One of the things I am working on at the moment is a story called Learning Curve. It’s about Koit and Atlas and Sera, and what happens when the shit hits the fan, essentially, as the three of them have sort of lived in a careful balance.
Before I could start writing, I had to sit down and figure out how a few different things happened, and one of them was writing out how the scene went when Atlas finally put two and two together.
Title: Figured it Out
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 429
“You’re in love with him,” Atlas murmured, suddenly understanding a multitude of things. Why she craved hearing about Koit’s exploits, why she got so bent out of shape during that two-month period when Koit and Atlas had spent every free moment fucking, every hurt look…
And why she had had such interest in getting them together in the first place. She’d picked out Koit’s profile for Atlas; she’d arranged the blind date.
He waited for her to deny it, but really, what could she say? She was looking out for Koit? A mother wouldn’t have attempted to involve themselves in Koit’s life as much as she had.
Sera looked utterly defeated, her eyes shut tight, her lips pressed together hard, her head bowed slightly. “Yes,” she said, voice barely above a whisper. Hardly even audible. “I admit it, okay? I—I’m… I love Koit.”
“You’re in love with Koit,” Atlas said, shaking his head just slightly.
“What would you know about it?” she said, her voice breaking on the word you. “You just—just fuck him, and neither of you think about the future, and you—you’re going to get tired of Koit one day and dump him, and I will still be here.”
Atlas smiled sadly, because it was probably true. He was just beginning to realize how much Koit abused his Shterpi powers, just beginning to get an inkling of Koit’s… everything. Even so, Atlas and Koit breaking up was unlikely to change Koit’s feelings, much less his habits. “But he won’t love you,” Atlas said, pity in his voice, because he couldn’t imagine being in Sera’s place.
“He won’t,” Sera said, voice rough. She let out a shaky sigh, then took a few more deep breaths, getting steadier every time. “He won’t. You’re right. But I’ll still be there for him.”
She would, Atlas was fairly sure. If she hadn’t gotten tired of Koit and they’d grown up together, it was highly unlikely that she’d get tired of him. “I can try—”
“No.” Sera’s reply was short, quick, not quite an exclamation.
“Then what are you going to do about it?” Atlas asked, shaking his head. “I can’t imagine—”
Sera cut him off. “I’m not going to do anything. I’m going to keep on the same way I always have, and you’re not going to clue him in.”
It was all well and nice for Sera to say that, but Atlas was going to try and fix things, whether she wanted it or not.
After all, she hadn’t much considered Koit’s and Atlas’s feelings when playing matchmaker for them.
Elizabeth Hyder 