Alright, so this is sort of a request (or at least an inspiration) from one of my biggest fans. THANKS! Hope you enjoy the hijinks. No angst or heavy drama or anything, it's meant to be more funny in keeping with the style of the show.
Maybe slightly more 'grown up' with occasional references to things older teens would be doing but no lemons or really mature stuff. OK, maybe a lime or two at some point because, well, can anyone actually picture senior high aged Sam and Freddie actually keeping their hands off one another?
And for the sake of argument, iKiss and iTwins took place but nothing else in the Seddie arc happened in the universe this story is set in, not iOMG, not iThink They Kissed, none of it.
"You sleeping over tonight, Sam?" Carly asked after the web show as the girls were straightening up props and chatting.
Freddie was busy with the final post-production work at his station, listening to the two girls make plans. He had not been invited to many of their sleepovers since they were getting older. Of late, he had come to resent the time the girls spent without him. Not that he was jealous of Sam taking Carly's time like he used to be when they were in middle school. Actually, for the last months he was bothered by how Carly always seemed to keep Sam busy, something he couldn't quite explain.
It was especially bothersome to him when they would talk about boys. It took him weeks to process the thought that he wasn't so much jealous of Carly swooning over these other fellows, but rather Sam's reaction to the same. It's not like he and Sam were all that close. In fact, the closest they ever were was when they shared their first kiss, something he kept thinking about a lot lately, though he said nothing to anyone for fear of Sam's wrath.
To outward appearances, he and the blonde argued and bickered just like always but to anyone who watched them closely over the last year or so, their banter had become friendly - almost teasing and most of their friends realized they were no longer combatants but just two people in complete denial of their true feelings.
To say there was sexual tension between them was an understatement. Of course, no one else realized they had actually kissed. Twice, Freddie figured, since Sam admitted she had no sister the day after the 'date' with Melanie. In his mind, he actually dated Sam Puckett, even if she didn't act very 'Sam - like' and she certainly would never cop to it.
The majority of their classmates wondered how long it would be before the two actually gave into their feelings and got together. Of course, Freddie wasn't going to delude himself into thinking that Sam would ever want to be with a guy like him. Even though her taunts weren't as vicious as they used to be, he felt she was out of his league, possibly even more so than Carly. While Carly was pretty and popular, Sam was outright hot.
Despite the way she usually dressed, his blonde friend had a killer figure. Something not a lot of people knew, but he had seen her in a swimsuit. Sam was also by far the breakout star of iCarly in popularity, according to the comments on the site. This was something Sam neither flaunted nor would admit because she saw herself as a sidekick to the real 'star' of the show, Carly. This was also a fact that they both tried to hide from the brunette, whose gigantic ego would surely be bruised if she weren't at the forefront of everyone's attention.
It bothered Freddie how many guys secretly drooled over Sam since she had become more filled out, so to say. Sure, he found her gorgeous, too but he'd never say the kind of things he over heard other guys say from time to time. Some of their comments would have surely earned someone a black eye or dislocated elbow if Sam caught wind of them.
He and Sam had on more than one occasion done things without their other best friend. Not often, but if Carly was busy with a school function, doing something with her brother or on a date, and the two would find themselves without any other form of entertainment, they would hang out together. Usually they would end up visiting the smoothie shop or just lounging around watching TV but they did stuff together, none the less.
Ironically, on this day both decided to leave Carly's place at the same time. Freddie was summoned home by an urgent text from his mother and Sam went in search of a bucket of fried chicken to appease her stomach before it was time to settle down for an evening of movies and video games with her BFF.
"Don't be late for your tick bath, Freddiekins." Sam teased, slapping playfully at his back, as they closed the door to Carly's apartment and she turned toward the elevator. She couldn't let his mother's overprotective and irrational fear of insects, spores and germs in general go unmentioned. In truth, she couldn't help but think of him taking a bath. She'd seen him without a shirt a few weeks ago when Spencer accidentally spilled paint all over the living room and he was in better shape than she imagined.
"Very funny, Puckett." Freddie sneered. "I'll have you know my mother hasn't forced me to take tick baths for over a year. She actually called me because she needs me to put lotion on her bunions."
"I guess that's a little better. Oh well, at least she hasn't dragged you to quilting class or something lately." Sam turned to face him. She would never let him live that one down. "Hey, someone should tell her that you were talking about that mother-son ballet class I saw they're doing down at the Y."
Freddie, sick of her attempt at humor and still slightly miffed that the girls made plans and never even thought to ask him to join them, snapped back. "At least my mom isn't ashamed to do chiz with me. She might be weird but she's not a piece of trash."
As soon as the words left his mouth, Freddie regretted them. While he wasn't afraid to bad mouth Sam's mother any more than she was his, he didn't make a habit out of saying things that made Sam feel like her mother didn't want anything to do with her. Even though by times it seemed like it.
Sam immediately went on the defensive and snapped back. "Oh, you did not just say that, Benson!"
Freddie knew Sam was now prepared for a fight, verbal and physical, and, rightfully so, he backed down. "I'm sorry, Sam. That was out of line."
Sam shook her head, getting in his face. "You are such a dick! It's no wonder you can't get a girlfriend. No one wants to even be in the same room with a jack hole like you."
It was one thing to keep reminding him that Carly would never go out with him, he knew that anyway, but to tell him he was too much of a jerk to even have a girlfriend at all was hard to swallow. "Yeah, well you're a bigger dick! Or whatever a girl dick is - I, I, Gaaah!., Sometimes I wonder why I even talk to you."
Sam's rage turned to a victorious smirk and she nodded her head in the victory of breaking him. "All I was doing was teasing, dip nuts. Learn to take a joke. I might pick on your mom's weirdness but one thing I've never done is call her trash. How would you like it if I said your mom was psychotic and she's had so many shock treatments she learned to like them? Oh, and just for the record, all joking aside, she is an overbearing nag."
This time, Freddie went on the defensive. He already knew his mother was weird, but he was tired of Sam saying she was mentally ill. "Well, she might be crazy clean and a hypochondriac but one thing I can say that you can't is my mom cares about me."
This time, Sam didn't give him her usual glare or continue to fight, she just looked dejected and turned to walk away.
Again, too late, he realized he said something he shouldn't have. "Wait, Sam. I'm sorry. That was uncalled for." He said as Sam turned away from him.
"No. You're right. My mom's a piece of crap and is ashamed of me because I'm crap, too." She mumbled, not looking up. She didn't want to break down and was afraid if she made eye contact, she would. Even though she made fun of him for it, she wished her mother was more like his and less like a drunken groupie.
That, and Sam might have liked to torment him, but deep down inside she had a bond with Freddie. Teasing and taunting was one thing, but this was an out and out mouth battle. Sure, Carly was her BFF but her and Freddie shared a special relationship, too. A unique friendship that both cherished, though neither had been willing to admit it to the other up until this point.
The boy knew he had to make this right and walked after her, stopping her before she turned the corner. "Sam. Don't talk about my friends like that."
"Psh. Me, your friend? Yeah right. You hate the very ground I walk on because I stand between you and your precious little Princess Carly." She snipped, staring toward the elevator door. "Why don't you go back and grovel at her pedicured little feet some more you spineless douche nozzle!"
"Sam. That's not true. I don't hate you and I certainly don't think of you that way." He tried to force her to look at him, by touching her shoulders. "Any more."
"Oh, come on. You're so freakin' jealous of me hanging out with Carly, it's not funny. I can tell by the way you're even acting right now, you're all snippy because I'm hanging out with her and you weren't invited. And don't touch me." She tried to pull away, only to have him grab her tighter.
For years, Sam was disgusted by his constant swooning over her friend who treated him like her own personal door mat. Sure, Carly tried to act like his friend but it was obvious since halfway through eleventh grade that the brunette's attitude was not innocent friendship but 'what can I get him to do for me'.
Carly might have been Sam's BFF but the blonde saw her for what she truly was: a self-centered, spoiled little brat who would stop at nothing to get her own way. Including using this boy's naivety to her suit her own needs. And the part that hurt the worst was that Sam was the one who actually liked him, even though she was too proud to show it and had herself convinced that he would never feel the same way because of the way she treated him when they were younger.
He fell to worship at Carly's feet while the brunette couldn't be bothered to give him the time of day. Especially if there was some guy around that she thought was the least bit attractive. Truth be told, as much as she teased the tech producer about it, Sam actually felt sorry for the way Carly treated him and wished he would wake up and realize her friend was just using him.
"I do think of you as a friend and I'm not jealous of you hanging out with Carly!" He knew Sam was upset and he decided to tell her the truth to help ease his guilt. "The thing is, it kind of bugs me when Carly hangs out with you all the time."
She simply gave him an incredulous eye roll and turned her face away again.
"I'm serious." He begged. "We haven't done anything together for weeks, since right after school started. Not since Carly and Spencer went to Yakima for their grandparents' anniversary and we watched all those cheesy old werewolf movies at your place because my mom was on the war path about me getting a B on that English essay."
She obviously didn't believe him. "Like you care that we haven't done anything together lately. Why would I want to hang out with a pretentious ass like you anyway? You've been so damn stuck on yourself the last two weeks it's not even funny. 'I'm Freddie Benson, I aced the SAT's and got into every college I applied to and I'm going to be valedictorian'." She mocked in a sissy voice.
He never intended to act douche-y around his friends, but Sam's expression told him how much his attitude really hurt her. "Have I really been that bad?"
Sam just shrugged slightly. "Kinda. You can seriously be a tool without even trying, you know that? Anyone ever tell you there's no conceit in your family because you've got it all."
"I - I'm sorry, Sam. I didn't realize. I was that bad."
As they again made eye contact, for some unknown reason, he lowered his face toward hers and Sam stretched upwards as if their lips were drawn together like magnets. Only Sam and Freddie could turn a fight into an excuse to share an impromptu kiss.
No waiting until the third or fourth chapter this time for them to hook up! Hope it's a good start. Chapter 2 coming next weekend.