Tickletober 2023 - Our Flag Means Death - Stede / Ed - lee!Ed
[see my other tickletober 2023 fics]
[read on AO3]
A/N: I’m weak for season 2 and I need soft sweet moments between them forever and ever. This is very late yes shhh #Tickletober2023butits2024
Words: 750
—
Stede slowly blinked open his eyes. There was a warmth next to him, it felt so inviting. He reached out, clumsy with the fog of sleep, until his hand met the warm skin of Ed’s shoulder. He sighed, content, wrapping the arm further around his bedmate. Ed sleepily turned to face him, eyes closed with a smile on his face.
“G’mrning.” Ed mumbled. He reached up with one hand to run a thumb over Stede’s fingers.
Nestled in the blankets, they whispered stories and ideas with each other for a long, drawn-out half hour, during which Ed had the pleasure of Stede’s soft affection - a hand twirling his hair, fingers traipsing gently down his arms, it felt safe. It felt like home.
Stede scratched just behind Ed’s ear and he nearly let out a purr. Fingers glided down Ed’s neck, leaving a grin and a shiver in their wake.
Stede smiled fondly. “Ah, ticklish?”
“Dunno mate.” Ed shrugged, a bit impeded by their current position. “I guess.”
Stede raised a brow, smile somehow both terribly endeared and a yet little sad. “You don’t know?”
Ed mumbled a confirmation, nuzzling a bit closer to Stede.
“Right, right. Who would try to tickle the great Blackbeard, hm?” Stede said, his eyes scanning down Ed’s body. He reached out cautiously, and brushed a finger, gentle and slow, over the skin just above Ed’s night pants, watching him with a blooming curiosity.
“Heh-” There was that shiver again, Ed’s eyes shooting open. They flicked from Stede’s hand to his face.
Stede’s smile was warm, playful. “I think you are, in fact…” Stede paused then. Ed was watching him, wide-eyed. Stede held his hand up. “Listen, say the word and I’ll stop, okay? Is it alright if I give it a try?”
Ed felt warmth blossoming along his cheeks. He rolled his eyes and looked up at the ceiling, wriggling onto his back and pulled his arms up over his head. “Sure, mate. Go nuts.”
But, loyal to the gentle nature of their morning, Stede did not in fact ‘go nuts’. Instead, he traced a few fingers, soft and wiggling, across Ed’s stomach.
Ed’s stomach sunk beneath the touch, sucking in as he snickered out a laugh. His arms twitched with the desire to pull down and protect himself. “Ehehe, Stede.”
Stede paused. “Is that you asking me to stop?”
Ed squeezed his eyes shut, blocking out the sensation a bit with the added benefit of not having to watch Stede watching him. “Did I say stop?” He answered after a few beats.
“No, you didn’t.” Stede hummed, pleased, and then Ed gasped as fingers pinched lightly at each of his sides. He sucked in a breath, wobbly with near laughter.
“Ticklish anywhere else, hmm?” Stede asked, trailing his fingers up to poke gently along Ed’s ribs.
He squirmed at that, wriggling side to side in an effort to alleviate the sensation and keep the tangle of laughter building up inside him, well, inside. It was a hopeless endeavor by the time Stede’s fingers traced their way up, up, up… Two fingers touched down in the center of each armpit and Ed’s arms came crashing down with a giggly shout of surprise.
“Oh! Oh shit. Ehehe— wait!” Ed giggled, and Stede pulled back right away.
“Alright there?” Stede asked with a bemused but cautious smile.
“Fine. Heh, just kinda, surprising.” He mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck when he could get his arms peeled away from his sides. “Feels… weird.”
“Oh, it’s all in good fun. I know plenty of folks don’t like it though, I won’t do it again—”
“No! No.” Ed stammered. He took a breath, and a few ghosts of giggles slipped out. “It’s, uh, good fun, yeah, like you said.”
Stede practically beamed at him. “Mm.” He ran a hand gently down the side of Ed’s face, tracing along that chin he loved.
Ed’s heart nearly swelled from the sweetness of the moment. He thought it might burst. An out, quickly. “What about you, then, hm?”
Stede raised an eyebrow.
“Are you ticklish?” Ed smirked.
Stede’s nervous grin and blush were answer enough.
Soon, they were scrambling about the bed with laughter and shrieks and wiggling fingers. It would be a while before either of them received any morning briefing from the crew.
Tickletober 2023 - Our Flag Means Death - lee!Stede, lee!Ed
[see my other tickletober 2023 fics]
[read on AO3]
A/N: Happy season 2 premiere day! Drink up, me hearties, yo ho!
Words: 784
—
Stede is nearly choking with laughter on the sofa, squirming and kicking as Ed tickles his way down his sides. In desperation for a break, or at least a breath, Stede reaches out wildly toward Edward’s nearby sides. He squeezes.
Ed lets out a little, curious grunt, but he doesn’t flinch away or laugh. “No ya don’t.” He stops tickling briefly to tug Stede’s wrists out of the way. “Won’t work anyway. I’m not ticklish.”
“What?”
“Yup.”
“No way, everyone is somewhere.”
“Not me.”
“You’re serious? You’re telling me you’re not ticklish?”
“Nope. Not in the slightest.” Edward assures Stede, leaning over him with a smile as the gentleman pirate catches his breath.
“Are- are you kidding me? That hardly seems fair.” Stede complains, smile plastered to his face. He pants, trying to get in a deep breath without laughing it out halfway.
“Don’t know what to tell ya mate. Just ain’t me.”
“Oh, surely at some point- somewhere-”
“Nope. No chance. Never been. Never- am? Was? Never…” Edward trails off, looking up as he tries to think of the proper wording. He closes his eyes and takes a breath, pinching his nose. “Look, bottom line. Blackbeard is not ticklish.” He goes for the most serious tone he can for the conversation they’re (somehow) having.
Stede can’t hide the quirk of a smile on his lips. “Perhaps Blackbeard is not…” He leans forward, feeling bold. “But what about Ed?” Stede clocks the slight falter in Ed’s confident expression and wiggles his fingers in a tease. “Hmm?”
“Same difference. Won’t work.” Ed shrugs - so nonchalant, extremely casual. He definitely does not look at Stede’s hands.
“You don’t mind if I give it a try, then?” Stede grins wider.
Ed snorts at that. He rolls his eyes and purses his lips when he finds Stede watching him with a devious grin. “Be my guest.” He gets up from the couch, standing beside it with his arms outstretched.
Stede rights himself on the couch and sits before him, moving a cautious finger forward to poke at a few different spots along his sides, ribs, belly. The firm touches don’t seem to illicit much of a reaction, just a smug little smirk as he watches Stede’s attempts.
Stede thinks he sees something - or, almost something - when he spiders a hand curiously over Ed’s middle. But, it’s gone just as quick, hidden beneath a veneer of smug stoicism.
Stede complains the whole time. “Not even here?” “Seriously?” “Come on, there has to be at least one spot that will get a laugh out of you.” Each is met with a snarky response.
“Are you done?” Ed asks with a bored shrug.
“No.” Stede demands. “Sit down.”
Ed gives him a weird look. And then, his smile is back; he laughs a little, “You’re so fucking odd, mate.” He sits down obediently on the couch next to the other man.
Stede reaches down and scoops up his ankles, teetering Blackbeard back haphazardly onto the couch, terribly off-balance. “Hey!” Ed shouts, accusatory.
Stede ignores him, fiddling with his boots. Ed kicks a little, indignant.
Stede turns to look at his disheveled face, lying back on the couch. “What, are you worried about these?” He taunts with a smile.
“I didn’t know you were gonna fucking throw me- but, no, like I said-” Ed banters back. He tries to recall a situation in which someone had ever tried to tickle his feet. Hmm. Plenty of people had tried plenty of times to grab at his sides. He knew the tiny zing to expect and could block it out quite easily. He didn’t really have anything to go off of here.. “I’m not fucking ticklish, so you might as well-”
“Might as well try, hmm?” Stede grins, slipping off one of Ed’s boots.
Fingers zip down Edward’s socked foot experimentally as Stede watches. Ed’s eyes flick straight to his foot, his foot that just twitched under Stede’s fucking touch. Shit.
It’s hopeless to block the bark of a laugh that Ed lets out when Stede flies in with both hands wildly, chasing the tiny flinch in search of further tickle spots. Ed can hear Stede laughing too, triumphant, pleased.
“You’re such a liar!” Stede chastises with a tease. “You know what we do with liars on this ship?” He’s down to one tickling hand as the other holds Ed’s now captive ankle as it squirms.
“Nohoho-” Ed cackles as fingers scribble under his toes and down the ball of his foot.
“No? Well, I’d be happy to show you.” He tugs Ed’s sock off in a quick motion, then dives back in to give the laughing captain a taste of his own medicine.
