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So, how long have Colin and Penelope been together?" Kate asked, making all the Bridgertons and Hastings freeze. Anthony, chocking on his tea, looked at his girlfriend with bewilderment.
"Together?" he asked, "What do you mean together?"
"You haven't noticed?" she asked, looking at everyone at the table, who had similar faces of shock and surprise.
"Colin and Pen have always been close," Eloise tried to explain, a question lingering in her voice. Colin and Penelope were much closer than usual lately. Lately, being a couple of years, "they are best friends. Not as best friends as Pen and I are, of course, but she is Colin's closest friend; Colin is her second closest friend. I am the first."
"I am sure they are great friends," Kate smiled, not being able to stop it from turning into a smirk. They all were so oblivious, "but I am pretty sure they are not just friends."
"What makes you say that, dear?" Violet asked, hope evident in her voice. Penelope was already like a daughter to her, and she always thought she and Colin would make a beautiful couple.
"Just the way they are around each other," Kate shrugged. She had witnessed many tender glances between the two in the last few dates. She had noticed how Colin gravitated towards the plump girl, making sure at least one part of him was touching her. It usually was either with his arm around her shoulder, his fingers playing with crimson curls, or sitting right next to her, their sides tightly pressed. She noticed how he would drop small kisses on her head when no one was watching them or how she would curl into his chest during the movie night. When the family hit the beach or poolside, Colin was the one rubbing some sunscreen on her soft back, blocking Eloise's attempts to help her best friend effectively, "where are they now, by the way?" she asked, knowing the answer.
"Colin said they would go for a walk at the beach," Benedict whispered.
"During sunset," Daphne said, eyes widening at the realisation, "rather romantic."
"They might be closer friends than we thought they were?" Eloise offered, refusing to believe that her brother and best friend were dating right in front of her nose, without her being aware of it. It was not really a convincing argument, and no one at the table was brave enough to oppose her. Just seconds later, the couple mentioned were seen approaching the table, and everyone was seeing them in a different light.
Colin's hoodie covering Penelope down to her middle thigs was not just a clothing item; Colin's arm thrown over the shorter girl's shoulders was not just a friendly gesture, and her arm around his waist, fingertips grazing his hipbone, was not just an innocent hold. Everyone, except Kate, was staring at them. Colin, being used to his family's weirdness, did not really give much thought to them, gaping at himself and the redhead.
"Is everything alright?" Penelope asked, moving closer to Colin unintentionally, seeking comfort and shield from burning stares.
"How was your walk?" Benedict asked, giving them a large smile. It was an unspoked decision, not to call them out, not before watching them, for the majority to be sure that they indeed were a couple.
The tricky part was not to catch intimate moments between the two. Colin was always affectionate, so was Penelope, but her affection was mostly saved to Eloise and Colin, with whom she felt most at ease. And Penelope being the shortest among the group, with chubby cheeks that begged to be squeezed and a soft body that begged to be hugged, almost every Bridgerton was touchy with her since they were much younger. They could witness tens of intimate moments between the two and, to be honest, between Penelope and Eloise every day. The issue would be to differentiate between friendly intimate and lover intimate.
"It was nice," Colin said, squeezing Penelope's shoulder, pushing her down to the last empty chair, choosing to stand behind her, leaning into it.
"Without us?" Daphne tried.
"No one asked to join?" Colin tried. His siblings were onto something, but what. Kate's smirk and his mother's emotional look together with his siblings' astonished face were clear evidence of that.
"You two seem to do a lot of things without us," Anthony tried.
"I didn't know that just because we decided to take a vacation together, we were to make every move as a clan," Colin said, "What is it with the questions, if you guys want to have a walk at the beach, we can go all together. I am sure the beach did not disappear since we came back from there, five minutes ago."
"Nothing, nothing," Kate smiled, "the heat is getting to us."
***
It was the same evening when they decided to have another movie night. Penelope was seated between Colin and Eloise as always, but this time they were pushed to sit on the couch in the middle of the room, so everyone could watch them and gather evidence. Colin had an arm stretched across the back of the couch, Penelope's rebellious curls tickling the skin of his arm, his fingertips were brushing against the creamy skin of her shoulder. The movie was intentionally a horror one, and after the first 30 minutes, Penelope was much closer to Colin than the beginning. His arm had slid down also, curling around her back, hand holding her arm. His chest a safe bay to hide her face every time something evil happened. The more intense the movie got, the less her face was separated from his chest. Colin was rubbing her back, soothing the scared girl. He was so focused on making Penelope feel better that he missed all the eyes on them.
After the movie, everyone silently moved to their rooms. Anthony, Benedict and Kate were lingering behind to see if Colin and Penelope would enter the same room, but they didn't, Colin preferring to hit the shower before bed.
"Horror movie was not the best choice," Anthony grimaced.
"They are together," Kate said, sure of herself. No matter how affectionate Colin was, no man looked at someone with those eyes without being madly in love. Even though Kate knew Penelope only for a couple of months in total, she could see the girl was physically insecure. After meeting her mother briefly for 20 minutes, she knew all the reasons behind it. She noticed a couple of times when she looked unsure that Benedict or Anthony touched her middle, be it a hand on her back or a nudge to her waist. It was different with Colin. He would leave a hand on her waist, her tummy, he would tickle her sides, squeeze her middle, rest his head on her tummy, and Penelope didn't even flinch. Even with her best friend, she couldn't have gotten this comfortable without sharing physical closeness. Though she didn't know every year of their friendship, she knew Eloise and Penelope were friends longer. But Eloise rarely was that physical with her around her middle, most probably as she knew Penelope got uncomfortable. She did not with Colin.
"How can you be so sure?" Benedict asked.
"I have eyes!"
"We do, too," Anthony huffed at his better half, "you might not have noticed, darling."
"Not my fault all of you are blind," she laughed, "also, you have been witnessing them being affectionate for years; as friends, you just might not have noticed the slight increase."
"Maybe they have been a couple since the beginning?" Benedict thought out loud.
"No," Anthony objected firmly.
"Why not?" Kate asked, not understanding the reason.
"Colin and Pen met when she was 16, and he was 21," he explained, "and he knows I will castrate him if he made a move on a minor, even if she was his soulmate and shit. That is wrong; that is child grooming."
"Let's not be that harsh," Benedict said, "but I am sure Colin would never make any moves on Pen until she was fully legal."
"You mentioned Penelope's much younger years," Kate said, "how did Colin meet her that late?"
"Boarding school, then Oxford," Anthony explained, "and he had wanderlust since he was a teen, so his summers were rarely spent in London with all of us, and when he was there, Pen was probably somewhere else. They just somehow did not meet until he was 21."
"So when do you think they started dating?" Kate asked Benedict.
"It's hard to say," he replied, "you know how we all are with Pen. To us, she is like a sister; she always was. With her mother and sisters, it wasn't a hard decision to adopt her into our family. Colin always refused to say this, that she is like a sister. I always thought it was because he met her much later. I mean, I remember when Pen stopped wearing diapers, Colin met her much later. Penelope always had a crush on Colin. We knew that, but after they become friends, we thought it passed. She always had a soft spot for Colin, though."
"As if Colin didn't for her," Anthony chuckled, "You should have seen him on the balls our families forced us to go. You met Cressida; that woman made it her mission to bully Pen and flirt with Colin. A bad combo, really; Colin rarely left her side and was there to hiss at Cressida every time she even made a neutral comment at her. It was either a good comment about Pen, or they would have to face Colin's wrath."
"Pen's 25th birthday!" Benedict exclaimed suddenly. Anthony's brows shot up, remembering the event.
"What happened on Pen's 25th birthday?" Kate asked curiously.
"Eloise had to leave early, something with her boyfriend, she and Pen usually stay together, after the parties," Anthony explained, "but she was one of the first ones to leave then, and at the very end, I went with Daphne and Simon. And Colin stayed."
"And we couldn't reach both of them until the next evening," Benedict said.
"Colin said they had a sleepover," Anthony said.
"They had some sleepover for sure," Benedict smirked.
"Isn't Pen almost 28?" Kate asked.
"In 4 months, she is," Anthony nodded.
"Fucking hell," Benedict said, "they have been dating for almost three years? Right in front of our eyes!"
***
The following day Anthony and Benedict had extra reasons to watch the pair as they arrived together for breakfast. After it, they, together with Simon, convinced Colin to have an all-men hike.
"Why the sudden sexism?" Colin asked as they climbed the hill.
"This is not a hike," Anthony said, "this, little brother, is an interrogation."
"What for?"
"You and Penelope," Simon said.
"Yes?"
"Since when are you two together?" Benedict asked.
"Since when do you think we are together?" Colin mused.
"Two years and eight months," Anthony said confidently.
"A great number," Colin said, with a knowing smile, refusing to say anything else on the matter.
***
Penelope was under a similar interrogation much later. As first, she had an excuse of running off to shower. Her damp hair was darker against her bare arms; Eloise was waiting for her on her back.
"Hello, Penny," she smiled at her best friend.
"Hi, El," she smiled, reaching for her hair foam, having limited time to tame her curls.
"Is there anything you want to tell me?" she asked innocently.
"Like what?"
"Like you and Colin."
"Me and Colin? What about us?"
"Has there been anything new lately?"
"Lately? No," she shook her head, "nothing happened lately."
"Okay," Eloise said, she knew Penelope pretty well, and she knew when she was honest. She just didn't know that she was asking the wrong question.
***
A couple of days passed since the suspicion began among the family. As his brothers were much less tactful than his sisters and mother, Colin learned what they were trying to do in the first interrogation. Just to tease them further, he became much more touchy with the redhead. It was rare that he got to annoy the whole family at once, and he was to make sure he got the best of it. Penelope would give him amused looks as he told her what was happening—sometimes giving out a giggle when they received annoyed groans from Anthony and Eloise.
"Enough!" it was Daphne who exploded; she hated not knowing.
"What is bothering you, sister dear?" Colin asked cheekily, rubbing Penelope's bare ankles as they rested on his lap.
"Are you and Penelope dating, Colin?" Violet asked in a much softer tone than her eldest daughter.
"Why would you ask that now?" Penelope asked, a mischievous look in her eyes.
"Because of this," Eloise said, motioning to her feet on her brother's lap, his hands massaging her legs and ankles, "all this touchiness, this affection, whatever this is."
"We always were affectionate with each other," Colin smiled. A too innocent smile, too innocent to be an innocent smile.
"Not this much," Simon said.
"No, this much," Penelope said.
"Are you or are you not dating?" Anthony hissed.
"Is this a courtroom?" Colin laughed.
"I will punch you, Colin, I swear, just answer the bloody question."
"We are," Penelope said, to save them all from a trip to ER. Bridgerton brothers got violent quickly, and being three giants meant having at least a couple of ER worthy injuries.
"Why didn't you tell us!" Violet huffed.
"Honestly, we thought you knew," Colin said sincerely, "I didn'T realise you had no idea until the hike last week."
"Why would you think we knew?" Eloise asked, trying to remember a time that they acted like Colin and Penelope were an actual couple.
"You kept insisting I made sure Penelope was taken care of," he said, pointing at Eloise, "you telling me to make sure I brought Penelope her coffee," he pointed at Benedict, "and you telling me to compliment her on her dress," he looked at his mother, "as if I ever didn't do any of these even before we were dating."
"Violet, you also kept telling me to be patient with Colin," Penelope said softly.
"When are we talking about?" Kate asked, "How long have you two been dating?"
"Five years in November?" Penelope offered.
"Two years and eight months was a cute guess, though," Colin laughed, looking at his brother's dumbfound faces.
"Four and a half years?" Daphne screamed, "How the hell we didn't notice? You two never kiss!"
"In front of you," Colin corrected, "and I am sorry but, are you aware how you all have a staring problem? And I would much rather not have my siblings and mother watch me as I kiss my girlfriend."
"Yes," Penelope nodded, "You all are like my family, and I have known you all for so long. I also feel a bit uncomfortable being some level of intimate in front of you."
"What made you think of 2 years and eight months?" Colin asked.
"How you two disappeared after Penelope's birthday?" Benedict offered.
"I thought the reason was obvious, but clearly you are not very observant," Colin smirked, first time in his life having this much of an upper hand against all his family, "I had special celebration plans with my girlfriend that required no relatives in sight," he said, laughing at the various reactions from all the room, including his blushing girlfriend who remembered that celebration too well.
"I can't believe you didn't know," Penelope said, "I never even used my bed in any of Bridgerton vacations and sleepovers for four years. I thought it would be a giveaway."
"Why didn't you tell us?" Violet asked.
"We thought you knew," Penelope said honestly.
"It also was clear we would end up together," Colin supported, "I always had a crush on Pen, even when it wasn't much appropriate."
"Colin Bridgerton!" Violet and Anthony said at the same time.
"I didn't do anything and showed I was interested until she was 22," he promised, "I even helped her to get ready for a date!" he added, when Anthony's glare did not soften, "And I hated every minute of it," he finished, making everyone laugh, even Anthony.