Chapter Text
Bruno was nervous. In all his forty years of living, he had never stepped foot out of the Encanto and now here he was hundreds of miles away from his little home village, surrounded by foreign people. Foreign people who had no idea who he was, where he’d come from, what he’d done. He could start completely new.
There was so much excitement in this small town. Children chased each other on the streets, parents right behind them sending a pang through his chest as he remembered his own nieces and nephew back home. He missed them dearly, but they were better off without him. Especially poor Mirabel…
His mind was a mess and he was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn’t even notice someone was coming in the opposite direction until he’d run into them.
“S- Sorry.” The woman rolled her eyes as he steadied himself. He stepped around her, taking note of faint music coming from somewhere else in town. He didn’t have amazing hearing like his sobrina, but the music was loud enough that he was certain it could be heard at any spot in the small town.
Where there was entertainment, there was usually food, a fact he’d learned fairly quickly in his travels.
“Perdóneme, you wouldn’t happen to know where that music is coming from?”
The woman gave Bruno an annoyed look but her hand came up to point over her shoulder in the direction of what he assumed was the center of town. He thanked her, hurrying to follow the sound of the music.
The town was nice and quaint, it reminded him in some ways of Encanto. Everyone seemed to know each other as he walked down the cobbled streets, they waved and shouted pleasantries across the way. Some looked at him strangely and he wished he could bury himself further in his ruana. It was obvious he was an outsider to them. That was fine, he was used to being an outsider. He was just here for food.
In the center of the town, there was an elevated stage with a band playing. A crowd of people was gathered around the front, appreciating the music and just like he thought, the area was surrounded with places to eat or drink yourself into a frenzy.
The crowd was thick, but he was on a mission, dodging and weaving between the men, women and children.
At some point though, the musicians started playing a song he recognized and he slowed to a halt. What are the odds he’d hear a song from home all these miles away, his chest ached once more. He had to get out of this place soon, every bit of it reminded him of home and that was the last thing he needed right now.
“They’re good, eh?” A man to his right nudged him and gestured to the stage. He wasn’t sure how to respond to the question, unsure really why the man was even talking to him. He had to know almost everyone in this crowd, why pick out the one he didn’t know?
Still, Bruno managed to shrug his shoulders for a simple answer, hoping he would be once more left to his own devices. The man, however, seemed to be in a talkative mood today. He wrapped an arm around Bruno’s shoulders, a gesture the shorter man struggled to not shrug off and pointed to himself eagerly.
“I used to be a musician, you know.”
Used to be? How does one just stop doing something like that? Maybe it was a hobby, like his acting and he found something better to occupy his time.
“¡Baila conmigo, amigo!” He patted his shoulder excitedly, removing his arm and holding his hand out. Great, he’d just come here to eat and now he was being asked to dance by some stranger. Typical Bruno, he couldn’t even do the simplest of tasks without creating a scene and embarrassing himself. Ay, if his mamá could see him now.
He held his hands up, laughing awkwardly. “I- I don’t know. I can’t really dance, señor.”
The man laughed good naturedly, clearly not planning on taking no for an answer. Bruno looked up at him, meeting his eyes for the first time. He was tall, which should’ve intimidated him but his eyes were kind and now he could see how this man could have once been a musician. He had the ability to suck you in with a smile, his fingers he realized were calloused probably from years of playing.
“Come on, it’s just one dance. Then lunch is on me.”
That caught Bruno’s attention immediately, he couldn’t afford food. He’d been doing odd jobs to pay for his last meals, but he supposed if all he had to do for this one was dance with some random stranger then…
“A- Alright.” He took the man’s hand, trying not to sound as miserable as he felt. He was going to embarrass himself, Pepa always joked that he had two left feet.
The man lit up, spinning Bruno around and catching him before he could trip over his own feet.
“You won’t regret this, señor!”
“I already do!” Bruno squeaked, as the people around them backed up to give them room. Something about the quickness with which the crowd cleared gave the Colombian man the impression that he wasn’t this man’s first dance partner.
The man laughed, a genuinely pleasant sound. And yeah, Bruno wasn’t good at dancing at all but if you weren’t paying close attention, you might’ve never known. The taller man took the lead, nimbly helping him avoid near catastrophe every time he thought he might fall.
As the song came to an end, they finished their weird dance and the crowd around them clapped.
“That was fun!” His new friend was out of breath, but it seemed like he’d enjoyed the moment they’d shared. “¿Cómo te llamas?”
“Bruno.” He managed to get his own name out, but it took a lot of pushing. Why was speaking suddenly so hard?
“Well, Bruno, I did promise lunch!” He patted his back, leading him across the now dispersed square. It seemed like this man never ran out of energy, a real people pleaser. Also a great quality in a musician, he realized.
“Héctor Rivera, by the way. I should’ve led with that before the dance thing. Lo siento, it’s been a while since I’ve seen a new face around here.” He beamed down at Bruno. The shorter of the two looked around at his surroundings again, the people walking back and forth from where they needed to go.
He swallowed nervously. “Héctor, where exactly is here?”
Héctor grinned. “Santa Cecília, of course! Vamos, Bruno!”