Archive of Our Own

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“Please, Pen.”

“No, Colin.”

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t want to.”

“PLEEEEASE, just this once!?”

“No.”

“Penelope, please, let’s just try it one time, and then I’ll never ask again, I swear!”

“Dammit, I said no, Colin!”

He immediately clamped his mouth shut. In their four years together, two of them as husband and wife, Colin and Penelope rarely ever fought. They had their disagreements, sure, all couples did. True fights, however, were uncommon. And nearly every one of the real fights they’d had stemmed from Colin asking Penelope the same question whenever he had gathered enough courage to try asking again.

“Pen, can I please make love to you in front of a mirror?”

The biggest fight happened shortly after their one-year wedding anniversary when, without her knowledge, Colin had bought a large, full-length mirror with a gilded frame and set it up in their bedroom. Pen went ballistic. Colin had no idea so much rage could fit inside such an adorable, tiny person. She was so furious he thought she was going to smash the mirror to pieces, and in fact she had considered that, but Penelope Bridgerton was superstitious, and she could not afford seven years of bad luck. Most of her life had been full of bad luck without her helping it along. Instead, she grabbed her coat and keys and left the house to try and walk off some of her anger. It didn’t help much.

She was fully prepared to lay into Colin when she got home, and force him to sleep on the sofa that night, but when she came back into their bedroom she found him sitting dejected on their bed, crying silent tears, his head hanging in shame, with no sign of the offending mirror in sight. While she was gone, Colin had tucked the mirror into a back corner of their walk-in closet and tossed one of their bedsheets over it so she wouldn’t have to see her reflection. Her anger drained away as quickly as it had come when she stared at her gentle and tenderhearted husband. 

Penelope knew deep within her heart that his intentions were good and that he never meant to upset her, but Colin just didn’t understand–couldn’t understand, really. The trauma of her childhood all centered around her body, and while she had come a long way thanks to therapy and honestly, thanks to Colin, she still could barely look at herself in a mirror to get ready in the morning, let alone doing something as intimate as having sex in front of one. She didn’t want something as wonderful and precious as sex with Colin to be tainted by a mirror.

Back in the present Colin hung his head, defeated, yet again. “I’m sorry, Pen.”

She wanted to stay mad at him so badly, but she was absolute rubbish when it came to staying cross with her husband. Instead she let out an exasperated sigh. “Colin, when are you gonna give this up and stop asking?”

“Never,” he answered with neither shame, nor hesitation.

“Why is this so important to you?”

He reached for her small hands and held them inside his much larger ones. “Pen, I know you have a lot of self-esteem issues when it comes to your body, and I think, I hope, that over the years I’ve done a pretty good job of showing you how much I love and worship every inch of you.”

She fought against the soft smile that came to her face. “You have,” she said, losing the fight.

He gave her a small smile in return. “The reason I keep asking is because I want to try and get you to see yourself the way that I see you. If you could see yourself from my point of view, you would not cringe every time you looked into a mirror. I want you to feel beautiful in your own skin because you are beautiful. You are so breathtakingly gorgeous, my love, and I want you to know and believe that as much as I do.” He reached out and moved a stray curl away from her eyes and tucked it behind her ear. “The only time I’ll stop asking is after I finally manage to get you to say yes.”

He pulled her into his body and wrapped his strong arms around her back as he cradled her against his chest. He let out a sigh and whispered into her hair, “I love you.”

“I love you too,” came her muffled response. They stayed like that for a few moments, until she slowly pulled away from him so that she could look into his dark blue eyes. “Colin, I know you mean well, and I appreciate your explanation, but as compassionate, kind, and understanding as you are, my dear husband, you will never truly be able to understand how I feel when it comes to this. You were raised by loving parents, a whole brood of adoring siblings, and you are so handsome and charming that you easily enchant every person you meet.

“I, on the other hand, did not grow up in an environment full of warmth and acceptance. I was not loved by my parents or my sisters, and I certainly was not loved by society. I was raised to hate myself and my body, and that is not something that can be easily undone by fucking in front of a mirror.”

Colin nodded his head in acceptance, his eyes misty from her words. “I know, Pen. I’ve been privileged my whole life, and I certainly never appreciated just how much I had to be thankful for before you. I know I’ll never be able to properly understand your feelings, no matter how hard I might try, and I know that ‘fucking in front of a mirror’ probably won’t undo the all the damage done by your upbringing, but I wish you’d let me try, just once. Even if it doesn’t work, at least we’ll have tried something different, ya know?”

Penelope reached up and brushed her fingers along his jaw. “Maybe one day I’ll be ready to say yes, but I’m not there yet. Be patient with me, my love.”

Colin leaned into her touch. He turned his head to kiss her palm before returning his penetrating gaze to hers. “Always.”

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The following morning, Colin woke up feeling… strange –like he was a cotton T-shirt that had accidentally been washed with hot water and had somehow shrunk in the night. He let out a yawn and his voice sounded weird too, more high-pitched. Idly he wondered if he might be getting sick, but he didn’t feel feverish or a tickle in his throat or anything. Colin stretched his arms over his head before turning to glance at his sleeping wife, wanting to steal a quick peek at her before he got out of bed to get ready for the day. Instead, when his eyes landed on the sight before him he let out a loud yelp, scrambled backward, and promptly fell out of the bed.

“Colin?” A sleepy voice asked. And while it was Colin’s voice and Colin’s body that had asked the question it was not Colin who had asked it. Colin, his soul or his presence or whatever you wanted to call it, glanced down to see his wife’s gorgeous breasts and the ends of her fiery red hair. Colin had always appreciated the fact that his wife slept in just a pair of knickers; it meant he got to see one of his favorite assets of hers on full display every night. However, he thought he had never appreciated it quite as much as he did right now.

He held his(?) (her?) hands out in front of him and felt himself flexing his wife’s tiny fingers. He brought those fingers to his(?) (her?) breasts and gave a little squeeze which sent a thrill through his(?) (her?) body. Holy shit! He was inside Pen’s body! What the fuck was going on!? Using his wife’s tiny hand, he slapped across her face, hoping he was dreaming and the shock would wake him up. It didn’t. Then he pinched her arm, hard, with similar results. 

Ok, so he wasn’t dreaming. Then what the fuck was happening!? He was in Penelope’s body, yet his own body remained on the bed. He had seen it when he woke and could hear it now, breathing softly in peaceful slumber. Did that mean…? Was Pen inside his body? He curled his wife’s fingers over the edge of the bed to lift himself up so he could see over the side. It felt much higher than usual. 

On top of the bed his body was curled up into a ball, mouth slightly open, with the tiniest bit of drool forming on the pillow. Well, Pen was definitely in his body then. He’d seen his wife asleep enough times to know that was exactly how she slept. Worrying her lip, he tried to decide whether to let her sleep, or to wake her up and let her in on the bizarre situation they'd found themselves in. Not really wanting to deal with this madness alone any longer, he opted for the latter.

Climbing up onto the bed again, he reached out toward her and whispered, “Pen,” in his wife’s delicate voice. “Pen, I need you to wake up. Something's happened.” He rubbed her hand up and down his own arm trying to wake her as gently as possible.

“Mmmm, what is it?” he heard his voice ask, sleepily.

“Pen, try not to panic, but I need you to open your eyes and look at me.”

She groaned grumpily at being woken, and Colin had to suppress a chuckle at seeing his wife’s all-too-familiar expressions play out across his own face. She yawned and stretched before turning toward him and opening his eyes. It took a few moments for her drowsy mind to realize what she was looking at. Once she figured it out she responded just as he had–his eyes widened, she yelped, scrambled away from him, and quickly fell to the floor.

“Pen!” He hurried to the edge of the bed to check on her, “Are you alright?”

“What the fuck is going on!?”

“Calm down. Everything is going to be ok. I don’t know how or why, but you are in my body, and I’m in yours.”

Apparently in the shock of seeing her own body, not in a reflection, but living and breathing without her inside of it, she had not yet realized that she was, in fact, inside her husband’s body. She stood up quickly, her hands roaming over his bare chest, then moving to feel the stubble on his jaw, and finally reaching back to squeeze both his ass cheeks.

“What in the Freaky Friday shit is this!?” she said, sounding completely panicked, hands still clenching his ass.

“I don’t know, but I promise we’re gonna figure this out,” he said, getting off the bed to join her. When he reached her, Colin couldn't help but jut her bottom lip out in a pout. “You’re so short, Pen. I can’t hold you properly in this body.”

She looked down at him and brought one of his large hands up to his mouth and let out a goofy little giggle, a sound he was certain he’d never uttered before. Then, seemingly unable to contain herself, she tossed his head back and laughed a full belly laugh, wiping tears from his eyes in her mirth. It seemed the current situation was making her hysterical, which was understandable, considering. 

Colin watched the scene unfold in shocked silence. He knew what to do when Penelope was having a panic attack, or a low self-esteem day, or when she was on her period. But this was a bit beyond his capabilities. He was trying to remain calm because he figured at least one of them should be. Penelope, on the other hand, was losing it and Colin did not know what to do. Eventually she finally got a hold of herself and stopped laughing like a maniac. She reached out and pulled him in toward his own body, cradling him the same way he always cradled her.

“Don’t worry,” she said, “I can hold you.”

And hold him she did. They stayed like that for several moments, not saying a word, just grounding themselves to each other in the midst of some truly insane circumstances. They placed their hands over each other’s hearts and synced their breathing. While a tree roots itself into the earth, Colin and Penelope Bridgerton were rooted to each other. They may stand on their own individually, but their roots were tangled up in each other, and there was no separating one from the other. Every year they spent together their roots grew deeper and more entwined. After a decade of nourishing first their friendship, then their partnership, and eventually their marriage, they knew that as long as they were together, they were capable of weathering any storm, including this one.

When they finally pulled apart, Penelope seemed to realize for the first time that her body was naked except for a pair of light blue knickers.

“Colin!”

“What!? What is it!?”

“Put some bloody clothes on! Jesus!”

Colin let out a sigh of relief. “For fuck's sake, Pen. Give me a heart attack, why don’t ya…like we don't have enough going on. And what are you on about? I see you like this literally every morning and every night. What's the problem?”

She sputtered as she tried to articulate why it bothered her so much. “It's just that…well…it's weird with you in there. I don't like it,” she said anxiously.

“Really?” Colin said with a cheeky grin, “‘Cause I can't get enough of it,” he said looking down and grabbing her breasts for the second time that morning.

“COLIN, STOP!” The volume of her shout startled both of them–Colin because his voice sounded different and much harsher through her ears, and Pen because she wasn't used to the volume this voice was capable of. “I'm sorry. I didn’t mean to yell at you like that. I knew you were loud, but I didn’t know it was possible for you to be that loud. I've never heard you like that before.” 

Colin softened. He walked over to her and placed her hand on his shoulder. “Of course you haven't. I would never use that tone on you, no matter how upset I was. That tone is reserved for anyone who hurts you or anyone else I love. It's not your fault, Pen,” he said, noting how she flinched guiltily at his words. “This is all weird as hell and it’s going to take some adjusting to. Don't worry about it.”

He reached out and grabbed the back of his neck and brought his face down toward hers so he could kiss away her worries. It was a completely bizarre experience. Kissing Penelope had always felt like the most natural thing in the world. They were tailor-made for each other. Their lips and their bodies slotting together like puzzle pieces. And while all of that still remained true–they were in the same two bodies, after all–it all just felt a little different. Instead of feeling the soft peach fuzz of her cheek, he felt his own rough stubble. And while his own lips were quite full for a man, especially for a British man, they just didn't compare to the fullness and softness of Pen's lips and he missed the feel of them. He was also up on her tiptoes to kiss her while she was craning his neck down to meet him. It was all just so…odd.

They broke away from each other, slowly, staring into each other's eyes before they broke into another fit of giggles.

“How do you not have a hunchback from kissing me all the time?”

“I don't know! How do you not have Arnold Schwarzenegger calves from kissing me all the time?”

They continued laughing, letting the hysteria rule their bodies for a time. Eventually they stopped long enough to place their foreheads against each other and let their breathing return to normal.

“Ok, you said something about clothing, right?” Colin said, as he made his way over to their walk-in closet.

“Yes, thank you,” she said, gratefully.

“I do want it noted, however,” Colin shouted from inside the closet, “that I didn't freak out about you being in my almost naked body.” He poked her head out the door and waggled her eyebrows in her direction. 

A deep blush colored Colin's cheeks, ears, and chest as Penelope realized he was right. She followed him into the closet and they both got dressed in silence. Then they headed to their bathroom to get ready for the day. Colin helped Penelope shave his face, Penelope helped Colin with her skincare routine and braided her hair. 

They worked in tandem to make breakfast and then sat down to discuss what on earth they were going to do.

🪞🪞🪞

Several hours later Colin and Penelope had a list. A few things on that list already had check marks next to them including calling their respective offices to request some work-from-home time due to illness. Both employers agreed without any fuss, knowing that Colin and Penelope were some of the hardest workers in their offices and would meet every deadline.

They also sent out a text to the Bridgerton group chat asking that no one come over for a few days because they both had Covid and were quarantining till it passed. The chat exploded with sympathies and asking how they could help. Colin and Pen assured them that everything would be fine and they’d let them all know when they were feeling better and tested negative. Violet and Daphne both sent over UberEats gift cards to keep them fed. Hyacinth sent a playlist titled “lying in bed, dying, and this playlist is the only thing keeping me from ending it all.” Eloise sent a Prime Video gift card for renting movies to keep them entertained. Everyone else sent well wishes and virtual hugs.

The rest of Colin and Penelope’s to-do list was much more peculiar. It included things like:

• See a psychic
• Meet with a witch (or coven)
• Sensory deprivation chamber
• Voodoo?
• Cold water plunge
• Contact a neuropsychologist
• Drugs?
• Exorcism

As well as a dozen other ideas to try and get themselves back inside their own bodies. They spent the rest of the day getting some work done and making plans for where to start on their list tomorrow. They ordered Chinese takeaway which seemed appropriate as they watched the 2003 version of Freaky Friday with Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis. They cracked open their fortune cookies (thankfully with no subsequent earthquake) hoping they might provide some much needed insight. They didn’t, but they did provide a laugh.

Penelope’s fortune read: Thank god I am out of that cookie!

Colin’s read: This cookie is never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down.

Since it appeared the fortune cookies would not magically solve their issue, they decided to clean up and get ready for bed. After a long and utterly bizarre day, they crawled into bed, feeling completely spent.

Penelope curled Colin’s long arms around her own tiny body and felt it chuckle inside her embrace.

“What?” she asked, confused.

Colin giggled. “I never get to be the little spoon. This is kind of fun.”

They both laughed at that, then Penelope said, “Don’t get used to it. As fun as being freakishly tall and being able to reach anything I wanted has been today, we have to figure this out, Colin. We can’t stay like this forever.”

Colin turned around to face his wife. He stared into his navy blue eyes that were full of worry and rubbed the pad of her thumb over his cheekbone. “I know Pen. I promise we’ll get this figured out. We’ve got an extensive list of ideas and one of them is bound to work. Everything will be ok.” He leaned her forehead against his before capturing his lips in a soft kiss.

He rolled back over to slot himself back into his little spoon position before saying, “And don’t pretend like you’re not obsessed with how freakishly tall I am. Kinda like I’m obsessed with how freakishly tiny you are.”

He heard his voice scoff behind him. “5 feet is not freakishly tiny,” she mumbled.

“4 '11,” Colin fake coughed.

Pen gasped and smacked him on her shoulder. “I am not!”

“Are too. I measured today.”

Penelope was indignant. “Colin Bridgerton!”

He laughed his most boisterous laugh, but it just didn’t sound the same coming out in Penelope’s dainty mezzo-soprano voice. 

“Careful, Colin,” she said with a smirk. “You’re forgetting that there are things that I can measure too.”

The laughter cut off abruptly.

3 Days Later

“Pen, I have a suggestion, but I don't think you're gonna like it.”

He watched his face crinkle into a wary expression. “What is it?” she asked, tentatively. 

Colin let out a deep sigh. “Now, before you get cross with me, just hear me out, ok?”

“Okay…”

“I think we should try having sex in front of the mirror…” Penelope immediately opened Colin's mouth to respond, but he quickly cut her off. “Listen to me, Pen. The day before this happened was just an ordinary day for us. Nothing unusual happened that day. We know this because we've walked through the events of that day a hundred times to find a reason and we haven't been able to. There were no weird storms, no earthquakes, we made no wishes, we didn’t hit our heads, and we didn’t meet any strangers who might have cursed us. The only thing that could be considered out of the ordinary on that day was our fight.”

“It wasn't a fight,” Penelope mumbled.

Colin smiled. “Our spat, then. I've just been thinking, we're making our way through our list pretty quickly with no resolution in sight. I just think it's not going to be up to a psychic, a witch, or a priest to fix this. It's up to us to figure it out. We’ve watched every version of Freaky Friday and that’s been the solution every time. They addressed what they were fighting about and saw things from the other person’s perspective and that solved the problem. And I think we need to do the same and address what we were fighting about on an otherwise completely ordinary day. I really believe we're supposed to do this, Pen.”

He reached out to grab his hands and look up into his midnight blue eyes. Penelope let out a sigh. “I've been thinking the same thing.”

Penelope’s eyes widened and her jaw dropped open comically as Colin realized what she had said. “You have?”

She let out a long sigh before dropping onto the couch with a dramatic plop. “Yes, I have. I know you’re right. It’s the only thing that makes sense. I think it's the solution we’ve been looking for, but it doesn't mean I’m excited to do it, even if it means getting my body back.”

Colin sat down on the couch, lifting his head from the cushion and placing it on her lap before he started running her hands through his chestnut hair. “I’ve always wanted to do this with you, Pen, but I didn’t want it this way. Not like this. It feels like I’m forcing you, and I hate that.”

Penelope looked upward at her face. The expression on it looked miserable. “Colin, I know you didn’t ask for this to happen, but it has, and if this is the only way for us to switch back, we have to try it, regardless of how I feel about it.”

If possible, his expression became even more wretched and a tear slid down Penelope’s soft cheek. “I’m sorry, Pen. This is all my fault.” Another tear followed in the same track as the first with more lining up to follow. “If I hadn’t been so insistent about asking you, we never would have found ourselves in this mess.”

She let out a small chuckle before sitting up from the couch and lifting his large hands to wipe the tears that were flowing down her face. “I’m pretty sure all those times you asked me, you never once anticipated that we’d wake up in each other’s bodies for you to get your way. It’s not your fault, Colin. We’ve just found ourselves in a weird ass situation and the way we get out of it, hopefully, is by giving you the only thing I’ve ever denied you. You’ve given me so much, my love. I can give you this.”

“Are you sure?” he asked in despair.

Penelope leaned forward and tilted her face up to meet his. Their lips met and so many things were spoken silently within those kisses. Fears were assuaged, comforts were extended, anxieties were eased, and loving assurances were exchanged. When they broke apart Penelope stared resolutely into her own powder blue eyes and said with fierce determination,

“I’m sure.”

🪞🪞🪞

Colin spent the rest of the afternoon preparing for that evening. He dragged the mirror from the back of the closet and brought it back out to their bedroom. It was much heavier than last time since Penelope’s body did not possess his strength. The sheet covering the glass remained in place for now, in case she changed her mind. The sheets on the bed were changed, candles were set, a playlist was loaded, and a fresh bouquet of red roses was arranged in a vase on Pen’s bedside table. He’d also taken care to prepare Penelope’s body. She helped him shave her legs, but he washed, exfoliated, and moisturized all on his own.

For Penelope’s part, most of her preparation was mental, though she also took care to shower and shave. She was feeling incredibly anxious and had wondered aloud if she could take an edible to help calm her down. Colin was against that plan immediately, asserting that it defeated the purpose of the whole exercise to have her under the influence. She fought back half-heartedly, but finally caved when he said it could affect the results if she took something.

After dinner they made their way timidly toward the bedroom, hand in hand. Neither of them had ever been this nervous to have sex, not even their first time together. Penelope made her way over to the edge of the bed and sat down. She watched as Colin made his way around the room lighting all the candles he’d set out earlier, her anxiety causing his heart to beat rapidly out of his chest as she sat there trying to quell her panic.

When Colin finished with the candles he saw the fear in his eyes and walked over to his wife. With her seated on the bed, and him standing between his legs they were nearly the same height. He leaned forward so their foreheads touched and he was staring directly into his frightened eyes, then he grabbed his hand and placed it over her heart.

“Breathe with me, Pen.”

They both took in a deep breath, held it for a few counts, and then exhaled. They repeated this several more times until Penelope’s frantic breathing had steadied.

“You can still change your mind.”

“No, I can’t, and you know it.”

Colin frowned. This was certainly not how he'd imagined this going all these years he'd been asking for it.

“Everything is going to be ok. I promise you.”

“Okay,” she said, trusting him with every fragile piece of her. Mind, body, and soul. She knew they were all safe in Colin’s hands…well, technically they were her hands at the moment, but the sentiment remained the same.

“Try not to focus on the mirror, or the curse, or your fear. It’s just us. It’s always been just us. Me and you against the world, right?” She nodded. “You have faced much bigger challenges than this and you’ve overcome every single one, and you will overcome this too. I know you will because you are the strongest, bravest, most extraordinary woman in the world. You can do this, my love.” He reached out and swept one of his loose curls out of his eyes.

“I know I can.”

“If at any point you are uncomfortable with anything, you have to tell me, Pen. You promise?”

His eyes were wide, but she nodded. Colin let out another deep breath before walking over to the mirror in the corner and pulling the sheet away, revealing the reflective surface beneath. She watched as he shifted the mirror’s position so she would have a better view of his reflection. There was an end goal for Colin, but before they did anything together, he simply wanted to admire his wife’s body, alone, while she watched.

He stood in front of the mirror, a look of nervous anticipation on her face. 

Turning back to her one last time before getting started, he asked, “Are you sure, Pen?”

She nodded again. With her consent, he turned her head back toward the mirror. Colin wanted to move slowly, reverently, over every inch of her body, and looking into the mirror he decided to start at the top. He undid the messy bun in her hair to let her loose curls fall down her back and over shoulders. Reaching up he began to run her fingers through it, taking in the soft silkiness of her long copper curls. He hummed at the sensation which was the same, but also new as he’d never before felt it through her fingertips. A soft sigh slipped from her lips when he felt her nails scratching against her scalp. The slight tug of her hair as he ran her fingers through the tangles sent another hum of pleasure through her throat.

“Whoa.” 

Colin immediately turned to make sure everything was ok with his wife. “What’s wrong?” he asked, concerned.

He saw his cheeks flush a delicate shade of pink as she looked toward his crotch. “Um…I’m…you’re…getting hard already. It feels weird,” she said. There was a beat where they just stared at each other, and then they both began to laugh.

Colin walked over to her, placing a kiss against his own forehead.

“I’m just surprised. I mean, you haven’t even taken off any clothing yet. All you’ve done is run your hands through my hair. It’s silly that something so mundane should give you a semi.”

In a seductive voice that she didn’t even know her body was capable of, she heard him say, “Baby, I’ve almost always got a semi when I’m around you. You have no idea how every little thing you do drives me wild.”

His eyes widened as she felt his cock twitch. She glanced down into his lap before saying, “I think I’m beginning to. How much of this do you think is me and how much do you think is your body?”

“I’m not sure, but I’ve got a theory.”

“And do you plan on sharing this theory with the rest of the class?”

“All in good time.”

He placed a gentle kiss against his pouting lips before returning to stand in front of the mirror. Satisfied he’d spent enough time on her hair he was ready to move on to her lips, her neck, and her collarbone. He ran her delicate fingers over each in turn, letting out soft sighs and whimpers occasionally at the pleasant sensations. After one such sigh he heard her behind him let out an uncomfortable groan. Without even looking back, he said, “You can take it out, to relieve the pressure, but nothing more than that yet. I’ve still got a lot more I want to do with this body and you are going to have to wait your turn.” He heard her unzip his jeans and slide down his boxers before letting out a relieved sigh.

At this point Colin was ready to remove her shirt. He reached down and pulled the edge of the shirt up over her chest and finally over her head before dropping it on the floor. He stared at her reflection in the mirror, admiring the view he’d seen a thousand times, but one which he’d never before seen through her eyes.

Penelope watched as Colin removed the shirt from her body and tossed it to the floor. She stared in awe as he began to run her hands over her flabby arms, her stretch-marked stomach, and her enormous tits that were barely contained by her bra. She wanted desperately to look away from the sight, but it was kind of like a car crash, she couldn’t help but look on at the horror unfolding. 

Colin kept making little sighs and moans as he touched every piece of his wife’s body. He knew her body was getting wet–could feel the strange sensation between her legs along with an ache that was all too familiar to him. That ache felt different in this body, but the longing, the need, was the same.

He wanted to keep moving languidly, but her body was getting worked up and he was getting tired of waiting to see all of her. Reaching backward he removed her bra, which was much harder to do at this angle that he wasn’t accustomed to. Then he grabbed her shorts and knickers, and pushed them to the ground in one go, before kicking them aside. Looking at her reflection in the mirror, Colin grew still and quiet, completely enraptured by what he was seeing. 

He suddenly felt a bit of pity and understanding for Narcissus. I mean, if he looked like this he’d never want to stop staring at himself either. His wife was so gorgeous it actually made him ache, not just in his groin, but in his heart, his soul, the very atoms that stitched his cells together. She was Rose Dawson wearing the Heart of the Ocean. She was Boticelli’s Venus. She was the goddess Aphrodite. She was a work of art. She was Penelope Bridgerton, and she was his. Tears began to well up in her eyes and spill across her cheeks as he turned back toward the bed to look at her.

“You are breathtaking, Penelope,” he said, before facing the mirror again.

The more Penelope watched Colin exploring her body, the less nauseated she felt, instead becoming entranced by the way he so adoringly touched her body. Not just with his hands, but also with her ice blue eyes. Sure, she would glance at various parts of her body when Colin would move her hands there, but she kept returning to her eyes. In all her twenty-seven years of life she had never seen that expression in her eyes while she looked at her own naked body.

Her eyes were filled with wonder and amazement, joy and pleasure, passion and longing. It was captivating. She’d seen these expressions many times in Colin’s eyes as he looked at her, and it had made her feel beautiful and desirable in ways she had never felt before, but she had never once looked at her own reflection and found herself to be beautiful and desirable. The look in her own eyes as Colin moved her hands across her body sent a thrill through her. Colin’s cock twitched again. It was very, very hard.

She reached out his hand and placed it at the base of his cock, noting how strange it was to be moving a hand that actually fit around it. She gave it a couple of quick strokes to help relieve the pressure that kept building the longer that Colin took with her body. She let out a small moan through his lips that had him immediately turning around.

“Pen! I said no! Not yet!”

She released his cock with a groan. “Colin, please. I’m dying here.”

She saw a satisfied smirk on her face as he said, “I have been asking for this for four years, Penelope Bridgerton. You. Will. Wait.”

She whimpered pathetically and it sounded very strange in Colin’s voice.

“I’m never edging you again, I swear to God.”

The smirk on her face turned into a full blown grin, and her eyes sparkled with unrestrained mischief.

“Liar.”

She fell back against the bed, dramatically, but her husband quickly returned to her side, grabbed his shoulders, and returned her to her seated position.

“I am showing your body the proper love and devotion it deserves, that it has always deserved, and you will watch, and you will wait, do you understand me?”

It was so unusual to hear her own voice sound so demanding and sure. It was kind of hot. Maybe when she got back into her body, she’d have to try being a bit more assertive with Colin in the bedroom. The idea naturally went straight to Colin’s dick. She let out a groan of irritation, but ultimately nodded his head in acceptance. 

“Good.”

Colin returned to the mirror and his explorations, paying particular attention to her breasts. God, he loved his wife’s breasts. The more he played with them, the more he wanted to speed things along and get to the fucking his wife’s brains out part of the evening. But this wasn’t for him or about him. This was all for her, and he suspected it might just be working. He continued to massage her breasts and eventually his fingers began to work her nipples. A gasp escaped at the first touch of her small fingers over her pebbled nipples. Colin tossed her head back as the sounds issuing from him became louder and more frequent. 

This was incredible. Penelope had played with his nipples before but it never felt like this. God, it was like the nerves in her nipples were tied directly to her core. Colin could feel her clit pulsing with need and clenched her thighs together to try and relieve the ache. They’d discussed offhandedly the idea of trying to make Pen come from just stimulating her tits, but they’d never really gotten around to trying it, always too eager to get his cock inside her. Colin was going to make that a priority once they got their bodies switched back, because he really thought he could do it, knowing now just how sensitive they were.

“Colin, can you please move things along?” Penelope asked in frustration.

He hadn’t even gotten to Pen’s lower half yet, but he could feel the flooding between her thighs and knew it was time for the next step in his plan. Colin tilted her head forward again toward the mirror after having her eyes closed for the last few minutes while he worked over her breasts. Her pupils were blown wide and were burning with pleasure. “Alright Pen,” he said, her voice breathy, “come over here. It’s time to tell you my theory.”

Penelope stood up leaving Colin’s jeans and boxers behind on the floor. She paused quickly, deciding to pull off his shirt so they were both naked, before walking toward her husband. 

“I want you to reach down and feel how wet your body is, Pen.”

Colin’s eyes widened in surprise, but she did as she was told and reached down toward her cunt.

“Bloody hell!” she said, completely astounded. Her pussy wasn’t just dripping, it was practically a deluge. Upon further inspection she could see the arousal coating her inner thighs, slowly dripping further down her legs, and she stared at her husband with newfound respect. How he had managed to be this aroused without touching her clit even once for relief was seriously impressive. She knew she would not have been able to manage it if she were the one in her body and this turned on. Hell, she could barely handle waiting in her husband’s body, impatiently aching for relief. Colin’s restraint was a feat to be admired and she was in awe of him.

“Now, Pen, have you ever been this wet when just touching yourself, and without touching your clit?”

“Definitely not,” she answered quickly. Colin could get her very wet, but this level of arousal on her own had never happened before, she was certain.

“So, my theory is that the person inside the body is the one who is most in control of what happens to the body, which would make sense right? If you’ve never been this aroused while touching or looking at yourself, that would mean, because I’m currently in control of your body, and your body drives me absolutely wild, I got more aroused than you normally would. Would you agree?”

“I guess so. I mean that makes sense.”

Colin smiled like he’d just won an argument. “So if my theory is correct, would you like to explain why you’ve got a massive boner from staring at your own body if you hate it so much?”

Colin’s jaw dropped. Penelope felt caught by his logic, quickly coming up with an explanation that would account for this change. 

“But Colin, it’s different. I mean, yes, I’m technically looking at my body, but I also know that you are inside it, so really it’s like I’m watching you. It’s not the same thing,” she said, knowing it was a stretch.

“Dammit, Penelope,” he said exasperated. “You know what? Stand here and close your eyes.”

“Doesn’t that kind of defeat the whole purpose of doing this in front of a mirror?”

“Will you just trust me?”

She rolled his eyes before closing them.

“Now, I want you to feel your way down your body and tell me what you like about it.”

“Coliiiiin,” Penelope whined.

“Penelopeeeee," he teased back.

She wasn’t really sure how this was going to help when she’d felt her own body a million times before, but she followed his instructions moving his large hands up to her curls and running his fingers through them, feeling the silkiness in between his fingertips.

“My hair is really soft.”

“Mmmhmm. What else?”

“It took me a long time to figure out how to work with my curls instead of against them, and I'm really happy with their length, style, and texture now.” 

“Good. Keep going.”

Penelope moved his hands down to her face. She skimmed along the apples of her cheek and grazed his fingertips along her lips.

“I like my lips.”

“Me too. Tell me why.”

She grazed his thumb along her bottom lip. “They’re really full and great for kissing.”

“I couldn’t agree more.”

She laughed before moving his hands down to her neck and collarbone. Colin was clearly enjoying himself because every once in a while he’d let out a pleasurable sigh. The longer Pen touched her body the more she realized how smooth her skin was. She was religious about her skincare routine, and the efforts were clearly paying off.

“My skin is so soft and smooth,” she said as she moved his hands down her shoulders, then trailing down to her wrists.

“Mmmm. Like satin.”

“It actually feels really nice.”

Colin let out a little giggle. “Bit of an understatement, but I’ll take it.” 

“I also smell really good.”

“Yeah, you do.”

“But I don’t just mean my perfume and my lotion. Like my body’s natural scent is nice. I can’t really smell it much when I’m in my own body, but I can smell it really strongly in yours. I don’t know how to describe it, but when it mixes with the other smells it’s kind of intoxicating.”

“You’re telling me,” Colin agreed heartily.

“Can you smell your scent stronger too?” she asked curiously.

“I can.”

“Your smell drives me wild.”

“So does yours,” he assured her. Colin reached out and grabbed his hands, gently moving them down to her breasts. “Take your time here. You know how much I love your tits.”

Penelope let out a quiet laugh. She did know. Colin had always been a boob guy, but when the two of them got together he became specifically a Penelope’s boobs guy, worshipping at their altar every chance he could. She started slowly, following his directions to take her time. She felt the weight of them in his large hands, and even though Colin's hands were much larger than her own they still couldn’t hold all of her. Letting them go she began stroking the underside of them, leisurely making her way upward.

Taking his index finger, she dragged it down the center of her cleavage–goosebumps rising along her arms, the hair there standing at attention. She started making light circles around her areola, not touching it yet, but getting closer and closer with every pass. Her nipples were hard and begging to be touched. Colin was getting more aroused by the second and he couldn’t help the little whimpers that escaped as Penelope teased her breasts. When she finally moved his fingers over her nipples it sent a jolt through her body that nearly knocked Colin to the ground.

“You okay?” she asked, taking a quick peek to check on him.

“I’m fine, just really…stimulated right now. Keep going. And you’re supposed to be talking to me about how much you love your body, my darling wife.”

She pinched her nipples to shut him up. Colin gasped at the sensation. She closed his eyes again and continued to tease her nipples. 

“For the most part, I’m happy with the size of my breasts. I wish I could keep the size but lose the back problems.”

Colin wasn’t super coherent at the moment, given where Penelope had his hands working, but he chuckled at that.

“I like the size, shape, and color of my nipples. I don’t think I love them quite as much as you do, but still, they’re a pretty cracking pair of boobs, if I’m honest.”

Colin couldn’t agree or offer up a witty retort. His breathing and heartbeat were increasing rapidly, and the noises he was making were slowly getting louder. Penelope felt his cock twitching and leaking at every sound. Finally deciding they’d both had enough of her breasts she began to move down toward her cunt, but Colin, apparently lucid enough to know what she was doing, stopped his hands. 

“You can’t skip your stomach, Pen.”

She let out a groan, and not the sexy kind.

“Ugggghhhh. Why not?” she whined.

“Because it’s a part of you. A part of you I’m desperately in love with and I want you to love it too.”

“Dream big, Bridgerton.”

“C’mon, babe. If you want, I’ll help you with this part.”

She nodded, bottom lip jutted out in a pout. Colin couldn’t help himself when he saw it and reached up on her tiptoes to pull his bottom lip into her mouth. A short round of snogging followed with Colin reaching upward and tugging on his hair, and Pen reaching downward and squeezing her ass. His brow furrowed, and she gently pulled away from her lips.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

Penelope opened her eyes again and looked down at her husband. “I miss your ass.” If Colin was a boob guy, then Penelope was a butt girl. It was yet another reason they were the perfect match for each other. Colin had a great ass and squeezing her own just wasn’t hitting the same way.

Colin let out a loud laugh, tossing her head back. “I’m sure it misses you as well, but since you’ve already got my hands on your backside, why don’t you tell me what you like about it, and you need to close your eyes again.”

Penelope was getting irritated at the never-ending mind games, but dutifully closed his eyes again anyway. Sighing, she said, “I guess it’s good for squeezing, but I still like yours better.”

“Don’t forget spanking,” he added.

His eyes were closed, but if they were open she would have rolled them. “Right…yeah, It’s fine as far as asses go, probably a bit too big, but…”

“Blasphemy!” Colin scoffed, outraged. “How dare you! It is not too big, it is utterly perfect. I’m not going to take you over to the bed for a demonstration, but you’re just gonna have to trust me on this. When I’m fucking you from behind, your ass cheeks are literally the perfect size for my hands to squeeze. I will hear no more slander against your perfect ass, Penelope Bridgerton.”

“Fine,” she said, not caring enough to argue with him. “Can we move on now? I’m getting tired of waiting to fuck you.”

“Okay,” he said, his tone losing its playfulness and becoming much more serious. Colin reached out and grabbed his hands and placed them on her stomach. He kept her hands over top of his so he could guide them through this together. “I promised I’d help you out with this part.”

She nodded, biting his bottom lip nervously.

Colin gently guided his hands across her belly. “There are so many things to love here, Pen. You are indescribably soft, I’ve always thought so. I know society has told you to hate this about yourself, but it’s one of my favorite parts of you, maybe even more than your tits,” he teased. “Some men prefer a waif in the bedroom, and that’s all well and good for them, but when I’m making love to a woman–when I’m making love to my beautiful wife, I love feeling like her body itself is enveloping and embracing me. I don’t want bony hips and hardness. I want curves I can sink my fingers into.” He gave a little nudge with her fingers, encouraging her to sink his fingers into her belly. She took the hint, and he purred in his ear.

“But what about my stretch marks?” Penelope asked self-consciously.

“Mmmmm,” Colin hummed, taking hold of his index finger and guiding Penelope in tracing along the patterns of her stretch marks. “I like to think of them like tree rings.”

“What? Like marking my age?”

“No, more like marking your growth.”

“Yeah…the growth of my belly. That's the problem.”

“No, you misunderstand me, Pen. I'm not just talking about physical growth, I'm talking about personal growth. They don't represent your age, but your wisdom.”

“My stretch marks represent my wisdom?” she repeated, skeptically.

“Yes.” 

“The fuck are you on about?”

He continued guiding his hands to trace the marks on her belly, hips, and thighs as he spoke. “When you were a kid, your parents and your sisters were always putting you down because of your weight. At the time you took all that to heart–of course you did, you were a child, you didn’t know any better. You stopped eating the foods you loved the most and then you started eating less and less, until my mum stepped in and put a stop to that–all because of how they spoke about your body

“Over the years I’ve watched you unlearn every awful thing your family made you believe about yourself. Every melted ice cream that dripped down your chin, every lick of frosting smeared on your lips, every crumb from your favorite biscuit helped to create these special marks on you. That’s why they represent wisdom, Pen. Because you were wise enough to learn that life is meant to be filled with things that bring us joy.”

“Ok, Marie Kondo.”

Colin chuckled before leaning her head against his shoulder. “I’d much rather have the person I love most in the world standing before me with sexy curves, pretty stretch marks, and a smile on her face than have her be skinny, sick, and miserable, like your family wanted you to be. So, bearing all that in mind, how could I possibly see these marks as anything other than beautiful? You see, Pen. The parts of you that you like the least actually make you more desirable, not less. And one day, when you’re ready, this part of you will carry a piece of you and a piece of me that we make together.”

Colin’s eyes shot open in surprise. Penelope looked down into her pale blue eyes and saw that they were full of tears of adoration. She felt Colin’s heart melt and she was sure if she was in her own body right now, her ovaries would be exploding. God, she loved this man. She bent down and planted a kiss on her lips feeling his tears spill onto her cheeks. She moved away from her lips to kiss away the tears on her cheeks instead. Colin reached out her small hands and gently placed them on his eyelids, encouraging her to close them, once more.

“We’re almost done, love, I promise,” he whispered into his ear. He reached out and grabbed his hand and brought it to her dripping cunt. He gathered a good amount of her slick into his palm, jumping when they accidentally touched her clit, and then he moved his hand over to his shaft. Penelope wrapped his hand around it and gave it a few good strokes. She let out a visceral groan.

“Now open your eyes.”

Penelope opened Colin’s eyes and looked into the mirror. They were almost completely black, his pupils were blown so wide. She could see the fire burning behind them. The desire, the want, the need. 

“That is all you, Pen. That feeling of desperation came from you touching your own body, it had nothing to do with me.”

She tore his eyes away from the mirror and looked down at her body in front of her. Colin’s cock twitched again, and more precum began to spill.

“You’re right,” she confessed. “I’ve never felt this way looking at my own body before. I mean, I know you’re in there, and that’s part of it, I think, and maybe part of it is that your body will always be affected by my body, but some of this is me. Me. Penelope. I’m looking at myself and feeling…carnal.”

“I know the feeling well.”

“I seriously can’t wait any longer, Colin. I want to fuck you. Actually, scratch that. I need to fuck you or I’m going to go insane. Are you done with your head games and unlicensed therapy because I really wanna feel what you feel when you’re inside me.”

Colin’s breathing was ragged when he answered, “God, yes.”

They practically lunged toward each other's faces and began kissing with voracity. The kisses were sloppy, driven by lust and both of them being edged for entirely too long. Their hands were everywhere. Carding through hair, gripping asses, squeezing tits. Penelope was tired of craning Colin’s neck to reach her lips, so she bent down and lifted her body into Colin’s strong arms without ever breaking contact with her mouth. Colin wrapped Pen’s legs around his torso. Penelope could feel the slick from her body’s arousal on Colin’s abs, and it made her go utterly feral. 

She backed them up against the wall, to help with leverage and barely remembered to check in with Colin before she placed his cock at her entrance. After his brief nod of consent she slowly began to inch her way inside. The last thing she wanted to do was move slowly, but after Colin let out a pained gasp she stilled.

“You okay?” she grunted, gritting his teeth.

Colin glanced down at where they were joined and was shocked to discover that only a couple inches of his cock were inside Penelope’s cunt, and he could barely handle even that.

“Fuck, Pen! How do you do this!? Oh my God!”

“Well, you normally finger me first to warm me up. Do you want me to do that?” Penelope really didn’t want to deal with foreplay. Right now all she wanted was to be ramming Colin’s cock into her pussy as hard and as fast as humanly possible. 

Unfortunately Colin said, “I think you’re going to have to, love.”

Pen let out a frustrated sigh as she lowered her body to the ground.

“I’m sorry, babe. I will say, I have a newfound appreciation for how well you take me. I mean I’ll usually finger you first, but not always and the fact that you can handle that without any preparation whatsoever is kind of mind-blowing. You are always astonishing me, Penelope Bridgerton.”

They clasped each other's hands as they walked toward the bed, the intense fervor of their passion waning. “Yeah, well I have a newfound appreciation for your restraint and self-control. I have been out of my mind all night wanting to fuck you, but you are always so patient even when I know you feel the same way.”

“What can I say? I like to take my time.” 

Penelope paused in their approach to the bed, as a realization hit her.

“What is it?” Colin asked.

“I picked you up.”

“Yeah, so?”

“So, when I picked you up it wasn’t an effort at all. It was easy. I could’ve held you for…well, maybe not hours, but certainly long enough to fuck you against the wall like I wanted to.”

Colin laughed. “Yeah, I know. Unfortunately for you, your husband is not nearly as adept at handling pain as you are, or you could’ve done just that.”

“No, Colin, you don’t understand. I wasn’t heavy. My body didn’t feel heavy in your arms.”

He reached up and caressed his cheek. “I know, Pen. I’ve been telling you as much for years.”

“I know…I…I guess I just didn’t really believe you.”

“But you do now?”

She stared deeply into her eyes. “I do now.” Then to prove her point she reached down and locked his lips with hers before picking up her tiny body again and depositing it onto their bed. Colin chuckled as she pulled away from her lips to get a better view of her weeping cunt. She took one of Colin’s massive fingers and began to slowly work it into her center. It was clear this was a feeling that Colin wasn’t used to and it was going to take some time to get him ready to take his own large cock.

Penelope successfully got one finger inside and thrusting at a decent rhythm. When she thought he was ready, she added a second finger but slowed things down again. Colin gasped at the additional stretch.

“I’m not sure whether to be proud or sorry for subjecting you to my huge dick,” he said with a grimace.

Penelope laughed outright before leaning forward to plant a quick kiss on her lips. “Proud, definitely. I know I’m proud of it, and it’s not even mine.” 

“Sure it is. It may be part of my body, but every part of me belongs to you.”

Penelope felt a tear prick the corner of her eye at his words. “And every part of me belongs to you,” she said, placing a soft kiss on her thigh. Returning her attention to what she was doing, she increased the speed of his two fingers inside her pussy. She used his other hand to begin working at her clit, and then Colin couldn’t speak anymore. All the little gasps and moans spilling from her throat went straight to Colin’s cock which was red, angry, and dripping with need.

Penelope needed to hurry up and get him prepped because she was so desperate she was ready to start dry humping her thigh to take care of this, but that’s not what she wanted. She wanted to feel what he felt when he slipped inside of her. Pumping his fingers harder and faster, she hit that spot inside of her that she could never reach herself, with ease. She increased the speed of the circles around her clit and it wasn’t long before Colin was screaming her name, arching her back, knuckles white as they fisted into the sheets. Penelope could feel her pussy fluttering around his fingers as she worked him through the orgasm.

It was quite an experience to see her own body orgasm without her inside it. She hated to admit that Colin might have been right about all this, but as she watched her body orgasm, she could admit that she found it beautiful. Her hair was a disaster, her skin was red and blotchy, and a light sheen of sweat shone on her skin, but seeing herself in the throes of pleasure was truly an altering moment for Penelope. Ecstasy looked good on her, she thought.

When Colin came down from the orgasm, his eyes remained shut, but he reached out her tiny hand searching for his face. She assisted him and once he had her in his grasp he dragged her up toward her face to kiss him. 

“Fuck, Pen. That was…unreal.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean I’ve had orgasms before, but it feels so different in your body. It’s like…broader and deeper like it expands to every inch of your body. I could feel it in your fingertips, your toes, in every strand of your hair. Fuck. Is it like that every time?” he asked curiously.

“Not always, no. Some feel like that, but some are more localized. Some feel like I’m floating away on a cloud and some feel like I’m deeply rooted to the earth and my surroundings. Do all yours feel the same?”

“More or less. I mean I feel like there are varying levels of intensity, but the general experience feels pretty much the same each time. It’s so interesting feeling the difference in your body.”

“Speaking of which, it’s my turn to feel the difference in your body. Do you think you’re ready to take me now?”

He nodded, but gulped, still clearly apprehensive. She pulled Colin’s giant body on top of her tiny one and notched the tip of his cock at her entrance once more. She moved agonizingly slow, one inch at a time. Pen had done a decent job of warming him up, but the stretch when his cock entered inside her was still intense. Colin gritted her teeth as she slowly entered inside. When his cock was fully seated, they both stayed in that position for several moments to allow her pussy to adjust.

“Please, Colin,” Penelope was practically crying from holding herself back. “I need to move.”

“I’m okay, Pen. I’ll be okay. Go ahead.”

He’d barely gotten the words out before she was pulling out and thrusting back into him, hard and fast. Colin cried out at the force and Penelope moaned in relief. She pulled back out and thrust into the hilt again, but before she could begin to find her rhythm Colin cried out in pain.

“Wait, Pen, please!”

Penelope pulled out and groaned in furious irritation. “For fuck's sake, Colin! The first time we had sex you barely warmed me up with your fingers and then you went straight to the hilt in one swoop, and I was a fucking virgin! Why is this so difficult for you!?”

Objectively she knew she was being irrational. They had learned over the past few days that Penelope had a difficult time managing all the testosterone in Colin’s body that she wasn't used to. She got irritated and angry very quickly, she was less patient and understanding, and she seemed to constantly be picking fights with him.

A single tear slid from the corner of her eye as Colin fought for breath to answer her–still reeling from Penelope's roughness. “You're right. And if you recall, I made you cry when I did that. I had to learn how to be patient and move more slowly for your safety and comfort, even if it meant delaying my own needs.”

Guilt washed over Penelope at his words. She crawled up on the bed and lay beside her husband, giving him a tender kiss before saying, “I'm sorry. You're right. I know you're right. I know I'm being irrational. It's just…all of this has made me appreciate and love you even more than I already did, which I didn’t even think was possible considering how much I love you already. I have no idea how you ignore this need for so long without going completely mental.”

“Years of practice,” he said, kissing the tip of his nose.

“I'm sorry,” she repeated.

“You’re forgiven. You know, in a lot of ways this is kind of like another first time for us. Sure, it’s still us and our bodies, but the experience is completely different being in each other’s body instead of our own, don’t you think?”

“Yeah. That makes sense, actually.”

“So, seeing as it’s my first time, can you try and move a little slower until I give you the go ahead? I promise, once I’ve gotten used to it, you can fuck me as hard as you want. Deal?”

His eyes darkened. “Deal.”

Penelope shifted back to her position over her husband and gently notched his weeping cock at the entrance of her cunt. She continued to thrust deeply, but at a significantly slower pace.

“Ahhhh. Yes, Pen, just like that,” Colin said on an exhale. Her brow was furrowed as though he was still in a little bit of pain, but the sounds escaping him were pure pleasure. She continued at that pace for a while until Colin said, “Ok, you can go a little faster now.”

Penelope didn’t hesitate. She picked up speed, though still not at maximum velocity like she wanted. The room was filled with their shared groans and sighs of satisfaction. Finally after what felt like years, Colin gave her the go-ahead she’d been waiting for.

“Alright Pen. You can let go now.”

She slammed into him so hard he hit her head on the headboard. They shimmied further down on to bed so Penelope could keep fucking him as hard as she wanted without giving her body a concussion. Everything was hard and fast at that point and Penelope knew when she’d found her rhythm that she wasn’t going to last long.

“Fuuuuuck! Yes... Fucking finally. Ahhh! Colin, touch my clit,” she ordered, between groans.

Colin immediately obeyed, her hand moving down to her center. She reached out and grabbed her left leg and slung it over Colin’s shoulder, never slowing her pace. Colin gasped at the change in position and then began to whimper, her hands picking up speed on her clit. Penelope increased her speed to match. 

“Oh, God! Yes, Pen. There, right there!”

Three more thrusts had Colin coming, pussy tightening around his cock. Penelope followed closely behind him, letting out a guttural growl, feeling a tightening at Colin’s center followed by the pleasure of release. She buried his cock deep inside her cunt while she rode out the orgasm. Afterwards she fell on top of him, Colin letting out a soft, “Oof,” at the weight of his large body on top of him.

“Sorry,” Penelope said sleepily. She rolled off to the side and within seconds she was asleep. A few minutes later she awoke to acrylic nails lightly skimming across his pectorals and petting his chest hair.

“Sorry,” Penelope repeated, “I guess I dozed off.”

Colin smiled in understanding. “You did. The post-orgasm sleepiness can be pretty intense.”

“I’ll say,” she said, pulling Colin in closer to her and planting a kiss on the top of her hair.

“Pen.”

“Mmmm?”

“We can relax and cuddle for a bit, but we’re not done here.”

His eyes snapped open to look down at him. “What do you mean ‘we’re not done?’”

“I mean, the whole point of this was to do it in front of a mirror so you could see how beautiful you are.”

“But I did see myself when you came on the bed, twice!”

“I know, but now that you’re spent, you’ll have better focus in front of the mirror.”

She sighed and flopped his head back against the pillow, closing his eyes again. “I think you’re just being greedy and want another orgasm.”

Colin beamed at her, “I will admit, that is a bonus of being inside your body, but I think you know me well enough to know that’s not true.” She felt him place a kiss on his chest. 

“Okay fine, let's do this so I can sleep. Your body is completely exhausted.”

Colin brushed her lips against his cheek before he got up and dragged the mirror closer to the bed. He returned to his exhausted wife and tugged at his heavy arms to encourage her to sit up. She did so, reluctantly.

“Okay, you’re gonna sit here,” Colin said, adjusting his body so it was sitting on the edge of the bed directly in front of the mirror. “And I’ll be right here.” He sat down on his lap, her back flush against his torso, then spread her legs open wide on either side of his own legs. Penelope placed his head on her shoulder so she could see into the mirror. It was quite the view, with all of her most intimate parts on full display.

“So what do you want me to do?” she asked.

“Nothing.”

Penelope furrowed his brow in confusion. “Nothing?”

“Yep. I’m going to take care of the orgasm, your only job is to watch in the mirror.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it.”

“Sweet. Let’s do it, Bridgerton.”

Colin frowned. “This isn’t a joke, Penelope. There’s a reason I’ve been asking you to do this for four years, so please try and take this seriously.”

“Okay, I’m sorry. You have my undivided attention.”

With that Colin began to touch her body for the millionth time that evening. Her body was still really worked up and sensitive, so he knew it wasn’t going to take nearly as long to get off this time around. He started with her breasts, because of course he did. Her fingers squeezed and stroked and pinched, and Colin let out a symphony of delicious moans of pleasure. Penelope stared dutifully out of Colin’s eyes, paying close attention to her face. 

Colin moved her left hand down to her cunt and kept her right hand on her breast while Penelope continued to watch her face. She was reminded of a sculpture she’d learned about in her art history class at Uni called The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa . Oddly enough it was a religious statue depicting an angel and a Carmelite nun. The angel held an arrow that it had thrust into Saint Teresa’s heart which had left her in a state of religious ecstasy, which was indistinguishable from a state of sexual ecstasy. Staring at her reflection in the mirror, Penelope could understand why an artist would want to capture a moment such as this.

It was human nature to hide, to mask, to blend, never wanting to stand apart from the crowd and be labeled as “other.” Moments of pure emotion and reckless abandon happened far too rarely for the only species with the gifts of both feeling and understanding. Penelope was accustomed to living her life in the shadows, but when Colin Bridgerton entered her orbit it was like he’d given her permission to let herself be who she truly was without hiding behind society’s narrow scope of acceptability. He allowed her to step into the light and didn’t think less of her for it. No, instead it made him love her all the more.

Colin made Penelope feel safe in every way, but perhaps, mostly in this. One of Colin’s greatest skills was knowing how to get his wife out of her own head, which was a feat Penelope had not yet figured out how to achieve for herself. As he picked up speed around her clit, she watched with rapt attention as her body was thrust into its state of ultimate euphoria. When Penelope was in the midst of an earth-shattering orgasm it was one of the few times her mind was not in control and she was completely given over to the feelings in her body. As she watched her own body in its ultimate state of bliss, something was altered within Penelope. 

She suddenly understood with perfect clarity what her body was made for–what all bodies were made for, actually. What’s the point of tear ducts when we are told to suck it up and stop crying? What’s the point of language when we are too afraid to tell someone how much we cherish them? What’s the point of having bodies built for pleasure when we are consistently made to feel guilty about experiencing that pleasure?

These incredible, beautiful creations of divine engineering were not built for the dull monotony of the society we have created for them. Her eyes, rolling back in pleasure, were made for staring at sunsets, not spreadsheets. Her mouth, open in a silent scream, was designed for sharing poetry, not prattle. Her stomach, clenching and unclenching, was built for holding babies, not society’s expectations.

Colin slowly came down from his high, and eventually his blissed out gaze met Penelope’s in the mirror. He may not have known what exactly was taking place in her mind, but based on the look on her face and the tears sliding down her cheeks, he knew his plan had worked. Something had changed within her, he could see that clearly. Not wanting to interrupt whatever epiphany was happening for Penelope he continued to just sit in his lap and wait for her to move or speak.

Eventually Penelope’s tears dried and she turned her husband around in his lap to smile at him before leaning down to kiss him tenderly. They didn’t share any more words between them that night, they simply got ready for bed in silence, each lost in their own thoughts about the evening they’d just shared together. Penelope blew out the candles and turned off the music while Colin got a wet washcloth to clean them both up and grabbed some pajamas for them from the closet. They dressed and brushed their teeth. Colin did Penelope’s nightly skincare routine, and then he crawled into bed beside his wife. They stared into each other’s remarkable blue eyes for a long time before sharing a warm kiss and drifting off to sleep.

🪞🪞🪞

The sun was just beginning to peek in from between the curtains the following morning when Colin woke prematurely due to thirst. Letting out a yawn he got out of bed and started making his way toward the kitchen for a glass of water. When he reached into the cabinet he paused, confused. His subconscious had clearly noticed something that his sleep-addled brain hadn’t picked up on yet. He continued to stare at the open cabinet and the glass in his hand when suddenly it hit him. He was looking at the cabinet at eye level, not on tiptoes like his tiny wife had to do to reach.

“Oh my God,” he gasped, looking down. It worked! He was back in his own body! He quickly set down the empty glass and ran back to the bedroom to his sleeping wife. 

“Pen! Pen, wake up!” he said, shaking her shoulder.

She let out a series of irritated sounds before she mumbled, “Five more minutes, Colin,” and tried to shake him off.

“PEN! Wake up! It worked!” he shouted at her, refusing to let her fall back asleep.

Her eyes began to blink sleepily and eventually her gaze met his own. He smiled at her and then her eyes widened and she sat bolt upright in the bed. “Oh my God! It worked!” She began patting her own body and then she reached out to touch him as well. “Colin, you were right,” she said as happy tears began to spill from the corners of her eyes.

“We were right, love,” he replied, pulling her small body into his embrace, cherishing having the ability to hold her this way again. Tears began to prick the corners of his eyes as well.

“No, Colin, you were right, about everything. Seeing myself through your eyes, as well as being separated from my body for four days gave me a much better appreciation for it. I don’t know if the results would have been the same if we’d been in our own bodies last night, but I really do feel different.” 

She squirmed to release herself from his embrace and he let his arms fall to the side to let her go. She made her way over to the mirror in the corner and stared at her reflection for a long time, mimicking some of the things Colin had done with her body in front of the mirror last night. She let her hair down, she caressed her bottom lip, and eventually she stripped herself bare.

Colin was dying to touch her, but he knew that she needed this moment. He could see the difference in her eyes. It wasn't acceptance there, not yet, but it wasn't loathing either. From Colin’s perspective it looked like gratitude, which was more than he could have ever hoped for. The tears that had begun to form in his eyes began to silently fall as he watched her watch herself.

When she stood in front of the mirror completely nude, Penelope did not touch her body. She simply stared in wonder, and just like last night, her gaze kept returning to her eyes, but this time she was the one who was looking out of them, not Colin. She was the one who had this look of deep appreciation for her body. She wrapped her arms across her middle in an embrace before letting out a sob.

“Pen!” 

Colin immediately ran to check on her. He tilted her chin up and found a huge grin on her face underneath all the tears.

“You okay, love?”

“I’m more than okay. Thank you, Colin. Thank you.” she cried, wrapping her arms around his waist and squeezing him tightly. She nuzzled her face into his chest, her tears catching in his chest hair.

He held her snugly and rested his chin on the top of her head.

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

They stood like that for a time, holding on tightly to the other, both with silent tears of love and gratitude and relief sliding down their cheeks. 

In the weeks and months that followed, Colin and Penelope never discovered what it was that had caused them to switch bodies, and they often wondered if it was just a fever dream they'd shared between them. Whether it was a vivid dream, a shared hallucination, or it had actually happened–it had fundamentally changed them, Penelope in particular. She was right that fucking in front of a mirror wouldn’t undo all her trauma, but Colin was right too. It had healed something within her. Now whenever she had a particularly bad low self-esteem day, she and Colin would make love in front of the mirror, taking turns complimenting their favorite parts of her body.

In a session with her therapist, Chelsea, they were discussing Penelope’s changing relationship with mirrors. Penelope admitted that she was surprised how quickly the changes were taking place, not that she was complaining. It was an entirely new and delightful experience to feel like she didn't have to shy away from her reflection anymore. Colin was insufferable about being right about everything, of course, but she couldn’t really blame him. She’d never been more glad to be proven wrong. 

“It’s like a completely new experience when I look into a mirror now. It’s wild. It’s almost like I’ve never actually seen myself before. I dunno, does that make any sense?”

“Well consider this, Penelope,” Chelsea said thoughtfully, “A mirror's purpose is to reflect back whatever has been placed in front of it, right?”

“Right.”

“For all these years you've been standing in front of the mirror with nothing but vitriol for what you saw, so the mirror had no choice but to reflect that negativity right back to you. But now that you've been standing in front of the mirror with confidence and appreciation, that is what's being reflected back to you instead. 

“So in a way, you’re right. You are seeing yourself for the first time, as you truly are, without all the trauma from your upbringing altering your reflection like a warped fun house mirror. You see, Penelope, how one views their reflection has very little to do with light waves or surface quality—it has everything to do with one's frame of mind.”