Chapter Text
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Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Today just isn’t your day.
It all started innocently enough. After almost turning your house upside down, you found yourself going on your way down to the plaza to do your daily shopping where you came across Mirabel Madrigal, who was being followed by a gaggle of school children. The sight made you amazed at her patience and sweet grace while you listen to her tell them the story about her family…
Before her cheery voice was rudely interrupted by the gossiping townsfolk the moment they heard his name.
“We don’t talk about BRUNO!”
The way everyone negatively reacts made you stop in your tracks. You felt the beginnings of a slight pang of regret that you tramped down immediately, changing your shocked expression back into a cool facade. Before anyone can notice you ogling, you quickly make your exit, avoiding the crowds and hoping to heaven that your cheeks aren’t burning red.
You persevere until you round the corner. Out of all of the times you wandered in this paradise you call home, you had never experienced such dread. Your heart is beating erratically and you place a hand over it to calm yourself.
Had my face given me away? Did I look remotely suspicious?
Your thoughts think up scenarios that keep you awake most nights.
No one must know the truth. Bruno Madrigal is a cursed man.
And you are, unfortunately, in love with him.
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If you were born a little bit earlier, would he have noticed you?
You don’t recall when your attraction to him started, or how it even happened. He rarely showed his face in public before, what with his reputation as a doomsayer preceding him. There weren’t many opportunities for the two of you to interact either unless you wanted a reading, which you never did. You weren’t as curious about your future as the rest of the village, though maybe, you were a little afraid of what you would see. Everyone had painted it like the worst thing that’s ever happened. But in the rare instances that you do catch a glimpse of his face, he was no more than a shy, quiet man just trying his hardest to do right by the community.
You would have gathered enough courage to tell him how you felt if not for the unthinkable event. It shook the whole town, even the unwavering Doña Alma, down to their knees when a Madrigal grandchild did not receive a gift.
Bruno disappeared for good the following day, and no one has seen him since. His name is taboo to speak, and his family refused to even acknowledge his presence. Or lack thereof.
Had I confessed, would he have stayed? You ask this question every night, thinking about the possibilities. You fall asleep with him on your mind and wake up with the lingering feeling in your chest. In your dreams, he is yours, and you, his. You cherish those moments between fiction and reality, hoping that someday you would get a chance to see him once more. By then, for sure, you won’t let the opportunity slide.
So imagine your surprise when a few days later, Casa Madrigal fell, and he was there.
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Dreams can come true, although the strangeness of it all certainly changed how you viewed things.
You look behind you to take in the view of the mountains that once stood imposing over the Encanto. What was sealing everyone in had split cleanly into two, opening up the possibilities of a future beyond.
At this point, however, your mind isn’t contemplating the outside world, but rather on the man that’s working beside you. He’s certainly more frazzled than you remember, though it might have been because of the state the rest of the Madrigals—Mirabel, you believe—found him in. When you came over with the rest of the townsfolk to help in rebuilding Casa Madrigal, no one expected to see a phantom of the past.
Truth be told, Bruno’s return brought on sparks of fear, which were quickly quelled by Doña Alma herself.
You barely remember that day. You must’ve blacked out.
“Uh…hello?”
The voice calling you snaps your senses back to reality and you squeak in fright when someone touches your shoulder. You quickly turn your head to find Bruno with both hands up.
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” He nervously stutters when your eyes meet. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”
You nearly faint. Bruno Madrigal is talking to YOU!
“No, not at all!” You cough and will yourself to act cool despite your knees turning into jelly. “I’m fine. You caught me off-guard, Señor Madrigal.”
Bruno immediately makes a face on that line. “¿Señor?”
“Oh, I’m sorry! Pardon my manners. Don Madrigal?”
The scowl on his face becomes a little bit deeper and you panic. “¿El profeta?”
“Now you’re just being ridiculous.” Bruno chides, though his expression lightens. His body relaxes into his usual gait when he realizes you’re not angry at him. “I’m no longer a prophet now, you see. No gift?”
You mentally face-palm. You have just made a fool of yourself in front of the man you’ve been crushing on for so long.
“You’re okay.” He assures me. “You’re pretty polite, maybe even too polite.”
“Am I not supposed to?”
“It’s not bad, but, ah, I guess I’m not used to it.”
And as if the interaction wouldn’t get any weirder, a tiny rat suddenly peeks from his collar. It climbs up his hair and nestles itself on his head. You must’ve been staring because he continues. “Is everything okay? Why are you staring at me like that?”
“You have a rat on your head?” You blink in disbelief. “Right there…?”
He looks up and back in a flash. “Ah, that’s Paloma. She likes to nap on my head.”
You heard rumors about Bruno having an affinity for rodents, even before he hid in the walls of their home, but this is something else. “Oh, that’s…cute?”
“Isn’t it?”
You share a few moments observing little Paloma before you realize there’s something you need to ask him about. “Señor—I mean, Bruno. I know this is a strange question, but why did you call for my attention earlier?”
“Oh, right, almost forgot about that,” Bruno chuckles. “I was going to ask if you’d lend me a hand with the spackle. I mean, if it’s alright with you?”
When the opportunity presents itself, they say, you take it. This is your chance to get closer to him, so you obliged. “Sure. It’s the least I can do for taking up your time. I’m sorry we got sidetracked. Please don’t report me to the Doña.”
A loud guffaw spills out of his mouth and makes your heart drop to the floor. “I won’t. Besides, you’re the first person besides my family who’s brave enough to crack jokes with me.” He chuckles. The compliment makes your cheeks burn. “Anyway, I didn’t quite get your name.”
You think you’re still asleep. You tell him your name, unfortunately stumbling over the words. Whatever confidence you had earlier left the moment he asked for it.
He looks contemplative. “Funny how you’ve been here and we’ve never met.”
“Well, you’re not always outside back then,” You retort before quickly clamping a hand over your mouth. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.”
“No offense taken. It’s true anyway.” Bruno waves your worries off, and his grin turns a little mischievous. It’s just like how his sister Pepa described it whenever she told the story about her ruined wedding. “It’s refreshing that you’re not tiptoeing around me either. Mi sobrinas say I do need a bit of work with people.”
“In time, maybe? Mirabel and the rest of the girls don’t expect you to be not socially awkward immediately, are they?”
“I wouldn’t know with them.”
“Well, that’ll be asking for the impossible.”
“Ha! I like how you think.”
Someone calls his name which stops our conversation short. Little did you know this interaction of yours would be the beginning of something much bigger. “Coming!” He responds and motions you over to the rest of his family that’s on the opposite side from where you’re standing. “Anyway, I guess we better get to that spackle, eh?”
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