Archive of Our Own

Text chat between Colin and Pen

Colin ✈️: So? Opinions?

Pen ✍🏻: People will do anything for a few clicks, eh?

Colin ✈️: I don't know, as far as TikTok trends go, this one's kind of cute

Pen ✍🏻: Or a death sentence for friendship

Colin ✈️: I'm hearing *dun dun dun* behind that ominous statement

Pen ✍🏻: Imagine if your best friend doesn't have feelings for you

Pen ✍🏻: You have effectively ended a friendship for social media points

Colin ✈️: I'm positive all their friends pre-consented

Pen ✍🏻: Even so

Pen ✍🏻: How will it not make things weird after?

Colin ✈️: You agree it won't?

Pen ✍🏻: It must be so simple inside your mind

Pen ✍🏻: Tell me, what's it like to walk around with a head that weighs so little, unburdened by a brain?

Colin ✈️: Really regretting getting you that first edition of Jane Eyre, btw

Pen ✍🏻: Ahhhhh I'm sorry I love you gimme gimme gimme

Colin ✈️: You only keep me around for my money, don't you?

Pen ✍🏻: Yes 🙂‍↕️

Colin ✈️: Okay, I have a confession to make

Pen ✍🏻: You're having Victoria Beckham's baby?

Colin ✈️: Pen, focus

Pen ✍🏻: I am a camera

Colin ✈️: My agent thinks my socials are a great way to generate more interest towards the book I want to write

Colin ✈️: Even though they're under my purview

Pen ✍🏻: Henry's right!

Pen ✍🏻: You really need to bring in the slut audience with your shirtless beach selfies 🤝

Colin ✈️: Penelope Anne

Pen ✍🏻: I'll behave 😇😇😇

Colin ✈️: And participating in social media trends, however ridiculous, helps generate that interest

Pen ✍🏻: Ah, I see

Pen ✍🏻: So you're going to be kissing someone on camera for a video?

Pen ✍🏻: Well, let's see, have you considered taking an ad out on marketplace?

Colin ✈️: No, in fact, I haven't considered pimping myself out for a kiss to complete strangers

Pen ✍🏻: Your soulmate might be waiting for you right now somewhere under the artificial plant listings

Pen ✍🏻: You have to believe

Colin ✈️: You're really going to make me spell it out?

Pen ✍🏻: No idea what you're on about

Pen ✍🏻: Ooh, send an APB out to your exes, maybe one of them will bite

Colin ✈️: Yes, they probably will bite… my bollocks off

Pen ✍🏻: Your kinky sex games are none of my business

Colin ✈️: PEN

Pen ✍🏻: Have you considered standing outside Costa with a sign saying “kiss me on camera, I'm desperate.”

Colin ✈️: Oh ftlog, will YOU help me recreate the trend?

Pen ✍🏻: There it is

Pen ✍🏻: And, no. Not a snowball fight’s chance in hell

Colin ✈️: And why not? You're my best friend

Pen ✍🏻: Technically, El is my best friend

Colin ✈️: Technically, you don't sleep in El’s t-shirts because you miss her too much

Pen ✍🏻: Because she doesn't abandon me to gallivant around the globe like a globe gallivanter

Colin ✈️: You're perfect for it!

Colin ✈️: You've been on my videos before, so my audience already knows you

Pen ✍🏻: Yeah, and last time you had me on for the NYE party video, I had ten men and three women with giant tit fetishes spam my inbox

Colin ✈️: Yeah, sorry about that 🫤

Pen ✍🏻: You say that now

Colin ✈️: Okay, tell me your qualms

Colin ✈️: And don't be sarcastic!

Pen ✍🏻: Fine 😒

Pen ✍🏻: Forget the public aspect, or that the idea of letting strangers into any intimate moments makes my skin itch

Pen ✍🏻: Kissing requires… You know, kissing

Colin ✈️: Yes. As the name implies

Pen ✍🏻: You and I don't kiss. It is not a platonic activity

Colin ✈️: But it's for professional reasons. And you're the only woman I know who I’d feel comfortable enough with

Colin ✈️: Plus, it's the best friend challenge

Pen ✍🏻: I'll hire someone to play your best friend

Colin ✈️: I couldn't possibly pay someone to be a better friend than you naturally are 🥺

Pen ✍🏻: Smarmy bastard

Colin ✈️: We can put in as many stipulations as you want to make it comfortable for you

Colin ✈️: You decide length of kiss, hand placement, how chaste it is, whether we sit or stand, and how long you want to film

Colin ✈️: You can even pick the flavor of gum I'll chew beforehand to make sure my breath isn't horrible!

Pen ✍🏻: Sigh. Platonic kissing, TikTok is seriously a breeding ground for insanity

Colin ✈️: Okay, look. How about just one run? We'll film just one video, and if it's even a little weird for you, that's that, I'll call it off

Colin ✈️: No hard feelings

Colin ✈️: Unless it's a trust issue, or you think I'll make it into a thing

Pen ✍🏻: I'd trust you with my life, you know that

Colin ✈️: ♥️

Pen ✍🏻: Fine, ONE run. Come to mine tomorrow after work

Colin ✈️: Yeah???

Pen ✍🏻: Paws down, Romeo

Pen ✍🏻: ONE kiss, and if I feel like it's all strange, we call it off, you don't post it, and don't you dare pout

Colin ✈️: Promise! Zero pouting

Colin ✈️: I'll even wear cherry lipbalm since I know that's your favorite flavor 😁

Pen ✍🏻: I need to stop drinking around you and revealing stupid things 😒

Colin ✈️: Drunk Pen is my favourite

Pen ✍🏻: All mes are your favourite

Colin ✈️: True 😘

Colin was in an absolute state by the time he knocked on Pen’s door.

The entire tube ride over, he had entirely lost any control over his senses and managed to work himself up into utter agitation. Adding to his distress, the phone signal on the tube was lousy, and Pen, his person, couldn’t be contacted to help him calm down. Which meant that by the time he reached her flat, his nervous ticks had taken over his entire being.

He had run his hands through his curls so many times that pigeons could credibly confuse it for a nest. Tugging on his shirt endlessly had put unseemly wrinkles in it. In the walk up three flights of stairs, he had picked at his right index cuticle so much that there was a speck of blood on it.

He had forced Pen into this.

She was waiting inside with the police to have him arrested.

She was going to hate how he kissed and never talk to him again.

If it was for WORK, he kept telling himself, it wouldn't matter. It would be fine.

Fine fine fine rhymes with nine and brine, the singsongy lunatic inside his mind began chanting, a voice which sounded suspiciously like a drunken Benedict.

It didn't matter.

She wouldn't know.

She couldn't possibly know that he was so head over arse in love with her that he was probably going to faint after breathing her oxygen.

That he had started travelling less and staying in town more because being away from her was now agonizing, increasingly giving him the feeling of ripping out an I.V., which poured lifesaving fluids into his bloodstream.

That he had begun writing a novel because he could stay put, lay roots, tell her…

But he couldn't fucking tell her. He could never just tell her.

Pen was the most stoic person he had ever met. She gave nothing away, guarded her emotions behind a vaulted gate, and could see through the pretenses of another person seconds after meeting them.

Colin was one of the very fortunate few who ever got access to her softer side. Her goofy, witty, sardonic side. Who was privy to her weaker moments, the waxen interior she would only reveal when the flames around her began burning too hot and bright.

Anytime he thought of telling her, he'd choke up; the cost-benefit analysis always reminded him that her friendship was too precious to forsake on a gamble.

Until Henry had suggested he also participate in the ‘kissing my best friend’ challenge, and, recklessly, Colin had agreed. And even more foolishly, had begged Pen to be the one to perform with him ten seconds after Henry made his suggestion, moving entirely on desperation and nerves.

It could only go one of two ways:

Maybe the kiss would make Pen realize she also felt the same and open up the potential for their friendship to finally, mercifully, become something deeper.

Or, it would immediately become awkward, he wouldn't post the video, they'd laugh it off, and never talk about it again.

One scenario would make his dreams come true, the other would probably wreck him beyond repair. But in both scenarios, for a few seconds, he would be the man Penelope Featherington wanted to kiss.

He would know the touch of her lips outside of his dreams.

Oh dear god, what the fuck was wrong with him? He should leave, he should–

“Jesus Christ, Col. Get in here, let me grab you some water.”

He didn't know how long he'd spaced out, but the next lucid thing he remembered was being pulled into Pen's modest living room and being handed a glass of water.

Pen sat next to him as he chugged the whole glass down thirstily, shaking her head, a wry little smile on her face.

“You're completely worked up.”

He took a deep breath, trying to smile and barely managing a grimace.

“I'm fine”.

“I can see that,” she chuckled, raising her hand to comb through his unruly curls, helping tame them somewhat. His eyes closed against his own will at the touch of her gentle fingers on his scalp, and he sighed, the tenseness inside his bones softening.

“Sorry. You know how I get.”

“I do,” Pen replied a little sadly, reaching her free hand down to pick his own up. “You've gotta stop doing this to your nails. You're going to get scars.”

Fuck, it always felt like a stab to the gut, how well she saw him. Truly saw him, without any of the charm and frills he projected to the world. Picked up on his little nuances and habits, attuned to him as though there was an antenna inside her set to capture the frequency of his waves alone.

It was how he remembered that moment of realization that he loved her.

A few months ago, when he'd first gotten an agent and successfully sold his book proposal to a publishing house, he'd shared the news at the monthly Bridgerton Brunch their mum hosted. Everyone had broken into cheers and congratulatory speeches, champagne was popped, thumps on his back, prodding questions about plot and character and timelines, a cacophony of proud pandemonium.

But Pen, sitting next to him, had just gripped his hand silently under the table to stop him from scraping his cuticles raw. She stroked her own fingers across his knuckles gently, grounding him.

It was how she always anchored him, with zero fanfare and utter knowing.

Understanding, without him having to say a word, that writing a novel was an amazing feat he was proud of. But first, he would have to wade through intense self-doubt and pressure. That he hadn't slept well in days, that he always managed to get to the other side of feeling complete calm and joy; he just had to swim through a murky sea of confusion and insecurity.

But she was a lifejacket. She was why he got drenched, but never drowned.

That day, with his hand in hers, and her smile that told him ‘it’s okay, you don't have to pretend with me,’ the realization that he loved her came to him.

Not like a thunderbolt. Not like a sudden maelstrom.

It just made itself known. Quietly, like the blood thumping inside his veins. Settled softly into the ridges of his knuckles under her stroking fingers, expanded into the plural space between their bodies. Nestled like a warm hug into his heart.

All the more devastating for its mutedness.

You love her. Of course you do. You've traveled the world, but your home was always next door. There it is.

“I know, I've gotten better. I just… okay, level with me. I forced you into this, didn't I?”

Penelope frowned, the little crinkle between her brows pulling him back into the present.

“Forced me? Have you met me before?”

“Pen, you were right. A kiss isn't just…” well, now he was rambling, but he plodded on through. “A kiss isn't some casual thing, even if it's just for the camera, and you said no, and I kept pushing, so you felt obligated but you don't have to–”

Her hand on his mouth trapped the rest of his words behind her palm.

“Stop babbling.” Her ocean-blue eyes shone with amusement, but her tone was serious. “You know better than anyone that no one makes me do anything. I pushed back as a joke; if you're going to kiss someone on camera for a trend, I'd rather you not exchange saliva with a complete stranger.”

Ignoring the little twitch his cock gave at the thought of exchanging saliva with Pen, Colin felt himself relax a little, studying Pen's face for any signs of uncertainty.

“You sure?”

“Yes. Now, you said I could control all the parameters?”

Colin grinned.

“Yes ma'am. Lay them on me.”

“Okay, your hands are allowed to go anywhere between my shoulder blades and waist, but no breast or arse gropage on camera.”

“What kind of a pervert do you think I am?”

“Just don't want you to get all caught up in the magic of the moment,” she teased, poking him in the ribs. “As for length, let's say no more than five seconds? Long enough to be memorable, not so long that it gets into what the fuck territory?”

The idea of his lips being on hers for any length of time was enough to make his brain feel like marshmallows over a campfire, but he tried to pay attention. To her words. Not how scintillating her lips looked, painted a soft pink colour she always favoured for daytime. ‘Contessa Coral,’ the shade was called. Not that Colin had researched what the subtle undertones of it smelled like, or sniffed it like a loon in a cosmetics store once, when he missed her.

Not at all.

“Do you have any preference for whether I should take my glasses off or keep them on?”

He clocked a shift behind her eyes, a flash of something that felt decidedly unfriendly, though he chalked it up to stress-induced hallucinations.

“Keep them on,” she answered quickly, then added. “Makes you more legit.”

That made no sense, but if she wanted to keep them on, he’d be damned if he took them off.

“Okay… yeah, good. I’m glad we have parameters in place… err, last order of business…” he coughed, then continued. “Positioning… Do you want to sit or stand? Also, you’re meant to initiate the kiss, is that okay...?”

“Let’s just sit,” Pen answered, “stay comfortable. And I’m fine with initiating it… I’ve actually been watching a bunch of videos from the trend; there doesn't seem to be any hard or fast rules. People are even kissing at different points… but I kind of want to go at the ‘all I need is to be struck by your electric love’ line.”

Of course she’d been researching the trend thoroughly and studying timings.

How was he not supposed to love her? Even when it was for a silly ten-second video for his socials, she took it seriously, gave it due consideration.

Colin fished his phone out of his pocket, opening up his TikTok app.

“What do you like about that line specifically?”

He looked up from the app to see Pen standing up and stretching, exposing a small bit of her soft belly between her black cami and comfortable-looking blue cotton shorts. Resisting the fucking insane urge to just nuzzle his face right into the exposed bit of her midsection, he pretended to jiggle with his camera settings.

“I don’t know,” Pen laughed. “It’s going to sound ridiculous, but you know how my life has been. Fairly… unelectrocuted…”

“You mean organized?”

“Sterile.”

“Respectful.”

“Boring.”

“Grounded.”

Pen sat next to him, closer, her thigh resting warmly against the faded denim of his jeans. Cocked a sardonic eyebrow at him.

“Stop trying to redefine my existence to make it sound more exciting than it is. I like being a grandma, this isn’t a pity party.”

That was yet another thing that had always had his utmost admiration; Pen was comfortable in her skin in a way very few people he knew, including himself, could emulate. She made no apologies for preferring to live like a hermit, keeping a close circle of friends, and enjoying her own company. Having grown up in a household that had been tumultuous, riddled with fights and financial instability, Pen took fierce pride in her ‘boring’ existence.

“If it stays still, it’s less likely to topple over,” she had once told him, during a sleepy midnight phone call while he was in Marseilles.

“Okay,” Colin conceded, then cleared his throat, meeting Pen’s eyes. She was staring at him placidly, the barest hint of a smile alluding to her amusement at how nervous he was. “I guess… err… you wanna just do it on the sofa, then? Fuck, I mean, kiss on the sofa. That was phrased weirdly.”

She burst into laughter at that, making him flush at what a bumbling idiot he was acting like. The Colin Bridgerton of social media was suave, collected, and charming.

Penelope’s Colin was just a sentient pile of chaos.

“Col…” Penelope shifted closer to him, grabbing his phone out of his hands and placing it against a stack of coasters on her table so his camera faced them. “Breathe…”

The tenderness in her voice was punctuated by the fondness shining in her eyes as she waited for him to gather himself. Her state of utter calm, which normally helped his own vital functions regulate, was now disorienting him in a way he couldn’t make heads or tails of. Something was swimming behind her familiar expression, something weightier. Intentional.

Something he wasn’t privy to, something he wanted to dive in and discover.

“Okay, sorry. I’ll stop blubbering. Should we just… press play? We get what we get…”

Pen looked at the camera, then back at him. The gentle pitter-patter of raindrops against the window behind the sofa was lending the moment a romantic tinge Colin hoped would make the video more memorable.

The kiss, more memorable.

For her, anyway. The very first idea of kissing her had already ruined him beyond repair for anyone else.

Nodding slightly, she adjusted her posture so they both sat facing the camera. On the screen, he saw her bite her lower lip, felt a dizzying rush of blood to his head, counted one two three silently, and reached forward to press play.

The song started playing, thundering louder than the roar of his stormy heartbeat.

Candy, she’s sweet like candy in my veins… Baby, I’m dying for another taste

He felt Pen’s thigh press more firmly against his.

And every night my mind is running around her Thunder’s getting louder and louder…

He saw her bopping her head a little, faking (Pen wasn’t a head-bopper, so he knew it was for the camera) nonchalance as the moment inched closer.

Baby, you’re like lightning in a bottle I can’t let you go now that I got it…

Colin felt his hand trembling, trying to keep it off the camera.

She was Penelope.

Penelope.

His best friend.

All I need is to be struck…

She turned her head to him. He forgot to breathe, drowning inside her oceanic gaze.

They could pretend. He could… he could, he would, he was okay, he was–

By your electric love…

He was nothing.

He was dead beyond the point of resuscitation, and more alive than he had ever been.

Penelope was kissing him.

She was kissing him.

She was kissing him.

She was kissing him.

She was kissing him.

She…

Jesus Christ.

Her lips tasted exactly like the sweet tang of roses he knew her lipstick was made of, so warm, so plush, so…

So good on his own. So right, that anything he had ever tasted fell out of his memories into an unseen abyss.

She pressed against him softly, cupping his face, his own hands drawn like magnets to her waist. Their lips slid together quietly. Tame. Chaste. Camera-appropriate.

Life-changing. Earth-shattering. Devastating.

He tried to count five seconds, tried to will his hands not to wander up and down her curves as they were screaming at him to do, tried to focus on everything at once: her taste, her touch, the mintiness of her breath, the citrus of her body lotion, how well their lips slotted together, how fucking great she was at this.

Centuries later, because time had ceased to exist, Pen pulled back, panting, and blinked at him with wide eyes and pupils blown.

Colin opened his mouth to say something, but the words were lodged in his throat, being punched down by the tingle of her lips on his own from milliseconds ago. His glasses were askew on his nose, partially fogged up by their combined breaths (God), but he couldn’t be arsed to wipe them off.

Because Penelope looked…

She looked like she’d been kissed. By him.

A blush was painted high on her cheeks, her lips shining a little moister than before (fuck), the hands cupping his face drifting down to his shoulders. His own hands remained possessively at her waist, knowing the video was over and he should remove them; knowing still, that to remove them would put a distance between them where friendship might steal right into the crevices again, that the inches between their bodies would become an untraversable chasm.

The song kept playing, the words dissolving into something unrecognizable, as Pen’s expression mutated from a quiet disbelief into a sudden recognition. She shook her head, smiled at him, smiled in a way he had never seen before, as though he had made a joke and only she understood the punch line.

“Turn the camera off,” she murmured.

“Huh?”

What camera?

Oh, fuck.

He scrambled to turn it off, already aching for the feel of her curves under his fingertips, wondering if he should play it back right away so they could decide how much of the footage to use.

He saved the video on his phone and closed the app, turning the phone face down on the table. Inhaling deeply, he closed his eyes for an unbearable moment and steeled himself to return to familiarity. Pen’s breathing was labored behind him, making his courage falter when he faced her.

There was that look again.

She was staring at him like…

“Camera off?”

Her voice was barely audible, gravelly. It made his spine tense up, and he nodded and shuffled sideways to turn his body to hers. “Yeah. Camera off…”

“Good.”

And then she shoved at his chest until he fell back against the headrest, swinging her leg over so she was straddling him. Before he could register what why how, her lips were on his again.

Fire.

He was sure the raindrops outside had become molten because everything inside him was suddenly incendiary, so the world must have been set ablaze.

Penelope was kissing him.

Kissing him.

Not for the camera, not for a trend, not for a request by a friend.

Kissing him of her own volition, and kissing him very unchastely. Not camera-friendly, not polite, fucking insane.

She was kissing the very breath out of him. Her lips moved on his as though if she didn’t taste him, she’d melt away. She sucked at his upper lip, rolled the lower one between hers, gasped into his mouth when he tightened his grip on her lower back and began answering her fervor with his own, moaning deep into her throat.

His tongue touched her pout, withdrew teasingly when her own reached out. He smiled into her little whine of protest, then groaned when she licked at his mouth, used the tip of her tongue to trace the outline, like that was something she just did, like he was supposed to be able to function after that.

His own tongue tangled with hers, hot and slippery and delicious, their tastes melding in unprecedented synchronicity.

Their kisses became sloppier, faces turning this way and that, hands groping frantically. Her palms snaked under the back of his shirt, burning him with the touch of her on his bare skin, making him press her closer, deepening the kiss. Which had the torturous benefit of seating her right on top of his rapidly hardening erection, and the additionally mind-numbing benefit of her immediately beginning to grind down on said erection.

Colin’s hips began instinctively pushing up in response, making Pen rub herself down harder and faster, her shorts riding up, her warm heat seeking friction on him. And he’d give it to her, anything she asked for.

Return it to her, every bit of Colin Bridgerton finally coming home.

Hours, minutes, seconds, or years of dry humping like horny teenagers in the backseat of a car later, they tore their lips apart to gasp rapidly for oxygen. Colin’s glasses were useless now, and Pen took them off his face slowly, wiping them with the hem of her cami, before sliding them back on.

Kissing the tip of his nose.

Colin just sat there staring at her with the dopiest possible smile on his face, erection burgeoning, heart exploding, joy fizzing out of his every pore like a soda bottle shaken too hard.

Pen was staring right back at him, stroking his stubble indulgently, the other hand still glued to his back, and Colin wondered if getting her handprint tattooed on his spine was a crazy idea.

Probably.

Maybe.

Was it?

The silence stretched between them as her eyes flickered between both of his, Colin tucking unkempt strands of her hair behind her ear. She seemed to be seeking the answer to a question she hadn’t asked, and he waited.

She nodded, almost to herself, and leaned forward to rest her forehead on his.

“You finally figured it out, huh?”

“What?”

She laughed then, the sound bubbling up between them.

“That you’re in love with me.”

Oh.

Oh.

Okay.

So today was the day he died.

“Penelope…”

“Fucking took you long enough…” the words were muffled into his neck as she began kissing her way down. Hot, balmy, open-mouthed kisses, licking into the hollow of his throat, making him shudder pleasurably.

“Pen…” he began, the words dissolving into a low growl when she began nipping at his pulse point. “Pen, wait…”

“Oh, I’ve been waiting,” she grinned against his skin, but pulled back regardless, smirk widening when she saw how incredulous he looked. “I know the Bridgertons take a minute longer than the rest of us to figure things out, but you…”

“What are you talking about?” he asked in astonishment. “You knew?”

“Colin, you’re as subtle as a sledgehammer to the head, no offense,” Pen retorted, squealing when he pinched her sides lightly. “But yes, I knew. I know you. I saw how you changed…”

The humorous cadence of her voice fell away, tempered with the weight of realized and revealed truth. She traced the curve of his eyebrows, and he melted into her touch.

“The way you started looking at me… hugging me harder, touching me longer…”

“Why didn’t you say anything?” he asked seriously, running his fingers down the curve of her cheek, across the slope of her jaw. He felt frenetic and entirely at peace all at once, the absurdity of her words subsumed by the inevitability of it all.

“You needed to swim across by yourself, first…” she said, a hint of bittersweetness tingeing her answer. “Besides… I’ve loved you my entire life and functioned just fine. Watching you slowly lose your mind after just a few days was amusing, I won’t lie.”

Colin’s jaw fell open, before he narrowed his eyes and pulled her in for another kiss, firm and extremely un-platonic. Her whole life, and she had just let him waste all this time away from her.

“Menace.”

He ghosted the words across her mouth.

“Idiot.”

“Hey!”

“Sorry. My idiot.”

“That’s not the part I was protesting!”

Their argument was muted for a long while as the insistent rain and their much more insistent kisses comprised the only sounds in the room.

“Col?”

“Mmm?”

His words were hidden behind her ear, where he was teasing the shell with a gentle scrape of his teeth, relishing her little shivers.

“I need to hear you say it, you know.”

“Say what?” he teased, sucking on her earlobe softly. “That I love you?”

Pen made a satisfied little humming sound as he pulled her hair over one shoulder, swirling his tongue over the jut of her collarbone.

“I love you, Pen.”

Kissed over the swell of her chest, soaking in her stuttering breaths.

“I love you so much that I’m going to need us to redo that video about fifty more times until we get it perfect.”

Pen made a noncommittal noise, reaching behind them for his phone again.

“I have a feeling we’re about to waste, oh, an… enormous amount of time.”

Colin’s teeth were tugging the straps of her cami down her arms, his fingers finding their way past her waistband, making her whimper.

“It’s for a worthy cause.”

*******

They wasted nearly an hour trying to get the ‘perfect’ video. In a stunning and highly unprecedented display of common sense, before his brain cells exploded from a horny-stroke, Colin suggested they record the videos on his camera app and not TikTok directly, lest they accidentally post something decidedly not meant for public consumption.

Half the attempts dissolved into ridiculous giggles, where they’d lose track of time and just keep kissing way past the cut-off point.

At least five attempts ended with both of them horizontal on the sofa, hands down each other's pants and tops.

Both would argue that it was the other that led them to be mutually shirtless by attempt number twenty.

Attempt thirty saw their underwear land somewhere on the ground.

It was a testament to their self-control that they lasted nearly the full sixty minutes before Colin was inside her.

She made him keep the glasses on.

He made her come three times.

His camera roll began resembling behind-the-scenes footage of an amateur porn film.

Unfortunately for them, only the original video was salvageable enough to be used for his socials.

*******

Live reacts from TikTok

@MaryNotMagdalene: “Did I possibly see some tongue??”

@RavenSong: “It's always fucking raining in London. Did you see the rain outside the window? Sweet kiss though. Definitely not their first.”

@JuanitaBonita: “Get it girl, that man is 🥵🥵🥵.”

@MissSeaMea: “Ce baiser est magnifique 😍.”

@CarrieOn: “This just gave me an idea for a new TikTok challenge!”

@TimTammySlam: “Omg, this is the least platonic kiss ever. Is his big brother going to come on screen… I may have a crush on the elder Bridgerton 🫦.”

@JingleJules: “Last time anyone had chemistry this good was Bonrad amirite?! 🥺”

@CourtTheAdult: “I'll be the grown-up and say that we shouldn't speculate on their status unless invited to.”

@RyaPapaya: “Remember that NYE party where his friend Fife came on? Awooga 🥵. And yes, this is not their first kiss.”

@ShadyJaydee: “He's wearing glasses, I'm just a girl 🫠🫠🫠.”

@RoboCop: “This amount of chemistry might make me gaf about science, actually.”

@PeachyKeen: “I'm in Australia, so I've seen the future, they hooked up.”

@CanadianPink (beware the geese): “If my bestie kissed me, I'd probably say sorry.”

@JamieWhatsHerName: “I would dump my husband on his birthday without blinking for a man who kisses like that.”

@Fifi (Satan's Mistress): “Bet these challenges make people cry. I like tears.”

@NeferOwl: “I would like to hug that man. With my thighs.”

@KatieKitKat: “Maybe we've all been doing friendship wrong, you guys.”

@AVid4Bridgerton: “Is Benedict Bridgerton looking for someone to kiss? Asking for a friend…”

@StaceyCuckooBananas: “Does no one secretly worry these TikTok challenges are a breeding ground for serial killers? Just me?”

@EllieBelly: “They’re so cute together I can’t cope.”

Later that night

Group chat between the Bridgerton Siblings

El: Wtf wtf wtf

Ant: God, what now?

El: https://www.tiktok.com/@CBridgerton3/video/7613297216899354519

Ant: Is that Colin and Penelope????

Hy: Yeah boiiiiiiii

Fran: 🥹🥹🥹

Fran: So, so overdue

El: It's that stupid “kissing my best friend” challenge on TikTok

Fran: Wait, so it's not real? 😭

Hy: You bitches are so dumb

Hy: Ofc it's fucking real!

Daph: Col realized he loved her very recently, £10 says he convinced her to do the challenge as a pretense

Hy: 🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️

Ben: People have done sluttier things on camera for stupider reasons

El: Yes, and let's not ever revisit your sex tape from Holland being sent to the family group chat

Daph: 🤢

Fran: So the kiss is real?

Daph: Yes, LOOK at him

Daph: Surprised he didn't pop the question

Ant: Is TikTok the same as Instagram?

Ben: Kate really is your brain, isn't she?

Greg: Pen's taken? 😭💔

Colin: Yes. Yes, she is.