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omg-just-peachy · 2 years

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someone to call | ed/stede

flufftober day three: sickfic | ~3k

stede asks ed for a ride to urgent care.

also on AO3

****

Ed picks up his phone and sets it down for what has to be the fiftieth time today. He feels like an idiot, like a schoolgirl with a crush, like someone adrift at sea, all at once. He hasn’t felt so much since, well, he can’t quite put his finger on when the fuck he last felt like this, so much and so completely for someone so quickly.

Possibly he’s never felt like this before.

He’s been in lust before, in his younger years when all that mattered was leaving this or that bar with the hot stranger he’d just met. And while yes, he definitely feels that way for Stede Bonnet, too, this is something else. He knew it almost as soon as he met the man, tumbled right into him really, with the way Kraken had dragged him down the street and towards the gorgeous blond with the golden retriever in the park.

(He didn't know, then, just how fitting it was for a man who embodied sunshine to have a golden retriever.)

They’d hit it right off, chatting with surprising ease as their dogs sniffed at each other, and Ed left the park that day with a skip in his step, a new number in his phone, and a smile plastered across his face that seemed to only grow as he and Stede started texting, and then finally met up for their first date.

No dogs on that date, though Stede regaled Ed with plenty of stories of himself and Bonny throughout their dinner. (Delicious, perfect, eaten outside as the sun set around them and made Stede's hair look like a halo.) Ed learned that Stede was fairly recently divorced, had two children he saw every other week, and that he had gotten Bonny to keep him company.

He’d also found that Stede had an affinity for all things pirates, just like Ed himself, and that he'd named the dog after the infamous pirate Anne Bonny.

Bit silly, really, she’s hardly a fearsome dog, after all… Stede had said, blushing and trailing off in a way that made Ed desperate to reassure him and kiss him all at once. He’d settled on a squeeze of his hand across the table, told him he loved pirates, too, and reminded Stede that he himself had named his tiny dog after a sea monster.

Another thing we have in common, then, Stede had beamed at him across the table, and Ed knew he was fucked then and there.

It’s hard for him to relate to people most of the time, and it’s only gotten harder as he’s gotten older, found more and more people just… boring, so determined to be just like everyone else. He hadn’t been on a proper first date in nearly two years by the time he met Stede, and now he can’t stop thinking about him.

Lucky for him, Stede seems to feel the same way, texting him things that made him think of him, sharing pictures of Bonny and the occasional treasured selfie.

Stede had been quiet for the last few days, though, and it’s fucking Ed up more than he cares to admit or examine too closely. He knows Stede likes him, he’d said as much, in his own, tentative way. Plus, Ed isn’t going to pressure the newly divorced, very newly out man for more than he’s comfortable giving. It’s just…

Ed misses him. Already.

When Ed looks at his phone and finds that no new texts had come in in the two minutes since he checked last time, even Kraken sighs and lays down on his paws.

“Pathetic, I know. I could just text him myself, just to check in…”

Kraken doesn’t move from his spot on the couch, though, curled into a tight little ball, and Ed rolls his eyes. “You’re no help,” he huffs.

He examines his phone, types and deletes and types some more until he has something nonchalant enough that he feels comfortable sending.

If you’re up for it, I found a bottle of that whiskey I was telling you about the other night. Feel up for a drink tonight?

Ed had run nearly all over town trying to find the specific, pirate-themed whiskey they talked about over dinner, in fact, but he leaves that part out. His phone lights up with a reply almost immediately though, and Ed tries his best not to lunge for it, only for his heart to plummet.

Maybe a raincheck on the whiskey?

Yeah, of course, no problem. Let me know what works, yeah?

Ed is patting himself on the back for sounding so chill about it all when Stede texts again.

Actually, though, if you’re not busy… And if you don’t mind, would you be able to give me a ride somewhere?

Ed reads the message through twice. From what he knows about Stede, he’s not one to ask for things, let alone ask for help with things, unless he really needs it.

Yeah, of course, where to? And when?

Now, maybe? To an urgent care... I’m afraid I’ve come down with something these last few days. Head’s a mess, think I’ve got a fever, the whole nine yards :( ...Only if you can!

Stede, of course I can. Send me your address and I’ll be right there.

Ed pours Kraken’s dinner in his bowl since he’s not sure quite how long he’ll be gone, gives him a kiss on the head, and then books it out to his car.

Sick. Ed feels immediately guilty for doubting Stede over a few day’s silence. It was out of character for him, but not because he’d changed his mind, because he’d suffered quietly, alone for nearly three days.

When Ed pulls up to Stede’s house, he takes in the neatly trimmed bushes, the carefully planted flowers, unable to help drinking in these new bits of Stede he’s seeing for the first time. He’s pulling out his phone to let Stede know he’s there when the door opens and Stede comes out, apparently already more than ready to go.

He looks terrible, Ed can see that much from the car. His hair is all out of place, for one thing, the curls all askew rather than carefully combed into place the way they usually are. He’s pale, too, with a flush to his cheeks that definitely speaks to the fever he mentioned. Besides all of that, he just looks… tired. Like the last few days have entirely sapped him of energy. He looks a little shaky on his feet, too, no doubt from the fever, and Ed gets out to help him into the car.

“Oh, hi, Ed,” Stede says, almost shyly. “I’m so sorry about all this, I’ve just been. Well, surely you can tell how I’ve been. And I didn’t… ah, know who else to call.” He looks a little ashamed at this admission, and Ed doesn’t let himself hesitate before pulling him into a hug.

“Hey, it’s alright. I had no plans today, and you can always call me. Could’ve called me when you first started feeling bad, in fact. Here, let me…” Ed pulls the car door open and then shuts in once Stede is inside, tugging his seatbelt on.

He just looks... beat. Up close, Ed can see how red and chapped Stede’s nose is, how red-rimmed and tired his eyes are, glassy rather than bright and lively the way they usually are. His voice is shot, too, and Ed has to stop himself from telling him to rest it every time Stede speaks. That would just make him feel worse, Ed’s sure of it.

They drive quietly for a few blocks, Ed fiddling with the radio until he lands on a Fleetwood Mac song they both like.

“We’ll be there soon, alright?”

“Right, yes,” Stede says, clearing his throat. “Don’t think I’ve snf! needed to go to an urgent care in years,” he comments.

“Strong constitution you’ve got, then,” Ed says, smiling over at him. “Feels like I’m sick once a quarter at least.”

“Really?” Stede looks surprised by this, as though tattoos and a beard might make one immune to the common cold, and Ed can’t help but laugh a little.

“Yeah, mate,” he says. He leans over and gives Stede’s knee a little squeeze, just so he knows Ed isn’t laughing at him, and then they're arriving, Ed pulling smoothly into the lot of the urgent care.

It feels like a bit much to hold Stede’s hand while they walk to the door, though the idea does cross Ed’s mind, especially when Stede turns to the side to cough into his elbow. He looks so worn out from the effort of it that something in Ed’s own chest squeezes a bit.

When they reach the front desk, Ed talks quietly to the woman sitting there, taking a clipboard from her and leading Stede over to a set of two chairs in a corner.

“I can take care of this,” Ed tells him. “Might just need help with some of the details. Here, sit down before you fall down, love.” The word love slips from his mouth unbidden, and before he can course correct, Stede slumps down into the chair and nods up at him, eyes glassier than before, looking bright with unshed, feverish tears.

“Y’sure?” Stede asks. “I can really just..”

“Positive. Now: middle name?”

“Montague." It comes out more nasally, congestion getting the better of him. "Ugh, sorry.” Stede scrubs at his nose determinedly, trying to get his M sounds back, but his nose is too stuffed up for it to do more than make it more red and angry-looking.

“Hey, don’t do that, your poor nose has been through enough, I think,” Ed says, gently curling his hand around Stede’s wrist and pulling his hand away from his face. Stede gives him a small, apologetic little smile, and together they get the forms filled in and returned to the nurse at the front desk, who tells Ed they’ll be next.

“Shouldn’t be too long. Here, you can… rest your head here, if that helps…” Ed says, gesturing to his shoulder. His heart hammers as he says it, but Stede takes him up on it almost immediately, laying his head on Ed’s shoulder like it belongs there, like they’ve done this all their lives.

Ed leans over and presses the smallest, fastest kiss to the top of Stede’s head. Because, Ed tells himself, Stede could use the comfort. He looks and clearly feels terrible, he’d been dealing with this alone for days now, and, well, Ed is so full of affection for the man beside him that he really cannot help himself.

“Thank you, Ed,” Stede murmurs quietly at the touch. His eyes flutter shut, and they sit in companionable silence for a few minutes, Stede resting and Ed scrolling nervously through his phone.

Stede sits up quickly, though, red-rimmed nostrils visibly twitching, then sneezes four times in quick succession.

Stede blinks a few times afterwards, rubbing at his nose with a tissue he pulls from his pocket, and sniffles through yet another apology.

“God bless you. Stede…” Ed says, his voice so full of concern now that he’s dangerously close to cooing. “New rule. No more apologizing for sick people things, alright? I don’t care, I swear.”

Stede nods his agreement, still sniffling, and Ed gets up and crosses the room to grab a handful of tissues from a box he’d spotted at the front desk. Stede gives his nose a good few blows, and Ed can hear him biting back more sorry’s and excuse me’s as he does.

Before either of them can say anything else, though, the nurse is calling Stede back into an exam room, and Ed is left to scroll mindlessly through his phone again, Stede disappearing with a quick squeeze of his hand.

Thirty minutes later, Stede comes out, giving Ed a tired wave of his hand as he makes his way back to the desk to check out.

“Just a virus,” Stede tells him as they make their way back to the car. “Fluid and lots of rest, the doctor said. Not much m’bore I can… oh, not again!” Stede’s face crumples again as another set of sneezes shiver through him.

“Bless you!”

“Thank you, Ed. Seems I’ve… opened the floodgates, so to speak,” Stede sighs. “This really isn’t the impression I was hoping to make this early on.”

Ed starts the car, leaning over once more to squeeze Stede’s knee. He lets it rest there, this time, turning the heat on in the car when he sees Stede shiver again.

“Hey, it’s alright. Before this d’you know what I was doing?” Ed asks, deciding he can let himself be a little vulnerable for Stede, too. “Sitting at home, writing and rewriting that text to you, wondering if you’d changed your mind about me.”

Stede whips his head to the side to look at him. “Edward, no,” he says quickly. “I’ve been asleep more than not these last few days, trying to sleep away this dreadful cold so I could see you again, properly.”

“I know that now,” Ed says. “All I mean is, you don’t have to worry about making an impression one way or another. You’ve already made one, mate.”

Stede coughs a few times into his elbow, then lets his hand come to rest on top of Ed’s on his knee. “Well, that’s…” He trails off, smiling a little at Ed instead.

Ed smiles back, can’t help himself, really. He never can, it seems, when it comes to Stede Bonnet.

When they pull back into Stede’s driveway, Ed doesn’t think twice before getting out of the car and helping Stede up to the door. What he doesn’t expect is for Stede to look at him, almost bashful, and ask if he’d like to come in for a little while.

“Company would be nice, if you don’t mind all the sneezing and sniffling, and… general air of illness around the place.” Stede is pink-cheeked again, though Ed thinks this particular flush is less to do with his fever and more to do with what he’s asking.

Behind him, Bonny is prancing excitedly, clearly thrilled to see Ed again, and Ed reaches out to give her a pat on the head. “You remember me? That’s a good sign,” Ed smiles before turning back to Stede.

“‘Course I’ll stay, Stede,” Ed says. “No one should be this sick alone. D’you have medicine in there, or… I can go pick something up for you…?” He’s nervous himself, suddenly, going into Stede’s space, sitting on his couch, letting Stede fall asleep on his shoulder again the way he had in the freezing urgent care waiting room.

“I’m very well stocked, I think, but thank you, Ed,” Stede tells him.

His house is lovely inside, and already has that cozy, lived-in feeling that Stede himself seems to exude. There are books just about everywhere, on shelves and on the floor, and paintings and pictures on the walls, most of them of Stede’s two children and Bonny. He’s got more throw pillows and blankets than one person could ever realistically use, and it seems impossible, but Ed falls for the man even harder as he takes it all in. He pictures Stede here, curled up with a book and one of his many cups of tea, reading all day, and it doesn’t take much for him to imagine himself there just beside him.

“Nice place you got here,” Ed says as Stede makes his way to the couch, dropping onto it with a stuffy, tired sigh. Bonny sits by his feet, then rests her head on his knee as if she knows just how bad he feels. Which, Ed knows from experience, is probably true.

“Oh? You think so? I’ve tried to make it as homey as I can, given the limited time I’ve been here,” Stede says. He scrubs a hand over his face, blinking a few times. “I’d give you the tour, but as you said earlier, I felt a bit at risk of falling down if I didn’t sit down.”

“Tour can wait. Just point me to your medicine cabinet and I’ll be right back.”

By the time Ed comes back, cold and flu medicine and bag of cough drops in hand, Stede has pulled one of the blankets down from the couch and over himself, his head resting back against the couch cushions.

“Stede? Y’still with me?” Ed asks softly. When Stede’s eyes flutter open with a nod, he puts the supplies down on the coffee table and makes his way to the kitchen for some water. Tea could come later, when Stede’s feeling a bit more settled.

Stede swallows down the medicine with a grimace, then seems to realize that Ed is still hovering by the coffee table.

“Sit with me?” Stede asks, his voice tired and tentative, and yeah Ed would do just about anything for this man, and his sick day clothes, and his red nose, and the way he looks up at Ed as if he’s afraid he’ll vanish before his eyes.

“Right, yeah, I can… I can do that. Fed the beast before I left so I’ve got nowhere to be,” Ed says. Stede’s couch is soft and perfect and probably ridiculously expensive, but Ed hardly has a chance to appreciate any of that before Stede shifts himself over so that they’re pressed in close together from shoulder to thigh.

Beside him, Stede inhales sharply, and Ed’s already reaching for tissues as Stede snaps forward with another rough-sounding sneeze.

God, listen to me,” Stede says with a shake of his head.

He takes the tissues from Ed gratefully, snuffling into them for a minute before sighing. “I know we talked about this but, I really do appreciate you coming with me,” Stede tells him. “I’ve never… well, like I said, I didn’t know who else to call, but besides that I really wanted you to… I don’t know. Be here.”

At this, Ed really and truly melts. Poor, sick Stede wanted Ed to be there with him. When was the last time someone had needed him, let alone wanted him? Ed truly can’t recall, and he’s suddenly terrified he’ll do something and fuck it all up, like cry right here on Stede’s couch.

Instead, he leans over and presses another gentle kiss to Stede’s forehead, then to his cheek.

“I want to be here, too," Ed confesses.

Stede nods, snuggles himself closer to Ed and lifts the blanket so it’s covering Ed, too. “I know,” Stede murmurs. It’s the most sure of anything he’s sounded all day, and Ed’s relieved for it. He turns and meets Stede’s eye, smiling widely all over again. He wonders, briefly, if it should feel weird, being here with Stede, like this, so soon.

Feeling so much so soon.

But ever since that day in the park, Ed's become more and more sure that their paths were meant, if not destined, to cross. And after so many years spent sure of the fact that he wanted to be — and was better off — on his own, well. Ed lets himself have this. Have Stede.

“Y’ can sleep if you want. I’ll be here when you wake up,” Ed promises.

Stede's already dozing, though, comfortable and warm with Ed beside him.

#ofmd #our flag means death #stede/ed #blackbonnet #gentlebeard #my fic #ofmd31dof

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