#training teens/summer college kids at work right now is making me suffocate

[fallowtail]

good morning it is 10am and it's one of those days where i'm kicked back thinking about how i am one of those people who are doomed to a life of nothing but retail/service work who serves as a horror story for people younger than me and has absolutely no value and just exists to serve other people and be a grunt npc for the rest of my life. lol. lmao even.

[ssa-montgomery]

You’re Gonna Go Far, Kid

Word Count: 2247

Summary: Addison, Mark and Derek have all been friends long before the events of Grey's Anatomy and what we see them go through as Attendings. Their days in Medical school involved a whole lot of laughing, flirting and of course some actual studying. This is one of those average days.

Characters: Addison Montgomery x Derek Shepherd, Mark Sloan

Warnings: Fluff, Mark being a flirt, mention of cheating 

A/N:  So welcome to the first one-shot in a new series! This series is going to be a bunch of loosely connected flashback one-shots to Addison, Mark and Derek's days in Med school! I have a few ideas for future one-shots already but I am open to any requests you might have. If you want to see more of these please let me know and I can add you to the taglist!

The title is taken from the song "You're Gonna Go Far, Kid" by The Offspring

Feedback is what motivates me to work so please let me know what you think! Reblogs are also greatly appreciated.

Taglist is open!

"Bonjour ma chérie." Mark had spotted Addison making her way down the steps in front of the building ahead of him and raced to catch up to her before she disappeared into the crowds of students outside. He draped one arm around her shoulders and pulled her into his side with a grin.

Despite having mostly separate classes for the day they both finished at the same time, unlike Derek who still had one class left. It was the beginning of summer and the temperature had been increasing over the past couple of days but Mark was still wearing one of his signature leather jackets, his motorbike helmet tucked under his free arm. He had gotten his bike at the start of the school year and Addison had barely seen him outside the apartment without it since then. She was certain part of the reason behind that was that the girls on campus seemed to love the bike too.

"Hey, Mark." Addison laughed bumping her shoulder against Mark's. "I see those conversational French lessons are paying off."

"Yes, they are." Mark nodded his head and let out a laugh of his own.

A comfortable silence settled over them as they walked further down the path together, heading towards the end of campus. The heat of the sun was pouring down on them through the gaps in the trees that surrounded the path and Addison was grateful for the loose sundress she had slipped on that morning. She let out a content sigh and allowed herself to appreciate the calm moment at the end of a long day of classes.

"You coming back to the apartment to hang out?" Mark asked looking down at her as they started to draw closer to the end of the path.

"I can't right now. Tennis practice." Addison gestured to the sports bag she had hanging off one shoulder. Her mother had signed her up for tennis when she was younger and it was one of the few activities from her teens that she had actually enjoyed which lead her to continue with practice in college and now in med school too. She knew once she started her internship she wouldn't have the time for it anymore so she made the most of it now.

"Oh right, maybe I could come with? I've never seen you play." Mark suggested.

"Mark we both know you just want to go and watch pretty girls in short skirts play sports." Addison sighed, she considered Mark a close friend and had learned many things about him since first meeting him, one of them being his extensive dating history and the fact that he loved to flirt with anyone he could. Addison herself included.

"I mean, yeah but like I could also be your personal cheerleader. Wait, does tennis have its own cheerleaders? Because that's just more pretty girls in short skirts."

"Mark!" Addison shot him an exasperated look and lightly elbowed him in the ribs.

"Okay okay sorry." Mark snorted. They had reached the end of the path and came to a stop on the street outside campus. Mark's apartment was in the opposite direction to Addison's practice so he removed his arm from around her shoulders and moved to face her as they talked.

"I thought you were with that girl from our Gross Anatomy class anyway? What was her name again?"

"Oh uh yeah, that didn't work out. She dumped me, threw all my stuff out of her fourth-floor dorm window. Including my Gross Anatomy textbook that got ripped in half, I had to order a new one." Mark sighed shifting his weight from one foot to the other uncomfortably. 

"Oh, Mark," Addison said sympathetically reaching over to lightly squeeze his arm. Addison sat next to Mark in that class and she had watched him flirting with that girl from across the classroom before he finally met her in the library and actually asked her out. She had seemed sweet and Addison thought that what Mark had described seemed out of character. "I'm sorry, she seemed great."

"Well I mean I had it coming, I was also sleeping with her roommate."

"Seriously Mark." Addison scoffed rolling her eyes. "Never mind I take back my sympathy you did have that coming. You're such an ass."

"But you still love me?" Mark questioned flashing that familiar grin at her.

"Hmm, sometimes." She teased. She had never expected to become as close to Mark as she was now. He had been in a couple of her classes since she started med school but she hadn't paid much attention to him. That was until Derek Shepherd, the cute boy in her Gross Anatomy class had introduced himself to her in the library one day and asked her out on a date, even then Mark had been by his side and she quickly learned they came as a package deal. After that, she started to spend more and more time with him and they became good friends.

"So are you gonna swing by the apartment to see Derek? Maybe we could all hang out together?"

"Of course Mark, I'm coming straight over once I'm done with practice." Addison smiled at him.

"I'll see you later then, knock 'em dead at practice Red."

"Thank you, Mark. I'll see you soon."

~~~

Addison pulled her key out of her bag and easily slid it into the lock, pushing open the door to Derek and Mark's shared apartment. Derek had a key made for her a few months ago after she started to spend more time at their apartment than her own. Her apartment was left empty most of the time with her at Derek and Mark's and her roommate and best friend Naomi at her boyfriend Sam's. The apartment was a decent size with an open living room that they spent most of their time in and kitchen. Derek and Mark both had their own bedrooms but over time Derek's room had become his and Addison's with her slowly adding her own clothes to his wardrobe and her leaving her books there because "it was just easier" with her there most of the time.

When Addison stepped inside the main room was empty and at first, the whole apartment seems silent. For a moment she wondered if they had both already gone to bed but it was still early and that was unusual for them. She dropped her sports bag down on top of the counter in the kitchen and made her way towards Derek's bedroom. As she came closer to the door she could hear Mark and Derek laughing on the other side. She cracked the door open slightly and stuck her head around, peering into the room.

"Having a slumber party without me?" Addison chuckled looking at them both sitting in the middle of Derek's bed. 

"Sorry Addie, you took too long to come home and now I've taken your boyfriend. You'll need to find someone else." Mark teased resting a hand on Derek's knee.

"I can't blame you, good guys like him are hard to come by." Addison opened the door fully and walked into the room to join them. Mark cocked an eyebrow looking her up and down as he took in her outfit. She had come straight from practice just like she had promised and she was still wearing her tennis gear, her hair pulled back into a high ponytail that had now fallen out of place with strands fallen into her face.

Derek glanced over at Mark and noticed the way he was staring at Addison. Reaching behind him Derek grabbed one of his pillows and hit Mark in the face with it, pushing him onto his back so he could hold the pillow over his eyes. Mark's laughter was muffled by the pillow and he pushed at Derek's chest but he refused to move the pillow.

"Mark, stop eyeing my girlfriend."

Addison crossed her arms over her chest and rolled her eyes at them. She had gotten used to their antics over time and was rarely surprised by them any more. Mark and Derek were so close Addison had almost mistaken them for brothers before she really knew them. She understood why now, they had grown up together and Mark truly was the brother Derek never had in a house full of sisters.

"Honey, I'm going to go take a shower and change out of these clothes," Addison said making her way across the room and planting a soft kiss to Derek's cheek.

"Okay." Derek nodded smiling up at Addison.

"So um, do you think you could move this pillow now before you suffocate me?" Mark asked once he heard the lock on the bathroom door click closed behind Addison.

"Right, sorry." Derek laughed moving the pillow back onto his lap, holding his free hand out to help Mark sit back up.

"It's just you know, there are three doctors in training in this apartment but with me down I don't know if I trust you two with the CPR. Plus I doubt you want Addison giving me mouth to mouth."

Mark swiftly rolled out of the way of the pillow that Derek hurled in his direction and narrowly avoid falling off the edge of the bed as the pillow tumbled to the floor.

~~~

Addison emerged from the bathroom half an hour later in her pyjamas, her hair twisted up into a loose bun. Her makeup had been removed and she looked relaxed. She padded across the floor and crawled up onto the bed next to Derek who was lying on his usual side of the bed, his back propped against the headboard. Mark, on the other hand, was sprawled out across the foot of the bed staring up at the ceiling. The pillow Derek had thrown at him was sitting on his chest and he had one arm draped across it.

"So what are you two doing? I was thinking about going over the content of today's class if either of you wants to join." Addison explained curling herself into Derek's side.

"Ever the vigilant student Addie." Mark chuckled. "Yeah, that would be good."

"Of course." Derek nodded in agreement, threading his fingers through the loose parts of Addison's hair. Addison leaned into the contact and let out a satisfied hum.

"Perfect, we can use my textbooks since Mark's got damaged." Addison teased throwing a sly smirk at Mark.

"Oh come on! It was only one of them." He groaned rolling over onto his stomach, moving the pillow so his head was now propped up on it.

"Well mine is right here, it will save you getting up." Derek smiled, kissing the top of Addison's head before reaching over to his bedside table to drag his bag closer trying not to disturb her too much.

He pulled out his copy of Gray's Anatomy textbook and dropped it onto the middle of the bed so they could all easily see it. Addison pulled herself away from Derek and sat up to flick the book open, crossing her legs underneath herself. She opened the page they had been working on that day and noticed the notes that Derek had scribbled in the margin, he had also labelled the detailed sketch of the brain. 

"I took some more detailed notes on the neuro section, don't mind all the writing," Derek explained fidgeting nervously with the edge of the page.

"Look at you already knowing what speciality you're interested in." Addison giggled playfully pushing at Derek's arm. They all worked hard in their classes but Derek had always been the most focused out of them and he spent a lot of his time studying. Addison wasn't surprised that he was the first out of the group to find a speciality he was seriously interested in. He had put the hours into the research.

"At least, for now, Neurosurgery seems the most interesting to me. You know you're working with the part of a person that makes up who they are, their personality, their ability to perform tasks. It's a speciality you can really help people with." Derek said. He sounded passionate when he spoke about it and they could see that this genuinely might be his speciality someday. 

"I think I might have found a speciality too," Mark said then. They both looked at him slightly surprised. Mark had never really shown interest in anyone speciality before this and they hadn't known he was even considering one already. "I've been really interested in plastics recently. I don't want to tie myself to one speciality before we even start internship but I will definitely be looking into it more. I think it has the potential to really help some people."

"I think I'll need to try a bit of every speciality before I really know what I'm interested in," Addison explained honestly. Originally she had thought she would be interested in General surgery but the more she learned about neonatal she felt herself being pulled more in that direction as a speciality. "Although OB/GYN does seem interesting, you know not only are you saving one life but you're saving two. Plus it has a few different paths you could take when you really start to define your speciality.2

"We'd make a badass surgical team." Mark grinned up at them both.

"Hell yes, we will." Derek laughed.

"Maybe we could have our own practice together someday." Addison agreed.

Taglist: @thewaywardimpala