This little one-shot was originally inspired by Sam beating up the jerk who was picking on the nerd in iBattlechip. I thought for sure that it would be something Sam and Freddie would discuss. Then my brain wanted to write them being a cutesy kissy couple so it ended up being a little bit of both. I hope you enjoy this.
iDefend the Nerds
Seddie One-Shot
Sam knocked on Freddie's bedroom door and waited a second before entering. She opened the door to find Freddie sitting on his bed, surrounded by tiny circuit boards and wires, with Gibby's broken phaser gun in one hand and a pair of wire cutters in the other. He glanced up briefly, glanced back at the toy and promptly back up. He hadn't been expecting her; obviously.
"Hey, what are you doing here?"
"Carly's being a mope about Gibby being mad at her over the whole phaser thing, I couldn't listen to it anymore." She closed the door and plopped down on the edge of his bed.
"Why not just go home?"
"If you must know, my mom's got a new boyfriend who's been spending a lot of time at our place and he smells like cheese gone bad so I've been avoiding it," she explained with a scrunched nose, "but if you don't want me here I'll just find somewhere else to go."
"No wait." He reached out like he was going to take her arm but didn't actually do it. "I wanted to talk to you about something."
Sam pulled her legs up on the bed, crisscrossing them, and leaned back on her hands. "About what?" He looked away almost sheepishly and she had to wonder what he could possibly want to talk to her about.
"I just wanted to say it was pretty cool what you did earlier, at the Groovy Smoothie." He was fiddling with the phaser gun again.
"You've seen me beat people up before, what's the big deal." She shook her head. He was so confusing sometimes.
"I just, you beat the guy up because he was picking on some little nerdy kid, usually your motives aren't so pure." Freddie explained.
It was her turn to blush. "Who says I beat him up because he was picking on a nerd, I beat him up because he walked in like he owned the place, it got on my nerves."
"Come on Sam, is it really that hard for you to admit that you might actually be becoming a good person." She folded her arms across her chest huffily. Freddie smirked. "It is a little strange though, Sam Puckett badest bully in school becomes Sam Puckett protector of the weak and pathetic."
"So what if I've reconsidered my targets, I still don't get why it matters so much." Freddie rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to the broken phaser.
"It's not a big deal, I just think it's nice to see you using your powers for good instead of evil, I was kind of wondering what brought on the change of heart." He started picking up various circuit boards and testing the sizes next to the gun.
Sam pulled away from Freddie unhappily breaking their lip to lip contact but she needed to see the clock. The sun was going down and certainly Freddie's mom would be home soon. She still didn't know they were dating and they had no intention of her finding out anytime soon. If they stopped making out in Freddie's room they could have cut the chances of getting caught in half, but the thrill of possibly getting caught enticed her. She wasn't stupid though and always left with just enough time to spare.
Freddie pouted when she started to get up.
"Can't you stay just a little longer?" His hands wrapped around her wrist. She did her best to ignore the puppy dog eyes he was giving her and the tingling sensation running up and down her arm. "Five minutes, please."
"Last time I stayed five more minutes I had to climb down the fire escape because your mom came home and you couldn't get her out of the living room."
"You can scale the fire escape with your eyes closed, is it really that much trouble."
"It is when there is a hobo waiting for me at the bottom, I had to whip out the buttersock and everything."
Despite her protest she plopped back down on the bed and pulled him in for another kiss. She was just wrapping her arms around his neck when they heard the front door swing closed. They pulled apart. Mrs. Benson yelled for Freddie. The pair panicked. Sam started to smack his arm in frustration.
"You couldn't just let me leave."
"Shhh, you gotta hide." Freddie stood and pulled her off the bed.
"Where?" What was wrong with his mother? Did she have to come check on him like he was still five years old?
"Under the bed." He whispered urgently. Footsteps could be heard coming down the hall. She couldn't hide in the closet, the bathroom? No, she was being ushered to the floor impatiently. She shimmed her way under the bed and groaned when Freddie apparently threw himself casually on top. She heard the door open and saw Mrs. Benson's plain white nurse shoes enter.
"Freddie-bear did I hear you talking to someone?" She asked and Sam could hear a tone of suspicion in her voice. Sam smirked, trying not to grimace at an old laptop jabbing her in the side and a pile of cords tangling her foot. She freed her arm and reached for the pocket of her jeans. She managed to get hold of her lip gloss tube.
"No mom, just me in here." Sam slid the tube across the floor. It stopped just past Mrs. Benson's feet.
"I thought for sure I had heard a girl's voice."
"Maybe the radio or TV," he suggested. There was a pause. She could just picture the skeptical look on Mrs. Benson's face. Her feet started moving towards the door. She stopped, probably to look back over her shoulder at her oh so perfect son. There was gasp and Sam knew her plan was in motion. Her feet moved again and Sam squirmed farther under the bed when a hand appeared to snatch up the lip gloss.
"What is this?" Her voice was like a screech set on a low volume. It made Sam's skin crawl. "Fredward Benson why is there lip gloss in your room, is there a girl in here?" The stuttering began instantly. Mostly incoherent words while she searched the closet and bathroom; maybe Freddie had been on to something when he made her hide under the bed. She still felt no remorse; if he had let her leave when she suggested she go she wouldn't have had to hide at all. She did have a brief moment of regret when Mrs. Benson's knees appeared next to her feet and it was clear she was about to look under the bed.
"Mom seriously there is no one in here, the lip gloss is uh, is uh…mine?" Sam rolled her eyes. She was going to have to teach Freddie the proper way to come up with a story under pressure.
"It's yours?" A stupid excuse it may have been but it worked. Mrs. Benson was returning to her feet. "Why do you have lip gloss?" Sam had to fight off the giggles.
"It's uh, its, I read online that its good for your lips, the skin there can be very sensitive you know." Freddie explained nervously.
"Why not just use Chap Stick, you know I keep three tubes of it in each of the medicine cabinets." Mrs. Benson replied.
Freddie stuttered again. "The uh fruit flavor comes from fruit extracts that contain vitamins that are extremely beneficial to skin."
"And the glitter?" Sam had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing now. She only bought the glittery lip gloss because she knew that part of Freddie still had a soft spot for girly-girls. The strawberry flavor one was his favorite too. She wouldn't hold that one against him though, all of her lip glosses tasted like food, she didn't care which one she wore.
"Exfoliates." Freddie answered quickly.
There was another long pause.
"I think I'd better do some of my own research, this article you read may have been a bunch of nonsense, if anything you're lips have been even more chapped lately." Sam watched Mrs. Benson's feet turn and leave the room. Freddie leapt off the bed and locked the door behind her. When he turned back around Sam was crawling out from under the bed. She was laughing so hard that there was actually no noise emitting from her.
"You are evil, are you trying to get us caught?"
"Hey it could have been worse," she quipped once she got her voice back, "I considered tossing my bra out into the middle of the floor but I didn't think you'd be able to talk your way out of that one."
"Sam," he said sternly and crossed his arms. Sam pulled herself up off the floor and dropped down on the edge of the bed. Was she really being reprimanded for this? It had been nearly a day and a half of no fighting-it was overdue.
"What's the real problem, we didn't get busted and you know that whole explanation of the lip gloss was actually pretty brilliant, especially considering you still have some smeared on your lips from when we were kissing." His eyes widened a bit and he reached up quickly to wipe the gloss away.
"Would it kill you to use your powers for good instead of evil?" It was a cliché little statement but the tone with which he said it wasn't at all funny.
"What's wrong?"
"It's nothing, it's just that when you do things like that it reminds me that you're still kind of a bully, even if you are my girlfriend."
"What do you mean?"
"I am a nerd Sam, and a nub, and a geek and a lot of those names you like to call me and prior to you claiming me as your bullying property I had other bullies, a lot of my friends have bullies, you bully a lot of them and they are going to remember that for the rest of their lives Sam and they're going to hate you." Sam sat very still listening to Freddie. "I don't hate you Sam because I always knew deep down that you were my friend and I know why you act out the way you do. I just don't like the thought that there are going to be people who always hate you for what you've done to them, they'll never be able to look past it and see what an amazing person you really are."
"I'm sorry." She said quietly and without the permission of her brain.
"You don't have to apologize to me."
"Well I can't go apologize to every kid I ever picked on."
"That's okay," he sat down next to her and took her hand. He made sure their shoulders were touching. "I'm not asking you to change who you are overnight Sam, but maybe if you could keep what I said in mind next time you encounter a nerd that would be great."
"Okay." She wished he would have brought this up earlier. She could tell it had been bugging him for a while.
"I can go check if my mom is in the living room, we can sneak you out of here."
"You know I don't mind going down the fire escape and your mom will probably be busy for a while, let's watch a movie."
"When you say watch a movie, do you mean watch five minutes of a movie and then make out through the rest of the it like last time?" Sam smiled at his flushed cheeks. He was so easily embarrassed.
"That depends if you've gotten any better movies since last time."
She had done as he had asked; somewhat unconsciously. She didn't steal kids' money anymore or beat anybody up for looking at her the wrong way. She was still rude and destructive to all. Until recently that is because now she was apparently defender of the nerds. And it was undeniable that her violent actions were solely directed towards those who deserved it.
She thought back on Freddie's question as he got up to find a smaller pair of wire cutters. Did he really forget that he was her motivation to be a better person, to be kind to the nerds? Or maybe he did remember and just wanted her to remember too?
"It's like you said, I've just decided it was time to use my powers for good instead of evil."
"Well that's really awesome Sam," Freddie turned around to look at her. He looked...pleased? Proud? Maybe he just looked happy? Her heart beat a little faster when part of her believed he looked 'in love.' She wondered if he still had the equipment from his Mood Face app lying around; it could give her an answer. "You want to stay and keep me company while I try to put this thing back together, we could watch a movie."
Sam briefly wondered what the chances were he had gotten any better movies. "Okay."
Did you like it? I kept losing focus. I almost abandoned the bullying plot altogether to just use the flashback for a one-shot. I better stop editing it now or it might soon not resemble a story at all.