Encanto Oneshots

Ricardo el estúpido

Bruno didn't want to be at the town meeting addressing his reappearance, but Dolores still had dirt on him, and he wanted to keep his dignity, thank you very much.

"Dearest people of the Encanto. As many of you have noticed, my son" Alma paused, smiling fondly at Bruno, to which she got a meek smile in return, "has returned to our town. Now, many of you have been wondering why he did return, and where he's been. After discussing it with Bruno, we've decided to give you some answers"

An awkward pause while the townspeople waited for her to explain, and while Alma waited for them to ask any questions.

"Any questions that you'd, y'know, like me to answer?" Bruno asked

All the townspeople started talking at once, save for a few who raised their hands (all of which were under the age of 14, god bless their souls)

"HEY!" Bruno yelled, startling his mother next to him. He turned around to check if she'd passed out or something (Hey! She was getting pretty old!) and she stared at him, waiting to see what he would do.

"OKAY, WE GET IT! YOU HAVE QUESTIONS, BUT CAN YOU PLEASE SHUT UP?"

Everyone quieted down, and the ones raising their hands began taking them down slowly. Bruno quickly called on one of the girls in the back, who had her hair in two braids. (later, he would find out it was the sister of the girl that was part of the trio who had questions about all the gifts the morning of Antonio's ceremony)

"Yes, you? The one with the braids. What color are you wearing- Red. The girl with braids in red?" The townspeople looked offended. Bruno only gave them a deadpan look and said that she'd raised her hand, like a civilized human, so she would go first.

"How tall are you? You don't look 10 feet tall" Bruno almost fell down, on the spot. In his defense, he hadn't expected Camilo to shrink him in the song!

"Erm... I'm 5 foot 2"

"Oh" She seemed satisfied with his answer. The moment she stopped talking, about two hundred arms raised.

Bruno sighed. This was going to take a while

Bruno answered as many questions as he could, although his mama had to answer a few. He was warned by Camilo that he might have stretched the truth a bit, but ay Dios Mio, did that boy have to make him out to be an absolute horror story?

About a couple hundred questions later(No? It was just 26? Really? Are you sure? Well alright then. 26 questions later) Everything changed.

Ricardo. Ever the idiot, his old friend-

Well, let's just say he and Bruno had grown apart after Bruno started being able to realize his coping mechanism. And that didn't happen until he gave his best friend a horrible vision.

But Ricardo, the engañar, Asked the question that Bruno had been dreading since the beginning of the mass interrogation.

"So you the creep just watched you through the walls? And you welcomed him back?"

Alma stood there, frozen. He really had the audacity to-

"I'm sorry, say that again?"

Bruno internally sighed. She really was turning deaf.

"You just let the creep live in the walls-"

"Oh, so I did hear you right. I thought I'd just misunderstood. Women my age are prone to losing their hearing." Alma spoke calmly. She acted unbothered, although if you looked directly into her eyes, you could see the nastiest glower you'd see in your lifetime.

"Alright then, Senor Ricardo. To answer your excellent question, we welcomed him with open arms, because he is my family. And in response to you're disgustingly rude question, I, Alma Madrigal, Candlebearer of the Encanto, Formally ban-"

She never got to finish her formal banishment, because her attention snapped to her son, who'd just yelled the loudest "WAIT" she'd ever heard in her entire life. Alongside practically bursting her eardrums, Bruno leaped off the podium he was standing on with Alma, Shoving and pushing his way past the villagers, finally making his way to Ricardo.

"Estupido, why in fucks sake would you say that? You know it would have set her off, tonto! Ay dios mio, don't fucking faint on me! Imbécil!"

The entire crowd stood in shock, Alma included, as they watched Bruno trying to wake up a fainted Ricardo

"What are you all looking at? Help me!"

No one had to do anything, however, because Ricardo regained consciousness at that point.

"Bruno? What the hell are you doing here?" he said sleepily

"Ay, imbécil, you fainted after almost being banished. Why would you do that?"

Ricardo seemed to regain his composure and stood up.

"So are you gonna banish me, or what?"

Everyone stood there, waiting to see what Alma would do. No one expected the loud slap that sounded when Bruno hit Ricardo's face with the palm of his hand

"Estúpido, I told you to stop that. Ay dios mio, Mama, Por favor, Don't banish this idiot. It really isn't worth it"

"It is, Brunito, he insulted you"

"Mama, I know it looks pretty damn bad, but trust me, just don't."

The older woman looked uncertain, but a quick glance into her son's determined eyes got her to let it go. She tried to pull him back onto the podium (he insisted he climb back on instead of using the stairs) and almost fell backward. They continued answering the town's many questions, and at some point had to make an announcement on "no repeats".

After walking home, Alma cornered her son.

"Now if you'd like to tell me what the hell all that was about..." she said sternly

"Erm. Ah, yes... Well, Ricardo is a complicated person. He used to be my friend, up until I realized he used some less-than-pleasant coping methods with change. The prominent being acting like a headstrong fool." he paused, looking at his mother

"Well, it really wasn't worth banishing him, especially when he really was trying to figure out what the hell was going on, all while keeping his 'bad boy' act going on"

His mother only stared at him.

"Hey! When you're desperately bored inside the walls of your family's house, you take up some odd hobbies, one of which being psychoanalyzing every person you knew!"