Camilo x Reader -Broken Reflection

Chapter 14 (Me, the succulents, and the nerd)

Y/N's POV

I lightly knocked on Camilo's door before opening it. The boy called my name and I stepped inside his room, letting the door swing shut behind me.

"Whatcha working on?" I asked as I headed towards his bookshelf. I carried a small floral printed watering can in one hand and a small bag in the other.

"Nothing," he replied from his stage. He was laying on it like he usually did with a book in his hands. His legs hung from the stage's side and his arms were raised above his head. I wondered if they were tired.

I'd gotten into the routine of spending free afternoons in Camilo's room, curled up on his couch or his stage with one of his books in hand. We'd read to each other sometimes and he'd lay his head on my legs as he traced the printed words on the pages. I'd water his plants and clean the surprising dusty glass of his mirrors. It wasn't like I was cleaning his room for him- I just did it when I was bored.

"Whatcha reading?" I called from across the room. I glanced at the shapeshifter who had put down his book. It was thick with a red cover. Camilo wasn't wearing his poncho- instead, he was wearing one of the bright orange cardigans that Isabela had bought him paired with his usual collared shirt. Most of the buttons were undone for comfort.

I shifted to water the succulents that sat on the ground directly in front of his window.

"Hamlet," He replied. Camilo had recently taken an interest in Shakespearean plays and books. I wasn't all that surprised- Camilo sometimes acted out scenes in the plays that he read for Mirabel and I. Antonio would help him sometimes and they'd end their performance with a deep bow at the waist with linked hands.

"My necessaries are embarked... Farewell. And, sister, as the winds give benefit, and convey is assistant, do not sleep, but let me hear from you," He read, glancing at the book that rested on the light wood of his stage. He pulled his knee to his chest and watched me slip my watering can onto his bookshelf. I turned to him with my bag and approached the stage.

"Do you doubt that?" I asked, playing along. We'd read Hamlet together and the first act and third scene was his favourite. I didn't know why.

His lips broke into a goofy smile as he slid off of the stage with bare feet and met me halfway.

"For Hamlet and the trifling of his favor, hold it a fashion and a toy in blood, a violet in the youth of primy nature, forward... not permanent, sweet, not lasting, the perfume and suppliance of a minute. No more," he continued. I cocked an eyebrow, watching as he smiled through his lines. His teeth were bright and he had a small gap in between the two front ones. I liked it. It was cute.

"No more but so?" I asked.

"Think it no more."

I stood there for a moment to let him finish Laertes' line, but he said nothing.

"I forgot my line," he whispered. Seconds later, we were both laughing.

"You're such a nerd," I said after a while.

"Says the girl that memorized Ophelia's line," He retaliated.

"That's because you made me read it so often." Camilo considered this but shook his head moments later, his dark brown curls bouncing as he moved.

There was a moment of silence that passed and I found myself looking up at the teenage boy. Over two months had passed since we'd first met. It seemed like no time had passed at all, yet, it felt like we'd been friends forever. I felt the same towards Mirabel. I couldn't fathom how lucky I was to stumble into the Madrighal's beautiful village. I was lucky to experience their Encanto and feel like I was a part of the family. There were rough patches, I knew, but everything always worked out.