Book Shelf

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Ed sat in bed and watched Stede move around their room. Stede was tidying up his books that fell onto the floor after the storm the previous night. Ed watched as Stede bent down and picked up the books, shaking his head as he examined them. He saw that some corners weren't as crisp as they used to be.

"Oh, damn." Stede said, looking at the book in his hand, "This is my favourite copy of Romeo and Juliet, now look at it!" He held it up for Ed to see, "Corners all crushed from it falling off the shelf."

Ed chuckled slightly, his head resting on his hands behind him.

"What? Why are you laughing?" Questioned Stede, looking over at him.

"Because that's not your only copy of it. So you don't have to get upset about it." Ed replied,

"But it's my favourite. This one has all the annotations on the Capulets. The other has the ones on the Montagues. Which I also like, but this one also had a light blue cover-" Stede continued to trail on about the small differences between the two books and Ed just smiled through it. He loved that Stede was so passionate about books. He wished he could read them too. Stede had been giving him lessons on reading and writing, but he wasn't making much progress.

"-and this one also has the pictures at the end of the book, the other doesn't."

Ed stood and walked over to Stede. He gently took the book from his hands. Stede watched him carefully and Ed thumbed through the book to look for the pictures. Ed did like the pictures in this one.

"You know, you're right." Ed told Stede, "this one is the better copy." Stede smiled as Ed said this. Stede took the book back and placed it on the shelf where it belonged.

Ed lent against the fireplace and Stede put the last couple of books back. He had an idea.

"Hey, how long until we reach the Republican of Pirates?" Ed asked,

"Um, tomorrow I think." Stede wasn't too sure. "Why?"

Ed shrugged, "Just curious."

~ooo00ooo~

When they arrived at the Republican of Pirates, Stede wanted Ed to go for a walk with him but Ed declined. He had to get something done. Ed told Lucius to keep Stede occupied for the day and not let him return to the ship until the sun started to go down. Lucius wasn't too keen on the plan of being off the ship for that long, but didn't say no to Ed.

While Stede wasn't on board, Ed enlisted the help of Jim and Olu to get some wood from the island and bring it back to the ship. Ed spend all afternoon cutting it to the perfect length.

He took all his newly cut pieces back to his and Stede's room and begun work.

~ooo00ooo~

Stede was getting bored of just walking around without Ed with him, but Lucius did his best to entertain him with facts about the island that he thought Stede had never heard before.

"Yes, that's quite alright, Lucius, but do you think we could head back to the ship now? Don't take this the wrong way, but I wanted to go on a walk with Ed, not you."

"No, that's completely understandable. I just thought you may still want to check out this.." Lucius looked around desperately to find something, "..tree. Yes. This tree. Very- um. Brown." He was grabbing at straws.

"Yes. Like most trees are," Stede said, "Come on Lucius. As your captain I say, let's return to the ship."

Lucius walked as slow as he could. Dragging his feet. Making Stede wait for him. "Just so hot today."

Stede stood annoyed at Lucius, he wanted to get back to the ship to spend time with Ed before they had to go back out to sea. He wanted the alone time, while the rest of the crew were off doing their own thing.

Lucius looked at the sky, praying for the sun to go down.

~ooo00ooo~

Ed was just putting the final touches on his suprise for Stede when he heard footsteps on the ship coming down the stairs towards the co-captains quarters.

"Um- maybe we could sit on the deck for a bit? Ed might be sleeping. I saw him looking a little green the other day. Maybe he just needs rest." Ed could hear Lucius pleading with Stede.

"Well, if he's unwell, I need to check on him." Stede said. Ed could hear his hand on the door, starting to open it. He quickly went and sat on the couch with a book in his hand.

Stede opened the door and Lucius tried to push in front of him.

"It's okay, Boy," Ed told Lucius, "you may return to your other duties."

Lucius looked around the room. He didn't see anything different. He rolled his eyes and left.

"Reading, Ed?" Stede questioned as he walked over, confused because there is no way Ed could be reading that book.

"Oh, was just looking at the pictures." Ed closed the book, "could you, ah, put it back on the shelf for me. Forgot where it went." He held it out to Stede who took it and walked over to one of the shelves.

Stede went to place the book back but noticed a beam of wood across the books in the way. He looked back at Ed who had stood up and walked over towards him.

"You just lift this bit, slide it off and put the book back." Ed demonstrated, "Then, you just put it back and place that down again. Now your books won't fall off during a storm again." Ed smiled.

Stede's eyes went from the Ed to the shelf then back to Ed, "You did this?"

"With a little help from Jim and Olu. But yeah, mostly myself, do you like-"

Ed couldn't even finish his sentence because Stede's lips were on his. Ed wrapped his arms around Stede and kissed him back. They held eachother close. Stede gently pulled his lips away and lent his forehead on Ed's.

"I love it." Stede whispered, "Thank you."

Ed was very pleased with himself, and pulled Stede in for another kiss.

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A/N
Yay. My first little fic about these two. Honestly Our Flag Means Death is my favourite thing at the moment and I think I've read every possible fan fiction out there so now gotta create my own.
If there's any sinario you wanna see, let me know.

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