Brunito wakes up first, propping himself up on one arm and looking around before sitting all the way up. He looks at Mirabel for a moment before scooting forward and climbing into her lap.
They're all still outside, mostly because of Antonio, who looked up while Mirabel's parents were discussing what to do with the two Brunos passed out in the yard and said, "They don't like to be moved when they're like that. It makes them confused when they wake up."
Mirabel would like to think they all would have remembered that before anyone actually got as far as to try moving them, but has to admit she's not a hundred percent sure.
Mirabel wraps her arms around Brunito. "You okay?" she asks.
She gets a small nod in return, but the boy seems content simply to sit there in her lap and watch his older self lying unconscious in the grass.
Mirabel tries to tell herself not to worry. Her tío is breathing steadily, and though he's still, he at least doesn't seem to be in any kind of pain. He almost looks like he's sleeping.
Antonio, also watching their uncle, doesn't seem worried, but that might just be because he's young and doesn't know any better. Mirabel herself can't say for certain whether or not Bruno's okay, but she does know that with every passing minute her mom looks more and more worried.
Of course, her mom might not know any more than Mirabel or Antonio does in this particular case.
The thought is not even remotely reassuring.
Bruno's breathing deepens, and something like a sigh follows. He opens his eyes, winces, and looks around for a moment before pushing himself up gingerly to rest on his elbows.
He continues to look around for several minutes, confusion evident in his furrowed brows and the set of his lips, before finally settling his gaze on Mirabel.
"Hi," he says.
"Hi," Mirabel replies, not sure what else to say. Bruno licks his lips nervously.
"I was in my vision cave?" He ventures cautiously.
"Ah." Mirabel wonders how best to explain.
"Brunito from the future said you were trying to see the future and it made you unconscious and he came back to keep you safe till you woke up." Antonio says, before Mirabel can think of anything. "He said his name was Oscar."
Bruno blinks at his sobrino for a moment, and Mirabel wonders if the man understood any of that.
"He says Brunito gets to stay here with us," Antonio adds confidently. "That he can't go back."
"Something about splitting into two people," Mirabel offers. "Apparently one stayed in the present, which was you, and the other-Brunito-traveled to the future. Well, your future? Back then? It's the present now, I guess."
Bruno brings a hand up to massage his forehead. "I saw him. In my vision. And then-" He doesn't finish. "Note to self: never do that again."
Brunito, still in Mirabel's lap, nods in agreement.
"Oscar seemed to think you were only alive because he got involved," Mirabel suggests gently.
Bruno doesn't look away, but he also doesn't disagree.
Mirabel's mom eventually leaves to go start working on lunch, but Papá stays, looking a little odd but not all that uncomfortable sitting in the grass with his legs sprawled out in front of him.
"We're glad to have you back," he says quietly, and Bruno nods, his gaze flittering from blade of grass to flower to his hands, briefly up to meet the other man's gaze, then back to his hands. "Do you need anything?"
Bruno shakes his head. "I'm-I'm okay."
"Oscar suggested otherwise," Mirabel's father counters, his tone gentle but firm, and Bruno's shoulders hunch slightly.
It's painfully obvious, now, that Oscar's right. Bruno's tense. Very tense. All the time. When he's talking to people, when he's sitting with his nephew and niece. And when Papa asks him a question that makes him uncomfortable-it gets even worse.
"Pretty sure I already threw up," Bruno mutters under his breath. They all hear him anyway.
"You did." Papa waits a moment, then sighs. "I just want to know if there's anything you need. Anything we can do to help. I'd be surprised, given that you were out cold when Julieta and I got here, if you weren't feeling poorly."
That gets a nervous chuckle out of Mirabel's tío. "I, uh-thanks?" He runs a hand through his hair. "I just, I'm not sure there's much anyone can do. I mean, I'm pretty sure this is fallout from trying to see into Brunito's future, and past experience suggests that I'm just going to have to wait it out."
"Julieta's food won't help?" Bruno shudders, which is answer enough.
"The tea didn't help last time either, did it?" Mirabel asks, ignoring the surprised look her father shoots her way. "I mean, you threw up almost immediately."
Bruno shrugs. "Depends on whether you view throwing up as an improvement," he admits, albeit reluctantly.
"Do you?" she asks.
"Sometimes."
"What about going inside?" Antonio asks. "You keep squinting at the sun. Maybe a nap would help."
"Not sure I have the energy to drag myself inside, Toñito," Bruno admits, leaning back and closing his eyes. "Or to manage a nap."
Antonio is quiet for a moment, quite possibly trying to figure out how a person can be too tired to sleep. "Do you need us to go away?" he finally asks. "So you can rest out here?"
Bruno smiles and pats the grass beside him. Antonio is there in a heartbeat, snuggling up to the man as if he's been waiting for an invitation since Bruno woke up.
"I wouldn't mind resting out here for a bit," Bruno admits. "But I don't need you to go away for that."
Antonio smiles at his uncle. "Will you tell me a story?" he asks. "Or do you have the energy?"
"I think I can manage one story," Bruno says, still smiling.
"Do Pobrecita," Brunito pipes up, snuggling even further into Mirabel's lap. After a moment, Bruno begins.
She looks over at her father, who seems content to simply sit and listen, then at Antonio, still cuddled right up against his tío. She looks at Bruno, who has relaxed considerably since Antonio joined him, and down at Brunito, already half-asleep by the looks of things, head resting against her shoulder, small body nearly limp.
They might be all right, Mirabel thinks. Both of them.
Author's Note: So that's the official ending? But there has been some interest expressed in seeing more, so I may end up continuing this as a sort of Adventures of Brunito kind of thing? Maybe? If I'm feeling it, and if y'all are interested in seeing more. Anyway, thanks for sticking around, and I hope you enjoyed this little piece of self-indulgence. I know I did!
Disclaimer: Disney's Encanto does not belong to me.