Bruno Madrigal x Reader oneshots

~2~

The day Bruno left, he hadn't said goodbye.

You had no forewarning, no time to prepare yourself, no clue to what was happening until it was too late. One day he was here, and one day he was not.

And that was almost enough to break you.

For a while you had thought you had done something wrong. Were there signs you had missed? Had you driven him away? Granted, you knew the townspeople weren't the kindest when it came to Bruno and he often felt as though he alone had to bear the brunt of what his powers entailed, but it never seemed enough for him to disappear entirely.

Deep down, you knew you weren't the issue, but you still couldn't shake the guilt. You could have done something. You were the one who swore to always be there for him.

And yet, where it really counted, you fell short. La familia Madrigal was torn apart the day he left, and all you did was sit and watch them fall apart.

It was no secret that you were Bruno's sweetheart. You were his first love, the one who held his hands through the darkness of the night and caressed his cheeks during the summer heat, tucked into his chest during the spring siestas as he gazed down on you with nothing but love in his eyes.

The two of you were perfect, never seen without the other and never was one pictured in a life without the other. You could be framed as one, bound amongst the magic of the miracle and the roots of the Madrigals. He was your one, your Bruno.

The week he left you couldn't stop crying.

It was like a loss of your only warmth after being thrown into the snow, your body sent into an almost shock-state the moment you heard the news from Pepa. You had to find out through his sister. He wouldn't even say goodbye.

That night you resigned to your bed, wrapping the blanket around yourself and reaching out for Bruno. It was an instinct. Bruno had often stayed at your home, murmuring sweet nothings into your skin in the dead of night whether you were asleep or awake. Your arm fell limply onto the cold sheets, gripping as you searched for his warmth.

You spent many nights like this, curled into a ball with your fingernails almost tearing holes into your mattress, eyes stinging with tears that you refused to let fall. These nights you wouldn't fall asleep, flittering between consciousness and dreams until the sun peaked through your blinds in the morning.

On days when the unrelenting sun burned down on you with its empyrean gaze, you would see his figure flickering in the mirages that blossomed in the heat. It took months before you stopped chasing after them.

Through the years, though you grew older, skin hardening and mind becoming wise, you never sought another. In your eyes, Bruno was the only one for you. So you waited.

And then, he returned. Just like that. The rumours wouldn't settle within the town, weaving their way like one big game of Chinese whispers before they ended with you. Casita had fallen down, and been rebuilt. You did not help.

Rather, you prepared yourself. You had waited for Bruno for years, desperately yearning for him in the days that you hated yourself, and begging for him to come back on the nights where all you wanted was to hold him in your arms.

You could wait a little longer. He would come find you. So you waited, with a baited breath and pounding heart, shaking away the pain that wrapped around your thoughts and wiping away the tears that trailed down your cheeks.

He would come for you, you were sure of it.

The day Bruno returned, he didn't greet you at all. You waited, and you waited, and you waited until the tears had dried and the blood flowing in your veins was nothing but a white noise in the back of your mind. Despite yourself, you were scared that Bruno had left once again. Why else would he have not searched for you the moment he got back, the same way to the very depths of your soul you were searching for him?

So, you went to the Madrigals. You would find him yourself. The moment you laid eyes on him again it seemed like time stopped, your heart stuttering in your chest and breath hitching in your throat. Despite the years that separated you two, you still loved him.

As much as you hated it.

He was with Pepa and Julieta, shoulders relaxed and a dopey smile on his face. That was, until he saw you. Casita had snapped its doors shut behind you, alerting your presence to the triplets. Bruno slowly stood from his chair, legs weak as he tapped along the tile, arms outstretched for you.

His hands were shaking when they met your face, cupping your cheeks with a gentleness that made your skin burn. His expression was soft, eyes searching your face as if it were the last time he would ever see it. There was love in his gaze, desperately reaching out for something you could not provide. In the background, you saw Julieta wave away Pepa, the two of them exiting into the adjacent room.

"Mi amorcito." He breathed, stammering slightly as though he couldn't make sense of what was happening. Then, he smiled at you, his grin as impish and nervous as the day he had first introduced himself. Your fingers gently curled around wrists.

"Don't call me that." You murmured, voice wavering as you pulled away his hands. Bruno visibly flinched at you words, and you had to look away.

"(Y/N)?" His voice was quiet as you took a step back, arms falling limply at your sides as your bodies detached.

"Where were you?" Your own voice was hoarse, scratching at your dry throat with a pain that made you choke up. He glanced at your face, the walls, the floor, before back at your face again. You levelled him with an even stare, crossing your arms as he shrank underneath your gaze.

And you waited a moment. He did not respond.

"Fine. Why did you leave?" Your voice wavered. Bruno straightened his back, taking a step towards you just as you took another step back.

"I-I had to leave!" He spluttered, crooked smile twisting its way onto to his lips. Yet, his hands still shook, bottom lip quivering like he himself didn't believe what he was saying, "I was hurting la familia-"

"Well what about me?" You cried, voice cracking as you blinked away the tears that gathered at your waterline. His words died in his throat as he watched you crumbled, shoulders shaking.

"I waited for you for years," you seethed, vision watery as the tears continued to accumulate. Bruno could only look away. You scoffed at his expression, "you didn't even say goodbye, Bruno. You left me alone, and all you can say it was for la familia?" You spat.

"L-Look, I-"

"You what? You're sorry?" Bruno fell silent once again, nodding his head lightly. You forced yourself not to look at the bags under his eyes, or his sunken in cheeks, or the way his fingers twitched by his sides, itching to reach out to yours.

"Sorry doesn't take away those years, Bruno." His shoulders stiffened, neck craned downwards. You sniffled, ignoring the way he glanced up at you, remorse and concern in his eyes.

And behind it all, he still looked at you with love.

He still looked at you with adoration, as if you were the only thing in the world.

Like the way before he left.

Your nails dug into your palms, cutting little crescent shaped wounds through your skin. You had to leave, before you lost the strength to.

"Goodbye, Bruno." His head snapped up, eyes widening in horror as you turned back to the door.

"M-Mi amorcito, please-" "Don't." You gritted your teeth, steeling yourself so you wouldn't turn around to look at his pitiful form, "I'm sorry, but you lost your chance."

In the end, all Bruno could do was watch you leave, chest heavy and mind wrapped with regret, begging fruitlessly for all of this to be a dream. But, of course, he would never be that lucky.

You, his second half, the one who made him complete, had walked out the door, and there was nothing he did to stop it.

The day you left, you took away a piece of Bruno with you.

And it was never to return.

A/N 1418 words (not including this message)