you're a very good man, Mr. Bridgerton

Bite My Tongue by: indiaalphawhiskey

Colin Bridgerton/Penelope Featherington | Explicit | 17.8k | Chapters: 3/3 | Complete

Tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Famous Colin Bridgerton, Chef Colin Bridgerton, Romance Author Penelope Featherington, Friends With Benefits, Dirty Talk, Romantic Dirty Talk, Intimacy Kink, Vaginal Fingering, CunnilingusFacial, Tit Fuck, Blow Jobs, Light Food Play, Vaginal Sex

BRIDGERTON (2020-) PEN AND COLIN

Always a Woman(to me)

Sir Colin was accustomed to difficult work, feats of physicality. He had climbed hills, built walls, and performed in jousts. He had triumphed in battle, and even saved a maiden or two. He had done everything a good knight should do.

But he had never climbed a mountain.

Or, Colin is a knight (but not really), and Penelope is the dragon he's sent to slay.

87k, Explicit, Completed

- mummy's mean favourite

- a wife for a Bridgerton

Because that is Penelope’s first instinct — to go to Colin, her husband — with any problem. She’s like ‘not getting off? Obvs, your man will fix it, hon. Mine always does.’

It’s such a neat little summary of what their relationship is based on, and how different their marriage is from everyone else in the ton. They’re best friends, truly. The kind that turn to each other first for everything. And it’s so unheard of for a marriage to be like that that Benedict is genuinely puzzled as to how Colin knows about his search for The Lady in Silver and Colin’s like ‘duh, dude, you went to my wife for help. There’s no difference between that and telling me directly.’

But also, besides all that, isn’t it so fucking cute that Pen’s answer intimates that she and Colin openly talk about what they like/don’t like in bed? I think we all knew that, but like now we know, y’know? The sweet little freaks probably have feedback sessions, kink negotiations, nights to try out something new Penelope no doubt heard about through Whistledown but didn’t fully understand…

And it all ties into Colin’s disinterest in mistresses because, when the men started talking about that, apart from the fact that he’s clearly terminally obsessed with his wife, he was probably thinking about the openness and intimacy he shares with her, and how sex itself is hardly worth it without those things especially now that he has something to compare it to.

Here. 👇🏼

You can tell because of the setting: the drawing room where she saw his most intimate thoughts, that the other men had laughed at, where she instead appreciated his vulnerability and talent. You can tell by the pensive, upbeat music that signals him finally putting two and two together. By the flashback — not, of them kissing, btw, but rather of her tending to his hand. Touching him in a way that was not meant to be intimate but where he felt intimacy anyway, without distance. (So different from what he wrote his journal.)

The candle snuffs out, maybe just to trigger the flashback, but imo, also to signify a barrier in Colin’s mind opening. (Bonus: Pen is also seen earlier in the night pensively assessing herself/her options with a lit candle in front of her. I think it’s a symbol of facing a hurdle/a crossroads.)

And then, the decision.

Why this moment?

Because that man knew the stakes. He knew she was getting proposed to, and Colin is not the kind of man who would ruin Penelope and leave her with no options. Why would he be that cruel? Why would he want that for her, even selfishly, when he’s always so desperate to protect her?

I think thats the exact reason he didn’t immediately decide to hop into the carriage when his mother mentioned the proposal. He wasn’t deciding whether or not to stop Debling from proposing. He wasn’t on his way to interrupt a dance, of all things.

No, that’s the face of a man deciding whether or not he had the chops to see this through to the end — to go all the way and offer Penelope something better.

Bonus candle symbolism:

I kept wondering what it was about this scene that was so incredibly endearing to me. On the surface, it seems like it's 'just' another (lovely) moment where we get to see Colin openly obsessed with Penelope. But it was only after someone had pointed out that this is the first time they're seeing each other after their first time that it clicked: they flipped the virginity trope, further illustrating that she fell first but he, indeed, fell so much fucking harder.

Usually, it's the character that has lost their virginity that's a complete and utter mess after their first time. The inexperienced one is depicted as the person who immediately confuses sex for love, obsessively waiting by the phone (post, I suppose, in this case?) and painstakingly breaking down each frame of the event with friends, wondering What It All Means (yes, I know, they're engaged at this point so she doesn't have to do that, but you get my point).

Instead, Penelope is entirely secure (if distracted, thanks a lot Eloise), while Colin "Brothel Man" Bridgerton is a fucking basketcase (affectionate). I mean, he looks like he wants to wear her skin and show her off in equal measure from the very moment she enters the room. Realizing, perhaps, that the former is not an option in the midst of polite society, he dedicates the night to keeping her well within reach like a man possessed - reduced entirely to A Thing That Loves Penelope (to slightly misquote Sackville-West).

He's staring her down so hard, paying so much attention to every minute movement that, when she doesn't seem to return his (really rather reasonable) visible obsession (again, thanks so much Eloise), the fear begins to form. He's the one waiting by the proverbial phone, spiraling, suddenly nervous that he's been a completely green imbecile who's somehow managed to confuse sex for love and --

Oh, but, wait a minute. Penelope... hasn't actually said she loves him back, has she? Well, fuck, fuck, fuckity-fuck. He might just have to go die now.

I saw a post on IG about how Polin’s intimate scenes always end in 🥰 best friend goofy nerdy giggles 🤭, and I think those moments perfectly encapsulate why I connect to their love the most.

I think Polin is the only couple that married each other explicitly for enjoyment. Like, they went into marriage fully expecting to actually enjoy their union, in a way that was very, very rare, especially in that era. The other couples are blissfully happy too, of course, but each couple chose their spouse for a different reason.

Daphne and Simon chose each other for their shared passion and the excitement of their love. Anthony and Kate chose each other for their deep understanding of their flaws and burdens, and for the perpetual challenge. Francesca and John for their unique connection. Colin and Penelope chose each other for the ✨fun✨ and honestly, I feel like that’s both the most important and most underrated trope in romance.

We even see it when Colin (not-so) sneakily asks Violet what she hopes Francesca will find. Violet says “passion, excitement, a love that is thrilling”. She speaks of love through the lens of pure romance, because she knows (and admits) that friendship in love is rare — too rare for even someone like Violet to hope for, in all her children’s matches.

It’s why my favorite line of Penelope’s is: “It’s you. Kind and feeling, occasionally excitable, good-hearted man that I love,” because the mention of Colin’s excitability is everything. It says ‘I want us to laugh together, always. I want to spend my life laughing with you.’ It’s why, when Polin dances together, it’s different: they never dance when they’re courting, because dancing was never meant to be displayed as duty to either of them. They’re always dancing because they like it. They’re always dancing because it’s fun. 🤩 (Another dissertation for why the singular angry dance-confrontation was the perfect symbolism for their fight another day!)

And, in a way, the theme of fun, and enjoyment, and laughter is the perfect illustration of why both Marina and Debling were such poor matches for them — because fun is the exact opposite of practical, and those matches were always rooted entirely in practicality. (Even for Colin, because marriage to Marina was an effort to solidify an undeniable purpose.) Fun is frivolity, especially in Regency marriages, something people cannot afford to want or even fantasize about.

So yes, Netflix! Keep ending our besties’ sex scenes with giggles, plssss because fun and laughter and play is Polin’s thinggggg the sweet little goofs!

I love them so much. 😭