Ed awoke to darkness and feeling like he was surrounded on all sides. Panic seized at his chest, his throat tightening.

With a growl rising in his throat, he reached out to kick and swing at his apparent attacker. He only succeeded in getting even more wrapped up and he thrashed around until he was tossed onto the hard surface of the floor.

His fingers gripped at the wood, orientating himself to the solid surface and his surroundings. He squinted through the darkness, his heart pounding.

His apparent attacker had been a hammock which now hung above him in a tangled mess.

A few members of the crew had woken with the noise and were peeking out over the sides of their own hammocks in his direction.

As he realized his location below deck, his reason for being there suddenly came flooding back.

It was all real then. He hadn't had another dream, Stede was alive, Stede was back, Stede was aboard the Revenge.

His stomach lurched and he let out a shaky breath to calm his nerves.

Ignoring the stares of the other men, who shot back into their hammocks as he got to his feet and headed silently towards the door, he sighed as he headed out onto the deck. The sun had not yet risen but dawn was looming, the sky a blueish black.

The air around was still with only the sound of the gentle waves lapping against both ships.

His eyes fell upon the smaller ship that Stede had commandeered. Upon it were most of Stede's crew. They had slept there, not trusting Ed's crew, or perhaps even Ed himself and he hated to admit that it stung. He knew it was his own fault but he had come to like Stede's crew, which made his betrayal all the worse.

He stood at the edge of the ship and stared across. Most of the crew were in their own rooms but a few were already up and doing quiet work on deck.

Buttons stood faithfully at his position, watching their own ship and the Revenge. Buttons caught his eye across the way and they stared at one another for a long few seconds. He never could understand the odd man's facial expressions and didn't dare try to decipher it now.

"Couldn't sleep either?"

"Jesus!" he whirled around, one hand flying up to the defensive, the other slipping back to his hip for his dagger.

He met Stede's startled form a few feet away, holding his hands up. "Relax, it's just me. Though whether my company is good or bad is up to you I suppose."

Ed's body slowly relaxed, his hands returning to his sides.

A soft little smile played across Stede's lips and Ed's heart flipped. He was absolutely stunning in the glow of twilight.

Ed couldn't take his eyes off of him, he couldn't quite believe it hadn't been all a dream, like it had been so many times before.

His fingers twitched as he ached to cross the distance between them and touch him, to make sure he was real - but he didn't.

"Ah, yeah…" Ed confirmed with a small sniff and a shrug. His arms shifted against the sudden chill in the air.

"What about you then? Thought you'd be glad to have your bed back."

Stede smiled a little sadly and released a small sigh as he leaned against the ship and looked out over the dark ocean.

"I thought so as well but it wasn't the same. It felt so cold and empty." His lips pressed together. "It will never be the same. Most of those books and objects cannot be replaced. That is not what matters though…"

"I am sorry about that." He knew he'd already apologized but he, for some reason, wanted Stede to know he meant it. Perhaps it was the sad look in his eyes that Ed couldn't quite ignore.

"They're just objects, Edward." Stede answered with a small shrug.

Ed frowned, his brow knitting together and he shifted his position. He couldn't think of what else to say.

"How long have you been out here?" He said finally.

Stede turned his burning gaze away from him and across the way to the other ship.

"Not sure." He answered honestly. "An hour? Maybe two. Time just floats away out here."

At that very moment, a breeze whipped past, tousling the locks of blonde that loosely covered Stede's forehead. Stede's eyes fluttered briefly closed, his mouth twitching against the warm breeze on his face.

"You know, I became a pirate to experience the open sea and in all the time upon the Revenge, I thought I had. I still didn't know how vast it all was until I was on my own, until I had little resources to support myself and my crew. I had engaged in piracy but I was doing it in luxury." He scoffed and shook his head.

Ed grunted in faint amusement. "The Gentleman Pirate."

Stede glanced at him with a small quirk of his lips. "In every sense of the title." His brow furrowed and he shook his head again in disbelief. "You must have thought me mad."

Ed couldn't help himself - he smiled, remembering first stepping into Stede's cabin, examining everything he owned and being absolutely in awe of all of it, and of him.

"Insane." Ed agreed but met his eyes kindly. "But I loved it."

I loved you. His thoughts immediately followed and the suddenness of it nearly knocked the breath out of him.

He loved Stede, of course he did, he'd admitted it to himself a hundred times but he didn't want to tell Stede. Not like that anyway. Not yet.

He leaned his body against the side of the ship to steady himself and hoped it looked like a casual maneuver to Stede.

Stede's eyes brightened with a soft smile.

"Stede, mate," his voice was soft, softer than he intended it to be, and he now had Stede's full attention. "You did piracy exactly how you should've. Not by anyone else's bloody standards, especially not mine. You've seen some of the shit I do and that's not even half of it. You, gentlemen pirate, Stede Bonnet, whatever you're calling yourself now...you're a great pirate."

Stede's eyes were wide and shining in the moonlight, clearly taken aback by Ed's kind honesty.

"Thank you, Ed." He said softly.

Ed pressed his lips together and nodded curtly. He then cleared his throat, breaking their intense and increasingly intimate stare.

"So, I reckon you want your ship back then?"

Stede blinked. "My ship?"

Ed raised an eyebrow and nodded towards the deck behind them. "The Revenge is yours."

"Oh." Stede frowned, suddenly despondent. "Yes…yes I suppose I would like…" he met Ed's eyes meaningfully and paused before continuing softly, "my ship back…yes."

Ed's brow furrowed, his chest tightening. "Stede…"

"I know I'm sorry." Stede looked away from him quickly and scrunched up his face. "I don't mean to pressure you."

"I don't know if I can yet." Ed added on gently.

Stede nodded with a small smile. "I understand completely."

"Do we trade ships then?"

"Yeah, I guess so, yeah that…that seems the most logical solution."

"You're welcome to stay…" Stede said after a long moment of silence. "Aboard the Revenge…you and your crew. You can stay…if you want to."

Ed furrowed his brow and frowned.

"I just didn't want you to think you weren't wanted or that I'm going to kick you off." Stede elaborated. "As far as I'm concerned the Revenge is as much yours as she is mine "

"Really?"

"Mmhmm." His lips lifted in a small smile. "We were co-captains at one point, equal shares. And you took good care of her while I was away."

Ed took a glance at the ship he'd been calling home the last few weeks. Even though he'd been living on it, he still considered her Stede's ship. When he thought he was dead, it was all he had left. He hadn't wanted to admit how much the ship meant to him, but he did care for it.

"Well…she's pretty grand. You picked a good one."

Stede chuckled softly. "She was very carefully designed."

"Oh?"

Stede nodded, his face brightening a little as he spoke, "I had her curated to my needs and expectations. Not that I had any idea of what life was really like out here. It was mostly to accommodate my books and things, but I do think she serves well as a pirate ship."

He rubbed his hand affectionately against the wood and Ed's heart turned.

Stede loved this ship. He was gentle with her and Ed - the Kraken - had led her into bloody battles. She had sustained minor damages that Stede hadn't noticed yet.

"She's brilliant, mate." Ed said and surprised himself that he didn't want to break Stede's heart. He had seen the look on his face when he spotted his empty bedroom and he didn't want to see it again.

Stede looked at him with a soft, gentle gaze and Ed's lips twitched slightly.

It was then he noticed, as the sun began to rise, casting an orange glow across Stede's face illuminating his features, the bruise that was forming on his jawline, hidden only partially by his growing beard.

Ed resisted the deep temptation to reach out and tenderly take his face in his hand and take care of the damage he'd done.

Instead he crossed his arms over his chest tightly to keep his hands to himself. "How's your face?"

"Pardon?"

"Your jaw? The bruise?"

"Oh.." Stede's hand moved to his jaw and only as he did brush his fingers over the tender spot did he wince. "Truthfully I forgot it was there."

"Hm…maybe I didn't hit you hard enough."

"Oh I assure you you did." Stede's eyes widened slightly. "I have been hit plenty of times but nothing like that."

Ed frowned. "When have you been hit? You don't seem like the fighting type."

"Er…" A flush coated his cheeks. "No, I'm not. I've learned, now, to fight back when I need to but no, I don't go seeking it out." He paused for a moment and sighed. "It was as a boy. As you can imagine, I was…peculiar even then."

Ed's frown deepened. Stede certainly had his quirks, but Ed wouldn't have described them as peculiar and he didn't like the negative tone in which Stede used it.

"I did not enjoy what all the other boys liked, and any attempt at boyish activities was met with my own embarrassment and failure. They were very clear about their opinion of me and expressed it to me physically."

"They beat you up?"

"Among other things." Stede sighed and Ed tensed, his lips pulling into a scowl.

"It's alright, Ed, it's days long gone." Stede started to extend his hand across the way toward Ed but stopped just a graze from touching his arm. "And besides, the main perpetrator is dead. Accidentally by my own hand but in a strange way it's slightly satisfying now I've had time to think about it."

"Badminton?"

Stede nodded.

"Yes well, I understand that feeling."

"Hopefully you don't want to kill me." Stede said, his smile uncertain.

Ed stared at him silently, his gaze intense and let him squirm and then finally his lips turned up in a half smile.

"No mate, I don't want to kill you. Not anymore anyway."

Stede's eyes widened slightly. "Oh…well, I'll take that. It wouldn't be the first time you wanted to kill me."

"I never wanted to kill you." Ed said. "I thought I had to but the thought tortured me. Hence how I ended up in the bathtub. As much as I threaten violence, and can do some awful shit to people, I haven't killed unless I needed to. Izzy convinced me I needed to."

"Izzy…" Stede sighed heavily, his nose scrunching up. "Where is he, anyway? Thought he'd be with you. The crew told me he was."

"He is." Ed stole a glance around the quiet ship and frowned. "'M not sure actually. He fucked off somewhere after he saw it was you we were going to meet."

Stede pressed his lips together in thought and then his eyes widened as he glanced across the way to his other ship and his body stiffened.

"You don't know where he is? Do you think…"

Ed followed his gaze across the way where a few more of Stede's crew had started to waken and were starting their work.

Ed huffed and leaned forward on his elbows. "Izzy can be brutal but we'd know if he went after them."

Stede nodded quietly but didn't look any less worried.

"He's probably hiding somewhere licking his wounds."

A bit of an awkward, tense silence fell over them then.

"So, you've forgiven him then?"

Ed turned narrowed eyes on Stede. His face was cautiously calm but there was something dark and cold behind his eyes.

Passive aggression?

"I haven't fucking forgiven him."

"He's still a member of your crew." Stede's eyebrow raised pointedly.

Ed huffed, heat rising to his face. "So what? He's useful. I don't have to fucking like him."

Stede inhaled slowly and turned his body towards Ed. "I know I'm not one to speak, having come here to beg your forgiveness myself but somehow I don't see Izzy Hands on his knees."

Ed bristled and his stomach turned. Izzy hadn't apologized, Izzy wouldn't dare. Izzy probably would do it all again in a heartbeat if he didn't fear retribution.

"Izzy got what he deserved." Ed said darkly, his eyes focused on the dark water below. "I made sure he knew he couldn't get away with that shit again."

Stede's brow rose, his eyes widening and Ed pressed his lips together, pulling his arms tighter to his chest.

He went silent after that, dropping all talk of Izzy Hands, to which Ed was grateful. He knew he'd have to eventually, but he didn't want to deal with him just yet.

"We could travel together." Stede offered up quietly and Ed turned to him, raising an eyebrow.

"If you didn't want to stay aboard the Revenge." He elaborated. "You need your space and I understand, but we could sail together. Me here and you…" he motioned towards. "You can have the Voyage."

"The Voyage? You named your first ship the Revenge and the second the Voyage?"

"The Revenge was a cool pirate name, I wanted to make a statement to others. This was more of a statement to myself. This was the ship that would bring me back to you, even if I had to sail the entire Earth to do it. Her purpose was only that of a voyage and you were my destination."

Ed's eyes flickered down to Stede's hand still dangerously close to his own. Ed's hand was aching at the desire to close the gap and touch him. Instead of denying the feeling, like he'd been doing all morning, he finally, slowly, gave in and let his fingers touch Stede's.

Stede glanced down in surprise, his eyes widening and the hint of a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. He didn't dare move his hand, letting Ed make all the moves, and he was content just to have this small touch.

"Travel together." Ed said, his voice a little strained. "Sounds good."

"Really?" Stede lifted his eyes to him, his smile widening.

"Sure, why not?" Ed shrugged and briefly glanced away, trying to appear nonchalant. "Got nothing better to do."

"Of course."

Ed wanted to correct himself, to tell him he wanted nothing more than to sail beside him forever. He wanted to get back to the way things were - tea and marmalade, sword fighting, Storytime and drinking and laughing with the crew - and then some…waking up beside Stede, kissing him just because he could, fighting beside him as they led a raid, sitting side by side in the crow's nest with no space between them.

It all flashed before him and it was right in his grasp, just a few words away from being co-captains again.

But he couldn't, because things weren't as they were before.

He swallowed thickly and his heart ached. He was going to keep Stede at a distance, in case Stede decided once again this wasn't what he wanted at all. Separate crew, separate lives, separate ships that could easily be parted if necessary.

Ed cleared his throat, turned his body towards Stede and held out a hand.

Stede glanced down at his hand, brow lifting. His lips twitched and his eyes brightened for a moment before he smoothed his expression.

He reached out to shake Ed's hand, his eyes lifting to meet his. They held each other's gaze, and their grasped hands lingered for longer than a professional handshake should.

Stede's thumb gently tapped the back of Ed's hand and Ed returned the same gesture and then finally broke the hold, his hand flying back to his sides as he pushed off the side of the ship.

"Suppose I should go inform the crew, then."

"Yes." Stede nodded, his hands now twitching and swinging around his middle, unsure of where to put them, but eventually just settled on his hips. "So shall I. Inform my own crew, I mean."

The corner of Ed's mouth twitched up in quiet fondness. He had missed Stede so damn much and he let his heart anticipate the time they'd be spending together going forward.

His heart was pounding as he walked away from Stede and it took everything in him not to turn back around.