Endless Evasion (Bruno x Reader)

During Dinner

Readers POV
The sun had just disappeared from the sky as Bruno, Mirabel, and I made our way back to the Casita for dinner. As we walked inside the front doors, I noticed that Mirabel's cousin Dolores was standing outside of the dining room with a look of giddiness on her face.

"I heard you three coming and wanted to let you know that the guests from the village are already here. Abuela says that all of them have been looking forward to meeting (y/n), and Tia Julieta is ready to serve dinner."

All three of us nodded and Mirabel thanked her cousin before we all made our way inside the huge dining room. I noticed that the other nine Madrigals were already situated at the huge table, and four unknown people were seated there as well. There were four chairs empty, one by a younger man who's hair reached to his shoulders, one by Agustín, and two at the end of the table by Señora Alma. At the realization that the three of us had arrived, every face in the room turned towards me. I started to feel a bit nervous due to the attention, but I pushed away the butterflies in my stomach before I greeted them,

"Hola, everyone."

A chorus of the same greeting was said back to me as Señora Alma stood and led me to the table before saying,
"For those of you who may not know, this is our most honored guest, (y/n). She will be staying at La Casa Madrigal with us for a while, so I hope you're all will join our family in making her feel welcome."

As she introduced me to the other guests, the Casita pulled one of the two chairs by the Madrigal matriarch out for me and I sat down before it neatly pulled the chair forward so that I was closer to the table.
"Gracias, Casita" I said in appreciation as house acknowledged my thanks by moving the tiles under my feet up and down. Then I noticed that all the others were seated except for one. Mirabel had taken the seat next to her father and Dolores had seated herself next to the younger man, which left Bruno to take the last available seat. But he seemed a little bit nervous about sitting down for some reason.

"Brunito, aren't you going to take a seat? The dinner cannot begin until everyone is seated at the table, after all." His mother asked.

"Sí, mamá." He answered as he fiddled with the edge of his poncho and sat down in between his mother and myself.

And with that, the dinner was served. I had never seen so many foods in one place in my entire life, and I gladly took a portion of anything that was offered to me. As I filled my plate, Señora Alma spoke again.

"(y/n), I would like to introduce you to our guests from the town. This is Señor Torres and Señora Alvarez, who are two of our villages elders." She explained while the two older people she was referring to offered friendly greetings, which I returned. "And this is Mariano Guzmán and Señora Guzmán, his mother." She said as she gestured towards the younger man and older woman I noticed when I walked in.

"It's very nice to meet you both." I said with a smile before I passed a bowl of avocados to Luisa, who was on my other side. Both of the Guzmáns flashed me warm smiles in return and Mariano spoke,

"Dolores has been telling my mother and myself all about you! Is it really true that you can shapeshift?" He excitedly asked. The abrupt question caught me slightly off guard as I was in the middle of drinking some aguapanela, and some of the drink started to go down the wrong pipe. I broke out into a coughing fit as I attempted to clear my airway, and almost the entire table turned towards me in concern.

3rd Person POV
At the sound of (y/n) coughing, Bruno's head whipped towards her. His eyes widened and he wrapped an arm around her shoulders in what he hoped was a comforting gesture as he started to panic,

"What happened? Did an arepa get stuck in your throat? Do you need me to give you the Hiemlich? Or mouth-to-mouth? Wait, what am I saying? How about some water instead? Wait, what about-"

But his racing mind was halted by the feeling of a hand on his own. He then saw that (y/n) was smiling at him reassuringly and patting his hand in an attempt to calm him and wave away his offers of help. He smiled in relief as he gave her shoulder a comforting pat. With a last cough, she finished clearing her airway of the drink and resumed speaking as Bruno slowly sat back into his chair.

"I'm fine, Bruno. Nothing to worry about. I was just surprised by Mariano's question and accidentally inhaled some of my aguapanela." She explained.

"Oh, good. I'm sorry for jumping to conclusions. I thought something far worse had happened...."Bruno said as the entire table got back to dinner after seeing that the (h/c) woman was, in fact, ok.

Back to Readers POV
As I returned to my food, I noticed Mariano looking slightly downcast. Upon noticing that I was looking at him, he suddenly blurted out,

"Señorita (y/n), please accept my humblest apologies. I did not intend to cause any problems during dinner. I should have been far more careful with my words."

I chuckled at his attempt at apologizing before answering,
"It's not a problem at all, Mariano. So is Dolores a good friend of yours?"

"Actually, we started seeing each other a couple of weeks ago."

"Oh, so that's why you two seemed so close."

"Yes, it was like my entire world was dark before I met her. Like she was a light that I never even knew I needed until I found it."

I nodded before I started to go back to the foods waiting for me. Then he spoke again.

"Tell me, Señorita (y/n). Have you ever found a person who was like that to you? Someone who once you found them, you never wanted to lose them?"

As those words sunk into my brain, I glanced at the green-clad man next to me who was in a deep conversation with his mother. As I looked at his smiling face and shining eyes, I answered Mariano.

"I'm not quite sure as of yet. But maybe I have."