Crushing On A Madrigal | 𝐄𝐧𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐅𝐚𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐜

·16·

"Making Camilo Smile"

Though Estella originally planned on going back into the woods, she became hesitant to do so. Overthinking about unrealistic things like; "What if I find Mirabel and she gets upset cuz I didn't let her be?", or "What if Mirabel left and never came back, and now I need to go find her and convince her to stay even though I let her go when we had the chance to talk?", and bla bla bla.

It's a family problem, right? 

She asked herself mentally and nodded as a response physically while pacing just at the edge of the forest.

And she promised to come back. She added, nodding more. Which means she'll come back, right?

"Argh! I'm not even doing anything anymore at this point." She groaned, frustratingly dragging her palms down her face.

After wasting time being idle and indecisive, she figured that since she was not even part of the family, she'd need to let them fix their own misunderstandings. This is why she's now marching towards the casa Madrigal – to see how the others are.

How insensitive of me not to think about them. She scolds herself, thinking of how upset they could be feeling after losing their home, their candle, along with their gifts. Especially Antonio, knowing how he just got his gift and his share of worries at the age of five.

Craning her neck from afar, Estella could see the broken rubble that once used to be the lively Casita, although there were no traces of the Madrigals anywhere – they were most likely trying to find Mirabel too.

Walking near the premises, she finds her mood drop as she remembers the few memories she had in here with Mirabel and Camilo when they were younger.

It wasn't her house but it still felt dreadful to see it lying around pieces.

"Hey," She said, sitting down next to the glum boy in yellow that was in the rubble. "Everyone's out looking for Mirabel, and Antonio is sleeping over at a friend's, in case you were worried." He said, turning to look at her. "Which I know for a fact that you are."

"Well, actually, I was going to ask you if you were okay." Estella corrected, "It wasn't exactly the best question since..." She trailed, glancing at their surroundings.

"It's not that bad." Camilo tells her, "I mean, I hate not having a house, let's get that straight." He clarified sassily, making her smile a little.

"I'm thinking not having a gift is fine." The boy sighed, "Y'know, maybe now I can finally be me," He paused, looking down at his feet as he curls his toes. "But then I remembered that I'm nothing without it."

"That's not true," Estella softly said, tilting her head at him. "Your gift doesn't make you Camilo Madrigal, you do." She tells him in a more encouraging way, making him look at her with a curious and amused, crooked smile.

"Your gift didn't give you your sense of humor, and your tremendous appetite, or your annoying–" Estella started listing, pausing for a second to remind herself that she was trying to encourage him. "annoying but creative," She added truthfully, "pranks, and, well..."

"Your good looks." She coughed, averting her eyes.

"Sorry, what was that last one again?" Camilo grinned teasingly, pretending that he didn't hear and loved the sound of what she had just said.

"Oh, I know you heard me." Estella hissed embarrassedly, happy about the fact that she had made him smile a little.

"Plus, you make people smile every day which is a very hard thing to do. And since I'm your friend and I care, I'd like to make you smile today." Estella mentioned, scooting closer. "So, tell me. How can I make you smile?" She asks playfully, trying to cheer him up or at least distract him from his worry a little.

"Is it food? Should I go try out my rusty cooking skills in a kitchen and hope I don't burn the house down?" She joked, making him scoff which she considered progress.

"Okay, what about... uhmm," She trailed, trying to think of something. "A hug. A nice, big, comforting hug." She said, wrapping her arms around him from the side, feeling him pat her arm.

"Maybe I should frown more often." He joked and chuckled as Estella gave him a gentle slap on the shoulder. "That's not how this works." She laughed before the two had a short moment of silence, sitting peacefully on a big piece of what used to be part of the casa's wall.

"Please don't make me have to break into a musical number for you." Estella joked as she breaks away from their hug while Camilo lets out a laugh and started grinning at her mischievously. "Would you really sing for me though?"

"No," Estella said. "Maybe," She corrected, "If it would help though I doubt it would do anything aside from wrecking your earbuds."

Estella tried her best to make Camilo laugh and smile for as long as she can, hoping that she was really helping someone who's always been there for her. The two even ended up reminiscing over their fun childhood memories.

Camilo was thankful for Estella's presence – If she hadn't come, he'd still probably be looking like the most depressed teen sitting alone on a pile of rubble. As long as he has her by his side, he can be allowed to feel as if nothing was wrong, and most importantly, he can be allowed to be himself.

With Estella, even the never-fading question that lingers inside the back of his head gets ignored and more hushed.

He's been keeping his worries and anxiety to himself, not wanting to worry his family especially since they're already burdened with heavy responsibilities. And since his only escape was the girl right beside him, he would mostly end up being glued to her all day, admiring her, annoying her, teasing her, and helping her. He'll do anything with her since she was the only person who never needed him to be someone else.

The two of them can struggle to reach the top shelf and she still wouldn't ask him to shapeshift into someone taller unless he wanted to on his own but whenever she did ask for help, she'd need him and only him. That's why he liked her so much.

Ggrruummbbllee...

The two fell silent after hearing the faint sound of something grumbling. "Was that you?" Camilo asked, and seeing how Estella blushed a little and looked away immediately after hearing the question, he already knew it was.

"No?" She said, her answer sounding more like a question. "How long have you been awake? Tell me you at least had a bite before coming here." The boy asked, getting upset about how reckless she was being with herself, catching her by surprise.

"Well, I did, I had some bread and–" She tried to explain, but only found herself getting cut off by Camilo, with his furrowed brows.

"A piece of bread isn't close to being breakfast. You're already pretty thin, it's not like you need to be thinner. You should go home and eat." He lectured her, urging her to stand up and gently pushing her away as a motion for her to go back to her house. "Cook and burn the house if you have to." He said in an attempt to sound jokingly, though it ended up sounding a bit stern.

After seeing Estella off, he noticed how the people in town started to wake up already and Camilo couldn't help but envy them.

It must be nice, it must be nice~

"–to have a nice warm bed to sleep on." He pouted, sighing afterward and dragging his weight to go walk and see what he can do.

Estella's absence is already taking its toll as the boy starts to feel glum and blue again.

★ See what I did there? HAHAHA! ★

★ I love my broken humor. ★