Chapter Text
‘something is different’ Bruno thought squished against the hot bus window while his seatmate snored into his ear. Normally a stranger in this close proximity to him would drive him nuts. But it was a minor nuisance to his current thoughts that something was fundamentally changed in him.
He wanted to pinpoint this start to when Elena visited the Encanto for the first time. She met the family, the “pets”. Learned about the magic, a short summary of Casita’s rise and fall, Madrigal family powers, and their shared future which was a lot of information to take in. Elena only screamed once, and that was upon meeting Parce the jaguar unceremoniously, so he counted that as a victory. For everything else, well the funny thing about Elena was decades in a bar trained her to be calm and neutral under weird scenarios so she could assess, and take in the info needed to deescalate stressful situations. Which is a great skill in general, made completely comical as a house excitedly waves at you.
But she is a trooper, and since then with the knowledge they would marry on their minds, it was almost like permission to “open the floodgates of weird, and crazy” As Elena put it. “No reason to hold back the goofball.”
Which, I don’t think she was quite understanding the high amount of weird, crazy, and goofball he possessed. Elena and he stayed up all night on the grassy knoll next to Casita as he told her everything. She listened quietly, as he lay next to her, as he brought her into his life, Bruno comforted in the fact that him being truthful wouldn’t drive her away because ‘they WILL get married’. Although he still had his Ruana up for the hard bits. She was holding his hand the whole time, reassuredly. But after the catharsis, the tears and kisses of reassurance. They got to the point where they just laid together, his arm underneath her head, bringing her close as they stared up at the stars and then the eventual sunrise. He dreaded this moment for a while; but living it he felt enormous relief, he never felt closer to anyone than to her in this moment.
“It might take me a while to understand this all Bruno.” She said, adjusting her head so she could hear his heartbeat. “But I am going to try. I promise to always try.” He wondered if she could hear his heartbeat flutter at that.
For her part, Elena had more quirky in her, than crazy (who eats the green strawberry tops with the berry? Adorable weirdos, that's who). But she mostly had a side helping of incredibly sad he just wanted to wrap her up in a tiny ball and just hold her for eternity. He didn’t understand how she navigated life at all; so open, hopeful, kind. She said her faith, but good God her faith was doing some heavy lifting.
Parents died in a house fire. Orphaned at 12. Never adopted. Mentor died. Seedy bars in her early career that didn’t treat her right. Austerity. Wanting children and unable to produce in her first marriage, and Carlos refusing to adopt.
‘Ah yes, Mother fucking Carlos that idiot pendejo’ Bruno though ruefully, that would throw a woman like her away. And then a long string of ‘third daters’ as she called them who would be so disrespectful to her, that the idea that these assholes thinking they had the right to look down upon her, or to put their hands upon her made him shake with anger. Bruno didn’t understand how any man could want a woman’s body so much, they’d be willing to ignore her simple boundaries, embarrass her, or make her cry.
She reassured him, that thankfully they didn’t so go far as to hurt her, instead being ‘handsy”, but clearly she and him had drastic different definitions of what hurt was. She recognized emotional hurt in him, and offered comfort. Yet she treated her own emotional pain like seasons that ebbed and flow, weathering them one day at a time.
With all that vulnerability and intimacy came the change. Particularly, in how his mind wandered late at night seeking his own release. What was once a tactile experience, focusing on how his body felt as he touched himself. Listening to his own sounds. His thoughts now had a direction and they all went to her. Elena had opened new parts of his brain. Parts he didn’t even realize weren’t opened.
He imagined Elena and him together as he always did since seeing her on stage and then in the sand. Romantic stories playing out like a telenovela of his life with her, laughing, loving, holding each other, kissing. Her being gorgeous in white on their future wedding date, them retiring to their room they would share and build their family. But the fantasy that used to fade to black here was now revealing new fantasies with increasing clarity with each meeting.
He imagined her hands upon him. Her lips finding rest on places other than his face. He imagined her beneath him as he ground into his mattress. He fantasized about her on top of him, her weight, her moving, her sounds. He wanted so desperately to know what she would sound like.
It was curious to him these thoughts. He didn’t think they were wrong. It's just, if he was capable of thoughts like this why now? Did other people think like this? Is it because he loved her? But he was pretty sure he was a goner in that regard the moment she picked him off the floor. Since first seeing her on that stage he couldn't imagine not being near her. He felt so strongly in his soul that their futures were linked he did the unthinkable. Looked into his own future. It wasn’t lust that drove him then, it was something deeper, romantic. Someone to love and care for, to grow old with. Hold hands and kiss and reminisce. A desire for a person who fit his soul like a puzzle piece. But lust was having quite a bit of say over his thoughts now, and it was rather distracting.
Bruno's mind traveled to the last visit to the city. They were walking around the boardwalk taking in the sights of the buskers and the beautiful lake, when she pulled a photo out of her purse.
“Oh by the way. I found this at the Chia lounge in our Bouncer’s office. You didn’t tell me you got your photo taken for Hugo’s Wall of shame” Elena said with a teasing tone, holding the photo protectively close to her, as she showed a mortified Bruno. It was the one where Bruno was caught mid-hug by Agustin with a less then flattering expression during the embarrassing encounter with the big Gorilla. With a cheeky smile Elena continued, “Now What did you do to earn such a gorgeous memento?”
“I asked him for your family Surname, or where you lived so I could deliver flowers. In hindsight!” He said loudly his pointer fingers up in defense of Elena’s side-eye. “I do see now how that is a creepy thing to do in the city/”
“Yeah a little bit, country boy” Elena replied. “But I do respect the cultural differences between us and will forgive it. Especially since I have this.” She said twisting on her heel, the photo close to her chest as she began to walk. Calling over her shoulder. “ I’m going to buy a locket and keep it close to my heart!”
“Oh, really let me see that,” Bruno replied, snatching it from her.
“Noo!” Elena exclaimed as she grasped for it. There was only a couple-inch height difference between them, just tall enough where he could move it from hand to hand laughing. A familiar game the two of them shared
“Why don’t we get a new picture, you and me? Nice couple shot. I saw a photography studio nearby”. Elena obligingly played her part of the shorter partner, boosting his ego with their flirtatious play. One last swipe from Elena, and Bruno leaned back grasping the photo in both hands, pretending he was going to rip it. This got a genuine effort of retrieval from Elena, where she jumped forward, colliding with Bruno as she reached for the photo with all her might. This time Bruno didn’t have the mental faculty to move his hand. Because in her effort, Elena’s chest pressed against his, the soft mounds molded onto him with a delicious weight, her face flushed from breathy laughter, right next to his ear as she determinedly reached for the photo, her other hand resting on his shoulder for support. This game they had played before suddenly felt less innocent, and his brain screeched to a halt fixated on her breasts as if the word “boobs” was lit up in his head like a bright neon sign. His body stiffened from the closeness, and one other part in particular he wished he had his Ruana to hide.
“Hah!” She exclaimed triumphantly brandishing it and then stowing it away in the notebook she kept in her purse. Before looking up at Bruno’s dumbfounded and flushed red face. “Babe, are you ok?”
Bruno was not ok, he was in fact very confused. About these new feelings that turned him into a blithering idiot and a painfully aroused fool. His brain didn’t use to work like this. He kept losing control of his senses with these intrusive thoughts.
He found it easy not to have these thoughts before. In school, he was a little pretentious about his ability to focus on his school work and excel, because he didn’t flood his thoughts with who was dating who. Who did whom. Who was willing to do what. He thought he was an exceptionally dedicated student. While his mother called him a late bloomer.
It did get to the point though where Bruno thought maybe he should get the whole first kiss thing out of the way at least. When Rosa Santos, a girl who wasn’t shy about her desire to become a Madrigal. Cornered him behind the church as he finished his altar boy duties.
She didn’t really ask. She just sort of launched herself at him, and Bruno just sort of went with it. Mimicking how he saw hormonal peers would do it, Okay, kiss with lips. Ok touch tongues, ugh she had fish for lunch. Ok, where do I put my hands? He never felt he knew where the hands should go so he kept them at her hips. He didn’t suspect she knew either, but she just sort of traveled her hands all over settling in no spot in particular. Maybe she was waiting for a response of some kind? Some confirmation like ‘YES, That hand there. Good” he thought, but then he didn’t want that. He actually was worried she was going to wrinkle his frock. He hated ironing.
She pulled away, flushed and hazy looking
“I hope you liked that as much as I did,” Rosa said in her best sultry voice. Tugging at his collar.
“Um, thank you?”
“That’s all you have to say?”
“Thank you very much?”
She slapped him and walked away, stomping her feet. As she cursed him.
"Wrong answer, Bruno”. He thought, his cheeks burning from the slap and embarrassment.
Elena's kisses were different. He wanted hers. Featherlight and sweet, deepening ever so slightly. Thus far, if their tongues did meet it was soft and gentle, nowhere near as a deep dive of ‘let me check your wisdom teeth’ of Rosa’s. Elena’s kisses projected the deep tenor of affection and desire for closeness and respect. She told him she didn’t mind their slow pace, just because their marriage was a foregone conclusion, there wasn’t a need to rush. She wanted intimacy to grow with their love and knowledge of each other.
It was near seven in the morning when the bus came to a stop, breaking Bruno’s train of thought as he jostled his seatmate awake whose drool now made it to his Ruana. No matter, he was going to pack it away in his bag, once he left the bus. Not needing it once he was free from the proximity of strangers.
As he stowed his ruana and hefted his overnight bag on his shoulder. Bruno's ears perked to the sound of Elena’s voice. He wasn’t expecting her as her late work nights made waking up difficult for her, but there she was. As she happily trotted towards him, his heart fluttered happily at the gesture of meeting him so early. But as she navigated the crowd, his thoughts went to how her chest jiggled in her white dress, How the cotton contrasted deliciously with her beautiful skin. Her painted lips were slightly open, slightly breathless. She must have come from her nearby apartment, instead of the taxi station. Her hair was a little messy. She didn’t take the time to freshly press or roll it. It was as if she just rolled out of bed and ran her fingers through. She was beautiful, cute, and enchanting as always. But also… sexy.
Bruno understood, at this moment what sexy really meant. Elena was sexy as Hell. Surely sexier than Helen, Aphrodite, Cleopatra, and Dulcinea all combined.
“Hello, Woodpecker,” Elena teased as she put her arms around his neck and kissed him hello.
He in turn dropped his bag and deepened the kiss back with vigor. Wrapping his arms around her he lifted her up slightly, which elicited a giggle from her before he placed her feet back down and pulled her in as much as the 1-inch height difference in her kitten heels would allow. Elena gently ran the tip of her tongue along Bruno’s lips and he hungrily accepted the invitation. He wanted to taste her. She smelled good, not just the perfume, but the musk of her, the slight sweat, her hair, her skin, her breath even. All intoxicating. His hands found placement on her lower back and upper body, molding her to him. As hers ran along his shoulders and hair. It electrified his whole body in a way it hadn’t before and the world faded away.
It was Elena that pulled away first. And Bruno was not too proud to consider fixing his puppy dog eyes on her, before noticing her gesturing to the right with her chin smiling. Following her gaze, he saw a group of men watching them while they waited for their bus. Who then broke out in clapping and wolf howling, making Bruno blush furiously.
“Aye good going, man”
“Lucky”
“Call me Mami, if you want a man who can reach the top shelf”
“Mamicita, let me take you out”
To that, Elena just laughed. Tugging a mortified Bruno away as she leaned in close. “Don’t worry, I got all the man I want right here.”