeling frustrated and like Blackbeard’s shiny trophy was the worst of it, he should accept that with gratitude. And not even that shiny! One of Blackbeard’s soldiers had started to ask a question about Stede, but his compatriot had bumped him with an elbow and he had stopped.

It was a little different with the men Blackbeard had brought with him to the wedding the night before. They seemed to be closer to him, and he accepted their teasing about Stede with grunts or grins, depending on his mood. These men ignored Stede just as thoroughly as his husband did.

But despite all that, despite Blackbeard’s behavior toward him and the horse shit and anything else unpleasant - Stede was almost free. The palace was already behind him, even if it still loomed close to the fields where Blackbeard’s army camped. He had only read of adventures in books, but this felt like the real thing. Perhaps his husband would keep him locked up in his castle like a cage, but Stede was optimistic he would not. What was the point of having a trophy if you could not display it? Even one that was less shiny than desirable. And even if all he got was the three-week journey back to Blackbeard’s castle, that was two and a half weeks longer than any time he had ever spent away from the official court of Barrabas and Stede was determined to enjoy it.

“Where are they all from?”

Oh dear. He had said that question out loud.

“All over the continent,” Blackbeard answered immediately, as if he hadn’t been ignoring Stede all day. “Mostly the countries we’ve absorbed, but not just those.”

“So they’re conscripts?”

“Nope. Here by choice.”

“But…”

“Why?”

“Yes.”

“I pay them, Bonny Prince Bonnet.”

Stede stopped walking to consider this and Blackbeard stopped as well. 

“Like…” Stede did not want to misstep as he had done with the library comment. “In gold?”

“Sometimes even in books.”

Stede blinked at him.

“I’m teasing you.”

Stede did so appreciate it when Blackbeard explained that.

“But,” Stede said again. “Why would you need to pay them, when you’re their king?”

Something flashed across Blackbeard’s face that Stede could not interpret. His voice was low when he said, “I am not a king.”

“I’m sorry,” Stede said, because that seemed like the right thing to say. “I won’t say it again.”

Blackbeard grunted and began striding away from Stede so fast he had to scurry to keep up.

It was a rather smart idea, though, wasn’t it? Loyalty of military forces was fickle, and made and unmade royal family lines with perilous frequency. If they were loyal first to coin, all you had to do to keep them happy was pay them. It should not be a shock to Stede that his husband was a brilliant man. Nonetheless, he found himself surprised again.

~*~

They had been delayed leaving as Blackbeard organized the extraction of Stede’s wardrobes and books. “It’s too late to start leaving today,” Blackbeard said. “We can go back to the palace to dine and sleep.”

“No!” Stede did more than flinch this time. Had he really just said “no” to his husband? That was worse than blushing.

“What’s wrong?”

“I— that would be inconvenient. I would rather we stay at the camp.”

“It’s not as comfortable as your bed. By a long ways, Prince Bonnet.”

“I don’t mind.”

Perhaps he would mind. But it would be better than going back to the palace. He hoped never to return to the court of Barrabas. 

Blackbeard showed him to their tent and left him there. It was opulent, by tent standards, if Stede had to guess. It was big enough for a table, a desk, a basin for bathing, and the bed. It was more of a sleeping nest, he supposed, on the floor, with a lightly padded mattress and animal skins for covers. It was quite small. He wondered if that would facilitate more cuddling.

Stede asked the servants where his books might be, and one of them found a trunk for him. He selected one and read until it was dark and Blackbeard returned.

It was time for dinner. They had leftovers from the wedding feast.

“Thank you very much,” Stede said, when the servants had finished cleaning up. He ignored Blackbeard’s staring.

“So…” Stede said. “Bed, then?” He looked expectantly around for the servants to return to help them get undressed. Surely Blackbeard would be more comfortable with his own retainers.

“I don’t keep personal servants,” Blackbeard said, guessing what he had been thinking. “You’ll have to manage dressing and undressing on your own.”

That was strange, but Stede shrugged it off. Perhaps his husband did not feel safe with servants working so intimately alongside him. 

Stede had picked simple garments today so that Blackbeard’s army would not immediately dismiss him as a frivolous peacock. He considered asking his husband for help anyway, but opted against it. It wasn’t like it was difficult to put on a nightshirt. He had made sure to have his old servants pack the one his husband had borrowed to be easily accessible, and Blackbeard donned it as they readied for bed.

“I’m going to have to throw away the shoes,” Stede said mournfully. “I should wear boots while we travel.”

“They’re probably still fancy, though.”

“Yes, I suppose they are.”

“Would you like to try on a pair of mine?”

Stede eyed the boots. They were black of course, spattered in mud. They looked very cool, and quite adventurous. Not something Blushing Baby Bonnet would ever wear, but something he’d like to. Maybe he could be a different man in his new life.

“Alright.”

“Sit.”

Stede sat. Blackbeard brought the boots over, but before Stede could reach for them, his husband knelt before him. He slid the boot over Stede’s heel. Then he put a hand on the back of Stede’s knee, on the meat of his calf, and pulled the boot the rest of the way up.

“Now the other,” Blackbeard said. “Please.”

Stede offered his other foot. His husband seemed to go slower on this one. And this time, he put his hand on Stede’s thigh, just above the knee, as he finished pulling it up. Stede could barely keep his shiver inside.

“Now you’re perfect,” Blackbeard murmured.

The boots did fit well. Stede tried to imitate his husband’s prowl, but gave up quickly. He twirled, which felt more comfortable. He smiled at Blackbeard before he could stop himself. But he only stared, so nothing new there.

“Thank you,” Stede said. “I love them.”

~*~

There was indeed more cuddling.

Every night, they went to sleep apart. As much as they could, in the small bed - if they faced away from each other, their backs touched, and if they lay on their backs, their arms pressed together.

And each morning, without fail, Stede woke to his husband’s arms around him. Blackbeard would yawn, and squeeze him softly, then roll over and leave the bed. Once or twice (four times, it was four times), he felt the firmness of his husband’s hard cock against his backside. But Blackbeard ignored it, and Stede followed his lead. He was more and more often in his own state of arousal, and beginning to fret about the lack of privacy with which to take care of it. If he had been three and ten instead of three and thirty, he would have given up and taken himself in hand a long time ago, whether his husband was in the tent or not.

It also helped that he was exhausted.

It turned out that adventure was physically taxing. He had expected to ride in a covered carriage with some of Blackbeard’s court, but his husband had presented him with a gorgeous dappled filly the second morning at camp. Stede would feel ungracious not to ride her, even though he could not ride and read at the same time. She was a very gentle mount; it was not her fault Stede was an awful seat. Stede named her Cupcake, but only in his head. Out loud, he called her Thunderfoot.

Blackbeard mostly ignored him. He rode with different parts of the army each day, and Stede assumed he was not welcome to join him. It was for the best, with how he rode. One of these days, his husband might fully comprehend how embarrassing he was. Without any bedding, he would be free to cast him aside and the alliance would be broken and it would all be Stede’s fault.

He did enjoy the way the machine of the army camp worked so seamlessly. It took less than an hour to pack up each morning, and only a little more than that to set up each night. Blackbeard had bought additional wagons for Stede’s books and clothes, but if anyone was resentful, they kept it to themselves.

No one did much talking to Stede in general.

He was very lonely, which he was used to. But it was a different kind of loneliness than it had been at court. At least at the palace, there were dinners and attendants and the meetings he could not avoid as a prince. The Badmintons were fitting in fine with the rougher characters of camp, and they would only return to torment Stede when they were bored. Since he took his meals with Blackbeard, the twins did not join them. Stede was not so lonely yet he wanted for their company. He wondered if things would change when they got to the castle. If Blackbeard would spend even less time with him than he was now on the road.

He was very grateful for the boots. He even started wearing his husband’s clothes, when Blackbeard noticed the mud on his finer things. They were simple road clothes, pants instead of trousers or hose, with plain black tunics on top. They all seemed to be clean, no lingering scent of Blackbeard's smell on any of them at all, but that was alright. Stede missed his own garments, a little, but was thrilled to be experimenting in the meantime. While he bumped along on Cupcake, not reading, he daydreamed instead, that he was a swashbuckler or smuggler or bandit. He also considered ways to start incorporating more black into his own wardrobe. It would not do to clash with his husband and his men once they were all living together.

The nights were fun. There were bonfires and drinking and singing. Stede sat beside his husband, thoroughly ignored, but still excited. The food was much less rich than what he was used to, better seasoned and made for sharing. He did not let his distress show too much that everyone ate with their hands. He got used to it himself, although he was going through handkerchiefs at a worrying rate. He also spent some time daydreaming what it might be like to feed his husband from his fingers, and what it might be like the other way around.

One night, Stede had a bit too much to drink, and the wine had him feeling bold.

“May I undress you, Ed?” he asked his husband as they readied for bed.

Blackbeard grunted. He had taken to wearing Stede’s cravat each day, so Stede began with that. It did not exactly go with his rough road clothes, but it still thrilled Stede to his core to see him wear it. He lingered just a bit as he untied it, brushing his knuckles against his husband’s chest while he was able and allowed to do so. As he pulled the shirt over Blackbeard’s head, he leaned in and kissed him.

Tried to, anyway. His husband wrenched backward. Stede blushed.

“I’m sorry,” he said, ashamed. “I’ve had too much to drink.”

He was worried he had ruined things and there would be no more cuddling. But the next morning, Blackbeard’s arms were around him just the same.

He had not done much cuddling with his wife. They had been friends, but there was no physical attraction between them. Stede knew he preferred the company of men, so that was not surprising. He had not lain with anyone since his wife at all, and then it was infrequent, to try to produce an heir. His wife had died in childbed and so had the babe a few years after they were wed and that was that. Stede was too timid to try and bed anyone outside of wedlock. Attempting to kiss Blackbeard was the bravest he had ever felt in that regard.

Stede’s states of arousal were starting to get a little painful.

Finally, he could not take it any longer, and he risked Blackbeard’s early return to the tent and took himself in hand. It would not take him long - his husband had woken up hard that morning, and it was all too easy to imagine a world in which he would do more than squeeze Stede and let go. He would start by kissing Stede’s neck, soft at first, then harder, maybe with a bit of biting. His hands would stray downward onto Stede’s cock, teasing a bit, then touching with purpose. He would grind himself into the flesh of Stede’s backside, leaving him desperate and panting. He would move his hand faster, just like Stede liked it, until—

He came with a cry.

“Prince Bonnet?”

Oh fuck .

“Just a moment, please!”

He cleaned off as hastily as he could and tucked himself away.

“Alright, you can come in.”

Blackbeard prowled into the tent. With effort, Stede did not blush.

“What’s wrong?” his husband asked.

“Nothing’s wrong.”

“I heard you cry out. Tell me what’s wrong.”

“I… am sore. From riding. It’s fine.”

“Don’t you know how to ride?”

“Of course I do! Only, I do not usually ride so long a distance at a time. Nor am I a very good seat,” he admitted.

“I’ll teach you a trick or two,” Blackbeard said. “Tomorrow, come with me when I ride with the men.”

Stede risked a small smile. “I would like that very much.”

Blackbeard stared.

~*~

“Moonlady preserve us,” Blackbeard said. “You were not joking.”

Stede pouted on the inside. “I was helpless as a boy, and no one tried too hard to continue my instruction when I stopped falling off so much.”

Blackbeard chuckled. “We can fix that. Come here.”

Stede tried to get Cupcake to sidle up to Blackbeard where he stood, but she politely declined.

“Come on,” Stede muttered to Cupcake. “Come on. ”

“Don’t tug so hard,” said Blackbeard. “Guide her with your knees. What did you name her?”

“Thunderfoot.”

Blackbeard chuckled again. “I don’t know that it suits her. She steps as lightly as you do.”

Stede hesitated. “Perhaps… Cupcake?”

“Perfect. Come here, Cupcake.”

Blackbeard held out an apple to tempt her and Cupcake snuffled around his fingers before eating it in one bite.

“She is a very fine mount,” Stede said. “Thank you, again.”

“You were made for fine things, Prince Bonnet.”

“So were you, Edward.”

Blackbeard’s hands stilled where they had been stroking down Cupcake’s forehead. He cleared his throat.

“You should be able to draw a straight line through your ear, shoulder, hip, and heel.” He could not reach Stede’s ear or shoulder, but he touched him on each of the other parts as he named them. “Keep your shoulders even and straight, with the bulk of your weight resting on your sit bones.”

“Sit bones?”

“Your ass.”

Stede blushed the barest amount.

“You’re squeezing her too tight.”

“I’ll fall if I don’t!”

“You won’t. Turn your legs inward.” Blackbeard placed one hand above Stede’s knee and the other on his foot and nudged. “Like this. Your knees shouldn’t stick out at all. Rest your toes higher than your heels. I’ll show you some stretches to strengthen those muscles.”

His husband let go of Stede’s leg, and Stede let out the breath he had been holding. Blackbeard explained how to turn and told Stede to take a walk around the pasture.

“See?” said Blackbeard. “That wasn’t half bad.” He gave Stede a few more tips and had him walk a circle again. No one had ever been this patient with him before. After a few more turns around, Ed mounted his own horse. His name was Beauty. He was of course black, and beautiful. Stede wished very much that Blackbeard would look at him the way he looked at Beauty.

“Let me show you a trot.”

Stede had thought his husband beautiful among his army. He had not considered he would be even more so astride a horse. Blackbeard’s long hair was blowing back in the wind, reminding Stede of some of his favorite, most private books.

“Relax, Prince Bonnet.” He had been clenching again. “A horse knows if you’re tense. It’s uncomfortable for them. Keep your hips and knees loose to absorb the movement of the trot. Think of your hips and legs as connected to the muscles in Cupcake’s back. Imagine that your hips are lifting her back to make her move. Since she’s in constant motion as she trots, remember that your body must also be in motion.”

Stede felt a stirring in his pants. He was frustrated. He had just taken care of this last night! 

“Show me,” Blackbeard said.

Stede did his best, trying to keep everything his husband had told him in mind, and consider this advice in relation to riding a horse only. He was clumsy, but did not fall off, so he considered it a success.

“Bounce your ass a bit more this time.”

Really. Was Blackbeard trying to make him blush?

After a few trotting attempts, Stede thought he was getting the hang of it. But then he must have squeezed Cupcake the wrong way, because she picked up her hooves and started to move faster and the next thing he knew he was sliding off and into the mud.

“Stede!” Blackbeard shouted, dismounting and rushing over to him. “Are you hurt?”

“No.” Stede pouted on the outside this time. “I told you I would fall.”

And then. His husband started to run his hands all over Stede’s body. There was even brief contact with his crotch. His cock gave another definite twitch.

“Nothing feels broken.” Blackbeard withdrew his hands. “I’m sorry, I should have listened to you.”

“It’s alright. You’re an excellent teacher. I just can’t help but muck it up.”

“You were doing better.”

“That is very kind.”

“Ready to ride with me today?”

No, he thought. “Yes,” he said.

~*~

“Knees in, toes up, hips loose,” Stede said over and over again inside his head like a prayer. “Don’t clench. Back straight. Fuck this.”

“Prince Bonnet,” Blackbeard said. “You’ve been talking out loud for a little while now.”

Stede paled. Blackbeard chuckled.

“I hadn’t thought to ask if you wanted to ride in one of the carriages,” he said. “If you hate riding so much, you’re welcome to.”

“Maybe sometimes, so that I may read.”

But Stede did not want to ride in the carriage today. Even though he groused on the inside (mostly) about all the new muscles he was using to ride a proper seat, he would not trade it so long as he could also see his husband riding Beauty and chatting easily among his soldiers. Something about wearing Blackbeard’s clothes made him bolder than he had been that first day, and he even tried a little conversation.

“That axe is very menacing. Is it heavy?”

“Uh, yes. Prince Bonnet.”

“Did you make it yourself?”

“No, Prince Bonnet.”

“Who made it?”

“A blacksmith, Prince Bonnet.”

That was the most successful conversation of the day.

Much to his dismay, that night as they readied for bed, Stede was raising his tunic above his head and let out a small squeak of pain.

“Ah,” said Blackbeard. “I was wondering when you’d break.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“I’ve been watching you wince and wobble since you got off Cupcake. You’re doing quite well. Let’s call you a bath.”

Stede wiggled a bit with anticipation as the servants brought in steaming pitcher after steaming pitcher to fill the basin in their tent. The army set up showers at the camp each night, but the water was dreadfully cold, and Stede was not used to washing himself. He also preferred not to meander in the mud in nothing but his dressing robe and a single guard assigned to his person, but since he was mostly invisible to everyone at camp that part was not so bad.

Blackbeard left the tent while he undressed and bathed, which Stede tried not to feel any sort of way about. But still, he splashed happily and drizzled himself in the fine soaps and oils he brought with him from Barrabas, giving his hair a proper wash for the first time since he had been on the road. His curls must be shining. He wondered if Blackbeard had mirrors at the castle, but knew better by now than to ask. When his fingers had pruned and the water was cold, he sighed and got himself out of the basin. It was still strange, almost like a phantom limb, that there were no personal servants to dry him off and such. But Stede was getting used to the privacy that he had never had before and finding that he liked it. It did not occur to him that most of the time he spent alone was actually with his husband.

Soon after he had dressed for bed, Blackbeard returned.

“How was the bath?”

“Absolutely marvelous. Thank you so much.”

“I’ll have to try it sometime.”

“It’s a touch small, but that is to be expected for a travel basin. You’d fit.”

“I wouldn’t know. Never taken a bath before.”

“But–” Stede did not know what to say. “You’ve never smelled bad before!”

Oh dear. Probably not that. Honestly, sometimes before Blackbeard showered for the night he had a hint of musk, and Stede wished he would let it set in a bit more before he washed it off.

Blackbeard chuckled and walked to where the basin sat, still with Stede’s bathwater inside. “I can just get into this one, can’t I?”

“Oh, no,” Stede said. “It must be hot, or it’s not a proper bath. I’ll have the servants draw you a new one.” He poked his head out of the tent and spoke to one of the guards standing there. “Raymond, would you please find Bethany and tell her Blackbeard would like another bath drawn?” Raymond nodded. “Thank you!”

He popped back into the tent, very pleased with himself. Blackbeard was, of course, staring.

“Are you going to bathe me, Bonny Prince Bonnet?”

Fuck. Another blush. Maybe Blackbeard was teasing? Stede waited a few breaths longer just in case he was going to clarify.

“Yes. I can do that.”

This time Stede thought he could read a little bit of the staring. It looked like surprise.

Chapter Text

Blackbeard had not asked Stede to undress him. But Stede steeled himself and looked while he did it. He was about to bathe him. There was nowhere to hide under the water. Although they had dressed and undressed around each other frequently since their wedding night, Stede had never glimpsed his husband’s backside or cock. Now he got a view of both, and it made him sweat.

The tattoos went all the way up.

Stede had changed back into Blackbeard’s pants from the day, and willed himself to leave his shirt off. Bathing was a wet business. For once, Blackbeard looked away.

He made to get into the basin, and Stede reached out for his hand to steady him as he lowered himself in the water. Right back to the staring.

“Fuuuuuuck,” Blackbeard groaned, as he settled in. “Fuck, Prince Bonnet. I get it. I am instantly on board.”

“Wait til you try my soaps!”

“We can just use the standard ones.”

“Absolutely not.” Stede held his breath for just a beat after that before he felt safe to continue. “We are going to pamper you tonight, my husband.”

Oh dear. He hoped that was a fine thing to say. Blackbeard was staring, so who knew really.

It was time for the touching.

Stede had not tried it much since the disastrous attempt at the wedding feast, aside from when he had been ordered to during the stocking situation the morning after. He did not feel allowed. Especially because of the even more disastrous kiss attempt. Some mornings, when he faked sleep because Blackbeard had not yet curled around him, Stede fantasized about what it might be like to take his husband into his own arms, instead of the other way around. And then there were all the other fantasies, which were never far from his mind.

But now it was time for the touching. Stede sat in the chair by the basin and wiped at his forehead with an equally slick forearm. 

“Your hair first,” he said. “I’m going to use this cup to get it wet. Lean forward and tilt your head back, please.”

Stede dipped the cup in the steaming basin. He placed his hand lightly on Blackbeard’s forehead at his hairline so that nothing would spill into his eyes. He poured the water over the top of his husband’s head and back down the rest of the hair that was not already under the water line. With each cup he poured, the hair became heavier, and clung more to the back of Blackbeard’s neck.

“This is a shampoo from Ardia. It has a citrus overtone, with a bit of pine underneath.” He waved the bottle close to Blackbeard’s face so that he could smell it and grunt his approval.

Stede poured the shampoo onto the crown of Blackbeard’s head. He eased his fingertips into his husband’s hair and began to massage it in. This shampoo was mainly for the scalp, but he wasn’t going to squander this opportunity, and he rubbed the long, wet strands between the palms of his hands and squeezed them with his fingers. He used the cup again to rinse.

“Have you ever used conditioner before?”

“No.”

“This one has a coconut base, with floral notes. Rose, mostly. Do you like it?”

“Yes.”

Stede started from the ends this time, squishing the conditioner upward and finger combing any knots out as gently as he could. He used a dreadful amount of the small bottle he had brought from Barrabas - he wished he had thought to ask his husband to bring his whole cosmetics cabinet, but he hadn’t wanted to push his luck after the books and clothes - but Ed had quite a lot of hair and he was worth it. He carefully twisted the hair up onto Blackbeard’s head in a knot and used a ribbon to tie it in place.

There were no tattoos on the back of his husband’s neck.

“We’ll let that conditioner sit while we finish the rest.”

Ah yes. The rest. Stede tried again to wipe the sweat from his brow, to the same effect.

“This is the body soap. It’s–”

“Lavender.”

“Yes! You have a nose for fine things, as well.”

“It would seem that way.”

Stede tried to wipe his forehead again. “May I please have your arm?”

Blackbeard lifted the limb in question out of the water and Stede took his forearm delicately in hand. He eased the washing cloth across that area first, then cleaned his husband’s hand. He took his time with his fingers, rubbing at the webs between, cleaning under the nails, and wrapping the cloth around them each individually, pulling through one knuckle at a time. Then he dragged the cloth back upward, following the path of one of his favorite tattoos (a snake) up to Blackbeard’s shoulder. He raised the arm a bit more and rubbed his husband’s underarm. He twitched.

“That’s right,” Stede murmured. “You’re ticklish.”

He laid Blackbeard’s arm back gently into the water. His husband raised his other arm. Stede began to wash it. He had to lean forward a bit to get to the upper arm, since it was on the other side of the basin, and his bare chest pressed wetly against Blackbeard’s shoulder while he did.

“Your back now. Lean forward, please.”

Blackbeard seemed to hesitate.

“We don’t have to.”

Blackbeard leaned forward.

Stede squeezed the cloth out and dipped it back into the water. He put a drop more of soap onto it. He wiped first one hand, and then the other, on his pants. Everything was wet, so this did nothing. He ordered his hand to stop trembling and reached out to rub the cloth against his husband’s back. Across the top of his shoulders. And then the back of his neck.

Even though the water was steaming, Stede could see goosebumps.

“All done,” he said. “You can lean back.”

Now he had to choose. He knew his husband would not say anything if Stede did not wash his chest. But-– his cock was hard. Almost poking out of the water. Stede had so carefully not been looking at or thinking of or blushing about it. With how small the travel basin was, and the way Blackbeard had his knees tucked, Stede would get so dreadfully close to it if he washed any of his husband’s front.

“I’m going to wash your chest now. Is that alright?”

Blackbeard grunted a definite yes.

Stede reached across, first. Pulled the cloth toward himself. Pushed it back away. Pulled again. On the third pass, he reached his husband’s nipples, and he could feel their hardness even through the cloth. Another swipe, across and back. Lower this time. And maybe, just by accident, his knuckles grazed against his husband’s–-

Blackbeard gave a sharp intake of breath and Stede snatched his hand away.

There was no staring. Stede knew, because he was trying to catch his husband’s eye and found for the first time that he could not.

He unclenched his fist around the cloth. “Let’s get the conditioner rinsed out, hm?”

Blackbeard loosened his shoulders and nodded.

“Thank you,” he said, when his hair was rinsed. He started to get out of the basin.

“Wait.” Stede laid a soft hand on his husband’s shoulder. “You should stay, while the water is still warm.”

“I’ll get bored.”

“I can read to you.”

He retrieved a book and began to read aloud. After a while, his husband was asleep and snuffling softly. Stede closed his book and nudged him. “We should get ready for bed.”

His husband nodded sleepily and allowed Stede to towel him off and draw his nightshirt on. They got into bed, and Ed rolled over and cuddled him, as if it were the morning.

“Ed,” Stede said. “Why do you have a basin, if you’ve never taken a bath before?”

“Got it for you. My bonny prince.”

~*~

There was no more bathing. But there was more cuddling.

Blackbeard now went to sleep with Stede in his arms. Although Stede did not try to hold his husband in the same way, one morning he did risk scooching close and resting his head on Ed’s chest while he lay on his back. Before his husband had fully gained consciousness, he had stroked an idle hand through Stede’s curls.

He was beginning to fret about the end of the trip and subsequent end to the bed-sharing.

He rode in the carriage now, some days but not most. He found he missed the open air and sunshine, even though his muscles were absolutely miserable. He refused to admit they were getting a little less sore each day. And besides, he had decided to be bold and accompany his husband on his daily rides even though he had not been given permission. He justified it by telling himself he had not been forbidden, either. Even his conversations with the soldiers were getting a little better.

“What is your name?”

“Elias, Prince Bonnet.”

“Where are you from, Elias?”

“The South Coast, near Bramooras, Prince Bonnet.”

“Do you miss your home?”

“No, Prince Bonnet.”

“Neither do I.”

His husband stared at that. You would think he would be used to it by now.

“We’ll make a rider of you yet,” Blackbeard said, when Stede let his frustration show. “And when we get to the castle, we’ll teach you to fight on horseback.”

Stede bit his tongue and did not say he was more helpless with a blade than he was with a horse. His husband would realize soon enough. Riding was one thing, but fighting? What prince could not do it well, with all the instructors and wealth their station provided? Blushing Baby Bonnet, that was who.

The final day of their travels came. Stede bounced in the saddle, excited to see his new home. He could already smell the sea.

“It’s not as pretty as your palace,” Blackbeard warned.

“I’m sure it’s lovely. Is it painted black?”

“Uh. No?”

“I’m teasing you, Edward.”

Blackbeard grinned, he actually grinned, when Stede said that. He had never been on the receiving end of such an expression and it made his bouncing even worse.

~*~

The castle was not pretty. It was beautiful.

Stede had not realized it was separate from the cliff, at first. It was made of the same gray stone. The closer they rode, the more the details came into focus, and the first time Stede realized what it was, he gasped.

“Oh, Ed,” he said. “It’s marvelous!”

“Yeah?”

“Yes!”

It perched, above the water, like a glorious sea bird. The walls glowed in the setting sun. It was first and foremost a military stronghold, of course, but Stede guessed correctly that some of the fresher looking stone had been added since his husband had acquired it.

“Is that a new tower? I love the asymmetry it adds, it really punches up the look of the Western wall.”

Another grin. Stede was on fire.

“And we can do so much with the roofs. We can paint them to match the town, maybe a dusky orange, so that it hits the sun just right. And I think some glass windows, on the sea side since it’s safe, for optimal sunset viewing. Do our rooms have a balcony?”

Blackbeard’s face changed. Oh dear.

“Mine do.”

Oh. Right. Separate rooms. Stede stopped babbling and bouncing to focus on the spot between Cupcake’s ears. 

They rode through the bustling town to thrown flowers and shouted congratulations. The people here seemed as enamored with his husband as his army had been, and some were even calling out to Stede.

“Welcome, Prince Bonnet!”

“Three cheers, Prince Bonnet!”

“I like your vest, Prince Bonnet!”

In anticipation of meeting his new vassals, Stede had worn his own clothes and let Blackbeard borrow a tunic as well. His husband had waited patiently while Stede went through four trunks to find the appropriate tones so that they matched. But now, with the end of the journey leading to a lonely bed, Stede just felt sad about it. He had even dared to think they looked fetching together, but of course, he was merely Blackbeard’s trophy. A pet, at best.

~*~

Stede did not like Ed’s second-in-command. He was a grubby little man, graying and unpleasant. He did have quite a nice voice, but it did not counter all the other things. His name was Izzy Hands, but in his head, Stede called him Iggy.

“So this is Bonny Prince Fuckin Bonnet,” he sneered, when Stede and Ed sat down to dinner with him the first evening. Iggy had then very intentionally turned away to let him know he was being ignored. “Well, Edward, I’m glad you’re home. The Srls are ready.”

Blackbeard’s eyebrows shot up. “Even Srl Ebrin?”

“Yes.”

“How soon can we march?”

“Six months, unless you’re distracted again.”

Oh yes. He disliked Iggy very much.

“Excellent,” said Blackbeard. “Where is Oluwande?”

“You know where he is,” said Iggy.

“Ah. So we’ll see them both in the morning.”

Stede had not stopped himself from asking questions like this in days. He almost vibrated with it. He felt ignored, and unwanted. His husband seemed so at ease with Iggy in a way that stabbed at his belly. The final straw was when he confused the chicken knife for the steak knife. He missed eating with his hands. 

“I would like to go to bed.”

Blackbeard and Iggy stopped mid-conversation. 

“Is anything wrong, Prince Bonnet?” his husband asked.

“No,” he said. “Only I am tired and sore and I want to go to my bed. Which is only my bed. Please.”

“I’ll escort you,” Blackbeard said. “Izzy, I’ll meet you in the map room after.”

Stede lagged behind his husband as they walked through the castle, even though he was prowling at the pace he knew Stede could easily keep up with. Stede did not ask about the tapestries, or the candelabras, or the portraits. They had a distinct lack of flair that he had come to associate with his husband’s taste, and he felt viciously smug that Blackbeard finally came up short in something he excelled at.

“Here are your rooms,” said Blackbeard. “The King’s rooms.”

“If you are not a king, then I am not a king.”

Stede felt uneasy with the staring for the first time. He took a deep breath on the inside.

“I’m sorry. That was not meant to be unkind. Only I am confused why you would call them that.”

“I sleep in the Queen’s rooms. I prefer them. Come inside.”

The rooms were clean, and barren except for a standing washing basin and a modest but comfortable looking bed. 

“I thought you might prefer to decorate yourself,” Blackbeard said. “This bed is actually nicer than mine.”

Stede would trade the soft-looking quilt for animal skins and a thin padded mattress on the ground without any hesitation, if it meant he could share a bed with his husband.

“Thank you,” he said. “It looks lovely.”

“I’ll have the servants bring up your sleeping clothes.”

“Am I to have personal servants?”

“Would you like to have them?”

Stede considered this. “Sometimes, there are clothes I would like to wear that require assistance to be put on and taken off. But no. Otherwise I do not.”

“I can help,” Blackbeard said. “If you teach me.”

Stede’s ability to comprehend his husband had felt like it was coming along nicely, on the road. But Blackbeard was just confusing sometimes. Ignored, glared at, left to an empty bed, and yet his husband offered to help him so intimately? To learn from him?

“My rooms are connected,” Blackbeard said. “Here, through this door.”

He followed his husband through the passageway and into his rooms. They were still under decorated, but felt cozy and lived in.

“You asked about a balcony,” Blackbeard said. “Here it is.”

He threw the doors wide and Stede gasped. The sea was lit up by the crescent moon and waves crashed against the rocks below. He forgot to be confused or sullen or even polite, and he bounded to the edge of the balcony. He put his hands on the railing, leaned forward, and inhaled. His delight was cut considerably short as he felt his husband’s arms around him. Not in the cuddling embrace he was used to, but a much more urgent grasp. He was yanked backward with some amount of force.

“Stede.” Blackbeard sounded quite panicked. “What the fuck!”

Stede squirmed. “I’m sorry!”

Blackbeard turned them both around before he let go. Then he grabbed Stede by the shoulders and spun him so that they faced each other.

“Are you so unhappy here?” Blackbeard was shouting. “Is the castle so terrible? Am I?”

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” 

Blackbeard let go of his shoulders.

“I am so very sorry, Blackbeard, I’m sorry! I won’t do it again, I won’t, I promise!”

“It’s alright–-”

“Please, don’t punish me, I’m sorry, I won’t bother you, I’ll stay in my own bed, I’m sorry!”

“Prince Bonnet, it’s alright-–”

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I only wanted to smell the sea!”

Blackbeard drew him close in an embrace. Although it was tender, it was also not like the normal cuddling. They had never been front to front before. Stede would have very much appreciated this, if he wasn’t sobbing.

“Shh, shh. It’s alright. It’s alright, Prince Bonnet. Shh.”

After a while, Stede calmed down, until he was merely sniffling into Blackbeard’s shirt.

“It’s a very long fall, my bonny prince.” Blackbeard’s arms were still around him, and he was speaking quietly into Stede’s hair. “It would not do if you fell over.”

~*~

Even though he had fibbed at the dinner table about being tired, Stede was now quite genuinely exhausted. The servants brought up the trunk with his sleeping clothes and Blackbeard left him to go play with Iggy instead. He readied himself for bed and slipped under the covers. He knew, logically, that it was summer and the air was sticky with salt and heat, but he felt utterly chilled without his husband beside him.

He tossed, and he turned. He flopped, and he flipped. He thought of pressing a pillow to his face and screaming into it, but although his husband felt a hundred miles away beyond the short passageway between their rooms, he was still quite close, and Stede did not wish to wake him.

How wretched he was. Pouting and sobbing like a small child. He did not hate the castle, not like Blackbeard seemed to think. But it felt stuffy and constricting and lonely. He missed the stars, and the grass, and his husband. He even missed Cupcake.

When dawn was creeping up into the sky, he finally slept.

Chapter Text

Stede was prodded awake by a small, angry person with dark hair.

“Ah!” he said, before he could stop himself.

“That’s all you have for me? Where’s the knife you keep under your pillow?”

“I beg your pardon!”

“You have to have at least one. Ed will give you one. He’ll give you as many as you ask for. You should ask for nice ones and give one to me.”

“I beg your pardon,” Stede said again. “But who are you and what are you doing in my rooms?”

“Jim,” they said. “I’m your new guard. It’s late as fuck, you should get up. Ed won’t let us eat without you.”

Stede yawned and rubbed at his eyes. “What time is it?”

“Late as fuck. I’m hungry, Prince Bonnet.”

This was the longest conversation Stede had had with anyone besides Blackbeard in weeks. It was unfortunate that it was so unpleasant.

“Alright. Please give me a moment to wash and dress.”

Jim stepped out. Stede changed and splashed some water on his face. He was glad there were no mirrors in the room; for all that it was late as fuck, he felt like he had not slept one bit, and he did not wish to know what he looked like.

Blackbeard was not at breakfast, but there was a dark skinned man and a much paler one, both about his height. Jim immediately went to the former and gave him a kiss so dirty that Stede looked away.

“Oluwande, Jim, you’re scaring the prince. Behave. Nice to meet you, Prince Bonnet, I’m Lucius.”

“The record keeper?”

“Yes.”

Stede nodded politely. Although these men seemed a little more like the ones he was used to at the palace, he was not sure where he should stand on ceremony. The hand kissing and the bowing had always made him uncomfortable, anyway.

“We’re ready for breakfast,” said Lucius. He asked the servant who had been waiting on them to bring them the food.

“Thank you, Eloise!” Stede said, as she left the room.

Now these people were staring. Stede did not like it nearly as much as his husband’s.

“What?” he said, impolitely. He was very tired indeed.

“You know her name?” Oluwande asked.

Maybe they were more like the Barrabas court than he had thought. “She helped bring my clothes up last night. Am I not allowed?”

“Oh,” said Lucius. “Things make a lot more sense now.”

It was very frustrating when people shared looks Stede could not understand.

“Will Blackbeard be joining us?” Stede asked.

“He’s dealing with some flooding out in the farmlands,” said Jim. They were sitting at the table with him and Oluwande and Lucius, which did not seem like proper etiquette for a guard, but Stede did not mind.

The breakfast was simple, but delicious. “Eloise,” Stede said. “Would you please let the cook know the bread was especially scrumptious? I have never had anything like it. So crunchy!”

“I can introduce you, if you like.” Lucius’s eyes were narrowed slightly. For what, Stede could not say. “Roach would be pleased to hear it directly from you.”

“Oh, yes, please!”

Again, the three others at the table shared a look Stede could not interpret. 

Oluwande said goodbye, with another frightful kiss from Jim, and Stede was led into the kitchen. He could not help but wiggle a bit. As a boy, he had spent as much time in the kitchens as he was able to, until he was caught and reprimanded severely. But he remembered the smells, and the smoke, and the seamless dance of all the cooks working and shouting and laughing together. The kitchen here was much smaller, only one big room. But there was garlic hanging from the ceiling and fire roaring in the hearth and pots and pans everywhere, and Stede liked it very much.

The cook - Roach - was chopping vegetables. He also seemed to be smoking a pipe without using his hands.

“Afternoon, Roach,” said Lucius. “Prince Bonnet wanted to give his compliments.”

“He what now?”

Stede was not sure how Roach spoke around the pipe, but he was managing expertly.

“It’s nice to meet you, Roach,” Stede said, even though he had not introduced himself. “The bread was especially delicious. What kind of nuts were they?”

“They’re seeds, actually.”

Lucius coughed a little bit.

“Uh,” said Roach. “Prince Bonnet.”

“Yes?”

“They were seeds, Prince Bonnet.”

Stede was having trouble following this conversation. 

“I like your name. It’s very peculiar!” he said.

“Oh. Thanks? I ate a cockroach when I was nine, and it stuck.”

Lucius coughed again.

“Prince Bonnet,” Roach said.

“Yes?”

“Just– addressing you. Correctly.”

Strange. In some ways his husband’s court seemed so uninterested in ceremony, but in this, they were all of one mind.

“Well,” Stede said. “If I can ever be of assistance, please let me know.”

Was it something about proximity to Blackbeard that made people stare? Jim was snickering behind him and Lucius also looked like he might laugh.

“Uh. Yeah. Sure. You can chop these, if you want?” Roach said. “I’m behind schedule on lunch, so that would be great. Prince Bonnet.”

Oh dear. Stede had not meant help like that. He had meant ordering food and probably hiring more cooks to assist Roach, duties he would now be in charge of as Blackbeard’s spouse. But– that did seem very adventurous, didn’t it? To be a part of the kitchen, not just a spectator?

“I am not sure how,” he said. “But if you’ll teach me, I will try.”

“We do have to sit down soon and record your story of the wedding and travels, Prince Bonnet,” Lucius said. “But this is really fun, so I’ll leave you to it. Ta!”

Roach was not as patient as his husband, but Stede muddled through. There were different muscles involved with chopping vegetables, and later pressing bread dough, than there were with horseback riding. But Stede felt content in the rhythm, once he slipped into it.

He did not notice his husband was in the room until Jim said, “Oh, hey Ed.”

Stede looked up. There was quite a lot of staring, even for Blackbeard.

“Welcome home, Ed,” he said. “How were the farmlands?”

“You have flour on your clothes.”

Stede looked down, surprised. “It seems I do.”

“And your face.”

Stede rubbed at his face with the back of his hand.

“No, you just made it worse.” Blackbeard prowled over to where he stood. He reached a hand out and brushed it lightly across Stede’s nose, and then his cheek, where it lingered. Stede’s eyes fluttered shut.

“Shadow, this is gross,” Jim said. Stede’s eyes snapped open and Blackbeard snatched his hand back. He scowled at them. 

“Why haven’t you taken him to the courts for training like I told you to?” he said. “He’s out of practice.”

“He doesn’t even keep a knife under his pillow,” Jim said.

“What? You don’t?” Blackbeard said. “Not even while we were sharing a bed?”

“Why should I?”

“You’re not in Barrabas anymore, Prince Bonnet.” His eyes glittered with something menacing. “I have many enemies.”

~*~

Stede spent the rest of the day overseeing the retrieval of his books and clothes. His husband’s library was small, and a bit dusty, but the windows faced the sea and he was instantly enamored. Perhaps a part of his allowance could be used for a proper reading chair. 

He was struck suddenly with an idea. If he commissioned a bed for Blackbeard as he had promised on their wedding night, perhaps he could convince him it was only right to share. It would take months, but at least there was a glimmer of hope. He called for the steward and gave him the coin to order the bed. He was glum at how much was left, but the potential for future bed-sharing was worth it. He decided against the reading chair, for now. Perhaps next year.

That night, he could not sleep. Jim whistled when they saw him the next morning. “He’s running you ragged, huh? Good for you.”

Stede ignored this, as he did not know what it meant.

His days slipped into a routine. Meals, without his husband. Lessons from the steward on how to run the castle, without his husband. Weapons training, which would have been miserable even if his husband was there. Which he was not. And, of course, the time where he felt his husband’s absence most of all: in his bed at night, which he spent most of not sleeping.

The Badmintons were back in his life with unfortunate regularity. Jim had threatened to put a knife in Nigel’s hand the first time he called him Blushing Baby Bonnet, so they were not as terrible as they could be while Jim was around. On their day off, however, the other guard was not as discerning and Stede felt two and twelve years old again and ugly and miserable and tired .

He was a little frantic with fatigue when he finally sat down with Lucius to tell him of the last month. The Barrabassian record keeper had been cruel and condescending, and although Lucius had been mostly kind to him so far, he was anxious of how it would all go.

“The wedding, first, Prince Bonnet.”

“My clothes were awful.”

Oh dear. Already a bad start. He tried not to despair.

“That is– they were fine clothes. But the color was wrong. And it clashed with black. And then I blushed.”

“I’m sorry?”

Stede rubbed his eyes. “I am so tired, Lucius. Could we not do this some other time?”

“It’s been a week, you’ll start to forget.”

Stede sighed. “The wedding was fine. Blackbeard remembered most of his lines and looked fetching in his wedding clothes. We kissed. The feast was fine. There was the clothes-cutting, and then I showed him my library, and then we went to sleep.”

“I’m sorry,” Lucius said. “The ‘clothes-cutting?’”

Stede wearily pushed a blush away. “Blackbeard does not like personal servants, so he had to help me out of my clothes, and he could not figure out the ties. So he cut them off me.”

“Damn, Prince Bonnet, that is sexy.”

“You would think so,” he said, before he could stop himself. He was so tired.

Lucius blinked a bit, but did not pry. “I probably won’t, ah, include the clothes-cutting. We can fade to black on any of the bedding stuff. Although, you can definitely tell me in a non-official capacity. He hasn’t even let me sketch him.”

“Are you a visual artist?”

“It’s my true passion.”

“I would love to see your work sometime.”

“Oh, most definitely,” Lucius said. “Perhaps you can even help me sketch Ed from memory.”

Stede was too tired to ask why Lucius would need help with that when he very well knew what his husband looked like.

“What next?” Lucius asked.

“The road was fine. Muddy. I borrowed my husband’s clothes. Cupcake was nice, I should visit her soon. Blackbeard improved my riding, and he woke up hard four times.”

“Again, Prince Bonnet, I’m not going to include anything about Ed’s dick in this.”

Stede pushed another blush away. “I’m sorry. I’m just so–”

“Tired, yes, I know. Maybe tell him you need a night off?”

“From what?”

“From fucking, Prince Bonnet.”

He couldn’t stop the blush this time. It was for the best that Blackbeard’s people thought he was being regularly bedded, but it stung to be reminded of the truth.

“Everyone ignored me. I got to bathe once. Then we got here. The castle is truly lovely, I didn’t mean to hurt his feelings.”

“Prince Bonnet,” Lucius said. “Are you crying?”

Stede squeezed his eyes shut. He did the trick to stop the tears before they fell. “I’m sorry,” he said.

“You don’t have to apologize for having feelings.” Lucius closed his book and leaned toward him. “Is everything… alright? I have to ask… is Ed hurting you at all?”

“No! No. Ed has never made me feel afraid.”

“Look, Prince Bonnet, you can tell him you need a night to sleep. He won’t be mad at you. And he hides it better, but he’s just as exhausted. You can still have some quick and dirty fun! Make a game out of it. See how fast you can get each other off.” Lucius smiled at him. “I think I have enough to do my job here.”

“Really? But I was so impolite.”

“You don’t have to be polite all the time, Prince Bonnet.”

“Yes, I do.”

“We’ll work on that later. For now, just my opinion, I think you should go to sleep.”

~*~

Stede could not sleep.

He read. He took himself in hand. He counted backwards from ten thousand. And he felt a fool, because none of that had helped any other night, so why would this one be any different?

What he needed was cuddling. What he needed was his husband.

He was so close. Just a passageway away. What if Stede begged him for one night, just to help him sleep? He would not even ask for cuddling. Just his body heat would be enough. He did not think Blackbeard would punish him for asking. He was almost certain.

He swung his legs over the bed. He walked to the door. He wiped his hands on his nightshirt.

He jumped back when a soft knock sounded on the other side.

“Prince Bonnet?” It was Ed. It was Ed! “Are you awake?”

Stede opened the door and Blackbeard startled. 

“Fuck!”

“I’m awake.”

“It would seem fucking so!”

“What’s wrong?”

Blackbeard sighed and closed his eyes. “Can I come in?”

Stede nodded and stepped back from the doorway. His husband walked over to the bed and sat on the edge. Stede was too tired to second-guess it when he followed and sat beside him.

“Prince Bonnet,” Blackbeard began. He was staring at his knees, and not at Stede. “I’m very tired. I haven’t slept in days. I think I got used to sharing a bed, and I just need a night to reset.”

“Oh?”

“You don’t have to say yes, but.” He looked up at Stede. “If you wouldn’t mind. Please, I’d like to share a bed tonight. I won’t cuddle you.”

“I like the cuddling.”

It wasn’t when he was among his men, or when he was atop his horse. Blackbeard was the most beautiful when he smiled. Stede had thought a grin from his husband to be life-changing, but this was something entirely different. He blushed, and he was not ashamed.

“Is that a yes?”

Stede nodded. Blackbeard was still smiling. “So, uh, your place or mine?”

“Yours, please.”

“Are you sure? This bed is nicer.”

“Yes, I’m sure.”

Before he followed Blackbeard through the passageway, Stede went to his sleeping wardrobe and retrieved the nightshirt his husband had worn on the road. 

“Here.” He handed it to him once they were together in the moonlight of his rooms. “This is yours.”

Blackbeard accepted it with another smile and turned away to take the black one he was currently wearing off and put the new one on. Stede’s mouth went dry at the sight of his husband’s backside. There was a tattoo of an anchor on the flesh of it. Stede very badly wanted to know what it might taste like.

Was the bed-sharing a preamble? Were things about to change? Blackbeard had said he had just gotten used to sharing a bed on the road, not that he missed Stede, so likely no. But Stede could always dream.

Stede walked over to the side of the bed that was farther from the door. Blackbeard went to his side. They looked at each other in the moonlight.

“After you,” Blackbeard said.

Stede slipped under the covers and his husband quickly followed. They were facing each other, a foot apart. The moment lingered.

Stede scooched close and found they were already in each other's arms. Front to front was admittedly not as comfortable as the normal cuddling, but Stede’s nose was on Blackbeard’s collarbone and his husband’s chin was resting on the top of his head. The beard was soft, and so was Ed’s breathing. Their legs slotted together. Stede wanted to hold this moment, forever, but he was slipping out of consciousness and his husband already seemed to be asleep.

~*~

“ED!” Jim’s voice and subsequent bang of the door opening startled them both awake “He’s gone, I don’t know fucking where–”

Blackbeard yawned, and squeezed Stede, but did not let go. “Relax, he’s right here.”

“I can see that. I’ll just go ahead and wait outside, and I’ll be far enough away that I can’t hear anything.”

Stede had never gotten a view of his husband’s face first thing in the morning before. His eyes were unfocused and warm.

“Good morning, Prince Bonnet. How did you sleep?”

“Very well.” A thought occurred to him. “But, I don’t think one night is sufficient for a whole week of lost sleep.”

Blackbeard nodded gravely. “Agreed. I’ll see you tonight?”

Ah. Tonight. His husband still intended to ignore him all day then. Stede was too timid to say anything about that. “Yes. Tonight.”

~*~

There was a new person at breakfast. He had tightly curling hair and was strumming idly at a lute.

“Morning, Stede.”

Lucius coughed.

“I’m not calling him Prince Bonnet,” said the new person. “I’m surprised you lot do at all. Especially Ed.”

“It’s quite alright,” Stede said. “Stede is fine. What’s your name?”

“Frenchie.”

“Are you a bard, Frenchie?”

“Only by day.”

Stede was still riding the high of waking up next to Blackbeard and even though he didn’t understand he smiled instead of pouted. It was still on the inside, but he was only so brave.

“Wait,” Oluwande said. “You don’t mind if we call you Stede?”

“Sometimes, I don’t understand things. It’s strange to me you would stand on ceremony in this, but not with anything else.” Oh dear. “I’m sorry– I did not mean to be unkind. I like it here very much, when I’m with my husband, and all of you. Even if it’s only for breakfast. And the rest is not so bad.”

“Oh,” said Frenchie. “Things make a lot more sense now.”

“I know, right?” said Oluwande.

“Is he always like this?”

“Yep,” said Jim.

“I beg your pardon,” Stede said. “But I am right fucking here.”

This made everyone laugh. He made them all laugh!

“Sorry, Prince B– Stede?” said Oluwande. Stede nodded encouragingly. “You can always ask us, if you don’t understand something we say.”

“Why did Frenchie say he was only a bard by day?”

“Er–” said Frenchie. The table exchanged a look and Stede wondered if he was allowed to ask for clarification on everything he didn’t understand, or if it was just the things they said. 

“I’m a special emissary for Ed’s army,” Frenchie said. “Oluwande and I, we, uh. We work together to help the process of conquering new countries.”

“Oh, so you’re spies.”

Frenchie looked surprised. “Yeah. Yes. Spies is a good word for it.”

“Spies are a very normal part of court life,” Stede said. “My husband’s was watching me for months before the wedding. He was a very nice man, he worked in the falconry. He let me help feed the birds sometimes. It was very gross, all the guts and such, but I liked it.”

Frenchie looked even more surprised. “Does the rest of Barrabas know Buttons is a spy?”

“No,” Stede said. “Well, maybe. But I don’t think they noticed, no.”

“How did you figure it out?” Frenchie asked.

“He started to ask me questions he never had before. A lot of them about my husband, and what I thought of him. No one else asked questions. I don’t always know when someone is teasing, but I know when they’re tormenting, or whispering. And then I realized he had access to all the birds, so he could send messages and no one would know. He cared for the pigeons just as much as the hunting birds, which I also liked. I love their little coos, and the way their feathers shine.”

They were all looking at him now, mouths open. He winced.

“I’m sorry for babbling.”

“No need to apologize,” said Lucius. “That was very… insightful.”

~*~

It was the time of day for weapons training. Pairs of fighters clanged and shouted around him, and the armsmaster was close to yelling again.

“Your grip is wrong, Prince Bonnet,” he said. “Do you remember anything I’ve been trying to teach you?”

Stede was thinking about his husband’s eyes first thing in the morning, not swords. He nodded politely.

“So why are you doing it wrong?”

Stede shrugged.

“I’ve been to Barrabas, I know they can fight there, so why are you like this? I’ve seen boys of ten with a better stance!”

“What is going on here?”

It was Blackbeard. He looked very menacing. Everyone in the room stopped what they were doing to watch.

“Ah, sorry, Blackbeard,” said the armsmaster. “It’s just that Prince Bonnet is hopeless with a blade. It might not be for him.”

“Leave us.”

The armsmaster hastened out of the practice court. Blackbeard swept his eyes around the room and the rest of the fighting commenced once more.

“Daniel,” his husband called to one of the men. “Come here.”

Was this to be Stede’s new teacher? He looked kinder than the armsmaster, at least.

“A demonstration,” said Blackbeard. Daniel grinned, and nodded.

His husband stripped out of his overshirt and stretched. The undershirt he wore was small, cut off at the sleeves and riding up at the waist. The strip of belly revealed had Stede’s mouth dry again, almost more erotic than Blackbeard’s backside had been the night before.

Blackbeard drew the Queen’s Revenge, crossed the sword with Daniel, and began the fight.

Oh, Stede thought. It’s not the smiling after all.

Blackbeard was more than beautiful. He was graceful, and ferocious, and so achingly talented Stede did not even notice he was blushing. The way his hips moved, the strength in his arms, his hair whipping around his neck and face - it was overwhelming. He was shouting things to Stede - “See, how I moved my feet there?” “This is a good cut for an opponent who is smaller and quicker than you.” “And you can twist just so–” - but he heard none of it. He simply gaped, like a fish.

The fight ended and Blackbeard bounded over to him, grin on his face. When he saw Stede’s expression, his own wavered.

“I’m sorry - did I frighten you?”

“No! You were beautiful!”

Now it was Blackbeard’s turn to gape.

“That was marvelous, Ed. The whispers said you were a hurricane with a blade, but you’re more like a river. The flow of your movements - it was like dancing. I have never seen anything like it.”

Stede was a bit uneasy at his husband’s expression now, so he shut up before he could embarrass himself further.

“I–” Blackbeard began. “Thank you. That’s very. Kind.”

“I’ll never do anything like that.”

Ed chuckled. “Probably not, but we can improve you. Were you listening to anything I was saying?”

“...No.”

“That’s fine. I was a little excited to show off, I’ll admit. Probably too soon for anything I was trying to teach you. Show me your stance.”

Stede frowned on the inside, but showed him anyway.

“Oh boy,” said Blackbeard. “Well. Let’s start with the basics.”

“Is Daniel to be my new instructor?”

“Nah, I’ll do it.”

Stede startled.

“Unless you don’t want me to?”

“I would like it very much.”

This earned him a smile. Stede smiled back.

Blackbeard stepped close behind him, his chest brushing against Stede’s back. “Your elbow needs to be further up, like this.” He touched Stede there, lifting his arm slightly. “You’re trying for a hammer grip. It’s best for power, but it’s not what I favor. Show me a swing.” Stede chopped down. “Now try to point the sword more forward. See, how it over extends your elbow?” He touched Stede again, on the veins in the junction of his arm. “We can strengthen these muscles with the right exercises.” He slid his fingers down Stede’s shoulder and bicep, and then along his forearm and wrist. “But for now, let me show you the handshake grip.”

Although he was not yet exerting himself, Stede was sweating. Blackbeard stepped away and demonstrated the difference in the hammer and handshake grip. 

“Wrist loose. Hand firm, but not too tight. Show me.”

Stede’s hand was dreadfully moist. He tried his best.

“Not quite. Here.” Blackbeard molded his hand around Stede’s, adjusting his fingers.

And that was how the rest of the practice went. Little touches and adjustments, that made Stede feel on fire. Just when he thought he was improving, Blackbeard made him do it all again with his other arm.

“Oh boy,” said his husband. Again. “We’re going to have to work on the left side a bit more. Did they not teach you how to switch in Barrabas?”

“I did not know that was even an option.”

“Oh,” said Blackbeard. His eyes glittered. “It can be fun, in the right circumstances.”

~*~

Stede now got to spend time with his husband twice a day, in bed and on the practice courts. It was still not enough, but it was thrilling all the same. There was so much touching. He was sleeping like a rock, and more often than not waking up as hard as one. He felt lucky to be lonely, as he took himself in hand twice, sometimes three times a day. He had not been this frantic since he was just coming into manhood. And perhaps not even then.

It wasn’t just touching. It was also talking. Mostly at night, facing each other in bed. It felt like something had changed, and Ed was more free around him. He spoke of endless adventures. His life as a sellsword, and then pirate, then warlord. Battles he waged and won, and some he even lost. He showed him his scars and Stede was not bold enough to ask to touch them. But he was hopeful someday he might be.

Stede tried his best to contribute, but his past had been so boring. And sometimes he would say something about his life at court, and think it mundane, but it would make Ed angry. He was long past thinking his husband would punish him for missteps so minor, so it only made Stede confused.

He felt safer with topics of books, and clothes, and cosmetics. He was shy to talk of them at first, but Ed encouraged him, and seemed to want to learn more about them. The first time Stede taught Ed to tie hose, the knots were so miserably tangled they had to be cut off.

“Just like our wedding night,” Stede said. Ed chuckled.

Perhaps they were friends? Or perhaps Blackbeard simply needed a body to sleep beside, and a spouse capable of holding a sword with any kind of authority. Whatever it was, Stede tried to be grateful for what he had, and not what he did not.

One night, his husband asked, “Why haven’t you started decorating our rooms yet?”

“Oh…” Stede said. “I’m afraid I spent all of my allowance on the new bed, and to resupply my cosmetics. And a few new books. I can start next year.”

“Allowance?”

“From my father.”

“You’ve been using your own coin to pay for things?”

“Yes?”

“What the fuck. Do you know how much gold I have? It’s disgusting. We’re married, it’s yours as much as mine. The whole castle needs redecorating. I just left everything the way the fucker I took it from had it.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, of course. Anything you want, Prince Bonnet. Go nuts.”

Not anything I want, Stede thought. But he was excited all the same.

Chapter Text

The summer moon ceremony was coming up, and Stede was fretting about it. The Barrabas court’s participation in such rituals were perfunctory at best, as their primary deity was the Sunlord. Almost everyone in Ed’s inner circle claimed the Moonlady. Some, like Jim, even claimed the Shadow. 

He was also especially fretting about, and anticipating, the fertility aspect of the whole thing. Traditionally, at midnight, lovers jumped over fires and kissed (or more, but kissing was the minimum). The heads of household were particularly beholden to the tradition, as they represented the communities they oversaw.

“Oh, it’s so much fun, Stede!” Lucius said, when Stede had confessed he was anxious at breakfast. “You don’t have to fuck. Although you totally can. Me and Pete always like to–”

“Please, Lucius,” Stede said. “Not right now.”

Pete was one of the captains of the castle guard. He and Lucius were paramours. Their devotion sizzled a jealousy inside of Stede, but they also were unbound from each other in a way he found confusing.

“But– you do not mind that he is bedding Alanna?”

“Fuck no, it’s hot as hell. I’m not into women, but if I were, she’d be the one. We did have a threesome once. Not my cup of tea, but maybe an occasional hot toddy, if you know what I mean.”

Stede did not know what Lucius meant.

The night before the ceremony, Stede dared to ask Blackbeard about the whole thing. “I am worried about the moon ceremony.”

He had his head on his husband’s chest, and Ed was stroking a hand through his curls.

“What part of it? I know you’ll remember your lines. You saved me, at our wedding.”

“It’s not the lines. It’s–”

“The kissing?”

“Yes.”

Blackbeard hummed. The sound reverberated out through his chest and through Stede’s skull. “We don’t have to.”

“But,” Stede said. “We should. It’s our duty, as their overlords.”

“I don’t know if you noticed,” Ed said. “But I don’t give a shit about duty.”

Stede twisted his neck to look up at his husband. “Of course I noticed!”

“I’m teasing, Prince Bonnet.”

Stede smiled, and Ed smiled back at him. The moment lingered.

This was the time, right? The time where his husband should sweep him off his feet. Kiss him. Soft first, then harder, then passionate, then frantic. Their bodies should roll together, and hands should wander, and mouths should too, and Stede would whimper and Ed would groan, and–

“Stede? Are you okay?”

“What?”

“You’re staring.”

Stede pressed his upper body against Blackbeard’s and pushed his face upward. He closed his eyes and touched his lips to his husband’s. Felt him smile under his mouth. 

“Brave Prince Bonnet.” Ed’s lips skated against his own as he spoke. “You always do surprise me.”

~*~

The ceremony was on a hillside a few miles away from the castle. The whole town was there, staring up at them as the hundreds of small fires dotting the landscape burned low. Stede and his husband faced each other with clasped hands in the moonlight as the priestess spoke of the Moonlady’s place in the lives of all living things, her balance with the other two gods, and the importance of intimacy.

“The Sunlord is the god of family. The Shadow is the god of sex. The Lady oversees all union. The unseen threads between us. Community, and familiarity. Blackbeard, Prince Bonnet. Do you pledge to use the Lady’s guiding light to oversee your people?”

“We do.”

“And in your own union, be a beacon to them as the Lady’s light is to us all?”

“We do.”

“Tell us.”

“Sea, sky, and stars,” they said together. “Life, luck, and love. Underneath the Lady Moon’s full light, we pledge to each other, so that we might honor the ones we call our own. ”

“Show us.”

They kept one hand clasped and let the other go. They ran at the fire, and jumped. On the other side, for just a moment, they simply looked at one another. Then they crashed together, and although there were no tongues this time, it was even better than their wedding kiss. Ed’s hands were on Stede’s face and his hands were gripping at Ed’s shoulders. Stede did not hear the cheering, or the sounds of others jumping over their own fires. He was thinking of trying for some tongues, when Blackbeard pulled back. His pupils were blown and he was breathing hard.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “Let’s go back to the castle.”

Stede simply did not understand. His husband was so receptive, under his own mouth. Stede knew he had not been taking lovers since they wed, so his best guess was that he was simply desperate for any intimate contact. Just not so desperate he wanted Stede. 

Yet.

Ed took Stede’s hand again as they walked to their horses, so Stede still smiled as they rode back home.

~*~

A week after the ceremony, Stede was ill. 

It happened suddenly. He was doing decently in his sword lessons, at least in his ability to make Ed chuckle if not the blade itself. But halfway through, he was overtaken by a cramping in his belly and he had to stop.

Blackbeard followed him to their rooms. Stede could feel his husband’s anxiety.

“Just a tummyache,” Stede said, even though he was sweating. “I’m sure it’s fine. Perhaps Roach can make me an herbal tea to make me feel better.”

“No,” Blackbead said. “It’s going to be more unpleasant than that, Prince Bonnet.”

“What?”

“Drink this.” He held out a small vial with yellow sludge in it. “It’ll taste terrible and make you sick.”

“I’m already ill!”

“Thought it was just a tummyache?”

Stede grinned at his husband. A point well struck. “Very well,” he said. “If you insist.”

“I do.”

He shuddered as he drank. It did indeed taste terrible, like piss and dirt and butter. In just a few minutes, he was retching into the basin Blackbeard had brought out for this purpose. It went on and on, long after the day’s breakfast was gone. He was trembling when it was done, and too dizzy to be embarrassed.

Ed undressed him and put him in his nightshirt and into bed. He felt sluggish, and unfocused, and his stomach was still cramping and it now seemed to radiate throughout his chest and hips.

He dreamed of Blackbeard. Not his Ed - the one the whispers talked about. Dark paint on his face, more arms than a normal man, each with a blade in its fist dripping blood. Howling, and panting, and stalking toward Stede with a horrible look in his eyes. His mouth opened, wider, much wider than it could in reality, and a forked tongue snaked out and licked against Stede’s face.

“No!” he cried out. “Please, Blackbeard, no!”

He went back under, and dreamt no more. 

~*~

“How long has it been?” Jim.

“Thirty hours.” Ed.

Sleep.

“So what if he dies.” Iggy. “We can still carry out the plan without him.”

“Izzy.” Ed. “If you don’t leave this fucking room right fucking now, I will rip your arm off your fucking shoulder.”

Sleep.

“You need to sleep.” Lucius. “You won’t make him wake just by hurting yourself.”

“No.” Ed.

Sleep.

Every time he heard his husband’s voice, Stede tried so hard to swim out of unconsciousness. Finally, finally , he tried to speak, and could.

“Ed. My husband. I’m here.”

“Stede!” Blackbeard came into focus as he swooped into Stede’s personal space. “Sunlord, Shadow, and Moonlady. You’re awake.”

His husband was crying.

“Ed. Your breath. Is terrible.”

His husband was laughing. He pulled backward. He was sitting at the side of their bed, one hand on Stede’s where it rested on his belly.

“Stede, you were–”

“Poisoned. Yes. Obviously.”

His husband laughed again. Stede realized with a start he had never heard him laugh, not like this. It was a bright, pealing sound, unguarded and beautiful.

“Not the fighting, then,” Stede said.

“What?”

“The steward wouldn’t let me pick the new cooks. I should have insisted. Blushing Baby Bonnet strikes again.”

“What?” Ed said again.

Stede closed his eyes. “I’m still tired. You should sleep.”

“Is it alright if I– Can I sleep here?”

“Yes, please.”

Sleep.

~*~

He was abed for another week. Blackbeard wouldn’t let him eat anything but broth and toast, and he was starting to get annoyed.

“Ed,” he said. His husband was holding Stede in the usual way, albeit gripping much tighter than normal. “Please. Some fucking marmalade, or something.”

Ed chuckled in his ear. “Fine. But you can’t get out of bed yet.”

“I’m bored! Even I can get tired of books!” Stede wriggled around in Ed’s arms so that they were facing each other. “And I need a bath. More than you wiping me down. Feel my hair.” His husband obliged. “It’s crispy . My kingdom for an oil.”

“ Our kingdom, and only if it’s the beard oil you got for me.”

“My texture absolutely could not handle that. We can compromise on the grapeseed.”

Ed laughed, arms squeezing tighter around him. “One bath. Then straight back to bed.”

In some ways being poisoned was the best thing to ever happen to him. Ed was with him almost every waking moment. Often in the bed with him, with a truly fantastic amount of cuddling. The talking got even better than it had been when Ed was telling him stories. He made his husband laugh, and one morning tried to hold him like he had been held. Ed inhaled sharply as he woke. Then he reached up and placed a hand on Stede’s and pressed back closer. Stede was feeling much better, but the overwhelming smell of his husband’s hair against his nose had him dizzy again.

Ed was letting him sit on the edge of the bed as the servants filled up the basin. Stede was wiggling and his husband was staring. But with a small crinkle around his eyes, so Stede knew it was alright. He was so excited when it was finished he was out of his nightshirt before he could think about what that meant. He eased himself into the tub and groaned.

“Merciful Moon.” Stede dunked his head under the water. When he came back up, Ed was sitting beside the basin. 

“You got my feet wet.”

“Bathing is a wet business.”

Did Stede’s eyes deceive him, or was his husband blushing?

“You should take your shirt off,” Stede said. “It will only get worse.”

He was definitely blushing.

As his husband rubbed shampoo and conditioner into Stede’s hair, and scraped a cloth across his arms and back, Stede understood why he had been hard that time on the road. He was aching with his own arousal. With Ed in the bed, more often entwined than not, he had been too sick for much of a physical reaction to anything. Even his husband’s own hardness when it presented itself. But he had already been feeling better, and now he was invigorated by the bath and on fire beneath his Ed’s gentle touch.

Despite all this, his eyelids began to droop.

“Wake up, Prince Bonnet. The water’s gone cold.”

Stede inhaled before he opened his eyes. Ed was still sitting on the chair beside him. He helped him out of the basin, toweled him off, and drew his nightshirt on. Then he tucked Stede into bed and slipped in beside him. Stede rolled over and cuddled his husband.

“Good night, Ed.”

“Night, Stede.”

~*~

Ed was thrusting into Stede, and a drop of sweat fell from his husband’s forehead into his mouth. Stede bucked his hips. As much as he could, with Ed’s hands gripping him there. Ed leaned forward, pressing against and further into him. He kissed Stede, tongue moving in rhythm with his thrusts, belly dragging against his cock. He drew Stede’s lower lip into his teeth and bit down.

“Ed–” Stede gasped. “Please–”

His husband growled into his mouth and snapped his hips.

“Ed–” he said again.

“Stede?”

Stede convulsed awake, grinding into the side of Ed on the bed. He blinked, sleepy. “What’s wrong?”

“You– you said my name. You said my name several times.”

“Hm?” Stede rubbed at his eye with a knuckle. “Darling, I’m barely awake.”

“Stede.” Ed flipped onto his side, staring intensely at Stede. “You said my name and moaned.”

“Oh dear.”

“What the fuck does that mean?”

“Nothing.”

“Tell me what it means.”

“No.”

Ed stared. And then he kissed him.

There were immediate tongues. And Ed seemed to be on top of him. And his cock seemed to be hard, and rubbing against Stede’s own. These thoughts were a little delayed as his body took over, swinging a leg over Ed’s lower back and rolling against him and letting out a piteous whine. Ed gave one right back, and it vibrated inside of Stede’s throat. 

Their nightshirts were both up over their waists and they were rutting against each other. Ed was sucking on his neck. Stede’s fists were in his husband’s hair.

“Ed–”

Ed bit down, and Stede cried out.

This went on for some time. And then it did slow down, and the kissing became languid and bruising.

“Fuck.” Ed’s lips were still close enough to Stede’s they brushed against them. “My bonny prince. You taste as good as I thought you would.”

“Mmmmm.” Stede was tired again, his eyes closed. His husband was still partly on top of him, and the warmth felt incredible.

~*~

They spent another week in bed. There was a lot of kissing. And the kissing was great, it really was. But Stede wanted more than kissing.

He was bold. Reaching for Ed’s cock with purpose, only to have his hand rebuffed. Stede pouted, on the inside. His husband had the right to choose when he was ready.

It took one whole day.

The next morning, Ed had Stede in hand and was stroking before he seemed to realize what he was doing. Stede whimpered and thrust into his fist, and his husband paused for just a moment. Then he renewed his ministrations, worming his tongue into Stede’s ear. It didn’t take long. And then Ed licked his chest clean. 

That wasn’t in any of his books.

Less than a day later, Ed had submitted to Stede’s increasingly urgent requests. He was on his back, and Stede was straddling his husband’s knees, eying his cock from where it stood up in the air between them. 

“You’ll tell me what to do.”

“Mate, just fucking. Touch me.”

“Say please.”

“ Please.”

He adjusted his pace and angle according to Ed’s ragged moans and instructions. He kept leaning forward, and finally was low enough the logical next step was licking a stripe up his husband’s testicles.

“Fuck!”

Now it was Stede’s turn to clean up Ed’s chest with his own tongue. It made him very impatient to try the whole thing again with his mouth.

It wasn’t even surprising, at this point, that his husband turned out to be the most beautiful when he was looking up at Stede with his mouth around him. And then even that was quickly superseded by Ed’s face as Stede swallowed his pleasure down his own throat.

~*~

They could not avoid their responsibilities forever. Jim was doing a good job of keeping Iggy out of the room, but they both did have work to do. And even with all the orgasms, Stede was antsy to get out of bed.

Ed followed him to breakfast and Stede barely suppressed his wiggle of delight.

“Well,” said Luicus. “Fancy seeing you here. Together. With a lot of visible hickies. Good to know you were spending all that time not doing anything important.”

“I would not say that,” said Stede. His husband giggled and ducked his head into his curls.

“How is it worse?” said Frenchie. “It is worse, right?”

“Oh, yeah. It’s worse,” said Oluwande.

They parted when Ed had to talk strategy with Iggy, but came back together for weapons training.

“You’ve improved so much.”

His husband was behind him, adjusting his shoulders and hands. Unlike the previous sessions, he was pressed flush against Stede, and he was nudging his backside with an unmistakable bulge. Stede blushed.

“If I’ve improved so much, why are you still adjusting me?”

“That’s a fair point.” Ed stepped away. “I think it’s time for your first practice bout.”

Stede pouted. “But I’m still so weak.”

“From the poi–?”

“Shh!” Stede said urgently, placing a hand over Ed’s mouth. “It would not do for the rest of court to know the truth. Tell me you have not told them.”

“No, although I can’t stop the rumors. Why shouldn’t we tell them?”

“Assassination attempts are normal, but ones that are almost successful show weakness.”

Ed grimaced.

“What about the cook?” said Stede. “I think it was probably the Bramooran one.”

“You’re right. He was long gone by the time we realized.”

“Please tell the steward I will be interviewing his replacement.”

Ed grinned at him. “Tell him yourself, Prince Bonnet. It’s your castle too.”

Ed followed him to lunch. Before they got to the dining hall, he pulled Stede into an alcove and into an embrace so his backside was pressed against his husband’s increasingly hardening cock. Ed had his teeth around Stede’s earlobe.

“Ed–” Stede gasped a little as his husband moved his mouth to his neck. “We are hardly hidden, anyone could see–”

“Let them.” Ed’s hands wandered down the front of Stede, and he cupped him through his clothes. “These fucking stupid hose. I can’t get a hand in.”

“I’ll be sure to– ah! I’ll be sure to wear pants next time.”

They fumbled with each other for a little while longer before heading to lunch. Ed had to go back to their rooms for something first, and when Stede got to the dining hall, the Badmintons were there. It was Jim’s day off, which meant there was some tormenting to come.

“You look pleased with yourself,” said Nigel.

“And a mess,” said Chauncey.

“I would leave if I were you,” said Stede. “My husband is coming.”

“Ooh, he’s your husband now, is he? He’s not just using you for a fucktoy anymore, he’s actually spending time with you?” Nigel said.

“Couldn’t be me,” Chauncey said.

“Badminton, your literal job is spending time with me.”

Chauncey looked a little taken aback, then angry. “Something about your husband’s cock make you grow a backbone, Blushing Baby Bonnet?”

“I would rather be spineless than bald.”

“Listen here, you little shit–” He slammed his mouth shut. Ed had entered the room. Stede had never seen him look so menacing. 

“I thought I told you.” His voice was low. “To fuck off. ”

The twins scrambled out of the hall. Ed pulled Stede into his lap as they waited for the food to come out.

“Can I send them back to Barrabas?” Ed said, nuzzling into his hair. “In pieces, maybe?”

Stede giggled. “No. They’re the ones who send reports back to court. Best to know who the spy is and control the information you’re feeding them.”

~*~

“Let’s go riding,” Ed said. “I can’t spend another beautiful afternoon cooped up with Izzy in the map room.”

“What are you scheming in there with him, my husband?”

“Oh,” Ed said. “The next conquest. Pillaging, et cetera.”

Stede frowned. “I do not think you do that anymore. And I am sorry for saying so on our wedding night.”

“I used to, Prince Bonnet.”

“Well. All in the past.”

Ed stared. “Really? Just like that?”

“Your people adore you, and the whispers always lie. I am curious to see how the Srls will go, they are a larger target than the countries you have overtaken so far.”

Ed chuckled. “You don’t miss a thing, do you.”

“It could fill books, the things I miss. But I remember what people say and do.”

They had Roach pack them a picnic and told their guards to take the afternoon off.

“C’mon,” Ed said. “I’ll race you.” He kicked Beauty into a gallop and Stede followed with a whoop. 

They stopped in a speckled meadow just inside the edge of the forest. Even though Stede had long since needed to be helped off a horse, his husband put his hands around his waist and slid him off Cupcake anyway. Then he pressed Stede against her with a kiss. Cupcake snuffed and moved away, and they laughed as they fell.

The kissing these days was getting less urgent than it had been at first. They took their time, hands stroking more than gripping, tongues lazy instead of insistent. Eventually Stede did get a little impatient, and he flipped Ed onto his back and started palming him through his trousers. They were a fetching pale purple - he had had them made for Ed just recently - and it was easy to spot the small dark stain that seeped through.

“Fuck,” Ed said. “Stede, please–”

Stede hummed into his mouth and withdrew, undoing the ties and drawing out his husband’s cock. 

“What changed?” he said, taking Ed in hand with a light grip and swiping at the precome with his thumb.

“Wha?”

“This.” Stede brought his thumb to his mouth and licked. “Why did you change your mind?”

Ed sat up. He put a hand on his cheek and kissed him softly. He leaned his forehead against Stede’s. “I almost lost you.”

“Are you sure it was not because you were simply desperate?” Stede hated the way his voice sounded. It had been so long since Blushing Baby Bonnet had come out of him.

“Stede.” Ed pulled back and looked into his eyes. “If it was just about desperation, I would have taken you on our wedding night.”

“You haven’t taken me at all.”

Ed snorted. “Can we talk about this when my dick isn’t hard?”

“Seems like it would be the best time to talk about it.”

Ed flopped backward onto the grass and put a forearm over his eyes.

“Don’t be dramatic, Edward. If you don’t want to–”

He peeked out at Stede. “Of course I do!”

“Then why wait?”

“It just feels. Big.”

“You’re a very good size, but I would not say overlarge.”

Ed kicked him gently. “Dick.”

“Yes, exactly.”

Ed laughed.

“I can wait,” Stede said. “I have been waiting since I saw you for the first time. But I would like to.”

Ed hummed. “Alright.”

“Just like that?”

“I told you already, Stede. Anything you want.”

Chapter Text

The first time his husband fucked Stede in the ass, it would have been perfect. If not for the assassination attempt.

Ed waited for the full moon. He brought their old travel mattress from the road up to their rooms and put it on the balcony.

“I thought the first time, the Lady could bless us.”

“Why, Ed, that is dreadfully romantic for a buggering.”

Making his husband blush was one of Stede’s new favorite pastimes.

Ed was not a patient man. In no time, he was rolling against Stede with purpose and holding his backside in an almost bruising grip. Maybe it would bruise. Stede squirmed at the thought.

Ed pulled his mouth away from Stede’s and smiled down at him. “My bonny prince. You look amazing in the moonlight. I can’t wait to be inside of you.”

He reached for the bottle of oil Stede had acquired for this purpose and pulled out the stopper.

“Tell me you’re sure again,” Ed said.

“I am fully fucking certain that if your fingers aren’t inside of me in the next thirty seconds I will scream.”

Ed grinned and leaned down to kiss him again, chaste this time. “That’s the idea,” he said, brushing against Stede’s lips with his own. Then he straightened and poured the oil over his fingers. Stede wiggled with anticipation.

“One more time–” Ed murmured, rubbing a teasing circle around Stede’s hole.

“ Edward.” Ed pushed in, just to the first knuckle, and Stede inhaled. “Come on.”

Ed slipped the rest of the finger inside and Stede let out a whimper.

“How is that?” Ed said.

“It would be better if you moved it.”

Ed chuckled. “I can’t believe I ever thought you were polite.”

“I am very poli– ah!” He gasped as Ed crooked his finger. Ed hooked his free arm under the back of Stede’s knee and pulled it up so that his thigh was touching his stomach. His finger curled again.

“ Fuck!”

“If you can still talk.” Ed swirled the pad of his finger around the inside of Stede. “I’m not doing a good enough job.”

“Is that a challe– fuck!”

Ed spent some time working him open. Stede mouthed off a bit just to be a brat, but he was getting less and less coherent. When Ed slipped the second finger in, he moaned and gripped at his husband’s shoulders and drew his other knee up. 

“Yes, Ed, yes–”

“You’re not going to come before I get my dick inside you, are you?”

“No, no–”

“Ready for number three?”

“Yes, yes–”

He dug his nails into the flesh of his husband’s back as a third finger joined the others, and whined.

“Fuck,” Ed pumped his fingers inside of Stede. “You should see what you look like, Prince Bonnet.” He leaned down and put his nose against Stede’s neck and inhaled. “What you smell like. What you sound like.” He curled his fingers and pressed against a spot that made Stede let out a wail they might have heard down on the rocks where the cliff met the sea.

His husband withdrew and Stede gasped with emptiness. Ed put his hands on his hips and Stede felt a nudge against the core of him. 

“One more time.”

“Yes, I’m sure!”

Ed sank into him by inches, holding Stede by the hips so that he couldn’t push himself the rest of the way down like he wanted to. When his husband bottomed out, Stede thrashed his head from side to side and tried to buck upward. Ed held him there for a few moments and Stede calmed down enough to acclimate himself to the feeling. It was like the fingers, but not like them at all, and he felt full and perfect. He relaxed a bit, and Ed grunted and rolled his hips.

The pace Ed set was driving him wild. Not too slow, not too fast, just relentless. Stede’s cock had gone soft, but he was too blissed out from the grinding thrusts above him to notice or care. Ed once more hooked his arm around Stede’s knee and hitched it farther upward. Stede cried out.

“What feels good?” Ed said.

“This, this–”

Ed snapped his hips and picked up speed. Stede wrapped the leg that was not being held around his husband’s lower back. It was slick with sweat. Ed shifted his angle and slammed into Stede and he almost blacked out. The waves below them were crashing and his husband was groaning and Stede was close, and it radiated through him, and he was there, and screaming–

Ed slowed down and fucked him through it. When Stede stopped shuddering, his husband picked up the pace again, hands back on Stede’s hips as he chased his own pleasure. Stede was chanting at him, “Yes, please, just like that, keep going, come for me, Edward, my husband, inside of me, please–.” Ed followed him over the edge with a hoarse cry.

They cleaned themselves up and brought their quilt onto the balcony so they could lie together under the stars. Stede was curled into Ed with his head on his chest. His husband was on his back, one arm around Stede, stroking an idle thumb down his shoulder.

“Thank you,” Stede said. “That was wonderful.”

“I assure you, Prince Bonnet, the pleasure was all mine.”

“If you want to do it again–”

Ed chuckled. “I’m not so young as that. Ask me in a few hours.”

They lay together, content in the silence, soft touches and nuzzles their only conversation. Until his husband stiffened.

“What’s wr–” Stede began, but Ed shushed him.

“I think I saw something in our room. When I tell you, run straight for the King’s rooms and leave and start shouting for help.”

“But–”

“Don’t argue with me. Keep quiet.” Ed crept to the balcony doors. He was still naked and Stede was trembling with fear. When the assassin opened the doors, Ed was ready for him. He sidestepped the sword and shoved him toward the wall. “Now, Stede!”

Stede scurried toward the door but the assassin had a knife out and flung it his way. It missed by sheer luck, slicing across his ribs but not penetrating his flesh. Stede cried out and his husband snarled and slammed the man against the wall, hands curling around his throat. The assassin tried to lunge away, but Ed held him strong. His sword fell to the floor with a clatter and he scrabbled at Ed’s hands as he was lifted off his feet.

“Wait!” Stede said. “Wait, don’t kill him–”

Ed snarled again and shook Stede’s hand off his shoulder. Stede’s pleas went unheeded as the assassin stopped struggling and slumped lifeless in Ed’s grasp. His husband let go, breathing heavily.

“Ed–”

Ed spun toward him and grabbed Stede by the shoulders and shook. “I told you to run!”

Stede flinched. Ed let go, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. “Let’s get that wound looked at.”

“It’s not deep–”

“Do as I say!”

Stede shrank back. Ed laughed, but it was a cruel sound, and did not sound like his husband at all. “Now you see what being married to Blackbeard really is. Get dressed. I’ll wake the healer.”

Stede drew on a pair of pants with shaking hands as his husband left the room. He was all too aware of the corpse on the balcony. He took a deep breath and stepped outside, to inspect it. 

“What are you doing?” Ed was back.

“Looking for clues,” Stede said. “His tunic was made with wool from Srl Abor, and–”

“Now is not the time for fashion, Stede! Get inside!”

Stede slipped past his husband and into the room and let the healer see to him. The wound was deeper than he had thought, but still not dangerous. Ed watched and prowled. When the healer had finished, he sank into her seat beside the bed. He started to reach for Stede’s hand, but stopped and withdrew it.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

“For what, my husband? That you would have let yourself die?”

Ed stared at him.

“Yes, I noticed. He could have killed you easily. He was here for me.”

“But I–”

“What of our guard? Felicia was on duty tonight, I think?”

“Dead. Gregor as well.”

“Oh, no,” Stede said. “Oh, their poor wives and children.”

They were quiet for a moment. Stede let himself cry. Ed did take his hand then, stroking his thumb across Stede’s knuckles.

“You should not have killed him,” Stede said, after a bit.

Ed stiffened. “If you think–”

“Now we cannot question him.”

Ed blinked. “That’s– that’s what you took from all this?”

“What else is there?”

“I killed a man. With my bare hands. In front of you.”

“Ed.” Stede turned his hand palm up so that he could interlace his fingers with his husband’s. “You did not earn your reputation just on whispers. My eyes were open from the moment you said yes. You have only ever surprised me in ways that are good.”

Ed smiled at him through his own tears. “My sweet prince. I will never deserve you.”

“Shush. There are a thousand reasons that’s not true. Not least because of the thorough ravishing you gave me earlier tonight.”

Ed chuckled. “I need to see to the bodies. And then, if it’s alright, can I sleep here with you?”

“Edward. I wish never to sleep apart from you for the rest of my life.”

Ed stood up and leaned down to kiss him. “As you wish, my bonny prince.”

~*~

Ed refused to fuck Stede again until he was healed.

“Not even your hand or mouth?”

“No.”

“Can I for you?”

“No, Prince Bonnet.”

Stede pouted. One night he took himself in hand while Ed was right there in bed with him, and his husband growled as Stede panted.

“That’s not fair,” Ed said.

“I can always lie back instead of exerting myself–”

Ed waited a beat and then rolled over and swallowed the whole of Stede in one smooth motion. Stede did not suppress his victorious grin as he watched his husband work.

“Don’t squirm so much,” Ed said. “Be good, or I’ll stop.”

Stede bucked his hips a little when Ed put his mouth back around him, which made Ed growl again. Stede stopped moving and threaded his hands through his husband’s hair and guided his rhythm until he came. Ed was torn between smugness and worry that the wound had started bleeding slightly through his bandages.

“I fucking told you, Stede.”

“Worth it.”

Ed rolled his eyes and kissed him.

The assassin had been too professional to have anything incriminating on him. Except for the tunic, which did worry Stede, a little. It was unusual to have the coin to pay for such a garment unless you were local to the Srls. 

“But why would they target you?” Ed said.

“Perhaps to break the alliance with Barrabas? They are trapped between us.”

“Barrabas is plenty big enough to seek vengeance for you on their own.”

“Maybe. Or they could blame it on you.”

Ed looked startled. “Would they?”

“They could. And it might rally some of the other countries on the continent against you. Or no one would care, because I’m Blushing Baby Bonnet. But it would be a convenient excuse.”

“We might be able to hold them. No one really knows how big our army is, because I don’t keep the whole thing together at one time.”

“Maybe,” Stede said again. “I do not wish to risk that, do you?”

Ed shook his head.

“The next one, keep alive.”

~*~

The next one, Stede killed.

Ed was out of the castle for a few days, dealing with a corrupt general who had been siphoning some of the army’s wages to pad his own purse. Stede was long healed, and had reluctantly started fighting against other people in weapons training. That’s probably what saved him.

They had tripled the guard outside their rooms at night, which meant the assassin had been inside of them for hours, lying in wait. He did not know how lightly Stede slept when Ed was not in the bed beside him.

He did not open his eyes when he heard the curtains rustle. He did not open his eyes when he felt the presence above him in the bed. He only opened his eyes the split second before he stabbed the assassin through the belly, with the knife he kept under his pillow.

He was already cutting his throat before he remembered he shouldn’t have killed him.

“Balor,” he called out to one of the guards he knew was on duty. “I need you to come in here, please.”

“What is it Prince B– Sunlord, what happened!”

“Another assassin.” There was blood all over him and the bed. “I killed him.”

“I can see that, Prince Bonnet!”

Stede was still holding his dagger. His knuckles were white around the grip. Balor shouted for more guards and someone was wrapping Stede in a blanket and hurrying him into the King’s rooms and sitting him down on his old bed. He realized belatedly it was Oluwande.

“What happened, Stede?”

Stede stared straight ahead at the mirror on the wall across from the bed. There was blood on his face.

“Stede. Stede? Stede!”

Stede swam back into consciousness on the ground by the bed. Oluwande pulled him back up.

“You’re in shock,” Oluwande said. “Are you hurt otherwise?”

Stede shook his head.

“Have you ever killed someone before?”

Stede shook his head again.

“Fuck, I wish Ed were here.”

Now Stede was starting to cry. He couldn’t really hear it, but he could feel tears streaming down his face.

“Hey, hey.” Oluwande drew him into an embrace. “You’re gonna be okay. It’s okay. Ed will be home the day after tomorrow. Jim? Are you out there?”

Jim appeared from the other side of the passageway. “Yeah?”

“Can you, uh,” Oluwande began. “Maybe disarm him?”

Stede was still gripping his dagger. He let it go and it bounced hilt-side down off his leg and onto the floor.

“Shadow help me,” Jim said. “Kill an assassin and slice your leg open instead. Ed would be so mad. ”

“Can you help me get him down to the showers?” Oluwande said.

Stede felt like every time he closed his eyes, he was in a different part of the castle. Blink, in the hallway. Blink, on the staircase. Blink, at the showers. Blink, undressed and in the water. Someone was washing him.

“No, no!” Stede cried. “Blackbeard doesn’t like personal servants!”

“It’s just me.” Jim gripped him by the shoulders to keep him from thrashing about too much. “Stede, it’s Jim.”

“Jim?”

“Your guard. We spend almost every day together.”

“Jim, the guard?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh.”

Stede relaxed and let Jim wash him. He was starting to get feeling back in his fingertips and the shaking was getting under control. Jim finished scrubbing the blood off him and wrapped him in his dressing robe. 

“You need to sleep,” they said.

“I can’t sleep without my husband.”

“You gotta try. You can sleep in my and Oluwande’s rooms, okay?”

They brought him to their rooms and put him in a cozy chair. Stede wasn’t sure if he slept, but he didn’t move until the morning.

~*~

The first thing Stede did when he started moving again was vomit all over Jim’s lovely chair.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry–”

“It’s okay. Stede. It’s fine. We can get it cleaned,” Oluwande said. He had been sitting beside him. “Do you think you can eat something?”

“I think so.”

Oluwande called for some food after Jim took his place beside Stede.

“The first time is heavy,” they said. “I cried for a week.”

Stede was startled. “You cried?”

“I am capable of having feelings.”

Stede smiled on the inside. Then he winced.

“Can I maybe get out of the vomit chair?”

Jim smirked and pointed to their washing basin. Stede washed his mouth out and sat down at their table. Jim sat down with him, and Oluwande returned with a plate of cheese and fruit and did the same. Stede found he was suddenly ravenous.

“It wasn’t even life or death,” Jim said. Stede did not have to ask for clarification on what they meant. “It was revenge. I felt so powerful, so right. But it didn’t matter.”

“How did you get over it?”

“Honestly? You don’t. You just learn to live with it.”

Stede shuddered.

“But one day,” Oluwande said. “You’re going to laugh again. I promise.”

“You didn’t think you’d see violence, marrying Ed?” said Jim.

Oluwande gave them a look Stede was pretty sure meant they had said the wrong thing.

“I mean,” Jim said. “What do you know of those of us who follow the Shadow?”

“Sex. Death. No gender,” Stede said. “Makes sense you would pledge to it.”

Jim grinned. “See? You’re already making jokes.”

Stede smiled on the outside this time.

“Death comes for us all, and even if we don’t partake, we all come from sex,” Jim said. “No one is exempt from anger, from violence. Not in this world. But the Shadow doesn’t judge. It sees inside your heart and says, ‘You’re whole, even when you’re broken.’ There are three gods, Stede. You’re pledged to the Shadow now, too.”

“I do not wish to be.”

“That’s alright,” said Jim. “It doesn’t care about that, either. It’ll be with you the next time, if it happens, and the time after that. And it won’t tell you you’re wrong or bad. The Lady can guide you. But look to the Shadow to calm you. It will come for you just the same, no matter how many you’ve killed.”

Stede ate another piece of cheese and pondered this. “If it’s all the same,” he said. “I’d rather leave the killing to you and my husband, from now on.”

Jim and Oluwande both laughed. 

“No arguments there, Stede,” Oluwande said. “No arguments there.”

~*~

They all agreed Stede should be the one to tell Ed what had happened.

“Where’s our quilt?” he said, after he had thoroughly kissed Stede hello.

“Well,” Stede said. “Perhaps you should sit down for this.”

Ed frowned, but obliged.

“I… there was another assassin. And I killed him.”

Ed was rigid with shock. “ You killed him?”

“I must admit I am a little upset that that is what you’re dwelling on.”

“Stede!” Ed shot up. Grabbed Stede and hugged him so tightly it hurt. “Are you alright?”

“Yes. He did not harm me.”

“That’s not what I meant.” Ed pulled back, and touched one hand to Stede’s temple. “Are you okay, up here?”

“Yes,” Stede said, even as he was crying. “Maybe. No.”

Ed pulled him in again. “I’m proud of you. And so fucking sad. I never wanted you to have to know what that feels like.”

“My husband. Can you make me… not feel it? Just for a little while.”

“Yes. Of course. Anything you want.”

Stede trembled as Ed undressed him. He was kissed from forehead to ankle. Ed murmured nonsense to him the whole time. “So brave. So beautiful. So wonderful. Mine, mine, mine.”

Stede finally made a sound when his husband slipped inside of him. He was on his stomach, boneless, blissful. Ed ground into him, still chanting, “Mine, mine, mine.” 

Chapter Text

It was hard to fathom that his husband could ever be more beautiful than when he reached his peak. But on a ship, he was.

He sparkled in the sunlight. He laughed and whooped as he swung around on ropes, bounding from one part of the ship to another, pushing away his men to do the work himself. Stede was a little unsteady, at first, but by the second night he was whining and grasping at Ed in their cramped quarters below deck. They found ways to make the space work.

One moonlit evening, Stede had his hands on the railing, gazing out to sea.

“You know,” Ed said into his ear as he slid behind him. “On the Islands, they fuck out in the sunlight.”

“Oh,” said Stede, as he shuddered at his husband’s heat and the tickle of his beard on his neck. “I do not know if I am ready for that.”

“It’s considered polite. ” Ed slid his arm down and groped at him.

“I thought I wasn’t polite.”

Ed pushed him against the railing, hands still busy with their task.

“Stede,” he said, voice low. “I want you.”

“Let’s go down to our quarters–”

“No. Right here.”

“People will see–”

“Not if we’re discreet.”

“You think touching me like this is discreet?” 

His husband squeezed his cock and Stede moaned.

“Shh,” Ed said. Stede rubbed his backside against his husband in retaliation. Ed swore.

“Shh,” Stede said. He felt his husband grin against his ear.

“Is that a yes?”

“It’s not a no.”

“I brought oil.” 

Stede gasped as Ed slipped a hand down his pants and stroked him in earnest.

“Are you going to do more than touch me?” Stede said.

Ed slid Stede’s pants down, stopping just above his knees. He was rubbing against him with purpose, now.

“I want to fuck your thighs.”

Stede shuddered. Ed let go and Stede could sense he was slicking himself up behind him. Then his husband wormed an oiled hand between his legs and cupped his balls before he tugged.

“Clench for me,” Ed said. “Tight.”

When his husband slipped his cock between his legs, Stede went slack.

“Hey–” Ed protested, at a normal volume.

“Shh,” Stede said again. Ed thrust into him, and Stede pushed his hips forward and away.

“Hold still.”

“Make me.”

Ed growled and grabbed Stede’s waist. He tugged him flush against his chest and thrust between his thighs again. This time, Stede clenched them shut. He closed his eyes and dropped his head back against his husband’s shoulder. The sensation was new, and interesting. The slick drag of Ed’s cock against his testicles and thighs was driving him a little wild and he reached down for his own pleasure.

“No,” Ed said, tugging his hand away. “That’s for me.” He placed Stede’s hand on the railing and put his own on top of it. One arm still held him fast around the waist, so Stede reached back with his other hand and wiggled his fingers against Ed’s underarm. Ed twitched and let go of his hand on the railing and Stede gleefully wrapped a hand around himself and began to work his cock.

Ed pushed him deeper against the railing. “Fine,” he said, wrapping a hand around Stede’s and stroking with him. “If you’re going to be impolite about it.”

Stede panted. He was mostly just gripping himself now, letting Ed do the work, in time to his own thrusts. They were in a fairly untraversed part of the ship, but there was only a slim chance no one would walk by at all. When Stede had that thought, his cock pulsed in his hand.

His husband was also close. Stede knew it from the way his breath hitched and his thrusts deepened. He reached back once more and grabbed Ed's hair at the back of his neck and tugged.

Ed groaned, too loud but Stede didn't care, as his pleasure spurted from between his thighs. Stede started moving his own hand faster, now that Ed's had gone slack around him, and he quickly convulsed, his own come joining his husband's off the edge of the ship and into the sea.

Ed leaned heavily against him for a moment, his breath evening out. Then he withdrew, and pulled Stede’s pants up before he did his own.

“Good practice,” Stede said. “I might be ready for the sunlight, now.”

~*~

It was almost unbearable, with five of them in their room on the ship. But they had to have this meeting. 

"One more time," Stede said.

“No mention of assassins,” Oluwande said.

“Don’t tell anyone we’re here to avoid assassins,” Frenchie said.

“Hopefully no assassins,” Jim said.

“Can we stop saying the word assassins at all?” Stede said. “This can just be a nice vacation. While Frenchie and Oluwande do whatever it is they won’t tell me they do.”

Ed chuckled and pulled him closer. Stede was on the bed, between him and Jim, who leaned themself away in disgust.

“As if you and Oluwande don’t make out at every opportunity,” Stede clipped.

“That’s different from mushy stuff, ” Jim said. “And we don’t fuck in public on a ship, where anyone could see.”

“A vicious rumor,” Stede said loftily.

“That happens to be true,” Ed murmured, nosing at his neck. Stede giggled.

“For fuck’s sake,” said Frenchie. “Let us watch, or leave us alone.”

Stede blushed at the thought. He was quite keen to know if his husband had been serious about the publicness of intimate relations on the Aldra Islands or if it had merely been a come-on before the thigh fucking.

The Islands were beautiful from the moment they came into view. Stede was enamored with life at sea, possibly from the orgasms, but he was pretty sure it was also because he liked it. The sea-stripped sailors were not polite, but they taught him the difference between port and starboard, and also a few handy knots. He stowed that information carefully away for later. Despite his enthusiasm for the nautical lifestyle, he was eager to set foot on foreign soil. 

The Aldran people were warm in their welcome. Ed had a reputation there from his days of piracy. He had often hidden in the coves and crevices of their rocky coasts, and always paid generously and behaved courteously. It was so rare his husband surprised him anymore, and it warmed Stede down to his toes.

The Queen, called Aldra after her country, welcomed them with open arms.

“Cousins,” she said, kissing them each on the cheeks. “Welcome, and enjoy your stay. A feast has been prepared in your honor.”

Stede was not as prepared for the spice as he thought he might be. Ed laughed until there were tears in his eyes as Stede tried to discreetly gulp down the only milk that was native to the Islands, which was harvested from cashews.

There was dancing, and singing. It reminded Stede of their days on the road, only this time, he was able to lean into the heat of his husband and laugh with him. After a few libations, Ed drew him out onto the dance floor. Stede’s face flushed at first, not used to dancing without a set pattern to follow, but Ed wound himself around him and pressed his beard into the side of his face.

“My bonny prince,” he said, for Stede alone. “I do not wish to remember my life before you.”

“My husband,” Stede said. “The feeling is more than mutual.”

~*~

The night after the feast, Stede had to give his husband a warning look when the personal servant readied them for bed. Ed gritted his teeth but didn’t say anything.

“What is your name?” Stede asked.

“Tiffany, Prince Bonnet.”

“Stede is fine. Tiffany? Are you named after the princess?”

“I am the princess.”

Stede and Ed exchanged another look.

“But you’re– you’re a servant?” Ed asked.

Tiffany nodded. “As we come into adulthood, we all take turns in the various roles of our people. How can we lead them, if we place ourselves above them? Once a month, even my mother who is Aldra partakes in labor. Last month, she worked in the laundry.” She giggled, sounding very much like a teenager. “She dipped a dyed garment in hot water, and her hands were purple for weeks.”

“Thank you so much, Tiffany,” said Stede. “If we need anything else, we’ll call.”

After a vigorous throat-fucking, Stede washed his face and cleaned his mouth and joined his husband on the bed. He snuggled in close, holding Ed in the usual way.

“Ed,” he began.

“Why don’t I like personal servants?”

Sometimes it awed Stede, how much he had come to live in sync with this man. He could not believe he ever thought him menacing. Ed hummed.

“My mother was a lady’s maid in the Baharla palace.”

Ed had never spoken of his family before. Stede began to scratch his nails gently against his husband's scalp.

“The King took her to bed. Doted on her. Gave her fine things. Called her a queen. And then he got her with child. The actual Queen found out, and beat her so badly she lost the babe.”

Ed’s breath hitched. Stede wrapped around him and squeezed.

“The King did nothing. Her mistress did nothing. She was expected back at work the next day, and then a man came calling at our house and took all the gifts away.”

“He was no king.”

“He was, Stede. He was, and that’s the problem.”

“Baharla was the first kingdom you overtook,” Stede said quietly. “The whispers say it was because you did not even care for your own people, but that’s not true, is it?”

“No.”

“The Queen’s Revenge. You killed the king with it?”

“Yes.”

Stede considered all of this. His father was not a good man, and his brother who was next in line for the throne could also be cruel. They were fine overlords, in their way, but they did not care for their people. Not like Ed did. Not like the Aldran queen seemed to.

“Perhaps no one should be a king,” said Stede.

Ed hummed again. “Perhaps, indeed.”

~*~

Before Iggy’s note reached them that the culprit behind the assassins had been caught, Stede broached the subject of public fornication.

“We do it at the moon ceremony,” said Ed. “We can try that, next year.”

“But that’s so far away,” Stede said. “You said they do it in the daylight, here.”

Ed chuckled. “Yes. In their temples, they do. Why, Prince Bonnet? Do you wish to try it?”

“Perhaps. Maybe. Yes, I do.”

“Let’s try it, then.”

The Aldran temples were glorious. Made of pink and white stone, pillars everywhere, with flowering vines wrapped around every inch of them. They were built on the rocks above the shoreline, and it reminded Stede of home. They weren’t dedicated to just one god, as was usual on the continent, but all three.

“You may wish to observe, first,” said the priest as they guided Stede and his husband through the temple. “There are seats above the courtyard for that purpose. Do not partake in pleasure while you are there, not even with yourself. This is a sacred business, to all three gods. The Shadow is sex, the Sunlord is daylight, and the Moonlady is community.”

Although the writhing bodies and erotic sounds were the first thing Stede noticed, they were very closely followed by the laughter. The people below them in the courtyard were all completely nude, and completely free. They switched between partners and positions and it was all achingly wonderful. He squeezed his husband’s hand with anticipation.

“Do I have to share you, Stede?” Ed said. “I will, if that’s what you want.”

“No… no. Not this time,” Stede said. “Perhaps… perhaps I would like to watch you with someone else but… not this time.”

Ed grinned. “Naughty Prince Bonnet. I never would have guessed.”

Stede tossed his hair. “Edward. The limits of my depravity know very few bounds.”

His husband leaned close. Put his lips against Stede’s ear. “I’ve been saving something. Can I surprise you?”

Stede shivered. “Yes, yes, of course.”

“But you’ll tell me to stop if you don’t like it?”

Stede wiggled and nodded. Ed smiled against the shell of his ear.

“How long are you going to make me wait, my husband?”

“Lead the way.”

Stede bounced through the temple. There was a room with showers and another in which to leave their clothes. He almost asked Ed to cut his off him, just for old time’s sake. But Stede was wearing a lovely sleeveless linen vest embroidered with local flora to match the Island aesthetic, so he was patient about it instead.

He was very excited, but also anxious. Ed made him feel desirable in ways he never thought possible, but to be stripped bare and perform in front of strangers - he was shy again for the first time in a long while. Ed took his hand and rubbed a thumb along his knuckles.

“We don’t have to do this,” he said. “Any time you want to stop, just tell me.”

“I want to!” Stede said. “It’s just not something– I’m Blushing Baby Bonnet. He would never even dream of something like this. And he dreamed quite expertly.”

“Stede.” Ed took his other hand and turned so that they faced each other. “You are not Blushing Baby Bonnet. You never were. And if anyone ever makes you feel like that again, I will kill them.”

“Maybe a maiming, darling. No need to go so far.”

Ed smiled. “They do say marriage is about compromise.”

Stede squeezed his husband’s hands. “Alright. I’m ready.”

They stepped out into the sunlight and were welcomed with a chorus of greetings and moans. Stede’s cock was immediately interested in the proceedings. Ed sat down on the soft grass mats on the ground with his legs bent and stretched outward, pulling Stede down between them. He put his nose and mouth on Stede’s neck, but didn’t do anything besides breathe there. Ed began to trace the front of Stede with delicate fingers, brushing against his skin and nipples and cock, making him squirm. The softness of Ed’s breath, his barely there touches - it was completely unlike his husband’s usual impatient pawing, and it was driving him absolutely out of his mind. Any lingering traces of doubt and anxiety left him.

One pair of lovers particularly interested him. They were two women, which made the pulse in his cock surprise him. One had her mouth between the other’s legs, gripping the outside of her lover’s thighs. The recipient was on her elbows and had her head thrown back, and she found her pleasure as Stede watched, crying out and shaking. The other did not relent, and Stede could see another peak was building.

“I see you watching,” Ed murmured. He cupped Stede’s balls softly and then wrapped a slack hand around his cock. “You’ve surprised me again, Prince Bonnet.”

It seemed the women could sense he was watching as well. The one with her tongue inside the other looked up at him across her lover’s thigh, and winked. Stede flushed and thrusted up into his husband’s fist.

“No,” Ed said. “Not yet. Get on your hands and knees for me.” He pushed himself and Stede forward. Stede wrapped a leg around his husband from behind and twisted it, a wrestling move Ed himself had taught him. This flipped his husband on his back and he gave a gentle oof as the breath was knocked out of his lungs. Stede pinned his wrists to the ground and straddled him. Ed looked shocked, and then he closed his eyes and threw his head back and laughed. Stede grinned and leaned down for a chaste kiss. He moved his hips so that their cocks rubbed together while he did so. Ed’s laughter cut off with a short gasp.

Stede got off of his husband and spun himself so that he was on his hands and knees with his backside facing him. He looked over his shoulder and wiggled with intention. This was Ed’s favorite position and he was thoroughly excited for the ravishing to come.

Ed came in close, overtop and around Stede with his chest flush against his back. He began to kiss the back of Stede’s neck, then kissed lower and lower along Stede’s spine. The press of his lips was soft like the touches he had administered earlier when Stede had been in his lap. Stede thought about using one hand to chase his own pleasure but decided to be good.

Ed got to the nub at the end of Stede’s spine and kissed that too. And then, he gave a firm lick. Stede whipped his head around his shoulder and his husband gave him a mischievous look. His face disappeared behind him and Stede had the distinct and surprising pleasure of having his asshole licked from testicles to tailbone.

Stede gasped and lost his balance, falling onto his elbows and arching his back.

“Keep going?” Ed said behind him.

Stede whined.

“Say it out loud.”

Stede moved his body back and felt his husband’s beard press into every part of his backside. Ed chuckled and pushed him gently away by the hips.

“Naughty Prince Bonnet. I need to hear you say it.”

“Yes, yes!”

Ed began by kissing the space below the back of Stede’s balls. He dragged his tongue across it, and stopped just before he reached the edge of Stede’s hole. He clenched with anticipation as Ed did that again, and again. Finally, finally , he ran his tongue in a circle around him. Stede pressed the side of his face into the grass mat beneath him and trembled.

Ed licked long, and slow. Stede tried to push himself back onto his hands but as soon as he did, his husband switched tactics, swirling his tongue around and around in a circle. When Stede acclimated to that and tried to push himself up again, his husband started to suck. Stede gave up and grasped at himself as best he could with his upper body folded forward on the ground. He was keening, he realized belatedly, a high pitched wailing note that joined the chorus of the others in the courtyard. He thought he felt his husband smile behind him.

Just when Stede thought he might go mad with pleasure, Ed wormed his tongue inside the heat of him and Stede was losing himself, shaking and stroking desperately, babbling nonsense that sounded like prayers, and he was not a particularly religious man but for this, he thought he could be.

He almost didn’t notice when his peak came. Ed didn’t stop moving his tongue until Stede gasped and pulled away. He flipped onto his back and looked up at his husband from where he sat on his heels, smug as Stede had ever seen him.

“Good show!” called the woman he’d been watching earlier. “The Shadow will be pleased!”

Chapter Text

They returned to their castle and Stede tried not to miss the sunshine and temples of the Islands too much. Iggy had done something useful for once, and found the man who had been sending assassins. He was Srlish, as Stede had suspected, and when questioned, admitted he was trying to start a war between Barrabas and Ed’s army.

Stede did not mean to eavesdrop, but one evening he heard his husband and Iggy arguing.

“Would that be so terrible?” Iggy was shouting. “All out war, like we used to do? None of this skulking and scheming–”

“We are allied with Barrabas through Stede,” Ed said. “We have a clear path. It’s too soon. The Srls first, and then we move onto the next step.”

“What happened to you! We used to have fun , Edward. Burning the land behind us and taking whatever we want. You stick your cock in one pretty little prince, and you turn into a simpering lovesick puppy!”

Ed snarled and Stede could hear him slam his fists on a table. “Speak of my husband like that again, and you’ll remember who Blackbeard can be.”

Stede slipped away, pondering what he had heard.

~*~

“Would you like to attend the next war meeting?” Ed said one night in bed. “We’re debriefing on the Islands and preparing for the Srls.”

“But– I’m royalty. Are you sure I should be there?”

Ed glanced at him sidelong. “What have you guessed?”

Stede hummed. “Let’s see if I’m right at the meeting.”

Frenchie and Oluwande were there, as well as Iggy and a few other of Ed’s generals. Below them was a map of the continent, the Aldra Islands, and the Srls.

“The Aldran people are happy,” Frenchie said. “No surprises there. They adore their queen, and she does right by them.”

“A few interested in joining the navy,” Oluwande said. “But mostly for adventure. I told them they’d see fighting and most changed their minds.”

“So we leave them be,” Ed said. “Good. I was hoping. When can we march to Srl Asrid, Izzy?”

“Ten days. A fortnight, on the outside.”

“Our foothold is the mountain stronghold on the border with Elbros,” Frenchie said. “The men we’ve convinced are ready for us. We’ve also worked the nearest city and farms - they’ll let us through without much of a fuss. We weren’t able to get too close to the palace or the capital, the usual hold ups there.”

“Have you tried the servants?” Stede finally spoke up. “The closer the army is to their kings, the less likely they will defect. But the servants know everything, and everyone. They can get the chatter up throughout the palace and city.”

Everyone in the room looked a little shocked. Except Iggy, who looked annoyed.

“The servants…” said one of the generals. “But, aren’t they even more loyal to the ones they serve?”

“No,” Ed, Stede, and Frenchie said at the same time.

“I did tell him that already, Stede,” Frenchie said. “He won’t risk them.”

“They are at risk every day,” Stede said. “And more if you bring war to their doorstep. Pay them in coin and honesty. And if they know ahead of time, they can flee when our army is there, if they need or want to.”

Ed looked thoughtful. “Hm. We would have an even better read on the royals, if we spoke to those closest to them.”

“It sounds like Frenchie already told you that,” Stede quipped, earning him a chuckle. Everyone in the room except Oluwande and Frenchie looked even more surprised.

“But what happens after?” Stede said. “I presume you’re going to bring the whole army into the Srls, go to war with Barrabas, put me on the throne, and then have me abdicate.”

Even Ed was gaping at him now.

“It makes sense. You have not wantonly killed the royals in the countries you have overtaken so far. Save one,” Stede said, bowing his head to Ed. “But for true change, we will all need to be deposed. Barrabas is the place to start.”

“You won’t be a prince anymore,” Iggy said. His tone was neutral, but his look was scathing.

“Oh,” Stede said. “I was never very good at it. But I shall be a better king.”

~*~

They had a small quarrel when it was time for the army to march.

“I don’t have to go into battle,” Stede said. “But it would ruin me to be left behind.”

“You’d still be in danger!” Ed said.

“And you wouldn’t be?”

“That’s different–”

“How!” Stede said. “How, Ed? You would have me sleepless, in our bed, worrying every moment? And please, tell me how I am supposed to be taken seriously as a king if I hide in our castle while our army marches.”

“Who cares if you’re taken seriously–”

“Many will. If no one believes me a king, they will not accept it when I remove the crown.”

Ed stared at him. Then he leaned in to rest his forehead against Stede’s. “I thank the gods every day for sending you to me. We expected you to fight us on this plan. I thought it might have to be me who would have to take the throne.”

“That simply would not do.” Stede stroked his husband’s beard. “You are far too good a leader to ever debase yourself like that.”

“You can come with us to the Srls.”

Stede grinned. “Try and stop me.”

Ed kissed him softly. Then he pulled back and stared again.

“Edward,” Stede said, shy. “What does the staring mean?”

“The staring?” 

“You have been staring at me since our wedding. What does it mean?”

“Stede. It means I love you.”

Stede felt as if he had been struck. He took an involuntary step backward. Ed winced.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean–”

Stede leapt forward and threw his arms around his husband’s neck and kissed him. He was lifted up off the ground. He wrapped his legs around Ed’s waist. Ed spun him and dropped him backward onto their bed. Stede was laughing, and perhaps crying a bit as well.

“Does that mean you love me too?” Ed said between kisses down his face and neck and collarbone.

“That depends,” Stede said, breathless.

“On?”

“If you will repeat the act from the Aldran temple.”

Ed laughed. “Anything you want. My brave and bonny prince. My love. Anything you want.”

~*~

The march to the Srls was not as merry as the trip home from their wedding. But people weren’t ignoring Stede anymore, and he was doing more than just sharing the bed with his husband, so he was still happy.

“Did you tell them to ignore me, the first time?” he asked one night.

Ed grimaced. “I told them not to speak to you unless spoken to. I’m sorry.”

“It is alright. I was very lonely, but it is alright.”

Ed tugged him close and put his lips to his temple. “You’ll never be lonely again as long as I’m alive.”

Stede shuddered. “Perhaps the wrong choice of words on the eve of battle.”

Oluwande and Frenchie were very good at their jobs. Most of Srl Asrid let the army cut through with little resistance. But they were coming upon the capital, and the Asridian army that had not defected to their side or deserted as soon as they saw Blackbeard’s banner were holed up there and ready for a siege.

Ed fucked him slow that night. It was not usually what Stede wanted from a bedding, but he clawed marks down his husband’s back and panted with every thrust and grind until he forgot to be afraid.

~*~

Even within the tent and a long distance away, the sounds of battle were terrible. The clash and clang of metal, the war cries, the screams of dying men - Stede was almost sick with it. He tried to read, but could not focus. He asked his guards to play cards with him, but was too agitated. Finally, one of the men suggested sparring. Stede won his first practice bout, ever, and he was fairly certain his opponent did not let him win.

The sparring and the victory (one of four, but still) was enough that it distracted Stede until night time. Now he simply paced, waiting anxiously for his husband’s return or news of why he hadn’t.

The sounds of post-battle camp chaos dimmed around the outside of the tent and Stede held his breath hoping that was a sign his husband had returned. He was right. Ed pushed himself into the tent, eyes ablaze. They surged toward each other. Ed grabbed at Stede’s hair on the base of his neck and yanked his head back and kissed him. The press and movement of his tongue was rough and unrelenting. His other hand gripped the side of Stede’s face and Stede reached up to grab that wrist. 

Ed pushed him backward until his backside hit the edge of the desk. Stede hopped up and put his arms around his husband’s neck. They hadn’t stopped kissing, and Ed had an energy that he had never quite felt before. He wrapped his legs around him and pulled himself flush against his husband. It was uncomfortable, with the armor, but Stede didn’t care.

Ed finally broke away and was slashing at Stede’s shirt before he realized the dagger was out. He cut down the middle of the garment from collar to hem, and then he yanked it off of Stede and lowered his head to suck hard on one nipple. Stede threw his head back and arched his back. His husband grabbed him by the hips and lifted him up, crushing him against his body with one arm and using the other to sweep the maps and papers off the desk. He spun Stede and pushed his front half down by the back of his neck until his chest and face pressed into the wood. He ground into Stede, and Stede pushed back against him.

Ed pulled back to yank Stede’s pants down off his backside. He knelt and licked into the core of him and Stede cried out louder than he should with only thin tent walls around them. Ed did not go slowly, lashing his tongue against and around Stede for only a little while before it was inside him. Stede’s thighs were pressing against the edge of the desk and the pain as he thrashed against it was driving him absolutely wild, a pleasurable experience in its aching discomfort.

Ed pulled back and walked away, which made Stede gasp. His husband quickly returned and Stede looked over his shoulder to see him pouring oil over his fingers. Their eyes met. Ed froze.

“What’s wrong?” Stede said.

Ed took a few steps back.

“Ed, what’s wrong?”

His husband closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Fuck. Stede. I’m sorry.”

Stede wriggled himself off the desk and back into his pants. He walked over to his husband and brushed his finger against Ed’s cheek. “Darling. What is there to be sorry for?”

Ed opened his eyes and smiled a small smile. “That was– that was untoward. My blood gets a little hot after battle.”

Stede sensed it was not the time to be spoiled and demand Ed go through with the ravishing. “Very hot indeed. Come, wash your hand and tell me how the day went.”

He called for a bath and Ed spoke to him about the battle. It had gone well, and he was optimistic they would breach the walls within the next day. When Stede had his husband pliant and relaxed from soaking and being tended to, he broached the subject of what had happened earlier in the evening.

“My husband,” he began. “Did you know, I used to fantasize quite a lot about you.”

“Oh?”

“Yes.”

“Are you just going to tease me, Prince Bonnet, or are you going to tell me what about?”

“We got quite close, tonight.”

Ed was quiet for a moment. “Ah.”

“On our wedding night, I wished for you to cut my clothes off me in that way.”

“Honestly, it’s the only outfit I’ve never liked you in.”

Stede smiled and planted a gentle kiss on his husband’s temple. “Ever the eye for fine things, Edward. The brown was truly wretched.”

“So,” Ed said. “You don’t mind if my blood runs a little hot.”

“In fact I think I would quite enjoy it.”

Ed chuckled. “Sometimes, Stede, I don’t know how you’re really real.”

Stede dipped the washing cloth in the water and ran it slowly along the back of Ed’s neck. He was already clean, but Stede knew it soothed his husband to be touched in this way.

“Tomorrow,” he said quietly. “I could prepare myself. Be ready for you.”

Ed shivered and looked at him with wide eyes. “It might distract me too much in battle.”

“Think of me as your prize for a job well done.”

Ed squirmed a little in the bath.

“Would you like to hear some of my other fantasies?”

Ed clenched his knees together and nodded.

“I am locked in a tower, guarded by a dragon, and you come to rescue me…

“...captured by your pirate ship, and I pledge I will do anything if you let the others go…

“...tie you to a chair and have my way with you…

“...like the Aldran temples, but not like them, because no one would actually know we were right there…

“...but if I make a noise, you will punish me, but I like the punishment, this time, you see? And…

“...an innocent milkmaid and I am the smitten and knowledgeable stablehand…

“...pretty simple, you use my mouth while I lie on my back in bed with my head hanging off the edge.”

Ed’s mouth was hanging wide open. “Is that it?”

“There are many others, but those will do for now.”

“Prince Bonnet. You are a true connoisseur of pornography.”

Stede blushed. “I’m sorry, was it too much?”

“Oh no, we are definitely doing all of those. Have Lucius write them down somewhere.”

“What about you, my husband? Any fantasies you wish to see fulfilled?”

It was Ed’s turn to blush. “I just want your dick inside of me.”

Stede startled. Ed grinned. “It’s fine, Stede, I don’t need it. I love fucking you.”

“Shh. Be quiet for a moment.” Stede had never– he had never considered that. In his books, it was always from the perspective of the ravishee, never the ravisher. He had spent his whole post pubescent life fantasizing about being in that role. He had felt himself come alive beneath his husband’s touch, and blossomed just like in the stories. But he could– Ed was Blackbeard, he wouldn’t– unless–

“What’s going on inside that bonny brain of yours, love?”

“I said to shush!”

Stede’s imagination was going haywire: his husband, beneath him, thrashing with pleasure, moaning with it like he had made Stede moan, clenching hot and tight around him, trying to touch himself but Stede wouldn’t let him, not yet, not until–

He gasped. Ed was looking at him sidelong with a sly grin on his face.

“You’re looking pretty flustered, Prince Bonnet. Was it something I said?”

“Can we– now?”

Ed’s grin turned into a full blown smile. “I don’t think so, not tonight. I have to get to sleep and it would take too long. But maybe we can play pirates and make use of that pretty mouth of yours.”

“Anything you want, Captain Teach. Anything you want.”

~*~

The next day, Stede was even antsier for Ed’s return. He waited as long as he could and then took his time opening himself up. He had a wooden toy to keep himself ready, and he ached with it inside of him, wiggling with anticipation on the bed where he lay in only his dressing robe. Night fell as he heard the battle ending, and then once again Ed was pushing himself into the tent. But something was wrong. 

His husband stumbled to his knees. He was blood-spattered and muddy and breathing hard.

“Ed!” Stede rushed to him. “Ed, what’s wrong!”

“We breached the walls. The city is ours.” He pushed himself upward and began unbuckling his armor and flinging it to the ground. Now Stede could see what was wrong: a deep gash down his husband’s arm between the pauldron and gauntlet.

“Edward! Why aren’t you with the healers!”

“Too many others hurt worse than me. I’ll be fine.”

Stede took him by his uninjured arm and guided him to one of the chairs in the tent. His husband was pale and sweating.

“Tell me what to do,” Stede said.

“Stede, I’ll be fine. Been hurt worse than this. You know that.”

“I could demand you go to the healers. Anything I want, right, my husband?”

Ed grunted.

“But I will not do that. If you let me take care of you.”

They stared at each other. Ed’s eyes were frightening, but Stede kept his own gaze steady.

“Clean your hands. Then shirt off,” Ed said, finally. Stede washed and returned and went for the hem of his husband’s shirt. “No. Has to be cut.”

Stede gave a gentle smile and retrieved a dagger. He went slowly, but Ed still grimaced as he peeled the shirt off of the wound. Finally, it was done.

“The tweezers,” Ed said. “Get any pieces of fabric that you can out.”

Ed did not cry out, but he kept giving sharp inhales as Stede worked. Stede flinched each time, but he kept it on the inside. His hand was steady even though his vision was blurring around the edges. He kept having to remind himself to breathe.

“Alright,” he said. “What next?”

“Liquor,” Ed said. “The clear one.”

Stede retrieved the bottle.

“Pour it over. Slowly.”

Stede did as he was told. His husband gritted his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut.

“You don’t have to be brave. It’s just us,” Stede murmured.

Ed opened his eyes and looked into Stede’s. “I love you,” he said, softly.

“And I you, my husband. What next?”

“Can you sew?”

“A little. Not well.”

“I can do it myself. Just– talk to me? The needle and thread is in my trunk.”

Stede found the items in question and brought them over. He poured more liquor on the needle before handing it to Ed. He willed himself to look as Ed began the gruesome process of sewing himself up.

“When I saw you for the first time,” Stede said. “I thought you were very handsome. I could not believe you said yes to me. You should not have.” He could see Ed smile as he worked the thread through his arm. “But you did, and I was happy, for the first time in a long, long while. I hated the whispers, the lies the court told of you. I knew they could not be true, not all of them, at least. When you kissed me at the wedding, I thought perhaps all my fantasies were not so unattainable. And then you would not bed me.”

“I was only using you for my larger schemes. I couldn’t use you like that. I couldn’t hurt you.”

“You never would have hurt me. You’re kind, Ed, and so gentle. Except when I don’t want you to be.” Ed looked up briefly to grin at him. Stede continued, “You love your people and you are so passionate about the vision you have of this world. You have changed me in ways I never thought possible.”

“I didn’t change you. You were always you, you were just afraid to show it.”

Stede smiled. “Perhaps. We will never know, and we will never have to know. I am with you, Edward, if you want to be a king, or if you want to be a peasant. I would run away with you and live in a mud hut and wear nothing but undyed garments for the rest of my days, as long as it meant being with you. My husband. My Ed. My darling. My love.”

Ed finished his task and leaned in for a soft kiss.

“If you’re done,” Stede said. “I’ll call for a bath, and then I do have to take care of something.”

“What’s that?”

“Ah, well. I was… prepared for a different activity tonight.”

“Oh, shit, Stede. I’m sorry.” His eyes roved over Stede and saw that he wasn’t wearing much for the first time that night.

Stede chuckled. “Don’t be silly. This is a bit more serious than a buggering.”

He washed his husband in the bath as the camp celebrated the victory around them. 

“I should go out there,” Ed said. “They should see me.”

“I’ll do it,” Stede said. “Stay here and rest.”

He put on a brave face and joined the army. Despite his best efforts to avoid imbibing too much, he was a bit tipsy when he came back to the tent. Ed was still awake, waiting for him.

“Scooch over,” Stede said. “You can’t lie on that side. I’ll take the one closer to the door.”

Ed grumbled but did as he was told. Stede draped himself around him, minding his wound.

“Good night, Ed. I love you.”

“Night, Stede. I love you.”

~*~

The rest of the campaign through the Srls was frightening, but Stede spent the whole of it by Ed’s side, and so he was not afraid. His husband did not go into battle while he was injured, so they sat on their horses, overlooking the fighting, while messengers went back and forth to take and enforce Ed's orders. He was not quite as beautiful working the strategy of war as he was on a ship, but it was supremely close.

The night they took Srl Ebrin, a Barrabassian emissary found them at their camp. They ducked away from the bonfire celebration to receive her in their tent.

“Prince Bonnet. Blackbeard. We are pleased to hear of your wellbeing and happy marriage. And we look forward to sharing the spoils of our mutual victory.”

Ed bristled. Stede laid a gentle hand on his arm. “Of course. Per our marriage contract, any country in association with Blackbeard is subject to a tax, and that extends to any kingdom within our alliance.”

The emissary nodded smugly.

“Which also means,” Stede said. “Barrabas, as an associated kingdom, will pay into the tax as well. We are simply enchanted that my home country has made such an offering. The coin shall go to the people of our influence, and your generosity will be spoken of throughout the continent.”

Ed and the emissary were both staring at him.

“It would be simple to offset the Srlish tax from Barrabassian donation,” Stede continued. “Barrabas would not owe more than three or four times that, at most.” He smiled. “What is your name?”

“Beatrice Lawrence, Prince Bonnet.”

“Beatrice, it is lovely to meet you. Have you eaten any of our feast tonight?”

“Ah– no. I haven’t, Prince Bonnet.”

“Come, we’ll bring some to the tent.”

The three of them ate and Stede offered Beatrice an additional handkerchief to keep her hands clean as she did so. They spoke carefully around the subject of taxes and spoils, until Stede frowned and looked at his husband.

“Of course,” he said. “Perhaps it is ungracious to expect the Barrabas court to pay into our little tax. ‘Associated’ can mean so many things.”

Beatrice nodded eagerly.

“Hm,” said Ed. “I thought I was pretty clear when we drew up the marriage contract.”

“Oh dear,” said Stede. “If that is what my husband wishes, I cannot possibly go against him.”

“Well,” Beatrice said. “Associated can indeed mean many things. And allied is only one of them.”

“So,” Stede said. “Perhaps by ‘associated,’ we meant ‘vanquished.’ Blackbeard is a conqueror, after all.”

Beatrice nodded again, less eager, but content. “Exactly. So we are at an accord.”

“Indeed,” Stede said. “Please give my warm regards to the king and our various cousins.”

Beatrice said farewell with the ceremony due her station, and then retreated as hastily as she could.

~*~

It took an inordinate amount of time getting the Srls seen to before they began their march home. Stede was more involved than he cared to be, settling contracts and overseeing soldiers, and although he spent each night with his husband they were often too tired for anything other than bed-sharing. 

Finally, they were back at the castle. Stede was thrilled to find their new bed had been delivered. He flung himself into it and groaned.

“Got you a present,” Ed said. “If you want to see it now, it’s down at the showers.”

Stede did love presents. Although he was tired, he could not resist. He held hands with his husband as he bounced his way downstairs. 

Ed had had baths installed while they were away. Big enough for twenty people to fit inside, but for now, they were empty.

“Oh, Ed!” Stede said. “This is wonderful!”

They undressed each other slowly. Stede kissed his husband between every layer. In the baths, they did press together and shared the occasional intimate glancing touch, but mostly they just enjoyed each other’s company as they soaked and washed.

Back in their room, ready for bed, Stede wriggled into the covers and sighed contentedly. Ed slipped in beside him and scooched backward so that Stede could hold him in the usual way. Stede was already dozing when his husband shimmied his backside quite intentionally into his crotch.

Suddenly, Stede was wide awake.

“My husband,” he said. “Are you asleep?”

“You know I’m not.”

Stede smiled against the back of Ed’s neck. His hand wandered languidly down the front of him. He was unsurprised to find his husband hard. He slipped his hand under Ed’s nightshirt to grip him lightly. Then, with slow deliberation, he ground into his backside. Ed let out a soft whimper.

“Perhaps we should break in the new bed, hm?” Stede said. Ed nodded vigorously.

Stede slid Ed’s nightshirt up until it bunched at his underarms. He stopped, and stroked his hand down his husband’s ribs. Ed twitched. Stede chuckled and reached forward to tweak at his nipple. Ed whined, and this time Stede pinched and twisted. His husband arched back into him. Stede swung a leg over and maneuvered them both so that he was straddling Ed. He leaned down and kissed him. His husband tried to set an urgent pace but Stede forced his tongue to move more slowly. He broke away and put his lips against Ed’s ear.

“I’m going to take my time with you, love.”

He pulled Ed’s nightshirt the rest of the way off and removed his own as well. Ed pushed himself upward but Stede ground himself down to keep him pinned. He took his husband’s wrists in his hands and pulled them up above Ed’s head. He leaned down once more and kissed him, and kept his own legs locked while Ed squirmed beneath him.

Stede pressed his lips against Ed’s cheek, jawline, and neck. He went slowly, sometimes letting his tongue flick out and his teeth graze the skin, not enough to mark him, but enough that Ed was gasping sharply with each touch. As Stede’s mouth dipped lower onto his shoulders and chest, Ed started to thrash. Stede kept his wrists gripped tight. He did eventually let go so that he could continue sliding downard between Ed’s legs, but Ed kept his arms above his head, biting his lip and rolling his body as Stede’s mouth got closer and closer to his cock where it sat leaking onto his stomach.

Stede wrapped his lips briefly around the head of Ed’s cock. His husband let out a ragged sound and pushed into his mouth. Stede pulled back, and Ed opened his eyes and looked downward.

“Not tonight, Ed. Not until I’ve had the whole of you.”

Ed’s eyes widened and so did his legs. Stede’s breath caught as he looked at his husband spread wanton in front of him. 

“So beautiful.” Stede reached out and ran a light finger through the crease of his husband’s backside. “I can’t believe I get to have this.”

Ed closed his eyes again and gave a long inhale. Stede got off the bed and retrieved their intimate oil. He reestablished himself between his husband’s legs and leaned down and bit down on his inner thigh. Ed cried out.

“Tell me you’re sure,” Stede said, into his husband’s soft flesh.

“Fucking,” Ed said. “Are you serious.”

“It would not do to take advantage of the dread Blackbeard.”

“Prince Bonnet, I am fucking begging you to take advantage of me.”

“Say please.”

“ Please. ”

Stede licked a stripe in the groove between his husband’s hip and cock. Ed convulsed and spread himself wider.

“Tuck your knees,” Stede said. Ed hitched them upward. Stede busied himself with the oil before resting a single fingertip against the heat of his husband. He began to rub in a circle against the nerve endings there.

“ Stede. ”

He pushed in the barest amount.

“Fucking gods dammit!” Ed made to reach down and grasp at Stede’s hand to hasten him along.

“If you move again, I’ll stop.”

Ed wrenched his arms back upward over his head.

“You’re being very good, my husband.”

Ed shuddered. Stede rewarded him with another knuckle.

“Stede, fuck–”

“So impatient.” Stede slipped the tip of his finger out, and then back in, and then back out. Ed sucked in a breath but didn’t protest. When Stede felt his husband was relaxed enough, he slipped himself the rest of the way inside. He leaned forward to kiss Ed and grasp at his wrists with his free hand, just to remind him he wasn’t supposed to move. Then he slid his hand down his hair and chest, and he twisted his nipple as he crooked the finger that was inside of Ed.

His husband made a noise that Stede had never heard before. He was very keen to hear it again, so he stroked his finger a few more times inside of him. Ed reached out and Stede stopped moving his finger.

“Above your head, Ed, or I stop.”

Ed did as he was told.

Stede felt bold with his newfound skillset as Ed trembled beneath his touch. At first, he simply tried to recreate what his husband had done to him in the past, but with a few informative gasps to guide him, Stede had begun tapping a tempo inside of his husband that was making him babble.

“Oh fuck, Stede, fuck, fuck, another, fuck–”

“Hmm,” Stede said, continuing his ministrations. “I don’t know that you’ve earned it.”

Ed wrenched his eyes open and looked down at Stede, aghast. “What?”

“You mentioned begging, but I haven’t heard nearly enough of that.”

“ Please . Please. Please, fuck me, Stede. Please. Keep going.”

“Since you’re being so good.” Stede worked another finger inside of his husband. Ed squeezed around him. Stede was desperate to feel that clench around his own cock, but was having too much fun to skip ahead just yet. He swirled and tapped and prodded. Ed gabbled and shuddered and moaned. Stede made him beg for the third finger, too.

“Stede, fuck, please, I need you to, I want, please–”

Stede could not tell his husband no. He withdrew his hand and slicked himself up. He nudged against his husband’s rim and took a deep breath. Open and gaping and wanton as Ed was, Stede hesitated.

“Stede?”

“I’m sorry. Just give me a moment.”

Ed squirmed but stayed silent. Stede closed his eyes. He tried to remember the man he thought his husband was on their wedding night, and reconcile him with the person beneath him now. He felt the brush of Ed’s fingertips against his face.

“We can stop, my love.”

And just like that, it was easy. He opened his eyes and pushed himself inside slowly and surely.

“Does that feel good?”

Ed groaned and nodded his head. Stede rolled his hips and felt his husband clench around him. He closed his eyes again, this time from the hot, tight press all around his cock. Nothing could prepare him for this, not his books, not his fantasies, not even the countless times their positions had been reversed.

“Stede, please .” 

He had almost forgotten. He began to thrust, slow, drawing out whines and curses and desperate pleas. He grabbed one of Ed’s legs and hitched it up over his shoulder and picked up a little speed.

“Harder, I can take it–”

“I know you can.” Stede pulled his hips up until he was almost completely out of his husband and then slammed down back into him. A sob wrenched out of Ed’s chest. He gripped his husband’s thigh as he fucked into him, much harder than he had at first. Next time, he might make him wait longer for this. But this time, he was too focused on chasing his own pleasure and watching his husband come undone.

“Can I–” One of Ed’s hands strayed down toward his own cock.

Stede pushed his hand away and began stroking it himself. He was sweating, and close, but he was determined not to go over the edge before Ed had his own peak. It was getting harder and harder, the hot clench squeezing around him, Ed’s mewling whines ringing in his ears, his own moans joining them. He was pushing himself deeper, and deeper, and Ed’s cock was throbbing in his hand, and he couldn’t hold it in any longer, and neither could his husband, and they were crying out together–

Not at war. Not at sea. Not on horseback, or with a blade in his hand, or laughing, or smiling. Ed was the most beautiful as he found his pleasure with Stede’s cock inside of him. Stede pressed a kiss into the side of Ed’s knee where it still rested atop his shoulder.

Ed’s breathing slowed, and he slid his leg off of Stede. Stede slipped out of Ed and went to wet some cloth to clean them both up. When he was finished, he snuggled against his husband in their new bed.

“My bonny Blackbeard,” he said. “Do you know how beautiful you are?”

Ed was laying on his back and stroking a hand through Stede’s curls.

“I’ve had men killed for less,” he said.

“Of course you have, darling.”

“I’ll let you live if you fuck me like that again sometime.”

Stede blushed. Ed reached out with his other hand and brushed his thumb gently across Stede’s cheek. “You know, Prince Bonnet - I’ve always loved it when you blush.”

Chapter Text

From the quill of Lucius Spriggs, record keeper to the one-time King Stede Bonnet and his consort, Edward Teach.

Blackbeard and Prince Bonnet were married in the Barabassian palace on a sunny day in early June. It seemed an ill omen that the grooms’ wedding clothes did not match. Their differences were vast; one a panther, one a swan. A bird should fear a jungle cat, but Prince Bonnet was not afraid. On the long trek home, they were among thousands, but seemed together alone. 

They made a life together in Blackbeard’s cliffside castle. Prince Bonnet learned from his husband the ways of war and strategy, while Blackbeard learned in turn the ways of courtly intrigue. Blackbeard’s traitorous second-in-command, Israel Hands, sent assassins to kill the Prince to induce an all-out war with Barrabas. Prince Bonnet would later kill the man in a duel when he attempted to finish the job himself.

After the conquest of the Srls, Blackbeard and Prince Bonnet set out their most ambitious plan yet: to disband the monarchies across the greater continent. They waged an efficient war on Prince Bonnet’s home country, and in the end were victorious.

Prince Bonnet was a beloved King. He ruled with kindness and compassion, with his husband’s loyalty and person always by his side. On the third annual celebration of the Prince’s inauguration, he announced his intention to abdicate and leave the throne of Barrabas empty after him. When the transition proved successful and the country flourished, the rest of the monarchs of associated countries within Blackbeard’s control were set up to do the same.

While the dismantling of such systems will take many years to come, brave Prince Bonnet and his bonny Blackbeard will continue to guide their people with the same love they share with each other.