This is Chapter 8 for “Kalahari Down” by oatmilktruther
Rated: Explicit
Pairing(s): Blackbeard | Edward Teach/Stede Bonnet
Fic Summary: 
"What was coming, he still couldn’t mark beyond the word “trouble” lit up in gold when it came rolling in over the east field that late May before the first licks of the summer he turned 19.
Trouble rolling over the hill and right up to Ed.
Trouble pulling his stetson, loose around his ears like it wasn’t quite fit to him, from his head, down to his chest. Trouble tilting his head to Ed, like Ed was a fine lady, like Ed was anything but a ranch hand perched on a borrowed horse. Trouble asking, soft and sturdy as fresh wheat bread, 'how do you do'?"

This is a complete 1880s-1890s cowboy AU clocking in just under 46k that will update weekly as we work through beta'ing each chapter. This is about finding yourself, finding your home, and finding the person you want to share both with. This is about doubts we have in ourselves and how they poison the rest of our judgments. This is about Edward Teach in leather chaps being the most fuckable rider this side of the Mississippi. This is about how one man can hear one Orville Peck song and turn it into 46k words with absolutely no restraint.

Chapter Summary: Sleep now, upright / Late start, feel fine / Dreaming ‘bout the time / But you can’t now, never mind!

Original fic found here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/51218605

The Intro/Outro is “Kalahari Down” by Orville Peck. You can find it here: https://open.spotify.com/track/29VSdjZG2XZCHzKwgjvsER?si=d7ebd453f57348d3

Author’s Tags:
alternate universe - cowboys, Cowboy AU, Neither of those tags are canon so whatever sticks, Angst with a Happy Ending, Time Skips, Epistolary Elements, 1880s, 1890s, Rough (emotionally) sex, Reunions, Offscreen Animal Death, Offscreen animal pregnancy/birthing, Breaking Up & Making Up, Implied Period Typical Homophobia, Ed's hatred of steam locomotives, offscreen minor character death, First Kiss, Ed and Stede start the story at age 18 and are in their mid 30s by the end, Stede's love of steam locomotives, First Love, Getting Together, Implied/Referenced Gun Violence, Ed's ambiguous country accent, Baking cornbread as a love language, Bareback bronc riding as actual bareback bronc riding, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, this fic deals with heavy themes but there are many moments of light and joy and love and sex, and a happy ending chapter so good it made my beta cry four times, specific content warnings in each chapter's notes, Ed POV

Chapter 8 for “Kalahari Down” by oatmilktruther (OFMD)

Most of my catalogue is for OFMD, but I do branch out to other fandoms including The Locked Tomb series, Good Omens, The Magnus Archives, and more. If you have suggestions of fics you’d like to hear me cover, let me know here, or on Twitter. 

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Chapter 8 for “Kalahari Down” by oatmilktruther (OFMD)

SierraJaneSims