Chapter Text
It was Stede Bonnet’s favourite time of the week if he were to be honest with himself. Not that he didn’t enjoy welcoming in the myriad array of customers that visited his record shop, Bonnet’s Beats, it’s just that having an administrative task of some complexity and, conversely, mild tedium, allowed his brain to enter a sort of abstract stage of thinking. This would always allow him immense creativity to flow unbidden from his mind and he always had his best ideas when handling tasks that didn’t involve his entire brain.
Stede was seated on an almost unbearably soft, sunflower yellow blanket on the floor of his shop; box upon box of dusty but perfectly preserved rare vinyl records spread in front of him, a small walnut table close to hand topped with a silver tray, steaming China cup of freshly made tea beside a similarly patterned teapot. He had dressed simply that morning; blue jeans and a thin white cotton shirt that was comfortable but perhaps not practical for dealing with dusty items and he had pulled on a light blue silken blazer with gold thread dancing over the cuffs and pocket when he saw that the weather was expected to be cooler than of late. The sun streamed through the window, dust motes dancing in the stream of light and Stede raised his head of silken, golden curls periodically to bask in the warmth of the early Autumn sunshine. He took the time to absentmindedly clean his glasses and lift the cup from the saucer on the table to take a heavenly sip of the sweet tea. He didn’t always allow himself the indulgence of sugar so, on the occasions he surreptitiously popped a few sugar cubes into his tea, it sent his tastebuds crying for the delicious, syrupy flavour that complemented his tea.
He didn’t know how long he had been sitting there, cross-legged, eyes closed revelling in the warm sunshine, moaning gently at the taste of the tea enveloping his tongue when he felt a hand on his arm and a voice gently said “Hey”.
The sudden shock jolted Stede out of his reverie and he squeaked loudly; his favourite tea cup dropped from his hand and he felt the hot liquid seeping through the thin fabric of the crisp white shirt he was wearing. He realised that he had braced for the tea cup’s demise as he dropped it and he had shut his eyes as quickly as they had flown open. When no impact appeared to come, Stede cautiously opened one eye and looked down at his front and lap, his shirt was stained but the cup wasn’t anywhere to be seen. With the sun firmly in his eyes, he idly mused that maybe he didn’t drink his tea but the warmth and stain was very much present.
“You ok mate?”
Stede jumped again and his eyes flew to his side, hand up at his brow attempting to shield himself from the sun rays. In his clearing vision, he saw a pair of leather clad legs, large biker boots with an obscene amount of buckles and metal adornments. He scanned up to watch the man attached to the boots and he was very much not disappointed by the view. Dressed in a battered and patched black leather jacket, purple t-shirt that didn’t quite reach the beltline of his trousers, leather belt with a series of jingling metal items, sunglasses and baseball cap covering what looked like swept up long, wavy black and silver hair judging by the long strands that he had missed protruding. The stranger reached up and took off his sunglasses and Stede was struck by the most beautiful eyes that he had ever seen on another man; deep, dark chocolate eyes, kind eyes, but one brow raised in concern. Stede realised that he had been sat staring up at this gentleman for the longest time and his urge to be polite overtook any trace of embarrassment or, dare he say, a little bit of lust?
Stede leapt to his feet, his voice seemingly higher than he had ever heard, and he bowed deeply and swept his arm in a long, smooth arc while saying “Greetings, dear sir. Welcome to Bonnet’s Beats”.
The stranger smiled bemusedly but good naturedly.
“You greet all your customers like that do you?” Stede was at a bit of a loss, he didn’t really want to have to admit that he thought that the chap was devilishly handsome and that he had been thinking about that when he decided to perform a grand gesture to cover his embarrassment. So, he opted for the bluff.
“Of course!” he squeaked, lying through his teeth “Oh! You caught it, thank you so much, it’s my favourite cup…” Stede was hyper aware that he was babbling but he was stupidly grateful seeing the intact cup in the leather gloved hand of his saviour “You’re my hero, really, thank you. Stede!” he blurted his name at the end of the sentence and the stranger looked slightly more baffled “my name” he supplied “I’m Stede, that’s my name I mean, like Steve but with a D”
The stranger cocked his head to one side, as if considering whether to actually respond to the Stede’s excitable chatter and Stede felt his cheeks flushing. As if sensing his awkwardness, the stranger stepped forward and held out the hand that wasn’t holding the tea cup, he smiled a lop sided smile beneath his short beard. Stede shook his hand warmly.
“I’m Ed. I don’t usually tell people my real name so…shhh” he held a finger to his lips and Stede nodded, a silent agreement to keep his secret but confused as to why it was a secret in the first place.
“The shop isn’t actually open today, I must have forgotten to put up the Closed sign, I’ve got a lot of records to organise but, as you so valiantly saved my favourite tea cup, the least I can do is offer you a cup of tea” Ed was surveying Stede, as if trying to gauge something about his character, but it left him feeling slightly giddy, having those intense eyes raking over his form. It was only then that he realised his tea-soaked shirt “Aah, I will have to deal with this first” he said apologetically and he motioned to Ed to follow him to the back room. Ed held up a finger as if remembering something, he turned to the door of the shop and, with a smooth movement, he twitched the Open sign to Closed. Something about this action made Stede’s brain short circuit for a second, especially as Ed strode towards him with a mischievous smile, he suddenly bowed a little and swept his hand in a similar arc to that of Stede’s greeting.
“Lead the way, dear sir” and he placed a gloved hand on Stede’s shoulder.
Stede’s heart quickened and, as Ed grinned, Stede took another look at his deep brown eyes and inwardly sighed. What a beautiful man.
Fuck.