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When Pepa had woken up in the morning and went down for breakfast, her mother had immediately given her her chore for the day. Apparently the farmers were complaining that there had barely been any rain for a while and that their crops were slowly drying out, and that she needed to go out onto the fields and make it rain.
At first she had rolled her eyes, wanting to say that there’s a thing as water crops by hand, which every farmer outside of the Encanto would have to do when they couldn’t rely on the weather or a magical woman, but it was too early in the morning to argue against her mother so she decided to keep her mouth shut. She didn’t want to argue with an empty stomach, and she didn’t want to be scolded for potentially making rainless thunder in the middle of an argument.
So she nodded as she grabbed one of Julieta’s arepas that were placed on the table, saying that she would do it with a disappointment in her voice. She had already made plans with Félix for the day, it being their seven month anniversary and all, but knew that they would have to reschedule until later in the day. Once she managed to water the crops enough, her mother would of course want the skies to be clear once again and she probably wouldn’t be bothered for the rest of the day.
The sooner it was over, the better, and the sooner she could actually spend time with Félix. When she was watering the crops, he was the last person that should ever be beside her since he always made her laugh, smile and feel all warm. The farmers wanted rain, not for the sun to shine even brighter and for the heat to become almost a drought.
She eats quickly and then tells everyone she is leaving for the fields, her mother tells her to do a good job.
Pepa is slowly trying to prepare herself for the incoming surge of bad emotions she would soon make herself feel as she’s walking through the town. Nothing drastic yet, not until she actually arrived at the fields. Right now she tried to keep her gloomy thoughts to thinking about annoying bad hair days or waking up sick before Julieta had time to heal her with an arepa or two.
People are staring at her as she’s walking through the town square, whispering. They always do, they always have since she was a kid and it takes all of her willpower to not grab her braid and run her fingers through it to try to soothe herself through the nervousness. The sun is promptly covered by clouds, great. That was actually what the town wanted for once. But in a twist of ironic fate, she runs into the one person she isn’t supposed to talk to when she’s trying to make it rain on purpose. Félix , currently helping at one of the stands of the town market.
He immediately runs up to her, hugs her tight and presses a soft kiss onto her cheek. She flaps her hand as she smiles back, and the sun is once again out with no clouds in sight, there’s also a rainbow. No.
“Good morning, mi vida,” he says before he takes one of her hands and carefully kisses her knuckles. She loves this man so much that it’s scary. “Happy seven month anniversary. I’ll be off in about an hour, and then I’m all yours.”
He gives her a playful grin and she can’t help but snort.
“That sounds lovely. Just a heads up, mamá put me on field duty so there will be some rain coming very soon. I’ll probably be all soaked by the time you’re off work, so you might need to wait a bit for me to get ready.”
He nods, and for the split second she decides to gaze into his eyes before it becomes too much, she sees a gentle understanding as he nods.
“Okay mi vida, I’ll wait. And once your duty is done for the day, I’ll do my best to cheer you up for the rest of it. I love you.”
The temperature increases, and Pepa can’t help but laugh.
“Ay, Félix you naughty man! I’m supposed to water the crops, not dry them out. I’ll see you soon.”
She bids him farewell with a last kiss and then continues her walk towards the fields. When she arrives, she takes a few deep breaths as she tries to channel all the negative energy that can think of. Every argument she’s had as a child, every time a mean person made her cry as a little girl, she remembers the time she flooded all of the encanto with a hurricane during her last breakup. She lets all of the sadness shower over her like if she’s been struck at lightning and it doesn’t take long for the rain to start pouring down with her weeping in the middle of the fields.
She cries for at least an hour as she does her best to keep thinking of everything horrible, which gets easier when she’s soaked and the dress feels sticky and wrong against her skin. When she’s finally satisfied with herself, she leaves the fields. Hopefully they wouldn’t ask her to water again for at least a week, or even better, there could be natural rain for a change.
Pepa is taking a few deep breaths as she keeps walking. It’s still raining, but the extreme downpour is now only a drizzle, though she also has a tiny cloud above her head. It’s always much easier to make it start raining than to make it stop. Once she unleashes all of the bad thoughts, it’s hard to once again shove them out of her head. Clear skies, clear skies.
She meets her mother on her way through town, currently in tow with Bruno as they’re setting up a queue for prophecy readings, meaning they would be busy for quite a while. She tells her she did a good job, and Pepa feels proud for a change.
As she once again walks through the town square, she once again sees Félix. This time he basically runs into her arms, picks her up and spins her around. It feels like she’s flying, and she’s laughing the whole time until he gently puts her down. The drizzle stops after a second, and the clouds are slowly parting. She’s envious that he manages to get her in such a happy mood in an instant.
“How’s mi vida feeling?” he asks her as he takes his hand in her own as they begin the quick walk back to the Casita. “I hope it wasn’t too stressful today.”
He knows how easily got overwhelmed when making it rain on purpose, and she’s grateful that he cares.
“I feel pretty okay today, not my worst. And I definitely feel better now when you’re here with me. I just need to get out of this dress, it’s driving me insane.”
Félix nods understandingly at her, and the two of them keep talking as they keep on walking. For every minute that passes, Pepa swears that her face is becoming more flushed as she loves being near Félix. She could hear him go on talking for hours, he made her feel happy, filling her with pure joy. And he was simply so attractive , and he was so close to her. She felt how her heart sped up and tried to ignore the embarrassing rainbow hovering over her head, but by the time they arrived at the house, some very different plans from what Félix had planned had been brewing inside of her head.
“Okay, once you’ve changed I was thinking we could have a picnic. We could get your favorites and go to the hill you always say is so pretty and quiet. We could cuddle, I could bring a bottle of wine…”
She lets her grip around his hand tighten as they walk up the stairs to the second, and she places a kiss onto his forehead.
“That sounds lovely,” she says as she opens her door and leads him inside without a second thought. She lets her other hand trace over his shoulder. “But I had some other plans in mind, if you don’t mind?”
She gives him a mischievous grin, and before Félix has any time to process what she’s meaning, she removes her dress right in front of him and throws it aside. He curses in surprise, followed by some praise as he tells her how beautiful she is. She can’t help but giggle before she carefully kisses him while she unbuttons his shirt. His hands are on her back.
They laugh in unison as Félix picks her up and throws her onto the bed, and afterwards, Pepa is in heaven. Every piece of her body gets caressed with sweet kisses and sensitive touches that makes her hold her breath, and she feels as alive as a burning flame every time Félix calls her name and tells her how much he loves her. She loves having him close like this, she adores him and never wants it to stop. With him, she feels whole in more sense than one.
During the middle of it all, she surprises him with something new that Pepa finds out Félix likes very much , and she makes a mental note to thank Julieta later for giving her the advice Pepa had shamelessly asked her about some days prior when she had been in the middle of bragging about how she had gotten Agustín under her thumb. It had worked and Pepa had felt powerful and desired beyond belief.
Once they hit their afterglow, Pepa comfortably cuddles up next to her boyfriend, her arms wrapped around his large frame. She nuzzles her head against him, and Félix points up at the ceiling and laughs at the five rainbows over the bed. She playfully hits his shoulder as she rolls her eyes in embarrassment. He reassures her that he finds it cute, and she replies with a laughing “you better.”
Everything is absolutely perfect in their little bubble, until they both freeze in terror at the sound of her doorknob turning, and Pepa internally screams at herself for having forgotten to lock the door . She can practically feel how Félix's heartbeat has stopped in fear, and there’s a thundering cloud forming above them.
She prepares her will in her head as she wishes for the sweet release of death, but to her relief it’s neither her mother (Félix would have been burnt at the stake) or Bruno (ew, it would be her brother walking in on them). Thankfully, it’s only Julieta, who immediately freezes as she stares at them in the doorframe, an awkward staring contest that makes Pepa want to bury her own grave in embarrassment.
Not that she wanted to be caught by Julieta either, she was her sister after all.
But out of every inhabitant of this house, she was definitely the best option and the one Pepa would prefer any day of the week, since she was the only one actually aware of her and Félix’s more intimate relations. At least her secret would be safe, even if she wouldn’t be able to look her sister in the eyes for a while, filled with shame. Talking about your experiences with your sister is a completely different experience from being caught by said sister, and Julieta seems to have the same train of thought as she finally lowers her gaze towards the floor.
“My apologies,” she awkwardly begins, her face inhumanly red. “Just a heads up, Bruno and mamá are on their way home. You should probably get dressed this instant and throw Félix out of the window before it’s too late. I’ll try to give you an extra minute or two to get ready by distracting them, but Pepa, mamá wants to talk to you right now. It’s about the crops.”
She closes the door behind her like nothing has happened, and both Félix and Pepa immediately curse as they jump out of bed, completely terrified of the theoretical wrath of Alma Madrigal.