Roberta Seaport

Lucius raises his voice. "Can we please just focus? The Captain's exploring some new sides of himself right now which is obviously very exciting, as well as slightly horrifying, for all of us as well as him. I thought it might be valuable for him to get a sense of the wider picture, help him see that sex isn't a one size fits all sort of situation."

"My size doesn't fit anybody," Wee John says with a glum sigh. "Big as a brawny soldier's forearm holding a grapefruit in his fist."

A pause.

"Well, I would love to talk about that later with you," Lucius says, looking a bit dazed. "I might know someone very qualified who'd be happy to accommodate you any time you like. Like seriously, any time, day or night, just—"

"So what's this got to do with the captain?" Frenchie asks, and Lucius pulls himself together.

"As you're probably aware if you've got working eyes and ears, the captains have decided to try a captains with benefits arrangement." Stede pulls a bit of a sour face at that—it doesn't make the relationship sound nearly as romantic as it feels, and rather glosses over how many times Ed has wriggled close to him under the covers in the streaks of early morning sunlight, kissing Stede's face and shoulders and hair with clumsy warm lips before either of them are even properly awake. "And as Captain Bonnet is quite inexperienced—"

"Lucius!" Stede exclaims, frustrated. This entire exchange has gone a bit sideways and he's starting to wish he'd never gone looking for answers in the communal sex and potatoes room. Who could have expected that would turn out anything but sensitive and enlightening? "Let me make it very clear, I have had sex before, and plenty of it! As a matter of fact, this morning Ed reminded me it was our"—he makes quote marks in the air with his fingers—"'twentieth fuckaversary'."

"Oh, congratulations!" Frenchie says warmly, at the same time as Lucius winces, "Please never say that word ever again in your life."

"I'm sorry." Stede closes his eyes briefly. Takes a calming deep breath in through his nose. Allows himself a few seconds to remember how beautiful Ed looks by evening lamplight, Stede's old pink velvet robe cascading off his shoulders, walking towards the bed they share now and always, always glancing back if he's the first there as if to check that Stede is still close behind. Lets his breath back out, feeling infinitely better. "I'm very, very happy with the state of my love life. That's a rare feeling for me. I'm merely interested in hearing new ideas. Particularly in the general area of, erm, roleplaying."

Read the full Chapter 1 here

Reunions, communication, found family, craft therapy, a nice bath, two (2) blowjobs for a gentleman, and finding as many excuses as possible to rub your dick on silk.

Me, if "eating seaweed" means "finally getting my shit together enough to watch OFMD and suddenly unable to think of anything else".

Deepdarkwaters on ao3