Bruno was not having a good day and that was easily displayed in the fact that no one could find him….again. It wasn't that they refused to give him space. Oh no, they certainly made certain they were doing that but there are certain limitations as to when someone needed to interfere for Bruno's own good even if he didn't see it that way. It wasn't healthy to avoid human contact entirely. There was a difference between alone time and running away. He still hadn't gotten it through his head that everyone was trying to be there for him. It was hard and the family knew that. There was no way that such a sudden and drastic change, no matter how good, would just be accepted. Perhaps if he was younger it would have been easier. He'd spent so long living the way he had. It was familiar. Bruno didn't like different and he'd never handled it well before. Now it was just worse.

Despite having everything he wanted it was just too hard for him to accept it, so certain that it wasn't real, that it wasn't going to last, or that it would all just fall apart again. He was protecting himself. He knew that if that happened it would break him. It felt like a dream and what happened when that dream ended and he woke up? He couldn't bear it. He couldn't accept it. It was all too good to be true and good was never something that stuck around Bruno. Life would do that. It would dangle his hopes and dreams right in front of him but just beyond reach.

There was also something that was just beyond his reach. Something that he couldn't quite see. It was cold and distant but he could smell it, taste it, in his dreams. It was dark as the jungle, cold as winter in the high mountains, suffocating like a space closing in and shrinking around him, but it was also warm and wild like a campfire. It reached for him in the darkness of the night, when he was alone. It wanted him but he didn't want it. Not yet. It wasn't time yet. He knew it wasn't time to reach back yet. That would be something that he would never be able to take back. He knew it so well that it didn't quite frighten him anymore. Every now and again it would touch him, drifting across his skin like a ghost and settling into his head like it belonged there. Only a flash of a vision would pass and the thing would retreat while he smashed the tablet again and again and again and however many times he saw it.

Of course Agustín didn't know any of that. Bruno never gave details but he did know that his cuñado was suffering. His purpose in life was much like his esposa's. To help, to heal, and people kept forgetting that he knew a thing or two about medicine. He didn't care. People here had no need for a doctor, not with Julieta's cooking, so of course they would forget. He'd found other ways to be useful. He'd been watching Bruno for a while just trying to figure him out and plan some moves. He'd come across a few people that were a bit like Bruno. He wasn't alone in his anxiety or compulsions but he was the worst case that Agustín had seen. He wasn't the kind of doctor that was actually trained to help people like Bruno so he just got to sit there and feel useless. He did not like feeling useless.

He didn't know what he could say to Bruno that the man hadn't already heard before. Perhaps that might add to things. Hearing people reiterate the same thing as the person before might make it sound staged. Like they had rehearsed it all before hand and he wouldn't necessarily be wrong about that. People were nervous around him but not because of him which Agustín was certain that was something that Bruno was misinterpreting. People were worried about saying the wrong thing. People were worried they might hurt him again so it was like walking on eggshells and Bruno wasn't missing it.

That, Agustín had figured out, was the problem. That was why Félix had so much success. He'd spend time with Bruno and the two of them would just exist together for a little bit. No questions, no pressure, and no real focus. Just being average people in average situations. Of course Félix noticed Bruno's problems but he never made a big deal out of it unless it was something big enough to worry about. Agustín shuddered as he remembered the blood smeared across the walls of his cuñado's vision cave. Bruno had always just wanted to be normal. No pressure, no gift, no expectations, and no demands. He'd trade lives with Agustín in a second if he could. Spending your life craving someone else's wasn't good. Agustín's life wasn't all it was cracked up to be. It was filled with frustration and insecurity, and an overall feeling of just not being enough. That was just the way it was when the rest of your family can do such extraordinary things. He'd always been protective of Mirabel because of that but also awkward about it because he really didn't know what he could say to help her feel better about herself other than just telling her that he understood. He'd do anything to keep his niñita safe and that included standing firm against Alma.

He was infinitely thankful to Bruno for how accepting of Mirabel he was. He treated her the same as everyone else. Well, not really like everyone else. He seemed more confident with her but she was the one who finally dragged him back out into the light. Agustín was amazed at the fact that Bruno had spent a decade hiding from the family, especially Alma, and he'd rushed to Mirabel's aid standing firm against his mother for the first time in his life and all to protect Agustín's daughter. He'd run out there with the intent to take all of the blame on his shoulders. Bruno had protected Mirabel in ways that Agustín couldn't. Bruno had sacrificed ten years of his life to save her from the same fate that had consumed him and that was one of the greatest displays of love that Agustín had ever seen.

Honestly, if Agustín had known what Bruno did he'd have snatched up his daughter the night of her disastrous gifting ceremony and left the Encanto, never looking back. He would not have regretted the decision in the slightest. In that way too Bruno had saved the family. If he had shown them the prophecy that night their family would have been shattered, broken beyond any chance of healing. Agustín hated to admit it but Bruno had done the right thing in leaving, even if he hadn't actually left. He sighed as he remembered what Bruno had said to Pepa.

"Sometimes doing the right thing means you have to do something wrong and other times doing the right thing is exactly that."

He really did understand some things better than anyone else. He saw things that other people didn't and seemed to have it in his head that everyone could think like he could. He was wrong and no one quite knew how to tell him that he was wrong. How do you tell a prophet that they're wrong? Agustín wasn't sure how to go about doing that. Right now though, he didn't want to get into all of that. Bruno didn't need someone trying to tell him who he was or how the world worked because they'd be explaining that from their perspective and Bruno did not have the same perspective as they did. Agustín had finally realized that none of that was really doing any good. They were trying too hard as it turns out and it left Bruno struggling to find out where he fit with them. It was time to just let him fit in somewhere instead of trying to find a place for him because the place he used to have in the family was gone and it wasn't coming back. He was different. They didn't know him and it was time they all stopped pretending they did.

Sure, he was a hard man to understand but that didn't mean that it wasn't worth trying. That was the mistake they had made the first time around. Now they were trying to compensate for it and that wasn't what Bruno needed. He just needed calm to figure himself out and once he did he could figure out where he stood in both his world and theirs. Alma wasn't the only one who wanted to know how things worked in that head of his. Agustin could see that he never really had a calm moment, a calm and tranquil thought process, it was all a rush like a highway with no speed limit and his thoughts came and went as they pleased. Which only made his anxiety worse. His brain just worked too fast for even himself to follow.

Once the sun went down and the house had grown quiet Agustín's own thoughts began to race and sleep evaded his grasp. Julieta had slipped off fairly quickly. She was usually pretty exhausted by the end of the day. It was a lot of work for her spend so much time in the kitchen. He wondered how she kept up with it all and then wondered if, perhaps, his esposa's mind ran as fast as Bruno's. That had never occurred to him. They both certainly handled it differently. Julieta could channel it into a single cohesive thought process that kept her moving and somehow paying attention to every little thing in the kitchen even if she was working every appliance at the same time. She was amazing.

He sat up, careful not to wake her, and dragged his hands down his face. He needed to talk to Bruno, see if he was okay or not. He wouldn't be able to sleep otherwise but he had to think up some other excuse for seeking Bruno out other than the fact that he was worried. That would only make Bruno feel guilty and then the rest of the conversation would be about how Bruno didn't need to apologize while knowing that the man wouldn't believe a word that came out of Agustín's mouth. He swung his legs out from underneath the covers and smiled softly at Julieta's sleepy mumble. He stood and stretched his arms over his head, cracking his back in the process. Oh, he'd been trying to manage that all day. He was old. His back hurt. Fact of life. He leaned over and laid a soft kiss on her forehead before sliding a shirt on and quietly slipping out the door.

He thought long and hard about where Bruno could be. Agustín was certain that he would not be in his room. He was never in his room when he wanted to hide. Mirabel had already checked his little room that Casita had tucked away for him. The house seemed to understand that there were times where he still needed his walls and his tunnels so the room remained. Agustín would bet that if he waited in there long enough eventually Bruno would stumble his way in there. The seer was probably up and about. He either had a hard time sleeping or just refused to do so. Perhaps both. Now that Agustín was not happy about. That was when his doctor side reared up and started screaming about the effects of sleep deprivation. He wondered if Bruno would even consider sleeping pills or not. It would certainly help but that was up to Bruno over whether or not he was comfortable with that. That was a talk for another time though.

He found himself walking through the house with two cups of hot tea in search of Bruno's secret entrance. Mirabel and Antonio had yet to spill that information yet. Honestly, Agustín thought it was wonderful. Everyone else was a bit frustrated about it but those two recognized that their tío seemed to still need it at times. He always came back out but that didn't lessen the worry that he wouldn't and they'd lose him again. Agustín just couldn't bear the thought of that.

"Casita?" He called out, voice quiet. "Do you think-I mean...I won't tell anyone."

He waited a moment before letting loose a frustrated sigh. Casita, it would appear, not only played favorites but had become protective of the youngest Madrigal triplet. He just been about to turn around and take a seat in the kitchen in hopes that he could catch Bruno stealing a midnight snack while his hermana was sleeping when he heard a quiet kind of grinding sound from the laundry room. Brow's creased in confusion, he crept his way in and found an open trap door that laid in the center of the room. It waved at him and Agustín took it for what it was.

Now the problem was trying to move down a ladder with two mugs of hot tea in his hands. Casita clacked a tile at him. He set both cups on the ground and watched as Casita shuffled them off around the corner somewhere. Agustín shrugged and descended beneath the laundry room floor. It was dark and he leaned against the wall as he walked and waited for his eyes to adjust to the darkness. It was near pitch black in the tunnel he was in and he remembered that Bruno could navigate the house without needing to see anything. Well, this certainly showed another way he'd managed to learn how to do that. With one hand on the wall Agustín slowly, carefully, walked forward. He could see all of the ways that this could go wrong but he took a little solace in the certainty that there were no bees in Casita. It was a mutual hatred between him and those angry little things. He was just glad he wasn't allergic.

It actually didn't take all that long for him to see a bit of light and he was more than happy to pick up his pace a bit. Where the hallway should have dead ended there was a small opening and he could just barely make out the arm of a red chair and, draped across it, was Bruno. His wide and unblinking eyes stared at the wooden boards above him and he was muttering urgently to himself. Agustín wasn't sure what he was saying to himself but the man did not look well. He approached Bruno quietly as he tried to put together what he was going to say.

"All of it. Everything. Everything everywhere." Agustín heard as he got closer. "It's all, all of it-just-just twisting and opening and closing and opening and closing. It's all of it. It's all of it. It's all of it. Just…."

His eyes snapped to where Agustín was standing and there was a kind of madness in his eyes that ran deep, deep into the man's soul.

"You're late." He whispered, voice trembling. "I forget what it was you bring." His gaze drifted back to the ceiling.

This was very much not what Agustín had been expecting at all. He stepped fully into the room and looked around. It wasn't nearly as cluttered anymore, him having moved most of his things back to his tower.

"It's all wrong…." He shot to a sitting position in the chair. "But it's right! No, wait." He gave a long growl as he reached up and grabbed two fistfuls of his hair as he tucked his forehead to his knees. "Am I lost? I can't be lost." He said through tears. "I can't I can't I can't I can't."

"Bruno." Agustín called out softly and gently laid his hands on his cuñado's shoulders but reeled back when Bruno suddenly lunged forward, ripping strands of his own hair out, and grabbed the sides of Agustín's head so hard it hurt.

"Don't open the window. It'll be hot. Don't open the window." He he said as he lightly shook Agustín with sweaty hands before his eyes rolled back in his head and he fell to the ground with a harsh thump.

It was only when he heard Casita groan in worry that Agustín snapped out of his shock.

"Bruno?" He rolled the smaller man onto his back and cradled his head. "Bruno can you hear me?" He lightly patted the side of the seer's face. "Bruno come on. I need you to open those eyes. Wake up Bruno."

Bruno did. He blinked and sucked in a deep, desperate breath, brought his hands to his eyes and gave a pained scream. He was hot, too hot. His skin was on fire and his pulse raced far beyond what could be considered normal even for Bruno. There was a series of of clunks and rattles before a plate filled with Julieta's leftover arepas slid into his line of sight. She always had leftovers because Agustín was Agustín. When Bruno opened his mouth to let loose another scream Agustín shoved one of arepas in his mouth and waited. Bruno took a bite and didn't even bother to chew and instead swallowed it whole. He sucked in a deep lungful of air and looked around, disoriented.

"Uh." He said wide eyes staring up at Agustín. "What happened?"

"I was hoping you could tell me that." He tried not to sound angry but, going by Bruno's flinch, he failed. "I'm not mad." He said quickly. "I'm just...uhm...you scared me. You-you don't remember anything?

Bruno shook his head.

"Did you have a vision?"

"I-I don't know." He whispered. "A-am I...where…." He gave a long groan.

"You're okay now. Look at me Bruno." He turned the man's head to look at him. "You're okay now."

He hoped he sounded convincing.

"Um." Bruno seemed to fully come back to himself and realize that he was on the floor, legs resting against his red chair, and his head in Agustín's lap. "L-lo siento." He rubbed his face and sat up. "I didn't mean….I...I don't know what-where." He grabbed at his hair again.

"I brought tea." Agustín blurted out because it was the only thing he could think of in the moment.

He was not about to tell Bruno that he'd been about as crazy as a bag of cats less than a minute ago. That could wait until another time. Bruno turned his head and, sure enough, two steaming mugs of tea were sat upon his table

"I don't understand. W-why are you here?"

"We've been looking for you all day."

"All day?!" Bruno spun around to look at him with wide eyes. "N-no. I haven't been here that long. I-I was just a little.… I-I...Jesucristo que paso?"

"Come on." Agustín said quietly, gently. "Some tea could probably do you some good. Oh." He snapped his fingers and snatched up the plate of arepas. "Hungry?"

He was scrabbling for anything at all that might soothe this situation. Bruno just nodded and reached a shaking hand out to snatch up the one he'd taken a bite out of. He was hungry but he felt sick. He looked up and saw Agustín holding out a mug.

"Ginger and lemon. It might help settle your stomach. You look like you don't feel well."

Oh Agustín had hit the nail on the head.

"Agustín?" He said after a moment of silence. "W-what happened?"

He took a moment to think before sitting down with a sigh and telling Bruno everything that had just happened. Bruno bit his fist and gripped his hair, glancing away when Agustín finished.

"I-I don't know what that was. It doesn't sound familiar and-and." He scrubbed at his eyes again. "I-it doesn't feel familiar. It's wrong. Something about it feels wrong. It tastes…..it tastes sour." He gagged and Agustín pushed the mug a little closer to him.

He took it gratefully and took a long sip. The warmth of it settled in his stomach and he didn't feel so cold anymore. His skin felt hot but he was so, so cold.

"Can I…?" Agustín reached out a hand and Bruno extended his own. "That's a lot better." He said with relief as he felt that Bruno's pulse had slowed.

"I...uhm."

"You don't have to say anything." Agustín said with a shake of his head.

"What, uh...what did I miss today?" He asked, swirling the tea around in his cup.

"Well, it was an average day really. Nothing big to miss or anything. Camilo actually managed to not get himself in trouble though so there was that." He chuckled and Bruno did too.

"Oh Dios. My head hurts." He rubbed at his temples.

"I don't know if the tea will do much for that."

"That was always the one thing Julieta's cooking seemed to miss." Bruno groaned. "Headaches." He sagged against the arm of the chair. "I'm tired. Dios mio I am tired."

Was it a good idea to let him sleep right now? Did he have some kind of head injury? He tilted his head.

"How long has it been since you slept?"

Bruno looked guiltily at his feet before answering.

"Day before yesterday."

"You should probably sleep." Don't make a big deal of it, he told himself. "That's probably what it was." Agustín lied. He was pretty sure that is not what that was but he could be wrong.

"I don't really like sleeping."

"I know." Agustín said offhandedly and he felt that he was covering up his complete terror very well.

"A-are you going to tell anyone?" Bruno looked at him with worry in his eyes.

"Not if you don't want me to." Agustín answered after thinking for a moment.

He didn't know what happened and it very well could just be sleep deprivation. He didn't know how that might effect someone who could see the future.

"I don't want you to. I-I don't want to ask you to keep secrets but...I don't know...I could use some time?"

"I can do that." He nodded. "Drink your tea."

He talked with Bruno, drank tea, and ate arepas until dawn. He'd see if he couldn't convince Bruno to get some sleep tonight but for now they'd just exist together.