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If someone had told Stede that pirating would be like this, he perhaps would have escaped his previous life much sooner. Something in him was always certain he was made for the sea, but it turns out he's made for his co-captain as well. Or, at least, that's what it feels like when Ed fucks him.
Stede is on top this time (as Ed's knee is not in the best shape) and he's relishing the way Ed's hands grip his thighs every time he bears down on Ed's cock. Ed is constantly talking, telling him how good he feels, telling him how beautiful he is in the sunlight streaming through the window by their bed (in not so many words); constantly except for when Stede moves his hips in that one specific way that Ed likes, and then anything Ed was about to say dissolves into a whimper at the back of his throat. It sends a thrill through Stede's body every time, the same feeling he gets when he commands a successful raid or brokers a favorable deal with other pirates. (Ed thinks this is adorable, and offers to fuck him every time they pull in a big haul. Stede hasn't declined him yet.)
He slows a bit, to give his own knees a rest, and puts his hand over Ed's. "Good?"
Ed nods, a satisfied yet eager smile on his face. "Fucking fantastic."
"Good," Stede says, and then briefly leans over and brings Ed's hand to his mouth to pepper a few kisses across his knuckles.
Ed props himself up on his other elbow, so that they're eye-to-eye, and presses his forehead gently against Stede's. They're still for a few seconds, only moved by the gentle rocking of the boat, before Ed very quietly says, "Love you."
Stede straightens up a little and pulls Ed a little closer to him so he can kiss his forehead, then his nose, then his mouth. "Love you too."
They smile soft little smiles at each other, and then Stede starts to move again.
"Bloody hell, Bonnet, I was trying to have a moment," Ed says, already relaxing back into the mattress.
"It was a lovely moment, dear," Stede says on an upstroke. And then, when he pushes down again, "But only a moment."
Ed laughs, a joyful and weightless sound, and links their fingers together on Stede's thigh, and whatever regret Stede may have about not becoming a pirate sooner vanishes, because he knows that right now, he's exactly where he's meant to be.