Chapter Text
It's been a little over 4 years ever since Casita was rebuilt. The Madrigals never saw a crack on their precious walls ever again as they strengthened their familial bond as the years go by. All the chores were minimized for everyone, Mirabel became an entitled seamstress whose works of art are requested from all over town. Dolores and Mariano are planning to marry soon. Abuela started making time to know her grandchildren personally and even took time to understand her own children too, especially Bruno. They all grew as people and as the leaders of their community.
Camilo grew to become a handsome, daring and audacious young man, even in terms of his preferences in love. He's still the same goofy, lovable Camilo Madrigal they all knew and loved, his family members have long accepted the fact that he is different and they love him.
He's an adult but he's a teenager at heart (and in height, unfortunately), he still manages to pull a couple pranks.
His shapeshifting and how he uses that to help the community is still as good as it had always been. Camilo had also come to terms with his feelings about shapeshifting into different people, although sometimes he would appreciate it if they asked for him.
It was just another day of the same chores, before his break he decided to hang out with his cousin Mirabel who was helping with taking care of the children. "Hey, isn't it you're break time?" Mirabel asks, children were pulling on her arms yelling. "Mirabel! Mirabel!"
"I just wanted to see these little guys, I'm pretty sure they should be home to their families by now. It's getting dark." Camilo crouches to meet with a little girl's eyes. An elderly woman passed by and yelled "Ay, you little ones need to go home now! You wouldn't want Mateo to get you!"
Just from that scare, the usually stubborn children hurried along to their mothers, screaming. This Mateo figure is quite the influence, Camilo thinks. Turns out, this Mateo they speak of is Mr. Sanchéz's son who is now in charge of the blacksmith's workshop. No Madrigal has done a chore for the blacksmith ever since he left the Encanto to mine for the village. Until he comes back, the blacksmith in charge is his son, Mateo.
"They say he's quite tall, about 6 feet in height and is quite bulk. Rumors say, he can crush someone's head with just his bare hands."
"He burns children in his fireplace!"
"He hammers children into sharp metal daggers if you don't finish your food."
Are just some of the rumors that fly around, Camilo would be lying if wasn't interested but with all the rumors chanted around the village, you'd be scared.
"Mirabel, do you think Mateo needs our help too? He's the only blacksmith in the village." Camilo leans against a nearby house, crossing his arms. Mirabel follows, finally relaxing as the children leaves her to run to their mothers. "People say he's a cold blooded murderer who eats children for lunch but knowing you, I'm pretty sure you want to be his friend more than just help him with simple chores." Mirabel taps her chin while Camilo pouted, slightly offended by her assumption that most of his friends eat children.
"Are you sure you want to be his friend? The rumors suggest he isn't..friendly, even to you primo." Mirabel asks, actually quite concerned because of Camilo's rash decisions.
"I used to think Tío Bruno was seven feet tall and would use rats to eat you in your sleep, turns out he was 5'2 and he uses rats to tell bedtime stories to Antonio. How bad can Mateo be?" Camilo scoffs.
Camilo decides to dedicate his first chore of the morning getting to know the blacksmith's kid.
Camilo woke up early, miraculously according to Mirabel, to head on over to the blacksmith's workshop. As he approaches the workshop, as he gets nearer and nearer, he starts getting nervous. "I admittedly look like a child, will he burn me and make me into a metal dagger?" He mumbled.
The workshop had an ominous aura, the doors and windows were shut and a loud banging sound could be heard from the inside. It grew louder and louder by the second and Camilo would really like to give up but Mirabel would laugh at him and it's embarrassing.
He's now standing in front of the door, he knocks slowly. "Hey uh.. Sanchéz? Mateo Sanchéz? It's Camilo Madrigal, I was just wondering if you need..any help? With anything?"
There was silence, Camilo leaned into the door and pressed his ear against it to hear better. He hears a clattering sound and "AGH!". Camilo, who was totally spooked, thought Mateo was annoyed with him asking if he could help and flinched. He really wanted to run away now. "Ah! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to disturb you, I'll be on my way now!" Camilo panicked.
"No! No, it's okay please come in!" A strong, deep voice called from inside the workshop. "I need help, I need help." The voice said, almost sounding pitiful.
Although scared, a Madrigal never turns their back on a person in need, even though he might be scary or even though..he might allegedly..eat children.
Camilo carefully pushes the heavy door to the workshop revealing a dark room, only lit by a fireplace. Metal works ranging from decorated buckets to knives hung on the walls, still glowing with a faint orange from the heat. He looks around to see a young man kneeling and hissing in pain. It seems that he has dropped a hot metal bar on his toes.
"Hey, are you okay?!" Camilo rushes to examine the injury, it looked really painful. "Be careful, the bar is there beside you. The floor is also boiling hot right now so don't put your hand on the floor." Mateo says as he tries to stand up. "I'm okay..I'll just wash this with cold water. Please, sit anywhere you like Camilo."
"You're not going to Tía Julieta? She can just heal you with her food." Camilo suggests. Mateo stands up straight and Camilo slowly looks up. The rumors were true, he was at least 6 feet tall and was a head taller than Camilo. He had long, wavy, greasy hair from his sweat and a bit of a stubble despite hearing he's a year younger than Camilo. Mateo was big and bulky and he dressed in dark clothes and a black apron, it was a fearsome image indeed.
Mateo looks at Camilo briefly and then to the windows. He politely shakes his head. "No, thank you. The villagers are scared of me, if you didn't notice." He said, heading to the back of he workshop through a door beside the fireplace, it leads to the living space that Mateo and his father uses. Camilo thinks of a bright idea and yells "Hold on Mateo, I'll be back!"
A half an hour later, Mateo comes back to the workshop and sees it empty.
"Of course he left." Mateo sadly looked at his bandaged toe, the burn still felt painful. "Time to get back to work."
He grabbed his glove and his pliers. He took the metal bar from the floor and back to his anvil, he hammered it flat. While peacefully doing his work, the door opens abruptly.
"Here!" Camilo says, holding out a basket of empanadas.
"What?" Mateo tilted his head. "You went out and got me your Tía's food?"
Camilo placed a basket of empanadas on a vacant table. "Sorry if you wanted arepas, Fridays are always empanadas." Mateo slowly looks at the basket, it was still hot and the image of a home cooked meal warmed this heart.
It reminded him of his own mother, warm and inviting.
"Are you sure..you want to give this to me?" Mateo asks. Camilo puts his hands on his hips. "Of course I do, it's for you. If by any chance you get injured again, I'll come by and get you some of Tía's food. I'll be happy to help."
"Thank you so much, Camilo." Mateo smiles. Camilo freezes, he was pretty sure nobody knew how sweet Mateo looked when he smiled. It was such a shame, but Camilo is glad Mateo was comfortable enough to smile in front of him.
"You are.. surprisingly polite and well, nice." Camilo says. Mateo chuckles.
Oh god, his chuckle was so nice and deep. Camilo was going to collapse if he wasn't already leaning on the wall.
"I'm glad you think so, I try my best but nobody would even enter this workshop because of the rumors. I don't mind them, these rumors have been around ever since I was a little child." Mateo says, taking an empanada.
Camilo kneels down to take off Mateo's bandage. Mateo, a little flustered, flinches but he calms down after seeing the burn disappear like nothing ever happened. It was a weird feeling when the pain just magically disappeared, he could really get used to this after the many times he had burned himself.
"See? It works like magic. Well it is magic, but I meant that you should really get some of these when you get injured." Camilo grins and stands back up. "Hey uh, mind if I keep you company? I don't have chores until noon and I'd get bored just walking around town." Camilo yawns.
"You.. don't think you'll get bored with me?" Mateo asks. Camilo shakes his head and laughs. "No! I mean you're pretty nice and I've always wanted to know how blacksmiths work."
Mateo smiles and sits back on his chair. "The hammering will get a little loud, I'm sorry."
"Please, I'm Camilo! I never shut up so I'm sure I'm louder."
Mateo starts flattening the bar once again.
"So, don't you get kinda hot in this workshop? You have a fireplace in here and it's already scorching hot outside." Camilo says, pulling on his ruana to give him some air.
"is it hot? I can put out the fire if you want, I'd hate for you to be uncomfortable." Mateo says, pushing his hair out of his face to reveal a surprisingly handsome face.
Camilo got flustered and looked away to hide his warm cheeks. "No, no, no it's fine, I'm fine. How about you? I mean- because you work here everyday, it must be really hard to work huh?"
"I do..go somewhere to cool down, it's right out the back. Would you like to see it? I can take a break right now." Mateo stops hammering. Camilo stands up from where he is sitting. "Sure, also it looks like you needed that break. You look exhausted man."
Mateo leads Camilo to a door leading to a space at the very back of Mateo's house. It was a little garden filled with small plants, mostly yellow flowers. It was a little outdoor space, free from the eyes of the other villagers. It was like a secret garden. "You take care of plants?"
"Is it..weird?" Mateo asks, touching a flower with his big, gentle hands. "No, it's just..unexpected. No offense." Camilo waves his hands. "It does seem to be a lot cooler in here. The plants are beautiful."
"Thanks, I plan to add more but I don't have time ever since..well I mean- it's been a very long time." Mateo smiles and goes back to looking at his plants. "When I look out the window, I always see your cousin grow the most beautiful plants. I'm glad she doesn't grow that much roses anymore, yellow flowers always look better."
'Ah, he's probably one of those boys who like Isabela huh.' Camilo thinks.
A bit bummed out by that and also rushing because it's nearing noon, Camilo excuses himself for the day. "Hey Mateo, it's been really fun with you today but I better get going back to Casita. Mamá will kill me if I don't get back in time to prepare the table."
"Sir Madrigal, aren't you an adult?"
"But Mamá- nevermind, I sound pathetic. Also, please call me Camilo." Camilo smiles. "I'll be back tomorrow before I start my chores."
"Goodbye friend." Camilo waves goodbye as he exits the door.
Mateo watches Camilo leave the garden and after a few minutes, Mateo sighs. It was very hard for him to talk to someone else his age after years of isolation from most of the villagers. "Ah..someone talked to me."
"I really wanted to put a flower in his hair." Mateo smiles, looking at the small flower on his palm.