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One
Hanschen can’t remember a time before his sisters. He knows that he’s ten months older than Thea and Melitta, but ten months means almost nothing when you’re all in the same grade, in the same classes, in the same friend groups. Then, his parents get divorced.
Divorce. The word is thick and heavy when he stumbles to say it and it tastes like curdled milk on his tongue.
“It’s not something that any of you have done,” His mom is saying, “Your daddy and I just don’t agree on everything.”
She mutters something under her breath, Hanschen catches the name of his dad’s pretty secretary. His dad hisses something back at her.
His dad clears his throat, “You guys don’t have to decide anything right now, but we were thinking that the girls could stay here and Hanschen would come with me?”
Hanschen’s eyes go wide. He'd wished to be an only child, occasionally -- and sometimes, he’d wish that Thea and Melitta were just a few months younger, or he a few months older; that they weren’t so close -- but when faced with the possibility of losing his sisters?
“No,” He says, and he’s shocked that his statement is echoed from either side of him.
“Now, kids,” Their mom starts.
“’M not leavin’ Hansi,” Melitta declares, and Thea nods furiously.
He clasps their hands in his. Hanschen Rilow cannot remember a time without his sisters, and he doesn’t ever want to.
Two
Thea loves ballet. She knows that she’s a bit of a tomboy, that people think that she’s rough around the edges, that literally no one would pin her as they type to do ballet, but there’s just something about it. She practices and practices and works until she gets the lead in their next show, The Rites of Spring. She’s ecstatic and she’s ready and she makes Hanschen help her with lifts and spins and-
And then she twists her ankle.
“Two weeks off of it,” The doctor says. Thea doesn’t hear any of it; all she registers is ‘You can’t do the show now.’
She’s not sure how long she spends moping in her room, crying and whining and screaming at the unfairness of it all, but she does know that Hanschen and Melitta are there all though it. They offer her solace, offer her amateur massages and ice cream and stuffed animals. They offer her glittery stickers which--when you’re 11 years old--are the best of gifts.
“Why are you two acting so nice?” Thea signs, because while they don’t fight all the time, they aren’t super nice to each other either.
Melitta rolls her eyes and Hanschen signs, “Because you’re our sister and you’re hurt, dummy.”
And, well, Thea may’ve lost the role but she still has some of the best siblings ever.
Three
Melitta has always been the rational one. Sometimes it’s a bit exhausting, especially when you’re related to someone as dramatic as Hanschen and someone as intense as Thea, but someone has to stay calm when shit hits the fan.
Which is why everyone is so shocked when she punches William Gros in the middle of the hallway.
“Don’t ever say anything about my sister ever again!” She screams as she’s held back by some teacher. William cowers, holding his gushing nose. The other students in the hall whisper and point and she knows that no one is ever going to forget about That One Time in seventh grade that Melitta snapped, but that’s not important because that jerk just called Thea-!
“Melitta, relax,” Someone--no, Hanschen, thank god--says into her ear. “You got him, okay?”
“But did you hear-?”
Hanschen nods gravely. “And he will pay dearly for it later, with more than a broken nose, but you need to calm down so you can argue for something less than suspension.”
Melitta takes a deep breath.
Inhale; I can’t believe he’d-, Thea will be livid, I want to punch him again-
Exhale; His nose is broken, Hanschen says he’ll pay, He’s just a jerk.
She allows the teacher to lead her down to the principal’s office, but not before she snarls “You better watch what you say,” at William.
No matter what, even at threat of suspension or detention or grounding, Rilows watch out for each other.
Four
Hanschen can hear Thea and Melitta complaining.
“Why do we have to go?” Thea pouts, and Melitta translates it into sound for their mother in the front seat.
Melitta is slightly kinder with her own comments, but she still huffs, “It’s not our show.”
Hanschen has felt stage fright before, but knowing that even his own sisters don’t want to be here, something in his chest tightens.
“I didn’t ask for either of you to come,” Hanschen snaps, a bit too sharp. He doesn’t want to hurt their feeling but it’s the first time he’s ever been the lead and he feels sick enough without dealing with them and- Hanschen sucks in a breath, wiping at his stinging eyes.
“Oh, no, Hansi,” Melitta gasps, pulling him close, “We didn’t mean it, okay? We were just complaining to have something to do. We’re sorry.”
“I’m just really worried,” Hanschen sniffles, embarrassingly. He’s 14, he shouldn’t be acting like such a baby.
“You’ll be great,” Thea signs, rolling her eyes. Thea doesn’t try to hug him because it’s Thea but when she cuffs him on the back of the head, it’s gentle. “Or, at least, you can’t do worse than Gabor did.”
They all snort, remembering how Melchior had screwed up and how he’d been banned from the theater, and Hanschen, with his sisters beside him, breathes.
Five
Hanschen’s been in a really good mood, for once. There are whispers around school about a senior -- Bobbi? -- but Thea doesn’t much care. They try not to get involved in each other’s affairs, so she’ll leave Hanschen and whatever upperclassman he’s seduced alone until it concerns her.
And it doesn't, until her phone buzzes with a text.
Little Sister
Do you know how to slash tires?
i could figure out how?
why
That boy that Hanschen was dating has a really nice car.
WAIT A SEC
BOY????????
SINCE? WHEN??
Jesus Christ Thea, we’ll deal with your obliviousness later.
Bobby Maler made Hanschen cry and we need to mess up his Corvette.
got it baby sis
ill look up what kind of knives cut through tire
And maybe grab some eggs from the store?
only if u get some tp ;) ;) ;)
:)
See you there
Thea doesn’t know who the hell Bobby Maler is, but soon he’ll know that you don’t mess with a Rilow.
Plus One
Melitta had expected… something different. Ernst Robel is kind and polite and charming and everything that everyone else that Hanschen has brought home was not. A glance to Thea says that she’s thinking the same.
Normally, it’d be the time of night when Melitta would be discreetly discussing how terrible this new person was with Thea via signing but Ernst is 1. wonderful, and 2. hard of hearing, so he signs proficiently. Thea signs something half under the table, so only Melitta can see. It’s rude enough that Melitta would usually censor it before translating for guests, but Ernst has probably caught the general gist of what Thea’s trying to say, even with all the shorthand that Thea uses. Melitta’s hands twitch a bit with the urge to sign something semi-secretly as well, but she figures she might as well put it into the open.
“How much did Hanschen pay you to pretend to be dating him?”
Ernst laughs, “I’m honestly a bit shocked that I’m not paying him to pretend to date me.”
Hanschen turns Ernst with a tap of the shoulder and signs “Never” with more conviction and feeling then Melitta has seen him use in a long time. She trades a glance with Thea.
“So, Ernst, would you like to see some of Hanschen’s baby pictures?”
Hanschen makes an indignant noise and tries to stop it, but Thea is already grabbing the scrapbook. Sometimes, Melitta really loves having siblings.