Stede sighed happily as Ed curled up around him, Stede's own arm looping around Ed's back to anchor them together. It had been so long that he had been touch-starved, scared to let anyone this close to him. Everything had happened so quickly like his life was one misadventure after another, but this felt slow; it felt deliberate and careful, but natural. They fit.
His fingers idly rubbed little circles on Ed's back, as if they had done this every night for twenty years. Stede let his eyes close on the last dance of flame light across Ed's beautiful face, content that he could do this for an eternity.