Shifting Allegiances (Camilo x OC)

~sixteen~

Elian gave Camilo a small smile. "You should probably find a place to stay for the night. It's getting late. I'd offer you my house, but I think my Abuelo would try to kill you in your sleep." Camilo huffed a laugh.

Verónica raced over to them, holding Mirabel's hand. "Hey guys! I'm already having Mirabel over if Mama says it's ok, and Elian too of course, so Camilo, wanna see if you can come too?"

"Sure! I'll ask my Papa." They yelled over to Felix, "Hey, Papa! May I spend the night at Verónica's house? Mirabel's coming too!"

"Sure! Have fun, but come back in the morning!"

"Gracias!" They turned to Verónica. "That's a yes."

"Cool. Fingers crossed my Mama agrees!"

Elian let out a snort. "Yeah."

She did, admittedly with much trepidation. But it was a fun night with the four of them, and Camilo came out to Mirabel, who was obviously fine with it.

They did not, unfortunately, get much sleep, but it was enough. They woke to the smell of cooking arepas.

"Oof, I need to cut back on arepas," Elian said. "With your degeneracy--" they poked Camilo in the side-- "I've been eating far too many."

"Sorry Elian, this is what I made."

"Oh, it's okay, I'll eat them. Obviously. You make the best Arepas in town, Tia." (not bio aunt, earned title cuz verónica and elian are like sibs) They considered. "Well, maybe aside from Julieta. I would love to see a competition between you two."

The teens wolfed down their breakfast. "Thanks for letting us stay here!" Mirabel said cheerfully.

"No problem, niña. Any friend of Verónica is welcome-- or, for that matter, a friend of Elian's," she said, nodding at Camilo.

"Yeah, thanks a lot. 'Preciate it." They smiled prettily at her. "We do have to go back now though, regrettably."

"Yes, go ahead. I'll see you later, Verónica, Elian."

The four of them walked out and up the road.

"Hey!" Verónica said, turning to Mirabel. "When we remake the house, you'll finally get a larger room!"

Mirabel brightened considerably at that. "That's true! I wonder what I'll do with all that space..."

Camilo sighed. "I'll have to buy a mirror, and a bed, and shelves, and new materials... that's good for you, though Mirabel. You really should have had a better room than the nursery, even without magic."

Mirabel shrugged. "None of you knew how to go against Abuela. No one knew how that'd work, or the best way to go about it. I'm not exempt from that."

"We really should have done better for you, though."

Mirabel eyed them evenly. "Yes. You should have. But here we are, and I've forgiven everyone. As long as everyone does better, and that's a low bar, we should be okay."

"Yup." They arrived at the site, where people had already begun clearing away rubble and drawing schematics. Camilo walked up to their Abuela somewhat nervously, "How can I help?" Mirabel stood next to them.

"Mirabel, I think you should help with the schematics-- hardly anyone knew la Casita better than you, save for me, and I'm overseeing. Camilo..." she hesitated. "May I talk to you?"

"Sure, if Elian can come too. If that's okay with you," they said, directing the last part to Elian. They nodded.

The three of them walked a little ways off. "I'm sorry, mijo," Alma Madrigal said. "I shouldn't have said those things about you and Elian. That said, I still don't understand."

Camilo considered this. "I'm grateful for your apology, Abuela. But I don't think I'm ready to forgive you yet. You really hurt me, and have been hurting this family for a long time. I can't just let that go."

"I understand, hijo. I hope you do someday though."

"I think I will, Abuela. I just need some time. But I can explain it to you, if you want." She nodded.

"I feel really feminine a lot of the time. I thought that was normal as a child, but then I found out it wasn't. So I subconsciously tried to suppress it, I think, so I would fit in and be the little boy you wanted me to be. And most of the time it was fine, I'd have days where I'd shift more than others, and days when I was certain in my body. I didn't even know about other identities beyond male and female until I met Elian. They opened my eyes.

"Being able to look into myself more, I found that I wasn't always strictly male. You talked to me while I was figuring myself out. I was mad that you were misgendering Elian, and I was feeling particularly feminine. Also angry that you just assumed I wouldn't date a guy. I really don't care what gender someone is, that doesn't impact my attraction.

"I ran off and talked to Elian and Verónica, and they managed to talk me down and understand me. What really kinda cinched it for me was when the magic fell, and I couldn't shift... I felt trapped and stuck, and I hated my body. It's not going great, to be honest. But Elian especially, and also Verónica, they get it."

Camilo looked at their Abuela. "I'm sorry I can't be the perfect grandson you wanted. But this is me, and you'll just have to learn to accept it."

Their Abuela regarded them silently for a minute. "I still don't quite get it, honestly. But I will do my best to respect your wishes, mija."

Camilo smiled tearfully at her. "That's all I ask." They gave her a quick hug.

Señora Madrigal then turned to Elian. "And I apologize to you too, child. I should not have been so rude to you then. And I will no longer attempt to prevent my Camilo from seeing you."

"Thank you, Señora," Elian responded respectfully.

"Okay. Now I think you two can help with the clearing of rubble, Camilo, you may want to take over your room area and see if you can salvage anything. Most of the things provided by la Casita vanished with the magic, but I know you bought your own notebooks and whatnot."

"Si Abuela. Come one, Elian!" The two ran off towards the spot they had found the notebook (which was currently at Verónica's house for safekeeping) the day before.

A/N

Reminder that you do not need to forgive people just because they apologize! Even if it is genuine! If they really hurt you you don't owe them shit! You can just thank them for apologizing and let things progress from there! I know from experience!
I'm on chapter 19 :') story's wrapping up for me