Title: Easy Come, Easy Go
Characters: Tom, Derek, Ivy
Summary: Tom's musings as he watches Ivy and Derek. No dialogue. Derek/Tom.
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or anything else you recognize from the 2012 TV series "Smash". All cred to the producers, writers and actors.
Words: 500
AN: It's okay if you think my characterization is off, because that's almost-kind-of the point. I'm writing a lot of shorter fics right now, and they are just meant to force me to write, to get to know the characters.
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Derek had been in a bad mood today. It wasn't anything new, and most people simply made sure to stay out of his way as much as possible, working hard to avoid pissing him off even more. But not everyone had that kind of sense: Ivy was certain that, second to his work, she was the most important thing to Derek. Tom watched her behavior with interest. He knew Derek well enough to know Ivy held no importance to him, she was nothing but a distraction (still, a flash of jealousy hit him as he watched them together). Ivy was everywhere and Tom could see that she was starting to grate on Derek's nerves. He would hide it well most of the time, however.
Tom smiled. Ivy was a dear friend of his, and she was spectacularly talented and made a great Marilyn, but he wasn't blind to her flaws. She was a nice girl and he cared about her a lot, but at her worst she could be conceited, catty and bad-tempered. But then, she was allowed to have faults just like everyone else. No one is perfect, after all.
Another thing about Ivy was that she could be incredibly clingy when she was feeling insecure. Tom knew that Derek would never put up with that for too long. He could pretend for a while though, and his act was fairly convincing. (Okay, his act was very convincing, and this bothered Tom more than it should.) But when he got fed up with acting the role of the loving boyfriend, he wasn't one to keep up the pretense for long. He was good at pushing people away, and he didn't particulary think that their feelings was his responsibility. In a way he was just using his lovers, and when he tired of them he couldn't be bothered to pretend to care anymore.
Tom supposed he should despise this behavior, but he knew Derek wasn't mean, or unfeeling, and he couldn't bring himself to think that Derek was a bad person. Besides, he and Derek was alike in a way. Tom didn't mean to be dishonest, but somehow, his lovers would always think that he felt more than he did, and then they would end up hurt, accusing him of leading them on. He always hoped that the next person would be The One, but they just never were, and he couldn't force himself to feel love that wasn't there. He wished things were different. He watched as Ivy smiled at something Derek said, and the slight flicker of longing he felt, when he saw the way Derek caressed her face, annoyed him. It helped to know that Derek would never fall for Ivy. But that didn't mean he was going to—
The sound of a chair being pulled out interrupted his musings. Derek leaned over him to pick up some papers, muttering about how they would have a lot less trouble if they had just cast Tom as Marilyn.
END