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For the first time, life was good for Bruno Madrigal. It was the worst kept secret in whole Encanto. He knew about it, his familia knew it, whole Encanto knew it. And nobody was talking about it.
There was something wrong with seeing the 50 years old man being happy. At first, nobody really understood why, until the realisation hit them all. Bruno seemed happy, like truly happy. His smile, his posture, his words – everything screamed ‘I’m the happiest person in the world’. They’ve never saw this smile before.
(His sisters did. Many years ago. Before they met their husbands, before their become mothers, before people started to ostracize him.)
So – yes, Bruno was the happiest he ever had. And nobody dared to destroy that smile. Not when Pepa and Julieta were always near, always listening, always ready to defend their brother. Also… many of them felt guilty. It was so easy to ignore Bruno, to ostracize him, to blame him for each accident that had ever happened to them. It was so easy, and so wrong at the same time.
His family realised it sooner than the rest of the village, but (at least according to them) still too late.
After he left, at first it felt like something impossible, something unreal. Why did he leave? Why their brother, their son felt the urge to leave? How could he be so selfish? How could he do this to them? They continued their lives. But not really. Because he was everywhere, or at least should be. He should be with them at the table, eating and laughing. He should be with them at the village, helping people, giving his prophecies. He should be in his room, doing whatever Bruno was doing in his free time. But he wasn’t there. And he’d never laughed at the table, he’d never smiled – not truly, at the village. He left without a word. He left them. But only after they abandoned him.
And they knew why he left. Because of the prophecy. Because he didn’t want to tell them. Because he saw something and he believed they would not understand. And he was right. How could they lie to themselves that they would? They would never. They never did.
So they stopped talking about Bruno. Bruno become Him. He left their home, but never left their minds.
And then he came back. And it was the happiest they’re in a while.
He came back, but he wasn’t the same man. He was more chaotic, more weird and the happiest they had ever seen him. And they didn’t want to talk about… everything. About that night 10 years ago, about every single past mistake. Still it was hard if not impossible to forget. Not when he was fidgeting, when they put too much attention to him, not when he was leaning to the touch, but never being the first one to initiate it.
In the end, they didn’t need to talk about it, right? He was happy, they were happy. Everyone was happy, mistakes of the past long gone.
And then they finally rebuilt Casita. Their home, their place at the universe was back. Magic was back, so was their gifts. And they spent rest of the day and half of the night celebrating. Mirabel got her own room, Bruno was back, everything was (seemed) perfect.
Until first meal at the family table.
Bruno came with Mirabel. Pretty obvious – even if the rest of the family had no idea how or when exactly they both became so close. They’re laughing, when Bruno looked at the table and froze.
At first Mirabel was the only one who saw slightly difference at her Tio. She followed his eye and focused at plate next to her. And then she remembered. She remembered every word her family told her about Tio Bruno, she remembered his room with infinity amount of steps – so close, yet so far from them, she remembered halls between walls and small, crampy room behind the dining room, she remembered the plate, draw in rough plank.
“Bruno? What happened?” Mirabel looked at her uncle. She was expecting tense face and little flinches. She wasn’t expecting tears at her uncle cheeks.
“Tio Bruno?” She took his hand and squeezed it.
She looked up at her family. Her family with whom she spent every meal. They had always eaten together. They had always smiled together during listening about their day. Always together. Together without him. And she saw red.
“It’s unfair.” She mumbled. It was unfair. It had never been fair. But it was so easy to ignore, to believe that everything was okay. But seeing that place, that plate…
“Mira? What’s wrong?”
Mirabel opened her lips and immediately closed them. She looked lost. She felt lost. She didn’t know what to say, she didn’t know if she should say anything. She was mad, she was angry, she wanted to scream, she wanted to take her uncle far away, but she didn’t want to leave. She didn’t want to leave them, without any explanation. It will only plant the seeds of future conflicts. But… It wasn’t her place to say.
She looked at her family. They weren’t mad. They looked worried, maybe sad? They looked like they were truly caring. Bruno whined next to her. It wasn’t her place to say. But she needed to do that. To heal her family. To help her Tio, who did so much for her, who left because of her.
“Bruno never left home, he was living between the walls.”
There’s the moment of silence, when you could hear the pin drop. And then…
“Que?!” Pepa screamed, making Dolores flinch. She didn’t saw that. Her attention was focused on her brother. Bruno at his part looked like kicked puppy. His eyes were unfocused, his shoulders were shaking and his hand squeezed Mirabel’s hand harder.
“Brunito, is that true?”
Hearing his mother calling him Brunito only made things worse, when the tears started to fall freely from his eyes. Brunito… She never called him Brunito before he left. Maybe many years ago, when he was a kid and didn’t understand his gift, when nobody was really understanding it.
Everything was okay. Until few moments ago, he was laughing with his niece, he was happy, truly happy. His family was so nice, so supportive, they welcomed him with open arms. And then, he was going to eat breakfast with them. And he was happy, he truly was. And then he saw his plate at the table. And he broke.
And he couldn’t stop crying. Why was he crying? It was because of table and his place at it, because he has his plate? Because his family accepted him with such ease? Or it was because of the happiness? Why he couldn’t stop crying?
Mirabel took her hand away and for split second he felt this overwhelming fear. He whined quietly. And then he felt warm arms surrounding his trembling shoulders and body pressing against his.
“It’s okay, Tio. You are okay.” Oh, Mirabel. Sweet, innocent Mirabel, who always cared too much. His arms found their ways against her body and he squeezed her.
Later, he will feel ashamed, that his niece had felt the need to comfort him – old man with too many issues. He will feel ashamed, because her live wasn’t good either and she still found enough compassion to comfort him. But now he let himself be. He hugged his niece and welcomed the warm arms of his sisters and mama.
Happy endings aren’t single moments. They are the roads. And he road ahead them was long and bumpy, full of happy things and full of many hard talks, but they will pass it together. As a family.