A/N: Written in honor of the Great Seattle Snowpocalypse of 2012. It's been snowing here in the greater Seattle area since the weekend. (For those of you who don't know much about the Seattle climate, snow is pretty rare, and snow for multiple days in a row is even rarer, particularly in Seattle proper. Out here in the suburbs we get a little more.) I haven't been to school all week. I'm actually convinced that someone dropped us into a snow globe while I wasn't looking.
Anyway, I couldn't help but wonder what Sam and Freddie would be doing on their snow day. This was supposed to be a short little one-shot but it wound up a bit longer than intended and is rather unabashedly pointless and fluffy. Oh well.
8:06 AM
Freddie isn't surprised when Sam picks the lock to his apartment a little after eight in the morning. She throws the door open, shouting "rise and shine, Fredward" at the top of her lungs with no regard for the fact that it's early and most people are still sleeping. In one hand, she brandishes a giant pepperoni stick as if it were a sword. Her other hand stays tucked behind her back. It turns out she's concealing what was probably at one time a large snowball, but by the time it makes it down Freddie's shirt it's a cold, wet lump of ice. This doesn't surprise him either. In typical Sam fashion, she takes advantage of the distraction to grab the remote and vault over the back of his couch, changing the channel from the Galaxy Wars marathon he was watching to some inane daytime talk show with way too much screaming.
Sam tells him excitedly that "it's like the snowpocalypse outside" as she stretches out over most of the couch, leaving Freddie with only a tiny corner to squeeze himself into. Freddie counters her "snowpocalyspe" with "snowmageddon," which earns him an eyeroll, a kick, and a twitch of the corner of her mouth. He considers that a win.
"Snowmaggedon" turns out to be a good two inches of snow so far, with more of it falling from the sky. In Seattle, where they almost never get any snow at all, it's enough to shut everything important down for the day - schools included. It's been years since they've had a good snow day and Sam seems inclined to take full advantage of it given that she's fully awake before noon, something that's rare even on a school day.
8:08 AM
Freddie's valiant attempt to reclaim the remote from Sam fails.
"Can you at least put on something we both want to watch?" he complains.
8:18 AM
It takes a good ten minutes of flipping through channels and debating the pros and cons of various programs to find something. Sam won't watch anything that falls under her umbrella definition of "nubby" and Freddie says that any talk shows that look like they could have her mom as a guest are out. Eventually, they settle on a zombie flick on some obscure horror movie network. It's one they've seen before, though, so instead of watching intently they settle for mocking the cheesy special effects and bad acting.
8:25 AM
Freddie tries to move Sam's feet so that he has more room to sit. She just kicks him. Not to be deterred, he grabs her ankles and lifts her legs up, ignoring her protests as he gets into a more comfortable position before dropping her legs on his lap. To his surprise, Sam doesn't say anything. She does dig a heel into his thigh, but it's more out of an obligation to show her displeasure than any sort of desire to cause him real pain.
For a moment, it's kind of nice. Cozy, even. Freddie pulls a quilt from off the back of the couch and throws it over the both of them.
8:29 AM
Sam makes Freddie get up and get her a glass of Wahoo Punch. Reluctantly, Freddie gets off the couch, shivering as he comes out from under the blanket. The apartment seems colder than usual. He's not sure if it's because of the snow or if he's just missing the body heat.
They only have sugar-free Wahoo Punch, he says to Sam over his shoulder. She tells him to just bring her the punch, already. He does so, and she produces several packets of sugar from her pocket (he's not even going to ask why she was carrying sugar packets), which she proceeds to pour into her glass.
8:31 AM
Freddie gets back onto the couch. Sam lets him back into his spot.
10:28 AM
The movie ends.
10:56 AM
Sam finally declares that she's hungry and gets off the couch to raid Freddie's kitchen. Upon discovering that there is nothing she considers edible available in the Benson household, she leaves without a word of explanation. Freddie hardly has enough time to wonder if she's planning on coming back when she returns with an armful of various meats. He is informed that "Carly and Spencer were sleeping, but their fridge wasn't."
11:00 AM
Freddie manages to wrestle most of the meat away from Sam, with the promise that he'll use it to make them lunch later. He leaves her one of the steaks, though, because she's giving him a look like she might eat him otherwise.
11:02 AM
It hits Freddie that Sam's hungry look is remarkably similar to the look she used to give him right before she'd push him up against the wall and kiss him so hard she'd practically bend his teeth, and he's actually not sure which of those two looks she was giving him.
He starts to regret giving Sam that steak.
11:03 AM
He tries to take the steak away from Sam. She bites him.
11:05 AM
Sam finishes her steak and starts casting longing looks over at Freddie's fridge, which is now fully stocked with the stolen meat. To distract her, Freddie pulls into his room (and oh God now he has to try not to think about the last time they were in his room together don't blush don't blush don't blush) and produces the latest MMA fighting game for the Gamestation 3 from underneath his mattress. Her eyes light up at the prospect of beating virtual people silly. The food in the fridge is temporarily forgotten.
11:10 AM
They spend five minutes arguing over who gets to be Jackson Colt.
11:11 AM
The argument turns physical when Sam shoves Freddie off the bed.
11:12 AM
Freddie makes a big show of being offended and in pain, whining loudly about how that was foul play. When Sam leans over the edge of the bed to tell him to man up and quit being such a big baby, Freddie reaches up and grabs her arms, yanking her down onto the floor with him. Sam yelps in surprise as she slides off the bed and lands atop Freddie with a loud thud.
11:13 AM
Freddie is suddenly very, very aware that he's in a precarious position with his rather attractive (okay, smokin' hot) best-friend-slash-ex-girlfriend. He says a silent prayer of thanks to whatever power was responsible for giving his mother an extended shift at the hospital today because the only way the situation could get more awkward would be to have his mom walk in the room. For a minute, all he can see, hear, smell, and feel is Sam. It's nearly impossible for him not to close the miniscule distance and taste her, too, because he's flashing back to all the times that he was allowed to do just that and it's not really fair that they're in this position and he can't even kiss her.
Sam locks eyes with him. He smirks, trying to act more confident than he feels (don't blush don't blush don't blush).
"I win."
11:14 AM
Sam lets him be Jackson Colt.
11:17 AM
She still winds up wiping the floor with him anyway.
12:41 PM
A loud rumble coming from what could only be Sam's stomach interrupts one of the few fights Freddie actually had the upper hand in. He'll never understand how her stomach can reach empty less than two hours after eating an entire steak.
12:52 PM
In the middle of preparing lunch, Freddie and Sam receive identical text messages from Carly letting them know that she and Spencer are going to be making snow sculptures at the park if they want to join them. Sam looks almost disappointed. Freddie quickly suggests that maybe Carly and Spencer could use some sibling bonding time and that it might be best if they let them make snow sculptures by themselves. With a nonchalant shrug, Sam agrees, but Freddie sees the corners of her mouth curl up before she turns away.
1:08 PM
Lunch is served. Freddie is glad he had the foresight to eat while he was cooking because Sam inhales most of the food before he even gets a chance to serve himself.
1:15 PM
Sam collapses onto Freddie's couch, promptly passing out into a food coma.
1:16 PM
It takes all of Freddie's willpower not to reach over and brush a stray strand of hair out of her face. It's so cliché, after all.
He does it anyway.
1:18 PM
Freddie decides to do some updates on the iCarly server while Sam sleeps. For a while the apartment is silent aside from Freddie's fingers moving quickly over the keyboard and the soft sound of Sam's breathing.
1:54 PM
A second text from Carly lights up his PearPhone.
hey, did you get my text? don't tell me you're still sleeping. you're missing it, spencer's snow beavecoon just scared a little girl
He hesitates for a moment, unwilling to completely ignore his other best friend. It's hard, though, to decide how forthcoming to be with her, because he feels like he and Sam are kind of ditching her to be together and they definitely did way too much of that when they were dating. His promise of "no more secrets" nags at him, and finally he types three words into his PearPhone.
sorry, with Sam
Send.
1:55 PM
Her response comes more quickly than he was expecting.
got it ;) see you guys tomorrow. ill take pictures of all of spencer's sculptures, maybe we can put them up on
Freddie lets out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding.
1:58 PM
Sam wakes up and immediately declares that it's smoothie time. There's barely enough time for Freddie to shut his laptop and pull on shoes and a jacket before Sam is dragging him out the door.
2:00 PM
The two of them step out the front door of the Bushwell lobby and onto the streets of Seattle. The snow is still falling steadily and the tiny flakes immediately begin to stick to their hair and jackets and faces. Freddie feels like he's stepped into a snow globe. For a city of over half a million people, the streets are oddly deserted, and everything has a hushed and muted quality. For a minute he can almost imagine time is standing still.
Then a blonde hurricane grabs him by the hand and pulls him down the street and he is reminded that even if time stands still, Sam Puckett doesn't.
2:01 PM
"I wish I'd brought a scarf."
"Man up."
2:03 PM
He realizes suddenly that Sam still hasn't let go of his hand.
2:07 PM
With his free hand, Freddie inconspicuously scoops snow off of a newspaper box. While Sam is distracted by a guy riding a unicycle down the street, Freddie crams the snow down the back of her shirt.
2:08 PM
He receives a retaliatory snowball to the face.
2:20 PM
They finally make it to the Groovy Smoothie - apparently one of the few places in Seattle that is still open, though you wouldn't be able to tell given that the only person inside is T-Bo. Freddie's covered head to foot in snow. Sam has flakes still sticking her but otherwise looks none the worse for wear. It's obvious who won their snowball fight. Secretly, Freddie is convinced that she could walk into a tornado and come out the other side still looking perfect… if the tornado didn't run away in fear first.
Sam orders a smoothie and Freddie can't figure out why on earth anyone would order a smoothie in a blizzard. He orders a toasted bagel. Sam calls him a weenie and makes him pay for her smoothie.
2:25 PM
T-Bo brings them their orders and casually asks if they're together this week or not. Freddie chokes on his bagel. Sam tells T-Bo to mind his own business.
2:28 PM
"So is that a yes, then?"
Sam shoots a strawberry chunk out of her straw. It hits T-Bo square in the forehead.
3:00 PM
Freddie raises an eyebrow at Sam, who is noisily slurping down the last of her third smoothie.
"What?"
He leans forward, elbows resting on the table. For a minute he considers asking "So is that a yes?" because he wants it to be, wants to be able to hold her hand in the hallway again and kiss her whenever he feels like it. He wants to do more with her on his couch than just watch movies. He wants to be able to say "I love you" every time it crosses his mind to do so - and it crosses his mind a lot.
But he's not sure that here, in an empty Groovy Smoothie in the middle of a snowstorm, is the time or the place for that. So instead he says, "You've got smoothie on your nose," and she shrugs and says she's saving it for later and it's just such a Sam answer that he can't help but burst into laughter.
3:15 PM
On the way back to the Bushwell, Sam flops down randomly in the middle of the sidewalk and starts making a snow angel. Freddie snaps a picture of her with his PearPhone and sets it as his wallpaper.
3:32 PM
By the time they get back to Freddie's apartment Sam has made a total of eight snow angels and her clothes are soaked through. Freddie tosses an old hoodie and some pajama bottoms at her and skillfully avoids eye contact as he tells her to go change because Carly would kill him if he let her get pneumonia. Sam scoffs at the idea that pneumonia would dare to take her on but does as he says, anyway. They hang her wet clothes over the heater in his room to dry.
3:35 PM
An awkward silence descends. It occurs to Freddie that no matter how relatively smooth their transition back to just friends was, she is still his ex-girlfriend and he is still in love with her and there are still some things that are going to be naturally awkward. Apparently, the two of them alone in his apartment with Sam wearing his old clothes is one of those things.
3:36 PM
"You know, we, uh… we have that science test on Friday, maybe we should study for that, you know how snow doesn't stick around here for long and I'm sure we'll be back in school by then…."
Freddie trails off when Sam gives him one of her "are you seriously that stupid?" looks.
"Or," she begins calmly, in her explaining-something-simple-to-an-idiot voice, "we could go over to Carly's and use her Pay-Per-View to watch that big MMA event."
"Carly and Spencer aren't even home, remember?"
"So? I have a key."
"Do you really?"
"…No. But I have a paperclip, and that's basically the same thing."
3:46 PM
The event doesn't start until four, so they use the extra time to make a huge bowl of popcorn (Freddie lets Sam put as much butter as she wants on it) and a tray of nachos piled so high with cheese and salsa you have to dig to find chips.
3:58 PM
Freddie gets another text. It's not from Carly this time. It's from a girl in their science class named Whitney. He thinks she's asking if he's started studying for the science test yet, but the message is so dotted with smiley faces and hearts it's almost unreadable. Before he can respond, Sam yanks the phone out of his hand and starts to type furiously.
only friendless nubs study for a science test on a snow day. and only desperate girls put that many hearts in a single message. get a life. -SP
She hits send before Freddie has a chance to say anything.
3:59 PM
"That was a little harsh, Sam."
He's glad she did it, though. Glad she cares enough about him to feel threatened by or jealous of other girls, even though there's no contest when it comes to Sam. She's not like other girls, after all.
"Yeah, well, girls like that you have to be real blunt with, and you're too nice to kick her to the curb. It's a good thing you have me around. Now shut up, the fight's starting."
5:30 PM
For the next hour and a half they don't say much, at least not to each other. They have plenty to say about the fights. Most of what comes out of Sam's mouth would make a sailor blush. Freddie's language is a little better, but it's obvious that the years of watching MMA fights with Sam have rubbed off on him. During close fights Sam grabs his arm and squeezes so hard he's sure she's cutting off the blood flow. When her favorites win she jumps off the couch and does a victory dance all around the Shays' living room, blonde curls bouncing wildly, an expression of pure joy on her face. When they lose (which isn't often - Sam knows how to pick fighters) he distracts her with nachos so that she doesn't flip the coffee table or put her foot through the TV or something else equally destructive.
Jackson Colt's fight is last. It's a close match and it lasts for eight rounds and the two of them scream so loudly throughout the whole thing that Freddie worries they're going to pass out or someone's going to think they're being murdered. By the end, they're both on their feet, jumping up and down and screaming as if Jackson Colt can somehow absorb the energy they're expending. When Colt's opponent finally taps out Sam lets out a whoop and throws her arms giddily around Freddie's neck. It's such a familiar feeling that Freddie forgets temporarily that Sam Puckett is not his girlfriend and can't stop himself from absentmindedly kissing her forehead.
5:31 PM
They both freeze.
5:32 PM
Sam gives him a light shove, just enough for him to lose his balance. He sits down, hard, on the Shays' couch.
"Order us a victory pizza, Benson." She heads for the front door
"Where are you going?"
"To rent a movie." She waves a wallet - HIS wallet - in the air.
"Aren't you going to change first?" She's still wearing his clothes and he's not convinced that his old pajama pants are adequate protection from a snowstorm.
"I'm going to Video Village, not the White House."
"Wait!"
"What?"
"How am I supposed to order a pizza if you have my wallet?"
Sam walks back across the room and presses a twenty into his hand. "Go nuts."
8:17 PM
"Sam! Freddie!"
Freddie jerks awake. Carly's standing in front of them, hands on her hips, looking disapprovingly at the mess they made of her living room. There's more popcorn than Freddie realized on the floor, and the table is covered in the remains of their MMA snacks and their pizza dinner. He looks past her to the TV, where the credits are rolling on the movie Sam rented. Next to him, Sam is still sleeping. She's curled into his left side, head resting on his shoulder. He can't remember when this happened.
"Sam." He moves his left arm a little to try and nudge her awake. "Sam."
Spencer walks in the door and surveys the scene in front of him. He opens his mouth to say something, but apparently thinks better of it and makes his way toward his bedroom, shaking his head.
"Sam." Carly grabs a pillow and hits her lightly in the head. This manages to finally startle Sam into wakefulness.
"Oh. Hey Carls."
"Don't 'hey Carls' me! What are you doing in my apartment?"
"Eating your food and using your Pay-Per-View. Freddie owes you a hundred bucks, by the way."
Freddie's too tired to argue.
8:20 PM
Freddie cleans up their mess while Sam, who now has the couch to herself, stretches out.
"Sam? Where are your clothes?" Carly asks from the kitchen.
"Freddie's place," Sam mumbles.
Carly's eyes widen in alarm.
"She was making snow angels and they got wet," Freddie hastens to add.
"Oh."
8:30 PM
Carly arranges for Sam to stay the night at her place; the snow is still falling and the roads are covered in ice. Freddie checks his phone and realizes he has about fifteen missed calls from his mom, who must be home from work. Reluctantly, he says goodbye to Carly and Sam (who is barely conscious enough to wave goodbye) and heads back across the hall to his place.
9:32 PM
carls says school's cancelled tomorrow.
The new message causes Freddie's phone to light up his dark room. He reads it, grins, and types three words in response.
it's a date.
FIN