Your laughter seemed to drown out the piercing stare that came from the shapeshifter - after a few moments your laughter finally died down.

You glanced back towards him. Carlos glared - you were half expecting him to just rip the clip off his hair and throw it in your face, but surprisingly, he gently took it off - before unceremoniously shoving it into his pocket.

He muttered something under his breath.

I got him. You smiled, feeling some sort of victory. Should have found a way to get a picture of it though - missed opportunity. Afterall you doubted he would let you close to his hair again after what you just did.

Mirabel was already at your side. "You're bleeding!" Oh, right. I was. She gave you a worried look, everyone seemed to be more concerned about your wound than you were -- "Come on, I think we still have some of Mom's snacks left!"

-

The moment you entered the kitchen, an arepa was promptly shoved into your mouth. There was a pause, it took you a long second to process what happened -

"Eat it." Carlos muttered with a blank stare, fingers curled around the very same arepa that was currently pressed against your lips.

Resisting the urge to kick him in the shins - you take a large bite, chewing and swallowing all while giving him the angriest glare you could muster.

"Good." He said with another punchable smirk, before pulling the arepa away from you and taking a bite for himself. You rolled your eyes, unfazed by the display, though when you turned to your side it looked like someone was.

Mirabel stared at the two of you, a rather uneasy smile across his face. You walked towards her with a laugh. "Why, did you wanna be the one to shove an arepa down my mouth, again?"

Her face softened, she laughed, waving her hands. "N-no!" More laughter. She glanced across the room, you followed her; both eyeing the shapeshifter as he sat down, arms perched on the table, reaching over to grab another snack.

Her voice lowered. "Are you two. . . friends again?"

None of what just happened really indicated any air of friendliness to you - you just got insultingly treated like a small child, but maybe she saw it differently.

"Nope." You answered simply without any hesitance. "I don't want to push him down the stairs - as much, if that's what you're asking." Of course, that would probably change, Carlos was unpredictable as he was annoying.

Mirabel stared for a moment, then nodded. "If, if you two are - that's great!" Her voice faltered. ". . .I know how much you miss being close with him like before."

You blinked. I do? You don't remember expressing anything that would let her to believe that, but then it hit you - the you from this world must have felt that way. Maybe they just have bad taste. You joked, already knowing that - even if it was hard to believe - Carlos wasn't always such a douche among douche.

You chewed at the inside of your cheek, struggling with what to say next. You didn't want to be friends with him - or at least that thought never came up. "I, uh, don't think me and him being friends, is exactly in the near future, Mirabel."

She sighed, her eyes looked down, avoiding yours. "I'm sorry, I know that it's my fault that you and him aren't on good terms. "

My fault. You repeated in your head in confusion. How could it be her fault? You shake your head, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Don't be, it's not your fault that your cousin is" an asshole, an idiot, the devil incarnate "--extremely unlikeable."

She doesn't look convinced. "I--" Mirabel stopped abruptly, eyes widened in panic as she took a step back, before you could ask her what's wrong - there's an arm wrapped around your shoulder.

You tensed, though made no move to face him. He leaned closer - too close. "Don't you know it's rude to talk about someone behind their back?" Carlos hummed.

You grabbed his wrist, shoving his arm off you. "Don't you know it's rude to invade someone's personal space?"

"Ah." He muttered. "But you like it when I do that, hm?"

You rolled your eyes, a dry humourless laugh escaping from your throat. "In your dreams, Carlos."

All of sudden, there's a flash of lighting - Pepa walked in, a dark cloud following right after her, she came to a sudden stop, eyes looking over at the three of you. Her expression shifted, she pushed up a small smile, the cloud above her head lightened slightly, but still looked like it was seconds away from pouring out rain.

"Oh, hijo - you're back." Pepa muttered. "You should be resting, I know you've had a long day."

Carlos merely nodded in reply, eyes glancing in your direction.

"Is there something wrong, Tía?" Mirabel brought up.

Pepa sighed, lips curving into a tight frown. She rolled her eyes as she moved towards the counter, Casita already bringing her a cup of coffee. "Some rat chewed on one of my books. Your Tio isn't saying anything but I'm pretty sure it's one of his." She took a sip of her drink, the cloud slowly beginning to disappear. "Ruining a perfectly good copy of --" She grumbled, the rest of her sentence becoming incoherent.

You looked back towards Mirabel, letting out a smile. "I should go, thanks for the snack."

For a moment you think she's going to insist you stay for a bit longer but to your surprise, she nodded. "A-Alright, I'll see you soon. Try not to get hurt again, okay? So you don't have to get any more food shoved into your mouth."

You grinned, and raised your hands in mock surrender. "No promises."

She laughed, shaking her head slightly.

"See ya, Mirabel. Enjoy your dinner."

She smiled. "You too."

The two of you exchanged a wave, before you walked out the room - and much to your chagrin, the shapeshifter followed right behind you.

"Do you make it your life's mission to annoy people, Carlos?"

He tapped a finger against his cheek, humming, as if deep in thought. "Of course not." Carlos answered. "--Just you."

"Oh, I'm so flattered." You scoffed. Geez, what did the other-me do to deserve this kind of vendetta? Speaking of the other you, it seemed like you got the very short end of the stick, if your suspicions were correct; you changed places, otherwise where else would they be? You certainly haven't seen anyone identical to you since you arrived. The other-you would have gotten sweet, funny, caring Camilo, all while you got -- Carlos.

This was the epitome of the word unfair.

You reached the door, you pulled it open -- quickly meeting with a familiar face.

The man blinked, before smiling. "You do visit here a lot."

"Alfonso." You greeted him. "I could say the same thing to you - twice I've met you here. Are you here to wrestle your books from Carlos?" You asked, remembering what he said before.

His eyes shift to the person beside you. "Surprisingly, no." Alfonso said. "I have to talk to Senora Alma about an issue my father encountered. Would you mind-?" Oh - right, I'm blocking the way.

You scooched over to the side, making way for him to enter, but the shapeshifter stayed in his place, Alfonso walked past the two of you - but quickly skidded to a stop. "Oh, right. Have you tried the tea I gave you?"

Meirda. "Oh, uh, yeah! It was uh, really good. "

He smiled brightly. "If you run out, just come by our shop. I'll give you that 'pretty discount' you were hoping for."

You laughed, a little embarrassed that he remembered. "T-Thanks."

Alfonso nodded and continued on his way, once he was out of ear shot - you hear a snicker of laughter, glancing back towards Carlos, he chuckled. "You're a terrible liar."

"No." You answered. "I'm usually better, it's just harder to lie to someone so nice."

"Alfonso - nice?" Carlos questioned, raising an eyebrow. "Where did you get that idea?"

"He's way nicer than you - that's for sure." You muttered. "He helped me when I got lost in the forest just a few days ago." You regret those words as soon as they leave your mouth, surely you getting lost was teasing material, especially for him.

"Oh, really?" Carlos muttered, his grin stretching. "How nice of him."

You rolled your eyes. No point in discussing niceness with him of all people. You stepped out of the door, and started walking down the hill - of course, he followed.

Again, you're asking yourself what you did to deserve being stuck with him.

Thank yall so much for reading ! ♡ Hope y'all liked this chapter! And as promised; here you go --

Pretty boy >3

(If you don't like the hair clip design you can imagine it as anything you want - I'm just not good with designing acessories apparently hahah)

"Pamatay sa kilig yung stare ni Carlos aba" - sabi ng best friend ko hahaha

And thank you again inky_clover !
(*˘︶˘*).｡*♡💕💕✨✨