Notes: I don't know how many of these I'm going to write for them, but this one wouldn't leave me alone. I hope you enjoy it :) Story assumes that Stede and Ed reunite with a happily ever after (for the most part) and that Lucius is alive and well.
Stede owns a corset.
That's not entirely surprising. Plenty of fashionable gentlemen wore corsets. Discreetly, of course. Nothing wrong with giving the old figure a boost. Smooth the silhouette. But Stede imagines most men don't own a corset like his. (Though, honestly, he doesn't know for certain. He doesn't make a habit of asking his colleagues and acquaintances about their undergarments, thus exposing himself to ridicule in more ways than one, but that's not the point...)
Stede owns a fabulous, painstakingly-crafted, long-waisted, expensive, blood-red corset made of whalebone, embroidered silk, and trimmed in white leather. No one knows he owns it save the man who made it for him, and Stede gave him a generous sum to keep quiet.
Stede's other corsets are merely foundation garments. He has a half dozen or so of those. This red corset started life as a foundation garment as well. But when Stede visited his tailor to pick it up and saw the finished product, his heart twisted with disappointment.
How plain it looked! How drab! How utilitarian! None of those things bothered him before, but, for some reason, they did now. No one was likely to see this new corset on his person. Not even his wife. But still. He needed it to be more.
More elegant.
More opulent.
More him.
It turned out better than he could have dreamed... even if wearing it outside his study terrified him.
He hadn't brought it with him the first time he left home but grabbed it the second time around, shoving it in his sack with his provisions. It definitely hadn't been the time to think about it, so he wasn't sure why he'd grabbed it. Perhaps, somewhere in his subconscious, he felt this new Stede would make use of it.
Ed catches sight of it one day, hanging in Stede's wardrobe alongside his waistcoats, and Stede's soul leaves his body.
"Was this Mary's?" Ed sneers, reluctant to touch it if it was. He has nothing against Mary. She's part of the reason Stede was able to come back to him. Should he ever get the chance, he fully intends on giving her his sincerest gratitude. But the thought that Stede snatched something of hers on his way out to remember her by burns him.
Especially something as scintillating as this.
Ed has discovered he has a possessive streak where Stede is concerned.
It's jagged like a wound and runs deep, hitting all the important bits.
"Uh... yes. Yes, it was," Stede says, fussing to put the corset back in place while simultaneously ushering Ed out until he can figure out a better place to hide it.
"It's lovely," Ed grumbles, Stede's eagerness to see him gone cementing his fears.
"It is," Stede agrees, heart hammering in his chest. "But how on earth did that get there? I must send it back as soon as I am able. She'll be missing it..."
From time to time, Stede sneaks into his auxiliary wardrobe and tries it on. He has yet to find the courage to wear it in front of anyone... except Lucius, whom he'd bribed into helping him tie it properly.
Stede has the utmost confidence that man can keep a secret.
Maybe he could ease into wearing it, Stede thinks as he looks down his body, smoothing the sides with the flats of his palms. It is a foundation garment, after all. He should get his money's worth, wear it underneath his clothes.
The idea behind wearing it in public is made all the more exciting by the thought of Ed seeing him in it. But how might that go? Stede knows Ed to be a rough and tumble man who appreciates a fine fabric, but could this corset go beyond the pale for him?
Stede just got Ed back. It was the hardest-fought battle of his life. He can't lose him, not over something as frivolous as this.
"Stede! Hey Stede!"
Stede's hands freeze above the swell of his hips when he hears Ed's voice, his heavy footsteps heading his way.
"Did you get lost in there, Stede?"
Oh no! Stede reaches behind him frantically for the corset ties. He grabs them, gives them a tug, but they're secured too tightly.
Dammit, Lucius! There was no need to knot it! I'm not ready to be seen! Not yet!
"Don't you worry, mate," an oblivious Ed announces after no reply. "I'll help you out."
"No!" Stede squeaks, pulling with all his might till he fears he might tear the fabric. "No need! I'll just be a moment! There is absolutely no need for you to..."
Before Stede can voice a firmer objection, the entrance to the wardrobe swings open, and Ed strolls in.
He stops in his tracks the instant he lays eyes on Stede.
The two men stare at one another, both stiff as solid stone, before Stede starts with, "I can explain..."
"Ex-explain?" Ed's eyes widen. His easy-going smile drops. His arms, hanging at his sides, tense, his hands curling into fists.
Stede swallows hard enough to steal every drop of moisture away and make his throat ache.
"Yes. But, please... give me a second... to change..." Stede turns to duck out of view, hide among his summer linens until he can put on something more appropriate, but Ed rushes forward and catches his arm.
"What... what is this?" he asks in a soft, dangerous voice.
"This? Oh..." Stede's voice shakes when he answers, and he finds he has lost control of tone and pitch. His eyes search for anything to land on so he doesn't have to see the expression in Ed's. But Ed's confusion with a hint of wonder mixed in so fascinate Stede, he can't help but stare. "It's nothing. A foundation garment at heart, with a few embellishments here and there. You know, to liven it up."
"I thought you said it was Mary's." Ed's voice grates inside Stede's ears, sending shivers up his spine.
"That may have been a bit of an untruth. But only a tiny one. I didn't want you to..."
"Shhh..." Ed puts a finger to Stede's lips and shakes his head. Ed's shushing stills the breath in Stede's lungs, the blood in his veins. He could no more command himself to speak at this moment than he could force himself to fly.
With trembling fingers, Ed reaches for him, for that glorious creation of damask and bone. He only dares touch it with the tips, paving a path between the embroidery. "Stede..."
Stede shivers at Ed's closeness, his delicate caress, the hungry look in his eyes. "Y-yes, Ed?"
Ed licks his lips, smiling as if the greatest treasure in the world has been laid out before him, free for his taking. "Oh, Stede... you wear fine things well..."
