Tío Bruno, la familia & the Fish Lady

After-Party Drama

*Spanish translations are at the bottom of each chapter if there are any. Enjoy!*

Thanks to Mirabel, the house had been rebuilt, the family bond was reestablished, and the magic burned stronger than when it was first ignited. Each Madrigal had put forth their best efforts to improve relationships with one another since the collapse of the old house, but generational trauma was not something that could simply be resolved overnight. 

Bruno Madrigal was brought back to his rightful home where he could be a tío, hermano, and hijo again to the people he loved. He felt happier than he had in nearly two decades, but he had yet to dissect the rest of his emotions. He did not want to pay attention to what exactly was lying under the surface during his time in the walls. Thankfully, he could do just that at his own pace without having to be alone, even if he didn't know that yet.

After the fiesta with the townspeople at the house came to an end, la Casita rippled its tiles taking the guests outside who were partied-out and ready to go home.

Luisa was relaxing in her hammock while savoring the last of her limonada de coco left in her coconut. She absentmindedly nibbled at her straw until she heard what sounded like glass shattering on the ground. A guilty Camilo stood behind many fragments of what used to be one of Abuela's treasured dinner plates and whistled with his eyes cast to the side as if that would somehow fix his situation. 

By the time he looked up, he was met with Dolores' unrelenting glare. Camilo was sucked into a staring contest with his sister perched on the second floor balcony, whose hands cupped over her ears and eyes bore into his soul as if to say, "If you destroy my eardrums, I will tell everyone every embarrassing thing I've seen and heard you do". He hoped she wouldn't utter a word about how he tried to balance a bowling ball on his head that ended up smashing the bones in his left foot (which Julieta's food healed) or how he ate a long strand of what he thought to be melted chocolate in the vegetable garden out front when he was eleven. Of all the mortifying stories Dolores could tell to take away his remaining dignity, he prayed that she wouldn't mention that he pooped his pants when Luisa scared him just as he walked out of his room on April Fool's Day. She secretly called him "Cacamilo" for almost all of last year. He redirected his mind to the present and smiled nervously while mouthing a fearful yet sincere "sorry". Camilo picked up the pieces one-by-one, tip-toed to the trash can, and swallowed back a painful cry as he tried to minimize the glassy noise of the sharp plate fragments cradled in his fleshy arms. Luisa feigned a cough to cover her cackling, but when she saw Dolores' face, she let out a gasp, quickly looked back down at her straw and quietly sipped her drink.

Bruno walked into the corridor looking for the rest of the drink pitchers to bring back to the kitchen sink.

"Hey everybodaaaayyyy!-okay, g-got it, no noise, sorry..." His voice withered away upon realizing that he had stumbled into freshly-stewed awkwardness, but he managed to shrug it off. Nothing meant more than being able to be part of the family again as his true self this time, even if it meant walking in on drama which thankfully, he no longer had to recreate with mice-head placards, even if he did still enjoy it.

Abuela initially walked past him but turned around to give him a tight, warm hug that caused him to melt into her shoulders like a marshmallow. Bruno scratched his head afterwards wondering if he had made it too obvious that he was in need of an endless supply of hugs, but Abuela simply smiled lovingly at him.

"There... are more arepas in the kitchen that should still be hot, I think Julieta wanted you to have some,". She hesitated slightly, not yet being fully accustomed to wearing her heart on her sleeve.

"Thanks mamá,"

"Of course, Brunito," She gently patted his cheek and walked outside toward the patio to help Mirabel with cleaning up the rest of the paper decorations.

Spanish Translations to facilitate reading:

*"caca" means "poop" in Spanish; Camilo was basically being called something like "Poopymilo" for a year.

*"hijo"-son

*"mamá"-"mom"

*"abuela"-"grandma"

*"-ito/a"-"little"; term of endearment; equivalent of "Brunito" is something like "little Bruno"

Sorry if my translations are kind of vague, I'm tryna translate it in a way that makes cultural sense in English.