Chapter Text
Mirabel sat in her room, reading a book when someone knocked. The sound pulled her out of the book's fantasy world.
People seldom knocked on her door. The Madrigals were a big family, so it could be difficult sometimes to get some alone time but usually someone being in their room meant that the rest of the family respected their need for quietness.
“Yes?”
The door opened, Dolores slipped into the room and closed the door behind herself. “We gotta talk.”
“What?”
Dolores sat down on Mirabel’s bed and looked deep into her eyes.
“Dolores, are you alright? What’s going on?” Mirabel was quite confused. “What are you being so secretive?”
“We have to talk and I’m sure you don’t want anyone to hear it.” Dolores narrowed her eyes.
“Well, I mean, the only one who could listen through closed doors is sitting right beside me,” Mirabel joked, “So what is it?”
“Did you know that you talk in your sleep?” Dolores looked way too smug about presenting this fact to Mirabel.
“What? No, I don’t.” Mirabel really didn’t know what her point in denying it was because if she did talk in her sleep then Dolores would know about it. However, in the suddenness of the situation denial was her first reaction.
“You do, I can hear you.”
Mirabel blushed. “Oh…what did I say?” She didn’t have many secrets but those she did have, she’d rather keep to herself.
Her cousin looked her over once more and her demeanour changed as if she changed her mind about her initial idea of talking to Mirabel about the occurrence. But she still managed to mutter, “You mentioned a certain tío.”
Mirabel’s blush deepened and she couldn’t look at Dolores. Instead, she started fiddling with her blanket. “Did I now…,” she murmured.
“Mirabel, do you really…you said…you like him?” Dolores looked at her as if she begged Mirabel to tell her that her observations were wrong.
Mirabel could’ve said something along those lines, but she was pretty sure her glowing red ears were telling a different story. “I do…”
“But why! Mirabel! He’s our tío! He’s just as old as our parents! He didn’t…did he do anything?” Dolores sounded worried. She obviously couldn’t understand Mirabel’s crush. And she probably was not wrong about it. He was their tío and way older than her. Her mother would cry out her eyes if she knew what kind of sick feelings her daughter had. And Abuela would regret changing her views about Mirabel.
“No! Dolores! How can you think that! Tío Bruno would never do anything to hurt this family!” Mirabel looked angry and desperate. She couldn’t believe that Dolores would really think that Bruno would do anything. He’d probably just as disgusted as the rest if he’d find out about Mirabel’s feelings.
“He’s always sweet. He is the only one who made me feel home from the very beginning. It’s like we have some kind of connection because I don’t have a gift and he hates his. We’ve both come to terms with that but it’s still nice to know someone who feels similar things.”
Her cousin tried to look sympathetic about the whole thing, but Mirabel could still see that it weirded her out. “Man, you really got it bad, don’t you? But, Mirabel, it’s just a crush because you don’t remember Bruno from when you were a child.
Mirabel shrugged. “I don’t know. Why are you bringing this up anyway? You could’ve just ignored my nightly ramblings.”
Suddenly Dolores became rigid. Her eyes nervously looked to every corner of Mirabel’s room, and she started gesturing in an awkward way. “Oh, you know, just curious. Do you hear that? I think mamá called my name!” Dolores almost fled from the room and Mirabel was left sitting on her bed, questioning the weird exit of her cousin.
During dinner Dolores would always look between Mirabel and Bruno back and forth. At some point their awkward tío realised her glances and darted looks at her and Mirabel. Mirabel just shook her head slightly while her face was slowly turning a bright red again.
Mirabel prayed for her cousin to stay quiet about her secret. She stared at her, almost as if she could force her to stay quiet with the mere power of will.
Camilo noticed red-faced Mirabel, laughed and shifted into her. Mirabel tried to slightly kick him in the shin but instead she accidently kicked Dolores.
“Ouch!”
And within seconds the attention of the whole Madrigal family was on them. Abuela gave them a short, reprehensive look. "Please keep it together for dinner, the two of you."
“Are you okay?” Julieta asked her daughter and her niece.
They both nodded, Dolores pursing her lips. Camilo snickered and and made his face – or Mirabel’s face right now – even redder.
"Camilo, change back. We said no shifting on the table!" Pepa scolded her son and a small dark cloud appeared above her head.
In fear of ruining dinner by drowning their food, Camilo changed back. "Yes, mamá."
After dinner Dolores came to Mirabel’s room once more. Before she could say a single word, Mirabel reached for her upper arms and said with desperation clear in her voice, “You can’t tell anyone! Please Dolores! Keep only this secret, just this once!”
She knew how difficult it was for Dolores to keep a secret but it would taint her relationship with Bruno in a way that wouldn’t be fixable. She never wanted her tío to look at her differently or loose the pride in his eyes when he looked at her. Her bond with Bruno was the closest compared to anyone else in the family. She enjoyed the privilege to be the only one allowed in Bruno’s room or even be able to find him in the walls if a situation became too much for him and he decided to hide.
“What do you mean?” Her face almost portrayed innocence as if she didn’t know what Mirabel was talking about. Mirabel couldn’t believe that her cousin would act like this now when this was so important to her.
“Tío Bruno can never know! No one can know, they would be disgusted! Just treat it as a crush, if you want. Nothing will come out of it anyway. Tío doesn’t like me like that.”
Dolores’ eyes grew impossibly wide. She made a choked sound.
Mirabel wanted to ask her what was going on when Dolores suddenly became Camilo. “Oh shit!”
“Camilo!”