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Being someone else is hard.
Even after doing it for years now, it doesn't get any easier for Camilo.
At first, he was beyond happy getting a cool gift. I mean, who wouldn’t? Now he can do more pranks by shifting to someone else and won’t get blamed for it!
He still gets found out most of the time, but, whatever.
Then he started to shift to someone else to make impressions of them, and that made people laugh a lot.
Sooner or later, he became the town entertainer, by being someone else.
Camilo wasn't sure what to make of that.
‘Can you try becoming Valentino?’ ‘Do an impression of Alejandra for me!’ ‘Can you help me practice confessing by shifting to Alen?’
Should he be happy? He always loved making people smile, before or after the ceremony. And doesn’t his gift just make doing that a lot easier?
That’s just one of the roots. Camilo was often asked to shift into a deceased loved one, or a crush, or someone they felt guilty to, so they can pass words they wanted to say to them without actually doing it.
Camilo hated doing that, it feels like he’s hearing words he wasn’t supposed to hear. The confessing to a crush he usually doesn't mind, he thought it was pretty funny and sweet looking at them stumbling through their words. But again, those words aren’t exactly for him.
He still does it anyway, for the town, for the family .
He’s doing a good job, right?
So he should be happy… right?
Camilo sighed as the nursery room bed he laid down on creaks, he didn’t wanna be in his room today. He's sure no one would mind, since Mirabel has his own room now and the nursery just became a guest room now until a new generation will come. He just didn't feel like sleeping in a backstage where a big theater with rows of seats is the first thing you see when you come out. It feels like he needs to put up a show first thing in the morning.
But that's just his charm isn't it?
He's a show for people to watch.
Even after Casita was rebuilt, nothing much really changed-
Before Camilo could indulge himself deeper into his thoughts, it was soon interrupted by the nursery door slamming open. Camilo jolted and sat up, turning his head to the sound.
" ¡Hola! "
Camilo blinked. Is that… Mirabel? She was wearing her usual white shirt with butterfly stitching, but she’s also wearing a… poncho? Is that his? No, his has chameleon patterns on it, what she’s wearing right now is just plain yellow. Is that even a poncho? It looks weird to Camilo somehow. She’s also not wearing her glasses, and he notices she’s wearing the pair of light brown pants Camilo gifted her as a joke one time. Huh, didn’t think she actually kept it.
All in all, she looks kinda ridiculous
"...what are you doing, Mirabel?" Camilo sighed, squinting his eyes at her. What is his weird cousin up to this time? The figure looked at him with a grin that Camilo didn’t know what to make off, but he doesn’t like it one bit.
"Mirabel? I think you need glasses, Parcero, " not-Mirabel tutted. "My name is Camilo Madrigal! The greatest shapeshifter of all time!"
Camilo (the real one) doesn't seem amused, "Oh are you now? And just how many shapeshifters are there, pray tell?"
"U-uuh-" ‘Camilo’-that’s-so-not-just-Mirabel-in-disguise stuttered, struggling to get an answer.
Camilo groaned, rubbing his forehead, “ Solo detente , Mirabel.”
Hearing this, Mirabel looked a bit offended but stayed determined, "No can do! I won’t stop till I make you laugh.”
Camilo looked at her with slight confusion, but chose to stay silent anyway.
“Also I’m not Mirabel. And I have something to show you, if you would be so generous to give your attention?” she reaches out her hand, doing the same pose Camilo did in the picture where he got his gift for the first time.
Well that was it. She’s always been the stubborn one, and she probably won’t stop till she gets what she wants. Not that Camilo would give it to her of course. But alright then, he'll bite. Let's see where she's gonna go with this.
"Continue," he said. Camilo can see her eyes sparkling when he said that. ‘Camilo’ begins by straightening up and clearing her throat again.
" ¡Mírame! With my exceptional shapeshifting skills and my fabulous poncho, I can do this-" 'Camilo' swayed her so called fabolous poncho as she did a spin, halfway through pulling it down down to her waist so it’ll look like a skirt. Oh, so that's why it looked off to Camilo. Pretty impressive, he'll admit that.
She ends the act by quickly putting on her signature green glasses, before opening up her arms as if she just finished a show.
"Ta-da! I have become mi prima super asombrosa who I really should appreciate more and should stop playing pranks on ," the imposter announced, emphasizing on the last sentence. Hearing this Camilo couldn’t help but let out an amused scoff, and he honestly had to stifle a giggle from coming out. But he wanted to put up his serious demeanor for a bit more.
"And look- if I do this-" 'Camilo' continued, twirling again while trying to lift up the ‘skirt’ to become a poncho again, but struggling in the process because the fabric got caught on the pants zipper, it seems.
"Wait- hang on- ow," she grunted, hitting the door frame accidentally when she finally got the poncho unstuck. Camilo couldn't hold back a tug at the corner of his mouth at this point. Honestly, what is she doing?
" Recto! I'm myself again!" 'Camilo' bragged, “Am I awesome or not?”
A grin is plastered onto Camilo's face now, unable to hide it any further, "Hmm, I don't recall Camilo wearing any glasses though?" he pointed out at the glasses that's still resting on her face.
"Oh, uh," the showman stammered, before swiftly taking her glasses off and putting them in her pocket somewhere. "There! Now I'm myself again."
"Why are you doing this, Mira?" he asked suddenly, the grin on his face faltered. He's genuinely curious. Is she trying to make fun of him? Mock him? If so, then he doesn't really appreciate the show.
"I really don't understand why you keep calling me with my super cool primas name," 'Camilo' huffed, putting her hands on her hips in a sassy demeanor. "I am Camilo, you know!"
"Oh yeah? Well then…"
Camilo quickly shapeshifted into Mirabel, now wearing the same shirt 'Camilo' is wearing under her poncho-skirt and Mirabel's favorite blue skirt.
"I'm Mirabel Madrigal! I'm clumsy as an ostrich and I wear stupid glasses everyday!" he sang, flailing his hands all over, clearly mocking her. "Not to mention I'm blind as a bat without them!"
"Hey!" 'Camilo' shouted, although she was giggling a lot as well. Camilo eyed her, a smug smile on his face.
" My- er, your glasses are not stupid! In fact, I think it's a pretty good shade of green if I do say so myself," she asserted. A hand on her chin, her face looks proud and confident.
"Pft- heh!" Camilo couldn't help the giggle that slipped through his mouth. He quickly covered his mouth and coughed to disguise it, but Mirabel immediately turned to him.
"Aha! Made you laugh."
"No you didn't."
"I so did."
"Nu-uh, you don't have proof."
"Oh yeah? Hey Dolores! You heard that right?" she shouted at Dolores who's down in the kitchen.
"He laughed," Dolores answered casually. Hearing that, Mirabel looked at Camilo with a smug grin. Camilo rolled his eyes.
"Okay, so maybe I did laugh," he admitted, shifting back to himself. He then points to Mirabel, "To be fair, who wouldn't? You looked so stupid. What even is that poncho?"
Mirabel furrowed her brows, "Hey I was trying my best, okay?" she huffed, taking her glasses from her pocket and putting it on. "I can't actually shapeshift, if you somehow forgotten. So I gotta readjust and make something myself. Oh, and here's something I managed to snuck out from Isabela's stash, eat it later okay?"
Mirabel threw something at him which he caught effortlessly, it was a candy bar. Camilo was taken aback. She… made the poncho? And she even got some of Isabelas limited sweets that he's sure she would kill her for only to give it to him. She went through all that for him? Why...?
Camilo snapped out of his train of thought when he heard his cousin continue to brag, "Plus you gotta hand it to me, my impression was pret-ty on point, dontcha think?"
"Oh sure, it's suuuper on point. It was like I was looking at a mirror. Wow." Camilo said in a monotone voice.
"I know you're being sarcastic, but I'm taking that as a compliment anyway!" Mirabel cheered, her hands on her hips as her face looked bright. Camilo replied with a chuckle from himself. Then the room became silent for a moment.
“Well... you asked earlier why I did this right?” Mirabel coughed up, her feet rocking back and forth, looking down at the wooden floor.
“Anyone will when you’re in that getup,” he jeered, giggling a bit. This made Mirabel cheeks flushed.
“ ¡Cállate! ” she looked up and yelled at him, though no real anger was detected.
“Anyways, I’ve noticed you were down today, and, well…” she continued, her hands fidgeting and playing with the tassels on the edges of her poncho-skirt.
“Since you tend to make people laugh by doing impressions of them, I thought maybe I’d do the same to you, you know?”
Camilo blinked.
Oh.
So that's what she's been doing. Of course. How could he not see it? And to think that he thought she was making fun of him…
Sometimes Camilo surprised himself on how dense he is.
“I’m glad I was actually able to make you laugh a bit though, if not it’d be really embarrassing. Heh, to be honest I couldn't tell from your expression because everything was blurry," Mirabel blurted out, her tone of voice seeming a lot more nervous than earlier.
Camilo genuinely laughed at that, “Oh trust me, I’m embarrassed enough for both of us.”
“Hey! Is that something to say to someone who’s trying to cheer you up?!” Mirabel squawked, obviously embarrassed while her primo kept laughing at her. After that, they stared at each other for a bit then gave each other a reassuring smile.
The nice moment was soon cut short as they heard someone screaming from the other room, which they assumed to be Isabelas.
“¡¿QUIÉN TOMÓ MI CHOCOLATE?!”
"Uh-oh." Mirabel gulped. “Welp, that's my que to get out of here. Adios!"
"Ah, wait!" Camilo quickly reached out to her before she left. Mirabel stopped in her tracks, peeking at him through the door..
"...thanks,” he muttered out, Camilo put a hand around his neck bashfully. Mirabel smiled.
"Anytime, primo ."
Camilo returned her smile before Mirabel dashed away. He could hear blazing footsteps echoing across the Casita.
"Mirabel Madrigal you are SO dead!!"
"H-hold up, hang on! It wasn’t me- No, I’m sorry- agh!!"
Safe to say Camilo laughed a lot more that day.