Chapter Text
You stumbled up the path, heavy crates in tow. It was your turn to deliver the Madrigals usual fruits and vegetable orders, and with them being a rather large family, it was a rather large delivery, which meant a lot for you to carry. You didn't mind too much though, the family, of who you had met, had always been very kind and very welcoming. Usually, you’d see Luisa as she would come down and help you carry everything up, and Julieta she was usually in the kitchen, where you’d drop everything off. You’d met Dolores and Mirabel before, Dolores was quite close to your age and Mirabel made a point of knowing as many people as she could in the town, but you were yet to meet the rest of the magical family.
You had finally made it up half of the path when Luisa came bounding over a grin plastered over her face.
“Hola Y/n!” She shouted giving you a wave.
“Luisa! Am I glad to see you!” You shouted back with a smile.
She scooped one of the crates out of your hands and began the walk towards the casita.
“Mama will be so excited to see you, she’s been trying out new recipes today and wants a guinea pig,” Luisa began.
“Cant find Mirabel or Antonio?” You said giving a knowing glance.
“Yeah, no.” Luisa agreed flatly before giving a musical laugh.
You continued towards the house chatting and laughing.
“Mama Y/n’s here!” Luisa shouted as Casita swung the front door open.
Before you could shout a single hello, Casita slammed the door behind you and the tiles you were standing on began to move. Usually, when you walked into the home, Casita would give you a slight wave but nothing more, so this was odd.
“Luisa, what's happening?” You said trying to keep your balance as the house moved you across the room.
“Seams Casita wants to show you something?” She said as she grabbed the other crate in your hands as you were whisked away up the stairs.
You were halfway up the rather pushy staircase when you heard a voice.
“Dios mío, where are you taking me?” A rather husky voice shouted.
You’d made it to the top of the stairs only to crash headfirst into the owner of the voice. You heard him make a wincing sound as you impacted each other and a clatter as you both fell to the floor.
“I'm so sorry! Are you okay?” You said scrambling to your feet.
A rugged, green poncho’d man sat rubbing his head on the floor. “Si, I'm fine.” He said looking up at you.
He looked shocked at first glance as If he was expecting someone else to be looking down at him. You stretched out your hand and he looked at it a second longer than was probably necessary before taking it. You pulled him to his feet and apologised again.
“Im so sorry, Casita she just…”
“No don't worry Siniora, she was doing the same to me.” He looked uncomfortable and slightly sweaty.
A voice sounded from down the stairs, “Y/n, are you okay?”
Luisa was standing at the bottom of the stairs looking up, when she spotted you, hand in hand with the poncho'd man. You let go of his and quickly and smiled down at Luisa.
"I'm okay!" You turned to make your way back downstairs, but casita pulled the steps away and pushed you into the arms of the man you'd just been thrown into.
"Oof" you heard him let out as you impacted him again. "Casita!! Knock it off!!" He shouted at the house.
You pulled away from him, feeling your face becoming flushed as you kept getting thrown into this man's chest. You were guessing this had to either be one of Luisa's Tio’s or her father, which the prospect of made you even more embarrassed. You could tell he was also getting flustered but he was going his best to act casual about the whole thing.
"Siniora Y/n? I've heard a lot about you." He said, giving you a meek smile.
"Tio Bruno?” Luisa asked, eyes flicking between you and her uncle “What's going on?" She questioned a smirk on her face.
"I'm not sure." He shouted back, he stepped back towards the railings.
So this was Bruno. The infamous Bruno. You'd heard things about him from around the town. Lots of people didn't seem to trust him, but from the little things that you'd heard from Mirabel and Dolores in passing, the thing the town had said wasn't exactly true. Plus casita seemed to want to introduce you two.
As Bruno moved, you seemed to move with him, the tiles under your feet moved you along with his steps.
"Seams Casita wanted us to meet." You said resting your hands on the railing next to him.
He gave you a rather timid smile and nodded.
"Seams that way." He agreed.
You pulled your eyes away from him and looked down at the now staircasless lower floor where Luisa stood. She gave you both a shrug and went into the kitchen to put the produce away. Casita was slowly pushing into Bruno's arm as you both stood looking down. That's when a voice sounded behind you.
“Tio Bruno? Y/n? Whats…going on? Oh my god, are you two dating???” Mirabel's cheerful voice rang out
The two of you spun around, Casita pushing you into Bruno's chest as you did so. He managed to steady the both of you, wrapping his arms around your waist as you placed both palms onto his chest. You looked up at him in shock then back at Mirabel, horror plastered all over your face. You both pushed away from each other quickly.
"No! It's just a big misunderstanding" he began.
"It's casita!" You said nodding in agreement with him.
Mirabel's face though looked as though she wasn't buying a word of what either of you were saying.
"Honest sobrina, casitas taken away the stares and everything!" Bruno said gesturing.
Mirabel looked over but Casita had quickly put the stairs back where they previously were. "Uh-huh," Mirabel cocked an eyebrow and began descending the steps.
You moved to follow after her but casita flipped the stairs so that you couldn't take a step. You looked back at Bruno desperately.
“What is happening?” You said getting a little frustrated now.
Mirabel turned around to see the commission behind her and saw the steps refusing to let you take the step down.
“Casita?” She said looking around the big home.
“Any ideas Mirabel” Bruno said stepping towards the stairs.
As he did the steps settled and stayed flat.
“I’ve got an idea!” Mirabel shouted running back up the steps.
“Great! What is it?” You said excitedly.
“Tio, pick Y/n up. Casita doesn't seem to like you to being apart, so what don't you pick Y/n up and walk her out the door.” Mirabel explained
“Pick me up…” You repeated.
You felt your palms begin to sweat, this was the first time you’d ever met this man, and now he had to carry you out of his home. Dios Mio this was so embarrassing. You quickly glanced at Bruno to gauge how he felt about the idea, and he seemed equally embarrassed about the whole situation.
“It’s w…worth a go.” His voice squeaked slightly mid-sentence, showing his unease.
He didn't dare look at you, just kept his eyes on the floor.
“How do you want to do this?” You said nervously.
“You could always do piggyback?” Mirabel suggested.
You thought about the idea cringing inwardly at the thought of you climbing onto his back.
“How about I just…” He shuffled behind you.
He spoke softly as he braced himself to pick you up. “Ready?” He whispered.
You nodded, and he slowly placed a hand behind the backs of your knees and one on your back. He effortlessly swopped you into his arms, you quickly looped your arms around his neck carefully avoiding his long curls.
“Aww, you look adorable!” Mirabel squealed.
You felt surprisingly comfortable, you thought you be more nervous, but it felt right somehow. But the fact that it felt so right made you feel a little uneasy, all in all, you were having a bit of an internal struggle.
“Are you alright?” Bruno asked nervously.
“I'm okay!” You said a little too quickly.
“Ok, let's get you both down these steps.” Mirabel said jumping into action. “Luisa!” Mirabel screamed.
“Yeah?” Luisa's voice came from the kitchen.
She walked out into the open space below and looked up at her uncle with you in his arms.
“What…’s going on?” She said pointing from you to Bruno.
“Long story, just get ready to catch them if they fall,” Mirabel said rushing down the steps to look up at you both.
You felt Bruno take a deep breath and begin the nerve-racking descent down the steps of Casita. He was slow and careful, but you still felt incredibly uneasy being carried down so many steps. At one point you thought he was about to slip so you buried your face into his shoulder out of sheer fright. You felt him gulp at your sudden closeness but he continued down the steps. You noted how he smelt, sort of dusty, like sand and the covers of old books. It was nice. Comforting.
Once you'd reached the bottom, he began heading towards the door, ready to walk you out of the house so that you could carry on with your day, and away from the uncomfortableness. As he went to the door you reached your hand out to turn the handle, but casita had other ideas. Just as before the tiles pushed Bruno back and away from the door and brought you to face Luisa and Mirabel.
Mirabel hmm’d loudly. “So that didn't work.” She said tapping her finger against her chin.
“Oh, so that’s what Casita was doing,” Luisa said realising the situation.
“Didn't you say Y/n was here Luisa,” Jullietta shouted from behind the kitchen door.
Julieta pushed open the door with her shoulder as she was caring a large mixing bowl and spoon in her hands. She began to shout her daughter's name again, and that's when she spotted you, still in Bruno's arms.
“Hola…Julieta.”
“Y/n…Bruno.”
“Hola Hermana…”
Silence. Nobody dared breathe a word.
“Explain, now,” Julieta said pointed with her wooden spoon.
Everyone started talking at once, trying to explain the situation. Once she was caught up with the predicament the two of you were in, Bruno let you down. He was careful, slowly putting your feet on the floor and ensuring that you were steady by placing his now free hand on your waist. It was nice to feel so cared for, as if you were the most delicate thing in the world like he really cared about you, like he was scared if you fell you’d shatter.
“Have you tried both walking out together?” Julieta suggested.
So you tried it, and just as before, right back to where you’d started.
“This is getting annoying.” You huffed.
You could sense that Bruno was starting to feel the same, it had been over two hours of you trying different ways to get Casita to leave you both alone, but nothing seemed to be working.
“I've got it!” Luisa shouted. “You should kiss! That might shock Casita enough so that you could do a mad dash out the door Y/n” She seemed pretty proud of her idea, folding her arms in triumph.
“Kiss…” You repeated.
“On the mouth?” Bruno questioned equally as perplexed by the idea.
“That's a pretty good idea…it might work,” Mirabel said pacing back and forth.
“Anythings worth a try.” Julieta shrugged.
You gleaned at Bruno. You’d only met this man a few hours ago and now you had to kiss him. He looked like he was sweating, his eyes flicked to your and back towards his family. He looked rigid and like he was getting pinker by the second. You were relieved that you weren't the only one sweating buckets at the idea of kissing.
“Ahh come on, it'll be fun!” Mirabel teased. “Just turn to face each other.” She said pushing you both to be facing one another.
“Heh.” Bruno squeaked out.
“3.2.1 Go!” Mirabel shouted.
Neither of you moved.
“And kiss!” She continued.
Again not a move.
“Well, Y/n guess you’ll just have to live here now, hope you've got enough space for two Tio.” Mirabel said turning to walk away.
That hadn't dawned on you. If you didn't find a way to let you go home you’d have to stay. You'd have to stay the night…with Bruno…in his room. You gulped and grabbed his poncho pulling him down, smashing your mouths together.
It was softer than you’d expected, this was your first kiss so you didn't really know what to expect, but it was nice. You felt him relax a little, almost trying to kiss you back, but before he had the chance you pulled away and began running towards the doors. To your delight, Casita wasn't stopping you this time.
“I'll see you in a few days! Adios!” You turned and gave a wave mid-run.
You saw Bruno mouth open, cheeks flushed giving you a very slow wave. Your heart fluttered as you ran down the path home. Out of everything that you thought was going to happen today, kissing Bruno Madrigal was not on your list.