Hombrecito

You and Mirabel made your way to the kitchen and spotted Tía Julieta preparing food for the ceremony.

"Hi, girls-" Seeing Mirabel coming her way with an enormous basket of supplies, she hurried out of the way.

"Whoa." She exclaimed, placing the pot she was holding down onto another counter.

"Excuse me." Mirabel grunted, placing the basket down on the ground.

"Mi vida, you okay?" Her mother asked. "You don't have to overdo it."

Mirabel set her bag down on top of the counter, reaching down to grab the supplies from the basket.

"I know, Mamá." She said, placing down the supplies on the counter as Casita carried them away. "I just wanna do my part like the rest of the family."

"She's right, amor." Tío Agustín added, coming from out of nowhere.

"Eesh." You and Mirabel both said, examining his swollen face and hand.

"First gift ceremony since yours. A lot of emotions." He patted Mirabel's hand. The feeling of his swollen and enlarged hand touching hers made her uncomfortable.

She cringed and pulled her hand away from his. "Bee stings!" She told her Mamá.

"And I've been there." Tío Agustín continued.

Mirabel bent back down to grab more supplies from the basket. That's when Tía Julieta turned around and saw the state her husband was in.

She rolled her eyes. "Ay, Agustín." Leaving, she went to go make some food to heal his stings.

You chuckled lightly at her reaction when you felt a sharp throbbing sensation in your head.

"Agh..." You muttered.

Resting your head in your hand, you closed your eyes and leaned against the counter with your elbow.

Tía Julieta took notice of this and stopped whatever it was she was doing. "Are you okay, (Y/N)? You don't look so good."

"I'm..." You squeezed your eyes tight as you winced slightly. "...fine. Can I get a glass of water, please?" You inquired.

She nodded and went to go get the food and water.

"When me and your Tío Félix married into the family, outsiders who had no gift, never, ever would..." Tío Agustín bent down and also helped Mirabel with the supplies. "Surrounded by the exceptional, it was easy to feel un-ceptional."

Mirabel grinned and nodded her head. "Okay, Papi."

"I'm just saying, I get it." He summarized.

"Eat." Tía Julieta told her husband, shoving the food she had made into his mouth. And within a matter of seconds, his bee stings had disappeared.

She also handed you the cup of water, and you thanked her quietly, drinking the entire thing.

"Mi amor," Tía Julieta called, turning towards her daughter. "If you ever wanna talk..."

Mirabel picked up a box full of decorations and immediately changed the topic. "I gotta put out the stuff. The house isn't gonna decorate itself."

The banners hanging from the ceilings drooped down dejectedly.

"Sorry," she immediately apologized. "You could. You look great."

Casita raised the banners again, showing the change in emotion.

"Come on, (Y/N)." Mirabel said, walking out of the kitchen. You placed the cup in the sink and ran after her.

"Corazón, remember!" Tía Julieta shouted.

"Yeah, remember!" Tío Agustín said along with her.

"You have nothing to prove!" They both yelled.

Mirabel stuck out a thumbs up and hummed before leaving their line of sight.

"Hey, you okay?" She asked you, inspecting your weak and pale form.

"Never been better." You told her, giving her a convincing smile.

It wasn't, though. Your headache was killing you, but you didn't want to cause any more concern or trouble for Mirabel or the others.

She raised a brow, still suspicious of you, but she shook it off. "Alright. C'mon, we gotta set up the decorations. We only have about an hour and a half left."

You nodded and sprinted after Mirabel, who was heading up the stairs to the second floor.

~~~

Each of you placed a customized candle in front of each of the doors, the last one being Abuela's. You stood up with Mirabel, dusting off your hands.

"Welp, that's the last one." You sighed, tucking a piece of hair behind your ear.

"Yep." She said with a look of worry on her face.

In the back, you could hear the commotion between Abuela and some of the other people.

"Clean your rooms!" You heard her yell. "I don't care how big they are."

Mirabel backed away from the door, looking at the picture frames next to it.

"Has anybody seen my tiple?" The tiple maestro asked. Only about an hour until the guests were to arrive and it was still chaotic.

You and Mirabel stood there, inspecting the pictures of all the past ceremonies. Everybody else was there... except Mirabel.

Your eyes shifted from the pictures to Mirabel with a melancholic expression. You couldn't help but feel terrible for her.

You didn't know why Mirabel didn't get a gift. Maybe Casita had a good reason for not giving her one.

Hearing Abuela's booming voice made you snap out of your thoughts. She alerted the others that there was only an hour left before the ceremony started.

Mirabel also gasped and jumped in fright at the loud voice. She stepped backward, accidentally knocked over the candle. The paper holder it was in caught on fire and Mirabel instantly tried to put it out.

"Oh!" She grunted. "No, no, no!" Bending down, she picked up the candle and stomped out the fire, trying to set it out.

"Maybe you should leave the decorations to someone else?" Abuela suggested, witnessing what had happened.

Mirabel stood up. "No, I actually made these as a surprise for you." She held up the decoration, which was still on fire. "Ooh!" She chuckled nervously.

With the flick of your hand, you helped Mirabel extinguish the fire with your power. Now, thinking about it, it probably wasn't such a good time to do that.

"Mirabel, I know you want to help. But tonight must go perfectly." Abuela told her. "The whole town relies on our family, on our gifts. So, the best way for... some of us to help is to step aside."

Your brows slightly furrowed, an unknown anger boiling deep down inside of you.

"Let the rest of the family do what they do best. Okay?" Abuela finished.

Mirabel forced a grin, but her eyes said otherwise. "Mm-hmm." She answered.

Gusts of wind blew, and Abuela turned her head. "Pepa! You have a cloud!" She shouted from across the house.

"I know, Mamá." The cloud above her flashed lightning. "But now I can't find Antonio. What do you want from me?" Thunder in her cloud rumbled as she stomped away, trying to find her child.

The both of you walked away. And while doing so, you overheard the conversation Tía Julieta was having with Abuela.

"Mamá, be nice to Mirabel, okay? You know tonight will be hard for her." Tía Julieta reminded, memories from Mirabel's ceremony flooding her brain.

Mirabel opened the door to the nursery, but stopped to hear the rest of the conversation.

"If the gift ceremony doesn't go well this time, tonight will be hard for us all." Abuela said.

You both walked into the room, Mirabel sighing as she shut the door. Looking around, you ached at how empty it was now. A pile of stacked boxes contained Antonio's belongings, and only that and his bed remained.

Mirabel sat down on her bed while you stood up, leaning against the end of her bed.

"You alright?" You asked her with genuine worry hinted in your voice. She nodded her head, quickly changing her mood when she heard Tío Félix call out for Antonio.

Bending over, Mirabel opened the drawer near the window. She took out a colorfully wrapped box tied up in different colored strings of yarn.

Sighing deeply, she spoke. "Everyone's looking for you."

No response.

She grabbed the present and dangled it down just in front of the bottom of the bed. "This present will self-destruct if you don't take it in three, two, one..."

A pair of hands grabbed the present, disappearing under the bed.

"Oh." Mirabel chuckled.

She crawled under the bed while you laid down on your stomach outside the bed so that you leveled with the both of them.

"Hey, little man. There you are." You smiled, booping Antonio's nose.

"Nervous?" Mirabel asked him as he rested his head in his arms. "You have nothing to worry about." She reminded him, grabbing his attention.

"You're gonna get your gift and open that door and it's gonna be the coolest ever. I know it." She reassured him.

You nodded. "Mirabel's right. You might not have your gift yet, but I can already tell. It's going to be the most outstanding, most extraordinary gift anyone's ever seen." You comforted, flashing him a smile.

Antonio hesitantly spoke. "But... what if it doesn't work?" He whispered.

"Well, in that impossible scenario, you'd stay here in the nursery with me and (Y/N). Forever." Mirabel whispered dramatically. "And we'd get you all to ourselves." She tickled him, earning a tiny giggle from him.

"I wish you could have a door." Antonio murmured, his eyes averting to the floor.

"You know what? You don't have to worry about me, 'cause I have an amazing family and an amazing house. And an amazing you." She placed her hand on top of Antonio's arm. "And seeing you get your special gift and your door, that's gonna make me way more happy than anything."

She sighed. "But, alas, I am gonna miss having the world's best roomie."

You stared at Mirabel jokingly, raising an eyebrow. "Well, apart from (Y/N)." She laughed, bringing the present closer so that it was in front of Antonio.

She gestured for him to open it, and when he did, he let out a tiny gasp.

Grabbing it and taking it out of the box, in Antonio's hand was a stuffed animal that Mirabel had stitched up herself.

She chuckled. "I know you're an animal guy. And I made this, so when you move into your cool new room, you always have something to snuggle with."

Antonio smiled up at her and rested his head on her shoulder.

Not forgetting about you, he gestured for you to come closer. And when you did, he pressed his forehead against yours.

Suddenly, the floorboard lifted, catching all of your guys' attention. A clock came rolling over, showing that it was about to be seven o'clock.

"All right, hombrecito, you ready?" Mirabel asked, Antonio nodding in response.

She was about to crawl out when she crawled back over to Antonio. "Sorry, I got to get one more squeeze."

She engulfed Antonio in a tight hug, and he giggled softly. Casita lifted the floorboards again, as if telling them to get out and get ready.

"Okay, okay." Mirabel laughed. "We're going! Ow! Ow!"