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Stede sits down to read his nightly bedtime story to the crew of the Revenge, only to discover that Lucius has saddled him with a particularly trashy novel in which a gentleman and a pirate begin a hot and heavy romance. Ed has been on board for several weeks, and everyone is sick of the slow burn and apparently ready to shove them down the path to a real romance by whatever means they can.
As Stede reads (and tries to work out who the author of the story might be), they'll bicker their way through romance tropes, story structures, and what it means to have a happy ending. And if by the end of this night Edward Teach isn't in Stede Bonnet's bed, Lucius will probably have to eat his match-making hat...
Edward Teach is a writer from Toronto who decides to go to his family cabin in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia one September. As he's settling in for a retreat away from city life, a massive storm rolls in that turns into a hurricane that is far stronger than predicted. Everyone else in the surrounding area has fled into town, but Ed decides to stick it out.
As the storm begins to gain strength, he hears a desperate knock on his door. A very wet and very grateful Stede Bonnet, who was at the glamping dome in a neighbouring property, joins him in the cabin as the storm intensifies.
It's the first Christmas since Stede Bonnet's divorce. His kids are with their mother, and with nowhere else to go, he decides to go down south to the Dominican Republic for two weeks over Christmas and New Year's. There, he meets Ed, who is his neighbour and is also there by himself. Both men are dealing with loneliness and drama in their personal lives, but find comfort in one another.
“This is Mary?” Ed asks Handsome. What did she call him? Stede? “As in… The Mary?”
Both of them stare at him. Mary, with confusion. Stede, with bewilderment.
“Yes, um…” Stede hesitates. “The Mary. My ex-wife.”
Ed chuckles. “Well, that’s awkward. Not exactly the way you want to meet your boyfriend’s ex, is it?”
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Modern AU where Ed and Stede meet on a 14-hour flight and immediately end up fake dating, because of course they do.