Work Text:
The Wrong side of the Fence
Colin raced across the yard his basket already flowing with eggs. He was determined that this would be his best Easter egg hunt ever. This year, he would be the one who had the most eggs.
Every year after the eggs had been collected, all of the Bridgerton siblings would gather in the living room to count their eggs.
Who ever had the most, won not only bragging rights for the whole year (in a family as competitive as the Bridgertons, that was ALOT in and of itself), but more importantly, they also won the use of the tv remote before everyone else.
For one whole week.
For a family with 8 children that was was a whole lot of remote power!
Especially for Colin, the third child. Not quite old enough to force his siblings to choose what he wanted to watch but also not young enough to go running to their mother and father about it either.
Colin was determined to win. There was a new show coming out about animals from all different countries of the world, he had been dying to watch for ages.
He started stuffing eggs into the pocket of his coat as he turned into their side garden, grinning like a maniac when he realized his siblings had not yet discovered all the eggs in this side of the yard.
He laughed gleefully to himself stuffing eggs into his overflowing basket until they started falling out. He paused for a second, before lifting his light gray hoodie up like a scoop giving him more space for eggs.
He turned laughing an exaggerated evil chuckle, an egg in his hand, when he caught a slight movement across the fence in the Featheringtons yard.
He squinted a little, the sun blocking his view but then it moved again, a flash of red, and he was sure.
“Pen?” He called trying to keep his voice low from his siblings who were still screaming and running through the front and back yards. He still had eggs to gather after all.
Another flash of red and then there was Penelope standing on her tiptoes, peeking over their white picket fence. Their fence was not very tall Colin thought admittedly, he could see over it just fine. But he was awfully tall for 12 years old.
“ A Bridgerton trait” his mother had said shaking her head fondly, her hand rubbing her very swollen pregnant belly.
“ Alas it is my burden to care such giant babies “
“ But you do it so beautifully “ his father had teased, placing a loving kiss on her cheek.
“Pen” he said again having moved closer to the fence where he could now clearly see her face was swollen and covered in tears.
“ What is wrong?” Why are you crying” he asked concerned, as he made his way to stand directly in front of her, the fence in between them and his egg filled hoodie.
Her eyes cast down at the ground, tears still falling she whispered
“ The Easter bunny did not stop here”
Colin’s eyes widened in surprise at this.
Of course, he knew the Easter bunny was not real, he was 12 years old after all.
But Pen was only 10 . And she was sweet and kind and sensitive and she still believed in things like fairies and magic.
One time she had called him quite urgently across the fence to come admire her new fairy house!
He started to grow quietly angry. Why had her parents not put out any eggs for her?
“ What do you mean Pen” he said quite incredulously.
“ My momma” she hiccuped trying to hold back her tears. “ Well she told me that that Easter bunny doesn’t come anymore for big girls. And I am ten now Colin. “
She looked at him, her big blue eyes full of tears and an idea suddenly came to him.
He could not let Pen think the Easter bunny had simply abandoned her!
When she could so clearly hear and see the sounds of his families Easter hunt across the way, which included his three sisters. Well, at least Eloise and Daphne were older than ten!
“ Penelope! “He said making his voice rise in excitement.
“ That is why I am here! I was actually just coming to find you! It appears the Easter bunny made a mistake and placed all your eggs in this side of our yard! He certainly has never left any here before!”
Penelope’s eyes widened
“ Do you really think so Colin?” She asked timidly, almost afaid to get her hopes up.
“ Of course!!! Look at my hoodie?!”
He said excitedly hoping she would believe him.
“ These are all for you! Come over and help me get them!”
Her eyes lit up with joy before realizing one small problem.
Her height
“ I’m too short Colin!”
She pouted.
And he laughed. She looked so silly and cute when she did that.
He did not think other girls were cute, but this was Pen!
Everything about her was so tiny and she had frizzy wild hair and her bright yellow dresses. She reminded him of an orangesicle. And those were his favorite dessert.
He dropped his hoodie letting the eggs fall to the ground
“ Silly Pen” he said teasing. “That’s what I’m here for!”
He reached his arms over the fence as if to grab her and pull her up over.
Penelope appeared to be shocked
“Colin you can not lift me!l “
“Why not?!”He asked genuinely curious. She was so small he was certain he would have no trouble at all lifting her over the fence.
After all he had two older brothers who had all too gleefully spent years “ teaching him to tumble and be tough “
They would surely never let him live it down if he could not even lift his tiny friend over the fence.
Penelope down at her bare feet for a moment before answering in a whisper
“ I’m too big “
Colin scowled. This surely made no sense, as she was the tiniest thing he had ever seen! Even at ten years old, she was still shorter then all his siblings her age and even some younger!
“Penelope Featherington. Are you hiding a giant over there? “ he said teasingly, peaking his head over the fence making a dramatic movement to look around her yard.
“Because there is no way you are saying I can’t lift you! You are tinier than Greg! “
(And that was saying a lot as Greg was only four years old.)
Penelope let out a small giggle at his dramatics but then sighed before meeting his eyes in earnest.
“ I am serious Colin. My mother says I am….” She paused for a moment before continuing quietly. “ she says I am the chubbiest girl in my class” her eyes dropped once again and Colin could feel anger flash across his face.
How dare she call Pen chubby ! She was perfect just as she was.
Without another word Colin put one hand on the fence and jumped over it with ease into Penelope’s yard.
“ Your mother is a silly goose to say such things about you Penelope. “
(He wanted to say much worse things about her mother, but he knew HIS mother would be very disappointed in him for doing so.)
“ You are so tiny, I almost have to look down at the ground to find you.” He laughed before kneeling down with one knee and patting it expectantly.
“ Come on, step on my knee and then you can hop over!”
Penelope looked uncertain for a moment before smiling wildly and nodding.
She placed her small bare foot on Colin’s knee and hoisted her self up with her arms over the fence into Colin’s yard. Then with a leap he followed her back over with a huge grin on his face.
“Come on Pen ! Let’s gather your eggs.” He said smiling as he handed her his already full basket and once again pulled his hoodie up like a scoop.
Penelope laughed as she started to run around the yard, gathering eggs into the pockets of her yellow dress and Colin’s sweater before she stopped abruptly.
“ Wait Colin? “
“ Yes Pen?” He said, practically running into her when she stopped as he had been following her quite closely around the yard.
“ If these are my eggs? Where are yours?!” She asked curiously
Colin stopped for a second before responding.
“ Oh! I had already left mine inside before I found yours! Don’t worry about it “
Penelope laughed, trusting him without a second thought, and took off once again to collect his…. No her eggs.
Colin knew that when he returned inside, he would have no eggs to count which meant, no remote privileges. But it was worth it to see Penelope happy.
He smiled as she ran around the rest of the side yard her wild red curls flying behind her, untill soon she had picked up every single one and Colin’s basket and hoodie were practically overflowing.
“ The Easter bunny has never left me so many before!!” She said excitedly her bright blue eyes shimmering in the sun.
She looked at him, and his heart beat faster as she asked
“ Would you like to come over and open my eggs with me? We can watch that new Animal show you wanted to watch?!
Now it was Colin’s eyes who lit up in excitement as he nodded eagerly!
“ Of course Pen” he said laughing, as he ran to go ask permission from his mother.
He grinned as he thought to himself.
This really had turned out to be the best Easter egg hunt after all.