Work Text:
He had seen her from the window of his family's drawing room, his friend Penelope, crying in her front yard. He had been looking forward to today for a long time; it was her birthday. When the invitation to her birthday party hadn't arrived, he felt sad but didn’t think much of it. Eloise, his little sister and Penelope's best friend, hadn't been invited either. So Penelope wasn’t having a party. Unlike her sister a few months prior, that was okay; she could choose to spend her birthday however she wanted. What was not right was that she spent it crying in her front yard.
Colin Bridgerton ran down the stairs and across the parlour of his family’s house at the young age of ten and four, heading straight to his neighbour's house across the road.
"You have a visitor, Miss Featherington," her maid told her with sadness.
Penelope peeled her eyes from the pages of the book she had been pretending to read for an hour now. Long teardrops fell across her round cheeks as she focused her gaze on Colin Bridgerton's face.
She quickly cleaned her cheeks with the back of her hand.
"Hi, Colin," she smiled, and a new pair of teardrops fell.
"Hi, Pen," he said, stepping forward with a handkerchief already in hand. She smiled wider; she had read that gentlemen carried handkerchiefs for ladies when they cried. "What are you reading?"
"Oh, um, The Governess, or The Little Female Academy, although I’m not doing much reading, I'm afraid."
"I haven't read that book. Would you mind if I joined you?" he asked.
"No, Colin, of course you may join me."
"Excellent," he said, sitting by her side against the giant tree in her front yard. "Read for me, Penelope, will you?"
"Of course," she said, opening the page she had been on for the last hour. Tears flooded her eyes again before she could read a single line.
"It's okay, Pen. We can sit in silence. I am escaping the loudness of my house anyway," he offered. "Or I can read for you if you want."
Penelope shook her head.
"Silence is fine," she whispered.
"What about a hug?" he offered then, opening his arms for her.
She hugged him, burying her face in his chest.
"They forgot my birthday, Colin. My parents," she confessed, feeling embarrassed to even admit their unforgivable fault.
"I have something for you," he replied, rubbing her back up and down. "It's a birthday present." Penelope leaned back to look at Colin's face through wet eyelashes, and he presented her with a paper hat. "It's a birthday hat. My mother taught me how to make one. Birthday hats bring people happiness," he stated matter-of-factly. "Happy birthday, Pen!" he grinned at her.
"Thank you, Colin. It's beautiful," she smiled, trying to tie the hat to her head. "I love it."
"Maybe you can wear it for tea at my house in a few hours?" he invited, already planning a birthday party for Penelope in his head. "We can have cake," he offered, hoping this would cheer his friend up.
"It will be my honour," she replied.
"It will be our honour to have the prettiest birthday girl over for tea at our house today," he smiled.