silent movies || encanto X female reader

06. embracing your inner babysitter

"Camilo, my favorite yellow ruana cousin..." You wrap an arm around his shoulder as the both of you walk towards the market place.

He giggles, but raises an eyebrow. "Do you have many 'yellow ruana cousins' ?"

You think for a second. "Yeeeah... Lots of them, lots of them... But you're still my favorite !" You ruffle his hair playfully, and he shapeshifts into some muscular man to keep you away, laughing as you struggle to reach his head.

"Good to know. You're my favorite... weird older cousin, then."

"That's amazing. You made my day... Can you turn back into yourself now ? I promise I won't try to touch your hair. Boundaries !"

He switches back within a second, a wide smile on his face. You look behind to tell Carlos to hurry and catch up to you, but he's disappeared.

"Oh, and he's gone again."

Camilo takes a look at the deserted road before sighing. The both of you shrug, used to him skipping chores that didn't specifically need him.

"Typical Carlos. Let's hurry so we don't get yelled at by Mrs. Sanchez like last time."

"Ah, this woman is such a pain in the as-"

Camilo hits your shoulder gently before you can get any further. "(Y/n), don't forget Dolores can hear you."

"So what ?" You flash him a questioning look. "Why would Dolores tell on me for a curse word ?"

He frowns, clearly confused. "She doesn't for you ?"

You contain a laugh. "Dear cousin, she doesn't for me, nor for Mirabel, and certainly not for Carlos, or he would be banned from our beloved Encanto by now."

As you see his bewildered expression, you can't help but snort. "Siblings things. When we were kids, I used to tell Mirabel she couldn't step out of the house without a hat on. It went on for two years."

"... So that was the reason. You're evil, (Y/n)."

"That's why I'm your favorite weird, older cousin."

He links arms with you and jokes around for the rest of the trip, which isn't long. As soon as you reach the market place, though, you both let go instinctively. Camilo, for practical reasons, as all of the kids you had to look for threw themselves at him, and you so that you go as unnoticed as possible.

On Saturday mornings, market day, many of your classmates were there to check out the merchandise the stand owners had to propose, and you didn't like the attention and evil eyes they sometimes sent you. Angela was the worst, somehow she had managed to still hate you for the last ten years, and if she didn't talk to you at all, her glares and the rumors she spread about you, sometimes in your very presence, said enough.

And her contemptuous smile and seemingly pitiful eyes, that hid nothing but spite, watching everytime you and your cousins would pick up the kids, always made your blood boil. Oh, how you sometimes wished you could make her feel the weight of every single of her words on your shoulders, just for one second.

You had the capacity to do it. But you would never dare, because of that day ten years ago and the absolute terror you had felt seeing what your gift could lead you to.

So you learned not to care. Or at least, pretend not to care. It was easy for you, you were pretty good at acting like everything was fine when it really wasn't.

And with time, it became more or less your truth. Angela's rumors didn't hurt as much, and your classmates' silent judgement stopped making you feel anxious at the simple idea of walking to school.

You were quite proud of yourself for that, despite knowing it wasn't fair nonor the right solution. But you were a Madrigal, thus you couldn't show any sign of weakness. Your family could not know about you being an outcast at school. Your classmates could not know about you wishing to be normal at home.

Reality was just another illusion.

"You're late again ! Kids those days !" Mrs. Sanchez comments, tapping her foot exasperatedly. Holding her hand, her daughter Luz, a small ray of sunshine when she was comfortable, but also the quietest kid you've ever seen.

"How are we late when we're supposed to meet at 9AM ? We're actually one hour early, as usual, and just for you, Señora Sanchez. Please show some respect." You say with a sinister smile, taking the role some people liked you to take : a bratty teen that wasn't scared to talk back, for the simple and good reason she was pure evil.

Mrs. Sanchez was part of the people that feared you because of your gift, no matter how nice you were to her. So you stopped trying and showed her this kind of character, which was a quite funny break from your usual quiet and discreet role.

The woman shivers as you intentionally make her surroundings considerably darker and your eyes shine threateningly. She quietly gasps before pushing poor Luz towards Camilo, giving you one last glare before running off to her husband.

Camilo watches her clumsily twist her ankle as she tries to hurry away from you. "You really pulled out all the stops today. Good job. Right, Luz ?"

As soon as her mother is out of sight, the six years old seems to relax and gives you the biggest smile and the hug that comes with it.

"That was so cool, (Y/n) ! I couldn't see what you did exactly, but mom looked so scared !"

"Yeah... Let's calm down, kid. Scaring your mamá can be fun, but don't be too happy about it."

"Yeah, we would want poooor señora Sanchez to get grey hair !" Camilo shifts into Luz's mother and acts scared, making the six-years old laugh and you roll your eyes.

You let him joke around with Luz as you wait for the rest of the kids to arrive, looking around at the lively market place. Angela was here, of course, with Jose, who followed her everywhere. She was laughing, probably at the person she was pointing towards -you-.

However this time, you notice someone that you didn't know next to her : a tall guy, looking rather awkward as he visibly struggled to find what was funny about Angela's blabbering. He was quite handsome, definitely cute, with dark brown hair, almost black, and hazel eyes. His beauty would probably be very intimidating, if he didn't seem like a lost child next to Angela and Jose.

Of course, you meet his eyes as he stares at you, confused as to why Angela hated you so much, and he suddenly looks up to the sky, extremely embarrassed you had caught them watching. The clouds suddenly seemed very interesting.

You just shrug it off and focus on the new kids that just arrived, their already exhausted parents letting you deal with the little demons alone.

There were a dozen by the time you and Camilo decided to head towards a less crowded place so that you could let your cousin entertain them, sometimes asking for the help of your illusions when it was certain nobody would notice and that the kids would not snitch.

Carlos' help would have been welcomed today, seeing how energetic the kids were. But he was nowhere to be seen.

That little shit. Respectfully.

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