Okay, so I’ve seen a lot of MiraBruno fanfics where Mirabel just tells Bruno how she feels about Bruno and the latter being guilty af over how he feels. Both are aware of how they feel about each other, but consider:
What if both Bruno and Mirabel were completely oblivious about their own feelings for each other and just did romantic stuff like watch the sunrise and snuggle into each other without thinking about it? The family get suspicious, but neither Bruno nor Mira see what they’re getting at and just pass it off as them just hanging out together like family/best friends do.
Anon, this is absolutely hilarious and you now have me convinced that this is something that could happen. On one hand we have life-long social pariah Bruno who just got out of his self-imposed 10-year isolation. On the other hand, we have Mirabel who has been so focused on everyone else in her family that she barely knows what she wants herself. Together, we get socially tone-deaf and innocently oblivious. The chaos they would accidentally ensue within the family is immeasurable.
Here is a list of things I think they would do, in combination with yours, in order of how increasingly uncomfortable the other Madrigals get (this got a little out of control):
They literally spend all their time together. I'm talking running errands, doing chores, and spending time on their hobbies together. Sometimes other Madrigals join—Antonio, Camilo, and Luisa most frequently—but the common denominator is always Mirabel and Bruno.
They always sit next to each other. Be it a meal time, family game night, or going to Mass. They are always sitting together. It's gotten to a point where if someone does manage to sit in between them, Bruno (although mostly unaware) is visibly anxious and can be seen engaging in one of his body-focused repetitive behaviors or some other self-soothing action. Dolores notices this, but doesn't connect the dots right away.
They go on long walks together, often leaving before dawn or not coming back until it is dark. When a cousin or sibling ask where they have been, they both just shrug and say, "watching the sun." Camilo and Isabela raise eyes at each other when Mirabel and Bruno start taking blankets on said walks "so we can have something nice to sit on when we watch the sun set/rise" but otherwise say nothing. Luisa and Dolores just want to give them the benefit of the doubt and stay out of it.
They seem to have a lot of inside jokes with each other. Probably from all that time they are spending together. Augustín and Félix want to join in the fun sometimes, but often it's Mirabel who shakes her head and explains that it requires months of backstory to understand why "red ink" is so funny to the two of them.
Speaking of inside jokes, they also just laugh way too long at each other's jokes. Bruno is clever and Mirabel is playful, but "come on," Camilo remarks, "neither of them are that funny."
They start holding hands in public, especially when they're walking around the town or in the hills. But it happens sometimes when they're sitting next to each other. To dissuade Isabela from confronting them about this new display of affection, Luisa awkwardly asks them one day, "so, uh, what's with the hand holding?" Mirabel and Bruno are, of course, a little surprised by this question, but they explain that once, during a festival, they got separated, so they started holding hands to stay together and it just stuck from that point on.
Then they start getting more physically affectionate in front of the family. Mirabel likes to lean on Bruno shoulder or lay her head in his lap. Bruno strokes her arm or her hair. Camilo walks into the house one day to see them cuddling openly in the family room as they laugh and murmur quietly to each other. Camilo wants to pull them apart right then and there, but Dolores pulls him aside and tells him quietly that they've been doing this for months in private. Confronting them now would not change anything because when Dolores asked Mirabel about this back when she first noticed, Mirabel shrugged and said something to the effect of, "I'm just helping Tío Bruno make up for ten years of no human contact."
During the few times they are separated from each other, across the room, across the table, across the street, they make up the lack of physical proximity by staring at each other. Like a lot. And intensely. It doesn't even seem like either of them notice it. And then when they look at each other? It's so much worse than any look Mariano and Dolores share because at least they have the shame to not stare too long and to get a room.
They kiss each other on the forehead and cheeks way too often to be culturally appropriate. Julieta and Pepa are both certain that they have seen Mirabel give Bruno a peck on the lips when she is especially excited about something. And after going back and forth with each other trying to confirm that they both had in fact seen this on at least two different occasions, Julieta tries to start the conversation gently, "You and Tío Bruno seem very close, mi amor." Mirabel beams at her mother and begins chatting away about how nice it is to finally have a dear friend. Julieta isn't sure how to broach the topic after that, so she decides to save it for another day.
Of course, whenever any of Bruno's sisters or brothers-in-law bring up the topic to him, he is always scandalized and is quick to point out how physically close Pepa and Julieta were to their friends in their younger years. When that's not enough, Bruno reminds them that he isn't like any of them and the ten years of isolation changed him more than they can imagine. "What looks romantic to you is not romantic to everyone." Bruno insists upon this and sometimes alludes to how his visions of the distant future have also altered his views on physical affection.
The last straw for every Madrigal though, is during a town-wide talent show that Bruno, Camilo, and Mirabel have organized. During the show, Bruno publicly dedicates a poem recitation to Mirabel, and Mirabel publicly dedicates a ballad she wrote to Bruno. Both are incredibly longing in nature. And they're staring blatantly at each other again with such reverence and devotion while they are reciting or singing. And of course they kiss each other and hug after each of their performances.
It's even worse during the after-show party because apparently they dance together too. And they dance all the couples songs together, even the more flirtatious and sensual ones. And every Madrigal is in shock but tries to ignore it for the sake of saving face.
The next day, Alma calls for an intervention and demands to know what is going on between the two of them. Bruno and Mirabel are completely blindsided by this question (despite all past confrontations and interrogations), and very innocently and sincerely ask, "What do you mean?" Please note that they are, of course, sitting next to each other during this, gently stroking each other's hands.
The family each take turns listing off the physical acts of affection between Bruno and Mirabel that they all have been subject to over the last few years. Mirabel and Bruno both double down on the these-are-perfectly-normal-ways-for-a-close-uncle-and-niece-to-show-affection argument.
Alma, frustrated by the whole thing, but realizing these two are more stubborn than she is, finally sighs and says, "fine." Alma agrees to believe that these gestures mean nothing more that platonic and familial love if Bruno and Mirabel can promise to tone it down in public because they do not look like that from outsiders. Mirabel and Bruno reluctantly agree, and the family awkwardly parts for the day.
Later, when Mirabel and Bruno have time to be truly alone from the town and the family, they joke about what happened in the morning. Bruno says something jokingly like, "Hah, yes, Mirabel, I am secretly in love with you. That's why so many of my telenovelas are about forbidden love." Mirabel says something like, "Ay, could you imagine? And if we were secretly a couple, we wouldn't be stupid enough to be so obvious." But as their laughing slows, they look at each other, and
Uh oh.
Maybe the family was right.
Then there would be a lot of fun shenanigans as they try to dial down the PDA per the family's request but not so much that it looks like they're hiding something. Because now? Oh, they are definitely hiding something.