A/N: So I was cleaning up my laptop, and found what might have become a longer Mark and Derek fic, once upon a time. I know I'll never finish it the way I meant to, but as a... err... 3½x drabble I think it can stand alone, so up it goes. Enjoy!
Even at seven-thirty in the morning, the day was shaping up to be one of those days when Derek just didn't talk to him. It was hard to tell sometimes, but a wordless four-floor ride together in one of the infamous Seattle Grace drama-vators was a pretty clear sign the day was gonna be a dud. Mark thought he might have got a nod good morning.
He rolled his eyes ill-naturedly and stared hard at the elevator door, determined not to be the first to talk for once. This was the treatment Addie used to get, right before she cheated on her husband of twelve years with his best friend. Of course, the best friend hadn't been getting much better, thank you very much. By the time the cheating happened, it had just plain made sense. Derek had disappeared on them both, and they'd only had each other left. What else were they supposed to do? Go fishing?
This time around though, the silence Derek inflicted on him had an edge to it. It was a silence that said "Yes, this is a punishment. Live with it, or go away. I don't care." And Mark really believed that. Derek didn't care. They hung out now, sometimes, but they were never Mark-and-Derek, the way they had been for the better part of ever. And they were definitely never Mark-and-Derek-and-Meredith the way they had been Mark-and-Derek-and-Addison - Meredith was off-limits, waaaay off limits. Mark would probably have to be in orbit over China before he was far enough away from her to make Derek happy.
Maybe they just weren't those people anymore, but if they weren't those people, then Mark had no fucking idea who he was supposed to be. So he'd wait it out. He was waiting. He was waiting, and drinking, and screwing every C-cup in scrubs. He was living in the flashiest hotel he could find (which he hardly ever really slept in), he was doing some seriously kick-ass surgeries (which he hardly ever had a chance to brag about), and he was waiting.
And sometimes, he and Derek went fishing.
