(no subject)
Title: Tell Me About Your Moral Resignations
Fandom: Grey's Anatomy
Characters/Pairings: Meredith, Mark
Word Count: 621
Rating: PG-13
Prompt: #60 - Drink for fanfic100
Author's Note: Written yesterday, last fic before I do crossovers that were requested.
Summary: What started as casual conversation had now progressed and turned into a sort of 'you show me yours and I'll show you mine' game, only with many more clothes.
“The first guy I slept with after Derek showed up at the hospital the next day with a case of priapism, and we had to give a needle aspiration just to get it back down.” She drinks.
“I slept with my tennis partner’s wife and then he went out and bought a gun.” He drinks.
Joe’s looking at the both of them like if they do this much longer he may need to cut them off. Meredith acknowledges this with a nod that doesn’t say anything in particular. She’s a little beyond buzzed.
What started as casual conversation at the bar, sprinkled with witty comebacks occasionally, had now progressed and turned into a sort of ‘you show me yours and I’ll show you mine’ game, only with many more clothes.
She doesn’t know who’s winning. She doesn’t even know if you can win this game. As far as she can tell they’re pretty evenly matched.
“The first guy I slept with left his bedroom door unlocked and his dad walked into see me in my underwear, on top of his son, and then just kind of stood there looking for a minute before he walked away. And he didn’t close the door.”
“I slept with Derek’s sister.”
Meredith is glad she wasn’t drinking when he said that. “And you wonder why he didn’t want anything to do with you when you showed up.”
“He didn’t know.” For some reason Mark looks smug about this.
“He has four, right?” Mark nods his response. “So how many of the four have you slept with?”
“Just the one. The rest were married.” The obvious retort to that is so was Addison, a retort she’d planned on making until he caught wind of what her next words were. “Happily.”
“You really can give excuses for what you did until the cows come home, can’t you?” He doesn’t deny it; she smiles over the rim of her glass. “And you believe them?”
Mark probably has a right to get defensive here. Somehow. And he does. “They’re not excuses. It happened. She was lonely and you and I both know neither of us are the kind of people who can pass up an opportunity like that for something we want. And I loved her.”
“But not anymore.”
“Am I in LA?”
“No.” Like he said though, people like us, and she understands how he works, and she also understands that, sometimes, learning to let go is easier than setting yourself up for disappointment. “But that also doesn’t mean anything.”
“I’m moving on.” She raises an eyebrow and it only makes him add, much more confidently and forcefully, “To greener pastures. Besides I like Seattle.”
“No you don’t. No one likes Seattle.” The only reason she has any taste for it is because she was here as a child and then she came back, and the only transition was Boston, which is sometimes equally gray and rainy. It’s just what she’s used to.
“You’re right, I hate it here. But Derek’s here. Derek’s my family.”
She nods. He probably had as messed up a childhood as she did and she takes comfort in that, that she isn’t the only one who clings to her friends because they’re the only family she’s got. They’re not just dirty mistresses; they have more in common than that.
“It’s your turn you know.”
She didn’t forget. She just momentarily got sidetracked. They both did. This is his gentle way of turning the subject. And she’s fine with that because this is just how people like them communicate, stupid conversations about moral resignations over a few drinks. It’s just unfortunate that this way of doing things is something Derek will really never understand.