Archive of Our Own ^beta

AUTHOR'S NOTES: If anyone has a headcanon they would like me to tackle, please feel free to drop me a comment!

ENCANTO HEADCANONS

-At Isabela’s request, Antonio trained several coatimundis to braid his cousin’s hair. They did such a perfect job that Pepa started having them do her own braid.

--Mirabel reminds Bruno of his sisters on a regular basis. She’s constantly trying to involve him in family events (like Pepa) and she’s always trying to take care of him (like Julieta).

--Agustin and Felix made the mistake of letting the kids in on card games with Bruno. Dolores knows everyone’s tells. The rats tell Antonio what everyone has. The only honest person is Camilo.

--You know those three other prophecies mentioned in ‘WDTAB’? That wasn’t ACTUALLY Bruno. It was Camilo just pretending to be his tio shortly after getting his Gift. He did apologize to everyone after Bruno came back.

--On the inside of Bruno’s ruana is a large pocket for his rats. Stitched on that pocket is the first initial of each of his nieces and nephews.

--Out of all the Madrigals, the one who uses the most swear words is Luisa.

--After seeing how much Mirabel was pushed aside after not getting her Gift, Dolores asked her parents if they could ‘adopt’ Mira. Julieta was so upset that Pepa had to explain that families didn’t exactly work that way.

--Antonio convinced Bruno to put on a production of Shakespeare's ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ for the town starring the rats and Antonio’s animal friends. The family couldn’t remember ever seeing Bruno so social... or so happy.

--Since Julieta’s cooking only heals PHYSICAL ailments and injuries, she keeps a book of the comfort foods of everyone in town (and her family) and makes those recipes when someone is having mental or emotional issues.

--During the rebuild, Agustin was astounded by how much Mirabel tried to take care of the family. It was the first time he really saw everything that his daughter did to compensate for not having a Gift.

--While getting settled in his new room, Bruno discovered that Julieta set up a cabinet for him filled with headache remedies, sleeping tonics, etc.

--Pepa RARELY hits people with lightning ON PURPOSE. Often times, it’s by accident and only when she’s VERY on edge. She still feels guilty for zapping Camilo as she realized that she could have unintentionally killed her own child.

--When Camilo REALLY wants to mess with people in town, he and Bruno team up. Bruno trades off being Hernando and Jorge while Camilo does the same thing.

--While the rest of the family was a little slower in getting behind Isabela’s new look and attitude, Felix, Mirabel, and Pepa were in her corner 100%.

--For Mirabel’s 16th birthday, Agustin and Felix collaborated with the village to make a scrapbook of all the times Mira had helped someone...even though she didn’t have any magic.

--Pepa and Agustin were best friends when they were kids.

--Sometimes Luisa just disappears for an hour or so so that she can enjoy a hot bath in her new room. When she gets out, she always feels rejuvenated and ready for anything.

--During the house rebuilding, Bruno was consulted many times about the casita’s interior layout. Having hidden in the walls for so long, Bruno was able to map out the entire house from memory.

--When Mirabel got chicken pox when she was 9, Camilo ‘declared war’ on ALL of the village’s chickens in retaliation for getting Mira sick.

--While clearing out the rubble of the house, the townspeople offered numerous apologies for taking advantage of the Madrigals and not doing more to help out. Osvaldo personally apologized to Mirabel for being so insensitive.

--When the house was rebuilt, Alma had new family plates made with new decorations. Bruno’s plate had four-leaf clovers; Isabela’s had cactus flowers, Mirabel’s had milkweed, etc.

--Casita pays close attention to when someone gets grounded and limits the magic in the person’s room, making it look more ordinary.

--One of Dolores’s favorite hiding spots is a bluff just past the coffee plantations. It’s far from the town and there’s a waterfall nearby. Being there helps when she gets overwhelmed by hearing everyone talking in town.

--Julieta has a special ‘meal’ for Bruno if he’s been dealing with migraines or too many visions: plain tortillas, coffee, hot chocolate, and a combination of orange juice and coconut water.

--When the magic came back, Julieta started taking weekends off. She’ll still cook something in emergency situations, but mostly she spends the time relaxing and bonding with her family again.

--There is a ‘chore wheel’ in the new house so that the Madrigals don’t all get stuck with doing the same tasks every day.

--When Mirabel was little she was the Queen of the puppy-dog eyes. Bruno was especially vulnerable to the look and could never resist a request from his youngest sobrina.

--Pedro was always a very emotional person and he unknowingly passed that trait on to Pepa. In fact, Pepa’s first rainbow came when she was talking to her father’s portrait about her new powers.

--Until she was about 13, Dolores was very clingy when it came to Felix. As a baby, she only wanted her father holding her and as she got older, she’d start crying if the two were separated for too long.

--Parce has a truce agreement with the rats and the rest of Antonio’s animal friends: No trying to eat, maim, torture, or bully one another upon penalty of permanent expulsion from the house.

--When the triplets were kids, Pepa would get teased for being a redhead and she’d beg Julieta to ‘cure’ her. When someone suggested that Pepa was adopted, Bruno would tell her “So what if you were adopted? Mama still picked you, didn’t she?”

--After reuniting, the triplets started making semi-regular visits to the river to ‘talk’ to their father. They tell him about the family and what’s going on in their lives.

--When Pepa discovered that Antonio and Bruno like to lay out in the yard and create stories about the animals they see in the clouds, she started creating more distinctive cloud shapes.

--When Abuela started having trouble remembering where she put her reading glasses, Antonio assigned one of the coatimundis to find them for her.

--When Bruno gets a high enough fever, he rambles... a lot.

--One of Isabela’s pet projects is custom coffee plants. She’ll grow samples of the new varieties and if the samples work out, she’ll plant them by hand for cultivation.

--Before he left, Bruno was an expert at calming each of the kids when they were fussy as babies. It was one of the things Pepa and Julieta realized they had taken for granted when Antonio was born.

--Pedro would entertain Alma with tales about what their children would be like when they grew up: Pepa would be an actress. Julieta would be a fortune teller. Bruno would be a well-known healer.

--Camilo is something of an adrenaline junkie: he LOVES doing dangerous things for the fun of it. He did dial it back when Pepa threatened to lock him in his room.

--For Luisa’s 20th birthday, the whole Madrigal family journeyed through the mountain pass and to the coast to see the ocean for the first time. On the way home, Luisa kept saying that she’d never seen such a peaceful place.

--One of the things Casita restored when the magic came back was Bruno’s vision of Isabela and Mirabel hugging. The vision was sitting on Isa’s bed when she first entered her new bedroom.

--Julieta has a burn scar on her forearm from the Casita’s oven. It happened when she was pregnant with Isabela because she was distracted by feeling her daughter kick for the first time.

--During experimentations with growing different plants and hybrids, Isabela discovered that she is HIGHLY allergic to poison ivy.

--For the triplets’ 51st birthdays, Mirabel enlisted the rest of the family to make identical patchwork quilts for her mother, tio, and tia.

--Before getting her Gift, Dolores was prone to ear infections.

--Pedro’s gift to Alma on their last wedding anniversary (together) was a pocket watch because for all his wife’s virtues, punctuality was NOT one of them.

--Whenever Julieta wants to test out a new recipe, she always enlists Luisa and Dolores. Camilo is unreliable as a taster because he declares anything Julieta makes ‘Delicious!’

--When Pedro and Alma were dating, Alma had the cutest snort when she laughed really hard. Pedro would make an effort to trigger this as often as possible.

--When the triplets were babies, Bruno was always the most fussy, even when there was nothing wrong with him. However, his cries usually coincided with his sisters needing fed or changed.

--Bruno befriended his first rat while hiding in his room after some of the kids in town started teasing him. When he ‘disappeared’, the rats basically adopted Bruno while he lived in the walls.

--After losing her Gift when the house fell, Dolores discovered that she loved the sound of people laughing. When the magic came back, laughter was one of the few sounds that didn’t seem amplified to her.

--Luisa picked up some new hobbies after the magic came back: cooking, woodworking, and crocheting.

--Bruno found it funny that the capybaras and coatimundis enjoy joining the rats in acting out his telenovelas. The coatis in particular are really good at dramatic scenes.

--Julieta’s favorite food to eat is simply grilled pork with tortillas. Her favorite food to make is arepa con quesos because the mixing and forming are meditative acts for her.

--Pedro was often asked why he fell in love with Alma. He would tell people “I found the part of my heart and soul that I didn’t even know I was missing.”

--Julieta tried teaching Bruno and Pepa how to cook when they were younger. Pepa is a menace in the kitchen, but Bruno became rather good at it.

--Dolores has three favorite sounds: the falling sand in Bruno’s room, her mother’s rain showers, and Parce the jaguar’s purring.

--After the house was rebuilt, Mirabel started ‘taking days off’. No chores, no sewing, nothing. Sometimes she’ll read a book, but mostly she’ll just chill in one of the courtyard hammocks.

--Alma, Bruno, Camilo, and Mirabel collaborated on an illustrated book based on the origin of the encanto and the fall and resurrection of their casita.

--When she saw her younger sister standing up to Abuela, Luisa realized that Mirabel was REALLY the strongest member of the Madrigal family.

--Isabela took up beekeeping in the new house. Her plants get pollinators, her father doesn’t get stung as much(Thanks, Antonio!), her mother gets honey for cooking, and Dolores enjoys the noise-canceling buzzing sound.

--Camilo likes to have ‘jump scare’ competitions with Parce the jaguar. Dolores, on the other hand, enjoys staring contests with Chispi the capybara.

--Pedro was the one who insisted on bring his and Alma’s wedding candle when they fled their village. He knew the journey would be full of unknown dangers, but that his love for his wife and children would light the way.

--Casita made hidden rooms for each of the Madrigals when the magic came back. For example: Bruno is still ‘kitchen adjacent’ with his den in the walls, Mirabel’s space is a loft that overlooks the town, and Antonio has a cave which houses a small family of bats.

--Mirabel actually DID get a Gift on her 5th birthday: love. She just never got powers to go with it because she didn’t NEED magic to help her show her love for the family.

--With tourism to the encanto increasing due to the mountain gap, Felix opened up a small souvenir stand in town. Offerings include stuffed animals, initial doorknobs, and flower wood carvings.

--Bruno had Luisa ‘rat-sitting’ one afternoon while he and Antonio went exploring the encanto. They came back to find Luisa napping in a hammock with the rats cuddled up to her.

--When Bruno doesn’t eat much at meals, Dolores and Julieta trade off leaving snacks for him in various places. Casita makes sure that Camilo doesn’t pilfer anything.

--Pollen allergies and hay fever used to be common seasonal problems until Isabela really understood her powers and what kinds of plants she could grow.

--For the first week and a half after the house fell, Pepa insisted on ‘triplet sleepovers’ every night because she was afraid Bruno would disappear again if he was left alone for too long.

--Ever since he was a boy, Felix loved fixing things. Everyone would come to him for repairs on fences, toys, clocks, etc.

--When Isabela’s Gift came back, she took up the habit of following Bruno when he was exceptionally anxious and creating small clumps of four-leaf clovers in front of him.

--Camilo was born with perfect memory recall but, because of all the shapeshifting, he sometimes can’t remember which memories and characteristics are actually HIS and which belong to other people.

--Antonio’s closeness to Mirabel is due to imprinting. When Pepa was pregnant, Mirabel stuck to her like glue, talking to her unborn cousin constantly. When Antonio was very young, Mira’s voice was the first one he recognized.

--Pepa wanted Antonio’s middle name to be ‘Bruno’, but her mother was firmly against the idea. So Pepa went with ‘Pedro’ instead.

--When Julieta and Pepa saw that Bruno’s door had faded, Pepa assumed that their brother had run away, but Julieta thought that he had died.

--Julieta had a very rough pregnancy with Luisa and the family thought that they might lose one or both of them. When Luisa was born premature, Alma prayed that her granddaughter would be strong enough to make it to her 5th birthday.

--When Dolores and Isabela were babies, Alma spent hours in the nursery telling them all about their Abuelo Pedro. Pepa, Julieta, and Bruno often sat outside the door, listening to the stories as well.

--When she was 4, Mirabel liked watching Bruno when he’d use the nursery to repair his clothes. After Mira asked, he showed her how to sew by hand and how the sewing machine worked.

--After 6 months of discussing baby names for their daughters (Dolores and Isabela), Pepa and Julieta gave the decision to Bruno. He wrote down all of the suggestions and a few of his own, put them into a hat, and asked his sisters to pick out two each.

--When Pepa and Julieta were married, they both asked Bruno to walk them down the aisle since their father was dead.

--Julieta wasn’t that interested in Agustin until she ended up sick with the flu and he surprised her by bringing her some of his own homemade chicken soup. It didn’t have any magic, but it still helped Juli feel better.

--Dolores hears the difference between her mother’s ‘angry’ storm clouds and her ‘sad’ storm clouds. When Bruno left, Pepa was always sad when she stormed over hearing her brother’s name.

--Camilo and Bruno are afternoon nap buddies. The family has often found the two sacked out in some area of the house, usually in sprawled, contorted positions.

--Luisa’s favorite companion when doing her chores is her Tio Bruno. Sometimes he’ll use his personas, Jorge and Hernando, to make even the most mundane tasks seem like grand adventures.

--With Pepa and Felix, the good/bad parent dynamic changes depending on who is in trouble. Pepa is a soft touch with her sons and so Felix has to be the tough one. It’s the other way around with Dolores.

--Mirabel and Parce have a ‘joint custody’ arrangement with Antonio. If Mirabel is away for a while, Parce is on full protection detail. If she’s home, the jaguar usually chills in Antonio’s room or in the woods behind Casita.

--As a ‘welcome home’ gift, Julieta gave Bruno a rosary that was engraved with 4-leaf clovers.

--During a cook-off to see whose arepas were the favorites, Luisa came in first place followed by Mirabel and Bruno. Isabela’s arepas had too much salt and Pepa nearly burned down the kitchen.

--Julieta was the inspiration for Bruno’s ‘knock on wood’ ritual. Pepa was the one who suggested that her brother start throwing salt over his shoulder to ward off bad luck.

--Felix has two sisters (one older and one younger) and an older brother. Their parents died a few years after the creation of the Encanto and Alma took them in.

--On Pedro’s birthday, Alma asks Isabela to grow his favorite flowers and Julieta to make several of his favorite foods. During dinner, Alma shares stories of her husband with her family and for a little while, he’s alive again in their hearts.

AUTHOR'S NOTES: This chapter does allude to the idea that Bruno had suicidal inclinations in the past.

Headcanon: When Julieta and Pepa saw that Bruno’s door had faded, Pepa assumed that their brother had run away, but Julieta thought that he had died.

“Pepa. Pepa! Pepa, wake up!”

Opening one eye and flicking a glance at her alarm clock, Pepa Madrigal turned to press her face into her husband’s shoulder as she grumbled, “Unless the casita is on fire, go away, Juli.”

But Julieta shook her sister’s shoulder roughly, earning her a zap from a small lightning bolt from the storm cloud forming above Pepa’s head. “Pepa, Bruno’s door is dark!” She snapped, her tone heavy with anger and fear.

Those words made Pepa sit straight up, eyes wide as she replied, “Dark? What do you mean ‘dark’?”

“I went to check on him because I overheard Mama telling Bruno she wanted him to have a vision to find out why Mirabel didn’t get her door,” Julieta explained, her words tumbling out as tears streamed down her cheeks. “But when I went to Bruno’s tower... Pepa, the magic was gone from his door.” Nervously fidgeting with the sash holding her bathrobe closed, she looked pleadingly at her sister. “Pepa, please come with me. I don’t... I don’t want to go in there alone.”

“Pepi?” Felix muttered as he opened his eyes, squinting sleepily at his wife and sister-in-law. “Is everything okay?”

“It’s fine,” Pepa lied, ignoring her cloud.

“Are you sure?” Felix pressed, sitting up a bit.

Not wanting to alarm her husband, Pepa kissed his cheek. “Absolutely. Go back to sleep. Juli and I are just going to check on Bruno.” She slipped out of bed, donned her slippers and bathrobe, and followed her sister out of the room and down the hallway to the bottom of their brother’s tower.

Looking up at the door, Pepa let out a soft gasp and the cloud above her head began dropping fat snowflakes, a sign that she was becoming more distraught than usual.

Inside the room, Julieta couldn’t help the shudder that went through her as she and Pepa searched the space for any sign of Bruno.

“Pepa...” Julieta murmured, desperation in her voice as she spoke. “He... He’s not here... What if - ?”

“No,” Pepa retorted, sharply, shaking her head. “No, he... he left. Maybe he decided to leave the encanto. He’s just... He’s just gone, okay?”

But Julieta was beside herself as she pressed, “But what if he’s gone gone?”

Pointing a warning finger at her sister, Pepa scowled and her cloud grew dark and thundery with sharp crackles of lightning. “Don’t. Julieta, I am warning you... Do not say it.”

“He’s tried before...” Julieta reminded her as the pair left the tower and went down to the landing. “What if Bruno finally kill - ?”

“We’re not going to talk about Bruno!” Pepa exploded, her thunder shaking the house as a storm built up outside. “He’s not... He’s just gone, okay?”

“Pepa, what in the world is wrong with you?” Alma Madrigal demanded to know as she strode towards her daughters, scowling. “You’re waking everyone up and it’s not even daylight!”

“Mama, Bruno’s door is - is...” Julieta sniffled loudly, pointing at her brother’s door, unable to articulate her thoughts.

Alma's eyes grew wide and fear shadowed her expression as she ascended the stairs and entered the tower. When she returned almost thirty minutes later, her usual composure was restored, and she shot a glance at Julieta as she stated, “We’re not going to talk about Bruno anymore.”

The decisiveness in her mother’s voice made Julieta gasp, and another wave of tears cascaded down her cheeks as she sat down on the stairs of the tower. Gazing from the stormy cloud hovering over Pepa’s head to the casita's roof where the rain pounded on the tiles, Alma's tone and demeanor softened as she leaned down to kiss the top of Julieta's head. “It's too upsetting for your sister.”

“Mama, if Bruno killed himself... it’s all my fault,” Julieta whispered as her mother sat down next to her, pulling her into a comforting embrace. “I didn’t do enough to help him. My little brother is dead because of me.”

Pepa turned away as she slumped down to sit on the floor, pulling her knees up to her chest and hugging them as she hid her face so her mother and sister couldn’t see her own tears.

She hated Bruno for leaving and for hurting the family!

She hated him for being weak!

And she hated herself for not doing more to help him....

Inside and outside the casita, the thunder and lightning subsided, but it was several days before the rain finally tapered off to a steady drizzle.

Headcanon: Julieta has a special ‘meal’ for Bruno if he’s been dealing with migraines or too many visions: plain tortillas, coffee, hot chocolate, and a combination of orange juice and coconut water.

“What’s all this for?” Isabela asked as she and Mirabel came into the kitchen from the backyard. Both girls were covered with dirt from working out in the garden and Isa’s hair was starting to work its way out of its braid.

Julieta turned towards her daughters after pulling a few plain tortillas off on the griddle to cool a bit. Her smile was warm, but there was a tightness in her eyes that meant she was deeply worried about something. “Your Tio Bruno has a migraine,” she explained. “He hasn’t been down all day and... I just... He needs some food but he barely eats when he’s like this. He just hides in his room until he feels better, but...” Taking a deep breath, she gestured to the platter containing a mug of hot chocolate, a cup of strong coffee, a glass of orange juice, and a plate upon which she placed several of the cooling tortillas.

“The tortillas are to help with his nausea,” Julieta elaborated after a moment to calm down. “They’re just something really mild to settle his stomach. He’s not usually up for arepas. The coffee is because sometimes the caffeine helps perk him up if he’s groggy.”

“And your hot chocolate is because it’s warm and comforting,” Isabela deduced, nodding approvingly. “And the juice is... just for the sugar?”

Shaking her head, Julieta nodded towards a cracked coconut on the prep table. “Coconut water helps revive the system when you’re dehydrated. Combining that with the orange juice helps Bruno get his energy back.”

“Well, why don’t we take this up to Tio Bruno?” Mirabel suggested, lifting the tray with practiced ease. “It’s Luisa and Tio Felix’s turn to make dinner tonight, so if you want, you could rest before we eat.”

“I love you, corazons,” Julieta replied, touching her daughters’ cheeks before starting to clean up her mess.

As Isa and Mirabel headed upstairs, they wondered aloud if they should clean up a bit before taking care of their uncle.

“I’ll grab clean clothes from our rooms,” Isabela offered as they reached Bruno’s door. “I’m sure Tio won’t mind us borrowing his bathroom to tidy up.”

Nodding in agreement, Mirabel hefted the platter with one hand so that she could open the door to her uncle’s new room.

Gone were the mountains of sand, stone walls, and numerous stairs of Bruno’s previous room.

Now, it looked like a lakeside cottage, complete with a wading pool and a fire pit surrounded by stones.

The bedroom door was closed and Mirabel made sure to extinguish the lit lamps and candles before going to the door and knocking softly. “Tio Bruno? It’s Mirabel. Mama sent up some food for you.” Opening the door and peering in after hearing no response, it took a few moments for her eyes to adjust to the absence of light. Except for a few rays of sun peaking around the drawn window blinds, the room was dark and quiet. The rats moved about as quietly as possible, watching Bruno and Mirabel with interest.

Bruno was curled up in the hammock in the corner, buried underneath his old, worn, ruana and the quilt Mirabel had given him for his 51st birthday. He groaned softly as he lifted his head, squinting at Mirabel and the platter she held. “Is that from Juli?” he murmured under his breath.

Mirabel nodded, setting the platter on the desk nearby. “Mama said that it’s what she used to make for you when you had migraines.” Nodding at the door as she took a step back, she added, “Isa and I were in the garden so we’re just going to clean up a bit in your bathroom, if that’s alright. We’ll check on you in a bit?”

Bruno nodded slowly, wincing as he sat up, massaging his temples and frowning. Pointing to a cabinet next to the bed in the corner, he asked, “Hand me some of the headache tonic in there, would you? It’s the red capped one.”

Mirabel did as instructed and twisted off the cap before handing the small bottle to her tio.

Bruno took a few tentative sips of the tonic, closing his eyes tight against the throbbing, pounding pain in his head. Feeling Mirabel press something into his hand, he cracked open one eye to see that it was a piece of tortilla. Nodding gratefully, he carefully took a small bite, letting out a small sigh of relief as he felt his nausea ebb and his headache start to subside.

By the time Isabela joined them, freshly showered and dressed in a green dress with embroidered yellow vines, Bruno looked halfway normal as he sipped the room-temperature hot chocolate. “Go freshen up,” Isa told Mira, as she pulled a chair over. “I’ll keep an eye on Tio Bruno.”

Once Mirabel was gone, Isabela raised an eyebrow as she asked, “How are you feeling?”

“Much better,” Bruno replied, stretching to work out the knots in his neck and shoulders. “Your mother’s food always works best when it’s fresh.” Shrugging, he added, “It works even better when I tell her when I start getting headaches, but this one came on too quickly for me to head it off... no pun intended.”

Glancing at the remainder of the platter, Isa raised an eyebrow as she inquired, “Are you going to be up to coming down for dinner? We could bring you up a plate if you’re not.”

Finishing the juice and the last scrap of tortilla, Bruno shook his head as he downed another swig of coffee, climbing out of the hammock. “I’ll have a hot shower and I should be just fine. Thank you, Isa. You and Mira. Oh,” he chimed as Isabela stood up and went to grab the platter. When Isa turned, he added, “And tell Julieta ‘thank you’ as well.”

“I will, Tio,” Isabela promised, taking the platter and leaving the room.

Headcanon: During the rebuild, Agustin was astounded by how much Mirabel tried to take care of the family. It was the first time he really saw everything that his daughter did to compensate for not having a Gift.

X

“Isa, I had a great idea! You and I should set up a greenhouse behind the casita.”

“Luisa, why don’t you take a break from the construction and go help Mama with the cooking station? She was really impressed with you when you pitched in at breakfast this morning.”

“ Tio Bruno? Antonio really misses all of his animal friends. I bet he’d love hanging out with your rats while you and I work on the house.”

“Morning, Mama! Luisa, Bruno and I decided to take care of breakfast so you could sleep in this morning.”

“Camilo, Tio Bruno is really struggling with his anxiety today. Why don’t you ask him to help you with that telenovela you’re working on?”

Over and over, Agustin watched and heard his youngest daughter pitching in and offering to help the family with the reconstruction of La Casita Madrigal and their family itself.

Mirabel was the first one up in the morning - even before Julieta - and the last one to go to bed at night. She’d been nonstop since the town had rallied to help the Madrigals restore their home, and as much as Agustin was impressed by his little girl’s can-do attitude and constant energy and optimism... it worried him deeply.

He’d seen this attitude many times in the past but now he could recognize it for what it truly was: an act. Mirabel was tired physically, mentally, and emotionally, but she couldn’t let herself rest because the family was counting on her.

How often had he seen his daughter take on tasks alone so that others didn’t have to worry about getting things done?

Was this because Mirabel wanted to take care of the family, or...?

No, Agustin decided as he continued to watch his daughter throughout the next few days.

Mirabel didn’t work herself harder than Luisa while trying to be as perfect as Isabela to help the family... she did it because she was trying to act as though helping the family was her Gift.

After dinner at the Guzman home, Agustin took Mirabel aside, studying her as though he’d never seen her before.

“Papi? Are you alright?” Mirabel inquired, her expression filled with concern. “I know you’ve been excluded from the construction to keep you safe, but I’m sure Bruno would appreciate your assistance with - ”

“Mira... I need you to stop,” Agustin replied simply, retracing his words as Mirabel appeared shocked. She was probably recalling Abuela’s similar command on the night the house collapsed. “Okay, ‘stop’ isn’t quite the right word.” Gently holding her face in his hands, he offered a warm smile, tears starting to form in his eyes. “Mirabel, you don’t have to look after everyone. Having you as my daughter is the most wonderful gift I could ever receive. I now realize that all those times you’ve been working so hard... that was your way of compensating for not having magic.”

It was a funny thing about strength, Mirabel realized, suddenly, as she threw her arms around her father, hugging him tightly as she began to cry. It was easy to project as long as you kept busy... But once you take a break, the façade just shatters, leaving you with all the pieces you’d so carefully put together.

As though he could read her mind, Agustin pulled back a bit, withdrawing his handkerchief and giving it to dry her eyes and blow her nose. “You’ve held us together long enough, Miraboo,” he soothed, smiling tenderly. “Take some time to rest. Let the family take care of you, okay?”

Sniffling, Mirabel nodded before hugging her father once more.

AUTHOR'S NOTES: I'm still working on plot threads for my story 'Love Is the Language the Blind Can See' but in the meantime, I finally thought of a way to finish this particular headcanon.

CHAPTER 6: Big Girl Words

Headcanon: Out of all the Madrigals, the one who uses the most swear words is Luisa.

As Luisa's grip on the wall frame began to falter, an outburst of vibrant and colorful curses erupted from her lips, catching the attention of her parents, grandmother, and uncles.

"Luisa Catalina Madrigal!" Abuela Alma shouted in shock, her face twisted in disbelief at her granddaughter’s language.

With a mix of groans and expletives, Luisa readjusted her grasp on the frame and waited for the men on the ladder beside her to secure everything before stepping back. She turned to her grandmother, murmuring, "Lo siento, Abuela."

"I must say, I would like to know where you picked up such unrefined language!" Alma retorted, her arms crossed tightly in disapproval. "I was under the impression that we raised you to avoid using such profanity."

"Oh boy, Abuela, you really haven't been paying attention, have you?" Camilo replied, struggling to suppress his laughter at the incredulous expressions on his family's faces. "Luisa has been using that kind of language for the last seven years."

Alma's expression of disbelief deepened, and she frowned as she asked, "Luisa? Is this true?"

"Absolutely," Mirabel confirmed as she noticed the anxious look on her sister's face. "Abuela, she’s been assisting the men in town with everything from construction to fishing...you name it. Do you honestly think they held back on their swearing just because Luisa was around?"

"That's not even the most colorful part of her vocabulary," Isabela interjected, with a tone of pride in her voice. "Some of the phrases she has come up with on her own are very impressive."

“You’re not helping,” Luisa hissed under her breath as she watched Abuela stiffen. Before she could defend herself, she heard one of the villagers suggesting that her height would make it easier to look up her skirt. Whirling about, she snarled in Spanish, “Try it, you son of a bitch, and I’ll put my foot so far up your ass you’ll be picking your teeth with my goddamn toenails!”

The villager ducked his head and hurried off to help with something on the other side of the Madrigal’s casita.

Alma frowned at the man’s retreating form before looking up at Luisa. “Does that happen often?”

Sitting down on a pile of stones nearby, Luisa nodded as she admitted, “Not as often as it used to when I was younger. At first, I had to use my strength to scare the men off. Eventually, some of them taught me how to use my words and size to keep others in line.”

“Well, I will be talking to the village elders so that everyone understands that treating my family like that will not be tolerated,” Alma promised, patting Luisa’s shoulder. “You may be strong, but you are still a woman and you shouldn’t have to deal with harassment.”

As she had been anticipating a lecture about how to behave more like a lady, Luisa felt grateful for her abuela's encouraging words and smiled. "Thank you. I-I-I mean, it doesn't really bother me, but it just... I-I feel like the men don't see me as a girl due to my height and strength."

As Alma observed Luisa getting back to her tasks, she frowned as she realized that another reason the men in the village likely never recognized Luisa as a young woman was that she was often involved in manual labor. Performing the same tasks as the men would likely contribute to their perception of her as just one of them.

"Abuela, I can speak to Luisa and let her know she should stop using inappropriate language," Isabela said nervously to her grandmother. "And I'm really sorry for encouraging her behavior. It was wrong and—"

Alma interrupted Isabela, shaking her head. "You don't need to defend Luisa. While I admit I'm not pleased with your sister's use of profanity... I do appreciate that she has learned to express herself verbally rather than resorting to physical confrontations to handle the harassment she has faced."

Mirabel glanced mischievously at Isabela before turning to her middle sister and grinning as she proposed, “Luisa... To help you reduce your swearing, I think we should establish a kind of penalty system.”

“What?” Luisa responded, confused by her younger sister’s idea. “What do you mean?”

“No, I’m with Mira,” Isabela added, catching on to Mirabel's plan. With her arms crossed, she explained, “I believe that whenever you’re heard using bad language, Luisa... you should be prohibited from helping around the house.”

“What?!” Luisa gasped, her expression one of shock as she looked at her sisters and grandmother. “Abuela, stopping me from doing chores isn’t a form of punishment!”

However, Alma had to suppress a laugh at her granddaughters’ cleverness. “Oh, I think it’s quite a serious consequence. If you can’t control your language, you’ll have to be forced to do nothing at all.”

With an emphatic gesture, Luisa appeared on the verge of tears as she pleaded, “But I need to help the family because it’s my responsibility to do the heavy lifting!”

“This is what we call tough love,” Isabela said with a smile. “You either reduce the swearing...”

“Or you leave us with no option but to force you to relax,” Mirabel concluded, mimicking Isabela’s posture.

As Luisa reluctantly acquiesced, prompting Isabela and Mirabel to embrace her in a group hug, Alma finally allowed herself to smile warmly at her granddaughters.