mandolin | Fanfic peeves and other stuff

Noticing an annoying trend in PRDT fanfic, one that I'd really like to rant about here. It's not going in

fanficrants, as this is a personal pet peeve and others may not agree. Cut because it's fan fiction-related and half the people on my friends list will go "Huh?" to most of it.

I have been seeing, along with the many Tommy/Hayley stories, a great deal of Tommy/Kim PRDT-era reunion fics. Fine. Whatever. I am generally 'ship-neutral, and will buy almost any pairing if the writer can PERSUADE me that it will work. Which takes a lot of talent in some cases. (Naturally, I draw the line at stuff like incest et al, but that's not the issue here.)

Tommy/Kim does not inherently bother me. What bothers me is that a lot of Tommy/Kim writers feel the need to establish some sort of Tommy/Hayley initially (usually one-sided) and then destroy it. Some examples:

1) Tommy and Hayley are together. Tommy sees Kim, forgets about Hayley, Hayley turns into jealous bitch. Half of story spent trying to show why writer thinks Kim is better for Tommy than Hayley.
2) Hayley loves Tommy. Tommy loves Kim. Hayley spends fic either being jealous and snippy or (give me a break) pining for a love that will never be requited.

People, last I checked, Tommy/Hayley is NOT a canon ship, so why feel the need to create and then destroy it? Hey, ever occur to any of these writers that *gasp* they're just FRIENDS, and Tommy/Kim might not result in any jealousy, pining, or heartbreak on Hayley's part?

Don't get me wrong. I like the idea of Tommy/Hayley; it's probably the most mature, well-balanced 'ship possibility I've seen in a long time. But it's not canon and therefore does not need to be cut down by Tommy/Kim writers.

I've missed the last three episodes of PRDT, but unless something drastic has happened, on the show they're just friends. So it drives me nuts when Tommy/Kim writers discount that possibility completely and take the time to take apart a 'ship that's not necessarily canon - and the end result sometimes has Hayley acting wildly out of character. Honestly, I can't see her getting utterly jealous or pining for ANYBODY.

Is it too much to ask for Tommy/Kim shippers to maybe have Tommy and Hayley start out as FRIENDS? And consider that Hayley might, you know, encourage Tommy and Kim? Or that she might not make a big deal out of it? Or that she might do something more mature and in-character than get bitchy and jealous or pine away for Tommy and feel sorry for herself?

This isn't rampant, but it seems like for every Tommy/Kim fic I run into that doesn't do this to Hayley, there's another that just HAS to break apart a Tommy/Hayley relationship and have Hayley act out of character to get Tommy and Kim together. It's unnecessary and really irritating. *sigh*

Rant over. Real post later. :)