Do You Believe in Magic?

Chapter 5 - Closer

Ed slept, but not for very long. As himself, he was used to sharing a bed with a partner. He'd done so many times over the years. But Stede wasn't, and it was the impulses and reactions of the other man's body that were affecting him more than his own.

He was managing to doze until Stede shifted in his sleep.

Then Ed was suddenly wide awake and studying a knot in the wood above his head. He just kept replaying the kiss. In his memory, everything overlapped. He was both the one being kissed and the one doing the kissing. He couldn't tell if it was his imagination or the spell.

Ed actually lifted up a hand to confirm that yes, he was still in Stede's body. He studied the gentleman pirate's hand in the moonlight, the paleness of his skin, and the smattering of freckles beneath blonde arm hair. He looked down at the curtain of salt and pepper hair that used to belong to him, with Stede's head in his body resting against his shoulder.

Ed tried to shift a little, to get a little air between them so they could sleep. But Stede shifted in his sleep and snugged right up against him.

And suddenly, a very sensitive part of their anatomy came into contact. He sucked in a breath and bit his lip, but couldn't quite contain a soft moan. Hearing that sound in his head only made things worse. He squirmed uncomfortably. "Stede, hey, Stede..." Ed whispered.

Stede grunted, rolled over, then looked up at Ed with dozy eyes and a strange little smile. "Mhmm. Everything okay? Do you have to go use the chamber pot?"

Never in Ed's life had he ever called it that. Splash the piss pot. Hit the head. Take a leak. Add to the ocean. But use the chamber pot? It was an odd bit of reassurance that despite the fact that the man on top of him looked like Edward Teach, he was still very much Stede Bonnet.

"No, it's just..." Ed shifted by way of demonstration.

Stede's eyes got as big as saucers.

Ed should have known what would happen next. Stede was in possession of his libido, and apparently, his sexual knowledge and confidence. And if he had either of those things at that moment, he knew what he would do.

And that's exactly what Stede Bonnet, possessed with the confidence of Blackbeard, did. Which was to slide his hand up and under the nightdress. "Well, let's see if I can help," he husked. "I mean, I do know just what you need."

Ed was about to protest, but both Stede and the reactions of his borrowed body had other ideas. He tried to force himself to relax, to be calm, and let himself enjoy what was likely to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

It only sort of worked, but Ed either found some of his own confidence or some of Stede's, because after a moment, he slid his hand up too.

What followed was an utterly strange, utterly transcendent experience. It wasn't many people, after all, who knew exactly what the person they were falling in love with felt in such an intimate moment.

—

After their mutual exploration and mutual release, Ed and Stede didn't talk. Instead, they settled down to sleep, both much more comfortable.

Stede had moments where he felt all of Ed's confidence and experience flowing through him, but then it would fade away and he'd become very aware of their predicament - and that the confidence he was feeling didn't belong to him.

Those were also the moments when the existential implications of their swap hit him, and he became incredibly aware that he was seducing his own body.

And the fact that he was being seductive at all was enough of a head trip all by itself.