(no subject)
title: The only exception
pairing: Bradley/Colin
words: 2511
rating: PG
note: this song is probably quite appropriate to read alongside this fic, but probably isn't indie enough for Colin Morgan.
The Only Exception
It was just the two of them, as it often was, and they were having a movie night in Bradley's hotel room, as they often did, just one of the things on an endless list of stuff they did together like they were a couple - which they were, except they didn't kiss or have sex (although they regularly fell asleep together and woke up cuddling, then pretended it never happened). The double bed, covered in spilt beer and popcorn, might as well have been the size of a single from the way Colin was stretched out half on top of Bradley like the space around him wasn't there - like only Bradley existed.
"Hey, Col?"
Colin pulled his eyes away from the television and focused on his blond co-star. "Yeah?"
"Have you ever dated someone you work with?" Bradley asked, trying to sound only casually interested.
It was a simple "yes" or "no" question. Despite that, Colin took an enormously long time to answer. Bradley couldn't tell whether Colin was taking too long to reply on purpose to torment him, or he was just distracted by the film.
"No," Colin replied eventually, his gaze returning to the television.
They sat through at least a minute of undisturbed movie watching, until Bradley opened his mouth again.
"Hey, Col?"
Usually Colin shushed anyone who interrupted a film every five minutes, but he'd seen this one a million times, plus it was Bradley. It's universally known that if you shush at Bradley, Bradley will pout at you and you will end up feeling like you did something wrong when Bradley was the one behaving badly in the first place.
"Yes, Bradley?" answered Colin patiently.
"Would you?" Bradley said over the film. "Date someone you work with," he clarified further.
Again, it was a simple "yes" or "no" question. Colin took even longer to answer than previous.
"Well." Colin reached for the remote, switched off The Sword in the Stone and turned to Bradley with a teasing glint in his eyes. "That depends. The person would have to be really special..."
Bradley smirked confidently. "And does anyone you're working with now fit that bill?"
"Hmmm," Colin tortured Bradley by pretending to think about his answer. "There's Katie. Then Angel, of course..."
The fact that Bradley didn't get a first mention irked him a bit... Okay, a lot. "Anyone else?" he said through gritted teeth.
"Hmmm." Colin tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Nope, I think that's it."
It took a lot of Colin's self-restraint not to laugh at the comically blank look on Bradley's face.
"Are you sure there's no one else?" asked Bradley, feeling a bit pathetic. Scratch that, really pathetic. "I'll let you think about it."
"I really can't think of - oh!"
"Oh?" repeated Bradley hopefully.
"Tony!" grinned Colin. "How could I have forgotten Tony?"
"Tony?" Well, Tony was Bradley's second favourite person in the world (Colin being his first, though perhaps he'd give his list of favourite people a rethink after this if he wasn't even in Colin's top three) and Bradley would go as far as calling Tony special like the little Buffy fanboy he is, but that was beside the point. "At the risk of making it sound like everything is about me - what about me?"
"You?" Colin dropped the act. His eyes weren't teasing anymore, only full of affection. "You, Bradley James, are in a league of your own."
"Morgan," Bradley said, face softening. "Why the hell didn't you say that in the first place?"
"Because," Colin tapped Bradley adorably on the nose, "that wouldn't have been nearly as fun."
Bradley James had been well and truly had. "I'm currently experiencing varying degrees of embarrassment, which will result in your imminent death."
"Then how would you know what a good kisser I am?" Colin had a point.
"I could kiss you after you're dead." Yes, Bradley was fully aware how disturbing that sounded.
"So you're a necrophiliac as well as a loser and a weirdo." Colin smiled, showing all his teeth. "Good to know."
"Pucker up, Morgan."
"Only if you shut up."
"Deal."
Thus, Bradley and Colin's first ever snogfest came to pass, the beginning of many.
***
That, however, was how Bradley envisioned the night to end.
This is what really happened:
Bradley had drank one too many beers (so had Colin, but he was a lot more dignified about it).
"Hey, Colin?" He'd forgotten what he was going to ask... wait, now he remembered. "Hey, Col?" He'd forgotten again. Something to do with... ah, he definitely remembered now. "Col?" Nope, it was gone. Bloody alcohol.
"What, Bradley?"
Bradley put his question as nicely as possible... "Do you shit where you eat?"
"Do I what?" If Colin was hungry, he'd definitely lost his appetite by this point. "Bradley, I can think of a million reasons why that isn't hygienic."
This was going to be a lot harder than Bradley thought. "No, Morgan. It's slang. Don't you know anything?"
"I know it's not socially acceptable to take a shit in a kitchen."
"Oh god, Colin, that's not what I mean." Bradley rubbed his temple frustratedly. "Do you believe in dating people you work with, is what I mean."
"You make it sound like a religion," laughed Colin.
"I'm serious," Bradley said, and Colin stopped laughing. He'd stopped laughing because it wasn't a laughing matter, it was a kissing matter.
They'd fallen into silence and were staring at each other, short for breath, warm from the alcohol. Bradley got as far as touching noses with Colin, when Colin spoke, albeit quietly, but it was enough to make Bradley flinch.
"No," Colin said awkwardly. "I don't date people I work with." He didn't sound so sure of himself, but the alcohol in Bradley's system prevented him from picking up on it. "It just gets messy, doesn't it?"
Bradley pulled back; masked the hurt in his face, masked the hurt in his voice.
"Yeah." Bradley swallowed down the lump in his throat, faking a smile. "I feel the same way."
***
Here's the thing: if Bradley stopped being friends with Colin, Colin would shrivel up and die. Fact.
Bradley was the closest friend Colin had ever had. You could go as far as calling them best friends, but that made Colin feel about twelve and no, they didn't have BFF necklaces.
But Colin was scared. He'd never opened up to anyone as much as he had with Bradley. He'd never had as much fun with anyone as he did with Bradley. He'd never trusted anyone more than he trusted Bradley. Colin valued his friendship with Bradley more than he valued American peanut butter, and that was saying something. If they became more than friends, then broke up and couldn't remain friends, couldn't even stand being in the same room as each other, Colin would be miserable forever.
Which was why Colin wasn't going to do anything stupid to jeopardize their friendship. After all, it was a bromance. Not a bromance with benefits.
***
Colin and Katie were sitting out in the courtyard at Pierrefonds Castle learning lines when Angel appeared, announcing upon arrival, "Bradley has officially lost his mind."
"I think Bradley lost his mind long before he met us," muttered Colin, turning a page of his script.
The look on Angel's face was serious, though. "Didn't you hear? Apparently he rang Johnny at three in the morning, drunk."
Katie burst out laughing because Bradley was funny when he was sober, but he was pee-your-pants-funny when he was drunk. "Why? What did he say?"
"He told Johnny he wanted to quit Merlin."
Katie sucked in a little breath of shock at the news. Colin looked like he'd just been told he had a day to live.
"He can't actually quit, can he?" Katie asked worriedly.
"Of course not," Angel comforted her, and Katie cheered up a little. "His contract won't allow it."
"But why would he want to quit anyway?" Katie asked the question that was on everyone's lips.
The girls stared at Colin.
"Why are you looking at me?" Colin stared back at them. "How am I supposed to know?"
"You tell each other everything," Katie said the most obvious answer.
She was right, which made what Colin said next even sadder. "He didn't--" Colin stopped, sighed and threw his script aside. "He didn't tell me about this."
Katie looked pityingly at Colin. "Are you two having problems?"
Colin rolled his eyes. "I'm not answering that."
"Because it's private?"
"Because we're not a couple." Colin blushed and got up. "Do either of you know where Bradley is?"
"I saw him going up the tower," Angel gestured to the very top of the castle.
Colin knew precisely how many steps it took to climb that tower: too many. "I think I'll just wait until he comes back down to talk to him," he said, sitting back down.
"Colin!" Katie looked appalled. "What if he's gone up there to top himself?"
"Actually, I think he said something about filming up there for the video diaries," Angel set Colin's mind at ease.
"No, Angel," Katie sent her a significant look. "Bradley definitely went up there to top himself, and Colin needs to go up there right now and talk some sense to him. Or kiss some sense into him," she muttered the last part.
"I know what you're trying to do," Colin said, rolling his eyes again. "If you're so worried, why don't you go up and see him?"
"Because I'm wearing heels." Katie pulled up Morgana's latest dress, flashing her ankles at him. "But give him my love."
"Mine too," Angel joined in. "You could give him a big snog from the both of us if you want."
Katie had done it. She'd gotten to Angel. Now both of them would tease him about Bradley.
As Colin left the courtyard to look for Bradley, he thought about what a sad moment in history it was, Angel turning to the dark side.
***
Colin found Bradley at the top of the tower leaning dangerously over the wall with his camcorder. He grabbed a fistful of the back of Bradley's t-shirt and pulled him back safely.
"Hey," Bradley said a little rudely, looking over a shoulder to see who interrupted his filming, but he looked less annoyed when he saw it was Colin. "You ruined my shot."
"Yeah, well, I heard falling off the edge of a castle ruins your ability to breathe, on account of you being dead."
"You have to take risks for your art, Morgan." Bradley patted his video camera fondly, and Colin wanted to laugh, but he couldn't just forget what Angel said and pretend everything was normal.
"Bradley," Colin started as Bradley fiddled with his camcorder. "Why didn't you tell me you were unhappy?"
Bradley looked up from his camera with a frown. "Who said I was unhappy?"
Bradley didn't exactly look miserable, but Colin couldn't think of another explanation for Bradley wanting to leave Merlin behind - wanting to leave Colin behind.
"I know you told Johnny you wanted to quit."
Bradley's eyes widened, and he rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. It was obvious he'd wanted to keep his conversation with Johnny a secret.
"I would have liked to have heard it from you," Colin tried to keep his voice steady. "But I didn't."
"I'm sorry." The last thing Bradley had wanted to do was hurt Colin's feelings. "I should have told you. I don't know what I was thinking."
"You must have had a reason to do it, though." Colin tried to wrap his head around why Bradley would want to quit a job he clearly loved. "Is it me?" he asked, paranoid. "Did I do something?"
"No," Bradley said straight away. "God, I can't believe I'm going to tell you this..." He took a deep breath and let it out. "Remember how you said you don't date people you work with?"
"I don't shit where I eat, yeah," Colin vaguely recalled the drunken conversation.
"I thought the way to get around that would be by, well--"
"Wait," Colin said, jumping ahead before Bradley finished his sentence, which he was too embarrassed to finish anyway. "Are you saying you were willing to quit one of the best roles of your acting career so far so I would consider dating you?"
"Yeah," Bradley said, like such behaviour was ordinary. "But there's this stupid thing called a contract."
Colin didn't know what to say, other than, "Are you completely insane?"
"I prefer the term 'romantic'," Bradley was quick to correct him.
"That's not romantic!" Colin didn't know whether to feel flattered or be seriously worried about Bradley's state of mind. He leaned towards the latter. "That's the craziest thing I've ever heard! What if you quit and I still didn't want to go out with you?"
"Well." Bradley hadn't thought about that. "That would have been rude of you."
Colin blinked at Bradley. "You have absolutely no idea how mental you are, do you? You can't do stuff like this, Bradley. I'm not--" he stopped and sighed.
"You're not what?" Bradley said with an encouraging look to keep talking.
"Worth it," Colin finished what he was going to say, and Bradley shook his head at him.
"Yes, you are," he told Colin, softly but surely, and Colin felt his face blush. He could only agree to disagree with Bradley, but that didn't mean he wasn't touched by what Bradley said.
"Col," Bradley said, his gaze intense. "Look me in the eye and tell me you don't want to be more than friends."
Colin looked Bradley in the eye and said nothing.
Bradley's face lit up. "I knew it."
"You don't have to look so smug," Colin huffed, which made Bradley look even smugger. Colin owed the smug git the truth. "What if I told you, I want our bromance to be a romance, but I'm scared it'll ruin our friendship."
Bradley looked serious for a moment. "I'd tell you, nothing would change if we became more than friends. We'd still be Colin and Bradley, just more touchy feely with our mouths and our rude bits," he finished with a cheeky smile.
"Bradley," Colin laughed, flustered. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't excited by the thought of new levels of touchy-feelyness with Bradley.
"I'd also tell you," Bradley went on, voice full of promise, "we'll always be friends. Whether we're in a relationship, or coming out of one."
Suddenly, crossing that line from friendship to lovers with your best friend didn't sound so scary to Colin, it sounded natural, most of all with Bradley.
"All right." Colin took a step closer to Bradley, took a risk. "Let's do it. Let's be more than friends."
Bradley smiled ridiculously. "Thought you didn't date people you work with."
Colin circled his arms around Bradley's neck, kissed him on the cheek, then on the chin, until he worked up enough courage to kiss him on the mouth. "You're the only exception."
pairing: Bradley/Colin
words: 2511
rating: PG
note: this song is probably quite appropriate to read alongside this fic, but probably isn't indie enough for Colin Morgan.
The Only Exception
It was just the two of them, as it often was, and they were having a movie night in Bradley's hotel room, as they often did, just one of the things on an endless list of stuff they did together like they were a couple - which they were, except they didn't kiss or have sex (although they regularly fell asleep together and woke up cuddling, then pretended it never happened). The double bed, covered in spilt beer and popcorn, might as well have been the size of a single from the way Colin was stretched out half on top of Bradley like the space around him wasn't there - like only Bradley existed.
"Hey, Col?"
Colin pulled his eyes away from the television and focused on his blond co-star. "Yeah?"
"Have you ever dated someone you work with?" Bradley asked, trying to sound only casually interested.
It was a simple "yes" or "no" question. Despite that, Colin took an enormously long time to answer. Bradley couldn't tell whether Colin was taking too long to reply on purpose to torment him, or he was just distracted by the film.
"No," Colin replied eventually, his gaze returning to the television.
They sat through at least a minute of undisturbed movie watching, until Bradley opened his mouth again.
"Hey, Col?"
Usually Colin shushed anyone who interrupted a film every five minutes, but he'd seen this one a million times, plus it was Bradley. It's universally known that if you shush at Bradley, Bradley will pout at you and you will end up feeling like you did something wrong when Bradley was the one behaving badly in the first place.
"Yes, Bradley?" answered Colin patiently.
"Would you?" Bradley said over the film. "Date someone you work with," he clarified further.
Again, it was a simple "yes" or "no" question. Colin took even longer to answer than previous.
"Well." Colin reached for the remote, switched off The Sword in the Stone and turned to Bradley with a teasing glint in his eyes. "That depends. The person would have to be really special..."
Bradley smirked confidently. "And does anyone you're working with now fit that bill?"
"Hmmm," Colin tortured Bradley by pretending to think about his answer. "There's Katie. Then Angel, of course..."
The fact that Bradley didn't get a first mention irked him a bit... Okay, a lot. "Anyone else?" he said through gritted teeth.
"Hmmm." Colin tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Nope, I think that's it."
It took a lot of Colin's self-restraint not to laugh at the comically blank look on Bradley's face.
"Are you sure there's no one else?" asked Bradley, feeling a bit pathetic. Scratch that, really pathetic. "I'll let you think about it."
"I really can't think of - oh!"
"Oh?" repeated Bradley hopefully.
"Tony!" grinned Colin. "How could I have forgotten Tony?"
"Tony?" Well, Tony was Bradley's second favourite person in the world (Colin being his first, though perhaps he'd give his list of favourite people a rethink after this if he wasn't even in Colin's top three) and Bradley would go as far as calling Tony special like the little Buffy fanboy he is, but that was beside the point. "At the risk of making it sound like everything is about me - what about me?"
"You?" Colin dropped the act. His eyes weren't teasing anymore, only full of affection. "You, Bradley James, are in a league of your own."
"Morgan," Bradley said, face softening. "Why the hell didn't you say that in the first place?"
"Because," Colin tapped Bradley adorably on the nose, "that wouldn't have been nearly as fun."
Bradley James had been well and truly had. "I'm currently experiencing varying degrees of embarrassment, which will result in your imminent death."
"Then how would you know what a good kisser I am?" Colin had a point.
"I could kiss you after you're dead." Yes, Bradley was fully aware how disturbing that sounded.
"So you're a necrophiliac as well as a loser and a weirdo." Colin smiled, showing all his teeth. "Good to know."
"Pucker up, Morgan."
"Only if you shut up."
"Deal."
Thus, Bradley and Colin's first ever snogfest came to pass, the beginning of many.
***
That, however, was how Bradley envisioned the night to end.
This is what really happened:
Bradley had drank one too many beers (so had Colin, but he was a lot more dignified about it).
"Hey, Colin?" He'd forgotten what he was going to ask... wait, now he remembered. "Hey, Col?" He'd forgotten again. Something to do with... ah, he definitely remembered now. "Col?" Nope, it was gone. Bloody alcohol.
"What, Bradley?"
Bradley put his question as nicely as possible... "Do you shit where you eat?"
"Do I what?" If Colin was hungry, he'd definitely lost his appetite by this point. "Bradley, I can think of a million reasons why that isn't hygienic."
This was going to be a lot harder than Bradley thought. "No, Morgan. It's slang. Don't you know anything?"
"I know it's not socially acceptable to take a shit in a kitchen."
"Oh god, Colin, that's not what I mean." Bradley rubbed his temple frustratedly. "Do you believe in dating people you work with, is what I mean."
"You make it sound like a religion," laughed Colin.
"I'm serious," Bradley said, and Colin stopped laughing. He'd stopped laughing because it wasn't a laughing matter, it was a kissing matter.
They'd fallen into silence and were staring at each other, short for breath, warm from the alcohol. Bradley got as far as touching noses with Colin, when Colin spoke, albeit quietly, but it was enough to make Bradley flinch.
"No," Colin said awkwardly. "I don't date people I work with." He didn't sound so sure of himself, but the alcohol in Bradley's system prevented him from picking up on it. "It just gets messy, doesn't it?"
Bradley pulled back; masked the hurt in his face, masked the hurt in his voice.
"Yeah." Bradley swallowed down the lump in his throat, faking a smile. "I feel the same way."
***
Here's the thing: if Bradley stopped being friends with Colin, Colin would shrivel up and die. Fact.
Bradley was the closest friend Colin had ever had. You could go as far as calling them best friends, but that made Colin feel about twelve and no, they didn't have BFF necklaces.
But Colin was scared. He'd never opened up to anyone as much as he had with Bradley. He'd never had as much fun with anyone as he did with Bradley. He'd never trusted anyone more than he trusted Bradley. Colin valued his friendship with Bradley more than he valued American peanut butter, and that was saying something. If they became more than friends, then broke up and couldn't remain friends, couldn't even stand being in the same room as each other, Colin would be miserable forever.
Which was why Colin wasn't going to do anything stupid to jeopardize their friendship. After all, it was a bromance. Not a bromance with benefits.
***
Colin and Katie were sitting out in the courtyard at Pierrefonds Castle learning lines when Angel appeared, announcing upon arrival, "Bradley has officially lost his mind."
"I think Bradley lost his mind long before he met us," muttered Colin, turning a page of his script.
The look on Angel's face was serious, though. "Didn't you hear? Apparently he rang Johnny at three in the morning, drunk."
Katie burst out laughing because Bradley was funny when he was sober, but he was pee-your-pants-funny when he was drunk. "Why? What did he say?"
"He told Johnny he wanted to quit Merlin."
Katie sucked in a little breath of shock at the news. Colin looked like he'd just been told he had a day to live.
"He can't actually quit, can he?" Katie asked worriedly.
"Of course not," Angel comforted her, and Katie cheered up a little. "His contract won't allow it."
"But why would he want to quit anyway?" Katie asked the question that was on everyone's lips.
The girls stared at Colin.
"Why are you looking at me?" Colin stared back at them. "How am I supposed to know?"
"You tell each other everything," Katie said the most obvious answer.
She was right, which made what Colin said next even sadder. "He didn't--" Colin stopped, sighed and threw his script aside. "He didn't tell me about this."
Katie looked pityingly at Colin. "Are you two having problems?"
Colin rolled his eyes. "I'm not answering that."
"Because it's private?"
"Because we're not a couple." Colin blushed and got up. "Do either of you know where Bradley is?"
"I saw him going up the tower," Angel gestured to the very top of the castle.
Colin knew precisely how many steps it took to climb that tower: too many. "I think I'll just wait until he comes back down to talk to him," he said, sitting back down.
"Colin!" Katie looked appalled. "What if he's gone up there to top himself?"
"Actually, I think he said something about filming up there for the video diaries," Angel set Colin's mind at ease.
"No, Angel," Katie sent her a significant look. "Bradley definitely went up there to top himself, and Colin needs to go up there right now and talk some sense to him. Or kiss some sense into him," she muttered the last part.
"I know what you're trying to do," Colin said, rolling his eyes again. "If you're so worried, why don't you go up and see him?"
"Because I'm wearing heels." Katie pulled up Morgana's latest dress, flashing her ankles at him. "But give him my love."
"Mine too," Angel joined in. "You could give him a big snog from the both of us if you want."
Katie had done it. She'd gotten to Angel. Now both of them would tease him about Bradley.
As Colin left the courtyard to look for Bradley, he thought about what a sad moment in history it was, Angel turning to the dark side.
***
Colin found Bradley at the top of the tower leaning dangerously over the wall with his camcorder. He grabbed a fistful of the back of Bradley's t-shirt and pulled him back safely.
"Hey," Bradley said a little rudely, looking over a shoulder to see who interrupted his filming, but he looked less annoyed when he saw it was Colin. "You ruined my shot."
"Yeah, well, I heard falling off the edge of a castle ruins your ability to breathe, on account of you being dead."
"You have to take risks for your art, Morgan." Bradley patted his video camera fondly, and Colin wanted to laugh, but he couldn't just forget what Angel said and pretend everything was normal.
"Bradley," Colin started as Bradley fiddled with his camcorder. "Why didn't you tell me you were unhappy?"
Bradley looked up from his camera with a frown. "Who said I was unhappy?"
Bradley didn't exactly look miserable, but Colin couldn't think of another explanation for Bradley wanting to leave Merlin behind - wanting to leave Colin behind.
"I know you told Johnny you wanted to quit."
Bradley's eyes widened, and he rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. It was obvious he'd wanted to keep his conversation with Johnny a secret.
"I would have liked to have heard it from you," Colin tried to keep his voice steady. "But I didn't."
"I'm sorry." The last thing Bradley had wanted to do was hurt Colin's feelings. "I should have told you. I don't know what I was thinking."
"You must have had a reason to do it, though." Colin tried to wrap his head around why Bradley would want to quit a job he clearly loved. "Is it me?" he asked, paranoid. "Did I do something?"
"No," Bradley said straight away. "God, I can't believe I'm going to tell you this..." He took a deep breath and let it out. "Remember how you said you don't date people you work with?"
"I don't shit where I eat, yeah," Colin vaguely recalled the drunken conversation.
"I thought the way to get around that would be by, well--"
"Wait," Colin said, jumping ahead before Bradley finished his sentence, which he was too embarrassed to finish anyway. "Are you saying you were willing to quit one of the best roles of your acting career so far so I would consider dating you?"
"Yeah," Bradley said, like such behaviour was ordinary. "But there's this stupid thing called a contract."
Colin didn't know what to say, other than, "Are you completely insane?"
"I prefer the term 'romantic'," Bradley was quick to correct him.
"That's not romantic!" Colin didn't know whether to feel flattered or be seriously worried about Bradley's state of mind. He leaned towards the latter. "That's the craziest thing I've ever heard! What if you quit and I still didn't want to go out with you?"
"Well." Bradley hadn't thought about that. "That would have been rude of you."
Colin blinked at Bradley. "You have absolutely no idea how mental you are, do you? You can't do stuff like this, Bradley. I'm not--" he stopped and sighed.
"You're not what?" Bradley said with an encouraging look to keep talking.
"Worth it," Colin finished what he was going to say, and Bradley shook his head at him.
"Yes, you are," he told Colin, softly but surely, and Colin felt his face blush. He could only agree to disagree with Bradley, but that didn't mean he wasn't touched by what Bradley said.
"Col," Bradley said, his gaze intense. "Look me in the eye and tell me you don't want to be more than friends."
Colin looked Bradley in the eye and said nothing.
Bradley's face lit up. "I knew it."
"You don't have to look so smug," Colin huffed, which made Bradley look even smugger. Colin owed the smug git the truth. "What if I told you, I want our bromance to be a romance, but I'm scared it'll ruin our friendship."
Bradley looked serious for a moment. "I'd tell you, nothing would change if we became more than friends. We'd still be Colin and Bradley, just more touchy feely with our mouths and our rude bits," he finished with a cheeky smile.
"Bradley," Colin laughed, flustered. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't excited by the thought of new levels of touchy-feelyness with Bradley.
"I'd also tell you," Bradley went on, voice full of promise, "we'll always be friends. Whether we're in a relationship, or coming out of one."
Suddenly, crossing that line from friendship to lovers with your best friend didn't sound so scary to Colin, it sounded natural, most of all with Bradley.
"All right." Colin took a step closer to Bradley, took a risk. "Let's do it. Let's be more than friends."
Bradley smiled ridiculously. "Thought you didn't date people you work with."
Colin circled his arms around Bradley's neck, kissed him on the cheek, then on the chin, until he worked up enough courage to kiss him on the mouth. "You're the only exception."