Mirabel wakes in the middle of the night to the sound of screaming right in her ear. Jerking upright, she immediately notices two things: two spots of green glowing in the darkness beside her, and a damp spot in her bed.
By the time she's upright and fumbling for a light the screams have subsided. Brunito is curled up in her bed, sobbing.
Mirabel waits a moment before reaching out to gather him into her arms, but he pulls away, still crying, his face red. He won't meet her eyes, either.
Her door opens; Tía Pepa pokes her head in.
"Mirabel?"
"Brunito had a vision, I think," the girl tells her aunt. Tía Pepa opens the door further and steps inside. "I don't think he wants to be touched."
Her tía looks at Brunito, then at Mirabel's bed. "He might be embarrassed," she murmurs, and there's a gentleness that isn't often present in the woman as she turns her attention back to Brunito, who seems to be trying to blend in with the wall.
"Brunito," she crosses the room, halting when the boy starts to cower. "Está bien, hermano," she says, spreading her arms as if in surrender. Her voice remains soft. "Tuviste un vision?" she asks.
The boy nods, but refuses to look at either Mirabel or her aunt.
Tía Pepa makes a shooing motion toward the door, and Mirabel belatedly realizes they have an audience.
Mamá y Papá take the gesture as their cue to leave. Tío Félix starts shuffling kids off to bed; all of them but Dolores are currently huddled out in the hall.
He ends up having to pick up Antonio and carry him back to his room, the boy yawning and asking if Brunito's okay as they go.
Tía Pepa turns her attention back to Brunito. "Now that it's just us," she says, lowering her voice, as if whatever she's about to say next is a secret between just them, "It was a pretty bad one, wasn't it?"
Brunito nods, but still doesn't look up.
Mirabel's aunt nods. "Thought so," she says. "One of those ones where you wake up feeling all sweaty and gross?"
Another nod.
Tía Pepa makes a face. Mirabel's not sure if the kid sees it or not. "You wanna clean up a bit? You can borrow some of Antonio's clothes. I'm sure he won't mind."
Brunito rolls his shoulders and looks up uncertainly. Tía Pepa smiles at him. Carefully she raises a finger to her lips, as if shushing him, and winks.
The boy studies her for a moment longer before nodding. As he climbs down from the bed, Tía Pepa looks him over.
"Do you need help?" she asks. Brunito shakes his head emphatically, and she shrugs. "Go on, then. I'll bring some clothes in for you in a bit."
Mirabel's aunt stays where she is, waiting, as the child leaves the room and makes his way down the hall to the bathroom. She doesn't move at all until she hears the door open and then close again with a click.
She bursts into a flurry of movement then, crossing the room to strip the sheets and blankets off Mirabel's bed with practiced ease. By the time she has the laundry in a bundle Mirabel's mother is back with a bucket of cleaning supplies.
Mirabel's aunt turns and winks at her. "There should be spare bedding in the closet in the nursery, mija," she says. "In fact, I think there's a protective sheet from when Antonio was still toilet-training."
"It might be better to put Brunito in the nursery," Mamá suggests. "Though it's possible he won't want to sleep alone..."
"I can sleep with him," Mirabel offers. "I don't mind."
"That'll give your mattress the opportunity to dry out," her mother says thoughtfully. "Can you manage putting the protector on? You'll have to remake the bed."
"I can do it," Mirabel says.
"I'll get the laundry started." Tía Pepa says. She pauses in the doorway, her arms full, and looks at Mirabel. "We're treating this as our secret, right? The less said about it, the better."
Mirabel nods. "I don't want him to be embarrassed," she agrees.
Her aunt beams at her and leaves. Mirabel turns to her mother, who is working on the spot on her bed.
"Do you need help?" she asks. Mamá shakes her head.
"I can get it." She looks up. "You kids all went through a bed-wetting phase, when you were little. After a while your tía and I had this down to a science." She smiles at Mirabel. "Isabella and Dolores were toilet-training at the same time, you know. And then later it was you and Camilo."
"Thanks," Mirabel says. "I'll go get the bed in the nursery ready."
Brunito is clean and damp and exhausted by the time Tía Pepa leads him to the nursery. He climbs into the bed willingly enough, though he still won't quite meet Mirabel's eye. She offers her aunt a puzzled smile as the woman settles into the other bed. The woman returns the smile but does not offer an explanation.
Mirabel turns back to Brunito. "Mind if I join you?" she asks. The kid looks up at her, surprised. She waits while he studies her, his expression mildly perplexed, not wanting to rush him or make him feel pressured.
At long last he nods in agreement, sliding over so Mirabel can slip in beside him.
They're just beginning to settle, the three of them, when the door opens and Dolores pokes her head in.
"See? I told you, he's fine," the girl says, retreating just little and opening the door further. Bruno is with her, looking like he's on the verge of a panic attack, his hair a bit wild and his eyes bloodshot.
He looks at Mirabel, then at Brunito. He does not look at Tía Pepa, for all that Mirabel's aunt is currently staring at him, wanting some sort of explanation for earlier.
"Come on, I'll make some tea." Bruno stumbles as Dolores tugs at his arm, effectively pulling him out of the room. "Goodnight, everyone."
Brunito raises a small hand towards the two retreating figures. When they're gone, and Dolores has pulled the door closed behind them, he lays back down, snuggling up against Mirabel.
"You're very cuddly," she observes, looking down at him. She feels him tense up, and pulls him into a hug. "And cute. Have I mentioned how cute you are?"
"Have I mentioned how late it is?" Tía Pepa asks from the other bed, but she doesn't actually sound upset, so Mirabel smiles as she snuggles up against Brunito.
The rest of the night passes uneventfully. Brunito sleeps through the rest of the night, and so does Mirabel.
Disclaimer Disney's Encanto does not belong to me.