Little(s) : Bruno Madrigal (age : 3 years)
Caretaker(s) : Alma Madrigal, Julieta Madrigal, Pepa Madrigal, Félix Madrigal, Agustín Madrigal, Isabela Madrigal, Dolores Madrigal, Luisa Madrigal, Camilo Madrigal and Mirabel Madrigal

Plot : Bruno comes to the whole family regressed for the first time. Needless to say the youngest Madrigals have questions.
Request for : Nicky-Chan0021

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After Mirabel came down earlier that evening, saying that something was wrong with Bruno and that they needed to be gentle with him, they expected anything, but that.

Pepa carried Bruno into the kitchen, dressed into childish clothes, also talking like a child. The kids, not used to that at the moment, were surprised to see that.

Well... that went for Luisa, Camilo, Mirabel and Antonio. The rest of the Madrigals seemed to know what was happening.

They really hoped Félix's "We'll explain later. Play along for now." would spill some light on the situation.

Saying dinner was weird meant saying nothing. But still, even if it was unusual to them, none of the Madrigals could help the smile or "awh" at the lisp Bruno had at the moment.

That's adorable... Luisa chuckled, watching the scene.

Unusual... but, heck, he's sweet... Camilo couldn't make his mind, but the smile made its way on his face.

He's really like a child... Mirabel thought to herself.

He's like me! I hope Tío would like to play after dinner. Antonio giggled, holding his hands to his mouth.

When the dinner was over, Antonio pulled Bruno to his room to play with animals, which let the rest of the family space to make the situation clear.

Antonio didn't really care for sudden change in his Tío's behavior, but he was sure curious about it. And, if he acted like himself, that meant that he'd be able to explore that new side of him the playing! That was a good plan.

And meanwhile in the living room, Alma, Pepa and Julieta were about to start their story.

"Well..." Pepa sighed out. "I suppose, we have to explain, what's going on with Bruno, right?"

"Well... yeah" Camilo shrugged his shoulders. "Because it looks like I'm the only one, who questions, what's going on."

Mirabel nodded with him. "Yes, Tía. I only knew what to do, because of experience with children, nothing else."

"And I'm also as clueless as Cami and Mira are." Luisa joined the chat. "I just played along with everyone..."

"Yes, children..." Alma sighed. "It's quite a tale, I knew we'd have to tell you at one point..."

The woman took a second, before starting.

"You all know, how we got our Miracle. A tragedy for our family and birth of Encanto. And that on each one of us gets a Gift on their fifth birthday. Magical gift, that supposed to represent you and your role in the family. A great power, that comes at you at such tender age... and, as it's known, with great power comes great responsibility... and eventually, each Gift, no matter how beautiful and magical... it can turn into a curse. And we are no expectation. Each one of us has fallen into that... stress, fear, pressure... everything can fall into you so soon, because of my wrong interpretation of the Miracle. The reason, why our family started falling apart."

Mirabel looked at her Abuela with upset eyes, as she put her hand on her elder's, giving her a slight smile. Alma smiled back to the girl, before returning to the story.

"As you know... none can handle those emotions forever and need to find a way to cope with it. And everyone has their own way for it. Some healthy, some not. Like bottling them up, stay away from people, gardening... hurting themselves to reveal that pain..." Alma then put her hand on her locket on her chest. "And then... there was Bruno... a young boy, blessed with ability to see the future. But, as you know, none of this predictions were good enough for the people, they were requested for... and due that... my little boy would hear hurtful things said from villagers of the Encanto..."

Julieta then looked over her mother, deciding it would be better for her and Pepa to take over now.

"And then... when Bruno, Pepa and I were around Luisa's age, we both went to check on your Tío, when he didn't come out of his room for the whole day, only to see him acting like a child." The eldest of triplets started. "Of course, as weird as it was... we couldn't bring ourselves to say anything. He was so happy and carefree... the happiest, we've seen him in a long time at the moment..." Julieta smiled at the memory. "But, unfortunately, when your Tío saw us, he snapped out from whatever was going on, freaking out. When we finally were able to calm him down... he explained it was "age regression". His way to cope with everything, his Gift brought upon him."

"Age regression?" Camilo raised his brow. "Like... acting like a child helps him de-stress?"

"Somewhat yes, somewhat no, sobrino." Agustín said. "Before I got here, I lived in the city and had a friend, who used to regress too. As much as you choose your age in it and can get into your headspace, regression can be both, on your wish and involuntary. Regression is different for everyone."

Mirabel, even after that explanation, wasn't quite sure, but she could understand it as a mechanic of reviving old, childhood memories. The idea of that was quite cute to her.

"Ooh... I kinda see it now..." The girl nodded, smiling slightly. "So... how often does Tío goes into his regression?"

"Well..." Pepa thought for a second. "Mostly, when he's really stressed from the visions, what he sees in them, or from too much contact with outside of family people." Then she looked over to Mirabel, shrugging. "But I can't say too much, Mira. It's always been different for your Tío."

"Mhm..." Mirabel nodded, thinking over it. "So... why didn't you tell us that before? Like..." She looked over her sisters. "I could understand why Camilo or I didn't know or remember about it, but what about Luisa, Dolores and Isa?"

"We were scared..." Julieta sighed. "You were young, when Bruno went into hiding... Bruno himself wasn't sure, how you'd react, or if he even wanted you to know. So we made an agreement to either he keeps it in his room only to himself, or have it revealed on it's own one day, that, looks like, came today."

"Keep behind a door? When he's feeling himself younger than Antonio!? Why!?" Mirabel asked, her mother instincts raising in worry and disapproval of Bruno's choice.

"He didn't know, how we'd take it, Mira." Dolores got into the talk. "I found that out due my Gift, but he didn't want even me to know. He wanted to be a big and strong Tío for us... not an another child..."

"That's silly!" Camilo said. "I mean... sure, it's a bit weird at start, but now, that Abuela, Mamá and Tía explained, there's nothing wrong about it. Just a way he relaxes and has fun."

"And besides." Isabela finally joined the conversation. "We all know how Tío wants to keep luck on his side, right? Well... now, if he's younger than Antonio... he can be the seventh one of us!" The young woman smiled, before snapping her fingers. "And seven is a lucky number, as you know!" She giggled.

The rest of grandkids laughed, agreeing on that. The adults' eyes were either widened in surprise or softened in relief at the scene. It looked like the children accepted their Tío as a Little...

"No Madrigal gets left behind!" Mirabel's phrase, she's been saving on and on for months since Casita re-building, and it seemed she didn't plan to put that aside anytime soon.

"So..." Camilo started. "Where can we meet our new addition?"

"New addition?" Alma raised her eyebrow.

"Well..." The boy thought. "If Bruno is younger than Antonio, who's only five years, than he is a baby of the family. Not to mention, we just found out of it, so it's new. Therefore... 'New addition'!"

Pepa laughed a but at her son, nodding. "Quite fitting, mí amor"

Camilo chuckled at this, before the whole family went upstairs to Antonio's room, to finally meet the Little Bruno.

They were sure, whenever Bruno gets out of his Little space, he'd be happy to see he has his whole family there for him, no matter what.