Beautiful Bruises ~ Camilo Madrigal x Reader

Mother

"You shouldn't be around me anymore. We're breaking up."

It felt like your heart stopped cold when he said those words. Your eyes snapped up to meet his, but he refused to look at you. You quickly sat up, and this time he didn't protest against it, even though a concerned look crossed his features.

"I'll be leaving - there's a nice place outside of the village that I heard of, with a few people I know. I-"

"No." You meant for the words to come out louder, but they were whispered. You hated how weak you sounded - how scared. "Camilo, you can't. I- I can't live without you."

He took a deep breath, and you noticed how tightly he was clenching his fists. You reached for him, but he stood up and backed away quickly.

"No - you can't live with me. I'm done putting you in danger over and over again, (Y/N). I don't know what I would do if you-" His voice broke on the last word and he tightly clenched his jaw. "If I lost you."

"But you're losing me now!" you cried as he backed up, heading over to the door. "You can't leave! I love you, Camilo!"

He stopped at the door when you said those words, giving you time to stand up and limp towards him. Your legs felt like jello, and you assumed you had been sleeping for at least a day.

"I thought you were going to marry me one day."

As if a key twisted in his mind, his eyes widened. He probably thought you hadn't heard him when he said that - you were supposed to be asleep, after all.

But you had never forgotten, even though it had been ages ago. 

Suddenly he was in front of you, burying his head in your shoulder and sobbing. You stumbled back, off-balance, before wrapping your arms around his back. You carefully walked over to the bed, pulling him down beside you and just letting him cry into your neck. Hot tears spilled down your cheeks, but you forced your voice to remain steady as you whispered to him.

"It's ok," you breathed, stroking his curly cocoa-colored hair gently. His body shook, but his grip on your waist was impossibly tight, although not painful. "I'm here."

After a few minutes, he calmed down, and you gently placed your hands on his cheeks and pulled his face away from your shoulder so you could see him. His eyes had dark circles under them, and were red and puffy. His long lashes still had tiny tears clinging to them, and you smiled sadly as you wiped the salty droplets off his cheeks.

"I can't leave you," he whispered, his voice tiny even in the small room. "I just wanted to keep you safe, but I can't. I'm supposed to-"

"Shh," you said quickly, pressing a soft kiss to his nose. "A life without you wouldn't be worth living, tonto."

His sigh sounded relieved as he carefully cupped your face in his warm hands. Your eyes locked, and you lost yourself in the beautiful forest colors.

"Everything's going to be ok now," you promised, and he nodded, stroking your cheek with his thumb. "Everything's going to be perfect."

"(Y/N)?!" A voice that clearly belonged to Mirabel called from outside the room. She burst in just as you and Camilo hastily separated, before dashing over and wrapping you up in a tight hug. "We were so worried! Oh my gosh, I was afraid you would never wake up. There's so much that has happened in the past two days!"

"Wow," you said quietly, raising your eyebrows. "Like what?"

She sat between you and Camilo on the bed and started explaining. Camilo frowned, but you smiled and gripped her hand. You had missed Mirabel's comforting enthusiasm.

"Carlos and Lucía are doing great - they got in a fight with CJ, but they settled it and him and Carlos are friends now. Lucía still holds a grudge, but she's getting over it. It helped that he explained. He's living with us now - Casita gave him his door back - and Tia Pepa has never been happier. Or angrier. But Antonio's practically back to normal, as well as me and Camilo. Isabela's pregnancy is stable again, thankfully, but Dolores is absolutely distraught. Isabela has forgiven her about a million times, but she feels so bad for what she said... she's just upset that her and Mariano are having trouble having kids."

She took a deep breath, and you prepared yourself for the worst.

"Luisa is having... some trouble. You must remember how it was right after I revived you." You wished you didn't - the hallucinations and horrific nightmares still occasionally plagued your nights and even waking hours. "She's struggling with those, even though she pretends she isn't scared of them. She slept in my room both nights you were out. And I think that's about it... yup. For the most part, things are mostly normal again. We did our best to heal you up, but since the magic doesn't work on you..." She trailed off, and you glanced down at your shin, where a large white bandage was wrapped.

Camilo clenched his fists and looked away, shame reflected in his eyes.

"Well that's... a lot," you said after a moment, reaching behind Mirabel's back to grab Camilo's hand. "I think I want to talk to everyone."

Mirabel nodded and the three of you stood up, making your way to the hallway, where Jude immediately ran over to you. Unlike Mirabel, he embraced you gently, kissing the top of your head before pulling away.

"I missed you, (Y/N). I knew you would pull through - you always do," he added brightly, but you noticed the worry lines forming in his brow. "I think you could use some good news right now, so... Isabela wants you to be one of her bridesmaids!"

Your eyes widened, and Jude smiled, placing a large hand on your shoulder. 

"If you want, that is. It's still scheduled for next month, so you'll have plenty of time to rest and prepare. Plus, you'll be doing it with Mirabel and Luisa. Delores as well, but she's the maid of honor."

Dolores probably felt like she no longer deserved the title, judging from the guilty look she shared with you from across the banister. Poor girl.

"I would love to! Who are the groomsmen?"

"Mariano, of course, is my best man," he announced with a smile as Mariano strutted over, smiling at you. "And then Camilo and Antonio. And CJ."

"I still don't get that," Camilo grumbled, glaring at the ground. "He's a traitor."

"He made a mistake, Camilo," Jude argued, scowling at him. "He's your brother. You should understand that."

"Yeah," Antonio chimed in as he trotted over. "I love CJ!"

Before you could reach down to give him a hug, Camilo pulled you away.

"We know it's you, CJ. Drop the act." His tone was cold and uncaring, nothing like how a brother should sound.

Antonio shifted back into CJ, who rolled his eyes nonchalantly, but you noticed an undertone of hurt in his voice as he spoke.

"Worth a shot."

He sounds just like Camilo.

"(Y/N)!" Pepa cried as she ran over, wrapping her arms around you tightly and squeezing you. For a moment, all you could see was your mother when you were younger, dashing over to hug you when you scraped your knee.

"Mama!" you said with a smile, hugging her back, before tensing up.

Holy crap. I messed up.