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Stede woke up with a startle, alarmed to find he had woken up in the middle of the night. Worried as to what woke him up if not for the morning sun, Stede sat up, listening for whatever might have awoken him.
Then he heard it, the soft murmurings. Stede looked over at the noise, barely making out Ed in the dark light.
Stede had offered up the couch for Ed to sleep on. He figured if he and Ed were going to be co-captains, it’d make sense for Ed to sleep in the captain’s quarters as well. Ed, at first, declined, saying he didn’t mind sleeping with the crew or elsewhere on the ship. But after some convincing, Ed caved, much to Stede’s delight.
Now Ed always spoke of how he’d slept so nicely, enjoying the comfort of the soft cushions. Tonight seemed different though, for Stede could barely make out Ed’s form thrashing about on the couch. He was murmuring quietly, barely speaking words. Ed let out almost a yell, but even it seemed stifled by his slumber.
Stede’s heart went out to the other man realizing he was most likely having a nightmare. He wondered what sort of thing Ed could be having nightmares of; it must have been terrible. Stede wasn’t sure what to do. Whenever his kids were having nightmares, Mary always thought it was best for them to sleep it off and that it would be worse to wake them. But Stede couldn’t sleep with Ed like this.
“Stede!” Ed’s voice muttered out, and Stede jumped out of his bed instantly.
Ed was thrashing around as Stede came to his side.
“I’m right here Ed.” He spoke comfortingly, still too scared to wake the man.
Ed had thrown off all of his blankets, and his hand went to where his gun usually was, only taken off to sleep. Not finding it there seemed enough to wake him, for suddenly, Ed jolted up and was fumbling around the table.
“Where’s my gun!” He almost screamed.
“Here, Ed, here.” Stede practically pushed Ed’s gun towards him on the table, and Ed’s hands gripped it tight, meeting Stede’s eyes.
His breathing was heavy, and Stede could make out sweat trickling on his forehead.
“Stede?” Ed asked.
“You must have been having a nightmare,” Stede spoke softly.
“I’m sorry for waking you.” Ed looked away from Stede, letting go of his gun.
“It’s alright.” Stede tried to reassure him. “Are you okay?”
Ed didn’t respond.
“I’ll make you some tea.”
“Don’t go waking up the others!” Ed demanded, and Stede nodded understanding. Ed didn’t want the rest of the crew to know he’d woken from a nightmare. It wasn’t something that would happen to Blackbeard.
“This will stay between us. Are you sure you don’t want anything though, some more blankets perhaps?”
Ed shook his head.
Stede reached out suddenly to fix the mess of Ed’s hair. Ed’s eyes turned to him, confused, fearful, and questioning. Stede quickly drew his hand away.
“Sorry.” He apologized, feeling as though he had made a fool of himself. “When my children woke from nightmares, I used to soothe them by stroking their hair.” He hoped Ed wouldn’t find him soft for doing so.
“What else would you do?” Ed asked.
“Well, usually, the children would sleep with Mary and I in our bed.” Their eyes met again briefly in the low light before Stede let out. “You can come join me in my bed if that will help you fall asleep better.”
As soon as he said it, Stede felt foolish at his offer, but Ed responded tentatively. “May I?”
“Of course.”
Stede moved to return to his bed, finding Ed slowly rising after him. He situated himself on his bed, moving over as much as possible to make room for Ed. Ed joined him, awkwardly falling into the bed. It was much smaller than Stede realized, definitely not made for two people; he barely had enough room to leave space between him and Ed. Stede pulled the blankets over them as Ed stayed still as a log beside him, his eyes staring up at the ceiling.
When Stede finished reorganizing the blankets and settling in beside Ed, he couldn’t help but feel discomfort in it.
“Ed?” He asked quietly. “May I ask what your nightmare was about?”
Ed didn’t respond right away.
“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”
“You died.”
“Oh.” Stede paused to think about it.
“We were in the water, drowning. I was trying to swim down to reach you, but I couldn’t.” Ed’s voice broke a little.
“Ed,” Stede reached out to place his hand on Ed. His hand landed almost over Ed’s heart. “It’s alright. I’m here, alive. And I can assure you; I’m quite a good swimmer.” He smiled at Ed, hoping to make light of it all.
Ed’s hand came to cover his own. He’d taken off his gloves to sleep, and Stede felt how rough and calloused they were.
“Let’s get some sleep.” Stede pulled his hand away, about to turn away from Ed.
“Stede, you can stroke my hair if you want.” Ed rolled onto his side. Stede smiled and began stroking his hair.
“Better?” Stede asked, and Ed nodded.
Stede let out a yawn, he’d never liked being woken up in the middle of the night, but he could forgive Ed.
“I don’t want to lose you,” Ed whispered.
“You won’t.” Stede yawned once more, stopping stroking Ed’s hair to settle in next to him. To reassure Ed that he wasn’t going anywhere, he placed his arm over the other man. “I’m not going anywhere,” Stede muttered before closing his eyes and letting sleep take him once more.