Chapter Text
Movie Night
Mirabel blows her nose into the tissue as the credits roll on the movie. The music was upbeat and happy, the complete opposite to the emotions they were both left with.
"That was so good."
Bruno wipes his eyes on the sleeve of his soft robe and sniffles. "Totally. For a Disney movie, it hit me really hard."
"Me too," She wetly chuckles. "The Moira character was just - I don't know... She was so isolated in the family for so many years until the end. It was so sad."
Bruno shifts around on the couch to turn towards her properly and smiles softly. "She was relatable for you, huh? You know who got to me?"
"...The uncle?"
He flings his arms in the air dramatically, declaring, "The uncle! Brodi was alone for 10 years in the walls! That's so depressing."
"Oh my god, yes!” Mirabel excitedly shifts on the couch to turn towards him, engrossed in the conversation. “His character was made to be so sympathetic. I just want to hug him tight and take care of him! He deserves all the love!"
"Well, I mean, I didn't have that kind of feeling for him. I was sad for him and maybe, sort of related to him, but I'm just happy he's back with his family."
Bruno falters and scratches his chin. He doesn’t know why but he feels so weird about admitting that.
And he doesn’t know how to feel about Mirabel’s feelings for a character that Bruno related a little too much to.
Mirabel deflates a little bit. "Oh, yeah, me too. I guess I'm thinking too much -"
Bruno leans in and puts a hand on her shoulder. "No way! I love that you love that character so much. In fact, Moira had me all soft and gooey. She deserves so much better than what she got."
Mirabel blinks in surprise, and he removes his hand, fighting the urge to clench it. She shyly smiles. "Yeah?"
"Yeah! She makes me want to shower her in love and put her on a pedestal! I want someone for Moira who really understands her."
"Kind of like-!" Mirabel halts abruptly, her eyes searching his face. She looks away in embarrassment. "Oh, never mind."
He tries to catch her eyes curiously. "No, what were you gonna say? 'Like' what?"
She presses her mouth tighter together and shakes her head.
Bruno searches her face and then goes back to watching some of the credits still rolling. Hesitantly, he says, "Kind of like... the uncle?"
Mirabel gasps, and Bruno looks at her to see her staring at him in excitement. "You agree? They had so much-"
"-Chemistry!" He finishes, eagerly leaning close. "I know! What kind of uncle looks at his niece so lovingly? And his voice got all soft - 'You're exactly what this family needs'- It's so romantic!"
"It was!” Mirabel exclaims. “And the way Moira brushed her hair behind her ear when talking to him about being the 'family weirdos'? You know like-”
She mimes brushing her hair behind her ear and looking up at him with sweet eyes. Bruno swallows and nods.
Oh yeah, he remembers. It had been really cute of the character, and seeing Mirabel do it to him was making him feel things.
Mirabel returns to her excited self and grins. “No niece is doing that in front of someone who's just an uncle! And her declaration to bring him back? She was crushing on him hard. "
Huh? Didn’t you declare to get me back into the family? And then did it? It’s a brief thought but he quickly brushes it aside because the implication of what she was saying was absurd.
Mirabel with a crush on Bruno? Wanted but insane.
Bruno points at Mirabel. "What about Brodi getting on horseback to defend her from the grandmother? That was almost like a prince defending his princess, right?"
Mirabel nods fervently. "It was so romantic. It reminded me of when yo-“ She freezes and then chuckles awkwardly.
Bruno curiously waits but she moves on quickly, and he lets it go.
“Ah- anyway! I thought Moira getting angry on Brodi's behalf when the grandma accuses him of not loving the family was pretty romantic too."
"Completely romantic. It should honestly be in a telenovela."
Ah. Wait. Didn’t Mirabel once defend him from-?
Mirabel sighs wistfully and it pulls him away from the thought. "I kind of wish there was a way to get more of Moira and Brodi together. I really liked how they interacted."
"Well, you kind of can," Bruno casually says as he fiddles with the remote and returns the screen to the main menu of the streaming service.
"What do you mean?"
"I'm talking about fanfiction and fan art."
Frowning in confusion, she asks, "What's that?"
Slowly, he turns to her, and looks her up and down in bafflement. "You don't know what fanfiction or fan art are?"
Mirabel shakes her head, and Bruno's mouth gapes in surprise. "No way... we have to change that! Give me a second."
He pulls out his phone from the pocket of his tracksuit pants and begins to type in a site he knows very well.
He senses Mirabel watching him until he shoves the phone under her nose.
"See? Look at how many people wrote stories about them!"
She takes his phone and scrolls through. He can tell she doesn’t understand the ratings or what some of the tags mean, but she still turns to him in awe. "Wow! That’s so many!"
"I know, right? And- oh, oh! I'm sure I can find some fanart- let me just-"
Mirabel giggles and hands back his phone. He wildly types in excitement and then sits closer to her so they can both look at his screen.
"Twitter has so much art- look!"
Mirabel catches sight of the character Moira kissing a blushing Brodi's cheek or holding his hand, and her face scrunches at the cuteness. "Awww!"
Bruno likes seeing Mirabel happy and interested in the idea of fandom spaces. It’s something he’s always been a part of, even when it was just shitty websites or sending Zines to people through the mail.
It was exciting to share something he enjoys with someone he loves.
He grins and keeps scrolling for her, loving that he can discover a whole new fandom with Mirabel.
He can finally have someone in real life to talk about theories, lore, and- ooooh! Headcanons about the ship!-
But then he suddenly freezes scrolling when he notices some art on his phone.
It was a mini comic of a naked and curvy Moira holding the older and skinny Brodi down. He was flustered and saying; "Moira, we shouldn't do this!"
Bruno flushes at the sight of the glasses wearing Moira and her confident smile as she rides her own uncle, who was clearly enjoying it despite his protests.
Brodi already reminded Bruno of himself in a lot of ways, but Moira looked a little like…
He shifts uncomfortably.
He forgot that with fandoms and shipping characters came porn.
Embarrassed and feeling weird, he peeks a look at Mirabel.
She was studying the image with red cheeks. Intensely.
He clears his throat and turns off his screen. Bruno sits his phone on the coffee table in front of him and then leans back into the couch.
Bruno rubs his own arm soothingly. "Uh, yeah, well... you get it. Fans create some cool stuff."
Contemplatively, Mirabel nods. She then looks over at him, searching his face.
He doesn’t know what she finds, but his stomach squirms with a strange nervous and excited feeling as she shyly brushes her hair behind her ear.
"That was… surprising. I mean, I like them together- romantically- but I didn't realise that there would be... that kind of stuff."
"Yeeeah..." Bruno scratches his own beard, feeling awkward and, well... a little turned on by what he saw and the resemblance of both characters…
"I'm sorry. I'm your uncle- I shouldn't be showing you porn."
Especially incest porn between an uncle and a niece.
"That's okay," she slowly smiles and it reminds him of the confident grin of Moira. "I liked seeing a niece take what she wants from her uncle."
A shiver of excitement passes through him and he looks away. He heaves out a shaky breath. "Oh.. um... t-that's... a nice kink. Fiction is great to safely explore those sorts of things."
Her hand touches his arm and he can feel it bleed through his bath robe.
"Tío..."
Bruno turns to her and something burns in her eyes.
"The comic... Can we...?"
He holds his breath in shock, in excitement, but he still stutters the lines he read.
"M-Mira, we shouldn't do-"
She lunges at him and kisses him fiercely.
Mirabel's glasses knock into his face and she's clumsy, but Bruno still lets himself fall back onto the couch, hugging her close, unwilling to let her go.
They pull away, their panting breath hitting the other's face. Mirabel traces his lips with her finger and he kisses it, making her giggle.
"Tío, read me some fanfiction next?"
He smiles.
"Absolutely."