#my friend got done with the show and she said that Stede and Izzy were just loony toons and that Ed was an actual well rounded character

[batsarebetterthanpeople]

Izzy is only interesting because of his proximity to Ed. I'm just the only one brave enough to admit that fact.

[edactually]

Ed POV 1.3

On Ed’s insistence, the man was brought to his dressing room and a security guard posted on the door to keep everyone out except for the medic. That included Izzy, who Ed could hear shouting on the other side of the door as he sat and watched the man be checked over. 

When the man began to stir, Ed ducked behind the changing screen so he wouldn’t be a distraction as the medic spoke to him, and made sure all was well.

Once she was done, she popped her head around the screen to speak in hushed tones. “Everything’s fine, just got a little hot and overwhelmed. I’ve given him a bottle of water to gulp down and I recommend you let him dip into some of your sugary snacks, but he’ll be right as rain.”

“Thanks, Anne.” She came along on all of their tours ever since Ed had first met her as he thought her name was too coincidental to be anything but a good luck charm. Although her main job was being a medic, they had formed a close enough bond hanging out off-duty that he considered her a close friend as well.

“I’m going to leave him with you for a little bit so I can locate the friends he came here with.” She patted her phone clipped onto her belt. “Try not to overwhelm him again, and call me if there are any issues or he shows any signs of distress. I won’t be long.”

He heard the sound of the door click behind her as she left and some mumbling outside as she presumably relayed the same information to the posted security guard to assist if he heard anything. Leaving him alone with a fan who could be absolutely deranged wasn’t protocol, but this guy seemed harmless enough and security was just on the other side of the door if he needed it.

Ed stepped around the side of the screen as the man was taking a huge gulp of water that he immediately choked on at the sight of him. He began coughing and spluttering and Ed darted over to give him a couple of hearty thumps on the back until he’d recovered, a little red in the face and croaky, but otherwise fine. 

“Hey,” He offered. “You feeling ok? Gave us all quite a scare back there.”

The man still looked stunned and then his eyes suddenly widened. “My friends!”

“Hey, hey, don’t worry.” Ed rested a hand on his shoulder. “Anne is with security now and locating them, we’re gonna bring them back here once they’re found and make sure you all get home safe, yeah?”

He seemed temporarily soothed but Ed spotted that his eyes kept darting to where his hand rested on his shoulder and Ed removed it, getting up off the couch to wander over to his mini fridge and give the guy some breathing space. 

“Bit of sugar will do you the world of good. Luckily, I always have a stash.” He rummaged through said stash, plucking out packets of chocolate, sugary sweets, hard candies – his mini fridge was like a grandmother’s handbag. “What’s your name, by the way?”

The man was stammering a little as Ed dropped an armful of sweets on the couch cushion next to him, and he looked at it as though it was a pile of gold. “Stede.”

“Hi, Stede. I’m Ed.”

He wasn’t in the habit of giving out his real name. It broke the mystery of Blackbeard if too many people found out he had a boring normal name like Edward Teach. Stede was interesting though, he’d never met another Stede. 

He tore into the packet of hard candy and picked out a handful of the purple ones – blackcurrant, the best flavour – and deposited them into Stede’s palm. 

He looked baffled. 

Maybe he was more of a strawberry man? Or a lemon guy? Either way, Ed unwrapped another purple one for himself and popped it in his own mouth. “Suck on one, you’ll feel better.”

Perhaps not his best choice of words since his lewd lyrics had made the man drop into unconsciousness, but Stede carefully unwrapped a sweet and popped it in his mouth. Ed could see his cheek bulging slightly as he sucked on it and his words were a little muffled. “Thank you.”

“Don’t worry about it.” They sat in companionable silence for a little while, allowing time for the little hit of sugar to the system to perk Stede up. “I have to ask, man, why the outfit?”

Stede turned so red that for a horrifying moment, Ed thought he was choking on the sweet he’d been sucking on, but evidently it was just embarrassment as he finally spoke. “I know, I look like an idiot. I’ve never been to any concerts besides ones for classical music and my friend told me to dress cool and not wear a suit, and this is what I came up with.” He gestured to his ensemble pathetically.

“So, you didn’t wear it just to attract my attention then?” Anne would kill him if she knew he was flirting with her patient, but it wasn’t like Ed was going to do anything. Just a little flirty banter to hopefully relax the guy before he went on his merry way.

“I certainly did not!” He was blushing so furiously that even the tips of his ears were turning pink. “I’d never even heard of you before today.” 

It had been ages since Ed had come across someone who hadn’t heard of him. He found it fascinating but Stede was immediately backpedaling, clearly thinking he’d insulted him. “Sorry, that came out wrong. I just meant that I’m not ‘down with the kids’ or however it is you say it. I don’t know what’s cool in music today.”

“Hey, mate, I’m just as surprised as you that our band is ‘down with the kids’ so don’t worry about it.” Stede still looked mortified and Ed thought of something that could cheer him up, although he’d have to deny all knowledge if it got out. The man already knew his name, what was one more classified thing? 

“Can you keep a secret?”

Stede nodded, his confused gaze following him as Ed retrieved a remote from the vanity and switched on the wireless speaker. As he pressed play, the delicate tinkling of piano keys filled the room and Ed got to watch with delight as Stede’s eyes widened so much, he thought they might pop out of his head.

“Blackbeard’s playlist to get him pumped up before a show.” He chuckled and rested a hip against the vanity table. “Entirely classical music. This one is—”

“Gnossienne Number Five.”

He shouldn’t have been surprised that Stede would know it, the man had said he was more of a classical music fan after all. But what really warmed his heart was the small smile on Stede’s face. 

He didn’t look appalled like some grand illusion of a rockstar idol had been shattered like a mirror to reveal a man in his mid-forties who liked hard-boiled sweets and listening to classical music. If anything, the discovery seemed to make Stede more relaxed. “What else is on your playlist?”

“Well, I’m no connoisseur,” Ed admitted as he came back over and perched on the arm of the couch. “Most of the stuff that’s on there are the pieces that everyone knows. The usual offenders – Mozart, Beethoven, Bach, Verdi, Vivaldi…” He was rattling off common names, but Stede looked impressed.

“Do you have a favourite?”

“I really enjoy In The Hall Of The Mountain King. Always wanted to write a song that sampled it, I think it would work so well, but you know.” He shrugged. “Can’t really incorporate classical music into Queen Anne’s Revenge.”

“Why not?”

“Not the band’s style, mate.”

“But that piece would be ideal! If it was done right, it could be blended so well into a rock song.”

“I agree!” Ed’s face lit up, he felt positively giddy that someone understood where he was coming from. “That’s what I keep telling Iz! We need to get experimental, start having fun again, not just keep making the same shit that’s an easy sell. There’s no challenge, no drama, no fuckinglife !” 

He hadn’t noticed he’d been raising his voice until he spotted Stede shrinking back slightly. “Sorry.”

Stede waved a hand. “No, don’t apologise to me. Sounds like you need a change. Have you ever thought of quitting the band, striking out on your own?”

“I’ve considered it,” He sighed and slid down from the arm of the couch onto the cushion itself, slumping against the plush fabric. “But there’s no Queen Anne’s Revenge without Blackbeard. I can’t do that to the guys. We’ve been together so long, I can’t just fuck them over like that because I’m bored.”

Stede hummed quietly and Ed desperately searched for a topic change. He’d already revealed far too much, if any of this got out then it could really fuck things up. Stede certainly didn’t look like an investigative undercover reporter, but he’d been fooled before. 

Ed still remembered the fight he’d had with Izzy the day he’d slapped down a celebrity gossip rag where Ed was quoted talking about the time they’d had to cancel a show last minute because Izzy was spewing from both ends. The last thing he needed was another fight with Iz; he was already dreading the inevitable one after this latest fiasco. 

Ed’s eyes glanced down, caught sight of the snakeskin belt threaded through Stede’s linen trousers. “I like that.”

“Oh!” Stede looked down at it, one hand going to fiddle with the clasp. His nail flicked the metal tong back and forth. “This old thing? Found it in my auxiliary wardrobe, thought it was fitting. Would you…” He swallowed. “Would you like to try it on?”

“Do you mind?”

“Of course not!” Stede was already unfastening the buckle and tugging the belt through the loops on his trousers. “These pants are tailored to fit me anyway so the belt’s more for decoration than functionality.”

He handed it over and Ed took a moment to run the leather through his fingers. It was warm from where it had been pressed against Stede’s body. He had to stand up to slide it through the loops on his leather pants and buckle it into place. 

He thought about sucking his stomach in so Stede would think he had abs, but there were plenty of photos out there of him in crop tops with his little belly poking out, so the ruse would be up fairly quickly. 

Stede didn’t seem the type to be impressed by rock-hard abs anyway and Ed actually liked his little belly. There was a lot of fanart out there where he both had it and didn’t so the fans were apparently divided on it, but he’d never minded before this moment when he was thinking of how best to impress Stede.

Get it together, man, you’re a rockstar! Impressing people takes literally no effort.

He stood with his hands on his hips. “Well?”

Stede’s cheeks were pink. “It looks far better on you.”

Mission accomplished.

Before he could come up with anything else to say, there was a knock on the door and Anne’s face popped round the edge. “Everything ok in here?”

Ed took a step back to allow her in to do her final checks on Stede, but all was seemingly well. “I think you’ll be just fine, Stede. Your friends are waiting outside for you, I would have invited them in here but, ah,” She glanced towards Ed. “I think one or two of them might have been using you as an excuse to meet Blackbeard. Best to keep them waiting outside, I think.”

“Of course, I don’t want to cause any more trouble than I already have.” Stede stood up and allowed Anne to link their arms together even though he didn’t seem to be having any trouble walking. “I really can’t apologise enough for the nuisance I’ve been.”

“I’ve seen it plenty of times, don’t you worry. Seen far worse than a fainting spell, too.” Anne patted the back of his hand while Ed opened the door to let them out.

“Yeah, mate, you were no bother at all.” An entire show cancelled in the first five minutes was definitely not convenient, but Ed would have done the same again, no questions asked.

Stede hesitated in the doorway and Anne frowned, glancing between Ed and the security guard, clearly concerned that Stede was about to pull an obsessive fan move. Her arm tightened around his. “I suppose this is goodbye.”

“S’pose it is.” Ed waited for an obligatory autograph or selfie request, but Stede just stuck out his free hand towards him. Ed paused before taking it, but one squeeze and one shake and Stede released him again. It was nothing more than a polite handshake. “It was lovely meeting you, Stede.”

“You too, Ed.”

And now Anne was shooting him a look that said they would most definitely be talking aboutthat bombshell later. Only she, the sound engineer and the rest of the band knew his real name and even they barely used it.

Stede gave him a little wave with the same hand that he had shaken with as Anne escorted him out of the dressing room and back to his friends.

Ed’s fingers flexed involuntarily.

First Post

Previous Post

Next Post