Chapter Text
Things to add: Bruno has loved Mirabel for a long while and so has she, the atmosphere of the alleyway and the lights etc
Mirabel’s rest week was over just in time for Carnaval de Barranquilla, and Bruno was a wreck.
The day had started off with everyone in the family - no, everyone in the entire Encanto - working their butts off to make everything about the festival as perfect as possible. Unsurprising, since the Encanto never did anything by halves.
Mirabel hadn’t had any time to design any costumes, so she had worn one of Julieta’s old dresses (altered, of course, with small, colourful butterflies and - curse Bruno’s weak heart - hourglasses swirling along the hem). She had done the same for Bruno’s ruana, saying it’s the least she could do after he gave her the best, most relaxing week of her life. And, before you ask, yes , yes that statement did make Bruno’s internal organs flip and his face turn pink.
Every little thing Mirabel did made his chest squeeze painfully. The way she laughed as she danced through the streets once the Carnaval was in full swing, how she tossed him those teasing smiles that had always been playful but now felt dangerous, how her hand would brush against his when she grabbed his wrist to pull him along through the crowd, leaving him tingling like he’d been struck by lightning.
They were supposed to just enjoy the Carnaval today. Watch the parade, eat some arepas, maybe even join in a few dances. Something that, by all accounts, should’ve been easy for him to handle.
But he couldn’t even look at her without his heart threatening to climb out of his throat.
“So, you’re still being all twitchy,” Mirabel noted as she pulled him further into the crowd, vibrant music thundering around them. “You’ve been weird this whole week.”
“I-uh-I have not!” Bruno protested, the lie falling flat before he even finished saying it.
Mirabel huffed. “Come on, Tío. You think I haven’t noticed? You’ve been acting like.. well, you. But, like, you if you were extra you. And I’m not sure if I should be worried or just...I don’t know?”
“Worried? You shouldn’t be worried!” he squeaked, nearly stumbling as a passing dancer in a tiger mask nearly knocked into him. “I mean...what’s there to worry about? I’m fine. Everything’s fine. Everything’s...” He dragged a hand down his face. “...definitely not fine.”
Mirabel groaned and suddenly grabbed his wrist again, tugging him out of the crowd and into a quieter alleyway, the sounds of the parade still pulsing around them but now muted, the faraway colourful lights brushing softly against her face and leaving Bruno a bit dizzy.
“Alright, enough,” she said, arms folded, her expression hard to read. “If something’s bothering you, just say it. Because it’s clearly eating you alive, and I’m getting really worried, Tio.”
The “Tio” at the end of her sentence didn’t really help the lump in his throat.
He swallowed. His palms were sweating. His heart was doing its best impression of a panicked hummingbird.
“It’s not...I mean, it is something, but it’s not something bad,” he stammered. “It’s just - okay, you know how you’ve been spending all this time with me this week?”
Mirabel nodded, her eyes narrowed slightly. “Yeah. And it’s been great. Really great, actually. You’ve been...different. Happier.”
“Happier. Yeah. That’s...that’s exactly the problem.”
Mirabel blinked. “You’re gonna have to explain that one.”
He let out a shaky laugh, the kind that wasn’t really laughter at all. “Because you make me feel...I mean, you’ve always made me feel happy, but lately it’s been-” He paused, his voice trembling. “...I’ve started to accept it’s always been…different.”
“Different how?” she asked softly.
“Different like...like I’m terrified of it. Because it’s not just happy. It’s warm and it’s dizzy and it’s - it’s you.” His words spilled out of him before he could stop them, raw and hoarse. “And I’ve been trying to pretend it’s just me being overprotective or overly fond of my favorite niece, but it’s...it’s not. It’s so much more and I...I don’t know what to do with it.”
Silence.
The kind of silence that made him wish the ground would just open up and swallow him whole.
“I-” he tried again, his voice cracking. “I’m sorry. I know it’s wrong. It has to be wrong, right? But it doesn’t feel that way, and I can’t-”
“Bruno,” Mirabel interrupted, her voice trembling. “You love me.”
The way she said it made his breath catch. “Of course, I love you, I-”
“No.” She stepped closer, her gaze fierce and unyielding. “You love me. As in...the kind of love that makes your voice shake and your eyes go all soft and your hands...your hands are shaking, Bruno.”
He stared at his own hands as if they were foreign things, trembling at his sides. “I...I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be,” Mirabel said, her voice impossibly gentle. “Don’t be sorry, Bruno. Because...I think I’ve been feeling the same way for a while now.”
He looked up, his eyes widening. “You...you have?”
Mirabel nodded, her expression more vulnerable than he’d ever seen. “Yeah. And you being so sweet and caring all week didn’t exactly help me not fall for you even harder.”
Bruno let out a sound that was half-laugh, half-sob. “So...what does that mean?”
“It means...” Mirabel reached out, her hand sliding into his. “Maybe we stop pretending that what we have is just one thing when it’s...something else too.”
Bruno’s fingers tightened around hers, hope sparking in his chest. “And you’re okay with that?”
“I’m okay with it if you are,” Mirabel said, smiling softly. “So...you wanna just...be us? No more pretending, no more holding back?”
Bruno nodded so quickly he almost made himself dizzy. “Yeah. I’d like that. A lot.”
Mirabel’s grin widened as she tugged him forward. “Come on, let’s get back before the parade passes us by.”
They rejoined the crowd, but something had changed - something that made Bruno’s heartbeat faster and his hands finally go steady. Their hands remained entwined, their movements more in sync. As the parade danced on, Bruno finally let himself enjoy it, because he wasn’t running from the truth anymore.
And, as he saw Mirabel’s dazzling smile as he danced with her, hand on her waist and twirling her around the town square, he realised…her hands had stopped shaking now too.
And for the first time in days, he felt like he could breathe.