Okay guys. Round 2! I should warn you that this fic has no real plot to speak of, just lots of fluff. I generally try to stay away from excessive amounts of fluff, but that sort of went out the window here. Maybe I'm getting it all out of my system now or something. Ah well. Enjoy.

Don't be afraid to fall in love
Cause I don't believe in giving up
Please give me a chance to earn your trust
Cause I know I can be everything that you need
Don't be afraid to fall in love
And don't ever say that is just too much
Cause you never know I could be the one
Gir,l we're not all the same,
Babe, don't be afraid to love

Freddie's POV

Ugh. This girl is impossible, all secret glances and mixed signals. Just when I begin to think that maybe she might like me back, she turns around and does something that rips that thought out of my head and extinguishes any feeble spark of hope I may have had. She doesn't make sense to me, and it frustrates the hell out of me, but it's one of the things I love about her. She's so unpredictable, and you never know quite where you stand with her, but it makes life interesting. I love how she keeps me guessing, and makes me fight for it. It used to really bother me, her unpredictability. I was so used to every aspect of my life following a strict routine that I saw Sam as volatile, a ticking bomb that could go off at any second and destroy anything too close. Now, Sam was the only interesting and exciting thing in my life, other than iCarly.

We had become closer than I thought possible, and the more I got to know her, the more I realized what an amazing person she actually is. I was currently irrevocably in love with her, a dangerous position to be in. I wasn't entirely sure if she knew, but it wouldn't surprise me if she did. I have always been a terrible liar, really bad at hiding my feelings, and Sam has always had this uncanny knack for reading people. Also, this whole thing of Sam making me think she likes me back and then crushing my hopes? That was a very Sam thing to do if she knew I liked her. She would purposely play with my emotions for her own amusement. I would hate her if I didn't love her.

Sam's POV

Oh, this is bad. He can't know I like him. Somehow he has become my best friend, and I can't risk ruining that, even though I'm pretty sure he likes me too. He's always been one to wear his heart on his sleeve. I keep slipping up and letting my true feelings show, but then I come to my senses and have to cover them up and make him believe I don't like him. I can tell he's incredibly confused and I hate doing that to him, but I don't have a choice. Actually, that's a lie. I find it quite amusing, but I can tell it hurts him and that's the part I can't take. I can't take knowing that he is in real pain, and that I caused it. I mean, I always cause him pain, but this is different. This is too much for even me.

I walked onto Freddie's fire escape, where he was sitting. Neither of us said it, but since we shared our first kiss here, this had become our spot.

"Hey Fredward" I said. He sat up and turned around.

"Sam?" he said in confusion. "How'd you get in?"

"Picked the lock" I said.

"Of course you did" said Freddie, resuming his original position. He sat back, his arms folded across his chest. I looked around for my usual chair, but I didn't see it.

"Where's my chair?" I asked. Freddie flung out his arm and pointed, and I looked in the direction he indicated. My chair was folded up in a corner under the overhang of the roof.

"Why's it there?" I asked, walking over to get it.

"I put it there to keep it dry last night and forgot to put it back" answered Freddie. I set up the chair and dropped into it, slouching back and stretching my legs straight out in front of me. My arms were flung out to either side of me, and one of my hands barely brushed Freddie's where he had left his arm when he pointed to my chair. I considered moving it so that he wouldn't get the wrong idea, but then a selfish little part of me decided to keep it there, mainly for my own gratification. We sat in silence for a moment before Freddie gently moved his fingertips about an inch over my hand. When I did nothing, he ran them about three inches along the back of my hand. When I again did nothing, he hesitantly began softly and very, very slowly running his fingers over my hand. My entire body went all tingly and I knew that I should pull my hand away before Freddie got the wrong idea (or rather, the right idea that I didn't want him to get) but I couldn't bring myself to do it. Freddie gently pushed my hand open, spreading my fingers and running his fingertips ever so softly over the palm of my hand. I closed my eyes and gave a little sigh of contentment, revelling in the feel of Freddie's hand on mine. After a few minutes he stopped and slowly, hesitantly pressed his palm against mine, threading our fingers together. My eyes popped open and I came back to my senses. This can't happen. I couldn't let it. I pulled my hand away, wishing with all my heart that I could leave it there.

"Okay Sam, that's it" said Freddie exasperatedly.

"What do you mean, dork?" I demanded, knowing full well what he meant.

"This!" he said, gesturing to my hand. "The mixed signals. I can't take it anymore"

"Stop being such a drama queen" I scoffed, praying that he would drop the subject.

"I'm not being a drama queen" he retorted. His face softened. "I'd say it's pretty obvious how I feel about you. But you…you have me so confused and I can't do it anymore. You need to tell me, yes or no, right now"

"I don't have to tell you anything" I said, getting to my feet and walking to the fire escape. I felt Freddie grab my arm to stop me. I tried to wrench it out of his grip, but he refused to let go. Damn you, puberty, for making him so strong.

"Sam" I heard him say gently behind me. "Please, I have to know. Do you feel the same way, or not?"

"It's not that easy" I said, turning around to face him.

"What are you talking about?" he asked. "It's a fairly straightforward question"

"No, it isn't" I said, looking up at him. "Whatever I say, it comes with…complications"

"Forget the complications" he whispered, gazing straight at me. "Forget everything. Just tell me…do you feel the same way?"

Unable to say anything, I slowly nodded. Freddie's face broke into a huge grin.

"There" he said. "Was that so hard?"

"We can't do this" I whispered, my heart breaking.

"Why not?" asked Freddie. "What are you afraid of?"

"What if we break up?" I said, looking at the floor. "What if we date for a while and then have some horrible breakup and we can't stand being around each other? I don't want to risk screwing up this weird, twisted friendship we have"

"Sam" Freddie began, taking my chin gently in his hand and tilting my face up to look at him. "What if we don't break up? What if we are perfect for each other, and we end up spending the rest of our lives together? Are you really too scared to even give us a chance?"

"It's just that I-"

"Sam, you're so brave" Freddie interrupted. "You aren't afraid of anything"

"I'm afraid of losing you" I whispered, embarrassed to be laying my soul bare in front of him. I don't think he truly understood how much he meant to me, and how lost I would be without him.

"I promise I will never let that happen" Freddie said softly, taking my hands in his and twining our fingers together.

"How can you promise that?" I said. "How do you know for sure that it won't go all wrong?"

"I don't" he conceded. "But I do know that I will do any and everything to make this work. I'm not gonna pretend it'll be easy, cause it won't. But I'm willing to work at this, because it's worth it. You're worth it"

My heart was going at a million miles an hour, but I was still unsure if I could do this.

"I don't know, Freddie" I said.

"What?" he asked. "What don't you know?"

"I don't know if this is right"

"Does it feel right?"

"I dunno" I said truthfully. "I'm feeling so many things right now I'm finding it hard to keep track"

"Sam, I lo-"

"Don't" I cut him off. "Don't say that"

"Why not?"

"Because everyone who ever said that to me has ended up disappointing me" I said. "And you know me better than them, better than anyone else, so you can hurt me more than they can"

"Do you really think I'd do that to you?"

"I didn't think any of the others would do it, but they did" I said, half-convinced. I knew in my heart that Freddie was different.

"Well, you're just going to have to trust me" he said. "But that's what love is. It's…taking a loaded gun, giving it to someone and telling them to point it at your head, trusting that they won't pull the trigger"

"I-"

"Don't you trust me, Sam?" he said softly, leaning his head forward until our foreheads were touching. "Do you really think I'd pull the trigger?"

"But Freddie" I began, still grasping at reasons why we would end in disaster. "Look at the way we fight now. If we get together, don't you think that every part of our relationship would get more intense? Including the fighting?"

"Honestly?" he said. "No, I don't. And even if it does, that's okay. Love isn't like a fairytale. It's messy and complicated and impossible. But if I strip away all that, I'm left with one basic fact. I want to be with you, Sam. I want you, all of you, you and me together"

"Freddie…" I whispered. I was trying to think of more reasons why we shouldn't be together, but I couldn't. Or maybe I didn't want to, because I knew that deep down, this was what I wanted.

"So what do you say, Sam?" Freddie asked. "Are you gonna give us a shot?"

I looked up at Freddie, gazing directly into his warm eyes, and slowly nodded. As I did, I felt pure happiness bubbling up inside me, and I knew I had made the right choice. Freddie smiled wide, looking happier than I had ever seen him, and scooped me up in a hug, swinging me around. He put me on my feet and then leaned forward and planted his lips firmly on mine. As he kissed me, I wondered why I had even bothered fighting in the first place. It felt so right, so perfect that all the reasons why we shouldn't just didn't matter anymore. All that mattered was that I was his and he was mine.