AN: I'm back! I've got a sturdy roof over my head for the time being, so I'm working on catching up with my fics.
I'd like to thank Tropemaster849 for listing this story to the fanfic recommendations on TV Tropes. I hope I can continue to meet or exceed the expectations I gave my readers.
Mariano wanted to curse his luck.
What had started out as a perfect day to share breakfast with his girlfriend and her family had turned into the craziest day of his life so far—and that was including the day la Casa Madrigal had collapsed.
Why did these things always seem to happen when he wanted to share a meal with the Madrigal family?
He wasn't even supposed to still be at the house when Doña Alma had led her son upstairs to discuss the seer's latest vision. He was supposed to be back home, helping his mother with chores. But, as he usually did, he found excuses to linger and draw out his goodbyes to Dolores, who was perfectly happy to reciprocate.
The couple was cooing at one another, drawing looks ranging from bemusement to disgust from Dolores' brothers and cousins, when suddenly Dolores shushed Mariano and tilted her head to aim an ear in the direction of Alma's bedroom. Mariano could hear Alma and Bruno speaking in hushed tones. Bruno sounded either excited or terrified, and Mariano couldn't read Alma's tone. He glanced expectantly at Dolores.
"What is it, amor? What are they saying?"
"Tío Bruno is talking about something crazy happening," Dolores replied. She squeaked. "He's talking about our powers! They're going to..."
Before she could finish, there was a yelp. Mariano looked up to see the candle rolling down the roof toward the courtyard. The family scrambled after it, but no one could prevent it from plummeting to the ground. Thankfully, Agustín caught it. And then the candle pulsed. Mariano felt the golden wave of magic smack him fully in the chest, and he gasped as a weight suddenly settled somewhere inside of him. The sensation was gone just as quickly as it had come.
Alma and Bruno came running down the stairs, asking if everyone was alright and could still use their gifts. That's when Dolores squeaked.
"I can't hear," she half-whispered.
Mariano turned to her in shock. "Oh no, you've gone deaf? Dolores, mi amor, look at me!" He grabbed one of her hands and gently turned her face to his, leaning in close. "Can...you...read...my...lips?"
Dolores gave him an exasperated but affectionate look. "I mean I can't hear everything anymore. I can hear normally. My super hearing is gone." She gasped. "But you...Mariano, look!"
She pointed above his head. Mariano looked up and his jaw dropped. There above him was a little cloud, with snowflakes rapidly powdering his head. Shock and fear rippled through him, charging the cloud. It churned bigger and darker, and a bolt of lightning streaked out, stopping at the tips of his hair. Mariano jumped and yelped, then looked back at Dolores, eyes wide.
"It's just like Tío Bruno said," Dolores said.
Mariano felt lightheaded. Everything went blurry, and he felt Dolores pulling him somewhere. There was a thud, and Mariano half-consciously wondered if it was him fainting. Before he knew it, his vision had cleared, and he was seated next to Dolores at the family's table. His shoulders were covered in frost, and he was certain his hair was as well.
It was chaos. Everyone chattered. Alma shouted for quiet and then broke the table. Mariano's head cleared. His cloud disappeared for the moment, and he looked to the matriarch in confusion, waiting for her to instruct them. She first asked to take inventory of the gifts. Each Madrigal listed the gift they knew they had. When it came to Dolores, she said, "I don't believe I have a power. I can't feel the magic at all."
"But we all got hit with it," Mariano whispered.
"And that was the last I felt of it," Dolores whispered back.
Alma instructed the family to stick close to the house until their powers had returned to normal, then instructed Agustín to put the candle back. The family dispersed, and Mariano made a beeline for the door, only to be shuffled away from it by Casita.
"Wha...y-you can't do that, you...house!" Mariano raised a finger in irritation in the general direction of Casita's door. "I have to get home to Mamá!" He heard his cloud thunder menacingly, then felt fingers entwining themselves in his own.
"Mariano, please stay here today," Dolores said. "Abuela is right; we don't need the whole village finding out what happened."
Mariano grimaced. "Mamá needs to know."
"And if—when—she comes looking for you, we can explain then. But...is it a good idea to go wandering through town with clouds over your head? Sometimes it's better to keep quiet about things. Only let those who absolutely need to know know."
Mariano couldn't argue with that. Who better than Dolores would know when it was best to keep a secret?
"But what do I do about...this?" He waved at his clouds. The very sight of them caused his breath to hitch, and the clouds thickened and drizzled on him in response. He stared at Dolores, becoming agitated. "It's like there's this...something...in my lungs and in my head. I can't...I-I can't..." He felt his lip quiver, and the rain from his cloud increased. Being the baby of his family, he'd never been barred from expressing his emotions. Yet now that he was in a genuine relationship, he didn't want his girlfriend seeing his more vulnerable side. Sure, she had heard it, but that was a far cry from actually seeing it.
Dolores gave him a sympathetic look and put one hand on his cheek, stepping into his rain to do so. "There there, mi amor, we'll get through this. Come on, let's go find somewhere to sit, away from the chaos.
They found an alcove that was out of the way, and Dolores instructed Mariano to sit and practice his breathing.
"Take deep, cleansing breaths," she coaxed. "Breathe in..."
Mariano inhaled slowly, deeply, and perhaps a little too zealously. His cloud formed a column over his head.
"Now, breathe out slowly."
Mariano tried to release his breath in a controlled manner. But his nerves got the better of him and he blew out his breath hard. His cloud flattened itself and suddenly a gust of wind blasted Dolores in the face, leaving her stunned for a moment and looking mildly windblown.
"Dolores, I'm so sorry!" Mariano cried, panicked. "Are you..."
"I'm fine," Dolores assured him with a chuckle as she patted at her hair and bow. "Believe me, I've dealt with worse. When I first got my gift, it was harder on Mamá than me, because her thundering would overwhelm me, which upset her, and made her thunder more, and the cycle repeated itself. That was hard. But we learned how to deal with it."
A coati suddenly appeared next to the couple, prompting them to look up. Pepa stood over them, trying to shoo toucans off of her.
"It still doesn't make starting from scratch easy, like we're all doing today," Pepa said. "Have either of you seen Antonio?"
"No, not since the meeting ended," Dolores replied.
Pepa grunted in frustration. She then gave Mariano a sympathetic smile. "What helps me—besides my wonderful husband and thoughtful children, of course—is clearing my thoughts and repeating a mantra. Meditation, basically." She brought the fingers of each hand together, closed her eyes, inhaled and exhaled, and softly chanted, "Clear skies, clear skies." She opened her eyes and looked back at Mariano. "Like that, you see?"
Mariano nodded. "Okay, meditation. Like..." He crossed his legs into something resembling the lotus pose he'd seen in the illustrations of some books. He held out his hands, inhaled and exhaled, and chanted. "Cleeeeeear...skiiiiiiiieeeeeessssss."
Pepa and Dolores had to suppress chuckles. It wasn't quite what Pepa had meant, but it seemed to be working for Mariano. His cloud shrunk and began to glow, as if a tiny sun were just peeking around it. Still, the image of Mariano doing his best Buddha impression was a comical one.
"Very good," Pepa said, bemused. "Anyway, please let me know right away if you see Toñito, mija."
"Of course, Mamá," Dolores promised.
Pepa left the couple alone, and Dolores aided Mariano in practicing his meditation.
But as the chaos continued to unfold around them, they had to find places further out of the way that they hoped would be quieter. For the next couple of hours, they searched for a private, calm place to meditate uninterrupted. With such a large family, however, there was no place in or around Casita that fit that description for long, except for Dolores' room.
"No, we can't go in there," Mariano insisted.
"I don't mind if something in my room gets rained on," Dolores tried to assure him. "Mamá comes into my room all the time, even when she's upset."
"She's your mamá," Mariano said, still not budging. "We're not married yet. We're not even engaged. It just wouldn't be proper. Your abuela wouldn't approve and neither would your papá. We can't go in there."
Dolores gave up tugging on his arm. She feigned an exasperated sigh as she gazed lovingly at him. "Look at you. Such a gentleman."
Mariano rubbed the back of his neck and chuckled. An errant whirlwind sprang up behind him. "Well...I just...really, really, really want to stay on the family's good side."
Dolores smiled, hooking her arm in his and leading him to the stairs. "I don't think that will ever be a problem."
As they made their way downstairs and found a place to sit just inside the courtyard, Mariano felt his cloud alternating between snow and rain. He looked up and around him and saw that his mood was starting to affect the weather on a larger scale. What had been a sunny day was now overcast solely for Casita. He wanted to clear the doubts from his head, but the truth was he couldn't accept Dolores' assurance. For him, staying on the good side of the magical Madrigals was always a problem. He felt the weight of his temporary magic make itself known again, and his cloud flared. He didn't know what he had done to be so unlucky, but here he was, stuck with a magic he couldn't possibly understand. And he was screwing it up. This was the disastrous proposal dinner all over again. He released a shaky sigh, triggering a drizzle that steadily grew.
"Mariano?" Dolores prodded, giving him a worried look. "What's wrong, love?"
"I..." Mariano didn't really have a response. He just looked back at her, mouth open in a pitiful attempt to conjure words. The drizzle intensified, drenching them both.
It was just then that Isabela, Mirabel and Félix came out into the courtyard. Isabela looked at Mariano, and her expression changed from one of joy to concern. She said something to her sister and tío, then halted near where the couple sat, leaving the other two to continue on.
"Good luck," Félix called back to them. It sounded genuine, as if he shared Isabela's concern but couldn't also stop to help.
Isabela took a seat next to Mariano, just far enough away to be mostly out of his rain. "How's it going?" she asked.
"We've been trying to find a place to do some meditation," Dolores said, "but there's nowhere suitable. Mariano's feeling a bit stressed."
"Is that so?" Isabela said, looking at Mariano. He nodded pitifully at her. She smiled and held out a hand. "Well, tell me what you've learned so far, and I can help you with that cloud. You see, Mira and I discovered..."
Mariano recoiled almost reflexively. He didn't mean to. But he'd been largely avoiding Isabela ever since their breakup, and his response to her approach had become almost automatic.
"Wh...what's wrong?" Isabela asked, genuinely confused, glancing up at the cloud over Mariano's head as it roiled into a miniature thunderstorm. She looked to her cousin for clarity.
Dolores kept her face unreadable. As much as she loved her cousin, she was well aware of how past events still stung for Mariano. "He's...working through a lot," she said, wrapping a comforting arm around her boyfriend.
Isabela's face fell. "Oh. If this is about me...but I really do want to help you."
"It's not you," Mariano said, trying to reassure her. But his words rang hollow and his personal weather betrayed his emotions. Lightning flashed menacingly in Isabela's direction.
Isabela sat in uncertainty for a minute. Should she leave, or should she stay and try to help, even if she wasn't wanted? She glanced around the courtyard, as if begging Casita for some wisdom. Her gaze found her father's, sitting on a bench below Alma's window and still cradling the candle. He raised his eyebrows at her, as if prompting her to do something.
She sighed and turned back to Mariano. "Listen...about...I know you're still mad at me for dumping you."
Mariano's clouds seemed to freeze in place, and he turned to her, a bit surprised at her bluntness.
"Aren't you?" Isabela prodded.
Mariano fumbled for a moment, then hesitantly replied, "Well, 'mad' isn't the word I'd use, really..."
Dolores nudged him, urging him to be honest.
Mariano huffed. His clouds churned, and the wind picked up around the courtyard. "I'm just...confused. And frustrated. And yeah, maybe I am angry. But not as much at you as I am at myself for screwing things up so badly! I know your abuela was the one who thought we would make a perfect couple, but I really believed that maybe she was right. And then you told me that she was wrong. That maybe I was wrong. I don't know exactly what I did, but I just wanted to prove I could be a part of this family, and I'm terrible for this family! Look at me! I'm a mess!" His head sank into his hands and the wind calmed. "You were right to dump me. And I wouldn't blame Dolores if she wanted to dump me too, even though I really do love her and I know her so much better than I ever got to know you."
Dolores' eyes went wide and she squeaked in alarm. "Dump you? Why on earth would I want to do that? Isabela didn't just let you go because she wasn't interested in marriage. She knew how I felt about you and wanted me to have a chance to tell you about it. I'm not about to dump you, silly!" She wrapped her arms around him and pulled him close.
Mariano peeked through his fingers at her with a somewhat disbelieving expression. What did she see in him, exactly? He put his hands down and sighed. "I just...wanted to prove that I was good enough to be a part of this family. And then, when you told me how you felt, I wanted to be good enough for you."
He felt another hand on his shoulder, turning to see Isabela gazing at him with tears welling in her eyes. He looked at her in surprise.
"Mariano," Isabela began, "I am so sorry. I should never have treated you the way I did. And not just in how...we broke up. From the very beginning, you were just trying to be the kind of man my family would want to see me with. You were always kind and polite, and just...the perfect gentleman. Always genuine. And I was...resisting you because of it. Because of that perfect image everyone wanted me...wanted us...to have. I would be lying if I said I ever loved you like Abuela expected me to, but I never even thought to ask if you ever actually loved me. I guess I assumed you were putting on an act like I was. Because that 'perfect couple' thing was just a facade. I was being fake, so I thought you were, too. And that wasn't fair to you."
Isabela looked to Dolores as she chose her next words. Her cousin smiled, nodding for her to continue. She looked back at Mariano. "But seeing you with my cousin has shown me that you are the single most genuine person I know, with the exception of certain members of my family. You interact with her in a way that neither of us ever dared interact with one another. And...I think that was mostly my fault. I kept you at arm's length and all you ever did was respect that. But seeing how much you and Dolores truly care about one another...it's made me see how I misjudged you. Badly. So very, very badly. And I really, truly am sorry. You deserve to be part of this family, Mariano. I'm the one who never deserved you. And you and Dolores deserve all happiness. You're not just...some big, dumb hunk. You're perfect for my cousin, and I'll be proud to call you family."
Mariano felt warmth growing within him. It was more than just the standard sense of happiness that normal, non-magical people get. This was a physical presence welling up inside, and it radiated into the air around him. The clouds over Casita cleared, and Mariano suddenly found himself glowing as if bathed directly in his own personal sunlight. He heard Dolores give a soft and airy giggle. He turned to her and she pointed above his head.
"Look, amor, you made a rainbow."
Mariano looked up. Sure enough, in the lightest mist that still hung above him, there sparkled an arc of color. He beamed at it, then turned to Isabela. He took her hand, and something passed between them that made the bow over his head brighter. It felt like a power surge, and Mariano wondered whose gift Isabela had to have gotten for the day, because this was clearly magic.
"Thank you, Isabela," he said. "Thank you for being honest. But..." His face fell slightly.
"What's wrong now?" Isabela asked.
"I'm not dumb," he mumbled numbly.
"Well, that's not...I mean...I was never..."
She was caught. Mariano smirked as Dolores wrapped her arms around one of his, ready to defend him if needed.
"I've been called 'dumb' for a lot of my life," he confessed. "Because I struggled learning how to read as a child, other kids were merciless to me. I don't know why my brain always turned letters backward and upside down, but it did. I learned how to read and write poetry so that I could hopefully get over that blockage. It only kind of worked. And it always made me seem...dumber than I was."
"It must've worked very well," Dolores said. "Your poems are beautiful. And I've heard a lot of poems around town, trust me. Here, show her the one you gave me today."
"Um...okay." Mariano hesitantly pulled a piece of paper from his back pocket and handed it to Isabela. She unfolded it and began to read. Mariano winced as her expression subtly changed. He was well aware of spelling errors within his writing.
Finally, Isabela looked up at him. "Mariano, this is amazing! You're quite the wordsmith."
"You really think so?"
"Well, it's a little sappy for my tastes, and I can see where you struggle with the letters. But the tone is clear, the word use is really clever, and it has a wonderful rhythm." She handed him the paper and smiled at Dolores, who was grinning proudly as she tightened her grasp around her boyfriend's arm. "I think the Madrigals will definitely gain a truly worthwhile gift should you decide to officially join our family. Though I notice you're much better with words when you have the chance to write them down."
Mariano blushed. "Yeah, I've always been like that. My siblings are all pretty good speakers, but I've never been much of one myself. Which made it really awkward when my brother got married and wanted me to be his best man."
Dolores gave a soft giggle and leaned her head against Mariano's arm. "So...can you two be friends, then?" she prompted.
Mariano held out a hand to Isabela. "Friends?"
Isabela took his hand and gave it a firm shake, smiling at him. "Friends. Hopefully cousins, someday. No rush, of course."
The smell of lunch wafted from the kitchen, and the trio turned to see Antonio and Julieta working together to set up a buffet style lunch. Mirabel and Félix returned just as they did and spoke to the two cooks before collecting plates and starting in on the food. Julieta produced a tray of buñuelos and took Antonio by the hand, departing Casita on some errand of mercy.
"Where are they headed?" Mariano wondered aloud.
"A man in town has a bad appendix," Isabela said with a shrug as she headed toward the midday spread.
Dolores, Mariano and Isabela joined Félix, Mirabel and Agustín for lunch, chattering excitedly. Dolores and Mariano huddled close, enjoying the extra bit of sunlight Mariano's magic produced. As the group shared stories of their day, they heard Camilo cry out in the distance, "Would everyone please just shut up?!"
Dolores sighed and put her plate down. "I need to take care of this," she said, rising to her feet.
"Do you need any help, love?" Mariano asked.
"No, I've got it. This isn't a matter of power boosting or anything like that. Camilo just needs to learn how to focus."
She left the group to find her brother. The remaining diners turned back to their food—all except Mariano. His cloud began to reappear as he watched his beautiful girlfriend slip out the door of the house. He felt a firm hand clap him gently on the back and turned to see its owner. Félix gave him a reassuring smile.
"You know, if you like, I can offer you a special," he said, his smile turning into a teasing grin. "I can check future years and see how long it will be before Agustín has to help me bury you in the backyard. Free of charge."
Agustín snorted and laughed, drawing a chuckle form Mirabel as well.
Isabela rolled her eyes. "Be nice, Tío. You know, he really is...perfect...for our Dolores."
Félix contemplated the young man for a moment, then said, "Well, Casita seems to think so. He probably wouldn't have been included in all this chaos if he weren't practically family already."
"You know, Tío, I really think you're right," Mirabel said.
Mariano's heart swelled with pride. He was in! And while he knew Dolores wanted to take it slow, he couldn't help but start envisioning exactly how he would propose.
His fantasy was interrupted by a somewhat frantic pounding on the door. From behind it, they could hear someone call, "Mariano? Are you in there, mijo? Please let me in!"
Mariano sighed. "That's for me," he said. He stood and prepared to open Casita's front door to greet his worried mother, trying to decide on how he would explain the crazy events of the day.
AN: Yes, in my head canon, Mariano is dyslexic and naturally shy. These two traits, when combined, can sometimes give the appearance that a person is less intelligent than they actually are, because they struggle with what is for most an easy task, and they lack the confidence to be open about it. It is in no way their fault, of course, but this is the reality for shy kids with learning disabilities. But a poet of high enough caliber to impress she-who-hears-all would definitely have to be more intelligent than Mirabel and Isabela give him credit for.