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Pepa discovered so very early on that Felix was nothing if not determined. Even when she managed to chase him off, he’d simply reappear the next day like nothing had ever happened. No matter how much Pepa thundered and poured, Felix would always come back to her, perhaps with an umbrella to shield them both.
They were young and they were good, despite the world’s amounting pressures. Out watering the crops for the farmers, Pepa was accompanied by Felix with a bright smile and an umbrella.
“I don’t know why you insist on coming with me, dork.” She grinned at him as they walked out into the fields, “You’re just gonna get all wet.”
Felix merely held up his umbrella with a look of pride, “Well, I brought an umbrella. Besides, getting wet is fun when it’s with you!”
She laughed, a little rainbow forming between the clouds above her head. “Even when it’s humid and muddy, I love you just the same.”
And that had been that. The fields were watered by Pepa, who was forever with Felix right by her side. That seemed to be the best way to go through her life, anyway. With Felix at her side, life was significantly better. Not good, but better.
The world had never been built for a person like Pepa Madrigal, and it so very often showed. Never had she been particularly good at maintaining emotional stability, weather or otherwise. So many mean things were said as time went on, despite Pepa not meaning a word she was saying. She wouldn’t have blamed Felix for leaving her. But he never did.
Even on days where the winds threatened to throw Felix off his feet, and Pepa found herself ranting and raving at the man with so much love to give, he didn’t leave. Sometimes she thought he should, but he never did. He might walk away for a while, sure, but once things were a little calmer, he’d come back and finish comforting Pepa. No matter how much she apologized, he refused to even consider it, since he fully believed she didn’t need to apologize.
Despite the cruel words, the yelling, the lightning that nipped at Felix and made his hair stand on end, he wouldn’t ever leave her side. He would simply figure out the best way to push on through the storms to find Pepa at the epicenter, and either calm her down or let her feel.
“It’s okay, Pepi,” Felix reassured her even as his body shook with electricity that had been sent through his system by the lightning, “No harm, no foul.”
She sobbed in frustration, kneeling on the floor in the center of the snowstorm with Felix sitting in front of her. “But there is harm! I hurt you. Why can’t you just leave?!”
“Because I love you, Pepa.” He put a hand on her shoulder, snowflakes melting under the warmth of his palm and melting into Pepa’s dress. “Okay?”
Quiet for a long moment, Pepa sniffled. “Even though that’s stupid… I love you just the same…”
She wished he would leave sometimes. Not because she wanted him gone—that was the last thing she ever wanted. Nothing seemed worse than being alone. Yet, looking at the man who even without her powers seemed to embody sunshine itself, she found herself with a sadness knowing she tied him down. He could do better than someone so unstable and borderline dangerous.
But the reassurance of a hand to hold broke through her spiraling thoughts. Even the tightest tornados were somehow unbound by the gentle touches and caring words that always made their way past her boundaries. The world could be collapsing like a structure weathered by the rain, but Felix would be right there with an umbrella to shield Pepa from the debris.
On a pleasant day in September that Pepa managed to sour with her own soul, Felix took her to a little spot further away from town in the Encanto. A trail of rainwater followed them, even as Pepa smiled despite herself. Felix’s smile was so much more genuine.
They arrived at a clearing, and Felix laid out a blanket over the grass. Leaves painted the ground, and soft dirt got kicked up as the rain turned to anxious winds. But Felix simply dusted the filth from Pepa’s face with the pad of his thumb, other hand holding both of hers so tenderly.
“You’re so beautiful, Pepi.” He spoke so unbelievably gently, and Pepa gave a little wet laugh.
“And you need glasses,” she quipped, trying in vain to fix her braid that got tossed about in the winds. “I think you’re the beautiful one.”
He chuckled, peppering little kisses to her nose and cheeks. A rainbow faintly became visible, even as a cloud threatened to thunder. The winds swirled around. A violent storm to compliment the mental torment Pepa endured.
Squeezing his hand, she sighed somewhat contentedly as she tried to settle her spiraling thoughts. “You’d think I fell in love with a daffodil. Hanging on no matter what the dang weather is, and just as bright no matter what.”
Felix beamed brighter than Pepa could have ever shined the sun. “Well, I’d be whatever flower if I got to be with the most exquisite flower in the whole garden!”
He cupped her cheek in his hand, his kind and gentle eyes meeting Pepa’s cloudy ones. The smile that formed on Pepa couldn’t be helped. “Well, even when I droop, I love you just the same.”
Once again, the beautiful sound of his laughter filled the buzzing air, stuffing the space between vibrating molecules of the storm and holding her close. It warmed Pepa in a way she couldn’t quite define. Even still, she knew he was concerned. She could feel it in the way he looked at her, taking note of the ever-persisting storm.
And Pepa felt uncertain and confusing words hiding in her molars. That persistent desire to tell Felix so many things hummed in her throat as she turned it all over in her mind. So very observant, Felix looked at her with a patient smile as she ran her hands anxiously over her braid before letting it go to continue being tossed back and forth by the force of her winds. She took a deep breath.
“My brain has a lot of thoughts, and my thoughts have a lot of feelings…” Pepa managed to look up from her lap and lock eyes with Felix. His kind brown eyes met her Hazel ones full of clouds and indecision. “And my feelings have a lot of things they like to make me do…”
No rain nor snow began, but the clouds tumbled over one another just above Pepa. Wind continued to thrash about, and the ribbon in her hair threatened to unravel her braid entirely. A good depiction of her own stability, perhaps.
“I hope that they don’t hurt you, but… but if they leave a mark…” The faintest sound of thunder rumbled quietly, even as the slight trace of a rainbow reflected in the shiny surface of Pepa’s earrings. Conflicted and confused, she bit her lip.
Felix just looked at her in that way he loved to. Her thin hand held onto his just a little bit tighter, and she managed a sad kind of smile.
“Know my brain is not a part of my heart.”
The pad of Felix’s thumb gently went back and forth across the back of Pepa’s hand, and he smiled back. “Oh, Pepa.”
He scooted effortlessly closer to her, gently pulling her down by the shoulder so he could press a kiss into her temple despite her towering height. She giggled, not without a crack in her voice.
There was no tender kiss to the lips like in a movie. Nor did the clouds and wind cease to reveal the shining sun, or a vibrant rainbow. Wind still rushed, and clouds still shifted and loomed above. And they didn’t share a lovers’ kiss.
But they did share a silent embrace. Not standing against the storm, but accepting it fully into their hearts. The yellow ribbon in Pepa’s hair finally gave way, and the three sections of hair unwove themselves from each other until she was left with wild and unkempt hair that assaulted both of them as it was blown about. Still she rested her head on Felix’s shoulder, letting out a contented sigh. Felix just rubbed her back—not to try and bring the storm to an end, but to simply ease Pepa’s pain as she experienced all that came with a storm.
Even as the storm raged on, and both Felix and Pepa held on to each other as an anchor from the winds, they loved each other just the same.