Simone Ashley & Jonathan Bailey Proved Their IRL Bridgerton Bond Is Adorable

The onscreen chemistry between Bridgerton’s Simone Ashley and Jonathan Bailey will be in the spotlight when Season 2 of the hit regency romance drama arrives on Netflix on March 25, but in the meantime, the actors’ offscreen bond deserves some appreciation, too. While chatting with Galmour UK recently, newcomer Ashley shared details about the friendship the two co-stars formed on set. The most heartwarming tidbit is that they have a history of trading sweet gestures.

Bailey, who plays Anthony Bridgerton, already had a season of the series under his belt when Ashley joined the cast to play his love interest Kate Sharma, and he made her feel at home right away. The Sex Education star told Glamour that he made her feel welcome by leaving flowers in her trailer, which led to her leaving treats for him, too. “I would always leave him his favourite snacks in his trailer,” Ashley said. “We had a very unspoken rhythm going on in that sense, leaving gifts in each other’s trailers.”

That back-and-forth likely helped them bring their characters — and their complicated romantic entanglement — to life. Of course, the story itself also helped. “The relationship between Kate and Anthony is so beautiful that it was easy to just get lost in that,” Ashley added.

While a role on Bridgerton alone seems like a dream come true, the co-workers it comes with seem just as great. Ashley previously opened up about how welcoming the cast as a whole was, in addition to Bailey. She told People in October that everyone is “all so supportive of one another” and they understand they’re “in it together.” The actor also spoke of her co-star Phoebe Dynevor, who plays Daphne Bridgerton, very fondly.

“She’s so lovely,” she said. “There was one week I was feeling quite stressed out about certain things and she took me to a reformer Pilates class and that was really nice. And we just had some girl time.”

The affection between Bridgerton’s stars may be real, but fans should resist the temptation to ship Ashley and Bailey in real life as some did with Dynevor and Season 1’s leading man, Regé-Jean Page. Bailey has been open about his sexuality and recently told GQ that he realized he didn’t need to be straight “in order to be happy.”

“I reached a point where I thought, F*ck this, I’d much prefer to hold my boyfriend’s hand in public or be able to put my own face picture on Tinder and not be so concerned about that than getting a part,” he said.

Bailey and Ashley share a strong friendship, and that, too, is worth celebrating.