A Valentine's Tori
By PD31
Disclaimer: I still don't own iCarly, Victorious, any of the episodes or any of the characters.
Rating: T – some mature subject matter heavily hinted at.
Pairing: Teddie (Freddie/Tori)
Summary: Set in my Freddie Goes To Hollywood universe. Our favourite couple want their first St. Valentine's Day since they got their own home to be a special one; her workload has other ideas though.
AN: Hello everyone, Happy St Valentine's Day and welcome to another little one-shot set in my FGTH universe (a month and a half or so after my Christmas one-shot, All iWant For Christmas Is You). Please enjoy this and let me know what you thought.
Benson/Vega home, West Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
Tuesday, February 14th 2017
Tori frowned as she turned her car into the drive and pressed the remote device to open her door to the house's double garage. She closed her eyes, pinched the bridge of her nose and let out a deep sigh as the door rolled open, trying to exhale some of the stress of the day; it had been a tough one for the star with her spending almost all of it in the recording booth under a punishing schedule as her label pushed to get her latest album released as quickly as possible. The few breaks she had had during the day had been spent with her pearphone glued to her ear as she spoke with the producers of her latest movie; they were keen to get her back on set as quickly as possible to get on with filming it, further adding to the pressure that she was currently under.
"Great," she muttered as she pulled the car into its bay and saw one parked next to it, "I was there so late that Freddie's beaten me home." The two had been hoping to go out for dinner to celebrate the day but she had, regrettably, had to call her fiancé mid-afternoon to let him know that it would be impossible; he had obviously sounded very disappointed, as she was, but accepted it as a consequence of her burgeoning status in the industry.
The half-Latina was surprised by the sight that greeted her when she walked through the door into the main house; she could see that the house lighting on a softer level than normal, casting its gentle rays around her home and barely illuminating a line of rose petals that led from the garage through the kitchen and into the living area. Her surprise grew ten-fold when her smiling, brown-haired lover appeared in the doorway to the kitchen holding two flutes filled with pink champagne.
"Happy Valentine's Day, my love," he said in a soft voice and handed her one of the flutes.
"Happy Valentine's Day," she responded automatically, touching glasses with him and giving a tired smile. "I'm sorry we've missed out on dinner, if you haven't eaten yet then maybe we could throw something in the micro–" she managed before he cut her off by placing his right index finger gently on her lips.
"Shh, dinner's taken care of," he kept his voice gentle and smiled at the confusion this caused her.
"What do you mean?" she enquired, unable to fully mask the weariness behind her curiosity.
Instead of answering he took her free hand in his and led her, not to the dining area as she expected, but to the staircase. As he began to ascend, taking her with him, she registered more rose petals lining the stairs and as she breathed in the girl could detect a sweet floral fragrance coming from the bathroom; it was the room that her man led her to and she saw that he had run her a rich, bubble bath, more rose petals lay strewn on the floor.
"Now you get into a nice, relaxing bath and I'll be back in a minute," he promised, giving her a quick peck on the lips and setting his flute down on the side of the sink before leaving the room.
Any surprise that Tori still felt, or curiosity over Freddie's departure, was suppressed by the bubble bath's siren song. The singer eyed the inviting water before she placed her glass next to his, quickly pulled her shirt over her head and dropped it on the floor, her jeans, socks and underwear adding to the pile of clothes moments later before she moved her flute to the side of the tub, climbed into the warm water and sank her frame beneath the foamy surface, eyes closed and a contented smile forming on her face, from his thoughtful gesture, the relaxing music playing through the ceiling-mounted speaker and from the feeling of the hot bath washing away her stresses and troubles.
The sound of the bathroom door bouncing off the side of the bath broke her relaxation; Tori opened her eyes and looked around to see her still-smiling boy holding a tray, on which rested two slightly steaming plates. She manoeuvred herself into a sitting position and accepted the tray and one plate, balancing the tray along the width of the bathtub and smiling as she recognised the origin of her meal.
"You got take-out from Delphine?" she asked in surprise; it was the restaurant at which they had made a reservation for earlier in the evening but been forced to cancel.
"Nothing but the best for my fiancée," he flattered with a grin, proffering his glass and the couple toasted again. He handed his girl a knife and fork and she began to eat while trying to keep the tray balanced. They shared a laugh at her mild discomfort but Tori had soon mastered the situation and they enjoyed a pleasant meal in comfortable silence, aside from the gentle music, the clatter of silverware on crockery and the occasional splash of water when the brunette shifted her position slightly.
"I'll take these away," Freddie declared when they had finished, though he left the flutes behind as he departed with the tray and plates. Tori relaxed back into her bath, marvelling at the thoughtful man who had given her his heart and reflecting on just how lucky she was; it was an opinion that the brown-eyed tech genius certainly shared. "A top up?" she heard his voice and saw that he had returned, champagne bottle in hand.
"Sure," she agreed with a grin, "why not?"
He refilled her glass and handed it back to her before filling his own. "I'll leave you to enjoy your bath," he smiled, touching flutes with her again, kissing her softly before he left the room. "I'll be in our room when you're ready," was his parting line, something that caused the actress's eyebrows to rise slightly in eager anticipation.
That could wait a little longer, she decided, and sipped her champagne again as she let the warm water envelop her body once again, though as she felt so much better now than she had when she arrived home, the urge to thank her man properly was certainly appealing to her.
'Her man' sat on their bed, his back propped against the headboard and his peartop in his lap; he had left work early once he learned that his girl would be working late so that he could plan the little surprise for her this evening. He decided, therefore, that he should take the opportunity while she was enjoying her bath to catch up a little on some of the work he needed to and wanted to get done. He was well on track with most of his projects but there was no harm in getting ahead a little while he waited for her to be done with her relaxing soak.
He grinned as he thought back on how he had spent his afternoon after arriving back at home, how he had been able to change their reservation for a take-out order and mentally patting himself on the back for the foresight of keeping some "emergency champagne" in the house just in case – particularly as, just before Christmas, they had spent a couple of days wondering if they would have some other news to 'celebrate'. It turned out that they hadn't had cause to celebrate just then but he now made sure that they kept a bottle on hand , just in case.
He glanced down to the floor at his side of the bed, smiling at the sight of his last treat and surprise for her before turning back to his work and trying to focus on it for a few minutes more, which became more difficult as he heard his girl's dulcet tones softly singing as she bathed. He instantly recognised the song Bad Boys that she had written back in High School and thought back on the promise he'd made her the first time he heard her singing that song in the shower one weekend, how he had kept it so far and intended to make sure he always kept it in the future.
Finally the singing sensation decided that the lure of her boy outweighed the comfort of the bath; she stood and allowed the water to run off her before stepping out onto the mat, draining the bath and reaching for her towel. She gently dried off the excess water from her skin before reaching for her robe from the back of the door, slipping into it and tying it loosely in front as she opened the door and left the bathroom for the master bedroom, noting that she had to follow yet another trail of rose petals.
"Hey," she greeted him lovingly as she stood in the doorway.
"Oh hey," he looked up and smiled at her, particularly the predatory grin forming on her face as she eyed him, and he closed his computer, setting it down on the floor. Tori carried out her trademarked "flirtatious hair flip" as she crossed the room to her side of the bed. He picked up a red rose from the centre of their bed and reached up to hand it to her with a smile, one that she lovingly returned as she lay down on their bed with him.
"Where are you going?" she asked as he leaned down to the floor at the far side from her. "Oh," she smiled as he returned holding a bowl of strawberries and a smaller one of chocolate syrup in his hands. Her grin widened as he dipped the fruit in the sweet sauce and she opened her mouth to accept the offering.
This is turning out to be a great Valentine's Day for us after all, she thought happily as she shuffled closer to Freddie and dipped her own hand into the bowls, deliberately and teasingly smearing some of the chocolate syrup on her boy's chin before feeding him the fruit.
AN: Unfortunately I feel that I have to have to leave it there as I think it's already more than close enough to the 'M' boundary for a 'T' rated story. I'm sure we can all imagine how the rest of Teddie's evening went for them so I will let you all enjoy those scenes yourself while I try and get an update for Freddie Goes To Hollywood written and published. Please let me know what you thought via the review box below and thank you very much for reading this little one-shot. PD.