#encanto fankids

[tboycamilo]

encanto next gen au - fourth generation madrigals

wrote these bios for the fankids forever ago but just realized i haven't posted them here and that's a shame bc im proud of my little guys and want to talk about them. anyways here they are in birth order (and also if anyone wants to learn more about the spouses i can write bios for them too bc i love them)

AMELIA 'AMI' MADRIGAL

first child of camilo and marco madrigal. the first of the fourth-generation madrigals. born 1955. has the gift of self-duplication, able to create and dematerialize limitless clones at will. her gift gives marco and camilo hell quite a bit especially when they're young first-time dads attempting to wrangle up all her clones. like marco, ami is very reserved and quiet, but unlike him, she is not socially anxious or shy. she just prefers to observe rather than engage, and tends to be aloof and keep her thoughts to herself. many people see her as stoic and intimidating. because of this, she struggles building relationships with her peers at times, and worries that others perceive her as cold or scary. she's sweet once you get to know her, though, and is a great planner and a good listener. she tends to be the voice of reason in the family and is probably more mature than her dads. a little bit of a nerd.

IMELDA 'IMA' MADRIGAL

ami's twin sister, the second child of camilo and marco madrigal. 'born' 1960 - she was the first clone to materialize when ami got her gift, and gained a mind of her own, unable to dematerialize at ami's will. though physically identical to ami, ima does make efforts to change her appearance so she isn't mistaken for her sister - a definite daddy's girl, she emulates camilo with her shorter hair and bold yellow wardrobe. personality-wise, she is basically a mini version of her papa - energetic, flirty, mischievous, and outgoing. she has a sense of humor, too - she purposely named herself the reverse of her sister's name. but just like camilo, she suffers from identity issues - her boisterous personality and over-the-top style are a direct result of her attempting to compensate for being a clone and avoid being confused with her sister. she often feels like she has no sense of self and fears being seen as a mere copy of ami. if the magic were to fade again, so would she, but we don't need think about that right now!

BRUNO 'BRUNITO' MADRIGAL

third child of camilo and marco madrigal. born 1960. he looks like the perfect mix of his dads, almost all his features halfway between those of marco and camilo. he tends to dress similarly to his namesake, with a hooded poncho shrouding him in mystery. his gift is invisibility at will, so he has become a master of presenting himself inconspicuously. though camilo would never admit it, brunito is kinda his favorite child and is extremely spoiled (and may or may not be the only one of camilo's children who was actually planned). he has a friendly but nervous personality, much like his father marco, and whether his personality developed because of his gift or vice versa is anyone's guess. he is very sweet and tends to see the best in people, and can be somewhat naive - but he's not oblivious to the fact that he tends to get special treatment from his dads and often leverages that to his advantage, much to the irritation of his siblings. he is very attached both to his parents and to his brother felipe. 

VALENTINA MADRIGAL

first child of luisa and inés madrigal. born 1961. despite being adopted, she takes after luisa both in appearance and athleticism. she always has some form of bandages on her in at least one spot. her gift is indestructibility - she is able to withstand injury that would be painful or even fatal to anyone else. because of this spectacular gift, she often tends to throw caution to the wind. valentina is extremely daring and brave, and loves getting into all kinds of trouble and doing stunts that terrify both her mothers. despite her recklessness with her own self, she is very protective of her little sister and younger cousins, and feels a level of responsibility to keep them safe. like luisa, she is susceptible to the pressure she puts on herself, but she is much more comfortable with confrontation than her mother. she bonds with her abuela julieta often.

JACINDA MADRIGAL

first and only child of isabela, lilli, and rosa madrigal. born 1963. her gift is terraforming - she can create structures from the earth and form the land around her at will. with three doting moms who waited until they were fully ready to adopt a kid, jacinda is very spoiled and, in her moms' eyes, she can do no wrong. ima's mischievousness pales in comparison to jacinda's - she is the master prankster of her generation who puts camilo's past mischief to shame. she doesn't discriminate with her pranks, and is always causing hell for her grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. despite her troublemaking nature, she is also very charismatic and friendly, and the kids in town love to be around her - she always has something fun up her sleeve. she loves her family, but probably harbors a little jealousy towards ciela and later the triplets for replacing her as the baby of the family. 

CIELA MADRIGAL

second child of luisa and inés madrigal.  born 1965. she has the gift of levitation and is able to float from place to place. her clothes are covered in dreamy pastels and cloud patterns, reflecting both her gift and personality. as the baby of her immediate family, ciela is innocent and creative. she has a very go-with-the-flow attitude and is great at helping others through their emotions and calming them down. she has an appreciation for nature and the arts, and likes to paint and draw in her spare time. she gets along well with her great aunt pepa, who likes to make clouds for her to float on. ciela can be a little naive at times and often has her head in the clouds literally and figuratively, but many still envy her relaxed and happy attitude.

IGNACIO MADRIGAL

the eldest of camilo and marco's triplets and their fourth child overall. born 1971. his appearance takes after camilo a lot more than his other siblings. his gift is fire manipulation - he can create fires of virtually any size at will. because of how dangerous his gift can be, he spent a great deal of his life teaching himself restraint and is very in control of his emotions. despite his levelheadedness, he can be very pompous and bratty - although he grows out of it sooner or later when he's older. he's also quite boy crazy, which he doesn't exactly grow out of. although he loves to tease and annoy his siblings and cousins, he is fiercely protective of them deep down. he's very passionate about his interests and very dedicated to his loved ones, but he tries not to show it outwardly too much out of fear of his gift getting the better of him.

FELIPE MADRIGAL

fifth child of camilo and marco madrigal, the middle triplet. born 1971. his name was inspired by his grandfather felix, and his appearance takes after him too. his gift is water manipulation, essentially the opposite of his brother ignacio's gift. as expected, the two have a big rivalry and get into arguments all the time - their personalities, much like their gifts, tend to clash quite often. felipe is bubbly and polite, but also quite an emotional boy. he often catastrophizes and lets his feelings get the better of him, much like his grandmother pepa. he's a very hard worker and tends to boss his siblings around when it's time to do chores. he's a total papa's boy and is always on the lookout for praise from marco. he's also best friends with his brother bruno despite being so many years apart in age. his wardrobe, unlike the rest of his immediate family, consists of lots of cool blues.

SOFIA MADRIGAL

the youngest of camilo and marco's triplets and their sixth and final child overall. born 1971. her gift is enhanced eyesight - she is able to see in the dark as well as from far distances, and is acutely aware of minor details that most may not pick up on. her jewelry and dress are adorned with eye designs, and the family knows better than to try and sneak anything past her. just like her tia dolores, she has dirt on everyone and can deduce when something shifty is going on in seconds. she's kind of known as the weirdo cousin for her quietness and ominous behavior. she talks very little and seems to be always watching. it's nothing the madrigals aren't used to, though - dolores was exactly the same way when she was a child. bruno, dolores, ami, and sofia all bond over being viewed as fearsome or outsiders for their quirks. she gets a lot of attention as the baby of the family but she doesn't seem to like being in the spotlight very much. 

that's all of them for now, i may also post bios for the other madrigals just to show where they end up in the future in my au but the au generally revolves around the fourth gen! also feel free to ask more about the au and characters bc i absolutely love to yap about this stuff. also sorry about all the babies camilo i only make you suffer bc ur my favorite character 💛

[madrigaljail]

Sedaverse Fankids

Because why not. Note all of this is subject to change because I don't care all that much. Anyway, in order of appearance:

Julio & José "Pepe" Madrigal - identical twin sons of Dolores and Mariano, named for their great-aunt Juieta and...abuela Josefa, great-uncle José, and great-grandmother Josephine, respectively. Gifts are flight and superspeed, also rspectively. They both take after their dad physically; Julio is ironically more grounded and Pepe is a bit of an agent of chaos like his uncle Camilo.

Paloma Alma Madrigal - Dolores and Mariano's first daughter, more shy reserved than her older brothers. Her gift is temperature control.

Pedro Madrigal II - Mirabel and Lupe Herrera's (...you don't know who he is, don't worry about it) son. Charming trainwreck. His gift is mimicking other gifts, up to three at a time. Knocked up an American tourist at age 20 and that's how we got Bruno 2.0.

[Dolores and Mariano's third son]

[Mirabel and Lupe's daughters]

Zoe Madrigal - Dolores and Mariano's youngest, technomancer, literally an unused character from the movie. Jacked-in hacker type.

Bruno Madrigal - Pedro Jr.'s son with *checks notes* Erica Sullivan. Gift is psychomancy because of course it is. Appears in the epilogue of A Prophet In His Own Land

That's it that's all I've got.

[enlick-12sstuff]

The Madrigal triplets

[meepxii]

The Madrigal-Fontana family

Mateo Vicente Madrigal Fontana

He is a twin, and the oldest child of his family. His gift is to make astral trips to any part of the world by meditation. When he's using his gift, a third eye glows pink on his forehead and he can also levitate. He's the edgy cousin of the family.

Fun facts about him:

Mateo doesn't like his middle name (Vicente). The only one who can call him that is his mother.

He's a calm boy, but gets into trouble very often 'cause he has no filter and can sound "rude."

He's Itzel's favorite child, and they're very close.

He and his twin sister are the closest, and do many things together, and although sometimes he can't stand her and treats her rudely, he's always behind his sister, protecting her.

He likes poetry and is a hopeless romantic.

His favorite place is the beach, and he goes there whenever he needs peace.

When he uses his gift, the pink third eye that appears on his forehead is real and functional. His sister sometimes pokes it to annoy him.

He likes to meditate in Dolores' room.

He's the only one of the Madrigal-Fontana children who got Bruno's wavy hair.

Dalia Elizabeth Madrigal Fontana

She's Dalia, Mateo's twin sister. Dalia has the gift of making clones of herself and other people. She can make up to five clones, and they function as a hive mind if she wants. She can also let them act on autopilot. She's daddy's little princess, and the spoiled brat of her family.

Fun facts about her:

Dalia is Bruno's favorite child. The two of them formed a very strong bond since she was a baby, and Bruno fulfills many of her whims. For the same reason, she grew up accustomed to getting what she wants, and if she doesn't get it, she gets frustrated and cries. She knows that's not okay, and it's something she's still working on.

Since she was a child she's very involved in the theater that her father founded and he relates a lot with her cousin Camilo, so she loves to act, and her biggest influences are the two of them. For that reason she got a gift similar to Camilo's.

Her way of showing affection, in addition words of affirmation, are her jokes. She likes to play pranks on her close family and friends.

She shows off her family quite a bit, and she's a big fan of her parents' relationship.

She gets into trouble easily because she is very talkative, mischievous and witty.

She has a strong sense of loyalty toward her loved ones, so she's the first to defend them when they are getting attacked. More specifically, Bruno and Esmeralda.

Her best friend is her twin brother, and they both watch each other's backs.

She is a good girl, but it's better to have her as a friend than an enemy, because she brings out the worst side of her.

Perla Esmeralda Madrigal Fontana

And this is Esme, the youngest of the Madrigal grandchildren. Her gift is earthbending. She's a sweet and naive girl, and since her power is directly related to her emotional strength, she's unable to get out of control. She has had problems in the town due to the limited scope of her power, and they often compare her negatively with her father.

Fun facts about her:

Esmeralda is considered the baby of the family, and her parents and siblings treat her as such.

She is abuela's favorite granddaughter because of her resemblance to Bruno, and since Esme was a child, she's been overprotective of her.

She's also very close to Julieta's daughters, especially Isabela. As a child she took her gardening together, which influenced her gift of earthbending.

Despite being introverted, she has always been a very sociable and kind girl, although a little naive.

She is such a crybaby.

She takes guitar lessons with her dad and Mirabel.

She also likes to do crafts with her mom. The two of them are in charge of making the scenery for Bruno's plays.

She is the most attached to Bruno's rats of the Madrigal-Fontana children, and there isn't a day when she doesn't have a rat on top of her.

Of her siblings, she's the most similar to the Madrigal family, and she inherited many of her abuelo Pedro's traits.

She doesn't get along well with her maternal grandmother, who has always preferred her sister Dalia for being more like the Fontanas.

I don't think I've ever published anything of my fankids here, sooo... here they are! I tried to use a color palette consistent with the Madrigal family, without filling it completely with green. It was also very fun to make the patterns representative of their gifts.

[blaithnne]

Bright-eyed and brave-hearted, all Seasaidh wants is a chance to prove herself — a big adventure, like the ones her family had before she was born. But things have quietened down, and this oft overlooked youngest child finds herself worrying that she might be too late.

[lorespaperdolls]

AU where Bruno’s room has an elevator

…

Aka that one time Soledad informed Mirabel about the elevator her papa built because her mama had a heart condition and couldn’t take the stairs. Mirabel is frustrated Soledad didn’t tell her this half a mountain ago

[tinyevelyn]

💖🦎CHAMELEONKITTY🐈💖 FANCHILD

Meet Estrella Madrigal, a vibrant and creative young girl with a passion for self-expression. She has the gift of creating mesmerizing illusions that blur reality and fantasy. With a playful and charismatic personality, Estrella uses her talents to entertain and connect with others. She's a true original, always looking for new ways to showcase her art and stand out from the crowd.

Asks are appreciated

[evostar]

Enzo’s and Valean’s little Pima, Viviana!!

She pretty much sees dead people, luckily in their normal body and not the way they died, still sometimes she might she black figures aka spirits that souls are bad. She dislikes her gift a lot, she doesn’t like talking to people who died, the only good thing bout her gift is that she can see her Abuelo, yet..sometimes his figure becomes blurry like the dark figures which makes her scared.

So I had help decided with the parents of the twins, who will be Dolores and Mariano!!

Viviana’s parents are Luisa and Mateo! (Luisa’s husband!!) Luisa actually is the step-mother to Viviana but Viviana always accepted her as an real mother :D Do y’all want more grandkidsss?

[tboycamilo]

in the spirit of the season (mutuals posting about their encanto aus) i wanted to post about mine bc i love them and am not active enough on here and wanna change that bc sharing my stuff is fun! so without further ado here they are lol

next gen au

pretty self explanatory. the story outlines what all the madrigals (mostly the grandkids) are up to in the years following the movie. mirabel gradually takes on more of a leadership role as time passes and eventually becomes the matriarch after alma's death and with enough time to prepare for the role. under her leadership, the madrigals are less shoehorned into roles and are encouraged to express themselves more freely, but being the leader still isn't easy and things still aren't perfect - while alma is still alive, mirabel often finds herself going to her for advice and repairing their bond further in the process. she also gets a gf (lorena), i've been playing around with the idea of her being an outsider that finds her way into the encanto but i would have to flesh that plot out a little more before i make it official. dolores eventually marries mariano, but only on her terms - she realizes quickly after the movie that though she loves mariano, she wants to take things slow, and mariano is more than happy to respect that. he puts in a lot of effort to understand how her gift works and help her out with it whenever he can, and for once, she feels like the one being heard. isabela, now free of her old role as the golden child, begins to let her more adventurous side out, exploring the outskirts and forests of the encanto to observe the plant life. she hones her gift and is able to bring even more exotic plant species to the encanto and starts up a very successful garden. she also ends up marrying two village women - lilli and rosa - and the three of them adopt a daughter, jacinda, together and spoil her rotten. lilli runs a flower shop and isa helps her out immensely with this. luisa finally learns to take it easy, prioritizing rest and relaxation after so many years of working hard to serve the community - though she definitely still loves to lift and hang out with the donkeys in her spare time bc old habits die hard. she probably takes over the care and raising of the donkeys as a whole bc they love her. she marries a village woman, inés, and they adopt two daughters, valentina and ciela. camilo is actually the first grandkid to settle down - he marries his childhood best friend and love of his life marco, and the two of them have six children together - amelia, imelda, brunito, ignacio, felipe, and sofia. they have their hands quite full with fatherhood but on top of that marco works as a teacher at the encanto's school while camilo continues to volunteer in the community, eventually becoming the drama director and soccer coach for the school. antonio grows up and starts his own animal sanctuary in the encanto that becomes wildly successful. he enlists dolores' help to scope out any injured or sick animals in the forests and nurses them back to health at the sanctuary, and he often accompanies isa on her trips to the forest to keep taxonomy records of the encanto's diverse wildlife. he never had much of an interest in romance - though plenty of people swoon over his kindness to the animals - but he is very fulfilled nonetheless and couldn't be happier helping take care of his animal friends. i have a more detailed timeline and bios for the kids that i'll be posting eventually but this is the main rundown of where the grandkids are at years down the line!

swap

essentially follows the plot of the movie but the sides of the family swap roles. instead of alma, pedro is the head of the family. pepa has the gift of healing food and felix is her clumsy husband, camilo is the golden child with the wonderful floral gift, dolores is the middle child with the gift of super strength, and antonio is the baby of his side of the family, cursed to a giftless existence (and being the main character of the storyline). on the other side of the family, julieta's emotions control the weather while agustin keeps her calm, luisa is the eldest with the ability to hear a pin drop from miles away, isabela is the mischievous shapeshifting middle child, and mirabel is the youngest member of the family and gains the ability to speak with animals. bruno is still bruno.  did i make this au entirely to put camilo in pretty pink outfits and make him a mean annoying gay? maybe.

pirates

the warm color family is a fearsome and renowned pirate crew descended from the notorious husband-wife pirate duo alma and pedro madrigal (the latter is dead and the former has long since retired), with pepa as the captain and felix as the first mate. pepa was estranged from her mother and siblings in her youth as she attempted to learn more about her parents' past, and she soon set out on her own to live the pirate life that alma tried so hard to keep her children out of. in the meantime, julieta and her family form their own rival crew and set sail in search of pepa to take their vengeance. bruno tries his best to be a good mama's boy and stay home, but he is soon taken hostage by the fearless captain hernando, a legendary pirate who has feuded with both madrigal sisters and their crews for a while now. he grows rather fond of his bargaining chip over time and bruno eventually becomes the captain's lover and first mate. when the sisters finally put aside their squabbles and unite to save their brother from their enemy's clutches, it's a very awkward family reunion. also everyone has their gifts and uses them to help their crew in one way or another. eventually when the two sides of the family unite, the grandkids take up a ship of their own with mirabel as the new captain. 

roommates

marco and camilo are college roommates with luca and alberto. that's literally it no linear plot just vibes. luca is a first year astronomy student, alberto is a second year student and undeclared, marco and camilo are third years and marco is majoring in education while being on the soccer team and camilo is majoring in theatre (🤢). alberto and camilo despise each other but also camilo is lowkey crushing. camilo and marco are already dating and alberto and luca are also definitely together but heavily in denial about it. they fight over dishes being left in the sink and decorate their dorm all cute

the fall 

wrote a ten chapter fic about this one so read that if you wanna know what it entails but tl;dr au where the family never recovers after the fall of casita and they go their separate ways, with dolores camilo and isa fully moving out, their whereabouts unknown - until, ten years later, mirabel takes it upon herself to track them down, reunite the family once and for all, and save the miracle for real this time. will she succeed? what have the runaways all been up to over these past ten years? read it and find out i'm not telling you! also this fic/au is quite old compared to the others so no marco 😔 fly high king 

mamma mia 

the silliest dumbest most self indulgent au ever. camilo centric of course. the storyline is literally just mamma mia but with camilo. he has twin daughters and one of them (ima) is getting married and wants to invite her other biological father to the wedding - the only problem is she doesn't know who that is, and if camilo's old diary describing all his old hookups in detail is to be believed,  there's three possibilities - marco osma, dante velazquez, and nicolas sorelli (the latter two are ocs, i'll probably post their bios at some point lol also nicolas is trans so he's definitely not the other dad but he's stealth so he's just going along for the ride). she invites all three of them to her wedding and they reunite with camilo for the first time in twenty years. drama ensues. camilo marries marco at the end regardless of if he's the dad or not (but he probably is - they never find out for sure). isa is tanya (so lilli is pepper ofc) and mirabel is rosie (except she doesn't end up with one of the dads at the end bc she actually respects herself). ima's fiancées identity is yet to be determined bc i don't have a partner oc for her but i do know she's a lesbian so. gay greek weddings! camilo in overalls! love wins!

runaway camilo 

this one is a rewrite of the canon plot to a degree but not really enough to be considered a full on au. plays with the scrapped concept of camilo looking completely different after the fall of casita that didn't make it into the final movie, which is like one of my favorite concepts ever especially because of how easily it plays into trans camilo. in this rewrite, camilo has basically used his gift to masculinize himself perpetually since his ceremony, which all but cures his dysphoria - that is, until casita falls, he loses the gift he had become dependent on, and it all blows up in his face. he's unrecognizable when the dust clears, and rather than be seen in such a state, he flees the scene and goes missing just around the same time as mirabel. the family is split as pepa and felix go looking for their son while the cool color family goes looking for mirabel, and both are found within a few days - camilo in the depths of the forest, skin scraped and clothes ragged from running into the forest with reckless abandon, practically digging his own grave and ready to give up for good. when he's found, it takes a LONG time for him to allow anyone to see him, much less recover from the trauma. the rewrite basically involves these events and the aftermath. luckily camilo does get his gift back when casita is rebuilt but the scars are forever and he probably still has nightmares about losing his gift well into adulthood and has to learn to become comfortable going without his gift for short bouts of time in order to get more comfortable lest the worst case scenario happens again! more or less a transmilo angst fest add-on to the main plot of the movie. mimi needs a hug 💔

[newtishfiction]

Two separate covers of Encanto songs have me thinking about my oc and I can't stop.

First up!

Waiting on a Miracle - Stephanie Beatriz

I went with Annapantsu's cover. There's a minor lyric "Hey, I'm still a part of the family Madrigal" becomes "Hey, I'm still a part of the family after all". This one I want to turn into a pmv and here's what I'm picturing for the idea:

Happens during the Star's wand ceremony. Nova (the oc in question) watches on and wants to be happy for her but she's hesitant. While everyone celebrates Nova slips away at some point and goes to the Hall of Queens aka the Grandma Room. Here's where the music would start. She's taking a breather to calm herself and vents with only her family's tapestries there to see. The song would come to a close with Nova standing before a tapestry of the first queen. This one was created based on descriptors of the queen.

Mirabel's Villain Song - We Don't Talk About Bruno by Lydia the Bard

I don't have any thing written up and already I want to write an au of an au. In this case Nova turns on her family far earlier in the story. The Magic High Commission knows about her true lineage and treat her with indifference. Nova remains quiet and stays out of their way. She's found that Butterfly Castle has a lot of hiding spots. Another thing is the MHC like to talk when they think no one else is around. Nova learns a lot from overhearing their discussions.

At some point while Star is still very little an incident occurs that results in Nova leaving or being sent away. Her leaving I can picture the song being how it all goes down.

[pepa-brainrot]

guys I beg you not to take this seriously its so much funnier if you don't like an official crack post- none of it is canon anyways

What do you mean Luisa has a son??!?? 😭😭😭

What the fuck

"Luis Madrigal" and easily ends up being a copy of Luisa😭

[enlick-12sstuff]

Juliettas favorite niece (Cus she reminds her of her little brother yk)

[meepxii]

Don't know too much about your au and ocs, but I can tell you Mateo and Dalia give off BIG Velvet and Veneer from Trolls 3 energy!

Dalia - Do you want to go back to the dark place where we had NOTHING?!

Mateo - 💅 Girl, we lived in a magical house, our parents were dentists 💅

OMG THANK YOU SO MUCH !! That's exactly the vibe I want them to give !!

[lorespaperdolls]

At last! The third second gen triplet! Luciano is the middle triplet, son of Bruno and my Oc Marguerite. He has the ability to basically earth bend. This is very useful to the town so he is on Abuela’s list of favorites. He inherited his Dad’s goofiness and theater kid energy. He also inherited his mother’s vibrancy and outgoingness.

[encantobrainrot365]

New Encanto, second generation fic just dropped! 🥳

Finally gotten around to posting chapter one of my multi-generational Encanto fic, Generations of Magic! This first chapter has been so much fun to write and I would really appreciate it if you guys would take a look at it and let me know what you think! I posted chapter one over on AO3 already, but as usual I’ll post it under the cut here too! 🤍

[Synopsis: A decade following the return of the magic, the family continues to thrive. Following the recent loss of Alma, Julieta steps into her new role as matriarch with quiet determination. The grandchildren have grown, bringing their own families and challenges into the fold. Mirabel, now a wife and mother, strives to balance the demands of her own family while still doing her best to hold the Madrigals together. As a new generation slowly emerges, old wounds continue to heal, and magic grows, the Madrigals learn that the true magic lies in the love they share across the generations.]

AO3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/66685174/chapters/172046908

Read under the cut here!

Ten minutes.

Ten minutes, he said, Mirabel thought to herself as she donned her nightgown.

She probably should have known better than to take Miguel at his word – ‘ten minutes’ never meant ‘ten minutes’ when he was in the middle of a sketch – but she’d given him the benefit of the doubt and gone to put Solana, their little girl, to bed in the nursery, fully expecting to find him waiting for her in their bedroom when she got there. He wasn’t, of course. She had decided to give him until she had gotten ready for bed to make an appearance, but there was still no sign of him and it was clear to her she was going to have to go down to his study and get him. He would spend all night in there if she let him and that just wouldn’t do given there was no doubt in her mind that their girl would be up with the sun in the morning, diving on them and begging them to let her go downstairs and open her presents.

Raking a hand through her wild curls, she turned and made her way out of the bedroom before venturing down the hall to Miguel’s study. The door was ajar, so she pushed it open and entered the room to see him still hunched over his desk, pencil in hand. “Ten minutes, huh?” She made her presence known to him, prompting him to glance over his shoulder at her, and she failed to keep from chuckling when he gave her a sheepish little smile before turning away from her once again. She ventured across the dimly-lit room to him then, putting an arm around him from behind, and when she saw what he had been working on for most of the evening she felt the love she had for him deepen tenfold. He’d made their daughter a storybook for her birthday. A storybook with her as the main focus. He’d been working on it for weeks, carefully planning each little detail of her adventure, and now it seemed as though he was finally on the last page. “Oh, amor, she’s gonna love it.”

“I just can’t get this last page the way I want.” He grumbled while erasing another faint line.

“It doesn’t need to be perfect,” She reminded him. “She’s not going to mind.”

He sighed deeply, leaning back in her embrace. “I know, but I do. Give me ten more minutes?”

“Tell you what,” She stroked his hair away from his face when he tilted his head back to look at her. “I want to go down and make sure mi mamá is getting on alright before we head to bed, so you have until I come back upstairs to get this finished. If you’re still sitting in here when I get back, I’ll drag you to bed myself, got it?”

The corner of his mouth curled into a small smirk. “Is that a threat or a promise?”

“Mmm, yeah, nice try.” She hummed, leaning in to kiss him softly.

“I love you. You know that?” He asked when she pulled back.

“Of course,” She told him. “I love you too. Now get back to work.”

Taking her arm from around him, she left him to get on with his sketch and made her way back out of the room before closing the door behind her to make sure he had no distractions. She then headed for the staircase and slid down the railing, padding through the courtyard to the kitchen so that she could go and look in on her mother. It was clear the moment she walked into the room that something was bothering her. She had gone completely overboard with the food for tomorrow – there were plates upon plates of all kinds of treats laid out over the table and the kitchen counters – and she only really did that when there was something on her mind. She had every intention of talking to her about it, but then she heard the sound of shuffling bare feet and noticed the little dark curls poking out from behind her skirts. Putting a hand on her hip, she cleared her throat and Solana slowly moved out from behind her abuela. “And what are you doing down here?” She asked.

“I just wanted some milk, Mamá.” Her little girl told her, playing with her hands.

“Uh-huh,” She nodded. “So it had nothing to do with you wanting to sneak a look at your cake for tomorrow?”

Solana glanced at her abuela. “I wanted to see if Abuela started it yet.”

“Mi vida, I already told you that I won’t be icing it until the morning.” Julieta reminded her.

“I know, but I thought you might have changed your mind.” Solana shrugged.

Sharing a look with her mother, Mirabel approached her little girl and scooped her up into her arms. “Do you remember why tomorrow is such a special birthday?”

“I get my gift?” Solana raised an eyebrow at her.

“Mhm,” Mirabel hummed. “Tomorrow is gonna be a very long day. You get all your presents in the morning and then you have your gift ceremony in the evening and your Papá and I don’t want you being too tired to enjoy it. You get a little grumpy when you’re tired and you don’t want to be grumpy at your own party, do you?”

Solana shook her head.

“Then you need to try to get a little sleep.” Mirabel told her, placing a kiss on her forehead.

Moments later, the sound of hurried footsteps and excitable giggles filled the air and Mirabel turned just in time to see Ali, Luca, and Mateo come running into the kitchen with Luci, Lázaro, Elías, and Florencio behind them. “Soso! Papí said we can have a special birthday slumber party in the nursery tonight!” Ali beamed, out of breath.

“Mamá and Tía Isa said we could come too!” Luci added, her little brothers and cousin nodding in confirmation.

Julieta’s chuckling prompted Mirabel to look her way. “So much for her getting some sleep tonight.”

“Yeah…” Bruno rubbed the back of his neck as he entered the room, Mirabel turning to him with a slight smirk. “In hindsight, I probably should have run it by you.”

“Probably,” She teased. “Did you speak to Isa? You know she’ll kill you if you keep Enzo up.”

“Yeah. She and Emil are having him in with them tonight.” He told her.

She rolled her eyes. “So you ran it past her but it didn’t occur to you to run it past me?”

“In my defence, I had three big distractions” He gestured to his chilren.

She thought for a moment before letting out a dramatic, over-exaggerated sigh as she looked at her daughter. “Well, I suppose it is your birthday eve after all…”

Solana’s face lit up. “We can have a slumber party?”

“You can have a slumber party,” Mirabel replied while setting her back on her feet. “But I still want you to get some sleep tonight.”

“I will.” Solana told her.

“Come on, Soso!” Luca grabbed her by the hand and began all but dragging her out of the kitchen, the rest of the children following quickly behind them.

Leaning back against the kitchen table, Mirabel looked at her uncle. “If she’s in a bad mood in the morning because she hasn’t slept, just know I’m blaming you.”

Bruno shrugged. “I’m used to it. Night.”

He left the kitchen then to follow the children upstairs to the nursery and once she was alone with her mother, Mirabel looked over at her once more with a soft sigh. “Mamá? Are you okay?” She asked her after standing there in silence for several long seconds, her mother looking over her shoulder at her as she washed up a bowl.

“What makes you ask that?” Julieta asked.

“Uh…” She looked around at the numerous plates of treats. “You may have gone a little overboard with the treats for tomorrow.”

“You know how busy Casita gets during a ceremony. We’ll get through them.” Julieta reminded her.

She knew there was something her mamá wasn’t saying and so she moved away from the table, taking three small steps towards her before turning and leaning back against the counter. “It’s about Solana’s ceremony tomorrow night, isn’t it? It being the first one without Abuela? You don’t have to pretend, Mamá, not with me.”

Julieta was silent for a moment, but then she reached for the towel on the counter and used it to dry her hands while turning to face her daughter. “I don’t want to let her down,” She shrugged. “I don’t even really know what I’m doing. She made it look so easy, she always handled ceremonies so well, but I…I worry I’ll mess it up.”

“Why? You know what you have to say and what you have to do. You watched her do it with all us kids while we were growing up.” Mirabel reminded her.

“I know. It doesn’t make sense,” Julieta chuckled under her breath. “Your pá thinks it has more to do with me still having a hard time with her being gone.”

Mirabel nodded. “I mean, it’s understandable. It’s only been six months, Mamá, it hasn’t been that long. And you spent the most time with her before she…”

“She didn’t prepare me for any of this,” Julieta said quietly. “She thought she had more time. So did I. But now I’m here and I’m just trying to make her proud.”

Hearing the slight waver in her voice, Mirabel wrapped her arms around her on instinct, pulling her into a hug. “You’re doing amazing.”

“You think so, mi amor?” Julieta asked into her hair.

“Yeah, I do,” Mirabel smiled. “I don’t know how you do it. There are twenty-five – nearly twenty-six – people in this house and somehow you manage to keep it all going while running your stall every day at the same time. Abuela would be super proud of you, I know she would. She’d be as proud of you as all the rest of us are.”

Julieta blinked back the tears gathering in the corners of her eyes. “That means a lot to me. Gracias.”

“You’ll do great at the ceremony tomorrow night too,” Mirabel assured her, lifting her head from her shoulder to look at her. “You have nothing to worry about.”

“You are wonderful, you know that?” Julieta reached up to stroke a curl back behind her daughter’s ear.

Mirabel shrugged. “I learned from the best.”

“You should go and get some sleep,” Julieta told her, running a hand down her arm. “Soso is going to have us all up before sunrise no doubt.”

Mirabel couldn’t help but laugh. “Believe me, I know. You should get to bed too. Much longer and Pá will come looking for you, you know he will.”

“I’ll finish these last few dishes and then I’ll go up,” Julieta told her. “You don’t have to worry about me, mi vida, I’ll be fine.”

“You’re sure?” Mirabel raised an eyebrow.

“I’m sure.”

“Good. Well, goodnight, Mamá.”

“Goodnight.”

She turned and made her way out of the kitchen then, brushing her hair from her face with a sigh as she walked back into the courtyard. She knew her mother would do fine tomorrow night. She would be nervous all day, no doubt, that was to be expected, but when the time came for the ceremony she would handle it perfectly. With all the care and the passion that her abuela had in all those years prior. She was going to make her so proud of her, there was no doubt in her mind about that.

She just needed to have more faith in herself.

The same faith that everyone else did.

—————

She had been making her way back to her bedroom, exhausted and more than ready to just fall into bed, when she heard the sound of laughter and squeals coming from the nursery and now she found herself walking down the hall again. Stopping outside the room, she took a breath before turning the doorknob and opening the door only to be greeted with sheer chaos. Her tío was nowhere to be seen, the children having been upped and left in the care of Camilo and Valeria in the time she had been in the kitchen with her mother, and now the lot of them were engrossed in a serious pillow fight. Not exactly the early night she had envisioned for her girl. Camilo was the first to notice her standing there and he stopped, mid-swing, shooting her that silly grin of his as the others quietened. “Hiya, cuz.” He greeted her.

“Uh…” She looked around the room. “Where’s Tío Bruno?”

Valeria chuckled behind her pillow. “He and Isela said something about a…uh���early night for once. Asked us to take charge.”

She made a face. She was happy for her tío, of course, but his love life was something she had zero interest in hearing about. “And this is taking charge?”

“You can’t have a slumber party without a pillow fight!” Camilo said, swinging his pillow at Solana, making her giggle as she fell back onto the bed. “Wanna join us?”

“Yeah, no, I’m going to bed.” She replied, lifting her glasses from her nose and running a hand wearily over her face before replacing them again.

He pouted. “You used to be so much more fun.”

“Mamá is boring.” Solana giggled.

Mirabel feigned hurt. “I am not boring, thank you very much. I just know a certain little mariposa is going to come diving on me in a few hours and I need my sleep.”

“Because she’s old.” Camilo whispered to the nearly five-year-old, only making her giggle more.

Taking the pillow from Lucinda, Mirabel launched it hard at her sobrino. “We’re the same age! Actually, you’re a month older than me!”

“She has a point, mi amor.” Valeria laughed.

“Who’s side are you on?” Camilo asked, whacking her with his pillow.

Shaking her head at the nonsense, Mirabel couldn’t help but laugh. “Just make sure Soso goes to sleep before midnight, por favor.”

“Will do,” He assured her. “Now, if you don’t mind, we were kinda in the middle of something here.”

She muttered a quiet goodnight before heading back out of the room and closing the door behind her, the laughter starting up once again moments later. She was a little worried that it would be long past midnight by the time the lot of them eventually crashed and fell asleep, but she didn’t really mind. Not as much as she had tried to make out. It was a special occasion and she didn’t mind her little girl having a rare late night, a bit of fun, especially when she had one of the most important days of her life ahead of her. She was going to make her so proud. Miguel too, she was certain, but they would make it clear to her that her gift wasn’t everything.

There would be no pressure.

There would be no expectations.

They would love her unconditionally.

Yawning into the back of a hand, she padded back down the hall to the bedroom she shared with her husband and finally made her way back inside, glad to see him tucked up in bed with a book rather than still at his desk in his study. “And she complains at me for coming to bed too late,” Miguel teased, saving his place in the book with his thumb and setting it down in his lap while she approached the bed. “I completed that last page and I’ve finished two chapters while you’ve been gone.”

She rolled her eyes at him as she pulled back the covers and climbed into bed, removing her glasses and folding them neatly before putting them on her nightstand. He closed his book and set it down on his own nightstand then, Casita dimming the lights as he opened his arms to her and let her settle into his side. They were silent for a time then, his fingers running along her arm through her nightgown as she listened to the steady thump of his heart beneath her ear, but then she tilted her head back on his chest to look at him. “I keep thinking…” She said. “What if it happens again? What if I’ve…rubbed off on her? What if she doesn’t get a gift?”

“Where’s that come from?” He frowned.

“It’s something I’ve always worried about,” She confessed. “I can ignore it normally, but these past few weeks – thinking about the ceremony – it’s been impossible.”

He thought for a moment. “It’s possible, I suppose. I don’t know how the miracle works in situations like this.”

“Me neither,” She admitted quietly. “It’s not her not getting a gift that worries me. Not entirely. It’s the thought of her going up there in front of the whole town and it happening.”

“I know,” He kissed her forehead, sighing against her skin. “But you’re worrying about something that hasn’t happened and might not.

“I know. I just know how it feels, that’s all.”

“Then you’ll be the perfect person to deal with it if it does happen. But I don’t want you spending the whole day worrying tomorrow. I want you to enjoy yourself.”

Curling a hand into the front of his nightshirt, she snuggled closer to him. “I will. I can’t believe she’s five already.”

“Me neither,” He shook his head. “Getting old, you and me.”

“Why does everyone keep saying that?” She laughed.

“Who—”

“Cami.”

“Ah.”

The two of them chuckled, settling further down beneath the quilt.

“I promise,” He mumbled into her hair after they had lain together in silence for a time. “No matter the outcome tomorrow night, nothing will change. Not where I’m concerned anyway. I know what it is to love someone without a gift and it’s the easiest thing ever. It’ll be just as easy for me to love her as it is for me to love you.”

She gave him a watery smile. “Mamá was right. You really are perfect.”

He smiled as his hold of her tightened. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” She assured him, accepting the kiss he gave her before Casita turned the lights down the rest of the way.

They settled properly then, his hand rubbing a warm path up and down her back through her nightgown as she tucked her head into the side of his neck with a sigh. That worry still niggled in the back of her mind. The thought of their girl reaching her door only for it to vanish right in front of her as it had for her all those years ago. She couldn’t change it though. She just had to believe that the candle knew what it was doing now just as it had back then. That her little girl would be fine in the end.

She just had to trust it.

[tinyevelyn]

hehehe silly lil child

also

estrella with older evelina