There's a reason children shouldn't engage in adult stuff.
Vito didn't like Giulia. She always followed them around like a duckling, sticking to Pietro like a tick. She often slowed them down when playing with the other kids, who made fun of them for having to babysit 'the mute dolphin.' Pietro always got into fights to defend his little sister's 'honor,' which got them into trouble when the grown-ups appeared to break them up.
But perhaps what he hated about Giulia the most was the different—sometimes even preferential—treatment she received from the grown-ups. She was never yelled at or punished like he, Pietro, and the other children.
One such occasion happened over a month ago. One of the older kids came up with some beers and cigars to give them a try. Giulia, who'd seen the Pinnochio movie with her cousin a few nights ago, tried to stop them.
"Come on, Giulia. We're not going to turn into–EHAAW!" Vito brayed loudly, which scared Giulia away.
"That wasn't very nice!" Pietro had protested.
"Big deal. She'll probably hide under a bed or something."
And so, they went back to their tasting session. The beer was very sour, and Vito didn't like it. They were about to light up one of the cigars when the door slammed open, and Jawns came in.
"What in Leviathan's name do you think you're doing?!" he yelled.
Apparently, he'd caught Giulia trying to stuff beer cans and cigars into the toilet. When he asked her why, she said that she didn't want Pietro and Vito to become donkeys and be taken by the evil coachman. Jawns realized what she meant by that and caught them in the act. Needless to say, Vito, Pietro, and the other boys involved were severely scolded. They were all grounded without TV, video games, or new toys for a whole month.
Vito tearfully glared at Giulia while the little snitch hid behind Alessio. How come no one called her out for clogging the toilet?
The perfect opportunity for payback arrived sometime later during a barbecue at his home. As usual, Mom took a while to get her makeup done. Once she finally went down, Vito casually saw Giulia enter his parents' room. She was painting her face with mom's expensive makeup, which is supposed to be adult stuff, too. Vito sneered internally as he ran downstairs to fetch his mother.
"Mamma, Giulia is playing with your makeup!"
He followed Mom upstairs, eager to see the little snitch getting scolded for doing grown-up stuff. But as Mom entered the room and caught Giulia in the act, her reaction was not what he expected.
"Aww, Giulia. You're too young to be trying on makeup, sweetie." she giggled and picked Giulia up to place her on her lap. "Here, let me give you a hand."
Mom fixed Giulia's disastrous attempt at painting her face. When they returned to the party, Giulia had a bit of blush, lipstick, and eye shadow. None of the adults seemed mad. Instead, they laughed and said she looked cute.
Vito sourly joined Pietro at the table outside. Sharing the table with them was a green, odd-looking—and very short—shark hybrid of sorts. Vito recognized him as Finnegan, or 'Frankie' as most people called him, one of the 'Irish brothers.' Lately, Vito hadn't seen his twin brother. Dad mentioned he'd died, but he didn't tell them how. Only that Finnegan was still coping with the loss.
The Irish shark didn't acknowledge the two boys. He slumped on the table, holding a beer bottle in one hand.
"It's not fair," he complained.
"Just leave it be, Vito! It's just makeup, and she does look kinda cute." Pietro retorted.
"It's not the makeup! How come she doesn't get into trouble for doing grown-up stuff while we got yelled at?"
Mom happened to overhear as she brought them some snacks. "Vito, don't tell me this is because of the time you were caught smoking and drinking!" she said sternly. "Giulia did well in telling Jawns that you were doing something you weren't supposed to!"
"But moooom! Why do I get yelled at when I do something grown-up, but when Giulia does it, everyone thinks it's cute?"
A chuckle. Not from Mom, from Pietro, or even Vito himself. For the first time in a while, Finnegan had come out of his half-drunken trance.
"You little táchran." he snickered. "You realize you cannot compare the two things, right? Just think about it. What did Giulia do? Paint her face. That's all. Sure, a five-year-old shouldn't be wearing makeup, but what she did is harmless. It's not going to kill her.".
"This, however," Finnegan waved the half-empty beer."Is a ticking time bomb. It might seem harmless, but once you're hooked, it's the beginning of the end. You've seen Chaz acting more like an idiot than normal? That's one of the consequences of drinking too much beer. And he's of the… goofy variety of drunkards. Leviathan saves you from coming across the other types...
"I don't even want to get started on cigars, let alone combining the two things. As years pass, your liver and lungs begin to pay the consequences. At this point, either you get new ones or you kick the bucket. As simple as that."
"But you are drinking." Pietro pointed out.
Finnegan snorted. "Kid, I'm an adult. I have the maturity to know that what I'm doing is wrong. I simply don't give a shit anymore. And in any case, adults—well, most of them, know when to stop. But you, kids; you like something, and you want more. That's without mentioning that you're still growing up. What do you think would happen if we let you have alcohol and cigars? You wouldn't live past fifteen years old. Your parents don't want that for you."
"...Exactly what he said." Mom said. She looked… stunned, as if she wasn't expecting the 'words of wisdom' from Finnegan of all people. "You two boys better stay away from alcohol unless you want to end up like ol' Finn here."
Finnegan murmured something in Irish and took another gulp of beer.
For once, Alessio was glad he didn't throw or give away all of Bianca's cosmetic products. It saved him the trouble of going to the mart or a pharmacy.
After finding the makeup-remover wipes, he gently began wiping the makeup from his daughter's face.
"Auntie Amanda certainly outdid herself this time." he chuckled. Once he was finished with the lipstick, he grabbed a new wet wipe and started on the eye shadow. "But you know, you don't need makeup to look pretty, bambina. You're beautiful the way you are. Let's save it for when you're a bit older, okay?"
Giulia nodded, to which he ruffled her hair.
After putting Giulia to bed, he went to Pietro's bedroom to kiss him good night. To his surprise, the pup was still awake. He was just looking out the window from the bed. Alessio recognized his own pensive expression on his son's face.
"Why are you up at this hour, figlio? There's school tomorrow, you know."
"Why do grown-ups drink if they know it's bad?"
Alessio blinked. He wasn't expecting the question. "Where did that come from?"
"Mr. Finnegan was drinking at the party. He said it was bad for his health, but he still kept drinking."
Of course. It just had to be Finnegan. Alessio made a mental note to talk with him the next day, but for now, he sat on the edge of Pietro's bed.
"It's… complicated, figlio. Adults have a lot of issues to deal with, some of which you won't understand until you're older, but drinking is a sort of… escape from said issues. They forget about their troubles for a moment, but once the alcohol wears off, they return tenfold like a wave crashing against the rocks. In Finnegan's case, he started drinking because he's still hurting about his brother's death, but he knows no other way to make the pain stop."
"Can't you make him stop? What he's doing is wrong, isn't it?"
Alessio sighed and patted Pietro's head. "I'm afraid it's not that simple, Pietro. Finnegan is an adult. He already knows that what he's doing isn't good for him. He just... doesn't care. Making someone quit an addiction is pointless unless they find a reason to quit it for themselves."
"He said there were lots of types of drunkards and that Chaz was a funny one."
Leviathan fucking dammit, Finnegan!
"You don't have to think about that right now, Pietro," he assured his son. "That's adult stuff."
"Is that why everyone was so mad when we tried the beer and cigars?"
"You're eight years old, Pietro. Finnegan probably told you already, but drinking and smoking are very harmful to people. What do you think it would do to a child?" the consigliere placed a hand on his son's cheek. "You and Giulia mean the world to me. I wouldn't know what to do if something happened to either of you."
Pietro reached out, asking for a hug. Alessio happily obliged.
"I'm sorry, Papa."
"It's okay, figlio mio." Alessio kissed his son's head before tucking him in. "Well, it's time to go to bed," he said.