Chapter Text
The car surged around the corner in a blur, well over the speed limit noted for the particular stretch of road and Ed nudged the accelerator further, forcing the car to screech and purr in protest and pleasure. The scenery was largely a mess of greenery and slick grey road at this point, any discernible detail lost in the swiftness of the movement of the vehicle. Ed was pleased with his theft; a blood red sports car with a purple stripe licking across the length of the paintwork, it handled extremely well and he was driving like he stole it – which he had, technically. Ed never really understood why the phrase was ‘drive it like you stole it’ when people in films would steal a car and move off at rapid speed, making plenty of noise and commotion in the process. Surely if you were going to ‘drive it like you stole it’ you would want to go undetected so being relatively quiet and sticking to the speed limits to avoid being caught? Fuck knows, thems the rules thought Ed.
Ed was currently driving at well over 120 miles an hour through the streets of Los Angeles in his quarry that he had been stealthily tracking for days now before making his move. Pretending to be the valet parking attendant outside of one of the fanciest restaurants in L.A. he had collected the keys from the owner and clambered into the deliciously butter soft leather interior of the sports car that he coveted. Within seconds, the car was his and he was enjoying the freedom and the speed that the car was affording him as he surged along the mostly empty streets, whooping inwardly at his successful theft.
Almost as if sensing his elation, the sound of police sirens rang out in the distance, only just audible over the buzz of the engine.
“Fuck!” said Ed tetchily and, despite the dangerous stretch of road he was about to reach, he pushed the accelerator again, ratcheting up his speed further as he attempted to shake off the police that would soon be on his tail. They were faster than he expected; the flashing blue of the police cars lit up the dashboard of the car as Ed sped faster and faster, taking corners at dangerous levels of rapidity, and overtaking other vehicles completely recklessly. Eventually the limits of the car were breached, its engine whining and mewling in protest at the demands he put upon it, yet the police cars continued to appear, increasing in numbers until he knew that he had no other option.
The bridge that he was about to come to had been out for several months, an expansive gap between the two ends where the structure was being torn down to create a stronger connection. Ed pressed the ‘Fuck It’ button in his head, it was the bridge or prison and the latter wasn’t the test. He braked a little, swerved to the left and headed straight for the mouth of the bridge; he thought about closing his eyes, frankly terrified of what was about to happen but unable to stop the series of events.
“Here goes nothing” said Ed out loud and urged the car forward as quickly as possible, he held his breath with his blood pounding in his ears as the car shot forward and there was thunderous noise before absolute silence as the wheels left the edge of the bridge and suddenly was airborne…
The screen flashed black and a swathe of error message text sprawled across it, the cursor flashing indignantly, causing Ed to pound his fist on the desk beside his laptop.
“Fucking hell Mark!!!” he said loudly to an empty room, he yanked off his headphones and threw them down on the desk, scrubbing his fingers through his long salt and pepper hair which was mussed up from the headphones.
Ed had been testing this damn game for months now and it was nowhere near finished; every time he thought they had made some progress, the developers were told to add a new feature or someone had what they thought was a fucking great idea to add a new location and it was all messed up again. The spec had changed in so many multifarious ways since it was signed off on and Ed was starting to wonder if the customer was just doing this to fuck off the game dev and test team in general. He picked up his phone, jabbed at the contacts tab and phoned Mark, the software developer who was not only likely to be the cause of this recurring error but the only dev who was up at this time of night. The dial tone trilled and it took several rings to reach Mark.
“Fucking hell Ed, it’s almost 3am, I thought you would have finished the Los Angeles stretch hours ago”
“Well, hello to you too mate” said Ed, more than a little irritated “if you hadn’t added those extra ‘features’, I might have finished it a lot quicker. Anyway, I’m not phoning with good news I’m afraid. The bridge that’s out, it’s not just out, it’s fucked” Mark breathed out a long, heavy sigh and Ed could envision him rubbing his temples and mouthing ‘fucking testers’ to his wife.
“No one is supposed to take the bridge, there’s signs that indicate it’s out. Driving over it is suicide, there’s no way to make it across safely” Ed laughed throatily and replied:
“Yeah, s’ no way to get across it full stop, I’ll send you the error log that appears and log more info in the bug database. It needs fixed, I’m not the only person who is going to be curious as to what happens if you try and cross that bridge, whether it is madness to try it or no”
“Fuck” groaned Mark “I’ll take a look at it, I’ll send you another build in the next few hours, you gonna be awake?” Ed stretched in his chair and his eyes flicked up to the clock – 2:51am.
“Might nap for a wee while but yeah, I’ll be back on the testing as soon as the new build drops. Sorry mate, I know it’s fucking rough but you know it needs doing, Sam will want a progress report tomorrow” Mark agreed and signed off.
Ed sighed heavily, grabbed his travel coffee cup, and wandered wearily into his kitchen to get his third caffeine fix of the night. As the coffee machine gurgled and spluttered, Ed dusted sugar from his soft purple t-shirt and leather trousers from the doughnut he had munched on an hour ago, in desperate need of a sugar high to get through the stretch of the game. He was so bored, listless and more than a little lonely. He used to enjoy working at night; when he was in his twenties it had been exhilarating to beat the night, to watch the sunset and still be awake to see the sunrise whether he was partying or working – he had done both hard. Now, in his late forties, his life and his career had moved on. He was senior team lead of the night test team, all of the responsibility with little of the power so he managed his work load and undertook as much of the testing as he could manage to ensure that he was checking the quality of his team’s work. He loved mucking in with the team; testing areas that were tricky were his speciality, his brain worked in a way that he could map out the game and the potential error traps in his head with ease so he could work efficiently and with precision when his team was focussed on other areas. He was good at it but he’d been pushed into management as it was what was expected of him, regardless of what he fucking wanted.
Ed was always lead to believe that, when he started out in quality assurance in the beginning, there was a career path that led ultimately to management of a team. The problem was that this is not what Ed wanted or desired, he knew where his strengths lay and that he could always learn more with new technologies coming down the line but his superiors wanted him to ‘progress’ and that management was the way to do that. Yeah, it meant more fucking money and perks or whatever, but while Ed obviously needed financial security, he wanted to do a job he enjoyed that also paid the bills. The movement into management had been a struggle for Ed and he was starting to feel that, while he was doing staff reviews and attending long and boring meetings, his creativity was being slowly stifled. So he took the senior team lead role only on the basis that he could also get his hands dirty and do what he did best, tactical work where he pinpointed the areas that he was best to tackle.
Working at night and from home had become his routine; after the pandemic, his company had seen the benefits of working from home and, while Ed had welcomed this situation at first, now he was starting to feel desperately lonely. Admittedly his schedule had always been that of a night owl but a lot of his friends worked during the day so meeting up with friends was becoming a scarcer opportunity these past years.
The coffee machine finished its cycle and it spluttered to a halt, Ed picked up the travel cup his latte had been decanted into and screwed on the lid. He stretched again, yawned, grabbed the cup, he retrieved his cigarettes from his jacket pocket and unlocked his front door as quietly as possible.
Once his front door was safely locked, Ed crept silently down the hall stairs and out into the cool Edinburgh air of the courtyard. Spring was well and truly in bloom but the weather was still holding out on Ed, he gazed around the stunning courtyard where trees and flowers were sparking into bloom and he sighed in the silence. Ed hated silence, Tinnitus from years of blasting music through headphones made silence practically unbearable.
He put down his cup and cigarettes on the small wall outside his apartment block and shivered, rubbing his arms to try and ward off the cold. Wishing he had brought his jacket down after all, Ed seated himself on the low stone wall, tied his long silvery hair in a messy bun with a hair tie from his wrist and sipped at his travel mug. Fuck, he’d forgotten to add the sugar in his haste to get downstairs for a cigarette. Well, he wasn’t going back up, he’d have to drink it as is and he slurped crossly at the lid, cursing himself for the lack of his usual seven sugars.
Ed slipped his hand in his pocket to retrieve his Zippo lighter and he slid a cigarette from the pack deftly, lighting it and puffing gratefully on the tip. He sighed out the smoke across the small courtyard and closed his eyes wearily. He didn’t smoke much anymore but sometimes, some nights, things just got a bit too much a shot or two of nicotine seemed to do the trick in easing his anxiety and keeping him awake.
A sharp yelp in the dark made Ed’s eyes fly open in alarm and, in the gloom, he could just about see the silhouette of a tall person whose mouth was still set in a surprised ‘Oh!’.
“Sorry mate” whispered Ed to the shadowy figure “didn’t mean to scare you, was just having a smoke. Tough night. You ok?” the figure didn’t move “I live in the building, I work in my flat...at night” he laughed quietly, nervously, wondering why the stranger was reticent to engage with him. He supposed that he perhaps seemed a bit scary – black leather trousers, huge biker boots, dark purple t-shirt, tattoos snaking over his arms and chest, eyeliner probably rubbed halfway down his face during the course of the evening the more tired he became “I’m Ed” he said and extended his hand, swapping his cigarette to his left hand. The figure stepped out of the darkness and Ed was astonished that he didn’t radiate his own light; blonde curls surrounded his head like a perfectly coiffed halo, pale skin flushed presumably with the shock of finding someone sat in the courtyard at 3am. The man wore a blue t-shirt, his coat slung neatly over one arm, barely covering a deliciously taut large bicep which Ed could barely take his eyes off. The man’s legs were divine, tight black jeans hugging magnificent calves, thighs and Ed betted that his arse would look just as good. He tried hard not to ogle the man and he kept his tone light and conversational, despite the electric thrill starting to prickle in his skin and veins.
“Oh, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to disturb you Ed” said the man quietly and Ed was absolutely delighted to note his Kiwi accent, similar to that of Ed “I was just coming back from work, you’re not usually here. I’m Stede, Stede Bonnet” a strong pale hand took Ed’s hand and Ed marvelled at the strength in the handshake. Neither man moved their hands and suddenly Ed felt that perhaps he was being impolite by not standing to his feet in greeting. He groaned and eased his sore knee up until he was standing, his moan sounding a little obscene in the quiet of the flowery courtyard. Worry creased Stede’s cherubic features “Are you ok?” he said in concern, helping to haul Ed to his feet as their hands still remained encased until they looked down and both laughed softly.
“I’m absolutely fine, just a fucking bad knee, had it years…well…I’ve had my knee for almost fifty years, the pain for fewer years, obviously…” Ed was aware he was babbling but Stede’s disarming smile was causing his brain to short circuit and any affable chat that he usually had with the human race seemed suddenly incredibly difficult under the gaze of this fucking gorgeous man “I’m Ed, Ed Teach. I’m a software tester, games actually”
“I’ll bet that’s very exciting Ed”
“Yeah, you’d fucking think so but it’s not as much fun as you’d think. People think I just play games all night, s'pose I do but there’s a lot more to it than you’d expect”
“I imagine so”
Ed was finding this conversation increasingly difficult as Stede remained in place, looking fascinated and glorious making Ed’s heart beat loudly in his ears and he lifted his fingers to his arms to try ease the prickles of arousal in his skin.
“So, what do you do?” enquired Ed “Do you work nights too?” Stede smiled a lopsided smile and said:
“Sometimes. I do a bit of this, a bit of that. I have a rather interesting job actually” he looked fit to burst with excitement and Ed hung on his every word, when no further conversation was forthcoming he said:
“So...? What do you do?”
“I help people”
Fucking hell, this was like pulling teeth. Except it was like pulling teeth when the other party really wanted you to do it. Ed shrugged.
“C’mon mate, you’re going to have to give me a bit more than that? I’m not playing fucking guessing games outside in frankly cold weather. You have until I’m finished this cigarette to tell me or I don’t care”
Ed did care, he really wanted to know, but he was not going to give Stede the satisfaction of showing it.
“I keep people awake” said Stede simply. Ed sighed, that was not an answer.
"Yep, you're keeping me awake so doing well at the moment. Do you do it by making them wait for more information?"
"No" grinned Stede, Ed was starting to feel that Stede was just teasing him now, if this was a game, Ed was determined to win so stood his ground.
“Seriously mate” Ed said, exhaling the last puff of his cigarette and grinding it into the ashtray outside of the flats “if you’re not going to tell me then I’m fucking off back in, it’s been lovely meeting you Stede” Ed sighed and turned to go back inside.
“Wait!” said Stede, louder than he intended and Ed turned back to look at him, shushing him in the silence “That’s what I do" said Stede, markedly quieter "I keep people awake for a living. If you need to stay awake and you’re finding it difficult to do so, you can hire me to come to your place of residence or work and I’ll keep you awake.I have an office if some people prefer. Some people want to chat, some people want me to help them revise for an exam, others just want company as they have insomnia. I see all different types of people”
Ed looked puzzled. And fascinated. He was faintly aware he was standing with his mouth agape. Genuinely, this man is fascinating he thought.
"Do you have sex with them?" Ed was pretty sure of Stede’s response but if he was going to get teased then he was fucking going to dole out some teasing too.
"I'm not a prostitute mate!" said Stede, pouting adorably as Ed shushed him again "I get hired to meet with people and keep them awake"
"Sounds slightly prostitutey" Ed mocked lightly, slurping on his coffee and wincing about the lack of sugar again "You should rethink your business model mate, you'd make a fucking fortune when you look like that" Ed smirked, indicating Stede with his coffee cup.
"Well" huffed Stede, apparently delicious when flustered "I'm not the one out here wearing leather, looking as good as you and smoking in a sultry manner at 3am"
Ed laughed out loud and then it was Stede’s turn to shush him.
"Fair play" he grinned "Sultry eh? Thanks for the compliment" Ed lit another cigarette and offered one to Stede who gracefully declined "Does your partner not mind you being out at people's houses at all hours?" he indicated the wedding band on Stede’s ring finger and Stede looked down, smiling ruefully.
"Ah, no longer married so it's not a problem" he sighed a little and Ed knew there was more to that story "I wear the ring so people don't hit on me. Not that they would, it's just easier. Also, it helps to reassure people that I'm not a prostitute" he said slightly snarkily making Ed chuckle.
"Sorry about your marriage"
"Don't be, it was best for both of us. She was in love with her art teacher and I was rather more interested in men so ultimately things worked out"
Ed was interested. Ed was very fucking interested in hearing that piece of information. He smiled to himself as he blew smoke rings into the night air.
"Welcome to the club mate" he said quietly and Stede smiled a lopsided grin with a ridiculously cute little dimple in his cheek "I have been interested in men for as long as I can remember so if you ever wanna talk about things, y'know, maybe I can help?"
Stede smiled an utterly disarming smile that lit up his whole face.
"Well Mr Teach" he said, his voice low and sweet "As we're neighbours, I may very well take you up on that offer. Here, my card"
In one smooth movement, Stede reached into the pocket of his coat and handed Ed a business card. Ed shivered as his fingers accidentally touched Stede’s on receipt of the card and he wasn't sure if it was the cold night air or the thrill of the touch of another person. It had been a long time since Ed had so much as touched the hand of anyone, let alone any other contact.
Ed felt the smooth, expensive card between his calloused fingers. It was cream in colour and soft. In the centre it read 'The Night Gentleman' and Stede’s name and phone number.
"And are you?"
"Am I what?"
"A Gentleman?"
Stede smiled, almost flirtatiously and said "Always Edward, Always" and he tipped an imaginary cap to Ed in farewell and, over his shoulder as he walked towards the building, he said "I'm in flat 12, should you be in need of my services. Or, you know, if you just want some company at night?" and, with that, he was gone.
Ed finished his cigarette, took a large slug of his coffee and chuckled to himself. Looks like he has a new neighbour.
And he's fucking fascinating.