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picture perfect

Summary:

Fuck, fuck, fuck, shit, shit, shit, fucking shit.

So yeah, Colin was royally fucked. He checked every corner of his single bedroom apartment and there was no sign of his wallet.

or: Colin has been caring a picture of Penelope and him in his wallet for three years and she finds out about it

Chapter Text

Fuck, fuck, fuck, shit, shit, shit, fucking shit.

So yeah, Colin was royally fucked. He checked every corner of his single bedroom apartment and there was no sign of his wallet.

“Okay man, it’s okay, think!”

He went out for drinks yesterday with Eloise – used his card to pay at the bar, so he had his wallet – then they picket out dinner at the Chinese place at the corner – used his card to pay, again (How did he end up paying every time??) – and then they met with some of their friends at her place.

So, he must have lost his wallet somewhere between the restaurant and his place… Fuck! He was proper drunk last night. Penelope said she wouldn’t be able to join them that night and Colin felt sorry for himself, he missed her, so he drank, and then drank some more, and now he had a hangover and no wallet. There was no good plan here, so he just took his keys – at least he didn’t lose those – and walked out the door, heading towards Eloise and Pen’s place.

“Hey-yo, brother of mine!” El answered the phone.

“Hey, sorry, but I might have forgotten my wallet at your place, mind if I drop by?”

“Yeah, no problem.”

“Okay, great, thanks. Be there in 20.”

He walked the whole way there looking for the damn thing, but no luck.

When he got to El’s blue front door he rang the bell, and no more than ten seconds later he was already up the stairs to her apartment.

He knocked, but when the door opened, it wasn’t Eloise behind it.

“Penelope.”

“Hi!” God. She looked gorgeous, and it wasn’t even nine in the morning. She still had her nightgown on – betting she didn’t know how good she looked in the light pink piece of fabric. It was chill out, and usually in their apartment, but you couldn’t tell that from Penelope’s outfit, always showing so much skin, always so hot (and he didn’t just mean that literally). Her hair was already neatly bushed, and when she leaned in to hug him, he could smell the vanilla shampoo she loved. Shut up, he was not creepy. “Eloise said you would stop by, she already left though. Early class.”

“Uhm, yeah, I lost my wallet and I thought I should come by to see if it’s around here somewhere.” He closed the front door behind him and then started to follow her along the hallway.

“That sucks, I didn’t see it, but you should maybe check the living room.”

“Alright.” They got into the living room/kitchen. The room smelled amazing, of butter and tea, Pen had her phone connected to a Bluetooth speaker in the living room, playing some kind of podcast, that she paused in order to give him her full attention – as she always did when he was around.

“I am in the middle of making breakfast, but if you give me five minutes, I’ll help you find it.”

“No, it’s okay, don’t worry about it, I’ll just...” He looked around the room – again – with no plan “…look under the sofa and- yeah, I’ll manage.”

“How have you been?” She said from behind the stove.

“I am fine,” So the wallet was not under the sofa, and has he stood up right his head ached a bit, a reminder of last night. “With a bit of a hangover.”

“Sorry I missed dinner, I had a last-minute assignment, I swear Professor Charlote is trying to kill us all with the extra work. Hope you guys had fun.”

“It’s okay, you were missed.” Yeah, he could multitask, flirt with his best friend and push the sofa away from the wall, so he could look behind it, at the same time. (And maybe rejoice in the idea that Penelope would find his muscle strength attractive).

“Ow, did you miss me, Colin Bridgerton?”

Yes, but he decided to go with “Eloise was just more annoying than usual. That woman needs to be entertained 24/7, it’s not a one man’s job.”

“I swear I don’t know how you two survived 20 years under the same roof.”

When he was getting ready to get to another corner of the living room, Colin spotted brown  between the cushions. Got you!

“Sharing the same bathroom.”

“God. Should I make you a cuppa?” But he didn’t reply. As he opened the wallet, he noticed half of it was missing- No. NO. “Colin?”

“Uhm?” Fuck, it’s not like he could ask if she saw it laying around somewhere.

“Did you heard what- Oh, did you find it?”

She was not standing right in from of him, reaching for the wallet.

“Uhm-uhm, yep.” He never hid something in his pocket so quickly in his life.

“Is anything missing?”

“N-no, I got it.”

“ID, driver’s license…that sneaky year-old condom you carry around with you bills?” He wished he could hear her say condom in a much different context, to be honest, he blushed non the less- like she knew he would.

“Yup, ID, credit card, driver’s license, yup, uhm, uhm.”

“Okay…good then, documents are a bitch to get replaced. So, tea? I also made you some eggs on toast, you must be hungry. Thought we could catch up as well.” He followed her to the kitchen table, and as he got to sit down, there it was, hanged by a touristy magnet of Piccadilly Circus on Eloise and Penelope’s fridge, the other half of his picture, or should he say, their picture.

“What-Where did you get that?”

“Oh yeah, I found it in the hallways this morning just laying around. ‘Weird’, I thought, but it’s a rather good picture of me, wouldn’t you say?”

He definitely would, that’s why he has been caring it around with him for the last 3 years. It has travelled with him all over the world, kept him company on late night trains where there was no internet connection, made him keep writing when he started to lose faith in his abilities and, ahm-ahm, had gotten him off more times than he cared to admit, even to himself. It was a really good picture of Penelope.

“A really nice one, for sure.”

“I don’t even remember when that was- “ She didn’t even get to finish her sentence.

“New Year’s Eve Party, at my mom’s house”

“Oh yeah! God, that night was fun!”

“It really was.”

Penelope looked so good that night, so care free. After a year of living out of her mother’s house, she had started to exhume this light. She started to feel more comfortable around big groups, no longer clinging to the walls or waiting for Eloise to be done with whatever conversation she was having, so she could scoop her away into a private party of their own. (Colin has always dreamt of taking part into one of those, to be the one Pen pulled aside to talk privately in the corner.) But that night all he could see was how well she fit with his family, how she made everyone laugh with her witty humour, how she paid attention to what everyone said. How right they would be together.

And how beautifully she wore that midthigh green dress. Colin didn’t really have the fashion knowledge to describe the kind of material used to make said garment, but in that moment, he wished he had gone above and beyond and learnt, so later he could describe perfectly what his now new favourite outfit looked like. And the cleavage on that woman…Colin has always known that Pen possessed the most stunning pair of tits he has ever seen in his life, not even a turtleneck could hide it. But in that dress, the fucking dress that would be the death of him, they looked better than even. Colin actually chocked when she took off her jacket at the front door and smiled up at him. So perked up, and inviting. He couldn’t think. Such perfect skin, he bet the stubble he had acquired that past week would mark them so well, along with her blush, turning her skin this mesmerizing shade of red.

Not that Colin thought he would ever be lucky enough for Pen to let him do all the things he wanted to do with (and to) her. He has always known the effect Penelope had over him, she could ask him to jump, and he would reply “how high?”, but if she knew she did not mention it. Maybe to not hurt his feeling? Not to reject him? He was pining so hard for her, has been pining for years, he’s pretty sure everyone in his family knew about his feelings for his best friend, but he never had the nerve to actually address them out loud.

Daphne had come out of her room earlier that evening with her new camara and walked around the room taking pictures of everyone. She had already gotten Colin to take one of her with Eloise and Pen, and after being mesmerized by how greatly Penelope’s beauty translated to camara, he took the opportunity to ask for one of them both.

“Colinnn” there was that laughter again “c’mon, I just want to enjoy the party, I’ve taken a thousand selfies with your sister alone, no more pictures.”

“Yeah, but you didn’t take one with me.”

“And why would I take one with you?”

“C’mon Pen, how long have we known each other? Can’t I get a picture with one of my best friends?”

And as soon as that answer made it to Penelope’s ears, a smile crossed her face and Daphne camara’s flash captured that perfect moment. Her body leaning against Colin’s, where he could feel the heat of her arm, even thought his long sleeve shirt. She was short, but the heels she wore that night made her legs look a mile long, and he was so happy that his sister got their whole bodies in the frame, because he would take every inch of visible skin he could get, thank you.

Sometimes when he looked at the picture long enough, he swore he could listen to her laugh, wished he could dive into that picture, get back in time and relive that night all over again. Perhaps he would have the courage to kiss her then, finally take a leap of faith and face his fears, instead of doing what he always does, run away.

“I wonder about the other half of it.” Penelope broke the silence.

Colin could actually feel his pulse on his neck, his hearth beating so fast. Their relationship was stronger than ever. After coming back from his travels six months ago, Colin enrolled in a few classes in Pen and Eloise’s uni and got to spend a lot of time with the pair as he settled back into his new routine in London. Don’t get him wrong, travelling has always been his passion, but after a while (read: after missing Penelope for too long) he finally understood that a big part of why he did it was just so he could distract himself from the chances he did not take.

So, he was happy. He was home. He got Pen in his life again (not that he ever lost her), things seem to be going good for him. He came by at least thrice a week for dinner. They watched films in the living room, studied in the kitchen table, lost track of time just laying late at night in Pen’s bed talking and laughing (and flirting) until Eloise was banging on their shared wall for them to shut up. They played games, they went out for drinks, (he checked her out), he met her new friends, and most of all, he fell harder each day.

In an act of bravery, or perhaps just impatience of denying himself what he really wanted, he reached into his pocket, to take the other half of the picture out of his wallet. “Here.”

He was a simple man, he didn’t need a reminder of what he looked like, so he had folded the picture, so much so that the paper must have ripped. Colin took the other half off the fridge door and put the two pieces together so Pen could look at the picture.

“Ow, wow! You look great! You looked great that night!”

Colin could barely hear her, his heartbeat sounding in his hears.

“Thank you.” Simple was good, this was good, it was fine.

“So, this is your picture? I mean, it’s a picture of us, but yours?”

“Yes.”

“It looks well loved. “If she only knew. “How long have you had this?”

God. “Uhm, about three years.”

“And how did it get here, in my hallway, I mean?”

“I- ah- I carry it in my wallet. It, ahm, it must have fallen out of it last night.” A glass of water sounded amazing right about now.

She looked at him. “You’ve been carrying a picture of picture of us in your wallet for the past three years?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

Isn’t that the million pounds question?

He faced her. Let the air out of his longues. “You know why.”

“Because we are friends.”

“Penelope.” Fuck, was this even a good idea? “You know why.”

“Oh.” He wished he could read her mind, she looked at the two pieces of the picture in his hands. He was starting to tremble, so he just laid the two pieces into the palm of her right hand. First, the half where she could see his smile, then, of top of that, the other one. Her half. His favourite half. The ‘well loved’ half. And the realization reached her big blue eyes. “Oh.

“Yeah.”

“For-for three years?” Was she starting to shake as well?

“For far longer than that, if we are being honest.” And he was. For the first time in a very long time.

“But- you never told me- “

“I thought you knew, I thought you were just being nice and letting me down easily, rejecting me.”

“Rejecting? You? I-I had no idea…”

“I followed you around everywhere, Pen. Benedict started to call me ‘Pet’ after a while. I can’t say he was wrong. You must have suspected something.”

“Colin, I didn’t know. If I knew I would have- But then you left!”

“A pretty pathetic move on my part, but I didn’t know how to deal with it. I was 22 and in love with you. And I was just so scared to lose you. I thought that if I went away, if I didn’t coexist in the same place as you, I would somehow preserve this-this thing between us. If I was far away, there was no way I could screw us up. You were starting to come out of your shell, and you were so beautiful and so-so…BRIGHT! I was actually starting to go mad, you were all I could think about. I thought I had already embarrassed myself enough and had to come to the conclusion that there was no chance you would have chosen me. And then I came back and I thought I should give this another chance, I couldn’t, can’t let you go. I’ve been trying to get the right moment to tell you know much I love you-”  He couldn’t breathe.

Pen’s voice came out so quiet, Colin couldn’t hear what she said.

“What?”

“You love me?”

Yes. YES. “Yes, Pen, that’s what I’ve been trying to show you for the last six months. Getting to be with you, watching you walk around the house with these nightgowns on – what even is this?” He could see everything, he got the hand to touch it, but he couldn’t, he would just combust.

“It’s satin.”

“It’s hot as fuck. And so are you. I want to kiss you so bad, it’s actually ridiculous how much I want to kiss you all the time.”

Their height different has been something quite noticeable between them two, but you wouldn’t be able to tell by the ease in which Penelope got her lips on his.

Her breathe on his mouth was so hot, just like her skin, that he finally got to touch – not able to hold back. Pen’s kiss was as soft as her, Colin never wanted to let go.

They started slow, none of them wanting to rush this. Their first kiss. Colin placed his right hand at the nape of her neck, guiding her mouth thought the motions of their kiss, and his left did their bodies a favour and picked Penelope up, on top of the kitchen counter, closer to his height . When she introduced her tongue, his knees gave in a little and he couldn’t help but moan into her mouth. Penelope’s hands started to do – honest – god’s work, moving all over his torso. He thought about their first kiss a million times, what it would be like to hold Pen against him, feel her tongue against his…and it was so good to finally be able to do it. Pen was so good, he knew she would be. Her nails reached the nape of his neck and then up, up, up, until she got a fist full of his hair and pulled.  His hips moved against his better instincts, and he could feel the heat of her thigh against the zipper of his jeans.

Penelope’s lips left his, but before he could complain, she was kissing down his jawline, moving over his beard. When she got to his neck he tried to lean it as far as possible, giving her better access. He doesn’t know how she did it, but she found the right spot, where his hearth beat under his skin, and sucked. “Pen, yes, please.”

That seemed to please her. When she was done marking him, she pulled away, in a way to admire the work she has done. He was a mess, and she looked so compose – apart from the swollen lips and the dark eyes. He didn’t have much time to say, nor did he want to, anything else, she was already getting their lips together.

This time they moved more frenetically. He was no longer the only one moaning and losing his mind, trying not to come just from a kiss (not that it would ever be ‘just a kiss’ when it came to Penelope). “You are so fucking beautiful.”

It was his time to explore her skin. He kissed her nose, the few moles that grew there, then down her cheeks, her jaw, down her collarbone – where he sucks – and she let out the most beautiful whimper. And then…”Colin, yes.” He palmed her left tit with his hand, however big, not enough to cover the whole thing, and oh…did he love that.

“These have been driving me crazy for years, Pen.” Her nipples were calling for him, and so, against the piked in the pink satin, Colin stroked his tongue over them. If this was all he could get from her, he would take it, but then Penelope reached between them and, in a swift move, lowered her nightgown just enough for her breasts to spill out of her cleavage.  

They were even prettier than what his brain could have pictured. They were heavy, her skin smooth, with just some stretch marks on the outer sides. He rubbed her nipples between his fingers, just to confirm how sensitive they were. Could she come just from this? From him focusing on her chest? He definitely could. He loved watching her skin starting to glisten from the trace of his spit on her, made him think of something else he would love to get on her tits.

Finding her eyes, he got his mouth on her chest, right in the middle. He bit down, gently, and watched as her skin reacted.

“Colin…” He could listen to his name being called like thar forever.

“Yes?” She loved his hair, if the way she was pulling at it was any indication.

“I would have never rejected you.”

“Are-re you serious?”

“Colin, look at me.” He was. He saw every part of her. “For the longest time, I knew you were it for me. How couldn’t you be? You saw me when no one else did, and you gave me the confidence to let others see me as well. I’ve loved you since I can remember, ever since you moved across the street.” He has never been looked at with so much love. And he recognizes it now, that the way she is looking at him is the way she has always looked at him. He touched his forehead to hers, letting out a small breath. Finally. “And I have so many more romantic things I would love to share with you, I want to share it all with you, but to be honest I’ve been thinking about your dick, hard against my leg, for the last ten minutes and would love to use the condom you’ve got in that wallet of yours.”

His life would never be the same. They smilled. “We can definitely do that.”