Love's Premonition (Bruno Madrigal x Fem Reader)

Prologue

"Bruno, come look!"

Y/n's voice reached Bruno's ears from across the field. He looked up from the twigs he was building a small stage with, seeing her running towards him with something in her hands.

They were both ten years old, and the two had been best friends as long as either of them could remember.

"Look at this!" Held gently but firmly between her fingers was a quivering, gray rat. The creature was a small one, but not quite a baby. Bruno looked at it closely, observing as its whiskers shook. "Isn't it cute?"

Her eyes shone with excitement. It seemed not a day went by when she wasn't excited about something. That was one thing Bruno liked about her. She was always there, pointing out the sun when all he could see were clouds.

"Yeah.." Bruno answered her question quietly, not entirely sure what to say. Her energy was far greater than his, and he often wished he could absorb some of it from how it was radiating off of her.

"Here, you hold it!" Without waiting for Bruno to hold out his palms, Y/n grabbed one while holding the rat in one of her own, then carefully placed the animal on his hand.

Bruno was surprised at how soft its fur was, having expected it to be coarse and rough. He looked back up at Y/n's shining eyes, at how she was looking at him as though he was holding the most incredible thing in the whole world. "Isn't it amazing?" she asked, as though he would surely see what she meant now that he had touched it with his own fingers.

"Um, sure, I guess so." Bruno didn't really think it was all that special, it being just a rat, but she loved it for some reason beyond his comprehension, so he would play along.

"What should we name it?" she inquired thoughtfully.

"We're naming it?" was Bruno's reply. He wasn't exactly surprised; Y/n wanted to name everything she found. "Look, a butterfly! I'll name it Mari!" "This mushroom is cool! I'll name it Santiago!" He could think of countless occasions where she had named things she would probably never see again.

"Of course! We couldn't leave it without a name.." She considered for a moment, lost in thought, before she came up with an idea. "Oh! Let's name it after you! Brunito!" She appeared to be thrilled with this idea. Bruno was not.

"Does the rat really resemble me that much?" Bruno asked, not particularly offended, since it was often told to him that he looked scrawny and dirty, like a street rat. Hearing it from Y/n was refreshing, if anything.

"Not for the most part, no. But I like how its tail twitches from time to time. It's kind of like how you fidget whenever you get nervous." Y/n smiled, sitting down on the ground next to Bruno and his small wooden stage.

"What are you building?" she questioned, spotting the miniature structure for the first time and leaving him no time to respond to her comparison.

"It's a stage. Not a great one, but it looks kind of like the one in town, right?" Bruno's finger stroked the rat's back subconsciously. Y/n's observant eyes caught this detail, but she elected not to say anything.

"Hm.. now that I look at it that way, it does! You can even see where the seats are supposed to be!" she noted, pointing at little lines Bruno had carved in the dirt to represent the rows where an audience would sit.

"Mhm," he agreed with a low hum.

"Oh! I have a great idea!" she burst out, her childish energy taking over once more. "What if you had the rat act on the stage? If we found more rats, we could have a whole show of them!"

Bruno considered the idea, not opposed to it in any way. One problem would be training the little rodents, and he would have to be sure the stage was sturdy enough. Before he could reply, though, Mama Alma appeared seemingly out of thin air.

"Bruno! Y/n! You can't be sneaking out of the house like this! Bruno, you're supposed to be trying to summon a vision. And Y/n, you should be studying the work I gave you. Come now, back to the Casita!" Mama Alma didn't approve of playtime, believing all available time should be devoted to work.

"Yes, Mama," agreed Bruno, his disappointment seeping into his voice. He did enjoy when the two best friends were able to escape for a little while, but he always knew Mama would find them in the end.

Y/n didn't say anything, but she wasn't about to be left behind, so she followed Bruno and Alma back to the house. When they arrived, she and Bruno had to part ways, with him going up to his tower while she went to the spare room near the kitchen that she had been given.

Y/n was not one of the Madrigals, despite living in their house. Before Y/n's parents died, she and Bruno had already been very close friends, so when she lost them and was left alone, Bruno begged Mama Alma until she allowed her a place in their home.

Y/n had watched Bruno get his gift along with his two sisters, and she remembered vividly how he turned to look at her when his door lit up but nothing else happened.

His gift wasn't very obvious at first, unlike his sister Pepa. Julieta also had to discover her power, but over time each of them learned of their abilities and how to use them, more or less.

Bruno still struggled with summoning visions on command, which Mama Alma had him working to fix all the time.

In the meantime, Y/n studied and worked hard to try and fit in among the magical Madrigals. She was very intelligent, and did her best to earn Mama Alma's approval. Still, she always seemed to fall below the gifted triplets...

Y/n didn't mind, though, because Bruno was always there to lift her up.