Work Text:
“...And I was thinking he should have a terminal illness, to really spice up the drama,” Bruno said. He was sitting on the floor of his room, while Miguel sat in a chair behind him, brushing his hair.
“Okay…what kind of illness should he have?” Miguel asked, gently pulling the comb through Bruno’s curly hair.
“Hmm…lung problems from smoking?”
“I don’t know…if that were me, I’d want to stay away from a smoker.”
The two of them were currently discussing one of their favorite topics; plots for potential telenovelas. Bruno was currently struggling with creating an actual plot for a telenovela, so, he enlisted the help of his lover, as well as getting some much-needed hair care.
“But I smoke sometimes, and you stay with me.”
“Well that’s different,” Miguel said, taking a pause from combing Bruno’s hair to kiss Bruno on the top of his head. “You’re mi melocotoncito, so I’m fine with you smoking.
Bruno blushed at the nickname, drawing his knees up closer to himself. “Aww, thank you for enabling my smoking habit.”
“Anytime, mi amor,” Miguel joked. “Is it alright if I braid your hair? Mirabel has been teaching me how to do that.”
“Hm. Go right ahead.”
So, Miguel got to braiding Bruno’s hair, and Bruno was lost in thought, going over different scenarios in his head.
“Bah,” Bruno sighed, frustrated.
“Mi amoooor…,” Miguel sighed concernedly.
“It just feels so damn disconcerting…why can’t I think of anything? Am I out of ideas?”
“I don’t think so, I think you’re just going through some writer’s block. The inspiration will come to you eventually, when it wants to.”
“But why can’t it be now…”
“I don’t know, mi osito,” Miguel soothed Bruno, working on the small, thin third braid. “But I’m sure that when it does, it’s going to be amazing.”
Bruno leaned into Miguel’s hand. “Gracias, mi amor.”
“Anytime. Now, do you want me to tie some bows into the braid?”
“That would be…wait, hang on…,” Bruno trailed off, the dusty cogs in his brain finally starting to turn.
“Hm? What is it?”
“I’m getting an idea…,” Bruno said, heading off to his desk to quickly write down his incoming thoughts.
“Ay, que chido!” Miguel exclaimed, quickly following Bruno.
He watched as Bruno jotted down his notes, marveling at just how fast he wrote. It was one of the many things Miguel loved about Bruno, how writing was like breathing to him.
“Keep the rats…but what about the human characters…replace those with rats too…”
“What are you thinking?” Miguel asked him.
“Okay, what about a different take on Cinderella?”
“What kind of take?”
“How about we make them all rats instead! And we can have the settings be underground and…”
As Bruno delved more into the details of the story, Miguel admired how excited and animated Bruno was getting. It was one of the cutest things about him, he thought, how he would lightly flap his hands when he talked about something that made him happy. You couldn’t help but feel happy alongside him.
“...And I was thinking that they could both be guys, y’know, help expose the villagers to that more.”
“Huh? Oh yeah, that’s a good idea.”
“Were you even listening?” Bruno asked teasingly.
“I was, I was just appreciating how beautiful your face is…”
“Hmm, you can’t flirt your way out of this…,” Bruno said, failing to hide the blush on his face.
“It sounds really good so far, Bruno! I can already tell it’s going to be great,” Miguel said.
“Aw…thank you, mi amor,” Bruno said, giving Miguel a peck on the cheek.
The two spent the night fervently discussing the plot of the story, papers strewn about the room and rats watching them with curiosity, all the while bows sat in Bruno’s braided hair.
“Hey mi amor, I brought us lunch!” Miguel called out as he entered Bruno’s workspace, which was really his old spot inside the walls, stepping over boards of wood.
“Oh, hey Migo!” Bruno said, looking up from the backdrop he was currently painting, which was supposed to look like a ballroom, but also looked like a beach on a sunny day for some reason. He was surprisingly not wearing his ruana, but a pale yellow tank top instead, with his hair in a ponytail. “What’d you bring?” he asked, pointing to the little checkered bag Miguel was holding.
“Just some arepas! Nothing too fancy,” Miguel said, sitting down on the floor cross-legged across from Bruno.
“‘Nothing too fancy’? Excuse me, but arepas don’t need to be fancy to be amazing! They’re easy to make, you can have them at any time of day, and they are delicious to boot!” he said, scooting over to meet Miguel, grabbing an arepa from out of his hand and taking a bite out of it.
Miguel chuckled. “Sounds like someone is a little on edge today, huh?” he said, playfully reaching over to twirl a lock of Bruno’s hair around his finger.
A hum from Bruno signaled his agreement.
“It’s just been a very busy day. I’ve been working on the set pieces and backgrounds all day,” he said, motioning to the finished and unfinished props and backdrops needed for the play.
“I thought Luisa and Isabel were helping you in that department?”
“They are, but Isabel is just making the paint I’m using, and Luisa is taking a break from building the stage, so I’m just making the set pieces and backdrops .”
“Aw, I’m sorry, cariño, you must be exhausted. Maybe I could help you out with some things?”
“Gracias Migo, but you don’t need to do that,” Bruno hesitated, picking at the loose threads of his ruana. “It’s pretty boring and tedious, and I wouldn’t want you to waste your time with that-”
“Nonsense! I would love to help you, Brunito, it’s honestly not a problem.”
“Well…ok,” Bruno relented, putting his half-finished arepa down for the rats. “Since you have carpentry skills, I need you to work on the little tables and chairs. I’ve already started on them, but, to be honest, I don't think they're that good, so do you think you can do them while I paint the backdrops?”
“Of course, mi luz".
And with that, Miguel started working on the rat-sized tables and chairs. Normally, he would be crafting bigger, more human-sized furniture, but he wasn’t worried. When Miguel was younger, his mother would craft dioramas, often including Miguel into her little projects. It was one of the few things from his childhood that he fondly looked back on.
Miguel took a small break from carving a mini-table leg out of a block of wood to sneak a glance at Bruno, who was diligently painting the background for a set (it looked like it was some sort of burrow). He took in the appearance of Bruno with his ponytail, which Miguel really wished he would do more often, and his exposed arms, with his scars running up and down his arms in little faded lines.
In the last couple of months, Bruno was really starting to become less and less ashamed of his scars, and was even starting to wear short-sleeved shirts every now and then. Miguel couldn’t be more proud of him, it was always important to take steps like this.
Plus, he was happy to see his bare arms, which Miguel found to be perfect, soft yet strangely a little strong, but no one needed to know that right now.
“What are you painting?” he asked.
Bruno looked up, slightly startled out of his intense focus.
“O-oh, uh, it’s supposed to be the ballroom of the castle.”
Miguel moved closer to Bruno, to get a closer look.
“Ohh, looks like it’s coming along well!”
“Aw, gracias,” Bruno blushed. “But I feel like it’s missing something…,” he mused, rubbing his hand on his chin in thought, getting paint on his face in the process.
“You got a little something on your face, Brunito…,” Miguel pointed out, gesturing to his own chin.
Bruno looked down at his paint-covered hand, realizing what had just happened, then at Miguel, a mischievous grin spreading across his face.
“Bruno-”
Before Miguel could say anything more, Bruno took a glob of paint from the palette he had set on the ground and smeared it across Miguel’s face, who recoiled back.
“Ay, what’d you do that for!” Miguel gasped out.
“I figured we could match!” Bruno joked.
Miguel came over to Bruno, took some of the paint, and smeared it across Bruno’s cheek.
“There, now we’re even.”
Bruno started to laugh.
“I guess I deserved that!” he gasped out.
Pretty soon, the both of them were doubled over in hysterics, completely forgetting about what they had been doing before.
“No, no guys, not like that!” Bruno called out from his chair to the rats standing on the mini-stage. “Antonio, please tell them that I wanted them to move towards stage right, stop, then have Fabricio take Iago’s hand, not stage left and cuddle.”
Now that the writing stage was essentially finished, all Bruno had to do was the rehearsing, which Antonio kindly agreed to help him out with in his room.
“Ok!...what’s stage left?”
Although, there was only so much that his young mind understood.
“Oh, uh…it’s the right part of the stage from where the actors are looking.”
Antonio just gave him a quizzical look.
“Then, why isn’t it just called stage right?”
“Dang, he is so insightful for a five-year-old,” Bruno thought to himself.
“Uhh, how about you take a break, Toñito? I can hold down the fort for you while you’re gone.”
Antonio just shrugged and left the Prophet’s bedroom, but not before bumping into Miguel, who was just heading into the room.
“Tio Miguel!” the young boy greeted excitedly, throwing his arms around Miguel’s midsection in a hug. “Do you wanna play hopscotch with me and Chispi?”
“Sure, little guy, but maybe later? I came here to help your tio with his play.”
“Alright,” he agreed, before whispering to Miguel; “I don’t think tio knows his directions, so he needs all the help he can get!”
“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to help him every step of the way,” Miguel slightly chuckled, ruffling Antonio’s hair before letting him on his way.
“Why does no one understand theater?” Bruno asked dryly, helping the rats get out of their little costumes.
“I don’t know, maybe it’s only for a select few to understand,” Miguel offered, hugging Bruno from behind. “How’s the play coming along, mi vida?”
“It’s going okay, it’s just…,” Bruno trailed off, picking up Fabricio, the lead rat, and petting him and scratching his head. “...the rats are having trouble with this specific scene, and it’s really frustrating.”
“What’s going on?”
“It’s the scene where Adolfo and Esteban meet in secret for the first time, and they talk and flirt, and all that stuff. It’s supposed to be really emotional and romantic, but they just don’t seem to be interested in it…”
“Maybe they need an example?”
“What do you mean?” Bruno asked.
“How about we rehearse the scene for them so they have an idea of what they need to portray?”
“Hm…that’s not a bad idea!” Bruno said, getting up from the chair.
“Ok, so you will be playing the part of ‘Adolfo’, the charming and handsome prince, and I’ll be playing ‘Esteban’, the humble and kind farmer’s son,'' Bruno explained.
“Okay, got it,” Miguel said.
“Alright, I’m just gonna go over here, and…action!”
Bruno walked forward towards Miguel, shyly turned sideways, and looked down, leaving Miguel confused.
“Um…you’re supposed to say your lines now.”
“O-oh, yeah…,” Miguel stuttered, then cleared his throat. “Qué agradable sorpresa verte esta hermosa noche”.
“Ay!” Bruno exclaimed, playfully waving his hand dismissively. “¡Sólo estás diciendo eso!”
“Lo digo en serio. Estuve pensando en ti todo el día, pensé que me volvería loco.”
“¿Oh sí?”, Bruno said, raising his eyebrows. “¿Qué tan loco?”
“¡Pensé que estaba a punto de declarar la guerra solo para poder ir a verte!” Miguel said.
“Y habrías luchado a través de feroces señores de la guerra, fuertes soldados y arqueros astutos solo para reunirte conmigo en mi pequeña cabaña,” Bruno flirted, batting his eyelashes towards Miguel.
Miguel had never noticed before how beautiful Bruno’s eyelashes looked.
Shaking himself out of that distracting thought, he walked closer to Bruno. “Eso y más.”
Bruno blushed furiously, and was silent for a few moments, before clearing his throat loudly.
“That was…that was good. Let’s move on to the next scene!”
“¿Por qué tenemos que seguir encontrándonos así? ¿No soy lo suficientemente bueno para ti?” Bruno stated, face sculpted in emotional pain.
“No, no, por supuesto que eres lo suficientemente bueno!”, Miguel argued back.
“Entonces, ¿qué es? ¿Tienes miedo de ser degradado si te atrapan estando con un humilde campesino como yo?”
“¡No entiendes! Si nos atrapan, ¡podríamos estar en grave peligro!”
Bruno walked closer to Miguel.
“¿No crees que yo sabía eso? Sabía que al aceptar tener una relación contigo, me pondría en peligro. ¡Pero estaba listo para eso porque te amo!” he shouted, throwing his arms out wildly, and leaving Miguel legitimately stricken by Bruno 's performance.
Watching this, Miguel had the realization that, wow, maybe Bruno’s actual gift was acting, cause that was quite powerful.
“Miguel? You there?” Bruno asked, waving his hand in front of Miguel’s face.
“Huh?”
“We’re moving on to the last scene, the one where they leave the hideout.”
“Oh, ok. What do we have to do?” Miguel asked.
“Okay, we just have to be sappy and lovey-dovey…and I was thinking of adding a quick kiss in the end, to make it more sappy.”
“Oh, I see…are you sure you didn’t add that in just for us?”
“N-no!” Bruno shouted, blushing like a tomato. “It’s a romantic drama, it needs romance for it to be a romance story…”
“Alright, if you say so…”
Bruno walked back to where he had been standing.
“Okay, you’re gonna be starting the scene this time, alright?”
“Got it.”
“Okay, and…,” Bruno took his position, acting like he was about to leave the room. “Go!”
Miguel looked down at the script and read aloud. “¿Cuándo nos volveremos a ver?”
Bruno looked and slowly walked back towards Miguel.
“¿Qué tal este próximo viernes? No estoy demasiado ocupado entonces.”
“Yo tampoco.”
“Entonces, nos encontraremos entonces,” Bruno, as Esteban, said, before turning around and beginning to walk away, before stopping.
There was a beat of silence, before Bruno mumbled; “Te veré entonces, ¿verdad?”
Miguel walked to Bruno, before gently pulling him into an embrace.
“Por supuesto que lo harás. No puedo levantarme sin ti, mi sol.”
Bruno melted into the embrace.
“Mi luna…”
Bruno raised his face up to meet Miguel in a deep kiss. Pretty soon, the kiss became more passionate and vigorous, with Bruno running his hands up Miguel’s chest and Miguel holding onto the back of Bruno’s head.
Then, Miguel hoisted Bruno up, and laid him down on the desk, putting his hands underneath Bruno’s shirt and running them up his chest, earning a pleased moan from the man.
“Did…did you plan that…that kiss…?” Bruno barely got out.
“Oh, yeah, totally,” Miguel whispered curtly, before returning to kissing Bruno senseless.
Their make-out session grew more intense, before Bruno suddenly stopped, and looked towards the rats, who were still sitting on the mini-stage and watching the events unfold, with what Miguel could’ve sworn were expressions of judgment.
“Um, guys…do you mind giving us some privacy?”
The rats sneezed, before turning around and scampering off to wherever.
Bruno looked back to Miguel, with a sly grin plastered on his face.
“Now...", he said, unfastening the buttons on Miguel's shirt. "where were we…?”
The big night came, and it went off without a hitch for Bruno! The audience loved it, the actors did great, and the rats played all their parts realistically! His sobrinos y sobrinas were all so helpful as the backstage crew, and surprisingly, the audience took well to Bruno being the narrator!
Camilo was even talking about doing it again, but Bruno said he would have to think about it.
Everyone was now gone, and Bruno was cleaning up backstage, folding up the little costumes for the rats on the floor, when one popped out of his ruana.
“Oh, hey Gloria! I’ve been looking for you, I wanted to tell you how amazing you were out there!” he congratulated the sandy, brown rat who he was now holding in his palm. “I mean, that part when you told off the Baron? Absolutely amazing!”
The tubby rat gave a little bow.
“I think that performance was worthy of a prize,” he said, pulling a small piece of cheese out of his pocket.
Gloria took the cheese and skittered away, just as Miguel entered the room.
“Well, look who it is! The man of the hour!” he congratulated Bruno in his booming voice. “I’ve been looking for you, your family is having a big dinner to celebrate!”
“Well, tell them I’ll be there soon, I just want to finish up cleaning here.”
“Well, how about I give you a helping hand? After all, two hands are better than one, and it’s sure to quicken the pace.”
“No need, I only have to finish folding this pile up.”
Miguel nodded, and walked closer to Bruno, before giving him a hug.
“You were amazing out there, mi amor. I could tell that you were in your element,” Miguel said, holding Bruno in his arms.
“Oh, psh,” Bruno brushed off. “It was nothing, I didn’t do much.”
“No, I’m serious! You had the audience in the palm of your hand, you changed their mood at the snap of a finger! I’ve never seen anyone do that before.”
“Well, I honestly couldn’t have done it without your support, Migo,” Bruno said, cupping Miguel’s chin in his hand. “You were with me every step of the way, helping me with every little thing. I don’t know what I did to deserve you.”
“Oh, mi amor, you don’t need to worry about ‘deserving’ me, because I will always be here, no matter what.”
Fighting off tears, Bruno gave Miguel a loving kiss on the lips, which Miguel happily accepted.
“C’mon, mi familia is probably waiting on both of us now,” Bruno said, getting up from the floor.
“Sí, you’re right,” Miguel said, getting up as well. “I saw your sister making a big pot of Cuchuco that had my name on it.”
“More like my name on it, because I’m going to have that tasty first bowl.”
“Not if I get there first!” Miguel said, before he ran quickly out of the room, with Bruno chasing right after.
“And after our dinner, I have a little surprise for you…”
“Oh, really? What’s that?”
“Two words: Candles and wine.”
“That sounds nice, amor, but I also have two words that are even better: Wine and sleep!”