(A/N: Okay. I happen to be a mild Cibby shipper, if you haven't already picked that up from my profile ;D So when someone mentioned that it would be funny if "liquid soap" meant something in a secret Cibby way, the plot bunnies ran away with me! Thus... this. It's a little weird, but not a crack!fic. It's just full of Gibby being himself.)
Disclaimer: Yeah, I own iCarly. Not!
The first time liquid soap came up, it was one of those days.
No, not one of those days (like the yucky kind), but one of THOSE days. A sculpture-making kind of a day. And Spencer was feeling very inspired.
"Ooookay," he said, cracking his knuckles, running in place, and bobbing his head back and forth. "Let's DO this!" Spencer gathered his supplies, quickly checking to make sure everything was accounted for. Yep. All there. Now all he had to do was-
"Heyyyyy, Spencer my man! Look who's here to brighten up your day," Gibby proudly announced his entrance into the Shay's apartment. Spencer groaned inwardly. As much as he loved The Gibster, now was not the time!
"Did you just groan?" Gibby frowned.
"Oops," said Spencer. "I could've sworn I kept that on the inside... Look, I'm sorry buddy," he said, moving towards the boy to place a hand on his shoulder. "But I am in the sculptering zone right now, and you can't deny that kind of impulse! It would be like... you, resisting the urge to take off your shirt."
"Whoa, that would be bad," said Gibby. "I totally get it, dude. Carly around?"
"Yeah, I think she's in her room," said Spencer.
"'Kay, thanks." Gibby raced up the stairs. He had been bored at home, and when that happened, he liked to visit his friends. The Shays were always welcoming to him, one of those families with perpetually open doors. It was a guaranteed good time.
"Carly... hey, Carly, you around?" Gibby called. He knocked on her door. "It's Gibby, can I come in?" No answer. "Well I guess that's a yes," he said, and barged in. "I was thinking that-" he stopped, looking around. "Huh. You're not here. And now, I'm talking to myself."
Just then, he heard a sort of faint melody. It seemed to be coming from the hall. I wonder if that's Carly singing in the shower or something? Gibby mused. Can't hurt to get closer. He crept smoothly into the hallway, stopping outside Carly's bathroom door. She was famous for taking lengthy showers, but she was also famous for singing in them. It was just rare that anyone managed to hear her.
"I... I'm singing... singing 'bout my liquid soap yeah, I... I'm singing... but not about a bar I hope 'cuz, I... love the way... I can squirt my liquid soap all day and I... couldn't say... how it makes me feel, feel this way."
Gibby was stunned. He had no idea that Carly had songwriting talent like that! Yeah, it was about soap. But it had a catchy tune, it rhymed, and she had a beautiful voice. It was now his new goal to get that girl to admit her shower singing to the world. Or at least to him.
Carly wrapped her robe around herself, humming. She loved showers. Like her brother, she often got her best ideas in there, and that wasn't really so strange. Was it? The water has got to be stimulating for your brain in some way!
"Lookin' forward to a nice day, lalala, di da..." she mumbled absentmindedly as she walked into her room.
"Hello Carly."
Carly shrieked as she saw Gibby lounging nonchalantly on her ice cream sofa. "GIBBY! Wh-what are you doing here? You could have given me a heart attack!"
"Whoa, chill, Carls. I was just dropping by to visit Spencer, but he's busy, so I wondered if maybe we could hang out? I'll leave so you can change," he said, getting up and starting to walk out.
"Wait," Carly stopped him. "You didn't... hear anything, did you?"
Gibby's face widened into a grin. "Like what?"
"Oh, you know... anything," said Carly, trying to be cool and failing.
"You mean 'anything' like, 'I can squirt my liquid soap all day'?" Gibby sang, slightly off-key.
Carly's face grew redder by the second. "You- I- SPEAK OF THIS TO NO ONE!" she panicked.
"All right," said Gibby slyly, "but on one condition. I get to tease you about it, anytime I want."
"Awww," Carly groaned. "I guess that's better than the alternative... But please, Gib, don't be too cruel to me!" she begged.
Gibby's face softened a little. "'Course not, Carly. Now get changed so I don't have to be bored anymore!"
"I will. After you leave, mister," said Carly, arching an eyebrow.
"Right, right."
After Carly was ready, she and Gibby headed downstairs to see what exactly Spencer was working on.
"Oh, hey kiddos," he greeted them. "I've got a flow going, but feel free to watch an artist at work," he said proudly.
"Um, what is that?" asked Carly. Spencer seemed to be assembling a giant... bowl?
"You know how I love goldfish?" said Spencer.
"Yes, and I know how much they don't love you," Carly quipped.
"Nyeahhhh." Spencer made a face at her. "I wanted to display my love for those little orange-y guys, and I've got a couple pet stores interested. So I'm making a huge fish bowl!"
"You're not filling it with water, are you?" asked Gibby, puzzled. "That thing would weigh a TON if you did. You should fill it with...pudding!" The siblings stared at him.
"Yeahhhhh no. I'm actually closing off a layer of blue dish detergent," said Spencer.
"Oh! Like... the liquid soap kind?" said Gibby as he looked pointedly at Carly. Her face flushed again.
"Yep," said Spencer. "I'm innovative like that."
The next time the soapy substance was mentioned was right after an iCarly rehearsal, several weeks later.
"I'm gonna go find some edible stuff," Sam stated, marching out of the studio.
Freddie rolled his eyes at her as he put away his camera. "Can't stop thinking about her stomach for more than a minute, can she? Well, I've gotta go have dinner with my mom. I think we're having wheatgrass loaf again." He grimaced, as any sane person would.
"Still have that secret stash of junk food in your room?" asked Carly, amused.
"Uh... yeah," said Freddie sheepishly. "I have to stay alive somehow!"
"Go eat your grass loaf," Carly laughed, as Freddie bid her and Gibby goodbye. "You sticking around, Gib?" she asked.
Gibby had been examining the finished fish bowl sculpture with great interest. It was going to be featured on the next webisode, before Spencer would take it to the pet shop he'd sold it to. "Uh, Carly? I think the fish bowl might have a crack in it." Gibby frowned.
"What?" asked Carly. She hurried over to the sculpture. "Spencer had to have made sure that- aaah!" Carly hadn't seen the little blue puddle that had dripped onto the floor next to the fish bowl, and the second she stepped in it, she went flying!
"Got ya." A pair of surprisingly strong arms caught her with ease before she hit the floor.
"Gibby?" asked Carly, in a bit of a daze. "I didn't know you were so... um, thanks." She cleared her throat and stood, detangling herself from Gibby's arms. "I must have slipped, in that puddle of-"
"Liquid soap?" Gibby said with an eyebrow waggle.
Carly glared at him. "SPENNNNCERRRR!" she yelled.
"Whaaaaa-atttttt?" came the response.
What a crazy night.
Several days prior to it, the iCarly gang had found out some wonderful news. Their archenemy, Nevel Papperman, was hated by the entire internet-accessed world! Gotta love the universe for that one. To celebrate, the kids had decided to have a "karma party."
They served "Karma Apples," "Chicken Karma-san," and "Karma Corn," to their guests, and played all kinds of fun Nevel-hating games. The biggest surprise, though, came after the party.
As the main trio were ushering out the last of their guests, Gibby was blissfully unaware that things had ended. He was cleaning himself up a bit, to keep party-fresh, in Spencer's bathroom... and poking curiously through the cabinets. What? Could it hurt to take a quick look-see and try to figure out what made Spencer so irresistable to women? So far, however, there was nothing out of the ordinary. Huh. He really must have some special charm with the ladies. And I thought I had that down. With a small chuckle to himself, Gibby left the bathroom, noting a bottle of Body Bathe soap out of the corner of his eye. I can have some fun with that.
As he entered back into the living room, he greeted his friends with a, "Hey," and sniffed his hands in an overly enthusiastic manner. "I love that liquid soap you guys have in your bathroom," he said, trying to get a rise out of Carly. He sniffed his hands again. "I am done with bar soap!"
She just rolled her eyes and blew him off, turning to Sam and Freddie and continuing their conversation. Oho, I see thought Gibby. Well, two can play at that game. No matter what happens the rest of tonight, I'll be indifferent. See if she-I care. Psh.
Right after making that odd promise to himself, however, was when things got funky. In a strange twist of fate, Nevel himself came to Carly's door, seeking the iCarly gang's assistance. And boy were they confused.
Gibby was as curious as the rest of them, but, having decided to remain uninterested, he just sat there eating a pudding cup. After making several remarks on it, he realized that he was actually pretty tired, and so left for the evening. No one seemed to care.
"So, you wanna come visit it with me?" he asked hopefully.
"Sure, I guess," she laughed into the phone. "I suppose we've been around it since the day of its creation. We're kinda like its parents... that is, if either of us was ever going to have a giant sculpture baby."
"True dat," said Gibby. "'Kay, I'll meet you there at two."
"See you then," Carly said.
The pair met outside of Gilbert Gyll's Pet Emporium right at two. There, directly out front, was Spencer's giant fish bowl. It gleamed in the sun, actually making for a rather attractive display.
"Looks good, doesn't it?" Carly remarked to the boy beside her as they gazed at the sculpture.
"Yeah, it does," said Gibby, sneaking a quick look at Carly. He paused for a moment, then asked a question that had been bothering him. "Are you really so embarrassed that you sing in the shower?"
"Aw, Gib, why'd you have to ruin the moment with that?" she pouted. Seeing the expression on his face, though, she answered him. "I dunno... it's just, such a silly thing to be doing, isn't it? Totally common, but private at the same time. It's not the kind of thing you want to be caught doing!"
"Point taken," said Gibby sheepishly. "But I think you need to overcome your fear of it. It's silly." Just then, the Seattle sky let loose a spray of its famous rain, giving everything a glistening sheen of droplets.
"And how do you propose I do that?"
Gibby smiled. "You shout it to the rain."
Which is how, five minutes later, the empty streets saw the two of them dancing around in the rain like maniacs, shouting ridiculous things that embarrassed them for the sky to hear.
"I love singing in the shower!"
"I love taking off my shirt! And dancing on tables!"
"I love 80s music!"
"I love... liquid soap!" Gibby laughed as Carly shook her head at him. But for the first time, she seemed completely unbothered. "Carly, look," he said suddenly. "The top of the fish bowl has kind of a rainbow shining through it."
She peered at it, and indeed: the mist from the rain and a stray sunbeam had met each other right at the top of Spencer's fish bowl. It made the whole thing glimmer with a new oceanic beauty that a pet store wouldn't usually see. It also reflected off of the blue layer at the bottom of the bowl.
"Maybe good things can come from liquid soap," Carly pondered.
"I've been trying to tell you that all along!" Gibby said indignantly.
The last time the bubbly sanitizer turned up was at the local supermarket.
Okay, now what am I forgetting to buy? Gibby thought to himself. I need to start making lists when I go shopping! "Dry goods aisle... frozen food aisle..." he muttered as he walked through the store. "Ah! Personal hygiene aisle!" I definitely forgot to get more body wash he recalled. He strode over to the soap section and noticed a girl struggling to reach a bottle on the top shelf. "Oh, let me get that for you," he said importantly. "What are growth spurts for, right?"
"Thanks, I would usually have my brother get it but-" the girl turned around. "Gibby!"
"Carly!" he said in surprise. Things had been a little different between them since the day they visited the sculpture. Not bad, just... different. "I didn't know you shopped here. Here's your... oh man. Here's your liquid soap," he snickered.
"Shut up!" Carly whacked him with the bottle. "Lots of people shop here, and it's the only place I know that carries this scent of soap. You know you love it."
"Yeah, I kinda do." The pair stared at each other for a moment, then looked away.
"Um... I'd better go see if Spencer found the noodles he was looking for," Carly said somewhat shyly. "See you around?"
"Yeah, sure." Gibby watched her as she began to turn the corner. Suddenly, though, she turned back.
"By the way, I heard you and Tasha broke up," Carly said cautiously. "Everything okay?"
"We didn't exactly break up. But, we're not exclusive," Gibby replied. "I honestly don't know how long we'll be able to keep it up, anyway. I don't know if she's right for me."
"Ah. I see. That's too bad. Well, back to those noodles..." Carly turned and sprinted away.
What was that? Gibby thought. And what was I supposed to buy, again?
"Give me some food!" Spencer yelled in a whiney tone.
"Put on the blindfold and we'll feed you," Carly retorted. She really wanted the "A" on this semester project, no matter what her brother had to endure for it.
"Alright," he relented.
"Uh...here's a bowl of chowder," said Carly as she handed the bowl to Gibby, her science partner, "and a spoon."
"Are you sure we should do this?" asked Gibby, his guilty conscience catching up with him.
"It's for science!" she stated.
"So, what's science ever done for me?"
Carly let out an impatient sigh. "Artificial sweeteners... man on the moon...liquid soap?" she added suggestively.
That was all Gibby needed to hear. "Okay," he said determinedly. If she would go as far as mentioning that, then he'd do anything. Anything for her.
************************************************************** Fin.***************************************************************************
(A/N: This fic. Was really silly. I hope the ending was all right, since nothing really happened...
Some fun facts:
The way Carly was singing in the shower is basically how I sing in the shower at times. It's an inspiring place! :P
I know a family that doesn't buy bar soap. I think they think it's unsanitary.
I personally use bar soap...
Well, until next time, my fellow iCarly fanatics! I hope you've enjoyed this oneshot. Maybe enough to *cough*review*cough* Whoa, please excuse my allergies! ;)