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Félix made sure to fix all of the buttons of his shirt, looking at himself in the mirror before he left his house. He wanted to look his absolute best for his date with Pepa today.
He’d known her for a while, but it wasn’t until two weeks ago that the two of them had officially become a couple, and it was two weeks filled with nothing but wonderful happiness for Félix. He really loved her already, and truly hoped their relationship would keep developing. Pepa made him feel so undoubtedly happy, and he loved spending time with her. Félix had never met someone as wonderful and exciting as Pepa in his entire life, and he hoped it would last.
Today they had plans to go on a stroll through the Encanto together and just take it easy. Talking to each other and simply letting whatever happened happen, no real plan in mind except spending time together. He had planned to surprise her by buying her something nice to eat when a few hours had passed and the two got hungry, though.
And before they met up today, he had the goal to buy some flowers and turn them into a flower crown for her. A few days ago Pepa had mentioned how she and her siblings used to make flower crowns for each other all the time when they were kids, and that she had really enjoyed it. With the way she had been excitedly fidgeting with her hands as she spoke at a quick speed as she ended up telling him more and more memories of her wearing flower crowns, Félix had guessed that the memories were really fond to her. It was as if she was unable to think of anything else in the excitement, and he had found it adorable that she had gotten so excited over something that must have meant so much to her.
He makes his way out of his house, making sure to lock it as he leaves, and then happily hums to himself as he makes his way down to the town square. It was a late morning, and since he found out that Pepa usually didn’t like to wake up too early, they had decided to schedule their date for a little later. There was still about half an hour left until they were supposed to meet up at the fountain, so he would have all the time in the world.
As he walks through the crowd, he notices a line of injured people being fed by a woman of Pepa’s age, and he immediately understands it must be her sister. He’s only seen Julieta up close a few times before but hadn’t really thought much of it, he’s not needed to be healed by her yet, after all. He wondered whenever Pepa would invite him to his house so that he could properly meet her family. The idea both excited and intimidated him at the same time.
Félix makes his way to the florist and buys a few flowers from him, and then sits down at a bench as he gets to work trying to tie everything together. When he’s halfway done, he’s interrupted by the voice of an unfamiliar man.
“Excuse me, your name isn’t Félix, is it?”
When he peaks up to look at who has talked to him, he looks into a pair of brownish, green eyes. It’s a man about his own age with curly black hair. While he hasn’t seen him up close before and only from a distance, Félix knows that this has to be Pepa’s brother Bruno. Just the eyes gave it away, them being so similar to hers.
“Yes I am. You’re Bruno, aren’t you? Pepa’s brother?”
Bruno nods in response as he sits down behind Félix.
“Good, I was actually looking for you. It’s about Pepa.”
Félix tenses up as he hears the name of his girlfriend being mentioned, fearing the worst.
“Pepa? Is she okay? She’s not hurt, is she?”
Bruno shakes his head.
“No, don’t worry. Pepa is fine. I just wanted to talk to you since she’s told me about you. Pepa’s never had a boyfriend that lasted more than two weeks for various reasons, and I don’t want her to be hurt again, especially since she is talking about you to me and Julieta constantly. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not playing the protective brother card where I’m about to threaten you for dating her, Pepa can make her own decisions. I just want to talk to you so that you don’t end up hurting her for something she can’t control, especially since she gets attached to people really easily, and if you think you can’t handle her or the way she is as a person, I’d like you to truly consider everything for her sake, especially if you care for her.”
Félix nods at Bruno’s words.
“Go on. I’d never want to hurt Pepa on purpose. Is there something I should be aware of?”
“First of, Pepa is different from most other people. She’s always been. It’s not a bad thing at all, but sadly a lot of people in the village think it is. She’s been ridiculed all her life for things that are a natural part of her. Sometimes she has a hard time understanding things when she has to read between the lines, and it can cause some serious miscommunication. Sometimes she might sound rude too when she speaks, even if she actually has no intention of being rude, she often just wants to be helpful and doesn’t realize it can come across as rude to others. It’s not something she does on purpose, and I just want you to be aware of that in case that ends up happening so that you know why,” Bruno says. “There’s also a lot of little things in the way she acts. She has troubles with some food and textures, and she also shows her emotions differently. It has nothing to do with her gift, but things like, she squeals and flaps her hands when she’s happy. She might want to touch certain objects because of the texture. If she’s really excited or really stressed she might want to run her fingers through her braid or bite it in order to regulate her emotions. Sometimes when she’s happy she mimics sounds. When she gets really excited about something she can talk about it for hours, and she might also have problems looking people in the eyes. She’s not being rude, she’s told me it hurts her to look at people. Stuff like that. People in the past have made fun of her for these things, including ex boyfriends. I want Pepa to be able to feel safe and feel like she doesn’t have to hide these things about her in order to make someone else happy. So if these things make you uncomfortable I want you to reconsider dating her, because those are natural parts of her that she shouldn’t have to feel ashamed of.”
Félix nods as he takes in what Bruno has just told him. He’s already found out about a few of Pepa’s quirks, her having mentioned that people used to make fun of them. And some quirks were very noticeable every time they met up, like her flapping her hands as they went on their dates. He’s just found her adorable, and couldn’t fathom how anyone could be annoyed by her for simply showing her emotions.
“Thanks for telling me this, Bruno. Don’t worry, I’m never going to make fun of Pepa for any of this. I’ve already noticed some of her behavior and it doesn’t bother me at all, I’m frankly angry that there’s people out there who think they have the right to make fun of her for it. All I want is for Pepa to be happy and comfortable, I love all of her, and this includes her little quirks. I would never want her to feel ashamed of herself, or feel like she has to change herself for me,” he says. “But thank you for telling me about her sometimes having trouble with reading between the lines, I’ll make sure to be more direct when speaking to her so she won’t misunderstand me. And I’ll take her maybe saying something that might appear rude into consideration as well. I appreciate it.”
“Okay, good to clear that up. I just wanted to talk to you because I care for my sister and because me and Julieta have spent our entire life trying to make her feel better about herself when so many in the town make fun of her.”
“Don’t worry, I don’t hold anything against you. You’re just looking out for your sister to make sure she isn’t hurt. I can understand why she feels so safe around you and your sister, you always have her back. I’m glad Pepa has siblings like you. I’m happy I got to properly meet you, Pepa talks about you a lot.”
“And she talks about you a lot too, trust me. I’m happy seeing her so excited,” he says, and Félix sees how Bruno looks down at the flowers still in his lap. “What are you doing?”
“I’m making a flower crown for Pepa. She told me you used to make flower crowns for each other all the time as kids, and she looked so happy when she told me about it so I wanted to make her one.”
“You are officially my new favorite not-yet-brother-in-law. Don’t tell Agustín.”
Félix ends up chatting with Bruno as he finishes the flower crown. Time ends up passing, and before he knows it, Félix feels how the sun's rays begin to shine stronger as the heat increases. Soon he’s almost tackled to the ground as Pepa appears out of nowhere and gives him a warm embrace.
“Félix, there you are! I’ve missed you,” she says, happily squealing. She was utterly adorable, and he couldn't help but place a kiss on her cheek in response.
“And I’ve missed you too. This is for you, mi vida,” he says as he hands her the flower crown, making her squeal in the process as she flaps her hands in delight. “I know you love flower crowns so I wanted to make you one myself.”
“I love it! Thank you!”
He carefully puts the flower crown onto her head and almost gets lost in thought over how wonderful she was, until he hears an awkward cough. Both Félix and Pepa turn around to see Bruno scratching the back of his neck.
“That’s my cue to leave. Have fun on your date.”
When Bruno leaves, Pepa looks over Félix.
“He didn’t scare you off or threaten you, did he?”
“Oh, not at all. We just had a nice little chat because he cares about you.”
“Wait… did he?”
“No, he did not do the classical “if you hurt my sister, you’re dead” talk, if that’s what you’re asking. He simply told me a little bit more about you in case I didn’t already know so that there wouldn’t be any misunderstandings or confusion in the future. And he told me a little bit about your quirks so that I could understand you better.”
She flushes red for a moment, and Félix sees how Pepa begins to nervously fidget with her hands.
“Oh… he did? Does that… bother you? It’s always bothered the people before you.”
He immediately shakes his head to reassure her.
“Absolutely not. I would never be bothered about something that’s a natural part of you and would never want you to hide them or try to change yourself for me. I just want to be aware of them so that I can understand you better and be there for you. To me, you’re perfect just the way you are, and I wouldn’t want you to be anyone else.”
Félix falls over when he’s tackled by Pepa’s warm embrace.
“I love you so much.”