Work Text:
Camilo loved his gift when he got it, he loved to make people smile and when he found out he could shape shift into tigers. He started perfecting it and shapeshifting as much as he could. He would often go down to the village and play with the other kids and make them laugh by putting on shows all by himself but shapeshifting into other people to be the different characters. He would be asked to change into taller people to get things that were high up, and he never questioned it. At diner time he would shapeshifting into different people to make people laugh. When Mirabel didn’t get her gift he didn’t use his near her for a while as not to upset her, and he realised how weird it was to be himself.
As he grew older he would shape-shift more and it became easier, he didn’t randomly shapeshifting nearly as much and had pretty much full control of his gift, the only slip ups being when he got a fright or something happened unexpectedly. He would often turn into someone taller to get a midnight snack or something for the others in the family. He was constantly sharp shifting, constantly changing form and who he was to be of help to others.
When he was about 9, Camilo caught a glance of himself in one of the mirrors in his room, which looked like a performance hall with mirrors decorating the walls, his actually sleeping area ‘backstage’. He stoped and looked at himself, he hadn’t looked at himself in quite a while now and he had changed a lot, he had grown up more and had longer hair. He touched his face gently but wasn’t sure if it was him, he didn’t know who he was looking at anymore.
After that he went about his day acting like nothing was wrong and if he was asked he would smile and say he was all good, shapeshifting into other people like he normally would to help out the family and village. That night when he got back to his room he took one of the mirrors off the wall and sat on his bed looking at himself in it, looking at his features in the mirror and frowning. He didn’t know who he was looking at again.
And that’s the first time it happened, impulsively he smashed the mirror, he doesn’t know why he did it but he does, and the next thing he knew he was covered in cuts and scarped all over his hands and arm, his poncho having a rip in it in places. He stared at himself and looked at the shattered mirror, looked at the many reflections of himself and started crying and the blood dropped from his wounds onto the broken shards. He cried for a while but forced himself to keep quiet, quickly getting up and going downstairs quietly, getting tía Julieta’s food and sitting on the counter and eats it, watching the cuts heal. He stayed there for a while. To scared to ask for help. When he did go back to his room he saw everything had been cleaned up and the mirror had been discarded, but where I originally sat on the wall was replaced with a new mirror as if nothing ever happened.
This happened many times over the next years, crying at night and smashing the mirrors and hurting himself with him, accidentally leaving a permanent blood stain in many places but had covered them up with his stuff. He would shape shift still during the day and acted completely fine the whole time, only allowing himself to be upset when he knew Dolores couldn’t hear. He could let remember what he looked like often, and started to get lost in who he was shifting into and forgetting how to be himself. But he never complained to anyone about it.
Soon he was 15 and he didn’t know who he was anymore. Sometimes he would space out and forget where he was, he would respond to random names at times and wasn’t sure if he shape shifted at dinner or meal times, if he did nobody mentioned it. Then the miracle died. And his gift was gone. After Mirabel was found and their happy little reuniting song was sang, he looked at himself in the mirror that night after he took a shower in one of the vacant houses in the town when everyone was asleep but him. He looks at himself and touched his face and over his shoulders. Looking at what was really him, looking at all the scars that had formed over the years from hurting himself after most breakdowns which was healed with tía Julieta’s food.
It was him, he could see who he really was and he knew it was him. But he couldn’t help but cry. He knew it was himself but at the same time he didn’t know who we was, he didn’t recognise himself and he didn’t remember ever looking like this. He kept his cries quiet even though he knew Dolores couldn’t hear. He covered his mouth and cried in the dead of night, finding one of the blades for shaving that was for the older men of the family and messed up his body some more with it, not having a second thought about what he was doing until it was to late.
He looks at himself in the mirror as he calmed down, which just made him cry more, red was all over him and he watched it cover his arms, he wept as he cleaned himself up. He wanted to cry and beg for his mami but he didn’t want to stress her out or worry her. So he stays quiet, wrapping himself in bandages and wearing long sleeves before cleaning up the bathroom and turning off the shower so it looked like nothing happened. He went to bed and was in pain now from it, not realising just how much Julieta’s gift helped him.
When the magic came back and he got his gift back he felt a wave of dread flood over him, there was a party, of course there was. Everyone was testing out their gifts and getting used to them again, Camilo stealing some of Julieta’s food and finally healing what was left of him to heal. They all parted the night away, going to bed that night and seeing his room again, mirrors all over the place just as before, his room like how he left it the morning the magic died. He goes and lays down, thinking to himself and fell asleep that night with his head full of thoughts.
The next few months flew by as things only got worse for him, he started to spiral out of control and was slowly loosing it. He lost control of his gift at times and would randomly shape shift when he didn’t mean to or at the most random times. Everyone thought he was just getting used to his gift again but they couldn’t have been more wrong. He cried himself to sleep almost every night now and was messing himself up more night than not.
One day he had decided he had enough, he was struggling and couldn’t wait till after dinner, at-least the food would heal him. Looking in a mirror, that’s how he lost it that day, simply just seeing himself in a mirror before smashing it and sitting down on the floor curled up, selves roles up and his poncho on his bed. Red covering his arms as he tugged on his hair, trying to figure out who he was and what he looked like.
Down at the dinner table they started to get worried when Camilo didn’t come down, Camilo was usually one of the first down for diner, Antonio quickly piped up and said he would get him, he ran upstairs and was about to go into Camilo’s room when one of the fly’s stoped him. He looked at the fly as the fly was yelling about how Camilo was hurt and needed help and was panicking. This only made Antonio cry and scream, running down to his parents and hugging them as he told them what the fly told him in complete tears.
Pepa gave Antonio to Dolores as she ran upstairs after grabbing one of the arepa’s from the table, Felíx following her as the pair rush upstairs and go to camilo’s room. They see him and looked at him, crying as he was covered in red and hitting himself in the head, Pepa rushed over and pulls him into her arms, not acting her dress was getting stained. Felíx also rushing over after getting a damp cloth from Camilo’s bathroom and cleaning him up. They were both getting worried as Pepa’s cloud started raining but Camilo didn’t care, he was now apologising for what he did to himself and was crying hysterically. Pepa and Felíx eventualy getting him ti take a bite of the arepa to heal him up, the pair hugging him tightly and holding him close as he calmed down.
“I-I’m sorry mami, papi. I’m sorry for being weak like this. And I’m sorry for worrying you” he mumbles as he holds onto them. They didn’t care though,
“Cami, amor. You have nothing to be sorry for. If anything we should be sorry for not noticing how much you were hurting, and your not weak” Pepa replies as she runs her hand through his hair.
“If anything you are extremely strong for having the courage to keep going, even if you are in pain. I just wish you would have told us so we could have helped you sooner” Felíx said and holds his wife and hijo close.
They stayed there for a while before they get up and Camilo has calmed down, they sit on his bed and hold him, Dolores coming upstairs with sever dinner plates, two for her parents and one each for her and her hermano. Dolores sits on the bed too and puts the plates down, hugging Camilo tightly and apologising for not hearing him before and letting him suffer alone. They eat dinner and Camilo was quiet for once. But they didn’t mind, they ate dinner and Camilo explained himself, feeling like he had to. He explained why he did it and how his gift made him feel. It rained many times during dinner.
After dinner Pepa and Felíx gave Camilo big hugs and lots of love before they let Camilo and Dolores be together for a while and go look after Antonio and the others who were worried. Dolores holds Camilo close and doesn’t let him go, telling him she was always there for him. And soon enough Antonio ran in upset and hugs Camilo tightly. The three siblings hugging each other and cuddling.
The siblings had a sleepover that night, Camilo felt like himself for the first time in a long time with his gift. He knew he was loved and he knew he wasn’t alone and he knew even if he was at an all time low, his family was there to support him. He did get a good chuckle the next morning when he say not only his 2 siblings cuddling him, but also his prima Mirabel cuddling into his side too, Mirabel and holding onto him worriedly.
Yeah. His family loved him so much. And was so thankful for them.