Chapter Text
As they opened the door of his room and stepped out onto the landing, Bruno pulled the hood of his ruana over his head, his heart thumping in his chest. Isabela and Dolores slinked their arms around his, each on one side as they made their way down the stairs. Mirabel and Luisa followed closely behind.
"Oh, this is great! You're in such good hands with us, Dolores and I are always shopping and we know the best places in town with the cutest clothes" Isabela gushed and clapped excitedly as they crossed the courtyard towards the front door.
"Hey, hey, hey, hold on!" Camilo, who'd been walking toward the kitchen, suddenly placed himself between the group and the door, hands up signaling them to stop. "Where do y'all think you're going without telling me?" He put his hands on his hips defensively
"We're just taking tío out shopping. Wanna come?" Luisa offered innocently.
Camilo's expression changed from defensive to incredulous as his jaw dropped. "I just can't believe you guys were going on a family outing without me. I thought we had something special!" He pouted theatrically, crossing his arms.
Bruno chuckled quietly, entertained by his sobrino's act - his theatricals reminded him of his younger self.
Isabela crossed her arms, rolling her eyes. "Oh, okay! So why don't you tell us where you were sneaking off to, then?" She jabbed his chest with an inquisitive finger, slightly throwing him off balance. She knew from the look on his face he was about to sneak food from the kitchen again before lunch.
"Ow! Excuse me, but that's my business" He massaged the spot where she had poked him.
"Oh, so let me see if I understand. Where you go is your business, but where, we go is public information?" She put her hands on her hips.
"I have my own life, you know?" Camilo crossed his arms, shrugging matter-of-factly. Isabela scoffed at his nerve.
...Aaaand bickering ensued, as usual.
Luisa blinked, confused at how the conversation had escalated in seconds. Beside her, Bruno was standing there awkwardly shifting on his feet watching it unfold, not sure whether to intervene as the adult figure in the group (he felt he didn't have the authority to); while Dolores was covering her ears, her eyes shifting between Isa and her brother as they argued, not wanting to lose a second of the free entertainment.
Isa let Camilo's teasing get to her so often, at this point Mirabel was starting to believe she just enjoyed bickering with him. It was just their way of socialising with each other, she supposed. They'd always been like this, after all.
Mira sighed and rolled her eyes. "Ay, Isa! Por favor, cálmate!" She pulled her sister back by the arm, breaking the conflict. "He's just teasing you, you know what he's like."
Camilo's smirk only grew as he counted himself the winner. Isa scoffed, pouted and narrowed her eyes dangerously at him as she stepped back, standing behind her sisters and taking a few deep breaths to steady herself.
"...Oookay, that's better I guess!" Mira clapped her hands together optimistically trying to lift the mood, pretending she couldn't feel Isabela glaring at Camilo from behind her.
"Guys c'mon, we've got something a little more important to be doing now than this!" Luisa tried to shift the group's focus back into the task. "Camilo, are you coming or not?" Her tone demanded a proper answer.
Camilo rubbed his chin and pretended to carefully ponder the question, then shrugged "Yeah, okay." He walked over to the group. Luisa, Isabela and Mirabel now lead the way, just wanting to get the pointless discussion over with quickly.
As they all stepped outside, Bruno patted Camilo on the back and offered him a warm smile, pleased he was coming along. The more sobrinos, the merrier.
He felt like he was being escorted by the toughest bodyguards, having his sobrinos' excellent reputations to fall back on for the day. Nobody could give him a hard time or make him feel alienated today. He knew they wouldn't allow it.
"Oh, hola tío." Camilo lifted a hand in acknowledgement just as he felt Dolores nudge him.
When he turned to her she was glancing at him from the corner of her eyes, with a subtle smile to let him know she thought the whole ordeal had been quite funny. He grinned back but noticed Dolores was now biting her lip hard to hold back from laughing.
Seeing her trying so bad was hilarious, and he covered his mouth with his hand to stifle the snorts threatening to let loose. Camilo started going red in the face, which in turn made his sister's body start shaking with barely controlled humor. Dolores' eyes started watering from containing herself, and Camilo squeezed his eyes shut to try and gain some self-control.
Isabela rolled her eyes, but the siblings didn't see it.
They sniggered and snorted back and forth like this until Bruno caught the pair by surprise by awkwardly slinking his arm over Camilo's shoulder and pulling him closer, abruptly pulling the siblings apart in an attempt to diffuse the situation.
For some reason this was what made them finally burst out laughing and gasping for air, earning a glare from Isabela and confused looks from Mirabel and Luisa.
Even Bruno couldn't help but chuckle a bit too, albeit feeling a little guilty. Their loud, high-pitched roars were simply too contageous to resist; and the more the villagers stared bewildered and bemused at the racket, the harder it was to fight back. Eventually even Luisa, Mirabel and Isabela lightened up a little, too.