Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was dark around them. The stars above them just faint enough to not be in complete darkness. Camilo couldn’t see the boy next to him but he could feel his hand in his own, and his warmth pressed at his side.

They were lying on their backs, both looking up at the only dim lightsource they had. It was quiet, it was relaxing and Camilo felt like falling asleep just like this.

“Pepa will come looking for us,” said Damian next to him. It was said in a hush voice, barely disturbing the silence around them.

“She wouldn’t be able to find us,” Camilo countered. He was also trying to be as quiet as his boyfriend, but hasn’t mastered this artform to this degree.

“Hm,” Damien hummed and Camilo could feel the vibrations of his body, by how close they were lying, “but she would still know where we are.”

Camilo knew that his argument was void, but he still didn’t want to get up. Moments like this were rarer then he liked and he wanted to enjoy them as long as possible. But ever the voice of reason Damian was right and they couldn’t just lie there however long they wanted.

“And you know, we don’t wanna get on her bad side,” Damian added, squeezing Camilo’s hand. He was of course right again. Getting on his mother’s bad side would only be detrimental in the long run.

“Okay, ready whenever,” Camilo gave in and closed his eyes. The darkness beyond his eyelids vanished quickly and even with closed eyes Camilo could tell how bright the room was now.

He slowly opened his eyes, adjusting to the bright light now flooding the room. The two boys were lying on a bed in the middle of a big room. The walls were white marble in which different song texts were engraved, only visible when standing close. Books and several instruments could be found.

It lacked some personal stuff, but that was only natural. Damian didn’t bring much when the Avilas arrived in the encanto and he hadn’t spent much time outside of Casita since then.

The ceiling was still portraying the night sky, a permanent, as they had found out. Otherwise the sun should shine down upon them right now.

Camilo turned to his left and was met with Damian’s eyes looking right back at him. They smiled and leaned in without a word. A sweet, long kiss was exchanged and they departed with an ever bigger smile.

“Well then, let’s go before she really organizes a search party,” Camilo said and stood up. He never released Damian’s hand and therefore brought the boy with him.
There were several corridors leading out of this room. All of them were plunged in sheer darkness but Camilo and Damian were walking straight towards one of them. When they got closer the darkness was receding, making way for the two boys. After some turns, with more corridors left and right, all unviewable because of the black shadows, they made their way back to the front room.

The only place that was not covered in darkness. It resembled the bedroom they just came from, with white walls and gravures. At the walls stood statues resembling each member of both families. Their shadows were dancing on the walls behind them. In the middle of the room was a flower field of gardenias. One of them was more special than the others, giving off a faint glow.

The ceiling portrayed a sunny sky in contrast to the night in the bedroom. The wall across the entrance had several corridors just like the bedroom and they were covered in darkness just the same, as well.

A room made for Damian, a room only Damian could really navigate. And the perfect spot to hide. Camilo loved the room of his boyfriend.

After leaving the white room, they closed the door. On it was Damian with open black eyes, smiling. Shadows were around him and in his hand a glowing gardenia.

Camilo did a quick check to see if his mother was around. After seeing no one they made their way downstairs. It was pretty much silent in the house, meaning most members of the family must have already left.

Camilo hoped his mother was one of them.

“Aha, found you,” a voice behind them startled the boys. Camilo more than Damian. Something Camilo had noticed before. His boyfriend was rarely surprised when someone would sneak up on them.

Both boys turned around to see Camilo’s father Félix. The short man had a broad smile on his face. That wasn’t saying much, though. Félix was a naturally happy person. A trait his son inherited. Even more so since Damian stepped into his life and arms.

“Found for what?” Camilo asked. He was glad it was his father and not his mother. The two of them were on the same wavelength at most things, but his father tended to be a bit more easy going.

“Well, everyone was talking about what they would do today and you two were already gone,” he said scratching his beard, “were you hiding to have some … fun?.” Félix was lifting his eyebrows suggestively and smirked mischievous.

Camilo needed a moment to understand his father before having all his blood rush to his head the moment he did. They were kinda hiding, but just to have a moment of peace.

“Papá!,” Camilo shouted. He was majorly embarrassed. Not only did he not want to talk about his sexlife with his father, but to make matters worse he had to make the joke while Damian was present.

“No need to be shy about it, you both are sixteen, it’s totally normal to try stuff when you’re in a relationship,” his father said, not the slightest bit disturbed by his son's obvious embarrassment.

“It’s two weeks since we got together,” Camilo tried to say calmly but his nerves betrayed him. This was totally not something he wanted to talk about like this, or at all. Sure, he did have his thoughts about … doing stuff with Damian, but those were just thoughts. Neither of them had talked about any of this yet and Camilo was not planning to do so in the near future.

Before his father could embarrass his son some more by being unfiltered and without any shame, Pepa joined them.

“There you are,” she said. She didn’t sound mad and no cloud was in sight. A good sign, but Camilo didn’t plan to stay to find out quickly that could change.

“Ah, mamá. We were just about to leave,” Camilo said hastily. He smiled and pulled Damian along with him, past his parents.

“Cami, we need to talk about the two of you, soon. Especially if you sneak off together,” Pepa called after them.

“Sure, mamá, soon,” Camilo shouted back, already out of the house. He wasn’t completely sure what he agreed to, but for now he was glad neither his father nor his mother seemed to want to have a talk right now.

After making sure they really weren’t following them, Camilo slowed his brisk pace and Damian was able to walk beside him, still holding hands.

“That was embarrassing,” said Damian. He was clearly affected by Félix’ nonchalant way to talk about it. But when Camilo turned to look at his boyfriend he saw him smiling. Okay, he was clearly embarrassed but he was also obviously amused by it.

“Are you actually laughing about this?” Camilo asked bewildered. He would have thought Damian would be shyer about this than himself.

“Well, yes because I’m glad it was Félix and not my papá who ‘caught’ us hiding,” said Damian, now biting his lip. He was getting nervous just by thinking about that possibility.

Camilo had to admit that Damian had a point. Despite being the father of his boyfriend, Camilo hadn’t spent much time with the tall man, and everytime they talked Camilo couldn’t help but feel kinda threatened.

He didn’t want to know what Matteo would do with him, would he ever hurt Damian. Luckily for Camilo, that wasn’t something he planned on doing, ever.

“Best not be caught at all,” Camilo said and both boys could agree on that.

Hand in hand they made their way down the short path into town. It was a nice day out and the people of the encanto were enjoying the weather, doing their work. As always the Madrigals and now also the Avilas were in the middle of it all, helping where help was due or simply mingling with everyone else.

Since Camilo’s coming out and declaration of love towards Damian two weeks went by. Those two weeks were also the same time since Damian showed his gift in public. In that time Damian went to town twice. The day right after and a week later.

Even though Alma talked with the people and Damian himself was more open about it now, he still had his reservations. A life of avoiding people couldn’t just be changed with a snap of one's fingers. But he tried, for himself, for his family and especially for Camilo.

Camilo knew all that and as much as Camilo liked to get involved with everyone in town he would never force Damian to do the same. On the other hand he liked to show off his boyfriend.

Now that his family knew, everyone else didn’t matter to him. They could think what they wanted, but Camilo wanted everyone to know that he was in love and that Damian was awesome and the best that ever happened to him.

But they would do it slowly, and everytime Damian was fine with going into town, Camilo would gladly go with him.

It was a small town and gossip and news traveled fast, especially if it pertained to a Madrigal. Walking into town, while holding hands was a surefire way to get the message across.

Dolores told both of them later how everyone was talking about it. She didn’t go into detail but Camilo was oddly pleased. Damian seemed more embarrassed than anything.

Now two weeks have gone by and by now even the rats in the roofs of the smallest house should have heard the news and gotten bored by it. Picture Camilo’s surprise when he noticed the stares and whispers around him.

He didn’t notice them at first, then he ignored them completely, but after a while he was confused by the amount he could see and hear all around him.

Damian next to him had his eyes fixed on the ground. He wasn’t used to attention and as a member of the Avila family, his grand display two weeks prior and walking hand in hand with a Madrigal was a surefire way to get that.

Camilo tried to block out the hushed whispers. Damian was a rare sight in town, the unknown Avila child. People are curious by nature. And Camilo couldn’t blame them if they wanted to stare, Damian was beautiful after all. Camilo put him closer to his side. They could stare, but Damian was still his boyfriend.

The smile that formed on Damian’s face despite his embarrassment was enough confirmation for Camilo and made him giddy inside.

While strolling through town they helped where they could. It wasn’t much, since their cousins, brothers and sisters were already hard at work.

Camilo helped Ella distract a child while Damion was looking for her mother. He used his power behind a house, still not completely comfortable with using it around other people.

They also helped Luisa find all the donkeys, which once again had fled the barn. This time Damian was more open with his gift. After all it was just Luisa who saw him. Camilo was glad that Damian was relaxed enough around his family members, and he was sure that would soon translate to the rest of the townsfolk.

During everything they did, Camilo couldn’t help but notice that the whispers, stares and pointed fingers didn’t stop. It wasn’t unusual to be noticed, no Madrigal was a stranger to that, but this was a weird atmosphere.

Camilo was sure Damian hadn’t noticed a thing and Camilo was not going to let him know. He didn’t want to give the shy and reserved boy anymore reason to worry. If anything he wanted Damian to be happy to go into town, and whispering gossipers wouldn’t help much.

After some time the sun was about to set and less Madrigals and Avilas could be found, having already returned to Casita. Camilo and Damian decided to do just the same.

They were just out of town when Camilo suddenly felt a pang in his head. He held it in both hands in a vain attempt to quell the pain.

“Cami, what’s wrong?” Damian asked, concern deep in his voice. Camilo couldn’t answer, the pain prevented him.

“Let’s go to Julieta,” Damian ordered and took Camilo by the hand to help him move.

It was just a moment but suddenly the pain was gone. Camilo wondered what that was all about.

“Ah, it’s okay. It’s gone,” Camilo assured Damian. He took his hands and stroked their backs with his thumbs to assure his boyfriend that he was okay.

“What was that?” asked Damian, “Let's go to Julieta anyway, to be on the safe side.” Camilo couldn’t say no to that, after all, he had no idea what happend, either.

They went a few more steps when Camilo nearly tripped. Damian was quick to catch him, before he could really fall but was suddenly halting in his movements, staring at the ground. Camilo understood why, though. He was doing the same.

Around Camilo’s feet ivy tendrils were growing out of nowhere and were the reason for his nearly fall. Camilo and Damian looked at each other and then around to see if Isabella was close by. But no, they were alone.

Camilo was confused. It had to be Isabella, but why would she do that?

“Camilo, your hair,” Damian suddenly said and went to take something out of it. In his hand he was holding a yellow flower.

“There are more of them, growing out of your head,” Damian informed him and Camilo quickly went with his hands through his curls. Sure enough several small, yellow flowers were falling down.

“What exactly is happening?” Camilo asked his boyfriend, who was looking just as confused.

Chapter Text

“Isabella!” shouted Camilo first thing after entering Casita. Damian stood behind him, catching the flowers which occasionally appeared out of thin air around him. He already had a small collection of different varieties.

Camilo didn’t know what exactly was going on, but considering that flowers were growing out of his hair, it had to do something with his cousin Isabella.

The other members of their families weren’t in sight, but after Camilo’s shout some of them were coming to see what the problem was.

“Camilo, why are you screaming like this?” his mother asked. Concern laced in her voice but there was also some anger in her eyes. Understandable, Camilo wasn’t the type of person to get agitated easily but screaming around was never the polite thing to do.

“Oh, Damian, were you two picking flowers?” asked Julieta one hand on her chest, looking at him with love. Camilo’s aunt clearly thought that this would be lovely and Camilo saved that idea in the back of his mind, but right now he had other stuff to think about.

“Uhm, not exactly,” Damian answered sheepishly, only to pick another flower out of Camilo’s hair. Not Pepa and Julieta were as surprised as the boys were.

“Is Isabella here? Isabella!” Camilo asked and immediately called for his cousin again.

“I heard you the first time,” his oldest cousin said, coming around a corner and holding her hands over her ears, “and please don’t talk so loud.”

“Isabella, what are you doing to me?” Camilo demanded to know. He was always up for a joke but this was ridiculous and unprompted. And he was getting quite annoyed with the flowers growing around and more importantly on him. The only good thing about any of this was that Damian seemed to enjoy this, picking another flower out of his hair.

“I’m doing nothing and I asked you to be more quiet,” Isabella retorted. By now she took two pillows from the couch and was pressing them against her ears.

“Yeah right, I just spontaneously became a petal fountain just for the laughs. Do I look like you?” Camilo was annoyed and in good Camilo fashion, to get a point across he wanted to shape shift into his cousin. He tried to take her form but instead a field of roses appeared around him.

“What the …?” he wondered. Less surprised by the roses and more by the fact he couldn’t transform.

“Camilo?” said Damian, getting his boyfriend’s attention, “ I don’t think that this is Isabella’s fault.” He was pointing across the room and everyone present was following his finger. The confusion in the room was tangible, when they saw a second Camilo standing at the end of the room.

“I know I had asked this before, but what is happening?” asked Camilo, growing more flowers around him. By now Damian gave up to catch every single one of them, still picking the ones growing in Camilo’s hair.

“Uhm, it’s me, Dolores,” said the second Camilo, standing rather awkwardly, not used to the body she was currently in.

By now more of the family members had gathered and everyone was looking at the chaos that was happening right now. Camilo was surrounded by flowers, Isabella was kneeling on the ground pressing the pillows against her head and a second Camilo was acting like a fish out of water.

“Whatever is happening right now, we should get everyone together to discuss this,” said Rosa clapping her hands together, Isabella groaned.

“Could we do the discussion in whispers?” Isabella asked from the ground. Damian went to her and kneeled down. He whispered something so quietly that Camilo had no chance to understand him. Isabella looked at with a smile and nodded. Whatever it was, it was the right thing to say.

Some of the others went to get the rest of the families. Camilo, Damian and Dolores, still in Camilo disguise, stood together. One Camilo had flowers protruding from his head and the other was twitching around.

“Having two Camilos is kinda nice,” Damian said, picking yet another flower out of his boyfriend’s hair.

“Hey, Am I not enough?” asked the real one. He wanted to sound stern, but the hidden laugh was undisputable.

“You’re plenty,” said Damian giving him a short kiss on the cheek, “but seeing you twice is a feast for my eyes.” Camilo could have melted at the simple gesture of affection. Damian was definitely the more reserved of the two. That’s why it felt even more special when he was the one to initiate any bodily contact.

“I don’t like this,” Dolores said next to them, “it feels weird. I’m missing some parts and have too much where I don’t want it.” She felt her chest and crossed her legs. Camilo, understanding what she meant, got big eyes.

“Transform back, quick, don’t even think about it,” he said, moving his arms widely. There were things siblings didn’t need to know about each other.

“Do you think I haven’t tried. And this is kinda my body right now, what do you expect me to do?” she quipped back, clearly as annoyed and as discomforted as Camilo.

Camilo knew his sister wasn’t doing this on purpose but that didn’t help his unease. When Camilo shifted into someone else it was always only for a short moment and it never really felt different from his own body, like he just took the appearance but the feeling didn’t change. One of the reasons why he never had a problem with transforming.

After seeing his sister like this, that didn’t seem to be the case for her. Isabella also had quite the trouble with her hearing just moments ago. Camilo never noticed his sister having such problems. Was their magic helping them with their gifts? That was the most likely explanation.

Before Camilo could argue more everyone arrived and took a seat around the big table.

“Okay, I got the gist of what is going … where is Isabella?” Abuela started, but noticed Isabella’s absence.

“Oh, uhm, I said she should wait in her room, she, uhm, was hurting,” Damian explained, biting his lower lip. Abuela looked at him for a moment but then nodded.

“Okay, as far as I understood she is involved in … this,” she said waving her arm around. Dolores used that moment to shift again. Gone was the second Camilo and another Abuela appeared in his stead.

“That’s a bit better,” Camilo could hear his sister whisper and he released a sigh. At least it wasn’t his body anymore. As to remind Camilo that this was still a weird and unwanted situation his sigh released a bunch of colorful flowers all over the table.

“That could become problematic,” said Abuela, picking a red flower right out of the table, “anyone else noticing some changes?” With that she looked at everyone and Camilo did the same. He saw some people using their powers to check.

Helen was making some lights appear before her, Ella flew up for a moment. The flowers on the table were quickly put away by Carlos and some clones from Emiliano. Karina had a distant look on her face and Paola transformed into a bird mingling with the other animals talking with Antonio.

The cloud above Pepa’s head was probably not intentional but just as evidential. Luisa lifted the chair next to her with Bruno on it. Julieta, Bruno and Rosa were the only ones, whose gifts couldn’t be checked as easily. But so far no one else seemed affected.

Mirabel was sitting quietly. After the rebuilding of Casita and the return of the miracle everyone got their gifts back and while Mirabel got a door of her own, it didn’t come with a gift. As far as Camilo knew it didn’t bother her much, she was part of the family more than ever.

All things considered it was surprising how quietly she was sitting. This would be the exact thing she would normally jump to help with. Not that anything about the current situation was normal.

Just as Camilo had noticed, Abuela seemed to have as well. Not surprising, after the two of them got over their differences they grew way closer and Abuela involved her in pretty much everything she would do.

“Mirabel, are you not feeling well?” she asked. True, she did seem a bit pale and her behavior was unnatural.

“Hm? Oh, no, nothing serious. I just feel a bit under the weather,” Mirabel answered, coughing a bit but waving her hands in denial. She did sound a bit nasal but at the same time it didn’t appear to be serious. Nothing a little snack from her mother couldn’t fix.

“I will make something for you later, okay?” Julieta offered and Mirabel nodded.

“Good, and how do we go about this problem?” Abuela pointed to Camilo and Dolores, “have either of you noticed anything, before your gift changed?”

Camilo was thinking about that. Except for the fact that Damian was going with him into town today, nothing special really happened. Before he knew it, he was tripping over vines, he apparently created himself.

“You had a headache shortly before the first flowers appeared,” Damian reminded Camilo, picking one more out of his hair. One would think that someone constantly playing around in your hair would get annoying fast, but Camilo was enjoying Damian’s attention and his hands in his hair.

“I did, too,” Dolores added, “I had a headache and noticed shortly after that I was hearing less than before. Shortly after Camilo came into the Casita screaming Isabella’s name and before I knew it I shifted into him.” And as if it was some kind of commando, she did just that. From one second to the next Dolores looked like Camilo again.

“Noooo!” both siblings wailed simultaneously. This sprouted a new round of flowers around Camilo.

“We really need to resolve this,” Félix said, pushing the flowers in front of him, which once occupied the table, out of the way.

“Does anyone have any idea?” Agustìn asked, doing the same as Félix with the flowers in front of him.

“Maybe tío Bruno can see something?” Luisa suggested.

“Sure, I mean, yes I can try,” Bruno agreed.

“Maybe they are just sick, they did say they had headaches,” Ella provided.

“It would be easy if that was the case, but all three of them at the same time?” Julieta questioned that. Camilo didn’t feel sick, not now and not before the headache. It was just a short pain, followed by an annoying, unprecedented case of gift switching. Damian was picking another flower.

Suddenly a loud sneeze could be heard and everyone looked in Mirabel’s direction.

“Sorry,” she said and some ‘bless you’s were directed her way. Camilo didn’t have much time to react to her, because in that moment the pain in his head came back. And it was not only her, but his sister too. They were holding their heads, but noticed that the two of them weren’t alone. Their brother Antonio and their tía Julieta were also in pain.

It was just a moment, just like last time. It was gone just as it had appeared.

“Is everyone okay?” Abuela asked, having risen from her chair, eyes big, a hand on her chest and breathing heavy.

“Yeah, it was just for a moment,” Julieta appeased her.

Suddenly Dolores turned back to her normal self. She quickly patted down her own body and made a relieved sigh. Camilo was equally glad that she no longer was in his form. He quickly checked his own condition by shifting into Damian. While he was doing so, the flowers around him and the ones Damian had collected started to disappear.

While Camilo was glad to be back to normal and no longer be an overflowing garden Damian’s sad look at the disappearing flowers was a downer. Camilo made sure to go flower picking with Damian at some point. Clearly his boyfriend would like that.

“Julieta, Antonio?” Pepa asked, looking at her sister and youngest child in concern.

The toucans next to Antonio were chirping and looking at the boy. It was hard to understand a bird's facial expression, but Camilo thought he did see confusion.

“It will be fine, he will understand you again soon enough, I’m sure,” it was Julieta who answered the bird. They looked at her and chirped again.

“Yeah, we will figure it out,” she answered back. Antonio was looking at his aunt with big eyes.

“We will figure it out,” she said again, this time looking at her nephew with determination.

“So this time it’s Julieta and Antonio?” Carlos asked, “Why?”

A good question, why? They get a headache out of nowhere and suddenly they all trade powers? It must have had some kind of origin.

“Was it a coincidence that Maribell sneezed and they all got a headache?” Karina asked. Everyone looked at Mirabel. She still looked a bit out of it, like sick people tend to do.

“How could that be related?” Matteo asked as matter of factly as always. One would think he was angry or thinking her idea was plain stupid, but they were siblings, so they knew better.

“Could it be?” Abuela said more to herself than anyone else. After a while she looked up.

“I think Karina is right. It was Mirabel who brought back our miracle. In a sense she is our candle,” she concluded and now everyone was looking at Mirabel once more.

“And because she’s sick, our gifts are getting jumbled up?” Camilo asked, getting what his Abuela meant.

“I’m not sure, of course, but it is a possibility,” she agreed, “Julieta you should heal her immediately.”

“Kinda difficult when she can only talk to birds right now,” Emiliano was quick to remind everyone, “and I wouldn’t put your faith in the cooking skills of a six-year old.”

Everyone wordlessly agreed that the situation wasn’t looking good.

Chapter Text

The discussion went on for some time longer. Mostly to set up some rules to get through this whole ordeal without much trouble. None of them were certain that Mirabel’s sickness was the cause but it was the best guess, so they went with it for now.

No more switches happened that evening. Whether that was a good thing or not was debatable. At least no more mishaps could occur but Antonio’s and Juliet’s gift kept exchanged. The best solution was to wait for Julieta to get her gift back and heal Mirabel as quickly as possible. That, or wait until she gets better on her own.

Much to Mirabel’s dismay she was told to lay low and concentrate on her recovery. Of course she agreed but Camilo could understand that she wasn’t a fan of this. She wasn’t all that ill and as someone who liked to be out and about, laying in bed was not her idea of a good day.

Nevertheless everyone got to an agreement and went to their rooms.

When everyone got together for breakfast on the next day it was obvious that everyone was eager to know whether everything was like yesterday, got better or even worse.

“Well, I no longer can understand animals,” Julieta started and breathed out of relief. But that was short lived. “Instead I know break stuff.” Everyone knitted their eyebrows in question.

“She got my gift, I feel so weak right now,” Luisa was quick to explain. The events of last year showed Luisa that she didn’t need her gift to be who she was, but out of everyone in Camilo’s family she identified herself the most through it.

“I don’t know how you don’t break stuff all the time,” Julieta said fondly and proud of her daughter for being able to handle such a potentially dangerous gift.

“I never had a problem with it,” Lusia shrugged her shoulders.

Julieta had to sigh, “great that we only exchange the gift but not the means to use them. Without Erin and Damian we wouldn’t have breakfast today. I broke too many plates and squished one to many fruits before they took over completely.

Camilo felt kinda bad that Damian woke up earlier just to help with breakfast, while he just slept as long as he could.

“Don’t worry about that,” Damian chuckled, “not only am I used to it, but you and your family are going through a bit of trouble right now. Even more reason to help out more.” He reached for Camilo’s hand and squeezed it. Camilo just wanted to kiss his face off. But even though they are not never kissing in front of others, both of them, mostly Damian though, weren't high fans of too much public display of affection.

Afterwards everyone went to do their own things. The only difference was that it was agreed beforehand that no one was to go alone and groups of at least three people were preferable. Some gifts could lead to more chaos than others. Having more people around gave more possible solutions.

Abuela went to tell the townsfolk what was happening and that they wouldn’t be much of help. If they needed something they should of course still not hesitate to ask but the Avila family would be the safer way to go about it.

Camilo and Damian of course went together but they got accompanied by Isabella and Emiliano. The somewhat tense relationship between Isabella and Camilo was lifted after he got together with Damian. That was not to say that Isabella’s favorite topic was still his love life. It just went from speculating about potential girlfriends to specific details about his boyfriend.

Said boyfriend hadn’t yet heard her talk about it, because he wasn’t walking into town with them all that often. Camilo told him about it of course, but being part of the conversation would be different. More embarrassingly, Camilo was afraid.

Damian, who probably wasn’t thinking about this, had a bag with him and was currently talking with his cousin.

“Any specific gift you would like to try?” he asked Emiliano. Camilo was glad that the Avila boys were able to find something fun in the Madrigal dilemma.

“Ella’s would be fun for some time,” he answered, looking to the sky.

“Hm, do you think she has some negatives like with Luisa’s strength?”, Damian pondered.

“Or my shifting. The way Dolores described it, she felt completely different than when I do it,” Camilo joined the conversation. He shivered at the thought that his sister ‘felt’ his body.

“But what could possibly be the downside to flying?” Emiliano asked.

“Motion sickness, maybe?” Isabella joined in as well.

“Oh, that’s a good point. She often flies upside down. I always thought she was just good at it but who knows,” Damian agreed.

“Okay, then Ella’s gift without the side effects,” Emiliano rephrased his former statement.

“And while you’re flying Mirabel sneezes and you lose your gift and …,” Isabella added and smirked at the twin.

“Okay, Ella’s gift without the side effects and without the danger,” he changed a third time.

“You’re pretty greedy,” Isabella chuckled and Camilo and Damian joined in.

“What about you Damian,” Emiliano was quick to change topics, or at least the focus, “you surely have often thought about changing your gift.” It was nice to see how open they now could talk about Damian’s gift with the boy cowering in fear of himself.

“True, I always wanted a different gift. Didn’t matter whose, any would be fine. But if it would mean someone else would get mine, I would rather keep my own,” Damian answered. He was looking straight ahead but Camilo could feel the boy tremble in his hand.

He wasn’t sure if it was because of the topic in generell, or of something specific, but he put some pressure in his grip to let the boy he was here, and always would be. Damian smiled at him, message received.

“You can switch with me, could be interesting,” Isabella was quick to offer. A glimmer in her eyes made Camilo feel uneasy.

“From what I have seen so far you wouldn’t be able to control it enough for that,” Damian answered with a chuckle. Apparently he knew exactly why Isabella wanted Damian’s gift. That reminded Camilo about Isabella’s and Dolores’ invitation to Damian to their little gossip group. Damian spent quite some time at Casita while Camilo was in town, he didn’t know if his boyfriend used that time to follow said invitation.

When they talked about it, Damian just smirked and said ‘who knows’. Camilo was a bit afraid of what his sister and cousin could tell Damian about Camilo, or what he could tell them.

Before he could reaffirm his faith in his boyfriend a headache overcame him. He knew what that meant and so did the others.

“Ugh, hopefully something manageable,” Isabella groaned. Camilo just hoped it would be a boy who got his power this time. It would be less embarrassing. Even better, they just didn’t shift into him.

The pain was gone and Camilo noticed Damian soothing his back, worry in his eyes. Camilo could only feel his love for the boy. They all knew the headaches were short and whatever happened wouldn’t be forever. And yet Damian was looking at him, as if he was afraid Camilo would suddenly burst into flames.

“Yeah, we know you’re in love, no need to make a show out of it,” Isabella said with no heat in her voice. Camilo wondered what she meant when he followed her gaze. Above his and Damian’s head was a rainbow.

“At least we know what gift you got this time,” Damian smiled.

“And I’m not a walking flower pot, it’s an improvement,” Camilo added, smiling back. The rainbow got brighter and wider.

They were quick to accept the situation, not much they could do about it anyway. And also something else was getting their attention. A boy was running towards them. Camilo recognized him, but just in the way that he recognized everyone in town. It wasn’t a big place after all.

“Camilo!” the boy said with a big grin on his face. He must have been somewhere around Camilo’s own age.

When he reached them he stopped directly in front of Camilo, beaming at him.

“Hi, can we help you with something?” Camilo asked naturally. It’s not that people never just want to chat with them, but more often than not some kind of request was involved. For some reason the boy had to laugh at that.

“Ah, no. I was looking for you because I wanted to thank you,” said the boy. Camilo couldn’t remember having done anything in particular for this boy.

Suddenly he was taking both of Camilo’s hands and clasped them between his own. The movement was so abrupt that Camilo was forced to let go of Damian’s hand. Not something Camilo was very fond of. He didn’t say anything though, it wasn’t done in malice.

The rainbow that was still above their heads just seconds ago vanished and a cloud startet to form.

“I came out to my parents yesterday. I was always afraid of doing so, but you gave me the courage to go through with it,” he told Camilo, never losing his eye contact. The hold on Camilo’s hands got tighter and he could feel the thumbs of the boy moving.

Camilo was still a bit occupied by the abruptness of the boy that he needed a moment to recognize what he was told. The boy seemed to take that as a sign to keep talking, and apparently to keep holding his hands.

“They were totally cool with it, and told me to find a good guy like you,” he laughed and stepped a bit closer, pressing their hands to his chest, “I totally agree with them.”

The cloud above Camilo got bigger.

“That’s nice to hear. I didn’t do it to motivate anyone but I’m glad that it helped you nonetheless,” Camilo said in his normal, chipper voice. It wasn’t a lie, he was glad that his own coming out gave someone else the courage to do the same. It was just that something about this boy was unnerving.

“That’s what I mean, you are such a nice guy. Whoever you end up marrying one day will be a very lucky guy,” The boy let go of Camilo’s hands but his touch lingered on his arms longer than necessary.

Camilo didn’t really notice. He was too preoccupied with the fact that the boy apparently didn’t expect him and Damian to last.

The cloud above Camilo got bigger and darker. At this point one wouldn’t be able to tell who the cloud belonged to.

“Oh, I heard about you guys' little problems. I better go before a storm starts,” the boy laughed, not noticing why the storm would come in the first place.

“I hope we can talk later, getting to know each other better,” he added before leaving. Camilo couldn’t answer, he was too annoyed. Sure he and Damian were young and no one knew what the future held. Okay, maybe tío Bruno did, but that was beside the point.

Camilo was certain he and Damian would last until one of them would draw their last breath and even Casita agreed. Why else would she accept the Avila family as part of the Madrigals.

“That boy was totally checking you out,” Isabella said behind him. Camilo wanted to say something about that but was interrupted by Emiliano.

“Yeah, and he was totally ignoring Damian, as if he didn’t care that you two are together.” His voice sounded as angry as Camilo was feeling. Again he wanted to say something but got interrupted.

The cloud above him roared with thunder and shortly after the rain started to pour out. But the expected cold wetness didn’t come, instead Camilo heard the sound of raindrops falling on plastic. He looked up and saw that he stood under an umbrella.

Next to him was Damian, standing close with the umbrella in hand.

“I brought it with us. I thought, just in case,” he said and smiled at Camilo. The anger towards the boy was nothing compared to the love towards his boyfriend.

Chapter Text

Camilo woke up earlier than usual. There were two reasons for that. First, he wanted to help with breakfast, maybe spend some time with Damian before the others were awake and second, he didn’t sleep all that well to begin with. Rain can be a great background ambiente to fall asleep, but not when the rain starts in your bedroom.

Camilo never heard of such a problem from his mother. He was sure that was one of these side effects, that the original owners don’t have to worry about. Anyway, if his room was a normal bedroom and not some magical space created especially for him, the amount of rain would have done some serious damage to the floor and furniture.

Camilo couldn’t clearly remember what he dreamed about for his mind to produce such a downpour, but he knew it had to do with the encounter from the day before.

That wasn’t the first time Camilo wished Damian would still sleep in his room but it was definitely the one when he missed him the most. Just to sleep close to him would have kept the clouds away, Camilo was sure of that.

When Camilo got ready for the day he noticed that neither a cloud, a rainbow or anything else weather related happened around him. He couldn’t remember a headache, so for a short moment Camilo was euphoric that maybe the whole switcheroo was over and Mirabel had recovered. Until he tried to shape shift and nothing happened.

A huge sigh escaped Camilo’s lips. That meant he simply didn’t notice the headache in his sleep deprived mind and now had some gift he didn’t know yet. Well, he was glad that it wasn’t Dolores’ one, that one seemed to be more a pain than a nuisance.

He would find out at breakfast when he met the others. He was just thinking about this when suddenly the place before him blurred. Camilo felt disoriented and the next thing he saw was not his reflection in his bathroom mirror but his tía Julieta and his Boyfriend’s mother Erin standing in the kitchen, looking at him with wide eyes.

“Camilo, what…,” Erin started her question, but Camilo interrupted her by walking quickly past her to the sink. He leaned over and couldn’t stop himself from puking.

“Camilo!” Both Julieta and Erin hurried over in worry. After clearing his already empty stomach, the dizziness in his brain subsided and Camilo held up a hand.

“It’s fine, it was just for a moment. I’m fine,” he explained before the two older women could even ask. It was then that Camilo really recognised where he was. He was in the kitchen and just seconds ago he was in his room. It was like he teleported.

He then realized that was exactly what happened. He looked at the two women with wide eyes, their faces pretty much a mirror of his own. All three came to the same conclusion.

No one in the Madrigal family can teleport but the Avilas sure had one. Damian’s father Matteo.

That Camilo could teleport was not the problem, even though he could do without it, if puking one's guts out was a stable. The problem was that the Avila family was not as uninvolved in this whole chaos as they all thought at first.

“Oh my, that opens up a whole new level of problems,” Erin summarized quite fittingly.

“We will discuss that when the others awake,” Julieta agreed, letting out a sigh.

“Ah, tía, what about you? Are you switched?” Camilo hoped not, that would be the quickest solution after all.

“I am,” she said apologetically, “I don’t know with whom, though. Nothing happened so far.”

There went that possibility. Now that the Avilas are not excluded in this mess there was a whole new pool of people to get gifts from and to get one’s gift. That meant Damian could get Camilo’s gift and shift into him.

Doloros made it clear that everyone, who is not Camilo, would totally feel the difference in the body. And while Camilo was highly embarrassed when his sister transformed into him, and was always worrying who in his family got his gift next, he wasn’t sure how he should feel about Damian possibly transforming into him.

On one hand he was also embarrassed, for different reasons than with Dolores, though. On the other hand it’s not like he didn’t want Damian to know everything about Camilo, body included.

While Camilo was thinking about this possibility he noticed his state of dress and quickly forced his thoughts in another direction. He was still in only a shirt and his underwear, something he had ignored so far for more pressing manners. Suddenly this was the most pressing manner.

“Uhm, I should probably get dressed,” he said sheepishly, not wanting to put too much emphasis on his lack of clothes but also not wanting to just leave silently.

Julieta and Erin were just nodding and smiling. Camilo was sure his father would have done some kind of joke. Maybe his mother would have as well.

“By the way,” Camilo started as he reached the kitchen door, “Damian is not awake yet?”

“Surprisingly not, but we thought we would let him sleep,” Damian’s mother said and Camilo agreed. Then he would take his time as well. No need to hurry when Damian wouldn’t be there anyway.

After he got washed and dressed the rest of the families were already gathered. Camilo joined them and could already hear from a distance that they were discussing the inclusion of the Avilas in the gift exchange mayhem.

“So, Matteo, Helen, Julieta and Camilo?” asked Karina? Apparently those four were the ‘lucky’ ones this time. Camilo already confirmed that he got Matteo`s gift, but the other three hadn’t found out which one they got yet. They just knew, they were affected.

Camilo hoped Matteo got his power, just in case he transformed into him. He didn’t need his aunt, or worse his boyfriend’s sister shifted into his body.

Looking around he noticed that his boyfriend was nowhere to be seen. True, he wasn’t the type of person to join big discussions, but he would still be there. Camilo went to Erin to ask about it.

“Hey, where is Damian?” Camilo asked calmly, still looking around.

“I haven’t seen him yet either,” she answered, also looking around to spot her son. “Sleeping in like this, is very unlike him.”

Camilo had to agree. Camilo usually woke up shortly before him, but instead of lying around and enjoying the delight of doing nothing, Damian would be quick to stand up.

“I will go and look,” Camilo said. He left the others and went upstairs to knock on his boyfriend’s door. Damian’s room was massive, but Camilo knew that the shadows in the room were like messengers which tell Damian if something happened at the front.

He waited a moment but didn’t get a response. Either because Damian was still asleep or something else hindered him. Camilo opened the door and entered the bright, white room. No sign of Damian, but no sign of his shadows either. Camilo went closer to the corridor that would lead to Damian’s bedroom. As always it was pitch black and without the gift of his boyfriend pretty much impossible to navigate.

“Damian!” Camilo shouted, hoping he could hear him. No answer, but Camilo tried again, louder. This time he could hear something, but it was too vague to understand. At least Camilo knew he was there.

“Wait there!” Camilo shouted back. He wasn’t sure what was going on, but something was wrong. A muffled reply again and Camilo exited the room and rejoined the others.

“Did he oversleep?” Erin was quick to ask, with an amused smile on.

“He is in his room, I think. It seems he can’t get out, or something? I couldn’t exactly talk with him,” Camilo explained. He got fidgety. The more he thought about it, the more he worried.

“Hm, he sure is. And I get why he can’t get out,” Karina suddenly said. Everyone was looking at her, but her gaze was focused on the distance.

“It wasn’t just you four, Damian is also affected. He got Helen’s gift. He is currently pacing up and down and all kinds of lights and forms are moving around him,” she explained. Okay, that explained why he couldn’t leave his room. Without his gift the corridors were just a pitch black maze, even for him. No light and no shadows to guide him.

After hearing that Helen suddenly shifted into her younger brother. Her face didn’t show much emotion, except for an eye twitch. It was a weird look, Damian was normally quite expressive. Camilo felt sorry for his boyfriend. He knew how weird it was to have a sister know everything about your body.

But for now that wasn’t a pressing matter. It was more important that his boyfriend was caged in his own bedroom.

“Okay, how do we get him out of there?” Camilo asked and Erin was nodding furiously next to him.

“We don’t,” Matteo said. It sounded cold hearted, but Camilo tried not to let it get to him. He knew Damian’s father loved his son and wasn’t saying it out of spite. It was simply how Matteo was made.

“I could have teleported him, but that is not an option right now. Julieta must have his powers, but she wouldn’t be able to control them. As it stands we can be lucky that we are not shrouded by unbreachable darkness right now,” the tall man explained his statement. As much as Camilo hated it, he couldn’t argue against it.

“Isn’t it just dark, can’t he just go by feeling along the walls?” Carlos asked. They all of course visited each other’s rooms as soon as they got them but it’s not like they knew the details.

“It’s not just dark, it’s also a maze,” Camilo explained, “normally Damian lights the way and his shadow leads the way. No need to remember the way.”

Some of the family members looked like they agreed with Carlos at first but were quick to retract that after hearing Camilo’s explanation.

“So, we have to wait for him to get his gift back?” Erin asked, biting her lower lip just like Damian tended to do. Camilo shivered at that thought. He himself didn’t have his own power now close to a full day and Julieta even longer. If that trend went on, they would need to find a way. Even if that meant to get lost in the maze himself.

Some of the others went into town like usual, but Camilo was adamant on staying as long as Damian was trapped. Some others also stayed for different reasons.

Julieta knew she had Damian’s gift and so far it didn’t activate, but she wasn’t going to risk covering the town in darkness.

Helen stayed as well. Not one of them had control over their powers, so Helen decided to stay home. As of now she was still transformed as Damian. Much to Camilo’s chagrin.

Karina and Dolores stayed to help out in case anything went haywire.

Despite Damian's predicament the four women were acting rather relaxed. Camilo couldn’t understand. He couldn’t stop thinking about it. How long would he be in there? After how much time should he try to get to him? What other options did they have?

He was a bundle of nerves. When he sat down his legs were fidgeting. When he stood up he started to pace around. His fingers were constantly tapping something, the table, the chair, his own arms when he crossed them in a vain attempt to stop.

“Camilo, nothing of this will get him out of there sooner. Relax it will turn out fine,” Karina tried to calm the anxious boy down. It wasn’t helping much, considering she had been trying since an hour ago.

“Then tell me what he is doing right now, is he fine?” Camilo wanted to know.

“Probably the same as five minutes ago,” she sighed but her gaze went into the distance anyway.

“Jepp, still the same. He lies on his bed and tries to figure out Helen’s gift,” she informed Camilo who was looking at her like he couldn’t live without this mundane information.

“Hey, maybe he actually figures out how to use other people’s gifts,” Dolores said lightheartedly. And yeah, while that would be awesome and very useful in case this whole ordeal kept on going, Camilo would rather he wouldn’t be trapped while doing so.

“I would prefer we get our gift’s back. You were right, this is uncomfortable,” Helen said to Camilo’s sister. Her face wasn’t showing it, but her posture showed her discomfort to still be trapped in a boy’s body, her brother’s nonetheless.

“Then turn into someone else,” Camilo snapped at her harder than intended. Helen raised an eyebrow at him. It looked weird with her looking like his boyfriend.

“Sorry,” he was quick to add, “it’s just weird to see you like this.” Helen stood up and put a hand on Camilo’s shoulder. Even though she looked like Damian, her touch didn’t feel like his at all.

“I would, if I could. I never wanted to know my brother this well. Not since he got into puberty,” she said and even her stoic face couldn’t stop the slight grimace forming on her face. She looked at Camilo and her grimace formed into a sly smile.

“But I must say, good for you,” she added without further explanation. She sat back down her face back to her normal neutral state.

“What does that mean?” Camilo wanted to know, but Helen just gave a slight smirk. Camilo was confused but the young woman wouldn’t elaborate. Camilo knew that much.

“We should get something ready to eat, he didn’t even have breakfast,” Camilo addressed his tía Julieta.

“Let’s make some snacks that he can eat as soon as he gets out,” she answered with a smile, just before her eyes turned dark. Camilo’s own went wide and he prepared for the darkness, but it never came. Instead the five people in the room noticed shadows crawling inside and wiggling weirdly on the floor and walls.

Camilo had seen this before with Damian, but with him it looked a lot more intentional.

“I know Damian said they are good at miming, but am I supposed to understand them?” Julieta asked everyone present. They all shrugged.

“Damian seemed to be able to. Maybe one of those extra skills only the original bearer has?” Karina suggested. If yes, that would be a small drawback compared to other side effects.

“Well, I will just let them dance around,” Julieta simply said, not all that disturbed and started on the snacks she mentioned. Camilo went to help, they were for his boyfriend after all.

Some hours went by, with Camilo being an anxious mess. He prepared way too many snacks, Helen and Dolores got a fair share themselves. Karina was frequently asked what Damian was doing, if he was okay, if he was freaking out, Helen still looked like her brother but the shadows went away after a while.

And then finally a moment Camilo was waiting for. Helen and Julieta were holding their heads. A change would happen and Damian would be involved. He was hoping Damian got his gift back. If not, then Julieta and she could heal Mirabel and all their problems would be solved.

As soon as both women were okay again, the latter option was ruled out immediately. In front of them Julieta transformed into a capybara, looking not amused. Helen had transformed back into herself and Camilo was surprised that he didn’t get a headache. But that only meant someone else got his gift this time. Helen quickly checked her powers by producing some colorful butterflies to fly around before vanishing.

She got her power back, that meant Damian must have either gotten another gift or his own. Without further preamble Camilo practically flew up two stairs and opened Damian’s room. It was empty but Camilo waited. In hindsight he could have asked Karina, but now he was already there.

It didn’t take long and the corridor leading to Damian’s bedroom got brighter, the shadows vanishing. Shortly after Damian stepped out with a bag in hand. Camilo immediately sprang into his arms, cupped his face and kissed him hard.

The bag fell on the ground and Camilo felt Damian’s arms around his waist when the boy kissed him back.

“I missed you,” Camilo said between kisses.

“It wasn’t even a day,” Damian chuckled, “but yeah, I missed you, too.”

The two boys didn’t let go of each other and the distance between their lips was never more than a few centimeters.

“How are you feeling?” Camilo finally asked.

“Hm,” Damian was thinking, “hungry mostly.” Both boys had to laugh, putting their foreheads together.

Chapter Text

The next day Camilo was glad he got his own gift back. When he walked downstairs he could already hear the others working in the kitchen. After he couldn’t, or better yet didn’t want to help the day before because of Damian’s entrapment, he was going to do so now. But it was hard to just change your rhythms and therefore he was not surprised that he was still later up then the others.

In the kitchen he saw Damian talking with Julieta while the two of them were working. An unexpected sight was a second Julieta preparing the table. Since Camilo had his own gift at the moment it couldn’t be someone transformed into her. That meant she currently had Emiliano’s clone ability.

It was like the magic made a joke by not giving Julieta her gift back to cure Mirabel.

“Good morning,” he said and went to a smiling Damian to give him a kiss on the cheek. It was always nice to see him flustered. “I hope you slept well.”

“Good morning, and yes, Emiliano was very accommodating,” his boyfriend answered before giving Camilo some eggs to fry.

He went to work but had to pout, remembering the arrangements that were made before they went to bed.

“I still think it’s stupid,” he said quietly more to himself than anyone. Unfortunately for Camilo he had forgotten the second Julieta who suddenly stood close by.

“You have to understand her, you’re still young after all,” she said to her nephew. Julieta and Damian had heard this and turned towards the boy. Damian was smiling in understanding, knowing what she was referring to.

Camilo had no idea which Julieta was the real one but it didn’t really matter. At the moment they both looked at him with the same sympathy.

“Yeah but not stupid,” Camilo retorted. It was not exactly a conversation he wanted to have but he was still annoyed at his parents and at Damian’s while he was at it.

“No one said that,” One of the Julietas said placatoryly. Camilo knew his aunt wouldn’t go against her sister’s decision but Camilo hoped she would at least understand his point of view.

“But they clearly think we can’t make the right decisions. What do they expect? That we rip each other's clothes off as soon as the doors are closed?” groaned Camilo. He was too annoyed to think about what he just said, but Damian clearly wasn’t. Camilo could see him biting his lip and looking to the floor.

After seeing him reacting like this, Camilo had to think about his statement, and yeah, it’s kinda embarrassing to talk about it like this. But he wanted to get a point across.

“And it’s not like they can watch over us all the time. Damian can even evade Karina, if he wants to,” he argued further. He actually made it sound like Damian and he were doing all kinds of stuff when alone, but he was still right and that’s what counted.

“They are just afraid you make a mistake you later regret. Your relationship is still new,” Julieta was calm and collected. An adult who knew the ins and outs of life. Camilo understood what she meant, they were the same arguments his mother did a few weeks ago and repeated yesterday. He understood them, really he did, but he was sixteen, not twelve.

“I know, but as I said, if we really wanted to, we would find the time,” he countered. And sure, he was sixteen and he was thinking about it, dreaming about it, but he wasn’t stupid. He knew his relationship was still fresh and it was a two person thing. So even if he wanted to take things a bit further, Damian would have to want to as well. They haven’t even talked about it, yet.

“As far as I know mamá and papá got together when she was fifteen,” Damian argued in their favor. And that’s a point Camilo hadn’t even really considered. Their parents were once young, too.

“There you have it! You and mamá were probably not better when you were our age,” again he made it sound like there was more happening between the two of them than just some heated kisses, but for the sake of his argument that was okay.

“Camilo, I know you know what you’re doing, but when we are young we sometimes make decisions that are not quite thought through,” both Julietas looked at him with understanding.

Camilo took a big breath before reacting again. It was like no one was even listening to what he was saying.

“That may apply to me, but surely you don’t think Damian doesn’t think about everything,” he agreed partially, “and this is something we both have to agree to. Do you guys think I would jump him without his consent?” Now he was getting angry. Yes, sure Camilo could be impulsive but he would never hurt anyone especially not Damian.

“It’s not that we don’t trust you, or Damian for that matter,” she said and smiled at the other boy, who was keeping quiet. They had this discussion yesterday, just with their parents instead of Julieta. Camilo knew it was unfair to lash out at his aunt. She had no say in any of this, but that everyone was treating Camilo and Damian like fools, was grating on his nerves.

When they first got together it was understandable that Pepa was against them sharing a room, but now it was different. First of all they were together for some weeks now, and second it would be temporary anyway. Only for the time that Mirabel’s sickness was messing with their gifts. Last day Damian packed some stuff before he was finally able to leave his room. He brought it up and everyone agreed that he shouldn’t sleep in his room until this whole shenanigan was over with.
Of course Camilo was quick to offer his room, but Pepa was even quicker with shutting this idea down. Later Camilo and Damian had a heated debate with both of their parents. It was mostly Camilo and Pepa who were clashing, but much to the boyfriends chagrin, the other adults agreed with her.

“Julieta,” Damian said in a soft tone, “we know you all care about us, you’re not doing this out of spite. All Camilo and I want is to spend time together, there is still a lot to learn about each other. And as Camilo had said, if we wanted to, we would find time. This ‘not-sharing-a-room’ rule is not helping your cause in any way. I mean you say, you do this because we are still teenagers and we can’t trust ourselves, but teenagers tend to want what they can’t have. So, if anything, trying to keep us apart is only putting ideas in our heads we wouldn’t have otherwise.”

Both Julietas and Camilo were looking at Damian. The latter, noticing the attention, looked away and bit his lip. He made a very valued argument and Camilo was grinning from ear to ear. That was the most Damian ever that regarding that matter. Maybe they could talk about the next step in their relationship sooner than he thought.

Both Julietas were sighing, Camilo hopes in defeat.

“Okay, listen, I can’t promise anything but I will talk with Pepa and Erin,” she promised both boys smiling, Camilo not hiding his glee at all.

“Yes, someone on our side,” he said, putting an arm around Damian and feeling the boy laying his own on Camilo’s waist.

“I will see what I can do, but for now we should finish preparing,” One of the Julietas assured them and all four of them got back to work.

Breakfast started kinda tense. Last night Camilo was really angry and annoyed with his parents and weren’t it for Damian who calmed him down they would probably still argue now. Anyway the good mornings between everyone involved were not as cheery as usual.

Luckily Camilo had more or less gotten it out of their system through Julieta and a short nod from his aunt reminded him that she would talk with both mothers. For now, that was enough.

Despite the little mishaps, like the flowers growing out of Paola or stopping Antonio from accidentally flying to the ceiling, breakfast went smoothly and everyone started their day properly afterwards.

Damian would stay in as he usually tended to do, but this time Camilo would join him. Pepa, who probably thought he did it out of deviance, said something about it. It was Julieta who came to their aid, making sure of her promise to be of help.

Pepa calmed down and agreed with her sister, if only to not get into another argument with her son.

Antonio was staying as well and so was Félix, to make sure his youngest son wouldn’t float away.

Camilo and Damian couldn’t go to their typical hideout, Damian’s room, because they could get trapped any second. Before Camilo could offer his own room, Damian stopped him.

“For our own good, maybe we should stay in eyesight?” he suggested and cocked his head to Camilo’s father. And as much as Camilo wanted to have Damian all for himself and engage in a bit of a makeout session he understood his boyfriend’s reasoning. No need to put fuel to the fire.

Instead they sat down on the couch just to relax and talk. Camilo was quick to lay down and put his head on Damian’s lap. Immediately he felt Damian’s fingers in his hair, something he really enjoyed.

“Hey, what you said to tía Julieta, did you mean that?” Camilo asked with his eyes closed. He knew that was probably not the best moment to talk about it, and he had no intention to get into detail, but he couldn’t help but be curious.

“What did I say?” Damian asked back, not stopping his hands.

“I mean, about getting ideas,” Camilo said, not sure if it was a question. He could feel the blood rushing into his head

“Well,” Damian started. His hands in Camilo’s hair didn’t stop, that was a good sign, right?

“I mean, yeah, I’m sixteen as well you know, and I have a handsome boyfriend, so…,” he said. Camilo still had his eyes closed but he could practically hear Damian biting his lip. But Camilo didn’t have much time to think about that. His own mind was occupied with Damian’s compliment and the fact that Damian was thinking about him in a not quite public appropriate way as well.

“Oh, okay, that is, uhm, good to know, I guess,” Camilo said. He was trying to keep his cool but was quite fidgety. Hopefully Damian didn’t notice.

“And you? Uhm, do you ‘get ideas’?” Damian asked back and the hands massaging Camilo’s head suddenly felt way warmer. Camilo was thinking about other places those hands could wander. Without really thinking about it, Camilo fixed his ruana, to make sure it was covering everything.

“Uhm, my boyfriend is quite good looking himself, so yeah, I do,” he managed to get out.

“Camilo?” he heard his boyfriend ask and the hands stopped. Camilo opened his eyes to see Damian leaning down. Camilo lifted his head a bit to meet his boyfriend and they shared a short kiss in this awkward position.
They parted and Damian resumed his massaging.

“We should talk about this, but I still think we should wait,” Damian said but he sounded unsure. That Camilo could understand, he also wasn’t sure how to bring it up and if he would be too forward or too slow. But apparently they were on the same page.

“So do I,” he simply said. That seemed to relax Damian.

“But I do want to, you know, I really do,” Damian added. Camilo knew his boyfriend quite well by now, but sometimes he suddenly said something completely unexpected. This time Camilo was sure Damian could see the color change on his face.

“So do I,” he repeated his former statement, but less nonchalantly. Both boys paused for a moment before starting to laugh.

Their laughter got quickly interrupted by a known pain in the head. Camilo quickly sat up and noticed Damian holding his head as well. Both boys were affected.

After the short pain faded Camilo was overcome with a different kind of pain. Everything was so loud. He could hear clothes rustling, his own breathing, talking in the distance, Damian’s heartbeat, everything and at the same time. He was holding his hands over his ears, and while that did help some he could also hear the blood rushing under his skin.

He saw Damian looking at him, but the boy didn’t say anything, probably noticing what was going on. And if that wasn't enough of a clue, Damian suddenly shifted into Dolores.

Camilo knew he had to go into his room, that was the best place to shelter from outside noises. But before he could even stand up, he heard screaming. Between all the sounds, they were very prominent. It wasn’t just one person and Camilo tried to focus on it. The screaming was coming from the town but he couldn’t make out why until he heard some snippets.

“... it’s dark …”, “... that boy …”, “... misfortune”, “ … Damian …”, “ … bad choice …”, “... Camilo should …”, “... deserves better …”. Everything he heard was cluttered together and Camilo couldn’t make out just one voice. But the overlapping sounds were drawing a picture Camilo was not happy with.

He tried to hear more specifics but to no avail and Damian was already leading him upstairs into his room.

Chapter Text

It wasn’t long until Camilo got his own gift back and was he ever grateful for it. Dolores’ ability had the worst side effect by far. Even in his room, where all outside noises got canceled, it was nearly unbearable. His own breath, his heartbeat, his own clothes and every step echoed loudly. When the headache came he didn’t care which gift he would get, everything would be better than the one of his dear older sister.

By the time it changed back to his own ability it was already time for dinner and Camilo sighed at all the missed moments with Damian. At first Camilo wanted him to stay, after Damian escorted him to his room, but Damian shaked his head and left. It was of course for the better. If his own heartbeat was already killing him, two would have been an overload.

Those random gift exchanges were already annoying, but now he was really finished with it. How unfortunate could they be, that Julieta just didn’t get her own gift to end everyone’s suffering?

At dinner Camilo noticed that Dolores’ also had her own gift back, and Camilo was glad for everyone. She was clearly the only one who could handle it. Julieta was currently growing flowers, but instead of the random petals popping up, she grew a perfect little garden around her. She swore she had no control, but that was hard to believe. Even though she wasn’t one to lie, and had no reason to anyway.

Everyone else was currently unaffected, except for Isabella. But her healing cooking ability had no direct consequences. It was a relaxed dinner and Camilo simply enjoyed the rest of the evening sitting close to Damian.

The next day came sooner than Camilo wanted, but it started with no unwanted gift mishaps. That was a plus. He spent the last two days at home, so he decided to go into town. He wasn’t sure if Damian would come with him, but regardless he would go. Both of them had different kinds of work they prefered to do.

“So, what are the groups for today?” Camilo asked nonchalantly after breakfast. Some were already clearly grouped up and ready to go, but others didn’t seem to have talked about it.

“I will stay. Papá is holed up in his room with Dolores’ gift, and he will probably be a bit grumpy when it’s over,” Damian said with an apologizing smile. Imagining Matteo in any mood other than stoic was impossible for Camilo, so he just had to take Damian’s word for it.

“Sure, make sure he is his chipper self before I’m back,” Camilo retorted in his own stoic voice. Damian tried to cover a shuckle but failed. Camilo knew Damian loved his dad and that there was probably more to the tall man than an unmovable face, but Camilo was glad Damian came more after his mother.

“We will go with you then,” Camilo’s sister said. Standing beside her was Ella smiling widely. That was a combination Camilo could do with. Dolores was always easy to be around with, especially since Damian and he got together. Dolores was interested in Camilo’s love life and after it took fruition she was just glad for him and was a supporting big sister.

Ella and Camilo got along well. Both of them prefered things to be fun and tried to take things not as serious as sometimes maybe necessary. It was always good when someone a bit more level headed was with them. Luckily for them that included most other members of the families.

“Sure let’s go then,” Camilo agreed, before turning back to Damian, “we will see each other later.” To Camilo’s surprise Damian took a step forward, put a hand behind Camilo’s head and leaned in. The kiss was not just a small peck on the lips and more like the first kiss they shared in front of their families. Camilo wasn’t sure if that was meant as an apology for not coming along or whatever, but Camilo was surely not complaining. Every contact Damian initiated was a sign how more and more comfortable the boy grew.

“See you later,” Damian said after disconnecting their lips. Camilo needed a moment to realize that he was spoken to. He was surprised how calm and collected Damian was. The shy boy surely could take charge if he wanted to, and Camilo was definitely not complaining.

“Yeah, see you later,” he managed to say with a dump grin on his face. When he turned around to leave with the two girls he couldn’t even pretend to be suave about it. Both of them were giving him smirks of their own, but Camilo was too high on love to care about that.

“So, you’re stealing tiá Julieta’s gift today?” Camilo asked his sister on their way into town.

“As if that’s my fault. How unlucky can we get? And Mirabel isn’t getting better, well at least she isn’t getting worse, either,” Dolores sighed, shrugging her shoulders.

“It was funnier when we still thought only you guys were affected,” Ella quipped in with a sigh of her own. She had a point there. Some gift’s side effects were funny, but for the most part it was annoying, or even dangerous. Dolores’ gift was the worst but the nausea one gets from suddenly teleporting wasn’t nice either.

“I can’t fly, even when I have my own gift. How annoying,” she went on, dramatically putting her arms in the air. That was true. Her gift was one of the most dangerous ones when it would suddenly vanish. Carlos is also reducing his speed and Paola is not allowed to transform into birds or to crawl into small places. And on a lesser degree, Damian can’t stay in his own room. All in all everyone agreed that the fun factor of it all was quickly overshadowed by all the negatives. And all of that just because someone got a cold.

“Just hope that you never get Dolores’ gift, it’s the worst,” Camilo said and patted her on the back, ignoring his sister’s small protest.

“True, papá will probably give you the ‘cold-glare’ later,” Emma agreed laughing, grinning at Dolores.

“Again, how is that my fault?” Dolores’ sighed but grinned back. They just tried to make the best out of the situation.

“And how is his ‘cold-glare’ different from his norm?” Camilo asked, genuinely intrigued. Damian hinted at some kind of emotional capability from Matteo before, but it was just hard to imagine.

“Hm, for the untrained eye it’s probably hard to spot, but we three kids know how to read him. He is actually very emotional. I predict he will be the first to cry when you and Damian get married,” Ella explained matter of factly. It was probably meant as a joke, but Camilo couldn’t help but feel the blood rushing into his face. Of course marriage was totally out of the picture for now. They just got together after all. The image was still enticing, though.

“I guess I will have to learn that,” Camilo coughed trying to redirect the topic.

“Ah, you will. The way you are glued to Damian leaves you no choice,” she said smiling. It was nice to know how supportive Damian’s sister was. All of them were, but confirmation never hurt.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if you get married before Mariano and I,” Dolores joined in and all three had to laugh at that.

“We would really have to be quick then. You’re already engaged after all,” if he couldn’t change the topic just jump right in. And that brought his mind to images of Damian proposing to him. And wasn’t that a nice thought.

Their little nonsense talk was interrupted when someone came up to them. Camilo recognized him. It was the boy from a few days ago. He seemed nice but Isabella and Emiliano said some things that didn’t sit well with Camilo. But since that was only their point of view and nothing specific was said, Camilo decided to give him the benefit of the doubt.

“Hey, how’s it going?” Camilo was his normal friendly self. Dolores and Ella didn’t know him and were just as friendly.

“All is good,” the boy answered and asked, “Any specific plans, today?” He got between Dolores and Camilo and stood close to the latter. Dolores had to make some space and lifted an eyebrow.

“Not really, just the usual. Seeing what is going on, if we can be of help and such,” Camilo shrugged. The boy put his hand on Camilo’s shoulder as they walked.

“Always ready to help, very admirable,” he said and Camilo felt the hand putting a bit more pressure on his shoulder.

“It’s good to see you like this, concentrating on the right things. I was afraid, after your coming out you would be too preoccupied,” the boy explained and Camilo frowned in question.

“How? Did that happen to you?” Camilo asked, not knowing what the boy meant.

“Ah, no. But it did feel liberating, and that opened up some new doors, you know?” Camilo didn’t. Sure it was freeing to not have to hide but in his case all that bad. It wasn’t like he had to hide a relationship or anything. After all, his relationship with Damian was the reason to come out, exactly to prevent that. Maybe that was what he meant?

“You mean like a boyfriend?” Camilo asked, not quite sure if that was really it.

“Yeah, something like that. You know, after I came out it was easier to meet people, like ‘meet’ them,” the boy said, wiggling his eyebrows and moving his hand down from Camilo’s shoulder to his back. This guy was weirdly touchy-feely.

“That’s nice to hear. Were you able to find a special someone like that?” Camilo was glad to hear that. Camilo had no idea how many gay guys lived in their small town, but if this boy was able to get to know them, good for him. After Camilo got Damian he wished for everyone to find someone like he had.

“Hm, no. Our ‘meetings’ were nice, but I have someone else in mind,” the boy said, smiling at Camilo. So the boy had a crush. Camilo knew what that was like, and he was so glad his crush was into him as well.

“Oh, I hope it turns out good for you,” and Camilo really did. The idea of Damian rejecting him was not a pleasant one.

“I’m sure it will, I don’t really have competition,” the boy said and leaned closer to Camilo. By now he was nearly side hugging him. It was getting kinda uncomfortable for Camilo but he didn’t want to sound rude.

“Confidence is key, I guess?” Camilo looked the boy over. He wasn’t interested in him of course, but if he was radiating such high confidence it must stem from somewhere. Objectively speaking the boy was good looking, but he wasn’t Camilo’s taste. Even without Damian in the picture, at least appearance wise the boy just wasn’t for him. He was too sleek and had this weird glimmer in his eyes.

“I think your competition is mighty big, actually,” Ella suddenly said from Camilo’s other side. She had her arms crossed behind her head and looked unamused.

“You do know that he has a boyfriend, right?” she asked the boy and Camilo wondered how Ella knew who his crush was. Was she part of Isabella’s and Dolores’ gossip group? He had never heard about that.

“If you can call ‘that’ a boyfriend,” the boy said with a snicker and clicked his tongue. Apparently he wasn’t too fond of the current boyfriend of his crush.

Ella suddenly stopped walking and Camilo and Dolores did the same to look at her. Her face was no longer unamused. It was cold hard anger.

“You do realize who you are talking to, right? Who you are talking about?” she clenched her fist at her side. She was pissed and Camilo wasn’t quite sure why. True the way this boy talked was kinda aggravating, but no reason to flip like this.

“Ups, I probably went too far. But I stand by my assessment. No real competition,” the boy took a step back, holding his hands up. It was a weird sight. Ella was three or four years younger than him and more than a head smaller, but here he was stepping back.

“That’s right, there is no competition. Because it was already decided before you even came into the picture,” Dolores added more calmly. Probably to diffuse the situation, but Camilo could see that she also was also angry.

“We will see about that,” the boy said and looked at Camilo with a smile, “see you later.” With that the boy went away. He left two angry women and a very confused Camilo.

“So, what was that about?” he asked after Ella had calmed down. Ella looked at him like he had grown a second head.

“Are you kidding me?” she asked. She sounded so shocked, that Camilo felt like he missed something major.

“Camilo, he was talking about Damian,” Dolores explained. At first Camilo didn’t know what she meant, but then he understood. His confused expression quickly changed to rival the death glare Ella wore just moments ago.

He remembered what Isabella and Emiliano had said at the last meeting with the boy and suddenly it didn’t sound so baseless anymore. If Ella and Dolores say the same thing, this boy clearly had a low opinion of Damian.

All in all that wasn’t what bothered Camilo. Sure he wanted people to like him, but not everyone can like everyone. No, what really got on his nerves was the fact that this boy thought so little of their relationship. Like Damian was just a random guy for Camilo to pass the time until he found someone better. Like that would ever happen.

Clearly this guy didn’t get the memo how much in love Camilo really was.

Chapter Text

Camilo was pissed. There wasn’t any other way to describe his mood. One second he was talking with his sister and Ella about the pleasant things in life, namely Damian, and suddenly some random guy interrupts them to tell him that his relationship won’t last because Damian is not suitable for him. The nerve of some people.

Dolores and Ella made clear that they, and no one in the families for that matter, thought anything like that and that the boy was simply trying to break them apart. Camilo knew that they were right, but there were also the whispered voices and silent stares whenever he went into town together with Damian. And to make his suspicions worse he had heard the townspeople talk when he had his sister’s gift.

All of this was grating his nerves but to not worry his boyfriend he tried to collect himself when they returned. He probably wasn’t very successful, judging by the questioning face Damian threw his way when he entered the dining room.

“Hey,” Camilo was greeted. Damian’s worry was obvious but at the same time he smiled, happy to see Camilo. Camilo wanted to tell Damian about his encounter, but his boyfriend tended to blame himself and that was something Camilo wanted to avoid at all cost. Especially since Camilo didn’t know all aspects of this whole debacle himself.

He answered with a smile of his own and pulled Damian in an embrace by his waist, their faces so close that neither of the boys could hide their blush. Damian’s skin was darker but he was also blushing even harder.

“How was your day?” Camilo asked, taking the initiative. He somehow had to convince his observant boyfriend that everything was okay.

“The usual. Julieta teached me a lot and Mirabel seems to get better. We had some intense chess matches. This whole ordeal is probably over soon, with or without Julieta’s help,” said Damian, hope shining in his eyes.

That certainly was great news. The sooner the better after all.

“Don’t get my hopes up, I’m so fed up with this,” sighed Camlio. Damian gave a small chuckle and patted Camilo’s head like a little child. Camilo should’ve felt annoyed, but he couldn’t. No matter the reason Camilo loved Damian’s hand in his hair.

“No one here had a headache today, what about you guys?” Damian asked and they reluctantly left their embrace to go to the table where the families were coming together for dinner.

“We hadn’t either, thankfully,” and Camilo was thankful. So far he went the whole day with his own gift. No weird mishaps. No flowers sprouting, no breaking stuff, no accidentally cloning or flying away.

“A blessing in disguise, I guess. Julieta still can’t help and papá is still holed up in his room. He even came out for some time, hating to be ‘quasi-imprisoned’. But as much as he tried, no one can handle this sensory overload,” shrugged Damian. He sounded nonchalant, but clearly worried about his father. Understandable, even in isolation Dolore’s gift was nothing but a burden for anyone except herself.

Camilo agreed and was rubbing Damian’s back in support. Everything will sort itself out soon enough. Mirabel will get healthy and every gift will be back in the body they belong.

Matteo and Mirabel were the only ones not at dinner. Mirabel was getting better and everyone agreed that there was no longer a need to stay away from everyone, but Mirabel did so of her own choice. Until everything was completely over with, no need to take any risks.

The dinner was as loud as ever, everyone talking about everything. Everyone was glad that the day had pretty much no unexpected, gift related accidents. They all worried a bit about Matteo, with Damian and Erin at the forefront. But all in all it was a calm day. The uneventfulness of the day brought Camilo’s mind back to the one event that stuck out of this mostly ordinary day.

He felt himself tensing but tried to relax immediately. Damian was keen about Camilo’s body language. He managed to avert the topic before, no need to bring it up now. Damian didn’t make a sign that he noticed anything. That left Camilo with his own thoughts.

He had to find out more about this. Was this destesting guy's opinion just his own or the only one that was voiced? The latter option was what made Camilo’s blood boil. It was just hypothetical, but Camilo did have some evidence to support this. And if it was true, what was the reason? Sure there were some misunderstandings about Damian and his gift, but those were resolved by Abulea and Damian himself weeks ago. So what other reason could there be? Maybe Dolores was right and it was just this one boy who was trying to break Camilo and Damian up.

From what Camilo understood the boy was into him and wanted him to be his boyfriend. Clearly Damian was an obstacle then. But even if Damian would break up with Camilo, and it would be Damian, because Camilo would never break up with him, did that boy really think Camilo would consider him then? Talking bad about one’s boyfriend wasn’t exactly charming.

But all of that aside it was time to investigate. And there were two people in his family who were perfect to start with.

After dinner, Damian was quick to offer his help with cleaning up, like he regularly tended to do. Camilo would often help just to spend time with Damian. A development his mother truly supported. But this day was not one of those days. He was quick to kiss Damian on his warm cheek with a promise to spend more time later. After that he went to look for his sister and oldest cousin. None of them have gone far and as often they were found together.

“Dolores, Isabella!” he called after both of them. The young women turned around.

“I need to make use of your gossip club,” he said, completely serious. Both of them were smiling at each other and Camilo was quickly thinking that maybe he made a mistake. But no, he had to use every means possible.

“Well, that sounds interesting,” Isabella eyed him. Yep, probably a mistake.

“Can we just talk in my room? No need for everyone to listen in,” Camilo asked and let the way inside his theater-like room. Soon they found themselves seated on the stage that looked like a cozy lounge only lit by an enclosed fireplace.

“So, what happened that you of all people are in need of our almighty, little information gathering group?” Isabella asked, as she leaned forward in her comfy armchair.

Camilo took a big breath. Not like this was any kind of problematic information to share or to ask about, but his cousin and sister could get quite involved if they wanted to.

“It’s about Damian,” he started and got quickly interrupted by Isabella.

“Ah, no wonder you ask us directly and not him,” she said. If Camilo was unsure whether Damian participated in this gossip group or not, now he was quite sure he did. A topic for another time.

“Yeah, well I don’t wanna worry him,” Camilo explained. Dolores looked at him in question and Camilo knew that she understood what he was on about. Regardless he had to voice it anyway for Isabella.

Without much delay he explained the events of the day. Isabella’s expression changed throughout his story. It started with intrigue, went to surprise over disgust and ended with anger. Well, at least she was in the same mind about it as he was.

“That’s a very weird way to woo someone,” she said and Camilo agreed, “but how is this affecting Damian exactly? Or better, what do you expect from us?” she asked.

“When I had Dolores’ gift I heard some snippets and people whispered and looked at us, or maybe him. I’m not sure and maybe I’m paranoid after today, but I want to be on the safe side,” he tried to explain. When he was saying it out loud like this he felt rather unsure. Maybe it really was just in his head, after all?

“That does sound worrisome?” Dolores agreed and Isabella nodded as well. Maybe he wasn’t as irrational as he feared.

“I would like to hear more about that,” said a voice Camilo didn’t expect. All three of them were looking at the door. There was Damian coming closer through the aisle. Camilo thought he had more time and in hindsight it was probably not a good idea to have this meeting in his bedroom. There was no way to talk himself out of this. Damian was already worrying about him when he came home and now he had heard him talk about Damian. Camilo didn’t know how much his boyfriend had heard, but clearly he had heard enough.

Damian sat down on the small couch next to Camilo. The warmth that came with the close proximity was welcome but Camilo didn’t want to get Damian involved. Well, no way around that now.

“It’s nothing major,” Camilo started, hoping Damian wouldn’t notice the sorta lie, “there is this guy that seemed to be under the impression that we’re not a good couple.” More like Damian wasn’t a good boyfriend, but he didn’t need to know that.

“More like, I’m not a good boyfriend,” Damian camly corrected. Okay, so much about this. Apparently Damian had heard more than Camilo thought. No need to hide anything then.

“Yeah, but what does he know, or anyone for that matter. And that’s the thing I wanna know,” he said putting one hand on Damian’s thigh as reassurance. Whether it was for Damian or himself, Camilo wasn’t sure.

“Is this actually a topic in the town? Do people think Damian is bad for me?” Camilo asked. He sounded so affronted, like the mere thought was preposterous. Camilo didn’t have a bad life but in hindsight, the time without Damian, it was just bleak, colorless and bland. The thigh under Camilo’s hand tensed a bit and he squeezed him.

“Hm,” Dolores put a hand to her chin, “nothing I ever actively tried to hear, because it never crossed my mind.” Now that wasn’t helpful. But it meant she would listen in the future, as soon as Matteo would be so kind as to return her gift.

“I wouldn’t take this one guy’s opinion as a valued fact, but the other things concern me,” Isabella added mimicking her cousin's pose, “people tend to tell me a lot, but probably not if it involves my family like this.” Not helpful either, but also a hidden promise to find out more.

“I don’t understand why, though,” Camilo said in thought again, “I would like to go undercover and find out for myself. Maybe befriend these guys he had mentioned he got close to.”

“Oh, no. On so many levels no,” Dolores was quick to shut down his idea, “first of all you don’t want to get ‘close’ to those guys, trust me and more importantly with our current dilemma you can’t go undercover.” Very reasonable argument, even though the first one was a bit vague, but she asked him to trust her and that he would do.

“Okay, but I just really don’t understand how anyone could think that?” Camilo was exhausted just thinking about such an illogical way of thinking.

“We don’t know for sure yet,” Dolores reassured him, “and even if they do, that wouldn’t change a thing, right?” Of course it wouldn’t. The whole world could think that Damian was bad for him, but Camilo would know better.

“It wouldn’t, of course it wouldn’t,” he said to the girls, before looking at Damian, “I love you, after all.” He smiled at his boyfriend with deep affection. Enjoying the flickering light of the fire on Damian’s skin. Camilo felt Damian’s hand on his own that was still lying on his thigh.

“I love you, too,” Damian said. It was warm and sincere and Camilo loved to hear him say those words. It never ceased to make his heart skip and tingle his skin.

But Camilo couldn’t not feel the tremble in Damian’s hand.

Chapter Text

It was early, way earlier than he would usually wake up. Normally he would just lay down again but Camilo was wide awake and he knew that there was no way that he would fall asleep again. Instead he stood up and got ready for the day. Even though it wasn’t planned he didn’t mind helping with breakfast. Damian was most likely already there and that would be a plus.

Surprisingly Damian was not in the kitchen instead he saw another unusual face standing next to Julieta and Erin. It was Damian’s father Matteo. The tall, stoic man must have finally gotten rid of Dolores’ gift, or curse in this case. Probably at the same time Camilo woke up in the middle of the night with the familiar pain before his own gift got switched around. He didn’t know which one he got this time since nothing out of the ordinary had happened so far. He will probably figure it out when everyone gathers.

“Good morning,” he said to everyone present. He looked around a bit like he just missed Damian when he first entered, but he must be somewhere. The kitchen wasn’t that big, though.

Everyone turned around. Julieta and Erin had a surprise look on their faces and Matteo, well Matteo had his default, cold glare on. Whatever emotion he tried to convey, it was lost on Camilo. Damian, Helen and Ella could probably interpret this wide range of non existent eye movement and the not so subtle but also not actually there twitch in the corners of his mouth. Helen said it was a learned trait, but Camilo thought it more likely that she and her siblings had a second gift that worked specifically with understanding their father.

“Good morning. I was expecting Damian, but you are just as welcome,” Erin said. Her huge smile and the radiating warmth was normal for her but seeing in direct contrast to the stone face of her husband it seemed quite as big.

“I was expecting him, too,” Camilo said, throwing the unasked question in the room.

“He doesn’t have to help, you know that right?” Surprisingly it was Matteo who answered. He stood with his arms crossed. Unfortunately for Camilo, he couldn’t tell whether it was just a genuine question, meant to be a stab, or maybe even a joke. It was delivered in such a monotonous way, that Camilo just looked at him for a second.

“I know, it’s just unusual,” Camilo answered with a shrug. Hopefully that was the right way to answer.

“No need to get protective, honey. Camilo is right, it is unusual,” Erin quipped in. Okay, so it was meant in a protective manner? Protective from Camilo? True, Camilo and Matteo didn’t talk as much as one would think they should. Considering that Camilo is dating Metteo’s son and that they live in the same house. Still, so far nothing indicated that Matteo was unhappy with his son’s relationship.

“I’m just on edge,” Matteo said. He sure didn’t sound like that, or like anything specific, really.
“Yesterday was the second worst day of my life,” he further explained. That Camilo could understand. One whole day with the Dolores’ curse was living hell.

“Just the second? I had to endure it for just a few hours and it might be the worst day of my life,” Camilo questioned the stoic man. In reality it wasn’t the worst, of course. On the same day he had his head on Damian’s lap with the latter’s hands in his hair and they more or less promised to actually have sex in the near future. So all in all not a bad day at all.

“There are things worse than my own discomfort,” Matteo cryptically answered and Erin threw him an understanding smile, nodding in agreement. It seemed they both shared their worst day of their life.

“But it turned out alright,” she added, this time looking lovingly at Camilo, who was just confused.

“Only took eleven years,” Camilo could have sworn he saw Matteo sigh. Most likely, though, it was just a delusion created by his morning brain not fully awake.

“And since I don’t want this to change, it feels appropriate to warn you,” Matteo directed at Camilo. Camilo didn’t quite catch the segue, but he wasn’t going to interrupt a man who could probably throw him out a window.

“I told you once and I’m telling you now. Don’t hurt Damian, in so many ways it will be the last thing you wanna do.” Well that was a threat. Delivered in a deadpan way, with no emotion whatsoever, but still a threat. Not one Camilo had to really worry about, since there was no way he would ever hurt Damian.

“Honey!” Erin admonished her husband, “do you really think he could do such a thing?” She sounded stern, but it seemed to have been a real question as well. Matteo didn’t seem overly surprised by his wife’s change of tone.

“I think he is in a position, where he could, yeah,” he told her. Camilo grew even more surprised. The generic threat Matteo just dished out, didn’t seem all that generic all of a sudden. Both Matteo and Erin seemed to put a focus on the ‘can’ part instead of ‘will’.

“You make it sound like Damian can’t normally be hurt,” Camilo spurted out. He didn’t mean to say it like this, like the idea was weird. On the other hand Camilo knew Damian quite well by now. And one thing was for sure, he wasn’t some kind of immovable rock.

“Maybe you two should talk a bit, not like you can help us right now,” Erin suggested and Julieta gave a nod in approval. It was then that Camilo noticed the broken dishes in the bin. Apparently Matteo exchanged uncontrolled super hearing for uncontrolled super strength. Both were not all that handy.

Matteo just pointed to the living room with his head and Camilo followed. They sat down, Matteo careful not to touch anything. Neither of them said anything for a while. Camilo wasn’t sure whether he should just continue on where they left or if that was the reason why Matteo wasn’t saying anything. In the end curiosity won. Camilo did want to know Matteo better. He already had a good relationship with Erin, who didn’t though, so getting along with Damian’s father as well would be nice.

“So…,” Camilo started carefully, “anything specific you meant with what you said before?” Camilo hoped that was clear enough. Matteo was difficult to talk to. The sooner they could understand each other the better. No way Camilo could ever understand the man’s inside but being able to have conversations without having to worry Matteo wants to kill him, would be a good start.

“Damian seems to have taken a liking to you,” Matteo finally said. Not exactly what Camilo expected. Considering that Damian’s tongue was in his mouth at least once a day, Camilo would say that much was obvious. Before Camilo could react, Matteo went on.

“The worst day of my life was the day Damian got his gift,” Matteo explained, “on this day Damian got hurt directly for the first time. I didn’t mean physically, of course. As far as I know he told you about it in more detail. That day changed him. Fortunately he got something out of it, too. He doesn’t realize it, though.” Matteo sounded like he was reading a manual but Camilo was sure there was emotion in it. There had to be. Camilo knew for a fact that Matteo loved his son, after all.

Camilo didn’t really get anything out of Matteo’s explanation. Damian did tell him about this fateful day. Not exactly a happy story or one could forget. That happened eleven years ago and the aftermath followed Damian to this day. The way he used his powers only marginally and hesitatingly, the way he avoided strangers or big groups of people, the way he was soft spoken, the way he prioritized everyone over himself. All things that made Damian Damian and Camilo loved him for all of it, and everything that lay beyond this, but to say that Damian got something out of this horrible experience he had to endure was unbelievable.

“And what could that be?” Camilo asked. He sounded angry, he knew he sounded angry. He shouldn’t, he knew that, too. The man sitting in front him raised Damian and knew him way longer, but still it sounded like Matteo was downplaying the whole thing. He wasn’t and Camilo knew that, too.

“A blessing in disguise. You will figure it out. If you stay with him, you will,” Matteo said cryptically again. It was good that he didn’t seem annoyed at Camilo’s outburst, though who could tell, but it also seemed to be the end of their little talk. Matteo was standing up and Camilo noticed more people gathering.

Damian was one of the last one. He smiled when he saw Camilo. A sigh of relief escaped Camilo’s lips. Not sure what exactly he was worried about. There was the kinda weird behavior the day before and his waking up late today, but both things were marginal. Maybe he just imagined it yesterday, and maybe Damian was just tired today and decided to sleep in. Damian smiled when he saw him, the world was good.

When they sat down, though, it felt like Damian wasn’t sitting as close as usual. There was also less talking between them. It wasn’t like Damian was ignoring him, not at all. He was responding quite normally. It was hard to put a finger on it and most likely Camilo was overthinking it. He threw a quick glance to Matteo and Erin but none of them were looking at them or indicating that something was wrong. Camilo tried to get his mind out of this downward spiral. Nothing was wrong, and Camilo was just stressed because of this boy in town and his stupid thoughts.

Even the little mishaps coming from exchanged gifts didn’t help to get his mind out of it. Bruno was the sprouting flowers today, Luisa was weirdly creating illusions of donkeys and Ella actually transformed into one after seeing them.

“Ah, no you should go alone,” Damian said after breakfast. He smiled like usual, but it looked fake. Or was that his paranoia again? His word choice also sounded weird. No, everything was okay, Camilo was just overthinking.

“Okay, we see each other later?,” Camilo said and hated how it sounded like a question. Everything was alright, of course they would see each other later. Why was Camilo worrying about such a thing?

They said goodbye and even kissed. If something was wrong, would Damian still kiss him? No, everything was fine. Unfortunately Camilo couldn’t snatch Dolores today to come with him and hear around the gossip of the townsfolk. Camilo needed closure. He was imagining the worst scenarios. It all started with that very touchy-feely annoying boy. He put a ridiculous idea in Camilo’s head and now he saw things that weren’t even there.

Well, he just had to get over it. One day to get it out of his system and Helen and Luisa would join him on this endeavor.

The three of them made their way outside and Camilo was just a few steps out when he suddenly stopped. He felt something coming and all of a sudden the sand around him started rising. Camilo knew what that meant. Bruno’s visions were now his visions.

Luisa and Helen stood close by and took a step closer to him, also engulfed in the sand dome.

“Bruno’s right?” Helen asked. She never saw him use his powers, but stories were told. Luisa just nodded and looked out what this vision would show. Camilo was too. He had no Idea what to do. Was Bruno even doing anything when he had visions? Could he steer them to the parts he wanted a closer look at? Well, even if it worked like that, Camilo couldn’t suddenly control the gift anyway. So watching it was.

The sand turned green at some places and at first it was all way to diffuse. Sometimes it looked like a person, but it also could have been a monkey. After some time the picture got clearer, and it was definitely a person. It was sporadic, always vanishing and appearing. Not being the original owner had his demerits after all.

As instant as the pictures were, Camilo undoubtedly knew who was shown. It was Damian. There were things around him, closing in on him, or coming from him. It was all mussy. There were also other people, one especially stood close to Damian. It was just a silhouette with no way to recognize it. The things around Damian were also surrounding that unknown other person and then the sand fell down. Camilo was holding a jade colored plate in his hands but it was as useless as the whole vision. Instead of showing a clear picture it looked like a toddler was smearing dirt around to create a ‘masterpiece’.

“That was interesting,” Helen said, bringing Camilo out of his stupor.

“That was Damian, right?” Luisa asked, “but I couldn’t recognize anything else.” Not just you, Luisa, not just you.

“That really doesn’t help my paranoia,” sighed Camilo. He didn’t mean for the other two to hear him, but they were standing still really close.

“What paranoia?” his cousin asked, raising her eyebrows. Camilo was debating whether to tell them or not. He told Dolores and Isabella about the boy and Emiliano and Ella knew as well. No harm in telling them, and maybe Helen can bring his worries to rest.

“It’s nothing really. Some boy implied that Damian is a bad boyfriend for me and I think other people think that, too. And after Damian heard about it, it feels like he is acting weird. But he actually isn’t and it is just in my head,” he explained quickly and saying it out loud it did sound stupid.

“Hm, I wouldn’t be so sure,” Helen said. She was looking back at Casita. So much for her shutting down Camilo’s paranoia. Fuel to the fire would be more fitting.

“I don’t mean to say, that’s how it is,” she was quick to add. Probably noticing Camilo’s expression, “just that Damian is someone who thinks about stuff, alot.”

Camilo knew that, of course.

“I assured him, it didn’t matter to me what other people would think,” Camilo explained. He meant what he told him yesterday evening. It wouldn’t change anything. Damian over the rest of the world. If the whole town was against them, let them be.

“Camilo, it’s not always that easy,” this time it was Luisa, “we know that Damian is sensitive and has insecurities about his past and gift. Those are hard to overcome and come from a place deep inside.” Damian was still avoiding people. Camilo was not as arrogant to think that he was cure-it-all for Damian. His boyfriend had already made big steps forward but was not at the finish line. That the people wouldn’t accept him as Camilo’s boyfriend was probably a reminder of the people who wouldn’t accept him as a human.

“You’re right. He is probably more hurt than I thought,” Camilo agreed, looking to the ground.

“I don’t think they are capable of actually hurting him,” Helen quipped in. Again talking about Damian like he can’t be hurt, “at least not the way you think.” Talking in riddles must lay in the family. Was it so hard to just say what one meant? At least Helen’s stoic face didn’t reflect her inner self and Camilo could actually hear emotions in her voice.

Luckily Helen took pity on Camilo and kept talking, “Camilo doesn’t care what anyone thinks or talks about him as long as it doesn’t affect the people he cares about. When he got his gift Damian was hurt, personally hurt. After this no one ever managed anything even remotely close. He is timid, insecure, quiet, negative and sometimes a bit broody, but he is also friendly, emotional, clever and passionate. So when you say that he is acting weird, I think it isn’t paranoia. He might be distancing himself from you in a way to not hurt you. He…”

“What? Why?” Camilo burst out. Interrupting Helen. She simply held a hand to stop him and kept on.

“He doesn’t want to lose you, but I can imagine him thinking that it would be better for you if you are not seen with him, or be with him altogether.” Now that was just bullshit. Not what Helen had said, that actually sounded quite accurate and plausible. Camilo sheltered himself for not thinking about that on his own. He needed to talk with Damian, and he needed to talk with him now.

“You should just go,” Lusia told him, noticing him looking back. Camilo didn’t react, he just sprinted back to Casita.

Chapter Text

They weren’t far from Casita and yet the way back felt like an eternity. Every second past was a second wasted not talking things out with Damian. It felt like the longer he would wait the bigger the rift would become. And that was unacceptable.

When he finally arrived there were some faces turning towards him in confusion. Understandable, not only did he just leave, but he must have looked like a maniac the way he was searching for Damian.

“Everything all right?” asked Agustín. He was rubbing the back of his hand. It looked like he got stung by a bee there or something. In other words, nothing new.

“Do you know where Damian is?” Camilo asked himself instead of answering. If Agustín was bewildered by this, it didn’t show. Maybe everyone in this family was simply used to weird antics.

“He was talking with Dolores in the kitchen, the last time I saw him,” he pointed in the direction. Yep, he got definitely stung and with Julieta not able to heal anyone right now, he would have to tough it out.

Camilo thanked him with a nod and went to look for his boyfriend. And indeed he was still in the kitchen, and so was Dolores. Both were sitting at the table. Damian was fidgeting with his fingers in front of him, his head hung low and he was looking down. Dolores seemed sympathetic? Whatever they were talking about it wasn’t joyfull.

“Damian,” Camilo called out, louder than intended. The boy in question jerked up and looked at Camilo as surprised as Agustín mere moments ago. Dolores didn’t seem surprised at all. But she must have heard him miles ago. Maybe even heard his talk with Luisa and Helen.

“Damian, “ Camilo said again, softer this time, “can we talk for a bit?”

Camilo wasn’t sure if Damian knew what he wanted to talk about but he looked uncertain. Not exactly like he didn’t want to talk, more like he was afraid to say something wrong. Before he could answer Dolores stood up and smiled at Damian.

“I think that’s a good Idea,” she said, clearly knowing exactly what’s going on. Making it even more apparent that her and Damian’s conversation was about the same topic. She went past Camilo, put a hand on his shoulder and nodded encouragingly.

“Should we go to my room?” Camilo asked. Damian still hasn’t answered him, but he was sure the other boy wanted to talk as well. Damian nodded and both of them made their way to Camilo’s room. The atmosphere was tense but Camilo was determined to change that.

The stage in Camilo’s room was simple. Two armchairs facing each other. The room clearly understood the need for this one on one talk.

Camilo and Damian both sat down and for a moment no one was saying anything. Not knowing how to start, not knowing what exactly needed to be discussed or too afraid to make it worth.

After some time it was Damian who broke the silence.

“Maybe we should break up,” he said. His head hung low, looking at the ground and at first Camilo was unsure whether he heard him right or was misunderstanding him because Damian talked so quietly.

“Why?” Camilo simply asked. His heart was pounding, this was not the direction he wanted this talk to go. But he remained calm, he knew Damian would give an explanation. Camilo of course most likely wouldn’t accept the explanation, but he could stay calm for now.

“I’m not good for you,” Damian answered. His voice still low, his eyes still focused on the ground. Now this was something Camilo kind of expected to hear. Helen had made it quite clear what Damian was probably thinking. And thanks to that Camilo was able to not lose it right then and there. He sort of knew what was coming, otherwise he might have gotten outraged by now.

“Damian?” Camilo said without clear intention in his voice. He looked at his boyfriend and waited for him to look up. It took some time and the silence nearly broke Camilo to say something else, but Damian did look up.

After seeing his face again Camilo wanted nothing more than to walk to him and take him in his arms. Damian looked devastated. The warm glow in his eyes was gone and he barely held eye contact with Camilo.

“Damian, I love you,” Camilo finally said, after their eyes met. The effect was immediate, Damian’s eyes widened and tears welled up. This time, Camilo actually stood up, walked to Damian and pulled him into a hug. Both of them were kneeling on the ground deep in embrace.

“But I’m not good for you,” Damian repeated. Camilo hugged him tighter.

“Why would you think that?” he started, “isn’t what makes me happy, what is good for me? Because then you are definitely good for me. Nothing makes me happier, than you, Damian. I love you, I will say it as many times as necessary.”

“But they don’t accept me,” Damian retorted between heavy sobs, “before you say anything, I talked with Dolores, I heard what the villagers are saying.”

So after all it came down to what Camilo was afraid of. The tidbits he had heard, the looks they got, everything that damn boy had said.

“I love you,” Camilo said again, “your family loves you, my family loves you. Everyone who actually knows you, loves you,” Camilo assured him. And he meant it. He meant everything.

“People like me because I’m a Madrigal. For some reason they think they know what is best for me, what I want or what I need. But none of them actually know me, they only know the Madrigal part. But you know the Camilo part,” He said in a soft tone. Camilo leaned back a bit and took Damian’s head in his hands. With his thumbs he wished the tears away which fell in Damian’s cheeks.

“You are good for me, you are the best for me and you are what I want. I love you,” Camilo said again. Damian was looking him directly in the eyes. The tears were still there and Camilo could also see the self doubt but he was looking at him without hesitation.

“But what if it gets worse? Like with this one guy?” Damian asked, but he wasn’t looking away.

“Then let it get worse. I’m a Madrigal. I like to help this community but if they don’t like me because they don’t like you for some reason, then I don’t need this community. I will still be a Madrigal and I would still have my family and you, but they would have lost me, not the other way around. And that boy,” Camilo’s grew annoyed at the memories, “has already lost me. Everyone who thinks that my love for you is some kind of game, doesn’t deserve my attention or respect.” This time it was Damian who held Camilo’s head in his hands.

“I’m sorry,” Damian said softly and Camilo wanted to retort, but Damian went on, “I know you love me, I didn’t doubt that. I really don’t want to break up with you, I never want to lose you. But I don’t want to be selfish. Just by being with me you will get criticized.” Camilo actually had to laugh at that. Of course none of it was funny, but in Camilo’s ears it just sounded ridiculous.

“Please be selfish. If it’s about me, please always be selfish, because I will do the same,” Camilo smiled and Damian smiled back. Both looked at each other and just started laughing. One of them was annoyed at the people around him and the other one was afraid of their opinion but in the end nothing mattered but just the two of them.

“But you know, I really don’t like that boy,” Damian suddenly said and Camilo could only agree.

“Yeah, absolutely. I don’t give a damn what people think or say, but that boy is another level.” Both had to laugh again. By now both of them were lying down on their sides facing each other holding hands.

“If something bothers you, please always tell me, okay,” Camilo pleaded after a while. Damian smiled, squeezed his hand and nodded. A silent agreement that they would never hold back again, an agreement to be selfish if it comes to one another.

The kiss that followed was as expected as it was sweet.

“I love you, Camilo,” and really wasn’t that the only thing Camilo needed to hear?

Chapter Text

Both boys were lying next to each other without saying anything. The silence wasn’t awkward or uncomfortable. If anything it was a blessing. For some reason or another no one in their families decided to disturb them, even though it was still early. Camilo thought he probably had to thank Dolores, Helen and everyone else who was in the know.
But that could wait. For now he would just enjoy having a calm and relaxed Damian close to him. Reality would get to them soon enough.

A knock on his door was the expected interruption. Expected, but not welcomed.

“Well, we couldn’t lie here forever,” Damian broke the silence, but wasn’t moving out of their entanglement.

“I wouldn’t mind,” Camilo sighed, hiding his face in Damian’s chest.

“Hm, I don’t know,” Damian started. Camilo looked up and raised an eyebrow at his boyfriend. “I mean, I would miss Julieta’s cooking,” he finished. Camilo had to chuckle.

“Very true, and who knows if we get anything later if we don’t,” a sudden pain shooting through his head made him stop talking. As always it was only a short moment and as quick as it came, it was over. Damian was in the same boat and after the pain vanished both boys looked at each other and sighed.

“At least it’s not Dolores’,” Damian shrugged. Camilo couldn’t agree more. As much as he loved his sister, her gift had without a doubt the biggest drawback.

“We should probably look who knocked,” Damian suggested and unenthusiastically Camilo agreed. They made their way out of Camilo’s room, out of their little worryfree bubble. But compared to a few hours ago a fog was lifted in Camilo’s mind and he knew Damian better than ever.

Outside Abuela was waiting for both of them.

“Camilo, Damian. I don’t know the details but are you okay?” she asked, worry laced in her voice. Over a year went by since the fateful events that changed the whole family, but seeing his Abuela like this was still heartwarming. Camilo hoped he would never lose this feeling.

“I’m sorry if we had worried you, but everything is fine now,” Damian spoke first and as if to prove his point red roses sprouted around him. The three just took a look at it and shook their heads, ignoring it otherwise.

“That’s good to hear. Do you have any plans for the rest of the day? Do you want to help Julieta?” Abuela asked.

Camilo wanted to agree, but Damian was quicker.

“Actually, I would like to go into town,” he said quietly before looking at Camilo, “if that is okay with you.”

Camilo was surprised and Abuela seemed unable to hide hers either. Not that Damian never went out, but it was rare and especially now.

“Of course, I would love that,” said Camilo finally with a big smile. Abuela’s smile was less beaming but nonetheless filled with warmth.

“Then I will see you boys later,” she said before leaving them to their own devices.

“Are you sure, though?” Camilo asked.

“Yeah, I think I have to do this,” Damian took a deep breath. Camilo didn’t want Damian to do anything he didn’t want to do, but he knew that Damian needed this now. They just had a heart to heart, solidified their love for each other but talking and doing things were miles apart. To get over his own paranoia Damian had to face them.

“Okay, then let’s go,” Camilo took Damian’s hand and just like that they made their way into town.

They didn’t walk slowly or delay it in any way, but Camilo could feel the anxiety radiating from Damian, could feel his hand pressed firmer in his own. But he walked forward and if this was what Damian wanted Camilo would support him.

They didn’t have a specific goal and were just wandering around. They did get the usual stares and whispers, but nothing confrontational. With every passing minute Damian started to calm down more and more and so did Camilo.

It didn’t take long before they found other members of their families. A whole bunch actually.

Isabella, Luisa and Dolores from Camilo’s side and Helen, Ella, Carlos and Emiliano from Damian’s. And most of them were obviously affected by the whole gift exchange problem.

“Oh, hey. It seems everything worked out?” Dolores asked, walking carefully not to touch anything or anyone. A trade Camilo noticed all of them adopted when paired with Luisa’s uncontrollable strength.

“Yeah,” Camilo simply said, squeezing Damian’s hand and smiling at his boyfriend.

Everyone present knew about the slight tension growing between Camilo and Damian and all of them were visibly relieved that it got resolved early on.

“Aside from that,” Emiliano started, “it seems we were really hit full force this time.” He pointed to Carlos who was held down by two Isabellas to not fly away.

“Speak for yourself. I’m fine,” Helen said stoically, but with an amused glint in her eyes, while she produced sparkles in the air just to prove a point.

“Apart from her, we are all affected. As are you two obviously,” Isabella pointed out the yellow petals leaving a path behind Damian, “and Emiliano has Camilo’s gift.”

“I don’t know which one I have, so I guess I got tiá Julieta’s gift. Because someone always gets it,” Camilo shrugged, half joking.

“I’m afraid she got mine instead,” said Dolores. All of them winced, Dolores included. Every time Dolores got another gift than her own someone else had to suffer.

“Let’s hope there is a new shuffle soon,” Luisa added. Her eyes were pitch black and her own shadow was weirdly wiggling around. Damian saw that and looked to the ground.

“I’m sorry,” he said quietly but loud enough for the small group to hear. Most of them didn’t know what he meant, but Helen and Ella were quick to notice.

“That’s not what she meant. She was only worrying about Julieta,” Helen assured his younger brother and Ella was quick to nod in agreement. After this the others, especially Luisa, understood as well.

“Oh yeah, don’t worry. I don’t have any problems with your gift. It’s actually funny to see my own shadow like this,” she tried to reassure Damian and with success as it seemed. Damian looked up again and smiled at his sisters and the tall woman with eyes he only knew from himself. But weirdly on Luisa they looked warm, friendly and inviting, while he only saw darkness in his own.

“What were you guys doing anyway with such a big group?” Camilo asked, changing the topic. The squeeze of his hand he received, told him he did the right thing.

“We more or less got together anonymously after all of us got affected,” Carlos shrugged, “not much we can help like this.” As if on cue he started to fly upwards again, only to be held down by the Isabella clones.

“True, we were also just walking around,” Camilo agreed.

“I think even without mamá, Mirabel should be better soon. It seems to be a common cold after all,” said one of the Isabellas. of course all of them were hoping for this whole shenanigan to end, but when so many of them were affected at the same time it was even more apparent.

The whole group was walking around, having some small talk and trying not to let any accidents happen. Ella nearly ran into a wall twice because she couldn’t control her speed before she started to hold on to Dolores. Her current strength would hold Ella back, even without doing anything.
Carlos needed to constantly be held down, Emiliano looked different every few minutes, Damian was still leaving a petal path behind him and Isabella changed their group size constantly. But all in all it was pretty relaxed.

With all of them together like this the stares and whispers, Camilo and Damian noticed before, were still there, but now it was hard to tell what they were whispering about.

After the stressed and tense start of the day this was a very welcomed change of pace. But as with all good things, they tend to come to an end. And this end came in the form of a boy, all of them knew by now and no one was glad to see.

“Camilo!” the boy called out, waving frantically, pretty much ignoring everyone else. Next to him, Camilo could feel Damian tense up, but he didn’t move and looked straight ahead. That was a good sign.

“What do you want?” Camilo asked not masking his annoyance at all. Everyone else was equally staring at him with disdain. The boy didn’t seem to be affected at all. Either he was completely clueless or he was simply ignoring it.

“I just like to talk to you. It’s fun getting to know you,” said the boy with a smile some would describe as flirty but Camilo would say slimy.

“Really? What would you like to know then?” Camilo asked not really caring, but deciding to play this game. Hopefully at the end of it the message will come across.

“Ah, well you know everything, to see what we have in common, how well we fit together,” the boy said, reaching out to touch Camilo’s shoulder. Camilo took a step aside to avoid the touch. Where he let him be touchy feely last time, this time he knew more and would make it obvious what he was thinking. Unfortunately for Camilo the boy was made out of pure confidence and it seemed to be unable to understand hints.

Isabella, who noticed this particular trait, tried a more direct approach. Or she wanted to. She took a step forward and opened her mouth when someone else beat her to it.

“Oh, please. He doesn’t even know your name,” Damian suddenly said. Everyone looked at him with big eyes. That was a very un-Damian thing to do. Everyone knew that he wasn’t fond of the boy, but Damian wasn’t confrontational.

The boy seemed to know that, too. Or he just didn’t care. He looked away from Camilo for the first time and his slimy smile turned into a smirk.

“Wow, you don’t sound as freaky as I imagined,” he laughed, “but a freak is still a freak and should stay quiet when it doesn’t involve them.” The initial adrenaline surge that compelled Damian to speak out diminished at the boy's words. He came a long way since meeting the Madrigals, since meeting Camilo, but being so blatantly reminded of what he always thought to be true hit hard. Not for himself, but for everyone associated with him.

“Who do you think you are?” It was Helen who spoke up first. Camilo was too occupied with Damian. All things considered he was holding himself up quite strong. He wasn’t cowering away or trying to hide, but his bravado was also gone.

“I’m just stating facts. I know that family love can overlook a lot, but if the brother is some kind of creature of the dark, I wonder if his family isn’t also some kind of mishap?” the boy shrugged and scrutinized Helen from head to toe.

“Take that back,” Damian suddenly called out again. He let go of Camilo’s hand and took a step in front of the boy. The latter didn’t seem impressed and didn’t budge one bit.

“The freak again,” he chuckled.

“Maybe I’m a freak, but leave my family alone,” said Damian. His breathing was uneven.

“A freak must be born from something, so…,” the boy smirked again. He had to look up at Damian, who was quite a bit taller than him. But the confidence made him look bigger instead. Considering Damian’s timid nature it was impressive how he was holding up.

“And now you are affecting the Madrigals, just look at Luisa,” he jerked his head in her direction. Damian didn’t have to look to know what he meant. Luisa’s eyes were still completely black. That was a sore point for Damian, but before he could shrink away he felt multiple hands on his back. One of them was clearly Camilo’s, but there were more and he knew that he had the support of not only his, but Camilo’s family as well. No one was blaming him, no one feared him, shunned him or despised him. He wouldn’t suddenly jump around using his powers here and there but for now he knew could and it would be fine.

“You are a pitiful boy,” said Damian quietly, but the boy heard him.

“I’m pitiful? Have you looked at yourself? Have you never wondered why Camilo would even consider going out with you? If not out of pity, why would he ever choose you?” the boy chuckled again.

“I …,” before Damian could answer that, a well known pain overcame him and the others. Compared to before it seemed to hold out longer and was stronger. Damian, who was already emotionally affected, was hit harder than the others. He couldn’t keep standing and sank to his knees.

And while the others were also experiencing pain, the boy seemed to see this as a great opportunity.

“Look at you. Can’t even answer. Instead you cower in the sand, because you know I’m right. You are nothing but a nuisance. The Madrigals took you in because they are like that. Helping everyone even if they don’t deserve it. Your own family probably doesn’t want you, but what can they do? They are still your family. Or maybe they are just pretending? Oh, wouldn’t that be hilarious. You are a freak after all, a monster. Your power is definitely not coming from the same source. You are some kind of shadow monster infecting everyone around you. And your next target is Camilo.
At first I thought it was pity, but maybe I was wrong? Your are probably manipulating him, how else would someone like Camilo even consider liking you, or even spending time with you? Yeah, that makes sense you are controlling him with your strange shadow magic. Camilo would never love a monster, especially if I’m here as well,” the boy spoke without taking a break. He was looking down at Damian who was kneeling before him.

While the boy spoke, the pain receded and the headache was gone. Damian had listened to everything the boy had said and if it was one day prior Damian would have probably agreed to some extent and left. But he had promised Camilo to be selfish, to believe in what they had. So, instead of cowering away, Damian was pissed. That this boy dared to make light of Camilo’s feelings was unacceptable.

After the headaches the gifts had switched again. Damian stood up slowly. The flowers he was sprouting just seconds ago started to vanish, and so did the light around them. The boy took a quick look at Luisa, but her eyes were back to normal. He focused back on Damian and for the first time he took a step back.

Damian’s eyes were dark. A blackness that doesn’t let in any light. Right now the boy saw in Damian’s eyes what he himself also always saw. An unending darkness, a look into an abyss with no end.

“I’m a weak person with lots of faults. I know I do a lot of things wrong and a lot of misfortune happens around me, but even I can see good things, can feel care and love. You don’t know me, I don’t care if you like or hate me. I don’t even care if you fear me or if you think I’m a monster. Maybe I am,” Damian took a step forward, and the boy took one back. The darkness was surrounding them. Shadows were closing in, gathering around the boy. His confidence was wavering. He clearly didn’t expect Damian to actually do something.

“But I was given something I hope you can experience one day. I was given Love. True love. The love of my parents who suffered because of me, but still take me in their arms. The love of my siblings and the rest of my family who would jump in front of me to shield me from any harm. The love of strangers, the madrigals, who took us in after years of fleeing. And the love of Camilo who listens to me, who sees me for everything I am,” Damian leaned down to be on eye level with the boy.

“You.. you can’t scare me,” the boy was not very convincing.

“I just want you to listen,” said Damian, “and you didn’t seem very inclined to do so.”

“You,” the boy started again, but instead of saying more he turned around and wanted to run away. Unfortunately for him, he couldn’t move. His shadow was moving towards Damian and so did the boy. The fright in the boy's eyes was apparent.

“I told you, I want you to listen,” said Damian with a smile, the boy shivered.

“I don’t blame you for wanting Camilo. But you disrespected my family and blatantly made light of Camilo’s feelings. If you truly care for him, or for anyone, you should learn to accept them for who they are. I might be a monster, born to have this ability, but what is your excuse?” with that Damian released his hold on the boy and the shadows and darkness vanished. Everything was quiet. The Madrigals and Avilas weren’t saying anything. Every spectator was looking in shock at what just happened and the boy was wide eyed and looking at Damian’s eyes who were back to normal.

Damian had released his hold on him, but it took several seconds before the boy could move again. Without saying anything else he turned around and all but ran away.

The silence was going on for quite some time, but one thing was for sure. Don’t mess with Damian Avila.

Chapter Text

The boy was long gone but Damian wasn’t moving. No one was moving actually. It was eerily quiet around the Madrigal-Avila group. After the group headache they all experienced just moments ago everyone was back to their own gifts but this joyous event got overshadowed by Damian’s display of power and confidence.

Slow whispers started building up around them and soon movement joined. Outside and inside the group. Damian was still rooted to the spot looking ahead without looking at anything. Camilo was the first to get out of his stupor.

“That was amazing,” he said quietly. He found Damian’s hand and linked theirs back together. That was enough to get Damian out of his thoughts, but where they landed was not exactly what Camilo was looking for.

“What have I done?” Damian saw his actions less positive than his boyfriend. Understandable, he just frightened someone, robbed someone of his movement and showed everyone around them why he was called a monster and a freak.

His breathing got quicker, his gaze fixed on the ground. His hands became sweaty. All the positive energy he had going into the day was gone. He still believed in Camilo and was sure of his feelings. The closeness they shared right that moment was proof enough. No, that was not the problem. His own freakish nature was.
Damian knew the Madrigals wouldn’t shun him, but what about the society they live in? They don’t know him personally and maybe they never will. Not if the only thing he always showed them was the misuse of his powers.

“You didn’t do anything wrong,” Helen was quick to assure him. Damian didn’t react to her, gaze still on the ground. He couldn’t see how the rest of his family and the madrigals were all nodding in agreement.

“I wanna go back,” he simply said, not really caring who heard him. He was already turning on the heel, not looking at anyone. Camilo was just glad that he was not letting go of his hand.

“You don’t have to worry about a thing,” Dolores.

“He had it coming,” Emiliano.

“No one will blame you,” Carlos.

“If you hadn’t done anything, I would’ve,” Ella.

“Don’t think about others,” Luisa.

“We will be with you,” Helen.

“You were in the right,” Isabella.

All of them had kind words for Damian but he was too deep in his own thoughts to give them any mind. Later he will probably feel grateful for them, but right now he just needed to get back to Casita.

Camilo was silently walking with him and the others understood as well. Without talking about it they all shielded Damian from the eyes of onlookers. Camilo could see Dolores making an assortment of facial expressions after listening to the surrounding people. That it was not all disgust on her face was a glimmer of hope for the boy who was still holding the clammy hand of his frightened boyfriend.

Soon enough they arrived back at the casita where the rest of their families were already gathering at the dining table. The moment the not so small group of them entered Erin noticed immediately that something happened.

“Damian!” she said and hugged her son. She didn’t immediately ask what happened, who did what or who was in the wrong. She was simply making sure her son was feeling loved. Something Camilo could really appreciate.

“Someone needs to be punished,” Mateo was a bit more practical. Clearly he didn’t mean Damian. And as much as Camilo would like to see that pretentious boy get a second serving, he was a bit afraid of what Mateo would do. As cold as this man appeared he was a doting father who would do anything for his son.

“He already got it,” Helen assured her father. Both shared a gaze colder than ice, and apparently that was enough to get Mateo to back down.

“Good,” he said and nodded.

Damian was currently still embraced by his mother. His stiff shoulders relaxed and his eyes came back to focus on his surroundings.

“Well, it seems like there is something to discuss, but first some good news,” Abuela Alma clapped her hands once and everyone focused on her.

Camilo could see Damian and Erin smiling at each other and started to relax as well. All family members sat down at the table and Damian was visibly more relaxed in this environment than he was all day in town.

Well, both families knew miracles could happen but the normal ones take some time. Time Camilo had no problem investing.

Now that they sat all down, Camilo could see that every chair was occupied. Meaning Mirabel was there as well. And even though he had his suspicions already this made it more than clear.

“As you probably all noticed,” Alma started, “we are all back to normal.” And this confirmed it. Everyone was relieved and shared a heartfelt sigh of stress relief.

“Yes, Mirabel overcame her cold and the moment Julieta got her gift back we shoved an arepa down her throat as well, just to be sure,” Alma clapped her hands together and even so she made it sound a bit crude, everyone agreed.

“I’m sure no one wants to repeat this event. So everyone, let’s make sure Mirabel will not get sick again,” finished Alma.

“Sorry,” Mirabel apologized, but of course no one gave her any blame.

“Could actually be interesting if you could control this, “ Emiliano said with a thinking pose. And as much as this whole ordeal was, Camilo had to agree. If Mirabel could control the exchanges it could lead to a lot of potential … and fun.

The reactions of the rest of the family were quite mixed. Clearly some of them were thinking the same as Camilo. Especially Isabella und Ella. Some others were horrified by the idea. Mainly Alma and Rosa.

“Oh, please no,” Rosa voiced her complaint.

“Hey, if it’s under control,” Emiliano raised both hands in a defending position.

“I don’t wanna think of the mischief you could come up with,” Karina was holding her head as if she already got a headache.

“Camilo, yours is fun. If I could get the hang of it,” Emiliano smirked, “or Damian’s for that matter,” he added. But that was the wrong thing to say. Camilo felt his boyfriend stiffen next to him and Emiliano noticed his mistake as well.

“Sorry, I …,” he wasn’t sure how to salvage that.

That changed the topic to something Camilo was sure Damian wouldn’t have minded if it got forgotten.

“Damian dear, did something happen in town?,” his mother asked. In her voice just love and care no sign of blame.

Of course Damian didn’t really want to talk about it, but luckily for him and the others there were more than enough eye witnesses.

“He was forced to use his powers,” Helen started. And while that wasn’t exactly true the others who were there agreed that it was interpretable in that way.

Damian had already shown that he is capable of using his powers for good and even used it as some kind of entertainment show. But the context made it clear that this was not such an occasion.
“There is this boy who really doesn’t know when to stop, “ Camilo added with a grimace. Just thinking about this pest gives Camilo a sour mood.

“He is apparently into Camilo, “ Dolores said with a look that said that she couldn’t understand why, “and had a less favorable opinion of Damian.”
The mimes of everyone present darkened. Dolores had said this very politically, but everyone understood.

“I’m so sorry you had to go this,” Erin put her hand on her son's shoulder and apparently poured as much motherly warmth into her son as she possibly could. It helped.

“I’m fine,” Damian lied.

“Well, It wasn’t so bad at first,” Carlos continued, “but we were all still under Mirabel’s influence.”

“I had Damian’s power at the moment,” Luisa explained, “and this boy talked nonsense about how Damian affected us and that a monster must come from somewhere.” After Luisa’s explanation the eyes of the Avila members got big.

For better or worse Damian got used to being called all kinds of things but he never got over the way it affected his loved ones. Whatever exactly Damian did, no one in this room would hold him accountable for it. If anything it sounded like self-defense.

“And then he had the impudence to accuse all of our love for him manipulated,” Camilo seethed out between his teeth. Clearly that was the point that hurt the most. And clearly everyone was thinking the same. Erin, Mateo and Rosa were standing up so fast, that Casita had to catch their chairs.

“I hope this boy is six-feet under,” Mateo said with a passion that was unusual for him.

Rosa and Erin, both clearly not for violence, silently agreed.

"Papá, I understand you. But don’t worry. Damian got him the scare of his life,” Helen's eyes looked fierce but she also had a smirk.

“Got anyone hurt?” Alma asked, bringing everyone back to reality and away from any revenge plans.

“Oh, don’t worry. The only thing that got shattered was the unfounded confidence of one boy who doesn’t deserve it,” Helen explained and everyone who saw the events unfold agreed.

“Well, then it's good. I’m still not exactly sure what happened but from what I gathered this boy sounds like an asshole, “ some gasps were heard, but Alma ignored them, “ and Damian didn’t hurt anyone. I will see later how the townspeople reacted to it, but I will make sure no one will be a problem.”

“Thanks… and sorry,” Damian finally said. Alma smiled his way and Camilo could feel the warmth returning in his boyfriend’s hand.

With this the impromptu family meeting was dismissed everyone scattered around. Camilo and Damian were on their way to Camilo’s room when they got stopped by their respective mothers.

“Could we have a moment?” Pepa asked the two boys. Camilo didn’t like this one bit. The last time they had a talk with both their mothers it didn’t end so well. At least not from Camilo’s point of view. Damian was too rational to be too disturbed.

“If we must,“ Camilo reluctantly agreed.

“Oh, don’t be like that, “ Pepa raised one eyebrow. Camillo knew this was a bad idea.

“Pepa!” Erin said before Camilo could retort back. That was probably for the better. His mother looked at Damian’s mother and sighed.

“You’re right. That’s not what we wanted,” she said more to herself. “We wanted to talk with you about something. Something we talked about before.” She addressed the boys again.

Camilo and Damian were listening. They had an idea what this could be about but neither of them wanted to jump to conclusions.

Pepa clearly didn’t know what to say next or she didn’t want to. Either way, Erin had to go on.

“After everything you said and after some consulting with Julieta and after everything that had happened we decided to allow you to share a room under some conditions,” Erin finally explained.

Camilo and Damian couldn’t hold back their smiles and after the ordeal Damian went through this was some good news he needed.

“Really?” Camilo had to ask.

“Under conditions,” Pepa reminded, “but yes.” And the next moment both women found themselves hugged by their sons. For Erin this was not such a rare thing but for Pepa it sure was.

“Thank you,” both boys said.

“Yeah, yeah,” Pepa was a bit overcome by her son’s show of affection, “but remember ‘conditions’.”

“Oh yeah, like what?” Camilo entangled himself and asked. Damian did the same and they were back to standing next to each other.

“Okay, we don’t want you to spend every night together,” Pepa could see the dismay on her son’s face and quickly held a hand up to stop him, “you will have more nights with, then without each other. We want you to go at this with a calm mind, okay?”

Camilo was not exactly happy.

“Sure, that is understandable,” Damian said. Apparently his boyfriend has less problems with it. Damian turned to Camilo, noticing his disdain.

“Don’t bite the hand that feeds you,” he simply said and Camilo had to agree. Going against his mother here would only worsen the conditions.

“Thanks for understanding,” Erin added, “we would also like to come inside whenever we want.” This time Camilo had to say something. He understood where they were coming from, but this was a bit much.

“That I can not agree to. I mean, even if I would be alone in my room I don’t want you to come in unannounced. I could always be naked, or whatever,” at that point Camilo couldn’t hide his blush and Pepa was a bit embarrassed as well.

“Yeah, I mean, yeah, that makes sense.” Clearly it was meant as a deterrent for them having sex, but they weren’t thinking about what they would do if they would march into the room and would actually catch them in the act.

Both women didn’t actually want that.

“Okay, but we will still knock randomly,” Erin changed the condition to something more manageable.

“Yeah, sure,” Camilo agreed. Glad that he could avert this crisis.

“Good, good,” Pepa said, still a bit embarrassed thinking about her son being older than she sometimes believed. “Then we will not disturb you any longer.” With this both women excused themselves and Camilo and Damian looked at each other with the biggest smiles.

They wasted no time, went to Damien’s room and packed a bag that would now permanently stay in Camilo’s room and vice versa.

Afterwards they went into Camilo’s room and were greeted with a pillow fort. They both had to laugh. It was the same kind of pillow fort they slept in on their first night the Avila’s came to the Encanto.

This time would be different. Both boys lied down inside the fort but instead of lying next to each other, Camilo was on top of Damian and it didn't take long until their lips met and their bodies were pressed together.

This day had some unwanted events prepared for them and Camilo didn’t know what would happen in the future but right here, right now he knew they would manage them together. His mother was still a worrywart and no matter how many times he would tell her that they weren’t at that point in their relationship she wouldn’t believe him.

Sure they made out, but going further was a thought for the future. In that moment Damian’s hand would find Camilo’s ass and with a moan their groins were pushed together and Camilo could feel a bulge in Damian’s pants that was impossible to hide.

With a red face, Camilo was apologizing to his mother in his mind. Maybe they would reach that stage sooner rather than later.

The End.