You know the feeling when you're watching the news and it's negative story after negative story and you can feel it sucking the life out of you, but you just can't look away? Yeah, so does Pedro. He's very prone to doomscrolling and feeling obliged to do something about every social issue ever. Annika is usually the one to pull him out of the Doom Pit. She's very determined and proactive and she will not stand for anyone saying negative things about Pedro - even Pedro himself.
Takes place when baby Pedro is only three or four months old (somewhere during Epilogue)
Fandom: Encanto
Characters: Bruno Madrigal x OC Alexa, OC Little Pedro
The whole baby thing was so completely foreign to Alexa that she barely knew what to do with herself for the first few months. She barely got sleep, afraid to sleep if the baby wasn't sleeping, and even if the baby was sleeping, she felt guilty if she missed anything. It was a lot, to say the least.
Bruno was handling it... well. Really well. Sometimes he'd act helpless, but most of the time he knew what to do. He grew up with two sisters, then lived with many nieces and a nephew before his going away. He was good with babies. Alexa knew she shouldn't worry at all, having Bruno around. Still, she felt like she wasn't being motherly enough. That she wasn't doing the right things or trying hard enough.
Bruno reassured her she was, and he was helping her at every turn, even getting her in the right positions to breastfeed most effectively.
Alexa had woken to little Pedro's cries in the middle of the night many times, and went to cradle him. Bruno would chip, in, too. And usually Alexa would wake from the baby's cries, watch Bruno go over to the crib, and then somewhere in there drift back off to sleep.
Alexa turned over on her stomach in her sleep, rubbing her face into the pillow. She couldn't feel the warmth of the sun seeping into the room so she knew it wasn't quite morning yet. Or at least not daylight. Alexa lay on her side, blanket drawn up to her chin, and she blinked a crusty eye open to see if she could observe any time of night. She garnered it was very early morning. Still time to sleep.
Alexa was almost there when she heard whispers. She re-opened her one eye not stuffed into the pillow and tried to focus on the dim room. It was definitely Bruno talking.
Alexa rolled onto her back and tilted her head, more alert now. Bruno came into view and he was holding Pedro in his arms. He seemed to be talking to him.
"-- and that same night, your tía tried to poison me just to see how powerful her gift really was. And thank goodness it worked, cuz she was able to feed me a cookie that prevented any pain from settling in. Mamá was furious. Truly. See, that's the nice thing about siblings. They're there for you... and sometimes they try to kill you," he made himself chuckle.
Bruno looked down at his son and brushed his thumb across his forehead, moving some wavy hair out of the way. Pedro was looking up at Bruno with open, alert eyes, almost like he was really invested in the story.
"But you'll have your primos, ahand..." Bruno smiled again, "They're gonna love you. Playing with you. You all running around outside in the grass. It'll be great," Bruno repeated, booping Pedro in his tiny button nose. A smile sprung to the baby's face and Bruno chuckled again. He now stood up, still cradling Pedro in his arms.
Alexa was listening this whole time to the stories and now tried to feign sleep if Bruno was moving closer. She squinted her eyes so much that she could still see through a sliver of them but to Bruno it probably looked like she was still asleep.
Pedro made a disgruntled noise and Bruno quickly quieted him, "Shh shh, niño, we don't want to wake your mamá," he started taking small steps in patterns and circles around the open space, "She needs a good rest. Your pa has been keeping her up all night. Like a bad boy. You're not a bad boy, Pedro, no you aren't," Bruno brought the boy up towards his head and peppered a few kisses to his forehead.
Bruno looked towards Alexa in the bed and he stopped to watch for a little bit, the blues of very early dawn cascading over the blanket and her soft, tan skin.
Pedro made more noises and gurgles and Bruno began rocking him in his arms, starting to walk around the room again, "Mm, you just can't wait to start talking, can you, Pedro?" he resumed his hushed whispers to the baby.
"Now, shh. There will be plenty of time to wake mommy up when you're older. And I'll help, cuz it'll be fun."
A smile sprung to Alexa's face despite herself, knowing she was not in Bruno's line of sight for the moment so she could get away with it.
"Mamí is trying her very best to bring you up and to show you her love, Pedro," now Bruno was looking back towards his wife in bed, "She loves you so so much. And I love you so so much, too. Be good for her, hm? Come, sleep a little longer. It's too early. And your papá has talked for too long," Bruno walked back towards Pedro's crib, still rocking him and gently bouncing him in his arms to try and get him to fall back asleep.
Alexa peeked her eyes open wider when she heard Bruno humming. And the humming turned to very quiet singing. He was speaking Spanish, that much Alexa could hear. And it was a song she didn't recognize. But it was so sweet. And Bruno could sing, she was convinced of it.
She watched Bruno waltz around the room with his son in his arms, moving slowly and singing slow and soft to soothe the boy. With Alexa almost falling back to sleep herself, she watched Bruno finally lay Pedro back into his crib. She shut her eyes tight again when Bruno came back to bed.
She heard him sigh and felt the mattress move beside her when he got back into bed, tugging the blanket towards himself.
Alexa rolled over onto her side facing Bruno and peeked an eye open very slightly to see what direction he decided to face. He was looking back at her. Alexa smiled and Bruno did, too.
"Go back to sleep," Bruno whispered.
"I will," Alexa mumbled back, though her eyes stayed trained on Bruno.
Bruno shut his own eyes as if to lead by example. But after a few seconds, he opened one eye and still saw Alexa staring at him. A laugh rumbled in his chest and he pulled Alexa closer to him to snuggle.
"How long have you been awake?" he asked her.
"Not long," she fibbed, "How's Pedro?"
"He's good," Bruno answered, getting his body as close to Alexa's as he could for her warmth. He'd been out of bed long enough that his own limbs had run cold.
"I didn't know Julieta tried to poison you," Alexa couldn't help but say into Bruno's chest.
Bruno huffed a laugh, not loud at all to keep the illusion of sleep for their son, "You haven't been awake for long, hm?" he bent his head down and nibbled on Alexa's ear for fun.
Alexa shrunk down lower and buried a squeak into Bruno's shirt.
"Shh, you'll wake him," Alexa teased, pinching Bruno's hip.
"Youhu're right. Shh," Bruno repeated after a broken giggle.
The couple laid in each other's arms and fell back asleep for the remainder of the early morning hours.
All the while before she fell asleep, Alexa replayed all she heard and witnessed Bruno doing with their son. It was some of the sweetest things she'd heard. And it was clearly some type of private moment between father and son, so Alexa felt slightly guilty for intruding. At the same time, she couldn't be happier she caught those precious moments. Those were moments she wouldn't be forgetting anytime soon and probably would cherish them in her later years. Bruno was an amazing, amazing father. She only hoped she could live up to his amazing parenting example.
