Chapter Text
Staring down at the aquarium where your fish, Guppy, thoughtlessly swims in, you sighed. You wonder why he doesn't do his usual tricks anymore. No more jumping out of the aquarium to greet you, he doesn't bump his little fishy head on the glass where you tap like before either. This has been going on for a week now and of course, you're worried.
Your obsession with the fish may seem a bit over the top to the townspeople, but you pay them no mind. After all, you don't expect them to understand. They don't know Guppy was given to you by your parents a year ago, right before they died. Guppy is the only family you got, so you think the obsession's quite justifiable.
Although you live alone in the house your parents owned, you don't consider yourself lonely other than the occasional sadness because of losing your parents, of course. The townspeople, with all their judgement to your fish, are actually nice towards you and you have a few friends here and there. Julieta, Pepa, and you were friends ever since you were children. Your families were close so your friendship with the two was inevitable.
The Madrigal seer, on the other hand, is your beloved. Contrary to your friendship with Julietta and Pepa, your friendship with Bruno came off with a rough start. When you were children, you and Bruno liked playing with rats but you both had trouble sharing. You would always hid rats from him, afraid he'll take them away from you, and he did the same. The rivalry lasted until you were 10 years old when your mother and Alma forced you two to make amends. From then on, your relationship with him just improved for the better, albeit its slow progression.
You and Bruno started dating when both of you were 25. Why did it take so long? There were a lot of failed confessions and other people confessing their "love" to you when you turned 20 and Bruno's overthinking didn't really help your relationship progress.
Until of course when your 25th birthday came and you decided enough was enough. Maybe it was the alcohol, or maybe you were just fed up, possibly both. No matter what the reason was, it gave you enough confidence to give your best friend a long kiss right in front of everyone in Encanto before urging him to run with you to the river and confess your frustration and romantic feelings to him.
You sighed, caressing the aquarium. You are to help Julieta cook dinner for tonight. She doesn’t normally ask you to help her cook, really, your purpose for later was to comfort her. Her youngest daughter, Mirabel, will be receiving her gift tomorrow and Julieta has been a nervous wreck all week. She’s pretty calm most of the time, but when it comes to her children, as a mother, of course worrying is a part of the role.
After bidding Guppy goodbye, you opened your door to reveal Bruno standing outside your door with a distant expression. “Mi amor? What are you doing here? How long were you standing there?”, you asked with a light chuckle that snapped him out of his trance.
“Oh, well I’m going to take you to la casita, I guess I, uh, forgot to knock?”, he smiled sheepishly.
“Well, my beloved escort, take me to la casita, then.” He did a dramatic bow and offered his arm for you to take, in which you both giggle to. The walk to the casita is filled with comforting silence. Your mind was preoccupied with Guppy, thinking of possible reasons as to why the fish isn’t as energetic as it used to be anymore. Bruno on the other hand, was remembering the speech he plans on telling you after you both eat dinner. As Casita greeted you both, you came up with a solution to your problem.
“Bruno? Do you think you could give me a vision before dinner?”. Bruno was startled. He plan on asking you something important later, he didn’t want a vision to ruin the day.
“About what?”
“It’s just about Guppy. I think something’s wrong with him. I want to make sure I can prevent his situation from getting worse”. His eyes softened. Bruno knew how much Guppy meant to you, and he couldn’t really say no with you looking at him with a worried expression. Besides, none of the visions he gave you turned out bad so far. So he softly knocked your head with his knuckles, held his breath, and patted his pocket. “Okay, sure. Meet me at the garden after Julieta uses you for emotional support”, you both laughed and kissed each other before separating.
Comforting Julietta turned out to be faster than you thought, especially since Agustín accompanied you, providing her with extra support.
“Julieta, mi amiga, whatever gift Mirabel will receive, I know it will turn out good. It’s Casita’s blessing. Besides, Mirabel is a lovely kid, if she were to have a mischievous gift, I think she’d be responsible enough to use it for good”, you shrugged.
“Yes! I believe in our daughter!”, Agustín exclaimed. You figured Julieta isn't the only one nervous about the ceremony. After laughing at Agustín, you heard a set of pattering feet walking towards you.
“Ahh, speak of the devil. Are you excited about tomorrow, Mira?”, you picked the little girl up and spun her around before holding her against your hips.
“Yes, tia, I will help you extra after tomorrow!”, you blushed.
“Ay, I’m not your tia, Miraboo!”, Mirabel just grinned at you.
“My tio Bruno, tú esposo futuro, said to meet him in the garden” you gaped at her while her parents snicker beside you.
“Silly Miraboo, did Félix teach you to say that?” you tapped the tip of her nose and set her down. “No, papá did.” Before you can say anything, Agustín had already swept Mirabel up and ran away from you.
You just shook your head instead and bid Julieta good bye, walking towards the garden where Bruno will do a vision for you. You saw him sitting on the bench with a rat on his lap, seemingly trying to teach it something. When he noticed you, he quickly grabbed the rat and pushed it to run towards a nearby bush.
“Hiding rats from me again, Bruno? You know that won’t end well”, he gave you a nervous laugh and kissed your cheek before dragging you to sit on the ground.
He took a deep breath and said, “Okay, mi vida, whatever we see on my vision—”, you cut him off with a chaste kiss on the lips.
“I know”, you gave him a reassuring smile. Bruno was always reluctant with using his gift, and due to his visions’ reputation of showing ‘negative’ things, he worries about the reaction you’re going to have.
You offered your hands to him and he held it, thumbs rubbing circles on the back of your hand before closing his eyes and opening them once more, sand enclosing the both of you.
The vision showed you with a blank expression at first, but then your expression twisted into agony, with tears streaming down your face. Seeing your pained expression, Bruno attempted to end the vision, but you squeezed his hands, urging him to continue.
The last scene absolutely devastated you. It showed an empty aquarium, your forehead pressed against its glasses, and your hand was noticeably gripping a piece of paper.
Bruno let go of your hand to grip the tablet, only to set it beside him. He didn’t know what to say. He was just as stunned as you, but then he noticed your blank expression. You tend to shut down when faced with grief. Bruno had witnessed how you dealt with grief before when your parents had passed, and seeing the expression you had a year ago come back, his heart dropped.
He whispered your name and touched your hand once more, but you instinctively retrieved it and stood up. You didn’t need to look at Bruno to know he looked guilty and hurt. A tear slipped from your eye, and though you’re grieving, you still have half a mind to realize what your action might have implied so you wrapped your arms around his torso when he stood up, his arms automatically circling you.
“Thank you for the vision, corázon. I’m afraid I can’t join you for dinner tonight. I... I need time processing... this.”
Bruno ended the hug, but kept you in arms’ reach and placed his palm on your cheek, thumb glazing over another tear that escaped your eye. “Let me be there for you, mi amor.”
You declined, saying you need time to process the future alone. Bruno respected your decision, and instead, walked you home. The walk to your home was silent, grief had made itself evident by the unusual space between the two of you. Bruno’s right hand stayed on his pocket, fidgeting with the ring he was supposed to offer you tonight.
When you reached your house, he brought you into a tight hug and murmured into your hair, “I will see you tomorrow, alright? We’ll spoil the heck out of Guppy and love him until the very last second. You have my word.”
“Don’t ever leave me, Bruno. I can’t lose you too.”
“You won’t lose me, mi cielo. You’ll have me forever.”
The next day, your grief allowed you to sleep through the whole day, even missing Mirabel’s gifting ceremony. Your fortune must have lucked out because when you greeted tomorrow, it greeted you back with a dead fish, a storm, and your redheaded best friend with her tear stained face, delivering you a note and a revelation.
“I can’t believe it. How can he leave his family? How can he leave you right after he proposes?”
Your heart dropped with each word that comes out of Pepa’s mouth. You stared at her silently before willing yourself to interrupt.
“He was going to propose?”, Pepa took one glance at the lack of ring on your left hand and enveloped you into a hug, both of you sobbing in each other’s arms, with the storm and roaring thunders serving as background noise.
You guess Bruno’s ’forever’ only lasted until yesterday night, the promises he whispered against your hair last night had been blown by the wind, along with him, disappearing into wherever he deems it fit.
Now you’re left all alone to mourn a dead fish, an untold proposal, and the absence of your lover who left you with a single piece of paper with the words “I’m sorry” scribbled on it.