one stormy night

Part 1 of Unladylike Ambitions - a blackbonnet family fluff fic

Lightning cracked spectacularly through the steel gray sky outside the cabin window. Stede smiled to himself. The storms had frightened him at first, all those years ago when he’d decided to pursue a life on the sea. No longer. Now the sound of thunder sang him to sleep, the steady rocking of the ship beneath him a comfort instead of a bother. His heart thumped contentedly in his chest as he lost his grip on his book and it smacked him in the jaw, startling him awake again. “You’re falling asleep there, love,” his favorite voice came to him through a cloud of pipe smoke at the other end of the bed. Ed set his pipe on the table and with gentle hands removed the book from Stede’s chest.

“No, no,” Stede protested, “it was just getting good!”

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Chapter Three: Edward

“No fuckin’ way,” Jim said in quiet awe as the house loomed in the distance, dark against the violet night sky except for a few lights shining from its windows.

Ed turned and grinned at them where they sat in the middle seat in the van. He was glad at least someone was showing some enthusiasm. Pete and Fang were sleeping on each other in the back seat. Ivan sat next to Jim, but his head was down, invested in a level of Candy Crush or some other stupid game. And Izzy was clutching the steering wheel with white knuckles, scowling at the road ahead – which, in fairness, was just how he normally drove. Izzy was always tense.

“Look at that!” Jim said, pointing ahead at a little stone chapel. They undid their seatbelt and leaned forward, poking their head out between Ed and Izzy to get a better look. “Creepy.” They grinned excitedly. Ed couldn’t help but smile, too. Jim was the newest member of their crew. They’d been working with Queen Anne’s Paranormal Investigations for a few months, now, and it was nice having them along. Their enthusiasm reminded Ed of the early days, of why he’d started this whole thing.

“What the fuck,” Izzy grumbled next to them, and Ed followed his stare ahead to the driveway, in which was parked a familiar old station wagon with a fading, chipping Ghostbusters logo painted on the side of it.

“Shit,” he said.

Jim squinted. “Who’s that?”

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i'm tired of this grampa

Chapter Two: Mary

“Warm,” Mary said, contemplating the flavors on her tongue and smiling. “It’s like…you can taste the sun on the skin of the grapes with this one.” She blushed and ducked her head, laughing softly at herself. “I’m sorry, that sounded…”

“Beautiful,” said the winemaker. He sat next to her at the bar in his little shop, smiling and possibly as flushed as she was. They were so close their knees knocked together when they moved. “I like the way you describe things. The way you see things.”

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i'm sorry i've been neglecting you tumblr

Chapter One: Stede

The place was just as described in the advert — an impressive, imposing place nestled in the rolling green foothills of the French Alps. The drive up from the village showed them spacious pastures lined with fallen-down stone walls and dotted with sheep. Sprawling vineyards, most of which sat overgrown and untended. A lake, so still it was a mirror, reflecting back yellowed trees of the forest beyond, and the snow-capped peaks beyond that. The house itself peeked over the horizon and grew larger and larger as they approached, stone brick gold where the setting sun touched it, square gray roofs steepled into towers on the sides giving it the appearance of an ancient castle. Creeping vines covering the north side where the sun didn’t sit so long during the day.

The driver, or rather the cook, who had introduced himself as Roach when he picked the little family up at the airport, had long since given up his rambling about the local village and the people there, sensing his new boss was much more interested in staring out the window at the scenery.

“Wow,” said a small voice in the back. Stede looked back and smiled at his son, Louis, who had his nose pressed up against the glass, taking in the surroundings with interest and awe that matched his father’s. Alma was asleep against her mother’s side, and Mary… Mary sat quietly and looked out the window as the setting sun lit up her eyes and highlighted a tear on her cheek. Stede felt a pang of guilt, but turned back to face forward, watching their new home as it seemed to come up to greet them.

“We only have this one life. We have to try, don’t we?” he’d said.

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Always Sweet

Ed and Stede are eager to get some alone time at a fan convention...

(I forgot to post this one lol)

Always Sweet

Stede's a bit eager to have some alone time with long-distance fling Ed at a convention.

dreams

chapter 18 of taking things - a gentlebeard slow burn smut fic

His face feels warm. Too warm, maybe, and theres an orange glow and his head hurts. Fuck, his head hurts, and his stomach feels all twisted and awful, and something’s in his hand.

He opens his eyes and discovers that the orange glow was just his eyelids, and it’s bright. The sun is glinting off the sea at him through a gun port. From the light he already knows it’s afternoon. He blinks and shifts to sit up and discovers he’s lying on what must be a sack of potatoes or apples or something. He’s in the kitchen, a mostly empty bottle of rum clutched in his hand, and someone very blurry is standing over him.

He blinks. It’s Stede, standing over him with a cup of tea in hand.

“Good morning, darling,” Stede says, soft but chipper as ever, and holds out the cup of tea in offering.

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puzzle pieces

chapter 7 of a dollop of milk and seven sugars - a coffeeshop au

Fuck, he was staring. He felt his cheeks grow warm, but laughed it off. “It’s just…you don’t talk much. But when you do, it’s…nice.”

Jim made a face at him, and it only made him smile even more. “I love this movie. It makes me wanna…” He trailed off, looking down at the empty bowl of popcorn between them. They were close, sitting on his couch in his little apartment, the room lit only by the faint glow of the TV screen as white text rolled across black to a soft José González song.

“What?” they asked, their voice soft.

He shrugged. “I dunno. Take a risk? Have an adventure? Sounds stupid, I know, but…”

“No, I get it,” Jim said, nodding. They shifted closer, turning their body toward him. “Like…why let life pass you by, right? If there’s something you want then you should just…go for it.”

Oluwande’s heart thumped in his chest as he raised his eyes from Jim’s fingers wrapped around the bowl of leftover kernels, tracing up their sleeve and over their shoulder, past their jawline, their lips… Finally meeting their eyes.

“Jim, I —”

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drag

chapter 6 of a dollop of milk and seven sugars - an ofmd coffeeshop au

Lucius was smoothing down his eyebrows in the flip-down mirror in the passenger seat of Stede’s car. “Why are you so nervous?” he asked, eying himself, reaching into his bag for some lip balm. “Relax, babe. It’s just brunch.”

“Just brunch,” Stede repeated back. He stepped out of the car into the chilly autumn air, tugging the yellow and brown woolen scarf a bit tighter about his neck as the wind picked up and pulled at it. Lucius got out of the car after him, and Stede locked it with a beep.

“You’re gonna have a blast,” the younger man said, smiling and patting his shoulder.

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