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Colin sits on his sofa and turns on the tele to watch the interview of Penelope that he had filmed a question for earlier last month. It was during one of the filming breaks from the regency romance show they are working on. Man, he misses her. Only one more week until he would be with her again. Seeing her everyday in fact, according to the schedule he was sent. It was their love story this season afterall. His palms feel sweaty with anticipation. Finally he would get to hold her and kiss her passionately. Finally those gorgeous breasts of hers would be in front of him. Finally he would hear her moaning. It would be pretend of course, part of their job, but still. It was more than he was getting from her in real life so he would take this.
Marina joins him on the sofa as Pen comes on the screen. He hadn’t invited her to come and watch this so he is annoyed. He doesn’t even know why she is still over at his place right now. He’d been by all accounts a dreadful boyfriend to her. He’d hardly paid her any attention. He would go days and weeks without calling to check in on her. Their sex life was almost nonexistent. Marina was tall and tan and thin. She was a trained dancer with deep brown eyes and dark curly hair that had blond highlights throughout making it look sunkissed. An attractive girl conventionally, but she didn’t have the curves or the petite frame of a certain redhead that haunted his dreams.
Colin had met her while working on an animated movie in Italy last year. His ex Maggie had recently called it quits once and for all with him. Pen had also gone through a breakup around the same time with her then boyfriend Cameron. Short, blond, small, unimpressive. He really thought the two were ill-matched when he met him, jealousy aside. Colin had been hoping that the timing was perfect and he would get his chance with Pen finally. But alas, she was quickly dating another blond fucker.
This one was taller and also an actor, but again thin and overall unimpressive. Alonzo or Alfred or some wanker name he couldn’t be arsed to remember since he’d started calling him Alfredo in his head when she told Colin the prick was vegan. “He’s gentle in the best ways,“ she had said. Colin didn’t really know what that meant but he got the distinct impression the man might actually be gay, but Colin had thought that of her last boyfriend as well. She has a type he supposes.
Marina had come into his life when he needed a distraction. From Pen, for the press, for appearances. Right time and place and all that. She doesn’t ask for much and is content to quietly tag along while he travels so it works, for now.
Pen smiles and laughs with every celebrity question that comes on during the interview. She smiles and he smiles. She laughs and it makes him laugh. She is sunshine, even through a screen her joy feels contagious. He can still remember how she made his heart race when Amy the show runner had told the two of them that this upcoming season would be their love story. It was over a Zoom meeting, but still.
She bounced in her chair, jumping in joy and screamed in excitement and Colin couldn’t take his eyes off her. He wished it could have been in person so she would have jumped into his arms instead. He’s sure she would have. He’s been so careful with her. Always a hug or kiss on the cheek that doesn’t feel like it’s too much, not wanting to put her off. It’s a delicate balance.
Colin loves watching interviews of Pen. Getting to watch that lovely mouth of hers without fear that he looks like a creep for just staring anytime she speaks is the second best thing about it. The absolute best thing is the way her face changes when she talks about him. Her smile gets even bigger and her eyes light up. He’s watched it happen in several different interviews. No matter the context, if they bring him up she beams, and that has to mean she feels something for him, right?
“Collie!” she coos when his video pops up. His half hard cock goes to full stiffness hearing the way her voice curls around the nickname. Pen is the only one he lets call him that. Colin licks his lips, dying to taste hers, seeing the cute little pout she does watching his video question. He really wishes Marina wasn’t here right now so that he could watch this on repeat while he strokes himself to completion. But she is and has apparently noticed the situation in his pants because she’s stopped kissing at his neck and is now rubbing his erection and kissing his chin. He doesn’t feel like kissing her when the only lips he wants are Pen’s.
Colin lifts his chin out of her reach and unbuckles his pants enough to free his length. He doesn’t spare Marina a glance as he puts his hand at the back of her head and coaxes her to make herself useful if she’s going to continue pawing at him. She complies readily as usual and he turns up the volume on the tele to drown out the performative moans she makes. Pen is talking about him after all and his favorite thing is happening. Her face is scrunched with the sweet expression she makes speaking about him.
He presses Marina’s head to take more of him down her throat as Pen goes on about how sweet he is. Pen’s eyes are closed as she talks and it’s driving him a little crazy because he wants to see them sparkle for him. His hips pump up rapidly as he skull fucks Marina.
“Colin Bridgerton is the sweetest boy in the whole world. I’m so happy that he’s the one Anne is in love with,” Pen says, and he can feel himself nearing the peak, he just needs to see those eyes. C’mon baby open your eyes for me, he thinks, just as she looks right into the camera with those gorgeous baby blues of hers. He thrusts up one final time and holds Marina’s head down to deposit every drop of his seed in her mouth. He feels like he comes forever staring at Pen’s beautiful visage.
He finally releases his hold on Marina and she sits up with a self-satisfied look on her face. It really had very little to do with her. He sighs in satisfaction and looks at her. What could this girl possibly be getting from this relationship? Is she that blinded by the occasional glamor of dating a celebrity that this is worth it to her? Every other girl he’s dated since he started working with Pen has long clocked his infatuation with her and promptly cut ties with him. But Marina stays, acts supportive and never utters a negative word about the situation. She’s a puzzle he is uninterested in solving truthfully.
“I’m going to shower,” he says to her instead of anything sweet or affectionate considering what they just did. She nods as she goes to the kitchen and gets something from the fridge. She doesn’t say anything. She never really does and it's a little pathetic to him honestly.
Colin takes himself in hand in the shower thinking of Pen again and anxious for the closeness filming this season would no doubt bring to the pair. He had been firmly in the friend zone with her since season one much to his dismay. He flirted with her and went out of his way to make conversation as soon as he got the opportunity to talk to her. She laughed and joked along with him but he quickly got the impression that Pen either didn’t get flirted with often enough to recognize when it was happening in a non-blatant manner, or she had grown accustomed to assuming that most men’s attention towards her was friendly in nature.
He had a girlfriend and she had a boyfriend and this was at the beginning of filming the series so he didn’t push it. It wouldn’t do to make things awkward if the show took off as predicted and this turned into an ongoing job for him. Penelope was one of the first to be cast in the ensemble and turned out to have quite the pivotal role in the longevity of the storyline. So as persistent as his cock was when she was near, he suppressed his baser urges to make her aware that his attentions were anything but platonic in nature in favor of starting a close friendship with her.
Colin was biding his time. He figured either he would be a friend who she turned to when her relationship with the vegan went south or he would be her onscreen love turned off screen romance once their season was underway. Their season should have been the fourth as theirs is the fourth book in the series the show is based off of but the show is more of an adaptation rather than a direct interpretation of the books so their storyline had been progressed. Colin can’t complain about getting the opportunity to lead the show along with Pen sooner than he had anticipated, but what he can and has complained about is the turn the writers have decided to take with their narrative.
It was bad enough that Penelope is not his in reality, but on the show she only had eyes for his character Christopher. That has been the case for two seasons so far. This season they have decided to give Christopher competition for Anne’s hand. Colin wanted to throw the script across the room when he read that she would be courted and dancing with someone else this season. She’s only danced with him during the ball scenes in the past and now he will have to watch on as some other “suitor” leads her around the dance floor. And of course, of course the actor they’ve hired as his foil is blond. Sam is a nice enough guy he supposes but why must he be plagued with blondes who are continually placed in his path towards Penelope?
Still, since it’s a regency era show, she won’t be kissing or having any intimate scenes with anyone other than him so he is mollified by that, small mercies at least. All the intimate scenes have been scheduled towards the end of their filming. It’s understandable but annoying all the same for him. Colin can’t wait to see her new costumes. He’s pretty excited with the look they have for Christopher this season; the long pirate coat and gloves lend more confidence to the well-traveled character. He’s sent a pic or two to Pen to give her some previews for what to expect, hoping she would do the same in kind. She’s responded enthusiastically to everything, but hasn’t given him a peek yet. She says the silhouettes are far more flattering and that the styling of Anne is far more appealing this season. It is their season so a glow up is expected, and he’s on pins and needles to see her beauty showcased properly.
The days pass in painful tedium until it is finally day one of filming. A car comes to get him and take him to set before the sun is even up. The first order of business is hair and makeup. He’s giddy with anticipation because he had requested that this season he be in the chair next to Pen in the makeup trailer. He was easily granted this request much to Eloise’s irritation, who usually sat next to Pen and plays Claudia, her best friend on the show. He had said it would help them with running lines and preparing before they get to set. In reality he just wants to be near her, and the sooner his day starts with her the better. He pulls up to set and grabs a coffee on his way to the makeup trailer.
“Collie!” he hears her cheerful but groggy voice call out.
“Pen” he warmly greets her and pulls her in for a hug. He breathes her in deep. He’s missed the smell of her shampoo that always greets him when he bends down to hug her.
“I’m really nervous, are you?” she asks.
“A little, but what are you feeling nervous about?”
“I don’t know, leading such a big show, it’s a lot of pressure.”
“Hey, let’s decide here and now that we’re going to have fun with this, and if there’s anything that I can do to make you feel more at ease tell me. I’ve got your back alright?”
“You’re right, we’re in this together,” she says, seeming encouraged by his optimism.
“Should we take our start of the season selfie?” she asks.
“Of course,” he agrees and stays closer than necessary to her while she gets her phone in position. He would offer to hold it for her since he is taller and his arms are longer, but her short arm length means he gets to cuddle closer to her to be in frame so he lets her take the pic. She posts it to her IG and tags him so he can repost it as well. She takes a fortifying deep breath before she opens the door to the makeup trailer.
“It’s going to be eight months of me and you, Bridgerton. Early mornings and late nights, I hope you’re ready, too late to back out now,” she teases. He chuckles. She has no idea how ready he is.