Chapter Text
If there was one thing Ed had learned since he’d semi-taken over the Revenge / started trading off knowledge with Stede, it was one truth.
There was more to that man than met the eye.
Their recent encounter with the passively aggressive French fucks had proven as much; Stede had destroyed them with words alone. Words. However many years of piracy under his belt, and he’d never seen anything like that utter bloodbath (plus whatever grift his crew had pulled, that was marmalade on the pastry).
Everything he’d learned about the man was just…amazing. Nothing about Stede screamed ‘Pirate’ and yet…here he was. At sea. And even before meeting Ed he’d been making somewhat of a go of it. Granted his crew had verged on mutiny a few times, and he’d run aground, and almost died at the hands of some Spaniards, but honestly that wasn’t bad for most captains over the run of a whole career.
Granted, it wouldn’t have been a very long career in Stede’s case if Ed hadn’t come along.
Still, whatever depths were left to be plumbed in Captain Stede Bonnet, Ed had every intention of plumbing. This was the most fun he’d had in God knew how long. And today that plumbing meant traipsing into the Captain’s cabin to wake him. Strange; Stede was usually up by now, dictating to Lucius.
He didn’t bother to knock (he’d already been shown the man’s most secret closet, what else was there left to hide?). “Stede?”
The bed was ruffled, unmade.
Ed frowned. Stede was fastidious about that sort of stuff; a leftover habit from his former life. Fine fabric was hard to come by at sea, and harder to keep nice. He wouldn’t leave it in a state unless the ship were under attack or someone was in dire need of assistance.
Or in need of killing.
He laid on hand on his sword hilt. “Stede, you here?”
The small “Oh,” almost didn’t catch his ear. Ed dropped down, for a moment wondering if Stede was under the bed. But no; it was secured to the floor. As…inexperienced as Stede was when it had come to adding things to the ship, at least that had been done right. Now if only there were a way to keep the books on the shelves in the library…
Wait. No. Stay focused. Where the hell was Stede? The bed was clearly empty, but he’d heard the man’s voice. “Don’t tell me there’s another secret passage in here.”
“Ah, no,” Stede’s voice came back, still sounding strangely distant. “No Ed, nothing quite so grand. I’m just…having another episode.”
Ed frowned. “Episode?”
“You recall when I explained about seeing Nigel?”
Oh. The jackass who’d managed to stab himself in the face after Stede had finally given him what he’d had coming. “Yeah.”
“Well, I think I must have some other issue I need to work through,” Stede didn’t sound as depressed as he should, given the content of the sentence. “Because I’m seeing things that clearly aren’t there.”
“What do you see?”
A small bump just at the edge of the cover wriggled about, catching Ed’s eye. Slowly, he reached out and peeled it back. There were all sorts of things that could account for such a bump on a ship. Mice. Rats. An especially enterprising shellfish.
Or in this case a very tiny Captain Stede (easily small enough to fit in Ed’s hands), wrapped in a bit of silken cloth torn off his nightshirt.
“Well, I see an utterly gigantic version of my cabin, and you, which is preposterous,” Stede remarked, shrugging. “So. Must be an episode.”
Ed nodded, sitting on the floor next to the bed. “Yeah. Sounds like bullshit to me.”