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The morning sun basked the Encanto in its warm and beautiful light, as shopkeepers and farmers started their day. It hugged the Casita high on its hill, yet, it couldn’t make its way into Bruno Madrigal’s room, as his room’s artificial sunlight was already basking him and his lover.
Miguel had come over the night before for dinner and had decided to stay the night. In Bruno’s bed.
So, here they were, barely clothed and snuggled up next to each other. If Bruno died right then and there, he would die a happy man.
“Good morning, sleepyhead”, Miguel said to the awakening seer.
Bruno leaned in and gave Miguel a peck on the lips.
“Good morning to you too, señor morning breath. Were you staring at me while I was sleeping?”
“It’s hard not to when you’re in bed with the most handsome man in the whole world.”
“Oh gee, where is he?”, Bruno joked, looking over his shoulder.
“He’s sitting right in front of me”, Miguel chuckled, caressing Bruno’s cheek with his hand.
“You’re so mushy…”, Bruno mumbled.
“Well, love makes you mushy, mi angelito .”
Bruno turned his head away, blushing into the pillow, when he felt Miguel wrap his arm around him in a side-hug, and caress his shoulder blade with his surprisingly soft hand.
“Have I ever told you how much I love the moles on your back, mi amado ?”
“ Sí, you have, numerous times.”
“Well, lemme tell you again then”, Miguel says, smooching the dark spots on Bruno’s back.
Bruno rested his head back on the pillow, letting out a pleased sigh.
“Mmmm…”
“Y’know, birthmarks are an indicator of what happened in your past lives”, Bruno said.
“No kidding?”, Miguel said, lifting his head up. “So, what do these moles on your back mean for you?”
‘Well”, Bruno said, rolling over onto his back to look at Miguel. “It means that in my past life, I died a violent death.”
“Aww…”, Miguel whined. “That’s sad, I wonder how that may have happened.”
“Who knows, maybe I was an outlaw in the Wild West!”, Bruno says giddily, imagining himself as a rugged cowboy out on the Great Plains. “Riding from town to town on his trusty horse to rob the rich to feed the poor and duel a corrupt sheriff or two, until I was shot in the back by someone I trusted.”
Miguel gasped. “Not the back! How cowardly. If I could, I’d go back and time and kill the person who killed your past self.”
“Aww, thanks, babe”, Bruno said, kissing Miguel on the forehead. “Show me your birthmark, I want to know your past too.”
Miguel held his left arm up in agreement, showing the crescent moon-shaped birthmark just underneath his armpit.
“Hmmm…”
“What is it? What does it mean?”
“Oh, it means that you were stabbed to death in your previous life.”
Instead of being upset, Miguel seemed impressed. “Oh, nice! My past self must have been one tough cookie.”
“Maybe you were a king in a past life,” Bruno chuckled. “And you were assassinated because you had become too powerful.”
“Yes! And maybe you had been my knight, who had tried to protect me in my final moments, but alas…”, Miguel fell onto his back, putting his hands across his bare chest and sticking his tongue out in pretend-death. “You were unsuccessful…”
“Nooooo! My king!”, Bruno dramatically called, throwing himself across Miguel and putting a hand on his cheek. “What shall I do without you?”
“Just…please…”, Miguel groaned out. “Don’t…call another man ‘my king’...”
“Of course,” Bruno chuckled.
“Maybe you could get a tattoo of me on your back, to remember me by…”
“Oh, ha, ha, very funny”, Bruno commented dryly. “One more tattoo, and I think I’d look like a criminal.”
“You’re making it sound like you have tattoos up and down your arms, Azúcar, you only have just the one”, Miguel said, pointing to a tattoo of a small rat right on Bruno’s shoulder.
“I hope you don’t mind me asking this, but how did you ever get that anyway? You only told me that you got it when you were 19 or so.”
Bruno sucked in air through his teeth.
“Well, I wanted to rebel against mi mamá in some way, so I thought, ‘Hey, a tattoo is the best way to rebel’, so, I snuck out one night and headed to this little tattoo parlor in town”, Bruno said. “I still was afraid of what she would say, so I wanted to get it where she wouldn’t see it, but also where it hurt the least, and I wanted to have it be something I really loved, so obviously, I picked a rat.”
“Oh…Bruno Madrigal, you delinquent! I expected better from you”, Miguel teased.
“Oh, don’t act like you’re better than me!”, Bruno laughed, moving off of Miguel’s chest to rest on his own shoulders. “What about your tattoo?”
Miguel put his hand on his hairy chest in mock shock. “Whatever do you mean?”
“You know what I mean! That tattoo above your…y’know…”
“My what?”
“Y’know, your culo !”
“Oh, this?”, Miguel said, rolling onto his side and pushing the covers down enough to show the words “ TE AMO COLOMBIA ” tattooed right above his behind. “I have a good reason for that! I was 24, drunk and at a soccer game, while you were just being a delinquent!”
Bruno threw his head in snorting laughter, which Miguel shared with him. Bruno laid back down and hugged Miguel’s muscle-y arm.
“Did your mother ever end up finding out about your tattoo?”
Bruno stayed quiet for a moment, before answering; “Well, yeah, she had to…she accidentally walked in on me undressing myself to get in the shower, and saw it.”
“And how did she react to it?”
Bruno nuzzled his head into Miguel’s shoulder.
“Well, y’know…she didn’t get upset with me…just gave me that look…”
Miguel pet Bruno’s hair with his free hand.
“I know, Mi luz …she’s getting better now, though.”
“I know…”
Miguel looked down into Bruno’s eyes, and a silent conversation happened between them. Miguel knew all too well the stress that Alma had put on Bruno, making him feel like he was a disappointment. He was happy that the woman was changing her ways.
Bruno’s free hand traveled down Miguel’s hairy chest and stomach, feeling how surprisingly soft and silky it was. Like Bruno, Miguel also had a bit of a gut, but it was also muscle-y, if that was a word. Whatever the case was, Bruno loved to rest his head on Miguel’s tummy, it was like his own personal pillow.
Bruno felt something that didn’t quite feel like skin, and looked down, and saw another mark he hadn’t seen before. It was on Miguel’s stomach, and it was jagged and also crescent-shaped.
‘I’ve never seen this before…”, Bruno voiced, rubbing circles around the mark.
“Oh, that?”, Miguel looked up. “Got it in a bar fight.”
“Wait, what?”, Bruno lifted his head up towards Miguel.
“Yeah, I got into a fight at the bar, and this guy stabbed me with a bottle.”
“Wait, really? How did it happen? Were you okay? When did this happen?”, Bruno fired question after question, starting to become worked up.
“Shh, shh, it’s okay mi amor …”, Miguel whispered, massaging Bruno’s shoulders. “It happened a few years ago, I was at the bar, and this drunk guy was hurling these awful insults towards another guy, and I came up to defend him, and the next thing I know, the other guy stabs me in the gut with a broken beer bottle.”
“Were you scared?”
“Well, yeah, I’ll be honest. I was bleeding a lot, and…my shirt was soaked in blood. I did think for a bit that I was going to die, but, thankfully, I didn’t.”
Bruno rested his head back onto the pillow, took Miguel’s hand, and guided it to his cheek. He could feel the callouses from his work, yet, Miguel’s hands always still felt soft to him.
“What about you, mi sol ?”
“Hm?”
“What about your scars?”
Bruno hesitated, pulling himself away from Miguel. “I-I don’t know, I mean, I d-don’t r-really know if-”
“ Mi amor -”
“L-lo siento, I-I just-”
“Bruno.”
Bruno stopped, and looked into Miguel’s eyes, so full of love and devotion. Miguel gently took Bruno’s hands into his own.
“Mi amor, you don’t have to hide them from me. I love everything about you, I think every part of you is beautiful and perfect.”
Bruno stayed quiet, looking down at himself. Then, he took he pulled his hands from Miguels, and slowly pulled down the covers, to reveal a jagged scar on his side that was about as long as his hand.
“I…I got this when I was running away from kids trying to hurt me. I wasn’t looking where I was going, and I fell down a little ravine, and cut myself badly on some rocks. Needless to say, that didn’t really stop them from ‘having their fun' with me. I didn’t go to Julie right away, though, so it didn’t really heal properly. ”
Instead of looking at him with a pitying look, Miguel gave him a nod of encouragement. Slowly, Bruno pulled up his arms, showing small, faded lines running up and down them.
“...A-and…these are from when I was in the walls…”
Bruno bowed his head down in shame, but Miguel just took his arms in his hands and kissed the faint scars.
“Thank you, Brunito, for showing me them”, he said.
Bruno stayed silent for a few moments.
“...They’re ugly…they’re ugly and they’re just reminders of how much of a failure I am and-”
“Hey”, Miguel cuts him off, cupping his chin to look at Bruno better. “You’re the farthest thing from a failure. When I see those scars, I don’t see someone weak, I see someone who persevered through so many hardships, who led a difficult life, and who still came out strong and still had so much love for his family.”
Tears welled up in Bruno’s arm, and he pressed his forehead up against Miguels.
“Oh, Miguel…”
Miguel kissed away the tears slowly running down Bruno's cheeks.
“ Mi media naranja… ”
Bruno just simply melted at those words, and he became jelly in Miguel’s arms, kissing Miguel on the cheek, then his nose, then his lips, which gradually became more fervent.
Miguel met him with similar vigor, wrapping his arms around him as if he were to die if he let go of him.
The kiss grew more and more passionate, but then, the door to Bruno’s room opened, and in came Alma carrying a basket.
“ Brunito, I’m here for your laundry-”
“MAMA!”, Bruno yelled out, pulling himself away from Miguel so fast that he fell out of bed along with half of the covers, with Miguel using the other half to cover himself. “W-w-what are you doing in here?”
“Well, today is laundry day, and I wanted to give Julieta a day off, so I told her I’d get everyone’s dirty laundry, but seeing that you two are ‘busy’, I will come back for it later.”
“No, no, that won’t be necessary, just…let us get dressed.”
“If you insist!”, Alma shrugged, and with that, she walked out of the room.
Miguel looked at Bruno, still on the floor, and after a few moments, started laughing hysterically, to which Bruno joined in.
It wasn’t the most perfect way to start their day, but they wouldn’t have it any other way.