#bruno madrigal x male OC
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🥰My Encanto OC Jerónimo🥰
He loves Bruno even more than I do tbh
#bruno madrigal#bruno my beloved#encanto#encanto art#rat man#encanto bruno#julieta madrigal#pepa madrigal#encanto fanart#encanto triplets#encanto oc#encanto fandom#encanto original character#jerónimo Valesco#my characters#my art#gay bruno madrigal#bruno madrigal x oc#bruno madrigal x male Oc
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Week one of @encanto-extended-edition;
Please welcome; the new and improved Miguel Herrero! (I decided to delete the original introductory post cause I wasn't satisfied with it.
Pronouns: He/Him
Age during movie: 51
Eye Color: Hazel Brown
Hair Color: Black with silver streaks
Height: 5'6
Occupation: Ceramicist/Potter
Miguel is a very extroverted and friendly, yet sensitive soul. He's always willing to lend a hand to whoever is in need, and can start a conversation with just about anyone and is good at listening. However, he has a tendency to take things to heart.
3 interesting facts about Miguel are;
He loves chickens and even has a chicken coop in his backyard.
He is horribly afraid of spiders.
He cut off the tip of his finger in a carpentry accident.
Rough Bio underneath cut!
Miguel’s father, Alejandro, died when Miguel was five, leaving his mother, Michelle, to raise him, his brother, Vicente and his sister, Fatima. Miguel doesn’t remember his father much, but his mother took good care of him and his siblings.
Miguel’s brother, Vicente, was a hard-working and ambitious young man, and was also Miguel’s best friend. Unfortunately, while out on a hunting trip, his family received a vision from Bruno foretelling his death, and he would die after falling from his horse entering back into the Encanto, at the age of 24. Miguel’s family was devastated, and Miguel harbored a deep resentment and hatred for Bruno for some time, before something happened that made him see the seer very differently. Soon, the two would unexpectedly become good friends, Miguel teaching the man to let go a little, and Bruno teaching Miguel how to appreciate quiet and solitude.
In his mid-thirties, Miguel would become an apprentice for Hugo Aguinaldo, one of the best ceramicists/potters in the Encanto. Hugo would teach Miguel everything he knew, and would treat him like a son. He was even the first person Miguel would come out to. When Aguinaldo passed away, Miguel was heartbroken, but would be forever grateful to the man.
Miguel is very happy to have Bruno back, but with his return, comes some new feelings to bubble to the surface…
Art belongs to my friend Jay on twitter, @overly-dramatic-artist and lord_madmyth on insta! Thank you guys so much!
#encanto oc appreciation#encanto oc event#miguel herrero#encanto oc#bruno madrigal x male oc#bruno madrigal x oc#encanto
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Dinner with the Family
Oneshot Summary: Future fic! It's Isabela's wedding anniversary and she has requested the entire Madrigal clan come together for a single meal in the stead of a party. Bruno begins to suspect something might be up when Bubo requests they sit next to each other. Or, the dinner where Bubo and Isabela come out to the family.
Preview: "The door opened again and Isabela stepped out, wearing her most stylish indigo jumpsuit and a few pink flowers in her hair that Bruno was pretty sure she hadn’t meant to make. She turned, holding her hand out, and waited."
Bruno hummed happily on his way into town, despite the ache in his knees and the stiffness in his back. He had been having a good day, and was reasonably sure it was only going to get better. After all, Juli (and whoever volunteered to help her) were cooking a special dinner for Isabela’s and Bubo’s anniversary. The couple of honor had requested Bruno invite his boyfriend, Heraldo, which left said boyfriend in a rather good mood for the past two weeks. And Bruno had it on good authority (Antonio) that his youngest rat was getting past her cold. So yes, today was a good day and would only continue to get better.
That wasn’t a prophecy, but he felt pretty certain of it anyway.
He reached Heraldo’s bookshop and cut his humming short before walking through the open door, in case anyone was trying to read. Thankfully, the shop was empty with the exception of Heraldo’s grandchildren, sitting behind the counter doing their homework.
“Hola Tío,” fourteen year old Flora greeted him with a distracted smile.
“Abuelooooooo,” eleven year old Fabian shouted, almost directly into his sister’s ear, she glared at him but he pretended not to notice, “your boyfriend’s here!”
Bruno quietly flinched, but didn’t shush the boy. It probably wasn’t a great idea to announce to the whole village that he and Heraldo were dating. Encanto was a paradise and people were much more accepting of him than they used to be, but still. Bubo had gotten chased out of the city when the wrong person found out a little too much about Bubo’s “private life”. Eventually, Bruno knew, people like them would be safe to live their lives out in the open, but not yet. The battle for their right to love openly had only just started in the more liberal cities. They were decades out from victory.
All that said, they were alone in the shop, and Bruno liked hearing that title be announced with so little fanfare.
The sound of Heraldo’s slow steps made it down the stairs long before he did. Like Bruno, he was in his seventies, and his joints didn’t always cooperate with him. Bruno leaned his weight on his cane, happy to wait as long as Heraldo needed.
Once upon a time, Heraldo had been a train conductor. He had taken a job as a station manager when he and his beard/best friend decided they wanted kids, then went back to conducting once those kids were grown. His “wife” had passed shortly after their youngest son was married, said youngest son had gone to the United States for work and sent Heraldo all the money the kids would ever need. Heraldo had retired so he could care for the two kids in his son’s absence. When Bruno had asked about their mother, Heraldo had smiled sadly, shrugged, and said “She’s a good woman, but life isn’t always kind out there”.
Bruno had no idea what that meant, other than, “Don’t ask.”
He emerged from the stairwell in his muted green suit. Something he usually reserved for church. His white beard was trimmed neatly, and he had his nice glasses on instead of the crooked bifocals that were usually perched high on the wide bridge of his nose.
Heraldo had once been a tall man, but the years on the go had caught up with him, hunching his shoulders and compressing his spine. In quiet moments before bed, Heraldo had confided in Bruno how it was actually a bit of a relief to be shorter now, he had talked at length about what it was like to be a large grumpy black man out there in the world beyond their paradise. He had spoken of years spent being feared, and loathed, and ostracized. And he had gotten a little choked up when he spoke about how different things were now that he was a hobbling Abuelo with two kids hanging off him, how he had almost thanked a woman the first time a stranger turned to him for safety rather than edging away from him in fear.
In turn, Bruno had spoken at length about what it was like to be The Bruno Madrigal, versus his new life as goofy Tío Bruno.
“Oh, you don’t have to get all dressed up for this,” Bruno immediately said, “i-it’s just a family dinner!”
“Exactly,” Heraldo gruffed, crossing the shop floor as quickly as his bad hip would allow, “this is a family affair, want to show how grateful I am to be included.”
They both glanced at the open door and shop window before clasping hands and briefly pressing their lips together. Fabian made an exaggerated retching sound, and was promptly smacked by his sister.
“Abuelo! Tío! Flora hit me,” Fabian cried in a nasally voice, and didn’t even bother trying to hide the smarmy grin he sent his sister.
“Because you’re being obnoxious!”
“Flora, use your words, not your fists,” Heraldo snapped, “Fabian, she’s right, you are being obnoxious.”
Fabian pouted, first at Heraldo, then when that got him nowhere, at Bruno. Bruno grimaced, but couldn’t help himself.
“Are you alright mijo?” he asked, he didn’t need his gift to foresee that Heraldo would tease him for being such a softy.
“No,” Fabian announced, sighing dramatically, “I can’t feel my legs.”
“I hit you in the shoulder.”
“Yeah, but really, really, reeeeeally hard.”
“Would uh, would a hug help you feel better?” Bruno asked, already knowing Fabian would accept just to keep the act going, but not sure how else to respond.
Fabian sniffed, pointing his nose in the air, “It would.”
“Alright then,” Bruno hobbled a few steps towards the counter, but didn’t have to go far. Fabian may have enjoyed annoying his sister, but he was still raised with manners. He ran out from behind the counter before Bruno had taken five steps.
Bruno hugged him, glanced at Heraldo, and could already hear his boyfriend telling him he played right into the kid’s hands. He shrugged sheepishly. Heraldo shook his head.
“Gracias Tío,” Fabian said, letting Bruno go, “I think I might survive through the night now.”
“Oh good, I’m glad,” Bruno patted his shoulder.
At the counter, Flora watched with a thoroughly unamused look on her face. She took after her abuelo in many ways, but most especially in attitude. All the same, she rose to the bait and asked Bruno for a hug as well. He accepted, not wanting to show favorites and she stared pointedly at her brother while she wrapped Bruno in her arms. Said brother loudly bemoaned Bruno’s apparent betrayal.
They lingered a while longer, so Bruno could ask the kids about their homework, and how their week had been since he last saw them on Wednesday. When Heraldo dragged him away, Bruno was doing his best to stutter his way out of judging which kid had doodled the better rat within thirty seconds.
“You know, those two make a game of trying to be your ‘favorite’, right? Still not convinced you ain’t dating me just for them,” Heraldo teased, when they were finally walking towards Casita, Heraldo carrying a wrapped present for the couple of honor.
“O-oh come on, it isn’t like I don’t already have plenty of kids at home,” Bruno argued.
“Hm, exactly, you’re an addict,” Heraldo said, anyone who didn’t know him well would call it grumbling, “can’t go five minutes without kissing a bruised knee.”
“Like you’re one to talk,” Bruno rolled his eyes, “I bet once we get there it’ll take less than fifteen minutes before you got a kid in your lap.”
“Slander,” Heraldo grunted.
“Oh?” Bruno eyed him slyly, “If that’s so, then take the bet.”
Heraldo didn’t say anything. Bruno chuckled.
When they reached Casita, his Má was sitting out front in her wicker wheelchair, enjoying the sunshine as Victor practiced on the violin next to her. Despite her limited mobility she was doing remarkably well for a woman who was coming up on triple digits; actually, the doctors were beginning to suspect that being around so many healers might have a few side effects. As a matter of fact, as Victor’s violin strings glowed, Bruno could almost see the cataracts in his Má’s left eye clear up a little.
“Heraldo,” Má greeted him warmly, “how kind of you to join us.”
“Not at all, Señora, just honored to be invited,” Heraldo replied, ducking his head politely.
“You didn’t bring the grandchildren?”
“Ah, no, not this time. Flora is too caught up in her studies, and Fabian is too caught up in distracting her.”
“Ah, sí, next time then,” Má nodded, “you’ve met my eldest great grandchild, Victor, by now, sí?”
Victor was Dolores’ first child, and at nineteen was the eldest in his generation of Madrigals. He was actually the first of the great grandchildren Heraldo had met, but that was years ago, and they seldom interacted since. Not for any particular reason, they just didn’t have much in common.
“I have, good to see you again mijo,” Heraldo said, making an effort to sound a bit less like he was growling than usual.
“And you señor.”
“Think I’ve met the whole collection by now,” Heraldo said, glancing at Bruno for confirmation.
“Um,” Bruno thought about it, there were a lot of Madrigals to keep track of these days, he sort of wished he’d bothered to make a checklist, “have you met all three of Mirabel’s sons?”
“Sí, and Luisa’s twins, and her newest one a few times.”
“What about Camilo’s new son?” Alma asked.
“Ah sí, unless he’s actually had twins too,” Heraldo quirked a smile, “I’ve only met one baby, but you lot tend to have them in bundles.”
“Hm, we do seem to have a lot of twins and triplets in the family, don’t we.”
“Some research supports that it’s genetic,” Victor interjected, as he switched to plucking, “there was this survey done of birth records that found-. Oops.”
The violin strings stopped glowing once the discordant note interrupted the melody. Victor flinched, cheeks red.
“It’s alright mijo, you’re doing very well, try it again,” Má gently patted his shoulder.
He nodded, taking a deep breath to calm his embarrassment as he put the bow back on the strings and took the song from the top. Victor loved playing, and he loved the thought of being a town healer like his Tía Julieta, but he had terrible stage fright. He wasn’t technically out here to practice playing, he was out here to practice playing where people could hear him.
Bruno quietly ushered Heraldo inside, gently touching his mother’s hand as they passed. She smiled up at him, briefly, then continued to watch Victor play.
Predictably, Casita’s courtyard was filled with kids, many of whom paused whatever games they were playing to greet Bruno and Heraldo. As soon as the two men had sat down to wait for dinner, Antonio’s eldest had crawled into Heraldo’s lap. Bruno grinned at him, while Heraldo pretended not to notice. The little girl made it easy on him, she happily distracted him with all the new things she’d figured out how to turn her hair into.
Bruno felt a tug on his pant leg, he looked down and found one of Luisa’s twins hiding behind the couch by his leg. All three of Luisa’s kids tended towards being shy, and weren’t sure how to handle Heraldo’s gruff attention, so Bruno wasn’t surprised that the little boy handed him a little clay bowl he had made then immediately ran away. As soon as Bruno looked up, he was met by one of Mirabel’s triplets. Specifically, the one named after him.
“Sí?” seventy-two year old Bruno asked.
“Má wants to know if my kitten can play in one of your mazes,” nine year old Bruno said.
“Oh, Mirabel wants to know that, does she?”
“Sí, she told me to ask you,” he nodded, then pulled the little black kitten out from under his ruana, “I promise she won’t break anything!”
Bruno pressed his lips together to keep from laughing at the idea that the tiny, squeaking, fuzzy potato in his grand-nephew’s hand was capable of breaking anything. Black cats may be bad luck, but there was only so much damage a fur ball that small could dole out. He schooled his features into a contemplative look, even tapping his chin a few times as he made a long, drawn out “Hmmmmm” sound.
“Por favor Tío!”
“Maybe,” he said slowly, “she can play in the maze if you try one new food at dinner.”
“I can do that,” he agreed, nodding eagerly.
“Pinky promise?”
“Pinky promise!”
They shook pinkies, then nine year old Bruno ran off, yelling to nine year old Agustín and nine year old Félix, “Tío Bruno said my cat can play in the maze but your guys’ can’t!”
“Que? That’s not what I said,” he squawked, “I said your kitten can play in the maze if you try one new thing at dinner.”
“Ours too?” little Félix asked.
“Sure. If you each try something new.”
“No fair, I’ve tried everything,” little Agustín shouted. He was the most adventurous of the three, and probably right, he may very well have tried everything Julieta knew how to cook.
“Ah, that’s r-right,” Bruno paused, actually having to think about it this time, “umm…”
“What if he does something nice for his Má,” Heraldo suggested quietly.
“Oh! That’s good,” Bruno nodded, “your kitten can play in the maze if you go out and find a flower to match your Má’s dress.”
“I can do that,” he chirped, then used a great burst of wind to launch himself over Casita’s walls. Faintly, Bruno heard a few screams from where he would have landed. He exchanged a sheepish look with Heraldo, they probably should have known he would do that.
Thankfully, before anyone could come wagging fingers, Camilo walked downstairs with a kid hanging off his back, and his baby in the crook of his arm. He clapped his free hand against his thigh to get all of the children’s attention.
“Alright, time to start washing up for dinner,” he called, “let’s go, four at a time. Any volunteers?”
Nobody raised their hand.
He sighed, then started pointing at random kids, “You, you, you, and you! Into the bathroom.”
“Aaaaw, but I-.”
“No buts! It’s a special occasion, and anyone who makes me wait any longer than I have to, to have dinner is getting stuck with all the dishes,” Camilo said, the children took this threat seriously, running past him to wash their hands. Satisfied, Camilo turned to follow them, and Bruno had a startling realization.
“Camilo, that boy doesn’t live here.”
Camilo glanced over his shoulder at the kid on his back, “Do you live here?”
“No.”
“Are your parents looking for you?”
“Probably not, they both have to work late.”
“You want to stay for dinner?”
“Yes please. My abuela burns everything.”
“Alright, what’s one more kid,” that said, Camilo continued with his quest to get all the kids washed up by dinner time.
“Huh,” Heraldo said, and when Bruno looked at him, he was eyeing Bruno with an almost smile.
“What?”
“Just impressed you can keep these kids straight,” he said with a shrug.
“Oh,” Bruno chuckled a little sheepishly, “h-honestly, I’m pretty impressed with myself about that too.”
“Well, you should be,” Heraldo all but snapped, “pretty sure there are rabbits with fewer kids to keep track of.”
“To be fair, the rabbits are just one set of parents, and none of the baby rabbits have the ability to turn their hair into fire.”
As he said this, he gestured at the little girl sitting in Heraldo’s lap, and she happily obliged by setting her head ablaze. She grinned up at them and there was an empty space where she’d just lost a baby tooth. Heraldo stared at her as wide eyed as he ever got until she turned her hair into long shining grass instead, she’d been experimenting with weaving it into baskets lately.
Point made, Bruno shrugged, “I-it helps that all the kids can be broken down into groups based on who their parents are. Isabela has one; Dolores, and Antonio both have two; Mirabel, Camilo, and Luisa, all have three. Oh, and! A-and if you think about it, that’s only fourteen kids to keep track of.”
“Fourteen for now,” Heraldo said, “Your nieces are still young enough that-.”
Bruno accidentally cut Heraldo off by knocking on the wooden beam next to their couch. He certainly wouldn’t mind another niece or nephew, but pregnancy didn’t come without risk.
Camilo returned with the first four children and sent them off to the kitchen to see if they could help set the table, then rounded up the remaining three, including the little girl sitting in Heraldo’s lap. As soon as they were gone, a door opened upstairs and a blur passed around the courtyard, pinning up a simple banner as it went. The blur quite suddenly turned into Isabela’s son, Ferdinand, who stood in the middle of the courtyard, inspecting his work with a critical eye.
“On second thought, make that sixteen kids, that one counts as three,” Bruno murmured to Heraldo out of the corner of his mouth. It wasn’t that Ferdinand was a mischievous child, on the contrary, he strived to be as helpful as his cousin Victor. However, even the most helpful of children were a bit much to handle when they could run as fast as a bullet.
Fortunately, Ferdinand, the second oldest great grandchild, was getting close to adulthood, so if they’d managed to keep him alive this long, they were probably good.
“I bet,” Heraldo huffed, most people thought his huffs were a sound of irritation, but Bruno knew they were actually his laugh.
Ferdinand suddenly went from standing in the middle of the courtyard to standing right next to Bruno, “Tío Bruno, do you-, hola Tío Heraldo, do you think the colors work?”
“Buenas tardes,” Heraldo replied, “how did the relay race go?”
“Not bad, don’t think they actually needed my help refereeing though,” Ferdinand shifted his weight and put his hands on his hips. He didn’t like when he got invited places just because he was a Madrigal; unfortunately for him, he was the most social of his generation, and thus the most popular among the villagers. Lately, people had been inviting him places with a really thin excuse for why he was needed.
While they spoke, Bruno eyed the banner, it was midnight blue with red and gold bows wherever the banner was pinned, “Sí, I think your mothers will like it.”
Ferdinand looked briefly startled, and his head whipped around, checking for listeners. When he saw none, he relaxed, and smiled.
“I hope so,” he said, “they’ve been kinda on edge about something recently, I really want them to have a good anniversary.”
“We all do,” Bruno reassured him.
Ferdinand opened his mouth to say something else, when Agusíto came running back in with a flower grasped in his muddy hands. He held it up proudly for Bruno to see as he raced past, then gathered the wind around him and launched himself onto the second story. He knocked on his parents door and was let in almost instantly.
After a beat, Ferdinand tried again, only to be cut off when Casita opened the front door so Victor and Adelaide, Camilo’s wife, could help Alma wheel herself in.
Giving Ferdinand a sympathetic smile, Bruno planted his cane and used it to leverage himself up, greeting Adelaide with a brief hug, “Hola, how’s the food drive going?”
Adelaide and Camilo had recently established what they were referring to as The Shelter, for lack of a better word. Encanto was getting pretty big, and it was no longer possible for one person to keep track of who needed what, so Mirabel had put together a committee to take care of it. That committee happened to need someplace to operate, and somebody to lead it since Mirabel didn’t have the time. Fortunately, Adelaide was a clerical whiz; combine her skills using a filing cabinet, with Camilo’s people skills, and they had gotten everything sorted within a year.
Currently, The Shelter was putting on a food drive for the families that were struggling to make ends meet this year. Camilo was handling the PR side of getting donations, while Adelaide had had her hands full figuring out how much food was needed and taking inventory of what was available.
Camilo’s eldest, Pepa (or Pepita to avoid confusion) followed her mother in shortly after, holding a bag full of her mother’s paperwork.
“We are quickly approaching our goal,” Adelaide said in her quiet, not quite monotone.
“Ah, bien, that’s great. Proud of you,” he enthused, and she quirked the corner of her lips up at him. She did not have a great relationship with her father, and had asked Bruno to walk her down the aisle, so he was going to operate under the assumption that it was his job to fulfill a fatherly role until somebody corrected him.
So far, in the nine years she’d been married to Camilo, nobody had.
“Go on, go be helpful,” Camilo’s voice drew her attention to the stairs just in time for the three children Camilo had rounded up to avalanche their way down the stairs and to the kitchen.
Adelaide gave Bruno another tiny smile, then sped walked to greet her husband, who grinned broadly when he saw her.
“Ah! Addy! Look, I got us another kid,” he joked, jabbing a thumb over his shoulder at the boy who was still clinging to his back.
“Where?”
“Hey kid, where’d I pick you up?”
“The rec center,” he said.
“I got him at the rec center.”
“So that’s where babies come from,” she mused under her breath, “huh.”
Camilo laughed at her joke, then pressed a kiss to her cheek. The boy clinging to his back wrinkled his nose and let go, dropping to the ground and trotting towards the kitchen. Bruno idly wondered how long it would take Julieta to notice he wasn’t a Madrigal.
“Here mija,” Camilo was saying, taking Adelaide’s bag off Pepita's hands, “I’ll take this up to your Má’s desk, you wash up. Dinner’s almost ready.”
“Gracias Pá,” she happily handed the bag over, she wasn't big enough to help with Alma’s wheelchair, and even the bag was a bit too heavy for her. She pulled the shawl off her back, exposing her iridescent wings, and flew up to the second story.
Meanwhile, Victor had helped Alma get to her room, which was now on the first story, for the obvious reasons. She thanked him and sent him off to stow his violin and wash his hands.
Finally, Adelaide and Camilo strolled to their room, talking about the food drive.
Once everybody was gone, Bruno turned back to Ferdinand, “You were saying, mijo?”
He glanced around, then started to say, “I think my Má might-.”
He didn’t even look surprised when Mariano entered from the kitchen with his and Dolores’ daughter, Helena. They were each carrying a basket, and quickly headed out back. Ferdinand just rolled his eyes and mumbled “You’ll see,” before racing up to the open bathroom.
Bruno watched him go with a sympathetic grimace, it was increasingly harder to get a quiet moment for a private conversation in the Madrigal household.
Heraldo groaned as he also got up, “I take it dinner with the whole family is not a calm affair.”
Usually, they did dinner in shifts, mostly because it was impossible to accommodate the differing schedules of all thirty three Madrigals (plus Luisa’s mother in law who had moved in so her son could care for her in her old age) in a single sitting. Isabela and Bubo had requested a real family dinner in the stead of a party, however, so they had all jostled their schedules around to make it work.
“Ay, no. Not at all,” Bruno sighed, glancing at his Má’s door to be sure it was shut, he picked up Heraldo’s hand and placed a kiss on the back of it, “thank you for uh, you know, agreeing to sit through the chaos.”
Heraldo let out another one of those huffy laughs of his, shrugging, “Well, the alternative was a peaceful dinner with two of my three favorite people, so of course-. Oh, wait, I may have made a mistake.”
Bruno chuckled, “Come on, b-bright side, all the best cooks are in the kitchen tonight.”
“That’s quite the bright side,” Heraldo agreed, following Bruno into the dining room where the food was being staged.
Agustín, the seventy-one year old Agustín, was already in there, keeping the kids too young to help in the kitchen out of Julieta’s hair. He immediately enlisted Bruno and Heraldo into this endeavor.
Meanwhile, Ferdinand zipped into the kitchen, then the dining room. Racing around the small children, he began trying out different place settings and seating arrangements to see if they could even fit everybody in the dining room. The last time they’d all eaten together, Camilo’s youngest hadn’t been born, Luisa’s mother in law was still able to live on her own, and Heraldo hadn't joined them. Nor had the kid Camilo brought home.
Eventually, he sighed and raced out. A few minutes later he came back with Luisa, who picked up the dining room table (food and all) and moved it out to Casita’s courtyard. Ferdinand began racing the chairs out as well.
“Gracias Tía Luisa,” he said, pausing long enough to bump amicably against her.
“Don’t mention it,” she waved him off, “I’ll try and find another table.”
He nodded once, then continued moving the chairs. Bruno extracted himself from the pile of small children listening to Heraldo explain how to play The Train Game. He popped his head into the kitchen, which was pure chaos.
“Uh Juli,” he called above the cacophony of preparations, “looks like dinner will be in the courtyard.”
He couldn’t even find her in the mass of little workers plating the food, rustling up the appropriate utensils, and washing the dishes, but her voice cut through it all, “I sort of figured as much. Thanks for letting me know.”
“No problem,” he said, since he wasn’t sure she would see it if he acknowledged her words with a nod. He returned to the dining room and took up his designated role as the station of the Port of Panama in the game.
When everything was ready, Bruno found himself sitting between Heraldo and Bubo’s empty place setting at the main table. He had raised an eyebrow at that arrangement, since he usually sat next to Mirabel, Antonio, Adelaide, one of the kids, or his sisters, but Ferdinand had said something about Bubo requesting it.
Luisa had found another table and after some debate they had made a T shape with the tables instead of placing them parallel to each other.
Mirabel came down the stairs, talking about something or other with Dolores; her husband, Juan, followed just behind her with their, now clean, sons. Bruno did not get Juan. Or rather, he did not get why Mirabel had started dating Juan. Don’t get him wrong, Juan had turned out to be a devoted husband, loving father, and a dutiful family accountant, but he wasn’t exactly what Bruno would have pictured for his niece. Mainly, he wasn’t creative. At all.
Seriously, the guy couldn’t do a paint by numbers without a user manual at hand. Great with a budget, sure. Absolutely hopeless with a crayon.
But, Mirabel and Juan would be celebrating their eleventh anniversary next, so it was a bit late for Bruno to ask what the deal was. Besides, he liked the way Juan treated Mirabel, so it’s not like he opposed the match. He just… didn’t get it. Eleven years in and he still couldn’t wrap his head around them.
“-if we want to be ready in time, we should start shopping now,” Mirabel was saying, brow furrowed, “and honestly, we should probably put together a checklist to make sure nobody gets skipped this year.”
Bruno knew instantly what they were talking about. Christmas. The year before, thanks to a misunderstanding, little two year old Pedro hadn’t gotten a gift. Fortunately, little two year old Pedro was two, so they had thrown some of his favorite candy in a bag and acted really excited when he’d opened it.
“I can take care of that,” Juan said, pulling Mirabel’s chair out for her.
“Could you?” Mirabel asked, looking over her shoulder at him as she sat down, “I don’t want to put too much on your plate.”
“I’d have to do it anyway, to budget for it,” he reasoned, pushing her chair in for her, their sons took the next three seats, then Juan sat down next to where Adelaide would soon sit.
Juan and Adelaide had been good friends long before either of them joined the Madrigal family. Bruno had once walked in on Adelaide confessing she liked Juan better than her actual sister, Juan had replied he liked himself better than Adelaide’s older sister too. Bruno was pretty sure the only person in the family that liked Adelaide’s sister was Adelaide, and that was only if you stretched the meaning of the word “like”. Jaun had an older sister that most people liked plenty, and she had apparently put up with Adelaide’s sister for years just so she would bring Adelaide over for Juan to play with.
Ultimately, Bruno did actually like Juan, the guy was good to the people they both loved. And he kind of got why Mirabel married Juan once they’d been dating for a while. He just didn’t get why she started dating him at all.
“Tío Bruno,” Mirabel interrupted his musings, “can you help Juan make a checklist for Christmas? You’re really good at making sure all the kids are accounted for.”
Hushed but excited chatter spread around the tables.
“O-oh, uh, sure,” Bruno glanced at Juan.
“I’d appreciate it,” Juan said.
Mariano returned with his and Dolores’ daughter, followed by Camilo, Adelaide, and their baby. Luisa’s husband helped his mother down the stairs while Pepa and Félix waited at the top, clearly trying not to look like they were waiting for the stairs to be clear. Agustín got the last of his grandchildren settled, while Julieta set down the last pitcher of water. Alma wheeled herself to the table, and surreptitiously accepted a tiny clay bowl that seemed to appear out of nowhere. Antonio led his small pack of jaguars out back to their food, then returned and sat next to the boy who Camilo had acquired from the rec center.
The only two people left to show were Isabela and Bubo themselves.
Ferdinand disappeared in a blur and reappeared at his mothers’ door. He knocked, it opened a crack, whispered words were exchanged, then he turned and calmly walked down the stairs.
Bruno exchanged a startled glance with Mirabel.
Ferdinand did not walk, not if he didn’t have to.
The children were still chattering happily, but now all of the adults were aware that something was up. Tension slowly built as they waited for the couple of honor to appear.
The door opened again and Isabela stepped out, wearing her most stylish indigo jumpsuit and a few pink flowers in her hair that Bruno was pretty sure she hadn’t meant to make. She turned, holding her hand out, and waited.
Under the table, Bruno gripped Heraldo’s hand like a lifeline. His eyes kept shooting from Isabela to his Má and back again.
A graceful hand with painted nails placed itself in Isabela’s, then Bubo stepped out of their room, face almost as pale as the silver earrings she (was it “she” now? Last Bruno had asked, Bubo hadn’t wanted anyone else to know so it was still “he”, but now it looked like Bubo didn’t want to hide it, so it must be “she”) wore. Despite her obvious nerves, she kept her back straight and her steps even.
With high heels on she was the same height as Isabela.
Heraldo’s hand tightened on Bruno’s, Julieta gasped, Félix took a deep breath and tried to look casual. Dolores sat poised, eyeing the rest of the table as if waiting for anyone to say anything. Camilo and Mirabel made brief eye contact, then Camilo got up and fetched another bottle of wine. He placed it in front of Bubo and Isabela’s plates.
The kids old enough to understand something significant was happening eyed their parents for guidance. Victor looked at Ferdinand and Ferdinand stared back, jaw clenched and eyes stony.
“Bubo,” Alma said when the couple walked past her.
They stopped walking and Bruno stopped breathing.
“S-sí?”
“That is a lovely dress.”
It was all Bruno could do not to collapse back into his chair. More than a few people breathed sighs of relief, and Heraldo loosened his death grip.
Bubo took a second to respond, she looked like she was holding back tears, “Gracias Senora.”
“Oh honestly,” Alma huffed, “how many times have I told you to call me Abuela? Where are your manners? Call people by the name they introduce themselves as.”
There was a pause, an expectant expression on Alma’s face, an opportunity for Bubo to give herself a new name. Bubo nodded, but didn’t say anything, pressing her pink painted lips together in a watery smile. As she and Isabela walked to their places next to Bruno, everybody tactfully ignored the flowers overtaking Casita’s roof.
Mirabel watched the couple closely, still as a predator waiting for the right moment. When Isabela gave her a pleading look, Mirabel pounced on everybody’s attention and started passing food around the table.
Bubo sat down with a shaky breath.
“You alright?” Bruno asked, in a whisper.
“Very,” Bubo said, voice a bit choked.
He smiled quietly and patted her arm, then turned away to give the couple the illusion of privacy.
“I’m so proud of you,” Isabela whispered.
“Mí amor, please, I-I’m trying very hard not to cry,” Bubo hissed back.
“Right, sí, sorry,” Isabela sounded a bit amused. Somewhat pointedly, she started asking Ferdinand about whether he had decided to take English or French for his foreign language credit in his final year.
Everybody politely ignored Bubo until her breaths had evened out and she could ask to be passed the avocado without her voice shaking. And even then, nobody pounced on the elephant in the room until Mariano stumbled into it with his usual good intentions.
“Oh, Bubo, can you pass the-. Is it still Bubo?” he paused, thinking too hard to notice the nervous looks shooting around the table, “Buba? Can you pass the tortillas?”
“B-Barbara,” Isabela corrected, checking her wife’s face for permission, “when we’re at home she prefers to go by Barbara.”
“Ah, got it,” Mariano nodded, “Barbara, could you pass the tortillas, por favor?”
Barbara did so, smiling breathlessly, “Of course.”
“Question,” Camilo announced, and both Mirabel and Dolores side-eyed him.
“Sí?” Barbara responded, looking not quite nervous but not quite relaxed.
“Are nicknames alright?” he asked, “Can I call you Barb?”
“Oh,” she blinked, then nodded, “uh yeah, that’d be fine. Barb is fine.”
“Barb it is,” Camilo nodded once, then was promptly distracted by his baby boy throwing a handful of Camilo’s rice at Félix, “ay, sorry Pá.”
“It happens,” Félix brushed the rice, and the apology off. Lord knows he’d seen a fair amount of thrown food in his day.
“Should I be calling you Tía?” Victor asked, sitting between Dolores and his little sister.
“Only when we’re at home,” Ferdinand said, then looked at his mothers, “sí?”
“Sí,” Barbara agreed, “I-I’m not ready to be out to the entire village.”
“Ah, understandable,” Alma nodded, “I would like to think we don’t have any of the wrong sort in our village, but it is better safe than sorry.”
“Wait, what’s happening?” Luisa’s daughter whispered to her father.
“From here on out, when we’re at home, call your Tío Bubo, Tía Barbara instead,” he whispered back.
“Why?”
“Because it’ll make her happy, and she’s our family so we want her to be happy.”
“But why only when we’re at home?”
“Because some people are rude and care too much about other people’s business. They might make life difficult for your Tío- sorry, Tía, if they know she’s uh-,” he cut off and looked to Barbara, “what uh…?”
“I-I’m a woman,” Barbara said, then blushed bright red, “a-at least I’d like to be. I know that’s complicated-.”
“Oh hush, it’s not complicated,” Alma waved the concern off, and looked around the table with a stern glare, “you want to be a woman, so you’re a woman. We're your familia and we love you so we will all be doing our best to support you. Got it?”
“Of course,” most of the adults said instantly.
“Sí Mamá Alma,” chorused a few of the kids, though many of them didn’t look like they knew what they were agreeing to.
“Sí Mamá Abuela,” said Antonio’s youngest, who hadn’t figured out that “abuela” was a title, not a name.
Bruno glanced at the boy who wasn’t, actually, a Madrigal. The kid was sitting there wide eyed, but nodding loyally. Bruno caught Camilo’s eye and gestured at the kid with his lips, Camilo raised a brow, then did a double take. He paled, then leaned over to whisper something into his wife’s ear; Dolores perked up, her eyes zipping to the boy. Adelaide also glanced at the unintentional interloper and nodded.
Unaware of the potential leak, Mirabel took the lead of the main conversation, “So! Speaking of supporting you, is-, are you comfortable talking about this right now?”
“Sí,” Barbara bobbed her head, even as she gulped, “I-I’m ready.”
“Wonderful, what can we do to show you-, how would you like us to handle this?”
“I-I would like to be treated like a woman at home, and uh-, honestly I would like to be largely ignored outside the house until, uh, until I’m ready to, y’know, be myself out there.”
“Would you prefer to stay home more?” Agustín asked, “If you’re not comfortable being…?”
“I-if that’s alright,” she gulped, “I mean, I still want to pull my weight, so I’m happy to continue handling the shopping-.”
“Oh, don’t worry about that,” Pepa made a quiet “bah” noise as she swatted away the concern, “I’ve been going stir crazy lately, you can have my chores and I’ll take yours.”
“Má, your knees,” Antonio pointed out. Bruno squeezed his own bad knees in sympathy, apparently it ran in the family. That, or he and Pepa shouldn’t have spent so much of their youth playing their favorite game, Tackle Tea Party. Julieta didn’t have knee problems, and she never played Tackle Tea Party with them, but Bruno chose to believe that was sheer coincidence. Clearly their knee problems were hereditary.
“Ay, forget about my knees,” she shook her head, “my mind is about to dribble out my ears if I don’t get some real sunshine.”
Antonio’s brow wrinkled in concern, and he was about to argue more, but his mother crossed her arms and set her chin. Antonio sighed, and although it seemed like he was giving in, Bruno could tell that Pepa would find herself unable to leave the house without a furry escort to look after her in case her knees gave out on her.
“Barbara,” Pepa turned back to her niece in law, and commanded, “we’re trading chores.”
“Oh, uh, alright? Gracias? I mean, we could probably-.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Right. Ok. Thank you.”
“Great, that’s sorted,” Mirabel sent Pepa a slightly worried look, but apparently decided to let Pepa take her own risks, “anything else we should know?”
Barbara and Isabela looked at each other, having a silent conversation, eventually, Isabela shrugged, “I’m only attracted to women? I mean, I thought Barbara was the exception, but then uh-, yeah.”
“Ok? Do you want us to…?” Mirabel trailed off, shrugging a little. After all, Isabela was already happily married, to a woman no less, so it didn’t really seem like anything had to change.
“Nah, just wanted to let you know.”
“Alright! Noted! That everything?” Mirabel said, brightly.
Isabela looked back at Barbara, and shrugged, Barbara saw the shrug and returned it with one of her own.
“We uh, sort of thought we’d have to explain all this a little more, I mean, the basics of it, not-,” Isabela said.
“I guess we hadn’t gotten as far as considering what happens next in any real detail,” Barbara agreed.
“Well, you don’t have to decide everything right now,” Mirabel said, with a quiet smile, then looked around at the other adults for agreement, “you can talk to us as things come up. Right?”
“Absolutely,” Julieta said.
“We’re always happy to listen,” Félix nodded.
“Would you mind if we have more questions, later?” Luisa asked.
“Not at all,” Isabela reassured her.
Then Alma turned to Bruno and said, “What do you think, mijo? Any advice? You have the most experience with this sort of thing.”
Bruno gasped, surprised to realize his mother was talking about his own experiences dating men, he hadn’t thought his Má knew.
Unfortunately, they were at dinner, and as a result, Bruno was eating. When he drew in a sharp breath, a piece of chicken he’d been chewing on came with it. Bruno tried to cough it out, only for nothing to happen. The chicken was stuck. He grabbed his throat with one hand and gripped Heraldo’s forearm with the other, trying in vain to force the piece of chicken out of his windpipe.
“Tío Bruno,” Barbara apparently realized what was happening first, she gripped his shoulder and began smacking on his back, but the chicken didn’t move.
Suddenly, Heraldo shook off Bruno’s hand and stood, pulling Bruno out of his chair and wrapping him into his arms so Bruno’s back was against Heraldo’s front. Sharply, with the side of his fist planted firmly against Bruno’s ribs, Heraldo squeezed him.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
On the fourth squeeze, the chicken moved far enough that Bruno was able to start coughing. Heraldo and Barbara supported him while he bent over double and hacked the chicken out of his airway.
It landed on the ground between his feet. He sucked air in greedily, and coughed a few more times, his throat stinging.
Barbara adjusted his chair so Heraldo could help him sit back down. Somebody pressed a cold glass of water into his hand, he looked up to realize half the family was now on their feet, some gathered close, others comforting frightened looking children. Cheeks burning he chugged the water then took a few more, very deep, breaths.
For lack of anything better to say, he muttered, “Sorry.”
“Wha-?! Oh stow the ‘sorry’, are you alright?” Heraldo shouted.
“I’m fine, I’m fine,” he gestured at the piece of chicken, “look, see, it’s out.”
Julieta bustled up with an arepa, and after one bite the stinging in his throat went away. She gently rubbed his back and refused to stop until he’d finished the whole thing.
Almost desperate to rid himself of the attention, he turned back to his Má and asked, “What were you saying?”
“I uh, I wanted to know if you have any wisdom for Isabela and Barbara, since you uh-. Are you sure you’re alright?!”
“Fine, sí, totally fine. You just uh, t-took me by surprise,” he chuckled nervously, “d-didn’t realize you uh, you know, knew.”
Something funny happened to his Má’s face. First it screwed up in confusion, then went slack with realization, then screwed back up into even more confusion. She opened her mouth to speak, closed it, and reopened it a few times. Finally she sat back in her wicker chair and looked heaven ward.
For a second, she was still, and Bruno fidgeted with his sleeve. When it really seemed like she wasn’t going to say anything, Mirabel quietly cleared her throat and started to speak.
“What do you mean you didn’t think I knew?!” Alma burst, startling even Casita, which jolted around them.
“I-.”
“Bruno I’m your mother, how-?! You literally brought your boyfriend to dinner!” She gestured emphatically at Heraldo.
“He’s-.”
“Bruno, mijo, I love you but you’re as subtle as a siren, even when you’re trying to-. Wait! Have you been trying to hide it?”
“Sí?”
Alma gaped at him, then put her head in her hands, there was quite a lot of table between them but he still heard her breathe, “Dios, how did he manage to stay hidden for ten years if that’s the best he can do?”
Bruno’s attention was drawn to Camilo, who was beginning to “cough” into his hand. Bruno tried to glare, but that just made Camilo laugh more. Rolling his eyes, Bruno turned to look at Heraldo for support. Unfortunately, Heraldo was in the middle of draining his wine glass.
“Nevermind Barbara,” Alma said, “if you wish to keep this hidden, do not ask your Tío for advice. It will do you no good.”
“Hey,” Bruno said, as a few more people started smothering giggles.
Alma just gestured once more at Heraldo and said, “Bruno, if you truly believe I didn’t realize you two are dating then I am much more insulted by your estimation of my intelligence than I could ever hope to avenge.”
“She has a point,” Agustín said.
“Oh go trip in a river,” Bruno snapped before he could think better of it, crossing his arms and sinking into his chair as his cheeks burned so hot, it was a miracle they didn’t burst into flame. The children tittered.
“Sorry hermano, but she does,” Agustín insisted, not sounding even a little bit sorry.
Bruno huffed, turning to Heraldo, “You shouldn’t have saved me, I probably wouldn’t have to put up with anything like this in heaven.”
“Tío Bruno,” Antonio’s daughter called out, “you can’t get into heaven if you’re mean to your mother! The Bible says so.”
Bruno raised an eyebrow at the little girl, who could not yet read her chapter books much less the Bible, then turned that raised eyebrow on the girl’s mother. She shrugged sheepishly. One of the other women at the table, he wasn’t sure which, muttered “Using that”.
A graceful hand landed on Bruno’s arm, and when he turned to look, Barbara was smiling at him, “Actually, I don’t need to trouble Tío Bruno for advice, because he’s already helped me more than I thought possible. I uh, I never would have had the courage to come out to the family without the support you’ve shown me over the years.”
“Oh. W-well I didn’t do much.”
“Maybe it didn’t seem like much to you, but every pair of earrings you got me for my birthday, every time you slipped up and used ‘she’ instead of ‘he’, even just when you held the door open for me like you do all the other girls and women,” Barbara was getting a little choked up again, so he gently patted the hand on his arm, “you uh, you really made me feel like if-. You know. Like even if today went horribly I’d still have family that loved me. The real me.”
Quite suddenly, Bruno felt a little choked up himself, in a way that had nothing to do with chicken. He swallowed thickly and smiled tremulously.
“I do love you kid,” he said.
“Kid? Tío, I-I’m forty-three,” she croaked.
“Details,” he said with a shrug.
“Dios mio, Bruno has been calling her ‘she’ a lot, for years now,” Félix murmured to Pepa, accidentally drawing the whole family’s attention.
“Never could keep a secret,” Pepa responded, not even bothering to try and be quiet.
“Do you two mind?” Bruno asked, gesturing between him and Barbara, “W-we’re having a moment.”
“Were we really not supposed to know el Señor Heraldo is your boyfriend?” One of Luisa’s twins asked, suddenly cured of his shyness, apparently.
“Wha-? Has everybody known this entire time?”
“What else would he be?” Félix, the nine year old one, asked with just enough honest confusion in his voice to save his kitten from losing maze privileges.
“A friend, he could be a friend,” Bruno groused.
A few looks were exchanged, and many people avoided his eyes, but for a good ten seconds it seemed like nobody would say what they were all, very clearly, thinking. And then! Bruno was horribly betrayed.
“You don’t have friends,” Adelaide said in a matter of fact voice. Beside her, Camilo broke out laughing.
“My own daughter,” Bruno hissed, without thinking.
Camilo’s middle son, turned to Pepita and asked, “Wait? Is Tío Bruno our abuelo too?”
Pepita started to shake her head, then apparently decided she would rather have chaos, and nodded, “Yeah. Our parents are cousins.”
“What?!”
“No we aren’t, Pepa, don’t lie to your brother.”
“But he’s so gullible.”
“Well, if it makes you feel better Tío Bruno,” Mariano said, “I didn’t know.”
“Thank you Mariano,” Bruno smiled at him.
“Does he count?” Luisa’s daughter asked her dad, “You said he’s an id-.”
“Incredibly valued member of this family, sí, he is,” Luisa talked over her daughter, smiling winningly at Mariano. Oblivious, Mariano smiled back, and even thanked her.
“Wait, was I not supposed to know?” Mirabel asked.
“Um,” Bruno said, “well, I w-wasn’t actively hiding it from you.”
“Bruno, at this point I think it’s safe to say you weren’t actively hiding it from anyone,” Julieta said, she smirked at him as his family continued to betray him by laughing.
“My Má knew,” the boy who Camilo had brought home said, “she’s annoyed because if she knew sooner she would have used you to get her uncle to stop ‘moping around the house’. Apparently he thinks you're pretty.”
“Tell your Má’s uncle he’s not interested,” Heraldo all but snapped, putting an arm on the back of Bruno’s chair.
“Wait. Who is that?” Isabela whispered, pointing at the boy, then silently counting the kids at the table. She looked honestly concerned she may have forgotten a nephew.
“Camilo brought him home by mistake,” Bruno whispered back.
“Does that mean the entire village knows?” Isabela asked the boy.
“I don’t know, I just know my Má wants my Tío out of the house more.”
“Wait, so everybody knew about Tío Bruno?” Barbara confirmed, and a depressing number of people nodded, her shoulders slumped, “Alright Isa, you may have a point about my gaydar.”
“It’s alright amor, you don’t need a good gaydar, we’re already married.”
“Yeah, but I really thought I’d clocked somebody.”
The conversation fractured after that, some kids didn’t know what a “gaydar” is and had to ask, Mirabel and Alma were now discussing whether or not it would be safe for Encanto to get involved with the queer civil rights movement, and others started talking about their days. Bruno pushed his food around his plate, unable to decide if nearly choking to death, or discovering his entire family knew his secret, had killed his appetite more.
He managed a few more nibbles, because the food was really good, but when Mirabel corralled the kids into doing the dishes, he found himself handing a mostly full plate to Helena. Ferdinand zipped by and the plate was suddenly empty. Helena rolled her eyes, giving the blur a stink eye as he disappeared into the kitchen.
“I wanted some of that,” she grumbled, stomping away.
The kids rushed through doing the dishes, and Bruno heard multiple voices yell, “The sooner we finish, the sooner we get dessert” over the clamor of cleaning.
Bruno resisted the urge to try and find a corner to hide in, he knew that once he sat down he would have a cavalcade of nephews and nieces piled on top of him. Hiding in a corner was only comforting if you weren’t trapped in said corner.
Besides, he had Heraldo with him. It turned out hiding wasn’t really an option when your boyfriend was over.
So he sat back down on the couch, Heraldo next to him, and his Má on his other side. Mariano saved the half drunk bottles of wine from the sugar motivated tornado, while Luisa’s husband prepared two pots of coffee, one normal, one decaf. Bruno accepted a cup of decaf and nursed it for the rest of the night, even when he had to hold it high over his head to keep it away from a grasping toddler. Heraldo kindly took up the role of buffer between Bruno and the rest of the adults, gruffly answering any questions directed his way so he was free to sit in silence while one of his smaller nieces fell asleep on him.
Eventually, everything wound down and the niece was lifted from his lap. Bruno stiffly stood up, and offered a hand to Heraldo, who groaned as he got to his feet. Without needing to ask, Bruno knew that Heraldo was too tired to spend the night, so he patiently waited as Heraldo gave his goodbyes then walked his boyfriend home.
“So,” Heraldo said, as the hobbled their way through the empty streets.
“I can’t believe they knew this entire time,” Bruno sighed.
“Really?”
“What? Heraldo, not you too.”
“It’s just… you don’t exactly scream heterosexual,” Heraldo almost looked sheepish, a rarity for him, “honestly, when we first met I assumed you-. Well. That doesn’t matter.”
“You assumed what?”
“Bruno mi amor-.”
“No, no, go ahead, what’d you assume?”
“I thought you may have been born a woman.”
Bruno wasn’t actually annoyed, it’s not like he’d ever cared that much about being “manly” or whatever. But all the same, he squawked as if this was incredibly offensive to him. Mostly for the sake of it.
“What?! It’s a reasonable assumption,” Heraldo defended himself, “You’re a triplet, both your sisters are female-.”
“We’re fraternal. And I have a beard!”
“Oh come now Bruno, there’s nothing wrong with it, I would have fallen in love with you all the same.”
Bruno sighed, rolling his eyes while he admitted, “I know, I just-. You know how it is, I’ve spent my whole life hiding this part of me, or trying to. N-now I find out I may as well not have bothered.”
“Ah, sí,” Heraldo placed a warm hand in the middle of Bruno’s back, “I suppose I would have been a bit put out if my whole town had clocked me after I went through the trouble of marrying Belinda.”
“Do you think it’s the whole town?”
“Well, at the very least that kid’s family knows about us.”
“I’m sorry,” Bruno sighed again, “you probably could have passed if we weren’t-.”
“Bah, I passed for years, got everything I wanted out of it. And look at your niece tonight, she had a lot to lose if coming out of the closet hadn’t worked out for her, but the risk is worth it,” Heraldo waved Bruno’s concerns off, “I want to live now, I want to be loved for who I am. I want to be in love.”
Bruno smiled at him, he forced himself not to look around for whoever else might be watching, then gently, slowly, kissed Heraldo right on the lips. When they parted, Heraldo actually smiled. They walked hand in hand the rest of the way to Heraldo’s home, where they parted with another kiss.
When Bruno got back to Casita, he was sort of surprised to see Isabela still up, idly growing vines around the courtyard. When she saw him her smile was almost blinding.
“Hola mija, still up?”
“Just waiting to thank you again,” Isabela swept forward, and pulled him into a tight hug, then pulled back, keeping her hands on his shoulders.
“Ah, you don’t have to thank me. I really didn’t do much-.”
“The fact that you don’t see any of what you did as a big deal is exactly what I want to thank you for,” Isabela shook her head, “Barbara lost the life she had in the city because to them, her being a woman was too big a deal to handle. But to you, to you it’s just…”
“It’s just one part of who she is,” Bruno finished, “a-and the rest of her is the woman who has made you happier than I’d ever seen you. I really wasn’t trying to-, I just wanted her to know how much I appreciate her. For the way she’s made my niece smile.”
Isabela hugged him again, and he heard her sniffle a little, her head bowed so her face was pressed to the top of his shoulder. This time when she released him, she made for the stairs.
“I uh- I should go check on her, she wanted some time to-, well, she called it ‘privately celebrating’, but I’m pretty sure that just means ugly crying over the clothes she now gets to wear around the house.”
Bruno chuckled nodding, “Happy anniversary, by the way.”
Isabela grinned at him, “The happiest.”
Bruno watched her disappear up the stairs and into her room. He stood in the middle of the courtyard, tired, knee aching, and still a little annoyed that he’d wasted years failing to pretend to be straight. All the same, he had to admit to himself that he had been right.
It was a pretty good day.
#encanto#bruno madrigal#bruno madrigal x male oc#Isabela Madrigal#Bubo Encanto#Trans woman Bubo#not Love and Fury Verse#lesbian isabela#trans lesbian Bubo#I can't remember if any of the other male OC's are named Heraldo#tried to double check but you know how searching things on tumblr is :/#anyways#hope you enjoyed this one
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The world can be cruel, especially if your name is Bruno Madrigal.
But sometimes, there are good parts.
When he leaves the Encanto and ditches the Madrigal name, Bruno learns some hard truths about the world, but he also finds acceptance and maybe even love.
Chapter 5: The Next Steps
#encanto#encanto fanfic#encanto ao3#bruno madrigal#ao3#archive of our own#encanto au#encanto ff#chapter update#bruno madrigal x omc#Bruno Madrigal x oc#gay bruno madrigal#Bruno Madrigal x male oc#OC: Diego Ruiz#fanfiction#Bruno Madrigal fanfiction#encanto fanfiction#encanto Bruno#pre canon au#Bruno leaves the Encanto instead of going into the walls
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(I’m not actually in this discord yet(?) but Shameless plug of my complete multi-chapter Gay Bruno with a family fic lol. Fic series has also has a bi young Alma one-shot 👀)

To Fall Apart, To Reunite
a Runaway!post-Mira’s ceremony And Returning!pre-Antonio’s Bruno Encanto-AU
Completed Work; 9/9 Chapters; ~20k
Bruno has left behind the Encanto and the Madrigal name. But he never quite shakes the legacy, and when his village is attacked and his family threatened, he steps up.
History rhymes, but doesn’t repeat.
Sustaining an injury only Julieta can heal, his family sets out to bring him back to the Encanto.
Gay Bruno/FAB Discord
Hello!!! So, for about a year and a half now, I and other Encanto fandom members have been hanging out chatting about Gay Bruno and FABshipping (Félix, Agustín, Bruno) on a discord called STORKIN, and we are opening it up a bit more! @pogona and I mod it.
It is 18+ and porny, no incest. Some discussions have also included:
Osvaldo in all his glory
Lesbian Isa and Plants
T4T Pepa/Félix
Bruno/various Male OCs
About 4000 AUs, including FAB cowboy
If you are interested, click this link to join :] We’ve got a fairly painless process for application though we do reserve the right to limit member numbers.
(Art by @pogona)
#gay Bruno Madrigal#Bruno Madrigal#Encanto#encanto OC#encanto male OC#Bruno Madrigal x OC#Bruno Madrigal x male OC#Bruno Madrigal x Diego Ruiz#Diego Ruiz (OC)#Parent Bruno madrigal#Encanto canon alternative#encanto fanfiction#Bruno Madrigal fanfiction#encanto ao3#gay Bruno madrigal fanfic#parent Bruno madrigal fanfic
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Hello! I’m Demon, 23, and I live in the EST zone. This ad will be short and sweet, as it’s really more of an interest check and a dragnet for writing partners rather than a thought-out and fleshed-out plot(I am hoping to share the building of that with you). I’m going to list a short number of requirements/preferences right now:
you must be 21 or older to roleplay with me.
I prefer a 3rd person/past-tense format. I write comfortable between 3-7 paragraphs but can often do more, if my partner matches or comes close to the length of whatever I write. Visa versa, I tend to match my partner’s length per post. My starters always tend to run long, however.
I love a mix of wholesomeness and angst. I am open to and very comfortable with various dark themes, as well as smut/ERP as long as it doesn’t dominate the story. You should know that my characters are submissive types, regardless of how meek or fiery their personality is. Further details can be discussed privately.
I play male/non-binary/non-hetero-normative characters and I also prefer MxM pairings. Very rarely, I will play an AFAB character, but don’t count on it.
I roleplay mainly on Discord, but can be flexible for various platforms.
Now, onto my list of pairings, these can work with original characters.
x our characters are merfolk/sirens x I play a merfolk OC against your pirate OC(historical fantasy plot, think Pirates of the Caribbean) x One of us plays a merfolk against a scientific researcher/journalist/wildlife photographer/cryptid hunter.
I just really like merfolk, mmkay? And pirates. I love pirates. In fact, let’s have more pirates.
x Pirate captain(you) against my French Navy captain OC. He’s a big barrel of fun in a very small, sassy package. If you write this plot with me, I will be your biggest fan.
Aaaand I’ve got some fandom pairings I really want as well. I mean, REALLY want. I’m going to put cute little stars around the roles I will play, if I have a preference.
x Alice in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass(Tim Burton) human!Cheshire Cat x Mad Hatter
x Encanto / Coco Crossover Bruno Madrigal x Héctor Rivera
x The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild/Tears of the Kingdom Link x Ganondorf
x Potterverse Severus Snape x Fae OC
x The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Dragonborn!OC x Sheogorath x Sanguine
And finally, some various fandom fixations just to throw them out there. Harvestella My Little Pony: FiM(I know, I know, but Luna and Discord are super cool. I would love a Discord to my Luna). Venom Outlast My Pride Watership Down The Addams Family(1991, of course, because… WHEW. DAMN. What I wouldn’t give to be in a wholesome and loving throuple with my healthy marriage goth icons).
That’s almost it. But, there is a post on my page that contains a Google Doc, as a bio for information relating to myself as a writer/roleplayer. It also includes a list of likes/limits for ERP and a writing sample at the end. Please do check it out if you would be so kind. If you like what you see here, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. If I don’t answer for a bit, it’s just because I’m sleeping or doing something, but I’ll get back to you soon. Have a lovely day/night~
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#roleplay#oc rp#rp#original rp#fandomless rp#encanto rp#coco rp#Alice in Wonderland rp#Through the Looking Glass rp#The Legend of Zelda rp#Breath of the Wild rp#Tears of the Kingdom rp#potterverse rp#The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim rp#Harvestella rp#My Little Pony: FiM rp#Venom rp#Outlast rp#My Pride rp#Watership Down rp#The Addams Family rp
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[ oc/fanom roleplay ad ] Hello! I’m Demon, 23, and I live in the EST zone. This ad will be short and sweet, as it’s really more of an interest check and a dragnet for writing partners rather than a thought-out and fleshed-out plot(I am hoping to share the building of that with you). I’m going to list a short number of requirements/preferences right now.
you must be 21 or older to roleplay with me.
I prefer a 3rd person/past-tense format. I write comfortable between 3-7 paragraphs but can often do more, if my partner matches or comes close to the length of whatever I write. Visa versa, I tend to match my partner’s length per post. My starters always tend to run long, however.
I love a mix of wholesomeness and angst. I am open to and very comfortable with various dark themes, as well as smut/ERP as long as it doesn’t dominate the story. You should know that my characters are submissive types, regardless of how meek or fiery their personality is. Further details can be discussed privately.
I play male/non-binary/non-hetero-normative characters and I also prefer MxM pairings. Very rarely, I will play an AFAB character, but don’t count on it.
I roleplay mainly on Discord, but can be flexible for various platforms.
Now, onto my list of pairings, these can work with original characters.
x our characters are merfolk/sirens x I play a merfolk OC against your pirate OC(historical fantasy plot, think Pirates of the Caribbean) x One of us plays a merfolk against a scientific researcher/journalist/wildlife photographer/cryptid hunter.
I just really like merfolk, mmkay? And pirates. I love pirates. In fact, let’s have more pirates.
x Pirate captain(you) against my French Navy captain OC. He’s a big barrel of fun in a very small, sassy package. If you write this plot with me, I will be your biggest fan.
Aaaand I’ve got some fandom pairings I really want as well. I mean, REALLY want. I’m going to put cute little stars around the roles I will play, if I have a preference.
x Alice in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass(Tim Burton) human!Cheshire Cat x Mad Hatter
x Encanto / Coco Crossover Bruno Madrigal x Héctor Rivera
x The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild/Tears of the Kingdom Link x Ganondorf
x Potterverse Severus Snape x Fae OC
x The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Dragonborn!OC x Sheogorath x Sanguine
And finally, some various fandom fixations just to throw them out there. Harvestella My Little Pony: FiM(I know, I know, but Luna and Discord are super cool. I would love a Discord to my Luna). Venom Outlast My Pride Watership Down The Addams Family(1991, of course, because… WHEW. DAMN. What I wouldn’t give to be in a wholesome and loving throuple with my healthy marriage goth icons).
That’s almost it. But, there is a post on my page that contains a Google Doc, as a bio for information relating to myself as a writer/roleplayer. It also includes a list of likes/limits for ERP and a writing sample at the end. Please do check it out if you would be so kind. If you like what you see here, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. If I don’t answer for a bit, it’s just because I’m sleeping or doing something, but I’ll get back to you soon. Have a lovely day/night~ discord: coffe.demon022
☠
.
#fandomless#fandom roleplay#oc x oc#oc x canon#canon x canon#m/m#alice in wonderland#through the looking glass#encanto#coco movie#legend of zelda: breath of the wild#legend of zelda: tears of the kingdom#potterverse#the elder scrolls v: skyrim
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o/ hello!!!
have a whole buncha sketchy wips bc i am still not quiiiite back to 100% yet and have no idea when/if i'll finish these (minus waistcoat bruno he Will get finished if it kills me i stfg)
apparently aside from bruno i only draw milo now, sorryyy :3c kinda
#encanto#encanto oc#bruno#bruno madrigal#bruno madrigal x oc#bruno madrigal x male oc#emilio oc#emilio the baker#my art#wips#all my brunos must have a lil tum It Is Law in this house#milo has a bigger soft tum which is Also Law#he was made to hug bruno!!!!!!!!!#literally his entire origin story haha
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Oh, you captured a really nice picture of me and Miguel! You can't see it, but we're holding hands as well.
Miguel said we could feed each other our elotes, but I said no! No way am I going to share MY elote.
((coming out of college hibernation to scream abt HOW MUCH I LOVE THIS AHHHHH THANK YOU SO MUCH))
Bruno enjoying elotes with his boyfriend Miguel, who is the OC of @coolunclebruno
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Alex, the lil "friend" from my comics? Lately they are very active in my head.
I don't really know what is going on, like, these two are suddenly in a queer relationship. They were frenemies at some point ?? Sure, whatever, have fun. But also, I'm the creator?? Why this OC has a story that I DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT?
Also, you can find him in @naoko-world's fic "Mirabel into the Brunoverse" for a brief moment. The plot sounds interesting 👀 You should check it out!
#encanto#encanto disney#encanto fanart#encanto oc#bruno madrigal#oh boy here we go#bruno madrigal x oc#bruno madrigal x male oc#OK SO ALEXS GENDER IS COMPLICATED#But he is very happy to have a masculine body now#trans my oc as a treat to myself#Every day I go haha that's so Alex and then i realise a story about that exists in my head but I never thought about it wtf#digital art#doodle
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Poor Timing [Tumblr Preview]
[Trying something new here! link to the rest of the fic at the end.]
“ Muy bien todas, dinner is ready!”
Dinner had always been the most important part of the day for the Madrigals, besides breakfast. It was the time of day when everyone came home from doing their chores and activities, and could just sit down and relax and eat as a family.
And now that Julieta no longer had to make everything by herself, it had become a sort of group activity, with the kids offering their help to her, even Alma offered her cooking wisdom!
They all trickled into the dining room, including Mariano, whom Dolores had invited to dinner. Everyone was here!
Everyone, except…
“Where’s Bruno and Miguel?” Mirabel looked at the two empty seats that would usually house the inseparable two. “They’re usually here by now…”
“I think I last saw them heading to their room,” Julieta said, placing down the last of the rice on the table.
“I can go up and get the-”
“No need, Mirabel, I can do it today,” Alma assured her, slowly getting out of her seat just as her granddaughter was getting out of her seat.
“Oh, are you sure, Abuela? I don’t really mind if-”
“No, I insist, you’ve done enough work today, and you deserve a bit of rest,” Abuela patted Mirabel on the shoulder, putting her back in her seat, and left the dining room.
“¡ Gracias, Abuela!”
“That was nice of her, don’t you think?” Julieta sat down next to Pepa, as she usually did.
“Yeah, it was, but what do you think they’re doing?” Pepa moved some corn onto her plate.
Julieta shrugged. “I wouldn’t know. Maybe they’re working on a project? I know Miguel helps out with Bruno’s ‘rat novelas’ sometimes.”
“Maybe! Or maybe they’re upstairs making dulce, dulce amor !” Pepa joked, holding her hands up to her cheek in mock whimsy.
Instead of a small chuckle or a scolding, as Pepa was expecting, she saw the color drain out of Julieta’s face.
“Y-you don’t think they’re actually-”
Just then, their conversation was abruptly cut by the sound of two voices yelling upstairs.
“ B-BRUNO ?”
“ MA, LOOK AWAY, LOOK AWAY, GET OUT !”
link to fic on a03; https://archiveofourown.org/works/48233344
#bruno madrigal#gay bruno madrigal#bruno madrigal x male oc#encanto oc#miguel herrera#alma madrigal#julieta madrigal#pepa madrigal#mirabel madrigal#madrigaydays2023#madrigay days#encanto fanfic#encanto
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Awww, we look so cute together! Thank you so much!!
...But how'd you get into the house?
Breakfast scene with Bruno and Miguel 🫓☕💚 for @coolunclebruno
#((crying screaming at how good this is))#((I LOVE IT SO MUUUUUUCHH THANK YOUUUUU))#bruno madrigal#miguel herrera#gay bruno madrigal#bruno madrigal x oc#bruno madrigal x male oc#encanto oc#encanto#ask blog#rp blog
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Headcanon: Bruno's Dating History
I thought about writing this as a fic, but one, it's way too long and two the ultimate ending is sad. I'm already writing one fic with dark themes. I don't want to get a reputation or anything. So! This is what I think Bruno's dating history was like:
cw: alludes to abusive behavior
As mentioned in another list of headcanons, I think Bruno is attracted to both men and women. Honestly, if he was a modern dude who grew up with the same culture as a lot of us on this website, I'd guess his labels to be bi, nonbinary, demisexual. But, he lives in an isolated rural community before the Pride movement in his country became a mainstream topic. So who knows what labels he would use.
The main criteria for Bruno to start feeling sexually attracted to somebody is "I can be awkward and weird around them without being told I'm a freak", although there are also certain vibes he goes for. Mainly people who are confident and passionate.
His first foray into dating is when he's 15 and he gets with a girl his mother approves of. The main thing Alma likes about the girl is that she is patient and not quick to cast judgement, which also becomes one of Bruno's favorite things about her.
As far as teenage romances go, it's very sweet. The town is only just starting to get nervous about Bruno, so for the most part every where they go, the young couple gets told how cute they look together.
On her side of things, she thinks he's funny, she enjoys his unique perspective on the world around him, and she really likes his eyes. Bruno is a caring boyfriend, who enjoys doing little things to make her happy. Plus at this point she's watching her friends' boyfriends put on pressure for a physical relationship, where as Bruno is content to let her set the pace.
About a year and a half in they decide they're ready to try having a physical relationship. They work their way up to sex over a six month period. Bruno relies heavily on the little snippets of sex he's accidentally seen in visions, but this turns out to be a more thorough sexual education than she has received so most of their experimentation is Bruno going "I saw this, do you want to try it?" and her saying yes or no.
Things go wrong when she notices Bruno likes it a bit rough. Bruno thinks what she's doing is amazing, but needs her to start out gentle, then work her way up to being rough. When he tries to tell her that he gets nervous, say something that sounds bad, starts panicking, makes it worse, and before you know it he's made his girlfriend cry.
When they've calmed down he's able to explain himself, but he's never fully able to get over the guilt, and to his biased eyes it looks like she isn't able to get over the insecurities he's caused her. So they break up.
She walks away from the relationship with high standards, because whether or not he realizes it, Bruno was a really good boyfriend. Even when she falls in love with a great guy and gets married, in her pettier moments she finds herself thinking things like, "Bruno wouldn't have forgotten what my favorite flowers are".
Bruno walks away from the relationship with low standards, because the village is beginning to criticize him more and more, and in his head he hurt her much more than in reality.
His next relationship starts when he's twenty. He gives this cute guy, Alberto, a vision that ends with the two of them making out. Bruno tries to apologize for it, but Alberto tells him to only apologize if he's not planning to buy him dinner first.
Alberto is a very pretty man, again, there's no way they had all the same labels that we have today, but it's a twink 4 twink relationship. Only, Alberto is a very neat twink, where as 20 year old Bruno is borderline too scruffy to be called a twink.
It starts out very loving, albeit secret. The only other mlm they know about is Alberto's best friend Dominic, and the Bible has things to say about this sort of thing, so Alberto especially isn't willing to go public with the relationship.
Bruno makes an effort to get along with Dominic, since he's Alberto's best friend, and finds out they have a lot in common. Alberto, for some reason, insists they aren't allowed to hang out alone together.
Bruno tells his sisters about the relationship, and although it throws them for a loop, they are very happy for him. At first.
Slowly, as the village continues to become more critical of Bruno, and his self esteem continues to decline, Alberto starts to become more and more controlling. In his mind he's trying to help Bruno win back the village's approval, he does genuinely care about Bruno, and he does genuinely think Bruno is the most wonderful person ever. He thinks if Bruno could just hide some of the more awkward behaviors in public, others would see how kind and intelligent he is. He continues to not care how weird Bruno is in private.
Bruno reaches a point where he's just grateful that somebody likes him enough to want to be with him, and he let's a lot of stuff slide.
On top of that, Bruno is a great listener, resulting in him being a great lover. Alberto will often spend all day thinking about how good that thing Bruno does will feel and can't focus on anything else. Including Bruno's pleasure.
Pepa is the first to point out how toxic the relationship has become, she's had her fair share of bad boyfriends, so she notices the red flags. Bruno brushes her off.
Dominic and Alberto have some sort of falling out, the details of which Alberto refuses to share, and suddenly Bruno isn't allowed to talk to Dominic period. This makes him a lot sadder than he would have expected.
Julieta starts to notice that the relationship is no longer a source of happiness for Bruno, and jumps on the "Find Another Boyfriend" campaign Pepa has started.
Finally Alberto himself eventually realizes he's doing Bruno more harm than good. They are three years in at this point and Alberto is trying to imagine raising kids with Bruno, but doesn't like the way imaginary future him treats imaginary future Bruno. Over the next year, he tries to be better, but keeps falling back into bad habits.
Alberto ends their four year relationship, apologizes to Bruno for the way he's acted, and makes a last ditch effort to convince Bruno that he's actually pretty wonderful. It only serves to make it harder for Bruno to get over the relationship.
Alberto walks away from the relationship thoroughly ashamed of himself. He marries a woman he gets along with well enough, and does the family thing, but if he's going to be honest he never truly stops loving Bruno.
A year goes by and the Madrigals get invited to Dominic's engagement party. Bruno (25 at this point) is excited to go, and hopes to reconnect with him. At the party he asks Dominic if he would like to hang out some time and Dominic says his fiancee probably wouldn't be comfortable with that.
Bruno responds to this with confusion, because he didn't think the bride to be bought into the Bad Luck Bruno thing. Dominic confirms that she doesn't, but she does know how he's always felt about Bruno.
Cue more confusion on Bruno's part. Dominic gets this look of slowly dawning horror as he realizes that Bruno didn't know about Dominic's feelings.
Turns out, Dominic had been in love with Bruno for years, but hadn't realized Bruno was into men until he was already dating Alberto. The falling out had been over Alberto accidentally letting slip that he'd known about Dominic's feelings, when Dominic had confronted Alberto about the way he was treating Bruno.
For a second the men just stare at each other, both suddenly over come with thoughts of what might have been. Ultimately, Dominic walks away, not willing to sacrifice the great relationship he has over a daydream. He has a happy life with his wife, even if he sometimes gets a bit wistful when he thinks of Bruno.
Bruno on the other hand, never tries dating again (or at least not before canon) and spends the rest of his life wondering what could have been with Dominic.
He is completely unaware that there are three people in the village who will always be a little in love with him, and gets further and further buried under his own insecurities.
#bruno madrigal#bruno madrigal x oc#bruno madrigal x female oc#bruno madrigal x male OC#bruno encanto#Bruno headcanons#encanto#Bruno Madrigal: Unwitting Heart Throb#I kind of want to do one of these about Pepa and Felix's relationship history#but first dinner#into the queue you go not so little list of headcanons
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Bruno has left behind the Encanto and the Madrigal name. But he never quite shakes the legacy, and when his village is attacked and his family threatened, he steps up.
History rhymes, but doesn’t repeat.
Sustaining an injury only Julieta can heal, his family sets out to bring him back to the Encanto.
Chapter 4
#encanto#encanto fanfic#bruno madrigal#encanto ao3#ao3#encanto au#archive of our own#casita#chapter update#encanto ff#alma madrigal#mirabel madrigal#gay bruno madrigal#parent bruno madrigal#runaway Bruno Madrigal#bruno madrigal x omc#bruno madrigal adopts kids#bruno madrigal x oc#male original character#child original character#to fall apart to reunite
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ok but the stairs in Bruno’s room………
In every single fanfic I’ve read on Bruno x Reader tag, Y/N enters his room and goes “are you fucking kidding me????” and Bruno tries to explain, very awkwardly, how you “get used to it over time”
lmfao no normal human being can get used to those baby, we love you but hate those stairs
#he’s a senior citizen he’ll die trying to climb those stairs#someone give that man a lift or something#bruno my beloved#bruno x oc#we don't talk about bruno#bruno madrigal#bruno x male reader#bruno x you#bruno x reader#encanto#luisa madrigal#isabella madrigal#pepa madrigal#bruno fanart#bruno madrigal fanfic#bruno madrigal fluff#bruno madrigal art#bruno madrigal angst#bruno madrigal smut#bruno deserved better
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Diego madrigal Bruno madrigal's husband, he, like Dolores, knew Bruno's secret and always visited him once a month, so as not to be suspicious.
I did this because her husband has been missing for 10 years without even knowing if he was alive, it's a little too distressing
#artists on tumblr#drawing#bruno x oc#bruno madrigal#bruno madrigal x male reader#encanto oc#gay#soft drawing#happymoments
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