Chapter Text
The clouds from pepa’s earlier storm (fueled entirely from getting flirted with), had mostly cleared as the young soon-to-be priest crested the hill, heading towards the Madrigal's house. The house stood tall and proud at the head of the town, colors splashed across it like a sunset. A small smile crossed the younger teen’s face, small painted stones clutched nervously in his sweaty hands. The door swung open as the priest got closer, and Alma stopped in her pacing to see who was visiting. A warm smile spread across her face as she recognized the priest. She had always enjoyed his calm presence and liked his father (the current priest for the village) a lot.
“Come to see Bruno?” She asked, wrapping her shawl closer around her. He nodded, blushing more than he should have for someone just visiting a friend. If she notices how flustered he was, she doesn't mention it, pointing towards Bruno’s tower. Then Alma walked into town, waving a small goodbye. The house itself propelled the young priest to Bruno’s room.
The priest looked down at his small gift before entering the tower, ignoring casita’s prompting to see his friend. His clammy hands had smudged some of the paint slightly, but the intricate green design he had painted was mostly still intact. Gathering up some courage, the priest was about to open the door when it was opened for him. Dark eyes met green.
“Oh! Hey Bruno,” He stuttered slightly, face flaming red now. Bruno’s face was pretty in a tired way. His eyes bore dark bags under them and his curly hair was messed up like he had just woken up. “Hey, what's that?” Bruno asked, eyes locking with the rock, he was always drawn to green stuff. The priest shoved the rock towards the shorter boy, muttering out some form of the word gift. Bruno’s eyes shined as he took the rock carefully, quickly knocking three times on the wood of the door frame. “I like it, uh, you should come in, if you want,” Bruno said, blush dusting his face. Both of them stood awkwardly for a moment before heading towards one of the many small caves dotting Bruno's tower. They both collapsed onto soft pillows and got right to talking. They ignored the fact that most of their stories were old and well-used. Nothing new happened in the village. Bruno did bring up a new one, one of the village girls had asked if her new fish would live forever and had been trying to curse Bruno ever since his vision said the fish would die. They both couldn’t help but laugh at that, knowing she wouldn’t actually do anything.
“I should repay you for the gift” Bruno blurted out suddenly, the priest instantly protested, “You do not need to do that, it was a gift Bruno, and unlike your mother, I don’t think people need to earn those” Bruno smiled faintly at that comment but then shook his head. “C’mon just let me do what I do best. I’ll tell you your fortune… for free” He smiled again, knocking on the wooden table next to them. The priest's head swam at that. He always carefully avoided the small fantasies he had of getting a vision from Bruno. He had never asked, thinking it impolite. But what if the vision showed them together? What if Bruno hated him after that, or what if he didn’t?
“..fine, but just this once,” the priest agreed meekly, blush overtaking his features again. Bruno pulled the priest along to his cave, going up a few too many stairs for either of their tastes. “Alright, let me just set everything up,” Bruno muttered, stalking around the cave, throwing different powders and moving candles into new spots. He fussed with everything a couple more times, before finally pulling the priest into the circle he had crafted with sugar. Holding hands was a minefield for the priest, his mind caught between being flustered and feeling shame. He knew Bruno would need to marry a girl from the village, and he would become the next priest. No matter what this vision showed they could never be together.
Bruno’s eyes were half-lidded. Slowly the cave around them came to life, the priest looked around slightly, letting the excitement of the event overcome his shame. Green lights swam in his vision, Bruno’s eyes opening all the way, the whites being overcome with green. Slowly the green around them started morphing into figures. The priest saw his father and another priest next to him, the new priest looked a lot like him. There was one key difference, however, the older version of him was completely bald. Bruno looked at the vision passively. His eyes seemed to catch on part of the vision behind the priest, but his vision partner was too caught up in his future loss of hair to see what was unfolding behind him.
Behind the priest Bruno could see the two of them together, they looked older, but happy, and he watched awestruck as the green version of Bruno reached out and kissed the older prie- “I’m Bald!” The young boy across from him shrieked, tearing Bruno’s focus away and accidentally honing the vision to just his hair loss. The green sand massed together in the middle of their circle, forming the vision plate showing the older priest standing without hair. Bruno couldn’t speak, mind still spinning from the part of the vision he had seen. He didn’t even process that the young priest was upset about his hair.
The priest, still unaware of the vision that had unfolded behind him, was mortified at the outcome of this. Bruno couldn’t even say anything. He must think the older version of the priest was awful. Hair loss wasn’t the worst outcome he could imagine, but it was certainly very embarrassing. “I-i need to go. My father will be looking for me,” the priest stammered out, not bothering to listen to Bruno’s weak protest. He dashed out of the cave and left the Casita faster than he ever had before. Face bright red and eyes watery.
Bruno only snapped out of his daze when the priest ran away, only managing to softly ask him to stay before he was alone again. The vision still in front of him. He took it in his hands, softly tilting the image to reveal the other side of the vision, the thing he had seen. The priest and him kissing as adults. It made Bruno’s head hurt a little, but not in a bad way. He couldn’t help but feel the same butterflies Pepa had described upon returning home from a night with Felix. Bruno had never let himself investigate the way he felt about anyone, especially not the priest. He had always felt warm at the boy's honey smile, and dark eyes that seemed to light up when he painted. Slight aching in his leg reminded Bruno of the painted rock the priest had brought him, small green lines, dots, and eyes circling around it. Bruno traced the design, face heating up as he finally allowed himself to wonder about his own feelings.
Unfortunately, Bruno’s door was opened at just that moment, Alma stepping in softly. Bruno quickly shoved the vision into a crack in his cave, putting the rock with it before hurrying to see his mama.
Both boys would have a hard time sleeping that night, one from shame, and one from the butterflies in his tummy.