A Marriage of Convenience: A Bruno Madrigal Encanto Fanfic

Chapter 5

 Bruno was thoughtful as he headed into his room. It seemed like Claudia had some sort of trauma, that much was certain. Though from the Rojas or the orphanage was to be seen. Everyone knew about where she had come from. Andres Rojas had gotten past the mountains fifteen years ago and came back with a little girl. She was the talk of the town at the time. She had curly black hair, bright purple eyes and skinny as a skeleton. He had only seen a glimpse of her before Rojas had whisked her into their home. He had heard his mother whispering about it later on.

"If he can get past the mountains, it means that they could find us again. That girl could be one of them!"

The adults panicked for a few months. Apparently they were all scared of something beyond those mountains. Bruno knew a little about it, but he had been young and so he didn't know much. He did know whatever they were scared of had killed his father, so honestly Bruno had been worried too.

As he walked into his room the first thing he noticed was quiet giggling, so he silently snuck closer. Then he saw Claudia watching two of his mice "dance". They weren't the best but they did hold paws and sway pretty well. She applauded them as they split apart.

"Brava, you are truly talented," she said between giggles.

"I actually taught them that," Claudia jumped,"Sorry I didn't mean to scare you. Heh. I just was saying," as he bent down next to her,"they got those killer dance moves from me. Of course I tried to teach them the salsa, but the footwork was uh too tricky. So I stuck with a simple sway."

"But why did you teach them to dance in the first place?"

"Wellllllllll."

Bruno didn't want to admit that they made his telenovelas more romantic. She would think he was crazy, but he couldn't think of a good excuse, so-

"It improves the telenovelas?"

Claudia giggled as she stood. "So you DO make them do telenovelas. Pepa mentioned that earlier. "

"Speaking of earlier, are you ok? My sisters told me-"

"I'm fine….I'm good…..I'm tired."

"Oh, if you need a nap I can-"

"Emotionally tired," she clarified, "I don't do well with things breaking, especially when I break them. It kinda scares me."

Bruno wasn't sure what to say to help her. He searched his mind for something, anything, that could help.

"I'm scared of turtles," Bruno suddenly said.

"What?"

"Ya know those reptiles with shells-" he began explaining.

"No, I know what turtles are, but why are you scared of them?"

"Oh cause one uh bit me as a kid and they're these moving fortresses and- Well the point is we're all afraid of things and if you wanna talk about it, I'm here." Bruno gave a small thumbs up.

"Thanks it means a lot, but I'm not quite comfortable with it yet-"

"That's fine!"

"-but I would like to know about this telenovela of yours," Claudia said with a smile.

Bruno brightened up.

"Oh of course. So we're on season two, cause season one just wrapped up and anyways Juan Carlos is about to learn that Maria, his wife, is actually his long lost sister who disappeared in a hot air balloon five years prior. Except, surprise, she has amnesia."

They stayed like that for a bit. Bruno explained a complex storyline with twists and turns. Meanwhile Claudia asked occasional questions so she understood the plot.