Chapter Text
“What’s your favorite thing to draw?”
Stede’s legs are stretched out across the cushions, afternoon sun filtering in through the windows of the living room. Ed tilts his sketchpad to peer down at Stede where his head rests in Ed’s lap, cushioned on a warm thigh and gazing affectionately up at Ed.
Ed doesn’t reply immediately, simply breaks into a fond grin as he takes in the sight of Stede beneath him. He’s hardly finished setting the sketchpad down on the end table beside him before Stede reaches up to catch his fingers and pull them down to his lips.
Ed chuckles as Stede kisses the pads of his fingers, then the tender center of his palm. The sound warms Stede’s chest like the first gasp of sunrise, radiating out from his beating heart with every thrum of his pulse. Moments like this are almost sweet enough to taste, and they come staggeringly close together since beginning their summer a short few weeks ago.
When his lips finally gentle against Ed’s hand, Ed slips his fingers out of Stede’s to sink them instead into his hair. He tilts his cheek fondly into his free hand, propped up on his elbow where it’s resting on the sofa arm, smiling down at Stede like the sun is secreted away behind his curved lips. Stede would hold his gaze forever, probably—would happily forget how to even blink for the sake of drinking in the light in Ed’s eyes—but then Ed’s fingers begin pulling through the strands of his hair, sliding against Stede’s scalp, and Stede’s entire body goes slack, thoughts sliding out of his head as the world tilts instead into sunlight.
His eyes fall shut as Ed strokes his hair, like he knows the quickest route to Stede’s relaxation. And he does, Stede supposes; Ed seems to know how to relax him even more swiftly than Stede can do for himself. By the time the words fall from Ed’s lips, Stede’s mind has already begun growing as hazy as the warm day outside the windows, and he’s nearly forgotten the question he asked, seconds or minutes or hours ago.
“You, love,” Ed breathes.
Stede’s eyelids pull heavily open again. He wishes he could kiss the sheer affection lining Ed’s features.
“You’re flattering me,” Stede whispers, not bothering to fight the smile twitching at the corner of his mouth.
“Mm, s’easy to do,” Ed muses contentedly. “And it doesn’t make it less true.”
Stede grins. “Is that what you were drawing? Me?”
Ed gives a dramatic little sigh, reaching over to lift his sketchpad again. “If only. Just doodling, really.”
Stede snorts. He’s seen Ed’s doodles. They could be hung in the Met. “Doodling what?”
Ed hums noncommittally. “Our new house.”
This time, Stede’s eyes fly open properly, a swell of surprise in his chest. The grin breaks over his face freely now.
“New house?” he asks, soft and touched. Ed smiles a little wider and nods.
“Well—how it could look, at least,” he murmurs, looking back to the drawing. “How I… like to imagine it.”
Stede’s heart is all but vibrating in his chest. It’s been a month and change since Ed moved in; the time since has been busy, then lazy, a blissful reprieve from their chaotic spring semester; they’ve spent more time simply getting Ed settled here than talking about where they’ll live next. Their conversations about looking for a new house—something just for them, something just right, something they choose together—have only lived so far in the dreamy little spaces between their lips, soft at the edges and glowing with affection.
Space for a garden, maybe, Ed would say.
Big windows, Stede might imagine. You need the light for your painting.
Extra bedroom so mum can visit, Ed would add.
A big backyard, Stede would sigh, voice too soft, thoughts too loud. For—parties and the like. Entertaining.
Parties? Ed might snort. Gonna be throwing a lot of ragers?
Something like that, Stede would say with a smile, as if he hasn’t spent countless moments imagining them already—birthday parties for the kids, lively dinners with friends.
As if there hasn’t been a ring stashed in a drawer for several weeks now, hoping to find a place on Ed’s finger. As if Stede hasn’t found himself dreaming, since they found one another again—since before, even—of an intimate, backyard celebration full of flowers and loved ones, promises and vows.
“Can I see?” Stede asks, a little breathless. Ed peers down at him with raised brows.
“You wanna?” he murmurs with a tentative grin.
Stede gives him a pointed look. Ed caves in seconds, looking delighted as he reaches down, displaying the sketch for Stede’s eyes.
Stede pulls in a soft breath as he takes in the drawing, reaching up slowly to take the sketchpad himself. It’s a big, warm facade, classic brick and wide windows with trees dotting the exterior. A garden is tucked along the front of the house, and a winding little footpath curves through it, carefully dodging all the flowers someone’s planted. Flowers they’ve planted.
A dreamy sigh escapes Stede’s lips as he lifts his fingers, letting them hover over the drawing, not quite touching. His heart is spinning in such quick pirouettes inside his chest, the performance probably deserves a stage.
“Sunflowers?” he whispers. Ed draws in a breath above him, fingers sinking back into Stede’s hair to rub against his scalp.
“Just… a thought,” Ed breathes back. One of his fingers curls through a strand of Stede’s hair above his ear. “A little dream.”
Oh, god. Stede might cry.
“I like your dreams.” He only barely manages to keep his voice even, finally tearing his eyes away from the sketch to gaze up at Ed’s face, utterly adoring and not entirely without tears in his eyes. “They look just like mine.”
Ed softens as their eyes meet. His fingers slide down from Stede’s hair to his cheek, thumb sliding against his cheekbone, as if poised to catch any tears, should they fall. “Yeah?”
Stede swallows and nods before slowly beginning to shift, pushing himself up to sit. Ed slides the sketchpad smoothly from his hands, setting it absently aside as he lets Stede hold his gaze, rapt and loving. He looks as if his eyes would follow Stede to the very ends of the earth; Stede doesn’t demand so much, instead reaching up to catch Ed’s chin in his fingers.
“Yeah,” he whispers as he draws him forward. Ed comes easier than anything, sighing as their lips meet in the middle for a sweet, slow kiss.
Ed’s kisses have always been sweet. Whether they’ve been frenzied and hungry or soft and savoring or tentative and exploratory, Ed has always been the sweetest thing Stede has ever tasted. Their lives in recent weeks have felt especially golden-hued as summer has rolled in like a lazy wave on the beach, as the boxes in the house have come unpacked and Ed’s things have filled the empty spaces within the walls here. If spring had brought storms and heartache, summer has been the shimmering rainbow as the clouds have cleared away, and it’s only just begun.
Stede has never felt more helplessly in love.
He’s certain Ed can feel it in the curl of Stede’s fingers into his hair, in the press of Stede’s mouth over his, already breathless and searching for more. Ed meets him beat for beat, following his lead with a quiet sound of approval, with a nibble at Stede’s bottom lip and a soft moan as their tongues meet a breath later. Then Stede tugs at his hair, and Ed breathes in sharply and follows the pull, and it’s as easy as it always is for the kiss to break, for Ed to shift while Stede urges him closer, for their hips to slot together as Ed climbs eagerly into his lap. He doesn’t hesitate before claiming Stede’s lips in his own again with new, fiery purpose.
Despite his peaceful, calm demeanor from moments ago, there’s already an urgent edge to Ed’s movements. His hands slide up to clutch Stede’s shoulders, then push up into his hair to bury themselves there, holding Stede close as he rocks down slowly against him. Stede shudders out a quiet groan, catching Ed with a hand at his lower back to encourage the movement, and Ed does it again, slow and sweet and burning. Stede can’t resist rocking his hips up to meet him, head tipping back against the sofa with another dark sound.
Ed doesn’t waste any time before dropping his lips to Stede’s neck, sucking hungry kisses up the column of his throat, chasing another moan out of his lungs with the hot drag of his tongue over Stede’s skin. His mouth relents just long enough for Stede to catch a glimpse of his face, eyes dark and sparkling, looking mesmerized at the sight of Stede already flushing beneath him.
Stede watches as Ed bites his lip, practically seeing the filthy thoughts scrolling through his head. He feels Ed’s fingers slip from his hair to draw instead down his front; heat chases the touch as Stede pulls a slow breath into his lungs, pressing lightly into it. Ed doesn’t hesitate when he reaches Stede’s jeans, slipping down further until he can press his palm hot between Stede’s legs, curving around his rapidly-hardening cock.
Stede fails to hold back a proper moan at the touch, hips canting up towards the welcome heat of Ed’s teasing hand; Ed moans at the feeling alone, lips falling swiftly back to Stede’s neck as he palms at Stede with purpose through his clothes, eager and unfocused.
“Fuck,” Ed whispers against him, lips parted and hot against Stede’s skin in a not-quite-kiss. “Fuck, yeah, love—”
“Ed,” Stede manages, halfway between a moan and a laugh at how quickly they’ve managed to find themselves here. “You—wanted to sketch, I shouldn’t have distracted—”
“Nah, I’ll sketch later,” Ed interrupts swiftly. Stede catches the grin in his voice and wonders, quite suddenly, if there was perhaps a reason why Ed had already rearranged the pillows on the sofa before Stede happened by and found him—why the sofa beside him was so neatly empty, and his lap so perfectly inviting—
“Let me suck your cock,” Ed breathes against his ear, and Stede groans as heat punches straight through his stomach. Fuck, of course; Ed’s a fucking genius, he thinks dizzily. Or perhaps it simply takes startlingly little persuasion for Stede to wind up with his boyfriend in his lap, groping his cock and making obscene requests in his ear.
Probably, it’s both.
“Jesus, Ed,” Stede moans, huffing in amusement as Ed’s hips roll in slow, coaxing movements against his. “Bloody insatiable.”
“Oh, fuck off,” Ed laughs breathlessly, tugging playfully at Stede’s hair to tilt his lips up so Ed can steal a kiss. “You started this.”
“Beginning to think you wanted me to,” Stede quips knowingly, and Ed smirks widely, devilish and unashamed.
“Not hearing a ‘no’ about my mouth, mate,” Ed murmurs simply, dark and pointed, and Stede shudders at the heat sweeping through him, cobbling together the presence of mind to reach up, threading fingers into the hair at Ed’s nape. He pulls slowly, tightening his grip until Ed finally gasps, movements faltering above Stede as he goes momentarily boneless and shivering.
“Maybe I should make you wait,” Stede breathes. Ed’s head tips back obediently with Stede’s tugs against his hair, and Stede skates his lips up Ed’s throat, chuckling as it moves in a heavy swallow. He presses a chaste kiss to the skin; if he weren’t so close, just a breath away, he might not hear the whimper that Ed catches behind his tongue.
Stede smirks. “Come now, darling,” he teases softly. “You don’t wanna be patient for me? Let me have some fun with you first?”
Ed exhales, shaky and slow. He looks a little wrecked, torn between the control he loves to relinquish and the upper hand he’d expected to have.
“Don’t play fuckin’ dirty,” he mutters at last. Stede snorts.
“You started this,” he retorts playfully, then bites at Ed’s earlobe to tug. Ed’s breath draws short, his hand quickly leaving Stede’s cock to reach up, curling instead back over his shoulder. Stede grins a touch triumphantly, dropping his hands to Ed’s hips to drag him sharply in, relishing Ed’s startled little moan at the sudden press of their hips flush together.
“That’s it,” Stede coaxes, rocking their hips slowly together as Ed gives a bitten-off whine, folding forward right into Stede’s space. He pushes a hand beneath Ed’s shirt to travel up his spine, then lets the drag of his fingers grow sharper as he pulls back down, nails raking lightly over Ed’s skin. Ed arches into his heat with a quiet gasp, moving steadily into Stede’s indulgent motions. “Always so sweet for me. That feel good, my love?”
Ed groans wordlessly, burying his face in the crook of Stede’s neck before finally nodding, breath heavy on Stede’s skin. Stede chuckles knowingly, urging their hips into a faster pace together.
“Tell me,” Stede breathes against his ear, feeling the shiver that prickles hot across the surface of Ed’s skin with it, heat building slowly in his hips as they move. “How long did you sit here gagging for it, hm? Been waiting long?”
Ed seems to struggle to get his words together, lips wet and parted as he sucks a kiss to Stede’s neck. “All—fuck, all afternoon,” he confesses, then buries it beneath another moan into Stede’s skin. Stede indulges him with a moan back, fingers dipping down to tease over the curve of his arse through his clothes.
Ed’s teeth suddenly nip sharply over his pulse point, and Stede draws a sharp breath of surprise. Before he can find his words to deliver some gentle reprimand, Ed’s fingers are tight over his nape, lips pressing to the shell of Stede’s ear.
“Did I mention,” Ed breathes, low and less than steady, “that the stud in my tongue is new?”
Fuck.
Stede’s mind whites out for the briefest of seconds, blinking rapidly in surprise as his movements falter.
“What?” he asks, a little too sharp and miles too breathless.
The grin sneaks back into Ed’s voice, but his movements continue, hips snapping eagerly down into Stede’s despite Stede’s own brief, surprised stillness.
“Thought I’d try something new,” Ed pants against him, leaving space between his words for a low, indulgent moan at the drag of their hips together. “One that’s… just a bit bigger—bit more noticeable.”
“Fuck me,” Stede groans at once, head dropping heavily back again. The laugh that climbs past Ed’s lips melts into a moan as Stede gives his arse a sharp, pointed squeeze.
“Could do,” Ed says, and it’s almost fucking conversational, like he’s debating what to cook for dinner rather than grinding himself into oblivion in Stede’s lap, threatening a blowjob that would probably leave Stede thinking about it for days. Maybe weeks. “Though that’s not really where I thought it’d shine—”
“You really bought new—fuck, Ed—new tongue jewelry, just to—”
“To drive you up the fucking wall?” Ed laughs breathlessly, nails digging into Stede’s shoulder. His fingers release a moment later to slide instead to the back of the couch, gripping beside Stede’s head as he works himself breathlessly down into Stede’s lap. “Fuck—yeah, mate—fuckin’ dying to see if it wrecks you the way the other one did.”
“Fucking hell, Ed,” Stede grits. “Now who the hell’s playing dirty?”
Ed laughs again, ringing with pleasure and delight, before leaning down to lick a hot, indulgent stripe up Stede’s neck.
Perhaps it really is bigger, or perhaps Stede’s attention has just been drawn to it like a magnet. Either way, he shudders madly at the hot, slick drag of the stud over his skin, lips parting with a low groan at the thought of it against his cock. Ed chuckles and lingers beneath his ear, running his tongue along the sensitive skin to tease against it.
“C’mon, love,” Ed purrs into his ear, and it should probably be illegal, Stede thinks wildly, somehow outlawed for Ed to twist his hips this way, to pair it with that tone and his fingers in Stede’s hair—as if any law on earth could keep Stede from losing his mind to Ed’s touch, could keep Ed from being so torturously irresistible to begin with. “You know I’m dying to taste you. Fuck, miss you in my throat.”
Stede swallows, trying to keep hold of his scrambling thoughts as his fingers curl into the belt loops on Ed’s pants. “Christ, Ed, it’s been—what, two days since you last—”
“Yeah, I fucking know,” Ed says, voice dropping to a growl. His movements are quickening now, taking on a sharp, frenzied edge as the words slide heavily off his tongue, as if he can’t help the heat building within him at the thought of it alone. “Fuck, Stede—you know I’d have you in my mouth all fucking day if you’d let me.”
Stede bites down on a moan at the thought. He wonders wildly just how hyperbolic Ed is being, whether he’d really like it if Stede decided—
“C’mon, I’ll drive you fucking wild,” Ed promises on a moan, forehead pressing to Stede’s temple, hot breath against his cheek. “You can fuck my throat, go till it’s fucking raw afterwards—”
“Fuck, Ed—”
“Or you can just sit there, huh?” he pants eagerly. “Make me do all the fucking work, just leave me a mess on my knees for you—”
Stede reaches up abruptly, some measure of restraint snapping sharply within him, sending a dizzying rush of heat all the way down to his toes as he clutches Ed’s hair. Ed gasps a soft, pleasured ah, fuck against him, and Stede curls his other hand over Ed’s hip, dragging him with new fervor into each frenzied, grinding movement into Stede’s lap.
“You’d love that, wouldn’t you, sweetheart?” Stede hisses into his cheek, delighting in the way Ed follows his touch, hips only snapping more sharply into Stede’s with the encouragement. “If I let you choke on my cock? Made you take it all wet and messy till your eyes were watering with it?”
Ed moans without restraint, fingers flying back to Stede’s shoulders, curling tight enough to bruise as he nods quickly. “Yeah,” he whispers earnestly, “oh, fuck, Stede—yeah, please, fucking please—”
“Hell, look at yourself,” Stede goes on in a moan, desire sitting heavy and molten in his hips as Ed grinds desperately against him, eager and shameless. Words spill off his lips like fire dripping from his tongue, blazing between them and hot enough to singe. “Can't go more than a couple days without needing me in your mouth again, is that right?”
Ed makes a strangled, needy little sound, his breath on Stede’s skin as sharp and hot as his movements. “Love it,” he insists with an urgent nod, “shit, Stede—love it, fucking want it—”
“Hell, don’t even need me to do anything, do you?” Stede huffs, flushing hotter with his own thoughts, with Ed halfway to wrecked on the words alone. “Happy to just stay on your knees and make a mess of yourself, just for my cock in your mouth? Love it that much?” Ed whines, a ruined little sound in his throat as he pants heavily against Stede’s hair.
“Fuck, keep going,” he suddenly whimpers, high and helpless, the telltale tension in his voice punching the air out of Stede’s lungs. He can practically hear Ed teetering on the edge, breathlessly close to coming apart right here, just like this, without so much as Stede’s hand on his cock or his clothes out of the way. “Keep—please, oh, fuck, keep fucking talking, please, please—”
Stede’s heart races as he grasps Ed’s hair tighter, tugging sharply to tilt Ed’s head to the side. It earns a gasping moan from Ed’s lips as he lays his mouth right against Ed’s ear, pushing the words into it relentlessly, letting them melt off his tongue to fill Ed’s mind.
“Maybe I should keep you there sometime, how about that?” Stede whispers. The words are quick and tantalizing on his lips as he urges Ed along, skin buzzing at the feeling of the tension riddling Ed’s limbs. “Let you sit there with my cock in your mouth for hours, make you wait and wait until I’m ready—fuck, spend as long as I like enjoying you…”
Hiking little sounds are escaping Ed’s lips now, breathy and pleasure-ridden as Stede nips at his ear and hisses out, “Could make you keep me warm while I ignore how fucking hard it makes you—”
Ed cries out loudly into Stede’s neck as his grinding movements falter into sharp, stuttering motions all at once. His hands are a crushing vice grip over Stede’s shoulders as he comes in his clothes, hot and shameless, gasping Stede’s name and shuddering desperately above him. Stede groans as he lets Ed work himself through it, turning his head to scatter kisses against Ed’s neck, jaw, cheek.
Ed shakes and moans with it, the harsh patterns of his hips at last beginning to slow. Stede breathes into a wide, satisfied grin, chuckling fondly against him as his own lips gentle in turn, lips merely skating over Ed’s skin.
“Hell, Edward,” Stede breathes against him. Ed sinks to a halt as he clings to Stede and pants, giving one last spent sound into Stede’s skin as Stede pulls gentle nails across his back.
Ed mumbles something into his neck, too lazy and muffled for Stede to make out. Stede gives a soft sound of question, then squeezes his fingers gently in Ed’s hair, urging him slowly up from Stede’s neck to draw their lips together instead. Ed meets him in a deep kiss, letting Stede take his time with him, mouths gentle and warm together after the dark bite of all their earlier words.
When the kiss lightens, Ed comes away breathless, still panting softly as he slides a hand up, curling his fingers beneath Stede’s chin. His eyes are clearer now, bright with a satisfied afterglow and dark with lingering purpose.
“Fuck, I love you,” Ed breathes with conviction, the words nearly swallowed by a choked little laugh. “You and that filthy fuckin’ mouth. Jesus, never would have even imagined it, when I first met you.”
Stede laughs back, pushing Ed’s hair back from his eyes and stealing another light kiss. Ed presses into it this time, holding Stede’s chin tighter before he can draw back, sighing as he kisses him fervently.
“Please,” Ed finally murmurs when they part, letting their lips brush together in the barest hint of shivering contact, “God’s sake, love—let me suck your fucking cock already.”
Stede’s lips curve into a wide smirk. He hovers close, letting the warmth of Ed’s wavering breath wash over him in a wave, savoring the rapturous anticipation on Ed’s lips and the beat of his heart, so heavy and frantic Stede can practically hear it.
It’s intoxicating, even after months together. Ed is a helpless mess in his lap, pliant and so desperately willing that Stede can taste it on his parted lips. He sighs in careful, feigned consideration as he tilts his head, chin tipping in Ed’s gentle grip as he grazes their lips together.
Ed is nearly quivering, patient and hardly breathing. At last, Stede grins wider, giving Ed a single, slow nod.
The response is immediate. Ed practically scrambles off his lap to slide instead to his knees on the floor, pushing Stede’s legs apart to settle between them. His touch is hot and ravenous as it climbs quickly up Stede’s thighs to reach the front of Stede’s jeans, deftly undoing them as Stede lets go of a breathless laugh at Ed’s eagerness.
“Hell, never get tired of this, do you?” Stede murmurs, fingers already gathering Ed’s hair back from his face.
“Fuck, no,” Ed breathes back, fingers curling into the top of Stede’s clothes to begin dragging his jeans and underwear down his hips; Stede lifts up to give him room, a quick, familiar dance between them. “Gonna tell me you do?”
“Not a chance,” Stede promises, and then his words disappear, giving way to a moan as Ed’s mouth surrounds him in a swift rush, hot and wet. He shudders as the long, gratified sound in Ed’s throat shoots straight up his spine, tensing at the feeling before melting into the cushions beneath him.
“God, yeah,” Stede sighs, low and breathless as he arches up for the heat of it, and Ed gives a hungry sound of approval as Stede’s hand settles at the back of his head, already easing him down further. “Hell, Ed, that’s—”
And then Stede’s mind goes promptly blank, suddenly overwhelmed at the slick press of the stud in Ed’s tongue around the head of his cock—absolutely, undeniably, most fucking definitely more distinct than Stede is used to.
“Holy fucking shit,” he gasps, hips bucking up sharply as both hands fly to Ed’s hair, clutching tightly as a dark chuckle rumbles around Ed’s chest below him. Ed shifts up to settle into a higher angle, like he’s waited for this, like he’s planned and imagined and anticipated—
“Edward,” Stede moans sharply, but he loses any other words on his tongue promptly to a startled little cry, head spinning as Ed drags his pierced tongue with measured precision along Stede’s slit, teasing until Stede is tense and shuddering beneath him, heat rocketing through his bones like fireworks.
It’s been a while since Ed went down on him quite like this, some sort of filthy premeditation attached, equipped with both the plan and the means to dissolve Stede to useless, breathy moans beneath the clever heat of his mouth. It pulls familiar strings deep in Stede’s mind, memories of mere months ago when Ed did this to him for the first time, a flurry of whiskey nips and confessions on a hotel bed. It had been mind-blowing then, had driven Stede beyond words or thought or reason; he doesn’t fare much better these days, even after months of Ed’s heated, attentive affections. Certainly not when Ed has come prepared with the best fucking idea Stede thinks he’s ever had, good god, holy shit.
Ed sucks him like it’s a blazing prayer, worshipful and devoted, and Stede moans for more as if he’s the selfish deity demanding it. He gasps, clutches, pulls at Ed’s hair mindlessly, twisting beneath him and thrusting up into the tight heat of his mouth. Ed takes it with ease, humming his approval at first; then he abruptly shoves Stede’s hips back down into place, pinning him where he is so Ed can lave indulgently over the head of his cock.
Stede lets out a strangled sound of longing as he tries to rock his hips again, chased by a groan of frustration at the strong cage of Ed’s hands around his hips. Ed backs off even further then, teasing at Stede with maddening little kitten licks against the tip of his cock; he goes until Stede yanks at his hair, desperate for more, then lets out a pleased little chuckle around him.
For a wild, lust-addled moment, Stede thinks Ed is finished teasing, feels his lips part wider and hears the deep breath he takes—but he leans down further only to slide his mouth lightly around the tip, moaning as he suckles slowly at it. His tongue is hot and wet as it teases against Stede villainously, and finally Ed dips down just enough to let the stud in his tongue press firmly beneath the head of Stede’s cock, then linger there.
It wrings Stede’s brain out like a rag, leaving him gasping first, then outright whimpering at the prolonged sensation, trembling until his eyes actually begin to water.
“Ed—fuck, Edward, Ed,” he chants rapidly, squirming against Ed’s heavy grip holding him down, “please—god, shit, come on, please—”
It climbs much too close to a whine in his throat as he tugs sharply at Ed’s hair, pulling again and again in some fruitless, half-focused demand. Ed chuckles, a dark, low sound around Stede’s cock as his searing tongue finally relents.
He works his mouth down further around him, still torturously slow and nowhere near satisfying, thumbs stroking delicately over Stede’s hips while his palms keep him ruthlessly in place. The light touch feels knowing, tantalizing and amused, like Ed would happily leave Stede writhing and pleading beneath him just to draw Stede out along the molten edge of a razor.
Stede’s next noise is little more than a growl in his throat as Ed takes him deeper, as impossibly deep as always, swallowing Stede down effortlessly until Stede’s cock is pressing to the back of his throat. Another wrecked sound slips from Stede’s lips, and suddenly Ed is drawing off, letting the stud in his tongue drag smoothly up the underside of Stede’s shaft while Stede practically fucking sees stars.
He releases Stede’s cock with a wet, obscene sound, bright-eyed as he looks up to meet Stede’s gaze. Ed is tantalizingly close, barely an inch away, chin slick with spit and hot breath hitting the tip of Stede’s cock in gentle puffs. A dribble of saliva slips carelessly off his flushed, red lips and onto Stede’s cock as he hovers there, a curious grin tugging at his mouth.
“So you like the new stud, then?” he asks, innocent and breathless.
Stede gives a rough, impatient sound, heat clenching in his stomach and tearing down his spine. He grits his teeth as he suddenly clutches Ed’s hair tighter, leaning down and dragging Ed up a few inches with the grip. Ed comes with a sharp noise of delight, a smirk sneaking its way into his expression; it falters when Stede catches his chin tightly in his fingers.
He presses a thumb to Ed’s slick lips, and Ed doesn’t hesitate before opening up, drawing the digit eagerly into his mouth to suck around it with a wanton moan, gaze dark and heavy on Stede’s face. He loses the sound to a soft gasp when Stede tightens his grip, holding firmly with a thumb in Ed’s mouth and fingers beneath his chin. Ed goes still and compliant immediately, staring up with wide eyes as Stede slowly eases open his jaw; the breath that escapes his lungs is tremulous as Stede runs his thumb in a single, slow circle against the hot metal ball nestled in his tongue.
“Put,” Stede bites out, a quiet, carefully-enunciated order, “that fucking stud… back on my cock… until I’m finished.” He presses the pad of his thumb pointedly against the soft pink of Ed’s tongue, glaring as he leans down one last inch closer. “Now.”
Ed gives a tiny, sharp whimper at the last word. He looks wholly enraptured, newly earnest as his chin suddenly nudges frantically into Stede’s grip in an attempt at a nod, gaze locked on Stede’s.
Stede releases his chin abruptly, thumb drawing wetly out of Ed’s mouth to slide his fingers right up into his hair instead, winding tightly into it. He doesn’t even get a chance to shove Ed back down before Ed is hurriedly going himself, letting his eager mouth fall obediently back to Stede’s lap. Stede lets out a gratified moan as Ed swiftly takes him back in, single-minded and unrestrained this time as he surrounds Stede in heat, sucking as he slides down around Stede’s cock.
“Yes,” Stede hisses, clutching Ed’s hair in approval as pleasure sparks through his veins like liquor catching fire. “Oh, fuck, that’s it—god, that’s it…”
Ed is undone and ravished to hell beneath Stede, pierced tongue working with fervor against him as Stede’s mind fogs with heat again. Ed’s grip is gone from his hips, and Stede doesn’t hesitate before thrusting up now, taking what he likes as Ed gives without restraint, moaning Ed’s name like it’s the headiest thing that’s ever graced his tongue.
“God, there you go,” Stede urges breathlessly, coaxing Ed’s head down just a touch farther on every movement, groaning as Ed swallows him down with ease. “That’s right, darling, show me how you take it for me—fuck, just like that—”
A gasping little whimper escapes Ed’s throat. He’s a veritable wreck now, spit running down his chin as he moves, soaked with the effort as he sucks messily around Stede. He sinks into the rhythm with a mindless sort of ease, moans escaping his throat only to be fucked back down again on every rough thrust of Stede’s cock. He gasps through his nose and tugs at Stede’s hips, silent pleas like he could take even more, like it’s still not enough—like he could lose himself even further in the wet, searing rush of this, down and down and down until it’s all he can remember.
“Christ, yes,” Stede moans in reward, hips twisting up into every brilliant give-and-take, dragging Ed down roughly now to meet him each time. “Hell, just like you love, sweetheart—god, fucking deserve it, always so fucking good for me—”
Ed gives eager little sounds of agreement, filthy punctuations between Stede’s thrusts. He takes it like he’s dreamed of it, yearned for it, helplessly longed and hoped to be had this way; like Stede is some miracle on his tongue, every moment some divine fucking blessing from above.
He suddenly tightens his grip on Stede’s hips, yanking sharply and pulling a low groan from Stede’s chest. It’s a signal, one Stede knows well by now—a pointed request, a silent demand when he refuses to pull off for even a moment to use words. Stede takes in a deep breath and clutches Ed’s hair decisively, obliging the wordless insistence as his movements grow quicker, scalding heat building in his hips.
“Fuck, you want it?” Stede whispers heatedly, driving straight into Ed’s throat with every motion, barely keeping his own pleasure at bay as Ed moans longingly. “Yeah? You wanna choke on it for me?”
Another sweet, pleading sound, just desperate enough to melt all remaining thought straight out of Stede’s head. Ed’s eyes flick up to find him, dark and liquid beneath darker lashes, and Stede has to press his eyes shut for the brazen lust saturating Ed’s gaze, groaning as the last threads of his restraint abruptly snap. All at once, his movements grow sharp and rough and reckless, hips snapping up with a burning, wild edge as he presses Ed’s mouth down further, hotter, tighter, whimpering, gasping, fuck—
Ed chokes, fingers instantly digging sharp into Stede’s thighs as his muscles draw tight with the sudden lack of air. Stede holds him down firmly as his climax rushes up to meet him in an instant, slamming the air out of his own lungs as he cries out Ed’s name and spills down his throat, a white-hot storm of pleasure coursing through his veins. It rattles him all the way down to his bones, back bowed away from the sofa as he rides out dazzling waves of bright sensation, Ed’s hands a vice grip against him where he trembles on his knees.
Stede’s fingers in Ed’s hair begin relaxing as the razor-sharp edge of pleasure in his body melts into something softer at last, warm and glowing and gentle. He sinks into the cushions beneath him with a long, spent moan, hips easing back and finally giving Ed room to breathe.
Ed gasps sweet air into his lungs immediately, shoulders rising and falling harshly as his fingers go slack against Stede’s legs. His touch shakes a little as he traces down Stede’s skin with reverence; even now, he seems reluctant to draw off altogether, mouthing around Stede’s softening cock with unbridled indulgence, breaths sharp and uneven through his nose as soft noises escape him, fucked-out and blissful.
“Darling,” Stede murmurs dazedly, a weak chuckle leaving him at Ed’s continued attention around him. He shudders at the heat, then hisses a little as Ed’s piercing slides against the over-sensitive head of his cock, finally clutching his hair a little tighter. Ed relents at last, drawing back until Stede’s cock slips from his mouth; he drops his forehead to Stede's knee instead, still trying to catch his breath, a light cough or two escaping him after Stede’s relentless use of his throat.
Stede gazes down at him with overwhelming fondness, fingers slipping from his hair to his cheek to stroke lovingly against it. Ed tilts his head up to meet Stede’s gaze instantly, eyes still watery, so steeped in loving admiration that Stede loses his breath again as quickly as he was catching it.
“C’mere,” Stede sighs, and Ed shifts up without hesitation, pushing to his feet before climbing eagerly back into Stede’s lap. His hands come right to Stede’s face to drag him into a filthy kiss, dissolving into a moaning mess against him as he pushes his tongue along Stede’s own.
Stede shudders at the bitter-salt taste of himself lingering in Ed’s mouth, but Ed seems anything but shy about enjoying it. He makes indulgent passes at Stede’s tongue with his own, and Stede can practically hear the words Ed wants to press between their mouths: see how fucking good you taste?
It pulls a delicate shiver across Stede’s skin. He relishes every moment of it, the syrupy sweetness of Ed’s adoration in the hunger of his lips and the clutches of his fingers, in the ringing, rhythmic cadence of his heart pressed to Stede’s. When Ed finally begins to ease off, Stede’s head is spinning again, hurdling through some cosmos of smoke and spice and sweet, heady familiarity.
“You have no idea,” Ed breathes over his lips, voice still edged with heat—even after all of it, after coming in his clothes over the mere thought of Stede’s cock in his mouth, after making Stede see stars with his filthy, talented tongue, after silently begging to choke on Stede’s climax—“the sheer fucking pleasure I get out of making you come.”
A laugh spills off Stede’s lips immediately as he pulls his hands down Ed’s shirt, curling them into the top of his ruined pants, tucking just beneath the waistband. “Hell, Ed… I think by now I’ve got some idea.”
Ed gives a single, breathless huff of laughter, followed by a soft, low groan as he kisses beneath Stede’s ear. “More than you know,” he sighs, dark and tantalizing. As if he could go again at the drop of a hat if Stede suggested it; as if he’d happily wait patiently, right here in Stede’s lap, until Stede was ready for the same.
Christ alive.
Stede is almost tempted, dizzied and delighted by the sheer brilliance of Ed above him, heavy in his lap and glowing in his heart. His eyes fall shut as Ed’s lips fall to his neck, sucking across Stede’s skin in a languid, heated trail, and he has to hold back a low moan as Ed’s teeth find the sensitive spot beneath his ear, nipping playfully at the skin.
“Bloody insatiable,” Stede chuckles breathlessly once again, the words feeling heavy with satisfaction on his tongue this time as he curves his hands around Ed’s hips. He taps Ed’s clothed hip with a thumb, pointed and playful. “And you’re a fucking mess.”
“Mm, you’re right,” Ed murmurs against him. “Your fault.”
Stede smirks a little proudly. He leans back to catch Ed’s chin in his grip and pull their lips together, sound and content, before finally sighing against him, “My responsibility to get you cleaned up, then.”
Ed agrees with a lazy smile, and he puts up no fight as Stede gets them both up off the sofa, pulls Ed along to the bedroom, peels him out of his clothes and takes his time putting him back to rights. The pleasant little grin on Ed’s features remains there throughout, eyes following Stede’s movements with such unadulterated fondness that Stede has to look away sometimes, finding himself blushing with self-conscious little laughs.
“What’s gotten into you?” Stede murmurs happily once they’re both sorted again, clean and in fresh clothes as he draws Ed along back to the sofa.
Ed gives him another smile so bright that it would surely blind someone who hasn’t grown accustomed to it in the weeks since they’ve moved in together, the months they’ve spent in love. Sometimes, looking at Ed still feels like staring straight into the sun, if Stede’s honest; there’s little he wants to do more than wrap himself in the warmth of it and bask in all Ed’s rays, in the gleam of his smile and the glow of his eyes.
If Ed’s demeanor at times like this is any indication, Stede would guess that Ed might feel the same about him.
“You,” Ed finally murmurs simply, smiling as he lets Stede pull him back onto the sofa. “Just fuckin’ love you,” and Stede’s heart pounds out some frantic little rhythm like he doesn’t hear the words countless times per day.
Ed wastes no time in arranging himself across the cushions while Stede sits and settles in. He lies down and stretches across Stede’s lap, facing Stede’s body as his arms circle Stede’s waist, then relaxes there the way he often does these days, face tucking happily into Stede’s clothed midsection. Stede can only smile wider as he slips his fingers into Ed’s hair.
“Love you, too,” Stede sighs contentedly. Ed makes a sweet, humming sound as Stede’s fingers begin absently working against his scalp, pausing only to comb through loose tangles and soft waves.
Many tasks are familiar to Stede’s hands by this point in his life: sorting model ship pieces, paging through a book, typing his name sandwiched between a doctoral prefix and his university affiliation. He sees similar rhythms to Ed’s hands, as well: the way his fingers curve around a piece of charcoal or a paintbrush, or the deftness with which he hoists a sail on the water.
But muscle memory is an odd thing, Stede reflects quietly. The new things Stede’s hands have learned to do since meeting Ed have begun to feel even more familiar than the things they’ve done for years.
He runs his fingers through Ed’s hair like he’s always known the way to do it—how to carefully work through a tangle without pulling; which strands need to be tamed behind Ed’s ear to keep them from hanging in his face; where to gently scratch Ed’s scalp to make him practically purr, warm and catlike in Stede’s lap. He could trace Ed’s tattoos in his sleep, he thinks absently, and his fingers fit so neatly between Ed’s own that surely, they must have somehow known the shape of Ed’s hands before this phase of his life. Surely.
The heart is a muscle too, Stede supposes. Perhaps where it’s involved, things are learned more fluently, recalled more easily, understood more deeply. Perhaps the slide of his fingers against Ed’s scalp was a skill dying to be learned, and the love-soaked rhythm in his chest was always lying dormant in the chambers of his heart, waiting to be stirred to life.
Loving Ed feels even more ingrained than muscle memory. It feels as if it was written into the helixes of Stede’s DNA, scaffolded into the very stuff he’s made of. Gazing down at Ed in his lap always makes Stede wonder, time and time again, how he went so many years without him there.
Now, at least, he knows. He knows what it is to have this, to have his heart so thoroughly claimed and kept that it may as well be Ed’s own blood thrumming through it. He’d lost Ed once—a terrible moment in time, a cataclysmic month that stretched on for eons, endless in its capacity for pain—and he’d been forced to remember what it was to be without this, too.
It’s unthinkable now. The ill-fated month shrinks smaller with each passing week since repairing the threads that had broken between them, since weaving their hearts and lives back together and pulling them close and tight, even stronger than before.
The pain had gently faded. The trust between them had returned in spades; cracks had been mended, lovingly filled with new promises and sealed with new vows.
Now, irrevocably, Stede knows: this is his dream, awake and effervescent, alight with love and wonder that grow deeper every day. This is his life, his heart, his home. A painting more beautiful than he ever could have envisioned; a glowing sun that never sets.
Ed turns his face to kiss Stede’s thumb as it brushes along his cheek, and Stede feels fiercely, catastrophically alive.
“I wanna draw you,” Ed sighs. Stede’s heart clatters around in his ribs like it’s come loose from its usual resting place, bubbling with too much feeling to stay put.
“Might be a little difficult while you’re like this,” Stede observes softly. Later, he thinks. Stay here for now.
Ed makes a lazy noise of agreement, curling in closer, holding Stede tighter. Closer, tighter, warmer, perfect.
“I mean, fuckin’… forever,” Ed mumbles. “All the time. I meant it—you’re my favorite thing to draw.” He kisses Stede’s clothed stomach again before tilting his head back into Stede’s touch, steady and warm where it cards through his hair.
Stede is so disarmed that he forgets to respond; he simply stares down at Ed, brows drawn together as he smiles helplessly. Ed seems unbothered by the silence, relaxing more and more against Stede’s form with every pass of Stede’s fingers.
“My favorite,” Ed adds, quieter this time. “My fuckin’ favorite.”
Stede smiles wider, letting his eyes slip shut as he tilts his head back against the sofa. The words are coiled tight with the memory of a night so anxious it feels like years ago now, pressed along the wall outside a raucous pub after a day of sea salt and sun. The words had fallen from Ed’s drunken lips like a half-confession of more, startling and almost painful in their affection at the time—until mere hours later, when the rest of the words had come sober, when Ed had said he loved him and Stede’s whole life had lit up like the dawn.
“You’ve been my favorite since the day we met,” Stede whispers.
Ed hums contentedly beneath Stede’s touch. A comfortable silence falls between them, warm as the afternoon sun through the window, and Stede thinks of the wide, welcoming future before them. This, a year from now.
Ten years. Fifty years. Forever.
And a winding little footpath, dodging every beautiful sunflower growing outside their house.