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wallflowerimagines · 1 year

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Bruno Madrigal Crush Headcannons

This man has spent a good portion of his life watching his family through walls, hoping and wishing and yearning for their happiness, even if it doesn't involve him.

Meaning? He has a staring problem.

Bruno actually caught feelings for you from a distance. You're just...so nice. Nonjudgmental. It's what drew his gaze to you in the first place, how everyone felt safe to be themselves around you. He didn't even need to interact with you to see how wonderful you are!

...Which is a problem.

Bruno refuses to approach you-- he can't. It's just not possible.

But he will watch you.

He watches the way you smile and laugh, he's hypnotized by the way your hair bounces when you walk, he wants to take his thumb and rub away the little furrow between your eyebrows that shows up when you're reading intently, kiss your lips every time you bite them--

(Or is that too much, hahahahahahahah-- Kill him, someone anyone please please please---)

Bruno is so, so awkward. While Tio Bruno is funny and adoring with his family, as well as hilariously sassy when he wants to be, people outside his social circle are Not Trusted with anything but The Madrigal Manners. Years of being accused of malicious intent makes it difficult for him to be fully himself in public, and the decades of isolation made him forget all the important social cues.

But you? He's exponentially worse around you.

The few times you've actually spoken with Bruno, he was both Supremely Polite and a Tongue Tied Disaster.

He comments on easy, obvious topics, like the weather or the weekend, but he talks so quickly he can't breathe and starts laughing at things that aren't even jokes. He'll open doors for you or pull out your chair, but will trip over the door frame or accidentally tip the chair over and scramble to pick it back up.

You make him a mess. You whip his thoughts so frothy he can barely remember what he's said, let alone focus on putting up a wall. It's incredibly endearing, and it makes his crush on you supremely obvious.

He's had one or two childhood crushes, but it has been literal decades since the last time his heart beat this fast. It was so bad that this idiot (affectionate) literally thought he was having a heart attack the first time you made eye contact with him--Fully clutching at his chest and panicking before darting away to get some help.

There is a certain amount of guilt he feels about his crush. After all, he's not exactly prime husband material. Bruno is acutely aware of how old he is, and there aren't many love stories out there for people his age(a crime imo). "The fifty year old uncle" is usually the creepy antagonist in drama, never a romantic hero. Besides that, there's the matter of his reputation. Even with the rest of the Madrigal family working to repair it, there are still parts of the Encanto that don't like the weird fortune-telling hermit that LIVED IN THE WALLS OF HIS OWN HOUSE FOR SOME REASON.

(....There is also a little bit of guilt of the Catholic variety. His thoughts about you can get pretty spicy late at night. After one of those he can't bring himself to even look at you.)

Bruno won't confess his feelings to you if he can help it. He doesn't think he deserves romantic love, especially not from someone as wonderful as you, and the last thing he wants to do is burden you with his feelings. He's been enough of a burden already. He will try to get over you before he even considers hinting that he likes you.

Unfortunately, Bruno's resolve isn't as strong as he wishes it was.

Every time he tries to suppress his feelings, someone will simply say your name in passing and it's enough to fully divert his train of thought back to how kind you are, how funny, how understanding....

Fantasies have always been a huge coping mechanism for him, but lately, baby you are the star of every. single. one.

Some are realistic: He pictures the two of you hand in hand, walking to the market, and he's somehow managed to be funny and charming enough to make you smile just for him.

Or maybe you have a suitcase packed and ready to leave the village--it's raining of course--and Bruno will run out to you, pull you into a tight embrace and kiss the idea right out of you.

He could live out his childhood dream and be the director of a theater troupe, while you, his newest actor shaking with nerves, ask him to run through your lines together. He agrees, comforts you through your stage fright, and as your practice ends the chemistry between you both is electric enough to crackle. He just knows you'll do great things together...

Bruno is his best self in every fantasy, of course, witty and charming and without a single grain of sand in his hair. Often, in private, he has his rats reenact his favorite daydreams. (Whichever Rat that plays you gets extra treats. It's the most coveted role.)

...Eventually, though, his wistful sighing and blatant eavesdropping on any conversation involving you start to get on his Family's nerves. They've been supportive of his crush--why wouldn't they be, they've met you, you're great!-- but it's also obvious Bruno is going to need a helping hand.

Mirabel in particular gets it in her head to play Cupid after she sees how happy her Tio gets talking about you. She gathers up the youngest generation of Madrigals, and all of them begin conspiring ways to push Bruno into as many situations with you as possible.

Isabella invites you over to help garden, while Luisa gets her Tio to come help her organize where the pots should go. Antonio begs you to play hide and seek with him and his animal friends, and it's not like Bruno can resist his nephew's puppy eyes either. Mirabel brings Bruno along to tell stories to some of the local village kids, and Camilo makes sure you're nearby to see his Tio in his element.

Bruno immediately picks up on the fact that his nieces and nephews are trying to meddle, but he can't find it in himself to get upset about it.

Besides, it's a little hard to think lately when so many of your pretty smiles seem to be directed at him...

...Maybe he has more of a chance than he thought? 💞

#crush headcannon #encanto #bruno madrigal #bruno madrigal x reader #long #headcannon #encanto bruno

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omgcheez · 1 year

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Autistic Bruno headcanons/fic ideas go!

-gvr 💚

I dunno how fresh these are, but here I go:

Rubbing fabrics is one of his most common stims, but there are some others not seen in the movie. I don't remember who it was, but months ago someone said that they wanted to HC him flapping but felt bad because the way the fandom was... it's in the ol book of HC's now. you deserve flappy Bruno homie.

Sand is very texture™.

When he was a kid, Bruno spent long periods of time looking at the sand in hourglasses fall.

Being the gifted kid of the family allowed a lot of his quirks to get overlooked for a while. By the time he hit burnout, he was seen as a burden. this could probably be a general HC, but it was very much a double edged sword for him.

He advocated for Dolores at loud parties, and postcanon, the two will go to her room to enjoy a quiet activity.

His "Special rat" he mentions in OBB is his support rat that acts as not only a companion, but a comfort. He pets it and also trained it to lick his face and calm him down.

I've mentioned the HC of involuntary visions sometimes vetting tied to meltdowns. The swirlimg sand has unintentionally hurt people before, and out of context, a random villager probably would see it as scary.

This one is common I think, but Mirabel making Bruno textured a scarf,plush, etc? yes, she does that.

She is also one of the first people that really sat and listened to him to that extent. Second most would be Julieta, who was in general the nurturing big sister, though she took care of everyone. That line about holding him in the book until it relaxed and being ok with him not talkong until he felt comfortable is canon in my heart. She knew a lot what to do because of how gentle she is with Antonio and when it comes to emotional care, post canon especially she goes out of her way to make sure everyone, including him is okay.

Luisa gives some awesome pressure hugs, though she has to watch her strength, of course. Bruno can just give her a look and she knows.

If you let him talk about his rats or shows, he will be your best friend. It's not something that everyone necessarily understood, but post canon everyone, especially his family enjoy his shows and his enthusiasm. Something he loves just as much though is the actual process of making things. He can get into a full on trance making his art and sets.

Bruno being afraid of fireworks for the angst. :( It's another reason for him to get Dolores in her soundproof room though.

Julieta knows how his body reacts when he is happy, and is the most thrilled to see that as he is getting better emotionally.

The first time that they all ate together as a family again was chaotic and it was a learning experience. It took some tweaking and sometimes he will eat alone, but generally family meals are good now. :)

The silver lining to his gift is being able to have predictability in his life. He still isn't fond of when the future sneaks up on him or things don't go to plan like in the game where he freaks out and mirabel has to calm him down

He hides in tight corners and small spaces, and his new room has a little hiding spot. The family knows about it and the other spaces he has in the house but respect that

He hits himself and hair pulls when he's in a bad space mentally.

As he got older, a lot of his quirks were misumderstood by the villager and even his mother as him being moody or Noncompliant. Post-canon, she starts to listen to him more and gets to have a caring motherly role more often. She tries to check up on him and make sure that his limits aren't being puahed and that she isn't subconvipusly trying to make him someone else.

He asked Julieta to "fix" him at least once when he was older and frustrated with how sour everything had gone. He's a lot happier with himself, though.

These probably aren't the freshest ideas, but I might add more to the future. Anon, I would love to hear any of your ideas if you have them, as well as other people. Feel free to add in reblogs, comments, asks, or whatever you can think of

#encanto #bruno madrigal #autistic bruno madrigal #encanto headcannons #nd bruno #neurodivergemt bruno madrigal #I wanted to post this sun night but um... busy

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shrewstew · 1 year

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Encanto Headcannons because this movie has a chokehold on me

- Antonio has one-sided beef with Isabella. Since her flowers attract annoying bugs, she would grow Venus fly traps, pitcher plants, sundew, etc. I don’t think I need to explain why Antonio doesn’t like this. He uproots any that he finds

- Isabella is aroace imo, in the movie we see her grow hydrangeas before Markiplier Mariano comes for dinner. Columbia has a superstition that if you have hydrangeas in a house with single women, they will never marry. 👀 (of course this is just me projecting a bit, I’m aware that it was actually just cuz she didn’t want to marry Mariano, pls don’t take this too seriously)

- Dolores’s room is not sound proof like other people say. Since her superhuman hearing ability is used to protect the Encanto, I wouldn’t be surprised if she was the only one without a soundproof room. Poor girl 😔.

- Antonio, Dolores, and Bruno gossip with each other, they have so much dirt on EVERYONE

- If you shake Bruno’s head, his eyes respond like a magic 8-ball /hj

- Dolores is normally fine with all the noises she hears all day, but the second dinner time is over, she’s done, straight to her room, don’t talk to her.

- Abuela is NOT-I repeat-NOT homophobic, IDC if it doesn’t make sense for their time period, I will forever stand by my opinion that she truly couldn’t care less if anyone in the family was lgbt+

- Bruno tugs on his rauna when stressed and that’s part of the reason why it has some rips in the fabric

- Bruno is the flavor of autism where he doesn’t know when his eye contact is too much “❇️_❇️”

- Luisa, Dolores, and Pepa love romance novels, they have a book club together

- Mirabel and Alma like to paint with each other, I’d also like to think that Alma made the family tree in the kitchen

- Alma taught Mirabel how to sew when she was younger, so she had something to do when everyone else is busy

- Camilo mimicks people’s mannerisms without realizing, but it’s often mistaken for mocking

Feel free to include your own!!

(Part 2)

#encanto #mirabel madrigal #bruno madrigal #antonio madrigal #alma madrigal #abuela madrigal #pepa madrigal #luisa madrigal #isabella madrigal #camilo madrigal #dolores madrigal #mariano guzman #encanto headcannon

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arandomperson5647 · 7 months

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PB&J (Sandwiches)

Okay so back in the day when Encanto was the hot topic and people often found many cool details, a lot of people noticed that the triplets were first introduced as Pepa, Bruno & Julieta, making the acronym PB&J (like the sandwich).

This made me think "oh wouldn't it be funny if PB&J sandwiches were their favorite sandwich?" This thought was in my head until I realized that Colombians probably didn't eat them. And THEN I realized that they were first invented in 1901, like a year after the Encanto was created (at least according to google). So yeah that kinda disappointed me. But then I remembered that the mountains cracked open and people can travel in and out, so then maybe someone traveled to Encanto and ended up showing them PB&Js.

So now my headcannon thing is that one day the triplets discovered the sandwiches and their acronym from someone. They became a bit popular among the Madrigals for a quick snack, and occasionally the triplets would call it the "Pepa Bruno and Julieta sandwich" as a joke.

#this is just one of those random things you think about #idk if this would count as a headcannon but oh well #ngl i'm actually kinda tempted to write a short story of this but idk #encanto #julieta madrigal #pepa madrigal #bruno madrigal #madrigal triplets

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encantoisawesome · 1 year

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so ive had this headcannon in my head ever since i spotted both of these details

so you know how there are square shadows on the walls of the stair case leading to bruno’s room?

it looks like something were once hung on the walls, like pictures frames

then i spotted this in bruno’s hidden room

picture frames

i always thought those picture frames were the same pictures that were once hung on the stair case wall

since the only one that knows about the hidden room behind the walls is bruno (and later mirabel and antonio but we know they werent the ones that put them there), whoever took them down wouldnt have put them there, therefore it had to have been bruno who either took the pictures down himself and stored them in his hidden room without anyone noticing or he found them after they were taken down and took them with him. or they arent the same picture frames, i dont know

its still interesting to think about though

#encanto #bruno #bruno madrigal #encanto bruno #headcannon

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anonymous-chicken-was-taken · 1 year

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Encanto Headcanons!!

So I saw Encanto a few days ago and I literally have not stopped thinking about it so... HEADCANONS!

Some of these are specific to post-canon, some aren't.

One of the things being done to lighten Luisa's workload is Antonio just telling the donkeys to go back in the barn

Dolores didn't high-key snitch on Bruno living in the walls because she relates to knowing things other people don't want to know/don't want you to know

Camilo has a stash of tea somewhere for when Pepa gets stressed

Dolores' room has a bunch of things in it that muffle sound, but also a bunch of things that make interesting sounds

Pepa and Julieta's rooms have aspects of them which also cater to their respective husbands because of how important they are to them

Bruno's favorite game is chess, but he never follows the rules, he just starts making up ridiculous plotlines and derails everything like four moves in. Everyone learns to just go along with it.

Mirabel's glasses are magically reinforced (how else do you explain them not getting disastrously scratched up when she falls face first into a ton of sand?)

Isabela gets commissioned to dye clothing after she realizes she can

A good half of the village just calls Alma "abuela"

Luisa likes to do things like woodworking. The more delicate things don't always turn out the best, but she enjoys it anyway.

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subukunojess · 2 years

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BRUNO MADRIGAL IS IN OOGIE BOOGIE BASH! Along with Ernesto De La Cruz, Mother Gothel, and Madam Mim from the Sorcerer’s Stone!

My Headcannons as to how they got in lore-wise:

• Oogie definitely invited Mother Gothel first like “Yas queen, slay, why didn’t you get an invitation before?”

• Ernesto heard about the Halloween party and saw it as his third chance to come back on top. Oogie was neutral about him but went “well, he has a guitar and a decent voice. He could probably appease the crowd as an opening act thing.”

• Madam-who? Oogie didn’t know Mim existed or that it was even possible. He just found a cursed Medieval story book and Mim popped out. Whether he wants to or not, Mom’s staying.

• As for Bruno, I have different ideas. In one Instagram video with Bruno, he says that Mirabel told him about the party and he wanted to join in. I’m adding to that. I do have notes for a wip crossover I’m writing where Casita actually summons Oogie under the bed and meets Young Mirabel and Camilo right after Mirabel’s ceremony. I don’t know if I’m going to pursue it. Anyway, also thinking about Oogie and Bruno meeting with Bruno a little nervous around El Cuco (I researched and I know it’s the wrong word choice for Columbia, but I chose this spelling because people might get confused with the character/film Coco). Plus, Oogie understands about being banished/talked about but still within the same place (parallels!), so he’d send an invitation even if Bruno isn’t a villain.

If anyone else has Oogie Boogie Bash Headcannons, please add to this!

#Oogie Boogie Bash #Disney #Halloween #Disney Villains #Headcannons #Oogie Boogie #Madam Mim #Mother Gothel #Ernesto De La Cruz #Bruno Madrigal #I’M CHEERING AND FREAKING OUT

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flyawaymind · 1 year

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Encanto AU idea

Notes: Yes, I am still thinking about Encanto. It is a big comfort movie for me, and the characters (especially Bruno) are good for projecting onto, and I don’t think I will ever stop thinking about any of them.

You should know that this is nothing like what I usually write for this fandom, even though this is the only thing I feel is ready to post. I believe that all of the characters are flawed, and that even though Alma loves her family, her trauma influences her actions and that leads to her making many mistakes. I don’t believe for even a second that any of the adults in the movie are abusive or bad parents/tíos, and none of what I’ve written here is actually part of my headcanon for them. This idea was just too much to stay in my head, so I’m dropping it here. It’s also on AO3.

READ THE WARNINGS. This isn’t a happy one, folks.

Content warnings and tags: angst; so much angst; implied/referenced child neglect; implied referenced child abuse; good dad Agustín Madrigal; good tío Bruno Madrigal; bad tío Félix Madrigal; bad tía Pepa Madrigal; bad mom Julieta Madrigal; bad abuela Alma Madrigal; traumatized Alma Madrigal; traumatized Julieta Madrigal; traumatized Bruno Madrigal; black and white thinking; insecure Julieta Madrigal; insecure Bruno Madrigal; Bruno Madrigal leaves after Mirabel’s gift ceremony, Alma Madrigal Bashing, angry Bruno Madrigal, angry Agustín Madrigal

Mirabel’s ceremony stays the same. She touches the doorknob, the magic door disappears, the candle flickers, making Alma panic and ask Bruno for a vision. He sees Casita crumbling, his family in danger, and Mirabel at the center of it all, and the only thing he can think of to keep her safe is to go hide in the walls to watch his family from afar.

This is where things go wrong. Maybe he makes too much noise, or doesn't close the painting all the way, or gets caught getting food at night. Maybe he does everything right, but Dolores tells the family about how she’s been hearing something in the walls, something bigger than a rat.

Whatever happens, Bruno is found not long after the failed ceremony, and subsequently the family learns what he saw in the vision. It goes even worse than he had expected it to, starting with this: Alma takes the fact that Bruno tried to hide this from her as proof that Mirabel is already tearing the family apart.

Bruno tries to tell her that she’s wrong, but Alma is scared, traumatized, and she has been spending forty years protecting her home and her family. She isn’t about to risk losing it all again. Instead, she doubles down, saying that Mirabel is dangerous, that she can no longer be trusted.

Agustín thinks that the whole idea is ridiculous. He can’t believe that they were even having this discussion. His youngest daughter has been absolutely distraught about everything that’s happened, and Agustín can’t make himself believe that she would ever hurt her family. He fully expects Julieta to back him on this; after all, she’s been right there with him comforting Mirabel in the aftermath of her ceremony. He’s more than shocked when she quietly tells him that her mother might be right.

Julieta has always carried a huge weight, and it was placed on her shoulders when she was the same age Mirabel is right now. No doctors had followed Alma and Pedro into the jungle. Before the triplets got their Gifts, the town just made do. For thirty-five years Julieta has been the only thing standing between the entire Encanto and medical disaster. She has spent all of her life around the sick and dying, has seen all sorts of horrific injuries. If something happened to the miracle, if she isn’t able to heal everyone anymore, how long will it take for them all to just die off? Part of her knows her reasoning is illogical at best, but fear and shame are powerful motivators, and her mother has been wielding them against Julieta her whole life.

Stunned, Agustín turns to Félix, believing that surely the other Madrigal in-law would see that this was wrong—but Félix shakes his head.

“The Encanto needs the magic,” he tells his cuñado, “It’s the foundation of the whole area. Who knows if the land will even hold up without it?”

He sounds so sad as he says it, like he’s already mourning the loss of the youngest Madrigal. As though there is no avoiding what is about to happen.

Pepa is practically tearing her hair out as she runs her hands down her braid, trying to keep the hail and freezing rain that is buffeting her shoulders from affecting the rest of the room. She doesn’t want to lose any of her family, but she has known Bruno for longer than Mirabel has been alive. He and Julieta are her triplets, three parts of a whole, and if she has to choose between them and her niece, her siblings will always come out on top. Still, she thinks of her little Camilo, not even a year older than Mirabel.

“Maybe there’s a way to change the prophecy, change the future,” she says, “Maybe there’s something less extreme that we can do to stop Mirabel from destroying everything.”

She can’t meet anyone’s eyes, and voice is weak and shaky. It’s clear that she doesn’t believe what she’s saying. Not even Félix can bring himself to support her argument, though he wraps a comforting arm around her waist.

“No,” Alma says, voice sharp and cold as a blade. “All of Bruno’s visions come true. All of them. We must deal with this problem now, before it can take root.”

It’s two against four. Desperate, Agustín turns again to Bruno, pleading with him to find a solution. “Hermano, I know your visions aren’t always clear. There must be some loophole, maybe some detail that you missed?”

Here’s the thing: although the stakes have never been this personal, this argument isn’t new to Bruno. In the past his mamá has used his visions to dole out punishments well before any crime was committed, and Bruno knows word for word how the fight will go, so he tries a different approach. If he can’t change their minds, maybe he can at least make sure his sobrina isn’t punished too harshly for what he had seen. Maybe he can still keep her safe, or at least, safer.

“What are you even planning to do?” he asks his mother, “You can’t just kick a little girl out on the streets, especially not your own granddaughter. Even aside from how cruel that would be, there’s no way she would be able to survive on her own, and none of the villagers would be willing to help her, not if it meant going against you.”

This is what finally makes Julieta speak up.

“Surely Mamá isn’t thinking about kicking Mirabel out entirely,” she says. “Maybe we can just keep her isolated until the danger is past. Casita can make a new room for her. The Mirabel in the vision was a teenager, no more than sixteen at the most. I would rather spend a decade or so with my daughter locked away under the same roof than a lifetime without knowing where she is.”

Alma rests a gentle hand on Julieta’s shoulder. “I understand your concerns,” she tells her. “The love of a mother is a powerful thing. But you cannot allow your own selfishness to bring harm upon the miracle. As Félix said, there are many more lives at risk here than just our family. The needs of the many must outweigh the needs of the one. This is no different than separating a contagious person from others to keep the disease from spreading.”

Julieta doesn’t have a counter argument for that, and the tiny spark of rebellion in her eyes goes out before it can catch flame. She closes in on herself and cries quietly, muffling the sobs in one hand and using the other to grip Agustín too tightly for him to pull away. She doesn’t notice that he isn’t holding her hand in return.

“This isn’t a disease they’re talking about,” Bruno says, desperate to make his family see sense. “She’s a little girl, barely five years old, who is just as scared as we are. It was her door that faded away, after all, and she isn’t even old enough to comprehend the potential ramifications, let alone bring down the whole Encanto.” His voice is shaking with barely contained rage and old hurt as he continues. “Mirabel isn’t some kind of curse. She isn’t bad luck and shouldn’t be shunned because of a bad vision. She’s just a child, just a kid. She’s done nothing to deserve any of this. It’s not like she can create the future.”

The argument goes on as emotions become more and more fraught, each person trying to speak over the others. Each person except Alma, that is. She hasn’t taken her eyes off of her son, and after a few moments she raises her hand. The gesture is enough to make everyone fall silent once more.

“Bruno is right,” she says, and Agustin lets out a sob of relief. “The jungle is too dangerous for a young child, and although the future is unavoidable, Mirabel isn’t the one who set it in stone. That is why Bruno will go with her.”

The response is immediate and loud. Pepa and Julieta argue that there has to be another way, that they can’t lose their little brother again. The short time he spent in the walls was painful enough.

Agustín is yelling, swearing, asking how Alma can banish two members of her own family, her own son and granddaughter, based on something that won’t even happen for another ten years.

Félix is quiet, but he has turned to glare at Bruno, as though this was just a repeat of his and Pepa’s wedding, as though the prophet wasn’t one of the only people trying to stop this in the first place.

Bruno has gone pale, his breath knocked out of him by his mother’s words and the clear message between the lines. His mother believed that he was to blame for his niece’s future, for the potential downfall of the family and the miracle, and so he would be punished along with Mirabel. Somewhere under the shock and hurt, Bruno feels a little bit of relief. At least he knew what she thought of him, now. At least she wasn’t pretending to care for him anymore. No more masks, no more condemnation thinly disguised as encouragement. He hears himself speak as though through a long tunnel.

“Fine,” he says, the single word cutting through the noise. “If all of you are willing to let your fear rule your actions, then Mirabel is no longer safe in Casita. I always swore I’d never let any of the kids turn out like me, and if I have to protect Mirabel from our own family, then I will. Clearly neither of us are welcome in Encanto anymore, but I’ll be damned if I let Mirabel go out there on her own.”

Agustín tears himself away from Julieta and clings to Bruno, pleading with him not to take his daughter away, to wait a day, to give everyone a chance to come to their senses, or to at least let Agustín leave with them. Bruno’s ceyes are sad as he brushes off his cuñado’s hands.

“You have to stay here,” he says.

He doesn’t tell Agustín that the others could turn on any of the other kids just as quickly as they have turned on him and Mirabel. He doesn’t say that they can’t take them all, that they’ll never make it past the mountains with so many children and so few adults. He doesn’t say that the rest of the kids need at least one person in their corner, should something like this ever happen again. He doesn’t need to say any of it. Under the shock and panic and heartache, Agustín already knows that he has to let this happen, to let the man he thinks of as a brother leave with his youngest daughter. He knows, and it hurts him all the more.

There are a few more weak protests from Julieta and Pepa, but the decision has been made. Bruno and Agustín go to Dolores’s room, where all of the children had been sent so they wouldn’t hear the arguing. Agustín begins to cry when he takes in the way they’re all curled up together, with Mirabel right in the middle of the pile. The sound wakes Dolores from her light sleep, and her movement wakes the other kids, like a little line of sleepy dominoes.

Bruno isn’t doing much better than his cuñado, but he gives a watery smile as he informs the kids that he and Mirabel need to leave the Encanto. No, he isn’t sure how long. No, no one else is going with them. No, this isn’t because of anything that any of the kids had done. No, he isn’t sure when they’re coming back.

“Sometimes grown-ups make bad choices,” he tells them, barely disguising the bitterness in his voice. “It’s better for me and Mirabel if we go, to put some space between us and the Encanto.”

Dolores speaks up for the first time that night, even before she had been sent to bed with the others. “Will you be careful, Tío?” she asks, “Will you protect her?”

Bruno swallows against the lump in his throat, wonders if her room is as soundproof for her as it is for everyone else. “Lola, I swear that I’m going to do everything I can to keep her safe. To keep us both safe.”

By now all of the kids are crying, confused and scared. They’ve never seen Agustín so upset, have never seen him cry like this, no matter how badly he’s gotten hurt. Isabela, Luisa, and Mirabel are clinging to each other, and even though Camilo is held tight in Dolores’s lap, he has one little fist clenched in Mirabel’s dress. Agustín kneels down to detangle his daughter and pull her away, giving her one last tight hug and a kiss. For a long moment he just keeps her close, breathing her in, petting her hair, feeling her weight in his arms, trying to cement everything about his little girl in his memory. She is trying so hard to be brave, but he can see the way tears are rolling down her cheeks and how her bottom lip is trembling. Through it all, she pats his cheek.

“Don’t be scared,” she tells him, “Tio Bruno is really nice, and we’ll be back home before you know it, okay?”

It’s the same thing that he and Julieta tell their daughters whenever they don’t want to go to school, to reassure them that their teachers are kind and that at the end of the day the girls would come back home. Agustín clutches Mirabel to his chest and sobs into her hair, his whole frame shaking. He feels a hand on his shoulder and desperately turns away, but Bruno moves with him and gently lifts Mirabel from his arms. The prophet is crying now, too, but for Mirabel’s sake he still clings to a brittle smile.

“I’ll take good care of her, Gus,” he says, “And hey, Mira and I will try to write as soon as we get settled, okay? Let you know all the news from our new place.”

Agustín nods and does his best to paste on a smile, but both men know that even if they found a way to get a letter back to Encanto, Alma would never allow it to reach the rest of the family.

They make sure each of the other kids says goodbye to Mirabel before leaving the room to find Julieta and Alma in the courtyard with two old suitcases. Agustín ignores them, instead going straight into the kitchen for the strongest bottle of alcohol he can find. It doesn’t escape his notice that although Julieta looks worried and upset, neither of the women are crying.

Bruno won’t let go of Mirabel, so Julieta has to awkwardly hug them both goodbye at once, her brother tense and angry in her arms. He refuses to let Alma come anywhere near them, even to say goodbye, and rejects Julieta’s help as he uses an old blanket to tie a still-sleepy Mirabel to his back so he can pick up the suitcases. Leaving his mother and sister with one last withering glare, Bruno walks out the door, forcing himself not to look back as he and Mirabel leave the warmth of Casita and go out into the night.

He hopes that by leaving the valley, he can break the prophecy and change the future. He hopes that Mirabel never has to step into this town again, but if the vision holds, he hopes the death of the miracle tears this place to the ground. If she does come back at some point, he will make sure he’s right beside her, keeping her safe.

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