A/N These are two very short fics I wrote for fic challenges on the livejournal community groovysmoothie. They were hard to write because I've never really celebrated christmas, what with being raised jewish and all. Eventually, I just gave up on trying to be innovative, and decided to write some Seddie fluff. Oh god, anything but that!

Edit: [the day after posting] I've flipped the order of these two stories. Now you can consider them to be sequential and in chronological order. They work much better this way, I think. There's even symbolism! :O

Keeping the Peace

fic challenge prompt: Mistletoe

"Shannon, look, I thought we talked about this." Freddie hid behind his locker door. He had very good reason to act like a wuss. Shannon was scary! Last week, he'd seen the inside of her locker. It was filled with pictures of Freddie she'd printed out from the iCarly site. On top of them, she'd scrawled "Mrs. Shannon Benson" and decorated it with glitter all over.

Today, she had strolled up to Freddie with a glint in her big, soft eyes. She was holding a huge sprig of mistletoe in her hand, swaying it above her head. It was the day before winter break, and she was obviously going for broke.

"Just one kiss won't hurt you, Freddie. I brushed my teeth and everything!" She smiled, tossing her bouncy, curly hair, and laughed at her own joke.

"I don't like you like that, okay?" He'd explained this to her before, but it had fallen on deaf ears. Okay, she was cute. He liked her hair, for one. And she did look awfully fetching in her shiny green skirt and red boots. He peaked out from around his locker door. When she wasn't being creepy, she was nice, too. She had a healthy appreciation for a man with a brain, at least.

Shannon wiggled the mistletoe in Freddie's face. He closed his locker and fidgeted with his shirt collar. She giggled and batted her eyelashes deliberately. Shannon leaned in, slowly, and watched as Freddie's eyes widened.

But he wasn't looking into her eyes, he was looking past her, to someone coming very quickly from behind. Freddie was pushed back onto the locker banks, and Shannon was grasped with firm hands on each shoulder.

Sam pulled Shannon in, and gave her a big, smacking kiss on the lips. It made a popping noise.

Freddie managed to get out an "oh god!" before Sam wrenched the mistletoe out of Shannon's shocked hand, threw it on the floor, and stomped all over it.

"You got your kiss. Now back off!" Sam pointed down the hall. Shannon, too confused not to follow directions, reached down to pick up her crushed mistletoe and backed away. A few white berries dropped onto the floor behind her.

"What did you do that for?" Freddie recovered admirably.

Sam shrugged, and wiped her lips with the back of her hand. "Couldn't afford anything else for your present."

"You probably didn't have to, um, you know, kiss her." He glanced fleetingly into her sharp eyes.

Sam flipped her hair and rolled her eyes. "Ah, you know me, I'm a lover, not a fighter."

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Sticky Business

fic challenge prompt: Decorating

"You're telling me that you've never eaten a candy-cane before, just because your mom doesn't let you have sweets? Even on Christmas?" Sam's eyes widened, and a look of concern briefly passed her face as she took a candy-cane out of her mouth to respond to Freddie.

"Nope." Freddie sighed, sinking further into the couch next to her.

Sam walked over to the red and green candy-cane wreath Spencer had made to hang on the door, and snapped off a few more. The hole in the wreath's ornate structure was growing.

"Here. Take it. You're making me sad." She proffered a green-striped cane, and Freddie eagerly snatched it, biting off the cellophane wrapping. Sam kept sucking on her previous candy-cane, and watched as Freddie greedily chomped on his, making small, high pitched, happy sounds of gratification. She raised an eyebrow, slightly perturbed. "God, here, take another one for later. This is grossing even me out."

Freddie grinned around his candy, and accepted three more. Sam sat back down next to him on the couch, and flipped on the television. She turned up the volume so she didn't have to listen to Freddie's chewing noises, but she could smell the wintergreen.

Sam turned to stare at Freddie, who was now extremely absorbed in the consumption of his forbidden treat. She unwrapped her peppermint candy-cane all the way, and licked one broad swipe down its entire red-striped length. Then, she stuck it to Freddie's face.

Freddie paused, too surprised to look at Sam, and reached up to gingerly touch the candy-cane sticking to his forehead. After a few seconds of scoffing, he quickly peeled off the rest of the wrapping on his green candy-cane, licked it all over, and stuck it to Sam's cheek, without even making eye contact.

They both sat back, resolutely staring at the television instead of each other, until Sam made a shrugging motion. Freddie turned to look, and watched her remove his sticky candy-cane from her face and started to suck on it anyway. She stared back at him, wordlessly challenging.

Freddie's eyes squinted, going over the options in his mind. No choice, then, it seemed. He peeled the moist candy-cane from his forehead, and popped it into his mouth. Sam's eyebrows raised, and they smirked at each other.

A minute later, Freddie said, "I think I like the peppermint ones better."