Bruno Madrigal Oneshots

Night Visions

by HelloThere3306 on Ao3

warnings: insomnia, anxiety, nightmares

summary: Bruno refuses to sleep in fear of triggering his gift. Unfortunately for him, his family cares about him.

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Bruno can't sleep.

He can, actually, but if he did he'd be plagued with visions and nightmares and he's so out of practice that he can't tell which is which.

The tablet, Bruno had realized when he was younger, was only for the big visions. The things farther into the future than he could see himself. But close futures - those that would be fulfilled on the same day or the same week, those come to him naturally.

If he lets himself get lost in his head, eventually the future can worm it's way into his thoughts. He can keep those away, distinguish those from reality, but in his dreams - everything has a poisonous green tint in his dreams.

So, he's refraining from sleep.

He's gone a full thirty six hours without dozing off. It's easier now, surrounded by people he can interact with. In the walls, all he had were his telenovelas. Sometimes, he listened in on the dinner conversations, pretending he was a part of them too.

It's much better with the real thing.

Camilo storms over, invading Bruno's little dark corner with Isabella behind him. He begins speaking loudly before Bruno can process the invasion of space. "Would you please tell Isa that green is a terrible color for a flower!"

"It's a perfectly fine color for a flower, right Tio Bruno?"

Bruno kneads his knuckles nervously. "Uh-"

"Your dumb flowers are stinking up the house!" Camilo groans, waving his arms theatrically. It reminds Bruno of himself, a little bit. "At least when you made roses they didn't smell like wet animals!"

Isabella laughs bitterly. "Oh ho, no, that's not my flowers! That smell is Antonio's literal zoo!"

Bruno looks between the two, dazed. He's not young enough for this. And sure, he wanted a distraction from his weary self, but this wasn't exactly the kind of distraction he'd had in mind. "Um."

"Hey Tio Bruno," Luisa calls, joining the conversation as if she'd always been there. "Can you help me paint the wall in my room? I can't reach the ceiling, so I can lift you up."

Bruno begins to nod before Camilo cuts him off. "Hey, no, we need him to settle something for us! Why can't you ask Mirabel?"

Luisa frowns. "Bruno's lighter," she says, as if he isn't standing in front of her. "And anyways, I don't know if he wants to help either of us."

"What makes you say that," Isabella challenged.

Luisa gestures to where Bruno had been standing. Empty. He's used the conflict as an out. He's experienced in that sort of area; his mother and sisters used to squabble all the time and he'd always end up in the middle of it somehow. It just became a habit to use the loud words to mask his footsteps as he ran away.

And the arguing has masked his footsteps, except from one hypervigilant niece of his. Delores smoothly matches his stride, catching him off guard just enough to make him stumble once before righting himself. "Tio Bruno, are you okay? You haven't been mumbling as much as you normally do."

"I don't mumble," he says, crossing his fingers.

"Hm." Delores hums, obviously in disagreement.