Author's Note:
Short Chapters makes for quicker updates, apparently.
This is somewhere along the bitterness of slash and also femslash.
Or neither of those things, in the end.
Well, to hell with it. Here's chapter three.
Also, this chapter is dedicated to "LordOfLezzies" who commented just in time to get a shoutout because the comment came in as I was literally pasting the text in.
Also shoutout to "Hotgitay" who is lurking, I can see you lurking waiting to see how this will turn out because I love how you lurk around my work and kudos things especially when I write about M/M in my fanfictions.
Shoutout to the people who just read this on Ao3 and Fanfiction and Wattpad I don't know about yet.
See ya soon, people,
bobbiejelly
You Know, I Know The Feeling
Square tables sure are the worst things, like, ever (Except for maybe, love-squares, of course).
A fanfiction involving Addison Montgomery, Meredith Grey, Derek Shepherd & Mark Sloan.
Rated somewhere between T and M, I guess. Grey's Anatomy and also Private Practice.
A Four-Shot for Four Fabulous Fast Friends. MerDer. MerAdd. Maddison. MarkAndDerek.
Chapter 3: CORNER THREE
As it turns out, unbeknownst to Mark Sloan and/or Meredith Grey as they keep sharing the remaining ice chips and limes, Addison Montgomery and Derek Shepherd are having an interesting conversation of their very own.
They're standing together now, waiting for ice chips and limes now, because apparently the service is slow, and things like garnishes which are generally free, aren't as important to be speedy about whipping up compared to actual alcohol which people actually pay them for.
And they're having an old argument about their marriage, which, for the record, officially ended ages ago, for reasons they don't care to talk about with each other much, anymore.
But they're standing there now, staring at the stupid sucky square table where their friends are still sitting. The friends they're still sort-of friends with, despite them being each other's exes in at least some way, shape or form in the half-recent future.
"You know you're staring, and I can see you staring, right?" Addison asks her ex-husband Derek.
"You know that you can only see that I'm staring, because you're also actually staring, right?" Derek parrots back to his ex-wife Addison.
They're whisper-shouting expertly at each other now, because that's what they've learned to do with each other, to hide their problems from other people.
Not that their marriage wasn't doomed to be damned in the first place, but they're still not hammered nearly enough to have that talk with each other, yet.
"You want a red wine?" Derek offers, knowing the redhead hates hard liquor when she can have wine.
"I'll order you a single-malt scotch," Addison concedes to her 'McDreamy' counterpart, ironically demonstrating that living with somone for so long sometimes has it's advantages.
They're waiting on their drinks and their damn garnishes now, because the barkeep at least is taking them seriously after they'd ordered something worth serving them, for.
"Are you going to talk to me about it or not?" Addison finally confronts Derek about it because he's staring incessantly at the stupid square table, or, rather, the people sitting at it and it's getting on Addison's nerves.
"I'm in love with Mark Sloan, my best friend, ever," Derek finally mumbles.
"Thank you, Derek," Addison sighs at her ex-husband.
"What are you thanking me for? I just professed my undying love for your boyfriend?" Derek says in alarm.
"Well, he's my ex-boyfriend, now, if you hadn't been listening," Addison quips at him with a bit of an eye-roll, now.
"You know, I know the feeling," Addison finally says this to Derek.
"Are you In Love with him still?" Derek asks, curiously.
"I don't know, Derek! Stop bugging me," Addison scoffs at Derek's insistent questions.
"Jeez, sorry. Didn't know it was such a sore spot for you," Derek whisper-shouts at his ex-wife.
"Are they staring at us?" Addison asks Derek now. "I feel like they're staring at us," Addition answers herself.
"You know, I bet Meredith is complaining about how I always seem to pick you over her," Derek sighs with a grunt.
"Well, I bet Mark is complaining about how I still let you call me Addie, sometimes, even if he calls me 'Red' and he's the only one who does that," Addison responds with a growl.
The piercing eyes of Mark Sloan are looking jealously over at them, and Derek briefly wonders hopefully if the look is for his own benefit, if Mark is really glowering at Addison, not him.
But he discounts this, as he moves on to keep talking about it. Because now that they're talking about this they might as well keep it up.
"We shouldn't have done this. We shouldn't have let our parents convince us a heterosexual marriage would 'fix us', because it didn't fix me, and I know I can't speak for you but you broke up with Mark three weeks ago because he cheated once, even though you cheated once also, and with him, that time, and no less.
"Cheating is a good enough reason to separate. We separated because of adultery," Addison reminds him.
"That's only because you drew the damn short straw, and you wanted to see if screwing Mark could 'fix you', which, by the way, you still look at women, I'm guessing it actually didn't," Derek whisper yells at her harshly.
"I feel like you're still angry I screwed your best friend, even though you agreed to it so you wouldn't be the one who had to be the slut or the whore," Addison rolls her eyes pointedly.
"You say that as if you were doing me a favor, and you got to have all the sex," Derek whisper-snarks back at her.
"If you wanted to have sex, Derek, I would have tried again with you, but you didn't want to, so don't blame me that you didn't do Mark when I offered it to you back then," Addison glares at him.
"I wasn't ready, I'm still not ready to come out, I mean, even if I want Mark more than anything… Derek says to her, at least glad they can still confide in each other like they used to.
"I feel like maybe I am, I'm exhausted from this. I'm 39 and I'm not getting younger, and I miss sex, and I like women, and I'm starting to care less and less what my parents will say…" Addison starts to speak out, but still whispering under her breath.
"What about Bizzy Forbes and 'The Captain' Montgomery?" Derek asks her, knowingly.
"I make enough that if they take away that damn trust fund, I'll be fine. And if I never talk to them ever again, at least I'll still probably have Archer Montgomery," Addison tries to say bravely, even if her voice is still shaking.
"And about my mother?" Derek asks her nervously.
"I won't tell Carolyn Shepherd you're into men if you don't want me to. We can blame it all on me, again, if that helps," Addison offers him graciously.
"But will you still be my cover-up beard if I ask you to?" Derek inquires specifically.
"Well, I don't know, I guess for an event if I have to. And I guess I would still ask you to be my cover-up person, too…" Addison nods at him in agreement.x
"But I sort of…" Addison trails off before she starts to say what she knows she has to- Really wants to finally say.
"I'm in love with Meredith Grey," Addison finally blurts out to Derek.
She's staring at Meredith now, who she sometimes sees flicking her eyes up at her, but Addison tries not to get too attatched to this, thinking that she's really still eyeing Derek, after all.
"You know, I know the feeling," Derek chuckles back at her, and watches as she stares at Meredith Grey who is sitting at the stupid sucky square table with Mark, who he is staring at, himself, at the same time.
"How did we get to me like this, Derek? We're talking to each other about wanting each other's exes like it's the most natural thing in the world?" Addison sighs at him, at the situation, at absolutely everyone and no-one at all in particular.
"Well, that's pretty much what we signed up for when we tried for over a decade to have a fake marriage," Derek laughs softly at her.
"Are you still going to be my friend if I ask her, Meredith, out and she says yes to me?" Addison asks him quite seriously.
"Are you still going to be my friend if I ask him, Mark, out and he says yes to me?" Derek asks her quite seriously.
"Well, we could just call a truce about it and say that we're even," Addison offers to him.
"Yeah, well, I guess we agree on something, finally, after fighting in our hushed whisper tones for over forty-five minues while abandoning half of our party during your very drunk and twisted ex-lover-best-friend-reconciliation event idea," Derek finally snarks at her.
"She's my best friend, Meredith Grey is, and I know you sort of loved her once, as well, even if you didn't love her like Mark. I just don't want to lose her. I just wish she wasn't straight," Addison says sadly to Derek.
"And he's my best friend since forever, you know that. Mark Sloan is my best friend, and I know you sort of loved him once, as well, even if you didn't love her like Meredith. I just don't want to lose him. I just wish she wasn't straight," Derek mirrors back to Addison, sadly.
"You know, I'm starting to think that love-squares are even worse than square-tables," Derek says to Addison, finally.
"The square-tables are just an exacerbation of the love-squares," Addison answers him.
"What do you mean by that?" Derek asks Addison, curiously.
"When you're me and you're sat at a square table, beside your ex-boyfriend and across from your ex-husband, it's torture to try not to turn obviously towards the person you're actually in love with, which is your best female friend Meredith Grey, who is probably straight," Addison finally articulates completely.
"You're right, I empathize with the exact same conundrum with my ex-wife and ex-girlfriend, as I try not to stare lustfully at my male best friend Mark who is probably straight. And I just want to smash the damn stupid sucky square table to pieces, because it reminds me that we're in a love square, and I swear to God I don't think there's any good way we can come out of this," Derek says to her seriously.
Addison starts to say something, but she's cut off by the bartender.
"Red wine, single malt scotch, tequila, and also a whiskey?" The server motions for them to take the tray into their hands.
"Did you include the extra limes and the ice-chips?" Derek asks them as Addison pays for the drinks.
"Yes, there on the corner," the server points to them, motioning to the garnishes.
"Thanks," Addison says curtly, as Derek takes the tray in his hands.
"How fitting is it that the damn tray has four corners. Like the stupid sucky square table…" Derek says bitterly.
"And our even stupider, suckier, love square," Addison finally finishes their mutual thoughts and conundrums as they walk back over, together, to their ex-somethings and their still-friends that they still are also in love with.
***** END OF CHAPTER THREE
Author's Note:
In this AU, Carolyn Shepherd and Bizzy Forbes and 'The Captain' Montgomery are very homophobic. I don't actually think that they are (well, I really hope that Bizzy, at least, isn't…). But this is the way I wanted the story to pan out, as something different to explain Addek's wedding. Yeah, so probably not super fun for those Addek fans. But alas, in favor of Addek, they do share an unspoken, unbreakable bond… In solidarity, I guess.
What do you think of all this, is the situational irony exciting for you? Well, I hope it's at least vaguely sort-of interesting, or intriguing, or at least light enough to make you laugh at all this.
Do you want a happy ending in CORNER 4? Or a sad one? Or a half-happy-half-sad-sort-of-deal? Lemme know in the comments, I'll see what I can do for you :D.
bobbiejelly
Further Reading, (Other works you may like. These are my other MerAdd works so far…): Falling Apart, Barely Breathing Soothe Chasing Butterflies A Seattle Grace Mercy West Swingers Party - Post Plane Crash Edition McCravings RED is the new BLACK. Five Reasons We Knew Calzona Was Made For Each Other & Five + More 6 Sentence Fics Out Of The Dark Hello, Seattle Peace Of My Heart Meredith gets her Mojo Back Tears Shed From A Drunken Conversation Who Can Screw the Shepherd Siblings Better? A Sex Bet Between Addison Montgomery and Mark Sloan. Elevator To Heaven To Build A Home - For Me & For You Sights of Seattle, Stars in the Sky Meredith Makes Her McCHOICE of a Lifetime. Chief Montgomery's Seductress MerAdd PROMPTS Consultation for bobbiejelly - INPUT REQUESTED ! After Italian 'Merley' (Meredith Grey/Miranda Bailey), eventual MerAdd (Meredith Grey/Addison Montgomery), mostly for Lesbi_Honest_FP The whole MerAdd Series: MerAdd My Heart 3
Author's Note 3: Much love, bobbiejelly bobbiejelly