✦ for a college au (Hera/Hestia)
prelude.“I’m going away for college,” Colette says to her, after dinner, with far more confidence than any 18 year old should possess.
Heidi pauses from clearing away dishes and leans against the counter. “Where are you going?” She asks gently, searching to make eye contact with her – it takes an uncharacteristically long time to catch Colette’s eye, Colette, who is proud and tenacious and will never back down from a challenge, even if it’s just making eye contact.
“Princeton. With Zander. Early decision. It’s far, but it’s a good school; they’re giving me a full scholarship,” she offers, almost like an afterthought.
“That is pretty far,” Heidi says neutrally, busying herself with dishes again, swallowing down apprehension as it wells up in her throat. “On the other side of the coast, almost.”
Colette doesn’t respond, knows that she has more to say.
“You’re going with Alexander, you said?”
“Yes.”
She forgoes the dishwasher and starts running the tap, slowly scrubbing at a plate, back facing her younger sister. “Okay,” she says finally.
“Okay?”
“Colette,” she says softly, the running water almost overwhelming her voice. She turns it off and faces her fully, mustering up a smile for her sake, hands dripping with soapy suds. “I will always support your decisions. Princeton is a great school, and they will be better for having you.” There’s silence for a while, and it feels like eternity while she stands there, smiling down at her sister, water droplets rhythmically marking the seconds that pass.
Colette moves to hug her, and Heidi is sure she doesn’t complain about her wet hands purely for the sake of not ruining their moment. There’s a flutter of a thank you by her ear and she presses her cheek and then a kiss to Colette’s cheek.
Heidi looks her up and down with a glimmer of pride and rubs her hand over her back once more before turning back to the dishes. “Go on and finish your homework. I’ll clean this up, Ms. Ivy Leaguer.” She hears a whisper of a laugh and she chuckles to herself, mechanically washing and drying the dishes, eyes looking out the window and watching as the sun sets over their barren backyard.
It’s winter, she realizes belatedly. She should get a fire going, lest they get too cold at night.
–
Colette graduates in summer, and her valedictorian speech is brimming with hope, ideals of a bright future embedded in its core, blue notes of nostalgia ringing over it all, but still unable to dim the triumphant brass of the speech as a whole. Heidi thinks it’s fitting, and watches black caps fill the air. She frames a photo of Colette accepting her high school diploma and puts it next to the decorated graduation cap in their home.
“I’ll treat you to a nice dinner as congratulations,” she jibes, nudging her sister.
“Maybe later,” Colette laughs, flush with a happy glow. “Zander’s taking me to dinner.”
“Sounds like a good time,” Heidi says.
“I’ll be home later,” she states, waving over her shoulder as Zander slings an arm over her shoulder.
She is home later. Heidi’s already up in her room, in bed, when the front door unlocks and opens at 4:45am, and she finally goes to sleep when she hears the lock turn and Colette slip into her room.
She’s up three hours later, breakfast already cooking on the range, and Colette is up not much later either. There’s not much of a tangible difference in her younger sister (who’s going to Princeton now) except the smile she can’t seem to suppress and the ring glinting on her left hand.
She ends up taking both Zander and Colette out as congratulations.
They get married at the end of summer, which might be surprising to some, but there’s no shortage of money between the two, and nothing can truly stop young love. Heidi’s the maid of honor, and she chokes back tears during her speech. Another photo joins the graduation cap – this one is Colette looking brilliant next to a handsomely grinning Zander.
“Do you think we rushed the wedding?” Colette whispers to her as they sway in time for the traditional father-daughter dance.
“It was a beautiful service, Ce,” Heidi reassures.
“You know what I mean,” she insists.
“What do I know of love? As long you and Zander are happy, that’s all that matters to me – and to you, I’m sure.”
“We are.” She rushes out. “Happy, that is. You’re okay with us getting married so fast?”
“I will always support you, Colette. Forever, and I mean it,” Heidi says reprovingly. “You’re a smart girl. You know this.”
“Forever?”
“Forever and then a day, Ce.”
year one.“You’re sure you don’t need me to help you move in?” Heidi worries at the airport, unloading suitcases from the trunk. “Everyone else has their parents fly in and help them settle in, or so I hear. I can still get a ticket.”
“Heidi, I’ve got Zander to help. Besides, I know you’re not a fan of planes and travelling. You’re not even packed; I’ll be fine.”
“But-”
“Heidi.”
She smiles, brows pinching lightly. “Okay, okay.”
“I’ll call you when I land. Zander’s already inside and waiting; go home, Heidi,” Colette says.
“Be safe,” she calls out to her retreating figure. A car honks at her, the driver impatiently gesturing towards her spot, and she waves in apology, throwing one last glance at Colette as she shimmers like a mirage through the silvered airport windows.
She cleans the house two times before Colette’s call comes in.
It’s brief, just a safely landed and a going to move in now before a hurried love you. She can hear Zander in the background.
She peeks in Colette’s vacated room. It’s quite empty, and she sniffs a little before she closes the door and banishes it from sight.
–
“Are you coming home for Thanksgiving?” Heidi asks, waving a feathered toy at a small stray kitten that she hadn’t been able to resist feeding. She’d have to take it to get shots soon, she noted idly as it pawed at the toy.
“I don’t think so,” Colette responds, mulling the words over. There’s a large commotion in the background, and she catches the tail-end of a hissed shut it, assholes. “Pretty hectic here.”
Heidi hums. “Okay.”
“Okay,” Colette echoes.
“Well, winter break, then.”
“I’ll be home then.”
“How’s Zander?”
“He,” Colette starts before pausing. “He’s good. Not much to say. We’re busy.”
“Well then, your studies are good?” she asks, desperate for the call to last longer.
“Yeah, they’re-” Heidi can hear Colette’s name being called in the background. “Good, they’re going well.”
“You need to go, don’t you?” She asks, half laughing, half sighing.
“No,” Colette says, instinctively, a little guiltily. “Well, yes. I do,” she amends.
“Okay. Call back if you have time.”
“Okay. Bye, Heidi.”
“Proud of you, Ce,” she says before the phone disconnects in the middle of her customary I love you.
–
Colette is back for winter break, and she greets her with a flurry of kisses. Her kitten noses at Colette’s feet warily, and Heidi keeps the fire going despite Colette saying New Jersey winters are way worse. Zander stays for the later half of break, a brilliant diamond necklace in hand for Colette.
Maybe she’s forgotten what her sister looked like after three months, but Heidi swears the smile is more strained than it used to be. Christmas by the tree and New Year’s festivities join the photo collection before Colette leaves for college again.
–
Zander joins a fraternity. Colette joins the sister sorority.
She doesn’t come home for summer; she found an internship in New Jersey, close to campus.
year two.Heidi rents the guest room out to a man named Paolo, who has more curls than seemingly humanly possible, and is somehow, a starving artist without the whole starving part. She sees him busk around bars and in coffee shops, and sketch when he pleases, but he doesn’t seem like he sticks to much of a schedule. But he pays rent on time and fills the corners of the house with music of all kinds – harp, guitar, ukulele, any instrument he can get his hands on…
She facetimes Colette after he moves in, and she hates Paolo.
Heidi’s not entirely sure why.
Zander becomes less of a topic during their calls, and whenever Heidi brings him up, Colette’s tone pitches up before quickly flattening out, and she worries. She can imagine the way her sister would purse her lips and sigh through her nose, looking much older than she should, even though they’re not video chatting.
Heidi asks if she’s coming home for Thanksgiving.
Colette apologizes.
But she’s back for winter break and she brings a boy home for winter break, but not like that, Heidi, I’m married. His name is Lukas, and supposedly, he’s Zander’s little – Heidi doesn’t ask why Zander isn’t hosting him, just cooks more at Christmas dinner.
Lukas is in this year’s Christmas photos, and Heidi frames her first photo without Colette in it – New Year’s, with Paolo. Her sister had some sort of a sorority related emergency back on campus and had to leave soon after Christmas.
–
Phone calls are fewer and farther in between, but Colette is taking extra coursework. It’s expected.
–
Colette works at a new internship during summer, and Heidi lectures her for working too hard, misty-eyed. Paolo cooks dinner, and it’s the one dish he knows how to cook well.
year three.Colette’s room is gathering a hefty layer of dust now, and Heidi has to wear a mask when she cleans it out.
“Are you coming home for Thanksgiving this year?” She asks again, lonely strands of repeating music floating in the air as Paolo tries to get past a slight composer’s block in the other room.
Colette is silent, and there’s a little shuffling and light breathing.
“Ce? You there?”
“I think Zander’s cheating on me,” she says, sounding like she’s on the verge of tears, before she clears her throat. “I saw him with some girl.”
“Oh, Colette, I doubt it’s what you think-”
“Heidi,” she snaps sharply before she heaves a sigh. “Sorry. It’s just that I know he is.”
“Are you going to leave him?” She prompts gently.
“No,” Colette says firmly. “I love him. And he loves me.”
“Are you s-”
“I’m sure.”
“Okay.”
“Okay?”
“Yeah, Ce. Okay. I’ll support you till the end of time, no matter what you choose,” Heidi sighs.
“Forever?” She asks, sounding younger than she has in a long, long time.
“Yeah,” Heidi laughs humorlessly. “Forever and a day. Coming home for winter, baby sis?”
“Yeah,” Colette agrees, a little wobbly.
“I love you,” she reminds. “And play nice with Paolo this year.”
–
Christmas photo: Paolo and Colette, physically separated by Heidi.
New Year’s: Paolo, Heidi, Colette, diamond ring flashing, necklace glinting, new tennis bracelet around her wrist. A sheepish Zander.
–
Colette finds an internship at home, this time, and Zander follows her home. They stay together in Colette’s room, and Heidi’s thankful that she cleaned it earlier in the year.
Zander has the gall to bring a girl to her home.
She fixes him with a look and a mournful sigh, and he’s cowed. She doesn’t bring this up to Colette. The leaves fall off the trees earlier this year, and she makes him rake leaves by himself and doesn’t let Paolo help him. A pinch too much salt finds its way in his dinner, and his whiskey has more ice than he prefers. She irons an unflattering crease into all of his shirts.
Everyone does her the favor of pretending not to notice, and she beams at them all, and gives Parys a kiss and an extra treat when he meows at her heels. He’s not hers, not strictly. Sometimes he wanders off for days and weeks on end, and only God knows where he goes, but she always finds him back home, curled in her bed or in Paolo’s lap as he sketches.
Zander and Colette leave again come fall, and she looks out the window while she washes the dishes. The trees are barren.
year four.She’s stopped asking Paolo for rent by now, but he still pays her. She uses the money to buy him swathes of canvas and bright paints, uses it to spruce up the house, and starts noticing little doodles on crumpled napkins that look a little like her. Golden autumn light floods the house and she lights a couple candles and dances around with Parys in her arms, who is far more indulgent and looking far more comfortable in her arms than any cat should really look, ever. Paolo strums chords on a beat up guitar even though they both know he can buy a newer one.
She forgets to leave call for Thanksgiving this way.
“Colette,” she breathes into her phone, half disbelieving and guilt laden elation flooding her bones. “Is something the matter?”
“Heidi,” her little sister sighs, sounding eons old. “I’m… I thought I should phone ahead to tell you I’m coming home for Thanksgiving.”
“Oh my god,” she breathes, guilt crushing down on her for forgetting. “Are you really?”
“Yes. Alone,” she says shortly. “That’s okay, right?”
“I’ll- okay, yes, of course it’s okay, darling,” Heidi responds, tears welling. “I’ll start preparations immediately.”
“Don’t make a fuss, Heidi,” Colette responds.
She, of course, makes a huge fuss over it, pulling out all the stops. Parys disappears and she worries herself sick over him, but when she opens the door for Colette, he’s there too. It’s the first picture she puts up of Thanksgiving, and it’s the four of them. She’s never felt happier in her life.
Colette promises to come back for winter.
When she calls two days before official break starts, Heidi doesn’t think anything of it before she picks up the phone. Instead, she gets a short Z is gone.
Immediate questions bubble up: gone where, with who, when, how, what about Princeton – but she tamps them all down and asks one thing.
“How are you?”
“I- just need to talk,” Colette says, sounding drained.
She packs her things the moment they hang up. Paolo packs his things too, and Parys, well, she’s never been able to predict his comings and goings anyway.
They find a small airbnb to rent for a month in New Jersey and for the first time, Heidi shows up on her sister’s doorstep with a smile and a simple I missed you.
–
Not everything is fixed by her coming over on an impulse, but nothing gets fucked up either – or at least more fucked up than it was already.
“You came,” Colette says.
“I’m so proud of you, Colette,” she says in response.
“For what?” Colette half laughs, half cries. “The missed calls, unanswered texts, forgotten holidays?”
“For what?” Heidi teases gently. “For an Ivy League student, you can be so dumb sometimes, Ce. I’m always proud of you.”
“I just got caught up here. Not a good excuse, but it’s the truth.”
“Are you daft? How many times do I need to say things to get them through your thick skull?”
“Forever, at least.”
“That’s how long I’m here to stay – that and a day more, too.”
–
They collect framed photos from New Jersey, and a newly decorated black cap too.
–
Colette asks if they can go home.
Heidi cries on the spot.
