you infuriate me - camilo madrigal x fem!oc

chapter 1

natalia's pov

i wake up to the sound of my hermanita (little sister), carla, chasing her gemelo (twin brother), alejandro, around the house with a wooden spoon and ale's intermittent yelps as carla's spoon finds its target consistently. i sigh with pride as i roll out of bed and onto the creaky floorboards. she reminds me more and more of myself every day.

once i get dressed and come downstairs, i sit down at the table and eat the tamales my papá has made us all for breakfast. as i munch contentedly, my abuela (grandmother) looks up from her newspaper and says, "talita, remember that we've been invited by the madrigals to antonio's gift ceremony tonight. i know that you want to hang out with your friends and have fun, but it's important that you remember to go. you know how important it is to the whole family - especially alma - that this one goes well, after what happened last time."

"are they worried that antonio's not going to get a gift and be useless like mirabel?" says carla, popping out of nowhere with the wooden spoon still in her hand. my mouth drops open. "did you just call my best friend useless?" i ask indignantly, taking the spoon off her and bopping her on the head with it. "mirabel may not have a gift, but she is still incredibly useful and nice and sweet and funny, and plus she lives in a magic house. all of which is more than i can say for you, carlita."

"not useless," she protests through a mouthful of tamale. "just that she doesn't have a gift to help us and the other villagers. i still like her."

"yeah, yeah, okay. whatever you say." i say, ruffling her hair. at that exact moment, there's a pounding on our front door and then mira's head appears in the window. "hurry the hell up!" she mouths. "speak of the devil." i grin, and run towards the front door, opening it to see mira smiling at me. "remember the gift ceremony!" abuelita calls as the door closes behind me.

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mirabel and i stroll along, chattering about the events of the evening to come. "tía pepa is stressing everyone out - including herself - by making the entire casita wet and drenching all the flowers isabela has conjured, and abuela has yelled at me twice already just for standing." she grumbles. "i really needed to get away from all of the craziness for a little while." i nod sympathetically. "how's toñito holding up? is he alright?"

"he's currently hiding from his mother," responds mira, stifling laughter. "i think he's feeling a little stressed out, but he'll be fine. he's got nothing to worry about." she goes silent and i can tell she's thinking about how disastrously her gift ceremony went, so to distract her i ask, "so, what have you embroidered recently?" her face immediately lights up and she's off, babbling about the latest butterfly she's embroidered onto a skirt.

as she speaks, i begin to worry about how she will take it if it all goes to plan tonight. of course she'll be happy for antonio, but i suspect that she sort of hopes that maybe he won't get a gift, and then he can stay in the nursery with her and she won't have to be the only madrigal child without a gift again. i'll just have to hope she's strong for antonio, and stay near her tonight.

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now it's the evening of antonio's gift ceremony, and i'm walking towards the madrigals's house with ale and carlita, my mamá, my papá, and abuelita. as we approach the house, i notice a figure at the door continually shapeshifting to be identical to each person he greets. i groan loudly. camilo madrigal, pain in my ass since we were five. he was acceptable for about two years before that, but then he got his gift and ever since then has done all he can to make me want to throw him out of the window - and believe me, i've tried a fair few times. his favourite thing to do is shapeshift into mirabel or one of the twins and then, when i'm not looking, turn back into himself and scare the shit out of me. he finds it absolutely hilarious. i find it absolutely infuriating.

we approach the door, and when camilo spots us he grins, a twinkle in his eye. i glare back. he turns to abuelita and miss respectfully. "abuela carmen. you look lovely this evening." he shapeshifts into her as if to showcase her loveliness. then he turns to my parents. "elena! guillermo! great to see you guys." he changes into each of them as he says their names. then he looks at the twins. "ale, carla, how you doing?" he high-fives ale and fistbumps carla. finally, he turns to me, the menacing glint back in his eye. "talia." he says sweetly. "milo." i mutter, glowering. he goes to shake my hand and, guessing he probably just licked it or something, immediately slap it away from me. he pouts for a second, then smirks and opens his hand to reveal a 50,000 pesos note (AN: that's not as much as it sounds - it's approximately 9 gbp and 12 usd, but it's the highest value colombian note). "i guess i can't even pay you to be nice to me." he crows, still smirking triumphantly.

taking a deep breath to calm myself down and to stop myself from slapping him even harder across the face, i take the opportunity to snatch the bill out of his hand and dart inside, snorting when i hear his surprised "hey!" and my abuela's frantic apologies. i know i'll have to pay for that later - literally - but right now i'm just enjoying the feeling of having bested camilo madrigal.

feeling very pleased with myself, i scan the crowd for any signs of mira, but can't find her anywhere i look. at that moment, abuela alma calls for everyone's attention. "the ceremony is starting!" she beams. i give up on looking for mirabel and just watch as the small figure of antonio appears in the doorway. he seems to be gesturing to someone to come and join him, and i smile when i realise it's mira who's now next to him. as they walk by, i catch her eye - i give her a massive thumbs and wave the note for her to see. when i look over at camilo, who's standing at the top of the stairs with his parents, he's glaring daggers at me. i sigh contentedly. this must be what victory feels like.

now toñito and mira are at the top of the stairs too and abuela alma is making antonio promise to use his gift, whatever it may be, to help the people of encanto. he promises that yes, he will, and then he places his hand on the doorknob, and it glows bright, so bright it fills the room. then, strangely, a toucan lands on his shoulder. everyone is perplexed - what's happening? it caws, and antonio cracks a smile and exclaims, "yes, i understand you!"

we all turn to each other in delight. the youngest madrigal can talk to animals! our toñito has a gift!