Annaliese

Mr. Snuffles rubs his side against my legs while I sit on the floor, reading a book I had pulled from the bookshelf. It was called The Princess Bride. I may or may not have been attracted to it due to the mention of a princess and a bride, but that's not important.

I purse my lips and close the book, after marking my place of course, to place it back on the shelf. I stand up and head to the door, Mr. Snuffles following after me and jingling with every step. I've decided to do what every little sister should do.

Annoy their brothers.

I stroll across the hall to Fransesco's door, giving it a few innocent knocks. A loud grunt from the inside intices me to open the door and enter. Fransesco is laying on his bed with his arms behind his head. He's wearing a grey t-shirt and black sweats. The TV's playing some sort of crime show.

"Hey Franny," I say, jumping onto his bed with him. He glances at me, his wavy brown hair curlier than usual. He must not have brushed it yet. "Whatcha doin?"

"Enjoying my peace and quiet," He grumbles. I grin widely knowing that my purpose has been served. Mr Snuffles jumps up on the bed, growling once he sets his eyes on my brother. Fransesco rolls his eyes, glaring daggers at the cat. "Great, you brought the demon with you."

I gasp in offense for Mr. Snuffles. "He is not a demon!" I argue, picking up Mr. Snuffles and forcing him to cuddle with me. He gives in in a few moments and bursts into purrs. "See? He's a sweetie pie."

Fransesco rolls his eyes and shifts on his bed, turning on his side to face me better. "What do you want brat?"

"I can't spend time with my sweet, kind, cuddly big brother?"

He sends me a flat look. I giggle loudly and wrap my arms around his torso, Mr. Snuffles falling between us. Fransesco groans which makes me squeeze him tighter, using him as a pillow to watch whatever show he had on. "You're such a brat," He grunts.

"Fran, I know I'm your favorite," I sing. His pale blue eyes narrow and in seconds his hands are tickling my sides. Squeals of laughter carry out through the room and I barely catch a glimpse of the rare smile on his lips. "St-Stop!"

"Not until you say 'Franny is the most handsome and best brother in the world.'"

"N-No way," I laugh out, choking as I struggle to get air into my lungs. His lips pull into a devilish grin as his tickles become more ferocious.

"Say it."

"No!"

"Well then, prepare for your doom," He dramatasizes and I squeal louder, pushing at his hard chest pathetically. Throughout the chaos I can barely hear his phone ring on the table next to us. Fransesco ignores it and wraps his arm around my chin, forcing me into a headlock. The phone rings again and he lets out a frustrated sigh.

"What?" He snaps into it and I feel a smidgen of guilt towards the person on the other line. Fransesco's quiet for a few moments. "Fine. I'll be there."

"You'll be where?" I ask nosily. Fransesco removes his arm from my neck and I drop back onto the bed dramatically as if I just passed out. I catch his eye roll as he walks towards his closet.

"My gym," He answers and after some shuffling he walks back out in a white button down shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows and black slacks. I let out a little giggle at the reindeer socks he's wearing.

I stare at him, processing his words. "Wait, you own a gym?"

Fransesco hops on the bed, pulling some black and white shoes on his feet to cover the socks. "Yep." He stands again to go to the bathroom.

I roll over onto my stomach and rest my head on my hands, watching as he runs his hands through his air in the mirror. "Ooh, can I come?" 

He sends me a harmless glare. "No way in hell brat," Fransesco shuts down immediately and I frown. He starts putting some white stuff on his face and thats when I stand up to join him. Bouncing onto the counter, I balance on the edge as I watch him put the stuff all over his chin and jaw.

"What's that?"

His eyes never leave the mirror as he picks up a blue razor and begins to take it off with it. Okay, what's the point of putting that stuff on your face only to take it off with the stick? "Shaving cream. I use it to get rid of the shit on my face."

"Can I do that?" I ask immediately and he shoots me a look. "Huh. I guess not. Can I go to the gym with you then?"

"Fuck no, you crazy brat?" Fransesco shuts down again, leaning his head back to shave under his jaw. I watch with wide eyes in fascination.

"Why not? Isn't that how you all got super muscly and stuff?" 

"Cuz you're a little dumb dumb who doesn't need to be there," He replies sweetly, washing all the excess shaving cream off of his face. I hand him a small towel which he uses to pat down his face. "Now feel how soft my face is."

"I will if you let me go," I grin. He immediately rolls his eyes and wraps his arms around my waist, picking me up and throwing me onto the bed. I send him a flat look as I lay there.

"Come on Franny," I whine, watching as he picks up his phone from the nightstand. "I'll be in school soon and you'll never ever ever see me again so you should spend time with me wisely. One day when you're all old and wrinkly you'll sit down and think, 'I wish I took my sweet, cute, little sister to the gym when she asked'. Don't you want-"

"Fine, fine," Fransesco grumbles, collapsing onto the bed next to me. He pushes my head away from him while I smirk smugly. "As long as you shut the hell up I'll do whatever."

"Thanks Franny!" I squeal, peppering a kiss on his cheek and running out of the room. I stop and poke my head back in to see a lazy smile on his face. "Your cheek is super soft by the way."

"Yeah, yeah, now get ready or else I'll leave your ass."

——

Quickly hopping down the stairs, I skid in front of Fransesco with a giddy grin. I had put on black Nike leggings and an oversized graphic t-shirt. I had slipped on some white tennis shoes.

Allessandro stood a little behind Fransesco with his arms crossed and a grim look on his face. Completely ignoring Fransesco, I wrap my arms tightly around my eldest brother's waist. "Alley! I haven't seen you in years," I exclaim into his shirt. He was wearing his suit that he always wore when he went out for business meetings.

Allessandro chuckles lowly, wrapping a muscular arm around my back. "I missed you too bambina," He mutters.

"Good, you should've," I tell him, backing away from him and towards Fransesco. Allessandro's eyebrows raise as he watches me with amusement in his grey eyes.

"Where did this attitude come from?" He questions, his eyes darting back and forth between Fransesco and I.

"Don't ask me," Fransesco snorts, ruffling my hair which earns him a glare from me. "She suddenly barges into my room demmanding I take her to the gym with me."

I gasp in offense. "I did not do that you liar! You told me to feel your face, remember?"

"Don't make it sound weird," He wrinkles his nose. "And that was after you followed me around for hours begging to come with me."

"Minutes, Franny. Minutes. If I'm so annoying and clingy then why did you watch-"

"Okay, okay, point proven. Let's go before you say anything.. wrong okay monella?" Fransesco cuts me off, dragging me along behind him. I wave goodbye to Allessandro with a smug smile on my lips.

And that's how you win that.

I giggle as I hop into the passenger sear of Fransesco's black Ferrari. He was struggling to maintain a scowl on his face but the occasional twitch of his lips proved to me he wasn't really mad. I turn up the volume on the radio and I perk up at the song playing. All Too Well Taylor's Version is playing and I naturally tune out everything around me to listen to the lyrics.

I hum along to the song until we pull up to a tall, clean looking building. Fransesco leads me past the reception desk and I watch in awe as multiple well built men, all with at least one tattoo, work out with different types of machines and equipment. I frown slightly as I don't notice any women. "Fran, where are the girls?"

He looks back at me with a proud smirk. "Follow me and you'll see monella," He responds and for some extremely odd reason, tears sting my eyes. I blink them away confused. Was it that hard to just tell me?

I follow silently as he goes up some spiral staircase. As soon as we reach the top I grin widely. Women of different ages were all on the top floor with the same equipment as the men. It had a pink and white theme that reminded me of a Barbie show I saw on Netflix when I watched it with Marcello. They all had at least one tattoo and I can't help but furrow my brows.

"Fran, do you have to have a tattoo to get in here?" I say, walking around to inspect the place a bit more. I notice a table in front of the changing rooms. It said 'Take One. Donations Are Welcome' with a bunch of flowers as decorations. One side said pads and the other tampons. I scrunch my nose. Something tells me those don't have friendly correlations with women. My eyes widen. "Actually don't answer that. It's probably with that," My voice drops to a whisper, "Illegal stuff right?"

Fransesco laughs loudly, gaining the attention of many women nearby. Why the heck was he laughing at me? He wraps an arm under my chin and ruffles my hair roughly. "You're so stupid." Tears prickle my eyes as I swallow harshly. I'm not stupid.

"You're mean Franny," I mumble, pulling myself out of his arms and going into the bathroom. He calls after me but I ignore him. I sniffle as I turn towards the sinks and mirrors. A tall girl with dark skin stood in front of the mirror, applying lip gloss to her full lips. She seems to be about 5'9 with long skinny braids reaching her waist. She has an hourglass figure that compliments the black workout set she's wearing. It shows a few inches of her muscular stomach and I can't help but feel jealous of how strong she looks.

"Woah, you're gorgeous," I blurt out. The girl turns to me with wide brown eyes and glowing cheeks. You could barely tell she was blushing, you had to try very hard to notice it. "Like, really really gorgeous. Are you a model? You should be."

The girl giggles sweetly, revealing her perfect straight white teeth. "Thank you," She smiles, putting the lipgloss back in her mini bag. "You're very beautiful as well."

"Thank you," My voice cracks as a tear falls down my cheek. I'm quick to wipe it away as I start running sink water. "I'm sorry about that. I've been really emotional all day and I don't know why."

The girl leans against the sink next to mine as I wash my face with cold water. "Do you think it's.. your time of the month?"

I grab a towel and dry my face. "Time of the mont?" I question, watching her reaction out of the corner of my eye. "What's that?"

Her smile becomes more forced as she shuffles her weight back in forth between her feet. "Um, how do I explain this," She mutters to herself, biting her lip. "It's your period. Every girl gets it. You basically.. um.. bleed from down there. It can make you really emotional, you can have cramps or really bad break outs. It kinda differs for every girl. Some don't get it until they're 14 and others only get it once every few months."

I lean back against the sink in shock. Why didn't my brothers or literally anyone else tell me about this? It would've been nice to know. "Oh my," I mumble, pursing my lips. I shake off my confusion and look up at her with a bright smile. "Thank you so much for telling me! Um, I haven't really, uh, had the same education as most people so I don't really know about some things. I'm sorry if I caused you to feel awkward."

"Oh, it's okay!" The girl brightens and relief washes over me. "I don't mind helping out a fellow lady. My name's Nora by the way."

I giggle softly. "It's nice to meet you Nora. I'm Annaliese."

Recognition flashes in her eyes as she looks me over. Slowly nodding her head, she steps around me. "It was nice to meet you Annaliese," She says politely. "I have to get going now to workout. I'm sure we'll see each other again."

"Oh.. okay! It was nice meeting you too Nora!" I exclaim excitedly as she leaves. I wait a few minutes before following after her. Fransesco stood outside the bathroom with a scowl on his face. His arms were crossed and he rolls his eyes as I step out. "What?"

"Took a long ass time in there," He grumbles, wrapping an arm over me shoulders. He leads me down a hallway and to an office. "The fuck were you doing?"

"I made a friend," I state happily. Annoyance builds in my chest as I remember his failure of informing me about periods. "Why didn't you tell me about periods?"

"What? You didn't know?" He asks as he sits down in a rolley chair. I decide to make myself at home on a couch to the side of his desk.

"Obviously not," I grumble, laying out on the leather couch.

"Oh. I thought you already got it," Fransesco says, shuffling through what sounded like papers. I roll my eyes.

"Well you thought wrong."

The shuffling stops. "Geez, what's with the attitude brat? Don't tell me you're on it or some shit."

"What the heck Franny?" I exclaim angrily, turning to face the couch and not him. "You're so.. ugh!"

I sniffle as I try my hardest to hold back tears. If this is what a period was, I didn't like it one bit. Having annoying brothers who loved to push my buttons didn't help. Well, actually, that was mainly Fransesco. A stab of guilt hits me. I'm the one who begged to come and now I'm getting all emotional. I'm a horrible sister.

"I'm sorry Franny," I whisper, sniffling harshly. "Just.. ignore me for a bit."

——

When we finally arrived at home a few hours later, I rush up the stairs and into my room. My stomach had started hurting horribly but I didn't want to concern my brothers anymore. I couldn't promise that I wouldn't snap at them and the last thing I want to do is hurt their feelings. They treat me too well for that.

I change into grey sweatpants and Marcello's hoodie that I stole a week or two ago. If this really is a period, what do I even use? I think back when I first came here I saw some pads and tampons in the bottom drawer of my bathroom. I open it to see a wide collection.

Tears of frustration blur my vision as I take out random packs. What do I even use? I never learned about any of this. I collapse back onto my butt and bury my head into my knees as I break down into sobs. This wasn't fair. Not at all.

"Tesoro?" Luca's gentle voice calls from my room. I hiccup a sob and turn to look at his approaching figure. "Oh sweetheart, what happened?"

"Luc, you - you have to go," I cry out, wiping my tears from my cheeks. "I might be really mean and I- I don't want to hurt your feelings."

"Shh, tesoro you can never hurt me. I'm your big brother. I'm supposed to protect you," He chuckles, sitting down on the floor with me. He reaches out and wipes away more tears. "What happened?"

"I just.. I think I'm on my period," I tell him. "And I don't know what to do at all. I've never... I've never learned about any of this before and I only know about it now thanks to this super nice girl I met. A-All I know is my stomach hurts really bad and I really want some chocolate cake and I want my bed and.. and I want mom. I really want mom."

"Oh baby," Luca whispers, wrapping his arms around me. I relax into his comfort and let out the last of my tears. Once I feel well enough I pull away from him.

"Here, why don't you start out with these?" Luca suggests, picking up one of the pads. I blow my nose into some toilet paper and throw it away. "You might get some blood on your sheets, and if that happens, it'll be totally okay. We can always replace those. You might stain some pants during these times. That's also okay. We can always get you a new pair or take it out. You have nothing to worry about tesoro."

After a few minutes of silence I look up at him with blotched cheeks and reddened eyes. "Luc? Can you stay and watch some movies with me tonight?" I mumble childishly.

"Of course tesoro, I'd be glad to," He tells me warmly. He stands up from the floor and leaves the bathroom, closing the door behind me. I manage to apply the pad after a little bit of struggling. I wash my hands and go to join him on my bed.

"What do you want to watch?" He asks as he scrolls through Disney+. I point at Tangled and he chuckles. "Didn't you watch this with Marcello the other night?"

Yeah. What about it? Marcello loves watching movies with me.

"Mhm," I hum, snuggling into his side. Luca places an arm under my head and together we start Tangled.

Halfway through the movie a hyper Valentino joined us as he just returned home from school. Marcello followed in tow. They both huddled on the other side of me. 

"Didn't you watch this with Marcello a few days ago?" Valentino asks obnoxiously, chewing on some popcorn he asked for a maid to bring.

I clench my jaw. "Yeah, and he loved it. Right Marc?"

Marcello simply raises his eyebrows and drops his head on my shoulder. I'll take that as a yes. His hair tickles my cheek and I let out a little giggle. However, as soon as I do, a very painful cramp stabs at my stomach and I wince.

"You okay?" Marcello murmurs.

"Cramps," I mutter back.

He pulls out his phone and quickly texts someone something. I didn't pay much attention as we got to the part where Rapunzel healed Flynn's hand. I sigh happily. I wish I had someone like Flynn in my life, or as his birth certificate says, Eugene.

A few minutes later after Mother Gothel sings dramatically in the dark, a grumpy Fransesco and stoic Allessandro come in the room. I perk up at the piece of chocolate cake in Allessandro's hands. "What the fuck is this? Family bonding?" Fransesco snaps grumpily, sitting on the floor in front of the bed.

"Well it was until you showed up, grump ass," Valentino replies. The two begin to argue back and forth and I frown as I can barely hear the movie anymore.

"Silent," Allessandro states lowly. The two instantly shut up and I brighten as I watch one of my favorite scenes, specifically when they paint the town square. He hands me the cake along with a napkin and fork. I grin and pat the space on the bed in front of us. He reluctantly lays down across the edge and we all finish the movie together.

I barely catch the end of the movie as I fall asleep surrounded by all of my favorite people.